1
00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:05,560
Speaker 1: What's Good Command is Family. Brian Cople Junior here and

2
00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:07,960
Speaker 1: this is the Next Man Up Podcast. Our Next Man

3
00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:10,920
Speaker 1: Up is Jeremy Reeves, a guy with an amazing story.

4
00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:13,880
Speaker 1: We talk about perseverance, we talk about family, talk about faith,

5
00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:17,000
Speaker 1: and we talk about overcoming insurmountable odds. You do not

6
00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:18,639
Speaker 1: want to miss this one. It's definitely a tear jerker.

7
00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:20,919
Speaker 1: Make sure you have your tissues ready, Ladies and gentlemen.

8
00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:26,599
Speaker 1: This is the Next Man Up Podcast. What's Good Command

9
00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:29,520
Speaker 1: This Family? This is another episode of Next Man Up.

10
00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:32,760
Speaker 1: I'm Brian Coper Junr. With a very very special guess.

11
00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:34,360
Speaker 1: It's only episode two, man, so you get to be

12
00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:37,040
Speaker 1: my second guest. It's pretty cool, man, it's cold in here.

13
00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:42,920
Speaker 1: Man comfortable, it's my god safety ex pro bowler Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy,

14
00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:43,440
Speaker 1: how you doing to day?

15
00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:43,760
Speaker 2: Brother?

16
00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:48,199
Speaker 1: Oh man, I'm blessed man, I'm so glad you are here.

17
00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:50,320
Speaker 1: Preparing for this interview, I realized, like man, me and

18
00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:52,599
Speaker 1: his brother have like a lot in common, a lot

19
00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:54,920
Speaker 1: of things to talk about. And you know, Next Man Up.

20
00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:56,120
Speaker 1: For those of y'all that don't know, this is only

21
00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:58,000
Speaker 1: our second episode. Next Man Up is a chance for

22
00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:00,760
Speaker 1: us to see the man behind ain't the helmet, get

23
00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:02,600
Speaker 1: to know you more as a person, not so much exit,

24
00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:06,039
Speaker 1: and knows more about what makes you the man that

25
00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,679
Speaker 1: you are. But before we get into all of that

26
00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:10,760
Speaker 1: background stuff, we do got to talk about it. Maybe

27
00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:12,360
Speaker 1: we two and one, you know what I'm saying.

28
00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:13,280
Speaker 2: We three didn't go the.

29
00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,840
Speaker 1: Way we planned, however, still a winning team. How are

30
00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:18,480
Speaker 1: you feeling right now at this point of season going

31
00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:18,959
Speaker 1: in the week four?

32
00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:22,039
Speaker 2: Uh, you know, optimistic, but at the same time, you

33
00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,400
Speaker 2: know you're you're kind of frustrated at how last week went.

34
00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:27,319
Speaker 2: You know, the competitor and me never wants games to

35
00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:30,000
Speaker 2: go like that. You know, that's frustrating as an athlete

36
00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:32,120
Speaker 2: somebody that wants to win. You know, I hate losing,

37
00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:34,240
Speaker 2: you know, I hate the feeling of what losing is like.

38
00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:36,800
Speaker 2: And I hate going through that week off of a loss.

39
00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:39,480
Speaker 2: It sucks and like, you know, you think about all

40
00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:41,880
Speaker 2: the plays throughout the throughout the game that could have

41
00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:44,080
Speaker 2: went differently, or that you could have made, or you

42
00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:46,440
Speaker 2: know that should have been better, and so just trying

43
00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:48,040
Speaker 2: to work through that. That's like the worst part of

44
00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:49,800
Speaker 2: like the loss, because you know, you left some food

45
00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,120
Speaker 2: out there on the table. So but then at the

46
00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:53,840
Speaker 2: same time, you gotta have a short memory. You know,

47
00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:55,640
Speaker 2: we're going into a new week. You know, God bless

48
00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,360
Speaker 2: us with another day, hopefully blesses with another one, and

49
00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:00,920
Speaker 2: you know that leads up to Sundays. So you gotta

50
00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:04,040
Speaker 2: have that short mindset mentality and you know, work till

51
00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:04,960
Speaker 2: the next week, and you.

52
00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:07,600
Speaker 1: Talk about that mentality knowing that, hey man, there's another game.

53
00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:10,000
Speaker 1: You had that because you're a veteran man, you've been

54
00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:11,880
Speaker 1: here and done this before. But this is a team,

55
00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:14,440
Speaker 1: especially the secondary, of a lot of young guys. So

56
00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:16,360
Speaker 1: what is that conversation after the first loss of this

57
00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:18,720
Speaker 1: season to those young guys and saying, hey, all right,

58
00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:20,560
Speaker 1: we got to move forward. Like what as a veteran

59
00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:21,920
Speaker 1: have you been able to do to help them kind

60
00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:22,440
Speaker 1: of move past this?

61
00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:25,600
Speaker 2: Laws just kind of, you know, teach them the game

62
00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:27,520
Speaker 2: how I kind of how I know it. You know,

63
00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:29,720
Speaker 2: I've played a lot of football here, you know, whether

64
00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:32,480
Speaker 2: it was special teams or on defense, and so I've

65
00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:35,160
Speaker 2: kind of seen my mix of everything, and so just

66
00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:37,240
Speaker 2: kind of teach them, you know, like, all right, this

67
00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:38,920
Speaker 2: is something you can learn from, but you can't harp

68
00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:40,480
Speaker 2: on it and dwell on it, because at the end

69
00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:43,520
Speaker 2: of the day, teams scout and they self scout, so

70
00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:46,480
Speaker 2: you know, we're gonna get the same things that they

71
00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:48,720
Speaker 2: think are the weakness of certain defenses, and they're going

72
00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:50,880
Speaker 2: to try to exploit that. And on special teams, you know,

73
00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:54,280
Speaker 2: if they see a weakness and rush or if they

74
00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:56,079
Speaker 2: can set up a return, look, they're going to set

75
00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:58,200
Speaker 2: up certain things to do that. If they saw that

76
00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:00,600
Speaker 2: it was, you know, a weakness for us. So those

77
00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:02,120
Speaker 2: are things that you just gotta harp on. But at

78
00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:04,359
Speaker 2: the same time, like you got to be getting ready

79
00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,400
Speaker 2: for the next opponent, So you don't dwell on the past.

80
00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:09,519
Speaker 2: It's over. He can't do nothing about it. You fix

81
00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:11,000
Speaker 2: what needs to be fixing, you move forward.

