Back to School- In the Bleachers' Michael Felder!

Today, Finally Friday! is happy to introduce a new feature: Back to School!  I've had so much fun with the Pop Quiz feature that I decided to profile some former student-athletes who have gone on to bright futures and get their recollections of their days on campus.  We couldn't ask for a better victim, er, participant to kick things off, either. 

If you are a sports junkie like me, chances are you follow @inthebleachers, the Twitter handle for college football writer extraordinare Michael Felder.  Not only is he the lead national college football writer for Bleacher Report, his website is home to one of the most popular podcasts in college football.  He is also a prolific tweeter, and should be your go-to guy if you want a blow-by-blow of the Today Show or Archer.  However, please don't ask him to analyze college basketball.

On second thought, please do...it's very entertaining to the rest of us. Anyway,

Ladies and Gentlemen:  Michael Felder!

1) Identify yourself!

Michael Felder: East Meck 2003, UNC-Chapel Hill

2) Exactly how big is your sports media empire?

Empire is so misleading; I just do a little bit of stuff for a lot of bit of folks. My main job is as lead national college football writer for Bleacher Report. I also own and operate InTheBleachers.net, contribute at Crystal Ball Run and do plenty of radio and podcasting as well. I'm happy in my little corner of the internet.

3)  You were kind of a big deal in high school, which is hard to do in the ultra-competitive arena that is Charlotte football.  I read where you were actually nominated for the Wendy's High School Heisman at one point.  How does a student-athlete deal with those kinds of accolades and attention while staying grounded and taking care of business?

Honestly, for me it never seemed like that stuff was that big of a deal. My head coach, Scott Stein now at Sun Valley, and my parents didn't exactly let me get over skis in that arena. It also helped that I had this truly burning desire to be the best I could. For me, football was an exercise in hard work and I always wanted more success, more wins and the like.

Oh and my parents were both teachers while I was in school. They've since moved to administration, but during that time they were teachers and school always came first and it wasn't really a negotiable thing.

 4) As a former college athlete, do you ever have the opportunity to counsel young players on what to expect with the recruiting process and the transition to college?

I've done it at times in the past. I like getting out and talking to kids; the good thing about my folks being involved in schools as administrators is there is always a student of their's that i can help and they don't hesitate to ask. For me, honestly, the recruiting process and transition always is secondary to taking care of business in high school and picking the right school. If you can do those first two things, the recruiting process and transition become so much easier.

5) What, if anything, do you miss about Football Fridays in high school?  Was it a positive thing for you or stressful because of all the attention?

I miss winning the most. That's plain and simple. The attention didn't matter to much, I went out and played football for my teammates and they were the only people I was concerned with. The stress was very real from an internal standpoint. My team was 3-8 when I was a freshman playing varsity and as we got better, eventually going 14-2 my junior year, I knew I didn't want to feel that losing feeling of my freshman year ever again. So I put a lot of pressure on myself and worked overtime because I didn't want to be the reason we didn't win every game.

6) I have to ask, since I've asked everyone else: One Direction or Justin Bieber?

Gimme the Biebs! Saw both of them perform during my daily Today Show viewing and Bieber easily blew away the EuroPop sensation.

7) You tweet a lot, and you specifically tweet a lot about food.  I'm headed to North Davidson this week, and they have a healthy tailgate scene (you'd love it- the town smells like barbecue).  Care to share a tailgate recipe with my readers?

I'm a North Carolina boy, through and through, so I've got to go with pulled pork. On Saturdays when I'm not traveling and I'm home all day I like to put a pork shoulder on the smoker in the early morning. Let him cook low and slow for several hours and then enjoy with some Eastern NC sauce lightly doused on it.

8) Do you find you like football better as a player, a fan, or a sportswriter?  The one thing I worry about as a budding writer is that I'll lose my love as a fan.

Player, then sportswriter and last as a fan. Truth be told I've never had the big fan experience that most folks have had so I don't really get into it that way. I went from playing and watching critically to writing and watching critically; I've never had that "just follow the ball" and "soak it all up" element to football viewing.

There are a lot of writers that are still as fan-ish as anyone, if you want to retain it you most certainly can.

9) We have an epidemic right now of played-out cheers in both high school and college student sections.  If I hear 'Seven Nation Army' one more time I may snap.  Any ideas to help reverse this trend?

Haha, turn your ears off? Honestly, I have no clue. We hear the same songs, the same generic cheers all over the country. I doubt they'll go away; and when they do a new one pops up to replace it. For what it's worth, I'm a big fan of "Hold That Line" and "Sack That Quarterback."

10) Finally, if you have one piece of advice to give to a current student-athlete, what would it be?

You get out what you put in. For me that meant blood, sweat, tears, a little vomit and a lot of time; but what I got out of it was an unbelievable high school football experience. I have really good high school friends who put in less, got less out of it but they were happy with what they received from a sports experience as well. I truly believe that as long as you're happy with what you're putting in; being true to yourself about what it all means to you, that you'll come away with a fulfilling experience.

I'd like to thank Michael for graciously answering our Back to School questions.  He's a good sport and a great writer!

For more on Michael, please go to the links I posted above, or search for his stuff on the Interwebs.  He's not hard to find at all!