Latest / Johnny's World / Episode 21-Nick Fitzgerald
Transcript
- 0:02SPEAKER_00: Coming to you live from the Johnny Packer Eyewear Studio in fabulous Dark Vegas, Mississippi, please welcome our co-host, the best iDoc this side of the Mississippi, BW.
- 0:18SPEAKER_00: And now, welcome a true hero, a DF Warrior, whose favorite motto in life is just keep living.
- 0:27SPEAKER_00: Here's Johnny.
- 0:39SPEAKER_02: All right, Johnny here.
- 0:41SPEAKER_02: Uh, how are you doing today, BW?
- 0:44SPEAKER_01: Man, I'm doing good.
- 0:46SPEAKER_01: Still celebrating national championship here.
- 0:49SPEAKER_02: National Championship.
- 0:50SPEAKER_02: Great time to be alive.
- 0:51SPEAKER_02: Great time to be a bulldog.
- 0:53SPEAKER_02: Hey, uh, tell just a little update.
- 0:54SPEAKER_02: What we got going on in the glasses?
- 0:56SPEAKER_02: Any new update?
- 0:57SPEAKER_01: Well, I actually uh just got a new fresh shipping in today.
- 1:01SPEAKER_01: And so I've been sorting through all of them and uh got a couple new ones.
- 1:05SPEAKER_01: So uh we we definitely got to put put an Omaha one in there.
- 1:09SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna see if I can get through those and figure out which ones I want to make.
- 1:12SPEAKER_01: Make the Omaha pair.
- 1:14SPEAKER_01: So those ought to be in the store really in the next couple days here.
- 1:17SPEAKER_01: Once I get them, get some pictures of them and get them uploaded there.
- 1:20SPEAKER_01: And we also added uh I got some um some t-shirts in the shop.
- 1:25SPEAKER_01: I got some uh some some uh some tumblers, I got some wine tumblers, I got some uh beer can holders.
- 1:32SPEAKER_01: We got all kinds of stuff with your name and logo on there.
- 1:35SPEAKER_01: So hop in there and check that stuff out too.
- 1:37SPEAKER_01: So just for people that want to support us, but maybe don't want to spend as much on glasses, so that'll it all goes to CF.
- 1:43SPEAKER_01: And so anything you can help us with is is good for us.
- 1:47SPEAKER_02: That's great.
- 1:48SPEAKER_02: Sounds great.
- 1:48SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I hope I'll get people to uh like I just said they don't want to spend money on glasses, they can support the calls or getting a cool uh buggy or something or shirt or anything like that.
- 1:59SPEAKER_02: I'll order to get a great call.
- 2:03SPEAKER_01: Yep, sir.
- 2:03SPEAKER_01: So we'll uh we'll let y'all know.
- 2:05SPEAKER_01: We'll we'll update on Facebook and everything when we drop the new new pairs in there.
- 2:09SPEAKER_01: Like I said, it should be in the next day or two.
- 2:14SPEAKER_02: All right.
- 2:15SPEAKER_02: Well, uh well, we got a great show today so far.
- 2:18SPEAKER_02: Uh we got a great, great uh bulldog lined up today that I'm about to introduce.
- 2:22SPEAKER_02: He uh you might know him as a quarterback, former quarterback at Miss City State.
- 2:27SPEAKER_02: He was uh SEC's leading rusher for a quarterback.
- 2:30SPEAKER_02: Just uh just a great guy and uh great bulldog, and we're so happy to have him on uh on the show today.
- 2:36SPEAKER_02: So welcome uh Nick Fitzcherald to the show.
- 2:38SPEAKER_03: Thanks for being on.
- 2:40SPEAKER_03: Absolutely, man.
- 2:40SPEAKER_03: Glad to be here.
- 2:41SPEAKER_03: Uh excited to talk some uh some some bulldogs and uh you know as always, Hail State National Championship winners.
- 2:49SPEAKER_03: Like, come on, man.
- 2:50SPEAKER_03: It's a great time to be a Mississippi State fan.
- 2:55SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, absolutely.
- 2:57SPEAKER_02: I I still can't believe it.
- 2:59SPEAKER_02: Just seems surreal.
- 3:00SPEAKER_02: We we're freaking national champs, man.
- 3:02SPEAKER_02: Just uh it's awesome.
- 3:04SPEAKER_02: I don't think we'll ever get down from this.
- 3:05SPEAKER_02: It's so so awesome.
- 3:07SPEAKER_03: I'm just I'm just waiting on our uh football natty this year, too.
- 3:10SPEAKER_03: So that way I can I can die a happy man.
- 3:12SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
- 3:13SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
- 3:14SPEAKER_02: Well, uh, I guess just kind of introduce yourself, tell us how uh how just start from the beginning if you want, just how you got involved with football and how you ended up at Mississippi State, and and then we'll just go from there.
- 3:25SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, man.
- 3:26SPEAKER_03: So uh started playing football when I was five years old uh in Illinois, in uh Peoria, Illinois with flag football, moved down to Georgia and got started in tackle when I was seven.
- 3:36SPEAKER_03: Uh was always like a foot taller than everyone else and always faster and just I looked like Cam Newton kind of running around as like a small child, pretty much.
- 3:45SPEAKER_03: Um, and you know, that kind of carried me through middle school um to high school.
- 3:51SPEAKER_03: I transferred out of a a private school that I was gonna go to in high school to go to a public school.
- 3:56SPEAKER_03: I didn't want to go to a 1A private school.
- 3:58SPEAKER_03: Um so I wanted to go to the 5A public school and go play you know real football against you know the real ballers in the state.
- 4:04SPEAKER_03: Uh didn't end up starting at quarterback until my senior year.
- 4:08SPEAKER_03: So uh I was actually committed to play quarterback in Mississippi State before I ever started really in high school, which is uh the it's a crazy, I have no idea how it happened.
- 4:17SPEAKER_03: Still to this day, I gotta I gotta sit down with Dan Mullen and be like, why me?
- 4:22SPEAKER_03: Um but you know, I jumped at the opportunity.
