Speaker 1: So we're honored to have our guests. Saw ferguson what's
Speaker 1: going on, boss, How you doing?
Speaker 2: I'm good. How you guys doing.
Speaker 3: We're good Class two thousand and six. We're in the building.
Speaker 3: Just to let everybody know, I.
Speaker 4: Mean, you're a big time you're Virginia cavalier. I mean,
Speaker 4: everybody loves Virginia if you've been there. I don't know
Speaker 4: anything about the campus. Tell me one thing, Brick that
Speaker 4: that most people that have not been to Virginia would
Speaker 4: know once you go in the campus or play football there.
Speaker 2: The dorms are different. They redid the dorms. Okay, so
Speaker 2: I used to live in old dorms, old Humphreys, and
Speaker 2: I think that's gone now. I think they've changed that.
Speaker 3: Okay, So I didn't know that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of a lot of new a.
Speaker 3: Lot of new construction.
Speaker 4: Everybody's keeping up with the Joneses absolutely all right now.
Speaker 4: The one thing that I did not know until we
Speaker 4: did a little more research on you, uh D break,
Speaker 4: is that you only missed one snap. That's crazy, that's crazy.
Speaker 4: So you missed one? Man, how did you? First of all,
Speaker 4: how did you manage to do that? And I'll share
Speaker 4: with the people. It was in two thousand and eight,
Speaker 4: Week seventeen versus the Dolphins. You guys are going to
Speaker 4: lose the game, and they just pulled you out the last.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we did lose the game, but we're
Speaker 2: doing a trick play with something we had practiced. We
Speaker 2: take out all the offensive linemen, we put in all
Speaker 2: skill position players and kind of hike the ball and
Speaker 2: kind of.
Speaker 3: Do the the ra throw throw it back.
Speaker 2: It didn't work, and that was the play.
Speaker 4: Think the Cowboys, Let's or something like this this past
Speaker 4: year in the playoffs, and it really.
Speaker 2: Very rare that you know, it's like, if you have
Speaker 2: to do that, you've lost. Yeah, and you're dying a second.
Speaker 1: So another another another player that has a similar stat
Speaker 1: Joe Thomas. He's got the I don't know how many
Speaker 1: career snaps he's played, but he holds I guess the
Speaker 1: record of having the most snaps ever played. Or he
Speaker 1: didn't miss a single snap his entire career. He played
Speaker 1: what eleven years? If I'm not mistaken, So do are you?
Speaker 1: I don't know, how do you feel about it? Is
Speaker 1: there any disgruntleness?
Speaker 2: Or he's a phenomenal athlete. Yeah, he's in consistent. You know,
Speaker 2: I applored everything that he's done.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I'm a huge fan of the show, Key and
Speaker 1: Pill right, crazy fan. And when I get car services,
Speaker 1: I use the nicknames that they had for the All
Speaker 1: Star Games. So whenever there's a car service, you might
Speaker 1: see the name El Carpatron and Duke Marriott or Charmlotte
Speaker 1: mass Doon you know what I'm saying, krig mckringle Berry,
Speaker 1: Uh did Jiggo Lynch Margoon, LSU University?
Speaker 3: Like I use all those names.
Speaker 1: I think you were like one of the original guys
Speaker 1: for that, right, tell people, please tell me how you
Speaker 1: got that, Like did they come to you?
Speaker 2: Did they did come to me? It wasn't as you
Speaker 2: know personal. I actually met I think Kegan later at
Speaker 2: a separate foundation event, but they were saying that, you know,
Speaker 2: the idea kind of spurned from that. I think one
Speaker 2: of their representatives reached out to me and I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'd be open to do it. And so it was
Speaker 2: just a fun thing. You know, a lot of times
Speaker 2: I've heard my name a couple of times in movies
Speaker 2: and it's always interesting where it's like, all right, well,
Speaker 2: I know who they're talking about it's not too many
Speaker 2: of us. Fact, there's one.
Speaker 4: So yeah, yeah, tell me this though, all right, back
Speaker 4: to your career a little bit more, because I'm still
Speaker 4: a little bit taken back that you.
Speaker 3: Only missed one snap.
Speaker 4: Was it anything in particular that you did to stay healthy?
Speaker 4: Was it anything that you did to take care of
Speaker 4: your body, your mental I mean, did you even miss
Speaker 4: practice or did you miss play?
Speaker 3: Like you didn't. This is just not your thing.
Speaker 2: You just and I think the funny thing is, it
Speaker 2: was nothing, nothing that I ever thought about, right. I
Speaker 2: think earlier on, you know, Eric Mangini, he had us
Speaker 2: doing a lot. We were doing yoga, we were doing
Speaker 2: martial arts, jiu jitsu. I mean, we were back in
Speaker 2: the old days when everybody that all season, off season,
Speaker 2: you know, they kept us at the facility. You know,
Speaker 2: there was no time restrictions. It wasn't like four hours, No,
Speaker 2: we were there all day. And so I think the
Speaker 2: idea of just football being kind of everything stuck. But
Speaker 2: I do counted a blessing. I mean, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of guys that have done the same things or even more,
Speaker 2: and they've suffered injuries. So I don't want to say
Speaker 2: like it was something that I was doing that they weren't.
