In today’s college football landscape, building a roster requires name, image and likeness money, and the Gophers received good news in that department this week.
Dinkytown Athletes finds $1 million match partner for NIL
Minneapolis-based investment advisor firm Nepsis Inc. will match up to $1 million to benefit the Gophers’ football and volleyball programs.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
October 26, 2024 at 11:49PM
Nepsis Inc., a Minneapolis-based registered investment advisory firm, announced it has partnered with Dinkytown Athletes, the University of Minnesota athletic department’s approved NIL collective, on a Million Dollar Match campaign. Nepsis has pledged to match every new and upgraded membership contribution and donations to DTA, up to $1 million, through Nov. 10. The funds will benefit the Gophers football and volleyball programs.
Nepsis, founded by Mark Pearson, also has started a Mentoring with Clarity program, which will help educate Gophers student-athletes in all aspects of their financial lives. He became involved after meeting coach P.J. Fleck.
“It’s been a long time in the works, and I couldn’t be more excited about multiple things happening, including helping Coach Fleck and the Gophers,” said Pearson, a 1987 Minnesota graduate. “Coach and I really hit it off on a personal level. He thinks a lot the way I do in terms of what he does in mentoring young men to prepare them for life. Football is just a stop along the way in a life’s journey.”
Pearson believes the mission of Nepsis meshes well with the changing landscape in college athletics.
“With the NIL and things changing, you have young men with loads of money,” he said. “There’s people a lot older who don’t know how to manage their money, let alone an 18-, 19-, 20-year-old kid. Our mantra at Nepsis and my passion is multiplying the talents — not just money, but skill sets, giving back.”
Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle praised Pearson and Nepsis for the venture. He also acknowledged how college sports are changing and how money plays a role.
“NIL is not going away, and I promise you, our kids are doing work,” Coyle said on the KFXN-FM pregame show. “They’re doing this the right way.”
Pass defense passes test
The Gophers entered Saturday’s game against Maryland ranked No. 4 nationally in pass defense, allowing 139.6 yards per game. Only UCLA, which passed for 293 yards against Minnesota on Oct. 12, had surpassed 200 yards through the air.
Maryland quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. joined the Bruins’ Ethan Garbers in surpassing 200 yards, but he certainly wasn’t impressive Saturday. Edwards entered the game averaging a Big Ten-best 301.9 passing yards per game but finished with only 201 against the Gophers. He completed 19 of 35 passes and threw two first-quarter interceptions. Cornerback Justin Walley returned the first 32 yards for a touchdown and 21-0 Gophers lead, and safety Koi Perich returned the second one 45 yards to set up a field goal.
Perich’s interception was his fifth of the season, setting a record for a Gophers freshman. He’s two interceptions away from the Gophers’ modern era record of seven in a season, set by Jeff Wright in 1970 and matched by Antoine Winfield Jr. in 2019.
On the mend
One of Fleck’s goals for the bye week was to get his team as healthy as possible. On Saturday, Minnesota welcomed back its second-leading tackler and welcomed a Big Ten availability report that wasn’t full of starters listed as out.
Linebacker Maverick Baranowski, who missed games against USC and UCLA because of an injury, was not on the availability report, which was released two hours before kickoff against Maryland at Huntington Bank Stadium. That meant Baranowski, whose 36 tackles trailed only the 48 made by linebacker Cody Lindenberg, was cleared to play. Baranowski finished with one tackle and teamed with safety Kerry Brown to make a fourth-down stop of Maryland running back Roman Hemby in the first quarter.
Brown and fellow safety Aidan Gousby also returned to action, though Gousby left the game late in the fourth quarter. Defensive end Jah Joyner also left late in the game.
Only wide receiver Cristian Driver and safety Darius Green were among regulars listed as out. No Gophers were listed as questionable.
Reserve tight ends Pierce Walsh, Jacob Simpson and Nathan Jones were listed as out, and true freshman defensive lineman Riley Sunram was listed as out for the season.
Gophers-Illinois at 11 a.m.
The Gophers’ next game, Saturday at Illinois, will have an 11 a.m. kickoff and will be on FS1, the Big Ten announced.
Seven players transferred from a 19-win team, some for more NIL money. But the Gophers who stayed — Parker Fox, Mike Mitchell Jr. and Dawson Garcia — want to finish what they started.
