Sam Salz’s first taste of NCAA Division I football came during a kickoff — known in football as a “special teams” play.
For most football players, kickoffs are in fact routine. But if anything about the play was special, it was Salz’s presence on the field.
The 5-foot-6, 160-pound wide receiver for Texas A&M is not only Jewish — itself a rarity in the ranks of college football — but is believed to be the only Orthodox athlete on a DI team. And in taking the field Saturday evening after the end of Shabbat, Salz became what is likely the first Orthodox Jew to appear in a DI game.
Like most Orthodox Jews, Salz observes Shabbat and abstains from work — which includes a wide range of activities, from using electricity to traveling in a motor vehicle — on Saturday, which is also college football’s usual game day. So in more than two years on the team, Salz, a senior, hasn’t been able to suit up once.
But Shabbat ends earlier in November (it concludes at nightfall) and for once, the team’s schedule was aligned in Salz’s favor. Saturday’s game between Texas A&M and New Mexico State began at 6:45 p.m. local time, approximately 40 minutes after the stars came out.
“From the bottom of my heart I would just like to thank G-D and everyone who believes in me,” Salz wrote on X. “The moment felt so crazy I totally forgot that it was the first official snap of football I’ve played in my life.”
The game — which the Aggies won 38-3 — was the pinnacle, so far, of Salz’s unlikely career on the gridiron. (Salz has not responded to prior requests for comment. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reached out again in the wake of Saturday’s game.)
The Philadelphia native arrived at Texas A&M without a single game of experience in organized football and walked onto an Aggies team that routinely ranks in the top 25 nationally.
Salz attended Kohelet Yeshiva High School, a Modern Orthodox school with roughly 100 students and no football team. When he arrived at Texas A&M, he began practicing near the Aggies’ practice field in sight of the team’s coaches. He introduced himself to then head coach Jimbo Fisher, declaring, “I’m Sam Salz and I’m going to walk on to your football team.”
(Salz’s quest may seem reminiscent of the classic film “Rudy,” about a walk-on at Notre Dame. But Salz says he’s never seen the movie.)
In 2022, he finally got the text he’d been waiting for.
“I don’t want to sound arrogant or self-aggrandizing when I say this. But there was something that I was willing to do that most people were not,” Salz told The Athletic earlier this year. “I made human connections and made myself a known person to them. I think [Fisher] appreciated that persistence. It was something old-school coaches would appreciate.”
Salz knew Shabbat would be a challenge coming in, and chose jersey No. 39 in honor of the 39 kinds of work traditionally forbidden on the day of rest. That wasn’t the only obstacle Salz faced. For one thing, he had never played an organized, official football game.
Still, he persisted. For games on Saturday nights, Salz told The Athletic he would walk to the stadium, finish Shabbat with Torah study and a meal, and then suit up and join the team in the second half of the game.
Salz did not appear in a game last year. But he never lost his motivation, telling The Athletic that he felt he was playing for more than just himself.
“I know why I’m doing it: for my Jewish brothers and sisters,” Salz said. “I knew I’d be in a position to inspire a lot of people.”
Jewish fans celebrated Salz’s debut — with one going so far as to compare the moment to Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax’s exploits.
“Next to Koufax’s perfect game, this is the greatest night in Jewish sports history,” Richard Zane, who covers the Aggies, wrote on X, referencing the pitcher’s legendary 1963 outing.
Elsewhere in college football, Brigham Young University, led by Jewish quarterback Jake Retzlaff, lost their first game of the season, falling 17-13 to Kansas on Saturday.
Retzlaff, a Reform Jew who goes by the moniker “BY-Jew” at the Mormon flagship, has led his Cougars to an unexpected 9-1 record, still the best in the Big 12 Conference and good for No. 14 in the Associated Press’ Top 25 rankings. BYU had ascended to No. 7 prior to their loss this weekend.
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