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Speaker 1: What's up, faithful, Welcome to the forty nine ers You've

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Speaker 1: got mailed Podcasts presented by Delta Dental. I'm Linda pilaris

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Speaker 1: your host and today we have another first time guest

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Speaker 1: of the podcast, defensive lineman Sam Okuwana. Sam, thanks for

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Speaker 1: spending some time with us.

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Speaker 2: Pleasure to be here, Happy to be here for.

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Speaker 1: S Sam, you could write a book about your journey

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Speaker 1: to the NFL, and it does not begin in the

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Speaker 1: United States, and it does not begin with the love

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Speaker 1: of football, no man, it does not.

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Speaker 3: Definitely a long journey coming to the United States from

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Speaker 3: Liberia and finding my love and passion for the sport.

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Speaker 3: I'm still growing every day love of the game and passion.

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Speaker 3: And you know, my mindset towards the game is still

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Speaker 3: growing every day.

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Speaker 1: You came over when you were twelve years old with

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Speaker 1: your mom. What brought you to the States?

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Speaker 3: Just better life, better opportunity, you know, like beerriers are

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Speaker 3: gone by. Where I'm from has gone through you know,

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Speaker 3: a lot of tough times, a lot of civil wars,

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Speaker 3: so you know, it's just looking for a better opportunity,

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Speaker 3: better education, you know, means to make a living for ourselves.

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Speaker 1: Really your landing spot with your mom was Lowell, Massachusetts.

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Speaker 1: What were your first impressions of life in the northeast.

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Speaker 3: Cold Man, I've never really experienced any colde like that,

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Speaker 3: you know, coming from West Africa where it's always hot.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: The closest thing we got to that is like rainy season,

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Speaker 3: like with yall spring here. It's what we call rainy

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Speaker 3: season back home. But yeah, I know, it's nothing close

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Speaker 3: to it, man, back home, and like Barrier, you know,

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Speaker 3: they say snow tastes like ice cream, And I tell

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Speaker 3: everybody this story. You know, when I came to the

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Speaker 3: United States, Man, the first thing I did it was

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Speaker 3: a blizzard in Boston and I grabbed a handful of

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Speaker 3: snow and I was like, well, this not taste like

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Speaker 3: ice cream.

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Speaker 2: So you know, it's a bit disappointed there.

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Speaker 3: But it was so cold, man, But I was just

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Speaker 3: happy to be in a new place environment. I remember

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Speaker 3: stepping off that plane and driving through Boston and seeing

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Speaker 3: all these big tall buildings and just all these lights

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Speaker 3: and these cars. Man, I was like, whoa this place for?

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Speaker 3: Like Heaven is own? It's crazy.

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Speaker 1: Do you still consider yourself a cold weather guy? Have

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Speaker 1: you gotten?

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Speaker 2: You know, so you.

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Speaker 1: Like the West Coast.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I do, I do, I do.

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Speaker 3: I love the West Coast man, It's very scenic, especially

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Speaker 3: up here, man, I love good views. I'm big nature guys.

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Speaker 3: So you know what was going to different beaches and

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Speaker 3: different parks and hikes and stuff, and you know, the

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Speaker 3: Bay is the perfect play for all that.

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Speaker 1: So, now that you've got quite a number of years

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Speaker 1: here in the States, what's the most fascinating kind of

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Speaker 1: American cultural thing you've picked up or that you have

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Speaker 1: enjoyed seeing during your time here.

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Speaker 2: Man, it's been a lot.

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Speaker 3: I would say, like y'all sports culture, man, just like

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Speaker 3: how diehard fan you guys are for your sports team

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Speaker 3: and being from you know, like outskirts of Boston, and

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Speaker 3: just saying that for the first hand, like the Celtics

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Speaker 3: fans and the Red Sox fans, you know, those are

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Speaker 3: like old fans, you know, and like they really loved

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Speaker 3: their team. And seeing on Sundays, how you know, everything

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Speaker 3: is kind of just slowed down and people just watching

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Speaker 3: football all day.

