Speaker 1: Thank you all for tuning into this special edition of
Speaker 1: the NFL Players Podcast At the Combine M Pina Tillman
Speaker 1: and this is Shekine Griffin. Thank you for tuning in Boston. Well,
Speaker 1: first off, I applaud you in respect the work ethic,
Speaker 1: considering everything you had to go through, all the obstacles
Speaker 1: you had to go through. It's hard, and don't get
Speaker 1: me wrong, I had it hard, but I have two hands.
Speaker 1: I remember watching what year was your your combine? Just
Speaker 1: I just remember watching the whole thing, and I was
Speaker 1: I think, I think I was just excited for you
Speaker 1: because you could see the happiness and joy because obviously
Speaker 1: you know hands and whatnot like, but you were out
Speaker 1: there and you were you were outperforming other players. And
Speaker 1: for me, I was just like I wanted I made
Speaker 1: sure I made my kids, like my son and my
Speaker 1: oldest daughter. So I was just like, look, look you
Speaker 1: see this. I don't want to hear no damn excuses
Speaker 1: about I'm tired on this or I'm heard or my
Speaker 1: my footheard. I was like, look look at look at
Speaker 1: what we're witnessing right here. This is your Look look
Speaker 1: at this. You think he worried about like his what
Speaker 1: what hurt on him, Like he is out there giving
Speaker 1: it everything. So I, um, yeah, man, I just I'm
Speaker 1: here to tell you face to face, you were a
Speaker 1: teachable moment. Thank you for letting my kids see that.
Speaker 1: Like that was Um, that was a teachable moment. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about why you hear. So you're one of the mentors, right,
Speaker 1: So what are some of the things that you're trying
Speaker 1: to tell these prospects as they come through. I mean
Speaker 1: for me, it's just kind of giving them idea of
Speaker 1: kind of how to approach. And I think the best
Speaker 1: thing to get is always tell them to not only
Speaker 1: embrace the moment that you're in, because everybody wished to
Speaker 1: be here and you got to select few you are
Speaker 1: and you're a part of that select few. And the
Speaker 1: thing is, don't go in and just toning to be
Speaker 1: nervous and want to run around, like take something in
Speaker 1: you know, remember it. You know you want to be
Speaker 1: able to come back. And like for me, is I
Speaker 1: learned it from my brother. He was like this, make
Speaker 1: sure when you're going to enjoy yourself, don't feel stressed
Speaker 1: out to have anxiety about why you're here. You know
Speaker 1: you're supposed to be here. You deserve to be here,
Speaker 1: so at like it and said, when you're going in
Speaker 1: and embrace everything that comes with it and be able
Speaker 1: to bring something back and talk about because you never know,
Speaker 1: you might end up back here speaking about it. And
Speaker 1: that's something I tell him, Like you to relax. You've
Speaker 1: been doing this for so long, same drills, running around
Speaker 1: doing what you're doing since you was a little kids
Speaker 1: or however when you started since the same process. And no,
Speaker 1: there's no reason to have any extra anxiety while you're
Speaker 1: out there. But you were blessed though, you were lug
Speaker 1: enough to have a brother go through this process and
Speaker 1: then you could kind of lean on him. And he was,
Speaker 1: I've been telling people, you know, I talked to our
Speaker 1: money tumor and when our money not when we went
Speaker 1: through back and he said he went through a nineties six,
Speaker 1: I went through an oh three. The combine was like
Speaker 1: it was like a myth, Like they didn't have TVs,
Speaker 1: they didn't have social mediacast none. It was you didn't
Speaker 1: get none of that. So it was just like and
Speaker 1: if you didn't know someone who went so I'm I'm
Speaker 1: a small school Lafayette and like I didn't know anyone
Speaker 1: that was good enough to go to the combine. So
Speaker 1: I didn't really know nothing. I just was like, I
Speaker 1: just was here. I just yeah, I didn't. I didn't
Speaker 1: really heard about they make you run and do drills,
Speaker 1: But I didn't really know. I didn't know what you knew,
Speaker 1: because you know, you had you had your brother like
Speaker 1: I didn't. I couldn't. I couldn't do that. So I
Speaker 1: think it's you're basically now you can get a peek
Speaker 1: at the test. Literally, when my brother came back from
Speaker 1: the combine before his pro that he was already teaching
Speaker 1: me things that he was already learning. Yeah, so I knew.
Speaker 1: I knew how to getting the forty start before I
Speaker 1: got before I got to my seiing season. I knew
Speaker 1: the steps he was taking in his shottle before I
Speaker 1: got to my senior season. I used to go visit
Speaker 1: him m J P while he was training. I was
Speaker 1: out there with him, so already was already meeting guys.
