Pickens Breaks New Ground with Historic NIL Deal
Karlyn Pickens Signs Historic NIL Deal
One of the nation’s best softball pitchers has embarked on another exciting step in her career. Tennessee Lady Vols All-American pitcher Karlyn Pickens has signed an NIL partnership with the Athletes Unlimited Softball League.
This is the first NIL partnership between the AUSL and a collegiate softball player in history. The league is expected to announce additional deals in the coming weeks.
For Pickens, this should benefit her as an endorsement deal with the league, which would result in pay. Other professional leagues have introduced deals like this one, such as Major League Soccer (MLS), the National Hockey League (NHL), and the new and popular Unrivaled Basketball.
Karlyn Pickens is the defending two-time SEC Pitcher of the Year. Last season, Pickens recorded a 25-11 record with a 1.17 ERA and recorded 306 strikeouts in 226.2 innings. She famously recorded the fastest pitch in NCAA Softball history at 78.2 miles per hour last March and then broke her own record against the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the NCAA Super Regional in Knoxville with a 79.4 miles per hour pitch.
Pickens also had the chance to play for the U.S. National Team this winter in the Down Under Series in Australia. Yesterday during the Lady Vols’ media day, she spoke on that opportunity and what it meant.
“Yeah, it was really incredible. Honestly, getting to wear USA across your chest is just such an incredible experience, but I think the most impactful thing to me was realizing and being able to play with so many like-minded people that are just super intense, love the game, love to, you know, prepare and do those things to help them succeed. And getting to have a firsthand kind of view of what that looks like was super cool and definitely some good takeaways from that,” said Pickens.
In case you are wondering, this NIL deal with the AUSL in no way ties her to a future commitment to play in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, even though many would expect her to be among the first off the board in the upcoming collegiate draft this spring.
Pickens and the Lady Vols are set to begin the season tomorrow, February 5, at 7 PM ET against the BYU Cougars in Clearwater, Fla., at the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic.
