August 6, 2023 • 50 mins
New England Patriots linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley tells stories about being drafted and explains how playing Madden and watching Dont’a Hightower motivated him to become a football player.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, it is your host, Andre Norman, and
we are back. We're in the building. I mean, this
is like I don't want to see hollow Land because
that's Green Bay. I ain't gonna steal that from them.
Hollerand on them Green Bay. This hollow Land. That's real talk.
That's going back to the days. We ain't gonna just
reinvent history what I'm saying. But we definitely on some
(00:21):
new ground. Yes, this is the first real dynasty official
official people that have done some things in the past,
but we're in the real dynasty space. We're here at
you Let Stadium. I'm saying, what a phenomenal standout. Mister,
growing up with Dlame Bentley. Did that make you want one? Yeah?
I mean especially growing up young kids, that's all you know,
(00:43):
they call you that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Most of the people only call me Bentley. Growing up,
they will call me Bentley. And then the next question
is you got a building? You got one? Did you
ever get one? Nah Na, still still on the bucket list.
But one thing at a time.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
One thing at a time. Yeah. So you grew up
in Maryland, Yeah, PG County will be exact. Not to
be confused with Baltimore City, not to be confused with Baltimore.
And that's no shade of Baltimore. You from where you're from? Yeah,
they would say the same thing. He ain't from here,
from the county from I used to watch The Wire
and they used to always say the county and then
dudes would say the city were going down in the county.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
That's y'all shocking the most. I've just seen The Wire
not too long ago, right, I know, I know how
you not watch working through it?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
We're working through it. That's like one of the best
TV shows ever made. I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I mean everybody told me that growing up too, especially
when when the other young kids will watch it, they like, hey, man,
you've seen the Wire episode.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You can watch it on YouTube. You could watch the clips,
the main clips. That's all I do is watch clips.
Now I've watched the whole five seasons. I just watched clips.
I need back I it's some scenes I gotta go
back to too, because people still talk about it. So
from PG County? What was it like growing up in
PG County? Uh?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Fun? I mean, especially being a young kid. Uh that
was are the times he was always outside, you always
to hide and go seek outside.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Did you make that hide and go seegether hide and
go seek?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, I mean especially at church. I grew up in
the church too, so right when church were let out,
you know where your grandparents stayed there a little bit
longer than the service. Kind of back you're going outside
and you playing. Most of the time it was hide
and go see, playing tag, all those kinds of games
just to occupy the time. So yeah, PG County, Uh,
real culture. I would say the culture was kind of
it was different all the time. I would say it
(02:23):
always even a lingo. Uh, certain words that we used
back then we don't use anymore. It kind of just
evolved over time. Some of it was New York's slange
that kind of bled over to the New York New
York's in blading and everything. Yeah, so even the Thams,
like we started rocking the towns, but we switched it
over the Nike boots. So that's kind of the DMV staple. Okay, yeah,
(02:45):
we went DMV now. I remember before DMV.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
It was just no, it was just DC didn't claim y'all,
d C didn't merge. That's a Baltimore thing, you d
m V DC dudes, is just like we DC something know.
DC dudes never called it DM that came later. That
just became like the branding. It sounds good. It sounds
good because even it's not even the entire Virginia I was.
I was in the FEDS locked up in the eighties,
and that was a lot of DC dudes. I never
(03:10):
heard him say DMV. They probably didn't like it. The
DC dudes and the Maryland dudes always be like not
at odds, but it was like too close.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It is different, especially when you when you're from there,
like you know, when you entered d C and you
know where when it's like.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
The Jersey dudes and the Newark dudes and the New
York dudes, Yeah, too close. I almost exactly like that
too close, so you kind of you know, you know
where that you know where that line is getting close.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So after church, after church, I mean I would say
I went to a private Christian school, Nanny Helen Borrows
Elementary School. Uh, learned a lot there, but then quickly
sae that jud Freeman Middle School, which is where Kevin Durant.
Kevin Durant went went to school there. Yeah, and then
we was right next door to Suitland High School where
(03:58):
naval bowman uh linebacker for the forty nine ers went
to school.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So we was literally a fence.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
So we'll we'll be out of school at four o'clock,
they'll be at school at three o'clock most of the times.
But if we had a little back and forth, they'll
be waiting on us. Why we school exactly. So it
was a lot going on, say meet me at defense
exactly what they said. So we were trying to like
beat the bus there. So I mean sometimes you ran
into you ran into the little high school bullies and
everything like that. But I felt like back in the
(04:25):
day that kind of built a little bit of character.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Oh no, no, So I told ourself, you coming in here
like six two two forty whatever it is, you was
getting bullied back back in the days.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I've always kind of been this big though, like so
five to ten. I was probably five ten, so this
size shorter five ten to forty in middle school.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And people was picking at you still. Oh yeah, nobody
they ain't kill mercy.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, they an't care about that. Back then. People care
about your age. Back then it was like are you fourteen?
Oh I got something for you, or it's like oh,
you you twelve or you're a big twelve.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Okay, I see you mental manipulation.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, but I always had older cousins too, that kind
of I woul probably fight my cousins more than anything.
You always fight the people you don't, right, because my
mom used to telling me, well, you you should know
he ain't gonna hurt you too bad. But you learn
a little something. That's something, that's something that that was
my Yeah, so it's at least you.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Ready for what scripture did that come out of? You know?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
You know how it is sometimes sometimes like I would say,
Mom pushed the envelope just to make sure you're ready
and you're not surprised if that moment happened.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
So your mom from down south, that's from down south teaching.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Oh my, my family kind of originates in the Georgia area.
And somehow they didn't really break that story down to me.
We ended up in PG County. But a lot of
the a lot of things, like I would say that
she would just make sure I was well protected, Like
I wasn't shocked if something was to happen.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I was always prepared for anything.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
So whether it be dealing with a bully or something
like that, like she wanted to make sure that her
son ain't in school getting pushed around.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
So and I feel like your cousins beat you up
in some stranger right.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
So and even then we'll be arguing about two k
uh fighting about mad something like.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
That, like little stuff kids that kids argue about. Now
you get to high school, things changed a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Uh yeah, the Matha, the Matha high school. Uh do
matha Catholic high school. First of all, I got to
the Matha about playing Boys and Girls Club for the
kale and.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Cougars, which is a pig. You went to the boys
and Girls Club? Yeah, I had who paid for that?
Because we couldn't get the Boys and Girls club where
I came from. It was five hours, but.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
We had to pay. I would say, granted iron paid.
I was young. It's probably like fifty. He was paying
for the equipment. Oh no, And you can have the
little fund raisers. We'll put selling cookies every now and then,
uh or candy to come up with the funds.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
There was we just we'd stand outside. We got to
go to the We had to go to the boys
club in the summertime because used the pool. It was
like the city thing they made us. They made them
let us use the pool in the summertime. Oh see,
I already had the spot. Kind of all up. It
was a it was a city pool, and they built
the boys club on top of it and wanted the
d You gotta let the city kids use the pool
in the summertime. Okay, all right, all right.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
So it was kind of like, okay, all right, I
get that, But this I would say, our boys and
Girls club we only played football, even talking about the
others like pools and stuff like that. The Boys and
Girls Club only came up when we would go to
the fist swim and play football. Yeah, my mom used
to put me in swim lessons. Everything she got you covered.
It was mainly because after school, like you want to
give keep keep me, bitch. I did gymnastics for a stint.
(07:25):
Uh swim lessons.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Uh. Took karate for like two weeks, the whole two weeks.
Two weeks. So like my kid, I got golf clubs,
I got taekwondo gee, I got fencing gear, I got
I got dance equipment, I got musical equipment, got all
cotuff on my face, ready for anything.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
But the two weeks two weeks and karate like, take
that with a grain of salt. I learned, didn't learn
that much white belt.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, you come in at white belt.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I stayed right there. Yeah, but the MATHA played for Kalem.
I honestly didn't want to play football in the beginning. Uh,
I say. I started playing because my little brother, who's
five years younger than me, he wanted to play flag football.
At this time, I'm probably about I would say twelve,
and then he was he started playing flag I didn't
(08:12):
know about it. I was staying at there to go
out with him. Yeah, but I avoided that for a minute.
I tried to find something to do. So He'll be
going to flag football practice and I'll be like, oh,
I'm going to so and so's house. I'm about to
go kick it, but to play the game a little bit,
avoid it. So that that lasted for party about two weeks.
And then one day he was going to practice and
(08:32):
my mom said, you want you coming? And I was like,
I gotta go. You really she said, you really not
gonna go to none of your brother's practice. And I
was like, when you say it like that, it sounds
sounds Yeah, it sounds crazy.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So I was like, all right, I'll go.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
My biggest fear was that I would go up to
the field and then the coaches would spot my size
and they'll be like, you gotta be doing That was
the thing back in the day. See you gotta be
doing something who you play for? And then I'll go
to the field. And then that day that particular dad
went to the field, and then my older cousin went
with me. He was kind of a you would never
see me without him or him without me. We was
(09:09):
always just together all the time. And he was one
of the guys that was kind of good at anything
that he wanted to do, whether it be soccer, weightlifting, basketball, boxing,
anything he wanted to do, he happened to be nice
at it.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Me wasn't trying to do that.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
I was at home eating hot pockets, playing two K Madden.
That was a perfect day for me. So I would
go went to my brother's practice. My cousin went with me,
and then I don't know what, he disappears while we're
watching the practice, and I'm like, man, please tell me
he an't walk over there to them coaches. So he
walks over there with the unlimited team, which is like
(09:49):
so after you class out of the whole pound league,
you gotta play unlimited. So he goes over there and
he comes back. He already know how I feel about it,
so he's like on. So they said you ain't even
gotta play. They said you could just put the uniform
on and stand in the back.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
And I was like nah.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I was like, this sounds a week that's this sounds crazy.
So he let me put the uniform on.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
And you went for because your cousin told you to.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Because cousin, I'm doing whatever he do. So I went
over there, put the uniform on, and I stood behind.
They had big D line coach shout out to coach Fox.
I stood.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I stood behind him the entire practice.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I'm talking like, I would go like this to see
the drill that they was doing, and then I'll go
back behind him just to make sure they ain't put
me in like wanted no parts of football. And then
eventually we kept going out there a few times, so
then I would kind of ease ease from behind him
a little bit every now and then. And then one
day somebody got hurt and I was the next on
the depth chart.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
What was your apprehension of playing football.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Uh. I think I had a fear of not being
good at it. I had a fear of not being
good at everything that I do. Like, I hate that
competitiveness in me.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
How great we were at two K. I was nice.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I mean, you couldn't tell me that I wasn't nice
at two K, especially at that time. I was a
real competitor. I would say, like I said, me and
my cousin would fight if I was to lose the
game in two K, like that's how intense it would get.
But I didn't think that was I took that as
all right, me and my cousin always fighting.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
So your world was kind of small at the time.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Right, didn't even have my expectation level on just what
I thought being competitive was, and never went as farther
than two K. So now I'm actually in football equipment
at a whole different level of competitiveness. So that was
that was new for me. So I was your first
experience on the field, first injury, So I wasn't here.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
I wasn't not that long. You and I didn't got
injured right off the rip had a game plan young
kid that I thought I was wise.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I was a good thinker, so as soon as they
put me on the field, I was all right, what's
the quickest way I can get off this field?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
And I was like, fake an injury. Let's just see
what happened.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
So the first play I happened to be right in
the path of the running back make the tackle, and
I was like, yep, we're gonna go ahead and call
it right here. I felt some pressure on my hand
laid right there. You would have thought, you would have.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Thought you had some hint you hurt your hand.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Laying there, motionless, motionless on the ground, and I could
just look to the side and I could see the
coach running out there, and I was like, y'all.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Hurry up. He get to stretcher.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
He said, what happened. I was like, I think somebody
stepped on my hand. He said, boy, get up, get
up off the ground, and I ran to the side.
