- 1 day ago
Mark Schlabach from ESPN joins The Kevin Sheehan Show to talk about the cease-and-desist letter sent by Jayden Daniels' legal team demanding LSU stop using his Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL). He explains the rift between Daniels' camp and the university after LSU reissued his #5 jersey to sophomore cornerback DJ Pickett while continuing to protect Joe Burrow’s #9. Schlabach then goes into how this could set a precedent in the future regarding former College athletes.
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00:00ESPN's Mark Schleba joins us right now.
00:03Mark's got the number one trending story right now on ESPN.com.
00:08Mark's covered so many sports, golf and college football, among those that he is most associated with.
00:15And this morning, or late last night, he put out a story about a cease and desist letter sent by
00:23the attorney representing Jaden Daniels to LSU
00:27and to LSU's athletic director for them to stop using his name, image and likeness.
00:33But it goes beyond that because Mark was able to get statements from the Daniels camp on what this might
00:42really be about.
00:44With that, thank you, Mark, for doing this.
00:47As always, I love talking to you.
00:48We'll do a college football preview in a couple of weeks.
00:51That's more fun.
00:52But tell us what this is all about and what you learned from the spokesperson.
00:58Yeah, we got this tip yesterday afternoon and reached out to Daniels camp and said, hey, we're here.
01:05And there's a problem at LSU with his jersey number, number five.
01:11That DJ Pickett, sophomore corner, was number two cornerback in the country last year as a recruit out of Florida
01:19and played as a true freshman, was a freshman All-American.
01:22He wore number three last year.
01:24He wore number five to practice last week.
01:28And some reporters asked Lane Kiffin about it.
01:30And the Daniels camp, we were told the Daniels camp was really upset about it,
01:34that there might have been a cease and desist letter sent.
01:37And, you know, late last night, got my hands on the cease and desist letter,
01:42talked to some folks at LSU, talked to some people in Daniels camp.
01:45And, yeah, it's a pretty big step.
01:49And, you know, his number has not – Jake Daniels, number five, has not been retired by LSU.
01:58LSU got out of the business of retiring numbers in 2007.
02:03There's only one jersey an LSU football player can't wear, and that's Billy Cannon's number 20,
02:10which was retired decades ago.
02:12But, you know, for whatever reason, Jaden Daniels and his camp were under the impression
02:19that no one would ever wear his jersey again, and no one has worn Joe Burrow's number nine
02:26since he left in 2019.
02:27And for whatever reason, I think they feel like they're not being treated the same as Joe Burrow.
02:33Well, I mean, for it to be apples to apples with Joe Burrow, a number two recruit in the country
02:39would have had to request number nine to get recruited and to sign with LSU.
02:44There was a player that requested number five, and that may have been a big part of why he signed
02:51with LSU.
02:51From what we know, or from what you know, is there anybody that said,
02:55I want to wear number nine, or I'm not coming to LSU?
02:59In conversations with former LSU coach Brian Kelly yesterday,
03:06he said that the Burrow camp wasn't ready to allow anyone to wear number nine,
03:10so they didn't give out number nine.
03:12And he said that a promise was made to DJ Pickett during the recruitment
03:18that he could wear number five at LSU.
03:22And he said he didn't give it to him last year
03:25because Jaden Daniels wasn't ready to let anyone wear it.
03:29And then, obviously, Brian Kelly gets fired middle of season last year
03:33and Lane Kiffin takes over in January.
03:36And, you know, Kiffin told reporters last week that, hey, it really wasn't my decision.
03:41The kid was promised he could wear five.
03:43It's part of the reason he signed here.
03:46And so I let him wear it.
03:48But, you know, I don't know what's in Pickett's contract with LSU.
03:51I mean, this is the state of college football and college athletics.
03:56You know, someone told me that there's a clause in his contract that he can wear it.
03:59I haven't seen his contract.
04:01They told me there was monetary damages that LSU would have to pay
04:04if he didn't get to wear the jersey.
04:06I find that hard to believe.
04:07At the same time, it's such a crap show now that I believe anything.
04:13But it seems like they could just write a check to DJ Pickett
04:16and make this all go away,
04:17and they still have a good relationship with their third Heisman Trophy winner.
04:21Yes, there are three Heisman Trophy winners.
04:24Billy Cannon, who has the only jersey officially retired in LSU football history.
04:29Joe Burrow, who led LSU to an undefeated season
04:33and the greatest offensive season passing-wise in NCAA history
04:38as they won the national championship.
04:40And then, of course, Jaden Daniels.
