WEBVTT - DEVONTA SMITH 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:02.640 This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:08.920 production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:11.720 Steve Smith Senior and I'm a little John and this 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:16.000 is cut to It. Good do it, Good do it. 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:19.479 Let's get down to do it. Good do it. We 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:22.920 asked the questions you always want to know, but no 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:29.080 one ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:35.080 about it, then we're about to let you now it's all. 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:42.240 Welcome to the Cut to It Podcast. We got two 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:50.080 time national championship winner from the University of Alabama nickname 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:56.920 Smithy Slash Slim Reaper wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:01.560 and also um just a that you know, uh define 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.240 the odds and welcome to the Cut to A podcast. 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:17.360 DeVante Smith. Welcome man, Welcome man, Thanks Phili, thanks for 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:20.800 carting out sometime. I know you you got h It's 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:22.479 off season, so let me be honest. You ain't got 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:26.120 really much going on anyway, you know, y'all we all 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:29.200 act like we're busy. Y'all boys sitting in that sitting 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:30.800 at the office, can't wait to get out. Soon as 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:34.680 you get out, you ain't got nothing to do? Is 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:39.200 that not true? Yeah? So, but I appreciate you carving 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:43.679 out some time obviously. Um, you know Steve Smith, senior 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:46.800 uh co host er, our little John. Then we got 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:51.000 our guy backstage, Joe, who's probably been contacted you're communicating 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:56.440 with you. Um. We got Briant Balta Chevis, Uh, that's 0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:01.480 our tech. And then Taylor and then our producer Meredith Carter, 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:04.120 who she likes to be kind of like what we're 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:09.480 talking about football, nameless, faceless. She doesn't like to be seen, 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:14.680 but her her work is uh is heard. So um, 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:16.959 we're getting right to it. We got this little ice 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:21.040 Breakers all about you. H they're random. Um, do they 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:23.760 have any rhyme reason? No, that's the best part about it. 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:26.720 So here we go. Who's the last person you had 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:34.040 a deep conversation with? Uh, my mentor? This mentor has 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:41.960 her name? Who's your mentors? And sands? Okay from from Louisiana. 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:46.799 Had you come across him? Yeah? And this impact? Um, 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:49.680 him and my family go way back on his POSTI 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.160 my grandfather were best friends. He was cut in my 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:54.160 hand when I was since I was a little boy, 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:57.560 so kind. I always grow up around him. Okay, you 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:00.000 got you got that? That good Louisiana faith right now 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:08.239 going booyah as a as a fellow holder. God, I'm 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:17.240 telling you to not thing like. I can tell you 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:19.400 where that I can tell you got a sail a 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:24.040 fan or not? Right now? That ain't that? Ain't a 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:27.799 kid like? That's a sil fan as a siling fan 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:34.160 with a like kid? Am I line though I know 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:38.200 my housing? Hey? All right, um, I'll just message. Listen, 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.640 I'm bald, so I don't care. I don't get haircuts. 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:45.160 I do I uh, I go on a drawer and 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:48.080 the extent of me is what kind of oil? Am 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:51.240 I using? Lavender senate? And I'm a Gillette I gotta 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:53.640 I go to Costco and get all of the Gillette. 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:56.960 Give me a thirty six pack. Man, You couldn't hear 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:03.480 all year? Yeah no, during television season. It's about twice 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:07.400 a week all season. Um, I try to see if 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:10.160 I let that thing grow and then the top back 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:12.800 a little bit, huh, top back, man, I gotta land 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:27.560 the strip, private plane. Let's move on. Listen. If you 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:29.800 can't laugh at yourself, you show the health can't laugh 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.200 at other people? Right, look at hes gonna be thinking 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:35.440 about this and now he's gonna be like this, Steve, 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:41.160 don't mean I know what exactly what I said. Look, hey, 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:46.359 all right, who's your favorite sports team growing up? The 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:50.960 Saints and the Celtics. Okay, Saints like good Celtics. What's 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:53.600 up with that? Yeah? How do you get that one? Um? 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:58.200 I'm a big Rondo fan. Okay, I mean Rondo was legit, 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:01.600 he did not. You give you a whole bunch of exists. 