- 4:25SPEAKER_03: Uh, had to pretty much hold myself back from just saying yes when I was sitting in Dan's office and he offered me.
- 4:32SPEAKER_03: Um I I went home, kind of just talked about with my family and was like, you know what?
- 4:36SPEAKER_03: Like, I've always wanted to play in the SEC.
- 4:38SPEAKER_03: That's what I wanted to do.
- 4:40SPEAKER_03: You know, like obviously, this is my opportunity.
- 4:41SPEAKER_03: Someone believes in me, hasn't even seen me really starting in high school yet, um, and is already giving me a scholarship.
- 4:47SPEAKER_03: You know, like this is this is where I need to be.
- 4:49SPEAKER_03: He shot me straight.
- 4:49SPEAKER_03: He said, Look, man, there's gonna be multiple days that you're gonna hate me, you know, but I'm gonna do everything I possibly can to make you the best quarterback.
- 4:56SPEAKER_03: And I that has stuck with me forever.
- 4:59SPEAKER_03: Um, it's you know, I I've always wanted a coach.
- 5:01SPEAKER_03: I was a straight shooter and just someone who was honest with you.
- 5:03SPEAKER_03: Uh, and that was and that was who Dan was.
- 5:05SPEAKER_03: As for all of his faults, all his craziness, he always was a straight shooter with you and always told you how it was.
- 5:11SPEAKER_03: So um, you know, that's kind of how I got in the state.
- 5:13SPEAKER_03: Uh, like I said, it's kind of crazy.
- 5:15SPEAKER_03: I still don't understand how I got the offer and everything, but you know, the the Lord always has a plan and obviously it worked out well for me.
- 5:24SPEAKER_01: Nice.
- 5:25SPEAKER_01: Did uh so did you do a lot of like one-on-one, one-on-one work with Dan Mullen?
- 5:30SPEAKER_01: Or did you have a quarterbacks coach that really kind of helped you with development?
- 5:34SPEAKER_01: Or, you know, how did all that process work when you got there?
- 5:37SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, Dan would always come in and sit in on the meetings, you know, probably every every other day he sat in on quarterback meetings, took over the took over the film and taught it his way.
- 5:47SPEAKER_03: But I mean, I had I mean, I had Brian Johnson, BJ three, I had Brett Elliott, and then I had uh my guy Andrew Briner, who, you know, out of the all of them, probably was the one I got the closest with.
- 6:01SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, that was when he came in uh with Coach Moorhead, and uh, you know, I was going through some stuff in my life that you know he helped me through and not only in football, but just you know, as being a man.
- 6:12SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, it's just he's someone that I uh I owe a lot to.
- 6:16SPEAKER_03: And uh but you know, back to the question, Dan did help a lot.
- 6:19SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, he he was in there, he was coaching us all the time.
- 6:22SPEAKER_03: I practice, he was always with the quarterbacks.
- 6:24SPEAKER_03: Um and you know, just his knowledge of the game, X's and O's, just how he spoke about everything, how clear and concise it was.
- 6:32SPEAKER_03: Like it was just kind of like, wow, I need to get on that level if I want to be successful.
- 6:37SPEAKER_01: Nice.
- 6:38SPEAKER_01: Well, kind of along those same lines.
- 6:39SPEAKER_01: So I'm an eye doctor, and I do some vision training with athletes and you know, vision awareness.
- 6:45SPEAKER_01: I do a lot of stuff with baseball players, but I've always wanted to work with a quarterback because there's so much visual recognition that has to happen before the snap and all that kind of stuff.
- 6:54SPEAKER_01: And so, did you do any like specific work like that going into it?
- 6:58SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, honestly, I I wish I had.
- 7:00SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I have, I guess not 2020, but 2010, I think.
- 7:04SPEAKER_03: I think that's like that, yeah.
- 7:05SPEAKER_03: Okay, so I have 2010 vision.
- 7:07SPEAKER_03: Um, but I still think because when I go play golf, I always think I hit the golf ball shorter or farther than I hit it.
- 7:12SPEAKER_03: So maybe my depth perception is a little off.
- 7:14SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 7:15SPEAKER_03: Um, but I would say that it wasn't so much, you know, being able to take things in with my eyes, you know, I could see everything.
- 7:22SPEAKER_03: It was how quick your brain could process that information and build your picture of what's about to happen.
- 7:29SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, Coach Mullen would always say that you you should only be able to look at you can look at one half of the field and you should know exactly what's happening on the other half.
- 7:37SPEAKER_03: Uh, and so that was kind of how I how I looked at it.
- 7:40SPEAKER_03: I was like, if I can read this half, then I should know what that half is.
- 7:42SPEAKER_03: Um, but honestly, I wish I had done, looked into you know, everything I possibly could, you know, get getting with an eye doctor, seeing if that helped.
- 7:49SPEAKER_03: Um, for all you for all your quarterbacks out there, jump in with an eye doctor, see if it helps, man.
- 7:56SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a lot of people just don't know about it.
- 7:57SPEAKER_01: It's one of those things that's the struggle is like I tell people I do that, they're like, what are you talking about?
- 8:01SPEAKER_01: You know, and so we've got to get past that before it, I think, ever becomes like a big, a big thing.
- 8:07SPEAKER_03: So I mean, like I honestly, I I think I think as it spreads, as word spreads, uh, parents are willing to do anything they can to to give their kids an edge as they should.
- 8:17SPEAKER_03: Um, and you know, if it's something that actually helps and and and is beneficial to them, then I could see it taking off for sure.
- 8:23SPEAKER_03: I mean, quarterback parents are the craziest parents out there.
- 8:26SPEAKER_01: Yep.
- 8:28SPEAKER_01: Well, the other question I had too was you're always so fast.
- 8:32SPEAKER_01: Um was did you do a lot of work on that?
- 8:35SPEAKER_01: I mean, specifically, have you always been real fast, or did you was that something you keyed on?
