Shiyazh Pete had a Unique Journey to SEC Football

Shiyazh Pete is already popular with UK fans but he also wants to be a role model for other Native American athletes. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Shiyazh Pete never went to a youth football camp. He did participate in judo and martial arts in Montana when he was young before his family moved to Arizona where the first high school he attended did not offer a lot of sports, including football. That led him to transfer to Shiprock High School where he opted to play football over basketball because it had more physical contact.

Pete’s high school senior year was disrupted by COVID and consisted of five games in the spring of 2021 that left him little time for recruiting. His parents reached out to several schools but his best option was a walk-on opportunity at New Mexico State where he spent his first season on the practice squad.

However, Pete, is now a 6-foot-8, 320-pound left tackle playing in the Southeastern Conference for Kentucky. Pete is a member of the Navajo and Salish nations and one of the highest profile Native American athletes in the country. He is also already a UK fan favorite even though he’s yet to play a game.

Pete only transferred from New Mexico State where he had been a two-year starter because his offensive line coach left for a new job. The offensive lineman considered going to Vanderbilt where  former New Mexico State head coach Jerry Kill was on the staff and several former New Mexico State players, including quarterback Diego Pavia, were on the roster. Kentucky was persistent in its recruiting and he made his decision to attend UK on the last day to enroll for the spring semester.

“He is awesome. He is very wise. If you sit down and have a conversation you will probably learn a lot but he is a hard worker, too. He is one of the last guys in there working on his sets. He’s a great dude to have on our team,” quarterback Zach Calzada said.

Pete had four Native American athletes with him at New Mexico State. Kentucky does not have any. However, Pete considers the UK football team a “melting pot” of players.

“We’re coming in from different people, places, nations. It’s fun getting to know my teammates, understanding where they are from and what they’re fighting for. It’s pretty cool,” Pete said.

“We lift (weights) all day long. We eat together. We do a lot of stuff that builds our bodies, sharpens our minds and gives us a grip on what we’re actually here for. The strength staff here has been phenomenal. I’ve gotten to know a lot about how to move weight, how to do it well.”

One reason Pete picked UK over Vandy was to give him a chance to play in a different style offense.

“The coaches were seeking players with experience. We have a lot of experienced people who played under different offensive schemes, so it is easy to adapt since they’ve bounced around a bit. We are beasts of no nations,” Pete said. “I honestly cherish the opportunity to learn a new offensive scheme so that I can expand my knowledge of the game of football.”

Pete has plenty of knowledge. He can speak basic Navajo and knows basic American Sign Language. Pete is reading books on Napoleon and ancient Middle Eastern warfare. His hobbies include chess, video games, reading history and flying drones.

Pete has a Mini DJI 2 drone because he wanted to see what the “world was like from that perspective” through his own eyes and manipulations.

“If you want to take really good shots, you gotta pan it slowly and make the drone  move slowly. I actually had mine dive bombed by an eagle back home in New Mexico,” Pete said.

He also likes to hit and recently went to the Red River Gorge where he “snuck his drone” in with him to get that perspective.

“It was a very peaceful place and the resources here are so bountiful other than you get so much rain,” Pete said.

Pete can also solve a Rubik’s Cube in a minute.

“That’s just another hobby. I picked it up back in middle school when I wanted to do something with my spare time. I set out to complete a Rubik’s Cube in a day. I did it but it took me a day to solve it. I just carried that on in my toolbox of things I do,” he said. “It takes a lot of memory. You have got to memorize certain algorithms and just go with it.”

Pete won’t forget he’ll have a lot of eyes on him this year playing in the SEC.

“I love what I do. I do it for my community, for the youth, to give them a beacon of hope that there’s a way out of it. I want them to know there’s a way up, a way to create and turn defeat into victory,” he said. “There’s not a lot of representation out here for my community but I have an opportunity to be that person and I consider it an honor to be here.”