MM 9.15: Maryland centralizes NIL efforts with One Maryland Collective

This is the Maryland Minute, a short story followed by a roundup of Terps-related news.

By Drew Owens

Maryland athletics announced Thursday that it has partnered with Blueprint Sports to unveil the One Maryland Collective.

The new collective will combine existing name, image and likeness groups — such as football’s The Best Is Ahead Foundation, men’s basketball’s Turtle NIL, and men’s lacrosse’s Hard Shell Collective — together into one unified collective. The group will support student-athletes and help them find more NIL opportunities.

“I am incredibly excited to have the One Maryland Collective as the main resource for our student-athletes,” Maryland head football coach Mike Locksley said in a release. “Our goal is to keep our football program competitive, which now includes supporting NIL opportunities to help our student-athletes have a well-rounded college experience.”

Since the opportunity to monetize name, image and likeness became available to student-athletes in 2021, Maryland athletes have signed 1,522 NIL agreements over 20 athletic programs. Blueprint Sports will operate the One Maryland Collective, helping with partnerships and fundraising campaigns.

“We are ecstatic to add One Maryland NIL Collective to the Blueprint Sports family,” said Rob Sine, co-founder of Blueprint Sports.

Blueprint Sports was founded in 2020 by eight-time Grand Slam tennis champion Andre Agassi and already supports student-athletes at schools such as Penn State, Tennessee and Florida State.

In other news

Andrew Chodes previewed Maryland football’s matchup with Virginia.

Emmett Siegel and Chodes discussed additional factors to the game on the Testudo Talk Podcast.

Ryan Martin recapped No. 5 Maryland field hockey’s 3-2 loss to Princeton.

Jack Parry previewed Maryland women’s soccer’s matchup against No. 6 Penn State.

Brian Melanson took a look at Maryland volleyball’s opponents in the FGCU Classic.

Both Maryland basketball teams released their new uniforms.

Former Terp Renaldo Nehemiah was inducted into the Collegiate Athlete Track and Field & Cross Country Hall of Fame.

Maryland softball will begin fall ball on Saturday against Frostburg State.