Speaker 1: Drafted as a production of tree Fort Media, Clutch Sports Group,
Speaker 1: and I Heart Radio. Basically, yeah, live fie for sixty hours,
Speaker 1: alve fi for sixty hours. This for like a podcast,
Speaker 1: I mean just like recording like sixty hours. This is
Speaker 1: a podcast. It was just audio. Welcome back to season
Speaker 1: three of Drafted. I'm Steven Johnson and last episode we
Speaker 1: got to know University of Alabama star receiver Davante Smith.
Speaker 1: In this second episode, we're meeting the guy you just
Speaker 1: heard laughing, Davante's college teammate, offensive tackle Alex Leatherwood. He's
Speaker 1: six ft five in ways roughly three and twenty pounds,
Speaker 1: almost double the way of Davante, and over the past
Speaker 1: four years, Alex clear the path for his smaller teammates
Speaker 1: on offense, staying in the background as the other players
Speaker 1: won awards and got most of the publicity. Now NFL
Speaker 1: Draft arriving in only one more day, Alex is finally
Speaker 1: going to have the cameras and limelight directly on him
Speaker 1: and experience he's absolutely not used to. Hello, sorry, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, he's like tripled inside. How are you good? Oh?
Speaker 1: How you doing? Alex will be participating in the draft
Speaker 1: virtually this year, only the thirteen players in Cleveland are
Speaker 1: doing their draft in person. Everyone else has to throw
Speaker 1: their own at home draft party. So before hosting his
Speaker 1: party tomorrow night, Alex decides to visit his godparents, Rebecca
Speaker 1: and Andrew, at their house in Pensacola, Florida, and he's
Speaker 1: brought along is ten month old puppy Zuko. Does he does,
Speaker 1: but he does, but it's not It's not crazy at all, Deree,
Speaker 1: So how I'm sorry, I'm not at all To be honest,
Speaker 1: I slept through the whole night because I honestly went
Speaker 1: back to sleep when I woke up. But I mean,
Speaker 1: it is what it is. I'm ready to go. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: How to go after college? You got? Well? He traded
Speaker 1: it right, because like the day after this season, I
Speaker 1: mean that next day after the National Championship game, I
Speaker 1: go straight to Texas to start training. Alabama won the
Speaker 1: National championship on January eleven, and instead of taking time
Speaker 1: off and celebrating, Alex woke up on January twelve and
Speaker 1: drove the Texas to start training for his pro career.
Speaker 1: He didn't build a single day off into his plan. Now,
Speaker 1: four months later Alex is being talked about as a
Speaker 1: first or second round pick, and he's been linked to
Speaker 1: a half a dozen teams. I've stayed away from reading
Speaker 1: anything about you because it's fake. It's fake. The media
Speaker 1: is fake. Watch it. It's literally fake. Yeah. One time,
Speaker 1: one time Broncos the Packers, and then it was like
Speaker 1: the last one I saw said that Packers. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like who knows. You don't look at it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they know, they know nothing. It's all speculation. But I
Speaker 1: do have an idea. I know the charges. They liked
Speaker 1: me a lot, but I'm not their first option. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So if it's not Do, probably going to be the Raiders.
Speaker 1: If it's not the Raiders, then it will be Miami.
Speaker 1: There's not Miami, then it will definitely be the Ravings.
Speaker 1: But how's it going to work? I will we will
Speaker 1: literally all be watching the TV and wait until somebody
Speaker 1: calls me. That's what it is. Yeah, I need just
Speaker 1: wait for the phone. Well, we're gonna bring a sharp
Speaker 1: choose plate. How do you call it? I'm working on
Speaker 1: this with you, yeah, yeah, really other things. The correct
Speaker 1: pronunciation is charcuterie. It's a French term describing prepared or
Speaker 1: cured meats, and that's the language Alex actually knows well
Speaker 1: because learning French is something he built into his master plan.
Speaker 1: In case you didn't notice, when Alex just rattled off
Speaker 1: a memorized list of which teams are targeting him, as
Speaker 1: well as exactly where he ranks on each team's position list,
Speaker 1: He's meticulous about his entire life, and that includes the
Speaker 1: guest list to his upcoming draft parties. So how many
Speaker 1: family you got coming in a lot? My mom was
Speaker 1: shared like fifty so people. She didn't bring fifty people,
Speaker 1: but she said it's probably gonna end up being close
Speaker 1: to fifty. Let me live here already them. Alex grew
Speaker 1: up in Pensacola, Florida, with a huge family nearby, but
Speaker 1: his childhood provided plenty of time for introspection. I grew
Speaker 1: up basically a single parent home, just me and my dad.
