DENISON, Texas (KTEN) - For almost two years now, name, image and likeness deals (also known as "NIL") have changed the landscape of college athletics. Now, they're trickling down to the high school level and younger. Athletes in Texoma are taking advantage.

A recent partnership between Sean Cooper's C4 Sports Performance program in Durant, Oklahoma and Verified Ink has given athletes the ability to create non-fungible tokens (NFTs), essentially a digital trading card that gives fans, friends and family a collectible that could appreciate over time.

"It's a digital collectible," said Verified Ink co-CEO and co-owner Nate Slutzky. "This is something that the athlete can create and design and make it their own. NFTs really allow for that image collection to be captured; encapsulated in a way that can hold a potential value through time."  

In most cases, players are taking home 70 percent or more of the profit that they make from sales on Verified Ink.

"Really, I had a lot of doubts myself; but then you look, there's a lot of people that you don't even know that are fans of you," said Sherman wide receiver and Houston Christian signee Vontrelle Sanders.

Former Atoka and now Oklahoma State linebacker Andrew McCall proved that by being the fastest to sell out of both editions of his card on the site.

"I didn't think he was going to do that," said Cooper. "But that's a huge shoutout to Atoka, small town Oklahoma, and a testament to why we want to serve Texoma."

Although Cooper and Slutzky at Verified Ink are in different capacities now, their backgrounds in college coaching are what inspire them to give these athletes the opportunity.

"This is what it's all about, said Slutzky. "That's why I got into coaching in the first place; that's what I loved about coaching. I viewed it as, 'How can I take these athletes to a place they can't take themselves?'"

"This just further pushes that mission that I developed," Cooper added. "To let them know that when you come to C4, it's holistic, and we're looking out for your entire well being... a 40-year plan over a four-year plan."

High school athletes in Texas are not eligible to make money from NIL deals yet, but since Sanders is a senior and has completed his high school athletic career, he is able to, waiving any eligibility in spring sports. However in Oklahoma, the OSSAA does allow name, image and likeness deals under their guidelines, which could open the door for more opportunities north of the Red River.