DE Tim Jamison | Where Are They Now?

Tim Jamison played defensive end for the Texans from 2009 through 2014. Drew Dougherty of Texans TV caught up with him and found out about his new business venture, his foray into coaching, and some of his favorite memories from his playing days.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into a where are they now? It's Tim Jamison
played for the Texans from two thousand and nine through
twenty fourteen, A defensive and Tim, what's going on? Man?
Where are you these days? Oh? Man? Thanks for having
me through right now? Man, I'm a business owner in Parallend, Texas.
My wife and I own the preschool Bright Lines Academy.

(00:20):
We serve as kids pre K three through kindergarten and
were recently just opened up the Think Space, which was
served as a multi use event center. During the week
it was served as after school tutorial but on the
weekends to be ridden it out for like birthday parties, graduations,
even when so we do it with a lot. So
it's awesome. Your big guy used to mix it up

(00:45):
in the trenches with offensive lot nasty dudes. You're trying
to get after the quarterback. How did you transition from
that life to the one you're living now. I mean
that that's a different, different journey or different venture to
get into after what you're going through for you know,
the early part of your professional life. It's it's definitely different,
you know. I tell people, they always bust jokes saying

(01:07):
he went from chasing quarterbacks to chasing little kids around.
But I mean, it's it's amazing. My wife and I
came up with this idea while I was playing in NFL.
She was a teacher, and so when I retired, the
opportunity came up to purchase preschool because the owners run
to retire from the from that life, and my wife

(01:28):
and I spent the year learning how to run a
business and things like that, doing I due diligence, and
after that year we felt confident enough to jump right
into it. So it was a pretty good transition from
you know, being retired. Of course I had to stop
and due to injuries and things like that, but you know,
I think it's pretty cool just being an entrepreneur, being
a business owner right after playing. That's really cool. That's

(01:50):
really cool. You know. I always had a kind of
I felt a sort of a kinship with you because
my first year with the Texans was two thousand and nine.
I came in right at the end of training camp,
had been you'd been signed by the Texans. I almost
said drafted. You were an undrafted rookie, and you were
a rookie that same year, and you were the first
undrafted guy from that class to sign with the Texans.

(02:14):
A lot of people remember Arian Foster obviously in the
successes he had, but you were called up before him.
You got called up right before week five against the
Cardinals and we were joking off camera. I just looked
at the video because I did a one on one
with you right after it happened, and it was it
was really fun experience. You don't look much different too, man,
You still look the same. You still look youthful, you
know all those years back. Well, you know, um, I

(02:36):
gotta credit that to my therapist, you know, dealing with
a lot of injuries and the fourth when to retire.
James pain is and lived to move, so he does therapy.
Actually I did therapy morning, and I just you know,
little maintenance things to keep me rolling. Because I meet
a lot of retired guys, guys that I see in
the CC's that's moving around. They credit that to just

(02:58):
standing up on their injuries and doing therapy things like that.
And then I meet some guys who can barely walk around,
so I try to, you know, stay on top of
those injuries so we can prolong those issues. So what
was that like that first year? Because you came from
a blue blood program. Man. You were a Michigan Wolverine,
you were you know, a co captain your last year,
you played in some big, big football games, and then

(03:20):
you don't wind up getting drafted. What was was did
you think you were going to get drafted? What was
draft weekend like for you back then? So, yes, it
was frustrating, and I think about it every time the
draft come around. Yeah, but you know, I always see
the civil lining. You know, I knew I was a
pretty good football player. Playing at that prestigious university. You're
playing against basically pro talent every every weekend. So that

(03:43):
prepared me for when I did get that shot. I
was supposed to be drafted, That's what they told me.
But when I went undrafted, I just you know, talk
to my parents, talked to my agent about it, and
you know, it's at the end of the day, it's
still football. So you know, I had to go in
proved myself, which I had no problem doing, you know,
because there's something that I'd been doing on my whole life.

