What’s Anthony ‘Spice’ Adams’ favorite catchphrase? The PSU alum talks football, comedy & more in Q&A
Penn State football alum Anthony “Spice” Adams returned to his alma mater last Saturday for General Mills’ Tailgate Nation pop-up tailgate event and to lead the “We Are” chant for the game against Michigan.
Adams played defensive tackle for the Nittany Lions from 1999-2002 and had a strong career throughout. He had four tackles his freshman season and followed with 36 as a sophomore. His production skyrocketed his junior year with 59 tackles (a team-leading 11 tackles for loss) and 3.5 sacks. His senior year, he finished out with 67 tackles (13 for loss), two sacks and four pass deflections.
Following his career at Penn State, Adams was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the second round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He parlayed it to a nine-year NFL career with both the 49ers and Chicago Bears, prior to retiring in 2012. Adams turned to comedy soon after his football career ended and has amassed over 239,700 followers on Twitter, two million followers on Instagram, 296,500 followers on TikTok, 426,000 subscribers on YouTube and over 1.1 million followers on Facebook.
Emma Dillinger, who works in brand management for General Mills, said picking Adams to promote Tailgate Nation at Penn State was a no-brainer.
“We’re really going with a local angle this year,” Dillinger said. “Historically, we were looking for some bigger names that tie in with food and football. And this year it’s all about local fans, local traditions and local food. So, we wanted to find a local celebrity and Spice was perfect because not only is he a Penn State alum — a famous alum from Penn State, but he’s on the Great American Baking Challenge. He ties in with food, he ties in with fun and he’s charismatic. He’s just wonderful to work with and he was just a perfect fit for our program.”
Adams spoke with the Centre Daily Times to discuss why he chose Penn State, his football-playing career both at Penn State and the NFL and his social media stardom.
CDT: How does it feel to be back up here, coming to Penn State and finally enjoy everything after dealing with [the pandemic] last year?
AA: It’s good, man. It’s good for my soul, man — just being back up here and seeing all of the new buildings and all of the new energy that’s around here. The last time that I was here was probably like three years ago when I worked for Big Ten Network. And I was here for the spring game. It’s dope to be back.
CDT: Being at Penn State, just with the atmosphere that they have, how do you rate it against the other schools that are in the Big Ten?
AA: It’s nothing really like it and I’m very biased. But I mean, you’ve got 110,000 in there and there’s nothing like a White Out. You know what I mean? You see a lot of different stadiums, but I’ve never seen anything like a White Out. It’s amazing, man. It’s a great thing to be a part of. You look at the first play on YouTube and it is unreal. You can’t even hear it on the TV copy. So, I couldn’t imagine what it’s like being at Beaver Stadium. So, it’s a good thing to be a part of.
CDT: When you were growing up in Detroit, did you grow up a Michigan State fan or Michigan fan? How did you end up at Penn State?
AA: I was more into basketball. So, I liked the Fab Five — Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard — all of those guys. But football — I never really played until high school. So, I was never really into the Wolverines, up until Charles Woodson and those guys. When I came up here for camp, I just knew that I wanted to be here. I wanted to get away from Michigan. It was nothing against Michigan or Michigan State — I just wanted to get out of the state. It was nothing against those teams or those squads, but I just wanted to come here and be my own man. It wouldn’t take 45 minutes to come see me. Like, you’ve got to drive six hours from Detroit to come see me if you wanted to come up to visit. So, it was nothing against those teams, I just wanted to be here.
CDT: When you were at Penn State were you funny like you are now? Did you make jokes in the locker room?
AA: I’ve been the same guy since high school. Every locker room I’ve been in — in 18 years — it’s always been the same. Upbeat, high-energy, laughing, joking, practical jokes — all of that. I don’t like people around me to be uptight or to be sad, so I was always doing something to try to make people laugh. Now I’m just doing that same thing in video form on social media.
CDT: In the NFL, how was the experience of being there and being able to compete at such a high level after you had a strong career at Penn State?
AA: It was just a testament to all of the training that I got when I was here [at Penn State]. And that’s why I always used to come back over the summer to work out here. Some people go to Florida or California to work out, I just came back here to what started me getting into the NFL. Now, being retired and being on the fan side of things, I can do Tailgate Nation with General Mills. I get a chance to interact with the fans and they get a chance to come through and get some good grub. I didn’t know how the tailgate was popping. The tailgate was popping!
CDT: What was it like to be able to build up your social media presence to the way it was? I remember when you first started off — at least on YouTube — everyone said, “Man, you’ve got to check out ‘Spice.’”
AA: I always tell people, “When you retire from sports, find something that you’re passionate about, just like how you were with the sport you played. So, of course I was passionate about playing football, but I’m just as passionate about entertaining folks. Once I found that niche, I kind of just kept growing and growing and growing and now I found out the way to reach people through social media is doing stuff that I was naturally doing already. And I think real recognizes real. People know that I’m not being fake out here and they just gravitate toward it. I have a good time doing it. It’s great to be able to do what I would normally do and get paid for it. I’m passionate about. This’ what gets me up in the morning is entertaining people. And so, I’m having a great time doing it.
CDT: What was your favorite video that you’ve ever done? Because there’s been a ton. The one that had me cracking up was the one where you were in the car with your son and you did the fake laugh.
AA: Oh yeah. [Adams chuckles] That was just me being a dad. That’s what really happened. My favorite video was probably the retirement video. It’s like so many layers to it because the video is like five minutes long. Usually, you’ve got to make a video like two minutes to keep people’s attention. It was five minutes long, I just started editing on iMovie and it’s , cringeworthy now to see some of the jump cuts and dissolving I was doing on that because I was doing my own editing at the time. But yeah — definitely one of my favorite videos. I went viral, I had a couple of interviews off of it and it was like an instant — it went viral instantly by the time I hit return on the keyboard. You know? It’s one of those benchmark and memorable videos that I’ll never forget, but that’s my favorite one.
CDT: What are some of your social media experiences that you’ve had that you tell people, “This is why I do it”?
AA: Well, why I do it is because I love entertaining. I love seeing people around me laugh. I love seeing people smile and I love people having a good time around me. It’s part of being the only child growing up — not having any brothers and sisters. So, that’s what I like to do. I’ve been doing that in every locker room that I’ve been in and I’m going to continue doing it. So, follow me @SpiceAdams everywhere! [Adams dances and laughs]
CDT: What’s your favorite catchphrase out of every single one you’ve done so far?
AA: Oh the, “What’cha say now Chuck?” Because, everybody’s got an oldhead who’s got a Bluetooth in and they’re just having a full-blown conversation and you think they’re talking to you, but they’re talking to someone in their earpiece — aw man. That’s the best. I love all of the oldheads across the country. And everybody’s got an uncle who’s relatable to guy that has an earpiece in saying, “What’cha say now Chuck?” Aw man, it’s hilarious.
CDT: What about the suits? I know, one time you had the yellow suit, you walked out of the car—
AA: I’m from Detroit, man. That’s how they do, man. Detroit, Chicago — everybody’s got a lot of colorful and pastel suits that they wear Easter Sunday. Everybody’s got orange, lavender, blue — it don’t matter, man. People are going to match to the nines and that’s a part of growing up in the city. That’s that city life. Everybody has their exotic shoes on, sliding everywhere and dancing. It’s just a part of what I’ve seen growing up.
