The Andre Norman Show with Jonathan Jones

Cornerback Jonathan Jones shares his NFL Draft story, what being involved in the community means to him and how being a New England Patriot has shaped his career.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
It is your host, Henri Norman, and that's always called
you from home base, the bunker from saying none of
it in the home of the dynasty, Englam Patriots home field,
and this is me phenomena. I mean, I'm glad that
you're here. I'm glad that I'm here because this is
like an unheard of thing, like this podcast is being
filmed inside of the Lett Stadium, inside of the studio.

(00:23):
I'm a welcome guest. That gave me his shirt. I've
been giving a tour. I've met a lot of the
staff man, everybody. I met, mister Kraft, the last mouse head.
I can't give a speech. He came down from his
office whatever that is, just to acknowledge me, you know
what I'm saying. And I was like, Yo, that's that's
the Patriot way. So to be here is phenomenal. Man,
to have you here as a representative of not just

(00:45):
the Patriots. Man, but you said, we all know about
the Patriots. It's the greatest football dynasty. You're saying since
invention of football. Pittsburgh Steelers can kind of lay claim
because they got six, but they didn't get it with
one squad.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
They spread it out. It counts, but it's not the same.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
It's under the bew with you know.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
So where are you from?

Speaker 3 (01:05):
A Richmond keirls and Georgia country boy man outside of Atlanta,
about an hour outside the city. So man, country boy,
That's how I grew up.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
I live in Georgia. Now I'm in College Park.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
College family in College Park. Oh yeah, I feel me
in College Park.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
For those who don't know, because everybody's not a Patriot,
there's no such thing as not a Patriot fan. I
got a lot of people in the penitentiar who won't
be watching this as well. How do you pronounce your
whole name? Said Jonathan Jonathan Jonathan Jones Jonathan Jones, they
call you JJJ.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
That mama where at the Bible? Got it straight out
the Bible? Jonathan Isaiah.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
She dragged you to church day. Since she dragged you,
when did you stop being dragged and you started wanting
to go?

Speaker 3 (01:46):
I would say, like teenagers getting some more to college
to where it was on my own, you know what
I mean? You know, growing up it was just what
you did. I feel like I was in church more
than I was in.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
School, So you know, Wednesday night, Thursday night.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Night, Thursday choir practice. Everything. I felt like, you know,
we always you know, always in church, you know, so
that was a that was a good thing for me.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
What church you go to?

Speaker 3 (02:07):
Sol Restoration? It was a small church in Carrollton.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Pastor it pastor get you pass the shoutout?

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Pastor Joe and Stevens.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
Nah.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
She she, she was a great pastor.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
You know, she shut it down for you, held it down,
held it down. Greatest lesson that you got coming out
of that church, you can just pick one.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Oh, greatest lesson. I think it's just that that commitment
to something and just a general odd theme. Any religion
is a commitment and just when you have a dedication
and commitment to something, you can take it far. You
can go far in life.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Okay, that's phenomenal. You was in high school ran track?
Was that before football or with football?

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Nah? So actually I started playing football at four. I
think I started running track around seven or eight, So yeah,
a little bit after. So I did both of those,
you know, from little league all the way through.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
So fastest man, excuse me, fastest young man in the country.
So is that like a national tournament or is it
just stated checked the times.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah. So USA Track and Field they do a youth
for under eighteen, so they have their national meet, you
know every year. That was kind of my exposure to
like a life outside of Carlton. You know, I was
able to travel. You know, we go to different meats
in different states, in different cities, and for me, that
was my exposure outside of the small town. So those
track meets, we would go up the East Coast. They
would have a national meet, you know, every year pen Relays.

(03:25):
I went to Peno Relays. Once we got to go
to prim Relays, Texas Relays as I got older in
high school.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
So yeah, and you run and you get this time. Yeah,
what was it the one hundred hurdles. Yeah, I was
a hurdler, one.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Ten hurdles, fastest in the.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
Country, fast in the country.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
And when you came across the line, did you use
the same boat thing?

Speaker 3 (03:45):
Like, no, no, you know, I'm not really in the
show boating that much, but man, it's it's just that
that hard work.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Hold on.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
When I said you was the fastest guy in the state,
I was like, let me get that, let me get it.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
No, no, no, no, you watch you just do that's put
the respect on you. No, it's uh. I always like
to get that time to talk about everybody else, you
know what I mean, my family and everybody around me,
because it's like I'm just a vessel to my extent,
you know, it's everybody else that was around me to
motivate me, that you know, added into my life. So
it's always any any moment I get to talk about

(04:19):
everybody else that makes it easy.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
Has your record been broken yet?

Speaker 3 (04:22):
Nah, I ain't have the record. I can't get the
national record.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
I just want to that. Yeah, he was just the
fastest guy that Yeah. Yeah, But what are you ranking
in history?

Speaker 3 (04:30):
I don't know, man, It's been some greats. It's been
some greats like Cherence for Mail, some of those guys,
car Louis, Yeah, Jonathan Allen now he plays for the Egos.
He's a hurdle little man. It's been a lot of guys,
you know, to come out and put down some good
times got you?

Speaker 2 (04:45):
So you go through high school, going to church, small town?

Speaker 1 (04:50):
Would you Auburn?

Speaker 3 (04:51):
Alburn?

Speaker 1 (04:52):
Bo Jackson, That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Alburn University best choice of my life?

