MADISON, WIS. -- The college athletics landscape continues to evolve, and the Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) rules ushered in a new era of monetary compensation for athletes earlier this summer.

"This is an important day for college athletes since they all are now able to take advantage of name, image and likeness opportunities," NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a June 30 press release. "With the variety of state laws adopted across the country, we will continue to work with Congress to develop a solution that will provide clarity on a national level. The current environment — both legal and legislative — prevents us from providing a more permanent solution and the level of detail student-athletes deserve."

Some Wisconsin players inked deals already to receive compensation off of their name, image and likeness. Most notably, quarterback Graham Mertz announced a memorabilia deal with Panini, boasts his own online store and a trademark logo to his name.

Defensive end Matt Henningsen and Wisconsin women's hockey player Chayla Edwards declared their work with Degree's "Breaking Limits" team. The Chenal brothers, John and Leo, both now are on Cameo -- along with tight end Hayden Rucci -- while John also just announced a deal with Streignth, a sportswear company based in La Crosse.

Heck, the members of the Wisconsin offensive line teamed up with Mission BBQ to be "the official BBQ of the Wisconsin O-Line," according to tweets by Mertz, guard Josh Seltzner, and tackles Tyler Beach and Logan Bruss.

BadgerBlitz.com asked a few players on Thursday during Wisconsin's media day inside Camp Randall Stadium -- what's been the most surprising aspect of the NFL process that they've had to navigate through? Some called out particular intricacies that student-athletes need to adhere to, while others also noted that they have not necessarily jumped into those waters fully yet.

I would say the only surprising thing is I feel like a lot of people are kind of blowing it up saying that it's like a huge market. And coming from a guy like me, like obviously you get deals, but you can make it as busy as you want it to be and you make it as clean as you want it to be. So for me, I think that everybody thinks it's this big, multi-billion -- like all these players are getting millions and millions -- it's not the case.

If you are doing that, then something's gonna probably fall through on the field. [laughs] Like you're taking away from your film study, all that stuff. So for me, I'd say the most surprising thing is that it's not a distraction at all, and I think that's a really good thing for me.

There's been a lot of surprising stuff, honestly. Just the amount of just rules and laws -- aside from campus rules -- laws, trademark laws. I mean, we're all college kids, right? We got to understand everything with that, make sure we're not doing anything that could get us sued or something like that. That's like step one, right?

Also, a big struggle for us is just making sure our focus is on the team, focus is on football, right? And that's the biggest thing for me, the biggest thing for anybody who's trying to benefit from this new legislation. So step one is being the best player that you can be on the field because if you're able to do that that's worth more than anything.

It's grown up stuff, and I kind of wish that we had classes with this growing up in high school. ... Learning taxes, and our stipend checks, they're not taxed. They're already ready for us to go, so we've never had to deal with that stuff.

So learning that and learning the university policies and learning when you can use a logo, when you can't, the copyright. I mean, gosh, it's a lot, but I kind of like it because that's how businesses are, and you are your own business in this instance. So I enjoyed learning that stuff because it might be helpful for someone who wants to run their own business later. But again, you have to stay on top of this stuff if you want to get involved with it, or else there's a lot of rules that you can break without even knowing it.

Me, personally, I'm not as big as Graham, you know. I'm just playing.

For me, I really haven't had too much trouble navigating through the NIL stuff yet. Just me, personally, just seeing some of the other stuff that other people, it's cool. It's crazy the amount of stuff like [Alabama head coach] Nick Saban said about the quarterback from them [Bryce Young], like he's already touched seven figures. That's crazy, but it's good for him. I feel like people that are getting the deals, they earned that, and they put the work in to get the notoriety for these companies to reach out to them to get a deal.

So it's like as long as you're handling your business on the field, that's kind of what my mindset is going into this season. Obviously, I think about deals. You know, I did DM Shea Moisturizers. Got the curls going, see if they want to do a deal or something, but I know when it comes, you got to perform on the field first for all that off the field stuff to come around.

Like I really haven't ran into too much NIL stuff yet, but my mindset is just performing good on the field, and I know that stuff will come on the side.

I think it's not all black and white, the whole process. There's a lot of paperwork that needs to be done. There's a lot of rules that need to be followed, whether it's a federal, or like state or university rules, because we have a lot established, and it's all meant to protect the players. But it's just something I think a lot of guys, a lot of younger guys that are just now getting into it, don't realize is that it's not all just making money and signing deals. There's a lot of work that needs to be done and a lot of caution that needs to be had. You need to have a lot of caution anyway, and so I think that's something that not everyone realizes and that's really important.

But also at the end of the day, you need to be successful on the field to get those deals, and so I think that just needs to be the focus. Guys get wide eyed with the lights but it comes down to I need to play well to build my brand. I need to play well for the team to have success so I think that's a big part of it.

I think the most exciting is, of course, just here's some money for this poster. We'll give you this much if you represent our brand. I think that's the most exciting part.

The most surprising part is that it passed. I was surprised about that.

Honestly, I haven't really been too much involved with that NIL stuff because I'm more so just worried about fall camp practice tomorrow and you know, Penn State on Sept. 4. So I feel like if I do my job on the field and all the NIL stuff will come with time.

I haven't really been into that. I just let my field work build my brand. I mean, it's cool that we do get to build our brand now, but I'm really focused on football and I'm gonna let the rest do itself.

Personally, I haven't dove too far into a lot of that stuff. I'm not into all that stuff. I just want to play and play well. Like coach [Paul] Chryst always says, if you want any of the NIL stuff to benefit you, you got to be a good player and a good team before any of that stuff is able to happen. So that's my main focus.