www.yahoo.com/sports/michigan-jd-johnson-recruit-jim-harbaugh-005623332.html
Just because JD Johnson can no longer play football doesn’t mean he isn’t still a Michigan commit. Johnson, a four-star quarterback recruit in the Class of 2020 according to Rivals, announced Wednesday that his football career has ended due to complications stemming from a coarctation of his aorta, a heart issue, that cannot be treated through surgery. Because of those issues, the No. 10-ranked pro-style quarterback’s college career will end before it even begins. That didn’t stop Jim Harbaugh from telling Johnson he still has a scholarship at the University of Michigan. And that there’s a staff position waiting for him when he enrolls. Johnson, a native of Phoenix, Arizona, had been committed to Michigan since Dec. 2018. Obviously, this is a great thing for Harbaugh to do. Not just morally, but to show other recruits that a commitment to Michigan holds true for the school as well. The loss of Johnson means Michigan now only has three quarterbacks under scholarship for next season: sophomore Dylan McCaffrey, redshirt freshman Joe Milton and freshman Cade McNamara. You’d think Harbaugh will try to add another passer on the recruiting trail soon to boost that number. Dave's thoughts: As a Michigan fan, this does not surprise me. People like to look at Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh as a weird dude. They look at his antics when recruiting, they see in press conferences that he has strange turns of phrases nobody has ever heard of before, they see him as a guy who sometimes can be crass and testy... And lost within that, is the memory of who his coach was. Most of us all have that one teacher or coach who had a huge impact on our lives. Someone who inspired us, someone who taught us valuable life lessons, someone we would credit as helping to mold us, and shape who we became as adults, someone outside of our immediate family. Jim Harbaugh had Glenn "Bo" Schembechler as that role model. A man who epitomized integrity, respect, honor. When Bo gave you his word, he meant it. If he made you a promise, he kept it. This is exactly the kind of thing Bo would have done, had JD been one of his recruits. Not because of the good publicity, not to get favorable stories in the sports section of the newspaper, Bo would have done it for no other reason that it would be the right thing to do. Even if JD can't play football anymore, Bo would understand that he made as much of a commitment to JD, as JD made to him. It pleases me very much to see one of Bo's former players do his best to imitate his mentor like this. As Bo looks down upon the football landscape from heaven, Bo is grinning ear to ear at how proud he is of his former QB.
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www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/27957981/ncaa-votes-allow-athletes-profit-likeness
Dan Murphy ESPN Staff Writer The NCAA's top decision-makers voted unanimously Tuesday to allow college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness "in a manner consistent with the collegiate model." The board directed the three separate divisions of college sports to immediately begin figuring out how to update their rules in a way that maintains a distinction between college and professional sports. The board members said in a release Tuesday that all changes should make sure student-athletes have the same opportunities to make money as all other students, maintain the priorities of education and the collegiate experience, and ensure that rules are "transparent, focused and enforceable" and do not create a competitive imbalance. The board wants each division to implement new rules by January 2021. "We must embrace change to provide the best possible experience for college athletes," board chair Michel Drake said. "Additional flexibility in this area can and must continue to support college sports as a part of higher education. This modernization for the future is a natural extension of the numerous steps NCAA members have taken in recent years to improve support for student-athletes, including full cost of attendance and guaranteed scholarships." The association's board of governors gathered Tuesday morning on the campus of Emory University for their final regularly scheduled meeting of 2019. Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith and Big East commissioner Val Ackerman presented recommendations to the board members on how to modify the NCAA's rules on students profiting from name, image and likeness. Smith and Ackerman have spent the past several months spearheading a working group that was appointed to evaluate the issue. The working group was formed in May, months after a pair of politicians proposed bills to make the NCAA's rules about endorsement deals illegal. Nancy Skinner, a democratic California state senator, wrote a bill that was signed into law in late September. That law will prohibit California schools from punishing their athletes for accepting endorsement money starting in January 2023. More than a dozen states have expressed interest in creating laws similar to California's in the past several months. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week voiced his support for a bill introduced in his state that could go into effect sometime this summer if passed in its current form. The variety of solutions proposed in different states prompted NCAA leaders including president Mark Emmert to say that they would prefer a uniform national law or rule that applies to all members of their association. U.S. Congressman Mark Walker (R-N.C.) proposed a bill to change the federal tax code in a way that would likely force the NCAA to give all student-athletes the right to sell their name, image and likeness. The current proposal would create an unrestricted market for college athletes to seek endorsement deals. Walker said earlier this month that he hoped to bring his bill to a vote in early 2020, which could mean it would go into effect in January 2021. Walker and Skinner both said they would be willing to modify their legislation or work with the NCAA to create new rules, but they felt legislative pressure was necessary to force college sports' leader to act. Another federal bill that will likely allow for some NCAA regulation is expected soon. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, a current Republican from Ohio and former college and professional football player, plans to introduce his own legislation in the coming months. Gonzalez played wide receiver at Ohio State during Smith's first two years as athletic director for the Buckeyes. Gonzalez said he has talked to Smith about ways to install "guard rails" to avoid unintended negative consequences while making what Gonzalez considers to be some necessary changes. Gonzalez previously said he wanted to hear what Smith and Ackerman proposed at Tuesday's meeting before introducing new legislation. The NCAA's typical legislative process runs from November through April. The deadline to propose new rules for the board's consideration is this week, but exceptions have been made in the past to consider late proposals. After soliciting feedback from leaders of all three divisions of college sports, the board votes on proposed rules during their annual April meeting.
Angelique S. Chengelis, The Detroit News
www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/2019/10/07/jim-harbaugh-college-players-should-nfl-draft-eligible-any-time/3901938002/?fbclid=IwAR2_PaYbLWVVt89JzgZ1P9gC-ZpaFZ3phhFI3dAuXgIoRP48kt1UsZBN7ZU Ann Arbor — Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has a different take on how to improve options for college football players. Harbaugh was asked how a new California law that would allow players to receive endorsement deals despite the NCAA, which doesn’t now allow players to profit from their sports, would affect the competitive balance across college football. The California law would be initiated in 2023. “There’s a lot of things, careful what you wish for,” Harbaugh said Monday. “A lot of loopholes we’ve seen, they drive trucks through them. I can’t visualize how that would be a competitive advantage or how that would work.” He wants to maintain the amateur status of college athletes and has given considerable thought to different ways to handle this going forward. “I think there are 300,000 college football players and there’s pro football, about 2,000 NFL players per year,” Harbaugh said. “The fair thing to do would be not to restrict players to have to stay in college for three years. They could turn pro at any point. They could be drafted after their freshman year, they could be drafted after their sophomore year, they could be drafted after their junior year, their senior year. “I would also make a rule if they weren’t drafted, they could return to college. I think they could also be very productive if someone were to leave after their freshman or sophomore or junior year they hadn’t finished their degree, they would have their ability within a certain time span to come back and to finish their degree. That would be what I would suggest, propose. You have examples of other sports. You have hockey, you have baseball, you have basketball.” Harbaugh said he would be happy to propose this idea. “Something I think would be beneficial and fair to everybody,” he said. “There’s a restricted nature to something you have to be a college football player for three years before you’re eligible to be drafted. Give an opportunity for someone to be a professional football player at 20 or 21. It’s not a long time there’s a window to be a professional football player. If somebody’s good enough to do that and can return and finish their college degree. "Probably would be appreciated and not taken for granted and looked at for the value that it is. It’s hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a college education these days, plus room, board, books and tuition, and there are some that are good enough to be professional football players and some that aren’t, but that, to me, would be a good resolution to the conversation we’re having.” A few thoughts: I agree in principle with the idea, but with a few major caveats: 1. The rules regarding players returning mimic the rules for basketball players, seen here: www.ncaa.org/about/flexibility-going-pro-and-getting-degree OR: 2. The NCAA works WITH the NFL to come to an arrangement similar to what they do with baseball and hockey. That is, expand the number of rounds to the NFL draft, allow underclassmen to be drafted, but if the team that drafts them feels they need further development, the player can go back to college, while the NFL team that drafted them retains their rights. We see this in college hockey all the time, where a drafted player goes to college to play instead of the minor leagues to get some seasoning. Here is the deal: Most underclassmen aren't going to get drafted under the current system. They will be too small, too underdeveloped for an NFL team to seriously consider taking them under the current NFL structure, and any agent worth his salt will flat out tell them that. A few special players might get drafted, but most college football underclassmen will end up returning to school. So, with that in mind, if the NCAA allowed underclassmen to declare for the NFL draft, there needs to be some kind of safety net in place. Dan Murphy
