Janell Fitzgerald’s TikTok following isn’t the product of an overnight success story.
Some of her Texas State Volleyball teammates had been creating content on the app during Fitzgerald’s first two seasons with the Bobcats. The outside hitter finally decided to join in, posting her first video on Dec. 10, 2019.
Her followers gradually started piling up. By the time Texas State’s athletes were sent home in March 2020 to quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fitzgerald had made 10 TikToks and estimates she had an audience of over 40,000. The Mansfield native kept posting, finding time to film 30-second dance loops at her house in April and June, and between practices when she returned to campus in July. Recording became a pregame superstition for her during the 2020-21 season.