Speaker 2: It's okay.
Speaker 4: How's your body feeling now? I mean you did all
Speaker 4: those things.
Speaker 2: I cross my leg like you, so yeah, shake the
Speaker 2: ankle a little bit, so that's a good sign. You know,
Speaker 2: hip flex was are good.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm good about that.
Speaker 4: Gets your body good, genuinely because you're that bigger guy.
Speaker 4: Most bigger guys have issues as they get older.
Speaker 3: How much way did you lose after you.
Speaker 2: I was about three ten when I played. I've gotten
Speaker 2: down and let's say to about to sixty, but I'm
Speaker 2: probably about like two seventy. That's probably what I do.
Speaker 5: You feel good?
Speaker 3: You look good, all that joints and all that.
Speaker 2: Shit that you know. I I think I've always been
Speaker 2: a curious kind of athlete, and so I would I
Speaker 2: would dabble in different things like what ice skating? I
Speaker 2: try to do clinics, Yeah, try.
Speaker 3: To you skate backwards not fast.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not out of here. Just like you know,
Speaker 2: some people are graceful.
Speaker 3: That's not so you're not.
Speaker 4: You would not use the term graceful to describe.
Speaker 1: I say, you know somebody who's learning my son, I'm sure.
Speaker 1: I'm like most dads, you know, you want your son
Speaker 1: to do something to help them get disciplined and learning
Speaker 1: focus and things like that, and ours was taekwondo.
Speaker 3: My son is a typical boy.
Speaker 1: He wants to run and kicking, punch and jump off
Speaker 1: and wrestle and you know, break everything. Taekwondo, you know,
Speaker 1: get some good discipline. And my son did it for
Speaker 1: about four maybe four or five years, and he ended
Speaker 1: up getting this black belt in taekwondo, and it was like,
Speaker 1: I was so proud of him because it was something
Speaker 1: he stuck with it for a long time to accomplish,
Speaker 1: to accomplish something, and it was great for him to
Speaker 1: learn that and see that at a very young age.
Speaker 5: I'm very proud of them.
Speaker 1: I heard or I learned that you are a black
Speaker 1: belt and you hold a brown belt.
Speaker 3: Now what do you hold your black belt in shore
Speaker 3: to com okay?
Speaker 2: And what is your brown belt in taekwondo? So that
Speaker 2: was around the time that I had open heart surgery.
Speaker 2: It was very early eight nine.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is what we wanted to bring up.
Speaker 4: So most people don't know that you actually had open
Speaker 4: heart surgery when you were eight or nine years old. Yeah,
Speaker 4: maybe you could talk about that if you're willing to
Speaker 4: share with us.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, I think as a younger child, I was
Speaker 2: just a little bit out of breath and it came
Speaker 2: up on a random check through my pediatrician and she
Speaker 2: just recommended, hey, can you do some more testing. You know,
Speaker 2: we're just noticing some things. And I had a slight defect.
Speaker 2: I think in one of my vowels, I had too
Speaker 2: many veins on one side and they changed that. So,
Speaker 2: you know, I think about that as a as a
Speaker 2: starting point, and I think of kind of where I've
Speaker 2: ended up, particularly in my football career and even the
Speaker 2: things that I do now. And that's why I can't
Speaker 2: say like, oh I just did this thing and this thing,
Speaker 2: and that's the reason why I've had this outcome, because
Speaker 2: I don't think it was, you know, ever supposed to
Speaker 2: be that initially. I think even when I had my
Speaker 2: initial results, they were saying like, hey, no contact sports.
Speaker 2: You know, you may always be limited in some ways.
Speaker 2: So I guess it did. It was a miracle. It
Speaker 2: is a miracle. Yeah. I had the opportunity to go
Speaker 2: on and play sports and it didn't hold me back.
Speaker 3: You know, there are a lot of similarities.
Speaker 1: Do you think the taekwondo or the martial arts played
Speaker 1: a pivotal role in you one being drafted for early
Speaker 1: in two helping you manhandle I think you know, defensive linement.
Speaker 2: I think the value sports at a young age is
Speaker 2: just like learning your body, you know. I think a
Speaker 2: lot of times, you know, kids, unless you're in a
Speaker 2: sport that's organized and teaches you, okay, no, stand a
Speaker 2: certain way, bend a certain way, have your head up,
Speaker 2: you don't learn how to move well. And I think
Speaker 2: when you have that as a foundation and you continue
Speaker 2: that going moving forward, you can build on that. I
Speaker 2: think it's sometimes harder when you start later and you're
Speaker 2: trying to learn how to be coordinated and learn things.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: Now, if you look at YouTube, you'll see these little
Speaker 2: kids doing these.
Speaker 3: Little drugs, all the drills, like at.
