By: Norm Corrion
At 18-years-old, Delta’s Brandon Earls is a very accomplished professional cornhole player, racking up big tournament wins and even appearing on ESPN. Earls became the 2023 ACL (American Cornhole League) college national champion. But he isn’t stopping there.
The big goal for Earls is to win it all and become the world champion. Another goal is to start a cornhole club at Delta. Earls took some time to discuss cornhole and his plans for a cornhole club here at Delta.
Q: How did you get into cornhole?
A: I started in 2018. Me and my buddy Grant, we played in a junior’s tournament in Freeland, and we ended up winning. In 2020 when Covid hit I really started playing it because it was one of the only sports where there wasn’t a bunch of contact. You could just play. I started playing more competitively, and next thing I know I just took off from there.
Q: What do you like most about cornhole?
A: The thing that I like the most is just the community; the family that you build with all the people. These people just become close with you and you’re like a family.
Q: Did you know you wanted to be a professional player right away?
A: Kind of. When I started playing I was like, “Oh, I don’t know if I can get to where these guys are at.” I started making some little improvements and kept practicing every day, and then I was like, “Maybe I could.” Then I went to worlds – I think it was two years ago – and I made it pro. And I was like, “Oh my god, I’m a pro.” It was just a surreal moment.
Q: What does it take to be a professional cornhole player?
A: The biggest thing is just practice. As much practice as you can put in, just making sure to get those reps in, being more consistent. That’s the biggest thing really.
Q: Do you practice a lot?
A: During the winter it’s not as easy to. Usually what I do is when I go to these leagues and blind draws I go a little earlier so that I can get my normal reps in, my practice. But then during the summer I have a setup in the backyard that I practice on almost every day for a couple hours at least.
Q: What is your training routine like? Do you practice different throws or anything else special?
A: I have different training routines, but I also have, like, a photographic memory. So when I see a scenario on the board in a game that I mess up, I remember to implement it in my practice routine so I could figure out what to do in that situation. Just practicing different shots and stuff like that, making them more routine.
Q: Do you have a coach?
A: Not necessarily. I had some people that I’ve used as mentors; listen to them, their thoughts and what they had to say about it like Joe Kniesteadt. Some top level pros that have helped me along the way. Not really a coach because I kind of taught myself in a way, like going on YouTube watching tutorials and videos to help me learn certain shots and get better.
Q: What’s it like winning one of these big events?
A: It’s pretty cool. You get a lot of messages from people saying congratulations. You got a lot of people watching on YouTube and on TV, seeing you on there. A lot of little kids look up to me and come up to get autographs.
Q: What motivates you to play?
A: I would say the thing that motivates me the most is just seeing how the people react. The people who support me continue to support me and seeing how proud they are that I do good at a tournament. It’s pretty cool to see, especially my little brother – seeing him wanting to get more involved in it and trying to help motivate him by doing good.
Q: Do you play in a lot of local events?
A: I try to do a lot of local stuff during the week so I can still support the people who supported me when I first started. They like seeing me come out there, and a lot of the people who are newer to the game don’t know much about the sport. So I try to help teach them and help them get better.
Q: Any advice you would give someone who wanted to enter professional cornhole?
A: Listen to the right people, the people who have already done it and have already been there. Don’t listen to the haters and the people that have never been there, they’re just going to give you bad advice or try to persuade you from doing what you love.
Q: You are thinking about starting a cornhole club at Delta?
A: Yes, once I get the winnings from the tournament I’m going to use part of it to start the club. I started one at my old high school in Freeland, and that one went pretty well. They’re still going right now; I pop in every once in a while to help coach.
Q: What do you expect the club to be like?
A: We’re going to start off having a little fun with it. You know, play some, learn how to throw the bag the correct way, try to get it flat and all this other stuff. Then after that, we’ll work towards playing tournaments and playing against each other. Eventually, hopefully we can start competing against other schools like Adrian College. They got a big cornhole club and there are some other colleges that I’ve seen. Then eventually maybe we can go as a team down to the college national championships.
Q: Anything else you’d want to mention?
A: If you want to play cornhole, join the club.
Earls is looking for members for the cornhole club and suggests anyone interested reach out to him at brandonearls@delta.edu.
