Collegiate Career

• What advice do you have for current high school athletes who hope to make it to the next level? Control what you can control. There will always be people bigger, faster, or more talented. But you can always control your attitude and effort, always being the hardest worker in the room.

• How’d you end up at your current school? What was the recruiting process like? My recruiting process was a little messy, because Covid hit at the start of my second semester junior year, right before everything heats up. Butler was a solid offer, I liked the coaching staff and could see myself making an impact on the history of the program, so I ran with it.

• What do you consider to be one of the more important things you learned from the coaching staff? Effort and determination will take you a lot farther than pure talent ever could.

• What would you consider to be your biggest accomplishment in your sports career so far? Going from not making the travel roster my sophomore year to leading the entire conference in sacks and TFL’s through halfway of my junior year.

• What is your Major and what do you hope to accomplish in your post athletic career? I majored in Finance, I always saw myself getting into sales, specifically somewhere in a sports field. As sports have always been the focal point of my life.

Performance & Training

• Can you walk us through a typical training day during the season and off-season? The off season is the time for growth, so it’s more okay to develop some soreness. I like to do field work/running first followed by a heavy lift. In season I still like to lift 3-4 days a week, but more dynamically to save my strain for Saturdays. Moreso just to maintain strength.

• How do you mentally prepare for high-stakes games or competitions? I just try to stay in the moment. Try to embrace how blessed I am to be there and trust that I’m going to fall back on my training.

• What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your athletic career, and how did you overcome it? Being struck down with a practice injury in the middle of an incredible junior season. I just overcame it one day at a time and let the “what could have been” thoughts serve as motivation for what “will be” in the future.

• How do you stay motivated during times when you’re not performing at your best? I just try to recognize that it’s all a part of the process. There will always be highs and lows, but just once again have to trust that I’ll fall back on my training and bounce back. I never let my confidence waiver because I know how hard I worked to get where I am.

Team Dynamics & Leadership

• How has being part of a team shaped your personal growth or leadership style? Being a part of so many unique groups has definitely taught me a lot. I saw how our leaders acted when we went 3-8, compared to the first time we went 8-3. But through it all I truly believe there’s no better way to lead than by example. If you are always the hardest worker in the room, and don’t tolerate inadequacy in yourself, then everybody else will follow your actions and it will create a better team environment.

• Can you describe a moment when you had to step up as a leader, either on or off the field? Wabash game my junior year, in a nonconference early game against a lower division school we found ourselves in a close game at the half somehow. That was the first time I got up to speak in front of the team, and it sparked something in us. We rolled the whole second half, and it impacted my personal performance as well.

• What qualities do you think make a great teammate? Reliability, trust, honesty, and grit.

Collegiate Transition

• What was the biggest adjustment moving from high school to college athletics? The mental side. You have to go from always being the best on the field, to being a total nobody. And that’s where the fun comes, proving yourself all over again.

• How do you balance academics with the demands of being a high-level athlete? It’s all about the time management. I always set specific times during the week dedicated to strictly academic work, no phone, no football, just getting the stuff done that I didn’t want to.

• What was an important lesson you learned early on that has impacted your success? The importance of having a short memory. Through the highs and the lows you have to stay levelheaded and play the next play as best as you can.

Off-the-Field Life & Mindset

• How do you handle pressure from fans, media, or expectations around performance? I don’t put much thought into anybody outside the program. All I care about is being the best teammate I can be and doing my job. The rest all comes naturally.

• What role does mental health play in your life as an athlete, and how do you maintain it? Just have to always remind myself how lucky I am to be here. Regardless of my performance on the field, I’m getting to live the dream of playing college football. And that’s incredibly special in itself.

• What’s something people might misunderstand about what it takes to compete at your level? The cycle never ends. You can never really ease off the gas petal because that’s when you allow others to catch you. Year round you have to be the best version of yourself, always.

• If you could make a positive impact on all of society, what would it be and why? Definitely in the area of mental health. I feel that that’s a relatively new issue, and I’m blessed to have stayed out of personal struggles in that department. But I have seen the evils of what it can do to those closest to me.

• How would you describe your work ethic? I can describe it in one word: relentless.

Your Future

• What do you hope to show scouts at the National Scouting Combine? That it’s not all about numbers. Regardless of all the metrics, you can make a difference at any level purely off of never being outworked.

• Where do you see yourself five years after your athletic career ends? My only thought for five years out is to not have any regrets. Be able to go to bed at night knowing I gave absolutely everything I had to the game.

• What legacy do you hope to leave behind in your sport? That anything is possible if you just put your head down and work. There will always be doubts, but you just have to rise above them.