04:42And to be fair, if he had even a bad defense mark
04:45instead of an absolutely horrific defense,
04:48they probably would have won the national championship
04:51because he was that good in college.
04:53All right, so I'm kind of viewing this,
04:56and maybe it's the wrong way to view it before I get to the opinion part of it.
05:00But there is a cease and desist letter, which you've read,
05:04I think everybody's read if you're following this story,
05:07that has and doesn't mention the jersey number at all.
05:12The jersey number as the backbone is the basis for them being emotionally profoundly disrespected,
05:20as they wrote, emotionally distraught over this,
05:23is about number five being given to this DJ Pickett.
05:27But as it relates to the cease and desist letter on ongoing NIL,
05:32is there an actual argument for players when they leave the school,
05:38they're in the NFL, that the school can't benefit from their name, image, and likeness,
05:44even though they won a Heisman Trophy wearing that school's uniform?
05:48Yeah, again, I have not seen what Jaden Daniels' contract with LSU looked like,
05:53according to his attorney in the cease and desist letter.
05:56LSU was permitted to use his name, image, and likeness for 180 days after his final game.
06:02Obviously, we're beyond that stretch.
06:06You know, legally, I don't know.
06:09Without seeing the contract, if you remember maybe a year ago, Kevin,
06:13the 1983 NC State cardiac PAC team tried to sue NC State and the NCAA
06:20for continuously using images of Lorenzo Charles Dunk and Jim Valvano running around
06:26and hugging players, saying they improperly used their NIL for the last 40 years or whatever.
06:31That case was thrown out of court.
06:33We've seen guys like Jamison Williams, the Detroit Lions receiver,
06:37and former Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott.
06:41They have ongoing federal lawsuits against their schools and conferences
06:47for not properly paying them when they paid for their NIL.
06:51So this one, I don't know.
06:53I mean, they're basically telling Daniels' camp is basically telling LSU,
06:57take my photos down in your football building.
06:59Don't use my image on your scoreboard during games.
07:02You know, I don't cover up my Heisman Trophy.
07:05I don't know if they went that far.
07:06But it's a mess for sure.
07:09Yeah, I mean, that's one of those things I can't believe that in the NIL contract,
07:14what did Jaden get paid?
07:15I'm just curious to leave Arizona State and play at LSU.
07:18Do you know?
07:19I don't.
07:20I would assume at least a million dollars would probably be the market.
07:24So it was the market back then.
07:27Imagine him today.
07:29But I just can't imagine that, you know,
07:33the school that's been around for more than 100 years
07:36and has had one of the most dominant football programs in America
07:39is going to seed, you know, a great player's history with that particular school
07:48back to the player after they've paid him.
07:52That one doesn't make sense to me.
07:54How can you not use, if you're LSU, you know,
07:58one of your three Heisman Trophy winners, one of you'd love him to be an ambassador
08:03for your school in recruiting?
08:06I mean, videos, film, everything about the school that gets presented
08:10to just normal students probably includes a Jaden Daniels highlight.
08:16Yeah.
08:17No, it's probably not the best contract it was written if it was only 180 days.
08:23But, look, these players, even, you know, high school recruits,
08:28have attorneys, they have agents.
08:30You know, I'm sure they're protecting their long-term NIL rights.
08:36It's very one-sided to players right now.
08:39Schools are desperate to get top talent and compete for hundreds of millions of dollars.
08:43I mean, it's the state of the game, and it's insane.
08:49All right, so it sounds like the cease and desist part, who knows?
08:54Maybe they actually have a case based on the contract that they had with the school.
08:58The other situation is what you learned and what you wrote about,
09:02which is really the basis for all of this is he's upset that they gave No. 5 out
09:08and Joe Burrow's No. 9 has continued to be protected.
09:12Does he have any sort of legal right to protect his No. 5 jersey
09:20and have it not be reassigned after he's no longer with the school?
09:27I don't – I'd find it hard to – I mean, there were hundreds of players
09:31who were No. 5 before he got there.
09:34I don't know.
09:35I mean, that's a great legal question.
09:36I'm sure if they can't come to some sort of a resolution,
09:39it's going to end up in court, but I don't know.
09:42I mean, the No. 5 jersey at LSU belongs to LSU.
09:49Of course it does.
09:50Can you imagine the precedent that would be set if somehow he was able,
09:56as a professional player, long removed from LSU,
10:00if he were the essential decision maker on how No. 5 got used,
10:06every player that ever played there – not every player,
10:09but a bunch of players would start to come out and try to protect their number.
