Washington's Michael Penix Jr. signs exclusive, multi-year NIL deal with Panini America

Michael Penix Jr. was near perfect in Week 1.

The Washington quarterback tossed five touchdown passes with 450 passing yards in Saturday’s 56-19 drubbing of Boise State. Viewed as one of the top games of Week 1, the Huskies made a statement as Penix finished with a 72.5% completion percentage.

The 2022 AP Comeback Player of the Year has now signed an exclusive, multi-year NIL deal with Panini America. As part of the agreement, the Heisman hopeful will be featured in Panini’s collegiate and NIL products this fall, as well as select Panini marketing activations.

In his first opportunity with the trading card brand, Panini has released an Instant Card commemorating Penix’s performance debut. The card will be available on Panini’s website Thursday afternoon. Fans can pick between a black ($199.99), versicolor ($49.99) and base ($9.99) card. His teammate Rome Odunze is also featured in the collection.

“Michael has clearly emerged as one of the country’s top football players and is a natural fit to join the growing Panini athlete roster,” Panini’s senior vice president of marketing and athlete relations Jason Howarth said in a statement. “We look forward to working with him and offering his exclusive products to fans.”

According to the company, the Instant Cards allow fans to collect the season’s most memorable moments throughout the 2023 season as a set and special subsets that cover everything from the NFL draft through the national championship and Super Bowl. The first edition was dropped last week, featuring USC’s Zachariah Branch and reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams following the Week Zero win over San Jose State.

Panini has quickly become a notable name in the NIL space. Along with its partnership with Arch Manning, the trading card company has deals with Quinn Ewers and 2024 Five-Star Plus+ shooting guard Tre Johnson. Six top NBA prospects signed with Panini late last week, too.

Michael Penix Jr.’s return to UW comes with NIL success

Penix found plenty of success at Indiana, going 12-5 as a starter and was a two-year captain. But the quarterback wanted a new start, bringing him to Seattle. Staying healthy all of last year, he was the nation’s leader in passing yards per game and second in passing yards, with 4,641, setting a new UW single-season record.

Finishing eighth in Heisman voting, he decided to return for a final season. Repped by CAA and Reggie Johnson, he has found plenty of NIL activities. Penix recently re-signed with the retail clothing brand Simply Seattle. He was also one of 15 college football players selected in the inaugural “Beats Elite” class. He will be featured across various marketing campaigns and wear custom Beats products.

The quarterback previously signed a long-term agreement with the Washington-focused NIL collective Montlake Futures, too. His on-field success has assisted his social media following, too, which sits at roughly 43,000.

Penix holds a $1 million On3 NIL Valuation, which ranks in the top 15 of college football. His valuation is No. 21 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.

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.