Ohio State quarterback sues school over NIL money

The Ohio State Buckeyes are on a roll to start their football season, but now the program will have to manage some off-the-field issues.

Former quarterback and local legend Terrelle Pryor has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, Big Ten, and Ohio State over the use of his name, image, and likeness.

We have yet another lawsuit by a pre-2016 college athlete for Nil violations.

This time: Terrelle Pryor has sued the NCAA, Ohio State, the Big Ten, and Learfield.

As with the others, it's based on antitrust and unjust enrichment.

Complaint: https://t.co/1SGdvbyx1w pic.twitter.com/XzUlSOvY3s

— Sam C. Ehrlich (@samcehrlich) October 4, 2024

According to Eleven Warriors, the lawsuit claims that the defendants violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by preventing him and other Ohio State athletes from being compensated for their name, image, and likeness rights while they played at Ohio State.

The lawsuit has been filed on behalf of “all former student-athletes who competed on an Ohio State athletic team at any time prior to the changes to the name, image, and likeness rules of the NCAA.”

Per Eleven Warriors, Pryor has requested the lawsuit be certified as a class action.

This is hardly the first lawsuit of its kind. In September, A group of former Michigan football players, Braylon Edwards, Denard Robinson, Mike Martin, and Shawn Crable filed a similar lawsuit against the NCAA and Big Ten Network seeking $50 million in damages over name, image, and likeness usage for players who played at Michigan before 2016.

The NCAA has already agreed to a settlement of three other class-action lawsuits to deliver back pay to athletes, but it does not cover athletes who played before 2016 such as Pryor.

It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out for the unruly former Big Ten players as they look for compensation.

[Eleven Warriors]