10:12By the way, and you can appreciate this because you lived in the area for a while,
10:16but one of the big stories – I mean, not an on-the-field story,
10:20but a story that's generated some passion here over the last few days, Mark,
10:24has been that Stefan Diggs wants Joe Theismann,
10:29wants permission from Joe Theismann to wear No. 7.
10:33And, you know, I think the reaction is sort of split along generational lines.
10:39Like, for me, Joe's jersey is a protected jersey.
10:41It may be a jersey, no guarantee, but it could be a jersey that could be retired,
10:46and, you know, he should find another number.
10:49But here we are with this.
10:52It doesn't seem logical to me that a player could stop a university
11:00from using and reissuing his jersey number if it's not –
11:07I mean, you know, they've got to make the decision.
11:08It's their preservation of history responsibility, not his.
11:14Well, I mean, no.
11:16I mean, it's – I mean, it's – I don't – I can remember 2003,
11:25I did a recruiting story about a kid named Ernie Sims
11:29who ended up playing in the NFL for a while, linebacker out of Tallahassee, Florida.
11:33His last three schools were Auburn, Florida State, and Georgia.
11:37He wanted to wear No. 34, Bo Jackson's number,
11:42Herschel Walker's number, and Ron Sellers' number, Florida State.
11:45All three retired.
11:46Florida State buckled.
11:47Georgia and Auburn held their ground.
11:49I just can't believe that a jersey number, you know,
11:52means that much to some of these guys.
11:54I remember Syracuse talked about unretiring the No. 44 jersey,
11:58that Jim Brown and Ernie Davis and – yeah.
12:02I mean, it's insanity.
12:03But it's – I mean, we're going to get to the point here in the next 10 to 20 years
12:08where these guys aren't wearing numbers, they're wearing QR codes that, you know,
12:13then they can own those.
12:15Yeah.
12:16So, I mean, net this out for us.
12:19Where does it go next?
12:23You know, I would hope for both sides that they come to some sort of a resolution.
12:29You know, there are some guys who will never give blessing for somebody to wear their jersey.
12:36Matt Leiner, you know, said a couple years ago that they asked him several times to give up
12:41to let somebody wear No. 11.
12:43He said, I'm not going to do it.
12:45You know, I'm not going to give it to some random guy.
12:47He said he'll wear No. 11, and then in today's game he'll transfer after a year.
12:52So, I don't know.
12:53It just – it really seems like the Jaden Daniels camp has really dug its heels in
12:59and they're not going to back down from it.
13:01And, I mean, that's a shame because, you know, it's going to ruin a relationship
13:06with his alma mater and he's never going to come back to Tiger Stadium
13:09and be honored at halftime and those things.
13:11It just doesn't get worked out.
13:14Yeah.
13:15If Brian Kelly were still there, would this be – would we be talking about this at all?
13:22I mean, this is one of the rare occasions.
13:25Kevin, I'm not going to put this on Lane Kiffin.
13:28Okay.
13:29He inherited the mess.
13:30I think – I do think that Pickett probably was talking about going elsewhere
13:35if he couldn't wear it, and so he had to buckle.
13:39But, again, I don't know if it's in his contract.
13:41And, you know, legally they have to do it.
13:44His representation could be saying, hey, if you don't give him No. 5,
13:48you're in breach of our deal, and he's leaving.
13:51Which is – it's all – it's insane.
13:54It's insane.
13:55It's nuts.
13:56But it's great because it's the pettiness of college sports,
14:00and it's what makes it great and what makes it interesting.
14:03But this is – when I heard this yesterday, I was like, you have got to be kidding me.
14:07All right.
14:08I want to finish with this to really get your hunch.
14:11You may have a hunch.
14:12You may not.
14:12You may know the answer to this.
14:14You may not.
14:15But all of these statements about the Daniels family is deeply disappointed,
14:20feels profoundly disrespected by LSU's decision to give Jaden's number to another player,
14:26you know, all of that, you know, in your story comes from a Daniels spokesperson to ESPN.
14:36Do you feel like this is Jaden or the team around him?
14:44I haven't talked to Jaden, so I will leave it at that.
14:48Okay.
14:50Thank you for this, as always.
14:53An interesting story.
14:54Appreciate it.
14:55I'll talk to you soon.
14:55Maybe we can talk right before college football starts.
14:58Sounds good.
14:59Thanks, Kevin.
14:59Thanks for having me.
15:00Mark Schleba, everybody from ESPN.
15:03Thanks, Kevin.
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