Speaker 1: Drafted as a production of tree Fort Media, Clutch Sports Group,
Speaker 1: and I Heart Radio. The first pick in the two
Speaker 1: thousand twenty draft, and I finally got big calls for
Speaker 1: I'm Ready. Let's Go, I'm kigging Michael Key, and welcome
Speaker 1: to Draft It, where eight elite college football players tell
Speaker 1: their own stories as they try to make the leap
Speaker 1: from campus to the NFL. Over the next twelve episodes,
Speaker 1: these athletes will mike themselves up and give us a raw,
Speaker 1: honest look at what it takes to go from childhood
Speaker 1: dreamer to college star to this year's NFL Draft. Let's go,
Speaker 1: I'm Ready. No producers, directors or light shining down, no cameras.
Speaker 1: This is unfiltered, real life, real emotion unfolding in real time.
Speaker 1: We'll share in the moment when all their hard work
Speaker 1: does or does not pay off, with millions of dollars
Speaker 1: and countless years of sacrifice on the line. We'll hear
Speaker 1: from their parents, I'm so grateful to God that he
Speaker 1: came into our family, siblings. Just in the get go,
Speaker 1: he just knew what he wanted to be an NFL athlete.
Speaker 1: Teammates and coaches providing a rare candid look at what
Speaker 1: it really takes to make it to the National Football League.
Speaker 1: Every day I've been put in my body since six
Speaker 1: The NFL Draft has been established to increase the competition
Speaker 1: between teams by allowing the worst performing team to pick
Speaker 1: the best available player. It is a fresh start for
Speaker 1: the teams and the players, and the stakes couldn't be higher.
Speaker 1: Teams make or break their future in the draft. The
Speaker 1: cornerstones are franchises and Hall of Fame. Players can be
Speaker 1: discovered at any point, not just in the prestigious first
Speaker 1: round where millionaires are made. By far the biggest week
Speaker 1: of my life, this is not the team that I
Speaker 1: thought I would end up home. This year was unique
Speaker 1: NFL Draft, unprecedented in the history of the sport. One
Speaker 1: of the highlights of these players young lives happened during
Speaker 1: the COVID pandemic we're all experiencing, and soon afterward, unrest
Speaker 1: unfolded around the country. On the heels of Colin Kaepernick
Speaker 1: becoming one of the faces of the new civil rights movement,
Speaker 1: comes a new generation wrestling with a significant racial divide.
Speaker 1: The league, through its commissioner, recently changed course, announcing its
Speaker 1: openness to all forms of public protest. The athletes you'll
Speaker 1: hear from are now living in a new normal, leaping
Speaker 1: into public view with a new found platform as members
Speaker 1: of the National Football League and taking on the responsibility
Speaker 1: that comes with that. In April, they couldn't travel to
Speaker 1: Vegas to receive their jersey from Roger Goodell or walk
Speaker 1: across the stage at the moment they were picked and
Speaker 1: here cheering fans. Instead, these athletes watched from a more
Speaker 1: intimate setting, their homes in their hometowns Helenny. It is
Speaker 1: here we find one of the best athletes in this class,
Speaker 1: Chase Young, a defender so disruptive, opposing coach Lane Kiffin
Speaker 1: claimed there are only ten guys like him in the world.
Speaker 1: Others say he's a generational talent, but that was in college.
Speaker 1: Now Chase has a new world to conquer, starting one
Speaker 1: week from today at the draft. Because I used to
Speaker 1: tell you, if you can twilt, I feel like that
Speaker 1: little three today break help my muscles recover. I'm a
Speaker 1: savage bad For the past year, Chase Young has listened
Speaker 1: to the media tout him as a rare find with
Speaker 1: potential to become one of the NFL's most prolific playmakers
Speaker 1: on the defensive side of the ball. Of those defensive players,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, some studs that will be at the
Speaker 1: top of the board in any draft year. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: You're always gonna have Chase Young at or near the
Speaker 1: top of that list with his pass Russia bloody. So
Speaker 1: if you're looking for immediate NFL success, you fits the
Speaker 1: description Nick and Joey Bosa Boots had insta. Chase has
Speaker 1: the same elite skills and now has the same high
Speaker 1: expectations to change the course of a game and a
Speaker 1: franchise in the blink of an eye. Chase Young Ohio State,
Speaker 1: let's get after it. If he is a football god,
Speaker 1: if he is Bruce Smith combined with j Wine. But
Speaker 1: he might live up to the Chase Young expectations. And
Speaker 1: I think this guy's got my goods in them. At
Speaker 1: six five inches, his long stride quickly eats up turf
Speaker 1: and gets him to the opposing quarterback astonishingly fast. At
Speaker 1: nearly two hundred and seventy pounds, his strength over powers
Speaker 1: would be blockers. What he brings to the table is
Speaker 1: in very high demand. I feel like my playing style,
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm all around the physics end just
Speaker 1: meaning that I believe I do it all. I can
Speaker 1: play in the round game. I can rush to pastor
Speaker 1: I can drop, I can cover a tight end back
Speaker 1: if need be. I feel like I bring aggressiveness and
Speaker 1: and just dog like mentality to the game of fo ball.
