Eli Manning, Glen Powell’s ‘Chad Powers’ reminds us to believe

What happens when a two-time Super Bowl MVP tries to walk-on (or run-on) to the Penn State football team? Just over three years ago, Eli Manning went undercover for a sketch on his ESPN+ show Eli’s Places to learn more about the college football walk-on experience. With the help of professional hair and makeup artists, the former New York Giants quarterback transformed into Chad Powers, a mustachioed college QB who speaks in the third person and spouts phrases like “Think fast, run fast.” Eventually, Manning revealed his identity to the unsuspecting players. The episode went viral, launching T-shirts, Halloween costumes, and now a scripted TV show, “Chad Powers,” for which Manning serves as an executive producer.

Now available on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+, the six-episode comedy stars Glen Powell as Russ Holliday, a down-on-his-luck former hotshot quarterback who transforms into Chad Powers. Disguised as Powers, Holliday seeks redemption and a second chance, playing for an SEC team fittingly named the South Georgia Catfish. Basically, “Mrs. Doubtfire” meets college football.

In his own words, Eli Manning describes what it was like to play football with facial prosthetics, teaching Glen Powell how to throw like a seasoned SEC quarterback and how to make a show about college football feel authentic, even if the premise is based on a joke.

I WENT TO A PENN STATE game about a year after the sketch. It was a White Out game. And I swear I must have seen 10,000 Chad Powers T-shirts that the students were wearing. I’m like wow, this thing has really blown up and gone to another level. After we filmed the sketch, I thought it went really well, but I had no idea the magnitude of what it would become.

These kids trying out are 18 to 20 years old and then here comes this 41-year-old guy with a dad bod. I’m in a mullet and moustache. The thing I was most worried about was the 40-yard dash. I cannot pull a hamstring. I’m not even at the throwing part. I have to get to the throwing part. And I’m saying, “Think fast, run fast.” But I’m really thinking, “Don’t pull a hammy, don’t pull a hammy.” I was pretty proud of my 5.49 time in the 40. Coach Franklin wasn’t as thrilled with it, but I thought it was a pretty good outing.

Three years ago, I got a call from [actor] Glen Powell and [screenwriter] Michael Waldron, saying we want to turn this into a show. I’m like, this is a whole new level. I’m out of my league. I don’t know what’s going on. I was very happy when they told me I would not be playing Chad anymore because I knew I was over my head at that point.

And I learned a few important lessons:

1. People seem to like me better when I disguise my face.

2. Makeup artists had to work a lot harder to make Glen Powell ugly.

3. You never know what might happen.

I got to sit in on a few of the writers’ rooms sessions and I just got drilled with questions. Everything from: What’s the role of a head coach’s wife when you were in college? What are meetings like? What’s a Tuesday like when you’re in college? What’s an off day? All these things. What do you do after a game? Just going through the life of a college player. It was 20-plus years ago for me, so I’m trying to remember, and I know things have changed quite a bit. I started calling my nephew, [Arch Manning], who’s at Texas, asking him a few questions just to see how things have changed. But it was fun to go down memory lane a little bit. I was calling a few of my old teammates and pals just trying to stir up some stories that we could maybe bring back into the show.

It was really important to Glen and Michael that everything looked and felt authentic to college football. That’s what drew me to them after that first meeting. I heard their passion around college football. Michael is a big Georgia fan, and Glen being a big Texas football fan, they wanted to make sure they got those things right. They got to go to the halftime of a Georgia game where Glen was out there on the field, and they got fans to boo him as he’s coming out. I mean, that’s very authentic. Having the SEC schools promote this and use real uniforms, that was all important. Obviously, it’s a ridiculous story, but we’re going to highlight the great things around college football.

Glen would send videos for feedback as he was throwing and doing drills. We’d go through it, looking for things like how are his hands placed when he’s taking a shotgun snap. Where his feet are, what his cadence is, some of the rhythmic things that are very genuine to a quarterback. Those are the things that Peyton and I were very serious about. We gave Glen pretty extensive notes on what it should look like, what the timing should be, what it should sound like to make that authentic. It’s the little tendencies that quarterbacks have, whether you lick your fingers before you throw or if you fix your shoulder pad, you have these habits you get into. You gotta figure out what your habit is and make sure it’s there on every snap.

We’re taking you inside the world of college football but with the fun twist of everything is built out of a lie. You’re curious, like who’s going to be in on the lie? What’s going to happen if someone finds out? Do they continue the lie? Do they turn him in? How deep is this going to go? Chad is kind of winging it. Every time it’s like: How do I get to this practice? How do I get through this game? How do I get through this meeting with the coach without blowing my cover and screwing things up?

There’s a few tense moments where you’re pulling for Chad, and you’re pulling for Russ to pull this off and make it work. There’s moments of out-loud laughter. Maybe you hate Russ and yet like Chad, even though they’re the same person. I think the complexity and different emotions make the show really fun.

It’s the idea of a second chance. You see this kid Russ, who’s just not a good person. And probably deserving of everything that happens to him. And then you see him turn into Chad Powers. He’s learning how to do things the proper way. Even though he’s lying about everything, he’s trying to act the right way and in that process is learning for himself that there’s another way of doing this, that this is his second chance. You’re rooting for him and hoping that he can make something happen. Even though it’s wrong and deceitful what he’s doing, you feel like he’s turning into a better person because of it.

Sometimes you just need to throw up the pass and see where it lands.