Sofia Chepenik Brings Lifetime NIL Deal to South Florida

Sofia Chepenik got a late start in lacrosse, but she’s made headlines with a landmark name, image and likeness deal and now a transfer from one new big-name college program to another.

Four months after signing a lifetime NIL contract midway through Clemson’s inaugural season, she was announced as part of the seven-member inaugural transfer class of the University of South Florida, which begins NCAA Division I play in the American Athletic Conference in Spring 2025.

Chepenik was one month into her first season at Clemson when she became the first female college athlete to sign a lifetime NIL deal — believed to be the longest and largest for any female lacrosse player. Through her agent, Christian Addison of Addison Sports & Entertainment, and Athletiverse, which connects student-athletes to NIL opportunities, Chepenik inked a deal with LootMogul that pays her endorsement money and granted her an equity stake in the Web3 gaming and e-commerce platform.

She is expected to be the face of their online lacrosse game.

“What I stand for is women’s empowerment and being able to create something as a female athlete just as male athletes can do,” said Chepenik, who has 197,000 followers between her TikTok and Instagram accounts. “[LSU women’s basketball player] Angel Reese is leaving a legacy. One of my main reasons to choose USF was that I wanted to leave a legacy.”

Chepenik made it clear early on that her choice to transfer was more about lacrosse and the school fit than it was about seeking NIL opportunities. She is leaving the higher profile NIL school in Clemson for the Bulls and is willing to sit next year before South Florida debuts in 2025. In an interview with Eccker Sports while in the transfer portal, she said: “NIL is a great perk of college athletics, but I also know I have these goals that I set out for myself that I want to accomplish. I’d rather accomplish them than make a couple bucks on the side. It’s not impacting my decision. Wherever I go, there will be NIL benefits.”

NIL remains an evolving hot topic with the NCAA still struggling to regulate it. A memo sent June 27 urged schools to abide by NCAA rules rather than a state’s legislature, and the IRS recently announced it would closely examine school collectives’ tax-deductible statuses. Bobby Couch, executive director of TigerImpact, has a goal for Clemson’s biggest collective to disperse $7.5 million annually to its school’s athletes. By comparison, South Florida’s Fowler Ave Collective announced in May new administration hires who bring a goal of raising $3.5 million for 2024. That difference wasn’t a limiting factor for Chepenik to come to South Florida.

“Obviously, it’s transformational for our recruiting,” USF coach Mindy McCord said. “When you combine an AAU (nationally accredited top-tier research) school, in Tampa, Fla., with a top athletic school that she can see the vision of working toward a national championship and her being able to be a significant part of that, being a leader in that, I think that was attractive to her, and I hope it’ll continue to be attractive to other top players like her. That’s the message she’s sending by that choice.”

McCord, who left another start-up in Jacksonville after bringing that program national recognition, is thrilled to add a player in Chepenik that checks every box. She says that Chepenik has a work ethic that is “uncanny” for her age. Chepenik keeps a routine that includes micro habits of shorter workouts when she wakes up and before she goes to bed along with skill work and strengthening on top of her usual longer workouts throughout the day.

Chepenik’s routine can add up to six or seven hours per day. McCord is hopeful that Chepenik can pass along her work ethic to the rest of the Bulls. Along with her workout habits and playing level, Chepenik’s NIL profile can’t be overlooked.

“NIL is becoming huge in all college sports,” Chepenik said. “Tampa is the 11th-largest market in the country. They just got a new athletic director who’s awesome, Michael Kelly. He’s really trying to be a pioneer in women’s lacrosse and also NIL. They’re bringing in these new collectives, and they’re really trying to get exposure for their athletes. If an athlete is getting a lot of exposure, obviously it’s going to be to their school as well.”

Chepenik’s transfer sends her back to her home state. It also brings her full circle back to McCord, who along with husband and Bulls assistant coach Paul McCord, ran one of the first lacrosse clinics that Chepenik attended. Chepenik didn’t pick up a stick until sixth grade. The youngest of four children, she played high level club soccer before joining her two sisters in lacrosse.

“I hated lacrosse for the first few years because I could not pass or catch, and that’s obviously the basics of the sport, and my sister was so naturally good at it,” Chepenik said. “It was sisterly love, but she would tease me about how bad I was, so I was going to prove her wrong. Once I proved her wrong that I could pass and catch, I loved it.”

Chepenik was lightly recruited out of Episcopal School of Jacksonville. She de-committed from Oregon to go closer to home at Clemson. She finished third for the Tigers in scoring with 33 goals and had a team-leading 20 assists to earn ACC All-Freshman team honors as one of the Tigers’ two freshmen starters.

“It was really exciting,” said Chepenik, who was also named to the ACC All-Academic team. “Coming out of Florida, I didn’t get as many looks as I would have hoped when recruiting started. I went to Clemson, loved it, committed. Then when I was at school, it wasn’t as hard as I thought to adjust. We were really close as a team, and playing against each other, we made each other better. Going into our first games and ACC play, I just tried to let the game come to me and play calm.”

Chepenik’s accomplishments brought recognition outside of just the ACC. She is one of 99 players invited to the U.S. women’s U20 national team tryouts from July 7-9 at USA Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks, Md. It’s another chance to develop her game, and she is looking forward to sharing her experience and talents at South Florida in the fall.

McCord has 20 freshmen coming in next year along with the seven transfers who bring college experience. Megan Halczuk, UMBC’s all-time leader in draws, was seventh in the NCAA in draw controls per game last spring. Juliana George (VCU) and Maggie Newton (Mercyhurst) led their teams in goals. Kaitlyn Tartaglione brings NCAA tournament experience from UConn. Morgan Zimmerman (Colorado) and Lucy Hankins (Butler) will have chances to contribute immediately. Chepenik might be the biggest contributor of the group.

“You get this incredibly driven player who wants to win a national championship and help a team get there,” McCord said. “And you also have this role model that’s showing everyone that there is an opportunity for women and there is an opportunity for athletes to make money, there’s a right way to do it, and from our influencer program to our collective and our commitment as an athletic department to continue to be a major player in supporting NIL and helping our student-athletes within the rules to pursue top NIL deals. We’ll help her be on the forefront of that continued goal for herself.”

Chepenik has three years of athletic eligibility but expects to spend four years at South Florida. She will pursue a master’s degree after focusing on an undergraduate degree in mass communications with a focus on broadcasting.

“People can see NIL as more of free agency instead of people leveraging the academic opportunity and making decisions based on those things now over that,” McCord said. “I think she’s showing sports and women and all athletes across the board that you can do both — you can be an entrepreneur, you can leverage your education and you can help be a leader and role model on a team to help get them to compete for national championships. I think Sofia really is going to be that forefront person that can help others to recognize this is an amazing opportunity.”

Chepenik will spend the next year getting familiar with her new teammates before first playing a real game in 2025. They’ll, of course, have fall ball in Fall 2024 to begin preparations. It seems like a long wait for someone who has already established herself as an all-conference player, but Chepenik has a plan to take advantage of every opportunity ahead.

“The USF journey, I get a year to build my brand and get better and be a leader on the team and start to leave a legacy,” Chepenik said. “It definitely would have been different if I went to an already established program. I just think it’s going to be a different journey. I think I’m going to maximize it. It’s going to be a lot of work, but I’m going to take the opportunities that are given and take the time to create these relationships in Tampa.”