Alabama, Oregon, and Florida State top QB recruiting target turns down 7-figure NIL deal

Trent Seaborn, a quarterback in the class of 2027 who already has offers from Alabama, Oregon, Auburn, Florida State, Ole Miss, and several others, turned down a seven-figure NIL deal from a card trading company. The Alabaster, Alabama native is still early in his recruitment, but maximizing his income isn't yet a priority.

The 6-foot-1, 187-pounder's father recently opened up to Dennis Victory of AL.com about his decision. At the core of it, while Alabama doesn't allow high schoolers to collect earnings from NIL opportunities, has to do with Seaborn not wanting to move high schools in order to cash in.

“I told him ‘I got some good news and some bad news so how do you want it,’” Jason Seaborn said. “He said ‘I want the bad news first’ and I said well, NIL is still not allowed in Alabama and he said ‘what’s the good news?’ I told him there’s a trading card company that wants to give you a seven-figure NIL and he sort of laughed and that was it. He just chuckled and continued washing the dishes and so I prodded at him, asking him what he thought because we’d have to move out of state. He didn’t bite, just kind of shrugged his shoulders.

“I said, ‘do you want to?’ He laughed and said ‘no, absolutely not.’ He said there was no way he would leave coach Mark (Freeman) and that program, his brothers, the team he’s so close with.”

The young standout has initiated 17 games for the Warriors so far, impressively starting four of those during their eighth-grade year, piloting Thompson to secure the Class 7A championship.

Trent and his family spent the weekend in Tallahassee, Fla., where he was exploring Florida State. Seaborn has received offers from various programs, including Florida State, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Clemson, Oregon, and Ole Miss.

Freeman, known for his prowess in developing quarterbacks, is a significant mentor. But the family also loves where they live, so moving would be a tough adjustment.

“Trent is in an incredibly blessed situation right now to be where he is at Thompson High School, the premier school in Alabama and one of the top in the country,” Jason said “He’s blessed with an incredible coaching staff that loves on him, that works with him, that gets him better. And as long as he stays the course, I think he’ll be fine. He’ll get to where he needs to go.”

This might be the most controversial quote taken from the father, as it's hard to relate to someone who has the chance to lock-in their retirement before turning 17.

“It’s definitely a complex subject. You can’t just say let’s make it all legal and go from there because I think you’re going to ruin a high school experience for a majority of kids that this is going to be their only experience playing football and that’s what I also have a problem with. That four years in high school is going to last them a lifetime of memories. Do we really want to tarnish it for the sake of a few thousand bucks for a very small percentage of other kids?”

What would you do if your son was in this position? Let me know in the comments.