Donald De La Haye

In 2017, Donald De La Haye, a.k.a. Deestroying, was a kicker for the University of Central Florida’s football team. He’d started a YouTube channel as a creative outlet from his high-stress life as a college athlete, but as his channel started to make money, NCAA rules at the time forced him to choose between his athletic career and his budding platform. He chose the latter, and while his situation was one of the catalysts for the NCAA to change its rules on athlete monetization, De La Haye turned to content creation full time. His YouTube channel with 6.4 million subscribers is known for one-on-one competitions and football challenges and features elite college and high-school athletes, music stars like rapper Gunna, football legends like Cam Newton, and actors like the Rock. De La Haye has an additional 4.7 million followers on TikTok and 2.5 million on Instagram, and has signed with CAA, appeared in a 2026 Super Bowl commercial, and inked a deal with Tubi to create original, sports-driven, competition-style content; his new soccer-based competition series timed to the 2026 FIFA World Cup premiered on the streaming service in June. Although De La Haye, now 29, had to make a tough career decision almost a decade ago, he’s undoubtedly found the success he once dreamed of.

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