Two Aggies have more in common than just football
Brenen Burningham and Tyler Olsen have a lot in common. Both are from Cache Valley; both played Utah State football together last season and both have competed in track and field. Now they are both on the Aggie cheerleading squad.
Olsen said he tried out for cheerleading because he wanted to stay active following the football season and because some cheerleaders begged him to.
“I can never turn down a pretty face,” he said.
Burningham said he joined for similar reasons.
“A friend of mine on the squad was trying stunts and wanted me to help her out,” he said. “I’ve been hooked ever since.”
Burningham’s dad also played football and was on the cheerleading squad in college.
“When I told my dad I was doing cheer, he said ‘You’re my clone,'” Burningham said. “I look like him, I act like him and I do the same sports in college.”
Both athletes said they have been teased by their football teammates for being on the squad, but Burningham said he gets it worse because he still trains with them. Olsen is graduating this spring and won’t be playing football next season.
“I get teased more than Tyler because I’ve got the whole team giving me a bunch of crap,” Burningham said. “I think it’s weird for them to see fellow teammates being cheerleaders and then have to play football with this peppy person.”
Olsen said, “The day some of the guys heard I was trying out, they intertwined our stretching routine with cheers. They give us a hard time, but I think they respect us for keeping busy although they’d never admit that.”
Both cheerleaders said their friends tease them about being on the squad but then turn around and ask them to hook them up with the female cheerleaders.
“But I’m not going to play matchmaker,” Burningham said.
Both athletes also said although they love cheerleading, they would choose football if they had to choose between the two.
“My mom always says my passion is football,” Olsen said. “It’s been a dream of mine since I was a little boy. Cheer is fun, but I didn’t dream of becoming a cheerleader.”
Burningham said, “Football’s my love. Ever since high school it’s been a goal of mine to play in college because not many people can say they played Division I football. I’m looking forward to the next three years.”
Olsen said he actually gets injured more in cheerleading than he did when he played football, although they are minor injuries.
“I get more elbows to the face and hits in the stomach than I did in football,” he said. “I definitely have had more black eyes from cheerleading. If they [female cheerleaders] don’t come down just right, I’ve been looking up at the lights plenty of times, but not in football.”
Both athletes have been busy with sports since high school.
Olsen participated in wrestling, track and football at Mountain Crest High School. He came to USU on a track scholarship and competed four years and redshirted one in the sport. While on the team, he won three letters and finished third in the Big West Conference in the javelin.
Burningham played football, basketball, track, soccer and volleyball at Sky View High School. He said he started doing sports to make new friends.
“There is an instant brotherhood on sports teams,” he said. “That’s one reason why I started playing.”
Both athletes said they were surprised at how hard cheerleading is.
“I have a lot more appreciation for cheerleading now that I’ve been here and see what the girls go through,” Olsen said. “It’s a challenging sport, and it’s very technical.”
Burningham said at first it was hard to balance school, cheer and football, but he is adjusting to it.
“The first week when school started up, it was really hard,” he said. “It was hard trying to remember what I had that day and where I had to be between school, cheer and conditioning for football.”
Burningham and Olsen said they are enjoying life and looking forward to the rest of the cheer season.
“Cheerleading is awesome,” Burningham said. “We get to travel to all of the basketball games, we get the best seats in the house and we get to work with lovely young ladies.”
Olsen said, “We enjoy life. We are naturally happy people and like to make life as fun as possible.”
Burningham said he will play football in the fall and would like to do cheer again next season.
“During the fall, I’ll just do football and focus on that,” he said. “But when basketball season comes around, I’d be more than willing to do cheer again.”
Olsen will graduate in May in social work with a Portuguese minor. Burningham is a freshman studying secondary education with an art minor.