Fri-YAY Listicle: Top Partnerships/Endorsements I Want To See ND Football Players Have

Welcome, everyone, to the weekly One Foot Down listicle! Each week on Friday, Pat Rick and I will alternate providing for you all a listicle of the greatest/top/best Notre Dame Fighting Irish-related things we can think of. They might be more serious, but mostly they will probably be wacky (what else would you honestly expect from the two of us?). We are AMPED to provide these for you each week.

This week, there is BIG news for NCAA athletes. The Name-Image-Likeness (NIL) agreement was established on July 1, and student athletes at NCAA-affiliated institutions can be paid for their name, image, or likeness on any memorabilia or with endorsements. This is a giant step for NCAA athletes, and it is a monumental occasion as athletes were never even supposed to sniff an opportunity of money in their “amateurism.” We’re not going to get into all of that, as you can read about that just about anywhere. In light of NIL becoming a thing, I wanted to breakdown some of my top ideas for what partnerships or endorsements that ND Football players could have now that the possibility is legal.

DOLLA DOLLA BILLS Y’ALL

There could be some great opportunities for the guys on the team to get some great endorsements, even from right down the road in South Bend. Let’s take a look at the top ones I thought of.

Kyle Hamilton - First Choice: HoneyBaked Ham

I mean this speaks for itself. Kyle Hamilton doing a commercial for HoneyBaked Ham - Ham 4 Ham, a promotion to promote his own Kyle HAMilton Ham. It’s 14 pounds, just like his number. It’s a great TV spot if you think about it. There used to be a HoneyBaked Ham just east of campus on Edison, but that closed years ago. So, we have to go with our Final Choice.

Final Choice: Eby’s Meat Market

This meat market is on the west side of South Bend. It is an incredible mom-and-pop meat market. Kyle could do an ad for the same ham special as above. He would kill it with the local crowd. Since he has such a national following, he could I guess do Arby’s as well, but the local ads for a year would be fantastic.

Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

Bo Bauer - The Linebacker Inn & Lounge - Across from Notre Dame

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

This is amazing and the ads write themselves. Bo Bauer is a savage at linebacker. Let’s get him (responsibly) crushing some 32 oz beers at The Backer in a commercial. We need to have a great linebacker and the best bar in South Bend (that is also conveniently across from Notre Dame) be a team on this. It would be, in a word, electric.

Rocco Spindler - Rocco’s

For obvious reasons, we need Rocco with Warren promoting some of the best pizza in South Bend. Rocco has already gotten a shout out from a posed Blake Fisher outside of Rocco’s just last year.

But, if that doesn’t work out or Rocco goes another direction, he can always be a brand ambassador for Carhart or Bass Pro Shops as their resident lumberjack.

Braden Lenzy - Zoom

Braden Lenzy seems to get faster. And, since we all have had to live much of the last year and a half on Zoom video chatting with extended family and brainstorming the best cover sheets to put on those TPS Reports. So, why wouldn’t the speedster use the platform we now know to rake in a few more bucks?

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Justin Ademilola and Jayson Ademilola - Brothers Bar and Grill

You thought I wouldn’t incorporate another pun, didn’t you? Well here’s another one. The Ademilola Brothers could do ads for the Brothers that resides in Eddy Street Commons just off campus. They could create like a U-Pick 2 meal with two smaller sandwiches or something like that. Endless possibilities.

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Photo by David Madison/Getty Images