Jackson State鈥檚 Shedeur Sanders capitalizing on NIL era
JACKSON, Miss. (BVM) 鈥� Not signing on to a Power 5 school hasn鈥檛 slowed down Jackson State sophomore quarterback Shedeur Sanders from leaving his mark within the NIL space. With a handful of deals already in hand, Sanders is taking advantage of all things the NIL era is throwing his way.
Son of Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders, Shedeur has found his own way, like many around the sport, to build a growing personal brand. As the leader in athlete earnings within HBCUs, Shedeur and Jackson State have continued to make noise both on and off the field.
Last year, the freshman quarterback helped lead the Tigers to their first conference championship in over a decade. Behind his over 3,000 yards passing and 30 passing touchdowns, Shedeur has become one of the names to know in the conference and around college football. Along with teammate and Travis Hunter, the two Jackson State stars are changing not only NIL, but the college landscape.
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Recently, Shedeur and Hunter appeared alongside their head coach on the cover of Sports Illustrated, becoming the first HBCU athletes to do so since Steve McNair in 1994. Shedeur鈥檚 growing brand has drawn the attention of some of the biggest companies around sports with a current NIL evaluation of $786,000 . In the past year, he鈥檚 continued his run of 鈥渇irsts in HBCU history鈥� by signing deals with Gatorade, Beats by Dre and Brady Brand, among others.
“I’m honored to be a part of the Gatorade family,鈥� Shedeur, a subsidiary of Sports Illustrated, in his announcement with the company. 鈥淔irst and foremost, I’m blessed. It’s a great opportunity. As a kid, I was drinking Gatorade regularly. So now that we have the opportunity to partner with them and be a part of Gatorade, I’m very blessed.”
Shedeur鈥檚 social media is a great opportunity for companies looking to enter the space, regardless of which platform he puts sponsored ads onto. With over 481,000 followers on Instagram, over 221,000 followers on Tik Tok and over 25,000 followers on Twitter, Shedeur鈥�s social media reach can account for nearly 725,000 followers for advertisers.
The success Shedeur has found has also come for his college program. Jackson State is set to partner with Opendorse, a company that provides technology to the athlete endorsement industry. The goal is to help athletes and their supporters 鈥渦nderstand, build, protect, and monetize鈥� their brand value. The school became one of 75 around the nation to sign on with the company and will help to continue to grow the brand value of current student athletes.
This past offseason, his father was the target of Alabama head coach Nick Saban鈥檚 claims of issues within the growing NIL space. With Shedeur鈥檚 headway within NIL, his goals are still on the field. The rising sophomore quarterback is set to lead Jackson State in their goal of repeating as conference champions while also looking to head the resurgence of star HBCU quarterbacks.
