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Speaker 1: Your tunes about Drive on Home of the Black and

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Speaker 1: Goal Steelers Nation Radio, and we are back on the Drive.

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Speaker 1: I'm Dale Lolly here with Matt Williamson. We're pleased to

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Speaker 1: be joined now by Tom Reid of d k Pittsburgh

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Speaker 1: Sports dot Com and uh, in case you missed it, uh,

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Speaker 1: Tom did the quintessential piece on Naja Harris of seeing

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Speaker 1: You can find a lot of Naja Harris stories floating

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Speaker 1: around on the internet, a lot of stuff from the

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Speaker 1: Alabama days and stuff. He's a high profile guy. I looked. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he had a hundred thousand Twitter followers before he joined

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Speaker 1: the Steelers. You know, so this is a guy that

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Speaker 1: that people know a lot about, but I don't know

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Speaker 1: if they knew everything that Tom dug up about his

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Speaker 1: upbringing and everything that that he did. Tom went out

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Speaker 1: to Antioch, California and dug into Nausea Harris's background and

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Speaker 1: was really great read. Tom. I'm glad to have you on.

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Speaker 1: What was it like making that trip into Antioch. Oh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was, it was. It was. It was good. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it was you know, it was. There was no problem

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Speaker 1: finding people to talk about him. One of the challenges

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Speaker 1: is going outside of Antioch because he's spread out so

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Speaker 1: every everywhere, right, I mean, he didn't just live in

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Speaker 1: one area, but Antioch was kind of the he's kind

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Speaker 1: of a home during his high school years. So still

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Speaker 1: a lot of people know him there and uh are

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Speaker 1: really happy for him. It's it's a school that's had

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Speaker 1: like sent ten guys the Pros and even a teammate

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Speaker 1: from the from nauseas this year is like walking is

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Speaker 1: walking on with the Jets. But they're thrilled, they're they're

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Speaker 1: they're thrilled, and they know they played a kind of

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Speaker 1: everyone kind of played the part in it. Tom. I

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Speaker 1: thought that the one of the funniest parts of of

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Speaker 1: your piece. Um And quite frankly, there wasn't a lot

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Speaker 1: there that was humorous because you're talking about a really

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Speaker 1: rough upbringing, uh, you know, being homeless and and you know,

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Speaker 1: the families living at the motel six before he goes

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Speaker 1: you know, when when he goes to high school. But

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Speaker 1: when they when he went out for the football team

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Speaker 1: as a freshman and they put him on the team

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Speaker 1: and the freshman coach said, what yeah, yeah, the principal

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Speaker 1: originally the principal when he started talking to him, he

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Speaker 1: asked him. He's like, well, what do you what do

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Speaker 1: you like to do? And he's like, well, I I

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Speaker 1: think I'm pretty good at football. He goes, all right,

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Speaker 1: you're you're running back. Where did you play last year?

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Speaker 1: He goes, well I didn't. He goes, well, what do

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Speaker 1: you mean? And the principal all along time he was

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Speaker 1: like a sophomore junior, uh playing in high school ball.

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Speaker 1: And when they get him down there, um, they get

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Speaker 1: him down there and the freshman coach takes one look

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Speaker 1: at him and says, there's no way he's playing on

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Speaker 1: my team. There's no he's too He's either gonna kill

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Speaker 1: one of my kids or he's gonna play for like

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Speaker 1: a half and run for a hundred and fifty yards

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Speaker 1: and you're to take him away anyway, So just take

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Speaker 1: him right now. And then they played the first JV game,

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Speaker 1: and the principal and and and some of the varsity

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Speaker 1: staff were at least interested to see, Okay, we got

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Speaker 1: this kid. He came in late. What's he doing? And

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Speaker 1: they show up at half time because the varsity is

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Speaker 1: playing that night too, and in in in their state

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Speaker 1: at least, it's kind of like basketball where you play

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Speaker 1: the JV game first, the varsity games follows. So they

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Speaker 1: show up around half time and the nag is sitting

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Speaker 1: on the bench and he's like. They go to the

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Speaker 1: coaches like, why is he in the bench? He goes, well,

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Speaker 1: it's twenty eight nothing. He scored all four touchdowns four times.

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Speaker 1: They handed him four times, four times, four touchdowns. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I set him down probably probably with the varsity pretty

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Speaker 1: shortly after my hunch. Oh yeah, that was that was

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Speaker 1: his only j vgain and then he you know, it's interesting.

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Speaker 1: I didn't get into this because it didn't necessarily spitting

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Speaker 1: the narrative, but he played Joe Mixon as a freshman.

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Speaker 1: Joe Mixon, of course, for our listeners, is a place

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Speaker 1: for the Bengals, and Mixon was that he was a

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Speaker 1: senior and naj was at the time really more of

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Speaker 1: an outside linebacker. They had some running back. The team

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Speaker 1: wasn't that good, uh, but they took Joe Mixon's team

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Speaker 1: to overtime, and Joe Mixon saw him out in the

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Speaker 1: line after the game and said, you're one of the

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Speaker 1: best players I've ever played against. I hope you can

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Speaker 1: keep it together, keep it in school. And that sounds

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Speaker 1: like it meant a lot to Nag but uh yeah,

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Speaker 1: he forced a fumble and Nag ran for his like

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Speaker 1: his first touchdown at the var Steel level. So uh yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's it's an amazing, it's amazing kind of story this

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Speaker 1: kids had. Tom you mentioned, you know, briefly, we kind

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Speaker 1: of touched on it, and I think some people know

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Speaker 1: some of the story. But his upbring and you know,

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Speaker 1: the hardships they overcame in all the different places he lived.

