Speaker 1: What's good.
Speaker 2: Command his Family Brian Copwa Junia and this is the
Speaker 2: Next Man Up podcast We talked to your favorite Commanders players,
Speaker 2: not so much about X and OS, more about the
Speaker 2: man behind the helmet, and our next man Up is
Speaker 2: no other than Khalik Huntson Man.
Speaker 1: We had a great conversation.
Speaker 2: Cleie talks about being from McKey Sport, Pennsylvania and giving
Speaker 2: back to the community.
Speaker 1: Specifically, he talks.
Speaker 2: About his father and how his father throughout life just
Speaker 2: inspired him and taught him how to be the man
Speaker 2: he is today and what losing his father did to
Speaker 2: him and his mentality.
Speaker 1: He talks about Draft night and how that was the
Speaker 1: best night of his life.
Speaker 2: And he also talks about getting into the fourth year
Speaker 2: of his NFL season and the trials and tribulations he
Speaker 2: went through to get to this point. All that and
Speaker 2: more starts right now, So Command his Family. This is
Speaker 2: Brian Corvir Junia and this is the Next Man Up Podcasts.
Speaker 2: We talked to your favorite Commanders players. Not so much
Speaker 2: about X and O's, more about the man behind the helmet,
Speaker 2: and our next man up is no other than my
Speaker 2: God Kalie Huts and click out.
Speaker 1: You're doing today.
Speaker 3: Brother, I'm doing good about yourself.
Speaker 2: Man, I'm doing good. I appreciate you, man. I know
Speaker 2: the season's windling down. I know you guys are busy,
Speaker 2: so we appreciate you jumping on with us and like,
Speaker 2: you know, kicking it for a little bit of a problem.
Speaker 1: Man. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: And like I said, Man, we ain't really talking extent.
Speaker 2: We don't want to talk so much with football. I want
Speaker 2: to talk about you as the person.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: Let the fans get to know who you are, because
Speaker 2: you have a very interesting story, man. So we're gonna
Speaker 2: start with the story began a Key Sport, Pennsylvania, right,
Speaker 2: I said it, right, Yes, sir, you said.
Speaker 1: Yes, sir.
Speaker 2: Man tell me what it means to be from a
Speaker 2: Key Sport, Pennsylvania and basically what it was like growing
Speaker 2: up out there.
Speaker 3: It means a world to me, you know, just being
Speaker 3: from a key sport, just standing on, just being a pride,
Speaker 3: being a guy who everybody looks up to as far
Speaker 3: as all the kids, and just being a role model
Speaker 3: to them. You know, I really take that serious. Try
Speaker 3: to carry myself in a way to where a lot
Speaker 3: of people want to look up to me and want
Speaker 3: to do like certain things that I did and have
Speaker 3: the impact that I have. So it just means a lot.
Speaker 3: It means a lot. You know, I got a city
Speaker 3: on my back that really cares about his sports, really
Speaker 3: cares about his people just in general. So it just
Speaker 3: means a lot for me to be in this position
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, growing up, there was a bunch of people
Speaker 3: I was able to look up to, people like, uh,
Speaker 3: swing Cash, she's in she was in a w NBA,
Speaker 3: she's not Hall.
Speaker 1: Of Famer, tough, tough hooper.
Speaker 3: Yeah, guys like uh, you know, Brandon Short, a guy
Speaker 3: made it to the NFL, and just a bunch of
Speaker 3: other people who who paved the way for me, made
Speaker 3: it easy for me, gave me a vision I could
Speaker 3: I can, you know, see what they did and do
Speaker 3: the same things, but just in my own way. Yea,
Speaker 3: it may have the same goal, but you know what
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just a different path, that's all. But Yeah,
Speaker 3: being from a key sports means it means the world
Speaker 3: to me, you know what I mean. It's and it's
Speaker 3: just it's just it's just a great feeling to be
Speaker 3: from a place like that, and it's easy.
Speaker 2: For guys to be like you know, I love my hometown.
