J.J. McCarthy, Bo Nix headline Bowman University Best Football trading cards

Topps has released its 2022-23 Bowman University Best Football trading card set.

Oregon quarterback Bo Nix and Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy headline the release, featured across the set’s packaging. The card set features two chrome autograph cards per master box and one per mini-box.

On3 has confirmed each signed new NIL deals with the trading card company for the 2023 season as part of the release. McCarthy is repped by Rosenhaus Sports, while Nix works with QB Reps.

Topps secured trading card rights deals with nearly 200 student-athletes across college football and basketball last June, including Bryce Young and Stetson Bennett who are now moving on to the NFL.

Topps, along with its parent company Fanatics, also previously launched a line of college sports cards with athletes from over 100 universities. The company said the agreements would include exclusive and non-exclusive co-branded trading card products, incorporating official university trademarks and featuring current student-athletes and former athletes playing in the NFL, NBA, and MLB.

Because of the deal, athletes from schools like Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Penn State and Texas A&M can be involved in Bowman University Best Football trading cards, which released this week.

Included in the Master Box are a number of insert cards, such as campus captains, fight song, gunslingers and bandits die-cut, neon neophytes, Bowman masterpieces and constellations of greatness. The set also includes a handful of numbered autograph cards.

“Fanatics has been closely monitoring the ever-evolving NIL landscape,” Fanatics College executive vice president Derek Eiler previously said. “… There are tremendous opportunities for this untapped area of the hobby and to expand further across the collegiate sports landscape.”

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J.J. McCarthy, Bo Nix rising national profiles

The quarterbacks have developed into two of college football’s biggest names. With Caleb Williams returning to USC to defend his Heisman Trophy and Drake Maye the apparent challenger, McCarthy and Nix have quietly slid into the conversation ahead of this fall.

They’ve also found plenty of NIL success.

Nix announced his return to Eugene for the 2023 season in December. In his first year from transferring from Auburn to Oregon, the quarterback threw for 27 touchdowns and just seven interceptions while leading the Ducks to a 10-3 record. He has inked endorsement agreements with Bose, Subway, The Duck Store, ONIT, Division Street, Bojangels and Candy Digital.

His counterpart at Michigan has found plenty of success as well. McCarthy has 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.

Similar to Nix, he’s found plenty of NIL opportunities thrown his way, aligning with brands like Bose, Dunkin’, Eberg Capital and The M Den.

Major On3 NIL Valuations

Exiting spring camp, Nix has the edge with a $1.5 million On3 NIL Valuation which ranks No. 6 in college football. McCarthy’s $879,000 On3 NIL Valuation sits at No. 21 in the college football NIL rankings.

Their valuations sit at No. 8 and No. 32 in the On3 NIL 100, respectively. The On3 NIL 100 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.

Each have major social media followings. McCarthy has amassed 263,000 followers; Nix has roughly 188,000 followers.

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.