The last month, things have been intense in the recruitment of Bryce Underwood between LSU and Michigan. The Wolverines got together and built a war chest of NIL money with a reported NIL offer to Bryce Underwood worth $10.5 Million. LSU fans assumed that the Tigers had a very competitive offer but, not nearly as much as Michigan's offer.
The Tigers were never going to be the highest bidder in this recruitment or in most recruitments but, they needed to compete. According to On3, and the Advocate, LSU's offer wasn't even close which likely played a massive factor in his decision to flip.
Multiple sources tell @On3sports that contracts from LSU and Michigan were reviewed in recent weeks.
— On3 NIL (@On3NIL) November 22, 2024
On Thursday night, Bryce Underwood flipped to Michigan. Sources confirm LSU's offer sat around $1.5 million. The Advocate first.
Intel via @PeteNakos_: https://t.co/w4W4Y7uDlm pic.twitter.com/pmTIWCcfqT
The Tigers offer ended up being $1.5 Million over one year which is far below what anyone would've expected as On3 and other recruiting sites projected his package would be nearly $5 million. Now LSU likely would've handled Underwood's NIL on a year by year basis but, when other schools are offering much more its hard to turn that security down.
In this era of College Football LSU is going to have to find a way to compete with the bigger schools on the NIL front. The name of the game is now paying players and if LSU can't compete on that front its going to be hard to compete for National Championships.
This gives LSU added funds to spend elsewhere
If LSU was truly accounting for spending $1.5 million on Bryce Underwood, the Tigers now have extra money to spend. The Tigers could look to use that money to make a late run at one of the quarterbacks in this class or in the 2026 recruiting class. LSU can also look toward the transfer portal to secure a bridge quarterback or an instant starter. Where LSU should really use the money is to get Jahkeem Stewart in this class and to keep the rest of this defensive class on board.