This college lacrosse season, The Back of the Bird podcast has decided to introduce an NIL program. The basics of the program are that every month, we will select one Canadian athlete from the NCAA and choose them as the BOTB player of the month.
That player will receive some back of the bird merchandise, a small NIL payment, and hopefully a feature on the show. We will make sure to work with the appropriate staff members at each institution to ensure that we are in compliance with any rules, but the goal here is to have some fun and highlight the men and women from Canada who are doing great work down south.
The exciting part of this is that each month, BOTB fans will have the ability to vote for the winner. We will select a group of four deserving nominees, and from there the fans will make the decisions!
Votes can be cast on twitter, check it out below!
And of course, like everything else with BOTB, everything I just said is liable to change. Gotta stay tuned folks!
Ok… enough chatting. Let’s get into the February nominees.
Brayden Mayea, High Point
Mayea currently sits eighth in the country in points and is tied for second in goals. With 23 goals and 12 assists in just six games, Mayea has been one of the most productive players in the country. In true Canadian fashion, Mayea leads all non-faceoff players on the Panthers in ground balls, with 22 thus far.
The senior from Windsor, Ontario is creeping up on BOTB’s own Dan Lomas in the all-time High Point Scoring record books. With 145 career goals, Mayea needs just 14 more to break Dan’s record and take top spot all-time for the Panthers.
Payton Cormier, Virginia Cavaliers
While Mayea chases his school record, Cormier already broke his. When he scored his 165th career goal, he became the all-time leading scorer for the Virginia Cavaliers. With 12 goals and 5 assists in just four games, Cormier is well on his way to his fourth straight 50 goal season.
The Mimico native has scored 5 goals twice, and hasn’t had a game with less than 3 points all season.
Kyle Playstead, Bellarmine Knights
Playstead is off to a slightly slower start by his standards, but breaking the all-time scoring record is the flavour of the month amongst our nominees. The Calgary native broke the all-time Bellarmine scoring record earlier in the month and has lots of time to increase his lead.
Playstead is one of a number of Albertans who are producing at an elite level this season.
Nicole Perroni, Louisville Cardinals
The Whitby native has been all over the box score this season for the Cards. In six games, she has 18 goals and 3 assists. But it isn’t just the offensive production that matters. She has 28 draw controls, 15 caused turnovers, and 13 ground balls.
Amongst Canadian players, she is second in points, first in goals, first in caused turnovers, and second in ground balls.
Make sure to cast your vote. Winner will be announced on Friday’s show!