Alabama QB Keelon Russell reveals biggest lesson learned about NIL

As he gets ready for spring practice Alabama, Keelon Russell is also set up for success in the NIL space. With a $1.7 million On3 NIL Valuation, he signed with Team IFA for representation and signed his first deal last month with Panini America.

Russell received some strong advice about navigating the landscape as he got ready for his college career. What stood out the most, though, was that the main focus has to stay on the task at hand.

Russell, speaking exclusively with On3 from the Panini Prizm VIP lounge in New Orleans ahead of Super Bowl LIX, said the biggest lesson he learned was to know just how important his profile is. Once athletes understand that, they just have to worry about performing on the field. The rest will take care of itself.

“The best advice was to understand what’s coming towards you,” Russell said via Zoom. “Understand that your profile is your profile. Understand that your name is your name. Building that is the most successful thing that you can do, especially with how the NIL space is getting bigger. The performances of the platforms are getting way more advanced. NIL is something that takes away from the aspects of football. Somebody told me, focus on the key things.

“NIL is a great thing, but focus on your key things and NIL’s gonna come. All the stuff’s gonna come. Focus on football, and the NIL space is gonna come. Your profile is your profile. You do good, your profile is gonna be on the rise.”

Why Panini America was Keelon Russell’s first NIL deal

Keelon Russell’s On3 NIL Valuation ranks No. 3 in the high school football NIL rankings. He also comes in at No. 35 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.

Panini America was Russell’s first NIL deal, signed in January after he inked representation with Team IFA. The company jumped out to him right away because of its plans to invest in him, which is why it made sense to join forces right away.

“They trusted me,” Russell said. “They were like, ‘Hey, man, we love you man. … And we want you to almost be the face of our brand.’ For them to come at me like that, for them to jump at me like that, I say the loyalty, the trust.

“The stuff they just gave me, like the loving and everything, was just amazing. I just really respect all of them, I love all of them and I just can’t wait for the future and what the future holds for both of us.”