Once a college football star, Rep. Colin Allred now stumping for athlete protection amid House v. NCAA fallout

Texas Congressman Colin Allred may know the ins and outs of college athlete legislation better than anyone else on Capitol Hill. From 2001 to 2005 Allred played linebacker at Baylor University and made the NFL for five seasons with the Tennessee Titans. He later went to law school and served at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development before winning a seat in Congress in 2018.

Much of his career success was driven by his decision to attend Baylor and enter law school. But in the Wild West name, image and likeness (NIL) college landscape, would he have made the same decision? And would he have emerged as a US congressman?

“I just can’t imagine having to navigate that right now,” Allred told CBS Sports. “When I was 18, having to choose a school based on who would pay me the most instead of what would be the best option for me? That would have thrown a lot of different variables into that decision.”

Allred has emerged as one of the key figures in Congress behind the scenes on college athletics legislation. The House v. NCAA opens the door to direct payments from universities to athletes but leaves few guidelines as conferences and athletic departments focus on how to implement the most dramatic change in the history of college athletics.

Allred was raised by a single mother in Dallas and played during a time when pay was almost exclusively limited to school and housing; His family was unable to fill many gaps. Allred would have been one of the main financial beneficiaries as a large college football player. But while he fully supports direct payments to sports athletes, he emphasized what he sees as the bigger picture for college athletics.

“These young people are working hard and producing a product that the entire world is watching,” said Allred. “It’s making other people a lot of money, and they should see some of it too. But I want to protect them because I know the vast, vast majority of them are not going to play professionally.”

The commonly cited statistic is that only 1.6% of NCAA football players make it to the NFL. Allred is one of the select few who managed to overcome adversity. He played 32 games in five seasons with the Tennessee Titans, joining Utah representative Burgess Owens as the only former NFL player active in the Senate. Additionally, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker played wide receiver at Stanford (“He knows I would have taken him out,” joked Allred), while Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville coached football for 40 years.

Even though he is a success story, Allred only earned seven figures throughout his NFL career. It was enough for a nest egg, but not enough to survive for the rest of his life. According to an analysis by CBS Sports, the market for starting football talent in powerhouse conferences is in the six figures. With five years to play four seasons, many college athletes are looking for short-term payoffs that may not last long.

“Cory and I talked about it: I played professionally, he didn’t, but we both graduated,” Allred said. “I want to see those opportunities maintained. I want to make sure that as we enter this new era, with a lot of money coming into these young people – rightly so – they are still getting the most important aspect of this, which, I think, will be the opportunity to earn a free college degree that will expand your earning potential far beyond your athletic potential.”

His post-playing career outlook, in addition to being at Baylor in the 2000s, shaped his outlook on college athletics. Just a few years earlier, track and field star Michael Johnson emerged from Baylor to claim the title of fastest man on Earth. Jeremy Wariner and Darold Williamson, both 400 meter runners, also won gold medals. Kim Mulkey turned Baylor women’s basketball into a winner, winning its first national championship in 2005. Men’s tennis star Benjamin Becker led the Bears to their first national championship in 2004.

None of these former athletes participated in revenue-generating sports, but many were able to raise their profiles on and off the court with opportunities in college athletics. Many of the opportunities also went to female athletes. Allred emphasized that any legislation will have to evaluate the role of Title IX in ensuring that high-level opportunities remain for female athletes.

“Whether it’s softball players, tennis players or even golf players, I think it’s great that we’ve been able to have this kind of wide range of opportunities for men and women to compete at a higher level, to get their education and potentially go and do more. .. my experience at Baylor was that some of the people playing non-revenue-generating sports were incredibly important opportunities,” Allred said.

When asked directly whether legislation to shape the future of college athletics is realistic in a divided Congress, Allred was adamant that the answer is “yes.” Congressional leaders have openly discussed several bills in support of college athletics since NIL entered the equation in 2021. At least seven pieces of legislation have been proposed, several of which were bipartisan.

Ironically, one of the main public supporters of the college athletics legislation is its opponent. Allred is running to unseat Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in November. Cruz has proposed college athletics legislation and held several panels on the issues, including one involving former Alabama coach Nick Saban in March, which was one of Saban’s first public statements after retiring.

At a time when Republicans and Democrats rarely agree on anything, college athletics has quickly become a target for reform.

“I think things are clearer now in a way that makes it easier for us to come in and say, ‘Let’s have a comprehensive bill that addresses this and sets a national standard for all of these things,’” Allred said. “In terms of timing, these things can happen very quickly. I wouldn’t say it’s impossible for that to happen this year, although everyone who knows anything about Congress knows that in an election year it’s more difficult to get things done.

“I hope we can get this done as quickly as possible,” he continued, “but I think certainly in the next year or so we will see serious legislative efforts around this.”