Former Denver Broncos Star Looking To Help Student-Athletes Learn NIL Landscape

A football Hall of Famer is looking to do his part in helping student-athletes navigate the NIL era successfully.

Former Denver Broncos running back and NFL Hall of Fame member Terrell Davis speaks at the 2022 Connect Conference at Encompass Technologies in Fort Collins on Thursday, June 9, 2022. Ftc 0609 Ja Terrell Davis 002 / Jon Austria/The Coloradoan / USA TODAY NETWORK

There has been a lot of good to come from the new age of college athletics with NIL deals. Players being able to capitalize off the field while performing at a high level on it is good, taking advantage of their personal growing brands.

However, there is a dark side to the NIL landscape. We have seen that unfold with quarterback Matthew Sluka, who left the UNLV team because of unfulfilled NIL promises.

He isn’t the first person to have NIL issues and won’t be the last. Until it is regulated in some fashion, issues like that will persist.

There are also instances where agents overstep their boundaries and get players in hot water. That happened to Arkansas running back Rodney Hill, who had to leave Florida State after an agent shopped him around to other schools.

Pitfalls like that and money mismanagement are what football Hall of Famer Terrell Davis wants to help these kids avoid. 

A former Georgia Bulldogs star before heading to the NFL and competing with the Denver Broncos, he has teamed up with Alpha1, a Denver-based wealth management fund to help student-athletes maximize their NIL opportunities successfully.

“We never teach athletes how to manage money," Davis told Yardbarker in a recent interview facilitated by his partner, Wells Fargo. "I've always felt like it was something that was missing, [such as] help[ing] these athletes maximize their their own potential while they're in college."

Financial literacy and monetary responsibility are the main goals that Davis and Wells Fargo have in their joint venture. Georgia running back Rod Robinson II is among the players who will be working with them.

"I feel like it's almost a duty for me to be able to do this," Davis said. "If I can help you get better or avoid something I had gone through, and I have the resources to do it, then I believe I should share those."

When he was playing for the Bulldogs and early in his NFL career, the star running back wished he had someone to help in this fashion. Earning real money for the first time in his life, he wasn’t making as much out of the chance as he could have been looking back on it now.

That is a mistake he and Wells Fargo are hoping they can help some current athletes avoid repeating. In a landscape that is evolving every day, Davis is going to do everything he can to help athletes be protected as much as possible.