Categories
College Football Players Headline Sports Agents

New NFLPA Contract Advisor Signs Five Small-School Clients

tak sportsThere are 133 newly certified NFLPA Contract Advisors who successfully passed the NFLPA’s entrance exam and paid the required dues.  It will be a challenge for many of these new agents to sign any players leading up to the 2013 NFL Draft.  The cost to compete is high and the competition is fierce.  Further, signing players does not guarantee that they will be drafted by an NFL team or be picked up in free agency thereafter.  It is the risk people take when they decide to spend the money and time to prepare for and take the NFLPA’s mandatory examination and then hit the recruiting trail.

One of the 133 new NFLPA Contract Advisors is Tommy Kellis of New Bern, North Carolina.  Kellis is a graduate of the Thomas Cooley Law School and practices law in coastal North Carolina.  He is active on Twitter (@TommyKellis) and enjoys the outdoors.  Along with his partner Mark Spivey, he is catching the attention of the football industry based on the number of early signings he has accumulated for his company, TAK Sports Agency.

TAK, which comprises the initials of Thomas Arrowood Kellis, has already signed up five players coming out of college.  Those players are:

  • Justin Blash, defensive tackle from Albany State;
  • Markus Lawrenece, offensive lineman from Winston-Salem State;
  • Tim Lelito, offensive lineman from Grand Valley State;
  • Jeremiah Schwartz, fullback from Hampton; and
  • Brynden Trawick, safety from Troy.

Kellis and Spivey are also two of the few football agents that provide their marketing brochure for the public to view.  It provides their company’s mission statement, expected earnings, BLESTO/National Scouting Reports, college all-star games, training, NFL combine, the Wonderlic test and more.  In all, the document is 23 pages in length.

Tak Booklet

Time will tell whether I can agree with TAK’s recruiting strategy, but as a fan of openness, I like that the company has decided to provide its marketing brochure for the world to see.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Adam Heitner, Esq., is a preeminent sports attorney and the founder of Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., a Fort Lauderdale-based law firm specializing in sports law, contract negotiations, intellectual property, and arbitration. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2010 and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Florida in 2007, where he was named Valedictorian of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Admitted to practice in the state bars of Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia, as well as multiple federal courts, Darren also serves as a certified arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

As an adjunct professor, Darren imparts his expertise through teaching Sports Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) at the University of Miami School of Law in the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law LL.M. program. His scholarly contributions include authoring several books published by the American Bar Association, such as How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, and numerous articles in prominent publications like Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and Above the Law. His thought leadership in NIL has earned him recognition as one of the foremost experts by The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and On3, and he has been lauded as a “power player in NIL deals” by Action Network and a “top sports trademark attorney” by Sportico.

Darren’s passion for sports law led him to establish Sports Agent Blog on December 31, 2005, initially titled “I Want To Be A Sports Agent.” The platform, created as a New Year’s resolution, has grown into a cornerstone of the sports agency community, offering in-depth analysis of industry trends, legal disputes, and agent-player dynamics. His commitment to the field is further evidenced by his representation of numerous athletes and sports agents, as well as his prior role as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington, where he developed and taught a course on Sport Agency Management from 2011 to 2014.

Darren’s contributions have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the University of Florida’s 40 Under 40 Award, the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, and designation as the best lawyer in Fort Lauderdale by Fort Lauderdale Magazine. He remains an active voice in the sports law community, sharing insights through his weekly NIL newsletter and his X posts, engaging a broad audience on legal developments in sports.