As with many other professional sports players, Warren Stephens was introduced to the sport at a young age. In his flag football days, he dominated the league and had his age questioned by several frustrated parents after he ruthlessly torched the other children for touchdown after touchdown. At the time, he believed he would one day be a quarterback. But this was not to be. In junior high, the coaches argued where to play him. Some felt he wasn’t quite good enough to stay at quarterback while others felt he deserved a shot since the team’s other quarterback wasn’t exactly promising either. They compromised and allowed him to play two ways.
A few things happened in his junior high debut that would turn out to be highly influential in young Warren’s career. During one botched play, he took a massive hit from a rushing linebacker and threw an interception. Shaking off the stinger, he gulped down a bit of water during the transition and then trotted out to play safety on defense. Their opponent’s first play after the interception turned out to be a pass in Warren’s direction. A pass he happily intercepted and ran back for a touchdown. This would be the only touchdown his team scored as they lost 12-6. Neither team’s kicker was any good and they all attempted extra points were missed. As a side note, the kicker developed and was eventually named the Texas High School Player of the Week after making a 55 yard field goal into the wind going into halftime of a playoff game a few years later.
Following this game, the young Warren decided he much preferred hitting quarterbacks to being hit. From that day on, he played only at safety and fell in love with the position. He especially loved getting to roam the field and lay massive hits on WRs who thought they were in the clear after dodging one of the particularly slow cornerbacks on his team. Warren excelled at football and fell deeply in love with the sport. He was highly recruited during his high school career, but chose to attend the local Baylor as a legacy student. It was there that he was introduced to rum, but that story has already been told and will not be repeated here. Though he does wish that I remind everyone that his favorite drink is a simple one including Malibu rum, blue Gatorade, and Cherry 7-UP. Why he wants me to tell everyone this I’ll never understand.
Warren excelled at college ball. After redshirting his freshman season, he went on to be named Big12 newcomer of the year in his first season playing and earned First Team All Big12 honors his second year. His third season playing, he was selected as an All American and partied particularly hard to celebrate. His love and knowledge of football continued to grow alongside his fascination with rum. In fact, one of his favorite memories was enjoying the fanciest bottle of spiced rum he’s ever had with his seat partner on the bus following one particularly well played road win against Oklahoma.
Warren loved his time at Baylor, despite the fact that it was a dry campus and his roommate freshman year insisted on sleeping with the lights on because he was scared of the dark. After his third year playing, he declared for the draft. Unfortunately, he had missed the deadline by about 12 hours. Despite his embarrassment, he continued to pursue his dream of playing in the NSFL and was signed by Myrtle Beach following the DSFL draft. Warren was thrilled that the team who wanted him was located near a beach. Who doesn’t love sipping a rum cocktail while watching the sunset with your toes dipped in the gentle rolling waves at a lovely beach?
Warren’s greatest accomplishment in his first season at Myrtle Beach was making headlines by having the practice squad QB throw a bottle of rum to him while the defensive backs were joking around route running after practice. A lucky photographer snapped a picture of the incident and the story went more or less viral. In fact, Warren has made a bit of a name for himself around the league by having a well known fascination with rum. He states that it is his long term plan to open a rum distillery in Myrtle Beach and to become the official rum provider of Myrtle Beach. After all, everyone knows that buccaneers are fiercely in love with their rum. If you did not know this, you should revisit the docuseries Pirates of the Caribbean.
Warren truly enjoyed his first season in the DSFL and has recently taken to podcasting to talk about his experiences as a rookie in the league. He’ll happily tell you that the highlight of his first season was either the time he picked off or sacked Tijuana’s quarterback during the playoffs for the Ultimini, despite the fact that Myrtle Beach lost this game. He says he can’t wait to get revenge during the upcoming season by sweeping Tijuana during the season and knocking them out in the first round should they make it to the postseason.
After the heartbreak in the playoffs, Warren had only the draft to look forward to. The draft, fortunately, did not disappoint as he was picked in the first half of the second round by the Liberty, who are allowing Warren to stay in the DSFL for another season. This greatly excites him and he repeatedly talks about how he cannot wait for the season to begin. He talks often of having unfinished business and has been drinking substantial amounts of rum to stay in game shape. He, in fact, attributes his successes so far to his rum consumption.
