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LISTEN UP: Next on the Endangered Species' List? 5-Star Athletes
From the dinosaurs to Blockbuster video, things just become extinct.
Home telephones? Heck, cable television has virtually ran its course.
So, what is next on the endangered species' list?
The 5-Star Athlete will be extinct in a matter of months.
Football's Big-Ticket, Game-Breakers will be a thing of the past in 2022. No, not a meteor shower or the advent of new technology, but the ruling of Name, Imagine and Likeness, where college athletes can cash in on themselves where they see fit.
Great, cool, awesome. Long overdue for college athletes, but the NCAA has made the roll-out messier than an LA Freeway virtually any time of day.
The repercussions of NIL have seeped into high school sports as I've predicted.
This is basically Global Warming for high school athletics. There won't be a slow erosion of superstars leaving the locker rooms and weight rooms across Texas, but an avalanche of Blue Chip athletes falling into the abyss of NIL. SPLASH.
Southlake Carroll's Quin Ewers was first to test the waters, bringing this topic to the UIL, which deferred to the Texas Legislature. Ok, cool. Their hands are tied, I get it.
Ewers couldn't get paid in high school, so off to Ohio State and greener artificial turf pastures await him.
He was the No. 1 player in Texas. Poof… gone.
Hightower super-hooper and senior-to-be Bryce Griggs couldn't make money as a high school student… poof off to Overtime Elite where he will get paid… we think. No more Hurricane state title dreams as H-Town is in his rearview mirror.
FB Bush junior Tyler Smith gets a national-ranking and… bye, off to Overtime Elite. He will forego TWO years of making memories inside the Hopson Field House. He just would have been a junior.
While Klein Cain star Jaydon Blue's circumstance is a little different, highly-coveted athletes will follow his lead. Blue committed to the University of Texas and has chosen to by-pass his senior year to prepare for his future as a Longhorn. He should be an early-enrollee in January.
Those are the outliers right now, however, they are also the pioneers that so many will follow.
For now high school fans, enjoy the likes of Bridgeland's Conner Weigman -- an Elite 11 QB -- still weaving his magic at the high school level before he early enrolls with the Aggies in January.
If North Shore 5-Star Denver Harris (currently the No. 1 player in Texas) comes back from an ACL injury to play ball this year, he certainly be the last of his kind. Big-time stones if he does come back.
The Bishop Davenport's of Spring, Harold Perkins' of Cy Park and Kam Dewberry's of Atascocita – all extinct in the near future.
So, what stops this disappearance of future stars?
Open up the NIL floodgates in Texas. It will be messy at first, but order will follow.
It gives the optics of a level playing field to all athletes… not just football, basketball and baseball stars but also female student-athletes. They usually get left out of this conversation all together.
Do you think Lululemon wouldn't sponsor Ally Batenhorst of Seven Lakes, the National Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year? What about former Barbers Hill star Charli Collier being an ambassador for who else… Charming Charlies?
This could be a slippery slope, but it can't be any worse than the alternative.
Hightower senior guard Bryce Griggs is bypassing his senior year of high school and college eligibility by signing with the Overtime Elite professional league.
Hightower star Griggs bypassing senior year, college to go pro
Hightower senior guard Bryce Griggs is going pro.
Overtime Elite announced Friday that Griggs, a 6-foot-2 point guard, signed with the professional league and will play in its inaugural season starting in September.
"Bryce Griggs is a player that has been recognized as one the nation's most promising playmaking guards and we are thrilled to welcome him to the OTE family," Brandon Williams, OTE's EVP and Head of Basketball Operations, said in a news release. "Bryce has had one of the best coaches and mentors in John Lucas, and has been attracted to the combination of an NBA caliber coaching staff, sports science, performance and nutrition focuses that will play a crucial role in his development into an NBA player."
Griggs averaged 22.9 points, 4.2 assists, four rebounds and 1.7 steals in three seasons at Hightower. He is ranked No. 69 on ESPN's top 100 prospects for the Class of 2022.
From Houston to ATL… Bryce Griggs creating his own lane by signing with OVERTIME ELITE 🤞 @griggs_32 https://t.co/SmttgfUFRN— Overtime (@Overtime) 1628870847.0
Fort Bend ISD's athletics department has not confirmed Griggs' departure, but Hightower boys basketball coach Stephen Woods did release the following statement:
"I have not received any information about him (Griggs) leaving but I assumed he was. The Hurricanes will continue to work hard, get after it on defense, play the game together, and play the right way. As a program we went 47-4 last year and won district on every level. As a coaching staff, we plan to continue working with the young talent we have and building from there. Bryce Griggs is a very talented player and we wish him nothing but the best. Once a Cane, always a Cane!"
With Overtime Elie, Griggs will be coached by former NBA player and former University of Connecticut head basketball coach Kevin Ollie.
"Bryce has elite talent which you can see when he has the ball in hands, but we're also going to turn him into an elite leader on and off the floor," Ollie said in a news release. "That's the promise I'm making to him."
In its news release, Overtime Elite noted: "Every OTE player will earn a six-figure salary, with a guaranteed minimum salary of at least $100,000 per year, plus bonuses and shares of equity in Overtime. In addition, players will participate in revenue from use of their name, image and likeness, including through sales of custom jerseys, trading cards, video games and NFTs."
In a Tweet, former NBA player and ESPN commentator Kendrick Perkins said Griggs would be passing up 1.2 million dollars by not signing with Overtime Elite.
The Lil Homie Bryce Griggs made the right decision!!! I talked to him last week and told him he better not think tw… https://t.co/6XrkVWPnYv— Kendrick Perkins (@Kendrick Perkins) 1628874553.0