Glass partnered with AT&T Dream in Black and the Alabama Department of Public Health for a COVID-19 campaign. Glass also created a T-shirt line, "AG4," featuring his initials and jersey number. As the SWAC's top prospect in the upcoming NFL draft, Glass was looking to cultivate brand relationships he could continue into a professional career.

"Since it was my last year in school, I was looking more for long-term relationships that I could build on as I take my career to the next level, and further," Glass said. "Things like events and brands I believe in, that I stand by [and] I will use. I didn't get too many offers, but I believe the ones I got were well representative of me."

FCS student-athletes aren't given stipends like student-athletes at FBS institutions, so some of Glass' NIL money went to college necessities and extracurriculars. Glass said he has other ideas for his NIL compensation.

"I'm trying to start saving and things like that, and looking at investments and other things in order to grow my money. I've been researching and looking into crypto a lot during the recent wave and boom, also in stocks and bonds," Glass said. "I think about starting a Roth IRA as soon as possible. That's about it. But so far, I bought a pair of Jordans. I haven't really bought too much."

Arkansas-Pine Bluff junior offensive lineman Mark Evans II is one of four O-linemen named to Denny's All-Pancaker team and the only FCS and HBCU athlete.

"It taught me what to post and what not to post [and] how to actually market myself to companies and how to make money on social media. I didn't know that I would be able to make money off of social media unless I had like a million followers. I only got like 1,000, so that's cool to make money off my name and just basically how to brand myself," Evans, a Houston native, said. "It just makes me more marketable as a whole, because as far as companies can see, I have a background with Denny's. So they won't be afraid to take the next step and offer me other programs and deals like that. They want to know I have past experience [and] I know how to maneuver, and as far as going along with what they need, what they want and stuff like that."

The NIL deal has relieved some financial strain for Evans, allowing him to pay his car insurance and help his mother and family. But the game changer for Evans has been the national exposure, which has him weighing his options of pursuing a pro career after his junior year.

"Exposure has been crazy. … I've met a lot of wonderful people as well. When I first got [started], it was crazy. I was being interviewed, followers and all of that," Evans said. "I would say I probably would have gotten [exposure] anyway, but this is probably helping out a lot."

Norfolk State running back Rayquan Smith is a redshirt sophomore and his ingenuity off the field has earned him the moniker "Mr. NIL." Smith is a social media influencer with more than 18,000 followers on Instagram and nearly 100,000 followers on TikTok, with more than 2.2 million likes. To date, Smith has had more than 50 NIL deals with lengths ranging from a week to several months.
His biggest deals are with Eastbay, Boost Mobile and the Norfolk Admirals, a midlevel professional hockey franchise that's an affiliate for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Smith announced in late November he is entering the transfer portal, with three years of eligibility remaining.
Like Jackson State defensive end Antwan Owens, who signed with Black-owned product firm 3Kings Grooming, Smith also partnered with Black-owned brand B Condoms.

"I just wanted to because I could have easily went to Trojan or Magnum, but I want to stay Black-owned. They came to me and I just thought it was a good idea just to show that I'm staying true to my people," Smith said. "A lot of people didn't know about this Black-owned company. Since I've been partnered with them, a lot of people are really getting into it, so I feel like it really helped."

Smith's content creation feeds off things he enjoys perusing in his free time, or content he believes he can re-create and put his own spin on. Balancing school athletics, branding himself and reaching out to different brands and companies is challenging at times, but Smith hopes to fight the stigma that HBCU athletes can't get NIL deals.

"I'm at an HBCU. It is harder because people don't look at us because we're not a Power 5 school," Smith said. "That's the whole purpose of me doing this, to show that you don't have to go to a Power 5 school to get deals and everything. You could be at a small school and get deals — you just have to put the time in.