Welcome to the solid verbal hell.
That for me.
I'm a man, I'm for I've heard so many players say, well, I want to be happy.
You want to be happy for day Edith Stake is that whoo whoo?
And them and.
Tie welcome back to the solid rebel boys and girls. My name is Ty Hilda Brand on the other side of this virtual studio way over there, still in sunny southern California, the one and only Dan Rubinstein, Sir, how are you.
Ty, I'm feeling some electricity in my bones. I'm gonna I'm gonna be very honest with you. I love today's topic, and so we're gonna tell you what the topic is. You've seen the title of the show already, so you kind of already know what it is. But there are certain times where I am excited for a show, and there are certain times where I'm like, I've never discussed this topic with I don't think anybody out loud, and
this is like a very new thing for me. And so in a new way, Ty, I am feeling the the the protons and electrons of college football content.
Yeah, today is a different kind of show. It is. It is fitting for us to tell you Please follow us on Instagram, on Twitter, on Facebook, out on YouTube, go on out to the subreddit Soliverble dot reddit dot com all of those hotspots. If you don't already subscribe to the podcast, please just google the soliverbal look for us on Spotify, on Apple, on Google. Anywhere you can get your podcasts, you can find our show. We go year round. Got all sorts of exciting stuff that are
in the queue. Will tell you about if you sign up for our newsletter is going out soliverble dot com. Give us your email. We won't spam you a promise to only send you good stuff. Yeah, before we get into our show. This evening a week is past. The The news in college football and frankly around sports and around the globe has been dominated once more by the death of George Floyd and stories of and demonstrations against
racial injustice. And I don't know if I could be real here for a second, like we do a college football show, right, yep, that's why everyone's here. But neither one of us lives in a vacuum. Dan, We read the news. The stories that we see of racial injustice are awful. It's painful to see, and so the question that's been lingering in my mind over the last week is how we can use how I can use this platform to help. And the truth is, I don't really know.
That's part of the problem for me. I don't know. I do know that the world probably ain't gonna change with another screwny white guy up here given in opinion just to get a pat on the back. Yeah, And as you know, that's not really my style. I just I wanted Heballers to know that I that we we're committed to listening, We're committed to learning how we can help.
Yeah, and we are going to do everything we can to use our platform for good and for the most human and empathetic reasons. It's ty. It's a very strange time, given both the backdrop of everything that's happening culturally and in the public health world, and so just from Afar, just the outrage and the sadness and the desperation. But at the same time, some hope seeing the best of humanity come out of this, and hopefully the best of public health come out of this as people take to
the streets rather admirably to make their voices heard. I'm really hopeful that good will come of this, and that there will be reform, and that there will be more listening and more empathy and more humanity. And whether it's you know, in policing, whether it's just an everyday conversation, whether it's in the business world, whether it's in housing and banking, and and just everything that society touches. And yes, ty that obviously, as we'll get into includes sports and
college football. I'm hopeful that we are because we're in a time where so many people can make their voices heard. That we are in a forward moving era or generation. So that's the silver lining of a lot of real, just entrenched sadness that I think a lot of people feel.
The news has been dominated by stories such as this, Jim Harbaugh and Mark Stoops and Tom Herman and Gus Malzan and Mario Cristobaal and I'm sure countless others who I don't have time to name here participating among the many participating in demonstrations against racial injustice. So to your point, Dan, some of the biggest names in college football out there on the streets trying to do their part to help. We also had a story down in Tallahassee about coach
Mike Norvell, this is a weird story. It took a turn. It seems like it took a turn back for the good. Marvin Wilson, a senior defensive tackle for the Knowles. He's now saying he believes the team has grown in light of a situation in which Mike Norvell gave comments to the Athletic sort of misrepresented his interactions with the team after the death of George Floyd. He commented that he was communicating individually with every player, which apparently was not
the case. Wilson called him out on it. He says that he and coach Norvell had a chat that preceded a larger team discussion and that it feels like the team growth.
Yeah, I imagine people have read the story, seeing the story as it came and went. Hopefully it has gone and Florida State is a closer team for it. But it's Mike Norvell's saying in this interview that he connected individually with Florida State players when it was more of a mass text and he was there to respond if players were to respond to the mass text to the team. And so Marvin Wilson called the not really conveyed reality of this situation, and I came away with a lot
of things. And I hope Florida State's close a ford, and I hope communication is better for it as well. But I came away my big picture thing was how impressed I was with Marvin Wilson as a human. Holy well, wow, was he impressive. That dude's going to do big things.
We had a story out of Iowa with dozens of former Iowa football players speaking out the stories of racial disparities and mistreatment within the Hawkeye football program. I'm lifting this from the Daily Iowan because they described it much better, more accurately than I could. But this centers around Chris Doyle, who is the Iowa strength and conditioning coach. He was apparently at the center of many of these allegations against the program. He's been placed on leave pending an independent
review of those allegations. Also of note here, though, is Kirk Farence has come out saying that he is committed to changing the culture of the program. Iowa actually had a bit of a Twitter band in place where players were only allowed to have one pre approved tweet per month. Something of that ilk. They have lifted that band now so that players can participate in the nationwide discussion, especially
that discussion taking place on social media. So I think it's good that the players now have a chance to make their voice heard.
There were a lot of very serious and really disheartening things being thrown around, and you know, when we look at Iowa, it kind of seems that the sort of consistency and continuity that the Hawkeyes have enjoyed has now become kind of a weakness. I think I saw a couple tweets about this, maybe from Pat Forty of SI and I thought that was an interesting way of putting it,
because people are there for so long. Phil Parker, the defensive coordinator, has been around forever there and you know, Chris Doyle, the person at the center of this, I think ninety nine. He's been there ninety nine and he's one of the highest paid, if not the highest paid strength coaches in college football. And so the picture that was painted by all these former players was like, there is an inner circle to Iowa football, and you're either in it or out of it, and if you're in it,
you're like a made man and you're unimpeachable. If you remember, this was the same strength coach they had the rhabdomialysis in god, maybe almost a decade ago, and he then went on to win like Iowa Assistant of the Year at like the team function. And so there's like there's a very insular nature, which I think is very valuable to have that continuity in a way of running your culture, if it's healthy for everybody, if if people are acting
professionally in like adults. And I understand there's a toughness quotient to football and there should be. But when you hear some of the stories about the way christ Doyle would speak to some of the players, and the punishments and the exercise and like just the way that you know, they couldn't show up to practice with your hair a certain way or with earrings and it was definitely slanted
in one way and not the other. And so there's it seems like because they're so they've been so successful, it's developing under recruited players, it's going to bowl games, it's you know, beating more talented teams, sending players to the draft high draft picks, that like, well, whatever they're doing is working, so don't mess with it. But at the same time, there is that thin line between success and a kind of unhealthy culture, and so I hope
this brings out change. I hope this even if it's hard to imagine Chris Doyle coming back with all of these revelations coming out, and you know is a Darrell Johnson Couliano's DJK who had an incredibly successful career that ended with you remember the drug house story and you know four of the five charges were dropped, and his accounting of his career and how he was treated. Hopefully it makes Kirk ference in the Iowa program better and
better listeners. But it definitely sounded like when you're listening to these players one after the next, it definitely sounded like, Okay, there needs to be pretty major cultural changes in Iowa City, didn't it.
