ESPN analyst predicts how SEC coaches will respond to California’s image, likeness bill
By Keith Farner
Published:
Eventually, schools and states that have programs in the SEC will have to face the politics that come from the California bill now signed into law to allow college athletes to profit off of endorsement deals.
While South Carolina is the only reported state with an SEC team to have legislation prepared, but Colorado and New York, for example, are also set to follow in California’s footsteps. But ESPN recruiting analyst Tom Luginbill said coaches from the SEC won’t stand idle as the law, which will go into place in 2023, changes the landscape of college athletics and, most notably, recruiting.
“Kids are going to go where the money is,” Luginbill said in a story by the Wall Street Journal. “Yes, there are a select group of programs that can recruit solely to the development of an NFL player, but it doesn’t solve any financial problems, at least not during college.”
The report noted that it’s precisely why Luginbill believes that one way or another, schools from the rest of the country will end up being able to offer athletes the same rules for off-the-field earning ability. Competing coaches will demand it.
“No way Nick Saban is going to go out on the recruiting trail and feel like they’re at a disadvantage,” Luginbill said.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
