Penn State's Drew Allar signs NIL deal with Bose, gifts offensive line headphones

Drew Allar is the latest college athlete to use an NIL deal to give back to his team.

The Penn State quarterback has inked an endorsement deal with Bose, announcing the partnership Tuesday night on X. With the announcement, the former five-star recruit also shared he gifted the entire Nittany Lions offensive line headphones.

Bose has become one of the biggest spenders in the NIL space, and now a rising quarterback star has signed on.

“Appreciate all the hard work these guys have put in throughout the offseason and fall camp so far!” Allar wrote on X.

Since November, the brand has signed deals with Oregon quarterback Bo Nix, Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy, LSU women’s basketball star Angel Reese and Houston guard Marcus Sasser. The the audio equipment company also paired UConn basketball stars Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd in a series of TikTok videos.

Most of those partnerships were one-off deals, allowing Bose to tap into an athlete’s social media following. The agreement with Allar goes past that, however, providing value to the quarterback’s teammates. It’s become a popular move for athletes in the NIL space. USC quarterback Caleb Williams gifted the USC women’s basketball team Beats by Dre headphones before the 2022 NCAA tournament. Reese made a similar move at LSU, gifting her teammates Coach bags.

Big shout out to @Bose for helping me hook up the OLine up with headphones! Appreciate all the hard work these guys have put in throughout the offseason and fall camp so far! #WeAre pic.twitter.com/DoP5oTBq0r

— Drew Allar (@AllarDrew) August 16, 2023

Drew Allar growing into leadership role

The No. 3 quarterback in the 2022 cycle left Ohio for Penn State and spent last season learning behind Sean Clifford. Allar has impressed in training camp, now entering his second season in offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich‘s offense. He played in 10 games during mop-up duty last season, going 35 of 60 passes for 344 yards and four touchdowns without throwing an interception.

With Allar at the helm, the Nittany Lions are already being tossed around in the College Football Playoff picture. He has been mentioned in the Heisman Trophy conversation, too.

Penn State head coach James Franklin recently said Allar has taken the majority of first-team snaps. He’s emerged as a leader this offseason, too. The Nittany Lions open their season Sept. 2 when West Virginia visits State College.

“He lives the quarterback position,” Franklin said of his second-year quarterback. “Really both of them, he and Beau [Pribula], both do; they live the position. They’re in the facility all hours of the day, studying it, asking a ton of questions, taking great notes. I do think the experience that Drew got last year; he played in almost every game on the road to open the season at Purdue in a tough environment.

“So he played in a ton of games last year, and I think that will help him. But as you know, it’s different doing it full-time. But he’s just doing all the things necessary to give him the best chance to be successful.”

Growing NIL portfolio

As the presumed Penn State starting quarterback, Drew Allar has become a popular target for brands looking to spend dollars in NIL. The 6-foot-5, 243-pounder agreed to terms on a deal with Inch & Co. in December, receiving the keys to a Tesla.

He also partnered with Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes and the brand’s Mission Tiger program to present a $30,000 donation to Pennsylvania middle schools in July.

A top-10 prospect coming out of high school, he’s amassed more than 88,000 social media followers. Allar has a $329,000 On3 NIL Valuation, which ranks in the top 150 of the college football NIL rankings. 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.