Speaker 1: All of my hid blooms on my desk. I were
Speaker 1: much older than me, so it's just me and him
Speaker 1: in the house or whatever. I was staying with my dad.
Speaker 1: UM my mom she lived close to life to um
Speaker 1: her sisters and stuff, so I got to play with
Speaker 1: all my cousins and stuff, go to her house every weekend,
Speaker 1: you know. Let me As a kid. Growing up, he
Speaker 1: attended Booker T. Washington High School and that's where he
Speaker 1: met his best friend, Kia Hollis. My name is Kia Hollis.
Speaker 1: Alex is my best friend. Where we come from, a
Speaker 1: lot of people that are from there, their main goal
Speaker 1: is to get out of Pensacola, mostly because it's not
Speaker 1: a lot of between geest there. Most places where you
Speaker 1: can go, people have already had those jobs. They're stuck
Speaker 1: in those jobs and they'll be there until they retire
Speaker 1: or they're fired. So growing up in our town, the
Speaker 1: fifteen year olds back then, he was a lot different
Speaker 1: than them. No, kids our age were really thinking of
Speaker 1: the bigger picture, like oh, we need to probably have
Speaker 1: this ready or we need to have this ready. But
Speaker 1: he always did. He always thought about the bigger picture.
Speaker 1: He always thought about where am I going to be
Speaker 1: five ten years from now? I need to work on that,
Speaker 1: and he stuck to that. Lots of fifteen year olds
Speaker 1: have goals for high school and college or even dreams
Speaker 1: of being a musician or becoming a doctor. What Alex
Speaker 1: was doing that was something very very different. His other
Speaker 1: best friend, Duress Parks, explains. My name is DRez Parks.
Speaker 1: I am also a football player here at the University
Speaker 1: of Alabama, but also happened to be Alex Otherwood's best
Speaker 1: friend of wanted his best friends. Jures played a linebacker
Speaker 1: for the Crimson Tide and lived with Alex as a
Speaker 1: roommate this past season. I've known Alex for about four
Speaker 1: and a half, maybe five years now, maybe six. I've
Speaker 1: never met anyone who's so strategic as of how they
Speaker 1: move and how they go about the things that they do.
Speaker 1: Whenever you ask him, he will tell you he's like
Speaker 1: executing his plan. And he's been doing this since I
Speaker 1: first met him. He knew exactly what he needed to
Speaker 1: do at the moment where he decided to play football,
Speaker 1: and what football could do for him and his family
Speaker 1: and his life. And he made those conscious decisions at
Speaker 1: a very young age to do all those things and
Speaker 1: like strategically placed these things in order, like I'm going
Speaker 1: to do this, Okay, after I do this, this leads
Speaker 1: me to get here, I'm gonna do this after I
Speaker 1: get there, and it just kept building, and Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: definitely a mastermind and planning and executing. Five and ten
Speaker 1: years strategic operating plans are normally associated with corporate executives
Speaker 1: running multinational fortuneies, not fifteen year old kids playing football.
Speaker 1: That's Alex though. That's how he goes about his business
Speaker 1: and how he plays his position on the field. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: offensive line happens to be perfectly suited to that meticulous, systematic,
Speaker 1: detail oriented approach. Here's Alex again explaining further. You gotta
Speaker 1: be a big smart after letting the play, like you
Speaker 1: can't just take any big ass efforts Joe off the
Speaker 1: street and say play alone. The movements and stuff we
Speaker 1: do are very unnatural to like the human body are techniques.
Speaker 1: They're not like human bodily movements, like we're sending the
Speaker 1: squad to move from you know what I mean. It's
Speaker 1: the most like technical and seer position on the field.
Speaker 1: To an untrained eye, Alex's job in football looks like
Speaker 1: he smashes into other giant men as hard as he
Speaker 1: can on every play and actuality. Offensive lineman need enormous
Speaker 1: understanding of positioning, strategy, and technique, along with amazing situational awareness,
Speaker 1: and on top of that, they're often the smartest guys
Speaker 1: on the field. Offensive lineman score the highest on the
Speaker 1: Wonderlick Test, which is the cognitive and problem solving exam
Speaker 1: given to all NFL prospects. Quarterbacks are the second highest
Speaker 1: scoring group. Here's Alex again. Football is a game of inches.
