WEBVTT - Controlling the Coward with Darren Woodson 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:10.039 Welcome to the Good Stuff. 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:12.639 I'm Jacob Schick and I'm joined by my co host 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:13.600 and wife. 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:14.080 Ashley Shick. 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.239 Jake is a third generation combat Marine and I'm a 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:21.200 gold Star granddaughter. And we work together to serve military veterans, 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:25.040 first responders, frontline healthcare workers, and their families with mental 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:28.520 and emotional wellness through traditional and non traditional therapy. 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:30.240 At One Tribe Foundation. 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:33.120 We believe everyone has a story to tell, not only 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:35.479 about the peaks, but also about the valleys they've been 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:37.080 through to get them to where they are today. 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.120 Each week, we invite a guests to tell us their story, 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:42.720 to share with us the lessons they've learned that shaped 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:44.760 who they are and what they're doing to pay it 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:46.120 forward and give back. 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:48.840 Our mission with this show is to dig deep into 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:51.360 our guest's journeys so that we can celebrate the hope 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:53.200 and inspiration their story has to offer. 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:56.120 We're thrilled you're joining us again. 0:00:56.800 --> 0:01:02.319 Welcome to the Good Stuff. I am so fired up 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:06.759 about our guests today. Three time Super Bowl Champion, five 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:08.400 time Pro Bowler. 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:12.480 Four time first Team All Pro, Dallas Cowboys, all time 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.559 leading tackler, and Cowboys' Ring of Honor honoree. He's a father, 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.959 a husband, a businessman, a mentor, and he's a leader. 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:23.479 Our guest today is Darren Woodson. 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:25.919 Our good friend is here to tell us the story 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.039 of growing up in the projects in West side Phoenix, Arizona, 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:34.680 and how he became a champion at life. 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:37.160 The great Darren Woodson. 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:40.360 Oh, welcome to the good stuff, Ashley. 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:42.400 I appreciate you having me. I don't know so much 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:44.319 about this dude over here sitting to my left, that 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:47.680 guy guy, and that guy got a little upset because 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:48.760 I'll sit at the head of the table. 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:52.080 I know I can tell listen. 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:54.960 Set his bottles down, he sat his drinks down right 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:59.080 here front. I knowingly sat here all the guest. 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:01.560 Yeah, games have already started and started. 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:03.880 That's right. Here we go. Let's go. 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:05.680 Ready. 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:09.840 Yes, I got more mind games than Milton Bradley compliments 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:11.000 of states. 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:15.760 And I've dealt one of the So you finally got 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:16.000 to win. 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:17.079 I finally get one win. 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:18.920 Exactly what I'm going to let you have it? 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:24.840 So relation Darren Woodson father, husband, Dallas cowboy, Alum, you 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:27.560 played your entire career the boys. 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:30.800 Yeah, I was blessed to just to play with the Cowboys, 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:33.760 and actually I was one of the time. I retired 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:36.760 as one of four or players that had never experienced 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:37.480 free agency. 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:40.720 Wow, never saw it, so no sign. 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:45.280 Yeah, and you were there during the Golden years ninety 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:46.959 two to two thousand and four. 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:51.120 Yes, ninety two, yes, well, the beginning of those years 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:54.519 ninety two through ninety five were really strong years, and 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.080 then we fell off a cliff right at zero leadership 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:00.720 from top to bottom, and we were five eleven five. 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:04.720 Were averages average could ever be. It's who we were 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:06.600 for the longest time. 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:10.359 Until Parcels came in later and that one snapped back 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:10.880 to life. 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:14.440 It's ironic you say that, because average is not at 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:17.880 all what describes you and your work ethic and your 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.360 story and where you came from. We'll talk about all 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.320 your accolades in a little bit, but for now, why 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:24.160 don't we dive into that. 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:24.799 Let's do it. 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:27.920 Tell us about Phoenix, Arizona. 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:31.040 Oh yeah, So I grew up in Phoenix. I was 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:34.320 the youngest of four kids. My mom was a single mom. 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:37.520 We were project kids, and we grew up in Hintson 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:40.240 projects early on, and then eventually moved to what we 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:42.520 call the West Side Maryvale area, which wasn't much of 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:45.000 an upgrade. It was just the curtains are a little different. 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:49.800 Yeah, But I know who I am based on the 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:50.920 work ethic of my mother. 