The partnership between the players and HMGD was facilitated by ULTRA

In a historic move, New Iberia law firm Haik, Minvielle, Grubbs, and D’Albor (HMGD) signed a Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deal with two homegrown student-athletes from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, cornerback Trey Amos and defensive lineman Zi’yon Hill.

Eric Haik of HMGD said that the partnership between his business and the two UL athletes was a historic way to celebrate athletes that do things the right way.

“It was a landmark day for two of our local players,” he said. “When this NIL deal all came about, the light bulbs went off for us. We knew that we wanted to be involved, in some form or fashion, and as we began to learn more about what an NIL agreement was, we knew which players we wanted to go after and that was two of New Iberia’s own stellar student-athletes that went to Catholic High School. They had unprecedented success at the high school level and now they’re having unprecedented success at the D1 level,” he said.

“Those guys represent exactly what we think student-athletes should represent. They’re guys that have risen through the ranks the right way, they go about their business on and off the field the right way, they’re great mentors to our youth, and they’re great examples to the kids who aspire to one day play at that level,” Haik continued.

Jaci Russo, co-founder and CEO at Brand Russo, said that since NIL deals have been allowed, UL has worked hard to make sure that they give the student-athletes the tools necessary to navigate them.

“UL reached out in January after the Name, Image, and Likeness opportunity became available through the NCAA,” she said. “We watched what other schools were doing and some made a few mistakes that we were able to learn from. In January, we began researching and looking at best practices to put together a program that we named ULTRA. It’s about the university first, it’s a place of learning and that always has to stay at the top of our minds, so that’s what it stands for. The rest of it, Lucrative, Training, Resources, Advantage, really sums up everything that our 400 student-athletes are going to get from this program.”

ULTRA is a program that Brand Russo uses to combine the education needed to benefit from NIL deals with the opportunities for student-athletes to partner with local businesses.

“There’s two halves to ULTRA,” Russo said. “The first half are subject matter experts from around Acadiana that are coming in and teaching the things that our student-athletes need to know to go pro in whatever they do after college. We saw other universities where student-athletes received NIL deals and they say that they were never taught about taxes, investing, or setting up an LLC, and got themselves into some hot water. We wanted to make sure that before student-athletes got those opportunities, they had the education to make the most of it. We have experts lined up to teach everything from starting a business and accounting to legal and manufacturing.

Russo said that the other half of ULTRA involves matching up student-athletes with local businesses that will be a great fit for their personalities and audience.

For Haik, there was never any doubt that his business wanted to partner with UL athletes when the NIL deals became available.

“We knew that we wanted to hook up with those guys to sign them to Iberia Parish’s first NIL agreements and hopefully shine some light on these guys and let other business know that there are plenty of local athletes that have come out of Iberia Parish and are welcoming some kind of NIL agreement,” he said. “You bring them in to be an ambassador of your brand to help build your business’ brand, whether that be through social media, print advertisement, online media, you name it. These guys have a pretty significant reach and so, for us, it was a no-brainer to get these guys in. We’re hoping that it opens doors and shines a positive light on what NIL agreements really are.”

Haik said that he also believes that the partnership between HMGD and two New Iberia athletes continues the tradition of celebrating local talent.

“For me, it’s a way to highlight these student-athletes,” he said. “These guys need an opportunity to shine and we need to shine light on the positive role models, especially in this day and age. These guys do things the right way and they need to be rewarded for it. They spent a day with us, learning about our staff and what we do, and they are now part of our team and the HMGD brand that we sell on a daily basis. One of the mottos of our business is ‘stay local and represent our city’ and that’s what these guys are. They’re local and they represent our city, so now they also represent our brand.”

Russo agreed with Haik, explaining that the local focus of HMGD creates a perfect matchup with Hill and Amos, who don’t have the opportunities for employment that regular college students have.

“That’s what NIL deals are about,” she said. “It gives businesses a chance to coordinate and utilize the influence that the student-athletes have. They don’t have the kind of schedule that allows them to work a part-time job to pay for college. They have way more school responsibilities than I ever did, so when we looked at these big million dollar deals that were making the news we knew that they were outliers, not reality. What our student-athletes are hoping to accomplish by matching up with business is enough to pay their car insurance or take a date out for dinner. They’re not expecting the community to make them rich, they are hoping to utilize the social media power that they have and the influence that they have to help local businesses and they get paid for their efforts. It’s kind of a win-win for everybody, and not just the student-athlete or the business, but also the university that now has a tool for recruitment and retention.”

Russo also said that businesses don’t have to stick to the model used by HMGD, adding that there are multiple ways to incorporate student-athletes into your business.

“What Eric and his team did was great,” she said. “They are creating content that features the student-athletes and integrates them into their team. That’s one way that a business could do it.

Russo also explained that businesses could partner with student-athletes on social causes or coordinate fan days that allow student-athletes to draw customers to a business for photographs or photographs.

Haik said that he encourages all businesses to consider utilizing local student-athletes since the money spent goes a long way to helping people who are going about their careers in the right way.

“I encourage other businesses to look into this kind of opportunity,” he said. “You’re going to spend the money anyway on advertising, why not use it in this format and help benefit these kids who are doing things the right way.”