After growing up watching ESPN, this Baylor alum just won an Emmy at the network

You may remember the name Deonte Epps (BA ’13) from a post we wrote a couple of years ago, as the Baylor alum was working his dream job at ESPN as a content creator. Today, Epps is not only a content associate (a promotion from his last role); he’s also an Emmy winner, thanks to his work with ESPN’s NFL Live, which won the Emmy for Outstanding Studio Show – Daily.

At first, Epps didn’t know he was part of the winning team, because he had only been with the show for three months. But it turned out that he was a part of the contribution cycle that was submitted for the award.

“I thought, ‘Wow, great for those guys,’ because I’m not really on the team from a year-to-year basis, but I was on during those three months,” Epps says. “And then a friend of mine from the show hit me up. He said, ‘Man, we won!’ I thought, ‘What??’ And I saw my name in the credits as a content associate, and thought, ‘Wow, Emmy winner.’ So great.”

The last few years have been filled with an incredible amount of growth for Epps, from being part of the NFL Live team to attending the Super Bowl. As part of the Countdown crew for Super Bowl LIX, Epps stepped up.

“Having to step up into one of those kinds of leadership roles is something that didn’t bother me because in my career, I’ve done so many things,” he recalls. “I was a sports journalist for KXXV for a while, I was a teacher — middle school and high school. So the leadership part, it comes second nature to me. Stepping up into that role this season was cool.”

As Epps has grown in his career, he says the biggest lesson he’s learned is to ask questions. Growing up, Epps was an “A” student and always did his best to figure out things on his own, not wanting to ask others for help for fear of the perception that he didn’t know what he was doing.

“It sounds so simple, but when we’re producing content, it’s so important,” he says. “Because you don’t want to be in a predicament where you guess, ‘Maybe this producer wants this shot of this player, or this sound of this player saying this.’ And then you don’t ask, and then it runs on the air, and it’s not what they want — that can cause issues. And most everyone that I’ve talked to above me that I look up to, they appreciate that, they want it. They want you to ask questions and get feedback.”

July will mark three years at ESPN for Epps, and he’s excited to see what the future holds.

“It doesn’t feel like work to me, it feels like… When I talk to my wife or my parents, I always take a step back and think about the fact that there’s a million people in the world that would want to be in this position, and I’m one of the ones that are there,” Epps says. “So, I always make sure that I’m not taking it for granted and keep that in my mind, in my heart. I’m here, and I’m blessed to be in this position.”

Sic ’em, Deonte!