Meet Deestroying, the UFL Player Who’ll Report From Sideline Friday

Kansas City’s first 2025 game on Friday will feature another first, a YouTuber reporting from the sideline.

In 2017, Donald De La Haye was just another college football player. In fact, he was the backup kicker at Central Florida behind Matthew Wright, who’s spelled Harrison Butker with the Chiefs occasionally over the last few seasons.

But although he was only a backup kicker, De La Haye soon attracted the spotlight. In fact, that unwanted attention made him a trailblazer who changed college football. When the NCAA told De La Haye to take down his immensely popular YouTube channel – or demonetize it, which would’ve required him to remove his name, image and likeness – he blasted the organization with a Heisman-worthy stiff arm.

When De La Haye objected, the NCAA stripped him of his scholarship and effectively ended his college football career. In turn, he sued and wound up settling in November 2018 to at least get his education covered, but the NCAA ended his eligibility. De La Haye holds no hard feelings toward UCF, though. He turned professional as a CFL and UFL kicker, who spent last season with the San Antonio Brahmas, and his Deestroying YouTube channel erupted.

YouTube sensation

That channel as of Monday morning has 6.32 million subscribers. The channel marks its 10th anniversary this year (De La Haye started it as a teenager in 2015). Two weeks ago, he released a 20-minute video produced at Lee’s Summit North High School, in a Missouri suburb of Kansas City, showing an assistant coach embarrassing his five-star college recruits in one-on-one passing drills.

Those five-star recruits aren’t your grandfather’s prep standouts, who weren’t allowed compensation as college student-athletes. Several college football players earn much more than many of their professional counterparts in the NFL.

Players like Carson Beck, who led the Miami Hurricanes to a 27-24 victory over Notre Dame Sunday night in a battle of top-10 teams, owe De La Haye a lot – as in $3 million. That’s how much the Miami quarterback is reportedly making this season. The compensation earned by Texas quarterback Arch Manning, who lost his 2025 debut at Ohio State on Saturday, is not known.

Donald De La Haye (19) kicks the ball during the UFL game between the San Antonio Brahmas and Memphis Showboats in Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, April 6, 2024. | Chris Day / The Commercial Appeal / USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY NETWORK

Impersonations

Born in Costa Rica, De La Haye moved with his family to Florida in grade school. His YouTube creations have included not only his personal testimony on his life journey but also skits and trick-shot stunts. His hilarious skits have impersonated several NFL players, including Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and former wideout Tyreek Hill.

Fans can catch De La Haye on the live, main YouTube production when the Chiefs open the season against the Chargers in São Paulo, Brazil (7 p.m. CT, YouTube, KSHB-TV 41, 96.5 The Fan). YouTube is providing several other alternate streaming options, too.

Chiefs Kingdom information is available 24/7 and always free with OnSI; the best way to get it is to follow @KCChiefsOnSI, @ZakSGilbert and @Domminchella on X (Twitter). Plus, tell us how you’re planning to view Friday’s game by visiting our Facebook page (here).