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Perspectives - Rashean Mathis · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: The following presentation of the Jaguars podcast network is presented
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: by Bistar credit. Quiet was his calling card and to
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: talk with Rashine Mathis today, it's clear he'd rather do
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: than say. But Mathis was a silent assassin on the field.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Just ask Ben Roethlisberger in a locker room filled with
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: oversized personalities. His was nearly imperceptible. His game, his stats,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: his results were anything. But this is perspectives, the story
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: of the Jaguars first twenty five seasons told by the
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: people who built the franchise from the ground up. This
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: is Rashine Mathis. He grew up on the field at
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: south Side Middle School and at Englewood High School, in
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the shadows of t i A A bank field. He
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: became m a Jackguards fan the day they started playing,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: never thinking that those fields on the south side of
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: the St. John's would lead to this one where the
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Quiet kid would become a star. I still don't know
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: if I understand the importance of me being here. Um
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: and I don't know if it's humility or just um ignorance,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: because I just was doing I was just competing um
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: and I love to compete. UM. So people asked like,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: why why don't you parade around like you're who you are?
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: And I was like, I'm just Rischine, like I was
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: just born to compete. God gave me ability and ability
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: to compete in in athleticism, and I just do it
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: to my best. So one day I will I will
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: understand the impact UM and how rare it is to
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: be drafted for your home team, play here for ten
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: years and be very successful at it. UM. The only
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: thing I know is I have to pick my spots
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: around town to go. I can't go anywhere everywhere. That's
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: the only thing that's But other than that, I'm still
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: I'm machine. I'm I'm that guy from south Side Middle
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: from from Englewood High School, the same guy that you
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: know did some stupid stuff at b Thune Cookman UM.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Like that's that's that's that's who I am. UM. And
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: competing with just a vital part of it. And it
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: allowed me to see some things and accomplish some things
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: that I I wish everyone who had the God building
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: ability and take advantage of can can do UM. But
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: for the guys who came in town, you know, because
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Brian Williams is one of my guys like he he
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: came in and he was he was a little more
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: flashier than me. Um, but we we we we clicked
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: very well. Um. So he was like, Okay, what is
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: it to do here? Man? I'm I'm how how's the nightlife? Like?
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: What's going on? What's going But at that point, like
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: that wasn't part of who I was. Um, So I
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: was like, man, it's something to do. You know. It's
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: not a big city. Um, you know, but you can
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: you can do a lot and stay out of trouble
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: in Jacksonville. You don't have to worry about a lot
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: of stuff happening and your name getting around town and
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: things of that nature. So, um, I can tell you
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: where the eateries are because I don't even when I
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: first When we first came, the town center had just came.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: So it was like, okay, we have a little shopping now.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: We we don't have to drive to our lando or
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: do because the online shopping wasn't that big yet, so
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: it was like you have to go out of town.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: So most people did their shopping out of town. So
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: it was it was I was like, this is a
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: family town. Like if you want, if you want longevity,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: in your career. You're in the right place because it's
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: not too much to get into. You can keep your
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: head down and you can plug away. Because that's that's
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: how I always um sold Jacksonville, like this is a
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: place you can You're gonna have great success at. Keep
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: your head down. You don't have to worry about getting
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: in trouble too much at night, and you can you
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: could be a pro here. Um. So the city is growing,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: is it's a lot different now, which is a good thing.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Which is a good thing. Um. But that was Jacksonville
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: when I was here. So being the native son Um,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: I I think I think Jacksonville. I I I apologize
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: to Jacksonville as well, because I don't think I took
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: advantage of a lot of the opportunities that that I
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: could have had, because I just wanted to plug away
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: and just do my job to the best, to my
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: best ability. UM. And I feel now I still have
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: some making up to do because um just even being here. Um,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: I've been here twice in the last week. UM, and
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: that's a lot for me. UM. Because I try to
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: stay under the radar. I try to keep my head down. UM.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: I'm not a flashy guy. Um, I like to plug away.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm a family guy. Um and I like to
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: do things the right way. Um. But that being said,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: I feel there's a lot of lives I could have
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: personally touched. Um and I'm I'm looking after those lives now.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to get out and branch out a little
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: more now. But I think Jacksonville for everything that has
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: done for me. Umm, I'm indebted to this city because
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: you know, with with without them, I wouldn't be here.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: I understand that. So I'm very appreciative, in in a
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: in a in a good way. Mathis wasn't an unknown
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: at Englewood High, the biggest of schools. Knew his name,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: and only a broken leg his senior year cost him
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: a shot at the big time. But that's not entirely accurate.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: It was more of a detour. My oldest brother was
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: an avid football guy. Um My, the one that's right
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: over me, My second oldest, he's he was six five,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: so he dabbled into basketball and football. UM, but I
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: always the baseball guy. My grandmother didn't let me play
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: football growing up. She said you're too small. Um, So
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: I stuck to baseball. I stuck to baseball and I
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: love it, still have a passion to this day. Um
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: But I had two older brothers playing football, and my oldest,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the one right over me. He was two years older
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: than me. So when I got into the ninth grade,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: he was in eleventh grade and he was the BMOC.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: He was the big man on campus um basketball in football.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: So I decided to go out for spring. I meant, well,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: summer ball, and that means attempting to make the varsity team,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: and that this is my first crack at it. So
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: my brother and his friends are just throwing me around
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: out there on the football field, and I lasted a weekend,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: was like, you know what, this might not be for me.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna just stick back and I'll play JV first.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: So I stopped. I stopped going out, and I made
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: the JV team. And then going forward, long story short,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: my sophomore year, I was the only sophomore on the
