May 25, 2023 • 27 mins
N.D. Kalu spent 11 seasons in the NFL, the last three of which were with the Texans. Find out what the San Antonio Marshall and Rice University product is up to in his post-playing days, and travel back on his interesting journey to the league.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
At long last, I get a chance to interview end
Kalu d This is aware are they now? And I
know where you are. You're sitting in front of me
here in the Texans Radio studio. It's good to be
with you because you've been doing radio for the last
decade plus at the other stations, and you've done a
phenomenal job of it. But I remember way back when
you were kind of segueing out of the league and
(00:22):
trying to get into the media thing, and you came.
We did a tour of Energy Stadium, We did a video,
we shot some cool photos, and I mean, look what
it led to.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It's crazy and it's funny. I just did a piece
with Travis Johnson.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Which is Time Out, which is excellent, excellent listening. I
got to listen to about thirty minutes of it and
it was awesome. Or some you guys tell some really
good stories.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
But that's good to know. That's good to know. And
now part of those stories. When I was, you know,
deciding whether I was gonna retire, what I was gonna
do afterwards, I remember saying to myself and to my wife, Okay,
I'm not gonna do media and I'm not gonna coach.
And then I had the opportunity to do a guest
spot one day on six ' ten and I was like, man,
this is fun, you know, talking about the sport that
(01:03):
I love. So that kind of led to twelve years
in media and now, you know, I just recently retired.
But what's cool about what I'm doing now. I still
get to stay closer to the game, to a lot
of stuff on Texans Radio with you with vandermir So
it's a nice little transition.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
It is. And you say media, but when I was
listening to and when I've listened to you over the years,
you're a storyteller. You know what you and Travis were
just doing, I was storytelling. That was great, And so
I think the people here that listen are gonna love, love,
love what you're doing. But let's rewind. Man, You've got
such a fascinating journey. All you guys that get to
the league, you all have fascinating journeys, every one of
them's unique, but yours went through San Antonio. So you're
(01:41):
one of the rare Texans who actually became a Texan
for the Houston Texans. Take us back to those high
school days growing up, what it was like and how
you got to Rice, because that's that's an uncommon journey.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It's funny about that when you say Texans that I
finished my career with the Texans. My junior high in
San anton we were the pat nef Texans. So it
was meant to be because that's where it started and thankfully,
you know, that's where it ended. But you know, just
like most athletic kids growing up played all the sports.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
It was a track guy, soccer.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Both my parents are from Nigeria, so obviously when I
was young, the number one sport was soccer.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
So I played soccer for six.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Years and then when I discovered American football, it was over.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
This is the greatest thing.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
This is how good at soccer were you? Tho? If
you played six years and you got that in your background.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I was good? But what was weird? I felt like
I got worse as I got older because when I
was younger because I started at six, you know, I
was bigger, faster, stronger. Yeah, so I wasn't as skilled,
but I was learning those skills. But then when I
got older and started playing with the better kids, because
they kept moving me up I was like, oh, you
(02:54):
know what, these guys can really control that ball with
their feed and I felt like I was just more
about Howard. Yeah, and it transitioned nicely to the other sports.
So I'm not going to sit up here and say
that I'd be playing, you know, professional soccer or Premiere soccer.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Did you guys watch the World Cup growing up?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Yes, in eighties, and because Nigeria had, especially in the nineties,
phenomenal and they always do, but phenomenal teams back then.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
It's so frustrating. Yes, we will. I love watching the
World Cup. I'm not a huge soccer fan, but yeah,
there isn't anything like the World Cup. But being first
generation American, I was born here, but my parents obviously
being from Nigeria. I I would watch the Nigerian team
and it's frustrating because most of the top Nigerian players
(03:38):
they play for other countries and they'll come together for
the World Cup and you could tell that they don't
really have that chemistry. They just have a bunch of
great athletes who were just thrown out there for a
couple of months, and that's why they didn't truly have
the success you would expect them.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
To have.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
But I just even if Nigeria's not playing, I just
enjoy watching the World Cup. Oh. But to answer your question,
so you know, growing up played every sport and found
success in every sport, whether those basketball, track track was
a big part of my upbringing.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Did you run or a thrower because you're a big dude,
or did you both?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
You know both? You know it's one of those. And
again I'm not paying myself on the back. But as
you know, you've around a lot of NFL athletes. Most
of those guys when they're young, they're freaks. So even
though I was the biggest guy out there, I was
winning the two hundred yard dash, I was, and it
just didn't look right. You know. I remember because I
came up in AAU track and I, oh, the Stallion's
(04:31):
about to run, you know, that was my nickname, and
they were like, he's about to run. So that's how
I learned how to run. But then when I got
to high school, I just knew I could jump. Like
I didn't have this. You know, I didn't grow up
in high jump. I didn't grow up jumping, but I
just knew. I was like, you know, I can jump,
and God bless him. Coach Greg Garrison, my defensive line
(04:52):
coach in high school, and he had a thick country accent.