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Speaker 1: You know, you mentioned he went to Antioch, but he

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Speaker 1: was all over the place. Yeah, I mean, can you

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Speaker 1: kind of elaborate on that and let anyone know what

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Speaker 1: all you know, his his childhood entailed. Yeah, I mean

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Speaker 1: they you know, he was born in California. His father,

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Speaker 1: who really was kind of in and out of the

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Speaker 1: family's life, lived in Seattle, and they just moved every

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Speaker 1: which way. The father just didn't seem to uh, he

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Speaker 1: seemed to kind of get into the wrong Uh you

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Speaker 1: knew a lot of problems. Uh. You know, his mother, Tiana,

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Speaker 1: uh was you know, taking care of the five kids,

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Speaker 1: so it's kind of hard for her to work. And

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Speaker 1: then once he leaves, they're just moving from place to place. Uh.

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Speaker 1: The mom Tianna told me they spent several When I asked,

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Speaker 1: I was asking her and this this is I asked her,

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Speaker 1: you know the time that you spent uh the holiday

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Speaker 1: in a shelter, a homeless shelter. She guys, You're gonna

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Speaker 1: have to be more specific. We did that a couple

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Speaker 1: of times. Uh. So they had moved from different communities,

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Speaker 1: including Pittsburgh, which is the community right next door uh

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Speaker 1: to Antioch, and their big rival was was Pittsburgh, California Pirates. Uh,

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Speaker 1: they moved all They moved all over the region. They

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Speaker 1: went up to Seattle a lot, and it was really

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Speaker 1: in Seattle. Well well, well, Siana did not like to

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Speaker 1: live there. Uh. It's where she was able to get

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Speaker 1: her g e. D. And Medical assistant certificate, so it

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Speaker 1: kind of allowed her to start working. They got into

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Speaker 1: some programs where they kind of kept an eye on

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Speaker 1: the kids during the day. The kids are going to school,

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Speaker 1: she was going to school. She gets a job, and

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Speaker 1: then things start to get up just a bit better.

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Speaker 1: But still there were times they lived in in a van. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned in the story that, of course nag is

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Speaker 1: the youngest of the five children, and she would encourage

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Speaker 1: the other ones to go sleep at a friend's house.

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Speaker 1: Hey goes, you can see if you can stay overnight there,

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Speaker 1: and he wouldn't do it because he wanted to with

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Speaker 1: his mom um just and he kind of get the

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Speaker 1: idea that this gets a bad rap sometimes, Well he's

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Speaker 1: a mama's boy, but naja's a he's a mama's boy

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Speaker 1: because that's the parent that he knew. Yeah, and I

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Speaker 1: think it's interesting to kind of take it out to

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Speaker 1: when he's slaying in Alabama and he kind of like

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Speaker 1: strikes up this unlikely uh Twitter friendship with Megan Rapino,

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Speaker 1: the US soccer player. He starts doing her pose that

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Speaker 1: she did at the World Class World Cup, and then

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Speaker 1: someone asked her about it and she he goes into

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Speaker 1: this thing about how he respects the fact she's a

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Speaker 1: feminist and that she's a strong woman and she stands

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Speaker 1: up for what she believes in. And basically that's all

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Speaker 1: going back to his mother, that his mother set the foundation.

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Speaker 1: I mean, if if if you're in that kind of

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Speaker 1: situation and you can keep your family together, I don't

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Speaker 1: know many women are very much stronger than that, And uh,

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Speaker 1: you could tell that it kind of stuck with that

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Speaker 1: has stuck with Nagia over the years. Tom, you kind

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Speaker 1: of mentioned, you know that that relationship, and Dale mentioned

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Speaker 1: all his Twitter followers before you know he's even gotten

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Speaker 1: to the pros. It sounds like he has some connections

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Speaker 1: with some high profile athletes to Marshawn Lynch, Marcus Peters. Um,

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Speaker 1: how how those all come about? Well? I just think

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Speaker 1: and Dale and I talked about this before, and I

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Speaker 1: think he I think he's alluded to this in several interviews.

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Speaker 1: The the East Bay guys, are you know anyone that

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Speaker 1: kind of they all kind of recognized town and they

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Speaker 1: all kind of kind of stick together, Joe Mixon being

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Speaker 1: another one. They just have They just kind of got

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Speaker 1: their own vibes going on out there. And uh, I think, Um,

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Speaker 1: Marshawn Lynch, I don't know when this he started, but

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Speaker 1: I heard I heard him talk about that. Marshawn's marketing

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Speaker 1: people have kind of helped him along with some of

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Speaker 1: the things that he wants to do. So those guys

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Speaker 1: just kind of all seemed to know each other even

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Speaker 1: though they're you know, there's there's a bit of an age.

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Speaker 1: I mean, Marshawn Lynch, what I don't even march On, like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: he's probably about so, so we're talking about twelve years difference.

