Donald De La Haye Jr. (born December 2, 1996), also known online as Deestroying, is a Costa Rican-American

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

. He played college football with the

UCF Knights The UCF Knights are the athletic teams that represent the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. The Knights participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I ( FBS for football) as a member of the Am ...

(

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

team) of the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

(UCF). De La Haye is known for his videos demonstrating his kicking ability as well as his sports-related skits and vlogs talking about his life journey. He also made news while in college when the NCAA controversially banned him for profiting off his name and YouTube videos, which has sparked reform for student athlete compensation. He is also a partial owner of the FCF Glacier Boyz.

Early life and college career

De La Haye immigrated with his family from Costa Rica to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

at the age of seven, spending the rest of his youth in

Port St. Lucie, Florida Port St. Lucie is a city in St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. It is the most populous municipality in the county with a population of 204,851 at the 2020 census. It is located southeast of Orlando and north of Miami. The Port St. Lu ...

. He played for the football team at the

as their

kickoff specialist A kickoff specialist is a special teams position in gridiron football. They are responsible for kicking the ball in the kickoff. These players tend to have a strong leg, often capable of making touchbacks, and capable of keeping a ball in the bound ...

from 2015 to 2016. He also played wide receiver. De La Haye was a

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

major at UCF.

Loss of NCAA eligibility over YouTube channel

In 2017, De La Haye drew notable attention when the

told him to delete or demonetize his YouTube Channel in order to stay on the football team, as the NCAA at that time forbid its athletes from profiting off their athletic ability aside from their scholarships. He was also not allowed to have his likeness or name in any of his videos if he decided to continue the channel. Faced with this dilemma, De La Haye ultimately chose to continue his channel normally, at the cost of his scholarship and NCAA eligibility. De La Haye sued UCF over this matter in July 2018, settling in November 2018 to finish his education there. De La Haye's case has been one of several incidents in which NCAA athletes are barred from profiting off their names, images, and likenesses. Legislation has since been issued in a few states, including California and De La Haye's home state of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, in an attempt to allow student athletes to profit while in school.

YouTube career

While kicked off the UCF football team, De La Haye put more focus on his ''Deestroying'' youtube channel, which he started as a teenager in 2015. Evolving from skits on football stereotypes and kicker trick shot videos, the channel has also featured gaming videos, skits impersonating

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

players such as Odell Beckham Jr.,

Tom Brady Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots organization, with which ...

and

JuJu Smith-Schuster John Sherman "JuJu" Smith-Schuster ( Smith; born November 22, 1996) is an American football wide receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at USC, and was drafted by the Pittsburgh ...

, actual collaborations with players such as Smith-Schuster, Marquette King,

Cam Newton Cameron Jerrell Newton (born May 11, 1989) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He has played for 11 seasons, primarily with the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "Super Cam", he is the NF ...

Antonio Brown Antonio Tavaris Brown Sr. (born July 10, 1988), nicknamed "AB", is an American football wide receiver who is a free agent, and an American rapper. Raised in Liberty City, Miami, Brown attended Miami Norland High School. He played college ...

, and

Tyreek Hill Tyreek or Tyreke is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Tyreek Burwell (born 1992), American football player *Tyreek Duren (born 1991), American basketball player *Tyreke Evans (born 1989), American basketball player * Tyreek Hill ...

and partnerships with the NFL and other sports organizations to create content. The channel has since surpassed 4.5 million subscribers after having just 94,000 when De La Haye left UCF. De La Haye has also collaborated with other YouTube personalities such as

Logan Paul Logan Alexander Paul (born April 1, 1995) is an American media personality, podcaster, actor, and professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand, but is inactive due to a knee injury. He has over 23 m ...

, competing in the latter's "Challenger Games" in July 2019. This was his most popular video as of March 2021, eclipsing over 12 million views. De La Haye has also attracted attention and collaborations outside of football such as his collaborations with other YouTubers like Flight and Cash Nasty, and continues to grow his channel.

Professional gridiron football career

After years of advocating for an NFL team to sign him through his videos, De La Haye was signed by the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

on May 19, 2019. The signing resulted in over 15,000 new followers on the Argonauts' official Instagram account. He appeared in both preseason games, making his one field goal attempt from a distance of 16 yards, and recording one punt for 46 yards. De La Haye was signed to the practice roster to begin the season. Due to limits on American players allowed on the roster, the Argonauts later placed De La Haye on the Suspended list in order to allow him to be free of team obligations and continue to upload videos consistently, which generates more income than being on the practice squad. Recently, he has been making YouTube videos that display him practicing kicks, in the ultimate goal of making the NFL. In 2021 De La Haye posted a video in which he got invited to work out for the

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foo ...

. De La Haye also won the Kohls Pro Combine kickoff competition in 2021.

Esports career

In April 2022, De La Haye signed with

FaZe Clan FaZe Clan (formerly FaZe Sniping) is a professional esports and entertainment organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California, USA. Founded on May 30, 2010, the organization has players from around the world, across multiple games, i ...

Other ventures

De La Haye is also a co-owner of the FCF Glacier Boyz of Fan Controlled Football, along with

Quavo Quavious Keyate Marshall (born April 2, 1991), known professionally as Quavo (), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. He is best known as the co-founder and former frontman of hip hop group Migos. Quavo is the uncle of late fellow Migos m ...

and Richard Sherman.

References

External links

* *
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:De La Haye, Donald Living people 1996 births American football placekickers American YouTubers American male YouTubers Canadian football placekickers African-American players of American football Players of American football from Florida People from Limón Province People from Port St. Lucie, Florida UCF Knights football players Toronto Argonauts players Social media influencers Costa Rican emigrants to the United States 21st-century African-American sportspeople University of Central Florida alumni Sports YouTubers