Emmy winner Michael Chiklis admits he was nervous portraying Mike Flynt, the oldest college football linebacker to ever play in NCAA history.

Chatting about his new sports drama film, “The Senior,” Chiklis exclusively tells our entertainment reporter Courtney Tezeno it was “daunting” to say the least. At 59 years old, Flynt rejoined his college football team that he was kicked off of in 1971 and returned almost four decades later to his alma mater Sul Ross State in Texas, where he made history.

“First of all, it was daunting because he was on set with us every day,” the actor said. “I was the guy right there playing him, so it was difficult at first. But then he made me feel really at ease. His wife is lovely. They were really supportive, and they weren’t obtrusive, so that was huge.”

Chiklis, 62, said he was “fired up” to play his character, revealing he was the captain of his high school football team up until his senior year.

“I was a solid ball player. I could have played Division II football. I was offered several scholarships to play, but I want to keep my teeth,” he joked. “I love competitive sports. The only difference is, Mike did it at 59that’s just not normal.”

Not only did Flynt’s true story inspire Chiklis, but “The Senior” is a movie adaptation of a book of the same title, where Lebron James, who is the NBA’s oldest basketball player, wrote the foreword.

“Listen, I think anybody who’s ever played a sport, male or female, I don’t care what competitive sport it is, we all wake up and look at the ceiling and think about that moment, the thing, the regrets you have, and the things that you wish you had done differently, and that little triumphs too.”

The Angel Studios-produced film is a redemption story directed by Rod Lurie. Chiklis stars opposite Rob Corddry as Coach Sam Weston, Brandon Flynn as his son Micah Flynt, and Mary Stuart Masterson plays his wife Eileen Flynt.

“I adore her. I mean, she’s a beautiful human being, and that’s a baseline,” he gushed about working with his on-screen wife. “And then you got Rod Lurie, who’s an amazing director, Academy Award nominee. So that’s what, as actors, that’s what we look for. We look for the great story, and then who’s telling it and who’s going to be in it.”

“The Senior” hits theaters on September 19.