Speaker 1: Drafted is a production of tree Fort Media, Clutch Sports Group,
Speaker 1: and I Heart Radio. Hello, how you doing. Let's get it,
Speaker 1: Let's get it. Oh my gosh, I work for it
Speaker 1: is man. Welcome to Season three of Drafted. I'm Steven
Speaker 1: Johnson and we're back with the two thousand one NFL Draft. Yeah.
Speaker 1: This season, we're following six elite college football players as
Speaker 1: they make the leap from campus to their new NFL
Speaker 1: teams and cities. In these ten episodes, we'll hear firsthand
Speaker 1: personal experiences from behind the scenes at one of history's
Speaker 1: most unique NFL drafts, in person in Cleveland and at
Speaker 1: home and in living room and even in cabins all
Speaker 1: across the country. Airbnb to cabin up in Big Bear
Speaker 1: right off the lake, and he's like, Hey, I'm about
Speaker 1: to be there. What daughter I come in? Well, there's
Speaker 1: ten tho people in front of the door. So I
Speaker 1: have no idea. This is a once in a lifetime
Speaker 1: Like literally, this is never ever gonna happen again. You know,
Speaker 1: I only have one shot. We'll hear from the players,
Speaker 1: their friends, family, coaches, teammates, and agents at Clutched Sports Group,
Speaker 1: including Clutch Sports founder and CEO Rich Paul. My kids
Speaker 1: asked me, I'll be flying commercial private now. I'm like,
Speaker 1: where are y'all getting this stuff from? At least take
Speaker 1: in Delton. From the college football season to the scouting
Speaker 1: process to the draft itself, this year was anything but
Speaker 1: business as usual. Obviously made air Wina, you gotta understand
Speaker 1: this has been a weird year. I mean, you're doing
Speaker 1: interviews over zoom. Most people only have like first round
Speaker 1: grades on like sixteen prospects in the first round. So
Speaker 1: it's just so much uncertainty with prospects. Even with tens
Speaker 1: of thousands of fans in Cleveland for the draft, only
Speaker 1: thirteen players attended in person this year, one of whom
Speaker 1: is Davante Smith, wide receiver from the University of Alabama.
Speaker 1: I'm a black hat on black going low. I go
Speaker 1: with the blue games to the black bag that one
Speaker 1: not beside this year large set see the media. DeVante
Speaker 1: had one of the indisputably greatest seasons in college football history.
Speaker 1: He won the Heisman Trophy, the National Championship, the m
Speaker 1: v P of the title Game, and was named the
Speaker 1: Associated Press Player of the Year, along with almost every
Speaker 1: other award available to players at his position. Now the
Speaker 1: most decorated wide receiver in thirty years, waits to find
Speaker 1: out his future. He shops for pants and some T
Speaker 1: shirts at the mall in Cleveland. I can try. I
Speaker 1: got a pack of white t might be mediums. Might
Speaker 1: be mediums because I only when my white teeth fresh
Speaker 1: out the pat one time or nef I'm winning, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be under another shirt. Come on, man, I think
Speaker 1: I might go to large. Gaudy stats and a trophy
Speaker 1: case full of awards still don't fully explain how dominant
Speaker 1: Davante was this season. He was named the most valuable
Speaker 1: player of the championship game against Ohio State, setting records
Speaker 1: for catches and touchdowns despite only playing about half of
Speaker 1: the game. He spans Chris Fowler summed it up during
Speaker 1: the championship. Touchdown facement cannot restop he truly special performance
Speaker 1: by the higspand trophy wedner three touchdowns in the first half,
Speaker 1: and despite Davante's all inspiring performance throughout the entire year,
Speaker 1: NFL scouts and draft analysts only want to talk about
Speaker 1: the one question he's asking himself right now, Can he
Speaker 1: really fit into a medium? They meet him on a
Speaker 1: large the tea a medium, Davante is listed at six
Speaker 1: ft even and one hundred and seventy pounds, and for
Speaker 1: a variety of reasons, those are the only numbers NFL
Speaker 1: teams seem to care about when discussing his draft prospects,
Speaker 1: not the one hundred and seventeen catches last year for
Speaker 1: over eight hundred yards and twenty three touchdowns, or the
Speaker 1: nearly four thousand yards receiving and forty six touchdowns he
Speaker 1: piled up over his college career. Teams openly question how
Speaker 1: good he'll be as a pro because they don't think
Speaker 1: he's big enough. In other words, they think you can't
Speaker 1: be a great receiver in the NFL unless you wear
Speaker 1: a large or an extra large. So as Davante gets
Speaker 1: back to his hotel, he constantly has to watch and
Speaker 1: listen to news stories like these on his phone, and
Speaker 1: the conversation about him is his weight being a book
Speaker 1: sixty six and whether not automatically discounts him from being drafted.
