Latest / NFL explained. / D’Brick Ferguson: from open heart surgery, to NFL ironman, to nurse?
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: So we're honored to have our guests. Saw ferguson what's
- 0:14Speaker 1: going on, boss, How you doing?
- 0:15Speaker 2: I'm good. How you guys doing.
- 0:17Speaker 3: We're good Class two thousand and six. We're in the building.
- 0:21Speaker 3: Just to let everybody know, I.
- 0:23Speaker 4: Mean, you're a big time you're Virginia cavalier. I mean,
- 0:27Speaker 4: everybody loves Virginia if you've been there. I don't know
- 0:30Speaker 4: anything about the campus. Tell me one thing, Brick that
- 0:34Speaker 4: that most people that have not been to Virginia would
- 0:37Speaker 4: know once you go in the campus or play football there.
- 0:40Speaker 2: The dorms are different. They redid the dorms. Okay, so
- 0:44Speaker 2: I used to live in old dorms, old Humphreys, and
- 0:47Speaker 2: I think that's gone now. I think they've changed that.
- 0:49Speaker 3: Okay, So I didn't know that.
- 0:51Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of a lot of new a.
- 0:53Speaker 3: Lot of new construction.
- 0:54Speaker 4: Everybody's keeping up with the Joneses absolutely all right now.
- 0:57Speaker 4: The one thing that I did not know until we
- 0:59Speaker 4: did a little more research on you, uh D break,
- 1:02Speaker 4: is that you only missed one snap. That's crazy, that's crazy.
- 1:08Speaker 4: So you missed one? Man, how did you? First of all,
- 1:11Speaker 4: how did you manage to do that? And I'll share
- 1:12Speaker 4: with the people. It was in two thousand and eight,
- 1:15Speaker 4: Week seventeen versus the Dolphins. You guys are going to
- 1:18Speaker 4: lose the game, and they just pulled you out the last.
- 1:21Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we did lose the game, but we're
- 1:24Speaker 2: doing a trick play with something we had practiced. We
- 1:27Speaker 2: take out all the offensive linemen, we put in all
- 1:29Speaker 2: skill position players and kind of hike the ball and
- 1:32Speaker 2: kind of.
- 1:32Speaker 3: Do the the ra throw throw it back.
- 1:35Speaker 2: It didn't work, and that was the play.
- 1:38Speaker 4: Think the Cowboys, Let's or something like this this past
- 1:41Speaker 4: year in the playoffs, and it really.
- 1:43Speaker 2: Very rare that you know, it's like, if you have
- 1:45Speaker 2: to do that, you've lost. Yeah, and you're dying a second.
- 1:48Speaker 1: So another another another player that has a similar stat
- 1:53Speaker 1: Joe Thomas. He's got the I don't know how many
- 1:56Speaker 1: career snaps he's played, but he holds I guess the
- 1:59Speaker 1: record of having the most snaps ever played. Or he
- 2:02Speaker 1: didn't miss a single snap his entire career. He played
- 2:04Speaker 1: what eleven years? If I'm not mistaken, So do are you?
- 2:07Speaker 1: I don't know, how do you feel about it? Is
- 2:09Speaker 1: there any disgruntleness?
- 2:10Speaker 2: Or he's a phenomenal athlete. Yeah, he's in consistent. You know,
- 2:15Speaker 2: I applored everything that he's done.
- 2:16Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 2:17Speaker 1: So I'm a huge fan of the show, Key and
- 2:20Speaker 1: Pill right, crazy fan. And when I get car services,
- 2:26Speaker 1: I use the nicknames that they had for the All
- 2:30Speaker 1: Star Games. So whenever there's a car service, you might
- 2:33Speaker 1: see the name El Carpatron and Duke Marriott or Charmlotte
- 2:38Speaker 1: mass Doon you know what I'm saying, krig mckringle Berry,
- 2:42Speaker 1: Uh did Jiggo Lynch Margoon, LSU University?
- 2:45Speaker 3: Like I use all those names.
- 2:47Speaker 1: I think you were like one of the original guys
- 2:50Speaker 1: for that, right, tell people, please tell me how you
- 2:54Speaker 1: got that, Like did they come to you?
- 2:56Speaker 2: Did they did come to me? It wasn't as you
- 3:00Speaker 2: know personal. I actually met I think Kegan later at
- 3:04Speaker 2: a separate foundation event, but they were saying that, you know,
- 3:09Speaker 2: the idea kind of spurned from that. I think one
- 3:11Speaker 2: of their representatives reached out to me and I'm like, yeah,
- 3:13Speaker 2: I'd be open to do it. And so it was
- 3:16Speaker 2: just a fun thing. You know, a lot of times
- 3:18Speaker 2: I've heard my name a couple of times in movies
- 3:21Speaker 2: and it's always interesting where it's like, all right, well,
- 3:24Speaker 2: I know who they're talking about it's not too many
- 3:26Speaker 2: of us. Fact, there's one.
- 3:28Speaker 4: So yeah, yeah, tell me this though, all right, back
- 3:31Speaker 4: to your career a little bit more, because I'm still
- 3:32Speaker 4: a little bit taken back that you.
- 3:34Speaker 3: Only missed one snap.
- 3:35Speaker 4: Was it anything in particular that you did to stay healthy?
- 3:38Speaker 4: Was it anything that you did to take care of
- 3:39Speaker 4: your body, your mental I mean, did you even miss
- 3:42Speaker 4: practice or did you miss play?
- 3:43Speaker 3: Like you didn't. This is just not your thing.
- 3:45Speaker 2: You just and I think the funny thing is, it
- 3:47Speaker 2: was nothing, nothing that I ever thought about, right. I
- 3:49Speaker 2: think earlier on, you know, Eric Mangini, he had us
- 3:52Speaker 2: doing a lot. We were doing yoga, we were doing
- 3:56Speaker 2: martial arts, jiu jitsu. I mean, we were back in
- 3:58Speaker 2: the old days when everybody that all season, off season,
- 4:02Speaker 2: you know, they kept us at the facility. You know,
- 4:05Speaker 2: there was no time restrictions. It wasn't like four hours, No,
- 4:08Speaker 2: we were there all day. And so I think the
- 4:11Speaker 2: idea of just football being kind of everything stuck. But
- 4:18Speaker 2: I do counted a blessing. I mean, there's a lot
- 4:20Speaker 2: of guys that have done the same things or even more,
- 4:24Speaker 2: and they've suffered injuries. So I don't want to say
- 4:26Speaker 2: like it was something that I was doing that they weren't.
