Speaker 1: Are you ready for this? Sean Merriman A one of
Speaker 1: hand affeck boom boom boom, out go the light. This
Speaker 1: is Lights Out with Sean Merriman. What's up, guys, Welcome
Speaker 1: back to another lights out podcast for me Sean Merriman. Um,
Speaker 1: and we got one of my former former guys, former
Speaker 1: former team of mine, Austin Ekeler. Um. I love watching
Speaker 1: this dude because he is the epitome of hard work.
Speaker 1: When he first came in, I first noticed him on
Speaker 1: special teams. And I'll tell anyone when people come and
Speaker 1: ask me and I'm trying to get into the NFL.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to make NFL roster. Okay, we'll go make
Speaker 1: special teams. You make special teams, you're gonna get your
Speaker 1: foot in the door and whatever your actual position is
Speaker 1: is going to be that. So he's one of the
Speaker 1: powderful panel, strongest guys, one of the hardest working guys
Speaker 1: on the team. And uh, I just love watching him, man,
Speaker 1: because he go out there and give it us all. So,
Speaker 1: Austin Neckler, what's up, dude? What's going on? Man? Everything good,
Speaker 1: Everything's great, man, It's great. Trying to get this NFL
Speaker 1: p A things figured out figure we're doing this off season,
Speaker 1: but they're not gonna give you any shortance if you
Speaker 1: keep putting five on the panels when you're back. Hey, man,
Speaker 1: they's gonna know that I'm still working out even though
Speaker 1: I'm not in the building. When did you start lifting
Speaker 1: like that? Because I like when I first when I
Speaker 1: first heard about it, and I said, when I watched
Speaker 1: you play, but when I first heard about you, always like,
Speaker 1: damn this dude, this dude was strong, and I've seen
Speaker 1: a hold on, hold on home. This whole poundful pound
Speaker 1: thing came. But when when did you start lifting like that? Man?
Speaker 1: I feel like I feel like my soccer year high
Speaker 1: school when I started lifting, But it was like my
Speaker 1: senior high school when I came like really apparent that
Speaker 1: was like really strong. Uh, because I figured that out
Speaker 1: when I went to college my first year, I was
Speaker 1: like squatting more than the guys that have been there,
Speaker 1: actually more, I could clean, I could just do everything
Speaker 1: more than they could already did. Did you have it
Speaker 1: early on? Because I know how Um, a lot of
Speaker 1: those scout and recruiters and stuff get were they want
Speaker 1: their typical I need, I need my running back. Look
Speaker 1: like this whatever did you get past? You get passed
Speaker 1: over by gosh yeah, bro, my senior year, Bro, I
Speaker 1: ran for like two thousand, three hundred yards rushing like
Speaker 1: forty three touchdowns. But like I had the numbers that anyone, anyone,
Speaker 1: if anyone in the nation that has a little taller
Speaker 1: or whatever, they're getting d one offers, right, But I
Speaker 1: didn't think the cookie cutter like, oh, this is what
Speaker 1: a running back supposed to look like kind of you
Speaker 1: know profile. But the thing is that they couldn't measure
Speaker 1: like my mindset and that was so determined. They didn't
Speaker 1: understand that because they didn't know me. Right, What was
Speaker 1: some of the craziest things you heard early on that
Speaker 1: you know, you hear haters and all kind of stuff. Whatever.
Speaker 1: I didn't hear anything crazy. But like the thing that
Speaker 1: I heard that kind of discouraged me is like one
Speaker 1: of my cousins he coached for Nebraska at the time,
Speaker 1: the corn Huskers out there, um, and he told me
Speaker 1: I need to get my my hundred yard meter dash
Speaker 1: time to like a ten eight, Like I need to
Speaker 1: be like a ten eight guy. And he's like, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm recruiting these guys like ten eight guys, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I was like eleven one guy like I was.
Speaker 1: I was intense, and so that was kind of like,
Speaker 1: man like, that was like the first time I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: maybe I can't go D one, right, But then I
Speaker 1: get out there and I fall out and I'm just
Speaker 1: destroying kids. You know, they can't touch me. I just
Speaker 1: you can everyone out run through people and like just
Speaker 1: making it happen, scoring five six touchdowns the game. And
Speaker 1: I still didn't get in love, right. See. The thing
Speaker 1: is like I went to a small school, but it's
Speaker 1: like if you're in a small school, what do you do?
