TigerImpact NIL Collective opens doors for Clemson student-athletes to serve their communities
For Clemson senior women’s basketball forward Amari Robinson, the decision to join the TigerImpact NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) and leverage her platform as a Clemson student athlete had absolutely nothing to do with money.
“I’ve never been drawn to making money,” says the Douglasville, Georgia, native who is passionate about working in special education and plans to pursue a master’s in special education after finishing her undergrad degree. Robinson, who joined TigerImpact earlier this year, is one of fifty-four Clemson student athletes to have signed deals with the collective since it launched in early 2022.
Student-athletes from every sport make up the collective, which includes Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelie, who has committed to working with Clemson Downs. Men’s basketball player P.J. Hall, whose charities of choice are the Carolina Miracle League and South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind, is also a member.
The collective stops short of sharing the financial terms they strike with the athletes. Still, one thing is clear: no matter the amount student athletes are paid, they’re committed to using their name, image, and likeness to promote whichever charities they’ve decided to serve. And serve they must.
As an older sister to a sibling with Down syndrome, Robinson decided to work with ClemsonLife, a university program that prepares those with intellectual disabilities to live independent lives and gain competitive employment. For Robinson, it was an easy choice.
“Working with ClemsonLife confirmed my love for the program,” she says, “It’s helped me stay engaged and reminds me of why I want to do what I want to do.”
Sure, Robinson hears the news and reads the headlines made by other NIL programs offering life-changing money to a few fortunate athletes. But, in her eyes, TigerImpact offers something better.
“It’s about having a purpose,” she says. “About building someone else up along the way.” She says she’s enjoyed watching so many of her fellow student athletes get involved in the collective and encourages every Clemson student athlete to give it a serious look. “Go for it. Find something you’re passionate about,” she says.
For Aman Thornton of the Clemson men’s track and field team, TigerImpact offered a chance to influence the next generation by working with the Greenville Boys and Girls Club program. “[TigerImpact] is not just about money . . . it gives you a chance to become a better person.”
In the eyes of the NCAA, Thornton is a senior academically and a junior athletically, but the Columbus, Ohio, native jokes “[I’d] stay at Clemson the rest of my life if I could.”
A sports communications and athletics leadership student, the middle-distance runner dreams of coaching football or track before becoming an athletic director. Until then, he’s hoping to leverage his role as a Clemson athlete to shape others.
“I’ve always wanted to be a role model for somebody—not everyone has a positive role model,” he says. It’s also a chance to follow his father’s advice: “He always told me to give my gift back any way, shape, or form possible.”
Photograph by Mike McMillan
