Sports Spectrum Podcast

Episode 424 Joel Dreessen played eight seasons in the NFL as a tight end with the Jets, Texans and Broncos. He was selected in the sixth round of the NFL Draft by the New York Jets in 2005 after a successful college career at Colorado State. After playing his rookie season with the Jets, Joel was out of football in 2006 but signed with the Texans in 2007 and would remain in Houston until 2011.  In 2012, he would sign a contract to play with the Denver Broncos and Peyton Manning. Dreessen was a member of the 2013 AFC Championship team in Denver and played in Super Bowl XLVIII against Seattle. Injuries would cause Dreessen to retire in 2014 after eight seasons.  On this episode of the podcast, we talked to Joel about his NFL career, catching passes from Peyton Manning, the tough adjustment to life after football, how his faith in Christ helped him on his journey and why his walk with God remains a work in progress.  For more, log on to http://SportsSpectrum.com 

BONUS EPISODE Storm Murphy is a junior guard on the Wofford Men's Basketball team. In his first two seasons, Murphy saw extensive playing time in helping his team to their first ever NCAA Tournament victory in 2019, defeating Seton Hall 84-68. The Madison, Wisconsin native scored 15 points helping Wofford to an upset win over No. 17 North Carolina on December 15, 2019. This was Wofford's second win in three seasons over a ranked North Carolina team in Chapel Hill. On this episode of the podcast, we talk to Storm about Wofford's upset win at North Carolina, how a Wisconsin kid ended up in South Carolina, his role on the team this season, the importance of his faith journey and what it was like to be a part of March Madness in 2019. For more, log on to http://SportsSpectrum.com 

Episode 423 Mark Immelman is the Director of Golf at Columbus State University where he's oversees both the men and women golf programs. In addition to coaching, Immelman is featured on countless PGA Tour events, including the Masters and PGA Championship, serving as a commentator for CBS Sports. You can also hear Mark hosting his own "On the Mark" podcast on PGATour.com. Mark is the older brother of Trevor Immelman, and helped coach his brother to a Masters victory in 2008. On this episode of the podcast, we hear Mark's life as a podcaster, growing up in South Africa, coming to faith in Christ and living his faith in the golf world.  For more, log on to http://SportsSpectrum.com 

Episode 422 Jefferson Bethke is a New York Times-bestselling author and speaker who has written four books. In 2012, Bethke’s YouTube video, “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus,” went viral and has since received more than 34 million views. After the video, he decided to write the book “Jesus > Religion,” which would go on to become a New York Times bestseller. His latest book is titled: "To Hell with the Hustle" and released in October 2019.  On this episode of the podcast, we talk to Jefferson about his latest book, the hustle mentality, why it needs to go away, how it correlates with athletes and coaches and his love for Ken Griffey Jr. 

Episode 421 Mike DeVito played nine seasons in the NFL with the Jets and the Chiefs. He was undrafted coming into the league in 2007 from the University of Maine, where he was a First-Team Atlantic 10 selection his senior year.  During Mike's career, he played in two AFC Championship games with the New York Jets in 2009 and 2010 and retired from the NFL in April of 2016 at the age of 32.  Mike is currently back in college studying theology and philosophy and also is the co-host of his 3-Point Stance podcast.  On this episode of the Sports Spectrum, we talk to Mike about the difficult adjustment to NFL retirement, enrolling back full-time into college, coming to Christ in 2007 and managing pain as an NFL defensive lineman. For more, log on to http://SportsSpectrum.com 

Episode 420 Bill Curry is a football treasure. He is a former NFL player with the Packers, Colts, Oilers and Rams. During his playing career, he was a member of three NFL championship teams and two Super Bowl winning teams. After his playing career, he moved on to coaching and after a few seasons in the NFL as an assistant, he moved to the college ranks, where he was a head coach with Georgia Tech, Alabama, Kentucky and Georgia State before retiring after the 2012 season. He is a 2-time SEC Coach of the Year (1987,89) and the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year in 1989. Bill is now a highly sought out speaker who travels across the country encouraging audiences with his motivational stories of football and life. On this episode of the podcast, Bill Curry returns to the podcast to talk about the six characteristics of being a great leader, the importance of learning and growing at the age of 77, adversity as a teacher, his favorite Bart Starr story and the disciplines that he's instilled to stay connected to God. For more, log on to http://SportsSpectrum.com 

BONUS EPISODE James Hurst is an offensive lineman with the Baltimore Ravens. Hurst was undrafted in 2014 out of North Carolina but made the Ravens squad out of training camp and has been with the team ever since. As he worked his way up through the ranks, Hurst found himself a valuable member of the Ravens team because of his versatility in being able to play multiple positions on the offensive line. In 2018, Baltimore rewarded Hurst with a four-year contract extension. On this episode of the podcast, we talk to James about the 2019 Ravens, blocking for Lamar Jackson, leading team Bible studies, baptizing his teammate at the Ravens facility and how the influence Benjamin Watson had on James' faith journey. For more, log on to http://SportsSpectrum.com 

Episode 419 Clay Scroggins is a pastor of Buckhead Church in Atlanta and the author of two books, How to Lead When You're Not in Charge and his latest, How to Lead in a World of Distraction. On this episode of the podcast, we talk to Clay about leadership within the world of sports, moving forward after failure, how to lead like Jesus, choosing positivity and rejecting passivity.  For more, log on to http://SportsSpectrum.com 

Episode 418 George Barber is the head basketball coach at Greenville University, a Division III school in Greenville, Ilinois. Prior to his time with Greenville, George was an assistant coach at Bradley University as well as with the University of Kentucky under Rick Pitino, where he was part of a national championship team in 1996.  Competing in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, George's Greenville club in 2018-19 set the NCAA Division III record in scoring offense (135.1 ppg) and led the country in assists per game, steals per game, turnover margin, total assists, three-point field goal attempts, and three-point field goals made. On February 2, 2019, Greenville scored 200 points in a regulation game. Besides his job as a head coach, Barber is also a professor Kinesiology and Sport for Greenville University.  On this episode of the podcast, we talk to Dr. George Barber about his high scoring offense, his time at Kentucky, winning a national championship, scoring 200 points in a game, keeping Christ at the center of his life and why humility is so important to him.  For more, log on to http://SportsSpectrum.com 

Episode 417 Jason Hanson played 21 seasons in the NFL, all with the Detroit Lions from 1992-2012. He was selected in the second round of the 1992 NFL Draft by Detroit (56th overall) out of Washington State and would go on to be one of the greatest kickers in NFL history. He was a 2-time Pro Bowl selection and currently ranks fourth on the NFL's All-Time points scored career list with 2,150. He holds multiple NFL records including most field goals of 40 or more years, most consecutive field goals of 40 or more yards and most career games with one NFL team (327). Hanson was inducted into the Detroit Lions Ring of Honor in the Fall of 2013 at Ford Field following his retirement from the NFL in April of 2013.  On this episode of the podcast, we talk to Jason about the memory of his first NFL kick, how his faith in Christ was shaped, the hope and encouragement he has for Lions fans, bringing his faith to the NFL and the spiritual mentors that helped shape him as a player and a man. For more, log on to http://SportsSpectrum.com