Speaker 2: I want to give back, but you actually do the work.
Speaker 2: You had your I think this past summer thing in July,
Speaker 2: you had your second camp out in m Key, right,
Speaker 2: you had it out there. Man, how cool was that
Speaker 2: to be able to not only do it once, but
Speaker 2: then do it a second time and have all the
Speaker 2: kids show out and just be able to holst the
Speaker 2: camp like that for the kids.
Speaker 3: It was. It was super cool, you know, just seeing
Speaker 3: how excited the kids be, you know, like when when
Speaker 3: they see me and stuff like oh your coolly guss. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I can run you over. I fashion than you.
Speaker 1: You can. Trash talk starts immediately, it starts immediately.
Speaker 3: So like I love it though. Man, it's just it's
Speaker 3: just like just going back to it, like just being
Speaker 3: that guy that everybody could look up to, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean, especially the kids, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3: Growing up, that's something I always wanted to focus on
Speaker 3: being an inspiration for the kids, like showing them that
Speaker 3: there's more than just where we're from, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean, There's more. There's more than just sports as well,
Speaker 3: Like you don't have to you don't have to make
Speaker 3: it out just by going the sports away. You can
Speaker 3: be a lawyer, you can be a doctor, you can
Speaker 3: be a dentist, whatever you want to be. As long
Speaker 3: as you put your mind to it, you can do.
Speaker 3: You can do whatever you want to. So just seeing
Speaker 3: their faces every year, you know this year coming up,
Speaker 3: I might have another one, and I'm just so excited
Speaker 3: to be able to be in a position where I
Speaker 3: can change someone's life.
Speaker 2: That's awesome, man, Because, like you said, changing somebody's life,
Speaker 2: I mean, one of those kids that could be their
Speaker 2: first time seen anything involved with football, and then because
Speaker 2: of your camp, now they love football.
Speaker 1: Yeah you growing up? What made you love football?
Speaker 3: What made me love football? So I started football at
Speaker 3: the age of four. My dad put me into football,
Speaker 3: and he was one of the main reasons why I
Speaker 3: kept going so hard and because he worked me, my brothers.
Speaker 3: He worked us to be the best. Every single day
Speaker 3: were doing something. We was in multiple different sports, but
Speaker 3: it was always football. Yeah, I mean that he was
Speaker 3: most serious about. He was serious about all the other sports,
Speaker 3: but football. We had to be on point. You had
Speaker 3: to be hustling, full speed, hitting everybody, scoring touchdown. So
Speaker 3: just from them experiences just kept creating stronger love for
Speaker 3: the game for me, and I just kept it going,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. And my dad passed away
Speaker 3: in twenty thirteen, and me, I feel like everything happens
Speaker 3: for a reason, you know what I mean. So I
Speaker 3: feel like that propelled me to work even harder, knowing
Speaker 3: that that's a portism from my dad was not there
Speaker 3: no more. Now I had to turn it up myself,
Speaker 3: my own mental like my mom mental capacity, you know,
Speaker 3: just be stronger mentally, just knowing that he's still there
Speaker 3: in my head. So I got to carry on what
Speaker 3: he wanted me to do. I gotta carry on this
Speaker 3: task of keeping my grades up in school, doing the
Speaker 3: right thing all the time, being a good son, being
Speaker 3: the best player on the field, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: So I had to work on doing that without him
Speaker 3: being there, and it was kind of a struggle at first,
Speaker 3: but as I kept going, and you know, there's certain
Speaker 3: things that happened. When you learn from certain situations that happened,
Speaker 3: you know, might get in trouble with here, like Okay,
Speaker 3: I know I can't do that, or I gotta do
Speaker 3: this better. So that's why I say everything happens for
Speaker 3: a reason. I feel like it was just a test
Speaker 3: from God, you know what I mean, Like your dad
Speaker 3: was always there telling you what to do, making sure
Speaker 3: you was making sure you was always doing everything you're
Speaker 3: supposed to be doing. And you know, he got taken away.
