Michigan's J.J. McCarthy latest to sign NIL deal with Alo Yoga

The body of work J.J. McCarthy has accomplished in NIL speaks to his on-field success.

The Michigan quarterback has notable partnerships with Bose, Dunkin’, Essentia Water and The M Den. Outside of the endorsement deals, he has used NIL to establish his JJ For the Kids foundation, which has worked with a number of children’s hospitals throughout the country.

Now he has signed an agreement with his largest brand to date. McCarthy announced a partnership with Alo Yoga on his Instagram on Sunday night. The fashion brand creates clothing for the yoga studio, along with streetwear. 

He’s not the first college football player to align with the company. USC‘s Caleb Williams was the honorary starter for NASCAR’s Clash at the Coliseum back in February. The quarterback was on the red carpet before starting the event at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. His outfit for the race was all from Alo, including his bandana.

McCarthy now has become the second quarterback to work with the sportswear brand. Jared Wangler of Valiant Management helped facilitate the agreement. Terms of the agreement were not shared, but Wangler said the quarterback will promote the brand and shoot content at the company’s headquarters.

“More importantly, it aligns with J.J.’s personality,” he said. “His holistic approach to life matches Alo’s mission.”

Wangler leads Valiant Sports Management, a sports marketing agency which has facilitated more than $5.5 million in NIL deals for Michigan athletes. A former Michigan running back, he’s also a co-founder of the Michigan-focused Champions Circle collective. The organization formally launched last week with a website and endorsement from Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh. With heavy alumni support, fans can join the collective with subscription packages ranging from $10 to $500 monthly.

McCarthy posted a picture with a young fan at a recent autograph signing in his Instagram announcement.

“The work we do on ourselves becomes our gift to everyone else,” he said.

The Michigan quarterback headlined the release of last week’s 2022-23 Bowman University Best Football trading card set, featured across the set’s packaging next to Oregon quarterback Bo Nix.

He led the Wolverines to back-to-back Big Ten titles and wins over Ohio State. They’ve also been to two consecutive College Football Playoff semifinals, failing to get over the hump. That will be the goal in the former four-star’s junior season. He passed for 22 touchdowns and just five interceptions, with a 64.6% completion percentage in 2022.

J.J. McCarthy’s growing On3 NIL Valuation

The Michigan star has an $879,000 On3 NIL Valuation, sitting at No. 21 in the college football NIL rankings. The Valuation also ranks No. 32 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.

J.J. McCarthy has also amassed 263,000 social media followers with over 200,000 coming from Instagram.

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.