NIL Deals of the Week: Jordan Brand's splash, Suni Lee's latest deal

It has been another whirlwind week for NIL deals in college athletics.

Jordan Brand entered the space, scooping up UCLA freshman Kiki Rice. As an added bonus, she can rep the logo on the court thanks to UCLA’s partnership with the company.

The NIL deals for high-profile basketball players did not stop there, though.

Duke freshmen Dariq Whitehead and Kyle Filipowski signed with Cuts Clothing last Friday. Plus, Brea Beal, Dereck Lively II, Chris Livingston, Nick Smith Jr. and JuJu Watkins agreed to partnerships with headwear company Lids.

As a reminder, feel free to submit info on your NIL deal to On3. You can send an email to [email protected] or reach out via DM or comment on Twitter to @On3NIL or @deals_nil. Direct messages are open, too, on the @On3NIL Instagram account.

Let’s get to the deals that highlighted this week in NIL.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

Suni Lee signs with with CLIF Bar & Company

Olympic gold medalist and current Auburn gymnast Suni Lee added a landmark deal to her growing NIL portfolio on Wednesday.

The seven-time U.S. National Team member has a massive On3 NIL Valuation of $1.5 million. The reigning SEC Freshman of the Year and eight-time All-American has inked deals with Amazon, Gatorade, Target and Invisalign. After all of her success on the floor, she has 3.5 million social media followers.

Lee has now signed with CLIF Bar. Through the partnership with the sophomore, CLIF is partnering with Voice In Sport (VIS) Foundation, which advocates for women in sport through research, education and advocacy.

As part of the agreement, CLIF is committing funds to the VIS Advocacy Program to assist in establishing 20 advocacy chapters and another 20 Title IX trainings on school campuses across the country. Each VIS chapter will also receive formal Title IX training to evaluate their schools compliance with the federal civil rights law.

The chapters will be set up across the country, including Auburn, as well as another near Lee’s hometown of Saint Paul. Others will be based in Twin Falls, Idaho, Indianapolis, Chicago and in the Bay Area, where CLIF is headquartered.

Wednesday’s news will just be the first of many expected brand deals for the gymnast this academic year.

LIDS, Klutch Sports launch NIL partnership

Lids and KLUTCH Sports Group teamed up this week to create an NIL first. Brea Beal, Dereck Lively II, Chris Livingston, Nick Smith Jr. and JuJu Watkins have all signed with the headwear company.

Each athlete was given creative freedom to design their own custom embroidery. They also had the chance to work with the Lids design team to bring their personal style to life. The exclusive product collaboration, which will be available in stores with embroidery machines across the country, launched this week.

The rollout will go to the end of the month. Here’s the schedule:

• Week 1: Chris Livingston (Nov. 2)
• Week 2: Dereck Lively II (Nov. 9)
• Week 3 Brea Beal (Nov. 16)
• Week 4: Nick Smith Jr. (Nov. 21) and JuJu Watkins (Nov. 23)

Jordan Brand signs UCLA’s Kiki Rice as first NIL athlete

Nike has ramped up its NIL activity recently, signing five college and high school basketball players. The iconic Jumpman logo signed UCLA freshman Kiki Rice to a partnership earlier this week, marking the company’s first-ever NIL deal.

UCLA is currently one of six collegiate institutions that have partnered with Air Jordan for its gear. Because of that, Rice will be able to represent the brand on and off the court. The point guard joins a loaded roster of women’s athletes who have signed with Jordan, including WNBA stars Maya Moore, Crystal Dangerfield and Dearica Hamby.

“Being Jordan Brand’s first NIL athlete is an incredible milestone, and I think it’s a testament to the hard work I’ve put in and all the people around me who have helped me get to this point,” Rice said in a statement. “Signing with the Jordan Brand is another motivating factor for me to continue to work hard and achieve my goals.” 

The reigning Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year was a McDonald’s All-American in her final season at D.C.’s Sidwell Friends. The No. 2 ranked player in her class, per ESPN, she was the third-leading scorer at the Nike Girls EYBL in July 2021, averaging 18.8 points per game. She became the highest-ranked commit in program history when she committed last November.

Already a three-time gold medalist with USA Basketball, Rice committed to UCLA next to another highly-touted recruit in Gabriela Jaquez.

The UCLA freshman currently has an On3 NIL Valuation of $42,000. Rice currently has a combined social media following of 44,000. That comes out to a projected $646 per-post value. Her following is sure to jump following the Jordan Brand announcement and the start of her freshman season.

