Former Clemson players behind first NIL collective for Tigers student-athletes
Three former Clemson football players are behind a purpose-driven NIL collective.
TigerImpact, announced Saturday morning hours before Clemson’s spring game, was founded by Rich Davies, Kendall Alley and Kevin Gemas, all of whom played for the Tigers’ football team in the early 1980s. Alley, a recently retired Charlotte regional president at Wells Fargo, and Gemas, the president of a Wisconsin-based company called Titan Spine, were on the Tigers’ 1981 championship-winning team. The collective has raised $5.5 million so far, Alley said. Bobby Couch, previously the IPTAY director, will be the executive director for TigerImpact.
A collective exists to provide name, image and likeness opportunities for student-athletes. TigerImpact says it will assist Clemson student-athletes in providing awareness about and help to raise money for charities in the Upstate through social media posts and appearances at charity events and fundraisers. The amount that students will be paid wasn’t disclosed, but will be based on the work they do with their charities of choice. It’s also based on an algorithm used to assess relative value.
“We look at whether the athlete was a three-, four- or five-star recruit,” said Davies, who is the president and CEO of Pavilion Develop Company. “We look at what their social media following numbers look like and then we put all of that into an algorithm that we’ve developed internally, and come up with a value proposition as it relates to each of the athletes that we’re going to be providing support to go and support these charities.”
There was a concerned effort to tie a charity with the collective because it’s “the Clemson way,” Davies added. Tigers student-athletes Beaux Collins, Will Shipley, Ruke Orhorhoro, Myles Murphy, Trenton Simpson, P.J. Hall, Isaiah Reed, Mckenna Slavik and Amari Robinson were among those present for Saturday’s announcement. They all have charities they’re partnering with as part of the collective.
Collins, for one, is partnering with Prisma Health Children’s Hospital, while Orhorhoro has chosen Littlejohn Community Center as his charity.
Former student-athletes on TigerImpact’s advisory committee include Ben Boulware, Austin Bryant, Aamir Sims, Hunter Renfrow, Dexter Lawrence, Darien Rencher, James Skalski and Will Spiers. Gemas, Alley and Davies are also part of TigerImpact’s board of directors.
According to Business of College Sports, the purpose of an NIL collective can vary, but the basic premise is for a group to provide NIL opportunities for current student-athletes of that institution. The groups are often led by alumni. There are currently 44 collectives at 35 schools, including TigerImpact.
The University of Texas at Austin and Penn State lead the country with three each. South Carolina also has one called Garnet Trust.
“Whatever’s out there, it’s a natural progression that, one school has a good chef, the other school’s going to get a good chef. One school has three strength coaches, the other school’s going to eventually get three strength coaches,” Tigers head football coach Dabo Swinney said Wednesday when asked about collectives. “I think some of the things that I’ve heard out there are positive and will fit the purpose of our program and fit within something that everybody can participate in. If (players have) an opportunity to do something on their own, on their time, good for them.”
TigerImpact’s launch comes a day after Clemson University announced its own NIL program called Reign, which is not a collective but a program that helps student-athletes navigate the NIL world.
As part of the creation of Reign, Clemson will provide more staffing and resources to handle NIL, including the institution’s new in-house creative agency called College Avenue Creative. The school is also building The Clemson Athletics Branding institute, a 12,000-square foot building that is adjacent to the Poe Indoor Football Complex. Currently under construction, the new facility will “provide an environment to educate students, incubate ideas, and serve as a launchpad for student-athlete opportunities,” per the school’s announcement, and includes a photo and video studios, an audio suite, office space and media training area.
“We’ve talked for a while about our intent to become more aggressive in the NIL environment, and I feel that Reign personifies that notion,” Tigers athletics director Graham Neff said in a statement. “While many of these services have been available to our student-athletes since last year, our department has worked tirelessly to evolve our NIL philosophy. It’s critical that our student-athletes have the education and tools to succeed in this area, and that our coaches have a direct way to address the questions they receive on the recruiting trail. NIL is ever-changing, and we will continue to monitor, adapt and innovate.”
This story was originally published April 9, 2022 at 10:34 AM.