That was my impression as well. I was encouraged that Kirk Farrens kind of acknowledged that saying that the culture needs to change talk is cheap. We'll see if actions can be put behind those words. But hopefully this is the first step in acknowledging that perhaps there is a bit of an issue within the program. So we'll see where this goes.
It's one of those things where I'm currently in California you're in Pennsylvania. You're not in the Iowa locker room.
You're not in the Florida State locker room. Neither am i And so we're taking in the information we can get, and so we assume that things are when things are successful, like Florida State was, and then it turns out of what they weren't so successful near the end of the Jimbo Fisher era, and you know, Iowa with everything going on now Clemson, which I'm sure we'll talk about in a moment, where we just assume there's there's happiness and peace,
and that's that is our geographic and just the removed privilege that we have of not being there every day to sort of understand and not hear these players. Not hear these players because at a lot of these places, they just don't have voices.
Let's talk about the Clemson story. Dabo Sweeney has attempted to clarify a situation in which an assistant coach used a racial swur in twenty seventeen. Dado has been trying to clean this one up.
Yeah, so this was in reference to an incident two or three years ago with an assistant who used the N word. But more talking about the language that players were using. He wasn't being accusatory or calling a player by a racial epithet. It was more just him saying
it out loud. There was another incident with music being played in the locker room while Dabosweeney was giving a prospective new assistant coach a tour, and he wanted the locker room to present itself, in Dabo's eyes, more professionally and more maturely, and so there was some insensitivity. It seemed that like Dabbo was the sort of cultural arbiter in that situation. He's a great football coach ti he absolutely is, absolutely and seems to like speaking from his gut for better or worse.
Uh.
And that's on a certain level admirable. I guess it depends what he says. The issue, it appears to me, is with his platform, because he'll say, like the ah shucks that were just a football program, that kind of thing, with his platform, with his sway, with the amount of people wearing orange and purple, that will hang on his
every word. He does have a responsibility not just to his team, which he absolutely does as you know, the big capital l leader of men, but it's it's public, it's you know, he's selling kids, he's selling parents on taking teenagers and turning them into men. And so as this becomes a time of what it's a time of listening, perhaps readjusting one's out look to recognize unconscious biases. So how he pronounced that biases biases to be more mindful about,
you know, the power he has over his players. If you remember, there was a story about him kind of all but discouraging a sit in that Clemson players wanted to participate in on the Clemson campus and he was like, you better know what you get into. And it was sort of like coded language that sort of sent a message that I'm okay with it, but not really that
kind of thing. And then he puts out this fourteen minute statement where I think he comes across as pretty genuine, but also at the same time he's very defensive, and so the better part of me is thinking, Okay, you know what he has He has woken up. He has awakened to a conversation that he didn't realize that there
was a gravity to it. You know, he had comments about Colin Kaepernick a few years ago, and you know, protesters can just leave America if they don't like it, and you know, really insensitive, and I just I'm hopeful that this has has given him new perspective, and I'm hopeful that he is listening more than he is speaking. I really am, and that would be amazing if he is. But the statement hit a lot of weirdly defensive notes to me in this time.
He's very good at the sneaky qualifiers when he's talking. I've always found that about him, and I do feel like most of what he says comes from a very genuine place. But the sneaky qualifiers, frankly, they sneak up on you, right, and it does make you wonder sometimes what he's really thinking. But Dabo is now dealing with this situation at Clemson, as so many are around the country.
Another story here. Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scally has been suspended indefinitely for a social media post that referenced a twenty thirteen text thread yes, which included a racial slur. A number of former players have come to his defense, vouching for his character. But again, given where we're at right now, this is the kind of story that is all too prevalent, and.
Yes, this is especially this is a time when voices are being empowered that hadn't been while they were active players, in this case Utah players. And have you heard the phrase ignore everything before the butt? Have you heard that phrase?
Oh, I believe I've said that on this program. It's very I think I'm the one who may have said that, right.
Yeah, there were a lot of players who came out and said we or I adore coach scally, but he did act a little bit cringe worthy more often than he should have. That was that seemed to be the sentiment he's been. What a Utah lifer he was. If he's an All American man, he's certainly a tremendous player for Utah safety under Urban Meyer and coached under Kyle Whittingham as his first job as a grad assist in a safety's coach special teams, and now so these last
two years has been a terrific defensive coordinator. But when I was reading the story about things he would say to players and how scared they were of speaking up around him, it kind of seemed like and I have not looked at the coaching staff from you know, between two thousand and eight and now essentially, but I've looked at well, no, I shouldn't say that. I looked at the current coaching staff, and it's a pretty admirably diverse
one up and down, you know, the different positions. I almost wonder if there were no coaches who had the temerity or were able to get through to him, pulling him aside, you know, in twenty eleven, twenty thirteen, two thousand and nine, and two thousand and eight, to say you gotta pull back just a you're going a little you're going a little far there. I don't know if that's on Kyle Whittingham. It probably is, if everything you
know falls to Kyle Whittingham, it ultimately does. But I almost wonder if nobody was able to get through to him, and also maybe the fact that he's a lifer in Utah. He's recruit it everywhere. But you know, his perspective, especially as it seems towards players of color, it seemed lacking, like a very human note. But this is everything ignored before the butt. But his players, I suppose, as a strict coach, seem to love him. And I mean strictly
as a coach, not as a strict coach. But there was all, there's just almost to a person in I think it was the athletic wrote the article. Talking to former players that played for him. We're like, we love him, but yeah, he was really rough as a human, like not a fully formed human in the way of dealing with people from different backgrounds. And so I'm hopeful for change again. I'm going to try to come out of this as positively and as silver lininglye as I possibly can.
I'm hopeful it's a wake up call. But when you see those types of patterns, you're like, these these are not our best and brightest. These are best and brightest defensive coordinator and so helpful. But ready to move on, I think.
All right, Well, that's all the news I have for now. We'll continue talking about relevant stories in and around the world of college football and continue this discussion as best we can. But please do write in solid verbal at gmail dot com. Let us know what's on your mind. We're here. We'd love to hear from you. We very much appreciate your support and for making us part of your day.
Yeah, and on a much more micro level, Tye, I'm excited for today's show.
Okay.
You know we like to try and cover all bases. Yeah, on the college football front. College football has many tentacles. We talk about as many of them as we can. This is not one that we have spent too much
time talking about. We've mentioned it in passing, but we've never done a show on the social media aspect of college football, in particular now the large scale operation that many programs are running to position themselves as trendy and appealing to recruits, and it's a very very important thing. So on that side of the coin, we're excited to bring on Derek Markle, the newly minted creative director for the Michigan State Spartans.
