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The 'Street Agent' Who Wanted 25% of a High Schooler's NIL Deal
There is a person who tends to show up right after a kid gets good. They did not coach them. They did not raise them. But once there is money in the picture, they want a cut of it. I work with young athletes, so this story stuck with me, and I think every sports parent should hear it.
In February 2026, ESPN's investigative unit reported on what coaches are now calling "street agents." These are not certified agents or attorneys. They are people who attach themselves to a young athlete, promise to represent them, and take a percentage, often 20 to 25 percent, for work they did not really do.
What NIL is, in one paragraph
If the term is still fuzzy, NIL stands for name, image, and likeness. It is the right of an athlete to earn from their own brand: their name, their photos, their following. It became legal for college athletes in 2021, and it has flowed down to high school, where more than 30 states now allow it. As the money has arrived earlier, so have the people who want a piece of it.
The case that should make every parent pause
ESPN reported that a Texas man started working with a Terrell High School football player, Draden Fullbright, back when Fullbright was a freshman. After the player committed to Oklahoma State with an NIL deal worth about $36,000 a year, the man texted demanding 25 percent. Before the player had been paid a single dollar.
When Fullbright said he had never agreed to that, the messages turned ugly, with the man calling the player ungrateful. Fullbright's stepfather, Richard Wimbley, said it best: "He's going to try to get in my son's pocket before he even gets a pocket."
Here is the part that matters most. A person at Oklahoma State told ESPN the agent did not improve the offer at all. In fact, the school almost passed on the player because of the agent's demands. So the middleman did not add value. He nearly cost the kid the opportunity, and still wanted a quarter of it.
This is a pattern, not one bad apple
Joe Martin, who leads the Texas High School Coaches Association, told ESPN, "I think it's almost at a crisis." Coaches say high school athletes are more exposed than college athletes, because they have no university compliance office, no players' union, and often no other student down the hall who has been through it. It is just a family and a stranger with a contract.
The numbers back it up. In a December survey of 1,000 college athletes, 18 percent said someone helped them with NIL deals while they were still in high school, and about 67 percent of those gave that person a cut. In a separate survey of Texas coaches, among those whose athletes had been approached, 70 percent did not believe the agent was acting in the athlete's best interest.
What a fair deal actually looks like
This is the part I want parents to hold onto. Representation is not evil. Good representation is worth paying for. But you have to know what fair looks like. A former NFL safety who now coaches high school, Derrick Gibson, pointed out that real NFL agents typically earn about 3 percent on a salary and 10 to 20 percent on endorsement deals, and that a street agent cannot change the market rate a college is going to offer anyway.
So when someone asks your teenager for 20 or 25 percent, demands an upfront payment, or pushes a lifetime marketing agreement before there is a single check, that is a red flag, not a blessing. An honest representative will happily tell you, in writing, three things: what the fee is, exactly what they do for it, and how you can cancel.
What this means for your athlete
Here is the shift I want every parent to make. The reason a street agent has any power at all is that they convince a family the kid cannot do this without them. That is far less true when you already understand what you have.
A college does not pay an athlete because an agent asked nicely. It pays based on the athlete's own value: their tape, their name, their following, the brand they already built. That brand is the asset, and your family already owns it. You do not need to hand a stranger a fifth of it because they sent a text after your kid got good.
You do not need an agent in tenth grade. You need a foundation: clean photos, a real story, a consistent presence, and an adult in the room who reads everything before anyone signs. Build the brand and protect it early, so the one thing that is truly your athlete's stays theirs.
There is good news on the horizon, too. As of June 2026, the Protect College Sports Act has advanced out of the Senate Commerce Committee and is headed to the Senate floor. It would cap athlete agent fees at 5 percent and require agents to register. The Federal Trade Commission opened its own inquiry earlier this year. The guardrails are coming. Until they arrive, you are the compliance office.
Sources: ESPN (February 23, 2026); U.S. Senate Commerce Committee. This is education and observation, not legal or financial advice.
Source: ESPN