Homegrown Kentucky MBB players feel 'blessed' to do NIL deals together

When I walked onto the 21st floor of the Lexington Financial Center (more locally known as the Fifth Third Bank Building or “The Tallest Building in the World”) on Wednesday morning, I knew I would be going into a commercial photoshoot for Morgan & Morgan. But what I didn’t expect was to walk in on three homegrown Kentucky men’s basketball players pretending to do a TikTok video with Dan Morgan, one of the company’s attorneys.

The American law firm based in Florida has been a partner with UK Athletics for a while now. Last year, it was the Wildcat trio of Trent Noah, Andrew Carr, and Travis Perry who linked up with Morgan & Morgan for an NIL deal that featured a photoshoot. You can still see their faces on Morgan & Morgan billboards in downtown Lexington, although those will be swapped out soon, especially now that Carr has left for the NBA and Perry has transferred to Ole Miss.

Noah has returned as one of the faces, but he’s joined by a couple of his new Kentucky teammates — ones who also hail from the Bluegrass State. Freshman Jasper Johnson and junior Reece Potter joined Noah this time around. So you could imagine my surprise when I walked onto the floor and Dan Morgan was standing on top of a conference room table with the three Wildcats dancing around him.

Spent the morning in downtown Lex watching three Bluegrass Boys (Jasper Johnson, Trent Noah, and Reece Potter) do a commercial/photoshoot with Morgan & Morgan.

Stories coming soon… pic.twitter.com/VEIlgIB3Bu

— Zack Geoghegan (@ZGeogheganKSR) October 8, 2025

Being able to enter into NIL partnerships is one of the many pluses of the new era of college athletics, but to be able to do it with guys you’ve known for a good chunk of your life makes it a bit sweeter. That’s even more true with Noah, who does the majority of his NIL deals through in-state companies.

“It means a whole lot, especially all three of us being from Kentucky and we get to partner with such a great brand and company,” Noah, who was raised in Harlan, KY, told KSR. “It’s really cool being able to grow up in the same place and to be able to do deals like this and help promote each other.”

“Not too many local kids get the opportunity to play for the University of Kentucky and to get deals such as Morgan & Morgan,” Johnson, a Lexington product, added. “So it’s great that we can use our brands and showcase it to the world.”

For Potter, these kinds of NIL opportunities didn’t come along all that often during his previous two college seasons at Miami (OH). The Lexington native doesn’t take this for granted. All three of them seemed to fully enjoy the experience and opportunity, as well.

“I was glad to be able to be a part of this,” Potter said. “And then Trent, Jasper, I’ve known my whole life. So it’s awesome to get to do this stuff with people I’ve been so close with my whole life. Very blessed to have this opportunity.”

Stay tuned for the completed Morgan & Morgan ad coming soon. The idea behind it centers around what a day in the office would be like if a few college basketball players were hanging around and causing a ruckus. When I asked if they used their TikTok experience to chime in with any potential ideas, they left all that to the experts running the show behind the scenes.

“We were just the actors,” Noah said with a laugh. “We just did whatever the producer said.”

That sounds like a highly coachable player to me.