Everyone knows that NIL and financial "gifts" are the backbone of college football recruiting and retention, but nobody really knew the impact of it until very recently.
Steve Sarkisian has repeatedly expressed his views on NIL and the ever-evolving world of collegiate sports over the past few years, and he recently discussed them again during a media session. More specifically, he spoke about NIL inflation and how it's affected the way teams retain their current players.
The Longhorns were 'behind the 8-ball' with Bijan Robinson
Sark had an excellent example for Texas and how Bijan Robinson's situation played out in 2023:
“I wish I would have had an hourglass or forecast into the future. I would have probably tried to offer Bijan more money.”
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian on NIL inflation in college football:
— Orangebloods.com (@orangebloods_) May 26, 2026
“I wish I would have had an hourglass or forecast into the future. I would have probably tried to offer Bijan more money.”🔮
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At the time, one of the biggest storylines surrounding Texas football was whether or not they'd be able to keep Bijan Robinson from declaring for the NFL Draft. As Longhorn Nation knows, they ultimately weren't able to, and the biggest problem was money.
It's definitely not that they couldn't afford it; it's that they didn't really know how to budget properly and were having a hard time figuring out how much they could actually offer the star running back at the time. Nowadays, with GMs and other higher-ups handling the financial side of things for programs, it's much easier to budget and figure out exact numbers based on each player's NIL valuation.
Needless to say, it would've been hard for Texas to beat the type of benefits and guaranteed money that Robinson would be making as an NFL rookie, but they still could've been in the ballpark had they had the resources that the program has today.
Could you imagine Steve Sarkisian having Bijan Robinson in 2023? They could've been unstoppable paired with Quinn Ewers and the Longhorns' passing game. CJ Baxter was good for them that season, but he definitely wasn't on Robinson's level as both a pure runner and pass-catcher out of the backfield.
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