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:05.039 That's all you get, man? You drop that's a lot. Yeah, 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.720 that because you got two points. That tells me something. 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:11.680 I don't know who. So what's some What are some 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:18.799 bad habits that you have? Bad habits? Uh, I'd probably 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:22.880 say me just being non a lot. Oh okay, okay, 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:27.640 I'm overthinker, man, I overthink everything. I'll overthink driving to 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:33.920 the store. You just go to the stove. So all right, Um, 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:41.040 how are you doing today? How's life good? All right? Um? 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.040 I've been always I've always want to ask you know, 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:45.839 some of the young guys. We usually have some old 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:50.880 heads on here, but um, you went to University of Alabama? 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:54.560 How was going to How was going to college in 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:57.800 the middle of a pandemic? Because you had what two 0:05:57.920 --> 0:05:59.880 years or a year two years or a year and 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.719 in the pandemic are going to school a year, a 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.159 year of going to school in the pandemic, and then 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:09.280 a year obviously two years of not going I mean 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:12.599 of not having a pandemic. How was it for you 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:15.320 personally to go to school in the middle of a 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:20.960 pandemic based off what you're used to things being? Uh? Man, 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:23.719 it was it was tough just because some the fact 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:27.039 that if you called COVID, you wasn't gonna be able 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:29.839 to play. So it was like, I wanted to go 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:31.919 to school, but then again, I'm not trying to be 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.279 around everybody and not trying to do all that, so 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:35.880 it was kind of tough. And then it was like 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:39.200 I came back from my senior year and during the 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:41.320 spring it was like, okay, we're not having those springs. 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:43.040 So it was like, man, it came back, we might 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:45.560 not even have a season at this time, so it's like, 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:47.320 did I make the right decision? So, I mean, it 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:50.200 was it was tough just kind of just staying focused, 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:52.719 like still going out working out every day and stuff 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:54.400 like that, and not knowing if you're even gonna have 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:59.520 a season. What about just going to class or um, 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:01.680 just a normal things that you were used to doing 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:07.360 as a college student years old. You have to you, 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:11.560 let's be honest, you waited all that time to be 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:15.440 able to do the legal things that you are wanting 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:18.320 to do, to go to college, drink at the bars 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:23.800 and just be a young man. Um being honest, I don't. 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:25.520 I don't go out a lot. I don't drink. So 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:27.520 it was like that part of it was easy for me. 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:29.400 It was like, I sit in the house all day anyway. 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:31.600 If I'm not working out nine times team, I'm just 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:34.720 in a career playing the game. So that was that 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:38.080 wasn't really the hard part for me. All Right, thanks, 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:42.480 you just just poo pooed all on that. We shall 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:46.040 move on. So where are you from? In a place 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:50.440 you call your hometown Amy Louise album? Small town right 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.920 outside of ben Rouge? Okay? How far is that from 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:59.800 New Orleans? Okay? Do you know where? Uh? Zach and 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:06.400 maya louisianas Zachary Zachary, yeah, Zachary, Yeah, where is that? 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.520 How far is that from you? That's that's like right 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:12.440 outside bamar Rouge too. So about saying this to get 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:16.480 the band rouge just a different way minutes. All right, 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:20.440 there's a guy. There's a guy from there named Doug Williams. 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:25.200 You ever heard him? Yeah, what do you play? Great quarterback? 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:28.080 All right, that was a great guess because you guessed 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:36.120 too and alight you looked away like I think quarterback. 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:40.640 What college did he go to? Yeah, I'll remember. I 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.720 want to say it was all who was in Louis Adam. Yeah, 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:50.640 I'm not helping you, Grandma. Good job to set I 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.320 like that. See here he is smarter than he looks. 