Speaker 1: This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at
Speaker 1: production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior and I'm and this is cut to it.
Speaker 1: Good do it, Good do it. They're getting down to
Speaker 1: do it. Good do it. We asked the questions you
Speaker 1: always want to know, but no one ever asked, let's
Speaker 1: cut to it. You ain't heard about it, then we're
Speaker 1: about to let you know. It's all I was. I
Speaker 1: was with it with some guys I was meeting, and
Speaker 1: we were just kind of discussing business and um business,
Speaker 1: football and kind of like where we are today and
Speaker 1: then you know, foundation and all that stuff. And so
Speaker 1: I had a guy reminds me of a story that
Speaker 1: he heard about and said it was extremely intriguing. It
Speaker 1: was a two minute drill, he said. He heard me
Speaker 1: speak out the event, and he said that the way
Speaker 1: I articulated the two minute drill and apply that to
Speaker 1: my life. Um, he was really he was thrown back
Speaker 1: by h M. I really excelled it into minute drill too.
Speaker 1: Minute drill is one of those things in the in
Speaker 1: the game so much controlled chaos, but in and and
Speaker 1: it's it's like, you know, being on the on the
Speaker 1: boat and it's it's rain wins, all these things that
Speaker 1: you have to score. You're trying to achieve something that's unachievable.
Speaker 1: The defense is coming at you. They're they're coming in
Speaker 1: and try to get a sack, and you got guys,
Speaker 1: and all you're doing is literally very little verbal conversations.
Speaker 1: It's all hand signals and unspoken words. It's looks, it's
Speaker 1: winks and just body languages all that stuff. And you know,
Speaker 1: I gotta read the corner and all that stuff. And
Speaker 1: so I used to really love the two minute drill
Speaker 1: because two minute drill really was a place where I
Speaker 1: really excelled the best because it was exactly what I
Speaker 1: was raising in l a control chaos or some people
Speaker 1: say non control. Say it may not have been control
Speaker 1: because and I've I've heard you, I've been blessed enough
Speaker 1: to been around you a lot, and I've heard you
Speaker 1: use that analogy a lot, and it's that it's that,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of bouncing between the two minute drill
Speaker 1: is a place where there is chaos. Like you said,
Speaker 1: there's there's all these different things, all this information that's
Speaker 1: been um that's going back and forth, and you're saying
Speaker 1: you thriving that where a lot of people would say,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I can handle this. It's a
Speaker 1: it's a high pressure situation. Now I'm thriving based on
Speaker 1: how you were raised. And it's chaos, but like the
Speaker 1: cliche terms, it's organized chaos. Like if you don't practice it.
Speaker 1: We knew we were going into. If you don't prepare
Speaker 1: yourself for different situations and that two minute drill, it
Speaker 1: is gonna be chaos. But like that's life in general.
Speaker 1: So if you can prepare your self for something like that,
Speaker 1: and where Steve's going is what life's all about. It
Speaker 1: it's it's you gotta move on on a dime. You
Speaker 1: gotta be prepared. But you got your work and effort
Speaker 1: in the gym in the morning, or in your books,
Speaker 1: in your office or in your building and your contractors.
Speaker 1: You've gotta be prepared. So when those situations happen, it
Speaker 1: looks like chaos to all of us, But in your mind, man,
Speaker 1: this is what we work for every single day to
Speaker 1: be that way. But see, the thing is, not everybody
Speaker 1: handles the two minutes drill. You see, sometimes there's a
Speaker 1: lot of mistakes. Guys. You get or you get the
Speaker 1: fatigue and it makes you lazy, and it makes you well,
Speaker 1: I I'm so tired, I can't go back a step.
Speaker 1: So then you get off size penalty two or three
Speaker 1: times in a row, like the Steelers in the Chicago
Speaker 1: game where the fatigue that's here, that that two minute.
Speaker 1: I love it because I used to love it because
Speaker 1: I would sit there and everything's going on, and Jake
Speaker 1: or whoever it was, mainly Jake would give me because
Speaker 1: when cams are was a different offense and we would
Speaker 1: have we would speak, but with Jake we would just
Speaker 1: had numbers one huntry circle too, tender lay three which
Speaker 1: is three D and four wards. Reno. Now Reno actually
Speaker 1: was to play if you go back when I heard
Speaker 1: my leg that was an under route in which a
Speaker 1: former teammate Hannibal Navy's uh horse collar um. And then
Speaker 1: I was also when uh Roy Williams horse collar uh
Speaker 1: um t o as well that year they've banned a
Speaker 1: horse collar. So that was on the reno. So we
Speaker 1: go out there and everything's going on that man Jake
Speaker 1: is giving me hand signals and I'm just sitting in
Speaker 1: my little side. If I'm on the right or the
Speaker 1: left side man, and why everybody's going. You gotta whoever
Speaker 1: gets the ball has to throw the ball to raft.
Speaker 1: Then you gotta go line up and then all you
Speaker 1: on the ball, are you off the ball? And I'm
Speaker 1: sitting over there. Just give me my number. He gives
Speaker 1: me a one huntry circle. That's a hitch and under
Speaker 1: a streak and uh uh stop and in a circle
Speaker 1: by the running back. Man. I'm sitting there, and I
Speaker 1: look at the safety, I look at the linebacker and
Speaker 1: see what the defense is. And then we run another
Speaker 1: plate tend delay. Uh. Then I got a double end
Speaker 1: or I got there. So all of that stuff, and
Speaker 1: yet through all of that, I'm sitting calm, collective, just
Speaker 1: giving me my assignment so I can go to work.
Speaker 1: And when I as I got older, that two minute
Speaker 1: drill became as it became more and more chaotic because
Speaker 1: I learned more and more what it was, and it
Speaker 1: was a valuable time and critical point, and I understood
Speaker 1: the gravity of if we don't execute this two minute drill,
Speaker 1: we have the opportunity to lose the game. But when
Speaker 1: I was younger, I never thought about losing the game
Speaker 1: because I knew how to operate in this because I
Speaker 1: was I was kind of naive. As my old coach,
Speaker 1: UH Richard Williams say, blind dog in the meat house.
Speaker 1: You don't know, you know, you don't know what you
Speaker 1: don't know. You just you just smell it and you
Speaker 1: follow your sense. And when you're young, you follow your sense.
Speaker 1: You and you uh, you are aimlessly just going about
Speaker 1: your business. But when you become older. I became older,
Speaker 1: and I started to realize that I actually don't like
Speaker 1: the two minute drill because the two minute drill became
Speaker 1: a place of that chaos where I wanted to relax.
Speaker 1: I wanted to allow my craft to do his work
Speaker 1: and not just just running around while my head cut off.
Speaker 1: And so man, I always liked and I really think,
Speaker 1: and a lot of athletes saying, man, how you handle sports,
Speaker 1: it's how you're gonna handle life and life and sports
Speaker 1: really to some degree, depending on which way and which
Speaker 1: which side of the verdict or the result your own
Speaker 1: really in the case, how you handle it. I find
Speaker 1: it interesting though, that as you got older, you became
Speaker 1: more uncomfortable, even though your knowledge of the game increased
Speaker 1: so much. Because the knowledge of the game made me
Speaker 1: think so much more that I was not willing to
Speaker 1: just give me a number and I run it because
Speaker 1: sometimes that fool didn't pick the right number sometimes or
Speaker 1: the defense we'll trick us. So you lost some of
Speaker 1: that blond dog in the in the in the meat
Speaker 1: store a little bit. As the more that you gained
Speaker 1: the information you lost a little bit. I don't want
Speaker 1: to say instinct may not be the right word. It
Speaker 1: was more of you became more calculated. That makes sense.
Speaker 1: And I think the calculation of it right, and so
Speaker 1: and how do I try? How do I do that? Is?
Speaker 1: I looked at the I looked at the football field
Speaker 1: and playing football as like the pc H Highway. If
Speaker 1: you ever been in California, PC Highway goes from like
Speaker 1: Santa Monica all the way up to the Golden State
Speaker 1: Bridge out in San Francisco. You can you could go
Speaker 1: through Santa Santa Cruz up to Berkeley up to San Francisco.
Speaker 1: It's awesome. The PC Highway is a beautiful strip of
Speaker 1: land over eight nine hours that you can see some
Speaker 1: of the best red woods and see some of the
Speaker 1: most gorgeous sunsets and some of the best beaches. You
Speaker 1: can see. Santa Monica. You can see Venice, you can
Speaker 1: see Malibu, Pacific Palisades, see all these remarkable homes. But
Speaker 1: there were so many times that I was on PC Highway,
Speaker 1: meaning the NFL, and not one time did I stop,
Speaker 1: put my son roof down, pull over and take a
Speaker 1: selfie with the wife in the sunset. I never really,
Speaker 1: I never really enjoyed the view. I was too busy
Speaker 1: focused on the outcome. I really saying, let your side
Speaker 1: effect be your confidence. But also I have that positive
Speaker 1: self talk and also enjoy and be grateful for whatever
Speaker 1: you are dealing with that there is a PC Highway
Speaker 1: in your path. Stop smell roses, taking the sunset, hold
Speaker 1: your man or your wife's hand, and enjoy it because
Speaker 1: I'm telling you you're gonna look up one day. You're
Speaker 1: gonna realize sixty years later. Damn, I never took that selfie.
Speaker 1: Who we got coming up on the Cut to It podcast,
Speaker 1: We've got Austin Ekeler, the starting running back for the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Chargers. He's one of the NFL's leaders in
Speaker 1: rushing yardage and rushing touchdowns, but he's also a fantasy
Speaker 1: football guru and a mainstay on Twitch Austin Ekeler on
Speaker 1: the Cut to It podcast. Yeah, thanks for me a
Speaker 1: man looking forward to it. We're excited. We're excited. Our
Speaker 1: first segments called get iced Up. All right, what's the
Speaker 1: pet peeve that gets under your skin? Pet peeve that
Speaker 1: gets under my skin? Um? I have a few. We'll
Speaker 1: start with the locker room and people have dirty locker
Speaker 1: next to mine? Right, I got a cataract, So locker
Speaker 1: if you have a dirty locker every every year at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the year, I established whoever's around me
Speaker 1: using some running backs. All right, here's the common area.
Speaker 1: This zero. I don't care what you do in your area,
Speaker 1: but the common area needs to stay clean. Another one
Speaker 1: at home dishes in the sink. Can't do it, can't
Speaker 1: do that. Come on, that's that's one passed on from
Speaker 1: from from mama's Why why can't you pass on? They're
Speaker 1: gonna be there to them all Ah, No, man, I
Speaker 1: just need this. I need the kitchen to look clean
Speaker 1: every time we go to bed, so when I come
Speaker 1: down in the morning, it's like, yeah, that looks beautiful.
Speaker 1: So to me, do you cook? Yes, you can you cook? Cook?
Speaker 1: I mean I'm not like or mat or anything. But
Speaker 1: like what what what is the dish that you've cooked
Speaker 1: that that was certified? Because if you say I can
Speaker 1: make a grilled cheese, that ain't a cook. So if
Speaker 1: you cook, you can't be come fighting eating. You can't
Speaker 1: you If you can't cook, you can't complain about Look.
Speaker 1: Look I can get by cooks fish. I can use
Speaker 1: the grill like you put fish on the grill. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can't put fish on the Yeah, you get some butter,
Speaker 1: you get some parsley, get a little garlic salt. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I put it on there. Yeah, Smithy got a theory
Speaker 1: on that. Yeah, hold up, Yeah, I think that. I
Speaker 1: think that's one of your pet ps. Fish on the grill. Seriously,
Speaker 1: what about on a smoker like smoking like smokes amon,
Speaker 1: I mean that's what a restaurant does. Yes, So that's
Speaker 1: what I'm just saying. That's okay, But I don't put
Speaker 1: fish on the grill. I'm not, but I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: if you just like if you put it on like
Speaker 1: a wood plank and you smoke it over like low,
Speaker 1: would you do that on my grill? No, I'm not
Speaker 1: asking what I'm saying. A smoker in the grill like
Speaker 1: I'm talking about a grill bird, Oh my grill. I
Speaker 1: ain't talk much. I'm just saying period at your house
Speaker 1: maybe okay. And you know, if I'm coming over to
Speaker 1: your house, you probably wouldn't even do it, because you
Speaker 1: know I may say something, Oh my girl, I'm quick,
Speaker 1: whatever what I want. But do you smoke? Sam? It's delicious, Okay.
Speaker 1: I ain't putting on fish on my damn grill. Disrespectful. Uh,
Speaker 1: you might as well come to my house and try
Speaker 1: to bring your meat trying to put it on my
Speaker 1: little pause? Are you one of those guys? If you
Speaker 1: want those guys? I can't say I've done that. No
Speaker 1: good I had to do one time come to my house.
Speaker 1: Hey man, do you mind? I looked at him. His
Speaker 1: name was Willie. I said, hell, no, you can't cook
Speaker 1: on my grill. Bro. He goes really, I said no,
Speaker 1: not walts into someone's house and start operating. There also
Speaker 1: be intruders, right, you know how we handle intruders. Look
Speaker 1: at Austin is totally he's totally done with We're good, brother.
Speaker 1: Let's go all right. Your favorite favorite memory as a kid. Gosh,
Speaker 1: that's a hard one. Yeah, there's nothing that really stands out.
Speaker 1: I guess I really they haven't thought about it. Okay,
Speaker 1: we just skipped out. Okay, all right, the last song
Speaker 1: you listen to before you go out and play on
Speaker 1: playing the game. I actually have been on a no
Speaker 1: music vibe this last couple a couple of weeks. But
Speaker 1: when it Dad would explain what happened. Man, huh, oh wow,
Speaker 1: we're talking. I had to you know, I'm all right now.
Speaker 1: I've actually been using this like visual This visualization ain't working, bro,
Speaker 1: you need to go back to the music working. I've
Speaker 1: been using the all season, not just this last game.
Speaker 1: Last game, we gotta ask it. That's what it was. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Ravens. Yeah they brought it. Man, I know, I know,
Speaker 1: you know he was there and you did visualize. Oh
Speaker 1: my god. Oh all right, you want to know you
Speaker 1: want to know one of mine? Yeah? What you got
Speaker 1: a deal? Bro? Really? Yes? There before the game is
Speaker 1: savage mode. Okay, he wants to say something, but he's
Speaker 1: not sure. No, I gotta open mind, man. I'm not
Speaker 1: very judgmental man, like I'm a damn. That reminds me
Speaker 1: of MJ. The Last Dance where m J pre game
Speaker 1: is listening to Kenny Lattimore and some savage stuff. Bro.
Speaker 1: I like a deal Bro she her new song fire.
Speaker 1: I might listen to it, you know what. It got
Speaker 1: me a little bit. Though. What's the song called? Uh like,
Speaker 1: it's called yeah easy. I hope we got right to this.
Speaker 1: I mean we we we can't afford that. We're still
Speaker 1: on the budget. Shout out of our heart. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: look into it. No. Um, Yeah, I like a Dell though,
Speaker 1: bro Easy owner is pretty good and sold my goal
Speaker 1: to though. What's that rolling in a deep? I can't
Speaker 1: go wrong with that? Yeah, I can't. I roll it
Speaker 1: a deep and then go go peel back on the
Speaker 1: lineback and before they hit the rule. That was before
Speaker 1: they hit the rule boom deep. All right, all right,
Speaker 1: here's the last one. This is the This is actually
Speaker 1: a really good one, and I think you can really
Speaker 1: appreciate it. And this is you're gonna steal it and
Speaker 1: that's that's cool. Just make sure you uh make sure
Speaker 1: I get the credit. All right? If you were if
Speaker 1: you were president and you had three people to assist you,
Speaker 1: who would you pick? And why? Wow? Yeah, so we're
Speaker 1: not even is on the president part? Just the three
Speaker 1: people that would help you, And why would you pick
Speaker 1: those three people? My mother absolutely, she's been my caretaker.
