“If you let the expectations eat you up, then you’re kind of toast from the beginning,” Mason Nichols said.
As a senior pitcher for the Ole Miss Baseball team, an honors student and a biology major, Mason Nichols understands high expectations. However, with changes in the name, image and likeness (NIL) rules, those expectations have only grown. He is now not just a student athlete; he is a businessperson.
In July 2021, the NCAA lifted its long-standing restrictions on its athletes’ ability to profit based on their NIL. For the first time, athletes could earn money from their personal brands through sponsorships, endorsements and partnerships while still competing at the collegiate level.
While NIL opportunities have created financial benefits for many athletes, they have also introduced new challenges. The lack of universal and consistent regulations has led to disparities in the outcomes NIL can produce for student athletes.
Without a standardized framework, athletes face confusion over compliance, contract terms and recruiting advantages tied to NIL. The pressure to build a marketable brand, combined with academic and athletic demands, has added another layer of stress.
Tight end Dallas Payne from Bay St. Louis, Miss., has also had to adjust to this new reality. After playing football for the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Payne transferred to Florida International University, which meant stepping into a new, more challenging environment.
“There’s so much pressure in today’s world through social media (and) NIL,” Payne said. “Wanting to just look good, it’s a lot of pressure, and it becomes a challenge. For some guys … they thrive in that pressure, and then there’s a lot of guys who don’t.”
The pressure Payne describes is not just based on personal experience; researchers have found similar trends.
Writing for Psychology Today, sports psychologist Tess Kilwein found that the pressure to maintain a public image fosters feelings of inadequacy and unhealthy comparisons among teammates.
At Ole Miss, Ane Debro, general counsel for Ole Miss Athletics, acknowledges the added mental strain NIL brings. Debro provides legal guidance on compliance, contracts and regulations and helps educate athletes on the complexities of NIL.
“I do think NIL adds an extra layer to what student-athletes have to manage,” Debro said. “Now you’ve added another component to what they were already doing. Someone is now requiring them to do something in order to receive money.”
In response to these challenges, the NCAA has implemented reforms to expand mental health resources for student-athletes. Many universities, including Ole Miss, have increased access to sports psychologists and mental health programs to help athletes manage the added weight of NIL.
Recently, the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports approved new mental health resources aimed at addressing the evolving pressures student athletes face. These resources include expanded teletherapy options, increased monitoring of social media harassment, mental health services at major sporting events and enhanced educational opportunities to equip athletes with coping strategies.
At Ole Miss, the athletics department offers counseling and sport psychology services, providing confidential one-on-one sessions for athletes with licensed mental health professionals. These sessions address a range of issues, including injury recovery, disordered eating, identity concerns and performance-related challenges.
The Ole Miss Counseling Center offers walk-in services and a 24/7 crisis helpline, ensuring immediate support is available to all students, not just athletes.
The William Magee Institute for Student Wellbeing focuses on research and education related to substance use and holistic wellness.
While these resources provide support, managing the mental strain of college athletics ultimately falls on the individual athlete.
“There’s always room to improve. … There needs to be an element of gratitude, though, from the student-athlete side right now,” Nichols said “We get more stuff than any student-athlete population has ever gotten.”
For Nichols, thriving under pressure does not mean ignoring mental well-being — it means learning how to manage it.
“I was struggling (mentally) after the national championship,” Nichols said. “I was like, how do I deal with these expectations for myself and for the team? They say baseball is 90% mental — well I wanted to get that right.”
After Ole Miss Baseball won the College World Series in 2022, Nichols learned to manage the pressure by utilizing mental health resources available to Ole Miss athletes and by relying on his Christian faith.
“I went and talked to the mental health folks for a competitive advantage. I think a lot of athletes do that, and there’s plenty of resources for things that aren’t just performance-related. But the expectations were a part of it,” Nichols explained.
While Nichols has leaned on professional support, Payne finds balance in personal activities.
“I think just learning different hobbies outside of school and sports is key … those are your two main priorities as an athlete: academics and then practice, workouts, games,” Payne said. “So for me, managing and getting away from those two is just by doing little simple things. A lot of guys I know play video games. I think that’s also a way for athletes to escape from football and academics.”
For Payne, hobbies like gaming and listening to music are essential for mental wellness. He also emphasized the importance of staying connected to others.
“I value talking to my loved ones as much as possible,” Payne said. “Hearing their words and letting them motivate me helps keep me grounded and focused.”
Like Payne, Nichols finds strength in his support system, drawing from his faith and personal relationships.
“I love my church home here in Oxford, and I have a girlfriend who’s really pushed me,” Nichols said. “It’s the idea that we weren’t ever promised anything to be easy. In this life, we will have trouble. ‘But take heart, I’ve overcome the world.’ That verse speaks to me — I’m expected to handle these things in a graceful manner because I have to deal with both winning and losing expectations.”
The weight of the game is not just in the pads or the playbook. It lingers in the comment sections of Instagram posts, in the silence of a dorm room after a tough loss and in the long stretches of highway between home and the next playing field. Student-athletes need an escape — however brief — from the expectations placed on them.
Rashard Grace, a senior baseball player at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., is originally from Madison, Miss. He summed up the importance of mental wellness for student-athletes.
“At the end of the day, you need to think about the thing between your ears. If I’m not okay up there, then nothing else is gonna be okay,” Grace said.
