LSU commit Shelton Sampson Jr. signs NIL merchandising partnership

Shelton Sampson Jr. has inked his first NIL deal following Saturday’s commitment to LSU.

The On3 Consensus five-star receiver announced on Twitter a partnership with Elete Sports to release a branded clothing line, which is now available for sale. T-shirts with “Why Not? SS6” are now for sale. SS6 stands for Shelton Sampson, and No. 6 represents his current football jersey number. 

The deal was brokered on MatchPoint Connection, which uses a unique algorithm to quickly “match” talent to brands for paid promotions. Elete Sports is an e-commerce business that partners with athletes to promote and develop personalized brand merchandise to monetize through NIL.

A Baton Rouge, La., native, Sampson is the 18th commitment in the Class of 2023 for LSU. He ranks as the No. 6 wide receiver and No. 32 overall prospect, per the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

When he made his verbal commitment on The Jordy Culotta Show, he said he chose LSU because, “Why not?”

“I’ve been thinking about how I could make SS6 a reality for a while,” Sampson said in the press release. “To see it all come together the same day I made one of the biggest decisions of my life was crazy.”

#WhyNot 🤷🏾‍♂️ SS6 🔥
🔗 https://t.co/4FiOrG582T pic.twitter.com/1VBteDTPXT

— Shelton Sampson Jr. (@sampson_shelton) August 8, 2022

Louisiana high school athletes can profit off their NIL after an April vote by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association.

Alabama was in the mix for the 6-foot-3, 190-pound wideout. Florida State got Sampson on campus a couple of times. Florida State was viewed as LSU’s biggest competition.

Shelton Sampson Jr.’s On3 NIL Valuation

Shelton Sampson Jr. holds an evaluation of $254K, which ranks No. 26 in On3’s high school NIL rankings. He’s seen his valuation jump 14 percent since his commitment.

With nearly 11,000 social media followers, Sampson has a per post value of $314. The wide receiver is the highest-ranked recruit in the LSU class, but he also commands the highest NIL valuations.

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.

“Sampson Jr.’s recruitment remained at a standstill during the coaching transition at LSU,” On3 National Recruiting Analyst Sam Spiegelman said. “It also coincided with pushes from not only the Tide and the Aggies, but a familiar face emerging at Florida State. (Offensive analyst) Gabe Fertitta, who was Sampson’s prep coach when his recruitment took off several years back, now works alongside (recruiting coordinator) David Johnson and (offensive coordinator) Alex Atkins, who made up significant ground with the five-star pass-catcher in recent months.”