Speaker 1: Hey, what up. Welcome in. I'm Doug goli But this
Speaker 1: is all ball man. We're back and we got a
Speaker 1: ton a ton of pods in the pipeline for you.
Speaker 1: I want to give you a couple thoughts on the
Speaker 1: KD thing, on the Kyrie thing, I guess, on the
Speaker 1: DeAndre Ayten thing, right, the DeAndre Etan thing is the
Speaker 1: newest thing where wait, so Phoenix didn't want DeAndre Aten
Speaker 1: and then they match a deal with the Indiana Pacers
Speaker 1: and it The whole thing is bizarre, right, the whole
Speaker 1: thing is, especially the way their season ended last year.
Speaker 1: Maybe they've convinced themselves they can win with a traditional,
Speaker 1: more traditional NBA center. And Chris Paul was the problem.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but you play this game of chicken.
Speaker 1: Most people thought that he was potentially a sign and
Speaker 1: trade trade bait and he ends up getting a gigantic
Speaker 1: deal that you match and now you can't trade him
Speaker 1: until January. Wow. That just does not feel like the
Speaker 1: Suns as well run an organization as they have been
Speaker 1: since they basically hired Monty Williams. Right, that's that was
Speaker 1: part of the turn in this organization. You go back
Speaker 1: to the bubble they're laws to bubble that one does not.
Speaker 1: One means they're out of the Kadi sweepstakes, and two
Speaker 1: that's a really hard like cap to put back on,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, the genie is out of the
Speaker 1: bottle based upon how it ended and many of the
Speaker 1: alleged feelings on that team about DeAndre Aden or like
Speaker 1: in the organization about DeAndre Ayden. So I'm not saying
Speaker 1: Aden stings. I don't believe that you're going to be
Speaker 1: able to win big with him because of his lack
Speaker 1: of versatility. That's what the league is all about. But
Speaker 1: I could be wrong, and maybe they know more. But
Speaker 1: if you don't love a guy and you end up
Speaker 1: beholding to him and signing him, it's one thing. If
Speaker 1: you're not a well or an organization, you're not competing
Speaker 1: for a championship they are. Or maybe you need him
Speaker 1: in the in the West because you have Yokich at
Speaker 1: the five right, and you feel like, hey, we're not
Speaker 1: just going to have to go through Yokich. We have
Speaker 1: to go through wise Been coming back. We have to
Speaker 1: go through some traditional bigs. But I don't know. I
Speaker 1: guess you know, Minnesota's got two bigs everybody's loading up
Speaker 1: with big guys, even though the team that didn't have
Speaker 1: big guys just won another championship. Right, all right, I'll
Speaker 1: give you some thoughts on KD as well. You have
Speaker 1: to you have to offer the moon, the stars in
Speaker 1: the sun if you want him. And everybody's playing this
Speaker 1: game of chicken and seem to be drawing the line
Speaker 1: and said, hey, we're not going to offer everything for
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant. But look, the going rate is what Rudy
Speaker 1: Gobert got plus some. The going rate is whatever the
Speaker 1: Knicks have to give up to get Donovan Mitchell. The
Speaker 1: going rate is going to be astronomical. The question is, really,
Speaker 1: where does he end up since it's not going to
Speaker 1: be Phoenix. I think I still think Miami fits. I
Speaker 1: feel like he's part of that sort of you want
Speaker 1: to call it heat culture that they call it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he loves the hoop, he loves the ball. That's one fits.
Speaker 1: I just don't know if they have the assets and
Speaker 1: the assets they do have the ones that he wants
Speaker 1: to play with. I thought I thought you needed a
Speaker 1: special treat for all ball. This This this is really good,
Speaker 1: really really good. Andy Phillips joins me. Okay, Andy was
Speaker 1: an undrafted free agent, had a cup of coffee in
Speaker 1: the preseason with the Green Bay Packers. But this podcast,
Speaker 1: many times is about the journey. Here's his You grew
Speaker 1: up where Lansing, Michigan border race, so for most people
Speaker 1: who are not Michiganians, Michiganeans, Michiganders, that's the unofficial word. Okay.
Speaker 1: So is there a legit difference between Lansing and East Lansing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, oh yeah, Doc, Yeah, So there is an
Speaker 1: actual difference, not just directional. It is there are two
Speaker 1: different cities, and Lansing is the capital. East Lansing is
Speaker 1: a stone throw away. But there's absolutely a difference. So
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say I grew up in Spartan country, but
Speaker 1: my front door was ten minutes from the Breslin. Okay,
Speaker 1: So were you a Hooper and a football player growing
Speaker 1: up or just a football player? I did everything I did, basketball, football,
Speaker 1: baseball kid growing up, got the high school and my
Speaker 1: love was football, so I subbed out baseball for track
Speaker 1: for three or four years, and I love all sports.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm a huge, huge basketball fan, huge football fan.
Speaker 1: But when you're six too even and a stock of
Speaker 1: yer build. You kind of go more of the football
Speaker 1: route than the basketball once you get rolling. Were always
Speaker 1: a center. No, no, So you know what's funny is
Speaker 1: I actually in high school I played My main position
Speaker 1: was linebacker. I was I was this heights in eighth
Speaker 1: grade and you know, by my senior year, I was
Speaker 1: about two forty two fifty and I was playing inside
Speaker 1: linebacker and fullback running back. Really once a Central Michigan
Speaker 1: University is my only offer as a defensive end. You're skipping,
Speaker 1: You're you're skipping. Don't don't skip. I won't skip, so no,
Speaker 1: so don't skip. So you're playing inside linebacker, that's right
Speaker 1: for your starter diversity. You playing fullbacker, you're running running,
Speaker 1: started just pummeling dudes. That's it. But what's they actually are?
Speaker 1: It's the only offensive position. I feel like that's like defense,
Speaker 1: right because as much as as as pat run blocking,
Speaker 1: I think a little bit to it, but you gotta
Speaker 1: pass block and I was sif. But in terms of
Speaker 1: just being able to take dudes out right, like like
Speaker 1: football's here's my thing with football. Lots of guys will say, oh, well,
Speaker 1: Lebron James wouldn't have been a good twelve players didn't
Speaker 1: want to get hit. Nobody. Lots of guys don't want
Speaker 1: to get hit. Now do they want to hit somebody's different?
Speaker 1: No one says like, yeah, I can't wait to get earhold. Man.
Speaker 1: That sounds like a good idea. But fullback sounds especially
Speaker 1: for six two two forty in high school, that sounds
Speaker 1: like a hell of a good time. And listen, you're
Speaker 1: exactly right, because linebacker fullback of the same thing, get
Speaker 1: the same objective. You're filling a gap and trying to
Speaker 1: put your screws on somebody's chest and see who wins.
Speaker 1: But you're right, ray Lewis did not like to be hit.
Speaker 1: He liked to do the hitting. And when you're in
Speaker 1: high school, to me that it really separates kids because
Speaker 1: a third of the team is out there because their
Speaker 1: parents are making them. The other third is out there
Speaker 1: because they think they love football, and then there's the
Speaker 1: third that actually do love football and want to go
Speaker 1: out there. And listen, from the offensive line standpoint, they're
Speaker 1: just saying, there's no greater feeling than moving a person
Speaker 1: against their will from point A to point B. Well,
Speaker 1: if you do the same thing when you're playing inside back,
Speaker 1: er two because you can fill a hole and tat
Speaker 1: you of running back and drive him either into the
Speaker 1: ground a few feet or back that way. Either way,
Speaker 1: it's the best feeling on the planet. Why were you
Speaker 1: lightly recruited. I think there's a bunch of different reasons.
Speaker 1: This was before Huddle. I mean, once Huddle came about
Speaker 1: and college coaches could get any film, they wanted any
Speaker 1: kid in the country like that and helped I was
Speaker 1: in the air. I graduated twenty ten. That was still
Speaker 1: mainly in the you gotta go to your summer camps
Speaker 1: and you gotta send out your tapes. Well, first off,
Speaker 1: I was a four year starter in the varsity school,
Speaker 1: good basketball program, good track program. I was five and
Speaker 1: thirty one at football, So we had a really poor
Speaker 1: football program that time, especially hard to get recruited at
Speaker 1: that point. Also, I think I was playing out of position.
Speaker 1: I mean I was six two two forty and no
Speaker 1: one saw my hand in the dirt, and I think
Speaker 1: that would have probably helped my case a little more.
Speaker 1: You know, I was getting recruited by Michigan State since
Speaker 1: my freshman year. They're inviting me to games and all
Speaker 1: that good stuff. But the day I think six two
Speaker 1: wasn't six four two forty two fifty Playing linebacker wasn't
Speaker 1: like seeing somebody with their hand in the dirt to
Speaker 1: maybe see that creativity of can this guy play something else?
Speaker 1: Can this defensive end? Can we bump him into a
Speaker 1: three tack? Can we can this even a tight end?
Speaker 1: Can we bump them down into the tiered off the line?
Speaker 1: I think the combination of not getting great notoriety via
Speaker 1: playing on a poor team and then probably being a
Speaker 1: little bit out of position didn't help my recruiting case.
Speaker 1: But you know, end of the day, got my one
Speaker 1: offer and that's all I needed. So who recruited you
Speaker 1: at at at Western Central Michigan? Yeah? That was sacrilege.
Speaker 1: That zacrilege? Apologize who who recruits at Central? Bush Jones?
Speaker 1: I was Butch Jones? Who was who is the position coach?
Speaker 1: That was coach Strippling, who followed Buch Jones to Cincinnati
Speaker 1: and then Tennessee, and he was all about keeping defensive end.
Speaker 1: I pushed Jones and his staff left a month before
Speaker 1: signing day. I never played I never played for Wait
Speaker 1: wait wait, wait, wait, So so you have one offer,
Speaker 1: that's right, and then the coach leaves and what's what's
Speaker 1: that like? Well, because so most guys open the recruitment
Speaker 1: back up, I didn't have recruitment to open up. So
Speaker 1: now I'm sitting there and I'm praying. I'm like let them.
Speaker 1: I mean, Ball State would come in and talk to
Speaker 1: me and just kind of like they weren't offering me,
Speaker 1: they you know, keep me around. And so I'm just
Speaker 1: seeing this way to see who Central Michigan hires. And
Speaker 1: my hope was they were going to promote from within,
Speaker 1: like maybe the maybe Strippling because he was the assistant
Speaker 1: head coach, maybe just promote him and everything's good. Well,
Speaker 1: they end up hiring Dan you knows, which was actually
Speaker 1: good for me because he'd been the running back coach
Speaker 1: of Michigan State for years and he'd been one of
Speaker 1: the guys who would talk to me on those business
Speaker 1: when I go out to every games. There was something
Speaker 1: enough there and for him too. He's coming in three
Speaker 1: weeks before signing day, needing to fill a class, so
Speaker 1: I think he was in that was short enough time
Speaker 1: where he needed to keep some of us than you
Speaker 1: did you go in the spring or did you not
Speaker 1: go until after graduation? No, didn't go to after graduation
Speaker 1: end of June. Okay, so what are you still playing
Speaker 1: on playing D line? Like, what is the what was
Speaker 1: it like when Enos gets there? Yeah, so when Edos
Speaker 1: got there, they wanted me to play. They were they
Speaker 1: were talking about three tech. So I was the defensive
Speaker 1: en days were done, those down to three tech. I
Speaker 1: was coming off from the shoulder surgery in high school.
