Kayvon Thibodeaux was an elite recruit who had his choice of almost any college football program in the country, including Alabama and Oregon. He settled on Oregon, and is now expected to be a high draft choice as a defensive lineman in the upcoming NFL Draft.

Thibodeaux said he already hates the stigma of football players being dumb jocks, and he said there’s a lot that associated with Alabama in particular. So he took a worldview perspective on his college choice in part because of Oregon’s association with Nike. Thibodeaux believes that he wouldn’t be in the position he is today if he went to Alabama, and wondered if his degree would be worth anything.

“I sat back and thought, ‘What world do I want to be a part of,'” he said to Joel Klatt of FOX Sports. “If I go to Alabama, I’m going to win national championships, literally. Do I want to be a guy who’s known to be a national championship winner, or do I want to be a guy who’s known for being a part of the greatest organization in the world. What people don’t realize is that football is an American sport, so no matter how great Alabama is, we only play football in America, Canada and a couple other places. But a brand, like Nike, for me it was like what brand associations do I want to be tied to.”

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