(04:05):
So just to go there and you know, to show
what I can do and earn my teammates trust, earned
the coaches trust, you know, in college. I've compared to
being a walk on on college. So it's basically, you know,
you try to just earn your scholarship, prove that you
want to be there. And so that's the mentality I
took from the first day I got signed to the

(04:26):
last day. I strapped up every day. I never took
it for granted. So tell me about the first day
you're in that locker room and you see guys like
Mario Williams and Antonio Smith who had signed as a
free agent that offseason that you joined the team. Sean
Cody knows tackle, uh, you know, he played inside with
I mean, there are a lot of personalities on that defense.
Ryan Cushing was a rookie as well that year. What

(04:48):
was that like when you get in that locker room
and you kind of look around and see who's who's
with you? Well, like I said, the guys you mentioned
that was their first year along with the Texas too,
so they were trying to fill out the culture as well.
So that kind of helped in a way. We was
all learning each other as players, So you kind of
got a gauge of the guys who you know, took
that work ethic to the practice field from the classroom

(05:10):
to the practice field and once you started getting the
gauge of who was around you, that kind of helped
us bond together, learn each other. And we all had
one goal. Like I think we was part of the
team that won the first winning season and the technical system. Yeah,
so that kind of started something. We had, you know,
captains like Demko Ryan who called the team dinner, team

(05:31):
defensive dinner. And you know, that was my rookie year,
so I thought that was the standard, but a lot
of players said that was the first time they ever
did that, and uh, that just it kind of reminded
me of like college like guys just laughing, like the
guy Sean Cody and Tonio Smith. Those guys are characters.
So they kind of kept it lively in a meeting room,

(05:52):
in a locker room, you know, in tense situations, so
nobody was really nervous. It was kind of like relaxed.
We trusted each other and we was very competitive, you know,
so we competed against each other day in the day out,
and I think that really helped that team. What was
what was it like when you actually come to Houston
being from you know, your Chicago guy, you played at Michigan.
You know, what's it like when you come down here

(06:13):
for I guess rookie mini camp that year. Pretty big adjustment,
how that how things go? Well? Uh, my year was
kind of different two thousand and nine. They didn't have
a rookie Mini camp that year, um, and so I
was still in an arbor when a lot of my
colleagues were going to mini camps and I didn't show
up to OTAs. Oh wow, okay, yeah, So OTA started
like around this time, the mid mid May, and in Michigan,

(06:36):
I would say at the time it was like sixty
degrees is the high people wearing short So I come
out here it's eighty five degrees at eight o'clock in
the morning. So that was an adjustment, you know, But
being out here for about you know, the next two
or three months, I got a customed pretty easy. So
it was pretty good. So tell me about that first
stretch of the season. Basically the first month where you're

(06:57):
on the practice squad, you're work in you're obviously you've
turned some heads. But in RELI I looked at this
video of you and I talking right if you've gotten
called up, and it jarred a memory yeah, you thought
when they called you in to tell you were getting elevate,
you thought you were getting cut, didn't you? Yes, yes,
I did. You know being undrafted. You know, Tuesdays is

(07:19):
always your day off, but Tuesdays also to day they
bring in guys to work out and if they make
their transactions, they're waving guys. So they called me in
on the Tuesday, and I was nervous because three guys
that just got released the week before, and I was like,
oh man, and you know I never read any newspaper
clippings and anything, so all that I had my head

(07:41):
down the whole time. Just go to work, go home,
and hopefully I did good. So I'm not getting cut today.
So when they called me and they told me the
news that I was getting elevated to play my first game,
I was a static. You know, that was probably one
of my best memories, getting called up and telling them
telling me that you know, your hard work is of handoff.

(08:01):
You've been making our team better. Back going against players
like Duwayne Brown, Eric Winston, you know Chester pits, those
type of guys and you earned their respect, and so
that was good to hear as a rookie trying to
find my way and to getting that you know, get
that call and let let me you know, to play
in the first game. That was amazing. So yeah, when
you got into the game, Actually, what was that like?
It was at Arizona out there in the desert. They

(08:24):
had a pretty good offense. They were coming off of
a Super Bowl appearance the year before. Larry Fitzgerald was
a guy catching pass. I mean, what was that like
that first game? First welcome to the NFL moment when
you're in a regular season game. Actually, yeah, it was.
It was amazing during during a warm up, you know,
going out there stretching and looking at the crowd and
things like that. Um, you know, that was a dream
come true. You know, you know, not too many people

(08:46):
make it to that level. So the being in that
arena at the time, playing for our team, we'll try
to get that victory. It was amazing. But when the
when the game started, all that went out the window.
It was like, falls on the game plan. This is
what got me here. Now I gotta make sure I
stay and so that's all you know saying was in
my mind focused on the team, helping us try to

