ISU juniors Jacob Laverman and Jordan Pierce began their search for the perfect internship by sending out their resumes to all 32 NFL teams.

After interviews and reference checks, Laverman and Pierce displayed themselves to the teams. Their patience was tested as they were forced to wait to find out whether they got an internship.

Finally, they both got the phone calls they had been waiting for.

The Indianapolis Colts offered Laverman a summer internship.

“I was really excited, I know how big of a deal it is. It’s something you talk about with your friends but now it’s reality,” Laverman said. “It also didn’t hurt to have two Iowa State references who interned with the Colts.”

An ISU graduate contacted Pierce to tell him that he would be interning in Denver this summer with the Broncos.

“I’m very excited to have this opportunity,” Pierce said.

Laverman hopes to leave for Indianapolis as soon as finals have concluded this May. His internship will be for about a month and a half, during which he’ll be assisting the Colts in their rookie training camp as well as their team training camp.

As for Pierce, his internship will last for six weeks from the end of July until Labor Day in September.

The two athletic trainers will be mostly occupied by helping out the professional athletes during their respective training camps.

“During practices I will be in charge of water and handling injuries,” Laverman said. “After that, I will do preventative taping, and during the night I will assist with rehab.”

In Denver, Pierce will be covering similar duties.

“I’ll be doing first aid and basic injuries,” Pierce said. “I am also in charge of hydration.” 

Both of the interns agree that Iowa State has prepared them for the internships ahead of them. They both are on the ISU football athletic training staff and participated in the team’s training camp.

“It helped me to think outside the box, and you’re thrown right into the fire,” Pierce said, referring to the hands-on approach of learning he experienced while working with the ISU football team.

They also took athletic training classes to prepare them academically and now they are ready to get out in the field and gain that next-level experience.

Laverman stressed the importance, in his mind, to not be starstruck by the professional athletes.

“I look forward to getting in there and getting the job done,” Laverman said. “It should be interesting to learn new techniques and different perspectives.”

Pierce looks forward to working with Broncos’ quarterback Peyton Manning.

“It’ll be really cool to work with Peyton, one of the best quarterbacks of all time,” Pierce said. “I’m hoping to learn new things, it’ll be interesting to see how the Broncos do it.”