Raven Johnson inks new NIL deal with an assist from Dawn Staley ahead of Sweet 16

The No. 1 seeded South Carolina Gamecocks are looking to continue their March Madness run, set to take on the No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners in the round of Sweet 16. 

Just a few days before the Gamecocks and Sooners tip-off, South Carolina senior guard Raven Johnson got herself a new NIL deal. On Wednesday, Johnson tweeted that she is partnering with the insurance company AFLAC: 

Johnson's head coach, Dawn Staley, has been working with the insurance company since 2022, and has appeared in multiple commercials, including ones with former Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. 

But Johnson partnering with AFLAC just might stem from a story Staley shared after the Gamecocks' first-round win over No.16 Southern. When asked if Johnson has taught the coach anything, Staley said that she teaches her to stay on her toes. She then said that her senior guard made a joke during an extended timeout, suggesting Staley could hook her up with an AFLAC deal: 

"It's funny during the games yesterday there's like 30 seconds extra on timeouts yesterday, like there's three-minute timeouts," Staley said. They're so long, I said what I needed to say and I was done and then I told them that there are 30 extra seconds on these timeouts. I said 'because y'all make so much NIL money.' Raven got up from her seat, came over to me and said 'AFLAC' and walked away."  

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Here's the full quote from Staley: 

Staley was excited that her player secured the bag from AFLAC, and the two promoted the company before boarding their team flight to Sacramento:

Congrats to Johnson on the new deal, and what makes it even better is that it was secured with a little help from her head coach. South Carolina's game against Oklahoma will tip-off at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon.