Texas Tech Reportedly Paid $1.2 Million (USD) for Softball Transfer NiJaree Canady

On3 — Stanford transfer pitcher NiJaree Canady has committed to Texas Tech, she announced Wednesday on social media. A source told On3 that as part of her commitment, she agreed to terms on an NIL deal with the third-party collective The Matador Club. A source close to the situation told On3 the deal is nearly $1.2 million.

If you want to know what kind of money is out there from NIL collectives right now, maybe nothing is a better illustration than a softball player getting more than $1 million.

I thought I was pretty plugged in to the NIL space, but I had no idea there was this kind of money being thrown around in softball. I'm sure this particular deal is somewhat of an anomaly, but congrats to NiJaree Canady. I'm sure being a student-athlete at Stanford is great, but $1.2 million with no state income taxes is a lot better. Her new NIL deal would presumably make her the second-highest-paid person involved in college softball, behind only Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso, who has won six of the last eight national championships.

Canady is a monster on the mound in the circle, with a career 41-10 record, 0.67 ERA and 555 SO in 365.2 innings. I'd imagine she's going to get the ball as often as humanly possible at Texas Tech.

Being an elite collegiate athlete is a pretty sweet gig right now.