They were fellow students at the school you went to or had gone to, and when they graduated, you could have that alumni connection with them. Or in my case, while I didn't attend BYU, I've spent my teenager year growing up among the community here and now work as a BYU employee. And so as both a resident in the neighborhood and employee of the campus, there was something about having these students come in and become part of the same community and grow in that same community through their years of college here. Seeing so many more kids come and go like a revolving door from year to year definitely makes it hard to feel as connected to them and have a vested interest in their life's successes when they're seemingly here one day and gone the next living out the mercenary life.

I'm fine with NIL stuff when it's businesses and companies, both local and national, partnering with them for their actual NIL in exchange for endorsements, sponsorships, appearances in ads, speaking/appearing at events, etc.

With collectives and all that having become involved and now the primary source of income for a lot of these student athletes now, and if there's now way to go back to what NIL was originally intended for, I'd at least like to see things progress to being able to sign the kids to contracts that include additional or increased incentives for each year they remain and additional bonuses for performing, both for individual results, and for team results.