How can you go from being a professional football player to a professional singer? Aren’t these worlds completely different?
Apparently not, according to Ben– or now Benjamin – Utecht.
“People don’t think that there are a lot of similarities between the two, but there really are,” he told Live! Starring … You! in a recent interview.
Football fans will remember Ben Utecht as the starting tight end for the Super Bowl-winning Indianapolis Colts.
But when injuries cut his career short in 2009, Utecht pursued another passion: music. Now, concert goers around the country are meeting the Josh Groban-esque crooner Benjamin Utecht (he’s using his full name in the music business) as joins pianist and songwriter Jim Brickman’s 2011 Holiday Tour.
“You have to prepare to go on the stage and to perform,” Utecht said. “The way I prepare for this is very similar to the way I prepared for football and the way I trained.”
Brickman sees the similarities.
“I have a feeling that NFL training camp is a lot like rehearsing for a concert, except no one tackles you or tries to knock you down,” Brickman told Live! Starring … You! “Both take a great deal of concentration and purpose. On stage, we work as a team trying to bring out the best in each other. Ben is used to being in front of spectators. In concert, he doesn’t wear a helmet, so he will finally be able to see the crowd and respond to them.”
“Plus, everyone will want to see his Super Bowl ring.”
In football, Utecht beat the odds, breaking in with the Colts in 2004 as an undrafted rookie free agent and becoming a starter by 2006, the same season the Colts won Super Bowl. That year, the 6-6, 245-pound Utecht started 15 games, logging 37 receptions and 10.2 yards per catch.
Utecht recalls that Super Bowl season as “truly a surreal time for Indianapolis.” The franchise had experienced a rough year, especially with the death – an apparent suicide – of head coach Tony Dungy’s 18-year-old son in late 2005.
It was a true case of a team becoming stronger through tough times.
Utecht told us, “I’ve always believed that from the hottest fires come the strongest metals.”
He had to test that belief on a personal level while battling a series of injuries, which included multiple breaks and torn ligaments.
“They were all really hard,” Utecht said. “You want to be out there on the field with your teammates.”
Utecht also suffered multiple concussions during his five-year career, which spanned four seasons in Indianapolis (2004-07) and one year (2008) with Cincinnati. The final concussion happened during a practice before the 2009 season, and it forced him to retire.
“Because of my injuries, I was able to find my greatest refinement as a player and as a man,” he said, “so it was almost necessary for me to go through those tough times.”
Those “tough times” as an athlete opened the door for Utecht to pursue professionally another lifelong passion: singing. He had a deep background in choirs and theater, and kept working on his music even while playing football.
“I always knew that I was going to take whatever talent that God gave me and use it to the best of my ability, but I also knew that it wasn’t going to last forever,” Utecht said. “That’s why I took some of the other talents I had and really worked at them.
“When it ended for me, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.”
Unlike many players, who struggle to find their place in life when their NFL career ends, Utecht had a passion and was ready to pursue it full time.
“It definitely made the transition easier,” he said.
As Utecht’s career as a crooner developed, he started drawing comparisons to football-playing/show-choir-singing character of Finn Hudson on Fox’s Glee. In fact, when somebody told Brickman he should go hear the “football player that sings,” the pianist recalled, “I thought to myself, ‘What is this, Glee?’”
But when Brickman heard Utecht, he was “blown away … Ben has a powerful voice that brings new meaning to familiar songs and old favorites.”
Brickman quickly invited Utecht take part in the holiday tour, which also features Anne Cochran and Tracy Silverman. The tour began this week in St. Louis and ends on New Year’s Eve in Rockford, Ill.
“I knew immediately I wanted him singing my songs,” Brickman said. “I really like working with new talent and helping shape their career. Ben’s background in choirs, musical theater and the NFL are an interesting mix. He is genuinely eager to succeed and understand that it takes hard work, perseverance and commitment to the craft.”
After meeting Brickman, Utecht recorded a holiday album, which includes a variety of inspirational Christmas songs such as “The First Noel” and “Ave Maria.” Since the Brickman tour would be a way for Utecht to build his name and fan base, he wanted to have a product people could buy.
“Hopefully,” he said, “it’ll be a stepping stone to the next album and the start of a long career.”
It probably will be. It was Utecht himself who said, “To all things, devote all your heart. Lay it out there.”
He’s certainly followed his own advice – with impressive results.
— Taylor S.
LSY! Teen Reporter/Mount St. Mary Academy
* Click here to read our Live! Starring … You! blog with Utecht’s advice on how to handle bullying.