Speaker 1: You dominate? Right, You got to dominate. If you're not
Speaker 1: dominated small school, you're not gonna get good look. I
Speaker 1: did that. I still didn't get a good look as
Speaker 1: far as from any Division one school. So it was
Speaker 1: kind of discourage you. But I kind of had to
Speaker 1: just like move on at some point. And I'm sure
Speaker 1: that motivated because you know, at the end of the day, dude, um,
Speaker 1: I've been in I've been in a position where I
Speaker 1: where I see guys all the time. You come in,
Speaker 1: they don't have to hyight. You know, the draft it
Speaker 1: right around the corner. At any point in time did
Speaker 1: you think I think that you possibly begett drafted. What
Speaker 1: teams were you talking to before you actually came over
Speaker 1: to the Charge. Yeah, so I mean there's a few
Speaker 1: teams that were interested. Um. Actually, like almost every single
Speaker 1: team came to my my college, uh college practices in
Speaker 1: my senior year, Like I had one scouting. It seemed
Speaker 1: like every week there was a scout or two scouts
Speaker 1: at my college. And that was that was crazy because
Speaker 1: there was never a scout on our college campus, Like
Speaker 1: there was no one that was out there balling, right,
Speaker 1: So there was no one that was even getting interest. Um.
Speaker 1: And so I had, you know, a couple of teams
Speaker 1: that were interested in just chatting. I finally got an
Speaker 1: agent and got some teams that were interested. But I
Speaker 1: was looking at green Bay and I was looking at
Speaker 1: the Chargers. Um. Green Bay because the didn't have it,
Speaker 1: they had zero hit, zero running backs on the roster.
Speaker 1: And then the Charges because they had new coaching staff
Speaker 1: and Melvin Gordon was the only really established back in
Speaker 1: the room. Um. So it's just like a really good
Speaker 1: shot to go established in a place with no politics
Speaker 1: as far as coaches and stuff like that. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: when you came in, and I think I me personally
Speaker 1: just because I've always been around the team or whatever,
Speaker 1: I think I still noticing you on special teams and stuff. First.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's where how I made the team. Man,
Speaker 1: That's how I made the team. I Actually, my my
Speaker 1: most proud stat still to this day, is my rookie stat.
Speaker 1: I led the NFL and tackles on punt like I
Speaker 1: led the NFL. Like out out there, no one could
Speaker 1: touch me. Man, I was flying down the field, my
Speaker 1: gunner out there, just you can't touch me, Get off me,
Speaker 1: go making plays. Yeah. I tell guys all the time,
Speaker 1: especially when you come in and you don't get the
Speaker 1: shot or the looks that you that you normally get.
Speaker 1: I said, it's it's it's nothing wrong with beasting out
Speaker 1: on special teams and getting a shot that way, because
Speaker 1: all you need is a foot in the door. You
Speaker 1: gotta getet, you gotta get in, you gotta get in.
Speaker 1: And here's the thing. I was six string. There's zero
Speaker 1: six string running backs that make the NFL roster, So
Speaker 1: well I better be first stringing something else, you know,
Speaker 1: or at least you know, getting reps or something else.
Speaker 1: Like I was getting all my reps on on Scout team,
Speaker 1: Scout team, Special teams right, um, and then there's zero
Speaker 1: six team reps on offense, so I get like three
Speaker 1: or four reps. I gave a practice you know that
Speaker 1: throwing like here go go run this little you know,
Speaker 1: this little crap play. You know, it's a little swing
Speaker 1: to the left or whatever. But that for me, that
Speaker 1: was like, this is my chance, right, So I didn't
Speaker 1: make sure I was I was on all my cues
Speaker 1: and whatever it was. I was going a hundred percent
Speaker 1: and doing it to my best ability to try to
Speaker 1: get some type of Look but what people know about
Speaker 1: you now? And like, yeah, you know that. So I
Speaker 1: say that now that you come in, you you grind
Speaker 1: your way up, you get an opportunity, and so it's
Speaker 1: more of a shock to people all the stuff you
Speaker 1: were doing, like oh my god, this guy, this guy
Speaker 1: can really play, he can ball out. So now you
Speaker 1: know you're not coming in surprise at anybody anymore, people
Speaker 1: coming in knowing what you can do right exactly in
Speaker 1: building off of that, that's just that's just me. That's
Speaker 1: just been my mindset, right. I started a special teams
Speaker 1: in my in my mind, I was never a backup.
