Speaker 1: This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at
Speaker 1: production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior and I'm a little John and this
Speaker 1: is cut to It. Good do It, Cut do it.
Speaker 1: Let's getting down to do it. Good do it. We
Speaker 1: asked the questions you always want to know, but no
Speaker 1: one ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard
Speaker 1: them about it? Then we're about to let you know.
Speaker 1: It's all that's so western, Steve, this little little traffic
Speaker 1: jam on the way over here, apologize, it's good. It's good.
Speaker 1: It's a black man. You could be late. So of
Speaker 1: course we're here. We're here at town, We're here at
Speaker 1: the live recording of the Cut to It podcast. We're
Speaker 1: here on site at the Steve Smith Family Foundation of
Speaker 1: Health event. Super excited. We've got backstage Joe myself, Gerard,
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior, and now we've got um legendary Wesley Walls,
Speaker 1: native of Fakesville, Mississippi, attended Old Miss University. Five time
Speaker 1: Pro bowler, four time All Pro played with the San
Speaker 1: Francisco for Your Honors, the New Orleans Saints before I
Speaker 1: signed with Carolina Panthers and later played with the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers, and he was inducted into the Panthers Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame in tween nineteen along with Jake Delone, Jordan Gross,
Speaker 1: and Steve Smith Senior. So Wesley Walls, welcome to the
Speaker 1: Cut to a podcast. Thank you, Gerard. I appreciate that
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. Just hearing that that at number, it feels
Speaker 1: like it's been about three or four years ago. Time well,
Speaker 1: time stood still, I guess here for the last couple
Speaker 1: of years. But that was a great day. I've got
Speaker 1: a picture. I just want to brag on Steve here
Speaker 1: a little bit. I got a picture on my computer screen,
Speaker 1: all four of us out there about to be recognized
Speaker 1: in front of the home team, and me reaching across
Speaker 1: Jordan and Jake to shake Steve Smiths and the to
Speaker 1: my mind, the greatest player ever to wear the Carolina
Speaker 1: Panther jersey. Uh. He was fun to watch as as
Speaker 1: an old guy, I was, I mean, this is two
Speaker 1: thousand one when drafted you, right, is that your first year?
Speaker 1: That was my first year? That was one of my
Speaker 1: last year's. Uh. And I just remember watching Steve in
Speaker 1: practice and I'm like, man, this guy is he's mad?
Speaker 1: He is angry, and but he was such a competitor,
Speaker 1: and we go I'm I'm coming off in a c
Speaker 1: L injury. I'm just trying to get ready to play.
Speaker 1: I don't think I even practice only and because Steve
Speaker 1: was and he was, he was showing out and we
Speaker 1: go up to Minnesota and I'm sure this has been
Speaker 1: talked about it already probably, but the first time he
Speaker 1: touches the ball, we get the ball and uh we
Speaker 1: kick off. They kick off to us and Steve takes
Speaker 1: it back for a touchdown, and uh that that was
Speaker 1: probably the only test. Now we won that game, right,
Speaker 1: that was the only game we won. And then and
Speaker 1: then they ran a Boston on y'all after that. But
Speaker 1: then also too, that was a ninny lover as well,
Speaker 1: So I was, I was. That was really weird. Um.
Speaker 1: It's funny though, because I remember they're some cool stories
Speaker 1: in that I remember in that practice that was when
Speaker 1: coach Seyffert was there. Take us through your unique relationship
Speaker 1: with coach Seyffert, because I remember you telling me a
Speaker 1: story about coach Seyffert. Well, I I got I got
Speaker 1: drafted by the San Francisco forty Niners. Bill Walsh was
Speaker 1: just retiring, and uh, George Seyffert was a new coach
Speaker 1: and uh. And then that during that year I was
Speaker 1: a project. I was a defensive end linebacker at Old Miss.
