Before the Stage, There Was the Gridiron: Three Country Stars Who Played College Football

Country music and football have always had a natural kinship. Both are built on grit, competition, and a Southern-fried sense of identity. But for these three artists, the connection goes deeper than just wearing boots and watching the game on Saturday afternoons. Sam Hunt, Riley Green, and Koe Wetzel all strapped on helmets and played college football before they ever sold a ticket to a show.

Sam Hunt: The Quarterback Who Almost Made the NFL

Sam Hunt was a gifted athlete who had a fine career as a college quarterback at both Middle Tennessee State University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he majored in philosophy before graduating with a business degree in economics. He was good enough on the field that the sport nearly swallowed his music career entirely.

After graduating from UAB in 2007, his football talents were noticed by the NFL and he was invited to training camp with the Kansas City Chiefs. He went. He gave it everything he had. It did not work out. "I knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I needed to find out if I could take it all the way," Hunt said. Two months after the unsuccessful attempt, he moved to Nashville to begin his career as a musician.

The music career that followed made the Chiefs look like they missed out badly. Hunt wrote hits for Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, and Billy Currington before breaking through on his own. His 2017 single "Body Like a Back Road" spent 34 weeks at number one on the Country Airplay chart, a record that still stands. His debut album Montevallo produced five singles and broke multiple chart records. The quarterback who did not make the roster went on to become one of country music's most innovative and commercially dominant artists of the past decade. Explore his full story on our website.

Riley Green: The Jacksonville State Signal Caller

Riley Green committed to Jacksonville State University (Alabama) as a three-star football recruit, redshirted as a freshman, and in his junior year had two starts, completing 55 of 100 passes for 612 yards and four touchdowns. He was a Division I quarterback, and he has said the experience shaped him as a performer in ways that never left him.

"Being a quarterback, you've gotta have a certain level of confidence to go out there and lead the pack," he said. "And if you're gonna get up onstage in front of people and sing about stuff you made up, you've gotta have some level of confidence then, too."

After college, he chose the guitar over the gridiron. He spent years playing bars across Alabama, signed with Big Machine Label Group, and sent "There Was This Girl" to number one in 2018. Then his duet with Ella Langley on "You Look Like You Love Me" won CMA Musical Event of the Year and turned him into one of country's biggest stars. He recently added acting to his resume with a role in the Yellowstone spinoff Marshals. Not bad for a guy who started out handing off under center in Jacksonville, Alabama. Get his complete story on our site.

Koe Wetzel: The Linebacker Who Quit for a Guitar

Koe Wetzel grew up in Pittsburg, Texas, performing on stage for the first time at age six alongside his touring country singer mother. He played both football and baseball in high school before choosing football at the college level. He entered Tarleton State University in Stephenville in 2011 and played linebacker for the Texans, pulling double duty the whole time. Even with five in the morning practices, he spent all night writing, jamming, and recording. The music was always louder than the football.

After an ankle injury sidelined him for six months, his passion for the game faded and his love for songwriting grew stronger. In his sophomore year he dropped out of college to go all-in on music. He formed Koe Wetzel and the Konvicts, hit the road through Texas and Oklahoma four nights a week, and built one of the most loyal grassroots fan bases in the genre entirely without a label. His 2017 album Noise Complaint made him a genuine star in Texas, and he eventually signed with Columbia Records for 2020's Sellout without softening a single edge. The linebacker from East Texas did not go gentle into that music career. He went in swinging. Read all about him on our website.

Three quarterbacks and a linebacker. Three men who learned how to compete, lead, and take a hit before they ever wrote their first song. Country music got the better end of that trade.