Speaker 1: This is cut to it with Steve Smith Senior at
Speaker 1: production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior and I'm a little John. And this
Speaker 1: is cut to it. Good do it, Good do they's
Speaker 1: getting down to do it. Good do it. We asked
Speaker 1: the questions you always want to know, but no one
Speaker 1: ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard them
Speaker 1: about it, then we're about to let you know it's
Speaker 1: all exactly. Ain't playing that greater defense hopefuy, don't matter
Speaker 1: door defense. Hi, the whole neighbor. You need flanders now
Speaker 1: I did the old neighbor. Hi, the old neighbor. What's up? Man?
Speaker 1: What's on? What's on your mental today? Every time? Okay
Speaker 1: every day? You laugh? Shorten it up? Just talking, you
Speaker 1: know right now with with covid um just disreppared. Just
Speaker 1: it's it's over for you. It's poof, It's going right,
Speaker 1: um man. It's just you know, being at kids activities,
Speaker 1: um and and and I'm just starting to I think
Speaker 1: I'm starting to see myself a little bit. And uh well,
Speaker 1: let me say this. I apologize to Peyton Smith and
Speaker 1: probably Boston Smith. I was I'm a I am currently
Speaker 1: because you know, I'm not God well, I'm not passing
Speaker 1: um terrible sports dad. How so I have been one
Speaker 1: of those that you know, I yea, I yelled and
Speaker 1: screen and I think my son's going to whatever sports
Speaker 1: So if he's playing soccer, the MLS tomorrow, basketball to
Speaker 1: NBA currently and the NFL definitely getting drafted next week.
Speaker 1: I've seen at my son's basketball events and also my
Speaker 1: oldest son's soccer events, and I was a terrible parents man,
Speaker 1: just like just yelling and you know, just making making
Speaker 1: this sport that they were participating in so unpleasurable. And
Speaker 1: it sucks to admit it, and it sucks to see
Speaker 1: myself because I've seen some of these dads when I
Speaker 1: was I was watching some kids this weekend in basketball,
Speaker 1: watching some kids as some seven on seven tournaments bro eight,
Speaker 1: and you see some of these dads yelling and like
Speaker 1: just going after it over a catch, get him what
Speaker 1: the blank? Any blank? And I'm like, and what was interesting?
Speaker 1: As I was watching those parents, I wasn't thinking, oh look,
Speaker 1: how that that's terrible. I wasn't thinking that. I wasn't
Speaker 1: thinking oh look, I was going that's how it was.
Speaker 1: And i can't imagine how embarrassed my kids are, how
Speaker 1: deflated they are, how discouraged there, And so it sucks.
Speaker 1: It really does. What would you tell what would you
Speaker 1: tell that parent now, whether it was you in the past,
Speaker 1: Sup the funk down? That's how it really tell them.
Speaker 1: And thank god nobody told me that because it wouldn't
Speaker 1: have went well. But I I'm I'm being honest. I
Speaker 1: just I feel bad. I really feel bad at the
Speaker 1: way I behaved and how I was embarrassed for my wife.
Speaker 1: So it sucks, and especially as a as an athlete,
Speaker 1: a former athlete, I've lost all credibility as an athlete
Speaker 1: because it's like, well, we know you're a great athlete, dad,
Speaker 1: but you're a dick as a father, especially in that area.
Speaker 1: I picked myself up, take them here and there, but
Speaker 1: then you know, or lecture um all the time about
Speaker 1: what about hard work and all that stuff? Man, it
Speaker 1: just sucks. And so just kind of seeing that, and
Speaker 1: so I gotta take a step back, but I can't go.
Speaker 1: So I'm balancing between do I say something to them
Speaker 1: to acknowledge what I've seen and myself, or do I
Speaker 1: not say anything and just act differently about it, and
Speaker 1: I probably have to do both. I have to acknowledge
Speaker 1: that and then over time really for him to see
Speaker 1: and trust that I am gonna make those changes. So
Speaker 1: it just kind of sucks. Well, I get where you're
Speaker 1: coming from. The one thing, the one thing, no, no, no, no. Look,
Speaker 1: can I speak for myself, Yeah, speaking for myself, And
Speaker 1: the one thing, I don't say you type of parents,
Speaker 1: don't say that. But you did some things you don't
Speaker 1: you don't like, and you you have some stuff that
Speaker 1: you wish you could take back. But brother, I'll be
Speaker 1: around you. You're not a terrible parent, So don't even
Speaker 1: don't even don't even reinforce saying that. Don't say that
Speaker 1: ship no more because you're not a terrible parent. I
Speaker 1: appreciate it just as tough because how you operate on
Speaker 1: the sports field does leave. It's like when you drink
Speaker 1: a drink, right, especially if you drink a diet drink
Speaker 1: asportasenus like, even though after you drink it, it still
Speaker 1: has that after taste, right, and that and and I
Speaker 1: think the aftertaste of how I've conducted myself, of his
Speaker 1: parenting on the sports realm has we look at as
Speaker 1: as men and dads. We look at our parenting as
Speaker 1: waffles and and and what we say don't say, and
Speaker 1: how we act is the syrup, right, and if you
Speaker 1: don't pour enough syrup in the square the waffle, if
Speaker 1: you just put a little bit, it won't go into
Speaker 1: the other square. And that's how we look at his dads.
Speaker 1: We look at it's like, all right, we pour the syrup,
Speaker 1: and if you don't pour enough it, you know, not
Speaker 1: enough syrup goes in all the squares and you're like,
Speaker 1: where are you going with this? What happens is when
Speaker 1: we parents bad in sports, it's like spaghetti. It's all
Speaker 1: mixed together. They are kids, are family. They don't separated
Speaker 1: like the waffle. They don't compartmentalize it like the waffle.
Speaker 1: It's freaking spaghetti. And what we talked about spaghetti spaghetti.
Speaker 1: The the next day is always what better. That's how
Speaker 1: the pain is when we do it is the next
Speaker 1: day it actually stinks even worse because they replay in
Speaker 1: their minds. So it's just like it's it's everywhere when
Speaker 1: you when you parents bad on the sports, it goes
Speaker 1: into well, he must think I never do anything right,
Speaker 1: or he must and I can see that. I'm just
Speaker 1: kind of going back in my mind. I'm like, gosh, right,
Speaker 1: and so I I gotta, I gotta stop on the
Speaker 1: sports to be able to get out of the spaghetti,
Speaker 1: to get into the waffles. Because here's a crazy part.
Speaker 1: My boys love waffles. And so that's what I that's
Speaker 1: what I gotta do. And so right now it is
Speaker 1: mixed up with my being a good dad driving them around.
Speaker 1: But he doesn't he doesn't get it because it's the spaghetti.
Speaker 1: It's all mixed up together, and and and he leaves
Speaker 1: your bad tastes of his mouth. And that's the important part.