Speaker 1: I was always a starter. I was always a starter.
Speaker 1: It didn't matter if I was on paper if I
Speaker 1: was a backup. But in my mind, I'm starting this
Speaker 1: game on special teams. I'm starting this game as a backup,
Speaker 1: running back. Like when I gave my opportunity, I gotta
Speaker 1: go in there, I gotta make plays. And that's that
Speaker 1: was my determination. That's how I came in every single game.
Speaker 1: I was never a backup in my mind, and that
Speaker 1: that mindset carried me through. And it's always been hey,
Speaker 1: awesome with your goals, Like, well, my goals are to
Speaker 1: build off of what I did the year before, right
Speaker 1: I made the team, I you know, had a just
Speaker 1: a year where I established myself that you know I
Speaker 1: could play Now. I build off of that, build off
Speaker 1: of that into my second year, had a little bit
Speaker 1: more success, got some more offensive reps, and I had
Speaker 1: built off of that, And I was just always ready
Speaker 1: for the opportunity because I cared so much and putting
Speaker 1: so much work and really made my highest priority to
Speaker 1: be here and be in the space, and when I
Speaker 1: was in the space, to make advantage to take advantage
Speaker 1: of that opportunity. At that time, did did did Anthony Lynn?
Speaker 1: Coach Lynda? Was he kind of supportive and that in
Speaker 1: that whole situational it was like an lynna know who
Speaker 1: I was, hold on what he didn't. He didn't even
Speaker 1: know who I was. I was number three. I came.
Speaker 1: I was number three. I actually after O T A.
Speaker 1: S and my my rookie year, I went up to
Speaker 1: him and I was I was so nervous because I
Speaker 1: never talked to him. And I went up to him
Speaker 1: and I was like, hey, coach, when I got what
Speaker 1: I gotta do to make this team, and He's like, well,
Speaker 1: first of all, uh protect text quarterback, go talk to
Speaker 1: coach to was our special teams coordinator, and then uh
Speaker 1: don't fumble the ball, right those three things. So I
Speaker 1: went and talk to coach to. But the thing is like,
Speaker 1: he's like, when you came in actually made the team,
Speaker 1: he got up in front of the teams. I would
Speaker 1: be honest, you guys, I didn't know who this guy was.
Speaker 1: This guy came up and talked to me. I didn't
Speaker 1: even know his name, and he didn't know my name
Speaker 1: until I made the fifty three man roster. Because I
Speaker 1: was just can't body for him, you know, but I
Speaker 1: was just out there. The first time he really noticed
Speaker 1: me was when we were in San Diego before the transition.
Speaker 1: I was on out team punt team, and I was
Speaker 1: busting ass down the field. Man, I'm flying, no one
Speaker 1: can block me, no one can touch me. And he
Speaker 1: comes in. He sees that and he's like, damgn coach
Speaker 1: to team coach, who's that number three out there? And coach,
Speaker 1: you like, that's austome that going to give us a
Speaker 1: hell of a look out there. And I was like
Speaker 1: my first like yes, like come on, like give me
Speaker 1: a little shine, um. And it just, you know, it
Speaker 1: was just small moments like that that kept building up
Speaker 1: to a point where I was able like, hey, like
Speaker 1: this guy, he's gonna make the roster now. And you
Speaker 1: got a lot of love from Field too, a lot
Speaker 1: of phil and I was and I was telling this,
Speaker 1: you know, I got a different Field story every single
Speaker 1: day of the week. Like he's such a damn character man,
Speaker 1: Like he just he does so much and he's funny.
Speaker 1: People don't know how he's a clown to man, like
Speaker 1: a big ass kid. And so when when I saw that,
Speaker 1: Field kind of came out and supported and put his
Speaker 1: stamp on you too, man, I said, okay, yeah, and
Speaker 1: that's that's even before you really start getting on the scene.
