WEBVTT - Malcolm Jenkins 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:02.600 This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:08.879 production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:12.200 Steve Smith Senior and I'm John and this is cut 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:16.600 to it. Good do it, Good do it. Let's getting 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:19.919 down to do it. Good do it. We asked the 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:23.880 questions you always want to know, but no one ever asked, 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:29.560 let's cut to it. You ain't heard them about it, 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:43.480 then we're about to let you know. It's all. That's 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:49.639 just scooch on over, scooch. I'm glad to be back 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:52.720 in the studio today. I gotta get some stuff off 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:57.600 my chest. Right. Um, So we were the other day. 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:01.920 We were at a cover right, a little fat fast 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:07.560 casual dining right, social distancing. Um in her dining room 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:09.959 or the dining room is not allowed to be open. 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:12.400 So men you we were at the office. So we 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:17.000 scampered across the street, not jaywalking. Okay, yeah, I'm not. 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:19.360 I'm not going to die this. Yeah. So we go 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:23.200 and order our food, grab our food, and until we're 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:30.160 standing there and we're getting some stuff and h wonderful 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:34.280 young lady was making a food. We already grabbed our 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:37.080 food and she headed out. No, we were paid for 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:39.399 we were getting something else because they forgot something, and 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.399 the great cashiers was like, hey, you forgot something. So 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:47.000 it was cool. Then we're going and she she didn't 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:49.800 make our food. But then she notices it was me, 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:56.800 Steve Smith Sr. And she goes, hey, Steve loud yeah, 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:00.560 And then I had a look. I had a look 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:02.920 because it was she was just so loud she was, 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:05.200 And it wasn't a lot of people in there, but 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:09.440 it was more than it was, including the staff. It 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:14.440 was so I love the one benefit or if there's 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:18.520 anything good out of this covid um this virus issue 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:21.720 is Man, some sunglasses I had in the face mask. 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:25.480 I'm all over. You didn't, man, But I can't breathe 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:27.120 too hard because they'll fall to my glasses and I 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:31.160 can't see the w into a door anyway. Um, so 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:33.400 she yells, and so I had to look like, why 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.280 are you yelling my name? And she goes, oh, you 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:41.360 don't want to be bothered? Can I just rent that 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:45.360 this is your per It's not that I don't like 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:50.360 to be bothered one, it's where are we when you 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:56.400 are bothering me too? Yelling my name in the middle 0:02:57.000 --> 0:03:01.880 of a store. And now everybody looks at me, right like, 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:06.160 I'm not yelling. Imagine if I was the cashier and 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:10.600 you you, you went to use your debit card and 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:13.480 in the debit card it is declined. Is it okay 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:18.000 for me to go decline debit card declined car? No, 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:21.720 you don't want that, right then I'll be super rude 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:26.919 and putting their business industry. Yes, so just stop yelling. 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:30.320 That's like a pet peever mind like that and the 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:35.760 other pet peeves. Gentlemen, when you're in the restroom, don't 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:38.840 try to adapt. Nobody up or just have random conversation 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:41.720 right that. That Now that one's mine too, I'll admit 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:44.880 that's a pet peever. Mill like if we're in the bathroom, like, 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.440 that's not really the that's not the time to talk that. 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:49.800 I want to have conversation, right like, I just want 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:53.760 to handle my business. Move forward? No, no, stop, don't 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:56.280 move forward. Wash your hands then move forward. Well, I 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:58.360 got I gotta leave, but yeah, move forward. I just 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:00.680 don't want to. I'm just make you're sure you wash 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:03.040 your hands. My hygiene isn't what's in question. We're just 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:05.400 talking about how it was because you look like you 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.280 don't wash your hands. Why are you profiling? See that's 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:15.400 the problem. After this rant? Who is our guests? Our 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:18.000 guest today is Malcolm Jenkins. He's in his tenth year 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:20.640 in the NFL. He's a three time pro bowler. He's 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:23.000 a Super Bowl winner with two different teams, the Saints 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:25.720 and the Eagles, and he's just made a return back 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:28.600 to the New Orleans Saints. I think what's most impressive 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:31.440 is he is a contributor now to CNN. He's also 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:35.000 the founder of the Player's Coalition and the Malcolm Jenkins Foundation. 