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 Little John, and this is
Speaker 1: cut to it. Good do it, Good do it. Let's
Speaker 1: get down to do it. Good do it. We asked
Speaker 1: the questions you always want to know, but no one
Speaker 1: ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard about it,
Speaker 1: then we're about to let you. Now it's all. We
Speaker 1: got a special guest today. You know, some people say
Speaker 1: here returned specialists. As a former wide receiver, I would
Speaker 1: say he is a corner that is very much always
Speaker 1: in your pocket, right nicknamed sweet Pee, but also uh
Speaker 1: here in North Carolina and near South Carolina. They sometimes
Speaker 1: get it twisted when you as he's from the real
Speaker 1: USC University in southern California. Welcome to the cut to
Speaker 1: a podcast A Dory Jackson like like we said that,
Speaker 1: welcome man, welcome a man, appreciate you. I think this
Speaker 1: is the first time I realized that. And maybe it's
Speaker 1: just a the camera you kind of kind of got
Speaker 1: the Kendrick Lamarlak going on, or does Kendrick look like
Speaker 1: you You know you ain't ain't the first out. You
Speaker 1: heard that. Now, I might say he could be a cousin.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, a little relative. Look good kid,
Speaker 1: man said you I ain't mad at it, the fact
Speaker 1: that I don't want to go crash said for sure.
Speaker 1: Well man, let's get go ahead and get started. Um,
Speaker 1: we just do do a little ice breakers, man, dickies
Speaker 1: or overalls. I'm gonna go some dickies. Yeah, see that's that.
Speaker 1: That's that calie right there. Yeah, I got I got
Speaker 1: me two pairs, just in the back of the closet,
Speaker 1: just thinking, never never know when you have to outd
Speaker 1: The problem is what comes with those dickies is never
Speaker 1: a good conversation because that's that old that's coming out.
Speaker 1: I thought, first of all, if I thought some dickies
Speaker 1: and I'm and I'm chilling like it's gonna be some shorts.
Speaker 1: But if I thought them some dickie pants, all of
Speaker 1: a sudden you start hearing. Right, if it's a car
Speaker 1: full lovers with dickies and we come to your house,
Speaker 1: button up, but it's gonna be a little conversation and
Speaker 1: a whole down. Oh man, hey man, what's your favorite color?
Speaker 1: And why? Oh man, my favorite color is red. Um.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just grew up just liking red
Speaker 1: um pretty much my favorite color. My family members don't
Speaker 1: like me that my hair color, but red. Alright, alright, um,
Speaker 1: since you know, obviously we'll get into where you're from,
Speaker 1: but you know coming from back home, man, I gotta
Speaker 1: I gotta ask you. Um, you got three choices, Ragel Waters,
Speaker 1: Magic Mountain. Uh you're in the league now, so you can.
Speaker 1: But we're not gonna throw out the Disney Uh not
Speaker 1: you very form. Which three are you going to? I
Speaker 1: do those three choices, I'm gonna say raging Waters, My
Speaker 1: mom gonna pull up the reging waters. Um, just because
Speaker 1: I actually see when I was a kid, see it
Speaker 1: on TV, the stuff on TV, like the water partial
Speaker 1: goes to the Disney Land scourging them cruises. I was
Speaker 1: a foks I could ever get to to like actually
Speaker 1: been on the slide and some water something like that.
Speaker 1: So that's probably why I would choose because or mom
Speaker 1: and nostalgica. When I used to see that growing up,
Speaker 1: like that was a close thing I can reach. But
Speaker 1: now it's like you're saying you're gonna attain that now.
Speaker 1: But I said Reginald Waters probably be the thing that
Speaker 1: I gravitate to. You ain't been lately, huh No, I
Speaker 1: haven't been since I was young. Yeah, it ain't as
Speaker 1: big as it it was when we were young to
Speaker 1: It's actually a little bit disapporting a minute. Like, Bro,
Speaker 1: I took my kids. I talked it up. I took
Speaker 1: my kids. Wassappointed? Man, I was disappointed. I took him.
Speaker 1: It was probably like seven eight, I don't know, probably
Speaker 1: about ten years ago. He talked it up. Right. We
Speaker 1: was coming back home. Man, We're going to Raging Waters. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, man, we got that thing. I walked
Speaker 1: in and I was like, this is it time to go?
Speaker 1: I mean it was literally it was like, you know,
Speaker 1: you talk about a big old mancher sixty thousand square
Speaker 1: feet walking that thing, but but eight hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: four square feet man. So as I walked in, I
Speaker 1: was out. But it was it was good. It was
Speaker 1: The kids make fun of me till this day. Is
Speaker 1: it as nice at Raging Waters? Dad? They're gonna get
Speaker 1: your hard time and show show. Um, But let's get
Speaker 1: into it, man. Um. You know, tell us where you're
Speaker 1: from in the place you call your hometown. Uh So,
Speaker 1: I grew up in Illinois, so a place called East St.
Speaker 1: Louis and Belleville. So UM. Growing up, I stayed in
Speaker 1: East St. Louis UH, and then I went to school
Speaker 1: out in the place called Belleville. So I went to
Speaker 1: UH West a man on the MegaR School, Cintra Drina High.
Speaker 1: Then went to a school called Belle East after school
Speaker 1: and everything. But I was always at East St. Louis
Speaker 1: with my my family, my brothers, hanging out with them.
Speaker 1: Then when I got into my somewhere high school, I
Speaker 1: moved out to California, UM and went to Sarah. But
Speaker 1: I feel like East Louis my my home home. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I hear in California's like my home. A boy
Speaker 1: from home. I took people like I was born in Illinois,
Speaker 1: but I felt like I was raised because I came
Speaker 1: out here when I skipped team in l A and
Speaker 1: so I feel a kid. Yeah, exactly. Was just about you.
Speaker 1: Literally the living embodiment of the movie The Wood. Only
Speaker 1: he was from North Carolina. Shameless, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So it really I've seen that movie when I first
Speaker 1: got out here and then actually living it's like, oh damn,
Speaker 1: this is this is for real. So which one do you?
Speaker 1: Rend I can tell? Uh? I mean I do both.
Speaker 1: I always go back home, but I mean you can't.
Speaker 1: You can't beat the weather this way, um and everything.
Speaker 1: I went to s C. So I feel like, uh,
Speaker 1: like I said, that was why I was raised kinda
Speaker 1: like that's why I met all the people that transformed
Speaker 1: my life from what I knew to give me to
Speaker 1: where I was. So they helped me and pay me
Speaker 1: the way in a certain in certain sense, I mean,
Speaker 1: so live living basically until you know, young team, a
Speaker 1: young teenager, you know it shaped you obviously you said
Speaker 1: it shaped you in that a. But I'm imagining Illinois
Speaker 1: gets some credit because you you know, you never were
Speaker 1: a finished product. We're never a finished product really until
Speaker 1: you know, until we're in the dirt ultimately, so we're
Speaker 1: always growing and evolving, you know, some of us, not everybody, right,
Speaker 1: So that's just that's just how it goes. But how
Speaker 1: different were the two for you because you were at
Speaker 1: of age you know, like my my my youngest who's
Speaker 1: who will be eight? You know he we live here
Speaker 1: in North Carolina, but he remembers right now and each
Speaker 1: year goes by, he remembers less and less, but right
Speaker 1: now he's still he still remembers Baltimore. He still has
Speaker 1: that part of his life where you can't remember. I mean,
Speaker 1: technically seven years old. You you technically you haven't even
Speaker 1: lived half of your life one or the other. You
Speaker 1: know a lot of your roots, a lot of the
Speaker 1: things that makes you who you are, even with going
Speaker 1: in she even moving to l A, A lot of
Speaker 1: it would start when I started in Illinois, right, So
Speaker 1: that's why I said that from like l A my
Speaker 1: home away from home. But like you said, like growing up,
Speaker 1: I feel like it taught me how to maneuver and
Speaker 1: how to l A or Illinois in Illinois, So I
Speaker 1: feel like it made like like the transition of part
Speaker 1: a lot easier. So when I moved out there, I
Speaker 1: stayed with my sister, My parents stayed back home, so
Speaker 1: I had to go from everything that I was raised
Speaker 1: brought up on, learning you know your p's and Q
Speaker 1: dot in your eyes, crossing your ties, the street smart part,
Speaker 1: and then when I'm out of my own somewhere else,
Speaker 1: still trying to have that and remember that. So I
Speaker 1: feel like it made the transition easier in l A.
