Lubbock Texas - Thanks to the new ruling on Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) use in the NCAA, every Texas Tech football player will receive a $25,000 contract from university donors for the upcoming season.

The Texas Tech football program has secured one of the biggest NIL team deals out there.

The Matador Club, a non-profit collective organized by Texas Tech donors, plans to sign 100 Red Raiders football players on one-year, $25,000 contracts each this week.

The deal includes all 85 scholarship players and 15 walk-ons, according to Cody Campbell, a founding member of the Matador Club board of directors and a former Texas Tech offensive lineman.

In return, the team will be expected to do community service and charitable work around Lubbock and other West Texas cities.

Payments to players will be made monthly beginning the first week of August, as the community service endeavors will continue throughout the next year.

"Collectives have done things a number of different ways," Campbell said.

"You see some of them paying large amounts to individual players. You see others doing different things. But what we want to do, really, is support the entire program. This is kind of a base salary for the guys. They're not going to be restricted from doing any other NIL stuff with anybody else. In fact, we're going to encourage and help them to do that."

Tech safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson said the contracts will be a huge help to those who need it the most.

"On the walk-on side, those guys get overlooked so much," Taylor-Demerson said.

"They truly put in some of the hardest work in our program. Some of us are privileged enough to get full scholarship but the guys that can't, they pay for their school. For them to get this opportunity that I'm getting is a big step for them."

Texas Tech quarterback Donovan Smith, who used to be an Uber Eats driver, expressed his gratitude for now being able to focus on football without the worries of working a second job.

"I'm glad everyone can get paid and do what they need to do with their money," Smith said. "Support their families, and not do Uber eats anymore. Its just exciting."

The payments will be renewable annually and Campbell hopes to continue the financial support for Texas Tech athletes by soon partnering with the university's other sports programs.