When folks think of Jay Arnold, they might think of mayonnaise.

It’s Dec. 30, 2022 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Former Texas A&M defensive lineman Jay Arnold is on national television shoving as much mayonnaise as he can down his gullet as part of a “millionth fan” promotion with the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.

It’s a promotional stunt designed to entertain fans and allow the game to stick out from the dozens of other bowl games during December. And a stunt like that needs a personality to match. 

That’s where Arnold comes in. The former A&M player has become a sort of traveling jester of the college football — and sports as a whole — world, the jolly giant eating barbeque, drinking shoeys and meeting fans wherever he goes. The bucket-of-mayonnaise trip is only his most well-known appearance.

“I’m here for the shared experiences that we all get to have as sports fans and fans of food,” Arnold said. “… I don’t do this for me as much as I do it just to hopefully have some great conversations with people over shared love.”

But make no mistake: Arnold knows his ball. Just ask Dave Campbell’s Texas Football senior writer and Arnold’s Aggie War Pod co-host Mike Craven.

“I think most people see Jay as this big, jolly, mayonnaise-eating, road-tripping, singing Creed; you see him doing the silly stuff and having a lot of fun,” Craven said. “He’s a really funny guy, right? He’s the humor of our show. He breaks it up because I can be a little too serious, so that works with us, but he’s a really smart football mind. He played it for a long time. He understands more positions in the defensive line. I think that’s probably a thing that Jay doesn’t get enough credit for.”

Arnold played under former A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin and late defensive line coach Terry Price after arriving at A&M as a 3-star recruit.

After a successful playing career, Arnold found a niche in content creation while writing a handful of posts for Good Bull Hunting, the A&M SB Nation blog.

“I was always an avid reader growing up,” Arnold said. “And reading kind of transferred its way into writing, and through writing and the opportunity that I had to do some of that, I’ve just kind of got into all other aspects of the content creation world, whether that’s podcasting or videos or whatever.”

Fast-forward nearly a decade, and Arnold has had his hand in various pursuits: The Aggie War Pod with Craven, NASCAR content for Apollo Media and the Houston Chronicle’s SEC power rankings as well as miscellaneous mixed-martial art and barbeque content whenever something comes up.

“These are all just things that I’m passionate about,” Arnold said. “And that makes it a little bit easier to take the time to sit down and do content on them because they’re subjects that I would watch and I would consume no matter what, even if I wasn’t doing content. I would still be watching college football, I would still be watching NASCAR, I’d still be watching MMA and I’d still be eating barbecue.”

Arnold’s flagship piece of adventure is #SendJayAway. What started as a Twitter poll tournament to see which game he would attend during A&M’s bye week in 2022 has blossomed into an annual way for Arnold to put a spotlight on the outsiders and unseen parts of college football by allowing fans to vote on which game he will attend — be it an SEC clash or a Division III rivalry.

“It’s getting to go to places that maybe you know may not be on the top of everybody’s radar,” Arnold said. “I get to shine a light on them and get to experience the things that make those places special to people.”

Last season’s trip took him to NCAA Division II South Dakota School of Mines & Technology’s O’Harra Stadium, one of the more unique venues in the country due to its three tiers of parking spaces used instead of stands in a drive-in fashion that allows fans to tailgate while watching the game.

“Last year’s road trip up to South Dakota Mines, I think, has to be one of the coolest experiences of my life,” Arnold said. “Not just in content, but getting to see a part of the country that’s not talked about enough. … It’s just such a unique experience. And it was really cool to get to see firsthand.”

While Arnold styles himself as a content creator, it’s easy to see how he could fit the influencer label.

An influencer is loosely defined as a social media personality who influences people’s decision-making, according to Texas A&M assistant professor of marketing Buffy Mosley, whose work focuses on social media.

“I would define it as somebody who connects with a group of people in a way in which they can — I don’t want to say persuade, but that kind of thing,” Mosley said. “That might sound like it has [malicious] intent, but your words and what you say has influence over their subsequent actions, right?”

Arnold has certainly found a niche influencing the subset of football fans that also have his interest in the underappreciated — the kind who would shop at Homefield Apparel, the vintage collegiate apparel company for which Arnold offers a discount code for his 16,000 followers on X.

“Everybody knows Jay,” Craven said. “He’s a big fan favorite. All the diehards really love Jay. All the sickos from all these really small schools are big Jay Arnold fans.”

But the biggest influence Arnold hopes to have isn’t about products or promotions or things fans buy: It’s putting a spotlight on the people he is able to meet through his content and trips like #SendJayAway.

“There’s something that’s hard to put into words about how great it is to see people talk about something that they enjoy,” Arnold said. “And that’s always something that makes my content journey so worth it for me.”

While Arnold hasn’t been able to make a full-time career out of his content yet, Craven says he has a spot in the business.

“As somebody who’s been in this for a while, one of the things I enjoy is watching young guys find their voice,” Craven said. “… It’s always fun to kind of watch people improve and get more confidence in it, and it’s been fun watching Jay do that. I think he’s got a future in this stuff if he wants it.”

This story was originally published on The Battalion on November 1, 2024.