The playing field for high school athletes just changed dramatically.
Last week, the Florida Board of Education approved Name, Image and Likeness deals for high school athletes, so just like their college counterparts, high school kids can make endorsement deals. As you might expect, NIL was a hot topic of conversation today at the Broward Athletic Association’s annual football media day, the only time all of the county’s teams are in one place.
“I feel great about Florida having NIL, it gives high school players an opportunity to make money, while playing high school football, probably gives them a reason to work harder,” said Sakeem Mohammed, quarterback for South Plantation High School.
His coach, Colby Erskine, said players deserve to capitalize on their status.
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“In particular with football, because it’s football, the likelihood of injury is much higher, people need to have that ability to make money, these kids put tremendous amounts of time and work and effort into it,” Erskine said.
“They’re not looking at making millions off this, this is just something that they can have, get their name out there, get their image out there, and have a chance to make a little bit of money,” said Quinten Short, the head coach of Piper High School.
So it’s like an after-school job, until it’s much more, explains Kevin Perry, a former high school athletic director who is now a licensed NIL agent.
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“Five figures, six figures, they need an attorney involved,” Perry said, and I asked him if kids at high school age can really make that much money.
“There are some in the country that will pay that,” Perry responded, pointing out some athletes in California who have made hundreds of thousands of dollars before graduating from high school.
Perry says kids will make their NIL money from social media presence, getting clicks for their clients.
Roger Harriott coaches the star-studded St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders. He says with great opportunity comes great responsibility.
“To provide the proper information and instruction is gonna be vital to insure that they’re not put in any unethical predicaments,” Harriott said.
“I mean, anything new like that would be exciting as long as we follow the guidelines that we need to follow,” said Patty Brown, director of athletics for Broward County Public Schools.
Brown said the state has set up strict guardrails, for example, athletes can’t use their school uniforms or logos or even say which school they attend, and there are more rules to follow.
“Not misrepresenting by using anything publicizing alcohol, drugs, gambling, so we want to make sure we’re giving that information properly to our athletes and parents,” said Brown.
The school district, she said, is launching an effort to educate athletes and parents on how to take advantage of NIL while not being taken advantage of by shady characters and bad deals.