Speaker 1: My breath can think all day, but he don't want
Speaker 1: to smell it, right, And so it's just I, I gotta,
Speaker 1: I gotta step in there. I gotta work on it better.
Speaker 1: And I saw it this weekend. And what's crazy is
Speaker 1: he bawled this weekend. He played really well this weekend,
Speaker 1: and I just told me, did a good job. And
Speaker 1: I think he was concerned or word, and I just said, man,
Speaker 1: you played well. But I think I gotta do that
Speaker 1: more and more so he could believe it. He don't
Speaker 1: believe it right now because I'll be on them I'll
Speaker 1: be uh, I'll be on the bad and that was cool.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm just still trying to figure out how and
Speaker 1: the hell you mixed pancakes, waffles, spaghetti, and parenting in
Speaker 1: the same metaphor. You are a word smith. My brother
Speaker 1: Charenton brought to you by Ages cheft Board Cut to It.
Speaker 1: Who we got coming up on the Cut to It podcast?
Speaker 1: We've got Zack moss or running back for the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: He was drafted in out of the University of Utah,
Speaker 1: where he's the all time leading rusher for the school.
Speaker 1: Zack Moss on the Cut to It Podcast, I'm super
Speaker 1: excited about this one. Of course. You are here Uta guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't. I don't claim ah. You tak guys.
Speaker 1: You don't come back made it though, Yeah, they're made it.
Speaker 1: There's something I'm like, No, I don't want him all.
Speaker 1: I don't. He didn't go to Utah. Oh man, you
Speaker 1: ain't claiming brom I'm I'm uncle Lero. I don't say
Speaker 1: you like that. You like that cousin of that Uncle
Speaker 1: Wayne claim him. That's that that's the other set of Smiths. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's a you know his mom. Yeah right, you
Speaker 1: know you know them. We gotta invite him, put them
Speaker 1: in back, and you know, you know, you know she
Speaker 1: coming over. You know she's still how do your stuff?
Speaker 1: Get it off the dress of it? Maybe it's just me,
Speaker 1: my bad everybody anyway, Hey, but our first segment it's
Speaker 1: called get ice stuck. Go ahead, give him the first one,
Speaker 1: all right. Depending on how you answer, we're gonna have
Speaker 1: some follow ups. And I think I got you on
Speaker 1: a few of these because you don't know they're coming.
Speaker 1: So let's snowboarding or scheme. I've never done either one,
Speaker 1: but I probably would pick snowboarding, though really you never
Speaker 1: all the time you spend up in up in Park City,
Speaker 1: only did I did snowmobiling. That was the only thing
Speaker 1: that really I was able to do. When I get back, Definitely,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to snowboarding. Thought. Okay, now o my
Speaker 1: recruited trip back in You know they took a nineteen
Speaker 1: I'm sorry electric boogaloo into on my recruiting trip to
Speaker 1: Utah from California. Ski Are you been hooked? I've been
Speaker 1: hooked ever since. Did they take you guys skiing and stuff?
Speaker 1: They took a snowmobil and that's how I got hooked
Speaker 1: on that that'd be cool. Yeah, yeah, it ain't bad.
Speaker 1: My girl from Park City, so she loved telling me
Speaker 1: about the skin and the snowboarding. But I think I'm
Speaker 1: gonna stick to the snowboarding though. Yeah, man, I bro
Speaker 1: I've been sneaking up to Utah for years ago skinning. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like we uh you know some of the games would
Speaker 1: go sneak up and watch the games. Right after that,
Speaker 1: go back up in parks. He was in town. All right,
Speaker 1: favorite fruit? What's your favorite fruit? Pears? Pears spread today
Speaker 1: bears not a bad answer though, Asian pair, regular pair? Oh,
Speaker 1: she wants to more more like just the regular pair.
Speaker 1: I know. My mom is always like she'll go to
Speaker 1: Sam's or whatever and legit, Like just bring me just
Speaker 1: a bag of pair, just for myself because I just
Speaker 1: I just messed with parents for some reason. Now are
Speaker 1: you one of those where you have to peel it
Speaker 1: or you just eat it with the skin? You eat
Speaker 1: it with skin? My board, my son dudees doesn't like
Speaker 1: it with the skin. Really. Yeah, eat a pair though,
Speaker 1: like like his apple. So if I got one of me, now,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you can cook. But if you
Speaker 1: do a little pair a little bit of centnament of
Speaker 1: sugar and cast iron skillet, little small cash onn skillet.
Speaker 1: It's also waffles, pretty good waffles. Yeah, that sounded like something.
Speaker 1: That sounds like something. I don't really dab too much
Speaker 1: in any case, but yeah, I might have to bring
Speaker 1: that to my girl one time though, dropping comping a
Speaker 1: little nugget and this is what I heard? How much
Speaker 1: mology get out that one? All right? Would you rather
Speaker 1: sky dive or swim with shark? Where's options? Ce? He touched,
Speaker 1: He put his hand on his head as if he
Speaker 1: woke up. Said, I'm bad. I'm gonna go with I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go with sky dive. I can't swim, so put
Speaker 1: me in there already by myself. But za brother me,
Speaker 1: I don't mess with the slopes. I'm not a good swimmer. Like,
Speaker 1: stay away from stuff you don't know. First of all,
Speaker 1: stop lying you not. You're not a good swimmer. I
Speaker 1: just learned, boy, you can't swim. Learn learn like I
Speaker 1: just learned, like four years ago. Yeah, and how much
Speaker 1: practice have you gotten? Oh? Not a lot? So I can?
Speaker 1: I can. I can save my life if deemed necessary.
Speaker 1: I ain't about Olympics style swomen. No, that's what, And
Speaker 1: I don't want to. I don't. I don't to his point,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to the ocean with sharks. I can
Speaker 1: already answer for that. You ain't. You don't fool with
Speaker 1: the ocean, right, So I ain't fooling with that. And
Speaker 1: then Scott Driving man, my brothers want to jump out
Speaker 1: of a plane. No, I'm good. Is that real? It's
Speaker 1: folks that love a dreamline. I'm not doing either either.
Speaker 1: I'm not doing either either. But I didn't want to
Speaker 1: swim with a minto much less. I just wanted to
Speaker 1: throw it out there. I like asking some of these
Speaker 1: because you you sometimes you would get an answer that
Speaker 1: you didn't see coming. So, favorite football, favorite sports team
Speaker 1: growing up, any you know, it doesn't have to be football,
Speaker 1: be any sport, whatever it is. Uh. I probably would
Speaker 1: say the Lakers um just because I was a huge
Speaker 1: uh Kobe Bryant France um for forever, as long as
Speaker 1: I know, ever since I started watching sports. And you know,
Speaker 1: just something about the way he you know, everything about
Speaker 1: Kobe just you know, goes without saying. But I think
Speaker 1: lak it's definitely okay, cool and see that won't come.
