LSU Coach Brian Kelly Talks About UNLV QB NIL Scandal

The state of college football isn't as far from the 1990s as many want us to believe. Sure, the Name, Image, and Likeness (or NIL) changes to college football (and all college sports) make it seem like things are different...but its actually just a new view.

If you're naive enough to believe that players were not getting paid, or given special accommodations, to play high-level college sports in the 1990s (and before), then you probably can't be helped. But what the current state of NIL has done is shine a light on all the things that were previously going on with unmarked envelopes, booster lunches, and recruiting trips. Sunshine is the best disinfectant, and we all get to see how this sausage is made now.

So when UNLV quarterback Matt Sluka announces that he's leaving his team after a 3-0 start because he wants more compensation for the team's performance, we shouldn't be shocked. The stuff that used to happen behind closed doors and on burner phones is now playing out in headlines from coast-to-coast. Sluka is free to make this decision, just as much as you're free to call him an idiot for doing it publicly.

Some college football programs have worked to embrace the NIL mindset, and try to build a framework for it. Instead of some schools that are playing the role of the dog chasing the car. One of the schools that works hard to embrace NIL is LSU.

LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly hasn't run away from NIL or the transfer portal since he got to Baton Rouge. He's utilized both to his advantage, including bringing in Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Jayden Daniels from Arizona State.

But this doesn't mean Kelly doesn't coach still. Daniels was nowhere near a Heisman at Arizona State. It wasn't until Kelly started coaching him that Daniels unlocked his true potential. However, without the transfer portal structure, neither Daniels or Kelly get that chance.

So when someone like Sluka does what he does, you can get a quote from all of the naysayers (cough, couch, Dabo, cough), or you can talk to the guys who actually get it, like Kelly. Which is what Sports Illustrated did. Here's what Kelly told them:

"Unfortunately, those stories do exist and I think there’s a couple of things that when we have young men come to our campus, we do spend some time with them and the first thing is, you should never give up your name, your image and likeness, exclusively; you should hold on to that. I think that’s the first thing.

I think the second thing is anytime we’re talking to the young men, we want to make sure that when we talk about agents that they’re certified. I know that’s difficult in most instances, but a certified agent versus somebody that does it as a part-time job, those should be red flags for families and they should be very, very cautious relative to signing anything if they are not a certified agent or they want your name, image and likeness. That, to me, are the kind of things that we try to educate when we have the young men on our campus."

Kelly also talked about the difficulty in constructing agreements with players, like contracts, when it comes to NIL deals. Because a lot of this structure is new, there's a lack of guardrails. But of all the major coaches in college football right now, Kelly seems to understand the pulse of NIL better than most.