SOUTH SHORE, S.D. (KELO) — A South Dakota native is heading to an NFL training camp this week.
Spencer Waege from South Shore held one last workout before he left for Green Bay to suit up with the Packers.
KELOLAND News caught up with him before he left at his home away from home; the weight room.
Spencer Waege has been grinding it out for Green Bay.
The former North Dakota State defensive lineman was originally signed by the San Francisco 49ers last year as an undrafted free agent, but after he got cut, the Packers came knocking.
Waege remembers getting the call in the middle of nowhere while driving back to South Dakota.
“And I had been getting different spam calls throughout the day, so I wasn’t too concerned when I saw a random phone number pop up on my phone and it said Green Bay, Wisconsin up above it, so I answered I was like ‘hello’ and they were like ‘is this Spencer?’ and I said yeah it is, and he said have you talked to your agent yet, and I was like no not for a few hours and he said this is so and so with the Green Bay Packers we just claimed you I was like, ‘Oh that’s awesome,’ Waege said.
Waege, who grew up on the farm, has been working out a lot in the offseason to get physically and mentally ready for the Packers.
“They want you to know the playbook, now, so I had to go through and try to forget everything that the Niners had just pounded into my head for the last season and start learning all the Packer’s terminology,” Waege said.
His strength coach thinks Waege is very physical, but cerebral and has what it takes to play in the NFL.
“He knows what he wants and I think the thing he learned the most after he got released is that it’s a very short-lived experience, he’s lucky to be in that position and he knows that,” Aaron Jung said.
He also knows he may get the chance now to play against his favorite team, the Chicago Bears.
“I’ve been a Bears fan since I was little, that’s definitely going to be a little weird, but it’ll be fun too,” Waege said.
He’s also looking forward to wearing the green and gold again.
“It’s actually really nice, I kind of joked to my parents, I can start re-wearing some of the stuff in my closet I had at home because the colors match again,” Waege said.