Speaker 1: Only played tight end. One year was my senior year
Speaker 1: in college, and I did okay, I made uh, you know,
Speaker 1: had a good year. So they told me I was
Speaker 1: gonna come in from places. You played defensive end linebacker,
Speaker 1: and then they just randomly switched you to tight end
Speaker 1: one year. One year, my my senior year, the junior year,
Speaker 1: spring practice, I'm out throwing the football with a quarterback
Speaker 1: who was my roommate, John Darnell, And that we everyone
Speaker 1: had gotten fired. We had a new offensive coordinator, a
Speaker 1: new defensive defensive coordinator. An offensive coordinator come up to
Speaker 1: me and said, hey, hey, if you're played tight end
Speaker 1: and I said yeah, I played one time in the
Speaker 1: Mississippi High school All Star game. The tight end got
Speaker 1: hurt and they asked me to play, and I said.
Speaker 1: John was a quarterback and coach Parker red Parker's his name.
Speaker 1: He looked over to John said well, how did he do?
Speaker 1: And John said, I think he caught seven for nineties
Speaker 1: seven and a touchdown, and Red Parker said, give me
Speaker 1: two weeks, I can put you in the NFL. So
Speaker 1: that next two weeks of spring practice, I practiced tight end.
Speaker 1: Made a first team AP All American my senior year,
Speaker 1: so he was. In other words, Red Parker is an
Speaker 1: old school name. It sounds like a man that some
Speaker 1: football absolutely your name, Red Parker, you don't get messed with.
Speaker 1: He came from Clemson. Uh and and he changed my life.
Speaker 1: I mean that guy he's passed away about five years ago,
Speaker 1: but that just tells you. I mean just seeing something
Speaker 1: like that, just throwing the ball with your old quarterback
Speaker 1: and somebody seeing you and moving you over to tight end,
Speaker 1: and uh end up going to get to play with
Speaker 1: guys like this for fifteen years. So you get drafted
Speaker 1: by the Sam Cisco four Niners in what no, no, no,
Speaker 1: uh round oh, second round. Second. I was the last
Speaker 1: pick in the second round, and chucks such hard times.
Speaker 1: I made a hundred fifty thousand dollars my first year, Steve,
Speaker 1: and that that was you know, that was a long
Speaker 1: time ago. But well I got drafted on my know,
Speaker 1: mine was a hundred and twenty thousand. So you were
Speaker 1: a third third, right, yeah, yeah, man, so it didn't.
Speaker 1: It didn't. I wouldn't. I wouldn't pass you that far.
Speaker 1: It started, it's picked up a lot. He but but
Speaker 1: just saying that, just kind of showing and just kind
Speaker 1: of putting it, you know, together, it's that that's crazy.
Speaker 1: So you get drafted. The second round, they happened to
Speaker 1: half this other tight end named Brett Jones. Jones, he's
Speaker 1: pretty darn good. He was good, he could catch, and
Speaker 1: I was having a little trouble, uh jumping outside doing
Speaker 1: all the rookie stuff. So excited, I just never couldn't
Speaker 1: slow the game down to about my third or fourth year.
Speaker 1: It was just too fast for me. But one comparison,
Speaker 1: George Seaford, we had. I don't know if you guys
Speaker 1: remember the earthquake out in San Francisco. It was it
Speaker 1: was a horrible earthquake eight point two. A lot of
Speaker 1: people died, that's what they The freeway that split from
Speaker 1: Stay Bridge that actually they did. It fell on top
Speaker 1: of each other or something over there, the Bay Bridge
Speaker 1: or whatever bridge, but the lower and the upper level.
Speaker 1: My mom we were going. I was going to McKinley
Speaker 1: Avenue School on Semi ninth in Avalon and we were
Speaker 1: in the brown oldsmobile. I remember it shook and after
Speaker 1: a shoot, I'm on, say take your ass back in
Speaker 1: the house where well I tell how country I am. Uh.
Speaker 1: My roommate was from Tennessee. And the first thing we
Speaker 1: thought someone had crashed into the apartment complex and then
Speaker 1: realized this earthquake. And we were right for the TV
Speaker 1: and the speakers. We held onto those things the whole time.
