KXEL Presents: The Home of the Panthers Football Pre-Game Podcast

Welcome to the Home of the Panthers podcast produced by News Talk 1540 KXCL and presented by I'm On Communications.

Experience the I'm On difference.

I'm Tim Harwood.

Stay tuned to this week's conversation with UNI Panther Spencer Covalier right after this from I'm On Communications.

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Well there have been sports on college campuses for more than a couple of weeks this fall but for many fans it's today that they've been waiting for.

No sport is more associated with the fall semester than football and today marks the opening of the college football season for most schools including the University of Northern Iowa.

Before each UNI Panther game this fall, we'll bring you an insider's perspective on the game, the team, and other elements of the college athlete experience through the eyes of senior linebacker Spencer Kuvalier.

Spencer joins us now.

How are you doing?

I'm doing great.

Excited to be in here.

I want to take some time to look back at last season as well as looking ahead to Air Force, the first opponent on the schedule.

That's the matchup that we're counting down toward today.

But first,

Let's help Panther fans get to know you a little bit better.

So imagine that you're walking into a room full of people you don't know you're going to talk to them and what are the things that you're going to tell them football and otherwise about Spencer Covalier?

Well, out of high school, I wasn't very highly recruited.

I didn't have any offers coming out of high school.

And so I ended up taking the junior college route.

I went to Iowa Central Community College out of Fort Dodge there.

starting spot during fall camp.

And then the first game there at Iowa Central, I actually tore my ACL.

And so it was kind of a little eye-opening experience.

I was able to kind of take a step back and almost appreciate football a little bit more.

And actually, you know, looking back at it, it's a little bit more of a blessing in disguise in a way because it kind of helped me, you know, I was able to sit back and sit on meetings and learn the game of football from a little different perspective.

And it's obviously going from high school to college.

There's a lot of

things to learn.

But knowing that I wasn't playing that season, I was able to kind of pick up on some coaching tips that the coaches were giving other players and kind of utilize that to my advantage when I got healthy that following spring.

And so I got a medical red shirt and then came back and played that following fall for Iowa Central.

And we kind of had a pretty good season there.

I think we went

eight and four, nine and three, something like that.

I mean, we did some good things there.

One of our bowl game, which was in the dome, and then I picked up a couple offers.

South Dakota had offered me, and New Mexico State, I've got talked about too by like Akron in Western Kentucky and things like that.

But you know, Northern Iowa, Coach Fowler came knocking, and I came right through the door.

I was kind of a no-brainer when I came here.

And so transferred in, and

You know since then I've been loving it ever since Really enjoyed what we do here as a culture.

I love what we do in the summer.

She we work we work extremely hard and The the other you know division one transfers the the guys who have transferred you and I say it's one of the toughest Programs they've really worked or you know done throughout a summer You know workout regimen and so it's just kind of fun to be a part of something That's that you know many people in the country may not be doing so I really enjoyed working hard and

with the teammates and building that camaraderie.

You're not from far away from Cresco and Crestwood High School.

Did you have to make a decision about college football versus other sports?

And I'm thinking track in particular because you were a discus thrower.

Yeah, I was a three-time state qualifying discus.

I had a preferred walk-on to go to Iowa to throw it to throw.

I was going to have been shot discus and I think it would have been hammer as well, which I was at the time I was very intriguing, but

You know, I think football is king and it was going to be very tough to, you know, walk out my senior year of high school knowing that was my last time playing football, strapping on a helmet.

And so I always kind of told myself if, you know, if Iowa Central didn't work out football related, maybe I'd try to go in the realm of track somewhere.

And so football kind of went in my favor and, you know, I have no regrets to come back.

I'm glad the path that I've chosen.

How have you pieced it all together in terms of?

field of study, academics, what transferred nicely from Iowa Central to UNI and where do you hope to be professionally whenever you're done playing football?

Well, so back in high school, they offered community college classes there.

And so I was already, you know, a little bit ahead of the game going to Iowa Central.

A lot of those first semester classes that a lot of the freshmen had to take, I was actually able to, you know, kind of skip that and go right into the almost my second semester of school.

As far as that goes, out of high school, I thought I wanted to be an engineer.

And I took calculus my first year at Iowa Central, and I would no longer be an engineer major after that.

That was the end of that.

And not that it was, I mean, it was difficult, don't get me wrong, but I just thought I'd try to find a new passion.

And so I was actually, I was passionate about finance there for a while.

My dad is a financial advisor, works at a company called Edward Jones up in Cresco.

And I kind of liked just his schedule and in the way you get to talk to people and just the way he goes about his work kind of made me almost find a little passion in that.

And so I came to UNI as a finance major.

I was taking business classes and things like that.

And then all of a sudden in the, you know, spring of 2020 COVID hit and we lost our fall season.

And then, you know, put in the spring, however, we had another year of eligibility.

