The Kadyn Proctor saga is the quintessence of CFB's biggest issues

There was plenty of reason to believe Kadyn Proctor would be the Iowa Hawkeyes' starting left tackle when the team breaks its first huddle of the 2024 season.

But, as fate would have it, Kirk Ferentz will have to look elsewhere for the person who will protect Cade McNamara's blindside.

Proctor, a former consensus five-star offensive tackle, has made headlines several times this offseason, and for good reason. As one of the top young players at his position, Proctor is as coveted a player as there is in college football when he's become available — which has taken place on multiple occasions since the end of the 2023 season.

Out of high school, Proctor was all set to become an Iowa Hawkeye, and given that he’s from nearby Pleasant Hill (Ia.), it would've been the perfect feel-good story. That's not how this saga would unfold, though, as Proctor would flip his commitment from Iowa just two days before signing day in December of 2022, spurning the Hawkeyes in favor of the Alabama Crimson Tide.

From there, Proctor went on to start 14 games as a true freshman for the Tide at left tackle, helping pave the way for Alabama to make a College Football Playoff appearance on the heels of an upset over Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.

Then, Alabama lost legendary head coach Nick Saban to an early retirement following the 2023 season. With college football's greatest power reeling to find its next leader, Proctor elected to enter the transfer portal and try his hand elsewhere. There would be no shortage of suitors for the 6-foot-7, 360-pound sophomore, but a favorite emerged almost instantly.

All eyes were on the Hawkeyes, who were chomping at the bit to get the big fellow back on the fertile soil he grew up on.

Just a couple of days after Proctor entered the portal, the Iowa Swarm Collective had raised over $100,000—which assuredly had nothing to do with Proctor—and three days after making his portal announcement, Proctor proclaimed to the world that he was returning home.

Shortly after his commitment, Proctor accidentally spilled the beans that Iowa had stayed in contact with him during the 2023 season (an NCAA violation) and said that the maintained contact played a role in his decision to transfer to play for the Hawkeyes in 2024.

"We still have those relationships. Even after I was doing bad in the SEC and struggling, they hit me up and said we're proud of you, and you're going to get through this. That's what ultimately helped me in my decision," said Proctor to Camille Gear on WQAD.

Iowa self-reported a Level III violation for the impermissible contact, which amounts to little more than a slap on the wrist. That was thought to be the last drama related to this story.

It appears that's not what was in the cards after all.

Proctor told On3 Tuesday that he intends to re-enter the transfer portal and is expected to re-enroll at the University of Alabama, where he started all 14 games at left tackle in 2023.

Losing a player of Proctor's pedigree is not an easy pill to swallow. But losing him — after spending the last two months believing that he was going to be your starting tackle in the upcoming season — to the very school that he transferred from just a matter of weeks ago? That's got to be one tough situation for Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz.

“It is unfortunate that Kadyn has informed us of his intentions to leave our program today,” Ferentz said. “We wish him well in the future.”

Ferentz is a dinosaur, a man who has seen college football undergo its most drastic transformation since the inception of the football helmet. However, it doesn't take a coach going into his 26th season with a program to know that losing a future first-rounder at left tackle is something that they'll easily overcome.

As Scott Dochterman of The Athletic says, this is a gut punch for the Hawkeyes.

"Proctor’s likely return to Alabama is a major loss on the field for the Hawkeyes and a significant gain for the Tide," Dochterman writes. "Proctor was set to play left tackle at Iowa and anchor a veteran offensive line. He started every game for Alabama there last year.

"It’s a second major gut punch for the Hawkeyes concerning Proctor, and this one was perhaps worse than the first. Not just that Proctor won’t play at Iowa, but that he was on campus and chose to leave before spring football started."

When looking at this through a broader lens, how are college football coaches supposed to move forward with building rosters? Furthermore, how can the NIL collective know which players are coming to collect a paycheck before bouncing to the next opportunity?

In an era of college athletics where recruiting the transfer portal has become as important, and in some cases more important than the high school ranks, how do programs that lack the allure of an Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, or Texas go about recruiting players?

The reality is that the current model is absolutely unsustainable. Sure, Kadyn Proctor is the first high-profile player to transfer, collect a check, and jump ship back to where he started. But are we naive enough to believe that he'll be the last to do so if boundaries aren't put in place?

With NIL becoming a more prominent part of college athletics, recruiting is becoming less about what a program provides players mentally, emotionally, or physically.

The questions at the dinner table have turned from, "How will I know my son will be taken care of?" to "When does the first check come in, and how much will it be?"

Who better to describe the problems NIL is facing than Proctor's former coach, Nick Saban?

