NORMAN, Okla. — The Oklahoma football program’s relationship with one of its stars began — as many things begin these days — with a tweet.
A little more than a month before his retirement, then-Sooners coach Bob Stoops’ Twitter account sent out a call for students “interested in graphic design, video and digital media” to work for the football program. Zack Hefley, an OU student from Frisco, Texas, with a knack for video production and editing, sent his résumé and a few work examples to Cole Smith, Oklahoma football’s director of design.
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“Cole told me right away, ‘I think we found someone who’s really, really good,’ ” said Rajeeb Hossain, who was on OU’s recruiting staff at the time and now works at SMU.
Hefley quickly became extremely valuable to the Sooners’ recruiting and social media efforts, producing several high-quality videos that went viral. Any video tweeted by OU’s official football account or coach Lincoln Riley almost certainly came from Hefley. From the time he was hired in May 2017 through last summer, he was working full-time hours as a student employee. But in August, Hefley was promoted into a full-time position. His title is “Director of Football Content” and he might be the poster child of how much the Sooners’ recruiting efforts — online, anyway — have changed under Riley.
Hefley played a huge part in the Sooners’ 2018 and 2019 signing day video series that were roundly praised for their creativity. In 2018, each signee had an individual video that showed past stars, current players and coaches looking through stacks of playing cards until they found the prospect. This year, the concept was similar, except this time it showed folks thumbing through albums in a record store.
David, the future starts now.
Welcome home-
@D_U_30https://t.co/yngbIhVrkV#OUDNA #NewWave19 pic.twitter.com/5YOfjnv2O4— Lincoln Riley (@LincolnRiley) February 6, 2019
Hefley has been given shout-outs on Twitter by both of Oklahoma’s recent Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks — Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray — for career wrap-up videos.
In his time at Oklahoma, Hefley has been offered jobs by other college football programs, and all this for a guy who wasn’t all that interested in sports until he started working for the Sooners.
Oklahoma declined to make Hefley available for an interview, but in interviews with people who know him, a picture emerges of someone with skills well beyond his years and who has a bright future in college football — unless he ultimately decides to pursue a career in music, work he still does on the side from time to time.
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“He does great work,” Hossain said. “He’s smart. He thinks outside the box. He’s almost like a genius in that realm.
“The proof is the fact that they paid him enough money that he quit school.”
Becky Hohmann first met Hefley when the then-freshman enrolled in one of her broadcast courses at Frisco’s Wakeland High, in the Dallas suburbs. By that time, Hefley already was skilled.
“He had done some stuff in junior high and had done a lot on his own, just because he loved doing it,” Hohmann said. “He had plenty of skills when he got to me; we just helped polish them up.”
In high school, Hefley won state honors for videography and worked on a Wakeland High television news show — both in front of and behind the camera. But what Hohmann really remembers is the work ethic. She sometimes would have to kick Hefley out of her classroom at certain hours just so she could go home, and she remembers him carrying a camera just about everywhere he went.
While in high school, Hefley started shooting weddings, doing work for businesses and things like that.
“I think it takes both a left- and right-brain talent,” Hohmann said. “You have to be creative to stand out from the crowd, to be able to look at something and visualize how it would be on film, how it would look once edited, the things it would need to be successful.
“But, additionally, you have to have the other side of your brain really strong, too. You can have the most creative idea in the world, but if it makes no sense and doesn’t tell a story, you’re lost. You have to be both creative and analytical. He also has a wonderful head on his shoulders for business.”
Nick Mueller is a music manager who grew up with Hefley in Frisco. The two played hockey together as youngsters and were friends, but after Mueller went into music management and Hefley began his video work, they became business partners of sorts.
Mueller would toss some work Hefley’s way when there was a concert or music video to shoot. That arrangement continues to this day with opportunities in Oklahoma City or Dallas — provided, of course, Hefley’s schedule with the Sooners allows it. Hefley has shot for several artists, including TELYKast and Adrian Stresow.
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“No one has to tell you he’s great; you can just tell he’s great because of the energy he gives off,” Mueller said. “A lot of his success has to do with the way he approaches opportunities. He doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable situations.
“There are a lot of people who are just as talented as him when it comes to putting film together, making edits and stuff, but what sets him apart is how he works through certain situations, and his ability to foresee where things need to go.”
What many close to Hefley couldn’t have necessarily foreseen when he was in high school is that he could make a career out of video in the sports world.
Neither of the two videos Hefley sent in response to that Stoops tweet were sports-related. As a matter of fact, Hefley never shot a sporting event until he followed Riley onto Owen Field for Oklahoma’s 2017 season opener.
“This has been a little surprising to me, if I’m being honest with you,” Mueller said. “He loves what he does; it’s just that his end goal was definitely not to be in sports. But with the opportunity and the platform that OU has given him, I guess it doesn’t really surprise me that he’s stuck around this long.”
Hefley’s tenure at Oklahoma coincides with the Sooners’ most successful recruiting stretch in several years. The Sooners’ recruiting class ranked ninth in the 2018 247Sports Composite rankings and sixth in 2019. Between 2011 and 2016, OU’s average team ranking was 14.8.
The Sooners’ recruiting resurgence began when Riley was hired as offensive coordinator. His vision and Hefley’s emergence are examples of the emphasis Riley has put on bolstering the recruiting staff.
“We’ve come a long ways, even in the last couple years,” Riley said last summer when asked about the recruiting staff. “We needed to add people in recruiting. We were behind in that area, frankly. … We’re a lot closer to where we need to be.”
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But the video content Hefley produces is undoubtedly having an impact. This month, SkullSparks — a company that, according to its website, “develops digital and design strategy for college sports clients” — released numbers showing that both the OU football account and Riley’s personal account outpaced their contemporaries in terms of most interactions on Twitter.
A lot of that is because of Hefley’s video content. One example came in the run-up to the 2017 season’s Rose Bowl semifinal against Georgia; Hefley recorded former OU linebacker Eric Striker rapping outside the Sooners’ Los Angeles practice facility and interspersed it with the 2006 viral video of OU receiver Malcolm Kelly freestyling in the locker room after that year’s Big 12 Championship Game.
Time to take it –#BoomerSooner #OUDNA pic.twitter.com/9wzsNB7v6j
— Lincoln Riley (@LincolnRiley) December 31, 2017
Jack Patterson, the vice president for digital and social media at collegiate marketer Learfield IMG College based in Dallas, has become a mentor of sorts for Hefley. Oklahoma is one of many collegiate institutions around the country represented by Learfield IMG College.
“Zack does a great job, really in a very modern way, of telling that story in bite-sized, cool, relevant, contextual video and content that’s been powerful,” Patterson said. “The results are showing, just in the interest and engagement in social media.”
Hossain, who has worked in college football recruiting since 2004 at several schools, said it’s hard to quantify the impact such videos have on recruits’ decisions.
“But I do think it plays a factor subliminally,” Hossain said. “It may not be something that they would openly say, ‘That it is the reason, blah, blah, blah,’ but the simple exposure you get off it is helpful. The more times people get their eyes on it, it helps grow your brand that much more.”
Hefley absolutely has helped in that regard while also making quite a name for himself in the industry.
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And it all started with a tweet.
“He talks about that with a lot of younger kids that reach out to him,” Mueller said. “ ‘How do you do this?’ Nowadays with the power of social media and the internet, you’re literally a day away from the biggest opportunity of your life. He shot his shot and it happened.”