Tag: Name Image Likeness

Sam LaPorta ranked No. 8 in On3’s Impact 300 top 10 tight ends for 2022

Iowa Hawkeyes tight end Sam LaPorta is once again garnering national acclaim. LaPorta was listed as the No. 8 tight end for 2022 by On3.

Sam LaPorta finds him in the mix as one of the nation’s top tight ends on another preseason list. This time, it’s On3’s Impact 300 top 10 returning tight ends.

The 6-foot-4, 249 pound senior tight end is back in Iowa City after authoring the type of season that Hawkeye fans have become accustomed to at the position. As a result, LaPorta checks in as the No. 8 returning tight end according to On3.

LaPorta had a breakout year as a junior last season, hauling in a career-high 53 passes for the Hawkeyes. He also posted career-highs in yards (670) and touchdowns (3). The Highland (Ill.) native’s junior campaign put him over the 1,000-yard receiving yard mark for his career. LaPorta checks in with an On3 NIL Valuation of $155,000. – On3.

One of the interesting numbers is that final one. As one of the biggest returning stars for the Hawkeyes, a healthy NIL deal from one of the local companies wouldn’t come as any sort of a shock for LaPorta. Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz recently said to expect more news on the NIL front for the Hawkeyes in the coming weeks and month.

As On3 noted, LaPorta is back with Iowa after a career season. He led the Hawkeyes in receiving yards and receptions last season and will be counted upon to deliver every bit of that type of production and more in 2022. The Highland, Ill., native is regarded by multiple outlets as a 2023 NFL draft riser to watch.

Both Athlon Sports and Pro Football Focus have praised LaPorta this offseason. Athlon Sports listed LaPorta as one of its top 10 Big Ten 2023 NFL draft prospects, while PFF’s Michael Renner ranked LaPorta as his No. 5 tight end and the No. 90 overall prospect entering this upcoming college football season.

ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. actually had the highest preseason draft grade for LaPorta. The longtime draft expert rates LaPorta as the No. 2 tight end on his most recent 2023 NFL draft big board.

Both Athlon Sports and Phil Steele listed LaPorta as a preseason first-team All-Big Ten selection. LaPorta leads a group that also includes redshirt sophomore Luke Lachey and Lafayette transfer Steven Stilianos as the Hawkeyes’ primary tight ends.

The rest of On3’s Impact 300 top 10 returning tight ends list looked like this: Georgia’s Brock Bowers No. 1, Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer No. 2, South Carolina’s Jaheim Bell No. 3, Georgia’s Arik Gilbert No. 4, Texas’ Jahleel Billingsley No. 5, Georgia’s Darnell Washington No. 6, Stanford’s Ben Yurosek No. 7, Louisville’s Marshon Ford No. 9 and Ole Miss’ Michael Trigg No. 10.

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‘Our plan is still the same’: Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz addresses NIL plan

Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz discussed the Hawkeyes’ plans with NIL and said he doesn’t see the approach changing much for Iowa.

The old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In some ways, it sounds like that’s the approach Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes plan to take in regards to the new world of college football recruiting in this name, image and likeness era.

In an exclusive interview with the Des Moines Register and Iowa City Press-Citizen’s Chad Leistikow, Ferentz was asked what he and his program’s approach with NIL deals might look like moving forward.

Leistikow confirmed that Ferentz envisions Iowa’s plan moving forward involving evenly-distributed money via an in-the-works NIL collective going to its current roster and not to new recruits.

Naturally, players will still be able to garner any other free-market NIL deals they can, including incoming recruits.

“I think that’s going to be a major portion of our approach and there will still be a free market aspect as well. Both internally, but also that world’s going to exist outside. We’ve had a couple pretty prominent non-football athletes on our campus that I think have done very well, so I think that aspect is going to be there, but, yeah, we’re going to try to invest in our team as we move forward I think and again grow our team. That’s kind of been our way of doing things for quite a while,” Ferentz said.

The 24th-year head coach of the Hawkeyes understands the approach that has made he and his program so successful over the past two decades plus and doesn’t see much deviation from that model.

After all, it’s an approach that’s led Ferentz to becoming the winningest coach in Iowa history, resulted in a pair of Big Ten championships, a Big Ten West crown last season, 178 career wins at Iowa and 110 victories in Big Ten games.

Ferentz reflected on one of the program’s best quarterbacks during his tenure in Brad Banks to help illustrate his point.

“To give you an NFL analogy, you know, I see us still being a team that’s going to be built through recruiting and trying to raise our own guys and, really, it’s no different than 23 years ago. I mean, full disclosure, Brad Banks was not our first choice at quarterback.

“We wanted to get a high school quarterback. Unfortunately, the two guys we had ranked ahead of him both turned us down and it turns out neither of them were Brad Banks either by the way, so there’s a lesson there, but, you know, Brad, we ended up taking a junior college quarterback. My goal was to build instead of having a two-year guy.

