DONALD De La Haye, also known as “Deestroying’ has gone from playing college football to becoming a social media star and is now set to return to the field for his professional debut.
The 27-year-old YouTube star with over 5 million subscribers inked a deal with the UFL’s San Antonio Brahmas earlier this month and will make his first appearance with the team on Sunday.
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De La Haye’s journey to the UFL has been a rollercoaster after a short stint in college.
He played football at the University of Central Florida in 2015-16 as a kicker and receiver.
The school’s website listed him as 5-foot-9, 170 pounds, and during his time on campus, he scored one extra point in one attempt across 23 games over two years for the school.
In 2015, he decided to create a YouTube channel, which quickly gained fan support; however, it also caused him trouble with the NCAA.
At the time, it was illegal by NCAA rules to profit off his image as a college athlete.
De La Haye was tasked with deciding to walk away from his football career or quit his YouTube page.
He elected to stop playing at UCF and pursue his social media career when his page had under 100,000 subscribers.
However, he did choose to sue UCF in July 2018 for the action and settled to finish his education there.
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Deestroying’s channel has since grown to nearly 6 million subscribers with 5.82 million, as fans are treated to a wide range of content.
He has videos with some of football’s biggest names, such as Odell Beckham Jr., Tom Brady, Cam Newton, and Tyreek Hill, and he also partners with the NFL for fan events.
After leaving UCF, he tried to make the professional football league in Canada, appearing in two preseason games for the Toronto Argonauts in 2019.
He scored a 16-yard field goal in his short CFL stint and kicked a 46-yard punt.
Fast-forward to 2024. De La Haye inked a deal in January with San Antonio to head to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson‘s UFL.
Earlier this month, the YouTube star shared on his channel the news that he had made the team after a successful training camp.
“I could cry right now, bro,” De La Haye said before revealing he made the team.
“This whole entire time I was trying to figure out what my options are.”
“Maybe I have some eligibility left to go back to college. I might get an NFL tryout. Maybe I have to go to USFL, maybe I have to go play in Europe.”
“Do something. And literally in this moment is where it all just became clear.”
The Brahmas and Deestroying’s 2024 UFL season starts tomorrow as the team is set to face the DC Defenders.
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