Houston's LinkingCoogs collective signs transfers LJ Cryer, Damian Dunn

LinkingCoogs has wasted no time in sending a very clear message to this spring’s transfer portal: come and NIL opportunties will follow.

The Houston-focused NIL collective signed NIL deals with incoming transfers LJ Cryer and Damian Dunn. While NIL has become a way for top college basketball and football programs to retain talent, it’s also been used to attract talent in high school recruitment and the portal.

The agreements were announced just days after the duo transferred to Houston.

The Cougars were a No. 1 seed entering the NCAA tournament last month, eventually falling in the Sweet 16 to Miami. They finished 33-4 on the season, however, and were the top-ranked team in the country for seven weeks.

Adding talent through the portal was going to be a must this offseason, especially with All-American Marcus Sasser leaving for the NBA. The guard finished the year averaging 17.1 points and 3.3 assists per game.

“To say signing LJ Cryer to the University of Houston was a game-changer is an understatement,” LinkingCoogs co-founder Landon Goesling told On3. “In addition to adding LJ, also adding Damian Dunn in back-to-back days speaks volumes to where this program is headed. This immediately puts us right back in position to compete for a national championship. We know what awaits us next year. The Big 12 is an entire different beast.

“In LJ, you’re talking about a kid who has won a national championship and bring a maturity level to this upcoming Cougar team. Adding a kid that graduated high school from Houston understands what it means to have Houston across his chest.”

A former four-star recruit, Cryer averaged 15 points per game this year for Baylor and fits into Sasser’s role. He’s won a national title, and he has the tournament experience to lead Houston’s backcourt.

Landing Dunn is another key pickup for the backcourt. The 6-foot-5, 195-pound shooting guard averaged 15.3 points and 3.7 rebounds at Temple. The duo could make Houston’s guard rotation better than it was this past season.

LinkingCoogs continues to grow

In just a six-month span, the collective facilitated more than $2 million in NIL deals, Goesling told On3 in March. While the University of Houston does have a school-specific NIL marketplace with Opendorse, LinkingCoogs has become one of the largest deal facilitators for Cougar athletes.

The brunt of collectives that have emerged in NIL’s first 21 months have opted to raise funds while others have registered as nonprofits. Unlike most, LinkingCoogs does not accept donations on its website.

Austin Elrod, Troy Kyle, Norman Stalarow and Greg Ralph founded the venture, bringing on Goesling to help run the operation. Goesling was formerly a Houston guard and grad assistant. Athletes are compensated by partnerships procured by the collective. On LinkingCoogs’ website, businesses can fill out a form to set up an NIL deal.

Goesling did not provide specifics but said Houston’s basketball team has received a “good chunk” of the $2 million.

The owner of Houston’s Gallery Furniture, Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale pledged seven figures to Cougars’ basketball in November. Daspit Law Firm also signed a team-wide NIL deal in December.

LJ Cryer, Damian Dunn’s On3 NIL Valuation

Cryer has made sure to keep basketball the main focus, not signing a too many NIL deals. He has just over 10,000 social media followers and a $13,600 On3 NIL Valuation. He brought on U-Sports Group for representation in February.

Dunn has a $11,900 On3 NIL Valuation.

The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college athletes. A proprietary algorithm, the On3 NIL Valuation calculates an athlete’s NIL value using dynamic data points targeting three primary categories: performance, influence and exposure.

About On3 NIL Valuation, Brand Value, Roster Value

While the algorithm includes deal data, it does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals athletes have completed to date, nor does it set an athlete’s NIL valuation for their entire career. The On3 NIL Valuation calculates the optimized NIL opportunity for athletes relative to the overall NIL market and projects out to as long as 12 months into the future.