What if one of the most ridiculous-looking quarterbacks in college football history actually started with an NFL legend? That is the strange reality behind Chad Powers, Hulu’s comedy starring Glen Powell as a disgraced quarterback who creates a bizarre new identity in a desperate attempt to save his football career.

The series is fictional, but its central idea is absolutely rooted in something that really happened. Before Russ Holliday became Chad Powers on Hulu, Eli Manning became Chad Powers in real life, disguising himself and showing up at Penn State’s football walk-on tryouts. Now, with Season 2 arriving on Hulu on September 3, 2026, the connection between the viral 2022 stunt and the hit comedy is impossible to ignore.

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The Real Chad Powers Was Created by Eli Manning

The first twist in the Chad Powers story is that the character did not begin in a writers’ room.

He came from Eli Manning, the former New York Giants quarterback and two-time Super Bowl champion.

In September 2022, Manning appeared on ESPN’s Eli’s Places for a segment exploring the college football walk-on experience. But instead of standing on the sidelines and interviewing players, Manning decided to experience the process himself.

There was just one catch: nobody was supposed to know it was him.

With professional hair and makeup artists helping with the transformation, Manning created the Chad Powers persona. He wore a wig, facial hair and prosthetics and adopted the identity of an unknown quarterback hoping to earn a place on the Penn State football team.

ESPN’s official video described the stunt as Manning going undercover as Chad Powers to try out as a walk-on quarterback at Penn State.

And somehow, the disguise worked well enough for Manning to participate alongside genuine walk-on hopefuls.

Manning even embraced the bizarre new identity on social media at the time, declaring:

“Chad Powers is not a man… He is a way of life!!”

That line helped cement the character as more than a one-off joke. The eccentric quarterback quickly became one of the most memorable personalities to emerge from Eli’s Places.

But the funniest part was still coming.

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What Happened When Eli Manning Tried Out at Penn State?

The Penn State stunt was not simply a quick camera gag.

Manning actually participated in the football activities alongside prospective walk-ons because the goal was to understand what the experience was really like for players fighting for an opportunity.

Penn State head coach James Franklin knew about the production and approved Manning’s participation. The setup was designed to allow the segment to happen without seriously disrupting the team’s normal routine.

Franklin later explained just how little the production interfered with the program:

“… Really, they were able to do 99 percent of it kind of without messing up our normal routine. I think I had to give them 10 minutes of my time, which took time away from either lunch or my walk, which was good. So once I was comfortable with the fact we were going to be able to do that, and it not impact our normal routine or become a distraction, then we were all about it.”

For the players around Manning, however, the situation was very different.

They believed they were dealing with an unusual new quarterback. They did not immediately know that the man underneath the wig, facial hair and prosthetics was a 41-year-old former NFL star.

Eventually, the disguise came off.

Manning revealed that Chad Powers was actually Eli Manning, leaving the unsuspecting players and coaches stunned.

His explanation was almost hilariously sincere:

“I’m sorry,” he told the coaches and athletes. “I’m just a 41-year-old who just wants to play ball. I’m just trying to get back out there. I appreciate you letting me try out with y’all.”

The stunt also had a purpose beyond the reveal. Manning remained involved in the project and helped award a scholarship to Penn State punter Barney Amor, allowing the segment to shine a light on the difficult path that walk-on athletes face.

So, beneath all the comedy, there was a genuine attempt to understand the walk-on experience.

And then Chad Powers escaped the episode and became something much bigger.

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How Eli Manning’s Viral Chad Powers Skit Became a Hulu TV Series

The character’s popularity eventually created an opportunity that went far beyond ESPN.

The scripted Chad Powers series was developed by Glen Powell and Michael Waldron, with Powell taking on the central role of Russ Holliday/Chad Powers.

Official Disney material identifies the show as being based on the Eli’s Places segment produced with ESPN and Omaha Productions.

Powell has also been completely open about where the inspiration came from.

While discussing the project with Good Morning America, the actor explained:

“We took that concept and that inspiration and have doubled down on the prosthetics, updated it, improved it, new model, new Chad, and we’re making a hell of a show here.”

That distinction matters.

The character of Chad Powers and the basic premise came from Manning’s real-life experiment. But the television series created an entirely new fictional story around that concept.

Instead of watching Eli Manning spend a short period undercover at Penn State, viewers follow Russ Holliday as he attempts to rebuild an entire football career.

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Is Chad Powers Based on a True Story?

The short answer is no — but it is inspired by a true event.

Glen Powell’s Russ Holliday is not Eli Manning, and the fictional events of the series are not a retelling of Manning’s NFL career.

In the show, Russ is a former college football star whose promising career is destroyed after an unforgivable mistake. Eight years later, he decides that becoming someone else may be his only route back into the sport.

That is when Chad Powers is born.

Hulu’s official description explains:

“Eight years after an unforgivable mistake nukes his promising college football career, hotshot quarterback Russ Holliday tries to resurrect his dreams by disguising himself as Chad Powers – a talented oddball who walks on to the struggling South Georgia Catfish.”

The similarities to Manning’s stunt are obvious: quarterback, disguise, fake name and walk-on opportunity.

But everything surrounding Russ Holliday’s backstory, relationships, career collapse and long-term deception belongs to the fictional series.

The crucial difference is simple.

Eli Manning was pretending to be Chad Powers for an experiment. Russ Holliday has to remain Chad Powers to save his future.

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What Is Glen Powell’s Chad Powers Actually About?

The show’s central character begins as Russ Holliday, a gifted but disgraced former college quarterback.

After losing his original football opportunity, Russ eventually decides to create a completely different identity. Using prosthetics and other elements of a disguise, he transforms himself into Chad Powers, an eccentric quarterback who appears to have arrived out of nowhere.

