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Penn State coach and players excited about name, image and likeness opportunities

Coach Franklin says players can now be like every other college student when it comes to earning income

INDIANAPOLIS — The Big Ten Conference kicked off their football season on Thursday with their media days event in Indianapolis. One of the hot topics of discussion was player compensation using their name, image and likeness and the Nittany Lions are excited about the change.

When asked what he thought would be a great endorsement deal, Penn State's Tariq Castro-Fields joked that his favorite fast food restaurant was Chick-Fil-A.  "Lifetime chicken nuggets," he laughed. "Something like that."

It's a different world for the college athletes and the coaches as they adjust to the change. There's a little more than five weeks until the first conference game but a good portion of the media session inside Lucas Oil Stadium talking about NIL and other off the field issues.      

"It's very simple right. We're providing an opportunity for our student-athletes to get an opportunity that every other college student on the college campus that has been able to take advantage of forever," explained Head Coach James Franklin.

"Now we are able to promote our brands but you have to focus on what you can control," reasoned Castro-Fields. "I feel like if you ball, the brands will come, if you don't ball, they won't."


We'd like to pretend COVID is not a factor, it's still a reality, a harsh reality for Coach Franklin and his family.

"I have a daughter who has Sickle Cell Disease so it's something that has hit very close to home," said Franklin. "I actually just reunited with my family one month ago on vacation, we had been separated for 14 months."

The Big Ten Media Days continue on Friday.  Penn State opens their regular season on the road at Wisconsin in a game that can be seen on FOX43.

RELATED: In-person Big Ten Media Days a welcomed sight for Nittany Lions

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