MADISON, Wis. — Ron Mertz read the articles and listened to discussions with heightened interest last November when the NCAA unveiled proposed rules changes that would allow college athletes to finally profit off their name, image and likeness the following year. His son, Graham Mertz, was in the middle of his first season as the starting quarterback at Wisconsin, the most high-profile member of the team and already one of the best-known young players in the Big Ten.
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When the NIL era went live, Ron understood that Graham would be positioned to thrive given his talent level, charisma and social media reach. And, as it turned out, Ron was uniquely positioned to set his son up for long-term success.
Ron, a former offensive lineman at Minnesota, had spent his entire professional career in sales and marketing and served as the president of sales for A to Z Wineworks. He used his expertise to explore the family’s options, researching potential partnerships online a couple of nights each week after work. By February, he had compiled a 13-page PowerPoint presentation that established a business plan for Graham.
Over the course of a half-hour, he delivered the strategy to Graham, complete with a six-month timeline detailing the formation of an LLC, setting up a bank account, establishing partnerships with specific service providers, finalizing a personalized branding logo and expanding Graham’s social media presence. The three pillars of the plan were to feature product endorsements, as well as wearables and gear, with a longer-range goal of creating a charitable foundation when Graham was ready.
But perhaps the most important detail in the entire presentation, the one non-negotiable throughout the process, was listed in the method statement: “The operation will be managed by family members so to minimize distractions for Graham Mertz as he continues to build his career.”
“The whole thing was to keep as much of it off his plate as possible,” Ron said. “There’s a full organization behind the curtain that’s just doing it on his behalf. It’s really not him. He has veto power. ‘Yes or no. Love it. Hate it.’ That’s the only thing that we want him involved with would be what things he wants to participate in or not. We built it with that in mind.
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“His day job is his day job. That’s the thing with him. In order for him to even allow his family to do this or build the business, it was like, ‘The main thing has got to be the main thing.’”
A team of roughly 15 people, including family members and service providers, is responsible for building that brand. While Graham is the owner, his parents, Ron and Amy, are board members. One sister, Mya, handles his social media presence, and his other sister, Lauren, helps out with marketing. Other positions include the family’s finance manager, legal counsel and sports agency representation through CAA, which is the non-exclusive primary marketing agent.
That’s why, by the time July 1 arrived and NIL officially launched, Graham and his family were well ahead of the curve in preparation and execution.
Ron said the Mertzes hired a third-party designer to build Graham’s logo. He and Mya brought Graham three or four options, and Graham picked the one he liked best — a G and an M fused together. Graham then became the first active college athlete to release a trademarked logo. The family agreed to a deal for Graham’s clothing line with 500 Level, which handles the website and is the same company that works with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and several professional players associations. The rollout coincided with the first day that college athletes could profit off their name, image and likeness.
Excited to announce that I am officially releasing my wearables website! Hope you all enjoy!
Check out my official wearable collection at the link below:https://t.co/z8XCVfpP4o
Thank you for your support. It’s only the beginning! pic.twitter.com/aQae7ce05u
— Graham Mertz (@GrahamMertz5) July 1, 2021
Graham has become one of the faces of the NIL movement, a third-year college player with tremendous earning potential. Yet how he has handled the process, ingratiated himself with teammates and expressed his values on what really matters is why those close to him believe he has such a bright future ahead, on and off the field.
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“The reason why everybody says, ‘Oh, you’re the face of the NIL movement,’ my dad is a businessman at heart,” Graham said. “He does a great job at it. But the big thing for me was we had a lot of talks and it was how can we form a plan where we can have everything in place where I don’t have to worry about it at all?
“I’m having so much fun with the guys just getting to know them, spending a bunch of time at meals and just talking with guys. I think that’s our team’s approach right now is it’s all ball. Obviously, things like this are going to pop up. You treat it like a pro team. In the pros, you’re going to have that. It’s just how you deal with it. It’s another distraction that you can’t let be a distraction.”
