Duke commit Jared McCain signs with Excel Sports

First, Jared McCain had to pick a school.

With a fleet of Power 5 programs pursuing him, the five-star No. 16 recruit in the 2023 class,per ESPN, chose Jon Scheyer and the Duke Blue Devils.

"I've been watching them since I knew about basketball," McCain told ESPN. "Just the history with Coach K ... it was a dream of mine to commit there."

But then, the 6-foot-3 shooting guard decided that he had to make another choice. McCain, who boasts 2.3 million followers combined on TikTok and Instagram, figured he needed an agent for name, image and likeness representation.

On Thursday, McCain announced that he'd signed with Excel Sports, the same agency that represents Tiger Woods, Clayton Kershaw, Derek Jeter and Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins.

McCain said that his focus is basketball -- his Centennial High School (Corona, California) team will face Mikey Williams (another Excel Sports client) and San Ysidro High School (San Diego) on Friday -- but he hired Excel Sports to help him navigate the hectic name, image and likeness world.

"When I first started on social media, I mean I'm dancing on TikTok, so I didn't really think much of it," McCain said. "Now that it's here, you definitely have to take [NIL] into consideration. And being that Duke is probably the biggest platform for the NIL space, it's definitely a plus. ... I'm obviously excited for the endorsements I could get, the commercials that could happen, just all the opportunities that are there, I'm just excited for."

A past generation might have laughed if a high school athlete had attempted to hire an agent to help him with his brand. But name, image and likeness rules have changed the sport over the last year.

Iowa women's basketball star Caitlin Clark had reportedly made a seven-figure sum on NIL deals before she recently signed with Nike. Oscar Tshiebwe, who won the Wooden Award last year, is back for Kentucky in part because he's projected to make millions. Amari Bailey, a five-star recruit for the UCLA Bruins this season, bought his mother a Porsche while he was still in high school.

"I'm trying to balance school and basketball, so I just needed some help," McCain said about signing with an agency.

While he chose Duke because he believed in Scheyer and his staff, he said the school's all-in approach to NIL -- Scheyer hired Rachel Baker, a former Nike and NBA staffer, as his team's general manager -- helped him make his decision.

McCain will be a significant piece of one of America's top recruiting classes next season. But he'll also continue to make content for the millions who follow him. McCain said his social media content aims to make people happy and put a "smile on someone's face."

"Dancing before the game, those are the TikToks that usually perform well," he said.