September 27, 2023 • 36 mins
Bucky Brooks: Playing for Hall of Fame coaches, being the anti-hot taker, coaching with purpose
On the latest episode of the NFL Players: NFL Media’s Bucky Brooks a.k.a. “Team No Sleep Captain,” a.k.a. “Man of Many Jobs” joins Peanut Tillman and Roman Harper. Bucky talks about his many jobs, and how writing is the foundation of the success he’s achieved in his post-NFL career. In an era of hot takes, Bucky explains why he’s intentional about being the anti-hot taker. Bucky takes us through why he chose a career as a scout immediately after his NFL career, and how playing for legendary coaches Marv Levy, Mike Holmgren, and Tom Coughlin has influenced his media career, and his approach as a high school football coach. And you’ll want to hear Bucky share the scouting reports on Peanut and Roman when they entered the league.
Time codes:
2:28 – Bucky shares how NFL scouts graded Peanut and Roman when they entered the league
4:25 – Bucky shares who he allows to call him by his actual first name
5:30 – Bucky talks about his many jobs and how they all connect to the game of football (bucky talks about writing at about the 7 min mark could be a good clip
9:08 – Bucky talks about how he prioritizes his time with all his jobs, and when he starts to dig into his college prospect scouting
11:47 – Bucky talks why being a high school football coach is his most gratifying job
15:22 – Bucky talks about his improbable run to the California state championship game without his team completing a pass
16:41 – Bucky talks about the transition from being a scout to becoming an analyst
18:41 - Bucky talks about his transition into scouting after his playing career
21:25 - Bucky talks about Steve Smith being a player who defied the logic of scouts
22:55 – Bucky talks about how his playing experience was an advantage as a scout
29:13 – Bucky shares why Tom Coughlin was the hardest coach he played for (possible social clip)
33:12 – Bucky shares who is on his personal Mount Rushmore
NOTE: Time codes are approximate.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ah, this is Leslie Frasier and this is the NFL
Player's second Acts podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thank you for tuning in on Peanut too, man and.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
With me as always, the Deacon.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Broman Harper, Thank you, thank you man that I'm doing
good man, How are you doing today? I'm sure I
love the energy that you're bringing today.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, a lot of energy. I'm actually confused.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I won't say our guest name yet, but he always
calls me some kind of random name, and so now
that he's just being normal, I appreciate it. So thank
you for being normal out here in the LA Studios,
the NFL Studios.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
This is a beautiful place. There is this. Whoever built
this was on top of it.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I've actually think that they have spent over a million
dollars in chairs alone in this building.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Chairs are nice.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
My back feels good. Laura Lombards there it is all right.
So all right, before we get all we dive into it.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
So let's tell all of our listeners and the people
that follow us on the podcast continue to do that. Also,
tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend.
Give us a rating of review five stars, that is,
and wherever you pick up your podcast, whether it's Apple
Podcast or iHeartRadio app wherever you do tune in, please
continue to do that and bring somebody else with you.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Peanut. Who's our guest today? All right?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Today's guest was drafted in the second round by the
Buffalo Bills and the ninety four draft. Played five seasons
for five different teams as a dB, the best position
on the field and returner. After playing at the NFL,
he was a scout for a number of teams and.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Now he has.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
An seeing amount of jobs. And we'll get into that,
but I want, I want to install introduce y'all to
Bucky Brooks. Welcome to the show, My guys, going life comes,
life comes full circle because I just remember in meeting
rooms having to do reports and talk about you guys
as a cross checker when you guys were in your
respective schools and coming out and trying to.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Make your way into the league. And there here I am.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
You guys became great NFL players and then we're kind
of sharing sharing a Mike.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Sorry what I wanted? Oh go ahead, you want? Can
I know what my scoundrel? Because I wanted was I was?
I read a green dot. I want to know who
that I want to know.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So unfortunately, like for both of you guys, you weren't
in my area when you came out.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Your draft year.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
What year was, I'm three, so three, So I was
still working with the Carolina Now I was working with
the Seattle Seahawks. And the guy who was in your area,
John Peterson, Boy, he loves some peanut man, Oh my god.
All he talked about was this daddy, you play please
all these other things.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
And so oh your year, Roaman was winning two thousand
and five.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
Six.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, so I got drafted in six. Okay, so we
had we were in Alabama, so we had.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Mutual friends because you were with like Bill Johnson, Pat Dick.
Bill Johnson is like one of my closest friends. Oh yeah,
so I knew, like even before scouting you, I knew
who you were because Bill and I go way way
way back to singing Jacksonville or whatever, and so like,
it's funny because both of you guys have similar traits
(03:29):
in terms of it was always high iq known for
the game. Behind the scenes, the study habits were good.
It was all about like the preparation process or whatever,
and so you had prototypical size for the corner because
at the time, any corner that was over five ten
and a half was considered a big corner. Back then
in the league, everyone talked about that.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
At safety.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
It was about the game was changing, where we were
losing some of the distinction between free and strong.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
And could you do both? And could you win a
quarter system? Play down? But could you also play high?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
And so having all those things, and then because of
my experience going from me in a wide receiver to
a dB, I always pay close attention to DB's and
like you find yourself when you're scouting, you're not supposed
to look at all the techniques and tools be like, okay,
could I play.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
With these guys?
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Because that always to me is the last question. Could
I line up in the whodle? What I want those
guys to be in the hardle with me? And so
I remember both of you guys very very well about.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Look at that.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Well, here I got a personal question. Is because you
know I'm gonna call you Bucky, Yeah, that's it. But
how many people do actually allow to call.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
You a real government name?
Speaker 5 (04:33):
Though?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Oh no one, nobody, nobody, Like I know, you don't
know me if you call me by my government name.
I know you don't know, and like people gonna be
up here, Like, I'll tell it. My real name is
William Eldridge Brooks Junior. So but you guys know I'm
from the South. Yeah, so when you're South, everyone has
a nickname because my cousins in them William Eldridge with
(04:56):
different last names and so everybody had an nickname. So
I got cousins and all that or whatever. My dad
is never going by his real name. He goes by Blake.
I go by that. My son name is Trey because
he's the third. But that's that's what that's that's what
it is.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Oh, I'm marrid with it. Hey, I'm lead up.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
My older brother, his name is Doug. I'm from my
dad looked Donald. I'm her name tiny. Like we just
come from a house of nicknames. So hey, I'll tell
you on that.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Like I get it.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
I gets it.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Hey, I get the whole government thing. Man. So, uh,
what I really want to know is you are a
very busy man.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
And what I mean by that is you you have
a couple of podcasts. You are analysts for NFL Network,
You host Move the Sticks podcast, you do some stuff
for Fox how many jobs do you Oh, I even
believe you're a coach.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Oh yeah, so.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
Oh we don't turn down anything.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Okay, so that's it. Though it's paying.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I'm playing explain, explain to explain to the viewers how
many jobs you have?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Like it it varies.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
So the main hub is like obviously NFL Media is
the main gig Radio on Fox. I contributed to some
other platforms as a writer in those things, but like
that's kind of the way of the new world. Like
when I originally entered the media world Got two thousand
and seven, it was about trying to find one spot
and you did it. But now you've seen it, like
(06:28):
you have to be able to do more to kind
of kind of piece it together. And exclusivity is kind
of a thing of the past when it comes to
being able. So now you want to be able to
contribute and do a bunch of different things and look
as a vast as yours imagination is, that's where your
opportunities can be. And so for me, because I wasn't
a decorated player, I knew I had to have something
(06:48):
that would create opportunities for me. So one as a
scale but two as a writer, like taking the writing
path to kind of get into the media world provided
more opportunities. And so I always say the writing is
the foundation the TV and the podcast and radio. If
you can write, you can do those other things because
it all is kind of interwoven.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Were you always a really good writer or did you
always just read a lot?
Speaker 5 (07:09):
Like you imagine?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Okay, So, like imagine when we go to college, right,
you know, when you go to college and like they
take they give you like the exams in the middle
of training camp, right like where they at North Carolina,
they did the placement exams in the middle of two
a days, so like, hey, this is your English, this
is your dad. So I was in like bad English
because I was like just trying to get through the
beginner English. Yes, and so it was it was funny
(07:34):
that I came to write, because it wasn't something that
I would say I really focused on coming up. But
then what happens is I had a great appreciation for
people who can express with the power of the pen.
And then because one of the most vulnerable things you do,
like all of us, like as players, we kind of
have these journals that we keep, right, So imagine if
I grabbed your journal from the middle of your new
(07:55):
or in the same states, when you may be like
struggling in camp and you're like, I don't know what
is going So to me, it's like the most personal,
intimate thing that you can share is letting someone kind
of see your words on the page. And so I
just fell in love with that process and being able
to think a little differently, and so it kind of
worked out.
