Arizona State middle linebacker Jordan Crook will soon be driving a new vehicle around Tempe. Fans of the Sun Devils partnered with a local dealerships to buy him a car less than 10 hours after he sent out the bat signal on social media.
Although this kind of purchase is not particularly uncommon in the modern era of NIL, the sequence of events is rather unusual and it would not make any sense if you tried to explain it to someone in 2010.
Crook, a former three-star recruit, began his college football career at Arkansas. The Texas-native spent two years with the Hogs and transferred out West during the offseason.
As things currently stand, Arizona State is just a few wins away from the College Football Playoff at 8-2. Crook’s role on defense has been a crucial factor in the success. There is a palpable buzz in Tempe ahead of Saturday’s home game against one-loss, No. 6-ranked BYU!
There’s a 1000+ person Ticketmaster queue for No. 21 ASU/ No. 14 BYU student tickets just 20 minutes after they were released.👀@SunDevilSource https://t.co/3EwjfNULZb pic.twitter.com/Na7k05NZC9
— Gabriella Chernoff (@gabbyjchernoff) November 18, 2024
As the Sun Devils continue to win, their fanbase is more willing to get involved. NIL donations are up. Tickets are in high demand.
Crook was a direct beneficiary of the increased excitement on Monday.
Smoke was pouring out of the hood of his Nissan Altima, which has officially reached the end of its life. With a sudden need for a new set of wheels, he took to X with a simple request earlier this month.
Twitter family, my Altima has been having issues for a while now, would there be any local car dealerships willing to inquire about new car involving a NIL deal? pic.twitter.com/RKSPmb1lKE
— Jordan Crook (@jcrook36) November 7, 2024
Head coach Kenny Dillingham also made a plea to the community.
Let’s go Sun Devil Nation!!!! Let’s get Crook an NIL deal with some wheels !
— @KennyDillingham on X
The Jones Ford Verde Valley dealership immediately sprung into action but was unable to fix the problem. Owner Parker Jones presented a solution to Crook’ problem on an Arizona State message board on Monday night.
How about our leading tackler from the KSU game, Jordan Crook?
Last week Jones Ford brought Jordan a 2024 Bronco Sport loaner to drive while we diagnosed his 2008 Nissan.
My intention, and my commitment to the powers that be, was that I was willing to spend a few grand making his vehicle reliable again. Well, after inspection, I could threw a few grand into his car and still be well short of returning him a reliable vehicle.
I have committed to purchasing Jordan’s vehicle from him, for approximately 4X its actual cash value. I also have committed to providing him a NIL vehicle through the balance of this calendar year.
This is where a really cool and newsworthy opportunity exists for [message board members]. Especially considering the moderate virality with the video of Jordan’s vehicle blowing smoke out of the hood & [head coach Kenny Dillingham] drawing attention to it with his quote tweet. I’d like to gauge interest in our community here to crowd source enough money for us to help replace Jordan’s vehicle.
I’d like to set the goal at $15,000. This will afford us a budge up about $13,000 for a Vehicle Sales Price. We have almost 400 Vehicles in our Pre-Owned inventory between our four locations and can ensure with good confidence that we can provide Jordan with a quality and reliable vehicle that he’s proud of.
To get us started, I will contribute $3,000 out of Jones Ford Verde Valley and another $1,200 from me personally. We are now at $4,200 of our $15,000 budget.
Jordan will be a Senior next season. We need to retain this roster to the greatest degree possible. Lets show the program and the Phoenix Metro community at large what it looks like to Activate the Valley in support of the Devils.
I’d encourage you to let your pledge be known here and then text me your name and dollar amount to 602-881-8998. I will not collect any money until we’ve gotten reasonably close (enough) to make something happen for Jordan Crook.
— Parker Jones
It did not take long for Jones to start collecting money. The Sun Devils reached their goal of $15,000 in less than 10 hours. They exceeded that number over the course of the next 12 hours, with all of the overages going to the Sun Angel Collective.
Jordan Crook is getting a new whip just 12 days after he asked for help. This is a testament to what NIL has become and what NIL efforts can look like in Tempe!