One Thing Keeping Notre Dame Fighting Irish Recruit from Cashing in on NIL Deals

A Notre Dame Fighting Irish star recruit has not been allowed to cash in on NIL deals because of this one reason.

Nov 7, 2020; South Bend, Indiana, USA; An end zone pylon has the Notre Dame and ACC logos in at Notre Dame Stadium before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Clemson Tigers. Notre Dame is playing in the ACC in the 2020 season. Notre Dame defeated Clemson 47-40 in two overtimes. / Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish were able to secure a commitment from one of the best offensive linemen in the 2025 class. Will Black, who stands a towering 6-foot, 7.5 inches tall and weighs in at 283, looks like a star in the making.

The five-star recruit is No. 2 in On3’s prospect rankings. He has all of the tools you want to see in a potential star along the offensive line, receiving praise from On3’s Charles Power, the Director of Scouting and Rankings.

“In my time evaluating high school prospects, the 2025 cycle to this point is the deepest I’ve seen on the offensive line. Will Black leads that group going into his senior year. He has incredible size, length and a developmental frame. He’s an elite athlete at that size. You see all his skills on the field. He’s only played high school football in the United States for one season.”

Black attends Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut. He hails from London, Ontario, which is where the issue with NIL earnings comes into play.

Because Black is on an F-1 student visa, he is not allowed to participate in employment due to United States immigration laws. Included in that is NIL deals, which he is limited to making only when back home in Canada.

“If he was American, things would be a lot different,” said Sharon Black, his mother. “We would be talking to a lot more people. I may have hired somebody at this stage to help.”

Black is missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Prospects of his caliber are pushing seven figures yearly when it comes to NIL earnings, but because he is a native of Canada, he cannot cash in.

Last week, Josh Petty, a Georgia Tech offensive lineman recruit and fellow five-star inked a three-year NIL deal that pays about $800,000 annually. Pat Curran of Curran Media Co, who has worked out deals through NIL collectives, said Black is missing out on life-changing money.

“He’s a guy who could make high six figures a year,” said Curran, projecting Black’s potential value. “There’s obviously no guarantee this dude’s going to make the NFL just because he’s a top 10 player in the country. He shouldn’t become a discount player for anyone [because he’s an international athlete].”

There is certainly a chance that Black has an NIL deal lined up at Notre Dame, who has the Friends of the University of Notre Dame (FUND) as the official collective of the school. They didn’t offer a comment on the situation, but NIL money isn’t what Black is focusing on currently.

“Obviously, I’d like to make money if I could,” Will Black told On3. “I’m not really worried about NIL money right now. I’m just going to focus on doing what I can do, and developing and getting better at football. The end goal is the NFL – that’s where the big money is.

“… Like, it’s time to change. Ten years ago, that wasn’t really happening. It’s cool that high school athletes can do that now. It’s 100% unfair that international athletes don’t have the same opportunity.”

There are workarounds to the visa issue that Black could try and do. We have seen other collegiate stars limited by the same regulations cash in eventually. But, the main goal for Black and his family is to not jeopardize his scholarship.

“I don’t want to get in trouble,” Sharon Black said. “I don’t want to jeopardize his visa. … We’re not American. I would love for things to change. If things changed, then we would definitely take advantage of it. But what am I going to do?”