Skye Murrell

I am a game design major at Indiana University.



Projects by Skye Murrell

News Story

NIL Affects Athletes of All Kinds Years Later

By Sienna Lyst, Skye Murrell and Noah Gross

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Nov. 5th, 2024)

On July 1, 2021, the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) approved the Name Image and Likeness (NIL) policy. This policy would allow college athletes to profit off of their personal Name Image and Likeness. This opened up several opportunities for brand deals and partnerships. This was a long awaited policy, but how is it affecting athletes and coaches now?

It has now been over three years since the NIL ruling was approved. Over the years, several athletes and schools have been affected in many different ways. NIL deals are now a part of the recruitment process for most sports. Even after three years, it is still a hot debate topic within the college athlete community. 

“Not technically, I have a scholarship but that doesn’t really make me a profit,” Purdue Fort Wayne Track and Field athlete Makenna Dommer said when asked if she gets paid to play her sport. This is one of the indirect ways that colleges and universities will pay their athletes to go to their school. According to Dr. Galen Clavio, a professor at Indiana University Bloomington, “The NCAA is desperately trying to enforce rules.” One of these rules being that they can’t “pay-to-play”. This means that schools could not openly come out and pay their student athletes a salary for choosing their specific school and playing for their sports teams. “No, I don’t think so,” Dommer also said when asked if she thinks she should be paid. 

Makenna Dommer practices disc throwing outside on a sunny day.
Makenna Dommer practices her disc throwing out in the field on a sunny day. She works hard on her team in college, finding reward in such a difficult sport. Photo courtesy of Makenna Dommer.

NIL deals are a big reason why a lot of athletes choose their school. “With a school that has a good NIL program you have a lot more opportunities to be able to pay for school,” Dommer said.  This is one of things that changed the most with the NIL ruling. “Only the big mainstream sports are guaranteed full scholarships, like I said I ran track, so I only got books,” Bruce Stephens, a coach at New Haven High School and former Purdue Track and Field Athlete, said. Before NIL deals were legal, most athletes were only getting small scholarships that barely covered any of their schooling. When Stephens was competing at Purdue, he did not have an NIL deal. It wasn’t until his Junior or Senior year that NIL deals started.

NIL deals affect coaches more than some assume. “I don’t think that necessarily, for me as a coach. NIL is something that I will push for them to focus on during the recruitment process,” Stephens said when asked if he has spoken to his athletes about NIL deals, “There are, however, many college student athletes and there’s like less than 0.1% that go pro.” Most coaches of smaller and less followed sports will not push NIL onto their athletes.

Bruce Stephens leaps over a hurdle in the Purdue gym.
Bruce Stephens leaps over a hurdle in his college days at Purdue. He spent his college in track and field and used his experience to coach track and field for high school students. Photo courtesy of Bruce Stephens.

“Yes, we had a whole meeting about it at the beginning of the year and it showed us how it was set up, how you can get the store out there, and how people can buy your merch,” Dommer said when asked if she was spoken to about NIL by any of her coaches. This was helpful to her because, as a track athlete, she does not get an automatic NIL deal. “Our basketball team all have automatic NIL deals through the school,” Dommer said. This goes along with what Stephens said about how only big names and mainstream sports get offered NIL deals. “For a guy that goes to a big school, I don’t think it’s hard at all,” Dommer said when asked if she believes it is hard to get an NIL deal.

Dr. Galen Clavio speaks to a classroom at a "press conference."
Dr. Galen Clavio speaks to the C250 class on the subject of NIL during a mock press conference. Students were able to ask any questions related to NIL for their projects. Photo courtesy of Emma Pearce.

Most college athletes do not end up getting brand deals or partnerships because they are not a big enough name. “I would highly recommend that we start teaching social media branding at the high school level,” Dr. Galen Clavio, Director of the National Sports Journalism Center at IU, said while speaking to a class on the topic of NIL. This would make it easier for athletes to engage with companies and brands that could be potential partners. This would also give athletes an opportunity to learn more advanced media literacy skills which could help them later in their careers.

