This is an opinion column.

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This Friday’s mailbag features a new poem from a reader and plenty of reaction to the turnover of Alabama’s football roster.

The poem comes first because nothing stands in the way of beautiful, biting, topical college-football poetry.

Last week’s newsletter asked readers to submit four-line poems about college football. In the spirit of the great sports writer Grantland Rice, sometimes prose can’t properly express the pathos of our human experience. That’s when we turn to verse. For reader Jeffrey A. Waite of Mississippi, the aftermath of Alabama coach Nick Saban’s retirement inspired a three-verse poem about players leaving the Crimson Tide.

This poem was first featured in my Thursday newsletter, Joe Goodman’s SPORTS! Happy Hour. Sign up for the newsletter by entering your email at the top of his mailbag:

The Transfer, by Jeffrey A. Waite of Mississippi:

You think you’re all that but you’re really just mere mortal.

So go ahead young stud, and jump in the portal.

Stop calling it NIL, we all know it’s just pay for play.

Nothing like the hundred dollar handshakes from back in the day.

So your favorite player leaves, causing you such pain.

But the collective at his new school, is making it rain.

The season was special, the message was LANK.

But at the end of the day, it’s all about the Bank.

So you traded the Crimson for the Garnet and Gold.

Not making the Playoffs is gonna feel cold.

Had you stayed, you coulda been first string.

Watching from the bench, is sure gonna sting.

Email poetry submission to [email protected]. This week’s prompt is new Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer. We’ll feature more poems from readers next week.

The shakeup at Alabama gave opposing teams a chance to poach Alabama’s roster. Some schools were more aggressive than others. A comment made by former Alabama offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor didn’t go unnoticed by readers. Proctor, who is from Des Moines, Iowa, transferred home to the University of Iowa after Saban’s retirement. In an interview, Proctor said the decision was made because Iowa “still believed in me.” Here’s the full quote:

“Even when I was doing bad and struggling in the SEC, they [Iowa] still hit me up and said ‘we are proud of you. You are going to get through this.’ That is what ultimately helped me to my decision,” Proctor said. “They still believed in me. It feels good as soon as I came in here, I saw everyone cheering me on. They are happy for me. I know I did leave and it hurt people’s hearts, and it equated to them showing hatred, but that’s what every fan base does.”

From Robert Kilpatrick of Stapleton, Ala.:

I’m at Dulles returning home from a weekend trip to DC. Just read K. Proctor said he left Bama to go back to Iowa because they “hit me up”. Umm??? Any idea what that means???

ANSWER: Robert, great question. On its face, Proctor’s comment implies that he was contacted by Iowa about transferring. Tampering is illegal in college football, but let’s not be naive. Everyone is tampering these days if tampering means talking to schools before entering the transfer portal. Are we supposed to believe that former Georgia Tech running back Jahmyr Gibbs entered the transfer portal without first talking with Alabama coaches about transferring to the Crimson Tide?

In this case, Proctor’s coach retired and the coaches on Proctor’s hometown team probably knew that the only reason Proctor went to Alabama was to play for Saban. Let’s be real. Most players who leave one school for another don’t do it blindly.

From Hoyt Bedingfield:

Will be interested to read your upcoming thoughts on NIL and the collegiate-football effects. Please explain to an old-school fan how the NIL cash is actually handled. I may be jaded, but are we talking about just writing checks to 18- and 19-year-olds that have yet to attend any classes? And I use the term “classes” possibly erroneously. Look forward to your future columns on this subject.

ANSWER: Thanks, Hoyt. Athletes are paid through shell companies called NIL collectives. It’s just a slush fund by a different name. The NIL collectives buy the rights to players name, image and likeness under the theoretical idea that the NIL collective will then set up NIL opportunities for the players with outside companies. This allows the collectives to legally buy the NIL rights of players for any amount of money. It has nothing to do with attending class.

People inside college football joke that “NIL” stands for “now it’s legal.” The idea of a football program setting up a network of boosters to pay players isn’t new. It’s been going on for years. The schools with the large networks already in place had a head start on the competition when the NCAA changed its rules on amateurism.

From Jim Howell:

Do you think the bad showing in the Music City Bowl has had an impact on Freeze’s recruiting. I just saw where Ryan Williams recommitted to Bama. I thought he was Auburn bound. Also it seems recruiting momentum has slowed down since that beat down in Nashville. Do you think that loss has damaged recruiting?

ANSWER: Jim, I can’t even remember who Auburn played in the Music City Bowl. No one cares about that game. Auburn missing on Ryan Williams had nothing to do with the bowl game. Auburn’s latest class of recruits is loaded at the receiver position and Alabama told Williams he would take the place of Isaiah Bond, who transferred to Texas.

Earlier in the week, I wrote a column about former Alabama players Caleb Downs and Julian Sayin transferring to Ohio State. Plenty of readers called me on suggesting that Alabama was a victim.

From Billy Grizzard of Oxford, Ala.:

I just read your piece this morning about college football and cheating. You left me with the impression that Nick Saban and the University of Alabama are squeaky clean. Nothing is further from the truth. I ask you, who had the first college to receive a million dollar NIL deal before he ever put on a jersey for UAT? You fail to mention that Bryce Young was the very first one that became public before he ever took a snap as a quarterback. Where may I ask? The esteemed “squeaky clean” UAT.

Saban quit as a college coach because now all universities can do what UAT has always done. You don’t seem to remember the “collective” of automobile dealers in Gadsden that for about 20 years provided automobiles for kids from Gadsden who signed with the “squeaky clean” UAT.

ANSWER: Billy, everyone knows that Saban really retired because Chevrolet is discounting the Dodge Charger.

From Dan Entingh of Dayton, Ohio:

The transfer portal is open for any or all. Certainly the NIL is a can of worms that has and will continue to change the landscape of college football but to make a comparison to the Cheaters Up North is nonsense. Winners will continue to win as will your Bama team. My opinion but it did catch my click bait eye. Thanks. Long time Buckeye fan.

ANSWER: Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer is famous for calling Michigan the “Team Up North.” Apparently the nickname has been modified after the Wolverines’ first national championship in 26 years.

Until next week, stay hydrated, America.