Speaker 1: I had ac joint before my senior season. Played the
Speaker 1: senior season, which idiotic looking back on it, but played
Speaker 1: my senior season, needed the surgery after the season, and
Speaker 1: then so I was rehabbing a little bit still going
Speaker 1: into my summer at Central playing scout team defensive line.
Speaker 1: Hurt the shoulder again towards the end of that year.
Speaker 1: Help me out, Help me out in terms of the
Speaker 1: difference when you're the change in three technique. Okay, now
Speaker 1: again this is this is just I played football, but
Speaker 1: obviously not the line. So here's how I'm visioning you
Speaker 1: get there. You're two forty three technique, they're movie the inside.
Speaker 1: It's like a run stopper, right, That's that's more. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's your run stopper that has the ability to get
Speaker 1: after the passer. A little bit. Are you lining up
Speaker 1: over the guard of the center outside shoulder of the garden,
Speaker 1: so you're between the guard the tackle, Okay, And did
Speaker 1: they tell you, hey, dude, you're at two forty you
Speaker 1: need to throw on however much weight. Meanwhile, you got
Speaker 1: a shoulder, so there's a lot of lifting you can't do.
Speaker 1: Like these things seem to go counterintuitive a little bit. Again,
Speaker 1: this is more outso shot. So I was able to
Speaker 1: come back from my senior year in high school for
Speaker 1: the last handful of games of basketball season, probably heir
Speaker 1: to early by one play playoffs, all that good stuff.
Speaker 1: And I remember being on phone. I started getting away
Speaker 1: because I knew, even if I was playing decent event,
Speaker 1: they were going to want me in the two sixties.
Speaker 1: So I was able to start lifting put on some weight.
Speaker 1: And I remember a couple of weeks before I'm about
Speaker 1: to head the central I get a call from the
Speaker 1: new d line coach and he's asking what I'm wating,
Speaker 1: and I said, at the time I was up to
Speaker 1: two fifty seven. I was pretty thrilled. And I hear
Speaker 1: you knows, coach, you knows in the background, yell tell
Speaker 1: him he's got to eat more. Gotta get on more weight,
Speaker 1: so they end up getting me up too by the
Speaker 1: time I get there and through the summer. I probably
Speaker 1: entered training camp in the two seventies and it wasn't
Speaker 1: a bad way, but yeah, there was some lifts that
Speaker 1: were still hurting the shoulder, and I don't know if
Speaker 1: you've ever heard rac joint, but anything over the head.
Speaker 1: So even a straight bench press a decline was actually
Speaker 1: better just based on that. So I knew stuffing was
Speaker 1: still wrong, but I was able to put on the
Speaker 1: weight you might do. I was mainly a linebacker in
Speaker 1: high school, so even defensive end was a little bit
Speaker 1: of a transition. But then going down to the three tech,
Speaker 1: you realize ham placement means so much more than anything else.
Speaker 1: At linebacker in high school, You're coming downhill and I'm
Speaker 1: throwing forms and shoulders and head at people. Where when
Speaker 1: you get the three tech and you're getting in there,
Speaker 1: it gets College is all about where can I get
Speaker 1: my hands on that guard on my target, on my
Speaker 1: little target this big? Can I get them there faster?
Speaker 1: And he gets his on me? And that was the
Speaker 1: toughest thing taught for me to learn. While pairing that
Speaker 1: with your feet as well. It's an incredible, incredible learning experience,
Speaker 1: especially because now I'm that's my focus, right, But now
Speaker 1: I got the offensive tackle during your fifteen pounds trying
Speaker 1: to come down to me on a double team as well.
Speaker 1: Incredible experience. However, little did I know while you're playing
Speaker 1: scout team you spend most of your time actually with
Speaker 1: the offensive line because you're their dummies during drifts. So
Speaker 1: the offensive line coach going to look at me for
Speaker 1: a few months and it wasn't point in time they
Speaker 1: change your own at surgery end of the season on
Speaker 1: the shoulder again, cleaned everything up, and then they moved
Speaker 1: me at the very end of spring ball, so I
Speaker 1: couldn't do anything spring ball. Actually from the surgery, I
Speaker 1: had a blood clot in my arm and rehabbing all that.
Speaker 1: All this stuff is a freshman you don't want because
Speaker 1: the last thing you want as a freshman you're just
Speaker 1: trying not to get forgotten about, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: because you can easily try and replace you. And I
Speaker 1: ended up getting moved to April of my red shirt year,
Speaker 1: and that was time to really put on some weight.
Speaker 1: How far is this from home, our north? How often
Speaker 1: did you go home freshman year, maybe once a month.
Speaker 1: I get home for a night and get a good meal,
Speaker 1: and by the by the time your senior year, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, you got your friends up there.
Speaker 1: You're acclimated more so, not nearly as much, but it
Speaker 1: was there. It was far enough yet close enough. What
Speaker 1: is what is the town? Like my pleasant is a
Speaker 1: college town? It was when I was there. There's about
Speaker 1: fifty thousand people in town and twenty five thousand or students,
Speaker 1: so in the summers it's a desert. It is. You
Speaker 1: have your handful of great bars, great bars, and you
Speaker 1: have a casino, and then you have the Chippewa River
Speaker 1: and outside of that it's not much. But it's the
Speaker 1: perfect place to go to college because it's great collegetown,
Speaker 1: great fun, little bars. Casino there. I don't know why,
Speaker 1: but it's only casino in Michigan. You'll have to be eighteen.
Speaker 1: So if you want to go there and lose your
Speaker 1: scholarship check in one night, you could. We tried to
Speaker 1: avoid as much as possible. And then besides that, it
Speaker 1: was just in the summers, though you had to you
Speaker 1: could have your fun, but not no one else is
Speaker 1: in town, but pretty much to fall athletes, and for
Speaker 1: most of the summer the football players were the only
Speaker 1: ones because even like the basketball team got a few,
Speaker 1: you know, a month off or so, so you you
Speaker 1: had to be on your piece and keys a little bit.
Speaker 1: Best bar in mel Puss you said, there's some good bucks.
Speaker 1: You're a little question. But if I had to pick one,
Speaker 1: I'd say, Oh, Kelly's why, multiple reasons. Ay, two sides.
Speaker 1: You got the classic bar side, massive TVs. Pint Night
Speaker 1: on Tuesday's that kind of atmosphere crossover to the other side.
Speaker 1: It's called wayside, And that's more like the club experience
Speaker 1: in my club. I mean, I'm not talking like nothing
Speaker 1: you'd find in Vegas. I'm talking you'd find a small
Speaker 1: town mouth pleasant. Oh yeah, let's listen. You had it
Speaker 1: in Stillwater. Stillwater, you had you had the Tumbleweed, okay,
Speaker 1: which is a couple miles outside of town. But then
Speaker 1: you also had there's a club there. Oh man, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm I'm blanking what the club was called. But there
Speaker 1: was like a small like club there too, right, And
Speaker 1: you go and postgame the football players are in there.
Speaker 1: Then you go outside of the big country bar and
Speaker 1: they're line dancing like crazy and you go back inside.
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
Speaker 1: the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Speaker 1: Radio dot com and within the iHeart Radio app. Search
Speaker 1: f s are to listen live. So okay, So now
Speaker 1: you're rolling into your second year, you're coming off from
Speaker 1: shoulder surgery. What then, Now it's time to play some football.
Speaker 1: And so I missed spring ball because I was rehabbing.
Speaker 1: So I didn't even get the spring ball leading up
Speaker 1: to my freshman season to get going on offensive line.
Speaker 1: So I'm spending all summer. I basically was attached attached
Speaker 1: to the hip to starting interior linement nam Darren Keaton,
Speaker 1: who spent a little bit time with the Lions. I
Speaker 1: attached myself to him and said, hey, I know you're
Speaker 1: one of the brightest guys in the team. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: follow your lead. Tell me how to be great. And
Speaker 1: between him and the officsive line coach Mike Cummings legendary,
Speaker 1: he had four different stints at such a Michigan. He's
Speaker 1: now he just had both of our offensive tackles actually
Speaker 1: from such missions past year, drafting second and third round,
Speaker 1: and then he just went to University of Cincinnati's there's
Speaker 1: no offensive line coach between those two. They got me
Speaker 1: ready mentally for a training camp. And when I got
Speaker 1: to training camp, you know, I got up to three
Speaker 1: hundred how much of that was waterway and fell off fast.
Speaker 1: I mean by the end of the season, I was
Speaker 1: two seventy five. But I got up there, and it
Speaker 1: was really just trying to show myself and listen, I
Speaker 1: joked with my office one coach. For two years, I
Speaker 1: was a linebacker playing off as a line My feet
Speaker 1: were all over the place. I ended up on the groundboard.
Speaker 1: I showed just trying to get after people. I busted
Speaker 1: my tail to do so. And my key was learning
Speaker 1: the playbook as fast as I possibly could, because listen,
Speaker 1: if I'm wrong, I'll be wrong with my technique. And
Speaker 1: learned that. But I wanted to make sure mentally I'm
Speaker 1: on every check possible, because I won't see the field
Speaker 1: to even make physical mistakes if I can't get there mentally.
Speaker 1: So it was all learning all that kind of stuff,
Speaker 1: all while trying to figure out in my center and
Speaker 1: my guard and I both I can't play tackle. I'm short,
Speaker 1: so learning and snap learning and do all this kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. It was a whirlwin and I'll never get
Speaker 1: the practice that it kind of clicked and everything was
Speaker 1: coming together for me. I was starting to click during
Speaker 1: training camp, well, those two day dog days, and I
Speaker 1: remember the head coach just coaching. I was yelling over
Speaker 1: to the offensive line area, basically saying, I don't know
Speaker 1: who our five are going to be, but we better
Speaker 1: have Phil Egineer. And I remember that moment was kind
Speaker 1: of like, all right, I got some confidence role and
Speaker 1: ended up I was a sixth man by the time
Speaker 1: the season started, and injury happens, and I ended up
Speaker 1: starting the last half of the season, and like I said,
Speaker 1: started a center. Then I got moved to guard the
Speaker 1: following year, so my next three years were there. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so I started as a freshman the last five games
Speaker 1: of the season at center, and like I said, last game,
Speaker 1: I was probably two or seventy six pounds. Who's your
Speaker 1: quarterback back? Then? It was Ryan Radcliffe, who he's a
Speaker 1: good player. He was a you know, he was a
Speaker 1: twenty five touchdown ten, big kind of guy, a really
Speaker 1: good arm. He was the quarterback there for me first
Speaker 1: two years. So what's that? What are those emotions, like
Speaker 1: though to go from you kind of lost your freshman year,
Speaker 1: just trying to be around, getting getting pummeled, playing out
Speaker 1: of position too. Now you're starting center on the other
Speaker 1: side of the ball, position you never played. Last five
Speaker 1: games are the most important five all mac mac games? Right,
Speaker 1: what's it like? It's crazy? It's you know, you go
Speaker 1: from thinking you're forgotten about and just wanting to make
Speaker 1: sure that they're not trying to get rid of you.