- 4:30Speaker 2: It's okay.
- 4:32Speaker 4: How's your body feeling now? I mean you did all
- 4:34Speaker 4: those things.
- 4:35Speaker 2: I cross my leg like you, so yeah, shake the
- 4:39Speaker 2: ankle a little bit, so that's a good sign. You know,
- 4:41Speaker 2: hip flex was are good.
- 4:42Speaker 3: You know, I'm good about that.
- 4:43Speaker 4: Gets your body good, genuinely because you're that bigger guy.
- 4:46Speaker 4: Most bigger guys have issues as they get older.
- 4:48Speaker 3: How much way did you lose after you.
- 4:50Speaker 2: I was about three ten when I played. I've gotten
- 4:54Speaker 2: down and let's say to about to sixty, but I'm
- 4:56Speaker 2: probably about like two seventy. That's probably what I do.
- 5:00Speaker 5: You feel good?
- 5:00Speaker 3: You look good, all that joints and all that.
- 5:03Speaker 2: Shit that you know. I I think I've always been
- 5:07Speaker 2: a curious kind of athlete, and so I would I
- 5:09Speaker 2: would dabble in different things like what ice skating? I
- 5:14Speaker 2: try to do clinics, Yeah, try.
- 5:17Speaker 3: To you skate backwards not fast.
- 5:20Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not out of here. Just like you know,
- 5:24Speaker 2: some people are graceful.
- 5:25Speaker 3: That's not so you're not.
- 5:27Speaker 4: You would not use the term graceful to describe.
- 5:29Speaker 1: I say, you know somebody who's learning my son, I'm sure.
- 5:35Speaker 1: I'm like most dads, you know, you want your son
- 5:38Speaker 1: to do something to help them get disciplined and learning
- 5:41Speaker 1: focus and things like that, and ours was taekwondo.
- 5:44Speaker 3: My son is a typical boy.
- 5:45Speaker 1: He wants to run and kicking, punch and jump off
- 5:48Speaker 1: and wrestle and you know, break everything. Taekwondo, you know,
- 5:52Speaker 1: get some good discipline. And my son did it for
- 5:56Speaker 1: about four maybe four or five years, and he ended
- 6:00Speaker 1: up getting this black belt in taekwondo, and it was like,
- 6:03Speaker 1: I was so proud of him because it was something
- 6:05Speaker 1: he stuck with it for a long time to accomplish,
- 6:08Speaker 1: to accomplish something, and it was great for him to
- 6:10Speaker 1: learn that and see that at a very young age.
- 6:11Speaker 5: I'm very proud of them.
- 6:13Speaker 1: I heard or I learned that you are a black
- 6:16Speaker 1: belt and you hold a brown belt.
- 6:19Speaker 3: Now what do you hold your black belt in shore
- 6:22Speaker 3: to com okay?
- 6:23Speaker 2: And what is your brown belt in taekwondo? So that
- 6:27Speaker 2: was around the time that I had open heart surgery.
- 6:30Speaker 2: It was very early eight nine.
- 6:32Speaker 3: Yeah, this is what we wanted to bring up.
- 6:33Speaker 4: So most people don't know that you actually had open
- 6:36Speaker 4: heart surgery when you were eight or nine years old. Yeah,
- 6:38Speaker 4: maybe you could talk about that if you're willing to
- 6:40Speaker 4: share with us.
- 6:41Speaker 2: Yeah. So, I think as a younger child, I was
- 6:44Speaker 2: just a little bit out of breath and it came
- 6:47Speaker 2: up on a random check through my pediatrician and she
- 6:53Speaker 2: just recommended, hey, can you do some more testing. You know,
- 6:55Speaker 2: we're just noticing some things. And I had a slight defect.
- 6:58Speaker 2: I think in one of my vowels, I had too
- 7:00Speaker 2: many veins on one side and they changed that. So,
- 7:07Speaker 2: you know, I think about that as a as a
- 7:09Speaker 2: starting point, and I think of kind of where I've
- 7:12Speaker 2: ended up, particularly in my football career and even the
- 7:15Speaker 2: things that I do now. And that's why I can't
- 7:17Speaker 2: say like, oh I just did this thing and this thing,
- 7:20Speaker 2: and that's the reason why I've had this outcome, because
- 7:23Speaker 2: I don't think it was, you know, ever supposed to
- 7:26Speaker 2: be that initially. I think even when I had my
- 7:28Speaker 2: initial results, they were saying like, hey, no contact sports.
- 7:33Speaker 2: You know, you may always be limited in some ways.
- 7:35Speaker 2: So I guess it did. It was a miracle. It
- 7:38Speaker 2: is a miracle. Yeah. I had the opportunity to go
- 7:41Speaker 2: on and play sports and it didn't hold me back.
- 7:44Speaker 3: You know, there are a lot of similarities.
- 7:46Speaker 1: Do you think the taekwondo or the martial arts played
- 7:50Speaker 1: a pivotal role in you one being drafted for early
- 7:53Speaker 1: in two helping you manhandle I think you know, defensive linement.
- 7:59Speaker 2: I think the value sports at a young age is
- 8:01Speaker 2: just like learning your body, you know. I think a
- 8:03Speaker 2: lot of times, you know, kids, unless you're in a
- 8:07Speaker 2: sport that's organized and teaches you, okay, no, stand a
- 8:10Speaker 2: certain way, bend a certain way, have your head up,
- 8:13Speaker 2: you don't learn how to move well. And I think
- 8:16Speaker 2: when you have that as a foundation and you continue
- 8:19Speaker 2: that going moving forward, you can build on that. I
- 8:22Speaker 2: think it's sometimes harder when you start later and you're
- 8:25Speaker 2: trying to learn how to be coordinated and learn things.
- 8:28Speaker 3: You know.
- 8:28Speaker 2: Now, if you look at YouTube, you'll see these little
- 8:30Speaker 2: kids doing these.
- 8:31Speaker 3: Little drugs, all the drills, like at.
