JuJu Lewis, Air Noland display NIL potential in Georgia high school football

The only football game in America on Friday night being televised on an ESPN network is in the state of Georgia.

On one side of the field, Julian Lewis will be playing for Carrollton High School. A Class of 2026 prospect, he’s already made a state title game. He’s earned more than 35 scholarship offers, gone viral for his quarterback skills and has the same high school football coach as Trevor Lawrence. He’s arguably the biggest name in high school football – and he’s only starting his sophomore season.

Prentiss “Air” Noland will be across the field at quarterback for Langston Hughes. The Ohio State commit threw for more than 4,000 yards and 55 touchdowns while leading his team to the 6A Georgia state crown as a junior. His star took off, climbing up to the No. 3 quarterback prospect in the 2024 cycle this offseason after showing off his accuracy at the Elite 11 Finals.

Even with all the accolades, neither can profit off their name, image and likeness without losing their eligibility.

While 31 states, including Washington, D.C., allow high schoolers to monetize their publicity rights, Georgia does not. The Peach State is not alone, though. Major high school football powerhouses including Texas, Florida, South Carolina and Ohio currently prohibit athletes from partaking in NIL with eligibility status as the penalty.

“There’s no justification to deny athletes because they happen to have talent in a particular industry, to prevent them from having that same capacity,” attorney Darren Heitner told On3. “Yet, the best musician in high school, the best artist in high school, the best dancer in high school and go on and on and so forth, all have the capacity to monetize their fame, yet athletes don’t.

“Why deny them the right to enter into those deals in high school when maybe they’re not as marketable as they’ll be in college, but they are getting quite a bit of attention? And they clearly have the capacity to generate interest among others.”

Lewis is closing in on 185,000 social media followers, a real following that could equal brand dollars for the quarterback. Noland has roughly 34,000 followers. Both are household names in their respective high school communities.

GHSAA to review NIL policy

With the rise of social media, high school football recruits are in the spotlight like never before. Georgia High School Athletic Association executive director Robin Hines is scheduled to have an NIL proposal ready for his executive committee in early October.

For Noland, whatever Georgia does this fall will probably be too late for him to see major NIL returns during his high school career. If he could, he says he would participate in NIL deals.

“Almost definitely,” he told On3 in June. “As an athlete, we earn things on the field. So why not earn things off the field.”

Viewed as a generational quarterback talent, there’s little doubt Lewis could be cashing in if he was elsewhere. Before enrolling at USC this summer, Bronny James signed with Nike and Beats by Dre. Another California-based prodigy, quarterback Malachi Nelson, was expected to sign close to a million dollars in NIL deals by the time he enrolled at USC, according to ESPN.

JuJu Lewis could have left the state like defensive lineman T.A. Cunningham, who left Georgia for hopes of NIL prosperity. Instead, he was caught up in eligibility issues with the California Interscholastic Federation. He’s playing his final season of high school football in Florida at Miami Central.

“JuJu is probably the reason that NIL is being looked at hard in Georgia because I don’t care who you are, and what side of the fence you’re on, you got to look at this at some point as a parent and know that young man could have major opportunities,” said On3’s Rusty Mansell, a prominent voice in Georgia high school football. “There would be companies, because of who he is, how he is, how his parents have handled him – he is so mature for what he has dealt with. He would be one of those to me, very few kids that can truly have a major brand behind him. I could see him ended up with like a Coke or a Delta, somebody that’s really prevalent in the state of Georgia.”

Georgia’s rich 2024 class filled with household names

While JuJu Lewis and Air Noland will be playing their season openers on national TV on Friday night, those are just two names in a loaded Georgia high school football landscape. Dylan Raiola, Eddrick Houston and KJ Bolden are all five-star recruits in the 2024 cycle playing for Buford.

Raiola and Bolden each have more than 55,000 social media followers. Bolden, a 6-foot, 185-pound safety, announced his commitment to Florida State earlier this month. Before the decision, he posted the address for where he was making his live commitment.

“These kids are household names. I went to KJ Bolden’s announcement, and they literally had 100 people outside they were not letting in,” Mansell said. “His grandmother got mad because KJ posted the address, it was a surprise deal but he said, ‘Come pull up.’ And when you post something like that, people are going to pull up.”

The top eight quarterbacks coming out of Georgia in the On3 Industry Rankings are all committed to Power 5 schools. Mansell points to two factors for why Peach State is so talent-rich. High school coaches are paid well, earning compensation near or at the six-figure mark.

Georgia has also seen a noticeable uptick in population. The state’s population grew by 1.7% between 2020-2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. According to Axios, suburban and exurban counties in the state’s metro areas saw some of the biggest growth, with Long County, which is southwest of Savannah, posting nearly 13% gains.

“I think the population boom is what you also have to think about it,” Mansell said. “I get a couple of examples. KJ Bolden – he didn’t grow up in Georgia. I mean, Mike Matthews – he hasn’t been here his whole life. Caleb Downs – he didn’t grow up in Georgia; now he did move here at a young age. But I mean, it’s not like these are small-town kids that just grew up in these communities. I mean, it’s such a transient state.”

JuJu Lewis, Air Noland ready for national spotlight

While neither JuJu Lewis nor Air Noland have brand deals yet, they’re still growing their brands before they step foot on a college campus. That does add some value to their earning potential.

For example, JuJu Lewis has a $169,000 On3 NIL Valuation. Air Noland’s valuation clocks in at $532,000. 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. It’s meant to project the optimized NIL opportunity for athletes relative to the overall NIL market.

Friday night will give them the chance to earn a few more followers and fans. Neither will have a deal with Champs Sports, like Nyck Harbor was able to sign before he committed to South Carolina this winter.

The Georgia High School Athletic Association’s decision this fall could set off a domino effect.

“I don’t think it’s just Julian, I do obviously understand and appreciate his immense value and a number of opportunities that need to be tabled, at least for now,” Heitner said. “I think, given how notable he is and how much national attention there’s already been for 2026 commit, Georgia’s high school athletic association is obviously paying attention. Fortunately for the association, he and his family have not aggressively pursued an aisle and threatened to move right. But that’s not to say that others will be so kind and as patient as they have been.

“We have to understand and acknowledge that with more eyeballs with more coverage and attention, their brand values, these individuals brand values go up and so they have more bargaining power.”