Speaker 5 (08:14):
That is awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I didn't think like the whole journey and using the
power of the pen is amazing to hear like a
former football player talk about it and use those skills,
especially now trying to knock at Chapel Hills, a highly
regarded institution.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
As far as education is the best ever, Yes, yes
it is. I hear about it all the time. Somehow
throw they talk about it. I don't have to talk
about Alabama. I mean, if we want to talk about sports,
it's not even close. But as far as education, that's
all you hear about is Chapel Hill. We talk about football.
We talk about sports. Now you got to come see us.
(08:49):
We got all of that stuff, you do, you know,
football is a little behind. In fact, my senior year
we lost to Alabama in the bowl game because that
was Sherman Williams. Oh yes, Sherman, Yeah, Sham Shade and
all those guys.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
Yeah, we played them in the Gator Ball.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Not a man throwback.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
All right, So all these jobs, all these things, So
when do you find time to sleep?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Like what is a typical week for Bucky Books? It
all kind of works together, or you don't sleep. Because
I'm a guy I can do with like four or five.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
I can with a little bit, but it all works together.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
So during this season, it's not as heavy for me
when it comes to NFL network and TV stuff like
podcasts three times a week. May occasionally pop on a
show like Total Access or something like that, but primarily
it's just podcasting and in writing. I'll write a couple
of times a week. That's when high school football is heavy.
In head coach of a school there, so we practice
(09:43):
before school, So we practice at six am. We go
from like six to seven to twenty. We own that
NFL Quick Practice in and out Fast Friday, but we
do Fast Friday every day. Yeah, And we get in
and out and then I go about my day like
the podcast will be whatever. Some days, the heavier stuff
and that. But when it gets to the spring, high
(10:03):
school football is done. But then that's when it's the
draft and focusing on that path to the draft, like
the main show that I'm on that comes on, and
so it just kind of it fluctuates, but it's always busy,
but busy in a difference, are you studying college players
throughout the season, Like how is that process going? When
are you starting to really dive into that, because that's
(10:24):
that's where that's where your bread is.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I mean, but that's because that's the background.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
So the background is like I was a college scout,
so I would go and look at college players and
then we'll rank them and draft them and evaluate them,
put them on the board for the draft and those things.
For me, you're always paying attention to the college game.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
Like I do work.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I do sideline work for the Jacksonville Jaguars radio and
so when I'm on the road on a Saturday night,
like you pop in TV, you see what's going on,
but you also have your tape available.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
And then as it gets closer to the end of
the season.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
When you begin to get the names you begin to
hear from your scouting buddies who are in the league. Hey,
hear the names that you need to watch, and then
you begin to like kind of really do a deep
dive into these are the guys that we really need
to know. And you see, because you guys do it
in the mediate world, like you kind of play the hits,
like you're talking about the top guys every day, and
then on TV you'll get into an obscure. Hey, this
(11:14):
is a late round, little Jim nugget, but most of
the time we talk about the top guys, and so
sometimes saying now you can TV scale, but then you
follow it up with real filmwork, film scouting now being
as busy as you are and all the jobs that
you have. I know, when you.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Are a coach, you have this responsibility to teach young
men about life the game itself, but you're.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Teach them about life.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
You're teaching them about hard work, teamwork, how to grind,
how to work together, how to overcome obstacles, failures, and whatnot.
What's really been the most gratifying job for you out
of all the ones that we just mentioned, well.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
All of them are gratifying in a different way. But
I would say high school because you guys know, like
there's always been a coach that's somewhere along the line
that touched you in a different way, either change your
path or he gave you the confidence that, hey man,
you can do this.
Speaker 5 (12:04):
Yep. And so for me, high school gives me the
opportunity to do that.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I coach at the public school up in the northern
part of LA And it's just great to see all
these dudes, right because, like, I don't care what anyone says, like,
there's nothing that is like playing. There's no replicating like
running through the tunnel, feeling all that they gladiated mentality.
The only thing to me that's close to that is coaching,
and I can't do it anymore, but I can live through.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Watching them do.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So if we're talking about we're a team to play
a lot of man to man, but we're like, hey man,
look if they get in this bunch, we're gonna bando
it and you go, he's going to throw it and
it just don't blow the layup. And when they do it,
you come out of your shoes just like you would
as a player if we're teammates and you get a
pick six and we meet in the end zone. So
to me, those things are great and yeah, why when
(12:52):
they do great things and you tell them like that's
great that you're doing all your stuff on the field,
but now let's take care of this stuff off the field.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Because how you do anything is how you do everything.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
And you give them those little things that coaches that
poured into you and then you see them take it.
And then I think the thing and it happens with
our kids whatever when you hear them say stuff that
you said to them to their teammates, like little guys
that come in like, oh man, you got to take
care of the details and all that other stuff. That's
when you're got oh okay, Yeah, that part to me
(13:23):
is fun like watching them grow. And I've been on
the camp circuit for a long time, like working with
Nike camps and all that, and seeing Derwin James and
Jamal Adams and all these guys come through and watching
them when they're in teenagers and now I see them
as pros, right, but they see you and they're like
coach Bucky like. So to me, it's just like paying
it forward. And so the game is such a great game.
(13:44):
That's one of the things you can take all the
things that you learn from playing in between the lines
on the grass, and you give it to young people
and then they can take it and use it in
a bunch of different ways.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
You know.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I think it's so interesting you say that because my
dad was a high school coach and he coached me
my first couple of years in high school. And I
used to ask them like that, why do you coach?
Like these kids can't do this?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
You're yelling all like you're up for all these hours,
like why, And it was the same example that you
just gave you, Like, it's something to be said when
you have a guy walk in here as a freshman,
can't even can barely tie shoes, put his pads on backwards,
and you look up two or three years later and
he's playing, Like I have shaped this kid into a player,
and I can trust him to like not mess it up.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
He's gonna be able to tackle somebody. And you get
excited for these things. And so that's the real joy
of coaching high school football that I don't think anybody
really understands, no until.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
You do it.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, So that to me, that was always that was
always the level I always want to be at. Right,
I didn't have an aspiration to coach like a high
level because in high school, most HIG schools, unless you're
a private HIG school, I mean you coach, you coach
up who shows up? So and so, Like when they
come through the door, you're like, whoa, we don't have
a quarterback.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
You know what we're gonna do.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
We're gonna jump into single wing thing and try and
figure it out or whatever it is like and so
oh man, they really don't understand how to plays. So
so you know what we're gonna do. Hey man, that's
your man. That cat is your cat. Wherever you go,
you go, like and so you you like, to me,
that's the beauty of high school ball, Like you just
you never know what it's gonna.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Look like and then you try and figure out. All right, guys,
like this is what we got.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
We have one defensive man and you know, so to me,
that's that's the beauty of high school.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
And that's why I have so much respect for high school.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
And also to attest to that, your past year, you win,
guys went to the championship. Your first two completions all
year long were in the championship game. You guys rush
for fifty four hundred yards and seventy touchdowns and didn't
throw the ball all year long. So the single wing,
which nobody can defend.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Obviously, I think that's a benefit to you though in
a testment that he you're such like, you know what.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
We're gonna do. Whatever works.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
It is so and you're not just stuck in your
waist because you hadn't been coaching with thirty five years.
Oh so, here's just funny. And it goes back to
when I was working with the Carolina Panthers. You can
look this up. It's really funny. So we had to
play against the Atlanta Falcons. Huh, starting quarterback Jake the
Loman is out. Chris Winky is a quarterback. I don't
know if John Fox had a lot of confidence in
(16:07):
Chris will So we lined up with D'Angelo Williams and
Deshaun Foster and played the wildcat the entire game. They
threw six pass I think we threw six passes and
one both the news went over.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
So then I was like, oh, well, you know what,
like sometimes.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
You just whatever you do, you do whatever you gotta do, yeah,
and get out of it. But those are the things
that you do and in high school, like you have
to like just take what you're given and kind of
figure out a way to make it work.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
I love that. I do too.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
I don't think we had that in Texas. We always
had some some good talent coming through them doors of
copperce Cove.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
So tell me, all right, so what's the transition like
being from all right, you were in the scouting world.
Now you're on the opposite side of it covering it
as an analyst. How have the relationships of the people
that you worked with? Has that changed or has it
been kind of remained the same or do they respect
to the same, Like, because you got to tell it honestly,
(17:02):
you win, it wouldn't keep the job. And when you're honest, like.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
You guys know because I've seen both of you guys
on TV, so y'all know, like when you come off
to sitting off a sudden, your phone is buzzing because
when you dude, like come on now, you know, I
got to play TV. So like, so like I gotta
sell and I gotta sell it in a major way.
