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Florida State football: New NIL collective 'The Battle's End' playing role in player retention
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- Florida State football: New NIL collective 'The Battle's End' playing role in player retention
A new name, image and likeness collective was announced this week with the intention of financially helping Florida State athletics.
CEO Ingram Smith, who is the co-host of the podcast The Nolecast, helped launch the new NIL space − The Battle's End − with an announcement of four players − linebacker Kalen DeLoach, ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year and defensive end Patrick Payton, as well as cornerbacks Jarrian Jones and Renardo Green − on Tuesday.
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"FSU fans wanted an arena in which they could contribute in the NIL space and feel confident that Florida State could be as competitive as they needed to be in this space," Smith said.
"So we just wanted to create a clearly defined space while those that wanted to contribute to football or another sport could do so directly and have full confidence."
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The Battle's End name comes directly from the FSU fight song.
The announcement of the new collective comes at a time when players are deciding whether they should enter the transfer portal, go pro, or make any other decisions respective to their football careers.
FSU fans cannot contribute right now, but an avenue for such will be open down the road.
The Seminoles' first major NIL collective, Rising Spear, takes contributions from fans but has also a focus on all sports, rather than just football.
"We're not (taking money from fans right now). No this is a self-funded operation currently," Smith said.
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"(It's) just like-minded people who share my passion and fortunately have the resources that we can all kind of channel our passion as, as athletic supporters into an avenue that we think kind of best serves Florida State's ability to compete in the modern NIL era."
Smith added the collective has been a work in progress for some time now.
"We've been working on this for about four months now. And there's been an awful lot of people that have done 18 or 20-hour days," he said. "So I can't tell you the amount of work that it takes to get something like this off the ground."
Announcements from receiver Kentron Poitier, running backs Lawrance Toafili and Rodney Hill, offensive linemen Robert Scott and Maurice Smith, and defensive tackle Joshua Farmer, defensive end Malcolm Ray followed in recent days. Smith added more announcements are still to come in the coming days.
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The biggest addition to the collective, of course, has been quarterback Jordan Travis.
Travis helped the Seminoles (9-3) become bowl eligible for the first time since 2019 and post their first winning season since 2017. They finished the regular season ranked No. 13 in the College Football Rankings and defeated rivals Miami and Florida in the same season for the first time in six seasons.
"We will sign players that we deem as instrumentally important to the future of football," Smith said. "Obviously, you can watch Jordan Travis. You don't need a whole lot of analytics or numbers to prove the worth he has.
"But we do have some pretty advanced model that we have created that we believe both gives us a better look as to where value is and also some of the current market inefficiencies that exist within the NFL space in the transfer portal in particular."
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While some of the players, like Payton, Hill and Farmer were not expected to bolt as younger players, Smith said with the new NIL deals being handed out, it is never a given anymore.
He said the collective, made up of other donors who support FSU, deemed those players, as well as the upperclassmen important to keep around.
"It is all about keeping people at bay before they get involved with your roster as well," Smith said. "We've certainly brought back some guys who intended this to be their 'final year,' but guys like Pat Payton and Josh farmers, also marketing providing opportunities for younger players as well."
The Battle's End could eventually factor into recruiting, but at the moment, that is not the plan.
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"Our attention is fully on retention right now," Smith said.
The focus early on for the collective will be solely football, but they have signed some players from other sports as well.
"We've signed a couple of golf athletes, and we will sign up a couple of other players and other sports that we think have unique marketing," Smith said. "But are we're going to be laser-focused on football.
"Our number one goal is sustainability. Every decision we make, every move that we contemplate as a group is put through a filter of what gets us to sustainability fastest. Sustainability is our goal. Sustainability is what this whole structure is built around."
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GAME INFORMATION
Who:No. 13 Florida State vs. Oklahoma
When/Where:Dec. 29, 5:30 p.m.; Camping World Stadium in Orlando
TV:ESPN
Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU football: New NIL collective 'The Battle's End' playing major role
