By Mark Pszonak
In today’s transfer portal and NIL world, everything is a little bit different in college football. Part of that difference is that players have more demands, which at times can lead to disagreements. That happened at Florida and it resulted in the player officially entering the portal on Thursday.
After two somewhat quiet seasons, defensive end Jack Pyburn broke out in 2024 with 60 tackles, four tackles for loss, one sack and one interception. Along the way he also became a fan favorite.
His improved play seems to have triggered something in Pyburn, who grew up being a fan of the Gators. According to a report by Zach Abolverdi of Gators Online he recently made several interesting demands. Those included a $45,000 monthly stipend, a guarantee that he would start at outside linebacker, increased snaps in the rotation and another guarantee that he would play on third downs.
To their credit, the Gators, and more specifically, head coach Billy Napier, turned down Pyburn’s demands which ultimately led to his entry into the transfer portal yesterday.
It is getting more and more difficult to be surprised by anything that happens in college sports, but this is an interesting situation. Was it solely Pyburn who decided to make these demands, did he have family members and friends in his ear telling him that he deserved more or maybe he saw and/or read about what other players were receiving and wanted a bigger piece of the pie.
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Whatever the reason that led to his demands, it was the wrong decision. But at the same time, once again, it is hard to be surprised as this is the trajectory of college sports.
The next interesting part of this story will be where Pyburn ends up. A productive DE/LB with SEC experience is a hot commodity in the portal. Will the publicity of Pyburn’s demands make coaches think twice about offering him? Probably not.
Its just another day in the world of college football chaos.
