Country music stars Luke Bryan, Cole Swindell support Georgia Southern NIL collective
Georgia Southern alums and country music stars Luke Bryan and Cole Swindell publicly supported the Eagles’ NIL opportunities by endorsing the Eagle Nation Collective, which launched last week.
Swindell filmed a video to coincide with the collective‘s launch last Tuesday. A few Georgia Southern alums and NFL players did the same, including Buffalo Bills kicker Tyler Bass, Atlanta Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo and Chicago Bears cornerback Kindle Vildor.
On Tuesday, the collective then shared a video from Bryan, who’s a 1999 Georgia Southern alum. Bryan, who also serves as a judge on “American Idol,” has 9.2 million Twitter followers.
“What’s up Eagle Nation,” Bryan said in the video. “It’s Luke Bryan right here and I want you guys to join me in supporting Georgia Southern student-athletes through the Eagle Nation Collective. Together we can help the university become the best it can be and keep it that way for a long time. Hail Southern. Go Eagles!”
“Those guys have been very open about wanting to help Georgia Southern,” Georgia Southern athletic director Jared Benko told On3. “Listen, NIL – if you look across the country, I run into a lot of folks in the last few years, that 25 to 50 demographic seems to be very much in tune with what’s going on with NIL. And Cole and Luke are no different. They understand NIL.
“We obviously share with them what we’re working on at Georgia Southern and more importantly, they want to support Georgia Southern the best they can. As soon as we asked them, they were more than glad and willing.”
Hopes for Luke Bryan, Cole Swindell to perform on campus
The North Carolina collective Heels4Life recently announced that country music star Eric Church will play a show in Chapel Hill to benefit the collective. Benko said there have been initial conversations for at least one of the two Georgia Southern alums to perform at a show on campus, potentially benefiting the collective.
“A lot of times their concert schedule has already scheduled the year out but we’ve talked to Cole’s group and had some informal discussions as well with Luke’s group,” Benko said. “Listen, that’s always the goal for us is to continue to map this thing out from a strategic initiative standpoint. We’d love to have both those guys, obviously, in [Allen E.] Paulson [Stadium]. So, nothing’s off the table.
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“I think the biggest thing is just trying to work around their dates. Of course for us, obviously, the fall doesn’t really work, just with games, and of course, you have spring ball. So, it becomes honestly more of a scheduling exercise than anything.”
Benko said Eagle Nation Collective founder and executive director Leonard Bevill and roughly 20 founding members began working in January to launch the collective.
“I think what you’re seeing across the board in various constituent groups, they all have ties to Southern one way or the other but they’re all willing to come back and really serve the university,” Benko said.
Cole Swindell promotes Eagle Nation Collective in video
In the video Swindell filmed for the Eagle Nation Collective, he said the collective will help Georgia Southern “get and keep” the best athletes.
“Hey, y’all. Cole Swindell here and if you know me, you know how much I love Georgia Southern and how special Statesboro is to me,” Swindell said in the video. “But I also know I’m not the only True Blue person out there so I believe together we can take Georgia Southern to a whole new level. Join me in supporting the Eagle Nation Collective. This is going to help us get and keep the best student-athletes so we can continue down our path to success. Eagle Nation, we can do this. So let’s G.A.T.A. and always, Hail Southern.”
The Nashville-based musician retweeted the video to his more than 720,000 followers on Twitter.
Bryan and Swindell were both members of the Sigma Chi fraternity at Georgia Southern, although they attended the university at different times. According to USA Today, “The two met when Bryan returned to Statesboro for a show at the school, and when Swindell moved to Nashville after college, he worked selling merchandise at Bryan’s shows for three years.”