Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Phoenix, Arizona. We're actually on the outswitch of Phoenix. My guy,
Michael Walker and Mike take it away, all right.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Frank goes. Always good to see you, my man, Always
good to see you. Man. We got a special gas,
real big special gats.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
If you're from northern California, you know this man right here,
my dog man, he's a legend. Go ahead and say
what's up to the people?
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Man going on, Melifler. Pleasure to be here with y'all.
Man Ben fought in the podcast for about a minute.
Man Real tapped in with the West Coast. You know
what I'm saying, so oh, pleasure to be on here, man,
Ready to talk ball already talk about anything, man, you
know I'm saying, just chilling.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I like how you through the the you know the
calis love in there, but you're you're specifically you claim
the Bay right from.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I'm from the bed Yeah, yeah, yeah, Berkeley.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
The being I was writing down, I was gonna go
when I say the Bay, people get.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
Really specific sometimes about where they're from, Like there's a cutoff.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I dated a chick from Alameda, so I learned all
about the different cutoffs in the Bay, and I would
be just kind of a different cat compared to certain areas.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I mean, I have some friends from over there, so
I ain't going they're cool. I ain't gonna just include them.
They're cool in my book, but from other people, you
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Who would you say?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
And being a big guy, I always like to ask
us it's like, who's who are the goats out of
the Bay musically, athletically, Like who do people.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
Claim from the Bay?
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Well, obviously, you know you have the forty too short,
you got legends, Uh what's name from? You got Marshawn Lynch,
you got Aaron Rodgers, you got John Holland, you got
you got some younger cats. You know, it's it's a lot.
(01:49):
It's a lot from culture. I feel like the Bay
Area culture, the way it's developed and grew, and how
it's kind of spread out all over and like people
really represent as well. So Damian Lillard for for perhaps
you know what I'm saying, so good friend of mine,
But you know what I'm saying. They I feel like
(02:10):
everybody in their own way kind of uses the Bay
to as a as a resource and and spreads that
resource where they go.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
You know what I'm saying, so, yeah, so I want
to I want to dive right into it.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I mean, growing up in northern California, Yeah, I claim
Sacrament I don't clam area.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
So growing up, yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
So growing up growing up in that area, it was
kind of hard for guys, you know, back in the
day to get recruited bigger schools. You know, if you
were a five star recruit back in the day, you're going.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
To Pac twelve. You ain't going to the sec ACC
back in the day. Now, these kids they going going anywhere.
But I mean, just talk about how it was for you,
because I mean you went big. I started. I ain't.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
My football experience has been in a lot of different
than the most I would say.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I ain't start to really my junior year.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
I played my sophomore year, but I was was out
there in high school, high school, and you.
Speaker 5 (03:02):
Didn't play yourself.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
You didn't.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
I got to know you said you didn't play your
freshman year high school.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
No, I ain't playing no no football, no past, no nothing,
no seven on, no anything.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah that's so.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Sophomore year got introduced by uh Party Niggerson, another Bay
Area legend. He was a head coach at time, and
convinced my mom president at the school, basketball coach Lou Ritchie,
another Bay Area legend too, but they all kind of
congomerated and it was like, hey, man, your son needs
(03:35):
to play football. This My mom's right next to me,
just all at the school. They're like, hey, We're gonna
have this meeting and sit down. And I'm like, I'm
like sixty years old at the time. I'm like, what's
going on, Like everybody's sitting down at the big round.
So after that, I really, you know, it wasn't even
a lock in. It was just my friends were playing
football at the time, so I was having fun with it.
I was just like kind of understanding what it was.
(03:57):
But I remember this like vividly. First putting on paths.
Everything was at Cal football camp.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
You know how those are full call a tact baby,
come on three days straight.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
Yeah, it'll do it like you want. I appreciate the
full call attack cap.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
I appreciate it because it really, you know what I'm saying,
put a hat on the hat to see what you got.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
You know, It's.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
It's really no, it's like really it was. It was
high contact. But like for me, it was just kind
of seeing where I fit in. So in about three days,
I payed like five different positions. So I went from
running back to tight end, then switched to linebacker, then
play d N finished off.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
At d D in like a matter of three days.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
So did you tell them like, hey, man, like I
really don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
I mean, I'm over here getting the reps wherever we
all go.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Well I appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
No, No, which is crazy because like I mean, I'm
just like learning as I go. But like at my size,
I was probably I'm kind of the same size as
I was at sixteen, but I just ain't had any muscles.
I was just like this kind of skinny, kind of
broad dude. But but they're like, damn, who is that?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Like left that day? Let's left the football camp with
a cow offer.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
You never played a down of football and you left
with an offer.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Left with a cow offer.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
No, I didn't know that's never played a down of
football and you went to the cow camp and you
left with an.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Offer, left with a cow offer for what position? Linebacker?
Speaker 5 (05:22):
We'll find a spot for this time. We're gonna find
this guy's gonna be a cow bear baby.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
So the piggyback on that. I mean my my parents,
Uh they work at UC Berkeley. My mom's professor that
as an architectural librarian.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
So that kind of being in Berkeley and having that
growing up kind of going to some Bears games didn't
going a lot because honestly, they're academically staying.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Really, why did you go hurt yourself?
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Like your brain come on man ct like like literally
all these talks and finally kind of one stage seem like, oh,
you can go to college for free, like we're all in,
and kind of went from there and this skyrocketing.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
So what what ultimate made decisions? Pick you up?
Speaker 4 (06:08):
A little bit of I'll say say culture, family, friends, coach.
So one of my good friends Kevin King at the time,
he went to Bischbo Dad with me and I feel
like we got some company. But uh, my good friend
Kevin King went up there, visited him, he hosted me.
(06:30):
Buddah Baker was on the team at time. Vida Veya, Well,
I'll get down to that. We will talk about that later.
That roster's crazy, but I was just you know, income
and trying to see what what a college visitor even
what a college experience was and they made it feel
like home. Like I was in the locker and they
was already wrapping me up from like like I was
on the team. I was like, man, this is weird,
like because you know sometimes on visits, you know, you
(06:53):
get those awkward reactions from the guys that're like he's here,
he comes and try to take my spider.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Were just like don't really care.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
They're like, man, I'm already here, like I'm trying to
get to the next level. But all these guys were like, Noah,
come here, like like from other schools, like come to you, dub.
You know what I'm saying, We'll get you right. You
might not play right away, but you're you're gonna make
something that your name, you know what I'm saying. So
I was like, damn, this is kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
One on three, do is this?
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Two unofficials, one official after that, and then over that
was only school I visited, like I went back to
and I was like I'm telling my parents, I'm like, no,
I'm going back, like when we going back to you
that like this is all throughout the recruiting experience. So
I say him my coach Napoleon Cofflin. He was he
went to university watching and played on the Raiders, an
(07:36):
amazing running back. He had some guidance with it, but
he was just telling me like, really weigh your options,
you know what I'm saying, talked about the pros and cons,
do all that, and then I say, finally, like just
having a good school and I away from home. That
was kind of closer home. It was kind of like
the straw. I was like, I don't really want to stay.
I really want to go to seat Yeah. Uh but
(08:01):
you know they played.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I was like, it's over with.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
So I was like, you know, going down the list
had the top five it was A and M Michigan Oregon.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Hey, yeah, bring it back there.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Okay, let's not act like oh yeah, you know, cow
off for me and I kind of liked you the better.
A and M.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
You had the gauntlet, you had everything.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Well it got to that point like because but you
have got your heart early yeah, I'll say early on
in the recruiting process, I say, really, pop off, I
did that Nike an STC Yeah yeah, back in the day.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
Hey, the elite, the Nike Elite era.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Can we take it sex to.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
Appreciate the Nike Leader.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
It was a change game game.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
I think I want to dick Sporting Goods. The day
they dropped, I went to I.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Went to do you had to Yeah, seventeen, you got
twenty dollars.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
This guy's got dreams.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Now made sure I had shorts, like yeah, there's no
way I'm wearing long pants with night at least.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, I got to see these.
