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Ohio State Quarterback Recruit Tavien St. Clair Signs Exclusive Trading Card Deal

Future Buckeye Tavien St. Clair joins Panini with exclusive, multi-year autograph trading card deal.

Michael Ehrlich

Recruit Tavien St. Clair watches Ohio State warm up before playing Penn State Oct. 21, 2023 at Ohio Stadium.
Recruit Tavien St. Clair watches Ohio State warm up before playing Penn State Oct. 21, 2023 at Ohio Stadium. / Lori Schmidt / Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
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With early signing day ahead this week, one top football recruit has put ink to paper on a new NIL deal before making his college choice official. Ohio State quarterback commit Tavien St. Clair joins a star-studded list of college football players with exclusive autograph trading card deals with Panini America.

The Bellefontaine (OH) High School signal caller will be featured in Panini’s line of collegiate trading card and memorabilia products and will also be included in select Panini marketing activations. Ranked in the top five nationally by multiple recruiting services, St. Clair threw for 29 touchdowns and 2,536 yards, while also running for eight touchdowns.

“As I enter the next phase of my football life, I’m excited to partner with a leader in the trading card space like Panini,” said St. Clair.  “Growing up you dream of having your own Panini trading card – to actually have that happening and use it as another way to be connected with Ohio State fans is incredible.”

“Tavien is a very dynamic player, and we’re excited to see what he will do at the collegiate level for Ohio State,” said Jason Howarth, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Athlete Relations at Panini America. “We are excited about the opportunity to work with Tavien as he starts his collegiate career and we can’t wait to offer fans products featuring Tavien.”

St. Clair joins his future Ohio State teammate Julian Sayin, Jalen Milroe of Alabama, Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning of Texas, Dylan Raiola of Nebraska and Zachariah Branch of USC as exclusive Panini NIL partners.

Panini continues to expand their NIL footprint after launching Panini College, a dedicated platform that allows all athletes at a partner university to have their own trading card. The platform launched initially with football and volleyball athletes at Ohio State, the University of Nebraska, and the University of Texas, with plans to expand to additional partner schools and sports over the coming months.

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Michael Ehrlich
MICHAEL EHRLICH

Michael Ehrlich is a seasoned sports marketing executive with experience across the global sports brand, athlete representation, media and education sides of the business. The Founder and CEO of Playbook Marketing, Ehrlich consults with brands on all things NIL and athlete partnerships, advises student-athletes on their personal brand building endeavors and is an adjunct professor at his alma mater, the University of Southern California where he teaches a course on athlete communications and marketing. As a writer, his previous bylines include Boardroom, Business of College Sports, DIME Magazine and UPROXX, among others. You can follow him across social media at @MichaelEhrlich and reach out via michael@playbook-marketing.com

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