And then that year, you kind of talked up that
whole year. They was like, yeah, we can't put him
out their hand ready. But then I would see my
cousin played quarterback and when our friends played wide receiver,
and I would just see after the game how much
(12:47):
love I love they.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Would get after the game superintention.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Especially playing quarterback and receiver. You see the kind of
love they was getting. I was like, damn, I kinda
I kind of want to. I like that, I kind
of want to experience what that's even like. But at
that time, it's felt like so far away. I was like,
I have so much farther to goal to even get
even play a position that gets that kind of acknowledgement.
So I just knew I had a whole lot of
work to do, and it's like, all right, juwanna if
(13:12):
you gonna be doing this, at least be nice at
it so that I want to be the best kick.
Then yeah, that uh, probably not. Even then it was
more so like what do you really wanna do? Is
this what you really wanna do? And if not, what's
gonna take his place? Because at the same time, I
wanted to spend time with my cousin or kind of
keep doing the whole attached to hip thing.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
But at the rate that I.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Was at, he about to keep going, and I'm getting
ready to stay exactly where I'm at playing two K
and I'm about to just get left behind. So I
was like, do you wanna you need to figure something out?
So I started watching. That's when I would I would say,
the on demand thing used to kind of start it
and you could record on the TV. So I started
(13:56):
recording games just like random games. Every Sunday, I record
like eight games and I was just sit there. My
parents used to talk about all the time. I used
to sit there, and I'll sit my dad's reclining the chair.
He used to hat when I sat in his chair.
But I used to sit there and watch the game
on a loop over and over again. Sometimes were you
studying at that time for Madden? At that time, it
(14:18):
was for Madden, but it was the clothes that they wore,
so that swag on the field on them.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
You watched hours of tape to see some clothes. Yeah,
So I left the loopie though.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So look anytime, anytime you play Madden, they give you
the generic style of clothes, and they stopped.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
My son called me one time said eight dollars some clothes.
I sent it to him. Then I said, what's the
stuff you bought? Send me a picture. He's like, what
do you mean? I said, You said, I bought it
for my people. You talking, I'm buying clothes for your people. People.
You got younger brothers and sisters spent eight dollars on
(14:56):
clothes for his video game people. I know that blew
your mind. I was like, dude, so you got nothing.
You spent eighty dollars to buy a green shirt for
a video game character because you didn't like the blue shirt.
He came in. He's like, yeah, he had to be Heedrick.
I'm like, I played video games Cleco Vision shot to
Tarre twenty six hundred. You got what you got and
(15:16):
it came with two controllers for the record. But he
was literally buying clothes for his video game character. So
I know what you're talking about. Got I lost it
that day. I know you did, cause my dad used
I used to waste paper. I used to write it down.
So I write it down and then spend his money.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
I was sitting his reclining a chair, get his paper,
his printing paper, and I'll sit there in a chair
and try to see what they wore. So if somebody
wore a white wrist band, I'll write it down, white
wristband on a piece of paper, and then I'll go
back later on that night go to Madden Switches the
white wrist band. This is the first time I'm telling
this too, So like, so.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
You watch football to get the swag to make your
Madden people look better? Yes, did they play better? I mean,
I wouldn't say I was that night. At that time,
I was playing an All Pro. I wasn't even risking
it and playing All Madden. But at this point I'm
watching it looking at the swag, but I'm not knowing
that you're learning that. I'm learning football as I do it.
And then as I watched I remember watching I wanted
(16:13):
to change my position because I wanted to get nicer football.
So I was like, I actually want to handle the ball.
So I was like, all right, what'll itll be like
if you played running back? And I was like, all right,
you want At this point, I'm like.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Five ten two thirty around this time two thirty, and
I'm like, all right, you want. You gotta keep it
a little bit more realistic. How about fullback? So I
was like, all right, I could play fullback. So I
used to watch the Ravens and watch Laura McClain. He's
a fullback. They used to play for the Ravens, and
I was like, oh, I could do that. He played
a little bit of running back and he played some fullback.
(16:44):
I was like, I want to be like that. So
I used to watch a bunch of his film. And
then turns out the Ravens used to play the Patriots
so much, of course that I would be watching a
lot of Patriots film back in the Bruski Vrabel area.
So like, so now some of my teammate is out,
They'll be talking about certain players and then they'll be like, yo,
how do you know who Mike Wright is? How do
(17:06):
you know who Prior is? Who played in d line?
Shout out number ninety one, rest in peace like guys
like that, Junior say out. And I was like, Yo,
you wouldn't believe how much time I just sit in
front of the TV and watch, just watching, and I
would just be soaking up all this knowledge. And then
that kind of like and you actually watched them on
Madden too. Watching them on Madden too, you got the
same names. I went through every single roster and did that,
(17:27):
so not even just.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
You might be the first two in the NFL to
study the whole game from Matten.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
I can name you every I can name you the
probably the starters on each NFL team in seven.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
That was Michael Vick on the cover that year.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
No, I'm not even sure who's on the cover of
the old set, but I can name you every starters,
like the line all the way down to the offensive
lineman of like the Philadelphia back in the trade Thomas
Philadelphia Eagles days.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
That's a skill. Yeah, that's that's a gift that you
didn't even realize that applied in the transfer. M hm.
So I know a lot of guys were gifted. I
met him Inde penitent try and they took their gifts
to the street. Why don't you ever take your to
the street? PG County is not front all the time?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, I would say, Uh, my family did a good
job of keeping me out of that. Like even when
I got close to like the streets and all that
kind of stuff, they were like, we're get in the house.
Like I wouldn't even allow to be in that. It's like,
but you crazy getting the house. Your mama gonna keep
getting the house. And then I was like, man, y'all,
let me do nothing and then I'll go in the house.
(18:34):
And then I'd just I'd rather I was just I
just sitting in front of the TV, and that's I'll
spend hours like it was some day I live in
front of hours, so it would be like I was like,
all right, if I can't go out there with y'all,
I guess I'll be sitting here watching football.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
So when you finished high school, I saw that you
was going to college. Yeah, Michigan and Iowa. Yeah, so
actually Maryland and Iowa, Maryland, Iowa. So it started off
with uh. Maryland was actually my first office. And at
that time, Yeah, the stay home movement that was a
big thing in the DMV, especially at that at that
point because a lot of a lot of the guys
(19:09):
were going to different schools that was kind of out
of the state, and then at that time Maryland was
kind of struggling, so they was like, we need to
start a stay home movement so we keep all the
players in the house. And at that UH, at that time,
I was kind of just venturing out and I kind
of wanted to see what it was like, because I mean,
I spent my years at Kalum, ended up being nice
(19:29):
a running back, end up getting looks from the MATHA
and I ended up getting recruited by them to go there,
and then freshman year, wanted to play varsity, so that
I wasn't ready, So I was like, go ahead, we're
gonna talk that up, uh, and just play on the
freshman team. And we had a monster freshman team.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
We had one hundred and five players try out five
freshman football team at the Matha. And they didn't they
didn't believe in cutting anybody because it was like a
I don't even know if this is true, but there
was like a room that would go around. They were like, yeah,
you know back in the day, they they cut Brian Westbrook.
Brian Westbrook went to the Matha. They cut Brian Westbrook
and then he ended up being Brian Westbrook. So they
made two teams, the red team and the blue team.
(20:10):
Makes sense to me. Yeah, so the two details. I
played D tackle my freshman year of high school. Me
and Orlando Brown, who was like, uh, he just got
signed to the Bengals. Shout out to Orlando. We were
the two D tackles, so me and him would end
up being detackleds. We went through that whole season and
then we kind of he transferred and then I stayed
at the Matha and then I would say, uh, my
(20:33):
junior year, became a captain there. Uh, junior year, we
lost in the championship. But then my senior year was
kind of like the all right, if you're gonna do anything,
the time is now, A clock is ticking. So and
that's when everybody was kind of looking at the offers.
That's when you had had to have your huddle, your
huddle account had to be on point, your highlight tape
and all that kind of stuff. If it wasn't, it
(20:54):
wasn't looking too good for you.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
So Maryland and I were reached out.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Maryland and I were reached out. Uh, pretty much every
big ten school reached out. I remember I did a
I remember Kirby Smart came to Damatha my junior year
and I'm in the hallway, so I'm like, I'm in
the matha.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
You had to dress up, so we.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
In polos and like sacks and khakis and dirty we
call them dirty bucks, the little buck shoes like dress shoes.
So he's like, let me see you run down, run down,
and we're in the hallway. Let me see you went
down the back real quick. I was all right, ran
down the back full sweat in the polo shirt. But
something like that. He invited me to the camp, but
(21:35):
I was like, I get to go to Alabama. And
at this point I was kind of watching Dante hot Tower.
Yeah at the time, So and then I started trying
to model my game after his, and he became kind.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Of the average of what I was looking for.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I was like, Yeah, if I could somehow get to
that kind of play, like just him, watching him manhandle
guys on the field, I was like, I gotta be
something something like that. Oh, I got to take something
from his game.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
So Uh.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
As that went on, I accumulated some offers. Maryland jumped
in the picture as my first offers, and then they
just started kind of rolling. I was having a good
senior season.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
And then I was kind of waiting to see where
I wanted to go. And I guess I waited too late.
So I was ready. No, So I was ready to commit.
I was like, all right, I think I'm ready to
make this decision.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
What was you gonna pick? I was gonna pick Maryland.
You know what happened when you called him? Called?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Uh, I was like, hey, coach, how you doing. I'm
like trying to keep the keep the vibes high.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I was like, coach, how you doing. He was like,
I'm all good.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
I was like, hey, I think I'm think I'm ready
to commit, and he was like, oh man, I love it,
I love it, I love it. But uh, we already
had somebody to commit in the slot that you was
gonna be in. And then I was like, oh man.
I was all right, that's cool. But in my head,
I'm like, all right, you just made my decision acquire.
Now I'm going to hours. So I just already started
picturing called. I were right after he coach, what's up, coach,
(23:03):
how you doing? You're they going good? Yeah? And he
was like, what's up, man, how you doing? We was
just we were just about to reach out to you.
And I was like, all right, cool. I was like
to commit. I'm ready to commit right now. He was like,
oh man, that's nice. Man, that's nice. But we just
had somebody committing the slot that she was in, and
you more than welcome to play the end. But the
(23:24):
Linebrecker slot's gone, so uh we're kind of we're kind
of moved on. And I was like crushed. So from
that point, I was crying in my room. I was
crying in my room and I don't even at that moment,
I wasn't even showing emotions and stuff like that, especially
about no football at the time. But at that moment
(23:44):
stuff got real. I was like, all right, now that
you went from having ten to twelve offers.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Say you got two slams on you, you're scared to
call somebody.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Else none, I hung up the phone. I ain't even
picking up the phone no more. So I'm like, all right,
I don't even know. We had probably four games left
of the season. So I'm like, all right, Joe, I
didn't tell anybody. Only my parents knew. Uh So I'm
kind of just operating as if I got these two offers,
and I'm just waiting.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
We would go to lunch, and we always.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Talked about all at lunch, uh and I would just
get quiet, wouldn't say anything because I was the captain
of the team. So it's like, DN, that looks crazy.
The captain of the team. Ain't no office, No, you
had office procrastination, had office procrastinated gone? Uh So then
I'm just kind of sitting there. I mean, obviously when
(24:31):
I'm alone, deep in thought, like what's next? How are
you gonna how you're gonna move forward? Out of nowhere.