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:37.880 Let's cut to it right now. You're about to get 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:40.640 ice It's our version of ice breakers, and so we 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:43.039 have a series of questions. They may or may not 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:45.120 have follow up. It just depends on how we feel 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:49.400 and how you answer and how you answer. Absolutely, Fox 0:04:49.480 --> 0:05:01.039 and Friends or CNN actually obligated. So you're going to 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:05.680 the movies? Do you grab popcorn or candy? I grab popcorn? 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:11.159 Why is that? I usually do? Like I get like 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:14.440 a drinking in popcorn. It's just like you know candy 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:16.760 too much? Man, you gotta you gotta touch it every time. 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:19.560 You'd be dropping it as dark you can't see when 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:23.520 you get that large popcorn you can just grab and go. Okay, 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:28.000 summer or winter. I'm going in December, man, and I 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:30.159 do not like being hot, so I like the winter 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:35.039 time better December again, me too, Me too, sad, sagittarious, Yeah, 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:41.120 we go. See. I don't care about y'all, Sagittarius. I 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:42.840 have no idea what it means. I know none of 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:46.200 That's why I said that exactly. You get out of here, 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:50.880 all right? If I go to your web browser history, 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:54.400 what would I find? That's that's the dangerous that's like 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:58.320 the most thing you asked somebody is the web browser. 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:09.440 I might delete my stuff, right, I'm all right, So 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:11.800 you go to Snap, You're going to You're going in 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:14.280 the pantry right now. You you I want to say 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:17.440 you're hungry, but you're just like, I'm bored. What my 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:24.080 go to is gonna be tostitos, hint of lin my 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:26.600 that's my goal to I eat them all day every day. 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.800 I'm gonna surprise you. That's what I like. Some hint 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:35.640 of lion tortilla chips as well. Malcolm. Yeah, man, look 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:37.800 at you. You're on the light skiing train. I like, 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:43.159 do you either? Do you eat a with saucer or 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:47.000 just dry? Was the media savage? I know he was sauso. No, 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:50.839 I actually don't bro some saucer right now. I used 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:54.960 to be on this saucer with um avocado. I looked 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.839 at ingredients. Man, some of that stuff in there kill you, 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:04.080 all right, madam? So I man, you just really appreciate you. 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.600 Coming on, We want to talk about the person inside 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:12.600 to Jersey. We want to go through just chronologically of 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:15.240 who Malcolm Jenkins is. And we did a little research 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:19.040 on you. All right, I know the answer, but I 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:22.400 have to ask, as if I don't know the answer, 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:27.400 where did you grow up? So I was. I was 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:30.440 born in uh East Starns, New Jersey's right next to 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:35.120 Nork uh and I lived there for until I was 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:40.560 probably in the third grade, and then I moved to 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:44.240 uh Piscataway, New Jersey, which is actually where my dad's from, 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.160 maybe like forty five minutes away. But my whole family 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:50.720 uh is still in Jersey. The majority of them are 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:53.960 in North and East. How would your mom or dad 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:59.200 describe young Malcolm as a kid growing up in East Orange, 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:02.920 New Jersey? Uh? They say I was a good kid, 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:04.880 Like they laughed. They you know, I'm the oldest and 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:08.960 three boys and so uh, and I got plenty of cousins. 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:11.160 You know, we we got a lot of us in 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:14.920 my generation of the family. But I was a good kid. 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:17.040 But you could as as you can imagine with all 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.320 of these boys, you know, we get in trouble a lot. 