Speaker 1: He kind of put a stamp when you're early on. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think it's just because you know, I was, I
Speaker 1: was making plays and his his his play style kind
Speaker 1: of complimented what I was helping him do. Like he's
Speaker 1: not gonna run around, he's gonna check his check his progression,
Speaker 1: and he's checking it down right. Well, he's checking it
Speaker 1: down to me and I'm running around and making people
Speaker 1: miss getting yard and She's like, okay, Like he started
Speaker 1: to gain trust in me, right, And so that's that
Speaker 1: was early on. Like even my rookie year, ID like
Speaker 1: five receiving touchdowns from him, right, So I'm making place
Speaker 1: he's like he starts to build that just that confidence
Speaker 1: like oh if like passes to Austin, like he can
Speaker 1: do something with it. And that just continued to grow
Speaker 1: and grow and grow to the fact that, you know,
Speaker 1: my third year with him, now I'm having almost a
Speaker 1: thousand yards receiving because he's just dumped me the ball
Speaker 1: and I'm running around and scoring touchdowns. Do you see
Speaker 1: any similarity between Philip Rivers and and Justin Herbert does
Speaker 1: mean anything likely there's just total opposite people. Um, they're
Speaker 1: not opposite people. I still see the same dedication to
Speaker 1: the game that Justin Herbert has said that that Philip had.
Speaker 1: As far as the knowledge of the game, Obviously Justin
Speaker 1: hasn't had as much time as Philip had. Um when
Speaker 1: I was with him anyway, Um, Philip knew what the
Speaker 1: defense is going to do based on who the defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator was. Like, that's the next level stuff right there. Uh.
Speaker 1: If you know Philip, Justin's you know, he's just getting
Speaker 1: into it. So he's starting to learn, but he's starting
Speaker 1: to make the adjustment stuff, and he's just dedicated. He's
Speaker 1: puts the time in. Um, you know, I got I
Speaker 1: played with him for for two games, got injured, came
Speaker 1: back like like ten weeks later, and then I was
Speaker 1: just able to see just the different progression that he
Speaker 1: had made from those those weeks that I had off.
Speaker 1: Now he's checking place. Now he's sliding, the sliding, the
Speaker 1: front sliding, the protection, calling out you know, Blitzen. So
Speaker 1: I was just like, Yeah, this guy really cares. You're
Speaker 1: really just getting it. And you know, I think he
Speaker 1: can grow to that with Philip was that, but it's
Speaker 1: gonna take a long time. Um. And he's got the
Speaker 1: talent too. We'll see if he does. He's definitely different
Speaker 1: as far as hit. The way he plays. You know,
Speaker 1: he's gonna run around, he's gonna throw the throw the
Speaker 1: ball down the field. Uh, Philip feeling feeling having that? Man, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's so he's looking down and if you're not open,
Speaker 1: checkdown where you're at. So you know, I still put
Speaker 1: into his ear like just I know you can run, man,
Speaker 1: but don't forget about your backfield, buddy. Man, I can
Speaker 1: get you some yards to on a little checked out
Speaker 1: for sure. And and and I'm just looking at at
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert, Man, I look at you guys, and I'll
Speaker 1: say this, if it was for injuries and certain positions, um,
Speaker 1: that would have been a total difference season. And you know,
Speaker 1: I hope. I mean obviously, injuries is always everything, especially
Speaker 1: when you get later on under season. It's all about health.
Speaker 1: But you guys are right there. Were you were you surprised?
Speaker 1: Were you happy when when they brought in the new culture?
Speaker 1: If you got a scant of spending like real time
Speaker 1: with him? Yeah, not in real time. I chatted with them,
Speaker 1: uh probably twice three times. UM had it like I
Speaker 1: just a call, just kind of the leadership call with
Speaker 1: him and just really wanted to see like like coach, say,
Speaker 1: like what what's your mission? Man? Like what what do
Speaker 1: you what are you about? Like we need to know
Speaker 1: that early on because as the leaders of this team,
Speaker 1: we need to know what you're about. So we can
Speaker 1: build that culture around that, and then we can also
Speaker 1: implement ourselves and the way we work, the way we
Speaker 1: the way we leave this team and bring other people along. UM.
Speaker 1: So that's what what it really is. Was I excited
Speaker 1: that we have new coaches. I'm I'm in different right.
