Inside The Huskies

Successful NIL Offseason Means Heading to the Cash Register and Weight Room

Husky cornerback Trent McDuffie now has two money-making business deals in hand.

Dan Raley

Successful NIL Offseason Means Heading to the Cash Register and Weight Room
Successful NIL Offseason Means Heading to the Cash Register and Weight Room /

Trent McDuffie, for a small fee, will shoot a custom video for you, the adoring fan.

The entrepreneurial University of Washington cornerback, so bright and personable, is taking full advantage of the NIL before he heads to the NFL.

That's name, image and likeness, as compared to the National Football League.

To join in this new world order for amateur athletes, McDuffie first announced he had paired up with Yoke Gaming, which enables him to play video games with fans at a nominal cost. 

The sophomore Husky defensive back next formed an agreement with Cameo to make personal videos for his devoted college football followers.

For $25 a clip, you can obtain the keepsake of a lifetime — or at least this offseason — of McDuffie looking into the camera and calling you the best fan ever.

To be fully engaged with his favorite team, the loyal Husky follower will now pay for his pricey season tickets, plus the seat licensing agreement and parking that come with them, and now the opportunity to interact with his or her favorite player and be charged for that, too. 

The athlete will hold business meetings around trips to the weight room.

We were almost tempted to send McDuffie a few offseason interview questions to see if he would respond to them on camera.

Actually to see if he would bill for that.

Ka-ching (that's the sound of register ringing up a sale).

Yet that wouldn't be a free press, now would it?

Before this past week, a cameo, not a Cameo, might have described McDuffie simply playing a final season for the UW before submitting his name to the draft and moving on.

Now it's just another source of income, all NCAA approved.

Farther south in the Pac-12's better-funded landscape, Oregon's best player, sophomore edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux, isn't messing around with any Yoke or Cameo deals.

That's peanuts when you play in college football's disneyland and can consider the bigger revenue stream that NIKE affords. 

When the Ducks visit the UW this season, don't be surprised if Thibodeaux runs onto the field for pregame warm-ups surrounded by his marketing team rather than Oregon teammates. If it's a night game, spotlights will shine on his feet because he's in deep with these shoe guys. 

Ka-ching

And, finally, there's Miami.

The Hurricanes want to be No. 1, but not necessarily in the national polls. They want to be a gale force in NIL.

From the sounds of this proposed booster business development program — $500,000 in endorsements for everyone on the roster  — this smacks of making Miami the best college football team that money can buy.

Hey, it's legal, isn't it?

While no one spites these NCAA football players from getting a long overdue and legitimate cut of the action, this athletic landscape could get very messy, indeed. 

Out of control even.

It won't be a test of strength or speed, rather a show of dineros.

For fans, rooting for the underdog in the future might mean pulling for the player not getting paid by anyone.

The poor man's version of Husky football.

There's also the chance a lot of people simply might like what they see with how the NIL changes college football, and they have that right, and they could turn their full attention to the more pristine NFL.

Ka-ching.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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