Razorbacks Don't Have Anybody Close to Deion Sanders' Son in NIL

In often secretive, mysterious world of Arkansas' Pittman admits they are behind, but not saying how far if he even knows

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman talking with athletics director Hunter Yurachek at a spring practice inside Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. / Andy Hodges-allHOGS Images

This is the sixth in a series of stories about Arkansas football and coach Sam Pittman, who recently sat with writer Bob Stephens for a lengthy interview. Check back tomorrow to read the finale of the series' stories on the Hogs.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Deion Sanders surely isn't taking any of his son's money, but there's little doubt in my mind that Shedeur Sanders has the highest NIL valuation in college football because of his daddy.

Yes, the Colorado Buffaloes' quarterback has a good chance to be a Top 5 pick in the 2025 NFL draft, just as his father predicted. Less than three months ago, Bleacher Report even touted him as the likely top pick next year. Speculation, for sure, fun for some, but that's a long way away.

What's certain is that the younger Sanders leads all college players with a monstrous $4.9 million NIL valuation, according to On3.com. The 22-year-old college senior recently crowned his collection of five luxury vehicles with a $241,000 Lamborghini truck, which makes its worth higher than all but two of the Razorbacks' football NIL valuations.

Tight end Luke Hasz boasts Akansas' top football NIL valuation, according to a Sunday update by On3, at $285,000. Next is senior defensive end Landon Jackson at $273,000 with junior quarterback Taylen Green at $235,000 and sophomore cornerback Jaylon Braxton at $214,000.

No matter how you slice it, that's a lot of pizza money. That's far from the old days when a player with a sick mom back home couldn't afford a plane ticket to go see her and the school couldn't legally buy him one.

They often did it anyway, and bought the best kids much more, always as secretively as possible, but sometimes the schools got caught and were slapped with NCAA violations. Worse, the kids were often penalized, too.

NIL dealings are often private and the whole system is somewhat mysterious. If legendary movie director Alfred Hitchcock were alive, he'd surely create a flick titled something like NIL: College Sports' Newest Secret.

It doesn't matter which Razorbacks make the most. Fans shouldn't worry if Tyson Chicken, Fletcher Motors, JB Hunt or Walmart makes it known how much they give or to whom.

It's just good the players get above-the-table money now. Still, transparency is rarely a bad thing.

If colleges have to report other financial dealings, then NIL should be included. Arkansas is in the bottom third when it comes to NIL money for its football program, but head coach Sam Pittman wouldn't verify that.

"No, there's got to be more," he said without hesitation. "I'm not sure every university in the country doesn't say there's got to be more. For us to compete, we have to be equal with others in the league."

About 80 percent of his players get something from NIL, Pittman said, but "not a lot" are getting a bunch. It just depends on, honestly, where their name, image and likeness can sell.

If you look at the NFL, the guys making the most money are your quarterback, left tackle, D-line certainly, a linebacker or two. That's a pretty good model for college as well.

"You really don't know; you just think you know," Pittman said. "In all honesty, I think there's a lot of schools in our league that have $10 to 12 million per year on their football team."

He addressed whether it's a coach's job or that of the athletics director to corral the donors. Regardless of personal responsibility, he's doing his part while including his wife in the efforts also.

"Oh, I think it's a little bit of everybody's, to be honest with you," Pittman said. "We hosted an event (in May) down at Jamie and I's lake house in Hot Springs. We had a lot of people valuable to the program there and we're going to have another one in July."

He said folks signed on. Most need to be asked, including Wal-Mart it seems.

"I don't know what they've done, but they're obviously a huge resource," Pittman said. "We'd like to tap into that and if we have, I don't know."

About 80 percent of his players get something from NIL, Pittman said, but "not a lot" are getting a bunch. It just depends on, honestly, where their name, image and likeness can sell.

In the NFL, the players making the most money are quarterbacks, left tackles, defensive linemen, and a linebacker or two. That's a pretty good model for college as well.

"Every team in the NFL and college starts with the quarterback," Pittman said. "That's the guy. If you've got one, you've got a pretty good chance. Look what happened to LSU last year with the one they got. He won a lot of games for them."

Despite several exchanges about NIL and the Hogs, Pittman refused to say what his program received last year. It's probably more than Shedeur Sanders and way below Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Texas A&M and a handful of others the Razorbacks compete with on a weekly basis.

It's like the Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins trying to compete with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees. For those who don't follow Major League Baseball, they don't. Payroll matters.

Money always matters. NIL has changed the game, made it even harder than before for the have-nots to compete with the more fortunate.

Pittman wasn't crying poor, just stating what he thought were facts about the situation. He refused to divulge Arkansas' NIL money details despite several queries, but didn't hide that it seems like an uphill battle.

The Razorbacks have played in New Year's Day bowl games and made an occasional run at the SEC West title in the last 25 years. That level of success appears harder now with kids getting paid legally, unless the UA bankroll gets bigger.

"When everything's even, (Arkansas has) been an up-and-down program with some success," Pittman said. "Now you take into account that somebody's got a lot more NIL money than you do and you've got problems."

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