Speaker 1: I was already getting the knowledge of it, and I
Speaker 1: used to practice it during season when I look extra time,
Speaker 1: I always the same thing. I used to always walk
Speaker 1: over hurdles, go under the hurdles, and then work on
Speaker 1: my forty starts. Then when you did the hurdles that
Speaker 1: you has a hair down or was the heir hero
Speaker 1: was up? You know, it was more of it just
Speaker 1: kind of getting a hip stronger and making sure that
Speaker 1: was always right. It was just the extra stuff that
Speaker 1: I did was like not only I'm gonna play football
Speaker 1: and get ready for the season, but I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: my stuff, you know, properly, like ready for when I
Speaker 1: do go into training. I'm already got the head start.
Speaker 1: And then so crazy because like how do you know
Speaker 1: all that? Like y'all know, y'all trained my brother right, Sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm taking the same steps the same as that steps.
Speaker 1: Now you had you had a pretty good combine. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like it was like a mimic of my brothers. Like
Speaker 1: I mean you you you you showed out. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was a spend image you. You showed out. I think
Speaker 1: he still hold the record for the fastest, uh right,
Speaker 1: for that's moving a lot of practice. I was practicing
Speaker 1: for a while. I think I think I ran like
Speaker 1: a four four six, so they thought I was gonna round.
Speaker 1: It was funny because the thought I was gonna run
Speaker 1: something like four six four or seven. I remember I
Speaker 1: had one visit and it was with Seattle and he
Speaker 1: asked me, how fast you think you're gonna run? I
Speaker 1: was like, what you think is fast? You're like what four? Line? Back?
Speaker 1: Like four or six? That said, what you think is
Speaker 1: really fast? He was like, well four three or four four?
Speaker 1: I was like, well four three right there down I'm
Speaker 1: running that. It's so crazy. I told my brother, I'm
Speaker 1: around for three just like you. No like a foofolk,
Speaker 1: I see a foofol. I'm a run for three. I
Speaker 1: probably for three. And like my best friend t though,
Speaker 1: he's like, yeah, you're running for three, bro, Like you know,
Speaker 1: all I needed was one guy. You know I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get it. And I told Pete the same thing. They say,
Speaker 1: you think four three very fast? Let's watch out for
Speaker 1: and literally when I run it. They showed a clip
Speaker 1: and he was like, oh my goodness. I told you.
Speaker 1: I remember as soon. I didn't know. Mind you, when
Speaker 1: you're running, you don't know the time until you get back.
Speaker 1: I remember saying, have birthday, mama. I knew I ran fast, See,
Speaker 1: I didn't even I only I think I knew like
Speaker 1: like later that evening or somebody didn't. They didn't knew.
Speaker 1: Once I got done, I was like, have birthday, Mama.
Speaker 1: I just knew you. I felt it. Yeah, that's that's up.
Speaker 1: So when you and your brother were growing up, who
Speaker 1: was always faster? It was back and forth. I feel
Speaker 1: like I started off the fastest, and then throughout time
Speaker 1: it's like what was going back and forth? And then
Speaker 1: he was coming up, and then that was when I
Speaker 1: was going up in wade this and that. So it
Speaker 1: was the ongoing battle. But it was never a point
Speaker 1: to where somebody was just clearly faster. It was like
Speaker 1: you wanted to work, You're gonna get your hand, you
Speaker 1: ut put your Handshin's gonna line for this one, buddy.
Speaker 1: Every time you used to run against the one hundred,
Speaker 1: the two hundred, even when we did the four about four.
Speaker 1: We used to look at times in the four hundred
Speaker 1: jumping no matter what it is, because competition. Even when
Speaker 1: we walk into school, I bet I take less steps
Speaker 1: to you, and it's very so I don't want to
Speaker 1: twitter anything like that, but we I think my brother,
Speaker 1: So I'm my brother and I with three years a party.
Speaker 1: He's always kicked my button full basketball and caller. I
Speaker 1: was like the little running the letter. I think not
Speaker 1: until my sophomore year we played basketball. I was finally
Speaker 1: able to beat my brother. That was a bigger conversation.
Speaker 1: Happy birthday, Mama, I just happy birthday. Made it. I
Speaker 1: made it so. Yeah, the day I beat my brother
Speaker 1: and he probably don't even notice, but that's when I
Speaker 1: was like I had even more confidence. I was like,
Speaker 1: now that I just beat you, I'm never losing again,
Speaker 1: Like it's yeah, I got you, I got you. I
Speaker 1: will never lose a game again. Feeling being close to
Speaker 1: my brother though, it was just like you're gonna take
Speaker 1: a l, you're gonna get some w You're gonna feel
Speaker 1: very confident. But it's an L around the corner. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's why it was. It was always going at
Speaker 1: it like everything is competition to this day, like now
Speaker 1: we're getting involved in so much stuff, entrepreneurship and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, and it's still competitive. It doesn't stop nowhere.