But it's actually been great because what happens is your boys,
your guys who are like you're really like that you're.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
Down with, they'll call you, they'll give you the information.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, that's very true. Here's what school on this. Because
they want you to look good and they beam when
they see you on TV because they're like, hey, man,
look at you all up.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Your fancy you know, but but they dig it.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
They actually are pride for when they see you do
your thing because you know what the locker room is like,
like really at his core, we really care about it,
even though the pros are kind of weird because like
we're all kind of independent contract. When you're on great teams,
you really still have that same camaraderie. Feel doubt little
league and high school or whatever where like man, it's
about your boy getting off and we all we do
(17:59):
well as a group, everyone gets off. So for me,
the relationships have been the same. And what I always
try to do is if I do have to criticize,
I always try and make it where it's not it's
not personal, Like here's what we're talking about.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
We're talking about a decision that was made.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
We're talking about a player that was picked in those things,
and you try to like have a critical eye like hey,
well maybe they're thinking this and those things. And for
me it is worth because most of the guys, even
if they don't agree with my opinion, they can be like, Okay.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
I get that.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
It's just when if you go sideways and I've never
been like a hot take artist, but if you go
sideways where you're trying to embellish it and blow it up,
that's when you're like, come on, man, what are we doing.
But most of the time people can respect it and
they're like, oh, okay, I get that. Now when you
got out, you got right into the scouting. Now, why
do you do scouting versus coaching? Well, I just it's
(18:48):
funny because I bounced around so much as a player
that I didn't want to kind of have that life
as a coach because we saw very saying we've all
been coached by guides that man, they got different logos
on every year.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
What they say, you're a coach. It's not about like
if it's when you're gonna get fired.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Right, So imagine, like I mean we all have kids, Like,
imagine you don't want to take your kids like every
two years bounce them around or whatever. So for me,
I was like, all right, Like the scouting thing at
the time was supposed to be the more stable environment
of that, So you're still close to the game in
a different way than coaching. Now there's still nothing like
coaching them playing are like the two things, cause you
(19:27):
get looked. There's a scoreboard when you're scouting. You don't
have the same scoreboard. Like you can talk about the draft,
but you don't see it until like two three years.
And so the hard thing for me as a scout
was you didn't have a direct impact on the game
each Sunday. So you're watching the game, but it's not
like a decision that you made as a coach either
wins or loses, or as a player how you played.
(19:50):
As a scout, you're sitting back and you're thinking about
the long view. And so I missed that part of
the competition, which is why when I had an opportunity
and I moved over to media, I was like, well,
I got a coach, now I gotta get that. I
got to scratch that itch and coach in high school
did that, but like that part, but for me, I
was still trying to squeeze out one more year, right, Yeah,
(20:12):
I was trying to squeeze out, like man if I could.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Just get one, And so I called one of my boys.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
He was working with the Philadelphia Eagles, and he was like, yeah,
I ain't got nothing for years player, but there may
be a job that opens up as scout.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
And so I was prepping to get ready for an interview.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
There called another one of my guys and he had
just got a gig and see yeall, he'said, why don't
you come.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
Up here and interview. I wanted to an interview and
never left, you know. So that's that's how I played that.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
But the same thing, those those relationships and as a player,
because I'm sure you guys did it as players. You
let people know what you would like that transition to
be for you after football is done. Cause I'm sure
coaches or people around caming, hey, man, what do you
want to do when football was over? And I want
to coach? I want to do this on scout. And
so I let people know what my intentions were. And
(20:58):
then it just so happened that I got.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
You gotta go ahead.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
No, No, I could guess I'd like something just hitting
my yeah brain, I gotta I.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Guess my question. Another question that I have is, so
Chris Ballad was my scout. Yeah, and I brag on
Chris Ballad every time because we talk.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
We're good friends.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
And he was like, man, I'll fault Jerry Angelo tooth
and nail to take you second round. I know you
didn't have the name, but I was like, I'm telling you,
Peanut or Charles Tillman, he's going to be the guy.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Has there been a player that you scouted in college
that you were just like, Nope, this is the guy.
He can be X Y and Z, he will be
a great player. Is there a guy in your when
you were scouting.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
I think we all have guys that we love.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Sometimes you're not in a position to take the player
that you want for that team, but there are certain
guys that you like gravitate towards. So I remember watching
Steve Smith, who works with us here, but I remember
watching him at Utah, and I remember watching him in
the All Star game circuit that we that guys do
like after their senior year.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
This dude was dominant Hula Bowl.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
He was killing the East weatight, So you're just like, man,
this dude is like a dude.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
But he wasn't a prototypical size at the time because
he's like, look, he's five nine.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
He made list five to ten, but was.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
He hits it now? He hits it now like he
was five nine and he was a returner.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
And so sometimes that can be a hard sale to
say that, hey man, this dude is a returner, but
like he can be a wide out to so watching
him and then when I left Seattle to go there
and watch him grow from being a Pro Bowl kick
returner as a rookie to then being a guy that
won the Triple Crown and become a multiple time Pro
Bowl player and wide receiver. Those are the things that
(22:38):
you're like, Okay, this is cool, Like that's it's great
to watch him progress. No one could predict that he
would be what he became, a Hall of Fame caliber
wide out. But to see him go from that and
to be able to like, yeah, I thought he could
do some of that. I didn't think he could do
all of that. That stuff is kind of cool.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
Peanut.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Now I literally wrote just about that same question now
that you just asked him. I want to know from
the other side, was like, early on in your scouting career,
did you ever like were you almost over confident in
some things?
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Knowing that you had just come from playing.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Were you overconfident with like, man, I know this, and
all of a sudden I was wrong and I was like, man,
maybe I need to go back to the drawing board
on some of my process.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
So it's funny because what happens is as a player,
and you'll see this, like as you're around teams and
those things. I know you guys are around teams. Sometimes
they're not a lot of former players in the scouting department,
and there can be a different rub because sometimes as
players we may fall into these stereotypes. Right, players are
(23:36):
codd old players. I don't know if they can do
the grind on them to get on it this and that.
Even though I always felt like, well, being a good
player like that gives me a leg up because I
kind of know what that thing is and I felt
like I would give prospects more grace just because I.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
Knew how hard the game is.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying, like, no, yeah, man,
like that that's a hard play. Coach, Like that's a
hard Like that's hard you acting like now, yeah, that's
a hard play.
Speaker 5 (24:02):
They coming down the screen.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
My man ain't got a reroute number.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
One, I'm on the hash every way go.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
He's coming right at me. What am I doing?
Speaker 2 (24:11):
They fit it in the honey hole, and you're mad
at me because I can't get over there, like being
able to understand that part of it. Yeah, And I
think what happens is because you come off the field,
you may feel like you know it and you should
always feel good about it, but you also have to
put the study behind that stuff. But I think the
advantage that you have we all play with great players.
(24:33):
So for instance, I think in my past I'm now
up to like maybe seventeen Hall of Fame teammates, right.
So I when I look at players, I begin to
compare them to the players that I play with. So,
for instance, I play with Bruce Smith, Derek Thomas, Reggie White.
So when I'm evaluating past rushers and people are talking about,
(24:53):
hey man, this guy's I'm like, hey man, these three
dudes here like the top of the list when it
comes to South. So I'm looking at Derrick Thomas's get
off compared to his I'm thinking about Reggie White's ability
to turn speed into power. I'm looking at Bruce Smith,
his savvy and his overall Dominans. Do I feel that,
you know? Do I see that in the players? And
(25:15):
so you I played with Charles Woodson when he was
a rookie in Oakland, and so you begin to take
all those things, all your experiences, and you begin to
compare and contrast what the greats look like compared to
somebody that you're evaluating.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
So I think, to me, it gave me a leg a.
So what have you learned in the game?
Speaker 4 (25:33):
As far as you know, you talked about all these
these these players that you played with, some good coaches
that you played for. What's been one of the best
lessons that you've learned with with all of the players
and coaches.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
So I think, I think from every coach that you
play with, you learn different things. So every coach that
I played with is either in the Hall of Fame
or Super Bowl champion. And the one exception is Marty
Shotenham who won two hundred games. So Marv Leav's in
the Hall of Fame, Mike home Wren will be or
should be Mike Holren talking to Tom Coughlin, John Grutin.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
So all these guys learn great things.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
And so what I learned is they all went about
their different their business in different ways, but they all
kind of came back to the same thing. Man, It's
all about the preparation and it's about ultimately do you
perform and the lights come on. Like we can talk
about all of it, but at the end of the day,
you got to prepare. But when the lights come on,
you got to show up. And that's just what it is.