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: varsity team. Um so, and I loved it, you know,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: um well, I was having fun. I wouldn't say I
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: loved it. Was having fun. And then my old my
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: brother came up to me. He was a senior. I
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: was a sophomore. M only sophomore on the team, and
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: he came up to me after like probably mid mid
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: after the season. UM. He said, or sane, you know what,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: you might need to stick with baseball and UM basketball
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: and track because you're not taking this serious. You're gonna
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: get hurt out here. UM. And from that point on
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: I took it serious. UM. And once he went off
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: to college and he came back, I was the BMOC
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: now I was the big man on campus. And he
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: was like, what in the world has happened? Um? And
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: he was enjoying watching me Blake So UM my senior
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: year man one of my best friends, UM me Carl,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: he was running back. We were just talking about the
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: letters that we started receiving from college, and it was
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: excitement build up, like you know, we was getting letters
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: from college and we knew at this time that this
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: was well me personally, single parent home. This was my
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: gateway to college, Like there was no like, this was
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: the steps of going into college through sports. UM. And
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: started off great. Um started off great. My senior year.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: We beat the number one team in the city and
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: one of the top ranked teams in reigns. I had
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: like three or four interceptions returned one back for ninety yards.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: So I'm thinking the sky's the limit. Um. Fifth game
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: of the season, we played Terry Parker. I broke my leg. Um.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: And then this was back in so you know, a
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: broken leg was a big deal. It's not like now
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: you break a leg, it's like okay, boom whatever. Um.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: But then you know I had before then, I had
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: already visited Florida State. Um. And that was that was
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: that was that was it. That was a team. I
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: knew the I knew the roster. UM. I knew everybody
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: on the team. And but in after I broke my leg,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: it was like, boom, you can maybe come to a partial.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: We don't. I'm not sure. But single parent home it was.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: It was it was out of the question, um. And
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: it was a gut shot. It was a gut shot,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: a reality check. And especially when the schools the bigger,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, you name the letters, I had them, um,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: and once once those weren't coming anymore, it was like, okay,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: why where do I go from here? UM. I remember
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: sitting in getting called to the front office and Citadel
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: and b Thune Cookman was in the office, like and
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: you know, I didn't even know who these schools were
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: even though, but Thorne was right down the road. But
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: my older brother went to a h b c U
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: and he was like, don't go to an HBCU just
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: for the publicity, just just for career wise, Um, nothing
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: other than that. And come to find out, my future
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: head coach in college, his brother taught at my high school.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: So he was like, we have this kid here or so,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: but done her got the word and I visited there
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: and it was history from there. So um, you know,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: faith has it. Faith has it, and I ended up
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: in the right place. You know. It was overwhelming. Actually,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: as any freshman, regardless of how big you think you are,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: you you realize that, you know, most of the time
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: you realize, well, me, um, I feel I'm a humble
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: and individual. So I respect those that are older and
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: was there before me. Um. But I started out you know,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: playing great. Um, not unnoyingly what it will lead to,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: but just started out competing and that's what I do.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Compete and then let the rest take care of yourself.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: So my sophomore year, I had eleven interceptions. Um. My
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: defensive coordinator, Um, who's an amazing, amazing guy, Pete Adrian.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: He left my junior year. A lot of people don't
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: know this to coach to be a defensive coordinator at
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: in the XFL. The XFL that only lasted a year,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: so this is faith like it only last of the year.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: So he came back to Bethune to be my defensive coordinator.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: The year he left, I only had like three or
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: four interceptions. So with him, I had eleven. After he left,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: I had three or four. When he came back, I
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: had fourteen my senior year. Fourteen interceptions my senior year.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: So boom, eyes open. It was like, wow, you have
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: a shot. So going through that listening to um Keiper
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: and like all of these draft draft guys, and I
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: was like, Okay, where do I fit in. I'm a
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: small school guy. I'm hearing that I'm a small school guy. Um,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: but I know I'm a competitor. So I was like, okay,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: so how are they gonna view me? So I was
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: just like, Okay, I'm just gonna do everything I need
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: to do. I'm gonna run as fast as I can,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna lift as much as I can. Um, nobody
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: is gonna outdo me. Um. I'm gonna make sure of that.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: So that won't be a reason why they say I
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: can't compete at the next level. So but then UM
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: agents start coming. They drew interest and agents started coming
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: with my senior year in high school, different agencies, and
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: I was like, okay, wow, this is something different, Like
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: I wasn't I'm not prepared for this UM. So I
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: had a little guidance from the school. But then Senior
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Bowl Senior Bowl happened, and that's when I knew I
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: could compete. Once I've seen all the best guys in
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: in the country and I was right there with them,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: and I've seen how I lined up against them, and
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, I got this, Like I'm not worried,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Like my my skill set will speak for itself. I
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: put in the work and now it's time to compete UM.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: And and that was it. That that's the moment when
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, if these are the guys who's
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: making it to the next level and succeeding, I'm I'm okay,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: I can I can do this. He knew he could play,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: and as you can clearly here, he'd go anywhere and
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: compete at anything at any time. So he wasn't even
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: thinking about Jacksonville. When the jack Words called, I knew,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: you know, it was a couple of teams Jack's Green Bay.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: There was a couple of other teams that came down
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: to work me out. UM while at Batoon, UM, So
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: I knew it was a possibility that it could be.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: I didn't know the rounds. Even though it was I
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: was projected, I didn't know. Um. I knew I was
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: better than a lot of the guys who were projected
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: to go before maybe before me and the in the draft,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: but I didn't know me being drafted. Was it like
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: I didn't care where I ended up. It wasn't you know?
