July 6, 2022 • 44 mins
Kyle Vasey, a 5 year long-snapper for the Penn St. Nittany Lions from the start of the 2013 season through the 2018 season, was a walk-on in the program his first 4 years before being awarded a scholarship for his 5th and last season.
Kyle talks about:
- Working 8pm to 3am to pay rent
- The moment he was about to quit the team
- The mentality shift he made that propelled him forward
- Moment Coach Franklin gave him the scholarship
- Signing NFL deal with the Atlanta Falcons
... along with a breakdown of the rules of long-snapping ... growing into his voice ... his take on effort & output ... & so much more!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Walkie Talkies is a production of I Heart Radio and
the College Athletes Network. Hello, Yeah, what's up everybody? Welcome
(00:29):
to Walkie Talkies podcast on the College Athletes Network, featured
on I Heart Radio. I'm your host, and this is
episode thirteen of Walkie Talkies Podcast. Now, as always, my
first couple of orders of business to the beautiful listeners
out there is to remember to leave the show a
review on Apple podcast towards the bottom of the page
should say write or review towards the bottom right. And
if you're on Spotify, it should be right under the
(00:51):
show's title an area to leave a couple of stars,
maybe even write a review on there. And also make
sure you are subscribed to the podcast and downloading the
episodes just in case you're on an airplane you're dealing
with some shitty internet connection. That way, you can listen
to the show offline if neat beat. Now for today's episode.
Today's guest is a former Penn State football walk on
from two thousand thirteen through two thousand eighteen, long snapper
(01:14):
Kyle Vacy. Kyle was a walk on his first four
years and then was awarded a surprise scholarship after his
fourth season for his fifth and last season, and then
later on after that last season, signed on to play
with the Atlanta Falcons. Kyle talks about how he was
ready to quit for certain something happened to help him
kind of see that light back at the end of
the tunnel. Talks about the job that he was working
(01:34):
at nights to help pay his rent in the grueling
process of that. Talks about shifting his mentality which was
ultimately what helped him get noticed by the coaches and
be able to earn that scholarship, and as well as
his time in the NFL, and so much more that
we discussed throughout the conversation. Kyle has an infamous video
from the Penn State Football account of the moment he
was awarded scholarship, which is posted on the Walkie Talkies Twitter, Instagram,
(01:57):
and TikTok pages at w t Z podcast so that
everyone can see that memorable moment that Kyle had when
he's awarded the scholarship. Really special moment for him and
a really special episode for us here on Walkie Talking
Podcast to have him on the show and and talk
about his journey as a Nitney a Lion. So with
that being said, let's bring in former Penn State football
along snapper Kyle Vacy. So you walked on to Penn
(02:21):
State football as a long snapper coming out of high school.
You're from the Pennsylvania area, so it was probably close
to home. But when you decided to go to Penn
State and be a walk on, did you know what
to expect coming into the program, on what your role
was going to be like and the kind of uphill
battle that you were maybe in store for going into that. So, honestly,
(02:41):
I really had no idea what I was getting into,
um just heading into it. You know, the first couple
of days, you're overwhelmed. You're on a schedule that you've
never seen before, you know, high school. You wake up,
you roll out of bed, you drive the school, you
go home after football and it's over. You know this
is okay. You've got a show facility in six and
you've got conditioning a seven. You've got to go to
class to eight. You've got to run the class because
(03:02):
you know, the coaches want to stay a little bit long,
getting nice your work at it. You know, you finish
up the class round two or three o'clock. You go
to practice, not get all your practice, and then you
did film study, you did meetings, you have at dinner
that you're required to get to and you have to
make to study hall. So for me, going from somebody
who was very independent but loosely independent to going into
something where it's completely structured was a huge, huge change.
(03:26):
You know, I don't think I had enough time to
really go to the bathroom I needed to for the
first couple of weeks. Just the aspects of having such
a structured lifestyle. You know, I was in high school,
I'd go fishing every day after school, I do this
and that. You know, I lived on a ski resort,
so I'd go skiing things along those lines. And then
when you get into college, it's like it really feels
like you're professional athlete. Once I got to experience the NFL,
(03:48):
it is very, very very similar to the exact same
lifestyles professional athlete. So, I mean when you came in
there as a walk on, like, did you know what
the dynamic was for you? And like you were obviously
I guess just in that long snapper and holding position
for fuel goal was and whatnot, But did you know
what you expected? You know what your role was going
to be? Like and like where you kind of fit
(04:10):
in among the rest of your teammates. UM, I had
no idea. So I actually did not get invited to
camp my first two yeah, two years at Penn States.
So when I first got into the first year, I
went in, did all the summer conditioning, this and that.
UM knocked all that out and then like all right,
see in a month. And I was kind of like alright,
(04:30):
like that, I mean, whatever you all want to do.
And unfortunately, unfortunately I had. The guy who was ahead
of me, is Acladana's actually ended up getting an injury
to his knee. And they called me a week before
we go to the Ireland game in Croake Park and
they say, hey, do you have a passport? And I'm
like no, Like you know, this wasn't something I was
aware of, but like, all right, we're gonna expediate your passport.
(04:51):
We canna do this, that and the other, and we're
gonna make sure you can make it to this game.
So I got about a week of practice under my
belt before we went to Croake Park and they said,
by the way, if you as goes down, you have
to start. But what season is this in? This is
freshman Qushman. Oh wow, okay, yeah, so I you know,
I had never experienced a big game like that. I
was from a small high school and Penzilany about I'd
(05:11):
say five six people showed up to each game. Do
you next thing? I know, I could be playing overseas
in front of you know, a bunch of Ireland individuals
and just kind of rolling along and seeing what I
could do. So it was very nerve wracking. So did
that end up happening because I saw you red shirted
your freshman year? Correct? Yeah? So fortunately enough, Yeah, stayed
healthy the entire game because I would not want to
(05:32):
want to see what happened if I got in there,
you know, the game going down to right. So how
long do you think, Like, you know, you went three
straight years of no game action. You red shirted, then
your red shirt freshman year, in your red shirts sophomore year,
so that was your second and third year in college.
You were fully dressed and you saw zero game action.
(05:52):
So how did you stick it out? And like, what
was the motivation that was, Like I'm gonna stick this out.
I want to see this all the way through. Did
you know that there was something that might be like
an opportunity might become coming down the line, or like,
what was the foresight that made you want to stick
that out? So it's funny you bring that up. Actually, Um,
(06:13):
this is kind of something opening the public knows, only
the team really knows. Um. My freshman year, I would
go and I'd snap every day after workouts and go
and I'd snap. We had a little turf area next
to the weight room that we'd go and i'd snap
the ball at I put a water bottle on a
sled and just keep trying to knock it off over
and over. And the one day I'm sitting there and
I was just having a day and I'm getting ready
(06:34):
to go and talk to coach Colet, who's our strength
conditioning coach, to tell him that I'd like to get
off the team. Um. I'm waiting for him to get
into his office, and you know, I'm sitting there and
I'm snapping the ball and I'm I get a couple
of rounds in, you know, probably fifteen twenty snaps, and
co a farmer comes up to me. Um co as
you know, linebacker safety for US, very athletic player from California,
(06:58):
and he goes, hey, man, you know, I know it's
a grind, but keep doing this. You're doing great. We're
gonna need you one day. So I'm sitting there in
my head ready to go and tell coach, Hey, you
know I'm out the same for me. Co It comes
up and tells me that. So I kind of just
like sit there for a little bit think on it,
and you know, next to you know, I snap a
couple more football's. Coach goal comes down, look at him, wave,
(07:19):
snap a couple more footballs and go home. Decided handing
the cleets that day. What a blessing. Blessing in disguise. Yeah,
So we have our senior shares every year, and co
It wasn't aware that's our our senior year. I think
I saw him at a bar like a couple of
nights before something like that, after a game that we'd won,
and I go up and I'm talking to me. I said, yeah,
I got you know, I have my senior share next week,
(07:40):
like I got a surprise for you, And he kind
of just like looked at me, gave me like a
grand and I was like, you'll say, and you know,
I announced that in front of the whole team. That
was that was a hard thing to say. You know,
I had my little brother who had joined the team.
I said it in front of him. Just it was
very very nerve wracking thing to get up there and admit.
But at the same time, I'm I'm completely honest and
open about how I feel about things. And having that
(08:00):
conversation was huge. So from that point on, I changed
my mindset to stop feeling sorry for yourself and start working.
So every day I would go in, I do extra reps,
I make sure that my snaps are one point, it's
after practice. I'd sneak in there at night, just all
these different things. You know, There's there was a door
that was broken on glue the hall that I would go.
I would sneak in at night and snap the football
(08:21):
just so that I could get better. What a grime, man,
that's you were very committed, because so I guess he
came to you and it kind of like reflipped the
switch on, like a wait, no, like, I'm here for
a reason. I do want to try to, you know,
put more into this versus just totally throwing in the
towel and putting nothing into it. Um and ultimately like
(08:41):
that brings us into that notorious moment that you had.
You know, you get the surprise scholarship from your head
coach and you have no idea that it's coming, but
you get that exciting moment where you're just mopped by
your teammates and you know that feeling of reward and
hard work completely paid off. You no longer have to
work or take your loans out or whatever. You get
(09:02):
to just be a scholarship athlete. So when you had
that moment when Coach Franklin, um, you know, gave you
the scholarship, I want you to just I don't even
want to explain. It sounds so much better coming from you.
What do you remember about that moment when he brought
you guys in that little huddle and he asked you
you know what your job was and and all that.
Just just give the listeners that little that breakdown of
(09:23):
that moment for you when you were giving a scholarship. Yeah,
it was. It was hot as health. We just thought
I just finished a conditioning workout out on the field. Um.
I remember being exhausted, my legs were hurt and I
was tired. I was thinking about going to work that night. Um,
you know, just kind of going through every thought that
every athlete has a man that sucked, I gotta do
it again tomorrow. And what was work? So I was
(09:43):
bouncing in a bar from about eight am, I mean
eight pm to three am, almost every single day a week.
I would wake up every day, you know, I was
It was crazy. I actually dropped thirty pounds that summer
just because I didn't have time to eat. I didn't
have time to sleep. That slept about an hour and
a half every night. Damn, man, that's an hour and
a half. Yeah, oh you're better than me, bro right,
(10:07):
and my dad would be proud. But that's about the
only person thought it was a good move. So of course,
of course, um, it was tough. It was really tough. Yeah.
So so when you're sitting in that huddle and he
kind of just singles you out and he's like, you know, Vacy,
what what do you do? Like? What's your job like?
