Steady Droppin Dimes – NIL on National Signing Day: Is it all about the highest bidder now?

Every week, former Michigan great, NFL 1st round pick, 10-year pro, and current Wayne State head football coach Tyrone Wheatley, former Michigan point guard Daniel Horton, and I come together on Steady Droppin’ Dimes, a sports show featuring real talk, and real views, from three real dudes. College football, college basketball, NFL, and NBA topics drive much of the debate, but discussion of other sports will enter the fray some days as well. Non-sports topics aren’t off limits, and neither are celebrity guests.

On the latest episode of Steady Droppin Dimes, the crew discusses the impact of NIL on National Signing Day. They also tackle the question of which of the new college football hires has the best odds of success, and which will crash and burn. Lastly, they revisit the question of which is the best team in college basketball.

The contents and full episode notes appear below.

Contents and Episode Notes

00:00 – Opening, Holiday Catch-Up & Steady Dropping Dimes Crew

• Sam opens another edition of Steady Dropping Dimes, reintroducing the weekly show and its Golden Limo sponsorship
• He brings in the full crew, starting with Tyrone Wheatley, whom he still calls the best athlete he’s ever seen with his own eyes
• Tyrone shares he played last episode sick and reveals he actually had pneumonia but “toted the mail” anyway
• Sam jokes about producer Lance upgrading the show with color-coded scripts and name tags on screen
• Daniel Horton checks in, saying he barely made it to the show, and chat jokes about “in this NIL era, we steady dropping bags,” foreshadowing later NIL talk

05:22 – Daniel Flips: Michigan Is the Best Team in the Country

• Sam explains fans have been asking what’s up with Daniel, since Daniel wasn’t immediately crowning Michigan as the best team
• Daniel says at first everyone was just being “Michigan homers,” and he prides himself on not being a homer, even as an alum
• He now fully agrees Michigan is the best team in the country and playing the best basketball, especially on the defensive end
• Vegas convinced him: if they defend with that energy, effort, passion, and togetherness, he’ll “stand on the table” for this team
• Daniel stresses that shots won’t always fall or look pretty, but defense, effort, and love for what you’re doing translate in any game, in any sport

10:32 – Aday Mara’s Development, Consistency Questions & Dusty’s Roster Vision

• Sam shifts to the three-big frontcourt, saying Merez has surged lately and he didn’t expect Aday Mara to be this fluid at 7’3″
• He wonders how Mara will handle Big Ten physicality—opponents getting into his body, banging him, and forcing him to prove he can still rebound and score
• Sam notes Yax looks ready to bring it nightly, but he’s unsure whether Mara can sustain high-level play game-to-game after an early stretch where he looked like a lottery pick, then disappeared
• Daniel admits he was skeptical when Mara transferred after a disappointing UCLA stint, but says Mara’s progress this quickly is encouraging for his future
• He explains the hardest jump is from “not very good” to “serviceable/good,” and Mara seems to have cleared that; now it’s about experience and building consistency to become an all-conference-level player in Dusty’s system

13:34 – Transfer Fit, AJ Storr Example & Coach Responsibility

• Sam praises Dusty May’s ability to evaluate cultural fit in the transfer portal, calling it an elite skill in this era
• He contrasts Dusty’s approach with Chris Beard’s situation at Ole Miss, where Beard publicly snapped about effort at AJ Storr—who has now been at four schools in four years
• Sam says Beard was really mad at Storr for being who he has always been, pointing out Storr’s identity and track record were clear when they recruited him
• Tyrone says it’s on the coach and staff to know who they are bringing in and how each piece fits a defined role in the “11:30 p.m. staff room board” vision
• He notes great teams come from players majoring in their roles—big or small—and from coaches building rosters around those roles instead of blaming players later for being themselves

18:28 – Winning in the Margins, Toughness & Three-Big Philosophy

• Tyrone recalls his high school coach saying, “We’re going to win in the margins,” which meant two weeks of practice without a basketball focused on effort plays
• He sees Michigan’s current team doing exactly that: winning in the margins with turnovers forced, defense, pace, hype, rebounding, and extra effort that eventually turn into points
• He jokes that if his shot isn’t falling, he’ll “turn into Moses Malone,” attacking the offensive glass to keep impacting the game
• Sam contrasts John Beilein’s instinct—play Yax at the four—with Dusty’s willingness to lean into a three-big lineup, noting both views have logic but Dusty is the one staying up at midnight designing this vision
• Tyrone says different coaches prioritize different building blocks—some start with a big, some with a scorer—but Dusty’s big-heavy, physical, connected approach is working because the whole group fits the identity

21:18 – Dusty’s Transfer Strategy and Quick Chemistry in the Portal Era

• Sam circles back to Dusty’s eye for portal fits, saying he targets guys who fit Michigan’s culture first, then figures out how they fit on the court second
• Daniel points out that of the transfers, Yax was really the only one who had significant prior success; others like Elliott, Mara, and Namari came in as underused or underachieving pieces
• He credits Dusty for grabbing talented but hungry players who needed a stage and were motivated to prove they’re better than their previous roles showed
• Daniel says that in the old days, you built chemistry over 3–4 years; now, you must build it in one or two, and buy-in is easier when guys see this as a major or last chance
• He believes as long as Dusty keeps recruiting that mix of talent and hunger, Michigan can keep creating quick, genuine chemistry in modern one- and two-year windows

24:17 – Coaching Carousel Talk: Who Got It Right and Who Got It Wrong?

• Sam switches to college football, asking Daniel which recent coaching hires got it most right and most wrong
• Daniel surprisingly picks LSU for both: he sees Lane Kiffin as a home run given LSU’s resources and track record, but says the handling of the change from Brian Kelly was messy
• He also likes Jon Sumrall’s move to Florida (after tracking him at Tulane), noting his strong ties and upside as a head coach
• For “most wrong,” Daniel bluntly says it’s Penn State, because they fired their coach early yet still don’t have a replacement while other programs moved quickly
• Tyrone jokes that Crumble Cookie dropped a big NIL “dime” to help keep a coach put, illustrating how off-field money factors into these decisions too

28:02 – Lane at LSU, Complementary Football & Culture Fits

• Sam pushes back on the assumption that Kiffin will definitely win a national title at LSU, pointing out Lane has never truly “won anything big” at the highest level
• Tyrone counters that Lane’s time under Nick Saban taught him a lot, and he’ll build elite staffs and surround himself with the right people, which is how you win
• Daniel says Lane has rehabilitated his image since the Tennessee/USC days and that his confident, offensive-minded personality matches what LSU fans want more than Brian Kelly’s did
• Sam agrees LSU’s offense will be electric but questions whether Lane can sustain the kind of complementary football and elite defense required to win championships in the SEC
• They note Lane kept DC Blake Baker and has a massive NIL budget, but Tyrone warns the real challenge is using that money on the right players instead of simply stockpiling “convicts” with talent

32:58 – Michigan State, Pat Fitzgerald & Sparty’s Ceiling

• Sam pivots to a surprise take: he thinks Michigan State got it “most right” by hiring Pat Fitzgerald and jokes that MSU owes him money for saying months ago Fitz would rehabilitate them
• He paints a realistic model: at Northwestern, Fitzgerald accepted that they wouldn’t compete every year but would scrap for a few seasons and then build toward senior-heavy, competitive years every third or fourth season
• That cyclical, blue-collar approach fits Michigan State more than chasing the same recruits as Michigan and Ohio State, which Sam says “just isn’t them”
• Daniel laughs that Sam is diabolical, basically sentencing MSU to seven wins a year and one win over Michigan every five years and calling that their ceiling
• Sam leans into the bit, saying he’s giving Spartans a more honest reality than they want: they’re the “bootleg Lion-O,” not the real powerhouse, but Fitzgerald can make them respectable and occasionally dangerous

39:55 – Penn State Expectations, Fit, and the Stress of Big Jobs

• Sam and Tyrone agree LSU and Penn State both show how fanbases overestimate how “sexy” their jobs are compared to the stress and expectations
• Tyrone says some jobs are actually unattractive behind the scenes—LSU’s Bayou grind and Penn State’s national-title expectations without SEC-level resources limit the candidate pool
• He believes James Franklin got stale but also notes seven wins won’t cut it at Penn State, and coaches are now scrutinizing whether the financial and support package matches the stress level
• They argue that firing a coach isn’t a magic reset button—schools often discover the market isn’t beating down their door the way fans imagined
• Tyrone suggests Penn State might be best served hiring the interim (Terry Smith/Kenny W.), someone who already knows the realities, rather than chasing a fantasy candidate

