Speaker 1: Welcome everybody to Ram's iconic the show where I get
Speaker 1: to reunite with the greats of the past and visit
Speaker 1: with some of the greatest players ever to wear horns
Speaker 1: on the helmet. I'm your host to Marco farre former
Speaker 1: defensive tackle. Folks, I have seen it all. I'll be
Speaker 1: your to a guy. If you wiel we can look
Speaker 1: back on the stellar careers and slowly pull it forward
Speaker 1: to current day topics. We're gonna talk ball. Of course,
Speaker 1: it's a football show. There is no life without ball.
Speaker 1: I'm a lifer. I love it. I love being around it.
Speaker 1: Can't play it, So I'm going to talk about it.
Speaker 1: And on this show, I get to chop it up
Speaker 1: with some of the greats and you get to listen.
Speaker 1: So my next guest, who I believe and I don't
Speaker 1: give a damn what people say, belongs in the group
Speaker 1: of greatest to ever play the game. Fourteen seasons in
Speaker 1: the National Football League and the nineties and the Outs
Speaker 1: played college football at the University of Florida. Was an
Speaker 1: All American. Their first round pick in nineteen ninety five
Speaker 1: of your Saint Louis Ram went on to play for
Speaker 1: the Titans. Still hit him because of that. The Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers one hundred and four
Speaker 1: and a half quarterback sacks. That's twenty eight all time,
Speaker 1: twenty eighth all time, sixty two and a half for
Speaker 1: the Rams, fourth most in team history. A couple of
Speaker 1: guys named Leonard Little, Kevin Green, and some dude named
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald. Only guys that have more in a Rams uniform.
Speaker 1: Two time pro bowler should have been way more. One
Speaker 1: time All pro should have been more. The man who
Speaker 1: literally had a bust of Superman in his locker, and
Speaker 1: only I know of one guy that ever messed with it,
Speaker 1: just one. The man who could run full speed literally
Speaker 1: without moving his arms. The man who almost ripped down
Speaker 1: the backboard and the team recreation area because we laughed
Speaker 1: at him because of his handles on the basketball court.
Speaker 1: And the man who could give you a spot on
Speaker 1: cover of you spend me right round by dead or alive?
Speaker 1: The one and only number ninety three Kevin Carter, what's up? Man? Hey?
Speaker 1: You know what I think some of that information, like
Speaker 1: you know, shouldn't be allowundered readily. You know my rendition
Speaker 1: of you know, these family right round my better alive,
Speaker 1: like that's between us, like like that can only come
Speaker 1: out under certain situations. I didn't say how or what
Speaker 1: I saw. I just said, you can do a spot
Speaker 1: on cover. Gotcha? What is up man? How are you? Man?
Speaker 1: I'm doing great. Just um just life after football is fortunately,
Speaker 1: it's been good. It's you know, the transition is never easy.
Speaker 1: And we we looked if we discover ourselves and whatever
Speaker 1: we can find, however, we can you know, give ourselves
Speaker 1: relevance in our own lives and that of our families.
Speaker 1: And really lucky, man, I've got a twenty year old
Speaker 1: son who's a sophomore tight end at Dartmouth. Um plan
Speaker 1: for Buddy teevens Ivy League football. They had their schedule,
Speaker 1: they had their season canceled this which is a bummer.
Speaker 1: I'm up here, and I'm up here in up state
Speaker 1: New York. I'm working for CBS Sports doing studio for
Speaker 1: college football every weekend CBS Sports Network, and I love
Speaker 1: my love my job, and love my life right now.
Speaker 1: So I'm really blessed and doing well. We're gonna get
Speaker 1: into all that. Your son, I keep telling you every
Speaker 1: time I talk to you or text you when I
Speaker 1: see him your son. He's a good looking kid. Don't
Speaker 1: get me wrong. You and Shema, your wife, have done great.
Speaker 1: He is he's a he was a gorgeous baby turned
Speaker 1: into a handsome young man. But he is an absolute monster. Kevin.
Speaker 1: That kid is huge. How tall is he now? He
Speaker 1: is six seven, he's two hundred and fifty five pounds.
Speaker 1: Turned twenty. He just twenty? So what size shoe? Uh? Sixteen?
Speaker 1: Oh Kevin? Good lord? And he's playing tight end? Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's a tight end, man. I kept him off of
Speaker 1: the off the defensive line. How dare you look? Man?
