JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville University Athletics announced its latest enhancement to the student-athlete experience on Tuesday; a partnership with leading brand marketing consultant and best-selling author Jeremy Darlow. The partnership will grant the Dolphins access to The DARLOW Rules which, in conjunction with his latest book by the same name, is an online program that aims to equip college student-athletes with the tools to develop and grow their personal brands.

"Enhancing the student-athlete experience is always our top priority and equally as important is ensuring that each of our young men and women has a voice," Athletic Director Alex Ricker-Gilbert said. "Jeremy Darlow's program accomplishes both. The nationally relevant resources that our student-athletes will have access to are bound only by the limits of their imagination and creativity. This program gives them the tools to maximize their voice."

Darlow is a former director of marketing for adidas football and baseball, adjunct marketing professor, and author of the best-selling books "Brands Win Championships" and "Athletes Are Brands Too." During and since his role at adidas, he has worked with some of the most heralded athletes and celebrities in and around sports, including Aaron Rodgers, Von Miller, Adrian Peterson, Dak Prescott, Kris Bryant, Carlos Correa, Lionel Messi, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Snoop Dogg and Kanye West.

The coursework is comprised of short, easy-to-understand, video-based lessons teaching student-athletes from every sport program the fundamentals of brand development and communication. The goal of the program is to walk each individual through the process of recognizing their own brand, the value of it and how to maximize it.

"The more I learned about Jeremy Darlow's program, the more enthusiastic I was to bring it to our student-athletes" Deputy Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator Lauren Cevis said. "We are constantly evaluating different programming that we feel can provide our students a unique experience and raise their aptitude in certain areas. The ability to market themselves is invaluable today and this program will give them more tools to do that."

Jacksonville is the first athletic department in the ASUN to bring Darlow's transformative program to its student-athletes and just the second in the state of Florida. The impressive list of institutions that have preceded the Dolphins with this offering includes Arizona State, Austin Peay, Bowling Green, Colorado, Evansville, Fordham, Georgia Tech, Louisiana, Mercer, Miami, Oregon State, Pittsburgh, SMU, Stephen F. Austin, Toledo, Troy, UNC-Greensboro, UNLV, Washington State, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

For more information and to explore The DARLOW Rules, visit thedarlowrules.com or follow the conversation on Twitter and Instagram via @JeremyDarlow.

The Jacksonville Dolphins can be found on Twitter and Instagram via @JAX_Dolphins and on Facebook @JUDolphins.