Speaker 1: But that's I'm definitely try to carry to the next level.
Speaker 1: Defensive line and associate head coach Larry Johnson recruited Chase
Speaker 1: to Ohio State and work with him to develop the versatile,
Speaker 1: disruptive defender we know today. Jay said, I are really
Speaker 1: close and I started doing a recruiting process, and I
Speaker 1: think what happened Chase and I was a real real conversation,
Speaker 1: what do you want? What do you want to be?
Speaker 1: How great a player he wants to be? And then
Speaker 1: the more I gave him, the more you wanted. So
Speaker 1: you knew you got a guy who was really talented,
Speaker 1: but he's also a guy's very hungry. Most fans don't
Speaker 1: see the work and dedication it takes to go from
Speaker 1: that tall, fast, athletic eighteen year old recruit into a
Speaker 1: nearly unblockable force of nature standing atop the draft. The
Speaker 1: athletes we all call a natural are often the guys
Speaker 1: spending the most time in the weight room, watching film
Speaker 1: and constantly working to improve themselves. This big boat of
Speaker 1: high school was arm over, chopped down and run. That
Speaker 1: was a smooth and if that didn't work and he
Speaker 1: was stuck, and when he got in trouble, he would
Speaker 1: go back to that move. It's a freshman he goes
Speaker 1: and trying to get knocked out into the sidelines, and
Speaker 1: that's the chase. We're not using the high school movie.
Speaker 1: We're not doing that. We have to get rid of
Speaker 1: that thing. Telling a highly recruited player to get rid
Speaker 1: of their most successful move doesn't always sit well. Habits
Speaker 1: are hard to break, and some top players can get
Speaker 1: by on their athleticism alone. And of his freshman year
Speaker 1: going into spring football when we had more time to
Speaker 1: spend one on one, just trying to continue to build
Speaker 1: his two bucks. So what I would do is cut
Speaker 1: those clips out, showing to him and said, this is
Speaker 1: why it doesn't work at this level, and this is
Speaker 1: why these techniques were Let me show you the boast's
Speaker 1: brother doing the exact same thing. I'm telling you, we're
Speaker 1: gonna train you to do it. Let me show it
Speaker 1: to your live in situations see it and we'll spend
Speaker 1: hours of watching video tape just how to be a
Speaker 1: great player. And I think best the moment it's sold him,
Speaker 1: like god, man, this this really works, coach, And the
Speaker 1: one sophomore year he was a totally different player. But
Speaker 1: I think, as we say at the house, stayble, coach
Speaker 1: day is really drinking the kool a. My sophomore year,
Speaker 1: you know I was sipping it. But after season that winning,
Speaker 1: that's springing that summer, you know I was drinking. Guy,
Speaker 1: that's all the time. So I think it goes out
Speaker 1: to coach j extra work with him, film study got
Speaker 1: real detailed and real specific and everything that he's asked
Speaker 1: me to do. I mean he changed from a software
Speaker 1: to junior like night and night, and that's what you
Speaker 1: want to see happen. But he really did. It took
Speaker 1: a bigger jump because he had the techniques so early
Speaker 1: and he just worked on it. And that's something people
Speaker 1: don't realize. Chase really wants to be the best, and
Speaker 1: I think that took him through his high school career
Speaker 1: obviously con for his college career. Despite missing two games
Speaker 1: due to suspension last season, Young broke the Ohio state
Speaker 1: single season sack record and led the nation with sixteen
Speaker 1: and a half quarterback takedowns. He became the first defensive
Speaker 1: player since two thousand and twelve to be named a
Speaker 1: finalist for the Heisman Trophy, but in the end lost
Speaker 1: out to Joe Burrow, a player he's competing with to
Speaker 1: be the top pick. He be the number one overall pack,
Speaker 1: I think he should be a numbering draft pick, and
Speaker 1: I think he will be the number one draft pick. Um.
Speaker 1: He is the most dominant player at his position in
Speaker 1: all of college football. Mock draft boards and pundits have
Speaker 1: the phenomen going either first overall to Cincinnati, number two
Speaker 1: to Washington, or third to the Detroit Lions. But what
Speaker 1: does all this hype and the prospect of being picked
Speaker 1: in the top three mean to Chase in his family
Speaker 1: as they await the draft from home and do like
Speaker 1: this shirt dog o, huh uh yeah, don't fit you.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be good in the minute. You're gonna be
Speaker 1: good in a minute. To be patient, be patient. You're
Speaker 1: gonna be fine in a minute. You're gonna be able
Speaker 1: to buy me and sure right now in quarantine, it's
Speaker 1: all about being patient and focusing on what the young
Speaker 1: playmaker can control. I just celebrated my twenty one birthday
Speaker 1: with my family and a few friends and just chilling
Speaker 1: the house. And I'm just just spend some time together,
Speaker 1: spending time with his friends and family, waiting for his
Speaker 1: name to be called, preparing his body for the upcoming season.
Speaker 1: He said, block out the noise, and we said, basically,
Speaker 1: do what we do. Basically what's at three or five?