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: It was too Maybe to my friends, Okay, I'm better
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: than this guy, better than that guy. But in my heart,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: I was like I just need a shot. I just
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: need a shot. Um. So when UM Disney actually called,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: I was at Walt Disney World at Wild World of Sports,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: and they was like, okay, we'll do your draft party.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: So me and my family drove down to Disney and
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: we did a draft party. Me and my family and
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: friends UM drove down to Disney and we had a
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: draft party there. UM. And when it was coming up,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: my brother was like, your Jacks is about to get you.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: You're still on the board. Jacks is about to get you,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: and I'm in the moment. So I'm just watching it
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: and I see a couple of people going before me,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: and I was like, this guy is not better than me.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: This guy is not better than me, but you know,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: still not you know, I'm not saying it arrogantly, but
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: just saying I've seen this guy compete. Um. So when
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: they called, I don't even remember it because my family
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: was just you know, they knew the Jack was next,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: and they knew what the call meant. Um. So when
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: I got that called, it was overwhelming. It was it
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: was overwhelming, to say the least. Like but I'm always
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: a reset thinker, so I was happy, but I was
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: thinking about I need to get to the stadium. I
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: need to start competing. I need to show them that
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: they didn't take the wrong person in the second round.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: So that's my mindset. It's like, I guess I was
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: born to be a corner because okay, I could have
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: got to pick that previous series series, but that doesn't
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: mean they're not coming back at me. I need to
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: be ready to compete, like and and that's what it was,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: So that's that's that's kind of how my mindset. UM
• 15:08
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  Speaker 1: insured by n c U. A. Mathis started at Free
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Safety on opening day in Carolina as a rookie and
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: made the first of his franchise best thirty interceptions. It
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: was clear early that he was a steel in the
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: second round and that he was out of position. I
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: love Free Safety. I still do to this day. UM.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: I thought about even moving later in my career because
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Free Safety came very very easy to me, like very
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: easy to me. UM. It's just something about knowing where
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: to be and you know, and at the right time. UM,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: and I had that coming. I had that at free safety. UM,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: I knew how to cut fields off and all of
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: that stuff. So, UM the end, my mindset was I
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: just need to be on the field, like anywhere on
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: the field, whether it's nickel, whether it's free safety, whether
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: it's wherever, wherever y'all put me, I'm gonna show you
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: that I can play. So I tested, I tested spots
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: and because they were like, okay, you're a small free safety.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: You're a tall and lanky corner. I don't know if
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: you can move your feet as well. So these this
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: is all the take on you know, taller corners. How
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: quick are your feet? Can you run? Can you stop
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: on time? Um? So started at free safe. They had
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: amazing tutelage from Donovan Darius in Marlon McCree, who you
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: know the position I end up taking. But he was
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: that they both was vital in my UM progression as
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: as as a pro um. Jason Kraft got hurt fifth game,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: like around fifth game fix six, fifth sixth game of
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: the season, and they were like, okay, do we bring
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: in a reserve corner or do we move for shean.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I think we picked up deep Cooper um So he
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: was like, okay, boom move me there. So I was like, okay, UM,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: let's let's go. Let's compete. It's the same. It's it's
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: regardless of where I'm at on the field, I'm gonna
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: find a way to win and compete. Um. So I
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: was just competing like it was just like playing. And
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: then my agent was like, okay, Rashin, now here's the kicker.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: You're at right now, your position, You're where the money is. UM.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: I know you can play both, but this is where
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: it's at. UM, you might need to think about staying here. Um.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: So saying that, I was like, Okay, well I can
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: play it. I showed I can play it. So and
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: not knowingly, they weren't trying to move me because it
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: was a rarity for you know, tall guy being able
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: to play corner um. So I would you know, I
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I settled in and and I guess I made my
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: head at um corner um and and the rest is history.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: He was a star, but you had to look to
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: find him in a locker room filled with top players
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: and oversized personalities. Mathis didn't mind. In fact, he thrived
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: in that environment and simply went to work. My first
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: year was it flew by um I'll just kept my
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: head down and was just plugging away. UM. And I
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: would say probably that about my second year as well,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: because it was it was still trying to find my footage,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: but I was enjoying the ride. I kept my head down,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: but I was enjoying the ride. So seeing people leave,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: seeing people go, that was kind of new to me
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: coming from college. Because everyone stayed in college. You really
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: didn't see unless you had great troubles or something. UM.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: So that was kind of new to me. Um. People
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: fighting position for positions every day. So that was like, okay,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: like now you have to fall in love with this game. UM.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: And I didn't actually fall into I was. I always
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: loved competing, but I actually didn't fall in love with
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: football until after my second year in the league. I
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: just love competing, but to be great at football, I
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: had to fall in love with football. So, UM, I
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: don't know what made me realize that, but I fell
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: in love with football. I fell in love with the game,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: and I approached it differently. UM. So I was able
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: to see different positions and respect them for what they were,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: and I was able to realize the different personalities, like
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: you mentioned, um, that we had on this team, and
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: it was amazing locker room, it was, it was fun
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: to be in. It was it was I think everyone
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: aroun around you to your point, Everyone around you knew
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: that we were gonna be good. Um they we knew
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: we had all the twols Um pieces missing a piece
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: here or there. But I think we when we got
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Deon Grant on the defensive side of the ball, Um
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: from Carolina, because him and Jack had history. Him and
