Feb. 11--Will the day come when Kain Colter is better known as a football player than a union activist?
Could be. The Los Angeles Rams have signed Colter and his Chicago-based agent, Mike McCartney, said the former Northwestern star is "extremely hungry" to compete for a job as a slot receiver.
The Vikings released Colter after he caught three passes for 33 yards in the 2014 preseason. He sat out 2015, staying fit in his hometown of Boulder, Colo.
"With any player, when you're away for a year you find out how much miss it," McCartney said. "And for first time in his life, Kain is fully healthy, with no bumps and bruises from a football season."
As a Northwestern senior, Colter split time at quarterback and receiver, suffering a shoulder injury while attempting to catch a pass against Michigan State.
McCartney called the 5-11, 200-pound Colter "a quick-twitch athlete who has a quarterback's mentality and can really snatch the football. With his ability and intelligence, he will have an opportunity to impress the Rams as a route-runner."
Colter is a co-founder of the College Athletes Players Association who ultimately failed in his attempt to unionize college football. But he succeeded in spotlighting the need for reforms.
Since labeling the NCAA a "dictatorship" in January of 2014, the NCAA has approved stipends, unlimited meals, an enhanced concussion protocol, guaranteed four-year scholarships and parent/guardian reimbursements for some travel expenses. He also called for student-athletes to get "a seat at the table" and the NCAA responded by giving them 15 of 80 votes on the NCAA committee that determines policy for Power 5 schools.
McCartney said Colter's pioneering efforts "never came up in my conversations" with NFL teams.
"That was a time and place, right?" he said. "I do believe history will look back at him favorably as a guy who initiated change and stood up for future athletes. Whether you agreed or not on the mechanics, his heart was absolutely in the right place."
tgreenstein@tribpub.com