He was like, you know what, let's try to do
high jump. And I was like, okay. I was like,
do you know anything about high jump? He's on now,
but I'll get a book on it. So he literally
bought this book like how to Train Athletes to high jump?
And I'm out there on the grass, not even on
(05:13):
the actual rubber track part of it.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
On the grass.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
He does this makeshift high jump pit and I have
these ten pound cleats on and he's like, okay, do
this do this. Long story short, it went from that
to I broke the district record. I won Texas Relays
with a jump of seven feet. And at the time,
I'm you know, I'm a defensive end. I'm a true
(05:37):
defensive end at high school and I'm jumping against these
guys that maybe they played basketball or they're just straight,
you know. They looked yeah, exactly, they looked apart. And
that's one of my fondest memories because, you know, and
this is a great thing about sports. You have this
kid myself, who you know, born to Nigerian parents. You
have this guy who's the stereotypical redneck. He's coaching with
(05:59):
a dip in his mouth. He's not getting paid extra
for this. He just saw something in me. And to
this day I'm forty seven, he's still I call him
a friend, you know, I still talk to him and
we embark on this journey together and it led to
breaking the district record, winning Texas Relays. And you know,
a lot of times when I'm doing interviews for football
and they'll ask fondest memory, I'll talk about that and
(06:21):
they're like, oh, it's not you know, some beating universe knowledge. Yeah,
or it's not you know, making to the NFL. Those
are all great, but that that's something that, you know,
it's always stuck with me. So fast forward. Just played
every sport.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Hold on, hold on a second. Okay, you're winning the
two hundred meters in summer track, you win the Texas
Relays in the high jump. You're obviously a big dude too.
If they put the discus in the shot in your hand,
you're going to make that thing go. Why were you
not a decathlete in college? Okay, I'm gonna have smoked
(06:53):
people with that, with that skill set, I'm.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Glad you said that shot put I would go out
there and just throw. I didn't pract this. I would
just throw to get the team's points. Yeah, I had
some success shop, you'd be great at it. Discus I sucked,
But could I tried. I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
With with college coaching, I bet you you could have. No,
you could have got points in the decathe. You don't
have to like win the discus in the decathlone.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
But shot puts easy.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
That's easy, like literally a couple of days and you'll,
you know, if you do the slide technique. Okay, But
I actually went out there and it was a humbling
experience because I thought what you thought.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Oh you know, I throw that little heavy frisbee.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
My coach worked with me for like three days and
he said, nah, let's just move on somewhere.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Still, you would get points at the minimum.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
You know, I wouldn't point. I would not have gotten
us points.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Knowing you, knowing who you are, your athleticism, you're smarts
and all that you could have after three days, I
think if you'd given a few more to Anyways.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
My discus game is like my golf game is non existence.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
So I'm going to die on this hill, you would
have been a great Okay, that's your fondest memory, one
of your fondest memories athletically what you did there. But
you're on a heck of a football team, a heck
of a football player in high school. Because I've heard
a few stories about it, you know, the past from you,
but just retell it for those that have not heard
in this.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Forum here about the high school team. Yeah, awesome. Grew
up going to San Antonio Marshall. Good team.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
We've always had a good program, but not the converce
justin the KDS. So this one year was a special year.
It was my junior year and we had a running
back who was a senior by the name of Priest Holmes.
