Red River Revenue and Rattler's NIL Resurgence

Hey there,

What a week in NIL it’s been. With the developments in Congress, some serious tampering allegations, and a former superstar rising up through the NIL ranks, it seems like the news cycle never stops. That’s why we’re here — we want to get all of the biggest NIL news directly to your inbox. It’s that simple.

We also want to welcome all of our new readers from athletic departments across the country. Thanks for joining us on the journey. We’d love to hear feedback on your thoughts — If you love something, hate something, or even just have suggestions, hit reply or send us an email at [email protected] to let us know.

— Cole, Justin and Collin

Rattler’s Resurgence

South Carolina QB Spencer Rattler’s had a roller coaster career to this point. His tumultuous journey started with being the presumptive #1 overall pick in the 2022 draft, only to get benched by Lincoln Riley for Heisman winner Caleb Williams at Oklahoma. He transferred to South Carolina in 2022 to get a fresh start, and now things are starting to look up again both on and off the field.

He's come out on fire in 2023, posting thirteen total touchdowns so far this season for the Gamecocks. That success is translating into NIL value too, as he’s steadily built his brand back into elite territory. He currently sits at #8 in overall college sports NIL value according to On3, seeing 51% growth rate over the last ten weeks. According to their metrics, that’s good for $1.5M annual value. (More)

Big Ten Tackles Tampering

Chucky Hepburn’s sophomore season at Wisconsin didn’t exactly pan out too well in 2022-23. It was so shaky, in fact, that midway through the year there were murmurs that Hepburn was going to enter the transfer portal. Those murmurs never actualized, and Hepburn insists that “[His] mindset was never to transfer.”

That didn’t stop his coach from sounding off though. “There were some mischievous acts going on,” Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard explained. He’s referring to what he sees as tampering, which many coaches believe became a reality when NIL combined with a loosened the transfer portal.

Gard was joined by a chorus of other Big Ten coaches who are concerned with transfer tampering in college basketball. If other teams are contacting and perhaps even offering deals to opposing players mid-season as these coaches seem to think, then a genuine crisis is afoot in college sports. (More)

New Bill Unlocks International Students’ NIL

Up until now, international student athletes have been functionally barred from participating in NIL for legal reasons. This class of student athletes would likely have their student visas revoked if they’d accepted NIL payments because of how the F-1 visa is set up, but a bipartisan bill has just been introduced to Congress that would fix that.

The bill put forward by Senators Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) would allow international talent to take full advantage of NIL opportunities at American colleges. The bill provides “work authorization for NIL activity as ‘incident to status’, meaning [NIL] would be generally permitted as long as student-athletes were progressing in their degree program.” (More)

Parental Guidance Advised

Billy Richmond III is one of the top basketball recruits in the nation, fielding offers from schools like Kentucky, UConn, and even his father’s alma mater, Memphis. That last school is crucial, because while Memphis fans clamor for the recruit to follow in his father’s footsteps, Billy Richmond Sr. has been sounding off on Memphis’ lack of NIL opportunities for his son.

“This fan base is delusional,” he said in a Facebook post, “Have you guys donated towards NIL to better position with these top recruits? Have you donated anything outside your opinions?” It seems like without a strong NIL base, Memphis will either have to look elsewhere for top recruits. (More)

USC Links Up with Opendorse

USC’s Conquest Collective officially announced a partnership with Opendorse last week. Opendorse is one of the biggest players in NIL – they connect athletes to fans with features like video endorsements, payment streamlining, and much more.

The partnership is massive though, seeing one of the biggest NIL players link up with a premiere brand in college athletics. “There’s no denying the power of the USC brand,” Opendorse CEO Blake Lawrence explained about the deal, “Trojan athletes have largely thrived in the NIL era, and Conquest Collective will continue to play an enormous role in that success.” (More)

A House Divided

Washington State’s NIL collective CryptoCougs just got uninvited from a Name, Image, and Likeness event on campus because of their founder’s criticism of university leadership. It all started when the NIL collective’s founder Lance Paine penned an ad calling for the resignation of WSU President Kirk Schulz last month.

Among his chief critiques of Schulz was the President’s inability to secure a Pac-12 media deal, which has left Washington State in no-man’s-land after nearly every other school jumped into a new conference.

It seems President Schulz and the rest of the university did not take kindly to this criticism, revoking CryptoCougs’ – one of the school’s main NIL partners – invitation to an athletics-sponsored NIL Town Hall event. (More)

Red River Revenue

Oklahoma’s dramatic victory over Texas was one of the defining moments of the post-Lincoln Riley era. Taking down their arch foe Longhorns seemed to revitalize a fanbase that had been starving for hope the last couple years, and their NIL collective made sure to capitalize on the opportunity.

Before the game even ended, officials from Oklahoma’s Crimson and Cream collective began preparing a massive campaign to capitalize on their big win. The Sooners are already playing defense with their roster, prioritizing NIL so they can keep winning players in Norman for the 2024 campaign. (More)

Pork Chop

Last week we told you about Kansas State’s Beef Boys. Well now Pennsylvania is trying to get in on the NIL action too, but with a pivot to the pig. Meet Penn State’s Chop Robinson. He’s a defensive end for the Nittany Lions, and he’s all about pork. That’s why he signed a deal with the Pennsylvania Pork Providers Council as “Pork Chop”

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“My parents started calling me Pork Chop early on and it stuck,” Robinson said of the nickname, “Since then, I grew taller and thinned out, but Chop stuck.” Chop Robinson will likely hear his name called in the NFL draft next year, but until then he’s getting paid a pretty penny with this pork endorsement. (More)

Melanie Duron

Click the link below to learn how Texas State track & field athlete Melanie Duron is landing NIL deals with Adidas, CVS, EBOOST and more!

♦️ A Utah perspective on how NIL has changed college sports

♦️ Missouri Tigers show how NIL can produce parity

♦️ Q&A with UCLA’s NIL collective

♦️ Leaf announces Paige Bueckers trading card

♦️ Cincy holds a Go Pro NIL event

Todays Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

Who is most to blame for the “NIL Wild West” we currently see?

• The NCAA - 73%

• Congress - 7%

• NIL Collectives - 11%

• Schools - 5%

• Athletes - 4%