And you you say that to him. It was just
(10:27):
such a cool organic way that had happened, because there's
no way that while your legs are tired and your
gas and it's hot as hell outside, that you thought
that that was coming. Like, like you said, you were
just thinking about work that night, and you know, I
saw the emotion in the video, but what did it
really feel like when when he said that to you
and your teammates jumped on your back all that. Yeah,
well it's funny. You don't see this in the media release,
(10:48):
but he asked about ten of us. And I'm getting
all piste off because you're skipping over me. Oh what's
going on here? Man? Like I'm working my butt off,
like I want to talk about it a little bit,
like I'm gonna let people know what I'm going through. Right.
Finally he's getting ready to wrap it up and then terms, oh, basy, no, look,
and I said, you know I'm working. You know I'm
bouncing and he goes what And the whole team starts
(11:09):
gonna bounce, bounce like because they knew that I was
bouncing at the bar. And he goes, well, how often
you doing? And I'm just like, well, you know, like
a pm to three am, and he goes, eight pm
to three am. How many days we can do? And
I said five, six days a week, and uh, he
looks at me and he just goes, quit your own
fool scholarship, And like my heart dropped into my stomach
(11:32):
is the first thing I remember. I felt like I
got punched and everybody started screaming, and honestly just turned
into a giant blur. I remember. I got Big Bacon,
who was Chad's right called Big Bacon, but he was
my roommate at the time, comes up and wraps his
arm around my neck. Now, people that don't know this,
Big Bacon is six eight three six. He's not a
small cuddly individual. He grows his arm over me, almost
(11:56):
knocks me over. I got Blake Gilkin jumping in my face.
I got everybody pushed me around, Daylon, Darry and grat Me.
Just having an awesome time, just celebrating, and you know,
I didn't know much to say. I was kind of
choked up. I was laughing, I was crying. I had
all these crazy emotions just circling around. And you know,
they asked me to break down the team, so I
just said, I love every single one of you guys,
(12:17):
you know family on the three counting down on the
three family, Um went over to talk to the coaches.
They put k I will finish that sentence about the
conversation that ensued with his coaches and his parents informing
them of his scholarship. Don't go anywhere, We'll be right back,
and what can you talk? His podcast is back? Please
make sure you are subscribed to the show. And let's
let Kyle finish his sentence after I rudely interrupted him,
(12:40):
and then Coach Franklin goes, I think it's time to
call your parents. So that was when the tears really
started to fall. You know, I I call my my
dad and I'm like, your dad now. I called my
mom first, Oh Mom, and said, hey, Mom, you know
what are you doing. She's like, I'm at work. It
was like I got some news for you. And you know,
she has three boys. But whenever she hears oh you
have news, it's like, all right, who needs bail money?
(13:01):
Who needs this? He needs that? Like is getting ready
for the worst possible music said mom in on a
full scholarship, And it went kind of quiet, and I
just heard her sob it. So I started losing it
there in front of you know, everybody, all the cameras,
stuff like that, Yeah that's all right, Like I'm gonna
call that. I gotta go, I gotta go. And I'm
like choked up at this point. And then I called
my dad and my dad he's a he's a tough guy.
(13:22):
You know, he's he's managed construction companies. He does high
in outdoor landscaping, and he still works with his hands.
He's almost I think he's sixty three sixty four at
this point. And I called him. He was what, like, you, hey, Dad,
what do you want? I was like, pull over? It's like, why,
said Dad? Just pull over? Alright? Fine? Fine? Now I
(13:42):
remember the telling to pull over because when my mom
went into labor with me, she called him ale. He
was driving. It almost crashed so personally that my head
is that off the side of the road real quick.
So you know he can he can pull over and talk.
He was all right, I'm over, what do you want?
I was like, I got news for you. He was
all rights, like, I'm on full scholarship. What he's his
(14:03):
whole demeanor chain. My dad's got a deep, burly voice.
It just kind of looks like a lumberjack. And his
voice drops to like just this like mellow, like confused
kind of kind of voice. And he was like what.
I was like, Yeah, I'm on, I'm on full scholarship.
I just got awarded it. And he's not emotional guy.
He's stone cold. I mean he's he's really really tough individual.
(14:28):
And I can hear him start to like sniffle up
and tear up a little bit. His voice gets high
and cracks a little bit. It's like, I'm so proud
of you, Like you've worked so hard for this. He
had to go quit your f in job. So yeah,
get of that. So I hang up and and I'm
done with that, and I'm talking to my brother because
my brother is still there having a conversation about it.
(14:50):
He's all happy and excited for me. Um, yeah, it
was awesome. I when I've had to sign the paperwork,
didn't know what I was signing. I just signed everything there.
Yeah it doesn't matter like ground scholarship. I was like,
all right, I could be signing away. You know, my
social Security number doesn't matter to me. But um, so,
what was the job paying for? Was the job paying
(15:11):
for rent? Tuition books? Like what was a lot of that?
Or like were you are you taking out student loans
and stuff and you're feeding what you were making back
into those loans? Like what was the um the added
pressure to have that crazy set because the football job
is a job in its own But what was the
added pressure to have that second job from eight pm
(15:31):
to three in the morning when you got to be
up early for practice and class, Like, where did that
extra pressure come into play? So that was rent money.
My student moans took care of all my tuition, education
things like that. So it was rent money in books. Um,
you know, my my parents could have helped me out
with it. But at the same time, it's it's not
the responsibility. I'm a twenty one year old individual at
(15:52):
that point. Now I'm a I'm a grown man in
my eyes. I want to make sure that I'm working
for what I'm working for. I'm putting in the effort
and I'm not relying on other people for it. So
I made sure that I was working. I was paying
my rent, I was paying for my food, paying from
a vehicle and my gas everything like that, you know,
And people don't realize. It's like in college is expensive.
You know, there's probably a lot of people who wouldn't realize,
Like you pay for rent, you pay for your car,
(16:13):
still gas and everything in a college town is inflated,
you know, right. So I was sharing a four bedroom
apartment with Tyler Shoe Isaac Lutz and Frank de Leo.
I think our rent was thirty a month or like
this little like old. I think it was probably a
four year old building, just just living. Man, that's a
(16:36):
what a story, dude, that's I'm so glad that you're
on the show to share that. That's such a special
special moment for you and your family and and you know,
seeing your hard work payoff. So what like before being
given the scholarship, was it like being on the team
in those first three and a half years, four years
that maybe changed for you once you got the scholarship
(16:58):
and you know, we're on full scholarship your last and
fifth year, Like, was there anything that like drastically or
even just a little bit changed for you and your
dynamic on the team. So I think, and it is
gonna sound kind of crazy, I think not being on
scholarship helped me. You know, it proved to me that
I wasn't deserving anything. I had to work for everything. Um.
(17:20):
I remember getting really really i'll stay confident and competitive
with my language, how I talked on the field and
then in conditioning and things like that. I remember doing
hill sprints and just I think it pretty much dusted
everybody on the red I went up to my strength
coach after that and I said, all these blanketing scholarship players,
(17:40):
and you know, here's me, Like I was. I was
fired up, I was ready around. But I wasn't a
bad mood that day. And I'm not like a violent person.
I'm not a mean person. But I was at the
point where like I had an attitude, I had a
chip on my shoulder. And that's something that I had
never realized I needed before. I was always described as
whenever somebody would introduced me, always just a big teddy there.
(18:01):
I was able to get this chip on my shoulder
and I really used that to kind propel myself as
far as an individual and them from a growth standpoint
for sure. So that that definitely pushed you over the hump,
and you know, gave you a better chance of the
coaches taking notice on you. Um that probably ultimately granted
you that scholarship. Is that what you would say is
the main thing that probably separated you from you know,
(18:23):
maybe the forty other walk ons on the team that
we're also trying to get scholarships. Like, what would you
say was the main catalyst for them taking notice? I
think it was that I think they noticed my mentality
change because obviously, going in as a freshman, you're a
little bit more timid. You don't exactly have this this
crazy mentality, especially when you're not a four or five star.
I don't think I was ranked on anything, right, you know,
(18:44):
I wasn't this this big, highly recruited guy, and I
went in with the mentality of, oh, you know, you're
just lucky to be here. Well, I changed that mentality
in my head and I was like, they're they're lucky
to have me, you know. And and changing that mentality
and changing the way that I looked at everything that
I was doing it it really changed the game for me.
M h. And what at what point did that happen?
Like how many years in was it when you finally
(19:05):
got on the field, or was it maybe like that
year prior that third year where you were like right
on the brink of getting that spot. Yeah, I think
that third year when I realized that, yeah, it was
going to be moving on and going on to doing
his professional career. I realized that I had an opportunity
that you know, was nobody expected me to get. I
mean me and Blake. So it's funny, I got married
last month and congratulations, thank you. But you know Blake
(19:28):
Gillikin punter for the Saints right now, um, excellent, excellent athlete.
He comes out to me and we're all talking. Me
and the groom has been we all had a house
to ourselves and we're sitting there were having conversations like, man,
you used to suck when I met you when he
was a freshman, he was I was snapped too, sucked
When I got there. I was like, yeah, I know,
he goes and then you just you just became automatic.
(19:48):
And it was probably like having that conversation realizing, you know,
I wasn't very good freshman year, but then when I
myself into was was a product of hard work in
an attitude. So how did you get on the team
going into your freshman year if you, you know, weren't
that good and you get on a Big ten football team.
That happened is to beat Penn State? What or what
happened that got you in that room and ultimately on
(20:09):
that team. So I was technically run on, which was
really nice to have. So what had gone through was
I had two Penn State coaches show ups in my
high school game because we had a game against Scranton Prep,
which had no Obey, Joe Holmes, Um Kenneth Roman who
was one of my teammates, and Javon Marshall who was
another one of my teammates, who were guys who had
a lot of looks. You know. No Obey ended on
(20:32):
going to play a Penn State transferring to Delaware. Joe
Holmes played a Penn State for a little bit, Um
Kenneth Roman played at Rutgers and then transferred iu P
all these different schools, and then Javan played at Bloomsburg.
So we had some really talented athletes in that game. Well,
my team was really bad, so we punted like eleven times,
and I guess the combination of seeing me snap eleven
(20:53):
perfect snaps probably one field goal was enough to kind
of spark the interests of coach Strolo, who was under
O'Brien's staff from there. When they did the transfer with
Franklin coming over and a coach Franklin and coach Huck
me over. Coach Huff, I guess had gotten a list
from coach Rolo who was recruiting, and I happened to
be on that list. Wow, And then for you, it's
kind of like a no brainer, like I'm gonna just
(21:14):
maybe you had some D twos or some D three's.
But I think when you know Penn State puts you
on a list, they probably get put into a different
here and you're like, wait, I don't care about loans,
I don't care about not being on scholarship. I'm going
to Penn State. Yeah, it's funny. I had um God,
probably a month before I was talking to coach Trolo,
I was talking to Rutgers, I was talking to Temple.