Speaker 3: So that was kind of a challenge on me, like
Speaker 3: I'm gonna see if you still keep going what you's
Speaker 3: supposed to be doing even though that guy's not there
Speaker 3: no more. So it's like it was hard. It was
Speaker 3: very hard, but like I said, everything happens for a reason,
Speaker 3: and it got me to this where I am now
Speaker 3: and still to this day, I live by everything that
Speaker 3: my dad taught me, everything that I've seen with him
Speaker 3: taking care of our family, taking care of my siblings,
Speaker 3: and just being a man he's supposed to be for
Speaker 3: the family overall. Yeah, I was just just soaking all
Speaker 3: that in and try to integrate it into my own
Speaker 3: life so I could be that person for my family.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And you know everywhere you go, man, everything you do,
Speaker 2: the way you carry yourself on the field, off the field, man,
Speaker 2: he's with you everywhere.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: So I want to first say sorry to hear that. Man,
Speaker 2: I'm really sorry you lost your father. You said he
Speaker 2: was taken away from you. Man, do you mind explaining
Speaker 2: what happened back in twenty thirteen?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a gun violence. Yeah, you know, he's
Speaker 3: just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and
Speaker 3: you know, gun violence.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry to hear that, man and talk about how
Speaker 2: hard that is, right man, twenty thirteen to ten years ago. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we're very young man, think you were what's still in
Speaker 2: high school on the tenth grade going into tenth grade? Man,
Speaker 2: those are very primitive years, man, Those are years when
Speaker 2: a young man probably needs this father the most. How
Speaker 2: did you get through that? How did you get through that?
Speaker 2: Because there's a lot of people going through things, people
Speaker 2: going through things right now that are dealing with battles man,
Speaker 2: and trying to just see the other side, see the
Speaker 2: light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 1: How did you get through that and become the man
Speaker 1: you are now?
Speaker 3: I feel like majority of time people unise situations like this,
Speaker 3: like if it happens to him as a reason to retaliate,
Speaker 3: or a reason to go back and do damage to
Speaker 3: somebody else, to somebody else's family. But I looked at
Speaker 3: it in a way to where I just use it
Speaker 3: as motivation. Like it might sound crazy, but my dad
Speaker 3: not being there no more. Like I said, I felt
Speaker 3: like it was a test from God. You know, I'm
Speaker 3: gonna see if you really still want this. I'm gonna
Speaker 3: take this guy away, you know. I mean, you know
Speaker 3: I've away and see how much you really wanted. See
Speaker 3: if you're gonna still keep grinding, If you are, you're
Speaker 3: gonna still keep your grades up? Are you going try
Speaker 3: to be that person he was for your family?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 3: And I just took it and just ran with it,
Speaker 3: you know. I just stepped up, kept going, kept pushing,
Speaker 3: worked ten times even harder, worked ten times even harder
Speaker 3: in school, trying to be the best man I can
Speaker 3: be for my family, the best son I could be
Speaker 3: for my mother, and just kept pushing it, just kept
Speaker 3: using this motive, kept saying my dad's still with me,
Speaker 3: my dad still with me, like he'll be proud of
Speaker 3: me right now. And I got to keep going to
Speaker 3: make him happy, make my family happy. So that's what
Speaker 3: I'll say. I use the situation as motivation.
Speaker 2: Was it times when that confidence wavered where you know
Speaker 2: your pops told you, hey, this is what you can do,
Speaker 2: this is what you can do in life if you
Speaker 2: just stay focused. But now you're on your own essentially, right,
Speaker 2: you don't have him there. Did you have times when
Speaker 2: you were like, man, I can't do this football thing
Speaker 2: no more.
Speaker 1: It reminds me too much. Did you have those moments? Nah?
