Brandon Spikes confirms Luke Combs’ wild story about time they played against each other in HS
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Brandon Spikes and Luke Combs may not be assumed to have a lot in common, but the two-time national champion at Florida and country music superstar crossed paths on the football field. Combs has quite the Spikes story to tell, and the former NFL linebacker confirmed it’s true.
Spikes appeared on the most recent episode of Bussin’ With the Boys. The podcast hosted Combs back in March, so the hosts wanted to confirm a wild high school football story told by Combs.
Combs, 36, grew up in Asheville, North Carolina. Spikes, who turned 39 last month, played at Crest High School in Shelby, about 1.5 hours from Asheville. On Bussin’ With the Boys, Combs recalled an amusing tale of facing Spikes’ team on the field.
He looked as old as he does now at 18,” Combs recalled.
“We had a really good running back that year. I think he was going to Western Carolina. Our coach is like, ‘We’re running straight at this dude.’
“It set the tone for the game, but not in the way we had hoped. He absolutely annihilated our running back. Fullback folded…piece of paper, gone. Running back, folded. (Spikes) gets over top of him, grabs a dreadlock and rips it out of his head, from his helmet, and wraps it around his wrist like a bracelet and wears it the rest of the game.
Watching the clip from March, Spikes nodded along.
“That was a true story,” Spikes said.
Brandon Spikes confirms Luke Combs’ story about him ripping a guy’s dreadlock off in high school and wearing it as a bracelet was completely true 😂 https://t.co/wD8K0MhwIj
— Bussin’ With The Boys (@BussinWTB) October 20, 2026
Spikes went on to play for Florida under Urban Meyer from 2006-09. Spikes was a 3-time first-team All-SEC linebacker, earning unanimous All-American recognition in 2008 and consensus All-American honors in 2009. Meyer’s Gators won the BCS national championship in 2006 and 2008. Spikes played in the NFL until 2016.
Combs attended Appalachian State before dropping out and teaching himself guitar. Combs’ music career began in 2014 and he has won 6 CMA awards, including Entertainer of the Year in 2021 and ’22.
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Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaign of Fred Taylor.
