CELSIUS Signs NIL Partnerships with Freshman Basketball Stars

USC's JuJu Watkins, Duke's Jared McCain, Colorado's Cody Williams, Oregon's Kwame Evans lead energy drink's first college basketball roster

Following up on a breakthrough college football season that featured a national marketing campaign starring some of top players in the country, CELSIUS energy drink has signed their first NIL class of college basketball players and they are all freshman sensations.

JuJu Watkins of USC, Jared McCain of Duke, Cody Williams of Colorado and Kwame Evans of Oregon lead the energy drink's first foray into hoops. They join a roster of CELSIUS athletes that include College Football Playoff National Champion Blake Corum of Michigan, Heisman runner-up Michael Penix Jr. of Washington, Heisman finalist Bo Nix of Oregon and All-American Travis Hunter of Colorado.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Juju Watkins, Jared McCain, Cody Williams, and Kwame Evans," Toby David, CELSIUS' Executive Vice President shared in a statement. "This timely partnership, coming just ahead of March Madness, illustrates our ongoing commitment to college athletes. CELSIUS’ brand presence in college football NIL is dominant, and now we’re eager to step into men’s and women’s basketball alongside these four incredible partners."

The freshman phenoms star together in a new campaign video that CELSIUS shared across their social media channels on Saturday, announcing their new NIL partners.

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"JuJu, Jared, Cody, and Kwame are very talented and dedicated athletes – as well as huge CELSIUS fans," David added. "We could not be more excited to fuel them for the rest of the season and beyond."

Watkins in the nation's second-leading scorer (26.5 points per game) for the No. 6 Women of Troy. Williams averages 15 points per game for Colorado, McCain averages 11.7 points per game for Duke and Evans contributes 8.6 for Oregon. 

These new NIL deals complement CELSIUS University, a paid program that gives students hands-on marketing experience. Within the past year, CELSIUS has increased the brand's presence on college campuses with a 200% growth of participating universities and a 900% increase in student ambassadors nationwide.

CELSIUS will also be hosting a variety of on-campus activations throughout the basketball season highlighting the brand and their newest NIL partners.