Travis Hunter inks multi-year NIL deal with digital banking platform Greenwood

Travis Hunter stunned the college football world on last year’s early signing day, flipping his commitment from Florida State to Jackson State. Now the No. 2 recruit in the 2022 class is capitalizing on his NIL potential.

The freshman has signed a multi-year deal with digital banking platform Greenwood. With co-founder Michael “Killer Mike” Render on board, the company aims to serve Black and Latino individuals and businesses. Greenwood’s mission is to support financial freedom for minorities through community building, career advancement, and financial services.

When Hunter chose Jackson State, he became the highest-ranked recruit to ever commit to a a Historically Black College and University. As part of his partnership with Greenwood, a plan is in place to capitalize on his college decision and continue to draw attention to HBCU’s. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

With a campaign dubbed “Choose Black,” Hunter will be working to encourage people to support Black businesses, schools and causes. As part of the deal, the former five-star plus recruit will do his banking with the company. He will also be a Greenwood brand ambassador, advocating for finding reliable advice when making money moves.

Greenwood is part of a subset of banks best described as neobanks, apps that offer banking services that are not actually banks. The company launched a studio last year to create financial-education content, and has since rolled out multiple regular digital shows and podcasts. The plan for the “Choose Black” campaign is to create, with Hunter, and establish partnerships with other universities to hold forums.

“By choosing to join forces with Greenwood, I am again highlighting the strength of the Black community in collaborating and partnering,” Hunter said in a press release. “I want the next generation to feel empowered to make the right choices and support Black businesses and Black excellence. I’m inspired by what Greenwood is doing to support financial freedom for minorities.”

Travis Hunter’s NIL valuation

Hunter has seen his profile sky-rocket since his commitment decision made national headlines. And now on the same sidelines with former NFL star and Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders, there’s no slowing down the opportunities Hunter may have.

He currently holds an On3 NIL Valuation of $570,000 which places him in the top 50 of both the NIL 100 and On3’s college football NIL rankings. The wideout also has a massive social media following. With one million followers via TikTok, Instagram and Twitter, his per post evaluation is worth $5,200.

Hunter’s 11th hour flip was wrapped in NIL rumors, though. There were countless whispers of a potential seven-figure NIL deal that lured Hunter to the HBCU. And then there was the thought that Barstool offered the five-star recruit a lump sum to join forces with Sanders.

The decision will be felt for years and could just be the start of a new era of recruiting.

The On3 valuation system is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college-level athletes. A proprietary algorithm, the valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date.

The On3 NIL Valuation is calculated on three primary categories:

• Social media following and engagement
• Athlete data, achievements, performance, and media sentiment
• Endorsement deals, opportunities, and Collectives

The On3 NIL 100 is the first of its kind and the defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by market valuation.