Riley Moss passes on NIL opportunity with Iowa players-led collective

On3 imageby:Jeremy Crabtree07/14/22

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Iowa became one of the final Power 5 programs to have a NIL collective when a players-led group called Iowa City NIL Club launched on July 6.

The Iowa City NIL Club joins a quickly growing trend of players on teams across the country partnering with YOKE, a licensing company, that sells access passes and pays a percentage back to the players involved. A large contingent of players at schools like Michigan State, Auburn, Kansas State and Arkansas have joined YOKE in creating clubs at their schools.

But not everybody is jumping on board. Preseason All-America candidate and 2021 Big Ten Conference defensive back of the year Riley Moss told Hawkeye Report on Wednesday he’s not going to be involved with the Iowa City NIL Club.

“I’m not participating, but I’d say about 70% of the team is,” Moss told Hawkeye Report. “I stayed out of it just because I kind of want to focus on some football things and that would be taking up a lot of my time. I’m here to play some football.

“It’s not the best for me. But it’s good for some of these guys to get some of that exposure. It’ll be good for them.”

Interestingly, Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta said on July 8 that another collective could be launching soon. His goal is to have a collective at Iowa that’s “fair and sustainable.”

“I feel really good about where we’re at,” Barta told reporters. “Some have suggested that we’re behind. I don’t feel that way because I want to do it the right way and do something that would be sustainable.”

Riley Moss sees more opportunities down the road

Riley Moss said the Iowa coaching staff is doing a good job of working with the team to educate players about the ups and downs of NIL.

“We just had a NIL meeting last night, and the guy said, ‘Not all money is good money.’” Moss said. “It’s different for everyone. I’m OK with not taking it. I’ll be fine.”

Riley Moss currently has an On3 NIL Valuation of $250,000. The On3 NIL Valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time. Moss ranks No. 129 in the College Football NIL Rankings. Yet, that value could shoot through the roof during the 2022 season. That’s because Moss is one of the top returning players in college football.

“NIL is cool and stuff,” Moss said. “But if you do what you have to do on the field, four or five years down the road it’s not going to matter for the NFL.”