So he was pretty good at what he did and
we just had It's funny, Drew, when you bring this up.
I just had a chance to go toward my old
(08:41):
high school last week because I'm doing a free camp there.
So and that was the first time since I graduated
that actually went back to the school. Holy count and
I remember the steps, and I hope I could relive
or I hope I could allow people to know how
special this was. So the year before my sophomore year,
we went. We had a good season, like we went
(09:01):
to the city championship, lost the conference justin but we
weren't again a powerhouse. And I'll never forget I told
this young girl in summer I did a workout and
I was waiting for the bus and we're sitting on
the steps, and I said, we're going to State this year.
And she was like, that sounds that's cute, sounds good.
But something in me was like, we're going to State.
It wasn't like if we do this, or we have
(09:23):
to play high this, And it wasn't because of me
or Priest Homes, Like we had some dogs on a team,
Like we had some guys that like, if you're going
to a dark alley, you want to bring these guys
with you. And they weren't intimidated. Me and Priests were
the only brothers on the team, only black dudes on
the team. And we would go back then in the
late nineties, you know there's a stereotype if you go
(09:45):
play black schools, you know they just have to be good.
But we had guys where they weren't intimidatd man, we
don't care what they look like we don't care who
they are. We about to beat their ass, like you know,
like they stole something, and you mixed that with the
talent we had.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
It was a special year. So that year was my
junior in high school.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
We make the playoffs, then we just go on this
remarkable run, especially our defense. You know, Texan fans could
appreciate this because the plan is to get the defense
up the bar we had and it stance.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
To this day.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
This was back in nineteen I'm showing my age here,
nineteen ninety three, ninety two during this playoff run. To
this day, we still have the record for most shutouts
and at Texas high school playoffs.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Run, and there's been some great teams, you know, there's
been some great teams. So we had a great offense,
Priest Homes and we had another running back, Carlos Raisa.
Priest Holmes had over two thousand yards in the season.
Carlos Raisa, the other running back had over seventeen hundred yards.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
So like we were wisping, are we all running?
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Just like now?
Speaker 2 (10:46):
We just had two studs at running back. So our
coach was smart. It was like, okay, well let's just
ride this pony. But it wasn't even a wishbone or
triple option.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
We just ran.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
The were good because we had two very good We
had a great offensive line, so we.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Did you play any offensive and restrictly defense strict Yeah,
that was something sometimes they played absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Matter of fact, the team that ended up beating us
in state, their top players played both.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, like that's when reality. But we actually came here
to Houston, and Houston al Dean was ranked number one
in the nation nineties. Yeah, I grew up here. Eric
Gray believed. Step told me soul rest in peace. They
they were the number one team ranked in the nation
because the year before they'd won one state state championship,
(11:31):
and I think they just I think they were undefeated.
So we played them in the Astrodome and we beat them,
and no one expected us to win. And years later,
my head coach in high school he told me the
story because at the time we weren't thinking about it,
but you're supposed to play those games as the semi
final game in a neutral place. So our own head
(11:53):
coach when he told me the story, it blew my mind.
He said, after we won the game, to play h
to play all Dean. They were talking about, Okay, do
y'all want to play at Baylor Stadium in Waco. Do
y'all want to play in Austin? And our coach said,
you know what, we don't think we're gonna get past
Houston Aldean, so let's go play in the Astrodome so
my guys get a chance of playing an NFL stadium.
(12:15):
Like when he told me that, I had mixed feelings
because you know, when you're a kid, you think, oh,
we could beat anybody, do anything. But I really appreciated
that story. But at the same time, I was like,
hold on, coach, like you didn't believe in us. So
we played Houston Aldean here at an Astrodome and you know,
we ended up beating them to go to State. But
it was funny, like when we walked in their fans,
(12:38):
they were like laughing at us, like pointing and laughing
because we didn't look the part except for myself and
maybe a couple other guys. But they're like, man, we're
about to run y'all out of this stadium. And when
I say, like I said, we had some guys like
they just had no fearing them. One of the biggest
plays of my career. Intercesement a pitch and ran it
(12:59):
back drs for a touchdown and we only score like
fourteen points. I think you know what there is. And
they used to embarrass me when I used to call
state games in the two thousands. They would always bring
up that old.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Video that's what nothing embarrassing about touchdown.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
But they would never tell me, and they'll be like, hey,
can you break down this plane? We'll be live on air.