(21:35):
I actually had before I committed the coach Franklin in February,
I had literally, while sitting in the office talking to
coach giving my commitment, the head coach of Temple at
the time on the phone trying to call me, and
I walked out of the room as whereas I looked
on my phone, I was like, you know, yeah, because
another school wants me, because coach Franklin. And he goes,
(21:57):
you know this is this is like dating. He goes,
You're like, this is this boyfriend girlfriend stuff right here,
You're not cheating. It's like no more in contact with you,
Like that's fair, and no more contact with the exs,
so it's a good way to get just sold on
that UM. So I had a conversation it's episode seven
of the podcast with a walk on wide receiver from
(22:19):
Ohio State. His name is Marvin Davis. He shined a
lot of light on like the differences that when you're
a walk on UM come come about because there's so
many guys on the team and it's so hard to
balance like relationships with a people on the roster, so
you know, in your position, and he was a wide receiver,
so like he's in that receiver group, he's on the
(22:40):
scout team, heavily involved and and for you as a
just a long snapper, like what goes on where like
you know, are you a walk on? Because long snappers,
you know, just don't have scholarships because you played in
all thirteen games, you're red shirt junior year your fourth season,
and you were not on scholarships, So like is that common?
Is there? Like just a I don't know, like a
(23:03):
difference between the amount of scholarship guys and walk on
because of how big of a number of people there are,
They're like, what just explain that that whole dynamic if
you can, if you can compare it to you know,
that brief summary of the Ohio State situation I gave.
I think, you know, I'd like to credit myself and
say that if I was a receiver with my long
(23:23):
snapping skills and receiver skills, I would have been a
five star. But uh, you know, it's it's one of
those positions. You know, it's you play ten fifteen plays
a game. You tell people your position. They're like, what
do you And I'm like, I'm just sn upside down quarterback.
Don't worry about it. That's that's how you describe your
position because even people out in the real world, you
tell what you used to do. When they're like, dude,
(23:44):
what I've never heard of that, Like where you on
defense or offense? I was like, well, I was on
special teams, So like what is that? I'm like, well,
you see, here's kind of what I did. And you know,
it's it's kind of a running joke at work that
like I'll toe the upside down quarterback and all these
things I used to do, and it's it was funny,
you know. It's it's not a position highly regarded or
(24:05):
for its talent, where it's difficulty, right, So I mean,
I just don't know if there's like you know, there
had to be some sort of like difficulty like building
relationships with every coach. Like I I look at the
basketball dynamic and I'm like, it's so intimate. You know,
there's fifteen players, there's maybe nine coaches tops, so there's
(24:26):
like only our travel party is probably no more than
thirty people, so it's like not hard to know everybody
by a first name basis, know where everyone's from, what
everyone's like. Like. There you can you can get close
with pretty much anyone if you want to. And in
a college basketball environment, in a college football environment just
seems so backwards because there's so many of you. It's
(24:47):
like there's definitely different pockets of like you know, maybe
the offensive lineman or just with the O and D line,
and then the cornerbacks and the wide receivers who guard
each other like they're tight. Like there there's gotta be
all these different pockets when you guys, and then you'll
all have position coaches, so it's like you know, you're
spending time with them more than any of the other coaches,
so you build a better relationship with them. And that
(25:09):
dynamic has always been interesting me. Interesting to me because
there's definitely people who get left out, and you know,
it sucks when you see like, and this is for
anybody in any field, like the most valuable people on
the team connecting with the higher up boss and you're
laying lower on the totem pole, and it's like all
(25:31):
you can do is observe that relationship and just accept
the fact that that's not what it is for you.
Um So do you ever have to deal with like
anything like that or or you know, stuff that kind
of made you feel before you got that scholarship like
a little less than um And that's not you know,
a knock on Penn State or anything. It's simply just
that dynamic of how you have to deal with twenty
(25:53):
people being on the roster and like what a hundred
sixty people within the program when you add in the coaches, Like,
I don't even know what the number is. You you
you tell me, yeah, now, So I think the the
biggest thing is, you know, a lot of times we
box ourselves into a certain group or a certain demographic
or a certain you know, um social circle. And for me,
(26:14):
I mean I I talked to everybody. It's been one
of the best skills that I've acquired from college. I
went in very timid, like I said, and I kind
of grew into my own voice. I inserted myself in
all these conversations. My sophomore year, they asked me who
I want to live with. I said, I don't care,
grow me in with whoever you want, and ended up
with Big Bacon, Paris Palmer, Antoine White, and Kevin Gibbons.
(26:35):
It was a crew. I'll tell you what. I wish
I could go into details, but I can't. But we
had some wild times together, really really good friends. And
there are people that typically everybody looked at it like basically,
why you ruin with that? Was because this is my boys,
Like these are these are the guys that I know,
These are the guys I hang out with. We all
get along, you know, which is Kevin freet in a
box of chicken nuggets every night, the dinosaur ones like
(26:55):
Big Bacon's always sweaty because there's three and sixty pounds.
Like just having these conversations and you know, it's fun.
You gotta throw yourself out there. Obviously, as a group
of specialists, we all stuck together and we were close
Nick because you know, we're always with each other, but
at the same time, it's there's a specialist. You know,
you're either by everybody or hated by everybody. We were
pretty decent special teams unit, especially towards my junior and
(27:16):
senior year, so we were we got along with everybody
pretty well. Yeah, And that's the most special thing, is
like being able to get through all of those little
hurdles and adversity and you know, finding a brotherhood with
people like that because I'm sure you guys will always
keep in touch. You know, they are your college college roommates.
Of course you're gonna you know, have a strong tie.
And uh, that's always something that's super special when I
(27:39):
talk to people that comes out of these walk on
experience or not even walk on, just like literally being
a college athlete, being around you know, different walks of
life from all over and um, the perspective that like,
you know, you guys get into those late late night
three am deep talks and it's like wow, like I
respect the hell out of you or like I admire
(27:59):
the shift out of you, like you're amazing. You know,
you're special human being. Like they're all of those little
moments I think people people get with with some of
their teammates at some point or another. So I always
love to hear that. But it's me again. We got
another quick break coming your way. But stay put because
when we come back, Kyle talks about his journey within
the NFL, experiencing Draft night, what happened with his NFL career,
(28:22):
and some of the biggest things he's taken with him
from this overall journey. So stay with us. We'll be
right back. Walk you talking. His podcast is back. I
told you we'd be back, So please make sure you
are subscribed to the show if you're enjoying what you're
hearing so far. And let's bring back in former Penn
State long snapper Kyle Vacy. In regards to what followed
your scholarship and that last and fifth year at Penn State,
(28:43):
you ended up signing a brief deal with the Atlanta Falcons.
So what ended up happening with that? Was it you
like not making the team or just making the team
and then ultimately deciding it wasn't for you. What was
the situation with signing that pro contract? Yes, so with
the Atlanta Falcons. The um the day of the I
believe it was the third day of the draft. I've
been having conversations with Ben Couteko, who is the special
(29:06):
team's coach there. I've been having a couple of conversations
with a bunch of special teams coordinators and he came
down the third day of the draft and I get
a call from Ben and he's like, hey, like, I
just want to let you know where we're gonna take you,
like at the end of the draft, like we're gonna
send you over something like watch your email. He goes,
do you want to be a Falcon? So you know me,
when I hear that, I'm sitting in the apartment with
(29:26):
my brother and my girl, my fiance, I mean my
girlfriend at the time that my fiance now my wife.
I'm like, yeah, yeah, of course I want to like yeah,
like I'm crying it out pop Champagne, like just having
a good time talking about it. And I committed him,
and I gave him my word, and that's always something
that I know that you you keep, you know. And
I go and I signed the contract and I'm getting
(29:48):
ready to send it and then my phone rings, like
all right, what's going on? I pick it up. I
was like, oh, please tell me they're not retracting this.
Pick up the phone, answer it, Hey code, Hey Kyle,
this is selling. So from Miami Dolphins, Um, we want
to sign you on as a few d f A.
We want to get you down here in Miami with us.
We don't have a current starter. Now. Atlanta had Josh
Harris who was a pro bowler. He was injured at
(30:10):
the time, coming back from injury. They didn't know how
long he was gonna take. Miami didn't have anybody in
place at that time. Um, so I was you know,
in my head, I was like, man, Miami sounds like
a lot better deal. But at the same time, I'd
give him my word to Atlanta, I told them, yes,
I'm joining you guys. You know I'm on your team.
So I stuck with my word. And even though I
knew they had a starter in place to add everything
(30:31):
like that, it was my word. I wasn't gonna go
back on it. And so then you go down to
Atlanta and you practice or you in O t A
s like what what ended up transpiring after that? Yeah?
So I went through all the practices, did a really
nice job, really enjoyed it, got to play in the
Hall of Fame game, Um, I got to know all
the guys really just experienced the NFL lifestyle, and Josh
(30:52):
healed up, which I'm happy for. You know, I met
the guy. We were talking. He's a phenomenal human being,
you know, a really great guy. He's kind of I
don't want to say like admirable, but that's the best
word that I can think of. You know, he's just
the pinnacle of which you want to be he as
an NFL player. He's smart, he's intelligent with what he does.
He's just overall a very good role model for everybody
in the NFL. And you don't know about him much
(31:12):
because he's a long snapper. Yeah, exactly. So do they
only keep one long snapper? Is that what ultimately was
like you were then not on the team or even
the practice squad because they only need one long snapper.
You only need one long snapper. You know. It's a
very rare occasion where somebody gets injured when they do
stuff kind of hits the fan as far as special
teams go. But at the same time, when they have
a guy in plays like that, they can absolutely roll
(31:33):
with them. And if there's no need to keep another
guy on that fifty two man roster who long snaps.
And so then at that point that wrapped up your
football career. You were you tied. You hung the shoes
up or the cleats up, Like what did you want
to continue? Where you maybe trying to you know, retract
and get back to Miami or something like what where
was your mindset on, um the rest of your football
(31:53):
career and what you were about to do with the
rest of your life. So I went into after that.
My professional career obviously didn't take long. I think I
had me and the Falcons had finished up probably on
a Monday, I think it was, and by Wednesday I
was working nine UM, so really quick on pulling the
trigger and getting back into work. Like I said, I
don't like to sit around and be lazier stagnant. So
I went into that. UM ended up going and doing
(32:15):
some personal training for a little bit of facility. Wanted
to learn how to do that. It was something that
I was always passionate about. I went learned the roads there,
and then winter rolled around and I started getting calls
some teams, you know. I went to workout in Pittsburgh.
