YouTube star

Ex-FAU player Pindell finds second career.

BOCA RATON — There was a time Troy Pindell shied from the spotlight.

He often dreaded post-practice interviews while playing safety at Florida Atlantic from 2002-06. For the most part, he kept to himself in public.

That was then. Now, he is as comfortable in front of the camera as a Kardashian. Known by fans as “TPINDELL,” he has more than 2 million subscribers on his YouTube channel and turned his Internet comedy skits into a six-figure salary.

“When I first started, the majority of my friends and family were like, ‘What are you doing? You have a degree, go get a real job,’ ” Pindell said. “I still kept pushing it.”

After finishing his playing career, Pindell did everything to keep alive his hopes of playing professionally. He spent two seasons in the Canadian Football League before returning to school in search of other options.

He found it once he discovered YouTube. Pindell, who had seven interceptions during his Owls career, starting uploading videos to the site. At first, it was a struggle to catch on.

“At the time, I wasn’t really getting paid for it,” Pindell said. “I really got into it before people started making a career out of it.”

Pindell, 33, survived on his earnings from working as a substitute teacher in Broward County, slowly building a following from

constantly emailing videos to friends and family. He didn’t have a computer so he did most of his work on the FAU campus. In two years, he had 100,000 subscribers. That number jumped to a million a year later and advertising revenue began to flow.

“I was making as much as the assistant principal from YouTube,” Pindell said. “I was like, ‘I’ve got to get out of here.’ I still was a little timid to leave because I didn’t have health and dental benefits. Once I went full-time, my growth doubled because I was able to go all in.”

Persistence and confidence is nothing new for Pindell. He arrived at FAU as a walk-on and left as a mainstay in the starting lineup.

“He was always like that,” former teammate Kris Bartels said. “He didn’t have a scholarship. They told him they didn’t know if they had a spot for him but he was always ready to prove them wrong.”

Pindell takes the same approach to his social media career. He often knows what he’s filming 30 days in advance so he’s always ahead of schedule. He taught himself how to edit and learned everything else by watching instructional videos on Youtube.

“Even watching movies or TV shows, I’d watch them differently,” said Pindell, who holds a criminal justice degree. “I look at angles. I look at that insert. I look at that wide shot. Look at that close up. Look at the lighting. That’s how I got better.”

The videos mainly consist of comedic or parody routines, ranging from 10 ways to get a woman’s phone number on campus or comparing different types of teachers or students. He recently started a video-game channel that is gaining popularity.

Pindell is also savvy enough to drive web traffic by tying content with current events. Several of his videos the past month were related to soccer because of the World Cup. Pindell’s success has led him to places such as Jamaica, Brazil, New York and Toronto for work-related events.

Oftentimes, he poses for photos because of his popularity.

“It’s cool because I’m running into people I’ve never met before and they’re excited to see me,” Pindell said. “That’s a great feeling. That never gets old. I’m a laid-back person, but when the camera is on I’m high energy, yelling and I’m having fun. They expect that when they see me. Like a switch, I’ve just got to click on. But I love it. It’s a blessing.”

Pindell has eventual aspirations of doing films or television shows. His Internet experience once again may already have him ahead of the game.

“It’s pretty blatantly clear that TV and film space is dying down, even cable,” Pindell said. “Everybody is streaming. Everybody is on Netflix. I really just want to hone and continue to grow socially Initially, Hollywood was a little hesitant and would be like,O`h, they’re just YouTubers.’ But now you see a Will Smith finally getting on Instagram and [video blogging]. It’s the move. It’s what happening.”

Pindell