After decades of dispute the NCAA now allows college athletes to make money off their name image and likeness also known as NIL. Athletic Director Jared Benko has been preparing for the new change 

“Well first it’s been good for our student athletes, which is great. I would say going back to this spring and summer was trying to make sure we came up with educational apparatuses and lessons just to help them understand,” Benko said. 

NIL deals are something that many college football analysts and coaches felt would make recruitment harder for smaller schools.  Benko is confident in the school’s ability to provide a full student-athlete experience and prepare them for the future, which draws in recruits.

“We feel like we have a top institution to recruit to academically and athletically,” said Benko. “We just signed a new deal with open doors. That’s a great software platform that allows our student athletes to continue to enhance their branding.”

The process of acquiring a sponsorship deal or how they promote their name, image, and likeness is entirely up to the students. For inside linebacker Todd Bradley-Glenn, this meant he could begin advertising his company using his image as a football player. 

“I can, in a way, kind of like advertise it. I can connect it back to myself and my football image in a way and so then I can bring more business to myself. Instead of it not being all connected as one thing,” Bradley-Glenn said.