The ability for college athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness is likely coming in 2021.Â
Nebraska football already has started planning for it with the advent of its Ready Now program, which includes a partnership with locally based Opendorse.Â
that showed the top potential earner from social media alone — so no other forms of profit, whether they be from other forms of marketing, commercials, autographs, etc., included — and the numbers are significant.Â
Using a combination of social media following (read: earning potential) and projected opportunities, Lawrence suggested NU junior quarterback Adrian Martinez could make $153,147 in a year from social media alone.Â
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The top mark in volleyball, Lexi Sun, could make $38,438.Â
Both of them, by Opendorse' calculations, could command more than $1,000 per post. In Martinez's case, slightly more than $1,500 per.Â
On Tuesday evening, Lawrence went a step further and shared a list via Twitter of the athletes at NU who could make $10,000 or more per year by Opendorse' projections if the proposed NIL rules were in place now.Â
The list is interesting and is made up of seven football players and three volleyball players.Â
Following Martinez are redshirt freshman quarterback Luke McCaffrey, Sun, sophomore wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson, freshman walk-on wide receiver Elliott Brown, freshman defensive back Ronald Delancy III, junior walk-on defensive lineman Damian Jackson, senior middle bocker Lauren Stivrins, junior setter Nicklin Hames and senior defensive lineman Ben Stille.Â
The core of each's social media following is the NU fanbase, but clearly Brown, a walk-on from Elkhorn with a pop culture following, doesn't have exactly the same mix of audience as Jackson, a former Navy SEAL.Â
Overall, the numbers are just a small preview of the opportunities that NIL could provide. Of course, there will also be plenty of complications, too.Â
But the future is bright — and lucrative, for many Nebraska student-athletes and other high-profile college performers around the country.Â
There are 10 Nebraska student-athletes who could earn more than $10K/year from social media posts if rules allowed it today:
— Blake Lawrence (@Blake_Lawrence)
Adrian Martinez
Luke McCaffrey
Lexi Sun
Wan’Dale Robinson
Elliott Brown
Ronald Delancey III
Damian Jackson
Lauren Stivrins
Nicklin Harmes
Ben Stille