NIL
Texas Tech took NiJaree Canady NIL approach with 2026 five-star OT Felix Ojo, but football is not softball
Texas Tech took the NiJaree Canady NIL approach with 2026 five-star OT Felix Ojo. But paying big, guaranteed money to a proven softball pitching transfer who can single-handedly control games as compared to paying big, guaranteed money to an incoming freshman offensive tackle is a totally different kind of risk, especially in the new era of revenue sharing with student-athletes.
Tech is paying Ojo $2.325 million – guaranteed – for the next three years (an average of $775,000 per season), with a verbal agreement that Tech will renegotiate up to $5 million total if NIL money goes back to a Wild West setup, according to Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports.
Additional info on Texas Tech’s deal with new five-star offensive tackle commit Felix Ojo:
A source tells @cbssports it’s a three-year deal averaging $775,000 a year with a verbal understanding that Tech will renegotiate up to $5 million if things shift back to a Wild West setup https://t.co/YjrV9oQdSy pic.twitter.com/T2MqDjOrKQ
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) July 4, 2025
This is the kind of high-risk, high-reward precedent Tech set with Canady, who got $1,050,024 to sign with Tech after her sophomore season at Stanford and helped Tech finish runner-up to Texas in the championship final of the Women’s College World Series last month.
Canady’s record deal for a softball player was staggering but came with managed risk considering she had already earned NFCA National Freshman of the Year at Stanford in 2023 and followed that up by being named USA Softball’s Collegiate Player of the Year in 2024 all while leading the Cardinal to two straight WCWS appearances.
A guaranteed deal of this size for an incoming freshman football player in the revenue-sharing era of college athletics is a significant risk and will undoubtedly lead to more agents for high-end high school recruits demanding big, multi-year guarantees.