Lebowski

Havodipo already covered this but I concur. We need more depth on the defensive side of the ball. It's hard to tell where we stand compared to other schools in our conference but I'm confident we are a much better football team compared to last year's. The offense is much better with a lot of depth at the skilled positions. The defense tackled for the first time last night so I'm not too concerned with some of the missed tackles. I think the biggest concern I have personally is the lack of depth on defense. Hopefully the injuries heal (James Carpenter, Jailin Walker, and Lanell Carr Jr. in particular) and the portal will take care of all that. "We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there." -Coach Cig

Source: Active NIL engagements require the labor of athletes. This can be any form of service or work by the athlete in the engagement—things such as posting on social media, appearing at an event, or signing an autograph. These NIL activations are the most common in the industry, as brands and collectives have increasingly turned student-athletes towards participation in the influencer economy. Passive NIL engagements leverage the influence of the athlete without requiring any labor on the athlete’s end. The group licensing payments for the upcoming EA Sports NCAA Football video game can best illustrate this type of engagement. In exchange for financial considerations, student-athletes give EA Sports a license to use their name, image, likeness, voice, and jersey number in the game. No labor comes from the student-athlete, and therefore, no violation of their student visa has occurred. Based on that article I linked this is how I understand the differences between the two. I could be wrong though. Passive Examples: You buy the athlete's jersey at Dicks because the athlete signed a licensed deal to allow it. You play the athlete on EA Sports College Football 25. Active Examples: So while the athlete isn't waiting tables per se he is signing the jersey you just bought at Dicks or posting an ad of him on the cover of EA Sports College Football 25 on his social media account, or running a summer camp during the offseason, or in a local commercial slinging a product, or is the guest speaker at a corporate event. So I think there are so much more opportunity for the athlete to maximize there worth/value with active engagements. Especially if they're able to combine the two together, like at a jersey signing or what have you. It allows the athlete to do the George Costanza and 'double dip' if that makes sense.

This will be a glorified practice so the casual fan and some die hard fans of football watching will get bored will quick. Personally, I'm just stoked to see what kind of team we've got right now. I'm betting the offense will be two fold better than last year's and the team as a whole will be a lot more fundamentally sound.

He most likely got his bank through the passive method. I'm leaning more towards a "licensing revenue" way if that makes sense. This is where he can grant permission to third parties, such as apparel vendors, to use his NIL on clothing and on other merchandise. Compare it to when you buy computer software. You purchase the licensing agreements with the copyright holders of the software. Oscar Tshiebwe was able to bank $20k a month this way in just apparel sales. Regarding the lump sum, just so long as it's deemed a passive engagement he can bank in the US.

It'll be 1v1, that's how he rolls.

OL Josh Witt, TE Anthony Miller Jr., and DL Trey Laing to the portal.

Y'all have no idea what kind of ecstatic I am today. Hopefully, it's the beginning of an IUFB era I've been dreaming for my entire life. No self imposed limitations. -Coach Cig

That's exactly what I would imagine. Both Edey and Painter had been pretty vocal about the limitations he faced with NIL. I do know he partnered with his school's NIL store and released an officially licensed hockey jersey (aka a passive deal). On3 had him valuated at around $810k in November 2023. Ballo hasn't played a single second on the court in B-Town and I'm assuming jersey's haven't even started manufacturing yet. Nor is he the returning POY, like Edey was. I guess what I'm saying is if he's getting the dollar amount that folks are throwing out here, we got bent over backwards on the deal. Even if Ballo turns out to be our jackpot and brings home a banner the valuation of him probably isn't more than $900k. On3 has him currently ranked 5th in valuation (compared to last year Hunter Dickenson was 5th at $844k). With Ballo being a F-1, that dollar amount valuation is probably lower than last year's 5th ranked valuation. Ballo has NIL limitations and I would be very interested to know what kind of passive deal he got. Maybe he signed a licensed deal with Adidas or something. Who knows.

Isn't he in the states on a F-1 visa aka student visa? If that's the case, I am skeptical with the numbers being thrown because he can only earn from passive deals (i.e. Ballo gives EA Sports license to use his NIL) or active deals (things such as posting on social media, appearing at an event, or signing an autograph) outside of the US. What kind of passive deal would he get for the numbers being thrown around?

I'm not privy to GBR, what is that exactly?

Are you talking about Ben Humrichous? I saw him play a few times this past season. Credit to Coach David Ragland and his staff for upping his game because he was definitely a positive for UE. But honestly, I'm not sure he'd fit with IUBB well. It's possible, but I think he might be a liability on the defensive side of the ball. No knock on him, he was fun to watch this year and a breath of fresh air for UE basketball in general. Hope he lands somewhere and continues to get better.

And excellent defense against the 3 ball.

Is he a F1 visa? If he is then he's limited on NIL.

Top 100 OT out of Macomb, MI (but his Twitter account says he's from Pancake City. lol) 247 On3 https://twitter.com/justinbell0426/status/1779613124921860216

Yeah he's for sure small. Probably the reason why he was at Austin Peay to begin with. They need depth at that position and adding one of the topped ranked FCS corners will definitely add competition during practice. He's just the type of guy Coach Cig wants, someone that has something to prove with a chip on his shoulder. Who knows if he'll ever step foot on the gridiron on Saturdays. Best of luck to him and I hope he beats the odds. I will say he did get a pick and PD against Bama in 2022 and a FF, 4 solos, 2 ast and 1 PD against the Vols last year. So he's no stranger to size. He also sees size at the FCS level as well.

FCS All-American CB Cedarius Doss will be on the roster for the 2024 season. https://twitter.com/DadaDoss1/status/1779550430453731826

Committed today.

I don't know who Brad Crawford is but he's got IUFB on this list. And if this is even remotely true, it tells me Indiana is finally ready to get serious about its football program. For us that have been paying attention, we already knew Coach Cig wouldn't have taken the job if he didn't have the resources and backing of the university from top to bottom. But to be on this type of list where resources seem to be a larger bucket has me wonder how accurate it is. On the other hand, it also kind of makes sense if you think about it. Coach Cig has done only one thing throughout his entire head coaching career, win. Google him. Man, I can't wait for the season to start.

"Change the way people think." -Coach Cig

"No self imposed limitations." -Coach Cig

I'm sure he fully expects that to happen. I'm also certain he and his staff will be hitting the portal as well. They need to fill some spots on the defensive side of the ball. Losing Blidi comes to mind.