The NCAA’s new name, image, and likeness rules are changing college football right before our eyes.
But now the groundbreaking new rules are sending shockwaves through high school sports.
And the top high school football recruit in the nation is skipping his senior year to become a millionaire overnight.
College football may never look the same after this offseason.
First you have powerhouse teams like Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC in the future to become a mega conference.
History in the making.@finebaum welcomes Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC. pic.twitter.com/dmXcBSSzjr
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) July 30, 2021
It will be interesting to see if this helps or hurts Texas and Oklahoma’s chances of making it to the College Football playoffs.
But the biggest story of the year in the NCAA thus far is the fact that players can now make money off of their name, image, and likeness.
Players up and down rosters throughout the NCAA are now poised to make bank on the new NIL rules.
Jackson State defensive end Antwan Owen is the nation’s first athlete to sign an NIL deal, per @RossDellenger.
At midnight in NYC, he signed a deal with Three Kings Grooming, a black-owned hair product shop. pic.twitter.com/vCK4LtcNvx
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) July 1, 2021
But now the NIL rules are having an impact on high school sports.
High School quarterback Quinn Ewers of Texas was the number one prospect out of the 2022 high school football class of recruits.
But Ewers saw the dollar signs and decided to forgo his senior high school year.
Now he has rushed his diploma and is now officially signed on to Ohio State.
Ewers took to Twitter to explain his reasoning.
He claims:
Over the past few weeks, following Texas’ UIL informing me I would be prohibited from profiting off of my own name, image and likeness, I’ve taken time to think about what lies ahead of me, both in the short and long-term. It’s unfortunate I’ve found myself in this situation, as my preference would have been to complete my senior season at Southlake Carroll along with the teammates and friends I’ve taken the field alongside for the past three years. However, following conversations with my family and those I know have my best interests in mind, I’ve decided it’s time for me to enroll at Ohio State and begin my career as a Buckeye.
— Quinn Ewers (@QuinnEwers) August 2, 2021
The kid is on track to make hundreds of thousands of dollars at Ohio State even before his 18th birthday because of the new NIL rules.
Quinn Ewers’ arm is pretty impressive. Ohio State got themselves a QB. Jeez pic.twitter.com/T4Pupzl04s
— JzoSports (@JzoSports) August 2, 2021