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:54.680 She got up every day five twenty five am, every 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:58.080 single day, went to her first job, which she worked 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:00.840 for thirty eight years as a clerk at Akopa County, 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:04.440 got done about four or five in the evening, went 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:07.960 to her second job, and usually got home about ten 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:10.280 thirty eleven o'clock. I think the one thing that I've 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.040 always appreciated about my mom, which I didn't realize until 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.400 later on, is that she set up a process for 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:18.400 her kids. Like the way she kept us off the streets, 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:20.039 the way she kept us away from drugs and the 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:23.880 gangs and all was her process. Was My sister Monica 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:27.760 pretty much ran the show, and she basically said, Hey, 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:30.640 you're going to do this with these boys. It was myself, 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:32.920 my brother Rany, and my brother Todd, who again all 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:33.839 older than I am. 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:35.720 But Monica ran lead. 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:37.840 Made sure we got up in the morning, made sure 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:40.039 we got on the bus, made sure we got to school. 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:42.120 After school, we had all had to get back on 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:47.120 the bus. My sister, seven years senior, would be on 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:49.039 one of the buses, and when she went to junior 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:51.640 High and all that, she would meet us at the 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:54.480 bus stop. We would get off the bus, we'd walk 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:58.719 into the church and after school programmed, my mom said, 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:02.520 you better not miss miss Sanders. After school program is 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:06.479 finished up, we go over to the YMCA. And that's 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.200 the reason why I'm here right now because of Imcas 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:11.800 taught me how to be an athlete because he had 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:12.320 to scrapped. 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:16.080 Yeah, king pong game. Things got a little sideway. Sometimes 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:18.719 it didn't matter, it didn't matter, Like that's. 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.159 How I learned how to play football right and know 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:22.280 how to play at a high level. 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:24.280 But I cut my teeth there. 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:26.880 But my mom had this process that she instilled in 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.960 all of us just to make sure we stayed busy 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:34.320 enough to not do Imagine that idle hands or the 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:36.440 devils were and I've heard that a million times when 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:38.320 I was a kid. Never knew what it meant. But 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:41.560 idle hands of the devil's works, you do not if 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:45.080 you if you're still, you're gonna get into some whatever 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:47.159 it is, right, you're gonna step into it. So it 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:49.640 kept us busy and it allowed us. I was the 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:52.719 one that graduated. My brother Todd went to went into 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:56.120 the army, which you'll love. My brother Randy, who was older, 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:58.279 started working when he got out of high school. He 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:01.479 instantly went into the workforce. To Monica as well, right 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.240 into the workforce. And then I went to college. I 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:06.760 was the first one to go actually go to college. 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:09.440 Monica followed me after, but both of us have our 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:11.599 college degree. That was the happiest day of my life, 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:14.600 wasn't that I got drafted by the Cowboys. Happiest day 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.720 of my mom's life, as it pertained to me, was 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:18.839 when I got that patient. 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:20.240 Well absolutely. 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:22.760 How old was Monica when she was given all of 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:23.760 this responsibility? 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:27.480 She was seven years old. She was that's crazy, man. 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:30.719 I used to catch the bus. Oh yeah, I'm serious. 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:32.920 My sister was catching the bus like no, not the 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:36.839 school bus, the city bus, the city bus. I remember 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:39.880 being seven eight years old catching the city bus from 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:43.200 my house across town sometimes to get to school because 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:45.159 the school bus didn't show up where I lived, so 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:46.080 the city. 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:46.560 Bus was it. 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:48.680 At seven years old and a. 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:50.960 Transfer, getting the transfer to get on another bus, I 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:52.599 couldn't even imagine. I got a six year old who's 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:54.719 about to turn seven and a few days there was 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:59.000 no way and heck that I could see my son. Nope, 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:01.760 get in on a bus and getting a transfer at that. 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:04.719 So what was it like growing up in that house? 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:08.600 I can't imagine your mom working a job or how 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:09.240 many jobs? 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:12.920 Two jobs, two jobs to feed five miles. 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:16.040 Yeah, and keeping the lights on, keeping the lights on, 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:17.200 and no father figure. 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:20.880 And again, look, I had no idea that I was poor, Like, 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:23.720 I just thought that this was life. 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:25.760 And we lived in such a bubble. 