It may be hard to believe that Utecht is not only an accomplished football player, but also a talented singer and songwriter. His self-titled album debuted last month and features a duet with Sandi Patty and a song co-written with Jeremy Camp.
With the recent birth of his first child, daughter Elleora Grace, Utecht undoubtedly has a lot going on. Although he will be busy year-round with his many endeavours, Utecht promises to remain fully committed to his team, his faith, and his family.
BREATHECast caught up with Utecht while he spent a few days in Nashville promoting his album during this year’s GMA Music Week before he returned to Cincinnati for his album release concert.
First off, congratulations on your new daughter! How do you plan to balance football, music, and your growing family?
That’s a great question. First of all, the Lord has blessed me with a wonderful day job. To have the platform of the NFL is not only special to me because it’s something I love to do, but it really does make a great avenue to share my faith with people. But you’re right, it’s going to be tough.
The thing is, I know that the Lord wants me in football, and that’s got to be my main goal. So what I’m hoping I can do is really focus on music in the off season and do the best job I can to balance the two different seasons. Because really, once August rolls around and through January, unless we get to the Super Bowl, it’s pretty much going to be just football and that’s it. But you know, God always has a unique way of working those things out.
How much do you get to see your family?
During the season, it’s pretty much a seven-day-a-week job. I’m gone from about seven in the morning to about six at night. I still get nights, and we get one day off a week, which is nice. I get a full day off on Tuesday. The great thing about the NFL is that the off season is wide open. We get three months off, and it’s all family then. Two to three months is the time for you to give your body a rest, and give you a chance to really spend some time with family. Now having a new little girl, it’s going to be a must.
Do you think that you will be able to fit a tour in somewhere?
I’m so new at this, I don’t even really know what that all means [laughs]. I think if I could, the only time I would have would really be February and March that I’d have time to do that. Otherwise, I really try to be involved with some of the worship conferences. I have a heart for the church. To get a chance to travel across the country and to go to churches would be really special for me.
The great thing about the NFL is that I have an interesting doorway into the public schools and colleges. And then through that I get to tie in my faith. It’s a cool bridge to cross. It’s so much fun for me because I get asked to go to schools a lot, whether it’s middle school, high school, or even some colleges, to talk about character, and some of these issues that public schools really need to hear.