Yes, and while that's sort of a vague term, he is in charge of the sort of outward facing social media and internet presence, be it on Twitter, Instagram. Perhaps I don't know what their YouTube presence is like, but especially on Instagram, where recruits are and your friend Anne also is. He is in charge of the message that Michigan State is sending out to prospective football players and
also existing Michigan State football fans. And in terms of importance, I think it's a pretty underrated job because they are essentially the visual recruiters for the football program, especially one like Michigan State that is is transitioning coaches from markd' antonio to Mel Tucker. Is I think trying to enter into a new era in terms of cool is the
wrong word, but refreshing the brand. Perhaps. If you look at what Michigan State is putting out recently as compared to how they position themselves as a program before, it certainly seems different that they've gotten younger with their coach, certainly, and I think a there's a different vibe I would say to how Michigan State is positioning itself a lot younger. So Derek is in charge of that, and what they're
doing is pretty incredible. And you know what, Ty, what a lot of programs are doing is pretty incredible.
Oh yeah.
Focus on video and graphic design and letting players and their families visualize themselves in a specific uniform or on this field or you know, signing autographs or being drafted or anything like that. It's all really an impressive way to sell a program. And we saw it recently with you know, I think it was Bruce Feldman who of Bruce and he wrote breaking on Twitter like breaking news. USC hires two important members of LSU's video department, as
in like video promotion, not filming practices. I'm pretty sure it's making promotional videos, which at first glance and I was one of the people to make fun of that. And I don't know what type of impact they'll have at USC. I think a lot will depend on what they actually accomplish on the field. But it can't hurt in the way that USC has gotten that their messaging. And I know we like to make fun of USC as Oregon fan, an Oregon fan and a Notre Dame fan,
but everybody needs to stay current tie. Everybody needs to share their message out right, no for.
Sure, and then on the other side of the coin, which to your point getting the message out. If you are a big time recruit, you got to go to one guy and one guy only if you want to build your own personal brand. And that guy is Hayes Faucet, who, as we under stand, will be a freshman at LSU will be joining up with the LSU staff to contribute in that department, but he has made a name for himself working on behalf of some of the most prize recruits in all of college football. If you go on
out to his Twitter and Instagram feeds. You can see some of his fine work. As guys are narrowing down the field, their top five, their top three, as they make their announcement. You need to get some kind of creative treatment to make a splash, and that is the role that Hayes has served very notably over the last couple of years. So what we're trying to do today is just cover where social media is at from the
college program side, from the recruiting side as well. It is such an interesting ecosystem that, as you said, I don't think we've ever really talked that much about out Loud. We've certainly never done a show in it, So this could go a number of different directions.
Yeah, no, I think it's completely fascinating. And these are the people in the graphic design, whether it's at a program level or on a recruit level. And Hayes has been doing this since I think he was fourteen or fifteen years old. Believe he's from Louisiana, And I can understand why somebody who's been a college football fan would say, like, God, this is all such fluff, This is all such meaningless fluff. In my day, we just rubbed dirt on our phones, whatever.
Your father's football.
Yeah, I kind of get that. But at the same time, there's something fascinating. We get this question all the time in person, we had voicemails, we get emails, dms, whatever. How do I get into sports? How do I work in sports? How do I work in sports media? How do I figure out how to get a job at my dream job working in sports? And I think both Derek and he was at Toledo and Colorado before Michigan State and Hayes are really good examples of self starters
who earn trust. In the case of Hayes, especially because he knows where everybody's going. They got to tell them where they're going. He's got to know to make a USC and Arkansas and LSU a Tennessee graphic ever, and so to build trust with people in the sport, and then also to consistently be dependable and deliver a product to people within the sport. I think it's fascinating that people are figuring out new ways in the NBA. You
saw its House of Highlights. Is the guy who really put together a really nice video presence on Instagram, So thinking about new ways to break into the industry, and I think both Derek and Hayes are great examples of younger self starters who have found their niche in the sports world. It's endlessly fascinating to me how good a
job they do. But also, Ty, if we can go in the wayback machine for just a minute here, I remember, I want to say it was two thousand and five, maybe two thousand and four Oregon convinced Jonathan Stewart to
attend the university and become a Duck. And it also came out that one of the ways that they recruited him was putting together, for lack of a better term, at Jonathan stewart comic book, a bit graphical representation of what he would look like as an Oregon Duck, and everybody sort of said, wow, that's really creative, or like, wow, that's over the top. Only Oregon would do that. They're
they're so pathetic and desperate for attention. They don't have to the tradition to fall back on, so they have to do gimmicks to get the attention of recruits. Maybe, but guess what we just finished talking about, Ty. It being big news that a tradition rich program like USC had to make a big deal of hiring new social media guys to help with recruiting and program branding. So and that was fifteen years ago that Oregon was actually a team that got in trouble for doing something that
nobody else was able to do necessarily. It was an NCAA no no to create a comic book. It was over the top recruiting wise, and now it is just the norm. So I'm panting myself on the back as an Oregon fan, but it's fascinating to see the circle of sort of promotion and publicity when it comes to recruiting and artwork. Well everyone's doing it now. Yeah, and you know you almost have to the big thing. And people who work in the business world know this the
hardest question to answer with regard to social media. In the business world, it's always around ROI, you know, like, what's the return on this investment? Because you're putting time, you're putting energy sometimes actual real money into this.
Is it all worth it? Now? That's easier to define if you're friend of the show bombas let's say, I don't know right, Like you can measure success by how many pairs of socks you sell. It's easy but how do you quantify that? If you're a college football team. It's a good question like who is the audience? How do you measure success? What is the cost of not doing it at all? These are all, I think, very real questions and it it kind of speaks to the
larger question of social media. What is this all about? What value does this have? So we're going to talk to Derek, We're going to talk to Hayes about the important roles they have served and continue to serve on the college football front. Again, if you're going out there, if you want to find out about your favorite recruit or your favorite perspective recruit, chances are that one of these guys has a saying it so different show, But I'm excited to talk about it.
What would a Tie hilden Brandt edit look like? A photoshop edit? Like, if somebody were to convince you, as a podcast host and producer, you need to come do this for our company, whether it's sports media or a podcast company, whatever, what type of visual would they need to photoshop you into? Is it like you with three different engineers, Is it you with a in a soundproof room with posters with Yako and you know, it needs to be.
It needs to be very cheesy okay, and probably have some sort of like Mars background. I would like an otherworldly kind of of Moti life going on.
I'm fascinated if you were given endless funds what you're with the ty hilden Brandt Lab, when when you're telling people you're deep in the lab, what that lab looks like? And I think a space theme only makes sense.
Yeah, the lab would be would be something else zero gravity. I you know, I don't know how much it costs to make that, but that would really be emerging of the two loves right there.
But isn't that like in real life? Isn't that what these college football programs are tasked with doing, Getting to know a prospective student athlete and say, if they're into music, or if they're into food, or if they're into space, to design a photoshop or an illustrate or edit around that passion to make it feel like, Okay, Michigan State or Texas Tech, that that feels it just feels like my new home. They get me, right, Isn't that? Isn't it all full circle in that way?
