Anthony Wilson
COLUMBIA, Missouri – Williams Nwaneri It’s incredibly relaxed for a young man on the verge of success. As the nation’s most high-profile benefactor of the name, image and likeness law, the five-star senior edge rusher from Lee’s Summit North knows exactly what’s next.
“The dance is on May 4th, so this weekend,” Nwaneri told CBS Sports.
This is not only a refreshing perspective from an 18-year-old high school senior, but also a glimpse into an innovative future. Nwareni can expect a NIL payment at any time. Not that it will break the bank, although an assessment of its NIL value comes in at approximately $250,000. No, the most telling aspect is that he will still be in high school.
In August 2023, Missouri passed a first-of-its-kind law that allows high school students to receive NIL benefits after signing with a school. The law applies only to Missouri residents. But in a state that typically only produces single-digit blue chippers in a given year (Texas had 57 four-stars or better in the 2024 class), keeping the best at home can make a program.
“We are leading the country in this space,” Rep. Kurtis Gregory (R) of Missouri, who helped write the law, told reporters when it was signed.
Now it’s time to take this statement onto the field.
These are heady times for Missouri. The program won 11 games last season for the first time since 2014 and defeated Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. If the expanded College football If the playoff field was in place, the Tigers would have faced Oregon in a first-round game based on last year’s final CFP rankings.
“For me, it’s a chance to create a competitive advantage,” said Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz, the 2023 SEC Coach of the Year. “You can either accept it or hate it. I will choose to embrace it and try to create the best possible advantage for my football team.”
The law came at a time of gaining momentum. Politicians in the unabashedly red state of Missouri have been considering ways to ride the NIL wave for some time. Courts have long found it an antitrust violation to limit college athletes’ ability to receive compensation for their name, image and likeness. Last week, consulting firm Husch Blackwell concluded, “there is little or no deference to any NCAA concept of amateurism.”
The Missouri legislature went a step further by essentially creating the NIL as an incentive for high school athletes to stay in the state. In football, this means a high school athlete could spend six to 10 months earning money before heading to college training camp, where they will actually have to earn playing time.
The message: Come to Mizzou, get paid early.
“Missouri has the best NIL setup of any state, any school in the country. Guaranteed,” said Blake Lawrence, founder and CEO of technology company NIL Opendorse. “One school that doesn’t wait for the future is Missouri.”
The law even protects the NCAA from investigating signers for their NIL benefits. School staff can help arrange these arrangements.
“Everything about recruiting is an incentive,” countered Gregory, the former Tigers offensive lineman. “Telling a kid we’re going to have a cool new locker room next year, or a new weight room. How is that not an incentive to get a child to commit?”
Nwaneri becomes that distinct NIL experiment because ultimately the question must be asked: Would an athlete who is arguably the best high school prospect in Missouri program history have signed elsewhere if state law had not been applied?
The 6-foot-1, 260-pound Nwaneri, ranked sixth overall in the 2024 class according to 247Sports, picked the Tigers over Tennessee, Oregon, Oklahoma and Georgia.
“I was going to get a good NIL [deal] regardless of where I went,” Nwaneri said. “It was definitely positive. It was never the main thing. I wanted to go somewhere where I felt comfortable, I felt like my family was comfortable and where I could see myself succeeding.”
Gregory asked the same question. If the prospect had signed with Tennessee or Oklahoma, Nwareni would have had to wait at least eight months to receive NIL benefits. But by signing with Missouri, he will show up on campus on May 26, having already been eligible for NIL benefits for the past five months. Maybe some of the money is already in your pocket.
Athletes are not required to disclose their NIL agreements.
“That’s a great question,” Gregory said. “We would like to think that winning and everything else you still have a chance. For me, the fact that we clearly defined in state statute what could happen [matters]. Before this law existed, weren’t there some coaches talking to them about what could be done in terms of NIL?
Missouri’s primary NIL negotiator for athletes is Every True Tiger, a nonprofit facilitator that obtains funding from donors, corporate donations and subscriptions. (Members can pledge monthly amounts.) CEO Nick Garner is a respected former executive in Learfield, where he was once general manager of Mizzou Sports Properties.
“Importantly, state law allowed high school athletes in the state of Missouri the opportunity to unlock these opportunities early. It’s a recruiting tool,” Garner said. “I’m sure that in a case like [Nwareni’s], that is great. Maybe that helped put him over the edge. The story is: Does this flip the script or not?”
The question of whether Mizzou will join college football’s elites as a result of the advantage may take six years to answer. Or it could take six weeks. The math may have changed, however, as sources told CBS Sports a revenue sharing agreement with the players would be possible in the near future.
As it stands, the list of states with NIL laws similar to Missouri’s is growing almost daily. Mizzou’s advantage could soon be a footnote as states line up to essentially copy the law. The race between legislatures and recruitment has become a competition. A giant hole was left in the system as the NCAA never acted quickly enough and was essentially forced to open the NIL gates in July 2021.
Congress appears no closer to granting an antitrust exemption for the NCAA to enforce its rules.
“I would definitely say that [it has become a competition] in a roundabout way…” said Gregory. “Do you honestly think that a senator from Alabama – let’s say Alabama has it better [NIL] law than LSU – will you vote for parity so that LSU has the same thing?
“We don’t want the feds to come in and ruin the fun.”
Among the first comments during his introductory press conference Friday, new Missouri athletic director Laird Veatch praised the administration for its “progressive approach” to the NIL.
“You’re going to have to be aggressive and not think like everyone else has been thinking the last few years,” Veatch said.
Missouri fans have thought of a way for years as they clamored for the program to lock up the state’s best players. This was no different than other states, except, again, Missouri doesn’t tout many elite prospects. The state’s top players often went to bigger and better programs.
But there is historical evidence that Missouri he can win from within. In 2007, Gregory was one of the state’s top 10 starters on offense. Only quarterback Chase Daniel (Texas) came from out of state. Missouri went 12-2 that year and ranked first for one week.
Hall of Fame coach Gary Pinkel led the 2007 Tigers team.
“You have to get into the game,” he said. “You need to have money. There is no way to avoid this. Where this will go one day, I don’t know. I used to hear the words ‘student-athlete’ and ‘graduation rates.’ I don’t hear anything more about any of these things.
“My biggest problem with all of this is that I don’t want the coach who has the most money [to win] when this guy is a better coach and has a better team… but he just doesn’t have the money to compete at that level. I think that’s unfair.”
What’s fair in all this other than the players getting their cut?
Missouri’s adventure in NIL space was tasteful. Schnucks, a major supermarket chain, has negotiated deals with several Missouri athletes. When five-star wide receiver Luther Burden came to Missouri (before the law), his advisor Demetrious Johnson told CBS Sports that he wanted to keep Burden’s head on straight.
Instead of purchasing a used luxury car from Mercedes-Benz of Columbia, Burden was forced to drive a used Impala as a NIL benefit as soon as he arrived on campus.
“They were willing to give him a very nice car, a Mercedes-Benz. I told him we weren’t going to do that,” Johnson told CBS Sports. “We want to keep him very, very kind and humble.”
In this NIL era, humble is a relative term. Tennessee redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava reportedly signed an $8 million NIL deal full of bonus clauses — an NIL outlier in a conference (SEC) that won’t be left behind.
“I feel like [the law] It should have been done a long time ago,” said Nwareni. “I also feel like they are going to put some kind of cap or limit [on it]. Right now, I feel like this is great for the sport and for athletes like me across the country.”
Yes, but are you ready for the dance, Mr. NIL? Tuxedo? Walk from? Nosegay?
“Things like this make it even easier [to afford]” said Nwaneri.
