Pro Football Hall of Famer calls out NCAA football: ‘I have no sympathy for them.’

He played in a different era and, had NIL existed when he did, the amount of money Kellen Winslow would have made would ... just go with “obscene.”

He is 66 now, and his place in the history of the game is as secure as the uprights on every field.

While he doesn’t have the patience to watch a football game from beginning to end, Winslow never runs from expressing his thoughts on it.

This includes the myth/rumor that NCAA football is in serious trouble.

“The game has changed in many ways for the better. There is nothing wrong with student athletes having more rights and sharing in the wealth that is college football,” Winslow said Friday morning in a phone interview.

“But the NCAA, the college presidents, the athletic directors and the coaches have no one to blame but themselves. They could have solved this years ago but they put it off; as the money grew they didn’t have a plan. The reason college football is where it is today is mismanagement.”

Winslow remains active with former players, specifically the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, which helps retired NFL players who are dealing the affects from their playing career. As such, he is well aware on the state of football.

On Monday night in Houston, the 2023 college season will conclude with the national title game between No. 1 Michigan and No. 2 Washington. Expect a sellout crowd with the “cheapest” ticket on the secondary market going for about $740.

Over the last two years college sports, and specifically college football, have experienced change that has left us all speculating how this model can possibly endure. Just know this, it’s not stopping.

“I understand, to a point, when you are in a dominant position and control everything, it’s hard to give up control; let’s just be real about it,” Winslow said of the college football power structure that for years fought so hard to retain the amateur state of the sport.

“That’s why college coaches go to the pro game and they don’t do very well. You have to manage those situations; you can’t just say say, ‘Do this!’ Now, as far as their roster (in the college game), they’re going to have to play fantasy football now every single day.

“I have no sympathy for them.”

Nor should anyone else.

Even if it is a fine mess.

Whereas players previously had to sit out a season during the transfer process between schools, there are now no such limitations thanks to the creation of a transfer portal that functions like free agency.

Good players from good programs are putting their name in the transfer portal the moment the season ends, or before.

Georgia defensive lineman Bear Alexander left Athens after a solid freshman season for USC in 2022 because ... what looked like cash. This week, Quinshon Judkins, one of the top running backs in the country in his first two years at Ole Miss, entered the portal.

Then there is the pool of players who bounce all over the place in search of playing time.

Quarterback JT Daniels played two seasons at USC (2018, ‘19), two seasons at Georgia (‘20, ‘21), one season at West Virginia (‘22), and the ‘23 season at Rice.

Oklahoma State quarterback Alan Bowman was recently granted a seventh year of eligibility for the 2024 season. His college career began in 2018 at Texas Tech, when the head coach was Kliff Kingsbury. In between Bowman’s time at Tech and OSU, he played at Michigan where he earned his master’s degree in business.

Washington Huskies quarterback Michael Penix is in his sixth year of NCAA football, and at 24 is two years older than the starting quarterback of the Houston Texans, C.J. Stroud.

And we still have not mentioned conference realignment/consolidation, NIL, collectives, or the play-for-pay world that exists in the NCAA football. The same for “opting out” of bowl seasons.

“College football changed on a lie,” former Texas A&M football coach Jimbo Fisher said this week on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast. It is Jimbo’s first public comments since he was fired Nov. 12.

Jimbo’s assertion is that the dollar figures associated with NIL deals in college football players are grossly exaggerated, and fabrications of rumors that fans and media accept as gospel because, why not?

Even if these numbers are inflated, college players are getting paid.

“Think if every contract in the NFL right now was negotiable. It is unbelievable,” Fisher said. “And people are tampering with players. College football right now, it needs a commissioner. And we need to do this thing the right way.”

All of this free-for-all, open-market competition has led a lot of fans feeling like this will collapse because of greed.

It may. Don’t expect it to in your lifetime.

Because all of this change has had zero effect on us watching football.

Sportico data reporter Lev Akabas compiled a list of the 100 most-watched TV shows of 2023; 82 were football games carried by broadcast exclusive TV networks. Most of those were NFL games, but millions and millions of people remain loyal to watching college football on a screen or in person.

Attendance at FBS games in 2023 was robust, and saw an increase. TV ratings for the big games, notably Michigan v. Ohio State, continue to serve the purposes to the major network that pay tens of millions for the rights to carry them.

Other than about 20 universities, college football remains the single most effective recruiter and marketing tool in higher education.

On Monday night during the title game, in a full circle moment, the video game company that unintentionally can be “blamed” for triggering so much of this change, Electronic Arts, is expected to make a significant announcement for the return of its popular game, “EA Sports College Football.”

Everyone involved agrees that big time college football is a merry-go-round of madness, but you’ll notice more people want on it than they do stop it.

GRIDIRON GREATS ASSISTANCE FUND Promotion

The “Pass the Pigskin” Sweepstakes can be found at www.PorkRindAppreciationDay.com to enter the contest where a fan can win $5,000, and a 15-month supply of pork rinds; 15 football booster clubs and charities will win pork rinds to sell in their concession stands when fans nominate them on the PorkRindAppreciationDay.com.