Elijah Brooks, who was the head coach at the Math
at the time. He's now at Virginia Tech as the
runner back coach.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
He reached out and was like, hey, man, Purdue. Purdue
just called, Uh, they're looking to offer you. And I
was like, man, I'm damn bad.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I was right now. Where is Purdue? I was like,
is that is that? He said?
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I was like, man, i gotta go to Indiana. And
I was like, I'm sure if they jumped in there,
somebody else gonna jump in for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Now you're playing again, right, playing again.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Exactly, just just like that. But at that moment, I
would say, even when I lost the offer from Maryland
and Iowa, I'm grew up in the church, so off rip.
I'm like, oh yeah, I gotta pray. If I'm sitting
in this room crying right now, oh yeah, it's something.
It's something that's bigger than me. Right now, I gotta
I gotta reach out to somebody and me growing up,
(25:29):
that's the only way I knew how to respond to you.
Remember to prayer, you said, uh, not verbatim, but it's
always along the lines of God. I don't know what
you got played for me, but I know you ain't
never left me down before. So whatever you whatever you
got going, I'm with it.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Then he sends you Purdue, and you procrastinate again.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Then he sent me Purdue and I was like, God,
you funny. I was like, man, you funny, you got jokes.
I was like, but at this point, I was kind
of just oblivious to what Purdue was, just because at
that moment you kind of just looking at all the
big time spots. At this moment, we had twenty two
guys at the math of committing d one. See, we
had a big committing class. So due jumps in the picture.
(26:10):
In my downtime, I would just do research and just
look up Purdue and off you see Drew Brees, Rob Nikovich,
Matt light Ache, and Adell and.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
I'm like, okay, they got some names.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
And I see kind of out look at the field
and I just started picturing myself there and then I'm
big on like tradition and like the kind of smash
my off, kind of big ten vibe with the grass
on the field, grass slash mud on the field. And
I'm like, okay, I can make I can make this work.
So I was like, all right, I just got it.
Jeff George Gordia. Uh city who Jeff George quarterback? He
(26:44):
probably did well. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
I ain't go to history books. I used to be
a bookie. Every football player, every high school, every college,
down the line back in egies. I could tell you
where everybody went. That's me. Yeah, Okay, we're more likely
than different. Okay, so I just remember him going to Purdue.
I could be wrong. Yeah, So I was just like
big dog Glenn Robinson. One.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
What's crazy is that his son was my roommate in
college when the third yep Gelan shout out to Geland
with his brother Glenn. Uh, he would come visit us
all the time. At the time, he's playing in Michigan.
So it was always cool, uh seeing him. But uh,
I took the visit. When I took the visit to Purdue. Uh, freezing,
it's probably probably ten degrees.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Now.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I never even left Maryland before this time. Obviously, you
take a little family vacations here and there, but you
did for a high second.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
And you damn about your way, ye you remember.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Yeah, So we take a full trip to Indiana, me
and my mom and my godmother, freezing cold, and I'm
like I see the field, the picture, you know how
they make the picture look Sometimes it's kind of like
the Big Mac. The Big Mac looked shining and everything.
You get there and he's like, oh man, we got
all right. When I've done though, it's gonna look like something.
(27:58):
I was just picture. I kept picturing myself there. I
was like, when you do this, it's gonna be this.
This is the spot. I always felt it. So I
committed on my visit and that was like that was
huge for me one because I didn't have to think
about it no more. I was like, all right, now
I could focus. Now I could hone back in Like
I was at the MATHA. I would lock in and
then I had my goal in sight and I would
(28:19):
just shoot for it. And now I got to finally
commit and get that kind of a monkey off my
back and just like focus, lock in, and like all right,
now you're here.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
So we did three years a captain that Purdue. What
did it teach you? I'm football stuff. We know three
is a captain that Purdue. What did you learn?
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Were they selected me as a captain when I was eighteen?
How did that feel?
Speaker 1 (28:42):
At that moment?
Speaker 2 (28:42):
It was kind of intimidating just because I felt the
build up to it. Now, I was always just being
myself at all times. So me being myself is kind
of like, all right, the team is kind of down.
How can I Yeah, big energy guy, and I'm just
I always say authentic in that way, like if something
needs to be said, I don't like an elephant in
(29:04):
the room and nobody's saying anything. It's like, yo, we
need to say something. I'm gonna be the one to
say it. I don't even care. And then it turns
out that people kind of took.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Made you so how didn't feel to be captain for
three years? I was like, y'all to me, guys, you know,
fifty year seniors. So dudes like twenty three, I'm like, all,
you selected the eighteen year old as a captain. He's like,
I don't know what you're seeing me. So then I
would start asking around. I was like, yo, so what
do you what do you do as a captain? And
they were like, bro, just be yourself. That's why we
chose you because you're yourself. Now do that and just
(29:34):
take it up a notch if you can. So I
took that and kind of ran with it. Uh, I
would say.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
It put me in rooms that I didn't necessarily think
that I was ready for. And at that time, I
was still fighting leadership if that makes any.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Sense, right. You wanted to be free, not responsible. I
wanted to lead ship comes to the accountability do.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I wanted to be the guy that all my other
teammates was they used to come, be able to come
to practice, roll that thing leave. I was like, Yo,
why can't I would be a heck of a player
if I could do that. If I could just show up,
kill the workout or dominate the game and go home
not have to say anything nobody.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
I was like, I feel like I could do that,
but it wasn't my calling. So on the back end
of having to do that for three years, what was
the best part of having to do it now that
she's done? And what should you get out of it?
Speaker 2 (30:27):
It made me stand then what I was saying. So
a lot of the times I would speak and people
would kind of be like, where you get that from?
Like everything you say kind of be on point? So
where you get that from? What you be watching?
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Watching?
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Ray lewis who you be watching? And I was like, bro,
I just say what I feel like I need to hear.
Sometimes I'll just get in the huddle. Like even in
high school, I would be talking. I would be doing
the same thing in the middle of the huddle, saying stuff.
At that time, I was me and my family was
bouncing from home to home and people didn't even know
with out with my family was what do you mean
(31:01):
bounce from home to home? We were homeless. So when
I was in before Wow, while I was in high school,
we lost our house. Uh my dad Sally got laid
off and uh, life just happens, and then we had
to move out. So then we were bouncing around from yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Is you mom, dad? How many brothers?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Me?
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Mom? Dad? Little brother? And he loses his job, so
you can't pay the mortgage? Then nick foreclosing the house. Yes,
they come up, put the thing on the door, tell
you how y'all gotta go yep.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
And at that point I was kind of like my
mom wouldn't want to hide stuff from us, so we
would kind of see.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
We were kind of sick. Where did you go?
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I mean, they pull up, we're bouncing from We go
to grandma's house one time, and then we'll go to
my grandma's house on the other side of the family.
Another time, we'll go to the aunt's house. Here, we'll
go somewhere. The whole time through high school, you bouncing
around the house touse. Yeah, after my after my freshman year,
that's pretty much. That's pretty much the the path.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
How do you feel not having a house? I mean,
you go to school, everybody has stuff, they're going home.
We really can't invite people over. You're the guy always
going over, you know what I'm saying. So, how does
it feel not to have a house? Well, even though
you stayed with fam, but it's not your room.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
I really didn't know how to feel at the time.
At that time, I didn't know how to feel, just
because even when we had the house, we would have parties.
We was always the house that people would come to
just to relax and just after a long week of work,
we would have family over just to kick it, things
like that. And then when life happens, just like that,
(32:36):
gone gone. So then you're just like, all right, what's next?
So then you staying at grandma's house one day, and
then it would get awkward sometimes just as a young kid,
you just trying to learn how to speak up.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
So You'll be.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Laying on the couch, sleeping on the couch one day,
and it was really when you have a family events
and somebody's like, so it's kind of funny somebody be
sleeping sitting on it just.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Basically your bed. You're sitting on the couch.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
You're like, I can't wait till they go home so
I could finally lay down, and then they finally leave
and you finally get to lay down wherever you're going to.
So it was it was different, especially for a young
a young kid. So I would bring that with me
to the field and then in the middle of huddles,
they'd be like, yo, you just said a powerful message
right there. Where did that come from? And I'm like, bro,
(33:21):
I just tell you how I'm feeling, and I tell
you what I need to hear. So it will always
be along the lines of you never know when your
last player is gonna be. You never know when life
just happens. Now I'm saying it's the high school kids.
They sitting there like, what are you talking abro Whatever
you said it was powerful, but man, we don't know what.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
You talk about. You're coming too deep. But I was
experiencing it.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
I was experiencing things that was well beyond my years,
like some things that and so most of the times
kids wasn't able to explain that or put it into
words what was happening. I had the gift of being
able to explain what I was going through in a
way where everybody's but they got to say together for
the four years, everybody got to stay everybody to stay together.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
So when you go away to college, are they still homeless?
They were staying at my aunt's house at the time.
So yes.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
So I would be away at college, and obviously at
that timet you're getting like stiping and things, so you
always shoot that back to moms and make sure everybody
was good and we will talk every now.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
So you're sending your college typings home.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Yeah, that was pretty much the thing, and I was,
and that felt like normal for me anyway.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
I mean, I get it, you're supposed to look out,
but it's like you're probably the only kid sending home
the styping money to pay rent. Maybe, Yeah, so it was.
It was different. It was, but you really can't even
that saying you can't come home, but you really got
no home to come home too. From college, so you
just stayed on campus a lot.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah, so you'll go a lot of times, people will
go home, I'll stay. I'll stay at school. Granted, at
that point I was like a gym rat, but I
felt like I kind of had to be because as
long as my family was going through what they were,
what we was going through, I was like, hey, you
can't just be going home chilling. Like I always felt
like my mission was just different. I always felt like
everybody's giving a journey and it's like, hey man, you
(34:58):
can't complain about the journey. Everybody got their own journey.
You was just placed in that spot and it's like,
what you're gonna do with it from here? So when
you got to you got your school. It was football.
He was going the NFL. It was NFL, and I
don't know what the plan is after this.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
It was like we all out in your mind, You're like,
every practice, every drill is I'm going to leave.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
In my head, this is happening. So it's like, are
you gonna be ready when you get there? That's that
was my That was my mindset. What is one forty
three me to you?
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (35:28):
My pick? Third day, third day pick? They called your
name out yeah. Even wasn't even expecting my name to
be called. Uh before at the beginning, before the draft start,
i'ld say, I didn't really know what to expect. Someone say,
I probably wasn't gonna get drafted. So I was like,
all right, we're just gonna see. I done seen God
move before. Let's see what happens. Let's see what he
(35:49):
does this time. He always keeps the story interesting. So
who knows how long I'll be sitting here? So uh,
don't I invite no fan over for the first day?
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Second day, I'm in and I out of the house,
probably went to see a movie or something like that,
trying to kill time. Third day, who called you?
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Uh? Nobody called? Nobody called at that moment. Third day?
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Uh, I mean when the call come Patriots, who's physically
on the phone. Oh, Robert Robert Craft, a boss boss
called you, boss man. So that that happens. And I
would say, even when I was like taking when I
was taking the visits to teams, I came here, and
like I said, the men, I came here. I thought
(36:32):
back to me sitting in that reclina chair watching all
those games with like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady coming
down to crunch time, uh, game winning touchdown. My mind
just instantly, I'm like, Yo, look where you're at right now.
This is this is real. This is what you've been
thinking about the whole This is why you sat in
that chair wasting on your dad's paper and it's reclined.