And it's the same thing when it comes to like
(26:28):
doing TV, when in writing or whatever, how much you
pour into the preparation process will give you the best
opportunity to perform at a high level. Yea, And so
it only gives you opportunity. Yeah, you still got to
make the play.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Still gotta go out there and do it.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Still got to make the play. And so to me,
that's what it is, and that's what you're trying to
young people. Hey man, do all the work and do it.
But I always feel like the one thing, if I
could go back as a player, I might have been
scared to pour the trick. And so what I would
always encourage people, Man, take the shot, you know what
I'm saying, Like there are times where and I go
back and I always said, it's like we're playing in
(27:02):
San Francisco.
Speaker 5 (27:03):
Forty nine is in a preseason game.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
But I studied the tape and every time Jerry Rice
lined up at the top of the numbers when the
ball was there, it was one hundred of speed out
And so we get there. I'm like, man, there's the tail,
the boss right there. Let's just like you like, like
I do I go? It's Jerry Rice, right, So then
you don't go, but you like, that's to play. But
(27:25):
then I played with guys because in college, Dre Black
came right behind me.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Yeah, Drey jumped everything.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
He's going like if if over there, he's going, and
I was like I would, I'm like, I'm gone, And
so safety help does matter. But that was Dre and
so that is the thing. And so I tell people.
But if you do all that and you trust it,
you go with And as a coach, I always said,
(27:51):
I want to give you the freedom to do it.
So I'm not going to jump you like. That's why
we talk about having a mentor and having that right coach, because.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
The right coach, I tell you, yes, I got yeah,
trust your keys.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
And then because you were safe in your corner, we
know the inner game is that I'm gonna look at hey,
are he gone? I'm gone, He's But that's but that's
the thing where in the fraternity you know that, Yes,
that's how we play where someone gets a players because
like hey man, hey cover me, I'm going.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
Give me.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
That's that's the communication all the time, Like you did
that with jour Are the whole time fifteen because I
was with j No everything all the time.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
We changed our whole defense.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
We went from straight quarters to now we're allowing now
with the corners allowed to jump anything.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
To the flat, we're over the top. All the time
they were like so anybody repalmed, were not even be rep.
We're doing palms the.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Whole back half of the season because jay No is
just like he going And so for those listen, the
palm technique is when the two goes out in the
corner just jumps yeah to anything out to the flat
by the second receiver that side. The corners are going
to jump it, and now the safety has to go
over the top. So I'm covering number two and then
until it goes out. Now I'm trying to bust over
(29:08):
before there's a big honey hall. So yes, that was it,
all right? Out of all those coaches though you mentioned them,
hall of fame potential for all of them, if not,
if not, now they will be.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Which one's the hardest to play for?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Okay, because uh, I apologize to him after I played
for him. So Tom Coughlin, Yeah, so Tom Coughlin, you apologize.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
I apologize because Tom he was tough.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
So so when I go to Jacksonville, So you got
to understand, I go from playing with the Green Bay Packers.
We had come off of a Super Bowl appearance and
they were going right back to Now I go to Jacksonville,
who's like in their second year as an expansion franchise
in Green Bay, like they're winning. He comes from San Francisco,
so everything not only his first class, but it's like
it's like VET Central, meaning like now I'm a young player,
(29:53):
but it's a we ain't putting them pass slow down. Oh,
we ain't dressing up going on the road, like hey,
we're just going there and play do our thing. Jacksonville.
You walk in the door, Hey man, it's concentration line.
We go on the thing. You gotta button everything up.
You know when I mean button up when you go
walk out the door to go to the practice field.
(30:14):
When you're on the practice field, your helmet had to
be button up at all times, your socks had to
be up.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Everybody had to have on the same shorts.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
We're doing this.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
He's looking if you got those little ankle socks. He's like,
those are issued. Fine, you you go on all yeah,
you go on the road when we So we're in
the hotel. So we're in the hotel, like, look, okay,
we'll be suitting and booted on the plane.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
I can relax.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
We got sweat.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Oh, if you're out the hotel room, you gotta have
on khakis and hard bottom shoot and a collar shirt.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
So I'm sitting there, I'm like, what are we doing?
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Like, and what year is this for you? This is
year three or four? Okay, but I'm sitting here like
what do we do? And when I first got it,
we getting drummed.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
I'm like, we're doing it. They say we're not even winning.
It's not.
Speaker 5 (31:09):
So we do we go to the playoffs or whatever.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
So years later I finished and I started coaching high school.
And so the high school one went to, all these
dudes would come out for work up and they got
on different colors.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
You got on green. The school coach is blue and gold.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
You got on green, you got on rid.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Then looked like it don't look.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
Like a team. So then I see Coughlin at the combine.
I said, Coach, I got it.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Now, I get why you did all that because it
was driving me crazy. But he was the one that
was the hardest to play for it because he had
all these rules, and I was like, these rules, the
rules makes sense. But he was a great coach, and
he figured it out for real when he got to
New York because all those things you got people there.
They swear by him, They swear by him and the
(31:51):
tough love and all that other stuff. For me, I
was a little immature. I couldn't figure it all the
way out until later I had a greater appreciation. Or hey,
dot the i's cross the t's. This is how we
do all this stuff standing across the board.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Yeah, I had I had a friend of mine that
actually had him at Boston College when he was in college.
He was like, dude, the dude was tough, like like
got to be there five minutes early.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Like it was like he was.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Like he was like, you know, my family had an accident.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
He's like coach. I don't know if guy might be
a little bit late. He was like late, like won't
be here.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
It's like like no excuses, and so it just kind
of some people don't ever change. And you know he's
actually thankful for him now. Yeah, like some of the
things like is that so the funny thing is you're
lab ye had a high school day? No five minutes
or hey if.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
You like, so if you don't tell me at eleven,
it really started ten fifty five. So my thing was
always that coach, Well, if you wanted to meet and
started six fifty five, just tell me six to fifty five.
That tell me seven o'clock. But you want me here
six fifty five, Like, just tell me the time. And
I get the same complaints from the kids. I'm like,
and no, we started at five fifty five.
Speaker 5 (32:55):
Like you know what it is.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Yeah, so you've you've had successful you know, media, you're
killing it right now. The scouting, his team's killing it too.
When he killing it with the with the offense. Mount Rushmore,
who would you put on that personal Mount Rushmore of mentors, coaches,
great teammates, the Lord, mom, Dad, I mean it's totally
(33:21):
it's Mount Rushmore.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
So first personal Mount Rushmore will be my dad.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
So my dad is a retired firefighter, but he also
was a coach.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
He coached Dexter Lawrence in high school. He's a D
line coach.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
They won I think forty five games in a row
after decks, but they want to stay title. So I
get him on. He's on my head every day about coaching.
What are you doing, how you doing or whatever? He
goes he coaches in your blood. Yeah, so he goes there.
Mac Brown, my college coach, goes there because from coach Brown,
I learned the art of how you treat people. Like
if you want people to play at the first class level,
(33:55):
you got to treat them.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
He hands out to Mac Brown. Amazing human being. I
mean this dude could sell water and.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Unbelievable communicator, like seeing that if he met you, he
would meet you five years down from he would know
what's that first conversation with him. He's that and it's
a gift that he has. So he was he was
always that, I would say from a player, the guy
who helped me the most, James Hasty was an all
pro corner when I was there, and so when I
(34:26):
got there, I'm still learning how to play corner. And
what he did for me was he held me to
a higher standard than I had ever been held to
by for a player, because in Kansas City under Martin
Shaan Hummer, it was a player's driven team. And so
if you two guys in the secondary, if I'm the
dime and I come in there and y'all don't really
like how I get down, y'all would send me out
(34:46):
and the coaches would respond.
Speaker 5 (34:47):
So that's how that was.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
So Hasty said, no, here's what you're going to You
can come here on Tuesday at eight o'clock. I'm gonna
come in at nine o'clock. By nine o'clock, you're gonna
have a report written on the number one receiver that
we're playing. But what he did is he was teaching
me how to prep and get ready, yeah to play.
And so James Hasty would be there and then I
would say, like, the last guy like in terms of
(35:08):
like a personal mentor would be Charles Davis. So Charles
Davis for me and broadcasting has been everything. And he's
so good in terms of learning how to prepare, learning
how to do basic mechanics of like TV. Hey, when
do you look at the camera when don't you look
at the camera when you engage in all that? Call
him about anything when it comes to the business, because
(35:28):
he is like water.
Speaker 5 (35:30):
Oh, he could do anything. He called golf.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
He can call baseball and call football like he's your
lifeline if you're on a trivia show and you need
something who knows random facts.
