NCAA student-athletes are officially able to earn money off of their name, image and likeness, and many have already cashed in on that opportunity. Alabama head coach Nick Saban has seen it firsthand with one of his quarterbacks.
Bryce Young has only attempted 22 passes in his college career, but he is projected to enter the season as Alabama’s starting quarterback. That is apparently enough to make him a $1 million man or close to it. Saban told reporters at the Texas HS Coaches Association convention on Tuesday that Young is already approaching seven figures in endorsement money.
“Our QB has already approached ungodly numbers, and he hasn’t even played yet,” Saban said, via Chris Hummer of 247Sports. “If I told you what it is … it’s almost seven figures.”
That should give you an idea of the drastic way in which college sports are about to change. If a quarterback who has never even started can earn $1 million, imagine what established star players are going to get.
Saban has gone to great lengths in the past to get the media to not cover his teams so positively. He refers to all the praise as “rat poison” and believes it inflates his players’ egos to a fault. If he doesn’t like reporters saying nice things about his top-ranked teams, you can only imagine how he feels about an unproven player earning $1 million and counting.
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