Julian Sayin's NIL value has taken a slight hit, dipping to $2.4 million from the $2.5 million annual figure he held through early January. The dip in his value happened despite Ohio State's Cotton Bowl loss. Over the past five days, though, his valuation has declined, marking a small but notable downturn.
It was a $100K blow, and it hit on January 21, which was just two days after Indiana lifted the national championship. That timing matters. Sayin now sits at No. 13 overall in the On3 NIL 100 and No. 11 among CFB athletes. And it's not like his on-field play hasn't been elite. He's been ranked the No. 1 QB in the country by some metrics. But NIL values don't move in a pattern or because of a particular reason.
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Indiana's historic, clean title run took center stage, and most of the attention shifted to the Hoosiers and their Heisman-winning QB Fernando Mendoza. For a program with an average NIL collective, that surge was massive. Even then, Mendoza's valuation sits at $2.5 million. Meanwhile, NIL logic isn't always about performance.
Case in point: Arch Manning. The Texas QB had a rough season and was sacked 23 times. However, he still tops the charts at $5.4 million. Brand value often outweighs box scores. Social media swings also play a role, but Sayin isn't lacking there. He has 199K Instagram followers, and posts tied to his Heisman campaign in late 2025 generated 14.6 million impressions.
That's strong engagement by any standard. And it's hard to pin the drop in performance. His worst outing came 25 days earlier against Miami, when he threw two picks. If that were the reason, the dip would've happened much sooner. The simplest explanation? On3's NIL valuation is algorithm-based and updated weekly. That's why minor fluctuations are normal, especially when the national spotlight shifts.
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And zooming out, Sayin's rise has been unreal. He opened the season at around $1.1 million, carried a $1.5 million projection, and then surged to $2.5 million before this slight dip. That's a massive jump, no matter how you slice it. While Sayin takes a small $100K hit, there's good news in Columbus. His favorite target, Jeremiah Smith, just saw his name go up.
Jeremiah Smith gets his moment
Being part of a wide receiver factory like Ohio State clearly pays off. And Jeremiah Smith is living proof. When ESPN dropped its "CFB Player Rank: Top 100 Players of the 2025 Season" on Friday, Smith stood above the rest. He was named the most dominant wide receiver of 2025, checking in at No. 8 overall, the highest-ranked WR on the list. Makai Lemon followed at No. 13.
And yeah, that raised some eyebrows. Because Lemon won the 2025 Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation's best wideout, beating out finalists Skyler Bell and Smith himself. But accolades aside, Smith's impact was immediate. He arrived in 2024 as the No. 1 recruit in the country and wasted no time in proving that. As a freshman, he shattered Ohio State records with 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns on 76 catches, leading the Big Ten in both yards and scores in 16 clashes.
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He carried that momentum straight into 2025. In just 13 games, Smith put up 87 receptions, 1,243 yards, and 12 touchdowns, earning unanimous All-American honors and Big Ten Receiver of the Year. In two seasons, he transformed from an elite prospect into a full-blown superstar. That rise shows up off the field, too. Smith's NIL valuation now sits at a massive $4.2 million. It's the highest among wide receivers and the third-highest among all college athletes.
