For most college football players, gameday is sacred.
For Sam Salz, faith is the most sacred part of every Saturday. Specifically, his observation of Shabbat.
“Faith gives me perspective and helps me navigate challenges, especially in my football journey,” Salz told me.
“Football has a lot of noise, like jealousy and criticism, but faith allows me to focus and understand that everything happens for me, not to me. It’s about approaching life with a broader perspective and staying positive.”
Growing up in Philadelphia, Salz played every sport under the sun, from gymnastics to baseball. During these formative years, the biggest connection he had to football was playing with classmates during recess.
It wasn’t until 2018, when Nick Foles and the Eagles upset the New England Patriots, that Salz felt something awaken inside him.
It was a rather unexplainable feeling that he was destined to play college football.
After some encouragement from his family, Salz was all in.
But his football story didn’t begin until he enrolled at Texas A&M University. By that time, most D1 players have starred in at least a few years of organized, varsity high school football.
But Salz didn’t play high school football at all.
He attended Kohelet Yeshiva High School, a Modern Orthodox college prep school that didn’t even offer a football team.
So upon arrival at College Station, with a Jewish student body population of roughly 1%, Salz got to work.
He started running drills, going through full workouts, and full-on practicing adjacent to the A&M football team’s practice field.
Soon enough, Salz began showing up to then-head coach Jimbo Fisher’s podcast, hoping the leader of the Aggies would notice the work Salz was putting in on the (literal) sidelines.
“It was all about consistency,” he said. “Same time every day, showing up, never giving up. Even on solo days, my friend Alex would come and work on throwing and catching with me.”
Coach Fisher didn’t once ask if Salz had high school football experience. But what Sam lacked in reps on the field, he more than made up for in heart, hustle, and sheer desire to succeed.
Deep within him, he held an unwillingness to quit.
Months later, Coach Fisher had seen all he needed to see. Salz got the call he’d been dreaming of for years.
“It was anticlimactic at first,” Salz said. “I was sitting in my room studying for an economics test when I found out I made the team.”
Staying true to his devotion to Judaism, Sam couldn’t make his first practice as an official member of the Aggies football team because it fell on Yom Kippur, one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar.
This wouldn’t be the first time that Salz would find himself away from the team because of his faith.
Since most college football games fall on Saturday afternoons or early evenings, this meant a bulk of the Aggies’ gamedays fell on Shabbat. As a day of rest, he didn’t travel, play in football games, or do work of any kind that occurred before sundown on Saturday nights.
Early on during his time on the team, Salz had an opportunity to travel to Baton Rouge for an SEC showdown against the LSU Tigers.
For many players, this would have been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – the chance to play their first-ever collegiate game in one of the SEC’s premier stadiums.
But yet again, Salz demonstrated his devotion to his faith above all else.
He skipped the 2023 LSU game, choosing to stay back on campus and honor the Sabbath while his teammates took the short trip over the Louisiana state line.
While Sam continued to find himself missing games, practices, and other team events on Saturdays (and Friday evenings), his presence at only a portion of team activities actually worked to strengthen his relationships with his teammates and coaches.
With Salz honoring his religious commitments week after week, came a high level of respect from his fellow Aggies.
“[These relationships] evolved for the better. And people understood me from a different lens,” he said.
“Instead of thinking ‘why is someone who can’t play half the games on the roster?’ my teammates realized that I still worked as hard. This lent credibility to my work ethic and bred a certain level of respect.”
When Salz started playing football, he knew he was using the sport as a means for something greater. Football was the means, while Judaism and inspiring others were the ideals.
“I wanted to show people it’s possible to achieve both.”
On November 16th, 2024, Sam Salz proved it to the world.
In a twist of fate, the Aggies’ annual senior game landed after nightfall. This meant that Salz would be able to play in the game after Shabbat concluded.
In the week leading up to this game against New Mexico State, Salz had an inner feeling that he was going to get onto the field in game action.
He started being served Rudy videos on his TikTok “For You” page, foreshadowing one underdog story with another legendary one.
Earlier in the 2024 season, Salz had the chance to attend a handful of the Aggies’ night games, when he’d head over to Kyle Field after Shabbat. Sometimes, this meant arriving at the game well after the opening kickoff.
Finally, it was his time to actually partake in a kickoff. In front of 100,000 fans in the heart of College Station.
Shabbat ended just 30 minutes before the game began, and he hadn’t run a kickoff formation all year. But over the months, he made an effort to attend as many receiver group meetings as possible, to learn more about the game, each upcoming match-up, and soak up all the football knowledge he could – oftentimes doing so knowing he wouldn’t get into the game at all.
But with 42 seconds left in what ended up being a 38-3 win, Salz made his childhood dream a reality.
Following a scoring drive, Texas A&M kicked off. And when the ball soared into the air, Salz was right there, running in jubilation down the Kyle Field grass along with the rest of the special teams unit.
He did it.
Sam made it as a walk-on at one of the nation’s largest universities, even though all along in his heart, he felt like he was a scholarship player. He made the seemingly impossible become more than possible.
His faith guiding him the entire way, football holds just a small chapter in his life journey.
Because all along, his greater vision was much, much larger.
“I want to create positive change in other people’s lives,” he said. “I can’t change someone’s life for them, but I hope to inspire them to take action.”
“Influence and money aren’t as meaningful to me as seeing real change in people.”
Salz spoke in-depth about his belief in “the main character theory” – in essence, it means that everyone is the main character in their own story. And as the main character, one never truly loses unless they actively decide to quit.
In this story – one of faith, football, and a desire to inspire others through the backbone of an innate connection to his faith – Sam is the main character.
And in this story, there’s a fact that is so undeniable that it cannot be debated.
Sam never, ever quit.
The proof is in the legacy he continues to build, as he inspires Jewish communities across the world.
Anything is possible through faith and perseverance.
Editor’s Note: Big thanks to Sam Salz for sharing his story with us! Go follow him on Instagram @sam__salz
