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Former NFL Star QB Alex Smith Joins UCAN Team

The UCAN Company is proud to announce that they are welcoming former NFL Star QB Alex Smith to the brand as an investor in the company. As a longtime fan of UCAN products, Alex incorporated them into his gameday performance and off-the-field training regimen during his career and continues to use the full assortment of products in his everyday life. He brings not only an enthusiasm for UCAN’s products but a wealth of knowledge and connections to help continue to grow the brand.

Alex is a former number one overall draft pick who enjoyed 16 seasons overall in the NFL. His return from a devastating injury ahead of the 2020 season is considered one of the greatest in NFL history and earned him the 2020 NFL Comeback Player of the Year. Since retiring in 2021 Alex joined ESPN as an NFL analyst. In addition to his role as an investor, he will serve as a brand ambassador and a member of UCAN’s Fitness Advisory Board.

“As you get older, you learn how to optimize your nutrition to perform at the highest level and truly reach your potential. UCAN was a part of my routine in the NFL, during my recovery from injury, and I use it now more than ever. Any time I’m doing any type of physical activity, if I have a busy day, or I’m on the go, UCAN is a must for me,” said Alex Smith. “The opportunity to invest in a company that I truly believe in and incorporate their products into my everyday life was a no brainer – I’m a big believer and know that the sky is the limit for UCAN.”

With a strong passion for health and fitness, Smith believes UCAN’s unique ability to deliver energy without sugar carries benefits far beyond elite sports.  “Sugar is in so many things and it’s all around us. To be able to cut it out is something that I would advocate for everybody, it doesn’t matter who you are. In my opinion, this is what sugary sports drinks have been advertising falsely for decades. Instead of drinking sugar water, you should be taking UCAN every day. The possibilities are endless. You name the sport, it has an application.”

“We’re thrilled to welcome Alex to the UCAN family, where he will be involved in a multitude of roles,” added Shoba Murali, CEO & Founder of The UCAN Company. “He lends the brand cache from his achievements during his playing days and will expand the reach of the brand through his nutrition experience, connections on and off the field and passion for an active lifestyle.”

cover image: credit Mike Morbeck

Going Beyond a Comeback with Alex Smith

Credit: Keith Allison

by Alex Perel, special to The Daily Payoff

As the second half of the NFL season progresses, many pundits will be releasing their predictions for the end-of-season awards. But one award race sticks out of particular interest this year: the Comeback Player of the Year Award.

Conventional wisdom may point to a candidate such as the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger or the Texans’ JJ Watt. Both are perennial stars returning to form after injuries last year. However, Alex Smith of the Washington Football Team has redefined what it is to be a “comeback player.”

A catastrophic injury in Week 10 of the 2018 season left Smith with spiral and compound fractures to both his fibula and tibia, ultimately resulting in infections and sepsis that became life threatening. Doctors sought amputation as an option to ensure the virus did not infect his whole body, before several surgeries and skin graft procedures could be used to save the leg. Smith is now not only starting at quarterback in the NFL, a ridiculous thought considering where he was a year ago, but has the Redskins in first place in the NFC East.

On Monday night, he faced Roethlisberger’s undefeated Steelers and dealt them their first loss of the season. The game was expected to be a Steelers route and appeared so with the Washington Football Team losing 14-3 at the half. Smith extended the game play by play, drive by drive, until eventually taking a three point lead as the two minute warning approached. Smith’s simple resilience is ultimate inspiration. Winning and losing do not matter any more in Smith’s story, not as much his pure fight to keep going. And yet, Smith unwilling to settle, is in fact winning. He has now won four in a row.

Smith’s journey over the last 24 months was captured in the E60 documentary Project 11 which aired on ESPN in May. The documentary opens its story February 11, 2019, less than three months after the injury. Smith had incredible persistence that we was going to pursue an immediate comeback attempt, allowing ESPN to document this effort as a show of his confidence in himself.

Project 11, like the CC Sabathia Documentary we highlighted last weekhttp://www.thedailypayoff.com/sabathia-documentary-to-debut-december-22/, is an example of the transcendent power of athlete media. Much of athlete media is filled with podcasts and short form content concerning players’ opinions on everyday news in the sports world and beyond. This content is incredibly insightful, and a component of athlete media involves getting an insight into the minds of our heroes.

But heroes also go beyond to show us how to overcome battles in our daily lives. Both Sabathia, with his fight against alcoholism, and Smith overcoming devastating injuries are inspirations to people every day. Athlete media is meant to do exactly that: inspire people to be the best versions of themselves, to do what they think they cannot.

Watch Project 11 now on the ESPN app or ESPN+.