Ohio State athletes network at expo for career, NIL opportunities

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio State student-athletes gathered at the Covelli Center on Tuesday night to take part in a career fair that also doubled as a name, image and likeness opportunity.

Representatives from more than 50 businesses and organizations from throughout central Ohio converged on campus to offer information about potential opportunities for current Buckeyes after, or even during, their playing career.

"Every opportunity we get to do one of these it's great to shake hands and have good interactions with anybody," junior defensive end Jack Sawyer said. "You never know where somebody from a certain company might be in a couple years, so I think it's all about building relationships, getting a first good impression and just keep the networks. You never know where life can take you."

Name, image and likeness has made this expo a popular networking event, which was attended by most of the Ohio State football team and several other student-athletes. Coach Ryan Day shared his thoughts on the importance of the expo and his message to the team as they try to take advantage of their personal brand.

"Helping them meet some folks is important but also to share what they like to do," Day said. "What is your passion? Because if you find your passion you're really not working a day in your life and the money follows so it's our job to help them with that … and let us help you network with those folks and do job shadowing opportunities and internships and that's the job of the coach to make that connection."

For the student-athletes, it's all about helping themselves to available resources, including the annual expo.

"When I first came in I kind of didn't know [what to do]," Ohio State junior defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau said. "But I think with doing NIL and the job fair and being with Ohio State just helped me to grow and start a foundation on what I want to do and just learning from all these little companies on how they started, how to get to where they're at and just take their little tips and just apply them to my everyday life."