Speaker 1: I would I would have I would have assumed definitely
Speaker 1: won the Florida teams. Yeah, like Orlando with have been
Speaker 1: trashed for me. And I know he would probably say right,
Speaker 1: look when he said Atlanta, like listen, I was just assuming,
Speaker 1: all right, I noticed answer. But where are you from
Speaker 1: and the place you call your hometown. I'm from Miami, Florida,
Speaker 1: and I call Liberty City Ontown City, Liberty City. So
Speaker 1: growing up in Liberty City? How did this shape you?
Speaker 1: Because you hear about Liberty City, you hear about certain
Speaker 1: areas in Florida, California, Texas, certain areas you know, Detroit,
Speaker 1: and you're not next surely sure how that has shaped
Speaker 1: each individual? Yeah? Uh, it shaped me because I mean
Speaker 1: in a way that you know, I had to grow
Speaker 1: up kind of fast. Um you know, I lived in
Speaker 1: a single parent household, five brothers and sisters. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: my mom and dad went through the forest. So just
Speaker 1: seeing all of that and then you know, kind of
Speaker 1: having family members that was industries. Still to this day,
Speaker 1: you kind of have a two ways to go right there,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? You have either you're gonna
Speaker 1: be industries doing certain things and putting yourself in harm,
Speaker 1: or you can go down a different path, which you
Speaker 1: know a lot of people don't go. You don't really
Speaker 1: have a lot of you know, people to help you
Speaker 1: tell you how to do it. Um, you know, you're
Speaker 1: kind of just guiding yourself, um, all the way through
Speaker 1: that path. And you know it's kind of like you
Speaker 1: just put on a pair of shades, but you can't
Speaker 1: see out of them. You know, you're just putting on
Speaker 1: certain pre pair of shades and going down a different
Speaker 1: route that a lot of people haven't went, and they
Speaker 1: really can't help you a lot. So everything you kind
Speaker 1: of encounter by yourself, you pretty much being the first
Speaker 1: person to encounter in your family. Well, you said that,
Speaker 1: you know, your parents went to a divorce, and I'm
Speaker 1: sorry to hear that. And how did how big of
Speaker 1: a role did both of them you know obviously with
Speaker 1: them going through going through the divorce, How big of
Speaker 1: a role did your parents play in your life? My
Speaker 1: mom is the reason that I played the game. Um,
Speaker 1: it's the reason that I've even made it uh this far. Um,
Speaker 1: you know that's why I still have the same hunger
Speaker 1: even inside me, even though you know, I even just
Speaker 1: because I've made it here, you know, I still want
Speaker 1: more for you know, for her, my family, future family
Speaker 1: and things like that. UM. So that was my entire
Speaker 1: motivation ever since that part. Um, seeing all the things
Speaker 1: you had to go through moving three four times and
Speaker 1: two years spend things like that. So all that type
Speaker 1: of stuff, UM, definitely just motivate to me. UM. My dad,
Speaker 1: you know, he was he was there in the sense of,
Speaker 1: you know, when football was um and played. You know,
Speaker 1: he was always coming to the games. Uh you know,
Speaker 1: get you some clease if you needed them here and there. UM.
Speaker 1: But you know, on besides that type of stuff, you know,
Speaker 1: it wasn't really uh, you know, much of a father
Speaker 1: figure um in that in that role. When you hear
Speaker 1: football was a huge role in my life. What was
Speaker 1: Zack Most's life that included football? I mean growing up,
Speaker 1: you know, me and my brothers, we bonded a lot
Speaker 1: over sports. Uh, from basketball, just video games and things
Speaker 1: like that. UM. But you know, I've been playing football
Speaker 1: since about age of ten years old. UM. Before that,
Speaker 1: you know, I can't really remember everything, but you know,
Speaker 1: before that, it was mostly just you know, mom's cumplers
Speaker 1: in church. Um, you know, being around family, being around
Speaker 1: doing those type of things, being family oriented. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: and football just at the beginning, for me, it was
Speaker 1: just a hobby. It was just something that I picked
Speaker 1: up from watching uh some of my homeboys too when
Speaker 1: we were younger. You know, they were the ones going
Speaker 1: out there spending hours and hours going to you know,
Speaker 1: these different camps, doing these different types of trainings with
Speaker 1: these private coaches and things like that. You know. And
Speaker 1: after football practice for me, I'll go home, go to
Speaker 1: the park and then go play basketball, I side with
Speaker 1: you know people at the parking things like that. Um.
Speaker 1: And I was you know, mostly you know, my life.
Speaker 1: But football was just a thing for me to really
Speaker 1: grab onto that helped me just kind of figure out
Speaker 1: who I was at the same time. Um, and you know,
Speaker 1: helped me just continue to grow as a person and
Speaker 1: kind of realize what I wanted in life and things
Speaker 1: like that. Um. You know, like football was a big
Speaker 1: thing is a big thing to my in my life
Speaker 1: because it's brought me so many different things that I
Speaker 1: probably wouldn't have uh discovered going down this path. I
Speaker 1: want a different path. We have to take a break.
Speaker 1: And the morning thing we gotta pay some bills. You
Speaker 1: got checks. I love cut to It, and I love
Speaker 1: it even more when you download us and subscribe, and
Speaker 1: you can follow us on social media too, Smithie where
Speaker 1: where at? That's at? Cut to It on Instagram? What
Speaker 1: about Twitter? At? Cut to It? Facebook? Cut to It
Speaker 1: featuring Steve Smith singr? What about online? And you can
Speaker 1: follow us at cut to It podcast dot com where
Speaker 1: you can buy merch and you can subscribe to us
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to podcasts. I got all my answers questions. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I got all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for,
Speaker 1: a brother, cut to a podcast dot com. You attended
Speaker 1: made Her Academy charter school, which was not the most
Speaker 1: closest school and proximity being in Liberty City. Why attend
Speaker 1: there as opposed to the other city the other high
Speaker 1: schools that were around you. The closest school my home
Speaker 1: school would have been Miami Central High School, which is
Speaker 1: known being one of the powerhouse football schools UH in
Speaker 1: South Florida. But I think the only reason I didn't
Speaker 1: go there, and you know the Miami Northwestern's and St. Thomas.
Speaker 1: It's not all these different type of schools. Um. It's
Speaker 1: because you know, Matta Economy was a it was a
Speaker 1: newer school for one, weren't known for sports size really baseball. Um.
Speaker 1: And you know, going back to you know, my mom
Speaker 1: definitely wanted me to you know, stay out of trouble,
Speaker 1: you know, and that was the biggest thing. UM. My
Speaker 1: brother went to Miami Northwestern High School where he played
Speaker 1: football and kind of just got lost and fizzled out.