- 8:40SPEAKER_03: Or uh, you know, I was always fast, um, you know, always kind of tall, lanky, but but you know, deceptively long strides that that made me a fast guy.
- 8:49SPEAKER_03: Um, and that's kind of how I was all my life.
- 8:52SPEAKER_03: Uh, when I got into middle school, like right going into high school between eighth and ninth grade, I grew like five inches in a summer.
- 8:58SPEAKER_03: Um, and so I had to go to a trainer and learn how to like run properly again because I was just so lanky, arms and knees and elbows everywhere.
- 9:08SPEAKER_03: Um, so that was really kind of, you know, obviously you you you do speed train without doing speed training when you're working out, you're running sprints with the team, all that kind of stuff.
- 9:16SPEAKER_03: So all that is, you know, it's going towards your explosiveness, it's going towards your endurance, it's going towards all of that.
- 9:22SPEAKER_03: Um, but I never really did specific speed training like that.
- 9:27SPEAKER_03: I just trained what I thought football players were supposed to do.
- 9:31SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, luckily my my legs carried me where I needed to go.
- 9:36SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
- 9:37SPEAKER_02: Well, uh, well, tell us about now.
- 9:39SPEAKER_02: Did you come to state in were you there in in 2014, the year we went to number one?
- 9:43SPEAKER_02: Is that was that your freshman year?
- 9:45SPEAKER_03: Or yep, yep.
- 9:46SPEAKER_03: So that was uh so that was my red shirt freshman year.
- 9:48SPEAKER_03: Um my official visit was when uh the egg bowl we won, Bo Wallace fumbled into the end zone.
- 9:55SPEAKER_03: Incredible experience.
- 9:57SPEAKER_03: I'll just loved every bit of it.
- 9:58SPEAKER_03: So that's what really just got me immediately hooked.
- 10:01SPEAKER_03: I was like, oh, I love this place.
- 10:02SPEAKER_03: I can't wait to get here.
- 10:04SPEAKER_03: Um I get there, I'm behind I'm behind Dak, you know.
- 10:06SPEAKER_03: Obviously, you know, best quarterback to ever come from Mississippi State.
- 10:09SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, just acted like a sponge, got to be around him and just kind of you know learn what I could.
- 10:14SPEAKER_03: But yeah, 2014 was the first year.
- 10:17SPEAKER_03: And that was that was a wild drive because I got to I got to travel.
- 10:20SPEAKER_03: Normally, if you're red shirt, you don't travel with the team, you don't go to games, but you know, I was lucky enough.
- 10:24SPEAKER_03: They were like, you know what, we'll bring you along.
- 10:26SPEAKER_03: Um, so I got to travel, I got to experience everything, uh, all the big wins on the road, everything like that I was there for.
- 10:32SPEAKER_03: So it was awesome.
- 10:33SPEAKER_02: That is awesome.
- 10:34SPEAKER_02: That's so cool.
- 10:35SPEAKER_02: Well, well, tell us about learning from Dak.
- 10:37SPEAKER_02: How was that?
- 10:38SPEAKER_02: Like you said, you just kind of took everything like as a sponge, just uh learning from him because you stepped in right after him and you made a mark of your own.
- 10:46SPEAKER_03: Yeah, man.
- 10:47SPEAKER_03: Um I guess I would say probably the best way to describe Dak would be probably like just one of the most natural born leaders that I've I've ever seen.
- 11:01SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, the dude's built like a UFC fighter that can throw a football.
- 11:05SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, he was he was always leading all the lifts.
- 11:08SPEAKER_03: He was the first one in sprints.
- 11:10SPEAKER_03: Uh, no matter what we were doing, he was gonna be out there first, he was gonna be the last one out there.
- 11:14SPEAKER_03: Um, and you know, I just I watched all this happen, you know, kind of just off to the wayside.
- 11:19SPEAKER_03: And um, you know, I was like, you know what?
- 11:20SPEAKER_03: This guy is extremely successful, extremely talented.
- 11:24SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm just gonna sit back, learn what I need to learn about the offense, but just kind of watch this guy and see how he acted with fans, how he talked to coaches, refs, other players, how he watched film, how he carried himself in the weight room around campus, just everything that I possibly could see, what was making this guy so successful.
- 11:44SPEAKER_03: You know, I wanted to learn that.
- 11:45SPEAKER_03: You know, while still staying true to myself, but you know, implementing and and and just trying to you know build on what I already had.
- 11:53SPEAKER_02: Well, do you have any any uh any games that stand out, I guess, in your career that you're like that game right there, that was that was a meaningful game right there that you can you want to talk about?
- 12:05SPEAKER_03: Um, I mean, some some some huge wins, some some incredible plays.
- 12:10SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, but I think the game that is gonna stick with me forever, that has nothing to do with how I played, it has nothing to do with who we were playing, what what was going on, uh was 2017 LSU at home.
- 12:24SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, my grandfather had a heart attack, he had Parkinson's, and he had a stroke uh in 2016.
- 12:31SPEAKER_03: And when he was in the hospital, he looked me in the eye and he said, I'm gonna be at the LSU game this year.
- 12:36SPEAKER_03: And I said, You're damn right you are.
- 12:38SPEAKER_03: Um, so luckily, you know, he's still here today, he's still kicking, you know, he's still strong.
- 12:44SPEAKER_03: But you know, his his goal was to make it to that game.
- 12:47SPEAKER_03: Um, and we had him up in the touchdown club in the end zone.
- 12:51SPEAKER_03: Um, so after if the the picture from the game, if you look up after I scored going away from like the bold end zone, um, I kind of point up to uh that that section, and that's that's where he was sitting.
- 13:04SPEAKER_03: He said, When you score, you got to point to me.
- 13:06SPEAKER_03: And I scored on the one before that, and I completely forgot to point at him.
- 13:10SPEAKER_03: So I had to make sure I did it again so I could get a point for him.
- 13:13SPEAKER_03: But um, you know, on obviously there's other games, there's other big plays, there's other moments, but you know, that's just something that's always gonna be there for me and my family.
