Jaylan Brown cares deeply about “the next rep,” but to him, the mantra extends beyond improving an athlete’s next repetition in weightlifting or conditioning. Instead, he focuses on personal and professional development, preparing athletes for life after collegiate or professional sports.

“The only guarantee in life is that your career is going to end at some point,” Brown explained. “As a former athlete, I understand that there comes a time when you must step away from the game. The beauty of sports is that its impact extends far beyond your playing days.”

Brown, a Path Scholar from North Little Rock and honors sports management major, is researching how college athletes can use their platform — especially with the rise of name, image, and likeness (NIL) opportunities — to build their personal brand online and create pathways for success after sports.

In 2021, the NCAA enacted an interim policy allowing athletes to profit from their personal brand, making Brown’s research exceptionally relevant.

Brown’s passion for sports was ignited when his grandfather bought him a basketball goal when he was a child. What started as casual games with friends grew into organized sports, then progressed to summer ball and recreational leagues, culminating in varsity positions on his high school football and basketball teams.

When it came time to plan his next step, Brown made the difficult decision to step away from sports and focus on his education. He explored other majors but ultimately returned to sports management, driven by his foundational passion for the game and a desire to pursue a career in athletic administration.

“I want to bridge the gap between student-athletes and success beyond their sports,” Brown said, citing the support he received on campus through the Honors College Path Program.

Founded in 2014, the Honors College Path Program prepares exceptional high school students — including first-generation students, those with significant financial need and those from less than well-represented areas of the state — to excel at the U of A. The program provides peer and faculty mentoring, advising, research and internship opportunities. It uniquely also offers a two-week intersession bridge experience that allows Path Scholars to move to campus early, take an honors course and build meaningful connections with fellow students, faculty and staff.

“Path prepared me to make an impact on others,” he said. “From the moment you step on campus, you feel like part of a family. You build genuine relationships and gain a deeper understanding of cultures and backgrounds different from your own.”

Brown’s leadership extended beyond campus and onto the field. His innovative approach to student-athlete support earned him a coveted internship in player development with the Arkansas Razorbacks football program — a position supported by an Honors College Internship Grant. Brown helps players, ranging in age from 18 to 30, succeed both athletically and academically, whether that means adjusting to campus life as a young adult or attending classes on financial literacy. Beyond guiding players through daily challenges, player development also strengthens the program’s connection to the community through service.

“We want to give back as much as possible,” Brown said. “It’s our way of supporting the fan base that has given so much to our team.”

Brown’s internship took him to Los Angeles in the summer of 2024, where he attended the Black Student-Athlete Summit at the University of Southern California. The event, which brings together Black student athletes, athletic professionals and industry experts, provided Brown with the opportunity to network, gain insights into management and administration for his future career and explore areas for this honors thesis. He also had the chance to attend a Los Angeles Sparks game and visit the statue of Kobe Bryant outside the Crypto.com Arena.

Outside of sports, Brown serves as vice president, public relations chair and membership intake chair for Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He created The Yard, a social media channel that highlights Black culture and opportunities at the U of A. He also works as a social media intern for the Honors College and had the opportunity to serve on a panel for the National Society for Minorities in Honors Conference hosted in Fayetteville to answer questions about his experience in honors and the Path Program.

“Jaylan is a natural leader,” said Xochitl Delgado Solorzano, assistant dean of the Honors College and director of the Path Program. “From his first year in the program, he stepped out of his comfort zone to pursue new experiences and personal growth. We encourage Path Scholars to support younger students with similar interests or career goals, something Jaylan excels at. As a peer mentor, he connected mentees with resources to help them succeed, and he continued doing so even after his formal role ended. He wants students to make the most of their time at the U of A and is always ready to help them find opportunities to reach their goals.”

Brown’s experience in student-athlete support and content development inspired his thesis, The LAB (Life After Ball). Funded by an Honors College Research Grant, this qualitative study integrates surveys and case studies to help college athletes make the most of their time at a university through NIL opportunities while preparing for a future beyond athletics. Brown explored how current athletes manage their time and responsibilities to sports and school, all while growing their brand.

To gather data, he interviewed student-athletes from various institutions and sports, focusing on those with mid-range and lower-profile social media followings. His case studies analyze high-profile college athletes with millions of followers — exemplary models of self-fashioning — breaking down their engagement strategies and how they intentionally build their personal brands into actionable insights that can be applied to athletes of any stature online.

His research revealed five unifying themes athletes use to successfully shape their brand online:

Brown argues college athletics should evolve by expanding athlete empowerment and values-based development, prioritizing purpose-driven identity work over commercial transactions and acknowledging and supporting the psychological strain inherent in competitive sports.

He believes this is especially important for the majority of athletes and represents a gap in both research and programming.

“It’s crucial to have a plan for life after playing,” Brown said. “It’s essential, and I don’t believe it’s taken as seriously as it should be. Student-athletes today are often seen through a narrow lens — judged by their abilities, statistics and on-field production, rather than as individuals with aspirations beyond the game. They are expected to perform at an elite level, handle public scrutiny and adapt to the demands of college sports, often without the necessary tools to develop holistically as people, professionals and future leaders. If they fail to meet these expectations, they risk being replaced or overlooked in a system that rarely prioritizes their growth beyond athletics.”

Although he manages a heavy professional and academic schedule, Brown doesn’t “get distraught by adversity or challenges” and believes he has a special aptitude for working under pressure.

“I always remind myself that pressure makes diamonds,” Brown said. “I feel like I’ve overcome throughout the majority of my life.”