NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) has become the lifeblood of college football.
While some programs have grabbed the proverbial bull by the horns and have run with NIL, other programs are still finding their footing.
For example, the Ohio State Buckeyes according to athletic director Ross Bjork raised around $20 million for NIL ahead of the 2024 football season. By raising $20 million in NIL, the Buckeyes were able to bring in through the transfer portal players such as QB Will Howard, RB Quinshon Judkins, and S Caleb Downs among others.
It's just one example of how top programs are being able to raise and use their NIL funding in order to help construct better rosters. For the most part, its a lawless and unfair realm in college football - but without government intervention, nothing is going to change anytime soon.
The good news, is that the Minnesota Golden Gophers are somewhere in between. The Gophers’ NIL standing is solid but it's a position that going forward will always have to continue to improve especially as the program continues to excel at identifying undervalued talent and developing them into high-quality athletes. Not only does NIL affect high school and transfer portal recruiting but it also has a severe impact on player retention.
On Monday, Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck was asked about where the Gophers sit in the grand scheme of things when it comes to NIL.
"It's always a work in progress," Fleck said. "It always will be. Always has been. We've had some very generous donors, step up, big time for us and continue to do and work with Dinkytown athletes and the collective," he added.
"I mean it's really special to see what these people are doing for our student athletes. I think everybody sees the importance of and I think everybody, you know, people can report what is they think is actually there. But when you start to see what people are doing and how they're doing it and where people are because of it and the investment into their student athletes and investment into their football programs, that goes a long, long way in building football programs in 2024 and beyond," the Gophers head coach said about the importance of NIL. "So, I'm really excited about where we are and the progress we continue to make every single day."
Not only has NIL fundamentally changed the way rosters are constructed across college football, but it also has changed the way coaches manage their programs, Fleck would go onto explain.
"The job of the head football coach is, is even more important now in fundraising, not just for facilities and stuff, but for your student athletes and getting out there and making sure people are really, really aware of what's going on in college football and how people can keep things together and then go get the needs that you need to be able to get," he said.
"So, I think people are really becoming more aware of it, especially our fans, our donors, our boosters, our support staff, our supporters and I can't thank them enough and we got to continue to keep doing more. I got to continue to keep working and making sure everybody understands that, but I think we have a really good understanding of where we are and our administration and the people that are involved in our NIL and Dinkytown. I know are working really, really hard as well."
Recently, the Gophers NIL collective Dinkytown Athletes announced a million dollar match campaign alongside Nepsis, a financial advisory firm founded by Minnesota grad Mark Pearson. All new memberships or upgraded memberships until November 10 will be matched by Nepsis for up to a million dollars.
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