And so I knew I had two extra semesters of school.

you know to complete and so I figured I'd pick up another major that way and so I think it was like five or six extra classes I'd have to take in order to get my real estate degree and so I decided to pick up real estate as a major and then lo and behold after I took like two classes I honestly fell in love with real estate and since then I've actually been very very interested in

rental properties and you know just a lot of different proponents of real estate and things like that and so This last June I started an internship A remote internship out at

Des

Moines with a company called Citus AMC and that goes through the end of December and so I'll just kind of be working with them through the mornings this fall and this semester because I'm only taking one one class in order to graduate and so

I plan on doing that and then after I graduate school, I plan on getting in the field of real estate some way, some shape or form.

Ideally, I'd really like to be some sort of general appraiser where I'd be able to appraise retail and industrial and commercial and office spaces and things like that.

UNI senior linebacker Spencer Kuvalier will get to know him more throughout the fall before we talk about Air Force.

Let's talk about last season.

Your year was altered by injury before getting into some of the details.

First and foremost, how are you doing?

Yeah, like you said, I got hurt last year in South Dakota.

It was a tough process.

I ended up tearing my labor in my shoulder.

And so I sat out those following three games on the sideline.

I mean, I participated as much as I possibly could.

I actually became the signaler to the defense.

But, you know, sitting out watching your teammates' plays is kind of a difficult situation to be in.

And so, the last two games of the season, I was dressed on the sideline, but I only played maybe three or four plays.

Maybe when a linebacker, you know, got tweaked up in that, or, you know, banged up during a play, came out for a play, and came back in.

I didn't really play a whole lot much after that, because of my shoulder.

But,

Yeah, so I sat out spring ball and I ended up getting surgery in December and then I you know sat out spring ball and things like that and then the main focus You know this spring and summer was just getting healthy and getting back to You know a way that I felt I was comfortable with and then honestly going to the fall camp But my shoulder had you know felt good and I was kind of on the fence I really didn't know what to think going into camp and how it would feel and to be completely honest with you I it's I don't know if it's ever felt better.

I mean it might sound close shade to say but

I haven't had an issue with it since, and everything feels like it's back to normal.

So really, really excited to get this season underway and get back to playing some football and hitting some heads.

Panthers were a six and five team at the end of last year, end of the regular season.

What was the sentiment like about the challenge that was last year's schedule and I assume the level of excitement on getting that playoff bit, which is certainly far from guaranteed for a six and five team.

Yeah, no, absolutely.

Well, I think every year since I've been at UNI, I think we've had a top five, you know, as far as strength of schedule goes in the SES.

I know we've been right up there in the top five, top 10.

But we've had a lot of difficult opponents.

You know, we play at North Dakota State every year or have played them every year.

South Dakota State's been good.

Southern Illinois has been good.

We play Iowa State, Sacramento State.

We play a lot of these playoff teams and even in like the Big Sky Conference and then obviously the Missouri Valley as well.

And so going, you know, going six and five in the regular season, I don't, I think.

A lot of us felt that there was a lot more left in the table.

Well, we felt that we were better than six and five.

And in fact, I think we knew we were better than six and five.

We didn't feel that our record was an accurate representation of what the team could do and what it was, you know, able to do.

And, you know, we went into Eastern Washington doing the playoff game.

I think they were the number one offense on all of FCS football, their average in like, you know, 49 points a game or something like that.

And we ended up holding them to 19 and.

unfortunately came up short and lost that game.

But it certainly gave us a little bit of momentum going into this next season with a lot of returning guys and experience coming back.

And so I know we're all kind of chomping at the bit to get this season underway.

One more question about last year.

Let's rewind almost exactly a year ago.

Jack Trice Stadium, Iowa State.

the talk of the preseason for many people about what the expectations were for the Cyclones and All the enthusiasm surrounding Matt Campbell's program and you and I has a lead in the first half Ultimately goes to the wire and it's a one-possession game 16 to 10 the final for Iowa State How do you balance that?

How do you balance being that close?

against a team that was that highly thought of not ultimately getting the win but having that kind of day

yeah well and so you know we always want to win every opportunity to get and even though the the scoreboard show that we lost I mean I think there's a lot of wins that we could take a part of it as in different segments and things like that I felt we played a we played a good football game you know it's a it's a little

It's a drastic change from playing in the dome in front of maybe 10,000 fans to going to Jack Trison playing in front of 60,000 for their season opener.

I mean, it's one heck of an experience, but there's a lot of takeaways.

I mean, it's their first game.

It's our first game.

And they always say that the biggest improvement is from game one to game two.

And so for us, I mean, we came out with our hair on fire and played some good football, that first game.

And so it was a great start to...

a good season.

We're talking with Spencer Kuvalier.

We're talking in this case about Iowa State last year, but let's bring it now full circle to today.

Air Force, another FBS opponent.

