Koe Wetzel has been laser-focused on continuing his current country music success. He’s achieving it by showcasing the same intensity and ferocity onstage as he displayed while chasing down quarterbacks during his days on the football field. He’s also taking on a new challenge: maintaining his music momentum while regaining his pass-rushing physique.

The former college linebacker’s popularity has taken off with the 0-60 speed of a Ford Mustang Shelby, the classic muscle car whose creator resided in the same East Texas town as the 32-year-old musician. At the same time, Wetzel’s ascent up the charts can be considered unconventional by country music standards. He’s selling out venues nationwide while refusing to sell out his Texas roots.

He now resides in the larger Fort Worth region, but Wetzel and his bandmates maintain the down-to-earth mindset they had when they performed for 30 people at local bars, earning enough cash for both beer and gas to get to the next gig. In other words, Wetzel takes creating music seriously while refusing to take the fame that comes with success too seriously.

“We still talk about how bad we suck,” Wetzel chuckles. “We’re still that band that’s continuing to get better. The fame is really badass and cool, but I don’t think we ever really looked at it like that.”

In 2024, Wetzel experienced a breakout year. His single “High Road,” a collaboration with Jessie Murph, spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart and was also named the 8th best overall song of 2024 by the LA Times. Additionally, last year’s Damn Near Normal tour was successful enough to warrant the release of a full-length live album, Live from the Damn Near Normal Tour.

Wetzel is far from your cookie-cutter country artist. Though classified as country, he blends rock, hip-hop, and even grunge—thanks to early influences from groups like Nirvana—which has allowed him to connect with broader audiences and amass over 3.7 billion streams alongside a million-plus followers on social media.

“We were kind of outsiders—nobody really f***ed with us,” he reflects. “We just went in our lane and did everything the way we thought it should be done. And it’s worked out.”

As his popularity continues to soar in 2025, Wetzel is also focused on downsizing his waistline. Amazingly, for someone known for songs about drinking—and having been arrested for it—he’s lost as much as 35 pounds during the tour—and is working to continue the trend. “I’m hoping to stay around 245 whenever we’re touring,” he says, “just so I’m not a complete fat a**.”

While he hasn’t sworn off alcohol completely, Wetzel, whose setlist includes alcohol-infused anthems such as “Drunk Driving,” “Casamigos,” and “February 28, 2016,” attributes his weight loss to a significant reduction in beer and liquor as well as a recommitment to the weightroom. Lighter and leaner, Wetzel has seen noticeable changes not only in his physique but also his shows. “That was the routine I followed throughout the Damn Near Normal tour,” he explains. “It helped me a lot with my voice and performance, and I think it was the best tour we’ve had so far.”

The road to fitness hasn’t been completely smooth; he admits to have gained a few of those pounds back over the holidays. However, his new focus on rest, improved nutrition, and cutting back on late nights has been critical for Wetzel to deliver standout performances night after night during his current tour.

“I’m back in the gym, getting after it,” Wetzel states confidently. “I feel like I’ll get down to 245 and stay on top of it this time.”

As a linebacker at Texas’ Tarleton State University in 2011, Wetzel’s gameday program had him listed at 6’1” and 220 pounds, nearly 50 pounds lighter than his starting weight on the Damn Near Normal tour. The “Good Die Young” singer was leaner, faster, and stronger, thanks to a weight-training regimen that often had him in the gym up to three times a day. The football-specific workload allowed Wetzel to consume thousands of calories without accountability while still remaining athletic.

“I was pretty yoked up,” he shares. “I know you can’t probably tell now, but in college, I was pretty big.” Wetzel says he was all legs and could squat close to 500 pounds. When it came to upper body strength, he admits to struggling slightly. “I don’t think I ever hit over 275 [on the bench press],” he admits, “but I could throw it out of the room on the squat.”

At Tarleton, the kid who grew up idolizing Brian Bosworth and Clay Matthews was honed in on smashing quarterbacks. “I was, like, filling the gap and then hitting people in the mouth—that was my outlook,” he says. Unfortunately, his season—and obsession—with football ended after a brutal ankle injury. “I watched the video once or twice and almost threw up again,” he recalls. “I was like, no, I can’t be doing this.”

While he fell out of tune with football, Wetzel began picking up extra cash singing country tunes in local bars. Having grown up singing and playing guitar, he and a teammate, a bass player, formed a small band and started playing more often. “We were playing music a lot more than games. Then I said the hell with football. I went to school for another year, and then they kicked me out.”

Wetzel’s transition from football to country music isn’t unique. Artists like Chase Rice, Riley Green, and Tucker Wetmore were also standout athletes before turning their attentions to music. He’s starting to understand the appeal and connection between music and sports.

“I didn’t realize that was a thing until about five or six years ago when I started looking around at my buddies. They all played either baseball or football, and when that didn’t work out, they went into country music,” Wetzel reflects.