Speaker 1: Getting shown chap getting my ship back. Yeah, I'm telling
Speaker 1: you that first we get cat when I'm good and
Speaker 1: I'm when I'm with it. It's a rap, no, I
Speaker 1: know that. You know they told me. You know what
Speaker 1: they said though they said, hey, nah, that's it. Say
Speaker 1: he na full centistra cool, cool, but analystle some mind
Speaker 1: and then general say order pass where he's got likens.
Speaker 1: He's like, I'm sure Chase break to Tama. Chase's former
Speaker 1: Ohio state teammate, Nick Bosa, led all rookies with nine
Speaker 1: sacks last season. Already he's setting his sights on surpassing that,
Speaker 1: going after the rookie record for sacks set by Javon
Speaker 1: Curse at fourteen and a half. It's this dogged pursuit
Speaker 1: of greatness and his pursuit of opposing quarterbacks that led
Speaker 1: to Chase's nickname the Predator. He's gonna be expected to
Speaker 1: be Jadeveon Clowney's gonna be expected to be Miles Garrett
Speaker 1: to Leo Mack that great outside passed Russia. And if
Speaker 1: he's picked first overall by the Bengal, Chase will play
Speaker 1: only a few hours from Ohio States campus. If you
Speaker 1: go second to Washington, Young will play home games just
Speaker 1: twenty minutes away from the community he grew up in
Speaker 1: Upper Marlboro, Maryland. It will definitely be honored. You know,
Speaker 1: that's the team I've been growing up watching my whole life,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, to be able to go play, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, for him right in my backyard will definitely
Speaker 1: definitely be a blessing just because you know, my family
Speaker 1: will be close and uh, he come to see me play.
Speaker 1: Chase's family has played a major role in his life,
Speaker 1: sharing their work ethic, commitment to detail, and even their athleticism.
Speaker 1: Young's father, Greg was a basketball player at his uncle
Speaker 1: Bernard Joseph, played defensive end for Virginia Tech. Families were
Speaker 1: big for me. Um, you know, just people that you
Speaker 1: know that that that always have your back, and you
Speaker 1: know I try to keep those people as close as possible.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. You know,
Speaker 1: they raised me, made me, help me become the man
Speaker 1: I am today on end on the field, and they
Speaker 1: he deserved to, you know, be a little priderful because
Speaker 1: they were key people, but to help me get to
Speaker 1: swear on the day. And you know, I can't say
Speaker 1: I will be here without him. Growing up in Maryland,
Speaker 1: he had a lot of off field interests while attending St.
Speaker 1: Vincent Pelate High School, getting money with you. He was
Speaker 1: a talented singer and musician. As I grew up, my
Speaker 1: mom will put me in course um and things like that,
Speaker 1: so you sound pretty good. But as he got older,
Speaker 1: the Predator knew his true calling wouldn't involve his voice
Speaker 1: or instruments. I had a lot of James would just
Speaker 1: be one of the best football players ever to put
Speaker 1: a game. My dream was to be and one of
Speaker 1: the best players in high school, the best play in
Speaker 1: state in Maryland. They all came to reality. As the
Speaker 1: draft approaches, Chase carries heavy expectations teams and fans and
Speaker 1: visioned greatness from him, and the bar is as high
Speaker 1: as it can be. I hear a lot of teams
Speaker 1: um that are are interested wherever I go. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: put my best be four. Some prospects struggle under the
Speaker 1: weight of this immense pressure. Some even break completely. It's
Speaker 1: twenty one year old Chase ready for what the football
Speaker 1: world and tens of millions of dollars in salary will
Speaker 1: soon demand. Does he fear not living up to fans
Speaker 1: who expect an immediate game changing talent whereas journey will
Speaker 1: take him? We don't know. But what we do know
Speaker 1: is that journey begins the moment in the draft when
Speaker 1: his name is finally called. She got someunthing that they
Speaker 1: are no, she be my nuh uh h, I don't
Speaker 1: want to be a Life as the Predator is a
Speaker 1: very different experience from what most draft hopeful Let's go through.
Speaker 1: For the hundreds of prospects not at the top of
Speaker 1: the NFL draft food chain, the process is filled with doubt, anxiety,
Speaker 1: and what can feel like a never ending series of questions.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. Huh hey is saying, yeah, Hey,
Speaker 1: this is Birch Trud the lines. How are you doing
Speaker 1: how are you. I'm doing good? And did I say
Speaker 1: that right? I don't want to. I've got a funny name,
Speaker 1: so I don't mess up your name. No, yeah, you did.
Speaker 1: You're good? Okay, all right, well now i'll be quick.
Speaker 1: I'm sorrying across the late. So is this number going
Speaker 1: to be your draft day number two? Yes? Yes, okay,
Speaker 1: it's easy. Um, all right? Have you had any injuries
Speaker 1: since the Senior Bowl? No? Um? And he also instances
Speaker 1: most like Forest guys do, but in the alstiled incidence. No, no, okay,
Speaker 1: I answer all right. No, I appreciate the time, man,
Speaker 1: And good luck this weekend. I know it's been a
Speaker 1: nice long four month interview, but it'll be good to
Speaker 1: have a team to be working towards somebody, so no doubt. Yeah,
Speaker 1: good luck with this process though, and good luck this weekend.