0:08:56.720 --> 0:09:02.080 What was life for you before you came became the 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:05.720 guy catching all those touchdown passes, before you became the 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:08.640 slim reaper, the guy that everybody talked about that he 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:15.200 lacked muscle mass, right, because you, to some degree busted 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:19.640 on the scene. However, you didn't because you were in college. 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:21.960 You went back for your senior year. You were there 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:27.480 for a number of months, days, seconds, hours that it 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:29.400 wasn't just you busting on the scene and you came 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:33.480 out of nowhere. Oh, I mean it was it was smooth. 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:37.040 I stayed in the neighborhoods where like everybody knew everybody, 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.640 so like you can go from house to house and 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:42.280 you you'd be cool it's like you go to the 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:44.760 Knicks house and it's just like it's your house because 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:46.800 the people called street went to school with your people, 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:48.920 with your mom and your pops and stuff like this. 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:52.679 So like you was always like I had somebody that 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:54.880 was looking after you no matter what. So like it 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:56.720 was always like you were never really doing that you 0:09:56.720 --> 0:10:00.560 were supposed to because somebody was always there to see 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:02.280 what you're doing. And if you're not doing what's right, 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:04.480 they're gonna let you know. Until you got a lot 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:09.360 of bubb whoopings. Yeah, and you're getting community. But you 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:12.800 know about the community. But here's the only thing about community, 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:19.719 but it didn't save you from the butt whooping wants that. Yeah, 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:22.040 the other ones with the appetizer is the main course 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:23.760 is waiting on you when you get home. I'm talking 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:34.680 about straight sting. All right, you're definitely about to get Yeah, 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:36.800 that's that's the bad part about it. I love how 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:39.760 you described it to to where like every hood isn't 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:43.040 the ghetto, where every hood is not bank bang shoot 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:46.760 them up, Like everything everything isn't um one side or 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:49.840 the one course like there is. Every place is different. 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:53.160 So I'm glad you explain that to where it's not 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:56.040 the same trivial thing or the same story that everything 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:58.680 thinks everything is the same because you say it's the hood. 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:02.280 And I also this, like because there's a narrative that 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:08.080 every every black athlete is a thug or they or 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.880 they experienced harsh times. I mean there's some squares that 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:14.000 played that have played in the league, and then there's 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:17.160 some dudes that's worse than me on like one or 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.240 or they could have but harsh still has range. Right, 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:23.960 So just one person's horse isn't the other person's horse, 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:27.280 but it was harsh to them. So it's just everybody's 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:31.320 story isn't And some people's perspective of poores it VARs. 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.480 And you were like, pop, I know you just don't. 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:39.360 Your family didn't manage money, right, you ain't poor, right, 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:45.160 I can show you some pope. So it's it's uh, 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:49.559 how so maybe I can get a better answer. I 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:52.439 say better just because I want to give the perspective. 0:11:53.679 --> 0:12:00.319 How did COVID impact your community when it was going on? Um, 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:04.240 I wouldn't say it really impacted bad because like it's 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:06.800 it's so smaller. What you gotta you gotta make it happen, 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.079 like it's not much around them. So like the stuff 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:11.840 that they had, like it's still going because like if 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:16.120 we shut down, then there's nothing here, Like everything was 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:18.720 still going to things like that. It was just everybody 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:20.320 just had to be smarter with the stuff that they 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:29.160 were doing. Where's your love for for sports? Grow? Um? 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:33.240 I grew up right next to a park. Okay, any 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:36.720 time I heard that basketball on that councrete, I was there. 