The new voice of the Ravens, Kyle Youmans, is Texas born and bred. For the past seven years, the 30-year-old had what seems like a dream job for most people his age in the football broadcasting industry—working for the Dallas Cowboys media team as a TV host, producer, and reporter.
He hosted more than 1,000 episodes of Cowboys content and events, handled play-by-play for multiple NFL TV and radio broadcasts, anchored the Cowboys’ NFL Draft content, and contributed to the organization’s “Deep Blue” documentary series. He and his wife, Laurina, loved the Metroplex and were set to raise their 2-year-old triplets Noelle, Leo, and Michael to be fans of (the self-described) America’s Team.
Then, almost miraculously, an even better opportunity emerged. He was offered the job of replacing recently retired Gerry Sandusky as the Ravens’ play-by-play announcer.
“The Ravens have always had this reputation of being a family-knit organization with a high quality of football,” Youmans says. “Baltimore was one of the few places I would have taken a job outside of Dallas. Achieving a lifelong dream of being the voice of a franchise was enticing for me, but if my family’s not happy and if the football isn’t good, then it’s not really the dream. Baltimore gives a unique opportunity for all those things to be successful.”
As Youmans prepares for his first season of broadcasting in Baltimore—in addition to gameday radio broadcasts, he’ll also be a leading football contributor to WBAL and 98 Rock—we sat down with him to learn more about his love of the game.
When did you fall in love with football?
Growing up in Waco and watching Baylor athletics, my love of football stemmed from college football on Saturdays. My dad was a big NASCAR fan, so on Sundays, it was racing. Usually, it was my mom trying to get the TV switched from NASCAR to football. Being in Texas, the Cowboys were that big- name team that everybody cheered for, but I never got to experience the winning that Dallas had in the ’90s. I was born after a lot of that. So I gravitated toward players. I loved watching Peyton Manning play. I loved watching Ray Lewis and Ed Reed on this Baltimore defense. I loved watching the college players at the time—Vince Young and Reggie Bush. That grew into Robert Griffin III, who had a short stint here.
Did you play football or any other sports?
I was mostly a baseball player growing up. I played football, I played basketball, but I was never really good at either of those. I thought I was going to be a much better baseball player than I ended up being. I pitched a little bit, played a little first base, but never really got the college looks. So once it started settling in reality-wise that maybe baseball wasn’t the future, that’s when I really started pursuing sports journalism.
“Baltimore was one of the few places I would have taken a job outside of Dallas.”
When did broadcasting become your focus?
The end of my junior year in high school. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to pursue in college. I had taken a video editing class as a junior, and I really enjoyed it. I loved talking to people. I loved watching sports and waking up on Saturday and watching College GameDay and watching the pregame shows on Sundays. So I finally came to the conclusion that covering sports and being around the athletes and coaches wouldn’t feel like a job.
How did you get your start?
Once I arrived at [the University of North Texas], I started doing the Olympic sports play-by-play. Women’s volleyball, women’s soccer, a little bit of women’s basketball and men’s basketball. I joined the student newspaper, the student television station, the student radio station. I tried to get as many reps as humanly possible to give myself some aspect of an identity on a microphone. The confidence level grew from there and I was able to get outside freelance opportunities in high school football and some college basketball.
Do you have an overarching philosophy when it comes to your coverage?
I want to keep a high energy throughout a broadcast. I look at it like a musical artist would look at a crescendo. In music, you’re taught to hit the beginning of the crescendo hard and then let it steadily grow as time goes on. I want a big open with all the storylines. I set the stage, and then from that point forward let the game speak for itself.
[Radio analyst] Rod Woodson is one of the best to ever play this game, so I want his expertise to shine. I want to give as much context to the viewer and to the listener as possible around his expertise. That way the viewer or the listener can get the all-encompassing picture of each play’s importance in that moment.
You mentioned your family played a big role in your decision to move to Baltimore. What was your reaction when you found out you were having triplets?
It was the first eight-week appointment that we had after we found out Laurina was pregnant. We were ready to start a family. We had just bought a house in Dallas. I had established myself with the Cowboys, everything was great. When we went into that appointment, we had no inkling that it would be multiples. We don’t have multiples in our family. The doctor initially said, “Oh, there’s two in here.” We’re like, “Wow, okay, twins, that’s crazy.” And she kind of paused for a second and said, “And I think this is a third one.” We’re like, “Okay, good one Doc.” She was like, “No, I’m serious.”
We just kind of looked at each other and started laughing. That was the first reaction. The second reaction was, for me, concern over health for the babies and my wife because it is a high-risk pregnancy. So for them to be all healthy and for her to be healthy was the number one priority. It’s really been such a blessing and so much fun from that point forward.
“I look at [my job] like a musical artist would look at a crescendo. In music, you’re taught to hit the beginning of the crescendo hard and then let it steadily grow. I want a big open with all the storylines to set the stage, and then I let the game speak for itself.”
How many hours of sleep do you get these days?
They’re actually pretty good sleepers. We’ve been extremely lucky. I’m finding some wood to knock on as I speak.
Do any of your children seem to have the pipes to become a broadcaster one day?
There is a louder one, and it’s my lone daughter. We have the identical boys, Leo and Michael, and then we have Noelle, who is our princess baby girl. She’s got the personality. She’s got the vocal cords. She has every ounce of smarts, too. Too smart for her own good at times. So if there was ever one that decided to follow in my footsteps, right now, as 2-year-olds, I think Noelle has the edge.