The SMU Mustangs just named a building after their current active starting quarterback, Kevin Jennings. Is this the next level of NIL? How long will it be before other players start asking for this perk-slash-honor as part of their NIL deal with a college football program?
Last week, SMU head football coach Rhett Lashlee and senior quarterback Kevin Jennings announced the creation of the Kevin Jennings Recovery Center during a media press conference.
Why did SMU bestow this honor on a player who hasn’t even finished playing?
“Kevin has been a humble and confident leader since he stepped foot on SMU’s campus, and his commitment to SMU and Dallas has never wavered,” head coach Rhett Lashlee said in a press release. “As his national exposure began to rise, he never changed. As he began to lead SMU back into the Top 10 of CFP and the playoffs and championships, he never changed. He told all the schools who called and tried to get him to leave, thanks but not thanks, and chose to stay at SMU and cement his legacy as one of the greatest to ever play here at one of the most pivotal times in our history.
“He deserves this unprecedented recognition to be the first current college player to have a space named after him before he is done playing,” Lashlee added.
It also may have something to do with SMU’s new ‘K7NG OF DALLAS’ Heisman campaign, which officially launched just two days before the announcement naming a campus facility after Jennings.
“Seventy-eight years after Doak Walker brought the Heisman Trophy to the Hilltop, Kevin Jennings opens his pursuit at Doak Campbell Stadium, where SMU visits Florida State in primetime on Labor Day night on ESPN,” the announcement read.