Fresno State’s NIL collective receives major donation from Bulldogs greats David and Derek Carr

Former Fresno State quarterbacks David and Derek Carr have made what is the largest single donation to BulldogBread — the Name, Image and Likeness collective that helps facilitate local promotional and endorsement deals for Bulldogs’ student-athletes.

No dollar figure was disclosed.

But former Fresno State quarterback Marcus McMaryion, who now serves as development director for the collective, said the donation is a significant push forward for Fresno State in the NIL game.

McMaryion said the donation from the Carr brothers will help Fresno State in recruiting and retaining top players in a marketplace that is growing, even within the Mountain West Conference and other Group of Five leagues.

“It’s huge, obviously, having the support from the Carr brothers,” said McMaryion, who led the Bulldogs to a Mountain West championship in 2018. “It catapults us in the right direction. Obviously, the monetary amount is huge and we’re very grateful for that.

“But the credibility that the Carrs bring with their platform, you can’t put a price tag on the awareness and the attention something is going to get when they’re are behind something. That means it’s something that’s headed in the right direction, and they really believe in it.”

David and Derek Carr are among nine players in school history to have had their jersey numbers retired by the athletics department, and hold spots in the school’s Top 10 in a number of statistical categories including career, passing yards, completions and completion percentage and touchdowns.

David Carr, who was the No. 1 overall selection in the 2002 NFL Draft, played 11 seasons in the NFL with Houston, Carolina, the New York Giants and San Francisco and is now an analyst with the NFL Network. Derek Carr led the New Orleans Saints to a 9-8 record in his 10th NFL season.

Fresno State had two student-athletes at the forefront of the NIL game in women’s basketball players Haley and Hanna Cavinder, who later transferred to Miami. But it has been making up ground in the NIL game within the Mountain West, where some schools have pushed well ahead of others.

Boise State this month landed quarterback Malachi Nelson, a transfer from USC, who has a NIL valuation of $832,000, according to NIL rankings by On3.com. There are two other players at Boise State in the Top 100 of those rankings, with valuations of more than $500,000.

Fresno State does not have anyone in that valuation neighborhood, but McMaryion said the collective is pushing to build a base of monthly donors to support not just the top student-athletes but as many student-athletes as possible. The collective is set up to take one-time, and yearly donations, and monthly donations of $10, $100 and $1,000 per month.

BulldogBread, which operates independently from the athletics department or university, was started in 2022 by Fresno-based ESPN radio owner Chris Pacheco and a group of other former Fresno State players.

“The goal this year is to get everyone involved,” McMaryion said. “That is where we’re going to find our edge in NIL. It’s never going to be where we have 10 donors give $1 million and we’re going to kick our feet up and be OK. Our crowd, Fresno State fans, we showed out. We were right at 40,000 fans a game (this football season). We were selling out. If we even get 25% to give $100 that’s $1 million and that’s huge.

“It’s going to take a village for us to keep up with everyone.”