Florida high school athletes can get paid for their own personal brands

Name. Image. Likeness. It’s better known as NIL, and soon, top Florida high school athletes will be able to cash in by promoting their own personal brand, promoting products and services and carrying endorsements. Just like their college and university counterparts have been able to do in recent years. The Florida High School Athletic Association Board on Tuesday unanimously approved a policy change to allow NIL. “I was excited for it,” Noah Grubbs told WESH 2 News. The change in policy could potentially be life-altering for him and his family. They expect to talk with an agent soon. The Lake Mary High School phenom led the Rams to a 10-2 record last fall, was the State's second-leading passer in TDs last year, and, though he still has two years before graduation, has just committed to Notre Dame. It seems he can "do it all," except for one thing: he can't make a dime on his name, image and likeness. The FHSAA vote will change that, soon allowing high school athletes in Florida to profit from sponsorship deals while maintaining their amateur status.“I think it's a great opportunity for us as young athletes to be able to start early and not just, not pop up when we get to college and be able to gradually go through the experience of branding ourselves and getting our names out there,” Grubbs said. “The amount of time that these athletes spend after school before school and on the weekends, really eats up any opportunity they have for a full-time job or employment," said Grubbs' father, Ephraim Grubbs. "So it's going to be great for them to have the opportunity to earn while they are still an athlete here in the state.” Noah Grubbs' quarterback trainer, Baylin Trujillo, said unlike when he played over a decade ago, players can focus on improving their skills and worry less about helping to support their families. “We worked," he said. "I had to work minimum wage to get stuff to go to this camp or that camp, and now these guys will obviously make some money to hopefully better themselves and put themselves in a position to travel and do all that stuff.” Under the approved change of policy 9.9, high school athletes will be able to monetize their name, image and likeness, while retaining their eligibility to compete. They can profit, for example, from business endorsements.Restrictions remain There are restrictions: Students can not use school names, logos or uniforms without permission. Student transfers are barred from NIL for that year, and recruitment by competing schools is prohibited. While not a large percent of students, some high school athletes in Florida have left the state in recent years to compete in other states that had NIL rules already in place.Trevor Berryhill is on the FHSAA Board and is the athletic director at The Master's Academy in Oviedo. He said allowing NIL will keep top high school talent competing in Florida. “There are definitely some students who have left to tap into this opportunity, and I don't think we want a bunch of people to do that,” he said. Corporate sponsors who have supported athletes on the college level say the decision by the FHSAA to allow high school students to profit is the right one.Addition Financial Credit Union, whose name is on the arena where the UCF Knights play, has been a longtime NIL supporter. Addition Financial’s Rich Barbari told WESH 2 News, “If it helps support students and can help support their households too and their families because everyone's family situation is different, I can definitely see that as a positive outcome for them,""And if this scales up to the point where these students are making somewhat up to what the college athletes are making, we want to make sure they have the tools that help them use that money responsibly,” Barbari said. The Florida Board of Education must vote on the FHSAA policy change, but approval is fully expected.