82
00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:13,399
Speaker 1: And as a better answer your sixty year right, six

83
00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:16,280
Speaker 1: six years, I mean you've kind of seen it all

84
00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,200
Speaker 1: at this point, right, How it's going into this season

85
00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:24,040
Speaker 1: different than every other season you've gone into Personally, Yeah, personally.

86
00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:28,160
Speaker 2: Yes, sir man, I just you know, I I'm not

87
00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,360
Speaker 2: on edge, you know, for me personally in my career,

88
00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,960
Speaker 2: it's always been like, all right, I'm fighting for like

89
00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,080
Speaker 2: a chance to be on a roster, right, I've been

90
00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,320
Speaker 2: a practice squad guy for I don't know how many years.

91
00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:43,520
Speaker 2: It's felt like it was forever, So like I just

92
00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,520
Speaker 2: kind of went through that mental gymnastics of like I

93
00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:48,600
Speaker 2: have to be perfect because I have to do everything

94
00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:51,360
Speaker 2: to stay here. Right, But now last year, after the

95
00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,600
Speaker 2: year I did last year, now it's just about letting

96
00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,800
Speaker 2: it loosen, having fun. Man. There's no uptightness or tense

97
00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,760
Speaker 2: about me. You know, I'm just to play football and

98
00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:02,400
Speaker 2: I'm here to do it at a high level. You know,

99
00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:04,400
Speaker 2: last year was a glimpse of what I can be,

100
00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:06,960
Speaker 2: and this year is just really letting it go.

101
00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:09,320
Speaker 1: And we're excited to see you let it go. Man,

102
00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:11,240
Speaker 1: We're excited to see what you're gonna bring this season.

103
00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:13,280
Speaker 1: But like I said before, this isn't much about the

104
00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:15,920
Speaker 1: X and o's. It's about talking about the man behind

105
00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:17,840
Speaker 1: the helmet, right. So I want to take it back

106
00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:18,640
Speaker 1: to your hometown.

107
00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:20,680
Speaker 2: Right it's coll of Florida. Yeah.

108
00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:22,760
Speaker 1: What does Pencacola, Florida mean to you?

109
00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:27,840
Speaker 2: In your own words? Love? You know what I mean.

110
00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,760
Speaker 2: That's the best way I can describe it. Man. That's

111
00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:33,480
Speaker 2: a place that you know, it surrounds you with love

112
00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:35,240
Speaker 2: when you need it, you know. And my trials and

113
00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:37,480
Speaker 2: tribulations and when I've went through in my life of

114
00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:40,480
Speaker 2: you know, the football aspect of it and the personal

115
00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:42,560
Speaker 2: side of life. You know, the city's embraced me and

116
00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:44,919
Speaker 2: they've loved me, and they continue to give me that

117
00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:46,799
Speaker 2: love even when things weren't going the way I wanted

118
00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:48,800
Speaker 2: it to. And when things did, you know, it was

119
00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:51,600
Speaker 2: the same love. So it's you're gonna get the same

120
00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,240
Speaker 2: consistency no matter what you know, good or bad. They're

121
00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:55,719
Speaker 2: gonna be there for you. They're gonna rock with you,

122
00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:58,600
Speaker 2: and they're gonna have you back regardless. So man, it's

123
00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:00,400
Speaker 2: a it's a blessing to be from a it's like

124
00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,080
Speaker 2: that where it's just just tight knit and and everybody's

125
00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:05,360
Speaker 2: really pulling for the for the guys to win. Everybody

126
00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:06,880
Speaker 2: wants to see each other win. Man, it's a lot

127
00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,159
Speaker 2: of guys from Pensacola. They're in the league. You know,

128
00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:13,320
Speaker 2: you got Martin Emerson in Cleveland, you got Alex Otherwood

129
00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:19,440
Speaker 2: in Chicago. It's it's about Michael Carter and the Jets,

130
00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:22,159
Speaker 2: you know. So it's it's a it's a ton of guys. Now,

131
00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:25,400
Speaker 2: Witherspoon just got drafted to Seattle. So it's a lot

132
00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:27,800
Speaker 2: of guys. You know that the city's pulling forward and

133
00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:30,159
Speaker 2: you know they want you to win. You know that's

134
00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:32,880
Speaker 2: because it's a sense of pride behind that for that place.

135
00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:35,080
Speaker 2: And so I mean, it's beautiful, man, It's it's a

136
00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:35,520
Speaker 2: lot of love.

137
00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:37,880
Speaker 1: You talk about that love. But the guys you just named,

138
00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:40,200
Speaker 1: you nameing some real dogs like you're named some guys

139
00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:41,800
Speaker 1: that got a chip on their shoulder come into the

140
00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:45,719
Speaker 1: league improving a point? What about Pensacola makes y'all like

141
00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:48,240
Speaker 1: that and breeze these dogs that is coming into the NFL.

142
00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,960
Speaker 2: Man, it's only the mentality there is, and I mean

143
00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:55,800
Speaker 2: it's it's it's crazy, but it's true. It's like, I mean,

144
00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:58,320
Speaker 2: I grew up in the military home and then my parents.

145
00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:00,479
Speaker 2: I was blessed to have both parents and my life.

146
00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:02,840
Speaker 2: But the reality was my parents couldn't afford to go

147
00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:05,479
Speaker 2: to college for me, to put me into college, you know.

148
00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:07,960
Speaker 2: So the mentality was, if I don't make it in football,

149
00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:09,919
Speaker 2: I don't know how to get school. I don't know

150
00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:12,799
Speaker 2: how I'm going to get another chance out of second education.

151
00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:16,560
Speaker 2: And so the mentality was that I have to make

152
00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:18,200
Speaker 2: it like this because if I don't, I don't know

153
00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:21,359
Speaker 2: what's next. So there was no for most of those. Actually,

154
00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:22,839
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say every one of those guys that I

155
00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:25,360
Speaker 2: just named, there was no plan bow. You know, every

156
00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:27,200
Speaker 2: you know, you hear it from a young age. You

157
00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:30,800
Speaker 2: hear teachers, you hear from coaches. You know you gotta

158
00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:32,320
Speaker 2: have a plan, but you gotta have something to fall

159
00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:35,400
Speaker 2: back on. That was there was no plan B. This

160
00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:37,760
Speaker 2: is a play A that was playing. Gotta work because

161
00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:39,679
Speaker 2: if it don't work, then I don't know what's next.

162
00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:41,920
Speaker 2: You know, you get to that when you get there.

163
00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,320
Speaker 2: But right now that's the focus, is just that, And

164
00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:45,840
Speaker 2: I can say that for all of those guys out

165
00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:49,400
Speaker 2: are there, they just they understood, you know that if

166
00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:51,839
Speaker 2: I don't do this this way, then I don't know

167
00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:52,760
Speaker 2: how it's gonna happen.

