Eli Manning's Chad Powers disguise gets a Penn State tryout

BoltMotivation's retelling of the Eli's Places stunt has passed a million views, with viewers connecting the disguise to its screen afterlife.

Channel: BoltMotivation Story of November 3, 2026Trari Newsroom

No. 4 on the Sports chart

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 1,247,518 views a day, 12 times a normal first day on this channel (104,682).

NFL Legend Tricks College Team…😳🏈

"I was homeschooled. Never played ball. Mom was my coach." Eli Manning's cover story is almost as elaborate as his makeup. Beneath the prosthetics, mustache and blond wig is a Super Bowl-winning quarterback presenting himself as an unknown walk-on named Chad Powers.

BoltMotivation's Short, drawn from ESPN's Eli's Places, revisits Manning's undercover Penn State tryout. It drew about 1.2 million views in its first day, roughly twelve times the clips channel's usual start for Shorts.

The original stunt dates to 2022, so this is an old football disguise getting another outing, not a new attempt to make the team. James Franklin, Penn State's head coach at the time, is in on it. The assistant assessing Powers has a different perspective: "Chad Powers guy. I think I see something in him."

That gap is the joke: an evaluator spotting promise in someone who has already won at the sport's highest level. Manning runs drills and throws passes while maintaining his homemade-football backstory.

Several commenters are trying to place the character, asking about a movie or recognizing a connection to a show. Others simply identify Manning beneath the disguise. BoltMotivation's comment section was almost four times busier than on a usual first day, with Chad's identity giving viewers something to untangle beyond the throws.

Published on Trari

Share this story

A ready picture for an Instagram story or a WhatsApp status.

Share the pictureSend the link

×Share the picture

Where next?

More from BoltMotivationThis week on the channel +30M views this weekBoltMotivation's anonymous kidney donor walks into her father's roomThe father-daughter reunion drew the largest audience among fifteen new uploads, alongside dog tests, sporting gestures and a wedding-day bench story.Channel: BoltMotivation · Story of October 31, 2026 Also in Clips, compilations and failsVideo taking off 53x its usual first dayAn elevator door opens onto a very mutual frightVideos that make your day better posts a close encounter that startles both the passenger leaving and the woman waiting outside.Channel: Videos that make your day better · Story of November 3, 2026 A different discovery todayVideo taking off 12x its usual first dayFrom "please don't leave" to "ask Grok": John Oliver's midterm tourThe election-week main story drew about 3.8 million views in under a day, and its comment section filled more than twice as fast as usual.Channel: LastWeekTonight · Story of November 3, 2026

Or follow us on Telegram

Is this your channel?For the channel's owners and team: a ready picture and text for your audience

Share the story with your audience. Everything is ready:

For a community post or your channel's description

Eli Manning's Chad Powers disguise gets a Penn State tryout The full story on Trari: https://trari.com/en/story/boltmotivationyt-24741/?from=kit

Copy the text

The numbers

The Manning clip's first-day views were far above BoltMotivation's usual Shorts audience. Comments also arrived much faster than usual.

the video's first day

usual first day here

104,682

this video

1,247,518

subscribers

3,070,000

▲ 20,000 in the last 7 days

total views

5,170,699,164

views per day

3,024,769

typical day: 4,852,510

the video

views

1,416,245

likes

21,835

comments

88

days online

1

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

Caters Clips

3,820,000

GJShortz

3,760,000

Be Yourself.

3,710,000

BoltMotivation

3,070,000

DNZio Shorts

2,780,000

Mindova

2,460,000

As of November 3, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.