Speaker 1: And there's an old story that when I had my
Speaker 1: blood clot you know, not gonna name name, but I
Speaker 1: got a call from coach and it's kind of one
Speaker 1: of those Yeah, you have blood clot, you're missing you're
Speaker 1: making you staying lancing for a couple of weeks to
Speaker 1: test my blood. Don't let me go out to school
Speaker 1: for the first week on the second semester, Like do
Speaker 1: you want to you sure you can even play football again?
Speaker 1: Like I was smart enough to understand what I was.
Speaker 1: I was a guy who was to them, hadn't proved anything,
Speaker 1: often injured. Can we get can we get this kid
Speaker 1: scholarship back? And then, like you said, fast forward and
Speaker 1: next thing I know, I'm on the opposite side of
Speaker 1: the ball. A few months later, starting in Division one
Speaker 1: football games, it was incredible. It was an experience any
Speaker 1: of that I want to forget. But also it moved
Speaker 1: so fast because the learning curve. It wasn't like I
Speaker 1: was just waiting, chopping at the bit to play the
Speaker 1: position I played my whole life. It moves so fast
Speaker 1: because every single day was something new technique, mentally studying
Speaker 1: learning to play the position, and then to ultimately be
Speaker 1: put into the games and then next year get start
Speaker 1: kind of piecing together, You start figuring things out and boom,
Speaker 1: the season's over. But to be able to get to
Speaker 1: that point of within a eight months span of thinking
Speaker 1: do these guys know my name? To being the guys
Speaker 1: starting off the plays was pretty incredible. Offensive alignment to
Speaker 1: us Notre Dame. I hung out with the offensive linement
Speaker 1: strike me as strike me as two things, one very
Speaker 1: very bright and two very very gross. Like the discussions
Speaker 1: about anything from anything from beer to like they used
Speaker 1: to go to CJ's Bar, I think in South Bend
Speaker 1: and like get a picture of beer, and then the
Speaker 1: beer would get down to and then somebody pissing the beer,
Speaker 1: and then they put the more beer in it and
Speaker 1: try and get somebody to drink it. Right, And I'm
Speaker 1: being tamed in terms of some of the grossness. On
Speaker 1: the other hand, they're also like super bright dudes, and
Speaker 1: there'd be some really interesting discussions your crew early on.
Speaker 1: You're a young guy, but midwestern guy, right, equacious. Give
Speaker 1: me give me the best, give me the best gross
Speaker 1: story and the most interesting guy. I love that question. Actually,
Speaker 1: so this is good. You just want early on? No,
Speaker 1: you give me whatever. I okay all time. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna I'm pg gross. My buddies in the door my
Speaker 1: freshman year, we used to. I used to let them
Speaker 1: on occasion. I said, go make me an ice cream Sunday.
Speaker 1: You can put anything you want in the cafeteria in it,
Speaker 1: and I'll eat it for five bucks. So they'd come
Speaker 1: back with I mean, I'm talking mustard, soy, sauce, beans,
Speaker 1: anything you could think of, and I eat it for
Speaker 1: five bucks. Very ill, put on weight, go for I
Speaker 1: mean that that was. Looking back on it, you know,
Speaker 1: a little disappointed in myself. You gotta do. You tend
Speaker 1: to get some bucks when you're in college. So hold on,
Speaker 1: don't don't, don't tell the Philip he's gotta try to
Speaker 1: get weight, Philip and I was there, So that was
Speaker 1: a good one. Interesting character. So there's a lot of
Speaker 1: interesting characters. Oh gosh. Really kid named Dylan Anderson brother
Speaker 1: Rice High School, Great high school in Michigan. We he
Speaker 1: never played, but was the one of the funniest humans
Speaker 1: on the planet. Constantly had a shirt off and he
Speaker 1: you know, he wouldn't care. I said this. He had
Speaker 1: one of those cartoons like stomachs, like just like perfectly round. Yes,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, like perfectly round. And he
Speaker 1: had a bad habit as a freshman of showing up late,
Speaker 1: whether it was to class, whether it was to meetings,
Speaker 1: whether it was to a lift and cause the older
Speaker 1: guys got sick of it, and he was. He was
Speaker 1: a freshman, so I was a year to older than him,
Speaker 1: sick of it and made him get on the table
Speaker 1: in her offensive line room with a shirt off. I
Speaker 1: had attempt to do set ups, which again I'm talking
Speaker 1: about a cartoon belly wasn't his. Yeah, we're doing impossible,
Speaker 1: an impossible set up. Don't tell me the impossible setup story.
Speaker 1: They weren't known they were. They were real setups. Yeah,
Speaker 1: not set ups. And every time he did a sit up,
Speaker 1: he had to scream out in the room, I'm fat,
Speaker 1: I'm fat. And I remember that moment, just thinking like,
Speaker 1: thank god, this kid's a good sport. Yeah, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, but that thank god, this is back
Speaker 1: in uh what two thousand and what shit? Uh? This
Speaker 1: is two thousand for years? Is probably that would have
Speaker 1: been twenty eleven, twenty twelve, right right, it happens in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. And you guys like getting arrested, right,
Speaker 1: And I'll even I'll even go on that too. One
Speaker 1: of our traditions on the office line we went out
Speaker 1: to dinner with the quarterback every Thursday before games. Every Thursday,
Speaker 1: Old Line's going somewhere in time and going dinner, and
Speaker 1: our tradition was freshman at one of those dinners had
Speaker 1: to get up, no matter where the restaurant was and
Speaker 1: sing a song of your choice. So mine was. We
Speaker 1: went to Bennigans, which is like an Applebey's. When the
Speaker 1: ben begins, it is the it's a Thursday dinner time.
Speaker 1: Dead quiet in there, like they barely music playing, And
Speaker 1: I had to get up and stand up on like
Speaker 1: the stage or whatever they had, and I say friends
Speaker 1: in low places, Arth Brooks, Oklahoma State, you know, and
Speaker 1: it was a blast. Anyways, by the time when I
Speaker 1: was a senior, that was that was next those knicks. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: that was fairly fairly Yeah, thank you, but yeah, I
Speaker 1: would say Dylan Anderson what my million other different names.
Speaker 1: Our coaches referred him as Dorfman from Anna Moss and
Speaker 1: he's find the most interesting character. But great, dude, Okay,
Speaker 1: so from that, how did your college career go? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So then the next year, after my freshman year, I
Speaker 1: played my freshman I played that year. I didn't mention
Speaker 1: with a broken flux, so I'd have surgery after the season.
Speaker 1: So here I am three straight winners, three straight surgeries,
Speaker 1: going back to high school. So I have surgery, miss
Speaker 1: another shreen ball, and now I'm like, all right, sure,
Speaker 1: I started five games, I by know me secured a
Speaker 1: starting spot. I'm still getting used off into line. Well.
Speaker 1: Our coach is a best five out there kind of guy,
Speaker 1: and early in camp he realized the best five men
Speaker 1: this other kid, another freshman who had red shirted, and
Speaker 1: centered me at guard. So I bumped over the left
Speaker 1: guard and spent the next three years started every game
Speaker 1: at left guard at Central Michigan. I would say some
Speaker 1: of the highlights were my soft that sophomore year. We
Speaker 1: went down and well, first off, we got our tails
Speaker 1: Kate in Michigan State came to Mount Pleasant, so big
Speaker 1: game had to bring an extra stance. Kelly Short stated
Speaker 1: in molds, I think thirty thirty two thousand. They brought
Speaker 1: in like an additional eight thousand and found places to
Speaker 1: put them, kicked our teeth in. Wasn't competitive. We go
Speaker 1: down to Iowa the next week and beat Iowa on
Speaker 1: the craziest game of crazy game. Better part, We're up
Speaker 1: by like three most of the game. Third quarter or
Speaker 1: being the fourth quarter, they take over. They're up by nine,
Speaker 1: and if I recall correctly, we go down score a
Speaker 1: touchdown with I don't know, forty five seconds a minute
Speaker 1: left on site, can't get it, two plays, forty seven
Speaker 1: yard field goal, game over. And it was the loudest
Speaker 1: stadium I played. I played at the Big House, I
Speaker 1: played a spartan stadium played down at NC State. But
Speaker 1: the single loudest stadium was probably because it was a
Speaker 1: competitive game like those stams probably could have got there,
Speaker 1: but that was a single lot of stadium because hey,
Speaker 1: they're fans. Their sideline is five yards. I mean, you
Speaker 1: don't have space behind you when your coach is trying
Speaker 1: to talk to away you're sitting on the bench. They're fans.
Speaker 1: Are my jersey is behind? I mean they're right there.
Speaker 1: And it was just but you hear a pin drop
Speaker 1: as soon as that field will went in. Unbelieva feeling
Speaker 1: going to my junior year. So so so and for
Speaker 1: people who I think most people listen to this pod
Speaker 1: will get it. But tell me if I'm wrong. Everybody's central.
Speaker 1: I want to play at Iowa right, like the match
Speaker 1: is made. The hunt, Oh you're saying, big Tea just
Speaker 1: in terms of the Big ten is made up of
Speaker 1: dudes who were told, hey, dude, you're a little too slow,
Speaker 1: you're a little too small. You just you're good, but
Speaker 1: you're not big. And the Big ten is fucking arrogant,
Speaker 1: right and they rightfully so like that is especially on
Speaker 1: the offensive line, right because and an Iowa offensive line, right,
Speaker 1: they they're like the new Nebraska, Like they walk in
Speaker 1: likely and and to go in there and get a win,
Speaker 1: I can't imagine. I mean that wash Brandon Sheriff was
Speaker 1: their left tackle that year, and yeah, I mean those
Speaker 1: are a big ten offensive linement. We have every every
Speaker 1: single one of us. And if anyone tells you otherwise,
Speaker 1: they're lying to try and have some mac pride. But no,
Speaker 1: we all wanted to. I was holding out committing to
Speaker 1: Central Michigan, waiting for my Missigan Michigan State offer until
Speaker 1: then I'm thinking like, all right, I gotta commit, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? So yeah, absolutely, but so you're
Speaker 1: going there, you have a chip on your shoulder. What
Speaker 1: is that chip going to be enough? But it was
Speaker 1: that day, and so yeah, you get that. Win was
Speaker 1: great my senior year, which I don't know if I's
Speaker 1: work too far, but we beat down We beat down
Speaker 1: another big ten team. We went too per new and
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember the name Thomas Rawls.
Speaker 1: He spent the time to Seattle running back. He transferred
Speaker 1: from Michigan. He was our running back. We ran power
Speaker 1: so pulling guard double team on the front side. We
Speaker 1: had it ran that near twenty times in the second half.
Speaker 1: I pulled pretty much Allen, so it's just me and
Speaker 1: Thomas through the whole. We beat the absolute dog shit
Speaker 1: out of them. Part of my language. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: okay good. It was thirty eight seventeen and it wasn't close.
Speaker 1: It was to go into a big ten stadium. We
Speaker 1: got their first possession, We got pick six our first possession.
Speaker 1: Our quarterback at that point was a sophomore Cooper Rush,
Speaker 1: who was the Dallas Cowboy backup. He was the quarter
Speaker 1: member by the last two years. He threw like a
Speaker 1: sixty yard touchdown. So we're up fourteen, nothing like that.
Speaker 1: It just it was never a game in the middle linebacker.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Seawan Robinson. He was like complimenting me
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, like our team. He's like, you guys,
Speaker 1: just get after man. I would love to play for
Speaker 1: your team. I was thinking for myself. I was saying myself,
Speaker 1: might want to focus on playing for your own right now.
