
Dale Earnhardt Jr. gets an in-depth look into the world of professional gaming as he sits down with renowned Madden NFL player Civil. Born Kenny Cox in Michigan, Civil began playing Madden at age 16 and quickly rose to prominence after winning some highly publicized tournaments. His road forward wasn’t clear, though, and for a time, he began working at FedEx while attending college, pursuing a degree in criminal justice. Eventually, he’d pick the game back up and took to teaching other players how to better their game, which launched his social media empire that he operates today.
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Dale Jr.
Why were you not happy?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
It wasn't fulfilling. Like, it wasn't. It felt like it was never enough and there was always something I was trying to chase after. It became very obvious very quickly that no matter what next goal I hit, whether it was a dollar amount, whether it was like a subscriber count, whatever it was was not going to be like, oh, Kenny's satisfied now. And so I just went looking. I looked for, like, partying. I looked in, like, relationships. I looked in, in every which way that you could possibly look. Trying to find, like, okay, maybe I need to be around, like, other youtubers. My friends just don't get it. No, that's not it. Maybe other entrepreneurs, like, no, that's not it. For some reason I remember thinking this so clearly. Like, dude, like, you are about to crash, you idiot. And I remember thinking, like, I should look into, like, another place called church.
Dale Jr.
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Dale Jr.
Hey Everybody, it's Dale Jr. Back again for another Dale Jr. Download here in the Arby studio. This episode is presented by Arby's Meet in three Boxes. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats and we got a pretty cool guest for you today. I'm excited about this. For all of my life, I've been a gamer. I've played video games. I love them. I'm 51 years old and I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm just as crazy about them today as I've always been. And I could list all of the games that I've played over the years and the ones that I've loved. We've talked about them on this show. I won't bore you with all of the, the full list, but one game that, that I really have enjoyed. You know, I fancy, I fancy myself as a young kid either being a race car driver or being a football player. And you know, we dream of being something when we're kids and man, I wanted to play for, for Washington in the NFL. If I couldn't be my dad, I was going to, I was hoping that that might happen for me, but I never grew into the football player frame that I was hoping for. But I can play on my Xbox or the PlayStations that I've had over the years with Madden and college football. College football went away in 2014. We didn't think it'd ever come back, but EA Sports brought it back last year and it was a massive, massive bit of energy and excitement around that game returning. And tj, who has been the commissioner for a dynasty in Madden for over a decade, he's had a Madden dynasty that he's managed for over 15 years that I was a part of at one point. He started a dynasty for college football. There are 32 users, 32 members in this and we're on a discord and we communicate daily. It's where I go to talk all my buddies. And it is a big part of my everyday life, more so than Amy would like, but I have a lot of fun with it. I really pour a lot of my competitive nature into things like that. It's just an outlet, a hobby, and I've wanted to get good at it. And so by trying to become one of the better players in the league so that I could try to win the national championship every year I went looking for content creators and people that were talking about this game and how I could improve. And I ran across Civil. And so today I learned his real name's Kenny, but he's known as Siv or civil on YouTube and social media. He won a big tournament for Madden many, many years ago that put him kind of on the map in terms of a professional player. And he has since trans, you know, transformed into a concrete creator and a guy that just kind of, you know, gives daily videos with tips and ideas. And I thought that was great. He was one of two or three, four guys that I, that I click the, the subscribe or the follow button on YouTube and I see their videos every day. And then one day, and he's got a great, he's got great energy, easy to listen to, very helpful. Seems like he just really, truly wants you to get better at what you're doing. And so it's easy, easy content to absorb. And then one day I saw that he had posted on his Twitter and pinned the post of being baptized and that he had, you know, he had recently dove into the Bible and man, it was really having this great effect on his life. And I grew up in a world and a generation where we didn't talk about politics, we didn't talk about religion. You just didn't have those conversations. And that was kind of understood. Of course, we've shifted quite a ways away from that. Whereas, you know, it's talked about, it's not as kind of uncommon, I suppose, but I saw him post about, you know, his decision to, to read the Bible and get to know the Lord and all that, and I was like, wow, I'd be interested into, I'd be interested, interested in having a conversation with him about that and what, what, what, what went behind that decision, what drove him to that decision and the decision to share. So I thought that I was interested in that. So I thought, why not see if he'd come on the show and we could talk about it and everyone could listen and also obviously wanted to know about his content creating decisions he makes and why he creates the content. He creates and, you know, his thoughts about a game, a video game that I absolutely love to play. So I'm, I'm looking forward to bringing him in the room. I've never met him. I've talked to him on social media, seen his videos, but have yet to really even see him out in the lobby here at Junior Motorsports. He came all this way from Texas, came into town early. I know he's been bopping around, doing some things. Rock, Rock, mountain mountain. Rock crawling or something. He's into fitness, so he's been doing some things here around Mooresville, I suppose, but I want to get him in here, so let's see where this goes. Kenny Civil on the Dale Jr. Download. Man, I'm excited about this. Yeah, yeah, I know we talked a little bit on DM over the last year or two since they started, you know, brought the game back. Yeah. And it's been a lot of fun, kind of trying to get better at the game but also learning from content creators and how you guys have found a way to make a living.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah.
Dale Jr.
You know, creating content and helping people enjoy the game. And so your real name's Kenny Cox. Everybody knows you as Civ or civil.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yes, sir.
Dale Jr.
You had success, I would say publicly as a mad gamer years ago. And we're going to talk about your story a little bit about how, you know, how it's kind of shifted to where you are today. And one of the things that you did recently was you went public with your faith.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah.
Dale Jr.
And you know, I was following you already and just sort of, you know, skimming some ideas off of your information on trying to, how to beat my buddies. And you have a dynamic personality on your content. You know, you're very personable, easy to watch, good energy, all of those things. I'm not sure if you even have to try, but it comes across really, really well.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Appreciate that.
Dale Jr.
And then you decided to make this public announcement that just you made this change in your life. I thought that was very interesting because when you're serious about it, I guess it's an easy choice to make but you don't know really how people are going to respond to it. So I'm going to talk about that later as well. At 16 years old, you started playing Madden. Yeah, you'll say that, you know, you're at best top 50 or top 30 player in the world. You're, you're, you were never going to be a top five guy. That could be one of the, you know, one of the absolute best players. What is the difference I mean, between 5th and 30th, I think the difference.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I don't know if it's like this in other sports because I'm sure you've seen it in nascar, like, dudes being like, they're good, but they never get over, like the like elite type hump you see in sports all the time. I feel like, I think in Madden it's like an extra level of like, execution, but an extra level of like. And this applies for college football to an extra level of like, anticipation too. And just like, be able to pick up on people's tendencies, knowing like the next move because it becomes like a. There's like two parts of the game, right? There's like pre snap of like the balls not snap. So nothing's happening yet. You're not even. It's not like reaction time. It's all like, thoughts of like, what are we going to do when the ball snapped? And it's things that happen when the ball snapped of like, hitting the correct button, clicking onto the guy, moving your thumbs fast enough to be able to do X, Y and Z. And so some combination of, of that. Some guys are just like elite when it comes to like, just knowing what the next move is. There's a guy in Madden, they have like this professional championship series and there's a guy named Dreamy who just won like the most recent one. So he's the best player in the world again. He was the best player in the world eight years ago too. He won it back then. And one of the things he's incredible at is he's just so good on defense of just having an idea of what his opponent's going to call before they ever call it. And he does it at like the highest of levels, right? Because I can go into a game against a random guy, see what they come out and be like, he's going to do this, but then he's doing it against like the best player in the world, right? I have a great buddy named Decroft who's one of the best players in the world.
Dale Jr.
Are you. Would you consider yourselves partners?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, we're. We're partners. He's a partner of Civil gg. And then he is just a great friend of mine too. First and foremost, we've been friends for like, we got into the space together eight years ago. Daniel's an awesome guy. He's incredible when it comes, like, seeing the field from an offensive standpoint of like, just knowing like, okay, the defense, like, this defender is going to go here. If I put Two players in this position, that defender, no matter what he does, he's wrong and it's just a read and react. Like I'm going to choose this is able to do it in unique ways too where people haven't seen like these, these route combinations before. So whenever you see somebody haven't seen before, you're slower to react as well just because like you just don't have the same muscle memory and like you just hesitate for a second. So it's just like another level of like they're just elite. Like D Drop's one of those like elite dudes. He's like next level.
Dale Jr.
Yeah, yeah. It's been a lot of fun sort of understanding, you know, we have a Dynasty and there's 32 users and there's some. Is a wide range of skill level and I find a lot of things about it fascinating. We have a couple of guys, we're all, we all get along great. We all give each other a hard time, we have a discord, we talk a lot of and have fun and you can imagine. But there's some guys that are, that we've. I've played Madden and college football with them for over 12 years and their skill level has just kind of plateaued. They just, that's who they are, that's the player they're going to be. And we have. You know, it's just fascinating to me, I guess how these, you know, how hard you have to work, I guess to actually get over the hump. Right. I mean there's different categories of great, right. You know, and I work really hard to try to beat these guys, you know, at this game and it takes a lot of effort and I think that's, you know, you found a niche in that you found a niche in an area where people are craving more knowledge, more information. And so, you know, you started playing Madden, you realized, hey, I'm actually pretty good at this. What was the moment where you were like, you know, when you guess. I guess you realized your skill level?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah. So I played like video games in general, like any other kid did growing up, just here and there. I put him a good amount, but never like I was never going professional or something. I joined, I liked Madden a lot. I just like X's and O's in football and so I'd like try applying that to Madden. Hit or miss, whatever. I joined a couple of these, like online, like franchise leagues and I joined one, it was like 32 users and. And I went undefeated one season, like perfect season. Won the super bowl, like, cool, whatever. But then I did it the next season, too.
Dale Jr.
Was it easy?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I remember it was like, it was easy. I did the next season, too. Undefeated. Perfect. I'm like, I just went back to back undefeated. Whatever. I'm kind of like, whatever. And some dude's like. He's talking crazy to me. Like, he's saying, like, I suck. I this and that, whatever. He's. I'll play you for ten dollars. I'm like, I can play for ten bucks. Like, whatever. Who cares? Never even thought about it before. And I beat him in, like, 20 minutes. And I'm like, okay, I just made, like, 10 bucks in, like, 20 minutes. And then he's. He's mad I beat him. So we play again. I beat him again. And so it's like, less than hours gone by. I made 20 bucks, and I'm like, wait a second. I think there's something like, this is way better than. I was working at a car dealership at the time. And I was delivering pizza, too. And I was like, this is way better, like, hourly than anything else I can do. And this is. I'm playing a video game. Like, this is awesome. So that was, like, the first thing where I was like, there's, like, something to this.
Dale Jr.
Yeah. Like, yeah, when do you start? You're not creating content, Right. And so what was the next move? How do you. How do you find opportunities to actually go play tournaments and create opportunities for yourself to actually play professionally?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah. So the big one for me was like, I would like Google. I would literally just use Google. My dad would drive me to. There was one. We went to a couple. But there was a Microsoft store in Detroit, Michigan, at some mall. And we went there, and I did really well. And it.
Dale Jr.
Like, there was a tournament there.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, there was a big tournament on Microsoft Store there. And it was like a nationwide.
Dale Jr.
Where were y' all living?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
We were in Quincy, Michigan. So about two hour. Very bottom of the mitten. About two hours away from Detro. He drove me there. We went in a snow storm. My dad went above and beyond to get me there. And he's thinking the entire time, I'm sure, like, it's kind of nonsense. Like, it's a video game for my son, whatever. And I kill it. Like, I came up. I was. I was 16. Yeah, I was 16 in that. And so I came up, like, one game short. I end up losing, But I came up one game short of, like, super bowl tickets. And I was like, wait a second. Like, my dad's realizing, like, my Son's like, okay at this. And now I'm playing this game on the side a little bit. Like, playing for 10 bucks here, $20 here, $30 here.
Dale Jr.
How is that happening?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
It's all. They're like Facebook groups, like, hey, who wants to play for $10 to play for 20 bucks?
Dale Jr.
Pretty prominent back then.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah. Super, super popular, super stressful. I mean, I was to the issue with it though, the more you win in that, like, no one wants to play anymore because they're just going to lose money. And so slowly, I have to start playing better and better people, which I made less money, but it made me better. Right. You just compete against better players. You compete in anything in life. You just naturally can like, rise up to their level slowly. And so you know what you're making.
Dale Jr.
On average a week back then, I.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Want to say, like, just from that, probably like four or five, 600 bucks a week when I was like 16.
Dale Jr.
Amazing.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Something like that. Yeah. It put me through a good part of my college. When I was. When I was in college, I get. It was a legit thing where I was like, we're doing something here.
Dale Jr.
Wow.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Like, okay.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
And then my dad always told me so, like, I knew there was like the professional route, but my dad always told me growing up that it was a kind of a dumb analogy, but it was actually really smart. It's like, every kid wants to be like a professional athlete. And so did I. My dad would be like, kenny, you don't want to become a professional athlete. Like, you want to be the agent for the athlete. You want to be the guy, like making the phone calls for the athlete doing this stuff because. Partly because my dad knew I probably wasn't. I'm 5 8, probably not going pro in the NFL. Unlikely. And so I was like, okay. Like, I probably won't be a professional man player.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
But I wonder if I could like, get into like, behind the scenes. And so I reached out to a few people. One of my really close good friends now. But I like, kind of cold reach out to him like, hey, can I like, make videos for you at like 18 or so? Like, I'm really good at the game. Kind of make tip videos for you. And so one guy let me. His name's Ace. Awesome, awesome guy. And so I started working for him a little bit. Then was kind of doing on the.
Dale Jr.
Side were it Was this for YouTube shorts?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah. So it was like YouTube videos for like a whole different person, whole different channel.
Dale Jr.
You edited or were you. I was like, record.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I Was like the. I was like.
Sponsor/Ad Voice
It was you?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, it was. It was me.
Dale Jr.
It was for his channel.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yes. Um, and then so I kind of got my feet underneath me there. But ultimately, like, I got into college, and I was trying to do college. I was working at FedEx, driving forklift. Driving forklift at FedEx. Yep. Yep. That was awesome. I loved it. It was so. Driving forklift there. And I tried playing this professional tournament and ended up losing before I could make any money. I lost to a good player. I was like, dang. Like, I'm trying to put myself through college just, like, playing money games every day. Like, the 10, 20 bucks thing. Like, I was playing too good of people where I.
Dale Jr.
We're.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
We'd spend eight hours one day. 50 bucks to you, 50 bucks to me. 50 bucks to you.
Dale Jr.
It's like this.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Like, I'm playing eight hours. I made 10 bucks. It's like, what are we doing?
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
So I kind of give it up for, like, six months when I'm, like, 18 years old. This is 20, 19 now.
Dale Jr.
You stopped?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, pretty much. Like, I was like, dude, I got to make money. And, like, I got it. Like, the game stuff is cool. Help me so far. Like, we're done. The next man came around. I picked it back up a little bit, was playing it, and I was just good at this game for some. Like, it just clicked for me. Like, I was, like, good at the other ones. This one, I was like. I was playing like the top dogs, and I was like, I was with them the entire time. I was neck and neck every game. If I lost, I was like. Like, sweet. Like, wait a second. I take. I dropped out of college right then. I was pursuing the career at FedEx because they had a good thing going for me. And so with the money I saved from dropping out of college, I was like, man, there's this big tournament in Dallas, Texas. I even really been out of Michigan before, but I'm just going to take some of this money and go down to Texas and, like, see what happens. And so I play that guy, I referenced him earlier, named Dreamy. I played him in my second game, Best player in the world. I'm some random kid and I beat him. And I beat him. Like a. No, no, nonsense. No, like, oh, you got like. It was just like, dude, civil. Just, like, beat him. And I'm like, oh, wait. Like, I'm nice. Like, I'm actually good at this. I do okay in this tournament. But then two months later, played another one called a club championship for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and I win that one. And that's what gets me like some stream time on ea. That's what gets me some like time on espn. And then when I was on those I was always like kind of like a little bit more outspoken when I play. I wasn't just sitting there, I was kind of like energetic. And so my buddy was like, did you start streaming, start doing YouTube? And I just picked it up and we just kind of kept going from there.
Dale Jr.
How are you streaming?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I would stream on Twitch. I'd stream at night after a lot of times I'd come in so I'd move from the forklift to an office role at FedEx. And so actually I'd come into immediately after like a button down shirt and start streaming and just like stream for five, five, six hours.
Dale Jr.
What's your, what, what is your major platform today?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Just, you know, it's YouTube and X.
Dale Jr.
Why did you move away from Twitch?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I just don't like streaming that much. Honestly. It was, it was, it was exhausting. Some people like have like the social battery to like beyond forever and I.
Dale Jr.
Don'T like you have to.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah.
Dale Jr.
You know, your subscribers need to know. Yeah, you'll be considering 8:00' clock this night.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I was a believer in terms I always try to think of like what would help me five years from now in my decisions. And so one of the things I was like, dude, I don't think streaming's the best decision for five years from now, Kenny. Which is funny because like that's like I'm 25 now. I'm saying that when I'm 20 and like I can look back and say like I was thankfully correct. It just felt like it wasn't the most like scalable thing. I was like, but YouTube, I think YouTube is like, is like the way to go, I think. And so we just kind of went all in on YouTube. We did a little bit of streaming on the side. I still do here and there for fun.
Dale Jr.
But yeah, just randomly.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I do it randomly now.
Dale Jr.
So what helped me understand in since 2020 there was a massive sort of, you know, with the pandemic. There was a lot of streaming, a lot of people sitting at home, a lot of people on Twitch, a lot of people watching. We had sort of a similar perfect storm with, with the NASCAR world when we couldn't go to the racetrack. We actually started doing races live on iracing and broadcast those on network television and so forth. And so it was really, really co. So but to your point, like no one really looked at YouTube as a gaming platform or a streaming platform or a place for that type of content so much as they do today. So where is the landscape? There's still people on Twitch, still people successful on Twitch. And there's a. How would you, I guess, how would you describe like the job there and the job here? Right.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah. So I think first I had a football coach in high school, sis. I still say it quite a bit. Like there's more than one way to skin the cat. Like you can be successful. Like there's more than one way to be successful.
Dale Jr.
Do you feel like you have. Do you. I guess my problem is, is like when I, when I was trying to be successful as a race car driver and trying to market myself, I felt like I had to get on every single new social platform that came out.
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Right.
Dale Jr.
And. And then it got to a point I was like, I just can't take on anymore.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Right?
Dale Jr.
Like, I gotta, I can't. And I hate missing out on TikTok. Cause I didn't do TikTok.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Right.
Dale Jr.
I hated missing out on that. But I'm like, I just gotta choose some joy here and like some, some meat and I'm gonna whittle it down to like the couple things that I like to do.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah. I mean we have like a very finite amount of time that we can spend. So you can't say yes to everything. Like, no matter who you are. Like, you cannot say yes to literally everything. So there's always opportunity cost. I'm sure, like you're a businessman, you've had to turn down opportunities. I'm sure you're like, this is kind of sick. Like this, this would probably even kill it for us, but we just doesn't make sense right now and it stinks. Yeah, we think the same way about like, I think we could kill it online doing more short form content. If I like put all my time and energy into it. I'm pretty. We've done well in short form before.
Dale Jr.
But I'm like, you mean those quick one, two.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, like one, two, like one minute. Like vertical. You just scroll on TikTok scrolling. Short scrolling Instagram. I think we could kill it on.
Dale Jr.
Yes.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I'm like, is that Kenny's. Is that civil's best use of time right now? Like, but it's. I don't think so. It is short.
Dale Jr.
But like, why couldn't you, why can't you take the current content you're making?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
We've, we've done stuff like that and it's done fine.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I think if we like, if I put more effort into making. So like, there's like, there's a couple of different ways to approach like short form content. It's like take your long form, cut it up. You'll see podcasts do that all the time. And a lot of podcasts kill it with that. And then you see with like normal like long form YouTube videos. The other way is making like organic short form content, which is like I'm sitting down to record and I'm doing it for this one minute long reel. I think for the way we've done things. Like when, when I sit down and do that, we kill it. Like those. Kill it. When we take like long form stuff and cut them short. Those do. Okay, they kill it on Twitter or X, but they don't do as well on like TikTok or reels. And so that's where I'm like, dude, if I just sat down and I just did this, these organic short form posts every day, we'd probably kill it in this realm. But that's going to take away like there's a finite amount of time.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
And so it's like it's going to take away from X, Y and Z that we're working on and like we just can't do it right now. So to go to what you said about like wanting to do everything. Yeah. Like you just can't.
Dale Jr.
I don't think who are, who are some. When you think about, do you think about. Do you look at other people that are creating a similar content as competition or do you guys, do you even know these people? Do you communicate with them? Do y' all share ideas?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, definitely. I definitely know pretty much everybody now. At least. I'm definitely friends with some of them at least. Heard of most people. Definitely competition, I think. Yeah, definitely. Like there's no way around. And like I love them. No different than like you can love a fellow driver and like you want to beat the fellow driver. Yeah. You know, I have a lot of love for them, but we are competing to pretend we're not. It's like there's. I gotta go back to the finance.
Dale Jr.
Who's. Some guys that are. That you're watching?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, my buddy named Ace. Ace Madden, who I used to work for. He's a great. He does some college football stuff.
Dale Jr.
He does.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
He's a great competitor of ours. There's guys like Huddle. Gg have a ton of respect for those guys.
Dale Jr.
They.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
They kill it. But like we're. And we're friends even but, like, we are competitors. Yeah. There's a few others out there, too.
Dale Jr.
Dude named Poodle.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Poodle. Yeah.
Dale Jr.
He came out a little bit different.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
He's cool, though.
Dale Jr.
Yeah. He came out to Dover last year. We got to meet him. I was, I was. We interacted with him a little bit and. Call me Jaden. Yes.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I'm. Yes. I've never talked to him before, but I've seen this.
Dale Jr.
He seems like a nice guy. He. He did last year. He did. So we do Dynasty. So that's. He's. He's mostly. He's all Dynasty for the most part. And so is. So is Poodle. And so that's why I was checking those guys out. Jaden, I guess that's his name went to. But this game decided to do all this content around if you were manually progressing players, which we. We don't. And so it's like, all right, I can't use all of this stuff. It's like 80 of his stuff. I kind of listen to it, watch it, and then like, I can't use that. You work in. You don't. You don't focus on Dynasty. And, and when you play, you don't. You know, you're not. You know, you're not playing in Dynasty mode. What is the. What is. What is the decision behind how. How, what. How you're going to choose what information you're going to share and where you're going to focus in the game? Because there's so many ways to do this.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, it's hard. What I try to tell people consistently is, like, I care about gameplay. So if you're like on the virtual gird iron, the virtual field, like, what I want you. I'm going to try my hardest to let that apply to you. Regardless of your playing Dynasty, regardless, you're playing Ultimate Team, you're playing just regular head to head. You're playing your buddy, whatever it is. Like, that's where I care about as much as I can. There's some issues naturally, built into the game, like that, where, for example, like making hot routes, which you've tweeted to me about, which is like, yeah, there's some issues where, like, in Ultimate Team, you can literally just do plays that you can't always do in Dynasty. And so we tried just finding that balance. Like, I know I'm good at gameplay and I'm good at gameplay regardless of what game mode I've played. I. I play the game long enough to be able to say that, like, with confidence. And so it's like I care less about like narrowing it down into one specific game mode. And just like, I know gameplay. I don't know anything about like recruiting. Could not tell you at all why. I just do, you know, never interested.
Dale Jr.
Never interested.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
It's not what I'm good at. Never interested me. This is a business. I focus on what I'm good at. It's the best use of my time. And I'm also like, not. Maybe if I was like into it, I'd be like, different. I'm like, I'm not good at it.
Dale Jr.
I'm surprised that you're not in a yacht in any dynasty.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, when I was younger I was like, that's what I got started with this franchise in Madden. I thought it was super co. But it's just like, dude, like trying to figure out like, okay, what am I good at? I'm good at gameplay. Everything else I'm not as good at. And to become an expert to the point where like, I can teach people as well, like to do that in good faith, you have to be really good at something. If I'm going to tell you how to do something, I better be good. You know what I mean? Like, a lot of people go wrong of like telling you how to do something and they don't really know how to do it. It's like, well, I'll never become nearly as good at recruiting or anything as I am at gameplay. Like, it's just not who I am. So let's focus everything I have here and that's. We're trying to build people in from a business standpoint of bringing other people of like, okay, civil struggles in this area. How do we bring in somebody who can just clean up that gap? Right. That's what, that's how I think of it.
