Nebraska college athletes and athletes around the country dove head-first into a new era Thursday when they could profit for the first time off of their own name, image and likeness.
Not everybody was able to get in on the action, however.
For example, Husker offensive lineman Nouredin Nouili could only watch.
The former Colorado State and Norris High player, you see, was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and originally came to the United States to spend his senior year of high school at Norris as an exchange student.
That means he's in the country on an F-1 visa. Among the stipulations: He's not allowed to be employed off campus except for in extremely limited situations.
That, Nouili says, makes it a potential violation of his visa to make any money through NIL-related activities.
"Being a walk-on, having no money is already a struggle. I feel like we should we be able to make money off our names. That's what this deal was about. Now that we've started to make it possible for athletes to make money, I feel like they shouldn't take it away from international players."
He thinks the exclusion is unfair because, unlike getting a job at a restaurant or a golf course or somewhere else, where he'd be potentially taking a placement away from an American, NIL is only about his own personal brand and doesn't impede anybody else's opportunity.
International college football players are rare, but an October 2019 report from the NCAA estimated that 12.1% of Division I athletes are international students, meaning more than 3,300 people total are affected.
