Nick Saban: Alabama Players Made Over $3 Million From NIL Last Season

Nick Saban spoke with reporters at SEC Media Day on Tuesday and the conversation quickly turned to the NIL landscape. Saban spent his offseason in the middle of some controversy stemming from NIL after accusing Texas A&M of buying the top recruiting class in the country and Jackson State of paying a single player $1 million. Jimbo Fisher blasted Saban in a press conference and everything died off after that. It was only natural that in Saban's first public media appearance since all that he'd be asked.

The longtime coach was reflective about the criticism wrought upon him, which was boring. However, he did let slip an interesting factoid: Alabama players made over $3 million in NIL money last season.

That is obviously a big number. The distribution of that money is also presumably top-heavy. Guys like Bryce Young, Jameson Williams, Evan Neal, and Will Anderson almost certainly took home the majority of that dough in 2021.

It still goes to show how much earning potential there is for these college kids. Alabama is the cream of the crop in the college football realm and just being on the roster will get you a bite out of that $3 million. It would be fascinating to see the player-by-player breakdown, although we'll probably never get that outside of the occasional report about Young's biggest sponsorships.

Good for these athletes to make some money. Whatever they're raking in still pales in comparison to how much their play makes for the school.