Speaker 5 (08:59):
Maybe I want what two pairs on. I'm gonna have
the double Nike.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Shotta double them up now.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I want to keep that that train thought when comes
to college. But for people who don't know, talk about
how big basketball is in northern California.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Mano, if you're a hooper in the like in just
in California, I'll say northern California though Spacific.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Like you, you're talked about.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
You were on the you know, on the TV almost
every weekend in newspapers at the time sports.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Uh what's it called Cali? No?
Speaker 3 (09:31):
No, they had cal prap, cal prap.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
You're on the you're on the You're on the weekend,
and they play now the weekend highlights like yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Oh soldiers different now different soldiers. You if he played
on the soldiers, use you certified, played on the same
thing as Lebron.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Yeah all right now, but I'll say just the culture
and not like how it developed and grew. Definitely, I'll
say more kids one of the just go hool as
far as you know, not putting on passing, going going
on the grid ard. That's how I started, man, I was.
I was about to go to Berkeley hot. I was hot,
(10:11):
get down the mud, you know what I'm saying. But
it was up the street. I'm five minutes down the street.
I'm like, I can go to class, I can come home,
I can do edit. And I had friends that were going.
It turns out I applied to bishel Dow like a
month before. There were some people that were like, we'll
let you in. I guess, and then I was like cool,
this changed my life.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
You gotta really dive in because the people don't know
about bish unless you're from the area.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Know about Bishop Odell. If you play at Bishop Dell,
you're on them. We're not talking about what.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
There's probably ten high schools and Cali.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
It's like, you know, you know Moscow, that's all say bishops.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
The thing I say, we're not in the top, but
we in the conversation. The thing about North cal is like,
so it's different. So they have all those school they
have all those, all those already have all them In
North California, you got daldw Yeah, and then after.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
That then you have it's like a different yeer And
then you really got to map it out to where
where you're located. You know what I'm saying, because you
can go all the way to I don't know where.
It's like Freedom, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
You can go to That's who played in state championship Freedom, Freedom,
my brother's team. So we're middle of California. So like
when you win, you are sections. They call it valleys,
which is just like your section.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Champions what division high school were either two or one.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
Depending all the year. Because we're only like six hundred
kids and it's.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
One of those is not the East Coast, so like no, yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry,
because they be the teams in conference and then go
off and win like the D four state. Right now,
that those D four dudes are gonna tell their kids
someday that they want a state championship and that's okay,
you got and that's okay.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
When it comes to division rankings California. If you are
in the Open State Division championship.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
You're the guy.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
You're the guy.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Is like that.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
But I want to say they played Freedom, but they
had a good team. Man, they had a really good team.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
And there's i'll say an high school Harris, you know
what I'm saying. There's art special MIDI there's.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
First of all your school, grand School, crazy, elk Grove stupid.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I mean they got they got so many crazy, like
they got so many people up that way, folksome, folksome
and then the cheek. Then every year they.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Were gonna tell our team Jake Brownie ran all around.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
We saw, we saw we played against him. Man, we
know we know Jake Browning pretty well. We could get
into that in the second.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Let's get into it right now.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
So so you played President State, I was gonna say
you were you were, that was your that was your
out year, right.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
We played Bam of the week before, who was ranked
number one in the country, and happened to play U
dub that next year who the country.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
There were three a p official.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And we honestly were coming off of one and eleven season,
So expectations are not that but we actually.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Kind of like who's quarterback in time?
Speaker 5 (13:23):
Jake Brown for.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
US Marcus Oh, No, it was they didn't make the
switch yet, chasing Chasing Virgil. We were in a quarterback transition,
coaching staff change, So that's a hard pool.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Like we talked about it a little bit earlier, like.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
This is four or after new facility? Uh at present
after after Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
Because we had new facilities. It's like justin thirteen new facility, kid, Yeah,
had no.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Swear.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
Uh we got new we got new turf. Okay, maybe
put new turf in there, new turf they like, put
a new carpet in like our.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Junior year Presido State football one games for other athletics.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
It's one of those deals. I think it was.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Bama U dub is louder than Bama my two after
playing them weeks and then playing them the next week
when you guys were good. I was say, that was
a number one ranked FAMA team against a number three
ranked U doub team in that environment, and I.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
Feel like I can speak on that. I mean as
far as like we're talking Pac twelve sec. You know
what I'm saying. Those type of stadiums, like when Washington
played Oregon. My sophomore year cranking at Oregon.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
I was, yeah, I've been.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I've been to Oregon. Mind you, it's only fifty sixty
thousand Max.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
Friends will say player there.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I watched my.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Friends was really like standing right there too. They can
really throw something. You know what I'm saying, Like I'll
say or I mean obviously Washington, Yeah, Oregon's up there.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
This is just PAC twelve and Utah.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Yeah, my wife went to Utah's crazy jump the Muss.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
It's crazy out there now now for people who don't know,
and I want to preach this more. Yeah, the Coliseum
and the Rose Bowl are sick historically, historically from a
game atmosphere, the most ever comparable to San Jose State.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah, if you if it's if we're talking about from
what the Pact supposed to be to what the Mountain
West is definitely compared.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
U c l A is god awful, Like it's terrible,
like the locker room. It's almost too paid there. And
then I've watched the game there. It's terrible. It's the
same almost like it's too big.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
I think we had we opened up the USC so
first game of the year, everybody's there to go watch
who's who's the quarterbacks?
Speaker 5 (15:48):
But you and j Wright did it. He played, he
just finished playing. He was he was like a nine
year He was like a nine year guy.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
He was. Do you remember her name?
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Oh my god, white boy.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Uh uh supposed to be like the end of transfer somewhere.
We stay's like four other schools. Oh my god, whatever whatever.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I don't know, no, but I think that the atmosphere
UDUB is obviously electric and we experienced you know, Dante
Pettis broke the record against US.
Speaker 5 (16:19):
I vividly was right there, right was.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Me on Mike one another bell. Uh.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
But eventually, so like you're telling you to, you do
your thing, you make a transition eventually to Illinois. Yeah,
what led to that decision?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Really?
Speaker 4 (16:37):
I mean, we get out into it. Man, I'll say Washington,
I wasn't really didn't have my head on straight all
the way I was in and out of football. I'm okay,
football is nice.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Sea.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
I don't don't trying of Dion dabble. I'm trying to
you know what I'm saying. See see see what was about?
It turns out you know what I'm saying, It wasn't
really too locked in coach Pete has sat me down
and was just like had had get talked to me,
was like, man, this last, this is done the season
like this last, you know a couple of weeks like
but I haven't been really like feeling like, you know,
if you want to be here now. So gave me
(17:09):
some time to really think about it. Came back for springball. Boom,
they moved me outside back.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Oh so you gotta see, you gotta see, you see
what's having on the wall. You know what I'm saying,
But I do mess with my my position.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Coach who at the time is coaches Houseki Pete, who's
in Texas. I say Texas the decordinator, but he's school
schools hell. But I'm like, man, it's not not really
my spot. I'm not I'm not, I'm not messing with it.
And I end up going upstairs. You know what I'm saying.
I'm not talking. I'm like, look, you know, I'm trying
(17:44):
to transfer the like okay, Coach Pete. It was like,
I'll you know, I'll help you go wherever.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Cool sounds great?
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Boom, I get my transfer papers, no pack to our
schools and no teams we play in twenty what was that. Yeah,
twenty eighteen, which was big ten a CC. No, No,
not big ten, it was a CC and SEC.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
The whole conference was off limits.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Know I'm saying any team like that exactly. So I
was like, okay, that limits my options. I thought you're
talking about you want to help me. Honestly, I was
findly go back to crib, go back to cow yeah,
and finish it off. I'm like, you know, I'm here,
go home. Tonny Dice is already there. He already gave me.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
He was texting me. He was like, what's up.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
You've seen I was on him, Like the transfer with
no portal back then, you really had to get the
you know what I'm saying, see.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
It, hang on, we're not the FEDS here, man.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
What was like? Uh now?
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Once I posted, uh, like the Twitter like you have
to post on Twitter like the n c A like
official release, d MS was flooded like yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Yeah, but did you have people kind of sliding in
early on? Like because okay, and.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
I want to say, I don't think that is dirty
right now, because you eventually had to sit out a.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Year, yeah I did, But I would say going into it,
I knew I was just like all right. Once I
posted this is good, but it was no prior like,
oh yeah, this is where I'm trying to write, and
so I was thinking about it. But once I posted it,
I'm talking about like everybody from high school was back
like it was crazy. Kevin Suthling, Sunny Dyke's like at TCU,
I forgot the head coach was at the time. I
(19:30):
called Nag I was like, what's Soma?
