Five-Star High School Football Player Sues North Carolina State Board of Education Over NIL Prohibitions

By Tatiana M. Terry, of Ogletree Deakins Rolanda Brandon—the mother of sixteen-year-old star quarterback Faizon Brandon, the Greensboro, North Carolina, Grimsley High School football player who has committed to play for the University of Tennessee Volunteers in 2026—recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of her son in Wake County Superior Court, challenging the North Carolina State Board of Education’s and North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s name, image, and likeness (NIL) p