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:21.840 But they would say I was the smart one who 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:25.080 knew how to not to get a whoopan so everybody else, 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:27.840 you know, your kids don't know how to stop having fun, 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:30.240 Like right before you get to that point where you 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:33.000 you're about to get the attention to your parents. I'll 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:35.120 be the one. I'll be right right and locks that 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:37.320 with everybody until I'm like, ah, y'all get a little 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:39.880 too loud and I sit down. By time the adults 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:41.760 come in the room, I'm the only one, you know, 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:44.560 chilling and everybody else going crazy. They get a woman 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:46.480 and I'll just be laughing. I was a smart one. 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:50.000 For show. You had three generation of of Jenkins in 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:58.320 the same household growing up. YEA, what was that time? 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:02.560 So that's pretty cool, like break that down for us. Yeah, so, uh, Piscattaway, 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:07.079 New Jersey. Uh, you know, my grandmother owned the house 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.840 that my dad grew up in and so you know, 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:12.920 he went to North Carolina and t when he got out, 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:16.560 him and my mom met there. We lived in you know, 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:19.960 up in North Jersey, so East Tharn's, North Irbanton. We 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.520 bounced around a little bit, but once we got back 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:25.160 to Scataway, we moved back into that to that house. 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.840 So my grandmother was still living there. Um and my 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:32.920 my uncle, so they were downstairs, and then upstairs was me, 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:36.160 my two brothers and then my parents. So you really 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.800 had you know, three generations between my grandfather, my grandmother, Uh, 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:43.400 my father and you know, his sons till to my 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:46.720 grandmother retired and she moved to Virginia, sold the house 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:49.320 to my to my dad because she didn't given no discounts, 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:56.560 and then, uh, they're still there. You went to a 0:09:56.559 --> 0:10:02.200 all black elementary school from pre king till about third grade. 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:06.439 I didn't I really didn't realize how different my experience 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:10.360 was until recently as an adult, like as people have 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.240 been kind of having these conversations about you know, when 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:15.319 did they kind of notice that they were black? And 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:20.240 for me, when I started schools called Chad School, uh 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:23.720 in North New Jersey, my aunt was actually one of 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:26.920 the first She was in the inaugle kind of the 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:30.800 first class of that school, and all of the teachers, 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.680 majority of students were black. And it's a private school, 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:36.920 and so because it was private, they you know, you 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:40.320 get hit with a ruler. Uh you know, everybody. You 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.640 we had to address each other and our teachers as 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:47.800 uh sister and brother. We someng lift every voice. Every 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:52.560 single day. Every Friday was we had a play. You know, 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:56.480 one of the classes would do a black history kind 0:10:56.480 --> 0:11:00.320 of uh play and tell different stories throughout history every 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:03.080 single Friday. And you had pre k all the way 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:06.200 in the twelfth grade. And so it really created a 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:10.840 sense of community and pride in your blackness, your heritage, 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:14.480 your history. And then once I got to the third grade, 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:17.040 I moved to Proscattawat and went to public school. And 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:20.760 it wasn't until then that I realized, you know how different, 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:26.199 you know though the curriculum was of the traditions and 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:29.120 and you know, really kind of the blackness was nowhere 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:32.480 to really to be found. What it did prepare me though, 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:34.679 was when I was in those environments, I was very 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:38.640 very comfortable with who I was, my heritage and my 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.360 family and all those things where I think it's been 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:43.760 when I talked to people, it's been like the opposite. 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:47.800 You know, they didn't really recognize, you know, they had 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:50.920 to learn later in life, like how to be proud 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:53.480 about who they were because they saw immediately when they 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:57.160 went to school that they were different. Um. And I've 0:11:57.160 --> 0:11:59.120 had a different experience, and so like it's one thing 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.000 I've been talking to about a lot recently because we 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:06.360 need more of those types of spaces where you know, 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:08.600 you know, not to jump off on a tangent, but 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:12.080 I'm talking to a lot of black educators and less. 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:15.520 I think it's like two percent of all educators are 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:18.959 black men. And so to go, you know, a lot 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:22.280 of us will go through preschool all the way to 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:25.400 high school and not have a black man at the 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:29.080 front of in your classroom. Yeah. And what that does 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:31.719 is like you you never see yourself and that as 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.840 a teacher, You never see yourself as a leader. You 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:37.280 can you can go your whole you know time through 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:40.000 school and never have a black principle. Um. And so 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:42.800 you don't have these examples that are in front of 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.320 you that tells you you can be a leader, that 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:47.600 you're smart, that you can teach that you can, you know, 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:50.000 do all of these things and you see white people 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:53.440 in those spots, and for white kids, they never see 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:56.320 a black person in those spots either, And so without 0:12:56.360 --> 0:12:59.160 being you know, overt or anything, these are kind of 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:02.800 the messages that kids take in. And you know, like 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:05.440 I said, I didn't even really notice the difference until 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:08.720 you know, much later as an adult when I'm talking 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:12.680 to people with different backgrounds. But there's it's no coincidence 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:14.480 that I still have a lot of friends that went 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:17.520 to Chad School with me. Uh and we're all very 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:20.480 like minded when it comes to you know, what we're with. 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:24.280 Our business interests are, what what we are fighting for, 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:27.440 how we raise our kids are pride and kind of 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.560 our heritage. And it's no surprise that it started, you know, 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:33.839 at such a young age. I mean, I can as 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:37.600 you were talking, Malcolm, I'm I'm thinking back and I 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:41.160 didn't have a black male teacher until I was in 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:43.560 the eighth grade and he was our defensive backs coach 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.360 and that was that was literally it. So it's it's 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:49.480 one thing to hear the statistic, it's another thing to 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:54.480 see it in your life. And it's almost as if 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:59.320 a lot of those things were planted in you as 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:04.600 a child, where to be from your family or being 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:07.520 at that school. Why do you think that was important 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:09.240 to you? Why do you think it's played a part 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:13.080 into who you are today? Well, I think my parents 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:16.480 were very intentional you know about it, And they never 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:20.280 really taught me or at least I couldn't really remember 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:25.320 any you know, real specific lessons about being black, but 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:30.840 they definitely created an environment in which always, like I 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.800 felt comfortable in it and always was around it and 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:37.400 learning things. But also my dad did a really good 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:41.080 job of, um, exposing me to other cultures as well. 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:43.840 Um you know, we we go visit my grandmother and 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:48.040 Virginia and we stopped at different places, historical markers, and 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:52.040 you talk about the battle Gettysburg and all these different things, um, 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:55.200 you know. And as a kid sometimes these lessons you 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:58.520 they're boring and you don't think you understand them until 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:01.000 you become an adult and and all of these things, 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:04.040 you know, are just ingrained in who you are. And 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:06.200 so I think for me now as a as a parent, 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:11.080 I'm trying to you know, replicate some of those same 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:14.600 lessons that that my parents, um, you know, taught me, 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:18.160 and and not just about again you know, your own 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:23.120 blackness and their heritage and history, but others as well. 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:27.000 I also understand that those lessons were I would never 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:30.320 talk to those lessons outside of Chad School in my home. 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:34.600 And so, yeah, I don't want my kids, you know, 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:37.960 to go through these school systems and never learn about 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:40.800 their own history and never learned about uh, you know, 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:43.480 their their heritage, where they come from, what they've been through, 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:46.240 who they are as you know, as people, and who 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:48.360 they who, what their what their lineage is, what they're 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.440 cut from. Because I know that the world's not gonna 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.880 tell them, so I think it's it's important, you know, 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:58.520 for me, that's it becomes really important. And I also 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:01.360 believe that it's important for all of us to understand 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:02.760 it because I know if I'm not getting it, that 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:06.880 means also my white counterpart, my teammates whoever, they didn't 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:09.360 get it either. And so it's no surprise where we 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:12.000 are right now is a country where we're having to 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:17.760 have these you know, really basic conversations about American history 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:20.120 and how we got to where we are because we 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:26.400 just haven't even learned half of you know, the history. Yeah, 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:29.360 there's such a gap in the in the system. Huge 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:34.680 game as you go through your experiences as at Chad 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:42.200 School as a private black school. I, in the other hand, 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:45.720 grew up in Los Angeles, and I remember I'm going 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:50.560 to kindergarten in Los Angeles Unified School District and walking 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:53.760 to school and in the first grade, they bust us 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:57.960 out growing up in l A and knowing and seeing 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:02.480 the pictures of l A. You know, traffic is a blank, right, 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:06.760 It's a beast. So they sent us out to the valley. 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:09.080 So at the time when they sent us out the valley, 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:11.399 I was living on seventy nine in Avalon, which is 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:16.479 literally across the street from like from Freemont High School. 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:21.800 And how I got my passion football was on Friday 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:25.640 nights when we stayed in our apartments. That was like Fridays. 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:27.919 I loved it because I got to watch football and 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:30.960 I got to eat a TV dinner, right, and being 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:34.480 poor TV dinner, you know, like the treat that's a treat, 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:38.720 and you didn't eat everything. My mom put that TV 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:42.760 dinner on a bucket, and on that bucket I would 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:46.160 watch them playball. And I always dreamed a plot about 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:50.919 playing ball But what was crazy is, as you were talking, Malcolm, 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:56.520 I remember us getting bust two I'm using air quotes 0:17:56.520 --> 0:18:01.480 because nobody can see me to the high school mm hmm. 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:04.000 And it was and I hate to say this way, 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:07.359 but it was a yellow bus full of people of 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:11.359 color and we go out to this school. And I 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:13.000 don't know why I remember this. It was this girl 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.760 name Elizabeth that I thought was really cute, but she 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:20.000 didn't want no parts of me, right. But the fact 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:22.959 of the matter is, I just remember in the first grade, 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:25.480 as Michael was talking, we got busted and we spent 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:29.320 like an hour on the bus each way to go 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:31.920 to school. And we did that for the school year, 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:35.000 and then next year Mama was like, Nah, that ain't happening. 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:37.359 You're going back to the school that you was going 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:39.800 on because she had to literally I would get out 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:41.479 of school. You know, you gotta school to fifteen. Man, 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:43.800 we weren't getting back home to like four or five o'clock. 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:48.280 And I just remember that. I hate to say this way, 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.840 but what were they doing. They were getting us out 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:58.640 of the hood to get a better education in the valley. Now, 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:01.320 as an adult, I look at it. You don't need 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.840 to bust us to give us a better education. Just 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:08.240 give us better education, to us, bring it to not 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:10.800 even bring it to us, Bring it to that area. 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:12.760 That's what I'm saying. Bring it, bring it to where 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:16.159 the people are. And and it's just interesting that you 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:18.480 say that. And that's why I use the word disadvantage 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:21.760 because all the years that we played against each other, 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:26.040 Now doing this podcast, I get the I get the 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:30.400 honest honestly, I get to learn the individuals. And it's 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.080 really cool to learn the individuals because you get to 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:37.399 see the layers of them versus in football, you're just 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:40.640 playing ball. You're going at each other, you're cursing, you're 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:45.040 spitting your you're in the heat of battle. You don't 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:48.760 have time. I want to break bread and just to conversate, 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:51.600 to dialogue. And so this is really giving me a 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:56.320 great perspective of Malcolm Jenkings, because I don't I didn't 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:59.359 really have this perspective when I'm running a whatever route, 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:01.200 I'm going to get and see you and your coverage 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:03.560 and we're not discussing. Hey man, you know I want 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:06.480 to I went to all black private school Bay Bang. 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:09.600 Let me you know, he ain't exactly top of mind 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:12.840 right right now, it's not not not quite the priority 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:17.679 of that. We have to take a break and the 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:20.639 morning a thing. We gotta pay some bill. You got checks. 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:29.880 You went to high school just to kind of move 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:32.040 it along. But you went to high school, you played 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:37.439 D D and wide receiver. How did you pick playing 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:42.080 dB versus wide receiver? I think, Uh, it had to 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:47.080 be my junior year I had I think I had 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:51.800 seven touchdowns on offense, but I had like five drops 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:54.439 that could have been touchdowns. But I had eight picks. 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:57.480 So for whatever reason, I could catch them all on defense, 0:20:57.560 --> 0:20:59.960 but I couldn't catch it on offense. So I think 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:04.320 real quick I was at dB. But uh, the way 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:08.760 I got my scholarship as well was after my This 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:12.199 had to be. Yeah, after my junior season, we my 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:16.560 aunt moved to Westerville, Ohio, and my mom wanted to 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:19.440 go visit her sister. So for two weeks we went 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:23.480 up there and my parents paid to put me, uh 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:27.879 and my brother at Ohio States football camp that they 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:30.560 do every year. Now, at the time, I didn't realize 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:34.160 that recruits don't pay to go to these camps. Uh, 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:36.560 And obviously I was not a recruit. So my parents 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:39.919 paid the full four hours or whatever it was for 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:42.000 each of us to stay on campus for four days. 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:45.840 And at that camp I registered to be you know, 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:49.000 a corner. And one of the days they were doing 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:53.520 one on ones, and uh, you know, I started in 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:55.600 kind of the line. They had like four or five 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:58.520 different lines. I started in one where the receivers are 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:01.760 kind of scrubs, and I down locked everybody up in 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:03.600 that line, and I moved to the next one, did 0:22:03.600 --> 0:22:05.240 the same thing, the same thing, and I noticed that 0:22:05.280 --> 0:22:07.440 like all the way the end of the field, there 0:22:07.480 --> 0:22:09.560 was one particular line where all of the coaches were 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:11.600 at Jim Trust. It was over there, and mel Tucker 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:14.639 was the decordinator at the time. He was there a 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:17.760 couple of other people. So eventually I made myself to 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:21.040 that line, and I realized, like, okay, these receivers are different, 0:22:21.160 --> 0:22:22.679 you know, these and I had I didn't even know 0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:24.560 who they were. I didn't recognize him from the count, 0:22:24.960 --> 0:22:26.919 but these were all of their recruits and guys that 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:30.440 were actually coming in on a scholarship from all over Ohio. 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:32.439 And so I just you know, I jumped in line. 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:36.000 I'm competing. You know, if if a DBS acted nervous 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:37.760 to go against somebody else. I cut him in line. 0:22:38.000 --> 0:22:40.400 I go to three times in a row, and eventually 0:22:40.400 --> 0:22:42.159 melt Tucker just pulled me to the side and he's like, 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:44.720 you know, like who are you with your name? You know, 0:22:45.000 --> 0:22:47.359 He's giving me little techniques and I'm applying him and 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:50.080 I'm just competing, competing with people. He took me into 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:53.440 the back room, he said, uh, he turns on so 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:55.879 he tries to find my tape and he's like, you 0:22:55.960 --> 0:22:58.000 might be the best corner in the in the country. 0:22:58.600 --> 0:23:00.399 And at that point, I was a one star, you know, 0:23:00.440 --> 0:23:04.639 recruit my rivals profiles trash and so he kind of 0:23:04.640 --> 0:23:06.800 caught me off guard when he said that. But you know, 0:23:06.840 --> 0:23:09.359 we kept talking, watching some take and he gave me 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:11.840 some some tips and uh we left. I spent the 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:13.560 rest of you know, a couple of weeks in Ohio. 0:23:13.920 --> 0:23:16.280 When I got back, I had a scholarship and so 0:23:16.480 --> 0:23:19.120 for me, that was when I was like, Okay, dv 0:23:19.359 --> 0:23:22.320 is this is clearly you know with my focus is 0:23:22.400 --> 0:23:25.840 gonna be. You mentioned that you were lightly recruited, and 0:23:25.920 --> 0:23:28.800 you know your your rivals profile wasn't what you wanted 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:31.200 to be, but you end up finishing your career at 0:23:31.200 --> 0:23:34.560