Speaker 1 (04:58):
Why Auburn?

Speaker 3 (04:59):
Honestly, I knew I wanted to stay in the South.
I didn't want to go too far from home, but
it was far enough to where I could kind of
get my own experience, but then be able to travel
back home.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Two and a half hours ain't bad.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
Nah, right there, it's right there, you know, two and
a half right there. So just to be able to
come back home, see the family and still have that connection,
it was big for me.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
This is a me question. Was bo Jackson big on
campus even though he wasn't there.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
Yeah, I mean he's a legend. I mean anytime he
comes back, you know.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
The campus shuts down he comes on camp.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yeah, he'll come back, he comes back. Last.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
You got a chance to meet Bo Jacks Yeah, a lot.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
I remember he did the thirty for thirty he was
like big Brian called that phone. I watched anything bo Jackson.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
He's going to them.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
He's wanting them completely. So you got the Auburn and
how to go for you.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
It wasn't good, you know, like everything else, just ups
and downs. Got an injury or two all sec you know,
two years. You know, good career, you know, good school
and graduated, got my degree in business. So just a good,
good time good four years.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
So you're sitting home and draft Day.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, tell me about drafting man, draft day, tell me
about draft ding for the best hurl in the country.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
Now.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
Draft Day. For me, looking back on it, it was
one of the best things that happened to me. But
you know, I want to drafted.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
No, tell me about draft day. Not looking back.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
Draft day, Oh man, that's what I'm gonna get to it.
So I was expected to go you know, fourth or
fourth round somewhere in there. So about that third day
is Saturday, you know, having a little cookout. I got
Grandma's aunties. You know, I'm doing this. So I got
everybody there and then you know, I didn't go draft.
I didn't get drafted. You know, to me, that was

(06:35):
like one of the toughest days in my life, just
for the extent of like I don't really if I
call you up for something like, I gotta deliver, you
know what I mean. And so having everybody there to
wait for me to get drafted and didn't. We got
a house full of people, everybody, we know, we had
the cookout, you know, yeah, yeah, we got everybody out there.
And so just to have you know, everybody have these

(06:57):
expectations of you, like, oh man, you know we waiting
to hear your.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
Name him down.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah. Yeah, that hit hard, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (07:02):
So did you cry?

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Did you just go back at the end of the
day that they're like, okay, nephew, No, it hurt.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
And I helped my mama, you know what. I cried,
you know. But coach, you know, Coach Belichick, he gave
me a call. He was like, you know, if you
come here, I give you an opportunity. And I was like,
all right, Like that's the.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
Principal draft goes through.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
They don't call your name and the greatest coach on
the planet called you and said he called you, or
somebody else called he called me. Yeah, he called you
and say, mister Jonathan, yeah it's coach Belichick. Coach Belichick,
what are you saying that you're like feeling better?

Speaker 3 (07:32):
But yeah, not really because it's like you don't know
what that looks like. You know, you're coming out of college,
you know, undrafted. It's like those on the guys to
make it. You know, it's not it's not that way.
So you know, once once it goes off, you know,
I got a long road ahead me and you know that.
But once I got that call, it was just you
know the words that he said.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
You know, I'm what you say.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
I'm gonna give you an opportunity. That's all you need it,
that's all he yeah, and that's all he said. And
you know I was raised that, you know, my dad
was just adamant on that. I was raised by those
simple principles. You know, all you can ask for is
opportunity and what you do with it is up to you.
And so when I heard that, it was it's a go.
You know, it's a I don't want to come to
New England, you know, from a Georgia where it's that's
that's all the way up there.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
All of Georgia Bulldogs is in Philly right now.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
That's Old South is.

Speaker 3 (08:14):
Up here, all of them.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
Welcome to the Northeast.

Speaker 3 (08:16):
Man, good to be here. I've enjeored, I've embraced it.
I've embraced it.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
So when he called you, you came up undrafted, rookie,
undrafted and who else was on you had to come out.

Speaker 3 (08:26):
Here and work for it to to work.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
How did that?

Speaker 2 (08:28):
How did what was the mindset that you use when
you walked onto the field that first time.

Speaker 3 (08:33):
I think for me, it was like a realization that
Superman don't exist, you know what I mean, you know,
your whole life, you know, I'm on the smallest guys.
You see me, you don't, you don't You're not like,
oh my god, that's a football player. And so you
get out there on the field and you know, I
didn't go undrafted or it must be Superman here, you
know what I mean, they got they must have Superman
for a reason why I didn't draft.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
For me, it must be yeah, Tom Brady did play,
so you walk.

Speaker 3 (08:59):
But yeah, no, So it was it was just generally
like that affirmation of like, no I belong here, you know,
and start to you go through reps and you go
into reps and you're like, no, I belong.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
I can compete, I can compete. You know, so that
you was doubting yourself when you didn't go draft, yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
Because it's one of my It's like what is it
that I lack? You know what I mean? Because you
start to self analysis of what do I lack? You know, where?
Where where am I insufficient at? What did they not
like about me?

Speaker 1 (09:21):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (09:22):
And so when you get out there on the field
and you start to look you know, okay, you watch
this gott to do his rep. You can do that,
you know. It's just that the affirmation of you know,
lining up play after play, and then eventually you're like, hey,
you know I belong here. And I never really told
anybody this. So the day the day of cuts, right,
so we got the cuts and I go out like
I rent a little canoe and I'm out on the charts.

