If you watched the Super Bowl, or generally spend any time watching sports at all, you’ve probably seen this ad by now.↵
↵
The Old Spice Guy Was Once an Arizona State Football Player
↵↵
↵
↵Aside from running during sports broadcasts, it has a real on-the-field connection to the sports world. The man in the ad is Isaiah Mustafa, a former Arizona State wide receiver. He was part of the 1996 Arizona State team that went to the Rose Bowl in 1997.↵↵The Los Angeles Times has the story of how Jake Plummer even played into Mustafa’s stardom:↵
↵↵⇥[T]he night before [the audition], he called a college buddy, quarterback Jake Plummer, most recently of the NFL’s Denver Broncos, to shoot the breeze. Jake wasn’t home, but Jake’s answering machine was -- so Isaiah, schooled in improvisation, did an over-the-top mini performance of the script he had in hand.↵⇥↵⇥[...]↵⇥
↵⇥↵⇥“I just did it for him, and I did it extra big, and then when I hung up, I thought, ‘Maybe I should try it that way and see if they like it.’ ”↵⇥
↵↵↵Four million-plus views on YouTube, plus countless TV views later, it seems like he made the right choice. The Arizona Republic reports Mustafa will appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Friday and he’s close to landing a spot on Oprah in early April.↵
↵
↵Mustafa logged five catches for 56 yards during that Rose Bowl season, according to the school's Web site. Wikipedia lists him having stints with five teams in the NFL and NFL Europe -- Tennessee Oilers, Barcelona Dragons, Oakland Raiders, Cleveland Browns and Seattle Seahawks -- but none of those stays were long or prolific. (Data is tough to find on this stuff, but I did find an article that mentions he was a training camp casualty with the Oilers as a rookie.)↵
↵↵If you check Mustafa’s acting credits, he’s been playing his fair share of athletes. He actually played a safety in a Nike ad, getting his block knocked off.↵
↵↵(H/T to Dr. Saturday)↵
↵
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
See More:
