In 2022, when the concept of NIL was in its infant and amorphous stages, Jahdae Barron went to Texas assistant coach Brennan Marion and asked how he could become a better player. He wanted, naturally, to make some money.
He didn’t want a car; mom Techonia Davis had made that happen already. He didn’t want to boost his bank account. He told Marion, then Texas’ passing-game coordinator, that I gotta help my mom out.
“I just kinda told him, like, ‘Bro, you gotta just turn it up a level,'” Marion recalled. “‘Like, you gotta be different, like, if you want to take care of your mom, like, you gotta do some things and become different.