Speaker 1: She's single mom raised me and my little bro. Who
Speaker 1: would be my other pick? Because that's family. That's my
Speaker 1: closest family. So that I got. So if that's your
Speaker 1: closest family, is he the clean up guy? Clean? Because
Speaker 1: we all got a family member that we roll with.
Speaker 1: They don't really know how to do anything but the
Speaker 1: clean up yours. That's here's the thing, man, he's gonna learn.
Speaker 1: My little brother he's a grinder just like I am.
Speaker 1: He's gonna learn. Right, he's a cleaner, he's regardless of
Speaker 1: everyone's got the role. Bro a your mom brother. And
Speaker 1: then Cameron Weiss, He's become one of my best friends
Speaker 1: over over the years. He's also my attorney, um, my
Speaker 1: business partner, one of my best friends that I've been
Speaker 1: working with for a while a long time. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: got his little house of cards. You got to cleaners. Yah,
Speaker 1: got the physical cleaner and it didn't happen the mastermind
Speaker 1: behind it right alright? Cool? Alright, So how are you
Speaker 1: doing today? I'm doing great, man, doing great Tuesday, which
Speaker 1: is usually my community day where I'm really trying to
Speaker 1: uh connect and just get out there and talk to people.
Speaker 1: You got a whole day designated to community a priority. Man,
Speaker 1: we feel honored them that you're gonna spend that community.
Speaker 1: I honestly feel on it. Like I love when people
Speaker 1: have podcasts when people want to bring me on because
Speaker 1: I'm like, yes, Like I think this is something that
Speaker 1: guys in the league, just people people in general have
Speaker 1: a platform to do more often, because I don't think
Speaker 1: people understand the actual importance of media and community and connecting,
Speaker 1: especially for after your sport is over, Like that's when
Speaker 1: it really plays a part so you can actually go
Speaker 1: out and do something that you want to do. Um,
Speaker 1: it's not often that a lot of people think about
Speaker 1: that at this point in their career. Why is that
Speaker 1: so front of front of mine? For you, Millennaise, It's
Speaker 1: because I never thought I was gonna be in the NFL. Mhm.
Speaker 1: I never sat out. I was never like, oh, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go to the NFL when I'm playing in college,
Speaker 1: I went to a division to school. I focused everything
Speaker 1: I could on my involvements, which is football and my education,
Speaker 1: and I thought I was gonna go into business world.
Speaker 1: I thought was gonna get into real estate, and then
Speaker 1: football gave me an opportunity, and I put everything in
Speaker 1: my power to go and take advantage of the opportunity
Speaker 1: to try to make it work. Ended up working out,
Speaker 1: and so that mindset stayed with me. I always knew
Speaker 1: football was going to be a starting point for me,
Speaker 1: but not the endpoint, right, And so now I'm in football,
Speaker 1: I have this platform. I'm gonna use it as a
Speaker 1: tool to better myself as a person and also connects
Speaker 1: UM and get a head start on kind of you know,
Speaker 1: the things that I had perceived me. I kind of like,
Speaker 1: I guess me back up my passions, right. It's pushing
Speaker 1: me towards my passions and helping me connect with people
Speaker 1: in that space. And my passion is connecting with people
Speaker 1: and helping people. That's why my foundation, that's why I started,
Speaker 1: like some of my companies that I have, is to
Speaker 1: help people better themselves by giving them resources so they
Speaker 1: can learn more about themselves, so they can become a
Speaker 1: better version of themselves. And I really find fulfillment in that.
Speaker 1: So that's why I'm using this platform to get back
Speaker 1: to that um. And so that's why you know, I
Speaker 1: think my mindset is based on that because it was
Speaker 1: never about football for me and now I'm using football absolutely,
Speaker 1: but still more about people. How do you keep focused
Speaker 1: on the sport, playing football and performing and not making it?
Speaker 1: You know, you hear people, You hear I say, millennials.
Speaker 1: You hear a lot of young guys now in the
Speaker 1: league talking about their brand and you know, you know,
Speaker 1: being a part of the p A. I was a
Speaker 1: player rep. So hearing about the pas, you know, hearing
Speaker 1: about all these young guys talk, my man, I gotta
Speaker 1: make sure my brand is on point. But if your
Speaker 1: brand if you can't. If you you could be a
Speaker 1: brand corner, but you can't stop nobody that brand. Here's
Speaker 1: the thing that football is giving me all these opportunities
Speaker 1: that I've had to this day, and so playing though
Speaker 1: and make your plays to maintain percent, you have to
Speaker 1: be relevant, you know, and the more relevant you are,
Speaker 1: the easier it's going to be to get connection. Stuff
Speaker 1: like that. You can still get connections just having being
Speaker 1: part of the shield, but it don't run as deep.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. My mindset has been football because
Speaker 1: this is what's got me here at this point. So
Speaker 1: that's why that's how you don't get distracted. That's why
Speaker 1: Tuesday is a big day for me. I like that
Speaker 1: because there are times where guys consume themselves with their brand,
Speaker 1: and then they start to believe that their brand is
Speaker 1: so big, and then you look at their stats and
Speaker 1: they don't. You're all starting the community, but you're a
Speaker 1: bench warmer on the field. I'm serious. So you see,
Speaker 1: I think you said a lot where people skew more
Speaker 1: towards the brand and forget why that they're in the
Speaker 1: first place. I tell you what, talking to Austin right
Speaker 1: now being a Los Angeles charger, not talking about his
Speaker 1: sam but there's some dudes on his team right now
Speaker 1: are average, but because they're in a big market, they
Speaker 1: think they're a lot better than what they are. A snicker,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm talking about that. I'm sure it's
Speaker 1: easy to get connected when you're in when you're in
Speaker 1: one of those large markets New Yorker or Miami, You'll
Speaker 1: be talking to guys and I'm like, I'm sitting there,
Speaker 1: going he's on special teams and it's not the wrong
Speaker 1: of being on special teams. But then when I'm talking
Speaker 1: like I've had conversations with dudes where I felt like
Speaker 1: I gotta go, man, I gotta google myself because I
Speaker 1: just had this interaction was off a phrase i'd like
Speaker 1: to say. He's gotta keep the main thing, the main thing.
Speaker 1: That's true though, the main thing, the main thing, right,
Speaker 1: and then you know, then you can do stuff on
Speaker 1: the side. But yeah, absolutely, you gotta make a presence.
Speaker 1: Um just obviously build a brand that's you know, substantial.
Speaker 1: But now I feel you, man, it's you gotta stay
Speaker 1: on track. He's giggling because he knows there's some guys
Speaker 1: on this team right back. That's every team. No, it's
Speaker 1: on bigger, bigger city teams though, because you ain't. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't run up against the dude. I never ran
Speaker 1: up against dude. And since NAT thinking, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm a little home man, like, excuse me, So where
Speaker 1: was that I forgot, which I was somewhere in the
Speaker 1: dude was like, yeah, man, you know, I check you
Speaker 1: out here and there. I looked at him and said,
Speaker 1: excuse me, you check me out like he was like
Speaker 1: he was like telling me like he did me. He
Speaker 1: was doing me a favor, and I was just like, uh, man,
Speaker 1: it's he in a big market that big market got
Speaker 1: him confused with himself. Look, you gotta use it though,
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying, man, you gotta you gotta use
Speaker 1: the market. If you have it, use it. You can't.
Speaker 1: You can't be on people's head because they're, you know,
Speaker 1: the guy on their team, but they're trying to, you know, connect,
Speaker 1: Like I'm just saying. A great example is current right now.
Speaker 1: DK metcalf is wiping his booty with Shannon Sharp stats.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, that's what he said. He said he wiped
Speaker 1: his He said, you washed stuff. I want to be Yeah,
Speaker 1: So if you go to cut to it, um my
Speaker 1: social media. I went and looked up eight time Pro Bowler,
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer Shannon Shark, and then I looked up
Speaker 1: um DJ's stats, and I know they're skewed because of time,
Speaker 1: but I just had to look him up because I
Speaker 1: was trying to figure out which number is d K
Speaker 1: wiping his boat with. Is it the ten thousand wow,
Speaker 1: ten thousand yards to six of two touchdowns or the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame or the eight Pro Bowls? Trying to
Speaker 1: figure out which which one is he using it? See
Speaker 1: a man, here's my thing, Like I told you, I
Speaker 1: keep it open minds. I'm not I'm never never being
Speaker 1: like I'm better than you, I'm better than like. That's
Speaker 1: what you get in trouble. There are some guys I'm
Speaker 1: better than though, I know that for absolutely absolutely, Like
Speaker 1: there's a few guys I know I'm better than today
Speaker 1: right now at forty two two, right now, right now,
Speaker 1: I don't want you to play nobody. We just I'm
Speaker 1: just that conversation. There are some there are some dbs
Speaker 1: who will try to compress me. No chance, no chance. Now.
