Two years ago this month, the NCAA changed its rules to allow schools to reward their athletes financially for strong academic performances.
The wake of the NCAA vs. Alston case, which was firmly resolved by the Supreme Court last June, confirmed that the organization would now allow schools to compensate the enrolled athletes for success in the classroom.
Over the first few years, however, FSU hasn't been among the early adopters of adapting to this optional reward for its athletes. That is changing this academic year, FSU director of athletics Michael Alford confirmed to the Osceola on Tuesday afternoon.
"We are participating in Alston this year for our student-athletes," Alford said. "I think it's a great thing for them to be able to come in and get performance (bonuses) for academic achievements so we will be participating in Alston."
Per the NCAA's newly-established rules on the matter, schools can pay their athletes up to $5,980 annually for good grades while maintaining the hectic lifestyle of a college athlete.
There's no set amount schools are required to give their athletes for academic success and schools are not required to participate.
In fact, an ESPN story from April clarified exactly how slow most schools have been in adapting to this new rule. That story said that over a year and a half since the new rule was introduced, only 22 of the 130 FBS schools shared that they had a plan to compensate their athletes for academic success for that year.
FSU was not among that list of 22 schools at the time, a list that included Clemson, Florida, Miami, North Carolina and Auburn. But Alford is now making sure FSU can similarly incentivize its student-athletes to succeed in the classroom.
He did not share the threshold FSU's athletes will have to meet to qualify or how much FSU will pay its athletes. Whatever the numbers may be, it's another significant step forward in the player empowerment era that has been ramped into high gear by the world of NIL.
Look for a full Q&A of the Osceola's conversation with Alford on Wednesday.
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