My agents at Arizona had called them San Francisco, Tennessee,
A couple of these different teams we're reaching out about me.
So I went up to Steelers, put on a good workout,
(32:35):
did this and that, and something that really hit me was,
you know, this is not what I want my life
to be the next four or five years, just bouncing
from state to team, the state team, this and that
and the other, going on a team, signing contract, losing
the contract week later, all those kind of things. You know,
I really decided to focus more in on growing myself
as a professional as opposed to an athlete. And what
in your current work is a real estate advisor? I
(32:58):
have that right absolutely. So how did that come about? Uh?
Post football? Was that always? I mean you said you
did some of the training stuff for a while, but
what what got you to segue into that field? So
I had actually did the training and then I came
I actually moved out to Denver Um with my fiance
at the time wife. Now, who is in graduate school?
(33:19):
Do you she's getting her MSW and then possibly her
doctor in psychology. Were still unsure because she's a fan
of school sometimes fan school not other times. But the
same time is so um we're out here, and I
actually ended up managing a couple of different locations for
a fitness company, so I let it. So I was
kind of balancing around learning how to manage talk to people.
(33:39):
KPI reports is all these cool things that I've never
had really experienced before, and I'm still relatively young in
this industry, and I the one day I'm sitting there
and I'm like, man, you know, like I'm I'm capped out.
There's nothing more I can do. I can't get promoted
any higher. I'm gonna be stuck at this salary with
this amount of money. And it was. It was good money,
but at the same time, I'm, as you can tell
(34:00):
by my career, I'm not somebody who's happy being stuck
with one thing and not being able to really grow
develop myself. Right. Well, I get an email from this
guy who had been talking to a little bit about
just business and generally goes, hey, you know, I want
you to stop in for an interview, so let's hop
on a phone call real quick. So we went through
two phone call interviews, we went through a third in
person interview, a fourth interview in front of the advice
(34:23):
that I was going to be working with fifth interview
in front of the panel of judges, and that a
sixth interview with the and they blood everything I had
to say. You know, they like my mentality, that like
my competitive edge. Um, and the big thing was that
I was really really good at just having conversations. They
really that aspect. I'm not somebody who shots away from it.
I could talk to a tree for hours. You know,
(34:44):
I'm one of the Hey man, I'm right there with you.
So I started this damn podcast for any you know,
any amount of time. So let's um, I have one
weird question about being along snapper, and then I will
wrap it up with how I always finished the show
with one more question. But from a fans perspective, when
you're a long snapper, like you said, you're an upside
(35:05):
down quarterback, and even for like a regular snapper I
or a regular center excuse me, what terrible terminology. Um,
you got your head down. You have to focus on
whipping the ball accurately to the holder or the punter,
and then you've got to get hit right after you
throw the ball. Like how the how I always watched
(35:27):
I'm like, you know, sometimes like there's not always a
nose guard, and you have like a second to pick
your head up and then look at who you're gonna block.
I don't know, that's just my observation, but like, what
was the hardest thing about being accurate on your snap
and then picking your head up and making sure you
do not just get blasted off your two feet. Oh,
that's that's the fun part of it. You usually do
(35:47):
get blasted. Um. My mom always told me growing up
that I was always asked backwards and upside down, so
kind of fit perfectly with long snapping. So just attle
bit and then you know, next thing, you know, you
you snap the ball. Um. The most important thing is
obviously delivering the snap target accurately and efficiently right. The
second most important part is making sure the guy who's
coming across me, who's usually six six three pounds and
(36:10):
solid muscle, doesn't block the punt or doesn't block the
field goal right right right. In college, I was fortunate
enough to have Big Bacon and Sterling Jenkins as my
two guards, So those guys pretty much to care of
anybody who, you know, I would want to try to
mess with me or do anything like that, which was
really really nice to have, especially when they're as large
as those individuals where yeah no, and I can I
(36:32):
can understand why you go from that, And then you
get a couple of tryouts in the NFL and you're like,
you know what, I don't think I want to bounce
around state to state and do any of that anymore.
I remember my first play in the NFL, first ever punt,
snap ever, a snap bomb, Like, man, that's a beauty.
This is gonna look good. And next thing I know,
(36:52):
I just remember this flash. All I see is I
see the lights of the stadium and I see my
feet and up by the lights, and I was like,
that's not good. That's hilarious. So I did ended up
doing a full back flip on my first play and
was not intuchable. Your very first play, what ye what
a moment the returner fumbled the balls and we got
the ball. So that's that's a good wow, what a play?
(37:13):
What a first play of your NFL career? Um, all right,
so let's let's wrap it up with what did that
walk on role? And ultimately that reward of being given
a scholarship and being validated your hard work, being validated
after all those years, and then even you know, being
given the opportunity to be on the phone with NFL teams,
in a training camp with NFL teams, playing in an
(37:33):
NFL game, Like, what did that role? That journey, that
whole thing from the very start of where you were
at to the very end when you were came you
got you know, you hung up the shoes with peace,
you were completely fine with I keep saying shoes because
I'm a basketball player. You hung up the cleats with peace,
and you know you were able to step into your
next journey. What did that whole kind of journey? Five
(37:56):
year experience, six year experience, however long in the NFL?
Was UM help you with for where you're currently at now?
Whether it was a mentality, a perspective that you aimed
or um, you know, a mentality that you gained during
college that you brought over with you into this current field.
Like what was the ultimate couple of things that you've
taken away with you that you know you still hold
with you to this day. I think it really I
(38:19):
wouldn't have changed this thing. You know. It taught me
the cadence in which I'm want to live my life,
the expectations I have, the mentality I have UM effort
and output and then just always grinding. You know, you
have a lot of people nowadays that want things handed
to them or think they've deserved things. And I realized,
you know, that's that's not how it works. You have
(38:40):
to earn regardless. So every aspect of everything that I
go into, I realize that there's always opportunity. You know,
never be afraid to be the guy who goes and
cleans up trash. I don't care if your management facility.
I've spent hours at the facility cleaning up trash. You know,
make sure locker rooms look good, just so that I
can go ahead and say, you know, I feel good
about what I did today. You know there's some job
too small for somebody, regardless of who they are. UM.
(39:02):
Just focusing on everything that you wanted to and block
out the outside noise, you know. I remember that's one
of the first things I saw it Penn State when
we have the LASH building, there's a door on the
back and it says something along the lines of um,
leave out the outside noise or something along those lines.
And you know it's always something is you're a walk
on you know, you're not gonna play you're not gonna
(39:23):
do this, You're not gonna do that, like and it's
it's really about you and your mentality. You know, what
it comes down to is the battle of you versus you,
now you versus someone else, You versus this or that.
It all comes down to the approach that you take,
the mentality that you carry, and the fight that's inside
of you. That's probably the bregest thing I learned, That
effort effort output thing is sticking with me? What can
(39:45):
I get you to elaborate on that a little bit?
How that stuck with you? How that helped you U
during that journey? Because I really like that that quote,
It's true. What what did that do for you? It
so kind of relates back to James Franklin's four core values,
which positive attitude, great work ethic, competing everything you do,
and must be willing to sacrifice. You know, you take
all those and when it goes to effort output, you
(40:08):
need to do everything a U and ten percent. You know,
there's no such thing as season the language half asking anything,
you know, it doesn't You don't have to excuse your language.
You can say whatever curse word you want on here.
But it's it's it's so validating. You know, sometimes there's
things that you don't want to do, but if you
give it this half ass effort, you know you're not
you're not improving, You're not getting anything out of it.
(40:32):
If you if you go into something even if you
don't want to do it, and you give it a
d ten percent, maybe it turns out, you know, it's
not that bad. My mentality with with a lot of
the things I do with fitness and real estate, it's
the sales type of thing. I hated sales. Hated everything
about it when I started. I thought, oh, this is
gonna suck. You know, I don't want to do this.
I don't want to talk to people. I don't want
(40:52):
to negotiate. Now you know, I've got a wife. I
negotiate everything. I negotiate a laundry, I negotiate, you know,
things like that, Like and you learn to do things
that you never knew you like before just by giving
good effort to it, by giving effort to it. So
that's that's kind of where I get that from. It's
it's the same mold of like the more you give,
(41:14):
the more you will probably get back in return. And
whether that's effort, whether that's love, whether that's care um, generosity,
whatever it is. The more you put out, hopefully you know,
the more of the universe rewards back to you. And
in a situation like yours, man, like you said it,
you were like an inch away, maybe five minutes away
(41:35):
from hanging it up your second third year and quitting,
and you had a teammate shine a light down from
some part of the universe and say, hey, man, you
know you're doing great, like and that little compliment that
he gave you validated before you got the scholarship, all
the work that you were putting in and honestly probably
lit even more of a spark, and you was like, man,
(41:56):
these people are taking notice, Like I'm gonna I'm gonna
put even more into this. I'm gonna get try to
get even more out of it. And then you know,
you ultimately have that amazing moment where you're you're granted
a scholarship and all your concerns and your struggles and
you'r you know, terrible day to day schedule that was
grueling and strenuous is all of a sudden you race,
(42:17):
it's done, it's over. You can just be a student athlete,
you know, for one last year and really enjoy yourself
and put all your chips into you know, that basket
of just being a college football player for one last
year and ultimately resulted in what you know, could have
been an NFL career had you decided you wanted it.
And that's that's so special, dude, Like you start from
the literal bottom and you got yourself to a point
(42:37):
where it's like, yeah, no, like I was wearing an
NFL jersey at one point, like regardless of how long
it was, Like, no one can take that from you.
No one can take away the work that you put
into it. And uh, super special, man. Love hearing stuff
like that. And I'm so happy that you came on
the podcast to you know, share that story and everything
that you have have said. So uh, super cool story man,
(42:58):
super inspiring. Really glad you came on and shared. So
I appreciate you coming up. Man, Yeah, I think you know.
I appreciate it. You've had me on And that's a
rap for episode thirteen. Thanks to Kyle for coming on
the show. I had a really good time talking with
him about his journey as a Ninny Lyon and I
just want to say, you know, week by week we're
checking off more and more former walk Ons off the
list that personify excellence, intelligence, hard work, determination, and so
(43:22):
much more that Kyle put on display during this interview. Man,
he he was great. His story was great. Uh, seems
like a really good dude, and it's going to be
really successful in life, which is what all of our
former walk ons in the Walkie Talkies gang seeming to
be doing. Is just you know, building on their journeys
of success that started as a walk on. So super
cool stuff from him, and um, that's all for today's show.
