Categories
College Football Players Headline NFL Players Recruiting Sports Agents

Was John Blake Involved In Marvin Austin’s Agent Selection Process?

Marvin Austin was front and center in the 2010 UNC Football Scandal.  He is now at the head of the Maximum Sports Management 2010 Draft Class.  The company is currently celebrating having 6 players selected to the 2010 Pro Bowl (Jairus Byrd, Steven Jackson, Larry Fitzgerald, Jason peters, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and Adrian Wilson), but  be sure that Roosevelt Barnes, Jr. is also quite happy about the Marvin Austin signing.  Even though Austin sat out all of the 2010 season, NFL Draft Scout lists him as the 3rd best Defensive Tackle in the country and projects Austin as a 2nd round pick.  If he impresses scouts at his Pro Day and/or the NFL Combine, expect him to jump back to a 1st round rating.

At least one person thinks that John Blake (former UNC assistant football coach) could have had something to do with Austin’s selection of Barnes and Maximum Sports.  We already know about the connection between Blake and Gary Wichard, but what about a potential tie between Blake and Maximum Sports?  Here is a Tweet from September 22, 2010, made by ESPN’s Bruce Feldman:

I assume that J-Clowney is Jadeveon Clowney, a 5-star Defensive End from South Carolina.  That guy Suh, Ndamukong Suh, is a Maximum Sports client.  Did Blake ever make that recruiting pitch?  Did he influence Suh’s decision to sign with Maximum Sports?  What else could he have been referring to when he stated, “I got him right?”  How could he possibly be taking credit for Suh’s success at Nebraska?

My thought is that it has nothing to do with a pitch to deliver Suh to Maximum Sports.  Blake was probably recruiting Suh to Nebraska while Suh was still at Grant High School in Portland, Oregon.  Prior to becoming a coach at UNC, Blake was the D-Line coach at the University of Nebraska from 2004-2006.  But I do see why that recruiting pitch makes certain people wonder what Blake was trying to sell.

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.

One reply on “Was John Blake Involved In Marvin Austin’s Agent Selection Process?”

@Darren – The part that’s missing is the calls that John Blake made TO Suh while still coaching at UNC that have come out as part of the media investigation into this NCAA mess. He immediately called Wichard after some of those calls to Suh, but who else was he calling? When the media was investigating, Wichard was the only name they were looking for. Who else was Blake trying to hook Suh up with?

Agreed that the quote above may have to do with recruitment, but we know that Blake was also calling Suh after he had left for NC trying to push him towards at least one agent.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/10/06/1742187/blake-contacted-suh-during-unc.html

Comments are closed.