Football is a family business for Boise State linebacker who stuck it out to be a leader
Football is a family business for Boise State linebacker DJ Schramm.
His father, Dave, was a college football coach for more than three decades. His career included stops as offensive coordinator at Utah, Fresno State and Weber State, and most recently as the running backs coach at Utah State in 2020.
Schramm’s identical twin brother, Dustyn, turned down scholarship offers from seven Division I college football programs to play baseball at Utah.
Schramm himself is a fifth-year senior at Boise State. He finally earned a starting spot this year — replacing longtime weakside linebacker Riley Whimpey — and he’s making the most of it.
The 6-foot, 231-pound linebacker leads the Broncos (5-2, 4-0 Mountain West) and is tied for No. 9 in the conference with 56 tackles. He has notched double-digit tackles in three games this season, including a career-high 16 against UTEP.
Schramm will be busy corralling Colorado State’s running backs on Saturday (5 p.m., FS1).
“DJ is one of the smartest football players and toughest guys you’ll ever meet,” Boise State defensive coordinator Spencer Danielson said. “He’s that guy who is, to a T, low ego and high output.”
Schramm grew up around football. His father was coaching at San Diego State when he was born. Over the next few years, the family moved a lot: to Texas, where Dave spent a year coaching running backs at Texas State; to Montana, where he spent two years coaching tight ends and tackles; to Utah; to California and then back to Utah.
The family currently calls Logan, Utah, home.
Schramm and his brother were regulars at practice and games at pretty much every one of their father’s stops. It was rare that the family was home for Christmas. That was reserved for bowl games, including Utah’s 31-17 win over Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl.
DJ Schramm said he’ll never forget seeing the Superdome that packed.
“It was really cool to be part of that locker room atmosphere growing up,” Schramm said. “It taught me a lot — not just about the game, but about life.”
Being the son of a college football coach also comes with privileges that extend beyond the sport. For Schramm and his brother, that meant shagging balls during batting practice for former Fresno State baseball player Aaron Judge, the New York Yankees star who set an American League home run record this season.
“They got to experience a lot of things other kids their age didn’t,” Dave Schramm said. “But more than anything, I think they saw what it takes every day to make it at this level.”
Dave Schramm spent the 2021 football season as an assistant coach at IMG Academy — an exclusive private school in Florida — but he isn’t coaching anywhere this year. He hopes to add another coaching stop to his resume but said he turned down a couple of job offers to focus on just being a dad this year.
That’s something he hasn’t been able to do since Fresno State fired its entire staff midway through the 2015 season, which was his sons’ sophomore year in high school.
“I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” said Dave Schramm, who hasn’t missed a Boise State game this season. “It’s been great to just be a fan and to be there for him.”
DJ Schramm said it gives him a boost every time he sees his dad in the stands. He’s also thankful to have a few more father-son coaching moments than in previous years.
“He still has some pointers for me every once in a while,” Schramm said, “but I think he’s enjoying just being a dad right now.”
Schramm joined the Broncos in 2018 as a three-star recruit out of Clovis West High School in Fresno, California. He redshirted his first year following shoulder surgery, and he spent the past three seasons primarily playing on special teams.
Despite overcoming the first major injury of his career and falling just short of earning a starting spot year after year, Schramm said he never considered transferring.
“When life gets hard, you can’t just run,” said Schramm, who still has a COVID-19 year available if he wants to return next season. “You have to stick it out and grind every day.”
He echoed his father’s sentiments about the transfer portal.
“Things don’t go their way and kids want to leave,” Dave Schramm said. “That’s all well and good right now, but how about 10 years from now? When you’re working in whatever field you choose and things aren’t going your way, it’s not as easy to pick up and say, ‘I’m just going to go do this somewhere else.’”
Schramm had not been a regular starter before this season, but his father balks at the notion that he came out of nowhere. From injuries to battles for playing time to balancing a demanding class load, Schramm has done exactly what a college football player is supposed to do, his dad said.
“Nobody cares what you did in high school when you were a big fish in a little pond,” Dave Schramm said. “Making it in football and in life is about putting your nose to the grindstone and working to earn everything you have. That’s one area where I’ve never had to worry about DJ.”
Dave Schramm beams with pride whenever his son trots onto the field with Boise State’s starters. He’s even more proud of his son’s chosen major: mechanical engineering.
It was made clear to DJ Schramm that balancing the class load that comes with an engineering degree and a full athletic schedule wasn’t going to be easy. He wasn’t swayed because of something his father said his freshman year at Boise State.
“Dad always told me you can work really hard for the next four or five years or you can work really hard the rest of your life,” said DJ Schramm, who plans to graduate in December.
COLORADO STATE AT BOISE STATE
When: 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: Albertsons Stadium
TV: FS1 (Adam Alexander, Devin Gardner)
Radio: KBOI 670 AM/93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: Boise State 5-2, 4-0 MW; Colorado State 2-5, 2-1 MW
Series: Boise State is 11-0 in its all-time series against Colorado State, which dates back to 2011.
Vegas line: Boise State by 27.5
Weather: High of 58 degrees, 4% chance of rain, 8 mph wind
This story was originally published October 26, 2022 at 4:39 PM.