Speaker 1: But that's what But don't you think that's why you
Speaker 1: are the way you are right now because of how
Speaker 1: you and your brother grew up, meaning um competing against
Speaker 1: each other, like pushing each other. I feel like for us,
Speaker 1: it gave us a competitive edge because I know how
Speaker 1: hard he was going and I wanted to be him.
Speaker 1: Anybody who came even under that, I wasn't gonna stand
Speaker 1: a chance. Like you have to give your best at
Speaker 1: this moment for you to win. And that's how we
Speaker 1: felt like it was something when my day to say, um,
Speaker 1: he was running two hundred, he was like, man, I
Speaker 1: was like that, Man, I'm going to the final. But
Speaker 1: these guys so fast, they said they ran this before.
Speaker 1: It like tell them running to day right he did.
Speaker 1: He ran in a couple weeks ago. He got running
Speaker 1: the day to beat me because my time is this,
Speaker 1: but I'm playing on beating my time that I ran
Speaker 1: another week, he got to come with it. And now
Speaker 1: when I wanted two hundred, I was like that here
Speaker 1: on that time today. And it makes someone saying like
Speaker 1: you have to bring your best right now if you
Speaker 1: want to win. And that's what my brother Lou. It's
Speaker 1: either I'm gonna win on he gonna win, but we're
Speaker 1: gonna bring a hundred percent best. If you're not bringing
Speaker 1: out the day, you're gonna take that hell. But I
Speaker 1: know that's what I'm gonna bring. I'm bring Hunt saying
Speaker 1: that's all I got support system is sports is very strong.
Speaker 1: I feel like that's something where you know, I gave
Speaker 1: us an age too, because not only is my brother competitive,
Speaker 1: I feel like the stuff and the sacrifices of my
Speaker 1: mom and dad and my older brother's maide. You know,
Speaker 1: they didn't have to how many, how many how many families.
Speaker 1: It's four of us, it's four of us. It's Andre, Terrel,
Speaker 1: my brother, Shaquille, and then I'm the baby. But I
Speaker 1: went in Unfortunately sixty seconds. I could have been sixty second,
Speaker 1: sixty one things I would have been older. What if
Speaker 1: it rose when the flip, but hey, it happens, you know,
Speaker 1: on the baby. But the thing is, I feel like
Speaker 1: for them, my competitiveness really came and started with my
Speaker 1: mom and dad telling me that you can't do this,
Speaker 1: you can't and I felt like they wouldn't allow me
Speaker 1: to make excuses. I mean even when I wanted to
Speaker 1: play running back, I was like, what nine years old,
Speaker 1: and but that like, you sure you're gonna pay running back.
Speaker 1: They're gonna punch the ball, They're gonna snap the ball
Speaker 1: from I said, no, they're not. He's like, well grab
Speaker 1: the ball. Then I was run in the backyard and
Speaker 1: he snatched me and like slum me across the are.
Speaker 1: I said, I got the ball, though, you're all right,
Speaker 1: play running back and literally twelve touch. That was later
Speaker 1: that year. I was beat that running back. And the
Speaker 1: thing is like he was like gonna sturch the ball
Speaker 1: and the fact that I told him no, he tried
Speaker 1: every single time and I'm not letting the ball go
Speaker 1: because how did you? But how did you get that mindset? Though?
Speaker 1: Like let's in like a shorter version, like talk about
Speaker 1: your left arm and then like how you came and
Speaker 1: like tell me, tell me, tell me that story. I
Speaker 1: mean I feel like, like I said, the support system
Speaker 1: around me and what helped me gain confidence because my
Speaker 1: older brother didn't take a light. My twin brother didn't
Speaker 1: take a light. And I hated losing, so like, what
Speaker 1: you're gonna do, You're gonna fix it. Even when I
Speaker 1: was learning how to catch the ball, my dad was like,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get him in the face, and then you're
Speaker 1: gonna learn to stop letting the ball hit your face.
Speaker 1: And I did that. I didn't like the ball hit
Speaker 1: my face. I had to stop. So in me, I
Speaker 1: had to create a confidence, and you know what, I
Speaker 1: really can do this, Like, there's no excusesna make excuse.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna get in the face every time, so
Speaker 1: stop hearing. The excuse is fools on the ball and
Speaker 1: make sure I see it all the way in. Stop
Speaker 1: getting hit in the face. When it comes to me
Speaker 1: with my brother going out and playing football or anything else,
Speaker 1: it was just like, Okay, I know he can do this,
Speaker 1: and I know I can do this too, So it's like,
Speaker 1: how do I get a competitive And I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: keep working and keep working and keep working it until
Speaker 1: it I'm down patting and like, I bet try me now,
Speaker 1: and I got something for you. And as I got
Speaker 1: older and even from like other coaches, other kids, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, kids can be a little not not really knowing,
Speaker 1: but kids are me. You can bleep that out, but yeah,
Speaker 1: kids are kids are me. They say they say, they
Speaker 1: say mean things, they're hurtful, but they know it's just
Speaker 1: they say what they see. And that gets at a
Speaker 1: young age is not only kids are saying stuff. Now.
