Last season, college football fans learned about Alabama QB Jalen Milroe’s “LANK” idea in the funniest way possible during ESPN College Gameday.
“That is not what I thought,” said Pat McAfee. “Boy. Let A Naysayer Know?”
McAfee said what everyone thought about what Milroe’s chosen acronym actually stood for, and the “N” was definitely not “Notsayer” in everybody’s head.
But Milroe took LANK and embraced it as his motivation to remind everyone who doubted him that he was still there and was capable of big things. He and teammate Terrion Arnold turned it into an apparel line with the logo emblazoned on shirts, hoodies and hats and it took off from there.
Now, Milroe has taken it to a new level by launching a digital series called LANK by Jalen Milroe with Improbable Media, the production company founded by NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo and former Duke star Jay Williams.
Calling it a digital diary, Williams made the announcement at the FOS Tuned in summit in New York on Tuesday.
“Jalen is a really unique proof of concept for us. First off, NIL [name, image, and likeness] is the wild Wild West,” said Williams. “And the interesting opportunity around [LANK] is it turned into the school’s rally cry. Nick Saban got behind it, the collective got behind it, and they have a merchandising deal with the school. You see where the NCAA is moving in that direction in conferences with rev share.”
According to Willams, the university shouldn’t be the only party that tells stories about its players, so he wanted to give Milroe a platform that gives fans an athletes-first perspective.
