Packers’ Summers eyes bigger role
Aaron Rodgers barely got out of Peru. Tim Boyle just beat air restrictions out of the United Arab Emirates.
Ty Summers? Well, he was able to get married and get back from his honeymoon in South America just before the coronavirus pandemic severely restricted or outright canceled large events and international travel in March.
Summers and his bride, Sidnee Jo, were able to hold their 320-person wedding on March 7 in Montgomery, Texas, just northwest of Houston.
“We obviously had heard all the things that were going down and that it was coming over to us, but this was before they had even talked about shutting big groups down and making all these limitations and regulations, so we didn't have any concerns about it,” the 24year-old, second-year Green Bay Packers linebacker said. “We had our wedding, everything went great. It was beautiful.”
They immediately honeymooned in Belize, where they began hearing about tightening restrictions, and while their travel went smoothly the couple realized how fortunate they were.
“It all happened so fast,” Summers said. “If we would have waited one more weekend we would have ended up having to cancel our wedding because we wouldn't have been able to fit everybody in the room.
“We barely made it.”
While Summers was able to enjoy the beginnings of domesticity, like many others he felt the personal effects of the coronavirus pandemic restrictions, such as not being able to see his grandfather and having planned events with family canceled.
But there was a silver lining – along with unexpected quality time with his new wife – in the addition of a white English retriever puppy named Bear.
“It was the perfect time to get a puppy,” Summers said. “It gave us a lot more time to train the puppy, take care of it and be with it. That's definitely a bright side to look at.”
And in terms of his workouts, that had to take a hard detour as well. Summers
took advantage of a weight room in a family friend's guest house where he'd been staying.
He also had a trusted circle of friends with whom to run hills and do position drills. He feels the emphasis on endurance and speed will benefit him once he returns to Green Bay.
“I've been able to create all these different types of workouts,” he said. “It's honestly been kind of fun being creative. I'm a creature of habit, I have certain lifts that I like to do and I tend to do them in cycles but now because of the circumstances I've been able to really expand my knowledge of strength training and of running and of plyometrics and things of that nature because I've had so much time to do that. I've been able to get some really good workouts in.”
As the virtual offseason progressed Summers felt he would be in good shape to not just contend for a spot on the 53man roster but do enough to get on the field on defense for the first time. He did not play a defensive snap last season but was a core special teams member, playing 71.8% of the snaps on the third phase.
“Of course my goal is to go and be the starter – that's anyone's goal at this position,” Summers said. “I'm going to go out there and compete, give it all I got and ultimately the coaches decide.
“If my role is a starter, fantastic, I'm going to be the best starter I can be. If it's a backup role, I'm going to be the best backup I can be; if it's special teams I'm going to be the best special teams player I can be. I'm just excited to go out there and compete for the opportunity. It's a dream come true to even to be here and to have the chance to actually play legitimate snaps on defense. That would fulfill that dream. I'm going to work for it, continue to stay healthy hopefully, take care of myself the best I can and my mind as well studying the playbook. I'm just excited to get up there and have a chance.”