Will Shipley determined to show good that NIL can bring to college football

Will Shipley was able to donate $10,000 through NIL to Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte.

by TigerNet Staff - Thu Feb 16 11:34:57 GMT-04:00 2023

Will Shipley has been at the forefront of Clemson's Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals since the NCAA made way for that form of third-party compensation.

While NIL has been construed as a quasi-pay-for-play plan for major college athletes, Shipley says that he is seeking to shift the narrative on the newer feature to college sports.

Shipley says he donated $10,000 of an NIL deal to Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte. He has teamed up with Clemson-focused NIL collective TigerImpact in that cause.

"I’ll go visit as many patients as I can to brighten their day and give them a couple of minutes where they can take themselves out of that hospital bed and just have a normal conversation,” Shipley told The NIL Deal recently. “I try to always leave the room with a smile on their face as well as mine. And it always happens like that...

"This year we are looking to up the ante a little bit so we’ll see what we can come up with. I’m really looking forward to that donation as well. Just really pumped and I love being able to work with them."

He also co-founded a Clemson endowment with KJ Henry that is reported to have given "five-figure donations" from the Tiger football duo to Clemson University’s Harvey and Lucinda Gantt Multicultural Center and Clemson Athletics’ “Hear Her Roar” campaign and in years to come Clemson’s P.A.W. Journey program.

Shipley sees NIL evolving more into a positive for the sport.

"It’s unbelievable what you can do with your platform. I think the reputation within NIL is that all these college athletes are selfish and we want to get paid for what we do," he told The NIL Deal." I think that we need to switch that narrative. We want to be able to use our platform and if financial compensation is a part of it, then that’s what it is. We’re able to use that platform to then help others not only in our communities, but throughout our social media community. Shaping the youth is so important, you see all across college football and really all college sports there’s people on TikTok and they have such huge followings and these kids are truly looking up to these people as role models. So you have to carry yourself in a way because all your actions do play a role. It is why you have to watch every step that you take because you want to set off a good vibe and be a good role model for the youth and the people that watch you."

"Like everything, it matures and new ideas come about so I think we’ll be seeing a lot more stuff with NIL. People forget how young it still is. So a lot more ideas, a lot more volume, and a little bit of craziness. That’s where it’s going. There’s always good out there and that’s what we’ve got to look for and try to represent. Just always try to help people and you can’t go wrong if that’s your main goal."