- 13:21SPEAKER_03: It's just uh, you know, just a reminder of you know all the great things that came from football for us.
- 13:28SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that.
- 13:29SPEAKER_01: That always kind of reminds me of um when Brett Farr's dad passed away, and yeah, you may be too young for that.
- 13:34SPEAKER_01: But uh, I remember that Monday night football game, he he just went out there and just torched everybody and he had that that extra motivation.
- 13:41SPEAKER_01: So I always think that's cool.
- 13:43SPEAKER_03: I mean, there's I mean, a lot of people just you you see you see these players on Saturdays, and a lot of people as as much as we hate to admit it, just see him as you know, a number on the on the field.
- 13:55SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, it's a psychological thing that I've learned in life that uh we don't really comprehend that everyone we see every day is living just as complex of a life and has their own problems and has their own dreams and everything like that.
- 14:08SPEAKER_03: Um, it's just hard for us to process.
- 14:09SPEAKER_03: And I think a lot of people forget that when they're looking at college athletes, that you know, there's more to it than just Saturdays out there on the field.
- 14:18SPEAKER_02: That's true.
- 14:19SPEAKER_02: Well, uh well, tell us about about AM and Ole Miss.
- 14:22SPEAKER_02: Uh, you just you seemed like you had their number, man.
- 14:24SPEAKER_02: Like you that was that was memorable right there.
- 14:27SPEAKER_03: I mean, like I AM just for some reason, I just you know, I obviously I'm gonna I'm gonna say it's because you know we were you're a great team and and uh and I had stepped up and made plays, but just for some reason it just seemed like no matter what they did, no matter how good they were doing, the second they stepped on the field with us, it was it was over with they had they had lost.
- 14:48SPEAKER_03: Um I mean obviously starting in 2016, number four in the country, uh, came in and you know, I think beat them by two touchdowns, or or maybe they scored late 2021, something like that.
- 14:58SPEAKER_03: Um the next year went to them, absolutely smacked them in their own stadium, and then come back one last time for uh for another big game.
- 15:06SPEAKER_03: And that was that was a huge game.
- 15:07SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of stuff that had had gone on prior to that one in my senior year that uh you know that game meant a lot to me as well.
- 15:13SPEAKER_03: Um, just coming out and having a great performance.
- 15:15SPEAKER_03: Uh and old miss, you know, I'm I'm still waiting on my father's day card.
- 15:18SPEAKER_03: So I'm sure that one's coming still in the mail.
- 15:23SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that that uh that 2016 game, man, when you ran all over.
- 15:27SPEAKER_02: I mean, that 55 to 20, I can still still see uh I went to uh quarterback club in Starbucks after that game, and someone had made a sign like the interstate.
- 15:36SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 15:37SPEAKER_03: I remember that.
- 15:38SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 15:38SPEAKER_03: Always remember that.
- 15:39SPEAKER_03: That was wild.
- 15:40SPEAKER_03: It's just it just seemed like such a coincidence at that point.
- 15:42SPEAKER_03: But but yeah, man, I mean, that was obviously a game that I'm never gonna forget either.
- 15:46SPEAKER_03: I mean, when you run for that much on somebody and in a rivalry game and just beat them that badly.
- 15:53SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's just uh it's it's still a little embarrassing for them.
- 15:56SPEAKER_03: I'm not gonna lie.
- 15:56SPEAKER_03: They should probably they they should have fired the defensive coordinator a long time ago after right after that.
- 16:02SPEAKER_03: For real.
- 16:03SPEAKER_01: Did you know any of the uh the omest players?
- 16:06SPEAKER_01: I mean, did y'all have any kind of like back and forth, you know, text messages or DMs or anything like that?
- 16:11SPEAKER_03: Uh I'll be honest, I was like, I was probably I'm still probably one of the worst people to ask about you know who's on this team, who's on this team, who is that guy.
- 16:21SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I didn't, I didn't, I wasn't highly recruited, I didn't go to a ton of camps.
- 16:25SPEAKER_03: I wasn't this big five-star that everyone knew.
- 16:27SPEAKER_03: I was a two-star guy out of South Georgia that was just lucky to have a scholarship.
- 16:31SPEAKER_03: Um, so I just didn't really know a lot of the people that were playing college football.
- 16:34SPEAKER_03: I didn't know a lot of guys that are on any of the teams in the SEC.
- 16:37SPEAKER_03: Um, but you know, I I knew them from watching film.
- 16:41SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I knew who they were, I knew position they played, all that, but I didn't really have like you know friendships with those guys going into it.
- 16:47SPEAKER_03: Um, but I mean I got plenty of uh kind words on the field.
- 16:52SPEAKER_03: So, you know, it made up for it.
- 16:55unknown: Yeah.
- 16:55SPEAKER_02: Well, well t tell us about uh about when you broke the uh broke the SEC record for Russian.
- 17:00SPEAKER_02: That that had to mean a lot.
- 17:01SPEAKER_02: I mean, I know that was a special moment.
- 17:03SPEAKER_02: Tell us about that.
- 17:04SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean it was uh it was crazy because I I didn't really I didn't I didn't know that I had broken it.
- 17:10SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, obviously we're playing Auburn.
- 17:12SPEAKER_03: I'm trying to win a freaking football game.
- 17:14SPEAKER_03: Like I'm not worried about anything else that's going on.
- 17:16SPEAKER_03: Um, but I mean just after the game, just kind of getting to, you know, obviously beating Auburn hadn't hadn't done that as a starter yet.
- 17:24SPEAKER_03: Um so got to do that my senior year, which was which was incredible.
- 17:28SPEAKER_03: Um, but then you know, after the game, just kind of sat down and thought about it, you know, that I don't know how many more true rushing quarterbacks are gonna come through the SEC.
- 17:38SPEAKER_03: Like I don't know, I don't know where the game's gonna go.
- 17:40SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
- 17:41SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, it it could get broken in a year, it could get stay up forever.
- 17:46SPEAKER_03: Um, but just my my biggest thing was I always wanted to leave my mark.
