Teen pregnancy, tragic paraplegics, “spirited” cheerleaders ,and football—who doesn’t yearn for the halcyon years of high school? Springsteen may have written many a nostalgic song about those glory days of skinny-dipping down by the river after school, but unlike Georgetown grads Matt Bassuener (SFS ’08) and Brent Craft (MSB ’08), he never got to return to the place where the magic all began. As two of the newest additions to the cast of NBC’s award-winning television series, Friday Night Lights, the former Hoya football players are reliving the dream of secondary school, except this time around, there’s no homework, they get paid for showing up, and the school’s head cheerleader is dating Derek Jeter.
The show chronicles the drama and gridiron grit of a fictional Texas high school football team, the Dillon Panthers. True to the reputation of their large-cat mascot, the Panthers are the kings of the Texas football jungle as the reigning state champs. Because of the pigskin-heavy plot, Friday Night Lights employs a special cast of extras whose sole purpose is to help provide athletic panache to the game and practice scenes. Enter Bassuener and Craft.
There were no lip-pouting headshots or dreams of Hollywood grandeur involved in the pair’s foray into television work. Their journey to the small screen began in a familiar place—on the football field. After graduation, Bassuener and Craft played for the Austin Wranglers and the Louisville Fire, respectively, of the Arena Football League 2. But with their seasons ending in July, and facing the prospect of living the rest of the year on what Bassuener called “poverty wages,” the two knew they would need to find off-season work.
A tip from a teammate led Bassuener to the set of Austin-based Friday Night Lights. As luck would have it, the former Georgetown quarterback is around the same height and build as the actor Jeremy Sumpter (who played the title character in 2003’s Peter Pan). Sumpter joined the cast this season to play J.D. McCoy, a talented freshman quarterback vying for a starting position on the team. Though he spends most of his time in front of cameras in pads and a helmet, Bassuener did not escape a Tyra Banks-style TV makeover. In an effort to make the natural blonde look more like the brown-haired Sumpter, Bassuener’s locks were dyed and cut.
“I think it looks foolish,” he said.
Samsonite hair problems aside, both Bassuener and Craft are quick to recognize the job’s main perk— that they get paid to play football, albeit a highly scripted and carefully coordinated version. The extras spend hours perfecting a single game sequence on the field, and they often end shooting at two or three in the morning. The show’s lead male actors spend quite a bit of time on the field with the squad during the hours of filming.
“We’re friendly with them,” Craft said. “We’re on a first name basis.”
The actors and extras socialize outside of work, too. The night before Bassuener and Craft talked to the Voice, they attended a party with some of the male leads and quite a few of the show’s cheerleading extras.
Most of the actors are fairly down to earth, according to both Craft and Bassuener, though Craft called 19-year-old Jeremy Sumpter, for whom Bassuener stunt-doubles, “the most spastic man alive.” Another shortcoming of the pretty faces who get all the glory on the show?
“They’re not good at sports,” Craft said, explaining that he and the other extras often help the actors work on their basic football mechanics in order to look good for the cameras.
The actors may be buffoons with a ball in their hands, but they sure do get to kiss some pretty ladies on TV. Though Craft and Bassuener have little contact with the show’s female actors, they’ve definitely taken notice of the women of Dillon High. Bassuener was quick to single out Minka Kelly (who plays cheerleader Lyla Garrity) as “gorgeous.”
When the subject of attractive women on-set came up, Craft was quick to point out that he has a girlfriend, though he did say that actor Kyle Chander, who plays Coach Taylor on the show, was a “good-looking man.”
There are other unexpected benefits to the job that Craft modestly calls “not much of a job.” Instead of a Christmas bonus or a health care plan, football-playing extras have the opportunity to earn a much sought-after pay bump if they are required to be hit or tackled repeatedly during filming. As Bassuener excitedly explained, the “bump” starts off at around $100 for a couple of hits, but if a player really gets tossed around, he can attain ultimate stunt-man status by being put on contract for the episode, meaning he is entitled to royalties each time the episode airs.
“I’m hoping I start getting hit, but it’s the honeymoon stage still,” Bassuener said, explaining why his 14-year old TV alter ego has yet to take one for the team.
Grueling hours and throwing tutorials aside, the pair doesn’t have many complaints about their work. “It’s infinitely better than an office job,” Craft said, and along with Bassuener, he plans to pursue arena football for the time being.
Filming for season three ends in November, at which point Craft and Bassuener will have to move on, but for now, the pair seems content. They may not be living a Springsteen song, but one more day of football under the bright lights is enough for now.
“Last night I scored a touchdown in high school,” Craft said. “I wouldn’t want to do this at 30, but at 22 it’s a fun thing to do.”