Speaker 1: Like knowing who the mess with, who not the mess with,
Speaker 1: just being a peep be behind the scenes and seeing
Speaker 1: and thinking before I even speak a move. I feel
Speaker 1: like my my dad and my older brother really helped me,
Speaker 1: So I guess grow faster. It's got It's like crazy,
Speaker 1: like they didn't know this was gonna happen in my life.
Speaker 1: But at the same time they he was preparing me
Speaker 1: before I even knew this was gonna happen. So when
Speaker 1: I went out there in fifteen, is like, all right,
Speaker 1: I had a good understand of I don't say life,
Speaker 1: but loring. I mean it can. It can hit you
Speaker 1: anywhere in any form. But being able to have an
Speaker 1: older brother dad, I can just call up on there.
Speaker 1: Maybe I feel like I'm in some trouble and need
Speaker 1: some help with something. They can help me. But saying
Speaker 1: like you know right for wrong, like we already talked
Speaker 1: to you. You You know how, you know what it is
Speaker 1: and what it ain't, so you can you can you
Speaker 1: can survive out that way. So UM, them being able
Speaker 1: to trust me and think that I was responsible enough
Speaker 1: and ready enough to move that life. Um, I feel
Speaker 1: like that helped me out a lot. You've got a
Speaker 1: deep relationship with your family. Would you tell us about
Speaker 1: that bond and it's importance. Oh? Man, I just feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, I watched them TV shows as a kid
Speaker 1: and actually seeing it in my household, like my mo,
Speaker 1: my dad there, I got an older brother, older sister,
Speaker 1: and you know, going to church every Sunday even if
Speaker 1: I didn't want to. You're a kid. You want to
Speaker 1: hang out, dude, you want to do like they's telling me, like,
Speaker 1: all right, you can go out, but you gotta wake
Speaker 1: up in the morning, or my friends come over, make
Speaker 1: sure they've bring their church clothes. They want to stay like,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So that's really how it was.
Speaker 1: And I feel like my mom instilled a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of faith, uh, a lot of people person
Speaker 1: being respectable and treating up any person like human first
Speaker 1: and going that way. So I feel like just for
Speaker 1: having both both backgrounds, my mom being from l A,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, So she taught me a
Speaker 1: lot of the l A stuff. With my dad being
Speaker 1: from East St. Louis and then going out to l
Speaker 1: A and meeting my mom and they're coming back to
Speaker 1: eat St. Louis. So I had a little bit of
Speaker 1: vestboath worlds in a sense, and I feel like just
Speaker 1: seeing them. And you know, I was the youngest, So
Speaker 1: I was seven years younger than my brother and fourteen
Speaker 1: years younger than my sister. So I technically grew up
Speaker 1: pretty much like by myself. But now when my older
Speaker 1: brother was kind of like the father figged two at
Speaker 1: the same time, even though he's my old brother, making
Speaker 1: strong with him all the time and keep me right,
Speaker 1: keep me aline. So I think that's my my I'm
Speaker 1: so tight with my family because I was so young,
Speaker 1: but I always wanted to hang out with him because
Speaker 1: I don't want to hang out with nobody else because
Speaker 1: that's all I knew. Um, so just at sports growing up,
Speaker 1: We're trying to hang out with my brother, I'm seven
Speaker 1: heat fourteen trying to play sports with him, or my
Speaker 1: sister was doing something when she was in college. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to hang out with older guys from eighteen nineteen
Speaker 1: years old. So, um, just them show me the ropes
Speaker 1: and being loved and treat me the way that they
Speaker 1: treated me. I think that's what made us so close
Speaker 1: to this day. Oh, just that old soul. Yeah, what
Speaker 1: was your dad like as a father. You know that,
Speaker 1: and how did he impact uh, you just individually as
Speaker 1: as you know as a as a man you are
Speaker 1: today now man, super strict, But what's super strict? Though? Good?
Speaker 1: Gives understand that until later, you know what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 1: give us detail on super strict because he was cool though,
Speaker 1: like everybody knows, I had the type of dad with
Speaker 1: everybody loved my dad. But as a kid, it's my dad.
Speaker 1: I'm saying, I don't know my dad like I know
Speaker 1: my dad. You know what I'm saying. So um, But
Speaker 1: as I got older and obviously when I moved away,
Speaker 1: and it's like, man, all those that's you taught me
Speaker 1: at a young age, like I made it to understanding now,
Speaker 1: But when I'm able to maneuver and do what I
Speaker 1: gotta do, it's like, oh, this is what you meant
Speaker 1: by that. He's always But like anything that you've done,
Speaker 1: I probably did before. So I don't think you slick.
Speaker 1: Just that in the third saying, I don't want you
Speaker 1: to follow the same steps some mistakes that I made,
Speaker 1: So he let me do what I want to do.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, before I even had to
Speaker 1: make a decision, it was like all right, I know
Speaker 1: the path and which ways it can go, and trying
Speaker 1: to figure it out. Obviously know being annoyed and having
Speaker 1: the blessed of the Lord be able to protect me
Speaker 1: at all times was being like the same thing can
Speaker 1: go south an any given time. But I feel like
Speaker 1: my dad was just an old school dad, like you said,
Speaker 1: an old soul, and it was only tough, but he
Speaker 1: wanted the best for me, so um, you know, always
Speaker 1: at all the games, I always making sure that he
Speaker 1: was there for me when I needed, taking me to practices,
Speaker 1: um in the backyard with me. Um like my if
Speaker 1: y'all know, like he barbecue is all the time. But
Speaker 1: I started when I was in Pop Warners, my first
Speaker 1: ever part wanted season. He'll put the barbecue grill on
Speaker 1: the back of the truck and we're going to the
Speaker 1: games away home and he barbecue. And so I think,
Speaker 1: just him, I want to say, living us living the
Speaker 1: same dream together. Obviously he didn't never force me to
Speaker 1: do anything, but it's me forcing him. Like when I
Speaker 1: wonder if football, I used to tell him all the
Speaker 1: time for like six months, and I finally found I
Speaker 1: was serious about it, and he finally came into football.
Speaker 1: So it was never him forcing. It was always him
Speaker 1: to let me make my own decisions. And he's always saying, well,
Speaker 1: I was just waiting on you to tell me something.
Speaker 1: So that's how I learned every young gage like it's
Speaker 1: really about what I want to do and how I
Speaker 1: want to go about it. And he was gonna support me.
Speaker 1: I no matter what decision I wanta with with your
Speaker 1: with your dad, you know, barbecue Andy, I'm assuming he
Speaker 1: had a business, right man, take take us through that,
Speaker 1: you know with your dad, you know, being a cook
Speaker 1: and and and just going through that as a young man.
Speaker 1: I would imagine it did have an impact on you
Speaker 1: a little bit, right, Yeah, I didn't really understand the
Speaker 1: sense of like I was for my dad like twenty
Speaker 1: four seven. So it was just from the sense where
Speaker 1: like we'll go pick up the spices and make his
Speaker 1: own spices. So we'll drive all the way the same
Speaker 1: little wits, go to space called to Lower get all
Speaker 1: the spices. We go restaurant deepot get all the different
Speaker 1: stuff that he needs for that. He was on barbecue saw.
Speaker 1: So it was actually me just seeing the ropes and
Speaker 1: seeing how everything is dumb, and I mean that's my
Speaker 1: first person that probably show me like how to get
Speaker 1: to it, like how to hustle in and make money.
Speaker 1: So seeing his drive and seeing how hard he worked,
Speaker 1: not just at his regular job, but just trying to
Speaker 1: serve people, that's that's just what he loved to do
Speaker 1: people person So I feel like that was one of
Speaker 1: the things that I gravitated too, is the most Like
Speaker 1: although I thought he was super strict, man was a
Speaker 1: good dude. That hard and everything he did was for
Speaker 1: for a reason and for a purpose whether you knew
Speaker 1: it or not. But then the day you can see
Speaker 1: the other people like impacted by and infected by the
Speaker 1: things in the cities he made. So that barbecue thing
Speaker 1: was cool because if somebody else's dad wasn't there, like
Speaker 1: he can be like that father figure somebody else barbecue
Speaker 1: and making him laugh, joking and stuff like that and
Speaker 1: everybody having a good time. So I feel like that
Speaker 1: was like the the glue and all my teams that
Speaker 1: we played with, everybody was like family oriented. You know,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it that favorite dish or favorite barbecue. You know,
Speaker 1: what's what's your what's your favorite meal? You know, Pops
Speaker 1: can't Pops can't get down with. Uh, it makes makes
Speaker 1: turkey legs. I probably everybody go turkey leg cut or
Speaker 1: go to Dasney work at a turkey leg. That's pretty good. Um.