Speaker 2: Very early ages, and I'm like, wow, Like, how do
Speaker 2: you compete with somebody who's been doing that since three
Speaker 2: and you're learning to play a sport at nine or fifteen,
Speaker 2: It's very hard to compete with that.
Speaker 1: One of the things I try to tell parents, and
Speaker 1: I get to ask a lot of questions about, well.
Speaker 3: How old were you when you played football.
Speaker 5: Should I let my son play football now?
Speaker 1: And I guess the one answer I give them every
Speaker 1: time is I say let them play. But flag football,
Speaker 1: whether you're the big kid, the little kid, the male, female, boy, girl, whatever,
Speaker 1: I think flag football is good for you because you
Speaker 1: learn how to use your body, whether you're an offensive lineman,
Speaker 1: and you know you're not going to be a running
Speaker 1: back when you get older because you're one.
Speaker 3: Of the bigger kids.
Speaker 1: But play It allows you to play every position. It
Speaker 1: allows you to run the ball, it allows you to
Speaker 1: learn cut and do all those things. And not only that,
Speaker 1: but play basketball, play baseball, play play hockey, play as
Speaker 1: many sports, tennis, whatever, maybe not golf, but play all
Speaker 1: the sports you can play. I feel like, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: he think he tiger woods over here, but any We'll
Speaker 1: get to that later on off camera. But I'm a
Speaker 1: huge advocate for kids playing every sport they can at
Speaker 1: such a at a really young age. I think nowadays
Speaker 1: kids they focus on one sport and they specialize more.
Speaker 1: And that's not time to specialize. You gotta do that
Speaker 1: later on in life.
Speaker 4: So you were inducted into the Jets Ring of Ball.
Speaker 3: I was up there, I was. I went up there
Speaker 3: a couple of months ago. I was, Yeah, I went
Speaker 3: up there a couple of months Yeah, I was. I
Speaker 3: went up there. It was great. But you got a
Speaker 3: very a great dry sense of humor. That's what I
Speaker 3: love about you. It's like you always got you always
Speaker 3: come and something.
Speaker 4: But emotionally, what did that do for you? Especially knowing
Speaker 4: that you retired early, people were still wanting more of
Speaker 4: the brickishaw Ferguson when you stepped away. You never missed games,
Speaker 4: you never missed practice, and to be honored at the end,
Speaker 4: what does that feel like?
Speaker 3: What does that do for you?
Speaker 4: I know you're a guy that's not you like to
Speaker 4: keep things light and you're not gonna you're not gonna
Speaker 4: talk about yourself and you're not gonna be too over indulgent.
Speaker 4: But for us, I want you to I want you
Speaker 4: to tell me what it was like for you to
Speaker 4: like be honored in that moment.
Speaker 3: You could tell me too, though I'm here.
Speaker 2: You know, it's a very surreal moment. I think a
Speaker 2: lot of times as athletes on the things that we've
Speaker 2: done wrong, the sacks that we've given up. It was interesting.
Speaker 2: One of my worst games was against Andre Carter. He
Speaker 2: was playing at for the Patriots at the time, and
Speaker 2: this was like i'll say, three years before the end whatever.
Speaker 2: And then he he and I were coaching. I was
Speaker 2: doing an internship with the Jets. It was with strength
Speaker 2: and conditioning, and he was actually coaching the defensive line
Speaker 2: at that time, I think under Greg Williams, and I
Speaker 2: would look at that guy. I'm like, man, you you.
Speaker 3: Just never got over it. You never get over it.
Speaker 2: And I'm still looked at it, and we were pretending
Speaker 2: to do a moves and I'm like, still hot.
Speaker 3: I'm like, how many years is this afterwards?
Speaker 2: I mean it's it's got a bit. I mean it
Speaker 2: was a considerable amount of years. I meant it was
Speaker 2: at least like I don't know, like I don't know seven,
Speaker 2: Like it was considerable or more. And it was considerable.
Speaker 2: And I'm looking at this man like, I don't know
Speaker 2: that I could ever be your friend because of what
Speaker 2: you did to me. We played a game, we played
Speaker 2: them twice, played them earlier in the year, normal game,
Speaker 2: you know, of doing my shots, feeling good about myself.
Speaker 2: I guess he didn't feel that way, right, And then
Speaker 2: the next game changed everything. He went to the Pro
Speaker 2: Bowl that year and I helped him. I don't like that.
Speaker 2: So when you have moments like that, you fixate on that.
Speaker 2: You don't forget those moments clearly, and then you know
Speaker 2: you you get a call and you know, mister Johnson
Speaker 2: and Nick, Nick Mangle and Mark Sanchez on their show
Speaker 2: presented me with this this honor. You're kind of like,
Speaker 2: I don't know how, I don't know where to place this.
Speaker 2: I think of all the coaches and all the coaching points.