Speaker 1: Everybody knows that, but it's even more defined when you
Speaker 1: plan on line, like the steps you take, how you
Speaker 1: use your leverage, where you exert your power and you
Speaker 1: have to move another human being who doesn't want to
Speaker 1: be moved from one point to another, and like it's
Speaker 1: not like he's gonna just sitting there and let you move.
Speaker 1: That other human being you're trying to move also aways
Speaker 1: three hundred plus pounds and squad six hundred plus pounds,
Speaker 1: and it's doing everything in their power to knock you
Speaker 1: onto the ground. And sometimes the person you need to
Speaker 1: block is a hundred pounds lighter than you, runs much
Speaker 1: faster than you, and tries to blaze right by you
Speaker 1: with speed instead of force. Offensive lineman like Alex have
Speaker 1: to be able to handle both types of defenders. You
Speaker 1: gotta watch your opponent and know what your opponent is
Speaker 1: gonna do. A defensive end like he could go up
Speaker 1: and under, he can loop. He literally has free range
Speaker 1: to go anywhere he wants on that field, So you've
Speaker 1: gotta be super precise with the steps you take to
Speaker 1: get them, you know, to go one way or the other,
Speaker 1: and not on that, but just like understanding and knowing
Speaker 1: the defense and knowing what they're trying to do to
Speaker 1: the offense, just based off alignment of like safety, the coverages,
Speaker 1: all types certainly like blitzes, pressures, things like that. You've
Speaker 1: got to understand like downing distance situations, how much you
Speaker 1: need to get the first down and what they're gonna
Speaker 1: try to do to get you to stop it, and
Speaker 1: what you need to do to make sure they don't
Speaker 1: stop you. So I feel like it's a there's a
Speaker 1: lot that goes into it. This chess match is what
Speaker 1: analysts and announcers talk about when they say the game
Speaker 1: within the game, it's the hundreds of small strategic decisions
Speaker 1: from all eleven guys on the offense, as well as
Speaker 1: those by coaches who calling plays informations that all that
Speaker 1: up to other play works or not. And of course
Speaker 1: this level of strategy perfectly suits the type of NFL
Speaker 1: prospect who happens to be very very detail oriented. Here's
Speaker 1: Jazz again on his personal chess match with Alex I
Speaker 1: remember I was going against each other at practice, and
Speaker 1: we got home that night and I was watching him
Speaker 1: watch film and he was trying to see the exact
Speaker 1: point in the moment where I had did something where
Speaker 1: he knew that he could catch me at that given moment,
Speaker 1: and being so analytical about like I need to do
Speaker 1: this at this given moment and this given time, so
Speaker 1: this doesn't happen, and this at this given moment at
Speaker 1: this given time, so this doesn't happen. And I've watched
Speaker 1: him watch film and him slow things down to them
Speaker 1: there another second of where certain things are where he is,
Speaker 1: and him knowing that, Okay, I need to do this next,
Speaker 1: so this doesn't happen again, and I watched him. I
Speaker 1: watched him, watched me two beat me. The next Davids
Speaker 1: go out to practice, me knowing everything he's gonna do
Speaker 1: to try to stop me from doing what I do.
Speaker 1: Of course, I went on and trying to figure out, okay,
Speaker 1: if he's gonna do this at this point, It's like
Speaker 1: I was playing chess with him, but he let me
Speaker 1: watch him figure me out in the sense, and he
Speaker 1: still dropped me, like he literally stopped me like, every
Speaker 1: damn time, this is just him going against me. And
Speaker 1: he was like, Okay, I know that you're gonna do
Speaker 1: this at this moment, and so I even switched it up,
Speaker 1: and he was still prepared for the extra and the
Speaker 1: things that he didn't know I was gonna pour or
Speaker 1: take out on him, you know, And he still was
Speaker 1: able to stop me in those instances. So I knew
Speaker 1: for a fact that Alex is very much a intricate thinker,
Speaker 1: and I've always resented him for that, him for that moment.
Speaker 1: I'm like, how how do you? How do you do that?