Speaker 1: There's a difference between size and deal, and DeVante isn't
Speaker 1: surprised by the doubters, even though he personally caught more
Speaker 1: touchdowns over the season than the entire Ohio state team,
Speaker 1: which finished second behind Alabama this past year. Being questioned
Speaker 1: about his size is nothing new for a guy nicknamed
Speaker 1: the Slim Reaper. Here's his mom, Christina Smiths Silvh, elaborating
Speaker 1: he was always a little small, stroony, low key, but
Speaker 1: as he went on eighth grade football started to be
Speaker 1: more of a challenge for him. All of the guys
Speaker 1: are like bigger than him, so they I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: say they intimidated him, but it was a challenge. It
Speaker 1: was a challenge. He wasn't just smaller than the other guys.
Speaker 1: He was tiny in high school. Here's Vincent Sanders, his
Speaker 1: long time mentor Barbara and close family friend. He's like
Speaker 1: a so my freshman year hunt twenty some pounds, you
Speaker 1: get hit, hit that man painful, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So you're like, I'm small, you know, and so many
Speaker 1: people like, oh man, you're small, show your So we're
Speaker 1: seeing in his head too, same way, you know, people
Speaker 1: talking about it. He's a kid, you know. You know
Speaker 1: your job as a kid is to respect adult. So
Speaker 1: you listen to what they're saying. But if a group
Speaker 1: of don't say you're you're gonna start believing his mind,
Speaker 1: Christina again, everybody talking about, you know, his way, everyone
Speaker 1: doubting him. He tried not to let that get to
Speaker 1: him mentally, but as a mother, you know, I I
Speaker 1: know that guy to him, but I think that pushed him,
Speaker 1: just trying to live up to that standard, just live
Speaker 1: up to you know. I may be small, but I
Speaker 1: have the heart of a lion. He wasn't just the
Speaker 1: smallest guy in the football team either. He was the
Speaker 1: smallest guy and almost every sport he played in, almost
Speaker 1: every setting he played in. He was the smallest guy
Speaker 1: in the neighborhood. And he always wanted to play with
Speaker 1: the older guys, and if they didn't pick him, he
Speaker 1: would get mad and take his basketball of football, and
Speaker 1: then that would cause a little scuffle. But yeah, he
Speaker 1: would get into a few scuffles every now and then,
Speaker 1: and that mouth sometimes would get him. I never backed
Speaker 1: down for nobody. I don't care who you are, how
Speaker 1: old you is. This is Davante. I've always been scrapping,
Speaker 1: Like I stayed in fight when I was young. I
Speaker 1: was in trouble maker. I mean I stayed in trouble
Speaker 1: and things like that growing up. And they meet Louisiana,
Speaker 1: a real town of about four thousand. He constantly played
Speaker 1: pickup basketball games at the neighborhood park near his house,
Speaker 1: often with older kids and his older cousins. Here's Vincent
Speaker 1: Sanders again on those neighborhood games. Because he was just
Speaker 1: at his age, so he was like the competition of
Speaker 1: his age wasn't wasn't competition. So he come out through it.