Speaker 1: He's this guy him here. But but George Seaford, I mean,
Speaker 1: this is like on a Monday. This happened and the
Speaker 1: Tuesday was an off day anyway, and that's something I'm
Speaker 1: gonna brought us in man on Wednesday and we practiced
Speaker 1: and uh, you know when he said we're gonna play
Speaker 1: the NFL is gonna gonna play this game. And we
Speaker 1: had a home game and they moved the game over
Speaker 1: to Stanford and we played in Stanford and that was
Speaker 1: in fact, that was the only touchdown I ever caught
Speaker 1: my Forday night of career at that in Stanford State.
Speaker 1: I've never caught one in Candlestick unless I was playing
Speaker 1: against him, which is a lot better over the years.
Speaker 1: So so you get drafted in eighty nine, you played
Speaker 1: three or four years, six ninety five or ninety four,
Speaker 1: expansion draft goes, and what happens, Well, I'll play five.
Speaker 1: We won the super Bowl my rookie year. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Joe Montana and those guys Jay Riis, Charles Haley, John Taylor,
Speaker 1: you know what kind of team they had. I just
Speaker 1: couldn't break in and and and in ninety four, I
Speaker 1: became a free agent and they didn't want to sign
Speaker 1: me back. And the only team looking for a long
Speaker 1: snapper was the New Orleans Saints. And I had learned
Speaker 1: how to long snap when I was in San France.
Speaker 1: Never snapped a game in college, but I learned how
Speaker 1: to do it in San France. So the Saints they
Speaker 1: gave me a two year contract loaded with a bunch
Speaker 1: of incentives. I called it snapper as a snapper, hold on,
Speaker 1: hold on. So we're a linebacker and we're a defensive end,
Speaker 1: and now we're a long snapper. I'm just clearing, Hey, look,
Speaker 1: I was an opportunity, right, Uh yeah, I'm I don't know,
Speaker 1: I'm a grinder, I guess, you know. But anyway, I
Speaker 1: a long snapping. I go to the first minicamp. Jim
Speaker 1: Moore was a coach, and he says, what happened in
Speaker 1: San Franci, senor, senor, and and I just said, hey,
Speaker 1: I couldn't. I didn't stay very healthy. And when I
Speaker 1: did play, I didn't play very well. And he says, well,
Speaker 1: you you practice, and he keep practicing like this and
Speaker 1: playing and we'll give you a chance. So eleven passes
Speaker 1: in five seasons, and uh in San fran I caught
Speaker 1: like ninety eight the next two years with the Saints.
Speaker 1: And that's that's when the Panthers called. And who is
Speaker 1: the head coach at that time? Dom Capers? Don Capers
Speaker 1: is the coach your own or you know, they bring
Speaker 1: you out here. You signed feeling good about yourself. You
Speaker 1: signed for more than a hundred and fifty. It was
Speaker 1: a lot better. Uh. And then Don Capers gets he
Speaker 1: gets fired, He gets fired. Yeah. That that that we
Speaker 1: went on the nineties six and and these are the years. Um,
Speaker 1: I was in higher in high school and a lot
Speaker 1: of you guys, I can see ladies are at we're
Speaker 1: in high school also. But we went to the NFCY
Speaker 1: Championship game and got beat by Green Bay up there
Speaker 1: had a great year. The carry Collins is a quarterback
Speaker 1: for a couple of years. That's when you were doing
Speaker 1: the guitar whenever, whenever you score. It was it was
Speaker 1: more like these spike and it started as a I
Speaker 1: was playing the falcons and I would pretend to like
Speaker 1: the ball was a bird right now. I just got
Speaker 1: down on my knee and I pumped shotgun the thing.
Speaker 1: The media took it as a hey, this first time
Speaker 1: anybody put me on TV. Anyways, look at that Walls guy.