Speaker 1: My brother was the puncher. I was like, that's funny.
Speaker 1: My brother like, no, that ain't. I had a brother
Speaker 1: like that, you was, he was the hot head. I
Speaker 1: was like the happy go lucky. So I beer and
Speaker 1: my brother was like, man, don't try my brother. I
Speaker 1: got something for you know what. I know, I'm watching you.
Speaker 1: That's how he was. And I remember, um my first interception.
Speaker 1: I was ten years old, and I remember we had
Speaker 1: this one. We had to like you got the way in,
Speaker 1: you gotta make a certain weight. And I remember this
Speaker 1: like right for the last game for the playoff, and
Speaker 1: I was already doing good scoring touchdowns. I was playing
Speaker 1: old line de lion. I was just making plays like crazy.
Speaker 1: And then the coaches telling me it was like, um no,
Speaker 1: let me go back for us. When I was winning
Speaker 1: in he said I was overweight, and mind you, I'm
Speaker 1: doing all this process. And I knew. I waited in
Speaker 1: twice that morning before the actual way in. I said,
Speaker 1: how didn't make way? It's impossible. And then actually when
Speaker 1: I came in, my coach way and I made way.
Speaker 1: And then the coach asked the other coaches like, why
Speaker 1: would you say he didn't make weight? Oh, man's a man.
Speaker 1: It's a two handed sport, Like what does that even means?
Speaker 1: The two in sport? I guess I'm the only one
Speaker 1: who's doing this because I don't deserve to play, and
Speaker 1: then like, now you're gonna play in my two sacks.
Speaker 1: Remember the last game, the clustered playoffs spot and you
Speaker 1: said your ten right? I remember it was a slant route.
Speaker 1: Slant route came and I remember just jumped in front
Speaker 1: of it, caught the ball and then spent on my
Speaker 1: back and fail like this first interception of remember you
Speaker 1: holding the ball the game over there, like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: guess you wish you I didn't play for real? Huh
Speaker 1: that gets through the ball at the coach. That's when
Speaker 1: I knew how to shift my mindset to say you
Speaker 1: know what, yeah you said I do. I can't. I
Speaker 1: can't do this. It's not norm, but I'm gonna make
Speaker 1: it a norm for you. I'm gonna making I'm gonna
Speaker 1: make you see how you're supposed to look. So now
Speaker 1: you can't judge if you got one or two because
Speaker 1: I got sex and interception like I did, so like
Speaker 1: not what you're gonna say? Now? Did you? Was that?
Speaker 1: The was that? That was? So? That was the first
Speaker 1: time he felt that, you know, a coach treat you
Speaker 1: a certain kind of way because of only having one hand. Yes,
Speaker 1: did you? Did you? Have to do that in college.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, high school, every literal league to high school
Speaker 1: to high school to college, the college to the league.
Speaker 1: It's it's a process. It's another barrier that you've got
Speaker 1: to be able to steal in the league. You still
Speaker 1: got it even after it got worse in college. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it got really blunt because that's their job on the line.
Speaker 1: You know, when when they started being like the high
Speaker 1: school was, I was. I was already outstanding of people
Speaker 1: around me. So it was just like I was able
Speaker 1: to work through that and me and kill was on
Speaker 1: our way to going to the same college. But when
Speaker 1: I got to college, that's when I know business is
Speaker 1: real because now I kind of found out that the
Speaker 1: coach that recruited us knowing that we was gonna go
Speaker 1: to a separate school. But like, what do I need
Speaker 1: to do to get Shaquille Griffin here? I gotta bring
Speaker 1: on his brother. And I thought, I'm head over here,
Speaker 1: like I made it. Now I'm here. Then three years
Speaker 1: going by and next ure, you know, I'm getting all
Speaker 1: kind of neglect. I'm getting talked down about. You know,
Speaker 1: I was on the I was on the scout team
Speaker 1: for a while, and I remember literally that the next
Speaker 1: few years, the weight coaches like you only image of
Speaker 1: your brother, You just a shadow, or you're never gonna
Speaker 1: be nothing. You think you're gonna really go out there
Speaker 1: and then ball out. We're doing all this work, you
Speaker 1: think you're gonna really get there, Like I don't know
Speaker 1: what kind of reinforcement he was going to put on me,
Speaker 1: but it was not the one I wanted, and like yeah,
Speaker 1: and it was tough, and then I got to the
Speaker 1: point where I got sent home. My third year, I
Speaker 1: had to work two jobs. I remember, I was toying
Speaker 1: for my dad from seven am to six I work
Speaker 1: out from six thirty to seven thirty, and then I'll
Speaker 1: go from my job from no to one am, cleaning
Speaker 1: the builders with my brother. And at that time, like, man,
Speaker 1: I'm home. Ain't nothing I gonna do. And then my
Speaker 1: coach telling me or called my brother into the office
Speaker 1: or I'm home throughout the last few months, and like
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, gonn sing your brother to a juco or
Speaker 1: do two school to finish education. I don't think football
Speaker 1: is for him, Like, well, you never gave me a
Speaker 1: chance to the show where I can do the thing.