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Jack had history at Carolina. So when we got Deon Grant,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: we plugged in a couple of pieces on offense. Um,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: we got Um a kick returner, we got Jamal. It
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: was just a couple of pieces. We knew we were
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: missing in spots, and once we started plugging in spots,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: it was like, Okay, we have something special. Um. And
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: and I think that's where Jack confidence. He knew we
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: had a court, We had a core. But to be
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: successful in this game, you need more than just a core.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: You need pieces around them that can perform when it's
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: time to perform, make the simple plays when it's time
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: to make the simple plays. And although Jack wore his
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: you know emotions on the sleeve, Um, he was a
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: player's coach. He was a player's coach. He still thought
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: he can play. UM. So he thought he can play everything,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: whether it doesn't matter what it is, with it with
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: the ball, Jack feels that he's good at it. UM.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: So we were building something here UM, and I think
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: only we knew it. Only we knew it. The league
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: didn't know it. UM. I don't even know if the
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: city sinsed it. UM. But the pieces that we had
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: UM because Byron was still part of Byron was still
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: a vital part of it. UM. But we knew we
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: were building something. We knew we had a core quarterbacks
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: who can play. UM. We knew we you know, we
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: got later on down the road, we got Mojo, UM,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: we got Mercedes. We had and when we already had
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Kyle so we had George Rice Stir. We had different
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: sorts of tight ends to do different type of things. UM.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: So everything was looking up for us. Everything was looking
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: up for us, and when when it was time to play,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: we we bonded. We bonded in camp like no other
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Like we were just doing stuff outside of the field. UM.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Guys had their lives, but we respected each other and
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: we were doing stuff together and it showed on the field.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: The respect level that we had for each other, um,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: regardless about the different personalities. When it was time to
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: step between those lines, everyone had a respect for the game. UM.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: And no one was gonna touch us without someone else,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: without six or seven more people touching them. UM. So
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: it was it was something that I learned early. Protect
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: your brother, Protect your brother at all costs. Um. He's
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: here bleeding and sweating for you. UM. And and and
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: that allowed me to fall in love with the game
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: because I've seen guys loving the game, loving to compete, um,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: and loving to come to work every day because we
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: were building something special. So it was it was awesome
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: to be a part of the Young Corner wasted no time.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Seven interceptions in his first two seasons was all the
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Jack words needed to see. It was during camp. I
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: was in you know, it was oh five, oh five.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: I was in camp, laying in bed after after after
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: meetings or whatnot, and I got a call from my
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: age and he was like, where are you. I was like,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: I'm in I'm in my room and I remember it
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: to this day and he was like, okay, UM, this
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: is rare. The Jacks haven't done this very often, but
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: there they're trying to offer you early UM, and I
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: was like, okay, what does that mean. It's like, um,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: they're trying to sign you for a long year deal early.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: And he was like, so this is a great thing.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: This is a great thing, but I want you to
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: know what it means. Um, you have two years left
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: in your rookie contract, so this extension will take you
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: to seven years. UM. So you know, he explained the
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: nuts and bolts of it, and he was like, okay,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: so I'm gonna let you think about it. Um. He
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: told me the offer. I was like, okay, Like what
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: is it to think about? And he was like okay.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: So you know, he if you wait, there's a possibility
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: that this can get higher because your play is speaking
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: for itself. But they're also is a possibility for injury,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: so you have to weigh the nuts and boss. Um,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: me being here long term wasn't It wasn't a question
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: if I wanted to be here. It was like is
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: this the right time to sign um? And coming from
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: where I came from single parent home and mom struggling
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: you know, to make ends meet with four kids and
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: things of that nature, it was it was breathtaking as
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: when I look when and then now once I look
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: back on it, I was like, it wasn't just breathtaking,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: it's life changing, UM, for a lot of different reasons. UM.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: So I thought about it. I thought about it and
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: thought about it. I was like, Okay, well let's do it.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Let's do it. UM. I understand if I waited, it
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: could be more. But it's it's at the table. UM.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: I worked hard for it. UM. It could be smart
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: on their part, because that's what my agent said. It's
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: smart on their part for him to offer you now
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: before you know, you keep progressing, and it could be more.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: But I'm in my city, I'm from here, so let's
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: let's commit to the process. And and and and that's
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: when I don't even know if it was the next day.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: I could have called him back that night. And you know,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: before I talked to anybody, before I talked to anybody,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: I just sat at my bed and contemplating and contemplated,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: and UM gave him a shout back and we just
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: started negotiating and like nuts and bolts and settled it. Then.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: My brother Jerry Williams is my brother. He's UM the
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: coach of the Jacksonville Giants. UM so he's the one
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: that's right over me. So men, his men. We have
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: a great relationship, always had. He was like, it's a
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: no brainer. They should have been offered you like, that's
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: that's older brother, like seeing competition and competing in whatever. Um.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: So it was like, okay, dude, you deserve of all
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: of this. Now let's go play. Let's go compete like
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: that's how we are. Like it does it's not once
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: you sign okay, take a breath, take a fresh breath
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: of fresh air. Is that corner corner's mindset? Okay, now
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: let's reset. Let's show them they weren't wrong again. So
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: this is my new mindset. Now Okay, now I have
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: to compete even more, show them that they weren't wrong,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: and let's let's continue this process. The excitement of mom
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: was you know, it was. You can't express it. You
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: can't express it. Um. There's a lot that goes on
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: that um And and a lot of families, and a
