NIL Ineligible Big Man Frank Mitchell Commits to Gophers

According to Ryan James (247Sports), Mitchell is expected to start at center next season and has one known season of eligibility. Nobody seems willing to confirm that, though. He had to sit out one season at Canisius, due to transfer rules at the time… a rule that is no longer in place.

James did confirm one other thing over at the GopherIllustrated.com (247Sports), though. That Mitchell had already committed to the Minnesota Gophers prior to his visit on Monday. How they kept it all under wraps before, during and after his visit, is unknown, but impressive.

In somewhat of a rare occasion, Canisius transfer Frank Mitchell, originally from Canada, committed to Minnesota sight unseen before his visit. To complete the deal the Gophers had Mitchell on campus on Monday for an official visit and now Mitchell is expected to be the Gophers five man.

Ryan James – 247Sports

Frank Mitchell is NIL ineligible?

One other thing that is worth noting about Mitchell is his NIL ineligibility. That’s right, it’s believed that Frank cannot collect NIL proceeds, because he is from Canada. Apparently, there is a weird rule for international players that puts their VISA status in jeopardy, should they be turned in for collecting any Name, Image and Likeness cash.

How is this possible? Most international student athletes are here on F-1 student visas. Those visas do not allow students to work off campus. In fact, if a student is caught collecting money from any off-campus source, the schools are have a duty to turn them in, effectively terminating their visa and sending them back to the country they came from.

[The] vast majority of [international students], according to the NCAA, are in the country on F-1 student visas. Those visas prohibit students from working off campus except in rare, authorized exceptions, such as participating in an internship or work in their field of study. In these cases, for international student-athletes, the school is legally obligated to terminate their visa should they have been making money off their name, image, or likeness.

Crowe Soberman LLP (Canadian Law Firm)

Now, there are some ways around these rules. He could find an NIL deal on campus, maybe? There are also varying opinions on whether or not they can collect NIL from passive opportunities, which do not include social media appearances, etc.

If an NCAA basketball game were to come out, and they offered each D1 player a set amount to be in the game, that would be considered “passive”. Some believe he would qualify for something like that. Others do not. As long as Mitchell is here on an F-1 visa, he will be subject to these same types of weird NIL eligibility laws/rules.