Speaker 1: The big boys. You know what I'm saying. So you
Speaker 1: might have somebody out the thirty five years old that
Speaker 1: played college ball. So know what they do. We're talking
Speaker 1: grown his uncle's cousins. They ain't taking an he drive
Speaker 1: away who and they like six three six four. Here
Speaker 1: you are, five s coming through the lane. They're gonna
Speaker 1: give you what you're looking for. They're getting that elba
Speaker 1: that time, get up, you ain't you ain't hurt, just
Speaker 1: just rules up to get up. Let's go. So he
Speaker 1: you know him doing that, and they nobody took the
Speaker 1: knees in on him. He tough, built four, toughest, tough
Speaker 1: mentally and physically. So even doing his whole life, people
Speaker 1: felt that like I was not so like they can
Speaker 1: take advantage of me. That's why I stayed fighting because
Speaker 1: I always like show like, nah, I ain't the one body,
Speaker 1: so like you're gonna come over and messing with me,
Speaker 1: Now we gotta fight. It was just like around here
Speaker 1: was just like fight for your respect. If you just
Speaker 1: let him keep doing it, they're gonna do it. But
Speaker 1: once you, once you fight, they're gonna respect it. It
Speaker 1: was one time, well because I had to do that part,
Speaker 1: just like kept messing when me kept messing with me,
Speaker 1: Like he told me straight. He was like, either you're
Speaker 1: gonna fight him or you're gonna fight me. So I
Speaker 1: fought other dude and just left it at that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he did get bullied a little bit. This is DeVante's mom,
Speaker 1: Christina once again. But I think it helped him. You know,
Speaker 1: he knew that he was the smallest kid, but he
Speaker 1: was determined to play with the bigger kids. So I
Speaker 1: think that kind of helps shape him and mold him
Speaker 1: into the person that he is today. I may be
Speaker 1: the smallest, but hey, I have the heart, I have
Speaker 1: the drive. I'm gonna I'm gonna stick with it. I
Speaker 1: want to play, So you know, I think it did
Speaker 1: help him at you know, some aspects of his life.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. DeVante and a member of his
Speaker 1: team at Clutch Sports, Carmel Mamalalu. Right back to the
Speaker 1: hotel in Cleveland. They're on their way to a jersey
Speaker 1: signing with another football legend. Like a ten or fifteen
Speaker 1: minute window to do the Today Show. Yeah, I guess
Speaker 1: film it today, it'll run tomorrow. Yeah, that's what I
Speaker 1: just told Sean. So what's what's the Today Show? It's like,
Speaker 1: what is it? Yeah, that's the Morning show Downtown. It's
Speaker 1: like good morning shots on. Oh I know what you're
Speaker 1: talking about that I think I know. Oh yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: M For an introverted guy who might not know what
Speaker 1: the Today Show is, DeVante's life is about to become
Speaker 1: completely unrecognizable. I'm quiet, I don't like going out. I'm
Speaker 1: to myself, like play sports, work out ground it. So
Speaker 1: it was just like that's what I was around, and
Speaker 1: that's all I could do. So that's wise just been.
Speaker 1: It's just been what I do. Like his stature, his quiet,
Speaker 1: humble confidence. It's easy to overlook in a sport full
Speaker 1: of bigger players and larger than life personalities, especially in
Speaker 1: the media climate built on shocking or controversial soundbites. Here's
Speaker 1: his mom, Christina again, he's not the kid that wants
Speaker 1: to go out to different parties or whatever. He didn't
Speaker 1: do that in college. He didn't go to you know,
Speaker 1: parties or nothing like that. You know. He was more
Speaker 1: of practice, get something to eat, go back to the apartment.
Speaker 1: He doesn't think that the recognition is necessary. Like I
Speaker 1: tell him, it's nothing wrong with being recognized. They want
Speaker 1: to recognize you for your performance what you have done.
Speaker 1: But with him is more of He likes to stay
Speaker 1: in the background. He really doesn't like all of the attention.
Speaker 1: But I told him, when you do great things, you
Speaker 1: get the attention. You know, it's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1: DeVante and Garmet arrived back at the hotel and head
Speaker 1: upstairs where they meet former Heisman Trophy winner in University
Speaker 1: of Michigan great Desmond Howard. He was the last wide
Speaker 1: receiver to win the award before Davante was going on,
Speaker 1: good good, how about you appreciate Uh yeah, Roger, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had a law yeah. Davante was supposed to meet
Speaker 1: Roger Goodell in person that morning, but its COVID test
Speaker 1: came up positive. He had to re test twice and
Speaker 1: by the time he got the two accurate negatives he'd
Speaker 1: missed the meeting. This is part of the unique challenge
Speaker 1: for the thirteen players in Cleveland and for the NFL,
Speaker 1: and hosting his first ever hybrid in person and virtual draft.