(36:52):
This is now you're here. So everything, I would just
see it, and I was like, that's just like Madden.
That state, that field, just like Madden. I was like,
it's crazy. So I would be. I came in for
the visit and then when I when I left, I
was like, oh, if I don't come here, it's gonna
be weird if I go anywhere else. But I was like,
I'm gonna see how it go, how it plays out,
because I've seen crazy things happen, so I'm like, all right,
(37:13):
just go home and just just see how it goes.
So the draft is going, and then I looked. My
head is down for most of the draft because I'm
like watching all these guys get drafted ahead of me.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Some of them I know. So I'm like, all right, cool,
and you know something, you're kind of.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Giving a side. You're like, man, he ain't better than me.
That this is how you how you talk. So I'm
like I watched and I picked my head up and
i see New England on the board and I'm like,
it's my time. I say, hey, god, that's a fine spot.
I was like, it's a fine spot. And I'm literally
saying this in my head. I'm like, hey, if I'm
gonna get drafted, this one have to be right now,
(37:47):
fast team.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
And I look down.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
My phone's on the ground, phones ringing, and I was like, yo,
I called it. And then I pick up. We had
a conversation and I leave and I'm like, yep. At
that point, I'm like, oh man, I got drafted. But
immediately I'm like, all right, now we're back to work.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
They called your name.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
What's crazy is that somebody I got drafted ahead of me.
So you know, in the third round they kind of
showing commercials, so they called it a commercial. Man, Nah,
they did that to you. They talking about commercials and
all you see is my name going against going to
the bottom and.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Probably using using the ticket.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Twenty minutes after I get drafted, then they pull up
the TV screen. So I'm kind of like, all right,
y'all lucky, I'm excited right now because I would be mad.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
I'm mad you didn't see it come on like yo,
and with the one hundred and forty third pick because
they didn't canfl draft. I ain't get I ain't get that.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
I was like, it made you work hard, it did,
And at that point, it wasn't even obviously like the family.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
You kind of like you hugging everybody, you're crying, you know,
but it's not you wanted. You wanted that.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
This is probably a different feeling. But I don't know.
I didn't even get the experiences. So I'm kind of like,
all right, that's cool, but that ain't my journey. I'm like,
all right, the journey that just sain't me. I guess
that ain't me. So that go that happens, and right
when I get when everybody, when it pops up on
the screen, whole house is screaming, whole house is screaming,
Mom's crying, and right when I get happy, and then
(39:17):
I'm like, all right, I'm back to work. Like now
now it's not enough. It's just the last level. It's
not enough for me to just get drafted, because that's
not that's not that's like a check a check mark
off the thing. And that's kind of like, I guarantee
a lot of guys feel that way, where you're like, man,
I made it, I made it, But it's like they
don't feel right. I feel like it's something else.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
They didn't have nice sleeping no Auntie's couch. What I'm saying,
it didn't have to what I'm saying really really be
down on the school lunch free lunch kid, free lunch kid.
So you made it. I mean I've never well back then.
I can imagine a Bellionaire calling me saying, what's up.
You're coming to the team. That just has to be
(39:58):
like like, wow, you know what, He's be in it
because that's just all team owners of being is. So
you gotta be in there, call your phone and be
like yo, man, welcome to the family. That's life changing.
Then they pay you. Yeah, third round pick, then you
buy you buy your folks the house. How is that? Man?
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Uh? Surreal surreal feeling. Uh just because you just when
you do monumental things like that, it just takes you back.
Like oftentimes you so deep in the journey you don't
really take the time to look back to see how
far you come.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Because you just focus on the next thing. You're like,
all right, I did that, all right, what's next? All right?
I did that? What's next?
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Then you do something that's real pivot that shakes, really
shakes your whole world, shakes your family's world.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
And then you're like, man, I did that?
Speaker 2 (40:45):
You really? You really making some a a young fella.
You really making some moves out here, Like don't forget
how you feel to buy your parents at house. Uh,
it was another opportunity to breathe. You got a chance
to finally to see my mom just breathe and take
a take a deep breath and just be like, all right,
(41:07):
now we could focus on something else rather than all right.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
How we about to work right? All that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
But that was it was a real I mean, I
can only imagine how my mom felt, but for me
just seeing seeing her face and just seeing her smile
and just her and my dad and just see how
far we've come and cause it will be it will
be different if like we ain't talk about this stuff,
but throughout the whole process, Like I said, I'm a faith,
faith man, so a lot of times in our toughest
(41:36):
of time, you wouldn't even have known what we was
going through at the time, just because you see our
we light up a room, we laughing, joking, all that
kind of stuff. You you would have never known. But
it's like we never complained. We never we never felt like,
oh whoa, it's me, Oh why we gotta go through this.
It's like, nah, it's our journey. It's our journey. We
(41:58):
just gonna see it through.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
You're about to take it to our close. Because if
people watching this right now, some are in prison. There's
a lot at home and they're going through stuff. And
people don't know their journey, they don't know their testimony,
and they're not sure that they belong as captain, they're
not sure that they belong in the room. They're not
sure of what's gonna be themrow for some place to stay,
(42:22):
or the wife's gonna be as happy, or whatever the
scenario is. Anybody's going through something and from somebody who
sounds like they're a professional, what I'm saying and with
the hand of got on his back and then been
through and came through and still going. That's the best part.
You ain't done going. What you're gonna say to them,
I need you to give all the listeners, man, that
that hope in that journey man, or how they can
(42:43):
press through because they think you got it easy. You're
a multi man, are football player, You're you're done. It's
always checked. You've always had it this good and it's
always gonna be this good. And I wish I had
your hand in. So give them some courage, man, Let
them know.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
Man, the biggest decision that I ever made with standing
in my gifts. Uh, A lot of times I used
to run from everything.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
No, no, no, no, we missed this. I need you to
not talk about them. I need you to talk to them.
Oh yeah, I'm getting that. I'm getting there. I'm getting there. Okay,
the room, let me build, let me build. Yeah, I'm
getting there. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
So stand in it, stand in it, stand in it,
stand in it, don't run from it. Well, I said
this for you and get me hype. Stand in it,
don't run from it. Be where your feet are. Understand
that everybody has a starting point, but where you finish
(43:40):
at and how your journey looks, it's on you.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
It's on you. It's on you. Everybody has.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Everybody's dropped in certain everybody's starting point is different. Everybody's
starting point is different, and wherever you make your way
at from there, you got to navigate the ups and
the downs. There's gonna be trials, there's gonna be trivialing.
There's gonna be moments where you think you ain't got it.
There's gonna be moments where you think you ain't up
for it. There's moments where you doubt yourself. It's gonna
be moments when you look to your left and your
(44:08):
right and then people ain't they doubting you as well.
But at some point you gotta stand on everything that
you believe in. You gotta own up to whatever gifts
that you have, Act on it, Act on it. Don't hesitate,
don't hesitate. Believe that you're worthy of everything that's coming
your way. Understand that there's always somebody watching you. There's
(44:31):
always somebody's looking for it. You're in the middle of
your testimony, and for you to have a testimony, you
gotta go through a test. Sometimes a test feels like
it's unbearable, But me, being a man of faith is God.
Don't put too much on you that you could bear,
So best believe that you can hold that weight. For sure,
you can hold the weight to see it through, see
(44:52):
it through, and man, I feel like I.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Gotta say this, go all right.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
So a lot of times you you find yourself in
situations where you're running from your calling. And lately I
would say that I've been, even like the past few years,
been stepping in my calling. And it was a conscious decision,
like this was a decision that I literally sat in
my car and I was like, all right, Jawan. I
(45:20):
used to fight leadership. I was like, man, I hate
leading stuff. Like I told you, I wanted to be
the one that is able to do what they gotta
do and leave. And I used to run from leadership
anything I did. I end up being a leader of it.
I didn't know why. And I was like, y'all just
want to be a person in the room. And it's
like nah, God would just tell me every time, Nah,
Nah that ain't that ain't your journey? Your journey? Is
(45:40):
you gonna lead? Because I got my hand on you, you
only take your hand my hand off, So it's like, hey,
you're gonna stand in there. So I said, I was like,
all right, what would have happened if I actually just
went through with it? If I actually just stood in
what my calling was. And ever since I did that,
ever since I stood on whatever I believed in leadership
and I owned up to it and I was I've
(46:03):
been able to bless other people. I've been able to
just be myself and kind of talk, talk freely and
just spread my like talk about my journey. A lot
of times I would say, uh, I didn't want to
talk about my journey until I felt like I was done,
which his journey is never done. It's always it's always
gonna be another piece to it. So it's like, man,
(46:23):
how about in the process you help somebody out by
sharing with them your story and maybe.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
You're drag ten people with you.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
Yeah, and then instead of it just being your story,
somebody else coming to you and be like, man, when
you said that, you've really you've really helped me out
of a dark place because I've been there. I've been
there and I needed somebody to tell me their story
and get me out at that spot. So, man, I
would say that even being able to talk to you
and having this moment, it's powerful. Anytime I get the
(46:52):
opportunity to kind of share share my story, it means
a lot to me. Everybody kind of see me I'm
my laughing joking because I done seen what it's like
to not to not have the uh when it's not
a lot of opportunities or a lot of things to
smile and joke about. So it's like, man, if you're
gonna be living this life, please live it with a
(47:12):
happy face, even if sometimes you don't see much to
smile about. Understand that somebody always got a worse. Please
understand that somebody always got away. And that's what my
family kind of we stood up on. And I would
I would love to just one time, just like my
family has been. My mom's coming off with mother's that
has been a rock for my family for sure, just
(47:33):
everything she had to endure along with my dad. So
I would just like say that I always appreciate your
your parents and your upbringing, uh and everybody that you
would call a mom or somebody just just steered you
in the right direction or just pulled you aside and
be like, man, what you doing. Get over here, You're
supposed to you supposed to be. You got this one.
Let's stay on, get in the house, stay on that.
(47:56):
So whoever that is, just appreciate them, appreciate them, and
be that person someone else too. I got one thing
in closing. This is my poem.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
I didn't write it, but when I heard it, I said,
that's my poem. And something tells me you can have
this too. You know what I'm saying. It came off TV,
but you can. We share this. But if you claim
this and say, yo, this is my official poem, then
I believe it. I believe this is gonna be your
official poem. After you hear it, and you heard it before.
That's when you use a press record, hit record. Our
(48:25):
deepest fear is not that we are an adequate. Our
deepest fear that we are powerful beyond measure. It is
our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. You
are a child of God. You're playing small. It's not
served the world. There is nothing enlightening about you shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you. It
is not in some of us, it is in everyone.
And as we let our own lights shine, we consciously
(48:47):
give other people permission to do the same. As we
are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others.
I sent it to that, I'm taking that. I'll send
it to yeh, copy and paste that one, ladies, and yo,
Coach Carter. Yeah, you see Coach Carter in the gym.
My grandad used to make me watch the time. You
(49:08):
see the dude in the gym. Yeah, that's the poem
from in the gym. Well, I don't remember that when
when it locked him all and up, he came back
and said, Yo, they can't make us study, they can't
make it. Take the chains off. We gotta study. Then
the Spanish boy stood up. That's what he dropped. I cried,
and I've been loving that poem forever, but I never
(49:28):
took your time to actually hold it and put it down.
And I meant it, I just never embraced it. I
ran from it. Now I carried with me. I want
to send you a copy. So, ladies and gentlemen, it
is your host. It is young and from the DM
you know, from Prince George County. Yes, you're saying, mister
Bentley soon to own one. I'm saying, but it's not
(49:49):
even the wheels. I'm saying, it's the heart until the
next time live. I'm saying, to let stadium hold it
down fast, bests,
Ladies and gentlemen, it is your host, Andre Norman, and
we are back. We're in the building. I mean, this
is like I don't want to see hollow Land because
that's Green Bay. I ain't gonna steal that from them.
