"Feels like a job" - Nick Saban's first championship-winning QB makes his stance clear on NIL amid all the debate

Retired coach Nick Saban has accumulated a stable of elite players who have developed under his guidance during his decades-long career. Former LSU quarterback Matt Mauck has a special place in the pantheon of ex-Saban players. He was the legendary coach's QB in his first national championship-winning team for the Tigers in 2003.

During Thursday's segment of "Always College Football" alongside former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy, who also won a natty under Saban in 2009, Mauck made his stance on NIL in college sports clear.

"From the numbers I've heard, I might not have to be a dentist anymore," Mauck said (10:30). "You hear some eye-popping figures. Professional sports is a wonderful thing but, it's a job and you do it so much that it feels like a job. It's an awesome job but it's a job.

"To me, what I loved about college football was it didn't feel like a job. It felt like a team, a community and not only are you differentiating the players on the team, you're ostracizing from the regular students.

"Think back to when you're in college, not even a million dollars, if you gave me $10,000, I would have felt like it was a million dollars at that point. I don't like what it's (NIL) doing.

"The one thing that I find interesting is, I think the statistic is, the number of college football players playing in the NFL is still 2% or 3%. The 97% of the kids that play college football, your degree is way more valuable than anything."

When Nick Saban blasted NIL in college sports

During the College Football Playoff, in an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show," Nick Saban blasted the state of college sports with the advent of the NIL era, almost foreshadowing his former quarterback Matt Mauck's comments on the issue.

"Each year, it's gotten a little worse," Nick Saban said (8:10). "The first year we had name, image and likeness four, five years ago, we had a three million dollar [roster], and everybody was happy. Then the next year it was seven, then the next year it's 10. Then this year it's 13. Now they're looking at 20. I mean, where does it end?

"The people who are supporting this, they really get no benefit for it, and I'm sure that there's going to be some instances in the future where those people don't want to continue to support players that aren't there."

In the past, Nick Saban has revealed that the advent of NIL in college sports, combined with the flexible transfer portals, contributed to his shock retirement in January last year.