Speaker 1: He should probably I'm saying, you got him off, you
Speaker 1: got him most to go for whatever you want to
Speaker 1: put on there. They're talking about what message to right
Speaker 1: in the jerseys. Though, for Davante, this meeting signifies something
Speaker 1: much bigger than swapping memorabilia. Howard played eleven NFL seasons,
Speaker 1: made a Pro Bowl, and was the m v P
Speaker 1: of Super Bowl thirty one. He still holds the record
Speaker 1: for the longest return Super Bowl history. And he did
Speaker 1: all of this at five ft ten and one five pounds.
Speaker 1: If you went just shorter and only around ten pounds
Speaker 1: heavier than DeVante, like Marvin Harrison and Tonio Brown and
Speaker 1: de Sean Jackson, Desmond Howard is proof small receivers can
Speaker 1: still be stars in the NFL. Here's Davante on that comparison.
Speaker 1: It's a blessing to be compared to him, just with
Speaker 1: everything that he's done, and he's done everything right, So
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm trying to get where he is right now.
Speaker 1: So I'm for show. Digg into some of his film,
Speaker 1: take some of the stuff out of his two box
Speaker 1: that he has. Remember we did the zoom we when
Speaker 1: I have my son. Yeah, I got the twin boys.
Speaker 1: I just always trying to collect these for him, you
Speaker 1: know what I I mean? Yeah, so this is perfect, my man.
Speaker 1: Get out your hair, graduation. Appreciate best of luck. Man, appreciate,
Speaker 1: Appreciate at the very least, to enjoy yourself. Celebration, celebration.
Speaker 1: A lot of people, A lot of people in this position.
Speaker 1: Like that's when Howard says, not many people are ever
Speaker 1: in the position. Davante finds himself and now twenty four
Speaker 1: hours from the NFL Draft, exchanging jerseys with other Heisman
Speaker 1: Trophy winners, booking morning show appearances on the cusp of
Speaker 1: his dreams coming true, and tens of millions of dollars
Speaker 1: heading his way. How many people get here, regardless of
Speaker 1: where they come from. Even fewer arrived at this moment
Speaker 1: from towns as small and remote as they meet Louisiana.
Speaker 1: Here's Davante, and now his small town upbringing shaped his worldview.
Speaker 1: It at me that ain't nothing to do, so I
Speaker 1: feel like it's molding me. I mean big though, you guys,
Speaker 1: Walt Moret, you gotta win, Dick, see what I mean.
Speaker 1: That's pretty much. You gotta come fast f places, signing
Speaker 1: Madala stuff like that. But I mean, it ain't nothing
Speaker 1: to do. And they meet outside of a lot of
Speaker 1: sports and stuff like that. But I was by my
Speaker 1: pops a lot too, So like when I'm home and
Speaker 1: a meet, it's like sports. When I'm out there by
Speaker 1: my pop, it's like we in the woods. I had
Speaker 1: the best of both worlds, just being like exploring nature
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, like we can squirrel and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, like we shooting squirrels, just playing around in
Speaker 1: the woods and stuff like that. DeVante's parents were no
Speaker 1: longer together, and he spent most weekends staying with his dad.
Speaker 1: One specific memory in the Louisiana Biou stands out back
Speaker 1: when he was barely a teenager playing in the woods
Speaker 1: with his cousins. I was probably like twelve thirteen, and
Speaker 1: like it was raining by my pops is like a creek,
Speaker 1: so like when it rained, like it was a lot,
Speaker 1: So we was deep in the woods, like this is
Speaker 1: the first time and last time we ever went by
Speaker 1: the creek. Never been back there again. So it's pouring down.