(43:45):
Remember to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss
any future episodes. If you enjoyed this episode, then please
leave us a review on whichever directory you listen to
your podcast on and you can interact with the podcast
more if you follow us on social media's Twitter, Instagram,
TikTok at w t Z podcast. There will be video
of highlights of every episode on there. And that's all
(44:07):
for today. Thank you to everyone tuning in. We will
see you next week and remember tell us up you.
Walkie Talkies is a production of I Heart Radio and
the College Athletes Network. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Walkie Talkies is a production of I Heart Radio and
the College Athletes Network. Hello, Yeah, what's up everybody? Welcome
(00:29):
to Walkie Talkies podcast on the College Athletes Network, featured
on I Heart Radio. I'm your host, and this is
episode thirteen of Walkie Talkies Podcast. Now, as always, my
first couple of orders of business to the beautiful listeners
out there is to remember to leave the show a
review on Apple podcast towards the bottom of the page
should say write or review towards the bottom right. And
if you're on Spotify, it should be right under the
(00:51):
show's title an area to leave a couple of stars,
maybe even write a review on there. And also make
sure you are subscribed to the podcast and downloading the
episodes just in case you're on an airplane you're dealing
with some shitty internet connection. That way, you can listen
to the show offline if neat beat. Now for today's episode.
Today's guest is a former Penn State football walk on
from two thousand thirteen through two thousand eighteen, long snapper
(01:14):
Kyle Vacy. Kyle was a walk on his first four
years and then was awarded a surprise scholarship after his
fourth season for his fifth and last season, and then
later on after that last season, signed on to play
with the Atlanta Falcons. Kyle talks about how he was
ready to quit for certain something happened to help him
kind of see that light back at the end of
the tunnel. Talks about the job that he was working
(01:34):
at nights to help pay his rent in the grueling
process of that. Talks about shifting his mentality which was
ultimately what helped him get noticed by the coaches and
be able to earn that scholarship, and as well as
his time in the NFL, and so much more that
we discussed throughout the conversation. Kyle has an infamous video
from the Penn State Football account of the moment he
was awarded scholarship, which is posted on the Walkie Talkies Twitter, Instagram,
(01:57):
and TikTok pages at w t Z podcast so that
everyone can see that memorable moment that Kyle had when
he's awarded the scholarship. Really special moment for him and
a really special episode for us here on Walkie Talking
Podcast to have him on the show and and talk
about his journey as a Nitney a Lion. So with
that being said, let's bring in former Penn State football
along snapper Kyle Vacy. So you walked on to Penn
(02:21):
State football as a long snapper coming out of high school.
You're from the Pennsylvania area, so it was probably close
to home. But when you decided to go to Penn
State and be a walk on, did you know what
to expect coming into the program, on what your role
was going to be like and the kind of uphill
battle that you were maybe in store for going into that. So, honestly,
(02:41):
I really had no idea what I was getting into,
um just heading into it. You know, the first couple
of days, you're overwhelmed. You're on a schedule that you've
never seen before, you know, high school. You wake up,
you roll out of bed, you drive the school, you
go home after football and it's over. You know this
is okay. You've got a show facility in six and
you've got conditioning a seven. You've got to go to
class to eight. You've got to run the class because
(03:02):
you know, the coaches want to stay a little bit long,
getting nice your work at it. You know, you finish
up the class round two or three o'clock. You go
to practice, not get all your practice, and then you
did film study, you did meetings, you have at dinner
that you're required to get to and you have to
make to study hall. So for me, going from somebody
who was very independent but loosely independent to going into
something where it's completely structured was a huge, huge change.
(03:26):
You know, I don't think I had enough time to
really go to the bathroom I needed to for the
first couple of weeks. Just the aspects of having such
a structured lifestyle. You know, I was in high school,
I'd go fishing every day after school, I do this
and that. You know, I lived on a ski resort,
so I'd go skiing things along those lines. And then
when you get into college, it's like it really feels
like you're professional athlete. Once I got to experience the NFL,
(03:48):
it is very, very very similar to the exact same
lifestyles professional athlete. So, I mean when you came in
there as a walk on, like, did you know what
the dynamic was for you? And like you were obviously
I guess just in that long snapper and holding position
for fuel goal was and whatnot, But did you know
what you expected? You know what your role was going
to be? Like and like where you kind of fit
(04:10):
in among the rest of your teammates. UM, I had
no idea. So I actually did not get invited to
camp my first two yeah, two years at Penn States.
So when I first got into the first year, I
went in, did all the summer conditioning, this and that.
UM knocked all that out and then like all right,
see in a month. And I was kind of like alright,
(04:30):
like that, I mean, whatever you all want to do.
And unfortunately, unfortunately I had. The guy who was ahead
of me, is Acladana's actually ended up getting an injury
to his knee. And they called me a week before
we go to the Ireland game in Croake Park and
they say, hey, do you have a passport? And I'm
like no, Like you know, this wasn't something I was
aware of, but like, all right, we're gonna expediate your passport.
(04:51):
We canna do this, that and the other, and we're
gonna make sure you can make it to this game.
So I got about a week of practice under my
belt before we went to Croake Park and they said,
by the way, if you as goes down, you have
to start. But what season is this in? This is
freshman Qushman. Oh wow, okay, yeah, so I you know,
I had never experienced a big game like that. I
was from a small high school and Penzilany about I'd
(05:11):
say five six people showed up to each game. Do
you next thing? I know, I could be playing overseas
in front of you know, a bunch of Ireland individuals
and just kind of rolling along and seeing what I
could do. So it was very nerve wracking. So did
that end up happening because I saw you red shirted
your freshman year? Correct? Yeah? So fortunately enough, Yeah, stayed
healthy the entire game because I would not want to
(05:32):
want to see what happened if I got in there,
you know, the game going down to right. So how
long do you think, Like, you know, you went three
straight years of no game action. You red shirted, then
your red shirt freshman year, in your red shirts sophomore year,
so that was your second and third year in college.
You were fully dressed and you saw zero game action.
(05:52):
So how did you stick it out? And like, what
was the motivation that was, Like I'm gonna stick this out.
I want to see this all the way through. Did
you know that there was something that might be like
an opportunity might become coming down the line, or like,
what was the foresight that made you want to stick
that out? So it's funny you bring that up. Actually, Um,
(06:13):
this is kind of something opening the public knows, only
the team really knows. Um. My freshman year, I would
go and I'd snap every day after workouts and go
and I'd snap. We had a little turf area next
to the weight room that we'd go and i'd snap
the ball at I put a water bottle on a
sled and just keep trying to knock it off over
and over. And the one day I'm sitting there and
I was just having a day and I'm getting ready
(06:34):
to go and talk to coach Colet, who's our strength
conditioning coach, to tell him that I'd like to get
off the team. Um. I'm waiting for him to get
into his office, and you know, I'm sitting there and
I'm snapping the ball and I'm I get a couple
of rounds in, you know, probably fifteen twenty snaps, and
co a farmer comes up to me. Um co as
you know, linebacker safety for US, very athletic player from California,
(06:58):
and he goes, hey, man, you know, I know it's
a grind, but keep doing this. You're doing great. We're
gonna need you one day. So I'm sitting there in
my head ready to go and tell coach, Hey, you
know I'm out the same for me. Co It comes
up and tells me that. So I kind of just
like sit there for a little bit think on it,
and you know, next to you know, I snap a
couple more football's. Coach goal comes down, look at him, wave,
(07:19):
snap a couple more footballs and go home. Decided handing
the cleets that day. What a blessing. Blessing in disguise. Yeah,
So we have our senior shares every year, and co
It wasn't aware that's our our senior year. I think
I saw him at a bar like a couple of
nights before something like that, after a game that we'd won,
and I go up and I'm talking to me. I said, yeah,
I got you know, I have my senior share next week,
(07:40):
like I got a surprise for you, And he kind
of just like looked at me, gave me like a
grand and I was like, you'll say, and you know,
I announced that in front of the whole team. That
was that was a hard thing to say. You know,
I had my little brother who had joined the team.
I said it in front of him. Just it was
very very nerve wracking thing to get up there and admit.
But at the same time, I'm I'm completely honest and
open about how I feel about things. And having that
(08:00):
conversation was huge. So from that point on, I changed
my mindset to stop feeling sorry for yourself and start working.
So every day I would go in, I do extra reps,
I make sure that my snaps are one point, it's
after practice. I'd sneak in there at night, just all
these different things. You know, There's there was a door
that was broken on glue the hall that I would go.
I would sneak in at night and snap the football
(08:21):
just so that I could get better. What a grime, man,
that's you were very committed, because so I guess he
came to you and it kind of like reflipped the
switch on, like a wait, no, like, I'm here for
a reason. I do want to try to, you know,
put more into this versus just totally throwing in the
towel and putting nothing into it. Um and ultimately like
(08:41):
that brings us into that notorious moment that you had.
You know, you get the surprise scholarship from your head
coach and you have no idea that it's coming, but
you get that exciting moment where you're just mopped by
your teammates and you know that feeling of reward and
hard work completely paid off. You no longer have to
work or take your loans out or whatever. You get
(09:02):
to just be a scholarship athlete. So when you had
that moment when Coach Franklin, um, you know, gave you
the scholarship, I want you to just I don't even
want to explain. It sounds so much better coming from you.
What do you remember about that moment when he brought
you guys in that little huddle and he asked you
you know what your job was and and all that.
Just just give the listeners that little that breakdown of
(09:23):
that moment for you when you were giving a scholarship. Yeah,
it was. It was hot as health. We just thought
I just finished a conditioning workout out on the field. Um.
I remember being exhausted, my legs were hurt and I
was tired. I was thinking about going to work that night. Um,
you know, just kind of going through every thought that
every athlete has a man that sucked, I gotta do
it again tomorrow. And what was work? So I was
(09:43):
bouncing in a bar from about eight am, I mean
eight pm to three am, almost every single day a week.
I would wake up every day, you know, I was
It was crazy. I actually dropped thirty pounds that summer
just because I didn't have time to eat. I didn't
have time to sleep. That slept about an hour and
a half every night. Damn, man, that's an hour and
a half. Yeah, oh you're better than me, bro right,
(10:07):
and my dad would be proud. But that's about the
only person thought it was a good move. So of course,
of course, um, it was tough. It was really tough. Yeah.
So so when you're sitting in that huddle and he
kind of just singles you out and he's like, you know, Vacy,
what what do you do? Like? What's your job like?
And you you say that to him. It was just
(10:27):
such a cool organic way that had happened, because there's
no way that while your legs are tired and your
gas and it's hot as hell outside, that you thought
that that was coming. Like, like you said, you were
just thinking about work that night, and you know, I
saw the emotion in the video, but what did it
really feel like when when he said that to you
and your teammates jumped on your back all that. Yeah,
well it's funny. You don't see this in the media release,
(10:48):
but he asked about ten of us. And I'm getting
all piste off because you're skipping over me. Oh what's
going on here? Man? Like I'm working my butt off,
like I want to talk about it a little bit,
like I'm gonna let people know what I'm going through. Right.
