Mario Cristobal calls NIL in college football ‘as far away from structure’ as could be

The idea of $40 million rosters in college football came about again this offseason when Alabama general manager Courtney Morgan told Front Office Sports that’s what he sees national title-contending teams spending. However, Indiana coach Curt Cignetti pushed back on that notion and said via social media the Hoosiers didn’t spend “close” to that amount last year.

Mario Cristobal said he sees the rumors and reporting about what teams are spending. There’s plenty of noise, though, which is why he’s not quite sure of roster costs around college football.

“I don’t know what the numbers are,” Cristobal said. “I don’t know what’s real, I don’t know what’s fake. There’s so many reports, there’s social media, there’s 14,780 shows and podcasts and whatnot. It’s like information overflow and you just don’t know what’s real or what’s not.”

Last season, Miami’s roster cost around $30 million as the Hurricanes made a run to the national title game, On3 previously reported. This offseason, the program then made a splash by landing quarterback Darian Mensah out of the transfer portal after a legal dispute with Duke came to an end. Mensah came up as one likely top earners this coming season among 14 general managers who spoke with On3’s Pete Nakos.