Austin Reed, a former Division-II quarterback and current Western Kentucky football signal-caller, entered the transfer portal back in December. Reed eventually returned to the Hilltoppers, but not before Power 5 schools came calling with monster NIL offers, some that Reed claims drifted into ‘NFL Draft‘ money territory. Here's what the Western Kentucky football quarterback revealed about his time in the transfer portal, per Chris Vannini of The Athletic.
“When the money that was available was put on the table, it was really hard,” Reed said. “This is the kind of money a late draft pick is making.”
Not only did Austin Reed say that Power 5 schools offered him starting jobs, but the Western Kentucky football QB also claimed that he was offered NIL money equivalent to the cash reeled in by late-NFL Draft picks.
As Vannini notes, quarterbacks taken late in the NFL Draft generally make “a few hundred thousand dollars.”
Imagine Austin Reed, a former West Florida star who helped lead them to a Division-II national title, hearing that big-time schools are offering him enough money in NIL deals to make him richer than he ever could have pictured.
Of course, the transfer portal was nothing new to Reed this year, having committed to Western Kentucky football through the portal last year.
What was clearly new was the ‘NFL Draft' type cash that was evidently on the table for the taking.
But that is the way college football teams do business nowadays, especially in the transfer portal and recruiting landscapes.
Austin Reed got to see it firsthand.
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