In Reply to: It's been said, posted by ej on June 04, 2025 at 08:51:16
Yeah, I think for the most part, we’re on the same page—there’s a lot we just don’t know. But I’d also say there’s quite a bit we can reasonably infer based on credible reporting and publicly available information. Personally, I don’t have any reason to doubt the accuracy of the article we’re discussing. So, just for the sake of conversation—and fully acknowledging this is all speculative—I think we can try to make some educated guesses.
It’s tough to nail down exact numbers, of course, because, like you said, no one has complete visibility. But the reported figures for players across the country give us a decent frame of reference. When you look at what similar players are making elsewhere, and factor in what we’ve heard about UCLA—particularly from Ken Graiwer, who runs the Men of Westwood NIL collective—you can start to form a pretty realistic picture. He mentioned that UCLA was able to retain some guys with early commitments and just the fact they wanted to stay here. But even with discounts, you’re still talking about high-dollar figures.
Based on that, I think it’s safe to assume that several of our returners are in the neighborhood of $1 million—some possibly higher, some a bit below. If the reports are true that Mara was offered close to $1 million, it makes sense that more productive returners would be in that range or above. Plus, you have to consider what these guys might have commanded on the open market, which in many cases would’ve been significantly more.
So just for illustration:
$1M – Bilodeau
$1M – Dailey
$1M – Skyy Clark
$2.5M – Dent
That’s $5.5M on those four alone. We also know Trent Perry was reportedly taken care of for his return, so he’s probably not far off. And as I mentioned in a previous post, I’d be surprised if Booker didn’t command a sizable chunk—especially considering how urgently that spot needed to be filled. Add in the few value guys you mentioned, and it’s not hard to see UCLA approaching or even hitting that $8 million mark.
As the article said: “Don’t cry for [UCLA].”
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From the article:
"There’s another group of schools a rung below this. Don’t cry for these guys, as they’re still hitting at least a hearty $8 million if required. This includes (but is not exclusive to) Auburn, Connecticut, Florida, Houston, Kansas, Kansas State, Miami, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA, USC, Villanova, Virginia and still a few more trying to get there in the coming week(s). In talking to sources at these schools, even if most aren’t at $10 million, there are still a couple in this lot that told me they could get there if absolutely necessary. (So: just by asking the right one, two or three really rich boosters for even more money.)”
“There are more schools easily capable of getting there if the right players came along,” another SEC assistant said. “And I think 20 or more schools are in the $7–9 million range.”
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In other words, I think there's good reason to believe UCLA is very much in the mix.
To address your last point, I do believe there are a handful of universities where money truly isn’t a limiting factor. The article identified eight programs as being in the top tier, but it also suggested that others could potentially join that group. One could even argue that within those eight, a few schools operate on an entirely different level—essentially forming a tier above the rest.