Sam Dobbs: Living Life On The Edge, One Adventure At A Time
Think Different
There was an Apple ad several years ago that was originally narrated by Richard Dreyfuss; here is what he read: “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
The tag line was: Think Different.
“About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them” and you truly cannot ignore Sam Dobbs because you are drawn into his energy. While he might be classified by some as a misfit, rebel, trouble maker or even crazy. Sam is actually an old soul that has figured out at a young age that life is meant to be lived to the absolute fullest. He is more comfortable in his skin at 20 years old than most people are at three times his age. Sam is taking the Vanderbilt Man to a whole new level.
Viral Videos and Vlogs
One of Sam Dobbs’ many talents is his passion for cinema. He is a full-fledged member of the YouTube generation. Dobbs and his fellow Vanderbilt football teammates made a sorority spoof video that went viral, and the views continue to climb. He has also recently started a vlog. The videos are entertaining and similar to watching a Spongebob Squarepants episode with its fast pace, random snippets, and generational transcending references.
Dobbs described his creative process, “I have to be sitting in a quiet spot almost daydreaming and the ideas come to me for my vlogs and then I start expanding on the ideas. For the sorority video, Ean Pfeifer sent me a link to Tosh.0 cover and said it would be a great idea for the football team to do. I took it to the team and recruited as many as I could in our group text. I told them if we are going to do this I needed 100% or nothing at all.” The team ran with it and owned it, see the shameless plug below for all the vlogs that are fit to print.
The Music Man
In addition to his passion for cinema, Dobbs has the ability to play multiple instruments. Guitar, drums, piano, ukulele, violin, mandolin, bongos, basically any percussion. Guitar is his ‘main’ instrument and he has been known to dazzle social media with his musical stylings (again, see shameless plug below). “My dad always told me you are born with rhythm or you’re not. I have rhythm.” Dobbs said “I can hear something and play it. I am no Van Halen yet, but I’m hoping to get to that point someday.” laughed Dobbs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=AvTEY2Lw4_0
Furthermore, many of the Vanderbilt Men are musically inclined. Dobbs reminisced about a legendary jam session with he, Jaire George and Zach Cunningham on guitar, Oren Burks on drums, and Khari Blasingame on saxophone. “One of us just started playing a chord progression and everyone else joined in, we just jammed, then about 10 minutes later it was done ‘We said that was great we should have recorded that.'” Now that would have been a vlog for the ages.
The City, The Degree, and The SEC
Sam Dobbs’ parents attended Auburn where they met and fell in love. Obviously, Dobbs was born and raised an Auburn fan. As he began to excel in sports in high school many colleges took notice. “I always knew I wanted to play a sport in college, Vanderbilt was in the middle of Music City and I love music, the academics are excellent and I really wanted to play SEC football.” Dobbs explained.
“Since he started recruiting me his attitude toward me has been the same. His gratitude as well. He has never been fake. Coach Mason has an open office policy you can talk to him about anything, he always welcomes you with open arms. He is a Christian, I am a Christian. It is great to have a coach you can talk to outside of football. Great guy overall.” Dobbs talked about Mason. However, he was quick to point out “He gets on to you when he needs to but you know its out of love.”
The Touchdown
Notably, Sam Dobbs had his greatest college football moment to date in Vanderbilt’s 45-34 win over Tennessee last November. He had a 20-yard touchdown catch that was the beginning of the end for the Volunteers.
“We practiced that particular play all week. I never got the ball thrown to me in practice, so when we went into that play during the game, I was not expecting to get the ball. I am running my route and see the ball coming my way and think ‘oh wait, shoot I better catch this ball and run for it’. It was hard for me to believe that it was coming my way and I was about to score. It was a dream come true.” Dobbs described with a sly smile. “That was one of the greatest moments of my life.” He added with a grin.
When Did You Fall In Love With Football
“I was little maybe seven or eight years old. I was at an Auburn game with my dad and my grandfather. As we were watching it, I specifically remember saying to my dad ‘I just want to play there now, put me out there now I think I could run around those guys’. He said to me ‘you need to put on a little more weight and get a little taller for that or you’re going to get jacked up’. I remember in that moment wanting to play college football. Both sides of my family are huge football fans. My dad played football at Auburn. It has always been a huge part of my life. I was destined to play.”
The Middle Child
Dobbs claims he was shy, even through high school. Maybe being the middle child had something to do with that. Better yet, maybe the reason he is so expressive now is because he is a middle child. His older sister, Kelsey, played volleyball at Auburn and is finishing pharmacy school. Meanwhile Cameron, his younger sister, just arrived in Miami to play volleyball for The Hurricanes. John and Paula Dobbs will have a lot of traveling to do this year as they support their children in all the academic and athletic endeavors.
Living On The Edge
Dobbs is working toward a degree in Cinema and Media Arts. He, like most college football players, has high hopes for a shot in the NFL. When Dobbs is done with his NFL career, he would love to do something music and movies related, whether it is making music videos or doing something bigger.
Ultimately, Sam Dobbs will change the world in his own way with his own spin. “I just like to have fun, I like to express myself, I am 100% me all the time. Be yourself and live life to the fullest, if you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space.”
“If you are not living on the edge you are taking up too much space.”
-Sam Dobbs, Vanderbilt man
So, here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently…You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Remember the name Sam Dobbs. You will most definitely hear it again.
If you have watched any of Sam’s blogs and as has been noted above you have reached the “shameless plug” portion of the article:
YouTube: SamDobbsOfficial
Instagram: SamDobbs84
Twitter: SamDobbs84
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