BCSP: The Banner of Black College Sports

Gettin' Paid

LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor

Four of seven highly paid HBCU products
Anybody who says it doesn't pay to play at historically black colleges or universities, as they say, 'don't know jack.' I mean they really 'don't know jack ' ­ 'cause serious jack (that's money to the unitiated) is exactly what a host of them are making.

A quick look at the 2000 rosters and annual salaries of NFL players, compiled and published last week by USA Today, shows that products of these schools are among the highest paid players in the league.

When averaging in their signing bonuses over the life of their contract, seven players with black colleges as their alma maters top the $3 million dollar mark.
Black College NFL Players
Year 2000 Earnings
That group is led by Texas Southern's own Michael Strahan, now a defensive end with the Super Bowl runner-up New York Giants, who comes in with the league's second best salary at $7,603,000. He is the highest paid defensive player in the league and trails only New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who pockets $8,537,900. Needless to say, Strahan is tops among his black college brethren.

Mississippi Valley State product Jerry Rice opted to leave San Francisco 49ers this season after shattering nearly every receiving record during his 16-year stay. Though he might take a cut in pay to join the Oakland Raiders, he banked $4,530,000 last year, to take second on our list.

Former Alcorn State record breaking quarterback Steve McNair was in the next to last year of his six-year contract with the Tennessee Titans in 2000 ­ a contract that paid him $4,135,200, third best in the ranking. He obviously performed well enough to merit a raise, as the Titans re-signed him last week for $47 million over six years, giving him something like a $14 million signing bonus.

Leading the $3 million dollar a year club is former Central State defensive end Hugh Douglas, now plying his trade with the Philadelphia Eagles. Douglas tipped the jack scales at $3,451,800 last season. He's joined in that rarified air by perennial Pro Bowl defensive back Aeneas Williams, the 10-year NFL vet from Southern who was traded just before this year's draft to defense-challenged St. Louis. Williams was good for $3,400,600 last year.

Another grizzled veteran, Dallas offensive lineman Erik Williams, another Central State man, took home $3,337,400 of the Dallas Cowboys money, in what could have been his final year in the league.

Rounding out the top seven is the other young pup of the group, South Carolina State product Robert Porcher, who in nine years has raised his salary to a robust, $3,189,400 per year.

Another nine black college players top the $2 million threshold, with another five coming in above $1 million. That's a total of 21 black college players above the rich man's benchmark.

Now, that's gettin' paid.

The total salaries of the 65 players listed in the just released survey top $65 million, an average of over $1 million per player. That number's right in line with the average salary figured from the survey of all NFL players.

Now that's some cheddar!

© 2001 Azeez Communications, Inc.