Speaker 1: All right, thanks fare meet, He sang Bassie, an undersized
Speaker 1: five ft ten cornerback from wake Forest who's projected to
Speaker 1: be drafted in the mid to late rounds next week.
Speaker 1: I'm me saying, you're saying Bassie from Columbus Georgia. Uh, Georgia, boy,
Speaker 1: Columbus Georgia sits about one miles southwest of Atlanta, in
Speaker 1: a state where high school games and college recruiting are
Speaker 1: particularly fierce. A lot of people question my size. I'm
Speaker 1: smaller guy or whatever, But you know, that's never ever
Speaker 1: mattered to me when I was playing ball, Like, I
Speaker 1: never even knew my size was an issue in my
Speaker 1: game until this whole draft process started, because I've always
Speaker 1: been the type of player to you know, attack anybody
Speaker 1: who's who linds up in front of me. It's never
Speaker 1: never backed down from anything. Despite the upcoming draft being
Speaker 1: touted as the year of the wide receiver, with a
Speaker 1: dozen top rated pass catchers expected to be selected in
Speaker 1: the first two rounds, someone has to cover all these
Speaker 1: new weapons in the league on defense, and so it's
Speaker 1: a sayings athleticism, aggressive nose for the ball, and four
Speaker 1: four six speed that caught the attention of scouts. It
Speaker 1: is four seasons in the a c C he totaled
Speaker 1: two hundred and twenty seven tackles, five interceptions, and forty
Speaker 1: five broken up passes, lofty numbers for someone playing his position.
Speaker 1: My hope on draft day is that my name gets
Speaker 1: called flat out. That's my biggest concern and for my
Speaker 1: family to you know see, see that happened for me
Speaker 1: and you know know that all the support they put
Speaker 1: into me and I was worth it that feeling for
Speaker 1: them as well. For many players, the journey to the
Speaker 1: NFL is a group effort. It's a collective dream about
Speaker 1: more than just a career playing football. This is especially
Speaker 1: true for a saying span L. They're Nigerian immigrants, which
Speaker 1: isn't too unusual in the NFL. But their story is
Speaker 1: about to go get my brother to make sure he
Speaker 1: comes out to eat dinner. So a lot of times
Speaker 1: when he's hungry, you know, he doesn't he can't communicate
Speaker 1: that he's hungry. So we you know, we kind of know. Uh,
Speaker 1: he suffers from autism. He has autism. Um, he's been
Speaker 1: in the house with us, living with us, you know,
Speaker 1: my whole life. I've seen him grow up and you
Speaker 1: know I had to kind of take care of him
Speaker 1: being the younger brother my whole life. You're gonna sit
Speaker 1: with him. Let me give you a naphtew make sure
Speaker 1: because he might end up just not eating the you
Speaker 1: can make sure he is the yeah, at least the
Speaker 1: rank here You're yeah, I'm you are there. You go
Speaker 1: so I'm almost saying he's not allowed upstairs for a
Speaker 1: minute because he was kind of jumping around screaming the
Speaker 1: other day and he like accidentally bumped in one of
Speaker 1: our cabinets and broke one of the cabinets. So she's
Speaker 1: still kind of mad about that. So he's very, very hyperactive.
Speaker 1: When people think of autism, you know, they think of
Speaker 1: like functional, they can do this that. But he, you know,
Speaker 1: he's I'm sure you can probably hear he's down there
Speaker 1: like yelling and screaming, doing his own thing. But now
Speaker 1: I love him, and he's actually a big reason why
Speaker 1: I play football and one of the things that that
Speaker 1: keeps me going. So, you know, everybody in my family
Speaker 1: kind of talking. My brothers in medical school because of
Speaker 1: my brother. My dad's a doctor obviously takes care of
Speaker 1: people every day. My mom as a teacher, she special ed,
Speaker 1: you know, that's kind of her thing. Um sisters and nurse,
Speaker 1: so everybody's kind of has those, you know, keep him
Speaker 1: in mind with their careers and with me being the
Speaker 1: athlete of the family. You know, he can't play sports
Speaker 1: organized sports, so that's kind of you know how I
Speaker 1: expressed my you know, thinking of him. You know how
Speaker 1: how the impact he has on me just you know,
Speaker 1: I played because he can't, and I eventually want to
Speaker 1: be able to take care of him, you know, give
Speaker 1: him the best care that he needs. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's really cool to see how my whole family kind
Speaker 1: of rallies around him, and you know, he impacts all
Speaker 1: of us so much so and I know football and
Speaker 1: this this path I'm on and everything I'm doing. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's kind of been one of the main driving factors
Speaker 1: for well. The Saying's brother has been an inspiration pulling
Speaker 1: him towards his NFL dream. He's not alone. A other
Speaker 1: fource He's also been pushing the Sayings journey forward from
Speaker 1: behind the scenes. My biggest fan is definitely my mom.
