Every week, PowerMizzou.com publisher Gabe DeArmond answers questions from Tiger fans in the mailbag. This format allows for a more expansive answer than a message board post. Keep your eye out each week to submit your question for the mailbag or send them to powermizzou@gmail.com. On to this week's inquiries.
Ragarm asks: What are you thoughts on the changes that allow players to sign with agents and still return? It seems to me that it could make it easier to have agents try to do some under the table stuff to hold on to them if they do return to school? Also, it would seem to me that there is one more thing the NCAA can find to penalize schools about if they don't keep a solid handle on this new relationship. And no one can convince me that if you get someone to pay your bills for a few weeks that it won't form some type of relationship, even if you "sever" it.
GD: Under current NCAA rules, I don't love the idea for all the reasons you state. It's a slippery slope. But I actually am in favor of college kids being able to have relationships with agents. For example, let's take a kid like Jontay Porter. An agent knows he's going to be an NBA player at some point. Let him sign with one. If the agent wants to give him a $100,000 loan with the understanding that it's repaid when the kid is in the pros and can do so, cool. Now, yeah, I understand that opens up a can of worms, but they'd have to be agents that were certified by the NCAA and the NBA. So, like, you couldn't go give a kid ten grand to go to Missouri and say you were his agent. I'm sure there are problems I'm not thinking of with it.
Bottom line, though, in a situation like this, it allows an agent for a kid and his family to travel during the process on the agent's dime. I would assume the understanding is, "Hey, if it doesn't work this year and you want to go back to school, that's cool. But I want to be your agent next year when you do come out."