168
00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,240
Speaker 1: And having that understanding and mentioning that you grew up

169
00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:58,279
Speaker 1: in the military family, first, all shout out to your parents,

170
00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:01,200
Speaker 1: thank them for the service. And a man, I also

171
00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:01,960
Speaker 1: grew up military.

172
00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:02,720
Speaker 2: That's what I'm talking about.

173
00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:05,400
Speaker 1: The things we have, the comments, and it's funny because

174
00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:07,359
Speaker 1: like almost all my friends other than the ones I

175
00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:10,560
Speaker 1: grew up with in military homes don't really get what

176
00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:12,160
Speaker 1: that means when you say I grew up in a

177
00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:12,800
Speaker 1: military family.

178
00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:14,520
Speaker 2: They know about, you know, the service.

179
00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:16,360
Speaker 1: They know about the accolades and you know what I'm saying,

180
00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:18,000
Speaker 1: the uniforms and things like that. They don't really know

181
00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:21,720
Speaker 1: what goes into growing up in a military household with

182
00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:25,240
Speaker 1: two parents that have military mindsets, right, speak on that

183
00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:27,800
Speaker 1: a little bit, and also like how that played a

184
00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:29,120
Speaker 1: part in who you are today.

185
00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,160
Speaker 2: You know, it was so my parents when they were

186
00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:35,000
Speaker 2: out of the military, well when I was born, my

187
00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:38,000
Speaker 2: parents were out, but my father went from the military.

188
00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:40,200
Speaker 2: He went from the army straight into law enforcement, so

189
00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:45,360
Speaker 2: he became a police officer. So it was very structured,

190
00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:48,680
Speaker 2: you know, like day to day life was very regimented.

191
00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:52,800
Speaker 2: It was you know, you wake up, I woke up.

192
00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:54,560
Speaker 2: I woke up at the same time every day. You know.

193
00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:56,520
Speaker 2: I had school start at seven forty five. I had

194
00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,400
Speaker 2: to be up. We lived. I lived in Cantonment, which

195
00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:01,560
Speaker 2: is right outside pens Cola, so it was probably like

196
00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:03,960
Speaker 2: a thirty minute drive of school, so you got to

197
00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:05,320
Speaker 2: get up at least at six thirty.

198
00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:10,920
Speaker 1: At least that was like the latest you can push it.

199
00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:15,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, so six am. I'm going from from there, I

200
00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:18,120
Speaker 2: wake up, I make my bed, I go into the bathroom,

201
00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:21,080
Speaker 2: brush my teeth, wash my face. From there, I go

202
00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,480
Speaker 2: into the kitchen, I make my lunch. And my dad

203
00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,520
Speaker 2: used to have these two coins. We used to do these, uh,

204
00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:30,960
Speaker 2: these little breakfast sandwiches. My dad before he went to

205
00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:33,120
Speaker 2: work or if he was working late at night, he

206
00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:35,880
Speaker 2: would put the sandwich from the freezer in the fridge

207
00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:38,240
Speaker 2: with a thaw. That way, in the morning time I

208
00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:39,720
Speaker 2: could just put it in the microwave and it would

209
00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:41,880
Speaker 2: be ready to go. So I go in there, I

210
00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:44,800
Speaker 2: put that in the microwave and make the lunch. Then

211
00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:47,280
Speaker 2: I'd come back, I get dressed, I'd eat, and then

212
00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:48,880
Speaker 2: I'd grab my lunch and I was out the door,

213
00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:51,360
Speaker 2: like and it was like that every day, right, and

214
00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:53,440
Speaker 2: so like when my dad came back home from work

215
00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:55,440
Speaker 2: and my mom, did you know, the first thing they

216
00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:57,960
Speaker 2: did was check to see the bed was made. So

217
00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:00,439
Speaker 2: my dad would get off at different times depending on

218
00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:02,960
Speaker 2: what shift he worked. My mom she worked, you know,

219
00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:05,840
Speaker 2: a regular nine to five, So like they would usually

220
00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:08,120
Speaker 2: get home before I did because I had practice or

221
00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:12,280
Speaker 2: a baseball practice or football practice. After school. So I

222
00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:14,320
Speaker 2: was getting home at like six, so like they are

223
00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:17,640
Speaker 2: already home, they've already seen it, so I wouldn't. I

224
00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:20,480
Speaker 2: would get a text if something was right, right, like

225
00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:22,920
Speaker 2: the bad gotta be like no wrinkles, it got to

226
00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:26,480
Speaker 2: be tight, right, like the sheets can't have any Like. Yeah,

227
00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:30,960
Speaker 2: it was very old, right, It's very It was very regimented.

228
00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:33,559
Speaker 2: But at the same time, like as a twenty seven

229
00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:36,560
Speaker 2: year old man, now like that shaped how I am

230
00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:38,960
Speaker 2: now as far as like how I go about my

231
00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:43,400
Speaker 2: business personally and professionally, you know, So like it made

232
00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:46,120
Speaker 2: me regimented, and you know, what I do on my

233
00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:48,920
Speaker 2: off days. And then it made me bled into like

234
00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:50,760
Speaker 2: what I do when I'm at the facility, what time

235
00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:52,959
Speaker 2: I'm waking up, How am I taking care of my body?

236
00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:56,000
Speaker 2: What am I doing? What's my routine? So but I'm

237
00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:58,520
Speaker 2: thankful for it. I hated it then. It sucks. It

238
00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:01,600
Speaker 2: was terrible then, but like it paid off when I

239
00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:02,520
Speaker 2: got older.

240
00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:05,240
Speaker 1: And you talk about the things it did for you,

241
00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:07,480
Speaker 1: the way it benefited you as a man as a

242
00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:10,360
Speaker 1: football player. But there's got to be those moments where

243
00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:12,400
Speaker 1: you're like talking to your kids, right, they didn't grow

244
00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:14,360
Speaker 1: up like that they didn't have military backgrounds. It just

245
00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:17,320
Speaker 1: grew up as just normal everyday civilians. Is there anything

246
00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:20,160
Speaker 1: you hear where you're like, dang, that sounds good or man,

247
00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:22,680
Speaker 1: I wish I would have had that as a child,

248
00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:25,880
Speaker 1: because you know, I was in such a strict household.

