Latest / NFL explained. / LaDainian Tomlinson: his Walter Payton connection, the golden era of Chargers football, coaching Texas high school football

Transcript

LaDainian Tomlinson: his Walter Payton connection, the golden era of Chargers football, coaching Texas high school football · NFL explained.

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: I'm Peanut to him and this is the NFL Player
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Second Acts podcast and with me as always as my
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: trust co host, Roman Harbor.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: What's up?
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: That did not hurt, but appreciate it. Shout out to
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: the qu'es out there. Hey, look, now I'm really excited
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: about this one. We actually have a first ballot Hall
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: of Famer, one of the best to ever do it.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Don't don't that's my that's my life. You're going to
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: read it all over but I'm just telling you what
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: it is. It's just the truth.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: He's one of the best, the greatest to ever do it,
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: and just go to bring me get out of the way,
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: first ballot Hall of Famer, one of the greatest dual
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: threats of all time, the pride, heart and soul of
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Texas NFL analysts.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Now he's a high school running back coach. I love
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: that running game coordinator and oh running titles matter, that
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: words matter. Running game coordinator Ladany Thompson.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the part.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: I apologize I forgot that running Good to see you.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Team, Thanks man, I appreciate. Oh there it is. Yeah,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: shout out.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: So hey, look, let's just jump right into it. You're
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: in your third act. This is not your second act.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: This is your third act. Uh, running backs coach Oakridge
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: High School. You just got off TV. You said, you
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: said your your goodbyes and all that other stuff. We'll
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: get to that. But what does that mean for you?
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: I mean, you're coach in high school? Yeah, Ladani and
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Thomlinson one of the greatest running backs in NFL history
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: just history period, and in the same state that you
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: grew up in.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Like, how does that feel?
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: It feels great. I won't say that I'm totally done
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: with television, yeah, of course, you know, but from the
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: I believe in seasons. Yeah, you know, my season at
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: NFL Network came to end, and and partly because family dynamics.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: You know, kids get older. You know, you're you guys, know,
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: you're on the road a lot, doing this television thing,
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: doing this podcast thing. And I had an opportunity to
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: coach my son, you know, to be there with him,
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: you know, and further, you know, kind of build his development.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: But you know, guys, I've always wanted to kind of
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: be there as as wanted like coach father type of
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: you know, relationship, you know what I mean. But also
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: I think, you know, with my son, he hasn't played
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: that long. You know, he played two years so far,
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: and it was a great opportunity just to you know,
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: be around him and get the coaching, but also poor
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: into you know, these kids as well, poorn to him
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: and and really you know, just share, you know, what
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: my knowledge and what I know. But also I think
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: you know, there was there was somebody obviously as we know,
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: somebody that inspired us to be grade or to play
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: the game. Coaches, you know, mentors, and having that opportunity,
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: I can't pass it up. So that's that's basically why
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: while I'm doing it.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: What first of all, what position does he play? And
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: what year is he?
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so he plays quarterback and he's gonna yeah, he's
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: going to be a freshman. So even though you know
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: I play I played running back obviously, and people might
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: say what you saying, play quarterback, you're not going to
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: really be coaching them. But I'll be on the staff,
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: you know, be able to just kind of be And
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: I threw seven touchdown passes in the league, So let's
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: not forget that.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: If it was cracked tass or like look like power,
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: but LT did not come downhill he's going towards the sideline.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: It is.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: It is freaking past all day past, especially on shorty
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: yards and in the red zone.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: That is prime time right there.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: How do you think this will view this as with
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: your legacy being being a high scol runner back coach?
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: How do you think it asks your legacy? Man? Well,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: good question.
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: I don't know that.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: That is a great question.
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: I don't know, you know, I don't know where this
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: is gonna take me, to be honest with you, and
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: I think this is just the beginning of, you know,
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: possibly many more years coaching. I tell you, you know, my
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: aspirations would be to coach offensive football and not just
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: be you know, a running backs coach or run game coordinator.
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: When I say offensive football, I mean like calling plays
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: and really designing offenses. But the thing that I really
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: understand now having just got into it, is the way
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: they play football now in high school is totally different
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: from the way we played it. Okay, so, scheme wise,
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: I'm used to a pro style offense. You know, everything
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: is based on the run game, play action, pass creating,
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: you know, concepts and windows and try angles in the
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: passing game based on the defense. Well, nowadays it's about
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: spreading people out r pos, you know, creating this matches. Okay,
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: the defense has fall over here, we got it's three
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: by one. Okay, well we're gonna work the other side
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: because they got us outmatched over here. So we're looking
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: for the matchups on the backside. It's just different concepts
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: that they're using now. In high school, it's more quarterback
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: runs now, it's more of the system of you know,
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: I think when I think about this type of system
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: that's being ran in high school, I think of r
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: G three. What he brought to the NFL. He was,
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: to me was kind of the start of that whole
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: r PO.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: He was game right, he was.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Now do you think by you being in the run
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: game coordinator, could you could you just go back to
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: how it was when we played high school?
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Do you think you could do that? No?
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: No, no, because the rules are different. The rules are different.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: It's changed. I mean, it's more I think the passing game. Listen,
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: the game has changed because people want to see scoring.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: We know that.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: And it's for you defensive guys. I'm sorry for you.
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: They can't touch, you can't touch the back. I'm sorry
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: for you guys because it's tough to play play football,
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: but why would you not take advantage of throwing the football.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: Now, they throw flags on guys in high school because
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: they don't look back for the ball, and I'm like,
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: he didn't even touch them.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: They're like, oh, he wasn't looking for the ball.
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: I'm like, face guard.
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: That's not a flag, it but one correct how you
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: should take advantage of this? And Texas is the pretty much,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: I believe it's ground zero from that, everybody else in
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: the country has tried to emulate.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Uh Texas high school.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: Football where junior high there the junior high teams running
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: the same offense as the high school teams. They're just
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: running routes at different levels. And so by the time
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: you get it all the system in junior high. So
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: then by the time you all your class gets the
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: ninth grade, tenth grade, eleventh grade, you guys are cooking
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: with Greece already because you've been running the same system
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: for four or five six years, same verbage, same understanding,
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: and then they just get bigger and better. I mean,
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: that's also why a lot of Texas athletes, as far
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: as recruiting, it says like, well, whatever the product you
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: get out of high school is usually closer to what
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: they're going to be at their full potential in college
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: as well.
