Highest Valued NIL College Football Players From 2023 Season

As college football continues to evolve -- centered around the transfer portal and Name, Image, and Likeness -- the offseason has become even more hectic. To an extent, the college football offseason, both the transfer portal and high school recruiting, is beginning to feel like a pro free agency, though there is no salary cap or baseline for NIL and bidding for players. 

With the current state of media, too, these superstar college football players are being put on huge pedestals under big spotlights. With this, their NIL valuation obviously spikes and those players earn big brand deals are big NIL deals to secure pro-level cash while playing college football.

On3 has a system that analyzes NIL value of players in college football, and here were the top ten players with the highest NIL valuation from the 2023 season. 

Obviously, to nobody's surprise, Shadeur Sanders had the highest NIL valuation of any athlete this past season. The son of Deion Sanders was the star player of a Colorado program that was under a microscope all season. Also, Sanders had a signature celebration where he flashed his watch, which became a staple during the season. His NIL valuation was $4.7 million. This is $1.9 million more than the second-highest-valued player.

Next up, also not coming as a surprise, is Arch Manning, with a $2.8 million valuation. This comes before Manning has even hit the field for any substantial time at Texas. 

To round out the top three highest NIL-valued players, another Colorado player, is Travis Hunter, the two-way superstar under Deion Sanders' Buffaloes program. He had a $2.3 million valuation, which was boosted by his ability to play both sides of the ball at an elite level, which took over social media early in the season.

The rest of the top ten is as follows:

4. Quinn Ewers, Texas - $1.9 million

5. Jalen Milroe, Alabama - $1.6 million

6. Carson Beck, Georgia - $1.5 million

T7. Evan Stewart, Oregon - $1.4 million

T7. Jaxon Dart, Ole Miss - $1.4 million

9. Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma - $1.3 million

10. Nico Iamaleava, Tennessee - $1.2 million

Similar to the NFL, the quarterback is the most valued position and player in the sport, which checks out considering they are arguably the most important players at the most important position.

It'll be interesting to see what limits are put on NIL as players' valuations continue to rise higher than NFL contracts for most rookies. Whether or not the NCAA steps in to try and regulate spending or even the playing field with NIL will be intriguing as there's plenty to be learned about the new era of the sport.