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Speaker 2: You know, that was It's pretty amazing. You know.

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Speaker 3: Back home, we we love soccer. We watched soccer a lot,

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Speaker 3: but you know, we don't love it like that you know, man,

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Speaker 3: you know some people out here on game day, man,

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Speaker 3: you know, fully dressed in their team gears and stuff.

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Speaker 2: So I was deciding to watch. Man.

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Speaker 3: This is a number of other other things, but I

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Speaker 3: would say for sure that was the one that.

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Speaker 2: Cut my attention.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned soccer, so that was the sport you love

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Speaker 1: the most growing up. Played through your sophomore season of

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Speaker 1: high school, then decided to try out for football. Why

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Speaker 1: the switch up?

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Speaker 2: It was really my cousin.

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Speaker 3: Both times I tried at football, I released I would

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Speaker 3: get bigger and bigger. I remember when I first came

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Speaker 3: up from Africa, I was playing for a bunch of

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Speaker 3: different clubs and I started up playing striker. You know,

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Speaker 3: it's like fast, you know, he's scoring and stuff. And

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Speaker 3: then got bigger, and then moving to me field and

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Speaker 3: got bigger and moving the defenders going back, and you know,

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Speaker 3: I didn't want to end up a goaligue. So my

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Speaker 3: cousin was like, man, you athletic, you big, you can move,

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Speaker 3: You might want to try this football thing.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, I tried it out.

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Speaker 3: I hated it. Did not like it at all. It

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Speaker 3: was like, while these guys hitting, it's cold up there,

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Speaker 3: you know. I don't want to be touched on this

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Speaker 3: cold man. And it was tough. It was tough. It

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Speaker 3: was tough, man, But I would say, uh, the toughest

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Speaker 3: part was just like, you know, just staying there after

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Speaker 3: school and not when you know you're not your heart

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Speaker 3: is not in the sun. It's hard to really focus

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Speaker 3: and stuff. And I was just looking up the time,

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Speaker 3: ready to go home, you know. Yeah, you know, I

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Speaker 3: hated it at first, but you know, senior year. I

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Speaker 3: end up quitning my junior year after like three or

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Speaker 3: four games, and I went back to playing soccer. And

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Speaker 3: then my journey year, my senior year, my cousin was like, man,

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Speaker 3: just stick to it, just stick with it and see

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Speaker 3: how it plays out. And that's why I fell in

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Speaker 3: love with the sport. Started hanging out with the cool

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Speaker 3: guys man you know football.

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Speaker 1: You know, so you like the status, Yeah I did.

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Speaker 3: I felt like, I feel like the status of football

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Speaker 3: got me into football, and then I just kind of grew.

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Speaker 3: My love for the games kind of grew as I played,

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Speaker 3: you know, and yeah, hunger for the game grew.

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Speaker 1: I read somewhere also that you didn't love the physicality

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Speaker 1: of football initially, So how do you get over that hurdle.

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Speaker 3: I feel like I just started to like hitting people,

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Speaker 3: you know, honestly I stopped. Uh, well, I play defense,

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Speaker 3: so you know, I'm always doing the hitting for the

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Speaker 3: most part. But I remember the first time I had

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Speaker 3: a really good hit. It was like junior college in Mississippi,

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Speaker 3: and I like killed the quarterback and I was like,

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Speaker 3: it's just good.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: And that's where that physicality and I love just kind

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Speaker 3: of started growing. And then my mindset just kind of changed, honestly, like,

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Speaker 3: you know, playing football doesn't matter how good you are man.

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Speaker 3: Physicality went out the end of the day. The more

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Speaker 3: physical teams I was going to win and try to

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Speaker 3: pride myself on that.

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Speaker 1: You talked about spend some time in junior college. Actually

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Speaker 1: three of them, Yeah, and the first one did not

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Speaker 1: involve a football career. So talk us through that period

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Speaker 1: of your life. You decided to go to community college.

