New offensive line coach Zach Yenser says NIL opportunities are available for players once they get on campus but no promises or guarantees are made to recruits. (UK Athletics Photo)
Coming from the San Francisco 49ers to Kentucky to coach the offensive line has been a learning situation in many ways for assistant coach Zach Yenser.
However, name, image and likeness matters are new for everyone and Yenser is learning just like everyone else.
“The university has been unbelievably supportive with what we are trying to do,” Yenser said. “We are not going to pay players to come here. It ain’t happening.”
“We educate recruits. When you get here, you will have opportunities to make money. I can’t speak to what other teams are doing. You hear stuff but we educate guys.”
Yenser said there is a NIL presentation for recruits on visits and UK now has over 60 football players with NIL deals.
“Businesses in Lexington are very supportive,” Yenser said. “You will have opportunities when you get here. There is no talk of here’s money to come here. No, it’s you do what you are supposed to and you will make money. You got to play football for people (sponsors) and show them why they should give you money.”
“I get there are shady parts of recruiting and stuff happens. We just are not getting into this whole deal of coming here for this or that. We want you to come here, do your job and you will be rewarded. The better you are, the more money you will make.”
14 Responses
Nobody could have say it better on this NIL deal. Great cover story as always Larry.
Yenser does not mince words
Love this Coach!
Easy to love Zach Yenser
Heard him speak to the Louisville Quarterback Club earlier this month and he really connected with the audience. I can see why the Big Blue Wall will love playing for him !
you got that right Ripper
I just watched a replay of the Citrus Bowl win over Iowa. Wandale Robinson and Chris Rodriquez were the only real bright spots in a game that Iowa had all but won. Iowa had 7 sacks and averaged 9 yards a play in the second half. A couple of "fortunate" interceptions were the difference. Iowa deserved the win, we won despite ourselves. Wandale is gone, CRod is a question mark for this year. Levis looked like an average, at best, quarterback in that game. Stoops played "not to lose" with a second half lead and lost that lead late in the game. He is going to have to rethink that philosophy this year. Levis better pray that CRod plays. If not, it’s going to be a long, losing season.
All due respect Whodat, but you are so wrong on this. No way is this a losing season.
I hear you Larry, but I am making that prediction if CRod doesn’t play this year. It sounds like Brown may be the answer for Wandale. Bottom line though, Levis will have to play a LOT better than he did against Iowa.
Whodat expresses an interesting point of view about the Citrus Bowl. I have watched that game over a couple of times this summer, and I was impressed by the UK effort from start to finish, displaying grittiness and determination to win, and the ability to make the big plays when they mattered most.
No team wins every snap, every possession, every quarter of a football game. The team that wins the most snaps, most possessions, and most quarters will win the game. Whether the winning quarters come in the 3rd and 4th or the 1st and 2nd have little impact on a game between closely matched teams, and in most bowl games at the level of the Citrus, the teams will always be closely matched, as were Iowa and Kentucky last year, and Kentucky and Penn State in an earlier version.
Playing the "what if" game after a real contest has occurred is always easy, but both coaches, and both sets of players must compete without that luxury. As I said before, the coaches that make the right call more often, the players that execute and make the play more often, will win the game. That is what happened in the Citrus Bowl last year.
As for this coming season, the real fortunes of the UK team will depend on one issue. Will this year’s team perform better, the same, or poorer than last year’s team? It is not about any individual player, and no one will know the answer to that question now. Therefore, projections are speculations based on the assumed answer to that question and will remain so until all teams have played a few games this season to see which teams are really better, worse, or about the same.
I believe that based on all teams (an assumption) being the same as last year, the UK will finish 9-3 again. However, when I look at the schedule, it would take a huge drop-off for this team to have a losing season in 2022, and I certainly do not expect that magnitude of a drop-off, while a decline in quality of play is always a possibility for any team. I believe that floor for this team against this schedule is 7-5.
I actually believe this team will be much better than last year, and if that comes to pass, then 10-2 or even 11-1 are well within reach for this program in 2022.
7-5 to 11-1 is a broad range, but actual performance can vary over a wide range. I believe this will be a 10-2 type team, so that is my pre-season guess.
