Florida standouts KN’isha Godfrey and Me’Arah O’Neal sat down with EssentiallySports for an unfiltered episode of The College Cut, a new series that goes beyond viral clips to show how college athletes are shaping their voice, identity, and business in the NIL era. In this episode, the dynamic duo explains how the NIL money has changed their lives, its effect on their personal relationships, and their current day-to-day schedules.

You (have been to) other colleges, TCU and Mississippi, and all that. So, how would you compare that to Florida? Do you think that over here in Florida, this is probably like the best experience you’ve had?

KN’isha Godfrey:  

“I’m loving everything that Florida is about, from on the court to off the court. I feel like when I came here with the team, everybody was welcoming with open arms. Even people who weren’t on staff, I’m into the whole sports broadcasting thing. So there were a lot of people in that area who came to me and were like, ‘Oh, we see what you do. We can help you in this area.’ And I was just very grateful for that.”

“When people come to you and want to be of service without you even having to ask, that’s not only God, but that’s just amazing, that’s just love. So I was very appreciative of that. And then the team. I met Me’Arah, my girl. My swamp sisters. Anyways, yes. Met her. She was welcoming, very charismatic, and obviously, I’m only two hours from home, so everything has just been aligning very well.”

[To Me’Arah] What do you like to do off the court? What do you spend your time doing?

Me’Arah O’Neal: “I like to call myself a fashionista because of my love for clothes and accessories, and yeah, just putting outfits together.”

I see you got your own brand.

Me’Arah O’Neal: “Oh yeah. Unseen clothing brand. Go cop right now. Website coming soon. But yeah, my little project.”

Can you explain the whole design, everything?

Me’Arah O’Neal: “All right. We got the eyes. I don’t know if y’all can see it, but it’s like basketball nets. That was my way of incorporating ‘Dang, it’s making a whole lot of noise’. That was my way of incorporating basketball.”

“But then there’s barbed wire. And the way I like to explain that is hard to get through because I kind of think of myself in that way. But it also represents the struggle and what people don’t see because the world knows me as a basketball player. But there’s a whole lot else that I can do and that I love.”

So I guess y’all’s day in the life. So, how is it from when you guys wake up to when you guys go to sleep?

KN’isha Godfrey: “For me, I wake up around like 7, and I read my devotionals, and that kind of grounds me for the day, and then I might journal a little after that, reflect on my thoughts. Then, I will have breakfast. I am into coffee. So, have me a coffee, get breakfast, and then kind of see what my schedule entails.”

“If we have practice, then I’ll go to treatment before practice, have practice, then I’ll work out after practice, and then I’ll go back to treatment. Depending on whether we have weights after practice. Sometimes we have a little shooting group, and then we’ll be done until practice. But sometimes we have practice, and then we have weights. So if we just have like a little shooting group, I’ll work out after the shooting group, and then I’ll go to treatment, and then after that, I might have a study hall or have work to do.”

“So I’ll use that period to do that, and then just chill and rest before practice around 2:15. And then after that, after practice, you have treatment again. Yeah. And then we’ll go to dinner or something together, with a couple of my teammates, and then go home, call it a night, or say and try to get to bed early, cuz you know you’ve got to repeat again.”

Me’Arah O’Neal: “For me, it depends on the day. Cuz sometimes I have PT in the morning. Okay. And we also got the shooting groups. But I usually wake up. I like to lay in my bed for like five minutes before I actually get up. So that’s what I do. Get up, brush teeth, wash, and do all that. Then if I got PT, I go to PT. If I get the shooting group, I’ll go to that. I usually have class after that. So I go to class, and then sometimes I usually have a study hall after that. So I go to the study hall.”

“Then, by that time it’s like 12 something, I get food, go to the gym, and get treatment. And then we either had practice or weights. But I usually just be chilling in between that. And then after that, I just go to my sister’s house because my sister lives here. She moved here. When I committed here, I either do that or I just go home and play my game. Play Fortnite.”

Is it hard to find time to work on the other stuff you guys want, like your broadcasting, you’re all, the businesses that you want to do, and then your clothing and all that? So, how do you guys fit that into your schedule?

KN’isha Godfrey: “I kind of learned like I had a counselor in my other school, and he kind of taught me to have like buckets. For instance, you have school, you have basketball, you have sports broadcasting, you have the businesses that you want to run, you have all of these things, right?”

“Basically, just like staying in one bucket until you complete everything in that bucket, and then moving. And when you move, you don’t move back. That’s smart. So, that’s kind of like how I operate and kind of stay levelheaded and at peace with so much going on.”

Me’Arah O’Neal: “I think for me, I have a lot of people around me who know that I am trying to pursue this, so they are generous enough to help me.”

When you guys got your first deal, like a NIL deal, I guess your first check, how did you guys spend that? Like, how did you guys manage that? Are you guys good with managing y’all’s money?

