NIL Company signs Michael Vick as mentor, ambassador

Sports media hosts and analysts say the same thing each NFL Draft — it’s such a great opportunity, a life-changing moment. The underlying context is the money. Of course, a man’s life will change drastically when he’s suddenly compensated millions of dollars to play a game, even one as dangerous as football.

We watch as players wait anxiously for the call from their new team and the subsequent hugs from family and friends. They walk up to the stage with their newest hat, shake the commissioner’s hand and walk off to do a post-pick interview in what we all believe is the best moment of their young lives to that point.

In a career full of highs and lows, getting drafted was one of the best moments of Michael Vick’s life. But, if it were up to him, it would have happened a year later.

“I was forced to leave a year early… If I had $50,000 to take care of my family I would have stuck around. My mom wouldn’t have been struggling on rent, food wouldn’t have been scarce. I would have felt better about our living conditions. If I had that type of money, I would have stuck around just to learn the game and be around my teammates that I loved so dearly at that time,” Vick said, remembering his college days. In fact, he admits he seriously contemplated professional baseball after being drafted by the Rockies, who would have offered him $25,000 to sign, in the 30th round of the 2000 MLB draft.

That’s a major reason why Vick has partnered with Levels Sports Group, a California-based athlete management firm that specializes in name, image, and likeness opportunities for professional and college athletes. Levels roster includes Clemson’s quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, USC commits quarterback Malachi Nelson and wide receiver Makai Lemon among others, per a recent press release.

As the one-year anniversary of the NCAA’s decision to allow athletes to be compensated for their name, image, and likeness (NIL) approaches, it’s fair to say the landscape of college sports has changed irrevocably. Players are being compensated like never before, with deals ranging from Texas running back Bijan Robinson’s partnership with Lamborghini Austin, who provided a sports car for him to drive around campus, to Arkansas linebacker Bumper Pool, who promotes the Extra Points Podcast Network.

These deals invariably impact recruiting. Even if coaches aren’t actively promoting NIL possibilities to players, they wouldn’t have to. Approximately 58,000 people “liked” a post on Robinson’s Instagram announcing the Lamborghini partnership, with the post eventually going viral as aggregation blogs caught wind.

High profile deals like this, or Miami player Isaiah Wong’s agent sharing in a statement to ESPN that his client would need a better NIL deal to return to the Hurricanes next season, raise an important question: If the compensation isn’t coming from the schools, what influence and motivation do those groups orchestrating deals have on athletes?

Vick’s motivations are pure. “I’m not getting into the decision that the kids make, that’s why they have official visits… to find what school works for them” Vick said. “The job [is] not to get every kid to the NFL. The job is to get kids in a better position than where they started.”

College football coaches are not known to be the most progressive group of men in the country and generally rebuke change.

In an interview with ESPN, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said that NIL deals are “out of control.” “It’s not sustainable,” he continued. “It’s an absolute mess and a train wreck, and the kids are going to be the ones who suffer in the end.” Alabama head coach Nick Saban told the Associated Press, “[NIL] creates a situation where you can basically buy players… if that’s what we want college football to be, I don’t know. You can also get players to get into the transfer portal to see if they can get more someplace else than they can at your place.”

Saban and Swinney have been the kings of college football, but Levels Sports Group CEO Justin Giangrande thinks they’re missing the point. He suggests those who invest in NIL programs will see dividends.

“Let’s say you have a tier-one school in that state, and a school that’s always been tier two… When in history would they be able to shift the power? If they do a good job with NIL for the next five years, they may overtake the number one,” Giangrande explained. “This a huge opportunity for schools as well.”

“If you’re a brand looking to partner with talent, you might think that college fan bases and college athletes might be more interesting. Who’s to say Bryce Young, the quarterback at Alabama, isn’t more marketable than the starting quarterback of the Jacksonville Jaguars? I’m just using that as an example based on fan bases, which is interesting,” Giangrande continued.

Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence is certainly a household name among football fans, as is Young. While Lawrence has a Subway ad campaign among the company’s 14 nationally aired TV campaigns, per commercial tracking website ispot.tv, Young had signed more than $800,000 in NIL deals before starting a college game. Similar to Robinson, Young’s partnership with BMW of Tuscaloosa ensures he’ll be steering German engineering through Alabama (despite his coach’s ties to Mercedes).

There’s more money being funneled to college players than ever before. That’s a good thing, full stop. But to paraphrase Kelly Price, sometimes it feels like the more money people come across, the more problems they see. This is a lesson Vick learned firsthand, as his professional career was, at times, mired in controversy.

The new landscape forces kids to grow up quickly. “They’re a business, from day one… Our clients, we treat them like pros. I’ve represented over 100 professional athletes in my career — we treat these guys just like that,” Giangrande added.

Vick knows how life changes once the money comes in. Even though NIL is not the NFL, the level of expectation rises when money changes hands. Vick’s involved with Levels so others can learn from his experience.

“These kids getting a million dollars when you’re in college, it’s gotta be structured probably… you’re becoming a businessman even earlier. Go in with a hard work ethic, don’t go in with a spoiled attitude. There are a lot of things that go into having money, man, and that’s why I felt [joining Levels] was important. When I spoke with Levels, we broke down why this made sense for both parties, and we were able to make it happen.”

Disclosure: The writer of this story is a host for Extra Points Podcast Network.