Speaker 3: I never had them. Wow, because I knew I always
Speaker 3: always knew what I was capable of, always knew my
Speaker 3: true potential and what I was able to do on
Speaker 3: the field just in general, you know, just by just
Speaker 3: from the things that he taught me. You know, the
Speaker 3: jokes that we went over every day, and we kept
Speaker 3: kept going over, going over going to the field wise
Speaker 3: thunderstorment outside me and my two brothers were still working.
Speaker 3: So it's like going through all that, it molded in
Speaker 3: my head and that's just how I am now, Like
Speaker 3: no one's going to outwork me. I'm going to try
Speaker 3: to be the hardest worker on the field all the time,
Speaker 3: no matter what I do it I don't got to
Speaker 3: be on the field, could be in my regular life.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to be the hardest worker, and I want
Speaker 3: to be that guy for my family, my personal family
Speaker 3: now because now I have a baby's team rather Congress,
Speaker 3: so for my personal family, my family in general, and
Speaker 3: just be that guy that he was, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, and you not only you know, take care
Speaker 2: of your own family, but you're looking out for others
Speaker 2: as well. We had a mind cause my cleats not
Speaker 2: too long ago, and you decided to have something about
Speaker 2: gun violence on your pleased to represent that. Why was
Speaker 2: that an important message to get across? And how have
Speaker 2: you tried your best to help others now.
Speaker 1: Go through what you and your family went through.
Speaker 3: That's very important for me because, like I told you,
Speaker 3: I lost my dad through gun violence, but I lost
Speaker 3: multiple friends, like a lot of friends through gun violence,
Speaker 3: like over twenty more. Just I don't even know. It's
Speaker 3: it's That's what I'm saying. Being from a key sport,
Speaker 3: like it gots it's ups and it also has its downs.
Speaker 3: Like I remember, probably like three four years ago, it
Speaker 3: was like ranked like the top five most dangerous cities
Speaker 3: in the US. So so there's a lot of stuff
Speaker 3: you gotta deal with, a lot of stuff you got
Speaker 3: to keep pushing through. Like I said, I lost a
Speaker 3: lot of people, a lot of family, a lot of
Speaker 3: friends from gun violence. So that hold that whole that
Speaker 3: that's a heavy feeling in my heart, you know, yeah,
Speaker 3: for sure, for sure, And I just want to And
Speaker 3: what I try to do is I try to preach
Speaker 3: the word to you know, stay out the streets and
Speaker 3: do what's right. And like I said, don't have to
Speaker 3: be through football. It could be through any avenue. Like
Speaker 3: I said, doctor, then it's whatever you want to do,
Speaker 3: you can do it. If you don't want to go
Speaker 3: down this path to where you know, you're walking around
Speaker 3: with guns and stuff like that, or you're just around
Speaker 3: bad energy, to bad environments like that, because nothing good
Speaker 3: is happening. Nothing good happens out of being around being
Speaker 3: around being around things like that. So I tried to
Speaker 3: push it every day when I'm talking to my friends,
Speaker 3: when I'm talking to the youth back at home, talking
Speaker 3: to growing ups back at home. I try to always
Speaker 3: push for peace, you know what I mean, for peace
Speaker 3: and positivity, you know, because I know I know how
Speaker 3: I feel to lose, to lose someone very close to
Speaker 3: you because of gun violence. So I tried to spread
Speaker 3: that so no one else has to feel that same
Speaker 3: pain that I felt.
Speaker 2: What's feeling that pain going through those things? Losing so
Speaker 2: many people? Was that part of the reason why you
Speaker 2: decided to head over to Michigan for college because a
Speaker 2: lot of guys you talked we talked to us a
Speaker 2: little bit before the show started in I asked you,
Speaker 2: like most guys that we talked to here, they stay
Speaker 2: close to home.
Speaker 1: They don't want to go nowhere.
Speaker 2: I don't know how many Virginia Tech people we talked
Speaker 2: to called this team.
Speaker 1: But you decided to go very far from home and
Speaker 1: go to Michigan.
Speaker 2: When it went into that decision, it didn't have anything
Speaker 2: to do with the things you were trying to leave
Speaker 2: behind back in PA.