Hollerand on them Green Bay. This hollow Land. That's real talk.
That's going back to the days. We ain't gonna just
reinvent history what I'm saying. But we definitely on some
(00:21):
new ground. Yes, this is the first real dynasty official
official people that have done some things in the past,
but we're in the real dynasty space. We're here at
you Let Stadium. I'm saying, what a phenomenal standout. Mister,
growing up with Dlame Bentley. Did that make you want one? Yeah?
I mean especially growing up young kids, that's all you know,
(00:43):
they call you that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Most of the people only call me Bentley. Growing up,
they will call me Bentley. And then the next question
is you got a building? You got one? Did you
ever get one? Nah Na, still still on the bucket list.
But one thing at a time.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
One thing at a time. Yeah. So you grew up
in Maryland, Yeah, PG County will be exact. Not to
be confused with Baltimore City, not to be confused with Baltimore.
And that's no shade of Baltimore. You from where you're from? Yeah,
they would say the same thing. He ain't from here,
from the county from I used to watch The Wire
and they used to always say the county and then
dudes would say the city were going down in the county.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
That's y'all shocking the most. I've just seen The Wire
not too long ago, right, I know, I know how
you not watch working through it?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
We're working through it. That's like one of the best
TV shows ever made. I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I mean everybody told me that growing up too, especially
when when the other young kids will watch it, they like, hey, man,
you've seen the Wire episode.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You can watch it on YouTube. You could watch the clips,
the main clips. That's all I do is watch clips.
Now I've watched the whole five seasons. I just watched clips.
I need back I it's some scenes I gotta go
back to too, because people still talk about it. So
from PG County? What was it like growing up in
PG County? Uh?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Fun? I mean, especially being a young kid. Uh that
was are the times he was always outside, you always
to hide and go seek outside.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Did you make that hide and go seegether hide and
go seek?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, I mean especially at church. I grew up in
the church too, so right when church were let out,
you know where your grandparents stayed there a little bit
longer than the service. Kind of back you're going outside
and you playing. Most of the time it was hide
and go see, playing tag, all those kinds of games
just to occupy the time. So yeah, PG County, Uh,
real culture. I would say the culture was kind of
it was different all the time. I would say it
(02:23):
always even a lingo. Uh, certain words that we used
back then we don't use anymore. It kind of just
evolved over time. Some of it was New York's slange
that kind of bled over to the New York New
York's in blading and everything. Yeah, so even the Thams,
like we started rocking the towns, but we switched it
over the Nike boots. So that's kind of the DMV staple. Okay, yeah,
(02:45):
we went DMV now. I remember before DMV.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
It was just no, it was just DC didn't claim y'all,
d C didn't merge. That's a Baltimore thing, you d
m V DC dudes, is just like we DC something know.
DC dudes never called it DM that came later. That
just became like the branding. It sounds good. It sounds
good because even it's not even the entire Virginia I was.
I was in the FEDS locked up in the eighties,
and that was a lot of DC dudes. I never
(03:10):
heard him say DMV. They probably didn't like it. The
DC dudes and the Maryland dudes always be like not
at odds, but it was like too close.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It is different, especially when you when you're from there,
like you know, when you entered d C and you
know where when it's like.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
The Jersey dudes and the Newark dudes and the New
York dudes, Yeah, too close. I almost exactly like that
too close, so you kind of you know, you know
where that you know where that line is getting close.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So after church, after church, I mean I would say
I went to a private Christian school, Nanny Helen Borrows
Elementary School. Uh, learned a lot there, but then quickly
sae that jud Freeman Middle School, which is where Kevin Durant.
Kevin Durant went went to school there. Yeah, and then
we was right next door to Suitland High School where
(03:58):
naval bowman uh linebacker for the forty nine ers went
to school.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So we was literally a fence.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
So we'll we'll be out of school at four o'clock,
they'll be at school at three o'clock most of the times.
But if we had a little back and forth, they'll
be waiting on us. Why we school exactly. So it
was a lot going on, say meet me at defense
exactly what they said. So we were trying to like
beat the bus there. So I mean sometimes you ran
into you ran into the little high school bullies and
everything like that. But I felt like back in the
(04:25):
day that kind of built a little bit of character.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Oh no, no, So I told ourself, you coming in here
like six two two forty whatever it is, you was
getting bullied back back in the days.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I've always kind of been this big though, like so
five to ten. I was probably five ten, so this
size shorter five ten to forty in middle school.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And people was picking at you still. Oh yeah, nobody
they ain't kill mercy.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, they an't care about that. Back then. People care
about your age. Back then it was like are you fourteen?
Oh I got something for you, or it's like oh,
you you twelve or you're a big twelve.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Okay, I see you mental manipulation.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, but I always had older cousins too, that kind
of I woul probably fight my cousins more than anything.
You always fight the people you don't, right, because my
mom used to telling me, well, you you should know
he ain't gonna hurt you too bad. But you learn
a little something. That's something, that's something that that was
my Yeah, so it's at least you.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Ready for what scripture did that come out of? You know?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
You know how it is sometimes sometimes like I would say,
Mom pushed the envelope just to make sure you're ready
and you're not surprised if that moment happened.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
So your mom from down south, that's from down south teaching.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Oh my, my family kind of originates in the Georgia area.
And somehow they didn't really break that story down to me.
We ended up in PG County. But a lot of
the a lot of things, like I would say that
she would just make sure I was well protected, Like
I wasn't shocked if something was to happen.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I was always prepared for anything.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
So whether it be dealing with a bully or something
like that, like she wanted to make sure that her
son ain't in school getting pushed around.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
So and I feel like your cousins beat you up
in some stranger right.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
So and even then we'll be arguing about two k
uh fighting about mad something like.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
That, like little stuff kids that kids argue about. Now
you get to high school, things changed a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Uh yeah, the Matha, the Matha high school. Uh do
matha Catholic high school. First of all, I got to
the Matha about playing Boys and Girls Club for the
kale and.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Cougars, which is a pig. You went to the boys
and Girls Club? Yeah, I had who paid for that?
Because we couldn't get the Boys and Girls club where
I came from. It was five hours, but.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
We had to pay. I would say, granted iron paid.
I was young. It's probably like fifty. He was paying
for the equipment. Oh no, And you can have the
little fund raisers. We'll put selling cookies every now and then,
uh or candy to come up with the funds.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
There was we just we'd stand outside. We got to
go to the We had to go to the boys
club in the summertime because used the pool. It was
like the city thing they made us. They made them
let us use the pool in the summertime. Oh see,
I already had the spot. Kind of all up. It
was a it was a city pool, and they built
the boys club on top of it and wanted the
d You gotta let the city kids use the pool
in the summertime. Okay, all right, all right.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
So it was kind of like, okay, all right, I
get that, But this I would say, our boys and
Girls club we only played football, even talking about the
others like pools and stuff like that. The Boys and
Girls Club only came up when we would go to
the fist swim and play football. Yeah, my mom used
to put me in swim lessons. Everything she got you covered.
It was mainly because after school, like you want to
give keep keep me, bitch. I did gymnastics for a stint.
(07:25):
Uh swim lessons.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Uh. Took karate for like two weeks, the whole two weeks.
Two weeks. So like my kid, I got golf clubs,
I got taekwondo gee, I got fencing gear, I got
I got dance equipment, I got musical equipment, got all
cotuff on my face, ready for anything.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
But the two weeks two weeks and karate like, take
that with a grain of salt. I learned, didn't learn
that much white belt.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, you come in at white belt.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I stayed right there. Yeah, but the MATHA played for Kalem.
I honestly didn't want to play football in the beginning. Uh,
I say. I started playing because my little brother, who's
five years younger than me, he wanted to play flag football.
At this time, I'm probably about I would say twelve,
and then he was he started playing flag I didn't
(08:12):
know about it. I was staying at there to go
out with him. Yeah, but I avoided that for a minute.
I tried to find something to do. So He'll be
going to flag football practice and I'll be like, oh,
I'm going to so and so's house. I'm about to
go kick it, but to play the game a little bit,
avoid it. So that that lasted for party about two weeks.
And then one day he was going to practice and
(08:32):
my mom said, you want you coming? And I was like,
I gotta go. You really she said, you really not
gonna go to none of your brother's practice. And I
was like, when you say it like that, it sounds
sounds Yeah, it sounds crazy.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So I was like, all right, I'll go.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
My biggest fear was that I would go up to
the field and then the coaches would spot my size
and they'll be like, you gotta be doing That was
the thing back in the day. See you gotta be
doing something who you play for? And then I'll go
to the field. And then that day that particular dad
went to the field, and then my older cousin went
with me. He was kind of a you would never
see me without him or him without me. We was
(09:09):
always just together all the time. And he was one
of the guys that was kind of good at anything
that he wanted to do, whether it be soccer, weightlifting, basketball, boxing,
anything he wanted to do, he happened to be nice
at it.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Me wasn't trying to do that.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
I was at home eating hot pockets, playing two K Madden.
That was a perfect day for me. So I would
go went to my brother's practice. My cousin went with me,
and then I don't know what, he disappears while we're
watching the practice, and I'm like, man, please tell me
he an't walk over there to them coaches. So he
walks over there with the unlimited team, which is like
(09:49):
so after you class out of the whole pound league,
you gotta play unlimited. So he goes over there and
he comes back. He already know how I feel about it,
so he's like on. So they said you ain't even
gotta play. They said you could just put the uniform
on and stand in the back.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
And I was like nah.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I was like, this sounds a week that's this sounds crazy.
So he let me put the uniform on.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
And you went for because your cousin told you to.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Because cousin, I'm doing whatever he do. So I went
over there, put the uniform on, and I stood behind.
They had big D line coach shout out to coach Fox.
I stood.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I stood behind him the entire practice.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I'm talking like, I would go like this to see
the drill that they was doing, and then I'll go
back behind him just to make sure they ain't put
me in like wanted no parts of football. And then
eventually we kept going out there a few times, so
then I would kind of ease ease from behind him
a little bit every now and then. And then one
day somebody got hurt and I was the next on
the depth chart.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
What was your apprehension of playing football.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Uh. I think I had a fear of not being
good at it. I had a fear of not being
good at everything that I do. Like, I hate that
competitiveness in me.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
How great we were at two K. I was nice.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I mean, you couldn't tell me that I wasn't nice
at two K, especially at that time. I was a
real competitor. I would say, like I said, me and
my cousin would fight if I was to lose the
game in two K, like that's how intense it would get.
But I didn't think that was I took that as
all right, me and my cousin always fighting.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
So your world was kind of small at the time.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Right, didn't even have my expectation level on just what
I thought being competitive was, and never went as farther
than two K. So now I'm actually in football equipment
at a whole different level of competitiveness. So that was
that was new for me. So I was your first
experience on the field, first injury, So I wasn't here.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
I wasn't not that long. You and I didn't got
injured right off the rip had a game plan young
kid that I thought I was wise.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I was a good thinker, so as soon as they
put me on the field, I was all right, what's
the quickest way I can get off this field?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
And I was like, fake an injury. Let's just see
what happened.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
So the first play I happened to be right in
the path of the running back make the tackle, and
I was like, yep, we're gonna go ahead and call
it right here. I felt some pressure on my hand
laid right there. You would have thought, you would have.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Thought you had some hint you hurt your hand.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Laying there, motionless, motionless on the ground, and I could
just look to the side and I could see the
coach running out there, and I was like, y'all.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Hurry up. He get to stretcher.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
He said, what happened. I was like, I think somebody
stepped on my hand. He said, boy, get up, get
up off the ground, and I ran to the side.
