Which College Football Stars Have the Highest NIL Valuations as the 2026 Season Approaches?
By Carter Quinn
Last Updated on May 18, 2026
All winter, Dante Moore sat with the kind of decision most humans never get within fifty feet of. Twenty-one years old, gifted arm, the quarterback pedigree that makes NFL scouts rearrange their travel schedule. The Jets based their entire war room around selecting him second overall. The fully guaranteed contract attached to that number two slot: $52.4 million.
Whether it was the thought of joining the most radioactive quarterback room in the entire NFL at MetLife or whether he thought he genuinely had something left to prove in college in 2026 is unclear. The only thing we know for certain is that Moore said no. He said no to the money, no to the Big Apple, and no to the notion that he’d squeezed everything out of college football that was worth squeezing.
The decision immediately triggered online betting sites to install Oregon as a National Championship contender for next season. The early college football lines at Bovada currently position the Ducks as a +900 fifth favorite, with only Notre Dame (+700), Ohio State (+700), defending champions Indiana (+750), and Texas (+750) considered more likely champions. But here is the kicker for Moore and the money he walked away from, his On3 NIL valuation — the algorithmic estimate that the industry uses as its closest approximation of a college athlete’s market worth — doesn’t even crack the country’s top four.
His valuation of $3m positions him in fifth place nationally, with Texas Tech transfer Brendan Sorsby just ahead at $3.1M, and LSU new boy Sam Leavitt in third at $4.0M. But which players are the two highest valued by the reputable On3 heading into the 2026 season? Let’s take a look.
Arch Manning — $5.4M
The Manning name has never once needed the tape to sell itself. That is both the gift and the impossible pressure Arch Manning carries into every snap at Darrell K Royal. His On3 valuation — $5.4 million, the highest of any college athlete in any sport heading into 2026 — peaked at $6.8 million earlier in 2025 before settling at its current figure. The verified portfolio is staggering: Red Bull, Panini America, EA Sports, Raising Cane’s, Vuori, Warby Parker, and — as of March 2026 — a deal with Google Gemini that added an AI company to a brand roster most 40-year-old executives would envy. Opendorse data puts his verified real NIL earnings above $3.5 million in 2025 alone — a number that goes well beyond what any algorithm can estimate and represents genuine, contracted money.
But here’s the tension that no sponsorship dollar resolves: Manning’s 2025 debut as Texas’s full-time starter — 3,163 yards, 26 touchdowns, 7 interceptions across 13 games — was the work of a promising sophomore finding his feet, not a Heisman frontrunner announcing himself to the country. Efficient, composed, and occasionally brilliant. Not dominant. And if we look at the first five games of the campaign, it was somewhat of a trainwreck before he managed a late-season recovery to just about cling onto his lofty reputation.
The gap between $5.4 million in brand valuation and what he’s actually delivered on Saturdays is the most interesting financial argument in college football right now. Red Bull doesn’t put Manning on a can because of his passer rating. It puts him on the can because his grandfather won four Super Bowls, and his uncles Peyton and Eli won four between them, and that lineage moves product in ways no algorithm can quantify. The on-field proof of concept is still being constructed.
If the Heisman leap comes in 2026 — and Texas enters the CFP conversation where it belongs — that $5.4M is a bargain and may climb again. If Manning plateaus, those brand partnerships will quietly begin asking the uncomfortable questions that come with underperformance at this price point.
Jeremiah Smith — $4.2M
Jeremiah Smith doesn’t have a famous last name. He has tape, and it is immaculate. He shattered FBS single-season freshman receiving records in 2024 and delivered a Rose Bowl MVP performance with 187 yards and two touchdowns against Oregon. All of that before helping Ohio State claim the national championship. Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Big Ten Receiver of the Year. First-team All-American. The tape didn’t lie then.
His sophomore year last season: 87 catches, 1,243 yards, 12 touchdowns, 14.3 yards per reception — seventh nationally in receptions, fourth in receiving yards, unanimous All-American. His $4.2M valuation — the highest for any non-quarterback in the top tier — is arguably the most production-backed number on this entire list.
And yet. Ohio State spent much of 2025 ranked No. 1, then found new and demoralizing ways to fall apart when December came — upset by Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game, then stunned by Miami in the Sugar Bowl. In the title game, Smith posted 8 catches and 144 yards. He was not the problem. He is never the problem. Twice, he delivered everything elite production demands and watched his program combust around him at the worst possible moment.
His On3 valuation reflects a player who may finish as the finest wide receiver in college football history. What the algorithm can’t capture is what it costs, emotionally and competitively, to be that good and still go home early in December. Widely projected as the first receiver off the board in the 2027 NFL Draft, this is almost certainly his final college season. Everything is set up for a wire-to-wire statement year. Ohio State just needs to not break his heart again.
