NCAA considering letting athletes profit from name and likeness

During an April event with SU alums in Los Angeles, Syracuse Orange athletic director John Wildhack mentioned that he’d like to explore how to let players profit from their name and likeness — specifically citing former Orange QB Eric Dungey as a player that could’ve benefited from a change in NCAA rules. He’s not the only one that could’ve, either. The NCAA could be at the start of understanding that issue and doing something about it soon.

On Tuesday, it was announced that the NCAA would have a working group to “examine name, image and likeness” use and profit for student athletes. That sounds great on paper, and it’s good to see a conversation getting started. However, the individuals serving as part of the group are a bit of mixed bag.

Big East commissioner Val Ackerman and Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith will serve as co-chairs, which sounds great from the standpoint of understanding the immense amount of money made in college sports. ADs and presidents from Georgia, Virginia, Colorado, Tennessee, St. Joseph’s and Georgetown are also there, as is Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby. The rest of the group includes names mostly from DII and DIII schools, plus a few TBD athletes at various levels.

There’s no completely “right” group here, though adding more players from schools that could actually profit greatly from their name/likeness probably would’ve been useful. Lesser schools should have a say here, but they’re not necessarily the ones that stand to benefit from any change in policy. Having a lot of key decision-makers at big schools could be a plus for the working group... unless they’re operating in opposition to student-athletes receiving some sort of compensation (which, they could be).

So we’ll see where this goes. At the very least, it should probably get the conversation around EA Sports NCAA Football off and running. But long-term, it could open up opportunities for players to get more than just a check from a video game company. These working groups don’t always “work” all that well, though, so whether any player-centric ideas actually move forward is very much up in the air for now.

That, plus the rest of your Syracuse-related links below:

NCAA working group to examine name, image and likeness (NCAA)

According to the board, the group will not consider any concepts that could be construed as payment for participation in college sports. The NCAA’s mission to provide opportunity for students to compete against other students prohibits any contemplation of pay-for-play.

Hawryschuk and Syracuse plenty motivated heading into quarterfinals (US Lacrosse Magazine)

Hawryschuk honors her father by wearing his college football number, 51, and Sunday she presented her mother with flowers and Reese’s peanut butter cups for Mother’s Day before scoring five goals and two assists in Syracuse’s 14-8 win over Georgetown in the NCAA tournament second round, the first NCAA win her class and younger have experienced at Syracuse.

Syracuse football prioritizing Canadian QB Christian Veilleux in 2020, coach says (Syracuse.com)

In June, Veilleux plans to sit down with his family and Robbins, potentially, to make a decision, Robbins said. At that point, he could elect to narrow his focus to 2020 opportunities or lean toward reclassifying and exploring prep school options following his senior year.

Defense is hereditary for Syracuse lacrosse stopper (Syracuse.com)

“Defense is definitely a team sport. It’s a lot of fun going against the best teams in the country. It’s just fun to get competitive,’’ Trice said. “It’s really fun to get a stop or a turnover. I feel like it gets the team excited. I think you can be aggressive to a point. It’s fun to kind of push the limit and see how far you can go. I know a lot of people say girls lacrosse is not really a physical sport. But I believe it is.”

Meet ‘Papa’: Syracuse softball’s biggest fan (Daily Orange)

Prichard, grandfather of senior Alicia Hansen, watched Hansen play collegiate softball for the final time two Sundays ago. It was Hansen’s dream to allow her grandfather — who made her baseball and softball careers possible — to watch her in college. Soon, his support quickly developed into a bond between him and the entire SU roster, one that’s strengthened throughout their four years together.

Western Michigan WR Jayden Reed announces intention to transfer (Hustle Belt)

‘Valentine’s Views’ podcast: The Syracuse connection (Big Blue View)

Cannons, Nate Solomon agree to one-year deal (BostonCannons.com)

UW coach Mike Hopkins named assistant for USA U19 World Cup team (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)