Speaker 2 (19:31):
He was like fly. I was like, oh, I was,
I was.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
My head was everywhere. I'm eight. I was like yeah,
I was like twenty at the time.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I'm like to go.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
And then kind of really just uh who called Lovely
Smith called my little my little brother. Half the time
it was over there, and and I was just like,
I'm not really familiar with Illinois. I really don't know
where Illinois is at paining Urbana Illinois.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yeah, Mike, could you pick.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Out ILLINOI little map? Yeah you're in league long enough,
He's lying, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
But really, I ain't gonna Chicago, Illinois at least.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Like in the middle of like but so flying flying
to Chicago.
Speaker 5 (20:16):
I'm a town baby. What gets a pizza?
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Yeah? They're like, oh yeah, a little pizza, Like uh, nah, yeah,
you have to. You have to board your next flight,
and like forty five minutes. I'm like, next flight. It's
like it's a little hopper, like I'm talking about twelve
people max. Like so I'm in there. It's like maybe
forty five minute flight. Uh less like down there down
(20:42):
the Champagne. I'm flying over. I see nothing but like
Col's form and then like a pool and I was like, okay,
cool Land one of my homies, uh Foto who actually
played at University of Illinois from San Leandro.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
He was a D line assistant. He picks me up.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
It feels like by home because you're from San Landown,
from Berkeley.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
You know what I'm saying, million face.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
We'll get in there. See it was white Beard recently.
Hello Levey Smithy love, I love you, but hey, how
you doing.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
It's like that.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
It's like that, And I was like, what like this
is like I'm not putting like the phone in the
face like recognition.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I'm just like it ain't working. It ain't working.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
But you know what I'm saying. They hosted me. It
was it was over there for about like two three days.
Got a good feel Illinois, and I was like, I
kind of like it. Here was in the Big Ten.
Knew that I was gonna play at least Wisconsin, Nebraska,
O State, perhaps.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Michigan, Michigan State State. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
That was gonna be at least ranked, you know what
I'm saying. So I'm like, I'm kind of feeling this.
And then once he told me, he was like, nah,
like if you want to come here and play for
next like get to the next level, like.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
We're already here for that.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
I had a no brater once I got back home
and I was like, let me do let me just
go do this instead. It was that then in Oklahoma,
and Oklahoma did not not that they did, but it
was just like, oh yeah, we'd have to have another
athlete on the team.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
And I was like that sounds like a special Team's
body mean by that?
Speaker 4 (22:16):
So yeah, I ended up rocking with Illinois. Was like
that's she's never still got homies to this day. My
whole back seven when I played this is in the league,
Like wow, yeah, crazy, Devin Weather, School, Nate Hobbs, Sydney Brown,
Tony Adams, Jakawan, Martin uh Dratagus Martin not Baquan.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Savage, right, and then eventually you make that push. You
have your experience Illinois. What was your leading up to
the draft mindset process? Do you think you werena get drafted?
Did you know you would be you.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Had got on the bubble or where were you at
twenty nineteen?
Speaker 4 (22:52):
I had got this after my first season, I got
like a like a round like fifth, like they said
third and low. So basically I was like, okay, fivety seven.
I'm like, all right, whatever, I'm come back. COVID happened
now no ball, no ball? And I came back what
like you know what I'm saying, Like, man, what's gonna happen?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Boom?
Speaker 4 (23:12):
That's when everybody at Old State in Michigan, I was
like justin fields and all them, but they were like, uh,
bring football, like everyboy's like hashtaging all this. And then
I was kind of in the middle of things. My
mom at the time, she's a public health professor. She's
on the board of like health like trying to exactly
(23:35):
like what like what's what's uh like trying to figure
out a cure like you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
She's like on that type and she was like, you really.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Want to go back and play football, and one there's
a there's a national crisis going on, and I was
like I'm trying.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
To go lead, like lead, like I don't know how,
like in that time, like.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
I don't know how this is gonna happen, and like
I'm not just gonna put a workout tape of me
just like show up at a pro day like now,
like after just one year. No, we played only say
seven or eight games that season, ended up playing like five.
I had like high ankle spring missed two and them
came back. We played Penn State and like a it
(24:14):
was not a bowl game, but it was like the
last game of the season for like the losing teams.
I don't know, it's whatever it was. It was so weird,
like I don't know how that COVID season just mapped out.
I just knew I was gone.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
After I was just like you know what?
Speaker 4 (24:30):
And I graduated that December. I was like, yeah, I
got my degree online. It was, you know, a little
little parade on I had my captains.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Did you get the walk? Did you go back to
walk the next year? I did not walk. I do
have my diploma though there you go hanging on the wall,
piece of paper. I'm saying on my back read inks
no state certified.
Speaker 5 (24:59):
Baby, I got to wind it back. Your mom was
making decisions on this COVID.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
She was helping. I would say, I wouldn't say making.
She was definitely.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Once she was on the board they were voting, she
would do masks or not.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
She was, she was in, she was in the room.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
She was in the room. Bro.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
How I mean somebody was like an insight source of that.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Bro.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
She doesn't even tell me no, Like, no, she does.
But then she was like like when I was uh,
I mean we talk about league. When I was on
the Commanders, she would come to DC all the time.
I'm like, oh yeah, my mom's going to see me
the whole time. She had the White House, all right, So.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Like that was crazy. It sounds like to me like
your mom was like a really influencing person in your life. Yeah, no,
for sure.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
I mean you like, go about that relationship with your parents,
And I mean I started off, I'm adopted, So I
have two moms, two families. I got my family in Ohio. Okay, yeah,
I got my family Ohio. I got my family in California,
I was raised my family in California, but still was
able to go see my mom and my granny and
my my aunties and cousins and you know, throughout my
throughout my life, you got no facts facts its and
(26:01):
like when when I meet another person that says adopted,
and like, I don't want to dive deep into the
like their family history. But it's just like you don't
always get that, you know, from from from person. It's
just like, you know, some people their adopted and that's
the only family they know, you know what I'm saying,
Like some people are adopted, don't they know the other family,
They don't contact them. So it's like, you know, every
every person has a different story. So I'll say as
(26:24):
far as influence, I mean, growing up, I was, you know,
it was a good kid in school. But once I say,
they let me out the house, I got to explore,
you know what I'm saying, I got my homies.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
I was skating. It was huge in the bed is
huge huge still still and.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
I'll say, like skating really helped develop like my style swag, like.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
You feel me.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
I started learning about shoes, started learning about clothes, started
you know what I'm saying picking up what people was wearing.
Like you know what I'm saying, even though you wasn't
like the sauciest, like you could still have a little
you know what I'm saying, whatever.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
To eat fast fast check advance.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
The vands was in if you have some vans.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
He was saucy check advance. Okay, Hey, so talk to
us about like when did you you ever like your parents?
When did they let you know, like, okay, this situation
your adopted, you can still go over there and hang out,
like it was one of those things where they didn't
tell you you got a little older, or did you
know your whole life growing up?
Speaker 4 (27:32):
I would say I was once I was born on
with my mom about a couple of weeks. This is
them telling me, of course. And then we moved to California,
I would say, once I was in preschool, like I
noticed that, like.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
My mom would come and visit. You know what I'm saying,
Like I knew my.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
Parents that like I knew my mom and my dad
over there, but like I would know like notice that
like boom, like okay, there's another woman in the house.
There's you know what I'm saying. Now I'm like I
wasn't putting two and two together. I just you know
what I'm saying, This is them telling me just like
I don't know, she would come and visit you on
your birthdays or Christmas and you know, things like that.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
And I had the pictures.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Once, I said, they put me on a plane and
I did the unaccompanied minor when I was like seven
years old. I was on the play myselff for like
seven eight years old with a game boy. Yeah, just challenge, yeah,
catching flights and then we would spend like a summer,
like most of the summer with her or whether it
(28:35):
had like a spring break or anything like. This is
when I was in school and then moved to the
East coast, I'll say, for a little bit in.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Province Rhode Island, Okay Island.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
Yeah, the smallest smallest state on the map. Literally it
was over there because my mom was at Brown University.
