Student-Athlete Collective Becomes Hot New Club That Didn’t Teach Him to Play

Bryce Underwood thought he’d found his squad when he signed with the Sun State Student Collective™ — a brand-new NIL group billed as “athlete-first, brand-focused, community-powered.” What he didn’t expect? The weekly Zooms where he spent more time defining “valid business purpose” than he did winning games.

According to the US News article, a new College Sports Commission guidance, many NIL collectives are getting flagged because they’re literally paying athletes without providing any public-facing product or service.

That means teams like Bryce’s are now scrambling to pivot. Now their “collective” must launch a bake sale, host public youth clinics, or sell overpriced merch — or risk having payouts pulled.

Bryce, a quarterback with a 4.0 GPA and too many brotherly group texts, says it’s confusing.
“Half the pitch deck was about brand alignment,” he told me. “A quarter of it was merch. Five percent was about touchdowns.”

Keanu observes:
“In theory, collectives are meant to support athletes. In practice? They feel more like mini-startups where you pitch donuts as intellectual property.”

Now, before he steps onto the field, Bryce has to make sure his sponsors are actually doing something visible, not just passing money behind the scenes.

Even bigger players are being scrutinized. According to the CSC memo, over 1,500 NIL deals have been vetted since NIL Go’s launch, and hundreds have been flagged for having no valid business purpose.

Bryce is caught in the middle — a student-athlete with a scholarship, an academic track, and suddenly, a side gig in public-facing brand strategy.

Sometimes he wonders if he should’ve just played club water polo instead.