249
00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:28,439
Speaker 2: I mean I would say yes and no. As much

250
00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:30,680
Speaker 2: as strict as my parents were, there was a level

251
00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:34,480
Speaker 2: of trust, right So like as I became a young adult,

252
00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:38,640
Speaker 2: my parents the least became looser. And so as I

253
00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:40,960
Speaker 2: grew up, you know, they allowed me the freedom to

254
00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:42,959
Speaker 2: do things and be a young kid, you know, make

255
00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:45,040
Speaker 2: mistakes and fall and learn how to get back up

256
00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:47,120
Speaker 2: because at the end of the day, you know, my parents,

257
00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:49,400
Speaker 2: our parents aren't going to be here forever. One day.

258
00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:51,280
Speaker 2: You gotta learn how to walk on you on two feet,

259
00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:53,679
Speaker 2: and so just as much as they had that tight

260
00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:55,480
Speaker 2: at least they also let me learn how to become

261
00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:58,880
Speaker 2: my own man. And it taught me something that you know,

262
00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:00,920
Speaker 2: some people didn't get out of early age. You know,

263
00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:02,640
Speaker 2: some people learn it later in life. You know, I

264
00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:05,440
Speaker 2: was able to, you know, learn self discipline, you know,

265
00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:09,240
Speaker 2: and mature at a much sooner rate than a lot

266
00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:13,360
Speaker 2: of sometimes my parents because just of that growing up

267
00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:15,520
Speaker 2: in that structure that I had, it taught me things

268
00:11:15,559 --> 00:11:17,559
Speaker 2: about myself that I you know, learned that I could

269
00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:18,560
Speaker 2: play in my day to day.

270
00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:22,560
Speaker 1: And it's evident hearing you speak how big your parents

271
00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:25,319
Speaker 1: were in your life, how much of a role they played,

272
00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:28,000
Speaker 1: and especially your mother. I know that you guys have

273
00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:31,800
Speaker 1: a very very close relationship. November twenty twenty one, you know,

274
00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:34,160
Speaker 1: things kind of took a turn. Do you want to

275
00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:36,320
Speaker 1: talk about that a little bit? What happened and what

276
00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:40,240
Speaker 1: you speak on it, and you know how it affected you.

277
00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:43,560
Speaker 2: You know, it's I can tell you exactly how that

278
00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:46,280
Speaker 2: day is. It's like sometimes people go through traumatic experiences

279
00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:48,560
Speaker 2: and they have like a mental block of that experience,

280
00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:52,000
Speaker 2: but like mine is vivid. Like I can remember I

281
00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:54,160
Speaker 2: was we had just got off of practice. We were

282
00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:59,120
Speaker 2: going out to play Vegas that week, and I remember

283
00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:01,000
Speaker 2: my sister called me in Call of Duty. I had

284
00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:04,440
Speaker 2: a monitor I have. It's kind of wild, the traumatic

285
00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:07,640
Speaker 2: It's wild what trauma does. So like I was playing

286
00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:11,439
Speaker 2: Call of Duty and I remember my sister called and

287
00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:14,880
Speaker 2: I was sitting in the stool and she told me,

288
00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:20,360
Speaker 2: you know, Mom's unresponsive, and uh, you know, my first

289
00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:22,559
Speaker 2: reaction was, like my mom's okay, she could be okay,

290
00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:25,400
Speaker 2: Like I see my mother battle everything, you know, as

291
00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:28,400
Speaker 2: like a child, Like there's just mentality in this thought

292
00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:31,240
Speaker 2: process of like our parents are like super superhumans, right,

293
00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:33,760
Speaker 2: they suffer in silence, and you know, and as a child,

294
00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,320
Speaker 2: you never know everything that your parents go through. Right,

295
00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:39,640
Speaker 2: That's the part of being a parent is like you

296
00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:41,480
Speaker 2: deal with things on your own, and you don't you

297
00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:43,440
Speaker 2: don't want to bring that on your child, put that

298
00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:46,559
Speaker 2: on your child. So my mother was very strong woman,

299
00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:51,640
Speaker 2: and so you know, it turned out that she wasn't okay,

300
00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:56,800
Speaker 2: you know, and I just remember, you know, briefly, you know,

301
00:12:56,840 --> 00:12:58,880
Speaker 2: I kind of just lost it in the moment. You know,

302
00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:02,120
Speaker 2: that's I'm not hundred miles away from home, you know,

303
00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:05,319
Speaker 2: and I just wanted to be there, Like in that moment,

304
00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:07,880
Speaker 2: I wanted to be with my family, with you know,

305
00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:10,200
Speaker 2: my mother. You know, A part of me thought there

306
00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:12,880
Speaker 2: was something I could do to stop that, you know,

307
00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:15,560
Speaker 2: there's something I could prevent, some way I could prevent

308
00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:18,880
Speaker 2: that from happening, you know, And I think at the

309
00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:21,160
Speaker 2: end of the day, it was just that was just

310
00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:23,840
Speaker 2: her time, you know. I think God had told her

311
00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:25,400
Speaker 2: that she served the purpose and it was time to

312
00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:29,040
Speaker 2: come home, and there was comfort in that, you know.

313
00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:32,200
Speaker 2: But you know, in that moment, you don't think of that.

314
00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:36,920
Speaker 2: You know, it's kind of blotchy. I remembered in spurts

315
00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:41,320
Speaker 2: like what I did and what happened, you know. But

316
00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:44,840
Speaker 2: you know, I never played that PlayStation again. I sold

317
00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:48,160
Speaker 2: it and I sold that monitor. I don't touch it anymore,

318
00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:50,800
Speaker 2: you know. It's just that I don't know what it

319
00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:52,920
Speaker 2: was about it, but I just wouldn't touch it, you know.

320
00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:55,079
Speaker 2: And so that was part of that trauma, that kind

321
00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:58,160
Speaker 2: of I just I didn't want to relive. I didn't

322
00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:02,080
Speaker 2: want to go through it. And I remember flying home,

323
00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:06,320
Speaker 2: and that was probably the hardest part of that whole thing,

324
00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:10,560
Speaker 2: was going home. I remember being on the plane and

325
00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:13,320
Speaker 2: I remember being so close, feeling like I was so

326
00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:15,920
Speaker 2: close up in the air, but being like so far

327
00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:17,480
Speaker 2: away at the same time because I knew what I

328
00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:20,080
Speaker 2: was going home too. And that was hard. That was

329
00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:23,760
Speaker 2: tough because at that time in my life it seemed

330
00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:26,240
Speaker 2: like nothing was going right for me, right like the

331
00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:30,240
Speaker 2: year before in twenty twenty, like it was COVID and

332
00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:33,440
Speaker 2: I ended up coming in and playing defensively on football

333
00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:36,360
Speaker 2: side of it, and I was playing well, and like

334
00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:38,840
Speaker 2: I got to start against Dallas, and I balled out

335
00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:40,760
Speaker 2: against Dallas and I had a great game and ended

336
00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:42,480
Speaker 2: up starting the rest of the year and play well

337
00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:45,080
Speaker 2: and played in the playoffs against Tom Brady. And so

338
00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:47,640
Speaker 2: from the football side of it, I felt like I

339
00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:49,840
Speaker 2: had got over that hump that I had been facing

340
00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:53,840
Speaker 2: for four years, you know, like that man, he's just

341
00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:57,400
Speaker 2: a guy we could plug in here and there. I'm like, nah,

342
00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:00,160
Speaker 2: like I finally showed that, like I'm more than and

343
00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:03,160
Speaker 2: what I got labeled as, you know, maybe to the public.

