Former Husky QB Jake Locker joins season premiere of Above and Beyond
Apr 26, 2018, 5:37 AM | Updated: 11:28 am
Thursday is the second season premiere of Above and Beyond, the show hosted by former Seattle Seahawks quarterback and 710 ESPN Seattle host Brock Huard. Each episode explores stories of faith through the lens of sports, and features one-on-one conversations with athletes discussing their struggles, perseverance, and ultimate triumph.
Previous guests included noted athletes of faith like former Seahawks QB Jon Kitna, Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy and MLB pitcher Steve Cishek.
For the first episode, Huard is joined by former University of Washington Huskies and NFL QB Jake Locker. He delves into his early struggles with football and the party life in college. Learning to conquer those struggles was no easy task.
“It became a coping mechanism to get away from some of those pressures for at least a night,” Locker tells Huard. “And probably hurt a lot more people than I know. I regret that.”
How Jake Locker found his authentic self
At the beginning, Locker was the consummate hometown hero. He lead his Ferndale High team to a 14-0 undefeated season capped by a state championship. After high school he took his talents to UW. It was there amidst a losing season that the pressure of maintaining his own high standards faltered, and spawned a search for distraction in unhealthy avenues like alcohol and partying.
These troubles continued and compounded after being drafted by the Tennessee Titans in 2011. Locker felt “addicted to football.”
But with the help of teammate Matt Hasselbeck, the patience of his wife, and a deep faith in God, Locker found his own authentic self. He decided to leave the game of football and invest in his family, and hasn’t looked back since.
Listen to his story here.