(09:42):
I'm like, they called me. I'm just sit out here,
like I'm not doing a picnic.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
I'm not doing just sitting by myself.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Your phone though, by myself, got my phone. I'm not
there by myself. And it's like, I think the deadline
is like four o'clock. It's like four o'clock and I'm
checking my phone. It's like three fifty. It's like three
fifty five, and keep checking it.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
Oh, if they don't call you, you're good, you know
what I mean. So you just sit up there, don't
want your phone to ring.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
You don't want to ring. I'm watching it's like three fifty,
it's three fifty five. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. And then
it's four o'clock, you know, for one, you know, one
of my best friends, he called me, said they call
you yes, no, no, no, no, hung up on him
like they might go to give them a call. No,
they never called. And you know and the next day
you just you know, we'll show back up. You know.
That was it. And every day after that you just
earning it, you know, every day. So I don't know,

(10:26):
not earn it, you know, you want to.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
As a kid, they used to have a boat program.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
We could sell the Child's River as poor black kids, yeah,
or poor kids for ten bucks. I think it was
ten bucks. My mother signed me up and I used
to go sail boating on the Child's River.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yeah, I see them out there. Yeah, so that was
kind of my little thing. I was like, you know,
it's cut day, and I kind of got to myself,
got away to myself, and I was like, you know,
if they.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
Called me, I figured out for then addle home. Yeah,
take my time back to l go straight down the coach.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
Yeah, I'm gonna take my time. But yeah, that was
that was it.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
Did you say the coach when you saw him after?
You may cut that nothing.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
It was just I'm here, you know this business stay
out the way. Make sure you don't see you know what,
sneaking through the building, Like, do you not mean the
cut that is I supposed I mean, not remind him
that I'm here as I supposed to get cut. But
just show up every day and work. Just show up
every day. Don't work?

Speaker 2 (11:16):
So how is it walking up? There's a few buildings.
There's a forty nine ers building they got four. There's Pittsburgh,
they got six. You know what I'm saying. There's Green Bay.
It's just historic, you know what I'm saying. Then it's
here walking into this building. The difference between those and
these is this culture still exists. These are still the

(11:39):
same people, the people who ran when Joe Montanna is gone.
You know what I'm saying, The New Rock and the
old School, Green Bay was it the frozen tundra?

Speaker 1 (11:48):
They gone? You know what I'm saying. I grew up
on Terry Bradshaw, he.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
And the booth. But when you walk in this building,
the people who built this dynasty is still here. So
it's like, how do you deal with that?

Speaker 3 (12:02):
Man? It's you learn it, you soak it in, you know,
just trying to be a learner, you know, and see
what that looks like, See what greatness looked like. Like
you mentioned Tom being here, just seeing his humility as
a person, you know, to to to speak to everybody
you know, and just building how things are operated. You
just you sit back and you try to take it
all in because, like you said, you understand that it's
one of those places that success isn't, you know, especially

(12:24):
football at this level, it isn't just exis and o's.
You know, it's an organizational structure and just being a
part of that is you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
In this structure, young leader? So what is your ascension
in leadership looking like?

Speaker 3 (12:37):
Man? You know Devin just retired. You know, Devin was
my guy. I'm going into year eight. You know, he
was a route that year you know when I got
in here. So just you know, step up and feel
those roles. You know, I never be Devin. I never
try to be Devon, but just to show guys, uh
the example, you know, my way be an example for
guys to you know, do things the right way and
the best way you can. That's my that's my take

(12:58):
on that.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
Oh yeah, I mean you're in a right place. Man.
It keeps going and growing, saying when the ground is good,
always produces good stuff.

Speaker 3 (13:05):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
The soil here is good. So you're definitely in a
good spot. Nothing against nobody else, but we definitely got
like that, not that red clay. Yeah, we got some
good stuff up there, definitely so. But off the field
you're in they're in my hood because I'm born and
raised in Boston, so I hear about the work that
you're doing in the city.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
Tell me about your foundation.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
Next, next to the foundation. It was important to me,
you know, I started twenty nineteen. The first thing I did,
you know, was like what most guys do is a
football camp. But I always want to do more than that,
you know, And I feel like I'm a product of
people's investment of their time and their money growing up.
You know, through the track program, its people who donate,
you know, to make those tracks trip possible. You know,

(13:46):
it wasn't you know, going out to Cali and all
these places, you know, without donations and without help. So
then fast forward to get in the position I'm in now,
It's like I got to use that to give back,
you know what I mean, Because there's another little Jonathan
Jones out there that somebody got to help fund his
track program so that he can go and experience life
outside of where he's from.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
So what is the foundation fund?

Speaker 3 (14:07):
So many things? So our main objective is education. You know,
I'm a big component of that. You know, I got
that from my mother. She didn't care if I played football, basketball,
She never cared. She made sure that I got my education,
turned it on my homework, did all those things. So education,
for me is what I sponsor, and you know, it's
what I advocate for. It's just big on education.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Building a STEM cell class, building stem in at school
in the city. How's that? Man?

