It’s been 11 years since All-American offensive tackle Shawn Andrews played his final game for the Arkansas Razorbacks, and his opinions regarding NCAA regulations have changed.

“Back when I was in college and I saw my likeness on a video game, I thought it was cool,” said Andrews, who left after his junior year in 2003 to enter the NFL Draft. “But when I look back on it, that doesn’t seem right.”

Andrews, a first-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Eagles who went on to an injury-shortened, six-year NFL career, touched on a variety of subjects during an appearance Monday at the Little Rock Touchdown Club’s season-ending luncheon at the Embassy Suites.

His comments regarding the use of his video game likeness was in support of U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken’s August ruling in favor of former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon and 19 others in a lawsuit that challenged the NCAA’s regulation of college athletics on antitrust grounds.

On the subject of paying college athletes above the standard grant-in-aid, Andrews said he could relate to other athletes who grew up poor, as he did in Camden, and understood what his mother Linda went through to take care of him and his brothers Stacy and Derrick.

“That’s an issue that’s been a revolving door, and I think it would be a great idea,” Andrews said on whether a scholarship should cover more than room and board, books and tuition.

Leaving Arkansas for the NFL Draft seemed understandable at the time, but Andrews said he regretted how things unfolded leading up to his departure.

Andrews announced he was leaving school early to turn pro on Dec. 16, 2003, 15 days before Arkansas was to play Missouri in the Independence Bowl. Andrews said an acute sinus condition was going to force him to miss the game, but there were also reports at the time that he was not academically eligible and that he withdrew from school so the semester would not drag down his grade-point average.

“I had a lot of issues mentally and physically I was dealing with,” Andrews said. “I decided not to play in the bowl game and I had a lot of people call me selfish. To the Razorback family, that is one thing I regretted to this day. My circumstances had me in a bubble and I’m grateful for the lessons I learned from.”

Andrews said his mother, who worked at the International Paper plant in Camden, had been laid off when he was in college and didn’t want to see her struggle financially.

“My mother meant so much to me. When I saw what she did to raise us that if I got a $100 million contract, I would have given all of it to her,” Andrews said.

Andrews, 31, who lives in Little Rock with his wife, Janetta, and their son JaShawn, said he’s financially secure and learning how to play bass guitar with the hope of forming a band.

“I made some good decisions that things worked out to where I don’t feel like I have to be forced to go back to work,” Andrews said.

Sports on 11/25/2014

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