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Speaker 1: But those guys just you know, if I'll tell you

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Speaker 1: what he feels like, kind of an NBA feeling, where

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Speaker 1: like Lebron, Lebron I'm sure knows the top high school

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Speaker 1: players in the country right now. That's just the way

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Speaker 1: that the NBA kind of operates. They all kind of

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Speaker 1: look after the next generation. And that had that had

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Speaker 1: the same feel to it. And I thought it was

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Speaker 1: interesting how how he said it's multiple times with Peters

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Speaker 1: told him like a year ago he was gonna be

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Speaker 1: he was gonna be a Steeler, you play for the Steelers,

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Speaker 1: and he kept saying where he's on see twice a

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Speaker 1: week and sure enough, that's uh that that's gonna happen.

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Speaker 1: It looks like. But the stories on the d K

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Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Sports dot Com again, uh, just a real work

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Speaker 1: of art that Tom Reid did on Naj Harris. I

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Speaker 1: haven't seen anything like this from anybody else. And uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, I know a little bit more about it

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Speaker 1: than than a lot of people, because you know, Tom

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Speaker 1: and I talked a lot about it when you were

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Speaker 1: working on it. But his where they finally moved into

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Speaker 1: an Antioch. UH described to us Antioch because I think

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Speaker 1: you know, when you originally said you were going to

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Speaker 1: go to you know, you wanted to go out to Antioch.

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Speaker 1: And it's it's a small suburb of of not small small,

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Speaker 1: but a suburb of basically Oakland. I'm I'm picturing you know,

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Speaker 1: I live in in a suburb of Pittsburgh. Um, this

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Speaker 1: is a much bigger city than that. Yeah, what's happened

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Speaker 1: just just quickly, Uh, Antioch has become like a bedroom

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Speaker 1: It has always been a bedroom community in some ways

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Speaker 1: for people that want to commute to Oakland and to

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Speaker 1: San Francisco, but it's become even more so because of

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Speaker 1: the housing market out there. I mean, you just you

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Speaker 1: can't buy a house in San Francisco and you can't

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Speaker 1: buy a house in Oakland anymore either. So what happened

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Speaker 1: is you've had a lot of people move in. It's

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Speaker 1: a town that went from like twenty in nine eight

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Speaker 1: to it's over a hundred thousand now and there's now

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Speaker 1: a bart stop where where the school is and where

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Speaker 1: Nausea lived a couple blocks away is the worst area

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Speaker 1: in the city. It's just the principal ended up into

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Speaker 1: came in two thousand and seven kind of student beaten

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Speaker 1: by an adult in one of the adjacent neighborhoods. There

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Speaker 1: is fencing all around the school ten See High. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you unless except for buses and stuff like that. But

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Speaker 1: it's it's hard to get in that school. The kids

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Speaker 1: aren't allowed to leave the school during the day to

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Speaker 1: go to lunch off campus. Uh. And the neighborhood where

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Speaker 1: Nausea lives is it's rough. When we went over there,

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Speaker 1: I the principle took me over, and the coach then

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Speaker 1: took me over a little bit later to show be

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Speaker 1: exactly where he lived. Uh, it's it is. It's a

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Speaker 1: bunch of those a lot of people kind of living

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Speaker 1: on top of each other type of thing. People just

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Speaker 1: crammed in and a lot of you know, a lot

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Speaker 1: of drugs. I talked to the cops. Uh, just it says,

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Speaker 1: you know. And when I was there, the police were

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Speaker 1: constantly going through there. Uh. And Nagi's mom had mentioned

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Speaker 1: that the first night that she was there, the first

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Speaker 1: week she was there, someone was shot, and that his

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Speaker 1: coach was saying sometime in that area at the time,

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Speaker 1: like the swat team came in there and raided like

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Speaker 1: several houses uh in that development where they where they

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Speaker 1: live in. And it's just it is really that area

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Speaker 1: itself is just a a hub for a lot of crime.

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Speaker 1: And now that's not all of Antiochy. That's just happened

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Speaker 1: to be where kind of the school is. In a time,

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Speaker 1: that's really all she could afford as a single mom

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Speaker 1: working as a medical assistance And again it's an extremely

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Speaker 1: extremely expensive area out there to live. Yeah, and you're

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Speaker 1: looking at um, you know again, a city that grows

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Speaker 1: that fast, um, you know, is essentially to a hundred

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Speaker 1: thousand people. Uh, you know, you're gonna get some some

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Speaker 1: people moving out, some some of the trouble moving from

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Speaker 1: the inner city out to you know again what was

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Speaker 1: once a small town. Yeah. Well one of the things

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Speaker 1: that and again I'm just explaining what the football coach

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Speaker 1: was saying that a lot of the gang related stuff

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Speaker 1: is not from people living in Antioch. It's it's being

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Speaker 1: literally imported from Oakland. So it's it's kind of kind

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Speaker 1: of the the shot collars coming into Antioch and recruiting their people,

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Speaker 1: but it's really being led from outside of Antioch. And

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Speaker 1: you have here you have the star football player who

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Speaker 1: is like the number one recruit in the country that

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Speaker 1: every college coach in America is trying to get his

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Speaker 1: name on a on a commitment. He's living in an

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Speaker 1: apartment with no air conditioning, and he's not sleeping on

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Speaker 1: a on a bed or a sofa. He's sleeping on

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Speaker 1: a floor, which the arm reason they found out out

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Speaker 1: was because he was complaining of back and and and

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Speaker 1: like hip problems. And that's when he finally he was

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Speaker 1: so humble. He's they finally admitted, Well, maybe it's because

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Speaker 1: I'm sleeping on a hardwood floor. So that's just kind

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Speaker 1: of this is kind of what actually had to face

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Speaker 1: growing up. How much information did he get about his

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Speaker 1: recruiting process and you're the number one recruit in the country.