Speaker 2: I think of college, I think of you know, the
Speaker 2: transition into retirement. I think of all those things that
Speaker 2: cause you know, certain amount of challenges, and then you
Speaker 2: get this recognition like, hey, you know, you were a
Speaker 2: good player. You you did accomplish some amazing things, and
Speaker 2: you want to acknowledge that. It kind of gives you
Speaker 2: a different perspective. And I think it's sometimes healthy to
Speaker 2: get those acknowledgements because you don't know where people are.
Speaker 2: You know, you don't know the things that people are
Speaker 2: going through. I know we have this podcast to see
Speaker 2: like what's happening now, but it's a bit of a journey.
Speaker 2: I know a lot of athletes talk about their time
Speaker 2: and retirement, and it's a stage of finding themselves. You know,
Speaker 2: we were in that executive program together in finance, you know,
Speaker 2: a lot of internships. You know, went through a divorce,
Speaker 2: Like a lot of things have changed, and now you're
Speaker 2: in a position where you're like, I think I'm in
Speaker 2: a good place now, you know, And it doesn't just happen.
Speaker 2: It takes different opportunities. It takes different things, like a recognition,
Speaker 2: like getting into nursing school, like you know, raising your daughters,
Speaker 2: like meeting someone and spending time and building relationship. It
Speaker 2: takes these things in order to like get to a
Speaker 2: different place. So it's a part of that journey.
Speaker 1: How long would you say it took you to get
Speaker 1: into that place to find that that safe space, say, after.
Speaker 5: You were dealing with football, after you're retired.
Speaker 2: You know, I think the biggest thing, I'll say one
Speaker 2: more thing. I think the biggest thing is as an
Speaker 2: athlete trying things, you have an idea. It's like, hey,
Speaker 2: you know, I want to be proactive. You know, you
Speaker 2: do the things that you learn about. Oh, I'm going
Speaker 2: to take this boot camp, I'm going to take this course.
Speaker 2: I'm going to intern with this company. But I think
Speaker 2: it's very different being a retired player trying things right
Speaker 2: because now it's real. Right now you don't have the
Speaker 2: football as you're back, well, now you can leverage the opportunity.
Speaker 2: But even in leveraging that opportunity, have you carved out
Speaker 2: a skill set where you can say, well, no, this
Speaker 2: is who I am, this is how I'm showing up.
Speaker 2: I don't want to just be the front for this thing.
Speaker 2: I want to be able to do that skill. And
Speaker 2: I think you know, you have some real personal conversations.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you guys have had it as well, where
Speaker 2: it's like, all right, what am I going to do,
Speaker 2: whether you're financially stable or not, how am I going
Speaker 2: to you know, show up in this time in my life?
Speaker 2: Who am I today? Who am I now? And I
Speaker 2: think it takes a couple of years, whether you're in
Speaker 2: a good space or not, in order to like let
Speaker 2: that sink in.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: The pandemic I don't think was a help in the
Speaker 2: sense that it caused people to kind of be distanced
Speaker 2: or re evaluate. All right, I don't have the same opportunities.
Speaker 2: I can't just go and meet up with friends now,
Speaker 2: or if I do meet up with friends. You know,
Speaker 2: we have to, you know, make sure we're socially distancing
Speaker 2: because this is a real thing that's impacting lives. So
Speaker 2: it took a number of years, and I do think
Speaker 2: it is an ongoing process, right, it's reinvention. You know
Speaker 2: who am I today? You know how am I evolving?
Speaker 2: But forward, moving forward is progress and I think having
Speaker 2: the opportunity to like continue and pursue the things that
Speaker 2: have interest to you has allowed me to be in
Speaker 2: a better space.
Speaker 4: I think it's so important also to bring up the
Speaker 4: fact of being confident in these spaces, like we're so
Speaker 4: confident in football, and then when, like you said, you
Speaker 4: don't have that to fall back on or to lean
Speaker 4: on to say, now I'm really Roman Harper or Penat
Speaker 4: Tillman like and I'm just doing this on the side.
Speaker 4: But now no, I cut the cable, and now you
Speaker 4: have to be in this space and be confident in it.
Speaker 4: You're probably a great example because since you've transitioned out
Speaker 4: of football, you've done some financial things and I want
Speaker 4: you maybe talk to me and share with everybody that
Speaker 4: transition what that was like for you to get into
Speaker 4: the financial space. Being confident in what you were doing.
Speaker 4: Like when we did that executive class, I was just
Speaker 4: like enamored with you because you were so confident. You're
Speaker 4: already doing some other things, but then at the same time,
Speaker 4: you were still learning, you were still on this journey
Speaker 4: of growing. And then now since you've moving from finance,
Speaker 4: you're doing some other things as well. So I want
Speaker 4: you to be able to give you the floor and
Speaker 4: share with us on that whole period of this whole
Speaker 4: journey that you've been on really found yourself and still
Speaker 4: gaining confidence in this space, because I think that's the
Speaker 4: one thing that all of us players lack once we're
Speaker 4: not playing football.
Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely, So I think you know, it starts with
Speaker 2: you know, how can I help?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: It starts with how can I help? And that's a
Speaker 2: broad statement, right, And I really you know, you read
Speaker 2: the SI article why Athletes Go Broke? You hear all
Speaker 2: these different things, and it's like, well, how can I
Speaker 2: be an advocate for my for my peers, Right, how
Speaker 2: can I learn about this space bonds equity? Like, how
Speaker 2: can I educate myself in a manner where I know
Speaker 2: what I'm talking about? So I interned with a couple
Speaker 2: of companies and I I started. I actually work with
Speaker 2: my financial advisor for about a year. We had like interned,
Speaker 2: and so when I learned about the executive education program
Speaker 2: at Columbia, and it was about angel investing, and I
Speaker 2: wanted to be able to educate myself on okay, this
Speaker 2: area as well as the base of knowledge which I
Speaker 2: developed working with my advisor. I worked for a sustainability
Speaker 2: impact company that was more of like a startup, and
Speaker 2: they were doing some exciting things and like sustainability and
Speaker 2: impact investing. So I was like trying to get it all.
Speaker 2: But I think I didn't find what I was looking
Speaker 2: for from a sense of like purpose purpose, Like how
Speaker 2: am I? Like, is this really what I want?
Speaker 3: You know? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I could ask a question like, Okay, did I want
Speaker 2: to try to work for, you know, a different kind
Speaker 2: of firm? Did I want to stay individual? You know?
Speaker 2: How did I want to work with my peers? I
Speaker 2: think I struggle with the idea of like coming to
Speaker 2: you like, hey, you know I want to manage your account.
Speaker 2: You know I want to I want you to trust
Speaker 2: me in my firm and allow me to invest your funds.
Speaker 2: I think I probably could have gotten more comfortable, but
Speaker 2: I don't think that's really what I wanted. So I
Speaker 2: kept on looking, you know, and I kept on looking.
Speaker 2: The pandemic happened, you know, again changed my relationships. So
Speaker 2: my situation was completely different. And I'm like, well, I
Speaker 2: still have to find self. I'm still alive, right, I
Speaker 2: still have purpose. Yes I played football, Yes I had
Speaker 2: a great career, But what am I today? And I
Speaker 2: was having a lot of conversations with my mom and
Speaker 2: she was like, you know, the one thing that I
Speaker 2: she's a nurse. One thing that she liked about nursing
Speaker 2: was the opportunity to learn a new space. But you
Speaker 2: can also learn a lot of different spaces, a lot
Speaker 2: of these, whether it let's say becoming a doctor, whether
Speaker 2: it become a lawyer. Sometimes the barrier of entry is
Speaker 2: a little bit longer. You know, you can become a
Speaker 2: go to law school and not get a job. You know,
Speaker 2: you can become a doctor, but that might be a
Speaker 2: seven year commitment, especially if you specialize in the area.
Speaker 2: And I just needed that sense of like, I think
Speaker 2: I can I can do this, right. I hadn't done
Speaker 2: sciences since I don't know high school, so my confidence
Speaker 2: in that space was like, I don't know if I
Speaker 2: can do this. UVA was hard for me, so I'm like,
Speaker 2: I don't know about this, you know. So I went
Speaker 2: to community college. I took my prerequisites, and I just
Speaker 2: kind of started, you know, one class at a time.
Speaker 2: I think for me, it was really important. I think
Speaker 2: we touched on it a little bit before. Is like
Speaker 2: I wanted something that I could offer, Like, yes, I
Speaker 2: played football, but I have this I'm qualified to do
Speaker 2: this work. And I played football. So if both of
Speaker 2: them helped or you know, encourage one another, great. But
Speaker 2: even without football, I can still do my job with excellence, right,
Speaker 2: and that's something we learned as athletes. So did the prerequisites,
Speaker 2: and then I just started applying to nursing schools. I
Speaker 2: applied to nursing programs, got into several, and then you know,
Speaker 2: going to start in the fall. So I'm excited for
Speaker 2: that opportunity. There gives me an opportunity whether I want to,
Speaker 2: you know, do more like a nurse practitioner. You know,
Speaker 2: I can, I can do my training and reassessed. Maybe
Speaker 2: I don't want to do that, Maybe I want to
Speaker 2: do more like urgent care or just so I don't
Speaker 2: know and I think I like that I have the
Speaker 2: ability to learn and figure that part out.
Speaker 3: Are you willing to be a travel nurse?
Speaker 2: Travel nursing a little challenging with kids.
Speaker 3: Okay, let's back up, guys, we're gonna go.
Speaker 2: In the RV. You know, Lord, that's what's up.
Speaker 1: Though, Man, I think I like that I kind of
Speaker 1: found myself in your I can identify with that because
Speaker 1: when I retired, I I did some media stuff for
Speaker 1: a while and I enjoyed it. I just didn't have
Speaker 1: fun with it immediately. It was fun, it was good,
Speaker 1: but it just wasn't like I needed something just a
Speaker 1: little bit different.
Speaker 5: And then now, you know.
Speaker 1: Six almost six years later, you know, I'm kind of
Speaker 1: back in the media and now I'm I'm loving every
Speaker 1: minute of it.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: It's also about the company you keep.
