How Texas A&M Aggies’s Sam Salz became college football’s first known Orthodox player
Despite never having played on a team and not even owning a pair of cleats, the plucky athlete practiced alongside the squad and is now a walk-on member setting a Jewish example
Reporter at The Times of Israel
The chain link fence separating Sam Salz from the Texas A&M football team was a minor detail as far as he was concerned — as was the fact that he didn’t yet own a pair of cleats.
Salz spent 11 months practicing alongside — but never with — the Aggies, each practice bringing him closer to realizing his goal: to be a walk-on player for the Division I squad despite never having played on a football team.
“I never played football on a team and didn’t even follow college football until I was in college. I just knew I wanted to play,” Salz told The Times of Israel in a Zoom interview from a hotel room in New Orleans, where he was visiting to speak at a local synagogue.
Salz’s story might seem like the plot of a feel-good movie, but the tale of how the 5’ 6’’, 160-pound Philadelphian earned a place on the Division I team is all too true. More than that, it’s the story of how Salz, an economics major who wears a kippa under his helmet, became the only known Orthodox Jew to play college football.
It was 2021, and Salz had gone to Rudy’s Country Store in College Station, Texas, to hear Texas A&M’s former head coach Jimbo Fisher’s weekly radio show. By then Salz had decided he was going to play for the Aggies, and when he spotted Fisher in the parking lot, he told him so — despite a team policy that walk-ons have to have at least played varsity football in high school.
The only football Salz played growing up was during recess and gym class. His high school, Kohelet Yeshiva High School, a Modern Orthodox college prep school in Philadelphia, didn’t have a football team.
So Salz practiced and practiced, and every day he arrived an hour before the team and stayed an hour after they left.
He took notes and designed his workouts accordingly. He used old shoes instead of orange cones for drills. He lined up trash cans to imitate a scrimmage line. And he kept at it until finally the coach noticed. Salz had secured a spot on the team.
Now Salz’s jersey is emblazoned with the number 39, representing the 39 avot melakhot, or categories of activity that the Bible prohibits on Shabbat. As an observant Jew, Salz is exempt from participating in team activities on Jewish holidays; the first official practice he was invited to coincided with Yom Kippur. The team’s nutritionist orders kosher meals from a distributor in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, so that Salz can fuel up with kosher food.
Because the Aggies primarily play on Friday nights and Saturdays, Salz can’t attend most games, which doesn’t frustrate him in the least. Just as he knew he would play college football, he’s confident he will play before he graduates.
“I love being on the team, working on my skills. I am training to play and I would love to really get in the game. My faith says if I am doing this for the right reason, it will happen,” Salz said.
The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
The Times of Israel: What’s your first memory of football?
Sam Salz: It must have been watching Sunday football on the television at my step-grandparents’ house. I was like 4 or 5 at the time. My father didn’t watch football, he was more of a baseball guy.
I know you didn’t play football, but what sports did you play?
I always liked competitive sports. In the third grade, I played Little League. I played tennis, gymnastics, baseball, soccer, and floor hockey.
So what led you to football? Did you always know you were going to play? Why college football?
I always say it was something like divine inspiration. It was sometime between fifth and eighth grade when I just knew I had to play college football. I just knew it. I loved the [Philadelphia] Eagles and wanted to play. I didn’t have a chance to play on a team in high school. I could have possibly played at a local public school, but the reality is, it wasn’t meant to happen then. That’s the great irony. I knew Texas A&M existed because of an Instagram account I followed, “Dude, perfect,” and I fell in love with the school itself.
Tell us a little more about that. “Dude, perfect,” is a group of former Texas A&M roommates who pride themselves on giving back, and they’re also outspoken about their faith in Christ. How does that mesh with you, an Orthodox Jew?
I felt the show exemplified the values of A&M.
A&M is a very interesting school in that respect. It has a lot of tradition. People have a lot of commitment to each other. Former students, the school alumni network, faculty; everyone helps each other. It’s like how a family looks after each other. And a lot of people here are religious, there are different faiths here and I find that intellectually stimulating.
What’s the Jewish community like there?
It’s special and unique. There’s a Chabad on campus and a Hillel. It has a great community feel.
There are only between 300 and 500 Jewish students on campus, and you’re the only one on the team. Have you experienced antisemitism since you’ve been?
Texas A&M is really a bubble. I don’t mean that in a bad way. There are 70,000 people on the campus and there has been negligible antisemitism, even after October 7. We haven’t had what other campuses have had; that level of antisemitism would not be tolerated. People would not allow antisemitic tropes to fester. And I don’t mean just the administration wouldn’t allow it, the students wouldn’t. So Texas A&M is a great place to be a Jew.
There’s been a lot written about you being the only known Orthodox Jewish college football player. Do you feel like you are an ambassador for the Jewish people, and if so, are you okay with that?
The ultimate reality is when you’re a Jew you are an ambassador for our people. That’s how we’re supposed to act. The typical student here would never otherwise meet an observant Jew, so I see an opportunity to show my team what we’re about.
I genuinely love getting asked questions. It’s important to build connections and football is a great sport for doing that.
Sounds like you like teaching. I understand you want to be a rabbi.
I do want to be a rabbi. I love Torah and how it fits in with the daily life that you live. I find halachic [Jewish] law really fascinating. It’s something I want to study, not to be a pulpit rabbi, but to understand. My dream would be to play for the NFL and on my off-season teach religion or religious guidance in high school and help other Jewish students.
