The current era of College Football is clearly broken as NIL and the Transfer Portal have changed everything about the sport. Part of the reason the House Settlement needed to take place was because of the fact that the way players are being recruited goes against what NIL was truly supposed to do for athletes.
As the transfer portal has given programs a new way to build their rosters, the grey areas in College Football have grown. Over the past several years, College Coaches have declared that their players were being tampered with but, there wasn't truly a course of action until this Winter.
This Winter, Wisconsin Defensive Back Xavier Lucas transferred to Miami without entering the transfer portal as it had already closed. The key issue was the fact that Lucas had signed a revenue sharing agreement with Wisconsin which served as a contract. Lucas couldn't enter the transfer portal to attend Miami as he had signed the agreement setting off a massive dispute.
Luke Fickell and his staff have had enough of the tampering and have set a new precedent as Ross Dellenger reports that Wisconsin has filed a lawsuit against the Hurricanes for tampering with and eventually poaching Lucas who was under contract at Wisconsin.
NEWS: In a landmark moment in college sports, the University of Wisconsin has filed a lawsuit against Miami for tampering, and eventually poaching, a college football player under contract (Xavier Lucas), per documents obtained by @YahooSports.https://t.co/KVYafcAdm5
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) June 20, 2025
College Football programs are now on notice with Wisconsin Vs Miami
This lawsuit by the University of Wisconsin may end up changing the entire landscape of recruiting in the transfer portal. As this Lawsuit is filed, coaches are now put on notice that if they tamper with a player who's under contract, they could face legal action and an NCAA investigation. Depending how the lawsuit plays out, we could start to see some serious changes to the ways in which coaches approach the transfer portal.
For years stories have been told about agents shopping their athletes to coaches and programs in order to land a massive deal for their client. Now as legal action is being brought to Miami for tampering and playing in the grey area, coaches may just wait until a player truly enters the transfer portal rather than working a deal out before hand.
A massive piece of this lawsuit is the recently approved House Settlement which allowed programs to start paying athletes directly. Because Lucas signed a revenue sharing contract with the Badgers, they're the ones being "harmed" by the transfer compared to in the past where collectives would have to file a lawsuit.
This monumental moment in College Football now becomes a massive storyline to follow especially if the case truly makes it to court. The first warning shot has been fired in College Football and more likely than not, it'll have a massive impact on this "NIL and Transfer Portal" era.