“Our plan is still the same. To try to recruit as well as we possibly can, get players in the program and have them really develop and, hopefully, graduate from our university and also maximize their careers,” Ferentz said.

Ferentz doesn’t anticipate any immediate finality to what the future of college football looks like in this name, image and likeness era either, but he does expect he and Iowa to reveal more of their approach in the coming month or so.

“You know, quite frankly, the first six months or so, really didn’t worry an awful lot about it. Only because I don’t think anybody had a handle on it, things were really in flux. I still think it’s going to be quite a while before things settle a little bit and, you know, you really get a consistent picture, but, to that point, I think we’ve spent a lot of time talking about it, thinking about it.

“We’re trying to decide what the best approach for our program is and I think we’ll have more on that probably in the coming month here. Just about what our thoughts are, how we’re going to try to move forward and I think we have a really well-thought-out plan. We’re still finalizing some details,” Ferentz said.

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NCAA digs into Miami’s NIL deals: How it could impact the SEC, CFB overall

NCAA may be cracking down on Miami and NIL deals after recent booster investigation. The findings will have an impact on college football across the nation.

Name, image and likeness (NIL) deals have completely revolutionized collegiate athletics, but the NCAA is finally starting to crack down and check in on some of these deals. The intent of NIL is to allow players to earn money off of the brand they have created for themselves, however, it has quickly turned into what appears to be free agency and bidding wars for high school recruits.

This week, Miami Hurricanes’ well-known donor, John Ruiz, has been the subject of NCAA attention for his NIL deals. Ruiz has a net worth well into the billions and is capable of changing the landscape of college sports. According to Sports Illustrated, the NCAA has had staff members “spend at least two days in Miami prying into NIL deals” while interviewing Ruiz and others. Ruiz described the conversation with the NCAA as not so much an investigation, but rather an interview.

So what does this potential NIL crackdown mean for Miami, The University of Alabama and college sports in general?

College football hall of famer SOUNDS OFF on state of college football

Do you agree and if so, how do you start to fix the issue?

Although most have seemingly been on board with college athletes getting more than just a scholarship and having the rights to name and image likeness, the way it has all gone down has left plenty with questions.

National college football writer Josh Pate of CBS recently compared college football to bacon in an excellent analogy that compared the end result in both to the process to get there.

Related – USC about to snag Belitnikoff Award winner in transfer portal?

Now a College Football Hall of Famer, Notre Dame legend Aaron Taylor has weighed in with incredibly strong thoughts.  Taylor, a 1994 graduate of Notre Dame, sent out a strong video to those in charge of college athletics.

What are your thoughts on NIL?  Although done with the best of intentions, they’re certainly adding an element to the great game of college football that the game wasn’t prepared for.

Share your comments below or on our social media sites to help us try and solve the issues Taylor and so many others have discussed.

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Georgia HC Kirby Smart speaks out on NIL world: ‘Not a lot you can control’

Kirby Smart talks NIL management

Name, image and likeness (NIL) has overtaken the college football world since its inception before the 2021 season.

Players are now allowed to make money off their own name, and that has created an entirely new side of college athletics, especially within the giant moneymaker that is collegiate football.

Because of how new and unregulated it is, NIL presents a new challenge to athletic departments and coaches across the country.

Georgia football coach Kirby Smart recently gave his take on 680 The Fan in an interview with host, former Georgia quarterback, Buck Belue.

“I don’t know that there’s a lot of managing it to it. I mean, kids make decisions based on what they feel like is best for them. There’s not a lot you can control on that,” Smart said.

“I really focus on the guys that are here that want to be part of our standard, be part of our organization and be part of the culture we’ve built. And that has to sell itself, and I’m worried about the ones that want to be here — not the ones that don’t.”

Smart’s mentor, Alabama coach Nick Saban, had an interesting take on the NIL era in a recent interview with the Associated Press.

“”The concept of name, image and likeness was for players to be able to use their name, image and likeness to create opportunities for themselves. That’s what it was,” said Saban. “But that creates a situation where you can basically buy players. You can do it in recruiting. I mean, if that’s what we want college football to be, I don’t know. And you can also get players to get in the transfer portal to see if they can get more someplace else than they can get at your place.”

Many expect rules and regulations to be set in place in the near future regarding NIL and the transfer portal to prevent some of the testy situations Saban mentions here.

Is it right for college football players to basically shop themselves by NIL in recruiting and later in the portal?

Nick Saban rips apart current NIL model, already sees negative impacts on CFB

Alabama’s head coach is far from anti-NIL, but wants to see it done right.

Alabama head coach [autotag]Nick Saban[/autotag] has been able to adapt over his decades of coaching college football. Not only does the actual game evolve, but the environment surrounding the sport does too. With players now eligible to profit off of their name, image and likeness (NIL), the game is evolving faster than ever.

However, Saban believes that there must be some sort of change to the current system, as it is leading to some noticeable negative impacts on college football, despite it being enacted less than a year ago.

