Being a student athlete in college is certainly not for the non-committal. Taking on two sports, however, requires a whole different level of dedication. University of Minnesota Duluth senior mid-distance runner Savannah Schley caught up with Bulldog Brock Unger to discuss how he navigates (survives) class, homework, and two of his greatest passions: track and football. 

Savannah Schley: Ok Brock. Thank you for meeting me, I know you are quite busy, especially during this time of year. 

Even though you're an academic junior, this is your first year up in Duluth, playing and running for UMD. What drew you up here? You used to run for Mankato.

Brock Unger: Yeah. So I actually didn't play football at Mankato, I just did track. I ended up meeting some of the UMD football guys this past summer, and so I got to talk with them. I was just kind of missing the football aspect of things; the team, and a contact sport too.

SS: Yeah there isn't usually too much of that contact element on the track. 

BU: Yeah. And so it actually ended up with me sending Coach Wiese an email, and he responded to that luckily, and I left Coach Brautigam a voicemail when I was in the portal, so if that didn't happen, I don't know where I would have been. 

So yeah, super grateful that they picked up and answered, and since I've been here, I feel like the athletic community is super supportive.

The coaches are so good with scheduling and everything. They make it so easy on me. I'm super grateful for all that. Especially Coach Chapp and Forrest Karr, those guys always, like, deal with me and have made it really smooth for me— it's been great. 

Also I love the professors here, they're a lot better. It was difficult to get into the classes I needed for my program at Mankato, and UMD has a really good business school. 

SS: And what's your major?

BU: Statistics and Actuarial Sciences. My second major is Economics. 

SS: Oh yeah, great programs for those here.

BU: Yeah for sure, and that's been really smooth; the professors have been great here. And I love the city for sure.

SS: Did you grow up visiting here?

BU: I had come up here once, but my family's actually from up north, and our cabin is pretty close in Grand Rapids. So I was familiar with the area, and I came here for a camp when I was a junior in high school, and talked to the coaches a bit then. That's kind of why I reached out to UMD, because I got recruited by them in high school—

SS: For football or track?

BU: Football. Yeah, so, when I reached out to Coach Wiese and Coach Brautigam I just kind of threw up a prayer and luckily they answered right away, and it's been great ever since. It's been awesome.

SS: That's perfect, I love that. So, what made you want to do football and track? Those are two seasons that often clash with each other, particularly this time of year. Are those just the two sports you've always had the most passion for?

BU: Yeah, growing up, I actually always had a goal of like, doing multiple sports in college–

SS: Which is crazy. Most people just want to make it to do one.

BU: Yeah, I've always wanted to be a multi-sport athlete, and I've always made goal sheets and stuff. 

SS: Would you consider yourself to be very much a planner and a goal-setter?

BU: For sure. I still have the sheets I made when I was little of everything I wanted to do, which originally included competing collegiately in football, hockey, and track. And yeah, football was kind of always my favorite sport, and then I joined track my junior year of high school. 

SS: So why did you join your junior year?

BU: I had played baseball, and just because of COVID, I actually wanted to use track to get better at football and hockey. 

SS: Sure, I feel like that's a pretty common origin story in the track world. 

BU: I found out that track is so fun, and with the team aspect of it, I just fell in love with it. It actually worked out pretty well being a sprinter with football, because both deal with a lot of explosive stuff, and that goes together really well with lifting, etc. 

I grew up loving football, and watching a lot of track meets, and it's been great. I love doing both, especially because both coaching staffs here are amazing and super fun. 

SS: That helps for sure. And that kind of ties into my next question, which is like, what does a typical day look like for you right now? How does it all fit together?

BU: Originally in the fall, I was obviously all football. Track was in their off-season. When football ended in November, I transitioned right into track, and we had our meet at St. Scholastica in December. 

SS: Did you take a break between seasons or did you roll right into track?

BU: I got one week off. All of the coaches told me to take that time. I went and got a massage–

SS: All the little TLC things. 

BU: Yeah, I had to take care of my body a little bit and then rolled right into track season. Obviously I had to work pretty hard in the winter to get into track shape– definitely different from football shape. Football is more like short bursts of intensity so I had to get my speed endurance up for sure. 

Then we obviously had indoor season which was pretty fun. It was a great season. Went pretty well. When March came around I knew it was gonna be a grind with spring football, and for track we're now heading into outdoor season, and our championship season is so short. 

I've actually been trying to make the most of both sports as much as I can. Basically I've just been doing both full time and trying to take on that load for as long as possible. 

SS: So the practices never conflict?

BU: They do actually. So basically what it looks like is I wake up in the morning and usually we'll have football meetings or lift at 7 a.m., and then I go to my stats and econ classes before lunch, then I'll get lunch, and football practice is at 2 p.m. There's also a lot of meetings mixed in there. After practice, I walk from the football turf to the locker room to grab my spikes, and then I walk back on to the track. 

Luckily Coach Brautigam says I don't need to warm up so I just wait for you guys to finish warming up and roll right into the workout.

After that I usually sit in the training room for like an hour and just roll out and stretch, stuff like that. I try to take care of my body as best as possible. I like to stay organized with meal prepping and stuff like that. It makes it all a little bit easier. Obviously with that long schedule, eating and stuff gets a little hard, and homework gets crammed in at times. 

Honestly for me, I'm a guy who loves to stay busy–

SS: You like always having the next thing to go to? 

BU: I love it. I'd rather be doing this than have nothing to do. 