Speaker 1: I may not be able to go get that gold
Speaker 1: ball like I used to at forty two, but I
Speaker 1: will punish this dB trying to press me. Though you
Speaker 1: ain't even worried about that. I ain't worried about this ball.
Speaker 1: You're gonna catch these, you're gonna cas You're gonna get
Speaker 1: word about that route, anything about the route you're about
Speaker 1: to give. You're about to get four wings not. I
Speaker 1: love cut to It, and I love it even more
Speaker 1: when you download us and subscribe and you can follow
Speaker 1: us on social media too. Smithie, where where at? That's at?
Speaker 1: Cut to it on Instagram? What about Twitter? At? Cut
Speaker 1: to It? Facebook? Cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr
Speaker 1: what about online? And you can follow us at cut
Speaker 1: to It podcast dot com where you can buy merch
Speaker 1: and you can subscribe to this wherever you listen to podcasts.
Speaker 1: I got all my answers questions. Um, yeah, I got
Speaker 1: all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother,
Speaker 1: cut to a podcast dot com. Alright, last one, last
Speaker 1: one for this time that we've had your schedule on
Speaker 1: the podcast. It has been killing me and I gotta
Speaker 1: get it in my nose. It'sn't red. You gotta explain
Speaker 1: this cooked eggs and raw eggs nonsense. Yeah, for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: I don't know, like having right or not having cooked eggs,
Speaker 1: whether they're scrambled hard, whatever is it just it just
Speaker 1: makes me like want to throw up, Like, okay, it's
Speaker 1: a texture thing. I don't know if it's a texture
Speaker 1: if I just had a rotten one one time, but
Speaker 1: it's for me, it's ruined. It's ruined. So you're to
Speaker 1: make up for that you eat raw eggs. So no,
Speaker 1: I don't. I'm not like Rocky like cracking in my
Speaker 1: mouth type stuff. You know, it's I put it like
Speaker 1: a smoothie, y'all, crack up for the protein. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I've had people try my smooth like bro that
Speaker 1: is absolutely terrible guessing my nutrients. So it's it is
Speaker 1: what it is. It's acquired. Would not recommend. Yeah, hey,
Speaker 1: look the thing is, I'm not gonna throw up, so
Speaker 1: work for you. I'm good, all right? Um Hey, so
Speaker 1: where are you from in the place you call your hometown?
Speaker 1: Eat in Colorado town? Where's that? Uh? In regards to Aspen.
Speaker 1: Aspen is in the mountains. So I'm like north northeast
Speaker 1: corner of Colorado. How far downtown Denver from Denver? Probably
Speaker 1: hour and a half drive, So sure I can hit
Speaker 1: you you you hit that your hometown before you hit Aspen.
Speaker 1: Man from from downtown. It depends on where you're coming from.
Speaker 1: It's Denver, Aspen's west of Denver. I'm east of Denver, Yeah, northeast.
Speaker 1: So yeah, small town man, like I said, Like like
Speaker 1: you said, out in the farmlands man, like cornfields all around.
Speaker 1: One stoplight town, tiny little, tiny little town. But because
Speaker 1: it a stoplight or stop song, stoplight, we got what
Speaker 1: we had one stop flight when I was there. It's
Speaker 1: grown sense, Like just was it like yellow red yellow, yellow,
Speaker 1: red green, or was it just rant. Yeah, we had
Speaker 1: all three colors, like one of those towns you go
Speaker 1: through on the highway and you just like stop so
Speaker 1: we can turn yield. You know, if you get too
Speaker 1: many city folk in there and it's just one nobody
Speaker 1: knows where to go right and to the right and
Speaker 1: to the left. The sun I got right, all right.
Speaker 1: So so growing up, you know, how did it make
Speaker 1: you look at at the world. I became became a
Speaker 1: product of my environment. When you're when you're working, when
Speaker 1: you're working on the ranch, your ranch hand, your build
Speaker 1: a fence, you're playing sports like it's just engraved and
Speaker 1: you like you just grind, like it doesn't matter. You
Speaker 1: can be good. There's no excuses. I used grind, whether
Speaker 1: it's to get the job done. Like I remember, you
Speaker 1: know my mom's ex husband, Uh he gets these these
Speaker 1: jobs like he's a fence builder, and these are not
Speaker 1: just like your picket fence, Like this is like twenty
Speaker 1: miles of barbed wire fence, like over the summer, Like
Speaker 1: we're tucking mega projects. So out here like grinding, grind,
Speaker 1: no excuses or you know, you're not gonna like the
Speaker 1: consequences kind of thing. And so I was in a
Speaker 1: situation where I like, I gotta get out of here,
Speaker 1: I gotta get out of this, and I knew I
Speaker 1: need to get and so a great and grade this
Speaker 1: work ethic in me that I didn't complain because I
Speaker 1: knew I couldn't, But I just I just grinded. I
Speaker 1: just worked and finally got in this situation where I
Speaker 1: get out of there, out of call and got into
Speaker 1: college and now I can kind of choose my fate
Speaker 1: and when I wanted to get into and that mindset
Speaker 1: stayed with me, and that mindset stay with me. It
Speaker 1: was like, look, act like, look, this is what your
Speaker 1: life depends on right here, you haven't success, whether it's
Speaker 1: in your your education or your football career. And that
Speaker 1: stayed with me, and it stayed with me now and
Speaker 1: now football is obviously my opportunity and it stays with
Speaker 1: me now. That's why I never forget. That's why I
Speaker 1: always connected community, because it took so many people with
Speaker 1: so many connections and so many people continue to be
Speaker 1: around me and help me out in my mindset to
Speaker 1: give me to this point that now I'm trying to
Speaker 1: help other people do that. So that's what Eaton Colorado
Speaker 1: like it for me. It wasn't always the best uh
Speaker 1: you know, just situation, but it definitely helped me as
Speaker 1: far as get to me give my mindset right for
Speaker 1: you know, this opportunity. So I talked about that my
Speaker 1: wife wants. My wife is like she's so all about
Speaker 1: self efficiency, right, and she wants a farm so bad, bro.
Speaker 1: Like we're driving around. We drove to Marshall, North Carolina,
Speaker 1: which is I live in Charlotte, right, I live outside
Speaker 1: of Charrette, like thirty miles side show. I was closer
Speaker 1: in Marshall, North Carolina to Tennessee than I was to Charlotte,
Speaker 1: three hours each way. It was sixteen acres at a goal.
Speaker 1: It was just she loves it. I'm a city boy, man,
Speaker 1: nothing about me speak to farm like spark to farming,
Speaker 1: and hands said farm. The table ain't in my dad? Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I was twenty miles away from my school, so every
Speaker 1: day drive twenty miles into school. Like that's you didn't
Speaker 1: drench do snow? Yeah but literally yeah, Like I lived
Speaker 1: on like a plot of land. It was eighty acres,
Speaker 1: which sounds like a lot, but in that area that's
Speaker 1: just normal just because it's nothing. But that's that's about dirt.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of land. But like I think my
Speaker 1: mom ended up selling that place for like like th
Speaker 1: so like this is just straight dirt, Like you can
Speaker 1: buy land in this area. That's just nothing but landing.
Speaker 1: There's no development, there's nothing there. Um. So it's just
Speaker 1: so it's the place where when you escape prison, that's
Speaker 1: where you go. You're out there in the ranch and
Speaker 1: out there the plains in Colorado. No one's gonna find you.
Speaker 1: So so tell me what is the good and the
Speaker 1: bad for me if if talk me into it, it
Speaker 1: out of it, Like what what it would be the
Speaker 1: advantage and disadvantages of it? Because you experienced it as
Speaker 1: a kid and you know what what it's done for
Speaker 1: you as a dolt. Right, so your like your ten
Speaker 1: thousands your ten thousand foot view of it of being
Speaker 1: a kid, being raised on it and now being adult
Speaker 1: and seeing how that work ethic actually helped you become
Speaker 1: who the great player you are, the fantastic player you
Speaker 1: are right now, and give you that mindset so you know,
Speaker 1: selp me on why I should or should not. Well,
Speaker 1: here's the thing. It wasn't my choice to be out there.
Speaker 1: That's why I'm asking that wasn't to be out there
Speaker 1: if I if I had to do it again, I wouldn't.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be hout tae. I have a pen, go
Speaker 1: ahead with a nice leather chair right now. So it
Speaker 1: ain't exactly he passed in from from the farm right now.
Speaker 1: I even grew up in the life man. I wrote
Speaker 1: bulls for a few years, like like two of us.
Speaker 1: There's two black men of roll bulls on his podcast
Speaker 1: and mine was mechanical. But anyway, okay, he was over here.
Speaker 1: He was in the genuine pony video. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you saw that in which video? Remember mind, I
Speaker 1: forgot eight difference now. So I was on a Thursday
Speaker 1: night where was at will was in Philly and they
Speaker 1: had a mechanical bull and I'm like, I want to
Speaker 1: ride the ball and they're like really, I'm like yes,
Speaker 1: and they're like, you're in a suit. I said, that's
Speaker 1: even that's even better. That just shows you my athleticism.
Speaker 1: And so I read them I wrote a mechanical bull
Speaker 1: in a suit. I saw that video, I'm like, who
Speaker 1: in the hill? And they were like, but the dude
Speaker 1: that was doing it, I had to given look like
Speaker 1: the first I gave him a side I then I
Speaker 1: just gave him a stare, like a bro, don't your
Speaker 1: job ain't to make me fall off. This is just
Speaker 1: a little experiment to say I did it. He over there,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make Steven. Yeah. And so I actually fell
Speaker 1: off because I sitched. It was starting to speed up.
Speaker 1: I'm like, come on, bro, like this suit right now.
Speaker 1: Really ain't trying to get split right j B Divarsity
Speaker 1: real quick? He took it. No, he took D one,
Speaker 1: he skilled one. I know. I realized it was time
Speaker 1: to get off Paulse because my calve was starting to
Speaker 1: cramp right right right. No, I'm that because they said,
Speaker 1: you know, well, you know you gotta squeeze. I was
Speaker 1: over there, like my right legs, my right legs said, boy,
Speaker 1: you better slow down. We're gonna give out just advanced pauls. Second,
Speaker 1: so we're just gonna give a blanket one. All right,
Speaker 1: So tell me so, like what so what it was
Speaker 1: your dreams? First off, you're not gonna need that suit
Speaker 1: out there. You're gonna need that. She's not gonna be
Speaker 1: having any types of events like that unless you actually
Speaker 1: drive somewhere, which you're gonna have to drive because you're
Speaker 1: out in the country. Um. About the only thing that
Speaker 1: I enjoyed about it was actually having space, like you
Speaker 1: actually see like space like as far as like just wilderness,
Speaker 1: like you're not concrete jungle. Um. Other than that, I
Speaker 1: was not a fan. I was just locked in my
Speaker 1: room playing video games, hanging out with a little bro um,
Speaker 1: not really trying to interact. Because Yeah, we had horses,
Speaker 1: we had some cows, we had chickens. We had a
Speaker 1: goat that was so mean. We had this goat man.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, if you you stepped outside, he
Speaker 1: would come from our horse pens. You gotta go out
Speaker 1: with the whoofleball bat to protect yourself from this goat
Speaker 1: because this goat running across what is it n backs
Speaker 1: and health was healthy was over here talking about a
Speaker 1: ghat story in which his uncle on his that try
Speaker 1: to get him to kill a goat. Yeah, shoot, let's
Speaker 1: go shoot this go trying to kill you. Outside. He's
Speaker 1: sprinting across the lawn. You can literally beating him with
Speaker 1: the wolf a ball bat trying to get him off you. Um,
Speaker 1: so yeah that was a thing. Uh. Did you have
Speaker 1: to pick eggs? You had to pick up. Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you go pick up eggs. I'll take care of the
Speaker 1: chickens because you can't have them out overnight because it's
Speaker 1: the coyotes. There's a lot of kayas out there, stuff
Speaker 1: like that. So it's it's definitely if if you're into like, hey,
Speaker 1: you're gonna take care, live up the land like your
Speaker 1: your wife sounds like self efficient, then you can make
Speaker 1: it work. But you can have to realize there's not
Speaker 1: a lot of opportunity out there's no social life your mile.
Speaker 1: You're like, my closest neighbor was like half a mile away, um,
Speaker 1: and we didn't even talk to them. Other neighbor who
Speaker 1: was three miles away from your house the mall. Wow,
Speaker 1: probably forty five to fifty minutes, twenty minutes to school,
Speaker 1: twenty minutes of school or to go. Did they have
Speaker 1: a bus to cough? No, the bust didn't go that far.
Speaker 1: I was outside of the district. Did having those chores
Speaker 1: at a young age was it helpful? Absolutely? Absolutely helpful.
Speaker 1: It taught me that, hey, look, sometimes you got to
Speaker 1: do stuff in life that you don't like to do.
Speaker 1: Definitely taught me that. I remember, I think the worst
Speaker 1: job that I had out there was I mean, I
Speaker 1: had a feed water horses year round, which I didn't
Speaker 1: like because it where my horses I didn't ride, And
Speaker 1: I was like, what the hell? Um, But in the
Speaker 1: wintertime in Colorado it snows, and guess what, horses can't
Speaker 1: break their own ice. And we didn't have any like
Speaker 1: bubblers or anything. So I'm not there with a sledgehammer
Speaker 1: breaking ice, watering horses during the wintertime, trying to forget
Speaker 1: those memories. God, but definitely taught me it looks sometimes
Speaker 1: you just gotta you gotta do what you gotta do
Speaker 1: to get by and make sure you know everything's taken
Speaker 1: care of. So as far as then says working, Yeah,
Speaker 1: what time did you wake up in the in the mornings? Um,
Speaker 1: probably six thirty and then six thirty. What did that entail? Uh,
Speaker 1: six thirty, wake up, go downstairs, put on some clothes,
Speaker 1: it's says the wintertime, you gotta put on some clothes,
Speaker 1: so you actually go outside, feed the horses, make sure
Speaker 1: the ice is broken so they can drink, then go
Speaker 1: back inside, shower, get ready for school and ready for
Speaker 1: ready for the day. And that's that's that's work. So sorry,
Speaker 1: So you're so, what's the what's the verdict? I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna say what the verdict? My bad hit Hancho in here?
Speaker 1: Uh Ninja ain't trying to do all that. I worked
Speaker 1: too hard to be all right. Well, we got we
Speaker 1: gotta we got. We got a section called Let's Hope Ball.
Speaker 1: We'll hit on a little bit of your career and
Speaker 1: and how you're performing as an athlete. So now you're
Speaker 1: captain on the Chargers. How is your approach to the
Speaker 1: game change from seventeen to it today? My approach hasn't
Speaker 1: changed at all. The moment, you know, I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: you have a pro day. Like, I literally dropped everything
Speaker 1: and put every ounce of effort that I could into football.
Speaker 1: I was like, this is the biggest opportunity I've ever had.
Speaker 1: There's not gonna be any ounce of my body that says, hey,
Speaker 1: I wish I would have tried harder. So I dropped everything.