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely about the company.
Speaker 1: It's my guy, say he's been partnering crime. I will say,
Speaker 1: I did this show by myself and it was trash.
Speaker 1: I was terrible, but I needed somebody to help me.
Speaker 1: And this has been my guy, even Age Boone Cooon
Speaker 1: since since yeah, since day one.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I appreciate you.
Speaker 4: So let's talk about somebody that is helping, and that's
Speaker 4: you break your foundation really high value in.
Speaker 3: Education in our youth.
Speaker 4: Could you talk about what clearly education has been a
Speaker 4: big part of your life and I can tell your
Speaker 4: mom's a big influence on that. Maybe just share with
Speaker 4: us the importance of it with you, your foundation and
Speaker 4: the educational part of it.
Speaker 2: And I think that was something earlier on that we
Speaker 2: were like, look, everybody doesn't have this opportunity to play
Speaker 2: in the NFL. I had people who I went to
Speaker 2: school with and for whatever reason, weren't given the same opportunities,
Speaker 2: whether financially, to go to college and do those things right.
Speaker 2: So I wanted to be able to financially give scholarships
Speaker 2: but also have transition programs. You know, what is it
Speaker 2: like to be a student athlete. So we had like
Speaker 2: skills and drills. How do you learn? How do you
Speaker 2: what are some of the learning skills? Are you more auditory?
Speaker 2: Do you have to write things down? Like can you
Speaker 2: see like what visual?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: What are your learning skills? And so we would bring
Speaker 2: in different professionals, even a little finance. You know, do
Speaker 2: you want to get that credit card in college or
Speaker 2: do you just not mill? Don't you just get the
Speaker 2: meal plan, eat the nasty pasta. But you're not going
Speaker 2: to be in debt when you're thirty, right, So it's
Speaker 2: like you learn those little skills and it was just
Speaker 2: a way to kind of equip students as they transition
Speaker 2: into college.
Speaker 6: We're going to take a short break and we'll be
Speaker 6: back in a minute.
Speaker 4: All right, So what was your welcome to the NFL moment?
Speaker 2: Well, one of the positive welcome to the NFL moment
Speaker 2: was the draft, and I think that was an exciting,
Speaker 2: exciting time. I remember my first game Tennessee Titans went
Speaker 2: against Travis Leboy and I'm like, man, I could do this.
Speaker 2: I think I could play. I've also went against some
Speaker 2: other guys where I'm like, I don't I don't know
Speaker 2: if this is for me, And I think I got
Speaker 2: to think about this. I was going against Warren Sap
Speaker 2: one game and he's just telling me what I was
Speaker 2: doing wrong, too hot, rookie, too high, sank and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: you know, I was like, man, I don't know.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't think i've ever heard somebody.
Speaker 3: I was early.
Speaker 2: I was early in the game, but I was older.
Speaker 2: I went against DeMarcus where did the same thing, you know,
Speaker 2: you know, sack my quarterback.
Speaker 3: Hey Brick, how you doing you?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 2: I'm like, get off me.
Speaker 3: I don't know you stop.
Speaker 2: We're not friends, but yeah, you know something, I disliked
Speaker 2: the nice guys more than I like the angry guys.
Speaker 2: Like the angry guys, I like, I don't like you either.
Speaker 2: The nice guys are like, hey, man, you know the
Speaker 2: sack you you sack a quarterback and they help you.
Speaker 3: It's the nicest guy.
Speaker 1: He hated him for because I didn't want to jam him,
Speaker 1: because I was just like, I want to just shoot you, but.
Speaker 4: Then you'll crack blocking when you're not watching.
Speaker 3: It's like with.
Speaker 2: That Hines Lord.
Speaker 3: Fits is.
Speaker 5: That's that's him, all right.
Speaker 3: So let's let's let's do these quick hitters real quick.
Speaker 1: So obviously we all have to retire, and we all
Speaker 1: have to try to figure out something.
Speaker 3: Uh what we're gonna do? What would what?
Speaker 1: What would be your advice to a newly freshly retired
Speaker 1: NFL player?
Speaker 2: Self awareness is key, really learning like who am I,
Speaker 2: what do I do well? What don't I do well?
Speaker 2: And not from us like not presenting to other people,
Speaker 2: but like understanding self like, what are the areas that
Speaker 2: I really struggle with? And because I think those are
Speaker 2: the things that don't go away, you'll you'll still be
Speaker 2: with those as you go to all these different places.
Speaker 2: And so I think learning that as best as you
Speaker 2: can is helpful. That could be done through therapy, that
Speaker 2: could be done through church, that could be done through friendship.
Speaker 2: I think it's a collection of everything. You know, some
Speaker 2: really tight friendships where people are just telling you about
Speaker 2: you and not just you know, telling you maybe what
Speaker 2: you want to hear or what has always been the norm.
Speaker 2: But I think if you know yourself a little bit better,
Speaker 2: you can make decisions that are more in line with
Speaker 2: who you are, particularly as a retired athlete.