- 8:33Speaker 2: Very early ages, and I'm like, wow, Like, how do
- 8:36Speaker 2: you compete with somebody who's been doing that since three
- 8:39Speaker 2: and you're learning to play a sport at nine or fifteen,
- 8:43Speaker 2: It's very hard to compete with that.
- 8:45Speaker 1: One of the things I try to tell parents, and
- 8:48Speaker 1: I get to ask a lot of questions about, well.
- 8:51Speaker 3: How old were you when you played football.
- 8:52Speaker 5: Should I let my son play football now?
- 8:54Speaker 1: And I guess the one answer I give them every
- 8:57Speaker 1: time is I say let them play. But flag football,
- 9:00Speaker 1: whether you're the big kid, the little kid, the male, female, boy, girl, whatever,
- 9:04Speaker 1: I think flag football is good for you because you
- 9:07Speaker 1: learn how to use your body, whether you're an offensive lineman,
- 9:11Speaker 1: and you know you're not going to be a running
- 9:13Speaker 1: back when you get older because you're one.
- 9:15Speaker 3: Of the bigger kids.
- 9:16Speaker 1: But play It allows you to play every position. It
- 9:18Speaker 1: allows you to run the ball, it allows you to
- 9:20Speaker 1: learn cut and do all those things. And not only that,
- 9:22Speaker 1: but play basketball, play baseball, play play hockey, play as
- 9:26Speaker 1: many sports, tennis, whatever, maybe not golf, but play all
- 9:30Speaker 1: the sports you can play. I feel like, no, no, no,
- 9:34Speaker 1: he think he tiger woods over here, but any We'll
- 9:38Speaker 1: get to that later on off camera. But I'm a
- 9:41Speaker 1: huge advocate for kids playing every sport they can at
- 9:44Speaker 1: such a at a really young age. I think nowadays
- 9:47Speaker 1: kids they focus on one sport and they specialize more.
- 9:51Speaker 1: And that's not time to specialize. You gotta do that
- 9:53Speaker 1: later on in life.
- 9:54Speaker 4: So you were inducted into the Jets Ring of Ball.
- 10:00Speaker 3: I was up there, I was. I went up there
- 10:02Speaker 3: a couple of months ago. I was, Yeah, I went
- 10:05Speaker 3: up there a couple of months Yeah, I was. I
- 10:12Speaker 3: went up there. It was great. But you got a
- 10:17Speaker 3: very a great dry sense of humor. That's what I
- 10:19Speaker 3: love about you. It's like you always got you always
- 10:22Speaker 3: come and something.
- 10:23Speaker 4: But emotionally, what did that do for you? Especially knowing
- 10:27Speaker 4: that you retired early, people were still wanting more of
- 10:29Speaker 4: the brickishaw Ferguson when you stepped away. You never missed games,
- 10:33Speaker 4: you never missed practice, and to be honored at the end,
- 10:37Speaker 4: what does that feel like?
- 10:38Speaker 3: What does that do for you?
- 10:39Speaker 4: I know you're a guy that's not you like to
- 10:42Speaker 4: keep things light and you're not gonna you're not gonna
- 10:44Speaker 4: talk about yourself and you're not gonna be too over indulgent.
- 10:46Speaker 4: But for us, I want you to I want you
- 10:48Speaker 4: to tell me what it was like for you to
- 10:51Speaker 4: like be honored in that moment.
- 10:52Speaker 3: You could tell me too, though I'm here.
- 10:55Speaker 2: You know, it's a very surreal moment. I think a
- 10:57Speaker 2: lot of times as athletes on the things that we've
- 11:01Speaker 2: done wrong, the sacks that we've given up. It was interesting.
- 11:06Speaker 2: One of my worst games was against Andre Carter. He
- 11:08Speaker 2: was playing at for the Patriots at the time, and
- 11:10Speaker 2: this was like i'll say, three years before the end whatever.
- 11:14Speaker 2: And then he he and I were coaching. I was
- 11:17Speaker 2: doing an internship with the Jets. It was with strength
- 11:19Speaker 2: and conditioning, and he was actually coaching the defensive line
- 11:22Speaker 2: at that time, I think under Greg Williams, and I
- 11:28Speaker 2: would look at that guy. I'm like, man, you you.
- 11:30Speaker 3: Just never got over it. You never get over it.
- 11:32Speaker 2: And I'm still looked at it, and we were pretending
- 11:34Speaker 2: to do a moves and I'm like, still hot.
- 11:37Speaker 3: I'm like, how many years is this afterwards?
- 11:40Speaker 2: I mean it's it's got a bit. I mean it
- 11:43Speaker 2: was a considerable amount of years. I meant it was
- 11:46Speaker 2: at least like I don't know, like I don't know seven,
- 11:50Speaker 2: Like it was considerable or more. And it was considerable.
- 11:53Speaker 2: And I'm looking at this man like, I don't know
- 11:54Speaker 2: that I could ever be your friend because of what
- 11:57Speaker 2: you did to me. We played a game, we played
- 11:59Speaker 2: them twice, played them earlier in the year, normal game,
- 12:02Speaker 2: you know, of doing my shots, feeling good about myself.
- 12:06Speaker 2: I guess he didn't feel that way, right, And then
- 12:08Speaker 2: the next game changed everything. He went to the Pro
- 12:12Speaker 2: Bowl that year and I helped him. I don't like that.
- 12:15Speaker 2: So when you have moments like that, you fixate on that.
- 12:18Speaker 2: You don't forget those moments clearly, and then you know
- 12:23Speaker 2: you you get a call and you know, mister Johnson
- 12:29Speaker 2: and Nick, Nick Mangle and Mark Sanchez on their show
- 12:32Speaker 2: presented me with this this honor. You're kind of like,
- 12:38Speaker 2: I don't know how, I don't know where to place this.
- 12:39Speaker 2: I think of all the coaches and all the coaching points.
- 12:42Speaker 2: I think of college, I think of you know, the
- 12:44Speaker 2: transition into retirement. I think of all those things that
- 12:48Speaker 2: cause you know, certain amount of challenges, and then you
- 12:51Speaker 2: get this recognition like, hey, you know, you were a
- 12:54Speaker 2: good player. You you did accomplish some amazing things, and
- 12:57Speaker 2: you want to acknowledge that. It kind of gives you
- 13:00Speaker 2: a different perspective. And I think it's sometimes healthy to
- 13:02Speaker 2: get those acknowledgements because you don't know where people are.
