Ohio State's J.T. Tuimoloau promotes youth football camp through NIL

Ohio State rising sophomore EDGE J.T. Tuimoloau will host a free youth football camp on Friday at KIPP Columbus Field. He promoted the camp through his name, image and likeness rights. Tuimoloau is hosting the camp through a partnership between the NIL collective Cohesion Foundation and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Ohio, KIPP Columbus and the Lindy Infante Foundation.

Students from third through eighth grade, including those who are part of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Ohio and KIPP Columbus, are able to attend. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Tuimoloau will assist the campers as they go through drills.

The Lindy Infante Foundation will provide every camper with meals, a T-shirt and “sport in a bag.”

Cohesion Foundation is a nonprofit corporation that the Internal Revenue Service determined to be a 501(c)(3) organization last August. Tuimoloau also signed with Cohesion Foundation last August.

The collective says it has agreed to more than 70 NIL contracts with athletes from 16 different Ohio State athletic programs.

J.T. Tuimoloau’s rising profile

As a high school recruit at Eastside Catholic School in Sammamish, Washington, J.T. Tuimoloau was rated as an On3 Five-Star Plus+ recruit. He was also ranked No. 5 in the 2021 recruiting class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He committed to Ohio State after he also received reported scholarship offers from schools including Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Texas A&M and USC.

According to his Ohio State bio, he’s the highest-rated defensive prospect to sign his National Letter of Intent with the Buckeyes in the modern recruiting era.

As a freshman, Tuimoloau recorded 17 total tackles, including 4.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. He improved as a sophomore when he had 28 total tackles, including 10.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and six passes defended.

It’s not hyperbole to say that Tuimoloau had one of the most dominant single-game performances by a defensive player in recent memory, if not ever when he recorded six tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks, two interceptions, a pick-six, a pass breakup, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in a road win against Penn State last season.

Now as a rising sophomore, Tuimoloau is the No. 4 EDGE and No. 25 college football player overall, according to his On3 College Rating. He has an On3 NIL Valuation of $808,000.