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Speaker 1: I mean that is an ordeal. And as well as

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Speaker 1: his high school career, which I'm sure was ridiculously good,

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Speaker 1: well yeah, I mean he was a terrific running back,

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Speaker 1: ran for like eight thousand yards almost eight thousand yards. Uh.

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Speaker 1: The thing that I found most interesting as far as

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Speaker 1: it's career, I guess he was unstoppable in the wildcat

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Speaker 1: as the quarterback scored like conversions. They almost The only

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Speaker 1: one that was stopped was the one that denied them

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Speaker 1: a chance to go to the UH. It would have

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Speaker 1: been like they would have played Law. What's the big

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Speaker 1: school out there, they're the ones. Yeah, yeah, they they

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Speaker 1: won fifty They lost fifty five to fifty four. Nazi

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Speaker 1: score like every touchdown, at every two point conversion, and

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Speaker 1: then start at the end the team stopped him. Uh

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Speaker 1: every like every major school. Hardball was out there, Saban

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Speaker 1: was out there, and Hardball, who of course is very

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Speaker 1: popular there, came back UH for a game where he's

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Speaker 1: he's already had his official visit, but he just wants

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Speaker 1: to face time with Naji. So he's on the field,

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Speaker 1: he's down on the sidelines, he has Antioch gear on,

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Speaker 1: he walks out his stuff. He's and every time Nagi scores,

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Speaker 1: he's come trost to the sidelines and Hardball has his

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Speaker 1: hands up said when touchdowns, just so he's they see

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Speaker 1: each other. Then Hardball agrees to to read out the

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Speaker 1: homecoming King and Queens and Nagy Now again you you

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Speaker 1: you listen in and you know who knows if he

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Speaker 1: was probably going to Alabama along, but Naji waited to

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Speaker 1: the very last day he played in that game in

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Speaker 1: San Antonio, Texas, and the coach swears he didn't know

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Speaker 1: where he was going. And Naji was seriously considering Michigan

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Speaker 1: because just because he liked hardball. But you know, he

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Speaker 1: goes to Alabama and the rest is kind of history.

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Speaker 1: Although if you've watched some of those videos, even after

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Speaker 1: his freshman year, he was kind of teetering about it,

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Speaker 1: and it was interesting his personal trainer, who I really liked,

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Speaker 1: this Marcus molloy guy. He was saying there having a conversation,

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Speaker 1: and he put it perfectly. He's like, right now, you're

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Speaker 1: playing Sundays. If you go and sit out of here,

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Speaker 1: you're gonna be playing Saturdays. And we're not even using

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Speaker 1: the players names. They're Sunday players. You're gonna be you

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Speaker 1: played Sundays. In the SEC you go somewhere else, you're

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Speaker 1: gonna be playing Saturdays. And Naji of course ends up staying.

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Speaker 1: Uh and uh, you know, had had a trip for career.

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Speaker 1: I think he liked I think he liked the program.

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Speaker 1: I think he struggled with the culture. Uh in moving

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Speaker 1: to the South. That's why his mom went with him.

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Speaker 1: Uh Bablo. She was in Birmingham and his sister, but

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Speaker 1: at least to have some outlet down there, because I

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Speaker 1: don't think a ton of kids from the West Coast

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Speaker 1: go to Alabama. No, you know, I didn't even realize

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Speaker 1: Tom when when you know, the draft process started that

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Speaker 1: he was a West Coast kid, because you really don't

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Speaker 1: see that a lot, you don't. You don't you know

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Speaker 1: they go to USC or to go to you know,

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Speaker 1: U C. L A Or cal or one of those schools.

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Speaker 1: They don't they don't typically go to Alabama. That's that's

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Speaker 1: to your point, culture shock. You're moving all of it,

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Speaker 1: not only moving to the Deep South, you're moving all

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Speaker 1: the way across the country, a long way from your family. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know again he was very close to his mother.

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Speaker 1: Um did you get the sense that that Tiana will

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Speaker 1: will move to the Pittsburgh to be with her son.

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Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't. I don't know. I I don't.

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Speaker 1: I think that you know, they're they're kind of set

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Speaker 1: up now you know that there there, he's one of five,

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Speaker 1: she just had her first grandchild. Um, yeah, I don't.

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Speaker 1: I didn't get a sense that she was moving. Uh.

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Speaker 1: My guest is at some point they'll probably buy her house.

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Speaker 1: She's right now, she's in an apartment, but just a

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Speaker 1: really nice lady. One point on the USC. So this

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Speaker 1: was the story I was told so Naja. One of

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Speaker 1: the things they worked on with Naja when he was little. Now,

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Speaker 1: when I say a little like young, like a freshman sophomore,

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Speaker 1: we here, we see him now and we see this

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Speaker 1: gregarious player who was you know, he's just so chatty

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Speaker 1: and funny and whatever. But you know that wasn't him

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Speaker 1: as a freshman and sophomore. He hid behind his dreadlocks

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Speaker 1: and did not make eye contact. I guess his his interview,

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Speaker 1: uh went well. His visit with the USC recruiter that

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Speaker 1: came out there did not go well. And the guy

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Speaker 1: was like, oh, you remember me at a camp And

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Speaker 1: he's like, no, I don't remember you. Why did you

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Speaker 1: keep asking me? And he's like, I don't remember you?