Most college athletes and coaches believe that the NIL ruling was a good decision. It allows athletes to pay for their schooling and it allows coaches to fund their sport and athletes.

 

Individuals weigh in on the effects of NIL on IU students. Many different opinions exist across campus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Public Relations Story

Apple Reveals New Smartwatch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Apple Reveals New Smartwatch

Media Contacts
Skye Murrell
Chase Dodson
William Reeves

CUPERTINO, California. [Sep. 9, 2014] – Apple® introduced the newest advancement in technology, the Apple Watch™, during a press conference on Tuesday at Flint Center in Cupertino, California.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, developed a new form of technology that will help advance the industry for the future. He wants his users to not only have access to the Apple Watch, but to let them personalize their own with their unique customizations. “We love to make great products and really enrich people’s lives,” Cook said, “We love to integrate hardware, software, and services seamlessly. We love to make technology more personal and allow our users to do things that they could never have imagined.”

One of the greatest advantages to using the Apple Watch is all of the applications that users will have access to. Applications that users can find on the Apple Watch include Maps, iMessage, Weather, Photos, and many more. Kevin Lynch, Vice President of Apple, talked about how users are able to find all of these applications by viewing the home screen that shows a collection of different types of apps connected with one another. “We thought a lot when we were designing the Apple Watch,” Lynch said, “about how to really reveal all of the great ecosystem of applications on this device and we wanted to build it in a way that was really easy to find and use.”

College student checking an Apple Watch in class
A student at Indiana University uses the call feature on the Apple watch. He uses this feature with ease because he can make calls from his wrist.

Another advantage is an accessory that was made for the Apple Watch called the loop. This is an arm band that is connected to the watch to help bring more resistance. The loop comes in many different color options and different sizes for your wrist. It helps embrace the flashy style of the Apple Watch and makes it seem more modern while you wear it.

The Apple Watch is also beneficial to people that are active as it is designed to help users track their data while moving around. “Because you wear it,” Cook said, “we invented new intimate ways to communicate directly from your wrist. And it works seamlessly with iPhone and it’s also a comprehensive Health and Fitness device.” This leads into the new iPhone and its perfect compatibility with the Apple Watch.

An elderly woman uses her Apple Watch to navigate.
An elderly woman uses the maps feature on her Apple watch to find the way to dinner. This helps her because she doesn’t have to dig through her purse to find her phone.
an elderly woman uses the maps feature on her Apple watch to find the way to dinner. This helps her because she doesn’t have to dig through her purse to find her phone.

Apple released two new iPhones during the release of the Apple Watch that included the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 plus. Phil Schiller, executive at Apple, spoke to the audience about the two new iPhones and how different they are compared to the other versions. “Their design is like nothing ever before,” Schiller said, “Incredibly unique from the glass front that curves around the side to meet seamlessly with the anodized aluminum back complete with stainless steel Apple.” Cook describes the iPhones as the best they’ve ever developed because they are compatible with the Apple Watch and their new  features help make the iPhone more reliable to the public.

Like the home button on the iPhone 6, there’s also a home button on the Apple Watch called the Digital Crown. Jony Ive, Senior VP of Design, explains how the button makes it easier to exit out of apps and zoom in on features while using the Apple Watch. “The Digital Crown is a remarkable input device,” Ive said, “It fluidly zooms into apps, it enables nimble, precise adjustments, and critically you can use it without obstructing the display.”

The company also developed a new feature of the iPhone called Apple Pay, a quick and easy way to pay without the struggle of card delay at the register. Eddy Cue, Senior Vice President of Services, explained to the audience how fast the new payment option is for users and how it is protected for those who use the new feature. “Apply Pay is built into every iPhone 6 and 6 plus and we’ve got a groundbreaking NFC radio antenna built across the top,” Cue said, “Now NFC is the standard for all contactless payments. Now you also have the convenience and security of Touch ID and we’ve got a new chip called the secure element and it’s built into every iPhone 6 and it stores all your payment information encrypted and securely.”

 

Tim Cook speaks about Apple’s mission.

Tim Cook summarizes the Apple Watch’s features.

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