As if a 2-0 start to the season and massive attendance and TV viewership ratings weren’t enough proof that the Nebraska volleyball team was on another level of popularity, along comes adidas.
On Wednesday morning, the company announced its official 2026 class of volleyball NIL partners. It’s not just that several Huskers are on the list, but that the majority of the class are part of the Nebraska program.
adidas announced that Texas A&M’s Kyndal Stowars and Penn State’s Kennedy Martin joined Nebraska’s Bergen Reilly, Manaia Ogbechie, and Harper Murray on the roster. As yet another reminder of how popular the Huskers are across the nation, Murray was already an existing adidas partner.
“Our largest NIL roster to date signals adidas’ commitment to further fueling volleyball’s explosive growth by backing the championship-caliber athletes who are shaping the future of the sport. Each athlete joining the brand brings a unique combination of talent, grit, and on-court dominance, and we look forward to rallying around them and their teams throughout this upcoming season," Shane Jochum, Senior Director of Sports Marketing and Partnerships at adidas, said in a release announcing the new class of star volleyball partners.
adidas announced its 2026 class of NIL Partners in volleyball, and it's extremely Nebraska-centric pic.twitter.com/JY2TXFXl4U
— Oliver VanDervoort (@itmeolliev) September 2, 2026
Nebraska volleyball's adidas NIL dominance showcases the program's unmatched popularity
As it turns out, this new class of Nebraska volleyball players will also team up in adidas’ marketing campaign with a former teammate. Lexi Rodriguez, one of the best liberos to ever come through Lincoln, is now playing professional volleyball with LOVB and is a former NIL partner and adidas partner.
Outside of the welcome news for the three Huskers joining this group for their own benefit, adidas doing this kind of thing at all shows just how big women’s volleyball is becoming all over the country. With most of this new group of NIL partners, it also shows that in a world where the sport is gaining popularity, there’s simply no team or group of players more popular than the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Of course, Reilly and Murray, alongside Laney Choboy and Andi Jackson, have been household names among Husker fans and volleyball fans in general for years. The four seniors have crowds of adoring supporters following them around the country to watch them play and surround them when they can sign autographs.
Ogbechie is a newcomer to the spotlight. She appeared in just 27 sets in her freshman season, but the sophomore from California has played in every set so far this season, and there’s no reason to believe that will change as 2026 wears on.
With Rodriguez, Reilly, Harper, and Ogbechie all part of this most recent NIL campaign, it’s clear the multigenerational approach is working for Nebraska volleyball and for adidas.
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