Blake Lawrence says Mertz’s situation is the result of a perfect storm of circumstances. Not only does Mertz happen to play the most visible position in college athletics in its most popular sport, but Lawrence also describes him as a likable, marketable individual who is very team-focused. He points out that most athletes who have the assistance that Mertz does are relying on agents and marketing reps the player met only weeks earlier, whereas Mertz has benefitted from his dad’s efforts at building an infrastructure for months and truly understanding the vision his son wants.
Lawrence is the co-founder and CEO of Opendorse, a sports technology company that maximizes endorsement value for athletes, which Mertz set up an account for months ago. Lawrence, a former Nebraska football player, is from Overland Park, Kan., Mertz’s hometown, and his younger brother played on a seven-on-seven football team with Mertz. The families have known each other for years, which made Lawrence an easy sounding board for Ron if he had any questions about the process.
Opendorse is a free application for any athlete and has become a critical component in helping college athletes understand, manage and monetize their value. Companies can use the platform to find an athlete, pitch them a product and arrange deals. Opendorse does not take a commission from an athlete and instead has two revenue streams. Schools buy a subscription from $10,000 to $50,000 to monitor any disclosures that the athletes are submitting through the apps. Opendorse also charges a transaction fee to a buyer ranging from 10 to 30 percent, depending on the quantity of services for an athlete.
Opendorse, which works with more than 100 schools, has partnerships with all major pro sports organizations. Wisconsin partnered with Opendorse in June, giving student-athletes access to a platform that provided custom brand value assessments, live consultation sessions with industry leaders and on-demand access to an educational series featuring experts on brand building, making money and financial literacy.
Lawrence said Opendorse calculates a player’s earnings potential based on a variety of factors, including sport, experience, team and social performance, and equates an NIL estimate to a Zillow estimate for properties. Opendorse uses the data of every transaction that has occurred in the company’s marketplace, as well transactions disclosed through a compliance tool it has with schools, to predict the value of an individual’s social media posts.
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Lawrence provided Mertz, as well as every other Wisconsin student-athlete, with a personalized social media valuation. Based on the number of Mertz’s Twitter followers, his per-post value for an endorsement is $234. On Instagram, that value soars to $1,050 because of the number of followers he has and the increased fan interaction that takes place on the platform. According to Opendorse figures, Mertz’s Instagram value ranks No. 1 among 656 student-athletes at Wisconsin, No. 1 among 123 Badgers football players and No. 39 among 5,878 FBS players. Mertz has roughly 25,600 Twitter followers and 52,200 Instagram followers.
Mertz is the eighth-most-valuable athlete in the Big Ten on social media overall, based on the Opendorse statistics Lawrence cited. Of the seven players ahead of him, five play for Ohio State (receiver Chris Olave is No. 1, quarterback Quinn Ewers is No. 2, receiver Garrett Wilson is No. 3, receiver Julian Fleming is No. 5 and receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba is No. 7). Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa is No. 4, and former Penn State running back Journey Brown, who retired last season because of a heart condition, is No. 6.
Top 10 most valuable Big Ten athletes
| Ranking | Position | Player | School |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | WR | Chris Olave | Ohio State |
2 | QB | Quinn Ewers | Ohio State |
3 | WR | Garrett Wilson | Ohio State |
4 | QB | Taulia Tagovailoa | Maryland |
5 | WR | Julian Fleming | Ohio State |
6 | WR | Jaxon Smith-Njigba | Ohio State |
7 | RB | Journey Brown | Penn State |
8 | QB | Graham Mertz | Wisconsin |
9 | OL | Paris Johnson Jr. | Ohio State |
10 | QB | C.J. Stroud | Ohio State |
Source: Opendorse
Lawrence noted that the high-profile quarterback has been positively impacted by NIL more than any other position. According to his figures, 79 percent of all NIL transactions in July went to college football players. Twenty percent of all transactions went to quarterbacks.
“We did a lot of speculation prior to NIL arriving, like what somebody could make,” Lawrence said. “But now it’s here. The realities are here. I would say that Graham in general, if I had to predict Graham’s annual NIL potential, it is in the six figures, certainly. He should be earning six figures a year. If he has a great season, then double whatever you think it is.
“Even without a fantastic season, he’s just in the right position with the right structure in terms of his license, merchandise, what he’s doing with Panini trading cards and autograph memorabilia, and then his social media presence is enviable for most athletes in the country.”