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Speaker 1: And was it that you weren't set on playing football

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Speaker 1: or the opportunity hadn't presented itself yet.

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Speaker 3: Well, I mean, honestly, I was not a good football player.

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Speaker 3: I'm out of high school, you know, being I had

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Speaker 3: just started my senior year, and also my grades wasn't

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Speaker 3: really that good either. I wasn't really sure what I

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Speaker 3: wanted to do with my life, you know, if I

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Speaker 3: started playing football, so you know, school wasn't really a

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Speaker 3: passion for me or you know, football. So after my

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Speaker 3: senior year, I was just really trying to get my

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Speaker 3: grades up so I can go to a four year

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Speaker 3: university and you know, pursue like education. And I remember

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Speaker 3: it's going to class every day. Man, I just thinking

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Speaker 3: like this is this can't be it like and I

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Speaker 3: started missing football, started missing that feeling, you know, being

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Speaker 3: around the guys, being in crture environment, you know, practice

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Speaker 3: every day, you know, being tired with your guys and

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Speaker 3: talking about how tired you guys are, Like it's a

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Speaker 3: part of the game, It's part of front like the

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Speaker 3: locker room environment.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: I started to miss out a lot, and I remember

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Speaker 3: telling my mama like this this ain't it. You know,

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Speaker 3: I gotta I gotta continue to chase this football dream.

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Speaker 3: So I sent my high school tape, which wasn't really

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Speaker 3: much kind of sent out everywhere around the country, and

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Speaker 3: this school in Mississippi reached out to me called Kahoma,

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Speaker 3: And I remember telling my mom the school in Mississippi,

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Speaker 3: you know, trying to get me out there to play

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Speaker 3: football from Boston, Massachusetts.

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Speaker 2: You know that was yeah, that's a huge jump.

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Speaker 3: And uh, you know, it's not a lot of good

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Speaker 3: things being said about mississippif you live in Boston.

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Speaker 2: So you know, my mom was a little worried. She

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Speaker 2: was scared. Man. I remember how to beg.

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Speaker 3: Her, just like I gotta do this, like you know,

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Speaker 3: and she had to work like three full jobs, man.

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Speaker 3: And I remember when I got there, my mindset was

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Speaker 3: just like, you know, focused on school. Get this grades

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Speaker 3: right so you can go to it, you know, for

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Speaker 3: your university. You know, your mama don't have to keep

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Speaker 3: on paying for your school.

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Speaker 2: Man.

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Speaker 3: So that's really when I'll say my love for football

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Speaker 3: helped me focus on my education because I knew if

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Speaker 3: I wanted to continue to playing football, how to get

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Speaker 3: my grades right. So I remember when I came home

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Speaker 3: had through five GPA.

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Speaker 2: Man, my mom was happy. She doesn't care about football.

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Speaker 2: She still doesn't care about.

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Speaker 3: Right, you know, that was just like a booneness or whatever.

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Speaker 3: But she did not care at all about football. It's

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Speaker 3: all about grades for her. And I remember sometimes just

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Speaker 3: thinking like damn, she's working three full jobs.

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Speaker 2: Like, I cannot be tired right now. I gotta get

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Speaker 2: this homework done.

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Speaker 3: I got to make a play on this on this play,

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Speaker 3: I gotta I gotta be a guy just can be

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Speaker 3: average man.

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Speaker 2: So she's my motivation for sure.

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Speaker 1: I love that love for moms is top tier, all right,

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Speaker 1: So you how to convince her to let you go

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Speaker 1: to Kahoma. But that isn't That is the funnest stub.

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Speaker 2: And I still did not.

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Speaker 1: University just yet. No, man, what was the next jump?

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Speaker 3: So I remember I went down to the Mississippi That

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Speaker 3: was really my first time seeing like a real football

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Speaker 3: being played, and you know, the guys were way bigger

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Speaker 3: and strongery. It was just crazy being down there. And

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Speaker 3: I remember after the fall, uh when in Mississippi a

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Speaker 3: junior college. First of all, you have to be on

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Speaker 3: scholarship to be able to play, and uh, you know,

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Speaker 3: there's only ten spots for out of staters on scholarship.

