Sam Salz

Sam Salz is an American former college football wide receiver who played for the Texas A&M Aggies. He is thought to be the first and only orthodox Jewish football player in NCAA Division I. Salz did not play organized football at any level prior to being added to the Texas A&M program as a walk-on. As he was not invited to join the football team, he practiced by himself within sight of the team and eventually earned a roster spot. He was on the Texas A&M roster for three seasons and played in one game for them.

Early life Salz was born 2002 and is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from a Modern Orthodox college prep school: Kohelet Yeshiva High School. He is and weighs . In 2022 he went to Texas A&M University to study economics. Salz was related to the research psychologist Irvin S. Schonfeld.

College football In 2022, Sam Salz was a sophomore at Texas A&M University and he wanted to be on the football team, but he had no football experience. Salz described his daily practice routine: "About an hour and half to an hour doing field work.. catching.. doing footwork... working on taking hand-offs, and then I would spend about two and a half to three hours in the gym getting bigger. He also wears his tzitzit under his jersey. The Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday and lasts until sundown on Saturday so if Salz were to compete with the team in games, he could only play in Saturday night games.

In 2023, Salz was a junior and had not appeared in any football games for the Aggies. Salz has said he hopes to be drafted into the NFL and become a motivational speaker. Mark Robinson (Texas A&M’s associate athletic director) said that Salz practices alongside several Muslim football players that observe the fasting of Ramadan. The football team schedules practices to accommodate the Muslim players.