Penn State football star appears in new Gatorade ad campaign

Penn State football star Nicholas Singleton is appearing alongside some of the greatest athletes in American sports today as part of a modern revival of the iconic Gatorade “Is It In You?” campaign. The Nittany Lions running back has a longstanding NIL partnership with the sports drink and won the high school Player of the Year award sponsored by the brand in 2021.

Penn State football star Nicholas Singleton takes part in revival of largest Gatorade ad campaign

Gatorade is bringing back its legendary tagline from the 1990s and early 2000s with the return of the brand’s “Is It In You?” tagline. The revival is meant to combat the pressures faced by today’s athletes.

PepsiCo relaunched its largest marketing campaign with a 60-second ad during the NBA Western Conference Finals on May 28. The ad, narrated by the superstar who helped popularize the tagline, Michael Jordan, featured appearances from Josh Allen, Caitlin Clark, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, and Jayson Tatum, among others.

The campaign has since shifted online, with Gatorade partners adding their own twist on the slogan’s meaning. Nicholas Singleton posted his to Instagram on Friday, writing, “You can’t stop IT.”

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Florida quarterback DJ Lagway, and UConn guard Paige Bueckers are among the other college athletes to participate in the campaign.

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In 2021, Nicholas Singleton won the Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award while a senior at Governor Mifflin High School. He’s maintained a NIL partnership with Gatorade since last year.

On3’s NIL evaluation tool ranks Singleton No. 120 among all college football players in 2024. He is currently fifth on the Penn State football roster, behind Drew Allar, Abdul Carter, Kaytron Allen, and Dani Dennis-Sutton.

A bounce-back year in store for Singleton?

After a record-setting freshman year, last season could best be described as a bit of a sophomore slump for the Penn State star running back.

Singleton rushed for 1,061 yards on 156 carries (6.8 YPC) with 12 touchdowns in 2022. Last fall, he ran for 752 yards on 171 carries (4.4 YPC) with eight scores. The star Nittany Lion was far more productive in the passing game in 2023, however, with 15 more receptions and 223 more yards than in his freshman campaign.

But hope springs eternal. And this spring, it was all about a potential bounce-back year for Singleton and the Nittany Lions offense under new coordinator Andy Kotelnicki.

“I saw the stats a little bit from Kansas, compared to what we did last year; that got me a little excited for that,” Singleton said this spring. “[He does] a lot of creative stuff. I’m excited about that.”

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