The Real Cost of College Football’s New Reality

There’s a real cost to doing business in today’s version of college football, and it isn’t just measured in dollars, NIL collectives, or transfer portal rankings. Sometimes the cost is losing really good young men who did everything right, waited their turn, and still found themselves squeezed out by the realities of the sport.

This isn’t a hit piece. It’s not frustration aimed at a player, a coach, or even the system itself. It’s simply an honest look at what college football has become — and what it now demands from players who aren’t quite starters, but are absolutely capable of becoming one somewhere else.

Virginia’s quarterback room tells the story. Beau Pribula arrives. Eli Holstein is in the mix. Cole Geer is already ahead on the depth chart. That’s three layers of reality sitting in front of a player who did nothing wrong — except exist in a sport that no longer rewards waiting.

In another era, patience was the path. You stayed, developed, and hoped your moment came. Today, waiting can cost you years, opportunities, and yes, money. That isn’t greed. It’s awareness.

So the decision becomes unavoidable.

For many players in this spot, the move is down a level — Group of Five or FCS — where early reps, real film, and leadership opportunities exist immediately. And if they succeed there, the door back to a Power 4 program swings open quickly. That’s the new cycle: develop, prove it, then cash back in.

This will be a common theme moving forward. College football’s middle class is shrinking. If you aren’t the starter or clearly next in line with NIL support behind you, you’re constantly doing the math: Where can I play now? Where can I grow? Where can I be valued?

That isn’t disloyalty. That’s survival.

And let’s be clear — this isn’t a failure of Virginia’s program or its staff. It’s not a reflection of a player falling short. It’s the cost of managing a roster in a system where timelines are compressed and opportunity has an expiration date.

It’s also okay to feel both things at once. You can understand why roster decisions are made and still hate losing good people. You can support competition and still miss the development stories that used to play out over time.

What I do know is this: players wired the right way will succeed wherever they land. They’ll earn roles, lead teams, and put themselves back in position to take the next step — whether that’s at the Power 4 level or beyond.

College football isn’t just about Saturdays anymore. It’s about leverage, timing, and positioning. And sometimes, the hardest part of building a roster isn’t finding talent — it’s accepting that keeping everyone is no longer possible.

That’s the real cost of college football’s new reality.