SMU football legend Eric Dickerson joined SMU football captain and safety Jonathan McGill and CEO of Influxer Tyler Jaynes for a panel discussion on name, image and likeness (NIL) yesterday, Dec. 3, at the Armstrong Fieldhouse.
The discussion focused on NIL and its benefits for student athletes. Dickerson spoke about how NIL can be a financial starting point for student athletes when opportunities to play professionally are slim.
“It’s hard to make it in the NFL. It’s only a few guys. It’s only a few spots for DBs, only a few spots for running backs and receivers,” Dickerson said. “If you can stay in college that much longer, if you have eligibility, and you can make the money, because if you do make the NFL, it’s always better.”
NIL is considered part of a legal concept, otherwise known as the “right to publicity,” that allows student athletes to financially benefit from their name, image or likeness for commercial purposes. While it was barred by the NCAA for athletes to financially profit from their success on the field, they lifted these restrictions after a 2021 Supreme Court ruling.
Since then, NIL has become a topic of conversation across colleges nationwide. Tyler Jaynes, Influxer CEO and former Baylor safety, says that NIL is about more than just a paycheck.
“NIL is not just about making money. It’s about providing business development opportunities, professional development internships, building relationships with brands that may end up employing you in the future,” Jaynes said. “That’s a common misconception that I hope we can help break that narrative up.”
In 2021, Jaynes created Influxer to connect student athletes with brands, teach them about financial literacy, and look out for them in a lucrative industry. Since its founding, the company has worked with close to 40,000 athletes across 500 schools.
“I think athletes should have as many resources as possible,” Jaynes said. “I’m glad the market is trending in the way that it is. And obviously the NIL industry is not perfect at the moment, but it’s trending in the right direction. Five years ago, players didn’t get paid but here we are.”
As more colleges implement NIL programs, football and other sports are transported to a new age where student athletes receive benefits they have never been able to access before. Though it’s largely known for the amount of money it can bring players, NIL focuses on professional development and relationship building to prepare athletes to enter the professional sports realm and the workforce after graduation.
Jonathan McGill, SMU’s football captain and a graduate transfer from Stanford, experienced both sides of the coin. While attending Stanford, McGill did not have access to NIL but at SMU, the opportunities that come with NIL have enhanced his experience as a student-athlete.
“NIL, to me, was not necessarily just getting an abundance of money but more of exchange of goods,” McGill said. “Whether that was meals, whether that was getting an opportunity to go to an internship or a mentorship and getting dinner with an alumni or somebody that wants to pour back into you.”
Nick Saban and other opponents to NIL expansion argue that NIL harms sports programs across the country and could cause inequalities in women’s sports. Dickerson believes the opposite.
“It’s not about football. It’s about girls too. It’s about girls’ sports. It’s about anything,” Dickerson said. “So that’s, that’s the thing that makes it great. If you want to put in the work. It just doesn’t come to you like that.”
Dickerson brought SMU’s football program to new heights, playing a pivotal role on the 1982 “Pony Express” and even helping the Mustangs to victory in the 1983 Cotton Bowl. During this time, the NCAA prohibition of NIL meant universities and their boosters secretly passed cash and other flashy gifts to potential commits. In 1987, the NCAA caught SMU and brought down its hardest punishment to the Mustangs: the death penalty.
Despite the irony of Dickerson being on the panel, he’s excited for young players to fully take advantage of the financial benefits that were not legally available to him.
“I’m happy for the younger players, I’m really glad,” Dickerson said. “I gotta give my man [Jaynes] credit here for starting this company. It’s fantastic. I was blown away with what he has done for the student athletes. They deserve it.”
Sydney Strollo contributed to the reporting of this story