And then that year, you kind of talked up that
whole year. They was like, yeah, we can't put him
out their hand ready. But then I would see my
cousin played quarterback and when our friends played wide receiver,
and I would just see after the game how much
(12:47):
love I love they.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Would get after the game superintention.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Especially playing quarterback and receiver. You see the kind of
love they was getting. I was like, damn, I kinda
I kind of want to. I like that, I kind
of want to experience what that's even like. But at
that time, it's felt like so far away. I was like,
I have so much farther to goal to even get
even play a position that gets that kind of acknowledgement.
So I just knew I had a whole lot of
work to do, and it's like, all right, juwanna if
(13:12):
you gonna be doing this, at least be nice at
it so that I want to be the best kick.
Then yeah, that uh, probably not. Even then it was
more so like what do you really wanna do? Is
this what you really wanna do? And if not, what's
gonna take his place? Because at the same time, I
wanted to spend time with my cousin or kind of
keep doing the whole attached to hip thing.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
But at the rate that I.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Was at, he about to keep going, and I'm getting
ready to stay exactly where I'm at playing two K
and I'm about to just get left behind. So I
was like, do you wanna you need to figure something out?
So I started watching. That's when I would I would say,
the on demand thing used to kind of start it
and you could record on the TV. So I started
(13:56):
recording games just like random games. Every Sunday, I record
like eight games and I was just sit there. My
parents used to talk about all the time. I used
to sit there, and I'll sit my dad's reclining the chair.
He used to hat when I sat in his chair.
But I used to sit there and watch the game
on a loop over and over again. Sometimes were you
studying at that time for Madden? At that time, it
(14:18):
was for Madden, but it was the clothes that they wore,
so that swag on the field on them.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
You watched hours of tape to see some clothes. Yeah,
So I left the loopie though.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
So look anytime, anytime you play Madden, they give you
the generic style of clothes, and they stopped.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
My son called me one time said eight dollars some clothes.
I sent it to him. Then I said, what's the
stuff you bought? Send me a picture. He's like, what
do you mean? I said, You said, I bought it
for my people. You talking, I'm buying clothes for your people. People.
You got younger brothers and sisters spent eight dollars on
(14:56):
clothes for his video game people. I know that blew
your mind. I was like, dude, so you got nothing.
You spent eighty dollars to buy a green shirt for
a video game character because you didn't like the blue shirt.
He came in. He's like, yeah, he had to be Heedrick.
I'm like, I played video games Cleco Vision shot to
Tarre twenty six hundred. You got what you got and
(15:16):
it came with two controllers for the record. But he
was literally buying clothes for his video game character. So
I know what you're talking about. Got I lost it
that day. I know you did, cause my dad used
I used to waste paper. I used to write it down.
So I write it down and then spend his money.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
I was sitting his reclining a chair, get his paper,
his printing paper, and I'll sit there in a chair
and try to see what they wore. So if somebody
wore a white wrist band, I'll write it down, white
wristband on a piece of paper, and then I'll go
back later on that night go to Madden Switches the
white wrist band. This is the first time I'm telling
this too, So like, so.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
You watch football to get the swag to make your
Madden people look better? Yes, did they play better? I mean,
I wouldn't say I was that night. At that time,
I was playing an All Pro. I wasn't even risking
it and playing All Madden. But at this point I'm
watching it looking at the swag, but I'm not knowing
that you're learning that. I'm learning football as I do it.
And then as I watched I remember watching I wanted
(16:13):
to change my position because I wanted to get nicer football.
So I was like, I actually want to handle the ball.
So I was like, all right, what'll itll be like
if you played running back? And I was like, all right,
you want At this point, I'm like.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Five ten two thirty around this time two thirty, and
I'm like, all right, you want. You gotta keep it
a little bit more realistic. How about fullback? So I
was like, all right, I could play fullback. So I
used to watch the Ravens and watch Laura McClain. He's
a fullback. They used to play for the Ravens, and
I was like, oh, I could do that. He played
a little bit of running back and he played some fullback.
(16:44):
I was like, I want to be like that. So
I used to watch a bunch of his film. And
then turns out the Ravens used to play the Patriots
so much, of course that I would be watching a
lot of Patriots film back in the Bruski Vrabel area.
So like, so now some of my teammate is out,
They'll be talking about certain players and then they'll be like, yo,
how do you know who Mike Wright is? How do
(17:06):
you know who Prior is? Who played in d line?
Shout out number ninety one, rest in peace like guys
like that, Junior say out. And I was like, Yo,
you wouldn't believe how much time I just sit in
front of the TV and watch, just watching, and I
would just be soaking up all this knowledge. And then
that kind of like and you actually watched them on
Madden too. Watching them on Madden too, you got the
same names. I went through every single roster and did that,
(17:27):
so not even just.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
You might be the first two in the NFL to
study the whole game from Matten.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
I can name you every I can name you the
probably the starters on each NFL team in seven.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
That was Michael Vick on the cover that year.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
No, I'm not even sure who's on the cover of
the old set, but I can name you every starters,
like the line all the way down to the offensive
lineman of like the Philadelphia back in the trade Thomas
Philadelphia Eagles days.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
That's a skill. Yeah, that's that's a gift that you
didn't even realize that applied in the transfer. M hm.
So I know a lot of guys were gifted. I
met him Inde penitent try and they took their gifts
to the street. Why don't you ever take your to
the street? PG County is not front all the time?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, I would say, Uh, my family did a good
job of keeping me out of that. Like even when
I got close to like the streets and all that
kind of stuff, they were like, we're get in the house.
Like I wouldn't even allow to be in that. It's like,
but you crazy getting the house. Your mama gonna keep
getting the house. And then I was like, man, y'all,
let me do nothing and then I'll go in the house.
(18:34):
And then I'd just I'd rather I was just I
just sitting in front of the TV, and that's I'll
spend hours like it was some day I live in
front of hours, so it would be like I was like,
all right, if I can't go out there with y'all,
I guess I'll be sitting here watching football.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
So when you finished high school, I saw that you
was going to college. Yeah, Michigan and Iowa. Yeah, so
actually Maryland and Iowa, Maryland, Iowa. So it started off
with uh. Maryland was actually my first office. And at
that time, Yeah, the stay home movement that was a
big thing in the DMV, especially at that at that
point because a lot of a lot of the guys
(19:09):
were going to different schools that was kind of out
of the state, and then at that time Maryland was
kind of struggling, so they was like, we need to
start a stay home movement so we keep all the
players in the house. And at that UH, at that time,
I was kind of just venturing out and I kind
of wanted to see what it was like, because I mean,
I spent my years at Kalum, ended up being nice
(19:29):
a running back, end up getting looks from the MATHA
and I ended up getting recruited by them to go there,
and then freshman year, wanted to play varsity, so that
I wasn't ready, So I was like, go ahead, we're
gonna talk that up, uh, and just play on the
freshman team. And we had a monster freshman team.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
We had one hundred and five players try out five
freshman football team at the Matha. And they didn't they
didn't believe in cutting anybody because it was like a
I don't even know if this is true, but there
was like a room that would go around. They were like, yeah,
you know back in the day, they they cut Brian Westbrook.
Brian Westbrook went to the Matha. They cut Brian Westbrook
and then he ended up being Brian Westbrook. So they
made two teams, the red team and the blue team.
(20:10):
Makes sense to me. Yeah, so the two details. I
played D tackle my freshman year of high school. Me
and Orlando Brown, who was like, uh, he just got
signed to the Bengals. Shout out to Orlando. We were
the two D tackles, so me and him would end
up being detackleds. We went through that whole season and
then we kind of he transferred and then I stayed
at the Matha and then I would say, uh, my
(20:33):
junior year, became a captain there. Uh, junior year, we
lost in the championship. But then my senior year was
kind of like the all right, if you're gonna do anything,
the time is now, A clock is ticking. So and
that's when everybody was kind of looking at the offers.
That's when you had had to have your huddle, your
huddle account had to be on point, your highlight tape
and all that kind of stuff. If it wasn't, it
(20:54):
wasn't looking too good for you.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
So Maryland and I were reached out.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Maryland and I were reached out. Uh, pretty much every
big ten school reached out. I remember I did a
I remember Kirby Smart came to Damatha my junior year
and I'm in the hallway, so I'm like, I'm in
the matha.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
You had to dress up, so we.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
In polos and like sacks and khakis and dirty we
call them dirty bucks, the little buck shoes like dress shoes.
So he's like, let me see you run down, run down,
and we're in the hallway. Let me see you went
down the back real quick. I was all right, ran
down the back full sweat in the polo shirt. But
something like that. He invited me to the camp, but
(21:35):
I was like, I get to go to Alabama. And
at this point I was kind of watching Dante hot Tower.
Yeah at the time, So and then I started trying
to model my game after his, and he became kind.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Of the average of what I was looking for.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I was like, Yeah, if I could somehow get to
that kind of play, like just him, watching him manhandle
guys on the field, I was like, I gotta be
something something like that. Oh, I got to take something
from his game.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
So Uh.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
As that went on, I accumulated some offers. Maryland jumped
in the picture as my first offers, and then they
just started kind of rolling. I was having a good
senior season.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
And then I was kind of waiting to see where
I wanted to go. And I guess I waited too late.
So I was ready. No, So I was ready to commit.
I was like, all right, I think I'm ready to
make this decision.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
What was you gonna pick? I was gonna pick Maryland.
You know what happened when you called him? Called?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Uh, I was like, hey, coach, how you doing. I'm
like trying to keep the keep the vibes high.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I was like, coach, how you doing. He was like,
I'm all good.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
I was like, hey, I think I'm think I'm ready
to commit, and he was like, oh man, I love it,
I love it, I love it. But uh, we already
had somebody to commit in the slot that you was
gonna be in. And then I was like, oh man.
I was all right, that's cool. But in my head,
I'm like, all right, you just made my decision acquire.
Now I'm going to hours. So I just already started
picturing called. I were right after he coach, what's up, coach,
(23:03):
how you doing? You're they going good? Yeah? And he
was like, what's up, man, how you doing? We was
just we were just about to reach out to you.
And I was like, all right, cool. I was like
to commit. I'm ready to commit right now. He was like,
oh man, that's nice. Man, that's nice. But we just
had somebody committing the slot that she was in, and
you more than welcome to play the end. But the
(23:24):
Linebrecker slot's gone, so uh we're kind of we're kind
of moved on. And I was like crushed. So from
that point, I was crying in my room. I was
crying in my room and I don't even at that moment,
I wasn't even showing emotions and stuff like that, especially
about no football at the time. But at that moment
(23:44):
stuff got real. I was like, all right, now that
you went from having ten to twelve offers.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Say you got two slams on you, you're scared to
call somebody.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Else none, I hung up the phone. I ain't even
picking up the phone no more. So I'm like, all right,
I don't even know. We had probably four games left
of the season. So I'm like, all right, Joe, I
didn't tell anybody. Only my parents knew. Uh So I'm
kind of just operating as if I got these two offers,
and I'm just waiting.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
We would go to lunch, and we always.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Talked about all at lunch, uh and I would just
get quiet, wouldn't say anything because I was the captain
of the team. So it's like, DN, that looks crazy.
The captain of the team. Ain't no office, No, you
had office procrastination, had office procrastinated gone? Uh So then
I'm just kind of sitting there. I mean, obviously when
(24:31):
I'm alone, deep in thought, like what's next? How are
you gonna how you're gonna move forward? Out of nowhere.
