NIL Library / NIL-020
What a Brand Really Pays For When It Signs a High School Athlete
A shoe company just signed seven football players to NIL deals, and every one of them is still in high school. I work with young athletes, so here is my honest take: this is good news, and it is also a window into how the people who set these numbers actually think about value. Almost nobody asks that question. Let me walk you through it.
In June 2026, On3 reported that Adidas signed seven high school recruits to a class it is calling adizero 7. Most are juniors, class of 2027. Two are class of 2028, about to enter eleventh grade. These teenagers now share a brand roster with pros like Travis Hunter, Anthony Edwards, Micah Parsons, and Garrett Wilson. A high schooler and an NFL player wearing the same three stripes under the same kind of deal.
What NIL is, in one paragraph
If the term is still fuzzy, NIL stands for name, image, and likeness. It is the right of an athlete to earn from their own brand: their name, their photos, their following. It became legal for college athletes in 2021, and it has flowed down to high school, where most states now allow it. A shoe deal is one of the clearest forms of NIL there is. A brand pays an athlete to be associated with that athlete's name and audience.
A valuation is two numbers, not one
Here is the part worth slowing down on. When you see a high school athlete with a big NIL valuation, that number is not one thing. According to On3, a valuation is "calculated by combining Roster Value and personal NIL." Two separate things added together.
Roster value is what an athlete is worth just by being a member of his team at his school. It is tied to the role of NIL collectives and the program around him. Personal NIL is something else entirely: the value of the athlete's own name, image, and likeness, and what that is worth to regional and national brands.
In this class, the top player, a junior quarterback already committed to Nebraska, carries a public On3 valuation of more than seven hundred thousand dollars, ranked number seven among high school football players in the country. Another junior, an edge rusher headed to Ohio State, sits around half a million. The two youngest players do not have published valuations yet, so I want to be precise: the big numbers belong to the juniors, not the sophomores.
Why one half travels and one half does not
This is the whole lesson, so here it is plainly. The roster value is borrowed. It comes from the jersey, the program, the moment. If a kid transfers, if they graduate, if the team changes, that piece can shrink or just disappear. It was never really theirs to keep.
The personal half is different. The name and the audience that follows it travels with the athlete everywhere they go. School to school, season to season, sport to the rest of their life. A shoe company did not sign a roster spot. It signed a person it believed people would follow.
What this means for your athlete
Here is the shift I want every parent to make. Do not think of a brand deal as something that might happen someday. Think of your kid's name, image, and following as a brand that exists right now, before a single offer shows up. That is the personal NIL half of the number, and it is the half nobody can take away.
You do not have to be a five-star for this to be true. The five-stars just make it obvious. Every athlete, at every level, has a personal half they can start building today, with their own photos, their own platform, their own story. Build that one on purpose, early, and you are not chasing a brand. You are becoming the kind of athlete a brand comes looking for, and the kind that keeps the leverage once the offer arrives.
The families who understand this are not waiting on a shoe deal. They are building the part of the value that stays theirs no matter where the kid ends up playing.
Source: On3 (June 12, 2026). This is education and observation, not legal or financial advice.
Source: On3