Speaker 1: UM in that type of atmosphere because you know, even
Speaker 1: in the high schools, you see you you see everything
Speaker 1: um that goes on in the streets they bring into
Speaker 1: school when you got you know, security guards armed at
Speaker 1: the school and things like that. You gotta go through,
Speaker 1: you know, metal text all the type of stuff you
Speaker 1: see in a movie. But you know it's real life,
Speaker 1: is regular to us when you talk about it to
Speaker 1: other people. UM. But you know, she just wanted me
Speaker 1: to go to a school where I could you know,
Speaker 1: focus and just do what I need to do. Um
Speaker 1: and at the same time, you know, be myself. UM.
Speaker 1: And at the time, I didn't, like I said, football
Speaker 1: was more of a hobby even in high school. You know,
Speaker 1: I started taking it seriously into my junior year. Um,
Speaker 1: So when I went there, it was more about just
Speaker 1: going somewhere where I can get education, be safe and
Speaker 1: a safe zone and everything like that. Um, because if
Speaker 1: I wanted to play football for real, for real, definitely
Speaker 1: going to that school would not have put me. Uh
Speaker 1: in the best predicument you played four years? Did they
Speaker 1: get you to Utah from South Florida? From South Florida
Speaker 1: for one? Hold on? There should record alone too? Now
Speaker 1: you know they know they didn't get me from Cali
Speaker 1: because of the snow. I'm just telling moving right along,
Speaker 1: moving right along, so big, big trouble, but it's nothing
Speaker 1: to get anybody in trouble with. So I just want
Speaker 1: to make that, make that clear true now. But you
Speaker 1: know I played with two guys at Utah that also
Speaker 1: played with me in high school, being our quarterback, Tyler
Speaker 1: Hunley and one of our receivers in Damark Simkoln. So
Speaker 1: we all played football in South Florida together in high school.
Speaker 1: You know, we played little league football against each other
Speaker 1: with each other and they Hunty played quarterback and uh
Speaker 1: in Pop Warner and stuff where he played all all
Speaker 1: different positions like all you guys. Now, he played quarterback
Speaker 1: literally from literally all the up and that was his
Speaker 1: that was his theme. Um, you did you always play
Speaker 1: running back and you play other position? No? I didn't
Speaker 1: play running back into my junior in high school. UM,
Speaker 1: I played linebacker. Okay. I'm always interested to hear, you know,
Speaker 1: different play different positions guys played, because they always necessarily
Speaker 1: mean that they're gonna play that. In a pro that's
Speaker 1: a frequent transition. Some people may hear them like linebacker
Speaker 1: running back. That happens a lot. Yeah, that's very normal. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It definitely helped me a lot. Um, just kind of knowing,
Speaker 1: you know, how the defense is supposed to work and
Speaker 1: things like that, growing up in in this new position.
Speaker 1: But um, you know I played with both of those
Speaker 1: guys at Holly Indale High School and they first they
Speaker 1: were they early in role. They were the first to
Speaker 1: the early in role. Um and you know, you talk
Speaker 1: wasn't really big on my radar at the time. Um.
Speaker 1: I was still kind of you know, feeling things. I
Speaker 1: was trying to figure out where I wanted to go.
Speaker 1: Um And at the time, I was committed to uh
Speaker 1: to the you Miami, and you know, I was kind
Speaker 1: of figuring that out. I was like, man, I don't
Speaker 1: really want to stay so close to home UM, and
Speaker 1: at the time they were really bad at the same time,
Speaker 1: so and they had just fired uh was his name
Speaker 1: out Golden? I think his name was um especially since
Speaker 1: his uh you're your cousin Santanna and Cineres their Miami
Speaker 1: guys too, So you guys start getting drafted and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, yeah, you know, and I thought about
Speaker 1: all that, but you know, I was able to also
Speaker 1: talk to them and they would just let me know,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of sporge you on path, you know,
Speaker 1: just because you know they went there or you know,
Speaker 1: I've had other family members. I went to the u
Speaker 1: UM asn't just going to school or things like that.
Speaker 1: You know, it was all about just forging your own path. UM.
Speaker 1: Obviously my mom wanted me to go there because it
Speaker 1: was close to home UM, and then my dad wanted
Speaker 1: me to go there because I was his obviously his
Speaker 1: his team, UM, you know, being from Miami and things
Speaker 1: like that at UM. So you know, when that happened,
Speaker 1: you know, I ended up be committed from there, and
Speaker 1: then the biggest two schools for me that I really
Speaker 1: put my my focus on was or really was three
Speaker 1: was UM you know you talk came in late um
Speaker 1: Tennessee was another school that I thought about, UM in Kentucky,
Speaker 1: But overall I just ended up just picking Utah in
Speaker 1: Tennessee as the two schools that I felt was gonna
Speaker 1: give me the best opportunity to you know, do what
Speaker 1: I wanted to do and you know, be who I
Speaker 1: uh could ultimately be. And you know, having two guys
Speaker 1: up there and Utah already I kind of had an
Speaker 1: inside look already what was going on, how things was.
Speaker 1: Because you know, once you get to the school as
Speaker 1: a freshman and things like that, the coaches they love
Speaker 1: you for the first couple of weeks. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: they don't show you that real side who they are. Uh.
Speaker 1: Can those guys kind of let me know how everything
Speaker 1: was working, how things was rolling. They even gave me
Speaker 1: the saw scoop of like how the backs was looking,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So my biggest thing was
Speaker 1: I wanted to come in and play as a freshman.
Speaker 1: You know, I didn't want no coaches to be sitting
Speaker 1: there talking about you know, the whole favoritism thing and
Speaker 1: all that other type of stuff. So you know, you
Speaker 1: talk ended up being the spot for me because mostly
Speaker 1: because those two guys out there already, so I was
Speaker 1: already familiar with those two and the running back position
Speaker 1: that Utah was, um, you know, I thought for the taking,
Speaker 1: even though they had a senior back kind of just
Speaker 1: you know, being his first year absolutely starting um and
Speaker 1: who is who is the who's the running back your
Speaker 1: freshman year Joe Williams, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, So I
Speaker 1: was like I felt my all right, man, I can
Speaker 1: come in there and do what I need to do.
Speaker 1: So and that was a big thing for me, just
Speaker 1: kind of seeing that depth chart part of everything. And
Speaker 1: then having coach ericson Dennis Ericson uh was was was
Speaker 1: huge because not every day you get to come across
Speaker 1: the coach like that. Real. Yeah, you had this opportunity
Speaker 1: and I love because you're still young, so you have
Speaker 1: enough memory, right, and the memory and the perspective. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm be forty two, so it's like I want
Speaker 1: to say, yeah, of course I was thinking all the
Speaker 1: good things, right, And so did you see college as
Speaker 1: a path to get a degree, to go to the
Speaker 1: NFL for a better life? Like there's no right or
Speaker 1: wrong answer, but I'm just interested to here. How did
Speaker 1: you see college, especially based off your circumstances and surroundings.