Elijah Brooks, who was the head coach at the Math
at the time. He's now at Virginia Tech as the
runner back coach.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
He reached out and was like, hey, man, Purdue. Purdue
just called, Uh, they're looking to offer you. And I
was like, man, I'm damn bad.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I was right now. Where is Purdue? I was like,
is that is that? He said?
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I was like, man, i gotta go to Indiana. And
I was like, I'm sure if they jumped in there,
somebody else gonna jump in for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Now you're playing again, right, playing again.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Exactly, just just like that. But at that moment, I
would say, even when I lost the offer from Maryland
and Iowa, I'm grew up in the church, so off rip.
I'm like, oh yeah, I gotta pray. If I'm sitting
in this room crying right now, oh yeah, it's something.
It's something that's bigger than me. Right now, I gotta
I gotta reach out to somebody and me growing up,
(25:29):
that's the only way I knew how to respond to you.
Remember to prayer, you said, uh, not verbatim, but it's
always along the lines of God. I don't know what
you got played for me, but I know you ain't
never left me down before. So whatever you whatever you
got going, I'm with it.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Then he sends you Purdue, and you procrastinate again.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Then he sent me Purdue and I was like, God,
you funny. I was like, man, you funny, you got jokes.
I was like, but at this point, I was kind
of just oblivious to what Purdue was, just because at
that moment you kind of just looking at all the
big time spots. At this moment, we had twenty two
guys at the math of committing d one. See, we
had a big committing class. So due jumps in the picture.
(26:10):
In my downtime, I would just do research and just
look up Purdue and off you see Drew Brees, Rob Nikovich,
Matt light Ache, and Adell and.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
I'm like, okay, they got some names.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
And I see kind of out look at the field
and I just started picturing myself there and then I'm
big on like tradition and like the kind of smash
my off, kind of big ten vibe with the grass
on the field, grass slash mud on the field. And
I'm like, okay, I can make I can make this work.
So I was like, all right, I just got it.
Jeff George Gordia. Uh city who Jeff George quarterback? He
(26:44):
probably did well. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
I ain't go to history books. I used to be
a bookie. Every football player, every high school, every college,
down the line back in egies. I could tell you
where everybody went. That's me. Yeah, Okay, we're more likely
than different. Okay, so I just remember him going to Purdue.
I could be wrong. Yeah, So I was just like
big dog Glenn Robinson. One.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
What's crazy is that his son was my roommate in
college when the third yep Gelan shout out to Geland
with his brother Glenn. Uh, he would come visit us
all the time. At the time, he's playing in Michigan.
So it was always cool, uh seeing him. But uh,
I took the visit. When I took the visit to Purdue. Uh, freezing,
it's probably probably ten degrees.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Now.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I never even left Maryland before this time. Obviously, you
take a little family vacations here and there, but you
did for a high second.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
And you damn about your way, ye you remember.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Yeah, So we take a full trip to Indiana, me
and my mom and my godmother, freezing cold, and I'm
like I see the field, the picture, you know how
they make the picture look Sometimes it's kind of like
the Big Mac. The Big Mac looked shining and everything.
You get there and he's like, oh man, we got
all right. When I've done though, it's gonna look like something.
(27:58):
I was just picture. I kept picturing myself there. I
was like, when you do this, it's gonna be this.
This is the spot. I always felt it. So I
committed on my visit and that was like that was
huge for me one because I didn't have to think
about it no more. I was like, all right, now
I could focus. Now I could hone back in Like
I was at the MATHA. I would lock in and
then I had my goal in sight and I would
(28:19):
just shoot for it. And now I got to finally
commit and get that kind of a monkey off my
back and just like focus, lock in, and like all right,
now you're here.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
So we did three years a captain that Purdue. What
did it teach you? I'm football stuff. We know three
is a captain that Purdue. What did you learn?
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Were they selected me as a captain when I was eighteen?
How did that feel?
Speaker 1 (28:42):
At that moment?
Speaker 2 (28:42):
It was kind of intimidating just because I felt the
build up to it. Now, I was always just being
myself at all times. So me being myself is kind
of like, all right, the team is kind of down.
How can I Yeah, big energy guy, and I'm just
I always say authentic in that way, like if something
needs to be said, I don't like an elephant in
(29:04):
the room and nobody's saying anything. It's like, yo, we
need to say something. I'm gonna be the one to
say it. I don't even care. And then it turns
out that people kind of took.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Made you so how didn't feel to be captain for
three years? I was like, y'all to me, guys, you know,
fifty year seniors. So dudes like twenty three, I'm like, all,
you selected the eighteen year old as a captain. He's like,
I don't know what you're seeing me. So then I
would start asking around. I was like, yo, so what
do you what do you do as a captain? And
they were like, bro, just be yourself. That's why we
chose you because you're yourself. Now do that and just
(29:34):
take it up a notch if you can. So I
took that and kind of ran with it. Uh, I
would say.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
It put me in rooms that I didn't necessarily think
that I was ready for. And at that time, I
was still fighting leadership if that makes any.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Sense, right. You wanted to be free, not responsible. I
wanted to lead ship comes to the accountability do.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I wanted to be the guy that all my other
teammates was they used to come, be able to come
to practice, roll that thing leave. I was like, Yo,
why can't I would be a heck of a player
if I could do that. If I could just show up,
kill the workout or dominate the game and go home
not have to say anything nobody.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
I was like, I feel like I could do that,
but it wasn't my calling. So on the back end
of having to do that for three years, what was
the best part of having to do it now that
she's done? And what should you get out of it?
Speaker 2 (30:27):
It made me stand then what I was saying. So
a lot of the times I would speak and people
would kind of be like, where you get that from?
Like everything you say kind of be on point? So
where you get that from? What you be watching?
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Watching?
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Ray lewis who you be watching? And I was like, bro,
I just say what I feel like I need to hear.
Sometimes I'll just get in the huddle. Like even in
high school, I would be talking. I would be doing
the same thing in the middle of the huddle, saying stuff.
At that time, I was me and my family was
bouncing from home to home and people didn't even know
with out with my family was what do you mean
(31:01):
bounce from home to home? We were homeless. So when
I was in before Wow, while I was in high school,
we lost our house. Uh my dad Sally got laid
off and uh, life just happens, and then we had
to move out. So then we were bouncing around from yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Is you mom, dad? How many brothers?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Me?
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Mom? Dad? Little brother? And he loses his job, so
you can't pay the mortgage? Then nick foreclosing the house. Yes,
they come up, put the thing on the door, tell
you how y'all gotta go yep.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
And at that point I was kind of like my
mom wouldn't want to hide stuff from us, so we
would kind of see.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
We were kind of sick. Where did you go?
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I mean, they pull up, we're bouncing from We go
to grandma's house one time, and then we'll go to
my grandma's house on the other side of the family.
Another time, we'll go to the aunt's house. Here, we'll
go somewhere. The whole time through high school, you bouncing
around the house touse. Yeah, after my after my freshman year,
that's pretty much. That's pretty much the the path.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
How do you feel not having a house? I mean,
you go to school, everybody has stuff, they're going home.
We really can't invite people over. You're the guy always
going over, you know what I'm saying. So, how does
it feel not to have a house? Well, even though
you stayed with fam, but it's not your room.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
I really didn't know how to feel at the time.
At that time, I didn't know how to feel, just
because even when we had the house, we would have parties.
We was always the house that people would come to
just to relax and just after a long week of work,
we would have family over just to kick it, things
like that. And then when life happens, just like that,
(32:36):
gone gone. So then you're just like, all right, what's next?
So then you staying at grandma's house one day, and
then it would get awkward sometimes just as a young kid,
you just trying to learn how to speak up.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
So You'll be.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Laying on the couch, sleeping on the couch one day,
and it was really when you have a family events
and somebody's like, so it's kind of funny somebody be
sleeping sitting on it just.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Basically your bed. You're sitting on the couch.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
You're like, I can't wait till they go home so
I could finally lay down, and then they finally leave
and you finally get to lay down wherever you're going to.
So it was it was different, especially for a young
a young kid. So I would bring that with me
to the field and then in the middle of huddles,
they'd be like, yo, you just said a powerful message
right there. Where did that come from? And I'm like, bro,
(33:21):
I just tell you how I'm feeling, and I tell
you what I need to hear. So it will always
be along the lines of you never know when your
last player is gonna be. You never know when life
just happens. Now I'm saying it's the high school kids.
They sitting there like, what are you talking abro Whatever
you said it was powerful, but man, we don't know what.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
You talk about. You're coming too deep. But I was
experiencing it.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
I was experiencing things that was well beyond my years,
like some things that and so most of the times
kids wasn't able to explain that or put it into
words what was happening. I had the gift of being
able to explain what I was going through in a
way where everybody's but they got to say together for
the four years, everybody got to stay everybody to stay together.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
So when you go away to college, are they still homeless?
They were staying at my aunt's house at the time.
So yes.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
So I would be away at college, and obviously at
that timet you're getting like stiping and things, so you
always shoot that back to moms and make sure everybody
was good and we will talk every now.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
So you're sending your college typings home.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Yeah, that was pretty much the thing, and I was,
and that felt like normal for me anyway.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
I mean, I get it, you're supposed to look out,
but it's like you're probably the only kid sending home
the styping money to pay rent. Maybe, Yeah, so it was.
It was different. It was, but you really can't even
that saying you can't come home, but you really got
no home to come home too. From college, so you
just stayed on campus a lot.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah, so you'll go a lot of times, people will
go home, I'll stay. I'll stay at school. Granted, at
that point I was like a gym rat, but I
felt like I kind of had to be because as
long as my family was going through what they were,
what we was going through, I was like, hey, you
can't just be going home chilling. Like I always felt
like my mission was just different. I always felt like
everybody's giving a journey and it's like, hey man, you
(34:58):
can't complain about the journey. Everybody got their own journey.
You was just placed in that spot and it's like,
what you're gonna do with it from here? So when
you got to you got your school. It was football.
He was going the NFL. It was NFL, and I
don't know what the plan is after this.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
It was like we all out in your mind, You're like,
every practice, every drill is I'm going to leave.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
In my head, this is happening. So it's like, are
you gonna be ready when you get there? That's that
was my That was my mindset. What is one forty
three me to you?
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (35:28):
My pick? Third day, third day pick? They called your
name out yeah. Even wasn't even expecting my name to
be called. Uh before at the beginning, before the draft start,
i'ld say, I didn't really know what to expect. Someone say,
I probably wasn't gonna get drafted. So I was like,
all right, we're just gonna see. I done seen God
move before. Let's see what happens. Let's see what he
(35:49):
does this time. He always keeps the story interesting. So
who knows how long I'll be sitting here? So uh,
don't I invite no fan over for the first day?
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Second day, I'm in and I out of the house,
probably went to see a movie or something like that,
trying to kill time. Third day, who called you?
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Uh? Nobody called? Nobody called at that moment. Third day?
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Uh, I mean when the call come Patriots, who's physically
on the phone. Oh, Robert Robert Craft, a boss boss
called you, boss man. So that that happens. And I
would say, even when I was like taking when I
was taking the visits to teams, I came here, and
like I said, the men, I came here. I thought
(36:32):
back to me sitting in that reclina chair watching all
those games with like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady coming
down to crunch time, uh, game winning touchdown. My mind
just instantly, I'm like, Yo, look where you're at right now.
This is this is real. This is what you've been
thinking about the whole This is why you sat in
that chair wasting on your dad's paper and it's reclined.
(36:52):
This is now you're here. So everything, I would just
see it, and I was like, that's just like Madden.