Speaker 1: If I think called mansa troli that he makes it
Speaker 1: kind of like who ziya, but it's really he said,
Speaker 1: who what was it? I's got the turkey league. Maschli
Speaker 1: is like, h it's kind of pasta dish. Um. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know how to explain it, but it um
Speaker 1: off the chain. I love his chicken wings. He makes
Speaker 1: ribblits turkey, Uh, turkey ribs, I mean the whole ship back.
Speaker 1: But anytime barbacue. Growing up, I've heard of turkey. I've
Speaker 1: never had them. I've never had turkey. We're gonna have
Speaker 1: to get you something I've heard. He said. It's like
Speaker 1: see your face. I'm like, yeah, he never tapped. I
Speaker 1: saw that up in there. Yeah, I've heard of it.
Speaker 1: I was I was dissected a turkey, you know. I
Speaker 1: was like, I didn't say the turkey turkey's ribs. Yeah
Speaker 1: I didn't say that. Some baby backs right there. But yeah,
Speaker 1: he throw anything on the grill. Man. That's that's one
Speaker 1: of the cool things about it. He wouldn't even tell
Speaker 1: me what it was though, Like I just tried to
Speaker 1: real quick, I'll try. That's probably rabbit, I was dear
Speaker 1: that might have been the squirrel. All this some short
Speaker 1: this agan anything sure shot man, anything can get work
Speaker 1: on this girl. That squirrel, rabbit getting worried. We're gonna
Speaker 1: get you right now. We don't get your right tell me,
Speaker 1: ain't rabbit. We're gonna, we're gonna. We're gonna just say
Speaker 1: it's chicken, Okay, it dude, tastes like chicken. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure I had duck, but I haven't had rabbit.
Speaker 1: I had. Uh what's the difference when them swim when
Speaker 1: them don't. It's a huge difference in my baby, So
Speaker 1: you you moving, you move out to you move out
Speaker 1: to l A. Take us through that transition. You know,
Speaker 1: how did you how did you come to the conclusion
Speaker 1: to to to move to l A and and and
Speaker 1: the regions? Why? Uh man, crazy story. I was eighth
Speaker 1: great year, I loan jumped eleven and so somebody was talking.
Speaker 1: My brother in law was talking to this this coach
Speaker 1: at uh Sarah at the time was the high school,
Speaker 1: went to him he was like, man, you know my brother,
Speaker 1: my freshman go by. I went twenty three eleven, so
Speaker 1: my freshman and he's like, oh, I gotta my little
Speaker 1: brother drop twenty three eleven and um high school coach like,
Speaker 1: now you're maybe twenty ft three eleven and just not
Speaker 1: no clinker level. And he was like, all right, let
Speaker 1: meet the kid. And I grew up a huge SC
Speaker 1: fan and so my my brother in law was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's go to this SC camp. So I'm like, all right,
Speaker 1: that ain't nothing like I go to that C camp.
Speaker 1: That's cool. So I go out there, I perform and
Speaker 1: it's asked me where I was from. My I'm from
Speaker 1: um from Illinois. And the guy, his name coach bigs Uh.
Speaker 1: The trains me still to this day. It was my
Speaker 1: long jump coach in high school and he, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: took me to Sarah. I was like, yeah, let's go,
Speaker 1: you know, walk around see all this and think about
Speaker 1: transferring my mom. I'm like, I'm not coming out here
Speaker 1: like my parents stay back home. This don't even make sense,
Speaker 1: but you know, I'm just good sport following the be
Speaker 1: like all right, that's cool, that's cool. This was in
Speaker 1: June a month go by, I go back home. I'm
Speaker 1: actually at my football camp. But the high school I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to be attending, um getting ready. We just had camp.
Speaker 1: They called my dad. The schools like get your son's
Speaker 1: supos to transfer? UM. So I just remember hing my dad.
Speaker 1: I remember like yesterday my dad voice called me, said
Speaker 1: my full night. I said, Dad, I must be in trouble.
Speaker 1: I never forget that. I'm laying down, like on my
Speaker 1: bed and I heard called my name. I'm like, damn,
Speaker 1: I ain't even do nothing. I was trying to think
Speaker 1: like did I doing it? Going through your mind like
Speaker 1: what did I do? Or what did he find out?
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. I'm like, I just had football camp,
Speaker 1: Like we didn't do that crazy up there. So I'm
Speaker 1: like I walked in there and he was like, hey,
Speaker 1: why is these people calling me? That's first thing. I'm like,
Speaker 1: why these people call him? Like? Who call him? Is
Speaker 1: not the school say he's supposed to transfer? And I'm like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I visited there, but I mean I didn't think I
Speaker 1: was gonna go because we stay out here, like there's
Speaker 1: no way that we're gonna all move and go out
Speaker 1: there and he said, Okay, I think about it. I
Speaker 1: thought that was it. You know. Three days later he
Speaker 1: just told him, like a right back, your bagage is
Speaker 1: gonna stay with your sister. So I remember, like the
Speaker 1: first night I got out there, I was that was
Speaker 1: the first and I was like homesick, been away from
Speaker 1: my family for real, like knowing I'll go back home,
Speaker 1: like I can spend a night or go someone, I'm
Speaker 1: coming back home. It's the first time that I was there,
Speaker 1: and so I stayed up night and um, I ain't
Speaker 1: I hate it up like it was. I felt like
Speaker 1: it was the worst thing ever. I told my mom,
Speaker 1: my dad, someone, mynor ready to come home, and they're like, no,
Speaker 1: just stick it out, you know, go through it. And
Speaker 1: I think that's what made college so easier as well,
Speaker 1: because I was already gone from home when I spit
Speaker 1: to him. Um. But yeah, my first nights there, in
Speaker 1: my first couple weeks, hated it. But meeting the guys
Speaker 1: the way I did, it's kind of like you know
Speaker 1: the movie The Wood, Like they took them into their
Speaker 1: arms and it was like trying to show me the
Speaker 1: ropes like big brothers and helped me out and maneuver
Speaker 1: the different things, and somebody, this is what you can't
Speaker 1: do in l A, that's what you shouldn't do. And
Speaker 1: I remember had my being in St. Louis where St.
Speaker 1: Louis the Cardinals had they said, no, you can't worry.
Speaker 1: I'm like, that's when I'm from. Though, they said no,
Speaker 1: I don't matter, like, don't wear that hat. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I think that. Um so yeah, they actually was cool,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what made me being enjoying California
Speaker 1: more than I actually did at Earth. I love cut
Speaker 1: to It and I love it even more when you
Speaker 1: download us and subscribe, and you can follow us on
Speaker 1: social media too, Smithie where where at? That's at? Cut
Speaker 1: to It on Instagram? What about Twitter? At? Cut to It? Facebook?
Speaker 1: Cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr? What about online?
Speaker 1: And you can follow us at cut to It podcast
Speaker 1: dot com where you can buy merch and you can
Speaker 1: subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. I got
Speaker 1: all my answers questions. Uh yeah, I got all my
Speaker 1: questions answered. That's what I'm here for. A brother, cut
Speaker 1: to a Podcast dot Com tell me if this story
Speaker 1: is correct? Uh juju o you a lot. I believe
Speaker 1: y'all came in and y'all were at USC together. Juju
Speaker 1: was actually a dB and in coming out of high school,
Speaker 1: and I heard the story that he realized that he
Speaker 1: wasn't a Gutney run you switched to wide receiver. Now
Speaker 1: he wanted to play both. I think he wanted to
Speaker 1: play both. But at the time, we had Sue Cravens
Speaker 1: a dog, We had a guy named Leon McQuay, and
Speaker 1: you're gonna do that, Quinton quintin uh and uh. He
Speaker 1: did it both right away, like both sides. And then
Speaker 1: one day he just told me like, no, bro, I'm
Speaker 1: just about to play a seal. And at that time,
Speaker 1: my damn. I thought we came in to play both.
Speaker 1: I understand, and he's like, now, I'm just gonna play receiver.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, all right. But he started off at safety,
Speaker 1: but I think the receiver room was so see yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't want to say give it, but so m
Speaker 1: I feel like he should have play safety. I think
Speaker 1: it was a good move. I love him at safety.
