George Kittle and Greg Olsen got the best of Luke Combs at last summer’s TEU.
If you aren’t familiar with the acronym, TEU stands for Tight End University. Travis Kelce, along with NFL veteran George Kittle and tight-end-turned-broadcaster Greg Olsen, came together to create the program that shines a light on underrated and overlooked position. It sets out to help develop the next generation of tight ends at the professional level, and last year’s annual TEU event took place in Nashville, Tennessee.
It included a very big cameo… someone that’s very close to Travis Kelce, if you needed a hint.
During a recent episode of Kittle Things (George Kittle’s podcast), the San Francisco 49ers tight end had country music star Jon Pardi on as a guest. The two talked a lot about California and the country music scene there, and then eventually, the “Dirt On My Boots” singer got to talking about his experience with TEU.
Pardi said he went two years ago, and he had nothing but good things to say about the event:
“Tight End University is so fun. You’ve got so many rookies running around, so many talented dudes running around, and you’ve got sneaky starting quarterbacks showing up out of nowhere that just like to respect the tight ends. As a football fan, it was super fun. The shows are always good. You get so many artists that want to come and sing because everybody loves football.”
Speaking of artists that want to show up to TEU.
At last year’s Tight End University, country music star Luke Combs made a surprise appearance. If you didn’t hear about it… it’s probably because Taylor Swift also dropped in at TEU, and George Kittle said that her presence basically swallowed up the fact that Combs had performed:
“What’s funny about that night that Taylor came out… earlier, Luke Combs went out (on stage). He went out with Jordan Davis. And then Taylor comes out and then everybody just forgot that Luke performed.”
He’s not kidding. Taylor Swift stole the show.
Kittle went on to say that he and fellow TEU founder Greg Olsen knew that would be the case, which is why they somewhat bullied Luke Combs into performing:
“We actually bullied Luke into doing it. Because Taylor, when she got there, she was like, ‘Hey, can I end the show?’ We were like, ‘Yeah.’ And so then me and Greg Olsen bullied Luke Combs into going on stage and singing one song. It was so funny.”
Ain’t no love in Oklahoma at TEU.
And that wasn’t the only time that Luke Combs – an absolute superstar in his own right – was upstaged by Taylor Swift that night. When the night at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl was over, Swift exited the building first to a crowd of fans that had gathered at the back entrance (the Swifties move quickly, and found out she was there for the TEU event).
Everyone went nuts when Taylor walked out… then didn’t really bat an eye when Luke Combs exited the building, as you can see in this TikTok video below from that night:
@kariewolf We love u Luke! 🐐 @Luke Combs @Taylor Swift #teu #tightendsandfriends #taylorswift #taylornation #lukecombs #nashville ♬ When It Rains It Pours – Luke Combs
Poor Luke… good luck getting him to TEU again.