Speaker 1: Here's Alex's agent at Clutch Sports Group to Marry Spielbo
Speaker 1: on how Alex's experiences at Alabama propelled his mental game
Speaker 1: to another level. Yeah, he played guard, He's played right
Speaker 1: down because play left tackle, so he was kind of
Speaker 1: thrust in a role to be that swing man across
Speaker 1: the line. Him playing a lot of different positions, you know,
Speaker 1: on that offensive line meant that he had to know
Speaker 1: a lot of different bands, So he had to know
Speaker 1: a lot of terminology, had to know a lot of
Speaker 1: defensive fronts and formations from each position. And anybody that
Speaker 1: knows football knows that the box that you're planning is
Speaker 1: completely different. The person across sreet is completely different. So
Speaker 1: whichever position he lined up at, he knew there was
Speaker 1: a different skill set lined up across from him, so
Speaker 1: he had to be prepared for that. So I just
Speaker 1: think him just being a student of the game because
Speaker 1: he was thrust into so many positions, allowed him to
Speaker 1: be that srubable person. Surprisingly, this versatility both helps and
Speaker 1: hurts him in the draft. Some things view his positional
Speaker 1: flexibility as a strength because he can step in and
Speaker 1: feel any role needed. Others see him moving around as
Speaker 1: a negative. They wonder if he wasn't capable of being
Speaker 1: a pure left tackle in college and therefore can't play
Speaker 1: a left tackle in the NFL either, And unfortunately for Alex,
Speaker 1: left tackle is the most highly coveted and highly paid
Speaker 1: position on the offensive line. So despite Alex winning the
Speaker 1: Outland Trophy as the nation's best interior lineman, NFL teams
Speaker 1: aren't certain what position he'll play at the next level,
Speaker 1: and what position teams think he'll play will likely determine
Speaker 1: when and where he gets drafted. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1: Alex didn't even play football until high school. His main
Speaker 1: sport was track and field when he was younger. Then
Speaker 1: everything changed his freshman and sophomore years when he began
Speaker 1: to grow after I got high school like a huge
Speaker 1: ghost spurt and got all got big on that good stuff.
Speaker 1: So I'd like it started off with the height. I
Speaker 1: may have got like four or five off the bat
Speaker 1: like boom within a year. And then um, when I
Speaker 1: turned a sophomore, and that's when I got a lot heavier,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I started getting to the
Speaker 1: weight room. So as a freshman, started off as in
Speaker 1: peevens and I saw a longing back the type deal.
Speaker 1: Then my sophomore year he had a coaching coaching staff change,
Speaker 1: and that's when I'm Totie Ward was our new head coach.
Speaker 1: And a lot of people may know Charlie Ward. He
Speaker 1: played at Florida State UM we won hausman, but ultimately
Speaker 1: ended up playing basketball in the NBA. Former Heisman Trophy
Speaker 1: winner in New York Knicks point guard Charlie Ward played
Speaker 1: a few hours down the highway in Tallahassee, Florida, where
Speaker 1: he became a football and basketball legend. So it was
Speaker 1: a big deal when he came to Booker t Washington,
Speaker 1: to coach their team during Alex's sophomore year. Here's Coach Ward.
Speaker 1: When I became a head football coach at hook To
Speaker 1: Washington and Tons of Cola. He was in a rose
Speaker 1: of sophomore and he was a big fellow, not as
Speaker 1: big as he is today, but it was still big.
Speaker 1: That he moved very well, really really long arms, and
Speaker 1: it was a very good athlete. Charlie Ward was a
Speaker 1: guaranteed pick in the NFL Draft, but opted to play
Speaker 1: basketball instead. That led him to being chosen in the
Speaker 1: first round of the NBA Draft, and he was also
Speaker 1: selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, even though he
Speaker 1: hadn't played baseball since high school. He played in the
Speaker 1: championship game in college football, the Elite Aid in college
Speaker 1: basketball in the NBA Finals. As a pro coach, Ward
Speaker 1: nos sports and as soon as he got to book
Speaker 1: a T Washington, he saw Alex Leatherwood had the it factor,
Speaker 1: even if Alex didn't know it yet. I was just
Speaker 1: out there like playing football, and I was like, I
Speaker 1: feel like it just would be cool, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. And Charlie Ward was saying that, um, I
Speaker 1: was incredibly gifted. You know, I had a lot of size.
