The most organized booster effort taking advantage of name, image and likeness presented itself Monday.
Miami businessman John Ruiz said he struck 20 new name, image and likeness deals with Hurricanes football players.
The money is being fronted by Ruiz, and the athletes will be promoting Life Wallet, a product by Ruiz' MSP Recovery that enables hospitals and emergency rescue personnel to automatically know a person's medical history before treating them.
The money, like endorsements, appears to be commensurate to the players skill level. Ruiz tweeted out the money associated with 10 deals worth $392,000.
Miami Hurricane Football NIL Deals
| Player | NIL Deal |
|---|---|
| QB Tyler Van Dyke | $50,000 |
| S Kamren Kitchens | $42,000 |
| S James Williams | $42,000 |
| TE Will Mallory | $42,000 |
| T Zion Nelson | $42,000 |
| DE Jahfari Harvey | $36,000 |
| WR Jacolby George | $36,000 |
| TE Elijah Arroyo | $36,000 |
| WR Romello Brinson | $36,000 |
| RB Don Cheney | $30,000 |
Miami linebacker Gil Frierson had previously signed a $50,000 contract to promote Life Wallet.
Ruiz appeared live on CanesReport.com on Monday along with two agents, Drew Rosenhaus and Malki Kawa.
While Ruiz said on the show that he's following the rules by only giving compensation to current athletes and not paying anyone outside the program, there's a huge gray area because current players can test the free market in the transfer portal to see what deals are available to them.
Agent Drew Rosenhaus, a Miami grad who has represented more than 100 players from the school and is representing some on these NIL deals, was a little bit more overt about what the deals were doing.
"(John) is giving the Hurricanes the opportunity to compete with Alabama and LSU," Rosenhaus said. "This will help (new coach) Mario Cristobal get the best players and keep them out of the transfer portal."
The gray area is due to the fact that each state has its own NIL rules and the NCAA, scared from the Alston decision, has been remarkably hands off, even though NCAA president Mark Emmert said the organization is looking into several NIL violations.
Last week, Ruiz sued the NCAA and the Florida High School Sports Association for clarification on their rules. Ruiz, also a lawyer, has won massive judgments on behalf of his plaintiffs and is currently litigating a case against Florida Power & Light.
Ruiz's plan at least ties the athlete to a product, something that a previously announced NIL booster structure had not done. Last month, Texas boosters announced The Pancake Factory, a kitty that would pay $50,000 a year to each Longhorns offensive lineman on scholarship. The only tie announced was to future charities and the announcement could clearly be seen as an illegal inducement. All an offensive lineman recruit had to do was get a scholarship and he'd get $50,000.
Ruiz's dream? Being able to give deals to high school athletes in Miami.
"I want to improve the lives of kids that play in high school," Ruiz said. "Those are kids who we should be keeping in their own backyard. Home is home and there's no reason why we shouldn't have the talented athletes here."
Ruiz' MSP Recovery, a medical health bill reimbursement recovery firm, last July announced a business combination with Lionheart Acquisition Corp which valued the combined company at more than $32 billion.