- 17:50SPEAKER_03: You know, I didn't want to be forgotten.
- 17:52SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I just wanted to leave lasting impression on somebody.
- 17:57SPEAKER_03: Um, and you know, having a record like that obviously left a big impression.
- 18:01SPEAKER_03: That was uh that was huge.
- 18:03SPEAKER_03: And just kind of, you know, just knowing that, you know, it'll get broken eventually.
- 18:08SPEAKER_03: I know it will, but you know, until then, someone's got to say my name at least.
- 18:11SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
- 18:12SPEAKER_02: You know, you always hear hear people say it's hard to be the guy that follows the guy, you know.
- 18:17SPEAKER_02: And you were the guy that followed the guy, but you made Mark on your own.
- 18:20SPEAKER_02: So people always remember you.
- 18:21SPEAKER_02: So I think that's really, really cool.
- 18:23SPEAKER_02: Because obviously people remember Dak, but people remember you also, and that's real special.
- 18:27SPEAKER_02: I know that means a lot.
- 18:29SPEAKER_02: Well, well, uh, tell us about we had a quarterback from um the early 2000s, well, right before Dan got there last season on Tyson Lee, and we we asked him a question because he played with Coach Kroom and then Coach Mullen.
- 18:42SPEAKER_02: I kind of want to ask you that question.
- 18:43SPEAKER_02: What was what about from Coach Mullen to Coach Moorhead?
- 18:47SPEAKER_02: Was that totally changing things that what you had to learn?
- 18:50SPEAKER_02: Or how was that experience in switching coaches?
- 18:53SPEAKER_03: I mean, just I I mean, I guess there's there's two parts to it.
- 18:56SPEAKER_03: You know, there is the culture within the program when a coach leaves and a new one comes in, and then obviously there's the scheme, the playbook, and all that.
- 19:04SPEAKER_03: Um, completely different playbooks, um, you know, completely different schemes on on how they wanted it to go, um, you know, how they wanted to run the offense.
- 19:14SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, Dan was always more, you know, this is the SEC, we're gonna run it down their throat if we can run it down their throat.
- 19:21SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, we'll we'll throw when we need to, but we're a run first team.
- 19:24SPEAKER_03: Uh, and then Moorhead came in and obviously he he wanted to be a gunslinger and you know, throw for all these yards and go crazy.
- 19:31SPEAKER_03: It just I just don't think that we had, and I have my own faults.
- 19:36SPEAKER_03: I wasn't the greatest passer by all means, but I just don't think that we had a receiving core to really be able to spread the field out, go deep.
- 19:44SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, big guys are gonna go jump up, get the ball, be playmakers.
- 19:48SPEAKER_03: Um so I just think that the scheme that he wanted to run just wasn't a great fit for that Mississippi State team.
- 19:56SPEAKER_03: Um when it comes to you know the culture around the program, uh, you know, Dan and his staff love them all to death, but you know, they were screaming, yelling, lunatics, just John Heavesy told me he was gonna break my kneecaps one time, like, and that's the guy that recruited me to come to Mississippi State.
- 20:14SPEAKER_03: So, you know, it was um you know, the culture is different.
- 20:17SPEAKER_03: Moorhead came in and a lot more of a player's coach, a nice guy.
- 20:21SPEAKER_03: Um, but you know, I think it was just he was too nice.
- 20:25SPEAKER_03: You know, he was he was trying to he was trying to be too cool with it.
- 20:28SPEAKER_03: And as much as players can try to keep each other in line, the coaches have to be there to do it as well.
- 20:34SPEAKER_03: Um, and I think a lot of the little things that are the most important started to slip away.
- 20:38SPEAKER_03: Um, and I think that was overall kind of the downfall of him at Mississippi State was he just kind of let too many little things get by and and let people get away with with small things that ended up leading into bigger problems.
- 20:51SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we when I played in high school, uh I wasn't really highly recruited or anything, I was just a offensive lineman in private school in Mississippi.
- 20:59SPEAKER_01: But um, we had a coach my first couple years there, and he was just like everybody was afraid of him, you know, like he would slam stuff against the wall in the locker room, and you know, I was never late because I was afraid he was gonna just like tear you up, and so I'm still never late for anything because I was afraid of him.
- 21:15SPEAKER_01: But then my senior year, we got a new coach that was more laid back and everything, and it's just a totally different vibe.
- 21:20SPEAKER_01: And yeah, you don't when you come from like that crazy stuff, you just don't know what to expect.
- 21:25SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I mean, like we we came from Dammo and looking in the eye and say, run through that brick wall and you better start running through that brick wall.
- 21:33SPEAKER_03: And it's just it was just very different, I guess.
- 21:36SPEAKER_03: Like you said, just we went from a guy that was ready to fight people at practice because that's how that's how hyped up he would get, um, to a guy that was very laid back and just go with the flow.
- 21:47SPEAKER_03: And it just wasn't it just wasn't the right vibe for that team.
- 21:52SPEAKER_03: I mean, like my my class of guys went went through it all.
- 21:56SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, we we fought our asses off and and we were.
- 22:00SPEAKER_03: Harder than I think any other class had, you know, I'll I'll say, you know, whenever I got a little class pride, but um, you know, and then we just went from having Dan and all these guys that were just constantly screaming, yelling, which is what formed us, was what made us.
- 22:14SPEAKER_03: You know, we were we were psychopaths ourselves.
- 22:17SPEAKER_03: And then we had someone else come in that let the little things go.
- 22:21SPEAKER_03: And you know, just a lot of people kind of took advantage of that.
- 22:23SPEAKER_03: And and you know, we had guys who had never been late to anything in their life being late all the time now, like that sort of thing.
- 22:28SPEAKER_03: And it was just uh it was frustrating, most definitely frustrating.
- 22:33SPEAKER_02: Well, well, tell us about uh what you think about Coach Leach coming into the program.
- 22:38SPEAKER_02: What you think, how do you think we're heading into the future?
- 22:41SPEAKER_02: The pirate, man.
