HEARING: KU's $20M NIL Plan💵👀

• 🏀🏈 KU’s Big NIL Announcement

• 🏈 Football Portal Update

• 📝 Quick Links: Hoops’ preseason tourney, Great new stadium vid

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EVERYTHING IN THIS NEWSLETTER IS BASED UPON WHAT I AM HEARING FROM PEOPLE I TRUST. PLEASE DO NOT MISTAKE THIS FOR FACT OR FOR ACTUAL JOURNALISM, WHICH HAS VERIFICATION STANDARDS THAT I HAVE NOT ADHERED TO. I DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT.

Hearing: KU’s Big NIL Move 📈

Kansas rolled out a new NIL partnership called "Flight" on Wednesday signaling significant changes ahead for the KU Athletics.

Let’s break what it really means.

The Big Picture:

• Starting July 1, schools can pay players directly (pending House Settlement)

• Each school gets ~$20M cap (give or take) for NIL payments

• This means KU needs to find ~$20M annually to stay competitive

• I’m Hearing the school is committed to making it happen

What’s Changing:

• NIL is moving in-house at Kansas.

  • Credit to KU Athletics for being an early mover on this.

• Mass Street collective model being phased out

  • I believe the partnership has ended — or will end in the immediate future.

    • All existing Mass St. donations transfer to the new system — or will still get to players.

    • Note: Mass St. and KU should get credit for being early movers that got NIL off to a good start. But we’re entering a new era now… 

• KU is streamlining the donation process.

  • You no longer have to ask, “Should I donate to Mass St. or KU?”

  • You can donate to KU and support NIL right here.

    • Want some better football players in the portal? Now is the time to donate.

The New Partnership:

• The new partnership, called ‘FLIGHT,’ is with KC company Walz Tetrick Advertising.

• Walz Tetrick will help source corporate endorsements beyond KU’s $20M cap.

• They’ll focus on local and regional opportunities.

• Will also work with KU’s existing national partners (like adidas).

• The ideas is to build sustainable brand partnerships and repeatable revenue opportunities.

Why This Matters:

• KU is getting out in front of major changes in college athletics

• ~$20M every year is a massive expense to account for

• KU sits at the top of mid-tier/lower end of top-tier schools

• Grassroots and smaller donations are crucial for success. Your $100-$1,000 donation truly adds up to help with NIL (compared to stadium fundraising, for example).

Looking Ahead:

The message is clear: KU plans to be a player in this new era. But it needs fan support.

This probably feels different or uncomfortable — and that’s totally valid. But this is the new reality for college athletics, and I’m OK with KU taking a proactive approach toward the future.

Help Spread the Word:

Tell your friends about today’s Hearing by copy and pasting this link into your group texts or on social media.

KU Football Portal Update

I’m going to keep the list running. Let me know what you think of the running portal updates in the poll at the bottom! There’s an option to share specific feedback or suggestions after you vote. I’ll do my best to incorporate your feedback.

NEW - Committed: Utah State DB DJ Graham

• Has one year of eligibility remaining (maybe two due to injury in 2023)

• Spent two seasons at Oklahoma before transferring to Utah State

  • Remember this incredible one-handed interception in 2021? That was Graham

• His numbers at OU were mediocre at best… but he had a really nice season at Utah Stat last year.

• PFF grade of 69.4 would’ve been KU’s fourth best among starters this year.

NEW - WRs I’m Watching 👀

The Jayhawks really need to land some WRs. I think they’ve missed on a couple of top targets — but some decent names remain.

Here’s a few I’m watching:

• FIU WR Dean Patterson (KU in the mix, GT in play)

• Michigan St. WR Aziah Johnson (KU in the mix, UNC in play)

• Columbia WR Bryson Canty (Don’t let Columbia scare you off, he has potential)

• Alabama WR Emmanuel Henderson (mentioned below).

From Wednesday…

Visiting: Alabama WR Emmanuel Henderson

• Has two years of eligibility remaining

• Had four catches for 82 yards this year

  • This catch against Georgia was really nice

• Played 146 WR snaps & 176 special teams snaps this season

Committed: Alabama DB Jahlil Hurley

• Has three years of eligibility after one season for Bama

• Ranked as the No. 50 overall recruit on 247Sports’ Composite

• Played three games for Bama this year

Committed: Tulsa OL Jack Tanner

• Has three years of eligibility after one season for Tulsa

• Played 438 snaps as a true freshman last year

• Longer term project with Big 12 size at 6’6” ~300 pounds.

Committed: Ball St WR Cam Pickett

• Has two years of eligibility remaining

• Had 528 receiving yards on 49 catches for Ball State

• PFF grade of 64.9 would’ve been KU’s third best this season

Committed: Oklahoma State Safety Lyrik Rawls

• Coming off his redshirt junior year at Oklahoma St

• Immediate upgrade at safety and projects as a starter

• Pass coverage grade of 75.1 would’ve been KU’s third best this year

Committed: Auburn DL Gage Keys

• Former Jayhawk returning to KU after transferring to Auburn last offseason

• Tied for 3rd most QB hurries for KU in 2023

Please copy and paste this link to share with other KU fans.

🏀 KU released a hype video to announce a return to Vegas for next year’s Player’s Era Championship. The Tournament will have at least 18 teams and a new setup that should be pretty cool.. more to come on this.

🏈 Check out this new drone footage of KU’s football stadium. You can really get a sense for how different (and nice) this is gonna be.

🏈 Watch KU WR commit Cam Pickett take a 75-yard screen pass to the house against Buffalo.