Hollywood could not have scripted a greater second. Neither might a well-liked YouTube star.
Donald De La Haye was standing on prime of Koko Head, a big cliff that overlooks the North Pacific Ocean in Oahu, Hawaii, on Jan. 17. De La Haye, popularly often called “Deestroying” to his 5.81 million YouTube subscribers and 4.7 million followers on TikTok, was on the island to host a one-on-one youth soccer competitors. After the competitors concluded, the previous collegiate kicker needed to get in a kicking exercise. Nevertheless, the session did not go in addition to he hoped.
To clear his thoughts, De La Haye determined to make a 1½-mile trek to the highest of Koko Head the next day. Very similar to the tough kicking session he needed to neglect, the 1,048 steps to the highest of the headland was tough, however value it.
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Whereas absorbing breathtaking views of the Honolulu shoreline, De La Haye, a former UCF soccer participant, obtained a textual content message that marked the start of a brand new chapter in his life. The message caught him off guard as a result of it got here with a proposal that might carry him again to the sport that he beloved.
“Donald … you could have a heck of a kicking background.” De La Haye learn the textual content aloud on his YouTube vlog. “Apart out of your social media success, would you be fascinated by kicking for the Brahmas?”
That textual content was from Marc Lillibridge, the final supervisor of the San Antonio Brahmas, a workforce within the newly fashioned United Soccer League (UFL). De La Haye obtained the message whereas mountaineering, however didn’t see it till he had reached the height.
Practically seven years since making the powerful determination to declare himself ineligible to play school soccer, De La Haye, 27, is once more chasing his dream of turning into an NFL kicker. This time, he’s vlogging the method on his YouTube channel in a sequence known as “Undertaking NFL.”
“It simply felt like all the pieces got here collectively on the good time, I lowkey might have cried in that second,” De La Haye informed ESPN. “On the highest of this wonderful stunning [headland] trying round and screaming. It could not have felt extra movie-like.”
De La Haye performed on scholarship for UCF in the course of the 2015 season. Coincidently, that is the identical 12 months that he began his YouTube channel. His web page now options all kinds of movies starting from his kicking content material and youth soccer competitions to him taking up NFL stars in one-on-one challenges. However as soon as his web page gained traction — sufficient that he was taking advantage of the content material — the NCAA made De La Haye make a alternative in 2016: preserve enjoying collegiate soccer or proceed to pursue his then-budding profession as a YouTube content material creator.
De La Haye performed school soccer earlier than student-athletes have been signing NIL offers — when the NCAA wasn’t permitting them to revenue from their likeness. Consequently, De La Haye made the tough determination to step away from organized soccer to proceed rising his YouTube channel.
Within the “Undertaking NFL” sequence, De La Haye affords his YouTube subscribers an inside take a look at what all goes into the pursuit of his NFL aspirations. Getting the supply to compete for a roster spot on the Brahmas was step one in that journey. And he will get to do it within the UFL’s inaugural season.
The UFL was created following the merger of the XFL and the US Soccer League (USFL). The league consists of eight groups comprising former collegiate {and professional} gamers and coaches who will compete in a 10-game common season that began on March 30. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a part-owner of the UFL.
Though De La Haye obtained the supply from Lillibridge to compete for a spot on the workforce, nothing was assured. To earn the Brahmas’ kicking place, De La Haye must beat out veteran NFL kicker Matt Ammendola, who has performed three seasons within the NFL, most just lately with the Houston Texans in 2023.
The battle consisted of a number of head-to-head subject objective and kickoff competitions. All through coaching camp, each De La Haye and Ammendola would take turns kicking subject targets from numerous spots on the sphere, in addition to kickoffs to check for distance and hold time. De La Haye mentioned that Ammendola is “a troublesome competitor.”
In keeping with De La Haye, one of the crucial fascinating elements of the competitors was Ammendola’s gamesmanship.
“Kickers wish to play psychological video games, particularly after they’re competing in opposition to one another,” De La Haye informed ESPN. “It is little delicate issues, like if you’re [on the field] warming up, they will come and put their soccer on my kicking sticks and begin kicking.”
Along with place battles, there have been loads of different areas the place he needed to make changes from his kicking on social media. Two of the largest variations have been having to kick with a snapper and a holder in lieu of utilizing a stand to carry the ball in place, together with being ready to kick in several climate situations, as an alternative of having the ability to decide and select his kicking situations for filming functions.