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: lot of families and in this type, in in this
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: football environment that a lot of people don't know. UM.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: The struggles of life, UM, that that we had to
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: deal with. UM And because I was twenty four four
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: years old, twenty five when I signed my contract, and
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: now I'm the head of my family be because I
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: signed a contract at twenty five years old, So what
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: does that look like? There's no blueprint too, how you
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: navigate that? Like now everyone's looking to me, and that's
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: the lifestyle that a lot of these kids have, and
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: and it's hard. It's tough to navigate that. It's tough
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: to do everything right and please everybody in those situations. Um,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: it's tough. It's tough to know what to do with it, UM,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: how to control it, um, what to control when to
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: say no and things of this nature. Um. But the
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: big man upstairs was looking down on me because he's
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: all he has always had a plan for my life.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: And I was able to not do anything crazy and
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: I was able to be in the position that I
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: am now and my family is okay, and my my
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: you know, my my wife and kids are okay because
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: I made the right choices while I was in the league.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: But that's not the majority, which is sad because it's tough.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: And I look back on and I say, I'm one
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: of the lucky ones. Um. For some reason, I had
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: and how to navigate this life. It turned out to
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: be a smart move. Math has delivered thirteen more interceptions
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: over the next two years and was an All Pro.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: He was also a cool hand in an often overheated
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: locker room, the steady voice of a team that needed one.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: As his fifth year two thousand and seven began, men,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: be Left was the same class. He was the first rounder.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: I was the second round um. So I took a
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: lot of flak for him holding out because I was
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: the next go to guy in the second round. But
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: he was my guy. Like I made sure be Left
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: was good around town, like I made you know, when
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: he wanted to go out, I rode with them just
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: just to make sure he's okay, because there weren't too
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: many people that knew me or my brother. So I
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: was okay regardless of where I went, uh, being that
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: I was from here. So training camp happening. We just
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: had our um what is it called luncheon? We just
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: had our luncheon. Be Left was on stage um as
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: our starting quarterback. We got word from when we came
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: back that okay, a change is about to happen, and
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: we was like, okay, what is going on? Like so
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: change happened. Then be Left came to me. Um, I
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: got word before, but he came to me. It was
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: like this just happened. So the locker room was shook.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Locker room was shook. It was like, okay, what's going on.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: What's happening? Like we didn't have a clue, you know,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: before before that day that what was going on. So
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: a couple of leaders got got wind of what was
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: going to happen. But then the locker room was shook
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: for a minute. So now we had to gather the leaders.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: We had to gather the troops and be like, okay,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: we have to spend this in a positive flight. Dave
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: is our He's at the head of the ham. He's
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: our leader right now. Um, we knew Dave can play,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: but at the lunch and your starting quarterback is let go. Now,
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: it's like okay, boom, let's let's let's let's um, let's
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: gather the troops. Let's circle the wagon and and see
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: what we need to do from here. From because because
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: coaches couldn't help us, coaches couldn't help the locker room
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: at this point, it was all up to the leaders
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: of the team and we gather the troops and it
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: was like Okay, so Dave, we got your back, like
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: we're with you. Um, no worries. We're gonna get all
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: our position groups in line and let them know that. Okay,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: season has started. We have to start. You know, Dave
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: is our quarterback. We can't look back. We can't look back.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: So that was the start of it, because it was
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: it was It was a lot to deal with at first.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: So you know, things just start rolling. Um, plays just
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: start being made. There was a camaraderie that was that
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: we hadn't had, but we we we had built. But
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: then now everything was clicking. Now everything was clicking. We
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: was rolling, We was rolling, we were rolling, and was like, okay,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: we have something special. So now we have to make
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: sure everybody or everybody's doing the right thing to keep
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: this going. So now it's accountability. Now we have to
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: make sure all the core guys, all the pieces, all
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: the guys that like the party and things of that nature, like, Okay,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: you can still do your thing, but you have to
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: understand what we have here. This is rare, this is special,
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: so we have to treat it as such. Um. And
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: it was it was fun. It was fun to see,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: it was fun to watch it was fun to see
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: the city gather around us like we hadn't seen before. Um,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: I've seen it growing up here, but I hadn't experienced it.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: I knew it was there. I knew they wanted to,
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: but they were waiting on that special moment. And and
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: and two thousand and seven was it for us. It
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: was that special moment where the city was like it
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: was a couple of years ago. Here it was. It
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: was they was chopping at the bits like they knew
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: we had something special. They knew what was possible, and
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: we knew it as well, like we knew everyone by
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: the middle of the season, everyone we played, we knew.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: They knew they had to bring it. And that's when
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: you know something specialist brewing. When you know that you
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: can you can hear it, and how they speak, you
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: can you can hear and how they speak when they're
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: talking about your team, you can. You can see the
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: respect in their eyes when they are across from you. Um,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: you can see it when plays are being made and
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: you know that that little energy has taken out of them.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: So it's a lot that goes on in sports that
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: you the respect like you you know, it's like the
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Warriors well what the Warriors were. When teams talked about
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: the Warriors, they okay, they have something special. For when
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: the teams talk about the Colts are the Patriots, like
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: they have something special? We know we have to play
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: our a game to beat these guys. And that was
