Sam Hunt may not be a household name yet, but some of the song's he's written sure are. Hunt -- a multi-talented music man who can also throw a football -- sat down with Taste of Country Nights host Sam Alex to talk about both of his loves.

Before making it in Nashville, Hunt played college football at the University of Alabama Birmingham and even played "very briefly" for the Kansas City Chiefs -- then he got the call from Kenny Chesney. That's what changed it all.

“It was a wild few months and it’s gotten even wilder here lately … that was all part of the start," he reveals. It's now been five years since the singer-songwriter moved to Nashville, and he says there has been some "benchmarks of progress" along the road, but that it's all been "handwork" and "fun work."

Hunt has written songs for artists like Chesney ('Come Over'), Billy Currington ('We Are Tonight') and, most recently, Keith Urban's 'Cop Car.' He says having other artists sing his songs is nothing short of an honor.

“Once it’s out there in the universe, it’s serving its purpose," Hunt says, "and I’m proud to have other folks hear the music that I was a part of making. I do enjoy hearing the songs on the radio because, you know, you’re able to see a song start, watch it from the origin to its fruition and it’s just it’s pretty overwhelming.”

But before he really started making it in Nashville, Hunt was throwing the pigskin in Birmingham. “That was the time when I was in college that was when I was learning to play guitar and when I was learning to write songs and all that," he says of his time in school.

He had a hard time finding out where he belonged, since he was a mix of both artsy and sporty -- something that can be rare. “I was always sort of straddling the fence personality wise," the country up-and-comer says. "I never was the cliche stereotypical quarterback in all senses of the word. I sort of found a way as I got going to blend those two worlds and do them both without it being contradictory."

We're glad he did.

Sam Alex is the host of Taste of Country Nights radio, a syndicated night show which airs on more than 60 Townsquare Media Group stations nationwide. 

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