They handed him his Orangewood acoustic guitar in front of a bevy of cameras, neon lights and strangers. He’d brought it along just thinking he’d need it as a prop. He’d never performed live for anyone live before.

But with his guitar with him on set at SEC Media Days in July at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Nashville, he was asked to play.

And in the background of a video posted by Auburn’s football social media account, fifth-year tight end Luke Deal’s voice rings out in the background.

“Jumped right in, ain’t afraid to fall and you give it all. She got the best of me,” Deal sang.

It’s the beginning of the chorus to country singer Luke Combs’ former No. 1 single “She Got the Best of Me.” It’s one of the first songs Deal ever learned how to play.

Deal only picked up his country music hobby during the COVID-19 pandemic when he felt stuck in a dorm room at Auburn.

But three years go by and hey, this was Nashville. Might as well bring the guitar.

***

Deal grew up in the Carolinas with Tom Petty and Darius Rucker playing in his home. They played the country music of the Carolinas: Rucker, Combs and Eric Church. His dad Chris loved Petty and his Heartbreakers.

Chris Deal passed away in June 2022 from ALS. Deal still holds onto old Petty records and cassette tapes in his honor. For a country music fan, it’s still Petty among his most listened-to artists each year when the music streaming app Spotify reports its yearly recaps.

“My wife (Ansley) now, she kind of started to like (Tom Petty) a little bit,” Deal said. “She didn’t she didn’t enjoy him too much whenever I first started playing it around her. But that’s what my dad used to listen to, that kind of dad rock stuff.”

But Deal is a football player. He loved music as a kid, but it never was an interest more than singing along to Church’s “Talladega in the car. These days, Zach Bryan has been added to the playlist.

Deal played had a music teacher in high school and played classical music in classes.

At least until Deal’s brother-in-law Jordan Collins suggested the Orangewood as a Christmas gift just before the COVID-19 pandemic. Collins is the worship pastor at Legacy City church in Greenwood, South Carolina. Music is an integral part of their prayer. So Collins is an expert in the family.

“And then I think really maybe it was when COVID hit, I think when he was home and he just kind of had nothing else to do but play guitar,” Collins said. “It was nuts. Like, how long did it take before he was actually sounding really good? It was probably a span of half a year, maybe three months.”

Deal was bored during the early months of the pandemic. He was stuck at home and learned to play golf — admittedly he still isn’t very good. And he picked up the guitar.

***

There was no way to take a guitar lesson during the pandemic, so Deal learned from a YouTube channel called “CountrySong Teacher.” He began to learn a few basic guitar chords — C chord, G chord, D chord and E minor chord. Those chords are the basic musical structure for much of Combs’ music.

Collins described Deal as a person who may suddenly stumble upon an interest, but dive all into it when that arrives. So just learning a few Luke Combs, Darius Rucker and Chris Stapleton songs wasn’t enough. Deal began to write a couple of songs himself.

Collins said he hated country music before he started dating Deal’s sister, Hannah.

“I thought it was like a terrible type of music, couldn’t stand listening to it,” Collins said. “Married into his family and all they do is listen to it.”

He didn’t have a choice but to learn to like it. And given Collins’ stronger musical background. Deal went to him when he wanted to record his first song.

The song would be called “Roots,” something Deal wrote about his childhood in South Carolina.

“I played music for a long time, I don’t think I ever wrote one song,” Collins said. “I don’t think I ever tried it. I maybe thought about it, but I didn’t even try it every time and Luke, after three or four, maybe six months, he’s already written an extremely good one.”

When Deal first played the song for his family, Collins said he was expecting to just pretend to like it to make him feel better. When he finished playing, Collins remembers seeing Deal’s mom Leah with teary eyes.

So Collins said he bought a $230 Spire recorder, set it up in the middle of a room in his house, connected it to the Bluetooth on his phone and played the song with Deal.

Deal kept the song on his mind, and he played it again at SEC Media Days in 2023 in a clip that has been viewed nearly 40,000 times on Auburn’s Twitter, now known as X, account.

Music infiltrated the locker room during Deal’s time at Auburn. These days, Deal said he occasionally keeps the Orangewood by his locker at the Woltosz Football Performance Center, using the gaps in long days of practice to play for his teammates. He mentioned linebacker Elijah McAllister and offensive lineman Jeremiah Wright as some of the best singers on this year’s team.

Back in dorm room 4128 in 2020, Deal formed the “4th Floor Crew.” It was a group of bored football players trapped in quarantine with slim musical talents. Deal along with former Auburn players including quarterback Cord Sandberg, wide receiver Jackson McFadden, kicker Ben Patton, tight end Tyler Fromm and linebacker Barrett Tindall made up the group.

They recorded a few songs together while struck inside, setting up an iPad with GarageBand in the middle of the room.

“The reason that whole thing started was we had a song that we wrote about being fed up with COVID,” Deal said. “It was called ‘Seven Days on the Plains’ because we had seven days in our dorms where we couldn’t leave. And it was kind of a joke, I mean it was funny. We had fun doing that. We recorded it and all that. Coach (Gus) Malzahn actually played it on our team Zoom call and everybody was vibing to it.”

The Crew recorded another song called “That’s College” which was also posted on Deal’s YouTube channel.

Deal has continued to write, but hasn’t recorded much. An inspiration for writing these days largely comes from his dad’s passing. Life as an SEC football player is so encapsulating that it leaves hardly any time.

“And that’s kind of how it is with anything, right,” Deal said. “If you’re a big-time hunter, and you’d like to go out and hunt, this and that, you’ll find time in your off time, your one month of off time that you get to go out and be a good shot. Music is one of those things that I really enjoy and it’s therapeutic.”

***

Deal planned to bring his guitar back to Nashville this week for the Music City Bowl set for Saturday, Dec. 30 at 1 p.m.

Or, well, it was his plan. Turns out he forgot it while traveling back to Auburn from Christmas with his family.

Originally, he wasn’t sure what exactly plans musically Auburn had for him — there is still a football game against Maryland to prepare for, anyway.

Albeit he wasn’t expecting a concert atop a rooftop Broadway bar.

“Maybe illegally,” Deal joked.

Deal will be coming back to Auburn next fall for his sixth year. At this point though, he doesn’t plan on making music anything more than his hobby when his post-football life arrives.

“I mean, I’ve always thought about it,” Deal said. “There’s so many talented people out there, man. I don’t know if I would ever do it. I would, but I don’t know if I could ever do it that way. That’s not the plan that I have. But God works in mysterious ways. It’s gonna be His plan and not mine. So we’ll figure out whatever I’m going to do whenever it smacks me across the face. It would be it would be definitely cool to be in that lifestyle. It would be tough though.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]