Speaker 1: Like every single year it's a new kind of combination,
Speaker 1: and so now we have a new we have new
Speaker 1: coaching staff, so it's just a new piece of that
Speaker 1: combination for this year. We have a lot of new players,
Speaker 1: which happens every single year, and so it's like now
Speaker 1: we have to put a lot of work into build chemistry,
Speaker 1: especially in the you know, a season where we don't
Speaker 1: have the same type off season that we usually do. UM.
Speaker 1: So there's all these different factors, but the thing is
Speaker 1: we need a message we need a message from this
Speaker 1: man and so that we can we can give it
Speaker 1: to the community. Like everyone has to be involved the ownership,
Speaker 1: like from every top down, everybody in the organization has
Speaker 1: to be involved. And that's kind of what I'm going
Speaker 1: I'm going through this year. I'm trying to just bring energy.
Speaker 1: Bring more energy to the Chargers, fans, bring more energy
Speaker 1: to the Chargers, the team, to the organization, because I
Speaker 1: feel like we've had this low. We've been in this
Speaker 1: like low. I don't know if it's because we moved
Speaker 1: from San Diego and then the fans are like it's
Speaker 1: still salty or if it's whatever it is, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: We have a new opportunity, right. We have a new stadium,
Speaker 1: new coaches, new jerseys. You know, quarterback just had Rookie
Speaker 1: of the Year. We have a new field around the Charges,
Speaker 1: and it's like, look, look, we have an opportunity to
Speaker 1: come in instead of culture in l A that is
Speaker 1: not like any other culture that we've had in l
Speaker 1: A's for as far as football has gone. Right, we
Speaker 1: have a new opportunity, so come in. So if you're
Speaker 1: a fan and you come in to stadium and you're
Speaker 1: just like oh, let's see what happens this year. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be saying all Chargers, guess what. It might be
Speaker 1: the same old Chargers like, because the at least the
Speaker 1: atmosphere is going to be but here. If we come
Speaker 1: in and we're preaching, like, hey, let's come in with
Speaker 1: some energy as a fan, let me try to help
Speaker 1: this team win games by getting as loud as I can.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be contagious throughout the entire organization, the entire culture.
Speaker 1: And guess what if you're if you're giving that love
Speaker 1: as far as from fans, guess what, We're already gonna
Speaker 1: be working out. We're already gonna be working hard. We're
Speaker 1: gonna be doing as much as we can't win games.
Speaker 1: It just contagious for us. It gives us another reason
Speaker 1: to work, gives us that because work human too. We
Speaker 1: get off energy. Like if we have bad energy, like
Speaker 1: we should feel that. We feel that, man. And so
Speaker 1: if you come in the stadium you're a Charger fan,
Speaker 1: be a Charger fan, man, be in there beach yelling.
Speaker 1: I want you to be I want you to lose
Speaker 1: your voice by the time you're out of here because
Speaker 1: you're having so much fun your room and you're trying
Speaker 1: to help these guys win. Like we're on the field
Speaker 1: grinding for you guys. And so that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: We're starting to start a new culture. Man, we got
Speaker 1: a new opportunity. Let's do it. Fox Sports Radio has
Speaker 1: the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
Speaker 1: of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
Speaker 1: within the I Heart Radio app search f s R
Speaker 1: to listen live. Now, I'm in the time, and I
Speaker 1: hate bringing up both up because you guys got a
Speaker 1: new organization, new players, new team, whatever. But the time
Speaker 1: that when we were winning, it was it was about
Speaker 1: the fans. I mean, you came in the stadium and
Speaker 1: the fans, let you know, they were there, and that's it.
Speaker 1: And so we were coming out the warm ups and
Speaker 1: we see the fans and we started to get pumped
Speaker 1: up and we're going and everything get hyping. I'm hyping
Speaker 1: this person up and they're hyping me. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it goes back and forth. But one thing I'm gonna say, man,
Speaker 1: is um, you know, Coach Staley he called me. He
Speaker 1: called me to the diet that he uh that they
Speaker 1: made an official And one thing I like about him, man,
Speaker 1: I like his energy. I like his energy, and I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's because he's a defensive minded guy.
Speaker 1: And I'm just like, Okay, I'm glad they brought into
Speaker 1: his mind of coach. But I also feel that, you know,
Speaker 1: you guys are stacked on offense. You're gonna do what
Speaker 1: you do. I think the mentality is you just talked about.