Speaker 1: He's playing a guitar whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 1: That's what they said. That's what they did. Said because
Speaker 1: I'm from Tupelo, Mississippi. I grew up next to Tupelo,
Speaker 1: where Elvis Presley's from. They said, look, he's been going
Speaker 1: back to his roots playing the Elvis guy. That just
Speaker 1: unless you know half these announcements, don't know nothing more wrong,
Speaker 1: especially once for like preseason a couple of right, but
Speaker 1: now that that uh, that was a great day and
Speaker 1: in the great season and then carry Carry left. Steve
Speaker 1: Burlin stepped in. I think one of the things that
Speaker 1: got coach Kapers fired. What we couldn't win was he
Speaker 1: made a trade for Shawn Gilbert. Now he Sean May
Speaker 1: be here and I love the guy to help, but he,
Speaker 1: I mean, he gave up the farm for Shawn Gilbert,
Speaker 1: and Shawn has set out a year before that. He
Speaker 1: traded like two first round picks some guys on the team,
Speaker 1: and uh, we just we never could catch up after that.
Speaker 1: And now that's when they fired him and hired coach Seyfer.
Speaker 1: Hired coach Seyffer And what goes to your mind? I
Speaker 1: put it for sales side in my front yard down
Speaker 1: and it's like this guy hates me, right and uh
Speaker 1: and so we he kind of came over and try
Speaker 1: to not make up, just say, I can't believe the
Speaker 1: crew you've been haven't you looking forward to this season?
Speaker 1: All that and whatever? Uh, you know, you know the coaches.
Speaker 1: But when this one nine eleven hit, Um, I knew
Speaker 1: that song I'm gonna was gonna make us practice. Uh,
Speaker 1: and he thought we were gonna play. He didn't care.
Speaker 1: He did not care. Shouldn't tell you about his coach
Speaker 1: c for what coach Suffer did to me my rookie year.
Speaker 1: All right, story tale. So I'm in I'm in my locker,
Speaker 1: you know, and not you weren't here talking about the
Speaker 1: whole Jersey number things. So I'm in my locker and
Speaker 1: George Siffort taps me on the shoulder, tested me on
Speaker 1: the should I turned around. He says he I drafted
Speaker 1: to I went out on lamb, don't funk this up
Speaker 1: and walks off just like him. Damn no pressure. Yeah right,
Speaker 1: what was the word? They always try to describe him
Speaker 1: as aloof? I just called him an asshole. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of easier to roll off my tongue. So he
Speaker 1: so he brings you in and and tells you that,
Speaker 1: and you pretty much played the rest of that year
Speaker 1: thinking that you where one play away from being removed.
Speaker 1: And and actually I was, I mean the year before,
Speaker 1: um two thousand's and when I tore my knee, and
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure if I mean uh, that was Seafer's
Speaker 1: first year ninety nine and two thousand. So ninety nine
Speaker 1: we rocked and rolled man, but Burlin was hot. I
Speaker 1: caught twelve touchdowns. Pat Jeffers caught twelve, and we missed
Speaker 1: the playoffs. The last game of the season, we had
Speaker 1: to outscore the Saints by more than Arizona or the
Speaker 1: Green Bay outscored Arizona, and we barely missed. We didn't hunt.
Speaker 1: It was a fun game. Uh. But the next year,
Speaker 1: I tear my knee against Atlanta, UM blow out my
Speaker 1: a c L M c L and on the plane
Speaker 1: ride back to to Charlotte, short plane run, he caught
Speaker 1: somebody came back to Coach Seafer wants to talk to you.
Speaker 1: So he pulls him up in the front of the
Speaker 1: plane and he says, man, I'm sorry about this. You
Speaker 1: were a hell of a football player. I enjoyed coaching
Speaker 1: it like it was over right. I said, what are
Speaker 1: you talking about? And if even if it is an
Speaker 1: A C L, I'm not done. And so came back,
Speaker 1: came back to two thousand one year, Steve was here,
Speaker 1: does that in Minnesota? Who won that? Win that one game? Uh?