He then walks on to the struggling South Georgia Catfish.

From there, the joke becomes much more complicated.

Unlike Manning’s real-life experiment, Russ cannot simply remove the disguise and go home. Chad Powers becomes an ongoing deception. Once Russ makes the team, he has to keep the fake identity alive while trying to prove himself on the field.

That creates the show’s central tension: every success makes Chad more visible, but greater visibility also increases the chance that someone will discover who he really is.

The series therefore combines sports comedy with a redemption story, asking whether someone who destroyed his first opportunity can earn a second one — even if that second chance begins with an absurd disguise.

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Season 2 Makes the Chad Powers Lie Even More Dangerous

By Season 2, Chad is no longer just trying to make the roster.

He has become a star on the field.

That sounds like the perfect outcome for Russ, except there is a problem: success creates attention, and attention puts his secret at risk.

According to Hulu’s official September 2026 guide, Chad’s behavior away from the field is beginning to make people suspicious, particularly Coach Hudson and Gerry.

The official Season 2 synopsis raises the stakes even further:

“The walls are closing in on Russ’s lie, and if he and Danny want Chad to survive the regular season and lead the Catfish to the College Football Playoff, the only person who can help them is the last person who wants to: Ricky.”

That changes the entire dynamic.

Russ has already managed to keep the Chad Powers identity alive, but the deeper he gets into the season, the harder that deception becomes to control.

Season 2 premiered on September 3, 2026, with Hulu’s official schedule listing the complete season for release that day.

Hulu currently lists Chad Powers with two seasons and 12 episodes available, while the official streaming description continues to identify Powell and Michael Waldron as the show’s creators.

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Eli and Peyton Manning Are More Than Just Part of the Origin Story

The Manning connection does not end with the original 2022 stunt.

Eli Manning serves as an executive producer, while his brother Peyton Manning is also an executive producer through Omaha Productions. Disney’s official production information lists the brothers among the executive producers alongside Powell, Waldron and other members of the production team.

Eli also appeared in Season 1, making a cameo as a coach from an opposing team.

Powell has repeatedly stressed how involved the Manning brothers have been with the series, particularly when it comes to getting the football details right.

Speaking to Good Morning America, Powell said:

“One of the coolest things about the Manning boys is that they are extremely involved,” the actor said of working with the legendary quarterback siblings. “What makes this show different is we wanted this thing to be funny and heartfelt but to have the football be legit.”

That involvement gives the series an unusual advantage.

The premise is intentionally ridiculous, but the football cannot feel fake. Powell’s quarterback needs to look convincing enough for audiences to buy into the fantasy, while the comedy continues to push the Chad Powers disguise into increasingly outrageous territory.

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From a Penn State Football Prank to a Full Sports Comedy Franchise

The journey of Chad Powers is unusual because the character was never originally designed to carry a television series.

Manning created him while attempting to understand the college football walk-on experience. He disguised himself, entered a genuine Penn State tryout and interacted with players who did not initially know his real identity.

The segment became popular enough to generate merchandise, costumes and a much larger entertainment property.

ESPN has described the original experiment as Manning going undercover to learn more about the college football walk-on experience. Chad’s distinctive personality and catchphrases helped make the segment memorable, while the eventual reveal delivered the big comedic payoff.

The Hulu series simply takes that idea and pushes it to its logical extreme.

What if the disguise did not end after the tryout?

That is the question that separates Eli Manning’s real-life experience from Russ Holliday’s fictional nightmare.

Manning eventually removed the disguise and went back to being Eli.

Russ cannot.

His football comeback depends on Chad Powers staying alive.

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The Bottom Line: Chad Powers Is Fictional, But His Wildest Idea Really Happened

Chad Powers is not a true-story television series, but the character at its center has a very real NFL origin.

Eli Manning created Chad Powers during a 2022 Eli’s Places segment, disguising himself and attending Penn State’s football walk-on tryouts as a quarterback hoping to earn a place on the team.

That real-life experiment became the creative spark for the Hulu comedy starring Glen Powell.

The scripted version expands the premise dramatically, turning Manning’s short-lived disguise into the fictional story of Russ Holliday, a disgraced quarterback trying to resurrect his career under an assumed identity.

Powell and Michael Waldron developed the concept into the scripted series, while Eli and Peyton Manning became executive producers and remained closely involved with the production.

And that is what makes the show’s origin so entertaining.

It began with an NFL legend pretending to be a strange college quarterback for a football experiment. It then evolved into a fictional story about a quarterback pretending to be someone else — except this time, getting caught could destroy the comeback he has fought so hard to build.

With Season 2 now streaming, Chad Powers has officially gone from a viral disguise to a full-blown fictional football phenomenon.

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Disclaimer and Sources

This article is based on research from the official and reported sources listed below and distinguishes between the real-life 2022 Eli Manning Eli’s Places segment and the fictional events portrayed in Hulu’s Chad Powers. Character storylines and events in the scripted series should not be interpreted as accounts of Eli Manning’s actual football career.

Sources

• Hulu — September 2026 Schedule
• Disney+ — Get To Know Chad Powers
• Disney Press — Chad Powers Season 2 announcement
• ESPN — Eli’s Places
• ESPN — Eli Manning dresses as Chad Powers at Penn State tryouts
• ESPN — Eli Manning, Glen Powell’s Chad Powers
• New York Giants — Undercover Eli Manning tries out for Penn State as Chad Powers
• Good Morning America — Glen Powell talks the making of Chad Powers
• Reuters — Chad Powers Season 2 raises stakes as secrets unravel

Featured Image Credit: Hulu / Disney+