Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers inks NIL deal with Ryl Tea
When Quinn Ewers made the decision to leave high school and enroll early at Ohio State, NIL opportunities were at the forefront of the move.
Within days of starting practice with the Buckeyes, he signed notable endorsement deals with a leading autograph dealer, GTSM, and Holy Kombucha.
Fast forward two years and the former Five-Star Plus+ quarterback is back home in the state of Texas playing for the Longhorns. He’s shaved the mullet, which was once his trademark. And he has added a new beverage company to his list of partnerships.
Earlier this week, Ewers formalized a deal with Ryl Tea Company. He made the announcement on his Instagram, promoting a recent meet-and-greet he held with the brand at an Austin Kroger grocery store. The quarterback sipped on some samples and signed autographs for Texas fans.
“Just finishing up, thanks for all the fans for coming out,” Ewers said in the video. “I just want to give a shout-out to Ryl Tea. It’s good for a good, refreshing cold drink on a hot summer day. Y’all got to go try it out.”
A zero-sugar iced tea product with no artificial ingredients, the beverage comes in peach, lemon, “OG Green” and raspberry flavors. Country music star Morgan Wallen signed on as a partner and investor in April. Since then, Ryl Tea has released “Wallen’s Sweet Tea” which is zero sugar and has just five calories.
Wallen responded to the Instagram post, writing, “Wrong UT but right TEA” with a cowboy emoji.
Ewers started 10 games, throwing for just over 2,100 yards while having 15 touchdowns and six interceptions in his first year back home in Texas. After beating out Hudson Card for the starting job, he finished the season with a 58.1 completion percentage. Steve Sarkisian shut down any talk of a quarterback competition at the end of spring ball, naming Ewers his starter.
Quinn Ewers’ growing NIL empire
Represented by Sportstars and Rubicon, the quarterback signed at least six endorsement deals last season. He launched a partnership with Metabillia to create digital collectibles for fans. The agreement was somewhere in the seven-figure range, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Ewers promoted Wrangler‘s collection with Texas, modeling for the denim brand in a series of advertisements and promoting the release on his social media. He’s driving around in a vehicle courtesy of Austin’s Vanguard Volkswagen.
In recent weeks, he has rolled out his new custom merchandise line produced by Vapor Apparel. The quarterback has inked an exclusive NIL agreement with Panini America, too. Plus, he hosted his first event, titled “An Evening with Quinn Ewers,” for fans and boosters.
The Texas quarterback has a $1.1 million On3 NIL Valuation. The evaluation ranks in the top 15 of college football. It also sits at No. 19 in the On3 NIL 100, which is the first of its kind and defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation.
Ewers has been able to build out a strong rolodex of endorsement deals due to his social media platform. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound quarterback has amassed nearly 210,000 followers.
The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college athletes. A proprietary algorithm, the On3 NIL Valuation calculates an athlete’s NIL value using dynamic data points targeting three primary categories: performance, influence and exposure.