The Team Behind NFL Rookies Quentin Johnston And Kendre Miller

Along with stampeding their way through the Big 12 and the Michigan Wolverines, Texas Christian University’s dynamic wide receiver/running back duo of Quentin Johnston (WR) and Kendre Miller (RB) rocked the 2023 NFL Draft, both earning selections in the early rounds.

For Johnston, he didn’t even need to wait for all 32 teams to make a pick before he heard his name called, as the Los Angeles Chargers selected him in the first round with the 21st overall pick. Meanwhile, his counterpart, Miller, was chosen in the third round by the New Orleans Saints – potentially becoming the next in line in the franchise’s lineage of great tailbacks (one that includes the likes of Mark Ingram, Deuce McAllister, and most recently, Alvin Kamara).

But, as is oftentimes the case with sports, lost in the glory of these two splendid individuals are the folks that help mold them into the athletes we come to admire. In this particular case, those individuals are their agents (who represent both of them jointly): Alexis Ramos, Quincy Peyton and their team.

We know what you’re thinking. Well, duh, every athlete has representation of some sort.

But Ramos and Peyton aren’t just any run-of-the-mill agents. Even more than the players they work tirelessly for, these two represent what they hope to be the future of the agenting profession. One of diversity and prosperity for people of all different backgrounds, with the guidance of their senior agents.

Proud of these two rising agents, Senior agent Doug Hendrickson (Executive Vice President of Football Operations at Wasserman) explains, “I loved Peyton’s energy, hustle, and grind. Saw that he deeply cared for the clients and was willing to run through the wall for them.” Hendrickson then continues to say, “Alexis had the desire, passion, and work ethic to be special. She wants to grind and add value to players on a daily basis. Her vision for the clients is not just for their playing career but to help develop them into their post careers. From day one, she has jumped in and has been an enormous asset to Wasserman.”

Being at the top of this business for 25+ years, Hendrickson is proud of these two rising agents. Hendrickson ended with, “I envision both Alexis and Quincy doing great things in their careers. The sky’s the limit for both of them as they both understand this is a marathon and not a sprint. They have a holistic view of how to represent clients. I am excited to see them continue to grow and do great and exciting things.”

Ramos is one of the few (and youngest, at 28 years old) Hispanic female NFL Agents in the profession. Peyton, on the other hand, is one of the youngest (just 27 years old) black agents in the business. Regardless of their age/backgrounds, both are determined to make their mark in the industry and pave the way for others just like them.

“I believe I’m one of the few Hispanic agents, and female at that, to be in this position,” Ramos recalled during her interview with Forbes. “Let alone be representing a first-rounder and a third-rounder. I’ve looked up to a few women in this position before, but I’ve never had someone who can understand me from a full-on, cultural level. So, I had to ask myself, ‘What example do I want to set for those in my community that hope to follow me?’”

For Peyton, he realized his desire to pursue a career as an NFL Agent after being a part of the agent hiring process for his brother, former Colorado State Rams receiver and former member of the Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns, Rashard Higgins.

“During my senior year of college, my brother, Rashard Higgins of Colorado State University, was a top receiver in college and had every agent coming after him,” Peyton said during an exclusive interview with Forbes. “So, I would start sitting in meetings with him, and when I was sitting in meetings with him, I realized, ‘Man, I could be a pretty good agent myself.’ So, I took the steps necessary to become an agent, got my master’s degree, took the test to become a certified agent, and soon after that was hired at Wasserman.”

Peyton credits a great deal of his success to his brother Higgins. “Higgins played a pivotal role in making me think I could be an agent. Look, I was short a thousand dollars for my agency test, and he helped me cover it so that I could become an agent.”

He’s also thankful to Hendrickson and CJ LaBoy (Senior Vice President of Football Operations at Wasserman) for taking a chance on him when other agencies wouldn’t. “The biggest challenge I faced was being a young, black 27-year-old with no clients and trying to get someone to believe in me. So, for me to be able to have my first salary gig be with an agency that’s as powerful as Wasserman was a big moment for me. Wasserman was the one to say, ‘Man, we see a lot in this kid,’ and that was huge for me. That was the hardest thing for me. Getting my foot in the door without having any clients.”

For Ramos, she actually worked in the sports industry prior to her becoming an agent, spending some time working for legendary quarterback Warren Moon and then later working with the then-Oakland Raiders. But somewhere down the line, she eventually found herself working at the front desk as a receptionist at the powerhouse place she would eventually become an agent at: Wasserman.

“I actually started out as a receptionist at Wasserman,” Ramos said. “I started my journey behind the front desk. This was before Doug Hendrickson and CJ LaBoy were acquired. At the time, Wasserman’s football division was very small. Once they came over, they made Wasserman Football into what it is today, and they asked me to be a part of their team and their vision. I started working with them and used my past experiences working in sports to help build and add value where I could. From there, they encouraged me to get my master’s and become a certified agent. I would not be who and where I am without [Hendrickson] or [LaBoy]. They were the OG Duo, and together, they grew and taught our team to be the best.”

