USC five-star QB commit Julian Lewis signs NIL deal with Cactus Jack
Five-star quarterback Julian Lewis is not a member of the USC football program yet. That is not stopping him from marketing the Trojans in his latest NIL deal.
The second-ranked quarterback and No. 9 prospect in the 2025 class has inked an endorsement agreement with Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack brand, starring in marketing material for the rapper’s new college-inspired apparel collection “Jack Goes Back to College.” Created in partnership with Mitchell & Ness, the merchandise was released Thursday ahead of the Final Four.
Scott’s collection features 28 schools and includes snapback hats from Mitchell & Ness, T-shirts, hoodies, shorts, crewnecks, sweat pants and backpacks. All institutions participating will have Cactus Jack apparel in their Barnes & Noble College bookstores.
Along with USC, other notable schools include Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Miami and Texas. USC basketball stars Isaiah Collier and Juju Watkins signed autographs at the USC bookstore with Scott and Michael Rubin.
Lewis was one of the most recognizable athletes in the campaign. The Peach State product is viewed by many as the future star of college football, but he’s built to succeed in the NIL space. The sophomore in high school has more than 205,000 social media followers. He threw for 3,094 yards with 48 touchdowns in 2023, leading Carrollton to an 11-2 record.
Full terms of the agreement with the Cactus Jack were not released. Lewis promoted the marketing material on his social media channels.
Latest on Julian Lewis’ college recruitment
Julian Lewis reclassified to the 2025 class in January. Since making the decision to speed up his high school career, he’s taken visits to Alabama, Auburn, Colorado and Georgia. According to On3’s VP of recruiting and the transfer portal Steve Wiltfong, Lewis has an official visit set to Athens the last weekend in May and has other June trips tentatively on the schedule.
Lewis committed to USC on Aug. 22 as the top-ranked player in the 2026 cycle. He’s still committed to the Trojans but has continued to take visits throughout his recruitment. The 6-foot-0.5, 180-pound quarterback still sees a future playing for Lincoln Riley on the West Coast.
He recently wrapped up a four-day trip to Los Angeles to check in on the USC program. The Trojans recently landed commitments from five-star defensive line Justus Terry and coveted EDGE Isaiah Gibson, who are also from Georgia.
Rising marketability
Since the Georgia High School Athletic Association made its move this past fall to allow high schoolers to profit off their NIL, Lewis has not wasted any time signing deals with national brands. He previously signed a six-figure deal with Leaf Trading Cards and has an endorsement deal with the men’s jewelry brand Jaxxon.
He also added an agreement with Alo Yoga in February, becoming the company’s first high school athlete. The quarterback joined college stars J.J. McCarthy and Caleb Williams as ambassadors for the brand.
Lewis boasts a $1 million On3 NIL Valuation, sitting at No. 1 in the high school football NIL rankings. The annual projection is sky-high because of the value his social media following provides to brands. The valuation is No. 24 in the On3 NIL 100, the first of its kind and defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation.
“Despite what some fans and media believe, there is not an unlimited amount of money being deployed to manage rosters,” said Shannon Terry, the founder and CEO of On3. “Any model – whether it’s today’s broken NCAA ‘student-athlete’ construct or media rights sharing through employment, which is almost a certainty in the near future – demands efficiency based on the athlete and school knowing the athlete’s respective market value.”
The On3 NIL Valuation is calculated by combining Roster Value and personal NIL. Roster value is the value an athlete has by being a member of his or her team at his or her school, which factors into the role of NIL collectives. NIL in an athlete’s name, image and likeness and the value it could bring to regional and national brands outside of the scope of NIL collectives.