(09:07):
win that game. Man, your career when you look at
the seasons you played. It was oh nine, you start
as a rookie, fourteen as your last year. I mean,
Texans go nine and seven, they're looking towards the future.
They finally had a winning season, and then six and
ten there's a little bit of a backslide. But then
Wade Phillips comes in and a lot of other Jonathan
Joseph JJ watt. You know, Connor Borrowin gets healthy, you

(09:29):
keep mature. A lot of things happen. You guys go
to the playoffs, You do it again the next season,
and then the bottom falls out because of a lot
of stuff in thirteen and then new coaching staff and
you guys kind of picked back up where you were.
Does anything in particular? Is there a favorite memory of
yours from your time as a Houston Texan? I will
say the best memories, I will say, man, because it's

(09:54):
a lot. I mean, I spent my whole athletic career,
pro career with the same team. Yeah, you mentioned that
stuff brings up a lot of memories, but I think
we alluded to it before. Like making the team as
an undrafted free agent that was probably one of the
best memories. And in that first regular season game, and um,
I would say winning the AFC self Division for the

(10:15):
first time in team history. UM that that was one
of the probably one of the highlights because the fans,
I don't think they expected that from us, because when
we came back, you would have thought we want a
super Bowl something. It was like so many fans there
and they were just so proud to be Houston Texans. Um,

(10:36):
and that was amazing. I don't know if this is
a highlight a little light, but we did get those
Letterman jackers. I don't know if you remember that. Of course,
of course pretty funny. They were awesome for a few
few days. Yeah, I'll be interested to find out who
all have the frame mind. So they're cool. List those

(10:57):
things are cool. They were cool. It was didn't lose
the game because of those jackets. I think there were
some mismatches that Belichick was able to exploit. You did
not lose a game because of some some some athletic apparel.
It was. It was a football difference, you know, it
was actual on the field stuff, right, Yeah, exactly. But

(11:17):
like I said, having all the cultures changes, I believe
during my time with the Texans, I played under three
different defensive coordinators. Yeah, so that was that was interesting,
you know, going from a four to three under Frank Bush,
then going to three four version of kind of three
four under Wade Phillips, and then Romeo Canal coming in

(11:37):
with the traditional three four. I think that helped me
as a player, learned to adjust the different schemes and
learn different terminology and things like that, and all the
players that we came in contact with through my time
here in Houston. So it was all a great experience. Yeah,
how much when when Wade came in? How worried were
you because you've been in a four three? Yeah, switching

(11:59):
systems that kind of get you word at all? Or
did you just have the confidence here, I can make
this happen no matter what. Well, so my defensive line coach,
Bill Cooler had a meeting with us, and I believe
he had been in the fourth three systems prior to
the way it fills as well, and so they came
to me and they were like, look, you got a
choice either fifteen pounds but the outside linebacker or gain

(12:21):
fifteen pounds and played kind of like a five technique
three technique defas a van Yeah, and I just I
told him, I said, I can gain weight pretty easily.
So I just jumped into it. And at the end
of the day, like I said, it's football, So as
long as I can learn the terminology and uh, you know,
do what they need me to do. You know, I'm
like an undrafted free agent. Your masses like the more

(12:41):
I can do, yeah, get valuable. So I was able
to adjust pretty well and I felt pretty comfortable in it,
and I gained way Phillips trust. That was his first
year there and it was pretty good. Yeah. Yeah, you
just made it happen, didn't matter. That was cool. Who
do you keep in touch with? What teammates you still
because you're involved with the Texans Legends program. I saw

(13:03):
you at the golf tournament last week. That was cool.
But which guys do you still talk with and kind
of keep up with? Oh? I actually talked to a
gang of guys really, um, you know, I called Damiko Ryans,
I said a couple of months ago. I actually talked
to my former coach Bill Kolar last week. How's that
guy doing? He's done pretty good. He's still in Denver

(13:26):
and we just called up because I was in Morgan
State University helping their football team out during the spring
last month, and William Carr, who's the interim head coach
right now, he played for Bill Kolar went back in
the Atlanta Falcon Days and so we called and he just,
you know, it was good catching up with him. And
I told him, I said, you know what, as a player,

(13:48):
you know, we used to see you yelling all the time,
getting on guys, And now that I had experienced coaching,
I definitely understand you now and I'm sorry if I
gave you any problem back in the day. So we
just had a good laugh for about forty five minutes,
and uh, it was. It was good catching up. But
other than that, it's a earl Mitchell. Uh, you know