- 22:43SPEAKER_03: I mean I've I've always been a huge fan of Coach Leach.
- 22:46SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, obviously I've never gotten to meet him.
- 22:48SPEAKER_03: Um hopefully looking forward to getting the Stark video, come watch a game and hopefully sit down in his office and just have a conversation with him about aliens or or whatever else that he wants to talk about.
- 22:57SPEAKER_03: I just looking forward to that moment.
- 23:00SPEAKER_03: But you know, I love the bandwagon thing from last year.
- 23:03SPEAKER_03: You know, I I I I loved all of it.
- 23:05SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I just we're just gonna have to wait and see what happens.
- 23:09SPEAKER_03: So, you know, I I I've always been a fan of him, but you know, I don't love them.
- 23:14SPEAKER_03: So we'll we'll see.
- 23:15SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I I hope he does big things.
- 23:17SPEAKER_03: You know, I Mississippi State is deserves to be up and and be a team that's talked about.
- 23:23SPEAKER_03: And you know, I hope that he brings us back to that because I think that's kind of fallen off the last couple years.
- 23:28SPEAKER_03: And you know, I hope he brings us back to that, brings us to the forefront of being talked about, um, you know, being a being a top 10 team again.
- 23:35SPEAKER_03: And you know, I know that we we can do it.
- 23:36SPEAKER_03: Mississippi State can do it, we've done it before.
- 23:38SPEAKER_03: So, you know, I'm just hoping to see him, you know, come in.
- 23:42SPEAKER_03: I mean, he was obviously hard on people.
- 23:43SPEAKER_03: I think how many he like kicked off so many people from the team.
- 23:46SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 23:46SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he he seems like it's his way or the highway.
- 23:50SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, I'm excited to see what happens.
- 23:52SPEAKER_03: Honestly, I'm excited to see it.
- 23:54SPEAKER_03: I hope it's explosive.
- 23:55SPEAKER_03: Hope we score a hundred freaking points a game and I can sit here and beat my chest and talk a bunch of mess on Twitter and just have a good time with it.
- 24:03SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
- 24:05SPEAKER_01: Well, is there anything uh when you were in Starkville, uh, places you like to hit, you know, that that you miss now that you you're not there?
- 24:12SPEAKER_03: I mean, is there anything about it that the the food in Starkville was just like yeah, I just it was it was incredible.
- 24:20SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I I I go to a lot of places, I mean stagger in, you know, RIP, but that was I lived one street down from that for two years, went and got topless hot chicks all the time.
- 24:31SPEAKER_03: That's why I was 240 in college.
- 24:33SPEAKER_03: Um I would go eat at Umi uh all the time, uh at least once a week.
- 24:40SPEAKER_03: Um, we would go to was it Lataw a lot?
- 24:43SPEAKER_03: Um we'd go in there and go go go have some fun before we went out.
- 24:48SPEAKER_03: Or that was uh my family would go eat there pretty much uh anytime we had a game that was like you know three o'clock or earlier after the game, we'd go eat at Lata.
- 24:57SPEAKER_03: Um and I know I there's plenty more that I can that I could that I could bring up and talk about, but I mean those are those are kind of three that were main staples for me while I was here.
- 25:08SPEAKER_03: But I mean again, it was I missed the food in Starkville so much.
- 25:13SPEAKER_03: Well well, tell us what you're doing now.
- 25:14SPEAKER_02: You're are you looking you're living in Tampa?
- 25:16SPEAKER_02: Is that what you said?
- 25:17SPEAKER_03: Yep, yep.
- 25:17SPEAKER_03: So I uh I live in Tampa.
- 25:19SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I just like I said got done playing this in the spring league, some little bit of football league out in Houston.
- 25:26SPEAKER_03: Um got back a couple weeks ago and got right back into my job that I do now.
- 25:31SPEAKER_03: Me and my partner, uh, we flip houses here in Tampa.
- 25:34SPEAKER_03: So um, you know, we go out, rent, buy them, renovate them, resell them.
- 25:38SPEAKER_03: Um I have an absolute great time doing it.
- 25:40SPEAKER_03: I I love the partner I'm doing it with, love the guy.
- 25:43SPEAKER_03: Um, it's something that we both see growing into you know a big business for both of us and uh very excited for it.
- 25:51SPEAKER_03: It's definitely something I could see myself doing forever.
- 25:53SPEAKER_03: So uh glad I found it.
- 25:55SPEAKER_03: Was never expecting to be in real estate, but you know, here I am and uh I'm enjoying it.
- 26:00SPEAKER_03: So awesome.
- 26:01SPEAKER_01: But you can get uh a lot of a lot of passive income and stuff with real estate, so that would maybe leave time for coaching or something like that.
- 26:06SPEAKER_01: Is that something you ever see?
- 26:08SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I'll do, you know, I'm gonna actually start up doing some, you know, like private one-on-ones or like group sessions for quarterbacks uh here around the Tampa area.
- 26:19SPEAKER_03: But as as far as like joining a team and you know, like coaching a position or anything, it's just I can't do it.
- 26:27SPEAKER_03: I can't do it.
- 26:28SPEAKER_03: I can't I can't deal with those knuckleheads, man.
- 26:30SPEAKER_03: I'd get I'd get too upset.
- 26:32SPEAKER_03: And then I would know that my high school head coach, Lyman Guy, was another massive, massive influence on me.
- 26:39SPEAKER_03: Uh, could probably recite you the Bible backwards and forwards, uh, would kick anyone out of practice if he heard if he saw anyone getting in a fight or if he heard any cuss word, you were done for the day, he'd say, Hey, you know what, maybe you just take it on home or we'll talk tomorrow.
- 26:52SPEAKER_03: Um, and I know if I started coaching, I'd be the one throwing stuff against the wall and then getting all upset.
- 26:56SPEAKER_03: So I don't think he'd be very proud of me.
- 27:01SPEAKER_01: Well, um, I've never been to I've been to Tampa, I've been to the airport, but I've never actually been down there.