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:39.920 It was the old heads of people my age. I 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.959 was always there from all. I mean, my Popsy hooped 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:44.839 to high school, so I used to go out there 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:47.480 and hoop against him, you know what I mean. Just 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:49.600 that toughness in me and stuff came from that. Just 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:51.920 no matter who it was, old heads out there, I'm 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:53.360 gonna get out there. And then I always had a 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:56.440 good basketball, so nobody else played unless I got at 0:12:56.480 --> 0:13:00.120 least one game. Man, it was running the cool it 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:03.160 so were you run the court? You can shoot? Yeah, 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:04.960 I can do a little something. No, I ain't able 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:09.959 to ask kids. You shoots? He telling you? He telling 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:17.480 you he can was it was position. It was a 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:20.840 smart oplayer. They want through the foll Okay. I don't 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:23.080 think a lot of kids hang out with O. G's Like, 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:26.079 I don't think that they would. You agree and disagree 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:28.280 with DA. How many people now are hanging out with 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:30.600 like really being able to bring down that game, really 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.240 being able to soak up, you know, the knowledge from them. 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.559 You can't talk to you. I mean I got a 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:37.800 I got a younger brother. I tell him all the time, man, 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:40.000 Like when I was younger. Man, you wouldn't David to 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:41.600 be out there with us. Man, we was real deal 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:46.840 at the park one o'clock, son demon like your grandma 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:50.640 telling you don't go outter this son out. They're not 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.200 outside no more. Man, They're not doing all that over 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:55.240 there sharing water. Don't put your lips on it, and 0:13:55.240 --> 0:14:00.640 you better be back by when what's what is the street? Street? Like? 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:02.719 You don't let me come out as to prove your 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:06.160 curfew for black not let me come out yelling Steven 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:08.840 because you know what it's about to come, because you 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:13.200 heard that, because yeah, it's about to go. You've ben 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:15.679 to wrap up that last game. Why do you why 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:20.480 do you believe you, young buck? What is one of 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:23.760 the toughest things to hang out with? O. G s 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:28.880 as a young boy? Oh? I mean you gotta kind 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:31.880 of like you know your place, Like, yeah, you want 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:33.880 to go out there and be all tough and stuff, 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:35.840 but you gotta know when you gotta tone it down. 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:38.160 Because like my O G s, it was like they 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:39.640 knew me, they knew my people and all that, so 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:41.440 they had it right with it. Like if stuff was wrong, 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:43.240 like I'm doing wrong, like they're gonna let me know. 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:45.120 So I had to kind of know my place and 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:50.760 things like that. So do you think that helped you, Yeah, 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:53.400 for sure it taught. It taught me respect. You're taking 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:56.760 to respect, just to respect your others at all times 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.040 and things like that. I mean out there being competitive 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:04.240 and stuff sometimes. So talking outside your nick you better understand. 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:06.200 Yeah we are hoping, but you better respect me. At 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:10.480 the same time, don't cross that line and you're gonna 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:13.000 get told when you crossed it. When you're about to 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:18.560 cross when you get that look, yeah that looks. You 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:21.160 mentioned your your grandmother, you mentioned your father. What was 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:23.120 your and all the O G s? What was your 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:27.720 family dynamic growing up in Louisiana? Everybody was close. I 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:30.960 mean everybody stayed around each other. So like any time 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:35.520 something's going on, everybody at my house are my grandma house? 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:37.760 Like every time something's going on. And then I mean 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.160 everybody stayed right on one street, so you don't have 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:41.880 to go far. You gotta take no call, you should 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.080 walk down the road. That's where about it. So everybody 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:48.960 was close. M real athletic family. Everybody played sports, so 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:54.800 I mean we'll be out there playing volleyball, tennis, softball, everything, basketball, 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:58.400 Like we always had some sports going on. So when'd 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:03.600 you fall in love with football? Um? I really say 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:05.880 probably just high school because I mean majority of my 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.400 family played basketball. My pops didn't play football, so it 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:12.440 was just kind of like I always grew up basketball, basketball, basketball, 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.200 and then high school probably when I really fell in 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:17.560 love with I got my first offer and then um 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:21.160 my mentor, like he made me realize it's not doing 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:23.000 what you want to do, but doing what's best for you. 