Speaker 1: But it was those wins, like you say, because those
Speaker 1: are the guys who they said were better than us.
Speaker 1: Totally totally get it. When you're when you're now and
Speaker 1: how how how much did you weigh then when you're
Speaker 1: playing guard? I was a consistent three or five. I
Speaker 1: was able to hold it. So now you're now you're
Speaker 1: three h five pulling guard. What's a better feeling? Okay,
Speaker 1: back when you were high school and you're either fullback
Speaker 1: or linebacker laying some dude out, or when you're three
Speaker 1: oh five coming downhill as a pulling guard. It's three
Speaker 1: or five downhill. But the reason being, I know the
Speaker 1: guy who I'm who I'm laying out is a better athlete,
Speaker 1: you know, I because high school something you can lay
Speaker 1: a dude down. It's like he doesn't want to be there.
Speaker 1: He's one hundred and thirty four pounds. It doesn't feel
Speaker 1: as good when you take a two hundred fifty pound
Speaker 1: mic linebacker and you you get the leverage and you
Speaker 1: get underneath him and you're bearing him into the ground.
Speaker 1: There's no better feeling on planet Earth. That's awesoon, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: Did you know when? Did you know Cooper Rush was
Speaker 1: a dude? Right? Like like Couper Rush. So he's from Lansing,
Speaker 1: Michigan's well, he's from Charlotte, but he went to Lanson
Speaker 1: Catholic Central. So I knew of Cooper Rush for a
Speaker 1: while and he's two years younger than me. He was
Speaker 1: always an accurate quarterback. He's funny man because he talked
Speaker 1: about a hooper. That guy can hoop. But He's not
Speaker 1: like your quarterback, your classic quarterback that like sits outside.
Speaker 1: He is Kevin McHale in the post. He's got feet prevailing. Yes, yeah, Greg,
Speaker 1: Greg moves down a little. Anyway. I knew was the dude.
Speaker 1: He came in his very first game was my junior year.
Speaker 1: He was a redshirt freshman. We opened up at the
Speaker 1: Big House at Michigan. Starting quarterback third series, breaks his
Speaker 1: collar bone. Done for the year. They bring in the
Speaker 1: next guy. It wasn't even Cooper got Cooper's third string
Speaker 1: week one, by week two are he comes in in
Speaker 1: the second quarter because the other guy just wasn't cutting in.
Speaker 1: They were playing one double a school. This was supposed
Speaker 1: to be our or now a warm up. Michigan just
Speaker 1: had their warm up with us. This is supposed to
Speaker 1: be our warm up. And after the first quarter we're
Speaker 1: down like ten knocks were tank passed the training. It's horrible.
Speaker 1: Kup comes in halfway through the second quarter and finishes
Speaker 1: a day with three hund twenty yards, three touchdowns, note picks,
Speaker 1: and I'm all right, so the kids a gamer. A
Speaker 1: few weeks later, we're down in Athens at Ohio playing
Speaker 1: the Bobcats. That is that's one of the I would say,
Speaker 1: one of the better MAX stadiums. If you ever get
Speaker 1: a chance to go down to Athens. I guess Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow's dad might have been on staff then, and we've
Speaker 1: gone there a tough environment. They're a better team than us,
Speaker 1: for sure, but we're clicking that day and he led
Speaker 1: a game winning drive. That was his first game winning drive,
Speaker 1: and I was like, dude's got some stones, I think.
Speaker 1: And then my senior year was his sophomore year. We
Speaker 1: were playing the Bahamas Bowl, inaugural Bahamas Bowl, and it
Speaker 1: was actually this was up the final play was up
Speaker 1: for the sp that year for best play. But some dude,
Speaker 1: we're number thirteen in New York at some one hand
Speaker 1: to catch. People were able to bout one it. So
Speaker 1: we were down at ten month left of the game.
Speaker 1: We're down by thirty five to Western Kentucky. Defense is
Speaker 1: five shrace stops. We score five straight touchdowns. Last play
Speaker 1: of the game was a hail Mary. They got flipped
Speaker 1: around three different times, touchdown forty nine to forty eight.
Speaker 1: We went for two and didn't get it. But Coop
Speaker 1: said a record at the time seven touchdowns in that
Speaker 1: game and I was like, I think this is duds
Speaker 1: gonna be all right. And two years later with Cowboys
Speaker 1: with players football changing those type of boat bulls. I
Speaker 1: don't know if they're gonna go away, if they're gonna stay,
Speaker 1: but you're gonna You will always get people who haven't
Speaker 1: experienced it who will say those games don't matter if
Speaker 1: they don't mean anything, do they? Yes, And listen, I
Speaker 1: get it, like I don't. I'm not the guy guy
Speaker 1: that sits here and watches every bull game now that
Speaker 1: I out of it. But for the guys involved in
Speaker 1: means something. I mean, listen, I played in two Bowl games,
Speaker 1: was eligible another time of the year, we're eligible and
Speaker 1: didn't make it. We're devastated and to go there even
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, it means and you play, you know,
Speaker 1: and I know you're asking me to explain, but it's
Speaker 1: just you have a pride in yourself and you have
Speaker 1: an end goals. And when you're playing that, especially like
Speaker 1: at Max School and the schools that are going to
Speaker 1: these kind of bowls, you know you're not playing for
Speaker 1: the national title. You know, even if you go Central Mission.
Speaker 1: We knew if we went thirteen to twelve and then
Speaker 1: won the MAC championship, we weren't going to the playoff.
Speaker 1: I mean, so your bowl games matter, it's your championship,
Speaker 1: it's your time to get on the national stage is
Speaker 1: the other thing. And your time to compare yourself against
Speaker 1: guys and other conferences, because listen, you can be the
Speaker 1: best due in the back, but can you be a
Speaker 1: dude against everyone in the country is what you want
Speaker 1: to prove. And again, you know your game's gonna be
Speaker 1: on national TV, which you have a handful every year
Speaker 1: when you're in the MAC. You know that games again,
Speaker 1: the bread lights are going to be bright, and you're
Speaker 1: gonna have people from all the country tune in to
Speaker 1: watch you. And can you show out? And can your
Speaker 1: team get in there and get it done against you know,
Speaker 1: a team that is supposed to be at your level
Speaker 1: but in a different conference. It's kind of a little
Speaker 1: bit of pride in that too, So it absolutely means something.
Speaker 1: But I agree, I don't know what college is going
Speaker 1: to turn into. It it's a endless I don't want
Speaker 1: to be like the you know, I don't feel like
Speaker 1: the guy who's like, oh, you have old school thoughts,
Speaker 1: But I don't know. I kind of like the way
Speaker 1: I liked the way things were, I liked the conferences,
Speaker 1: and I was again, this is I'm gonna get I'll
Speaker 1: get heat for this, I'm sure. But I was always
Speaker 1: the guy. Listen, if you wanted to give me a
Speaker 1: few hundred bucks when I was in college to get
Speaker 1: buy in the summers, I would have taken it. I
Speaker 1: would have loved it. But I've never been the type
Speaker 1: of guy that thinks that we should have got paid.
Speaker 1: I think there's really then and again, I don't know
Speaker 1: what your feelings are on this, but I'm gonna understand
Speaker 1: that A we're gonna education, We're geting our college paid
Speaker 1: for it. Be my thought and belief system was, especially
Speaker 1: after being out and after being out of it. I
Speaker 1: think there's a level of hierarchy when kids aren't making
Speaker 1: the money. Because I'm looking at the dude and good
Speaker 1: for him, who's gonna poorly get three million dollars Addison
Speaker 1: going to USC Is he gonna be making more in
Speaker 1: his receiver coach is my question? And if he shows
Speaker 1: up to a meeting, how's he going to be disciplined?
Speaker 1: I mean, you're talking about seventeen to twenty two year
Speaker 1: old kids. Who need that discipline to survive life, and
Speaker 1: I think the money could really cost them pick ups
Speaker 1: for that. So I was never on that. So again
Speaker 1: that was my biggest take up. And then now that
Speaker 1: there's more money involved, the conferences are changing. I just
Speaker 1: I don't know what the landscape is. It feels like
Speaker 1: it's it went from amateurism to minor league NFL real fast,
Speaker 1: which is which is interesting because I think people think
Speaker 1: it's always been the minor leagues. It hasn't. And here's
Speaker 1: the thing about minor league sports. People don't care about
Speaker 1: minor league sports. They like college sports, yes, but they
Speaker 1: also like college sports, and I don't know necessarily know
Speaker 1: it's because they don't get paid. I think it's like
Speaker 1: it's about the regional rivalries, like Michigan and UCLA in
Speaker 1: the same league, Like what are we doing exactly? Like
Speaker 1: like part of part of the beauty of this whole
Speaker 1: thing is like the Max's a perfect example, but you
Speaker 1: could even say the Big Ten is most of those
Speaker 1: guys all came from the same area. They you know
Speaker 1: they and you chose your school. I chose mine. Michigan
Speaker 1: passed on this kid, so we had to go to Indiana, Okay,
Speaker 1: and you're like, fuck, fuck Michigan your whole life. And
Speaker 1: when you get to play Michigan, you're like, right, those
Speaker 1: are that's that's the way it works, and we're destroying
Speaker 1: all that. I would also say that here's the crazy
Speaker 1: here's the crazy part. Paying football players before they've played
Speaker 1: a down of college football is insane on a multi Look,
Speaker 1: here's the first part. They're not good enough to play
Speaker 1: right away. They're just not. So what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: They're gonna get a bunch of money, they're gonna show up,
Speaker 1: and either you play them right away, which is to
Speaker 1: the detriment of the team. And we talked about right
Speaker 1: the player right played him for he's ready, But also
Speaker 1: you got like, what's the point of staying around here?
Speaker 1: Tell him the junior and a senior when it's my
Speaker 1: turn to shine? Okay? And you if you don't play
Speaker 1: him because he's not really that good, something he transfers
Speaker 1: and he goes somewhere else, the cycle will continues. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a it's an absolute absolute mess. In
Speaker 1: the transfer rule, I hate, like, now the one time
Speaker 1: transfer you can transfer, I can sit out crazy. They're
Speaker 1: like super teams, Like what are we gonna get in
Speaker 1: this whole whole college all sports? But I loves the thing.
Speaker 1: Like it's like everybody said, well, like J. J. Watt
Speaker 1: transferred up, great, he also sat out so he could
Speaker 1: change his party, right, change his body and assimilate to
Speaker 1: a higher level of football. It doesn't happen, right, that's
Speaker 1: rule actually benefits the player. But we have people who
Speaker 1: you know, it doesn't make you waste a year of
Speaker 1: eligibility getting ready for your next step. No, no, yeah,
Speaker 1: and the listen, I know we're in the era of that.
Speaker 1: You know. I just I don't have to back like
Speaker 1: this is a legit discussion that I just I think
Speaker 1: that people think. Listen, man, yes you were in America.
Speaker 1: Yes there's freedom. It doesn't mean there can't be Like
Speaker 1: legislation doesn't mean there can't be rules. Rules are okay,
Speaker 1: guess what rules are actually okay. It's also it's also
Speaker 1: like part of it is part of it is like
Speaker 1: what's everybody's like, Well, if you achieve something college, you
Speaker 1: achieve some college, you can go be a professional. Right,
Speaker 1: That's that's the way. That's what we're Actually you're really good,
Speaker 1: you're gonna make a lot more money, life changing money
Speaker 1: at the next level. Okay, So, yes, we're off our soapbox.
