Deion Sanders Blasts NCAA On NIL: 'You Have A Problem'
It's no secret that Deion Sanders has an issue with name, image and likeness (NIL) dominating the headlines around college football.
Just a week removed from saying that players should focus on the NFL and not NIL, the Jackson State head football coach said in a Twitter video Wednesday that he believes NIL is causing behavior issues among players.
DEION SANDERS WANTS PLAYERS FOCUSING ON ‘NFL, NOT THE NIL’
"When you start paying athletes like they're professionals, you get athletes acting like they're professionals," Sanders said. "And you don't have staffs large enough and equipped enough to handle a young man with money. Let me go deeper. Handle a young man that's making more money than some of the coaches on staff."
Sanders, 54, offered a solution to the NCAA, saying that college teams should be allowed to hire qualified men that can "handle these young men that's getting this money."
Sanders, competing at the FCS level, has done his best to compete with the big boys, notably flipping the class of 2022's No. 1 overall prospect, cornerback Travis Hunter, from Florida State on day one of the early signing period in December.
But that doesn't mean that NIL isn't impacting him from running his program how he wants to. Sanders said that the wild west nature of NIL is holding back the "little boys" from competing.
"See, with the NIL, which really ain't NIL because it ain't no name, image, and likeness, it's just pay-per view right now," Sanders said. "That's what they're doing at the big boys, little boys we can't compete with that. But anyway, you've got a problem."
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