Speaker 1: And then we just started finding ways to lose games
Speaker 1: the rest of the season. And this this man was
Speaker 1: playing his beer and off getting better every game. Everybody
Speaker 1: on the team respected him. Uh. And I blew my
Speaker 1: knee out like the fourteenth game that season, and I
Speaker 1: knew that was probably it for me. Uh. And they
Speaker 1: but they fired Seaford and coach Fox gave me one
Speaker 1: year before he said, Wesley, it's time for you to
Speaker 1: retire and I love John Fox because when I told
Speaker 1: him I still wanted to play, he said, go home
Speaker 1: and think about it for twenty four hours and come back.
Speaker 1: And I came back and he says, what's the answer.
Speaker 1: I said, I guess you're gonna have to cut me coach,
Speaker 1: and uh he did, and he rightfully so. And then
Speaker 1: I became a big Steve Smith and Carolina Panther fan
Speaker 1: because the next year, I will I go up to
Speaker 1: Green Bay and they song going to go to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. I love cut to It, and I love
Speaker 1: it even more when you download us and subscribe, and
Speaker 1: you can follow us on social media too, Smithie, where
Speaker 1: where at? That's at? Cut to It on Instagram? What
Speaker 1: about Twitter? At? Cut to It? Facebook? Cut to It
Speaker 1: featuring Steve Smith singr? What about online? And you can
Speaker 1: follow us at cut to It podcast dot com where
Speaker 1: you can buy merch and you can subscribe to us
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to podcasts. I got all my answers questions, Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I got all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for,
Speaker 1: a brother, cut to a Podcast dot Com. One of
Speaker 1: the cool things about Wesley so man, we we had
Speaker 1: this play uh y sale right you know, and I'm
Speaker 1: fresh off. You know, I played the youth tall, so
Speaker 1: when I see it tight end out of color I'm
Speaker 1: not thinking he's very fast, right, And I'm just being honest.
Speaker 1: We played Colorado, Stay air Force. It wasn't built like Wesley.
Speaker 1: And so Moosey's telling me most say, lest when Charlie
Speaker 1: Walls get out there, you better get out of his
Speaker 1: way because uh, he's expecting that past man. I'm like, on,
Speaker 1: what y'all talking about? This dude? Man we call him
Speaker 1: practice y Sel. So I'm kind of running. I'm just
Speaker 1: it's supposed to watch. I'm clearing out for him to
Speaker 1: hit through it about a seventeen yard deep corner. So
Speaker 1: I go jogging off and I hear, but get your
Speaker 1: ass all the way Steve Wesley Walls. And after that
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, when I hear why Sel,
Speaker 1: I need to get out of the way. The reason
Speaker 1: I bring that up, as you know, in the locker room,
Speaker 1: it's the only place where you can see someone. You
Speaker 1: can see their stature, you can see their color, their skin,
Speaker 1: you can see where they are geographically, and that means nothing,
Speaker 1: nothing at all. So it's pretty cool to see old
Speaker 1: man still having and and Wesley I remember Westley's the
Speaker 1: practice in O T A s be like a weight,
Speaker 1: vest On getting sap and just just seeing that and
Speaker 1: just seeing the old school players and how they did
Speaker 1: things right. And I remember when I was when I
Speaker 1: was a young kid, my grandfather Shud always tell me,
Speaker 1: if you want to play, you want to make it
Speaker 1: in football. You know, Jack tad On, Ronnie Lott, Brent Jones,
Speaker 1: all these players, Jerry Rice, John Taylor, Carl Pickings, Herman Moore.
Speaker 1: If you want to play this game the right way,
Speaker 1: watch those players. And Wesley Walls one of those players
Speaker 1: obviously when I got there, just seeing those guys and
Speaker 1: so for me playing that game and playing it that way,
Speaker 1: I played it the way the game was played like
Speaker 1: they played it. And you give me a chill boss
Speaker 1: out there, Steve, I promise you, man, I miss those days.
Speaker 1: You know you're talking about the locker room and watching
Speaker 1: watching you become a great player with the passion you
Speaker 1: had on the field. That's that kind of motivates I'm
Speaker 1: not just saying this because you're so nice to me,
Speaker 1: but kind of motivates an old guy to silver and see, man,
Speaker 1: look at that song. I was pissed off. He's fired up,
Speaker 1: he's ready to play. He's gonna kick somebody's ass today.