And but but that that was a beautiful run. And
then from there I was lucky enough to be recruited
by most of the schools I dreamed of. But my
parents were like, you're going to Rice so and you.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Need to listen to the full story which you told.
We shared with Travis on the podcast. We'll mentioned that,
like why you chose Rice as a as a Really
it worked out perfectly for you, But it wasn't what
you wholeheartedly wanted to do originally?
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Was it?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
No?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
No at the time.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
And again I've mentioned this, but when you grow up
in a Nigerian household, you do what your parents say.
If they say run through the walls, like okay, it
doesn't make sense, but I'm going to do it. And
they're all about education, so you know, they really didn't
get caught up into this football thing until late in
high school when they realized how important it was here
in the state of Texas. But when when I started
(14:10):
getting letters, when I started getting interests and coaches started
calling the house, they were excited, appreciative of the opportunity
of potentially earning a scholarship by playing football. So my
dream school was Oklahoma. You know, like I enjoyed the
trouble they got, you know, off the field at the time.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
They were they were kind of coming off the Switzers.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Going on, and they had an awesome recruiter. I mean
he would call me.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Weekly, John who would become the head coach.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah, yeah, man, you know your stuff. And he would
call me weekly and like, hey, if you're here right now,
this is what would be going on. And he's not
talking about anything on the football. He knew how to
get to me. So that was my dream school. Then
I mentioned Priest Holmes. He was a year ahead of me.
We were good friends. So he was at University of Texas.
(15:02):
They were recruiting me because UT is about an hour
drive from San Antonio. I was literally there Drew every
weekend just to hang out with him. Then obviously I'll
see the coaches. It got to one point where it
was just a foregone conclusion. I was going to UT.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah, but my main purpose was, you know, to hang
out with him, party, go see this.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
And they had some squads back then too. People forget
about Oh there was John Mack Ofvick years. They could
be really high. They were exactly, but yeah, they had
some some talent there.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
That they as far as the teams, you know, and
they're overall success, but they definitely had some talent, some
talented guys. So UT just thought, Okay, we got this guy.
Like when I say they stopped recruiting me, not in
the disrespectful their like he's here every week, he's you know,
taking our calls.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
You know, the A and MS.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I remember going to A and M for a game
and my mom was like, oh no, this place is
too big, there's too much going on. My baby's gonna
get lost in the shovel. So when it came down
to actually make a decision, you know, I had enough
respect for my parents. I remember we sat in the
living room and I said, Okay, if it was up
to y'all. Where would y'all want me to go? They
(16:04):
both said Rice at the same time, and I said, Okay,
it's going to be right. And I'll never forget the
UT coach when I told him, because my dad made
me call everybody and let them.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Know that's a stand up thing to do.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah, it was tough. It was hard, but I think.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Think about what that made you or how that made
you grow as a young man. Having to do that.
That teaches you a lot about business, toughness everything.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Yeah, well said, I mean, it's unfortunate, but in my
business now there's times where you have to let people.
Times where I was let go when I was cutting,
you know, so it just prepares you for that. But uh,
the UT coach said, good luck. I hope you understand
what you do. He was not disrespectful at all, but
he said, I have never lost a recruit to Rice University,
(16:49):
and h I remember the BYU coach. He was a
little upset because I told him, and he was still
being a salesman, said well, just still come up here,
still come up here and just check us. And I
was like, coach, I'm playing basketball. I don't want to
miss any games. You know, to visit school that I
really don't have interest in. Then he said, well, it's
not like you're going D one and basketball, so you
might as well come up here. And that's when I
(17:11):
was Okay, you made it easier to say. Yeah, but
that was the reason I chose Rice, And I say,
and I tell my parents, best decision in my life, Like,
I'm so.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Appreciative Ivy League level education.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
And at that time it was the Southwest Conference, so
I'm playing against the A and ms of the world.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
The uts you were.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
You were on that conference championship team that shared it
all right, Yeah, you beat Texas Texas goal post came
down on a late game and beat Texas Tech. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I never take comfort in losing. But at that time,
Texas A and M was the cream of the crop.