Speaker 1: I told my family, look, I know you guys are
Speaker 1: excited for me, but like, just kind of just chill,
Speaker 1: let me do this. I'll we'll talk after um, I
Speaker 1: went and trained down in Denver, actually dropped out my
Speaker 1: last semester of college just to focus on training um
Speaker 1: and just went all in. I went all in as
Speaker 1: as much as I possibly could. I did that, and
Speaker 1: at the end of the fourth preseason game, I got
Speaker 1: asked like, Hey, do you feel like you made the team,
Speaker 1: And I was like, I don't know if I made
Speaker 1: the team, but I do know one thing is that
Speaker 1: I couldn't have tried any harder. That was all you
Speaker 1: can get from austin effort. And that was my mindset
Speaker 1: and that's stay with me because that's what's made me,
Speaker 1: you know, take advantage of opportunities. Right. I ended up
Speaker 1: making the team, and then my role was special teams
Speaker 1: and special teams, and to me, I was never backup.
Speaker 1: I'm not backup like I'm starting in my role. Like
Speaker 1: on paper, I might be a backup, but I'm out
Speaker 1: here and making my plays out here on special teams
Speaker 1: because that's my opportunity. That's absolutely to to have a
Speaker 1: have a winning product. Absolutely, And so that's what it
Speaker 1: was for me, and that that mindset continued to stay
Speaker 1: with me because it came in next year and now
Speaker 1: I had more you know, offensive, you know action, just
Speaker 1: because my role continued to change as I continue to
Speaker 1: optimize my opportunities. And that's why I said, nothing's changed
Speaker 1: beside my role, Like my mindset is still the same.
Speaker 1: I still am, and now I'm even trying to help
Speaker 1: my young guys, like guys who need I need you, Like,
Speaker 1: let's go Like I'm not Derrick Henry out here is
Speaker 1: a big old bruiser, you know, Nick Chubb. We can
Speaker 1: take the entire game right, like I'm a hundred pound
Speaker 1: five eight like, boys, I need you, let's go. Um.
Speaker 1: Just good for them to like just have a positive room.
Speaker 1: But it's it's been a progression as far as it's
Speaker 1: just my role has changed, not necessarily my mind set.
Speaker 1: Good do good, do good. Let's get down to do
Speaker 1: it good. Hey Gerard, why didn't you get that T shirt?
Speaker 1: You mean this thing? Oh yes, I got it from
Speaker 1: cut to a podcast dot com where we have exclusive merchandise.
Speaker 1: Shout out to our guys at seven or four shot.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you can go on buy you a T
Speaker 1: shirt subscribed to us wherever you listen to podcasts. You
Speaker 1: being who you are and and and being raised on
Speaker 1: the farm and dealing with what you dealt with gave
Speaker 1: you every opportunity that was afforded to you. By being
Speaker 1: at the right place at the right time and applying
Speaker 1: the right amount of hard work on a consistent basis.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, Melvin Gordon believes he deserves more
Speaker 1: money than they're offering. And that's where you that's where
Speaker 1: an opportunity comes and you took full advantage of it.
Speaker 1: How awkward, difficult? Interesting was it? You stepped into that
Speaker 1: role and to the Atlanta's the head coach who used
Speaker 1: to be a running backs coach, who understands right, very
Speaker 1: level headed, You're getting your opportunity. Melvill Gordon's whole now
Speaker 1: waiting for more money. Are you out here becoming a
Speaker 1: start and running back based off of opportunity? How? How
Speaker 1: did you? How did you handle that? And did it
Speaker 1: ever become awkward because of you know, the current situation
Speaker 1: at that time and it's been a few years now
Speaker 1: and he's doing great, You're doing great. So it's just
Speaker 1: more of I've always I've never had that, and so
Speaker 1: this is an opportunity to ask you because very rarely
Speaker 1: have we been afforded to talk to the you know,
Speaker 1: I like to call it the wally pip right, somebody
Speaker 1: got the opportunity. You took advantage of it by happenstance.
Speaker 1: And you know, and that's just how it is. You
Speaker 1: didn't get to pick it. You just you just get
Speaker 1: to receive the opportunities to give him. Absolutely. That's yeah.
Speaker 1: You couldn't said any better. You know. That's what we
Speaker 1: have to deal with, right that. So we have to
Speaker 1: stay patient and stay patient and deal with opportunity that
Speaker 1: you have a hand. And in that situation, even leading
Speaker 1: up to that, the year before the year before that,
Speaker 1: before he us held out like we were splitting. It
Speaker 1: wasn't and I wasn't doing bad. Man. You asked the
Speaker 1: fantasy community, like, man, you're killing it the first time
Speaker 1: ever on cut to a fantasy community. He is a
Speaker 1: character witness to Austin acklers career on trial. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: with the fantasy community, he got segments on it stuff.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I'm in there. I told you about community, man,
Speaker 1: about people. But like I'm playing, I'm playing well. I'm consistent, man,
Speaker 1: I'm efficient. Like I'm not flashy or anything like that.
Speaker 1: They've been flashy, but I'm consistent. Efficient. And what do
Speaker 1: you need this Lee? You need to be consistent, you
Speaker 1: need be efficient, right, And so he came into that year,
Speaker 1: and he told us actually in UM and O t
Speaker 1: A he's gonna be holding out, and just like like
Speaker 1: that's the situation, that's what they've decided. On his end,
Speaker 1: it's like, well, I mean that changes nothing for me.
Speaker 1: My mindset is still the same. Man. Now I'm gonna
Speaker 1: now my roles changed. But guess what, I'm still coming
Speaker 1: in as a starter. Now I'm actually started on paper.
Speaker 1: And I get three games and I had I don't
Speaker 1: even know I was going off though, that was going off,
Speaker 1: and it kind of just I think it shook shook
Speaker 1: it up, shook up the situation. Then he ended up
Speaker 1: coming back and he expected It's like wait a minute, like, um,
Speaker 1: I gotta make sure I get back and get my reps.
Speaker 1: And I heard him, man, I heard him. I feel
Speaker 1: bad for the guy too, because it's like you sat
Speaker 1: out all this time. And it was so obvious too,
Speaker 1: because when he came back, it was just like it
Speaker 1: wasn't the same melvil Gordon that I've been used to
Speaker 1: see him. Right, it's because he missed all the O
Speaker 1: t A s, all preseason four games and then just
Speaker 1: kind of get thrown in. You can't simulate. You can
Speaker 1: train all you want. You can't simulate game speed. Never.
Speaker 1: You never when he tells you in training camp, I
Speaker 1: mean he tells you an as I'm sitting out head,
Speaker 1: you know, in the helmet, you're like really, but in
Speaker 1: your heart, what were you thinking? I already knew I
Speaker 1: was gonna give my reps. Getting my reps. Man, you
Speaker 1: were like, I just got four more rents appreciated. It's
Speaker 1: not even about that. I know what you're saying. I'm
Speaker 1: just asking because this stuff like that just doesn't happen, like, hey, yo,
Speaker 1: I'm holding out. It's more like he's holding out shocker
Speaker 1: like opportunity in preparation meat. Absolutely absolutely, I was ready.
Speaker 1: I was already ready. I was ready before then. And
Speaker 1: now I was like, hey, now you're gonna get a test.
Speaker 1: This is a test opportunity. Can you can you carry
Speaker 1: the load? Which after four weeks of carrying lett I
Speaker 1: was like god damn, which I was like, dank, God,
Speaker 1: He's back, Like my body man. They're like, man, hey mom,
Speaker 1: I know I'm a starter, but I needed to get
Speaker 1: I need to get some of these other pasts that
Speaker 1: you actually kind of land into the next question, what's
Speaker 1: what's your offseason? Regiment consists of you're known for the
Speaker 1: way you take care of your body. What does that
Speaker 1: regiment look like? Number five at hey listen, Hey, I'm five.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Working out man, that's literally what I do.
Speaker 1: I'm working out, gym, working out Jim rab Bro. It's
Speaker 1: just it's like therapeutic for me, honestly, Like I'm working out,
Speaker 1: like I don't know if you seen my videos, it's
Speaker 1: just like what I do. I just I just work
Speaker 1: out videos and now I have a few video. I
Speaker 1: do a couple of challenge. I did that like one
Speaker 1: arm pull up, I did like four one arm pull ups.
Speaker 1: And I did like the four or five squad challenge.