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: And even if we fast, like if we project these
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: guys in the NFL, a lot of times these offenses
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: are adjusting to what the quarterback was doing in college.
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: You know, that's where the NFL game is going. Just
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: look at Cam War. I read a story just the
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: other day that the offensive coordinated they went back and
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: watched all this film on cam War and they actually
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: tatered their system Verberts wise. You know, some of the
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: things that Cam was using at Miami, they put it
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: in Tennessee's offense so it can further and speed up
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: his you know development. So that's the way the game
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: is played nowadays.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: I think what makes Texas so superior in football just
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: I'll say sports, but like in football is superior superior
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: That means dominant, dominant. Yeah, I know you were talking
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: about pompous and the words you didn't get, but ui
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: L like most Texas, if not all, Texas high schools
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: have the high schools junior how they have a UIL
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: system and you're allowed to plaise l something interscholactic.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: I don't know, I just but it allows the students
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: to basically have practice during school. Like so say during
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: football season, we would have uel our first period, we
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: practiced for an hour and a half during school, and
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: then you go to class your the math, science, and literature,
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: and then after school you get another practice. So you're
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: getting two full practices and then you go to your
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: off season and you got like a college style off
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: season program. We're doing the same stuff they doing in Alabama,
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: but I'm doing it as a freshman.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: All the way up until my senior year. Like that's,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: in my opinion.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: That's what makes Texas football Like it's just where I
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: don't know, maybe I'm a little biased, but.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: No, I'm not disagreeing with you. But you're not the
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: only state that does that because I practiced them in
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: the morning times too. But it's okay, don't worry about it.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: I do want to know this though, LT, because you
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: talked about it briefly. What does it meant to you
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: to be the high school coach? That's actually because I mean,
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: everybody's got to know you, but you're actually like really
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: pouring into these kids.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Have you seen, like, man, like these kids.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Need that more of a perspective somebody that's done it,
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: because we all had coaches that never really they ain't
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: been on the grass like that, and so it's different.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: And I know you it kind of gives you this
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: advantage because you've done it. But then the communication factor,
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: I'm sure with being in so many locker rooms, you
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: understand that part of it as well.
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's the main part to me, is a communication
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: part of it. Making sure you know that the kids
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: understand exactly what you're trying to get them to do. Right.
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: But at the same time, I can't expect them to
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: be like me, so patience as well plays a huge factor.
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: I'm not a yeller anyway, you know, So I don't
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: really do it this way, you know, no, but uh
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: I do believe there's you know, probably I would say
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: three ways to teach it. Okay, there's on the board,
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: the classroom way some kids you know they're gonna learn
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: in the classroom. And then there's the film showing the
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: kid the like, this is your step, this is what
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: you're doing, you know, look at your drop all these
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: kinds and guys see visually, okay, that's what I look like.
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: Oh man, I'm doing it, I'm not stepping or whatever
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: it might be. And then the last part of it
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: is some guys just learn on the field. They gotta
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: go out there and do it right. So I believe
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: in those three elements of teaching it. That's how I
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: try to approach it. But at the same time, I
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: think it's also part where you have to develop the kid,
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: get them bigger, faster, stronger, all those types of things.
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: And at the same time you're loving on them. You know,
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: you're you're guiding them, you're teaching them, you know, kind
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: of the right way to approach every single day. Try
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: to dominate every single day and win every single day.
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: So it's fun, man, I enjoy that part of it.
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: I'm a huge believer in development. Why because of my story.
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: You know, I was this kid that was probably a
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: two star, three star coming out because I didn't play
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: running back until my senior year, So I developed over
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: time college I developed. So I really believe in developing.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: I don't think I knew you didn't play running back
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: to your senior year.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Yes, I don't think I knew that. I don't think
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: I knew that.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: I got one question for both of y'all did you
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: so y'all played. I don't know what year it was,
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: but you two played in London. You had one hundred
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: and seventy yards.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: So that was two thousand and eight, Yeah, something like that.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: Around two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight, Yeah,
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: somewhere around there.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: We we played the Chargers in London. You had one
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: hundred and seventy yards receiving or maybe it been total.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: I mean it might have been total yards. Yeah, it
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: was so the Danien Thomlinson smoked this look.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: I remember.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: I remember I tried to tackle you and you had
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: a yard you I saw you in the whole I
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: come downhill, I remember, and I went to hit you,
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: and then you weren't there no more.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: You missed a lot of tackles.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: I mean, when you play safety, that happens. And so
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: it was a fantastic spin move.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: I give you credit.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: Like I I that was the first time I'd been
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: like Ladani and Tabs. He did not score though, you
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: put that up. Yeah, yeah, somebody got another back. It
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: was good. But the very next play you guys ran
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: it again because of course they wanted to try to
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: let you get in. And then I made the tackle
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: and so what it does for a young person at
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: me at the time to be able to like man
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: like dude, I thought I had Ladela and Thompson I
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: was gonna get him, and then all of a sudden
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: he was no longer there. And then to come back
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: and battle back confidence wise, yeah, like you didn't even
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: know it, but you made me better because I was like, okay,
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: if I can tackle Ladainia, especially then not even get
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: down on myself in games and confidence, especially after missing
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: one and then coming back. Now, that was a great game.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: I know you guys probably enjoyed London as well, but
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: that was just my experience. I don't know how you
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: remember that play or anything. I think I remember our
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: We used to work out together. It's Chris France, yes, okay,
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: t finished Quest ten.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: Yes, And we used to play this, uh play this
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: little card card game, you know, and I'd win a couple,
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: I'd lose a couple. But we used to take these
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: cards and then TV would just take them and you
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: throw them and you'd have to you'd have to grab
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: He's me you uh.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: We saw be there that.
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: Was like a little spot and sometimes he would throw
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: the fan on. So these cards are blowing in the
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: fan and you gotta grab.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was some good.