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Speaker 3: And I wasn't gonna not to go to put be

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Speaker 3: put on scholarship at the time, so you know, they

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Speaker 3: they just kind of kept me around like I was

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Speaker 3: like a water boy, you know, slash like part of

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Speaker 3: the team manager. Yeah, you know, so I'm I'm trying.

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Speaker 3: I'm just trying to stick around, man, just trying to

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Speaker 3: look at what the coach is teaching the guys on

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Speaker 3: on the D line. And you know, I would watch

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Speaker 3: film at night, just just trying to learn and try

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Speaker 3: to just like walk through what they was learning. And

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Speaker 3: then when the spring came on came along, I balled out,

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Speaker 3: like everything he was teaching the guys in the spring

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Speaker 3: ended doing the fall and during the season, I kind of,

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Speaker 3: you know, learned that, and then when spring came around,

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Speaker 3: I just kind of perform everything he was teaching the.

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Speaker 2: Guys, falling out doing great.

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Speaker 3: So you know, I'm thinking like this next fall, they

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Speaker 3: got to put me on scholarship. And I remember after

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Speaker 3: the spring season, Man went in the coach office trying

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Speaker 3: to talk to him, you.

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Speaker 2: Know, like, what's going on.

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Speaker 3: You guys gonna put me in scholarship to come back

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Speaker 3: because my mom was working all the jobs. You know,

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Speaker 3: I'm trying to at least help her out in any

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Speaker 3: way I can. And I remember they told me we're

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Speaker 3: not really sure about you, and you got to come

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Speaker 3: back in the fall and camp.

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Speaker 2: We're gonna see how it goes.

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Speaker 3: So I wasn't really satisfied with that answer, so I

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Speaker 3: just kind of took my tape from that spring and

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Speaker 3: send it everywhere else again in the country.

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Speaker 2: And then uh school in Minnesota reached out.

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Speaker 1: To me another.

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Speaker 3: Yeah Minnesota was brutally cold, Oh my god, but I

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Speaker 3: remember reached out. He reached out to me, Man talking

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Speaker 3: about how great opportunity was go to Minnesota and play ball.

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Speaker 3: And you know, I started looking up some of the

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Speaker 3: former players who's made it out of there, and there's nobody,

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Speaker 3: you know.

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Speaker 1: I'm just like, I got to be the first.

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Speaker 2: You know, nobody ever made it out of there.

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Speaker 3: Even in like the All Americans with Juco's, nobody ever

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Speaker 3: really made a nominations out of the conference. So I'm thinking, like,

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Speaker 3: WHOA like the girl. The goals that I have for myself,

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Speaker 3: I'm not going to be able to accomplish. And this Juco, you.

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Speaker 2: Know that nobody knows about. But he convinced me.

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Speaker 3: Man convinced me that I was gonna be fine, and

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Speaker 3: I just how to dominate. Really, it can be like

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Speaker 3: a mediocre guy can be a good guy. Gotta be

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Speaker 3: like a standout player. So I remember going back to

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Speaker 3: my mom, you know, trying to convince her again to

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Speaker 3: go to another junior college.

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Speaker 2: Man.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, oh man, I remember my coach had to beg her,

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Speaker 3: the head coach how to beg her. I was begging

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Speaker 3: her for like three days.

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Speaker 2: Oh my god.

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Speaker 3: But she just kind of told me like this is

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Speaker 3: the last chance. And that's when they really like stuck

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Speaker 3: with me, like this is this is it. I have

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Speaker 3: to make something pop out of the situation. So going

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Speaker 3: to Minnesota, man, my mindset was just like different. It

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Speaker 3: was just business, strictly business like, there's no messing around,

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Speaker 3: like going to parties, you know, like I like to

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Speaker 3: have fun. But when I was in Minnesota, that mindset

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Speaker 3: was just business like, whoever was in front of me

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Speaker 3: gonna get it. I'm gonna dominate them from start to

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Speaker 3: finish in the game and end up having a crazy

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Speaker 3: season in Minnesota, first team All American. I led the

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Speaker 3: country in sacks like seventeen and a half. Man, I

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Speaker 3: started going crazy and a couple of SEC schools reached

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Speaker 3: out to.