Speaker 4: All Right, so I'm supposed to ask you a quick hitter,
Speaker 4: but I gotta I gotta know this one. Because you
Speaker 4: got paid when nobody went back in the day before
Speaker 4: they changed the SBOCA. What was your first big splurge purchase.
Speaker 2: I mean, so I was I was one of those
Speaker 2: rookies that like didn't it was new to me, so
Speaker 2: I didn't want to touch it, you know, I didn't
Speaker 2: know what to do. And so here's a funny story.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you don't know. This one my offense on line,
Speaker 2: my brothers in the trenches. They would find me every
Speaker 2: day until I bought a new car. I had a
Speaker 2: four Tourist green I think it was nineteen eighty three, and.
Speaker 3: You were rolling through this every day. How long did
Speaker 3: you know?
Speaker 2: Then I upgraded my bed. I'm sorry. So my dad
Speaker 2: he used to have cars for work, business cars, and
Speaker 2: you can have the option to buy it. So it's
Speaker 2: like a two thousand and two gray gun metal four
Speaker 2: tours and I had that, and my all lineman would
Speaker 2: find me. Pete Kendall, Brandon Moore, Anthony Clement, they would
Speaker 2: find me.
Speaker 3: How much were they finding you every day?
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't remember. At this point, I guess it was
Speaker 2: just enough where I knew that I was messing up.
Speaker 4: It was just annoying.
Speaker 2: It was just annoying. And I did buy a car.
Speaker 2: It was like a new car, but it wasn't the
Speaker 2: latest model. And then I got disappointment looks on them,
Speaker 2: They're like, this is what you bought. So it was hard.
Speaker 2: It was hard from the beginning. You know, there was
Speaker 2: another player like me who was like, yeah, save your money,
Speaker 2: do all the things that you're supposed to do. I
Speaker 2: wasn't getting that positive reinforcement.
Speaker 4: And my last question break is who's on your mount
Speaker 4: rushmore of influence in your life, whether it's sports, personally, emotionally. Uh,
Speaker 4: it's four and I'd like to know your personal mount.
Speaker 2: Rushb m hmm. Definitely my my I'll say my parents.
Speaker 2: They're they're a unit. They're solidied, all right.
Speaker 3: Can we count him as one?
Speaker 2: Yeah, willcount them as one. I have a principal. His
Speaker 2: name is Jim Brown. He's somebody who I feel kind
Speaker 2: of led the way early was this high school, junior
Speaker 2: high really junior high school, junior high school. But we've
Speaker 2: been in I met with him recently. We stayed in contact.
Speaker 2: I was in his wedding, like you know, and I
Speaker 2: think he provided a sense of leadership outside of you know,
Speaker 2: that family household. I would see him in school and
Speaker 2: everybody had that his respect. I would I want to
Speaker 2: say a pastor, pastor Harry J.
Speaker 1: White.
Speaker 2: He's sense deceased, but he was a natural encourager. You know,
Speaker 2: he got out of his way to acknowledge myself and
Speaker 2: my brother, even to the point where you get in trouble,
Speaker 2: right because you can't be calling out people's kids. And
Speaker 2: then you know, there's a whole church of kids, and man,
Speaker 2: these these Burgerson boys, oh man and these other children.
Speaker 2: Everybody in the church. Just clap your hands for the youth,
Speaker 2: for the youth. And uh you know, so he was.
Speaker 2: He was definitely somebody who I felt was impactful. And
Speaker 2: I'll give you in the coaching spirit. Uh, he was
Speaker 2: my Showta con instructor. His name is Ray Bobin.
Speaker 3: For those that don't know what shodakan is.
Speaker 2: So it's a Japanese style of martial arts. You know.
Speaker 2: Back when we grew up, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, like
Speaker 2: Jackie Chan that was everything. That was everything. Nowadays it's like, oh,
Speaker 2: that's that's nice, that that's cool.
Speaker 3: But it was Steve.
Speaker 2: So that was the beginning and and so they even
Speaker 2: had it, you know, it was retro. I don't remember
Speaker 2: if you uh he's an actor, Jim Kelly the uh
Speaker 2: he was like, uh, he's a black martial artist back
Speaker 2: in the day.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So it's like my my learning was from uh, like
Speaker 2: I said, brother, very strong, but it was like the
Speaker 2: beginnings of discipline. There's a point where the novelty wears off,
Speaker 2: I don't want to do this anymore, and you look
Speaker 2: at your parents and like this is we're doing this, and.
Speaker 3: You're like, but I.
Speaker 2: So it becomes hard. You're doing your pushups, you're you're
Speaker 2: doing all the things that you don't want to do,
Speaker 2: but you're learning your body, you're learning how to fight
Speaker 2: through things. And so when I met my high school coach,
Speaker 2: I leaned on this. Then I met my college coach,
Speaker 2: I leaned on high school. When I met it always
Speaker 2: got harder, it never got easy, it never got easier,
Speaker 2: but I had something to lean on. And I think
Speaker 2: those individuals like that provided foundation throughout my whole life
Speaker 2: that I can use even today as I reflect on
Speaker 2: you know, everything, And I think even as I get older,
Speaker 2: I have a different type of respect for my mom.