Speaker 1: I am extremely interested too here because you're not old
Speaker 1: enough to be seasoned to be like, no, I was
Speaker 1: going to college. Yeah you you still had the like
Speaker 1: you still got to like you know, I was just
Speaker 1: trying to get I was just trying to make it. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I definitely was just trying to go to the I
Speaker 1: wasn't worried about no, thank you because something like live
Speaker 1: They were like, no I saw this, Like if you
Speaker 1: don't see don't give the PC answer. Yeah no, soow too.
Speaker 1: If you don't see people around you that same man
Speaker 1: go to college to get a degree to get a job.
Speaker 1: If you don't see that that is not embedded in
Speaker 1: your you're not gonna mimic that. Yeah, and if you
Speaker 1: want to go to the league, all roads point to
Speaker 1: college exactly. There's no other there is no there's no
Speaker 1: there's no there's no there's no minors. Right. Yeah, Like
Speaker 1: I wasn't worried about no degree. I didn't take the
Speaker 1: degree part serious until I ended up coming back my
Speaker 1: senior year. Um, and I was like all right, I'm
Speaker 1: a well, just go ahead and finish it and you
Speaker 1: know kind of doing you know, my whole thing was
Speaker 1: coming in playing three years and you know, getting about
Speaker 1: it there I was, you know, the easiest, fastest route
Speaker 1: was going in, starting balling, do what I gotta do,
Speaker 1: um and then get out and you know, take care
Speaker 1: of my people. And I was my whole mindset from
Speaker 1: day one. How would you describe your four years at Utah?
Speaker 1: You know, well, and not the football park, but just
Speaker 1: you know, the regular parts the zach Mas's Park, the
Speaker 1: parts that you know from Liberty City, from South Florida,
Speaker 1: from just that from a guy who I'm assuming you know,
Speaker 1: it isn't really running into a lot of snow that
Speaker 1: that that isn't ain't seen an ain't seen a mountain
Speaker 1: that close. Like you know, you you you're going, you're
Speaker 1: walking on the campus university. You talk, bro, if you
Speaker 1: take a you look up on a clear day, it
Speaker 1: is gorgeous mountains and if you've never seen that. I
Speaker 1: ain't talking about the little mo hills. I ain't talking.
Speaker 1: I'm not because I mean when you go to on
Speaker 1: certain coasts, the certain areas, like you go you see
Speaker 1: a waterfall, like you see waterfall and picture then you
Speaker 1: go somewhere anxiety, you like, that's a harder, that's a waterful.
Speaker 1: You see. You teach snow like you you get up
Speaker 1: the middle of things, you know, around November, and you
Speaker 1: can get as several inches of snow and you're like, man,
Speaker 1: there's cold out here. Complete culture shock from a geography Stampard. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean outside of the football part of everything it was,
Speaker 1: it was it was real smooth. To me. It was
Speaker 1: a big uh, like you said, culture shock, um, And
Speaker 1: it was just a really good spot for me because
Speaker 1: I'm a really laid back, like I don't try to
Speaker 1: stand out, try and talk much and things like that.
Speaker 1: I'm more of a you know, just kicked up, laid
Speaker 1: back kind of do um so you talk. It was
Speaker 1: kind of like that state for me. You know, I
Speaker 1: was able to just to you know, do what I
Speaker 1: want to do. Um pretty much move incognito in a sense.
Speaker 1: Incognito you're a freshman year, maybe a sophomore. Yeah, definitely
Speaker 1: not after that, but but I was, you know, just
Speaker 1: everything was just real smooth. Man. Honestly, I think that
Speaker 1: was some of the best times I had just with
Speaker 1: the people I met, guys I hanged out with teammates
Speaker 1: and just other people around the state, um that you
Speaker 1: know embraced me and things like that. Right at the
Speaker 1: Steve's point, you are the first three time thousand yard
Speaker 1: rusher in school history, all time leading Russia at the
Speaker 1: University of Utah, Pack twelve Offensive Player of the Year
Speaker 1: your senior year, finish your career with four thousand, sixty
Speaker 1: seven rushing yards and thirty eight Russian touchdowns, both of
Speaker 1: which are school records. So and you bawled out for sure,
Speaker 1: you weren't going incognito much long after that. Man, you
Speaker 1: you got drafted pick. But what I would really like
Speaker 1: go down the passage. You got drafted when things were
Speaker 1: starting to just get into lockdown, where things were with
Speaker 1: the virus, things were starting to get where they are.
Speaker 1: Take yourself, if you had to be drafted this year
Speaker 1: in these issues, how difficult would it be. I think
Speaker 1: it's extremely tough. I think even though I was, you know,
Speaker 1: going through when it was just happening, you know, I
Speaker 1: had already done some of the more important things to
Speaker 1: combine the uh you know, the people that when you
Speaker 1: go to the meetings all those things, and these guys,
Speaker 1: you know, they don't get a chance to do that
Speaker 1: this year. You know, everything is over either zoom um.
Speaker 1: You know they don't get to see you in person,
Speaker 1: catch you up on the board. You know, all these
Speaker 1: physical things that is actually really important. Um why is it?
Speaker 1: Why is it important? From from a person who's went
Speaker 1: through it, I think it's just important just because like
Speaker 1: you know, when you walk into a room and you
Speaker 1: got you know, either you know a coach that you've seen,
Speaker 1: a famous scholers you've see when you've grown up, um
Speaker 1: on the team. Uh, and you have all these you know,
Speaker 1: some of these guys you don't really know, but you
Speaker 1: know they are important because they're in that room. Pretty
Speaker 1: much get to doing for a job that can set
Speaker 1: you up for you know, if you do it right, um,
Speaker 1: and you're blessing enough to set you up for life
Speaker 1: and you know, your kids and things like that. So
Speaker 1: from that standpoint, that's the type of mindset I had.
Speaker 1: You know, I wanted to make sure I came in
Speaker 1: there and you know, hopefully, hey, this is what I
Speaker 1: can do, and make sure I made sure I made
Speaker 1: the most best type of lasting impression I can make. UM.
Speaker 1: But you know, some guys they get you know, you
Speaker 1: get nervous and you start shaking without you kind of
Speaker 1: even knowing you're doing it. And then you try to
Speaker 1: tell yourself stop doing it, and you can still be
Speaker 1: doing it. And you start studying over your words and
Speaker 1: then you're writing on the board. You start having all
Speaker 1: these little squiggly lines. You gotta erase stuff over and over.
