Back in October the NCAA announced the elimination of the national letter of intent, a program that had been in existence since 1964.
In its place are athletic aid agreements under a new system intended to function better than the NLI in the upcoming world of player revenue sharing.
Under the new rules, transfer athletes are allowed to sign with a new school after they’ve formally entered the portal. Per the NCAA, once a prospect has signed a written offer of athletic aid, other schools will be “prohibited from recruiting communications.”
That phrase is in quotes both because it is the literal NCAA language, and because communications today come in many forms, including through agents.
Some have speculated the new agreements will have more teeth than the NLI, and truly bind a player to a school once they have signed.
Others don’t ultimately see a meaningful difference.
If a player doesn’t want to be part of a program, the school can prevent them from re-entering the transfer portal under the terms of the agreement. But given the perception that will create, should they? That was always the catch-22 with the NLI when a player asked out of their commitment after signing, and it seems to continue to be a relevant consideration in this era of recruiting.
Another consideration might be the NCAA, which could ostensibly step in and attempt to enforce an agreement even when a school decides to allow a player off the hook. Upon signing, the transfer portal entry window has closed for a player, and they must wait until the next portal period.
UAB transfer running back Lee Beebe, Jr., who a source tells The Daily Hoosier formally signed his agreement with IU under the new contract rules last week, might be one of the early test cases.
On3’s Pete Nakos reported on Sunday evening Beebe, Jr. was “planning to reopen his portal recruitment.” Nakos was reporting through Beebe, Jr.’s agents, Noah Reisenfeld and Aeneas Hawkins.
After poking around, we’ve learned other well known national outlets wouldn’t break that news from the agents because Beebe, Jr. had signed with Indiana, which created doubt about his ability to reopen his portal recruitment under the new rules. That reluctance likely speaks at least in part to the reputations of the agents in this particular case. It’s clear if Beebe, Jr. wanted to keep his recruitment open, he should have been advised by his agents to not formally sign.
At the moment this can be best described as a developing situation, both as it relates to whether Beebe, Jr. will play at IU next year, and whether the new athletics aid agreements have any real enforceability, practically speaking or otherwise, in such scenarios.
