Here's Why and How Michigan Can Crush NIL

Michigan is one of a few schools who are in Tier 1 when it comes to NIL potential.

Michigan is the No. 1 public university in the world. It's measurable, evident and, for the most part, pretty widely accepted. Because of that, U-M, and specifically U-M football, could and should crush the name, image and likeness movement.

The NIL movement isn't all about football, but as is explained in the video above, Michigan football is king in Ann Arbor. It essentially pays for all other sports and, if it's good for football, it's basically good for all things maize and blue. 

Evan Crowell of Dawgs Daily recently identified a few schools who could and should benefit most from the new NIL laws. Michigan was one of them. Crowell has no dog in the fight, and likely doesn't care much about Michigan football. But in doing a little bit of research, he found out that U-M is a sleeping giant in the new world of name, image and likeness.

Schools like Texas, Michigan, USC and Miami all have the resources to put together talented rosters, but have consistently underachieved in the past decade.

Schools like Texas, Michigan, USC and Miami all have the resources to put together talented rosters, but have consistently underachieved in the past decade.

The NIL shifts the balance of power in favor of these programs. Moreover, it brings a competitive advantage that could vault some of the most prestigious schools in college football to the forefront of the sport. Here's why: Ultra-High Net Worth Individuals. These are people with a net worth north of $30 million. Believe it or not, the educational backgrounds of a large portion of these individuals aren't spread evenly across the university system in the country.

In fact, they are consolidated in a select group of schools like Harvard, Columbia, Yale and MIT. However, there are certain public universities that have an immense pool of wealth at their disposal, and they used to be really good at football. 

Michigan:

1,970 UHNW alumni, including Larry Page, the co-founder of Google.

Earlier today, we saw a deal involving Miami that could end up setting the precedent and may provide a blue print for how the biggest, most powerful and most wealthy programs utilize NIL to their advantage. Per CBSSports.com, a wealthy businessman and Hurricanes fan has figured out a way to impact the program he loves in a big way.

Dan Lambert said in an interview with CaneSport that he is offering Miami's 90 scholarship football players $500 monthly contracts to help promote his well-known American Top Team mixed martial arts training academies, most of which are scattered throughout the state. Players can earn up to $6,000 a year by promoting the gyms through social media, personal appearances and other marketing tactics.

Oversight for the offer is through Lambert's marketing company, the appropriately named "Bring Back The U", which will essentially arrange NIL deals for Hurricanes players.

 It's time for Michigan to implement the same type of thing. There are many, many wealthy Michigan alumni and fans who could launch "Blue Boost" or "Go Blue and Beyond" or "Go Big, Go Blue". Come up with whatever name you want and get this thing going. Michigan is sitting on a gold mine. If the right people got involved and organized something like what happened down in Miami, EVERY player on Michigan's roster could be in line for a lot more than $6,000.

I attempt to explain all of this in the video above and even give examples of how it could be done. It's now just about doing it and, more importantly, it's about Michigan being okay with someone doing it. It's all legal now. There's nothing shady going on here. Things might get dialed back eventually, but by then it'll be too late. Michigan needs to capitalize on this now, use the power it has and allow NIL to work for it.