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Former BYU football player Crew Wakley was one of two former Cougars mentioned in a recent story by the Salt Lake Tribune referencing the 2024 season. While the team went 11-2 and narrowly missed out on a Big 12 Championship appearance, not everyone on the roster was happy.
Wakley, alongside teammate Isaiah Bagnah, claim that NIL promises weren’t honored. The school’s collective reportedly renegotiated its pay structure before the season started.
Early last January, the new leader of the Royal Blue Collective — the officially endorsed Name, Image and Likeness arm of BYU athletics — stood in front of the team ready to set a new tone…
“I’m not here to pay your rent or bills. I’m not here for any of that,” Min Kim said, according to BYU defensive end Isaiah Bagnah. “You guys are entitled, greedy, asking me for money.”
The duo stated that NIL payments were slashed significantly in the offseason leading up to the ’24 campaign. Bagnah said that starters’ payouts dropped by more than 50% while most walk-ons would get nothing. The collective allegedly hit players with an ultimatum – sign now or no cash.
Crew Wakley also noted a non-compete clause listed in the agreement. Players couldn’t “build their own brands” because it wouldn’t “align with Royal Blue.” He recalled teammates being fired for inking outside deals.
The issues, according to players, predated that initial NIL talk. In December of 2023, the story states that payments were delayed until after the transfer window closed. This wasn’t communicated to the team, according to Bagnah.
In a typical pay cycle, players would receive checks around the 15th of each month. But when the team dispersed from Provo at the end of the 2023 season, the payments didn’t hit their accounts…
The collective made the December payments only after the transfer portal window closed at the end of the month, Bagnah said. Some players speculated the delay was purposeful, to incentivize players to stay on the roster rather than leave and miss part of their NIL compensation.
A month after the postponed payments, the renegotiations were announced. The reasoning behind the cuts? BYU’s 5-7 record from the year prior.
“I’m here to win. And you guys didn’t win last year,” Bagnah recalled [Royal Blue Collective leader Min] Kim saying.
BYU signed top basketball recruit AJ Dybantsa a year after the NIL cuts.
The No. 1 player committed to the Cougars in December before signing in February. The potential one-and-done deal is reported to be worth more than $4 million.
WELCOME HOME! @ADybantsa #SkoCougs 🤙🏾 pic.twitter.com/wCwkPzO4Tw
— The Royal Blue (@RoyalBlueNIL) December 10, 2024
The partnership will be one of the largest in college basketball next season. Dybantsa is one of a number of talented hoopers to join the roster since new coach Kevin Young’s arrival.
Meanwhile, football players were supposedly told they’d be able to again renegotiate in the fall after voicing frustrations with the cuts that occurred in January. That apparently didn’t happen.
When players expressed their discomfort, collective leaders promised salaries would be renegotiated after fall camp, Wakley said. The safety said he was told that starters’ pay would be bumped up… that never happened for them.
Football and basketball players have had much different experiences over the last year with the BYU NIL collective, though it’s unclear if Dybantsa’s massive deal had any impact on the renegotiation process. Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith and CEO of basketball ops Danny Ainge offered up a blank check for the forward’s signature. The football team doesn’t seem to have the same investment from the donor base.
The players mentioned in the Salt Lake Tribune story have since left Provo. Isaiah Bagnah is training for the NFL while Crew Wakley transferred to Purdue.