Georgia Tech wide receiver Marquez Ezzard won’t be able to retire off of his newfound status as a brand ambassador for an underwear company. But, hey – free designer underwear.
“They’re good underwear,” the Georgia Tech wide receiver told the AJC of the PSD product line. “They’re comfortable. I like the fit. You can wear them with anything.”
In the first days that Yellow Jackets athletes – and NCAA athletes everywhere – have been able to be compensated for the use of their name, image and likeness, Ezzard and others have seized upon opportunities with companies to get additional return on their status as college athletes. Ezzard, who has toiled this summer with the hopes of a breakout season this fall, has a reasoned perspective on this new era.
“It’s a great opportunity for us athletes,” he said. “I feel like with NIL, it’s a good thing, and it’s a bad thing. Some people get unfocused and in the midst of it, but for me, I’m focused on the bigger picture – getting to the NFL and doing what I love to do.”
Ezzard, from Stockbridge High, said that he has had “a lot of people” reaching out to him for potential deals, but that he has let his parents take care of them so that he can focus on football and school. (“Math is giving me a hard time right now,” he said.)
Tech athletes have worked a variety of endorsement routes since July 1, when all NCAA athletes were cleared to receive compensation for their NIL rights. Football players Miles Brooks, Tariq Carpenter and Kenyatta Watson and basketball player Dallan Coleman have deals with Yoke, a video-game app that enables fans to play video games against athletes. Safety Juanyeh Thomas, Coleman and Watson have joined Ezzard in aligning themselves with PSD, described as affordable designer underwear. Dozens of college athletes, mostly football players, have taken to Instagram since July 1 to announce their new endorsement deals with the underwear maker, which also counts Hawks star Trae Young as a more prominent pitchman.
Ezzard said that he was scrolling on Instagram and saw that he had a message from the company. As he had previously worn the brand, he was interested, and it went from there. Earlier this week, Ezzard sent out an Instagram post with a photo of PSD animal-print undies to his 11,600 followers and declared that he was “excited to say I have partnered with PSD and now I am a @psdunderwear athlete.”
“It was pretty simple,” said Ezzard, who said that his compensation is free apparel.
Quarterbacks Jeff Sims and Jordan Yates are two of 13 college quarterbacks selling T-shirts ($35) with illustrations of themselves through renown private quarterbacks coach Quincy Avery and his QB Takeover brand. Other Tech athletes have opened up online stores on the platform Fans Meet Idols, where they can sell personalized video and audio messages, autographs and other products.
Thomas also created a T-shirt with his nickname (“1Way”) and an inspirational message, and has touted two other companies through social media – Gopuff, a food-delivery service, and Saved by Christ Apparel, a maker of Christian-themed shirts and jewelry. Gopuff partnered with Opendorse, a sports-marketing company that connects athletes with endorsements, to offer endorsement deals to all college athletes. In exchange for promoting Gopuff on social media, athletes receive payment from the company with additional opportunities available later.
Such deals would seem to be the majority that are available to college athletes that don’t have the public recognition of the highest tier of football or basketball players – free product and perhaps a small cash payment.
Watson, though, has a potentially more lucrative deal. He signed with Phenom Elite, a sporting-goods online retailer focused on football. Watson was connected with the company through his father, Kenyatta Sr., who formerly served as a volunteer recruiting coordinator at Grayson High and had previously done business with Phenom Elite when he used the company to provide gear for the Florida-Georgia high-school all-star game.
Phenom Elite has six athletes signed, with plans for 10 to 15 more, CEO and founder Nathan Dorton said. The athletes can receive a certain amount of free apparel and then can make commission on sales that they drive to the website with their affiliate link. Athletes were chosen, he said, in no small part on the size of their social-media following, along with their on-field potential.
A former football walk-on at Appalachian State, Dorton said that “I’m kind of putting myself back in those shoes. I would be happy with some free gear and, in my case, if I had an affiliate link, I’d be pushing it everywhere trying to make some extra money as a walk-on. But it’s a really cool opportunity for these kids.”
The Phenom Elite brand, which sells DC Comics-themed cleats and gloves among other gear, also will sell apparel with the endorsing players’ own logo. While Watson, a former Grayson High star cornerback who transferred to Tech from Texas, can’t wear Phenom Elite apparel or gear while playing for Georgia Tech, Watson can wear it before games when players arrive at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Watson Sr. even has plans to hire a photographer to shoot him in his logoed gear.
“They’re doing some creative stuff for him and with him, so he’s excited,” Watson Sr. said.
Watson also has a deal with Keen Water, a purveyor of what the brand describes as “ultra premium water.”
“I told him, most importantly, though, get on the field, ball out and that’s when the real stuff’ll come,” Watson Sr. said.
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