New Michigan NIL collective ‘Hail! Impact’ launching this weekend

There have been rumors swirling for weeks now about a brand new Michigan Wolverines Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) collective set to be announced soon. Well, now it will officially be launched this weekend, as reported first by Austin Meek of The Athletic ($).

The NIL collective is called “Hail! Impact” and is a nonprofit organization created by Chin Weerappuli, a U-M graduate who reached out to head coach Jim Harbaugh one day, quickly got to meet with him and, “volunteered to use his connections at Michigan’s business school to expand name, image and likeness opportunities for the football program.”

Weerappuli landed a job for the 2022 season. Once the season ended, he immediately got to work on the collective with business partner Andy Johnson.

The short-term goal for Hail! Impact is to raise $5 million to provide stipends up to $40,000 for players on the football team. They will be paid to do 24 hours of community service, as well as “educational seminars related to branding, financial literacy and tax planning.”

The collective’s long-term goal, if they are able to achieve that initial $5 million benchmark, is to expand the fundraising to other U-M athletics teams.

So far, Warde Manuel and the athletic department are supporting the collective, but only to a certain extent.

“What hasn’t happened yet — and, frankly, we can’t expect it to in the near term — is for them to go beyond wishing us luck and giving us the thumbs-up,” Johnson told The Athletic. “I don’t know that we’ll get to a point where they’re out in front of this for Hail! Impact or anyone else. That could be, but that would be a change from the status quo.”

With no financial assistance coming from the athletic department, we will see if Manuel gives a public endorsement for this collective, similarly to the one he released in a letter two days before Christmas for Champions Circle, MGoDAO, Ann Arbor NIL Club, and Stadium & Main.

Harbaugh has already given a written testimonial, which can be read on their website. It says, “Hail! Impact embodies our transformational philosophy on NIL by providing valuable service opportunities to our student-athletes while simultaneously benefiting the community we call home. Having worked closely with Chin during the 2022 championship season, I have full confidence in his team delivering a winning platform for players, nonprofit partners and donors alike.”

True freshman Semaj Morgan, sophomore Will Johnson and sophomore Amorion Walker have also written testimonials for the collective, which you can read here.

All in all, this is a step in the right direction for NIL in Ann Arbor. The student-athletes are getting paid, all while putting in some hard-earned work in the community. That’s a win-win in my book.

Of course, the Wolverines will never be like Miami or Texas A&M some of the other schools who play dirty in the NIL game, but more money in the pockets of student-athletes should be something they can pitch to recruits.

If you would like more information on the collective, head over to https://hailimpact.org/. And if you would like to donate, go to https://hailimpact.org/donate.