Each week, the Record (using a script in R) randomly selects a student at the College for our One in Two Thousand feature, excluding current Record board members. This week, Jamie Mazzacco ’26 discussed Thursday football traditions, a potential redesign of the College mascot, and his Spotify Wrapped. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Kiara Royer (KR): So, first, you play football. How was the season?
Jamie Mazzacco (JM): Well, you can look on the [Eph Sports] website. [Laughs.] But, it felt a lot different in the locker room — we had the same record last year, but it was so much different for the team. We just didn’t get the results we wanted on Saturdays after working our asses off Monday to Friday. You look around, and you’re like, “This is a winning football team.” Things happen on Saturday that you can’t control or that you don’t really expect, so it was disappointing to say the least. But it was definitely a learning season.
KR: Do you have a favorite football tradition?
JM: Every Thursday night, we go out to eat with our position groups at a different restaurant. The oldest in the position group will make a reservation. It’s nice to get away from the dining hall food once a week, [and] it’s nice to sit down as a position group. You learn a lot about each other in that scenario, because when you’re on the field, that’s obviously hard to do. So [when] you separate yourself, you get the closer-knit bond, the freshmen come in, and you get to know them more. As a freshman, I think that was the most fun thing. And now, I look at it as a tradition to make them more comfortable with the adjustment coming to school. We only play nine games a year, so you only really have nine of these opportunities to cherish that brotherhood before it’s a completely different team next year. This is one way to slow [down] in such a fast-paced sport and fast-paced school where everything’s going a million miles an hour.
KR: I feel like that’s especially nice because football is such a big team.
JM: Yeah, and some positions do it where if you win, you stay where you are. So some guys, during the 9-0 season — they ate at Cozy Corner nine weeks in a row.
KR: Do you have a favorite restaurant you’ve gone to?
JM: Nara. 100 percent Nara. I’m a sushi guy.
KR: What’s your go-to sushi order?
JM: Shrimp tempura. Perfect. I love it.
KR: Pivoting slightly: Give me your honest opinion of the cow as the Williams mascot.
JM: I will say that, as a football player, it’s not the most intimidating mascot of all time. [Laughs.] At first glance, it’s definitely unique.
KR: For sure. Especially when it’s paired with purple and gold as our colors.
JM: There are some iterations of it as more of a bull, which I kind of like, with the horns.
KR: If you were to create your own mascot, what would it be?
JM: I think it would be that bull. I think you would keep the Eph, but I think you emphasize the intimidating aspects of it instead of the happy-go-lucky cow.
KR: You could even—well, maybe this wouldn’t work — but for football, you could even add horns to your helmets.
JM: You could put them on the sides. That would work, like a little sticker right there. [Gestures at the side of his head.] See, now we’re talking.
KR: Who’s to say that next year, the helmets won’t be changed? OK, switching gears a little bit. Do you use Spotify?
JM: I love Spotify.
KR: Tell me a bit about your Spotify Wrapped.
JM: Can I pull it up?
KR: Of course.
JM: OK, let’s dive into this.
KR: I love Spotify Wrapped. The day when it comes out should be a national holiday.
JM: Everybody loves it. I love seeing it. You learn a lot about somebody through their Spotify. My top artist was Drake — old Drake, not new Drake. My top song was “Foreplay” [by Jalen Santoy]. I think I first heard that song right before finals in the spring, so it just went on repeat as I was studying for finals and then into the summer. [When I’m playing football,] I want to be in a great mood. So I put on Andy Grammer — I love Andy Grammer — [and] Jason Derulo sometimes. I put on stuff like that to put a smile on my face. I feel like I make fewer mistakes in that kind of mood than when I’m in a, “Now I’m gonna kill you, I’m a football player” type of mood — no, that’s not who I am. As an athlete and as a student — it’s huge to be able to put on the right genre of music and get in the right mind-space. So there’s not one genre I like the most.
KR: What would your walk-out song be?
JM: “Fine by Me” by Andy Grammer. I feel like you can relate that song to so many different things. The whole storyline — it’s obviously about a breakup, but it just puts me in a great mood. It’s a great song. Or “Keep Your Head Up.”
KR: Also a fire song.
JM: “Keep Your Head Up,” at a school like this — I feel like that speaks numbers. As an athlete here, as a student here, you’re going to eat your losses. But at the same time, you just keep growing.
KR: Final question: If you were a first-year again, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
JM: I think the biggest struggle for me freshman year was just that I felt trapped. So, branch out. Meet people. First impressions? Throw them out of the window. Go and talk to whoever at whatever point — just take the chains off and go. I think I was a lot more hesitant last fall because I was very, very nervous at a school like this with [its] reputation — it upholds itself, and it’s very intimidating. First day, first week, it’s like, “Now you’re in it — this academically rigorous school that you wanted to go to? It’s academically rigorous. So, let’s go.” I would tell myself, “Just go. Just do it. Don’t dwell upon, you know, an 80. Just have fun. Talk to people. Branch out.”
KR: And keep your head up, as Andy Grammer would say.
JM: Keep your head up. Indeed.
