Original air date: December 21st 2025

A groundbreaking lawsuit has changed the game for high school athletes—allowing them to sign deals for compensation earlier than ever before. Lisa Fletcher explores the continuing shifts in the rules that are reshaping college sports.

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

KJ McCou is an offensive lineman at Tennessee State. Off the field, during his college career—which began with three seasons at Florida A&M before playing at Tennessee State—he signed a few endorsement deals.

But six years ago, when McCou was being recruited for his size and strength, strict rules barred him and other high school athletes from lucrative “name, image, and likeness”—or NIL—agreements before getting into college.

KJ McCou: I think for some time, athletes have been struggling, as far as off the field, to be able to take care of themselves, which maybe the scholarship doesn’t always cover.

Now, there’s a huge shift in the rules, largely due to the actions of Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti.

Jonathan Skrmetti, Tennessee Attorney General: And there is so much money involved here that it’s just unconscionable to cut them out of it.

Skrmetti helped lead an antitrust lawsuit to force the NCAA, the body that regulates college athletics, to let high school athletes ink commercial deals before they even sign with a college.

Jonathan Skrmetti, Tennessee Attorney General: They have a legal right to name, image, and likeness money, and if you don’t allow them to explore the opportunities out there, you’re depriving them of the ability to benefit from market forces.

Under mounting pressure from lawsuits and states, the NCAA has been loosening its NIL rules for years.

In 2021, the NCAA began allowing athletes to negotiate NIL deals formerly reserved for pro athletes—but only once they’re enrolled at a college.

In 2022, more states started allowing NIL deals in high school.

In 2024, Tennessee sued the NCAA over barring high school deals. A judge temporarily halted the ban.

In March, a court approved a settlement with the NCAA, permanently lifting the high school NIL ban.

Some states like Oklahoma and California had already acted to allow high school deals.

That’s how baseball star Ethan Holliday became the first high school athlete to get a deal with Adidas in January. It’s also how Bryce James, son of basketball superstar LeBron James, signed with Nike and others in 2022 while still in high school.

Now, those opportunities are open to high schoolers in all 50 states.

Jonathan Skrmetti, Tennessee Attorney General: The rules were arbitrary and arbitrarily enforced, and they came at the expense of student athletes. We’re talking about a multi-billion dollar industry where everybody involved was getting rich except for the players who are absolutely necessary for the whole thing to happen, and that’s against the law. Federal antitrust law prevents entities from suppressing competition that benefits consumers and participants.

Lisa Fletcher: Is there a risk in all of this that the schools are going to see the students that are getting the big NIL deals before they’ve committed to a university, entice them with more money, and it’s going to create a have and have not situation in terms of college athletics across the country?

Jonathan Skrmetti, Tennessee Attorney General: Yeah, I mean, there are a bunch of risks involved in this. We’ve seen a massive transition from the glorious old amateur days where you just grab a couple guys, throw on some leather helmets, and get out there and get at it. It’s a much more sophisticated world now. There’s an imbalance not just between the haves and have nots of schools, but between the people who run the system and the student athletes who participate in it, and given how much money is coming in, the student athletes have a very reasonable argument that they deserve their fair share of that.

Already, some 450,000 college athletes earn money through N-I-L deals. Under the new rules allowing high schoolers to get a piece of the action, the industry is projected to grow from one billion dollars to five billion by 2030.

Most of the compensation turns out to be modest. Tennessee State Lady Tigers guard Aainya Webb’s Instagram ad for Powerade nets her 600 dollars.

But she worries the new rules will create incentive for high school athletes to only follow the money.

Aainya Webb: It’s really different. We had to wait until we were actually in a program and settled in, and while we were doing that, we still had to go shop for our own NIL’s. It wasn’t just given to us.

Lisa Fletcher: Is it very different—good? Very different—bad?

Aainya Webb: I feel like it’s very different—bad—because athletes are going to be more sold on the money than the actual school.

KJ McCou didn’t get big bucks from the deals he negotiated while in college. He got free clothes from the brand Hollister

And supplies of bottled water from that Instagram ad.

He’s mixed on the new money opportunities for high school athletes.

KJ McCou: I think there are definitely pros and cons to this. So, athletes being able to really benefit from it increases the overall morale, and it’s nothing like being able to take care of home while being able to take care of yourself on the field as well. But if that is the sole purpose of which you determining what’s a good fit or not, I think there needs to be some reevaluation there.

For now, courts are deciding what athletes can earn. The next move may be Congress. The question ahead isn’t whether college athletes get paid—it’s who controls the game.

In Nashville, Tennessee—I’m Lisa Fletcher for Full Measure.

Watch the video here.

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IPAK-EDU is grateful to Sharyl Attkisson as this piece was originally published there and is included in this news feed with mutual agreement. Read More