Speaker 1: Don't you remember what we went through? Don't you remember
Speaker 1: the Yeah, the hell we went through with Wesley Walls,
Speaker 1: with OJ Sides, with Brent Jones and all these tight
Speaker 1: ends that used to drive us nuts. And you raise one?
Speaker 1: How dare you exactly exactly? I'd like, you know what,
Speaker 1: we were doing things the hard way for all these years,
Speaker 1: and these tight ends all they had to do is
Speaker 1: help block and they taunt us and then they go
Speaker 1: out and catch passes. And I, man, I was tormented
Speaker 1: by Brent Jones, like my first couple of years in
Speaker 1: the league. You know, he was probably that forty nine
Speaker 1: ers group. That just that just made me want to
Speaker 1: finally have my day and laugh and beat them, like
Speaker 1: that was my goal, Like that was our goal, like
Speaker 1: super Bowl year ninety nine, Like it was great that
Speaker 1: we won the division and did everything else, But if
Speaker 1: we didn't take care of those forty nine ers twice
Speaker 1: during the year and embarrass them when we did it,
Speaker 1: then the season wasn't complete. I'll tell you the whole group.
Speaker 1: I keep telling people that Ray Brown, who else was
Speaker 1: out there? Derek des couldn't stand him. I mean, I
Speaker 1: love him when I see him now, it's all love
Speaker 1: and respect. But back then and you said like you
Speaker 1: wanted to beat the fort Brent Jones made. He almost
Speaker 1: turned me into a serial killer. He drove me nuts.
Speaker 1: You know. It wasn't even fair, you know, like good lord,
Speaker 1: in a room just being you, I would take your
Speaker 1: head off. But on the field, when you don't know
Speaker 1: if he's going out for a pass or blocking, and
Speaker 1: they were good at it. He was absolutely dangerous. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I totally feel you, and I can't believe you have
Speaker 1: a tight end. Kevin. That's not fair to tell him
Speaker 1: to take it easy on the down, lineman, do what
Speaker 1: you want with the safeties and linebackers. Just with the
Speaker 1: guys with the hand in the ground. They're all good people.
Speaker 1: Just tell him to take it easy on those guys. Definitely. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And when you told me he was a basketball player
Speaker 1: at until his senior year, right, and then he decided
Speaker 1: to go out for the football team and duck to water. Right,
Speaker 1: that's the story. Duck to water. Came out of senior
Speaker 1: year the spring before the spring wet, after basketball season ended,
Speaker 1: going into the fall, and he came out for spring
Speaker 1: football is just to try it out, and next thing
Speaker 1: you know, duck to water. The rest is history. He
Speaker 1: got like thirty Division one offers, got offered by six
Speaker 1: of the eight Ivy League schools, UCLA, Michigan State, Sarahcuse,
Speaker 1: A bunch of people came after him, and he decided
Speaker 1: on Dartmouth. Wow, smart kid. Well I'm not shocked. Smart family,
Speaker 1: smart kid. And look that that position is like a
Speaker 1: luxe in the NFL. If you can do both, if
Speaker 1: you can block, and if you're an athlete, I mean
Speaker 1: you can make millions, good jillions of dollars. So this
Speaker 1: will be something to watch him. But that career arc
Speaker 1: in football sounds awfully familiar, and I said that to
Speaker 1: you yesterday. You didn't play football in high school until
Speaker 1: your junior year. Correct, correct, Before that, you were in
Speaker 1: the band playing saxophone. And I've never seen a picture
Speaker 1: of you with a saxophone in the band. I still
Speaker 1: want to see that. But from that point junior year
Speaker 1: never played ball. To All American at Florida, you have
Speaker 1: got to tell me about that arc. How did you
Speaker 1: get from the band to I'm an All American for
Speaker 1: Steve Spurrier at Florida. Just a late bloomer, that's all,
Speaker 1: you know, I think some kids, you know, it's all
Speaker 1: depending on when we hit our peak, both I guess
Speaker 1: athletically and psychologically when we come into our own. I
Speaker 1: was a little late, you know. I was the big
Speaker 1: kid who was a little chubby and had big feat in,
Speaker 1: big hands, and you know, didn't get any taller for
Speaker 1: a while, but really just struggled with coordination and you know,
Speaker 1: trying to get my athleticism. And then one day when
Speaker 1: I woke up after a summer of thinking that I
Speaker 1: had mono because I slept the entire summer way, I
Speaker 1: felt my body hurt in ways that I didn't think possible,
Speaker 1: and I thought something was seriously wrong with me. We
Speaker 1: went to our family general practitioner and he said that
Speaker 1: nothing was wrong. I was just having growing pains and wow,
Speaker 1: I'm like okay. So for the entire summer I was
Speaker 1: under the weather feeling like crap. Between my sophomore junior
Speaker 1: year and then when I started school, I was six
Speaker 1: inches taller. And the rest is as they say history.
