College Football Players Appear In Super Bowl Ads Thanks To NIL

College football players can now get airtime during the Super Bowl broadcast, despite not being in the pros yet — all thanks to name, image, and likeness rules.

During Super Bowl 57, two players were paid to be featured in commercials. 

While college athletes began appearing in ads in July 2021, the rise of college athletes in Super Bowl commercials marks a particular milestone given the massive audience and notoriety of the advertisements. This year’s ad spots sold for $7 million each.

Lake Erie College offensive lineman Dieunerst Collin starred in an ad spot for Popeyes. Collin, known as the “Popeyes Meme Kid,” inked a sponsorship deal with the chain shortly after starting a social media campaign to catch the attention of Popeyes executives. 

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the son of NFL Hall of Famer and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, had a cameo in a commercial for Oikos Yogurt. 

Sanders, in fact, is the first college athlete to receive compensation to be in a Super Bowl commercial. The father-son duo was also featured in an ad for the same company last year during the Big Game.

It’s unclear how much Collin and Sanders were paid — but they’ve made history either way.