Utah State to wear shirts to support guard Max Shulga, Ukraine

Next week, the Utah State‘s men’s basketball team will wear shirts in warmups that feature that name of junior guard Max Shulga, his jersey number and a basketball that has the colors of the Ukrainian flag. Shulga, who’s from Kyiv, Ukraine, is using his name, image and likeness rights to raise money for his home country.

The adult t-shirts are available for $32 through the website of the sports apparel company BreakingT. There are also youth t-shirts, women’s V-neck t-shirts and hoodies available.

A portion of the proceeds will go to UNICEF Ukraine.

The agency Student Athlete NIL (SANIL), which powers roughly 20 NIL collectives nationally, helped facilitate the partnership.

Shulga promoted the merchandise on Instagram.

“‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness; Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that,'” Shulga wrote in the caption. “Please join me in helping support my fellow Ukrainian brothers and sisters!”

The graphic Shulga posted on Instagram also said “LOVE > HATE” and that the proceeds will support Ukrainian children.

Shulga enrolled at Utah State in 2020. This season as a junior, he’s a regular starter for the first time in his career. He’s averaging 11.2 points per game as the Aggies’ fourth-leading scorer.

Shulga’s Utah State teammates are also promoting the apparel on social media. Guard Rylan Jones tweeted, “In the words of MLK, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Please help us support our brother and his Ukrainian family!”

BreakingT, SANIL’s involvement in the NIL landscape

Custom apparel has been a popular NIL activity in the first two academic years of the NCAA’s NIL era. Through individual or group licensing partnerships, athletes have partnered with a variety of apparel companies to monetize their NIL rights through custom merchandise.

A past examples of BreakingT’s merchandise campaigns include former Tennessee wide receiver and reigning Biletnikoff Award winner Jalin Hyatt partnering with the company for apparel that said “Gimme 5” in all-caps font after he scored five touchdowns against Alabama.

“Our whole thing is moment to market in less than 24 hours,” BreakingT President Jamie Mottram said in a previous phone interview.

Meanwhile, SANIL provides backing to NIL collectives across the country. Those collectives support athletes at schools such as Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Penn State, Rutgers and Wake Forest, among others.

Here you can view On3’s database of NIL collectives across the country.