All along we have been under the impression that kids could start getting paid when they signed with Missouri. That's true. The thing is, it doesn't have to be a National Letter of Intent. Here's how the law reads
The phrase "other written agreement" carries a lot of weight here. Something like a financial aid agreement or scholarship agreement can fall under that category. And a kid does not have to wait until December 20 to sign that paper.
The state law goes into effect on August 28th. So let's say Williams Nwaneri commits to Missouri next Monday. He can sign a financial aid agreement and he is eligible to begin getting NIL money on September 1st as long as the document he signs is with an in-state institution. In other words, Missouri doesn't get a one month or six month jump on paying kids. It gets a four month or nine month jump. Nwaneri can't get NIL money from another school until he's actually there (which will be June). Should he commit to Mizzou and sign a financial aid agreement, he can get money Sept 1 from Mizzou.
Now here's the catch: Financial aid agreements are not binding for the player. So theoreticallly, he could sign that, do some things to get NIL money beginning September 1 and would still be able to sign anywhere he wanted to on December 20. And Missouri's not going to be able to get that money back because he would have done whatever act was required to earn that money. And because NIL specifically can't be an inducement to attend a certain school, the contracts are not going to be able to say that payment is dependent upon him actually showing up. It's dependent only on him signing the document (this is true for any player, I'm just using Nwaneri as the example). In other words, there's a risk for Missouri. Do you trust the kid that if he says he's coming he's actually going to come and not just get three months of payments out of you and sign elsewhere?
Honestly, guys, this is HUGE for Missouri. It's an even bigger deal than we realized. And we already thought it was a pretty big deal.
The phrase "other written agreement" carries a lot of weight here. Something like a financial aid agreement or scholarship agreement can fall under that category. And a kid does not have to wait until December 20 to sign that paper.
The state law goes into effect on August 28th. So let's say Williams Nwaneri commits to Missouri next Monday. He can sign a financial aid agreement and he is eligible to begin getting NIL money on September 1st as long as the document he signs is with an in-state institution. In other words, Missouri doesn't get a one month or six month jump on paying kids. It gets a four month or nine month jump. Nwaneri can't get NIL money from another school until he's actually there (which will be June). Should he commit to Mizzou and sign a financial aid agreement, he can get money Sept 1 from Mizzou.
Now here's the catch: Financial aid agreements are not binding for the player. So theoreticallly, he could sign that, do some things to get NIL money beginning September 1 and would still be able to sign anywhere he wanted to on December 20. And Missouri's not going to be able to get that money back because he would have done whatever act was required to earn that money. And because NIL specifically can't be an inducement to attend a certain school, the contracts are not going to be able to say that payment is dependent upon him actually showing up. It's dependent only on him signing the document (this is true for any player, I'm just using Nwaneri as the example). In other words, there's a risk for Missouri. Do you trust the kid that if he says he's coming he's actually going to come and not just get three months of payments out of you and sign elsewhere?
Honestly, guys, this is HUGE for Missouri. It's an even bigger deal than we realized. And we already thought it was a pretty big deal.