“Our long-snapper Rex [Sunahara] and our punter/holder Brad Wing have been superior,” De La Haye informed ESPN. “They have been across the NFL, in order that they’re sort of mentoring me and instructing me the methods. I simply love hanging out with them, and we’re capable of deal with enterprise when that point comes.”
Even together with his earlier expertise — he performed in highschool, a 12 months at UCF and did a coaching camp stint with the Toronto Argonauts within the Canadian Soccer League in 2019 — there have been questions on how he would modify after spending a lot time away from organized soccer.
After an in depth competitors, De La Haye was knowledgeable by the workforce on March 10 that he beat out Ammendola for the roster spot. In keeping with Lillibridge, De La Haye had no points making the correct changes and, extra importantly, the Brahmas love what he brings to the workforce.
“Donald is a YouTube star, so I needed to know if he was going to take [trying to play in the UFL] significantly,” Lillibridge informed ESPN. “After having a dialog with Donald, I actually felt comfy that he was taking this significantly, and needed not solely a shot to kick on this league however [also] a shot within the NFL. So, we signed him to a contract and after two weeks in camp, the employees and I made a decision that he is our man heading into the season.”
Lillibridge linked with De La Haye about a possibility with the Brahmas after getting a advice from former NFL and XFL kicker Nick Novak. Lillibridge reached out to Novak in search of a kicker with a “massive leg” to compete with Ammendola. As somebody accustomed to De La Haye’s skill and his YouTube content material, the title caught the GM’s curiosity.
Contemplating the UFL has totally different kicking guidelines than the NCAA and the NFL, Lillibridge believes having a kicker with a leg as highly effective as De La Haye’s may very well be a bonus. UFL kickers will line up on the 20-yard line for kickoffs, whereas kickoffs within the NCAA and the NFL are from the 35-yard line. Kicking off from the 20-yard line considerably will increase the possibility of a return by the receiving workforce, slightly than kickoffs booming into the tip zone, as followers are used to within the NFL.
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“We do not do further factors [in the UFL], so that you need a man that may be constant at kicking subject targets,” Lillibridge informed ESPN. “However what you want is a man who may help your protection flip the sphere. So [on the kickoff] most legit guys can kick it to the [opposing] 20-yard line and even the 15-yard line. However Donald can get it inside the ten.
“That is a bonus for our cowl workforce and our protection. If we are able to pressure a workforce to begin on the 15 or the 20 as an alternative of the 30-yard line three or 4 occasions in a recreation, that may decide the end result [of a game].”
There are additionally elements off the sphere that would have affected the YouTube star’s skill to earn the function. How would he get alongside together with his teammates? Would the workforce be comfy together with his vlogging?
The group has given him freedom to movie exercises and practices, and his teammates have totally embraced him and the alternatives to be in his movies.
“Our entire employees and workforce, they’re wonderful,” De La Haye informed ESPN. “Clearly, there are specific issues I can not file, however they informed me that I can do my factor.
“Not solely is [my filming] good for the league, as a result of I am bringing extra eyes. Not solely is it good for me, as a result of I get to doc the entire journey and create new content material that nobody else is doing. However it’s additionally good for the followers and everybody watching.”
Whereas De La Haye continues to be enthusiastic about pursuing his objective of kicking within the NFL, he is aware of there’s a probability he could not obtain that. Even when he falls quick, De La Haye understands how impactful his journey on “Undertaking NFL” has been to those that are following the vlogs and he could be content material with realizing that he went after his goals, slightly than trying again with regrets later in life.
Watch the UFL At the moment
Daniel Dopp and Skubie Mageza break down all of the UFL motion. Test it out on YouTube, Fb and the ESPN App.
“I simply need to be residing proof to all people watching that when you consider in one thing and you’re employed arduous sufficient, you are able to do something you set your thoughts to,” De La Haye informed ESPN. “You’re your individual limitations.”
De La Haye made his Brahmas debut on March 31 when the workforce hosted the D.C. Defenders, and San Antonio received 27-12. De La Haye didn’t try any subject targets, however his kickoffs appeared to make the distinction the workforce was in search of. In his 5 kickoffs, De La Haye averaged a league-leading 74.2 yards per kick. The Brahmas are considered one of solely two groups (Memphis Showboats) that averaged 70 or extra yards per kickoff.
De La Haye might be in motion once more Saturday when the Brahmas go to the Memphis Showboats (midday ET, ESPN).