AJ Dybantsa to BYU Shows NIL Is Out of Control in College Sports

We’ve come a long, looong way from suspending Terrelle Pryor for trading autographs for tattoos.

The advent of Name, Image and Likeness rights for college athletes was meant to give them access to income via sponsorship deals with big apparel companies and local sandwich shops alike. 

At least, that’s what we were told. Most fans are behind that because it’s common sense.

Because high school athletes can be promised NIL “packages” as a condition of their signing with a school, it’s quickly devolved into a form of pay-for-play.

AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 basketball recruit in the Class of 2025, announced Tuesday he was committing to BYU for his one year of college. He picked the Cougars over Alabama, Kansas and North Carolina.

In a bizarre move, this took place on ESPN’s “First Take,” where Stephen A. Smith told Dybantsa he was surprised that he didn’t choose the Tar Heels because of the opportunity to play in the Duke-Carolina rivalry.

Silly Stephen. You think tradition or legacy or even past championships are what motivate today’s youth? You of all people should know it’s all about the money. Yet NIL wasn’t mentioned once during the segment.

In October, a BYU source leaked to On3 that “$4 to 4.5 million is what they are prepared to pay” for one season of Dybantsa. That’s already in the same ballpark as new coach Kevin Young’s yearly salary ($4.2 million).

Then on Tuesday, reporter Adam Zagoria tossed out the number $7 million, a ridiculous figure whether it’s true or fake.

Don’t mistake this column for me going, “Ohhh, poor Kansas! Poor North Carolina! Who will think of the little guy?” They could have ponied up a couple million for a single player if they really wanted to. Maybe they understood that was unwise.

This is the latest example of the growing schism in college sports between the haves and the have-nots. 

BYU and some schools are well-sourced and deep-pocketed enough to throw silly amounts of money at players. But most don’t have $7 million for their entire NIL operation.

Dybantsa had already agreed to NIL deals with Nike and Red Bull before Tuesday’s announcement. Good! Get that bag. You know who else is signed with Nike and Red Bull? Rutgers freshman Dylan Harper, who’s put up a couple of 30-point games as he challenges Duke’s Cooper Flagg for the frontrunner spot in the NBA mock drafts.

Rutgers is even less of a traditional basketball destination than BYU, but Harper picked the Scarlet Knights because he’s from New Jersey, his brother starred for them and he liked coach Steve Pikiell. Yes, NIL must have been a factor in his decision too, but we’ve heard nothing close to what Dybantsa is reportedly receiving.

I don’t love wading into religion to wrap up here, but LDS Church Elder Clark Gilbert told the Deseret News just six weeks ago that, “The church isn’t going to weigh in on dollar amounts or recruits; that’s the job of the university. But we will lay out some principles. We can never become a place where the culture is pay to play. We would undermine everything at BYU if that wins out.”

The reported Dybantsa package is showing us what’s winning out, and not just in Provo.