NIL Cards

I still want to know if the college and high school kids got paid for their USA Baseball autographs back in the day. However, I have picked up a few high school and college cards in recent weeks where I know the player featured on the card has gotten paid to appear and sign the card.  

Let's start with the best player.  

Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden is one of the better offensive players in the SEC this year. He's way up there in receptions and receiving yardage. Watch five minutes of one of their games and you will certainly see him show up. 

Burden has autographs through Leaf, not my favorite card company, but I am sure that Luther is getting paid a handsome amount for these cards. He is actually pictured in his East St. Louis High School football uniform. Burden is a master class in NIL. He's lived up to the hype of being a top recruit on the field while also pitching a grocery store chain, my favorite St. Louis pizza restaurant, and also his own flavor of potato chips.  

His football cards are cheaper than a few bags of potato chips or a pizza from Imos and he's likely going to play on Sunday. This card felt like a bargain and I hope my money helps Luther out with college.  

Next up is Southeast Missouri State running back, Geno Hess.  

My alma mater (also known as SEMO) has been terrible at football throughout the school's history until the past five or six years. Their stadium was literally condemned a few years ago. However, they have made the NCAA Football Championship Tournament on a few different occasions and also won their conference title a few times. Their star player has been running back Geno Hess. 

Yes, they are remodeling their stadium.  

The Ohio Valley Conference is one of the oldest in the NCAA and Hess owns all of the rushing and scoring records. He has both an autograph and base card in the SAGE set. The picture is a little odd, not sure if this is supposed to be an art set. Anyway, the photo looks like it was taken in a game against Mizzou with the brick wall in the background.  

Kids in I-AA getting paid.

Amazing.  

Last.  

NC State backup, errr starting quarterback, Brennan Armstrong.  

The whole backup/starter thing has been interesting this year. Brennan transferred from Virginia where he was really good. Not quite the same player this year at NC State, got benched, but the player who took over as a starter more or less quit after beating Clemson and Miami on back-to-back weeks.  

This is obviously the highest quality of all the NIL cards shown in this post. Wish Luther Burden got a Bowman U. card.