The
Georgia native is looking forward to playing at this year’s Super Bowl. “I’m
just looking forward to being in the middle of Super Bowl energy. It’s become
such a massive pop culture event, and I love that they’ve incorporated music
and entertainment with the sport itself and the entertainment value that comes
from that,” says Sam. “It encompasses just a strong representation of American
culture, and I’m looking forward to being in the middle of all that
positive energy. I’m a huge music fan, obviously, and I’m a huge sports fan, so
those are two of my favorite worlds combined there.”
Sam
recently earned his first-ever GRAMMY nominations for Best New Artist and Best
Country Album. The Grammys will be handed out live February 15th on CBS.
Many
of your favorite country stars will be watching Super Bowl 50 to see the match
up between veteran quarterback Peyton
Manning and the Denver Broncos take on the most likely NFL MVP Cam Newton
and his Carolina Panthers. Sam
Hunt, a former University of Alabama Birmingham quarterback,
will be among those, and the main thing for him will be just “to see a good
game.” That being said, the Georgia native will most likely be pulling for
Peyton, even though one of his friends plays for the Panthers.
“I’m a
big Peyton Manning fan, and I always have been,” says Sam. “But I have a good
friend that I played ball with in college; he’s playing with the Panthers, and
their season’s been unbelievable. Just to watch the energy of that team grow
throughout the year made it hard not to pull for ‘em, but I guess when it comes
down to it, I’m gonna have to go with Peyton, because it could be his last go
at it. He deserves it more than anybody. He’s one of the best that’s ever
played.”
Sam
does have a personal connection to the future NFL Hall of Famer. “When I was in
high school, I went to a camp called the Manning Academy, and it’s a
quarterback camp down in Louisiana. And I got to spend some time with Peyton
and Eli, and they have another brother [Cooper]. I’ve followed [Peyton’s]
career for a long time,” he says. “Actually, a couple of years ago, I was at a
concert of Kenny Chesney’s in Denver, and I was standing there side stage and
Jake Owen was there. He had opened up for [Kenny], and I’ve been a friend of
his for a little while, and he turned and introduced me to the guy behind us,
who I wasn’t aware of at the time, but it turned out to be Peyton Manning. He
was just a really nice guy, and it was just pretty cool to be on the stage with
two people who inspired me in two different arenas, with Peyton with football
and Kenny with music.”
Sam,
who is nominated for a pair of Grammy Awards, is currently nearing the top of
the country charts with “Break Up in a Small Town,” the fourth single from his
album, Montevallo.
