Not Another Ojo Post - Tech's $5M Deal per The Athletic

[horns96]

I don't really care much about Ojo's recruitment or him going to Tech. As Bobby said, it does seem we "dodged a bullet".   I do care about the lack of transparency and learning more about the NIL landscape, so I find any scrap of info about these NIL deals interesting.  Bobby alluded to some of this during OTF this morning, but I wanted to post a few excerpts from The Athletic's story on the Ojo deal.

Basically, Tech's deal is based on a promise that the cap will increase over the next 4 years or that it won't be enforced.  I feel almost bad for Ojo and his family being taken by this agent. 

Texas Tech’s latest recruiting coup: How big is deal for 5-star offensive tackle?

...

The Red Raiders landed a commitment on Friday from five-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo, the No. 1 recruit in Texas and a top 10 national recruit in the 2026 class, after the parties agreed to a three-year, $2.3 million revenue-sharing contract, two school sources confirmed to The Athletic on Saturday.

...

ESPN reported on Friday that Ojo was receiving a three-year deal worth $5.1 million, according to his agent, Derrick Shelby of Prestige Management. Shelby confirmed those figures to The Athletic on Saturday, but three Texas Tech sources refuted that number, with two confirming that Ojo is scheduled to receive an annual compensation of $775,000 per year for three years from Tech’s revenue-sharing pool. Ojo’s deal, according to a Tech source, includes a verbal agreement that can escalate the total value of the contract into the $5 million range if there were a large jump in the revenue sharing cap for schools or if there is minimal regulation of schools’ adhering to the cap, in much the way there has been minimal regulation of NIL since its institution in 2021. Shelby declined to share a copy of the contract with The Athletic but stood by the initially reported numbers.

As Bobby mentioned this morning, they also outline the tentative nature of all these deals being offered by USC, Tech et al.

... 

The news of Ojo’s commitment and contract agreement represents the continued changing tides of college recruiting. After the approval of the House v. NCAA settlement and implementation of revenue sharing, colleges can allocate up to roughly $20.5 million to pay athletes across their sponsored sports. Schools could begin directly paying players on their current roster on July 1. They can verbally negotiate deals with future recruits and send official written scholarship offers and revenue-sharing contract offers beginning Aug. 1 of the recruit’s senior year of high school, but those contracts cannot be signed until each respective sport’s signing period begins, which is Dec. 3 for the FBS.

...

Basically, any commitment given in July should be taken with a grain of salt. Let's see what these NIL deals look like in December when they're in writing. 🤘

 

 

 

 

[CHorn427]

I think a part of it is that Tech and teams like them taking this approach are gambling that they can trap the recruits for a year, win immediately and then the recruits might be content missing the “verbally agreed upon” stuff once they’re part of a “winner”.

it’s shady and desperate, but shadiness and desperation are virtues in places like Lubbock and LA

Edited 7 hours ago by CHorn427

[ArizonaLonghorn]

Basically a three year $775,000 per year guarantee from Tech's revenue sharing pool, with a verbal agreement to possibly more than double it if things break right.

Anyone have a good guess as to what Texas might offer in this situation?  I'd guess $500,000 - $600,000 annually (could be higher but a lot of NIL contracts to feed with just $15 million) and for how long?  One year, maybe two?  I doubt Texas offers a three year guarantee.  Anyone know or have an informed guess?  You can see why an agent would urge Ojo to take the long term guarantee.

Saw this tidbit on how the NIL Go team is looking at third party contracts when the ACC asked Deloitte to look at current NIL deals involving ACC athletes:

Deloitte told ACC officials that 90% of existing NIL contracts with public companies would have been approved. More than 70% of deals with booster collectives would have been denied. 

So basically deals like Quinn had with Dr. Pepper or Arch has with Red Bull or the self driving guys (forgot which one) would pass the test, but those "$50,000 for visiting a children's hospital" deals likely would not.  I'm guessing there will be tons of $599 deals (maybe for daily social media posts like the Miami booster required?) to glide below the threshold.

Here's what Jaden Rashada had to do to earn $13.85 million over 4 years with Florida (the Gator collective backed out of the deal and the agent sent the contract to media). Good work if you can find it. 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by ArizonaLonghorn

[NothinButDaHorns34]

Tech is a laughing stock to me from trying to buy wins through elite players to over paying for  a “top 10 prospect” that’s going to need YEARS of development, IF it’s done right and let’s be honest tech isn’t known to product elite lineman. 

[horns96]

I also didn't know that Cody Campbell is not just a booster, he's on the Tech Board of Regents.  Can you imagine the outrage if Kevin Eltife was the primary financial booster of Texas Athletics?

[Jc Dobbs]

So Tech is going to bust the cap/break the rules and see if the rules are enforced and they get busted. Yikes. Livin' On the Edge.