NC State Athletics responded to the NCAA's interim NIL policy, which granted college athletes the right to be compensated for their name, image and likeness beginning July 1, by unveiling its new "ALPHA" program.

According to a release from the athletic department, the "ALPHA" program is an "initiative that focuses on equipping and supporting Wolfpack student-athletes with the resources to maximize their personal brands."

"This is an exciting time for our student-athletes," NC State Director of Athletics Boo Corrigan said in a released statement. "Our mission at NC State is to strengthen our Pack through the development of Think and Do student-athletes. ALPHA will help us continue to make that a priority and provide support to our Pack.

"As the NIL era begins, we look forward to empowering our student-athletes so that they can capitalize on their personal brands and continue to serve as great representatives of NC State Athletics."

One part of the ALPHA program will be a partnership between NC State Entrepreneurship and the athletic department. The NC State Entrepreneurship is a program that already exists to "support entrepreneurship efforts across all colleges, departments and programs throughout the university," according to the release.

NC State athletes will have access to educational programming from the joint effort, which will begin this summer with the ALPHA Summer Series.

According to the release, the mission of the "multi-tiered educational program" is to provide "exposure to foundational knowledge in all areas of entrepreneurship, including financial literacy, brand management and decision-making while continuously meeting the advanced needs of student-athletes."

The NC State athletic department has also expanded its partnership with INFLCR, a third-party digital content and compliance software designed to assist college athletes in building their personal brands while also protecting universities by keeping transparent records of NIL activity.

INFLCR is a mobile app that athletes will be able to use for content delivery while also providing "social media metrics, NIL compliance tracking, educational resources and brand strategy guidance," per the release.

While the NCAA's interim policy will permit college athletes in all 50 states to begin capitalizing from their name, image and likeness, athletes will still be subject to state laws as well as conference and institutional policies.

Twenty states have passed legislation related to NIL compensation for college athletes, including eight that have passed laws that are set to take effect in July, but the state of North Carolina is not one of them.

NC State has yet to publicly release its NIL policies for athletes but plans to do so July 1 according to senior associate director of athletics Fred Demarest. Those policies have already been shared internally with Wolfpack athletes, however.

The Wolfpacker will have more on this developing story.

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