An inside look at freshman’s NIL deal
Before Nicholas Singleton started his Penn State career, and even before he rolled through his competition at Governor Mifflin High School and won Gatorade National Player of the Year honors, his dad, Timmy, couldn’t quite wrap his head around the idea of his son being a one-man business enterprise. The freshman is still far from it, but he has made a few Name, Image and Likeness deals early in his Penn State career, and the Singletons are adapting to this new world with new rules and opportunities.
From the outside, the idea of NIL feels like a lawless wasteland where millions are being thrown at athletes by eager donors with bottomless bank accounts. But from the inside, Singleton’s story is perhaps more common, even as a former five-star prospect with lofty expectations. He is taking NIL one step at a time without losing sight of the fact that his most important initiatives remain, by far, studying and playing at a high level.
Those opportunities aren’t just free money, and they certainly aren’t in the millions. Not yet, anyway. But the pieces are coming together for players like Singleton to get educated and start taking advantage of chances that had previously been outlawed by the NCAA.
“You’re looking at your kid who doesn’t even make his bed, now all of a sudden he’s going to get paid this, this and this,” Timmy Singleton said. “That’s the hard part for some parents. It wasn’t something we were seeking. We just figured if it was going to happen, it would happen. We were told last summer to get an agent, and I was like, ‘I don’t know. He hasn’t even done anything yet. We don’t need an agent.’ Then, I gradually saw how things could go.”
Singleton does have an agency for NIL purposes in Athletes First, which is the same group that represents former Penn State star Micah Parsons. But Singleton’s biggest deal yet — he also got a Jeep Cherokee in an endorsement with Savage L&B Dodge Chrysler Jeep in Robisonia — came together independent of an agent and through a mutual connection.
Ross Tucker is a former Berks County football standout and NFL veteran who played at Princeton with current Penn State Director of Personnel Andy Frank. He also has a relationship with the Singleton family and is personal friends with B.J. Werzyn, a Penn State grad who is now the chief executive officer of West Shore Home in Mechanicsburg. They arranged a meeting at Penn State in the spring, made the connection with Nick Singleton, and started down a path toward the three-year endorsement deal that was announced by West Shore Home last week.
Between the personal connection, Singleton’s obvious talent and the fact he’s a homegrown kid with skills that match West Shore Home’s “speedy” branding, it all felt right. Neither side would disclose a dollar figure for the deal, but the contract is for three years and has standard safeguards for things like transfers and injuries. The expectation on Singleton’s end include generating social media posts, making appearances and signing autographs.
“This is just a typical endorsement deal, whereas some of these other schools are throwing money at these kids and there’s no quid pro quo, so to speak,” Werzyn said. “They’re just basically giving them a stipend and not necessarily getting anything in return, and I just don’t think that’s how it should work.
“Obviously, these kids are in bigtime sports and there’s a lot of money around it, so I think they deserve to be able to get paid for their name, image and likeness, but I also think they should be doing something for it. Our deal with Nick is your prototypical deal that’s a win-win-win, and I hope that’s the direction that it goes.”
Timmy Singleton said he doesn’t expect any Penn State athlete to announce dollar figures for the potential deals they sign, which would run contrary to comments made by powerful figures such as Alabama’s Nick Saban and Ohio State’s Ryan Day. Singleton also expectations for his son to stay grounded no matter how many deals he makes.
The family will continue to defer to his agents to sift through potential opportunities while Singleton focuses on all the things that put him in this position in the first place.
“Nicholas is really focused,” Timmy Singleton said. “I don’t think you’ll ever hear reports of him at a club. He’s more laid back. He’s competitive, but as far as letting the money go to his head, first of all to his family, he’s just Nicholas, so no. I think Penn State handles that well, too.”
Whether he knew it or not at the time, Werzyn and other Pennsylvania business owners like him are likely the intended recipients of Penn State coach James Franklin’s warnings that urgency is required to help the Nittany Lions gain ground in the NIL arms race. Franklin addressed that issue again in a news conference last week, saying, “There is no long haul. It needs to be now. It needs to be yesterday.”
For Werzyn, he knew he was interested in continuing his support of Penn State’s football program and that he would like to get into the NIL space, but he otherwise had no idea where to begin. He suspects that other business owners are likely in the same boat, which makes ongoing education and communication all the more important. When Franklin talks about Penn State being behind, It could run deeper than dollars.
Werzyn said he felt a sense of duty as a supporter of the program to make something happen and help push Penn State into this new frontier.
“Yeah, 100 percent,” Werzyn said. “Admittedly, I think Penn State is a little bit behind, especially seeing some of these SEC schools, the Tennessees, the Floridas, the Texas A&Ms, USC. They’ve been out ahead of the curve on this, and Penn State is still catching up a little bit. But obviously, this is a top priority because it’s important for Penn State to remain competitive in the balance of power in college football because everybody knows that the football program is the one that feeds the other 30 athletic programs.”
Werzyn said he plans to do more with Penn State’s football program in the future and suggested other initiatives are currently in motion.
As for Singleton, if all goes to plan, nothing will change about the way he plays the game, with speed, power and hunger. A modest endorsement deal as a college freshman will pale in comparison to making good on all his potential, getting his degree, and someday making the jump to the National Football League.
In the meantime, NIL is forcing him to grow up quicker, to think about things like taxes and take ownership of the expectations that come with his contracts. Singleton also plans on doing charity work through his relationship with West Shore Home and beyond, which is something that stood out to Werzyn almost as much as the football talent.
“Obviously, it’s not just about their on-field performance, but you want to make sure you’re aligning with a good person who’s not going to get in trouble or not going to make the company look bad,” Werzyn said. “We just felt really comfortable with Nick. He’s a really good kid.”
Singleton is also a really good player who is just scratching the surface of his money-making ability, but his Penn State career doesn’t revolve around it.
“He doesn’t have THAT much money,” Timmy Singleton said. “He’s not on that level yet. It’s nice and he’s appreciative of the NIL, but he knows in the long term, it’s about graduating and getting a degree. Football isn’t going to last forever, even if he makes it to the NFL. Focus on that degree and making it and putting the money away.”