After the University of Tennessee’s and the NCAA’s legal dispute over alleged NIL violations by the Vols, many speculated this meant the end of the NCAA as we knew it.

U.S. District Judge Clifton Corker ruled in favor of UT, effectively stating that the NCAA’s attempt to enforce its NIL rules was a violation of antitrust laws and could possibly limit the earning potential of athletes.

Alabama Athletics Director Greg Byrne weighed in after the ruling, saying whether you like it or not — NIL is a part of the recruitment of athletes.

“We’re all trying to make sure we are supportive of the young people in our program,” Byrne said at the Birmingham Tip Off Club. “Making sure we are following the rules and the process and at the same time too, not exactly knowing where all the rules are necessarily. NIL is a part of recruiting, it is.

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“Whether you want it to be part of recruiting or not, it’s something that recruits are asking the people around them. That’s why it’s part of recruiting. You have to be able to keep an arm’s length from that. But when somebody asks you every single day of a recruiting time about it, then it’s part of it.”

Since Nick Saban’s retirement, Byrne has been at the forefront of embracing NIL and encouraging donations to Alabama’s NIL collective.

While Byrne himself probably doesn’t love that this is what his job has become, he certainly seems to have embraced the fact that NIL is a part of college sports and will not be going away anytime soon.

The court ruling this week in favor of Tennessee will only continue to make the sport a pay-for-play system, but without any guardrails.

Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP