NU Senior Duty AD Garrett Klassy says Husker Athletics ready for NIL

Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) bills are beginning to pass and change college athletics as we know it.

Nebraska Senior Athletic Director Garrett Klassy was the latest guest on the Husker Radio Network Podcast hosted by Jessica Coody and shared his vast knowledge of NIL and how Nebraska is adjusting to and spearheading this new opportunity for student-athletes.

NU is working ahead of these legislations and changed the game when they partnered with Opendorse, a company that maximizes endorsement value for athletes at every level. Just as Nebraska did to trailblaze its student-athlete's presence on social media and personal brand, they are dedicated to continuing to trailblaze as NIL begins.

“It’s really in our DNA to do things right and to do things first around here,” Klassy said. “If you look at Husker Power, that was created here, the first strengthen and conditioning program in college athletics. The first nutrition program was here. HuskerVision was the first of its kind and it goes on and on.

With the passing of NIL, student-athletes will be able to earn monetary benefits from the use of their Name, Image and Likeness. They will be able to earn money from signing autographs, partnering with businesses, advertising products or companies, hosting sports camps and earn money for social media posts.

“A lot of these kids come from backgrounds where they have a hard time supporting themselves and if they can support themselves and support their family, we want to be a part of this solution," Klassy said.

On July 1, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Alabama and Georgia are passing laws that will enable student-athletes in these states to begin benefiting from NIL. After this, Klassy said the rest of the states will be “working at a disadvantage.”

Nebraska already passed a bill that allows NIL. It is now up to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Nebraska Athletics to decide when to allow NIL to begin. The Huskers already have three programs in place to educate and assist their student-athletes on navigating NIL. This initiative is called #NILbraska.

The first program, Opendorse, helps educate student-athletes on what and when to post along with how to gain followers and increase engagement. UNL was the first university to partner with Opendorse which is led by former Nebraska football players Blake Lawrence and Adi Kunalic.

Nebraska Athletics will require all its student-athletes to take a mandatory life skills class called ‘The Husker Advantage Program’. This program will teach brand building, networking and connecting, have personal strengthen assessments and a financial literacy piece, according to Klassy.

Finally, Nebraska Athletics has partnered with UNL’s College of Business and the Director of the Entrepreneurship program, Joe Petsick, to help student-athletes navigate the law, business and communications aspects of deals and NIL. UNL students will be working on this program.

“The students in the school of law and the students in the communications school and the students in the business school are going to have real-life experience that they are gonna put on their resumes when they leave here,” Klassy said.

Nebraska is excited about this opportunity to help student-athletes provide for themselves, their families and build skills for now and the future. However, they want to have a policy in place to educate the community about NIL in order to have it run smoothly and legally.

“We are working on a policy right now that is going to educate not just our student-athletes but our entire staff, our fan base, our donors, our boosters,” Klassy said on the podcast. “Everyone needs to understand the rules of this because we’re going to do it better than everyone else but we’re going to make sure we do it legally as well.”

At a place like Nebraska with a large, passionate fan base, NIL could become a recruiting tool. Husker fans are some of the most supportive fans in women’s athletics. This means some volleyball, basketball, softball players and women in many more sports can earn more money at Nebraska than at other schools.

On the podcast, Klassy shared another way NIL can help with recruiting.

“For example, the G League, they’re paying more money to get these five-star kids to participate in the G League,” he said. “So if we’re able to get a four-five star recruit that’s being enticed by the G league, maybe they make that same money here at the University of Nebraska.”

There are several ways for fans to help student-athletes benefit from their NIL, according to Klassy. Soon, businesses will be able to pay student-athletes to sign autographs. Klassy said the most important thing Husker fans can do is to continue to buy tickets to games and follow NU’s athletes. On Husker.com, fans can find a list of all the social media accounts of Nebraska student-athletes.

Following recruits on social media can also be a great way to get players to Lincoln. Klassy urges fans to follow recruiting rules and not interact with the recruits.

Nebraska Athletics has yet to decide when its student-athletes can benefit from NIL. But, it feels that it's one of the most prepared Universities in the country to help athletes capitalize on something that is bound to change the game.