As fate would have it, both Ramos and Peyton took their agent certification exam together. They first met in Miami, Florida, in 2020 at Super Bowl LIV and had maintained a friendship since. After they both passed their exam and Peyton was hired by Wasserman, they decided it was time to join forces.

That’s all well and good, but how is it that two agents, both in their mid-20s, were able to land clients as highly coveted as Johnston and Miller? Well, if you ask them, it involved two things: trust and family.

“For me, I wasn’t really worried about all the extra stuff that comes with being white or being black or whatever,” Quentin Johnston said during a Zoom interview with Forbes. “I just wanted someone genuine. I’m a very family-orientated dude, and that’s what stuck out to me about these two. I weighed my options during the hiring process, but at the end of the day, their ability to relate to me because of their youth and the way they made me feel that family aspect made me feel like if I signed with them, everything else would take care of itself after that.”

While Johnston indexed heavily on the familial aspect of it all, the greatest selling point for Miller was how much he felt like he could trust Ramos and Peyton.

“I had other agencies I was talking with at first, but the relationship just wasn’t there. I was doing Zoom calls with them, but I hadn’t seen them in person. And I’m really big into in-person conversation,” Kendre Miller told Forbes. “Meanwhile, [Peyton] continued to show up to Fort Worth for Quentin [Johnston] and me, and we got really close through that. I made my choice off of that. I’m a big relationship person, and I feel like if I trust you, I know you will do right by me. There were people [in other agencies] promising this and that, but at the end of the day, I had to go with the relationship I trust.”

Johnston piggybacked off Miller’s sentiment, adding that “it goes back to the family-oriented aspect. We can all trust each other in our group. There’s not anything fake. Like Miller said, other agencies were trying to throw all these empty promises at us, but not everything that glitters is gold.”

“Everything really goes back to the family element. When you have a tighter relationship with someone, it makes you want to fight harder for them. I feel like that’s what our situation is with [Peyton] and [Ramos].”

As Miller and Johnston alluded, many agencies tried to entice them into signing with large financial packages. Ramos and Peyton, while they had access to greater resources from being a part of the global powerhouse of Wasserman, focused heavily on their human connection and building upon that relationship with the two TCU stars.

“Miller and Johnson mentioned that other agencies tried to convince them to sign with their team based on experience, exposure, and assets,” Ramos explained. “That’s something that [Peyton] and I could compete with, but we decided to rely on who we were as people and our goal of building a bigger vision for these two.”

They had to rely on building that trust that Miller spoke of, which, as Peyton will tell you, was not easily earned.

“Just to get their trust from them took [Ramos] and I a lot of time,” Peyton recalled. “[Ramos] and I were at TCU a lot. And then, once they signed, our mission wasn’t over. We were at their pre-draft workouts every single day with them. We were at Miller’s physical therapy recovery sessions every single day with him. Trust comes with time. If you want someone to trust you, you have to show up for them every single day.”

That last sentiment from Peyton about being there “every single day” gets at the third ingredient to this young tandem’s success: hard work.

“This job is not easy, and this business is not easy. If you are just looking for money, you are not going to get that right away. You have to come in thinking, ‘I’m going to work now, and eventually, the fruits of my labor will pay off.’ It took me a while to get where I am right now,” Peyton stated.

“The thing I always tell people is that you have to ask yourself, ‘Would you work for pennies for three or four years to eventually get where you want to go?’ You’re going to have to work for pennies at first. Nothing is easy in this business. Do not come into this business thinking that you are going to get rich off of your first draft class. Do not come in thinking you will get rich off of your second draft class. Don’t think you could get rich off your third draft class. It’s going to take a lot of work.”

For Ramos, her go-to follow-up question, whenever she’s asked about how to make it in this business by individuals curious about the agenting profession, is to ask them what is their “why?”

She explained, “At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, ‘What is your why?’ Because if your ‘Why’ is not strong, the pressure of this business is going to crush you. If you don’t know what that ‘Why’ is, or if that ‘Why’ isn’t genuine, then you will not get far in this business.”

In an industry where youth and minority status inherently stack the deck against you, Ramos and Peyton have paved their own path to success. And they did it through trust, family, hard work, and a great team that believes in them.

They don’t care if outsiders don’t believe them, because they let the results of their success do the talking for them. It’s just like Johnston said to end the interview, “I tell people all the good things there are to say about [Ramos and Peyton]. But after that, if they don’t believe me, I’d point to everything we’ve accomplished together. I’d say look at what Miller and I were doing before we had them, and now look where we are after [they started representing us].”

And seeing how far he and Miller have already come, it’s fair to say that Ramos, Peyton, and their team are doing a pretty good job.