When asked how that exactly works since drinking before games should impair your decisions and make you dehydrate faster, Warren just shrugs and mutters something about how it “just works” and takes a swig from a flask that seemingly comes out of nowhere. That same flask was somehow visible during draft night after his name was called. I remember wondering then how he got it in past security, but the fact that he hid it so well during most of this interview makes me think he’s just that good at getting rum into places he’s not meant to have it. Except now the barista at the coffee shop we are meeting at has noticed he’s drinking from a flask and asked us both to leave.
Noticing that it’s almost lunch time, Warren suggests we just leave and go get pizza. I like pizza, so I happily accept.
Over our pizza, Warren talks more about how he’s looking forward to the coming season. He hopes the Myrtle Beach secondary will lead the DSFL and that they will win at least three of their regular season games against Tijuana. He says his most important goal, though, is getting more than two interceptions during the season. He misses the thrill of picking off a ball and trying to run it back and hopes to experience that more.
I tried a couple times to steer the conversation towards what he hopes to happen once he gets to the NSFL, but he didn’t want to talk much about this because he likes to stay focused on the week ahead rather than thinking too far into the future. “Sure, I dream sometimes about getting into the NSFL and make a difference” he explains, “but if I don’t play well down here first that’s never going to happen. And I want it to happen, so I’ve gotta make sure I’m focused here first so that those dreams come true. But what player does not dream about picking off Orange County’s QB at the end of a game and running it back to seal the Ultimus win?!”
We finally got around to ordering our pizza and I learned that Warren is one of those guys who likes pineapple on his pizza. The rest of our conversation was about this rather than football, since I was appalled that someone I so looked up to could do something so terrible. “It just blends so well!” he exclaimed when I protested. “The pineapple adds a bit of sweetness and a different texture and it really blends well with the ham,” he insists. I don’t think I’ll ever understand the depravity it takes to eat pineapple on pizza in public. Pizza is supposed to be sacred! He simply shrugs it off and takes a big bit of pizza. I also learned he doesn’t like beer. Who eats pineapple on pizza and doesn’t like beer?! After learning this, I quickly picked up a to go box, paid my check, and left the building. I don’t think I’ll ever bother conducting another one of these interviews. I’m not comfortable around a guy who refuses to drink beer and eats pineapple on his pizza. This just isn’t okay! Warren simply stayed and finished his pizza and root beer. What a weird guy.
A few things happened in his junior high debut that would turn out to be highly influential in young Warren’s career. During one botched play, he took a massive hit from a rushing linebacker and threw an interception. Shaking off the stinger, he gulped down a bit of water during the transition and then trotted out to play safety on defense. Their opponent’s first play after the interception turned out to be a pass in Warren’s direction. A pass he happily intercepted and ran back for a touchdown. This would be the only touchdown his team scored as they lost 12-6. Neither team’s kicker was any good and they all attempted extra points were missed. As a side note, the kicker developed and was eventually named the Texas High School Player of the Week after making a 55 yard field goal into the wind going into halftime of a playoff game a few years later.
Following this game, the young Warren decided he much preferred hitting quarterbacks to being hit. From that day on, he played only at safety and fell in love with the position. He especially loved getting to roam the field and lay massive hits on WRs who thought they were in the clear after dodging one of the particularly slow cornerbacks on his team. Warren excelled at football and fell deeply in love with the sport. He was highly recruited during his high school career, but chose to attend the local Baylor as a legacy student. It was there that he was introduced to rum, but that story has already been told and will not be repeated here. Though he does wish that I remind everyone that his favorite drink is a simple one including Malibu rum, blue Gatorade, and Cherry 7-UP. Why he wants me to tell everyone this I’ll never understand.
Warren excelled at college ball. After redshirting his freshman season, he went on to be named Big12 newcomer of the year in his first season playing and earned First Team All Big12 honors his second year. His third season playing, he was selected as an All American and partied particularly hard to celebrate. His love and knowledge of football continued to grow alongside his fascination with rum. In fact, one of his favorite memories was enjoying the fanciest bottle of spiced rum he’s ever had with his seat partner on the bus following one particularly well played road win against Oklahoma.
