With the introduction of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) in college sports, athletes have had the opportunity to make a profit.
Gaining revenue from different commercial and community activities, some athletes make millions of dollars per year from brand deals, merchandise sales, public appearances, and more.
One would assume that the most popular collegiate athletes would make the biggest returns, so to assess this, the relationship between instagram followers and NIL evaluation was determined.
To ensure a group of athletes with similar talent, data from quarterbacks who played in the 2025-2026 CFP was used. The number of Instagram followers was determined using the official accounts of each individual quarterback, and the NIL evaluations were taken from On3. Jake Retzlaff, quarterback for Tulane, had no NIL evaluation after transferring from BYU, so he was excluded from the study. The data inputted is as follows:
| Quarterback | Team | Instagram Followers | NIL Evaluation |
| Fernando Mendoza | Indiana (Bloomington, IN) | 1,000,000 | 2,600,000 |
| Dante Moore | Oregon (Eugene, OR) | 134,000 | 3,000,000 |
| Arch Manning | Texas (Austin, TX) | 622,000 | 6,800,000 |
| Julian Sayin | Ohio State (Columbus, OH) | 201,000 | 2,400,000 |
| Alonza Barnett III | James Madison (Harrisonburg, VA) | 12,700 | 321,000 |
| Carson Beck | Miami (Coral Gables, FL) | 206,000 | 3,100,000 |
| Ty Simpson | Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL) | 142,000 | 2,100,000 |
| John Mateer | Oklahoma (Norman, OK) | 81,600 | 3,000,000 |
| Marcel Reed | Texas A&M (College Station, TX) | 117,000 | 2,100,000 |
| Trinidad Chambliss | Mississippi (Oxford, MS) | 166,000 | 1,600,000 |
| Behren Morton | Texas Tech (Lubbock, TX) | 32,800 | 1,000,000 |
Then, the correlation between Instagram followers and NIL evaluation was found:
A correlation of r=0.51 was found, indicating a moderate, positive relationship. Hence, as a player’s follower count increases, their NIL evaluation tends to increase. Additionally, a moderate correlation suggests that only a portion of NIL evaluation is tied with followers (~26%). The remaining 74% can be due to a variety of factors such as school name, on-field performance, and personal brand.
Fernando Mendoza is reflective of a player that has a higher social media outreach, the largest of all CFP quarterbacks, yet has a lower fiscal return per follower. On the other hand, Arch Manning has a smaller following by about 400,000, yet has a return of $5.8 million more than Mendoza; however, Manning’s last name and family legacy take great account in his NIL evaluation.