Ron said the business strategy for Graham is simple: quality over quantity. Long-term partnerships that won’t require as much of Graham’s time but will last for his future. In addition to Graham’s own clothing line (T-shirts go for $29.99 and sweatshirts for $54.99), he signed an exclusive partnership with the sports memorabilia and collectible company Panini America but hasn’t been bogged down with many other deals. When a random marketer calls the family to inquire about a product pitch, the answer is generally an immediate “no.”
Huge thank you to @PaniniAmerica for selecting me to be one of their first college athlete partners. Looking forward to getting some signed memorabilia in your hands!
Excited to officially announce our exclusive memorabilia partnership. We’re just getting started! #PaniniNIL pic.twitter.com/hZ80jRSOBX
— Graham Mertz (@GrahamMertz5) July 28, 2021
“We’re looking more for the right long-term partners of larger scale rather than a thousand little things,” Ron said. “So it’s got to be credible. It’s got to be brands and products that he credibly wants to be part of long term. There’s a lot that’s come that we’ve said no to. A lot of it’s been, ‘Here’s $45 for a post.’ I don’t want to distract him with that kind of stuff.
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“I think he’s got a really healthy approach to it to where a $45 certificate to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal could detract from a lifetime of income at a very high level if you let that distract him. He’s got his eye on the long term. Anything he does won’t distract him from his mission. That comes from Graham. The size of the prize can be as big as you want it to be. But there are tradeoffs there, too. If you chase this stuff and make it the focus of his humanity, that gets to be well out of balance.”
Graham said once a week, usually on Monday nights, he and his dad will exchange emails or talk, and Ron will present him with the latest offers after he receives an update from CAA. Graham indicated that the portion of the conversations about any endorsement opportunities lasts all of five minutes so he can return to the real business at hand.
“Our thing is we know what’s important right now, and that’s me out here winning games,” Graham said. “It’s not doing every and any little thing that pops up. I’m investing in what’s important. And that’s my future, not working for a couple extra bucks right now. Obviously, if things come around and it’s a great opportunity, yeah, I’m going to jump on it because it’s a great opportunity, it’s a blessing, it’s a privilege. But I don’t need to go crazy with everything and anything right now.
“Right now, as a student, I’m just paying for rent. Obviously, during camp, you’ve got meals paid for. So for me, I don’t really have a need to spend a lot of money. And you’ve got to take into account taxes and stuff like that. It’s just being smart. I will probably invest most of it. I don’t really have a lot of plans of that so far.”
Lawrence gave an in-person presentation to Wisconsin’s student-athletes on June 30, the day before name, image and likeness was officially enacted. After the presentation, Lawrence met with four Badgers players — Mertz, defensive end Matt Henningsen, cornerback Faion Hicks and safety Collin Wilder — for a more in-depth conversation about NIL. By then, Mertz had already revealed his personal trademarked logo and inked his deal with Panini America. But as the discussion progressed, those in the meeting remember Mertz making an important distinction to his teammates.
“We were asking a bunch of questions, like, ‘How does trademark, copyright work?’” Wilder said. “And, all of a sudden, he goes, ‘Hey guys, before we go any further, let’s just make sure we keep the main thing the main thing.’ We’re literally talking to a guy about NIL and he just stops the whole meeting to make sure we keep guys focused on football.
“It felt good to know a guy who is one of the faces of this whole thing is thinking that way. It was just comforting to me. I’m like, ‘OK, he gets it.’”
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Henningsen said he expected nothing less from Mertz, noting that the quarterback fits into Wisconsin’s overall team philosophy that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Mertz made sure to express to teammates that, although fans may think he was the one diverting time and attention from being a better player, his family had given him a support system for the entire operation. Lawrence recalled that, during the conversation, Mertz also asked how his influence could make sure the process wasn’t just about him.
“He’s like, ‘I want it to be about the team,’” Lawrence said. “That’s when we came up with this idea that, ‘Hey, the first business that comes to you, you should consider looping in your offensive line.’ That’s what he did. He went and found an opportunity that not only was the business interested in him, but he made sure they included his offensive line in the NIL deal. That’s leadership. That was cool.”
