Current Clemson football linebacker Trenton Simpson has started a YouTube page to create and post content. While this is something that the fans will enjoy, the NCAA may crack down on it while they still can.
Despite what some may think, Clemson football players will be able to make money on their name, image, and likeness just like any football program in the nation’s largest cities as social media is the great equalizer.
This weekend, sophomore linebacker Trenton Simpson announced his YouTube page which he says will be used to chronicle highlights and his journey through life. This will give fans another outlet to connect to the future NFL star.
While Simpson has not stated his goal is to make money by monetizing his YouTube page, it is a great added bonus for those that meet the requirements. However, the NCAA hates it when young athletes find ways to do exactly what Simpson is wanting to do – create enough content and hopefully make some money from doing so.
Remember the name, Donald De La Haye? If you aren’t a huge college football fan, you may not, but this is the former University of Central Florida kicker that lost his scholarship in order to maintain the money he was making from the videos he was creating and posting.
Welcome To My Youtube Channel! Check Out My Freshman Year Highlights. Like, Comment And Don't Forget To Hit That Subscribe Button And Follow My Social Media Accounts. Stay Tuned For More Content. Greatness Awaits!💜🧡🐅https://t.co/gMgdNqiG07 via @YouTube pic.twitter.com/n71DHk4X9I
— Trenton Simpson (@TrentonSimpson_) June 19, 2021
Clemson football players still have to wait a year to make money on their NIL
South Carolina is one of a handful of states to pass name, image, and likeness (NIL) laws that will allow collegiate athletes to make money on themselves. While the South Carolina law was signed a little more than a month ago, it does not become law until July 1, 2022.
This means that athletes like Simpson will have a little more than a year to create enough content to generate the following and views necessary to actually make money on who they are and what they create.
Like all of you, we have seen the “fans” that hate the idea of players making money and somehow believe that business owners are going to turn college football into the NFL but anyone that has taken a sensical approach to this understands that millionaires didn’t become millionaires by giving out their money frivolously to teenagers.
Since the phrase, “amateur-athlete” was first coined to stop paying college athletes (yes, they were originally paid) everything about college athletics has changed and it’s about time that the athletes that generate billions can finally make money on the one thing they control – their own name, image, and likeness.