(14:08):
Derek Crick those guys who I probably stand contact the most,
but other guys, like you said, I see him at
like legend events, or if I don't talk to him
on the phone, I see him you know online. We
still in touch with each other online and things like that.
So that's great. Yeah, it's good. So I want to
get into this Morgan State thing. But before we do,
as a Bill Collar former, as someone who was coached

(14:31):
by Bill Cohler now coaching, do you find yourself yelling
stay up like Bill Collar, and that's the idea, like
Bill Cole, because those are the two things that I
remember him saying all the time. Do you remember that
as well? I do remember that, But I would say
his main phrase was get to the ball. Yeah, I say,

(14:52):
I catched myself saying that a lot no loafing run
to the ball. You never know what's going to happen
as long as you're just attacking the ball, play into
the whistle. So I remember him saying that probably the
most of players, not to me, he didn't really have
to yell at me much but now, but yeah, it
was pretty good. And so I caught myself doing that.
And you know, just all the coaches I've been around,

(15:12):
just taking all the things I learned from them throughout
my time, rather's college oil professional, being able to teach
that to the to the young guys to give them
the best chance to you know, make their change success.
To us well, and I think it's you know, it's
parallel to teaching to me, you know, coaching and teaching
is so parallel, um And I believe in like teaching

(15:33):
guys to learn different ways so someone can learn right
and taking notes. Someone can learn just watching and watching films,
someone can learn through walk throughs, and some of them
can just learn by experience. So I take all those
techniques and try to teach them to everybody. And I
saw a lot of girl from through the spring, so
I'm excited to see what they do during the fall. Yeah,

(15:53):
this is a really fascinating story. You told told a
little bit more to me off camera last week, but
you got into this in an interesting way. Sort of
give us the backstory and what's going to happen next,
because this is fascinating in my mind. Yeah. So William
carr M was the d line coach last year for
Morgan State University, which is an HBCU college in Baltimore,

(16:16):
and the head coach took the job in the NFL actually,
and they promoted him to introm coaching. Today, I guess
found a replacement and spring ball is about to happen.
And he called me, I want to say, on like
a Thursday, and said, what do you do during the day?
And I told him everything that I'm doing with the preschool,
with the businesses and things like that, and he said,

(16:37):
would you mind coming up here at helping me and
my staff just for the spring you know, see if
you like it. And I said, sure, no problem, and
we I said, let me talk to my wife. Let
let me backtrack, and said, let me talk to my
wife first. So talked to my wife about it. Yeah,
on the saturday. I was there on a Tuesday. Um,
you know, I didn't know what the expect I thought

(16:58):
I was just going to be just you know, helping out, consulting,
doing a little bit of As soon as I get there,
they said, we need you to coach the D line.
I said, fine, you know, training camp spring ball was
going to start in about five days after that. So
I got the playbook, learned the terminology and things like that,
taught it to myself. So you know, I was easy.
It was easier to teach to them and a lot

(17:19):
of different techniques and that was it. And they was like, man,
we love you. Can you stay here for the fall?
And how I was like, uh, I got to talk
to my wife about it. You know, just started new businesses.
She has four kids at home, and so they're still
in the process of trying to figure out what's going on.
They just hired a new athletic director and I'm sorry

(17:40):
to light just went out, and so they had no
in June first if they're gonna be there June first
and for the fall, and so hopefully because coach Carr
and this style, they did an amazing job when kids grew.
I was able to talk to a lot of alumni
who said that this team has looked, you know, different
than they in years pass and so it's a good

(18:02):
thing going on and the kids respond. Actually, they have
two players who got selected by the NFL. The NFL
is doing some kind of program with HBCUs and they
selected two student athletes from Morgan State wanted to work
in the league office in New York. Other Dexter Card
to come down to Houston to do some kind of
league work for a week, just a job shot. So

(18:24):
I think that's a great experience, giving them, you know,
exposure and things like that. So I'm very proud of
the work that they're doing out there, and I just
hope that everything works out. That's fantastic, man, I do too.
I'll be I'll be keeping tabs on June first, So
if I want to hear about that, well, listen, man,
we really do appreciate you catching up with us. It's

(18:44):
great to hear you're doing so well down there in
Parallel and maybe up in Baltimore soon enough. But Tim Jamison,
where are they now? It's been fun catching up with you,
Thank you, thanks for having me