'Michigan vs. Everybody' apparel flying off shelves, raising big NIL bucks for Wolverines
It’s Michigan vs. Everybody, the Wolverines say. The U-M football program is under scrutiny amid an NCAA investigation into alleged illegal off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents. Competitors and talking heads in the media are fixated on the story, and Big Ten commissioner made the unprecedented decision Friday to suspend head coach Jim Harbaugh for the final three regular-season games despite there being no evidence that he had knowledge of or was involved in the scouting allegations.
Friday morning, Valiant Management Group and The M Den released a ‘Michigan vs. Everybody’ merchandise line. After 48 hours, over 10,000 products have been sold, raising $50,000 in NIL for U-M student athletes.
The apparel includes tee shirts, hoodies, crew neck sweatshirts, winter hats and ball caps. All told, there are currently seven different options to choose from.
Valiant Management was founded by former Michigan football player Jared Wangler. The agency represents U-M student-athletes and runs the Champions Circle collective.
Boarding the plane to State College for a matchup with Penn State this weekend and entering Beaver Stadium Saturday, Michigan players sported the gear.
Michigan beat No. 10 Penn State, 24-15, Saturday, despite Harbaugh being barred from coaching his team and attending the game.
The Wolverines have won back-to-back Big Ten championships and are chasing another, but the players feel their accomplishments are being questioned by outsiders. They’ve taken two separate approaches at once — blocking out the noise but also using their current reality as fuel.
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“They just keep pushing, keep working,” Michigan interim head coach Sherrone Moore said after the victory. “We know everybody in that locker room and that building that university is for us, with us. That’s all we’re worried about.
“They know what the end goal is. They understand how hard they’ve worked to get to this point. And they’re not going to let any distraction get in the way of the goal we need to get to.”
“I saw this quote on Instagram the other day. It said, ‘The mindset you choose when adversity hits is the determining factor of whether you win our lose,'” Michigan junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy said. “I feel like, with this outside adversity, our team has this one-track mindset that we’ve been developing for almost two years now, and especially this past offseason. I just feel like anything that comes at this team, we’re going to be ready for it, and use it for our advantage.
“We’re not motivated by outside stuff. Of course, it’s always great, but we have a drive as a team, we have a standard that we live up to every single day. No matter what, if there’s noise or not, we’re always going to be drive to hold ourselves to that standard of excellence, attention to detail, all the little things we harped on this last offseason. I’d just say we’re driven, not motivated.”