Speaker 1: Rating water is like knee high, and like when you
Speaker 1: first get into it, you don't see how flooded it is.
Speaker 1: So like you're walking for a good little minute and
Speaker 1: then it's like all of a sudden, just get flooded
Speaker 1: and we just see how hot the water is. And
Speaker 1: then like we just started hearing stuff. My older cousin
Speaker 1: he like, what's this. I'm I don't hear that. He
Speaker 1: was like, man, that's that's that's sounding hog, I know
Speaker 1: sound a hall Farrell hawks in Louisiana can weigh over
Speaker 1: five hundred pounds and can grow four to five inch
Speaker 1: long tuss along with sharp pointed teeth that looked like fangs.
Speaker 1: This is what Davante and his cousins think that we're
Speaker 1: hearing nearby and the flooded value. So we go to
Speaker 1: looking and then like we see it, so like everybody
Speaker 1: don't move, everybody to sit there. So like were just
Speaker 1: sitting at the hall with the sit you. He was like,
Speaker 1: we can't see him for help. We're gonna make the
Speaker 1: only thing in my mind was you out run one person.
Speaker 1: You know you you're gonna be good. The last person
Speaker 1: that's up to you what happened with you and the all.
Speaker 1: So it was just like on the count of three,
Speaker 1: everybody take you all running. Nobody knews it because like
Speaker 1: it's flooded, not so like it's no tracks to show
Speaker 1: you what what are you're going back to? So it
Speaker 1: was just like just right, everybody follows. Somebody just hoped
Speaker 1: it we end up getting somewhere, so we take off running.
Speaker 1: I wasn't looking back, but I know Shan wouldn't laughing.
Speaker 1: Not when when you pick go running for your life
Speaker 1: from a giant wild hog and a swamp may not
Speaker 1: directly translate into developing NFL ready speed, but it sure
Speaker 1: doesn't hurt. It's another example of the smallest guy always
Speaker 1: making sure he never got caught. Because DeVante spent his
Speaker 1: entire youth fighting or fleeing bullies on the playground, the
Speaker 1: would be tacklers on the gridiron and wild animals in
Speaker 1: the woods, there's a reason his coach, Nick Saban said
Speaker 1: he competes as well pound for pound as anybody that
Speaker 1: I've ever had the chance to coach. Tell many how
Speaker 1: many receivers are tougher than he is, that block better,
Speaker 1: that play more physical than he does. That's high praise
Speaker 1: coming from the most successful coach in college football history.
Speaker 1: The question is, will NFL teams be able to look
Speaker 1: past the size of his jersey and focus on what's
Speaker 1: underneath it instead? We'll be right act. Becoming the DeVante Smith,
Speaker 1: who has talked about as a top pick in the
Speaker 1: NFL Draft, didn't happen by chance, Not when you're the
Speaker 1: smallest kid who everyone doubts. He had to turn that
Speaker 1: one and twenty pound high school freshman into the most
Speaker 1: dominant player in college football. Here's Clutched Sports founder and
Speaker 1: CEO Rich Paul describing what he saw when meeting DeVante
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles for the first time. When I met
Speaker 1: DeVante for the first time, I knew it. I asked me,
Speaker 1: I said, you know, what do you want to do
Speaker 1: if I just want to go? You know, he was
Speaker 1: in l A. No anything we can help you with,
Speaker 1: get you you want to see something? Now, I'm good.
Speaker 1: You know, we take the meeting, but maybe did somebody
Speaker 1: eat didn't do a t other shop and didn't want
Speaker 1: to go look at the cars and direct that, And
Speaker 1: it's just like not that it is anything wrong with
Speaker 1: any of that. He just didn't have no interest. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, he's serious about football. He's serious about football,
Speaker 1: which I love, which is why he was so good.
Speaker 1: Here's his mom, Christina again describing when her son's determination
Speaker 1: grew even if the rest of his frame didn't keep up.
Speaker 1: I knew the talent was there early on, but his
Speaker 1: sophomore year in in high school is when I knew
Speaker 1: that Davante had what it took. He had the work ethic,
Speaker 1: he had the drive and determination. He's always wanted to
Speaker 1: play in the NFL. That's always been a dream of his.