Speaker 3: I'll say it had a a little bit, I'll say
Speaker 3: a little bit, but really I wanted to get away
Speaker 3: from home but also be close enough to where my
Speaker 3: family could still come to the games. And it really
Speaker 3: came down to Penn State or Michigan. Uh. In Penn State,
Speaker 3: there was a couple of things that happened with the
Speaker 3: with the coaching staff and me, and that wasn't really feeling.
Speaker 3: But towards the end of my senior year that that
Speaker 3: love for Penn State started coming back a little bit.
Speaker 3: But when I went up to Michigan on my visit,
Speaker 3: it was just it was a rap. It was a
Speaker 3: kochar Ball had just that was I was his first
Speaker 3: recruiting class. That was his second year at Michigan. We
Speaker 3: just had changed over. We became a sponsored by Jordan.
Speaker 1: Oh. Yeah, so they laid the kicks out for you
Speaker 1: when you pulled up.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Also with that, the schooling and education from a college
Speaker 3: like Michigan is like, you know, can't beat that for real?
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, I mean That's how I made my have
Speaker 3: to say, I really I want to go go go
Speaker 3: far away, but stay close enough to my family can
Speaker 3: still support for me.
Speaker 1: It seemed like you made the right decision. Man.
Speaker 2: And before we move forward through college, Man, it's actually
Speaker 2: something happened. I think it happened in like twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2: We do a research year and next man, you know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying. So I saw this video of you
Speaker 2: like jumping over a brother that looked like he was
Speaker 2: like six five six six, and you just like vertical
Speaker 2: jump over him and then do like the crazy one
Speaker 2: hand snag.
Speaker 1: Right. Do you remember what I'm talking about? Yeah? I
Speaker 1: remember that. Man, talk to me about what's going with
Speaker 1: you about it? That video?
Speaker 2: And did you know it was going to make the
Speaker 2: impact on your life at the time when you made it.
Speaker 3: I did not know, And it's crazy because I still
Speaker 3: stand on this today in twenty fifteen. I did that,
Speaker 3: and then right after that, all these other people around
Speaker 3: the world start doing like trick catches, backflips, catching two hands.
Speaker 1: People got whole careers off of that.
Speaker 3: Now, yeah, I'm like, you know, I'm like, I peep it.
Speaker 1: I peep it for real. You the trend set up.
Speaker 3: I'm the trend sector for real. But yeah, I remember
Speaker 3: that moment. Man, that's crazy, and I did not know
Speaker 3: it was going to go viral. That for me doing
Speaker 3: I'm like, say nothing, I just I've been doing this
Speaker 3: since I was a kid.
Speaker 1: Just I mean, it looks crazy. We're going to show it,
Speaker 1: like right now, looks it looks nuts what you do.
Speaker 2: Because brother looked like he was pretty big man, and
Speaker 2: you're not a little guy either. For like to just
Speaker 2: be bouncing like that then to catch the pass, it's
Speaker 2: pretty impressive.
Speaker 3: I don't know if I got that bounce like that
Speaker 3: no more. That was a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: But I still give you a little something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, clearly you are a superb athlete and clearly
Speaker 2: worked out for you in Michigan. Man, you get drafted
Speaker 2: in the fifth round by Washington. Take us back to
Speaker 2: that day, man, at that moment. I love hearing these stories.
Speaker 2: Where were you at? What was you doing when you
Speaker 2: got that call when you got drafted?
Speaker 1: Man? To bring us back there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I wasn't back in Pittsburgh, and it was
Speaker 3: during COVID, so I couldn't have the event that I
Speaker 3: really wanted to have.
Speaker 1: For all my tough man, that's tough.
