Former UCF kicker Donald De La Haye has a passion for making videos. His YouTube channel, which he started about two years ago, is an outlet for that passion. De La Haye posted videos to his channel and played football for the Knights. It was a combination of two things he loved.
This summer, though, the NCAA cracked down. De La Haye faced a decision: continue playing football, or continue making videos. He chose the latter, forgoing his full scholarship.
The NCAA released a statement saying De La Haye and other athletes can make videos – and even receive money from them – as long as the videos are not based on "athletics reputation, prestige, and ability."
That, of course, provides an interesting distinction. De La Haye could have posted videos about, say, muscle cars, and the NCAA wouldn't have had a problem with it. But athletes live and breathe their sport. It's tough to imagine De La Haye being as passionate or knowledgeable about another subject.
The kicker shared something he loved with his fans. In the NCAA's eyes, that doesn't fly. De La Haye claims he was originally told that even if he turned off the monetization feature, he couldn't post videos. The NCAA denied those allegations, though now they've clarified that videos were okay – just as long as they weren't about football.
The full statement from the NCAA is below:
NCAA statement regarding Donald De La Haye. pic.twitter.com/0W2YCbEBrF
— NCAA News (@NCAA_PR) July 31, 2017
De La Haye isn't sure if he'll return to school in the fall, but may come back for the spring semester. He'd like to try his hand as a videographer for at least a few months, with plans to post videos daily.
One bright spot of this soap opera with the NCAA ? De La Haye has seen his subscribers and views skyrocket.
"It's lovely. It definitely is a blessing," he said in a recent interview. "It may not be the outcome I wanted, but things are looking up from here."
