Alabama QB Bryce Young uses NIL in Nissan Heisman House ads

Alabama quarterback Bryce Young is the first Heisman Trophy winner of the NCAA’s NIL era and the first Heisman winner to return to school since Lamar Jackson. That’s a good combination entering the 2022 college football season.

On Thursday, the first Nissan Heisman House commercials of the season aired and Young stars in two of them, wearing an Alabama jersey.

Young is the first college athlete to partner with Nissan through a NIL deal, according to Sports Business Journal’s Michael Smith. Smith reported Learfield arranged for Young to wear his Alabama jersey in the commercials, which is something for which schools need to provide approval for NIL deals.

The Nissan Heisman House ads feature past Heisman winners, including Florida‘s Tim Tebow and Steve Spurrier, Alabama’s Derrick Henry and DeVonta Smith, Oklahoma‘s Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray, Oklahoma State‘s Barry Sanders, and USC‘s Carson Palmer. Each player is wearing his college jersey.

Bryce Young’s Nissan Heisman House ads

In one commercial, Tebow welcomes Bryce Young to the chaotic Nissan Heisman House.

“Bryce, they let you off campus!” says an emphatic Tebow, who makes sure to mention he was the first sophomore to win the Heisman.

Henry, another recent Alabama Heisman Trophy winner, runs past them pushing a sled.

In another commercial, Young encourages Spurrier to try plugging in an electric car.

“Coach, just plug it in,” Young says.

“Gee, how ’bout that!” Spurrier responds.

Then, Smith and Young appear to be confused by a ringing landline phone, while Spurrier urges them to answer the phone.

Bryce Young’s On3 NIL Valuation

Bryce Young has an On3 NIL Valuation of $3.2 million, which is the highest among all college football players. The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college athletes. Its proprietary algorithm includes categories of data points that include an athlete’s performance, influence and exposure.

Young ranks fourth in the On3 NIL 100, behind only Bronny James, Mikey Williams and Arch Manning. The On3 NIL 100 is the first of its kind and the defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by market valuation.

Young’s On3 NIL Valuation includes the value of his 207,000 Instagram followers.

Since winning the Heisman, Young has signed a number of NIL deals with national brands, including Dr. Pepper, Fanatics, Dollar Shave Club and NOBULL.

Trent Dilfer shares perspective on Bryce Young

On the first episode of the Lever Up NIL Show, Super Bowl-winning quarterback Trent Dilfer shared his perspective on Young’s approach to football and NIL.

“Talked to Bryce a lot about this,” Dilfer said. “And his perspective is exactly what you said. He’s like, ‘Yeah, I’d be an idiot not to use what’s happening to provide some revenue platforms. But the second it takes away from my team, the second it takes away from my focus of being the first pick in the draft, the second that it does anything to weigh on me’ — because that’s the other thing that’s not talked about. Now guys are traveling, they’re jumping on a plane to go down to Florida to shoot a commercial on their day off when their coaches give them time to rest and recover.

“So now they’re not recovering, so they’re coming back to school, they’re not in the same shape, they’re not mentally fresh, they’re not physically recovered. He’s like, ‘I don’t want any of that to happen because that’s going to take away from my ability to go do what I did last year when I was completely invested in doing everything in my power to help my team win and be the best player I can be.’”