Speaker 3: I really had something set up. I wanted to do
Speaker 3: something in my hometown to where like literally everybody came
Speaker 3: and was like behind me, like literally down to the
Speaker 3: whole city and I was, you know, wait for a
Speaker 3: phone call and stuff like that. But COVID had messed
Speaker 3: it up. But I had like an air and b
Speaker 3: had some close family there and that day was kind
Speaker 3: of like all the day, so I knew probably I
Speaker 3: knew I wasn't gonna go the first day, but the
Speaker 3: second day or third day was like really nerve wracking,
Speaker 3: just waiting, waiting, waiting, then somebody random might call like yo,
Speaker 3: what are you doing, like like leave my photo alone.
Speaker 3: But I got called on the third day, uh, you know,
Speaker 3: by Washington, and it was it was probably still to
Speaker 3: this day, the best feeling ever, the best for I've
Speaker 3: ever had in my life. Wow, because it was just
Speaker 3: it was just a so real moment. You know, like
Speaker 3: you work your whole life to get to you know,
Speaker 3: the NFL, and to get that call one day, and
Speaker 3: when you're in a moment and it actually happened, it's
Speaker 3: just like I just like immediately just started like tearing up,
Speaker 3: crying and stuff, like my mom is right here, all
Speaker 3: my family's here, and like I'm just thinking about my
Speaker 3: dad listening. I really don't remember what they were saying
Speaker 3: on the phone. I just just whenever he stopped talking,
Speaker 3: I just started saying thank you. I appreciate it so
Speaker 3: much because it's just so many things was like, you know,
Speaker 3: going through my mind, especially my dad, just knowing he
Speaker 3: was so.
Speaker 1: Proud of me.
Speaker 3: And you know, after everything had calmed down, I had
Speaker 3: left cause I had an airbnb in Pittsburgh. I left and
Speaker 3: drove back to my Keysport, which is probably like twenty
Speaker 3: five minutes away, and I went to my dad's grave site,
Speaker 3: and I was very emotional for me as well. I
Speaker 3: went by myself that good by myself. I think I
Speaker 3: went by myself and I was just just talking to
Speaker 3: my dad for about five to ten minutes, just telling them,
Speaker 3: you know, I made it, and you know it doesn't
Speaker 3: stop here. We got more work to do, you know,
Speaker 3: trying to be the best, trying to be the best
Speaker 3: player and just do what I can.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: And like I said, that was just one of the
Speaker 3: greatest moments for me, just the phone call, going to
Speaker 3: my dad's gravesite, my family being there, being able to
Speaker 3: experience that moment with me. So just yeah, the whole
Speaker 3: experience is just mind blowing and I still can't believe
Speaker 3: it to this day. Still can't believe it to this day.
Speaker 3: But yeah, so.
Speaker 2: You said you went over to your pop's grave site, Man,
Speaker 2: thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 1: What do you think your pops would have said to you?
Speaker 2: Man? If he could have been there with you when
Speaker 2: you had that phone call? Man, you think he would
Speaker 2: have said to you?
Speaker 3: I don't even know he would know, y'all don't know.
Speaker 3: I know what he said. I knew what he would
Speaker 3: have said, going crazy. He could have been saying some
Speaker 3: funny stuff, but he would have just been proud. Man,
Speaker 3: He's just been so happy. Yeah, he'd have been saying
Speaker 3: some funny stuff.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: That is so cool man, Just to see the way
Speaker 2: you light up thinking about your dad. Man. And you know,
Speaker 2: I know you lost a lot of time, man, but
Speaker 2: I have no doubt. Man, he's been watching you do
Speaker 2: your thing.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: And you know, it's been a long career for you
Speaker 2: in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Man, Which is year four for you? Now? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Year four and year four has been a lot different
Speaker 2: than the first three years. First three years it was
Speaker 2: a lot of prove it. It was a lot of yo,
Speaker 2: I belong here? How was year four been different for you?
Speaker 2: And your own words?
Speaker 3: For me personally, I feel like the way I think
Speaker 3: about it is like I don't want to prove nobody wrong.
Speaker 3: I just want to prove myself right, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean. I know my capabilities and I know what
Speaker 3: I can do on the field. You know, I'm confident
Speaker 3: in myself. So but it's like this fourth year has
Speaker 3: been there's been a lot of ups and downs. You know.