Speaker 3 (14:33):
It's for the future, you know. And I feel like
a lot of times we have problems, especially in our communities.
It's just any community, you have a problem, and we
try to look at the past, you know what I mean,
or try to look where we're at, and it's like
the only way to catch up is to look forward.
And I look at, Okay, what's coming next, What's technology,
It's coding, it's all of those things. And so you know,

(14:53):
if you can teach those kids young, by the time
they get you know, you the next fifteen twenty years,
you reach out. Now you're head of a curve and
you already know what you need to know. So that's
important to me, you know, and not understanding and being
in these spaces of like, you know, technology is the future.
We all know that. So if I can teach you
that when you're young, I'm like, I'm teaching you English,
you know.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
What I mean.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
I'm teaching that try to fish. Yeah, I'm teaching you
to the essentials.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
You know.

Speaker 3 (15:17):
To me, I look at it asn't essential to learn
how to cold, to know those things, that's essential, you
know what I mean in the world these kids are
gonna be living in. If you don't know that, you're
just like you not knowing how to read and write.
You know.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
The other part is a lot of people who watch
football just across the board, they a little bit past
to AI stuff. They're still trying to figure out how
to use Facebook. Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying.
So what do you want as a young man? You
have people who watch you ay Sunday who was ow
enough to be your grandfather. What's your message for them?

Speaker 3 (15:47):
Never stopped learning, Never stop learning. You know, I'm on
my parents all the time because it's like the roles
are kind of reverse. You know, it was on me
growing up, growing up, and I'm like, you're fifty, but
you can still learn. You can still like set another
challenge for yourself, like don't accept where you are and
never stop learning, Like I don't give you fifty sixty.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Like you coming back at moms now, Yeah, yeah, how
that she loves it.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
She loves it. You know. My mom told me she's
very biblical and she told me, you know, she said
you're a leader. She told me that as a young
age and she said I was in college. You said,
I knew you was a leader. I just never knew
you'd be leading me. No, and just in ways you
take it. It's a baton, it's a relay, you know
what I mean.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
I get that when I got the baton. How was
when they gave you the batona? You gotta lead, mom.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
It's a gray area, you know what I mean, because
you go up in the still respect. I'm always come
with respect. But it's like, Mom, this one area is
something you don't know, you know, and you gotta trust
in me that I've went off and learned this. I
took those tools you gave me to take it a
little bit further, and it takes a little bit of
humility on both sides of her saying, you know what,
you're right, you know those you know I did, I did,
I did do all that and you just for you

(16:51):
to learn and so yeah, it's a little a little
back and forth.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
Okay, I'm saying, Pop's alright, yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he that's probably of Nego. You know
what I mean. Dad, we bump heads, you know what
I'm saying. It's just my dad was my biggest hero,
like growing up, you know what I mean. I never
saw my dad call a guy, but nothing, you know
what I mean. So it was like standards of if
the AAC was broke, my dad fixed it. If the
call was broke, my dad fixed it. He dropped her
transmissions engines, everything like, he never called a guy. So

(17:19):
that was Hoigh standards for me to fulfill.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
So now play like a girl program talk about it.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
Yeah. Oh man, that's once again for the future. My
daughter have a daughter scholar, she's seven, and just seeing
she's heavy into sports, uh, stem and learning and just
seeing you know, right now, the progression of women in
sports and the things that you know they want to
do in level of those playing fields and me having
a daughter, it's hard for me to ignore that, you know,
and then not to be a part of that movement.

(17:46):
So have an opportunity to be the first male ambassador
for Play Like a Girl. It was heavy responsibility, you
know what I mean. I talked to Robin and I
asked her, you know, well, what can I say to women?
I'm not a woman, you know what I mean? But
she was like, we need you as an ally. You know,
we need someone saying that what we're asking for, we
just need you to advocate for us. And so I
took that the heart and it was something that you

(18:07):
know that I push for.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
So you how's your daughter feeling when she sees dad
with the ambassador to Play like a Girl?

Speaker 3 (18:13):
Is her eyes light up? You know? When she's on
the sideline and she gets to got did to her
for the play like a for the cause, my cause,
my cleats and sponsored Play like a Girl, and just
to see her eyes light up, you know what I mean,
It looks It looked like me what Jonathan Jones's eyes
looked like when he was seven and eight and got
to be a different environment.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
I gotta saying that I go out and speak a
lot of corporations and around the world, rich people, people
who own companies. Whatever I gotta saying because I go
in the room and they wants to me plaicularly correct.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
It's gonna help the kids on.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
The other side of town who are struggling, who don't
have who is all that type stuff? I tell them
before you help them, flash us, don't jump over your
own to come save us, because your kids count too
and play like a girl is one hundred percent legitimate
because you're daughter counts two and you should be there first, second,

(19:03):
and third, and then the rest of the world comes
after that.

Speaker 3 (19:06):
I mean that goes just into my investing strategy. If
someone asked me to invest in something or do something,
if it don't affect me and I'm not into it,
I won't to do it, you know what I mean.
If if it's not directly tied to me, you know,
I won't to do it.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
So you told me that you like to be in
the room with You're like, you're new. Don't look if
we're all over there, I want to go try this.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
I wanna try something new. So what made you want
to fly a plane?

Speaker 3 (19:34):
It was different?

Speaker 2 (19:35):
You know, there's a lot of different stuff. I was
cool with the canoe thing. I didn't say nothing about
the canoe thing. I went to summer camp once I'm country.