Speaker 1: It's why I love the higher Like now, I don't
Speaker 1: you know, you never know what your money gonna come
Speaker 1: in to do, or how they got married. Everybody got
Speaker 1: to when they walk in the door with the rob
Speaker 1: Ross beach. Hey, we're gonna change this whole thing around.
Speaker 1: We've seen another thousand times. So but I'm just from
Speaker 1: my conversation and talking to him on the phone, I
Speaker 1: was like this, this dude gets it. He really he
Speaker 1: really understands. He gets it and what the players you
Speaker 1: guys have, there's no mean not to make a run.
Speaker 1: And I'm sitting there like, man, you guys got it,
Speaker 1: you got you're stacked. Um, we got that leadership. Me
Speaker 1: and I was talking about I literally said, I was like, coach,
Speaker 1: I'm tired of being up with games. Fourteen fifteen twenty
Speaker 1: one points and losing in the fourth quarter. Man, Like
Speaker 1: this is ridiculous. Like we're in this position where we're
Speaker 1: putting up points, we got the lead and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden. It's not like, oh, we just got
Speaker 1: out play one or two times to see the like
Speaker 1: six seven, eight times that season. This is happening, man,
Speaker 1: It's like, we gotta do something. It's either got to
Speaker 1: be like some type of message, some type of focus,
Speaker 1: some type of energy. It's got to be something. Man,
Speaker 1: we gotta get this ship figured out. Since driving me nuts,
Speaker 1: and I know it's driving a lot of the other
Speaker 1: guys nuts, man, where Like I mean, we're winning games,
Speaker 1: it's not like, oh, we know, we're barely winning, Like
Speaker 1: we're up substantially and losing in the last quarter to
Speaker 1: like come on, and so yeah, I'm excited to see
Speaker 1: what coach has got man, build these relationships and put
Speaker 1: a new season together and get this grind going. Man.
Speaker 1: And I'm tired losing these games. So you better believe
Speaker 1: I'm gonna getting everything. I gotta leave it all out there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and since my old ask retired, don't think I can
Speaker 1: do with be a social media troll. I might the
Speaker 1: biggest troll to everybody I know. Man, I know, you
Speaker 1: know I talked so for me as far you know,
Speaker 1: all the Raiders fans Broncos, I mean, they hate my
Speaker 1: ass and I love it. I mean, I think it's great,
Speaker 1: and I talked you know, all day. But it's like
Speaker 1: you guys have it. You're like you said, you're up,
Speaker 1: and I think that in my opinion, and I'm not
Speaker 1: in the locker room because the only people matters being
Speaker 1: in the locker room is that the big word that
Speaker 1: you need to be finished. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: like finished games, because you finished for those games last year.
Speaker 1: In the in the season is different, and you're talking
Speaker 1: about You're not talking about you guys losing by two
Speaker 1: or three touchdown. We're talking about seven points of less.
Speaker 1: And I'm sitting there and I already got my phone
Speaker 1: in my hand. I'm ready to jump on social media,
Speaker 1: pop off y'all. You know, you guys are spanking them
Speaker 1: and then yeah, you hear you hear a thing to
Speaker 1: get people all the same old charted. I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: if they just finished, they got a completely different team exactly. Man,
Speaker 1: there's way too many examples of us being up and
Speaker 1: just driving it. Just drop the ball, just let teams
Speaker 1: just inch back in. And so that's that's what to me,
Speaker 1: that's the same old charges. I'm tired of that ship,
Speaker 1: and so we have a new opportunity to change that.
Speaker 1: And that's what that's my mission. That's I don't know
Speaker 1: about the rest of the team. I'm gonna let everyone
Speaker 1: know on the team, like this is my mission. If
Speaker 1: you're on board, let's go. And so the the last
Speaker 1: thream mail before I let you go, UM, tell me
Speaker 1: about your foundation too, because I've been you know, reading
Speaker 1: a lot you're doing lie with your foundation absolutely so
Speaker 1: kind of this energy, man, this energy that's been built
Speaker 1: up inside of me, It's come from just a lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of hard work, a lot of just
Speaker 1: building and grinding. Right, everyone has we all have our
Speaker 1: own build, we all have our own grind that we
Speaker 1: go through. UM and the ideal part about my grind
Speaker 1: and this is where I envisioned myself being right. And
Speaker 1: so now I'm trying to help people that are just
Speaker 1: in situations where they still don't maybe know what they
Speaker 1: want to do. I'm trying to help those people try
Speaker 1: to find someone where Okay, this is where I want
Speaker 1: to be see themselves in that they pursue that. But
Speaker 1: the only way you can do that is if you
Speaker 1: give resources to people with particular younger people where you're
Speaker 1: just trying to figure out what you're trying to do.
