I know I’ve said it before, but I really just try and keep everything simple and that includes those emotions. Obviously, it was pretty exciting putting the Bears jersey on for the first time in a game. It reminds you how far you’ve come. But in terms of the operation, everything remains the same. I always tell myself, “all I gotta do is focus for three hours on gameday.” Then, “what can I do in the 10-second period of time I’m out on the field to put the team in the most successful position possible?”

Setting up that success starts with my pregame routine. For the last two years of college, I had a superstition that I needed to eat peanut M&Ms the night before a game. But I recently had a conversation with someone who told me, “that is going to have no bearing on how you perform.” It made me realize sometimes you just gotta let things go. There’s a difference between a ritual and a routine, and the latter is more important.

So every gameday, I have to do all of my stretching exercises. I do the same thing every time no matter where I’m at. It makes me feel like I’m in the same place from a mental perspective. If you keep things the same even when the environment changes, it gives you the same chance of being successful.

During the game, it’s more so doing things like breathing exercises to create a calm state of mind. As weird as it sounds, that takes a lot of work and is something I’m continuously working on. I know if I can get that one thing right, I’ll have the highest chance to succeed. Our sports psychologist at Iowa gave me a lot of tips to find that calm state of mind. (Mental performance and leadership coordinator) Andy Riise here at the Bears has also been a huge help in giving me different things to try when it comes to breathing and getting the mind and body right.

Being in that mindset when I go to punt in a game helps me focus on the most important task — how can I make maximum contact with the ball? I don’t think about anything else. Just maximum contact, which means I have to get my leg all the way through and put everything into this ball.