Speaker 1: All I did to this setting the side scout team
Speaker 1: or doing whatever I can do. You send me home
Speaker 1: to see if my brother can do well without me,
Speaker 1: as if I was a distraction, and my brothers like,
Speaker 1: we'll send me, send me too. I need my paper
Speaker 1: work quit right now. So we're both going my brothers
Speaker 1: like he stormed out. It's like as it, I'm going
Speaker 1: to do two of my brother. And then they called
Speaker 1: him back, like we'll bring your brother back. The same
Speaker 1: process over again for him to stay, you gotta bring
Speaker 1: me back. I remember I was literally I remember this
Speaker 1: same as that outfit. I might have some orange and
Speaker 1: white Griffy's on blue Wrangler jeans and a neon green
Speaker 1: shirt that all my dad's so like sizes like thirty
Speaker 1: eight pants and I wore like a thirty it was
Speaker 1: a two ex shirt. I wore a medium, so like yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm just work closed. And I remember we called
Speaker 1: me like you come back to school and I got
Speaker 1: my scholarship back. And then I when we had the
Speaker 1: O M twelve year and he left like the sixth
Speaker 1: game of the season, I'm just for me to come back.
Speaker 1: He made me murther cut out hair, like you would
Speaker 1: not look at this on our team, like you're gonna
Speaker 1: cut your hair and you're gonna have match our uniform,
Speaker 1: like we got dressed when we don't match the uniform.
Speaker 1: So it was like a whole thing that's going back
Speaker 1: and forth, like he didn't want us to be there,
Speaker 1: they didn't want me to be there. And then that's
Speaker 1: when we got the opportunity with Scott Frost and first
Speaker 1: meeting feel like why didn't you play? Like we're looking
Speaker 1: at your your patents tape and this and that, like
Speaker 1: you were just type A player while you didn't play
Speaker 1: cold honestly, and I think I could play. I saw disability.
Speaker 1: I was like, do you think I could play here?
Speaker 1: I'm not judging you that. Of course Frost told me,
Speaker 1: he said, you gotta clean slate here, show them what
Speaker 1: you're out. I said, thank you, That's all I needed.
Speaker 1: And then they sudn't know my first time starting. I
Speaker 1: remember the first play, I was chasing a stretch. I
Speaker 1: remember soon I start changing, the boss started throwing up anxiety.
Speaker 1: I couldn't have been so long. I told my back,
Speaker 1: I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I don't know what
Speaker 1: to do. He's like, bro, how you can't breathe. You're
Speaker 1: talking to me. Oh yeah, you're right right, I said, listen, bro,
Speaker 1: I know it's been a while, but listen. It's my
Speaker 1: brother senior year or two. So I've been waiting for
Speaker 1: a while to get to that point. He's like, bro,
Speaker 1: just play football. You've been doing this for so long.
Speaker 1: Just play you here, now play and they say no.
Speaker 1: The next place, sack, another sack, forced fumble, brother got
Speaker 1: two interceptions. It was like, that was my breakout game
Speaker 1: and next ain't no. Thirteen sexs later, I was a
Speaker 1: decent player of the Year All American Is. It's like, boy,
Speaker 1: I'd been a long time waiting on that, but that's
Speaker 1: all I needed. Just let me just imagine if you
Speaker 1: could have did that with the previous regime administration, Like
Speaker 1: you do, you do? You do? You often think about that. No.
Speaker 1: I feel like for me is if somebody's like, would
Speaker 1: you go back and do it again? I was like yes,
Speaker 1: because it created a different beast in me. I already
Speaker 1: had one. But it's like I could have the mindset
Speaker 1: and let it phoone me. Come on you, I didn't
Speaker 1: when I working on two jobs. A lot of people
Speaker 1: are gonna just take that hour to workout. They weren't
Speaker 1: thought they mean nothing, but it meant something to me.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm exhausted. I'm working. I'm working money through
Speaker 1: Saturday because I'm trying to keep that schedule as if
Speaker 1: I'm in school. I don't want to I don't want
Speaker 1: to sleep in the house. I don't want to just
Speaker 1: be running around the neighborhood. No, I don't want to
Speaker 1: hang out with my friends. I'm gonna go to work,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna workout. I'm gonna go back to work. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go to sleep and do it all over again.
