After fall camp, safety Brian Blechen was voted as defensive team captain by his teammates. There was no campaigning for the position and no polls, but Blechen has taken the responsibility and helped lead the Utes to a 6-1 start.
To see what happens in the life of a football captain, The Daily Utah Chronicle caught up with Blechen to find out about his day-to-day life.
Blechen is graduated and has elected to take only online classes this semester as he finishes off his football eligibility. Because of that, Blechen’s wake-up times mostly fall in line with morning football activities.
“I wake up and go to football,” Blechen said. “It varies, sometimes it’s around 11 or noon, sometimes it’s around 8, tomorrow it’s around 6:30.”
Blechen takes advantage of the football center’s food, often eating breakfast or lunch at the center.
On some early morning football days, Blechen will leave and head to the academic center to do homework before going to practice later in the day.
“[With the online courses] I can pick and choose when I want to get on the computer and get stuff done,” Blechen said. “It helps for football, so I could be here early in the mornings and watch film and whatnot.”
Football dominates Blechen’s afternoons and early evenings. He has practice, film study and treatment up until 7 p.m.
After that, though, it’s time to relax.
“[After football I] just head back home or stop by one of my teammate’s house, hang out for a bit, watch TV,” he said.
The team’s hangouts often include one thing — video games. Be it Madden, NBA2K or FIFA, the team is in constant competition on the PS4 or Xbox.
“Whether it’s at one of our houses or up in the players’ lounge, you can always find guys competing,” Blechen said. “I think everyone pretty much gets into that and gets competitive.”
Blechen said it’s not uncommon to see the biggest lineman and the smallest running back matched in a heated battle in the video game world. But in the end, there is still just one champion.
When asked what game he is best at Blechen quickly responded, “I think I hold the title in all three.”
Blechen’s captain duties require him to go to a meeting every other week with head coach Kyle Whittingham and the rest of the Utes’ leadership counsel. In the meeting, the counsel, made up of the team’s captain and about a dozen other team members, talk about where the team is at, the teams’ needs and if there is anything they need from the coaching staff. Lately though, there hasn’t been much the counsel has needed to discuss.
“There hasn’t been a lot the captains have needed to do, the team’s been doing a good job keeping their minds right and getting ready for the game,” Blechen said.
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