Speaker 1: Definitely my mom. For the past two years, actually three years,
Speaker 1: she made it to like every football game home in
Speaker 1: a way. Um she she like takes off work. She'll
Speaker 1: take off work on the Friday and comes to come
Speaker 1: to the game. Hi, good afternoon. My name is Omar
Speaker 1: Bassie um A San Bassie's mother. I always have mixed
Speaker 1: feelings when I talk about this because San was the
Speaker 1: baby of the family and personally I wanted a girl
Speaker 1: I already had two boys before him. So when the
Speaker 1: dad told me it was another um male, I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: But then I immediately asked God for forgiveness because I
Speaker 1: was a little bit worried on how to raise three
Speaker 1: males in the same home. Um. I kind of initially
Speaker 1: had a mixed feelings, but I'm so grateful to God
Speaker 1: that he came into a family. She's always been been
Speaker 1: my biggest fan. She's always been the one that went
Speaker 1: to all my games in Little League Peewee. She took
Speaker 1: me to all my math tournaments, my whatever I was
Speaker 1: doing in school. She was on me from my academic stuff.
Speaker 1: She was always at my awards ceremonies. She keeps all
Speaker 1: my trophies, everything I have. So it's definitely my mom
Speaker 1: that I'll say is my number one fan. Football is
Speaker 1: his life. That was his statement, And if this is
Speaker 1: what it is, we have no choice. You've done all
Speaker 1: that we expected of a child. However, I never had
Speaker 1: any point in time let him slack with the education.
Speaker 1: His high school coaches will tell you how many times
Speaker 1: I've tried him to take him off whenever he had
Speaker 1: a beat, I mean, or he didn't turn an assignment.
Speaker 1: I just didn't want him to think football is it.
Speaker 1: I've always tried to make him under Then you have
Speaker 1: to have something to lean back on in case this
Speaker 1: doesn't work. There's a saying in sports that you can't
Speaker 1: teach size. For the Chase Youngs of the world, this
Speaker 1: works in their favor. For many others, like a saying
Speaker 1: it raises a lot of doubt, teams have been known
Speaker 1: to shy away from smaller players for fear of injury,
Speaker 1: that their production won't translate, or that they simply can't
Speaker 1: match up with bigger, stronger opponents. Eight of the top
Speaker 1: receivers expected to be drafted this year or at least
Speaker 1: four to six inches taller than a saying that alone
Speaker 1: puts his draft ability in serious jeopardy. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1: Hold so our according stuff, am I just hold on.
Speaker 1: If there's one prospect who never doubted his place in football,
Speaker 1: it's Jeff Okuda. Jeff was Chase Young's teammated stayed and
Speaker 1: a well known cornerback prospect, Jevo Kuta one Dallas, Texas,
Speaker 1: Ohio State University cornerback. This is the same position as
Speaker 1: saying place and Jeff's role on defense isn't all he
Speaker 1: and his sister Karen have in common with a Saying. Hi,
Speaker 1: this is Karen and Kuda um So Jeffrey Ni where Nigerian.
Speaker 1: Both our parents are Nigerian, so my mom was born
Speaker 1: in Nigeria and we have that background. That's how we
Speaker 1: were raised. With both Jeff and a Saying being brought
Speaker 1: up by Nigerian immigrants and both playing cornerback, it's difficult
Speaker 1: not to compare the two. Jeff played three years in college,
Speaker 1: the Saying played four. On paper, Saying's collegiate stats dwarf
Speaker 1: Jeff's on field accomplishments, but stats can be deceiving, especially
Speaker 1: for NFL draft picks. My family calls me Jeff, but
Speaker 1: you know, Ohio State, everyone's like, you know, Jeff's a
Speaker 1: little bit boring. One of the colleges was like like today,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna be Jeff, You're gonna be halfan you know, soday,
Speaker 1: and everyone started going crazy and then everyone start saying
Speaker 1: freef a and then from there it just kind of
Speaker 1: grew having the fans. They just loved it so stuck
Speaker 1: with it. I don't know, it's strange hearing everyone call
Speaker 1: him Jeff for half and all this stuff. I've just
Speaker 1: always known him as my baby brother. Like it's weird
Speaker 1: to see him come as far as he has. I've
Speaker 1: just always known him as someone who I have to
Speaker 1: protect and just someone who I just feel need to
Speaker 1: do everything for. The days of his older sister needing
Speaker 1: to protect little brother Jeff are long gone. Jeff is
Speaker 1: now six ft one, two d and five pounds and
Speaker 1: an almost certain top ten pick in the NFL Draft.
Speaker 1: His career stats are low eighty eight tackles, three interceptions,
Speaker 1: twenty one passes broken up. Due to a shocking reason,
Speaker 1: he is good at football. He is so good in fact,
Speaker 1: opposing teams essentially choose not to play against him. Most
Speaker 1: opponents simply didn't attempt to pass to the receivers he defended,
Speaker 1: an extraordinary sign of respect in football. I think I
Speaker 1: worked really hard on just um. I mean, people always
Speaker 1: just saying that, you know, just being a five star
Speaker 1: and all that, Uh, things are kind of easy. Five
Speaker 1: star recruits are the top rated players coming out of
Speaker 1: high school into college. This year, across the entire country,
Speaker 1: only twenty eight players received the five star distinction. I know,
Speaker 1: for me, just behind the scenes, I put a lot
Speaker 1: of work even to to become a five star, to
Speaker 1: to go to a house stay be successful. So a
Speaker 1: lot lot of sacrifices have been made. I'm gonna record
Speaker 1: while we just run for a little bit by talking
Speaker 1: like you're just talking types just they wanted those have
Speaker 1: like like everyday lifestyle type ship ready tricky as terrain.
