10 college stars that would have struck gold if profiting off NIL was allowed

If profiting off of NIL was allowed, these former college stars would have made bank!

There is a new era in college sports now that athletes can profit off their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) after the July 1st passing.

The old days of arguing that college athletes should be paid are over, as college stars across the nation are already pulling in the big bucks. Texas running back Bijan Robinson is making Cameo appearances for $100, Miami quarterback D’eriq King has his own brand, and rapper Master P’s son Hercy Miller (who has yet to take a shot at Tennessee State) is a millionaire thanks to a four-year, $2 million endorsement deal with tech company Web Apps America.

So long to that easy persuasive essay topic for students.

Although the passing of the rule is long overdue, there are countless college stars of the past who would have needed the brinks trucks in order to hold all their money.

There are obviously too many to chose from, but I’ve went ahead and listed 10 that are likely the cream of the crop. Before we take a look, it is mandatory to credit Donald de la Haye, the UCF Kicker who chose to forgo college football for YouTube. He has long been a talking point of the movement and it is unfortunate he had to give up playing the sport he loved.

Here are 10 athletes that likely would have cashed in the big bucks if profiting off of NIL was allowed during their collegiate careers:

Notre Dame Leads in APR Public Recognition Awards

Notre Dame is known for their tough academic standards and again walked away with an impressive amount of student-athletes in 2020.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame led all Football Bowl Subdivision programs with 13 Academic Progress Rating (APR) Public Recognition Awards and totaled 13 perfect scores (1,000) in the latest set of statistics issued by the NCAA.

Each Fighting Irish program scored above the APR average in each sport, while men’s cross country, men’s fencing, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s track, softball, women’s golf, women’s lacrosse and women’s volleyball all earned perfect 1,000 scores.

Notre Dame’s 13 programs with scores of 1,000 tied with Stanford to lead all FBS programs and marked the fifth time in the 14-year history of the APR in which at least 13 Irish teams had scored perfectly (also in 2006, 2015, 2016 and 2018).

No other FBS institution has had more years of at least 13 perfect scores than Notre Dame. Only three schools (Notre Dame, Boston College and Stanford) in the 14-year history of the APR have had 13 or more teams post scores of 1,000 in a single report.

Notre Dame’s number of perfect scores of 1,000 has ranked either first or second among all FBS programs for 15 consecutive years. Notre Dame led FBS schools in 1,000 scores in 2019 (with 13, tied with Stanford), 2016 (with 16), 2015 (with an institutional record 17), 2013 and 2012 (both with 12), 2009 (with nine), 2008 (with eight, tied with Duke) and 2006 (with 14, tied with Boston College). Notre Dame finished second in number of 1,000 scores in 2018, 2017, 2014, 2011, 2010 and 2007.

The ACC once again had a strong showing as 83 teams from member schools received APR recognition awards, second-most among Power 5 conferences and third among all Division I conferences, trailing only the Ivy League (113) and Big Ten (84).

The APR, created to provide more of a real‐time measurement of academic success than graduation rates offer, is a team-based metric where scholarship student-athletes earn one point each term for remaining eligible and one point for staying in school or graduating. Schools that don’t offer scholarships track their recruited student-athletes.

Every Division I sports team submits data to have its Academic Progress Rate calculated each academic year. The NCAA reports both single-year rates and four-year rates, on which penalties for poor academic performance are based. National aggregates are based on all teams with usable, member-provided data. APRs for each team, lists of teams receiving public recognition and those receiving sanctions are available online through the NCAA’s searchable database.