Speaker 1: First time ever in play safety was after we played
Speaker 1: him in high school. It was a sorry like one
Speaker 1: and three. They moving to the safety. He take them
Speaker 1: all away to the state championship, and that's how he
Speaker 1: shifted him. No, I thought it was a good saving
Speaker 1: kind of mind of me, how heasily was when he
Speaker 1: played safety only and then went to the receiver and
Speaker 1: then took off a s C. And I felt like
Speaker 1: he did it right, like you said. But I wish
Speaker 1: you would to play safe at least got a little film,
Speaker 1: not somebody chance drama. Juju juju. He had that, he
Speaker 1: had that rugby background. He was he you know, he
Speaker 1: had a rugby background. Juju jujuy. You can get you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not buying, but you get trying to keep selling
Speaker 1: me if you want. Yeah, I thought, I mean in
Speaker 1: the high school he was you know, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: you know when you know when you going to get
Speaker 1: your brothers and you know, you know, you know, but
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't see, you know how it is
Speaker 1: on that edge sometimes you gotta you gotta make a
Speaker 1: business decision where she make a lot of business decisions
Speaker 1: very quickly. So what was it about USC? I know
Speaker 1: you said you were famed, but what was it about
Speaker 1: USC to made you say yes that you wanted to
Speaker 1: play college football? There Um, there's really only school that
Speaker 1: told me that I let me play offense and on
Speaker 1: the track like I'll never forget. Like L Sho came out.
Speaker 1: They came probably like a month before sign today, and
Speaker 1: I'm talking to the coaches like I really want to
Speaker 1: go to L Shoe. I'm all right, this might be it. Um.
Speaker 1: I get to him and they say a month before, like, oh,
Speaker 1: you're gonna play offense, but we'll get you wanna play
Speaker 1: a game? And I said, all right, what about might
Speaker 1: not need come to me? Sted like oh my, all right,
Speaker 1: that's out. And then the Florida thing was, I was
Speaker 1: gonna go to Florida, try to leave, so I really
Speaker 1: try to leave high school earlier, and you gonna ask
Speaker 1: Ahi about Arlie High School. I try to graduate earlyer
Speaker 1: um and go to Florida. They wouldn't like the school
Speaker 1: and allowed. And I remember somebody to them like yeah, man,
Speaker 1: the Florida coaches might not even be there. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: they they might be gone. I'm thinking like, no, that
Speaker 1: ain't it. They They're probably still be there. At s
Speaker 1: C four games the season they out the color coach,
Speaker 1: my chap and everybody get fired. And then sc thing
Speaker 1: was I was everybody. You talk about the connections, the
Speaker 1: relations and everything like that. But when my best friends
Speaker 1: who when I first got to SC, I mean first
Speaker 1: got to Sarah, Like really was it was cool Jane
Speaker 1: when a good dude didn't show no hate, showed all up. Um,
Speaker 1: and he's supposed to go to some school, but you
Speaker 1: know with the recruiting and everything, if you don't commit,
Speaker 1: then they're gonna take it off or they pull it.
Speaker 1: And I just remember, like, all right, I wanted to
Speaker 1: go to Florida. I'm like, I don't want him to
Speaker 1: have to do what I did because I know I
Speaker 1: was homesick going from Illinois to l A. Like, man,
Speaker 1: you could come to Florida with me, but that ain't
Speaker 1: the move. Um, So I'm like, man, we can go
Speaker 1: to SC because I was probably the only other school
Speaker 1: I was thinking about and growing up and loving him,
Speaker 1: and I feel like they showed the most love and
Speaker 1: it was persistent and I always see him in consistent
Speaker 1: even though they're down the street, but it was pretty
Speaker 1: much there every week or twice a week, Uh, just
Speaker 1: coming to kick it. And I think that was one
Speaker 1: of the selling points. Let me play offense, Let me
Speaker 1: play defense run track full time and you know that
Speaker 1: my dog from the school with me. Um. I mean
Speaker 1: everybody from high school went there anyway. So we had
Speaker 1: Jalen Green and Larsa Wan Tucker, Um, John Houston, uh
Speaker 1: Deante Burnett, um me Um and do name Janalan Jhones.
Speaker 1: So we had like six people just in like a
Speaker 1: tweeter span all over that see, and I felt like
Speaker 1: that just made sense to be at It felt like
Speaker 1: at home. What what what's the atmosphere and USC, you know,
Speaker 1: growing up in l A and Seing s C. But
Speaker 1: also you know I went to I went to Union
Speaker 1: High School, so I was always on the campus at
Speaker 1: u c l A. Right, it was just convenient and
Speaker 1: seeing how the campus that U c l A is.
Speaker 1: What's the difference at USC um that that's one of
Speaker 1: those things when you go back, or or the nostalgia
Speaker 1: of USC that is still there. Um. I remember standing
Speaker 1: USC when it was the old at USC for the
Speaker 1: new John Pason, like I remember the Heritage Hall, was
Speaker 1: walking down the spiral tunnels, seeing everything and feeling that
Speaker 1: that that's my first memory of it, Like ah, this
Speaker 1: work Reggie Lynn dn Um uh Palm or all these
Speaker 1: these dudes went and I'm like, damn, okay inspired, and
Speaker 1: then seeing the new upgraded version and then being a
Speaker 1: huge Marquis Lee fan um seeing him playing when I
Speaker 1: went to Sarah, I'm like, damn that so many hog
Speaker 1: I time about five, and then seeing him at USC
Speaker 1: and when to blend the call. So I think those
Speaker 1: things were what made it so real. Like I'm I'm
Speaker 1: watching and I see I'm seeing somebody's footsteps doing when
Speaker 1: I was trying to do and doing at high level.
Speaker 1: So I'm watching Marquis Lee this whole time, like he
Speaker 1: did this, like then I could do that. Let me
Speaker 1: try to do it like this, or or seeing you know,
Speaker 1: the legends or everybody before go through and being successful.
Speaker 1: And then just having that presence of Robert Woods was there,
Speaker 1: George Farmer and all of them coming and chopping up
Speaker 1: with us for him and so so Holly touted there
Speaker 1: and having the rest of them like t J McDonald
Speaker 1: can talk to him, I can talk to kell Roby Hayes,
Speaker 1: Polar and Dianne Bailey. I'm like, oh, they're showing love.
Speaker 1: They're cool. So I think that's one of my my
Speaker 1: best memberies. Like I went to U c l A.
Speaker 1: But I ain't really know nobody as much as I
Speaker 1: knew these people there, um and they just kept real
Speaker 1: like like like a big brother ship. Yeah you can
Speaker 1: do this little brow but I'm gonna tell you like no,
Speaker 1: I didn't really like that like this, but um s
Speaker 1: C wasn't really fine until we started winning. Like my
Speaker 1: first two years we went to the Holiday Bowl twice.
Speaker 1: Like people always act like was SC good or how
Speaker 1: was it compared to them? Like it wasn't even good
Speaker 1: to win to that Roles Bowl. We wanted like ten
Speaker 1: in a row, so four them and she was like
Speaker 1: going to regular school. It was I didn't feel like
Speaker 1: no love, no sense, or you go to USC obviously,
Speaker 1: I mean it's USC. But once we started winning, just
Speaker 1: like damn, you get to see what USC could possibly be.
Speaker 1: And when you when you're winning team in l A,
Speaker 1: I mean, they's the red carpet. Like even with college.
Speaker 1: If you're winning in college, you you was, you're a
Speaker 1: big name. But if you're not, you don't get today.
Speaker 1: You don't get the cut the line back y'all on
Speaker 1: the back, back neck. Like my first year, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't even know what it's about. Like you said
Speaker 1: it was the was the team around theeen, like that
Speaker 1: was the guy they had Brat Hanley uh Andricks, Miles,
Speaker 1: Jack Payton, all these got ish. Man. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: they really was dom then, I mean obviously turned around,
Speaker 1: but at one point you said it was really running
Speaker 1: the town like that, and it was. It sucked, but
Speaker 1: because they got one winning. Yeah, you've moved almost like
Speaker 1: a military kid, right, and now you know you get
Speaker 1: you get drafted by the Tennessee Titans. Then you become
Speaker 1: a free agent and you go to New York. Man
Speaker 1: tell us about the transition just from s C to
Speaker 1: be drafted and then you know, going into free agency.
Speaker 1: Just that that world win of highs and lows, peaks
Speaker 1: and valleys in such a you know, short career so far,
Speaker 1: I think the real mon. I really got tested with
Speaker 1: adversity after my my rookie season because everybody on the
Speaker 1: Stag got fired. And that's the first time where I
Speaker 1: had to you know, when you go to highest college
Speaker 1: to coach get fired, they bringing a new staff, he
Speaker 1: bringing his guys. When it happened at SC, help took over,
Speaker 1: and Helping was the one who recruited me when you know,
Speaker 1: all the way through. So I never got used to
Speaker 1: it and I'll never forget. I went to Houston on
Speaker 1: the team visit. We sit down for about like an hour,
Speaker 1: so I'm talking up watching film, chopping and chopping it
Speaker 1: and at the end they say, yeah, do you remember
Speaker 1: all our names? I'm like, I just remember the head
Speaker 1: coach coaching, my DV coach, thet d C and the
Speaker 1: return you know especially is coach and bray. We'll get there.
