Today’s day and age of college football sees some seriously insane figures being thrown around in the way of the transfer portal to entice players to leave their schools and attend another, but as each year goes by, those numbers just keep going up.
The latest example is being seen in Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson, who entered the NFL draft last week after being seen as someone with a real decision to make. Simpson could have come back to school, or many also wondered whether or not he could try to hit the open market in the portal and cash a huge check to be a starter somewhere other than Alabama for a year.
His announcement that he was declaring for the draft though has apparently not deterred rival schools from calling on him to try to enter the portal anyway however. According to a story from AL.com’s Nick Kelly, Simpson is being offered as much as $6.5 million to take his name out of the draft and return to college, this time wearing a different uniform.
Alabama QB Ty Simpson continues to receive NIL offers from Power Four programs hoping to keep him in college for 2026, per @aldotcom.
Three SEC schools have offered at least $4M, and another program has gone has high as $6.5 million. pic.twitter.com/buRK6TRZ7Z
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) January 12, 2026
Though the school offering $6.5 million is not known for certain, some have speculated the Miami Hurricanes, who are in the national title game after pulling Carson Beck out of the portal from Georgia a year ago also for a huge pile of cash.
According to Kelly, in addition to the $6.5 million, at least three SEC schools have extended offers in the range of $4 million, bringing into perspective just how desperate teams are for experienced quarterback play in the portal. Given the fact that each signal caller who was playing in this past weekend’s College Football Playoff semifinal came to their respective schools via the portal, perhaps they may be onto something.
By all indications, Simpson is not budging from his initial pledge to the NFL draft. During a video he released upon breaking the news, he talked about how much his Alabama legacy means to him and how he would not trade it for anything.
“I’m proud to be a part of this legacy, to have chosen to be where my feet are, to have learned you can’t be anybody but yourself and to strive to be the best version of yourself every single day,” he said in the video. “There was temptation along the way, temptation to find an easier path. But when you choose Alabama football, there’s a responsibility and a pride that comes with it. It’s something you feel deep down. It’s not a choice to stay at Alabama. You just are Alabama, or you’re not.”
Regardless, if schools are offering him this kind of money, this is absolutely a story worth monitoring.