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: That's why he was so good at punching the ball. Joke,
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: get in there and punch their ball.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: He had a nice sit from though. I think.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: So one thing I did do that that I stole
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: from you one of your It might have been your coach,
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: and when you went to New York used to used
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: to slap or used to punch the the squad rack,
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: not punch excuse me. You used to hit the used
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: to hit the squad rack with your hand to work
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: on your stiff arm.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: So that was one thing. I know.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't stiff arm with people, but it did make
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: my It did make my hand a.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Little bit strong.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: So I would on your jam, Yeah, my jam, I
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: would just you know, I heard it at first. I'm
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: not gonna lie when you hit straight steel, But yeah,
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: I definitely stole that from you.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: When he I was like, damn, okay, Well I stole
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: some stuff from people too, you know, you know I
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: stole the heels, you know, from Walter Payton. That's right,
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: because in my backyard Bard. Yeah, so I mean I
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: think you know, AI's coach told me speaking about this
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: coaching thing. Okay AI's coach told me, coaching it's all
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: about stealing other people's stuff and putting it in your
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: you know, repertoire.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know.
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: And when you think about it, it is because you
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: combined everything that you was taught, different systems that you
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: were taught, maybe systems that you're around, and you put them,
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: you know, together, and you create your own playbook the.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Coaches clinic, right.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: I mean, if I was a DB's coach, all I
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: would do is take everything that I got from everybody
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: else and then just take like.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: It's all me.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's really just everything as I learned that harp.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Harp do it right here. This is so what moves
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: did you stew from any running backs?
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: Well, jump cut I stole from Barry Sanders. Obviously that
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: that jump cut to be able to get in and
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: out of the hole.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: The stiff arm was something that that really I think
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: I always pretty much had that. I perfected it over
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: time because, like you said, working on it.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: What was the What's the most important part of a
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: great stiff arm?
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: Waiting till the last second? And it's a punch. A
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: lot of people think you throw your arm out there
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: and keep it out there. You do not It is
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: a punch, you know, so right at the last minute
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: is a punch. And what I tried to do it
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: was two places. I wanted to hit the defender, either
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: in the face or in the chest, because when you
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: think about it, you guys are coming before you engage
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: and you do this, So if I can hit the
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: face or the chest, then it's gonna give me space.
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: So yeah, that's what I But if you now certain
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: guys they were quit getting up on you, Yeah, where
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: you couldn't get the stiff arm out, then I would
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: use the forearm to knock their arm down. Then they
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: got to try to tackle me one on. Yeah, that
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: ain't gonna happen.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: See, I was really more with with with the stiff
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: arm you specifically. I knew guys were they would try
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: to punch, so I would try to wait till the
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: last second, and when the guy would stiff arm, I
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: was trying to Yeah, as I swatted it down, then
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to just like wrap my arm around you.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: So yeah, that's that's why. That's why I had to ask.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: I want to know, you know, we teach people like oh, man,
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: you got stiff arm, but like, what's the proper stiff
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: arm technique?
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: I don't think we all asked to write.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: I've never heard anyone ever told me exactly where they
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: want to hit.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Him, exactly that was. That was.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: But it's kind of illegal though, because if I'm a
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: dB and I hit the receiver in the face, he
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: already told me this is.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: All about scoring points. But when you hit me in
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: the face, we're.
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: Trying to talcle me. I just I got to be
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: able to defend myself.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: I have to. I gotta be able to defend my
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: Like he's so small, Like, come on that.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: Are you aware that you and Walter Payton are the
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: only running backs in NFL history with thirteen thousand yards
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: and four thousand yards receiving.
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: No, I did not know that.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Well, welcome learning something new every day.
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: He was my idol, Like he was the one guy
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: that I really wanted to be like, yeah, you know,
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: three down back, you know that you can do it,
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: do it all, even throw the football. So he was
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: a guy that I wanted to be Like, but.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: What does that mean though?
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: When he just he just read that to you, though,
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: you and Walter Payton, I mean him being your idol,
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: that you were the only two people in the history
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: of the game to ever have that statement.
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: Well, you're gonna make me get so deep on you, man,
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: you know, because man, you got to understand, Okay, like
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: I believe in destiny and you know, faith and you know,
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: prophecy on one's life and all those things. Okay. So
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: I grew up in a small place. My family is
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: originally from Marlin, Texas, small country town. A few hundred
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: people in that town. Okay, Nobody that I knew ever
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: had made it to the NFL, you know, never had
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: made it to the Hall of Fame or anything like that. Okay.
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: So when I was fourteen, this prophecy all my life
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: said God will take you places you never imagine if
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: you honor him and give him the glory, okay at fourteen. Okay,
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: So with Walter Payton being my idol, to be able
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: to now say, I'm right beside this man in so
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: many different areas and stats, and I wonder Walter Payton
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: Man of the Year trophy is in my house, you know,
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: as one of my greatest honors. Many people talk about,
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: you know, the resemblance of me and Walter it's a
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: god thing for me. It is a god thing for me,
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: and I don't think it's by accident that I was
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: able to do some of those things.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: We're gonna take a short break and we'll be right back.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Your time in uh San Diego now the LA Chargers,
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: but your time in San Diego yourself. Drew Gates Junior say,
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: ou r ip, what was that locker room like? Having
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: all those vest Hall of famers at that Oh?
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: Man, it was outstanding. But I'll tell you it was
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: a challenge every single day because literally, like it was
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: in practice, it was offensive versus defense. Who's gonna win
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: the day? That's the type of tone the late Junior
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: say I said from day one, it was like offensive.
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: If y'all ain't ready to go, we're gonna embarrass you today,
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: We're gonna embarrass you. And that's the way he practiced.
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: So it lifted everybody else on the team. It lifted
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: the practice, It lifted your spirit, It lifted you know,
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: your talent level because you had to compete every single day.
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: And even when year left, he had laid the foundation
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: where us older guys are. I would say, you know,
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: guys that were starting to come into their prime, me,
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: Drew Brees, you know, guys like that. The offense really
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: became the engine of how we practice now. And we
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: were like defense, if you don't bring today, we're gonna beat.
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: We're gonna eat y'all up today. So the standard was set.
