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South Carolina WR Juice Wells featured on trading card through latest NIL deal

Jeremy Crabtreeby:Jeremy Crabtree•04/14/23•

jeremycrabtree

south-carolina-gamecocks-wr-juice-wells-featured-on-trading-card-through-latest-nil-deal
(Courtesy of Johnso)

South Carolina receiver Antwane “Juice” Wells took the SEC by storm last season after transferring to Columbia from James Madison. Wells led the Gamecocks in receptions (68), receiving yards (928), and touchdowns (six), and coach Shane Beamer expects even bigger and better things in 2023.

Juice Wells is also now advantage of his NIL.

Wells announced his newest NIL partnership on Friday with Johnso Creative in a deal facilitated by Park Avenue, a marketing group that assists South Carolina student-athletes in NIL dealings. Like four Gamecocks soccer players recently featured on trading cards created and distributed by Johnso Creative, Wells also appears in a NIL-inspired series.

Companies – such as Leaf Trading Cards and even local businesses like Jacksons Food Stores – have struck NIL deals with players and schools to create trading cards that feature everybody from Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams to LSU women’s basketball star Angel Reese. Gymnast, entrepreneur and social media personality Livvy Dunne and even Division III basketball player Connor “Big Cozy” Williams of St. John Fisher University have also been featured on NIL trading cards over the past few months.

Wells will be highlighted on five unique designs from Johnso, and they will include foil – a sign in the industry indicating the premium quality of the cards. There will also be signed and unsigned versions. The cards will soon be available.

“We wanted to go a different route on these, a card that was designed for the fans,” Johnso founder Joe Johnson said. “But we wanted to create something that represented the player more, and we think ‘Juice’ is more than happy with how they came out.”

Park Avenue excited about Juice Wells’ deal

Johnso’s first card-inspired deal was with Florida State star running back Trey Benson.

Sales of that card and the return on investment have been overly positive. But Johnson – who used to work as a creative director and graphic designer for nearly a decade in football offices at Oklahoma State and South Carolina – believes the Juice Wells card could be the company’s best yet.

“When we had the opportunity to work with Juice we wanted to capitalize on the opportunity,” Johnson said. “We couldn’t be more excited to add him to our NIL line. We love the fans in Columbia, and we hope they’re looking forward to the release and we will update on social media when they are available.”

Park Ave agent Chaise Belt said these cards designed by Johnson are “extremely unique.”

“I heard what Joe was doing in the trading card space and knew he was on to something,” Belt said in a statement to On3. “The majority of profit will go to Juice and each card’s design was custom made based his personality and obviously the nickname ‘Juice.’”

Juice Wells has strong On3 NIL Valuation

With Juice Wells’ emergence as one of the top receivers in the SEC, his brand has only grown stronger since the end of the football season.

Wells has seen his On3 NIL Valuation climb by more than 186% or $234,000 over the past 10 weeks. It now sits at $359,000, which puts him just outside of the top 100 in the On3 College Football NIL Ranking. Along with continued success on the field, a growing social media presence and additional deals will only help his valuation grow. Compared to other top college football receivers, Wells certainly has a big upside since he only has 13.2K followers.

About On3 NIL Valuation, Brand Value, Roster Value

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.

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.