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Brent Metcalf: Zombie Killer

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Being an adult is great. I see things that are cool, and I can just get it. What a time to be alive! Recently came across the PS4 remake of the classic game Resident Evil, and I couldn’t help but buy and play. Over the course of several months (I have a job, podcast, three kids, and wife, so it took a while), I was finally able to beat it (something I failed to do in my youth). In my recent exploits into Resident Evil, and fighting zombies again, I started to think, “which wrestler would be best able to protect the world from Zombies”? I was amazed with how quickly this answer came to me. It’s Brent Metcalf. It couldn’t be anyone else. How could it? The man is going to trips to Alaska to hunt and fish. The man is sponsored by Mossy Oak (I feel like camo would for sure be helpful with a Zombie attack). He’s one of the fiercest competitors we’ve ever seen in NCAA wrestling. He’s transitioned smoothly into coaching, and his leadership skills (which would be necessary for survival during a zombie apocalypse) are evident with the impressive results that Iowa State has had since he’s joined the team with Dresser and co. That led me to some questions for Brent, and through the magic of connections and friends in the industry (shout out Tony Hager), I’ve had the chance to interview Brent on the subject of fighting Zombies. Disclaimer* If I were asked these questions, in the real world, I would have to think of the safety of my wife and children, as I imagine Brent would. However, for the purposes of this exercise, I asked Brent to not have family impact the answers. These answers are in the spirit of survival. Lastly, I took notes from my conversation, and this is my best recollection of that dialogue. Brent’s responses are in Bold.


Me: Let’s start off with something to establish the foundation for the rest of your answers. How do you kill zombies?

Brent: Take off the head. You take off the head, or you can do a head shot, which should kill them. Or you can burn them. If you light them on fire, that’ll stop them.

(FYI, that’s exactly right. In my research for this piece, those are the three ways I found to kill zombies, so this further validated my choice of Brent for this piece)

Me: As an avid hunter, what do you think you’d want to have as your weapons of choice? Please elaborate on these answers.

Brent: I’m probably going with a shotgun here. Most likely sawed off, as I imagine we’ll be fighting in close quarters on occasion. I’d also want buckshot. Rather than have a slug, with the single large ball, or bird shot, which is like a spray of small bb’s, buckshot will be somewhere in between. This is certain to be able to blow off a head.

Me: I imagine from time to time, you’ll likely need to rely on your wrestling to fight off some zombies. What technique do you think would be most effective in keeping them from biting you, in close quarters?

Brent: I expect that you’ll want to go upper body, and some hand fighting with them. You’ll want to avoid being bitten, so some solid hand fighting, an arm drag, or body lock to get behind would work well. From there you could probably pop the head off if you needed with a rear naked choke. Mostly upper body though. You wouldn’t want to hit a low single, because they could just fall over and bite your ankle and you’d be infected.

Me: Yeah, I figured a front headlock from you would especially do some damage, and pop a head off from there.

Brent: Oh yeah, they’d likely be more fragile, so you would for sure be able to do some damage there. I imagine there are a number of holds you could use to take a head off.

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Me: If you could have three former teammates with you to help fend off the zombies, who would you go with and why?

Brent: First, I’d go with;

  • Phil Keddy - No doubt he’d pop heads off, and he can handle a shotgun. He’s an avid hunter also, and would be able to handle himself in any situation I imagine us getting into.

  • Joey Slaton - Joey would be the first person to go into a house on his own, without fear, to clear it on his own. He wasn’t as much of a hunter, but he’s great with a shotgun. We’d go clay pigeon shooting, and he’d launch the clay, and before you could even track it and fire, he’d have his gun up and shooting it himself.

  • Dan Dennis - He’s the strongest person I know. He’d be popping heads off.

Me: Same question from above, but instead of teammates, who would you have with you who you’ve coached?

Brent: As far as my guys;

  • Hank Swalla - He’s a hunter, and he’s big and strong. He’s also gotten a 4.0 GPA every year, so he’s smart. He’d help the team identify better ways to take out groups, and use better tactics.

  • Ian Parker - Hardest working song of a gun I’ve ever met. If things went wrong in some situation battling the zombies, I know he’d find a way to drag us out of there.

  • Jarrett Degen - Montana boy. He’s tough, but tough in a different way. He’s hard knocks tough. Like, he’d for sure be able to handle himself in a fight. Plus he’s got gangly arms and legs, taller guy, so he’d have a good reach to fight the zombies off, and brings a different element than the rest of us. He’d get behind the zombies and pop heads off for sure.

Me: Once you’ve collected your crew. What’s your plan? Do you find a place to hold up, or do you continue your search to find others?

Brent: The key is keeping yourself alive. I imagine you’d want to set up shop, but after a couple weeks if you aren’t seeing anyone, you’ll likely go out searching for others. The other idea is that after a month or so, you’ll probably change the game plan up. You’ll want to kill them all, and find the nest. No sense in staying alive for a couple months without trying to take them out.


So this exercise went better than I hoped. I feel it’s important to impart here, that Brent had such a great attitude throughout this whole thing. Not only did he have excellent answers, but he seemed to genuinely enjoy coming up with them. As soon as I asked him how to kill the zombies, and he gave me precisely the right answers, I knew it was going to be great. They were the answers of someone who has had these discussions with his friends. He knew what he was going to do, and was confident in those choices, as one needs to be in the off chance that a zombie apocalypse takes place. The other thing that stood out, was how committed to the mission he was. Each choice was with the desired outcome of taking heads off in one way or another, and even the answer to the last question shows the blind ambition it would take to win 2 Hodge trophies, or to destroy a nest of zombies with three of your friends.


Here’s what just happened. I got to interview 2x Hodge Trophy winner, Undefeated 4x Michigan State Champ, and multiple time world team member Brent Metcalf, about killing Zombies. This is exactly what I had in mind when Tommy and I started Bloodround 5 years ago. I remember being at Fargo in 2003 for Team Michigan, and was fortunate enough to watch Brent Metcalf win both Junior Greco and Freestyle titles that year. When he was interviewed about his progression through the tournament before the finals, Brent credited his success to him “trying really hard”. This was eye opening for my friends and I, because we thought that’s what we were doing, but evidently we were not. We certainly weren’t trying as hard as Brent was, as evidenced by his dual titles, and my dual losses. In the circumstance that we need to fight zombies, let’s hope that Brent is able to try just as hard. For the sake of the entire free world. Help us Brent Metcalf, you’re our only hope.