Speaker 1: But I really saw it his sophomore year in high school.
Speaker 1: We live right next to a park, so he would
Speaker 1: get up and he will go to the park and
Speaker 1: and run. He had the cones, he had the cape
Speaker 1: to put on to help him with his speed. It
Speaker 1: was like he had whatever he needed to try to
Speaker 1: get himself better. He did it. He did drills in
Speaker 1: the park before school, practiced and lifted weights after school,
Speaker 1: and even developed a routine during the day. I had
Speaker 1: a time on my phone for like every hour, do
Speaker 1: thirty push up. So like I'll be in class and
Speaker 1: like the time I'll go off, like I just do
Speaker 1: something again, just be like teachers would be like, you
Speaker 1: can't be you can't be having your phone or on off.
Speaker 1: But this high got away with it. It It was like
Speaker 1: every class is only four to five minutes at the most,
Speaker 1: so it's only gonna ring once in every class, Like
Speaker 1: you can't report me for doing push ups. So it
Speaker 1: was just like it's nothing you can do besides tell me, like,
Speaker 1: you get up and stop doing this. By by time
Speaker 1: you do that, I've been at them a thirty hour.
Speaker 1: So every time ring, I just like my fault. I
Speaker 1: didn't know, and I just do the push up and
Speaker 1: be like I ain't gonna worry about this class. When
Speaker 1: it first started, they was like, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: What are you doing? Push us fun? And I'll just
Speaker 1: be like, oh, I just had to do them real quick.
Speaker 1: And then like he got to a point like everybody
Speaker 1: if they knew, like that was a consistent thing, so
Speaker 1: it was just like just let him do it, so
Speaker 1: let him going and get knocked. The way he was
Speaker 1: so consistent with his mid class push ups, teachers and
Speaker 1: students all grew accustomed to his alarm going off, him
Speaker 1: dropping and doing thirty and then going right back to
Speaker 1: the Pythagorean theorem and the Lord of the Flies. And
Speaker 1: while he honed his body throughout high school, he also
Speaker 1: had to develop his killer instinct. He even if that
Speaker 1: meant learning to be more selfish. In the final moments
Speaker 1: of his high school teams playoff basketball game, his seconds off,
Speaker 1: We're down one and everybody wants me to take the shot,
Speaker 1: but like trapped me. I had a screen, said someone
Speaker 1: of the screen came like they trapped me, like someone's
Speaker 1: wide open. So like I passed it and he didn't
Speaker 1: shoot it. He passed again like my best friend had
Speaker 1: shot the ball. He missed, and then he came to
Speaker 1: me and he was like, man, I don't care if
Speaker 1: it was five people. You know you're supposed to take
Speaker 1: that last shot. And then I was like that stuck
Speaker 1: with me, and I was just like all right, like
Speaker 1: forget trying to give it to the old like carst time.
Speaker 1: I don't care I many people on me. I want
Speaker 1: to be in that moment like and that stuff with me.
Speaker 1: Since then they're like five people on the they double me,
Speaker 1: and he still say, like, you know, that's your shot,
Speaker 1: because like that's what everybody expect for me. If we
Speaker 1: had a hold of right now. Everybody see if I'm
Speaker 1: taking the last shot, everybody gonna say you just because
Speaker 1: like that's what you do. So it was just like
Speaker 1: that moment, always steak with mean. I never let nothing
Speaker 1: else happened like that again, game on line. I'm telling
Speaker 1: you right now, give me the ball. I ain't trying
Speaker 1: to heat with nobody else, gotta say throw me the ball.
Speaker 1: The very next year, this lesson came into play with
Speaker 1: a different ball, on a different field and not a
Speaker 1: much much bigger stage. It's the college football season and
Speaker 1: Davante is a freshman receiver at Alabama, playing behind multiple
Speaker 1: future first round draft picks at wide receiver. The team
Speaker 1: makes it to the National Championship game against the Georgia Bulldogs,
Speaker 1: and Georgia takes it to the Crimson Tide in the
Speaker 1: first half. Alabama is down thirteen to zero as they
Speaker 1: go into the locker room for halftime. Yeah, so freshman,
Speaker 1: if we're in the game and stuff just wasn't going
Speaker 1: our way. So we get the halftime, everybody in locker
Speaker 1: room like, man, y'all need to get this ship together,
Speaker 1: and like you can feel the energy of like one
Speaker 1: person say the role thing somebody go, somebody will get punched.
