When a K-State football player quits midseason, what happens to his NIL money?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- K-State voids a student-athlete’s revenue-share when he voluntarily leaves.
- Edwards keeps earned pay but forfeits remaining paychecks and endorsements.
- Vacated revenue frees roster NIL space; school may reallocate funds at semester.
When Dylan Edwards informed the Kansas State football coaches he was leaving the team last week, he didn’t just walk away from the Wildcats.
He also waved goodbye to the money he was poised to earn for the remainder of the fall semester.
K-State athletic director Gene Taylor told the Eagle that it is university policy to void the revenue-sharing contract of any student-athlete who voluntarily chooses to leave his or her team.
Welcome to the new world of college athletics, where football players receive much more than a traditional scholarship, and money is associated with every roster move.
K-State fans are understandably curious about what will happen with the money that was designated for Edwards, because the former four-star recruit from Derby presumably had one of the highest salaries on the football roster as its top running back.
Starting this year, schools are allowed to share up to $20.5 million with student-athletes. The Wildcats allocate approximately $15 million (or 75%) of their revenue-sharing pie to football players. It’s unclear how much money K-State agreed to pay Edwards this season, but it was certainly at least six figures.
Edwards rushed for 751 yards and seven touchdowns during his two seasons in Manhattan. He flashed his potential with an MVP performance at the Rate Bowl last season. But his junior campaign was defined by injuries and drama.
What happens now?
Two things are for sure: Edwards gets to keep all the money he had already earned from K-State, but there are no more paychecks in his future, at least from the Wildcats.
Edwards forfeited two months of earning potential by leaving the team in early November, with three games (and a potential bowl trip) remaining on the schedule.
Furthermore, a student-athlete also loses endorsement payments if he quits. Curry Sexton, a former K-State wide receiver who now heads the Wildcat NIL collective, confirmed that traditional NIL payments cease immediately after a student-athlete leaves a team.
Edwards had multiple NIL deals, including one with a car dealership and another with a local restaurant.
One obvious perk of those deals was a car. Video advertisements have shown him driving a Ford Mustang, a Porsche and a BMW over the past two years as part of his endorsement deal. But now he must return his vehicle, much like when an employee who uses a company car is forced to part ways with it after he or she leaves a standard job.
The K-State men’s basketball team went through a similar situation last year when Achor Achor left midway through the season.
With that in mind, Edwards chose an interesting time to leave the K-State football team.
Had he elected to remain with the Wildcats until January and then enter the transfer portal, his payment schedule would have continued as originally scheduled, even if he sat out the final three games with a redshirt.
K-State shares revenue with student-athletes via recurring payments that arrive every few weeks, much like with other jobs. But the paychecks stop coming if you are no longer on the roster.
Edwards choosing to leave the team will free up valuable revenue-sharing space for K-State as it pursues new running backs during the offseason.
But head coach Chris Klieman isn’t sure how quickly K-State will be able to reallocate that money across its roster.
“Boy, that’s a great question,” Klieman said. “That would be better for Clint Brown or our GM. Right now, we’re focused on the guys that we have here and we’re trying to figure that out. Obviously, you’ll get to use whatever money from kids that leave or seniors and stuff that leave the program. But not now. We will wait until the semester is over.”
This story was originally published November 11, 2025 at 10:09 AM with the headline "When a K-State football player quits midseason, what happens to his NIL money?."