Speaker 1: You and I actual agreement. You have a different perspective
Speaker 1: on it, which is fascinating. Okay, so you get downe
Speaker 1: with college. Yeah, you started for parts of four years, right,
Speaker 1: four years. If you include those five games, you're you're
Speaker 1: redshirt freshman year at center right now? What So I
Speaker 1: was getting some calls from agents before my senior season.
Speaker 1: Our coach didn't like us talking to agents, so pretty
Speaker 1: much once I'm star, I was told my dad, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna direct everything to you. Hopefully I get an opportunity.
Speaker 1: We'll see. I was on back a couple of times,
Speaker 1: so I figured I at least had that going for me.
Speaker 1: I knew I was smart enough to play at the
Speaker 1: next level. I knew I know the work ethic, but
Speaker 1: we all know that that should be a given, not
Speaker 1: a that's not a write of passage. So I just
Speaker 1: wanted to play my senior figure it out. And by
Speaker 1: the time I came home for Thanksgiving, my dad a
Speaker 1: couple of agents us. These are the ones that I
Speaker 1: talked to. They seem legit. There. Maybe give this guy call.
Speaker 1: He was my favorite. So I called. His name was
Speaker 1: Carter Chow worked. He's a partner for Yean Duban Sports,
Speaker 1: which Dan Sports. They're famous for being the agency with
Speaker 1: Tom Brady and Julian Needelman and Garoppolo and Sean Payton,
Speaker 1: those guys. So I called him and I, you know,
Speaker 1: we had a really good conversation and it's like I
Speaker 1: told me, Dad's like, I don't really need to talk
Speaker 1: to anyone else because listen, he proven to work with
Speaker 1: guys from smaller schools, have some creativity with talking language wise.
Speaker 1: I mean he had I have a great story about
Speaker 1: how he had to work with the Patriots and Edelment
Speaker 1: not knowing him, he's a project, he's a can State quarterback.
Speaker 1: But so I knew he was able to work with
Speaker 1: small school guys and so yeah, I signed with them.
Speaker 1: After my Bowl game, I signed with the Induban Sports.
Speaker 1: They moved me out to California, moved me out to
Speaker 1: Manhattan Beach, had me stash up there. I worked out
Speaker 1: the Exos down near Englewood, and I mean this is
Speaker 1: right near area, I guess, But so I worked over
Speaker 1: the Exos down there, which that was again you're we're
Speaker 1: talking about comparing yourself earlier, about like when you play
Speaker 1: a Big ten team. Well this was it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm there with dudes from UCLA and USC and Michigan, cash,
Speaker 1: smaller in Nebraska, gash from all over country, and I'm
Speaker 1: trying to compare myself, and man, I just I locked in.
Speaker 1: I it was as if I was often I was
Speaker 1: about and I was Rocky and Russia getting ready to
Speaker 1: fight drag. It was one of those I just you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, And I was bought in and
Speaker 1: anything they told me that I did. And you know,
Speaker 1: even though it saying I'm a offensive linement and I
Speaker 1: didn't have a drop of beer in my system the
Speaker 1: entire time I'm out there, I was just because I
Speaker 1: have one shot at this thing. I want to make
Speaker 1: sure I give him my all. And it wasn't an
Speaker 1: agent took a shot. I mean they're paying money invest thing.
Speaker 1: I mean I want to make sure he's going to
Speaker 1: get the best opor fee on his investment. So I
Speaker 1: trained out there, didn't invite to the Combine, So I
Speaker 1: had to go to the pro Day show up to
Speaker 1: Pro Day March twentieth, twenty fifteen and six to even
Speaker 1: so that was a little bit one of these, you know,
Speaker 1: not six one seven eight six too, even like that
Speaker 1: was And I remember my agent he kept saying, because
Speaker 1: you got to I was training to COPIBORNI. Yet I
Speaker 1: was a bunch of weight. We're working out, you know,
Speaker 1: pulling two days, and they were trying to decrease fat
Speaker 1: and increase multiple with ed your decrease in the fat.
Speaker 1: By time that everything came about, I am to ninety
Speaker 1: six two ninety five, and he's like, B three hundred
Speaker 1: under prod, B three hundred under pro day, Like that
Speaker 1: number means something like all right, I A. This had
Speaker 1: to been near midnight the night before, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm light. I know, I'm like, I made a box
Speaker 1: of jambalaya and ate the entire thing six hours BEFOREHI
Speaker 1: getting up for my pro day, hugging the water, and
Speaker 1: I waited three hundred point zero right in the bathroom,
Speaker 1: piss come back and boom, bench press has already started.
Speaker 1: Said not your o. The pro day. Had a good
Speaker 1: pro day. I ran four nine nine, another good thing
Speaker 1: to get right under. And then you know, twenty six
Speaker 1: pence reps and you know, showed out in the drills
Speaker 1: and I called my agent after He's like, he's not
Speaker 1: a BS so he wouldn't sugar going thing. He's like, hey, man,
Speaker 1: you might just got yourself drafted. Very cool. So now
Speaker 1: I'm now it's the waiting game and I lead up
Speaker 1: to the draft. Man, I'm just getting some calls here
Speaker 1: and there. You know from from teams, offensive line coaches, scouts.
Speaker 1: Who knows. Two teams that showed the most interests were
Speaker 1: easily the Falcons, who one of their coaches actually didn't
Speaker 1: ran the offensive line workout at my pro day though
Speaker 1: I'd fit really good into their zone scheme because that's
Speaker 1: when they were transitioning offensively from more gas scheme to
Speaker 1: the more zone scheme, and he thought, my athletics zone scheme,
Speaker 1: it's more about your athletic ability and your movement. And
Speaker 1: they're everyone that unfold viewing me as a center. They're like, all,
Speaker 1: we know you played guard, but your size, your quickness,
Speaker 1: space and space, you're gonna fit more. And you had
Speaker 1: short arms, which is a thing I didn't even though
Speaker 1: it was important until I as I had them, and
Speaker 1: then Chicago bears to the point that come draft day,
Speaker 1: not mind you, I'm smart enough to understand that I
Speaker 1: wouldn't even have a chance to know where I'm going
Speaker 1: until day three. But we're in an hour before the
Speaker 1: first round starts on Thursday, and Dave Magazoo rest in peace.
Speaker 1: He actually just passed away last year. He was off
Speaker 1: line coach of Bears. He calls me an hour before
Speaker 1: the first round starts and goes, hey, man, it should
Speaker 1: be a great weekend for you and your family. Can't
Speaker 1: wait to talk to you here soon. Talk all right. Well,
Speaker 1: I at least think I got a shot with the
Speaker 1: Bears day three, right, because then they didn't have a
Speaker 1: seventh round picks a couple of six round picks. Anyways,
Speaker 1: draft comes and go I don't get I don't get
Speaker 1: picked up. I don't get drafted. And the funniest part
Speaker 1: is the Bears and Falcons both on the radio silent
Speaker 1: after the draft, both at communication with my agent in
Speaker 1: the late rounds, like, hey, make sure the phone's ready,
Speaker 1: all this kind of stuff, right, radio silent after the draft.
Speaker 1: I'm talking ten minutes, twenty minutes go by, thirty minutes
Speaker 1: go by, and I'm like, your coach shop, your agent
Speaker 1: coaches you up, like, hey, it's the draft. If you
Speaker 1: don't get drafted once the seventh problems starts. I'm already
Speaker 1: be having conversations with teams during the seventh round about
Speaker 1: if years not picked, we want to bring him in.
Speaker 1: Here's his undrafted for agent contract we would offer him.
Speaker 1: So my thought was he's probably hopefully collecting a few
Speaker 1: offers and we can decide. Half hour goes by, hour
Speaker 1: goes by, and nobody wants me. I'm like, the hell's
Speaker 1: going on. Finally he calls and he goes, not great news,
Speaker 1: but news. He goes, you got a few teams out.
Speaker 1: At least we'll bring you for a tryout, you know,
Speaker 1: because they're having the rookie cancer. They bring all the
Speaker 1: guys they drafted, all the guys they signed in. Then
Speaker 1: they buy like twenty five tryout guys pretty much because
Speaker 1: they need to fill a practice. He goes, I got
Speaker 1: you in Green Bay next weekend. If you don't make
Speaker 1: it there, Kansas City the following So you show up
Speaker 1: free agent rookie camp. Yes, midwestern kid, yep in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Speaker 1: That's right, he's a Lions fan. That's a tough life.
Speaker 1: So shall you pack up your car? If so, I
Speaker 1: got an it temperary. They said, here's your ticket, which
Speaker 1: you don't want to fight you on a drive I
Speaker 1: would have chosen. I actually would have chose to drive.
Speaker 1: Are you rolling in senior year in college? Ninety eight
Speaker 1: Chevy Blazer Gold? Wow? Gold? That? Oh yes, it sounds
Speaker 1: nice right. Yeah, No, no, I had. I had a
Speaker 1: ninety five Chevy Blazer. Not that car. However my senior
Speaker 1: year something was so wrong with it that if you
Speaker 1: didn't start it for six hours, it wouldn't start. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So when you have six ample the battery was dead.
Speaker 1: That just I was needing your battery. Yes, So when
Speaker 1: I had a six, like you said, like in college,
Speaker 1: there's kind of a kind of a beauty to not
Speaker 1: having any money and still figure out a way to survive.
Speaker 1: You're ready for life after that. I just have to
Speaker 1: go ahead at midnight do a couple laughs around around
Speaker 1: the little complex area, just to make sure it was
Speaker 1: starting the morning for practice. We were just talking about
Speaker 1: this the other day. So there was a place and
Speaker 1: still want to call Fizzoli's. It's like drive drew seeds
Speaker 1: of fast food, huh no, feats of red six yeah, boss, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we had one of the lancing all you can eat.
Speaker 1: I would roll in at like nine fifty six and
Speaker 1: I would be like, hey, my man, listen, can I
Speaker 1: get all your bread sticks? You're about to throw them
Speaker 1: away anyway, right. I used to go to cold Stone
Speaker 1: and say, hey, listen, I've heard this isn't true. I
Speaker 1: know you got some ice cream cakes in the bag
Speaker 1: that had technically expired, they've been frozen. Can I get them?
Speaker 1: They used to give me free until they were got
Speaker 1: out of the streets. We would do it. We would
Speaker 1: do We had I had a place like every different
Speaker 1: place in still one of those fast food Like what
Speaker 1: time they close? All right, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go. I'm gonna go do that. I'm gonna go, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna We had a this is this is we
Speaker 1: had my junior year, we moved off At junior we
Speaker 1: moved off campus to a house we called the Palace.