344
00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,640
Speaker 2: And so from that point forward, when I get to

345
00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:09,600
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one and I'm cut again and I'm right

346
00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:11,680
Speaker 2: back to square one. After I finished on such a

347
00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:15,160
Speaker 2: hot note, I'm like, what more can I do? Like

348
00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:17,520
Speaker 2: what more do I have to do to show that,

349
00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:19,880
Speaker 2: like I belong here? I know I belong here, But

350
00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:21,560
Speaker 2: what more do I have to prove? I'm not proving

351
00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,160
Speaker 2: anything to me? I notice, right, last year wasn't a

352
00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:26,120
Speaker 2: shock to me, Like I knew to who. I knew

353
00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:28,880
Speaker 2: who who I was, Like I knew I said it.

354
00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:31,120
Speaker 2: You give me a full seventeen, I'm gonna show you

355
00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:33,040
Speaker 2: what I can do, you know, and like I got that,

356
00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:38,240
Speaker 2: and so it was just going through that right back

357
00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:40,360
Speaker 2: over again where I'm cutting. I'm just fighting for my

358
00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:42,960
Speaker 2: life again, and it's just like I don't know what

359
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,280
Speaker 2: tomorrow is gonna bring, and then you get that on

360
00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:48,240
Speaker 2: top of it. It was it was hard, man, It

361
00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:52,000
Speaker 2: was a lot of you know, that was really the

362
00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:54,960
Speaker 2: first time in my life where like not emotional person.

363
00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:58,840
Speaker 2: I'm very introverted, Like I don't express my feelings a lot.

364
00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,160
Speaker 2: I think that just comes with being a man, right,

365
00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:04,760
Speaker 2: you know, there's that stigma of like men, you're not

366
00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:07,280
Speaker 2: supposed to be you're supposed to be tough and you're

367
00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:09,400
Speaker 2: not supposed to be vulnerable. And like I grew up

368
00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:11,920
Speaker 2: like that because my dad's like that, you know, militant,

369
00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:15,320
Speaker 2: you know. So it's very like you deal with it internally.

370
00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:18,480
Speaker 2: And that was the first time I didn't internalize things,

371
00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:20,000
Speaker 2: you know, I just kind of let my feelings out there,

372
00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:21,840
Speaker 2: how I was feeling and what I was going through

373
00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:25,760
Speaker 2: mentally and emotionally. And you know, I can just say

374
00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,520
Speaker 2: like I had a village. It took a village, you know,

375
00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:31,040
Speaker 2: and I had a village that really just helped me.

376
00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:32,720
Speaker 2: There was a lot of days where I cried, a

377
00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:34,160
Speaker 2: lot of days where I was sad, and I was

378
00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:36,680
Speaker 2: angry and I was frustrated. You know, you can even

379
00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:38,520
Speaker 2: throw it in depressed in there, but you know I

380
00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:41,440
Speaker 2: had a village of people that you know, really got

381
00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:42,400
Speaker 2: me out of that tough time.

382
00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:46,200
Speaker 1: You talk about that moment where you let you release, right,

383
00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:48,920
Speaker 1: you let your emotions go. And it's something admittedly, like

384
00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:50,480
Speaker 1: you said, it's not something you really doing. Like you said,

385
00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:51,920
Speaker 1: it's a man thing. It's only a man thing. It's

386
00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:54,480
Speaker 1: a black man thing where our dad's teachers. Hey listen,

387
00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:56,960
Speaker 1: nobody gonna cry for you, nobody gonna feel bad for you.

388
00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:59,560
Speaker 1: This life is tough. Suck it up and shake it off. Right.

389
00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:02,280
Speaker 1: So when you have that moment where you say, okay,

390
00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:04,200
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let loose like this is too much?

391
00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:06,159
Speaker 2: Yeah, what did that do for you?

392
00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:08,720
Speaker 1: Man? Did that teach you okay, it's okay to release

393
00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:11,520
Speaker 1: this emotion? Did it just feel good or did it

394
00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:13,680
Speaker 1: just add to everything that you were already going through?

395
00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:18,720
Speaker 2: Nah? Man it it honestly was the best reliever I've

396
00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:23,480
Speaker 2: ever had. And I say that because I don't even

397
00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:26,520
Speaker 2: think in the moment I was really crying or or

398
00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:30,440
Speaker 2: emotional about just that. I think all the emotion that

399
00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:32,359
Speaker 2: was let go was everything that I felt that I

400
00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:35,600
Speaker 2: just never said or handled or addressed. You know, it

401
00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:38,240
Speaker 2: took me to become twenty five years old to really realize,

402
00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:39,639
Speaker 2: like all the things that I was going through and

403
00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:42,520
Speaker 2: I just never addressed. You know, it goes back to

404
00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:46,560
Speaker 2: the story you hear where you hear you have a

405
00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:49,480
Speaker 2: boy and a girl, right and as a girl when

406
00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:51,480
Speaker 2: she's a child, and a boy when they're a child,

407
00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:53,520
Speaker 2: when the girl falls off the bike, you know, the

408
00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:56,800
Speaker 2: parents say, you know, it's okay to cry, you know,

409
00:17:57,160 --> 00:17:59,320
Speaker 2: it's all right, let it out. And then as a boy,

410
00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:01,399
Speaker 2: you know, when you fall off that bike, you know,

411
00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:03,760
Speaker 2: big boys on cross suck it up, you know, get

412
00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:07,920
Speaker 2: right back to it. And so that's the mentality that

413
00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:10,000
Speaker 2: I had and I carried that my entire life. So

414
00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:14,800
Speaker 2: like going undrafted, you know, breaking my back in high school,

415
00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:19,080
Speaker 2: you know, losing friends that I've lost, you know that

416
00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:21,359
Speaker 2: I've seen, you know, whether that was going to jail

417
00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:26,560
Speaker 2: or being killed, losing family members. That was something that

418
00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:28,800
Speaker 2: when that happened, all of that came out at one time,

419
00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:32,160
Speaker 2: every bit of it. Like it wasn't just my mother,

420
00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,040
Speaker 2: like that was the root of it. But I think

421
00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:38,000
Speaker 2: all the pain that I kind of felt and internalized

422
00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:40,199
Speaker 2: all came out, man, And it was just was like

423
00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:43,160
Speaker 2: a weight off my shoulder, man. And I just remember.

