Texas A&M WR Jalen Preston helps Aggies get ‘feet back on the street’ with new NIL deal

Texas A&M has been at the forefront of the national discussion about NIL for a number of reasons.

Nobody will forget last summer, when Alabama coach Nick Saban alleged Texas A&M’s football program “bought every player on their team,” including a number of the Aggies’ top-ranked recruiting class. A&M made headlines again in February when the 12th Man Foundation booster group announced, in conjunction with the school, that it had launched the 12th Man+ Fund to provide NIL opportunities for the school’s student-athletes.

Now A&M is back in the news thanks to Jalen Preston’s creative NIL agreement with Gage Gandy Bail Bonds, a College Station, Texas, company founded in 1996 by A&M grad Gage Gandy. Preston, a senior wide receiver, becomes the latest Aggies player to add an NIL deal to his résumé. He joins the likes of wide receiver Evan Stewart, who signed recent deals with NOCCO and Coach.

In the social media post promoting his deal, Preston said he’s excited about the agreement and ready to help Aggies get their “feet back on the street.” One of the photos promoting the deal is Preston pointing at the camera and holding up his hand to indicate that you need to call Gage Gandy Bail Bonds when you need help.

“I was really excited about the social media aspect of it,” Gage Gandy told On3’s Pete Nakos. “Hopefully they never need to use my service. But if they do, we can help them out. … It was an advertisement play, obviously. But I thought it fit well with the exposure it would get in a different medium.

“Jalen is a really good kid. We’re proud to be a part of that. This is like getting your name out there. The reaction at first was like, ‘Whoa.’ I’m happy it went as it did. Getting your brand out there is not a bad thing for any business.”

You can see the full post announcing the deal that was facilitated by A&P Agency.

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Preston will return for his sixth season at A&M in 2023. In his career, he has 468 yards receiving and four touchdowns. In 2022, he had seven catches for 89 yards and one touchdown, and made one start.

Preston is expected to play a larger role in A&M’s offense in 2023. Like Gage Gandy helps people get back on their feet, Preston could help the Aggies get back on their feet, too.

Jalen Preston has solid On3 NIL Valuation

Jalen Preston has an On3 NIL Valuation of $65,000, a number that has remained steady since the end of the season. Over the past 10 weeks, he’s seen a 4% increase in his On3 NIL Valuation. He has more than 26,000 followers on social media.

Preston was one of 25 athletes signed to NIL agreements with Wiz Khalifa’s Taylor Gang Entertainment in December. The music label and management company signed the student-athletes to endorsement deals to promote Khalifa’s “45 Minute Beatdown” on their Instagram accounts.

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.

Furthermore, the On3 NIL Valuation accounts for an athlete’s roster value and brand value. Roster value is the value an athlete has by being a member of his or her team at his or her school, which factors into the role of NIL collectives. Brand value factors in an athlete’s personal brand and the value it could bring to regional and national brands outside of the scope of NIL collectives. The On3 NIL Valuation is publicly available. Performance, Influence, and Exposure ratings along with the athlete’s personal Brand Value Index and Roster Value Index are available only to the athlete in the “Athlete Verified” private dashboard on the On3 Athlete Network.