On the Same Team

Terp athletes have new champions in their corner to cash in on the NCAA’s name, image and likeness (NIL) policy: fellow students. 

Maryland Athletics approached the Smith School’s Strategic Design Fellows (SDF) to develop a program where undergraduates with marketing know-how could help student-athletes determine and monetize their personal brand. 

The two-year SDF program is for marketing and studio art majors who learn how to build and represent brands using digital platforms and design software. 

For the spring pilot, nine student-athletes were matched with 13 SDF students, some working in pairs. Together, they came up with NIL goals, then the SDF students created a social media strategy and personalized content plan for the athletes. 

“This is the real-world application of everything they learn in the SDF program,” says Mary Beth Furst, clinical professor of marketing and faculty director of the program. “The Strategic Design Fellows serve as consultant advisors. They are helping the athletes build a brand that’s both tied to their sport and goes beyond sports.” 

She says several of the student teams knocked it out of the park. 

Smith senior marketing majors Cara Grazado ’25 and Samantha Liu ’25 were matched with first-year softball pitcher Aubrey Wurst, Class of ’28. They created an inspiration board “so good, we’ll be requiring it going forward,” says Furst. 

They also mapped out a plan for Wurst to strengthen existing and pursue new NIL brand deals. They made a form to create easy social media posts and brainstormed sample content ideas, like showing her before and after game “looks.” They also wrote sample pitches Wurst can use to reach out to brands. 

“We learned a lot about client management and coming up with creative ideas,” says Grazado. “You have to help the client understand the strategy behind certain decisions and how it will eventually lead to the outcome they’re hoping for. That’s the value of having a strategic marketing student on an athlete’s team to build their brand.” 

Liu says she and Grazado worked to develop a relationship with Wurst, which really helped when developing her NIL personal branding materials. 

“We went to one of her games to see her in action, and we happen to have so much in common with her. We were able to relate to her and get along straight off the bat,” she says. 

Liu and Grazado focused on backing up their pitches with hard facts and metrics to show how Wurst could connect with a brand and the benefits of partnering with a student-athlete. 

“NIL is still so new and brands might not realize that athletes like Aubrey come with a built-in fan base, which is very valuable,” says Liu. 

The program is about more than forging NIL deals, says Omari DeBerry, Maryland Athletics director of development who co-directs the program with Furst. 

It’s also about the educational experience: “It’s a collaboration that both sides are learning a lot from,” he says. “The athletes learn how to manage their own NIL while working with consultants that have an understanding of the space. The student consultants also learn a lot and build their portfolios.” 

“This program brought me a lot of new knowledge about NIL as a whole and the best ways to market myself,” says Wurst. “I learned what is really necessary when looking into a brand that I want to be a part of.” 

Grazado and Liu loved being a part of the pilot program. “I wouldn’t trade the extra 30 hours a week of work I was doing last semester for the world because it’s been that valuable to me,” says Grazado. 

The program will continue in the fall. Furst and DeBerry plan to have some students serve in leadership and mentoring roles. They will also hold monthly professional development sessions for participants with help from alumni.