Man, have we come a long way since 2010.
On Monday, Mississippi State wide receiver Jordan Mosley became the first college athlete to strike an NIL deal with a tattoo artist.
After building a strong relationship with Vin Vega, who has done work on everyone from Rick Ross to Dwight Howard, Mosley has found a way to ink one of the more unique NIL partnerships in all the land.
“Only a very small percentage of players make it to the NFL and everyone knows that,” he said. “But everyone has something unique about them, so to be able to use it to our own benefit as college athletes, I think we can set ourselves up pretty well for the future.
“Obviously, the bigger the school, he bigger the NIL deals are,” Mosley continued. “But I want to see everyone get a chance and have the attitude of that they can, even at the smallest schools.”
Vega feels like this could be the start of a new wave in college sports.
“I think it’s a great thing that we are the first tattoo artist and student-athlete combination do an NIL deal,” Vega explained. “It works tremendously, because it allows my business to be seen through his platform. The ability to get closer to people of his ilk and be able to serve them and to be able to use him as a vehicle for that I think was an amazing idea.”
Mosley thinks that this kind of deal is a big step in the right direction for the era of name, image, likeness.
With four remaining years of eligibility, the Bulldogs wideout will have plenty of chances to show off Vega’s art on the field.