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BYU's Talmage Gunther (middle) hugs a teammate after a team meeting where Built Bar co-founder Nick Greer announced an historic NIL agreement with the Cougar football team. Built’s individual NIL agreements with BYU players include compensation to all members of the team, including compensation to all walk-on players in the amount comparable to the costs of tuition for the academic year.

BYU Courtesy Photo

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BYU's Nick Billoups (middle) is congratulated by teammate after a team meeting where Built Bar co-founder Nick Greer announced an historic NIL agreement with the Cougar football team. Built’s individual NIL agreements with BYU players include compensation to all members of the team, including compensation to all walk-on players in the amount comparable to the costs of tuition for the academic year.

BYU Courtesy Photo

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BYU quarterback Nick Billoups,a walk-on, is presented with a scholarship offer from Built Bar co-founder Nick Greer during a team meeting on Thursday, August 12, 2021.

BYU Courtesy Photo

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FILE - BYU football players enter the field to warm up for an NCAA college football game against Utah in Provo, Utah, in this Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019, file photo. A deal BYU has made available to its football players could test how much allowing athletes to be compensated by outside companies for name, image and likeness can be used as a competitive advantage. On Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021, BYU announced Built Brands —- a Utah-based company that makes protein-heavy snacks —- will give the opportunity for all 123 members of its football team to be paid to promote its products.

George Frey

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BYU and community representatives pose for a photo as part of starting the "Built 4 Life" program before the Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.

BYU Photo

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It’s a challenging time to try to figure out what is and isn’t allowed when it comes to college athletes making money from their name, image and likeness (NIL).

While changes that became official in July removed restrictions, teams aren’t allowed to pay athlete to play.

It was recently reported that BYU — along with Miami (Florida) — were being looked at by the NCAA because both college football programs have deals in place where all athletes can benefit from a sponsorship deal.

BYU’s deal is with Built Brands, LLC and, according to the press release from BYU in August, is set up so that “Built’s individual NIL agreements with BYU players include compensation to all members of the team, including compensation to all walk-on players in the amount comparable to the costs of tuition for the academic year.”

Whether that team-wide deal falls under the pay-to-play restriction is what drew the NCAA’s attention, although BYU told Sportico that it has answered every request from the NCAA to this point.

“We have communicated with the NCAA concerning the Built Bar NIL arrangement,” Jon McBride, BYU’s associate athletic director for communications, told Sportico in a statement on Dec. 10. “They have informed us they do not have any additional questions at this time. We will continue to monitor and abide by the NCAA interim NIL policy.”

Cougar head coach Kalani Sitake also sounded unconcerned when asked about the investigation on Wednesday during the early signing day teleconference.

“It’s fine,” Sitake said. “We have nothing to hide. We care about our players and that means our walk-ons as well. If they want to question that, that’s OK. We’ll be fine.”

The bigger question that everyone in college football — and all other sports to varying degrees — is grappling with is how much impact NIL deals will have on recruiting.

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin made headlines earlier this week when he came right out and said that players will definitely consider financial possibilities when making decisions about where they are going to play.

“I don’t think people really say it this way, but let’s not make a mistake: We have free agency in college football,” the Ole Miss coach told the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger. “The kids a lot of times go to where they’re going to get paid the most. No one else is saying that, maybe. But the kids say, ‘This is what I’m getting here from [name, image and likeness].'”

Sitake said he hasn’t noticed a big difference to this point and pointed to the NIL deal that helps out the walk-ons on the team as just an added benefit.

“I don’t think it’s changed that much,” Sitake said. “We’ve done a good job of getting the right players in here as walk-ons, giving them an opportunity to develop and even earn scholarships. I don’t know if the NIL deal has made that much of a difference. We just want to take care of them. That’s what it really comes down to. The NIL that we had earlier in the year was to take care of our walk-ons. I think we have a good track record on how we develop guys because of our roster of walk-ons.”

Proponents of the new NIL rules laud the new earning abilities of college athletes, while detractors express concerns that they will overshadowed academics and will create a widening gap between teams with big-money supporters and teams without.

Since the implementation and application of the rules is still in its infancy, it will likely be at least two or three years before the accuracy of either position will become clear.

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