Smith Cochran
Sports Editor
Sewanee Tavern owner Jimmy Wilson was baffled when a senior football player called him with a business proposition: he could be the paid face of the Blue Chair for the fall of 2021.
“He said, Mr. Wilson, I have over 1,000 followers on social media, and I’d like to be an NIL influencer for the Blue Chair,” recalled Wilson, (C ’73), a veteran of Sewanee football teams of the late 60s and avid sports booster. “And I go, what in the world is NIL?”
Wilson was not alone in asking that question, especially within the Division III sports world. Few people thought about Sewanee and other DIII institutions when Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policies were approved by the NCAA in July of 2021. From that point on, college athletes were permitted to monetize their names through endorsements and partnerships with participating companies. Athletes can legally accept compensation in return for appearances, signed jerseys, or anything of the like.
In Tennessee, athletes were only limited by the requirement that they have to do something tangible for an NIL deal, such as posting on social media or attending an event, Wilson said. “It can’t just be giving an athlete money.”
Ever since, athletic administrators at colleges and universities large and small have been navigating the wild-west that is the NIL landscape. Sewanee athletics have been no exception. Today, just like athletes at national powerhouse collegiate programs, dozens of Sewanee athletes are offering their services as influencers with the University’s blessing and support.
Sewanee Athletic Director John Shackelford said that was unexpected for Sewanee and similar schools.
“When it first came about, most of us were thinking of star athlete material for Division I athletes,” Shackelford said. “It did not seem to me that this would naturally sink down into Division III.”
For example, University of Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams appeared on multiple Dr. Pepper commercials that aired during nationally televised college football games after winning the 2022 Heisman trophy. And despite little playing time last fall, top University of Texas quarterback recruit Arch Manning has reportedly scored NIL deals that have raised his overall value to more than $2 million.
Obviously, such deals are unicorns that student-athletes at Sewanee and most college sports participants across the country aren’t going to land, coaches and boosters say. Though, Sewanee athletes actively participate in the NIL landscape, just in different forms.
“The key thing to remember is how [NIL] began,” Shackelford said. “Student athletes saw their image on a video game, and they realized that someone else was profiting off their name. Or if you went to a stadium and purchased a jersey that had the number, but not the name of your favorite player, how is that fair to those student athletes? I don’t think it’s nearly at that level at Sewanee, or any other Division III institutions.”
Division I institutions such as the University of Tennessee and the University of Georgia have six to ten administrators focused on the NIL space. At Sewanee, that responsibility falls to Associate Director of Athletics and Director of Compliance Carrie Austin and Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach Will Merrell.
“I am a basketball coach first,” Merrell said. “All the coaches have secondary duties. When I first got to Sewanee last year, there was a hole in terms of how we were going to deal with NIL… Mostly what my job is on the NIL side is to make sure our student athletes are educated about opportunities that are available to them and how to take advantage of them without sacrificing your eligibility.”
In the spring of 2023, Sewanee partnered with Name, Image, and Likeness platform Opendorse to support its athletes in NIL offerings. Opendorse serves as an NIL online marketplace for collegiate student athletes interested in partnering with companies and brands.
“Opendorse provides Sewanee with an NIL infrastructure,” Merrell said. “Through this we can maintain our athletes’ eligibility while introducing them to brand partnerships and NIL opportunities.”
Opendorse is used by over 100,000 student athletes across the country. During the fall of 2022 when I played on the Sewanee football team, I had an Opendorse account and completed one deal with the food delivery service, GoPuff.
While not directly related, the NIL online marketplace is comparable to job recruiting websites like Indeed or Handshake for the companies and athletes.
“[The athletes] can go in and search for a brand like Powerade and apply for an NIL deal like they would a job,” Merrell said. “The athletes can be passive or aggressive [with applying]. A lot of student athletes have their own profile and companies can find them, and vice-versa, the athletes can also find the companies.”
For Sewanee, Opendorse helps with student-athlete compliance and ensures all NIL deals are done legally and are legitimate. This service takes some of the pressure off compliance workers within Sewanee Athletics.
“There is great potential for something to go wrong,” Shackelford said. “We want to support our student athletes’ ability to earn money, but we just have to make sure it fits within NCAA rules…That’s one reason we hired OpenDorse. We felt like they had the best compliance and education piece to try and avoid any mistakes by our athletes.”
Because of the organization and clarity Opendorse provides, Sewanee coaches can use the service as a recruiting tool for prospective student athletes. Though all legal, the coaches are wary of spreading misinformation about NIL deals during the recruitment process and ensure they are complying with NCAA rules and regulations.
“Opendorse has given us a great tool to use when recruiting athletes,” Merrell said. “What we can’t say is ‘if you come to Sewanee we can give you X amount of money.’ What Opendorse does is it tracks all student athlete activity and reports it back to us at the end of the year, and we can take that information and say this is how our student athletes have participated and taken advantage of the NIL space.”
Jimmy Wilson, owner of the Sewanee Tavern, said he has partnered with several Sewanee Football players and hopes to continue in the future. What started with a rudimentary NIL deal with former football player Parker Hughes (C ‘22), has grown into consistent partnerships with Sewanee Football players. Most recently, Wilson and Blue Chair had a deal with senior football captains Quinn Johnson (C ‘23) and Michael McGee (C ‘23).
The future of NIL in college athletics is unknown. While frantically trying to get state and national legislation passed to regulate the space, the NCAA is having immense trouble enforcing broad rules on universities and their NIL spending.
“In Sewanee, I think this is where NIL stays,” Merrell said. “It’s a great opportunity for student athletes to make some extra money. We have plans to tie in with [the Career Center] because it’s a great networking tool for our student athletes to find internships. For Sewanee specifically, that is probably the best payout. Getting a couple brand endorsements and maybe turn that into some job opportunities”
For Sewanee and other Division III member institutions, NIL can be used for professional development and to make some extra money. It’s hard to know if the opportunities and income will grow in the future, but for now, Athletic Director Shackelford and the administration of Sewanee Athletics are hoping to contain the wildfire that is Name, Image and Likeness.
“When I say that I received [NIL] with open arms, I don’t know that I did,” Shackelford said. “I support our student-athletes… but the idea of pay-for-play is not what this is. We cannot pay someone to play a sport. We can pay someone to go to a birthday party, sign an autograph, or to post something on social media for Blue Chair. If it stays within those parameters, I think it could be a healthy thing, but I would just say [the athletic department] has a very wary eye on the situation.”
This story is a part of an occasional series on Name, Image, and Likeness within Sewanee Athletics.
If you are a student athlete at Sewanee and have an NIL deal or if you are an alumni who supports Sewanee Athletics, please reach out to me. My email is cochrsw0@sewanee.edu