At an NIL roundtable on Capitol Hill earlier this month, Nick Saban talked about how NIL has ruined the principles and lessons that he's taught on a daily basis for over half a century.

“Well, all the things I believed in for all these years of coaching, 50 years of coaching, no longer exist in college athletics,” he said. "It always was about developing players; it was always about helping people be more successful in life."

Terry Saban, more colloquially known as Miss Terry, was pivotal in developing Alabama football players into more successful people and served alongside her husband in his life's work.

Miss Terry also played a major role in Alabama's recruiting prowess during Saban's 17-year tenure in Tuscaloosa. Nick and Terry Saban would have recruits over on Sunday mornings for breakfast following recruiting weekends, and Terry would play a pivotal role in convincing the mothers that Alabama was the best place for their son's development. She assured them that she would personally impact their sons' lives and take good care of them during their time in Tuscaloosa.

However, just before Saban decided to hang up the whistle, Terry asked her husband a question that contributed to his retirement.

"Why are we doing this?" Terry asked her husband just before he walked away from the game. "All they care about is how much you're going to pay them. They don't care about how you're going to develop them, which is what we've always done. So why are we doing this?"

The football coach, who'd spent decades devising solutions to constant issues, had no answer for his wife's query. A few days later, he retired.

Why are today's college football players entering the sport? If the answer is to make money, then so be it. It's a perfectly acceptable answer, and dreams of playing in the NFL are as old as the league itself, so that's always been a driving motivator. But if that is indeed the answer, what is required of players to earn that money?

Every player who has signed a major NFL contract has had to commit some time and effort into earning that money. Proctor's time invested at Iowa was less than eight weeks long and required one social media post supporting a local car dealership. Sure, he didn't see the entirety of the money that Iowa had set aside for him, but he collected a check nonetheless.

Saban also went on to share that multiple NFL coaches had shared concerns about the type of player that was coming into the professional realm after NIL became a fixture.

There is tangible evidence that the focus shifting to money rather than developing into a better player has resulted in less developed, less prepared athletes.

"My major concern [is] the combination of pay-for-play and free agency and how that impacts development," Saban said. “I can attest that I've had two NFL coaches tell me that players come to them less developed, with more entitlement and less resilience to overcome adversity. These are concerns that they have, even in their football development.

"Well, if that's true in their football development, is that true in other parts of their development, whether it's academics or personal development? Each time you transfer, you minimize your chances of graduating by about 20%, and now we have guys transferring two or three times. So, some of the goals and objectives of what we worked so hard for the last 20 years — to improve graduation rates, to improve healthcare for players, mental healthcare for players — we're going to start seeing it slide in the wrong direction because we've created an environment that does not promote personal development or that is going to create success for their future."

Let me be clear: My criticism isn't necessarily pointed at Kadyn Proctor or any of the other hundreds of athletes who have taken advantage of the best opportunities for themselves and their families. Every situation is different, and name, image, and likeness are providing truly life-changing money for families who desperately need it.

This mess doesn't fall at the feet of the players. It's not their fault, their parents' fault, or even the collectives' fault. That responsibility falls to the NCAA's negligence to have successful guardrails or guidance in place. The combination of an unregulated NIL market and transfer portal has created an NFL free agency market that is free of contractual obligations or player accountability.

Over the past several months, we've seen the NCAA go to court for various lawsuits, and time and time again, their arguments don't hold up.

Most recently, we saw Tennessee openly rebuke the outdated entity, saying it no longer has the authority needed to enforce rules, including those regarding NIL.

To an extent, the Vols are exactly right. The NCAA doesn't currently have the authority to regulate NIL opportunities, and without the help of Congress, that day likely won't come anytime soon.

In January, the NCAA Division I Council unanimously adopted a proposal to address some of the most prominent issues for student-athletes concerning NIL. The new proposal, which will go into effect on August 1, 2024, will help protect student-athletes by implementing four elements: voluntary registration, disclosure requirements, NIL education, and standardized contracts.

"The action taken by the council today, including the creation of standardized contract recommendations and voluntary registration of service providers, will give student-athletes more confidence as they seek NIL opportunities," said Morgan Wynne, a former Oklahoma State softball player and vice chair of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. "Division I student-athletes in many states are already reporting the details of their NIL agreements. Disclosing that same information to schools — which would later be shared with the NCAA for the purposes of identifying trends — will offer student-athletes the benefit of better understanding about what a reasonable agreement might be for them."

Of the four elements, the most intriguing is the introduction of standardized contracts into the NIL world. According to the NCAA release, the entity "will work with schools to provide student-athletes with robust education on contractual obligations, including developing a template contract and recommended contract terms, to ensure student-athletes and their families make informed decisions about NIL agreements."