Speaker 1: And at the end of the day, I mean it's
Speaker 1: like I had to get used to him and what
Speaker 1: he going and the type of player he wanted to
Speaker 1: have a stylly want it and as a has that
Speaker 1: being my first time trying to get used to it, uh,
Speaker 1: we didn't jail like it didn't mess right, Like my
Speaker 1: played an't the work and the way he was coaching
Speaker 1: just didn't work for me. So my my my third year,
Speaker 1: I played a lot better because I got more of
Speaker 1: a fucking mentally like, all right, man, it is what
Speaker 1: it is, like you understand in that sense. Then the
Speaker 1: last the fourth year, I end up being hurt um.
Speaker 1: So I think, like you said, the highs and lows, man,
Speaker 1: I didn't gonna throw a ballot um But but what
Speaker 1: who do you mean? Just just go a little deeper though,
Speaker 1: because I don't think people really understand, Like most fans
Speaker 1: don't really understand, right. They don't look at football is
Speaker 1: a business, right, they look at it at a business
Speaker 1: when a guy leaves for more money or a guy
Speaker 1: requests to trade. But as far as the day to day,
Speaker 1: you said it didn't mesh. And not going to graphic
Speaker 1: details or details in a negative way, but I'm just
Speaker 1: talking about details of your mentality of when you say
Speaker 1: it doesn't mesh. You're getting paid your first round draft pick.
Speaker 1: You know you're getting paid. The fan will say, you're
Speaker 1: getting a couple of million dollars a year. How doesn't
Speaker 1: How does that not mesh? Right? You got that direct
Speaker 1: deposits seventeen weeks, you know to to twenty or you
Speaker 1: know a hundred and fifteen thousand after taxes, Like a
Speaker 1: lot of people don't say, Man, that that that a
Speaker 1: mess for me. And to take it a set further,
Speaker 1: why does mention matter? It would be some someone would
Speaker 1: ask you mad because it's your mentality. Like, like I said,
Speaker 1: the game is not even sent metal other physical physically
Speaker 1: I can go out there and don't want to do mentally,
Speaker 1: it's about okay, being coached a certain way, a different
Speaker 1: scheme or third scheme. I'm playing a different scheme. I
Speaker 1: gotta get used to Oh man, I always play like
Speaker 1: this and he's telling day, they're telling me you need
Speaker 1: to do it like this, and not knowing or not.
Speaker 1: I don't say not knowing, but it's different. And also
Speaker 1: memory of always doing something and doing it this way,
Speaker 1: playing this way, and then getting taught trying to do
Speaker 1: this way, and then trying to be more in my
Speaker 1: head about all right, let me do what they want
Speaker 1: to do and be right instead of now I'm like
Speaker 1: not playing my game. So it took me a man.
Speaker 1: That's why I said, didn't masson in the coaching styles
Speaker 1: of I mean, that's just probably the coaching style professional.
Speaker 1: They didn't different, They didn't care how you felt about
Speaker 1: their scheme. You need to do their scheme, yeah, of course,
Speaker 1: but if you do your own thing, it's like all
Speaker 1: right if it work at work, but if it don't,
Speaker 1: don't you know what I'm saying. But then today I
Speaker 1: feel like, man, good, we need a good coach, like
Speaker 1: smart as hell, know what you're doing. You just gotta
Speaker 1: know all the coach everybody in the day. It don't really,
Speaker 1: it don't really matter, like I mean, it doesn't, it don't.
Speaker 1: That's that's the part that sucks. It doesn't. It does
Speaker 1: not matter. You can have a coach that is a
Speaker 1: brilliant coach. You can have a coach who's terrible. Does
Speaker 1: not matter. And here's the worst thing you can happen.
Speaker 1: You have a bad coach who's winning. Hmm, a bad
Speaker 1: coach that's winning. You have no out when it doesn't
Speaker 1: go well, it's your fault and it sucks. Right. It's
Speaker 1: like a false negative COVID test exactly like you. You
Speaker 1: you're positive and your negative. You don't make this thing happen.
Speaker 1: You don't have to isolate, but you gotta headache and
Speaker 1: you got a cough, but you gotta isolated. Man, which
Speaker 1: one am I positive or negative? But people don't see
Speaker 1: the behind the scenes of that. I mean, people don't
Speaker 1: really care. They just look at that. They don't care.
Speaker 1: I mean I want to say that, Okay, the outcome
Speaker 1: is what matters, and what outcome is a dub, then
Speaker 1: they don't care. It's it's it's but yeah, I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm glad I went through it, like even
Speaker 1: my I got released my agent. I mean, everybody's no
Speaker 1: mad than me. And I'm like, man, he was relieved.
Speaker 1: I was just like, all right, just give me a
Speaker 1: fresh start. And it was crazy. Thing. The only the
Speaker 1: thing that I you know, he taught us the most
Speaker 1: is about second chances. And he's like, man, a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't get second chances, so if you do,
Speaker 1: make sure you make the most of it. And I
Speaker 1: say that all the time now. I mean like in
Speaker 1: the day, even though we didn't match as a player
Speaker 1: and coach, I mean, but as people, I can resonate
Speaker 1: with some things he's saying. So right thend of the day,
Speaker 1: like I said, I can never bash bash him or sameything, goad.
Speaker 1: I mean, good dude, I mean he can coaches tell
Speaker 1: off and know he's talking about just different. He got
Speaker 1: a different personality, right, you know, And I'll say it.
Speaker 1: You won't. This is not you're saying it. This is
Speaker 1: not Jack saying this, Steve Sman sing, you're saying that.
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick folk. I don't know why, I don't know how,
Speaker 1: but them dudes come off on their first job. They
Speaker 1: try to be Bill to the t and it never
Speaker 1: works out. It never works out long term. It doesn't
Speaker 1: work out because they burned so many bridges with players,
Speaker 1: And I was gonna ask, that's what I hear. It's
Speaker 1: just burned. They they rubbed players, pulse the wrong way.
Speaker 1: They too, right, there's not a Doory saying that. He's
Speaker 1: not laughing and confirming he's he is. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: what I know over my sixteen year experience and now
Speaker 1: what six years out? So you know what's that? Uh,
Speaker 1: twenty two years of experience and hearing the people that
Speaker 1: are under Bill Belichick learned a great deal. The unfortunate
Speaker 1: part is they try to attack the attack coach in
Speaker 1: the same way and it doesn't always work out that way.
Speaker 1: Do you think they're trying to emulate the person or
Speaker 1: they just trying to before they trying to implement the
Speaker 1: sess like he did. I think I think they're trying
Speaker 1: to implement the winds like Bill Belichick, and they will
Speaker 1: do whatever they believe it tastes because um, UH coach
Speaker 1: Josh McDaniels, UH what what I heard? How he how
Speaker 1: what the experience was his first coaching job in in
Speaker 1: UH in in uh Denver and how that went down.
Speaker 1: It was just some interesting things that I've I've heard
Speaker 1: all the stories. Man talk about my guido, Uh, Dean
Speaker 1: Peas man, Dean Peas will put you out on that island.
Speaker 1: Will he not? Dean pass defense coordinator. He's in Atlanta
Speaker 1: and uh he was in Baltimore. Uh. He was a guy.
Speaker 1: Uh he believes See that's a Belichick guy too. He
Speaker 1: believes in you're gonna earn your pay. He's like, you
Speaker 1: could be you could be going against Jerry Rice himself
Speaker 1: in his heyday. That man is gonna put you on
Speaker 1: that island and and hope for you to play it.
Speaker 1: Wants you to play man and man and ain't nothing
Speaker 1: you can do about it. M M. And that's a
Speaker 1: as an offensive guy. Seeing DMPs watching him in practice,
Speaker 1: watching how he does. He really puts a lot of
Speaker 1: pressure on DBS and it's it's tough. And so if
Speaker 1: you don't have you know, like a Dory says, if
Speaker 1: you don't have that mental game tighten up, well you
Speaker 1: hell ain't gonna get it on the field with deem
Speaker 1: pis of defense coordinator because you you know, explain to
Speaker 1: us what what is it. I know this, I never
Speaker 1: went into it, but what what is it intail being
Speaker 1: a defender in the National Football League today? Walk us
Speaker 1: through what that is for you mentally, psychologically? Uh, Like
Speaker 1: you said your pay us you see, you know time
Speaker 1: I can say like the landlord rent, dude, the rent
Speaker 1: do every week and not just every day, but every
Speaker 1: week you go out there and you gotta make sure
Speaker 1: you get your pay and pay for it. So I
Speaker 1: feel like the intel of a dB is man. I said,
Speaker 1: either be mentality, right, Like like when you came in,
Speaker 1: you're trying to disrespect and at the same time, we're
Speaker 1: not trying to get disrespected, we're trying to disrespect as well.
