Here's an NIL deal for Georgia football fans to eat up: Javon 'Bullard's Buckeye Crunch'
Javon Bullard’s hard hit in a College Football Playoff semifinal has spawned an NIL deal for the Georgia defensive back with a flashy name.
Alumni Cookie Dough will be selling “Bullard’s Buckeye Crunch,” a sweet concoction that Bulldog fans will surely eat up
The name is a play on the pass break-up in the back of the end zone in the third quarter of Georgia’s 42-41 Peach Bowl win over Ohio State on Dec. 31 in Atlanta.
Bullard, the Georgia nickelback, collided so hard with wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., who was trying to make a catch, that it knocked Harrison out of the game with a concussion.
Weeks later, Ohio State coach Ryan Day was still talking about a play he thought should have brought a targeting penalty. A flag was thrown on the play, but overruled by replay.
“I thought it was a blessing, man, to have a cookie dough named after myself and the team we played,” Bullard said. “It’s pretty funny, and I feel like it’s good for advertising.”
Bullard’s cookie dough will be sold in the Athens location at 480 N. Thomas Street starting April 1 through the 15th. Bullard will promote Alumni Cookie Dough on social media and fans will have a chance to win an autographed football.
Jennifer and Mike Dollander, UGA graduates who opened the Athens location in 2019, are “really excited about it,” said Cannon Gaines, founder & CEO of Gaines Group Activations who worked with Bullard on the arrangement. “They’re big Dawg fans and they want to capitalize on UGA alumni, UGA students and UGA fans as spring practice ramps up to what is G-Day at the end of the activation.”
Gaines said “candied buckeyes,” are the primary ingredient. Actual buckeye seeds “resemble edible chestnuts, but Ohio buckeye fruits are not edible and can be toxic,” according to the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment website.
Bullard’s Buckeye Crunch includes smashed Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and crushed Oreos.
“We wanted to make it a little bit crunchy because of that pivotal play he had on Marvin Harrsion Jr. in the Peach Bowl,” Gaines said.
Gaines, an Oconee County High graduate, spent the past four seasons as a student manager on the Georgia football team and became friends with Bullard.
He graduated from UGA in May 2022 with a degree in sports management and certificate in entrepreneurship and is on track to graduate this May with a masters in sports business and policy.
Gaines is now entering the NIL space and also working with some Georgia female athletes. He said Bullard’s deal with Alumni Cookie Dough is in the four figures.
Bullard’s big hit — replay determined that contact was made to the shoulder rather than the head/neck area — kept Ohio State from scoring a touchdown and instead having to settle for a field goal. It has become his signature play like Kelee Ringo’s pick six in the national title game a year earlier.
“I’d be lying if I said that play wasn’t a very significant part of my career,” said Bullard, who was named the defensive MVP for both the Peach Bowl and 65-7 win over TCU for the national championship. “Yeah, that play is definitely up there.”
Bullard said he did not reach out to Harrison after the game and said “I’m not going to apologize. It was a football play. He knows it was a football play. I know it was a football play.”
Harrison was asked about the Bullard hit by reporters earlier this month.
“I think he was just trying to make a play on the football,” Harrison said, according to video posted to YouTube by Eleven Warriors. “It’s the ref’s decision to make that call whether he thinks it’s targeting or not. It’s kind of up to him. I’m not the one making the call.”
Bullard signed a photo of the play sold by memorabilia company More Than Sports with an inscription “Night Night,” on it. CEO Nick Radosta later apologized after a social media backlash calling the inscription “insensitive and inappropriate.”
“It was just something somebody wanted me to do that probably should never have been done,” Bullard said.
Harrison said he thought the photo was “kind of funny.”
Bullard said he’s hoping Georgia fans “will love,” his namesake cookie dough.
“They always show support,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: UGA football: Javon Bullard's NIL deal from controversial playoff play