Speaker 1: It's it's still as still a brutal game out there.
Speaker 1: You're in a fight, and Steve fault sixty minutes every
Speaker 1: game you played I ever watched, man, and I had
Speaker 1: a lot of respect for you, a lot of respect.
Speaker 1: I got more respect for you, man. What did you
Speaker 1: see and see? It's an interesting dynamic because we just
Speaker 1: had Jonathan Stewart and Mike Tolward and they were around
Speaker 1: a veteran Steve Smith, who they talked about how Steve
Speaker 1: gave them the life, lesson the marriage, the financial six
Speaker 1: But you were with a young Steve Smith. What what
Speaker 1: did you see in them at that point? Yeah? I
Speaker 1: saw a bunch of talent. I mean everybody saw that.
Speaker 1: I saw him work hard too. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you remember this conversation. You got me thinking now about conversation.
Speaker 1: We're walking maybe from or to the practice field, and
Speaker 1: I think you probably were upset. You were you wanted
Speaker 1: you wanted a new contract your first year. I think
Speaker 1: you remember maybe it's a second year or something, and
Speaker 1: they were when they first started with do in your contract,
Speaker 1: and I said, somebody had given me some good advice.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember this, and I I said, look, um,
Speaker 1: don't worry about the money. You go out and play,
Speaker 1: be the best you can. All the money had come
Speaker 1: to you. I think I told you that. I hope
Speaker 1: I did. I remember that because I was a third
Speaker 1: round draft pick and Winky was a forefround draft pick
Speaker 1: and they got him more money than me. I like.
Speaker 1: And then my following year I made the Pro Bowl. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right, and you know I was I wanted to
Speaker 1: play wide receiver and they just kind of Marty was
Speaker 1: the general manager, and at the time it was actually
Speaker 1: my first year, I didn't that's when what rookies had
Speaker 1: to come in and you didn't have to sign it.
Speaker 1: They were negotiating it, and I remember they tried to
Speaker 1: lowball me. And every year in the contracts, when you
Speaker 1: get drafted, you basically there's a center's like five or
Speaker 1: temper cent more of the guy that was drafted in
Speaker 1: the same position of you. Last year you get maybe
Speaker 1: five to temper cent more. They offered me less than
Speaker 1: what the guy last year got. And so I remember
Speaker 1: sitting there talking to Marty and say, hey, man, I
Speaker 1: want to get this deal done. He was like, well,
Speaker 1: we don't know. You're a wide receiver, but you're primarily
Speaker 1: a returner. And I told him at the time, and
Speaker 1: I looked at Marty, I said, well, I'm any wide
Speaker 1: receiver you have, i'ma be better there. So you might
Speaker 1: as well pay now because if now, you're gonna pay
Speaker 1: more later. And Marty looked at me and was like, whatever, kid,
Speaker 1: Well that's the kind of attitude I saw. And and
Speaker 1: as a young Steve Smith he had all this ability
Speaker 1: then and the the heart is bigger than his ability
Speaker 1: to was one seventy six when they draft. When you
Speaker 1: see a guy like that, you've seen a lot of
Speaker 1: rookies come in. You know, you've seen a lot of
Speaker 1: good So what was it about Steve where you just
Speaker 1: said earlier, like you know this this guy might be something.
Speaker 1: What was it about him? Well, just the way he competed.
Speaker 1: I mean you can tell he loves football. I mean
Speaker 1: he wanted to be good. He wanted to be the
Speaker 1: best and then then go out and do the work.
Speaker 1: Also because it just doesn't happen overnight. But you know,
Speaker 1: I think that what I used to think about Steve.
Speaker 1: I was like, man, this I can I mean, he's
Speaker 1: so I mean, I don't tell he's angry. He plays angry.