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: So it was very challenging. Like the regiment that Junior
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: laid Man, you know of how to work, you know
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: in the weight room, and you know how to practice
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: and how to even take her your body and eat
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: was unlike nobody else, you know. So I think about
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: he was the main catalyst to what we had in
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: San Diego, all those winning teams. He was the catalyst
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: of building the foundation.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: So at what point in your career do you think,
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: you know what the Hall of fames, the Hall of
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: Fame is gonna happen for me, like I'm a Hall
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: of Famer. Probably like I'm trending towards I'm trying to
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: walk it back because I put words in your mouth.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: But let's just talk about it.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: I mean, in two thousand, what was that two thousand
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: and six when you won the MVP.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: You were the MVP.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: You also won the AP Offensive Player of the Year
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: and Walter Payton.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: Mannadeer in the same year. I don't think.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: I don't know if anybody's ever done that before. I mean,
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: you gotta feel like I'm on top of the world.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: Oh dude, You're like, man, I think I'm gonna be
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: a Hall of Famer after this.
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, No, I didn't. I did it, man, because uh,
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: you know, I was never one of those guys though
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: to look at numbers like where am I, you know,
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: like you know, number wise, I never. I never did that.
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: I just to me, I believed in, you know, the
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: day to day grind, tomorrow is gone. And the reason
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: why I believed in that was my college coach, Dennis FRANCIONI.
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: I guess it was. It was like my junior year.
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: I had just set the NCAA record four hundred and
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: six yards in one game. Okay, I'm on national television ESPN,
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: first time ever. You know, TCU's starting to blow up.
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: Coach calls me in the office. He's sitting on that
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: side of the table, walk in feeling good. So Coach,
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: you look at me, said throw out the paper. Feels
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: pretty good, right. I was just accolades and recognition, and
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: he said, all glory is fleeting say that again, coach,
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: all glory is fleeting. Do you know what that means?
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: I'm in college? Not really everything that you accomplished, no
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: one will care about it. One day. It will be
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: gone here today, gone tomorrow. And that always stuck with
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: me because he said, if you don't keep working, who
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: cares about if you just rush for four hundred yards
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: if you don't keep working. So I always kept that
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: approach with me always, and even after winning the MVP,
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: to me, it was like, what's next, you know, like
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: I got to prove that it wasn't a fluke. People
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: still at that point was like, oh, he's the best
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: all around back. Well, why can't I be the you know,
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: like best all around back? What is that?
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. So it was I could
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: tell that didn't affect you at all at all at all.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: And you know what, man, shout out the coach Frank
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: because he came to Alabama and coached me after that
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: and then left us after a couple of years ago
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: to m But he got it so much successful because
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: of you and what you guys were able to accomplish
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: at TCU. So shout out to him, you know, because
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: they got me. Helped me get They got me to
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: Alabama because they recruited me.
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: They were good recruiters, they were.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: So two thousand and six, y'all go fourteen and two
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Marty shotting harmers a coach divisional round, you make the
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: playoffs and he gets let go after that season. What's
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: the what's the story behind that?
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: Well, there was tension leading up to that season between
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: the GM you know, and the head coach, Marty Schottenhammer
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: and the late A. J. Smith. And you know, we
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: had heard all the speculation, right, We heard about how
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: different stories that came out the building, how they weren't talking,
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: they couldn't see out of our own draft picks, you know,
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: different moves to make you know, around the team. But
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: you know we're winning. So y'all, y'all deal with that now.
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: I bless you. I gotta be honest. So after after
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: that happened, we knew the reason why we knew why,
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: you know, Marty was was the scapegoat because they no
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: longer those two can no longer get, you know, like
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: coexist if you will, And the owner, Dean Spinos obviously
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: had to make a decision. You know, I can't have
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: the organization and the flux like this, the two most
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: important people in this organization don't get along, so made
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: the decision to let Marty go.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: It kind of reminds you of the Bulls back in
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: ninety seven, ninety eight, or I think it was last
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: year ninety eight. Dre Cross's GM Phil Jackson head coach
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: Dreck Crouse says, Hey, I don't care if you go
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: eighty two and oh Phil Jackson will not be the
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: head coach. And they go out and they win a championship,
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: and then they let Phil Jackson go.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: Like I just egos, he just finished watching he just
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: finished watching the last Why are you because you just
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: talked about it?
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: But what was what is Mark? You know everybody everybody
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: loves stop stop. I got one.
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: Marty.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: Seemed like you're you're close. How did that impact you?
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: Like when when they let a great deal a great
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: a great deal.
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: I looked at it as a sign of philosophy change,
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: you know, because I knew who the team ran through
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: at that time. We all knew, you know, going to
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: your point, your first question or your question, you just asked,
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: what is Marty ball? And it was about power football? Okay,
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: we were going to start with the a gap power
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: coming right downhill to see if you can handle it.
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: And it was gonna be impose your will over four quarters.
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: That was the mindset, the mentality of of of our teams.
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: And then off that you had your deep plays to
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: Vincent Jackson and you know, different guys that we had
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: that can go down the field. Antonio Gates was the
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: third down mover, you know, like he was red zone
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: big play guy for us like that. Okay, So when
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: that happened, I said, okay, philosophy for the change, like
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: we're gonna start throwing the ball a little bit more.
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: Philip Rivers was getting a little bit older, right, you know,
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: and listen, So it affected me a great deal. I
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: wasn't quiet about it. Let's just say.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because normal was a norma came tournament, came to
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: head coach and you had I think that was the
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: first year you had lesson three hundred carries. Yeah it was,
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: it was yeah, yeah, yeah, first as you listen, three carries.
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And it really wasn't about the carries, you know, really,
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: because you guys know this, the way you practice, what
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: you work on in practice is going to determine what
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: type of team. You are, absolutely so in practice we
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: went from nine on sevens team runs to.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: Just seven on seven.
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: Team passed.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: You see what I'm saying.
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: But you want to be successful in running the football,
• 30:16
  Speaker 4: it don't work like that. You guys know that you
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: gotta work on it. So then it became you know
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: this think LT loss a step, they can't run the ball, Like,
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: what's going on?
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: That's how they started talking and you're like, I'm not
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: gonna be a productive when I got thirty five, let's carriage.
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: So then when you know when that year that bounced
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: back year, my tenth year with the Jets, and you know,
• 30:46
  Speaker 4: people was like, we thought he was done. See they
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: fooled you. That's how they do. They fooled you, you know,
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: thinking that this guy can't play no more when really
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: a change in Philosopheah, And that's okay, but let's be honest.