Speaker 5 (35:38):
CD has always been that guy.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Well, you know he's good. He was on that. That's
my guy. Yeah, he's my guy.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Well, hey, buggy, we appreciate you coming down. We got
like a thousand more courses, but you got seventy two
jobs and we know you busy.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Man. Hey, I just gotta go to work. Mine, gotta
go to work mine.
Speaker 5 (35:56):
Yeah, man, you know what it is.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
I appreciate it. It's been great granks, man, but appreciate it. Man.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (36:01):
Man.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
All of our followers and listeners out there, Man, continue
to do that. Man, We'll continue to bring you great guests.
I'm on man, Bucky Books right here, and thank you
so much. Give us a rating of review wherever you
pick up your.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Podcast at where there's Apple Podcast or iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Please give us a listen.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend, Peanut,
tell them what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Baby, were out of here. Hey I'm Peanut. That's wrong,
that's Bucky. This is the NFL Player Second Act Podcast
from the LA Studios
Speaker 3 (36:28):
And we out
Ah, this is Leslie Frasier and this is the NFL
Player's second Acts podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thank you for tuning in on Peanut too, man and.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
With me as always, the Deacon.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Broman Harper, Thank you, thank you man that I'm doing
good man, How are you doing today? I'm sure I
love the energy that you're bringing today.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, a lot of energy. I'm actually confused.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I won't say our guest name yet, but he always
calls me some kind of random name, and so now
that he's just being normal, I appreciate it. So thank
you for being normal out here in the LA Studios,
the NFL Studios.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
This is a beautiful place. There is this. Whoever built
this was on top of it.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I've actually think that they have spent over a million
dollars in chairs alone in this building.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Chairs are nice.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
My back feels good. Laura Lombards there it is all right.
So all right, before we get all we dive into it.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
So let's tell all of our listeners and the people
that follow us on the podcast continue to do that. Also,
tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend.
Give us a rating of review five stars, that is,
and wherever you pick up your podcast, whether it's Apple
Podcast or iHeartRadio app wherever you do tune in, please
continue to do that and bring somebody else with you.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Peanut. Who's our guest today? All right?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Today's guest was drafted in the second round by the
Buffalo Bills and the ninety four draft. Played five seasons
for five different teams as a dB, the best position
on the field and returner. After playing at the NFL,
he was a scout for a number of teams and.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Now he has.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
An seeing amount of jobs. And we'll get into that,
but I want, I want to install introduce y'all to
Bucky Brooks. Welcome to the show, My guys, going life comes,
life comes full circle because I just remember in meeting
rooms having to do reports and talk about you guys
as a cross checker when you guys were in your
respective schools and coming out and trying to.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Make your way into the league. And there here I am.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
You guys became great NFL players and then we're kind
of sharing sharing a Mike.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Sorry what I wanted? Oh go ahead, you want? Can
I know what my scoundrel? Because I wanted was I was?
I read a green dot. I want to know who
that I want to know.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So unfortunately, like for both of you guys, you weren't
in my area when you came out.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Your draft year.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
What year was, I'm three, so three, So I was
still working with the Carolina Now I was working with
the Seattle Seahawks. And the guy who was in your area,
John Peterson, Boy, he loves some peanut man, Oh my god.
All he talked about was this daddy, you play please
all these other things.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
And so oh your year, Roaman was winning two thousand
and five.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
Six.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, so I got drafted in six. Okay, so we
had we were in Alabama, so we had.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Mutual friends because you were with like Bill Johnson, Pat Dick.
Bill Johnson is like one of my closest friends. Oh yeah,
so I knew, like even before scouting you, I knew
who you were because Bill and I go way way
way back to singing Jacksonville or whatever, and so like,
it's funny because both of you guys have similar traits
(03:29):
in terms of it was always high iq known for
the game. Behind the scenes, the study habits were good.
It was all about like the preparation process or whatever,
and so you had prototypical size for the corner because
at the time, any corner that was over five ten
and a half was considered a big corner. Back then
in the league, everyone talked about that.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
At safety.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
It was about the game was changing, where we were
losing some of the distinction between free and strong.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
And could you do both? And could you win a
quarter system? Play down? But could you also play high?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
And so having all those things, and then because of
my experience going from me in a wide receiver to
a dB, I always pay close attention to DB's and
like you find yourself when you're scouting, you're not supposed
to look at all the techniques and tools be like, okay,
could I play.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
With these guys?
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Because that always to me is the last question. Could
I line up in the whodle? What I want those
guys to be in the hardle with me? And so
I remember both of you guys very very well about.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Look at that.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Well, here I got a personal question. Is because you
know I'm gonna call you Bucky, Yeah, that's it. But
how many people do actually allow to call.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
You a real government name?
Speaker 5 (04:33):
Though?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Oh no one, nobody, nobody, Like I know, you don't
know me if you call me by my government name.
I know you don't know, and like people gonna be
up here, Like, I'll tell it. My real name is
William Eldridge Brooks Junior. So but you guys know I'm
from the South. Yeah, so when you're South, everyone has
a nickname because my cousins in them William Eldridge with
(04:56):
different last names and so everybody had an nickname. So
I got cousins and all that or whatever. My dad
is never going by his real name. He goes by Blake.
I go by that. My son name is Trey because
he's the third. But that's that's what that's that's what
it is.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Oh, I'm marrid with it. Hey, I'm lead up.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
My older brother, his name is Doug. I'm from my
dad looked Donald. I'm her name tiny. Like we just
come from a house of nicknames. So hey, I'll tell
you on that.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Like I get it.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
I gets it.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Hey, I get the whole government thing. Man. So, uh,
what I really want to know is you are a
very busy man.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
And what I mean by that is you you have
a couple of podcasts. You are analysts for NFL Network,
You host Move the Sticks podcast, you do some stuff
for Fox how many jobs do you Oh, I even
believe you're a coach.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Oh yeah, so.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
Oh we don't turn down anything.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Okay, so that's it. Though it's paying.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I'm playing explain, explain to explain to the viewers how
many jobs you have?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Like it it varies.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
So the main hub is like obviously NFL Media is
the main gig Radio on Fox. I contributed to some
other platforms as a writer in those things, but like
that's kind of the way of the new world. Like
when I originally entered the media world Got two thousand
and seven, it was about trying to find one spot
and you did it. But now you've seen it, like
(06:28):
you have to be able to do more to kind
of kind of piece it together. And exclusivity is kind
of a thing of the past when it comes to
being able. So now you want to be able to
contribute and do a bunch of different things and look
as a vast as yours imagination is, that's where your
opportunities can be. And so for me, because I wasn't
a decorated player, I knew I had to have something
(06:48):
that would create opportunities for me. So one as a
scale but two as a writer, like taking the writing
path to kind of get into the media world provided
more opportunities. And so I always say the writing is
the foundation the TV and the podcast and radio. If
you can write, you can do those other things because
it all is kind of interwoven.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Were you always a really good writer or did you
always just read a lot?
Speaker 5 (07:09):
Like you imagine?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Okay, So, like imagine when we go to college, right,
you know, when you go to college and like they
take they give you like the exams in the middle
of training camp, right like where they at North Carolina,
they did the placement exams in the middle of two
a days, so like, hey, this is your English, this
is your dad. So I was in like bad English
because I was like just trying to get through the
beginner English. Yes, and so it was it was funny
(07:34):
that I came to write, because it wasn't something that
I would say I really focused on coming up. But
then what happens is I had a great appreciation for
people who can express with the power of the pen.
And then because one of the most vulnerable things you do,
like all of us, like as players, we kind of
have these journals that we keep, right, So imagine if
I grabbed your journal from the middle of your new
(07:55):
or in the same states, when you may be like
struggling in camp and you're like, I don't know what
is going So to me, it's like the most personal,
intimate thing that you can share is letting someone kind
of see your words on the page. And so I
just fell in love with that process and being able
to think a little differently, and so it kind of
worked out.
Speaker 5 (08:14):
That is awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I didn't think like the whole journey and using the
power of the pen is amazing to hear like a
former football player talk about it and use those skills,
especially now trying to knock at Chapel Hills, a highly
regarded institution.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
As far as education is the best ever, Yes, yes
it is. I hear about it all the time. Somehow
throw they talk about it. I don't have to talk
about Alabama. I mean, if we want to talk about sports,
it's not even close. But as far as education, that's
all you hear about is Chapel Hill. We talk about football.
We talk about sports. Now you got to come see us.
