Sports

Manno Uses YouTube for Football Marketing

Personal highlight channel has garnered over 26,000 views.

Aside from his constant workout sessions, three-month stint at the IMG Football Academy in Florida and journeyman attitude during his rise to the NFL, Chris Manno used technology to his benefit in his quest to get on the radar of a professional football team.

Like many other aspiring professional and collegiate athletes, Manno took his skills to YouTube. He didn’t just post one highlight reel and mock combine session, he created his own channel to offer a wide range of clips.

When he isn’t playing for the Kansas City Chiefs in training camp, he teaches strength and conditioning classes for children at Prospect Sports in Farmingdale. With some co-workers he built his YouTube channel and created the crisp workout videos that helped market his game.

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“It’s a great way to get a teams attention,” he said. “You can’t teach athleticism, bit you can show it.”

Did it help? The Green Bay Packers liked what they saw, but said they can't trust an isolated workout where he can do as many takes as necessary to post good times. Then the NFL lockout came and Manno was forced to rely on personal connections he made with Vinny Testaverde and other staffers at IMG, as opposed to relying on technology to be his chief marketing officer.

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Through this week, Manno has over 1,600 views on his channel, and a staggering 26,500 total views for his 12 videos that have been uploaded.

The main video breaks down his NFL combine times in comparison to the actual numbers recorded by athletes who competed in the event. Manno did not attend the actual combine. Instead, you can watch him take part in the same activities in his video.

If you just want a small taste of his ability, he offers a clip of him burning a four-time All-American defensive back from James Madison, one of him leaping for a 50-inch box jump, or just stick around for five minutes and watch his full-length combine workout.

Manno also has his own athlete page on Facebook, which has been swarmed by friends and family sending him well wishes since he signed with the Chiefs last week. You can “like” the page by clicking on Facebook above. The page also offers a sampling of news articles mentioning Manno over the last week.

The Chiefs open their pre-season schedule Friday, Aug. 12 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home. Like Manno, Tampa Bay head coach Raheem Morris attended Hofstra University. 

Stay tuned for updates on Manno throughout his training camp experience.


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