Nick Saban Says 25 Alabama Players Made $3M on NIL Contracts Last Season

Alabama Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban believes his players had a successful first year under the new Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rules.

Per Alabama beat reporter Mike Rodak, Saban said 25 Crimson Tide players last season earned a cumulative NIL revenue of $3 million and did it "the right way."

Saban's pride in his own players' handling of the NIL model is interesting, especially considering his recent comments. Last month, Saban told Ralph D. Russo of the Associated Press, "I don't think what we're doing right now is a sustainable model."

"The concept of name, image and likeness was for players to be able to use their name, image and likeness to create opportunities for themselves. That's what it was. ... But that creates a situation where you can basically buy players," Saban continued.

"You can do it in recruiting. I mean, if that's what we want college football to be, I don't know. And you can also get players to get in the transfer portal to see if they can get more someplace else than they can get at your place."

The establishment of NIL contracts has increased the fear that boosters would have more influence on recruiting by handing out "pay for play" deals. But the NCAA is reportedly making strides in trying to curb that issue.

Earlier this month, Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated reported that the NCAA was looking to implement new guidelines that would enforce penalities against programs that fail to properly monitor booster spending related to NIL deals.