I think one of the years they went undefeated, but
they were on probation so they couldn't go to a both.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
But two years Drew they only beat us by a
touchdown in each game.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, like, and they were bullies back then. That's saying
a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
It was fourteen to seven one year, the other year
seven zero, And I remember one of the offensive Linemen.
After the game, he came to, you know, shake our hand,
and he was just shaking his heads, like, man, y'all
gave us everything.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
You know, we can handle it.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
So you know, at the time I was upset, I think, sure, crying,
But when I look back, I'm like, man, that was
you know, that means something.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
I mean something. What was draft day? Draft weekend?
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Like for you? Anxiety fulfillment?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I mean you talk about mixed emotions and having all
your emotions and a blender. It was something that I
just grew up dreaming of. You know, some people, some
great players like Hall of Fame. Oh, I didn't really
think about the NFL one else, you know, like I
thought about it. I dreamed about it like I had
pictures of if you're on an NFL roster and I
(18:46):
saw your picture in the Sports Illustrated, I was cutting
it out and putting it one back then it was
the Chicago Bears, Walter Payton, the Fridge, Jimmy Man like
there was just that was my squad.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
You're like me because I grew up here in Houston
in the early to mid eighties. The Oilers were horrible,
so if they played a home game, they didn't sell out.
This was in between Love You Blue and The Run
and Shoot Days, So I mean they're picking first just
about every other year. So the games, the home games
were not on TV, but you could always count on
(19:19):
the Bears being on TV every single With those Bears. Yeah,
and for a lot of the same reasons. That was
my favorite team growing up because I wasn't gonna like
the Cowboys. I like the Oilers, but I could never
see him. So Walter Payton, I mean he was the
greatest of all time at that point, and then you
have all those personality Yeah, I was great.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Point.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
I didn't even think about that because growing up in
San Antonio, you don't really have a team some se
either Dallas or Houston, right, and Houston. I just don't
remember seeing Houston on TV because they weren't good back then.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Dallas.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I wasn't one of those Dallas haters, but it was
almost like we just get too much of it growing up,
saying Tony, but you're right for some reason, because I
wasn't looking for the Bears. Yeah, I just remember, Oh,
this was a pain guy. Man, he's good. Oh free,
you got it, defensive tackle, You're gonna line them up
at full back. You know, you just really just enjoyed.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Think about I've talked about this, think about the greatest
teams of all time. Clearly the eighty five Bears is
one of them, as you can easily make the argument
that is the greatest. But the other teams have arguments too,
But you'll never see that much greatness on a team
come today. Combined with that loose a media landscape and
(20:29):
group of media personalities, that that gets squashed down these days,
you know what.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
I mean, or or could it be Drew. Everyone's trying
to do it now, so it waters it down.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
It's some of that too, some of that too.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Super Bowl shuffle to me, that was thriller.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
They did that, and they did that the morning after
they lost their only game, which was a Monday night
football game at Miami. They did that the next day.
I mean, that's just and they backed it up.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Yeah, they backed it up. I remember watching that. This
is the greatest music video.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
I watched that zillion times. Yeah, if you're a little kid,
you watch that thing. Because I'm a couple of years
younger than you. I mean, you watched that a zillion times.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
So guys, now they're all you know a lot of
them want to be rappers, you know when you hear it, Yeah,
those guys actually do that, and to do it after
a loss.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
But yeah, just the Bears. That was my squad.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yeah, okay, Oh so back to draft weekend. You get,
you get a call? What's it like?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
So leading up to it, my thought, my mindset, I
don't care where I go, I don't care what round
I go in. I just want to go to someone's
camp so I can show them what I could do.
Like that was my mindset. But what's funny about that?
As the drafts going on, So the first day I
was watching it like a fan with popcorn, like, oh
that's so and so you know I played against him,
good for him? Oh that's also good for him. Then second,
(21:46):
third round, some of the names that were going I
was like, hold on, I played against him, Like how
he already off the board. And then fourth round I
started to get nervous. I was like, you know what,
maybe this isn't you know, your mind starts playing tricks
on you. And I was like, maybe this isn't gonna
happen despite everything that's led up to it. And I
remember talking to my sister my older sister, and she
(22:09):
kind of had a nochal line, like, you know what,
You'll just go to law school if it doesn't happen,
Like that was just you know, well, life goes on, right.