Clear and legally binding contracts would go a long way in providing some tangible guidelines for what is and isn't permissible in the scope of NIL. Also, it's important to note the word "standardized," as that means all schools will be operating under the same understanding.

According to the D-I Council, the new standardized contract will include terms such as a description of services, a clear payment structure, a listed duration of the contract, a termination clause for breach of contract, an athlete's right to terminate the contract at the end of their NCAA eligibility, and authentication that compensation provided was not a recruiting inducement.

In addition to the four elements of the adopted proposal, the D-I Council also introduced several proposals pertaining to school and collective involvement in recruiting and NIL activities.

These proposals, which could be adopted as early as next month, would allow schools to be more involved in NIL activities and could require school-associated collectives to be subject to the same standards as the schools.

Within these proposals, schools could not directly enter into NIL deals with student-athletes but could act as agents on their behalf and help facilitate deals for them.

Another proposal is to clearly define NIL entities as “an individual, group of individuals or any other entity (for example, a collective) organized to support the athletics interest of an NCAA school or group of schools by compensating student-athletes for NIL activities on behalf of itself or another third party.”

It would also prohibit any NIL entity from contacting prospects, transfers, or individuals associated with them until after the player's letter of intent is signed and they begin classes or practice with the respective team.

In Proctor's situation, could the prohibition of contact keep him from going to Iowa in the first place? If discussions about NIL aren't even permitted until after a player's NLI is signed and they begin practice, the situation in Iowa City certainly would've looked different this week.

I have little faith that the NCAA can fix the current landscape of college athletics on its own merit, and the majority of my judgment says that the proposals, while a good step, won't be enough to fix everything.

While the conversation around Kadyn Proctor is the big news this week, there's a good chance that there are more cases like this one lying dormant until the post-spring transfer portal window opens.

If Josh Pate is to be taken at his word, Proctor's saga isn't even "top three" in the wildest portal stories he's heard this week.

Is "utter chaos" coming in April? There are many folks tied into the pulse of major programs across the country who seem to suggest that is exactly what's coming.

Imagine a world where the Kadyn Proctor situation happens in another high-profile situation. What if Dante Moore collected his bag at Oregon and went back to UCLA after spring ball? What if LT Overton left Alabama after spending a few months in Tuscaloosa to go back to College Station?

While that’s obviously nothing more than a hypothetical, the reality is that high-profile transfers like Proctor carry a ton of weight and publicity, and sometimes that's what it takes to get the wheels in motion for real changes to be made.

"In the big picture, this situation could jumpstart discussions at the national level about collective bargaining and contractual obligations," Dochterman writes of Proctor's situation. "Proctor received payment through The Swarm Collective and promoted one car dealership on social media but had yet to practice with the team."

What if this situation, and others like it, is what is needed to make real, impactful changes?

The current landscape and rule set that NIL and the transfer portal operate under give players all the leverage without any sort of responsibility or accountability. With no collective bargaining agreement or contracts in place, players are free to do what they want.

However, implementing a CBA would solve a plethora of issues for the NCAA, its member universities, and the student-athletes who play for them. If student-athletes were allowed to bargain collectively, they could have an opinion and an impact on some of the rules that the NCAA is continually battling in court.

Allowing athletes to have their voices heard and felt regarding transfer rules, NIL rules, and eligibility rules would have a profound impact on the number of cases against the NCAA.

When an issue arises that the players agreed to, the courts can review the agreement and dismiss the issue. Having both parties heard in the discussions that really matter is vitally important to the preservation of college football and college athletics as a whole.

Will it be the NCAA be willing to part with its outdated perspective on this matter to save its skin? I find it highly unlikely, but perhaps that's what the future looks like when the conferences, specifically the Big Ten and SEC, become the final word in the sport. The wheels are already in motion on that, too, after the two entities created an advisory group in February. In most cases, I would agree that the creation of a group like this will amount to little in the grand scheme of things.

But in this case, things are a bit different. The NCAA is paralyzed by a constant barrage of legal action, and because of that, it lacks any semblance of control. This has left the powers that be with no way to manage college athletics, and the timing of this new group feels significant.

The future of college football depends on how situations like Kadyn Proctor's are handled, as every reaction, or lack thereof, sets a precedent for the future. If nothing comes of Proctor's decision to transfer, collect, and jump ship in a matter of weeks, there will be more who follow. It's only a matter of time.

With college athletics in total flux, the time for action is now—not August.

The Kadyn Proctor situation will be a textbook example of either the moment that decision-makers said, "enough is enough," or the moment when everything really went off the rails.

Not an OUInsider.com premium member? Sign up today to get loads of inside information on Oklahoma football, basketball and recruiting, all for just a few dollars a month. Click HERE to get started!