How Justyn Ross became Clemson’s first known athlete with an NIL deal
Even in the dark of the night, Justyn Ross knew what he wanted.
At midnight Thursday, the NCAA’s new interim name, image and likeness policy went into effect. At 12:01 a.m., the Clemson wide receiver got to work with The Players Trunk to create merchandise in his image.
The Players Trunk began about a year ago with Hunter Pomerantz, Austin Pomerantz and Jason Lansing, all of whom worked with the men’s basketball teams at their respective schools. Hunter Pomerantz, who was a student-manager, graduated from Syracuse University in 2020, while Austin and Lansing were seniors at the University of Michigan. They had always helped their friends on the teams sell their old jerseys and shoes once the players graduated from college. The difficulty, though, came when trying to get items to fans in other states.
Where the trio saw a problem, they also saw a market.
The COVID-19 pandemic sheltered many in place, including Lansing, Hunter and Austin. They used that time to research, brainstorm and create The Players Trunk.
“When we first started The Players Trunk, we strongly believed in our core values and core mission, which is always to flip the power back into the athlete’s hand,” Hunter Pomerantz said. “It’s always been, for us, about player empowerment and how do we get these guys and girls the money they deserve for the performances that they put out every week on the field, on the court in their respective sport.”
The business started with about 10 graduating student-athletes marketing their items on the website and continued to grow from there. In less than a year, The Players Trunk went from a few athletes in one region to over 650 across the country, including former Clemson stars such as Cornell Powell, Shaq Smith and Dorian O’Daniel. That’s what put the company on Ross’ radar.
With the NIL policy on the horizon, he knew partnering with The Players Trunk was an optimal move, and the two parties came to an agreement. Hunter Pomerantz said he and his business partners looked into the NIL laws for not just the NCAA, but also material from South Carolina and Clemson. They wanted to make sure whatever they did wouldn’t jeopardize both their business and Ross’ opportunity.
Once everything was on the up-and-up, the process began. They didn’t start working until after midnight Thursday, utilizing an in-house graphic designer to make the clothing for Ross — and Hunter Pomerantz said the Clemson star was great to work with.
“Every athlete is different in terms of how hands-on they want to be in the process,” Pomerantz added. “Some of them say, ‘You know what? I want to let you guys handle the creative process and absolutely wow me with something,’ and others like Justyn gave us a little bit more input.”
Ross, who missed the 2020 season after having surgery due to a congenital fusion in his spine, had already planned out how the image on his merchandise would look. He sent Pomerantz a photo of him catching a football, which appears to be from the Tigers’ 2019 national championship game against LSU. Ross, who had 76 yards on five catches in the contest, also wanted his name incorporated in the design with the photo.
“Almost like running through a brick wall,” Hunter Pomerantz said to describe the visual.
After a bevvy of late-night text and calls, the designers at The Players Trunk had a clear idea of what to do.
It only took a few hours and minor tweaks to get the finished product to where Ross was satisfied and ready to go live with his new graphic, which was to be printed on T-shirts, which cost $29.99, and hoodies, selling for $59.99.
“We wanted to make sure we were playing by the right rulebook,” Pomerantz said, “so when we did finally tell him hey, you’re good to post this and you’re good to go, he was super excited to see it live and see some of the reactions he’s got from fans on social media, which the response has been great.”
Hunter spoke to Ross after the release and said the Tiger was excited about the outpouring of support from fans. His Instagram post about the partnership and new merchandise had received 3,259 likes by 6 p.m., about eight hours later. He’s already planning on adding more items as both parties look forward to growing Ross’ brand.
The Players Trunk also plans to work with more Clemson student-athletes in the future.
“I think people are definitely starting to see why the need for this NIL was long overdue,” Pomerantz said. “I know the outpouring of support for not only us as a brand but the work we’re doing with Justyn and for Justyn, himself, to kind of be a pioneer in this whole NIL space where he was really the first Clemson athlete to come out with an official NIL deal once the clock hit midnight, so he was super excited. We were super excited. It was a great partnership working with Justyn.”