So yeah, so that's that was crazy. I mean, honestly,
I mean I remember a lot of it, but just
remember probably it's my closer famous car at the time.
He really put me on gaming. Like when I was
at his house, he had he had a PlayStation. Then
(29:07):
PS two dropped, had an Xbox One. He had it
all and like that's when I was like, first time
playing GTA, first time playing Nintendo anything like Mario, like
all that spiral, like Zelda, all the all the all
the games, you know what I'm saying, all the classics.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Moved back to California.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
Once I got to California, I was doing martial arts
and yeah, I was doing my soccer. I not not
ju just just uh just karate and soccer and really
was nice. Was backflipping. I'm like, I was a kid
with all this energy and they're like, bro, we got it.
Like and so yeah, I was doing I was doing
(29:49):
that and that translated into dance. I went to Oakland
School for the Arts like sixth to eighth grade, so
you just did it all. I was like, but I was,
don't put me in anything. But I was just like
I was kidding. I was like, at least I'm out
the house, but I'm not doing so I'm doing something,
you know what I'm saying. And then when it got
to the point or like you know, I know, like
(30:10):
my parents are going to do something, I'm like, all right,
bet like I wanted them to, Oh we're gonna sign
you up be all right, yeah, let me go. You
know what I'm saying man brains as the only child.
I feel like that's what led to that, cause I'm like,
all right, knowing that I'm about to be somewhere where
I have to make new connections, new, new friendships, new whatever,
like kind of put me in that space where I
can go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
I feel comfortable anywhere.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Going through that process though, obviously as more few into
a better man, football player, athlete, person who could deal
in this twenty twenty five world, or what I feel
because I thought people who were just because there's some
dudes and I'm like, I don't know if you're one
of these guys, but there's some guys who are putting
football up first grade and that's all they played their
entire life, and like that's fine, but I get what
(30:54):
you mean on Like it's in some coaches, like they
asked they want multiple multi sport athletes in college rather
than the guy who just focused on one thing. It
could be an advantage in certain cases, but like, yeah,
that's not just playing baseball like karate dance.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
That's want though I'm not even gonna lie to it
was well, it's sixth through eighth and then that was
the first floor and then well it was street story.
Actually first was cafeteria at we had a full theater.
It was Fox Theater in the middle of downtown Oakland.
Like it's literally it's a school wrapped around the whole theater.
Second floor was middle school, third floor high school. And
(31:35):
they had basically everything you need from visual art, vocal theater, dance, music,
you could DJ, you could produce, right, we had that
whole studio like cooking up like eighth graders cooking up
beats like crazy. But no, that that was like, that
was I'll say a humbling experience to me because I
(31:57):
was probably like some genuine friends. I met some legends
that went to that school. Zendaya kay Lannie oh hold sweat. Yeah,
Zenda was in class with me, like we all study all.
She was She was like regular though. She was like cool,
like you know what I'm saying. Nobody bothered her.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
She was doing her thing.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
Kay Lannie was she was a vocal of course, and
she had that's when she first started her pop life,
her journey.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Americans got talent around the corner. That's great.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
Yeah, And so I'll say eighth grade though, I wanted
that switch, so I was like, I ain't trying to
go to high School'm.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Trying to go to a real prom. I'm trying to
play sports.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
That's when I was like, I'm trying to hoop and
then that's why hoop chres and then kind of took
off from there.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
I guys have to say, I appreciate you coming here.
You know, I don't live close. There's a little bit
of hype. No, a little bit of appreciate.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
But man, before we wrap everything up, you got to
just tell me about what was your first Like I'm
in the league moment.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
I know people back home, their people watching, they want
to know, they want to know.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
What was your first A guy who came out of
the Northern California had all these offers, went big, end
up not getting drafted probably possibly probably through COVID, and
then now you're in the league, So what's your life.
I'm in the league moment, I'll say getting called up
to the active roster, okay, and talking to that walk through.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
That it was week fourteen my rookie year. So you've
been on practice squad, you've been undressing.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
Yeah, I was, Yeah, I was actually addressed for one
money count though I learned that quick too. I was like,
but this is Miami. It was by a week week
fourteenth l and at the time I was chilling. I
wasn't really gonna do anything. And that Monday, you know,
(33:37):
he say like, we got to work out, and you
know what I'm saying, it's like the last meeting before.
We don't see each other for like five days. Right
before the meeting, I look at my phone. It's like
six minutes calls from my agent.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
What's going on? He's like boom. My answer. He's like,
Washington once you right now? Like what do you mean?
Speaker 4 (33:54):
You're like, they're gonna put you on your active roster.
I was like like chills, Like I'm like.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
What about you?
Speaker 4 (34:01):
Was on You're on the Jets at this point, right
I want jets undrafted, went straight to Jets, uh, did training,
came with them, and then got waived, and really my
agent was like maybe not thirty minutes later, it was like, you.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Want to go to Miami or she were on the
Dolphins eight literally week one, you're on the Dolphins. You're
you were active for a game. Yep, you dressed for
a game. Unacted most of the time, though, I was
going into a bye week and agents calling you six
minus calls like, yo, you're about you want to go
(34:35):
a different team. They're gonna activate you right there, aggravating
right now.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Crazy, We'll explain, So people don't So people we obviously
know that world, but people don't know how that works.
So how could you go on one to explain to people?
How could you go on one team, get a call
and the next thing you know, I'm acting on another team.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
In fact, so as far as being an undrafted player
in the NFL, you're really not, I'll say, on a
team until they he's signed you to a contract, whether
that be a practice squad contract and one year or
two years whatever. And with that, under the practice squad contract,
(35:10):
the team can claim you. So say, you know, your
rookie year, you went undrafted, you got signed to the Bengals,
and you know you're on the Bengals.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
You're doing your thing.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Come week five, Arizona calls, Hey, is Michael Walker still
on practice squad over there? This is this is you
know a conversation between your agent whoever your representative is
at the time.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
He's like, yeah, he's over here. Well, we'd like to
sign him to the active roster. Boom.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
Once you signed on the active roster, you're part of
the fifty three going into Sunday. And whether that fifty
three means you're playing or you're not, that means you're
getting a paycheck for whatever you're doing on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
And that was the first time I received a call.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
So I was like, damn, it's kind of you know,
life chaining that a team another team wants me, Like
I'm putting all this hard work in, but I mean,
I'm not gonna miss up on this. And my agent
told me, he was like, you can go upstairs right now.
Brian Flores was a coach at the time, really first
coach to really tell me about you have to plan
for me. He was like, look, we got a guy
in front of you, but you know what I'm saying,
he's kind of older. We're gonna come in, you know, develop,
(36:15):
you learn this defense, and you can I was gonna
be a will year or two started for the Dolphins. Luckily,
I'm saying went a different route. But I actually went
up to him and asked him. I was like, hey, man,
like Washington's giving me this opportunity, like take it.
Speaker 5 (36:31):
You You asked your head coach saying like, yo, I'm
gonna go to another team.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
What do you think he said, take it? If I
was you take it? Wow?
Speaker 5 (36:38):
What that's a great dude, right.
Speaker 4 (36:40):
That was man, I'm packed my things. Was on the
first flight to Washington. Mind just November snow on the ground. Yeah, yeah,
I'm coming from I was sick. I was like, oh,
but I'm different than Miami. Different than Miami.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
It was. It was.
Speaker 4 (36:54):
It was like a humbling experience that Sunday playing I
was running down on kickoff playing cowboy.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (37:00):
Yeah, wow, don't even know your own address yet playing that.
Speaker 4 (37:05):
Come on, now, I'm living out of hotels to living
out a hotel. Yeah, if you don't know, once you
get signed, they don't. You don't get no spot. Yeah,
you're in the spot for ten days and then they're like, hey, man,
there's people in the building, football operations that depend on
what team. You know, you have some good players, I
mean good people that help you out with that. But
other than that, though, man, it's definitely been a joint.
