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Adrien Nunez

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Adrien Nunez
Nunez wearing number 0 for the 2020–21 Wolverines, March 2021
Born (1999-05-14) May 14, 1999 (age 25)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Occupations
  • Influencer
  • Singer
  • songwriter
Years active2021–present
Musical career
Genres
Labels
TikTok information
Page
Followers6.5 million
Likes450.1 million
Instagram information
Page
Followers669k
Last updated: December 4, 2024
Basketball career
Personal information
Listed height6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High schoolMillennium
(Manhattan, New York)
Bishop Loughlin
(Brooklyn, New York)
St. Thomas More
(Oakdale, Connecticut)
CollegeMichigan (2018–2022)
NBA draft2022: undrafted

Adrien Nunez (born May 14, 1999) or Adrien Nuñez is an American social media influencer, singer-songwriter, and former NCAA Division I college basketball player. He was not highly regarded as a high school basketball player at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Fort Greene, Brooklyn but he excelled during a postgraduate year garnering many scholarship offers and earning accolades at St. Thomas More School in Oakdale, Connecticut. He was part of the highly-rated 2022 class his freshman year for the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team of the Big Ten Conference. Nunez was a student athlete with offers to play basketball at multiple Ivy League schools and he earned three consecutive Academic All-Big Ten recognitions. Michigan went to the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament all three of the seasons he played which were not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite his limited role on the basketball court, he became the team's most popular social media creator during the COVID-19 pandemic. The June 2021 Supreme Court National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston ruling prior to his senior season which made student athlete compensation permissible thrust Nunez into prominence with many high profile corporate sponsors and partners making him one of the highest paid college athletes. After graduating, he began promoting other country music musicians through his social media platform to his millions of followers and then released his own music. Within three months of his new music release, Billboard announced he was signed to the Warner Music Nashville and Warner Records music labels.

Youth

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Nunez was born to Jenny Lessard and Martin Nunez in Manhattan, New York. Martin owns a food market chain.[2] As a youth, Adrien was a skateboarder, snowboarder, and video gamer before picking up a basketball in seventh grade when his father encouraged him to fit playing basketball into his schedule alongside his time expenditure on video games.[3] He played on his middle school basketball team and then attended Millennium High School in Lower Manhattan for his freshman year, where he played a year of basketball before transferring to Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School. He played junior varsity basketball there as a sophomore.[4] Adrien Nunez was a reserve for Bishop Loughlin varsity basketball as a junior and senior.[5] At Bishop Loughlin, he averaged 4.8 points per game in the primary role of screener and undersized big man on a 2017 New York Catholic High School Athletic Association semifinalist team led by Keith Williams and Markquis Nowell who had also played for Bishop Loughlin. Nunez only had a NCAA Division II basketball scholarship offer from Assumption University in Worcester, Massachusetts upon graduation.[3] Nunez did have strong interest from future Michigan assistant coach Phil Martelli to play for him at Saint Joseph's in Philadelphia.[6] However, he decided to study for a postgraduate year at St. Thomas More Prep in Connecticut.[5]

Hard work and the chance to demonstrate his outside shooting on the AAU circuit earned him Division I mid-major offers from Fordham in the The Bronx, New York and Bowling Green in Bowling Green, Ohio. Soon, more offers came in, including Atlantic 10 Conference schools VCU in Richmond, Virginia and Saint Joseph's. Penn State was his first high major offer. By the time Michigan entered the fray, Texas A&M in College Station, Texas and Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts had already given him offers.[3] In addition Nunez had multiple offers from Ivy League basketball programs.[7] He committed to Michigan in early October 2017 following his official visit to Ann Arbor.[3] At St. Thomas More, he averaged 15.5 points per game and 5 rebounds, earning 2018 All-NEPSAC AAA first team honors.[2] He finished his high school career ranked as the 305th best basketball athlete and 62nd best shooting guard in the national class of 2018 per 247Sports' composite rating.[7]

College basketball

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Adrien Nunez wore number 5 for the 2019–20 Wolverines; David DeJulius wore number 0. February 2020

Nunez and his family lived in Brooklyn.[8] He visited Michigan on September 29, 2017, gave a verbal commitment on October 2, and signed a National Letter of Intent on November 10.[9] He joined a Michigan's 2018 class which included Ignas Brazdeikis, David DeJulius, Colin Castleton, and Brandon Johns. It was ranked among the top ten incoming classes in college basketball. At 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), 175 pounds (79 kg), Nunez committed to join the 2018–19 Michigan Wolverines who were at the time he signed the defending 2017 Big Ten men's basketball tournament champions.[5] When he joined the team, they were defending 2018 Big Ten men's basketball tournament champions and the defending 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament runner-up.[10][11][12][13]