Speaker 1: I came out in the football field and they said,
Speaker 1: do this, you'll get stronger. I did it. I got stronger.
Speaker 1: They said do this, you'll get faster, and I did it,
Speaker 1: and I got faster. And the rest is, like I said,
Speaker 1: as they say history. Wait, Kevin, Kevin. So so I'm
Speaker 1: your classmate, I'm a software I'm in the band with you.
Speaker 1: I don't see you all summer, and the next time
Speaker 1: I see you, you're you're a half a foot tall
Speaker 1: taller than you were when you left. I mean, what
Speaker 1: what what height? To what height? What are we talking
Speaker 1: about here? We're talking like to like sixty three five
Speaker 1: nine five nine to sixty three over a over one summer.
Speaker 1: They must have thought you were an impostor. When you
Speaker 1: came back, it was it was weird. I walked into
Speaker 1: a room. I remember walking in to get my physical
Speaker 1: because back then, you know, you had to do the
Speaker 1: county physicals with everybody, your whole team went. And when
Speaker 1: I got there, you know, it was I thought it
Speaker 1: would kind of be a joke that I was coming
Speaker 1: out for football yet again, because I went to a
Speaker 1: big public high school in the in the in the
Speaker 1: mighty football playing state of Florida, and I didn't make
Speaker 1: the team my freshman year. You know, I didn't make
Speaker 1: my JV basketball or football team. And I was distraught
Speaker 1: and said, I said, well, screw it, I'll just be
Speaker 1: in the band and be the best I can be there,
Speaker 1: you know. And I enjoyed it, um, but you know
Speaker 1: I had I'd always had this love, this dream of
Speaker 1: playing football. And so when I finally came back out
Speaker 1: and you know, no one laughed at me anymore. I
Speaker 1: wasn't a joke. I wasn't the guy that, you know,
Speaker 1: why are you out here? Why don't you just stick to,
Speaker 1: you know, doing your band thing. It was like, who
Speaker 1: the heck are you? And uh, yeah, come on out here,
Speaker 1: and why haven't you been out here before? It was?
Speaker 1: It was weird. It was another night transformation though. So
Speaker 1: that's the thing I mean, did it just come naturally
Speaker 1: for you? Because I'm thinking we met for the first
Speaker 1: time in nineteen ninety five, right, so you were a
Speaker 1: junior in high school in what year and I guess
Speaker 1: eighty or like ninety, like ninety, okay, so within so
Speaker 1: the guy I saw and that's the thing that struck
Speaker 1: me when I first met you, because you know, you've
Speaker 1: seen guys come in draft picks. Actually you were the
Speaker 1: first first rounder because I was in my second year.
Speaker 1: But I've seen other players before, and then to see
Speaker 1: you come in and be so polished, I was impressed.
Speaker 1: It made me respect Florida because that's the way we worked.
Speaker 1: You could do some of the same things I could do.
Speaker 1: I was always shocked on that first rainy camp together.
Speaker 1: What what some other defensive linemen couldn't do? Like how
Speaker 1: were you guys trained? Didn't you guys practice in college?
Speaker 1: But you were so polished day one, and then you've
Speaker 1: only been doing this for five years. I mean it
Speaker 1: must have been duck to water man, like, wow, this
Speaker 1: is what I've been called to do. I think the
Speaker 1: good thing about starting late, and which is why you know,
Speaker 1: you get to the NFL and you realize that it's
Speaker 1: most one of the most eclectic groups of people that
Speaker 1: you will ever find on the face of the planet.