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Speaker 1: And then that they that that. I think some of

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Speaker 1: the guys there at the school like, Okay, we gotta

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Speaker 1: work on this a little bit, you know, we've gotta

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Speaker 1: play a little bit of a game here and and

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Speaker 1: and he got much better at it. But I you know,

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Speaker 1: I've heard that the USC kind of almost blew their

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Speaker 1: chance right out of the bat because of that first visit.

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Speaker 1: So that's uh, it's it's kind of a it's yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's that's part of the world. I don't quite understand that.

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Speaker 1: The college recruiting thing, that's a that's a whole another

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Speaker 1: world in itself used to be. It's a delicate game.

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Speaker 1: And actually, as you were talking about that, that under

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Speaker 1: Armour game, that which is the top recruits in the country.

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Speaker 1: I remember when I was in recruiting, I was often asked, Hey,

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Speaker 1: any of those called high school guys who looked at

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Speaker 1: thought you could go right to the pros? And I said,

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Speaker 1: only one, Adrian Peterson. And I was I was listening

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Speaker 1: to a friend of mine, Ross Tucker, who broadcasts that

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Speaker 1: under arm Or game every year, and said, the only

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Speaker 1: back I've seen it this underarmer game, which is the

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Speaker 1: best of the best that I thought we just didn't

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Speaker 1: even need college, was Naja Harris. Yeah it doesn't surprise me.

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Speaker 1: Yeah that's big praise. Yeah, that's huge praise. And I

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Speaker 1: think Steeler fans are gonna like this kid a lot. Uh,

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Speaker 1: they probably like him even more if they read your story.

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Speaker 1: I would imagine just reading through the comments on the story, Tom,

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Speaker 1: and again you did an excellent job with it. Um.

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Speaker 1: If yet to see a negative comment on this, just

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Speaker 1: because of the what this kid went through, uh to

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Speaker 1: get to where he is now. This is kind of

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Speaker 1: the American dream kind of thing. You know. It's it's

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Speaker 1: kind of uh, you know, this is he's a self

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Speaker 1: He's I want to say, he's a self made player.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned in the story that you know, he was

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Speaker 1: out there training early in the mornings, late at night

380
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Speaker 1: after everybody else was going, and they had to kind

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Speaker 1: of take his helmet away from him because he's almost

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Speaker 1: like a b that way, you know, take his helme

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Speaker 1: and away. Hey you too much, you're doing too much. Um.

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Speaker 1: But just a self made player that that also had

385
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Speaker 1: a lot of help along the way. Yeah, yeah, yes,

386
00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:31,359
Speaker 1: he's correct, absolutely. But I wanted to point out one

387
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Speaker 1: of the things the Steeler fans, uh. One of the

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00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:37,080
Speaker 1: things that that that Marcus malloy was saying that when

389
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Speaker 1: when he was thinking of transferring, one of these points

390
00:20:40,119 --> 00:20:42,400
Speaker 1: he was making is, look, you've got a long career

391
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Speaker 1: ahead of you. You can get your hundred yards hundred

392
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Speaker 1: and twenty yards Alabama on seventeen carries if you transfer

393
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:50,280
Speaker 1: somewhere else you'll get your hundred and fifteen yards on

394
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Speaker 1: thirty five carries. So basically, you've got to start thinking

395
00:20:54,359 --> 00:20:57,520
Speaker 1: of your future too. You gotta start thinking ahead because

396
00:20:57,520 --> 00:20:59,719
Speaker 1: there's there's gonna be there's gonna be Sundays in your

397
00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:01,800
Speaker 1: life and you don't want to you know, you don't

398
00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:04,879
Speaker 1: want to run yourself into the ground. Uh, at this

399
00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:07,040
Speaker 1: at this level. And he said he's the only kid

400
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Speaker 1: he's ever worked with where it was the same thing.

401
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Speaker 1: He said, you can't work out today, just go home.

402
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Speaker 1: You've already worked out here. He worked out in the

403
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Speaker 1: day of the draft. He went there at seven in

404
00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:18,800
Speaker 1: the morning and just so he could get some stretching,

405
00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:21,840
Speaker 1: they brought the yoga instructor in at like seven in

406
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Speaker 1: the morning before he went to the homeless shelter with

407
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Speaker 1: the kids and Tom along those lines, did did you

408
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Speaker 1: get into it all with him about why he went

409
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Speaker 1: back to Bama for that last year, because I mean

410
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Speaker 1: it sounded like he probably would have been in that

411
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Speaker 1: second third round mix. But he certainly got better as

412
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Speaker 1: a receiver. I thought his run traits improved. Did you

413
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:43,760
Speaker 1: guys talked about that at all? Yeah? They, I mean

414
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Speaker 1: he's mentioned that and and and the coaches there that

415
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Speaker 1: there was never a quid doubt that he was going back. Uh,

416
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Speaker 1: the part of it was that, yeah, he was, you

417
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Speaker 1: know still you understand the whole situation. You get like,

418
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Speaker 1: if you're an underclassman, the NFL will get you some

419
00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:01,679
Speaker 1: time evaluator and put a grade on you. And he

420
00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:04,240
Speaker 1: was like a middle, middle, third or fourth round grade.