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: us in No. Seven. Um, I go in Pittsburgh at
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: the time. My financial isser was from Pittsburgh. Um, So
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: it was ironic. Um, but I every time I I
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: see someone from Pittsburgh. You know, you're known in different places,
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: but Pittsburgh wouldn't be a place that I'm thinking I'm
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: until I think about it that I'm people know who
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: I am. Um. But they were like, yeah, I hated
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: you do for a long time. And I just say
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: and to speak about being I was like, we just
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: have a good relationship, Like it's something happened on the
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: field where we just have a good relationship. He wasn't
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: scared to throw the ball anybody's direction, and I knew
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: that like him and Peyton. Let's like certain quarterbacks, they
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: don't really care who you are. They trust their receivers um,
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: and they trust their arms. They trust a lot of
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: things about themselves that they don't care who they're lining
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: up against. If they feel it that play, they're gonna
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: throw the ball your way. Um. And as a competitor
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: and as being and being on top of your game,
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: I love to play quarterbacks like that because they're gun slingers.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: Brett Farve was the same way, like he's a gun slinger.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: He doesn't care who's over there. He's gonna throw the ball.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: And those other times you can shine in big games
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: because the big quarterbacks are not trying to stay away
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: from you. Um. But speaking of that stretch of that
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh stretch, um, it was. It was amazing because we
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: knew going in to the first game that we needed
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: to win that game. Um. So we end up pulling
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: that game out and we're like, okay, so this is
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: setting us up to come back to Pittsburgh. This has
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: set us up to come back to Pittsburgh. Go back
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: to Pittsburgh. So we was like, okay, So once we
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: once the playoffs started and it was like, okay, so
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: we have to go back up here and beat these
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: guys again. But we had the confidence. It was like,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: I know, it was like it never had been done,
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: but to us it was like we have the recipe.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: For success. Regardless we matched up well against him. We
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: knew that, um, it was it was a two chance
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: trap game. We knew that like it was gonna be
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: one on the ground. We knew that, um even though
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: Ben was a slinger, they still had their nuts and
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: boats where you know, you had to run the ball
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: to win. You have to run the ball to win
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: in this league, um, and we just needed to make
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: him pay when he threw the ball. So competing, competing, competing,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: um in the code and and everything that they brought
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: with you. I tell people all the time, Hines Field
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: is the best field to play in. Like the crowd
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: gets in it, the towers are are waving. But the
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: best thing is when the crowds are not waving. The
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: crowd is not waving the towels. Like we have fans
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: in the stands like my my mom girlfriend at the
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: time return for Jance wife, Like they were in the
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: stands and they were like they were slapping us with
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: the towels and we were scared to cheer. And but
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: then when they quieted down, it was like, okay, let's
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: go time. It's it's time to play football. Um it, Well,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: it's time to cheer. Now, but they were scared to cheer,
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: like a lot of stuff that goes on. UM. It was,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: it was, it was. It was good to hear, it
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: was funny to hear from their side, but on the field,
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: it was it was. It was excitement from from the
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: first snap of the game. It was excitement. It was
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: something that I've never sparienced experienced since then, although I've
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: been been to the playoffs since then, but it was
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: it was a time that was very special. I feel
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: very appreciative because I was able to make some plays
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: to help propel that UM and you know, remember to
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: this day for those plays and will always be remembered
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: for those plays. I'm I'm I'm finding out, um. But
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: it was just it was. It was a man easing
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: um and very impressive to be a part of something
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: that special for for our franchise. Two thousand and eight
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: wasn't just good. Two thousand nine was worse. Two thousand
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: seven quickly faded and it wouldn't return no matter what moves.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: The Jack Worris made an injury in eleven, and ownership
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: and coaching change in twelve and another coaching change in
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: thirteen taught mathis some of life's most difficult and most
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: important lessons. I actually like talking about those years because
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: it it says a lot about just life in general,
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: business in general. Um. We had a special team. UM.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: And when you have something special, I feel you should
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: do everything in your ability to keep keep it together. UM.
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: And I don't feel we did it. Um. We let
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: go a deon grant like it was like some core
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: pieces like we didn't um after that, I think we
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: let go a double D like it was. It was
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: like some things that you can that hold that you
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: can hold on to um in certain aspects that this
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: is the reason why we were special. This is a
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: part of it. And I understand like money wise, like
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: was it an issue and think you know, knowing the
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: business and at that time, I think I knew the
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: business very well and we could have kept something special
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: together for a couple more years. So that was that
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: was sad to me, UM, that we had something special
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: and it could have stayed special because we had a
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: tandem running back like I don't know if it could
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: be another tandem running back due like we had in
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: the league, like possibly ever, Like those two guys were
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: special together. UM. So when you have certain stuff I know,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: if injuries don't happen, you should try to do what
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: you need to do to keep it. And I think
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: I was fighting that for a couple of years because
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: on the back end of things, I was trying to
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: play two and three positions at one time because it
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: was not judging the people that we brought in. UM.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: But it was it was tough. It was, it was tough,
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: it was, it was. It was some tough years, UM.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: But I grew a lot. I think a lot of
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: people that stayed here grew a lot. UM. I've seen
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: a lot of people come and go before then, but
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: to see core people leave your team UM at a
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: fast rate. UM, that part of the business surprised me.