Nunez played for Michigan from 2018–2022 and helped the 2020–21 Wolverines earn the 2020–21 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season championship and helped Michigan reach its third, fourth and fifth consecutive NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament sweet sixteen. Meanwhile Nunez earned individual honors as a student athlete with three consecutive Big Ten Conference All-Academic recognitions.[2] As a freshman, he played in 20 games and only scored 3 points, but with the departure of Jordan Poole, Brazdeikis, and Charles Matthews as well as a coaching change from John Beilein to Juwan Howard, Nunez had an opportunity for a more prominent role as a sophomore.[14] When Franz Wagner was out of the 2019–20 Wolverines' lineup for four games, Nunez started in his place, scoring a career high 8 points on November 22, 2019 against Houston Baptist College from Houston.[15][2] After Wagner returned to the lineup, Nunez struggled with his shooting and his defense, resulting in a limited role.[16]

After his sophomore season, he switched from jersey number 5 to number 0 (which DeJulius had been wearing) to make way for incoming freshman Terrance Williams to wear number 5.[17] After playing just 7.9 minutes per game as a sophomore, Nunez surprised many by deciding to stay rather than enter the NCAA transfer portal.[18] However, Nunez said that the only time during his career that he contemplated transferring to another school which might have offered a more prominent role on the court was immediately following coach Beilein's surprise spring 2019 departure. This was even though every offseason his former AAU coach was being inundated with inquiries about Nunez's interest. Instead, Nunez sought out a role on the scout team during his final two seasons.[19] Coach Howard's technique of helping upgrade Nunez' defensive deficiencies by forcing him to repeat drills until he got it right was something which Nunez appreciated.[6]

Social media

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After Juwan Howard (standing) was named coach, Nunez (two left of Howard) never thought of transferring. February 2020

Despite his limited role on the court, Nunez became the teams most followed player on TikTok and Instagram after posting his first TikTok video on January 13, 2020 and becoming active on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic.[20] By May 2020, he had over 40 thousand TikTok followers.[6] After the Supreme Court of the United States ruling in the 2021 National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston case, student athlete compensation, such as payment for name, image, and likeness (NIL), became allowable for NCAA scholarship athletes beginning on July 1, 2021.[21] Within months, he became the highest earning player on his team despite having never played more than four minutes in a game the prior season and having limited prospects for playing time behind Eli Brooks, Caleb Houstan, Kobe Bufkin, Zeb Jackson, and Terrance Williams.[7]

As a senior for the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, he became one of the highest earning NIL players in the country earning more than some NBA draft lottery picks, although he played less than 5 minutes per game as a senior and averaged less than a point per game for his career (61 points in 62 games).[22][23] He had a multi-million follower fan base on TikTok as a senior. For several months, he navigated the NIL marketplace on his own before hiring an agent.[19] His senior season sponsors and partners included Celsius, CashApp, SoFi, Spotify, Coach, Amazon, Coca-Cola, and Pizza Hut.[22][19] After graduating he began promoting country music artists including Shaboozey, Graham Barham, and Avery Anna. When "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" was RIAA certified platinum, Shaboozey’s label credited him giving him a platinum plaque.[24] The song had a record setting run on the Billboard Hot 100 and surpassed Carrie Underwood's "Jesus, Take the Wheel" and "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus for chart performances.[25][26] ,