Speaker 3: Earlier in this season I wasn't playing as much. But
Speaker 3: later in this season I've been getting more opportunity and
Speaker 3: being able to get a chance to show what I
Speaker 3: can do. So I'm just grateful because I remember last year,
Speaker 3: going into my third year, I got cut at the
Speaker 3: end of camp and that was probably the lowest if
Speaker 3: I ever felt in my life. You know, Yeah, that
Speaker 3: was probably the lowest ever felt in my life. I
Speaker 3: was kind of like questioning was I good enough? Which
Speaker 3: is crazy, you know, because a lot of things is
Speaker 3: just flying around in your head when you get cut.
Speaker 3: It's like I do something wrong? Did they not see?
Speaker 3: So it was hard, but I felt like that situation
Speaker 3: propelled me into the next part of my life. It
Speaker 3: showed me, It showed me a part of myself. I
Speaker 3: never knew that I was there, you know, I never
Speaker 3: my whole career, always been one of the best on
Speaker 3: the team, if not the best on the team. I
Speaker 3: always been playing, you know, I never been off the
Speaker 3: field like I always been on the team, you know.
Speaker 1: Both sides of the ball in high school. Yeah, after
Speaker 1: the ball.
Speaker 3: So when that happened, it's just like whoa, Like it
Speaker 3: was like a shock to me, Like this don't feel right?
Speaker 1: Like that day.
Speaker 3: I cried, I smiled, I laughed, I was I had
Speaker 3: every emotion, every emotion you could think of. And yeah,
Speaker 3: last year, my third year, is probably the point of
Speaker 3: the hardest years of my life just overall, you know,
Speaker 3: just dealing with that and trying to find myself again.
Speaker 3: You know, like I said, like I was questioning was
Speaker 3: I good enough? Because like I told you, in any
Speaker 3: and everything that I do, I'm going to work as
Speaker 3: harder as I can, no matter what practice walk through.
Speaker 3: I'm going to be focused. I'm going laser focused. I'm
Speaker 3: gonna do what I gotta do. And when you feel
Speaker 3: like you've done that but then you still fall short,
Speaker 3: it's kind of like it's the flating. Yeah, it's the flooding.
Speaker 3: It really is deflating. But I'm so glad that it happened.
Speaker 3: Though I needed that to happen, like I needed to.
Speaker 3: I needed to find myself, you know, in a situation
Speaker 3: like that. I needed to have that feeling to having
Speaker 3: that feeling to being at the bottom and knowing that
Speaker 3: feel like so then you know it just it just
Speaker 3: helped me propel and just keep pushing and pushing, going
Speaker 3: even harder. Now I'm more ten times harder, And it
Speaker 3: got me to this moment now to where now I'm
Speaker 3: getting a couple opportunities to be very show what I
Speaker 3: can do, and I'm happy the way I've been playing,
Speaker 3: but you know, there's still more to go. Like I
Speaker 3: ain't showed nothing yet, There's still more to go. So
Speaker 3: I truly feel that way, and that's what it is
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 2: And in hindsight, you know, it's a little easy to
Speaker 2: be like, Man, I'm glad I went through that. I'm
Speaker 2: glad I went through that hard time because during the
Speaker 2: hard times, it's very hard to see. Like you said,
Speaker 2: that light at the end of the tunnel, this is
Speaker 2: young man from McKee McKey Sport, Keysport, Pennsylvania right now
Speaker 2: watching this that maybe we'll go through that as well.
Speaker 2: Maybe you'll go through a time when he's not at
Speaker 2: the top of the roster. You know, how did you
Speaker 2: get through that and make it to this point?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 2: What got you through what you said was the hardest
Speaker 2: time in your life?
Speaker 3: I leaned on the people who was closest to me,
Speaker 3: because when it happened, my communication with a lot of
Speaker 3: people kind of disappeared, and not because I wasn't playing.