Speaker 1: All right, I'm fly running uphill, but dagon for all
Speaker 1: types of swing? Is it running up with it? Like
Speaker 1: we walk into the hill, He's still there. Twice second,
Speaker 1: here's Jeff's former college defensive coordinator and associate head coach,
Speaker 1: Greg Siano on those sacrifices. It was nothing uncommon in
Speaker 1: the middle of end of February to drive in and
Speaker 1: be doing something Saturday afternoon as a coach, and then
Speaker 1: you hear some some noise and you walk out there
Speaker 1: and he's out there working technique with one of his buddies,
Speaker 1: you know, at a time when most college kids are
Speaker 1: laying around playing video games. I mean, he was just
Speaker 1: that driven. I just remember Jeffrey from the get go
Speaker 1: saying I love football and I want to be NFL star.
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, I'm I'm gonna know
Speaker 1: that I've made it when I can take care of
Speaker 1: my mom and myself. So just from the get go,
Speaker 1: he just knew what he wanted it was to be
Speaker 1: an NFL um athlete. You can just tell he was
Speaker 1: someone that how the goal that he wanted to achieve.
Speaker 1: And it was I guess strange seeing it in like
Speaker 1: a sixth grader when I would see it, But now
Speaker 1: that we're at this point, I just think it's so crazy.
Speaker 1: So how has this sixth grader come within one week
Speaker 1: to fulfilling his prophecy? How did middle school Jeff turn
Speaker 1: into Jeff the five star recruit? What was so unique
Speaker 1: about his family and upbringing? And like the Ebo, which
Speaker 1: is what my parents are at the Ebo mindset in
Speaker 1: the way as you go to school, you know miss
Speaker 1: school you get as the Ebo are an ethnic group
Speaker 1: native to southern Nigeria. This is the culture Jeff and
Speaker 1: Karen's mom Marie grew up in and like is saying,
Speaker 1: in his household, Jeff and Karen were raised with the
Speaker 1: same high expectations in the Ebo. There's no such thing
Speaker 1: as like a B or a C. Like why are
Speaker 1: you're going to school to get as to be a doctor,
Speaker 1: to be a pharmacist, to be a nurse, to be
Speaker 1: some type of accountant, and what other points is there
Speaker 1: for you to go to university than to be those
Speaker 1: set things. I don't really think football or some type
Speaker 1: of sport is like a career to most let's say
Speaker 1: Nigerian something like that, Like that's not a job, that's
Speaker 1: a hobby, it's not a job. And that's a lot
Speaker 1: of times where Jeffrey and I were kind of like
Speaker 1: in our own mindset, free speed way of thinking, which
Speaker 1: kind of we got into trouble for that here and
Speaker 1: there for being so different. But remember him telling my
Speaker 1: mom he was gonna go to the NFLM I know,
Speaker 1: it gives me chills just to think about. I remember
Speaker 1: when he would say something that he wants to do
Speaker 1: and regardless of what it will come to you as
Speaker 1: like a cost or work not, he'll just go ahead
Speaker 1: and fight for that. I'm just so proud of him.
Speaker 1: Jeff's level of focus is nearly unprecedented in college football.
Speaker 1: Over the last two seasons, no opposing player topped fifty
Speaker 1: receiving yards against him in a game this season. He
Speaker 1: didn't have a single holding or past interference penalty, and
Speaker 1: he was only beat for one touchdown the entire year.
Speaker 1: He wasn't perfect that, he certainly was close. I think
Speaker 1: it's just my technique. Um. I try to consider myself
Speaker 1: a technician because I know that. I mean, when all
Speaker 1: when everyone's athleticism fades away, it's like all you're left
Speaker 1: with is your technique. So try to sharpen my sword
Speaker 1: every chance that I can get. It's not only technique
Speaker 1: and physical ability that separate Jeff as a dominant player.
Speaker 1: He's as mentally strong as anyone in the draft, thanks
Speaker 1: in part to the few people he could lean on
Speaker 1: the most. Just thinking about who has stand out to
Speaker 1: me is just my aunt Jane. Um, what she did
Speaker 1: something I'll forever be appreciative of her. For. My name
Speaker 1: is Jane Bubudo. I am Jeff And so Jeff was
Speaker 1: a student of mine in middle school. He happened to
Speaker 1: be having a problem at the time. I happened to
Speaker 1: be in the office when the teacher that I was
Speaker 1: having like a like a mouth altercation. And so the
Speaker 1: teacher came into report to the dean and say, hey, um, Jeffrey,
Speaker 1: kuda no distracting my classroom. This was an eighth grade
Speaker 1: you know. He had like we had an African last name,
Speaker 1: and me being Nigerian, I took like more interest to
Speaker 1: know why, you know, this child was acting the way
Speaker 1: teacher had described it to be acting. I said, hey,
Speaker 1: what's going on with you? He he kind of told
Speaker 1: me what was going on with him. He didn't have
Speaker 1: I think a novel in the class or a textbook
Speaker 1: or something, and and he felt a teacher was calling
Speaker 1: him out. So I said, okay, can you tell me
Speaker 1: why you don't have this textbook or this novels? And
Speaker 1: he said, because we can't afford it because of how
Speaker 1: sick the mom Marie was. What Jane didn't know then
Speaker 1: is that Jeff's mom, Marie, had been in and out
Speaker 1: of the hospital since Jeff was two years old. And
Speaker 1: I said, okay, what do your parents do? And he said,
Speaker 1: my mom does not have a job. And he said,
Speaker 1: my mom is a nurse. And I said, okay, your
Speaker 1: mom is a nurse. How come she doesn't, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of help out, you know. And then at that
Speaker 1: point he broke down and said crying, and he said,
Speaker 1: my mom has cancer and I said that crying too.
