This is something we discussed w/ my old head
@OriginalCanesCanesCanes:
Sometimes a msg can be true, but who’s delivering the msg can sully the point.
I’m going to be in the minority here, & that’s OK, but I agree w/ Kirby to a point. Again, I’m going to go back to the intent of NIL & why it became an issue: It was b/c “student-athlete’s” name, image, & likeness was being used to make the schools, advertisers, endorsers, gaming, **** near everybody involved $$, EXCEPT the student, themselves. Everyone was hiding behind the cloak of amateurism and free education to deprive these kids $10,s of thousands, if not $100’s of thousands in earned revenue.
Notice the term “student-athlete”, meaning established, enrolled college students. NIL was not to be used as a recruiting tool either for incoming freshmen or transfer players. That violates the clause of “pay for play.” However, the second part of this is if a HS student is using their NIL to garnish a following on social media, which leads to other opportunities outside of sports, they could not be held as being “ineligible as a student athlete.” So that’s the nature of NIL & Kirby is right, that it’s the current students that should be benefiting from this b/c that’s what & who it was designed for.
W/ no parameters, the lines have been completely blurred, & it’s turned into something else, which is legal bags to recruit. Also, Sharpe’s comparison of Kirby coming in making more $$ than Richt is not apropos; Smart is a UGA alum, coming to the program as a 4x Nat’l Champion DC, from an arch rival school they’ve been little brother to. Unfortunately, Richt was & had been deemed as an underachiever. Despite all the good he did at UGA, that black cloud of choking hovered over him, so yeah, they were going to up to the price to lure Saban’s right hand man, killing two birds w/ one stone.
HOWEVER, w/ that being said, Kirby, Saban, nor Dabo should EVER talk about this subject. The fact is, they’ve been playing dirty, blurring the lines for a decade+. Their msg is self-willed. They don’t care about kids getting bags, they care about other schools (SC & Miami) playing on the same playing field. THAT’s the only reason y this is a sore spot. Their collectives don’t have their chit together, & that under the table ish ain’t the only game in town right now. They’ve cherry picked the WC & So Fla at will, & now there’s a barrier called NIL. But, let’s be clear, even Neon Deion & our very own Ruiz have called for some parameters & guidelines. U need them in anything. However, this msg falls on deaf ears when it’s muffled speech from one of the biggest cheaters out there. Like, let’s stop the wholesome pretense.
