The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Edsall has thoughts on California sports bill
STORRS — Tongue firmly in cheek, Randy Edsall shifted his weight and began to address a question about a California bill that will enable college athletes to accept endorsement money.
“You know me,” Edsall said. “I would never follow anything like that.”
It was the last question of Edsall’s Tuesday morning press briefing, posed by The Hartford Courant’s Alex Putterman. Was Edsall following the legal proceedings in California, where proposed legislation could be a game-changer in college athletics?
Edsall, of course, has long vocalized his support for allowing college athletes to derive income.
The California bill, passed by the State Assembly, need only the approval of the State Senate before landing on the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom. And the Senate already passed a version of the bill in May, before the legislation was altered by the Assembly.
Approval of the new version by the Senate and Newsom could sign a bill that will go into effect in January 2023. South Carolina lawmakers are also considering a “Fair Pay to Play” bill while other political voices — including Senator Chris Murphy — have called for reform.
There are those critical of the California bill: Tim Tebow offered his take on ESPN and Washington State coach Mike Leach spoke in opposition, saying “The state of California has trouble keeping their streets clean right now, so my thought is that they probably ought to focus on that.”
Edsall, though, was unequivocal.
“I hope every state in the union passes the bill,” Edsall said. “I hope the governor signs it in
California. I know South Carolina is doing something about it. I wish Connecticut would do something about it.
“I don’t want to get started because we’ll be here too long, but …”
But Edsall was not finished. He called the bill “the right thing to do” and said the injection of lawmakers was required because the NCAA is not up to the task of reform.
“I hope every state takes legislation and it’s put into effect,” Edsall said. “But that’s really how it’s going to get done. The NCAA is not going to do anything. They’ll screw it up if they have to, anyhow. Just like everything else.”
Edsall called the NCAA out for relying on “parttime” people from universities to make decisions rather than the organization’s full-time employees.
“What’s really sad? It’s really sad that states and legislation has to do and do it, rather than the people that are in charge, doing what’s right,” Edsall said. “They talk about studentathlete, they’re not looking out for the best interest of the student-athlete.”
Peart back: UConn’s off week allowed senior captain and starting offensive lineman Matt Peart to rest and rehabilitate his injured knee. Peart left the game against Illinois in the first quarter after landing on the turf. He returned to the field Tuesday and will play at Indiana Saturday
“All good,” Peart said. “Coming out today, getting back with my guys, flying
around and having fun. … I was really excited to be out there with the guys.”
Week of work: While UConn did not have a game last weekend, the coaching staff used the opportunity to work with the young roster. After starting the season 1-1, the first bye week of the season came at an good time — especially with true freshman Jack Zergiotis taking over as the starting quarterback.
“In our situation, I think the bye was good for us, that we were able to play two games” Edsall said. “Plus with the change we had at quarterback, gave us another week to help Jack get better and, plus, it gave us a chance to continue to work on fundamentals and technique and also to get better at the things that we know we can do well . ... I think this bye kind of helped us out.”
Said Peart, “Going into the bye week, we definitely harped on focusing on more techniques and things, things that showed up in the first two games that we’re trying to fix . ... Just some things we’re trying to build off of. The guys really attacked it.
Commitment: Rochester, N.Y. running back Nathan Carter announced on Twitter Tuesday that he will attend UConn. The 5foot-10, 180-pound Carter, from Bishop Kearney High, rushed for 1,259 yards and 15 touchdowns as a junior. Carter also had offers from Army, Cornell, Holy Cross, Albany, and New Hampshire.