Speaker 1: An occupation you you will never find fifty three more
Speaker 1: different individuals than you will in a football locker room. Um,
Speaker 1: it's you know, that's one of the things that all
Speaker 1: of us, you know, every player you talked to, every coach,
Speaker 1: is you know, what do you miss? You missed the
Speaker 1: guys and that eclectic mix, you know, comes from so
Speaker 1: many different people in so many different schools, so many
Speaker 1: different situations. There are guys that you know, played rugby
Speaker 1: overseas that become football players. There are guys that were
Speaker 1: lacrosse players that didn't discover football until in life. And
Speaker 1: there's people like me that you know, I didn't play
Speaker 1: until later on. But the good thing about that is
Speaker 1: I didn't have any bad habits. I didn't know, you know, what,
Speaker 1: what what not to do. I only know I only
Speaker 1: knew what to do. And I was really lucky because
Speaker 1: I got recruited out of high school, you know, by
Speaker 1: the likes of I visited you know, Notre Dame. You know,
Speaker 1: Lou Holtz was there, and they had Chris Stellurch and
Speaker 1: Bryant Young and Michael Stonebreaker and all these you know,
Speaker 1: Todd Light and all these great players. And you know
Speaker 1: that these were the institutions that I was looking at.
Speaker 1: I visited Nebraska with Tom Osborne's I visited Florida, and
Speaker 1: you know, there were a lot of great coaches and
Speaker 1: great you know situations for me to go in further
Speaker 1: my education and play football. And ended up going to
Speaker 1: Florida where my position coach was a guy named Charlie Strong.
Speaker 1: And that's you know what people realizes the power of
Speaker 1: coaching trees and and that's that's why football people, scouts,
Speaker 1: coaches and players alike. They want to know who'd you
Speaker 1: play for? You know, who taught you this? Who how'd
Speaker 1: you learn this scheme? You know? And you and I
Speaker 1: talked about it yesterday. If um, I was talking to
Speaker 1: a buddy of mine. Actually, UM, you'll appreciate this. You
Speaker 1: know he played ball at Penn State, and um, he
Speaker 1: was a defensive back, you know, played Um played for
Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers for a little while. Actually ended up
Speaker 1: becoming a producer for ESPN when I was there. And
Speaker 1: I mean he and I would always talk and he's like, man,
Speaker 1: if you're a young defensive lineman right now, how could
Speaker 1: you not want to go play for the Ohio State
Speaker 1: University and played for Larry Johnson And no doubt? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, the man's got a streak, you know of
Speaker 1: the Bosa brothers and Chase Young and all these defensive
Speaker 1: linemen that are coming out. I mean, he's he's got
Speaker 1: to have like, you know, three or four number one
Speaker 1: picks like in a in a row, in the in
Speaker 1: the in the in the NFL draft for the last
Speaker 1: four or five years. And then that's the thing. The
Speaker 1: power of coaching tree, the power of instructions, how your
Speaker 1: game is formed, how you see the game, how you process.
Speaker 1: For me, I was a kid that you know, from
Speaker 1: a natural ability standpoint, you know, I was you know,
Speaker 1: we joke about it, but sometimes some people are born
Speaker 1: to play football, or they're they're they're really lucky and
Speaker 1: they're blessed and they're they're fortunate that you know, they
Speaker 1: come into something at the exact right time in their
Speaker 1: personal history. You know, that's that was me. It was,
Speaker 1: it was the timing of everything couldn't have been better.
Speaker 1: I had no bad habits, I had nowhere and tear
Speaker 1: of my body, and and on the eve of me
Speaker 1: making my greatest growth physically was also where I made
Speaker 1: where I learned the game of football, where I learned
Speaker 1: it from from the ground up. I learned it from
Speaker 1: playing inside linebacker in high school. And then I went
Speaker 1: to the defensive line. And when I got to Florida,
Speaker 1: the instruction from Charlie Strong. He was all ways reaching forward,
Speaker 1: getting me tapes of you know, Robert Porche, Reggie White,
Speaker 1: all these different defensive linemen that he would say, this
Speaker 1: is what you got to play like, this is this
Speaker 1: is how you have to play, This is how you
Speaker 1: have to see the game. You got to play this fast,
Speaker 1: you got to use your hands, and you know, was
Speaker 1: always seeking that instruction, and within four years at Florida,
Speaker 1: you know, three SEC titles. You know, playing for an
Speaker 1: organization that you know, was such a competitive environment because
Speaker 1: there were so many great players around me pushing me,
Speaker 1: you know the entire time. That's why I was what
Speaker 1: I was. I mean, there's power and how you are
Speaker 1: developed as a player. I mean, you know, that's why
Speaker 1: everyone's seeking to get every you know, added training and
Speaker 1: or instructional advantage that they can get in this time