424
00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,320
Speaker 2: One of the greatest things I remember is like my

425
00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:50,480
Speaker 2: mother used to always tell me, you know, you never

426
00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:54,840
Speaker 2: questioned God and what He's doing. And I remember when

427
00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:56,959
Speaker 2: she when I got to know she passed, like I

428
00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:00,560
Speaker 2: was like like why, you know, you know, I think

429
00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:04,119
Speaker 2: the human side of us always asks why why does

430
00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:06,320
Speaker 2: this happened? You know. I try to be a good man.

431
00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:07,840
Speaker 2: I try to do things right away. I try to

432
00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:10,840
Speaker 2: treat people well, you know. And it's just like you

433
00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:14,159
Speaker 2: keep knocking me down when I'm getting back up and

434
00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:16,760
Speaker 2: I'm fighting, but it's like, I don't like what am

435
00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:18,720
Speaker 2: I fighting for? If you're just gonna knock me down again,

436
00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:20,880
Speaker 2: you know, you're gonna take something that was so dear

437
00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:25,199
Speaker 2: to me. And you know, I questioned that and that

438
00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:27,600
Speaker 2: was where my flesh was weak, you know, and I

439
00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:29,760
Speaker 2: had to you know, get that strength from my back

440
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,320
Speaker 2: in my spirit, and that came from other people you know,

441
00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:35,280
Speaker 2: came from teammates, It came from you know, coaches, It

442
00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:40,000
Speaker 2: came from teachers that I've had, It came from family members, friends,

443
00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:43,120
Speaker 2: you know. Like, man like, I didn't get through that

444
00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:45,239
Speaker 2: by myself, and I didn't have the year I had

445
00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:47,760
Speaker 2: last year by myself. You know, it was it was

446
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:50,240
Speaker 2: a collective, man was It was a collective.

447
00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:54,040
Speaker 1: And you know, you talk about not being able to

448
00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:56,520
Speaker 1: really express yourself, and in that moment, you felt good,

449
00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:59,159
Speaker 1: You felt released everything that you have been holding up

450
00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:01,800
Speaker 1: and dealing with. You were able to let go. You know,

451
00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:04,239
Speaker 1: not a lot of times, especially as a man, as

452
00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:06,399
Speaker 1: an NFL player, right you this big tough dude, do

453
00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:09,000
Speaker 1: people go about asking you like, hey you okay today?

454
00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:09,119
Speaker 2: Man?

455
00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:11,280
Speaker 1: Are you doing good? So like, not only do I

456
00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:13,359
Speaker 1: want to ask you how are you right now? But

457
00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:15,760
Speaker 1: what have you done to find ways to be able

458
00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:18,240
Speaker 1: to now express yourself? Have you been able to get

459
00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:19,240
Speaker 1: more comfortable after that?

460
00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:22,880
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean one thing, so like the biggest thing

461
00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:26,399
Speaker 2: that I did post my mother passing, it was like

462
00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:28,760
Speaker 2: I went to therapy. Yeah, and I started talking to

463
00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:30,879
Speaker 2: a therapist and I got over that stigma of like,

464
00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:34,200
Speaker 2: you know, you don't need to go talk to a therapist,

465
00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:38,320
Speaker 2: Like therapyst is associated with crazy people, right, like people

466
00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,600
Speaker 2: that have mental illness. That's the stigma, Right, that's the stigma. Like,

467
00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:43,639
Speaker 2: that's the stigma, and it's far from that. You know,

468
00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:48,119
Speaker 2: people that need an outlet. Right. It's hard to go

469
00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:50,320
Speaker 2: to people where you think it's a bias to talk

470
00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:54,840
Speaker 2: about things, and you know, especially in this industry that

471
00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:57,240
Speaker 2: we're in, Like it's hard as a man to go

472
00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:00,199
Speaker 2: to another man in his business and be like, yo,

473
00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:03,320
Speaker 2: like I'm hurting, right, I'm hurting. I can't tell you

474
00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:05,520
Speaker 2: exactly why I'm hurting, but I'm hurting because you have

475
00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:09,360
Speaker 2: days like that. And the best thing that I did

476
00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:11,679
Speaker 2: was go talk to somebody that had no bias. They

477
00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:13,920
Speaker 2: didn't know me, they didn't know me from Adam, right,

478
00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:16,359
Speaker 2: and they just listen. You know, a lot of times

479
00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:18,320
Speaker 2: we get caught up and wanted to respond to people,

480
00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:20,479
Speaker 2: and a lot of people just want you to listen,

481
00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:23,959
Speaker 2: like they just need a ear, right. And so I

482
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:26,639
Speaker 2: got that and I was able to just let my

483
00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:29,359
Speaker 2: heart go on things that you know, were on me,

484
00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:33,359
Speaker 2: you know, and that changed like the trajectory of how

485
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:39,280
Speaker 2: I go about expressing now, Like me and my girlfriend.

486
00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:42,880
Speaker 2: Now we're very transparent about how we communicate with each other,

487
00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:46,119
Speaker 2: and like, if something's bothered me five years ago, I

488
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:48,399
Speaker 2: would have never said anything about it. I would have

489
00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:51,680
Speaker 2: dealt with it internally and then kind of just moved

490
00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:53,639
Speaker 2: on from it. But in reality, I was never getting

491
00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:56,520
Speaker 2: over it. It was just kind of compartmentalized. And then

492
00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:58,199
Speaker 2: it gets to a point where now it's just like

493
00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:02,080
Speaker 2: it's too big of an issue. So I got to

494
00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:04,160
Speaker 2: point out things will bother me, you know, you talk

495
00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:06,560
Speaker 2: about them, you know, and you express that if I'm sad,

496
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:08,960
Speaker 2: like I'm sad, you know, and I don't really want

497
00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:11,840
Speaker 2: to talk. If I need some time, I say that.

498
00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:15,040
Speaker 2: But like that's where I've gotten to the point now

499
00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:18,800
Speaker 2: where it's just helped me just basic human communication, you know,

500
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,720
Speaker 2: because at the end of the day, you know, men

501
00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:24,200
Speaker 2: or women, you're not supposed to go through things alone,

502
00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:27,560
Speaker 2: right like you weren't created to be alone. That's why

503
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:31,119
Speaker 2: you know, he was created from Adam, you know, you know,

504
00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:34,440
Speaker 2: you built for relationship. Nobody was meant to be alone.