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:25.160 And I mean I started to realize football what was 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:27.760 best for me. How did you take that it's not 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:29.440 doing what you want to do, is doing with the 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:33.280 best the best for you. Yeah. It was tough, man, 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:35.400 because like I said, I always love basketball. Man, I 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:37.000 didn't want to give it up, but it was like 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.800 being realistic. You six foot man, you're not gonna go 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:42.200 out here no one and really getting nothing. Then wasn't 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:44.720 nobody helping with basketball in my area? Was all football, 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:47.760 big football down, So it was like people gonna help 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:49.640 you get to where you want to be with football 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:53.800 and not basketball. It was tough though. Mhmm. A statement 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:59.880 that I read that you said, Um, if it ain't fan, 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:07.800 I don't want to be there. Expound on that. Um, 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:10.639 just like like I said, I'm I'm I'm real nonchalant. 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:13.520 I'm not really a people personally. I don't talk a lot. 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:16.040 So it was just like if it wasn't really my family, 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:18.000 that I really don't want to be around it because 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:21.200 like why am I here? And even sometimes like once 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:23.760 I went to college and I come back home, my 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:26.119 family let me know, like you're coming home, but you 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:28.000 ain't like you ain't talking to us and ain't just 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:31.159 because I'm not thinking about y'alls. Just that like I'm like, 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:33.560 I'm just in my sheld. It's just how I am. 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:35.240 I don't like getting out like that. I don't like 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:38.600 being around a lot of people. As I got older, 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:41.080 I kind of like I started this ising myself just 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:43.560 from being in big crowds. It's just how I am. 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:47.679 Do you feel like because of playing ball it burns, 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:52.240 it takes the energy away from you. Oh yeah, definitely. 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:54.600 That was one thing just coming home. Everybody always want 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:56.520 to talk about football. It's like I've been doing that 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:58.720 for them. I don't want to talk about that right now. 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:04.439 Like if y'all gonna talk about I'm not coming you know, 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:09.080 but do you understand why? Yeah, yeah, I understand that. 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:11.800 I mean just being in my small family, it was 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:14.320 just like you're the one You're the one person that 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:17.480 taking it ran with. So it's just like everybody just 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:19.920 happened from me. Yeah, And they also want to know 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:24.640 what it's like, what, what's what's the experience of because 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:28.199 you go from here's what the dynamic? You go from 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:34.480 smitty to little Smitty to celebrity to nephew or whoever 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.040 it is, grandson, So this is balanced. They're looking at 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:42.240 you as little DeVante too celebrity. So it's that it's 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:45.440 that roller coaster. So different days, you know, different strokes, 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:48.879 different different for different folks, different days because they remember 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:52.480 you were walking around and uh, I remember I was 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:55.520 changing that boy diving, right, I remember telling that boy 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:59.320 to uh. I taught him how to tie his shoe right, 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:03.400 and then in that boy out there buying our shoes right, 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:06.800 So that it's that balance right that you're that you're experiencing. 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:09.560 So I would I would try to encourage you, man, 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:12.399 try to embrace it, right, Try to embrace it, because 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:16.680 you gotta think about it. Three years old, you're gonna turn, 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:18.800 You're gonna go to sleep. Wake up, bro, it's gonna 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:20.560 be you're gonna be ten years in the league, thirty 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:24.600 three on your way out to some degree right to 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:28.679 to where um right, I you know, I used to 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:32.160 you know, every house I had, we had a guest 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:36.000 room and I was done playing you no guests coming, 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:40.800 which I kind of liked a little bit, right, you know, 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:46.120 but it changed. So I would say, cultivate those relationships. 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:49.760 See which ones are authentic, right, Give him a little 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:53.159 grace because you're experiencing something that they've never done. Your 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:56.960 rookie deal. What you're getting paid as a rookie and 0:19:57.040 --> 0:19:59.919 you you're getting you're getting three, four or five may 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:04.440 be ten people of your family members salary and one check. 