Warren loved his time at Baylor, despite the fact that it was a dry campus and his roommate freshman year insisted on sleeping with the lights on because he was scared of the dark. After his third year playing, he declared for the draft. Unfortunately, he had missed the deadline by about 12 hours. Despite his embarrassment, he continued to pursue his dream of playing in the NSFL and was signed by Myrtle Beach following the DSFL draft. Warren was thrilled that the team who wanted him was located near a beach. Who doesn’t love sipping a rum cocktail while watching the sunset with your toes dipped in the gentle rolling waves at a lovely beach?
Warren’s greatest accomplishment in his first season at Myrtle Beach was making headlines by having the practice squad QB throw a bottle of rum to him while the defensive backs were joking around route running after practice. A lucky photographer snapped a picture of the incident and the story went more or less viral. In fact, Warren has made a bit of a name for himself around the league by having a well known fascination with rum. He states that it is his long term plan to open a rum distillery in Myrtle Beach and to become the official rum provider of Myrtle Beach. After all, everyone knows that buccaneers are fiercely in love with their rum. If you did not know this, you should revisit the docuseries Pirates of the Caribbean.
Warren truly enjoyed his first season in the DSFL and has recently taken to podcasting to talk about his experiences as a rookie in the league. He’ll happily tell you that the highlight of his first season was either the time he picked off or sacked Tijuana’s quarterback during the playoffs for the Ultimini, despite the fact that Myrtle Beach lost this game. He says he can’t wait to get revenge during the upcoming season by sweeping Tijuana during the season and knocking them out in the first round should they make it to the postseason.
After the heartbreak in the playoffs, Warren had only the draft to look forward to. The draft, fortunately, did not disappoint as he was picked in the first half of the second round by the Liberty, who are allowing Warren to stay in the DSFL for another season. This greatly excites him and he repeatedly talks about how he cannot wait for the season to begin. He talks often of having unfinished business and has been drinking substantial amounts of rum to stay in game shape. He, in fact, attributes his successes so far to his rum consumption.
When asked how that exactly works since drinking before games should impair your decisions and make you dehydrate faster, Warren just shrugs and mutters something about how it “just works” and takes a swig from a flask that seemingly comes out of nowhere. That same flask was somehow visible during draft night after his name was called. I remember wondering then how he got it in past security, but the fact that he hid it so well during most of this interview makes me think he’s just that good at getting rum into places he’s not meant to have it. Except now the barista at the coffee shop we are meeting at has noticed he’s drinking from a flask and asked us both to leave.
Noticing that it’s almost lunch time, Warren suggests we just leave and go get pizza. I like pizza, so I happily accept.
Over our pizza, Warren talks more about how he’s looking forward to the coming season. He hopes the Myrtle Beach secondary will lead the DSFL and that they will win at least three of their regular season games against Tijuana. He says his most important goal, though, is getting more than two interceptions during the season. He misses the thrill of picking off a ball and trying to run it back and hopes to experience that more.
I tried a couple times to steer the conversation towards what he hopes to happen once he gets to the NSFL, but he didn’t want to talk much about this because he likes to stay focused on the week ahead rather than thinking too far into the future. “Sure, I dream sometimes about getting into the NSFL and make a difference” he explains, “but if I don’t play well down here first that’s never going to happen. And I want it to happen, so I’ve gotta make sure I’m focused here first so that those dreams come true. But what player does not dream about picking off Orange County’s QB at the end of a game and running it back to seal the Ultimus win?!”
We finally got around to ordering our pizza and I learned that Warren is one of those guys who likes pineapple on his pizza. The rest of our conversation was about this rather than football, since I was appalled that someone I so looked up to could do something so terrible. “It just blends so well!” he exclaimed when I protested. “The pineapple adds a bit of sweetness and a different texture and it really blends well with the ham,” he insists. I don’t think I’ll ever understand the depravity it takes to eat pineapple on pizza in public. Pizza is supposed to be sacred! He simply shrugs it off and takes a big bit of pizza. I also learned he doesn’t like beer. Who eats pineapple on pizza and doesn’t like beer?! After learning this, I quickly picked up a to go box, paid my check, and left the building. I don’t think I’ll ever bother conducting another one of these interviews. I’m not comfortable around a guy who refuses to drink beer and eats pineapple on his pizza. This just isn’t okay! Warren simply stayed and finished his pizza and root beer. What a weird guy.