Speaker 1: because it's it's all about that. A lot of people,
Speaker 1: you know, and you know this, you know, you go
Speaker 1: to combine or you stand up in training camps and
Speaker 1: everybody looks the same, whether they're from a big school
Speaker 1: or no named state, right, and it's like, and you
Speaker 1: know what separates you is your adherents, your craft, how
Speaker 1: much you look to get better, how how how much
Speaker 1: you are a student of the game. And man, when
Speaker 1: I came to the Rams, like I didn't know nothing,
Speaker 1: but but but what I had had a group of
Speaker 1: great guys in the room. I mean you and Brad Oddis,
Speaker 1: you know, we were immediately you know, kind of my
Speaker 1: you know, new you know peers and you know slightly
Speaker 1: older big brothers who took me under their wing. But
Speaker 1: we had guys like Fred Stokes and Sean Gilbert, yes sir,
Speaker 1: and Robert Young and I mean, you know, Jimmy Jones,
Speaker 1: and you know, we had all those guys who had
Speaker 1: so much experience. And you know, I'll and I'll give
Speaker 1: Dean Pollard, you know, my first desensive line coach and
Speaker 1: the in the NFL. I'll give him credit. Man that
Speaker 1: that little old man knew his craft. He knew how
Speaker 1: to make people better and and you just had to
Speaker 1: humble yourself and be coached. And I think for me
Speaker 1: starting later in life and having and having no bad habits,
Speaker 1: being very coachable, having a thirst for wanting to be
Speaker 1: the best, and and when I got to the Rams,
Speaker 1: my greatest sphere DeMarco was was being considered a bust.
Speaker 1: You know, that was my greatest sphere. I didn't want
Speaker 1: to walk in as the sixth pick overall, the first
Speaker 1: defensive player taking in the ninety five draft, and not
Speaker 1: be anything less than a Pro Bowl caliber player. I thought,
Speaker 1: if I didn't do that, if I couldn't find a
Speaker 1: way to be great, then I would be it would
Speaker 1: be a failed experiment. And so that's I had the thirst,
Speaker 1: you know, to to want to get better. And you
Speaker 1: know that process of being coaching, humble yourself and deconstructing
Speaker 1: and reconstructing your game. You know that happens over and
Speaker 1: over and you know when you see people like Aaron
Speaker 1: Donald who play the game, yeah, it just to pitom
Speaker 1: It just epitomizes the maximization of your talent and also
Speaker 1: your football like Q, you know, and no doubt, I
Speaker 1: love to watch Aaron play, because he's just processing like
Speaker 1: like he reminds me, and I'm and I'm gonna, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna blow some smokes at you, like he reminds me
Speaker 1: of you. How he comes off the ball how quickly,
Speaker 1: because you were always so much quicker and processing and
Speaker 1: seeing what the defense was, was what the offense was
Speaker 1: trying to do to us, and your get off was crazy,
Speaker 1: and I thought, well, he's just getting off like that
Speaker 1: because you know, or maybe he's not as big, or
Speaker 1: maybe he needs to be quick. And it wasn't that
Speaker 1: you processed quicker. You saw things. You there were certain
Speaker 1: formations where you knew what the play was gonna be,
Speaker 1: and if you could get in that get in that
Speaker 1: crack in the beac app if you could you know,
Speaker 1: establish that leverage, then it meant you one on a
Speaker 1: particular down. And I always admired that I always wanted
Speaker 1: to play that fat no no, no, I had to
Speaker 1: do it because I wasn't I wasn't built like Gattica,
Speaker 1: I didn't have a body like Thanos, So I had
Speaker 1: to play that way. So yeah, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: that's I'm glad you said that we have run out
Speaker 1: of things to say about Aaron Donald, about how great
Speaker 1: he is. And I'm glad you said that because I
Speaker 1: think the guy is special. And but I'm gonna use
Speaker 1: what you just said. He has no bad habits, um,
Speaker 1: and that that is you when I saw you. That's
Speaker 1: a great way to describe you. You didn't have any
Speaker 1: bad habits. Uh. When the play came to you, you
Speaker 1: played it with proper leverage. When the play went away,
Speaker 1: you pursued it with proper speed, uh and great angles.
Speaker 1: You could rush two on one, one on one. You
Speaker 1: just no bad habits and uh not not bad body language.
Speaker 1: The thing I used to warn the other guys about,
Speaker 1: and I don't know if you know this, um the
Speaker 1: other offensive players is don't take his demeanor for weakness,
Speaker 1: you know, because he saw spoken or the way he speaks.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you make him mad, I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: being serious. If he if you make him mad, you know,
Speaker 1: bad things are gonna happen, and not to me, to you. Um,
Speaker 1: And I've seen it, so yeah, I mean that's that's
Speaker 1: great stuff. And you you you won the sec what
Speaker 1: ninety three and ninety four? No, I think this is funny.
