Former Michigan RB Jared Wangler talks creation of Champions Circle collective

Jared Wangler would have loved the opportunity to play at Michigan in the NIL era.

But that’s just not how things shook out.

Now the former Wolverines running back is making sure the current Michigan program is set up for success. The founder of Valiant Management, a sports marketing firm dedicated to helping Michigan student-athletes navigate NIL, announced Friday the formation of Champions Circle.

The organization will serve as the first collective for Michigan athletics. Collectives pool funds from a wide swath of donors to help create NIL opportunities for student-athletes through an array of activities.

Starting with a focus on football, Wangler told On3 that the collective already has support from prominent boosters. The program will provide dedicated annual funds to athletes for NIL-related activities.

“We have a group of prominent boosters at Michigan that came together, and we helped them shape what we’re calling Champions Circle,” he said to On3. “It’s a collective. It’s partnering with Valiant, essentially, to structure and create a NIL deal to maximize opportunities for the current University of Michigan student-athletes.

“Valiant is essentially steering the ship and deciding on which players we’re doing deals with.”

Wangler told On3 that this process has been almost a year in the making. While he did not want to rush the start of the collective, he saw the success other groups have had in the SEC.

Valiant Management has already seen plenty of success since its formation in 2021. Since then it has secured nearly $1 million in NIL deals for athletes. In just a year it has licensed NFTs and set up group licensing apparel deals. It has also linked players to marketing partnerships with national brands.

Champions Circle relationship with Michigan

The new collective has already started a dialogue with the university. Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh and athletic director Warde Manuel have been outspoken on the role they see of the collective. Harbaugh has said coming to Ann Arbor should be a “transformational experience, not a transactional experience.”

That has been at the forefront of Wangler’s goals for the Champions Circle.

“We’re going to do this, but we’re going to do it the right way,” Wangler said. “And we’re not going to compromise our integrity for recruits or these NIL agents that are trying to shop recruits around. Because once you compromise it once, you’re kind of going down that path. That’s not where we want to be as a program. We want to dare recruits to come to Michigan. Come to Michigan, and you’ll see how much you can make. It is the biggest brand in college sports, has the strongest alumni network.

“It’s a three- to four-year earning period, rather than just getting a signing bonus or compensation package upfront. We think inevitably could implode the locker room because you’re looking at 18, 19-year-olds who haven’t even played a down yet in college, getting their signing bonus. It’s not the NFL. It’s not the draft. It’s college sports, and so we’re looking at that way.”

One of the first action items the collective plans to accomplish is putting together a development program for athletes to flourish on and off the field. Certain facets will include financial literacy, conversations about filing properly taxes and setting up incentives to give back to the community.

Role of NIL with Michigan in recruiting, transfer portal

Collectives have started to play a larger role in recruiting and transfer portal.

The best example has been this offseason. In recruiting, an unnamed five-star prospect in the Class of 2023 signed a contract with an unnamed school’s collective that could pay him more than $8 million. Quarterback is Nico Iamaleava is suspected to be the recruit.

And with the NCAA’s one-time transfer policy partnered with NIL, the portal has been transformed. Coaches have told story after story of players trying to bargain for more money.

Furthermore, Wangler and the Champions Circle are not shying away from the facts. But they are also going to follow Michigan’s standards and not go against the wishes of the schools.

“Before it was education, it’s personal development, it’s the program that you want to play for us, it’s their tradition,” he said. “All of those things are still relevant. You’re just adding another pillar, right? NIL is says another pillar in this equation for families to decipher when they’re going through recruiting. I mean, it’s a real part of it. You’d be lying or you would just be naive to act like it isn’t.

“So, while we are not going to be the group that is actively inducing athletes by guaranteeing them some sort of compensation package, like a lot of these other collectives are, we’re going to be the group that’s maximizing it for current student-athletes. And it’ll be known that if you come to Michigan, you have potentially the highest NIL earning opportunity.”