BILLINGS — On Monday the Montana High School Association passed a new policy allowing high school athletes to capitalize off their own name, image and likeness.
MTN Sports caught up with the state's top football recruit for the Class of 2026, Billings West junior Matt "Moose" Ludwig. Ludwig has whittled his decision of colleges down to four — Georgia, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas Tech.
"I've had some people reaching out in the past, but (the policy) wasn't passed so I had to turn some things down," Ludwig told MTN Sports. "It's all about waiting. It's a cool opportunity to have, especially here in Montana. It's really cool to see how they're allowing us to now have these things."
A guy like Ludwig doesn’t have a lot of free time throughout his day. He’s a three-sport standout, and during the summers he’s working out and visiting camps across the country. That doesn’t leave a much time for a job to generate income.
“Plus, he's a good student. You have kids that work really hard in the classroom, then on the court, on the field or on the track, and if someone wants to give them some money for sponsorship or whatever they're going to do for them, why not?" Billings West head football coach Rob Stanton said.
“It's helpful in a lot of ways, especially with all the time that parents are putting into their athletes. Having them travel everywhere, see campuses — this could help a lot of athletes out," Ludwig said. "It's really cool to see that these athletes get to benefit in these ways, because sports is a full 24/7 activity that you're doing all the time, especially for the dedicated ones."
As for his marketability? Well, a good nickname isn’t a bad starting point.
“Number one, you have to be able to play before people probably want to attach some money to your name. I think whoever came up with his nickname when he was a kid, I think it was his grandpa, it's worked very well. It's good he stuck with that name," Stanton said. "When coaches called about him last year, I made sure they knew his nickname was Moose. That's easily identifiable with him and good for him. More power for him."
It seems to just be a matter of time before Moose is setting the standard for high school athletes with NIL in Montana