46:17 – Savion Hiter, NIL Ambassadors & Setting Up the Signing Day Conversation

• Sam says they’d be remiss not to talk about National Signing Day and highlights No. 1 running back Savion Hiter signing with Michigan
• Listeners have asked for a weekly Hiter film breakdown from Tyrone, but Sam wants to give Tyrone time to watch tape before putting him on the spot
• He frames today’s focus as NIL’s impact on Signing Day itself, not just recruiting months beforehand
• Sam describes the day as “almost like day trading,” with schools sliding in last minute with extra $200–300K just as kids are ready to sign
• He stresses that for many families, that amount of money is life-altering, and taking time to consider it is not a character flaw—it’s a real-life decision

53:58 – NIL on Signing Day: Day-Trading Offers, Agents & Tough Choices

• Sam says some programs still take a “This is Michigan, this is the offer, take it or leave it” stance that implicitly shames families for considering better financial deals
• He has a major problem with using “character” language against kids—especially those from modest backgrounds—who weigh a significantly higher NIL number
• Sam explains another layer: agents now sit between players and schools, some being fully certified NFL agents already eyeing future pro commissions
• He lays out a hypothetical: a recruit committed to Michigan is offered $300K more by Penn State; the player wants Michigan, asks if Michigan can come up some, but his agent keeps pressuring him to take the higher Penn State offer
• Tyrone says this creates a painful squeeze: schools can be rigid and pompous on one side, agents self-interested on the other, and the kid in the middle just wants to make the right choice for school and family

59:20 – Negotiation, Family Stories & Why Money Doesn’t Equal Bad Character

• Tyrone’s wife once commented, “This is what they chose,” meaning once NIL got opened, the chaos was inevitable; you can’t un-open the box
• He argues players don’t actually need agents for most NIL agreements and wonders why someone should get 3–5% of money they didn’t earn on the field
• Tyrone calls much of the current agent behavior predatory and believes there should be a “true dead period” around signing day with total radio silence from schools
• He emphasizes that for many families, $300K represents “300,000 opportunities”—to pay off a mortgage, fix a car, avoid foreclosure, or get stability, not greed
• Tyrone shares a personal story of his grandmother turning down an illegal under-the-table offer back in the day; if the same money were legal NIL today, he’d absolutely negotiate hard to take care of her without that being a “character issue”

1:07:25 – Can NIL Be Regulated? Agents, Salary Sheets & Player Power

• Sam floats the idea that college football should proactively regulate NIL agents—perhaps through a player association or new legal framework—so families have access to vetted, accredited representatives
• Tyrone likes the idea in theory but asks who would regulate it, since the NCAA and schools both want to avoid added legal liability
• He suggests an alternative: a public “salary sheet” by position, similar to NFL structures, where schools must declare NIL ranges so players can see going rates without middlemen
• That kind of transparency would let a recruit compare three schools on signing day, open negotiations at 2:00 p.m., decide by 3:00, and skip paying an agent to shuttle numbers back and forth
• Both acknowledge agents can provide knowledge, but in the current unregulated environment too many chase quick fees and push kids toward the highest bid rather than the best overall decision for the player

1:14:09 – From Fax Machines to NIL Chaos, Brady Marchese vs. Zion & Closing

• Tyrone reminisces about the old signing-day stress being about NLIs arriving by fax and coaches camping at houses to flip kids, contrasting that with today’s last-minute NIL calls
• Sam says signing day used to be a celebration where coaches put their feet up; now it’s the most stressful day of the year, with staff sweating over possible late flips
• They joke about coaches like Fran Brown publicly threatening retaliation against those who try to flip their commits, hinting at how emotional the new market has become
• Sam closes by comparing WR Brady Marchese and Zion Robinson: Brady is a 6-1 burner and precision route runner who can return kicks and work the slot, while Zion is a longer 6-3 high-jumper type on the outside
• He says Brady’s top-end speed and versatility make him a great complement to Travis Johnson and Jamar Browder, fitting a different profile than Zion and rounding out the receiver room
• Sam wraps the episode thanking Golden Limo, the Dimes crew, and the audience, joking that he’s missing the Lions game for them and promising to be back next week with more film and NIL talk

1:18:22 – End of show

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