Speaker 1: But a whole career college football in just one NFL
Speaker 1: game so far. What is the difference between trying to
Speaker 1: beat man coverage in the SEC versus what you saw today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a little bit of a difference obviously, Like
Speaker 2: the NFL is just the best of the best, so
Speaker 2: there's that difference. But I still think it's similar techniques
Speaker 2: to beat a dB at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: you know, and I got to stick to those techniques
Speaker 2: and keep working on it and keep getting better at it.
Speaker 3: It needs to get out to the football field today,
Speaker 3: given what happened to you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I met everything obviously, all the adversity I just
Speaker 2: went through these past month. You know, it was really
Speaker 2: good to go out there with my guys again. I
Speaker 2: think that's the refresher for me at the end of
Speaker 2: the day. You know, when when the incident first happened,
Speaker 2: the first thing I was thinking about was, you know,
Speaker 2: the guys in this locker room, the coaches in the
Speaker 2: locker room, and the entire staff, and you know, they
Speaker 2: did a really good job of rallying around me, making sure,
Speaker 2: you know, I stayed up, and it was a huge
Speaker 2: blessing for me today.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it happened to you.
Speaker 3: Did you realize that you would be able to play
Speaker 3: football again?
Speaker 2: They told me in the hospital and when I was
Speaker 2: still asking that question over and over again, So that
Speaker 2: was a that was a common question coming out of
Speaker 2: my mouth when I was in the hospital bed. But
Speaker 2: they ended up telling me after the they seen the
Speaker 2: x rays and the catscans of the direction of the
Speaker 2: bullet path and then as well as you know, there
Speaker 2: was some nerve stuff that I had to make sure
Speaker 2: I was good on, so that's why I had to
Speaker 2: say overnight. But after that that next morning is when uh,
Speaker 2: the doctor came in and told me I would be
Speaker 2: good to play football again.
Speaker 4: That's my first question.
Speaker 1: So hurdle that you had to clear, you know, two
Speaker 1: months ago to through that process to get back on
Speaker 1: the field.
Speaker 4: Today, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: I think the biggest hurdle for me was just recovery
Speaker 2: from you know, the wound. There was obviously a lot
Speaker 2: of scar tissue built up in the area and since
Speaker 2: it was in my chest all in like under my armpit,
Speaker 2: and obviously it was through and through, so there was
Speaker 2: a build up all the way from you know, my
Speaker 2: chest to my back. So just working through that making
Speaker 2: sure I'm getting that all worked on and getting that
Speaker 2: scar tissue out, And once I started feeling better range
Speaker 2: of motion and pain tolerance wise, and you know, that's
Speaker 2: when you know I was headed to the right direction
Speaker 2: to practice and train.
Speaker 4: They're an emotional hurd, yeah.
Speaker 2: I think there was slightly you know, obviously for the
Speaker 2: first few days after that, it's it's pretty brutal, you know,
Speaker 2: but you know, I got a lot of good people
Speaker 2: around me. I got a lot of good family members,
Speaker 2: strong foundation, and a lot of good people in this
Speaker 2: locker room, you know, part of this staff and this
Speaker 2: organization did a great job, you know, like I said earlier,
Speaker 2: roulling around me, but just putting resources in my direction
Speaker 2: to use.
Speaker 4: And I think that helped me get through that a lot.
Speaker 3: You say, yeah, you didn't know for sure. The next
Speaker 3: morning a football career, I'm sure part of me is like,
Speaker 3: You're alive, you know, But was that a tough night
Speaker 3: to sleep for you?
Speaker 4: Yeah? For sure.
Speaker 2: You know that was obviously my first thoughts through the
Speaker 2: whole instant was you know, if I was going to
Speaker 2: be alive or not, you know, And that was the
Speaker 2: first thing I was thinking of and making sure you
Speaker 2: know that I got in contact with my family members.
Speaker 2: But once I knew I was gonna be okay, you know,
Speaker 2: and I was gonna be able to live, the next
Speaker 2: question came, you know, it was I gonna be able
Speaker 2: to play football now. And as soon as I got
Speaker 2: that answer, you know, a light just grew inside of me,
Speaker 2: and you know, I was super excited to hear that
Speaker 2: from the doctor.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, you will be able to play football. And
Speaker 3: then you've been told that maybe you'll be able to
Speaker 3: make your debut in week four, Then it comes five
Speaker 3: and six, and then you get two week seven and
Speaker 3: you make your debut against the undefeated Kansas City Chief.
Speaker 3: What were you kind of thinking about going into this
Speaker 3: outside of the loss? How did that kind of you
Speaker 3: know build up your ocatient or excitement to get out
Speaker 3: there play.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a tremendous motivation for me, you know,
Speaker 2: after that incident. You know, obviously when you go some
Speaker 2: go through some adversity like that only makes you stronger
Speaker 2: at the end of the day. So, you know, just
Speaker 2: having that along me and the obviously having that presence
Speaker 2: of you know, God with me through those moments, there
Speaker 2: was a lot of you know, signs that he was
Speaker 2: he was giving to me throughout that time, and that
Speaker 2: that's a whole, uh separate story. But yeah, there was
Speaker 2: a lot of excitement leading up to those weeks. Obviously
Speaker 2: I didn't play Week four, and that was something I
Speaker 2: really wanted to do, just cause that was the minimum
Speaker 2: of coming back, and I just knew I wasn't ready
Speaker 2: leading up to that week after some of the workouts,
Speaker 2: I just still felt a lot of that scar tissue
Speaker 2: build up in there and a lot of pain and
Speaker 2: you know, range of motion. Obviously the pain was probably
Speaker 2: like the last on the ladder for it, but as
Speaker 2: far as like range of motion, cause I kind of
Speaker 2: need that being a receiver. So after that was all clear,
Speaker 2: you know, that's when we started looking towards this week,
Speaker 2: and you know, I just felt like it it was scripted,
Speaker 2: you know for me just going into a week like this,
Speaker 2: playing a really good team like this, and you know,
Speaker 2: having an opportunity to step on that field again.