505
00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:38,679
Speaker 2: And so when I really realized that, you know, I

506
00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:41,639
Speaker 2: started you know, leaning on people, and that's okay, you know,

507
00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:44,480
Speaker 2: that's what we're here for. Because the day we all

508
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,080
Speaker 2: brothers and sisters, you know, under the one true person.

509
00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,040
Speaker 2: So amen, at the end of the day, that's what

510
00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:52,720
Speaker 2: we That's what I did, and you know it's helped

511
00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:55,159
Speaker 2: me tremendously, you know. And so now you know, I

512
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:58,400
Speaker 2: have my days. Any human does. Anybody that goes through things,

513
00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:01,760
Speaker 2: they have their days. And so but I know what

514
00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:04,000
Speaker 2: those days. I don't go through them by myself, and

515
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:05,720
Speaker 2: I don't have to go through them by myself. You know,

516
00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,240
Speaker 2: I got people that you know are there, and.

517
00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:10,840
Speaker 1: That support system is everything. You talk about your family,

518
00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:13,760
Speaker 1: you know, all the people that were there for you,

519
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:17,560
Speaker 1: your faith, but also you have a team behind you, right,

520
00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:20,679
Speaker 1: you have coaches, we have this team, we have Washington here,

521
00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:25,199
Speaker 1: this fan base. What was that like having your teammates

522
00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:28,280
Speaker 1: just rally behind you, having coach rivera be you know,

523
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,240
Speaker 1: almost like another father figure to you within all of that.

524
00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:33,160
Speaker 1: Talk about that a little bit and with having that

525
00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,240
Speaker 1: team aspect of the support, how that helped you get through?

526
00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:38,720
Speaker 2: Oh man, it was it was beautiful. Man. I remember

527
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,679
Speaker 2: you know, the first two people I saw, you know,

528
00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:46,240
Speaker 2: because this is this is how crazy I'm wired. I

529
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:48,720
Speaker 2: found out the next day. I found out that night

530
00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:52,840
Speaker 2: that my mother had passed the way I'm wired. I

531
00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:54,760
Speaker 2: woke up the next day and tried to go to work.

532
00:23:55,119 --> 00:23:56,720
Speaker 2: I try to go to I try to go to work,

533
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:00,239
Speaker 2: and I just remember I couldn't do it. And I

534
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:02,440
Speaker 2: remember the first two people I saw outside of that

535
00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:05,919
Speaker 2: were Kendall and Danny. They came to my house, you know,

536
00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:07,840
Speaker 2: and they just sat with me. They ain't talk much,

537
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:09,320
Speaker 2: they just sat with me because I ain't have much

538
00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:11,480
Speaker 2: to say, and they just sat with me. And you know,

539
00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:13,680
Speaker 2: that was just that presence of like them being there,

540
00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:17,040
Speaker 2: and you know, that family environment of them just you know,

541
00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:21,200
Speaker 2: embracing me. And even the fans man, like, dude, man,

542
00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:24,800
Speaker 2: it's been They don't get enough credit for like what's

543
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:27,640
Speaker 2: happened with me, but like I will tell you personally,

544
00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:30,600
Speaker 2: like man, like I paid attention a lot to what's

545
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:33,879
Speaker 2: been said by those fans, and well they have a

546
00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:35,600
Speaker 2: lot of days where I didn't know if I was

547
00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:37,760
Speaker 2: really good enough to do what I'm doing, Like they

548
00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:41,160
Speaker 2: kept me going. So like it's been loved. Man, it's

549
00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:44,119
Speaker 2: been beautiful, and I'm super grateful. I'm blessed, you know,

550
00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:47,280
Speaker 2: just to have been blessed with, you know, the people

551
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:50,240
Speaker 2: that have been put in my life. Man, that's awesome

552
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:50,560
Speaker 2: to hear.

553
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:54,200
Speaker 1: Man, And I mean your story. You know, practice squad,

554
00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:56,120
Speaker 1: on a team, practice squad, on the team, practice quad,

555
00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:58,359
Speaker 1: on the team, dealing with all of that, right while

556
00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:00,959
Speaker 1: still going through life things that you had mentioned, right,

557
00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,240
Speaker 1: losing your mother and all that, and then to get

558
00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:05,960
Speaker 1: to a moment like last year where you get named

559
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,720
Speaker 1: to the Pro Bowl. You have that moment, very very

560
00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:11,960
Speaker 1: emotional video where you know, coach Ron tells.

561
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:13,639
Speaker 2: You, hey, man, you did it.

562
00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:15,359
Speaker 1: You made it. Now only did you make it, but

563
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:17,840
Speaker 1: you deserved it. Tell us about that moment because you

564
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:19,800
Speaker 1: overcome an emotion. Just talk to us about that. Walkers

565
00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:20,920
Speaker 1: through that.

566
00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:23,800
Speaker 2: That was like you said, it was emotional, man, Like

567
00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:27,800
Speaker 2: that was the said. There's a video on my Instagram.

568
00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:30,720
Speaker 2: I said in twenty nineteen in an interview that I

569
00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:33,080
Speaker 2: was going to go to Pro Bowl. Wow. Until that

570
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 2: nineteen I was on prize squad that year. I didn't

571
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,679
Speaker 2: even play like that. And then you fast forward a

572
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:41,760
Speaker 2: few years ago or to last year, and here I

573
00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:44,960
Speaker 2: am in the Pro Bowl. So it just goes to

574
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:48,760
Speaker 2: show man that like I knew who I was going

575
00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:51,679
Speaker 2: to be before anybody else did, right, you know, like

576
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:54,240
Speaker 2: when God says you got to walk the path that's narrow,

577
00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:57,040
Speaker 2: like you gotta walk it, and whatever path that might be,

578
00:25:57,119 --> 00:26:00,760
Speaker 2: that's that's your path. You gotta walk it. I did,

579
00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:03,080
Speaker 2: you know, And sometimes I might have waivered it. I

580
00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:05,480
Speaker 2: might have stumbled and even fel but like I got

581
00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:08,240
Speaker 2: back up and kept walking it. And it just goes

582
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,560
Speaker 2: to show man that like it starts with you first.