Speaker 1: I think you did. You play Auburn when you were
Speaker 1: in school. I did. I think you played against Less
Speaker 1: Need the Rams general manager. I think you guys were
Speaker 1: in college around the same time because we're almost the
Speaker 1: same age. Yeah, I think you're right. That's that's crazy.
Speaker 1: That that's nuts. He was probably on one of those teams,
Speaker 1: one of those Auburn teams in ninety three or ninety
Speaker 1: four that actually handed us our lone SEC loss. While
Speaker 1: we still won the SEC championship that year, we had
Speaker 1: to get a thorn in our side and it was
Speaker 1: and it was my junior year. It was Wayne Gandy
Speaker 1: and James Bostic, that whole group that beat us at
Speaker 1: Jordan Hair and we we went on to still win
Speaker 1: the SEC title, but they were a thorn in our side.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I need to look that up and see
Speaker 1: if less was on that team the shoulders said he
Speaker 1: was on. He was on an undefeated Auburn club that
Speaker 1: was on probation, So I think was that the team
Speaker 1: that was the team. What was the other thing I
Speaker 1: wanted to ask you? You played for Charlie Strong, dude,
Speaker 1: that's awesome. Wow. What were those meetings like? Um, you
Speaker 1: know Charlie Strong, you know the thing that. Um, I'll
Speaker 1: tell any young person yeah is looking for is looking
Speaker 1: for an organization to join, whether it's you know, college
Speaker 1: or pro You can't you don't have control on the pros.
Speaker 1: But when you go to college, you can. You can
Speaker 1: choose who you play for. You can choose the type
Speaker 1: of men that you surround yourself with. And this goes
Speaker 1: for parents as well. I mean, you have to evaluate
Speaker 1: the group of men that your son or daughter is
Speaker 1: going to go and join on the next level, because
Speaker 1: they will have a profound out you know, impact on
Speaker 1: who they become as young men and women. But for me,
Speaker 1: it was Charlie Strong. And Charlie Charlie was you know,
Speaker 1: he's sixty now, so he's not that much older. You know,
Speaker 1: he's kind of like the cool uncle age older than me.
Speaker 1: And it's like, but he was he was old enough
Speaker 1: to reprimand me and treat me like, you know, a kid.
Speaker 1: But he was also young enough as to where he
Speaker 1: could identify with what I was going through and knew
Speaker 1: what I was thinking and where I was at psychologically
Speaker 1: at the time, and sing for him. You know, he
Speaker 1: challenged me. He challenged me on a daily basis and
Speaker 1: and said, look, he said, you know, you've been blessed
Speaker 1: with a lot of ability, and you've got a lot
Speaker 1: of great players around you, but who are you going
Speaker 1: to be? How are you going to grind? It's like,
Speaker 1: you know, your work at that can't compromise no matter
Speaker 1: what you're able to do physically, you know, whether you
Speaker 1: try really hard or you don't, you'll probably be an
Speaker 1: All American because because of the competition in college, you know,
Speaker 1: if you're just if you're if you're a better player,
Speaker 1: or if you're blessed with some athletic gifts, you can
Speaker 1: get by with half assident, you know in college, you know,
Speaker 1: but when you get to the league, I'm telling you
Speaker 1: you won't be great unless unless you grind, unless you work.
Speaker 1: And he was always that person, you know, telling me
Speaker 1: that whatever I was doing was not good enough. So
Speaker 1: the funny thing is, you know, people on the outside
Speaker 1: saw me, you know, is one way, and they're like,
Speaker 1: oh man, you know he's you know, big dude, and wow,
Speaker 1: you know he can do a lot of things or whatever.
Speaker 1: But in my mind, I was forever trying to scratch
Speaker 1: and claw at being better, you know, and and and
Speaker 1: it wasn't and that work ethic and that adherence. You know,
Speaker 1: there are people along the way and our personal journey
Speaker 1: that make us realize who we are and what we
Speaker 1: can do, that give us that personal power and they
Speaker 1: they help us to unlock it in ourselves as we grow.