Speaker 1: So it's like it's about him. It's the game within
Speaker 1: the game obviously. You know, even they don't throw your way.
Speaker 1: You break me off on a round now throwing when
Speaker 1: you're talking like yeah, if you threw it out of
Speaker 1: got you. And at the same time I'm blocking you
Speaker 1: up like you know I'm here, so exactly you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Like you know what I'm here. Huh Oh,
Speaker 1: It's like you're just you're just balance the game within
Speaker 1: the game, And I feel like it's always being on
Speaker 1: your p's and q so any of your moment you
Speaker 1: never know. I mean, the read can be to to
Speaker 1: the you know, the third receiver. Yeah, that's that's sucked up. Okay,
Speaker 1: who the first problem looked to? You could stay right
Speaker 1: side or all the rocks coming to the right and
Speaker 1: you the backside. Here want something? You gotta make sure
Speaker 1: you on because you just never know what may happen.
Speaker 1: So I feel like the intel just a dog a
Speaker 1: dog you dog mentality, like you didn't or you're gonna
Speaker 1: be up. Good do it, good do it. Let's getting
Speaker 1: down to do it? Good do it? Hey, Gerard, why
Speaker 1: did you get that T shirt? You mean this thing? Oh? Yes,
Speaker 1: I got it from cut to a podcast dot com
Speaker 1: where we have exclusive merchandise. Shout out to our guys
Speaker 1: at seven or four shot. But yeah, you can go on,
Speaker 1: buy you a T shirt, subscribe to us wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. I'm not gonna ask you what's the
Speaker 1: toughest receiver? But who are some corners that you watched today? Right?
Speaker 1: We know Doory Jackson, we know who you are, but
Speaker 1: who are some corners? As you evaluate yourself, you also
Speaker 1: feel like you can borrow some knowledge from or some
Speaker 1: some footwork or some techniques or a little bit of
Speaker 1: uh uh sling shotting right. Some of My favorite one
Speaker 1: really is a barette with the Four Nights. Yeah. When
Speaker 1: I seen him at TCU, um, that's the first time
Speaker 1: I was actually an Oklahoma visit and he the only
Speaker 1: he grabbed like. I looked him like, oh, he's gonna stupid.
Speaker 1: It was a little t st and end up being
Speaker 1: Jay Spread. So I've been following him ever since I
Speaker 1: was going into college and seeing him in the in
Speaker 1: the league. What what is it about this game? Though? Yeah? Um,
Speaker 1: you know, good feet, patient, like he's super smooth, comfortable
Speaker 1: out there. You can just see the confidence in him
Speaker 1: when he plays, and even when he battled their injuries
Speaker 1: and be able to come back and you just see
Speaker 1: the dog and him like this is what you do
Speaker 1: and he built for it. So I feel like he's
Speaker 1: one of them that I really like a lot. Um.
Speaker 1: I like j Alexander, he got Gang, like Marshan we
Speaker 1: came out together, Marl and Humphries, a lot of them
Speaker 1: really much my class that I watched. You got Jala,
Speaker 1: Ramsey Prior. Um. I feel like that's probably before that's
Speaker 1: five right now? Um, yeah, that's fine. I'm gonna still
Speaker 1: be doing five and most of them kind of like
Speaker 1: my statue. Besides, um, you know Ramsey, you know, a
Speaker 1: long corner, but or Marshaw. But you've got jryre Um,
Speaker 1: you got for Rette, Tredavis White. I like him too.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just throw some more in there. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I like this game. You gave out a lot of flowers. Man.
Speaker 1: But even right now you're being looked at as a
Speaker 1: leader on your squad and in that secondary room. Now
Speaker 1: that you're looked at as being the leader, what do
Speaker 1: you consider your leadership style? I feel like cow much
Speaker 1: leading by example, but also if they need any questions
Speaker 1: or anything, because I guess I only have been in
Speaker 1: the league six years but been through a lot, you know,
Speaker 1: seeing it changes, and you know, just coming in we're
Speaker 1: last year having one set of a staff and they're
Speaker 1: not gonna hold different one. Like I'm able to be okay,
Speaker 1: I've been through this, Like you even go about just
Speaker 1: the right way or wrong way? Um, and you can
Speaker 1: actually change your narrative like you know j B. James Bradbert,
Speaker 1: you know another one. And I respect this game say,
Speaker 1: hy ce Y said, you choose your own attitude. And
Speaker 1: at the end of the day that makes sense. Like
Speaker 1: you can come in and you know, be but heard
Speaker 1: about the situation a hand that the new staff, these
Speaker 1: coaches don't do this, these coaches do to that. Or
Speaker 1: you can come in and work, you'll tell all and
Speaker 1: you know things gonna pay off. So um, that's how
Speaker 1: I pretty much try to go about, you know, stay positive.
Speaker 1: I understand you just don't say don't care and then
Speaker 1: they be because if you be you, that's gonna take
Speaker 1: your long way. And if you're being you and things
Speaker 1: don't work out, I mean you can't you can't talk that.
Speaker 1: I mean that's just how things go. But if you're
Speaker 1: trying to be somebody else and they'll go your way,
Speaker 1: Now you got regrets like oh I shouldn't did this,
Speaker 1: So just leave by example and just trying to be
Speaker 1: that that positive you know, affirmation for the guys. What
Speaker 1: are some things you're excited about with the new coaching staff.
Speaker 1: Obviously with you know, with the defensive coordinator, um with
Speaker 1: with with Wink Martin now Man, like you said, it's
Speaker 1: a lot of it's a lot of pressure on the dvs.
Speaker 1: But the end of the day, that's what you really want.
Speaker 1: It's the test you and how you're gonna come out
Speaker 1: there and handle it. So UM, I feel like, um,
Speaker 1: that's what I'm most excited about. You know, see the
Speaker 1: things that you can do. Um. You know obviously seen
Speaker 1: his work in Baltimore, but to be able to have
Speaker 1: it here and actually played, um um play it is Uh.
Speaker 1: It's exciting, have fun. And then you know you got
Speaker 1: Dave's um and and it talks so much track, but
Speaker 1: you need that. It takes the edge when you're going
Speaker 1: somebody super serious. Now you're gonna XHL. But they them
Speaker 1: and I love that about it. Yeah, you got a
Speaker 1: coach and staff that's not pride for in the negative way,
Speaker 1: but they're prideful. They've also been around the league a
Speaker 1: long time. They all been waiting for their opportunities. And
Speaker 1: you know, to some degree, it is going to be
Speaker 1: a little bit of the challenge for the New York
Speaker 1: Giants this year because of you know, obviously the quarterback situation. Um,
Speaker 1: not because I don't I don't believe Daniel Jones can't play. Um.
Speaker 1: I think Daniel Jones right now, this is the first
Speaker 1: time saying that you know and obviously, UM, I was
Speaker 1: up in New York and the opportunity to be there
Speaker 1: for a couple of days. Um. The one interesting thing
Speaker 1: that I really felt out of Daniel Jones. UM, I
Speaker 1: think it's concerning is UM is seeing a young man
Speaker 1: who has the opportunity to play, but seeing a little
Speaker 1: bit of how UH needs are my words not not his,
Speaker 1: but um, you know, every coaching staff is different in
Speaker 1: every good and bad habit that he's all those coaching
Speaker 1: staffs have it. It's it leaves, you know, It's like
Speaker 1: spaghetti when you need spaghetti and you got a white
Speaker 1: shirt on, it will lead to leave a stain and
Speaker 1: you can use that spot remover, but you're not really
Speaker 1: sure how much of the stain is gonna come off. Right.
Speaker 1: And I think with with Joe Judd, and this is me.
Speaker 1: I think Joe, in my opinion, he left to stay
Speaker 1: on on on damn right. And it's it's gonna be
Speaker 1: tough like that team. Y'all have so many good players, Uh,
Speaker 1: y'all have some y'all have some injuries, but then you'll
Speaker 1: have some players that probably shouldn't have been on the team, right,
Speaker 1: And in trying to figure out who, you know, who
Speaker 1: should stay, who should go. And then you got a
Speaker 1: coaching staff who wants to win, who's used to winning.
