High school athletes in Florida can now profit from their fame. Is that a good thing?

Jaime Ffrench Jr. had always admired GLD.

Thanks to the jewelry company’s connections with Rolling Loud, Tyreek Hill and Lil Durk, the brand already had a certain appeal to teenagers like the 17-year-old Ffrench Jr. The five-star wide receiver from Mandarin High School in Jacksonville, Fla. even donned a GLD pendant during his recruiting visit to Louisiana State University.

So on Tuesday, when the Florida High School Athletic Association approved rules that allowed student-athletes to make money off of their name, image and likeness, or NIL, it didn’t take long for GLD to make Ffrench Jr. an offer.

“Jaime already was rocking GLD and just expressed how much he loved the brand,” said Christian Johnston, co-founder of the Miami-based company GLD. The two met at the 2024 On3 Elite Series, a yearly event that brings together some of the country’s top high school recruits for a chance to learn about how to handle the NIL world. “We just kind of hit it off right off the bat. He took his GLD to his LSU visit, got some really cool content and we were like ‘We need you officially on the team.’ The timing was crazy.”

Already one of the top producers of NFL talent, Florida will now join states like California, Georgia and more than 30 others that have adopted similar NIL rules for high school athletes. The change allows student-athletes and their parent or guardian broker NIL deals outside of the school, district or FHSAA. It also permits student-athletes to hire a registered agent specifically “for the purpose of advising on NIL related matters,” according to the FHSAA bylaws.

Although Ffrench Jr.’s deal won’t be official until after the State Board of Education ratifies the FHSAA’s bylaw changes on July 24, the endorsement showed how ready Florida companies are to capitalize on this monumental change.

Ffrench Jr. and fellow top recruit Jones High receiver Vernell Brown also have a deal in place with American Eagle, according to a post on X from their 7-on-7 program South Florida Express. For Ffrench Jr., the advantages of being compensated for his talent just make sense.

“The love the GLD fam showed” led to the partnership with GLD, Ffrench Jr. said. “Providing for my family and taking advantage of [NIL] is key for me.”

In a meeting Tuesday, FHSAA board members recognized the significance of the move with the organization’s president and Miami-Dade County School Board Member Monica Colucci calling it “new territory.”

“There are going to be hesitations,” Colucci told the News Service of Florida. “We are going to feel nervous. But I do really believe that this is going to put us on par with the rest of the country.”

Not everyone, however, is happy about the change.

“I think it’s one of the stupidest rules that they ever came up with,” Miami Jackson High football Coach Max Edwards said.

Edwards specifically cited the poor pay of Florida high school football coaches. Florida high school coach salaries rank 47th in the nation, according to ZipRecruiter.

“They’ll make more than the coaches!” Edwards said. “How can you pay the kids and not pay the coaches who genuinely care about the kids?”

Edwards also believes the rule will affect the on-field play.

“It’s going to make the high school game not fun anymore,” Edwards said, later adding “nobody wants to coach a prima donna in high school.”

Ffrench Jr. disagrees. One of the first calls he made prior to any agreement with GLD was to his high school coach and athletic director.

“It all depends on the bond between the coaches and players,” Ffrench Jr. said. His coach and AD “just wanted to go about it the right way so we won’t have any issues come August.”

As for the on-field play, Ffrench Jr. thinks the competitiveness will only increase.

“I just think it’ll make us strive harder. For the guys who don’t have a NIL deal, it’ll make them fight even more and even more hungry,” he said.

The FHSAA bylaws now permit activities including “commercial endorsements, promotional activities, social media presence, product, or service advertisements.” Student-athletes, however, are unable to use their school’s jersey or logo during NIL activities without written consent from the school, district or FHSAA. Additionally, they cannot endorse products such as alcohol, vaping, cannabis, gambling, weapons, prescription drugs and political activism.

“We are going to do the right thing for students, always,” Colucci said at the board of education meeting. “That is our top priority.”

Also banned under the revamped bylaws are NIL collectives, which the recruiting website On3 defines as groups that “pool funds from a wide swath of donors to help create NIL opportunities for student-athletes through an array of activities.” Prominent alumni and supporters usually create these “collectives” which could potentially lead to a violation of a bylaw that prevents NIL agreements from being used as recruiting tools.

“We’re saying there cannot be any groups out there that exist to collect funds from donors to facilitate NIL deals for student athletes,” Florida Department of Education senior chancellor and FHSAA board member Kimberly Richey told the News Service of Florida. “That’s what a collective is. If you exist solely for that purpose, you cannot operate in Florida.”

Regardless of the differing opinions between students-athletes or coaches, one of the biggest advantages remains the ability for teenagers to “get a taste of the real world,” according to Johnston. The updated bylaws surrounding NIL even encourage high schools to provide student-athletes with “knowledge about potential legal and financial drawbacks associated with NIL activities.” And for highly-recruited players like Ffrench Jr., whose likely in line for a lot more NIL deals in both high school and college, the ability to learn about finances is priceless.

It’s going to “teach you how to manage your money, where to put your money,” Ffrench Jr. said. “Stuff like that, it starts now so when you get to college, it’s not a big deal.”