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So, can I say my dad? Then obviously I’d say him just because he’s been there since day one and he’s taught me everything I know basically up until I got to college. Once I got to college he just let go of the reigns completely. He said you're’ a big boy now and go do whatever you want to do, but he definitely got me to that point. So, for the majority of my football career, everything that I’m able to do is because of him.
There was definitely hills and valleys at the beginning. My sophomore year my brother was actually the starter then I ended up taking his job when he got hurt. It was an interesting complex in our family, he was a senior and I was a sophomore and then I ended up starting over him. People would say in the community that he’s only playing because of his dad and he doesn’t deserve to be here because it’s a pretty prestigious high school program. They won a couple state titles early, and only been around for twenty-five years. We have had a lot of success in the quarterback position, with Spencer Sanders at Oklahoma State,James Battle played division one football, Scotty Young, just a bunch of really good quarterbacks at the highschool level. Then we had some success and I was the next guy and people were skeptical and had to prove to some people I was a good quarterback.
He got hurt at half time, I would say the fourth game of the season. And then once he was back healthy, I guess they had to talk within the coaching staff and they just said,“We're gonna stick with Seth.” So that was kind of hard for my dad, obviously he’s in a hard position, his oldest son is a senior who’s never got to play varsity football, then his middle son. He kind of took that decision out of his hands and let his staff decide but it did not really create any tension between me and my brother or with my brother and my dad. We just went with the flow because it was unfortunate he got hurt in the first place.
He talks to me after every one of our games, but like every one of his games not really. But I keep in touch kind of with how they're doing, how they program is because I'm still friends with a lot of those guys. Of course. They're on a state championship team my senior year and still really talented, have some five stars and four, some good kids. I keep in touch with a lot of them and see how their season is going, but he talks to me after every one of my games just to catch up.
AI think there’s truth to that but I’m probably biased since I am a coach’s son, but I was not recruited until late in the process in my opinion. I didn’t really take offense to that but I just saw it as like I am playing with a bunch of great players so they probably think I am throwing it to great players letting them do their thing. I was kind of hidden by their talent I guess I would say. I think there's definitely truth in that, just because being a coach's son growing up, always being around football, sinceI was a little kid always having a football in my hands and having that kind of ingrained into me just like big family football and just football's a big part of that. Just our whole lives growing up. Our whole entire family is so, just always being around it I feel like it gave me a little edge over other quarterbacks and other players.
I don't really have too many rituals. The only thing that I like, have to do for a game is like I elevate my feet, like right before we run out, I elevate my feet and then I'll just look up to look into a light if a light is above me. Then I’ll stare at the light and blink then close my eyes to listen to two or three songs just to ground myself. Just to be in the moment, be where my feet are and have that mentality. Don’t think about the future, just be where I am right now, don’t think about tomorrow or anything like that or don’t think about any other play that’s gonna happen besides the first play stuff like that.
Well out of Memphis I’d say the Hawaii Bowl, I don’t know if you could count that but going there, it was a great time, got to be with my favorite people, members of the team, my friends and the coaches I have a great relationship with. We obviously didn’t play that game but just going there it was a once in a lifetime experience for sure. Then in Memphis, I mean there’s a lot of great memories, but I could not really pick anything in particular. In the city just with football or outside of football there has not been a dull moment, there’s always something to do and always getting better.
So I was actually forewarned about this question, so I had some time to think about it. In my top three, in no particular order, I’d say Braveheart, the Notebook, throw a little of love in there, gotta have a little love. Then I’d say Parasite, which won best picture I think in 2019 but you have to watch it with subtitles but it’s a really good movie.
I would have to hang out with my girlfriend for a little bit at a time. Then probably hang out with my roommates and just play cards or a board game then watch a movie. If it’s during the season, we obviously just has out by week so we had two days off and kind of did the same things but watched some film because it is still season but if it is not then just relax, call my mom and my dad nothing major.
I've gotten this one a lot, but I wouldn't say anyone in particular, but players that I like or that are fun to watch obviously areAaron Rogers, Josh Allen, Mahomes . I'd say those three are the ones I like the most, or I feel like I could play like them potentially.
I had that assumption too, it wasn't until late in the summer that I was like, Okay, I'm gonna be the guy, or I had that mind set.Every single day during spring ball, my goal was just to get a little bit better. And then Coach Johns told me, you know, coming in early, he was like, I want you to be competing for the job when fall comes around and, you know, every coach at the college level is gonna say what the kid wants to hear to a certain extent, but I also believed him a little bit. I just felt like I had, I had everything available to me to be within the top two, and in my mind I was like, I'm gonna be the backup to Grant or that was my goal. My goal was to climb up the depth chart and be the number two if something were to happen. And then obviously something that did happen and he ruptured his achilles early during that fall camp, or late during the summer. I forgot which one it was, but that happened to him. He tried to play on it for a little bit. They tried to get him to go and, you know he couldn't move that well, so he was like, I'm going to get surgery. Then at that point it was just an open field, it was me, Kelan Brown and Peter Parrish. That was really it and I felt like I had a good chance to be the starter, so that's kind of how it went. It wasn't really a battle even at first, you know, that spring I was getting all the, all the four reps, pretty much, and then I got one rep with the ones that I remember, and I threw two balls into the dirt that spring, I had Calvin on a little slant and I just threw it at his feet. And then I had a, a slant to I think Javon, and then it was a bad ball too, so I was like, dang, like I missed my opportunity in the spring. But I wasn't too worried or too stressed. I just kept my head down and stayed quiet and just, and then things ended up in my favor by the time the season came around.
I never experienced anything like it in my life, and football has been such an important thing in my life since I was a boy. So, you know, to be the starter of a team that's not doing well, it definitely opened my eyes. I wasn't used to losing it all, and I still hate losing, but it kind of, you know, it really helped me grow. I just learned what it was like to lose, I guess I would say, which is never a good thing to learn, but I feel like everyone has to have that experience at some point. It definitely helped me grow as a person as well, just because you're going to lose at some point in your life. Bad things are going to happen. So it just helped my mindset as well. But you know, to be in that situation it was pretty upsetting to me just because I knew we were capable of, as a team and as an offense in particular. We'd beat Mississippi State, we'd beaten some good teams, and then, I mean, lost to some teams we shouldn't have lost to, uh, to be straight up. But turnovers were a really big factor in those games. And then, you know, I put that on myself, but really just helped me grow and helped me learn to lose, and just kind of take it in stride. Which is not necessarily a good thing, but it's something that I felt like I had to learn, and I'll continue to take with me after football as well.
To answer your question straight up its be great, but to goin to detail I met him that first spring. He came to one of the practices and he was obviously trying to go on his pro route. He was finding his way in the USL, XFL things like that seeing if he would be drafted or have an opportunity in the NFL. But he came to one of the practices and I just asked him some advice as far as like the college game and how I should approach it and what I should do just because I know he’d been there. He has those experience, he’s been through it all, the ups and downs which he’s told me about obviously. Later on down the road whenever I became the starter when I was playing for a while, he (Brady) told me because he was back in the program for a little bit he said when I came in the spring I was impressed by you stuff like that. So I found that pretty cool. I was just like, he noticed me like back then, and thought I could throw the ball pretty well. So, that’s cool but you know, he's just been a great mentor and friend as well. He’s someone that I can laugh and joke with and also I can take a lot from as far as just knowledge because he knows so much. He's just a good mentor to have, in every aspect.