Vicky Graff Photo
During his press conference Monday, Kentucky coach Mark Stoops was asked about the role name-image-likeness (NIL) was having in recruiting.
“NIL is a major factor, it is. I don’t think I need to expand on that anymore. It’s a player. It’s a major player,” said Stoops.
A few hours later Alabama running back Khalifa Keith announced that he was de-committing from Kentucky just like Franklin County running back Kaden Moorman did a few weeks ago.
Keith was a big catch for Kentucky but has seemed enamored with Tennessee since the season started. He’s made multiple visits to see the Vols and also has been to South Carolina.
That leaves Kentucky without a running back in its 2023 recruiting class of 13 commits that continues to slide in the recruiting rankings.
Is it a coincidence that Kentucky seems to be falling behind, at least in football, in NIL money available to players? I don’t think so.
“I think any program would say they want more. The Yankees probably want more money. Everybody needs that,” Stoops said.
“I’ll say this without getting too much into it. We’ve worked our way through that as an administration, as an institution, as a program, to find the balance, to make sure it’s right, make sure it’s clean, make sure it’s legal, fair, ethical, moral. We’ve worked through all of that.”
Stoops said the UK administration has helped the players and coaches work through some things — but what else can he say about UK Athletics and his boss, athletics director Mitch Barnhart.
“Yes, we need support from the community, from the state, it is what it is. If we want to compete at the highest level, we’ve got to have money in the bank,” Stoops said.
“That’s legal, there’s collectives and we have collectives in place that are supported, that are cleared from our administration (that) you’re allowed to put money into. So, donate.”
Other schools seem to have a better and more productive NIL process and losing a recruit like Keith just shows why falling behind in NIL can be so devastating to Kentucky.
8 Responses
Larry here is what I think is a comprehensive explanation of the problem. I took this from KSR. Here are 3 issues outlined in the article. It was good reading:
Organization: The school will not empower one particular private group, i.e. a collective, for NIL efforts. There are a few collectives out there doing business with Kentucky players, but UK/JMI is not sending donors to them. Recent NCAA rule changes allow schools to promote collectives. UK still has not.
No proactive movement to connect players to businesses: Kentucky has the BBNIL Exchange but has so far failed to promote it enough that interested parties know it exists.
Active roadblocks by JMI/UK to protect their existing multimedia deal.
The article also states the Will lost out on more money because JMI owns the rights to UK logo and wanted 125K for Will to be able promote his image in his UK uniform. We are in serious trouble if we don’t do something soon. We are going to lose a lot of young talent if we do not improve their NIL deals(I am predicting we loose 1 or more receivers).
Money has always been a BIG part of college sports(it has never been amateur athletics never). To say these guys should come here to wear the Blue and not worry about NIL deals is just out of touch with what’s been going on in college athletic as long as I can remember. Money scandals in college sports are as old as college sports! !
You either lead or you follow. UK FB can not afford to fall behind in recruiting and give up so much progress that we have made!
Just one man’s opinion. Go Blue or Stay Home
Larry, are you still half asleep? Mark Calipari? Lol
Lol was wondering if there was a new sheriff in town or what…you know John Mark Calipari….lol…maybe, perhaps…in a dream, asleep-more than likely!
he would be a great coach
Well, sometimes I do make a mistake …
I liked the quote from a former Alabama WR on what’s wrong with Bama this year. He said “they’re not hungry. They got all that NIL money and they’re not hungry”. Could be an accurate assessment from one who’s been there.
I know some who also feel that way Keith
NIL has ruined college athletics I think. I said a few weeks back the lack of NIL money, or plan available at UK would hurt football recruiting the most, and it seems to have done just that very quickly. No RB for 2023 now with two de-commits, and no top 25 recruiting class, but a 2023 recruiting class that is falling like a rock. No "gun slinging" QB recruit for 2023 yet either. Meanwhile, UT, Florida, USC, LSU etc. are seemingly hitting on all 8 on the recruiting trail for 2023 it appears, while UK seems to have lost it’s "Mo Jo." This new UK offense that we all were expecting to put up big numbers in 2022 is ranked 100th in total offense and that could also be a big reason nothing is happening on the recruiting trail. I hope business picks up or UK football is in big trouble in 2023 I do believe.