The first football game is less than 5 weeks away now, and it won’t be long until we all can see for ourselves, and I for one cannot wait.
Smh, thats about as ignorant as saying, well if Iowa would of scored more points they would of won. Iowa lost because kentucky played better overall, kentucky came up with the turnover when they needed it and kentucky came up with the big play when needed and scored when needed. Thats literally how every team wins. When you don’t you lose…like Iowa they couldn’t make the big play and turned it over so they lost…..
This article is about NIL money, and UK, per coach Yenser, will never pay players to come to Kentucky, but there will be opportunities to make money once they get here. Now that sounds really ethical and above board, but I am afraid if UK takes this mindset for very long, while every big name school in the SEC like Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Florida, Texas A&M, and especially Tennessee are paying players, then UK better get used to being at the bottom of the conference in future football recruiting classes.
For 2023 I saw recently where UK’s class is ranked 8th in the SEC. That will not cut it boys. Look towards Knoxville and you will see UT loading up their roster with many a 4* and several 5* players in their 2023 class. Look south to Columbia, SC and the gamecocks adding some elite talent too. UK has been recruiting well, but 2023 is not working out so well IMO. UK is not receiving enough commitments from elite talent. UK will pay for this in the future if this continues.
There are apparently no hard and fast rules to regulate NIL that I have seen. UT, and other football powers in the SEC have been buying players for years IMO, UT and Pruitt just got caught, thus the 18 violations of level 1 sited. They should face the "death penalty." If y’all think their administration didn’t know for years this was going on your blind. UT should be punished severely, but won’t be because the brass at UT supposedly got on top of this and took action too soften any possible NCAA sanctions and future penalties.
As I see it, NIL just made buying players legal, that’s all. UK better get with the program and buy a few for themselves or get used to losing in the near future. Alabama and Georgia are winning championships every year because of superior talent. It is that simple.
I have been against paying players from the get go. It has ruined college athletics and created an unfair playing field for many programs. That said, until hard and fast rules are established to regulate NIL then the rich will continue to get richer, the poor poorer. No time has that been more clearer than the 2023 recruiting class. Stoops has built a solid program based on overall better talent, but if the university don’t wake up and allow UK to buy a few of their own football players with NIL money, then UK football will pay a great price trying to compete against elite talent in a football conference that is off the rails with NIL money. The Saban vs Fisher feud pointed that fact out. Buying players is right now legal with NIL money. Tell me where I’m wrong.
The same UT that has 15 or so level one violations pending…js
Larry brings up an interesting point. Unless there is some sort of regulation the "haves" will pay to play and the "have nots" may have a problem fielding a team. This is an exaggeration to be sure but it will happen. There is no honor in sports when it comes to big money. Just look at what is happening with the Big 10 and the "alliance".
Without some intervening regulation, agreement, et al, a players’ union is almost a certainty and that will dip into the revenue stream to the member schools. This will force the schools to make players "employees" which expose schools to collective bargaining, workers compensation and a plethora of employment guarantees. Without a NFL style player agreement the member school revenue stream is at risk to a group of people who know absolutely nothing yet except "I want mine as quick as I can get it" or alternatively known as players. Remember these kids are just out of high school.
Here is the elephant in the room that no one is talking about. Player health. We all have seen what happens to grown men in the NFL that endue a 16 game schedule. A running back has about a 10 year career span due to wear and tear. Expose a high school kid to that kind of schedule and he’ll be lucky if he can pass a NFL physical when his four years are up and now his career is now going to be about 5 years in the NFL. The NFL is not going to draft and pay big bucks for kid that is all but worn out. The players may be young and ignorant, but they are not stupid. Given the above reality, they and going to want more from that income stream because they will figure out that their bodies will not make it to the next level or certainly not long thereafter.
I don’t want to sound like I want to take opportunities from the players but there is a reality no one seems to want to address. Schools depend on this revenue sharing money to fund title IX and other academic programs. Coaches get paid to win and make their respective school brand more valuable. Without some sort of safeguard, Some schools will be forced out of the revenue sharing because they can’t field a team and the players will be the ones paying the "big" long term price for success. By the time all the dust settles from NIL, that $1.2 Billion per school is going to be a lot less that seems on its face.
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