Two weeks later, Mertz helped his offensive line land an endorsement deal with Mission BBQ, a restaurant that has four Wisconsin locations, including one in Madison.
Excited to announce that @MissionBBQ will be the official BBQ of our entire O-Line room here at Wisconsin! Gotta keep the big boys fed!!! pic.twitter.com/PBO1iFcVFA
— Graham Mertz (@GrahamMertz5) July 14, 2021
“I have thought all along that it can be a good thing,” Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst said. “But it can also be a distraction. That’s everyone’s job to make sure that the main things stay the main things. The one thing I’ve always appreciated when talking with Graham specifically about it is I believe he’s coming from a good place, and being a great teammate is important to him. So I’m going to still trust that.”
Mertz’s selflessness in a situation that could lead to locker room turmoil has engendered respect among his teammates. Wilder said Mertz doesn’t even like to discuss the NIL side of his life and that the only time anyone noticed it was when he arrived in the locker room with a bunch of Graham Mertz gear to hand out to other players. Teammates loved the free shirts and say they have taken a practical and understanding approach.
“People who are not quarterbacks should not be jealous of quarterbacks getting deals because if you want to go where you want to go, like the NFL, there is not going to be a safety getting a $500 million contract like Patrick Mahomes,” Wisconsin safety Scott Nelson said. “That’s just life. I don’t think anybody thinks that they should be getting that. It’s not a way that everything needs to be equal because it’s your name, your image, your likeness. And if somebody is more popular, then they’re obviously going to get more. It’s pretty simple to me.
“I don’t want anybody to think there’s going to be beef on the team because one guy is getting more. We’re all trying to go to the NFL. If you have that same mentality in the NFL, people will laugh at you. That’s the real world. That’s kind of my mindset about it. Graham’s attitude, I think he’s gone about it in a very good way. He doesn’t talk about it really too much with us. He’s not always bragging. When people ask him questions, he’s downplaying it more. So I’m proud of how he’s handling it because there is a lot of pressure, and he understands that. Going about it the right way is important. He really is handling it the right way.”
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Mertz said what he has enjoyed about the process is sharing deep conversations at the dinner table with teammates about what it’s like for all of them to be a part of the changing landscape of college sports. His focus has been on trying to bring the group together after a disjointed 2020 season when spring practice was canceled due to COVID-19 shutdowns across the country and teammates couldn’t spend much time together, even during the season. So the last thing he wants is any unnecessary dissension. As Wisconsin works through preseason practices and closes in on its Sept. 4 opener against Penn State, the team seems to be aligned on that front.
“I’m just happy he’s making some money,” Wilder said. “But if we go out to eat, I wouldn’t be mad if he paid my bill.”
Mertz is the first to acknowledge that the only thing of real importance at this stage is how well he performs on the field. Being the best quarterback he can be and helping Wisconsin to win a conference championship and beyond has been Mertz’s singular purpose. Ron said the endorsements aren’t a driving force but rather a reward for a job well done, that Graham will live the same way with or without endorsements.
“I really like his maturity and approach to it,” Ron said. “He also understands the scale of it. This is a very small portion of what he does. It’s a bit of a reward, and he definitely knows he needs to keep his hands on the plow.”
Mertz endured a trying 2020 in his first season as Wisconsin’s starter. He lit up Illinois in the season opener by completing 20-of-21 passes for 248 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions to generate some very early Heisman Trophy buzz. But he tested positive for COVID-19 the following day and spent the next three weeks in the Big Ten’s 21-day return-to-play protocol. He suffered an injury to his right throwing shoulder against Michigan, watched as multiple offensive weapons went down with injuries or COVID-19, then suffered a head injury against Minnesota before returning to rally Wisconsin against Wake Forest in a Duke’s Mayo Bowl victory.
Mertz completed 61.1 percent of his passes for 1,238 yards with nine touchdowns and five interceptions. He spent the offseason evaluating game film and working on his footwork, as well as developing timing with receivers. But one of the most significant changes, Ron said, came when Chryst took over as the quarterbacks coach after the departure of Jon Budmayr, who became the offensive coordinator at Colorado State. Chryst was the team’s quarterbacks coach from 2006 to 2011, when he also served as the offensive coordinator.