What can you take from that experience last year in Ames and apply to Colorado Springs?

Well, we have a lot of guys coming back who have experienced playing that Iowa State game.

And so we're going to be familiar with how the environment will kind of be set and

It's going to be a really different experience playing Air Force.

I don't know if you and I have ever played.

I guess I don't know that for a fact, but I don't think they've ever played them.

Going out to Colorado Springs and playing them is going to be...

you know a new experience for everybody but it's going to be exciting you know it's it's kind of cool the you know the pregame stuff is all going to be when they fly over the you know be two bombers and if they parachute people in the field you know that the whole the whole air force experiences is going to be it's going to be kind of surreal but i think uh... you know as long as we go in there stay focused and you know i think the main things to be staying disciplined

throughout that game is going to be a major key to success as we walk into Colorado Springs.

And discipline particularly because of the type of offense that Air Force runs.

Yes, absolutely.

You know they run the triple option and they do it out of all sorts of different formations.

Everybody has their own responsibilities and it's going to take all 11 guys every single play consistently over and over again.

And you know that's how they

I feel like that's how Air Force gets teams to slip up a little bit, is because, you know, one guy doesn't do his responsibility, and they bust a long run for 25, 30 yards, or, you know, they throw a deep ball for a touchdown.

You know, it could be anything like that, but everybody is just going to have to worry about doing their job every single play, and that's exactly right.

The discipline is going to be a major factor going into Air Force.

The linebacker position is important against any style of offense, but are there some particular stresses or strains when you're looking at what Air Force does that are different compared with a more pro-style offense or something else you might be likely to encounter?

I just thought I'm going to strap up my helmet incredibly tight because I know it's going to be a physical game.

You know, they're old linemen, they're known for cutting, and actually they just put in a new rule, a new cut rule that you can't do it.

I think one yard past the tackle box, but anything in the tackle box is legal to be cut.

So, you know, they can't cut outside the tackle box.

Sound like a toss sweep or quick pitches and things like that.

But I just, I just know it's going to be physical.

And so playing downhill is a linebacker.

Um, this is going to be very important.

And I think that's just going to be very apparent when we play.

It's going to have to be meeting force with force play after play, uh, for 70, 80 plays during the game.

The other big question that would come up against this opponent or any other school that's in the mountains, how do you plan for the altitude?

Can you plan for the altitude or how do you adjust to it once you get there and really have it hit you that the oxygen is not the same?

Yeah, it's gonna be a new experience for me.

I think in 2018 or 17, I think 2018 they wouldn't played as before I had transferred in.

You and I played Southern Utah.

I know I talked to some of the guys in the team and that they

had

said that They almost like their bodies almost felt like it was just a little different like they're like their body almost felt Like loose and like maybe not necessarily a good way And I know I heard of guys kind of cramping up in the in the second half at times So I'm gonna say that being hydrated is gonna be a main You know something that we is it gonna be our main focus going in staying hydrated and

But the nice part is if we do get tired, we have guys that can sub in and play.

There's two linebackers behind the two guys that start that can, even three or four, honestly, that can honestly rotate in and get good quality reps in and make an impact in the game as well.

Just linebackers specifically, but also other positions around the field.

We'll have people that can, you know, guys that may not start but could play just as stars and be as productive.

And so it'll be nice being able to, you know, if you need to catch wind, if it's a...

a couple long play drive or whatever the case may be having you know some guy fill your shoes and do it just as well as maybe you could.

Well finally Spencer, call it a ritual, call it a superstition, call it whatever you'd like to label it.

Is there something you feel like you have to do to be mentally sharp before the first game of any season?

I'm a big proponent of watching film.

I feel like when you watch enough film

You pick up on little things, whether it be a guard reader or a tackle, if he's leaning one way or the other on a pole, if he's on his heels in a pass set.

Really just kind of keying in on your reads as a position specific is something that I really try to focus on the week prior to the game.

And actually, since we've had two weeks to prepare for Air Force, it's been two weeks.

And just trying to pick up on subtle keys, whether they know they're shown or not.

That's that's usually my main focus and then as far as the morning of a game goes My big breakfast take a shower and lay down right back in bed and relax until I got to get back up I just say off my feet as much as possible and then when we get to the stadium Nothing nothing in particular Just kind of getting the right headspace go out and see the field kind of get a feel for the environment and You know try not to get too excited before I got to put on an helmet and go play

Can't speak enough for the pre-game nap.

It's an important part of the day.

Major key.

Thanks for listening to the Home of the Panthers podcast with UNI Panther Spencer Covalier presented by Imon Communications.

Experience the Imon difference.

Join us again before next week's UNI football game for the Home of the Panthers podcast and listen to the game live on the Home of the Panthers News Talk 1540 KXEL.

I'm Tim Harwood.

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Visit go.imon.net slash radio and switch to Imon today!

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