Speaker 1: Got a tongue plat, right, And there were some girls
Speaker 1: that wanted to was it. They wanted to do their
Speaker 1: laundry because we had a washer dryer, and so they
Speaker 1: would bring that. We were like, hey, you can use
Speaker 1: the dryer, but you got to cook his dinner. So
Speaker 1: like once a week they do the washing dry to
Speaker 1: come home the house, you smell amazing and we'd have
Speaker 1: a full meal and like the washers going and then
Speaker 1: you talk to me like, hey, there's an extraal mode
Speaker 1: there because you just throw my my washing. They're like
Speaker 1: and fold it up nice there too, right. But but
Speaker 1: it's it's interesting, It's like we are we're really we're
Speaker 1: really hurting people in that we make it so much
Speaker 1: easier for him, and there's like a there's kind of
Speaker 1: a coolness to it, you know, and look and I
Speaker 1: know that that some of that has changed. There's a
Speaker 1: lot more affluence with kids at college, you know, but
Speaker 1: having your dorm fridge and you know, figuring out, you know,
Speaker 1: figuring out how to how to have a stereo system
Speaker 1: that can open to the quad when you're the dorms
Speaker 1: or then you know, at your at your house or
Speaker 1: like just anything you can get for free or to
Speaker 1: disc or whatever. We we live next to this is
Speaker 1: the same We lived on Nap Street, same house, the Palace,
Speaker 1: and we had cops that live next door, and like
Speaker 1: we baby sat their kids one time and they said,
Speaker 1: don't worry, We're gonna take care of you, but not
Speaker 1: with money. We're like, that's weird, but okay. And they
Speaker 1: would break up house parties like high school house parties
Speaker 1: and give us the beer and it was amazing, Like
Speaker 1: they come in like and then we got a case
Speaker 1: of beer. It's Natty Like, it's Natty Ice. You're like, oh, daddy,
Speaker 1: high school. Okay, fine, it's free and you you'd stick
Speaker 1: it to the fridge. I don't. I don't want my
Speaker 1: college kids drinking I pas and you know still, I
Speaker 1: want my kids drinking bush Lights and Natty's and figuring
Speaker 1: it out. That's life. I agree. There is a there's
Speaker 1: a beauty in the misery that is just not misery
Speaker 1: at all because you work through, you figure things out.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I'm with you again. I don't think everything
Speaker 1: is bad that's going on these days. I'm not that
Speaker 1: guy offer lawn. But I think there's a beauty in
Speaker 1: the struggle. No, okay, so you get the great so
Speaker 1: you get out to play in Green Bay? Yeah, and
Speaker 1: what's it like when you go into the packers? Now,
Speaker 1: how does it work with the bike thing for the
Speaker 1: free agent mini camp? Do you have the bike things
Speaker 1: that that till regular? So? Well? First off, I get
Speaker 1: to Green Bay and I'm one of twenty five trial guys.
Speaker 1: So we walk in. They take us all the locker
Speaker 1: room first. Unbelievable. I mean, I get I'll come from
Speaker 1: a back locker room, which is now amazing after the
Speaker 1: thirty million dollars facility that was just put up. But
Speaker 1: in my time there, it was like it was nice.
Speaker 1: It's better my high school. I'm good going to that.
Speaker 1: One's a different story. Into Lambeau and I'm looking and
Speaker 1: all these rookies are going up the drafting ones, the
Speaker 1: signed ones, to the lockers. Right, I'm like, where all
Speaker 1: my locker Like, oh no, hey, tryout, guys, come with
Speaker 1: me down a little tunnel, this, that and the other
Speaker 1: one in the away team locker room. I'm like, you
Speaker 1: kind of piss offul of it. Right. Anyways, two days
Speaker 1: go by and I ended up being the only one. No,
Speaker 1: are you practicing practice shields or in Lambo? Not not lamb,
Speaker 1: but who are in the indoor? Indoor? Then Hudson indoor
Speaker 1: And yeah, so we're in there. We have two practices,
Speaker 1: so you really you had? We had meetings until about
Speaker 1: nine nine thirty. We get back to ho Tell nine
Speaker 1: nine thirty and me and Brett Humley U sill a
Speaker 1: form still a quarterback. My boy. I actually trained with
Speaker 1: him out and he was out Exos with me, so
Speaker 1: we had a relationship there. They drafted him the fifth round.
Speaker 1: I'm like, dude, I'm playing cententer to your quarterback. Let's
Speaker 1: be on the same page. We stayed up to like
Speaker 1: twelve thirty studying the playbook, little scenes from snapcounts, checks
Speaker 1: this time the other, and the next day it actually
Speaker 1: it showed. I mean you could tell the guys that
Speaker 1: studied the you had all the cheek codes you had
Speaker 1: to do, you had to do. And the first day
Speaker 1: I'm splitting reps with another center from from Oregon. By
Speaker 1: day two I got ninety percent of the reps because
Speaker 1: I knew what I was doing, making all the calls.
Speaker 1: As a center, you're making every call I d and
Speaker 1: the mic beg called directing traffic, this, that and the other,
Speaker 1: busting my ass down the field every freaking play. And anyways,
Speaker 1: I ended up go through to day cam. Now here's waiting.
Speaker 1: You're like, so they hold, they hold. They come in,
Speaker 1: they have a meeting with all the trial guys and say, hey,
Speaker 1: we'll be touch with your agents. Right, good job. You
Speaker 1: guys all all plan on flying out tomorrow. They don't
Speaker 1: have one guy because because my former brother in law was,
Speaker 1: they come in the grim Reaper with that's what I
Speaker 1: called wool okay to be like let you go. Yeah
Speaker 1: he was. He was a hey, coach, will see you
Speaker 1: bring your playbook kind of guy. I mean, the last
Speaker 1: guy you want to see at six am the locker. Well,
Speaker 1: he's the one that held the meeting basically and said, hey,
Speaker 1: everyone's flying out tomorrow. Your schedule flight will be contact
Speaker 1: with your agents. If we want to bring any of
Speaker 1: you back tonight, you're going to Bret Fast steakhouse. Great,
Speaker 1: everyone's pumped. I'm pissed, right because I knew I performed. Anyways,
Speaker 1: everyone's leaving the team meeting room and Ellie grabbed me,
Speaker 1: took me to the gym where they had a basketball
Speaker 1: court actually, and he hey, we're signing new He was
Speaker 1: the only one. I don't want to make it a
Speaker 1: big deal in front of these guys. Keep it low,
Speaker 1: don't tell anyone tonight, come back to Lambo tomorrow. We'll
Speaker 1: sign a contract. And I'm just elate, right like all right,
Speaker 1: So now I feel like I'm where I thought I
Speaker 1: would be. First, first calls to parents, parents and parents
Speaker 1: who picked up. Oh, I don't know if it was
Speaker 1: the parents or I think it was parents one and
Speaker 1: then my uh uh girlfriend at the time was number two,
Speaker 1: who's not my wife, but my parents, and I think
Speaker 1: it was my dad. It was blacked out. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're just blacked out of that moment. I remember said,
Speaker 1: no idea, just like it's over, I'm staying. And I
Speaker 1: remember like it was I'm in the gym, like not
Speaker 1: trying to be too loud in case anyone's on the
Speaker 1: other you know what I mean. And I remember I
Speaker 1: hugged Delby. I remember that he was probably like getting
Speaker 1: a barehouse. That's a look at his father is round
Speaker 1: Wolf all of fame gam from the Packers. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: but Elliott was a room reaper in camp. He's the
Speaker 1: last guy you wanted to see, last guy you wanted
Speaker 1: to see. So yeah, I got signed and I next day,
Speaker 1: I know, like the sign my contract. The next day
Speaker 1: following days show up to ball season and got my
Speaker 1: locker in the home locker room. That was the moment.
Speaker 1: That was the one that was kind of like two
Speaker 1: days ago. I was in the waiting locker room, pissed off,
Speaker 1: kind of had that moment like fuck, yes, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like I'm here now, it's a level
Speaker 1: playing field, you know what I mean? Like here, who's
Speaker 1: who you near? Lockerwise, she was on left and the right.
Speaker 1: Mitchell Henry was lockermate resting PC. Actually, so he was
Speaker 1: a tight end from Western Kentucky. I just played him
Speaker 1: in the Boll game. Really good player, bounce round Packers Denver.
Speaker 1: He brought out to Baltimore. This has been a couple
Speaker 1: of years later. They were gonna sign him, but they
Speaker 1: brought him off for a physical and Dona leukemia and
Speaker 1: he actually passed I think two two or three years
Speaker 1: ago now, so he was he was. I actually remember
Speaker 1: who's my other side? Why don't I remember that? Maybe
Speaker 1: it was a rotation. I don't know. But it was
Speaker 1: mainly just the rookies and mostly undrafted guys, and yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. It was great. And then and then so
Speaker 1: I don't start OTAs go by midicamp goes by. You're
Speaker 1: trying to get Rogers? Was he at that? This is before?
Speaker 1: So yeah, the man. Okay, So I have great Roger stories.
Speaker 1: I have great Roger stories. Okay, well we have we
Speaker 1: have time, okay, so help me out though. Yeah, first
Speaker 1: time you meet Aaron Rodgers walks in yep, we're It
Speaker 1: was actually so when I was talking about when they
Speaker 1: were taking us all to our lockers the first day,
Speaker 1: He's coming out of the equipment or walking to the
Speaker 1: equipment room, looks over at all of us and everyone
Speaker 1: we kind of lose a little freeze, like, oh shit,
Speaker 1: MVP's looking at us and he smiles. That was one
Speaker 1: of these slapp these and just kept walking away and
Speaker 1: like smile. They got like cool call and like we
Speaker 1: all kind of got like a chuffle out of it.
Speaker 1: Was a school next time though, then I get signed
Speaker 1: very first practice, like walk through stuff comes up to
Speaker 1: me right away like a Madam Maren. I pulled the
Speaker 1: classic yeah I know, you know what I mean, like yeah,
Speaker 1: I know any like last things like hey, it's where
Speaker 1: you're from, Center Guard and yeah, center Guard your central mission.
Speaker 1: The chipwa was like he was just normal, dude. It's
Speaker 1: funny you always hear like the conversations like everyone like
Speaker 1: really types up Tom Brady for being the guy that
Speaker 1: introduces himself to the last man of the team. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I can testify Rogers does the same thing because I
Speaker 1: was number eight. They all have they all have this thing.
Speaker 1: So I met Joe Biden last night and uh the
Speaker 1: he has a big deal. So the But like politicians
Speaker 1: and quarterbacks are the same, the same in that like
Speaker 1: you and talked to him for five minutes and you're like,
Speaker 1: holy shit, we're best friends. Like we should go out,
Speaker 1: we should go out, we should sometime. Oh wait, they
Speaker 1: get your number? Yeah exactly. Okay, Then what's the experience
Speaker 1: like to watch him throw a football for the first time? Ridiculous.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's one thing seeing something on TV, like
Speaker 1: probably I watched Steph Curry and it's just like, good God.
Speaker 1: But to see a person's find whole another story. Right,
Speaker 1: Watching that guy throw the football, it like it literally
Speaker 1: spits out like a seat out of his hand. And
Speaker 1: I remember it was one of the It was early.
Speaker 1: It was in mini camp and he was out there.
