Last Friday morning, 11-year old Jackson Reynolds walked into Heritage Middle School in Saline, excited to share with his Spartan friends that he was going to go with his dad to the Michigan State vs Ohio State game the following day in East Lansing.
He knew that his dad, Tim, had won a sweepstakes but he didn't realize how awesome the prize actually was.
Jackson is a knowledgeable fan. He knows the players -- by sight, by position, by number -- and never misses a game.
It was a pretty good deal then that his dad was chosen at random as the winner of the grand prize of the first sweepstakes put on by Michigan State's new NIL Collective -- Spartan Nation NIL.
The idea is simple -- donate to the NIL Collective and be entered to win prizes.
But when Tim Reynolds saw the notification on his phone at his son's soccer practice last Wednesday notifying him that he won the sweepstakes, he couldn't believe it.
"I was taken aback," Tim said. "I was in disbelief. Is this a scam? There's no way I could have won this thing. But, finally, when I was talking to Darien (Harris), I realized (that) I actually did win this thing."
Wednesday evening, Tim found out and told his son -- but he still didn't believe he won.
"Don't get your hopes up yet," he told Jackson. "I have to make sure this is legit."
It wasn't until he got a former Spartan football player on the line that he realized it was actually happening.
"Oh, my gosh, I'm talking to Darien Harris about where to meet," said Tim. "That's when Jackson started to get really excited."
Two tickets to the game, two sideline passes, a parking pass in a premier tailgate lot, a game football, a travel voucher, and a tour of the Spartan football facilities. All very cool things, yes. But the coolest thing -- according to both dad and son -- was being a part of the Spartan Walk to the stadium.
The Walk
It was a few hours before game time; Tim and Jackson were sitting in the lobby of the Kellogg Center, waiting for their chance to be a part of the Spartan game day tradition.
"My son knows all the players names, what high school they went to, where they transferred from," said Tim. "He was just watching them all come out of the elevator, one by one. He'd pull my sleeve and say, 'look, dad, there's Ru'Quan Buckley' or he'd say the other players' names and point out all the players."
That's when Darien Harris came over and told them it was time to walk with the team.
Tim didn't understand at first.
"I just looked around and I'm like, 'where's everyone else? It's just the team and us,'" said Tim. "I honestly expected there to be 20 to 30 other old guys there, people who were big-time donors that were going to walk with the team. When I asked Darien, he said, 'no, it's just you guys -- you guys will be the first people to do this.'"
Tim was blown away.
"When we started walking, we were slapping hands with fans, and Dillon Tatum was one of the first players to greet us coming out," said Tim. "It was such an amazing experience for a casual fan, I didn't even know what to make of it at the time."
"At one point I looked at (Jackson) and I don't think he knew the overall amazing thing he was involved with until we started to walk up to (the Spartan Statue) and put the penny on it," Tim said. "He looked at me and gave me this look: we're really doing this, dad."
"Being so close to the players, whether it be in the hotel, or while the players were warming up on the field," Tim continued. "This was such as cool set up. I hope other fans can be as lucky as we were."
"Darien did a phenomenal job with hospitality, just being easily accessible," said Tim. "It was unchartered territory for me, being this close to the program and seeing a lot of the cool stuff. The whole experience was once in a lifetime for a fan like myself. I don't normally get access to being able to get down to field level."
Tim said he saw a post about the sweepstakes on the Spartans Illustrated message board and decided to enter the contest by donating to the Spartan Nation NIL Fund.
"I'm incredibly glad I participated," he said, acknowledging that he will continue contributing to the Spartan Nation NIL Collective.
The sweepstakes aren't over, either -- the latest grand prize was just announced for the upcoming Iowa game:
If you are interested in entering the next sweepstakes, all of the details can be found here. The deadline to enter is Monday, Oct. 14 at noon.
Who knows? You might just be the next lucky winner to join the Spartans on game day.
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