Meet the TikTok famous PSU senior who’s encouraging students to become ‘academic weapons’
Brad Kraut is a maverick.
At least that’s what his father, Steven Kraut, says of the 21-year-old who’s had a long history of entrepreneurial projects.
Brad’s latest endeavor? Convincing other students — at Penn State and those he reaches across the globe through TikTok — to become an “academic weapon” and to “kick the sheets.”
“It’s about getting up in the morning and kicking the sheets, you know, getting up and starting your day and being productive right when you wake up,” Brad Kraut said. He has a poster with the phrase on his wall of his downtown State College apartment so it’s the first thing he sees every morning.
Brad Kraut’s content went viral on TikTok in August with posts motivating students to take academics as seriously as any other aspect in life. His initial “academic weapon” TikTok has more than 6.2 million views, thousands of comments and over 900,000 likes. The sound from his post has been used in over 10,000 other TikToks, with the hashtag academic weapon surpassing 92.9 million views.
“It’s just crazy waking up everyday and just seeing the numbers go up,” Brad said. “Like kids everywhere are using my sound and posting about being an academic weapon or kicking the sheets.”
Some TikToks jokingly credit Brad for raising the national GPA by popularizing the academic weapon trend. Brad’s TikTok content is focused on productivity and urging people to bring an intense level of energy and drive to all aspects of daily life, especially academics. He urges students to sit in the front row of their lectures, complete assignments and network with students and professors.
“He’s up for the challenge,” Steven Kraut said. “He’s driven like you wouldn’t believe and he wants to change the world. He wants to change people’s attitudes and make them better.”
Brad Kraut said his goal has always been to make a difference in the lives of others. Over the pandemic, he started running his own day camp for the young boys in his Southampton neighborhood with outdoor exercises and activities to keep them busy. His newly found fame has come full circle, with many of his former camp kids now following his content on TikTok.
According to Brad and the people that know him, he’s always been entrepreneurial. In high school he started a fitness program with a friend, selling T-shirts and donating the proceeds to Athletes Helping Athletes.
Once he got to college, he began marketing for JERPA, a clothing brand started by his friend and former Penn State student Austin Thomas. Thomas said Brad sold over 40 pairs of the brand’s sherpa lined jeans the day he started working with them.
“He’s a character,” Thomas said. “If he believes in something, if he’s passionate about something then he’s got this characteristic of him where he can influence a lot of people to be involved in that same thing.”
In the past Brad also worked with Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford’s company Limitless and interned for LA-based company Cuts Clothing. Although he had always wanted to work in athlete marketing, he’s spending the rest of his senior year focusing on building his personal brand rather than signing on to a company.
For now, Brad is still just a Penn State student, but plans on traveling to other campuses next semester to further spread his mantra of “kick the sheets.” As his popularity grows at Penn State, Brad has posted TikToks with student-athletes bringing academic weapons to the locker rooms, tumbling floors and pool lap lanes with Penn State students.
Brad’s strength as an influencer comes from his genuine personality and ability to brush off the negative opinions of others, his friends and family say.
“People used to make fun of me you know when I was posting for JERPA or other stuff, people didn’t get it,” Brad said. “Now I get stopped on campus all the time, just like walking around people stop me and want to talk.”