Eric LeGrand on college athletes getting paid

The dream for most college athletes is to one day make it to that big payday in the pros. Most never make it, including Eric LeGrand, who had his dream cut short by a catastrophic hit in a game that left him paralyzed. LeGrand, who now does color commentary for Rutgers football, was a guest on my show here at New Jersey 101.5:

"My whole life since I started playing football, I was 5 years old, I wanted to go to the NFL, retire and become a sports broadcaster. Be able to take care of my family financially playing the game I love and when that moment was taken away from me when I got hurt, it was like all the dreams that you worked for just came crashing down."

The money game changes a bit now that the NCAA is allowing college athletes to get paid for the use of their names. Will that new rule attract bigger names to the Rutgers football program, where players could have the New York market to profit from?

"Money controls a lot of things and a lot of decisions are made off of money," LeGrand said. "And if that can be something that can be for a person in the New York market on billboards and on the turnpike and through New York City and Times Square, I'm sure people will think I can go get a paycheck over there."

"I am a firm believer that college athletes should be paid in a certain way," says Legrand" I'm not saying you give  these guys all this amount of money to do this or do that, but If you're going to use their picture or something, then you compensate them and give them a few bucks"

Legrand's story is just another reason why college athletes should be paid. You never know what the future holds for these players who lay it all on the line on game day so that the college and the NCAA can make money now, while the athlete hopes to get his payday later.  There are no guarantees that payday will come.

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