Speaker 1: No One like thirteen reps on four or five challenge,
Speaker 1: challenging people like I hear like, hey, we's out here
Speaker 1: lifting like this four five you know. Just that's just
Speaker 1: that's just who I am. Like, I mean, like, guess what,
Speaker 1: That's what I do. Baby. It really is like it's
Speaker 1: it's like my happy place when I'm just want to
Speaker 1: get away clear to mind, Like I just go lift,
Speaker 1: like when I'm bye week, you know, and they're getting
Speaker 1: a good lifting this morning, full five out of here.
Speaker 1: My knees may say my knees, Hey, we gotta you
Speaker 1: know who a c L M pcl l c L
Speaker 1: We're not gonna be here. How was the jump from
Speaker 1: D two to the NFL for me particularly, There's a
Speaker 1: lot of unknowns, so many unknowns because I didn't come
Speaker 1: for D two that like, hey, they've had a few
Speaker 1: NFL you know guys in the past, like it was me,
Speaker 1: but it was me. I was the first one that
Speaker 1: made it from the NFL. They've never even seen a
Speaker 1: call NFL scout up at you know, Western Colorado before.
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not happy, that's the thing. So there
Speaker 1: was so much uncertainty, Like I didn't know if I
Speaker 1: was good. I was definitely good in my situation, and
Speaker 1: D two dominated for four years, but it was as
Speaker 1: far as like, you know, D one or even even
Speaker 1: further going into the NFL is like I don't understand
Speaker 1: or know how I like, you know, compared to these guys, right,
Speaker 1: And I didn't know that until I got to my
Speaker 1: pro day and I was like, you know, like I
Speaker 1: can hang, like my measurables are great, like you know,
Speaker 1: my mind, I feel like with it, you know, mentally,
Speaker 1: I can understand a playbook. Definitely struggled, but that was
Speaker 1: that was the biggest thing. That was the unknown, which
Speaker 1: I mean it's probably the same from D one to
Speaker 1: D to NFL, but from D two, I'm not around
Speaker 1: any of these guys like, oh, you know, I have
Speaker 1: a buddy that played here last year that's in the
Speaker 1: league now he's not telling me. I didn't have any
Speaker 1: of that. So I think the biggest thing was just
Speaker 1: That's why I cared so much about it. I was
Speaker 1: just like, hey, I'm putting everything into this. I'm going
Speaker 1: to blind. You're going to blind. You better make sure
Speaker 1: you're prepared, right. So that's what That's what it was
Speaker 1: for me, And that was the biggest Was it the
Speaker 1: Pro Day that made it feel real? When did it
Speaker 1: get real, really really real, real real as in like
Speaker 1: hey I might have a shot. I think it was
Speaker 1: when we were Pro day training, when I was training
Speaker 1: for my Pro Day because then I'm around because I
Speaker 1: actually trained with Christi McCaffrey. So it was like a
Speaker 1: perfect like comparison for me today, Okay, let me size
Speaker 1: myself up, like I was way stronger than him, and
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, he was faster and had you know
Speaker 1: his dad obviously, Ed was helping him as far as
Speaker 1: like technique stuff like that. So I can see them
Speaker 1: working and I'm watching him move around like he has
Speaker 1: definitely his strength at my strength. But I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, like, you know, I can hang with
Speaker 1: this guy. Um. And that's where it really started to
Speaker 1: become real for me. Um. Was was during pro day
Speaker 1: training getting around some of the other d one some
Speaker 1: of the draft picks u UM. And then yeah, then
Speaker 1: got my opportunity when you had your pro day? Was
Speaker 1: it at the college or was down at the at
Speaker 1: the facility you were training. So Western Colorado is in
Speaker 1: the mountains about seven thousand, eight hundred feet so during
Speaker 1: pro day time of year, there's snow everywhere on the ground.
Speaker 1: So I had to go to see you because we
Speaker 1: don't have indoor up there, so literally the snow, y'all
Speaker 1: were practicing outside. Yeah, so our our spring ball wasn't
Speaker 1: util really late until the snow starts to melt because
Speaker 1: they literally had to come in with like bulldozers and
Speaker 1: take the snow out of the town because it doesn't melt,
Speaker 1: it just stays around during the winter. Yeah, crazy, crazy
Speaker 1: little town on the pamphlet. Yeah, you screw your air
Speaker 1: Airbnb money up. Yeah. Yeah, so you have to go
Speaker 1: to your University of Colorado, yeah, see your boulder. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so you did your pro day. Did you have
Speaker 1: to I'm imagining you had to seek permission? Yeah. So
Speaker 1: it's actually a savage the way they did it because
Speaker 1: you had to see permission to be in what they
Speaker 1: called like the add on group, which is let to
Speaker 1: see you guys go. And then after the add on group,
Speaker 1: which I was a part of, and so there's like
Speaker 1: twenty of us and they let all of us run
Speaker 1: a forty and they let all of us do the jumps,
Speaker 1: and then after that they cut everyone besides me in
Speaker 1: some other corner. So there was there was like eighteen
Speaker 1: twenty people that are just like, hey, we don't need
Speaker 1: to see anymore. And so straight up I was just like, wow,
Speaker 1: these people were You can imagine how they're feeling because
Speaker 1: they just trained all this and they just did a
Speaker 1: couple of measurables and they were done, didn't do any drills, nothing. Um,
Speaker 1: So they cut it down to two of us and
Speaker 1: so it was me. I did some running back drills,
Speaker 1: ended up the day and it finished out the day.
Speaker 1: So luckily I made the cut and got the opportunity
Speaker 1: most of the scout stage to watch me in that
Speaker 1: corner um perform in the corner. I don't remember who
Speaker 1: he was. I don't even know, but yeah, there was
Speaker 1: a lot of upset agents trainers. They're yelling at the
Speaker 1: scouts man like this is a b something like straight up,
Speaker 1: straight upright drills, Like hey, what, I made the cut,
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna go do some drills as my son,
Speaker 1: as my son Peyton would say, I think this is
Speaker 1: an interesting one. So I have to be very careful.
Speaker 1: I say this. You're a Los Angeles Charger, but you
Speaker 1: weren't always a Los Angeles Charger. At some point you
Speaker 1: were San Diego Charger. I was never saying, no, I've
Speaker 1: always been in l a Charger. Okay five years, man,
Speaker 1: we've been up for a while now. Yeah it's been
Speaker 1: a minute. It has. The reason I was I phrased
Speaker 1: it that way is when you guys were at the
Speaker 1: I think it was the home depot center right, and
Speaker 1: or playing at the soccer stadium. Oh yeah, when yes,
Speaker 1: we y'all first got there, it was like away game
Speaker 1: every game because I worked that game. Bro. It was
Speaker 1: like when when the San Diego Chargers left, right, because
Speaker 1: I know you know Eric, Eric Weddle made him played
Speaker 1: college ball together, right, and he was telling me how
Speaker 1: like just how bad it was, like the fans just
Speaker 1: did not want them to leave, and it was a
Speaker 1: city and and NFL thing, right, it wasn't and the
Speaker 1: fans got caught in the middle. And when they were
Speaker 1: at the Stubhubs. Man, it was like a way game
Speaker 1: for them. Every game that's a different dynamic. Bro. I'm
Speaker 1: like every game in my in my exaggerating, I had
Speaker 1: played away games. We had to go on silent counting
Speaker 1: our own home games for like still still yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's tough with y'all balling though, y'all
Speaker 1: balling right now. Yeah, So let me ask let me
Speaker 1: ask you one, oh yeah, just far. Did you always
Speaker 1: know you're gonna get into some type of podcast or
Speaker 1: how'd you come into this space? Cont A great question, great, bro,
Speaker 1: These dudes been working on me for like two or
Speaker 1: three years. Podcast a podcast. To me back in the
Speaker 1: day when they were trying to get me do it
Speaker 1: was like blue cheese, which I hate, Like I had
Speaker 1: no desire to do a podcast, like I wouldn't even
Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. You asked me, asked me to go
Speaker 1: on the podcast, Like I'm not doing that ship on
Speaker 1: a podcast, stupid podcast. Yeah. Now I'm like, hey, you
Speaker 1: want to come on the podcast. Hey, Steve, come on
Speaker 1: the podcast. I just started doing it. I started doing
Speaker 1: a podcast. So we were in we're going to We're
Speaker 1: actually going to Colorado. We're in Colorado, We're going to college,
Speaker 1: and he was like, bro, you should think about a podcast.