That kind of put me at ease. But I was all, no,
you know, I think I could do this thing. So
fifth round. Now I'm like getting a little upset, which
sounds silly because you're about to live out a dream.
But I'm like, I have a respect for everybody that's
(22:31):
played college football, but there are some guys that I'm like,
I think I'm better than Like, is it because he
went to a bigger school? Is it because I'm only
two forty seven at the time and this guy was
closer to three hundred. So then I'm starting to get
nervous and upset. But then I get the call. And
at the time, Ray Rhodes was the head coach for
the Philadelphia Eagle.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Legend man saw everything, saw everything.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
And players love him. I don't even know what his
win lost record is, but I don't think you'll find
a player say.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Anything they had an assistant coach, he'd be in it.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Oh yeah, yeah, him too. Yeah, I mean, ye had success.
Is that he didn't have as much success as a
head coach, just a great coordinator. But he actually called me.
So that was kind of cool because, like you said,
the way you talked about him, that's how we felt.
So to know that Ray Rose, you know, was calling
me saying, hey, you know, do you want to be
a Philadelphia Eagle? That that was outside of seeing my
(23:22):
kids born, like that was That's probably one of the
greatest moments of my life.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
I can't remember. Did you overlap with him here at all?
Or was he after you?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
And we knew each other and when I was here,
I was a truth so he will talk to me
like like, hey, we're thinking about bringing this guy on,
we're thinking about letting this guy go, and we had
it was It was actually really cool because when I
was with him as a rookie, you know, I was
just running around trying to prove myself to him. But
when I was here with him, it was kind of like, hey,
(23:53):
you know, let's rap, let's really talk.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
He was awesome. It was interesting before games on the road,
every so often he'd be sitting on the bench hours
before kickoff and he would be telling stories, you know,
and you kind of absorb some of that as you're
doing some of what or what I was doing with
my job. But that was that was really cool getting
getting see that one why I.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Fond his memories of Ray Rose. This is a head coach,
right him and Emmett Thomas. I don't know if you
remember that name, Yeah, from Chiefs Chiefs. But he was
with the Texans. He was a decordinator, I mean, I'm
sorry with the Eagles. He was a decoordinator under Ray Rhodes.
And they would just be sitting playing dominoes against the players,
and I was like, huh, Like, I just you know,
(24:35):
the head coach player relationship has always been yes, sir, no, sir,
get out of my way.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Let's move on.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
But I remember after practice they would be playing with
some of the bigger name guys just dominoes, and I
was like, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
All Right, We're gonna do more of this down the line,
because we haven't even touched your Texans days. But before
we do, before we go, one little Texans nugget about
the current team, because we got to get into your
playing days. That'll be part two this conversation. When did
you first think that Demico Ryan's being head coach of
this team was an actual possibility.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
When it happened, not until it happened, because I thought
it was such I wanted it so much. I thought
it made so much sense. And in life, things that
make sense typically don't happen. Yeah, so I felt like
it just makes too much sense. A great leader here
as a player, he is a Houstonian, even though I
know he's not gonna, you know, turn his back on
(25:29):
his true roots, a great leader, and I just felt
like everything just fit. And typically you don't see that happening.
Seemed too good to be true to thank you, they're
too good to be true. So, and you know, he
and I had a relationship. I'll text him yeah one time.
I can say it now one time. And this was
like a year before. I have this nice briefcase with
the textan logo, and I took a picture of it
(25:51):
sent it to him and I was like, you should
be taking this to work every day, and he kind
of just sent the laugh emoji. So I think he
knew something at the time. You planted the seed is
what you're saying, that could be it of this credit, right, Yeah. So,
but but when it finally happened, I was, oh, man,
what a great move. And I'm not just saying this
because I'm talking to you and we're on Texans Radio.
