Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett appeared Thursday on the Dan Patrick Show. He touched on a number of topics, including taking money from agents, Saturday’s game with Auburn and why he’s now listed at 6-foot-6, an inch shorter than he was last year:

Dan Patrick: Ryan, give me a sense of what it’s like on campus. If somebody wanted to get to you, if an agent wanted to get to you, how easy would it be on Arkansas’ campus?

Ryan Mallett: I really don’t know. We met with some agents in the summer, set up by the school. I basically told them I don’t want to have any contact with agents during the season. I’ll wait until after the season to get all that done. But, they’re around. I heard there were some at the game in Dallas, I was told by people at the school. But I haven’t had any contact with them.

DP: You hear people say that athletes need to get paid. Do you need to get paid to pay college football?

RM: No. I don’t think so. We get our scholarship paid for to go to school. That’s what we are here for. We’re student athletes. We’re here to get our education and then play sports. We get a scholarship check to pay rent and get groceries. I don’t think we need to get paid.

DP: How much do you get as far as your monthly stipend for groceries?

RM: Really, it depends on the school. I think we get something around $800 a month for rent and groceries. I think it depends on the living area and how much your real estate is in each area. I think it differs from school to school.  

DP: But we keep trying to figure out a solution to what happens on college campuses. The Sports Illustrated story where the agent said he paid players. How prevalent is it Ryan?

RM: I really couldn’t answer that. I haven’t been offered money from an agent. I’ve never been offered anything from an agent. Hopefully that doesn’t come up.  Obviously, my answer would be ‘no.’ I feel like there’s too much risk in that. When you have a chance to better yourself and have a better career, I don’t feel like that risk is rewarding enough.

(To read what Mallett and a few other high-profile Razorbacks told us in July about how they’re handling agents click here).

DP: Do you have money to go out on a date?

RM: Yeah. I have a little extra spending money. I’ll get mom to send me a little extra spending money now and then.