Speaker 3: Randon right now, but with the plot great real pumps.
Speaker 1: That he's out, how much urgency do you feel to
Speaker 1: really kind of pick up the pace and get going
Speaker 1: out with an opportunity with that?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Right, now, I'm not feeling like much urgency as you
Speaker 2: would say. It's more of, you know, just making sure
Speaker 2: that I reach out to my guy. You know, that's
Speaker 2: still my brother at the end of the day. You know,
Speaker 2: it's for me. It's much bigger than football. You know,
Speaker 2: he's he's going through something right now and not making sure,
Speaker 2: you know, I show that my love for him and
Speaker 2: sending prayers his way and checking on that guy because
Speaker 2: you know, he's a he's a really good buddy of mine.
Speaker 2: So but you know, in this game, he went down
Speaker 2: and I had to, you know, play more than expected
Speaker 2: then really everybody expected. But you know, I just try
Speaker 2: to make the most of them opportunities.
Speaker 1: All your whole life. Was there a point today where
Speaker 1: you know, when you got out there, was it different?
Speaker 1: And when did it start to feel natural? Today?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it felt different, just because you know, all the
Speaker 2: build up around it, you know, just from you know,
Speaker 2: training camp, missing most of that, and then you know,
Speaker 2: obviously going through this entire incident, I just felt like
Speaker 2: there was a different build up towards that than I
Speaker 2: was used to. You know, I never missed the game
Speaker 2: in call it in my entire college career, so I
Speaker 2: never really had that. You know, sitting on the sideline
Speaker 2: and watching the games was a little different for me,
Speaker 2: so you.
Speaker 4: Know it felt a little different.
Speaker 2: But you know, once I got on the field, I
Speaker 2: put my helmet, all my cleats on, I was running
Speaker 2: around with the guys, and you know, I'm just like,
Speaker 2: this is like still football at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: you know, And that's kind of when I felt natural.
Speaker 2: And then especially after my like my first catch, you know,
Speaker 2: I made sure I had to secure that, and then
Speaker 2: after that, you know, everything went a way.
Speaker 3: So like in in the hospital, it was one like
Speaker 3: I'd like to play with one. It was time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that that was Uh.
Speaker 2: That was after they looked at the X rays and
Speaker 2: uh they let people start coming into the room, and uh,
Speaker 2: John was one of the first people to come there,
Speaker 2: and you know, I was super happy to see him.
Speaker 2: I actually that's probably when I broke down in tears
Speaker 2: when I saw him, just because it hit a little different,
Speaker 2: you know, not being knowing that I wasn't gonna be
Speaker 2: able to play, you know, week one, and I was
Speaker 2: super excited. Obviously I was missing a lot of training
Speaker 2: camp too, so you know, I was really looking forward
Speaker 2: to the opportunity. I was super excited, and just the
Speaker 2: way it went down, it made me little bit emotional.
Speaker 2: But seeing him there, you know, that's when when it
Speaker 2: all hit. But yeah, had an impact on your perspective,
Speaker 2: how you view your career and your life.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a pretty emotional thing.
Speaker 3: Has it change your perspective?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like I've always had a pretty good perspective,
Speaker 2: just due to you know, being raised the right way
Speaker 2: and having a good foundation to you know, I have
Speaker 2: a good family with my parents, my sisters, you know,
Speaker 2: those people being around me. You know, I just learned
Speaker 2: those morals and values, you know, growing up. But as
Speaker 2: far as this incident, yeah, I definitely. You know, it
Speaker 2: shook me in a different way. You know that every
Speaker 2: day is not promised, you know what I mean, and
Speaker 2: you know you just gotta expand everything you can.
Speaker 3: Basically, just how do you feel all that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, physically I feel great. I feel great. You know,
Speaker 2: I feel like I could play another.
Speaker 4: Game right now.
Speaker 1: We my stadium got really loud after you make that
Speaker 1: first completetion.
Speaker 3: How much of that moment did you get to take in?
Speaker 4: Yeah, obviously I'm in the moment.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to you know, we're trying to get some
Speaker 2: first downs and move the ball and go score and
Speaker 2: put some points up. So but then after that catch,
Speaker 2: and you know, my teammates were daving me up and
Speaker 2: you know, saying that they're happy for me and they're
Speaker 2: proud of me.
Speaker 4: And then that's kind of when it all hit.
Speaker 2: Crowded, got a little loud right there, and yeah, I
Speaker 2: just you know, took the opportunity to you know, be
Speaker 2: appreciative of everything you know that led up to that
Speaker 2: and all the blessings that came along with it.
Speaker 4: Appreciate y'all. Thank you,