Oregon's Evan Stewart inks NIL deal with NXTRND

Evan Stewart was the top available wide receiver in this year’s college football transfer portal.

The Texas A&M transfer and former Five-Star Plus+ recruit had interest from USC, Oregon, Florida State and LSU. But he ultimately decided on the Ducks after a visit, giving him a chance to play in the same offense with quarterback Dillon Gabriel and a shot to make the College Football Playoff.

Landing Stewart was a key win for Oregon as it begins Big Ten play this fall. Now he’s signed his first major NIL deal since arriving in Eugene. The junior has now become the latest college football star to sign an NIL deal with the football equipment brand NXTRND. 

Also known as “Next Trend” the football equipment company makes everything from back plates to gloves to visors. The company traveled out to Oregon for a full photoshoot with Stewart. The 6-foot, 175-pound receiver is now across the brand’s social media channels.

A popular brand at the high school level, NXTRND’s Instagram page has become a place to promote some of the top high school prospects. Stewart joins Colorado defensive back/wide receiver Travis Hunter, Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden and Ohio State safety Caleb Downs as the brand’s ambassadors.

Evan Stewart can be ‘really talented player’

In two seasons at Texas A&M, Stewart posted 91 career receptions for 1,163 yards and six touchdowns. He finished his true freshman season with 53 receptions for 649 receiving yards and two touchdowns. His catch and yardage numbers led the team, while his touchdowns were ranked third for the Aggies. He only played in eight games in the 2023 season due to injury.

He tallied three catches for 67 yards in the Oregon spring game. As the No. 2 receiver in the 2022 recruiting class, he received offers from Alabama, LSU and Texas, among others. Stewart played just three games during his senior year of high school at Frisco (Texas) Liberty, opting to sit out the rest of the season.

“I think speed, catch radius,” Ducks head coach Dan Lanning recently said. “I think there’s a lot of things that pop off with Evan. He saw a lot of opportunity here with what we’ve done with our wideouts here in the past over the last few years.

“But you know, he has the skill set to be really, really talented player. We had some coaches that were really familiar with them before as well. That’s certainly paid off.”

Evan Stewart’s growing NIL brand

The Oregon wide receiver also has NIL deals with Coach and NOCCO USA, a popular European drink that was developed in Sweden. He’s repped by WME, and he’s also opted-in to the EA Sports College Football 25 video game, which drops on July 19. Stewart has promoted the game on his social media channels.

Additionally, Stewart was one of the first high school recruits to enter college during the NIL era with a major social media following. He has roughly 2.4 million total followers, with 2.1 million coming from his TikTok account.

His $1.3 million On3 NIL Valuation ranks No. 13 in the On3 NIL 100, the first of its kind and defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation. Stewart also ranks No. 10 in college football.

“Despite what some fans and media believe, there is not an unlimited amount of money being deployed to manage rosters,” said Shannon Terry, the founder and CEO of On3. “Any model – whether it’s today’s broken NCAA ‘student-athlete’ construct or media rights sharing through employment, which is almost a certainty in the near future – demands efficiency based on the athlete and school knowing the athlete’s respective market value.”

The On3 NIL Valuation is calculated by combining Roster Value and personal NIL. Roster value is the value an athlete has by being a member of his or her team at his or her school, which factors into the role of NIL collectives. NIL in an athlete’s name, image and likeness and the value it could bring to regional and national brands outside of the scope of NIL collectives.

About On3 NIL Valuation, Brand Value, Roster Value