Speaker 1: And Charlie Strong was that guy man either early in
Speaker 1: my life, brought out of high school. He got a
Speaker 1: hold of me and I and I liked what he
Speaker 1: was preaching, and you know, and he believed in me,
Speaker 1: you know, Coach Burrier believed in me, Um coach for Meal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that man. That man told me when he was the
Speaker 1: first conversation I had with him after you know, he
Speaker 1: told us in three years will be world champs And
Speaker 1: everybody laughed. Right the first conversation, the first one on
Speaker 1: one meeting I had with him. If he says I
Speaker 1: need more out of you, I need more out of you.
Speaker 1: You're not your best, you know, because I have a
Speaker 1: friend named Phil Tole who's a headshrinker and performance enhancement
Speaker 1: coach psychologists that you need to talk to because you're
Speaker 1: not You're not good enough. I need more out of you.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, I'm looking at this man who I
Speaker 1: admire and don't want to let down. And we had
Speaker 1: told the two years the two seasons before we had
Speaker 1: trushed him, we were killing him. Yeah, but you know,
Speaker 1: but now and and that and that was you know,
Speaker 1: having people like that along the way, and it's always
Speaker 1: that story. It's like, you know, it doesn't matter how
Speaker 1: we see ourselves. You know, well, it matters how we
Speaker 1: see ourselves, But it matters, you know, how much we're
Speaker 1: willing to sacrifice and work and to create memories. And
Speaker 1: I and I remember the words of you know, Frank Gantz.
Speaker 1: You know, God arrested whole you know, um elite warriors
Speaker 1: on the threshold of greatness. You know, who are you?
Speaker 1: You know, what are you going to do? You know,
Speaker 1: never let the other man down? You know, that kind
Speaker 1: of thing that creed that adherence to greatness. And you know,
Speaker 1: we we really spoke, acted and grinded our way into
Speaker 1: the reality that we wanted. We we were co creators
Speaker 1: of that, that reality of changing the narrative of the joke.
Speaker 1: You know, Rams, same old sorry ass Rams coming World Champions.
Speaker 1: We were part of that transformation. And I don't think
Speaker 1: that people realize how hard it is to transform and
Speaker 1: know we see it all the time we see teams
Speaker 1: go from you know, from chicken crap to chicken salad.
Speaker 1: We we see this all the time, you know, and
Speaker 1: but we don't, you know, we don't pay attention to
Speaker 1: the process of how it happens. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: attrition along the way, but that process man of seeking
Speaker 1: greatness and then manufacturing it, you know. I was lucky
Speaker 1: and blessed enough to be part of that when we
Speaker 1: got to the ramps, because that's no doubt what we did.
Speaker 1: I would take our team over just about anybody. I
Speaker 1: would match up and feel comfortable. If we're playing the
Speaker 1: eighty five Bears, I think the eighty five Bears are
Speaker 1: in for one that day with our with our team.
Speaker 1: But as far as what we overcame, I don't think
Speaker 1: anybody has come from where we came from when we
Speaker 1: were the losing this team in the nineties to three
Speaker 1: years after Vermeil and he promised us, And I'm maybe
Speaker 1: we should write this in the book or when Kurt
Speaker 1: has a movie, I hope this is a scene in it.
Speaker 1: He promised us in three years we would be world champions.
Speaker 1: So when he is when everybody says it to me,
Speaker 1: they always say d Marco when he is pointing at
Speaker 1: every member of the football seat team and saying, you
Speaker 1: are a world champion. That is because he promised us
Speaker 1: we would be. And there we are with ticker tape
Speaker 1: in our hair, just special. One hundred and four and
Speaker 1: a half sacks. Like you said, you were challenged along
Speaker 1: the way. We went through Deep Pollard, and I'm glad
Speaker 1: we had Deep Pollard in our life because that gave
Speaker 1: way to Carl Harriston, our d line coach in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl years. He was perfect for where we were.
Speaker 1: Big Daddy. Absolutely. Yeah. So you finished one hundred and
Speaker 1: four and a half sacks. You went through Tennessee. I
Speaker 1: forgive you, Miami for two years, then Tampa Bay at
Speaker 1: the end. It makes me laugh when I see Kevin
Speaker 1: Carter defensive tackle because now you see what I went
Speaker 1: through for years, right, one hundred four and a half sacks.
