Sports agent Leigh Steinberg estimated that 40%...

Sports agent Leigh Steinberg estimated that 40% of the college seniors who will be taken in the first rounds of the NFL and NBA drafts next year have already been signed by agents and are receiving money.

In a story in the Dallas Morning News, former University of Texas defensive lineman Tony DeGrate, who won last year’s Lombardi Award, said Steinberg’s estimate was too low.

“I’d say right now from 70 to 80% of the players are being taken care of,” DeGrate said. “That’s why you see so many seniors smiling.”

NCAA rules prohibit an agent from signing a college player before the player’s eligibility expires. The NCAA estimates the number of persons who represent college athletes to be close to 2,000. Nearly 1,000 are approved by the NFL Players Assn. to negotiate contracts.

But NFLPA officials said only 100 of those represent 75% of the league’s players.

Agent Mike Trope admitted breaking the NCAA rules.

“I recruit early,” Trope told the Morning News. “If you want to succeed in this business, you have to. The NCAA says it’s an issue of morality. . . . The NCAA has no right to tell me how I should run my business.”