Name, Image and Likeness: I’m all for it, but there has to be checks and balances involved

Over the last few years, getting college athletes paid has been on the mind of a lot of college sports fans. According to CNBC, the colleges themselves make approximately $842 million per year while the athletes themselves don’t get paid a single penny. That is, until July 1st of this year. The NCAA announced that all three divisions will be able to profit off of their name, image and likeness. This means that college athletes across the country are now able to sign sponsorship deals with certain companies, either locally or nationally, to make enough money to provide for themselves and their families. Like I mentioned at the title of this article, I’ve been in full agreement of something like this since I heard about it being a possibility. And now that it’s a reality, this is a home run for the athletes in small schools, specifically in Divisions 2 and 3, because the opportunity to make money and put food on the table for them and their families is that much more crucial to them because it’s what they need to survive. However, I’ve already seen instances where the famous sports schools, such as the University of Alabama and The Ohio State University, manage to find loopholes in the system and abuse this policy to great extremes.

Notice how I mentioned the University of Alabama when talking about the downsides of the NIL settlement. Their football team has been in the headlines because they have almost immediately taken this pact to heights that shouldn’t be allowed. For example, their head coach, Nick Saban, went to speak at a high school coaches convention in San Antonio, Texas. And in front of thousands of people, he said that his projected starting quarterback, Bryce Young, is worth nearly $1 million in endorsement deals. Now, mind you, this kid didn’t even start a single game yet over the course of his career with the Tide. The only reason he didn’t start was because the guy above him led them to a National Championship and is now battling with Cam Newton for the starting job for the New England Patriots; Mac Jones. What if Young turns into a bust? I know it’s not likely because Alabama is basically a development machine when it comes to the quarterback position, but it’s plausible. As if Young didn’t have enough pressure of following up the acts of the great quarterbacks that rolled through Alabama (no pun intended), he chose to add another $1 million to that mix. Because of those two components, Young could be rattled early and if he doesn’t fix it quick enough, that pressure could last for the entire season.

Now, notice how I also involved The Ohio State University in the issues of the NIL agreement. One of their biggest football recruits had a huge spotlight on him a couple of weeks after this transcendent deal was announced. Quarterback Quinn Ewers was originally supposed to go to the University of Texas, which is about a 3-and-a-half hour drive from his hometown of Southlake. But, he de-committed in late October of 2020 and reopened his options. About a month later, on November 19th, he committed to Ohio State thinking he was going to go there in 2022, which is when he graduates from high school. Despite that, the NIL deal comes into play and Ewers flips the script yet again. Exactly one month and one day to the start of NIL in college sports, he makes a statement on his Twitter account stating “Over the past few weeks, following Texas’ UIL (University Interscholastic League) informing me I would be prohibited from profiting off my own name, image and likeness, I’ve decided it’s time for me to enroll at Ohio State and begin my career as a Buckeye.” So, this means that Ewers would reclassify to the 2021 class instead of the 2022 class and enroll in college a year early. It’s pretty clear that Ewers just wants to get paid being an Ohio State quarterback rather than playing his senior season at Southlake Carroll High School. Since he’s committed to Ohio State, he’s already signed the dotted line. His first deal is with a Texas kombucha tea company called Holy Kombucha. I know it’s only one, but even before he made the announcement to enroll at Ohio State early, Yahoo Sports reporter Pete Thamel broke the news that he could sign deals worth seven figures. So, this Holy Kombucha deal definitely won’t be his last. On the football side of things, the Buckeyes announced C.J Stroud as their starting quarterback for the Buckeyes heading into their season opener against Minnesota on September 2nd. So, this means Ewers won’t even start a football game for the Buckeyes this year, and yet he still gets paid for sponsorship deals? I think it’s safe to say Quinn Ewers is just one big head-scratcher.

I am all for the Name, Image and Likeness policy and it’s something that I’ve been wanting to see in college sports for years. It gives student-athletes the option to get paid for what they love to do most. Nevertheless, it worries me that these blue collar schools that rule the college sports landscape would go out of their way to abuse the NIL agreement and use it to their advantage. Bryce Young and Quinn Ewers are two big examples of that. They haven’t even touched a blade of grass on their home stadiums yet and they’re still getting paid millions of dollars. To me, they have to earn the money, rather than having it handed to them on a silver platter. The more money that gets handed to them, the bigger the ego becomes. And the bigger the ego becomes, the chances of an NFL dream get slimmer and slimmer.