When Isaac Rochell’s wife, Allison Kuch, began posting on TikTok in 2020, the veteran NFL defensive end had some hesitations about leaping onto the viral video bandwagon.
But upon sharing glimpses into his home and NFL life later in the year, including a pre-game nighttime routine that amassed more than one million views, Rochell saw the potential as to where this unique social media journey could possibly go.
“My wife started posting and I was like, I don’t know if I want to be on the Internet like dancing and doing all of these corny things, so I let her do it,” the 28-year-old Rochell recently told The Post.
“And then I posted a nighttime routine and it got some intense engagement and then that’s where I started kind of being like, ‘Alright, let me get into this a little bit more.’ We kept leaning into it, kept leaning into it and then now, we’re kind of where we are now.”
Rochell and Kuch boast more than four million followers combined between their TikTok pages, which the NFL pro called “a very steady climb.”
“I think there’s a lot of benefits to that cause you’re building an audience that’s very engaged,” he said.
The longtime couple — who met during their college years before eloping in late 2020 — frequently features one another in their TikTok videos, with Kuch often giving fans a candid look at the unseen realities of life in the NFL.
For one, sudden relocations in the middle of a season, which is something Rochell and Kuch experienced last year.
A former Notre Dame product who began his career with the Chargers in 2017, Rochell signed with the Browns in 2022 after spending a season with the Colts.
Then in December, Rochell terminated his practice squad contract with the Browns and finished the year in Las Vegas as a member of the Raiders.
Though thankful for his time in Cleveland, the 2022 season was “challenging” for Rochell.
“What was super difficult is the ups and downs and that’s very hard to separate from cause, [I] made the team, got cut the next day, got re-signed, got cut a couple of weeks later, it was just very up and down. It made it difficult mentally,” he said.
“Then we had this light at the end of the tunnel where Vegas signed me and my wife and I were like, it’s all positive.”
Beyond the business of football, Rochell’s growing social media profile has led to opportunities off the field as well.
Among those ventures is a partnership with Visionworks, an eye care provider that’s recognizing Healthy Vision Month with the release of a new campaign, “Subtitles,” that’s emphasizing the importance of annual eye exams.
Because he’s on the field several months at a time and “can’t just throw on a pair of sunglasses,” Rochell has remained vigilant about getting his eyes checked multiple times a year.
As for what’s next, the current free agent is training every day as his next NFL chapter looms.
“Every year [free agency’s] been different for me, this one’s just taking a little bit longer, but now I’m at the point where there’s teams that I’ll have workouts with and things like that, and then it’s really just figuring out what’s the best opportunity, so that’s kind of where we’re at now,” he said.
“My focus is just take advantage of the time that I have now, both in my training and everything that Ally and I are doing, and then, when I get that call, and the opportunity presents itself then it’s like, you can’t look back, right? You just go and roll with it.”
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