Speaker 1: I wish I could play angry, but it seems like
Speaker 1: I'm trying to calm myself. And because if I played fat,
Speaker 1: real fast, I could even see hardy. Sometimes. You know,
Speaker 1: you ever play so fast, you just like your eyes
Speaker 1: don't even open. He said, the balls in the area,
Speaker 1: you don't even see it. But Stevens could play that
Speaker 1: fast and then angry, and he's got all this ability
Speaker 1: and he's just bottled up and he's got the good
Speaker 1: Richard Williamson, it's what you. Richard was hard on me,
Speaker 1: and he was hard on you too, And I know
Speaker 1: y'all probably clashing and clashed a lot, bet bet And
Speaker 1: because he was old school Alabama guy, he told me
Speaker 1: one time, he said, if you're gonna practice, you may
Speaker 1: practice the way you want to, but if you practice
Speaker 1: like that, you're gonna be back in groceries at the
Speaker 1: food line. I didn't know what the food line was,
Speaker 1: but back in groceries. I was like, you know, so
Speaker 1: that's what he told me. And an interesting story. Quickly,
Speaker 1: I remember they had drafted. The year before that, we
Speaker 1: had Mooseine, you had Patrick Jeffrey had his neat thing,
Speaker 1: and then we had Donald Hayes. When they drafted me,
Speaker 1: they told me that I think that I was gonna
Speaker 1: be okay. And I remember they said, hey, we'll let
Speaker 1: you play wide receiver, and I remember I was not
Speaker 1: allowed to play wide receiver. They told me, I'll play
Speaker 1: wide receiver, but they wouldn't let me. All they would
Speaker 1: do is let me go with the scout team. And
Speaker 1: I was so discouraged. Yea, And all I did was
Speaker 1: sitting meetings and be taught. They would teach around me.
Speaker 1: They would teach Donald Hayes, they would teach and teach
Speaker 1: Patrick Jeffries. Uh, they would teach all these other guys,
Speaker 1: and I never got talked, and so I literally started
Speaker 1: coming in there with serial. I don't say I'm wasting
Speaker 1: my time here. Y'all not gonna play me. And so
Speaker 1: that's how it was treated. And people say, oh, you
Speaker 1: have a chip on your shoulder. It's not necessarily a chip.
Speaker 1: I walked in the meeting. I was drafted to playing football,
Speaker 1: but I was told and limited on what I would do.
Speaker 1: You know how discouraging is to go to work and
Speaker 1: someone tells you you're not good enough, so we're not
Speaker 1: even gonna give you a chance. Especially But it's not
Speaker 1: even me as the football players. Me is little Steven,
Speaker 1: Little Steve as a kid, as a twenty two year
Speaker 1: old young man, to go to work every day knowing
Speaker 1: you're not gonna get an opportunity where one in ten
Speaker 1: you will not get an opportunity, were one in eleven
Speaker 1: you will not get an opportunity, one in thirteen, one
Speaker 1: in fourteen, one in fifteen, and then one in fifteen.
Speaker 1: I get to play and they tell me, hey, you're
Speaker 1: gonna start. Steve gets to New England Patriots, but Pators
Speaker 1: Jeffreys is gonna run off the tunnel. A man, I
Speaker 1: didn't know all this is going on. And so for
Speaker 1: me in my life dream, it's still every little chance
Speaker 1: it gets where it's a little bit of boop. So
Speaker 1: even when I was playing my dream, it was just
Speaker 1: that little small token of when am I gonna get
Speaker 1: pinched in the reality of the truth is, bro, you're
Speaker 1: not very good, You're not good enough. Yeah, and these
Speaker 1: are people who drafted me. I put my name in
Speaker 1: a hat. You all said, hey, you're good enough or
Speaker 1: what I thought I was good enough to be here.
