A Turning Point? Illinois and Luke Altmyer Among Top Sellers at NIL Store

Champaign-Urbana and its surrounding communities were buzzing with excitement heading into the 2025 football campaign. Illinois won 10 games in 2024 – their most in decades – and was bringing back nearly its entire starting crew on both sides of the ball.

Most importantly, the Illini were returning their star quarterback: fifth-year senior Luke Altmyer. And, as the No. 12 team in the preseason AP poll, Illinois wasn't just on the radar of its fans but also the entire country. And as the Illini's quarterback, so too was Altmyer.

For now, Illinois remains a basketball school and U-C a basketball twin cities. It can take years, and often decades, of prolonged success to transform the sports culture of a university. Head coach Bret Bielema and Altmyer are pushing the Illini into that new era, but Illinois is still far from powerhouse status – especially in terms of brand recognition.

Even Wisconsin, which hasn’t won more than seven games in a season since 2021, arguably holds more football clout than Illinois, to say nothing of a program such as Nebraska. That means the Illini are light years away from being an Ohio State or Penn State.

In today’s NIL era, it would seem likely that merchandise purchases would predominantly come from those fanbases, and merch demand would be for players representing those schools. But take a wild guess whose jersey is currently flying off the shelves. ...

Luke Altmyer No. 3 at NIL Store

Contrary to reasonable assumptions, Altmyer’s jersey and related apparel has indeed been a hot commodity for college football fans: He checked in at No. 3 among the NIL Store’s top-selling athletes in the month of August.

👀 Our Top-Selling Male Athletes 👀

- Jeremiah Smith: Best WR, Top Seller
- Noah Knigga makes his debut in the rankings
- Big Ten leads all conferences with six athletes pic.twitter.com/3aqsETBjgN
— The NIL Store (@nil_store) September 11, 2025

Only Ohio State’s superstar wideout Jeremiah Smith ranked ahead of Altmyer among Big Ten players. Meanwhile, Illinois football apparel represented the third-most purchased of any program on the NIL Store in August.

👀 Our Top-Selling Programs of August! 👀

- @UConnWBB leads this list for the 11th straight month
- Ohio State continues its strong August performance with @OhioStateFB ranking second
- VMI makes its first appearance on our top 10 lists! @VMI_Football pic.twitter.com/62EbAOoltW
— The NIL Store (@nil_store) September 12, 2025

Is it a sign?

Aug 29, 2025; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Bret Bielema before a game with the Western Illinois Leathernecks at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images | Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

Two weeks into the season, there’s absolutely no reason to expect Altmyer or Illinois’ merchandise to be any less in demand, as the Illini and their quarterback have been off to a scorching-hot 2-0 start that included an emphatic 45-19 win over Duke in Week 2.

Illinois has already climbed to No. 9 in the AP poll and is set to face off against Western Michigan on Saturday night (6 p.m. CT, FS1) as it seeks to maintain that untarnished record ahead of a massive Big Ten opener on the road at Indiana.

Clearly, Illinois football is approaching an unprecedented Q-rating – popularity, name-brand recognition, street cred. But to maintain that growth, winning is a necessity. Bielema and Altmyer’s ability to navigate the Illini through tough early-conference waters is only the first leg of the journey for Illinois in 2025. But if this season is indeed the turning point, it may be time to invest in orange and blue clothing dyes.