Finally he's getting ready to wrap it up and then terms, oh, basy, no, look,
and I said, you know I'm working. You know I'm
bouncing and he goes what And the whole team starts
(11:09):
gonna bounce, bounce like because they knew that I was
bouncing at the bar. And he goes, well, how often
you doing? And I'm just like, well, you know, like
a pm to three am, and he goes, eight pm
to three am. How many days we can do? And
I said five, six days a week, and uh, he
looks at me and he just goes, quit your own
fool scholarship, And like my heart dropped into my stomach
(11:32):
is the first thing I remember. I felt like I
got punched and everybody started screaming, and honestly just turned
into a giant blur. I remember. I got Big Bacon,
who was Chad's right called Big Bacon, but he was
my roommate at the time, comes up and wraps his
arm around my neck. Now, people that don't know this,
Big Bacon is six eight three six. He's not a
small cuddly individual. He grows his arm over me, almost
(11:56):
knocks me over. I got Blake Gilkin jumping in my face.
I got everybody pushed me around, Daylon, Darry and grat Me.
Just having an awesome time, just celebrating, and you know,
I didn't know much to say. I was kind of
choked up. I was laughing, I was crying. I had
all these crazy emotions just circling around. And you know,
they asked me to break down the team, so I
just said, I love every single one of you guys,
(12:17):
you know family on the three counting down on the
three family, Um went over to talk to the coaches.
They put k I will finish that sentence about the
conversation that ensued with his coaches and his parents informing
them of his scholarship. Don't go anywhere, We'll be right back,
and what can you talk? His podcast is back? Please
make sure you are subscribed to the show. And let's
let Kyle finish his sentence after I rudely interrupted him,
(12:40):
and then Coach Franklin goes, I think it's time to
call your parents. So that was when the tears really
started to fall. You know, I I call my my
dad and I'm like, your dad now. I called my
mom first, Oh Mom, and said, hey, Mom, you know
what are you doing. She's like, I'm at work. It
was like I got some news for you. And you know,
she has three boys. But whenever she hears oh you
have news, it's like, all right, who needs bail money?
(13:01):
Who needs this? He needs that? Like is getting ready
for the worst possible music said mom in on a
full scholarship, And it went kind of quiet, and I
just heard her sob it. So I started losing it
there in front of you know, everybody, all the cameras,
stuff like that, Yeah that's all right, Like I'm gonna
call that. I gotta go, I gotta go. And I'm
like choked up at this point. And then I called
my dad and my dad he's a he's a tough guy.
(13:22):
You know, he's he's managed construction companies. He does high
in outdoor landscaping, and he still works with his hands.
He's almost I think he's sixty three sixty four at
this point. And I called him. He was what, like, you, hey, Dad,
what do you want? I was like, pull over? It's like, why,
said Dad? Just pull over? Alright? Fine? Fine? Now I
(13:42):
remember the telling to pull over because when my mom
went into labor with me, she called him ale. He
was driving. It almost crashed so personally that my head
is that off the side of the road real quick.
So you know he can he can pull over and talk.
He was all right, I'm over, what do you want?
I was like, I got news for you. He was
all rights, like, I'm on full scholarship. What he's his
(14:03):
whole demeanor chain. My dad's got a deep, burly voice.
It just kind of looks like a lumberjack. And his
voice drops to like just this like mellow, like confused
kind of kind of voice. And he was like what.
I was like, Yeah, I'm on, I'm on full scholarship.
I just got awarded it. And he's not emotional guy.
He's stone cold. I mean he's he's really really tough individual.
(14:28):
And I can hear him start to like sniffle up
and tear up a little bit. His voice gets high
and cracks a little bit. It's like, I'm so proud
of you, Like you've worked so hard for this. He
had to go quit your f in job. So yeah,
get of that. So I hang up and and I'm
done with that, and I'm talking to my brother because
my brother is still there having a conversation about it.
(14:50):
He's all happy and excited for me. Um, yeah, it
was awesome. I when I've had to sign the paperwork,
didn't know what I was signing. I just signed everything there.
Yeah it doesn't matter like ground scholarship. I was like,
all right, I could be signing away. You know, my
social Security number doesn't matter to me. But um, so,
what was the job paying for? Was the job paying
(15:11):
for rent? Tuition books? Like what was a lot of that?
Or like were you are you taking out student loans
and stuff and you're feeding what you were making back
into those loans? Like what was the um the added
pressure to have that crazy set because the football job
is a job in its own But what was the
added pressure to have that second job from eight pm
(15:31):
to three in the morning when you got to be
up early for practice and class, Like, where did that
extra pressure come into play? So that was rent money.
My student moans took care of all my tuition, education
things like that. So it was rent money in books. Um,
you know, my my parents could have helped me out
with it. But at the same time, it's it's not
the responsibility. I'm a twenty one year old individual at
(15:52):
that point. Now I'm a I'm a grown man in
my eyes. I want to make sure that I'm working
for what I'm working for. I'm putting in the effort
and I'm not relying on other people for it. So
I made sure that I was working. I was paying
my rent, I was paying for my food, paying from
a vehicle and my gas everything like that, you know,
And people don't realize. It's like in college is expensive.
You know, there's probably a lot of people who wouldn't realize,
Like you pay for rent, you pay for your car,
(16:13):
still gas and everything in a college town is inflated,
you know, right. So I was sharing a four bedroom
apartment with Tyler Shoe Isaac Lutz and Frank de Leo.
I think our rent was thirty a month or like
this little like old. I think it was probably a
four year old building, just just living. Man, that's a
(16:36):
what a story, dude, that's I'm so glad that you're
on the show to share that. That's such a special
special moment for you and your family and and you know,
seeing your hard work payoff. So what like before being
given the scholarship, was it like being on the team
in those first three and a half years, four years
that maybe changed for you once you got the scholarship
(16:58):
and you know, we're on full scholarship your last and
fifth year, Like, was there anything that like drastically or
even just a little bit changed for you and your
dynamic on the team. So I think, and it is
gonna sound kind of crazy, I think not being on
scholarship helped me. You know, it proved to me that
I wasn't deserving anything. I had to work for everything. Um.
(17:20):
I remember getting really really i'll stay confident and competitive
with my language, how I talked on the field and
then in conditioning and things like that. I remember doing
hill sprints and just I think it pretty much dusted
everybody on the red I went up to my strength
coach after that and I said, all these blanketing scholarship players,
(17:40):
and you know, here's me, Like I was. I was
fired up, I was ready around. But I wasn't a
bad mood that day. And I'm not like a violent person.
I'm not a mean person. But I was at the
point where like I had an attitude, I had a
chip on my shoulder. And that's something that I had
never realized I needed before. I was always described as
whenever somebody would introduced me, always just a big teddy there.
(18:01):
I was able to get this chip on my shoulder
and I really used that to kind propel myself as
far as an individual and them from a growth standpoint
for sure. So that that definitely pushed you over the hump,
and you know, gave you a better chance of the
coaches taking notice on you. Um that probably ultimately granted
you that scholarship. Is that what you would say is
the main thing that probably separated you from you know,
(18:23):
maybe the forty other walk ons on the team that
we're also trying to get scholarships. Like, what would you
say was the main catalyst for them taking notice? I
think it was that I think they noticed my mentality
change because obviously, going in as a freshman, you're a
little bit more timid. You don't exactly have this this
crazy mentality, especially when you're not a four or five star.
I don't think I was ranked on anything, right, you know,
(18:44):
I wasn't this this big, highly recruited guy, and I
went in with the mentality of, oh, you know, you're
just lucky to be here. Well, I changed that mentality
in my head and I was like, they're they're lucky
to have me, you know. And and changing that mentality
and changing the way that I looked at everything that
I was doing it it really changed the game for me.
M h. And what at what point did that happen?
Like how many years in was it when you finally
(19:05):
got on the field, or was it maybe like that
year prior that third year where you were like right
on the brink of getting that spot. Yeah, I think
that third year when I realized that, yeah, it was
going to be moving on and going on to doing
his professional career. I realized that I had an opportunity
that you know, was nobody expected me to get. I
mean me and Blake. So it's funny, I got married
last month and congratulations, thank you. But you know Blake
(19:28):
Gillikin punter for the Saints right now, um, excellent, excellent athlete.
He comes out to me and we're all talking. Me
and the groom has been we all had a house
to ourselves and we're sitting there were having conversations like, man,
you used to suck when I met you when he
was a freshman, he was I was snapped too, sucked
When I got there. I was like, yeah, I know,
he goes and then you just you just became automatic.
(19:48):
And it was probably like having that conversation realizing, you know,
I wasn't very good freshman year, but then when I
myself into was was a product of hard work in
an attitude. So how did you get on the team
going into your freshman year if you, you know, weren't
that good and you get on a Big ten football team.
That happened is to beat Penn State? What or what
happened that got you in that room and ultimately on
(20:09):
that team. So I was technically run on, which was
really nice to have. So what had gone through was
I had two Penn State coaches show ups in my
high school game because we had a game against Scranton Prep,
which had no Obey, Joe Holmes, Um Kenneth Roman who
was one of my teammates, and Javon Marshall who was
another one of my teammates, who were guys who had
a lot of looks. You know. No Obey ended on
(20:32):
going to play a Penn State transferring to Delaware. Joe
Holmes played a Penn State for a little bit, Um
Kenneth Roman played at Rutgers and then transferred iu P
all these different schools, and then Javan played at Bloomsburg.
So we had some really talented athletes in that game. Well,
my team was really bad, so we punted like eleven times,
and I guess the combination of seeing me snap eleven
(20:53):
perfect snaps probably one field goal was enough to kind
of spark the interests of coach Strolo, who was under
O'Brien's staff from there. When they did the transfer with
Franklin coming over and a coach Franklin and coach Huck
me over. Coach Huff, I guess had gotten a list
from coach Rolo who was recruiting, and I happened to
be on that list. Wow, And then for you, it's
kind of like a no brainer, like I'm gonna just
(21:14):
maybe you had some D twos or some D three's.
But I think when you know Penn State puts you
on a list, they probably get put into a different
here and you're like, wait, I don't care about loans,
I don't care about not being on scholarship. I'm going
to Penn State. Yeah, it's funny. I had um God,
probably a month before I was talking to coach Trolo,
I was talking to Rutgers, I was talking to Temple.