- 13:06Speaker 2: You know, you don't know the things that people are
- 13:08Speaker 2: going through. I know we have this podcast to see
- 13:11Speaker 2: like what's happening now, but it's a bit of a journey.
- 13:14Speaker 2: I know a lot of athletes talk about their time
- 13:16Speaker 2: and retirement, and it's a stage of finding themselves. You know,
- 13:19Speaker 2: we were in that executive program together in finance, you know,
- 13:24Speaker 2: a lot of internships. You know, went through a divorce,
- 13:28Speaker 2: Like a lot of things have changed, and now you're
- 13:31Speaker 2: in a position where you're like, I think I'm in
- 13:34Speaker 2: a good place now, you know, And it doesn't just happen.
- 13:37Speaker 2: It takes different opportunities. It takes different things, like a recognition,
- 13:43Speaker 2: like getting into nursing school, like you know, raising your daughters,
- 13:49Speaker 2: like meeting someone and spending time and building relationship. It
- 13:54Speaker 2: takes these things in order to like get to a
- 13:56Speaker 2: different place. So it's a part of that journey.
- 14:00Speaker 1: How long would you say it took you to get
- 14:02Speaker 1: into that place to find that that safe space, say, after.
- 14:06Speaker 5: You were dealing with football, after you're retired.
- 14:09Speaker 2: You know, I think the biggest thing, I'll say one
- 14:11Speaker 2: more thing. I think the biggest thing is as an
- 14:13Speaker 2: athlete trying things, you have an idea. It's like, hey,
- 14:17Speaker 2: you know, I want to be proactive. You know, you
- 14:19Speaker 2: do the things that you learn about. Oh, I'm going
- 14:21Speaker 2: to take this boot camp, I'm going to take this course.
- 14:23Speaker 2: I'm going to intern with this company. But I think
- 14:25Speaker 2: it's very different being a retired player trying things right
- 14:30Speaker 2: because now it's real. Right now you don't have the
- 14:33Speaker 2: football as you're back, well, now you can leverage the opportunity.
- 14:37Speaker 2: But even in leveraging that opportunity, have you carved out
- 14:40Speaker 2: a skill set where you can say, well, no, this
- 14:42Speaker 2: is who I am, this is how I'm showing up.
- 14:45Speaker 2: I don't want to just be the front for this thing.
- 14:47Speaker 2: I want to be able to do that skill. And
- 14:50Speaker 2: I think you know, you have some real personal conversations.
- 14:52Speaker 2: I'm sure you guys have had it as well, where
- 14:54Speaker 2: it's like, all right, what am I going to do,
- 14:57Speaker 2: whether you're financially stable or not, how am I going
- 15:00Speaker 2: to you know, show up in this time in my life?
- 15:03Speaker 2: Who am I today? Who am I now? And I
- 15:05Speaker 2: think it takes a couple of years, whether you're in
- 15:09Speaker 2: a good space or not, in order to like let
- 15:11Speaker 2: that sink in.
- 15:12Speaker 3: You know.
- 15:13Speaker 2: The pandemic I don't think was a help in the
- 15:16Speaker 2: sense that it caused people to kind of be distanced
- 15:20Speaker 2: or re evaluate. All right, I don't have the same opportunities.
- 15:23Speaker 2: I can't just go and meet up with friends now,
- 15:25Speaker 2: or if I do meet up with friends. You know,
- 15:27Speaker 2: we have to, you know, make sure we're socially distancing
- 15:29Speaker 2: because this is a real thing that's impacting lives. So
- 15:32Speaker 2: it took a number of years, and I do think
- 15:37Speaker 2: it is an ongoing process, right, it's reinvention. You know
- 15:40Speaker 2: who am I today? You know how am I evolving?
- 15:44Speaker 2: But forward, moving forward is progress and I think having
- 15:47Speaker 2: the opportunity to like continue and pursue the things that
- 15:51Speaker 2: have interest to you has allowed me to be in
- 15:54Speaker 2: a better space.
- 15:55Speaker 4: I think it's so important also to bring up the
- 15:58Speaker 4: fact of being confident in these spaces, like we're so
- 16:04Speaker 4: confident in football, and then when, like you said, you
- 16:07Speaker 4: don't have that to fall back on or to lean
- 16:09Speaker 4: on to say, now I'm really Roman Harper or Penat
- 16:12Speaker 4: Tillman like and I'm just doing this on the side.
- 16:15Speaker 4: But now no, I cut the cable, and now you
- 16:18Speaker 4: have to be in this space and be confident in it.
- 16:21Speaker 4: You're probably a great example because since you've transitioned out
- 16:25Speaker 4: of football, you've done some financial things and I want
- 16:28Speaker 4: you maybe talk to me and share with everybody that
- 16:31Speaker 4: transition what that was like for you to get into
- 16:34Speaker 4: the financial space. Being confident in what you were doing.
- 16:37Speaker 4: Like when we did that executive class, I was just
- 16:40Speaker 4: like enamored with you because you were so confident. You're
- 16:43Speaker 4: already doing some other things, but then at the same time,
- 16:46Speaker 4: you were still learning, you were still on this journey
- 16:48Speaker 4: of growing. And then now since you've moving from finance,
- 16:51Speaker 4: you're doing some other things as well. So I want
- 16:53Speaker 4: you to be able to give you the floor and
- 16:55Speaker 4: share with us on that whole period of this whole
- 16:58Speaker 4: journey that you've been on really found yourself and still
- 17:01Speaker 4: gaining confidence in this space, because I think that's the
- 17:03Speaker 4: one thing that all of us players lack once we're
- 17:06Speaker 4: not playing football.
- 17:07Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely, So I think you know, it starts with
- 17:13Speaker 2: you know, how can I help?
- 17:15Speaker 3: Right?
