Chad Powers, Penn State's Walk-On Star, Is Coming to Hulu

Eli Manning's 2022 alter ego and college football viral hero is getting his own series.

After trying out for the Penn State football team, Chad Powers is getting his own comedy series. Eli Manning's alter ego, who coined the phrase "Think fast, run fast" is coming to Hulu.

According to Variety, Hulu is preparing the series "Chad Powers," based on the fictional character Manning created in 2022. Wearing a blond wig and rubber chin, Manning went undercover during Penn State football tryouts trying to make the team as a quarterback. Though he didn't, Manning's character quickly became a star, propelling Penn State into a unique entertainment orbit.  

Now, fans will learn more about Chad Powers' story through the Hulu series. Variety reported that actor Glen Powell (Hidden Figures, Top Gun: Maverick) will star in and create the series with Michael Waldron. According to Variety, the show begins here: "When bad behavior nukes hotshot QB Russ Holliday's college career, he disguises himself and walks onto a struggling Southern football team as the talented, affable Chad Powers."

In a statement to Variety, Powell and Waldron (who produced Loki and wrote Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) called themselves "diehard college football fans" who fell for the character.

"When we saw Eli as Chad Powers, we knew that was the way into a big, fun story about this world," they said in the statement.

Eli Manning made Chad Powers a viral sensation in 2022, when he tried out for the Penn State football team as a quarterback / Courtesy Omaha Productions

Omaha Productions, the Manning brothers' company that produced the original Chad Powers piece for ESPN+, will be part of the production. Eli Manning brought the crew of his "Eli's Places" ESPN+ show to Penn State in August 2022 for a love letter to walk-ons and a surprise tryout at quarterback. In doing so, Manning created what has become a college football micro-sensation and the most popular fictional Penn State player since Hingle McCringleberry. The YouTube segment has generated more than 15 million views.

Penn State became involved because, in part, head coach James Franklin said he has a good relationship with the Manning family, including Archie, Peyton and Eli. In addition, former Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford had been a counselor for several summers at the Manning Passing Academy, which also helped, Franklin said.

Ultimately, Franklin liked the idea and how it would promote the program but didn't want the show interfering with training camp. Franklin gave up about 10 minutes for his part of the bit and loved the finished product.

"... Really, they were able to do 99 percent of it kind of without messing up our normal routine. I think I had to give them 10 minutes of my time, which took time away from either lunch or my walk, which was good," Franklin said in 2022. "So once I was comfortable with the fact we were going to be able to do that, and it not impact our normal routine or become a distraction, then we were all about it."

Penn State capitalized on Chad Powers fever by marketing several T-shirts and hosting an "Are You Faster Than Chad Powers?" competition before a 2022 football game. "Mustache and flow," were optional, the program said.

Ultimately, Franklin said, Powers did not make the Penn State football team because he was ineligible.

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