Speaker 1: When you finally said I'm done. A person like you,
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever asked satisfied happy. I mean,
Speaker 1: when you see that number, there's only twenty seven guys
Speaker 1: that have more sacks than you in the NFL. I mean,
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, it is what it is. I mean
Speaker 1: I don't let's not get into that, but just you
Speaker 1: on a personal level with what you've done, Satisfied with
Speaker 1: your career. Yes, And that's why I was able to
Speaker 1: walk away after fourteen years with no miss games in
Speaker 1: my career and walk away still with the ability to play,
Speaker 1: able to walk away after having meetings with Mike Fox
Speaker 1: and Bill Belichick in their office and then offering me,
Speaker 1: you know, three to four million dollars to still play
Speaker 1: at that point in my season, at that point in
Speaker 1: my life, in my career. That's why I was able
Speaker 1: to walk away because I was in a sense satisfied,
Speaker 1: never never completely satisfied with the effort that you always
Speaker 1: look back and see things that you could have done differently.
Speaker 1: But I had no more left to prove. I had
Speaker 1: gone out and I had and seemingly taken my respect,
Speaker 1: you know in every arena, every locker room that I
Speaker 1: walked into, and I had a hunger and a fire
Speaker 1: or that you know, when people looked at me the
Speaker 1: wrong way when I walked into that to that that
Speaker 1: into that new locker room and you had the resentment
Speaker 1: you know from other players and the offensive line guys,
Speaker 1: are you know, giving you that one, I'd look like,
Speaker 1: I know he's got a I know he's got a ring,
Speaker 1: but you know, what the hell, what the hell are
Speaker 1: you making all this money for? And we need him
Speaker 1: to be better? And you know in my response as well,
Speaker 1: put your hand in the ground, buckle your chin strap,
Speaker 1: and let me show you why I make more money.
Speaker 1: There's there, there is something, you know. The reason I
Speaker 1: am here is because I've been a part of something special.
Speaker 1: I know what it's like to build. I am glue
Speaker 1: for for your for your team if you allow me
Speaker 1: to be that for you. You know, I'm I was
Speaker 1: a paid mercenary at that point and then you know,
Speaker 1: went out and did my job. But but yeah, you
Speaker 1: earned that. Yeah, I had a certain satisfaction at that
Speaker 1: period in my life from just you know, like I said,
Speaker 1: always being challenged, never wanting to be a bust, wanting
Speaker 1: to live up to what I've been given and blessed with,
Speaker 1: and wanting to make every situation in the locker room
Speaker 1: better than I found it. And look, I felt that
Speaker 1: I'd done that. You were the best I ever played with. Um,
Speaker 1: I have to move you over to that group because
Speaker 1: the best I've ever seen, you know, with all due
Speaker 1: respect to number ninety three, I think ninety nine watching
Speaker 1: him down in and down, that's something weird. So best
Speaker 1: I ever played with a different breed. He's a different
Speaker 1: he's he's special man and the other thing. And I'm
Speaker 1: glad you said that. And let me give you props
Speaker 1: for that, because I don't think we talk about this enough.
Speaker 1: Kevin Carter, two hundred and twenty four games played, two
Speaker 1: hundred and nineteen started. You have never missed a game.
Speaker 1: You never missed a game in your career. Forget the
Speaker 1: other stuff. That alone is Hall of Fame worthy right there.
Speaker 1: That is amazing and playing at a high level too. Man, Um,
Speaker 1: special casey man. Never enough time, brother, Um, we need
Speaker 1: to do this again, either on the pod or off
Speaker 1: the pod, or just hang out. Like you said, we're
Speaker 1: brothers for life, and we could take breaks for ten
Speaker 1: years and when we do reconnect it's like we never left.
Speaker 1: So you're one of my best. Love you to death,
Speaker 1: Love your family, Miss you guys, can't wait to see you.
Speaker 1: Miss your brother. I appreciate you, man. That's gonna do
Speaker 1: it for another episode of Ram's Iconic Thanks to all
Speaker 1: our fans for tuning in and wherever you are listening,
Speaker 1: Please do us a favor. Hit that subscribe button and
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Speaker 1: icon you would like to hear from next. Hey, look,
Speaker 1: before you know it, the twenty twenty one season will
Speaker 1: be here and we cannot wait for you to step
Speaker 1: inside the Rams House with us. There is still time
Speaker 1: to be among the first to experience so Far Stadium.
Speaker 1: To join us and purchase tickets, visit the Rams dot
Speaker 1: Com Slash twenty twenty one. That's the Rams dot Com
Speaker 1: Slash twenty twenty one. Big thanks to Kasey Kevin Carter
Speaker 1: for joining us today. Have a great one and we'll
Speaker 1: see you next time on Ram's Iconic