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Speaker 2: Me to play with them.

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Speaker 3: But with the whole SEC thing, I have had to

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Speaker 3: either spend another year at at the college in Mississippi,

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Speaker 3: go back to the college in Mississippi or stay another

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Speaker 3: year in Minnesota. And I had the first like PAC

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Speaker 3: twelve and the organ and stuff, so I was just like,

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Speaker 3: I'm not I'm.

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Speaker 2: Not staying another game.

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Speaker 1: Juke.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah.

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Speaker 3: So you know, I had a bunch of good Division

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Speaker 3: one Power five schools, so and I was just tired

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Speaker 3: my mom, you know, working on the job trying to

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Speaker 3: pay for my school.

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Speaker 2: So you know, the opportune was there.

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Speaker 3: Time was now, and I had to go, you know,

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Speaker 3: And I remember the juke of in Mississippi hit me

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Speaker 3: up like you're trying to come back for another year,

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Speaker 3: and I was like, yeah, y'all ain't want me back then.

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Speaker 3: You know, I ain't going back now. So you know,

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Speaker 3: I was happy for my coach man Minnesota great. He

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Speaker 3: gave me a great opportunity. And then when I was

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Speaker 3: out there, man, he just let me do me. You know,

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Speaker 3: he just knew the athlete I was, the type of

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Speaker 3: player I was, and he knew my mindset and my

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Speaker 3: goal so he just kind of let me do me

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Speaker 3: out there and ended up great man for.

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Speaker 2: The both of us.

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Speaker 1: So where did you see your biggest growth in your

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Speaker 1: game over those two seasons you spent in Juco.

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Speaker 3: I would say in Mississippi it was my biggest just

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Speaker 3: like everything I learned. Like I said, you know, football

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Speaker 3: in Mississippi is different. You know down south they got

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Speaker 3: that real ball and everything in the coach had taught

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Speaker 3: me and taught all the guys that had learned. You know,

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Speaker 3: I wish he would have given me the opportunity to

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Speaker 3: show him, you know what I've learned. But I'm not

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Speaker 3: mad at it. You know, I'm blessings. You know, I

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Speaker 3: got to go somewhere else and display my full dominance

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Speaker 3: on a different team. You know, ended up winning Conference

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Speaker 3: Defensive Player of the Year and first team All American

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Speaker 3: Virginia College. Being a guy who just stopped playing football

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Speaker 3: two years ago. You know that was huge, you know,

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Speaker 3: getting all these offers to these big schools and choose

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Speaker 3: in Maryland.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, it was a blessing.

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Speaker 1: You know, you spend three seasons of Maryland correct, then

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Speaker 1: go undrafted, get picked up by the Titans, then waived

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Speaker 1: six games after.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, at this point, where is your mindset of what

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Speaker 1: am I going to do with my career?

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Speaker 3: Messed up? That's first of all. That's remember my first time.

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Speaker 3: You know when you in these moments, it's like day

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Speaker 3: to day routines, like it's.

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Speaker 2: Like, ah, man, I got good meetings, I gotta do this,

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Speaker 2: I gotta do that.

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Speaker 3: But when it's not that, you miss it, like when

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00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:40,400
Speaker 3: it's not like your day when you have all these

341
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Speaker 3: free times, it's just like what am I doing here?

