Podcast4

Dylan Lamont, a senior at Grand Fork Central, discusses his decision to commit to Valley City State University for college football. He talks about his experience with the recruiting process and why he chose Valley City over other schools. Dylan also reflects on his journey in football, from starting in the backyard to becoming a varsity quarterback. Despite some initial nerves, he excelled in his role and is now excited to continue playing in college. Hello and welcome to episode 4 of the Sam Straddell podcast. I'm Sam Straddell and today we have a guest with us. He's currently a senior at my alma mater, Grand Fork Central. His name is Dylan Lamont. Dylan, welcome to the show. Hey, how's it going, Sammy? Pretty good. So, you just recently, earlier this year, committed to Valley City State University, which is a pretty cool accomplishment. That's like all what every college football player wants to do is play, or I mean high school football player wants to do is play college football. So, how did that go down or how are you feeling about that? I'm obviously really excited. I wasn't exactly sure if that's where I wanted to go right away, but my coaches at Central had a really good relationship with the coaches at Valley City. When I went down to Valley City to visit and just see how it was, I really liked it and I just felt like it was the right spot for me. The town was kind of chill and not super populated, which I kind of like. Then I was talking to the coaches and we were just discussing film and stuff. I like the way they run their offense, so then I talked with my family and it kind of all worked out. That's what's up. Alright. So, how did you get started in football? Do you remember anything like how you began or how you became a fan and how you began playing? Yeah. So, when I was a little kid, my dad and both of my grandpas were super big Vikings fans. So, just like growing up and watching football all the time with them, I just wanted to play football. Then, I think it was my third grade year, I had a couple of buddies that we'd always play football with during recess and stuff like that. You might have actually been one of them during our class. Oh, yeah. West Elementary. We always just used to play. Then when I heard that fourth grade was a year to start tackling, I was kind of nervous, but I wanted to give it a shot and kept sticking with it my whole life. I guess I'm here now. Yes, sir. Alright. So, it's kind of like the same as mine, too. I just started playing in the backyard and then gave tackle football a shot and just took off from there. Obviously, you were my quarterback my junior year. So, you came in and your first game you played, you did a very good job for your first career varsity game because of obviously COVID. Your sophomore year, you didn't really get to play a bunch of JVs. So, it was mostly just watching on the sidelines, helping out the starting quarterback at the time. How did you do or how did you feel about making that transition to varsity football? Now, obviously, you're going to make the transition to college. Yeah. Well, my freshman year, I played a little bit, but not a lot. Then my sophomore year was like none. I mean, I hurt my elbow during my sophomore year, so I didn't even really practice. Then my junior year, I wasn't supposed to be the starter, but the starter got hurt in the first game. So, then it was like crazy. But my sophomore year, it was nice because the starting quarterback then was like a super, he was like taught very well and he was always talking to me and I was always asking questions. He was just really good at answering them. And then, I mean, he kind of just kept giving me answers and answers and working with me. And then when he left last year, it was nice. But right away, my first varsity game, I was honestly super scared, but it all worked out okay. Yeah, I remember that. But you came in and you did really good. I mean, it was fun having you as my quarterback, my junior, because you actually progressed amazingly in the summer, which was pretty crazy to see. I remember in fall camp, the starting quarterback at the time, which were both friends, kept on telling me he was really nervous because your arm was really strong and you were doing really good that you were going to be the starter right away. But it all worked out in the end. Thankfully, you became the starter and obviously you excelled at that position. So, that was pretty cool and I'm glad you were there. My next question is, how did you like the recruiting process or likes and dislikes? In my personal opinion, I kind of didn't like the recruiting process. I kind of thought it was super fake, like the coaches all just taught at their universities or tried to convince everyone that their university was the best and it just seemed fake. It was always just coaches trying to be fake nice to you. But in your own opinion, how did you like the recruiting process? Were there any other schools other than Valley City State that stood out to you? Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. The fake part, coaches are always trying to hype their school up or put down other schools that you're talking to. There's stuff like that. That's one of the reasons why I didn't like it. But I like it because all of the coaches that I was able to talk to, they were really easy to talk to. Always calling me, always on the phone. Obviously, other schools just said, how's it going and stuff like that. But the schools I really seriously talked to were Minot Valley City and Mayville. I don't know. I guess I kind of liked it just because some of them were kind of straight up, so I knew what I was getting. I guess like you said, it was kind of fake. They would just say that you're the guy coming in when you're just not and stuff like that. I don't know. It's kind of hard, but it all worked out okay. What ultimately led to your decision to choose VCSU over the other colleges that recruited you? Well, Valley City gave me a little bit more money than Minot did. I never got an offer from Mayville, but I never went on a visit there. You probably would have, assuming. You definitely probably would have, but yeah, continue. And then, so I went on visits to both places. And in Minot, they were kind of just like, their coach was, well, Tyler Rents told me, the kid who was already starting there that they were both friends with. He was telling me that they're going to get a whole new coaching team, all new everything. And then when I went through on the visits, that's what they were kind of saying, that some coaches are going to be leaving, there's going to be a new staff and stuff like that. And then Minot just signed a quarterback from Minot at the time, like right while I was talking to them, when they were saying, you know what I mean? Yeah, the flip part. Well, you're just going to sign another guy that's at my position, you know? It's just Yeah. And then the other thing too, like I was saying earlier, is the coaching, like all those guys were leaving. So I was thinking about like, it would be kind of nice to get new, fresh coaching staff because they'd be just as new as we were. But then again, like Valley City, they've had coaches for 20 years that know what they're doing. They do this all the time. So, and then the relationship with the Central coaches and the Valley City coaches, like that just made me want to go there even more because a couple of coaches at Central, even went to Valley City. Yeah. That's part of why they knew the Valley City coaches, because they were coaching when our coaches played at Central. And the Central coaches were really talking, like they really liked Valley City. So I figured I'd try it out. You know, I completely understand. I remember going to, or because I was getting recruited during COVID, so it was kind of messed up. But like the junior days and stuff that I went to were all in the summer. But I remember VCSU had a junior day in the spring, and I did it online. They were all like really cool. They were all like a lot older, like they're all older coaches, but they all like love like VCSU, like they love like Valley City, which is pretty cool because like a lot of like coaches like are just using universities to gain an edge and get to a higher one. But like you can tell like the Valley City coaches aren't because like they've been there for so long and they like invested in that one, which is pretty cool. It wasn't like, did you go to like many camps? I remember because like your junior year, like you did, you're senior year, you broke the record for most passing yards in the state, which is like must have like raised like coaches' eyebrows. Yeah, so my junior year, the year I got hurt, or the year that the starter got hurt, I wasn't like, like I was ready, but I wasn't like thinking I was going to be the guy coming into the season. So my sophomore and junior year, I didn't do many camps. And then, or I actually didn't do any camps my sophomore and junior year. And then my junior year, senior year, I was like, I don't know, I was kind of everywhere. Like, I didn't know if I wanted to do football. I didn't know if I wanted to do hockey, you know, like I was just kind of all over the place. So I didn't really, I didn't really know how to do anything like I regret it now, because I wish I would have. But the only really camps I did were like the Bates UND camps. And like, I went to Valley City for like a junior day or whatever. But I mean, it wasn't like, not really, I didn't do any camps. Wait, so you went to the UND one? I actually didn't know this. Yeah. Did you talk to Coach Troy at all, or any coaches? No, no. That's, I guess that's fine. Because like, honestly, we already had a couple signings. Yeah, I want to get a response or whatever, right? Yeah, it's whatever. Did you always want to play college football? Like, was it the back of your head, or was it just like, now I'm really good, might as well, or? Well, not so much like now I'm really good. I just like, after my senior year, I kind of had a passion. Like, even like the next day football was over, I was like, I got to keep playing. Like, this is my favorite sport by far now. Like, I want to do this, you know, for a while. And then that's why I wanted to play, just because I just missed it so much already. It was like, I got