We were lucky to catch up with Daniel Leaupepe recently and have shared our conversation below.

Daniel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My mission behind Gridiron Finds is one that came about because of what I have seen in the high school football recruiting space over the years. I have seen kids who I thought were thought to be a “sure thing” in terms of getting to play college football not play any further than high school. I remember a linebacker I played with who was one of the most talented players I’ve seen and there was no way he wasn’t going to not get college attention. Unfortunately he didn’t get any offer and he never played after that. Although there can be many reasons for them not continuing their football careers, there seemed to be a lot of them who just didn’t get noticed by any colleges. A lot of kids fly under the radar and go unnoticed even though a lot of them have the talent to play at the next level. I have witnessed this over and over as the years went on. In 2018, I decided to use social media in an effort to highlight players who, up until their senior year, have gone mostly unnoticed. I have found athletes from every state that can ball at a high level. Some may not have the grades, but I want them to understand that they have talent and I want them to see that their talent and skills can open doors of opportunities that can result in a college education or even a shot at the pro level. I don’t want these kids to be forgotten about. With others, its a lack of exposure. I remember finding this kid in Alaska as I was watching film one day. He was a very good player. I messaged him and told him that he has the ability to play at the D1 level and all he needed was to be seen by the right people. Long story short, I think he ended up going to a camp in the mainland and he ended up landing some division 1 offers. Another kid I know personally goes by the name Naki Tuakoi. I was introduced to him by his coaches, who are now very close friends of mine. At this particular point in time Naki had zero interest from any colleges. As I watched him go through some reps at a camp, I was very impressed and my evaluation of him was very high. I even walked up to him and told him he is a 4 or 5 star level player. There are 4 major recruiting engines that rank high school football players using a star rating system. 2 and 3 star players are seen as good recruits but its the 4 and 5 star players that are seen as the crème of the crop, the best of the best nationally. It was a pretty bold statement for me to make to a kid who had absolutely no colleges recruiting him at that point. Naki even looked at me in disbelief and he told me he didn’t think he was on that level. Fast forward to today and my evaluation came true. Naki is a consensus 4 star recruit on all the major recruiting platforms with the exception of ESPN as we are still waiting for them to update their database. His teammate Sefo Akuila is another who wasn’t seen as a division one prospect by anyone. I saw 2 plays where he ran for long touchdowns and that was enough to tell me what kind of potential the kid had. I wrote an article and said that Sefo has a chance to become a prospect with power 5 offers. Fast forward to today and that is exactly what he has turned into. Omar Staples and Anthony Alonzo are two more players out of Oakland that I made predictions about that came true. Both are now division one players heading into their freshman year next season. I am confident in my eye for being able to find and evaluate players who can play at the next level and I want to do it on a national level as there are tons of kids who are going unnoticed every year. There are tons of players who get to their senior year and feel like they won’t get recruited, even if they feel they are good enough. I wanted to find as many of those guys are build a platform for their skills to be shown.

Daniel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I got into this because of my desire to see underrated athletes get noticed at the division one level. I am always on a constant search for underrated players who have division one talent but don’t have the exposure needed to get to the next level. I feel I can build up my own recruiting site that highlights my niche of players that need the spotlight. I can identify talent with ease and I love trying to help kids get exposure. There are always going to be kids that are forgotten about when it comes to the other big recruiting sites and I wanna make sure I catch those that fall through the cracks. There are tons of those types of players and I will search and try to find them all and put them onto my platform.

I got hands on with this type of stuff in Oakland and have found a handful of guys that were unknown and I feel I played a part in helping them get their name out. Now I want to do it on a national scale.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

While I don’t have a massive following, I have build up a good amount of followers over the years who love what I do. I will have to admit that I haven’t been consistent in posting like I used too because I would rather hire someone to oversee the social media aspect. I still need to learn about the algorithm side of things. I even had a very notable football figure follow me and message me about how he loves what I do.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I have to remember that it is my idea and no-one will understand it the way that I do until they see what I am doing. I also am always looking for players that have the skill but don’t know how to get noticed. I have started doing it more hands on in the community of Oakland and we are seeing great results with multiple kids getting offers.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: gridironfinds
• Twitter: gridironfinds