Speaker 5 (37:26):
Well now you're an easy we appreciate you. Slide down
and bring the juice
Phoenix, Arizona. We're actually on the outswitch of Phoenix. My guy,
Michael Walker and Mike take it away, all right.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Frank goes. Always good to see you, my man, Always
good to see you. Man. We got a special gas,
real big special gats.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
If you're from northern California, you know this man right here,
my dog man, he's a legend. Go ahead and say
what's up to the people?
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Man going on, Melifler. Pleasure to be here with y'all.
Man Ben fought in the podcast for about a minute.
Man Real tapped in with the West Coast. You know
what I'm saying, so oh, pleasure to be on here, man,
Ready to talk ball already talk about anything, man, you
know I'm saying, just chilling.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I like how you through the the you know the
calis love in there, but you're you're specifically you claim
the Bay right from.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I'm from the bed Yeah, yeah, yeah, Berkeley.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
The being I was writing down, I was gonna go
when I say the Bay, people get.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
Really specific sometimes about where they're from, Like there's a cutoff.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I dated a chick from Alameda, so I learned all
about the different cutoffs in the Bay, and I would
be just kind of a different cat compared to certain areas.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
I mean, I have some friends from over there, so
I ain't going they're cool. I ain't gonna just include them.
They're cool in my book, but from other people, you
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Who would you say?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
And being a big guy, I always like to ask
us it's like, who's who are the goats out of
the Bay musically, athletically, Like who do people.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
Claim from the Bay?
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Well, obviously, you know you have the forty too short,
you got legends, Uh what's name from? You got Marshawn Lynch,
you got Aaron Rodgers, you got John Holland, you got
you got some younger cats. You know, it's it's a lot.
(01:49):
It's a lot from culture. I feel like the Bay
Area culture, the way it's developed and grew, and how
it's kind of spread out all over and like people
really represent as well. So Damian Lillard for for perhaps
you know what I'm saying, so good friend of mine,
But you know what I'm saying. They I feel like
(02:10):
everybody in their own way kind of uses the Bay
to as a as a resource and and spreads that
resource where they go.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
You know what I'm saying, so, yeah, so I want
to I want to dive right into it.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I mean, growing up in northern California, Yeah, I claim
Sacrament I don't clam area.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
So growing up, yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
So growing up growing up in that area, it was
kind of hard for guys, you know, back in the
day to get recruited bigger schools. You know, if you
were a five star recruit back in the day, you're going.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
To Pac twelve. You ain't going to the sec ACC
back in the day. Now, these kids they going going anywhere.
But I mean, just talk about how it was for you,
because I mean you went big. I started. I ain't.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
My football experience has been in a lot of different
than the most I would say.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I ain't start to really my junior year.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
I played my sophomore year, but I was was out
there in high school, high school, and you.
Speaker 5 (03:02):
Didn't play yourself.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
You didn't.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
I got to know you said you didn't play your
freshman year high school.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
No, I ain't playing no no football, no past, no nothing,
no seven on, no anything.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah that's so.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Sophomore year got introduced by uh Party Niggerson, another Bay
Area legend. He was a head coach at time, and
convinced my mom president at the school, basketball coach Lou Ritchie,
another Bay Area legend too, but they all kind of
congomerated and it was like, hey, man, your son needs
(03:35):
to play football. This My mom's right next to me,
just all at the school. They're like, hey, We're gonna
have this meeting and sit down. And I'm like, I'm
like sixty years old at the time. I'm like, what's
going on, Like everybody's sitting down at the big round.
So after that, I really, you know, it wasn't even
a lock in. It was just my friends were playing
football at the time, so I was having fun with it.
I was just like kind of understanding what it was.
(03:57):
But I remember this like vividly. First putting on paths.
Everything was at Cal football camp.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
You know how those are full call a tact baby,
come on three days straight.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
Yeah, it'll do it like you want. I appreciate the
full call attack cap.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
I appreciate it because it really, you know what I'm saying,
put a hat on the hat to see what you got.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
You know, It's.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
It's really no, it's like really it was. It was
high contact. But like for me, it was just kind
of seeing where I fit in. So in about three days,
I payed like five different positions. So I went from
running back to tight end, then switched to linebacker, then
play d N finished off.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
At d D in like a matter of three days.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
So did you tell them like, hey, man, like I
really don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
I mean, I'm over here getting the reps wherever we
all go.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Well I appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
No, No, which is crazy because like I mean, I'm
just like learning as I go. But like at my size,
I was probably I'm kind of the same size as
I was at sixteen, but I just ain't had any muscles.
I was just like this kind of skinny, kind of
broad dude. But but they're like, damn, who is that?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Like left that day? Let's left the football camp with
a cow offer.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
You never played a down of football and you left
with an offer.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Left with a cow offer.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
No, I didn't know that's never played a down of
football and you went to the cow camp and you
left with an.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Offer, left with a cow offer for what position? Linebacker?
Speaker 5 (05:22):
We'll find a spot for this time. We're gonna find
this guy's gonna be a cow bear baby.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
So the piggyback on that. I mean my my parents,
Uh they work at UC Berkeley. My mom's professor that
as an architectural librarian.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
So that kind of being in Berkeley and having that
growing up kind of going to some Bears games didn't
going a lot because honestly, they're academically staying.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Really, why did you go hurt yourself?
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Like your brain come on man ct like like literally
all these talks and finally kind of one stage seem like, oh,
you can go to college for free, like we're all in,
and kind of went from there and this skyrocketing.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
So what what ultimate made decisions? Pick you up?
Speaker 4 (06:08):
A little bit of I'll say say culture, family, friends, coach.
So one of my good friends Kevin King at the time,
he went to Bischbo Dad with me and I feel
like we got some company. But uh, my good friend
Kevin King went up there, visited him, he hosted me.
(06:30):
Buddah Baker was on the team at time. Vida Veya, Well,
I'll get down to that. We will talk about that later.
That roster's crazy, but I was just you know, income
and trying to see what what a college visitor even
what a college experience was and they made it feel
like home. Like I was in the locker and they
was already wrapping me up from like like I was
on the team. I was like, man, this is weird,
like because you know sometimes on visits, you know, you
(06:53):
get those awkward reactions from the guys that're like he's here,
he comes and try to take my spider.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Were just like don't really care.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
They're like, man, I'm already here, like I'm trying to
get to the next level. But all these guys were like, Noah,
come here, like like from other schools, like come to you, dub.
You know what I'm saying, We'll get you right. You
might not play right away, but you're you're gonna make
something that your name, you know what I'm saying. So
I was like, damn, this is kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
One on three, do is this?
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Two unofficials, one official after that, and then over that
was only school I visited, like I went back to
and I was like I'm telling my parents, I'm like, no,
I'm going back, like when we going back to you
that like this is all throughout the recruiting experience. So
I say him my coach Napoleon Cofflin. He was he
went to university watching and played on the Raiders, an
(07:36):
amazing running back. He had some guidance with it, but
he was just telling me like, really weigh your options,
you know what I'm saying, talked about the pros and cons,
do all that, and then I say, finally, like just
having a good school and I away from home. That
was kind of closer home. It was kind of like
the straw. I was like, I don't really want to stay.
I really want to go to seat Yeah. Uh but
(08:01):
you know they played.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I was like, it's over with.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
So I was like, you know, going down the list
had the top five it was A and M Michigan Oregon.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Hey, yeah, bring it back there.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Okay, let's not act like oh yeah, you know, cow
off for me and I kind of liked you the better.
A and M.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
You had the gauntlet, you had everything.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Well it got to that point like because but you
have got your heart early yeah, I'll say early on
in the recruiting process, I say, really, pop off, I
did that Nike an STC Yeah yeah, back in the day.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
Hey, the elite, the Nike Elite era.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Can we take it sex to.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
Appreciate the Nike Leader.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
It was a change game game.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
I think I want to dick Sporting Goods. The day
they dropped, I went to I.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Went to do you had to Yeah, seventeen, you got
twenty dollars.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
This guy's got dreams.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Now made sure I had shorts, like yeah, there's no
way I'm wearing long pants with night at least.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, I got to see these.