- 17:15Speaker 2: It starts with how can I help? And that's a
- 17:17Speaker 2: broad statement, right, And I really you know, you read
- 17:22Speaker 2: the SI article why Athletes Go Broke? You hear all
- 17:25Speaker 2: these different things, and it's like, well, how can I
- 17:27Speaker 2: be an advocate for my for my peers, Right, how
- 17:30Speaker 2: can I learn about this space bonds equity? Like, how
- 17:34Speaker 2: can I educate myself in a manner where I know
- 17:37Speaker 2: what I'm talking about? So I interned with a couple
- 17:39Speaker 2: of companies and I I started. I actually work with
- 17:44Speaker 2: my financial advisor for about a year. We had like interned,
- 17:48Speaker 2: and so when I learned about the executive education program
- 17:52Speaker 2: at Columbia, and it was about angel investing, and I
- 17:55Speaker 2: wanted to be able to educate myself on okay, this
- 17:59Speaker 2: area as well as the base of knowledge which I
- 18:02Speaker 2: developed working with my advisor. I worked for a sustainability
- 18:06Speaker 2: impact company that was more of like a startup, and
- 18:10Speaker 2: they were doing some exciting things and like sustainability and
- 18:13Speaker 2: impact investing. So I was like trying to get it all.
- 18:18Speaker 2: But I think I didn't find what I was looking
- 18:21Speaker 2: for from a sense of like purpose purpose, Like how
- 18:25Speaker 2: am I? Like, is this really what I want?
- 18:28Speaker 3: You know? Yeah?
- 18:28Speaker 2: I could ask a question like, Okay, did I want
- 18:30Speaker 2: to try to work for, you know, a different kind
- 18:34Speaker 2: of firm? Did I want to stay individual? You know?
- 18:36Speaker 2: How did I want to work with my peers? I
- 18:39Speaker 2: think I struggle with the idea of like coming to
- 18:41Speaker 2: you like, hey, you know I want to manage your account.
- 18:44Speaker 2: You know I want to I want you to trust
- 18:47Speaker 2: me in my firm and allow me to invest your funds.
- 18:49Speaker 2: I think I probably could have gotten more comfortable, but
- 18:51Speaker 2: I don't think that's really what I wanted. So I
- 18:55Speaker 2: kept on looking, you know, and I kept on looking.
- 18:58Speaker 2: The pandemic happened, you know, again changed my relationships. So
- 19:04Speaker 2: my situation was completely different. And I'm like, well, I
- 19:07Speaker 2: still have to find self. I'm still alive, right, I
- 19:11Speaker 2: still have purpose. Yes I played football, Yes I had
- 19:14Speaker 2: a great career, But what am I today? And I
- 19:18Speaker 2: was having a lot of conversations with my mom and
- 19:21Speaker 2: she was like, you know, the one thing that I
- 19:23Speaker 2: she's a nurse. One thing that she liked about nursing
- 19:26Speaker 2: was the opportunity to learn a new space. But you
- 19:29Speaker 2: can also learn a lot of different spaces, a lot
- 19:31Speaker 2: of these, whether it let's say becoming a doctor, whether
- 19:34Speaker 2: it become a lawyer. Sometimes the barrier of entry is
- 19:39Speaker 2: a little bit longer. You know, you can become a
- 19:42Speaker 2: go to law school and not get a job. You know,
- 19:45Speaker 2: you can become a doctor, but that might be a
- 19:49Speaker 2: seven year commitment, especially if you specialize in the area.
- 19:53Speaker 2: And I just needed that sense of like, I think
- 19:55Speaker 2: I can I can do this, right. I hadn't done
- 19:58Speaker 2: sciences since I don't know high school, so my confidence
- 20:02Speaker 2: in that space was like, I don't know if I
- 20:04Speaker 2: can do this. UVA was hard for me, so I'm like,
- 20:07Speaker 2: I don't know about this, you know. So I went
- 20:11Speaker 2: to community college. I took my prerequisites, and I just
- 20:13Speaker 2: kind of started, you know, one class at a time.
- 20:16Speaker 2: I think for me, it was really important. I think
- 20:17Speaker 2: we touched on it a little bit before. Is like
- 20:20Speaker 2: I wanted something that I could offer, Like, yes, I
- 20:23Speaker 2: played football, but I have this I'm qualified to do
- 20:26Speaker 2: this work. And I played football. So if both of
- 20:29Speaker 2: them helped or you know, encourage one another, great. But
- 20:32Speaker 2: even without football, I can still do my job with excellence, right,
- 20:36Speaker 2: and that's something we learned as athletes. So did the prerequisites,
- 20:41Speaker 2: and then I just started applying to nursing schools. I
- 20:43Speaker 2: applied to nursing programs, got into several, and then you know,
- 20:49Speaker 2: going to start in the fall. So I'm excited for
- 20:52Speaker 2: that opportunity. There gives me an opportunity whether I want to,
- 20:55Speaker 2: you know, do more like a nurse practitioner. You know,
- 20:59Speaker 2: I can, I can do my training and reassessed. Maybe
- 21:03Speaker 2: I don't want to do that, Maybe I want to
- 21:04Speaker 2: do more like urgent care or just so I don't
- 21:08Speaker 2: know and I think I like that I have the
- 21:10Speaker 2: ability to learn and figure that part out.
- 21:12Speaker 3: Are you willing to be a travel nurse?
- 21:14Speaker 2: Travel nursing a little challenging with kids.
- 21:18Speaker 3: Okay, let's back up, guys, we're gonna go.
- 21:21Speaker 2: In the RV. You know, Lord, that's what's up.
- 21:25Speaker 1: Though, Man, I think I like that I kind of
- 21:28Speaker 1: found myself in your I can identify with that because
- 21:31Speaker 1: when I retired, I I did some media stuff for
- 21:34Speaker 1: a while and I enjoyed it. I just didn't have
- 21:37Speaker 1: fun with it immediately. It was fun, it was good,
- 21:40Speaker 1: but it just wasn't like I needed something just a
- 21:43Speaker 1: little bit different.
- 21:44Speaker 5: And then now, you know.
- 21:47Speaker 1: Six almost six years later, you know, I'm kind of
- 21:50Speaker 1: back in the media and now I'm I'm loving every
- 21:52Speaker 1: minute of it.
- 21:53Speaker 3: You know.
- 21:54Speaker 4: It's also about the company you keep.
- 21:56Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely about the company.
- 21:58Speaker 1: It's my guy, say he's been partnering crime. I will say,
- 22:04Speaker 1: I did this show by myself and it was trash.