Speaker 1: I said, all right, which we've been talking about for
Speaker 1: about a year at least. Yeah, I'm all right, I'll
Speaker 1: do the podcast on the one condition we're doing my
Speaker 1: wife and whatever the way was it gonna be right?
Speaker 1: And so how I did it is I said, all right,
Speaker 1: if we're gonna do the podcast, let's do it in
Speaker 1: the way. And he was like, well, what do you
Speaker 1: mean your way? Well, being a figure that the athletic
Speaker 1: figure I am, people would always have a disposition or
Speaker 1: prejudice towards me, or you're like a preconceived, preconceived notion
Speaker 1: like I had a guy I spoke at the event
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, and I had a guy
Speaker 1: This is what he told me, straight in my face.
Speaker 1: No lie, straight facts boy, no way boy, that's what
Speaker 1: he says. I never really liked you as a football player,
Speaker 1: but as a man man, really respect you. Like I
Speaker 1: didn't know how to take that. And then he handed
Speaker 1: me his business card. Would you like to know what
Speaker 1: I did with that business card? I looked at it
Speaker 1: and I googled his stuff because I just didn't understand
Speaker 1: how he thought he was giving me a compliment. I
Speaker 1: didn't like you as a player, like, okay, like I'm
Speaker 1: not a restaurant. You could choose, But I just didn't
Speaker 1: know how to take it. And I really feel like
Speaker 1: that's how a lot of people are. They either like
Speaker 1: you and there are they are Austin Neckler, Steve Smith fan,
Speaker 1: or they're not, and nothing you can do will change that. Actually,
Speaker 1: the more stuff that you humanize yourself that actually turns
Speaker 1: him off there like oh he's trying to act like
Speaker 1: he's a regular guy. How dare him? And so I
Speaker 1: took the podcast, said all right, we do it. Let's
Speaker 1: let's do the podcast on sports. Let's talk to sports people,
Speaker 1: but let's talk about them. So the nickname of you know,
Speaker 1: we went through all these names, uh, copastatic Um, cutting
Speaker 1: room Floor, Uh, the flat Bill chronicles. These are some
Speaker 1: of nowhere behind the scenes, behind the scenes of the
Speaker 1: that was That was? That was Bill. Yeah, Well, let
Speaker 1: me say this, man, I think you're in the right space, man,
Speaker 1: because I think I think we need more people like
Speaker 1: yourself that are actually willing capable of doing this, because
Speaker 1: there's so much to break down when it comes to
Speaker 1: the building blocks of how people become who they are,
Speaker 1: and especially someone if you're your caliber of just influence,
Speaker 1: like you have connections to people and that people will
Speaker 1: talk to you, it will come on your podcast. What's
Speaker 1: that I don't utilize as much connections that I have, bro.
Speaker 1: I really struggle with my connections because of the insecurity,
Speaker 1: because of some of the stuff that I've I've dealt
Speaker 1: with growing up that I just and because how how
Speaker 1: many people want things from us. I don't want to
Speaker 1: be that guy that's that's one thing from other people,
Speaker 1: and so it is the internal dialogue is and I'm
Speaker 1: just like everybody else, asking people for their time, asking
Speaker 1: them for something, and so I kind of but I
Speaker 1: have to this podcast also as actually stretches me because
Speaker 1: now I have to say, which as a young man
Speaker 1: who's dealt with some of the things I dealt with,
Speaker 1: I need you. I need you to help me on
Speaker 1: my podcast. Will you broke a lot of like talking
Speaker 1: myself into it. Man, I got a guy right now,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say that I want to have on
Speaker 1: the podcast. And I hesitate on asking that individual because
Speaker 1: I don't want to come off the wrong way. I
Speaker 1: don't want him to come off feeling used by me.
Speaker 1: M hmm. Yeah, I'm saying there is there's somebody mine
Speaker 1: said that you can have when it comes to a podcast,
Speaker 1: and I'll play I'll play Devil's advocate. I'll I'll play
Speaker 1: the other side, you know, from from someone like my
Speaker 1: perception of this even how you can approach people, it's
Speaker 1: like it's just breaking it down, Like I said, let's
Speaker 1: let's break down life. Let's go let's chat it out
Speaker 1: as casual, like like how you keep it casual right,
Speaker 1: because it's it's not like you're asking, It's like, let's
Speaker 1: let's just shoot the ship. Yeah, let's let's go, let's
Speaker 1: go to let's we wanted one of the names chop
Speaker 1: it up? Yeah, that was I was taking it. Does
Speaker 1: it does. He was shooting the breeze, that's what it was.
Speaker 1: And the brief. Yeah, we we went, yeah, we went
Speaker 1: down there, keeping it cope asthetic. So he kept going
Speaker 1: off the West coast keeping the copasthetic. Uh. There was
Speaker 1: a dude that had it, but he had a different word,
Speaker 1: but his keeping a cop he actually his podcast is uh,
Speaker 1: he served time and so his is uh they communicate
Speaker 1: with other guys that are coming back into the world
Speaker 1: through prison. I was like, man, I don't want to.
Speaker 1: I don't want to infridge or get our name mixed up.
Speaker 1: So I was like, we're just gonna stay away from
Speaker 1: it because it was a dude from the West Coast
Speaker 1: doing this thing. And I was like, nah, man, you
Speaker 1: know it's already. It's it's tough in these streets already.
Speaker 1: I don't need you don't I don't need competition. I
Speaker 1: don't want to take from him. M So yeah, So man,
Speaker 1: this has been pretty I mean, you can't ask for
Speaker 1: a better for a better wrap up than that. And
Speaker 1: we got and we got Austin to coast. Honest man,
Speaker 1: I like that. Come on. So I'll tell you, um,
Speaker 1: you know, the whole premise on the podcast is just
Speaker 1: really like you're saying, it's just conversation is being about
Speaker 1: you and learning about you. Because there are some fans
Speaker 1: who I don't know what you experienced. They just see
Speaker 1: you on the football field, right, They just see what
Speaker 1: you tweet or or what you have on I G
Speaker 1: or Facebook or Twitch, whatever it is. But they don't
Speaker 1: hit a real story that realized that grew up on
Speaker 1: the farm, getting up, getting up at six in the
Speaker 1: morning to chisel water and then getting getting your ass
Speaker 1: beat by goat every morning. Right, no linebacker easy? So
Speaker 1: what was that building? Ghosts name? We didn't name it,
Speaker 1: shooting name. It still mean. We had another goat that
Speaker 1: was named Betsy. We like Betsy, but that name that one,
Speaker 1: we didn't name that one. That's a black folks right
Speaker 1: name right there, Betsy. That's like a like a car
Speaker 1: or something, brown Oldsmobile. That was our car, brown Oldsmobile.
Speaker 1: Her name was. We had a we had arrested blue
Speaker 1: shaving Caprice Betsy. No, it wasn't all right. Well, I'll
Speaker 1: tell you what though, my wife is gonna be mad
Speaker 1: that you talked her. Talk to me out of getting
Speaker 1: this phone. Don't do it. Don't do it. Appreciate it.
Speaker 1: You are a unique person, you are well worth it,
Speaker 1: you are competent, and most of all, your lovable. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve smith Singer, I'm Gerard Little John and this is
Speaker 1: cut to It. Cut to It with Steve smith Singer.
Speaker 1: That Is Me is a production of Cut to It LLC,
Speaker 1: Balto Creative Media, The Black Effect and I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcast from I Heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve
Speaker 1: Smith Singer, co host Gerard Little John, talent in booking
Speaker 1: manager Joe Fusci, Social media team Wesley Robinson and John
Speaker 1: show from Balto Creative Media. Cut to It is produced
Speaker 1: by Brian Baltaschevitch and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by
Speaker 1: Alex Lebrek, Production coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by Alex Johnson,
Speaker 1: Lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You heard them about it,
Speaker 1: and we're about to let you know. You know It's
Speaker 1: It's all m