LOOK: LSU football announces first-of-its-kind NIL deal involving customizable jerseys

LSU football announced a new NIL deal on Friday afternoon, in reaching near unanimous team participation in the Fanatics and OneTeam Partners co-branded player jersey program, the school announced in a press release on their website.

Here’s a quick look at the jerseys from the LSU Football Twitter page.

A Historic First

Customizable Nike jerseys, for every LSU football player who opts into the program, are coming in 2022.

🔗 https://t.co/vfgNvpJunw pic.twitter.com/uRsNokWyn8

— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) February 4, 2022

The partnership between OneTeam partners and Fanatics was announced on Thursday. Several other teams across the country are participating in the program: including Oklahoma, Washington and Penn State.

This type of a customizable jersey program has been long overdue for college football programs across the country. Luckily with NIL, it’s now a reality and players will be able to directly benefit from their jerseys being sold. It’ll be easier for fans to buy jerseys of their favorite players, as opposed to buying them from sites that aren’t as trustworthy.

It’s not surprising that nearly all of the LSU players on the roster have participated in the program, because what athlete doesn’t want a website where their fans can buy a customizable jersey?

There’s one big question Fanatics and players will have to deal with. What happens when the player decides to enter the transfer portal after one year? Will there be some sort of Jersey Assurance? That will be interesting to see how that’s handled moving forward.

But college football fans across the country have every reason to be excited about the program. The neat part is all of the players that opt-in to the program will be available, not just the stars.

LSU’s new head coach, Brian Kelly, is giving the fan base plenty of reasons to be excited, after he pulled in the nation’s No. 12 recruiting class in the 2022 cycle, according to the On3 Team Rankings. Five-star linebacker Harold Perkins is the highest rated of the group, as On3 rates him as the top linebacker in the country for the 2022 class. Perkins played his high school football at Cy Park (Cypress, Texas). A gifted linebacker, he also excelled at the running back position and on special teams.