Former NFL star DeSean Jackson is a few months from his first season as a head coach at HBCU Delaware State, but he’s already dealing with the way NIL is changing college football.
“This process has been different for me. The reason why I say this, is I have some players coming in my office asking like ‘coach, I want this amount of money and I’m going to the highest bidder,” Jackson said in a recent interview on the Up and Adams Show with Kay Adams.
The now 39-year-old former Cal Bears receiver tried to put himself in his players’ shoes, but he had a tough time.
“If I would have went into Nick Saban and Pete Carroll’s office back then and been like ‘I want this and I want that — they would have looked at me like you better get out of here.”
Yes, Jackson admits this is a different era.
“I honestly look at this era now as free agency. It’s almost like an NFL system. It’s like a farm system to the NFL,” Jackson said. “The NCAA, they’re going to have to figure this out. There’s no (salary) cap on it. Some schools are going to be able to pay these guys millions of dollars. And then some schools like us we don’t really have the resources — HBCU or black college — we don’t really have the resources to compete with Oregon or Alabama or al these other schools and we’re a Division I school.”
Jackson says that despite the lack of resources, he’s happy with the results he’s gotten at Delaware State. He says much of that is due to the relationships that he has.
“I may not be able to offer a million dollars. I may be able to offer $20k in NIL, but my name may be able to make up the rest of that money.”
DeSean Jackson is hosting a megacamp on June 7 that will feature former NFL star and Miami Hurricanes legend Clinton Portis. He also revealed that talks are on-going between Delaware State, Norfolk State and the Philadelphia Eagles to move the DSU-NSU game featuring Jackson coaching against Michael Vick.
“It may be a different date. We’re trying to work on a date,” Jackson said. “It may be Oct. 30. We’re trying to get that at Lincoln Financial Field. We’re trying to get that at the Eagles’ stadium.”
Jackson said that things are going great on Delaware State’s end and that they are waiting on Norfolk State to accept. No announcements have been made, though.