Speaker 1: You don't really have a lot of responsibility trying to
Speaker 1: find what you're passionate about. And so through the Austin
Speaker 1: Equid Foundation, I'm trying to implement resources, uh into just
Speaker 1: communities that people can use to you try to learn
Speaker 1: about themselves, to work hard, to to build skills that
Speaker 1: are transferable into their life throughout their entire life. For me,
Speaker 1: for instance, like I learned so much in the weight room,
Speaker 1: honestly because the weight room for me with therapeutic it
Speaker 1: taught me, social skill, taught me, mental toughness taught me, discipline,
Speaker 1: taught me how to work hard, right, and so those
Speaker 1: are things that have come with you know, other things,
Speaker 1: but in the weight room in particular. And so for instance,
Speaker 1: I built a weight room for Santa Barbara High School. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, they have twenty two D students there and
Speaker 1: they have like one weight room that was functional in
Speaker 1: one of those breaking down and so like they had
Speaker 1: this huge need for that. They still need more, but
Speaker 1: it's like, I'm just trying to do what I can. UM.
Speaker 1: And so I have another project that's gonna be nationwide
Speaker 1: UM that it's just gonna be I can't speak on
Speaker 1: it too much for yet, but it's it's going to
Speaker 1: be just another way for people to learn about themselves.
Speaker 1: And so the thing is, I'm trying to help the
Speaker 1: person that I used to be, right, I used to
Speaker 1: be this kid that I don't know what the heck
Speaker 1: I want to do. I'm just really trying to find myself.
Speaker 1: But I had resources, right, I had resources, and I
Speaker 1: was able to take advantage of a lot of different things.
Speaker 1: And so those communities that don't have all these resources
Speaker 1: as far as like computer labs, as far as like uh,
Speaker 1: just access to like basketball courts or just just social
Speaker 1: thing like a park for instance, where you just are
Speaker 1: in stuff, you're doing things right, and when you're doing things,
Speaker 1: you're learning things and you're just learning about yourself. And
Speaker 1: so that's the awesome that the Foundations trying to do,
Speaker 1: is trying to add resources to these communities. That's awesome,
Speaker 1: And I live. I got one more thing. Yeah, this
Speaker 1: this this game and thing? How deep? How deep are
Speaker 1: you in the game and community? So because I look
Speaker 1: at um, you know, and I got friends and I
Speaker 1: got a couple, I played the I played in the
Speaker 1: apex Um tournament, okay, on on the ESPN and some
Speaker 1: other places whatever, I played over there, right, and so
Speaker 1: you're not a little bit, but you you all the
Speaker 1: way in with it, like how how deep are you
Speaker 1: in the game? So, I mean I have grit and
Speaker 1: Gaming Group, which is the company that I started basically,
Speaker 1: So I didn't I game a lot, but I didn't
Speaker 1: starting Gaming Group because the game. I started because I
Speaker 1: wanted to connect with my community, right, Like I wanted
Speaker 1: to use as a social right, like people. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of people that play video games. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of athletes that play video games. And I was playing
Speaker 1: video games and I was like, how can I connect
Speaker 1: with the community on a deeper level outside of football,
Speaker 1: And it became video games, right, And so I started
Speaker 1: playing video games. The community. They started asking me questions
Speaker 1: and it became more of a meet and Greek type
Speaker 1: of session. Right. It's more like a press conference where
Speaker 1: you used to come out and chat with whatever we're
Speaker 1: talking about that day and I was just getting so
Speaker 1: much from that, and I was like, well, I should
Speaker 1: have other athletes do this, right, like because if you
Speaker 1: come into like I'd stream on Twitch for instance, and
Speaker 1: it's like if you start doing that, you just know
Speaker 1: the really direction. You just kind of do what you
Speaker 1: want to do. And so I was like, let me
Speaker 1: help people try to connect with their community, to build something,
Speaker 1: build their brand outside of of of football, you know.