Music

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On August 29, 2024, Nunez released his debut "Low Road".[24] By 2024, Nunez had moved from Los Angeles to Nashville.[24] He made his stage debut on September 25 in Nashville two days before releasing a collaborative version of "Low Road" with Avery Anna.[27] In October 2024, Nunez released "Minnesota".[24][28] He was added to the C2C: Country to Country music festival lineup in the same month.[29] By October, he also announced that he would tour with Dasha in November 2024 and Avery Anna in December 2024.[24][30] In late November 2024, Nunez signed to Warner Music Nashville and Warner Records.[31][1] The signing followed the viral success of "Low Road". He achieved 50 million views and 5 million streams in his first days as a creative artist as well as hundreds of thousands of new TikTok followers.[8] He claims that the 5 million streams was the Spotify total alone (a claim republished by Sports Illustrated)[30] and that across all platforms the total was 10 million.[24] Nunez's major label debut song, "Apology Song", was released with the announcement of his signing.[1]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c Holthouse, Jerry (November 2024). "Warner Music Nashville Signs Adrien Nunez". Nashville.com. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d "Adrien Nunez". Michigan Wolverines. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Braziller, Zach (October 13, 2017). "Brooklyn recruit takes long route to chase down Division I dream". New York Post. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
  4. ^ Nunez, Adrien (July 8, 2021). "Q&A: How I went from Skater Boy to D1 Basketball Player, How to Deal with Long Distance, and More!". Adrien Nunez 2nd channel. YouTube. Event occurs at 0:43. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Hawkins, James (November 10, 2017). "Brandon Johns' signing tops off Michigan's prized recruit class". Detroit News. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Kopnick, Jacob (May 5, 2020). "The trials and tribulations of Adrien Nunez". Michigan Daily. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Yost, Kyle (October 29, 2021). "Player Profile: Adrien Nunez is making the most of where he is". SB Nation. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
  8. ^ a b Cantrell, LB (November 15, 2024). "Adrien Nunez Signs With Warner Music Nashville/Warner Records". MusicRow. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
  9. ^ "Adrien Nunez Timeline Events". 247Sports. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
  10. ^ Wyrot, Tom (March 4, 2018). "Back-to-Back: Wagner, Teske Power Michigan to Second Straight B1G Tournament Title". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  11. ^ "Postgame Notes: Michigan-Purdue". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. March 4, 2018. Archived from the original on March 5, 2018. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  12. ^ "Villanova takes title, 79–62 over Michigan behind DiVincenzo". ESPN. Associated Press. April 3, 2018. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  13. ^ Wyrot, Tom (April 2, 2018). "Michigan Comes Up Short Against Villanova in National Championship Game". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  14. ^ Sayfie, Clayton (October 18, 2019). "Brooks, DeJulius, Nunez Embracing Increased Role, New Style Of Play". Rivals.com. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
  15. ^ "Livers scores 24, Michigan routs Houston Baptist, 111-68". ESPN. Associated Press. November 22, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
  16. ^ Kahn, Andrew (May 8, 2020). "Adrien Nuñez, still here, will try to recapture his shooting stroke for Michigan basketball". MLive.com. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
  17. ^ Hawkins, James (June 17, 2020). "Nojel Eastern will not transfer to Michigan, citing course credits issue". Detroit News. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
  18. ^ Spath, Michael (April 6, 2020). "David DeJulius' Transfer Decision Raises Three Questions". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
  19. ^ a b c Kahn, Andrew (March 3, 2022). "Michigan's Adrien Nuñez ready for Senior Night, social media influencer career". MLive.com. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
  20. ^ Kahn, Andrew (June 30, 2021). "Michigan basketball's Adrien Nuñez ready to earn money as social media star, if NCAA lets him". MLive.com. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
  21. ^ Niesen, Joan (September 2, 2021). "Why women and social media stars are becoming college sports' big winners". The Guardian. p. B1. ProQuest 2568400404. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  22. ^ a b Schafer, Josh (April 2, 2022). "NIL: Michigan basketball player explains how he built a lucrative TikTok empire". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
  23. ^ "Adrien Nunez (Stats)". ESPN. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
  24. ^ a b c d e f Kahn, Andrew (October 2024). "Ex-Michigan basketball player's hit song has more than 5 million streams". MSN. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
  25. ^ Asker, Jim (September 6, 2024). "Shaboozey's 'A Bar Song (Tipsy)' Tops Country Airplay for 7th Week, Surpassing Carrie Underwood's Record". Billboard. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  26. ^ Trapunski, Richard (October 15, 2024). "Shaboozey's 'A Bar Song (Tipsy)' Breaks Record for Most Weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2024.
  27. ^ Owen, Jof (November 14, 2024). "10 New and Upcoming Country and Americana Artists You Need to Know for October 2024". Holler. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
  28. ^ Patton, Alli (November 4, 2024). "'Minnesota by Adrien Nunez- Lyrics & Meaning". Holler. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
  29. ^ Mower, Maxim (October 29, 2024). "C2C Berlin Adds Adrien Nunez, Bayker Blankenship and More to Lineup". Holler. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
  30. ^ a b Breiler, Chris (October 17, 2024). "Former Michigan Basketball player's singing career starting to take off". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
  31. ^ Eggertsen, Chris (November 26, 2024). "Signed: Royel Otis Heads to Capitol Via Label Partnership, Mass Appeal Enters Pakistan". Billboard. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
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