By Sammy Collier
Before BYU Football kicked off their season with a game against Portland State, Hollow Hill joined BYU Sports Nation Game Day. Mitchell Squires, Caleb Browning, Owen Ferguson, and Trey Cortez talked with BYU Sports Nation’s Spencer Linton about BYU Football, how music and sports overlap, and about their journey to becoming a band.
As someone who made an effort to attend as many BYU sporting events as possible while also attending as many concerts as possible this was a perfect Provo collaboration. Two of my favorite things about Provo have always been the music scene and BYU athletics so I was happy to see this. Not only were they interviewed, but BYU Sports Nation used their latest single “GOLD” in highlight reels throughout the show. That song is excellent and was stuck in my head for the entirety of the football game.
This season the BYU Sports Nation Gameday Show has three goals: First, elevate Provo by showing off everything local. Second, change the perception of Provo in the eyes of the nation. And third, attract a more youthful audience to BYUtv. With how this pre-game show turned out, I would say that they are well on their way to accomplish those goals!
Linton first asked Squires about the relationship between football and music. Squires mentioned his high school football experience and said “I don’t remember ever getting ready for a game without listening to music all the time.” This may sound like a simple observation, but it is really true that music and sports are so intertwined. It is obviously important for the athletes participating in the competition, but music also makes a huge difference in the actual entertainment experience for the fans attending the game.
With Squires mentioning his football experience I just have to mention that Browning was a star football player at the high school I went to. These guys know football and this was apparent when Squires said he trusted freshman starting quarterback Bear Bachmeier to have a good game. Bachmeier ended the game with five total touchdowns scored.
Later on, Linton asked about the origins of the band. Ferguson talked about how when he was attending BYU he met Browning while living at Liberty on Freedom and they began to jam. The band then formed after meeting Squires. Having formed in Provo and at BYU in particular, It’s fitting that the band was guests on a BYU football pregame show.
Other guests that Linton interviewed in the pregame show included Stephen Nothum, author and content creator who graduated from BYU in 2015, and Alex Kuresa, Founder and CEO of the apparel company Woodn Grail. These are other guys who are creating great things and have deep ties to BYU and the Provo community.
This was a really cool moment to witness. When you think about it, BYU Football is Provo’s most public export. But there are so many great things that are being built here. There are only six football games in Provo every year and these games are an opportunity to show off BYU, and Provo in general, to the rest of the world. There are so many collaborations that are possible. I, for one, would love to see game days continue to be a celebration of all the great things happening in this town we call home.