Will Anderson discusses his thoughts on NIL, how he's furthering his own personal brand

Alabama linebacker Will Anderson, Jr. is one of the most gifted defensive prospects college football has seen for quite some time. There’s no question that when it comes to money, he’s not going to have any problem making plenty of it. Rarified talent usually produces rarified dollars, and such is the case when some experts say you would have been the No. 1 overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft by some mock drafts. In a Friday appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show, Anderson discussed in-depth his thoughts on NIL and how he’s growing his own personal brand.

“I’m not judging anybody for what they do. Everybody goes about NIL their own way. For me, I just wanted to focus on my season first and knock that out of the way. Because I have more time to do stuff in spring and stuff like that, because during spring football you don’t have to do as much as you do in the fall,” Anderson said.

“As far as NIL goes, I think it’s a great idea. There’s a lot of people [that need] help to get money, not only for themselves but for their families in this age we’re in right now and help a lot of family members out. That’s how I look at it. For myself, it’s an opportunity to start setting up stuff for later in my living years, put some money over here in this account for anything that’s going on [in the future],” the gifted linebacker said.

He then talked about how he’s trying to take ownership of his own brand by starting an agency called, “A3.”

“And I’m actually trying to take over my own brand. I just started this agency called ‘A3’ with Brian Jones, Kenyan [Drake], Dwight Johnson, most of those NFL players you may know of, they’re helping me do that. It’s really just for young players that need help. I know for me and my family, we didn’t know too much about contracts and all this other stuff, so they’ve been helping me get all that stuff up. So, this brand, A3, is going to help young athletes around the world and their parents with what they’re going through to get help. As far as NIL goes, I think it’s a good idea, I think it’ll help a lot of players out and my brand that I’m taking over, I think it’ll be helpful for a lot of other young athletes just like me. It’s been great,” Anderson said.

One thing is for certain, when a prospect is blessed with the incredible talent and work ethic of Anderson, dollar signs are sure to follow. He’s not going to have any problems making money and lots of it. As incredible of a football talent he is, his interviews and the way he goes about his work make him one of the most likable players in college football today.

Many college football analysts will tell you Anderson was the best pure football player in the country last season. Statistically, he was a superior pass rusher to all three of the top picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. The only thing keeping him from wrecking opposing NFL backfields this upcoming season rather than those in the SEC was his age. Anderson enters 2022 as a true junior and is very likely to be the first non-QB taken in the 2023 Draft.

On3’s Alex Weber also contributed to this article.