to keep playing. Yeah. So like, do you want to continue doing like, football after college? Just like, that's an option? Or like, coaching? Or like, working in a football organization or anything like that? Yeah. I mean, I'm just kind of a sports guy, so yeah, kind of. But kind of like the back of my head, like my senior year, during my senior year, when I was like, if I want to play football or not, is also coaching me right now. Like, I, there's part of me that wants to coach, or like, wants to be a, like what Mr. Lorenz does, kind of be a gym teacher, be a coach, and then I can still like, be with players, and like, still kind of do the thing I was when I was younger. No, yeah, I definitely understand that. So like, I just got to ask, like, what were your thoughts after your sophomore year of football? Like, what were you thinking going into that season? Like, were you down and out about your, like, because you just were injured, or like, and like, some people were kind of like, before fall camp, no one really kind of said you were a new starter, but like, obviously you went into fall camp and like, proved everyone like, how good you were. But like, what were you feeling or thinking, like going into that season? So, my sophomore year, I was like, that's the year I was kind of injured. And then Cole came into play, and Ty was already there. So the next like, two years for me because of Ty, I was like, already awash. And then Dylan Koontz was the quarterback, so then I couldn't play until like, my senior year. So at that time, yeah, I was like, super all over the place. Like, I was almost like, close to quitting football, because if I had to wish my senior year to play because of Dylan Koontz, then I'd have to still go another year of football after my sophomore year to even get in the game. And then Cole was also battling for a spot. So like, and people were saying Cole was going to be the starter at the time, so it was kind of making me nervous, and I was just like, you know. But then Dylan ended up quitting. Yeah. And then Cole ended up getting hurt in the first game, so then it all kind of worked out. Yeah. Yeah, it usually always does. But my last question, or one of my last things I want to ask is like, what do the coaches, or the central coaches, say to you during the beginning of the recruiting process, or did they ever like, talk to you? I remember like, one time in the weight room, I was working out, and Coach Lorenz came up and talked to me, and he's like, these are the colleges that have reached out to me about you, or there are any colleges that you want to talk to. And it was a list of like, four D1 schools, and the rest were D2 schools. Like, did Coach Schauer ever come up to you and tell you like, hey, are you thinking of playing college football? Yeah, so Coach Carr also did. Coach Schauer and Coach Carr. And then Coach Carr was just like, he kind of came up to me and was like, just tell me literally anywhere you want to go that's around here, and I'll send your film out anywhere. He's like, you know, it's always worth it. You gotta give yourself a chance, and like, don't think any school's too big. Like, the sky's the limit. Yeah. And then Schauer was just like, every once in a while he would text me or call me and be like, send your information to this, fill out this questionnaire, this school wants to know more about you, just kind of stuff like that. So then, Valley City kind of ended up being the spot because, or another thing they were telling me too was that Coach Schauer was always like, don't make your decision yet, don't make your decision yet, you don't want all this, and he's just like, just wait, you don't have to make it yet, just look at all your options, and just, it's gonna end up working out okay. Alright, so my last question is like, so what are you doing right now, I know you just got done with your hockey season, are you gonna play a sport, or are you at the same time as training for football, or what's going on? So, I was thinking about playing baseball, but then I looked into it, and I was like, I don't know, because I still want to lift every day, and like, I lift during school, but then like, that's not really a lift, it's like 40 minute class period where you lift, so I wanted to work out after school, because I felt like that would help me even more, and then if I wanted to work out after school, I'd have to wait until baseball's on at 6, and I'd have to go eat supper, and then it's like 7 to 9, you know, you gotta go work out and do homework, and I just felt like it was gonna be a lot, so I'm actually gonna play golf this year, because practices are like 40 minutes long, and I really like golf, golf's like part of the body or anything, so I can still, like, I don't care if I'm sore for golf, you know what I mean, so I can still lift and play golf just as much as I need to. That's what's up, alright, well, I appreciate you coming on and talking to me, and I really appreciate it, you're one of my best friends, and I know we're gonna do a lot of work before you leave for Valley City, and before I go back to fall camp in the fall, so I'm excited. No problem. Yes sir, thank you.