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: And I knew then that there's no one that's untouchable UM,
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: and I think that's what I learned, that there's no
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: one untouchable. So that was a different part of the
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: business that I did learn. And Man Schmidt doesn't think
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: like players. I learned that regardless of how we see things,
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: management always see it a little different. And that's okay,
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: that's business like and that's part of business. And I
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: understand that. So UM, you have to have that. Someone
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: has to lead. Um, you have to have different different
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: groups in order to be successful. So I understand that
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: and I respect that. UM So that part saddens me,
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: which I think a lot of people don't, don't understand
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: and will never understand. UM. Moving forward. UM, when I
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: when I got hurt, it was tough because I was
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: I was having a very good season. I was having
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: a very good year and no contact injury. Really hadn't
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: been injured that tough before I where it was surgery needed. Um.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: So my whole thing was, Okay, how do you bounce back?
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: You're this You're approaching your tenth year. You got hurt
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: in your ninth year, Like, now you have to bounce back,
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: Like what's gonna happen? What's gonna happen? So it was
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: just grind time for me. It was like Okay, people
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: was bouncing back from a c l S very fast.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: So I was like, okay, well I'm good, Like this
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: can happen. I can do this. Like if they're doing it,
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: then I know I can do it as well. UM.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: So I bounced back, had a great start to make
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: my career, and then you know, business happened again to me. Um.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: Not to go into it, but business happened again to me,
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: and it was like, okay, boom, you're new exception, so
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: let's roll with these punches. Now. I was in a
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: position in my life where God was in total control
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: and he allowed me to be a mentor to some
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: guys in the locker room and in my position group
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: that was in what was happening to me, and I
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: think they respect me a lot more for for how
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: I handled it, handled it, and but I knew I
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: had life left. But I was okay with you know,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: it was new, like you said, new owner, um, new
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: head coach, um, new management after that year, so I
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: was like, okay, I knew I wasn't coming back. I
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: knew I wasn't coming back. So now I had to
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: make the decision on where do I go from here?
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: What what what has to happen from here? And me,
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: it was like, okay, I'm gonna just stay ready. I'm
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: gonna just stay ready. I'm okay with the partner from
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: the game, but I want to end the game healthy
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: and I'm healthy now, and I wasn't able to end
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: it how I wanted to. So that was that was tough.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: That was a tough part for me. So I was
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: okay with being let go. People asked me a lot,
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: do you have any hard feelings? I was like no,
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: because I didn't know him. Like if it was Jack
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: and Shock and Paul Van, you know, if it was
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: these guys and the Weavers that let me go, then yeah,
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: I'll be jaded, I'll feel some kind of way. But
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: I didn't really know the new Rougie. Um. I didn't
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: know the new the new Core guys. So I was
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: okay with that. Like so, and I think that helped
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: me move forward faster. Um that it was a blessing
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: in disguise, you know, it helped me move forward faster
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: and to to move on. Um And yeah, so the
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: last year's was tough, The last few year, a couple
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: of years was tough here, but it helped me growing
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: away and understand a lot of things that was vital
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: going forward. Where I was positioned, um, where where God
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: wanted me to be positioned forward. More perspectives following this
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• 43:32
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• 43:54
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• 43:57
  Speaker 1: A mathist Bridge two eras of Jaguar's football. He grew
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: up watching conference teams and was a star playing for
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: Jack del Rio. He has a unique perspective on twenty
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: five seasons and on the players who warned the team.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: One player in particular still leaves mathis in all. People
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: ask me this all the time. They was like, who's
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: the best receiver you ever covered? And I say my own,
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: and they were like who I was? Like Smooth Jimmy Smith,
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: Like he had tools, he had awareness, he had body control,
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: he has speed when he needed it. That it's only
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: one other receiver that I can say is comparable to him,
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: and I played my last three years with him. Calvin Johnson.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: Like every time you line up against Smooth, he was
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: gonna try to give you the business. It was no playoff.