- 22:06Speaker 1: I was terrible, but I needed somebody to help me.
- 22:09Speaker 1: And this has been my guy, even Age Boone Cooon
- 22:11Speaker 1: since since yeah, since day one.
- 22:13Speaker 3: So yeah, I appreciate you.
- 22:14Speaker 4: So let's talk about somebody that is helping, and that's
- 22:15Speaker 4: you break your foundation really high value in.
- 22:20Speaker 3: Education in our youth.
- 22:21Speaker 4: Could you talk about what clearly education has been a
- 22:24Speaker 4: big part of your life and I can tell your
- 22:27Speaker 4: mom's a big influence on that. Maybe just share with
- 22:29Speaker 4: us the importance of it with you, your foundation and
- 22:33Speaker 4: the educational part of it.
- 22:34Speaker 2: And I think that was something earlier on that we
- 22:36Speaker 2: were like, look, everybody doesn't have this opportunity to play
- 22:39Speaker 2: in the NFL. I had people who I went to
- 22:41Speaker 2: school with and for whatever reason, weren't given the same opportunities,
- 22:46Speaker 2: whether financially, to go to college and do those things right.
- 22:51Speaker 2: So I wanted to be able to financially give scholarships
- 22:54Speaker 2: but also have transition programs. You know, what is it
- 22:57Speaker 2: like to be a student athlete. So we had like
- 22:59Speaker 2: skills and drills. How do you learn? How do you
- 23:03Speaker 2: what are some of the learning skills? Are you more auditory?
- 23:06Speaker 2: Do you have to write things down? Like can you
- 23:09Speaker 2: see like what visual?
- 23:10Speaker 3: Like?
- 23:10Speaker 2: What are your learning skills? And so we would bring
- 23:12Speaker 2: in different professionals, even a little finance. You know, do
- 23:15Speaker 2: you want to get that credit card in college or
- 23:17Speaker 2: do you just not mill? Don't you just get the
- 23:19Speaker 2: meal plan, eat the nasty pasta. But you're not going
- 23:22Speaker 2: to be in debt when you're thirty, right, So it's
- 23:25Speaker 2: like you learn those little skills and it was just
- 23:27Speaker 2: a way to kind of equip students as they transition
- 23:31Speaker 2: into college.
- 23:33Speaker 6: We're going to take a short break and we'll be
- 23:34Speaker 6: back in a minute.
- 23:50Speaker 4: All right, So what was your welcome to the NFL moment?
- 23:56Speaker 2: Well, one of the positive welcome to the NFL moment
- 23:59Speaker 2: was the draft, and I think that was an exciting,
- 24:02Speaker 2: exciting time. I remember my first game Tennessee Titans went
- 24:06Speaker 2: against Travis Leboy and I'm like, man, I could do this.
- 24:09Speaker 2: I think I could play. I've also went against some
- 24:12Speaker 2: other guys where I'm like, I don't I don't know
- 24:13Speaker 2: if this is for me, And I think I got
- 24:16Speaker 2: to think about this. I was going against Warren Sap
- 24:19Speaker 2: one game and he's just telling me what I was
- 24:21Speaker 2: doing wrong, too hot, rookie, too high, sank and I'm like, oh,
- 24:25Speaker 2: you know, I was like, man, I don't know.
- 24:29Speaker 1: You know, I don't think i've ever heard somebody.
- 24:36Speaker 3: I was early.
- 24:36Speaker 2: I was early in the game, but I was older.
- 24:38Speaker 2: I went against DeMarcus where did the same thing, you know,
- 24:41Speaker 2: you know, sack my quarterback.
- 24:42Speaker 3: Hey Brick, how you doing you?
- 24:43Speaker 2: All right?
- 24:43Speaker 3: Man?
- 24:43Speaker 2: I'm like, get off me.
- 24:44Speaker 3: I don't know you stop.
- 24:46Speaker 2: We're not friends, but yeah, you know something, I disliked
- 24:51Speaker 2: the nice guys more than I like the angry guys.
- 24:55Speaker 2: Like the angry guys, I like, I don't like you either.
- 24:57Speaker 2: The nice guys are like, hey, man, you know the
- 24:59Speaker 2: sack you you sack a quarterback and they help you.
- 25:05Speaker 3: It's the nicest guy.
- 25:06Speaker 1: He hated him for because I didn't want to jam him,
- 25:08Speaker 1: because I was just like, I want to just shoot you, but.
- 25:11Speaker 4: Then you'll crack blocking when you're not watching.
- 25:13Speaker 3: It's like with.
- 25:14Speaker 2: That Hines Lord.
- 25:18Speaker 3: Fits is.
- 25:18Speaker 5: That's that's him, all right.
- 25:20Speaker 3: So let's let's let's do these quick hitters real quick.
- 25:22Speaker 1: So obviously we all have to retire, and we all
- 25:26Speaker 1: have to try to figure out something.
- 25:28Speaker 3: Uh what we're gonna do? What would what?
- 25:31Speaker 1: What would be your advice to a newly freshly retired
- 25:35Speaker 1: NFL player?
- 25:39Speaker 2: Self awareness is key, really learning like who am I,
- 25:43Speaker 2: what do I do well? What don't I do well?
- 25:45Speaker 2: And not from us like not presenting to other people,
- 25:49Speaker 2: but like understanding self like, what are the areas that
- 25:51Speaker 2: I really struggle with? And because I think those are
- 25:54Speaker 2: the things that don't go away, you'll you'll still be
- 25:57Speaker 2: with those as you go to all these different places.
- 26:00Speaker 2: And so I think learning that as best as you
- 26:03Speaker 2: can is helpful. That could be done through therapy, that
- 26:06Speaker 2: could be done through church, that could be done through friendship.
- 26:09Speaker 2: I think it's a collection of everything. You know, some
- 26:12Speaker 2: really tight friendships where people are just telling you about
- 26:14Speaker 2: you and not just you know, telling you maybe what
- 26:18Speaker 2: you want to hear or what has always been the norm.
- 26:21Speaker 2: But I think if you know yourself a little bit better,
- 26:24Speaker 2: you can make decisions that are more in line with
- 26:26Speaker 2: who you are, particularly as a retired athlete.