Speaker 5 (08:59):
Maybe I want what two pairs on. I'm gonna have
the double Nike.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Shotta double them up now.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I want to keep that that train thought when comes
to college. But for people who don't know, talk about
how big basketball is in northern California.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Mano, if you're a hooper in the like in just
in California, I'll say northern California though Spacific.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Like you, you're talked about.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
You were on the you know, on the TV almost
every weekend in newspapers at the time sports.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Uh what's it called Cali? No?
Speaker 3 (09:31):
No, they had cal prap, cal prap.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
You're on the you're on the You're on the weekend,
and they play now the weekend highlights like yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Oh soldiers different now different soldiers. You if he played
on the soldiers, use you certified, played on the same
thing as Lebron.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Yeah all right now, but I'll say just the culture
and not like how it developed and grew. Definitely, I'll
say more kids one of the just go hool as
far as you know, not putting on passing, going going
on the grid ard. That's how I started, man, I was.
I was about to go to Berkeley hot. I was hot,
(10:11):
get down the mud, you know what I'm saying. But
it was up the street. I'm five minutes down the street.
I'm like, I can go to class, I can come home,
I can do edit. And I had friends that were going.
It turns out I applied to bishel Dow like a
month before. There were some people that were like, we'll
let you in. I guess, and then I was like cool,
this changed my life.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
You gotta really dive in because the people don't know
about bish unless you're from the area.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Know about Bishop Odell. If you play at Bishop Dell,
you're on them. We're not talking about what.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
There's probably ten high schools and Cali.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
It's like, you know, you know Moscow, that's all say bishops.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
The thing I say, we're not in the top, but
we in the conversation. The thing about North cal is like,
so it's different. So they have all those school they
have all those, all those already have all them In
North California, you got daldw Yeah, and then after.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
That then you have it's like a different yeer And
then you really got to map it out to where
where you're located. You know what I'm saying, because you
can go all the way to I don't know where.
It's like Freedom, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
You can go to That's who played in state championship Freedom, Freedom,
my brother's team. So we're middle of California. So like
when you win, you are sections. They call it valleys,
which is just like your section.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Champions what division high school were either two or one.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
Depending all the year. Because we're only like six hundred
kids and it's.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
One of those is not the East Coast, so like no, yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry,
because they be the teams in conference and then go
off and win like the D four state. Right now,
that those D four dudes are gonna tell their kids
someday that they want a state championship and that's okay,
you got and that's okay.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
When it comes to division rankings California. If you are
in the Open State Division championship.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
You're the guy.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
You're the guy.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Is like that.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
But I want to say they played Freedom, but they
had a good team. Man, they had a really good team.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
And there's i'll say an high school Harris, you know
what I'm saying. There's art special MIDI there's.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
First of all your school, grand School, crazy, elk Grove stupid.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I mean they got they got so many crazy, like
they got so many people up that way, folksome, folksome
and then the cheek. Then every year they.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Were gonna tell our team Jake Brownie ran all around.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
We saw, we saw we played against him. Man, we
know we know Jake Browning pretty well. We could get
into that in the second.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Let's get into it right now.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
So so you played President State, I was gonna say
you were you were, that was your that was your
out year, right.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
We played Bam of the week before, who was ranked
number one in the country, and happened to play U
dub that next year who the country.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
There were three a p official.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And we honestly were coming off of one and eleven season,
So expectations are not that but we actually.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Kind of like who's quarterback in time?
Speaker 5 (13:23):
Jake Brown for.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
US Marcus Oh, No, it was they didn't make the
switch yet, chasing Chasing Virgil. We were in a quarterback transition,
coaching staff change, So that's a hard pool.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Like we talked about it a little bit earlier, like.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
This is four or after new facility? Uh at present
after after Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
Because we had new facilities. It's like justin thirteen new facility, kid, Yeah,
had no.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Swear.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
Uh we got new we got new turf. Okay, maybe
put new turf in there, new turf they like, put
a new carpet in like our.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Junior year Presido State football one games for other athletics.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
It's one of those deals. I think it was.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Bama U dub is louder than Bama my two after
playing them weeks and then playing them the next week
when you guys were good. I was say, that was
a number one ranked FAMA team against a number three
ranked U doub team in that environment, and I.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
Feel like I can speak on that. I mean as
far as like we're talking Pac twelve sec. You know
what I'm saying. Those type of stadiums, like when Washington
played Oregon. My sophomore year cranking at Oregon.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
I was, yeah, I've been.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I've been to Oregon. Mind you, it's only fifty sixty
thousand Max.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
Friends will say player there.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I watched my.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Friends was really like standing right there too. They can
really throw something. You know what I'm saying, Like I'll
say or I mean obviously Washington, Yeah, Oregon's up there.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
This is just PAC twelve and Utah.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Yeah, my wife went to Utah's crazy jump the Muss.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
It's crazy out there now now for people who don't know,
and I want to preach this more. Yeah, the Coliseum
and the Rose Bowl are sick historically, historically from a
game atmosphere, the most ever comparable to San Jose State.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah, if you if it's if we're talking about from
what the Pact supposed to be to what the Mountain
West is definitely compared.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
U c l A is god awful, Like it's terrible,
like the locker room. It's almost too paid there. And
then I've watched the game there. It's terrible. It's the
same almost like it's too big.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
I think we had we opened up the USC so
first game of the year, everybody's there to go watch
who's who's the quarterbacks?
Speaker 5 (15:48):
But you and j Wright did it. He played, he
just finished playing. He was he was like a nine
year He was like a nine year guy.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
He was. Do you remember her name?
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Oh my god, white boy.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Uh uh supposed to be like the end of transfer somewhere.
We stay's like four other schools. Oh my god, whatever whatever.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I don't know, no, but I think that the atmosphere
UDUB is obviously electric and we experienced you know, Dante
Pettis broke the record against US.
Speaker 5 (16:19):
I vividly was right there, right was.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Me on Mike one another bell. Uh.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
But eventually, so like you're telling you to, you do
your thing, you make a transition eventually to Illinois. Yeah,
what led to that decision?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Really?
Speaker 4 (16:37):
I mean, we get out into it. Man, I'll say Washington,
I wasn't really didn't have my head on straight all
the way I was in and out of football. I'm okay,
football is nice.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Sea.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
I don't don't trying of Dion dabble. I'm trying to
you know what I'm saying. See see see what was about?
It turns out you know what I'm saying, It wasn't
really too locked in coach Pete has sat me down
and was just like had had get talked to me,
was like, man, this last, this is done the season
like this last, you know a couple of weeks like
but I haven't been really like feeling like, you know,
if you want to be here now. So gave me
(17:09):
some time to really think about it. Came back for springball. Boom,
they moved me outside back.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Oh so you gotta see, you gotta see, you see
what's having on the wall. You know what I'm saying,
But I do mess with my my position.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Coach who at the time is coaches Houseki Pete, who's
in Texas. I say Texas the decordinator, but he's school
schools hell. But I'm like, man, it's not not really
my spot. I'm not I'm not, I'm not messing with it.
And I end up going upstairs. You know what I'm saying.
I'm not talking. I'm like, look, you know, I'm trying
(17:44):
to transfer the like okay, Coach Pete. It was like,
I'll you know, I'll help you go wherever.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Cool sounds great?
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Boom, I get my transfer papers, no pack to our
schools and no teams we play in twenty what was that. Yeah,
twenty eighteen, which was big ten a CC. No, No,
not big ten, it was a CC and SEC.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
The whole conference was off limits.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Know I'm saying any team like that exactly. So I
was like, okay, that limits my options. I thought you're
talking about you want to help me. Honestly, I was
findly go back to crib, go back to cow yeah,
and finish it off. I'm like, you know, I'm here,
go home. Tonny Dice is already there. He already gave me.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
He was texting me. He was like, what's up.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
You've seen I was on him, Like the transfer with
no portal back then, you really had to get the
you know what I'm saying, see.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
It, hang on, we're not the FEDS here, man.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
What was like? Uh now?
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Once I posted, uh, like the Twitter like you have
to post on Twitter like the n c A like
official release, d MS was flooded like yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Yeah, but did you have people kind of sliding in
early on? Like because okay, and.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
I want to say, I don't think that is dirty
right now, because you eventually had to sit out a.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Year, yeah I did, But I would say going into it,
I knew I was just like all right. Once I
posted this is good, but it was no prior like,
oh yeah, this is where I'm trying to write, and
so I was thinking about it. But once I posted it,
I'm talking about like everybody from high school was back
like it was crazy. Kevin Suthling, Sunny Dyke's like at TCU,
I forgot the head coach was at the time. I
(19:30):
called Nag I was like, what's Soma?