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: Let's be honest. Let's not make it look like this
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: person has lost a step or they can't play no more.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: I get it. No, I want her to sink get it,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: speak about it.
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: So after you go through all those things, you end
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: up in New York. I want to ask you about
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: your retirement because you use the word that not everybody uses.
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: But and I want you to tell me about it.
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: You said you you were cool with with where you
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: were at. You're like reached this point. I'm graduating, That's
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: what you said.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: Why you use that.
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: Term, uh, because you know football had given me so much.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: Man.
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: You know, I had been playing since I was seven
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: years old, every single year, preparing for the game every
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: single year, you know, like putting it all out, you know,
• 31:57
  Speaker 4: out there, mind, body in so right. And you know,
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: at that time, I felt like I had done all
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: that I can do. Like I was spent, you know,
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: mentally really not physically. It really wasn't a physical thing.
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: Could I could have continued to play absolutely mentally, emotionally,
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: I was done, you know. And so that's why I
• 32:22
  Speaker 4: said I was graduating because to me, I wasn't done
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: with football just as a player. I was graduating from
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: being a player playing football. When you graduate, you go
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: on to do something else too.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, most a lot of times better. Yeah. Yeah.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: So then you get into the TV space? Were you
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: super competitive in that TV space? When we became a
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: TV analyst.
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: I became Yeah, I became competitive at first. You know,
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: it was a great way for me to transition, you know,
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: because I never thought like I was going to retire
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: and just not do nothing. I wanted to transition and
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: and still be involved in the game, still talk about it,
• 33:05
  Speaker 4: still do research and all that kind of stuff, and
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: it was a great way for me to transition from playing.
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: But I'll tell you when I first got into it, guys,
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: I was I was really shocked at the amount of
• 33:17
  Speaker 4: work that you need to put into it to be good.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 33:21
  Speaker 4: I didn't know how to do television starting out. I
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: really didn't know how to do it. And it was quickly.
• 33:27
  Speaker 4: It was probably halfway through the season that I looked
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: at myself in the mirror and I said, dog, you
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: got you got some work to do, Like you need
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: to get You need to practice. It is home extremely
• 33:40
  Speaker 4: you know, you need to you know, like have a
• 33:44
  Speaker 4: see a voice coach and you know, speaking coach, and
• 33:47
  Speaker 4: you need to take more notes. You need to watch
• 33:50
  Speaker 4: more fem you know all that stuff. And I went
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: to work, just like I did when I was a player.
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: I went to work and that's when I really became
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: more competitive aded watching guys. You know, obviously, you know,
• 34:04
  Speaker 4: working with guys like Michael Irvin and Deon Sanders. You know,
• 34:09
  Speaker 4: was big for me because I got a chance to
• 34:12
  Speaker 4: see how television is done.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Yes, you know which those guys know how to turn
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: it on. Oh man, So it's it's a switch. They
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: know how to turn it on.
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: And you think, well, well, when you watch them on TV,
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: you're like, dude, I mean, it's just talking ball, but
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: it's not really all that. They also know how to
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: put on the production and a show. I think that's
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: another thing that a lot of people don't understand. When
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: you're in the TV world. You think, like, man, oh dude,
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: anybody can talk. They're just really good players. So it's
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: just their name and it really is a lot of
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: film study like LT's talking about. But then it's also
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: what kind of show, what kind of look are they
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: going front? And so that those personal things it can
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: feel personal, but you just got to look at it
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: from the big picture. What was your experience in all that?
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: I mean because me naturally when I got into it.
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: You know, in football, you know you want to put
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: you in high school, you want a place you can
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: get a scholarship. Then when you get a scholarship, you
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: go to school, you're like, dude, I want to start
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: I want to be All Conference or I want to
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: be All American. Then you're like, dude, I'm gonna get
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: to the league, right, it's like steps to it. Yeah,
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: in NFL, I don't think there are steps to it
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: like that. It's not a clear goal you get to
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: a the NFL R.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: I want to be a pro bowler.
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: I want to be highest paid. I want to do this,
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: and TV is not really like that. How do you
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: keep the competitive juices flowing and you're able to do
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: it for ten years? And how do you stay competitive
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: with all like without understanding that. I don't know what
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: that next step is, but I'm still improving.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: I think I approached it much like I did when
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: I was a player, and the thought as a player
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: was I want to do as much as I can't
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: as much as possible as I can. Like on the field,
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: I want to be as diverse as I possibly can.
• 35:57
  Speaker 4: Why Because they'll realize how much I can do and
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: how much they need me. They won't say, oh, you
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: know what, he can't do this, so let's find somebody
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: to replace him because he can't do that.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: Man.
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: That was one of my biggest pet Peeves is being
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: able to You want me to block, I can block.
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: You want me to catch, I'll catch. Run outside of
• 36:18
  Speaker 4: y'all do that inside diversity is what I always kind
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: of prided myself phone. It was the same way in television,
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: meaning I'm on the set with you know, playmaker, you
• 36:30
  Speaker 4: know SAP, I gotta adjust to that energy. I gotta
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: adjust it. I gotta bring it a little bit more.
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: I'm on the set with somebody else that's a little
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: bit you know, a little you know, maybe a little
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: bit you know, kind of not as animated, you know,
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: a little bit more reserve, but more you know, detail,
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: very smart and very analytical. I gotta be able to
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: adjust to someone like that as well. So it was
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: really about learning how to adjust to different sets and shows.
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: And you know, you just learned how to do it.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: So that what I want to know.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: And we've never asked this question, what was your welcome
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: to the TV moment? What was your welcome to your
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: NFL TV moment?
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: Oh man, it was probably one of my first shows.
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: You guys probably don't even remember. We used to do
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: a pregame day show, like before game Day Morning on
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: NFL Network came on and Sterling Sharp was, you know,
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: one of the main hosts on that show. Melissa Stark
• 37:37
  Speaker 4: was was the main host. It was like my first
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: year and dude, I froze up one time, thinking like,
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: oh crap, this is for real, this is live. I'm
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: on TV, you know, and it was kind of like
• 37:49
  Speaker 4: they tossed to me, and it was like and I
• 37:58
  Speaker 4: got stuck when I was going to say, well, it's television,
• 38:02
  Speaker 4: and I remember Sterling Sharp just saying, don't ever quit talking. Yeah,
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: he's not wrong, he said, I don't care what you say.
