Examining 2023 Ohio State quarterback NIL valuations
The summer offseason is in full swing, and Lettermen Row is trying to survive it with our annual Position Week breakdowns. By the time all nine units and coaching staff at Ohio State have been covered, training camp and media days will nearly have arrived, and the return of football in the Horseshoe will be just around the corner. We’re kicking off our positional weeks with the most important position on the field: quarterbacks.
COLUMBUS — No one on the football field deals with more pressure than a team’s quarterback. And, at the college level, few players in the sport have more eyes on them than whoever is under center at Ohio State.
“Being the starting quarterback for Ohio State’s not for everybody,” Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day said during last year’s National Signing Day. “It’s got some unbelievable things, but there’s a lot of things that come with it.”
Day added to that description when he joined the ESPN NFL Draft set last month to talk about the prospects of eventual No. 2 overall pick C.J. Stroud.
“It’s not the NFL, but it’s close,” Day said of Ohio State. “When you have to play quarterback at Ohio State, there’s a lot that comes with that. Certainly the good and the bad. … Go through a tough loss, how to handle the media, how to handle your teammates, how to grow.
“It’s a great way to kind of test if they can handle an NFL market.”
As Day noted, however, there is the “good” that follows the tag line of Ohio State quarterback. Status, recognition and responsibility — not just at Ohio State but in the Columbus community, and even nationally — are all in play.
Plus, Buckeyes signal callers are supplied with an arsenal of offensive weapons. This year, Ohio State returned a pair of 1,000-yard wide receivers — including a Biletnikoff Award finalist — an NFL-caliber tight end and four running backs who each led the team in rushing at least one game last season.
There’s a reason why junior Kyle McCord is tied for the eighth-best Heisman Trophy odds this season, according to FanDuel, even though he hasn’t even been named Ohio State’s starting quarterback. Well, reasons, actually: (1) the aforementioned supporting cast and (2) the Buckeyes have had three Heisman Trophy finalists since Day arrived in 2017. The pipeline is strong.
Every devoted college football fan knows who the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback is, and even a casual fan usually is aware of who is dropping back to pass in the scarlet and gray.
“This is the best job in college football,” said redshirt freshman Devin Brown, who is competing with McCord for that role this offseason. “Being the quarterback at Ohio State, there’s really nothing better. This is the top job. You’re the head of college football if you’re the quarterback at Ohio State.”
Nowadays, being Ohio State’s starting quarterback also means plentiful name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities. And so, while Lettermen Row is in the middle of our “Quarterbacks Week,” we decided to break down the Buckeyes’ signal callers’ current NIL valuations.
Note: All values are based on the On3 NIL Valuation, the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college-level athletes.
Buckeyes quarterbacks NIL evaluation
On3 Industry Ranking (2021 Recruiting Class): No. 25 nationally, No. 5 QB, No. 2 Pennsylvania
NIL Valuation: McCord has a current value of $136K. That puts the Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, native at 389th among all college football players in NIL valuation, according to On3. McCord has approximately 34,000 Instagram followers and 23,000 Twitter followers. He also has NIL deals with The Foundation — which announced a merger with fellow Ohio State collective The O Foundation back in February — and the Cohesion Foundation, another Ohio State collective.
On3 Industry Ranking (2022 Recruiting Class): No. 31 nationally, No. 5 QB, No. 1 Utah
NIL Valuation: Brown has a current value of $103K. The Gilbert, Arizona, native is 649th among all college football players in NIL valuation, according to On3. Brown has approximately 15,100 Instagram followers and 6,600 Twitter followers. Brown has an NIL deal with The Foundation. Like McCord, Brown could experience a jump in NIL valuation if he wins the starting quarterback job.
On3 Industry Ranking (2017 Recruiting Class): No. 211 nationally, No. 14 QB, No. 25 California
NIL Valuation: Gebbia has a current value of $92K. He clocks in at 760th among all college football players in NIL valuation, according to On3. Gebbia wasn’t even on the NIL valuation radar before he transferred from Oregon State to Ohio State, which shows the power of the Buckeyes brand. He has approximately 5,300 Instagram followers and 11,600 Twitter followers.
On3 Industry Ranking (2023 Recruiting Class): No. 204 nationally, No. 15 QB, No. 1 South Dakota
NIL Valuation: Kienholz has a current value of $109K. That puts him at 201st among all high school football players. Kienholz is joining Ohio State this summer and will be transferred over to the college NIL database when that happens. He has approximately 2,800 Instagram followers and 5,400 Twitter followers. Kienholz has college NIL deals ahead of him if he develops in Columbus.
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