An Ohio judge allowed for high school athletes in the state to enter into future NIL deals. The ruling by Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Jaiza Page on Monday opened the door for student-athletes at all schools in the Ohio High School Athletic Association to profit from sponsorships.
At the center of the major court order is Jasmine Brown, the mother of Jamier Brown, who filed the lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court five days ago in her role as “parent or guardian, ” according to the Associated Press. Brown, the five-star commit to Ohio State and nation’s top 2027 wide receiver, started getting six-figure offers, but wasn’t allowed to accept due to pre-existing conditions.
However, the ruling is a significant step toward changing that. Ohio is one of six states that don’t allow high school athletes to accept NIL payments. The others are Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi and Wyoming. A terrible look considering half of the national championship winners in college football over the past ten years have come from three of the six states.
“This is a significant ruling not only for Jamier but high school athletes across the state of Ohio. There are 44 states that allow high school athletes to enjoy that benefit through NIL,” Luke Fedlam, Brown’s attorney with the Amundsen Davis law firm in Columbus, told the AP.
OHSAA spokesperson Tim Stried said, “the OHSAA anticipated the judge making an initial ruling today on the NIL lawsuit to set the timeline moving forward. The OHSAA is finalizing communications regarding the next steps for our member schools and will send out details on Tuesday.”
This will have minor changes while everything gets sorted out. As it stands now, ten of the top 300 players in college football 2026 recruiting class come from Ohio. There are 43 total player from those six states which don’t allow high school NIL deals.