Speaker 1: They are examining every move. They're examining everybody language, how
Speaker 1: you know, how does he? How is that individual? They
Speaker 1: they examine if what chair you sit in? Like I
Speaker 1: had legit had the coach put a chair in the middles,
Speaker 1: two chairs and you and to see if I was
Speaker 1: gonna sit on the end over I was gonna sit
Speaker 1: in the middle. Like those things was just like crazy
Speaker 1: to me, Like those are things that I had to
Speaker 1: really prep forward because that's what they was looking for.
Speaker 1: Like at the combine, I met with one team and
Speaker 1: they legit had me do a staring contest just to
Speaker 1: see how long if it was if I was out
Speaker 1: for or not, Like that was one there. Wait, so
Speaker 1: they wanted to determine if you were alpha by having
Speaker 1: a staring contest. Yeah, Like it was legit, Like I
Speaker 1: did it like three times with the same team, And
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't know what's going on here,
Speaker 1: but what would have happened if you was cocka question? Right?
Speaker 1: Like here's a stupid part though, but then that if
Speaker 1: you come in with the you know, the Barvardo that's
Speaker 1: too much, then you you're gonna get dame for it.
Speaker 1: So it's starts one of those things. You know, you
Speaker 1: can't win for losing. Yeah, and it's like, I'm we're
Speaker 1: not gonna ask you, but I know I'm guessing that
Speaker 1: team did not finish very well this year? Did they?
Speaker 1: They actually were solid. It was solid this year. They
Speaker 1: made the playoffs. They made the playoffs. Yeah, I just
Speaker 1: thought it was weird, but it was. It was. It
Speaker 1: was crazy though. Yeah, it's I'm telling you, it's be
Speaker 1: doing some goofy stuff. Every time you tell me about this,
Speaker 1: I learned something new. And you get enough smart people
Speaker 1: in the room, you'll find out there's a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of dumblets man having to you know, distance, socially distance.
Speaker 1: How has things been for you for me? Um? You know,
Speaker 1: I'm a I'm an introvert for one, so you know,
Speaker 1: I like to be by myself, possibly as most as
Speaker 1: I possibly can you know, So COVID for me wasn't
Speaker 1: a terrible thing as then you know, not being able
Speaker 1: to get the moved around, you know, UM and hanging
Speaker 1: out with people and things like that. You know, I
Speaker 1: had my girl with me UM the entire time, and honestly,
Speaker 1: you know, to a certain degree, that was at times
Speaker 1: the most that I needed UM. But you know, it
Speaker 1: was hard because I was in Cali UM doing the
Speaker 1: pre draft times and I didn't leave Calli until I
Speaker 1: came out here for training camp to Buffalo for training camp,
Speaker 1: so I didn't even get a chance to know during
Speaker 1: that entire time. You know, that's usually when guys will
Speaker 1: go home after the draft or go home after you know,
Speaker 1: some type of things and go home and try and
Speaker 1: to spend time with their family and things like that.
Speaker 1: But for me, it was a little bit different because
Speaker 1: I didn't get a chance to really do that UM
Speaker 1: as much as I would have liked. I went home
Speaker 1: in the beginning of last year from January it's about
Speaker 1: uh before training count one time for a week, right,
Speaker 1: so that entire time I wasn't home. And then being
Speaker 1: in college, you don't go home like when ever you want,
Speaker 1: Like you just can't get up and go. Um, and
Speaker 1: being all over the Utah, it was a lot more
Speaker 1: harder for me to get where. That's a five hour flight,
Speaker 1: um for one. So, I hadn't been home in a minute.
Speaker 1: And I was probably the toughest part because you know,
Speaker 1: I haven't been home for for a lot of time,
Speaker 1: being away from home for four years in college. Um,
Speaker 1: going home probably you know here and there over four years.
Speaker 1: That was the hardest part for me, just not being
Speaker 1: able to be around my family, grow by my nieces
Speaker 1: and my nephews, and my brothers and my sisters and
Speaker 1: you know, just the entire family and things like that. M. So,
Speaker 1: you were drafted by the Buffalo Bills. You're running backs.
Speaker 1: Coach said you're a throwback guy. The Bills GM said,
Speaker 1: you're playing that loves confrontation. How would you describe yourself
Speaker 1: as a running back? Definitely, very very physical. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: that's the way I like to play the game. I
Speaker 1: like to set us, set the tone, you know, just
Speaker 1: for myself and for my team. UM. And you know,
Speaker 1: hope that those guys just follow that suit, because when
Speaker 1: I'm coming out to play, when I'm going on that field,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm definitely leaving everything I got, no matter
Speaker 1: what nick knacks I got. You know, I'm playing tough
Speaker 1: as ship as much as I possibly can. I think
Speaker 1: it's about that time. Just take a little breatherd do
Speaker 1: good do. Let's getting down to do it good. Hey Gerard,
Speaker 1: why did you get that T shirt? Oh? Yes, I
Speaker 1: got it from cut to a podcast dot com where
Speaker 1: we have exclusive merchandise. Shout out to our guys at
Speaker 1: seven or four shot. But yeah, you can go on,
Speaker 1: buy you a T shirt, subscribe to us wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. Every coach has their own way of practicing.
Speaker 1: And I know coach McDermott because he was you know,
Speaker 1: I had him in Carolina's defense coordinator and I also
Speaker 1: been a Buffalo and I've seen how they practice. I
Speaker 1: was practiced for you when you first came out there
Speaker 1: based off you know what what you've talked about. When
Speaker 1: I first got there war, I did not know what
Speaker 1: to fact um, what drills were doing. You know, all
Speaker 1: the type of stuff was. We didn't have O T
Speaker 1: s and all that other stuff. You know, it was
Speaker 1: straight from zoom and then you know, straight to the
Speaker 1: field pretty much. Um. But you know, it was definitely rough.
Speaker 1: You know, I had a lot of rough days where
Speaker 1: I came out of it like damn, I don't want
Speaker 1: to watch that film, you know what I mean, Like damn,
Speaker 1: I know I gotta get better at this and things
Speaker 1: like that. So it was a lot of just you
Speaker 1: know a lot of up and down days. But you know,
Speaker 1: I try to do my best to where I can
Speaker 1: just try to do my best to where I so
Speaker 1: I can piece good days together, um and just start
Speaker 1: to try and find a rhythm in the offense and
Speaker 1: the team, um and kind of just you know, find
Speaker 1: my role uh as a as a player. So as
Speaker 1: the newness of being an NFL player has it has
Speaker 1: it worn off yet? Now? I don't think it ever
Speaker 1: wears off. Um, I don't think that's something that would
Speaker 1: happen for me. I'm just you know, it's it's something
Speaker 1: new every year, you know what I mean. Like football
Speaker 1: is consistently changing. You know, the coaches can change, players
Speaker 1: can change around you and things like that. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, I think the best way to try and
Speaker 1: stay the best as something you do is to always
Speaker 1: attack it as if it's something that's new to you.