Speaker 1: They were running a two minute drill and the first
Speaker 1: time this is before Mahomes was Mahomes first time I
Speaker 1: ever saw this. He's is fourth in what happened? Fourth
Speaker 1: and goal from like the thirteen, He drops back, he
Speaker 1: scrandmothers and I have I'm behind the end zone view this,
Speaker 1: so I have I'm behind the offense like this way,
Speaker 1: so I can have perbe this. He's boom boom boom,
Speaker 1: doing a little dance in the pocket. Get starts rolling
Speaker 1: out to his left, pointing to the corner, zips it
Speaker 1: back this way to the center of the field between
Speaker 1: two guys, touchdown rate the chests, and I'm like, so
Speaker 1: that's how this level is, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like he's a wizard. There's something wizard and there's some
Speaker 1: funny stories. But the coolest thing was Lizza Man Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: He's taking snaps from Corey lins you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: He's not taking steps for Cory Linz as time. It
Speaker 1: was JC Truter do really good centers in Green Bay
Speaker 1: at the time. That's the reason, so I didn't. I
Speaker 1: was the STA. I was around him all the time
Speaker 1: because center cordbacks a lot of stuff, but I wasn't snapping.
Speaker 1: Their last practice I ever had a Green Bay was
Speaker 1: the day before the final preseason game, and starters with
Speaker 1: he wasn't gonna play. So anyways, I go out there
Speaker 1: and I do go through all like the stuff of
Speaker 1: the offense. Well, then it was time for the defense,
Speaker 1: the number one defense to go out there. I'm you know,
Speaker 1: you're exhausted from doing your thing. Now you have to
Speaker 1: go play scout team center. So I get in the huddle.
Speaker 1: Its gonna be like an eighteen play twenty play script.
Speaker 1: Aaron comes in the hull, taps off the corn. I goes,
Speaker 1: I got this one. He's like, I'm not playing tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Let me let me get after our guys. They could
Speaker 1: have just thrown the cards away because he changed everything
Speaker 1: at the Lions scrimmage. He was going up there. So
Speaker 1: the defense it is supposed to practice looks at New
Speaker 1: Orleans is going to give them, and Aaron's checking everything
Speaker 1: at the List scrimmage, getting us in a good spot.
Speaker 1: He comes up, so I'm a center. I feel twelve
Speaker 1: hands right r N. I'm like, I'm not getting this
Speaker 1: guy hurt. This was supposed to be walk through ish
Speaker 1: is run through, like first couple of steps hard, then
Speaker 1: you're easing off. I fired off the ball as hard
Speaker 1: as I possibly could at b J Raji, where there
Speaker 1: had to be kind of like some breakup because he
Speaker 1: wanted to kill me, Like what are you doing like
Speaker 1: like I'm not getting him hurt. I'm not getting I'm
Speaker 1: not letting knocked back into him. And we went eight
Speaker 1: team plays right down the field. He's checking everything at
Speaker 1: the line. And the coolest thing for me was you
Speaker 1: see the Aaron Rodgers hardcount that gets a defensive jump.
Speaker 1: I think don't understands is the center has to snap
Speaker 1: it to get the call. Also, you don't want to
Speaker 1: be the center that thinks the guys off side just
Speaker 1: snapped it. He wasn't off sides. And next year it's
Speaker 1: a fall star left. We got hardcount, boom, guy jumps,
Speaker 1: I snapped it, he throws a touchdown. He came up,
Speaker 1: smacked me in the head. Great job, And it was
Speaker 1: kind of of those moments, you know what I mean. Yeah, always,
Speaker 1: I don't know last practice and I've ever played football,
Speaker 1: and I always thought him like it took me like
Speaker 1: even a couple of years thinking back to that moment,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I wonder if he kind of like did
Speaker 1: that jumped into that huddle or if he does it
Speaker 1: every year because he knows there's a lot dudes I'll
Speaker 1: never play football game. Let's give him a moment. Let
Speaker 1: me throw to some of these receivers at are going
Speaker 1: to be you know, going and selling insurance or you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like, I don't know if you
Speaker 1: know I was. I was able to ask him down
Speaker 1: the line, and he didn't necessary I at least say yes,
Speaker 1: that's exactly why I did that, but he kind of said, yeah,
Speaker 1: i'd like to give you know, I'd like to be
Speaker 1: out there with the guys, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And I thought that was a cool moment. Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 1: What's it? What's it like to not play football? Stuff?
Speaker 1: Everyway you had to figure out, and I think every
Speaker 1: athlete goes through this at some point, especially if you
Speaker 1: love the game, unless not everybody loves and everybody wholays
Speaker 1: the NFL loves loves to play football. I love and
Speaker 1: still do love football. It's not play. I had to
Speaker 1: find different ways to have, you know, to redirect your passion.
Speaker 1: And I think that was the hardest part was finding
Speaker 1: what that was. And I knew it had to be involved.
Speaker 1: That knew it had to be with the game. At
Speaker 1: some point, I didn't know what area I wanted to
Speaker 1: be involved in. That That is why I wanted to
Speaker 1: start getting into more of the media side of it,
Speaker 1: just because I like to talk about the game. And
Speaker 1: that was the that was the underrated part of being
Speaker 1: on a football team, was you get to the camaraderies,
Speaker 1: unbelievable part in the locker room. But you're always talking ball.
Speaker 1: You're always talking ball. When you stopped playing football and
Speaker 1: you're not locker rooms anymore and you're not you're going
Speaker 1: to the corporate world of USA, you're not always talking ball.
Speaker 1: And I really missed that on top of the competitive part.
Speaker 1: I missed that and so rewrect to get into more media.
Speaker 1: That's helped kind of fill that same passion bucket a
Speaker 1: little bit, it stought. I mean, I still like, come September,
Speaker 1: I'll you know, I'm going to head down to such
Speaker 1: a Michigan plays at Penn State at Happy Valley. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go to it, and I'm sure I'll give those
Speaker 1: same genders and same like. Man, I wish I could
Speaker 1: you know, what's the Toby Key song? And as good
Speaker 1: as I once was, I'm good was Yeah, I still
Speaker 1: think that, Like I always say, like I could give
Speaker 1: you a drive, I don't know if I can give
Speaker 1: you a quarter anymore. I can give you a drive
Speaker 1: and you feel that now. I'm sure the drive would
Speaker 1: have looked like I hoped it would. But she has
Speaker 1: to play in a preseason game in Lambo Field and
Speaker 1: you to play June Lambo one, Hindes Field one, Gilette Stadium.
Speaker 1: I always said talking about like listen, not there's anything
Speaker 1: wrong with this, but some guys get like their experiences
Speaker 1: picked up by the Jaguars. You get to play like
Speaker 1: the Falcons the Panthers were playing, playing a college stadium
Speaker 1: or something. Yeah, right, I got My first preseason game
Speaker 1: is at Gillette on NFL network right after the news
Speaker 1: at Tom Brady's gonna be suspended two games for the
Speaker 1: flight game. When he ran out of that tunnel and
Speaker 1: he started this is Tom Brady always plays preseason, at
Speaker 1: least in first goal. He started the game. When he
Speaker 1: ran out of that tunnel, you know, the hell went off,
Speaker 1: the hair flowing. Gillette was rocking like a big f
Speaker 1: you to the NFL basically knowing the games on that
Speaker 1: was unbelievable. Week two, what the Hines Field that I
Speaker 1: was actually Jordy Nelson towards ACL that game and then
Speaker 1: the last two were against the Eagles. Jordy Tarrett in practice.
Speaker 1: I remember Jordy Tarret in practice. Not that you're that
Speaker 1: you're the it was. It was the preseason. It was
Speaker 1: at Lamba first quarter, remember seeing why what's it like?
Speaker 1: It was unbelievable to do all the time. If I
Speaker 1: can compare, like, if you had to describe these places
Speaker 1: like that wouldn't feel like football heaven Like it was
Speaker 1: almost like the field of dreams of football. Like you
Speaker 1: feel you feed, you do and it sounds corny, but
Speaker 1: you feel the Lombardi and Lambeau and far in the air.
Speaker 1: You just there's something about it that I think. Part
Speaker 1: of it's the fans. Part of it's the fact that
Speaker 1: it's like dropped in the middle of a neighborhood. Part
Speaker 1: of it is you know, before you walk out the tunnel,
Speaker 1: there's a line of brick which has been there forever
Speaker 1: for all the revisions. That's part of like the old
Speaker 1: like that that's been there that every legend who's ever
Speaker 1: played or stepped foot into Lambau Field had to walk through.
Speaker 1: And it's across the lecture. I mean that family that
Speaker 1: every year during training camp, which is a public practice,
Speaker 1: it sells out every year. I mean, so You're at
Speaker 1: a packed Lambo stadium for practice and just the ands
Speaker 1: are insane. Have you ever been there? No, it's it's
Speaker 1: it is. Let's go this year, let's go, let's do it.
Speaker 1: I'm in, I'm in, I'm in. I gotta, I gotta go,
Speaker 1: I gotta let's do it. Yeah, And so here's my
Speaker 1: I got a working thought here. Okay, I want to
Speaker 1: do it to where there's what huh you want to
Speaker 1: be there? One's cold, yes, but not really fucking cold.
Speaker 1: You want November, you don't want December? Fair like to me.
Speaker 1: You know, I've always thought if I could shoot baskets
Speaker 1: one place, you never would be. That says for years,
Speaker 1: if I could shoot baskets on one hoop in the world,
Speaker 1: it would be wherever the hell that farm was where
Speaker 1: Jimmy and Hoosiers was playing. Yeah, Like there's something about that,
Speaker 1: like on the dead grass that who and I think
Speaker 1: the same thing with like lambeau Field is just like
Speaker 1: you know, like Field of Dreams, you just know there's
Speaker 1: something different, something historic, and something special in there. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's see here. Okay, So, oh week can and Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys Week eleven week, Yes, Week eleven is the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 1: So those are the two. Those are the two November games.
Speaker 1: Where are we looking at thirteenth and twenty or what is? Yeah? Uh,
Speaker 1: you're looking at the thirteenth is Sunday and the Thursday
Speaker 1: night game is Tennessee. Can't do it Thursday a game
Speaker 1: that doesn't make any ste that's the Dallas Cowboys. I
Speaker 1: worked for me. Let's do it. Okay, we'll do it.
Speaker 1: Remember thirteen. Okay, I'm in now. And then we got
Speaker 1: we really gotta do We really gotta do it right.
Speaker 1: He's gotta do like a Wisconsin game like the Saturdays plays,
Speaker 1: jumping a little bit. Yes, yes, I'm with us. I'm in.
Speaker 1: Before the game, though, we gotta hit Crowls, best burger
Speaker 1: in town, get some clients. You're looking right on Lamb.
Speaker 1: How big a burger? I feel like it's big, wider
Speaker 1: than thick. They're thinner patty, but there, Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: they're good. They're like I don't want to say, I
Speaker 1: don't want to say, like a Frisbee, but you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, like minie Frisbee coming back the book
Speaker 1: Round zero. Inside the NFL draft, I had the idea
Speaker 1: from my own draft experience. Because of my conversation with
Speaker 1: the Bears officer, the line coach, I'm like, he wouldn't
Speaker 1: have wasted his time calling me before the first round
Speaker 1: if he couldn't even get me as a free agent
Speaker 1: or a trial guy. Right, So I felt like there
Speaker 1: has to be some disconnect in the draft process, or
Speaker 1: is there stuff I don't know? So I always thought like,
Speaker 1: I want to get all the angles and get stories
Speaker 1: to try and piece this thing together that everybody loves.