University of Notre Dame 
APR Ratings by Sport

Baseball — 990
Football — 970
Men’s Basketball — 989
Men’s Cross Country — 1,000
Men’s Fencing — 1,000
Men’s Golf — 988
Men’s Ice Hockey — 991
Men’s Lacrosse — 991
Men’s Soccer — 1,000
Men’s Swimming and Diving — 1,000
Men’s Tennis — 1,000
Men’s Track — 1,000
Softball — 1,000
Women’s Basketball — 995
Women’s Cross Country — 995
Women’s Fencing — 993
Women’s Golf — 1,000
Women’s Lacrosse — 1,000
Women’s Rowing — 993
Women’s Soccer — 1,000
Women’s Swimming and Diving — 1,000
Women’s Tennis — 1,000
Women’s Track — 992
Women’s Track, Indoor (Prior to 2015) — 992
Women’s Track, Outdoor (Prior to 2015) — 990
Women’s Volleyball — 1,000

Here is where Notre Dame has ranked annually among FBS institutions in terms of raw numbers of individual team 1,000 APR scores:

2020 —  1. (tie) Notre Dame (7 men’s sports, 6 women’s sports), Stanford 13; 3. Northwestern 12; 4. Arizona State 11; 5. (tie) Temple, California 10

2019 — 1. Notre Dame 13 (6 men’s sports, 7 women’s sports); 2. (tie) Stanford, Northwestern 12; 4. Boston College 11; 5. Syracuse 9

2018 — 1. Stanford 16; 2. Notre Dame 12 (5 men’s, 7 women’s); 3. (tie) Boston College, Northwestern 11; 5. (tie) Duke, North Carolina 10.

2017 — 1. Stanford 14; 2. Notre Dame 12 (4 men’s, 8 women’s) , 3. Boston College 11; 4. (tie), Duke, Minnesota, Northwestern 9; 7. Michigan 8; 8. (tie) California, North Carolina, Rice, Rutgers 7.

2016 —  1. Notre Dame 16 (7 men’s, 9 women’s); 2. Stanford 14; 3. Boston College 12; 4. Minnesota 11; 5. Rice 10; 6. (tie) Duke, Northwestern 9; 8. Tulane 7, 9. (tie) Auburn, Michigan, North Carolina 6.

2015 — 1. Notre Dame 17 (9 men’s, 8 women’s) ; 2. Stanford 15; 3. Northwestern 12; 4. Boston College 10; 5. Duke 9; 6. Minnesota 7; 7. (tie) Arizona State, Tulane, Vanderbilt 7; 10. (tie) Illinois, North Carolina, Penn State, Rice 6.

2014 — 1. Stanford 12; 2. Notre Dame 11 (7 men’s, 4 women’s), 3. Northwestern 10; 4. Minnesota 9; 5. (tie) Boston College, Duke 8; 7. Penn State 7; 8. (tie) Ohio State, Vanderbilt 6.

2013 — 1. Notre Dame 12 (8 men’s, 4 women’s) , 2. Stanford 11; 3. Duke 10; 4. (tie) Boston College, Northwestern 9; 6. Vanderbilt 7; 7. Rice 6.

2012 — 1. Notre Dame 12 (8 men’s, 4 women’s) ; 2. (tie) Boston College, Duke 9; 4. (tie) Northwestern, Vanderbilt 8; 6. Stanford 7; 7. (tie) North Carolina, Rice, Texas 5.

2011 — 1. Duke 10; 2. Notre Dame 9 (5 men’s, 4 women’s); 3. Boston College 6, 4. (tie) Michigan, Northwestern, Penn State, Texas, Tulane, U.S. Naval Academy, Vanderbilt 5.

2010 — 1. Duke 10, 2. Notre Dame 8 (5 men’s, 3 women’s); 3. Boston College 7.

2009 — 1. Notre Dame 9 (4 men’s, 5 women’s); 2. Duke 8; 3. (tie) Boston College, Stanford 6; 5. U.S. Naval Academy 5; 6. Michigan 4.

2008 — 1. (tie) Notre Dame (5 men’s, 3 women’s), Duke 8; 3. Boston College 7; 4. Stanford 5; 5. (tie) Northwestern, Rice, U.S. Naval Academy 4.

2007 — 1. Boston College 10, 2. Notre Dame 9 (5 men’s, 4 women’s); 3. (tie) Rice, Stanford, U.S. Naval Academy 7; 6. Duke 6; 7. Northwestern 5.

2006 — 1. (tie) Notre Dame (7 men’s, 7 women’s), Boston College 14.