UCF kicker says he's no longer on scholarship following YouTube decision
Now-former UCF kicker Donald De La Haye said in a YouTube video posted Tuesday that he’s no longer on scholarship at the school after he was ruled ineligible.
De La Haye has been profiting off his YouTube channel, where he regularly posts videos. That was a violation of the NCAA’s edict against athletes making money off their own likenesses based on their status as an athlete. After multiple meetings with UCF’s compliance department, De La Haye was officially ruled ineligible on Monday after making the decision to keep the channel and its potential profitability.
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In the video, De La Haye said he didn’t feel the options for compromise to keep doing the videos and play football were fair.
“I may seem unbothered right now or whatever it may seem like, I’m definitely torn apart inside,” he said. “I never really thought it would come down to this. They proposed me some rules and some conditions that they wanted me to follow and I refused to and I didn’t feel like they were fair. I’m not going to get into details of all of that, I don’t think I’m allowed to. But I just didn’t think it was fair what they wanted me to do so I didn’t do it.”
In a statement Monday, the NCAA said “De La Haye decided he did not want to separate his athletically-related videos from non-athletic ones he could monetize, which was outlined in the waiver for him to maintain eligibility.
“Contrary to misperceptions, making a YouTube video — and even making money off of it — is not a violation of an NCAA rule. Further, years ago the membership gave NCAA staff the ability to review situations like these on a case-by-case basis, consistent with previous actions.”
De La Haye, who was born in Costa Rica, has previously said that he sends some of the money he makes via advertising home to his family. In the video, he said he was asked to take down some of the previous videos he’s made.
He posted a fundraising link to his Twitter page Monday night, saying he can’t afford to continue to go to school via paying his own way.
I want to get my degree, but can't afford it. Help me raise money for Tuition (even $1 helps) Click to Donate: https://t.co/aio97zHQxv
— Donald (@Deestroying) August 1, 2017
We’ve reached out to UCF for comment on the video. A spokesperson for the NCAA made sure to note Monday that he wasn’t ruled ineligible by the sanctioning body itself, but rather by UCF.
De La Haye has been UCF’s kickoff specialist for the past two seasons.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
