How BYU Finessed Scholarships for 38 Walk-Ons

Those clever Mormons might have pulled off the best NIL deal to date

NIL is changing the college sports landscape forever.

Last week, BYU football signed a deal with Built Bars that will pay the tuition for all 38 walk-on players.

BYU FOOTBALL @BYUfootball

BIG things happening at BYU!! Thank you to Nick and @bar_built.

This deal is smart as shit if you ask me.

BYU is playing chess, while everyone else plays checkers

While most other schools are focusing on getting their top players paid and most likely fucking up the locker room culture in the process; BYU is attacking this in reverse.

They figured out how to get the bottom guys more bought in. GENIUS!

At the Division 1 FBS level you are allowed to give 85 full-ride scholarships.

Thanks to this NIL deal, BYU now has 123 full-ride players. (85 + the 38 walk-ons).

Look at this from a Recruiting Lens

Let’s say you’re a good high school player, but are only receiving preferred walk-on spots to Division 1 FBS schools.

At this point you decide it’s your dream to play at this level and understand that you just need to develop a little bit more to earn your roster spot.

You come across this post and see that BYU football now has all full scholarship guys thanks to an NIL deal. This gets you thinking.

Why would I want to be a preferred walk-on at Arizona State where I will be getting my shit kicked in everyday on the scout team, have very little chance of playing, the main players will be douche bags making thousands off of NIL deals, and on top of all that…I’ll still have to pay full tuition to attend the school.

BYU seems like a much better choice financially and athletically. I don’t know about socially, but definitely the other two.

I expect other schools to try and follow what BYU pulled off here.

BYU’s Deal with Built Bars

According to BYU's official release of the new partnership, all players will be compensated:

"Built’s individual multi-year 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... All players entering into the NIL agreement will wear Built branding on their practice helmets and participate in experiential events for Built. In addition, walk-on players will provide additional social media and experience promotions for Built as part of their agreements.”

So basically all you have to do is post a picture of you eating a built bar on Instagram and put a sticker on your helmet to secure the scholarship.

That’s so damn easy.

A job very well done by BYU and Built Bars.

Friends, I would love to hear your thoughts on this deal in the comments. Let’s get a conversation rolling. 👇👇👇