Everything to Know About the New Bachelor Zach Shallcross

Craig Sjodin/ABC

Meet the star of The Bachelor!

Following his run as a contestant on season 19 of The Bachelorette, Zach Shallcross was chosen as the lead of ABC's hit reality dating show — but this time, the power of the rose is in his hands when the season premieres on Jan 23.

The 26-year-old's new journey to love on The Bachelor comes after his whirlwind relationship with Rachel Recchia, where his seemingly sweet romance took a sudden turn for the worse after The Bachelorette's Fantasy Suite episode.

"A major concern was my age and she wasn't sure if I was ready to commit because I'm 25," Shallcross told host Jesse Palmer of the situation, while pointing out that Recchia is 26. (The two are less than a year apart in age.)

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After the season wrapped, Shallcross opened up to PEOPLE about Recchia's apprehension. "I don't think that there's anything where there's an age limit on when you decide you want to fall in love and get married, he said. "If you are ready and you feel well equipped with yourself, you love yourself, you trust yourself and you want to share that with someone else, it doesn't matter how old you are."

Most recently, Shallcross gave PEOPLE a glimpse of what Bachelor Nation can expect of his second attempt at finding love ahead of The Bachelor premiere — and let's just say, his season will be more than just "dramatic."

"It might not be the most dramatic season, but it's the most emotional season that they've ever had," revealed Shallcross. "But that's not to say that this season will not have some drama. There's no shortage of drama."

From his professional background to his famous relative, here's everything to know about the season 27 star of The Bachelor.

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He graduated from California Polytechnic State University

Zach Shallcross/Instagram

Shallcross attended California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo from 2014 to 2019, earning a bachelor's degree in business administration, per his LinkedIn.

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He's a tech executive from Anaheim Hills, California

ABC Zach Shallcross

Upon graduation, Shallcross was hired at Oracle, the world's largest database management company. He's been with the company since the summer of 2019 and now serves as a senior cloud technology account executive.

He loves football and played in college

Zach Shallcross/Instagram

While pursuing a degree at Cal Poly, Shallcross played collegiate Division I football at the school. He was a right tackle and played for five years before graduation.

He's close with his family, especially his mom

Zach Shallcross/Instagram

Shallcross is the son of father Chapman and mother Megan Shallcross. He also has two sisters, Sammy and Payton. He appears to be very tight with his family and posts photos with them on his Instagram. Notably, he's seemingly close with his mom as he pens sweet tributes to her on his page.

"Happy Birthday to this incredible woman! Way too blessed to call you momma! Love you and enjoy your day, you deserve the best!" he wrote in celebration of her special day.

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He's the nephew of actor Patrick Warburton

Ricky Middlesworth/ABC, Brian Bowen Smith/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

During the "Hometown Dates" episode of The Bachelorette, it was revealed that Shallcross' uncle is actor Patrick Warburton. The Seinfeld actor casually made an appearance on the show when the reality star introduced Recchia to his family.

He has done work as a music producer

Zach Shallcross/Instagram

Throughout his college years, Shallcross dabbled in the music scene. In fact, he went by the name "Verzacky" and uploaded his mixes and beats to Soundcloud. His collection of tracks consisted of a mixture of genres, including trap and dubstep.

He entered The Bachelor with an open mind

When it came to finding love as the Bachelor, Shallcross put a lot of pressure on himself at first — but he quickly learned that he had to rethink his approach, rather naturally forging connections instead.

"I went into this whole thing wanting to find my best friend, wanting to find my future, and you can't force that," he told PEOPLE. "If it's going to happen, it's going to happen. If it's not, it's not. If you let your heart figure it out, the right thing will happen. I truly believe that."

Shallcross said he had to keep an open mind throughout the process, as what he thought he wanted in a wife changed "almost daily."

"That was actually advice that Sean Lowe gave me was, you might have this one idea of who you're going to end up with or this is how things should go and [you] quickly learn that that's not the way that life goes necessarily," Shallcross told PEOPLE of the former lead. "This season is a true testament to that."