$4,100,000 NIL-valued AJ Dybantsa shares how his "football skills" came to his rescue in front of Red Sox fans at Fenway Park

Incoming BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa shared how his football skills helped him deliver the first pitch at Fenway Park.

The 6-foot-8 small forward, whose NIL value is pegged at $4,1000,000 (per On3), was a guest in Tuesday's episode of BYU Sports Nation with hosts Spencer Linton and Dave McCann, where he described the feeling of throwing the first pitch in the fabled stadium.

The 18-year-old, five-star high school prospect, whose hometown is just a 40-minute drive from Fenway Park, told Linton and McCann he was pressured not to fail at that moment.

"They said I was going to throw 60 feet. So I was going to throw in front of the mound," Dybantsa said (Timestamp: 2:40). "So in my mind I'm like, 'I can't throw like a real baseball because it's going to hit the ground. So I'd rather go to my football skills, throw it upwards. And I got it there."

The valued BYU recruit primarily avoided becoming a meme after throwing the exact first pitch to the catcher in front of tens of thousands of people at Fenway Park.

Dybantsa is coming off an excellent stint in the FIBA U-19 Basketball World Cup where he led Team USA to a gold-medal finish. He was also named the Most Valuable Player for his fine play during the tournament.

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AJ Dybantsa expresses excitement to play for BYU and help the Cougars roar into March Madness

AJ Dybantsa has expressed excitement to play for the BYU Cougars in the 2025-26 season, saying he is ready to carry the Cougars deep into March Madness.

Dybantsa, who is also projected as the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA draft, said that his focus is to help BYU coach Kevin Young improve on its Sweet Sixteen finish last season.

His choice of picking BYU over Kansas, North Carolina and Alabama was more of moving ahead of his NBA dream as the Cougars coaching staff has a professional-like atmosphere with an NBA-caliber dietitian, strength coach and analytics staff.

“It was kind of a no-brainer when it came down to that stuff,” Dybantsa said. “I needed a coach that was going to develop me and not sugarcoat a lot.”

BYU opens its 2025-26 season with a nonconference showdown against Villanova in Las Vegas on Nov. 3 and will meet Holy Cross five days later.

It will also play two exhibition games two weeks before the start of the regular season against Big 10 school Nebraska (Oct. 18) and ACC powerhouse North Carolina (Oct. 24) at Salt Lake City.