Dariq Whitehead, Kyle Filipowski sign with Cuts Clothing

Duke freshmen Dariq Whitehead and Kyle Filipowski signed with Cuts Clothing last Friday.

Cuts Clothing previously signed NIL agreements with Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel, USC wide receiver Mario Williams, Boston College wide receiver Zay Flowers and Syracuse guard Joe Girard III. The company sells what it describes as “workleisure” apparel.

Cuts Clothing says the agreed-upon deliverables for Whitehead and Filipowski include an appearance on Cuts Clothing’s “For The Sport of Business Podcast,” a meet-and-green event in Durham, North Carolina, and an ask-me-anything session on the Cuts Clothing Discord channel.

Whitehead and Filipowski, ranked No. 2 and No. 5 in the On3 Consensus for the 2022 recruiting class, respectively, were the first two players to commit to first-year head coach Jon Scheyer.

A small forward, Whitehead holds a $763,000 On3 NIL Valuation. The evaluation ranks No. 8 among men’s college basketball players and 45th in the NIL 100. Meanwhile, Filipowski has an On3 NIL Valuation of $539,000. He ranks 80th in the NIL 100.

The freshman duo are just starting to enter the NIL space. Big seasons in Duke’s first year under Scheyer will give them the platform to cash in.

Florida State’s Jared Verse scores car with Rising Spear, Kraft Nissan partnership

Jared Verse will be riding in style for the rest of the season. The Florida State defensive lineman has inked an agreement with Tallahassee’s Kraft Nissan through the Rising Spear collective.

A transfer from Albany, Verse is in his first full season with the Seminoles. He was a highly touted Transfer Portal target this past offseason. He picked Florida State over other major programs, receiving offers from Auburn, Miami, Tennessee and USC.

Wednesday’s news marks his first NIL announcement to date. And now he’ll be riding around in an all-black Nissan Frontier for the remainder of the year. One of the first collectives launched in the country in December 2021, Rising Spear absorbed Warpath 850 this past May. Boosters have two options when working with the collective, either making a tax-deductible donation or enlisting an athlete to promote their business.

The deal is a perfect example of the NIL access a player, such as Verse, can score when transferring to a major market. He really only ended up playing one year for Albany, between a redshirt season and COVID’s impact. But in the 15 total games he played, he had 74 tackles, 13.5 sacks, 21.5 tackles for loss and 13 quarterback hurries.

He’s now in his first season at Florida State and he has an On3 NIL Valuation of $256,000. The 6-foot-4, 247-pound EDGE is expected to return for at least another season.

Honorable Mention

• Georgetown midfielder Graham Bundy Jr., Maryland defender Abby Bosco, Georgetown midfielder Will Bowen, USC goalie Kait Devir, Boston College midfielder Kayla Martello and Brown goalie Connor Thierault have been signed to the UNLTD Athletes roster. Each will have gear, as well as replica sticks, available on Lacrosse Unlimited.
• Ohio State tight end Cade Stover has partnered with Ag-Pro. He released this video on Instagram.
• Blue Chips, the digital platform managed by Mercury and built to service the Kentucky community, plans to drop its first volleyball collectible this Friday. As part of the plan, every member of the team has inked an NIL deal with the company. Athlete Advantage, one of the leading NIL reps in Lexington, played a role in crafting the contracts.
• Big Corn Energy announced its formation Tuesday afternoon, naming itself the first NIL energy drink. As part of its plan, the company will kick back 25% of its profits back to Nebraska walk-ons.
• Missouri kicker Harrison Mevis, with the help of attorney Adam Kenner, filed trademark applications last week for the marks “ThiccerKicker” and “MoneyMevis” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. 
• Charitable Gift America, the philanthropic organization that manages the This is Sparta! NIL collective, has agreed to terms with the Michigan State women’s soccer and men’s and women’s golf teams. The deals call for each student-athlete to receive $2,500 in January. Another $5,000 will be provided for the 2023-24 academic year next fall. In total, the deal will total $382,500 and be distributed to 41 Michigan State athletes.
• C.J. Stroud, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Denzel Burke, Miyan Williams and TreVeyon Henderson have each signed agreements with Kane Footwear to promote the company’s special edition Revive shoe.
• Gradey Dick is already finding unique ways to market his Kansas upbringing. The former five-star recruit inked an endorsement deal with Salina-based Long McArthur Ford car dealership, which calls for the Jayhawks freshman to appear in a range of of TV commercials.