NIL was a hot topic over the course of this past week, especially with SEC Media Days taking place in Nashville. Many remain either for or against it across the NCAA. To Heather Dinich, though, there’s still too much good that players are doing with it to outright criticize it.
Dinich spoke with Mike Greenberg and Paul Finebaum about NIL on Get Up this morning. To start, Finebaum, while addressing his own back and forth with Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin this week, quickly discussed the issues surrounding the rules and how coaches across college sports are attempting to address them.
“We all know it’s a problem,” Finebaum said. “That’s why nearly every coach in the SEC and around college football went to Washington six weeks ago to urge Congress. It seems to be moving in that direction but not very quickly.”
In rebuttal, Dinich referenced Kentucky LB JJ Weaver as a reason why the problems around NIL aren’t as bad as some think. While she does believe it needs more guard rails in order to work within, she explained how Weaver is the perfect example of a player using it the right way and positively impacting his community because of it.
“It needs rules. Somebody has to make the rules and, equally as important, somebody has to enforce them. But to call it a disaster, to me, is an exaggeration,” Dinich stated. “I will point you to Kentucky LB JJ Weaver who is everything right about NIL. He has six fingers on his right hand. He partnered with Nike to make a special glove. And, because of that, he’s got an organization called ‘The Perfect Fit’. This month, he bought 100 bikes that he’s giving away to kids in his organization.”
“So it’s important that people realize that NIL is being used the way it was intended to be by a lot of players across the country in a lot of sports,” said Dinich. “Yes, it needs to be regulated. But it’s giving players an opportunity to do things like JJ Weaver at Kentucky.”
Weaver, a fifth-year senior in Lexington, has totaled 120 tackles in his career. He has also recorded 10 sacks, five pass deflections, and a pair of interceptions while with the Wildcats.
With an NIL Valuation of $62,000, Weaver has impacted some in the bluegrass as much off the field as on it. As part of that work with ‘Perfect Fit’, he is hoping to help kids across his community, including those who some might pick on for being different.
“When I was growing up, I used to get picked on a lot for being different,” said Weaver at SEC Media Days. “You know, people didn’t see it growing up. Plus we was kids. Kids were ugly, making fun of me and stuff like that. But I grew up, got bigger than everybody. They couldn’t make fun of me no more. I started playing football. Got into it, loved it. Then I went to the University of Kentucky. They helped me and that’s when I started expressing myself. I went to an elementary school and the craziest thing ever? Two kids had six fingers. They’d never seen me, a football player, have six fingers. I blew up ever since then.”
“I end up talking to kids now for my platform I do. My logo is, ‘A Perfect Fit’. That’s what I call myself going around. And I’ve been helping the community out,” Weaver said. “On the 30th, I’m having a bike drive. I bought like 100 bikes for the kids, me and my mom, and we’ll give all 100 away. Just riding around Louisville, Kentucky on bikes.”
Again, there are plenty of things wrong with NIL that still need work. That’s true at the college level and will continue to be so on a political level. However, to say it’s a failure altogether would discredit the work that players like Weaver are doing in Dinich’s eyes.
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July 21, 2023 at 09:25PM
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Heather Dinich uses Kentucky's JJ Weaver's 'Perfect Fit' in defense of NIL - On3.com
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