Colorado's Travis Hunter re-signs NIL deal with Celsius

Many knew Travis Hunter had the talent. But now playing on the national stage at Colorado, he’s become one of college football’s top storylines in the last two weeks.

The cornerback and wide receiver has played 274 snaps in only two games this season. A sitting Power 5 head coach recently characterized him to On3 as a “freak.” The former No. 2 prospect in the 2021 recruiting class followed Deion Sanders from Jackson State to Boulder this offseason.

He’s proved to be a true threat on both sides of the ball, too. He nabbed his first interception of the year in Week 1, stopping a TCU drive inside its red zone. A top target for Shedeur Sanders, Hunter has 14 catches for 192 yards. The only piece missing from his resume is a touchdown this year.

As more and more attention turns to Coach Prime and the Buffaloes, plenty of eyeballs are on Hunter. On Friday night, he announced he had re-signed his NIL partnership with Celsius Fitness Drinks. The season-long endorsement contract comes after the brand worked with Hunter last year before his season opener in the Orange Blossom Classic.

Now he’s working with the fitness energy drink again. On top of promoting the brand on his social media channels, Hunter will discuss his “live fit” lifestyle, which goes past the field. 

“Celsius’ essential energy helps keep me fueled all season long,” he wrote on Instagram. “Thank you for all the support Celsius family and excited to be back with the team!”

Over the last eight months, Celsius has spent notable marketing dollars in the NIL space. The company signed Bryce Young and Caleb Williams last December. Pac-12 quarterbacks Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr. and Michigan running back Blake Corum inked contracts with the Celsius last month, part of the brand’s new partnership with Learfield.

Travis Hunter’s growing NIL brand

Five years ago, for example, Travis Hunter would be catching national headlines and popping up in early Heisman Trophy conversations. He’s still doing that. But thanks to name, image and likeness, the two-way star is monetizing his publicity rights.

His social media following has seen a notable uptick these last couple of weeks, now sitting at more than 1.7 million. Beyond Instagram, X and TikTok, however, he’s built a major YouTube page.

With more than 207,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, he is able to profit from the videos he posts. His coach also runs a successful YouTube page, manged by Deion Sanders Jr. and named “Well Off Media.”

Past the YouTube success, Hunter has long-term contracts with the Michael Strahan Brand, Actively Black, SoHoodie and NXTRND. He’s tapped into his fishing hobby through NIL, inking deals with WaterLand Co., KastKing and Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits. He is repped by SMAC Entertainment and Constance Schwartz-Morini

Hunter holds a $1.8 million On3 NIL Valuation, which is a $253,000 increase over the last 10 weeks. The valuation is No. 4 in college football. It is also No. 6 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.