The most marketable college athletes in winter sports: report

It’s not really peak college basketball season until March, but winter is coming, and marketers might be thinking about their NIL portfolios in the winter sports space sooner rather than later.

Basketball players dominated the NIL platform Out2Win’s list of the top 50 most marketable college athletes in winter sports, with UConn’s Azzi Fudd at No. 1. Though the majority of the players hail from the court, there are also several from sports like gymnastics, swimming and diving, and ice hockey.

To determine athlete marketability, Out2Win uses an algorithm that evaluates athletes based on “social influence,” “past partnership performance,” and “growth potential.”

The champs: Fudd, star guard for the reigning women’s NCAA basketball champs, scored a 99 out of 100 possible points, four points higher than Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning, who topped Out2Win’s list of most marketable fall athletes. Fudd’s brand partners include Celsius and Stephen Curry’s SC30, and she has an engagement rate of more than 15% across Instagram and TikTok, per Out2Win.

Fellow UConn guard KK Arnold is also in the top 10 at No. 9, with an engagement rate of almost 23%. Arnold has worked with brands including Powerade, Intuit TurboTax, and Raising Cane’s. Morgan Cheli, another UConn guard, came in at No. 30, with a 33% engagement rate.

Ballers: Elsewhere in women’s college hoops, LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson, who’s been in campaigns for brands like Powerade and Foot Locker, and USC guard JuJu Watkins, who’s on State Farm’s athlete roster and appeared in ads for Gatorade and Ritz during this year’s March Madness, also made the top 10.

Five men’s basketball players are represented in the top 10, including:

• Arizona guard Bryce James, son of LeBron James;
• Syracuse guard Kiyan Anthony, son of Carmelo Anthony;
• Sacramento State guard Mikey Williams, who signed a historic sneaker deal with Puma when he was in high school;
• Northwestern guard Jake West, a TikTok star with more than 1.6 million followers on the platform;
• And Alabama guard Jalil Bethea, who was a brand ambassador for Chips Ahoy during March Madness this year.

Sacramento State forward Shaqir O’Neal and Florida guard Me’arah O’Neal, both children of Shaquille O’Neal, also made the top 50 list.

Flip the script: UCLA gymnast, Olympic gold medalist, and Dancing with the Stars finalist Jordan Chiles rounded out the top 10. She has almost 1 million followers on TikTok, and an additional 1.6 million on Instagram. Six other gymnasts rounded out the top 50:

• Olympic bronze medalist Fred Richard of the University of Michigan, whose brand partners have included Celsius and Crocs;
• Penn State’s Bobby Alessio, who was the nine-time New Jersey State All-Around champion;
• Kayla DiCello, a five-time All-American from the University of Florida who served as an alternate at the 2021 Olympics;
• Olivia Reardon, a grad student at San Jose State who made it to the highest level of the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympics Program;
• KJ Johnson, a member of LSU’s 2024 national championship team;
• And Joscelyn Roberson, an alternate for the 2024 US Olympic gymnastics team and the 2025 World vault bronze medalist from the University of Arkansas.

Dive in: Two athletes from water sports, diver Isabella Gomez and swimmer Torri Huske, ranked in the top 50. Gomez, a junior at San Diego State, was No. 22 on the list, while Huske, a redshirt senior and two-time NCAA champion from Stanford, came in at No. 42.

Break the ice: The only other sport represented on Out2Win’s list was ice hockey. Penn State’s Gavin McKenna, who’s projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL draft, came in at No. 36. McKenna doesn’t have a TikTok, but he has more than 123,000 Instagram followers and an engagement rate of about 25%, per Out2Win.