American football has among the largest rosters in sports, and with hundreds of college football teams across the country, the number of athletes for brands to sponsor is big enough to make anyone’s head spin.
In the NIL era, marketers have an opportunity to predict the next sports star before they go pro, teaming up with athletes with sizable followings during their college years. To narrow this massive roster of potential partners, SponsorUnited compiled a list of 10 of the “most marketable stars in college football” for brand strategists to watch this season.
Man(ning) up: Of the players on the list, which SponsorUnited’s marketing and business intelligence teams chose based on factors including media visibility, on-field performance, brand deals, and social metrics in the past year, six are quarterbacks.
At the top of the list is perhaps the most talked-about college athlete of the moment: Arch Manning. The redshirt sophomore, who plays for the Texas Longhorns and is the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning, had an engagement rate of 16.5%, higher than any other player on SponsorUnited’s list, and 4x higher than the average for college football players, according to the report.
- Manning’s 522,000 social followers put him at No. 9 on the list of most-followed college football players, and his follower base has increased by 45% in the last year, SponsorUnited found.
- He’s made 10 branded posts in the past year, and his endorsers included Raising Cane’s, RedBull, and Uber.
- Manning and the Longhorns’ Week 1 game against Ohio State is the most-watched Week 1 college football game in history, having averaged more than 16.6 million viewers.
Watch your (quarter)back: Bryce Underwood, Michigan’s freshman QB, is another to watch. Underwood experienced a 137% boost in followers in the past year, up to 267,000, with an engagement rate of 11.6%, according to SponsorUnited. His brand deals included Beats by Dre, Celsius, and Hollister.
On the field, he was the No. 1 college football recruit when he signed with Michigan for a four-year NIL offer reportedly worth $12.5 million after previously committing to LSU, making him the “highest-paid true freshman in NIL history,” per the report. Other QBs on the list include:
- Florida sophomore DJ Lagway, the first college QB to sign with Jordan Brand and the most-endorsed QB in the Power 4 conferences;
- UCLA redshirt sophomore Nico Iamaleava, and early mover in the NIL space who’s become a “trailblazer in how college athletes manage their brand value”;
- Clemson senior Cade Klubnik, a projected first-round pick in next year’s NFL draft;
- And LSU redshirt senior Garrett Nussmeier, who was the most-followed college QB on TikTok, per SponsorUnited’s data.
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Widen the scope: Two wide receivers made the list, both with significant follower counts and engagement rates.
Ohio State sophomore Jeremiah Smith had 683,000 followers, the sixth most of any college football player, and clocked 104% follower growth in the past year, according to the report. He had the most brand deals of any Power 4 wide receiver, including endorsements from Adidas, Chipotle, and Dick’s Sporting Goods, and an engagement rate of 12%. He’s projected to be the first wide receiver selected in the 2026 draft.
Alabama sophomore Ryan Williams also has a respectable on- and off-field resume, with 1.3 million followers, the fourth highest among college football players, and an engagement rate of 13%, per SponsorUnited. Williams was the most-followed college football athlete on Instagram, with double the following of Smith. He’s the youngest player ever to have started in a Division I NCAA football game.
Defense wins championships: Rounding out the list are Ohio State safety Caleb Downs and Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr.
Downs has won multiple accolades from outlets including ESPN and USA Today, and also stands out among defensive players in terms of brand deals: He was the first defensive player to ink an exclusive NIL deal with trading-card company Panini America, and one of two defensive players signed to the Beats by Dre class of 2025.
Hill is something of an outlier on the list, with no brand deals in the past year, but the SponsorUnited team called him “the opportunity” for marketers. He had 57,000 social followers, up 30% year over year, and ESPN ranked him as the second-best overall college football player and the best defensive player headed into this season.