On Thursday night, five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood flipped his commitment from LSU to Michigan. Immediately after that decision was announced, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy hopped onto social media to brag about it.
“How’s everyone doing out there,” Portnoy said. “QB No. 1. Number one. Not in the town, not in the district, not in the state. QB No. 1 in the country. Recruit No. 1 in the country. We don’t do four stars at Michigan, we do five stars. We do No. 1 recruits in the country, we do national champions. I told you we did it.”
Earlier this college football season, Portnoy talked about wanting to get Michigan an upgrade at quarterback. He said on his podcast that he’d be willing to spend $3 million on a five-star recruit.
Well, according to reports, Underwood received a $10.5 million NIL commitment from Michigan. The belief is that Portnoy contributed to that figure.
Dave Portnoy will pay up to $3 Million in NIL to get Michigan a QB @stoolpresidente @Barstoolpickem pic.twitter.com/NtLIgVjlis
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 26, 2024
College football fans are convinced Portnoy is directly responsible for making all the drama surrounding NIL five times worse than it already is.
“Dave Portnoy may have single handedly flipped the #1 high football player in the country, Bryce Underwood, to his Alma mater,” one person tweeted. “Welcome to the age of NIL.”
“Dave Portnoy just flipped the No.1 OVR Recruit, this NIL stuff might be outta hand now,” another person said.
“[Expletive] Dave Portnoy and this NIL insanity,” a third fan wrote.
Getty Images.
Portnoy hasn’t responded to the critics. He’s too busy celebrating Michigan’s latest commitment.
With Underwood set to join the Wolverines in 2025, the program’s future should be extremely bright.
That being said, there’s a chance Portnoy’s pursuit of Underwood could inspire other public figures to be this active when it comes to luring top recruits to their alma maters.
Related: Bryce Underwood Facing Criticism For Hypocritical Comment About Commitment