- 27:06SPEAKER_01: Um, but it it seems like a pretty nice place.
- 27:08SPEAKER_01: So beautiful.
- 27:09SPEAKER_01: Um, I've been trying to convince the wife to move down there, but probably not happening.
- 27:12SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's hey, you need a real estate agent.
- 27:14SPEAKER_03: I got you, so I'll get you a house.
- 27:16SPEAKER_03: But uh, but no, I mean it it's a beautiful place to live, man.
- 27:20SPEAKER_03: I I I love everything about it.
- 27:21SPEAKER_03: Never thought I was gonna ever live in Florida, and then I moved down here and I was like, I'm never leaving.
- 27:26SPEAKER_03: So uh definitely enjoy it, love it.
- 27:28SPEAKER_03: I'm always surrounded by beaches and water, and you know, can't really complain there.
- 27:34SPEAKER_01: Yep, exactly.
- 27:36SPEAKER_01: Well, this has been great.
- 27:37SPEAKER_01: Uh Johnny, you got anything else?
- 27:40SPEAKER_02: Uh no, not really.
- 27:41SPEAKER_02: Um, I guess I meant to ask you about about your your your leg and that injury.
- 27:45SPEAKER_02: How how did that come about?
- 27:47SPEAKER_02: You really after that injury, man, it just tore us all apart when that happened.
- 27:51SPEAKER_02: And you you bounced back, and that next year, man, you you just you rocked it, man.
- 27:56SPEAKER_02: Was that process just difficult?
- 27:58SPEAKER_02: Just tell us a little bit about that.
- 28:00SPEAKER_03: It was definitely tough.
- 28:01SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, you end up crying like a baby on national TV.
- 28:04SPEAKER_03: It's never a good look.
- 28:05SPEAKER_03: Um, but you know, honestly, it it happened, you know, when I was laying there on the field and it happened, I looked out and saw my foot.
- 28:13SPEAKER_03: I mean, the first thing that went through my mind before the trainers could get out to me was I mean, like, am I even gonna be able to walk the same way again?
- 28:20SPEAKER_03: Like, because I I've never seen someone's ankle turned completely sideways like that.
- 28:25SPEAKER_03: Um, and so my my first thought was like, did I just like ruin how I'm gonna be walking for the rest of my life?
- 28:29SPEAKER_03: You know, like what like what's this gonna affect going forward?
- 28:32SPEAKER_03: Um, and trainers got out there immediately to me, um, looked me, looked, looked me in the eye, said, Hey, look, man, you're gonna be back from this in three to four months.
- 28:41SPEAKER_03: Don't even worry about it.
- 28:42SPEAKER_03: And and when I heard that, you know, the whole attitude changed.
- 28:45SPEAKER_03: I was like, all right, bet three to four months, I'm gonna get back in two.
- 28:48SPEAKER_03: Like, let's let's do this.
- 28:49SPEAKER_03: They pumped it back into place on the field.
- 28:52SPEAKER_03: That one hurt.
- 28:53SPEAKER_03: Um, air casted it up, sat, watched the rest of the game.
- 28:56SPEAKER_03: Obviously, didn't win that one.
- 28:57SPEAKER_03: That one was tough.
- 28:59SPEAKER_03: Uh went went to the hospital to have my surgery the next morning.
- 29:03SPEAKER_03: Uh, started rehabbing almost immediately.
- 29:07SPEAKER_03: Um, just trying to do anything I could to strengthen up that leg and the muscles around that ankle.
- 29:11SPEAKER_03: Um, and within about a month, month and a half, I was you know walking around, fully able to just walk and do whatever, starting to starting to jog a little bit.
- 29:22SPEAKER_03: Um went in for another surgery, which was planned, there was always gonna be two surgeries.
- 29:27SPEAKER_03: Um, so once I got done with that one, that was when the real, real rehab started, because that was when I knew like this is gonna get you back to sprinting and all that.
- 29:36SPEAKER_03: So, um, but from the day after Thanksgiving when I had the surgery, I think I was running again without a boot or anything, uh like late February, early March, something like that.
- 29:52SPEAKER_03: Um, but yeah, I mean, it was uh for anyone out there that's dealing with injury or ever has to go through it.
- 29:58SPEAKER_03: Uh, I'm a firm believer that your mindset and you know how you look at things, and and and and if you believe you're gonna come back stronger, then you're gonna come back stronger.
- 30:07SPEAKER_03: Uh, I'm always a huge proponent of your mindset, means everything when it comes to that sort of stuff.
- 30:12SPEAKER_03: So, you know, anyone that's dealing with it or is gonna end up dealing with it, you know, the little words of wisdom from someone who's gone through plenty of surgeries and stuff.
- 30:19SPEAKER_03: Uh it's all about mindset and it's all about how you look at it.
- 30:24SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
- 30:25SPEAKER_02: That's my my take.
- 30:26SPEAKER_02: We're dealing with cystic fibrosis, man.
- 30:28SPEAKER_02: Like I have days where you could just you could just get down or yourself, but like there's no reason to do that when you get it's all in your mind, how you perceive it exactly what you just said, hitting it, hits the nail on the head.
- 30:37SPEAKER_02: And that kind of kind of goes toward what we're doing with all this stuff, you know.
- 30:41SPEAKER_02: Uh like my my motto in life as uh take it after Matthew McConaughey, man, just keep living.
- 30:46SPEAKER_02: That's just keep living.
- 30:47SPEAKER_02: All right, because uh it doesn't have to be just people with suffering from a lung disease like me, but I mean anybody, you know, anybody struggling with anything in life, man, they have that choice to to let whatever is beating you down beat you down, or you can just rise above it and just have that mindset that I'm gonna beat this, I'm not gonna I'm gonna keep on living, I'm gonna I'm gonna keep doing what I can.
- 31:11SPEAKER_02: Um, because you control so much with your mindset, the way you think about things.
- 31:15SPEAKER_02: And and uh I when I was born with CF with the life spectrum was 15 years old, and I turned uh I turned 40 in February.
