NIL education, resource platform launched to help navigate recruitment process

With variance in NIL rules state-by-state, Eccker Sports launched a platform to provide information and resources to recruits, families and coaches.

Regardless of stance on whether college athletes should be allowed to profit off name, image and likeness, one facet of the NIL debate is largely agreed upon from both sides: There’s uncertainty in the rules that govern athletes’ allowances, rules that lack structure and vary for high school recruits from state to state.

As it currently stands across the country, there’s widespread variability, with seven states permitting athletes to profit off their name and likeness, 17 states considering changing bylaws and 26 states prohibiting it. The inconsistency adds extra difficulties in recruiting because athletes must know how signing a deal that guarantees college money could affect their high school eligibility.

In Texas, for instance, NIL deals are not allowed for high school athletes. And that restriction — and potentially its lack of clarity in Texas — played a role in the No. 1 football recruit in the class of 2022, Quinn Ewers, skipping his senior year of high school in favor of enrolling at Ohio State early and signing an NIL deal reportedly worth $1.4 million.

“I do think that there’s going to be some lawmakers at some point that are probably talking about it, but it’s going to take years,” said Vandegrift (Texas) High School head coach Drew Sanders. “…Parents want to make sure that they’re not doing anything that would get them in trouble eligibility-wise … This is all brand-new for everybody, so I have really zero experience with this. As a coach, I’m not really sure where to steer them to.”

Uncertainty in the immediate wake of sports legislation is nothing new, whether league-specific like the NFL’s concussion protocol or broad, widespread changes like Title IX.

Ten months since the passage of the NIL policy, the aftermath perhaps most closely mirrors that of the NCAA’s mid-1980s adoption of Prop 48, which mandated a minimum for high school grades and college entrance exams scores. Today, it’s a standard model. But when it was passed, it was controversial.

“It threw the entire market into a tailspin because it really changed the way the NCAA ruled on eligibility,” said Randy Eccker, a longtime figure in the sports digital media and technology landscape. “It completely changed the dynamic, but nobody took the time to go in and educate the high school market on what it meant to them and how to do it.”

While the implementation of Prop 48 lacked the resources for affected athletes, Eccker hopes to lead the charge in this next wave of sports ecosystem education. His platform Eccker Sports announced on Monday the launch of an educational services platform that will target high school students, coaches, teachers and administrators with resources including video curriculum, state-by-state information, tools for coaches to educate their communities and a network of legal, financial and tax experts.

The website is the exclusive high school partner of Game Plan, a platform with partnerships at the collegiate and professional level that provides learning resources, career planning and other developmental programs to athletes.

Pricing for the Eccker Sports resource hub varies state to state, Eccker said.

“Fast-forward even 10 years and this will be a normal part of the athletic landscape and the athletic education landscape, but today, when we’ve gone in and talked to coaches and administrators at the high school level, there’s a lot of fear and trepidation because it’s so new,” Eccker said.

The need for education on NIL is more expansive than finding a deal without affecting high school eligibility. Chuck Schmidt, Vice President and Executive Director of High School for Playfly Sports and the former COO of the Arizona Interscholastic Association, said that high schoolers whose parents’ jobs take them to different states might be unexpectedly affected. Tax obligations must be outlined for athletes. Athletes and families who see a chance for an influx of money but don’t know the laws could be exploited, whether by signing with someone who isn’t qualified, agreeing to have large percentages of money taken by the agent, or accidentally signing a deal to grant likeness to a brand in perpetuity without realizing the long-term implications.

Athletes’ rights took an enormous step forward with the passage of NIL allowances. Still, the lack of structure at a national level is creating confusion and potential long-term, unforeseen consequences. Eccker and Tim Prukop, the Chief Commercial Officer of the Eccker Sports resource hub, hope the new platform can help athletes and families build effective NIL strategies.

“NIL is just thrown around how great it is for kids to be able to do that, but there’s always something else that starts developing after decisions are made,” Schmidt said. “It’s an environment where every state has its own traditions, law, state law and that culture. Education … is going to be very critical to the success of what’s about to come.”

USA TODAY High School Sports Awards: Los Angeles girls golf nominees

USA TODAY High School Sports Awards reveals its nominees for Los Angeles Girls Golfer of the Year. The event is May 19, 2020.

The USA TODAY High School Sports Awards are coming to Los Angeles.

On May 19, 2020, the top athletes from around the Los Angeles area will be honored at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus.

Here are the 12 nominees for Los Angeles Girls Golfer of the Year.

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Jennifer Cai

School: Sage Hill School (Newport Coast)
Class: 2020
College: Northwestern
Noteworthy: At the state golf championship tournament, Cai shot a 3-over-par 74 to finish in 10th place.

Caroline Canales

School: Calabasas
Class: 2021
College: Uncommitted
Noteworthy: Canales claimed the CIF state championship by shooting a one-under 70 for a one-stroke victory over Sherilyn Villanueva of Troy.

Emma Han

School: Diamond Bar
Class: 2021
College: Uncommitted
Noteworthy: Han shot an even-par 72 at Western Hills Country Club in Chino Hills to win the CIF-Southern Section individual championship, as well as the Freelance Tournament earlier in the year.

Angelica Kusnowo

School: Diamond Bar
Class: 2020
College: St. John’s
Noteworthy: Kusnowo capped her career by firing a two-over-par to finish fifth at the CIF state championship. She will take her 4.0 GPA across the country to St. John’s University next fall.

Tiffany Le

School: Walnut
Class: 2021
College: Uncommitted
Noteworthy: Le took home her second Hacienda League championship and posted a 71 to lead the Mustangs in the CIF-Southern Section Northern Division title at the Elkins Ranch Golf Club in Fillmore. She also reached the CIF state championship, where she finished tied for seventh.

Irene Park

School: Diamond Bar
Class: 2022
College: Uncommitted
Noteworthy: Her 78 at the CIF state championship tournament provided the depth that Diamond Bar needed to come in third as a team, one shot behind runner-up Troy.

Isabel Sy

School: Troy (Fullerton)
Class: 2020
College: Illinois
Noteworthy: She won Freeway League MVP honors by finishing 6 under par, and helped propel the Warriors to a second-place finish in the state with her 5-over-par 76 at Poppy Hills Golf Club.

Emma Tang

School: Chino Hills
Class: 2022
College: Uncommitted
Noteworthy: Tang’s two-over-par 75 in the SoCal girls regional at Brookside Golf Club was good enough to qualify her for the championship, and she was named team MVP for the Huskies.

Sherilyn Villanueva

School: Troy (Fullerton)
Class: 2020
College: Long Beach State
Noteworthy: Villanueva, a tri-captain, finished second at the state championship match, one stroke behind Caroline Canales of Calabasas.

Kelly Xu

School: Claremont
Class: 2022
College: Uncommitted
Noteworthy: Xu passed a mettle test when she rebounded from bogeying three of his first four holes to finish with a 2-over-par 74 and come in third place at the CIF-Southern Section finals.

 

For more information on the USA TODAY High School Sports Awards event in Los Angeles, visit sportsawardsla.com. Answers to frequently asked questions about the event can be found here.