Speaker 1: Let it like I was an athlete. I was big
Speaker 1: just because the frame I had in the sky, in
Speaker 1: the size, and just the innate talent I had like
Speaker 1: playing that position. He said that I can do great
Speaker 1: things just just like a bunch of talks with him,
Speaker 1: because starting off as like a defensive player. He was like,
Speaker 1: because you can make a lot of money being an
Speaker 1: offensive lineman. And he really uh set me down. It
Speaker 1: was like, you know, if you work hard, you can
Speaker 1: really change the whole trajectory of your life. You know,
Speaker 1: get your calls paid for and all of your stuff.
Speaker 1: So after he said that, I just really like body
Speaker 1: into what he was trying to sell me. That's when
Speaker 1: it clicked, like, Yeah, I'm gonna do this. Here's coach
Speaker 1: Ward again. Analysis case. I don't think he fully understood
Speaker 1: what his potential was. And when you have kids that
Speaker 1: have great potential, you want to make sure that they're
Speaker 1: understanding and knowing that they have an opportunity to be
Speaker 1: able to change their dynamics by getting an alcholarship, and
Speaker 1: that scholarship can help them get an agree to be
Speaker 1: able to help their family in one way or the other.
Speaker 1: But we have to put ourselves at the positions to
Speaker 1: do that. You know, six am workouts, have it started,
Speaker 1: whole free game meals, all those things that they're going
Speaker 1: to get accustomed to at the college level. And then
Speaker 1: when he started going to some of these are combines
Speaker 1: where he was going up against other top tier players
Speaker 1: and definitely opened up his eyes to see what he
Speaker 1: was capable him doing. Coach Ward helped Alex begin formulating
Speaker 1: his now infamous master plan both on and off the field.
Speaker 1: Just him as a coach, just like as a mentor,
Speaker 1: being like like a life mentor and things like that.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was great because he's seen a lot
Speaker 1: of things in his life, you know it, had experienced
Speaker 1: the lives. So he was definitely a person that I
Speaker 1: could go to for advice about like going to the
Speaker 1: next level, what it was gonna take to get there,
Speaker 1: and what it was gonna take to excel after I
Speaker 1: got there and beyond. And then I'll started getting to
Speaker 1: the weight room all that good stuff and just put
Speaker 1: on a lot of a lot of good weight. By
Speaker 1: the time I was a senior, Oh, I was huge.
Speaker 1: I was like I got up to like three sixty
Speaker 1: as big as hell. Alex was turning himself into a
Speaker 1: force of nature on the offensive line. Unfortunately, because play
Speaker 1: didn't often translate onto the scoreboard, book of T Washington
Speaker 1: was getting killed week after week. We weren't very successful
Speaker 1: as a team. I mean every won five games in
Speaker 1: four years. I wasn't the best leader, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean on my team because I just I just
Speaker 1: didn't know how to yet. So I was a very
Speaker 1: very selfish when it came to like me and the
Speaker 1: things that I was gonna do. When I was out
Speaker 1: there playing, I was like, if we're not gonna win,
Speaker 1: like I'm gonna wook somebody as I'm still gonna get
Speaker 1: me some highlights. Even though the school boards says like
Speaker 1: zero to ninety, I'm still gonna get mine in. Like
Speaker 1: this team may beginning as woll, but I'm not getting
Speaker 1: my ass wood. So yeah, the losing was a challenge
Speaker 1: for everyone, even their legendary coach. When we're talking about
Speaker 1: the struggle of losing, don't I don't know very many
Speaker 1: people that like to do that. So uh, he wasn't
Speaker 1: the only one. And my whole focus on that was
Speaker 1: how can we learn from each opportunity, whether we warn
Speaker 1: a loss, it shouldn't define who we are the way
Speaker 1: we go about our business. And that was the struggle
Speaker 1: and the tough part that you know, being a coach,
Speaker 1: when you're having to coach through that, it's not easy.
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's very very tough on the player, but
Speaker 1: it's really really tough on the coach because he's having
Speaker 1: to sell something or something that is really tough to sell.