Speaker 1: You know, I think once you start getting comfortable, that's
Speaker 1: when you get passed up. Um, Like, all right, I
Speaker 1: rushed for thousand yards, you know, three or four times.
Speaker 1: You know, Okay, I'm feeling you know, all right, well
Speaker 1: I got it, you know what I mean. That's when
Speaker 1: somebody comes in. Now you're looking like, man, I shouldn't
Speaker 1: have been taking a break when I should have been working.
Speaker 1: M You know, everyone has a reaction when they get drafted,
Speaker 1: you know, so what was your initial reaction of you
Speaker 1: got drafted? You know, you're on the Buffalo Bills? What's
Speaker 1: in your mind? Like, I want to come in and
Speaker 1: do what I want to make sure that I'm I played.
Speaker 1: That was the biggest thing, you know. I didn't want
Speaker 1: to come in and be a draft pick that it
Speaker 1: has to you know, sit back and kind of still
Speaker 1: learned offense after being in all these zoom calls and
Speaker 1: being in you know, weeks and weeks of having a
Speaker 1: chance to learn to playbook. You know, I wanted to
Speaker 1: make sure that I came as prepared as possible. Um,
Speaker 1: to make sure that I was able to put out
Speaker 1: what I know I can do and then also be
Speaker 1: able to be culchable to learn more things about my game, UM,
Speaker 1: and have a chance to just continue to try and
Speaker 1: be a well rounded player. UM. In this first year,
Speaker 1: you had a pretty bad injury. What has it been
Speaker 1: been like for you through this process to get back
Speaker 1: on the road and recovery. Uh, right now, it hasn't
Speaker 1: really been from a physical standpoint, tough mentally. UM. You know,
Speaker 1: I feel a little bit in a in a sense,
Speaker 1: a little bit more comfortable with it because I've had
Speaker 1: an injury before back in college, while I tore my
Speaker 1: meniscus and was surgery needed, and coming back from that
Speaker 1: and going into a senior season and all that type
Speaker 1: of stuff that was you know, I guess you say
Speaker 1: pressure around all that type of stuff. UM. So when
Speaker 1: it comes to this, I feel as if I'm in
Speaker 1: some type of familiar territory and I know what it takes.
Speaker 1: How you have to attack rehabs. You have to be
Speaker 1: in a positive mindsets every single day when you come
Speaker 1: in there. You can't go in there with a negative
Speaker 1: mindset like, man, why I do this, Why I gotta
Speaker 1: do that? Uh? It hurt? You know, you gotta Even
Speaker 1: when you leave to go home stretch all this type
Speaker 1: of stuff, you still need to be able to do things.
Speaker 1: So I was able to kind of go through all
Speaker 1: those hardships my first time around with a surgery. Um.
Speaker 1: That took me off the field. UM, and I went
Speaker 1: through those times where it was dark days, not talking
Speaker 1: to people, not in even the house, going to rehab
Speaker 1: like damn, I don't want to do this day, you know,
Speaker 1: putting off back bad vibs to the trainers, acting like
Speaker 1: if they've done something, all that type of stuff. So
Speaker 1: now with this, you know, did you talk to him
Speaker 1: about my rehab? No, but that was gonna be my
Speaker 1: follow up, so you just walked right into it. And
Speaker 1: I felt like, I feel like he gave you. I
Speaker 1: feel like he gave you a laundry list of my rehab.
Speaker 1: I did not think. I did not leak any information,
Speaker 1: just exact zac gotta he got the paper up like,
Speaker 1: let me hit on the base. This is all the
Speaker 1: ship to Steve went through when he did this same rehab.
Speaker 1: Can't have bad bad vibes. I'm like, chat vibes. Check
Speaker 1: this chat goodness, gracious man, it wasn't this the old
Speaker 1: school boy right here? Yea, he got all the good vibes.
Speaker 1: I'm over there, like every time you say something, I'm like,
Speaker 1: because it's relatable though, right, it's very relabel. Why I
Speaker 1: couldn't be that positive? You can be there. But he's
Speaker 1: saying it wasn't he But he just said every day
Speaker 1: wasn't a good day. I know. But he's he's he's
Speaker 1: going through it like I would feel feel it and
Speaker 1: live it and walk it or hobblet or you know,
Speaker 1: scooter it. Yeah, that was that was definitely me my
Speaker 1: first going surgery through because that was like, man, I
Speaker 1: mean I told meniscus back in January, right, and no
Speaker 1: one knew it was tor I didn't even know what
Speaker 1: it was torn right, And I played nine games my
Speaker 1: junior season, uh with it, and you know, my whole
Speaker 1: mindset is all right, I'm at that point now where
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know, I'm putting up numbers. You know,
Speaker 1: I've ran four thousand yards in the first seven eight
Speaker 1: games or whatever, and you know, we're looking like we're
Speaker 1: gonna be able to make it to the pack, to
Speaker 1: a championship game. And you know, Tyler gets hurt, you
Speaker 1: brace's collar bone. So I'm like, all right, everything's on me, right,
Speaker 1: And throughout this entire time, my meniscus has been torn.
Speaker 1: You know, it sounds where I just been my knee.
Speaker 1: If I'm going to gonnaknee orf, I get into my
Speaker 1: bed and my knee a lock up. But I've had
Speaker 1: three in my rise during this entire time, and nothing
Speaker 1: popped up on the m r I. Um, So from
Speaker 1: that standpoint, I'm not thinking anything terrible can happen to
Speaker 1: me right now. Had certain injuries and I'm going through
Speaker 1: them through the season and I'm just doing my theme.
Speaker 1: I'm having my best year as a collegiate player, and
Speaker 1: then the injury happens. You know, I'm trying to I'm
Speaker 1: just devastated because I'm like, man, I was gonna come
Speaker 1: here to three years, ball out and go to the
Speaker 1: league and get drafted and you know, take care of
Speaker 1: my family, and then the injury happens and it's a
Speaker 1: year delayed. Now, Um, where you have you can't do
Speaker 1: what you wanted to do. You feel like all your
Speaker 1: dreams have just been shattered and all this type of stuff. Um. So,
Speaker 1: you know, on top of the the surgery and the rehab,
Speaker 1: I had all those feelings as well, where you know,
Speaker 1: I definitely went into just a dark mode where I
Speaker 1: just wasn't you know, my regular self, you ment in
Speaker 1: that dark mode? How do you take care of yourself?