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:29.920 And the fact of I didn't go to certain areas, 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.000 Like I had no idea what Scottsdale. 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:35.360 Arizona was until I went to Arizona. 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:37.119 State and I was, yeah, it's right down the street, 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:39.040 And why does everybody go and those oh, those are 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:42.680 some big houses where and we're in the same city. 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:45.040 I'm twenty five minute drive from Scottsdale. 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:45.320 Right. 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.040 We just lived in this bubble, and I just felt 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:50.880 like everyone was kind of similar. Look, I come from 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:53.800 a background where most of the houses that were down 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.920 the street and all my buddies, they're all single family houses. 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:00.880 Fathers weren't involved, or fathers were they weren't living in 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:03.080 the same house. My father just didn't happen to be 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:04.000 a part of my life. 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:04.960 I knew he was. 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:07.160 We saw him every once in a while, but he 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:11.880 just wasn't making decisions and raising me as a man. 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:14.880 He definitely didn't play an active role. He didn't play 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.440 an active role. No shame for I forgiven all moved on. 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:20.880 But you know, and he had his own issues he 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.200 was trying to deal with and overcome at the same time. 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.480 But my mother was he played that big of a role. 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:28.360 So I just live life the way it was and 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:30.400 the way it fell out. Man, And I'm telling you, 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:34.760 I had the happiest childhood. We played basketball, played every 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.040 sport you can name. On the street, you know, lights 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:38.480 go down, then you go back in the house, and 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.040 that's the way life was. Yeah, it was simple. 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:44.320 When the street lights come on, yeah you better be 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:48.640 home to be home. So when did you realize, like, hey, 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:50.000 I want to get out of this situation. 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:51.760 No, here's the one I this is the time I 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:55.800 did realize that I was poor. So again, my sister Monica, 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:58.040 so she's probably in her teens at this point, and 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.680 I was seven years old. My mom used to play 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:03.800 these She had these games where she used to flip 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:05.840 a coin figure out which bill she needed to pay. Right, 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:10.160 So sometimes electric bill. Sometimes well I can't make that 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:11.680 electric bill, I'll pay the water bill. 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:14.720 Whatnot. Well, this time the electric bill won. She paid 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:15.319 the electric bill. 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:19.199 Water bill was off, so we couldn't shower back then 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:25.600 it was a bathtub. Later, so my sister, just me 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:29.000 and her. She takes me across the street. It is 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:32.240 a supermarket, and the supermarket had the holes on the backside, 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:34.480 you know, the garbage cans, and then there's a supermarket, right, 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:38.480 And she had this powder soap and took me across 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:41.600 the street, sprayed me down with the hose, threw powdered 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:43.680 soap on me, and I had all over my favorite 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:47.520 um butt naked in the back of a supermarket. She 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:49.880 spraying me down, blah blah blah, and then we were 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.880 running across the street. And it was the first time 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:56.920 I thought, Wow, this is weird. Why the heck are 0:09:56.960 --> 0:10:00.240 we doing this? And the next day this is how 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.079 I knew I was poor. I'm walking to the bus 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:07.280 stop and she sprayed me down, but she didn't get 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.040 all the soap off of me, right, And my buddy says, 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:12.880 what is that on your head. You know, we are 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:16.000 back in the day. The kids are just ruthless, right right. 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:18.640 I was like, we're talking about now, I ain't looking 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:20.559 the mirror, not this, I'm like and he said, he 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:22.120 got all this step on this side of your face 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:22.679 and looked down. 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.240 It's like, I said, this looks like soap is why 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:28.880 are you powdered soap all over you? Man? You poll? 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:31.880 And I was a kid, and we all were kids 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:36.600 and hold unch tickets seven seven yeah, yeah, but we 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:39.280 all had lunch tickets. We're all the same, everybody, right, 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:42.400 And that's when I was kind of like, man, this 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.800 is that's different. That's different. And then when I was 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:48.040 in high school, I really you know, you started get 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:49.640 a little older, you started figuring. I was working when 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:51.800 I was twelve years old, and I was working with 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:54.839 my two uncles and again two MILLI two Marines that 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:57.160 grew up Vietnam guys came. 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:00.480 Back whatever you want to do. Goodness. 