Speaker 1: The older guys they didn't play there. It was just
Speaker 1: like if you weren't listening, like y'all, y'all start fighting,
Speaker 1: because that's just how they would, like you're gonna listen
Speaker 1: or somebody gonna beat you up. It's like everybody's just
Speaker 1: sitting there just listening to them talk, and it was
Speaker 1: just we we've been here before, like this, ain't that
Speaker 1: knew this is what we do. Alabama have played in
Speaker 1: two previous championship games before this one, so as Davante said,
Speaker 1: this is what they do. And this time around, the
Speaker 1: team makes one huge change at halftime. Coach Nick saman
Speaker 1: decides to sit his starting quarterback and bringing the rookie
Speaker 1: quarterback by the name of Tua Tonga Vloa. So it
Speaker 1: was just like change, like second half like switch, and
Speaker 1: like everything just started going out wayybody just started battling back.
Speaker 1: Alabama ties the game and sends it into overtime. In
Speaker 1: college overtime, both teams get the ball at least once,
Speaker 1: so they each have a chance to score. We went
Speaker 1: to overtime like you could tell the like we was
Speaker 1: ready because you go out there for like the corn toss.
Speaker 1: Oh them kill their helmets on and people Georgia didn't
Speaker 1: have it on. So like when they came back, they
Speaker 1: was like, man, they ain't ready. The ain't even got
Speaker 1: their helmets on, like they don't want them more. Something
Speaker 1: as small as the Georgia players not putting their helmets
Speaker 1: back on for the coin toss was all Devonte and
Speaker 1: his teammates needed to see, Like sharks moving in for
Speaker 1: the kill. They could smell the blood that killer instinct
Speaker 1: was kicking in. Overtime begins and Georgia receives the ball. First,
Speaker 1: they kick a field goal, putting them up three points.
Speaker 1: Now Alabama gets the ball. If they don't score, they lose.
Speaker 1: If they kick a field goal, it goes into double overtime,
Speaker 1: and if they score a touchdown, they win the national championship.
Speaker 1: After the Alabama quarterback takes their brutal sack on their
Speaker 1: first play, it's suddenly second and twenty six from the
Speaker 1: forty one yard line. Alabama needs to do something drastic.
Speaker 1: Always been ready for moments like that, Like that's moments
Speaker 1: that like I want to be in that position. So
Speaker 1: it was just like we go back to the huddle.
Speaker 1: We kind of get the clay and I'm like, give
Speaker 1: me a chance. And I ain't think he was gonna
Speaker 1: throw it too, but I thought he's gonna look at
Speaker 1: me and just be like, all right, whatever, man, But
Speaker 1: I mean he threw it. Fires the touchdown battle ways
Speaker 1: the true freshman come to Viola to Fonte Smith, Alabama,
Speaker 1: right George, your heart. Davante catches the walk off game
Speaker 1: winning touchdown in the National Championship as a true freshman.
Speaker 1: Five other receivers on that Alabama team are playing in
Speaker 1: the NFL right now. Three were first round draft picks,
Speaker 1: but it's the one hundred and fifty nine pounds freshman
Speaker 1: who catches the game winner completely untouched, straight out of
Speaker 1: a Disney movie. Here's Vincent Sanders on that life changing
Speaker 1: moment when he called the game won the National Championship
Speaker 1: as the first one. When I went up to him,
Speaker 1: was like, hey, you called you? He was like, damn no, man,
Speaker 1: I missed a block on such and such player. I
Speaker 1: was like, what you caught the past at one the
Speaker 1: game and you said on that play, like, what the
Speaker 1: hell is wrong? Be just kid. He was mad because
Speaker 1: he messed up on a plate Prior to that, he
Speaker 1: was upset with his self. I mean he was sitting
Speaker 1: there with his head now, like come on, dud beast
Speaker 1: like and I think I said something to him and
Speaker 1: like man, stop warning a he was. I think it's
Speaker 1: a problems. Maybe we could have scored on that point
Speaker 1: and we had to go to old time or whatever.
