When the NCAA approved the name, image and likeness (NIL) rule on July, 1, 2021, there was a thought that it would not affect teams in the FCS as much as it would teams in the FBS.
Now, over a year after the rule was approved, NIL is slowly making its way into FCS programs and is also affecting the way the top programs in the FCS recruit.
The NIL rule is a rule that allows NCAA players to profit from their name, image and likeness. South Dakota State athletic director Justin Sell said he thinks the first year of NIL went very well.
“[NIL] has worked really well,” Sell said. “I think [senior associate athletic director of compliance] Kathy Heylens on my staff has done a really good job with the student athletes, helping them get the information they need to do the deals they want to do. I would characterize many of them as summer camps and wanting to try to run their own camp. A couple others are from doing a couple tweets or marketing as well, and we’ve seen a lot of that nationally.
“… For those that have wanted to do it, I think they’ve found that it’s a lot of work. I mean to do it right and if you want to really build a brand, you kind of have to be at it every single day, and for many of these athletes the time they put into their sport and the time they put into school is important to them here. It’s hard to carve out those things at this level. I think this last year has been a learning experience for everyone involved. I think for me it’s really positive. When a lot of our athletes are on a partial or no scholarship, and for them to have an opportunity to pay for the college degree I think is an awesome door that we need to continue to explore.”
Many of the athletes deals at SDSU are either social promotions or merchandise. SDSU football coach John Stiegelmeier said he doesn’t really get into deals with his players, but does encourage them to make them.

“I think [NIL] will continue to seep into FCS football and it will start with departments and how they want to handle it. If a young man has something going, we send him to our compliance coordinator. We’re supposed to stay out of it, so we stay out of it. We encourage them to have arrangements or deals, whatever you want to call it, contracts, but right now we don’t want to be advising guys. … All of these new things have a leveling out affect. There’s an evening out or a point where it goes, now this is how it works, and I don’t think we’re close to that yet, but we will someday at the FCS level,” Stiegelmeier said.
North Dakota State’s Phoenix Sproles used his large social media following to land five different endorsement deals last season. NDSU head football coach Matt Entz said during Missouri Valley media day that his athletic department will have to take a closer look into NIL this season.
“I think when the NIL rule originally came out, NDSU was completely on board with our players earning money with name, image and likeness, and we’ve had a number of players in our program take advantage of that. And it was merit based. We’ve had players who have been able create extra income because of the following that they have on social media or doing a commercial in town for a local industry. What it’s become unfortunately across the land, and I think a lot of coaching peers would say this, it’s become incentive based. And I don’t know if that was originally the plan behind it, but I do know, just like the transfer portal, it’s something that we’re going to have to look into as an athletic department,” Entz said.
Entz went on to say that NIL has made its way into the recruiting trail as well. The Bison, who have won nine of the past 11 FCS titles, are now battling with FBS schools for players and Entz said they lost some of the recruiting battles this offseason due to players being able to make more money at power five (Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Pac 12 and Big 12) schools.
“… I think this is going to be the last class that we recruit where it’s not going to be a hot topic or a bigger topic than it is. I would probably say we’ve lost three recruits this year due to school’s A, B and C being farther ahead in the NIL process than we are. It’s something that we’re going to have to address and we’re currently in conversations with the administration and myself about what we can do or what we’re comfortable with here at North Dakota State,” Entz said.
One of the issues so far with NIL has been the fine line of schools paying players instead of businesses. Schools cannot directly be a part of getting players deals, but boosters can set up third-party businesses to pay players.
In March it was reported that a Miami player signed an agreement with the school’s third-party collective for more than $8 million.
Sell said that he thinks NIL being used as pay for play isn’t collegiate and is ugly for the sport of college football.
“I think a lot of it is how people feel personally about where athletics is in higher education or in society,” Sell said. “What’s somebody’s value? And I think for some of us who are more on the traditional side, I think of our general students on our campus and their opportunities. You know, I think you look at pay and what some of the folks people make on a campus, there’s some hard things to rectify in our industry. I think at our level, and I said there’s 280 schools that are more like us than not and there’s 353 Division I schools. There’s a bunch that are obviously very different, and that’s not a right or a wrong or a indifferent statement, it’s just different.
“For us, being tied to that degree. Keeping some sort of semblance of that and [NIL] is just another part of their experience, but  it can’t be the primary. It shouldn’t be induced to help recruiting. It shouldn’t be used for pay for play that, ‘ok you threw three touchdowns this week, we’ll pay you.’ Those things are ugly and don’t have any business in college athletics.
“… I think there’s some great things that come from [NIL], but with everything, there’s little moderation to it and I think there’s a balance somewhere in the middle. We’ve only really seen the positive side of it so far, but you can’t sit in your seats and be naïve to the other things that are out there. Is it concerning when Ohio State says it’ll take $13 million of NIL money for a football roster? Yeah, that doesn’t sound real collegiate to me. It doesn’t sound like they’re thinking about their majors or how they’re going to get their degree, or if it even matters. And that’s ok. I’m not disparaging that, but I don’t think that’s us and I don’t think it will ever be us.”
It will be interesting these next few years to see where the state of NIL goes in the FCS game. If powerhouses like NDSU and SDSU want to keep up in recruiting, they may have to go to the “ugly” side of it.