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: He was gonna let you know that you can't cover me.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: You can't cover me. And I tell people all the
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: time He's a reason why I got as good as
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: I did. Um, along with Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison,
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: because that duo was awesome duo. But Jimmy's you know,
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: I covered Marvin twice a year. I covered Jimmy every day, Um,
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: and Jimmy was special. Like if I seen Marvin every day,
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: then I probably would have had a few more interceptions
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: on him every day. But if I covered Jimmy every day,
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: like I probably had a couple of picks on him
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: during practice, every covering him every day for a number
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: of years in the game, I probably would still only
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: have a couple. That's how special he was because he
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: knew his body, he he knew his points. He didn't
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: let you might get him a couple of times, yeah,
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: but he didn't let anybody dictate where he was going. Um.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: I've seen him torch double and triple teams like it's nothing. Um,
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: same as Calvin. I've seen Calvin do the same thing.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: That's why I say it's not too many people. Maybe
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: Moss I haven't seen him. I didn't see mass on
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: a daily like I seen Calvin and Jimmy. But that
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: lets you know the weight that his name holds the
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: names that I'm mentioning with him. He's there like he's
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: that special. He's that special. Um, and I I owe
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: a lot to Jimmy, Like we had a very good
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: relationship because he knew I respected him. Um, he's the
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: reason why I got my first fancy car. Um. I've
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: seen the bands that he had. I didn't know. I
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: was over my element when I wanted it, but I
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: didn't get it too. I saw my new contract, so
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: I didn't go out of my way to get it.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: But he had a nice binds that I had a
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: convertible bins and I was like, oh boy, that thing
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: is sweet. So he's the reason for a lot of things. Um,
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: but Smooth was special. He's he's he I still to
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: this day. Um, he's special to me. He's special to
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: me in a lot of ways because he his heart
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: was always in the right place. Um. You know, he
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: he wasn't selfish to the point where he was going
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: to cause confusion, but he knew he needed the ball,
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: and we knew he needed the ball for us to win,
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: you know. So he wasn't gonna destroy a locker room.
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: You know, That's how humble he was. Um. At the
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: same time, he was confident enough to know that I
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: need to get more touches. Um and although they're double
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: teeming me, just trust me, I'll find a way. UM.
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: And and we we did we we I think we
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: did right by him. I think I think the organization
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: treated him well. UM. I hope he feels the same way. UM.
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: And that's just me looking from the outside, not knowing
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: all the nuts and boats. Um. But to see him
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: struggle was it was heartbreaking because we all struggle with something. UM.
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: And you know, I don't think there's no one thing
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: bigger than the other, although lights get shined on things. UM.
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: But he's a special individual, um and I and he
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: needs to know how much the city do care about him.
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: UM And in the players that he impacted care about
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: him as well, um smooth as a special individual, um
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: And my my heart will always go out to him
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: in his family. People love lists. They love to rank
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: the best players, coaches, wins, losses. It's what fans do.
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: Mathis is either the best or the second best defensive
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: player of the jaguars first twenty five years. It's indisputable.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: Mathist won't be defined by what others think of him.
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: But he appreciates how people understand that he worked hard
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: to be one of the Jaguars very best. What I
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: can say is I I know it in a sense,
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: meaning yeah, I feel that I'm one of them. UM.
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: I can look back and say, you know, people, you know,
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: numbers don't lie. Um. But at the same time, you know,
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: as I try to step out of the humble role,
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: but then God lets me know that you did what
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: you needed to do. You you you use what I
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: gave you to be successful at the path that I
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: created for you. UM. Now how do you impact from here?
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: And you know, I have a six year old son
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: who and this is this is my postcard. This is me.
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: I have a six year old son who's in All
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: Star Baseball. He's playing with seven and eight and nine
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: year olds. Um at six year old. He's six years old.
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: And my position is to teach him to or both
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: of them when they when my my youngest son is
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: only three. But compete like and I was talking to
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: some rookies the other day, UM and here, um, and
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: I let him know, like, compete, don't let anyone out
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: work you. UM, don't, don't. And that's in life in general.
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: So whoever hears this, like whatever you do, you're doing it,
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: so be the best at it. Don't don't let anyone
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: out work you. And that doesn't mean work seven and
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: it means when you work work because I I never
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: was an overworker. I never overworked my body. But when
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: I was at work, no one was gonna outwork me.
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: I was gonna do And to prepare for those hours
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: while at work, I didn't have to prepare after work
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: because I prepared to be the best while at work. Um.
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: And and that's that's all I did. Like that's all
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: I did. So to to be on the ring one
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: day possibly UM, to be on the all team, UM,
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: to be sitting here um with you years later. Like
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: all the work was worth it. It was where all
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: the preparation hours and and and all the sweat and
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: and all the commitment, the dedication, it was worth it.
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: Like it pays off. Hard work pays off. And that's
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: for anyone who's living like it's it's gonna pay off.
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: You just have to stick to the process and believe
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: in the process. And there's nothing new under the son,
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: so get up under someone. And I was telling some
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: of the rookies I got a couple of the DBS numbers,
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: the rookies numbers, just from speaking to them. Um, I
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: was like, get up under someone that that that has
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: your best interests at heart, and and learn all you
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: can learn from them, and and and know that at
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, if you give your all,
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: if it's if it's meant to be, if this path
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: is meant to be your all, your path at the
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: end of the day, Like, You'll be smiling because I
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: don't have any regrets on the field. Um. I have
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: some in the city because I'm like, I'm still trying
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: to touch lives. But on the field, when I played like,
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: I gave him my all, and everybody that I lined
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: up against they knew they had to bring it when
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: they were across from me. Um, So I appreciate everything. Um.
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: One day I will be able to give you a
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: different answer. Um, maybe, but for now, I just love.
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: I fell in love with the game, and I love
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: to compete, and I and enjoy being at the top
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: of my game. And I knew I competed, and I
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: prepared for those moments, so I was able to to
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: make hay of him. I was able to succeed while
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: being there um and it was always a reset. I
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: always tried to get better um and and I think
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: that's why I'm able to be labeled with some of
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: the best, because I prepared for the moment. And I
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: think all the best too. They prepare for the moment
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: so when the moment comes, I don't shy away from it.
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: I run to it.