Vandagriff's recent video in a tweet about NIL at UGA is exactly my experience with NIL at UGA. First, here is the tweet:
Over the years, I have helped dozen's of kids with their college recruitment and recently helped one of our UGA players during his high school years (not Vandagriff). Once the kid would up at UGA, it became obvious that he was going to have NIL opportunities because of his excellent play on the field at an early age. However, he did not want to be in the middle of negotiations because:
a. He wanted to concentrate on football and books.
b. He has no experience in negotiating.
c. He did not want the appearance of being greedy.
He trusted me to research and negotiate deals for him. UGA had done things the right way in his recruitment and he was receiving nothing coming into UGA but it was apparent early on that he deserved his fair share because of play on the field. My first move was to negotiate with the Collectives and that was a very easy and relatively quick. I highly encourage all UGA supporters to donate to the Classic City Collective at https://classiccitycollective.com/contribute/
The second part of the NIL experience was to negotiate deals with companies. You can do this by going to businesses directly or by signing with a Marketing agent. My advice was to sign with a reputable agent and let them do their jobs. Finding a reputable agent and getting a fair contract was the tough part. There are a lot of vulture's out there trying to take advantage of these kids and NIL is unchartered territory which makes this even more complicated for the athletes and their families. After 6 weeks of research and contract negotiations, our athlete signed with a great company and they have delivered on every promise. Said athlete is not getting rich but he should end up with a very, very nice nest egg once he leaves UGA and starts his adult life whether he makes the NFL or not. He is saving his money and being responsible.
My biggest worry in all of this NIL are athletes signing with vulture's who do not have their best interest at heart. I know of several athletes that are signing deals with everybody that throws something in front of their face. Not only are they going to owe multiple "agents", they are also going to have hefty tax bills on April 15th. Most of these deals are 1099 income and if they are not putting money away for taxes, I'm afraid there are going to be a lot of athletes coming out of college with tax liens. Not a good way to start life.
Bottom line... based on my experience, UGA is doing NIL the RIGHT WAY.
Go Dawgs
Over the years, I have helped dozen's of kids with their college recruitment and recently helped one of our UGA players during his high school years (not Vandagriff). Once the kid would up at UGA, it became obvious that he was going to have NIL opportunities because of his excellent play on the field at an early age. However, he did not want to be in the middle of negotiations because:
a. He wanted to concentrate on football and books.
b. He has no experience in negotiating.
c. He did not want the appearance of being greedy.
He trusted me to research and negotiate deals for him. UGA had done things the right way in his recruitment and he was receiving nothing coming into UGA but it was apparent early on that he deserved his fair share because of play on the field. My first move was to negotiate with the Collectives and that was a very easy and relatively quick. I highly encourage all UGA supporters to donate to the Classic City Collective at https://classiccitycollective.com/contribute/
The second part of the NIL experience was to negotiate deals with companies. You can do this by going to businesses directly or by signing with a Marketing agent. My advice was to sign with a reputable agent and let them do their jobs. Finding a reputable agent and getting a fair contract was the tough part. There are a lot of vulture's out there trying to take advantage of these kids and NIL is unchartered territory which makes this even more complicated for the athletes and their families. After 6 weeks of research and contract negotiations, our athlete signed with a great company and they have delivered on every promise. Said athlete is not getting rich but he should end up with a very, very nice nest egg once he leaves UGA and starts his adult life whether he makes the NFL or not. He is saving his money and being responsible.
My biggest worry in all of this NIL are athletes signing with vulture's who do not have their best interest at heart. I know of several athletes that are signing deals with everybody that throws something in front of their face. Not only are they going to owe multiple "agents", they are also going to have hefty tax bills on April 15th. Most of these deals are 1099 income and if they are not putting money away for taxes, I'm afraid there are going to be a lot of athletes coming out of college with tax liens. Not a good way to start life.
Bottom line... based on my experience, UGA is doing NIL the RIGHT WAY.
Go Dawgs
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