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:04.360 They were laying carpet in these buildings and I would 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:06.480 be the one at the bottom. So they would lay 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:08.480 carpet and they would cut carpet sheets off and they 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:10.360 would throw them out the building. It's like new buildings right, 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.440 no windows, and then they throw it out and it's hot, dude, 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:13.320 it's a phoenix, right. 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:15.400 Hot. 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:17.560 And I'd go up in the building and they would 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:19.079 cut those sheets and I would have to grab a 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.959 little leftover pieces and put them in a bag or whatnot. 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:23.880 But the big sheets, they would just throw them out 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:26.560 the window and I would have to go downstairs and 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.920 throw those sheets, those big leftover pieces of carpet in 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:30.840 the back of the truck. 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:33.920 Right. And they taught me how to drive a big 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:36.680 I was a big old Chevy truck man. We still 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:37.400 had to stick on. 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:41.040 Taught me how to drive when I was twelve years old. 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:44.040 To back them up, I sat on carpet, like stacks 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:47.560 of carpet set on so I can pull this thing 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:51.640 back to the building and then throw the sheets as 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:53.800 close as I could to the truck. We were so 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:57.800 dysfunctional because my uncles were drunk ninety percent of the 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:02.400 time or on something, right, and they would talk to 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:07.040 me like a sailor wow, like every word that came 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:09.640 out of their mouth was a cuss word. Right, I 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.679 didn't know any better. I really didn't know any better. Right. 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:17.160 I learned how to drive though when I was well, yeah. 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:18.720 But that was my life. 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.560 That was that was my reality, and I didn't know 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:24.280 any better than that. But it was in those buildings 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:27.079 when I would sit there and go, man, these are 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:28.200 nice buildings. 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:32.520 Yeah, like these are really nice buildings. Like what do 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:33.360 these people do? 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.319 Yeah? There was a time when I got into high 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:38.520 school and then that light bulb started going off that 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:40.640 I was like, I'm going to do something. 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:43.800 I know I'm going to do something. Was that a 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:46.040 feeling you had in your gut, in your soul. 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:48.040 I knew I was going to do something, Jake. I 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:50.080 knew that I was going to do something. And I 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.439 can tell you this, everyone in my family and all 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:54.760 my closest friends always knew, dude, you're going to do something. 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:57.360 Wow, You're going to do something because I burned. 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:00.320 Differently, and I know I was different. You woke up 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:03.040 early in the morning that I was always inquisitive. People 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:05.720 always say, man, shut stop asking me questions. 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:12.240 I'm oh, yeah, there isn't it. Yep, there isn't it. 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:14.439 You know what you played in the league. You played 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:17.199 around guys that had it right, and guys in the 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:19.720 business world that have It has nothing to do with sports. 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.920 It's this spark right, And it's hard to describe it, 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:26.000 really hard to put into words, but. 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.720 You have this unbelievable self conviction already that I think 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:32.080 is God given that you were born with. And then 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:34.520 because the way you were raised, it was just giving 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:39.360 you tools and building blocks internally to say. 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.079 I don't know what limits are. Those are man made. 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:45.000 That's right, man, that's so strong. That's strong. But that's 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:45.600 the reality. 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:47.720 God's going to give you some of that skill set 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:51.240 right whatever that skill is, right, but it's how you 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:55.880 pursue it. There is something about how I want to 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:57.680 attack life. And there's a lot of people that I 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.560 know that are similar in thought that I have. But 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:04.200 even as a young kid, I wanted to attack life like, 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:05.240 if you want it, you gotta. 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:07.800 Go get it. Ye gotta go get it. So nothing's given. 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:09.760 God may have given me something, but I had so 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:12.400 many people that were sharpening me throughout the years that 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:14.400 allowed me to say, okay, here I am. 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:14.800 Yeah. 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:16.800 And if you didn't have that fire in your gut 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:17.559 to go get. 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:21.000 It yea yeah, then what you gotta have the conviction 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:25.720 to go take it. You have to supersede your fear 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:30.400 of failure in order to be completely proactive in your 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:31.040 own greatness? 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:35.400 How did you channel that on your path to life 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:37.120 to greatness? 