Quinn Ewers inks NIL deal with private jet company Nicholas Air
Quinn Ewers has become the latest college football star to ink an NIL deal with a private jet company.
Nicholas Air, the same company that signed Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart in February, has signed an endorsement deal with the Texas quarterback. The deal calls for Ewers to have hours using Nicholas Air’s fleet of private jets for travel, training and philanthropy.
A Heisman Trophy candidate entering the 2024 season, Ewers threw for 3,479 yards with 22 touchdowns and just six interceptions last season while leading the Longhorns to a College Football Playoff berth.
“More Texas touchdowns coming soon,” Nicholas Air wrote in a social media post. “Welcome to the family, Quinn Ewers!”
Arguably the most marketable athlete on the Longhorns’ roster, Austin businesses have lined up to align their brand next to the Texas quarterback. Ewers is represented by Sportstars and Rubicon. He helped take Texas to its first CFP berth this past season, falling to Washington in the semifinals.
Now Ewers is tasked with leading the Longhorns in their first season in the SEC. He has some new options in the passing game this season, too, with the additions of Silas Bolden, Matthew Golden and Isaiah Bond. Texas fans will get their first glimpse of Ewers with his new wide receiver group at the Orange-White Game spring game, slated for April 20.
“I feel that with Quinn, he really enjoys his teammates,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian recently said. “I think he really enjoys the challenge of getting that rapport with the receivers. I think he’s got a great rapport with his offensive linemen and those runners. But now, what’s that rapport like with those wideouts, with the new tight end, working with Gunnar [Helm] and Amari Niblack and that group, so I think he’s enjoying it.”
Quinn Ewers’ massive NIL potential
With more than 260,000 social media followers, Quinn Ewers is poised to capitalize on his NIL brand. Along with a partnership with the Longhorn-driven NIL collective the Texas One Fund, he landed a deal with GT Sports Marketing worth $1.4 million when he enrolled at Ohio State a year early because the state of Texas does not allow high school players to monetize their NIL.
Ewers launched a partnership with Metabillia last year to create digital collectibles for fans. The agreement was somewhere in the seven-figure range, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel. This past college football season, he rolled out a new custom merchandise line produced by Vapor Apparel. The quarterback also inked an also exclusive NIL agreement with Panini America. He’s also collaborated with designer Tyler Upchurch before the Alabama matchup to release 200 limited-edition posters marked at $100.
Ewers is also slated to be in the upcoming EA Sports College Football video game. He holds a $1.9 million On3 NIL Valuation, which is No. 4 in the college football NIL rankings. His valuation is No. 6 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.