(26:11):
But the last what eighteen months, you know, year, year
and a half, they've made some great moves. If this draft,
if CJ. Stroud, Will Anderson turned out to be bust,
I'm still gonna give credit to the Texans and whoever
decided to go get the number one available quarterback and
(26:32):
then to make that aggressive move and bring.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
In the number one defensive playing the gutsyman.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Yeahtsy moves.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
It's easy to hindsight twenty twenty and it's football, like
you know, things blank happens. You know, something might happen
and somebody might not live up to it. But I
just think the move to be that aggressive, to go
make those moves, I'm a fan of those moves.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Here here all right.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
This is part one of where are They Now? With
Ndy Klue. Can't wait to get into part two, three
and four and five and six and seven over the
coming months. Andy. Always good to be with you, my friend.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
But you look, I'll say this about you. I remember
when you were young in this game, when I was
still playing the way you've grown, how professional you've been,
the respect you have for the players, but still entertaining,
you know, you keep up with you're doing.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Oh, I appreciate that. Thank you very much. I've slimmed
down a little bit. I've noticed that a fat face
about ten fifteen years ago. So anyways, dy, thanks so
much and we'll do this again soon
At long last, I get a chance to interview end
Kalu d This is aware are they now? And I
know where you are. You're sitting in front of me
here in the Texans Radio studio. It's good to be
with you because you've been doing radio for the last
decade plus at the other stations, and you've done a
phenomenal job of it. But I remember way back when
you were kind of segueing out of the league and
(00:22):
trying to get into the media thing, and you came.
We did a tour of Energy Stadium, We did a video,
we shot some cool photos, and I mean, look what
it led to.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It's crazy and it's funny. I just did a piece
with Travis Johnson.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Which is Time Out, which is excellent, excellent listening. I
got to listen to about thirty minutes of it and
it was awesome. Or some you guys tell some really
good stories.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
But that's good to know. That's good to know. And
now part of those stories. When I was, you know,
deciding whether I was gonna retire, what I was gonna
do afterwards, I remember saying to myself and to my wife, Okay,
I'm not gonna do media and I'm not gonna coach.
And then I had the opportunity to do a guest
spot one day on six ' ten and I was like, man,
this is fun, you know, talking about the sport that
(01:03):
I love. So that kind of led to twelve years
in media and now, you know, I just recently retired.
But what's cool about what I'm doing now. I still
get to stay closer to the game, to a lot
of stuff on Texans Radio with you with vandermir So
it's a nice little transition.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
It is. And you say media, but when I was
listening to and when I've listened to you over the years,
you're a storyteller. You know what you and Travis were
just doing, I was storytelling. That was great, And so
I think the people here that listen are gonna love, love,
love what you're doing. But let's rewind. Man, You've got
such a fascinating journey. All you guys that get to
the league, you all have fascinating journeys, every one of
them's unique, but yours went through San Antonio. So you're
(01:41):
one of the rare Texans who actually became a Texan
for the Houston Texans. Take us back to those high
school days growing up, what it was like and how
you got to Rice, because that's that's an uncommon journey.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It's funny about that when you say Texans that I
finished my career with the Texans. My junior high in
San anton we were the pat nef Texans. So it
was meant to be because that's where it started and thankfully,
you know, that's where it ended. But you know, just
like most athletic kids growing up played all the sports.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
It was a track guy, soccer.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Both my parents are from Nigeria, so obviously when I
was young, the number one sport was soccer.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
So I played soccer for six.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Years and then when I discovered American football, it was over.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
This is the greatest thing.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
This is how good at soccer were you? Tho? If
you played six years and you got that in your background.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I was good? But what was weird? I felt like
I got worse as I got older because when I
was younger because I started at six, you know, I
was bigger, faster, stronger. Yeah, so I wasn't as skilled,
but I was learning those skills. But then when I
got older and started playing with the better kids, because
they kept moving me up I was like, oh, you
(02:54):
know what, these guys can really control that ball with
their feed and I felt like I was just more
about Howard. Yeah, and it transitioned nicely to the other sports.
