Cecil Hurt Talks Name, Image and Likeness

Cecil Hurt, the great Tuscaloosa News sports reporter, joined Travis Reier on Southern Fried Sports to talk about college players name image and likeness, Tua wearing jersey number one and new NCAA rules that were put in place for recruiting. You can listen to the entire interview on Soundcloud or on the Tide100.9 Youtube.

Hurt concluded that Tagovailoa choosing jersey number one enables the Dolphins to sell merchandise. Hurt acknowledged Marino's great career and the fact that his number 13 is retired, but he said Tagovailoa was never going to wear 13 in large part due to the money that can be made off merchandise sales.

Hurt transitioned the conversation into player name image and likeness and told Reier that most players would not be able to make that much money off endorsements due to several factors. He claimed only a small percentage of players are recognizable enough outside of their uniforms to be marketable. Tagovailoa would have made money but many other Alabama players may not have had that capability without wearing Alabama gear. He used Coach Saban as an example being so recognizable he doesn't have to wear Crimson Tide colors in his Aflac commercials but most athletes do not have that level of fame.

Hurt went on to say that these new rules that are going into place will ultimately only serve 20-25 schools and programs; the SEC and several other high profile schools. He also connected that these 25 schools are the same schools who are already powerful and already operating from a position of competitive strength.