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Brianna Williams, ESPN
The 2024 NFL draft places an immense spotlight on college football’s biggest stars.
Some players are used to the attention. For obvious reasons, Kool-Aid McKinstry is one of them.
The Alabama Crimson Tide cornerback was born Ga’Quincy McKinstry, but his nickname has stuck since birth.
“I came out [of] my mom smiling and my grandmother was right there by the bed and she said I had a ‘Kool-Aid’ smile,” McKinstry told the SEC Network.
McKinstry capitalized on his unique nickname in his freshman year of college, inking an NIL deal with the drink company.
Listed at No. 35 in Mel Kiper’s top 150 prospects, McKinstry’s dominance on the field is befitting of his larger-than-life moniker.
“I smile a lot and I just be me out there. I feel like I wouldn’t play my best if I wasn’t able to be me,” he said of his personality complementing his style of play.
Projected as a first-round pick, McKinstry could join the unofficial club of active players with nicknames that are so well-suited, it can be hard to remember their given names.
The New York Jets star cornerback was selected fourth overall in the 2022 NFL draft, but he always had the “sauce.”
Born Ahmad Gardner, the Detroit native was dubbed “A1 Sauce Sweet Feet” by a youth football coach due to his elusiveness.
He memorably donned not one, but two chains brandishing his moniker for his draft day outfit.
Brrrrr 🥶#Bearcats | #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/1YGTTJ2ISq
— Cincinnati Football (@GoBearcatsFB) April 28, 2022
“When I’m on and off the field, I make sure I’ve got the sauce. That just keeps me going,” Gardner told The New York Post. “When I’m in my little calm mood, it’s just me being Ahmad. The Sauce is within me, so I’m always Sauce. I have to know when to flip the switch up and turn the switch off.”
In his rookie season, he signed an endorsement deal with Buffalo Wild Wings and his own signature condiment called “Sauce Sauce,” described as a smoky sweet and spicy barbecue.
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Deebo Samuel explains how his name was inspired by the movie ‘Friday’
Deebo Samuel says his father named him Deebo after the bully in the movie “Friday.”
If it was up to the San Francisco 49ers receiver, he would’ve been known by his legal name: Tyshun.
Instead, the nickname inspired by Tommy Lister Jr.’s character in the 1995 film “Friday” stuck with him during his collegiate career with the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Read more: 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel makes ‘Friday’ star proud
“My father gave me that name because he said I used to take stuff and liked to bully kids when I was a little kid, and that’s what the character in ‘Friday’ did,” Samuel told ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. “So, actually when I got to college, I thought the name Deebo was going to go away and people would start calling me Tyshun, but as time flew by and kept going it was just like Deebo Samuel.”
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Oklahoma’s Mayfield’s 5th TD pass goes for 77 yards
Baker Mayfield throws a 77-yard strike to Marquise Brown in the fourth quarter.
The Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver received his nickname much later than his aforementioned peers.
In November 2017, TV announcer Gus Johnson coined the name during a legendary call of Brown’s 77-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown in Oklahoma‘s 62-52 win over Oklahoma State.
Johnson was referencing Marquise Brown’s hometown, Hollywood, Florida.
“It kind of just stuck,” Brown said. “Everyone started calling me it.”