Speaker 1: How do you take care of your mental You mentioned
Speaker 1: the tor meniscus, now the ankle injury. How do you
Speaker 1: how does zach self care for me? I mean that
Speaker 1: point right there definitely taught me a lot about myself
Speaker 1: because I never have been tested mentally in that in
Speaker 1: that in that in that form um, So that showed
Speaker 1: me a lot about myself. They told me what I
Speaker 1: could handle as a person um at this point in
Speaker 1: my life and what I couldn't handle. And you know,
Speaker 1: if I needed to rely on people, um, you know,
Speaker 1: I have my girlfriend there who till this day. If
Speaker 1: I need something and it comes to that mental part,
Speaker 1: that's a person that I can you know, kind of
Speaker 1: show to something off in the sense until I'm able
Speaker 1: to just really fully get myself back together and you
Speaker 1: know that you know pretty much everything's gonna be fine,
Speaker 1: and you know I can just continue to just to
Speaker 1: move along. Now that you're now that you've been in
Speaker 1: the league, you you'veviously seen the highs and the lows.
Speaker 1: You've been injured. What do you believe you can get
Speaker 1: out of this game. That's a good question. Um. For one,
Speaker 1: I know, I want to be one of the better
Speaker 1: players to ever play this game. Um. And that's another
Speaker 1: thing that for me was It's always been a passion
Speaker 1: and something that drove me. Um. And there's some times
Speaker 1: when I'm sitting at home, Uh, well I'm wanting to
Speaker 1: rehab and I'm like, man, I gotta I gotta go
Speaker 1: through all these things to be great, you know. And
Speaker 1: no one said being great is easy. UM. So I
Speaker 1: definitely think I can, hopefully one day when it's all
Speaker 1: said it done, after I walk away from the game. UM,
Speaker 1: I want to know that I was dominant on every
Speaker 1: level that I played. UM. And want to be someone
Speaker 1: that you know, appeers of the game, that I played with,
Speaker 1: respected a lot, and knew that I brought it each
Speaker 1: and every day, um, you know, with along with you know, uh,
Speaker 1: family security and things like that. All Right, So our
Speaker 1: last segment, Zach is called the Deep three. They're just
Speaker 1: three questions that we asked to take things to a
Speaker 1: deeper level to figure out who you are outside of
Speaker 1: being a football player. So Smithie, go ahead and give
Speaker 1: him the first one of the date three. All right,
Speaker 1: who is Zack Moss. Zack Moss is a guy who
Speaker 1: is definitely self driven. UM. You know, family already, and
Speaker 1: guy loves to have a good time with people that
Speaker 1: he cares about and loves. UM. And you know, just
Speaker 1: try to see the best in people and try to
Speaker 1: get the best out of life, UM. And try to
Speaker 1: see every day, um, at the best that I can
Speaker 1: possibly see it. You know, there's a lot of things
Speaker 1: going around the world, and you know, being in the
Speaker 1: position that I mean, you know, I try to be
Speaker 1: as grateful as I can for that because I can
Speaker 1: be a lot of different places in this world right now. UM.
Speaker 1: I could have been born in a lot of different places,
Speaker 1: born to a lot of different families and things like that.
Speaker 1: So I just try to take what God blessed me
Speaker 1: with and the people that he put around me, um,
Speaker 1: and take everything good or bad um as a blessing
Speaker 1: and try to learn from all. All right, So who
Speaker 1: is Zack most in five years? Hopefully is a better
Speaker 1: version of himself today? UM, And you know, hopefully one
Speaker 1: of the better backs in this league. And you know
Speaker 1: that hopefully have a family married, um, and you know,
Speaker 1: just seeing life you know, continue to grow on me. UM.
Speaker 1: And just become a better person. Uh. And you know,
Speaker 1: hopefully I'm being able to do a lot of good
Speaker 1: things around you know, the communities that I'm able to
Speaker 1: be in. You know, you haven't had the chance to
Speaker 1: go back home, you know, but at some point you
Speaker 1: will get the chance to, you know, as things get
Speaker 1: back to normal things, whatever normal looks like. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: For the all the little kids and all of the
Speaker 1: young guys that are now looking up to you. You know,
Speaker 1: how do you how do you plan or how did
Speaker 1: or do you desire to or have any plans to
Speaker 1: really give back to your community and not your community
Speaker 1: in Florida, you know, I guess what what place or
Speaker 1: where do you believe will be your community? Uh? For one,
Speaker 1: I just wanted, you know, hopefully if I'm blessed to
Speaker 1: be in a position to do you know, things like that.
Speaker 1: You know, for one, I want to be able to
Speaker 1: do something where I try to give and continue to
Speaker 1: you know, meet different people who are also able to
Speaker 1: help me bring you know, a vision to life and
Speaker 1: things like that. Um. But to try to give everyone
Speaker 1: a chance that equality um from you know, just teaching
Speaker 1: them about equality to the academic part about equality Um,
Speaker 1: you see all these how the h b c US
Speaker 1: nowadays is are um starting to become more you know
Speaker 1: prevalent in the you know, in society as a whole, um,
Speaker 1: and not just to African Americans, but um, you know,
Speaker 1: just giving people a chance to you know, be able
Speaker 1: to go to a library, showing that hey, a library
Speaker 1: is not the worst thing in the world, um, and
Speaker 1: just letting them know that you just because you come
Speaker 1: from a certain place doesn't mean you don't have these
Speaker 1: same eco opportunities to learn the right way, um, to
Speaker 1: you know, enhance your learning, enhance who you are as
Speaker 1: a person, and to try different things and go around
Speaker 1: the world different places. And that was one of the
Speaker 1: biggest reasons why I also chose to go away from
Speaker 1: uh being home and go to college there was to
Speaker 1: just try and you know, broaden myself and learn who
Speaker 1: I was the person. And going to Utah what I
Speaker 1: thought was the best place because it gave me a
Speaker 1: chance to see different people, see how people lived in
Speaker 1: different places, because I didn't even know where Utah was,
Speaker 1: um on the map until like until I got out there. Wow,
Speaker 1: that's pretty cool. Well we've had a great time, which
Speaker 1: you man, I appreciate you taking the time. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys that you hop on with y'all. Man,
Speaker 1: you are a unique person. You are well worth it,
Speaker 1: you are competent and most of all, your lovable. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Singior, I'm Gerard Little John and this is
Speaker 1: cut to It. Cut to It with Steve Smith Senior.
Speaker 1: That Is Me is a production of Cut to It LLC,
Speaker 1: Balto Creative Media, The Black Effect and I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcast from I Heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio Apple Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve
Speaker 1: Smith Senior, co host Gerard Little John, talent in booking
Speaker 1: manager Joe Fusci, Social media teaming Wesley Robbinson and John
Speaker 1: show from Balto Creative Media. Cut to It is produced
Speaker 1: by Brian Balka Chevic and Meredith Carter, with production assistance
Speaker 1: by Alex Lebrek, Production Coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by
Speaker 1: Alex Johnson, lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You ain't
Speaker 1: heard about it, then we're about to let you know.
Speaker 1: It's all