NIL
Who is NiJaree Canady? Stats, NIL deal for Texas Tech softball ace
WATCH: Here’s Texas Tech postgame after win over FSU in NCAA super regional Texas Tech defeated FSU in game one of super regional and is one win away from advancing to Women’s College World Series. Here’s a postgame after the win. A year ago, Texas Tech softball was languishing. The Red Raiders were coming off […]
WATCH: Here’s Texas Tech postgame after win over FSU in NCAA super regional
Texas Tech defeated FSU in game one of super regional and is one win away from advancing to Women’s College World Series. Here’s a postgame after the win.
A year ago, Texas Tech softball was languishing.
The Red Raiders were coming off a season in which they went just 8-16 in Big 12 play and finished in eighth in their 10-team conference. From 2002 through 2024, they finished with a winning record in league play just once and went 120-281 against Big 12 opponents.
This season, things have been just a little bit different.
Texas Tech has authored one of the biggest turnarounds in the sport, with a program-record 50 wins and Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles to its name. Already in the super regionals for the first time in program history, its victories Thursday and Friday against Florida State in the Tallahassee Super Regional sent it to the Women’s College World Series.
The biggest catalyst behind that dramatic improvement isn’t much of a mystery.
NiJaree Canady has been one of the biggest stars in college softball over the past several seasons, winning national player of the year honors as a sophomore in 2024. Weeks after earning that distinction, Canady stunned much of the college softball world by leaving Stanford and ending up at Texas Tech, where she had 29 wins and a Division I-best 0.88 ERA heading into Friday while helping the Red Raiders reach new heights as a program.
Though other factors have played a role in Texas Tech’s rise — namely, first-year Gerry Glasco and some of the impactful transfers he brought with him from Louisiana-Lafayette — none have been as consequential as Canady, whose excellence inside the pitching circle has the Red Raiders on a historic run.
Here’s a closer look at Canady, her career and how she ended up at Texas Tech:
NiJaree Canady stats
From virtually the moment she stepped foot on a college softball diamond two years ago, Canady has been one of the sport’s brightest stars and most dominant forces.
She helped lead Stanford to a pair of Women’s College World Series appearances in 2023 and 2024. She earned several national freshman of the year awards in 2023 and followed it up with an even more impressive 2024 season that culminated with winning USA Softball player of the year.
In her first season at Texas Tech, she hasn’t fallen off much, if at all, entering Friday’s game against Florida State with a 29-5 record, 0.88 ERA, 276 strikeouts and just 40 walks. She’s one of three finalists for USA softball player of the year honors and could become the sixth person to win the award multiple times.
Here’s a year-by-year look at Canady’s college stats:
- 2025 (Texas Tech): 29-5 record, 0.88 ERA, 276 strikeouts, 40 walks, 17 complete games
- 2024 (Stanford): 24-7 record, 0.73 ERA, 337 strikeouts, 44 walks, 24 complete games
- 2023 (Stanford): 17-3 record, 0.57 ERA, 218 strikeouts, 21 walks, 10 complete games
After logging only 35 at-bats in two seasons at Stanford, Canady has been a force at the plate this season for Texas Tech, with a .322 average, a team-high 11 home runs and 34 RBIs in 90 at-bats for the Red Raiders.
NiJaree Canady NIL deal
In the era of name, image and likeness deals for college athletes, Canady’s value to Texas Tech and the school’s desire to bring her into the program can be quantified.
As part of her commitment to the Red Raiders, Canady earned a one-year contract worth a reported $1,050,024 from the Matador Club, Texas Tech’s NIL collective. It is believed to be the most lucrative deal ever for a college softball player. Canady chose the Red Raiders despite Stanford preparing her a six-figure offer that would have made her the highest-paid female athlete in school history, according to a report from ESPN.
Canady’s NIL deal with Texas Tech was made possible in part by two Matador Club boosters, John Sellers, an oil and gas executive, and his wife, Tracy, a former Texas Tech softball player.
“She is a wonderful human being,” Tracy Sellers said to ESPN. “We look at it as they deserve it just as much (as male athletes). She worked so hard to be the No. 1 pitcher in the country. … I left that meeting and thought, this is who I would love to put a lot of effort into because of who she is.”
How tall is NiJaree Canady?
Canady is listed at 6 feet tall on Texas Tech’s official roster.
Where is NiJaree Canady from?
Canady is from Topeka, Kansas. She was a two-time Kansas softball player of the year at Topeka High School, which she led to back-to-back state titles. As a junior, she had a 0.26 ERA with 232 strikeouts while hitting .478 and 13 home runs.
Her connection to her home state ended up coming in handy for Texas Tech. While she was visiting the school’s Lubbock campus after entering the transfer portal last summer, Canady, a Kansas City Chiefs fan, received a call from former Red Raiders star Patrick Mahomes, who has an NIL initiative with the school through Adidas.
NiJaree Canady parents
Canady is the daughter of Bruce and Katherine Canady. Her father played college football at Division II Washburn University in Kansas while her younger brother, BJ, is a redshirt freshman defensive lineman at Cal