Yeshiva Basketball Star Jumps Into NIL Without Social Media

It has been a banner year for Jewish student-athletes across the country. From BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff and Texas A&M wide receiver Sam Salz on the football field to Michigan center Danny Wolf on the hardwood, there have been a variety of history-makers in college sports both in stadiums and through NIL.

One Jewish athlete who is making waves in NIL without the use of social media is Yeshiva University basketball star Zevi Samet. Averaging 22.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game as a junior, Samet earned All-American honors in addition to being named All-Conference, All-Met and All-District while leading the Division III Maccabees to a Skyline Championship and NCAA Division III Tournament appearance.

A religious decision – as an Orthodox Jew – to not be on social media, Samet has found new ways to leverage his on-court star power to engage in NIL for a good cause. The Skyline Conference’s leading scorer and Monsey, NY-native recently launched a new apparel collection featuring his “Monsey Mamba” and “Heimishe Hooper” nicknames, coined by New York-based writer and comedian Eitan Levine who helped bring to life Retzlaff’s NIL partnership with Jewish food brand Manischewitz.

This apparel launch – designed by Yonatees Custom Printing and coordinated via Tribe NIL, a new NIL collective for Jewish student-athletes – stands for so much more than just Samet’s incredible on-court talent. A portion of sales go to his non-profit, Beyond the Court, providing Jewish programming for his fellow Yeshiva teammates and classmates.

Samet and his teammates were recently featured in a FOX Nation documentary – “Rebound” – focused on how the 2023-2024 Yeshiva team managed the emotional and physical toll of playing in the aftermath of October 7th. With six Israeli players on the roster that season, the team weighed canceling their season, instead playing for something bigger than basketball, a theme that is front and center with Samet.

After the DIII NCAA Tournament, Samet spoke to NIL Daily On SI about his unique NIL experience without social media, “Rebound” and how he is expanding his impact outside of basketball.

Social media is such a big part of NIL, especially how athletes and brands bring campaigns to life. Without a social presence, how have you found other ways to engage in the space?
“I’ve focused on trying to help inspire other guys on the team and their own individual Jewish groups, but this year I took a really big role in creating an organization called Beyond the Court. What that organization does is – I wanted to show the guys on the team that we’re all Jews, we all come from totally different backgrounds – I wanted them to get a taste of how I live my life and how I live an Orthodox life and how special it is to me. Of all the things that I do and how I feel good as a person and how I feel closer to God.”

“I’m not going to force any of them to do anything. Whoever wants to join it and do all the stuff that we’re going to do, but nothing’s forced, everything is at your own pace. I just wanted them to get a taste of it and we created daily prayers every day after practice where all the guys come and they pray, they put on Tefillin. Certain guys started telling me they’re like, ‘Z, I’m not a religious guy, but I started feeling holy when I started doing this.’ Something about my day was elevated and they just wanted to do more and more.”

What was the inspiration for your first NIL activation with the “Monsey Mamba” and “Heimishe Hooper” t-shirt launches?
“The comedian Eitan Levine posted a video – that people sent me on WhatsApp, since I don’t have social media – going crazy about me, how I’m a religious hooper and sharing the nicknames. I heard it got a lot of views and then people started reaching out about putting the names on shirts. I think it’s just pretty cool because he (Eitan) was someone who believed in me and although I don’t have social media, thought there was an opportunity to take part in NIL.”

“I wish everything with Beyond the Court would be free, but some of the things that we do as a team do cost money. More than the money going to my pocket, I wanted to use the money to help inspire these guys because at the end of the day, you feel the best and you feel the most accomplished when you give to others. So just by me always giving over to them, I feel more fulfilled, I feel more productive. I feel like I’m living my life’s mission.”

You were just featured in the powerful “Rebound” documentary – how do you think this will help tell the Yeshiva basketball story, share your unique experiences on and off the court and help open peoples’ eyes to what you and teammates stand for outside of basketball?
“I think one of the biggest lessons that a lot of people will see is that although the Jewish people are are a nation – and to see that our brothers and sisters in Israel are going through with the tremendous tragedy and sadness post-October 7th – we feel it here too. We have six or seven Israelis on the team, so we feel it. We’re with these guys all day and they’re speaking to their family nonstop. So we literally – although we’re here – felt it.”

“We went to Israel last year to play against one of the Israeli teams in an expedition game and I remember saying to the guys in the locker room – because before every game I share a Torah thought, a spiritual idea before we go on the court – the message that I kept sharing with them was that all these people came to watch us – both Israeli and American fans and American fans – but they didn’t come to just watch us play basketball. They came to represent us and to represent what we do for the nation. They came to support us for what we do for the nation. We showed them that you can use a platform like basketball. We’re showing them that that you can use a platform of basketball and to use it for bigger things. All of those people I’m sure were in a dark time, but they got to see through basketball how to cheer them up and how to get lifted up.”

“We went through so much as a team and post-October 7th and yet still tried to continue to play basketball. Then you see us failing at the end of the year and how we come back to this year and end up winning. It’s pretty cool on one end, and I think another thing is showing the diverse group of guys that we have on the team and how we all get together and no one feels different. No one feels pressured, no one feels that, ‘oh, I can’t hang out with those guys because they’re too religious or not religious enough.’ We’re all best friends and how we communicate and interact with each other, I think it’s really cool and it is really just how we use the platform of basketball on a bigger light that I think a lot of people will be inspired by.”

As you head into next season – now with some NIL experience under your belt – what are your goals for continuing to engage in the space?
“I definitely would love to do more, but I just don’t think many people really know about me since I’m not on social media. I think when people look at social media and they look at NIL opportunities, they look at the players who have the biggest followings. My goal is for people to hopefully see me and say, ‘listen, here’s a kid who doesn’t have social media but can be just as inspiring on the court and off the court.’ I attract a lot of people in the Jewish world and the Orthodox world who don’t have social media. I just hope that people would be interested in and believing in me, wanting me to represent their brands and then hopefully it can expand to a lot of people, even without social media.”