LISTEN: Matt Jones explains what is holding Kentucky back in NIL

Kentucky’s standing when it comes to Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) has been a major topic of discussion in recent weeks as the football staff enters a crucial stretch in recruiting. Yesterday, Mark Stoops addressed NIL in his press conference, telling reporters that it’s become a “major player” in luring high school and transfer portal prospects to Lexington and while Kentucky has made progress, they have a long way to go to remain competitive.

“We need support from the community, from the state. It is what it is. If we want to compete at the highest level we gotta have money in the bank. And that’s legal.”

If you follow Matt Jones on Twitter, you’ve seen his many tweets on the subject. On this morning’s radio show, Matt went in-depth on what he’s hearing from sources within and around the football program about Mitch Barnhart and the administration’s approach to NIL. Like Stoops, Matt said Kentucky’s NIL situation is better than it was over the summer, but far from where it needs to be, in part due to roadblocks created by JMI, UK’s marketing partner.

For example, Matt shared a story from a message board poster who owns a collectibles business that has a NIL deal with Will Levis and wants to do more but was told he would have to pay JMI $125,000 to use photos of players in their Kentucky uniforms since JMI owns rights to the logo. Whereas other schools in similar situations are offering businesses discounts because the deals are for the players’ benefit, UK and JMI are not, which is just one example of how the administration is not proactive when it comes to NIL.

This is the comment I referred to on the show about a business trying to do a NIL deal and the roadblocks being set up pic.twitter.com/ZJfD6taJ8D

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) November 8, 2022

After a conversation with a source last night, Matt outlined three major issues that are prohibiting Kentucky from reaching its NIL potential:

• 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

“Coaches, donors, collectives, and businesses are complaining,” Matt said. “All four are being shut out and we’re going to lose players if we’re not careful.”

Which players? Matt listed Deone Walker, Barion Brown, Dane Key, Alex Afari, Keaten Wade, and Destin Wade as names to watch. With the end of the season approaching and National Signing Day in football just around the corner, the urgency is real.

“Mitch Barnhart has a decision to make now. Not in three or four months because these kids will decide whether to transfer in December and January. He’s got to decide now. The reason I’m being urgent about this, it’s now because in the 2023 class, we already screwed up with NIL because we were behind last summer. Right now, the coaches are trying to make sure 2024 is okay. I think it’s going alright but we lost 2023 because of their hesitation. That’s why this class isn’t as good. We will lose these players on the team if Mitch Barnhart and the athletic department don’t get it together.”

Listen to the complete comments below.

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