Jere Morehead shares stance on NIL, transfer portal

With SEC Spring Meetings starting today, there are bound to be several stances that come out regarding conference officials’ takes on the topics that loom large over college athletics. Two of those are name, image and likeness – better known as NIL – and the transfer portal, and we didn’t have to wait for everybody to get to Destin to hear where University of Georgia president Jere Morehead falls on the spectrum of opinions. He shared his with reporters last week during the UGA Athletics Association Board of Directors meeting at the Ritz-Carlton on the shores Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga.

“Well, I think NIL has evolved in a way that was not intended,” Morehead said. “It was intended to reward student-athletes for their name, image and likeness, as student-athletes enrolled at college institutions. It’s clearly become something different than what it was intended.”

“I believe we’ve got to have some very clear rules that do not lead to the professionalism of college athletics,” he continued. “You probably saw the action that the Division I Board of Directors took a few weeks ago at the NCAA. That was a strong statement by the board that we want the enforcement staff to enforce the rules that exist related to recruitment, and we don’t expect that NIL would be used as a recruitment device. I believe in the long term that we’re going to have to have a more formalized process whether that comes from Congress, or can come from the actions of the NCAA. We clearly need a strong framework that governs the conduct that every institution engages in when it comes to NIL. How we get there, and when we get there, is an open question. But right now I hope the enforcement staff feels like they’ve been given a green light by the Division I Board of Directors to investigate some of the cases that have gained a lot of national attention.”

The Division I Board of Directors released a statement earlier this month with new guidelines to clarify the relationship between NIL, boosters of a school and recruits. Morehead serves as the chairman for the board.

Companies created to help provide athletes with endorsement opportunities, known as collectives, have been reminded that they cannot have contact with with perspective student-athletes, and schools have been told that the NCAA could pursue sanctions against anyone who has violated the rules since the implementation of name, image and likeness rights last summer.

“What concerns me the most is it’s supposed to be about making sure that the student-athletes can freely engage in their name, image and likeness, as student-athletes on college campuses, and it’s gone beyond what that framework was expected to be,” Morehead said. “I think we have to make sure that guardrails do exist, and that it doesn’t become a situation where student-athletes are making choices based upon the highest bidder in choosing colleges.”

Concerns Surround the Transfer Portal

In the same breath, Morehead also expressed his worries surrounding the transfer portal. Between the simple surge of student-athletes that have explored the options of transferring to concerns about tampering with student-athletes at other schools, Morehead wants to see more governing of the entire portal process.

“I think some work’s got to be done with the transfer portal,” Morehead said. “Again, the portal has gotten a little beyond what was anticipated. You remember the transfer rules were relaxed to make it easier to transfer, but now student-athletes are jumping in and out of the portal in a way that’s creating a lot of instability for teams and their team rosters. That’s not really good for the sports that they are a part of. So I think again we need a reasonable framework to govern the transfer portal, and I’m hopeful that we can get to that point.”

“We’ve got a great leader, co-chair of our Division I transformation committee, Greg Sankey, along with Julie Cromer, the athletic director at Ohio University. They’re leading our Division I transformation committee every Tuesday afternoon through important discussion on all these issues, and I’m hopeful that we can ultimately come up with a series of rules that will effectively govern us in a collegiate model,” he continued. “Certainly commissioner Sankey and Julie Cromer’s committee’s working on those issues, and getting a lot of feedback from student-athletes, and coaches and athletic directors, and other conference commissioners. So hopefully we can reach a good outcome in the coming months.”

Does Morehead’s Stance Sound Familiar? Kirby Smart Feels the Same Way…

If Morehead’s stance and concern surrounding both the usage of NIL and the transfer portal sounds familiar, it’s likely because Georgia football coach Kirby Smart feels the same way. He too wants to see more people stepping in to create clarity across the board on the controversial topics.

“I just want to make sure that the game stays at a point where we can control it,” Smart said on NIL during a recent visit with Paul Finebaum. “I think everybody would agree that college football’s one of the greatest sports there is. It’s very pure. It’s amateur. And now it’s drifting the other way. It makes it tough. So I’m all for the players – we’ve had a lot of players get an opportunity in Name, Image and Likeness. I would just not want it to be a decision’s based on where ‘I’m going to the highest bidder.’ And if we can control that some kind of way, it would be much better.”

Smart, Morehead, men’s basketball coach Mike White and athletic director Josh Brooks are all a part of the Georgia group expected to be in Destin this week for SEC Spring Meetings where the anticipated discussion surrounds many of these same topics.

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