HORSEHEADS, N.Y. (WENY) - Name, image, and likeness has grown rapidly in college athletics. Today, it made its way to the Southern Tier as Horseheads grad and LeMoyne College baseball signee Dom Russ became the area's first student-athlete to sign a NIL deal.

Russ, who recently partnered with Glory2Glory Sports Agency, signed a deal with the Subway located at the Village Plaza.

On Thursday Russ filmed promos where he was telling viewers if they come to the Subway at the Village Plaza location and use his name 'Dom' at checkout, they would get 10% off their order.

WENY Sports spoke with Russ about how this opportunity developed.

"The Glory2Glory agency reached out and we kind of got together through Falcons which is a local travel team that I used to play," Russ said. I'm too old for that now because I'm going to college but that's something that they wanted to partner with and they reached out to me now that I'm going to LeMoyne College which just moved to Division I baseball so kind of getting that partnership with them and getting this opportunity to empower the young kids that are coming up and this landscape and this area, I'm very excited."

CEO of Glory2Glory Sports Agency, Atoine Hyman, discussed the difference between Dom's signing and a power five athlete NIL deal.

"We recognize that our local athletes have real power," Hyman said. "People support them and they follow them from the very beginning and what's wonderful as  NIL is developing, business owners like themselves that wouldn't have dealt with them a year ago are now willing to deal with these types of athletes because they have a strong support system within the framework of these small towns."

Owner of the Village Plaza Subway, Matt Hufnagel, added that this means much more than just giving a student-athlete a check.

"We started talking about what it could look like and it's not only supporting Dom who I didn't know at the time, but also other kids in the community through Dom through their organization and become something much bigger than just hey, let me support one athlete," Hufnagel said. "It's allowing him to support more athletes and him to make a mark. Then it resonated with me and my wife."

Russ played a major role in Horseheads Section IV Championship run this spring, and he id currently playing for the Horseheads Hitmen in the NYCBL before beginning his freshman year at LeMoyne this fall.