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: Do not do that.
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: Quit Well, now it's like an awkward pause on TV
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: because now the viewers view was like.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I was like, how did you get it? How
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: did you get out of that?
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: It just what And it must have felt like twenty minutes, yeah,
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: eight seconds, max, Max Max.
• 38:34
  Speaker 4: I just snapped out of it. It just started to
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: you know, talk, you know, I snapped out of it.
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: But it was that first moment where, oh, shoot, this
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: is for real, I'm on TV.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: Oh man, that's funny. I'm like you, I didn't know.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's real though.
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: I if you've been on TV one, yes, you will
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: have had what was quick man.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: It's not even a welcome to the well.
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: I've probably had one a couple of years, a couple
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: of things my first year doing TV, it's just a
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: couple of awkward moments and pauses. You also got there
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: doing COVID, so it was a totally different experience because
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: I didn't have people around me on the desk. I
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: was just talking in a camera like this and the
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: mixed minuses.
• 39:20
  Speaker 4: I'll just tell you, you know, the other thing doing I
• 39:22
  Speaker 4: guarantee this happened to you, is to talk. When you
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: first hear people talking, when you're talking.
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: Like oh my god, well you're not even really supposed
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: to listen, but if they're trying to tell you like
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: to give the count out. And the first time you
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: hear it, when you're talking and they start talking, you
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: like stop. Yes, You're like oh, and then and they're
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: like don't stop talking. Okay, Well then it's you start
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: talking back to the person here in your ear.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: You're not supposed to do any of that.
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: So I did a couple of that early because it
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: was and I'm just talking to a camera in the
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: middle of COVID, and so it was very, very awkward,
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: and it's it's something.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: You have to learn how to deal. We got to
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: work on it. One thing that I did do.
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: I was at Old Miss this past year and they
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: have this whole little cheer where you kind of like
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: you say one thing and it starts off their whole
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: little fight cheer, yell thing whatever, and I totally I
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: said something the wrong thing and they always just looked
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: at me like, but.
• 40:19
  Speaker 4: You're not supposed to be saying that. I mean, that's a.
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: I know, but you know TV, you're trying and trying
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: to say it like we like everybody, so you know,
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: that's what that was.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: And everybody just looked at me like and then they.
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: Were like, that was not it, that's not it. I
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: was like, my bad, So yeah it was live. I did.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: I probably did, and they get They just kind of
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: like shows you.
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's not even that bad, especially when
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: you just blow through it.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: It's all good. But yeah, it was. It was. It
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: was funny, man, it was. It was actually very embarrassing.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: We're gonna take a short break and we'll be right back.
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: I just didn't know how close we were, Like how
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: much my dog here really like helped set up all
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: the success I've had in my life. So you helped
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: set up Dennis Franconi coach Chris Sturman, who's the dB
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: coach at TC, who recruited me, came to my house,
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: ate my mom's food every week, like, recruited me hard,
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: showing up to all of a sudden get me to
• 41:27
  Speaker 3: Alabama despite them leaving.
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: He's the one that got me there.
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: And then not only that, you know you in that
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: draft class with you going first round, Drew going second round,
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: and then whatever happened, and then all of a sudden
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: you let you guys, let Drew get over to where
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: I went to New Orleans get drafted in two thousand
• 41:46
  Speaker 3: and six, the year he got there.
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: I did not know. We were just tied to all.
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: My success really from a lot of your success.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: Man, this is complete privacy. And I appreciate you. Appreciate
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: you because I would not I don't know where I
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: would have done if I didn't go to Alabama but
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: didn't go to wherever I.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Was at, you could have came to you.
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: Well, probably not, So I appreciate you. I appreciate you.
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: And I don't know what these people meant to you
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: in your life, but they meant a ton for me
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: in my life.
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well.
• 42:21
  Speaker 4: You know their coaching staff, man, I think they were.
• 42:25
  Speaker 4: They were really the first staff to because they didn't
• 42:28
  Speaker 4: recruit me, like there was a staff before. French. You
• 42:32
  Speaker 4: only got there French, you only got there my sophomore year. Okay,
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: so I'm fit to tell you who were recruited me.
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: You guys gonna know the name. Remember Pat Sullivan, old
• 42:42
  Speaker 4: Auburn quarterback control. He was the head coach at TCU
• 42:46
  Speaker 4: at that time. He recruited me to TCU. Okay, he
• 42:50
  Speaker 4: got fired after my first year. We went one in ten. Okay,
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: only whin was smu arrival. So we beat our. I
• 42:57
  Speaker 4: mean we beat our the last game we were owing.
• 43:00
  Speaker 4: That was that was about that.
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: That is great.
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: It's basically my college career all four years.
• 43:07
  Speaker 4: So he gets fired and Dennis Francioni and his staff
• 43:10
  Speaker 4: come in and and the rest is history. Like he
• 43:13
  Speaker 4: really coach. Fran believed in me. And then Drew Man.
• 43:18
  Speaker 4: Drew was a great friend. Like I knew Drew was
• 43:21
  Speaker 4: going to have success, like you can see it on
• 43:24
  Speaker 4: some guys. Some guys are just winners, like they get it.
• 43:28
  Speaker 4: And I knew Drew back in high school and so
• 43:30
  Speaker 4: he was a winner in high school, winner at Purdue.
• 43:33
  Speaker 4: He was just a winner. And when you know, when
• 43:36
  Speaker 4: he heard his shoulder that last game, man, and obviously
• 43:39
  Speaker 4: it made it easy for.
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: The Chargers to make that.
• 43:43
  Speaker 4: Go with Philip. I just fell for him, man. I
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: felt so bad for him. But I knew. I knew
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: he would land on his feet and that he would
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: have success. So you're welcome.
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: I appreciate that. I'm cool with that. I'm cool. You're welcome.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: I like that.
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: So Mount Rushmore, you get four picks of people that
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: have had influence, people that have poured into you, people
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: that I've loved on you, people that helped raise you,
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: teach you, mentor you from the time you were born
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: till today. Who are those four people?
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: Wow?