Speaker 1: And that's that's hope, you know, hope that one day
Speaker 1: things will get better. But I do believe that through
Speaker 1: it all, there's a lot of life lessons that he
Speaker 1: did learn that helped him at the University of Alabama
Speaker 1: because he went through that. Here was Alex's best friend
Speaker 1: from high school again, Kia on what she noticed about
Speaker 1: the losing streak. We were one of the worst football
Speaker 1: teams in our city, so that was really hard for him.
Speaker 1: He's competitive. Do you want to stick up for your
Speaker 1: team one week up for it, but then not sticking
Speaker 1: up for themselves, So it's hard. It really was hard
Speaker 1: on him. Like I said before, he always thought of
Speaker 1: the bigger picture, so I feel like that really got
Speaker 1: him through. I feel like it was more so I
Speaker 1: just gotta get to college and then that way, I
Speaker 1: could just soar despite the obvious challenges of losing that
Speaker 1: many games, it did bring out the best in alex
Speaker 1: And at least one way. Here's coach Ward again to
Speaker 1: that opportunity to leave to go to another school his
Speaker 1: senior year because from like, our team wasn't going to
Speaker 1: have the great success, but we were able to talk
Speaker 1: Aim into learning how to be a leader, not so
Speaker 1: arched through wins and losses, but learning how to be
Speaker 1: a leader in this environment. But also you know how
Speaker 1: he could leave a legacy that book with you Washington,
Speaker 1: and so I think that played that also played a
Speaker 1: big part in you know, his willingness to stay. So
Speaker 1: that's the thing that I imorrow about. You know, in
Speaker 1: his day and age, there's nothing for a kid like
Speaker 1: himself to jump up and leave and go to another
Speaker 1: situation that may be better. Are you being able to
Speaker 1: play with some other top tier college players you know
Speaker 1: that were in high school at the time, But he's
Speaker 1: chose to stay with us, you know us lowly uh
Speaker 1: that we're you know, we knew we were gonna potentially
Speaker 1: have a great season, but we were establishing a great culture,
Speaker 1: and he was willing to do that, and so I
Speaker 1: think that as one of the things that his commitment
Speaker 1: to that situation I think definitely helped helped him in
Speaker 1: the long run. If anything, in these difficult times solidified
Speaker 1: the importance of thinking long term and staying committed to
Speaker 1: his vision of the future. It helped Alex focus on
Speaker 1: progressing to the next step of playing at a premier
Speaker 1: college program. Then, as his recruitment picked up and offers
Speaker 1: poured in, the question for Alex became Alabama or Florida.
Speaker 1: In the end, it really came down to a tight
Speaker 1: race between Alabama and Florida. Being from Florida, blood of state,
Speaker 1: and things were looking super bright for that program. I
Speaker 1: love the coaching staff, I love the atmosphere that they
Speaker 1: were trying to create there and change and change the
Speaker 1: tradition and things like that. But you know, it was
Speaker 1: kind of like a risk because I know I wanted
Speaker 1: to go somewhere I knew I was gonna win life
Speaker 1: on a consistent basis. Alex could either take a risk
Speaker 1: on a once elite program rebuilding their team, or he
Speaker 1: could go to the school that had jokingly become the
Speaker 1: thirty third NFL franchise, the team that funneled out for
Speaker 1: fashionals at an unprecedented historical rate. Here's key again. I
Speaker 1: believe that he was looking at the University of Florida.
Speaker 1: I kind of figured when Saban came to our school,
Speaker 1: left Tuscoboosa to come all the way to Principle, I
Speaker 1: kind of figured that that made an impression on them.