- 26:30Speaker 4: All Right, so I'm supposed to ask you a quick hitter,
- 26:34Speaker 4: but I gotta I gotta know this one. Because you
- 26:36Speaker 4: got paid when nobody went back in the day before
- 26:39Speaker 4: they changed the SBOCA. What was your first big splurge purchase.
- 26:46Speaker 2: I mean, so I was I was one of those
- 26:48Speaker 2: rookies that like didn't it was new to me, so
- 26:51Speaker 2: I didn't want to touch it, you know, I didn't
- 26:52Speaker 2: know what to do. And so here's a funny story.
- 26:56Speaker 2: I'm sure you don't know. This one my offense on line,
- 26:59Speaker 2: my brothers in the trenches. They would find me every
- 27:03Speaker 2: day until I bought a new car. I had a
- 27:06Speaker 2: four Tourist green I think it was nineteen eighty three, and.
- 27:09Speaker 3: You were rolling through this every day. How long did
- 27:12Speaker 3: you know?
- 27:12Speaker 2: Then I upgraded my bed. I'm sorry. So my dad
- 27:15Speaker 2: he used to have cars for work, business cars, and
- 27:18Speaker 2: you can have the option to buy it. So it's
- 27:19Speaker 2: like a two thousand and two gray gun metal four
- 27:22Speaker 2: tours and I had that, and my all lineman would
- 27:26Speaker 2: find me. Pete Kendall, Brandon Moore, Anthony Clement, they would
- 27:32Speaker 2: find me.
- 27:33Speaker 3: How much were they finding you every day?
- 27:35Speaker 5: I don't know.
- 27:37Speaker 2: I don't remember. At this point, I guess it was
- 27:39Speaker 2: just enough where I knew that I was messing up.
- 27:42Speaker 4: It was just annoying.
- 27:43Speaker 2: It was just annoying. And I did buy a car.
- 27:47Speaker 2: It was like a new car, but it wasn't the
- 27:50Speaker 2: latest model. And then I got disappointment looks on them,
- 27:54Speaker 2: They're like, this is what you bought. So it was hard.
- 27:56Speaker 2: It was hard from the beginning. You know, there was
- 27:59Speaker 2: another player like me who was like, yeah, save your money,
- 28:02Speaker 2: do all the things that you're supposed to do. I
- 28:04Speaker 2: wasn't getting that positive reinforcement.
- 28:06Speaker 4: And my last question break is who's on your mount
- 28:10Speaker 4: rushmore of influence in your life, whether it's sports, personally, emotionally. Uh,
- 28:16Speaker 4: it's four and I'd like to know your personal mount.
- 28:20Speaker 2: Rushb m hmm. Definitely my my I'll say my parents.
- 28:25Speaker 2: They're they're a unit. They're solidied, all right.
- 28:28Speaker 3: Can we count him as one?
- 28:29Speaker 2: Yeah, willcount them as one. I have a principal. His
- 28:33Speaker 2: name is Jim Brown. He's somebody who I feel kind
- 28:37Speaker 2: of led the way early was this high school, junior
- 28:40Speaker 2: high really junior high school, junior high school. But we've
- 28:43Speaker 2: been in I met with him recently. We stayed in contact.
- 28:46Speaker 2: I was in his wedding, like you know, and I
- 28:49Speaker 2: think he provided a sense of leadership outside of you know,
- 28:53Speaker 2: that family household. I would see him in school and
- 28:56Speaker 2: everybody had that his respect. I would I want to
- 29:00Speaker 2: say a pastor, pastor Harry J.
- 29:02Speaker 1: White.
- 29:02Speaker 2: He's sense deceased, but he was a natural encourager. You know,
- 29:07Speaker 2: he got out of his way to acknowledge myself and
- 29:10Speaker 2: my brother, even to the point where you get in trouble,
- 29:12Speaker 2: right because you can't be calling out people's kids. And
- 29:15Speaker 2: then you know, there's a whole church of kids, and man,
- 29:18Speaker 2: these these Burgerson boys, oh man and these other children.
- 29:22Speaker 2: Everybody in the church. Just clap your hands for the youth,
- 29:25Speaker 2: for the youth. And uh you know, so he was.
- 29:30Speaker 2: He was definitely somebody who I felt was impactful. And
- 29:33Speaker 2: I'll give you in the coaching spirit. Uh, he was
- 29:38Speaker 2: my Showta con instructor. His name is Ray Bobin.
- 29:42Speaker 3: For those that don't know what shodakan is.
- 29:44Speaker 2: So it's a Japanese style of martial arts. You know.
- 29:50Speaker 2: Back when we grew up, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, like
- 29:54Speaker 2: Jackie Chan that was everything. That was everything. Nowadays it's like, oh,
- 29:59Speaker 2: that's that's nice, that that's cool.
- 30:00Speaker 3: But it was Steve.
- 30:06Speaker 2: So that was the beginning and and so they even
- 30:08Speaker 2: had it, you know, it was retro. I don't remember
- 30:12Speaker 2: if you uh he's an actor, Jim Kelly the uh
- 30:15Speaker 2: he was like, uh, he's a black martial artist back
- 30:18Speaker 2: in the day.
- 30:19Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 30:19Speaker 2: So it's like my my learning was from uh, like
- 30:25Speaker 2: I said, brother, very strong, but it was like the
- 30:28Speaker 2: beginnings of discipline. There's a point where the novelty wears off,
- 30:33Speaker 2: I don't want to do this anymore, and you look
- 30:35Speaker 2: at your parents and like this is we're doing this, and.
- 30:39Speaker 3: You're like, but I.
- 30:41Speaker 2: So it becomes hard. You're doing your pushups, you're you're
- 30:44Speaker 2: doing all the things that you don't want to do,
- 30:46Speaker 2: but you're learning your body, you're learning how to fight
- 30:48Speaker 2: through things. And so when I met my high school coach,
- 30:52Speaker 2: I leaned on this. Then I met my college coach,
- 30:55Speaker 2: I leaned on high school. When I met it always
- 30:58Speaker 2: got harder, it never got easy, it never got easier,
- 31:02Speaker 2: but I had something to lean on. And I think
- 31:04Speaker 2: those individuals like that provided foundation throughout my whole life
- 31:09Speaker 2: that I can use even today as I reflect on
- 31:13Speaker 2: you know, everything, And I think even as I get older,
- 31:16Speaker 2: I have a different type of respect for my mom.