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:11.360 That's a little different. That's something for some of us. Man, 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:14.680 we've never seen that. So you know, just try to 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:17.560 keep that perspective. It's it's tough, and I know it's hard, 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:22.320 but you know it's it's just kind of that's where 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:29.640 you are. I love cut to It, and I love 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:33.760 it even more when you download us and subscribe, and 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:36.440 you can follow us on social media too, Smithie where 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:39.439 where at? That's at? Cut to It on Instagram? What 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:44.679 about twitter? At? Cut to It? Facebook? Cut to It 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:48.600 featuring Steve Smith singr? What about online? And you can 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:51.320 follow us at cut to It podcast dot com where 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:54.439 you can buy merch and you can subscribe to us 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:58.280 wherever you listen to podcasts. I got all my answers questions. 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:02.679 Uh yeah, I call all my questions answered. That's what 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:07.440 I'm here for, a brother, cut to a podcast dot com. 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:13.560 You're very cautious around people. Why what happened? What's going on? 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:16.640 Why are you so cautious? You look like you look 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:23.000 like you sign out everybody. He reads the room. Yeah, 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:25.879 that's that's how my popsy is. That's how the possible mom. 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:27.760 That's just how everybody is. I think I just kind 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:29.879 of picked on picked up on it from them, just 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:33.200 like om it was. She was always like a parent. 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:35.600 That was like, that's why i didn't pay a baasketball. 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:37.200 If I can't be there, you know, I don't. I 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:39.440 don't want you there. I don't trust nobody with you 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:41.960 but me, So like I just I think that's just 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:44.200 what I picked up on from Well. I can't even 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:49.320 imagine that conversation with Nick Saban and your folks. How 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:53.600 was that conversation? Um, I mean it was, it was. 0:21:53.800 --> 0:21:56.840 It was smooth, honestly, just because you know, with his 0:21:56.960 --> 0:21:59.480 with his status, him being who he was, and it 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:02.240 was just like him being on the platform, all the 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:05.359 stuff that he's done, the awareness he's raised on different 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:08.400 situations and things like and how strict he was, because 0:22:08.440 --> 0:22:10.760 my mom was real strict. So she was like, Okay, 0:22:10.960 --> 0:22:12.560 I can see you being a place like this. I 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:14.560 know he's just gonna be out here letting you do anything. 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:18.120 To other places. It's like we're going visits. They're trying 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:19.560 to get me to go out the part of my mom, 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:22.000 you know, I'm like going out and I tell her, 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:23.159 like they're trying to get me to go out here. 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:24.960 I don't want to go, and she like, okay, I 0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:26.320 know I want him to be there. They're trying to 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:27.639 get him to do something he don't want to do. 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:31.840 So was that trust what sold you on Alabama or 0:22:32.000 --> 0:22:34.480 was there anything else about the Alabama culture that made 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:37.880 you fall in love and say, yes, that's where I'm going. Honestly, 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:42.160 it was Coach Burns. He was he was my recruiter. 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:44.159 He was from He's from New Orleans, so like I 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:46.600 kind of know him. He just always kept real with you, 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:50.560 like anything anything that went down. He told me when 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:52.280 he told me that to receive the coach was gonna 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:54.359 leave right before I signed. Things like that. He was 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:56.720 the only one that called me and told me. And 0:22:56.920 --> 0:22:58.960 I just feel like if I went there, I know 0:22:59.040 --> 0:23:01.360 he gonna be there. And I'm always like, you can 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:03.640 always have my back, don't matter what. He always kept 0:23:03.680 --> 0:23:07.439 really I win. So how are you handling how are 0:23:07.440 --> 0:23:09.919 you going to handle the National Football League? Because that 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:17.199 is the coaching wise. This profession is not always about transparency. 0:23:17.200 --> 0:23:20.359 It's about it's the business, right in the business of 0:23:20.400 --> 0:23:24.719 football is that they're not gonna take like you know, 0:23:24.760 --> 0:23:28.040 when you drive up to a drive through, they know 0:23:28.119 --> 0:23:30.399 they don't have fries, but they're not gonna tell you 0:23:30.440 --> 0:23:32.680 till you put that putting in that order. They ain't 0:23:32.680 --> 0:23:36.720 gonna put on the side. No fries this week. Right, 0:23:37.000 --> 0:23:38.600 They're not gonna put that in the league. They're not 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:40.280 gonna say, hey, we're gonna draft you, but we know 0:23:40.320 --> 0:23:43.360