I believe so? And I know a guy we can ask.
Dan, and with that tie, we bring on from Michigan State the creative director of the football program. I think that's his title. He can correct us if we're wrong, Derek Markle, who is deep in some sort of creative lab. I'm positive that we're interrupting some photo shop or final cut or illustrator activity. Derek, how are you?
I've member the best day of my life. Man, how are you? Guys?
I love hearing that so real quick. We both have a ton of questions. Ty and I both have a ton of questions. But your title is the creative director at Michigan State, which sounds very impressive and very cool, and it also is could be interpreted as very vague. So what do you do for Spartan football?
Yeah? I get that question quite a bit.
Actually, So I'm Born and Reid's graphic designer, and that's what I had been in my career up until this move division City, where I got a double promotion to be the creative director, and now I oversee the pretty much that whole greative process.
We have ways of Lizzy to.
Other designers, and then Paul and Austin, who are two videographers, and the two students too. So I kind of oversee the whole process, and that's everything from recruiting to our social media stuff to facility graphics and large scale things.
It is a load of title, but I'm pretty much a graphic designer.
Okay, so you say graphic designer. That can cover a lot of things. So I think people are used to seeing because they follow their favorite programs on Twitter or Instagram, They're used to seeing these pretty incredible I mean, the sort of state of graphic design in college football especially has taken a pretty big jump up these last few years.
They're used to seeing these big, splashy images of players when they set a record, or a recruit when he commits to the program, or a coach does something incredible or welcoming in a new coach. So what is the process? What when we talk about photoshops and splashy graphics, what is the process? Who is making them? How long does it take? And what are the things you focus on in running a creative department, as big or small as it may be.
I mean, the first thing to consider is just that brand. When you see something that we put out on social media, I mean, you should look at it and just know, like, hey, that's something from Michigan State. That's like the first element that we always try to implement.
It's just that, hey, it's got that.
Strong brand consistency, right, and a lot of people, i mean people just see the finished product of what we make, like people don't know the inner workings of how long some of this stuff takes.
And that's it's kind of different for each project.
I mean, some things can take I don't know, half an hour, and then some things can take a full day to make. It's just kind of dependent. But when you see like those those cutouts of the players and the coaches and all of that, that's that's the groundwork that takes the most time.
It's definitely time consuming.
I'm sure. So you you're at Michigan State, you're brand new to the job. Essentially, you come over with coach Meltucker. You were with him at Colorado and before that, believe you were at Toledo. I was you were in demand at Toledo. People saw your work and in the same way and we you know, it's very easy to joke about I saw you know, it was a big deal when USC hired away two LSU videographers who are part of their creative department. But that's where we are now,
where people are valuing marketing and recruiting and promotion. What has been your career arc like, because a lot of people listen to this they want to work in sports. How did you go from graphic design student to creative director? And are you yet twenty five years old?
Yeah? I just turned twenty seven a couple of weeks ago.
Oh okay, you're twenty seven's but you have a department at a major place. How does that happen?
Yeah?
I was just kind of snowballed into something huge. I started at Toledo in twenty fourteen as an intern, just doing some marketing projects like stuff for ticket sales and the smaller projects. And then when the girl that had my eventual job at Toledo she left and got a job with the Detroit Testings and she called NASPA would be interested in interviewing for her old position. So I went and interviewed, got the job, and that was only.
A couple of months after I graduated college.
The timing of that was perfect, and I think people will kind of notice. And it's really like being in this field, everything that we do is visual, so our portfolio is pretty much just out there for the public to see, so that makes it a little bit easier for schools and say like, hey, this kid from Twledo is doing good, but see if he's being interested coming to Colorado. And then that's exactly what happened. Tessa Akers, who's our director of on campus recruiting at Colorado, she
sent me a message on Twitter. This is after I've been working at Tweedo for about three years and asked I've been interested in a job out at Colorado. Actually, yeah, I doan do that. And then that was the best decision I could have made, because then that's when coach Tucker and I started working together, and I couldn't imagine working for a different boss.
Now, been great work with him for the past a little over a year.
Now, Derek, this is a really creative way to apply your skills to be on the side of a football program. I know what it's like from the perspective of a business to go out there and promote social media graphics and assets that I know take a lot of time to create. But I'm wondering, how do you, as the new creative director of this endeavor? How do you define success. Obviously, you want to make cool stuff and quality is first
and foremost. But as you're taking a knee, as you're thinking about things, how do you measure success?
A lot of that is from the fan engagement that you see on social media, and we're all pretty conscious of that stuff, and when we see the comments and everything, and you usually know when something's a big hit, Like if we send out a recruiting graphic to to all of our offered guys and then we get on our social media feed and everything that we see is just another prospect tweeting out the graphic. Then you see all
of their friends and like, oh, this is fire. Like that's when you know that that's a hit.
Success.
There, you're taking those engagements that you get and parsing them down to the degree that you're like, oh, this recruit interacted with this messaging and maybe that's our cue to go after that individual a little bit harder with graphics, or how do you go about maybe planning it on that next level.
Definitely we can get we do get really personalized with some of these graphics. For example, like Cordy Hankton, He's one.
Of our guys that came over from Colorado with.
Us called me one night and he's like, Hey, this prospect really likes this rapper, can you make.
Something for him that's kind of really to that. So I took.
The album cover from that rapper and make it personalized for the recruit, and stuff like that is a huge success when it's really personalized for a kid, and you like when you take something they're interested in and then make them something personalized. And our recruiting team does a great job of keeping those specific notes on these guys, so we can we can do like these super personalized graphics and we have the manpower to do it too.
Do you consider incoming recruits or potential recruits your primary audience for the work that you do.
Definitely, I'm a recruiting first kind of mindset, And I mean that's the life ability of your program. If you can recruit and you're gonna have good players, that means you're gonna have success on the field, that you're gonna have fans. So that's that's really the foundation of it, and that's in my eyes, that's our target audience.
Do you get direction from coaches as for you know, who to really spend a lot of time on not that playing favorites or anything like that, but will you get direction from coaches saying like, really, you know, don't let this person not get something for a week, for three days, for two weeks. What's your relationship like with the coaches who are really the ones talking to these kids.
Yeah.
Yeah, we have a closer relationship with all the coaches, and they're always real vocal with us that if there's a kid that is close to committing, for example, like we'll fire out graphics left and right to do for the thing we can to get this kid to commit
to us. And the graphic and creative and branding side of things has become such a huge element recruiting to something that wasn't really even a thing a lot of like six seven years ago, has just evolved into this huge component of a kid's decision.
To go play football somewhere. So I'm kind of thankful for that because that's what changed.
I don't know, it's just kind of been the evolution like with social media and how these players can develop a brand for themselves as well as the school brand too. It's turned into a huge empire that we play a huge role in it as the creative I'm kind of thankful that it's taken that route because that's given me the opportunity to be in this position that I'm in and have a team around me that can help us kind of achieve that goal.
