Late last year, when I was approached about helping Ohio State out on the Name, Image, and Likeness front, I knew it was an opportunity I couldn't let pass. Despite a lot of hard work from the NIL collectives supporting Ohio State at the time, Gene Smith had just issued a statement politely calling on fans to step up and contribute what they could to the efforts of collectives.
There was also a sense within the department that other schools, working with collectives operating under a for-profit model, had been quicker to weaponize the space than Ohio State had at that point.