NIL takes NC State football stars Devin Leary, Drake Thomas from gridiron to small screen
Studying quarterbacks and breaking down film comes naturally to N.C. State linebacker Drake Thomas.
Being in front of the camera, sans helmet and shoulder pads, is admittedly outside of his comfort zone. But it was hard to tell when he and quarterback Devin Leary were on screen recently, appearing in a series of commercials for Bobbitt Construction in Raleigh.
“It takes a little time to get adjusted,” Thomas said. “I’d say the first time it was awkward. I’m not an actor obviously, but we went back to do some more videos and I was definitely a lot more comfortable. It was more natural.”
In three seasons, Thomas has made 192 tackles and was a first-team all-ACC performer in 2021. Last season Leary broke N.C. State’s single-season record for passing touchdowns (35), while throwing just five interceptions.
Their success on the field thrust them into the spotlight, and when Bobbitt Construction reached out to them about appearing on camera, they were ready.
“We’ve never shot a video or acted before, so it’s new to us,” Leary said. “But it’s funny to see Drake hop into a skit, like, this dude is our starting linebacker and he’s doing a construction video.”
Balancing school, football, NIL
Since the summer of 2021, athletes have been able to receive compensation for their name, image and likeness (NIL), which is what allowed Thomas and Leary to appear on camera, wearing red T-shirts with their jersey numbers and names on the back.
Not too many players on the N.C. State football roster have jumped into the NIL world like Thomas. Along with the Bobbitt commercial, Thomas has deals with the Gopher app, Jungle Brand fitness apparel, and Municipal, another clothing brand, just to name a few.
A year in, he’s learned how to balance it all.
“I’d say I made it a point to keep the main thing the main thing,” Thomas said. “So, obviously, school and football, you put that first. Without football, if you’re not performing on the field the NIL stuff is not going to matter. I’m obviously focused on football and as long as I focus and give it my all, (NIL opportunities) will come.”
Thomas doesn’t have an official NCAA certified agent handling his NIL deals. It’s just him and his family, navigating it all — so far.
“It’s been a lot, especially at first, trying to figure out what it was all about, where the opportunities really were,” Thomas said. “I’ve definitely within the past four or five months been settling in, really enjoying the opportunities I’ve been getting.”
A day on set
In the first commercial, released on May 10, Leary and Thomas are standing in front of a whiteboard. Leary started by going over a play drawn on the board, heavy on the quarterback jargon. Bobbitt employees seated around the room all have confused looks on their faces. Thomas comes on next and goes over a defensive play, with more confused faces at the table.
The Bobbitt employees shout out business-related responses, which prompts Thomas to deadpan the line, “What are these people talking about?”
“They kind of just told us the idea they wanted behind the video,” Thomas said. “And we came up with what we were going to do.”
The second video has Leary calling a play in a huddle, then the employees scramble to their cars. The commercial ends with the slogan “We know construction.”
The day on set took a few hours, with most of their time spent repeating lines to make sure they got it right.
“I’d say 10 times, at least, just to get all the different angles and if we messed up we had to redo it,” Thomas said. “Sometimes you fumble over your words, or you have exactly what you want to say but you can’t get it out.”
Thomas made it clear that he has not caught the acting bug. He did add that Leary was “pretty into it” when they were on set.
“I think he’s a pretty good actor,” Thomas said of his quarterback.
Now the face of the program, with a Heisman (maybe) campaign underway, Leary has become more noticeable around Raleigh. He has not ruled out more appearances on camera in his future.
“I’m open to everything,” Leary said. “If someone wants to shoot some videos, I’ll give it my best shot.”
This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 5:10 AM.