Speaker 1: I purchased the book for him. I called my husband
Speaker 1: and said, hey, I had this story today that just
Speaker 1: breaks my heart, you know, and there's no where I
Speaker 1: can come home if I don't go find this lady
Speaker 1: and find out where she is. So I reach out
Speaker 1: to the mom almost immediately, and the mom I just
Speaker 1: kind of told me her story and told me she
Speaker 1: was very sick, she was alone and all that. From
Speaker 1: that moment forward, Jane Obodon became aunt Jane, a permanent
Speaker 1: fixture in Jeff and Karen's lives and their eventual guardian
Speaker 1: and caretaker later in life, though they had some issues
Speaker 1: to sort out. First. Jeff loves football. Jeff thinks eat
Speaker 1: and reads football. I wasn't a football fan. I didn't
Speaker 1: like football. So when Jeff came to me nine grade
Speaker 1: and said, hey, Auntie, I wanted to support me, and
Speaker 1: I said, oh my god. I said, Jeff, I don't
Speaker 1: like that sport is violent, you know, all the head injuries.
Speaker 1: And I remember him saying that and Janity to support me.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put my best in this spot, and I'm
Speaker 1: not going to disappoint you. Every d one school out there,
Speaker 1: it's gonna offer this scholarship. That's my goal. Man. I'm
Speaker 1: going to walk towards it. But reactually, I think in
Speaker 1: terms of jeffything you want to be an NFL athlete
Speaker 1: was just yeah, okay, that was me when I was younger.
Speaker 1: It was okay, if we all want to be things,
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. And I know like we hear that,
Speaker 1: like kids say, I want to be a doctor, I
Speaker 1: want to be a firefight and stuff like that. But
Speaker 1: I think it wasn't until high school that I really
Speaker 1: start to see what everyone else was seeing in terms
Speaker 1: of technique, inform and just drive, like this kid was
Speaker 1: actually wanting to be an NFL athlete. Um, I guess
Speaker 1: I realized how good he was. I just say maybe
Speaker 1: between his sophomore and his junior year. So when the
Speaker 1: scholarship started coming in, that's when I kind of understood
Speaker 1: how special he was and how much walk he had
Speaker 1: put in to this game. So he also likes to
Speaker 1: please me. I know that he likes to make me happy.
Speaker 1: I told him that he he's great to have to
Speaker 1: be up so we can get his Stanford scholarship. By
Speaker 1: time Stanford Kim, and I think he already had like
Speaker 1: fifteen do you want schools and including Ohio State here
Speaker 1: again it's former Ohio State defensive coordinator and associate head
Speaker 1: coach Greg Siano. He was part of the team trying
Speaker 1: to recruit Jeff the first couple of times that I
Speaker 1: went to his high school to see him practice at
Speaker 1: South Grand Prairie High School. I mean, you watch him
Speaker 1: when they were doing one on one pass coverage. He's
Speaker 1: just an intense competitor. He has great length and really
Speaker 1: really fine speed. He he wants to be the best
Speaker 1: he can be, striving for perfection, and that jumps out
Speaker 1: at you very quickly. When you're watching practice. You just
Speaker 1: got the sense that he was a guy that was
Speaker 1: a special player, and that if we could somehow lure
Speaker 1: him out of the state of Texas and get him
Speaker 1: to come to Ohio State, that that would be a
Speaker 1: real big feather in our camp at Ohio State. Over time,
Speaker 1: Jeffanette Jane narrowed down the choice to two schools. So
Speaker 1: he called me and said, hey, you know, we got
Speaker 1: the Stanford scholarship, and I was very happy. I tried
Speaker 1: very hard at the time to make him see the need,
Speaker 1: you know. I said, hey, so you can play football
Speaker 1: at Stanford and it's great academy. I said it's almost
Speaker 1: a half million education for free. Jeffrey, how could you
Speaker 1: not want that? He had the grades, he had, the
Speaker 1: g p A, he had everything. Jeff is very intelligent.
Speaker 1: If it wasn't a football player, he might as well
Speaker 1: be a doctor or an engineer. I tried very much
Speaker 1: convincing to go to Stanford, and I said, how can
Speaker 1: you choose Ohio State over Stanford? He said, if I
Speaker 1: go to Stanford, I know it would be easy for
Speaker 1: me to start. He said, Ohio State has a lot
Speaker 1: of five star recrewits. I will have to to put
Speaker 1: in the work to get on the field at Ohio State.