• 44:16
  Speaker 4: Man, boy, you got some hard hitting questions. Oh man,
• 44:23
  Speaker 4: I mean first, you know, obviously it's my mom. You know,
• 44:26
  Speaker 4: mom was you know, like when I think about I
• 44:30
  Speaker 4: wasn't supposed to be successful. I mean everything that you
• 44:34
  Speaker 4: think about that hinders a kid from being successful. I
• 44:39
  Speaker 4: had aim you know, low income family, southside of Waco, Texas.
• 44:46
  Speaker 4: Parents were divorced when I was young. Older brother murdered
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: he was in the streets selling dope, you know, all
• 44:56
  Speaker 4: those things societies say. You know you're gonna follow down
• 45:01
  Speaker 4: that same path, you're not supposed to make it out.
• 45:06
  Speaker 4: And my mom was just so strong. Man, she was
• 45:09
  Speaker 4: just so will to keep us on the straight and narrow,
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: to help us and nurture us to realize in our dreams.
• 45:18
  Speaker 4: So my mom was, you know, really the first person.
• 45:24
  Speaker 4: And then I would say, man, my older cousin. Man,
• 45:28
  Speaker 4: I had an older cousin, my mom's sister son. He
• 45:32
  Speaker 4: was like the big cause, seven years older than me.
• 45:36
  Speaker 4: And man, he inspired me because as you probably can
• 45:40
  Speaker 4: attest to, I tell people all the time, Texas high
• 45:43
  Speaker 4: school football for us as kids, that was the NFL.
• 45:47
  Speaker 4: If we got to play Texas High school football, we
• 45:50
  Speaker 4: made it. We're gonna be on TV. And so I
• 45:58
  Speaker 4: remember when I was young, my big cousin play wide receiver.
• 46:01
  Speaker 4: But he was starting out there Friday night lights and
• 46:04
  Speaker 4: I used to hang on the gate watching him. He
• 46:07
  Speaker 4: was my hero. Yes, so and he inspired me.
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: Man.
• 46:11
  Speaker 4: He used to spend time with me, picking me up,
• 46:13
  Speaker 4: you know, taking me places. But as he got older,
• 46:17
  Speaker 4: you know, it was even the life lesson stuff, Like
• 46:20
  Speaker 4: he got an a dope game, you know, became a
• 46:23
  Speaker 4: big time drug dealer, house getting raided, you know, very
• 46:27
  Speaker 4: close to going to the penitentiary, gave it all up,
• 46:31
  Speaker 4: became legit hardworking man, you know what I mean. So
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: these are the things that I'm seeing, So he has
• 46:38
  Speaker 4: to be he has to be on there.
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: I love that you was hanging on the gate everybody. Yeah,
• 46:45
  Speaker 3: it's a vivid picture because I was that. I was
• 46:48
  Speaker 3: a kid too. That was like just looking at high
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: school players and it's amazing. I didn't have any family
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: out there, but it's amazing. Like man like my cousin
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: like that was it, Like that is my hero just
• 47:02
  Speaker 3: hanging on.
• 47:03
  Speaker 4: Hanging on the Friday night the gate, you know, Marty
• 47:08
  Speaker 4: Schottenheimer and just and and you know the humility of
• 47:15
  Speaker 4: the man. And I'm gonna tell y'all story. So you know,
• 47:23
  Speaker 4: I knew my family history, okay, I mean and my
• 47:26
  Speaker 4: grand granddad, great granddad, And I knew my granddad worked
• 47:30
  Speaker 4: in the fields, you know, he picked cotton. Granddad. I
• 47:34
  Speaker 4: never got a chance to meet him.
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: Okay. So I had an older father.
• 47:39
  Speaker 4: So my father when he had me, he was forty five,
• 47:42
  Speaker 4: forty six when he had my last my younger brother.
• 47:46
  Speaker 4: He was fifty. So imagine I had an older father.
• 47:49
  Speaker 4: So I grew up hearing about these stories of my granddad,
• 47:53
  Speaker 4: you know, in the cotton fields, you know, and boy
• 47:56
  Speaker 4: and all that kind of stuff. Well, Marty he had
• 48:01
  Speaker 4: you know, a bad I don't know like, you know,
• 48:04
  Speaker 4: he just would sometimes he would just say boy, you know,
• 48:07
  Speaker 4: like and it always made me cringe, you know. And
• 48:12
  Speaker 4: I never built up enough courage at the time to
• 48:14
  Speaker 4: say something to him. But over time, as I, you know,
• 48:19
  Speaker 4: spend more time with Marty, my wife and I would
• 48:21
  Speaker 4: go up, you know, to his summer home, him and
• 48:25
  Speaker 4: Pat Shottenheimer and spend time with him. So, I mean,
• 48:30
  Speaker 4: we would have great talks about life, how to be
• 48:34
  Speaker 4: a husband, you know, how to be a father, all
• 48:36
  Speaker 4: those things. So one day I said, coach Man, I said,
• 48:40
  Speaker 4: I gotta tell you. I mean, I love you, man,
• 48:42
  Speaker 4: I said, but you know, my family history ran it
• 48:45
  Speaker 4: down to him. I said, Coach, I can't. I can't
• 48:48
  Speaker 4: stand when you say boy to me, you know, it
• 48:50
  Speaker 4: makes me cringe. And he looked at me. He said,
• 48:54
  Speaker 4: lt I never thought about it. I'm so sorry. I
• 48:57
  Speaker 4: will never I would never use that again. He never
• 49:00
  Speaker 4: use it again. Just like that, he never did it again.
• 49:04
  Speaker 4: So the humility of this man, you know, and all
• 49:08
  Speaker 4: the talks and stuff that we you know, had over
• 49:10
  Speaker 4: the years, and just teach me how to be a husband,
• 49:14
  Speaker 4: you know, like the things that I should do. I
• 49:16
  Speaker 4: was freshly married, you know, and you know he was.
• 49:22
  Speaker 4: He was definitely you know, that person for me. And
• 49:26
  Speaker 4: then I would say, probably my my running backs coach
• 49:30
  Speaker 4: in high school, Walter Brown. You're talking about someone that
• 49:36
  Speaker 4: just cared about a kid. You know, my call would breakdown,
• 49:41
  Speaker 4: you know, he would come get me from Wale across town.
• 49:44
  Speaker 4: You know, he had a family. Anything that I needed,
• 49:48
  Speaker 4: he was there and even beyond you know, I'm talking
• 49:51
  Speaker 4: about it at an adolescent age because my father wasn't there.
