In the new age of name, image and likeness in college football it’s survival of the fittest, and Alabama is positioning itself as best as possible to compete with the rest of the country.
The Crimson Tide now has its own NIL collective, “High Tide Traditions” which is created to connect student-athletes and businesses in order to form NIL deals. The third-party collective is primarily made up of businesses and donors. Although the collective isn’t affiliated with the university it is working with UA compliance in order to ensure no NIL rules are broken.
“There’s been a public announcement about High Tide Traditions which is a collective that has been started by a gentleman named Larry Morris, who’s a longtime supporter of the program and been a successful attorney,” Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne said during an appearance on Hey Coach. “He understands in this world that we’re in today that we need to make sure we’re staying competitive.
“So he started High Tide Traditions, which is an opportunity to create name, image and likeness opportunities for out student-athletes that we can, in a very positive way, use the stage that we have at the University of Alabama to connect people and businesses and individuals with opportunities to maximize name, image and likeness opportunities for our student-athletes.”
Such NIL collectives are barred from using deals to entice recruits to commit to each one’s program which was made clear from the statement on its website. “NIL compensation cannot be structured in a way that encourages or solicits a prospective student-athlete’s enrollment at a particular institution,” High Tide Traditions said on its website.
Having a NIL collective alongside a program is becoming more of a requirement in college football as Alabama is now the eighth team in the SEC to see one created with more expected to be on the way.
“Just like anything else, we live in a very competitive world, and as soon as we knew that name, image and likeness was gonna be a part of college athletics, it was gonna be part of recruiting,” Byrne said. “And obviously, young men and young women are gonna be paying attention to where they think the best place for them is to go to school academically, competitively, from a coaching standpoint, and name, image and likeness is gonna be a part of that. And so we have an opportunity to have people go get involved with High Tide Traditions.”
Alabama players are already taking advantage of the collective as freshman offensive lineman Tyler Booker signed a deal on Monday.
ROLLING…@iamtylerbooker pic.twitter.com/1bodNtS1xu
— High Tide Traditions (@HTideTraditions) April 11, 2022
“That’s a new reality in our industry,” Byrne said. “There can be people that don’t like it, but it is a reality and we have to deal with realities. And that’s important with what we’re doing, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