Speaker 1: I remember my dad was telling me, like, you save
Speaker 1: your money like eight while wats for breakfast, munching done,
Speaker 1: had the whole routine laid down until I got my shot.
Speaker 1: My brother's literally called, like you're working out, taking off
Speaker 1: my neon green shirt, my regular genia. I'm getting ready now, man. No,
Speaker 1: and I go at the workout, go clean business. But
Speaker 1: I like in me is my brother still checking out
Speaker 1: me and he's not giving up. I'm not gonna give
Speaker 1: up because he gave up a lot just for me
Speaker 1: to be even beat that with him. So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: keep until I get back. I don't know how it's
Speaker 1: gonna look. I'm gonna keep going. And then and it
Speaker 1: worked out like I feel like me being up to
Speaker 1: get over the obstacles and teach myself about how to
Speaker 1: change my mindset that they know what. It's never over.
Speaker 1: You know, things just don't go your way when you
Speaker 1: want it. Keep fighting, it's gonna it's gonna turn over
Speaker 1: because having a bad hand, you're gonna get some good
Speaker 1: cars later. I got you, man, That's how I felt,
Speaker 1: and end up working out like damn, I finally got
Speaker 1: me a good hand. I'm gonna play the hell like
Speaker 1: this hand. Now damn show did damn show good? So
Speaker 1: when you read Central Florida, y'all want the national championship, right,
Speaker 1: So there's we gotta we gotta talk about this like
Speaker 1: discrepancy if like if y'all want it or so what
Speaker 1: we all ranks? Because I knew you guys was after
Speaker 1: before we end up playing arben Um doing the peace ball,
Speaker 1: we was already ranked number ten and after beating and
Speaker 1: was ranked number five or six, But we never really
Speaker 1: had the opportunity to even get into the playoff. Frank anyway,
Speaker 1: we thought we would, you know, what I'm saying. It's
Speaker 1: not always like well, uh this the season was not
Speaker 1: as hard as on the season, but we're bought our
Speaker 1: teams about points make it hard then and they were like, well,
Speaker 1: we're gonna put Urban on the Peach Bowl is put
Speaker 1: them on the And for us, it was just like,
Speaker 1: we want to showcase what we can do. We don't
Speaker 1: care about what name they got, but that's how we
Speaker 1: was brought up. We created our culture within u C
Speaker 1: for like, no matter who you is, no matter what
Speaker 1: team you come from, no matter how big you are,
Speaker 1: we dogs too, and all dogs come in differentiation sizes.
Speaker 1: Because we wanted to showcase that, and no, man, we're
Speaker 1: still to this day, I still scream we wish we
Speaker 1: had Alabama. I wanted to feel couple that we was
Speaker 1: abusing it was abusing armor. I need somebody else to
Speaker 1: abuse all this big dog talk and literally it's so
Speaker 1: crazy in the interview is just like what y'all gonna
Speaker 1: do versus Arbor? Why I keep asking why what we're
Speaker 1: gonna do? And what came? How y'all gonna stop that? Well?
Speaker 1: I can't this is that why I can't talk about
Speaker 1: what good places we're gonna make it. Well, yeah, I
Speaker 1: know you're gonna do this and do that talk good
Speaker 1: out of You're already telling us we're gonna get our buzzswood, right,
Speaker 1: So it's all right. I said, yeah, I said, we
Speaker 1: can be on the dog. We're gonna see us that
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to see us, and thank is. We
Speaker 1: want to showcase that to the entire country. But and
Speaker 1: sometimes they'd be afraid of our little dog. That bite
Speaker 1: real hard. I ain't want to see it. So whose
Speaker 1: idea was to put because on the ring it says
Speaker 1: national me, me, Mackenzie, who else? Who else? To us?
Speaker 1: There's a lot of us. We go like we go,
Speaker 1: like you know, got the captains. So it was like
Speaker 1: five hours, we're gonna put that on there. We're gonna
Speaker 1: put that on and we wanted on the banner on
Speaker 1: that stadium. They're gonna see this every year. Facts we're
Speaker 1: designing beating national championship. I don't care. You have to
Speaker 1: put my little number one big national championship. So that
Speaker 1: was okay. So team captains decided that okay, they gave
Speaker 1: it the option two and like they're gonna go to
Speaker 1: the board because I guess Alabama and one year claimed
Speaker 1: the national championship also, so I was like, so we're
Speaker 1: not the first one. We're claiming this because we got
Speaker 1: to go through the boards and the n C Double
Speaker 1: A and everything, and they all lot of us do it.