Dale Jr.
So how do you. With all the other competition out there and trying to keep your content fresh. So I imagine like when this, when, when the game comes out, there's this constant sort of, you're constantly sort of vetting the game for, for unique things that you can share with people, right? But there's only so many apples on the tree to pick right before, right. At some point, you know, you got to start looking forward to the next game or so how, how difficult is that? Is that even an issue where you're like, dude, we're going to run out of, right? Run out of like things to tell people to help play better?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I think it's a combination.
Dale Jr.
What was, I guess what was last year, like when you had a brand new game? We hadn't had college in a damn decade. Like, it was so much excitement to begin.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
It was awesome because everyone came back to that game. Like, Matt has a good like core base consistently. Everyone came back to that game so I could tell somebody like, hey, hit triangle to catch the ball. People be like, I can't believe you just told me that. Like, you just saved my life. And it's like I'm like, yep. Like, I'm really that dude.
Dale Jr.
Here we go.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
And but like from that. So like, that was awesome because everyone like first time playing the game, like, hey, push the joystick, you'll move.
Dale Jr.
You had people that had played, never.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Played, never played, haven't played in a decade, which was awesome. But it just goes into the cycle of like, there's a couple of things. One, like, you can reuse content in the sense of like, if I tell you a good piece of advice today, right? Especially if it's in a video of 10 tips, all 10 are good pieces of advice. I can use a couple of those in a video that I make two months from now. And you're not gonna be mad at me because if it's a good piece of advice, you'll be like, you know what? Yeah, like awesome. As long as the content's actually good, people aren't going to be upset and you have to space it out a little bit. So we're able to reuse ideas and like they are helpful with that too. Like there's just. We've been in this, like, I've been a creator now for seven or eight years or something. And so we've gone through this game cycle so many times where we have these ideas, we're able to hit on these things. And the game does change enough each year and throughout the year where we can kind of hone in on certain ideas or just like maybe tactics that are better this year or maybe it's just something I personally like more this year, whatever it might be, and kind of rehash those a little bit. And then every, you know, three months or so we'll do like a super beginners type videos where it's like move the joystick, your player moves. That's tip number one. But like for the players who watch that video, like that's incredibly helpful. It's like that's a day one basic tip. Like heck yeah. We don't run to the issue too much though to answer your question anymore. Thankfully.
Dale Jr.
Yeah. When do you start looking forward to the next next game?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
For me, really? It happens in like May is Like when I'm really. Because like that's when the game really starts to just like die down. It feels like numbers wise we get, you know, Christmas is a pretty good boost. We have college football season. Christmas is a great boost. A lot people get the game. Then we have like the national championship, Super Bowl. Then for like NFL wise the draft keeps the Madden alive for a little bit. Free agency, all that. Then like May and June just. It stinks. For a while July was the worst. But now college football comes out in July. It's been like biggest blessing in the world because it just bumps our entire season up one, one month.
Dale Jr.
Do you have the opportunity to, to get, get understanding on what, you know, what the next game are? You like, you know, given some sort of like heads up on some of the cool features that the next game is going to have to be able to allow you to make content. Teasing content that we start to see. Yeah. So good question.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
There's, there's two things I'm a part of or I a part of. The past couple of years that's been really cool for me is one, they'll do like a preview event that's in like May or June. And so you'll see like, you'll see people like tweet out about like, hey, was that the preview event? Whatever, whatever. And so the developers will talk about like, hey, we're doing this, we're trying to do this xyz. Here's like a beta version of the game and you kind of get to feel it out then. I'm usually, the past few years I've been part of like a early capture program which is like the game comes out, let's say July 7th, I'll get the game on June 25th or something for two weeks to begin preparing content for that to be part of because EA will use creators as like a, a marketing arm essentially. And so those are the two big ones.
Dale Jr.
Wow.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah.
Dale Jr.
Why did you choose college football?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I just thought it was a massive opportunity.
Dale Jr.
I imagine the. I haven't played Madden like hardcore since 2014. I was the same dynasty that we're doing with the EA college game today. This same dynasty existed 12, 15 years ago and we were all the same guys, all playing Madden and, and I had to, I had to quit because it got to be Madden. For whatever reason. I haven't had this experience with college, but Madden brought the worst out in me. Yeah, I mean I'm, I'm playing Friends, but it was just the emotions that I had losing a game, especially Important games was really tough and it was like, man, this is not adding to my life, you know, and so I had to. But I've. We've. And so I stepped away completely when college came back. Obviously I got back involved in it and it's been really fun. A lot less, you know, a lot less competition, more having, having a good time of the game. But I imagine. So what I guess I'm trying to say is I haven't dove into the, the Madden landscape on social media with YouTube and all that, looking for tricks, tips, tricks and all that good stuff. I imagine that that area is incredibly crowded.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah.
Dale Jr.
And there's some probably pretty established dudes.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
So we, we actually have a whole other like, like another channel where like we do Matt. Like I do all the like, all the college stuff you see of me. I duplicate it for Matt.
Dale Jr.
Really.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Essentially you can't do like word for like idea for idea, but like same ideas. Yeah. And so we do all that. It's a lot of similar, same guys. Honestly, you try to bounce between the two. We were first on like committing everything into college. It just like everybody from college I had when I was, when I was going to school is like, I don't play Madden anymore, but I'm going to play college. It was so obvious, like the hype around it. And I told you I went to that preview event and we were able to tweet some stuff out. Well, I went to the preview event for College World 25 and so I got to tweet some stuff out about that. Now usually if my, let's say I had a tweet that would do like you know, normally 3, 400, 500 likes or something like that. I would do it for College of Wall 25 at this preview event. It would do 4K, 5K, 6K. And I'm like, okay, wait a second, let's, let's, let's see what's going on here. We post our first few videos when the game launches and we're like, oh, this is obvious. Like this is awesome. And then for me the games are, they're different, but they're similar enough to where like I can be one of the best players in college and then go pick up Madden and I'll be one of the best here and vice versa, back and forth. So the actual transition of loading up the different games, it was pretty easy. It was just like a numbers game of like, okay, well college is killing it from a metric standpoint. College is killing Madden metrically. It's like, why yeah, why would we look at. While we do more mad, we should double down here in college as much as we can.
Dale Jr.
How many people are part of the team?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
We have six. Six people. We have Decroft, so dcroft, Hexade and Serious. Those are their gamer names. That's Daniel, Ryan and Ryan or Michael. But nonetheless, they're like product guys is what we call them. So they're like professional players, incredibly good at the game. And we bring them in and they teach underneath our umbrella here. And so they go into. They. They'll release like schemes and tips and tricks and all this stuff inside of our website. I'll help them with like content stuff. I'll help them with like, hey, how do we actually become a better teacher? And so they'll be like, purely like producing product with us. We have Bo. We've worked together now since like 2022, 2023. He's. I think his official title is like video production Manager. He just does all of our video editing. Helps a lot with like ideas. A lot of the Twitter clips you see, a lot of they're like cut up by him. He does thumbnails, things like that. And so he runs the overwhelming majority of the YouTube side of things that isn't just being on camera, which is me, is.
Dale Jr.
He does. Is all these people scattered across the country?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, everyone's remote. Yep. Yeah. Bo himself, he's. He's in Cali right now and he's. Yeah, he's been. He's our longest tenured person. He's been incredible to have for the past few years.
Dale Jr.
Who owns the business?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Me.
Dale Jr.
100%.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
100%. Yeah, we were bootstrapped. And the brand, I guess has been around since like 2017, 2016 or so.
Dale Jr.
What is the GG part?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
GG. So civil GG is just a gamer term. A lot of like gaming websites are gg. Really good game. Yeah, just. It was like a domain name.
Dale Jr.
It's a domain.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah.
Dale Jr.
And so do you. How many. How many reputable groups like yours are there?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Is it reputable is the keyword there? Not many. There's a few. There's other places that are good.
Dale Jr.
Dozen? Half dozen? 100?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
No, not, not like four.
Dale Jr.
Four or five.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
They're like good at what they do because, like, I mean, part of it is like teaching such a skill. Like you'd be good at something and not teach it.
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Dale Jr.
At one point, you decided to go all in on this and, and dive in. What you were, you were. What were your. What was your major in college?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
My major in college. I was a criminal justice major with a focus on juvenile delinquency.
Dale Jr.
And why did you think you wanted to do that?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I just wanted to work with like kids who are like, at risk and like, things like, like, just like bad situations. Kids who need like a chance.
Dale Jr.
You think that's something that happens for you down the line?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Somewhere. Yeah. We would do some cool stuff with the ways we've been blessed of like being. Yeah, yeah. So that's a big deal.
Dale Jr.
So you, you put everything with, with work, your job, the. That you, you'd climb, you know, you'd climb through some promotions, through FedEx and had an opportunity there to stay right and, and make something of that. Your college, you put all of this off to the side and have dedicated yourself 100% solely to this job of creating content. And it's been amazing. Amazing for you. You bought your family a house.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, my, My brother and I were able to come together and buy my parents house Christmas of 2024.
Dale Jr.
Damn. You know, how do you, how do you remain fresh and sustainable?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I think it comes back to the Lord. Like, I mean, like, what a blessing. Like, dude, what a freaking blessing it is to be able to do what, what I do for a living. Like, who am I to be like, oh, I'm. I don't know, like what a freaking blessing it is. And to take that for granted. It's like, it's crazy to me. Before I ever came to the Lord, it was very obvious to him. Like, I have no idea why I'm having some of the material successes I'm having. Like, this makes for a logical stand, but this makes no sense. Like, I'm not. I was never the smartest in the room. I was never like, this or that or whatever. And I'm like, like, we are. We are objectively materially killing it in this. I don't know why.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
And then being able to see, like, okay, These, These, like, different material things that I'm having here for me can be. Can be used to, like, bless. Like, it's way bigger than. Than civil or way bigger than Kenny from the up. From the standpoint, one, like, of, like, being able to provide, like, jobs for people, like, that's, I think, one of the coolest things you could possibly do. But then be able, like, to give back to community, be able to buy my parents a house, be able to do other things. Like, that's like, dude, like, that's freaking awesome. Like, how could it. What more do you want?
Dale Jr.
So I think of it, you were having all this success and you, you know, you're trying. You felt empty and you were like, you know, you went out party.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah.
Dale Jr.
Had, you know, tried different things to try to find, you know, find ways to make life feel more full.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I. I'm. I dropped out of college. Like, my. My goal when I was 18 was to take care of my parents. Like, figure out how do you do it? How do you do it? How do you do it? And then in December 2024, Christmas, my brother and I are able to come together and buy my parents house. It's like, what. Like, they are. They are set financially barring some. Some disaster. And then afterwards, I'm like, that was cool. I'm like, dang. That actually is not like. Because if you had told me before that I'd be like, I could die the next day. And like, we're good. Like, who cares? And I'm like, this is not it, dude. And then for the past seven years.
Dale Jr.
Or so, what are you looking for? What do you mean?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
There's just. There's more. There's just more to it.
Dale Jr.
You felt. You just. You needed to feel.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
It wasn't enough. It was never enough. It was never enough. Even the money. Things, like, I would see go from like, making no money, where I was eating ramen every single day for months and months and months and months and months. I upgraded to a ramen and raviolis for a few months too. I'm like, then I'm eating, like, actual food, and I'm like, okay, do I get better food? Like, that's not making much of a difference on my happiness. Like, the money is.
Dale Jr.
Why were you not happy?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
It wasn't fulfilling. Like, it wasn't. It felt like it was never enough, and there was always something I was trying to chase after. It became very obvious very quickly that no matter what next goal I hit, whether it was a dollar amount, whether it was like a subscriber count, whatever it was, was not gonna be like, oh, Kenny's satisfied now.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
And so I just went looking. I looked for, like, partying. I looked in, like, relationships. I looked in and every which way that you could possibly look, trying to find, like, okay, maybe I need to be around, like, other YouTubers. My friends just don't get it. Yeah, no, that's not it. Maybe other entrepreneurs, like, no, that's not it. Like, whatever, whatever. And I remember one time I was getting, like. I was kind of being, like, cocky to myself, walking around where I was like, man, like, Kenny, you've done some, like, cool things. Like, heck, yeah. And I'm like, dude, for some reason, I remember thinking this so clearly. Like, dude, like, you are about to crash, you idiot. And I'm like, I don't know what that means at all, but, like, whatever. And I remember thinking, like, I should look into, like, another place called church. Like, I don't know what that really looks like. I called one of my good friends who's my girlfriend now, actually, and I called her up, and she. I said she went to church. I'd never done anything with it. I was like, hey, do you know any churches in my area? Like, she's way up North Austin now, South Austin. And she's like, I don't really know any around your area, but, like, in the morning, I'm actually getting baptized. You want to come? Like, see that? And I was like, oh, like, sure, I'll just go there. And I went. That was the first time going to church. January 5th of 2025. I remember, like, walking in, like, shaking people's hands, and, like, they were, like, talking to me like, I was, like, a human who, like, they cared about. I was like, this is weird. Like, okay, let's go. And I got to see the baptism. Didn't really understand what that was at all, but I was like, cool. Like, people are cheering for her, so, like, let's go. Was there for a couple weeks, all the guys would come up to me and be like, hey, man. Like, so happy you're here. Like, by the way, this, like, this Christ thing, this Jesus thing changed my life. Jesus changed my. I'm like, like, what are you talking about, dude? Like, you're full. Like, I don't know what you're full of, but, like, it ain't. But I know people said it. I'm like, I'm not smarter than you, so there might be something here. Yeah. And so a couple weeks ago, I decided to read, get a Bible. And one of the people at the church named Shane gave me a Bible, started with the Gospel of Matthew and the end of it. I'm like, dude, if this is. If this is true, this is a really big deal.
Dale Jr.
Tell me about that. So I had a friend of mine talk about picking up the Bible and read the Bible and how reading the Bible and the stories within it had this massive impact on them. And so I've. I've not read the Bible thoroughly. I've not read an entire. You know, I've not read an entire three, four pages, you know, but. So, like, tell me, like, if I would sit down and literally dive into the story, right, what would. What would my experience be?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I. I think it'd be very. It'd become very, very clear of, like, what we're doing here on Earth. There's so much more. There's so much. It's so much bigger than everything here. It's bigger than our jobs. It's bigger than even our immediate family. There is something bigger going out there, and there's a. A creator above who. Who loves us more than we could possibly imagine. I'll say. I think one of the things that, like, I would ask you, Dale, is like, what do you think about, like, Jesus, for example? Like, you just had to say, what do you think about Jesus?
Dale Jr.
What would you say that he died for? For our sins.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
And so, like, that's a big deal.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
So, like, if that is true, that's a massive deal, right? It's, like, objectively, because, like, if that's true, if he died for our sin and the wages of sin, it reads in the Bible, is death, and he died for it, given us forgiven, and with the chance for eternal life in heaven. It's like, well, these are objectively big claims. Like, there's no way around it. And so it's like, well, I want to research these claims and, like, see, are these. Like, is this just a load of crap? Because if it's a little crap, I want nothing to do with it.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
But if it's.
Dale Jr.
And so reading. In reading the Bible, you gain confidence in those claims.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yes. Yes. I gained confidence in the claims that Jesus was the son of God, that Jesus was God, is God, that his word is true, his word is reliable. And if that's the case, you know, like, I think it was like a father figure, but like, to the ultimate extreme where it's like, you know, you may not understand your father always when he's telling you things, but you can have confidence that he's telling you things. In good faith. And he has your best interest in mind. Right. You don't see the big picture, but like, you know that, like, okay, like, I'll listen to dad because he's saying this and whatever. Or maybe you might even be like, ah, whatever, dad. But that's so, like, take that idea and like, put it times infinity. Because there's a Father in heaven who knows what we need, who knows our deepest and our smallest desires and is telling us how to achieve these things. And it's just like by putting faith into him and him alone, we're like, we're able to come closer to him and come closer to those things.
Dale Jr.
Yeah. And so this has given you peace and.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, it's giving me fulfillment. It's giving me drive towards, like, something way bigger. It's like a lot of the things I remember reading the Gospel of Matthew and consistently throughout, I'd be like, these, like, they're like different thought ideas that I would have. And it's like articulated right here. Like, so well articulated here. So well articulated here. So well articulated here. I'm like, man, like, what a, what a freaking great. Like, it was so, so, so cool and so many things I would, like, challenge me. And it's like, okay, I look like, the idea of, like, forgiveness, like, we can all agree that, like, it's good to forgive people. Like, you should forgive people at the same time, like, someone really wrongs you. It's like, really hard to forgive. Like, Jesus says we should forgive even the people who have wronged us the most. And it's like, objectively, even though it's hard for us emotionally to do that, I think we can all be like, yeah, we should. Like, that's probably a better way to live life than, like, not forgiving at all. Yeah. It has been an incredible, incredible life change for me.
Dale Jr.
I thought I would ask you about your decision to go public with that, but I mean, it sounds like that that was a very easy decision to make. You're like, hey, this is something I've done. I don't know that you would be sitting here today talking to me had you not done that. Because of course I follow your stuff and I think you do great work and I really appreciate what you do for the community.
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Dale Jr.
You make the game a lot of fun. You make, you allow people like me that are casual players to really get a little bit better, be able to take it to our buddies and have a good time. And that's. And I appreciate you for that. But you went just by. I got I found you on social media six or eight, ten months down the road. You decide to tell everybody. Oh, by the way, you know, I was baptized, and I've had this. You know, I've had this thing happen to me where I wanted to share that with y', all, and that was it. You know, you're like, hey, this happened, and I just wanted y' all to know that. And back to. Back to what I'm doing. And I thought that was so interesting, and I wanted to know, I guess, you know, were you at all. I assume you probably weren't. I didn't even think about it like this. But, like, I guess what has been the reception to that from your core base?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, overall has been great. I mean, I've. It's. It's been pretty cool. I was. I was. I wouldn't say worried. Like, one thing. Like, I. I would be like, oh, like, this is gonna potentially alienate some people. Alienate some people. And, like, I get that. It's also like, what I truly believe is. Is truth. And it's like, okay. And, like, I've been given this platform. I told you earlier, like, I.
Dale Jr.
If.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
If I were to look at this objectively, I'm like, dude, I have no idea why I have this platform, but it's like, okay, I have it for some reason, and so let me glorify the name of God inside of that platform, because there's no other reason for it. So the reception's been good. I was worried about what it could do. I guess in the end, though, I was like, man, if I believe the words of the Bible to be true, it's like, God's got me anyways. So if this somehow really backfires on me and people unfollow me and I lose a bunch of. If I were to lose money or lose the business somehow through it, like some crazy backfiring, it's like, all those things were a gift anyway. I don't. They don't belong to me in the first place.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
So it's like, okay, like, if that's the result from it, then that's the. That's God's will. And it's like, okay, that's the. That's just what happens from it, I guess.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
And so, like, I still. Because, like, I still will tweet about Christ here and there and, like, trying to figure out the best ways to go about doing that. And I think about it all the time, like, dude, there'll be some people who, like, are not going to be. Are not Going to, like, this, right? And it's like, okay. Like, yeah. It just is what it is.
Dale Jr.
You're. But I imagine, too, you still feel like you're on the very, you know, the threshold of the. The whole trip. Right. About discovering the Lord and understanding how. How to weave that into your DNA. Right. And you're still working on that. Yeah. Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
A question that got posed to me, like, we have, like, community groups that will meet, like, every Thursday or something. Just like a dinner with, like, other young adults. And a question that got posed to me is like, how do you invite Christ in, like, every part of your life? And not like. Just like. Like, I would tell myself, like, kenny, don't be a Sunday Christian or don't be a Christian when you're reading your Bible by yourself. And I like you, you're a follower of, like, everywhere. It's just. It just is what it is. And so, like, that's something I wrestle with, is one of the reasons, like, I. I wear a cross because, like, I have to look in the mirror and I get reminded of all the time. And a lot of my videos, I'll wear, like, Jesus T shirts. Big reason is because, like, I'm on camera. It's very centered on. It's just. I'm on camera. It's centered on me. People are listening to me, and it's like, well, how do I invite Christ into this? I can't just sit up on camera and only talk about Christ in a college football video. Like, you just. That isn't gonna work. So it's like, okay, well, I think just wearing a shirt with a simple cross on it is, like, one of those ways.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
And I'm getting better at it. I'm getting. I'm trying to get better at that. Trying to get better at understanding the Word. It's. The Bible's a hard read. The barriers and, like, it is a hard read. I went into it, dude, January 5th last year. My first time ever being at church. And then two weeks later, my first time ever opening the Bible. It's like these words. I don't know. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. I don't know what a parable means. I don't know what a gospel is. I don't know any of these words. So it's a. It's a tough read at first, but it's.
Dale Jr.
I'm curious as to how that. Does it get easier? Does. Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah. Well, part is just, like, terminology, right? It's like, if you're just getting.
Dale Jr.
You don't want to. I mean, I would think that if I've thought about this before, like, if I were to sit down and really go dive in, would I. I would be afraid that I might misinterpret some things wrongly, right?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah.
Dale Jr.
Because of not understanding the context.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah. I think there's a lot of things that go into that one, like just being straight up in like prayer and like asking for like understanding. The Lord says that we ask for wisdom. He will give us wisdom. Having people around you who you can trust. Like trying to interpret the Bible entirely on your own.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Good luck, dude. Like, good luck having really good spiritual leaders in your life. Like, I'm surrounded by like an incredible church where I have awesome like elders around me and an awesome pastor and awesome friends around me who like I can go to and if I don't know something, I can call them or if something gets confusing, I'm like, I'm just going to call them and see.
Dale Jr.
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Dale Jr.
Moving back toward toward your your your platform.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah.
Dale Jr.
How many hours a day do you get? Do you play?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Do I put do now? People are shocked by this. Not nearly as much as people think. I mostly plan camera now. Right. So probably about three to four just recording. It depends. Like January. I played a ton because I did like a fun challenge in January of like do I just want to grind this head to head ranked game mode and see if I can just get into the top 100 again just because I hadn't played in a few years and I kind of like I'd fallen off enough to where like I would play games and I'd been like, like I'm kind of like losing or leaves games. I feel like I should be winning.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
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Kenny Cox (Civil)
I'm like these kids now are like they're oh it's, it's tough dude. And so I had to like focus up and like let me prove to myself really fast that like I could do this.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
So that was a ton but not like three or four. I work in general. I work probably now like closer like 8 to 10 to 12 hours a day Depends if I'm like really into a project or not.
Dale Jr.
That's a lot.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
I mean, it used to be a lot more. Now it's not. Like now it's cool and like, it's all stuff I love to do. It's fun.
Dale Jr.
How do you weave the, you know, the hours that you're needing to put into this job into your personal life?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
And yeah, I think it's like one cool thing is I like my job is like very interruptible is a is the word. So it's like in the middle of the day I can go get lunch and you know, every Tuesday I get lunch with my buddies and we'll talk about the Bible, for example. Or I can, you know, it's just very like I can set my own schedule and so if I need to work late one night, I'll work late one night. If I work really early in the morning, you know, I can crack out the eight hour especially. A few years ago I used to bang out eight hours from like 5am to 1pm and it's like, it's 1pm I've done eight hours already. Like, do I do I just do another eight hours? Like maybe when you step out and.
Dale Jr.
Say, you know, fly out of Charlotte to do a podcast and you're going to be gone three days. What's, what's the.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Is that the main things that take a hit during that is like I call things like my day to day and then my like growth focus type things. So I just get my day to day. I try my hardest to get my day to day stuff done ahead of time and then usually my like growth focus stuff takes a hit. So like right now like all of our platforms hosted on a website and all that's built by me and so we. I'm working on like rebuilding some stuff. So that's like my growth project right now for February. And so I'm just not working on that today, for example, which is like fine. And then I got a recording done ahead of time.
Dale Jr.
You've decided that. I know in the past like month you went and worked your way all back into the top 100 players on college. Was it as hard? Was it hard?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
No, it was the hardest thing was.
Dale Jr.
Just a time thing, higher actually getting it done on the date you thought, you know, you predicted you would do it. And it came close.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, it did come pretty close. I had to play like I played like 130 games of final five days or so. And like, I mean every game like I went what I go 203 and 15. Three of those losses were disconnects. But, like, of the 203 wins, like probably 100 plus were just like shutouts or something.
Dale Jr.
It's just like the dudes that. Out of any of the dudes that beat you, did they know who they were playing?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Probably, yeah. At least one or two of them did. Yeah.
Dale Jr.
Do you, do you have an open mic when you play?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
No. I don't know. No. No. Because usually I'm recording, right. And people be saying all kinds of stuff. Yeah, people be saying, too crazy. I'm like, I can't have this. Like, this is kid friendly. Like, nah.
Dale Jr.
So I play every now and then I'll slide in and play a game and I don't have a mic. I don't turn my mic on. But it's so funny listening to things people say. Oh, my gosh, you've changed. You shifted from. You made the decision, hey, man, I'm probably not going to go top five and this is what I am. And you've went to, toward, you've, you've embraced teaching, like teaching young, you know, newer players how to enjoy the game. Talk about how rewarding that is.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Oh, sweet. I get to hear, like, I'll get like, emails, I'll get Discord, DMs, Twitter, X messages, whatever. It might be of like, people being like, I won my league with my buddies. This is awesome. There was one guy who won like a Super bowl, like trophy or something, and he put a bunch of beer in it and like his wife, like, put like dumped it on him and I sent me a video, like, thank you so much. It's super fun. And it's way less stressful. Yeah, it's so much less stressful than competing. You get to help people.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Instead of competing is all about, like, me, me, me just trying to win. It's like, oh, dude, like, I don't have to be nearly as good anymore to compete, so I get to like, take a break from that a little bit and I just get to help people and like, do that. It's like, yeah, it's sweet. I love it. Like, seriously, there's nothing better.
Dale Jr.
That's the reward.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, it's sweet. I think teaching itself is like such a, like, cool thing to be able to do. Like be able to take, help someone get from like point A to point B. And I see them go from that. We have some guys who have been with us for years now, and I've gotten to see them go from like, they don't know how to even pick a play on defense. Like, now they're, like, winning their. Their. Their dynasties, and it's like, this is cool. Like, you're getting better and, like, having more fun.
Dale Jr.
How does your community. How does your community gather on Discord?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Discord. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Dale Jr.
So you have thousands of people on your Discord.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, we have a little over 3,000 or so.
Dale Jr.
Y' all do. Do y' all do events inside your district?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
We do a big tournament every month now. We started doing that. We'll do some, like. We call them strategy calls. Right? As, like, talk through, like, how to. Like, how to use everything. Just make sure people know what they're doing with all that.
Dale Jr.
When is this. Like, when does school have it?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
School. Like, these calls.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
So we need to get better about doing them consistently. That's my fault. But they're Thursday evenings. Thursday evenings. And we have a tournament on the final Saturday of every month. It's just, like, an hour just hanging out, and we're just talking like, hey, that's how you do X, Y, and Z. And then.
Dale Jr.
Yeah, yeah. And so it's. You'll just live stream some. You know, hey, man, let's. I'm gonna show you guys a. Yeah. You know, some concepts.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, we'll do, like, Q and A. Like, hey, civil. How do you stop X, Y, and Z? And it's like, oh, dude. Like, here. Here we go. We'll just do this, like, bang, bang, boom. It's fun for me because, like, it's crazy. What? Like, it's like a teaching thing, right? Where it's like, you have this knowledge, which is, like, really easy for you. You just know it. Right. Think about something you're an expert in, and you give it to somebody who doesn't know it. It takes you 10 seconds to exchange information, but it changes their entire life. In that moment. It's like, oh, like, now I have this. So it's like you just see, like, light bulb, light bulb, light bulb, light bulb, light bulb. It's, like, sweet, dude. Like, heck, yeah. And then all the other stuff is all hosted through, like, videos and stuff on our platform and all that, where, like, people go in and, like, whenever they want. Yeah. A lot of people watch it, like, work and stuff like that.
Dale Jr.
Where are you most likely to see fan feedback for us?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Discord emails. We're very active in Discord. Very active in emails, Twitter messages. We do a good amount of, like, customer feedback surveys as well with that. And some people just have, like, a direct, like, link to that. Although those are Those are always skewed either, like, whenever you ask for, like, feedback in, like, that format, it's either someone who just had, like, the best experience ever or someone who just had, like, the worst experience ever. You never get, like, lukewarm is, like, the type of answers you want because it gives, like, a good. Yeah, because, like, getting someone. Getting feedback from someone who, like, hates you is, like, okay. Or if they just love everything you do, it's like, well, awesome. Like, my mom would never give good feedback on our platform. She's got. She. My mom loves me dearly. She's never gonna be like, oh, civil. I think you should do X, Y and Z better. So, yeah, Twitter emails, discord.
Dale Jr.
Yeah. What is the. So if I wanted to join, I guess Civil Premium. What is that?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
So Civil Premium is. Civil Premium is a YouTube channel we have where we do, like, gameplay stuff. Civil GG is the website we have where we just have, like, the membership to that.
Dale Jr.
What's the membership?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
The membership is just a. It's like an online learning platform where we just teach people how to get better at the games. And so we have, like, video breakdowns, written breakdowns, like, pictures of, like, showing, like, do X, Y and Z look for this.
Dale Jr.
How unique is it to the free content you share?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
It's. It's pretty. It's. It's like, that stuff is, like, very, like, hey, if you've ever played the game before, like, here you go. Here's a couple of things here and there. Like, this will help you.
Dale Jr.
The.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
The actual, like, paid stuff for what it. For what it is is like, we're deep diving what we're talking about. We're going like, hey, here's this one thing that we showed you in a YouTube video, and here's like, 10 versions of that how we're going to build together. We're gonna string these things all together, and you're gonna use this to. If we're talking about an offense, you're gonna use this to go down the field every single time against your opponent, right? Because on YouTube, like, we're not. I'm not holding your hand in that, right? I'm giving you, like, hey, here's this. Cool play. Like, good luck. Like, hope it works well for you. Or I'm saying, like, hey, this is how you do X, Y and Z. Good luck, dude. Hope, hope, hope. Hope you figured out. Which is like, that's just the nature of it. Whereas, like, this is like, oh, people are, like, paying us for this. Like, we're gonna hold your hand we're gonna tell you, do X, Y and Z, and we're gonna get some more wins.
Dale Jr.
So I asked a couple of my friends that are in this dynasty. One of them you've been able to communicate with. Stefan. Yeah, he is the South Carolina Gamecocks. What made you want to become a content creator versus being a professional Madden player? We discussed that a little bit, but you know, how difficult, I suppose, was that decision. And, you know, when you. When you make that choice, did you have any reservations? Did you have any regrets?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Definitely no regrets. Looking back at it, I think maybe it was a little bit hard. I just remember thinking when I won my first tournament, I was like, dude, I don't know if I'm gonna win this. This type of thing again, man. It was just hard and, like, things had to fall in your favor. It's like winning any kind of championship in any sport ever. It's like, yeah, there's luck involved. And I'm like. But I just. I'm just realizing, like, dude, I have this platform right now where if I don't act on it, like, it's gonna go away and then I have to win again to be able to ever get this chance again. And it's like, let me just go all in and try doing this right now.
Dale Jr.
What do you want to see in the next games?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
In the next games. Big. The big, big, big one. This is. This is very unsimulation, so some people won't like this. I would love to see defenders do a better job of catching interceptions. I just want to see that across the board. If. If I would love to see, like, in baseball, the tie goes to the runner right. In college. Ball 27. I'd love to see if my defensive back and your wide receiver both get their hands on the ball same time. Defensive backs winning, like, punish you for. Dude, you just. There's so much open field.
Dale Jr.
It felt like in 80 and 25, that was pretty balanced.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
It was balanced. I even. I'm. I'm aggressive with this. I lean more towards, like, I wanted to be like, defense. I. I'm such a believer because, like, you got the NFL core. College quarterback in real life, you're, like, trying to see between linemen. You have a very, like, this type view. We have a bird's eye view.
Dale Jr.
Sure.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
So if you're finding a way. And we have every hot route known to man, whereas, like, teams have to actually practice that stuff. We just do it and, like, our guys run the routes. And so it's like, if you're if you're throwing a pass that's hitting a defender's hands. And defense is so hard. Yeah, that's my number one defense was pretty.
Dale Jr.
I mean it is hard. It's so in 26, my opinion. Curious what you think. Yeah, in 26, way less interceptions and defense got worse. Like there's more holes in the defense.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, well, I think the biggest thing is you see more holes in the defense when the offense has more plays and they have more plays because you don't get the interceptions. So it's like if offense has 15 plays, they're going to find a whole. Like every defensive coverage ever has massive holes in it. It's just the nature of it. But like when the offense makes. It's really like when the offense makes a mistake. I'm such. I'm so big, I'm like, I want them to pay for it. Like you mess up on offense, dude, there's a billion open areas of the field. You mess up, you pay for it.
Dale Jr.
Outside of Madden College football, any other passions in gaming?
Kenny Cox (Civil)
In game, dude, I really love playing like basketball games like Tuka. I think it's super fun. I really don't game outside of Madden or college football. No, I wish I did because I'm a big Detroit sports fan and so I love using the Pistons, I love using the Tigers and mlb, the show, things like that. But whatever, if I'm ever gaming, I'm like, dude, I should just be on. I should just be like working basically. I used to play Minecraft a lot, which is really fun while I was younger. There you go. That was a cool one.
Dale Jr.
Yeah, we play. Obviously iracing is a big deal for us with racing and motorsports and Sims and all the sim rigs are insane how they've changed. I remember racing at a desk for years. Man, this has been a lot of fun. I. I'm probably going to think of a million other things to ask you when we're done with this interview, but I just, you know, I was kind of thankful that EA brought the game back. I know that that was probably no small feat considering it's been gone for 12 years and interesting how unique 25 was to 26. I didn't expect such a big shift in the game, in the gameplay, but it was kind of like they. They shuttled out 25 and we're working on 26 behind the scenes and it seems, I don't know, probably more than, you know, probably way more about this in terms of the coding and so forth, but it feels like 26 is much more similar to Madden where 25 seemed like a standalone.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, they, I, I, as far as the engine, yeah, they, they brought the game well because College World 25, man, 25, when they both dropped, like college football, just killed it in every, I mean, you'd have to be a genius, just go on Reddit and be like, you go on the college Reddit, people are like all smiles. You go on the Madden Reddit, people are like, angry.
Dale Jr.
Yeah.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
And so I think they just brought the games a little bit closer together. I think the way they did that, though, was like college became a little bit closer to Madden and Madden came a little bit closer to college instead of just like, Madden just becomes college. Yeah, yeah. Because the games definitely are a lot more similar this year in terms of especially just like, how they feel than, than they were last year. 100%.
Dale Jr.
Well, it's been fun, not only playing the game, but also connecting to content creators like yourself. And that's what we do here at Dirty Mo Media. And, you know, we've, we've had, you know, we've had some folks come in here and sit at the desk and do some interviews that are content creators themselves and, and we're all trying to accomplish the same thing and, you know, in terms of viewers and attract attention and so forth to our content that we create. So I was just watching you, man, and loved your story. Thought that you were somebody that I want to talk to and get to know. And I appreciate you. I know you came a long way to be here and I appreciate you doing that. I know you, I know you. You could have said now. I'm all right, man. We got what we got going on. We're fine over here. But I appreciate you giving us some time today.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Yeah, no, absolutely. Thank you, seriously, for having me. My family, super. When I told my mom and dad, my brother about, about being on here, they were ecstatic. So it's. What a super blessing to be here, dude.
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Kenny Cox (Civil)
Thank you, Dale.
Dale Jr.
Well, man, keep doing what you're doing. And, and I'm, I'm gonna keep being a customer and enjoying the content you're creating and making us all enjoy the game more. And I appreciate you, but thank you.
Kenny Cox (Civil)
Thank you, Dale.
Dale Jr.
All right, Kenny Cox, also known as Civil on the Dale Jr. Download. All right, thanks for joining us here in the Arby's studio. Don't forget about Arby's new meat and three box. You get more meal for your money at Arby's. It's incredible value and we're thankful for Arby's and their their relationship here at Dirty Mo Media. We're having fun. Great food, Arby's. We have the meats. All right, so we'll see you next week. Looking forward to it post Atlanta. Hopefully we can go down there. Junior Motorsports can keep the momentum going and we'll see an exciting race on Sunday. We'll see you. Check out DirtyMomedia on Instagram, Facebook X and TikTok.
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Episode: YouTube Superstar Civil Talks Gaming, Faith, and Content Creation
Date: February 18, 2026
Host: Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Guest: Kenny Cox (“Civil”)
In this meaningful episode, Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits down with YouTube sensation and renowned Madden/EA College Football coach Kenny Cox, better known as "Civil," for a vulnerable discussion blending the world of competitive gaming with personal growth and spiritual discovery. The conversation explores Civil’s path from competitive gaming to content creation, the business behind his successful channel, his recent decision to go public about his Christian faith, and how he sees his role as a teacher and mentor to thousands of fans. The episode is warm, candid, and filled with actionable insights for gamers, creators, and anyone interested in following their passion with purpose.
Early Gaming/Life:
Towards Tournaments and Content:
Transition to Full-Time Content:
Platform Decisions:
Team Structure:
Balancing Content Types:
Community Building:
Paid Platform vs. Free Content:
Spiritual Awakening:
Despite financial and career success, Civil describes feeling unfulfilled and restless, attempting to find satisfaction in partying, relationships, and entrepreneurship before finally exploring Christianity ([42:20]).
The turning point came when, at a low ebb, he attended a church service for the first time for a friend’s baptism (January 5, 2025), which led to ongoing Bible study and, eventually, the confidence to publicly embrace his faith ([43:50]).
Public Faith & Reception:
Notable Quote:
Civil on ambition and emptiness:
“It wasn’t fulfilling. Like, it wasn’t. It felt like it was never enough, and there was always something I was trying to chase after.” ([43:33])
Dale Jr. on Civil’s impact:
“You make the game a lot of fun. You allow people like me that are casual players to really get a little bit better, be able to take it to our buddies and have a good time. And I appreciate you for that.” ([49:32])
Civil on teaching:
“That’s the reward... I think teaching itself is like such a, like, cool thing to be able to do. Like, be able to take, help someone get from like point A to point B. ... You see them go from like, ‘they don’t know how to even pick a play on defense’ ... now they’re, like, winning their ... dynasties.” ([61:26])
Civil on faith and content:
“I've been given this platform... let me glorify the name of God inside of that platform, because there's no other reason for it.” ([50:46])
| Timestamp | Segment | |-------------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Civil shares struggles with fulfillment and turning to faith | | 09:01 | Civil’s early gaming, competition, and realization of skill | | 14:19 | Making money via Madden, pursuing tournaments | | 18:43 | Decision to leave college, professional pursuit | | 22:08 | The pros and cons of different content platforms | | 25:10 | Competition/friendship with other content creators | | 26:42 | Choosing content/teaching strategy | | 35:21 | Civil GG team structure and business building | | 42:20 | Hitting goals but still feeling empty | | 43:50 | Path to faith, going to church, and reading the Bible | | 47:25 | Gaining confidence in faith through scripture | | 49:32 | Dale Jr.’s appreciation for Civil’s openness and impact | | 50:46 | Civil on balancing faith and public image | | 56:53 | Civil on daily work/life balance | | 61:26 | Fulfillment in teaching through content creation | | 62:01 | Community, Discord, fan engagement, and platform structure | | 64:33 | Difference between paid and free content | | 66:27 | What Civil wants to see in future games | | 68:10 | Other gaming interests/outside passions | | 69:34 | Reflections on EA College Football & Madden divide | | 71:04 | Civil’s reflections on the interview, thanks for opportunity |
The conversation is friendly, humble, and encouraging, blending earnest reflection with practical insight. Dale Jr.'s tone is openly curious, sometimes self-deprecating, and always supportive. Civil is energetic, honest, and grateful, particularly about both his success and his spiritual journey.
Listen for inspiration on how to balance hustle, happiness, and helping others—on the game field and beyond.