So when you've been at a number of places, now this is I think your third place after Toledo and Colorado, so Michigan State. Before you arrive, they have this reputation that the school and the football program as being a
winning program. But I think more blue collar, more old school, and that's always going to be a reflection of the coach who you know, the previous coach had a ton of success, and you've been aligned with coach Tucker, and he's younger and comes from a different background, coming from the SEC, coming from Colorado briefly, and it seems like something you've been tasked with these are my words, not yours, is sort of refreshing the brand. It's sort of updating
the brand. Would you say that's accurate.
Yeah, definitely, And I mean that brand is already somewhat put in place.
And my first day on the.
Job, when I met with the creative geam, I told him, like, I'm not here to tell you how to do your job. I'm here to just lead us in the right direction and kind of have some organization in the plan and build this brand into something special. And I think we've
done a pretty good job of that. And Coach Tucker really sees the value and being active on social media and doing stuff that other people aren't like when when people look at our social media, we want people to look at us as the ones for inspiration instead of people looking for what Lsu and clumbs in and Ohio State are doing. Like we want to be those those guys that people are looking to for inspiration. And sometimes it's coming up with an idea that's a little bit
off the wall and different. Sometimes it plops, sometimes it doesn't. And I think that everything that we've done so far as and pretty successful in the public's eye. And it's been a noticeable change since we got to Michigan State because the last staff is a little a little more strict on what they could and couldn't do on social media. So right it's been pretty refreshing for our creative team because everybody on our.
Creative team besides me, was already here under the last staff.
So when we came in and essentially gave them freedom again on social media. It's been a breath fresh area for them.
How does Michigan State staff maybe size wise, maybe in what the spartan staff focuses on, I'm talking about your creative staff. How does the size compare and the scope compared to other really really successful programs within college football. If you look at Ohio State or Oregon, or Texas or Alabama, what do their staffs look like? Is it similarly sized? Are they bigger? Is it a more well oiled machine? Where does Michigan State fit in? Just now, very very early on in your tenure there.
Size wise, we're pretty comparable to all of those those top tier programs like you mentioned kind of places like LSU and Clemson have quite a bit more manpower in their creative departments. But one thing that we're going to try to do once we get back on campus and can start being face faced with everyone, we really want to build up our student body and get a bunch of students in here and really build that up. Makes sense, and that's how everything kind of starts too. You know,
That's how I got my start in it. So those opportunities are huge for these kids to make the jump to a position like the one that I'm in now.
It seems the big focus is probably Instagram, which is where I suspect a number of recruits spend most of their time. Is there? Are you eager to look to another platform? Are you going to YouTube? Are you going to TikTok? Are you going to do more on Twitter? Where is? Where would you like to build things up where perhaps you aren't right now?
Yeah?
I mean we always try to stay kind of trendy. I mean, I like, personally I don't use TikTok, but I know all the recruits around there, so we try to do some stuff on there. Is just kind of stay relevant, and I mean across all platforms, we're trying to just really blow it out of the water and just be the best that we can. So I can't say that there's just one area that I think we need to approve on. I would rather just keep grinding and keep pumping stuff out on all platforms.
Derek, So you you've kind of described a bit of an arms race here in the creative field when it comes to college football and social media and designing graphics. How do you score your peers, your new peers now in the Big ten. I know Ohio State's obviously got, you know, a pretty developed team in this regard. I know there are others. Have you had a chance to look around being so this is a new position, and how do you evaluate your new competition?
Yeah, But because Blaze and I had a conversation about this.
Blaze is one of our graphic designers.
It was a couple of days before we got sent into quarantine, and he's like, hey man, He's like, we have the manpower, we have everything here to become the best creative team in the country. And I hadn't really thought of it in that sense. But after he said that, like I said on.
It for a few days, I was like, you know, he's right, like we do have.
Everything here that we need to be the best in the country. And I think we're making some strides to actually kind of claim that top spot. And I mean, we're always conscious of what those other schools are doing, and Ohio State has always done a great job of that and they were kind of on the forefront of building a creative department and building a strong brand. But I think we're we're making some strong strides to claim one of those top spots in the country is one
of the best creative teams. I think a lot of people are starting to kind of take notice and what we're doing too.
That you've had to be involved with, I assume for the first time, but perhaps it's something that you've had to do before, just as a tool, not as a necessary A necessary part of your job is the virtual visit. Recruits are not traveling the country right now, they're not
on campus taking unofficial visits. They're not meeting with coaches at camps or on campus or anything like that, and you've been tasked with setting up some sort of virtual visits so perspective Michigan State football players get a sense for coaches, for facilities, for atmosphere, for campus, things like that. What has the process been like to sort of present the Michigan State brand to people who can't fully take it in right now.
That's been a big challenge for not just us, with everybody in the country right now because obviously the process you can't be traveling. So our approach to it, we wanted to again do something that's different and a lot of the ordinary, so we treat it like a festival. This is an idea from the creative and the recruiting team to essentially treat it like a music festival. So we would have essentially like a lineup like.
The posters that you see for the bonner to Coachella.
Featuring the Prospect, and then have the time slots all set up kind of how.
The stages would be and.
Huh, and it's it's tough for us because we just got to Michigan State and people don't really know who we are yet.
But this kind of gave us a unique opportunity to.
To have some some face to face interaction virtually with with the recruits over FaceTime and kind of introduce ourselves and set ourselves aside from the from the competition. And our staff is super personable too, so it made it pretty easy for us to tast success with these visits.
What's it like interacting with parents because they're also coming on these visits and now they're part of a virtual visit. They're also seeing the artwork, and you know, you want
to you want to toe the line. You don't want to make it seem like their kid is definitely going to the NFL, definitely going to be an all pro NFL player, and so you're selling parents with this with Instagram artwork, and parents aren't necessarily on Instagram, they're not necessarily tech savvy, but they're still part of this recruitment and technological process. What has that level of communication been.
Like, Yeah, we build those relationships too with the families and not just the prospects, and from our creative side, I mean we even do personalized graphics for the for the prospects, moms for Mother's Day and dads for Father's Day.
And that's great.
Yeah, it's a family process. I mean, we're not just after the prospect and we I mean we are going to be with the families for the next three or four years of these digitalizes that they come to play for us. So yeah, we really kind of preach that family atmosphere and I think our staff does a great job of that.
Are there any missteps that you've made You're like, yep, never doing that again. I've learned a very valuable lesson from doing this one thing in a very strange way. Do you have like a notable misstep because I don't know anybody that hasn't done something kind of wonky online.
Ever, Yeah, I mean, aside from just like the classic like typosonographic and then you notice it two hours after it was posted and you have to delete it repost. Oh aside from that, I think the only mistake that personally I've made was we posted something on It was one of the first days of quarantine when people are starting to get laid off, and we publicized Kirk Cousin's new contract because in my eyes, I was like, oh, this is good.
I mean, we have something to post. It's positive. And then we post this graphic that's showing how much money he's making while everybody else is losing their jobs.
So right, I was I should have been a little more conscious of that so we didn't look insensitive. But that's the one that comes to mind for me is as far as like a social media ble under on my.
Part, Let's get you out of here. On perhaps the hardest question of all. I don't know if you're ready for this.
Oh boy, you're.
In the college football arena. So much of this is how one team ranks against another as a creative genius. I need your top three. This is very important. This is an official ranking Top three photoshop tools.
Go who Okay, I'm a big pen tool guy. When it comes to cutting out.
Players, Wow, one that I think you'll get a lot of different answers across the board for that one, and even just at our creative team. That's not even a consensus tool.
For us to use, but it's one that I live by.
How quickly can you cut?
So I've been using a it's called a lock them tablet. I've been using it since I was in high school. My brother is a creative director for Wescott Photography Lighting, so he's the one that kind of got me into all of the graphic design world. He got me my first tablet when I was seventeen years old. So I've been using it for the past ten years and this sped up my my work process a lot. So as far as cutouts, I'd say probably, I don't know, twenty twenty five minutes per cutout.
He's good, Okay, he's impressive.
Yeah, I'd be kind of I'd be kind of curious to see how how that ranks against other designers. It's a conversation I've never really even had with the other creative So.
Your design Olympics, Yeah, it's got to happen.
All right, So we got the pen tool, what about a pen tool as.
Far as editing photos that he's Topaz Labs.
It's a it's a photoshop plug in, but it's a figure oft tool, and maybe I shouldn't be given away my seekers cannot people are going to be trying to copy me. But the third one that's huge for me. I'm going to go with the clone stamp because there's been so many times where we have to if we're making a personalized recruiting graphic and it's somebody else that we're photoshopping their journey into prospects name and number, there's
so much clone stamping involved in that. So I'd say that's probably my number three.
Go to good handswer all right, well again, his name is Derek Markle. Look for his work on behalf of the Michigan State Spartans. We wish you lots of luck in the new role. I know it's a little awkward right now, as it is for a lot of us who have to work from home or remotely or wherever you might be in the world, but really looking forward to following your work and best of luck to you. Great job on all your success.
Thank you, Yeah, I appreciate your time. Guys.
All Right, cool man.
Yeah.
Eric Markle from Michigan State an awesome story. Yes, and I'm struck by just the arms race. I guess we knew it was a thing, right, social media college athletics. We knew that it was an important thing. But I guess to hear it right from Derek's mouth, it's very apparent how much time and energy and thought goes into the graphics that you see. It's amazing.
It's one of the words we use a lot, and I use this especially as infrastructure. And we've had a couple of people ask like, what exactly are you referencing when you say infrastructure, because it is a sort of big, vague word. And one of those things is just the various departments of support that a program has or should have. And there are rumors sometimes about, well, this big school is interested in this big coach, and then he's sort
of turned off for whatever reason. He doesn't think he's going to have the support, he doesn't think he's going to have the facilities. One of the things that coaches look for is what is the academic tutoring situation, like what are the facilities, like what does the training table
look like? But also what about the recruiting department, how much what's the budget like for the recruiting department and the sort of creative department that Derek helps to run, for example at Michigan State, and you know what he did at previous places. And if that's not in a good place, there either needs to be a promise made or they're passing it up. Because if you don't have what I guess Michigan State has now, or what Ohio State, or any of these big programs that you would think
don't need to advertise, they all do. They all are promoting themselves. They're all creating artwork for recruits and sort of touting their own players if they're having an amazing game or setting records or winning an award. It's so very important now because you're either in or you're out
tie when it comes to this stuff. And it's fascinating to hear Derek talk about sort of what his path is and what goes into this sort of thing, because I think a lot of us are visual learners and as you mentioned with you know, your space themed lab, if a company was trying to recruit you, it's you want to be able to visualize and these guys are so talented. This is a this is a capital eye industry, which is how I phrased it to you before when
we were talking about the idea for this show. So what Derek does is is vitally important, like it or not, and it's it's crazy interesting to hear what that process is.
Well, again, it speaks to the point that I brought up earlier, return on investment, Yeah or WI. It's what it comes down to for every business that's on social media trying to promote themselves, and it's the case here. How much are you willing to put in to promote your brand to perspective, recruits, to fans, who knows whoever else. It's a process. A lot goes into it, both creatively and organizationally. Need to have a calendar, need to know what you're going to say, need to have you know,
a strong team that can execute on that this. So that's what Derek is trying to build at Michigan State. And as we know, there are many other programs around the country that are really investing heavily in this to try and build themselves up and make it look like you said visually that this is a place that somebody wants to go.
And I can hear people listening to that interview. Yes, I can hear them listening. However backwards that sounds, but I can hear people reacting to this side of the college football universe and saying, almost this is a very much strong man strong man argument. I've just been around college football fans for a long time now, where they're saying, we don't want fans. We don't want players who need to get social media love to come to our school.
We want guys, yeah you do, yeah you do, But.
We want players that exist in twenty twenty, right. We want players who are online. And there is a certain degree of and I don't care if you're a recruit or you're an active player. People like to feel appreciated. And sure, maybe an older way of recruitment and an older school recruit does exist, but the fact of the matter is recruits live online. Recruits need to visualize like
you and I do. And if you're able to do that efficiently and creatively, it sends a message that not only do we care about you, but we're thinking about you when you're you know, two weeks outside of your visit. We haven't forgotten about you when you're already committed. It's not like we're just going to hope that you stay committed. It's we were still thinking about how we're going to use you in our nickel package. We're still thinking about, you know, what you're going to look like in our
offensive system. And I think that matters. I think kids are really really smart, and when they notice that they haven't heard from coaches or that a school isn't necessarily being creative with how they're talking to them and how they're positioning them, it does send a message. And I think you'll you'll see more and more smart schools, dumb schools, every school doing their best online to convey that, yes, we are thinking of you, and we are very excited
for you to potentially choose our school. So it all makes sense to me. I'm I'm always very excit from a graphical perspective to see.
What these schools do. This is, this is a wheelhouse show for you.
It totally is.
I love it so much, so much of what we've done. Yeah, the graphics have been out of your brain.
And I'm only okay at best, But I love I love looking at people who are great at it, and it's clear that there's a lot of smart young people really pushing themselves to do cool new things.
Well, with that as the backdrop, let's go to our second guest today, Hayes Fawcett. He has been doing this kind of work on the other side of the coin for perspective recruits, for you know, young football stars who want to build their own brand and try and make a name for themselves. And on that note, let's get to our second guest of the podcast.
And now we are very excited to bring in actually somebody from the exact same world as as Derek and Michigan State. But he has done a lot of his work on Twitter and Instagram on the recruit side of things. He worked with high profile recruits from all over the country and helps them with their brands and to release photoshop edits of top fives, top tens, top threes, and then of course commitment announcements. Hayes Faucet about to go into college. How are you today?
I'm doing good. How are y'all?
We're fantastic. We are very excited to speak with you. So for people that have probably if they're listening to the show, they've one hundred percent seen your work online even though they didn't know your name specifically. What do you do and how did you get involved with social media and artwork and recruits?
Well, what I do is I make the like you said, I make the announcement edits for the recruits like foreign fosstar guys who are announced the top schools commitment and even like just a point edit of all their offers. And I got into this when I was like in sixth grade. Probably I started off by doing a the pros, and I noticed I wasn't getting getting many, like as much engagement, so as I wanted, like, it's hard to interact with the pros because they have such big followings
and their busy and stuff like that. So then I kind of started thinking maybe I could do high school guys because I know it's going to be a lot easier to get in touch with them, and plus there's a need for it.
So kind of short from there, when who was your first high profile high school football player? What do you remember about that, that arrangement, that situation.
The first one that really got me started was Darius Guye And uh, it was when he went to the Ormy All American game he had I'd done work for him like during his senior season, because he was following my page and was saying, like seeing all the pro athletes edits those posting and he wanted he wanted something like that. So I did something for him throughout his
senior year. And then he got to the ormey Al American game and they always do a good job of takings and stuff, and he wanted me to make some stuff for him. So I did that whole week and he posted a bunch of stuff and then the uh, the other are all Americans from that week started to hit me up as well from seeing my work from him, and just since then, it's just been NonStop.
How many would you say? How many edits of you know, top three's or commitment announcements. What is your typical schedule like during I guess a busy season, which now is really all year long, but when recruiting really gets into high gear before signing day, how busy are you?
I'm extremely busius in my opinion, I think it's busiest like in the summer, like right now, and like it's when it's close to December, January, February. Those are definitely the most busiest.
Times totally And what how long will it take you for a typical piece of artwork that you'll put out, how long will it take, you know, cutting out a player's picture and coming up with a background and maybe coming up with a theme. What is what is that workflow?
Like?
It really depends on what type I'm doing, but it can go from anywhere from like forty five minutes to two hours.
All right, Hey, so walk me through like your marketing pitch to a recruit for for why they should use your services or do you feel like your work has transcended to the point that it sort of does the talk for itself.
Yeah, to be honest, when I first started, I would hit the tether, hit their recruits up and tell them what I do and show them some examples of my work. But now, I mean when when they when they're going to announce something, they know to come to me. So these days I rarely really seeing guys.
They come to me most of the time.
From your perspective, like, what do you view as a successful project? How do you score your own success?
One?
But I'd say just just doing something that that player, like, like if I send it to him and he has a good reaction to it, thinks thinks it's cool any posted, of course, I think that's a great success in my opinion.
So you you obviously know long in advance where some of these guys have chosen to go to school or where they won't be going to school. How have you gone about building up that trust? And do you find yourself in odd situations where people want you to sign non disclosure agreements to try and hold those secrets a little closer to the vest. What is that process like for you?
Well, I've always known, like since I started, that leaking any of any of the recruits information would ruin my credibility and like the reputation for myself, so I've always stayed away from doing that. But yeah, like you said, people have hit me up and asked me to tell them where certain guys are going, and I mean, I'll never do that.
So one of the things that's interesting on that level too, will you be asked to make three different commitment pieces of artwork if a guy really doesn't know until the very end, so that he is ready no matter where he chooses, are you giving him sort of options and contingency plans?
Yes, sir, so like back in like twenty seventeen or twenty sixteen, whenever my name wasn't really as big as it is now, some guys would kind of question a little bit and I have to make a few and then. But since times went on, I've shown them like I've earned my reputation and the trust and stuff. But yeah, like he said, some guys have hit me up and
actually not knowing where they're actually going. So there's a guy's planning to commit soon, I don't know when, but I actually have to make two or three different ones for him just because he doesn't know where he's going yet.
So now as you maybe shift your focus a little bit, and as we said earlier, you're going to be working a little bit with the LSU recruiting department, how does that change what you do? Do you think about out things differently the product that you're putting out now that maybe you're from the perspective of an LSU department and not a specific recruit.
Yeah, So when I get to LSU, I think it's going to be illegal to talk to the recruits, like like get a former relationship with them. And just because I'm at LSU, I'm gonna have to be putting out straight LSU content and like I'm not allowed to like post like top five and stuff like that. But I mean, it's always been my dream to work at LSU, So like all the things that I've done has been specifically to make it to my dream school. So I'm fine with giving that up.
Were you recruited by other schools?
Uh, you could say that kind of.
So what does that mean exactly?
Though?
So like some of the other school like Tennessee, Oregon, and like whenever I was in middle school, Texas, A and M had wanted me to work for them but that didn't work out. But yeah, they wanted me to join their Kennessee wanted me to join their content team. I was on the phone with a coach Preuitt and we talked a little bit, and then uh, Oregon organ wasn't really much of an option for me though, But and then I got the call from coach Oh, and that's just something I couldn't pass on pass up pone.
Do you feel like you have because you're in communication with all these guys who are under so much pressure and they have so much attention, do you feel like you have a unique ability to communicate you sort of have a you know how they're thinking. You know, you know what they like, what they don't like. Do you feel like you really do have a leg up going. It's weird to say it, but it's accurate to the next level.
Yes, sir, for sure, no doubt.
What have you learned.
I just learned to, like you said, just think, think like I'm in their shoes, think what they want, and just respect, respect with their decision and stuff like that.
From coaches looking to gain insight on kids that they're recruiting. Because you are you're followed by a number of you know, high profile coaches in the sport. Do they not ask you where a kid's going? But like, what is this kid like? What does this think? What is this kid's hobbies? What are they thinking? Well, you know, how is their parent if you've spoken to their parent, are they trying to like mine you for information?
Some coaches have like asked me, like a few nights before if a certain guy was going somewhere, and like, out of respect for the player, I won't even really open the message. I just kind of look at it. But other than that, I mean, they don't really try to get much out of like, like you said, their hobbies and their family and stuff like that. No one's really asked me about that.
Do you ever get feedback from recruits that, let's say you put out an edit of a recruits top five and all of a sudden that gets the recruit even more attention from schools that are are not even in his top five. Do you find your artwork really drawing attention to recruits that they otherwise necessarily didn't get because of what they've put online?
Oh yes, sir, Like I have a pretty big following on both Twitter and Instagram, and I I post like well I post. I don't know how to say it, but like they'll get a good amount of attention from from the people from just from my following and stuff. I don't know how to put put in the words.
How long will it typical edit take you, a typical piece of art take you.
Anyway, just depending on what type I'm doing, anywhere from forty five minutes to two or three hours.
Are you are you self taught? What are you using Photoshop illustrator? How did you you know if you were starting this in sixth grade? It was just just a hobby from from day one. Did you did you teach yourself? What did you take classes? How did you how did you get involved?
Yeah, I'm self taught and uh I didn't.
I never.
I wish I had the opportunity to take a photoshop class at my school, but they don't.
Really.
I go to a small school, a small town, but self taught, and I actually do all this stuff on my phone. So I'm trying to learn photoshop. So hopefully when I get to LSU, I'll be able to learn some stuff and have the opportunity to use it.
