Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford makes initial On3 NIL 100 rankings
The first On3 NIL 100 rankings are out, and a current Penn State player has made the cut.
Quarterback Sean Clifford checks in at No. 61 with a NIL valuation of $159,000. The NIL 100 combines college football and basketball players.
On the college football only list, receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith, ranks No. 90 with a NIL valuation of $111,000.
A third Nittany Lion, receiver Jahan Dotson, is the highest-rated Penn State player on both at No.43 in the NIL 100 and No. 30 in the CFB-only list with a NIL valuation of $206,000. He, however, is off to the NFL Draft.
Alabama quarterback Bryce Young and Ohio State passer CJ Stroud lead the rankings with NIL valuations of $1.8 and $1.1 million, respectively.
The full NIL 100 can be found at the link above. The college football only list is here.
Penn State hopes to continue improving in NIL sapce
Penn State continues to push for more opportunities in this space.
“Because of where we focused on from an educational standpoint, I think our student-athletes who are engaging with us, engaging with NIL, which I think at this point is somewhere between a quarter and a third, I think that will grow over time,” Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour said last week. “I think those that are participating, that are engaging, are actually doing very well. That will evolve.”
Penn State must continue educating its base about how it can help create NIL opportunities for student-athletes, Barbour added.
“Whether it’s the process of current student-athletes and their educational and financial benefit, but also obviously, to recruit,” she continued. “I think the student-athletes who have participated have really gained a lot of experience, knowledge, education, and oh, by the way, yeah, put some money in their pockets as well. But, we’ve got a long way to go.”
How the On3 NIL 100 rankings work
This is a unique and exclusive On3 product. It “is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes,” according to On3 founder Shannon Terry.
“The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.”
Additionally, Terry writes:
“A base valuation is generated from the number of followers on each social media platform an athlete has (Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok). Each platform is weighted differently based on the number of marketing dollars that brands and advertisers typically spend on each.”
Recruits and current college football players can receive a rankings bump or drop based on a number of other factors. Those include post engagement, on-field performance, game day achievements, and much more.
