Things are going pretty well in Starkville, Mississippi right now. Just a couple days ago, the Mississippi State baseball team earned the first national title in school history. Yesterday, a member of the Mississippi State women’s golf team went out and took advantage of the new NIL opportunities that are now afforded to NCAA Athletes.
Ashley Gilliam, a sophomore for the Mississippi State Bulldogs, has apparently signed on with Barstool Athletics to become a Barstool Athlete.
Gilliam has accomplished a good bit and has already been honored multiple times throughout her career. Here are the honors she’s received so far, per her bio on the Mississippi State Athletic Department’s website:
- 2020 Golfweek All-American Third Team
- 2020 WGCA All-American Honorable Mention Team
- 2020 All-SEC First Team
- 2020 SEC All-Freshman Team
- 2020 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll
- 1x SEC Golfer of the Week (2/26/20)
What is a Barstool Athlete?
That’s a good question.
With NCAA student-athletes now able to make some money off of their name, image, and likeness, Barstool Sports started up a “NCAA marketing firm,” Dave Portnoy announced on Twitter.
Here’s Portnoy’s tweet which explains the whole deal:
Gilliam is far from being the only athlete to sign on and become a Barstool Athlete. So far, the move seems to be one that pays off in terms of gaining a social media following.
Don’t believe me?
Just check out this look at how quickly Adelaide Halverson’s Instagram following has grown overnight. According to this tweet from Front Office Sports, Halverson gained over 23,000 new Instagram followers before 10 a.m. this morning.
That’s absurd and incredible and good business for everyone involved, I would assume.
I have no clue if every Barstool Athlete will see this sort of growth amongst their social media followings, my guess is probably not, but Barstool Sports has an incredibly large and passionate following. Barstool has an absolutely massive brand that is pretty far reaching.
There’s a good chance a lot of folks will start following a lot of college athletes they never would have heard of otherwise.
For more information on Barstool Sports’ Barstool Athletes, click here to check out their Twitter account. To apply to become a Barstool Athlete, Barstool Sports set up this form.
For more independent Mississippi State news and commentary, follow The Underdog Tribune on Facebook and Twitter. Follow Ethan Lee on Facebook and Twitter.
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