‘Just trust yourself’: LA Rams’ Austin Corbett represents Indian Country

TSÉBIGHÁHOODZÁNÍ

Natives can do anything.

All they have to do is trust one another because Indian Country’s a close-knit community.

Its people must lean on one another, said Austin Corbett, the offensive lineman for the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams.

“We know that we can do it,” Corbett said in an interview with the Navajo Times last Thursday. “Just trust yourself.”

A Paiute from Nevada

Corbett, 26, is Walker River Paiute and grew up in Reno, Nevada, about an hour and a half outside Schurz, the tribe’s only town.

“I still have family there – on the reservation,” he said. “It all comes from my dad (Theron’s) side.

“We (he, his parents, and siblings) go back and visit and being with our family out there growing up,” he said.

“(Schurz) is a rural part of Nevada,” he explained. “Just understanding how people live, there’s not much access to – really – anything. So, being part of that, growing up with dad and mom (Melissa), older brother (Garrett), and younger sister (Krystina). It was a pretty standard life.”

Corbett, pronounced Core-bit, said he and his siblings always played sports and were competitive.

“We’d always challenge each other through school, through sports,” he said. “As we went on, going to high school there in Sparks, Nevada. He (Garrett) went off to San Diego State University to play football, and I later followed, going to the University of Nevada-Reno.”

Corbett attended Reed High in Sparks, where he wrestled, participated in track and field, and played baseball, basketball, and football for the Raiders. At UNR, he played for the Wolf Pack football program and earned a bachelor’s in May 2017.

“Starting as a walk-on playing football, I had to create my own way and take care of myself to ensure scholarship and continue playing,” he said. “And I was fortunate enough to get drafted in 2018 by the Cleveland Browns, where I didn’t do that much with all the expectations.”

On Feb. 13, Corbett was the only Nevadan and the only Paiute in Super Bowl LVI, when the Rams knocked off the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20.

Corbett reached his first Super Bowl during his fourth NFL season as a former walk-on at Nevada.

He was traded midway through his second season by the Browns, which chose him with the No. 33 pick in the 2018 draft.

“I was traded to Los Angeles in the middle of the 2019 season and have been playing since,” Corbett explained. “And I just finished out this year with the Super Bowl.”

Native pride

Naturally, his success is a source of pride in the Reno, Sparks and Schurz areas and across the country among Natives, including Diné, who share their support for Corbett.

There are only a handful of other Native players – or who have played – in the NFL.

To name a few, Kansas City Chiefs long snapper James Winchester is of full Choctaw descent. Now a free agent, former Chicago Bears quarterback Tyler Bray is Potawatomi, and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson mentioned he’s part Native.

And former QB Sam Bradford, most notably with the St. Louis Rams and the Minnesota Vikings, is Cherokee.

“I think it’s such a pride thing within ourselves that (we), as people, knowing where we are and how there are so few of us, that is really up to yourself,” Corbett said. “You’re the only one you’re counting on. You know what your expectations are within yourself.

“You know your own talents and abilities. You can’t just let anyone dictate that,” he said. “You have to go out and win, it doesn’t matter what it is – sport, art, music. You know what you can do, and you just have to go do it. There’s nothing stopping you from doing it.”

Corbett added that if a person gives their all into something they enjoy, that’s all it matters at the end of the day.

“And you can be happy,” he added. “Keep pushing through, and don’t let others tell you what you can do. There’s no reason we shouldn’t see Natives throughout whatever interests they have. (Native Americans) are such a great people.”

Super Bowl win

When the Rams won the Super Bowl, royal blue and yellow confetti fluttered to the field inside SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

The Rams secured their first Super Bowl win since January 2000, when the franchise was based in St. Louis. This is the team’s first Super Bowl victory as an LA-based team.

Corbett said the Super Bowl itself was interesting.

“We were playing in our home stadium, and it’s the second time that our team’s done that,” he said. “Last year with Tampa Bay (Buccaneers) was the first – pretty interesting having two teams go back-to-back to do that.

“Just to have a Super Bowl play in your home stadium is kind of different because it’s your home stadium,” he said. “You’re used to playing there, you’re used to traveling – the hotels, the locker rooms, you’re used to it all.

“Also, it didn’t feel like it was such a big game. It was just another game in our schedule.”

But it was a hard-fought battle securing the final touchdown to take the lead, said Corbett.

“With a few minutes left, and our defense closing it out,” he explained. “And just that immediate joy and just overcome with emotion as that clock hit zero.”

Winning a Super Bowl feels like floating, and sharing that feeling with teammates who’ve all worked hard, is even better, said Corbett.

The season started in July 2021, and it was a long grind for the Rams, ending at the top.

“It truly feels like you’re in football heaven,” he said. “And later getting my wife (Madison) and our one-and-a-half-year-old son, Ford, down on the field to play in the confetti.”

Corbett said he also shared the moment with his family because the season was just as long for them.

“It was just truly special,” he added.

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