Speaker 3: They didn't want to call me or anything, no more
Speaker 3: like I kind of like stepped back and I'm like,
Speaker 3: all right, let me find myself. Like I'm in a
Speaker 3: situation now, no one's here to help me. How can
Speaker 3: I get myself out of the situation? And it always
Speaker 3: it always comes back to working hard, just hard work undefeated.
Speaker 3: I said it. I said it after my third year
Speaker 3: when I started started one game, the last game of
Speaker 3: the season versus Dallas, and I received the game ball
Speaker 3: and I was able to say something to the team
Speaker 3: and the only thing I said was hard work is undefeated.
Speaker 3: Feel that way, you know what I mean? And that's
Speaker 3: what I did. Just kept working, kept my head down,
Speaker 3: control what I was able to control, and like I said,
Speaker 3: it got me to the situation I'm at now. And
Speaker 3: it was a lot of other things I was doing.
Speaker 3: I was doing some uh, I was talking to therapists,
Speaker 3: you know, to help me with my mental you know,
Speaker 3: to keep going, stay on track and don't lose focused
Speaker 3: on what the task I hand is. And but I
Speaker 3: feel like the main thing was just going hard on
Speaker 3: the field. It was just going hard just and then
Speaker 3: eventually the opportunity will come, you know, because hard work
Speaker 3: is undefeated.
Speaker 2: And you definitely go hard on that field. Man, it
Speaker 2: has been fun watching you did thing.
Speaker 1: Brother.
Speaker 2: I could talk to you all day long, but I
Speaker 2: don't want to keep you too long, because we do
Speaker 2: have one more game left on the season and it
Speaker 2: is a rivalry game against the Dallas Cowboys. That's your
Speaker 2: ISO cam right there, Brother, I want you to look
Speaker 2: into that cam right now and talk directly to Command
Speaker 2: this fans and let them know why the need to
Speaker 2: show up and show out at FedEx Field for our
Speaker 2: final game this regularly.
Speaker 3: Surely y'all got to show up and show out. You know,
Speaker 3: it's the last dance, last game of the season, and
Speaker 3: there's gonna be a lot of guys out there again,
Speaker 3: huge opportunities, and we need y'all there to be able
Speaker 3: to support us, support the team, and so we come
Speaker 3: out with this victory.
Speaker 2: And Collegue, Man, I cannot wait to see what you do,
Speaker 2: not only this Sunday Man, before the rest of your career. Brother,
Speaker 2: It's been a pleasure getting to know you. I appreciate
Speaker 2: your candedness.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: I know some of those things aren't really easy to
Speaker 2: talk about, but man, you don't know how many people
Speaker 2: you're helping by sharing your stories College. So thank you
Speaker 2: so much. Command is family. This is the next Man
Speaker 2: of Pockets. I'm Brian Cooble JUNR. And I'm honored to
Speaker 2: be sitting next to Khalie Hutson.
Speaker 1: Brother.
Speaker 2: Congrats on all your success so far. Man, I know
Speaker 2: you have a lot more coming. Yes, I appreciate your
Speaker 2: time bro having me on.
Speaker 1: Thank you man, Sir, Commander's Family.
Speaker 2: This is the last that's right, the last episode of
Speaker 2: Next Man Up for the season, and we have had
Speaker 2: so much fun with you all. We cannot thank you
Speaker 2: enough for the love and support you all shown this
Speaker 2: show and we cannot wait to come back next season
Speaker 2: with some more great conversations. Special shout out to my
Speaker 2: producer Kayla Key for taking care of everything behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: This show would not be what it is without you.
Speaker 2: And of course thank you to every Commander's player who
Speaker 2: took the time to join us on Next Man Up.
Speaker 2: And although this is the last podcast episode of the season,
Speaker 2: we are not done giving you content this offseason. Tune
Speaker 2: in every Thursday to the Commander's YouTube page for weekly
Speaker 2: episodes of Command Center until next season. I am Brian
Speaker 2: Cooper Junior and this is the Next Man Up Podcast.