Speaker 1: And I always say like, I don't want the opinion
Speaker 1: of the draft from necessarily the guys at w IP
Speaker 1: down here in Philadelphia, like you're great, but you're gonna
Speaker 1: get you know, the back page of the New York Posts,
Speaker 1: or your uncle Sal who just says this is the
Speaker 1: year for the Lion. Like I want to get true
Speaker 1: stories from the guys actually involved. I was like, can
Speaker 1: I get stories from players who went through it, GMS
Speaker 1: coaches and agents? I mean, those are really the four
Speaker 1: angles that make up the draft. And I was fortunate
Speaker 1: enough to start doing some contributing writing for the Pro
Speaker 1: Football Hall of Fame last year, so I resellt them
Speaker 1: and said, hey, listen, I got this idea but obviously
Speaker 1: with my connections alone, I wouldn't be able to do
Speaker 1: this the right way. I said, if I asked for
Speaker 1: a few, you know, Hall of famers, do you think
Speaker 1: you guys at least outreach for me to see if
Speaker 1: they'd be interested and participate. Absolutely. So then from there
Speaker 1: I had to pitch it to a publishing company and
Speaker 1: got one to sign off with it. And what we
Speaker 1: do is there's four sections, the players section where I
Speaker 1: interviewed ten different players legendary stories of their draft experience. Okay,
Speaker 1: what were your conversations like pre draft? What were you hearing?
Speaker 1: Did you talk to the team much that drafted you?
Speaker 1: How did you go about training? Talk to coaches? Same thing?
Speaker 1: You guys good teams. So I talked to Bill Cower.
Speaker 1: I said, listen, your time in Pittsburgh. Your team's usually
Speaker 1: finished in January, right because you're in the playoffs. How
Speaker 1: much struss did you have to put into your scouts
Speaker 1: in your GM because you're really hopping in late to
Speaker 1: the process. So hearing his process of how he would
Speaker 1: attack and how you had assigned his coaches to attack
Speaker 1: looking at prospects, the GM's Bill Polian is he ran
Speaker 1: three different organizations and took all three to at least
Speaker 1: Championship Weekend. One of them was obviously the Bills. He
Speaker 1: was the guy that really started that. He was there
Speaker 1: for three of those four years in Buffalo that they
Speaker 1: went to Super Bowl. He was the first GM with
Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers in their history. By year two, they're
Speaker 1: in the NFC Title Game. And then obviously everyone knows
Speaker 1: that everyone knows about Indianapolis. But hearing him tell the
Speaker 1: Ryan Leaf Peyton Manning story is fascinating. In the book. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's in the book, and I'm not gonna I won't.
Speaker 1: We'll have to leave someone in a teaser. But what
Speaker 1: I will say is there were some clear characteristic things
Speaker 1: that you knew that Peyton had, but they found out
Speaker 1: Ryan didn't from some stories. Now, Ryan his turnaround of
Speaker 1: life is very document and great. But the small sniff
Speaker 1: and I'll give you is Peyton said, I'm going to
Speaker 1: be there to dare for the draft. Off you draft me,
Speaker 1: and they're like, I know, you know, I had a
Speaker 1: full real stay, supposed to wait a week. He's like, no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be there. You guys figure it out. So
Speaker 1: then they go and they asked Ryan. Lee's like, hey,
Speaker 1: you're ready to get to work right after the draft,
Speaker 1: and he goes, me and my buddy's got a Vegas
Speaker 1: trip out actually be a week late, like so it
Speaker 1: was kind of like right there. It's kind of like,
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, and then you talk to agents, and
Speaker 1: my agent, Carter Child, unbelievable. He is a radular element
Speaker 1: story in here represent the number one pick this year,
Speaker 1: Vincent Taylor, first African American to represent the number one
Speaker 1: overall pick. I read, can't confirm that right now, but
Speaker 1: he's a great guy. And then case Donnie Hugh, who
Speaker 1: works more of a region out of the middle Ston area.
Speaker 1: And then at Least Steinberg mister Jerry McGuire himself fascinating stories.
Speaker 1: My favorite part of at LEAs Steinberg is he was
Speaker 1: my first interview for the book, and Lee didn't hold
Speaker 1: a thing back. There was no agenda with him, there
Speaker 1: was no like I shouldn't say too much, I don't
Speaker 1: want to give away secrets, legal at everything hang. His
Speaker 1: chapters fantastic, but the players are awesome too. I mean,
Speaker 1: like I said, I got the chance to reconnect with
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers through this, and everyone thinks I know his
Speaker 1: draft story. They know everyone thinks it was he thought
Speaker 1: he was going to the Niners until the eleventh hour.
Speaker 1: The rug was pulled off from underneath him. Then he
Speaker 1: had no idea what was going on, Right, that's what
Speaker 1: they want you to think. Yeah, he's like. He's like, look,
Speaker 1: I connected with mccarthur. They offensive coordinator. Me and Nolan
Speaker 1: never really hit it off. He goes, after I met
Speaker 1: with him, I didn't really think I was going there.
Speaker 1: I kind of had a feeling I was not going there.
Speaker 1: He goes, I thought I was going to Tampa. He goes,
Speaker 1: John Gruden called, not only did they come to California
Speaker 1: and work me out? He goes, they he brought Jerry
Speaker 1: Rice for me to throw to who as a die
Speaker 1: hard Niner fans a kid, I'm like, He's like, that
Speaker 1: was great. And he called me a few days before
Speaker 1: the draft he said, if you're there, number five, we're
Speaker 1: taking you. He's like, cool, I'm not falling past five.
Speaker 1: They took Kadillac Williams instead. Because you'll find out in
Speaker 1: this book, I'm sure the GM and Tampa had in
Speaker 1: final say no matter what, groom Onne correct. So the
Speaker 1: owner or whatever is fascinating. I found out a lot
Speaker 1: of the answers that I wanted, and I think people
Speaker 1: will too. You know, it's interesting. I'm friends with some
Speaker 1: of the former Bears guys, the guys who drafted Mit Trubisky, right,
Speaker 1: and they kind of walked me through the process of
Speaker 1: why they took Trubisky and not you know, DeShawn or Mahomes.
Speaker 1: And it's really and sometimes just I don't think yourself,
Speaker 1: you know a lot of time, Yeah, and you just
Speaker 1: you overthink it, overthink it. And their whole thing, there's
Speaker 1: some other stuff, but their whole thing was like they
Speaker 1: had Jake Cutler before, and they had Ja. They had
Speaker 1: to have Jay Cutler dressed in another locker room because
Speaker 1: the guys didn't like him. I heard that too from
Speaker 1: my guy when I was in Green Bay who was
Speaker 1: with color in Shag. I can confirm that as well. Right,
Speaker 1: And so when they brought in like Mitch Schrubisky, I
Speaker 1: don't know how you know him. He's like and look, Sean,
Speaker 1: dudes love him that love playing for him, and Mahomes
Speaker 1: dudes love him, love playing for him. But Miss Schrubisky
Speaker 1: is like, oh my god, I want to have him
Speaker 1: marry my daughter right, and that there were other factors,
Speaker 1: but like that like one of them, and they made
Speaker 1: a gigantic mistake, you know, and obviously they lost their
Speaker 1: jobs basically because that, even though they actually have been
Speaker 1: pretty successful here of late, just not successful enough and
Speaker 1: they change quarterbacks. So it's really interesting that exact scenario
Speaker 1: is why is part of the reason Alex Smith went
Speaker 1: for Aaron Rodgers, Because Aaron told me, He's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I remember reading something or hearing something that Mike Nolan
Speaker 1: really liked the Alex Smith held the door first mom
Speaker 1: at dinner or something like that, and he's like, that's great,
Speaker 1: that's what you're looking for. Not that I wouldn't hold
Speaker 1: the door for somebody, but again, we just we connected
Speaker 1: apparently a little different. Yes, Yes, there's great stories. There's
Speaker 1: interesting stuff about medicals. There's a medical history. You gotta
Speaker 1: read Benny Blade's chapter The Great Safety from the U
Speaker 1: and great chapter about his medical like causing a stir
Speaker 1: during his pre draft process. Tony Manderich, who everyone knows
Speaker 1: who everyone considers him a draft bust. But I told
Speaker 1: him when I interviewed him, was hey, listen, Tony, like
Speaker 1: I'm not here to talk about your career. I'm here
Speaker 1: to talk about the pre draft process where you're the
Speaker 1: greatest offensive line prospect of all time. Tell me about that.
Speaker 1: He has a story about a dinner after his pro
Speaker 1: day with the Kansas City Chief brass that ended with
Speaker 1: an F bomb flying in him leaving before the andres arrived.
Speaker 1: Let's just put it that way. I mean, it's just
Speaker 1: it's fascinating. So I'm sorry now I was saying. I
Speaker 1: think what people will learn is there's some stories too
Speaker 1: that help, I think shape how the draft is nowadays,
Speaker 1: and one of those is Steve Largent wasn't. The draft
Speaker 1: wasn't back then what it is now in terms of
Speaker 1: the popularity and how big it got. But I do
Speaker 1: think larger story made scouts better because he gets drafted
Speaker 1: by the Oilers in the fourth round, but he was
Speaker 1: the Oilers second pick. So the Oilers use their second
Speaker 1: pick on Steve Largent only two then back then, you
Speaker 1: could cut a player, but once you deem you're going
Speaker 1: to cut the guy that you have like twenty four
Speaker 1: hours to trade him first. If a team, it's kind
Speaker 1: of via waivers, but you could trade instead. So they
Speaker 1: ended up trading him to the Seahawks for an eighth
Speaker 1: round pick back when there was more in seven rounds,
Speaker 1: and I just could not imagine what that scouting department
Speaker 1: I was thinking and how much people have learned, Like, Hey,
Speaker 1: we just got the one of the best shaders of
Speaker 1: all time in the fourth round using our second pick,
Speaker 1: so we traded him for an eighth rounder. Could you
Speaker 1: think about that today a team used their second pick
Speaker 1: to then virtually trade him for a seventh rounder by
Speaker 1: the end of training camp and the guy ends up
Speaker 1: being a Hall of Famer. I just think stories like
Speaker 1: Steve's forced scouts to do even more digging than I've
Speaker 1: ever done before and got the stories like that. I
Speaker 1: think you've shaped the draft. It's called round zero. You
Speaker 1: can pick it up everything that makes nice before round one. Hey,
Speaker 1: let's use this again. I want more stories. Okay, I
Speaker 1: want all more stories. But I really appreciate you. And
Speaker 1: this was fricking awesome. I can do it for hours,
Speaker 1: and let's talk into it and again, let's put on date.
Speaker 1: Let's text us get a schedule. Cowboys game thirteen walked
Speaker 1: right now. I'm in okay, Okay, you work on tickets.
Speaker 1: I work on tickets. Okay, you haven't. I had a
Speaker 1: relationship with Aaron. I don't know if he didn't like
Speaker 1: me anymore. You know, Aaron kind of comes and goes whatever.
Speaker 1: I don't have to give me tickets relationship with Aaron,
Speaker 1: but I'll reach out to a connection I have. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't. Actually I don't even know what I could.
Speaker 1: I could probably get to do the Fox angle to
Speaker 1: get the tickets, but but a beer afterwards with Aaron
Speaker 1: an undisposed locations after they beat the Cowboys. That would
Speaker 1: be amazing. Let's do it, brother, Thanks for joining me.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Man. Thanks. Yeah, remember to download, right, review, rate, subscribe,
Speaker 1: do all that stuff. Thanks so much for listening. Im
Speaker 1: Doug gott Leep, this is all ball. Remember when Nember