Speaker 1: His mom Christina went together. So yeah, when we did
Speaker 1: get to see him, I was like, oh, baby, you
Speaker 1: you caught the game. We didn't touchdown and it was
Speaker 1: like yeah, And he just said that he didn't do
Speaker 1: something on one of the plays and I was like, Devonte,
Speaker 1: do you realize you just caught the Yeah, Mama, I know.
Speaker 1: It was just like no big deal to him. It
Speaker 1: was just another catch. So I mean that's him. He
Speaker 1: always wants to try to get it right. I tell
Speaker 1: people this all the time. Every fifteen years you get this,
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan fifteen years, Kobe fifteen years, but Bra for
Speaker 1: two years. You started with Lyon swanifteen years, you're right,
Speaker 1: you go random Moss in the fifteen years Smith, you
Speaker 1: do them every once in a while. We give that's
Speaker 1: the difference from an NFL player and a Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame because you got people in the NFL to go
Speaker 1: to Pro Bowl. Do great, take lots of money, but
Speaker 1: they don't go at all the fame. DeVante Smith won't
Speaker 1: get go jackets in one more day. All the college
Speaker 1: accolades will mean nothing, and the next chapter of DeVante
Speaker 1: Smith's football story will begin. He isn't worried about the
Speaker 1: teams thinking he's too small or doubting his ability to
Speaker 1: play at the next level. He's not interested in making
Speaker 1: TV appearances. We're driving fancy cars or eating five star dinners.
Speaker 1: The only thing he cares about is getting a chance
Speaker 1: to play against the bigger, older kids at the neighborhood
Speaker 1: park to show everyone it doesn't matter how much you
Speaker 1: weigh or what size jersey you wear. In DeVante's mind,
Speaker 1: the drills at the park before school, the push ups
Speaker 1: during class, the missed block in the game he already won.
Speaker 1: That's the important stuff. Everything outside of football, it's just
Speaker 1: a distraction. That's just how I am. The stuff there
Speaker 1: sites other people don't assite me. I'm just like I'm different.
Speaker 1: That's just how I am. Coming up this season, I'm drafted,
Speaker 1: nineteen years of throwing the football, almost twenty, and he's
Speaker 1: coming down to a two thousand one draft. I hope
Speaker 1: I don't go out here and get my ass whooped
Speaker 1: on national TV. And they're like, they ain't gonna call you,
Speaker 1: And I was like, yeah, they called me like teen
Speaker 1: minutes ago. If you love football this much and you
Speaker 1: love money that much, then you got a chance to
Speaker 1: play a lot of football and make a lot of money.
Speaker 1: He's like, you're just pound for COVID, You're just positive
Speaker 1: and I was like what. He's like, yeah, you need
Speaker 1: to go home right now, like right now. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: was trying out to cry. I didn't pay but out
Speaker 1: a cry around me. My. Yeah, we picked homeboy, but
Speaker 1: we still want you to take that. Come on, Calm
Speaker 1: on phone, somebody, somebody, calm my phone. Drafted is a
Speaker 1: production of tree Ford Media, Clutch Sports Group, and I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. The executive producers are Kelly Garner, Lisa Ammerman,
Speaker 1: Eric Slott, Eric Weiner, and Shawn to Tone. The series
Speaker 1: is produced and written by Eric Winer. Garme Mamalu is
Speaker 1: our coordinating producer. Coral Silverberg is our associate producer. Tom
Speaker 1: Monahan is our senior audio engineer. The show is mixed,
Speaker 1: edited and hosted by me Stephen Johnson, additional production help
Speaker 1: from Tim Shower and Hayley Mandelberg. For transcripts of the
Speaker 1: show and more information undrafted, go to tree Fort dot fm,
Speaker 1: and for more podcasts from my Heart, visit the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows. Three