- 31:23SPEAKER_02: So it's uh yeah, it's it's all about about uh about your mindset, about how you how you do it.
- 31:32SPEAKER_02: You just you just gotta keep fighting and uh and what you did on the field, man.
- 31:36SPEAKER_02: You what you're just talking about is exactly what we what we love to hear about stories like that, overcoming stuff.
- 31:41SPEAKER_02: And um, I'm uh a product that myself.
- 31:44SPEAKER_02: So um, so yeah, that's that's kind of what we're doing here.
- 31:48SPEAKER_03: Let's talk about these glasses though, man.
- 31:49SPEAKER_03: Let me let me talk about this.
- 31:51SPEAKER_03: Like uh I I know I've I've looked through them.
- 31:54SPEAKER_03: The the Hattiesburg's those things are nice.
- 31:58SPEAKER_01: Those things are some more right here, man.
- 32:00SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there they are.
- 32:01SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm gonna get me a pair.
- 32:02SPEAKER_03: You don't gotta worry about that.
- 32:03SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna get me a pair.
- 32:04SPEAKER_03: You don't have to worry about that one at all.
- 32:05SPEAKER_02: Um Brandon, tell Nick how we kind of got this started.
- 32:08SPEAKER_02: I know we we didn't really talk about that.
- 32:11SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we uh we two or three years ago I came up with the idea.
- 32:16SPEAKER_01: John Clark always was looking for glasses like the ones he has on, and he said, Man, can you give me some of these?
- 32:20SPEAKER_01: And they were always these brands that were real expensive, and like, yeah, I mean, we can get you some like in Los Angeles for a thousand bucks or whatever.
- 32:28SPEAKER_01: And I finally said, Well why don't we figure out a way to make some?
- 32:31SPEAKER_01: And it took a couple years to find it because it's just hard to find manufacturers.
- 32:35SPEAKER_01: I mean, you have to order five or six hundred at a time if you want to do it.
- 32:38SPEAKER_01: And so finally found one that would kind of do small batches and um ended up getting them made.
- 32:44SPEAKER_01: And um, so we we kind of the ones he's wearing, we designed kind of off of the kind of like what Johnny Depp wears, and and so we got a bunch of the prescription glasses made, and then we got a bunch of the sunglasses made too.
- 32:55SPEAKER_01: And big both of us being from Mississippi and being state alums, so why don't we you know name these after these Mississippi towns and throw a little bit in there and then we'll name them after John Clark, you know, the brand and Johnny Johnny Packer I wear, and we'll donate a little bit to CF to kind of help help raise more awareness for that and basically just honor the fight John Clark's been been dealing with his whole life.
- 33:16SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of where it came from.
- 33:19SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's that's awesome.
- 33:20SPEAKER_03: And I I commend the hell out of both you guys for uh you know, obviously seeing a need and something you wanted, and and for one, going and making it yourself, uh, and for two, for just uh uh you know giving back to people who need it the most.
- 33:34SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, even though John is is suffering himself, you know, he still wants to give money away to other people to help other people.
- 33:40SPEAKER_03: Um and you know, that's that's that's a beautiful thing.
- 33:43SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, it's it's I think that's gonna carry you guys uh through to being successful.
- 33:48SPEAKER_03: And you know, hopefully uh hopefully me being on this, hopefully I I bring some new people that that have never watched and and they can hear this from you guys and and and they can support it too.
- 33:59SPEAKER_03: Um because it's uh it's an awesome thing.
- 34:01SPEAKER_02: So awesome.
- 34:02SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's kind of a win-win deal, you know.
- 34:05SPEAKER_02: We we're just trying to trying to trying to build it up uh right now from just trying to build an audience.
- 34:11SPEAKER_02: And I know with you being on and you have a bunch of followers and then more people will be able to see it and then hear about it, and then and then uh hopefully we'll buy some glasses and just support the cause and more people know about CF and the fight that we deal with every day and just kind of win-win deal.
- 34:27SPEAKER_02: So man, we can't thank you enough for coming on and share it.
- 34:30SPEAKER_02: So share with all your people in Tampa.
- 34:32SPEAKER_02: Hey, I know Sunshine in Florida, Sunshine State, they need sunglasses.
- 34:35SPEAKER_03: So hey, hey, man, I'll I will be a happy and proud customer.
- 34:41SPEAKER_03: Um and you know, I will I'll definitely host them on on whatever I can and uh make sure you guys are tagged in and just try to get as much as as much help as I possibly can to to you guys because you know obviously you deserve it.
- 34:53SPEAKER_03: So I appreciate it, man.
- 34:55SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much.
- 34:56SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Dick, we we appreciate you coming on.
- 34:58SPEAKER_01: That's been great.
- 34:59SPEAKER_01: Um so we'll uh we'll be on the lookout for you maybe one of these days on the sideline at uh at Davis Wade.
- 35:05SPEAKER_01: Uh hopefully I'll get back over there here soon.
- 35:08SPEAKER_02: Yeah, holler at me if you ever come to start them, man.
- 35:10SPEAKER_02: We'll we'll we'll go out and eat something.
- 35:12SPEAKER_03: All right, that's that's a deal.
- 35:13SPEAKER_03: But it's it's on me though.
- 35:14SPEAKER_03: It's on me though.
- 35:15SPEAKER_02: Bye, man.
- 35:16SPEAKER_01: All right.
- 35:17SPEAKER_03: Appreciate it.
- 35:19SPEAKER_02: All right, bye.
- 35:20SPEAKER_02: Hell State.
- 35:21SPEAKER_02: See ya.
- 35:21SPEAKER_02: Hellstate, baby.
- 35:23SPEAKER_02: That's right.
- 35:23SPEAKER_02: National chance.
- 35:26SPEAKER_02: Love it.
- 35:28SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to the Johnny's World Podcast.
- 35:31SPEAKER_00: Please help us spread the message about CF and support our cause by going to johnnypacker.com.
- 35:38SPEAKER_00: You can also reach us at Johnny PackerIwear at gmail.com.