• 49:56
  Speaker 4: He was really the father figure. This is sit up,
• 50:00
  Speaker 4: that's right, you know. You know, this is don't wear
• 50:01
  Speaker 4: those earrings, this is you know, that's not how we
• 50:04
  Speaker 4: shake my hand. You know, like stuff like that. He
• 50:08
  Speaker 4: really poured into me like I was his own sign.
• 50:12
  Speaker 4: So I would say, those those people are really something.
• 50:17
  Speaker 3: That's a great mound. You putting your high school coach
• 50:20
  Speaker 3: up there makes me go back to where we started
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: at with you being the high school coach, understanding how
• 50:26
  Speaker 3: important that is. Full circle, it's full circle foundation, yes,
• 50:30
  Speaker 3: and that when you're the high school coach, it's not
• 50:33
  Speaker 3: always about the wins and losses. It's about everything else
• 50:37
  Speaker 3: and helping these young men become these young these young
• 50:40
  Speaker 3: boys become young men. And and it's it's that part
• 50:44
  Speaker 3: of it. It's going to pick them up for practice
• 50:46
  Speaker 3: because they ain't got a ride. It's maybe having to
• 50:49
  Speaker 3: buy him a little breakfast because they ain't had no
• 50:51
  Speaker 3: you know, And it's it's going to you know, man,
• 50:55
  Speaker 3: when you know they about to go out and party
• 50:57
  Speaker 3: and do that, Hey, be safe, you know what I mean,
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: like maybe being there because you understand what it's all about.
• 51:04
  Speaker 3: And so I just think that's amazing, And I know
• 51:08
  Speaker 3: you understand that. I probably don't have to repeat it,
• 51:11
  Speaker 3: but I just realized how full circle your Mount Rushmore
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: is into your life and where you are right now.
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: Absolutely you didn't have to repeat it, but you did.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: It was just so good. I wanted him to kind
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: of I want him to, I want to pull something
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: out of him.
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a good connection. I got it.
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: It was good. So when you're gonna start picking up
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: kids whenever I need you.
• 51:35
  Speaker 4: Okay, I mean I've already so I've been coaching the
• 51:39
  Speaker 4: last two years on a smaller scale.
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: Okay, Okay.
• 51:42
  Speaker 4: When I say smaller scale, I'm talking about six man football.
• 51:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah you know, so I started. I started there, and man,
• 51:50
  Speaker 4: you're talking about I was picking kids up.
• 51:52
  Speaker 2: You know, do you have a big ass pickup truck.
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: He's from Texas, dude, three.
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: Coach got the puck, got the big pick up. Every
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: coach got the big pickup truck. You got the boots?
• 52:12
  Speaker 4: No, oh yeah, of course, of course I got. Come on,
• 52:16
  Speaker 4: that's a must. You gotta have the one thing I got.
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: I ain't never had the boots.
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: You never had boots?
• 52:22
  Speaker 4: When when you really, you know, from Texas, you got
• 52:25
  Speaker 4: to have the boots that are embroidery abroad with you know,
• 52:29
  Speaker 4: your name, your initials or so, your custom made boots.
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: Okay, see I don't have custom man. That's what I got.
• 52:37
  Speaker 4: I got to you gotta get the customer.
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm not from Texas.
• 52:41
  Speaker 2: I'm from Texas, but I just ain't.
• 52:42
  Speaker 4: I just never been a boot guy.
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: I mean I got some tims that.
• 52:46
  Speaker 4: No, they don't, they don't qualify.
• 52:51
  Speaker 2: I got you, I got you lc A man. We
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: appreciate you calling on the podcast.
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: This was dope. I appreciate you.
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: I knew some of your story.
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: I didn't know all of your story. So thank you
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: for just expressing and opening up to us and just
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: letting us hear what you had to say. And I'm
• 53:06
  Speaker 2: really excited for the kids that you get to pour
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: into and hopefully one day they might make it to
• 53:13
  Speaker 2: the league. And when the people doing this show after us,
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: they asked him who they mount. Rushmore is like, oh yeah,
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: definitely Dan Thompson, Like he used to did this, He
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: did that, you know, my high school running game coordinator.
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: He did all these amazing things for him and make
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: it another full circle moment.
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: Man, You've been blessed beyond.
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: Measure and I just wish you nothing but more success
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: in your third phase, your third act.
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 53:38
  Speaker 4: Appreciate you guys.
• 53:39
  Speaker 3: Pledgere no doubt man and not. They're not gonna call
• 53:42
  Speaker 3: you the run game coordinator. You're gonna be the offensive coordinator.
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: No, you're gonna be the head coach.
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: There it is. You're gonna be doing all that the
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: head coach.
• 53:49
  Speaker 3: Great job, man, I gotta tell you just uh, this
• 53:51
  Speaker 3: is my first time actually really getting to just pull
• 53:53
  Speaker 3: it back and listen to you and talk to you more.
• 53:55
  Speaker 3: And man, you were supposed to be a statistic on
• 53:58
  Speaker 3: the other side listening to your story, but you're statistic.
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: On the right side.
• 54:02
  Speaker 3: And so we could use it as a great example
• 54:04
  Speaker 3: for so many other young people that could really hear
• 54:07
  Speaker 3: your story. And I appreciate it, and I hope we
• 54:09
  Speaker 3: get to share it with him, So thank you for that, Bro,
• 54:11
  Speaker 3: appreciate it.
• 54:12
  Speaker 4: Man.
• 54:12
  Speaker 3: All of our viewers and listeners out there, wherever you
• 54:14
  Speaker 3: pick up your podcast at whether his, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts,
• 54:18
  Speaker 3: make sure you give us a five star rating, review,
• 54:20
  Speaker 3: quick follow, share, comment, you know, talk to Peanut a
• 54:23
  Speaker 3: little bit, tell him what he could be doing better,
• 54:25
  Speaker 3: all right, and uh.
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: Peanut, get us out of here.
• 54:29
  Speaker 2: Make sure you tell a friend and tell a friend
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: check us out on the NFL's YouTube channel. That's LT
• 54:35
  Speaker 2: I'm Peanut, That's Rome and this is the NFL Player's
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: second Acts podcast, a all we out