He's 40 years older than his teammates, and he just got the perfect NIL deal

Hey everyone,

You may have noticed a whole bunch of different bylines here at NIL Wire over the past few weeks. Our previous writer, Deyscha Smith, decided to move on to other opportunities, and we wish her the best of luck.

We’re looking forward to sharing some news about a new writer joining very soon. Thanks for sticking with us; there are a ton of exciting developments looming.

I also wanted to quickly address an error in Thursday’s newsletter, a guest post that mistakenly stated that Florida had imposed a limit on agents’ payouts from deals with NIL collectives. Though Florida did introduce a bill in its state legislature that advanced quite far into the legislative process, it ultimately failed just days before the measure was slated to take effect. That column has been edited and corrected.

Okay! On to today’s business, which is, as is the case every Saturday, our roundup of the best stories in NIL. And we’re starting out with what may be my favorite nugget of NIL news ever. Let’s get into it …

— Joan

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THE BIG 3

Aspercreme found its perfect college football spokesman

By now, you may have heard of Tom Cillo, the freshman defensive lineman at Lycoming College. He also happens to be a 58-year-old powerlifter who missed his chance to play college football at the age you might expect someone to enroll and suit up … but now he’s getting his shot, on a 40-year delay.

It’s hard to imagine Lycoming players are doing a robust business in NIL deals — but as of this week, Cillo is. He’s working with Aspercreme, which feels like just about the perfect pairing of player and product. In an Instagram video announcing the partnership, Cillo does footwork drills, runs stairs, tussles with a blocking sled and rubs Aspercreme on his (certainly achy) neck. “You lose something when you age,” he says in a voiceover, “the ability to give a damn about what anybody else thinks.”

At Penn State, NIL went from a ‘dirty word’ to a strength

Last season, Penn State finished 13-3, losing in the semifinal of the College Football playoff, and this year the Nittany Lions are off to an undefeated start and No. 3 ranking. They’re on pace to finish with double-digit wins for the fourth straight season — a fact that might mask the school’s rocky journey into the world of NIL.

This week, the Athletic went deep on Penn State’s NIL trajectory, from its disjointed early days to the strategy it’s found to help enable its success in recent years.

“When NIL was first announced, for many it was a dirty word,” Rich Stankewicz, a former Penn State football player who’s now the director of operations for the school’s NIL collective, told the Athletic. “The idea we would compensate players was, ‘Oh my goodness. The horror of it. This is the end of college football as we know it.’”

A novel pipeline for college basketball

Santa Clara got an interesting commitment this week from Thierry Darlan, a guard from the Central African Republic … who happened to spend the past two years playing in the G League. Darlan, 21, is the first G League player to ever be granted NCAA eligibility, and his case rested in part on the fact that players who’d played professionally abroad had been ruled eligible in the past.

The rise of NIL and shifting NCAA standards certainly played a role in the decision. Darlan will get two years of eligibility.

Darlan came up through the NBA’s international basketball training initiatives; he started playing at the NBA Academy Africa as a teenager. He’s played professionally in Africa, spent time with G League Ignite and competed on two different G League teams in 2024 and 2025.

NIL BLITZ

♦️ Charles Barkley said he can’t see how schools are getting a return on investment from paying players.

♦️ Front Office Sports wrote about how schools are skirting the college sports salary cap.

♦️ Mizzou partnered with Edward Jones to offer athletes financial literacy courses.

♦️ The Oklahoman wrote about the challenge of replacing Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State.

♦️ Former Pitt quarterback Pat Bostick spoke at length with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as he takes over the school’s in-house NIL operation.

♦️ Matt Rhule blamed a lack of money for Nebraska’s lack of depth.

♦️ Joey McGuire talked about the power of money versus chemistry in Texas Tech’s strong start.

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BATTER UP

Today’s Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

Should public universities have to provide revenue-sharing figures to the public?

• Yes - 81%

• No - 19%