Nebraska has been making noise in the NIL Store, and lately the Huskers have been doing it at a national level.
In August, the school ranked third in the country in NIL sales among all universities, with only West Virginia and Illinois ahead of it. That surge has been driven in large part by Nebraska’s brand strength and the visibility of its athletes, especially in volleyball.
“I tell [our athletes], if you're going to be successful in the NIL space, it's going to be for one of two reasons, or likely both,” Jonathan Bateman, Nebraska’s Associate Athletic Director for Cap Management, said. “The first is you're going to be good at your sport.
So success on the field, being an all-American, being a national champion, being a conference champion. Then two is being successful at social media.
So having a good following, having a strong brand.”
Bateman oversees NIL programming at Nebraska, working with athletic programs, individual athletes, sponsors and multimedia rights partners to make sure athletes are compensated properly for the use of their names, images and likenesses.
“The power of the ‘N’ also is really strong,” Bateman said. “So when you combine that with the strong brand of our athletes, you're going to have really good recognition and good success on things like the NIL store.”
The biggest driver of Nebraska’s NIL Store success has been the preseason AVCA No. 1 women’s volleyball team. Nebraska volleyball was the ninth-best-selling individual program in the nation in August, and several of its stars were near the top of the female athlete sales chart. Seniors Harper Murray, Andi Jackson and Bergen Reilly, along with sophomore Manaia Ogbechie, occupied spots two through five among the top-selling female athletes in the NIL Store last month.
Bateman pointed to the momentum around the sport as a key reason for the rise.
“A line of demarcation that stands out to me, as NIL was picking up steam, was Volleyball Day in Nebraska,” Bateman said in reference to the event that drew over 92,000 viewers to Memorial Stadium. “Going to Texas, going to Vegas and then going to Chicago…has definitely helped grow the brand [of Nebraska volleyball].”
Even after the NCAA college football season began on Aug. 27, Nebraska volleyball players stayed prominent in the NIL Store rankings. Jackson and Murray were still in the top ten in last week’s sales, even as players like Oklahoma tight end Rocky Beers and Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss climbed into the mix along with other football standouts.
Football has also played its own role in Nebraska’s overall success, helping push the Huskers toward one of the top NIL-selling spots in the nation. Soccer and other Husker sports have contributed as well.
“Anthony Colandrea has been pretty successful with the NIL store,” Bateman said. “You can go back to the spring and the summer, and you can see pretty good success for Braden Frager and Pryce Sandfort, given them leading us to a Sweet 16 last year.”
Other Nebraska athletes who have shown up in the weekly NIL Store top ten include junior libero Olivia Mauch, senior libero/defensive specialist Laney Choboy and sophomore outside hitter Teraya Sigler.
Bateman said the school’s broad-based success is part of the formula.
“We are firm believers that we're an everything school, and it's a high tide that raises all boats type of thing,” Bateman said. “When one program does well, that raises the recognition level for all of our sports. So wins or victories, or you know, publicity for one sport, kind of gets momentum going for other sports.”
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The record has Nebraska in a place it has not always occupied this early, but the real conversation is now shifting beyond September. Michigan State, Maryland, and Indiana are next on the schedule, a stretch that should say a lot more about how sustainable this start really is and how much of the early progress can hold up once the games get tougher. [Read more 🡒]