Speaker 1: She's referring to coach Nick Saban, the guy with the
Speaker 1: seven national titles the most. Ever, once he met Saban
Speaker 1: and saving got ahold of him, it wasn't no talking
Speaker 1: to him out of that. He was going to Alabama,
Speaker 1: the greatest coach in college football history, and just like
Speaker 1: going there to compete. I like the competitive atmosphere and
Speaker 1: the environment that was there at Alabama. You compete against
Speaker 1: the best of the best day in the day out,
Speaker 1: and it's just a bunch of people with the same
Speaker 1: dog men tell your mindset, and uh, they all want
Speaker 1: to be champions. So I just felt like he was
Speaker 1: the best place to go to bring the best than me.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back on this final day before the
Speaker 1: draft kicks off. Alex leather Would continues visiting with his
Speaker 1: godparents in Pensacola, Florida. Are the healthy Uh, I have
Speaker 1: a harder talk about a the whole finger. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: as part of your chart. Who's playing your Yeah? Now
Speaker 1: I got aren't they? They continue planning the charcuterie board
Speaker 1: for Alex's draft party, while also moving outside to discuss
Speaker 1: his future life as an NFL player. Would you buy
Speaker 1: a house at Lanta in Georgia? Atlanta? What would be
Speaker 1: a permanent home if you had to make one? Want
Speaker 1: to do a load tax state, That's for sure. If
Speaker 1: I could do like anything, if I had the money
Speaker 1: to do anything I want. Beverly Hills, It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: Want to there without having a resident somehow because I
Speaker 1: believe California's California taxes your paycheck when you play there,
Speaker 1: though you get you get tax for every state you
Speaker 1: play in, Like say, like if we went to New
Speaker 1: York or California to play them, we get taxed on there. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Tlex has attention to detail and mastery of the craft
Speaker 1: doesn't stop on the field. He's already studying the tax
Speaker 1: code and how the best manage as soon to arrive
Speaker 1: paychecks from the NFL. Florida would be a good state
Speaker 1: to be in because they don't have that anything cut
Speaker 1: or at least half home game, half of weight game
Speaker 1: in the league, right, So, like how your check would
Speaker 1: be zero state your tax residents exactly and when you
Speaker 1: think about it, all that adds up absolutely. I mean
Speaker 1: making a lot of money is great, but man, I
Speaker 1: mean when you think about what you want to do,
Speaker 1: when you want to invest for your future, hopefully you
Speaker 1: know you need to find a good um money manager
Speaker 1: or something to help you with that. Y'all ever heard
Speaker 1: of Um Landing Dickerson? My teammate Landon Dickerson, He was
Speaker 1: our starting center. Landing was another member of the National
Speaker 1: Championship winning Alabama offensive line this season, and like Alex,
Speaker 1: he won the award for the best lineman at his position.
Speaker 1: He's like he'll Billy carefree. And I feel like the
Speaker 1: conversation said, like what was just having about like real estate,
Speaker 1: like taxes and all that stuff. Oh my god, he
Speaker 1: like talked to you about He talked to you about
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff all day. Recently, al Landon Dickerson,
Speaker 1: and other top NFL prospects participated in a Zoom call
Speaker 1: with Lead Commissioner Roger Goodell. They discussed this year's draft process,
Speaker 1: along with any other questions the draftees might have. Here's
Speaker 1: Alex again talking about a specific question. Landon asked the
Speaker 1: commissioner Goodell had asked, if it was anything about the
Speaker 1: league you could change, what would it be and would it?
Speaker 1: Landed say it was insane? Yeah, I'm gonna call you
Speaker 1: see that. I show you about that for my my
Speaker 1: mother's day. After his last season, he goes, Hey, Landon, Hey,
Speaker 1: do you remember when we had the conversation with Goodell?
Speaker 1: What did you ask him to change the ruling about
Speaker 1: being able for talks to be over signed businesses and
Speaker 1: step players? Right? Yeah, okay, bet y'all h right now,
Speaker 1: right now it just stick as must this stick mustache
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ? But all right, bro, if you look like
Speaker 1: a hill billy, but all right, all right, yeah, but
Speaker 1: hired businesses so you wouldn't make another see how of
Speaker 1: yourself or something that would incorporate yourself and therefore um
Speaker 1: every tax loop, tax loopholes and all that good stuff.
Speaker 1: And then Goodell was like, whoa, I've never like thoughted that,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? That's actually very interesting. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the NFL in the year where one year old
Speaker 1: three plus pounds soon to be professional athletes are stumping
Speaker 1: the lead commissioner about self incorporating and tax planning. But yeah,
Speaker 1: he's very much into people who make the tax laws
Speaker 1: and how they get around him and stuff. He's just
Speaker 1: always trying to find ways to like innovate well. And
Speaker 1: for you that begs you gotta worry about your body
Speaker 1: and all that in eight years And you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to be a down here at thirty six
Speaker 1: years old. Where you're gonna be and that's the fine
Speaker 1: part of your life in the bank, and you don't
Speaker 1: want to be doing nothing right, I have something going
Speaker 1: that's not a job. I don't want to work change.
