Purdue is No. 1 NIL school

Purdue is in elite company in the Mark Cuban-backed NIL Store's network of 68 schools.

The collective has released award categories in advance of the July 1, 3-year anniversary of the passing of NIL legislation, which made it legal for athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness. Purdue paced the nation with seven total nominees, in the categories of:

• School Partner of the Year
• Top-earning male athlete: (Lance Jones, Zach Edey, Braden Smith)
• Top-earning Olympic female athlete (Chloe Chicoine)
• Top-earning Olympic male athlete (Kyle Iwinski)
• Best School Activation of the Year (Purdue pop-up store)
• NIL Director of the Year (Jay Giddens)
• Merch Moment of the Year (Lance Jones, "Lance Dance")

Edey, Smith and Jones made up three of the top four high-earning male athletes, the other being Duke's James McCain. Winners of each category will be determined by fan vote.