Oregon Ducks

Ex-Oregon QB Joey Harrington says college athletes shouldn't be paid

Published Aug. 27, 2015 6:35 p.m. ET

foxsports

Former Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington went on the Grandstanding Podcast on Yahoo Sports to discuss many things related to college football, including whether or not college athletes should be paid.

Harrington's take was that the value of an education is not being valued as strongly as it should be. He also said that his motivation to play was to see his number in a video game.

"When we were playing, all we wanted was to get on the depth chart high enough to see our number in the video game," he says. "It wasn't about getting a check for $173 in a class-action suit."

As for his explanation about players getting paid, here is what Harrington had to say:

"When you're running a business, the CEO makes the most money, the people at the top make the most money," he says. "The people who are making the product in the factories make the least money. For an 18-, 19-year-old kid to come in and be offered, what, a quarter-million-dollar education? I think that people are overlooking or downplaying the fact that these kids are being paid ... [Colleges] offer these players a chance to build connections, to open doors, to get started on a path."

(h/t Yahoo Sports)