Kansas Jayhawks coach Bill Self says NIL has led to players like Darryn Peterson facing more criticism
Kansas Jayhawks freshman Darry Peterson is living much more lavish than the average college kid.
He's among the highest-paid athletes in the NCAA, but it comes at a price. KU coach Bill Self recently discussed the unfair criticism athletes like Peterson have to face.
Self said, "How many people look at our guys now and say, 'We're going to watch these guys grow up before our very eyes, if they're making what is perceived to be a substantial amount of money'? It's that way all across America. It's a different world. But that's also the world that we say it's so great for the kids. So great for the kids, well one of the consequences of it being so great for the kids is you also give people a reason to have opinions and talk. That's just the way it is. I think in his situation, it may be good for him, because he's going to get talked about a lot moving forward. Hey, it's all preparation for him. I see it as part of the process, more than I see it as a negative."
Peterson has especially dealt with it because he's been injured most of the season. Some fans have been critical, thinking he is just collecting paychecks while sitting on the sideline. He returned to the lineup for Sunday's victory against Missouri. It was just his third game of the season for Peterson, who is expected to be a top five pick in the NBA draft next June.
"I think it frustrates him. It's the world we live in, in today's time, though," Self said. "It's BS, though. That kid's over there getting four treatments a day for 45 minutes every treatment. That kid spends more time shooting on his own than anybody else maybe that I ever coached. That kid wants to be out there so bad. Whenever I say whatever I'm going to say, it's not enough for me to say, 'It's day to day,' which that's what it's been day to day. So there's always a reason why somebody can say something negative. If he had had a compound fracture, nobody would say anything, because you can see it. This, you can't see and fortunately, it wasn't bad enough that it kept him totally out because he did practice, but it wasn't good enough that he could play the way he needs to play."
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of JayhawksRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com