ESPN Staff Writer U.S. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, a former Ohio State football standout, is planning to propose a new national law to give college athletes the opportunity to make endorsement money. Gonzalez, a Republican from Ohio, said he believes the federal government needs to act quickly to avoid potential problems. California passed a state law Monday that prohibits colleges in that state from punishing college athletes if they accept money in exchange for the use of their name, image or likeness. The law, which will not go into effect until January 2023, does not require schools to pay their athletes directly. Lawmakers from more than a dozen other states have expressed interest in proposing similar laws or have already submitted proposals in recent weeks. Some of those proposals include other stipulations such as schools paying athletes directly or setting up funds for them to pay for health care after their careers in college athletics are over. The NCAA has said it recognizes the need to modify its current rules, which prohibit players from accepting any money from outside sources, but they strongly prefer one nationwide rule rather than each state coming up with slightly different variations. Gonzalez believes a federal law is the correct way to move forward. "I actually think that we need to do something quickly, within the next year," Gonzalez told ESPN. "I don't think you have three years to figure this out. I think decisions will start happening immediately." He said he wants to create legislation that gives athletes the chance to make money while also setting up some way to protect athletes from what Gonzalez described as "bad actors." "There are a lot of people who are trying to get a piece of the athlete who do not have their best interest in mind and are out for nefarious means," said Gonzalez, who was an All-Big Ten receiver at Ohio State before playing in the NFL for five years. "You can imagine a world where, if there were no guardrails in place, that it could get out of hand pretty quickly. That's the lane you're trying to carve. How do you do this to provide necessary and deserved benefits while not inviting a bigger problem alongside it?" Gonzalez said he has had informal conversations on the subject with Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith, the co-leader of a working group assembled by the NCAA to evaluate ways in which the association could change its rules on name, image and likeness rights. Smith is expected to report the group's recommendations to the NCAA's board of governors at the end of October. Gonzalez plans to wait to draft his legislation until after Smith makes his recommendation to the NCAA. Gonzalez said he has examined the issue with his staff in the past, but their conversation "kicked into gear" after California passed its new law Monday. There is already one federal bill related to name, image and likeness rights working its way through the legislature in Washington. Rep. Mark Walker from North Carolina has proposed changing the tax code to force the NCAA to allow players to make money from endorsements or risk losing their nonprofit tax exemptions. That bill is currently in front of the Ways and Means Committee in the early part of its path through the lawmaking process. Gonzalez said he hasn't spoken with Walker directly, but said he has had conversations with various members of Congress. Walker's bill does not currently include the "guardrails" that Gonzalez thinks are necessary. Gonzalez said he thinks he will be able to garner bipartisan support when he makes his proposal at some point in the next few months. While he wants to take his time to make sure they draft a bill that properly addresses some of the consequences of allowing players to make more money, Gonzalez also feels a sense of urgency. California's law is three years away from going into effect, but juniors and seniors in high school who are currently making decisions on where they will play collegiate sports would be able to take advantage of the law by the time their collegiate careers are over. California's law could give schools in that state a strong recruiting advantage, which would prompt other states to move quickly to catch up. Florida state Rep. Chip LaMarca, for example, said he hopes to get a law on the books in his state as early as 2020. Gonzalez said a federal law would take precedent over state laws if one is passed, but he feels the need to move quickly to avoid confusion for young athletes who may take each state's new proposed approach into consideration when picking their schools. He said he plans to move forward soon after Smith and the NCAA make their recommendations. "My plan is to wait on that," Gonzalez said. "I trust Gene. I know he's thoughtful in this. ... I want to see that play out, and then he and I will have discussions on how we can solve the goals that we all have." |
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