YOUTUBE sensation Deestroying has suffered a brutal injury in just his second professional football game.
Deestroying, whose real name is Donald De La Haye, went viral during the United Football League game, which featured San Antonio Brahmas’ 20-19 win against the Memphis Showboats on Saturday, following a brutal sideline tackle.
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Following his kickoff, Deestroying ran down the field, eventually tracking down returner Trey Williams on the sideline.
Footage of his tackle quickly landed on X, formerly known as Twitter, where it has since hit 1.3 million views, as of Tuesday afternoon.
As a result of bringing down the 200-pound running back, Deestroying paid a heavy price.
It was announced on Sunday that he had been placed on injured reserve by the team along with center Alex Mollette.
Come Monday, Deestroying revealed exactly why in a post on his Instagram Stories.
“Thank y’all for all the good wishes,” he captioned a photo of him wearing a neck brace.
“Turns out on that tackle, due to bad form, I fractured my neck in a couple places.
“Although this sucks, I’m grateful cause it could have been all bad.
“Kids, please learn how to tackle with proper form.
“Thank you Brahmas and UFL for giving me this opportunity, it has been a blast.
“And thank all yall for supporting me on this journey. Imma sit my a** down now and focus on healing up. Love y’all.”
Over the last seven years, Deestroying has found huge fame on YouTube.
His sporting content, which often includes celebrities such as Tyreek Hill and Logan Paul, has helped him amass over 5.8 million subscribers.
Formerly a kicker and wideout at Central Florida, Deestroying was forced to walk away from the program in 2017 as, at the time, student-athletes could not profit from their sporting career while enrolled.
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Despite this, he never gave up on his football dream, keeping in shape, regularly sharing clips displaying his ability, and briefly joining the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts in 2019.
The UFL represented Deestroying’s first real opportunity to play a meaningful regular season game as a pro.
He ultimately beat former NFL kicker Matt Amendola to win the starting job.
Exactly how long Deestroying will be out remains unclear.
Any player who lands on IR in the UFL is automatically out for at least five weeks, as per James Larsen.
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