St. Xavier head football coach Steve Specht and Mason City Schools Superintendent Jonathan Cooper gave proponent testimony on Feb. 17 on a bill that would ban name, image and likeness (NIL) deals for high school athletes in Ohio.

Reps. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) and Mike Odioso (R-Green Township) revealed House Bill 661 on Feb. 4 that would ban NIL deals for high school or younger athletes. Specht and Cooper spoke during the Ohio House of Representatives’ Education Committee meeting on the topic.

That bill was an effort to respond to an emergency referendum by the Ohio High School Athletic Association in November that would allow Ohio’s athletes to accept NIL deals. The emergency vote came after Ohio State University football commit Jamier Brown filed a lawsuit in October. Brown played for Dayton powerhouse Wayne High School last fall, with reports indicating he plans to play his senior season at Big Walnut High School.

Specht began his statements by remarking that he has seen some positives of college athletes making money from NIL but is concerned of a lack of “guardrails” that would have athletes getting paid to play and transferring to programs based on the highest bidder.

Specht gave the example of players doing an advertisement for a car dealership as acceptable. Being offered money that is contingent on leaving a school for another is what he disagrees with.

“When a young person, through name, image and likeness, if they’re selling his jersey for X amount, I believe he deserves a cut of that,” Specht said. “When one of my young men is getting paid $250,000 as an unproven freshman, I even look sideways at that. It’s been out of control.”

Specht used Luke Ferrelli as an example of pay-to-play. Ferrelli was a linebacker at the University of California, Berkeley, before transferring to Clemson University on Jan. 7. He was at Clemson for less than a month, transferring again to Ole Miss on Jan. 22. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney then accused Ole Miss of tampering to get Ferrelli to transfer again.

Cooper said he hoped the bill would serve as a “pause” to allow for further adjustments to NIL rules.

Cooper also said he’s seen “culture shifts” in the district.

“Conversations around personal branding and social media presence are beginning to intersect with team culture and developmental priorities in our district,” Cooper said.

Other concerns Cooper shared were around the impact of students dealing with new financial responsibilities as well as a district’s ability to safeguard minors without compliance departments or legal teams that college-level programs do have access to.

What are Ohio’s new NIL rules?

Ohio High School Athletic Association member schools voted overwhelmingly in November for an emergency referendum that lifts the OHSAA’s NIL ban and creates regulations about the kinds of deals athletes can make.

The schools voted 447 in favor, 121 against and 247 schools abstained from voting, which was open Nov. 17 to Nov. 21. The OHSAA announced the results Nov. 24. Ohio is the 45th state to permit NIL deals for high school student athletes, the OHSAA said.

The regulations include that athletes can’t make deals that are associated with “inappropriate” products or services, including gambling and substances, and that the deals cannot be part of a recruitment scheme or based on performance.

Also, student athletes can’t do any NIL work during school hours, during team practices, games and other events that OHSAA deems “inappropriate or distracting.” Sponsored products are not allowed to be displayed during “official team activities.”

Anna Lynn Winfrey and Frank DiRenna of the Columbus Dispatch contributed reporting to this story.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: St. X’s Steve Specht, Mason Superintendent speak for anti-NIL bill