"I was never the best athlete, but I knew how to be coached and I knew how to work hard at it." — Jake Hager

I grew up with two cousins from North Dakota who were junior national champions. They're a lot older than me and I looked up to them as my older brothers.

I'm lanky and goofy.

Your natural instinct when people are throwing punches at you is to back up. That just makes it more dangerous for you. You'll get hurt that way. You've got to teach yourself to go forward, move your feet and move your head. I'm not going to lie, that was tough for me to learn.

A long time ago I learned how to shut my mouth, listen to my coaches and put trust in my coaches.