SS: I'm a lazy girl so I just cannot relate. But no that's good, that's perfect for you to have that structure, and with meal prepping too, I'm sure you eat a lot with all that activity.

BU: For sure. It's been a lot. It's been a lot of grocery store runs and my mom just got a Costco membership.

SS: Good news!!

BU: Yeah super, super thankful for that. It's been super fun. The coaching staffs have been very good working with me and everything. Obviously we had a meet at Wartburg last weekend and I had to skip one or two practices and a couple meetings for football. And the spring ball game is this weekend, so I won't be able to make the trip for that. It's in Northern Michigan, and we have a meet at—

SS: Bethel. So in the spring your track meets take priority then?

BU: Yeah because we're in actual season. Football's kind of in off-season. For outdoor season we only have like four weeks so it's kind of important to put your best foot forward every single weekend, especially when we're gearing up for California next weekend too. So that'll be a blast. Hoping to drop a good time there, and drop some good times this weekend, and yeah, hopefully it'll be pretty good.

It's hard mentally because I'm like, trying to give 100% in both sports, but physically I feel like I'm at 70%. 

I didn't exactly anticipate trying to do both full time in the spring, but once it came down to it, I think a little bit of a grind in March is worth it, and it's something I feel like I can handle. It's been super fun. And without the coaching staffs working as well with me as they are, it probably wouldn't have worked out, but yeah, it's working out pretty good. 

SS: That makes perfect sense. And honestly, you kind of just keep leading into my next question. So my big finisher is just wanting to hear about your goals for the future, and those could be like short term– this season in track or maybe football, or even goals elsewhere. Just all things goals. 

BU: Individually or team goals?

SS: Any and all. It can be all, as you're a goal setter. Just let us know. 

BU: Yeah, as a big goal setter I have them all on post-its on my mirror in the bathroom.

SS: Good to think about every day.

BU: Yeah, yeah. And I have a couple checked off already. Super grateful for that. The 60m school record in indoor Season and we also got the 4x200m and the 4x400m indoor records as well. So that was a very fun season. 

SS: For sure, fun momentum going into outdoor for your crew. 

BU: Yeah. And I think this outdoor season, my goal is obviously to place at Conference. It'll be home and that'll be a fun meet. Hopefully in three or more events; the 4x100m, 400m, 4x400m, and the 200m, so that'll be a busy weekend for sure. 

But that'll be fun being at home. I think going into Cali and this weekend, and especially Drake Relays I know we're definitely aiming for that 4x100m school record and the 4x400m school record. 

SS: Perfect spot to do it. 

BU: Yeah, yeah for sure. So we're hoping to take those down and we definitely have the team to do it. I think that record board in the field house motivates us all the time. We're always looking at that and seeing what we can break. 

And for football we lost a couple games on the last play of the game, so obviously I'd love to play a big role in helping us get back to those national playoffs next year and hopefully I can use the speed and explosiveness I've gained from track on the football field. I think it'll be something to work for in the summer for sure when I'm transitioning out of track into football and completely focused on the one goal of winning football games—

SS: Sure, keeps it less overwhelming, narrows it all down for a brief season.

BU: Yeah, and getting back to that UMD Football tradition of national championships and stuff like that. That's obviously what I came here for, is to be a part of that. There's obviously a lot of history. We're one of the winningest football teams in Division II history, and so I love being a part of that team and I'd love to play a big role next year in helping us get back to that.

It's fun having goals and different things to strive for at different parts of the year, instead of maybe just one goal the entire year, one team the entire year. 

SS: Sure, breaks it up a little bit, makes it feel a little more attainable. 

BU: For sure, for sure. I think in the future I obviously have more football seasons than track seasons left, so–

SS: Yeah, explain how that will go. 

BU: I'm technically a sophomore in football eligibility and a junior in track eligibility so I will have one more year of track after this and like two or three football years.

SS: Will you take them?

BU: I'll definitely take my fifth year. Unsure about my sixth year yet– we'll see. Obviously if we're winning and we have shots at national titles, I'll never get the chance to lace up with my brothers again so I think it'd be cool to keep playing. 

Coming here I was so grateful that Coach Wiese and Coach Brautigam brought me in, so I told myself to always have the highest standards possible and to make it worthwhile that they did. I want to make them proud. I don't want to be like that guy who transfers in and is– I don't know– like a diva on the team or someone who gives low effort, makes it all about himself. I've been trying to do well for them and their programs. I love having the UMD on my chest and I feel a lot of pride at track meets and football games. 

It's been going pretty good and I think a couple more of those school records should fall this outdoor season, and that's always the goal. We're pretty close to the National Provo in the 4x100m, so if we get a warm day at Drake Relays–

SS: 100%, except it's never a warm day at Drake Relays. It's always raining. 

BU: Haha, yeah, maybe we get lucky, we'll see. It's been a blast but I think with my teammates they all have high goals too, and it pushes me more and I've loved every bit of it. 

SS: Well good. It seems like you handle it well.

BU: I love being busy, and I balance school and everything well. My professors are really cooperative too; they know I have a busy schedule.

It seems too good to be true. It was kind of different at my last school, but here everyone from the professors, down to the coaching staffs, my teammates, janitors, training staff– everybody's been super supportive here. It seems like everyone wants the best for you here at UMD. 

SS: That's so precious. 

BU: Yeah I'm so appreciative, and that's what makes me want to keep striving for more. I don't want to look back and feel like I held back at all. It's been great.