With NIL being as prevalent as ever, popular amateur athletes have the ability to maximize their value depending on where they go.
For some athletes like Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, it will require them performing well in order to raise their value, but some players like Texas’ Quinn Ewers have the cache before even setting foot on a college campus.
We have seen that NIL has already impacted where some athletes go to school, and it will likely continue to do so in the future.
On3 released their rankings of the top five athletes that hold the most NIL value, and a couple of Texas’ future targets in football and basketball graced the list.
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Starting with the top spot, 2023 four-star LeBron (Bronny) James Jr. is ranked as the most valuable amateur athlete at $6.1 million. James reportedly is believed to have interest in Texas among multiple other blue blood schools. The son of NBA great and Los Angeles Laker, LeBron James, Bronny is a combo guard that is one of the most coveted basketball prospects in the nation.
The second Longhorn target is a descendant of Archie Manning and apart of the Manning tree of quarterbacks, in 2023 five-star Arch Manning. Similar to James, Manning has yet to decide where he will attend college, but Texas has consistently been mentioned in his high graces even after the signing of Quinn Ewers.
Whether Texas will land both or even one of them is to be seen, as both athletes’ recruitments have not been very public. However, if they are able to land them, Texas would likely have the most famous amateurs in the history of college sports.