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:40.400 I gotta admit, like, I was really good at certain things, 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:44.080 and I was very mediocre at other things. You know, 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:45.600 you hear the saying play to your strengths, Play to 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:47.680 your strengths, play your strength. All I did was play 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.200 to my strengths, which wasn't a bad thing all the time, 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:53.600 but it did catch up to me eventually once I 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:54.720 got to a certain level. 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:56.040 So here is my strength. 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:58.360 My strength was you give me the football, or you 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:01.440 tell me to tackle someone. I was really good at that, 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:04.360 and I knew I was good, but you put me 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:08.440 in geology class, or you put me in any math class, 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:15.040 and I had zero work ethic. So I disguised everything 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:18.840 by saying I'm such a good athlete, see me, yeah, 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.880 see me like, and everybody loved me because of such 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:27.560 and such. Right, you got away a lot, and I 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:30.080 covered up the fact that I didn't really want to 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:31.200 work that hard in school. 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:32.240 I really didn't. 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:35.160 I knew my sister was highly intelligent, my mom's very 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.360 highly intelligent. I knew I had it in me because 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:40.280 certain times I'd be like I put the work in, 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:43.400 I get it done. But I just didn't. I was 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:47.640 mediocre at best. I just didn't care. Right, So it 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:49.720 caught up to me my junior year in high school. 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:53.440 So everyone's recruiting me around the country and because of 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:55.320 my athleticism, and then when they come and they look 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.040 at my transcripts, they were like, dude, you're great, suck. 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:01.040 You're not gonna make it. We're not gonna give you 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:04.040 a scholarship. And then you get into college and you're 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:05.000 out in the first week. 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:09.480 My we we're not. So I got recruited by a 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:10.320 lot of schools. 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:13.320 I ended up going to Arizona State because all the 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:15.120 other schools said, we're not going to accept you because 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:18.120 your grades are so bad. Arizona State brought me in 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:20.280 as what they call a prop forty eight. I went 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:21.880 to Arizona State or I went to a Juco. 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:22.520 Wow. 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:24.280 If I would have went to a Juco, I would 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:27.560 have been lost. Honestly, I would have been lost, right bro. 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:29.320 No on either way, I know, I don't I don't. 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:31.320 I think I think the wheels would have fallen off. 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:34.280 Oh yeah, because I'm an extremist in a lot of ways. Right, 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:37.800 So my mother had a conversation with me, and there 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:39.680 was a young man. His name is Don Baki. He 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:43.560 was recruiting coordinator for Arizona State. He changed my life. 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:45.480 You're talking about people that pour into you. That is 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:47.960 so special. And when you look, man, I get. 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.359 Dude, don't crying about You're good deeper hey. 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:52.880 But gradually for being human. 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:56.720 Yeah, man, Man Baki, don't run from that. 0:16:57.200 --> 0:16:59.640 I'm not gonna let you get away with that right here. Man, 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.560 I know, but look emotionally, he was so special. He'd 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:05.959 show up every single day my senior year in school, 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:08.879 going to class or going towards class because halftime I 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:11.520 wasn't going, but he would be in the hallway. He's 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:14.840 a recruiter at Arizona State, right he is the football 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.040 head of football recruiting there. He would be in the 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:19.840 hallway and he said, man, you need to get a class. 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:22.919 He's showing my grades. Look at you're crazy. And he 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:24.520 was there every single day. 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:28.480 So my mom and coach Baki had a long conversation 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:31.120 and my mom said, look, you're going to Arizona State. 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:35.359 You're going to go. And I couldn't play my first year. 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:38.360 I couldn't even be around the team. Is that part 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:38.680 of the. 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:47.399 Right. My entire focus was school. That was it fish 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:50.399 out of water man. It was the first time that 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:53.320 I missed the football season. So I was seven years old. 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:56.160 I've been playing since I was seven, never missed the season. 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:58.760 I was a fish out of water. I was at 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:01.000 a big school, fifty five thousand students. 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:02.280 I was just. 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.879 Going there because I couldn't be around the football program. 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:07.959 It was against the rules for me to even go 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:10.720 to a game to watch it. 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:15.560 So my first year, every Friday, I had to report 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:17.919 back to Baki. We would sit down and said, how 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:20.600 school going, blah blah blah. It's all he could give me. Right, 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:22.879 we couldn't meet in the athletic facility. We had to 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.800