HOUSTON CHRONICLE
TEXAS SPORTS NATION // COLLEGE
How an Orthodox Jew earned a place on Texas A&M's football team
Danielle Lerner, Staff writer
Sam Salz, a Shabbat-observant Orthodox Jew, is on the Aggies' football scout team. But because of religious requirements, he cannot participate between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday, when many games are played. Courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics
The Texas A&M football team practiced in the sweltering heat, oblivious for the moment to an adjacent aspirant. On the other side of a fence, on a large patch of grass in front of Kyle Field, Sam Salz practiced, too.
Wearing old soccer cleats, Salz worked through drills he’d written down in a notebook when a coach allowed him to observe an Aggies practice. He had a plan to realize his dream of playing college football.
There were two huge potential obstacles. Salz had never played organized football at any level. And even if he did make the team, as an Orthodox Jew he would be unable to compete on the Jewish Sabbath that spans from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, when most college football games are played.
But that didn’t stop Salz. He is now a junior wide receiver on the Texas A&M scout team and thought to be the only Orthodox Jew currently playing NCAA Division I football. When he suits up for home games, he wears his kippah (a Jewish head covering) and tzitzit (specially knotted fringes on a prayer shawl) underneath his helmet and No. 39 jersey.
“When I do something, I like to do it all the way,” he said.
Texas A&M receiver Sam Salz practices with the Aggies during fall camp in College Station. Courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics
Salz was raised in Philadelphia in a Jewish household by his grandparents and his parents, both of whom emigrated from the former Soviet Union. He went to an Orthodox synagogue and attended Jewish schools his entire life, including Kohelet Yeshiva High School. The 100-person high school didn’t have a football team, but Salz played other sports, including soccer, basketball and tennis.
He said he always knew in the back of his mind that he wanted to play college football, a desire that was confirmed when he attended his first Texas A&M game as a college freshman.
At the time, however, Salz was taking courses at a Texas A&M system school to achieve transfer admission to the College Station campus. Because he wasn’t a full-time student, he wasn’t eligible to try out for the Aggie football team until the following year.
In the meantime, he began training. He showed up at head coach Jimbo Fisher’s radio show, introduced himself and got an invitation to watch tryouts so he could know what to expect. At tryouts, Salz took notes on everything he saw and asked staff what they looked for in walk-on players. On his way out, he spotted the patch of grass outside the stadium that would become his personal training ground.
Salz figured out the team’s practice schedule and trained for two or three hours every day. Kosher meat was hard to find in College Station, so Salz, who eats only kosher foods, forced himself to choke down heaping plates of rice and beans with tuna to gain weight. In the mornings, he ate peanut butter.
Making the football team became an obsession. Salz’s friends told him he’d become “like a robot” because of his dedication to his routine. But a friend on the football team told Salz that guys in the locker room were talking about him because they’d noticed him practicing outside the facility. That motivated Salz to keep going, even when he returned to Philadelphia for the summer.
Sam Salz, a Shabbat-observant Orthodox Jew, is on the Aggies' football team. But because of religious requirements, he will never play or attend a game. Courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics
It paid off when Salz returned to College Station as a full-time student last fall. Although the football team wasn’t holding tryouts, he kept up his routine and ended up exchanging numbers with Texas A&M’s associate athletic director for football, Mark Robinson. Five weeks into the season, Salz got a text that he’d made the team.
“He just has such a great work ethic, and you could see that he’d be somebody who could help the football team out,” Robinson said. “His attitude and his work ethic is just contagious and what our team is looking for to have as a new member of the team.”
The NCAA does not publish statistics on the religions of its student athletes, but Salz said he has never met another Orthodox football player in Division I. He does know two collegiate baseball players, who were both drafted by MLB in 2021, who are Orthodox Jews. Robinson said that in his six seasons with the Texas A&M football program, Salz is the first Orthodox player.
Some of Texas A&M’s home games get chosen for prime-time kickoffs on Saturday nights, meaning the game is still going on after sundown when Shabbat (the Sabbath) ends. In those cases, about two hours before the game, Salz walks the 1.5 miles from his apartment to Kyle Field to avoid breaking Jewish law that prohibits driving on Shabbat. He studies Torah there, eats his third meal and finishes Shabbat in the football facility lounge, then dresses in his uniform and joins his team on the sidelines.
He did that for the Aggies’ season opener against New Mexico, which had a 6 p.m. kickoff, and arrived on the field with five minutes remaining in the third quarter. “Which, of course, my teammates thought was hilarious,” he said.
Salz doesn’t view his devotion to Judaism as a complication to football, or vice versa. In Judaism, the concept of “Tikkun olam” refers to repairing the world and making it a better place. Salz believes football is a medium through which he can do that.
