Masai Russell has the biggest social media following of UK student-athletes

The University of Kentucky student-athlete with the biggest social media following might surprise you. It’s not Keion Brooks, Chris Rodriguez, Wandale Robinson, or Rhyne Howard. It’s track star Masai Russell. The hurdler has over 364,000 followers on TikTok, 150,000 followers on Instagram, and 5,000 followers on Twitter. Athletics director Mitch Barnhart used Russell as an example of how he wants UK student-athletes to approach NIL opportunities moving forward.

“I go to the young woman who has the most social media of anyone in our department and I would venture to say most of you don’t know that, it’s Masai Russell. Masai Russell has the largest social media following of anybody in our department by far. It’s not close. But she doesn’t wake up everyday just rolling out and saying okay, who all is going to join me? She works at it. She works at it not because she’s a tremendous track athlete — and by the way, she is — she works at it because she’s found a way in what she’s trying to do for a life beyond track and field to be able to put something together for her. That’s the kind of thoughtfulness that it will take for us to be able to watch them, help them, for them to be able to help themselves, and find their way to this unique spot. And that’s really, really a cool thing.”

When she’s not winning medals in hurdles or relays, Russell makes videos for TikTok, accumulating almost EIGHT MILLION LIKES. Here’s a small sample:

@masairussell

Kentucky track here 😛

♬ Shake That Ass x Roll Me Up – J.Earl 🌟

@masairussell

It’s do you RUN track 🙄😂

♬ Punk Monk – Playboi Carti

@masairussell

Meet day drafts 😂😂😂 @darcisimone_

♬ original sound – ella

There’s over 500 more of those. After watching maybe a dozen, I’d wager Mitch Barnhart has never seen a single one.

Still, go Masai. Get that money.