Speaker 3 (19:44):
Like I said, I'm custing man. I grew up for Willer's.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
Dirt bike plane, I say plane.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
So so I got to boating and got into that
boating and jet skis and then so the last thing
was like what else can I maneuver? Like what other
machines can I maneuver? And it was find a plane?
Find a plane?

Speaker 1 (20:01):
So how did you just say I want to take
plan flight lessons?

Speaker 3 (20:04):
I looked up the local flight school, took my discovery flight,
and I was like, this is something. And once I
got out of the discovery flight, you know they take
you up, they let you get the controls. Anybody should
book a discovery flight if you interested, you know what
I mean and being a pilot. But as soon as
I grabbed the controls, I was like, this is me.
It was just my element. It was I felt like
I was riding a motorcycle at jet ski of Fort Willids.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
It was it was like new space.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yeah, yeah, it tapped into something. I know it existed.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
So how many hours you have to go to be
a pilot.

Speaker 3 (20:33):
The minimum is forty, so you got to do forty
four hours. Yeah, minimums forty. Most forty forty. It's not
like you need a lot more than forty forty minimum.
I want to hear like five hundred minimum is forty.
Most people do it around sixty sixty hours. Flying is
a lot. You don't realize it, but then there's a
lot of knowledge on your own, Like just do I.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
Fly for a living? Yeah? Back, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
I said, I said, I'm Delta three sixty, but I
don't it's two hours here, two hours.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
I can hit forty hours.

Speaker 3 (21:01):
In a week. Yeah, you gotta. I think most of
the guys who do it the forty they grew up
around it. You know, they grew up in that space
of like, you know, they watch their dad fly planes,
and they've just been around it, and so they started
at a young age. You know, they start sixteen.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
When you show up the black guy wants a fire plane. Yeah,
you walk in the room, They're like, what do you
like again? You don't look like a football player, and
you don't look like a pilot at all at all.
It's always nice to me when I getting off the
plane and the pilot's black or the politic woman, I
expect him to be a white guy. But when I

(21:35):
see a woman, a black person or woman, it's just
like yeah, it's like hope. It's like encourage, even though
I don't want to be a pilot, it's like low
key encouragement to see somebody other than the traditional person
sitting there.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
Yeah, it's representation, and it's like, oh, that looks like me,
you know what I mean. And that's kind of another
reason why I try to step into spaces because when
you see it, I believe everything is tangible. You know,
it's it's attainable once you see it, you know what
I mean. That's the easiest way to do is to
do something you've seen somebody else do. And so you're like,
like you said, I get off the I get off
the plane. Okay, there's a black pilot right there, Like, oh, man,

(22:09):
that looks like me. I can't do that, right, And
so that's that's that's essential.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
What are you flying? What kind of plants? Uh?

Speaker 3 (22:15):
Serious? S R twenty. I've been in ASSESSMA one seventy two.
So between those two, you know, that's.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
Why I fly you move up to the jets turbo prop.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
That's the next that's the next stage for me. It's
kind of a faster, a faster single engine. So that's
the next next step.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
Now I watch rap video, so I be seen like
the like the G six and the G seven. You're
not those there not yet level.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
Level level another level at some point, at some point
a couple of years, at some point. That's the goal.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
You know.

Speaker 3 (22:41):
I'm the type of person. Once I get into something,
I'm into it. And so yeah, there's no there's no
limit to how far you know, I take it.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
How long are you gonna play for?

Speaker 3 (22:51):
Oh, that's a good question. I don't know, man, I
take it year by year. You know, I would like
to do thirteen. Devin did thirteen. You know, it's in
being my vet that be something you know, that's as
a goal to look forward.

Speaker 1 (23:01):
To super Bowls. Talk to me about them. We want share.
What the lessons did you get from the super Bowls?

Speaker 3 (23:11):
Just I mean the typical lessons you learned from from
from everything, just that dedication, that hard work, the ups
and downs. You know, there's been years that when we
did win the super Bowl halfway through the year, it
was like I felt like we suck, you know what
I mean. And it was years that, you know, we
we don't win the super Bowl, and halfway through the
year we were the best team. You know, we're the
best team. We're the best team out here, and we

(23:31):
didn't win the super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
You know.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
So you understand that you can't get too high, you
can't get too low. It's even kill. It's a long race.
It's a long race at the end of the.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
Year, marathon, not a sprint. That's it. So how does
the expectations in this building is it? Is it make
you want to go harder?

Speaker 3 (23:44):
It's it's every day, it's the same things. Consistency. You know,
there's there's a couple of rules in the building, you
know what I mean, that's.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
Just the rules.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
If it's a sick when we ain't trying to get coached,
I think they're out there we don't want to get
to coach that There are simple rules, you.

Speaker 3 (23:57):
Know, just show up, show up and work, you know,
And that's that's as simple as it gets.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
To do your job.

Speaker 3 (24:02):
That's it. Do your job. Don't do more, don't do less,
Just do your job. That's it.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
If anybody does their job. We win.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah, I got we got an opportunity. I don't want
to say we will when we got an opportunity.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
We got coach with an opportunity. If you do coaches way,
coaches way, we went that.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
That's why I believe don't come outside the lines.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
I never could.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
I never I could never come inside the lines. That's
probably didn't play football. I'm saying that was probably.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
I was a kid.

Speaker 2 (24:29):
My father took me to a football field, and I
thought I wasn't going to play Pop Warner football. He
went to pick up some money from a friend. I'm like, yeah,
I'm going to play football. I'm like, damn itself, and
he was like Noah.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
We were talking about football, and he drove off and
we went to where we wanted.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
I forgot about it. Fast forward. I got a son football.
The Raiders were the number one team rock Pay Raiders.
So I take my son to play for the rocks
Pray Raiders. We pull up, he gets out of the car,
he goes over to practice trials or whatever. He's over
at the trials. I'm sitting in the car and I
was like, this is the same parking lot that me

(25:06):
and my dad sat in and that's the same field.
And I realized the distance from that field to the
house I lived on at the time was like ten blocks.

Speaker 1 (25:16):
I'm like, and the coaches are doing everything. A lot
of people drop their kids off and left. I stayed them.
I'm one of them. Typ I stayed. I'm like, that's
all he had to do was dropped me off and
they just took care of the rest.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:31):
I was so disgusted. Th When my son got back
in the car, he had a great time. I don't care,
let's go bo. I didn't have signed up on another
I didn't go to another football team. I could not
go to that parking lot and sit there every day
because it was just too traumatic for me. And we
played for another football team and he was saying the
Eagles and his first play he did a sweep and

(25:52):
he took off running. He was running as fast as
he could as a quarterback. Helma got too heavy and
he fell over. Next play, they run a sweep. He
goes into the end zone, but they tackle him and
he's crying.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
I'm like, what you cryingly that hit me. I'm like, bright,
this is football. Son is okay.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
And he played for one season they wanted they wanted to.
I think it was the F squad. They won the
championship for the F squad and we were all football.

Speaker 3 (26:16):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying that it's it's a
separated real quick. You know, the angle tackling. That was
the that was the drill back.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
And they pushed each other. Know he played at the
level where they pushed each other over. Yeah, it was
no real tackle. Okay, they're like five, you push them over.
I can tell the first his first tackle was his helmet.
Helmet took him to him and got him.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
As you.

Speaker 1 (26:35):
Since you've been here, do you do the meet at
the fifty prayer after the game?

Speaker 3 (26:40):
Oh? Not much, not much. I was always honestly, I
got out of here. You know when when I first
got here and drafted, you know, my family wasn't here.
It was a new space for me. I never been
that far. And then my I've been playing football since
I was four. It was the first time that I
looked up, you know, after the game, and I didn't
have family here. It was it wasn't nobody mumming them
is not here, grandmom and them, the auntie them out here,

(27:02):
and that post game like lack of having family here.
For a little minute, I was just like, I'm ready
to leave, you know what, I'm murder to leave. So
that was you know, that was just me just getting
out of here with the games over. Yeah yeah, let
me get back, Let me get back home, Let me
get back home. So you're married now, yeah, getting there?
You know, not yet, not yet, not yet.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
Okay, I need to do counseling.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
Yeah, yeah, getting you got the little one. Yeah, So
y'all good, be good and good. Everything's phenomenal, everything is great.

Speaker 3 (27:32):
Got a great woman that that makes life easy.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
Super it's the foundation of the world. Yeah, it is.
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
When Adam showed up, he was like chilling by himself
out in the rath socks in the field, and then God.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
Gave him a mate. So y'all shouldn't be by yourself.
They were, I don't think they were technically married.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
But yeah, they got to hang out. That's it. Wanted
to be alone.

Speaker 1 (27:54):
It wasn't meant to be alone. That's it what I'm saying.
So you're not alone.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
Not alone.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
I'm saying, so you good, help could support.

Speaker 3 (27:59):
Helps support.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
We got these folks that are watching you know what
I'm saying. They're shitting home and they going through stuff
and football is a refuge for them. And I wanted
to be more than just tackling or touchdowns. So how
we're gonna help them through without tackling the touchdown? Football
doesn't start fronother three four months? So what can you
do to get them through to the next to September kicksing?

(28:22):
They need you to encourage them.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
Encourage them like off the field, right, do it football?

Speaker 2 (28:26):
I didn't need you to encourage the people watching us.
It's they send them Grandma lessons.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
Oh man, Day by day, start every day, fresh start
every day, and forgive yourself. I think that's the biggest space.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
Figure yourself. Explain that it starts with grace.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
You know life is grace. It's forgiving other people for
things they've done. But the biggest place it always starts
with yourself. So you got to forgive yourself for the
things you did or you didn't do. You know that
didn't work out, and forgive yourself for yesterday and move
on to today.

Speaker 1 (28:56):
Got you? So if your dad was sitting in his chair,
mister fix it, what would you say.

Speaker 3 (29:03):
To man, I appreciate you. I appreciate every lesson, every day.
You know, everything you did, you know, every mistake you
did make. You know, I appreciate those too, because that
was guidance for me and moms, keeping you kee being you.
That was the glue of the family. She's and I
can't say.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Is that her smile?

Speaker 3 (29:23):
Man? That's it, man, that's it man. She's I mean,
a wonderful woman. It makes it hard for me when
I was dating to find someone just just because the
standard that my mother set, you know, and it was like,
that's just what I'm used to. You know, I'm used
to superwoman. I'm used to somebody making a way out
of no way.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (29:39):
You I come from that.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
So you find a superwoman.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
I found that.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
I found that She from Boston. Yeah she is.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
She's actually from Brazil, but she's from firming him.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
Yeah, you have to come people list dynastyam maker right here.
Your family's a new England dynasty.