(08:49):
We got all of that stuff, you do, you know,
football is a little behind. In fact, my senior year
we lost to Alabama in the bowl game because that
was Sherman Williams. Oh yes, Sherman, Yeah, Sham Shade and
all those guys.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
Yeah, we played them in the Gator Ball.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Not a man throwback.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
All right, So all these jobs, all these things, So
when do you find time to sleep?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Like what is a typical week for Bucky Books? It
all kind of works together, or you don't sleep. Because
I'm a guy I can do with like four or five.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
I can with a little bit, but it all works together.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
So during this season, it's not as heavy for me
when it comes to NFL network and TV stuff like
podcasts three times a week. May occasionally pop on a
show like Total Access or something like that, but primarily
it's just podcasting and in writing. I'll write a couple
of times a week. That's when high school football is heavy.
In head coach of a school there, so we practice
(09:43):
before school, So we practice at six am. We go
from like six to seven to twenty. We own that
NFL Quick Practice in and out Fast Friday, but we
do Fast Friday every day. Yeah, And we get in
and out and then I go about my day like
the podcast will be whatever. Some days, the heavier stuff
and that. But when it gets to the spring, high
(10:03):
school football is done. But then that's when it's the
draft and focusing on that path to the draft, like
the main show that I'm on that comes on, and
so it just kind of it fluctuates, but it's always busy,
but busy in a difference, are you studying college players
throughout the season, Like how is that process going? When
are you starting to really dive into that, because that's
(10:24):
that's where that's where your bread is.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I mean, but that's because that's the background.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
So the background is like I was a college scout,
so I would go and look at college players and
then we'll rank them and draft them and evaluate them,
put them on the board for the draft and those things.
For me, you're always paying attention to the college game.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
Like I do work.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I do sideline work for the Jacksonville Jaguars radio and
so when I'm on the road on a Saturday night,
like you pop in TV, you see what's going on,
but you also have your tape available.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
And then as it gets closer to the end of
the season.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
When you begin to get the names you begin to
hear from your scouting buddies who are in the league. Hey,
hear the names that you need to watch, and then
you begin to like kind of really do a deep
dive into these are the guys that we really need
to know. And you see, because you guys do it
in the mediate world, like you kind of play the hits,
like you're talking about the top guys every day, and
then on TV you'll get into an obscure. Hey, this
(11:14):
is a late round, little Jim nugget, but most of
the time we talk about the top guys, and so
sometimes saying now you can TV scale, but then you
follow it up with real filmwork, film scouting now being
as busy as you are and all the jobs that
you have. I know, when you.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Are a coach, you have this responsibility to teach young
men about life the game itself, but you're.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Teach them about life.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
You're teaching them about hard work, teamwork, how to grind,
how to work together, how to overcome obstacles, failures, and whatnot.
What's really been the most gratifying job for you out
of all the ones that we just mentioned, well.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
All of them are gratifying in a different way. But
I would say high school because you guys know, like
there's always been a coach that's somewhere along the line
that touched you in a different way, either change your
path or he gave you the confidence that, hey man,
you can do this.
Speaker 5 (12:04):
Yep. And so for me, high school gives me the
opportunity to do that.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I coach at the public school up in the northern
part of LA And it's just great to see all
these dudes, right because, like, I don't care what anyone says, like,
there's nothing that is like playing. There's no replicating like
running through the tunnel, feeling all that they gladiated mentality.
The only thing to me that's close to that is coaching,
and I can't do it anymore, but I can live through.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Watching them do.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So if we're talking about we're a team to play
a lot of man to man, but we're like, hey man,
look if they get in this bunch, we're gonna bando
it and you go, he's going to throw it and
it just don't blow the layup. And when they do it,
you come out of your shoes just like you would
as a player if we're teammates and you get a
pick six and we meet in the end zone. So
to me, those things are great and yeah, why when
(12:52):
they do great things and you tell them like that's
great that you're doing all your stuff on the field,
but now let's take care of this stuff off the field.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Because how you do anything is how you do everything.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
And you give them those little things that coaches that
poured into you and then you see them take it.
And then I think the thing and it happens with
our kids whatever when you hear them say stuff that
you said to them to their teammates, like little guys
that come in like, oh man, you got to take
care of the details and all that other stuff. That's
when you're got oh okay, Yeah, that part to me
(13:23):
is fun like watching them grow. And I've been on
the camp circuit for a long time, like working with
Nike camps and all that, and seeing Derwin James and
Jamal Adams and all these guys come through and watching
them when they're in teenagers and now I see them
as pros, right, but they see you and they're like
coach Bucky like. So to me, it's just like paying
it forward. And so the game is such a great game.
(13:44):
That's one of the things you can take all the
things that you learn from playing in between the lines
on the grass, and you give it to young people
and then they can take it and use it in
a bunch of different ways.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
You know.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I think it's so interesting you say that because my
dad was a high school coach and he coached me
my first couple of years in high school. And I
used to ask them like that, why do you coach?
Like these kids can't do this?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
You're yelling all like you're up for all these hours,
like why, And it was the same example that you
just gave you, Like, it's something to be said when
you have a guy walk in here as a freshman,
can't even can barely tie shoes, put his pads on backwards,
and you look up two or three years later and
he's playing, Like I have shaped this kid into a player,
and I can trust him to like not mess it up.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
He's gonna be able to tackle somebody. And you get
excited for these things. And so that's the real joy
of coaching high school football that I don't think anybody
really understands, no until.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
You do it.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, So that to me, that was always that was
always the level I always want to be at. Right,
I didn't have an aspiration to coach like a high
level because in high school, most HIG schools, unless you're
a private HIG school, I mean you coach, you coach
up who shows up? So and so, Like when they
come through the door, you're like, whoa, we don't have
a quarterback.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
You know what we're gonna do.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
We're gonna jump into single wing thing and try and
figure it out or whatever it is like and so
oh man, they really don't understand how to plays. So
so you know what we're gonna do. Hey man, that's
your man. That cat is your cat. Wherever you go,
you go, like and so you you like, to me,
that's the beauty of high school ball, Like you just
you never know what it's gonna.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Look like and then you try and figure out. All right, guys,
like this is what we got.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
We have one defensive man and you know, so to me,
that's that's the beauty of high school.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
And that's why I have so much respect for high school.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
And also to attest to that, your past year, you win,
guys went to the championship. Your first two completions all
year long were in the championship game. You guys rush
for fifty four hundred yards and seventy touchdowns and didn't
throw the ball all year long. So the single wing,
which nobody can defend.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Obviously, I think that's a benefit to you though in
a testment that he you're such like, you know what.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
We're gonna do. Whatever works.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
It is so and you're not just stuck in your
waist because you hadn't been coaching with thirty five years.
Oh so, here's just funny. And it goes back to
when I was working with the Carolina Panthers. You can
look this up. It's really funny. So we had to
play against the Atlanta Falcons. Huh, starting quarterback Jake the
Loman is out. Chris Winky is a quarterback. I don't
know if John Fox had a lot of confidence in
(16:07):
Chris will So we lined up with D'Angelo Williams and
Deshaun Foster and played the wildcat the entire game. They
threw six pass I think we threw six passes and
one both the news went over.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
So then I was like, oh, well, you know what,
like sometimes.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
You just whatever you do, you do whatever you gotta do, yeah,
and get out of it. But those are the things
that you do and in high school, like you have
to like just take what you're given and kind of
figure out a way to make it work.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
I love that. I do too.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
I don't think we had that in Texas. We always
had some some good talent coming through them doors of
copperce Cove.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
So tell me, all right, so what's the transition like
being from all right, you were in the scouting world.
Now you're on the opposite side of it covering it
as an analyst. How have the relationships of the people
that you worked with? Has that changed or has it
been kind of remained the same or do they respect
to the same, Like, because you got to tell it honestly,
(17:02):
you win, it wouldn't keep the job. And when you're honest, like.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
You guys know because I've seen both of you guys
on TV, so y'all know, like when you come off
to sitting off a sudden, your phone is buzzing because
when you dude, like come on now, you know, I
got to play TV. So like, so like I gotta
sell and I gotta sell it in a major way.
But it's actually been great because what happens is your boys,
your guys who are like you're really like that you're.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
Down with, they'll call you, they'll give you the information.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, that's very true. Here's what school on this. Because
they want you to look good and they beam when
they see you on TV because they're like, hey, man,
look at you all up.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Your fancy you know, but but they dig it.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
They actually are pride for when they see you do
your thing because you know what the locker room is like,
like really at his core, we really care about it,
even though the pros are kind of weird because like
we're all kind of independent contract. When you're on great teams,
you really still have that same camaraderie. Feel doubt little
league and high school or whatever where like man, it's
about your boy getting off and we all we do
(17:59):
well as a group, everyone gets off. So for me,
the relationships have been the same. And what I always
try to do is if I do have to criticize,
I always try and make it where it's not it's
not personal, Like here's what we're talking about.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
We're talking about a decision that was made.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
We're talking about a player that was picked in those things,
and you try to like have a critical eye like hey,
well maybe they're thinking this and those things. And for
me it is worth because most of the guys, even
if they don't agree with my opinion, they can be like, Okay.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
I get that.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
It's just when if you go sideways and I've never
been like a hot take artist, but if you go
sideways where you're trying to embellish it and blow it up,
that's when you're like, come on, man, what are we doing.
