Nick Geddes
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Alabama quarterback Bryce Young made a big impression with his arm on Saturday in a 44-13 win against Miami, and will now look to make one with his personality.
In the newest of name, image and likeness (NIL) deals to be announced, the sophomore gunslinger has signed with Fox Sports host Colin Cowherd and iHeartRadio’s The Volume podcast network. The Hollywood Reporter reported yesterday that Young will host ‘The Bryce Young Podcast’ alongside Jake Crain every Tuesday.
The deal should push Young’s earnings through the NIL into the seven figures, as head coach Nick Saban indicated back in Aug. that Young was approaching that number.
Volume struck a similar deal with Notre Dame star safety Kyle Hamilton in August, along with a few of his teammates.
Cowherd said this is the future of college football and will be the first time a college quarterback has a platform outside the podium.
“They are on social media, they have got their own voice, they are all funny, on Instagram and Twitter,” Cowherd said. “They are so much more sophisticated than maybe a quarterback in the ’60s or ’70s or ’80s or ’90s.”
In addition to being a beacon to showcase Young, the podcast will most definitely be a promotion tool for No. 1 Alabama, the most successful college football program going today.
“There is no brand in college football bigger than Alabama, and there is no position more celebrated than playing quarterback,” Cowherd said. “And for the future of college athletes exploring the media space, I just thought, ‘you know what? This is really cool’. It’s an opportunity for fans to hear somebody, to get the perspective of the quarterback, the on-field coach of Alabama, the best dynasty of my life. So it just felt kind of natural.”
While Young will be the one giving his take on everything college football, the man who helped Young negotiate the deal was CAA agent, Ed Berry. Berry said that he believes this will be the first of a trend that will start in the podcasting world.
“I think this generation, that is what they know, that is what they have grown up with their whole life. So them putting a microphone in front of their face and doing a 30-45–minute show, talking about the week?,” Berry said. “That’s a Thursday night for them. It’s not outside the box. It is very much who they are. I definitely think this will be the first of many that you see make these types of moves.”
As Young’s game grows, so will his following which has seen a tick up since the Miami game. Fresh off going 27-of-38 for 344 yards and four touchdowns in his first collegiate game, Young was named the SEC Player of the Week and has catapulted to the top of the Heisman Trophy discussion.
I don’t like it. Not focused on getting better of messing around with podcast. This is the kind of thing that will create problems.
I usually do not pose problems without viable solutions, but with the NIL being relatively new, I will pose this question: Does anyone recall the trouble Maurice Clarett got himself into a few years back? He had seedy folks loaning him money based on what he was expected to do once he left OSU and got into the NFL. Fast forward to the NIL era. A young 18 year old prodigy signs an NIL deal with an organization which has seedy ties and then doesn’t live up to the hype? Thats a whole different kind of pressure to put on these kids. With the money the mob has in sports books, how long before they infiltrate the NIL world and then start making kids wear concrete cleats when they don’t throw games or live up to the hype?
Good now he can pay full tuition room and board books lab fees etc just like every other student