Speaker 1: They come from Buffalo, come for Baltimore. You know a
Speaker 1: lot of those guys ten plus years of winning, right,
Speaker 1: and then day ball was you know, it was in
Speaker 1: New Lengland and and in a lot of different places.
Speaker 1: So he understands it. Man. What are some of the
Speaker 1: biggest challenges that you guys are gonna face just heading
Speaker 1: into the season because of knowing one the division you're in,
Speaker 1: the NFC East, it's a tough division, right, and then
Speaker 1: obviously having to combat some of the backs that you
Speaker 1: guys had from the previous coaching staff. It's just that's
Speaker 1: just facts, right. What are you optimistic about? And then
Speaker 1: what are you kind of like, you know, just kind
Speaker 1: of waiting to see how things shape up. I think
Speaker 1: both of them are. You can put them in the
Speaker 1: same category. It's about how committed you know, as individuals
Speaker 1: we want to be, how great they wanted to be,
Speaker 1: how far they want to go. I mean we can
Speaker 1: everybody can say it. At the end of day. It's
Speaker 1: about like we when we come back to a line six, um,
Speaker 1: and we can talk about it. Me. We had forty
Speaker 1: five days. What what you diding is forty five days.
Speaker 1: It's something that you really wanted and that you you
Speaker 1: really really boy it. So that's really the most interesting
Speaker 1: part about this whole this whole journey. Um, you know everybody.
Speaker 1: Obviously we got a couple of weeks ahead because we
Speaker 1: had to coming early. But the end of the day,
Speaker 1: that's how do you take what we didn't build up
Speaker 1: trying to prove on? Man? I think, um, that's just
Speaker 1: being I mean, it's kind of hard as mentally. Everybody
Speaker 1: don't know how to deal with that. Like just let go,
Speaker 1: let loose, you know what I'm saying, Let me just
Speaker 1: beat me do what got me here. You know, I
Speaker 1: was fortunate enough to have my rookie year. I had
Speaker 1: Dickler bone and said towns from Pittsburgh Stellers, So I
Speaker 1: didn't had heard all the stories and they stem like man,
Speaker 1: they get paid to make plays too, and it is
Speaker 1: what it is God them deal thing, be you and
Speaker 1: have fun, enjoy it. But like you said, if you
Speaker 1: gotta staying that you sold you used to something a
Speaker 1: certain way, in a certain way, like walking on eggshells
Speaker 1: when I was, you know, in Tendnessee and trying to
Speaker 1: do everything perfect and do what they wanted. And it's
Speaker 1: like it took my men to get that fresh air, like, man,
Speaker 1: let me just relax and just and just beat me
Speaker 1: and go back to having fun. So it may take
Speaker 1: a minute, and it took me. I went through until
Speaker 1: I left, till I left because it's something new, something fresh,
Speaker 1: and I was like, all right, I can do what
Speaker 1: I want and be me. So I feel like we
Speaker 1: just need to have that mentality of resetting. I think
Speaker 1: that's the most exciting part about it, and just resetting
Speaker 1: and coming together. What is the off season? What does
Speaker 1: the offseason training look like for? You know, I I
Speaker 1: don't know what the dB does in off in the
Speaker 1: off season, So you know, you you're gonna teach me
Speaker 1: something running. You gotta come out at that. What do
Speaker 1: you mean just like just running and trying you can
Speaker 1: do football specifics. Obviously that's that's a lot of being
Speaker 1: in the way wrong. But one of those I'll be
Speaker 1: about big condition. You can run a slam the quarterback
Speaker 1: in the pocket, you don't happen. You can still run
Speaker 1: across the hill or take it up and wherever it
Speaker 1: may be, or you wan the go ball. They don't
Speaker 1: thought to you come out on the sideline. Who got
Speaker 1: the next place? So the dvos like you gotta make
Speaker 1: sure that you really condition and have it not to
Speaker 1: just physical passing, but mentally standing where I'm staying in
Speaker 1: tune of what's going on and like I said, breathing
Speaker 1: and reset and like all right, it's the next place,
Speaker 1: next play mentality. So even when I'm I'm working out
Speaker 1: doing drills lifting, whatever may be I may did. I
Speaker 1: may did a good bench rep on this bro, or
Speaker 1: maybe he did a good you know back for the
Speaker 1: break called the ball on this one. But now it's like,
Speaker 1: all right, it's the next one. Just because I did
Speaker 1: the last one good, I don't mean the next one
Speaker 1: gonna be good. And once you get fatigued mentally, you
Speaker 1: still gotta be there and make sure you still you know,
Speaker 1: on your piece and Q. So I think that's really
Speaker 1: what goes into the off season, being super conditioned and
Speaker 1: makestuence shape, because at the end of the day, you
Speaker 1: know his zont turning the man. Yeah, at a certain point,
Speaker 1: you do you think his own but somebody in hells own.
Speaker 1: You might as well just take him, or you're saying, man,
Speaker 1: you might have to take him across the field. So
Speaker 1: it's just about understanding the game. I'm within the guy. See,
Speaker 1: you do need the bench he mentioned, He mentioned he
Speaker 1: wouldn't look out for his bench press. We had this
Speaker 1: conversation a few times about why mechanically do you need
Speaker 1: as a football player the bench press. I don't wish you.
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm just I'm just I'm just messing with you.
Speaker 1: It's not because I totally agree. Yeah, yeah, that bench
Speaker 1: only gonna help you so low. It's really only the
Speaker 1: first one you are because that you can't touch with
Speaker 1: him exactly. If you what I'm saying, that's a little
Speaker 1: bit mechanical when you're jamming at the line. After that,
Speaker 1: that's it. Yeah, that's sure, that's that's literally it. I
Speaker 1: concur that's the best way in the block. Just to
Speaker 1: take standing off somebody's question that he just asked, though,
Speaker 1: how do you feel like you are evolving as a
Speaker 1: football player? I mean question you take the off season,
Speaker 1: how do you feel like you're evolving as a football player?
Speaker 1: And on top of that, how do you feel like
Speaker 1: you're evolving a person. Like having Jerome Henderson my first
Speaker 1: year and then jorking him coming back. Man, it helped
Speaker 1: me out a lot. That's really one of the things
Speaker 1: that I probably vocalized making sure that he was able
Speaker 1: to come back. Who's Who's Jerom Henderson? Uh? DV coach? Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: just making it for some people, don't you know, some
Speaker 1: people not sure, so it's wrong. It's on DV coach.
Speaker 1: And he taught me a lot of my first year,
Speaker 1: um about you know, splits, alignments and many things. I
Speaker 1: understand the different routes looking um can at the formation
Speaker 1: and different things in that sense. So um, I feel like,
Speaker 1: obviously it's your first time learning. So it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: you do it, but you don't do it all the time,
Speaker 1: and then I have another year around. Okay, that's more
Speaker 1: repetition and to be able to have them back. It's
Speaker 1: you know, like a reliever, look about another But in
Speaker 1: the day, he probably would have taught me something super different,
Speaker 1: trut the wrong, but it's not. You know, you got
Speaker 1: that analogy out of side out of mine. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: here locked in and when I can ask you something
Speaker 1: every day, I might not you know, you think about
Speaker 1: text somebody, you might not do it. So I think
Speaker 1: as a player, that's how I'm evolving. Um, just being
Speaker 1: able to talk to wrong every day, get different information
Speaker 1: and be able to help me out, and him really
Speaker 1: just being don't be tough, like I'm still a rookie
Speaker 1: and I appreciate that the most about UM. And then
Speaker 1: as a person, UM, you know, just trying to be
Speaker 1: in a moment be president, you know, being you know
Speaker 1: down and out, you know, being hurt and not doing
Speaker 1: what I want to do. When I fin came in
Speaker 1: and I'm not saying what was me but kept it
Speaker 1: to myself, not really expressing it. But I feel like
Speaker 1: in there to to express and let that energy go
Speaker 1: and be able to focus and get back to what's
Speaker 1: what's really important and what I really love to do,
Speaker 1: what's playing ball. So I think that's how I've been,
Speaker 1: you know, evolving most as a person and just you know,
Speaker 1: thankful the best that I do have. Like I was
Speaker 1: mad that I have messed my knee up, but I
Speaker 1: still see, I still talk, I still do all these
Speaker 1: other different things. I was so focused on one thing
Speaker 1: that I wasn't really seeing a bigger picture. So um, yeah,
Speaker 1: you look at the bigger perture missing little things and
Speaker 1: vice versa. So um, just trying to stay in that moment. Man,
Speaker 1: you you get rid of you go ahead and put
Speaker 1: Tennessee right being a Tennessee tighten in your river. Youw mirror,
Speaker 1: you don't have to cover a J. Brown anymore. And
Speaker 1: then now you know he right back out there. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm going against a J in practice a little bit
Speaker 1: and then now having to see him twice a year, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, be informer teammates, but also just being a dB.
