Who is NiJaree Canady? All we know about Texas Tech transfer who signed a deal worth $1,050,024
NiJaree Canady just signed the highest name, image and likeness (NIL) deal for a college softball player after signing a one-year, $1,050,024 deal with the school's Matador Club collective. Canady has shown her dominance recently, winning the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and making the Women's College World Series in each of her two seasons with the Stanford Cardinal.
Canady explained her reaction to getting this massive NIL deal and how people are investing in women's sports (via Front Office Sports):
"I could never have imagined this, but I feel like we need to invest in women's sports," Canady said. "We saw it with women's basketball this year: You invest in women's sports and women's basketball just blew up on a national stage. I think the same thing has happened with softball. ... If I'm even a little part of that, that's my whole dream."
NiJaree Canady played two seasons with the Stanford Cardinal before transferring to the Texas Tech Red Raiders ahead of next season. She has been unbelievable on the mound in her two seasons of college softball so far. She has pitched in 76 games (53 starts) and has 34 complete games with nine saves.
Canady is 36-10 with a 0.68 ERA in 348.2 innings of work. She has been one of the most dominant pitchers in the nation and has shown no signs of slowing down, even in the Big 12 Conference.
How does NiJaree Canady's NIL deal stack up in college softball?
Outside of college football and college basketball, there are not many athletes who are going to get NIL deals of the size that NiJaree Canady has just signed. According to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle, the largest softball NIL deal previously known was that of Alabama pitcher Montana Fouts, who received $136,000.
However, even looking past other NIL deals, Canady is now in elite territory in terms of money. Only one softball coach in the nation is making more money than her when looking at last season's numbers as Oklahoma's Patty Gasso made $1.625 million. Second place saw UT's Mike White make $625,000. It will be interesting to see if anyone can come close to her newest NIL deal in the future.