- 31:18Speaker 2: I have a different type of respect for pastor White
- 31:21Speaker 2: because now I know them, I know more of their story.
- 31:24Speaker 2: Now when I've heard things that have popped up, it's
- 31:27Speaker 2: like I'm seeing that as an adult and not as
- 31:30Speaker 2: a kid, you know, and so it's like, oh, wow, Okay,
- 31:33Speaker 2: there's depth here. It's not exactly what I thought when
- 31:36Speaker 2: I was a child, but it's actually even richer. Now
- 31:39Speaker 2: you know, when I think of my old instructor, I
- 31:42Speaker 2: think of my old principle, It's like they just provided
- 31:45Speaker 2: leadership at a time that I didn't even realize I needed,
- 31:50Speaker 2: but it was there and it was a pillar, you know'
- 31:54Speaker 2: that's dope.
- 31:55Speaker 3: I'm using that just what I lean on.
- 31:56Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to tell that to my son because
- 31:58Speaker 1: good luck, yeah, good luck.
- 32:00Speaker 5: I'm still gonna use it though. We're gonna see what happens.
- 32:03Speaker 4: Pete and son is the same kid that gets his
- 32:05Speaker 4: socks wet, takes him off, and then when he needs
- 32:07Speaker 4: to go put shoes on, puts the same wet sox on.
- 32:11Speaker 3: I'm getting there. He is extremely consistent. So I love it.
- 32:15Speaker 2: I love quality. You know, how is your transition? You
- 32:18Speaker 2: know we've been out, we've been out the league for
- 32:21Speaker 2: some amount of times. I mean, I the last time
- 32:24Speaker 2: we had spoken was during that Columbia University, you know,
- 32:28Speaker 2: and so at that time it seemed, you know, that
- 32:32Speaker 2: was that time. So just like a snapshot, like house's
- 32:35Speaker 2: life change for you, guys words, it brought you.
- 32:38Speaker 3: So deep brick.
- 32:39Speaker 4: At that point in time, I had three kids, and
- 32:41Speaker 4: now I have four at a COVID child, another baby boy.
- 32:44Speaker 4: Me and my wife are still married. But at that
- 32:47Speaker 4: point in time, I was not doing anything. I was
- 32:50Speaker 4: literally just trying to figure out what I wanted to do.
- 32:53Speaker 3: I took three hundred and sixty five.
- 32:55Speaker 4: Days did nothing, and then once I did that, this
- 32:58Speaker 4: was part of my after three sixty five days when
- 33:01Speaker 4: I was taking the class at Columbia and and really
- 33:06Speaker 4: just trying to figure out what I wanted to do.
- 33:09Speaker 4: And so since then now I work for ESPN SEC Network.
- 33:16Speaker 4: So so Saturdays, we got a show called SEC Nation,
- 33:21Speaker 4: so we travel around the SEC were covering all the teams,
- 33:23Speaker 4: and I do a show on Tuesday night.
- 33:25Speaker 3: So that's what I'm doing.
- 33:27Speaker 4: I'm doing this as well and in some other real
- 33:30Speaker 4: estate place around the South that I'm kind of trying
- 33:33Speaker 4: to be looking out for and things like that. So
- 33:35Speaker 4: that's really what consumes my life and four kids. So yeah,
- 33:39Speaker 4: I mean that's that's all I got. But I live
- 33:41Speaker 4: in Charlotte. We got to exchange numbers because you know,
- 33:44Speaker 4: you're one of my favorite people when we get together.
- 33:45Speaker 2: That's how I praise. I appreciate that.
- 33:48Speaker 5: Oh yeah, I did the I did Fox Sports.
- 33:51Speaker 1: I did that for a while. Just got out of that,
- 33:56Speaker 1: did some law enforcement. Now I'm working with Rome. We're
- 33:59Speaker 1: doing this show right here, got four kits.
- 34:02Speaker 3: I'm busy. I'm busy with my.
- 34:03Speaker 5: Kids and uh yeah, that's that's that's about it.
- 34:08Speaker 3: But hey, man, I appreciate you.
- 34:10Speaker 4: H this is one of the best interviews we've had,
- 34:13Speaker 4: just purely because you were so open candidate, and you
- 34:15Speaker 4: really gave like the listeners and viewers like a real
- 34:19Speaker 4: insight on like not just telling you what to do,
- 34:22Speaker 4: but like some steps to achieve it. Also being vulnerable
- 34:25Speaker 4: and like, look, man, it was a lot of growth
- 34:27Speaker 4: and like the things that happened in my past were
- 34:30Speaker 4: it wasn't always good. Actually, when I got continue to advance,
- 34:34Speaker 4: I needed to lean on those rough times absolut to
- 34:37Speaker 4: continue to push me and to tell me I'm award
- 34:39Speaker 4: for the next journey.
- 34:41Speaker 3: Like you don't even see.
- 34:42Speaker 4: What's out there, but the things that you're going through
- 34:44Speaker 4: now is it's really going to get you through the
- 34:46Speaker 4: next the next one. And uh man, that was just
- 34:50Speaker 4: really deep and good, bro. It was getting ship very
- 34:53Speaker 4: genuine well break man. Appreciate it, man, Thank you for
- 34:56Speaker 4: joining us. Man, you were off the hot seat.
- 34:58Speaker 3: Man.
- 35:03Speaker 1: Thank you guys, for listening. You know, with every show
- 35:06Speaker 1: we do, in every guest we have, we try to
- 35:08Speaker 1: make it very authentic and just be vulnerable and open
- 35:12Speaker 1: and secure and make this a safe place for these
- 35:14Speaker 1: guys to talk. And you guys have been awesome for
- 35:16Speaker 1: supporting us. We can't thank you enough.
- 35:18Speaker 4: We are here to educate and entertain, So make sure,
- 35:22Speaker 4: like always and I always ask you, make sure you
- 35:25Speaker 4: hit the subscribe button, give us a five star rating,
- 35:28Speaker 4: tell a friend to tell a friend to do repet
- 35:30Speaker 4: tell a friend, make sure anywhere you get to your
- 35:33Speaker 4: podcast where it's Apple or iHeart linked in.
- 35:38Speaker 3: Appreciate y'all