Speaker 2: I have a different type of respect for pastor White
Speaker 2: because now I know them, I know more of their story.
Speaker 2: Now when I've heard things that have popped up, it's
Speaker 2: like I'm seeing that as an adult and not as
Speaker 2: a kid, you know, and so it's like, oh, wow, Okay,
Speaker 2: there's depth here. It's not exactly what I thought when
Speaker 2: I was a child, but it's actually even richer. Now
Speaker 2: you know, when I think of my old instructor, I
Speaker 2: think of my old principle, It's like they just provided
Speaker 2: leadership at a time that I didn't even realize I needed,
Speaker 2: but it was there and it was a pillar, you know'
Speaker 2: that's dope.
Speaker 3: I'm using that just what I lean on.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to tell that to my son because
Speaker 1: good luck, yeah, good luck.
Speaker 5: I'm still gonna use it though. We're gonna see what happens.
Speaker 4: Pete and son is the same kid that gets his
Speaker 4: socks wet, takes him off, and then when he needs
Speaker 4: to go put shoes on, puts the same wet sox on.
Speaker 3: I'm getting there. He is extremely consistent. So I love it.
Speaker 2: I love quality. You know, how is your transition? You
Speaker 2: know we've been out, we've been out the league for
Speaker 2: some amount of times. I mean, I the last time
Speaker 2: we had spoken was during that Columbia University, you know,
Speaker 2: and so at that time it seemed, you know, that
Speaker 2: was that time. So just like a snapshot, like house's
Speaker 2: life change for you, guys words, it brought you.
Speaker 3: So deep brick.
Speaker 4: At that point in time, I had three kids, and
Speaker 4: now I have four at a COVID child, another baby boy.
Speaker 4: Me and my wife are still married. But at that
Speaker 4: point in time, I was not doing anything. I was
Speaker 4: literally just trying to figure out what I wanted to do.
Speaker 3: I took three hundred and sixty five.
Speaker 4: Days did nothing, and then once I did that, this
Speaker 4: was part of my after three sixty five days when
Speaker 4: I was taking the class at Columbia and and really
Speaker 4: just trying to figure out what I wanted to do.
Speaker 4: And so since then now I work for ESPN SEC Network.
Speaker 4: So so Saturdays, we got a show called SEC Nation,
Speaker 4: so we travel around the SEC were covering all the teams,
Speaker 4: and I do a show on Tuesday night.
Speaker 3: So that's what I'm doing.
Speaker 4: I'm doing this as well and in some other real
Speaker 4: estate place around the South that I'm kind of trying
Speaker 4: to be looking out for and things like that. So
Speaker 4: that's really what consumes my life and four kids. So yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean that's that's all I got. But I live
Speaker 4: in Charlotte. We got to exchange numbers because you know,
Speaker 4: you're one of my favorite people when we get together.
Speaker 2: That's how I praise. I appreciate that.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, I did the I did Fox Sports.
Speaker 1: I did that for a while. Just got out of that,
Speaker 1: did some law enforcement. Now I'm working with Rome. We're
Speaker 1: doing this show right here, got four kits.
Speaker 3: I'm busy. I'm busy with my.
Speaker 5: Kids and uh yeah, that's that's that's about it.
Speaker 3: But hey, man, I appreciate you.
Speaker 4: H this is one of the best interviews we've had,
Speaker 4: just purely because you were so open candidate, and you
Speaker 4: really gave like the listeners and viewers like a real
Speaker 4: insight on like not just telling you what to do,
Speaker 4: but like some steps to achieve it. Also being vulnerable
Speaker 4: and like, look, man, it was a lot of growth
Speaker 4: and like the things that happened in my past were
Speaker 4: it wasn't always good. Actually, when I got continue to advance,
Speaker 4: I needed to lean on those rough times absolut to
Speaker 4: continue to push me and to tell me I'm award
Speaker 4: for the next journey.
Speaker 3: Like you don't even see.
Speaker 4: What's out there, but the things that you're going through
Speaker 4: now is it's really going to get you through the
Speaker 4: next the next one. And uh man, that was just
Speaker 4: really deep and good, bro. It was getting ship very
Speaker 4: genuine well break man. Appreciate it, man, Thank you for
Speaker 4: joining us. Man, you were off the hot seat.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys, for listening. You know, with every show
Speaker 1: we do, in every guest we have, we try to
Speaker 1: make it very authentic and just be vulnerable and open
Speaker 1: and secure and make this a safe place for these
Speaker 1: guys to talk. And you guys have been awesome for
Speaker 1: supporting us. We can't thank you enough.
Speaker 4: We are here to educate and entertain, So make sure,
Speaker 4: like always and I always ask you, make sure you
Speaker 4: hit the subscribe button, give us a five star rating,
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Speaker 3: Appreciate y'all