Alabama State Representative Jack Williams, R-Vestavia Hills, in his role as co-chair of the Alabama Athlete Agents Commission, is calling for a one-year moratorium on any action by the NCAA or state attorneys general against student athletes who received improper benefits from agents if the athletes step forward and inform their school and NCAA officials of any wrongdoing.
Williams’ comments came in light of an investigative report published by Yahoo! Sports that alleges former players from Tennessee, Mississippi State and Alabama received improper benefits from agents and financial advisors.
Most notably, former Alabama star D.J. Fluker is implicated in the story for allegedly receiving improper benefits from another former Alabama player, Luther Davis, who was acting as a middleman between agents and college athletes.
A tweet appeared on Fluker’s Twitter account earlier this year proclaiming, “Yea I took $ n college so wat. I did wat I had to do. Agents was tryin to pimp me so I pimped them. Cast da 1st stone.”
The tweet has since been removed and Fluker’s agent says that his account had been hacked. Fluker was a first round draft pick of the San Diego Chargers in this year’s NFL draft.
Whether the current round of allegations are true or not, Williams believes it’s time to crack down on the agents.
“It’s time the NCAA and the NFL worked with the states to clean up this matter,” Williams told Yellowhammer. “The current approach is not working, but no one wants to acknowledge it because no one is sure who would be implicated.”
Under Williams’ proposal student athletes would be given a period of time to acknowledge to their institution that they received improper benefits. The institution would then have a due date to report their findings to the NCAA, at which point the NCAA would work with state’s athlete agents commission to suspend or permanently bar agents who violated state law. The commissions and the NCAA would also work with state attorneys general to prosecute individuals who served as agents, financial advisors, runners or in any other position in which they provided illegal benefits to student-athletes.
Williams also called on the major sports associations to decertify any agent who runs afoul of their state’s sports agents laws.
“This problem will persist until professional sports leagues and players associations work with the NCAA and the states,” he said. “Right now everyone is looking out for their own best interest and no one is looking out for the student-athlete or the sport that they play.”
“The law regarding sports agents and what they can and cannot do needs to be clear in all fifty states,” Williams continued. “The consequences for violating that law should be known and should be enforced at the state level. There needs to be a cooperative approach, which has not existed up to this point.”
In addition to his work in the Alabama House of Representatives and co-chair of the Athlete Agents Commission, Williams is the publisher of BlazerSportsReport.com, a part of the Rivals.com network which is owned by Yahoo! Sports. The site focuses on sports at UAB.
“I would hope the NCAA would take these allegations as an opportunity for a new discussion and an opportunity to forge a new approach to dealing with the lingering problem of the sports agent and the amateur athlete,” Williams said in conclusion.
The Alabama Athlete Agents Commission is scheduled to meet Sept. 25.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
