Gonzaga star Drew Timme talks NIL and being a Chin-fluencer: 'I can really get creative with it'

A topsy-turvy, completely chaotic college basketball season has left us exactly where we were this time last year: Top-ranked Gonzaga is once again the title favorite led by their 6-foot-10 floppy haired, facial hair rockstar of a power forward Drew Timme.

But unlike prior years when billions of dollars were circulated among television networks, corporate sponsors, and the NCAA, this year the players themselves are also profiting since 2022 will be the first NCAA Tournament in which both male and female college basketball players can earn money under the ‘Name, Image and Likeness’ (NIL) policy passed in June 2021.

"It's nice [that] we can really profit from each other and also just learn about business and how life works," Timme, 21, told Yahoo Finance Presents (video above). "I feel like I've learned more this year from... just learning life skills, whether it's working with taxes and just how to pay like agents and how to work with companies."

Timme, Player of the Year in the West Coast Conference and a finalist for the Wooden Award for the top player in the country, is also the first-ever “Chin-fluencer” for Dollar Shave Club. The razor company that sold to Unilever for $1 billion cash in 2016 has enlisted the Bulldogs junior as the scruffy face of their Noticably Smooth promotion.

"One of the nice things about partnering with Dollar Shave Club is they're like: 'Just be you. Just do whatever's comfortable with you. And, you know, being a Chin-fluencer, you know, we want you to be authentic in your true self.' And I think that's perfect because there's a lot of different [looks]. I can do to have a clean shaved, especially with just all the products they have. I can really get creative with it. So I'm just going to do me."

Timme didn't specify the terms of the deal but did acknowledge that it's “life-changing money." The campaign calls for fans to join in the facial fun by tagging @dollarshaveclub on social media posts and using the hashtag #chintry for an opportunity to win tickets to the Final Four.

The NIL deal made sense for money for Timme, who’s been playing around with what was once a full beard since high school because he “didn’t want to look like he was 12-years-old.” And now, nine years later, he’s inspiring the masses to embrace their handlebars.

“It’s great people can be comfortable with their own facial hair," he said. "I’m proud that I can be a part of something like that.”

Check out the full interview above.

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