USC's Caleb Williams joins PlayStation's Playmaker program thanks to NIL

Caleb Williams is an avid gamer. The USC quarterback is a business partner of Matt Leinart‘s arcade-style video game from Hall of GOATS. He joined the AT&T 5G Roadshow before the national championship for a round of Call of Duty.

And he now has become the latest name to join PlayStation’s Playmaker program, thanks to NIL. Smith & Company vice president Cody Boulware confirmed the partnership to On3. Established in February, the PlayStation campaign has partnered with athletes, creators, gamers and artists.

The first class of Playmakers included LeBron James, actor and comedian King Bach and NFL players Ja’Marr Chase and CeeDee Lamb.

Williams is the first college athlete to join the initiative. As part of the agreement, he recently promoted PlayStation on his Instagram story. The reigning Heisman Trophy winner also received a PlayStation VR2 and PS5.

“Our approach has always focused on partnerships with genuine PlayStation fans who love to share their passion with their friends, community and fellow gamers,” Sony Interactive’s vice president Eric Lempel said in a statement. “We also wanted to assemble a group of talent who resonate globally and on a regional level, while representing the diversity of our PlayStation community.”

The quarterback has become college football’s NIL star, inking agreements with Athletic Brewing Company, Fanatics, Neutrogena, AT&T, Beats by Dre and AC+ION Water. He’s back in Los Angeles for at least one more season, too. In his first season on the West Coast, he threw for 4,537 yards with a 66.6% completion percentage. He was picked off just five times in 2022 while passing for 42 touchdowns. And his value in the ground game can’t be understated, rushing for another 10 scores.

Caleb Williams is only getting started in NIL

The USC quarterback saw what winning the Heisman in the NIL era can mean for an athlete. More importantly, Williams has become a national brand. The first USC Heisman winner to be able to monetize their moment has not wasted the chance.

Since December, his social media has soared to more than 277,000 followers. The quarterback has embraced his love for fashion, too. He wore a Gucci suit to the Heisman ceremony. Plus, Williams was in the Hugo Boss show during his spring break in March.

Back at USC for another year, he’ll be appearing next to Tim Tebow and Baker Mayfield in Nissan’s Heisman House ads this fall similar to Bryce Young. For all the endorsement deals, Williams has been able to use his platform to establish the Caleb Cares Foundation, which focuses on anti-bullying, youth empowerment and mental health awareness.

His $2.6 million On3 NIL Valuation ranks No. 2 in college football, trailing only Arch Manning‘s $2.8 million valuation. Williams also sits at No. 4 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.

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.

About On3 NIL Valuation, Brand Value, Roster Value

While the algorithm includes deal data, it does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals athletes have completed to date, nor does it set an athlete’s NIL valuation for their entire career. The On3 NIL Valuation calculates the optimized NIL opportunity for athletes relative to the overall NIL market and projects out to as long as 12 months into the future.