Speaker 2 (19:31):
He was like fly. I was like, oh, I was,
I was.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
My head was everywhere. I'm eight. I was like yeah,
I was like twenty at the time.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
I'm like to go.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
And then kind of really just uh who called Lovely
Smith called my little my little brother. Half the time
it was over there, and and I was just like,
I'm not really familiar with Illinois. I really don't know
where Illinois is at paining Urbana Illinois.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yeah, Mike, could you pick.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Out ILLINOI little map? Yeah you're in league long enough,
He's lying, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
But really, I ain't gonna Chicago, Illinois at least.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Like in the middle of like but so flying flying
to Chicago.
Speaker 5 (20:16):
I'm a town baby. What gets a pizza?
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Yeah? They're like, oh yeah, a little pizza, Like uh, nah, yeah,
you have to. You have to board your next flight,
and like forty five minutes. I'm like, next flight. It's
like it's a little hopper, like I'm talking about twelve
people max. Like so I'm in there. It's like maybe
forty five minute flight. Uh less like down there down
(20:42):
the Champagne. I'm flying over. I see nothing but like
Col's form and then like a pool and I was like, okay,
cool Land one of my homies, uh Foto who actually
played at University of Illinois from San Leandro.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
He was a D line assistant. He picks me up.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
It feels like by home because you're from San Landown,
from Berkeley.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
You know what I'm saying, million face.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
We'll get in there. See it was white Beard recently.
Hello Levey Smithy love, I love you, but hey, how
you doing.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
It's like that.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
It's like that, And I was like, what like this
is like I'm not putting like the phone in the
face like recognition.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I'm just like it ain't working. It ain't working.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
But you know what I'm saying. They hosted me. It
was it was over there for about like two three days.
Got a good feel Illinois, and I was like, I
kind of like it. Here was in the Big Ten.
Knew that I was gonna play at least Wisconsin, Nebraska,
O State, perhaps.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Michigan, Michigan State State. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
That was gonna be at least ranked, you know what
I'm saying. So I'm like, I'm kind of feeling this.
And then once he told me, he was like, nah,
like if you want to come here and play for
next like get to the next level, like.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
We're already here for that.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
I had a no brater once I got back home
and I was like, let me do let me just
go do this instead. It was that then in Oklahoma,
and Oklahoma did not not that they did, but it
was just like, oh yeah, we'd have to have another
athlete on the team.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
And I was like that sounds like a special Team's
body mean by that?
Speaker 4 (22:16):
So yeah, I ended up rocking with Illinois. Was like
that's she's never still got homies to this day. My
whole back seven when I played this is in the league,
Like wow, yeah, crazy, Devin Weather, School, Nate Hobbs, Sydney Brown,
Tony Adams, Jakawan, Martin uh Dratagus Martin not Baquan.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Savage, right, and then eventually you make that push. You
have your experience Illinois. What was your leading up to
the draft mindset process? Do you think you werena get drafted?
Did you know you would be you.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Had got on the bubble or where were you at
twenty nineteen?
Speaker 4 (22:52):
I had got this after my first season, I got
like a like a round like fifth, like they said
third and low. So basically I was like, okay, fivety seven.
I'm like, all right, whatever, I'm come back. COVID happened
now no ball, no ball? And I came back what
like you know what I'm saying, Like, man, what's gonna happen?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Boom?
Speaker 4 (23:12):
That's when everybody at Old State in Michigan, I was
like justin fields and all them, but they were like, uh,
bring football, like everyboy's like hashtaging all this. And then
I was kind of in the middle of things. My
mom at the time, she's a public health professor. She's
on the board of like health like trying to exactly
(23:35):
like what like what's what's uh like trying to figure
out a cure like you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
She's like on that type and she was like, you really.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Want to go back and play football, and one there's
a there's a national crisis going on, and I was
like I'm trying.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
To go lead, like lead, like I don't know how,
like in that time, like.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
I don't know how this is gonna happen, and like
I'm not just gonna put a workout tape of me
just like show up at a pro day like now,
like after just one year. No, we played only say
seven or eight games that season, ended up playing like five.
I had like high ankle spring missed two and them
came back. We played Penn State and like a it
(24:14):
was not a bowl game, but it was like the
last game of the season for like the losing teams.
I don't know, it's whatever it was. It was so weird,
like I don't know how that COVID season just mapped out.
I just knew I was gone.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
After I was just like you know what?
Speaker 4 (24:30):
And I graduated that December. I was like, yeah, I
got my degree online. It was, you know, a little
little parade on I had my captains.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Did you get the walk? Did you go back to
walk the next year? I did not walk. I do
have my diploma though there you go hanging on the wall,
piece of paper. I'm saying on my back read inks
no state certified.
Speaker 5 (24:59):
Baby, I got to wind it back. Your mom was
making decisions on this COVID.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
She was helping. I would say, I wouldn't say making.
She was definitely.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Once she was on the board they were voting, she
would do masks or not.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
She was, she was in, she was in the room.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
She was in the room. Bro.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
How I mean somebody was like an insight source of that.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Bro.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
She doesn't even tell me no, Like, no, she does.
But then she was like like when I was uh,
I mean we talk about league. When I was on
the Commanders, she would come to DC all the time.
I'm like, oh yeah, my mom's going to see me
the whole time. She had the White House, all right, So.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Like that was crazy. It sounds like to me like
your mom was like a really influencing person in your life. Yeah, no,
for sure.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
I mean you like, go about that relationship with your parents,
And I mean I started off, I'm adopted, So I
have two moms, two families. I got my family in Ohio. Okay, yeah,
I got my family Ohio. I got my family in California,
I was raised my family in California, but still was
able to go see my mom and my granny and
my my aunties and cousins and you know, throughout my
throughout my life, you got no facts facts its and
(26:01):
like when when I meet another person that says adopted,
and like, I don't want to dive deep into the
like their family history. But it's just like you don't
always get that, you know, from from from person. It's
just like, you know, some people their adopted and that's
the only family they know, you know what I'm saying,
Like some people are adopted, don't they know the other family,
They don't contact them. So it's like, you know, every
every person has a different story. So I'll say as
(26:24):
far as influence, I mean, growing up, I was, you know,
it was a good kid in school. But once I say,
they let me out the house, I got to explore,
you know what I'm saying, I got my homies.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
I was skating. It was huge in the bed is
huge huge still still and.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
I'll say, like skating really helped develop like my style swag, like.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
You feel me.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
I started learning about shoes, started learning about clothes, started
you know what I'm saying picking up what people was wearing.
Like you know what I'm saying, even though you wasn't
like the sauciest, like you could still have a little
you know what I'm saying, whatever.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
To eat fast fast check advance.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
The vands was in if you have some vans.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
He was saucy check advance. Okay, Hey, so talk to
us about like when did you you ever like your parents?
When did they let you know, like, okay, this situation
your adopted, you can still go over there and hang out,
like it was one of those things where they didn't
tell you you got a little older, or did you
know your whole life growing up?
Speaker 4 (27:32):
I would say I was once I was born on
with my mom about a couple of weeks. This is
them telling me, of course. And then we moved to California,
I would say, once I was in preschool, like I
noticed that, like.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
My mom would come and visit. You know what I'm saying,
Like I knew my.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
Parents that like I knew my mom and my dad
over there, but like I would know like notice that
like boom, like okay, there's another woman in the house.
There's you know what I'm saying. Now I'm like I
wasn't putting two and two together. I just you know
what I'm saying, This is them telling me just like
I don't know, she would come and visit you on
your birthdays or Christmas and you know, things like that.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
And I had the pictures.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Once, I said, they put me on a plane and
I did the unaccompanied minor when I was like seven
years old. I was on the play myselff for like
seven eight years old with a game boy. Yeah, just challenge, yeah,
catching flights and then we would spend like a summer,
like most of the summer with her or whether it
(28:35):
had like a spring break or anything like. This is
when I was in school and then moved to the
East coast, I'll say, for a little bit in.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Province Rhode Island, Okay Island.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
Yeah, the smallest smallest state on the map. Literally it
was over there because my mom was at Brown University.
