The groups are well known for their recruiting influence and murky legality. But their impact extends to current athletes, too.
Hendon Hooker and Cedric Tillman exit a lavish Mercedes-Benz shuttle bus, guarded by a suited-up security detail and trailed by their entourages. They waltz across Times Square and glance up at a towering screen that looms at this epicenter of Manhattan.
On one of the most visible jumbotrons in the world, Hooker and Tillman are the featured act, at least for a few minutes. Their names, images and likenesses are scrawled across the giant screen that hangs over Nasdaq headquarters in a fitting snapshot of college sports’ new era.