Speaker 3 (29:55):
I'm locked in to Boston.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
You locked in. We got you, Yes, sir, I'm saying
so I pre appreciate you're saying before we go, I mean,
seeing why my books place.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
This is a book I wrote while I was in prison,
and I started it because I went to prison because
I didn't listen and I couldn't find the people to
listen to.

Speaker 1 (30:16):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
So I ended up going to prison. While I was
in there, the craziest thing. It's the worst thing that
makes the best thing. So I read a bunch of books.
They didn't do anything for me.

Speaker 3 (30:25):
I just read them.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
They were good books. Then I read a book from
an author that I didn't like. I was so mad
about what he wrote. I thought he represented us and
he didn't represent me. I was screaming, Yo, who's this dude?
How he write about prisoners? He's a lame and let
that out. So I wrote it made me write my book.
All the other books I read, none of them made
me write a book. I read a book I didn't like,

(30:47):
and it prompted me to pick up my pen. So
I want you to have a copy of it.

Speaker 3 (30:51):
I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
I appreciate what I'm saying, and listen.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
Anytime you have a foundation event or anything you need, man,
this holler at your boy.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
Man. I pull up and the folks here, man, how
can how can they support your cars? Man? People want
to know how they can be helpful.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
Ye, next Step Foundation, you know dot org and just taping.
You know, I'm connected to all the villagers that helped
raise me, whether it's back home in Carrollton, Auburn, you know,
here in Boston.

Speaker 1 (31:15):
So we got Patriots fans to go beyond that. Yeah,
so no, we're global with this.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
Now.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
We got games in Germany now, man, you know what
I'm saying. You know this is a global sport.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
Now, yeah, this is just about the I don't know
if we can take over the other football, but I'm
saying American football is still gonna roule. Yeah, but please
next Step Foundation. Man, how at this great young man,
the next young and up and coming leader. Really you readily?
I mean, we need more leaders on the Patriots. Man,
it seems like you well suited.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
We'll see. It's about that time, do.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
You is that you go in and talk to coach
or do they call you out? Does that work?

Speaker 3 (31:50):
Now? I don't think. I don't think those are the leaders,
you know what I mean? I think sometimes, especially in football,
the leaders in the locker room. You know, it might
not be who they had to see on the chest
or the cap, but it's the guy that everybody go
to to talk to. It's the guy of everybody. You know,
they got problems at home, like who they come to
and talk to? You that got football? Yeah, for a
lot of the younger guys, you know, they come here,

(32:10):
Hey man, I got this going on, I got you know,
And that's where you're the leader, because if I trust you,
you know the things I got going outside of here,
I trust you on fourth and ten, like you know
what I mean, like you you you helped me out,
you know.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
Yeah, yeah, so you're helping them with their life.

Speaker 3 (32:23):
Yeah, because that football is easy.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:25):
The guys did that for me, you know, Devin Patrick, Chung,
those guys they brought me in.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
Who won't give a shout out to before we go?

Speaker 3 (32:31):
Man? Man, I couldn't do that because I leave somebody out. Man,
shout out to my tire village. Anybody has ever done
anything for me in any way shape for them.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
We're playing like a girl, man, get a dough on,
come on. Scotland said, oh yeah, baby girl girl, Yeah,
baby girl tapping, baby girl, baby girls watching. Man, I'm
excited to watch her girl and see who she becomes.

Speaker 3 (32:53):
And there's this potential. It's so much potential there, so
you just just.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
You grown a super woman? Are you growing a superwoman?

Speaker 3 (33:01):
That's potential, it's potentially, that's to go. That's on her,
you know what I mean. That's what I like about parents,
and it's just that. I mean, I can later, I
can lay the foundation for you, but where you take it,
that's your responsibility. Like that's that's your journey, and I
just gotta sit back and watch you.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
I ain't learned that lesson my son, which I would
take your stance like nod Well, my son was little.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
The first time I talked like, I said, where you
go to schools? I don't know. I said, you want
some candy? He said yeah. I said, say you go
to Shady Hill. He says, Okay, go to Shady Hill.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
Give a piece of candy.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
So we're going to school after that?

Speaker 2 (33:32):
He says, I don't know to say, you're gonna go
to andover Shady Hill andover I give him some candy.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
I say, are you gonna have to that? He says,
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
I said, say you're going to Harvard, Shady Hill and
over Harvard, give him some candy. That's what you're gonna do.
When you get there and he says, you tell me.
I said, business agree law degree. So that was our thing,
Shady Hill and over Harvard business. You get a piece
of candy and I do it to him all the
time at the house. I'll be on the road, I'll
call home too many drill, I will.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
Use some candy. He's been saying it since he could speak.
He went to Shady Hill, then the eventually we moved
to Africa and we moved to London. But he's on track.
I can't go.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
I believe if he wants to, he's probably gonna go
to NYC. I don't know why I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
He switched. I remember he came to me. He was
like he went to his mom.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
Was like, mom, I want to do engineering. But dad
got me in his business green Lawn agree thing. So
we had a family meeting at the table. He was like, Dad,
I need to talk to him, like I know what
it is like what I came real hard at him.
He's like, what I want engineering? Engineering? Who what were
you talking about engineering at the plan? I said, you
want to do engineering? He was like kind of, it's

(34:41):
kind of kind of don't get it around here. And
I made him stand on it, and he finally said,
I want to do engineering. I don't want to do
one of the other two, but I got to do engineering.
I said, okay, you have to do these ten things
and I'll agree.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
And he says, okay.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
He threw his hand out of me real quick, shook
my hand. He's like and he that was his first win.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
Yeah, that's the lesson. That was his first lesson.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
I like that.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
That's the lesson.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
Now he's going to school for engineering.

