Texas A&M "Embraces" NIL Stance In New NCAA Ruling

Texas A&M will do its best to embrace the new NIL ruling for players to earn money.

Some schools will choose to fight it, while others will accept the new ruling. Texas A&M falls in the latter category. 

A&M is now embracing the new rules set by the NCAA with the NIL agreement, allowing players to earn money for his or her name, image or likeness. So far, coaches have supported the move for players in every sport to earn money for their work. 

“I’m supportive of it,” new Aggie baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle said this week. “In the most ‘under-scholarshiped’ sport in all of NCAA, if a guy can earn 200 bucks by going and signing autographs at a birthday party, then I think he should be able to do that.” 

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Shemar Turner, A&M's top prospect from the 2021 class, has yet to play a snap for the Aggies but is already making money off his likeness. On Thursday, the freshman posted to his Twitter that he had agreed to a deal with Cameo, an online video stream that allows people to pay for messages from high-profile names. 

A&M athletic director Ross Bjork said this week that times are changing for the next crop of players. As someone who has worked in college athletics for over 10 years, he considers this a "fascinating time" in the realm of sports. 

“The most transformative time, definitely in my career, and probably in the history of college athletics,” Bjork told fans during his monthly town hall online. 

Bjork and Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher will discuss the terms for players when it comes to making a profit. As set by the SEC, first-year players like Turner are not allowed to speak to the media. 

Will this change with the new NIL ruling? 

“You could say … we’re not going to do anything — we’re not going to embrace this. This can be a disaster, this can be the wild, wild West," Bjork said. "And maybe it will be — maybe we’re not anticipating what might happen.”  

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Bjork said that while athletes now can earn their own money based off their image and likeness, this shouldn't hurt in recruiting. Instead, it should only grow the chance for more athletes to earn some type of scholarship. 

“We’ve put the platforms together, and we’ve invested … we’re looking at doing a design studio and things like that, if student-athletes want to be creative at a certain level,” Bjork said. 

Fisher also expressed his support towards the ruling for players to earn extra payments, stating he supports his players "1000 percent." The question now turns to how scholarships will be handed out. 

Every sport is different when it comes to recruiting. Sometimes a staff will only gain two or three names. Fisher and football have 85 players on full scholarships, with over a dozen more on some type of scholarship. 

For now, the Aggies are about building into the new culture surrounding the new rules. It will be a learning experience not just for the program, but also for boosters and the fans of the 12th Man. 

“The brand of A&M is valuable, and our athletes … can utilize that brand to lift them(selves) up," Bjork said. "You can look at it as an opportunity, and we’ve chosen to do that — we’ve embraced it."

CONTINUE READING: Aggies' Jim Schlossnagle "Ready To See" What SEC Baseball Is All About