But most of the time people can respect it and
they're like, oh, okay, I get that. Now when you
got out, you got right into the scouting. Now, why
do you do scouting versus coaching? Well, I just it's
(18:48):
funny because I bounced around so much as a player
that I didn't want to kind of have that life
as a coach because we saw very saying we've all
been coached by guides that man, they got different logos
on every year.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
What they say, you're a coach. It's not about like
if it's when you're gonna get fired.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Right, So imagine, like I mean we all have kids, Like,
imagine you don't want to take your kids like every
two years bounce them around or whatever. So for me,
I was like, all right, Like the scouting thing at
the time was supposed to be the more stable environment
of that, So you're still close to the game in
a different way than coaching. Now there's still nothing like
coaching them playing are like the two things, cause you
(19:27):
get looked. There's a scoreboard when you're scouting. You don't
have the same scoreboard. Like you can talk about the draft,
but you don't see it until like two three years.
And so the hard thing for me as a scout
was you didn't have a direct impact on the game
each Sunday. So you're watching the game, but it's not
like a decision that you made as a coach either
wins or loses, or as a player how you played.
(19:50):
As a scout, you're sitting back and you're thinking about
the long view. And so I missed that part of
the competition, which is why when I had an opportunity
and I moved over to media, I was like, well,
I got a coach, now I gotta get that. I
got to scratch that itch and coach in high school
did that, but like that part, but for me, I
was still trying to squeeze out one more year, right, Yeah,
(20:12):
I was trying to squeeze out, like man if I could.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Just get one, And so I called one of my boys.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
He was working with the Philadelphia Eagles, and he was like, yeah,
I ain't got nothing for years player, but there may
be a job that opens up as scout.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
And so I was prepping to get ready for an interview.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
There called another one of my guys and he had
just got a gig and see yeall, he'said, why don't
you come.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
Up here and interview. I wanted to an interview and
never left, you know. So that's that's how I played that.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
But the same thing, those those relationships and as a player,
because I'm sure you guys did it as players. You
let people know what you would like that transition to
be for you after football is done. Cause I'm sure
coaches or people around caming, hey, man, what do you
want to do when football was over? And I want
to coach? I want to do this on scout. And
so I let people know what my intentions were. And
(20:58):
then it just so happened that I got.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
You gotta go ahead.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
No, No, I could guess I'd like something just hitting
my yeah brain, I gotta I.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Guess my question. Another question that I have is, so
Chris Ballad was my scout. Yeah, and I brag on
Chris Ballad every time because we talk.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
We're good friends.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
And he was like, man, I'll fault Jerry Angelo tooth
and nail to take you second round. I know you
didn't have the name, but I was like, I'm telling you,
Peanut or Charles Tillman, he's going to be the guy.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Has there been a player that you scouted in college
that you were just like, Nope, this is the guy.
He can be X Y and Z, he will be
a great player. Is there a guy in your when
you were scouting.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
I think we all have guys that we love.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Sometimes you're not in a position to take the player
that you want for that team, but there are certain
guys that you like gravitate towards. So I remember watching
Steve Smith, who works with us here, but I remember
watching him at Utah, and I remember watching him in
the All Star game circuit that we that guys do
like after their senior year.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
This dude was dominant Hula Bowl.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
He was killing the East weatight, So you're just like, man,
this dude is like a dude.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
But he wasn't a prototypical size at the time because
he's like, look, he's five nine.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
He made list five to ten, but was.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
He hits it now? He hits it now like he
was five nine and he was a returner.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
And so sometimes that can be a hard sale to
say that, hey man, this dude is a returner, but
like he can be a wide out to so watching
him and then when I left Seattle to go there
and watch him grow from being a Pro Bowl kick
returner as a rookie to then being a guy that
won the Triple Crown and become a multiple time Pro
Bowl player and wide receiver. Those are the things that
(22:38):
you're like, Okay, this is cool, Like that's it's great
to watch him progress. No one could predict that he
would be what he became, a Hall of Fame caliber
wide out. But to see him go from that and
to be able to like, yeah, I thought he could
do some of that. I didn't think he could do
all of that. That stuff is kind of cool.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
Peanut.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Now I literally wrote just about that same question now
that you just asked him. I want to know from
the other side, was like, early on in your scouting career,
did you ever like were you almost over confident in
some things?
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Knowing that you had just come from playing.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Were you overconfident with like, man, I know this, and
all of a sudden I was wrong and I was like, man,
maybe I need to go back to the drawing board
on some of my process.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
So it's funny because what happens is as a player,
and you'll see this, like as you're around teams and
those things. I know you guys are around teams. Sometimes
they're not a lot of former players in the scouting department,
and there can be a different rub because sometimes as
players we may fall into these stereotypes. Right, players are
(23:36):
codd old players. I don't know if they can do
the grind on them to get on it this and that.
Even though I always felt like, well, being a good
player like that gives me a leg up because I
kind of know what that thing is and I felt
like I would give prospects more grace just because I.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
Knew how hard the game is.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying, like, no, yeah, man,
like that that's a hard play. Coach, Like that's a
hard Like that's hard you acting like now, yeah, that's
a hard play.
Speaker 5 (24:02):
They coming down the screen.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
My man ain't got a reroute number.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
One, I'm on the hash every way go.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
He's coming right at me. What am I doing?
Speaker 2 (24:11):
They fit it in the honey hole, and you're mad
at me because I can't get over there, like being
able to understand that part of it. Yeah, And I
think what happens is because you come off the field,
you may feel like you know it and you should
always feel good about it, but you also have to
put the study behind that stuff. But I think the
advantage that you have we all play with great players.
(24:33):
So for instance, I think in my past I'm now
up to like maybe seventeen Hall of Fame teammates, right.
So I when I look at players, I begin to
compare them to the players that I play with. So,
for instance, I play with Bruce Smith, Derek Thomas, Reggie White.
So when I'm evaluating past rushers and people are talking about,
(24:53):
hey man, this guy's I'm like, hey man, these three
dudes here like the top of the list when it
comes to South. So I'm looking at Derrick Thomas's get
off compared to his I'm thinking about Reggie White's ability
to turn speed into power. I'm looking at Bruce Smith,
his savvy and his overall Dominans. Do I feel that,
you know? Do I see that in the players? And
(25:15):
so you I played with Charles Woodson when he was
a rookie in Oakland, and so you begin to take
all those things, all your experiences, and you begin to
compare and contrast what the greats look like compared to
somebody that you're evaluating.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
So I think, to me, it gave me a leg a.
So what have you learned in the game?
Speaker 4 (25:33):
As far as you know, you talked about all these
these these players that you played with, some good coaches
that you played for. What's been one of the best
lessons that you've learned with with all of the players
and coaches.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
So I think, I think from every coach that you
play with, you learn different things. So every coach that
I played with is either in the Hall of Fame
or Super Bowl champion. And the one exception is Marty
Shotenham who won two hundred games. So Marv Leav's in
the Hall of Fame, Mike home Wren will be or
should be Mike Holren talking to Tom Coughlin, John Grutin.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
So all these guys learn great things.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
And so what I learned is they all went about
their different their business in different ways, but they all
kind of came back to the same thing. Man, It's
all about the preparation and it's about ultimately do you
perform and the lights come on. Like we can talk
about all of it, but at the end of the day,
you got to prepare. But when the lights come on,
you got to show up. And that's just what it is.
And it's the same thing when it comes to like
(26:28):
doing TV, when in writing or whatever, how much you
pour into the preparation process will give you the best
opportunity to perform at a high level. Yea, And so
it only gives you opportunity. Yeah, you still got to
make the play.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Still gotta go out there and do it.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Still got to make the play. And so to me,
that's what it is, and that's what you're trying to
young people. Hey man, do all the work and do it.
But I always feel like the one thing, if I
could go back as a player, I might have been
scared to pour the trick. And so what I would
always encourage people, Man, take the shot, you know what
I'm saying, Like there are times where and I go
back and I always said, it's like we're playing in
(27:02):
San Francisco.
