September has arrived and with it comes football season and the excitement that it brings from Pee Wee leagues—to the NFL—for millions of fans across America.
Florida A&M threw a major scare into North Carolina during the first weekend of the 2022 season before losing 56-24 in Chapel Hill.
Of all of the many team sports that we collectively love, including basketball, baseball, soccer, and hockey, none comes close to the wanton violence that football players inflict upon each other during practices and games five to six days per week. From deep cuts and bruises, to broken limbs and brain injuries resulting from crashing into another human being over and over and over again, the pleasure of this sport leaves a lifetime of pain for those players who titilate the masses with their gridiron talents.
While my own playing days ended in high school, I still bear some of the physical scars from my days on the 🏈 field. Like, the first time I came to understand the phrase "get your skin split to the white meat," which happened my first year playing for the Jake Gaither Park Giants in 6th grade when I scraped my arm so badly during a tackling drill that my dark brown skin turned pasty white—before gushing blood everywhere.
Or, the time that I sprained my knee in 8th grade during a JV game against North Florida Christian and was carted off the field by Coach Lance Paul and teammate Mike Anderson.
Or, the time that I dislocated my left shoulder in preparation for the Panama City Christian jamboree game at Florida High School in 11th grade—only to continue playing while it throbbed uncontrollably. Or, later that season when my lung collapsed following a bitterly cold late October game against Wakulla High; I spent two weeks in the hospital and lost almost 20 pounds—all out of love for the game.
To literally add insult to old football injuries, just last month, I dislocated that same left shoulder while lifting weights. And yet, as painful as last month's injury and recovery have been, it pales in comparison to my many friends who blew their knees out, dislocated both shoulders, or are fighting CTE and other brain related illnesses right now due to their own days as gladiators on the football field from high school, to college, to the NFL.
I raise the issue of the health and welfare of football players, specifically, as a prelude to my analysis of one of the more controversial moves by the NCAA over the past five years, which was the passage of the "Name, Image, and Likeness" legislation that allows college athletes in all sports to receive some measure of compensation. Few areas have been as misconstrued as NIL, with many observers being led to believe that the same has taken all hints of amateurism away from collegiate athletics since the student-athletes are all becoming rich.
Nothing could be further from the truth...
Yes, there are myriad articles about a few star athletes, like Alabama's Heisman winning quarterback Bryce Young, making millions of dollars per year from NIL deals.
Or, even Jackson State quarterback Sheduer Sanders, son of Coach Deion Sanders, making six figures due to contracts with Beats by Dr. Dre, Tom Brady Brand Apparel, and Gatorade.
Ohio State University wide receiver Jaxson Smith-Njiba (above) is the fifth highest paid college football player per NIL, earning over a half-million dollars. The top stipend earner, Alabama’s Bryce Young, is slated to make around $3.2 million this year. With their remaining teammates making far less, will it lead to lockeroom discord? Stay tuned…
But the reality is that such deals, mostly relegated to the major Power Five schools in the SEC, Big 10, and the like, are statistical outliers. In fact, the average NIL deal for college football players is $3,390.95 per year.
I repeat, the average grant to Power Five college football players is only $3,390.95.
So, if the players at Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and the like are only earning a tad over $3K per year in stipends, it doesn't take an actuarial scientist to realize that players at HBCU's are averaging far less—if anything at all.
By comparison, a college student who is on an Army ROTC scholarship earns approximately $3,600 dollars in stipend money per year that's separate from the tuition plus room and board that the U.S. Army pays. Thus, NIL now allows college athletes to obtain a little less than their Army ROTC schoolmates.
FAMU Army ROTC scholarship students (above) earn about $3,600 per year—about $300 more per year than college football players on their campus, or at cross-town Florida State University.
What's interesting to note, however, is that the Army ROTC students do not beat their bodies into disrepair while earning their respective schools millions of dollars in revenue on the gridiron each week. Which is why I find it odd when football coaches like Nick Saban of Alabama, a man who earns well in excess of $10 million dollars each year, initially griped about "the good old days" when college football players were just happy to get a free education. While he has since softened this stance, folks of this mindset conveniently forget that in those "good old days,"that the head football coach made no more money than the English or History professor, always made less money than the college president, AND had to teach physical education or other courses that they were qualified to teach during the school year!
Legendary FAMU football coach Jake Gaither (depicted on my shirt) never made more money than his bosses, President George W. Gore and President B.L. Perry—which is why players during his era were simply ecstatic to go to school for free. Now, with coaches averaging well over two million dollars, the players who make the money for them deserve to be more than the sporting version of sharecroppers.
This last point exposes the hypocrisy of Power Five coaches and athletics directors who are growing filthy rich off of the backs of the players, while the average player can't even afford to take his girlfriend out on a nice date!
The second misperception that I wish to clear up is that the schools are paying the players directly; NIL deals are set up by private donors in "collectives," or by private businesses who sign select players to advertise for their companies. Ergo, the revenue that each team earns per game or via conference revenue sharing is not divided up among the players, but goes into the school’s general revenue fund.
One philosophical truism is that everything eventually changes, but one thing that has not changed in over a century is the violent nature of football.
So, when you watch your alma mater or favorite collegiate teams this weekend, take a moment to realize that not only will the majority of those players fail to make it to the professional football ranks, but that the blood, sweat, and tears that they expend to their school's financial betterment (and their fans delight) often leave them physically and mentally scarred for many years to come—with no compensation or health care provided to assist them in their struggles!
Lest we forget…
While I have never played football, I have been close to football since I was about 5 years old when my older brother started playing Pop Warner here in Jacksonville. Since that time, I was expected to be his stat girl, remember every play, tackle, interception, sack, he ever recorded from then until his last time playing at The Florida State University starting in Fall '86 until the final bowl game in Miami against Penn State in 1990. Our mother raised us and our little brother on her own so when Corian went to FSU, she had to budget money for haircuts, dry cleaning of his travel clothes, replacing brand new clothes because he kept getting bigger and bigger and it was nearly impossible to keep up with the girth of his neck in buying dress shirts. (Bowden required business dress attire for the travel team). All of this to say, the fact that these student athletes can have a NIL is long over due. And there should be additional compensation because their mind, body, and SOULS are damaged when LAF begins (Life After Football). To those against it, you probably have never interacted personally with a student athlete to understand, the less glamourous side of it.
I volunteered and traveled with my alma mater the 3 years that Coach W. Simmons was at PVAMU. As much as I love football, grew up on it, had family members to play college and pro along with a cousin on the Fab 5, I learned so much more up close from the sidelines and attending 99% of the practices in those 3 years than i had in my lifetime. I've long believed that players should be paid but being on the sidelines validated that belief.
Its always difficult for me to keep my hands away from the keyboard when i see posts that insist that its a free education. From sun up to night, I watched their daily lives revolve around practice, class, study hall, team meetings, position meetings, S&C, rehab, and personal lives ... some with families... off the field and don't experience the average college student life.
Along the way, they deal with the "fans" in the stands who don't show up or when they do %$*$%^##.... and forget that these student athletes will one day be alumni that we hope will support their alma mater.
I'm glad to see NIL evolve but its up to US to create NIL opportunities for OUR HBCU student athletes.... and across ALL sports.