Speaker 1: But Alex, you want to do something enriching to Oh,
Speaker 1: I can tell you exactly what I want to do.
Speaker 1: But and I do think you'd be good policy if
Speaker 1: you want to go that route. But I'm just saying, Nah,
Speaker 1: what I really want to do. I want to be
Speaker 1: a linguist is what I really want to do. After
Speaker 1: I'm done, I want to move to Europe. He is
Speaker 1: learning French, then go on to a German like Spain.
Speaker 1: Do like some some some some Spain Spanish. It's not
Speaker 1: just tax planning and dreams of one day becoming a linguist.
Speaker 1: Alex to spells every anequated myth about these herculean giants
Speaker 1: on the field. Here's Alex's teammate friend and roommate, Duress
Speaker 1: Parks once again. When I first got into college, I
Speaker 1: spoke five languages, and I knew for sure that Alex
Speaker 1: was intreated at the fact that I could speak like
Speaker 1: languages um at that time, and he randomly took it
Speaker 1: upon himself to go learn a language. It was so
Speaker 1: cool to just find somebody that like, oh, I want
Speaker 1: to go learn a language, and he actually went and
Speaker 1: did it. There are times he would text me in
Speaker 1: French and I'm like what, Like where did this come from?
Speaker 1: He just really loved the fact that he could put
Speaker 1: his mind to something as of learning a language and
Speaker 1: and do it with easy the way he did it.
Speaker 1: At times, like we were talking, He's like, Okay, bro,
Speaker 1: I gotta go. I gotta go work with my friends.
Speaker 1: Like he's definitely he's he's special. He's a special guy.
Speaker 1: Alex is definitely one of the kind because there aren't
Speaker 1: there many other people that have met in my life
Speaker 1: that say, oh, I want this, or I want to
Speaker 1: do this, and then immediately goes to do what they
Speaker 1: say they're gonna do. This has been Alex's approach to
Speaker 1: everything since that Aha moment with his coach Charlie Ward,
Speaker 1: but they discussed changing the trajectory of his life. He
Speaker 1: figured out what he wanted, he broke it down into
Speaker 1: steps and immediately began doing it. Getting stronger, improving his
Speaker 1: blocking techniques, studying film down to the last middlesecond, making
Speaker 1: the honor roll, learning French, always looking years ahead. The
Speaker 1: next step is becoming a first round pick in the
Speaker 1: NFL draft. Now he just has to wait one more
Speaker 1: day to see if everything will continue according to plan.
Speaker 1: Next on drafted and I'm like what in the world,
Speaker 1: Like how does how does that happen? How do you
Speaker 1: have millions of dollars? And then I'd somehow see them
Speaker 1: like on Christmas, break back in the hood or broke.
Speaker 1: I just feel like Leatherwood is a safer guy. When
Speaker 1: you when you use in the first round pick on
Speaker 1: a guy you want to make sure he can come
Speaker 1: in and play. That is something that will fight your
Speaker 1: brain at the core. I hope I won't go out
Speaker 1: here and get my ass whooped on national TV because
Speaker 1: this is like the only game everybody in the country
Speaker 1: is watching right now. He doesn't really get too high,
Speaker 1: doesn't get too low. He's a very em cue young man.
Speaker 1: He's definitely mature beyond years. I was willing to give
Speaker 1: up the entire support at some point, just because I
Speaker 1: knew that I was just I can't do this workout anymore.
Speaker 1: This is it's really hard because he told me something
Speaker 1: at my house. Is it true? John, Go outside, Take
Speaker 1: a Squirrel. Drafted is a production of Tree Forward Media,
Speaker 1: Clutch Sports Group, and I Heart Radio. The executive producers
Speaker 1: are Kelly Garner, Lisa Ammerman, Eric Slott, Eric Weiner, and
Speaker 1: Shawn to Tone. The series is produced and written by
Speaker 1: Eric Winer Garme Mamalou is our coordinating producer. Coral Silverberg
Speaker 1: is our associate producer. Tom Monahan is our senior audio engineer.
Speaker 1: The show is mixed, edited and hosted by Me Stephen Johnson.
Speaker 1: Additional production helped from Tim Shower and Hailey Mandelburg. For
Speaker 1: transcripts of the show and more information Undrafted, go to
Speaker 1: Tree for dot Fm, and for more podcasts for my
Speaker 1: Heart visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.