Inside The Huskies

Penix Announces NIL Deal With Beats by Dre

Washington's QB is one of a handful of college athletes sponsored by the Apple-owned company.

Roman Tomashoff

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On Thursday afternoon, Washington's much-decorated quarterback Michael Penix Jr. announced a new usage for his name, image, and likeness. One of the favorites for the Heisman Trophy is part of a group of 15 college football players who were selected as ambassadors for Beats by Dre, which the company is calling the "Beats Elite."

The audio brand that produces headphones was founded in 2006 by rapper and music producer Dr. Dre and was purchased by Apple in 2014. Beats originally got involved in the world of NIL in 2022, signing a handful of the biggest names in college sports, including Alabama's Bryce Young, Texas' Bijan Robinson and USC's Caleb Williams.

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With the 2023 season about to kick off, the company has announced that it's signing 15 college football players in the inaugural "Beats Elite" class. Penix unveiled his involvement on social media, which could potentially benefit everyone on the Huskies roster, as Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman gifted a pair of Beats headphones to every member of the team.

Penix is one of four Pac-12 players to sign the deal with Beats, the others being Caleb Williams, Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Oregon State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei. Some other members of the "Beats Elite" are Arizona State transfer Jayden Daniels, who now plays at LSU, Alabama cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry and Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers.

This isn't the first and shouldn't be the last NIL deal that Penix will unveil during the season, which could be a banner year for him and the Huskies. Washington's NIL collective Montlake Futures has featured the quarterback at numerous meet-and-greet events and he's also appeared in a commercial for a local secondhand ticket sales website.

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Roman Tomashoff
ROMAN TOMASHOFF

I've followed the Huskies for my entire life, and to be in a position where I get to cover them full-time is nothing short of an honor. After graduating from Lasell University in 2019, I moved to Seattle to pursue my dream of working in sports media. While writing for the Husky Haul, I also covered local sports for the Everett Daily Herald before the COVID-19 pandemic. After being hired by Realdawg.com in February of 2021, I also transitioned into doing a lot of entertainment writing, as I work on a variety of magazines as a contributing writer for Centennial Media, and have also contributed to Emmy Magazine, as well as Walt Disney Television Studios. 

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