By: Airic Hughes 

Co-edited: Dr. Synetra Hughes

August 9, 2021

Grueling workouts and football camps during the peak of Arkansas summer heat are a staple part of the teambuilding process for high school programs throughout the state. Due to the covid pandemic, coaches, teams, and even media were forced to innovate new ways to showcase the game and the players that fans enthusiastically support. On the Hill Media (OTH) is the sports media production wing of Sauced Up Entertainment, owned by music producer and emerging entrepreneur Demetrius Johnson of Fayetteville, Arkansas. From July 28th to August 5th OTH directed and produced the inaugural 7A West High School Football Media Days out of a vision Johnson had after facing a business challenge.

Johnson reflected, “…the motivation behind this year’s 7A West media day special was being excluded from SEC media day. We've formally been attending SEC media days three years straight and this was the first year that we didn't get a formal invite.” OTH Media used ingenuity to turn one closed door into an unlimited future of opportunities for aspiring athletes. Johnson continued, “…I just wanted to take that same business model and give it to people that I felt could use it. And that was the high school level.”

The goal of the inaugural 7A West High School Football Media Days was to provide a platform to highlight upcoming regional gridiron stars. OTH visited the campuses of seven local programs, interviewing coaches and players at Bentonville, Bentonville West, Springdale Harber, Rogers Heritage, Fayetteville, Springdale, and Rogers High Schools. Johnson and OTH Media believe the future of sports media is bright in the next generation of football athletes. With more young players cashing in on their name, image, and likeness than ever, today’s high school star is tomorrow’s next big thing. Johnson commented, “…putting together this media day is going to be huge for not only Northwest Arkansas but the state of Arkansas as a whole. I think when you look at the name, image, and likeness coming so prevalent in the college world, you're going to start seeing more high schools want that media attention and want that social media attention and want guys to get away from just talking to the football and basketball and go to teams like your volleyball or track, your baseball’s because now there's a market for that.” Johnson, an entrepreneur since 2016, understood the implications for the changing landscape in youth athletics and recently shared some of his business experiences with athletes taking summer courses at the University of Arkansas.

“It's a business now. It's always been a business, but I feel like it's more of a business now, marketing an individual is becoming more valuable than actually being good at sports…that's why I feel like we're really going to change the game. High school coaches are understanding the value of it [media] and why they have to put their kids in front of cameras. And I think it benefits not only the student-athlete but actually the high school program doing it because it puts them on a larger brand.”

OTH employed an all-black production team including Pat Jenkins, host of On the Hill Sports Talk with Pat Jenkins, and media company Visionairi Enterprises to capture the historic tour. Johnson considered the impact of having an all-black production team provide services that gave audiences a glimpse into football programs in predominately white Northwest Arkansas. “To show people that we can come up with the same ideas and come with the same quality of work, so these guys aren't scared to hire us. Not only that, to be a representative of the media and showing these kids, there are more avenues than just playing the sport. For so long, kids have always been, ‘Hey, I want to play this sport, play the sport. That's where the money's at…’ but as [they] grow older and they're making changes like the name, image, and likeness, they're finding more opportunities of what you can do while playing the sport. And I think media exposure is one, it's huge just for the representation of us in Northwest Arkansas.”

Johnson continued, “for athletes to see us doing what we're doing, and then begin to ask them questions about how they can do it themselves and brand themselves and push their business. I think it brings awareness to coaches. Sometimes they haven't always interacted with our all-black media staff, so I think it puts their guard down to understand again, hey, these guys are just as qualified, if not more than this all-white staff."

On the Hill Media is carving a fresh and innovative niche in the sports media landscape. Their imaginative approach established a creative new format that other sports media coverage providers will likely also implement in the future. To learn more about OTH Media and the inaugural 7A West High School Football Media Days, visit the OTH Media Facebook page and follow OTH Media @OntheHillMedia on social platforms.