Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has never been shy about sharing his feelings, and that was no different while speaking about name, image and likeness deals during an appearance on The Players Club Podcast with Darien Rencher.
Swinney said:
"I'm not against NIL at all. What I am against is anything that devalues education. That's what I'm against, and I'm against the professionalization of college athletics, and what does that mean? Well, that means, now we're paying you guys your salaries and 18-year-olds have to pay taxes, and, you know, I don't think that's good. I think we should keep the focus on graduation, incentivize graduation and do everything we can to modernize and improve the scholarship in addition to these NIL opportunities. I think it's great, but again, with the NIL, with the transfer portal, there are some things going on that I don't think is sustainable, and I don't think it's good for a lot of young people.
"You're talking 18-19-20 year olds that shouldn't be equipped (yet to handle what's going on), you know? And 98% are not going to the NFL. So let's help them maximize this for sure, but let's not allow some of the craziness that is creeping up."