Florida stars KN’isha Godfrey and Me’Arah O’Neal sat down with EssentiallySports for an unfiltered conversation as part of The College Cut, a new series that looks beyond highlight culture to show how college athletes are building their voice, identity, and business in the NIL era.

In this episode, the dynamic duo opens up about choosing authentic brand partnerships, why women are expanding NIL creatively, the role coaches and schools play in navigating opportunities, and how NIL is shaping college decisions, careers, and culture.

Do you guys have any nicknames you go by?

KN’isha Godfrey: “I go by KG.”

Me’Arah O’Neal: “Meezy. Big Eight.”

KN’isha Godfrey: “KG. You already know what it stands for.”

KN’isha, you’re a senior. So you’ve been in college for a while. You still have a couple more years of eligibility, but how was your college experience?

KN’isha Godfrey: “I would definitely say it’s been a journey. I went to college as a senior in high school, so I went early, and I went through a couple of experiences.”

“I went to Mississippi State first. I transferred from there mid-year. My coach stepped down. I transferred to TCU, then got to TCU, and then my coach stepped down again, and then I had a new coach come in. Then I got injured.”

Where did you get injured?

KN’isha Godfrey: “I had a stress fracture in my left foot, fifth metatarsal. So, I had to get surgery and a pin, actually, inside my foot to stabilize it. So, I went through that, and then I wasn’t able to play that season. Then, the following season came. We were Big 12 champions and regular-season champions. So, that was great. And I transferred back to Florida, which is home, to play under Kelly.”

Me’Arah O’Neal: “It was hard just cuz the whole environment is different. The level of competition, everyone’s stronger, everyone’s faster. So, you’ve got to make a big jump and adapt to it.”

Did they have you in the weight room a lot?

Me’Arah O’Neal: “We were in the weight room every day. Well, not well now. Not every day since we’re in-season, but every day.”

Back then, when I was in college, we didn’t have NIL (or similar stuff). So now that you guys are allowed to do that, how important is it for other athletes to take advantage of that?

Me’Arah O’Neal: “I think it’s a huge opportunity. For example, say you have got athletes who like trying to get their families out, their neighborhoods. It’s a huge opportunity for them to just showcase what they have, show their personality, build their brand, and also do what they want for their family. You should take full advantage of it.”

KN’isha Godfrey: “Also, just find out a little bit more about who you are. Yes, you come to college to play a sport or go to school and stuff like that, but you have the opportunity to branch out and figure out the things that you like and invest time into that and compensate for it.”

Me’Arah O’Neal: “It’s huge.”

With NIL, do you think for the overall health of the sport of basketball, do you think that it’s hindered it a little bit, or is it more competitive, or what’s y’all’s opinion on it?

Me’Arah O’Neal: “It’s definitely changed the whole game for sure, but I don’t think it takes away the competitiveness of it.”

KN’isha Godfrey: “It’s just the way that you look at it, and coming into it, the decisions that you make when you’re choosing a school. That’s the most important part.”

When you were choosing a school, (I know you guys were already with Florida, but) what came into the decision of choosing Florida? Are you also looking at, > if I go to Florida, that means I also get to maybe work with this brand or that brand, or they’re offering me this much or stuff? So, do you guys only look at that, or > do you guys look at, okay, I’m actually gonna play a lot on this team, or I’m gonna have a big role on this team, or I might sit on the bench on this team. What was the deciding factor in choosing? 

Me’Arah O’Neal: “For me, it was just more about the people because I’m a people person. I feed off energy. So, if I’m not digging your energy, then it’s just going to throw me off. And I know myself, I don’t really do well with that type of stuff. But it was really the people, and how real and genuine they are. Good people, good environment, everything else should be good, and it has been for me.”

KN’isha Godfrey: “I would agree. I have known Kelly (Rae Finley) since I was like in seventh grade. So for me, too, it was a kind of like I know where I’m going. What type of coach, what type of person I’m going to be around every day, and I was very confident in coming here because of the relationship that I had built with her. But also, just the area. My family is only 2 hours away, and that means a lot to me. They’re able to come and support me. Their support means the world. So, I would say that.”

If there’s a brand or anything that comes up to your agent and says, We want to work with KN’isha. We want to work with Me’Arah. What’s your deciding factor into, okay, yeah, I like this brand. I want to work with it. Or like, nah, I will pass up on it.

KN’isha Godfrey: “I want to make sure any brand that I work with aligns with my values, okay? What I value, what I believe in. So I’m not going to work with anyone that doesn’t align with that or something that I just don’t like.” 

“For instance, I had to deal with, no diss or anything, but like I had to deal with like PB&J or Uncrustable or something like that. I was like, I don’t like PB&J. I don’t care about the amount of money. I don’t like peanut butter and jelly. I’m not going to do it. So just not taking anything just to take it.” 

With PB&J, they were basically asking you to do it so they could feature it on their social channels and similar platforms?

KN’isha Godfrey: “Yeah”

So you would have been like, eating PB&J, and this is nasty.

Me’Arah O’Neal: “That would have been overly fake.”

KN’isha Godfrey: “Yeah. Don’t really like it. Like, oh my god, no.”

Me’Arah O’Neal: “Well, they got to know who they’re working with, so like they can’t give you a whack price.”

Price is a kind of deciding factor in it, too. It’s like it has to be an okay price because of what everything else you guys are doing, then you guys have to fit them in your schedule.

Me’Arah O’Neal: “If they have you like posting a certain amount of times or like for a certain limited time, the price has to be right.”

You guys have players overseas on your team. For them, how is that like? They just don’t get to experience any of it?

KN’isha Godfrey: “I’m sure there are certain things that they can do, but as far as NIL-wise, I don’t think that they can do that.”

Me’Arah O’Neal: “NIL is just a little bit much. I mean, women receive it too, but like it’s not on the same level.”

Do you guys think that might change in the future?

Me’Arah O’Neal: “I think it’s going to change in the future.”

I feel that, as you guys said, I think women can partner with a lot of other brands, and they’re more creative, and it’s like we got fashion, we got makeup, we got, whatever. And boys aren’t really into all of that.

Me’Arah O’Neal: “Yeah, it’s going to be bigger because, as she said, we can be creative in so many ways, and we have a lot of young ballers that are coming up, and they’re already big. By the time they get to the league, it’s just going to grow from there.”

Seeing the evolution of everything, like going to Mississippi and TCU and all that. And were you getting NL and TCU or not?

KN’isha Godfrey: “Yes”

I guess going from Mississippi to TCU, and then you got out NIL. How is that change? What was the difference?

KN’isha Godfrey: “Yes, I was in it like when I was first getting started and seeing the evolution now. There are a lot more brands and opportunities out there that really want to work with athletes and people than there were before. In the beginning, different brands and companies were kind of shaky — do we want to do it or don’t we? Now it’s like a big thing where there’s — like, yes, we want to work with you. So you just have to kind of get out there and act.”

We talked about your agents and, like, your mom, and then your family helping you guys manage all this. But does your school help? Do they have advisors? Does your coach help you guys in any way? How is that?

Me’Arah O’Neal: “She does help us. She helps us with a lot, actually. Not even just that. We’re just being people outside of basketball. You could quote me if I’m wrong, but she teaches us something new every day just by stuff she says. But it’s a lot of resources for helping with that, like NIL stuff. And, they even give us opportunities to get paid, too.”

KN’isha Godfrey: “She hit it on the head. And our coaches and our staff, they meet with us as much as they can to just give us advice on and off the court. So it’s always a plus. It’s always great.”