You do all the artwork, all of the artwork is from your phone. Yes, sir, that's amazing. So that's incredible. We need to get you a laptop. LSU will get you a laptop, correct, yes sir. Okay, So what are you looking forward to? You mentioned not being able to take a class on photoshop or anything and doing all this artwork on your phone. What are you looking forward to get getting better at as an artist at LSU at the next level?
Just honestly everything, because there's so much more you can do on photoshop in comparison to my phone. Like on my phone, I'm limited to so many different things and I have a friend who has Photoshop, and I see some of the work he does, and it's just amazing that, like all the different things you can do on there that aren't available to use on phone on my phone.
I feel like that might be the breaking news tidbit out of this interview Dan, because when we had Derek on, we made it a point to ask him what his top three photoshop tools were. And I was prepared to ask you the same question, Hayz, But this is like a different stratosphere. Now what are you using on your phone?
Are you like nine to twelve different apps?
So what are your top three?
Uh? Super imposed that's what I used, like to mask and like put the player out of Photoshop Express and the app called snapseed to where I can like adjust the filters and stuff like that.
This is great.
So you will, you will do the cutting out of players, you will get the logos in there, you will come up with a theme. You will you will position everything right there on your phone. And how quickly will you hear back from players once you send them? Will you get notes like can you change this? Can you pop this color a little bit? Or are they just grateful to get free artwork?
Grateful to get for your work for sure, but yeah, they don't really, they don't really ask much to change.
That's incredible, man, Ty I am, I am. I was already impressed with Hayes. And do you want to get into like do you want to get into video? Do you want to do you know, photography, stuff that you haven't been able to work on or is it just every box you want to check every box and become sort of a complete artist.
Yeah, I want to check every box and to come up completely orders like doing video and photography and graphic design. That's that's just right up, Miley.
Do you have people reaching out to you, like fourteen fifteen, sixteen year olds now wondering what your process is, how they can get into the game. Are you already, even though you're at a young age, are you already seeing people trying to come up the way you came up?
Oh? No doubt. Yeah. I get dms every day asking like what I use, how I do it, and how I get big like I did.
Well, we got to give you a lot of credit.
Man.
That's that's quite the portfolio built for yourself and now to kind of take that to the next level. Move on, to your dream school at LSU. I guess the operative question is are you going to be making any kind of art work for yourself?
Maybe so?
Yes, I like it.
When can we look for your official commitment?
Edit?
Uh within probably by the end of July.
Oh.
I love hearing that.
That's so great.
I had actually made my own I was going to go play football at Northwestern State, and I have made my own commitment at it then to go play football at the next level. But that's annymore because the LSU opportunity is just too good to pass up on.
So you're like any any other recruit who isn't fully positive at the moment and needed to help have you needed to have you make two different edits, and you did that for yourself. You were you were prepared in both cases.
Yes, sir, that's great.
All right, Well, this is a super cool story and I'm so happy we had you on. His name is Hayes Faucet. We'll be going to LSU in the fall. We wish you nothing but the best, Hayes. This is a great story. Keep on doing the good work and pumping out that cool stuff, and we'll look for you for sure. All across social media, all.
Right, thank you so much, thank you for having me.
So, Dan, he doesn't even use Photoshop using to make those graphics, Are you kidding me?
Elements or express? I forget what he said on his phone. So we're not talking about using a track pad or a mouse or anything like that in a traditional graphic design way.
Watson me, Dan, Yeah, I'm here. It requires the patience of a dead horse to do that kind of work, that much work. Yeah, on a phone.
How much battery does he go through?
You definitely have some sort of Encore Encore not a sponsor, but like portable battery situation to facilitate such work. To be that that busy doing those kinds of graphics, that quality of work on a phone is a true commitment to the cause. So I salute you, mister Hayes Fawcett, not just for coming on the show, but for the work he does. He does a great job. Congratulations to him and all success.
Yeah, and I'll mention again that people ask us how to get into sports. A lot of it is self starting. It's not just spamming every inbox with resumes and everything like that. A lot of it is just making work that you're passionate about being relentless about your specific niche, whether it's within college football or E sports, or baseball or softball, whatever, it's finding out what you really like doing, what specific element of that sport you like doing, and
doing it relentlessly and honestly. Ty, this is a safe space for you and I, you and me. You started, you won the contest to start writing at Fox Sports at what age?
That was two thousand and six, So I was twenty five, you're twenty five, twenty four? I was twenty four, Right.
You're twenty four? Are you writing for Fox? You had already started I think a Yankees like proto podcast before then, right around then.
Yeah, I was so, I well, even before the writing things started. Yeah, before I got into the blog circuit, I had figured out how to do podcasting, right, And this is before there was a word. This is two that late two thousand and four, and I you know, I paid a guy in New York who I never met, to like run a server for me. And I had like this whole thing that I that I set up. But I had figured out the podcast thing long before podcasting was even really a thing.
Yeah, But you were paid for the first time to work in sports when you were twenty four years old.
Correct.
Yeah, so that's the same age that I sold my series to Sports Illustrated and started working for SI and eventually met you at SI dot com.
And by the way, yeah, two thousand and four was YouTube really even a thing at that Really, it didn't come around till like two thousand and six.
Right, yeah, oh, five oh six is when it really took off as a platform anyway. So I was really impressed with myself forgetting a job at SI shooting video, hosting video going around the country an amazing job. I was impressed that I was able to figure out that part of my life by the time I was twenty
four and get to that level I was. Now, that's ancient ty compared to the people doing really cool work online and making names for themselves, whether it's on Instagram or with a podcast or Twitter or whatever, with their artwork, with their video. That's ancient because the tools are so good now that if you would just have a little bit of a self starting gene and you just stick to it, you can make something of yourself in a way that I definitely thought I was really early doing.
Turns out I'm ancient TI. That's all there is to it in twenty twenty terms. That's all it is.
Fun show, good show, two good guests. We wish nothing but the best to Derek in his new role and Hayes as absolutely moves on to the college level. I await eagerly his amitment graphic.
That'd be cool.
Best again, don't forget. Please go on out to soliverble dot com. That is our website where you can find all of our stuff, where you can sign up for our newsletter, listen to all of our old episodes. Please do in the fine spirit of this show, follow along on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook, where we post more frequently now as we get a little bit closer to the season, and if you want to participate in conversations with other reballers, going out to Soliverble dot reddit dot com.
Dan it's all yeah, and as we as we ramp up, and there will be more details about that soon. But as we ramp up. If you enjoy the shows, if you enjoyed listening to Derek and Hayes, or you enjoyed a Q and A, or you enjoy like an upcoming guest that perhaps has to do with scheme stuff. Tie wink, we get you, Wink wink wink. Here's what you can
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That guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein, for myself, Tie Hilton Brand over here in Eastern PA. Thanks again for listening. As always, appreciate your feedback. Celiverble at gmail dot com. You know the drill. Stay safe, wash those hands. We'll talk to you all in a week. In the meantime, stay solid, peace,