Chad Powers is a homeschooled student who hasn’t played organized football. He now wants to try out for the Penn State football team as a walk-on quarterback. Did he make the team? No. He was disqualified for having no eligibility left.
The good news is that Chad Powers is just Eli Manning in disguise.
The 42 year old quarterback played in the National Football League with the New York Giants from 2004 through 2020. During his draft combine, he ran a 4.92 second 40-yard dash. His latest 40-yard dash time was 5.49 seconds, which didn’t impress the coaches running the Penn State walk-on tryout. His arm was, however, something that did impress the coaches.
The unsuspecting coaches and players may or may not have suspected they were in the presence of a former NFL quarterback, but the Penn State head coach sure did. James Franklin was the lone coach who was in on the gig.
He later declares Chad Powers is unable to play for the team as he has used all of his college football eligibility. Franklin calls Manning forward to address the players and coaches where it is revealed who the impressive walk-on QB actually is.
The ESPN undercover episode ends with Manning giving the good news to a current Penn State walk-on that he has been granted a full scholarship with the football program. This is a tradition each season at Penn State.
Players going undercover is not something new. We’ve seen a number of undercover episodes on the Modell’s YouTube channel as well as with Uber, Lyft, and Red Bull. Most of these episodes are just simple disguises and don’t showcase the athletes talents on the field.
However, Red Bull has had players like Kris Bryant, Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, and Jared Goff prank unsuspecting players. Check out this prank from QB Jared Goff on an unsuspecting California college football team.
These player prank episodes are entertaining & binge worthy and I hope companies continue to make them.
What are some of your favorite undercover pranks? Share your favorites with my readers in the comments section below.
