Arizona Wildcats athletic director Greg Byrne emphasizes the importance of his department’s video production crew as a way to keep football in the national news and on the blogs year-round.
In the summer, the Western-themed “Hard Edge” videos became a slow-news-day talking point. During the season, the slickly produced take-us-inside-the-locker-room game reviews are a must see.
And then there was the Tuesday’s offering — A-Men: Days of Future Glory (see above) — to promote Saturday’s Homecoming Game against UCLA.
Who doesn’t like football in slow motion?
“The crew we have over there — John Daley and those guys — is as good as I’ve seen,” coach Rich Rodriguez said after Tuesday’s practice.
Rodriguez usually gets the courtesy of a sneak preview.
“Whether it’s a marketing thing or something about promoting the game, I usually get a chance to see it before they go out,” he said. “It’s been pretty good. They’re the ones with all the talent, that’s for sure.”
Daley is the director of video production (the crew is now known through the hashtag #DigitalGurus), spinning a couple of big hits — the first Hard Edge video and the team’s 2013 camp dance-off, featuring a delightful cameo at the end by Rodriguez himself. Each video is approaching 200,000 views on YouTube.
The latest video is a takeoff on the recently released trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past, using voiceovers from the movie.
“It’s pretty neat stuff,” Rodriguez said.