Speaker 1: You know, I know something possibly went through your mind
Speaker 1: when you saw that big, big acquisition made by the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles. I'm not I was happy for him. I was.
Speaker 1: I was generally you know happy. Man, God was deserved.
Speaker 1: Man works tell all ye all got to the cats, um,
Speaker 1: and you know I see him in the division. Now
Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, I don't want to say it wasn't exciting,
Speaker 1: but it's it's exciting because um, just another challenge, another task, um.
Speaker 1: And that's pretty much I don't want to say I
Speaker 1: am saying that's what you won't challenges like, that's that's
Speaker 1: what you like. You're not you're saying the challenge you
Speaker 1: give you, you called it what it is. It ain't
Speaker 1: it ain't hate. Yes, he's sorry, bring him all. You're
Speaker 1: saying that it's a challenging you know, because you've practiced
Speaker 1: against him, you win against You also know what you
Speaker 1: bring to the able, so too, too heavyweights. That's what
Speaker 1: I hear, No for sure. And it's just cool because
Speaker 1: like I said, the division is tough, and that just
Speaker 1: meant it. It just it just makes it a journey
Speaker 1: and one I'm looking forward to be able to tell
Speaker 1: and see how I play out. You know that you
Speaker 1: said what you're looking forward to the most you know
Speaker 1: about the season. It's gonna be about the journey and
Speaker 1: how we handle, you know, the different circumstances that we
Speaker 1: that we come across. Soum. But now I seen him
Speaker 1: get to to to Philly. Um. The one I was
Speaker 1: heard about was when j B left. That's when I'm like, damn, lie,
Speaker 1: that's my dog. Man. I know, I appreciate him a lot,
Speaker 1: but at then the day had before him. Get with it,
Speaker 1: you know, get what he deserves. Man, he didn't. He
Speaker 1: didn't get a lot of you know, he was here
Speaker 1: in Carolina and I just saw saw young man developed,
Speaker 1: you know, and he got better and better, and then
Speaker 1: he goes out, you know, obviously goes out to to
Speaker 1: uh New York, to New York, and that doesn't work
Speaker 1: out because of uh the brilliance of the former general
Speaker 1: manager kind of put you guys in in the quadri
Speaker 1: and you had to make some financial decisions whether people
Speaker 1: like it or disagree. You know. Um, he's a guy
Speaker 1: that really didn't get a lot of credit. He's a
Speaker 1: hell of a dB. Right, he does not p bus
Speaker 1: technique just he and I really believe a lot of
Speaker 1: it has to do it because he's such a quiet
Speaker 1: he's like a quiet kid, silent assassin. But and he
Speaker 1: was here in Carolina and then we moved on hell
Speaker 1: of a player. Mm hmm. So Lashka bringing hard had
Speaker 1: the work type guy. Yeah, Yeah, that's a great some
Speaker 1: nation that is. Yeah, that is one more question for you,
Speaker 1: um in our research. You're really passionate about being the
Speaker 1: hometown hero. Why is that? Uh Man? I left when
Speaker 1: I was the team and you know that was my
Speaker 1: really that's britty on my biggest Everybody said your why,
Speaker 1: and my motivation was I didn't want to go back
Speaker 1: home and people be like, damn, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like I really resonated me, Like I went they sent
Speaker 1: me to like fIF team every day. I wanted to
Speaker 1: make sure everybody back home problem even though some people
Speaker 1: hated it or talked some crazy stuff about it, but
Speaker 1: it made it that much more sweeter and that much
Speaker 1: more motivating to make sure I showed them like it
Speaker 1: wasn't just because I was here. I could do this anywhere,
Speaker 1: and I just wanted to put on a bigger stage
Speaker 1: and then let everybody know, like guys back home like
Speaker 1: it's we really got dogs and all the people you know,
Speaker 1: they just go to different cities or the ones that's
Speaker 1: the most attractive. But it's like, Okay, I wanted to
Speaker 1: be the staple, all right, this is what it is.
Speaker 1: I mean, we had Davis my House to come out
Speaker 1: of there. Um, but like like Terry Backner, um, Jeff Thomas.
Speaker 1: But as you're talking about all the guys that came
Speaker 1: out of your hometown St. Louis. But it's like I
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure that they can go back and
Speaker 1: get more. I understand, like a lot of talent there
Speaker 1: and just bring the words to the city. So I
Speaker 1: think that's really why I grew up trying to be
Speaker 1: home time here and it's being back home. Everybody's showing
Speaker 1: love of my dad, like I just don't want to
Speaker 1: sit and you know who he is and showing them
Speaker 1: dumb in love. Or I can be out somewhere and
Speaker 1: oh you must be you know, chris On. And I
Speaker 1: think that's one of the things that I wanted to do.
Speaker 1: Like if I ever left and I come back, I'll
Speaker 1: make sure I got the same love. And just trying
Speaker 1: to pay it forward and make sure the kids you
Speaker 1: know after me or the people that's there and know
Speaker 1: that you know, really care about him and that ain't forgotten.
Speaker 1: I like that, But you know where you have to
Speaker 1: come to get come get right though. You know what
Speaker 1: I tell you. You know, I tell you every time
Speaker 1: I said, man, it would have happened, but I don't
Speaker 1: know the role that it would win. I'm just messing
Speaker 1: with you. But it's it's different, different journeys for different people.
Speaker 1: I think I believe you know, if you're to win
Speaker 1: that ten and you may not have got that opportunity,
Speaker 1: but you needed that full development from your folks to
Speaker 1: be able to handle because l A is different. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not for everybody. Everybody in l A don't make
Speaker 1: it from l A, right, So it isn't you know,
Speaker 1: it isn't something like that. But I just, I just
Speaker 1: I was just teasing. But I also think that's that
Speaker 1: what you said, your folks especially, there's one last thing
Speaker 1: that I wrote down, being a people person man, growing up,
Speaker 1: you know, growing up for even for myself growing up
Speaker 1: in the South, and then you growing up where you
Speaker 1: where you grew up and then come to l A.
Speaker 1: It's a different mentality, man. It's not you know, the
Speaker 1: southern hospitality, yes, ma'am, you know, no, sir, yes sir,
Speaker 1: that's not a staple in l A. And so when
Speaker 1: you come to l A and you're like that, it
Speaker 1: actually helps break down a little bit of berries because
Speaker 1: a lot of folks in l A just kind of
Speaker 1: like in New York, man, they hustle, them bustling, and
Speaker 1: they you know, they're sitting on that and not sitting
Speaker 1: on that ten freeway to full five. They ain't got
Speaker 1: time to be having a conversation saying yes sir, no, sir,
Speaker 1: thank you, being polite. It's just it isn't there so
Speaker 1: I I really believe that, you know, God was working
Speaker 1: at especially for you to have that purpose, because some
Speaker 1: people go back home and it's just not the same,
Speaker 1: you know it. Just choose them up and spin them
Speaker 1: out and and and they're never they're never. They really
Speaker 1: they sometimes lose their identity. So man, we'll appreciate your
Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Dog and uh man look forward to
Speaker 1: look forward to seeing watch you make some plays. Man. Man,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get us some rabbits, some alligators for shark. Okay,
Speaker 1: almost saying something in your face. That's why I had
Speaker 1: to let him know, like now I mean to do
Speaker 1: it all right, appreciate, appreciate it. I'll stay blessed. You
Speaker 1: are a unique person. You are well worth it, you
Speaker 1: are competent, and most of all, your lovable. I'm Steve
Speaker 1: Smith Singer. I'm Gerard Little John and this is cut
Speaker 1: to It. Cut to It with Steve Smith Senior. That
Speaker 1: 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 Apple 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, Talented booking manager Joe Fusci,
Speaker 1: Social media team Wesley Robinson and John Show from Balto
Speaker 1: Creative Media, Cut Too. It is produced by Brian Baltaschevic
Speaker 1: and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lebrek, Production
Speaker 1: coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and
Speaker 1: vocals by Anthony Hamilton. If you ain't heard about it,
Speaker 1: then we're about to let you know. It's all