College athletes across the country gained the ability to profit off of their Name, Image and Likeness beginning on July 1, 2021.
LSU head coach Ed Orgeron is just one of many who supports the ruling by the NCAA.
“Very supportive, I think it’s gonna be great,” he said in an appearance on WWL radio in New Orleans earlier this week. “Like everything else there’s gonna be some kinks to work out. We hired an outside source to help us out. Several of our guys are not involved with it but several of our guys have signed some deals, I’m happy for them and I’m sure others will sign.”
One particular thing NIL could affect is recruiting. Recruiting is already a subject of discussion with some athletes’ tendencies to pick a school mostly based off of the “flashing lights” — think things like the locker room, facilities, etc.
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Add endorsements and any other opportunities for payment to the mix, and some may be concerned that recruits will be selecting programs for reasons outside of football itself.
This is a subject Orgeron touched on, and may have been some of the “kinks” he was referring to.
“But I hope that the focus is that when we get into the locker, the focus is on practice and winning football games,” he said. They’ve gotta be able to compartmentalize this stuff and use it in a positive way.”
As athletes from “NILSU” continue to make deals with companies, it will be interesting to see how things shake out — particularly with athletes like Tigers gymnast Olivia Dunne projected to make roughly $1 million.
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