421
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Speaker 1: And it was that, and it was Naja just didn't

422
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Speaker 1: feel like he was ready. One of the things that

423
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Speaker 1: I heard from multiple people is he doesn't think he's

424
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Speaker 1: that good that he's always working to try to get better.

425
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Speaker 1: He just doesn't feel he's still where he needs to be.

426
00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:20,760
Speaker 1: And I guess that's a good good trait to have,

427
00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:23,720
Speaker 1: but there was I guess there was never a question

428
00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:26,520
Speaker 1: that he was going back for his senior year. Yeah,

429
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,080
Speaker 1: it's it's just a great story. Again, I encourage all

430
00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:30,879
Speaker 1: of our listeners to to go read it on the

431
00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:34,960
Speaker 1: d K Pittsburgh Sports dot com. That's free to everybody. Uh,

432
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,440
Speaker 1: that story did to go ahead and check that out.

433
00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:40,680
Speaker 1: Even got a little props from Bob Labriola of Steeler's

434
00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:43,560
Speaker 1: Digest and Steelers dot Com. Today. I noticed Bob but

435
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,320
Speaker 1: tweeted out the story and and said what an excellent

436
00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:48,399
Speaker 1: piece it was, and and it really was. Tom, We

437
00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,080
Speaker 1: appreciate you stopping by and and and talking to us

438
00:22:51,119 --> 00:22:53,040
Speaker 1: a bit about it. That that's Tom Reid a d

439
00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:56,320
Speaker 1: K Pittsburgh Sports dot Com. Again, the stories on Naj

440
00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:59,000
Speaker 1: Harris on there go. I encourage you all to check out.

441
00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:02,000
Speaker 1: We'll let you go, Tom, Um but yeah, hey, I'll

442
00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:06,399
Speaker 1: talk to you soon. Good stuff. Yeah, that story, you

443
00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:09,199
Speaker 1: know that. The impetus of that was, you know, when

444
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:14,080
Speaker 1: we were sitting down to plan out our draft coverage. UM,

445
00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:17,600
Speaker 1: I told, I told Tom, because Tom's excellent doing these takeouts,

446
00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:19,840
Speaker 1: He's doing this for a while, really knows what it

447
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:23,440
Speaker 1: really knows how to research a story. And I said, okay,

448
00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:26,240
Speaker 1: whoever the Steeler's first round pick is, you're gonna do

449
00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:29,720
Speaker 1: a takeout on them, prefer I I initially wanted it

450
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:32,120
Speaker 1: to be done that weekend. When you say a takeout,

451
00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:35,200
Speaker 1: does that mean go to their hometown? Get well, I said,

452
00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:37,359
Speaker 1: you know, if you have to. And again he's you know,

453
00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:40,040
Speaker 1: depending on who it was, Um, you know, we were

454
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,520
Speaker 1: going to try to do that. Well, then they take

455
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:46,480
Speaker 1: Naja Harris, who's you know, from outside of Oakland. So

456
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:48,879
Speaker 1: you know, Tom and I are in contact throughout the

457
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:50,040
Speaker 1: course of the draft. He's like, who do you think

458
00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:51,400
Speaker 1: you're gonna take. I said, well, I think it's gonna

459
00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:55,200
Speaker 1: be Naja Harris. And he's like, well, he's he's from Oakland.

460
00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 1: You know, it's outside of Oakland. I'm like, you know,

461
00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,639
Speaker 1: and then we're talking in Tom. The Steelers were flying

462
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:07,480
Speaker 1: Nause in Um the next day. So Tom texted me

463
00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:09,160
Speaker 1: in the morning and he had already been in contact

464
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:13,200
Speaker 1: with the trainer, Marcus Mallew, and because he had talked

465
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:19,680
Speaker 1: to several people already that morning Friday morning, and you know,

466
00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:22,919
Speaker 1: he's like, we're not gonna get nause We're not going

467
00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:26,320
Speaker 1: to get Nauj on a conference call until because what

468
00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:28,359
Speaker 1: the Steelers is, They bring in the first round pick

469
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,040
Speaker 1: and you do another introductory press conference with him day

470
00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:32,560
Speaker 1: after the draft. Well, first of all, the first the

471
00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:38,080
Speaker 1: pick was made, it was eleven o'clock Thursday night, So

472
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:42,959
Speaker 1: he gets up. Tom texted me at I believe it

473
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:47,399
Speaker 1: was ten am R time to tell me that Mark uh,

474
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:49,320
Speaker 1: the guy that he was speaking with who was flying

475
00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:52,800
Speaker 1: to Pittsburgh with Nase, had just gotten on the plane

476
00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:56,240
Speaker 1: at ten o'clock. I'm like in California. In California, so

477
00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:59,399
Speaker 1: at ten o'clock our time, seven o'clock their time, and

478
00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:03,000
Speaker 1: I'm like, he's not gonna land here until like it's

479
00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:06,120
Speaker 1: five almost six hours. Yeah, I said, he's not landing

480
00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:09,080
Speaker 1: here until late afternoon. And I think the Steelers made