“Jon’s a great, talented young guy,” Ron said. “Jon was always very, very involved in every technical aspect of the position. Where I think Paul, he’s the quarterback whisperer. I think he’s done a great job of simplifying things with him and letting his talent kind of take over in the right scheme. They spent a lot of time together this offseason. A lot. More than I could even quantify since his last game. A lot of great one-on-one time. I think he succeeded in slowing it down for Graham.
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“He can kind of turn off the noise of the process a little bit and just let his instincts and his training take over. So he’s making it more digestible for him to just play freely. That’s been the biggest thing Graham has conveyed. Now it’s just feeling free in the pocket and understanding where he’s supposed to go and the why behind it. It’s not just all the little mechanical bits of technique that he’s focused on. So that’s been a big thing for him. Jon was great. Paul is one of the best.”
Mertz has never lacked confidence or leadership ability, and he displayed those traits often even last season. But he appears to have more self-assurance as he enters his second year as the starter. When asked where he was a better quarterback, he replied, “Everywhere.” Mertz cited his overall knowledge of the offense, how well he was trusting his feet and progressions and not overthinking when it came to making quick decisions on throws. Working with Chryst has also helped to provide him with a different mental approach.
“He told me that he was taking over the quarterbacks and from that point on, I was up there every day with him getting on the whiteboard, drawing plays, really just taking ownership of the role of the quarterback,” Mertz said. “I need to be responsible for all 10 guys on my side and also know what the defense is doing. So for me, I needed to take that step and take ownership of, ‘All right, this is our split on this play. I need you tighter on this one, and if you’re not there, I’m going to chew your ass out because you need to be there.’
“And I needed to do the work to back that up because no one’s going to let me just run around there cussing guys out if I’m not backing it up with the work and the preparation ahead of time. So for me, we hit the ground running and we’ve had a bunch of talks of, ‘If you want something, you’ve got to go get it, take it and work for it in order to take it.’ It was taking a reality check in attacking my shortcomings of last year. I think that’s how I’m a completely different quarterback this year.”
Ron said he and Chryst joke about having to tell Graham to occasionally back off from his preparation. They encourage him to take breaks from watching so much film and spend more time with his friends. Ron said Graham is as comfortable as he has been at Wisconsin, particularly after persevering through a season with so many curveballs. Chryst has seen marked growth in Graham as well.
“I’ve absolutely been impressed and I appreciate the way he’s approached it,” Chryst said. “I think it’s been with purpose. I think that he accurately saw what happened last year and kind of where he’s at and what he did well and areas he’s got to improve upon, which I think is a big part of it.
“I’ve liked everything he’s done to this point. Graham’s a great example that it’s important to him. He wants to be coached. He wants to have a high bar. It’s our job to help him do that.”
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Mertz said he has thought about how good the offense can be with multiple starting offensive linemen returning, an emerging running game, an all-Big Ten tight end and the team’s top four wide receivers back for another season. But he doesn’t want to overthink the possibilities for Wisconsin, the preseason Big Ten West favorite, and said it has been important not to allow thoughts of what could happen to creep through. What matters now are the sayings scattered across the locker room. Work comes first. Preparation is key. Win the day. Win the moment. Win right now.
“In order to do what we want to do, we’ve got to work for it, and if we want to be special, special teams work hard and work hard every day and every second of every day,” Mertz said. “For us, I’d say that’s our approach.”
Recently, Mertz walked down State Street and saw a big cartoon head of himself staring back from the chest of a fan, who was wearing one of his branded T-shirts while walking in the other direction. It was a moment that offered Mertz a reminder about the earnings capacity he possesses now that he controls his name, image and likeness. Yet it also provided further reinforcement that, for the off-field side of his life to take off, he has much more work to do on the field.
On both fronts, he recognizes that he is just getting started.
“It’s pretty cool if you just sit down and reflect on it and just realize the blessings you have as a college athlete right now,” Mertz said. “But in the end, you want to make this your career. I think that everything you do is reflective of that. So you can make as much money as you can now or you can invest in yourself so in 10 years, 15 years, you’ve been in the league for a while and you’re making big bucks.”
(Top photo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
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