(New York Post) Eli Manning’s still got his deadpan comedic timing.
Manning is working with older brother Peyton’s Omaha Productions and NFL Films on “Eli’s Places,” which airs on ESPN+ and covers the history of college football. They’ve been exploring walk-ons — including Stetson Bennett, who was previously a walk-on at Georgia, and ultimately led the Bulldogs to last season’s national title — and Penn State has open tryouts twice a year.
In that vein, Manning thought it would be fun to go undercover at a Nittany Lion tryout as the long-haired, mustachioed Chad Powers — and the video immediately went viral.
“I wanted to see if the coaches would be interested in me,” Manning told The Post on Monday. “Head coach James Franklin was in on it, but didn’t really tell any of the other coaches.”
There was some intrigue from Danny O’Brien, an offensive analyst at Penn State who played QB in college at Maryland and Wisconsin — but he eventually figured something was up.
“By the end of it, he knew something was going on, just because of the way I looked, and how I was telling receivers what routes to run and how to run them — and I was talking some football lingo that I shouldn’t know, but knew coaches would know. I’m sure they’re not getting what ‘read’ many walk-ons are working on,” Manning said.
We thought Chad Powers looked familiar…@EliManning went undercover as a @PennStateFball walk-on and it is everything. pic.twitter.com/5i5eD22lO7
— Omaha Productions (@OmahaProd) September 19, 2022
He was also ad-libbing new stories about where he was from, what he was doing — and claiming that he was homeschooled and coached by his mom.
“There was no script — it was just trying to be more outrageous every time I said something,” Manning laughed.
Manning, who won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants, wore a wig that as one observer in the production noted made him look like he was “stuck in the 80s.”
Eli Manning did an undercover Penn State tryout as QB Chad Powers for an Omaha Productions video.Omaha Productions
Was he concerned that the wig would fall off when he ran the 40-yard dash?
“No, the wig was bobby-pinned pretty, pretty tight,” Manning explained. “I started sweating a bit, and it kept flying in front of my eyes, so I kept having to put my hand through it and getting it through my face. It was so tight that they told me when I revealed myself at the end that I’d probably want to take out a few of the pins first so I could get the wig off easier.”
One concern Manning did have? Hurting himself in the drills.
Eli Manning spoke to The Post about the behind-the-scenes aspects of the Chad Powers video produced by Omaha Productions.Omaha Productions
