Calvin Wetzel and Judah Newby
Sports Editor and Staff Writer
Kansas City Chiefs’ linebacker Andy Studebaker, an ’08 graduate of Wheaton College and a former member of the Thunder football team, was back on campus for Missions in Focus week. He sat down with the Record on Tuesday, Feb. 12, for an interview.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Record: Most NFL players went to big high schools and D-I colleges, but you went to Eureka — a small high school — and then a D-III school. How has that been different for you, and what is it like playing with guys that took much different routes to the league than you did?
Studebaker: There’s definitely an adjustment period, for sure. At the end of the day, most people in the NFL don’t care where you went to school. They care about your production. The field is always 100 yards long whether you went to a D-III school or a D-I school. As long as you push yourself as hard as you can while you’re there, you’re going to develop individually into the best player you could have been. So as you adjust to bigger guys and a higher level of competition, the playing field levels out.
How special was it for you to play in that game against Pete Ittersagen ’08 and the Titans, knowing that it was the first time in 25 years that D-III teammates shared the same NFL field?
It was great; it was a lot of fun. We played the day after Christmas. His family came down; the coaches from Wheaton came down. It was just neat to watch him in warm-ups and to see “Ittersagen” on the back of a jersey. It kind of warms you a little bit to say, “Hey, that’s my buddy, he made it. He’s getting to do what I love to do, and he’s doing it well.” We never hit each other, but as he was jogging off the field, I just pushed him in the back real quick just to let him know I was watching him. It was neat, real neat.
The game against Ben Roethlisberger in 2009 — you had two interceptions — where does that rank among the highlights of your career?
I mean, it was great. It was my first start, so I was nervous, you know. There were some nerves pumpin’ through. We were playing the previous Super Bowl champs, so they were a great team. …They were coming to our place, and we were struggling. We were developing. We had a lot of potential, but it was nice to come through on a couple plays that help your team win on the first start ever. It was probably one of the biggest wins in Arrowhead Stadium in the last decade. A lot of people in town remember that day, and it helped me stick around, I think. Certainly sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, and I got lucky a couple times. That’s just what happens, and you make the best out of it.
You’re going into your sixth season with the Chiefs, and now you have your fourth head coach since you have been there. Has that been a challenge, as far as consistency is concerned, throughout your career?
It’s easy to say it’s the coach’s fault, but, you know, part of it is on us. We could have played better in some situations. Part of it’s on them, you know, it’s a team game. It’s definitely hard to build a dynasty when you don’t have consistency, but if you don’t win games, then you can’t have consistency. So it’s kind of a two-way street. I feel real good about where we’re at. We had six pro-bowlers on our team last year, second most on any team, so we have the individual talent. It’s going to take leadership from the older players and the veteran guys. A new coaching staff can sometimes bring a fresh perspective on the abilities of those players, and we’ll see what happens.
You’ve played in one playoff game, in that 2010 season when you won the division. What kind of experience was that? Was it different from your other games, or were you nervous coming in for the playoffs?
No, not nervous. I think there’s an added intensity because you know that’s it if you lose, so there’s a certain intensity. The speed of the playoffs picks up because, if you want to go deep in the playoffs, you have to play the best teams, and you have to play really well consistently. So the best football is being played at the end of the season because the best teams are still playing. It was good for Kansas City; there was a lot of hype. That stadium was definitely rockin’, and it was very cold. I remember that day. But we got beat, and we had to go home. So that was kind of frustrating, and that’s about it.
Where are you in your contract?
I’m under contract for one more year.
When are talks expected?
You never know. Both sides change, you know it’s different. Sometimes the club comes to you, sometimes the player goes to the club and wants an extension, sometimes they just want you to ride the year out, and then you’re done with them. Sometimes they cut you before the contract, so it can go a lot of different ways. You can’t control it. You put in a day’s work, and you hope someone is watching you and that it’s productive. That is ultimately what matters, that you can look at yourself in the mirror and let the contract take care of itself because you can’t take care of it.
Photo Courtesy Mike Hudson thunderphotos.com