Speaker 1: We don't tell me it wasn't. You know. Looking back, Steve,
Speaker 1: maybe that that kickoff returned the first time you touched
Speaker 1: it may have kind of compartmentalized your ability. That's all
Speaker 1: they were thinking. Maybe they're just like, hey, we're just
Speaker 1: gonna use them to return er. I didn't know you
Speaker 1: were going through that the year. I'm even more impressed
Speaker 1: that you're able to keep it together because nobody likes
Speaker 1: to be told they're not good enough, and nobody likes
Speaker 1: to be feeling like you work your butt off and
Speaker 1: nobody's playing attention. And uh so I give you credit
Speaker 1: for doing that. But the next year, two thousand two,
Speaker 1: I can't even remember what happened that year. I mean, uh,
Speaker 1: that was my last year as a Panther. And then
Speaker 1: the next year you do what you did and the
Speaker 1: team did what they to the super Bowl. That that's vindication.
Speaker 1: That's uh well, now I look at it's not for me.
Speaker 1: It wasn't vindicational, just more of sometimes when people say
Speaker 1: you have that chip, it's not a chip man, it's
Speaker 1: just literally tell him with maybe oh you got that
Speaker 1: chip or some boulders. If if a guy who if
Speaker 1: a team does all the research and drafts you and
Speaker 1: brings you in and then says, hey, go sit olden
Speaker 1: over there, that's not a chip. You're literally discouraged. You really,
Speaker 1: you literally feel that this team does not believe in you,
Speaker 1: and so you start to really ask yourself, I I
Speaker 1: don't want to be here, Yeah, because you don't know
Speaker 1: which part is true. Do they really like you or
Speaker 1: are they really just they made a mistake and they
Speaker 1: just don't want to say they made a mistake. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's nobody wants to go through that. The point is
Speaker 1: there is so much responsibility deemed and put on the players,
Speaker 1: but they are very little accountability on coaches. Good point,
Speaker 1: And nobody says all these coaches overwhelmed or just coaches
Speaker 1: inadequate or not very good. They just get rid of
Speaker 1: the players. First, they get rid of the player tank
Speaker 1: his career and then realized two years later, well was
Speaker 1: the coach. But there's no reparation for the player that
Speaker 1: was put in a bad situation on an awful scheme.
Speaker 1: I mean, we got Muggy bowls right there, and no
Speaker 1: fence to Muggy. You got you can't put Muggsy at
Speaker 1: center and expect him to block everybody shot, and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, say, all Muggsy can't play. What
Speaker 1: about if he's put in a wrong position. But then
Speaker 1: the player gets deemed dumb, inadequate, not smart. And then
Speaker 1: then you find out a couple of years later, oh man,
Speaker 1: that coach wasn't very good and nothing nothing to can get.
Speaker 1: Nothing happens. Actually that coach becomes a coordinator for another
Speaker 1: team and then does well, and then it goes to
Speaker 1: another team and becomes another coach eternity for sure. Those
Speaker 1: Muggsy over there, I thought, So you really were looking
Speaker 1: at Muggsy bowl like he was in this movie Space
Speaker 1: Jam and everything. It was cool if he kind of
Speaker 1: did place it in the movie. Yeah, in the movie.
Speaker 1: It was good. Good, Good to talk to you guys.
Speaker 1: Good to be here and be part of this event.
Speaker 1: To night and Stephen, you're a good man putting this
Speaker 1: song and appreciating forward to good evening. What's the wall was? Everybody,
Speaker 1: you are a unique person, You are well worth it,
Speaker 1: you are competent, and most of all your lovable. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Singior, I'm Gerard Little John and this is
Speaker 1: cut to It. Cut to It with Steve Smith Senior.
Speaker 1: That Is Me is a production of Cut to It LLC,
Speaker 1: Balto Creative Media, The Black Effect and I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcast from I Heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith,
Speaker 1: SINGR co host Gerard Little John, talent and booking manager
Speaker 1: Joe Fusci, Social media team Wesley Robinson and John Show
Speaker 1: from Balto Creative Media. Cut to It is produced by
Speaker 1: Brian Baltaschevitch and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lebrek.
Speaker 1: Production coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics
Speaker 1: and vocals by Anthony Hamilton. If you ain't heard about it,
Speaker 1: then we're about to let you know. It's all