So yeah, so that's that was crazy. I mean, honestly,
I mean I remember a lot of it, but just
remember probably it's my closer famous car at the time.
He really put me on gaming. Like when I was
at his house, he had he had a PlayStation. Then
(29:07):
PS two dropped, had an Xbox One. He had it
all and like that's when I was like, first time
playing GTA, first time playing Nintendo anything like Mario, like
all that spiral, like Zelda, all the all the all
the games, you know what I'm saying, all the classics.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Moved back to California.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
Once I got to California, I was doing martial arts
and yeah, I was doing my soccer. I not not
ju just just uh just karate and soccer and really
was nice. Was backflipping. I'm like, I was a kid
with all this energy and they're like, bro, we got it.
Like and so yeah, I was doing I was doing
(29:49):
that and that translated into dance. I went to Oakland
School for the Arts like sixth to eighth grade, so
you just did it all. I was like, but I was,
don't put me in anything. But I was just like
I was kidding. I was like, at least I'm out
the house, but I'm not doing so I'm doing something,
you know what I'm saying. And then when it got
to the point or like you know, I know, like
(30:10):
my parents are going to do something, I'm like, all right,
bet like I wanted them to, Oh we're gonna sign
you up be all right, yeah, let me go. You
know what I'm saying man brains as the only child.
I feel like that's what led to that, cause I'm like,
all right, knowing that I'm about to be somewhere where
I have to make new connections, new, new friendships, new whatever,
like kind of put me in that space where I
can go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
I feel comfortable anywhere.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Going through that process though, obviously as more few into
a better man, football player, athlete, person who could deal
in this twenty twenty five world, or what I feel
because I thought people who were just because there's some
dudes and I'm like, I don't know if you're one
of these guys, but there's some guys who are putting
football up first grade and that's all they played their
entire life, and like that's fine, but I get what
(30:54):
you mean on Like it's in some coaches, like they
asked they want multiple multi sport athletes in college rather
than the guy who just focused on one thing. It
could be an advantage in certain cases, but like, yeah,
that's not just playing baseball like karate dance.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
That's want though I'm not even gonna lie to it
was well, it's sixth through eighth and then that was
the first floor and then well it was street story.
Actually first was cafeteria at we had a full theater.
It was Fox Theater in the middle of downtown Oakland.
Like it's literally it's a school wrapped around the whole theater.
Second floor was middle school, third floor high school. And
(31:35):
they had basically everything you need from visual art, vocal theater, dance, music,
you could DJ, you could produce, right, we had that
whole studio like cooking up like eighth graders cooking up
beats like crazy. But no, that that was like, that
was I'll say a humbling experience to me because I
(31:57):
was probably like some genuine friends. I met some legends
that went to that school. Zendaya kay Lannie oh hold sweat. Yeah,
Zenda was in class with me, like we all study all.
She was She was like regular though. She was like cool,
like you know what I'm saying. Nobody bothered her.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
She was doing her thing.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
Kay Lannie was she was a vocal of course, and
she had that's when she first started her pop life,
her journey.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Americans got talent around the corner. That's great.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
Yeah, And so I'll say eighth grade though, I wanted
that switch, so I was like, I ain't trying to
go to high School'm.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Trying to go to a real prom. I'm trying to
play sports.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
That's when I was like, I'm trying to hoop and
then that's why hoop chres and then kind of took
off from there.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
I guys have to say, I appreciate you coming here.
You know, I don't live close. There's a little bit
of hype. No, a little bit of appreciate.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
But man, before we wrap everything up, you got to
just tell me about what was your first Like I'm
in the league moment.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
I know people back home, their people watching, they want
to know, they want to know.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
What was your first A guy who came out of
the Northern California had all these offers, went big, end
up not getting drafted probably possibly probably through COVID, and
then now you're in the league, So what's your life.
I'm in the league moment, I'll say getting called up
to the active roster, okay, and talking to that walk through.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
That it was week fourteen my rookie year. So you've
been on practice squad, you've been undressing.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
Yeah, I was, Yeah, I was actually addressed for one
money count though I learned that quick too. I was like,
but this is Miami. It was by a week week
fourteenth l and at the time I was chilling. I
wasn't really gonna do anything. And that Monday, you know,
(33:37):
he say like, we got to work out, and you
know what I'm saying, it's like the last meeting before.
We don't see each other for like five days. Right
before the meeting, I look at my phone. It's like
six minutes calls from my agent.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
What's going on? He's like boom. My answer. He's like,
Washington once you right now? Like what do you mean?
Speaker 4 (33:54):
You're like, they're gonna put you on your active roster.
I was like like chills, Like I'm like.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
What about you?
Speaker 4 (34:01):
Was on You're on the Jets at this point, right
I want jets undrafted, went straight to Jets, uh, did training,
came with them, and then got waived, and really my
agent was like maybe not thirty minutes later, it was like, you.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Want to go to Miami or she were on the
Dolphins eight literally week one, you're on the Dolphins. You're
you were active for a game. Yep, you dressed for
a game. Unacted most of the time, though, I was
going into a bye week and agents calling you six
minus calls like, yo, you're about you want to go
(34:35):
a different team. They're gonna activate you right there, aggravating
right now.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Crazy, We'll explain, So people don't So people we obviously
know that world, but people don't know how that works.
So how could you go on one to explain to people?
How could you go on one team, get a call
and the next thing you know, I'm acting on another team.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
In fact, so as far as being an undrafted player
in the NFL, you're really not, I'll say, on a
team until they he's signed you to a contract, whether
that be a practice squad contract and one year or
two years whatever. And with that, under the practice squad contract,
(35:10):
the team can claim you. So say, you know, your
rookie year, you went undrafted, you got signed to the Bengals,
and you know you're on the Bengals.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
You're doing your thing.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Come week five, Arizona calls, Hey, is Michael Walker still
on practice squad over there? This is this is you
know a conversation between your agent whoever your representative is
at the time.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
He's like, yeah, he's over here. Well, we'd like to
sign him to the active roster. Boom.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
Once you signed on the active roster, you're part of
the fifty three going into Sunday. And whether that fifty
three means you're playing or you're not, that means you're
getting a paycheck for whatever you're doing on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
And that was the first time I received a call.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
So I was like, damn, it's kind of you know,
life chaining that a team another team wants me, Like
I'm putting all this hard work in, but I mean,
I'm not gonna miss up on this. And my agent
told me, he was like, you can go upstairs right now.
Brian Flores was a coach at the time, really first
coach to really tell me about you have to plan
for me. He was like, look, we got a guy
in front of you, but you know what I'm saying,
he's kind of older. We're gonna come in, you know, develop,
(36:15):
you learn this defense, and you can I was gonna
be a will year or two started for the Dolphins. Luckily,
I'm saying went a different route. But I actually went
up to him and asked him. I was like, hey, man,
like Washington's giving me this opportunity, like take it.
Speaker 5 (36:31):
You You asked your head coach saying like, yo, I'm
gonna go to another team.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
What do you think he said, take it? If I
was you take it? Wow?
Speaker 5 (36:38):
What that's a great dude, right.
Speaker 4 (36:40):
That was man, I'm packed my things. Was on the
first flight to Washington. Mind just November snow on the ground. Yeah, yeah,
I'm coming from I was sick. I was like, oh,
but I'm different than Miami. Different than Miami.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
It was. It was.
Speaker 4 (36:54):
It was like a humbling experience that Sunday playing I
was running down on kickoff playing cowboy.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (37:00):
Yeah, wow, don't even know your own address yet playing that.
Speaker 4 (37:05):
Come on, now, I'm living out of hotels to living
out a hotel. Yeah, if you don't know, once you
get signed, they don't. You don't get no spot. Yeah,
you're in the spot for ten days and then they're like, hey, man,
there's people in the building, football operations that depend on
what team. You know, you have some good players, I
mean good people that help you out with that. But
other than that, though, man, it's definitely been a joint.
Speaker 5 (37:26):
Well now you're an easy we appreciate you. Slide down
and bring the juice
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