Michigan's Peppers can't 'eat right' on stipends
Jabrill Peppers appeared in three games for Michigan last season. (247Sports)Add another name to the list of college athletes unhappy with how much food their stipend checks can buy — or rather, how much it can’t.
Michigan sophomore defensive back and former five-star recruit Jabrill Peppers tweeted Tuesday evening that he was “about to eat my first meal of the day” — a bowl of ramen noodles. Over the course of several tweets stretching into Wednesday morning, Peppers made it clear where he put the blame for that situation:
Idk how the NCAA thinks we supposed to eat right with these lil indentured servant checks they give us..I Should’ve stayed in the dorms smh
— PeppyPep (@JabrillPeppers) May 27, 2015
I’m about to eat my first meal of the day & that’s Oodles and noodles smh
— PeppyPep (@JabrillPeppers) May 27, 2015
It ain’t funny bro lol I’m over here hurting, this my last one out the 12 pack https://t.co/Ql15LDRpKS
— PeppyPep (@JabrillPeppers) May 27, 2015
People make a story out of anything. Idc about getting paid, I just wanna keep my fridge & cabinets full so I can eat. Point blank.
— PeppyPep (@JabrillPeppers) May 27, 2015
Peppers doesn’t seem quite as concerned as some other athletes who have spoken out about their lack of meal money, like former UConn basketball star Shabazz Napier, but it seems clear he doesn’t feel his situation is fair, either.
Peppers voice will carry some weight in Ann Arbor, too — he arrived at Michigan as the class of 2014’s No. 3 player overall and No. 1 athlete in the country according to the 247Sports composite. Injuries limited Peppers’ freshman impact to only three appearances, but the safety-corner hybrid is universally projected to earn a starting job in Jim Harbaugh’s overhauled defense and begin living up to his immense recruiting hype.
The forthcoming cost-of-attendance scholarships are designed to help situations like Peppers’, meaning that by this time next year, complaints like his could be much fewer and more far between. Until then, though, Peppers probably won’t be the last athlete to have something similar to say on Twitter.
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