It wasn’t that long ago when Jake Crain was making a living by standing on a sideline. For nine years, he coached college football; six of those were at the Division 1 Level. He served the roles of linebacker coach, running back coach, special teams, and defensive coordinator.
But early next month in New York City, he’ll be one of the featured guests at the 2022 BSM Summit. He’ll also be sharing some very exciting news of the future of The JBoy Show. It’s a far cry from getting a football team ready to play on Saturday, but it’s a life and a passion that he believes is his true calling.
“I really respect Jason Barrett’s work,” said Crain. “It’s an honor for him to ask me to come there. Anytime I can get invited to do something like this, it’s something I take really seriously and I’m really glad he asked me.”
Crain’s rise in the sports podcast space is one of the quickest we’ve seen in the past two years. In seemingly no time, he’s gone from recording in a back room to an opportunity with the Bleav Podcast Network and then an offer from Colin Cowherd to join The Volume. But the quick rise hasn’t brought out an ego. In fact, maybe more than anything, he wants to show those at the BSM Summit that he’s humble and approaching the event with an open mind.
“I’m going in with an open mind,” Crain said. “It’s like anything else, you can learn a little bit from everybody and I’m still learning every day doing this. So the opportunity to go up to New York and be surrounded by people that have had a lot of success can only make me better. I’m trying to get better all of the time.”
There’s big news coming soon with The JBoy Show. Crain didn’t reveal exactly what it is, but it seems clear he’ll no longer be with The Volume. What does that mean? Well, it has to be something major. Crain did say the podcast is transitioning to “an even bigger platform.”
The Volume is quickly rising as one of the premiere podcast companies and to leave that exposure and security would mean a huge jump is about to be announced. The reasoning behind the move is strictly about upward mobility for The JBoy Show. If you bring up Cowherd to Crain, he has nothing but incredible things to say.
“Colin was fantastic,” Crain said. “He was very transparent with me when I had dinner with him in Los Angeles. If you didn’t know what he looked like, you would never know it was Colin Cowherd by the way he treated people. He’s a guy I look up to. He gave me a chance and an opportunity to move up and advance. He’s just a cool dude.
“Regardless if you agree with his sports takes or not, he’s a guy that you can sit down at a sports bar and have a beer with and he’ll shoot you straight.He told me like it was and kind of prepared me for what happens once you get to a certain level. If I ever had a question, I could always hit him up.”
There will be a lot of interest from guests at the BSM Summit regarding Crain’s rise. He’s ready and willing to answer any of those questions during his time in New York City. But there’s also an element where people want to learn from what he’s going to say. How has success come to him so quickly? What’s his secret to building such a big audience in the podcast space? Those are just a couple.
But as much as you may want to learn from him, he has an equal desire to learn from you. And that’s how to best go about the BSM Summit.
“I know it’s been a quick rise, but I haven’t forgotten what got me here,” Crain said. “I want them to understand, and I’m sure they do. Kind of just like any other business, the more things you can do, the better chance you have to rise up and move up and get a job and maintain it.
“I’m just humble and still learning every day. You’re never perfect, you’re never there as a player, you’re never there as a coach, and the minute you stop trying to get better is the minute you start getting worse.”
The guest list will be extensive and impressive this year at the BSM Summit, just like every summit before it. Crain will be one of the headline names, but what names is he looking forward to talking to?
“Man, it’s really just everybody,” Crain said. “I think what makes it strong is the amount of people in different spaces. Seeing the lineup that he has, it’s something that I feel like will make me better and it’s really an honor to be asked to do it.”
It’s cool that someone so relatively new to the sports media scene is humbled by the opportunity to be a part of the BSM Summit. Especially when you factor in that he started his journey in podcasting with a basic knowledge level of how things work. So much so, it took every bit of knowledge he had from a technological standpoint to get something on Spotify and Apple.
He’s hit it big with one of the best and most well-known college football podcasts on the internet. And even better days are coming. But as he looks to the future, does he want to be known as the guy who covers strictly the SEC?
“I’m always one that doesn’t want to pigeonhole himself,” Crain said. “I feel like I have the ability to talk about any sports. Understanding and growing up in a sports family, this is what we did. I really want to take it as far as I can go. I want to talk about the top stories. I want to talk about what’s going on. You always have your bread and butter. Just like a football coach, you have your base plays. But I want to go as big as I can in this.
“I feel like I have a work ethic to do it and I feel like I have the ability to do it. I feel like I’d be doing a disservice if I didn’t try to go as far as I can. In the next five years looking towards the future, I want to do national stuff. I want to be able to do college football and be able to talk about the NFL, Major League Baseball, and all other sports. That’s where I see myself.”
As for the big news, when can we expect it?
“It should be announced here within a week,” Crain said. “We’re trying to get everything right and fine-tune everything. It’s been a whirlwind and I’m really excited about it.”
Tyler McComas is a columnist for BSM and a sports radio talk show host in Norman, OK where he hosts afternoon drive for SportsTalk 1400. You can find him on Twitter @Tyler_McComas or you can email him at TylerMcComas08@yahoo.com.
