How Penn State's NIL Collectives Are Confronting the Transfer Portal

The Lions are "at risk of losing players," Michael Mauti says. He and others want to safeguard the roster.

Ten years ago, Michael Mauti spearheaded the most important player-retention campaign in Penn State football history. After the NCAA sanctions effectively opened a transfer portal in State College, Mauti called teammates as they drove to visit other schools, convincing them to stay.

Now, Mauti is at the forefront of what he considers another inflection point for Penn State player retention. The NCAA Transfer Portal is open, allowing college football players essentially to become 2023 free agents. Penn State just completed a 10-2 regular season, is headed to the Rose Bowl and rosters some of the top young players in the Big Ten.

And other programs want them. Which resonates with Mauti quite sharply.

"I can't help but draw comparisons and parallels to my experience in 2012," the All-America linebacker said. "For the first time in college football history, overnight any of us could leave and go to another school and play immediately. I feel those underlying themes here now.

"... I’m not sure our fan base really appreciates the gravity of what's going on," Mauti continued. "We are at risk of losing players. It is code red for us. That's why I think it's important to understand what we're doing."

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which opened Dec. 5 for 45 manic days, will transform college football rosters once again. Last year more than 3,000 players entered the portal, and coaches expect another frantic window, particularly when combined with Name, Image and Likeness opportunities.

"For me to sit here and say that I’m not worried about college football and that I’m not concerned about maybe some of the advice that some of these guys are getting — I’m not talking Penn State-specific, I’m talking big picture right now — you know, is concerning," Penn State coach James Franklin said Sunday from a Kansas airport during a recruiting trip.

Jason Belzer, whose company operates the Penn State NIL collective Success With Honor, estimated that "there's going to be a $250 million market for college football players" during this portal window.

"There are schools that are equipped to take advantage of that," Belzer said, "and there are schools that are not."

Penn State wants to be in that market to sign players but, more importantly, protect its current roster. That's where the NIL collectives matter.

Lions Legacy Club, Success With Honor and the We Are... NIL collectives have made portal season an imperative. Among their priorities is player retention through endorsement deals, marketing opportunities and insurance policies.

Chris Ganter, a former Penn State quarterback and the executive director of Lions Legacy Club, remembers Mauti's work a decade ago. Now they work together with a similar goal.

"Instead of chasing people down on the highway," Ganter said, "we’re doing it from the board room now."

Lions Legacy Club

Last week Ganter and Mauti, Lions Legacy Club's head of business development, convened a video call with 65 donors, former players (some in the NFL) and other stakeholders to define the mission and stakes. Penn State must be a player in the NIL market, they said, in part to make sure other teams can't poach its players. They used the term "code red."

"We laid it all out there," Ganter said. "Here's the legitimate risk we are facing now, here's what we need to do and here's how it can all come together."

Lions Legacy Club, an NIL organization that sells memberships, links players with businesses and provides a tax-deductible donation option, established a goal of raising $5 million in 2022. Ganter said he believes the football-focused collective will reach that goal, having tripled its club memberships over the past few weeks.

Lions Legacy Club also has partnered with The Mediatwist Group, a Pennsylvania-based advertising and marketing firm, on a unique new campaign. Mediatwist has worked with THON, produced livestreams for singer Jason Derulo and ran a 2020 Penn State-Ohio State virtual watch party with LaVar Arrington and Micah Parsons.

The group promises to bring that content and marketing craft to Penn State football. Mediatwist's NIL director is former Pittsburgh Pirates all-star closer Jason Grilli.

Mediatwist and Lions Legacy Club say, "we're about to change Penn State football."

For Mauti, this mission is personal. He and teammate Michael Zordich stood outside the Lasch Football Building in 2012 to make a two-minute statement that changed the course of Penn State football. Now, he and Ganter see the potential Penn State carries, particularly after being "one or two plays" from qualifying for the College Football Playoff.

"The whole infrastructure is designed to reflect our values in the Penn State way," Mauti said. "Who better than Chris and I to communicate that?"

Former Penn State linebacker Michael Mauti, pictured in 2012, is the business development director of Lions Legacy Club, a Penn State football-focused NIL collective :: Evan Habeeb/USA Today Sports

Success With Honor

Success With Honor, Penn State's all-sports collective, recently launched a $2 million fundraising campaign backed by a $1 million individual donation. Belzer, co-founder and CEO of Student Athlete NIL, which manages Success With Honor, said the collective had raised about $3 million since launching last spring.

About 75 percent of Success With Honor's subscriptions support the football team, Belzer said, which is critical. The Lions have some of the top young talent in the country, including Big Ten freshman of the year Nicholas Singleton, fellow freshman running back Kaytron Allen, all-Big Ten linebacker Abdul Carter and projected starting quarterback Drew Allar.

In addition, the Lions received good news when all-Big Ten tackle Olu Fashanu, a projected first-round draft pick in 2023, announced he will return for the Lions next season.

"Look at Olu Fashanu staying," Belzer said. "If you're going to give up potentially going to the NFL, we've got to get to work. We've got to go get him opportunities.

"The name of the game right now is retention. How do you retain these kids? [Penn State has] such a young, talented roster with a dynamic running back duo. The last thing you want is somebody like LSU or Alabama to come in and say, 'I'm going to pay you a million dollars to come down to SEC country.'"

We Are ... NIL

We Are ... NIL founder Michael Krentzman initially planned to operate a subscription-based collective similar to the others. Then he landed on another idea: catastrophic disability insurance.

We Are ... NIL has purchased policies for four Penn State players: Caedan Wallace, Adisa Isaac, Brenton Strange and Dvon Ellies. Its insurance carrier has approved policies for another nine players, some of whom are freshmen, Krentzman said. The collective is selling memberships and fundraising to buy additional policies.

Krentzman called insurance a new gateway for NIL. He expects it to be a recruiting pitch, a retention tool and perhaps even a reason for players to consider playing in bowl games.

"What it represents is, you don't have to worry about ending your career with nothing," Krentzman said. "You can put that out of your mind. But if, God forbid a million times, something bad happens and you're in a circumstance, you're not leaving here with nothing. You've got a super-meaningful degree and a pocketful of money. And you can start a life on that."

Upon signing his insurance deal, Strange told Krentzman, "I believe this will be massive in recruiting." That's what Krentzman and Franklin hope for.

"If you're Penn State football, it's a great selling point for recruiting," Krentzman said. "But it also makes a very definitive statement that the insurance industry is literally willing to bet its own money that this many guys have NFL talent.

"We're pushing the envelope on what [NIL] is."

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