Speaker 1: It's over. I get these rings, right, Okay, Okay, so
Speaker 1: y'all know, so you can just so if I won,
Speaker 1: I don't know. We always go to the money grab
Speaker 1: bowl in my my college. Ain't nothing wrong with the
Speaker 1: money right, wrong with it. So first off, I won
Speaker 1: six games in college all four years, Like yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think people know that, Like, like, I won
Speaker 1: six games. So I feel you when you talk about
Speaker 1: like to keep moving, just keep pushing. Yeah, I had
Speaker 1: a I had a terrible hand. I had to play
Speaker 1: what I had and eventually the hard work paid off.
Speaker 1: I don't think I ever got a good hand as
Speaker 1: far as winning games or anything like that, but yeah,
Speaker 1: the hand paid off is as far as just the
Speaker 1: work that was stayed, staying focused in the work that
Speaker 1: I put into, um, just my craft and trying to
Speaker 1: get better. A lot of humility because it's it's hard
Speaker 1: to stay full is when you're doing a lot of
Speaker 1: losing there's a lot of negativity within the office, the people,
Speaker 1: and it's a contagious it's a contagious energy when it
Speaker 1: couldn't losing. So it's tough to work at craft. And
Speaker 1: you know what I believe and what I'm putting out there.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. Everybody like it's a team sport,
Speaker 1: but you still have to focals on your craft and
Speaker 1: doing right no matter the loss of the win. The
Speaker 1: thing that blew me away was I was on scal
Speaker 1: poor kid at came from nothing, made something and you know,
Speaker 1: my mom, dad, they worked hard, did a good job
Speaker 1: raising me. So I couldn't afford college. But I'm on
Speaker 1: this scholarship and again we're like waterboy, like we're just
Speaker 1: losing games non stop, and like you said, we're being
Speaker 1: teams about points. I was, Yeah, I was that team.
Speaker 1: I was on the other side. So I don't, I don't,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know what it's like to be
Speaker 1: anybody by forty or fifty points. Like we was the
Speaker 1: team on the just the other end of the stick,
Speaker 1: like it just was bad. Happen to get in a
Speaker 1: ball game. So we got to a bowl game. When
Speaker 1: I graduate, or excuse me, Like when I graduated and
Speaker 1: then like years, a decade went by and now they're
Speaker 1: in bowl games, like now they're you know, top twenty whatever.
Speaker 1: But when I was there, we got and I told
Speaker 1: us amandi tumor. I was like, you got a pair
Speaker 1: of cleats, you got a pair of gloves, and you
Speaker 1: got a set of wrist bands, and that was all
Speaker 1: you had for the years. So if you played a
Speaker 1: team just for the game, no no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no no, just for the season, you gotta pair
Speaker 1: of wrist bands for the season. So you was looking
Speaker 1: clean the first Yeah, I know, I know, And I
Speaker 1: went to a D one. I was a small D one,
Speaker 1: but that was one pair of gloves. So even when
Speaker 1: you got a tear, or get some tape or put
Speaker 1: some of that the stuff that they spray on your
Speaker 1: to make the tape stick to make the pre priv
Speaker 1: as a different time, you have to straight up alright,
Speaker 1: they they good right now. I got about ten catches
Speaker 1: and not before I got to spread again. So I
Speaker 1: come from a I come from a different time. But
Speaker 1: I say that to say I applaud you in respect
Speaker 1: going through that and then having I don't know, you're
Speaker 1: ten years old and having a coach a this is
Speaker 1: a two hand sport young man that then going to
Speaker 1: high school and then dealing with whatever coaches told you
Speaker 1: there and then I'm sure there were probably some some
Speaker 1: non believers, some doubters when you made it to the
Speaker 1: next level, and I'm sure they're probably still some doubters now.
Speaker 1: It became a norm. I mean even before the Combine,
Speaker 1: I ain't gonna comb invite to the last invite was
Speaker 1: sent and I went. After all these years I had,
Speaker 1: you know, I put up some good numbers. I was
Speaker 1: in that caliber talk with everybody else but them coaches
Speaker 1: that was choosing all the votes. I was coming in
Speaker 1: didn't believe, like, you know, I could come in and
Speaker 1: really show what I've been putting out in the field.
Speaker 1: And I remember going to the Singing Bowl and I
Speaker 1: put on another show. It was it was the Pactice.
Speaker 1: It was the practice week m VP for putting on
Speaker 1: good tape. And I finally got my invite. I remember
Speaker 1: they said make a video. Was I was in was
Speaker 1: in Dallas outside of uh green is Green is grill?
Speaker 1: I angle? He said make this video right now. He
Speaker 1: took me outside, make a video and said that you
Speaker 1: got invited. Let them know that they messed up. You
Speaker 1: should put that out there by your should Like he said,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, man, they talk, they talk to your mess
Speaker 1: right now. I was like, yeah, I got invited to
Speaker 1: the combine. Yeah, you messed up, you messed up. I
Speaker 1: got something for y'all. Dampoo posted on Twitter. They said no,
Speaker 1: he said no, and I said, back it up now?
