It’s certainly been an eventful several days for the University of Michigan and its athletic department. Now, the President of the United States is offering his own subtle criticism.
During an interview with reporters on Saturday, United States President Donald Trump was asked about the state of college football and the massive name, image, and likeness deals that top college athletes are paid.
Trump made it very clear that he is against these sorts of deals, calling NIL “a disaster for sports, horrible for the Olympics, and actually horrible for the players.”
“Colleges cannot afford to be paying the kind of salaries you’re hearing about,” Trump said on Saturday. “You’re going to have these colleges wipe themselves out. Something oughta been done, and I’m willing to put the federal government behind it.”
Of course, one of the more high-profile deals in recent memory is Michigan’s signing of current quarterback Bryce Underwood, luring him away from his previous commitment to the LSU Tigers with a lucrative, multi-million dollar NIL package.
While Trump did not refer to Michigan or Underwood by name, he made a clear mention of this deal as he did not hold back his disapproval.
“You can’t pay $14 million to a quarterback to come out of high school, and they don’t know if he’s gonna be a very good player,“ Trump said.
Underwood was one of the most high-profile quarterback recruits in recent memory, but he did not live up to the hype during his first season at Michigan, finishing near the bottom of the conference in most major passing statistical categories.
Clearly, Trump thinks that Michigan made a mistake by offering him that massive contract before he had proven himself at the college level.
About Dave Kelsey
Bets on sports stuff.