“I look at it almost as if it is my divine purpose,” he said. “I was blessed with the opportunity to be able to inspire people and the opportunity to help my fellow Jewish brothers be proud. The opportunity to show people that you can accomplish great things when you really put your mind to it, when you believe in God and all those things. So to me, I see these things that people would deem as complicated as the opposite. It hasn't done anything but grow my relationship with God.”
Salz is firm that he will not compromise on his religious values. And the Aggies have never asked him to.
His very first practice in his first season with the team fell on a Jewish holiday, but coaches were understanding that he couldn’t attend. Texas A&M’s team nutritionists import kosher foods from New Jersey to make kosher meals for Salz. They also provide him with his own microwave at the football facility so he can heat his meal without fear of contaminants from non-kosher food. It’s a far cry from the homemade meals he used to eat to gain weight.
“I can't really look at rice and beans the same way anymore. Or even peanut butter, for that matter,” said Salz, who is listed as 5-6, 155 pounds.
Robinson said the Aggies have several Muslim football players who observe Ramadan, a monthlong period of strict daily fasting from sunrise to sundown. The football staff makes special concessions for them, too, including sometimes rescheduling practices to times more convenient to when they can eat.
Sam Salz earned a spot on the Texas A&M scout team by working out on his own on a field adjacent to Kyle Field. Courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics
Salz, who chose A&M because he wanted something different from Philadelphia and liked the idea of a big football school and Southern culture, is extremely appreciative of how accommodating the school has been, and he said reactions from his teammates have been positive. He’s had theological conversations with teammates who come from various religious backgrounds and has fielded questions from others who are curious about all aspects of Judaism. He said he enjoys teaching people about his religion and hopes to one day invite his teammates to celebrate Shabbat with him.
The Jewish community at Texas A&M is small but tight-knit. At a university with a total enrollment of more than 74,000 students, there are an estimated 500 Jews, as reported by the campus Hillel organization. Salz is an active member of the campus Chabad, a Jewish outreach organization.
Robinson, who is Jewish, said Salz often comes to his office so they can pray together. Salz helps Robinson put on tefillin, traditional leather straps and boxes containing scrolls of Torah verses, and sometimes teaches him about that week’s Torah portion. Last weekend, after Robinson’s work duties kept him from observing the Jewish new year of Rosh Hashanah, Salz and his friends met him at Kyle Field and blasted the ceremonial ram’s horn.
Robinson said he’s been able to act as a bridge between Salz and the Aggies coaching staff to further help coaches understand Salz’s religious engagements and when he’ll have to miss practices. Robinson explained that scout team players are integral to the team as a whole and that he’s seen some scout team players later go on to be NFL draft picks.
Texas A&M receiver Sam Salz practices with the Aggies during fall camp in College Station. Courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics
“Practice does not work without scout team players,” Robinson said. “It’s such an undervalued position to so many people because of what they do. Their role is tough, because they don't get noticed on game day, they don’t get the same recognition that other players get during the season. but we have to have them. Every week, they're generating the other team’s offense or defense, and it’s a tough role because they’re learning a different offense or defense week in and week out, prepping the team.”
The Aggies have lifts twice a week. On those days, Salz’s routine goes something like this: He lifts at 7 a.m., then prays before breakfast. After that, it’s time for class. In the afternoon, he goes to football practice and stays after for some extra work, treatment and recovery in the hot or cold tub. Then he’s off to Chabad, where he might also get dinner if he didn’t already grab one of his kosher meals from the football facility. When he gets home, he does his homework. He tries to reserve an hour each night to learn Torah before he goes to bed.
Why bother with it all? People love an underdog.
“People love, specifically, football stories, because a lot of those things, especially with walk-ons, are overcoming some form of adversity,” Salz said. “I wanted my story to be out there, be one of those. But at the end of the day also, I came here, (and) I wanted to play football and contribute as much as I can to the team.”
While he has yet to appear in a game, Salz’s story has resonated. He’s been featured in numerous Jewish publications, appeared on podcasts and accepted speaking engagements. He even set up a separate email address to keep his appearance and interview requests organized.
He’ll miss practices and school Monday to fast during the Jewish high holy day of Yom Kippur, a day of atonement. Texas A&M’s next two games against Auburn and Arkansas are both already scheduled to be day games on Saturdays, but Salz is hoping the rest of the Southeastern Conference slate includes some later kickoff times that will allow him to be present.
Salz said his ideal post-college life would see him drafted into the NFL, preferably by his hometown Eagles, and attending rabbinical school in the offseason while doing motivational speaking on the side. It’s a fitting vision for a college football player who speaks in mini-sermons and casually drops musings about the universe while quoting psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl.
Salz knows those are lofty goals, but the 20-year-old has already accomplished so much more than many people imagined was possible.
“I learned to have faith and trust in God through this whole process,” Salz said. “Now I get to go out, and I get to share that with other people, I guess inspire other people, and I get to show people how great it is. And that's the thing at the end of the day. That's why I love doing it.”