COLLEGE STATION, Texas — A few months ago, Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed partnered with private jet company ENG Aviation, taking NIL deals to new heights. But this partnership is making headlines for a much different reason.
"Over 90% of Americans support organ donation and transplant, but less than 60% of Americans are registered donors, and so we want to play a part in bridging that gap, and that's really what we're focused on," Steve Hoffman said.
Hoffman, president of ENG Aviation, was introduced to organ donation as a teenager after losing his father. When ENG first launched, he saw an opportunity to make an impact.
"There was a need for reliable, time critical air transportation, and so, within months of us launching we decided to pivot and decided that we were going to be the best air and ground transportation company for transplant," Hoffman said.
As a big football fan, Hoffman also took notice of the ever-growing NIL space.
"We just saw an opportunity to really change how NIL deals are done and use these athletes' breadth and reach to promote things that are for the greater good," Hoffman said.
But it couldn't be just any athlete. It needed to be the right fit. ENG stands for "earned never given."
"It had to be a determined, genuine, you know, lighthearted soul," Cat Clay Wren, vice president of ENG Aviation, said.
Enter Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed.
"We ultimately just went with ENG just because of their story and their mission, what they wanted to do and how they did their things. I wanted to be a part of that," Reed said.
"He's kind, he's respectful, he's mature. He has huge goals and he wanted to do something that mattered," Kalee Blythe, director of ground transportation at ENG Aviation, said.
"It was no secret what Marcel did last year where he earned the starting job and kept it and just really fit in a symbiotic way with who we are and how we believe that we're supposed to act with other people around us and just thought it was a really good fit," Hoffman said.
This summer, Reed learned about the ins and outs of organ donation and its significance. He even took a trip down to Houston Methodist hospital where he met with donor families and recipients.
"You never really know even being on this side of the business who's been touched by the gift of life and who's been touched by the gift of organization and so seeing these stories unravel and the tears flowing. Marcel at one point even got choked up," Wren said.
"It definitely made me emotional a little bit, just hearing how they go, it's not easy losing a family member, but it's also not easy making a decision to give that organ to another person and I feel like the people who do that create a special bond with the person they give the organ to because it's like they're saving another life while they also lost one," Reed said.
He also met former UT football player Peter Mpagi, who got a second chance at life after a successful heart transplant in 2022.
"Just meeting Peter and seeing how it goes for everybody, even people who have futures, bright futures in athletics, their life can be flipped like that in a change and so, I'm glad he's still here with us. He got that organ and yeah, it's a special story for sure," Reed said.
Now as part of his partnership, Reed is using his platform to advocate and educate about the importance of organ donation.
"Seeing how much he's grown since our partnership developed and seeing the powerful words that he's used at our meet and greet event and some of the things that he's been able to share on socials, it has exploded, and it's exactly what we wanted in that partnership," Wren said.
"Watching just the posts that we've done and see the hits and it's getting higher and higher and higher in views because people care about what he has to say because it's his generation speaking, has been really cool. I mean, it's been more successful than I could have even imagined," Blythe said.
And while there has been controversy surrounding NIL and college athletics, this life-saving opportunity is setting a new standard for what future deals could be.
"We're just proud to you know, set the example and hopefully others will follow and really change the way they think about doing NIL deals where it's not just a single individual focus, but how can these partnerships go to help people, in a way that's much bigger than themselves," Hoffman said.
"I find it really cool that you know I'm one of probably 4 or 5 people who have that deal, but I find it even more cool that I'm able to kind of have that story behind it and the mission that you know we're going with the purpose," Reed said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
