With the introduction of NIL, the NCAA has become the breeding and fulfillment of a lot of dreams. When Angel Reese got into prominence after her 2023 NCAA Championship wins that increased her NIL, or when Hunter Dickinson touched a NIL value of around $2 million after transferring from Michigan, it showed that even athletes from humble backgrounds could make it big. And following in the same line is the Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier who recently got into the millionaire club.

Lanier’s NIL currently stands at $1.5 million and he is one of the newest introductions in the NIL 100. The latest millionaire stands at the 30th spot in the NIL 100 while he is placed at the 10th spot in the college basketball NIL rankings. It is to be noted that he has only 548 followers on social media platforms in total which proves that it is not only a social media clout that helps one improve their name, image, and likeness.

The 6-ft-4 guard has seen unprecedented growth of 2591% in the past 10 weeks which speaks volumes about his ongoing performances. Another point to be noted is that with this growth, he is placed above the popular UConn Huskies star Paige Bueckers who has a NIL value of $1.4 million.

And it is only time that he starts giving tough competition to the Creighton Bluejays center Ryan Kalkbrenner, and Dickinson who have a NIL of $1.6 million and $2 million, respectively. While many are pondering the reason behind his sudden growth, it is speculated that his recent feat helped him get into the fans’ attention.

Chaz Lanier scripts a historic feat for the Tennessee Volunteers

Last week on Tuesday, the Tennessee Volunteers were battling up against the Virginia Cavaliers at the Baha Mar Championship in Nassau. While the Volunteers performed exceptionally well, the prima facia behind their exceptional display was Lanier. Beginning the game with 984 points, Lanier reached his 1000th career point in the second half with a three-pointer.

Overall, the senior guard hit 26 points while shooting 6-of-12 from the deep and 10-of-23 from the charity line, helping his team with a comfortable 64-42 win. And since then, Lanier has continued his exceptional display.

He subsequently hit 25 points against the Baylor Bears, all of which came in the first half and helped his team win the Baha Mar men’s basketball Championship. Overall, he averaged a whopping 25.5 points per game during the tourney.

Hopefully, Lanier will continue his on-song performances and take the number seven-ranked team to new heights. Yes, Tennessee has climbed four positions in the rankings. And maybe that will provide the impetus for his NIL growth and someday, even give competition to established NIL stars like Dickinson.