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Speaker 3: Like I remember just saying at home like I should

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Speaker 3: be in the meeting right now. But mindset was dark, man,

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Speaker 3: I was in a very dark place. It's like physically

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Speaker 3: mentally just like not even motivated to even move and

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Speaker 3: get out of bed. And then I remember the day

347
00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:02,360
Speaker 3: I got cut, like cut cut because I remember if

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Speaker 3: like my rookie year, they moved me up and down

349
00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:05,920
Speaker 3: the practice squad a few times, so you know that

350
00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:09,400
Speaker 3: was whatever. But being cut and like not knowing you're

351
00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:11,560
Speaker 3: going to come back, that was a tough one, man,

352
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Speaker 3: because I really loved this game. I loved this sport,

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Speaker 3: loved the guys on the team. I remember I went

354
00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:19,240
Speaker 3: home just side of my couch like all day just

355
00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:21,800
Speaker 3: they didn't move, they didn't pick up no phone call,

356
00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:24,880
Speaker 3: just sat there and just thinking like am I really

357
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Speaker 3: now on the team.

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Speaker 2: I don't have a job right now? So I remember

359
00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:29,760
Speaker 2: it was like a stadium.

360
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Speaker 3: I started working on Nashville probably like a week or

361
00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:34,240
Speaker 3: so after, you know, wenting on a call, went on

362
00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:37,760
Speaker 3: a call, waiting on a call, and this at this point,

363
00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:40,560
Speaker 3: it was probably like two months, like week I want

364
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Speaker 3: to say, like week ten.

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Speaker 2: So I was like, I'm going to go home.

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Speaker 3: I'm going to home the masters, be around my family,

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Speaker 3: you know, help with the mental So I went back home.

368
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Speaker 3: Like another four weeks go by, I get a call

369
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Speaker 3: from the Panthers. They brought me in for a workout.

370
00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:55,040
Speaker 3: Killed it. They're good. You know, I'm thinking, you know,

371
00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:56,760
Speaker 3: they about as sign me to the practice squad at

372
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Speaker 3: least next Monday. They head coach get So I'm just like, dang,

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Speaker 3: that's tough. Go back to the couch.

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Speaker 2: You know, I'm waiting.

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Speaker 3: It's week seventeen, right, so I'm like, you know what,

376
00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:10,840
Speaker 3: I'm just gonna play the spring ball. Because nobody called

377
00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:12,480
Speaker 3: my phone. Yeah, I'm just getting ready to play the

378
00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:15,080
Speaker 3: spring ball. So I'm gonna get a job. So I

379
00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:17,720
Speaker 3: went into I got a job with like working with

380
00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:22,840
Speaker 3: children with disability, learning disabilities and stuff, you know, helping them.

381
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Speaker 3: And I remember the first day I went in, I

382
00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:29,200
Speaker 3: left work side in my car. I got a phone

383
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Speaker 3: call from my agent. Like the very first it was

384
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Speaker 3: like a saying from a movie. It was crazy.

385
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Speaker 1: I think you might have write.

386
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Speaker 3: It was crazy, Larry gotta work. Like just don't even

387
00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:42,360
Speaker 3: know where my mind set is at this point. Sat

388
00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:44,360
Speaker 3: in my car and I get a phone call from

389
00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:45,840
Speaker 3: my agent. He's like, man, and nine is time to

390
00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:48,040
Speaker 3: bring you in for a workout. How you feeling. I said,

391
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Speaker 3: we gotta go, We got to go, We got to go.

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Speaker 2: Man.

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Speaker 3: I remember just saying everythinging like thank God, thank you Jesus.

394
00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:57,800
Speaker 3: It was a great opportunity. I went home that night. Man,

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Speaker 3: I just ran around the neighborhood, try to freshen the

396
00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:01,240
Speaker 3: legs up, the little bit, try to get the cub

397
00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:04,720
Speaker 3: waves off man and then the fly here, the whole

398
00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:07,000
Speaker 3: fly here. I'm thinking, like, I'm not going back to Boston.

399
00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:08,919
Speaker 3: I'm not going back to Boston. I'm telling myself that

400
00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,600
Speaker 3: the whole time, like I'm not going back to my room.

401
00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:13,440
Speaker 3: I not going back to Boston. I'm not going back

402
00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:13,960
Speaker 3: to Boston.

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00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:18,000
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