In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Saban makes it clear he is not opposed to players earning money via NIL, but states that there must be some sort of regulatory action to help the players. He also discussed the issue of recruits and transfers being bought by programs.

“It’s fine for players to get money. I’m all for that. I’m not against that. But there also has to be some responsibility on both ends, which you could call a contract. So that you have an opportunity to develop people in a way that’s going to help them be successful,” Saban said. “So there’s going to have to be some changes implemented, some kind of way to still create a level playing field,” he said. “And there is no salary cap. So whatever school decides they want to pay the most, they have the best chance to have the best team. And that’s never been college football, either.”

Saban sits at the helm of one of the biggest and most recognizable brands in athletics. Alabama Football is no stranger to making money, as can be seen by quarterback [autotag]Bryce Young[/autotag]’s multiple NIL deals worth well over the NFL’s minimum salary for a player.

At the end of the day, valuing the experience as a player is what Saban emphasizes.

“I know we have to adapt to that,” Saban said. “You’re going to have kids out there that say, ‘Well, I can get a better deal going someplace else,’ and they’ll go there. But you’re also going to have people that see the light and say, ‘Yeah, they’ve got a good history of developing players. They got a good history of developing people, they got a great graduation rate and that value is more important.'”

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide throughout the 2022 offseason.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on Twitter @SpurrFM.

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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.”

Justin Flowe partners with Marshawn Lynch, Beast Mode Marketing in new NIL deal

Oregon’s Justin Flowe has partnered with Marshawn Lynch and Beast Mode Marketing in a new NIL deal to represent him off the field.

Justin Flowe and Marshawn ‘Beast Mode’ Lynch. That’s a duo that we never knew we needed, but it makes more sense than you can imagine.

On Thursday morning, it was announced that Oregon Ducks’ freshman linebacker Justin Flowe had agreed to terms on a partnership with Beast Mode Marketing, the company founded by Lynch, to represent Oregon’s star defender in Name, Image, and Likeness deals going forward.

Flowe was injured in Oregon’s first game of the 2021 season and will miss the rest of the year, but he is among the most talented players on the Ducks roster and has a clear future in this sport. In a release on Thursday, Lynch stated that his health is the most important thing, but that he would be excited to work with Flowe going forward.

This is Flowe’s second year with the Ducks, and unfortunately the second time he has missed significant games because of an injury. He was forced to sit out his true freshman season with a knee injury as well. We don’t know the true nature of his foot injury this time around, but he has been seen at Oregon practices in a walking boot, wheeling around on a scooter.

Going forward, we can hope that he will return to the field in full health and bring a little bit of Beast Mode to Oregon’s defense once again.

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Top-10 programs for NIL. Where does Alabama rank?

Where does Alabama rank on a list for best programs for student-athletes to benefit from NIL?

Just a few days ago, the NCAA Board of Directors passed an interim policy allowing players to benefit off of their name, image and likeness. The revolutionary policy has earned players all across the money already, despite it not having been 72 hours since the policy went into action.

College athletics fans from all across the country are wondering how the size and popularity of a school will impact a player’s potential benefit. Certainly, the bigger program would earn a player more opportunities to make money, right?

Mike Farrell of Rivals revealed his top-10 programs for NIL benefit.

  1. Alabama
  2. Notre Dame
  3. Nebraska
  4. LSU
  5. Ohio State
  6. Clemson
  7. Texas
  8. Georgia
  9. Oklahoma
  10. USC

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Ranking 50 Oregon Ducks who could have made the most money off of name, image, and likeness

Today’s college athletes can now profit off of their name, image, and likeness. But what about the Oregon legends? These are the 50 Ducks who we think could have made the most money.

July 1st was a monumental day in the world of amateur athletics.

For the first time in the history of collegiate sports, it became legal for athletes to profit off of their name, image, and likeness.

They aren’t being paid to play, as some had hoped, but for the first time ever, players are now free to seek out sponsors and sign endorsement deals. We’ve already seen some athletes release new logos, while others have started podcasts or affiliated themselves with media networks, like Barstool Sports.

RELATED: Oregon’s NIL bill helped convince USC transfer Endyia Rogers to choose Ducks

This is a big deal when it comes to athletics, and will massively benefit those players who are still in college. However, former athletes who are either playing in the professional ranks now, or have gone pro in something other than sports, may feel a little chapped by the news. Why wasn’t this around when they were in school?

Why indeed?

We don’t have a good answer, but we at least wanted to conduct a thought experiment and see who the former Oregon Ducks were that would have stood to gain the most from being able to profit off of their NIL. So we ranked them.

It started out with ideas of who would be the most acceptable face on an advertisement, and it ended up being, for the most part, a ranking of the 50 most popular Ducks of all time. Either way, broken down into four tiers, these are the 50 Oregon athletes we believe could have made some serious cash had they come through the program in 2021: