WEBVTT - Hangin' With The 'Boys: Charles Tapper 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:14.160 He's hanging with the boys, streaming live on Dallas Cowboys 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:19.599 dot Com and the Official Jealous Cowboys and now your 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:26.520 hosts Nate Newton, Josh Ellis, Kurt Daniels, and Shannon Gross 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:31.760 Hello from Oxnard. Something is wrong with my headset. It 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:35.640 sounds like, sure, it's not just you. No, what is 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:38.880 all of this thing? Holy cow? This is gonna drive 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:46.479 me nuts. Sorry, Shannon Grows here with Kurt Daniels, Nate Newton, Oxnard, California. 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:49.880 Two more days boys, today and tomorrow, and then we're 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:53.279 packing this stuff up and heading home on Friday. Yes, sir, 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:57.120 we got a very special guest on set with us 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:01.000 for about the next fifteen to twenty min Nate, I'm 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:02.760 gonna let you do the intro because you've been high 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:05.679 on this guy, this Jars Tapper man. But let me 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:11.759 get an Oklahoma state. Oklahoma, No, that's what you better 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:14.120 do it. Man. All I know is he's here, and 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:17.040 I tell you this right here. A lot of people 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:19.959 to know about this cat because they changed defensive systems 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:24.520 at Oklahoma and he went from a penetrator to getting 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:26.720 off the rock to have to catch people paying the 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.560 two cap. That's when you have to catch folks. Now, 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:32.200 he's a penetrator and that's what he does best. And 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:34.120 that's why he's here with the Dallas Cobley we stole 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.560 him from the draft. I do know that. I do 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:40.480 know that. I don't know about the college, but I 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:45.240 do know about the program. Yeah, so, Nate, So what 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:47.920 we what we typically do is we ask a couple Nate, 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:50.720 So now I don't let you ask the first question. 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:54.040 I feel like tapping on. What we what we normally do, Kid, 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:55.920 you good to do something because this is gonna drive 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:58.720 me absolutely nuts. I can't hear anything out of this. Okay, 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:00.960 all right, So what we do is we typically ask 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:03.240 a couple of football questions and then we want to 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:05.120 get to know you as a person. So we're gonna 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:08.120 let Nate go in hard. Nate, what have you been 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:12.240 seeing on tape? That's that's got you on tap this year. 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:15.480 See last year I noticed about Charles Tapper. That's a 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:18.040 lot better. Can't think it was that he got off 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:20.880 the rock. That's that was the first thing that I 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:23.560 noticed about you, That you got off the rock, and 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:27.000 then all of a sudden, your back go out. This 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.600 year here I noticed we drafted the young guy Charles, 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:34.560 and we're talking about this guy DeMarcus coming back. We 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:36.600 talked about that guy. You were lost in the shuffle 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:39.080 with everybody else. I'm like, I want to see what 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:44.160 tapp going to. Brother. You started at OTA's rookie menicamp 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.400 again this year bringing that speed, Man, Where do you 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:51.799 get that first step quickness that you have? Man? Man, 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:56.679 I would just say, my mom, My mom, she's still 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:58.760 with that hard work attitude. And me was like, man, 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:01.200 when whenever you step want to feel whatever you're doing 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:03.520 in life, you gotta go full speed, one hundred moss 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.760 paw adding and that hardwork. I remember watching my mom 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:08.720 go to work, waking up at five o'clock in the morning, 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.560 making sure I'm dressed for school, making sure she's dressed, 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:13.280 making sure that we had food on the table, And 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:14.640 it was like, if she can do if she can 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:16.080 work that hard making shark, I can do it in 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:17.720 my life. I'm not come about to football and doing 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:19.880 something I love. It makes it kind of easy. Yeah. 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:24.359 So now here we set today, we worried about who's 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:27.600 gonna be the right defensive end at child And I 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:31.519 may be putting a little undue pressure on you but 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:34.240 when I saw versus this last game, first, the first 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:38.600 game versus this game. Here was even your run which 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:40.720 you're getting off to the ball so quick. Even your 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.560 run defense it seemed to being tracked. It's like you 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:46.080 defended the run, you set the corner a couple of times. 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:49.280 I mean, and I know, God, let him do the 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:51.560 introductions and all that, but I want to get straight 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:55.880 to the thing. Man. When when you came and saw 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:58.320 how we ran this defense and how Marinella was gonna 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:01.440 do things, how did that fit you your talent? Man? Man, 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:02.960 I was happy. I was like, I can find you 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:05.240 be an athlete, Like, oh you like you said, we went. 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:07.200 I went from a two gap scheme to a true 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:09.360 one gap scheme, And it was like it was almost 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:11.640 unreal that I only got to worry about one gap 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:13.720 the whole game, Like you ain't gotta worry about trying 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:16.680 to come off helping the linebackers make another plan another gap. 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.039 Was like, just worry about your sea gap, get up 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:21.400 field and be disruptive in It took a little bit 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:23.000 of time because it was like I was reacting slow 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:25.880 because you know the four technique you move off the tackle, like, yeah, 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:28.839 the tackle is pretty much your dictating every every movement 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:30.200 that you do at the four time the four hour, 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:32.440 and now it was like you become the dictator throw 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:34.520 your fastball at them. So it's like, man, the more 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:36.400 speed you can thought the guy, the more moved you 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:38.440 can get to dude with the guy. All Right, well, 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:40.720 I'm gonna turn you over to these guys. Let him 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:43.160 into you are man, I just I want to get 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:45.720 into that right away. So I'm gonna turn you over 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.080 to these two exprests. Hey, you never need to apologize 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:50.960 on the ever for anything, because we gonna screw some 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:55.320 stuff up, right. Luckily we haven't done that yet. Yeah. Yeah, 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:02.200 So may NELLI talk about just talk about Marinelli. He's 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:04.120 one of the most fascinating people that I've ever been 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:08.039 around because it's demeanor. He's just like he's quiet, and 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:10.320 then when he gets out there with you guys, it's 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:12.679 like a totally different person. Man. He just cuts losing 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:16.120 and he's colorful, got some colorful language. He's like one 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:17.760 of the greatest teacher I ever had. Though It's like 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:20.440 when he was little, like coming up in inner city, 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:22.039 like people are always going to yell at you, and 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:24.680 you gotta learn like, you can't take the yelling there's 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.080 something negative. You gotta take what they're saying. You gotta 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:28.760 take the positive from it, and you gotta make your 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:30.400 game better because if you just listen to the yelling, 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:32.360 it's gonna get you down and you're gonna start thinking 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:34.599 negative about yourself. You're not gonna're gonna lose that confidence. 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:36.520 So I remember last year, I was like, man, I 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:38.240 kind of lost confidence because like he's just staying on 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:39.800 and standing on me. And then I started talking to 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:41.560 the veteran guys like Tie and d Law and all 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:43.560 those guys and teammack at the time, he was like, 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:45.800 he's on you because he liked you. Like the moment 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:47.479 that he stopped talking to you, that's when you should 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:49.560 are right now. If he's on you, if he's on 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:50.960 you and custing you all like that, that mean he 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:53.279 likes he sees something needs And when we get to 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:55.000 the film room, he would break it down like tap, 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:57.040 you're not doing this. You're not coming off the ball 0:05:57.080 --> 0:05:59.200 hall enough, you're not running to the ball, you're not 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:01.599 being aggressive as you need to be. And it's like, man, 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:03.400 he just he taught me so much over these last 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:05.520 two years and it's more, it's bigger than football things 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:07.600 he taught me. Taught me like the same as you're 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:09.240 working hard in this field, like work hard in your 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:10.800 family life. Like I just had a daughter. He was like, 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:13.000 all right, treat your dog like that. You're working so 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:14.680 hard in this football field. You need to work hard 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:17.560 to take care of your daughter and let football be 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:20.240 her money. Like don't let this because you can always 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:22.640 find the next thing to do. Like she's young and 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:24.600 you don't know what her feature is going to entail, 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:26.880 so you gotta always be worried about your daughter. And 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:28.919 he's just taught me so many men skills that I 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.280 didn't learn because I lost my father so young. How 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:33.960 much has your approach changed since you've had had your daughter? 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:37.280 It changed a lot. I mean it's like like they say, 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:39.400 like you start the thing last, like you you put 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:41.400 yourself left, Like now you're taking kids, three people, you 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:43.960 got your right now. My baby went imrried the time 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:45.600 we got my baby, mother and my daughter. So it's 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:48.040 like those two come for anything, like I gotta make 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.040 sure they're straight, got to make sure they can eat, 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:57.240 have her pampas, making sure that you know, we ain't 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:06.479 gonna call the baby mama bertrand yeah, now don't she 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:08.800 don't take a fist. It's just like we haven't took 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.760 that next step yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's definitely real. 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:13.800 And then I got my two little brothers. My mom 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:15.720 been in the hospital, so if her been in the hospital, 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:17.440 I just it's kind of like I had to take 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:20.080 that role of now you're the father to the father 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:21.800 figure to your cheer brother. So it's like, Okay, now 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.080 I got two more kids. So I'm slowly moving him 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:27.200 to Frisco because you know, Baltimore and Frisco. Frisco, you 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.040 can't get wrong with the school system. Man, Like, that's 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:30.760 the best school system I've ever seen in my life. 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:33.040 Like my little brother, he came from Baltimore, he's getting 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.080 straight fs and he came to Frisco. Now he's getting 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:37.800 ais and bees and it's like he's like he loves school. 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:39.320 He like, man, I can't wait to talk to the the school. 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:43.560 I'm so happy that. Yeah, man, I could be in Frisco. Yeah, 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:45.880 so talk a little bit. So you talked about growing 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.480 up in the inner city and losing your father at 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:50.720 a young age. Kind of talk to talk us through 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:53.600 When did you start playing football? Where'd you go to 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:56.960 high school? You grew up in Maryland, right, who recruited 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:59.000 you out of high school? And then college and then 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:01.560 kind of moving into the Cowboys kind of give us 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:03.880 that whole little scope of a life there. Mins is 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:05.960 a little crazy. So I didn't start playing football. To 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:08.360 my sophomore year high school, my mom said, you give 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:11.960 you get a job or play football football. The crazy 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.000 thing is I picked a job and she was like, no, 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:15.880 you're not gonna get no job. You're gonna play football. 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:17.720 Because I was a huge from seven to twenty one 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:19.680 in the city of Baltimore. All you want to do 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:22.440 is play basketball. Basketball is the thing that you eat 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:24.240 sleep when you live and you love it because it's 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:26.200 like it is just a documentary just came out to 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:28.840 dumbball boys, and like it pretty much tells you why 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:31.360 our kids, why we love like we love basketball so 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.119 much in Baltimore. So seven twenty when I played basketball 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:36.680 and Tim Gray, yeah, I tried off for the team 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:38.000 and I was like, I'm just trying to get cut. 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:39.400 Like they put me in receiver. So I was like, 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:41.719 I ran they threw a flower route. I ran the 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:43.920 slant and they threw me a slant. I dropped the 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:45.480 ball on purpose. They put me in D line. I 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:47.560 was just getting paying, like, hey, I'm gonna get cut 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:49.520 so I can go ahead and get back to basketball season. 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:52.199 But my mom ended up putting. She told the coaches 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:53.400 that I was trying to do so they made me 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:55.280 sit the bench that whole year, and it was like, no, 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:57.439 I don't like sitting the bench, like I'm gonna work 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:00.920 hard at this thing now the team trying to succeed 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:02.920 at So I read the bench the whole year. And 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:05.000 then my grandmother passed away from breast can to that 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:06.600 day year and it was like, okay, this is even 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:08.360 more motivation. I want to be good at this sport. 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:10.319 And then my junior year, like the end of my 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:11.760 Songoma year. Going to my junior I mat a guy 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.160 named Corey Robinson. He said, bro, you can even drive 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:16.240 a Hondo Lamborghini just like that. I said, what do 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:18.240 you mean Hondo Lamborghini. He said, you can drive a 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:20.679 Honda or Lamborghini. I was like, I want to drive 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:22.880 a Lamborghini. He said, okay, if you buy in a 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:25.040 football and you let me train you and two cheat 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:26.800 a little bit of techniques and you accept this invite 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:29.960 to the Allmy All American Combine. In the next fifteen 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:31.720 to twenty years, you could be driving to Lamborghini. And 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.440 I'm like, no way in the world. But I brought 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.000 into brought in me and him. We started working out 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:39.400 at the school called Calcaholl in Baltimore City. I mean 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:41.360 it's a Catholic school, but I didn't go to the school. 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.040 But it's like it was seven players of Calvall who 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:47.320 had invite to the Allmyle American combin and off the 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:48.880 shrimp for those guys they gave me. When he was like, 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:50.800 I got a six four guys, super freak, can run 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.240 four five, all this good stuff. He was like, that's unreal. 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:54.920 So I went down there and did all those things, 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:56.560 and two weeks after then I had a four rode 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:59.480 off of the Oklahoma never had never played the snap 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:08.719 of football. Wow. Yeah, I especially come from Bottomore where 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:10.520 it's like you don't see too many football So like 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:13.079 our biggest football star was Table Naston. He was a receiver, 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:14.960 and I'm like, that's my role model. Was like, my 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:17.960 role model is a receiver. So it's like now it's changed, 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.160 but it's like my role model because of what he 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:23.160 did and how he embraced the challenge and he opened 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:25.680 up he opened the gateway fus bottomore kids to play football. 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:27.439 It was like, that's my role model right there. That's 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:30.439 why I look up to And then I got to Oklahoma. Oklahoma, 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:32.840 it was the best four years of my life because 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:34.720 it was like I finally learned the game of football. 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:38.600 You learned that football isn't like basketball where it's this, this, this, 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:40.720 it's a strategic playing in the game, Like it's so 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:42.880 much that goes into it, Like people don't understand how 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:47.199 much defense controls offense offer controls defense, and how much 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.000 special teams, Like the special teams is such a key, 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:52.840 key aspect of the game that once I started to realize, 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:54.880 I'm like, man, I really liked this one because it's 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:57.520 so much learned that goes into it, like being somebody 0:10:57.559 --> 0:10:59.440 outside looking at you, like, man, it's just a bunch 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:01.960 of crazy house I did playing football. No, like really 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:03.800 dive into the spool and learning. He's like, it's so 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:05.760 much to learn. And when I first got to old you, 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:08.040 we were playing the four three, the same defense playing now, 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:10.160 and I was like, I was the I was the Russian. 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:12.720 I was like, man, I'm gonna love this. I love 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:16.000 russing the quarterback. This is fun. Just run man. And 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:20.080 then that next year Brevenders had just got fired and 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:22.600 Mike Steeps had came in and Mike steps he's he's 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.679 okay front guy. So we started moving to okay front 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:27.280 and it was like between me and Eric striking to 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:29.120 play the jat and he was like, man, tap you 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:31.600 six two, you big, you can move, so let's slide 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:33.079 you in the four technique and see what you can do. 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.160 And I'm like I just brought into him, like, man, 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:37.080 whatever whatever it takes to make the team win. I'm 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:39.040 a boy in the door. So I brought into the 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:41.000 fore technique and it took a little bit of time 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:43.000 for me to adjust to it. And at that time 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:45.320 I was two sixty five taking on playing the four 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:47.120 technique and it was like he like, tap, just get 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:49.439 off the ball and make plays happen. And that was 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:51.280 my sophomore year. I was playing my best year. It 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:52.800 was like I was at the four technique just getting 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:54.760 on the ball and making plays happening. I didn't need 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.280 the technique of the four technique get So then went 0:11:57.320 --> 0:11:59.440 to my June year and I really learned the technique 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.079 and the four techn dreymutgommery set down that whole all 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:05.080 season and we just learned the four technique. He tapped, 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:06.640 this is the steps you need to take, you need 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:08.680 to be about partly two seventy five to two eighty. 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.240 I got to two ninety, so I was two ninety. 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:17.760 I'm I'm sitting styling him. They wasn't moving. So that 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:20.520 was probably my best technique year, but it was somebody 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:24.640 get something, a little baby girl, somebody, hey, how are 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:31.720 you through? Okay? Yeah, somebody crashed the set all right. Yeah. 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:33.480 So my Jaine year, it was probably like my best 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:35.640 technique year when it came to the four technique, and 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.400 it was like my least production year, but like my 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:40.280 technique grades every game, I was great now of like 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:42.760 nineties and hundred, I'm like, man, that's I'm playing the 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:45.960 technique perfect. I'm not making plays. So that Joine year 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:47.400 it was kind of like a bus season for me. 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:49.120 I was like, man, I don't know if I really 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:51.800 liked the four technique no more then Coach jreymcgommery, the 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:54.280 guy who taught me everything about the sport he got. 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:57.599 He ended up going to Green Bay. Man when he 0:12:57.679 --> 0:12:59.240 when they when it happened, I was like, man, I 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:00.960 just went to like a locker room. Now. Just Crocks 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:03.400 was like, man, this is the guy who taught me football. 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:04.720 He was like, man, when you get to the league, 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:06.440 you probably won't play four technique. The more you're gonna 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:08.880 play the five technique, So don't really buy into the technique. 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:10.400 But it's like, man, I want to win. I just 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:12.520 want to win a ring, right man, Really, I'm trying 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:15.120 to win a ring. So he had laugh. And then 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:17.760 we got a guy name coach darn Reynolds. Coachal Rendors 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:19.480 came in. It was like exact and he was like 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:22.720 the exact same coaches Montgomery. But he was like, tap, 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:24.599 I don't want you at two ninety. I want you 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:27.040 to be at two seventy five and let's get off 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:29.160 the rock and just let you play. So he was 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:30.720 like at this time, I was a senior year I 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:32.240 had my confidence was up. It was like I can't 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:34.040 do I can't really make too any mistakes. So it 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:36.120 was like I was trying anything spin moves, hit the 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:38.360 four technique and it was like the cam once you 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.520 get your confidence back up there, you just try little things. 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:43.120 And my senior year, I started off slow. The first 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:44.920 four games, I ain't a sack. Then it was like 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:47.040 as those first four games, I gotta sack every game 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:49.959 the four technique and it was like just brought in well. 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:51.760 End up going to the final four and that was 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:53.640 like that was the greatest year. That was a great 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:55.920 year for us. My senior year to leave with a 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.240 big twelve championship, making to the final four at the 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:01.600 four technique, and man, it was a blessing. That was 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:05.480 How was your social life going from an inner city 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:10.480 kid in Maryland to all of a sudden you're in Norman, Oklahoma. Man, 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:13.720 was that a little bit to get the hardest transition 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:17.040 right there. I remember the plane ride. I had the dreads, 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:19.280 I had them both braided back. I had my cut 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:21.560 off because there pretty like we like to be stylish 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:23.800 and dress up really nice. Though. I get a plane, 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:26.000 got on nice clothes. I'm like, man, I hope these 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:27.760 guys cool when the can dress So I get off 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:32.880 walking in like, man, he's some country dudes, like big 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:39.280 shirt stag. First time I seen country booths. I heard 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:42.000 my first country song, I'm like, I need to go 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:45.120 back home. I'm not I don't like this, and she's like, no, 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:48.200 when you start something, you got to finish it. I 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:50.480 don't care. It was like many time of like, man, 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:52.360 I tried to save up about my little weekend checks 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:56.720 and fly back home. She told the coaches so quick, 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:58.320 and he tried to fly back home. Don't let him 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:00.960 go home, Like are you gonna do I can't come 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:02.440 home to see you. Nope, you don't need to see 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:06.000 me hook up. So like the first two years was 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:08.040 it was a main transition, but it was it was 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:09.840 it was transition for the better of me. I learned 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:11.840 how to communicate with people. I learned how to I 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:15.120 learned that you don't like people are not everybody's out 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:17.200 here trying to do me wrong. Because you sit at 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:19.640 Baltimore that you gotta think, like, man, this person is 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:22.160 trying to do me wrong because that's like everybody got 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.600 to eat and it's not a lot of opportunities out 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:26.520 there in Baltimore. So when I got to Oklahoma, it's 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:28.840 like there's so many opportunities and people are really trying 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:30.960 to help you for the greater good. And it was 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:33.200 like it was almost unreal, and that's something charm like 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:35.520 people just saying, how is you walking down there? Why 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:40.160 is everybody being so nice? I'm like, but it was 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.760 a great transition for me, and I try to get 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:44.560 like some of my family members to come down there 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:47.200 and see this to try to transform, but it took 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:49.840 me two years. So it's like sometimes when they come 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:51.880 down and they they're not coming for college and stuff, 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:54.040 so it's like I gotta sit there, like, man, chill out, 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:55.720 just just just sit in the house and just shut 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:57.920 up and listen to me. Because it took me two 0:15:58.000 --> 0:15:59.800 years to transition. This is gonna probably take you full 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:01.840 because you're not going to college and you're not gonna 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:03.560 have a league way that I had, and people are 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:07.040 not gonna give you the same respect that they gave me. Yes, wow, 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:09.880 your mom sounds like a powerful woman. Oh yeah, she's 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:13.880 the greatest woman, man. I mean everything in life, I 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:16.800 just give it back to her because it's like my 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:19.280 two little brothers they're both adopted, and it was like 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:21.640 she didn't have to do that. I got two older 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:24.000 brothers that she adopted when she was like fifteen years old, 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:26.160 and she was she was like I just always wanted 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:27.880 to take kids, people and help people, because she was like, 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:29.840 come from bating. It's not too many people trying to 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.560 do that. So like like right now she's working to 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:35.240 alternative school with the worst kids in Baltimore, and like 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.000 when I uh, she called me Monday, She's like, man, 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:40.520 dived to come to kids in school starving. So I 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:42.800 was like, man, I can buy some pizza. So I called. 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:45.520 We called like a hundred bucks of pizza and we 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:47.400 gave it to him, and I'm kids, man, it just 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:49.240 changed some of their life and it was like, man, 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:51.120 it's somebody that actually kid about us, that played for 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:53.760 the Dallas Cowboys. And some of those kids actually they 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.640 started going back to their own schools. And she told 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:58.680 me like some of them getting aids and trying to 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:00.880 attend college now, and it was like those little things 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:03.120 right there, it really helped those kids. And she's like this, 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:05.119 she was like, I'm trying to tell you this for years, 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:07.240 and she was like now that she has can't, She's like, 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:09.280 it's your time now, it's your time to help the 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:12.320 den and give back. Like a hot day. Wow, you 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:14.879 got bro, you got yourself and a couple of brothers 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:17.960 couple older brothers, got two younger brothers, Sean and Jordan. 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:21.439 Sean just turned fifteen, Jordan's thirteen, so they're trying to 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.200