Speaker 1: Is it is it safe to say that you're your
Speaker 1: older brother? About one minute? Is your biggest fan? Oh
Speaker 1: big fans, biggest fan, biggest being on in my hero?
Speaker 1: And after I called my whole family my hero. You know,
Speaker 1: everybody they don't see like a little avengers. You know,
Speaker 1: they they set a pathway for me to to really
Speaker 1: give my best, you know what I'm saying, and all
Speaker 1: the negativity and stuff like that. You know, like I said,
Speaker 1: avengers can't save every single thing. But they was able
Speaker 1: to put their sholds around me and it made and
Speaker 1: it made a real good path for me. I could
Speaker 1: have went left, could with the other way. I could
Speaker 1: have went backwards, but they believe me so hardly, like
Speaker 1: there's no reason for me not to go forward. I think,
Speaker 1: like life, it's hard and you know, life is like
Speaker 1: one long journey, and in journey you need guides and
Speaker 1: along the way in life you gotta figure out who
Speaker 1: those guides are. And I've been blessed and luck enough
Speaker 1: to to to um, there was a gentleman. We walked out,
Speaker 1: I think y'all walked in front of me, and I
Speaker 1: adapted him up. His name is Dwayne Joseph. He was
Speaker 1: my player engagement coach. Now he's the assistant general manager,
Speaker 1: and um, I talking about time vague, and when he
Speaker 1: was the player engagement guy, we talked about goals and everything,
Speaker 1: and he said my goal, I want to be a
Speaker 1: general manager, and he said it in stone. Now he's
Speaker 1: he's I think he's almost there and he should be
Speaker 1: a general manager in this league. But I remember that
Speaker 1: that was like two thousand three, and I remember that
Speaker 1: and him just like preaching and just mentoring and and
Speaker 1: telling me all these things. And I to this day,
Speaker 1: I still tell that story how he helped me and
Speaker 1: and I'm still using things that he taught me when
Speaker 1: I was a little dumb, young rookie. And you have
Speaker 1: an important job this weekend with these with these prospects
Speaker 1: coming in and man I'm just uh, I'm happy you're here.
Speaker 1: I'm happy they reached out to you. I hope that
Speaker 1: they listen, we had a good car yesterday. I will
Speaker 1: teaching some of the lb is about financial literacy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: may didn't even understand that at that point, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I didn't. I didn't have the opportunity to
Speaker 1: hear somebody from my point of view when I was
Speaker 1: when I was going through this process, I stuck. So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you what I felt like I should
Speaker 1: have had. So I'm gonna teach you this. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I'm giving you out there, Like when
Speaker 1: you start getting a little bit of money, don't be
Speaker 1: trying to just put all that. It's it's okay to
Speaker 1: enjoy yourself, but it's okay to take bits and pieces
Speaker 1: and set yourself up for something else. And I even
Speaker 1: broke it down down to the math. Now you can
Speaker 1: do this and be able to do that. Like, listen,
Speaker 1: I know one thing is I learned, like a lot
Speaker 1: of people say me growing up, especially where I come from,
Speaker 1: they alwaysupposed to run away from that. Don't have that,
Speaker 1: don't have that. And I get to the point where
Speaker 1: I had the opportunity that I'm in and as the
Speaker 1: thing gets to run to it and create opportunity bigger
Speaker 1: than you even imagine. And I put that all into
Speaker 1: perspective from them, and they was able to see light
Speaker 1: from that. So now I know, like, obviously you can
Speaker 1: talk to the big group of people, but you don't
Speaker 1: even need a few people are gonna take it in.
Speaker 1: Somebody will, And I know that it was. It was
Speaker 1: something where vowed them, vowed that kid in their shoes.
Speaker 1: I would have been that guy who I was a
Speaker 1: spun I'm taking it all in, So I knew how
Speaker 1: valuable it was. And now I can see five times
Speaker 1: for you. I may get a text, I may get
Speaker 1: a tweet or a d M and thinking like thank you, bro,
Speaker 1: thank you for that, and it goes a long way
Speaker 1: because I know me showing him that next five ten years,
Speaker 1: he's gonna show somebody else. He gonna show somebody else,
Speaker 1: and it's an on going sting. And now you just
Speaker 1: create a new culture within the combined experience. As far
Speaker 1: as Tesse's cares, something that you want to know. Financial
Speaker 1: literacy being able to not only have money and enjoy
Speaker 1: yourself and be able to put things and set up
Speaker 1: for the future. You don't know how it's gonna go.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody ain't. Everybodyn't have the same hand. Set
Speaker 1: yourself up. You got an opportunity for you gonna start
Speaker 1: getting some things. Do right with it. Mike Drop, We're
Speaker 1: gonna end it on that note. I'm Peanut Tillman came Griffin.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. Thank you for listening to tuning in.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us on the NFL Players Podcast. Don't
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