That state, that field, just like Madden. I was like,
it's crazy. So I would be. I came in for
the visit and then when I when I left, I
was like, oh, if I don't come here, it's gonna
be weird if I go anywhere else. But I was like,
I'm gonna see how it go, how it plays out,
because I've seen crazy things happen, so I'm like, all right,
(37:13):
just go home and just just see how it goes.
So the draft is going, and then I looked. My
head is down for most of the draft because I'm
like watching all these guys get drafted ahead of me.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Some of them I know. So I'm like, all right, cool,
and you know something, you're kind of.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Giving a side. You're like, man, he ain't better than me.
That this is how you how you talk. So I'm
like I watched and I picked my head up and
i see New England on the board and I'm like,
it's my time. I say, hey, god, that's a fine spot.
I was like, it's a fine spot. And I'm literally
saying this in my head. I'm like, hey, if I'm
gonna get drafted, this one have to be right now,
(37:47):
fast team.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
And I look down.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
My phone's on the ground, phones ringing, and I was like, yo,
I called it. And then I pick up. We had
a conversation and I leave and I'm like, yep. At
that point, I'm like, oh man, I got drafted. But
immediately I'm like, all right, now we're back to work.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
They called your name.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
What's crazy is that somebody I got drafted ahead of me.
So you know, in the third round they kind of
showing commercials, so they called it a commercial. Man, Nah,
they did that to you. They talking about commercials and
all you see is my name going against going to
the bottom and.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Probably using using the ticket.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Twenty minutes after I get drafted, then they pull up
the TV screen. So I'm kind of like, all right,
y'all lucky, I'm excited right now because I would be mad.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
I'm mad you didn't see it come on like yo,
and with the one hundred and forty third pick because
they didn't canfl draft. I ain't get I ain't get that.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
I was like, it made you work hard, it did,
And at that point, it wasn't even obviously like the family.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
You kind of like you hugging everybody, you're crying, you know,
but it's not you wanted. You wanted that.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
This is probably a different feeling. But I don't know.
I didn't even get the experiences. So I'm kind of like,
all right, that's cool, but that ain't my journey. I'm like,
all right, the journey that just sain't me. I guess
that ain't me. So that go that happens, and right
when I get when everybody, when it pops up on
the screen, whole house is screaming, whole house is screaming,
Mom's crying, and right when I get happy, and then
(39:17):
I'm like, all right, I'm back to work. Like now
now it's not enough. It's just the last level. It's
not enough for me to just get drafted, because that's
not that's not that's like a check a check mark
off the thing. And that's kind of like, I guarantee
a lot of guys feel that way, where you're like, man,
I made it, I made it, But it's like they
don't feel right. I feel like it's something else.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
They didn't have nice sleeping no Auntie's couch. What I'm saying,
it didn't have to what I'm saying really really be
down on the school lunch free lunch kid, free lunch kid.
So you made it. I mean I've never well back then.
I can imagine a Bellionaire calling me saying, what's up.
You're coming to the team. That just has to be
(39:58):
like like, wow, you know what, He's be in it
because that's just all team owners of being is. So
you gotta be in there, call your phone and be
like yo, man, welcome to the family. That's life changing.
Then they pay you. Yeah, third round pick, then you
buy you buy your folks the house. How is that? Man?
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Uh? Surreal surreal feeling. Uh just because you just when
you do monumental things like that, it just takes you back.
Like oftentimes you so deep in the journey you don't
really take the time to look back to see how
far you come.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Because you just focus on the next thing. You're like,
all right, I did that, all right, what's next? All right?
I did that? What's next?
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Then you do something that's real pivot that shakes, really
shakes your whole world, shakes your family's world.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
And then you're like, man, I did that?
Speaker 2 (40:45):
You really? You really making some a a young fella.
You really making some moves out here, Like don't forget
how you feel to buy your parents at house. Uh,
it was another opportunity to breathe. You got a chance
to finally to see my mom just breathe and take
a take a deep breath and just be like, all right,
(41:07):
now we could focus on something else rather than all right.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
How we about to work right? All that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
But that was it was a real I mean, I
can only imagine how my mom felt, but for me
just seeing seeing her face and just seeing her smile
and just her and my dad and just see how
far we've come and cause it will be it will
be different if like we ain't talk about this stuff,
but throughout the whole process, Like I said, I'm a faith,
faith man, so a lot of times in our toughest
(41:36):
of time, you wouldn't even have known what we was
going through at the time, just because you see our
we light up a room, we laughing, joking, all that
kind of stuff. You you would have never known. But
it's like we never complained. We never we never felt like,
oh whoa, it's me, Oh why we gotta go through this.
It's like, nah, it's our journey. It's our journey. We
(41:58):
just gonna see it through.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
You're about to take it to our close. Because if
people watching this right now, some are in prison. There's
a lot at home and they're going through stuff. And
people don't know their journey, they don't know their testimony,
and they're not sure that they belong as captain, they're
not sure that they belong in the room. They're not
sure of what's gonna be themrow for some place to stay,
(42:22):
or the wife's gonna be as happy, or whatever the
scenario is. Anybody's going through something and from somebody who
sounds like they're a professional, what I'm saying and with
the hand of got on his back and then been
through and came through and still going. That's the best part.
You ain't done going. What you're gonna say to them,
I need you to give all the listeners, man, that
that hope in that journey man, or how they can
(42:43):
press through because they think you got it easy. You're
a multi man, are football player, You're you're done. It's
always checked. You've always had it this good and it's
always gonna be this good. And I wish I had
your hand in. So give them some courage, man, Let
them know.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
Man, the biggest decision that I ever made with standing
in my gifts. Uh, A lot of times I used
to run from everything.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
No, no, no, no, we missed this. I need you to
not talk about them. I need you to talk to them.
Oh yeah, I'm getting that. I'm getting there. I'm getting there. Okay,
the room, let me build, let me build. Yeah, I'm
getting there. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
So stand in it, stand in it, stand in it,
stand in it, don't run from it. Well, I said
this for you and get me hype. Stand in it,
don't run from it. Be where your feet are. Understand
that everybody has a starting point, but where you finish
(43:40):
at and how your journey looks, it's on you.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
It's on you. It's on you. Everybody has.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Everybody's dropped in certain everybody's starting point is different. Everybody's
starting point is different, and wherever you make your way
at from there, you got to navigate the ups and
the downs. There's gonna be trials, there's gonna be trivialing.
There's gonna be moments where you think you ain't got it.
There's gonna be moments where you think you ain't up
for it. There's moments where you doubt yourself. It's gonna
be moments when you look to your left and your
(44:08):
right and then people ain't they doubting you as well.
But at some point you gotta stand on everything that
you believe in. You gotta own up to whatever gifts
that you have, Act on it, Act on it. Don't hesitate,
don't hesitate. Believe that you're worthy of everything that's coming
your way. Understand that there's always somebody watching you. There's
(44:31):
always somebody's looking for it. You're in the middle of
your testimony, and for you to have a testimony, you
gotta go through a test. Sometimes a test feels like
it's unbearable, But me, being a man of faith is God.
Don't put too much on you that you could bear,
So best believe that you can hold that weight. For sure,
you can hold the weight to see it through, see
(44:52):
it through, and man, I feel like I.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Gotta say this, go all right.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
So a lot of times you you find yourself in
situations where you're running from your calling. And lately I
would say that I've been, even like the past few years,
been stepping in my calling. And it was a conscious decision,
like this was a decision that I literally sat in
my car and I was like, all right, Jawan. I
(45:20):
used to fight leadership. I was like, man, I hate
leading stuff. Like I told you, I wanted to be
the one that is able to do what they gotta
do and leave. And I used to run from leadership
anything I did. I end up being a leader of it.
I didn't know why. And I was like, y'all just
want to be a person in the room. And it's
like nah, God would just tell me every time, Nah,
Nah that ain't that ain't your journey? Your journey? Is
(45:40):
you gonna lead? Because I got my hand on you, you
only take your hand my hand off, So it's like, hey,
you're gonna stand in there. So I said, I was like,
all right, what would have happened if I actually just
went through with it? If I actually just stood in
what my calling was. And ever since I did that,
ever since I stood on whatever I believed in leadership
and I owned up to it and I was I've
(46:03):
been able to bless other people. I've been able to
just be myself and kind of talk, talk freely and
just spread my like talk about my journey. A lot
of times I would say, uh, I didn't want to
talk about my journey until I felt like I was done,
which his journey is never done. It's always it's always
gonna be another piece to it. So it's like, man,
(46:23):
how about in the process you help somebody out by
sharing with them your story and maybe.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
You're drag ten people with you.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
Yeah, and then instead of it just being your story,
somebody else coming to you and be like, man, when
you said that, you've really you've really helped me out
of a dark place because I've been there. I've been
there and I needed somebody to tell me their story
and get me out at that spot. So, man, I
would say that even being able to talk to you
and having this moment, it's powerful. Anytime I get the
(46:52):
opportunity to kind of share share my story, it means
a lot to me. Everybody kind of see me I'm
my laughing joking because I done seen what it's like
to not to not have the uh when it's not
a lot of opportunities or a lot of things to
smile and joke about. So it's like, man, if you're
gonna be living this life, please live it with a
(47:12):
happy face, even if sometimes you don't see much to
smile about. Understand that somebody always got a worse. Please
understand that somebody always got away. And that's what my
family kind of we stood up on. And I would
I would love to just one time, just like my
family has been. My mom's coming off with mother's that
has been a rock for my family for sure, just
(47:33):
everything she had to endure along with my dad. So
I would just like say that I always appreciate your
your parents and your upbringing, uh and everybody that you
would call a mom or somebody just just steered you
in the right direction or just pulled you aside and
be like, man, what you doing. Get over here, You're
supposed to you supposed to be. You got this one.
Let's stay on, get in the house, stay on that.
(47:56):
So whoever that is, just appreciate them, appreciate them, and
be that person someone else too. I got one thing
in closing. This is my poem.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
I didn't write it, but when I heard it, I said,
that's my poem. And something tells me you can have
this too. You know what I'm saying. It came off TV,
but you can. We share this. But if you claim
this and say, yo, this is my official poem, then
I believe it. I believe this is gonna be your
official poem. After you hear it, and you heard it before.
That's when you use a press record, hit record. Our
(48:25):
deepest fear is not that we are an adequate. Our
deepest fear that we are powerful beyond measure. It is
our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. You
are a child of God. You're playing small. It's not
served the world. There is nothing enlightening about you shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you. It
is not in some of us, it is in everyone.
And as we let our own lights shine, we consciously
(48:47):
give other people permission to do the same. As we
are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others.
I sent it to that, I'm taking that. I'll send
it to yeh, copy and paste that one, ladies, and yo,
Coach Carter. Yeah, you see Coach Carter in the gym.
My grandad used to make me watch the time. You
(49:08):
see the dude in the gym. Yeah, that's the poem
from in the gym. Well, I don't remember that when
when it locked him all and up, he came back
and said, Yo, they can't make us study, they can't
make it. Take the chains off. We gotta study. Then
the Spanish boy stood up. That's what he dropped. I cried,
and I've been loving that poem forever, but I never
(49:28):
took your time to actually hold it and put it down.
And I meant it, I just never embraced it. I
ran from it. Now I carried with me. I want
to send you a copy. So, ladies and gentlemen, it
is your host. It is young and from the DM
you know, from Prince George County. Yes, you're saying, mister
Bentley soon to own one. I'm saying, but it's not
(49:49):
even the wheels. I'm saying, it's the heart until the
next time live. I'm saying, to let stadium hold it
down fast, bests,
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