(21:35):
I actually had before I committed the coach Franklin in February,
I had literally, while sitting in the office talking to
coach giving my commitment, the head coach of Temple at
the time on the phone trying to call me, and
I walked out of the room as whereas I looked
on my phone, I was like, you know, yeah, because
another school wants me, because coach Franklin. And he goes,
(21:57):
you know this is this is like dating. He goes,
You're like, this is this boyfriend girlfriend stuff right here,
You're not cheating. It's like no more in contact with you,
Like that's fair, and no more contact with the exs,
so it's a good way to get just sold on
that UM. So I had a conversation it's episode seven
of the podcast with a walk on wide receiver from
(22:19):
Ohio State. His name is Marvin Davis. He shined a
lot of light on like the differences that when you're
a walk on UM come come about because there's so
many guys on the team and it's so hard to
balance like relationships with a people on the roster, so
you know, in your position, and he was a wide receiver,
so like he's in that receiver group, he's on the
(22:40):
scout team, heavily involved and and for you as a
just a long snapper, like what goes on where like
you know, are you a walk on? Because long snappers,
you know, just don't have scholarships because you played in
all thirteen games, you're red shirt junior year your fourth season,
and you were not on scholarships, So like is that common?
Is there? Like just a I don't know, like a
(23:03):
difference between the amount of scholarship guys and walk on
because of how big of a number of people there are,
They're like, what just explain that that whole dynamic if
you can, if you can compare it to you know,
that brief summary of the Ohio State situation I gave.
I think, you know, I'd like to credit myself and
say that if I was a receiver with my long
(23:23):
snapping skills and receiver skills, I would have been a
five star. But uh, you know, it's it's one of
those positions. You know, it's you play ten fifteen plays
a game. You tell people your position. They're like, what
do you And I'm like, I'm just sn upside down quarterback.
Don't worry about it. That's that's how you describe your
position because even people out in the real world, you
tell what you used to do. When they're like, dude,
(23:44):
what I've never heard of that, Like where you on
defense or offense? I was like, well, I was on
special teams, So like what is that? I'm like, well,
you see, here's kind of what I did. And you know,
it's it's kind of a running joke at work that
like I'll toe the upside down quarterback and all these
things I used to do, and it's it was funny,
you know. It's it's not a position highly regarded or
(24:05):
for its talent, where it's difficulty, right, So I mean,
I just don't know if there's like you know, there
had to be some sort of like difficulty like building
relationships with every coach. Like I I look at the
basketball dynamic and I'm like, it's so intimate. You know,
there's fifteen players, there's maybe nine coaches tops, so there's
(24:26):
like only our travel party is probably no more than
thirty people, so it's like not hard to know everybody
by a first name basis, know where everyone's from, what
everyone's like. Like. There you can you can get close
with pretty much anyone if you want to. And in
a college basketball environment, in a college football environment just
seems so backwards because there's so many of you. It's
(24:47):
like there's definitely different pockets of like you know, maybe
the offensive lineman or just with the O and D line,
and then the cornerbacks and the wide receivers who guard
each other like they're tight. Like there there's gotta be
all these different pockets when you guys, and then you'll
all have position coaches, so it's like you know, you're
spending time with them more than any of the other coaches,
so you build a better relationship with them. And that
(25:09):
dynamic has always been interesting me. Interesting to me because
there's definitely people who get left out, and you know,
it sucks when you see like, and this is for
anybody in any field, like the most valuable people on
the team connecting with the higher up boss and you're
laying lower on the totem pole, and it's like all
(25:31):
you can do is observe that relationship and just accept
the fact that that's not what it is for you.
Um So do you ever have to deal with like
anything like that or or you know, stuff that kind
of made you feel before you got that scholarship like
a little less than um And that's not you know,
a knock on Penn State or anything. It's simply just
that dynamic of how you have to deal with twenty
(25:53):
people being on the roster and like what a hundred
sixty people within the program when you add in the coaches, Like,
I don't even know what the number is. You you
you tell me, yeah, now, So I think the the
biggest thing is, you know, a lot of times we
box ourselves into a certain group or a certain demographic
or a certain you know, um social circle. And for me,
(26:14):
I mean I I talked to everybody. It's been one
of the best skills that I've acquired from college. I
went in very timid, like I said, and I kind
of grew into my own voice. I inserted myself in
all these conversations. My sophomore year, they asked me who
I want to live with. I said, I don't care,
grow me in with whoever you want, and ended up
with Big Bacon, Paris Palmer, Antoine White, and Kevin Gibbons.
(26:35):
It was a crew. I'll tell you what. I wish
I could go into details, but I can't. But we
had some wild times together, really really good friends. And
there are people that typically everybody looked at it like basically,
why you ruin with that? Was because this is my boys,
Like these are these are the guys that I know,
These are the guys I hang out with. We all
get along, you know, which is Kevin freet in a
box of chicken nuggets every night, the dinosaur ones like
(26:55):
Big Bacon's always sweaty because there's three and sixty pounds.
Like just having these conversations and you know, it's fun.
You gotta throw yourself out there. Obviously, as a group
of specialists, we all stuck together and we were close
Nick because you know, we're always with each other, but
at the same time, it's there's a specialist. You know,
you're either by everybody or hated by everybody. We were
pretty decent special teams unit, especially towards my junior and
(27:16):
senior year, so we were we got along with everybody
pretty well. Yeah, And that's the most special thing, is
like being able to get through all of those little
hurdles and adversity and you know, finding a brotherhood with
people like that because I'm sure you guys will always
keep in touch. You know, they are your college college roommates.
Of course you're gonna you know, have a strong tie.
And uh, that's always something that's super special when I
(27:39):
talk to people that comes out of these walk on
experience or not even walk on, just like literally being
a college athlete, being around you know, different walks of
life from all over and um, the perspective that like,
you know, you guys get into those late late night
three am deep talks and it's like wow, like I
respect the hell out of you or like I admire
(27:59):
the shift out of you, like you're amazing. You know,
you're special human being. Like they're all of those little
moments I think people people get with with some of
their teammates at some point or another. So I always
love to hear that. But it's me again. We got
another quick break coming your way. But stay put because
when we come back, Kyle talks about his journey within
the NFL, experiencing Draft night, what happened with his NFL career,
(28:22):
and some of the biggest things he's taken with him
from this overall journey. So stay with us. We'll be
right back. Walk you talking. His podcast is back. I
told you we'd be back, So please make sure you
are subscribed to the show if you're enjoying what you're
hearing so far. And let's bring back in former Penn
State long snapper Kyle Vacy. In regards to what followed
your scholarship and that last and fifth year at Penn State,
(28:43):
you ended up signing a brief deal with the Atlanta Falcons.
So what ended up happening with that? Was it you
like not making the team or just making the team
and then ultimately deciding it wasn't for you. What was
the situation with signing that pro contract? Yes, so with
the Atlanta Falcons. The um the day of the I
believe it was the third day of the draft. I've
been having conversations with Ben Couteko, who is the special
(29:06):
team's coach there. I've been having a couple of conversations
with a bunch of special teams coordinators and he came
down the third day of the draft and I get
a call from Ben and he's like, hey, like, I
just want to let you know where we're gonna take you,
like at the end of the draft, like we're gonna
send you over something like watch your email. He goes,
do you want to be a Falcon? So you know me,
when I hear that, I'm sitting in the apartment with
(29:26):
my brother and my girl, my fiance, I mean my
girlfriend at the time that my fiance now my wife.
I'm like, yeah, yeah, of course I want to like yeah,
like I'm crying it out pop Champagne, like just having
a good time talking about it. And I committed him,
and I gave him my word, and that's always something
that I know that you you keep, you know. And
I go and I signed the contract and I'm getting
(29:48):
ready to send it and then my phone rings, like
all right, what's going on? I pick it up. I
was like, oh, please tell me they're not retracting this.
Pick up the phone, answer it, Hey code, Hey Kyle,
this is selling. So from Miami Dolphins, Um, we want
to sign you on as a few d f A.
We want to get you down here in Miami with us.
We don't have a current starter. Now. Atlanta had Josh
Harris who was a pro bowler. He was injured at
(30:10):
the time, coming back from injury. They didn't know how
long he was gonna take. Miami didn't have anybody in
place at that time. Um, so I was you know,
in my head, I was like, man, Miami sounds like
a lot better deal. But at the same time, I'd
give him my word to Atlanta, I told them, yes,
I'm joining you guys. You know I'm on your team.
So I stuck with my word. And even though I
knew they had a starter in place to add everything
(30:31):
like that, it was my word. I wasn't gonna go
back on it. And so then you go down to
Atlanta and you practice or you in O t A
s like what what ended up transpiring after that? Yeah?
So I went through all the practices, did a really
nice job, really enjoyed it, got to play in the
Hall of Fame game, Um, I got to know all
the guys really just experienced the NFL lifestyle, and Josh
(30:52):
healed up, which I'm happy for. You know, I met
the guy. We were talking. He's a phenomenal human being,
you know, a really great guy. He's kind of I
don't want to say like admirable, but that's the best
word that I can think of. You know, he's just
the pinnacle of which you want to be he as
an NFL player. He's smart, he's intelligent with what he does.
He's just overall a very good role model for everybody
in the NFL. And you don't know about him much
(31:12):
because he's a long snapper. Yeah, exactly. So do they
only keep one long snapper? Is that what ultimately was
like you were then not on the team or even
the practice squad because they only need one long snapper.
You only need one long snapper. You know. It's a
very rare occasion where somebody gets injured when they do
stuff kind of hits the fan as far as special
teams go. But at the same time, when they have
a guy in plays like that, they can absolutely roll
(31:33):
with them. And if there's no need to keep another
guy on that fifty two man roster who long snaps.
And so then at that point that wrapped up your
football career. You were you tied. You hung the shoes
up or the cleats up, Like what did you want
to continue? Where you maybe trying to you know, retract
and get back to Miami or something like what where
was your mindset on, um the rest of your football
(31:53):
career and what you were about to do with the
rest of your life. So I went into after that.
My professional career obviously didn't take long. I think I
had me and the Falcons had finished up probably on
a Monday, I think it was, and by Wednesday I
was working nine UM, so really quick on pulling the
trigger and getting back into work. Like I said, I
don't like to sit around and be lazier stagnant. So
I went into that. UM ended up going and doing
(32:15):
some personal training for a little bit of facility. Wanted
to learn how to do that. It was something that
I was always passionate about. I went learned the roads there,
and then winter rolled around and I started getting calls
some teams, you know. I went to workout in Pittsburgh.
My agents at Arizona had called them San Francisco, Tennessee,
A couple of these different teams we're reaching out about me.
