https://www.ropesgray.com/en/insights/alerts/2025/06/house-v-ncaa-settlement-approved-era-of-direct-payments-to-college-athletes-begins
It's obviously going to be determined on a case-by-case basis, but the basic question is whether the value is comparable to the NIL value of someone that is not a current or prospective student athlete at the university.
The reason why there is a huge market for “fake NIL” is because the schools have artificially limited the amount the players are able to be paid to the House settlement amount. It’s certainly not their corporate NIL value, but it is their market value in college football. Schools/collectives are trying to find ways to pay the players their market value in other ways, because the rules prevent them from doing it directly.
I think the last part of your statement is the money quote. My guess is that some schools are promising players huge NIL payments that are not commiserate with their fair market value, while other schools are suggesting that they could get legit promotional NIL deals. The former are either banking on being able to get around Deloitte in some way or banking on getting the players on campus before the shit hits the fan.
Or maybe civilly creepy?
I think you are probably right about him not getting picked up, but I actually think the 10 game suspension makes it slightly more likely that he gets picked up later in the season by a team that is struggling at the kicker position. At least now, the team can treat it like he served his time.
According to this AAS article, Texas plans to offer 45 scholarships in Women's track, but only 35 in men's track. https://www.statesman.com/story/sports/college/longhorns/2025/02/27/texas-announces-plan-to-add-200-scholarships-after-ncaa-settlement/80584799007/
According to this article, A&M plans to offer "45 full or partial scholarships per program, which matches the new roster limit enforced by the House settlement." https://www.kbtx.com/2025/06/16/texas-am-track-will-defend-national-title-with-more-than-30-additional-scholarships/
Unless A&M is going to load up on partial scholarships and all of ours are full scholarships, it seems like we are going to be at a disadvantage in Men's T&F.