Speaker 3 (35:04):
Yeah, hey, you still want in the year.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
Oh listen, I told him when he got older, because
he's been saying it since forever.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
You have to have a destination. So I don't care
where you go. I don't care what you study. Just
have a goal.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
And for the people watching this thing, I don't care
where you're from. Actually, I don't care who your team is.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
Just have a goal. That's it what I'm saying. We
just want people to win.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (35:25):
What I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (35:26):
Be better tomorrow than you are today.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Be better tomorre than you are today. And if you
do that, you too can be the fastest man in
the country running the one ten hurdles.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
That's it. That's it.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
So, what's your plans for the summer?

Speaker 3 (35:38):
Man plans for the summer, keep flying. I'm working on
my instrument rating. So that's a big part of it.
The foundation family, and that's about it. Gett ready for football,
your creats.

Speaker 1 (35:50):
What's going on this year.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
I haven't haven't locked that in yet, but we'll see.
You know, I haven't locked that in yet.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
So ladies and gentlemen, reach out if you have a call.
This man supports causes. Man, he's open hearted. He's what
I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
He is what it is. He's a great man. So
he's open to listening.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
I can't guarantee anything. You definitely listen to here. Yeah here,
y'all know what I'm saying. You have to fix your conditioning.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
Oh yeah you can.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
You can drop a transmission. Had to do it. I
had to do it all.

Speaker 3 (36:18):
So like that was all battles me and my dad.
Like he would be like, man, hey, man, I gotta
drop the transmission. Help him like kind of like Dad,
I don't gonna play basketball. I'm gonna play football, like
they playing football over there. He's like, yeah, we gotta
drop this transmission. We gotta we gotta fix these breaks.
He got it so eventually, like when I was a kid,
bringing full circle. So I don't like to fix stuff
like my thought. I don't finish my thought now as

(36:39):
I can, but it's gonna take me two hours. I
can do so much other stuff in those two hours,
for sure. So like that's just my thought. I didn't mean.
We used to used to go back and forth, me
and my dad. What are you just back and forth?
And so I called him, you know, and I was like,
you know, my son, because I was fixing something in
the house and putting up a pain. You don't put
some wall inchors in and my son comes in, he
grabs it and he takes off running and he's just

(37:01):
and I called my dad. I said, Dad, I was
in the way, and I apologize for that. I was.
I thought I was helping him, you know, as a kid,
I thought I was helping. And I put, I take
a tool from this side of the garage and it's
on the other side. And just you know, just for
you see yourself when your kids see myself, and it's
like I become my dad. And so in those lessons,
you know, I'm always calling that you was right about this.

(37:22):
That's the humility. Amn, y'all was right.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
Those are happy dad moments. I get those calls.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
I'm saying it's be graduling right now because he's still
in competition mode. He's seventeen, but he's like, he.

Speaker 3 (37:33):
Can he dump you? Can he can he wrestle your wrestle?
Can he get you?

Speaker 1 (37:36):
Yet?

Speaker 2 (37:37):
I spent fourteen years in the penitentiary knocking people out.
He don't want none of that smoke. He don't want
none of that smoke. You don't want none of that smoke.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
No, it was it was about my coming back from college,
like it was like my first and for semester college,
my dad we always wrestled. We bump each other in
the hall way. He put me in the figure for
he locked me out. My mom sometimes, hey, get off
my boy. Get off my boy. You're taking him out.
And I come back from college. You know, I got big,
I think, and he me. I said, that's my chance.

(38:06):
I picked him up.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
Boom, he switched up with him back down.

Speaker 3 (38:10):
Oh, he never touched me again.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
That's what he messed up. My son is a black
Belton taekwond Yeah. So technically he can beat me hands down,
no blank. Psychologically he can't beat me because I refuse
to play wrestler.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
So when we used to, we ain't get in trouble.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
I man handled right, So he has those man handling mindsets,
and he heard the stories of Dad the Gladiator, so
he ain't trying to come at me.

Speaker 1 (38:38):
He's psychologically terrified of me in that space.

Speaker 3 (38:42):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
I know right now.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
He can physically beat me hands down, hands It would
be probably like a one minute fight, kick me ahead
of my head.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
But I'll never even pretend like he could beat me.
That was it. Oh, he got me, So we played back.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
He's my he's my height, he's and he's seventeen. I'm
fifty six and out of shape and can't run five miles.
He gave me in point two second quick, but I
got him on a site tip.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
As long as he thinks I can beat him, I'm winning.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
I take you four.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
And by the time he finally gets around to it,
I'll bet too old for him even think about stuff
I can do.

Speaker 3 (39:17):
It was That was it.

Speaker 1 (39:19):
That was it. But give dad a shout out. Shout
out to my pops.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
I'm saying, shout out to my dukes and to the
village said, I'm saying the village has raised us. It
takes a village, and the village has done you well man.
So we need to replicate that system and build more
dynasty to look just like

Speaker 1 (39:39):
Appreciate it, Appreciate all