By GLENN GUILBEAU
Tiger Rag Editor
Name, Image & Likeness rules passed nationally in 2021 that put cash into college athletes’ hands like never before has turned collegiate sports on its head.
Literally, at Oklahoma State, that is. The Cowboys’ football team will unveil new helmets in its opener Saturday against South Dakota State (1 p.m., ESPN+) featuring QR (quick response) codes that link to the football program’s general fund to fund its NIL packages for the players.
LSU football coach Brian Kelly was asked if LSU would ever consider such a head game, or a similar one, on the first weekly Southeastern Conference teleconference of the season on Wednesday.
“Not that I can think of off the top of my head,” he said. “The QR code, to me, begins to, I don’t know, for us, I think we can keep NIL off the field. I think we can generate the things that we need here at LSU separate from the game-day atmosphere.”
QR CODES ON HELMET NOT ‘COLLEGIATE’ TO KELLY
Kelly, who coached for 12 seasons at the ultimate football mecca of all things collegiate at Notre Dame before coming to LSU after the 2021 season, wants to cling to some semblance of the old school “collegiate” model.
“The collegiate kind of feel that you have, this is just my personal feeling, putting a QR code on your helmet just doesn’t feel collegiate to me,” he said. “And as much as we can continue to keep this game with the band, and with college-age kids playing the game the better. But I get it, right, I mean, NIL is here to stay. And that’s great. But I think we can be separate from that, and still at the end of the game, go to work on NIL. And again, that’s just my personal feelings about it.”
CHRIS HILTON JR. INJURY UPDATE
Kelly updated wide receiver Chris Hilton’s bone bruise injury on the teleconference. The junior played in all 11 games last season with two starts, catching 13 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns. Kelly said he was questionable on Monday for the No. 13 Tigers’ season opener against No. 23 USC on Sunday (6:30 p.m. central, ABC). And Hilton remains questionable entering practice Wednesday, but he could be upgraded to probable soon.
“He was moving around yesterday,” Kelly said. “He was running with our trainers, working on getting in and out of routes, kind of precision work. We’ll accelerate that today to the next phase, which is he’ll put the pads on, and we’ll see where he is. So, he’s in that progression, where you take somebody that is questionable and you continue to work him through the week to see if you can move him from questionable to probable. That’s going to happen through the work he does with our training staff, and they’ll let me know at practice, how he feels. I know he wants to play. He’s working towards playing on Sunday, and we’ll just see how the week goes.”
BRIAN KELLY PRAISES BO DAVIS
Kelly was asked about new defensive line coach Bo Davis, who came to the Tigers after coaching for mega programs Texas and Alabama as well as in the NFL with Miami, Detroit and Jacksonville.
“You have to look at his experience – national championship pedigree,” Kelly said. “He’s coached in the SEC, knows the conference very well, knows where an SEC caliber player needs to play at, and what level he’s got to be developed to. When you have somebody who’s that familiar with the league, the talent level, the development of that player – that’s really where you want to start. Then NFL experience, certainly the credibility that he brings in recruiting, evaluation. All of those together give you a defensive line coach that’s going to obviously recruit talent, develop talent, retain talent and get them to succeed at the highest level. And that’s why it’s difficult to get coaches like Bo Davis, and we’re very lucky to have him.”
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