Two University of New England student athletes have an energy drink that helps college athletes get an edge and stay within NCAA compliance.

According to UNE News, Dylan Schuett (Biological Sciences, ’25) and Joey Stanizzi (Exercise Science, ’25) co-founded Underdog Energy, a beverage that is more of a supplement than the typical energy drink found at gas stations.

Both Dylan and Joey are UNE hockey players and wanted to get into the competitive energy drink market. They noticed a ton of the popular brands had too much caffeine for athletes to have and be in compliance with NCAA testing standards.  Dylan Schuett told UNE News,

For your average 150-pound NCAA athlete, if they were to consume more than 500 milligrams of caffeine in a serving, they would essentially fail the caffeine limit for the NCAA.  Underdog Energy allows those athletes to consume without worrying about failing a test.

 

It wasn't luck that this happened at UNE

When Dylan (pictured left)  and Joey (pictured middle) met, they were in different colleges, This past fall, Dylan enrolled in UNE’s Innovation Through Technology class, which is geared toward entrepreneurship and how to turn ideas into action, taught by Jeremy Pare, Ph.D., assistant professor of social innovation in UNE’s College of Business (pictured right). He was a great mentor.

Joey joined Dylan at UNE in the same program because it allowed both students to focus on hockey, and they could continue expanding the brand Underdog Energy Drink. It's been very successful.

Where can you buy Underdog Energy Drink?

Currently, the Alfond Forum on UNE’s Biddeford Campus is the only university to offer the drink in person. You can also buy it at some gyms across the Northeast, on Underdog’s website, or on Amazon. Now it's all about spreading the word and awareness. But they are grateful to UNE, as Dylan told UNE News,

UNE has given us the opportunity to expand our college athlete base and bring more awareness that this is a product made for college athletes, and made for serious athletes that want a cleaner alternative to what's out there right now in the market.

Find out what makes their product different from all the others and how UNE was the perfect place to be to launch their business.