Former Lions quarterback Charlie Batch has made Caleb Williams, a top college transfer, a big offer to attend his alma mater.
The ability of college athletes to make money via NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deals is literally changing the recruiting game, including transfers, as some schools can offer opportunities other schools just can’t. But don’t tell that to Charlie Batch.
On Monday, Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams announced he would enter the NCAA transfer portal and on Wednesday he officially did so. A return to Norman is not out of the question, as Williams’ scholarship is not yet canceled, but new coach Brent Venables has already flipped former UCF quarterback Dillion Gabriel to Oklahoma from UCLA as a contingency plan.
In terms of possible landing spots for Williams, Georgia, USC and UCLA stand as the top spots right now. But that didn’t stop Batch from going all in.
Charlie Batch makes Caleb Williams a big NIL offer
Batch went to Eastern Michigan before embarking on a decade-plus long NFL career with the Lions and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’s since become a speaker and philanthropist, and he just recently was named Senior Vice President of Strategic Investments at CapStone Holdings. Where an entity called GameAbove Capital comes into play is unclear, but Twitter has offered some hints (credible or otherwise).
To be fair, Eastern Michigan has had their top two quarterbacks from this past season (Ben Bryant, Preston Hutchinson) enter the transfer portal themselves. So looking to the transfer portal to add someone is certainly viable, and the path to add anyone with experience. How much outward help coach Chris Creighton wants from an alum with some name recognition and possibly some financial backing is unknown, let alone how such an offer as an enticement from Batch might push the boundaries of even loosened NIL rules.
To say there’s a million to one chance Williams even considers Eastern Michigan, let alone actually goes there, might be kind. But Batch had a shot he figured he could shoot within NIL rules, and he has shot it by offering Williams $1 million to go to school in Ypsilanti.