Cam Spencer’s transfer leads to Rutgers-aligned collective to speak out on state of NIL

Originally posted on The NIL Deal | By Egan Adler | Last updated 5/26/23

The introduction of NIL in college athletics has amplified the impact of the transfer portal along with the ability for universities to build continuity by convincing top talent to stay.

At Rutgers, the failure to keep up with NIL leading-schools became apparent when leading scorer Cam Spencer announced his decision to enter the transfer portal.

His reason: a bigger paycheck.

Numerous sources confirmed to NJ.com that the sharpshooting guard left the Scarlet Knights for an NIL package that he couldn’t refuse. While his next stop is still unclear what we do know is that a Power 5 school like Rutgers couldn’t offer enough to convince the star player to stay.

Rutgers graduate transfer guard Cam Spencer is a player that I think Miami fans should keep an eye on.

Spencer averaged 13.2 points (44/43/89 shooting splits), 3.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game last season.

He's an excellent spot-up and movement shooter. Also a very good… pic.twitter.com/2EDv8rtYBA
— Luke Chaney (@luke_chaney4) May 26, 2023

In an interview with NJ.com, Joe Newman, the president of Rutgers-focused collective Knights of the Raritan, publicly announced what it would financially take for Rutgers to compete for recruits and transfers while also retaining their own players.

The price tag: $10 million dollars. With $6-7 million put into football, another $2 million for basketball and the rest allocated to the remaining sports. Newman believes this is the requirement for Rutgers athletics to be successful.

For Rutgers and many other universities across the country the hard truth of their messy NIL structures has been demonstrated through the transfers of Spencer, Hunter Dickinson from Michigan and many other top players skipping town for a larger purse.

Nevertheless, it is up to Rutgers and institutions alike to keep up with the times. As Newman pointed out with his $10 million NIL budget expectation, players will continue to leave for more money. It is in the hands of the university whether or not they believe investing in NIL is worth it.

This article first appeared on The NIL Deal and was syndicated with permission.

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