Speaker 1: And so we have these big events, like we did
Speaker 1: an event for the for the Super Bowl and we
Speaker 1: it was huge, Like it was just my six my
Speaker 1: six members at the time. We have ten members now,
Speaker 1: but we had, uh we had like seven hundred thousand
Speaker 1: viewers total unique viewers, and it's insane. It just blew
Speaker 1: up because people just were had there's a demand for
Speaker 1: this type of like interaction between like just athletes and
Speaker 1: uh just what they're doing in their personal life. And
Speaker 1: we're doing giveaways interaction and there there was just like
Speaker 1: the big just description there was just not a lot
Speaker 1: because of COVID, right, And so now we're doing one
Speaker 1: for the NFL Draft the first round where you're you're
Speaker 1: gonna be involved, let's go. It's basically it's a big
Speaker 1: it's a big social right. So here's what we're gonna do. Um,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have our GG members um, and then we're
Speaker 1: also having guests like yourself, they're not a part of
Speaker 1: g G G come and represent a team. And basically
Speaker 1: what that means is you're gonna have your ten minute
Speaker 1: block and you're gonna be just talking about whatever you're
Speaker 1: trying to plug. Whether it's you know, you know, lights
Speaker 1: out uh podcast, whether it's your Instagram, whether your foundation,
Speaker 1: whatever you wanna talk about. It's gonna be a big
Speaker 1: social event. Um, it'll be blown up. Twitch is working
Speaker 1: on it with us too, so it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: massive event. Um. It's just gonna be a big social
Speaker 1: for people to experience the draft in a different way, right,
Speaker 1: because if you watch ESPN, if you watch CBS, whatever there,
Speaker 1: it's like very technical, right, It's all about these verses
Speaker 1: numbers in college and stuff like that. It's like that's
Speaker 1: great if you're like really into it, But if you're
Speaker 1: like kind of like a casual person, you still like
Speaker 1: are a fan of this person or this team, you
Speaker 1: can come over and watch it on Twitch with us
Speaker 1: and kind of see it in a different in a
Speaker 1: different view and get some insight on such people that
Speaker 1: are involved in that community and see what they're up to,
Speaker 1: and then see what they think about the pick. I'm in.
Speaker 1: I'm in. I can't wait for that. That's what to two?
Speaker 1: Which man? Two weeks? Yeah? Yeah, two weeks two which
Speaker 1: weeks will be on the on the draft day. I'm in, man,
Speaker 1: And I'm also gonna be a training camp coming to
Speaker 1: and check you guys out too. Now we got fans
Speaker 1: of let's go. Let's get the fans back, man, Let's
Speaker 1: get this energy going. Man. I need your help. I
Speaker 1: need your help. Man. We gotta start this new community
Speaker 1: out here, bro, because I'm in. Bro, I'm go. Let's
Speaker 1: do it. Man, find my dude, take it easy, appreciate
Speaker 1: you all. It sounds good man. Have you going, man?
Speaker 1: Thanks guys, listening to another lights Out podcast with me
Speaker 1: Shawn Morimon, and uh, that was really cool. Um. I
Speaker 1: always half form when I talked to some of my
Speaker 1: former charges man, because I'm so involved a team. You
Speaker 1: guys see, I'm always trolling other teams fans and I
Speaker 1: love it. I love when they troll back. It's all good, Um,
Speaker 1: but it's been great watching him half his success, and
Speaker 1: we talked a little bit about the differences between Philip
Speaker 1: Rivers and Justin Herbert and what Justin Herbert's future is
Speaker 1: gonna look like with the team. Futures look like. He
Speaker 1: is motivated, he is pumped up, and uh he's gonna
Speaker 1: do with tremendous things for the team this year. I
Speaker 1: can't wait to watch the big thing for the Charges
Speaker 1: this year. Guys is finished. They finished games. They're gonna
Speaker 1: win a lot of games. So thank you guys for
Speaker 1: tuning in. I appreciate you guys. Always keep leaving those
Speaker 1: great reviews, um and downloading these podcasts subscribing. Man, I'm
Speaker 1: looking at the subscriptions going crazy, and really thanks for
Speaker 1: you guys, so keep tuning them leaving those great reviews.
Speaker 1: We'll be back next week with another one.