So I went up to Steelers, put on a good workout,
(32:35):
did this and that, and something that really hit me was,
you know, this is not what I want my life
to be the next four or five years, just bouncing
from state to team, the state team, this and that
and the other, going on a team, signing contract, losing
the contract week later, all those kind of things. You know,
I really decided to focus more in on growing myself
as a professional as opposed to an athlete. And what
in your current work is a real estate advisor? I
(32:58):
have that right absolutely. So how did that come about? Uh?
Post football? Was that always? I mean you said you
did some of the training stuff for a while, but
what what got you to segue into that field? So
I had actually did the training and then I came
I actually moved out to Denver Um with my fiance
at the time wife. Now, who is in graduate school?
(33:19):
Do you she's getting her MSW and then possibly her
doctor in psychology. Were still unsure because she's a fan
of school sometimes fan school not other times. But the
same time is so um we're out here, and I
actually ended up managing a couple of different locations for
a fitness company, so I let it. So I was
kind of balancing around learning how to manage talk to people.
(33:39):
KPI reports is all these cool things that I've never
had really experienced before, and I'm still relatively young in
this industry, and I the one day I'm sitting there
and I'm like, man, you know, like I'm I'm capped out.
There's nothing more I can do. I can't get promoted
any higher. I'm gonna be stuck at this salary with
this amount of money. And it was. It was good money,
but at the same time, I'm, as you can tell
(34:00):
by my career, I'm not somebody who's happy being stuck
with one thing and not being able to really grow
develop myself. Right. Well, I get an email from this
guy who had been talking to a little bit about
just business and generally goes, hey, you know, I want
you to stop in for an interview, so let's hop
on a phone call real quick. So we went through
two phone call interviews, we went through a third in
person interview, a fourth interview in front of the advice
(34:23):
that I was going to be working with fifth interview
in front of the panel of judges, and that a
sixth interview with the and they blood everything I had
to say. You know, they like my mentality, that like
my competitive edge. Um, and the big thing was that
I was really really good at just having conversations. They
really that aspect. I'm not somebody who shots away from it.
I could talk to a tree for hours. You know,
(34:44):
I'm one of the Hey man, I'm right there with you.
So I started this damn podcast for any you know,
any amount of time. So let's um, I have one
weird question about being along snapper, and then I will
wrap it up with how I always finished the show
with one more question. But from a fans perspective, when
you're a long snapper, like you said, you're an upside
(35:05):
down quarterback, and even for like a regular snapper I
or a regular center excuse me, what terrible terminology. Um,
you got your head down. You have to focus on
whipping the ball accurately to the holder or the punter,
and then you've got to get hit right after you
throw the ball. Like how the how I always watched
(35:27):
I'm like, you know, sometimes like there's not always a
nose guard, and you have like a second to pick
your head up and then look at who you're gonna block.
I don't know, that's just my observation, but like, what
was the hardest thing about being accurate on your snap
and then picking your head up and making sure you
do not just get blasted off your two feet. Oh,
that's that's the fun part of it. You usually do
(35:47):
get blasted. Um. My mom always told me growing up
that I was always asked backwards and upside down, so
kind of fit perfectly with long snapping. So just attle
bit and then you know, next thing, you know, you
you snap the ball. Um. The most important thing is
obviously delivering the snap target accurately and efficiently right. The
second most important part is making sure the guy who's
coming across me, who's usually six six three pounds and
(36:10):
solid muscle, doesn't block the punt or doesn't block the
field goal right right right. In college, I was fortunate
enough to have Big Bacon and Sterling Jenkins as my
two guards, So those guys pretty much to care of
anybody who, you know, I would want to try to
mess with me or do anything like that, which was
really really nice to have, especially when they're as large
as those individuals where yeah no, and I can I
(36:32):
can understand why you go from that, And then you
get a couple of tryouts in the NFL and you're like,
you know what, I don't think I want to bounce
around state to state and do any of that anymore.
I remember my first play in the NFL, first ever punt,
snap ever, a snap bomb, Like, man, that's a beauty.
This is gonna look good. And next thing I know,
(36:52):
I just remember this flash. All I see is I
see the lights of the stadium and I see my
feet and up by the lights, and I was like,
that's not good. That's hilarious. So I did ended up
doing a full back flip on my first play and
was not intuchable. Your very first play, what ye what
a moment the returner fumbled the balls and we got
the ball. So that's that's a good wow, what a play?
(37:13):
What a first play of your NFL career? Um, all right,
so let's let's wrap it up with what did that
walk on role? And ultimately that reward of being given
a scholarship and being validated your hard work, being validated
after all those years, and then even you know, being
given the opportunity to be on the phone with NFL teams,
in a training camp with NFL teams, playing in an
(37:33):
NFL game, Like, what did that role? That journey, that
whole thing from the very start of where you were
at to the very end when you were came you
got you know, you hung up the shoes with peace,
you were completely fine with I keep saying shoes because
I'm a basketball player. You hung up the cleats with peace,
and you know you were able to step into your
next journey. What did that whole kind of journey? Five
(37:56):
year experience, six year experience, however long in the NFL?
Was UM help you with for where you're currently at now?
Whether it was a mentality, a perspective that you aimed
or um, you know, a mentality that you gained during
college that you brought over with you into this current field.
Like what was the ultimate couple of things that you've
taken away with you that you know you still hold
with you to this day. I think it really I
(38:19):
wouldn't have changed this thing. You know. It taught me
the cadence in which I'm want to live my life,
the expectations I have, the mentality I have UM effort
and output and then just always grinding. You know, you
have a lot of people nowadays that want things handed
to them or think they've deserved things. And I realized,
you know, that's that's not how it works. You have
(38:40):
to earn regardless. So every aspect of everything that I
go into, I realize that there's always opportunity. You know,
never be afraid to be the guy who goes and
cleans up trash. I don't care if your management facility.
I've spent hours at the facility cleaning up trash. You know,
make sure locker rooms look good, just so that I
can go ahead and say, you know, I feel good
about what I did today. You know there's some job
too small for somebody, regardless of who they are. UM.
(39:02):
Just focusing on everything that you wanted to and block
out the outside noise, you know. I remember that's one
of the first things I saw it Penn State when
we have the LASH building, there's a door on the
back and it says something along the lines of um,
leave out the outside noise or something along those lines.
And you know it's always something is you're a walk
on you know, you're not gonna play you're not gonna
(39:23):
do this, You're not gonna do that, like and it's
it's really about you and your mentality. You know, what
it comes down to is the battle of you versus you,
now you versus someone else, You versus this or that.
It all comes down to the approach that you take,
the mentality that you carry, and the fight that's inside
of you. That's probably the bregest thing I learned, That
effort effort output thing is sticking with me? What can
(39:45):
I get you to elaborate on that a little bit?
How that stuck with you? How that helped you U
during that journey? Because I really like that that quote,
It's true. What what did that do for you? It
so kind of relates back to James Franklin's four core values,
which positive attitude, great work ethic, competing everything you do,
and must be willing to sacrifice. You know, you take
all those and when it goes to effort output, you
(40:08):
need to do everything a U and ten percent. You know,
there's no such thing as season the language half asking anything,
you know, it doesn't You don't have to excuse your language.
You can say whatever curse word you want on here.
But it's it's it's so validating. You know, sometimes there's
things that you don't want to do, but if you
give it this half ass effort, you know you're not
you're not improving, You're not getting anything out of it.
(40:32):
If you if you go into something even if you
don't want to do it, and you give it a
d ten percent, maybe it turns out, you know, it's
not that bad. My mentality with with a lot of
the things I do with fitness and real estate, it's
the sales type of thing. I hated sales. Hated everything
about it when I started. I thought, oh, this is
gonna suck. You know, I don't want to do this.
I don't want to talk to people. I don't want
(40:52):
to negotiate. Now you know, I've got a wife. I
negotiate everything. I negotiate a laundry, I negotiate, you know,
things like that, Like and you learn to do things
that you never knew you like before just by giving
good effort to it, by giving effort to it. So
that's that's kind of where I get that from. It's
it's the same mold of like the more you give,
(41:14):
the more you will probably get back in return. And
whether that's effort, whether that's love, whether that's care um, generosity,
whatever it is. The more you put out, hopefully you know,
the more of the universe rewards back to you. And
in a situation like yours, man, like you said it,
you were like an inch away, maybe five minutes away
(41:35):
from hanging it up your second third year and quitting,
and you had a teammate shine a light down from
some part of the universe and say, hey, man, you
know you're doing great, like and that little compliment that
he gave you validated before you got the scholarship, all
the work that you were putting in and honestly probably
lit even more of a spark, and you was like, man,
(41:56):
these people are taking notice, Like I'm gonna I'm gonna
put even more into this. I'm gonna get try to
get even more out of it. And then you know,
you ultimately have that amazing moment where you're you're granted
a scholarship and all your concerns and your struggles and
you'r you know, terrible day to day schedule that was
grueling and strenuous is all of a sudden you race,
(42:17):
it's done, it's over. You can just be a student athlete,
you know, for one last year and really enjoy yourself
and put all your chips into you know, that basket
of just being a college football player for one last
year and ultimately resulted in what you know, could have
been an NFL career had you decided you wanted it.
And that's that's so special, dude, Like you start from
the literal bottom and you got yourself to a point
(42:37):
where it's like, yeah, no, like I was wearing an
NFL jersey at one point, like regardless of how long
it was, Like, no one can take that from you.
No one can take away the work that you put
into it. And uh, super special, man. Love hearing stuff
like that. And I'm so happy that you came on
the podcast to you know, share that story and everything
that you have have said. So uh, super cool story man,
(42:58):
super inspiring. Really glad you came on and shared. So
I appreciate you coming up. Man, Yeah, I think you know.
I appreciate it. You've had me on And that's a
rap for episode thirteen. Thanks to Kyle for coming on
the show. I had a really good time talking with
him about his journey as a Ninny Lyon and I
just want to say, you know, week by week we're
checking off more and more former walk Ons off the
list that personify excellence, intelligence, hard work, determination, and so
(43:22):
much more that Kyle put on display during this interview. Man,
he he was great. His story was great. Uh, seems
like a really good dude, and it's going to be
really successful in life, which is what all of our
former walk ons in the Walkie Talkies gang seeming to
be doing. Is just you know, building on their journeys
of success that started as a walk on. So super
cool stuff from him, and um, that's all for today's show.
(43:45):
Remember to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss
any future episodes. If you enjoyed this episode, then please
leave us a review on whichever directory you listen to
your podcast on and you can interact with the podcast
more if you follow us on social media's Twitter, Instagram,
TikTok at w t Z podcast. There will be video
of highlights of every episode on there. And that's all
(44:07):
for today. Thank you to everyone tuning in. We will
see you next week and remember tell us up you.
Walkie Talkies is a production of I Heart Radio and
the College Athletes Network. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Host
Noah Buono
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!