The mother of a highly rated high school football player who has committed to the University of Tennessee is suing the state of North Carolina over its NIL restrictions for public-school athletes.
As reported by The Associated Press, Rolanda Brandon filed the complaint last week in Wake County Superior Court. Her son, Greensboro Grimsley High School quarterback Faizon Brandon, is the nation’s top-ranked recruit in the class of 2026 according to 247Sports. He's rated only slightly lower by On3.com (No. 5) and Rivals (No. 6).
The lawsuit names the state Board of Education and its Department of Public Instruction as defendants, which followed a policy adopted in June blocking the state’s public-school athletes from making money through the use of their name, image and likeness.
“The State Board of Education was asked to create rules allowing public high school athletes to use their NIL — it was not empowered to ban it,” Charlotte-based attorney Mike Ingersoll said in a statement to The Charlotte Observer. “We look forward to correcting the State Board’s error and to help our client benefit from the incredible value and opportunities his hard work and commitment have created for his name, image, and likeness.”
Raleigh NBC affiliate WRAL reported the complaint states that “a prominent national trading card company” had agreed to pay for Faizon to sign memorabilia before graduation, offering the family “with financial security for years to come.”
The complaint argues that the cumulative financial impact to Brandon, who plans to graduate in December 2025, is more than $1 million, WRAL reported.
According to WRAL, Senate Bill 452 is largely about insurance laws, but state lawmakers, who have been feuding with the North Carolina High School Athletic Association for several years, tacked on an entire section to change oversight of public school athletics, giving the state board power to make rules about eligibility, academic standards and transfers, as well as NIL.
The NCHSAA approved a policy in 2023 that would have allowed athletes to profit off their NIL, but state lawmakers acted quickly to stop that policy, and it never went into effect.
North Carolina's prohibition states that no student participating in athletics shall enter into any agreement to use the student's name, image or likeness in public appearances, commercials, autograph signings, athletic camps or clinics, product or service endorsements or promotional activities, including in-person event or social media ads, WRAL reported.
"The suit argues — correctly — that Brandon owns his NIL rights and should not be prevented from an ability to “capitalize on life-changing opportunities currently available to him and provide himself and his family with financial security,” Langston Wertz Jr. wrote Tuesday in an opinion piece for The Charlotte Observer. "I’m betting a jury would side with the plaintiff. And it’s time for North Carolina to get with the times."
As Wertz pointed out, 38 states and the District of Columbia allow high school athletes to profit from NIL rights. "Think local kids and parents don’t know that?" he wrote.