481
00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:13,040
Speaker 1: him available at like six that night. And so we

482
00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:15,720
Speaker 1: started talking about him, like the turnaround on that I

483
00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:18,440
Speaker 1: don't you're not gonna be able to get. You can't

484
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,480
Speaker 1: make this story what it should be by just if

485
00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:23,560
Speaker 1: we just cranked us out. And he said, yeah, I agree,

486
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:26,320
Speaker 1: we need to. I need to go to to Oakland

487
00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:28,480
Speaker 1: to really check. I want to, you know, I want

488
00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:31,120
Speaker 1: to see the hometown and friends and coaches and teachers

489
00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:32,720
Speaker 1: and all that. So I want to go out and

490
00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:34,879
Speaker 1: talk to see see where he lived at, see what

491
00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:37,119
Speaker 1: he you know, where he grew up at, and and

492
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:39,520
Speaker 1: talk to the people there. And that's in this particular

493
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:42,080
Speaker 1: case that was really important. It was, yeah, you kind

494
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:43,600
Speaker 1: of get the idea. I mean, you can write these

495
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:46,760
Speaker 1: things from from you know, six thousand feet above and

496
00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:49,479
Speaker 1: and still do a good job on it. But you know,

497
00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:51,560
Speaker 1: Tom was in and out of there and like a

498
00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:55,080
Speaker 1: day he especially essentially spent the day in Antioch and

499
00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:58,880
Speaker 1: then go back and and wrote the story. But uh, yeah,

500
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:02,800
Speaker 1: it was just you know, I believe me, we we

501
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:04,680
Speaker 1: were kicking this around a lot, like how we're gonna

502
00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:06,120
Speaker 1: get this that It's not like, you know, if if

503
00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:09,360
Speaker 1: he had been from Ohio State or something like Tom

504
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,280
Speaker 1: lives in Columbus, so we could have gone to the

505
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:15,040
Speaker 1: kid's apartment. But you know, in this case, it was

506
00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:16,879
Speaker 1: a little bit more. There was a little more to

507
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:20,240
Speaker 1: it than just the average story. That wasn't a structured

508
00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:23,080
Speaker 1: community with three car garage, right, you know, I was

509
00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:24,879
Speaker 1: there since my whole life, you know, I mean like

510
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,520
Speaker 1: there was a lot of moving parts obviously as he

511
00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,000
Speaker 1: was growing up. Yeah, there absolutely were. And so yeah,

512
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:33,120
Speaker 1: I think you look at this and you say, um,

513
00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:36,720
Speaker 1: you know again, I I was a I was a

514
00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:38,720
Speaker 1: fan of this kid when he was at Alabama. I

515
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:42,000
Speaker 1: thought he was a great running back just watching just

516
00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:44,240
Speaker 1: watching the tape, I thought he's a great football player.

517
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:46,879
Speaker 1: You read the story and you realize he's also a

518
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:48,640
Speaker 1: pretty good human being as well. He's got his head

519
00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:50,160
Speaker 1: screwed on. Pretty sounds like he's gonna be a really

520
00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:53,479
Speaker 1: good addition to the team, to the community, you know,

521
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:55,399
Speaker 1: and what he did at the homeless shelter on draft

522
00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,360
Speaker 1: day and really cool. It would be really easy for him.

523
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:01,080
Speaker 1: And I can understand. You know, Tom talks about him

524
00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:06,000
Speaker 1: being kind of shy and introverted um early in his

525
00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:10,080
Speaker 1: high school uh days. You know, if you put yourself

526
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:12,679
Speaker 1: in in his shoes, you know, you're you're living in

527
00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:16,080
Speaker 1: your car, you're living at the Motel six, quiet, and

528
00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:18,240
Speaker 1: you don't want people notice, and you know, you do.

529
00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:19,840
Speaker 1: You see all these other people they're going home to

530
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:23,240
Speaker 1: their houses, you know, their families. And he was having

531
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:27,440
Speaker 1: the the high school principal actually after football practices, or

532
00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:29,560
Speaker 1: I think it was one of the coaches was would

533
00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:31,360
Speaker 1: take some of the kids around to drive them home

534
00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:33,359
Speaker 1: after practice. He had four or five kids that he

535
00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:35,959
Speaker 1: would drive home, and nausea would have him drop him

536
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,960
Speaker 1: off in front of a fast food restaurant. You know.

537
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,119
Speaker 1: The first five or six times he did that, and

538
00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:43,080
Speaker 1: finally said, Naja, I can take you to your house.

539
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:45,480
Speaker 1: He goes, we are you living at He goes, well,

540
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:48,600
Speaker 1: we're at the Motel six. He's we gotta get that changed.

541
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,040
Speaker 1: And so they you know, they helped helped him out

542
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:53,320
Speaker 1: to help the family out to find some housing. But

543
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:56,480
Speaker 1: you know, this is the you know, this is the

544
00:27:56,520 --> 00:28:00,400
Speaker 1: thing that you deal with, you know when when you're

545
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:03,119
Speaker 1: you coached these kids. I mean I've I've been in

546
00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:06,159
Speaker 1: this situation with you know, with coaching. You know, you

547
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:08,480
Speaker 1: pick kids up and driving the practice, you take him

548
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,320
Speaker 1: home after practice because the parents just you know, mom

549
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,280
Speaker 1: and dad are working or it's a single parents and

550
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:16,640
Speaker 1: you know, so you end up doing things like that.

