By LARRY VAUGHT

Jacob Tamme has had a “couple” of calls from NFL teams in recent weeks but remains “retired” as of today. He still won’t say his playing days are over, but life on the farm in Boyle County and spending a lot more time with his wife and two children — a third is scheduled to arrive in February — certainly are agreeing with him.

“When you kind of lose that passion and desire to play, it might be time (to quit),” Tamme said. “Last season I felt like I was playing at the top of my game in year nine (before he hurt his shoulder). That was a neat feeling. When I got hurt, I had every intention of coming back. Same when I was doing all the rehab.

“Then things kind of shifted gears. It does feel like it might be time (to quit) now. I would not 100 percent rule out playing but if the desire is not there and the right fit does not happen … it’s also a two-way street. Somebody has to want me. I am not ready to say quite yet that my playing days are over, but it might be about that time soon.”

Tamme was a three-sport standout at Boyle County High School. He earned all-Southeastern Conference honors at Kentucky and then played nine seasons in the NFL for Indianapolis, Denver and Atlanta. Each team he was on went to the Super Bowl.

However, the Falcons did not re-sign Tamme and its looking more and more likely his successful playing career is over and he will be devoting his time and energy to the cattle farm he has here in Boyle County.

“My 14-hour days now are spent on the farm,” Tamme said. “It’s not retiring. It’s more of a transition into something new. There are other things going to happen in my life. Football has been a huge part of my life and it has been a blessing to be part of all I have. But I am also excited about the next chapter of my life.

“It’s awesome to be home. I get to take my son to school in the morning and then pick him up when school is out. I’ve actually stayed very, very busy.”

He’ll likely get even busier in February when Allison Tamme is expecting the couple’s third child. The birth announcement was made in a social media post that was Allison Tamme’s idea.

“She is pretty clever with that stuff. She comes up with wonderful ideas,” Jacob Tamme said.

Allison and Jacob Tamme started dating when both were at Boyle County High School. His baseball team was playing in the super regional when Allison went to a game because one of her friends was dating a baseball player.

“We started talking, hit it off and then he asked me out,” she said. “Our first date was to see the movie (Laura Croft) Tomb Raider and then he took me to dinner at Sonic. That was our romantic first date, but I guess it worked out okay.”

Jacob jokes that he “occasionally” takes her back to Sonic and parks in the same spot where they had their first meal on their first date.

When Guy Morriss left UK as coach to take the job at Baylor after pulling Tamme’s scholarship offer following a verbal commitment to UK from Keenan Burton, new coach Rich Brooks wasted no time offering Tamme a scholarship at UK.

“He was looking at going to Northwestern, Purdue or even Louisville,” Allison Tamme said. “Thankfully he got to stay home at Kentucky to play thanks to coach Brooks and I went to Western Kentucky.”

Allison Tamme still remembers the day the scholarship offer to Kentucky came from Brooks.

“(Boyle County coach) Chuck Smith pulled him out of class and told him, ‘Coach Brooks called and they offered the scholarship and I accepted for you.’ Jacob came out in the lobby for break and he was excited. It just worked out great,” Allison Tamme said.