(Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of stories exploring the impact of Name, Image and Likeness in college sports at its one-year anniversary. Previous installments are available on our website, www.daltondailycitizen.com.)

Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis emerged as one of the top scorers in Division I basketball last season, ranking third in the country at 23.9 points per game to earn Horizon League co-player of the year honors.

A smooth-shooting, 6-foot-1 guard who made 113 3-pointers last season, Davis entered the transfer portal and was pursued by BYU, Kansas State and Maryland.

But in securing a six-figure Name, Image and Likeness deal, Davis will stay at Detroit and play another season for his father, former Indiana and current Detroit head coach Mike Davis.

Not only that, Antoine Davis intends to spread the wealth, sharing some of the proceeds he earns from the deal with his teammates and giving back to Detroit’s athletics department.

Davis is an example of how not only athletes from big-time programs but also from smaller schools have been able to market themselves and make money on NIL. Detroit, a Catholic Jesuit School with an enrollment of 4,290, rarely appears on national television.

“I mean, it’s surprising a little, but it’s not at the same time because of what I’ve done in college basketball,” Davis said. “So I just think like — I feel like I do deserve NIL deals and stuff for what I’ve done.”

Davis said he began making T-shirts of himself to sell around campus when NIL was first instituted a year ago but barely broke even. Then, as Davis put together his breakthrough season in the Horizon League, he got offers to endorse shoe stores and restaurants around campus.

One reason Davis decided to share NIL earnings with his teammates was because of the struggles he went through earning money from endorsements last year.

“I was paying out of my pocket for T-shirts and basically making the same money back,” Davis said. “So I was just wanting to give people on my team that don’t have NIL deals or whatever — and not necessarily going to make a lot of money — the opportunity to earn something.”

Cyril White, Davis’s NIL representative, was able to secure his latest deal with Glowball, a Chinese company that creates basketballs that glow with logos of players under camera lights. As part of the deal, Davis’ likeness will be on the basketballs sold this year. It retails for $75.

White said he was able to secure the deal for Davis based on the fact Davis broke Steph Currry’s NCAA record for 3-pointers made as a freshman by making 132 3-pointers in 2018-19.

“Around the world for that matter, but in China particularly, Steph Curry is very, very popular,” White said. “Once I was able to show a few of those companies what Antoine actually did, they could actually see the NCAA achievement, and plus they watched his highlight tape and they were like, ‘Oh, wow, we could really be getting in the ground level of something right here.’”

At Bucknell University, a 3,810 enrollment school in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, that plays in the Patriot League, NIL is making more subtle inroads. Bucknell’s athletics department includes 27 varsity teams. Its men’s basketball team won the Patriot League regular-season title five consecutive times from 2013-19, and it claimed the Patriot League tournament championship on three occasions throughout that span.

Bucknell men’s basketball coach Nathan Davis begins his eighth season with the program later this year. He’s taken the Bison to two NCAA Tournament trips while compiling 117 wins.

“From our standpoint, it honestly hasn’t had a major impact yet,” Davis said. “We had a couple of guys who got some gear from Barstool for Tweeting stuff or Instagramming stuff, but that’s been it so far.

“I think we’d be foolish to not think it’s going to impact us more moving forward as it shakes itself out. We’ve added positions through our marketing and promotions, sports information, added positions and redefined roles and things like that, which I’m sure, part of it is to influence and impact our own self and certainly aid our athletes in the content they have access to.”

While NIL hasn’t had the same impact at Bucknell it’s had at larger programs around the country, Davis isn’t naive about its future. He said Bucknell’s athletics department is laying the blueprint to create and seize on those opportunities when they present themselves to players.

“There are some facilities improvements, projects going on on-campus. We’re putting spaces in where student-athletes … can produce their own content if they want to,” Davis said. “We want to get to the point where high-major Power 5 football and basketball, where it’s impacting who’s signing where. I think it’d be foolish to not think it hasn’t happened yet, but we have to prepare as if it’s coming at some point.”

When Xander Rice signed with Bucknell as part of the basketball program’s 2019 recruiting class, the rising senior knew about the grassroots efforts of former college student-athletes who lobbied for NIL opportunities for those who succeeded them.

“I knew it was an issue for some people at the higher level, but especially at this level I really didn’t think anything of it,” Rice said. “But once they passed all the stuff, our (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) put together a bunch of stuff for all of Bucknell athletics, just to educate us on it.”

As NIL enters its second year of existence, Rice said the athletics program is working on ways to prepare players for the potential of partnerships with businesses and organizations in the community. This summer, that included athletics department meetings to discuss image and visibility, along with community service and volunteer projects by members of the basketball team.

“Just to create a more visible image, and then once the season starts, that image will help lead to some bigger opportunities that actually make money,” Rice said.

While Rice hasn’t yet directly been impacted by an NIL opportunity, this summer he hopes to launch a basketball camp back home in New Jersey. Rice also said some of his teammates have received partnerships with local nutrition companies and athletic apparel companies.

Rice said not all NIL opportunities are created with the student-athlete’s best interest in mind. It’s caused him to become judicious and discerning when sifting through messages he’s received from companies or individuals making their pitches.

“Some of it has turned a little bit gimmicky and stuff like that,” Rice said. “People have reached out, and you can tell they’re sending generic messages to everyone on Instagram. Some of it has already gotten like a money scam, so I’ve been trying to be careful with who I reach back out to.”