Speaker 5 (27:03):
Forty nine is in a preseason game.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
But I studied the tape and every time Jerry Rice
lined up at the top of the numbers when the
ball was there, it was one hundred of speed out
And so we get there. I'm like, man, there's the tail,
the boss right there. Let's just like you like, like
I do I go? It's Jerry Rice, right, So then
you don't go, but you like, that's to play. But
(27:25):
then I played with guys because in college, Dre Black
came right behind me.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Yeah, Drey jumped everything.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
He's going like if if over there, he's going, and
I was like I would, I'm like, I'm gone, And
so safety help does matter. But that was Dre and
so that is the thing. And so I tell people.
But if you do all that and you trust it,
you go with And as a coach, I always said,
(27:51):
I want to give you the freedom to do it.
So I'm not going to jump you like. That's why
we talk about having a mentor and having that right coach, because.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
The right coach, I tell you, yes, I got yeah,
trust your keys.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
And then because you were safe in your corner, we
know the inner game is that I'm gonna look at hey,
are he gone? I'm gone, He's But that's but that's
the thing where in the fraternity you know that, Yes,
that's how we play where someone gets a players because
like hey man, hey cover me, I'm going.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
Give me.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
That's that's the communication all the time, Like you did
that with jour Are the whole time fifteen because I
was with j No everything all the time.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
We changed our whole defense.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
We went from straight quarters to now we're allowing now
with the corners allowed to jump anything.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
To the flat, we're over the top. All the time
they were like so anybody repalmed, were not even be rep.
We're doing palms the.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Whole back half of the season because jay No is
just like he going And so for those listen, the
palm technique is when the two goes out in the
corner just jumps yeah to anything out to the flat
by the second receiver that side. The corners are going
to jump it, and now the safety has to go
over the top. So I'm covering number two and then
until it goes out. Now I'm trying to bust over
(29:08):
before there's a big honey hall. So yes, that was it,
all right? Out of all those coaches though you mentioned them,
hall of fame potential for all of them, if not,
if not, now they will be.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Which one's the hardest to play for?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Okay, because uh, I apologize to him after I played
for him. So Tom Coughlin, Yeah, so Tom Coughlin, you apologize.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
I apologize because Tom he was tough.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
So so when I go to Jacksonville, So you got
to understand, I go from playing with the Green Bay Packers.
We had come off of a Super Bowl appearance and
they were going right back to Now I go to Jacksonville,
who's like in their second year as an expansion franchise
in Green Bay, like they're winning. He comes from San Francisco,
so everything not only his first class, but it's like
it's like VET Central, meaning like now I'm a young player,
(29:53):
but it's a we ain't putting them pass slow down. Oh,
we ain't dressing up going on the road, like hey,
we're just going there and play do our thing. Jacksonville.
You walk in the door, Hey man, it's concentration line.
We go on the thing. You gotta button everything up.
You know when I mean button up when you go
walk out the door to go to the practice field.
(30:14):
When you're on the practice field, your helmet had to
be button up at all times, your socks had to
be up.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Everybody had to have on the same shorts.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
We're doing this.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
He's looking if you got those little ankle socks. He's like,
those are issued. Fine, you you go on all yeah,
you go on the road when we So we're in
the hotel. So we're in the hotel, like, look, okay,
we'll be suitting and booted on the plane.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
I can relax.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
We got sweat.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Oh, if you're out the hotel room, you gotta have
on khakis and hard bottom shoot and a collar shirt.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
So I'm sitting there, I'm like, what are we doing?
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Like, and what year is this for you? This is
year three or four? Okay, but I'm sitting here like
what do we do? And when I first got it,
we getting drummed.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
I'm like, we're doing it. They say we're not even winning.
It's not.
Speaker 5 (31:09):
So we do we go to the playoffs or whatever.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
So years later I finished and I started coaching high school.
And so the high school one went to, all these
dudes would come out for work up and they got
on different colors.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
You got on green. The school coach is blue and gold.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
You got on green, you got on rid.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Then looked like it don't look.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
Like a team. So then I see Coughlin at the combine.
I said, Coach, I got it.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Now, I get why you did all that because it
was driving me crazy. But he was the one that
was the hardest to play for it because he had
all these rules, and I was like, these rules, the
rules makes sense. But he was a great coach, and
he figured it out for real when he got to
New York because all those things you got people there.
They swear by him, They swear by him and the
(31:51):
tough love and all that other stuff. For me, I
was a little immature. I couldn't figure it all the
way out until later I had a greater appreciation. Or hey,
dot the i's cross the t's. This is how we
do all this stuff standing across the board.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Yeah, I had I had a friend of mine that
actually had him at Boston College when he was in college.
He was like, dude, the dude was tough, like like
got to be there five minutes early.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Like it was like he was.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Like he was like, you know, my family had an accident.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
He's like coach. I don't know if guy might be
a little bit late. He was like late, like won't
be here.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
It's like like no excuses, and so it just kind
of some people don't ever change. And you know he's
actually thankful for him now. Yeah, like some of the
things like is that so the funny thing is you're
lab ye had a high school day? No five minutes
or hey if.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
You like, so if you don't tell me at eleven,
it really started ten fifty five. So my thing was
always that coach, Well, if you wanted to meet and
started six fifty five, just tell me six to fifty five.
That tell me seven o'clock. But you want me here
six fifty five, Like, just tell me the time. And
I get the same complaints from the kids. I'm like,
and no, we started at five fifty five.
Speaker 5 (32:55):
Like you know what it is.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Yeah, so you've you've had successful you know, media, you're
killing it right now. The scouting, his team's killing it too.
When he killing it with the with the offense. Mount Rushmore,
who would you put on that personal Mount Rushmore of mentors, coaches,
great teammates, the Lord, mom, Dad, I mean it's totally
(33:21):
it's Mount Rushmore.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
So first personal Mount Rushmore will be my dad.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
So my dad is a retired firefighter, but he also
was a coach.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
He coached Dexter Lawrence in high school. He's a D
line coach.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
They won I think forty five games in a row
after decks, but they want to stay title. So I
get him on. He's on my head every day about coaching.
What are you doing, how you doing or whatever? He
goes he coaches in your blood. Yeah, so he goes there.
Mac Brown, my college coach, goes there because from coach Brown,
I learned the art of how you treat people. Like
if you want people to play at the first class level,
(33:55):
you got to treat them.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
He hands out to Mac Brown. Amazing human being. I
mean this dude could sell water and.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Unbelievable communicator, like seeing that if he met you, he
would meet you five years down from he would know
what's that first conversation with him. He's that and it's
a gift that he has. So he was he was
always that, I would say from a player, the guy
who helped me the most, James Hasty was an all
pro corner when I was there, and so when I
(34:26):
got there, I'm still learning how to play corner. And
what he did for me was he held me to
a higher standard than I had ever been held to
by for a player, because in Kansas City under Martin
Shaan Hummer, it was a player's driven team. And so
if you two guys in the secondary, if I'm the
dime and I come in there and y'all don't really
like how I get down, y'all would send me out
(34:46):
and the coaches would respond.
Speaker 5 (34:47):
So that's how that was.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
So Hasty said, no, here's what you're going to You
can come here on Tuesday at eight o'clock. I'm gonna
come in at nine o'clock. By nine o'clock, you're gonna
have a report written on the number one receiver that
we're playing. But what he did is he was teaching
me how to prep and get ready, yeah to play.
And so James Hasty would be there and then I
would say, like, the last guy like in terms of
(35:08):
like a personal mentor would be Charles Davis. So Charles
Davis for me and broadcasting has been everything. And he's
so good in terms of learning how to prepare, learning
how to do basic mechanics of like TV. Hey, when
do you look at the camera when don't you look
at the camera when you engage in all that? Call
him about anything when it comes to the business, because
(35:28):
he is like water.
Speaker 5 (35:30):
Oh, he could do anything. He called golf.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
He can call baseball and call football like he's your
lifeline if you're on a trivia show and you need
something who knows random facts.
Speaker 5 (35:38):
CD has always been that guy.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Well, you know he's good. He was on that. That's
my guy. Yeah, he's my guy.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Well, hey, buggy, we appreciate you coming down. We got
like a thousand more courses, but you got seventy two
jobs and we know you busy.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Man. Hey, I just gotta go to work. Mine, gotta
go to work mine.
Speaker 5 (35:56):
Yeah, man, you know what it is.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
I appreciate it. It's been great granks, man, but appreciate it. Man.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (36:01):
Man.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
All of our followers and listeners out there, Man, continue
to do that. Man, We'll continue to bring you great guests.
I'm on man, Bucky Books right here, and thank you
so much. Give us a rating of review wherever you
pick up your.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Podcast at where there's Apple Podcast or iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Please give us a listen.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend, Peanut,
tell them what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Baby, were out of here. Hey I'm Peanut. That's wrong,
that's Bucky. This is the NFL Player Second Act Podcast
from the LA Studios
Speaker 3 (36:28):
And we out
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