583
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:14,840
Speaker 2: And so just having all that and then in that

584
00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:17,760
Speaker 2: moment him telling me that it was just it was emotional, man,

585
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:22,080
Speaker 2: because it was like I've been told know so many times, right,

586
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:26,000
Speaker 2: I failed so many times, and like in failure, I

587
00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:29,520
Speaker 2: found like good and I found something to like keep

588
00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:32,399
Speaker 2: me going and that was it, you know, And that

589
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:36,720
Speaker 2: was That's that moment that like the most gratifying thing

590
00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:41,639
Speaker 2: that I've experienced in football. Was like, yeah, man, like

591
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:45,119
Speaker 2: you overcame like God looking at like I told you,

592
00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:47,200
Speaker 2: I told you just keep walking, you know what I'm saying,

593
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:49,720
Speaker 2: Like that's what it was for me. And just thinking

594
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:52,439
Speaker 2: to my mother in that moment as well, and just

595
00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:54,520
Speaker 2: you know everything that she used to say, you know,

596
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:56,000
Speaker 2: she used to text me even when I was on

597
00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:58,440
Speaker 2: the mother is just thing. They know when they don't,

598
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:00,680
Speaker 2: they know it's something wrong. Even when you don't say

599
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:02,639
Speaker 2: nothing that she did and she takes She used to

600
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,000
Speaker 2: text me all the time, just you know what God

601
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:06,679
Speaker 2: has for you, no man can stop. And that's all

602
00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:09,320
Speaker 2: she would say. And it was true, you know, And

603
00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 2: so I just the emotion of that and you know

604
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,920
Speaker 2: everything that I've been through, it just you let it go. Man,

605
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,119
Speaker 2: It's okay to feel I was feeling in that moment.

606
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:23,119
Speaker 1: And as we rap, you mentioned your mom and you

607
00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:25,240
Speaker 1: know she wasn't around for to share that moment with you.

608
00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:27,520
Speaker 1: But what do you think she would have told you

609
00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:29,119
Speaker 1: in that moment if you could have called her right

610
00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:30,360
Speaker 1: after that, what do you think she would have said

611
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:30,600
Speaker 1: to you?

612
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:34,560
Speaker 2: Uh, that's kind of crazy. I ain't never I've never

613
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:35,600
Speaker 2: been asked that before.

614
00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:36,239
Speaker 1: Uh.

615
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:41,960
Speaker 2: I think she would have just said, you know, I'm

616
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:45,679
Speaker 2: proud of you and that I always knew this was

617
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:50,520
Speaker 2: going to be you know what you would do, you know,

618
00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:54,880
Speaker 2: and that God's been with you the whole time, and

619
00:27:55,040 --> 00:28:01,919
Speaker 2: uh yeah, yeah, yeah, I think she would definitely just

620
00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,080
Speaker 2: say she was proud of me and that she loved me.

621
00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:05,960
Speaker 2: You know that's so she was.

622
00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:07,960
Speaker 1: We have no doubt about that. Man. Well let me

623
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:10,000
Speaker 1: tell you, man, your command is family. We're proud of you. Man,

624
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:12,320
Speaker 1: We're happy to see what you got going. We got

625
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:15,440
Speaker 1: Philly week four. Baby, it's coming up, right, you got

626
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,280
Speaker 1: ties to Philly because that was your first team. Really, right,

627
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:21,120
Speaker 1: what do you feel about this matchup? It's a divisional match?

628
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:22,920
Speaker 1: What makes this kind of game? It's a little more

629
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:25,200
Speaker 1: important than all the other games. I know, it means

630
00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:26,320
Speaker 1: a little something more to you.

631
00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:29,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was the first one that I got cut.

632
00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:33,320
Speaker 2: So it's always personal, man, I mean every game that

633
00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:35,879
Speaker 2: I play is personally. I went and drafted, so thirty

634
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:38,040
Speaker 2: two teams didn't think I was good enough to you know,

635
00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:40,840
Speaker 2: be drafted. So in the in the back of my mind,

636
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:44,840
Speaker 2: like it's personal with everybody, but this is where I started.

637
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,320
Speaker 2: This is where I started at. So there's always that

638
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 2: chip on my shoulder. There's always that feeling of like

639
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:54,040
Speaker 2: it should have kept me. Yeah, should you know? And

640
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,200
Speaker 2: so I always going to this mentality in this game.

641
00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:00,960
Speaker 2: With that mentality, you know, I'm pissed off, and I

642
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 2: think everybody, especially after last week, it's pissed off, bad

643
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:06,520
Speaker 2: tasting their mouth. I know, I got one, you know,

644
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:09,880
Speaker 2: and so you just got to use that and funnel

645
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:12,080
Speaker 2: that energy in the right direction, you know. And that's

646
00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:13,760
Speaker 2: just going out there and doing our job at a

647
00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:15,920
Speaker 2: high level of every play, you know, not trying to

648
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:18,160
Speaker 2: do too much, and just being who you are, being

649
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:18,720
Speaker 2: a player you.

650
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:21,200
Speaker 1: Are, Jeremy. Man, we can't wait to see what you

651
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:22,880
Speaker 1: do weekfore, we can't wait to see what you do

652
00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:24,920
Speaker 1: for the rest of your career. Man, what a great story.

653
00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:27,040
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being candid with us, man,

654
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,000
Speaker 1: being open with us, talking to us about things that

655
00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:30,920
Speaker 1: I know aren't always hard to talk about. But that's

656
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:33,160
Speaker 1: the beauty of this podcast, right Next Man Up is

657
00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:35,040
Speaker 1: being able to hear those stories. And I think that

658
00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:37,120
Speaker 1: we all know you a little better now, and I

659
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:38,840
Speaker 1: hope you feel good being able to talk about that.

660
00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:42,160
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen of Brian Coble Junr here with Jeremy Reeves,

661
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:44,640
Speaker 1: our guy, my brother Man. This is Next Man Up

662
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,400
Speaker 1: Podcast and until next time, we'll be back with more

663
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:49,680
Speaker 1: of your favorite commanded players. Jeremy, thank you so much

664
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:50,760
Speaker 1: for your time, Brother, appreciate it.

665
00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:51,360
Speaker 2: You guys.

666
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:55,760
Speaker 1: Command this family. If you love this we have way

667
00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:57,400
Speaker 1: more for you. Not only do we have a ton

668
00:29:57,400 --> 00:29:59,640
Speaker 1: of podcasts for you to check out on our YouTube page,

669
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,320
Speaker 1: but this Sunday we will be behind Enemy Lives. We

670
00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:05,840
Speaker 1: will be out in Philly for Command Center Game Day Lives,

671
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:07,720
Speaker 1: so make sure you tune in what we will be

672
00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 1: on the field in Philly giving you everything you need

673
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:13,760
Speaker 1: to know about your Week four matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.

674
00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:15,640
Speaker 1: Beat us there, don't meet us there