Jack Betts ’24E—an English major and football player newly dubbed “the King of Division III NIL”—arrived promptly at Frost Café from Professor Susan Niditch’s “Personal Religion” class, wearing white Allbirds on his feet, a Lifestyle Bands bracelet and WHOOP 4.0 fitness tracker on his wrist, and a necklace that belonged to his late grandmother.
It was her JV basketball pendant, from her Louisiana high school back in 1953. Wearing it is “a means to always keep her close to me,” he said, and of all he had on that day, the necklace meant the greatest deal.
But the other items represent other deals—some of the nearly 40 NIL agreements he’s made to date.
“I capitalized on a market that had zero history of finding success,” says Jack Betts ’24E.
NIL is short for “name, image and likeness.” On July 1, 2021, the NCAA officially allowed players to begin reaping income from sharing their NIL. “This could be a great opportunity!” Betts, who grew up in Dallas, recalls thinking. “I could get deals with Insomnia Cookies, or other places in Amherst or Dallas.” He texted his teammates. “But their overwhelming response was, ‘Dude, we’re Division III.’”
Then, a year ago, Lifestyle Bands approached Betts out of the blue to see if he’d like to be one of its NIL athletes. Soon, this wide receiver went wide, cranking out dozens of emails a day to various companies. It paid off. A short list of his NIL brands: Omaha Steaks, Positivity Alkaline Water, Vintage Brand and Ekster. It surely helped him that football is the NCAA’s most popular sport.
No other Division III player has landed remotely as many deals as Betts has. What motivated him? Not so much the money: He’s earned around $9,500, he says, mostly by sharing social media posts and videos of himself wearing or using the products. The pay is welcome, but compared to Division I, it’s peanuts. Bryce Young, the University of Alabama quarterback, has pulled in $3.4 million in NIL deals.
For Betts, it’s less the cash than the connections: “Because you never know, down the line, whether I do become an entrepreneur and I need some investors, I’ve got a heck of a network to tap.” Betts gives much credit to his parents, two corporate lawyers who specialize in mergers and acquisitions. His childhood was spent overhearing them do deals on the phone and observing their work ethic. “The best parts of my parents’ job kind of rubbed off on me.”
He has now represented Amherst at the first NIL Summit conference, and he’s given advice to other NESCAC players seeking their own deals, including his teammate Jovee Celestin ’26, who has partnered with DoorDash. Betts has also launched the website Make Your Own Legacy Academy, in which he offers complimentary NIL help sessions to other players, with a special focus on outreach to Indigenous student-athletes. Betts’ own heritage is Cherokee and Hispanic. He was drawn to Amherst in part because of its Native American class offerings, and he is working toward a certificate from the Five College Native American and Indigenous Studies program.
What’s next for Betts? After graduation, likely business school. First, though, he’s fielding interest from the media, including the Orlando Sentinel, which was the first to call him “the King of Division III NIL,” and The Dallas Morning News, which was among those to follow suit. Betts is thinking about writing and selling his own NIL playbook, and he’s already getting speaking gigs. In December, back home in Texas, he spoke at the Frisco Young Entrepreneurs Academy.
He told them his story, how he tapped the NIL potential in the NCAA’s least glorified division—“how I capitalized on a market,” he says, “that had zero history of finding success.”
Top: Amherst Athletics; Bottom: courtesy of Jack Betts