From Fan to Force in Sports Media

Graduating senior Connor Perkins leverages creativity, drive and a love of sports to carve his path in digital content creation.

By Jessica Weiss ’05

When Connor Perkins was 10 years old, he wasn’t thinking about social media strategy or career pipelines. He was just a diehard Washington football fan, obsessed with RGIII and DeSean Jackson, venting on Instagram about wins and losses like any passionate kid might.

“I was kind of just fanboying,” he said. “It was all for fun.” 

That casual fan page—started from his childhood bedroom in Virginia—would become the foundation of something much bigger. Today, with nearly 70,000 followers, @nflwashcommanders brings fans closer to their favorite team through a creative blend of news, highlights, jokes, nostalgia and more. A content creator, designer and entrepreneur, Perkins has spent the past decade building the brand, honing his craft and proving that sports fandom can fuel a successful media career. 

This week, he graduates with a degree in communication, a major he’s shaped around his goals in sports. Along the way, he completed five for-credit internships—balancing two at once during both of his final semesters—while maintaining a 3.9 GPA.

“Connor is one of the best examples I have seen of turning passion into action,’” said Paula Nadler, director of student affairs and curricular initiatives in the College of Arts and Humanities. “He’s a great reminder that if you dream it, you can do it—and it’s exciting to see his hard work and creativity paying off.”

For Perkins, it all started with a dream of going pro.

“I grew up playing football, watching football. My original goal was to make it to the NFL,” he said. “When I realized I wasn't going to the NFL, I knew I still wanted to be close to sports.” 

That athlete’s mindset stuck with him.

“I just don’t believe in failure,” he said. “There are hiccups and obstacles, sure. But I expect myself to succeed.” 

When Perkins arrived at UMD, he knew he wanted to work in sports media—but wasn’t sure of the best academic path. He started in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, inspired in part by a high school summer program he attended there. But he wasn’t drawn to traditional news reporting. 

Next he explored the business school, but realized the curriculum wasn’t the right fit. Then he found communication—and everything started to click. He chose the media and digital communication track, which examines how messages are produced and disseminated to audiences by traditional and emerging digital media.

“There are so many different directions that you can take a communication degree both in school and once you graduate,” he said. “It really felt like the world was my oyster.” 

In addition to his courses in the major, he enrolled in classes in other disciplines, like “Hoop Dreams: Black Masculinity and Sport” in the Department of Kinesiology and “Are Sports Ethical?” in the Department of Philosophy. He worked closely with faculty mentors to refine his skills and took full advantage of hands-on opportunities.

As a result, Perkins’ resume is packed with real-world experience. He began as a social media intern with Maryland Athletics at the start of his junior year and stayed on through graduation. There, he did it all—Instagram strategy, video production and even graphic design, a skill he picked up by peppering a department designer with questions while learning Photoshop.

Then he landed an internship with The 33rd Team, a media platform and think tank focused on NFL analysis, where he deepened his design expertise through graphics-heavy work.

But the real game-changer came this past spring as an intern with Bleacher Report. Working remotely, he contributed content ideas across Instagram, X, YouTube and TikTok. He collaborated in real time with teams on Slack, gaining insights into the fast-moving, highly coordinated world of a major media brand. His work on more than 40 projects resulted in over 168 million views.

When Bleacher Report was looking for ways to optimize Instagram's long carousel format, Perkins pitched the concept of time capsules, a series that capitalized on a sense of recent nostalgia by telling the story of a year—or a season—in sports in 20 photos. His work was even reshared by LeBron James on his Instagram account. 

“Bleacher Report has always been on my vision board,” Perkins says. “Getting the chance to work with them was a dream. It was everything I hoped for and more.”

Now, Perkins is ready to take the next step. This summer, he’ll freelance at the FIFA Club World Cup in Washington, D.C., and work on monetizing his Commanders page. He plans to continue building the platform, pursue new freelance opportunities and keep growing as a media entrepreneur.

His goal is clear: to stay close to the game—and to build something meaningful.

“I want to do special things with my career and with the content that I'm creating, and I want to impact people,” he said. “It's a lot of hard work, but at the end of the day, it’s football, it's basketball, it’s passionate fans. For me, it just doesn't get much better than that.”