The Rundown Take
Winning at the Game of Life: How a Middle School Water Boy Became a Sports Agent
Larry Frank Jr. took the mic for U Talk's newest series, sitting down with Quintarius "Q" Queen, founder of Clever Sports Group, a sports agent Larry Frank has known since coaching him in middle school. Devin stepped back to let the conversation breathe as Q walked through the unlikely path from a kid who was "one of the smallest dogs with the biggest bark" on the field to an LSU-trained financial advisor turned agent building his own shop from scratch.
Key Takeaways
- Q ran track at UNO before transferring to LSU, where he earned a bachelor's in sports administration and an MBA in finance — all while working inside the LSU athletic department during the Les Miles fallout.
- After being turned away by every agency and agent he cold-called for an internship, Q built his own practice, Clever Sports Group, starting with his first client, Ranz.
- He names Rich Paul and Klutch Sports as his direct inspiration — Clever's logo and five-letter name are a deliberate nod to Klutch's branding.
- Q breaks down the licensing path (a master's and roughly a $2,500 exam for NFLPA certification versus a bachelor's and about $1,500 for the NBPA) and explains how an unlicensed "agent advisor" can still do the day-to-day work under a licensed partner.
- He argues forthcoming NIL compensation is overdue, pointing to athletes — especially those from nothing — going hungry between meals with no way to legally earn money on campus.
Finding the Light Bulb
Q's central piece of advice for anyone chasing a career: find your "light bulb moment," the thing you're naturally built for, the way Ray Allen built his whole game around the three-point shot once he found it. He said the same principle guided him away from playing and into deal-making — recognizing early that he was always the "point guard" of his friend group, handling the administrative side so his athlete friends could just play.
"I always use Ray Allen when I bring up this scenario — when Ray Allen figured out he was a three-point shooter, he forgot about everything else. This is me, this is my superpower, so I'm going to focus on getting better at this."
Managing the Diva, Managing the Message
Asked how he handles combustible personalities, Q said it starts with sitting an athlete down directly, and if the pattern continues, walking away from the client altogether — citing a former LSU player he knew personally whose character issues eventually pushed him out of the league as a cautionary tale of talent undone off the field. He also flagged social media as the hardest part of the job now: a client can post something from his own couch that forces an agent into instant crisis management, the same dynamic that hit Antonio Brown and nearly cost Odell Beckham Jr. a contract.
The Goal
Ten to fifteen years out, Q said he doesn't want to be measured by revenue but by how many lives he's changed, planning to keep hiring young agents who can relate to 19- and 20-year-old clients the way he does now. Larry Frank closed the interview telling Q he always knew he'd do something great — just not exactly this.