A looming executive order from President Donald Trump is threatening to upend the world of NIL after a roundtable discussion attended by the likes of Nick Saban and Urban Meyer. However, not everyone supports the proposed changes to the current status quo. St. Augustine High School’s mentor Colby Wright, a father of two top college football prospects, is already firing back.

“My son ain’t playing ball for free. And if you love yours, you won’t let him either. Executive order that,” wrote Colby Wright on Friday on X. “They need your child. Whole lotta broke folk if yo child don’t show up. Tell ’em to come eat lunch with us.”

Colby Wright’s oldest son, Myles, is currently a redshirt sophomore at West Florida but played for St. Augustine High School and was a standout WR and multi-sport athlete. Meanwhile, his youngest son, Brysen, plays for Mandarin and is ranked No. 1. WR in the nation for the Class of 2028. He plays both WR and safety, earning MaxPreps Sophomore All-America honors in early 2026.

While there was growing frustration with how NIL has disrupted college sports, things escalated last July, when Donald Trump issued an executive order titled “Saving College Sports.” It was aimed at addressing the growing shift towards professionalization in college sports. Chiefly, the order prohibited “pay-for-play” deals by collectives or boosters while allowing standard third-party endorsement deals.

The Trump administration now wants to codify these moves into permanent law through the SCORE Act. However, many groups advocating for student-athletes have taken issue with the denial of employee status. Moreover, there is significant opposition to granting the NCAA immunity from antitrust lawsuits.

The new order may not actually force players to play for free, since scholarships are still offered. But when Colby Wright’s sons make their collegiate debut, their earnings could be lower. Moreover, the argument that scholarships are, in effect, a kind of “payment” to college players doesn’t hold water when you see the money head coaches and programs make, mainly on the labor of players that the decision-makers want to keep out of the financial pool.

That doesn’t mean that the current system doesn’t have holes. However, a return to the “amateur” tradition seems far-fetched at this point.

How college football can fix the NIL issue

President Trump warned that the soaring cost of athlete compensation is putting pressure on athletic departments nationwide. According to him, the growing payouts, particularly in football and men’s basketball, are creating an imbalance. That’s why he plans a new executive order within a week aimed at regulating the NIL system.

“We have to save college sports,” said Trump. “We have college players that don’t want to go to the NFL because they’re making more money in college.”

The President emphasized that the real solution lies with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Until the NCAA changed its rules following a 2021 Supreme Court decision, athletes were barred from earning money from their NIL. Now that NIL deals are exploding in value, President Trump said Congress must step in and create a national standard to regulate them.

In fact, he warned that without clear legislation, the financial strain could continue to reshape college football. But even the legislation will be sued in the courts, and we may end up getting a more radical version than the one enforced by the House vs. NCAA settlement.