KN’isha Godfrey: “I bought so many shoes. Like, and half of them I don’t even wear.”

Me’Arah O’Neal: “I probably bought some jewelry, some shoes.”

Your dad, growing up like money and stuff, so when you started getting NIL and money and stuff like that, how did you feel? Were you excited to get this stuff?

Me’Arah O’Neal: “I mean, yeah, I was geeked cuz I was like, finally, I’m getting something on my own, I worked for this, so it felt great.”

Then, Nisha, were you excited too?

KN’isha Godfrey: “Yeah, I mean, I feel like NIL, you go get those deals, you pursue those deals, or people help you get those. So when you do the work, and you follow through, and you complete everything that the company or brand is asking you to do, and you get compensated for it, you feel good.”

How is it now with managing your money? Who helps you guys manage your money?

Me’Arah O’Neal: “My mom. My mom had to take over. I’m not even going to sit here and lie.”

KN’isha Godfrey: “No, my mom helps me out too.”

So what do they do? They just like snatch the cheque and like put it in a savings account for you, or what?

KN’isha Godfrey: “Not exactly, but I feel like they give me great direction on what to do with my money and creating a plan on when you get paid and what to do with that money instead of just getting paid and then going and splurging.”

Me’Arah O’Neal: “My mom doesn’t even let me touch my NIL money anymore. It’s a great thing cuz I can’t even see it.”

What do you think is the best piece of advice they gave you when you do get a cheque?

KN’isha Godfrey: “I would say just creating a plan. When you get paid, don’t just get paid and use the money, but you want to set up a high-yield savings account and an LLC, so that you can write off things. What else? You also want to have a CPA as well, someone who can help you. Just like that, so that you’re putting your money in the right places and you’re not just spending it.”

“And sometimes you don’t even mean to spend it on purpose. You just like it’s there. You see it. But if you put it up in these certain places then you’re like, ‘Okay, this is there.’ And you feel better, you know? And you’re like, ‘Ah, dang. I just set it on then.’ Yeah. You feel a lot better. You feel confident, like, ‘Okay, I’m moving. I’m moving right.’

Me’Arah O’Neal: “I think the best piece of advice I’ve ever received is don’t spend your money, but I’ve never followed it cuz I just love I don’t know. I just love buying stuff. Like, it’s a I know it’s bad.”

You get a high from buying stuff. Like, you need to go to like retail?

Me’Arah O’Neal: “But like here’s the thing. Like, I don’t even go to the mall like that. Like, even online shopping. I don’t really shop online like that. I got to see it. If I see it and I like it, I’m copping it. It’s just straight like that.”

Some people say that when you get money, it reveals the people around you like true character. So, from getting to know this money, do you guys are you guys like trying to stay private, and how much money you get, and do people like realize how much money you get? Do they act differently in any way?

Me’Arah O’Neal: “I’ve experienced a lot of people who use me like they see that I’m generous enough to like say we’re all going to dinner or something like if I’m with my friends and family like I like to be the one like you ain’t got to worry about it like I’ll do it but like people will see that and take advantage of it. So, like I’ve dealt with a lot of people like that.”

“And also, like I don’t like when people assume, like they see I got a big chain on and they’re like, ‘Oh, you got money. As you could, you could do this.’ Like a lot. I dealt with a lot of people like that, too. So, I think it’s a lot of that going on.”

KN’isha Godfrey: “I wouldn’t say like relationships or anything change, but I would just say like people definitely pocket watch, and they can take advantage of that. So sometimes you know not to show everything that you have could help you, but you also want to be yourself, and you know the things that you purchase and that you know you spend on what you wear confidently or whatnot. But yeah, that’s just my two cents on that.”

Experiencing that, do you guys think that it forces y’all to maybe grow up a little bit faster? Because when I was in school, we didn’t get all this. So it’s like I’m just a college athlete playing basketball. I got to worry about anything else. But I feel that you guys probably have to worry about a lot more now.

Me’Arah O’Neal: “I mean, yeah. I feel like I’ve been doing this since I was younger because even when I was like a kid, people were like, “Oh yeah, you got money coz your dad is a millionaire, a billionaire.” But I’m like, it doesn’t even work like that.”

KN’isha Godfrey: “It’s also about staying grounded from where you come from, too. Like anything that you have can also be taken away. So, like, just remembering that when you do purchase things and when you do have those nice things that other people might have, might aspire to have, like yeah, I have this, but it could be taken away.”

The conversation between the two reflects how modern-day college athletes understand and value opportunity, responsibility, and balance. While NIL has brought financial freedom and exposure, it has also forced maturity, discipline, and self-awareness. Godfrey and O’Neal show that today’s athletes are not just chasing checks, but learning how to manage money, protect relationships, and build identities beyond the court.