It was an extra special Christmas morning in the Leal household this year.
Indiana guard Anthony Leal surprised his sister, Lauren, by paying off her student loans with money he's made from name, image and likeness (NIL) deals. The video went viral with millions of views, and the siblings were featured on CBS Evening News on Monday.
Indiana coach Mike Woodson was proud of Anthony's gesture, which shows the positive outcomes of NIL in college athletics.
"Well, I think it's a beautiful thing because, again, a lot of these kids, man, NIL is helping out tremendously with a lot of these families," Woodson said. "For him to step up and do that, I don't know how much money he's made in NIL, but the fact that he's made some money and he's able to put it towards his sister's schooling, her education, is tremendous, man. "
"He'll be blessed for it one day," Woodson said. "I mean, he might not see it now, but it will come back to him. You do good things like that, good things happen in a way. I'm proud of him as a young man because he didn't have to do that. Again, she's blessed from it. The family is, too, as well. That's a big thing to step up and do something like that."
Leal, a Bloomington native and 2020 Indiana Mr. Basketball, recently announced his ventures into the real estate business.
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