South Carolina Football: King Juice; Gamecock receiver at the top of SEC’s NIL leaderboard

NIL is a major talking point in college football these days. Name, Image, and Likeness is a relatively new phenomenon in college sports, but it is already extremely important. For some players, NIL plays a big role in their high school recruitments, for others NIL has impacted them through the transfer portal, and still, for others NIL provides some players with a financial incentive to stay in school instead of jumping at the first chance at an NFL contract. For South Carolina football’s Antwane “Juice” Wells, this is how NIL has made a difference.

Wells would have been drafted in the 2023 NFL Draft had he decided to leave South Carolina to pursue an NFL opportunity. However, because of Wells’ limited experience playing at a high level (just one season at South Carolina after starting his career at James Madison), he was expected to be drafted later than he likely deserved based on his talent. Though Wells has stated that he can’t wait to be in the NFL and to “take care of [his] mom,” NIL provided a means for Wells being able to wait another year before heading off to the league.

NIL generally can’t compete with the big money of early-round NFL contracts, but the money available is enough for later-round players to consider returning to school to improve their draft stocks. That is exactly what happened for Wells.

According to a report from an NIL professor from the University of Miami (yes, you read that correctly; Miami has classes completely dedicated to NIL), Juice Wells is the SEC’s leader in total NIL deals. Darren Heitner revealed on Tuesday that the Park Avenue Sports group has facilitated all of Wells’ NIL deals, and, therefore, Wells does not have to pay agent fees or management costs out of his NIL earnings.

Wells has done advertisements and other work for numerous companies, both local and national, to earn money leading up to what will almost assuredly be his final year of college football. One of the SEC’s top receivers, Wells is not done, either. He and quarterback Spencer Rattler are some of the most sought-after South Carolina football stars when it comes to NIL opportunities in Columbia.

On the field, Wells is looking to build off of an All-SEC 2022 now that the Gamecocks have a new offensive coordinator in Dowell Loggains. With Rattler and Wells entering year 2 of their time together, and both players speaking highly of the offensive changes under Loggains, 2023 could be a special one for the passing game duo.