Cam Jurgens Q&A: Eagles center on farming in Nebraska, facing Ndamukong Suh, and making jerky
The Eagles center Jurgens will play in his second Super Bowl, this time as the starting center, as he represents the farming community of Beatrice, Neb.
Eagles center Cam Jurgens joined host Jeff McLane on the latest episode of The Inquirer’s Eagles podcast, unCovering the Birds, to talk about his beef jerky company, farming, and experiences with fellow University of Nebraska standout Ndamukong Suh.
Here’s an excerpt from McLane’s “Pick Six” segment with Jurgens …
Q: Beef Jurgy, so how’d that start?
Jurgens: It started in college with NIL. I thought NIL was a thing namely it was just likeness where you make a product based off of yourself, and you sell it, and that’s how you get money. And now it’s like kids just get money playing football. But it was cool. Me and my mom and Matt Sichterman, who was my right guard at the time, he’s a computer software engineer so he made our website, jurgy.co. Basically my mom started making some.
We started reaching out to some different meat lockers and started making some jerky. It’s kind of a long process. You got to get the beef, you got to cut it up, you kind of got to cure ‘em, hang ‘em, let ‘em smoke, dry, and then cut ‘em up into pieces, bag it. It’s a full process. Growing up, I did a lot of deer hunting with my dad and my brother, and we had our own smoker, and we made deer jerky every year.
Q: Your great-grandfather founded Jurgens Farms in 1907 in Pickrell, Neb. What’s your favorite part of farming?
Jurgens: Harvest. The whole family’s together. It’s a big group effort getting the crops off. It’s just fun being together.
Q: You threw the discus and the shot put in high school. Did that translate to football in any way, that discipline?
Jurgens: Yeah, I think a lot of it is just getting to your spot, your footwork, and just getting to the correct amount so your hips, your body, your spine — everything is in alignment to have the most torque and power possible. So you’re putting your body in weird spots to get the most amount of power. That’s what we’re doing in football, too.
» READ MORE: Cam Jurgens’ cattle farm and athletic beginnings in Nebraska prepared him for a new role with the Eagles
Q: Ndamukong Suh was your favorite player growing up. You got to be his teammate actually. So did you tell him that?
Jurgens: I don’t think I told him that, but it was just really cool to talk to him, get to meet him, and be a teammate with him, block him [as scout-team center]. It was neat picking his brain. He’s just a super smart, cerebral guy.
I think his first practice, him and Linval [Joseph] got there, and the first thing was a walk-through, and they were trying to get ready for the game. You know everybody goes at different speeds. Linval like snatched me on the ground and one of them’s like, “alright, I thought we were doing a walk-through speed.” And then I kind of hit Suh pretty hard then the next play thinking, “alright, these guys are trying to get ready.” And Suh grabbed me and he’s like, “hey, don’t you ever hit me that hard in a walk-through” [laughs]. So I was like, “yes sir, Suh sir.”
» READ MORE: ‘He’s a warrior’: Cam Jurgens plays through injury in Eagles’ NFC title win, gets Jason Kelce’s seal of approval
Q: What’s harder, stacking hay bales up to the barn rafters, or getting drilled by Jeff Stoutland in combo-block techniques?
Jurgens: Stacking them hay bales [stiiiinks]. You’re in a barn. There’s so much dust, hay, and you can’t breathe. It’s so hot, and you can’t move. You’re ducking and weaving through the rafters, and I have allergies, so I’m just dying up there. You just kind of got to gut through it. Stout you can kind of get used to a little bit.