North Texas football standout SaRod Baker prepares for Texas Tech as NIL changes the game

DeSoto High School senior SaRod Baker is preparing to take his football career to Texas Tech University after drawing interest from dozens of colleges, as he and his family navigate a changing landscape in which young athletes are increasingly faced with decisions about money, endorsements and their futures.

Baker, who scored dozens of touchdowns during his junior season, was pursued by 40 colleges, including Ohio State University, Texas A&M, SMU and Oregon State University. He plans to graduate in December before beginning his journey at Texas Tech.

His father, DeSoto High School alumnus Rod Baker, said his only son gave the family's gene pool an athletic boost. He sees SaRod as part of both a football team and a brotherhood but knows his son brings something special to the field.

"Everybody don't play with the same mentality. Everybody, I guess say, maybe play like their life is on the line," Rod Baker said.

According to DeSoto ISD, the high school senior scored 1160 on the SAT and recorded 43 touchdowns during his junior year. His father said SaRod's total was even higher when accounting for his contributions in other phases of the game.

"Fifty five total touchdowns last year, 46 rushing. And then he had another nine. He had four passing touchdowns, two kickoff returns and three receiving touchdowns," he said. "So, it totaled out to 55, and he had a little bit over 4,400 all-purpose yards."

For now, SaRod's job is to keep up his grades, stay healthy and have a strong senior season. But his father said the rewards available to standout high school athletes have changed dramatically.

Practically gone, his father reflected, are the days of letterman jackets and trophies.

"That used to be the big thing: get your letterman jacket. You know what I'm saying?" Rod Baker said. "That proves your merit or your worth or whatever, whatever school you went to. And then your patches were your stripes. Kind of like being in the military, you get your stripes and your ranks and stuff."

These days, athletes have a more lucrative option: revenue from name, image and likeness. In Texas, 17-year-old athletes can ink deals with their collegiate choices. But UIL rules prohibit other high school athletes from seeking commercial gain.

The younger Baker has representation, but his father said their focus is not on money.

"That's just the landscape of how everything's set up these days. You can't run from it. They're going to come to you about money whether you asking for it or not. It's just the way it is," he said.

Educating student-athletes on navigating professional careers

That landscape is what Karen Reese wants to educate parents about. She's a member of a North Texas all-female sports podcast and the organizer behind The Sports Moms Conference, which is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 15 – her second year of putting it on.

"I just feel a burden of like, okay, let me come up with something that I can educate them so they don't make a mistake," she said.

Reese said some of her speakers are former NFL running back Ezekiel Elliott's father, Stacy Elliott; Carmen Greenard-Varnum, the mother of Philadelphia Eagles' defensive end Jonathan Greenard; and Guy Troupe, who used to work at NFL headquarters.

The focus is on educating parents and athletes who need to make decisions about career maps sooner, she said. Plus, the players need to understand that having money and sustaining money are different.

"So, if your kid is getting a million dollars, you need to have a budget, you need to have a savings, and you need to have a way that you can put some of that money aside," she said.

The conference is at the DeSoto Recreation Center.