He's been seen over 23 million times on the internet, but when Auburn students see him in the Panda Express line, he is just another student craving teriyaki chicken.
Drew Morris, a self-proclaimed super senior in media studies, came to Auburn with the career goal of working in the film industry.
During his second year on the Plains, he started making YouTube videos of him playing and commenting on video games — specifically Madden and NCAA Football. He enjoyed it as a fun hobby, but his account took off after a few years.
“I talk to myself in my room and play video games,” Morris said with a laugh. “Once you really think about it, that’s weird, but that’s what I do for a living.”
With over 120,000 subscribers, making YouTube videos is no longer just a hobby, it has become a full-time job and pays all his bills.
“It’s still work,” Morris said. “Playing video games for a living, it sounds like all fun and games, but you still got to plan things out, got to make sure you’re keeping your uploads consistent and high quality.”
Morris said it was difficult at first to find the balance between school and YouTube.
“Sometimes I’ll be like, ‘I have to get this assignment done’ because school should take priority, but then other times I was like, ‘this school isn’t making me money,’” Morris said with a laugh. “It’s actually losing me money. Sometimes I shouldn’t have been, but I focused on my videos and probably took priority, and that’s why I’m a C student."
Family and friends have wondered what has given him this huge following, but Morris said he wonders too. He said he thinks it might have to do with his natural approach.
So, how does a student get an audience the size of a full Jordan-Hare Stadium to watch him play video games?
“I don’t really know,” he said. “I think it’s just because I’m so casual, and I’m just myself as much as I can be. I feel like that hits home for a lot of people in my age range, and that’s my main audience. I’m just a goofball. I make a lot of jokes. I don’t take anything too seriously, so if I mess up, it’s whatever. I’m just a guy.”
Many YouTube gamers have a reputation for intense, curse-laced videos, but Morris does not fit that mold.
“I’ll get mad, but I won’t be audibly yelling at the game,” Morris said. “I’ll just be like ‘crap’ or ‘dang it, didn’t mean to do that,’ and then just move on because it is a video game at the end of the day.”
His lax approach is why he chose the name “Not the Expert” for his channel.
“If this goofball can do it, literally anybody can,” he added with a smile. Morris has also become known by his subscribers as “Big Ole Drewski,” which one of his friends just randomly called him once early on in his gaming career.
Even with a large amount of success, the notoriety has not crept into the Auburn Family. He said he’s only been approached by three or four students about his YouTube career. However, Ric Smith, instructor in media studies, brought it up as an example in one of Morris’ classes.
“It was a little awkward at first, but then people seemed to like it, so I was like, ‘this is pretty cool,’” he said.
In his bio on Twitter and Instagram, he refers to himself as “Panda Express addict” and “Poor man’s Tony Romo.”
As with any public figure, Morris’ audience has picked out several of his characteristics that can be seen throughout the comments on his videos and his social media, but he embraces it.
“I grew a beard the past six months for the first time in my life, but when it’s shaved, I look legit like Tony Romo’s son,” Morris said. “I could pull up a picture, and it’s weird. That’s what all the comments would say, so I bought a Tony Romo jersey because of it.”
The reference to his affinity for Panda Express is because his fans would comment on how often he would talk about one of his favorite spots to eat on campus, and it has turned into a running joke between him and his fans.
Playing off the panda theme, Morris jokes about a fictional terrible football team he called “the University of Georgia Fairburn Pandas,” which he features in some of his videos.
“People love the pandas,” Morris said. “They’re always commenting like, ‘when’s the next one coming out?’”
Fans even asked Morris to start selling merchandise featuring the fictional university. Ironically, the games that have brought attention to his channel aren’t necessarily his favorite games to play. He enjoys Madden and NCAA, but there are many others that he enjoys just as much, if not more.
Morris said he’s had a lot of amazing opportunities come from his notoriety. EA Sports, one of the largest video game manufacturers, recently flew him out to Los Angeles to test and give feedback on unreleased games.
“Incredibly humbling — it’s crazy that they would fly out just some kid from Alabama to play video games,” Morris said.
As far as he knows, Morris has the largest YouTube presence of any Auburn gamer, but if not he would love to get in touch with them. Entering his final semester on the Plains, Morris knows he will be continuing his career as a YouTuber, but he is not exactly sure where his home will be following graduation.
“As long as it’s got good internet, I’ll be okay.”
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