ɫ��ɫ

Teddye Buchanan ’24 called from Baltimore, shortly before training camp with the Ravens was set to begin. The alum was drafted to the team in April, becoming the first Aggie to be drafted by the National Football League since 2002. He’ll be an inside linebacker.

“This year has been one of the crazier years of my life,” Buchanan said, “but a ton of fun.”

Buchanan started the year with the East-West Shrine Bowl, an all-star game in Arlington, Texas. Then at the end of February, he participated in the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, where top college prospects showcase their skills to the pros. He was drafted in April and quickly moved cross-country.

“I've just been really trying to embrace the experience just because this type of stuff only happens once,” he said.

Training camp starts early for rookies, and Buchanan said he expected to be working from 7 in the morning to 7 at night for over a month. The team plays its first game of the season Sept. 7.

Here are five things to know about Buchanan.

Football has been important for a long time.

His dad got him into football, though in high school he played many sports including basketball, baseball and soccer. 

“As a kid, football came naturally to me,” Buchanan said. “I played all the sports, but I was the best at football. It's just been a central part of my life for a long time.”

Buchanan grew up in Palo Alto and chose ɫ��ɫ for both the academics and the approach to football.

“I felt a really genuine connection from the coaches,” he said. “I felt like they cared about me as a person, not just as a football player. And you want to go somewhere where you're going to be treated fairly. That’s what I felt at ɫ��ɫ, and that turned out to be true.”

Education has also been significant.

“What really appealed to me about ɫ��ɫ was first of all it is a great academic school,” he said. “I knew no matter what happened with football, I had a chance to further my education and walk away with a really good degree.” 

Buchanan graduated with a degree in design. And because of the pandemic, he had an additional year of eligibility to play college football. That last year, he moved to UC Berkeley to play football and earned a certificate in business administration and management.

He’s very creative.

Outside of sports, he describes himself as creative, which led him to major in design at ɫ��ɫ.

“I have a bit of an artistic side to me, so that really appeals,” Buchanan said. “I actually got lucky to get the opportunity to be a design major because the intro course to get into the program is during the fall, but I came in during COVID, so we didn't have a season that fall.”

The season was moved to the spring that year, and he got to do both. 

“I learned a lot about design and how it works in the real world,” he said. “It was a really cool major for me.”

His pre-game ritual is a tribute to his late grandmother.

“It's pretty simple,” he shared. “I just point to the sky. I point to my grandma. She passed away when I was in high school. She was a huge football fan. She was actually a Steelers fan. They're one of our division rivals. But I know that she's looking down on me, and she would be super excited to see me. She was my biggest fan as a kid playing, so yeah, just a little nod to her.”

He’s ready to get in the zone.

A career in football, he said, has always been a long-range goal. Although there were times it felt out of reach, he said he focused on what he could do daily to make it happen.

“That mindset eventually made that dream seem like it could be reality,” he said.

As he was about to go into training camp this summer, he said it would be a continuation of the hard work he was already doing.

“You get used to doing this every single year, so you're ready for it when it comes,” he said. “There is a cool aspect to it where you lock in and focus on your craft. You're so singularly focused. It's hard for me to even know what's going on in the outside world because of how our days are completely consumed with football. But I think it's a cool experience to get to focus on something like that. I see a lot of improvement, and it's a chance to test myself physically and mentally.”