Redhawks look to SOAR in recruiting with NIL partnership

The current state of college recruiting and name, image, and likeness, are forever intertwined. And just because Southeast Missouri State is a mid-major and FCS Division I program, that does not mean the Redhawks can allow themselves to be left in the dust.

SOAR Collective was announced last week as the official NIL Collective of SEMO athletics and will sponsor the football spring game on April 20, at Houck Field. SOAR Collective has permission to utilize SEMO marks and logos as part of student-athlete NIL initiatives and will receive various sponsorship assets.

"The landscape of college athletics is rapidly changing and we continue to search for ways to enhance the student-athlete experience," SEMO Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Brady Barke said during a press conference on March 26. "We believe this partnership with SOAR Collective will provide great opportunities for our student-athletes to leverage name, image, and likeness opportunities while helping ensure sustained success for SEMO Athletics."

NIL opportunities have existed for SEMO athletes before the announcement of the SOAR Collective. Former basketball player Nygal Russell once had a deal with the local Wings Etc., back in 2021. Stacked Supplements signed an endorsement deal with a couple of track athletes around that same time. Jackson High School alum and Missouri center Connor Tollison signed an NIL deal with Hooters back in 2022.

The difference now is that SEMO can use this partnership with the third-party organization to their advantage in the recruiting game, mainly in the transfer portal. SEMO’s football, baseball, and basketball programs have heavily relied on the transfer portal to build their rosters.

“This is really a collective where we kind of pool all the money to strategically retain and recruit top-25 talent,” SEMO football coach Tom Matukewicz said. “It’s more for the transfers. It’s really a free agent. Why do free agents go where they go? The best deals, and so it’s gonna be huge to be able to be competitive in that transfer portal space.”

The transfer portal works both ways as well. The Redhawks men’s basketball program lost their leading scorer from the 2023 March Madness team to the portal. This year, four players (Adam Larson, Aquan Smart Gavyn Elkamil, and Dylan Branson) announced their entry into the portal on March 19.

“Things have just changed,” SEMO football coach Tom Matukewicz said. “We lost a couple of recruits in December to NIL deals. So now we are fortunate that we got this thing started. We got to raise money to be able to compete for recruits, but also keep our great players here.”

The purpose of the SOAR Collective is to be the place where those who normally served as boosters can send their donations towards them for the funds to be dispersed toward NIL deals such as autograph signings, social media promotions, camps and clinics, charity events, special appearances, commercials, and more.

“We’re gonna have to have some people step up and help us get that thing going,” said Andy Sawyers, head coach of the SEMO baseball team that is heavily comprised of junior college transfers. “It’s not like Manna from Heaven that just magically appears each morning. But certainly, if we can get that thing up and funded, it would certainly give us an edge in recruiting.”

The success of the SOAR Collective will be judged on how it impacts basketball recruiting over the spring and summer, and how the football team builds its roster in 2025.

“We just got to make sure we’re still getting guys that want to be Redhawks,” Matukewicz said. “We can’t just sell out to try to buy players because ultimately you got to want to be here.”