NIL Millions, Youth Teams & The Truth About Football Development

Show: Football 360 — The Fastest 48 Minutes of Football Talk on the Planet
Hosts: JP Rock & Matt Biermann
Sponsors:

• Game Plan Strategies — Navigate your football future with real answers for parents & players

  • 🌐 gpsfootball.org

• GetOFFRD — The recruiting CRM & messaging tool for families

  • 🌐 getoffrd.com 

Where to Listen/Watch:

• YouTube & X: @Football360Show

• Website: Football360show.com

• Podcast: Apple & Spotify

• Radio: Saturdays, 11 a.m. — 590 AM KLIS (Lou Info), LouInfo.com

---

🎙 Episode Summary

It’s the busiest football time of the year—state championships, the early signing period, coaching changes, and NIL money flying everywhere.

JP and Matt break down how multi-million dollar NIL deals for quarterbacks are warping the landscape, what that really means for recruiting, and why the smartest move for most kids is not chasing the hype, but chasing development.

They then answer a listener question on how to pick a youth football team, dig into the pros and cons of travel/all-star teams vs local feeder programs, and explain why movement skills and coaching matter more than trophies and out-of-state trips.

Finally, they talk about middle school “phenoms”, who actually pans out, how often the “best kid in 8th grade” is still the best in college, and why speed + continued growth beat early dominance. They wrap with a candid look at coaching: head coaches as CEOs, assistants doing the heavy lifting, and why instability is baked into the college game.

---

🔑 Key Topics

1. NIL Money & QB Market Reality

• Concrete NIL numbers being thrown at college QBs (multi-million per year).

• How revenue-share dollars are divided:

  • ~10–18% of the pool going to quarterbacks.

  • QB1, QB2, QB3, QB4 each “slotted” at different pay levels.

• Why the three best-paying jobs in football are:

  1. Quarterback

  2. Rush the quarterback

  3. Protect the quarterback

• Takeaway for athletes:

  If you can hoop and you’re 6'2"–6'6" but not high-major in basketball, you need to give those premium football positions a real look.

---

2. How to Pick a Youth Football Team (Listener Question)

Question: How do you pick the right youth team when some promise big out-of-state travel and others stay local?

JP & Matt’s framework:

• Football is not a sport you need to travel for at the youth level.

• Travel/all-star teams:

  • Often built around a few physically advanced kids (age/biological maturity advantage).

  • Games vs out-of-state teams frequently get cancelled.

  • Mostly about experience & hype, not long-term development.

• Local feeder leagues (Junior GAC, Rockwood, etc.):

  • Consistent schedules, predictable opponents.

  • Kids usually playing within their high school system and schemes.

  • Have quietly produced just as many (or more) D1 and college players.

• What REALLY matters:

  • Coaching quality — are they actually teaching, or just rolling the ball out?

  • Development over weekend wins — is your kid getting better, or just chasing medals?

  • Movement training & athletic base from ages ~7–15:

    • Speed, balance, coordination, change of direction

    • Not just “play calls” and trick plays

---

3. Youth vs High School vs College: When Does It Matter?

• Middle school is the starting line, not the finish line.

• JP’s scouting lens:

  • Starts watching guys in middle school, but tracks them through high school to see:

    • Do they keep growing?

    • Are they still differentiators at 16–17?

• Examples:

  • Rare guys who were dominant in middle school, high school AND college (e.g. Blaine Gabbert, Brandon Sheperd).

  • Others who were unstoppable as 8th graders but never grew or never separated later.

• Big takeaways:

  • Don’t panic if you’re not the middle school superstar.

  • Don’t relax if you are the middle school superstar.

  • You must keep building, not just “keep working.” Build on each year.

---

4. Choosing the Right High School (Same Logic as Youth)

• Parallels between picking a youth team and picking a high school:

  • Don’t confuse winning programs with development pipelines.

  • At big pipeline schools, someone’s not playing until they’re a junior/senior.

• For recruiting, especially at QB:

  • Playing time by sophomore year is huge.

  • Only playing as a senior is almost a kiss of death for recruiting.

• The reality:

  • You can win rings, play on a state power, and still never get recruited.

  • You may end up just being “the guy who played with that star,” instead of being a recruit yourself.

• Core question for parents:

  Is this program the best fit for my kid’s development and playing time, or just the best logo?

---

5. Development > Hype: What Parents Should Actually Prioritize

• From ages 7–15:

  • Prioritize movement, speed, and athleticism, not just more plays & more tournaments.

  • “Recruit speed. If not speed, recruit length. If not length, recruit height.”

• Why all-star tournaments and youth “national champs” rarely matter for recruiting:

  • College coaches don’t care what you did in 5th–8th grade.

  • They care what you are at 16–18: size, speed, film, and projection.

• Good questions to ask:

  • Is my child learning real football and real movement patterns?

  • Are we building a body and skill set that will translate at 16–18, not just 10–12?

---

6. Coaching Changes & the Business Side of College Football

• Head coaches today are more CEOs than hands-on position coaches.

• The real day-to-day:

  • Assistants and support staff are the ones turning off the lights at night.

  • Players often have their deepest relationships with position coaches, not the head man.

• Why there’s so much instability:

  • Billion-dollar enterprises being run by people whose only “training” is climbing the assistant-coach ladder.

  • No formal leadership/dev programs like corporate America.

  • Tribal knowledge, politics, and pressure to “win now” drive constant churn.