Good Morning Gators: Steve Spurrier weighs in on NIL, players being paid
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Former Gators coach Steve Spurrier has long been in favor of college athletes getting paid.
At SEC Spring Meetings in 2012, Spurrier proposed providing football players with $3,500 to $4,000 a year.
“I do think players should be sharing the pot a lot more,” Spurrier told AL.com this week after receiving the inaugural Nick Saban Legacy Award. “I mentioned that about 12-15 years ago. We need to be giving our players three or four or five thousand bucks a year. It didn’t go that year, but it eventually came around.”
Three years after Spurrier’s suggestion, NCAA scholarships started including stipends. In 2021, athletes received another avenue to earn money with name, image and likeness.
“When it first came out, everybody said it will be like pro football,” Spurrier said of NIL. “It’s not like pro football. Pro football has rules. They have a draft. They have salary caps. You have to stay with a team two or three years before you can become a free agent. So they had rules in place that they could live with. At some point, I would think the colleges get together because you have to have some kind of rules.”
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That point is coming soon.
Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger reported Thursday night that leaders in college sports are pushing the NCAA to enforce new NIL guidelines and start investigating recruiting violations.
“Yeah, I think a lot of people are a little people are frustrated,” Spurrier said. “It’s not football and it shouldn’t be. But right now, this is where we are. If you don’t have a big collection of money ready to give these guys, you’re not going to be recruiting very well, it seems like. I just hope, whoever the new (NCAA president) is will put some rules into place. Incoming players should be able to receive some amount of money but there should be some kind of cap on it.”
In other Florida football news
- The’ Gators 2022 roster is starting to stabilize as the dust settles from the ‘spring portal period’, which was relatively quiet for UF.
- Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson projected as a top-10 pick by ESPN’s Todd McShay in his first 2023 mock draft.
- Richardson’s predecessor, former starting quarterback Emory Jones, announced his commitment to Arizona State on Thursday.
UF recruiting roundup
- Gators assistant coach Keary Colbert visited a top-100 wide receiver target for the 2023 class on Thursday.
- Terrance Green, a top-150 overall recruit in the On3 rankings, is planning a trip to Florida and speaking with several coaches.
- Big-time 2024 linebacker Aaron Chiles wastes no time setting visit to UF after landing an offer this week.
- Florida is the early favorite for four-star safety Brayshon Williams, a top-100 recruit in the 2024 On3 rankings.
- Projecting signee Andrew Savaiinaea‘s fit in Gainesville with the Gators, who could play him at multiple spots.
Gators sports roundup
- The Gators men’s hoops program hosted a pair of priority transfer targets on Thursday who entered the portal before May 1.
- UF transfer portal tracker: A full timeline of all the roster moves Florida basketball has seen since new coach Todd Golden was hired.
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