Well, college football programs have reeled in a lot of blessings from business tycoons lately. We have seen how the Oracle founder, Larry Ellison, played a huge role in helping the Michigan Wolverines hunt down the No.1 quarterback, Bryce Underwood. The NIL deal was worth $12 million. Then there was Phil Knight.
The co-founder of Nike, Knight, worth an estimated $45 billion according to Forbes, has donated upwards of $1 billion to his beloved University of Oregon over the years. So, we have seen how the college football programs have been lucky enough to reel in constant support when it comes to NIL. This time, serial entrepreneur and the Chairman of VaynerX, the CEO of VaynerMedia, Gary Vaynerchuk (net worth $200 million), lent his helping hand. Not in terms of donation, but he had some advice for the young college football players to navigate the rough NIL waters.
On the June 19th episode of the Next Up with Adam Breneman podcast, Vaynerchuk tried to enlighten the players, even though it came up with some harsh reality checks. They got to fight the urge to make their parents proud only through money. “The first thing I would say is tune your parents out for 90%, you know this for 95% of them, tune your parents out. The parents are the problem, not the coaches in the program. Mommy and daddy get in your pockets. And by the way you’re talking to a kid who’s obsessed to make mommy and daddy money because he loved them so much so I also know there’s a ton of kids right now like ‘F- – – you Gary, my single dad, my single mom, my grandma like I got to put.’”
The millionaire continued, “And I’m like ‘Of course that’s not what I’m saying.’ Take care of your fam but pay attention to what you want like and do you want this? My big thing with these kids is like are you okay if this is your last bag mhm because as you know for a lot of them it will be their last bag cuz they won’t go to the next level they won’t transfer portal because they’ll f- – – up everything between their senior year and their freshman year.” Lately, we have seen two narratives when it comes to the NIL. On one hand, there was Sherrone Moore, who went to great lengths to snatch Underwood from LSU. On the other hand, there have been instances where Josh Heupel had pulled the brakes when Nico Iamaleava pressurized him for $4 million NIL. So, what’s the moral of the story?
Turns out that Nick Saban rightly projected how the NIL model is ‘unsustainable.’ Right now, most of the players are driven towards the program that’s offering better NIL opportunities. We have seen college football stars like Travis Hunter pampering her then-girlfriend Leanna Lenne with a personalized Hello Kitty Tesla. However, the ex-Buffs player has been lucky since they recently tied the knot. But everybody might not catch such luck. As Vaynerchuk noted, “I would say to tune the noise out, including your parents, do the right things by the people who deserve it around you. This is a tough one for a 17/18-year-old kid. Don’t use money to fix fractured relationships. I see a lot of these kids use it to if it’s something as silly as like a former girlfriend or if it’s something as real as a mom and dad kind of abandoned them.”
He continued, “Be thoughtful, get into your therapy mindset, get into your positive thinking, get into your grounded.” Right now, another NIL-induced flip is coming up.
The two sides of the NIL coin in college football
Brian Kelly is yet to recover from the Underwood heartbreak. And guess what? The history is likely to repeat for the LSU Tigers head coach. Thanks to his 5-star wide receiver Tristen Keys—the No. 1 WR in the class—who had anchored his ship to the LSU dock back in March. But so what? He kept on exploring more options. That’s when the NIL factor started to prick Kelly all over again.
Keys had promised big things: “Once a Tiger, always a Tiger.” But now that a big NIL check is waving at him, he might take back his words. On June 13, On3 NIL posted on X, “The race for LSU 5-star WR commit Tristen Keys continues to heat up Keys is expected to ink an NIL package that will pay him between $500K to $1 million as a freshman, per @PeteNakos_.” A recent video went viral where Kelly’s 5-star recruit was dancing in full Tennessee’s orange-colored gear. Well, at the same time, a player is tackling NIL in a positive way.
Just like Gary Vaynerchuk wants it to be. That’s none other than Oregon Ducks’ probable starting quarterback, Dante Moore. On June 18, On3 NIL posted about Moore hitting a huge milestone off the field. “Oregon QB Dante Moore donated $10,000 of his NIL earnings to his alma mater, Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School (MI).” The quarterback went to his hometown in Detroit and promised to take care of jerseys, travel, food, and all other expenses of the players of his alma mater’s football club. What’s even more surprising is the fact that Moore only holds an NIL valuation of $341k. But even then, he chose purpose over materialistic pleasure. That’s how one needs to roll the NIL dice.
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