Former Husky Guard Erik Stevenson Shows How NIL Works at West Virginia
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NCAA rules used to be so rigid, yet so tested at all times at the big-time football and basketball programs where players, coaches and donors simply couldn't help themselves when it came to helping one another and trading favors.
Some money here, a car there, plane tickets over there.
With the advent of name, image and likeness allowances across the board, of course, everything has changed. Nothing, it seems, is illegal anymore. No gesture is out of bounds. NCAA sanctions, penalties and probation virtually don't exist on the books.
Still, it's going to take some time for everyone to get used to this new free-for-all landscape, with the rampant trading of goods and services for an unmatched crossover step or a money 3-point stroke.
One Pac-12 assistant basketball coach recently shared how nearly every recruit he encounters these days wants to know this: what can I get?
Consider Erik Stevenson, the former University of Washington guard for a short time, now at West Virginia, his fourth Division I basketball stop,. He shared his good fortune with his NIL deal on social media.
On Tuesday, the 6-foot-3 senior from Lacey, Washington, posed for a photo in front of his new car from a Morgantown Ford dealership he apparently is affiliated with.
Now this might be a loaner, probably a temporary ride, just something to get around in, yet it's so contrary to what the rules once were.
Stevenson actually strikes us as a guy who probably prefers a Benz or an SUV with everything on it, but he might be at West Virginia no more than through March, so this sedan should get him around. Get him to practice. Get him a date or two ... or maybe not.
Either way, news of a donated or purchased car for a college basketball player used to create outrage when revealed, lead to nonstop headlines, bring NCAA investigators to campus and put forfeits in the record book.
No more. It's just commonplace goodwill these days. Maybe it's better that everything is out in the open now and hardly contested when it comes to benefits no longer deemed illegal.
Which leads us to this question: wonder what the former Husky turned West Virginia returnee Emmitt Matthews Jr. is driving these days?
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