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College Football Players Sports Law

Rumor: Andre Smith Was Dealing Improperly With An Agent

Andre SmithYou are one of the best college football players at your position and practically guaranteed to be one of the top five overall picks in the upcoming NFL Draft (in fact, many have you slotted to be the first selection in the whole shebang).  The last thing you want to do is take any action that would lower your draft stock.  Agents are knocking on your door, calling you left and right, and promising you the best training facilities and weekly stipends.  Just wait until after your bowl game.  Alabama offensive tackle, Andre Smith, just could not resist the temptation.  He has been suspended from the Sugar Bowl and likely has played his last game in an Alabama uniform.  The suspension is reportedly for improper dealings with an agent.

As I have mentioned plenty of times on this site, Alabama does not play around when it comes to athlete agents.  The potential penalties and the propensity of Alabama to enforce its regulations has led some to say that it is not worth it to represent athletes out of Alabama at all.  While it is still just a rumor that the suspension is related to dealings with an agent, I would not be surprised based on the state of Alabama’s stance on such activity in the past.  The University of Alabama would not want to allow Smith to play if it knew about potential agent contact with one of its student athletes.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.

One reply on “Rumor: Andre Smith Was Dealing Improperly With An Agent”

Amazing that players continue to get caught in these traps and that agents continue to take the risk. I wrote a short article on the potential criminal and civil liabilities for Smith and the agent over on my blog. Here’s a link: http://sportslawguru.com/2008/12/31/andre-smith-agent/

Happy New Year!

Matt Breeden (SportsLawGuru.com) is an internationally respected business advisor and attorney based in Indianapolis, IN. His practice is focused on Sports & Entertainment, Intellectual Property, Commercial and Corporate Law. He represents Sports & Entertainment properties, as well as many other businesses, in a variety of matters, including: Broadcast & Digital Media Agreements, Licensing Agreements, Sponsorship Agreements, Commercial Agreements, Athlete/Driver Contracts, Insurance & Risk Management, Employment Agreements, Litigation Management, Mergers & Acquisitions, Business Formation and Corporate Governance.

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