Speaker 1: Under Stanford is a good school ANTI but I don't
Speaker 1: think Stanford has what it takes to prepare me. I
Speaker 1: want to be a professional football play and I think
Speaker 1: Ohio State would be prepenny for that. Former os U
Speaker 1: coach Siano one of the things that I think attracted
Speaker 1: Jeff so much was a lineage of cornerback play that
Speaker 1: was pretty special. Right, So Jeff came there expecting to
Speaker 1: be the next of a line of really fine corners.
Speaker 1: He was going to be able to play top level
Speaker 1: football against great competition, not only on Saturdays in the
Speaker 1: big ten conference, but also within his own program every
Speaker 1: day in practice, and that was something that was very
Speaker 1: important to Jeff. That he had an environment where he
Speaker 1: could be the best that he could be. And that's
Speaker 1: what attracted me to him. So I think the combination
Speaker 1: of of maybe not quite a Stanford education, but a
Speaker 1: good education coupled with elite level football in an elite
Speaker 1: level football conference, that was something that Jeff couldn't pass up.
Speaker 1: It's very intention now, he's very deliberate. He knows what
Speaker 1: he's doing. So at some point he said, Auntie, if
Speaker 1: you keep insisting that I go to Standford, I will,
Speaker 1: but I want you to know that if I don't
Speaker 1: pan out to be what I always dreamed to be,
Speaker 1: it will break my heart. So at that point my
Speaker 1: husband and I said, you know what, will let him
Speaker 1: go to wherever he wants to go because he does
Speaker 1: not cease to amaze us, my husband and I and
Speaker 1: the whole family, and will always come back. And said,
Speaker 1: oh my god, Jeff's right, or Jeffer was right. It's
Speaker 1: almost like he sat down and just kind of credited
Speaker 1: where he was going to be. This kid told me
Speaker 1: when he was a freshman. He said, Auntie, just going
Speaker 1: and support me. Every single d one school in America
Speaker 1: is gonna want me. I'm gonna work that hart and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make it happen. It's just amazing for a kid,
Speaker 1: no his age, He's a child now, This eleven year
Speaker 1: olds fateful predictions are one week away from finally becoming true,
Speaker 1: proving himself right to aunt Jane once again, this time
Speaker 1: on the biggest stage in football, draft Day, the whole
Speaker 1: draft day experience. So I obviously that's a real big
Speaker 1: blessing because his guys have put in the same amount
Speaker 1: of work, But I mean, they don't have the same
Speaker 1: chance to, you know, get drafted, So I haven't really
Speaker 1: seen it as a pressure thing. The question is how
Speaker 1: high will Jeff be chosen and what happens after he
Speaker 1: reaches the goal he set so long ago. Can he
Speaker 1: maintain his laser focus? Has it become an ingrained, unalterable
Speaker 1: part of who Jeff Okuda is When you can when
Speaker 1: you play cornerback at the House State, the standard is
Speaker 1: be a lockdown cornerback, So on anything less than that,
Speaker 1: it's kind of seen as a disappointment and the eyes
Speaker 1: of the guys who played before. So I think when
Speaker 1: you have hardhself to that standard, then UM, going first
Speaker 1: round or just getting drafted high, it kind of just
Speaker 1: comes along with it, even if you weren't striving for that. UM,
Speaker 1: listen to me a moment. I never forget coming up
Speaker 1: on this season of drafted, But I just got to
Speaker 1: my retreat house that I'm going by NFL draft thing
Speaker 1: at I'll be fully expected you to be a top
Speaker 1: teaming for the top seven tick. I get butterflies in
Speaker 1: my I mean I actually started to cry. I was
Speaker 1: crying because I felt like I did something wrong. I
Speaker 1: just had to be strong. You know, having your dad
Speaker 1: as a coach is no walk in the park at all.
Speaker 1: We used to have to walk around with his birth
Speaker 1: certificate because they couldn't believe he was the age and
Speaker 1: the size that he was. I remember, just as a
Speaker 1: little kid. This is something I've been dreaming him out,
Speaker 1: like a promise to myself. You wanna be the best,
Speaker 1: you gotta be the best. You gotta go take it,
Speaker 1: you gotta take what you want. I'm so excited to
Speaker 1: ask you here. Let me go before I'm ready to go.
Speaker 1: Let's go. Ye. And that's what drafting means me It's
Speaker 1: a Chance. Drafted as a production of tree Fort Media,
Speaker 1: Clutch Sports Group, and I Heart Radio. The executive producers
Speaker 1: are Kelly Garner, Lisa Ammerman, Eric slot, Seawan to Tone
Speaker 1: l Key, and me Keegan Michael Key. The series is
Speaker 1: produced and written by Eric Winer. Jared Brom is our
Speaker 1: coordinating producer. Tom Monahan is our senior audio engineer. Mixed
Speaker 1: and edited by Steven Johnson, additional production help from Tim Shower,
Speaker 1: June Rosen, and Hayley Mandelberg. For transcripts of the show
Speaker 1: and more information on Drafted, go to tree Fort dot fm,
Speaker 1: and for more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.