551
00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:20,320
Speaker 1: It does take a village to you know, to raise

552
00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:23,199
Speaker 1: these kids sometimes. And sure he was a number one

553
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:24,919
Speaker 1: recruiting the country and could have went to any school

554
00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:27,919
Speaker 1: we wanted, but he chose the biggest challenge on the

555
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,800
Speaker 1: other side of the country, in a very difficult neck

556
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:33,760
Speaker 1: of the woods. And I'm not saying Alabama didn't nourish him,

557
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,400
Speaker 1: but if he if he would have washed out there early,

558
00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:38,520
Speaker 1: they'd find someone just like him, you know, absolutely, they

559
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:40,920
Speaker 1: have they find another five star recrew to replace him.

560
00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:43,200
Speaker 1: I mean, especially at that position. They always go five

561
00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:45,680
Speaker 1: deep with five stars, you know. And he went in there,

562
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:48,160
Speaker 1: raised rose the top of the depth chart pretty quick.

563
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:49,920
Speaker 1: And that was one of the things that really impressed me.

564
00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:51,840
Speaker 1: About him because you think about the guys that he

565
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:55,040
Speaker 1: played with at Alabama and those guys, and he was

566
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:58,560
Speaker 1: getting carries as a true freshman, right like he was

567
00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:00,840
Speaker 1: good enough that they looked at said, okay, this kid's

568
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:02,520
Speaker 1: we need to play him. Yeah, I mean, you know,

569
00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 1: and Jacobs is the first round draft pick. And who

570
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:08,959
Speaker 1: else they weren't. They had running backs Harris who's up

571
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:11,560
Speaker 1: in uh? It was the second round, third round pick.

572
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:13,840
Speaker 1: They had the kid that was in Detroit to the

573
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:17,320
Speaker 1: big back uh oh yeah, yeah, what is his name?

574
00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:19,840
Speaker 1: Didn't quite make it, but a big physical too. Yeah,

575
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 1: he was there his freshman year. All four of those

576
00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:25,760
Speaker 1: guys ran the ball, Harris's and my hunches. They have

577
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:28,760
Speaker 1: some pretty good guys there now probably so they were

578
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:34,000
Speaker 1: couldn't wait for nausea Harris to graduate. And by the way,

579
00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:36,960
Speaker 1: he has graduated. He's got his degree. So I didn't

580
00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:39,080
Speaker 1: know that. Yeah. So there's there's that as well. I

581
00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:42,320
Speaker 1: like the two point conversion conversation. How about that direct

582
00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:44,560
Speaker 1: snapped the nag. I wonder if he can throw just

583
00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:46,719
Speaker 1: a little too. He did that. If you remember at

584
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:49,760
Speaker 1: their pro day, did they haven't thrown? Well, it was

585
00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:54,320
Speaker 1: a little option play where they pitched it to Harritt

586
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:59,600
Speaker 1: Nase and Mac Jones went out for a pass and

587
00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:01,320
Speaker 1: he threw a ball to Mac in the in the

588
00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:02,800
Speaker 1: back of the end zone. So he's done a little

589
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:04,640
Speaker 1: bit of it. And as I read the story about that,

590
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 1: they had they had wrapped that the night before one

591
00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:11,840
Speaker 1: time in UH they were doing and they got into

592
00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:13,800
Speaker 1: the they got into the huddle for the last play

593
00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:16,440
Speaker 1: of the of the the Pro day and and Max

594
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,360
Speaker 1: John says, Hey, we're gonna run that that little conversion

595
00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:22,440
Speaker 1: pass here, And I think i've read naj said, really,

596
00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:24,800
Speaker 1: we're gonna We're actually gonna do that, And then they

597
00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:26,160
Speaker 1: did it, and he made he threw the ball to

598
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:29,680
Speaker 1: the quarterback on the nice I know this is a

599
00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:31,920
Speaker 1: Naja Harris segment, but that brings me to the punter

600
00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:34,840
Speaker 1: they drafted to. I know that they had him do

601
00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:36,840
Speaker 1: some throwing. I didn't realize how good of a pass

602
00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:38,720
Speaker 1: or he is. You know, he can throw the football.

603
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:41,480
Speaker 1: That's a nice little park when positions you'll expect to

604
00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:45,840
Speaker 1: throw it on fourth and one or punting situations or

605
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:48,080
Speaker 1: two point conversions. You know, have that little trick up

606
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:50,960
Speaker 1: their sleeve that could be useful for both players. Yeah. Absolutely,

607
00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:53,800
Speaker 1: but again check out tom reads story on dk pis

608
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:57,480
Speaker 1: for sports dot Com. Really fine, fine work by Tom.

609
00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:00,840
Speaker 1: Uh that's gonna do it for the segment. As for

610
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:03,560
Speaker 1: my patent partner, patner, where do I get patent for

611
00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:06,720
Speaker 1: my partner Matt Williamson? I guess Matt and pat partner.

612
00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:10,120
Speaker 1: I just combined them my partner Matt Williamson for Jacob

613
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:12,680
Speaker 1: rect here on site, I'm Dale Lolly. We thank you

614
00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,560
Speaker 1: for listening to this edition of the Drive on Steelers

615
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:16,320
Speaker 1: Nation Radio.