Brad Kraut had a five-year plan: get a job with Cuts Clothing, work and build connections for three to five years, and start his own agency. Kraut certainly made connections and was featured in large media outlets after working out with Mark Wahlberg. 

Kraut graduated from Penn State in May with a degree in public relations, but not before cementing himself as a campus celebrity. Kraut’s goal was to try as many things as possible while at school, which he accomplished by getting involved as soon as possible as a freshman. 

After graduating, Kraut had to figure out where to go next.

“All this led up to me, seven, eight weeks ago sitting down with myself, just thinking about my life and all the content that I’ve put out there. Just me as a person. And I decided, ‘I was put on this Earth to truly have a positive impact on society,'” Kraut said. “I think social media is filled with negative, toxic bullshit. And I feel that there really are need for more positive creators out there. I feel that through my experiences in college, I just had a plan of action of going back to these colleges to try to have a positive impact on each campus that I go to.”

Kraut has been traveling to college campuses since the start of the semester, documenting his journey and posting videos from LSU, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and Clemson. He hopes to hit the college markets and leave each campus with a positive impact. 

While touring schools, Kraut’s been collaborating with student-athletes, creating content, and aiming to instill his “Kick The Sheets” mindset in as many as possible. 

After going to the different colleges and talking to student-athletes, Kraut realized everyone had the same mindset. They all want to be a winner. 

“We all want to compete in everyday life, and I feel that with society right now, that’s not the standard and that’s not what these college students are being taught,” Kraut said. “They’re kind of taught to go through the motions, hone in on their academics, and that’s it. When in reality you need to experience a lot more outside of your academics.” 

Instead of following the typical path of graduating and going straight into the corporate world, Kraut is taking advantage of his connections to inspire college students in a way he wishes he had been during his college years. By staying true to himself, Kraut made meaningful connections that eventually led to actor Mark Wahlberg filming a video with him at Clemson.

“What I realized is when you stay true to yourself, when you’re organically your authentic self, the right people will gravitate towards you,” Kraut said. “I had the opportunity to talk to Mark for 30 minutes, and within that 30 minutes he bought into Kick The Sheets, and what I was doing in the mission I’m on, and it led me to have a workout with him in the morning.”

Kraut got his first experience in social media marketing as a freshman promoting his friend’s brand Jerpa. The academic weapon moved on to an internship with Cuts Clothing where he worked with professional athletes and caught the attention of then Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford. All the while, Kraut kept up with social media. 

“All of this, I document on my social media, the more you put out there, the more opportunity could come your way and people can see what you’re up to,” Kraut said. “It’s almost like I was using my social media as a digital resume.” 

Kraut took on everything he was offered, and in his junior year, he was balancing 15 hours a week with Cuts Clothing, building the agency with Clifford, doing branding and marketing for Jerpa, and being a full-time college student staying fit and living in a fraternity. All of this inspired Kraut to create the brand and mission he still has today, “Kick The Sheets.” 

Kraut started waking up at 5 a.m. and kicking his sheets to begin the day, and it changed his life. Not only did he thrive, but he decided to share his routine and went viral. 

“My senior year, I kind of just drop everything I was doing and I go all in on myself and my brand,” Kraut said. “Once I made that jump, I was at like 42,000 followers on TikTok. In early September of last year, six or seven weeks later, I grew my account to over 500,000 followers.”

Kraut started posting 30-60 videos a day and went “ultra viral” with his academic weapon video and “when the pot’s hot, the pot’s hot,” he said. Kraut had no real strategy but kept posting and being as authentic and relatable to college students as possible.

Throughout last year, Kraut attended the Profesional Fighter’s League, met Wiz Khalifa, fought in the Barstool Sports boxing premiere, worked with YouTuber Nick Nayersina, and was on a Barstool Sports reality show with Brianna Chickenfry and Josh Richards. 

With his continued success in his “Kick The Sheets” mindset, Kraut aims to go bigger. His plans to eventually reach the elites of the social media world and use his platform to show his followers that it’s not just him with this mindset, it’s all the greats of the world. 

Kraut is returning to Penn State in November for the Nittany Lions’ football game against Michigan and plans to do something special for the Penn State community where “Kick The Sheets” mindset and the Academic Weapon all began.