So I'm not going to sit up here and say
that I'd be playing, you know, professional soccer or Premiere soccer.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Did you guys watch the World Cup growing up?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Yes, in eighties, and because Nigeria had, especially in the nineties,
phenomenal and they always do, but phenomenal teams back then.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
It's so frustrating. Yes, we will. I love watching the
World Cup. I'm not a huge soccer fan, but yeah,
there isn't anything like the World Cup. But being first
generation American, I was born here, but my parents obviously
being from Nigeria. I I would watch the Nigerian team
and it's frustrating because most of the top Nigerian players
(03:38):
they play for other countries and they'll come together for
the World Cup and you could tell that they don't
really have that chemistry. They just have a bunch of
great athletes who were just thrown out there for a
couple of months, and that's why they didn't truly have
the success you would expect them.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
To have.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
But I just even if Nigeria's not playing, I just
enjoy watching the World Cup. Oh. But to answer your question,
so you know, growing up played every sport and found
success in every sport, whether those basketball, track track was
a big part of my upbringing.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Did you run or a thrower because you're a big dude,
or did you both?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
You know both? You know it's one of those. And
again I'm not paying myself on the back. But as
you know, you've around a lot of NFL athletes. Most
of those guys when they're young, they're freaks. So even
though I was the biggest guy out there, I was
winning the two hundred yard dash, I was, and it
just didn't look right. You know. I remember because I
came up in AAU track and I, oh, the Stallion's
(04:31):
about to run, you know, that was my nickname, and
they were like, he's about to run. So that's how
I learned how to run. But then when I got
to high school, I just knew I could jump. Like
I didn't have this. You know, I didn't grow up
in high jump. I didn't grow up jumping, but I
just knew. I was like, you know, I can jump,
and God bless him. Coach Greg Garrison, my defensive line
(04:52):
coach in high school, and he had a thick country accent.
He was like, you know what, let's try to do
high jump. And I was like, okay. I was like,
do you know anything about high jump? He's on now,
but I'll get a book on it. So he literally
bought this book like how to Train Athletes to high jump?
And I'm out there on the grass, not even on
(05:13):
the actual rubber track part of it.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
On the grass.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
He does this makeshift high jump pit and I have
these ten pound cleats on and he's like, okay, do
this do this. Long story short, it went from that
to I broke the district record. I won Texas Relays
with a jump of seven feet. And at the time,
I'm you know, I'm a defensive end. I'm a true
(05:37):
defensive end at high school and I'm jumping against these
guys that maybe they played basketball or they're just straight,
you know. They looked yeah, exactly, they looked apart. And
that's one of my fondest memories because, you know, and
this is a great thing about sports. You have this
kid myself, who you know, born to Nigerian parents. You
have this guy who's the stereotypical redneck. He's coaching with
(05:59):
a dip in his mouth. He's not getting paid extra
for this. He just saw something in me. And to
this day I'm forty seven, he's still I call him
a friend, you know, I still talk to him and
we embark on this journey together and it led to
breaking the district record, winning Texas Relays. And you know,
a lot of times when I'm doing interviews for football
and they'll ask fondest memory, I'll talk about that and
(06:21):
they're like, oh, it's not you know, some beating universe knowledge. Yeah,
or it's not you know, making to the NFL. Those
are all great, but that that's something that, you know,
it's always stuck with me. So fast forward. Just played
every sport.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Hold on, hold on a second. Okay, you're winning the
two hundred meters in summer track, you win the Texas
Relays in the high jump. You're obviously a big dude too.
If they put the discus in the shot in your hand,
you're going to make that thing go. Why were you
not a decathlete in college? Okay, I'm gonna have smoked
(06:53):
people with that, with that skill set, I'm.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Glad you said that shot put I would go out
there and just throw. I didn't pract this. I would
just throw to get the team's points. Yeah, I had
some success shop, you'd be great at it. Discus I sucked,
But could I tried. I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
With with college coaching, I bet you you could have. No,
you could have got points in the decathe. You don't
have to like win the discus in the decathlone.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
But shot puts easy.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
That's easy, like literally a couple of days and you'll,
you know, if you do the slide technique. Okay, But
I actually went out there and it was a humbling
experience because I thought what you thought.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Oh you know, I throw that little heavy frisbee.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
My coach worked with me for like three days and
he said, nah, let's just move on somewhere.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Still, you would get points at the minimum.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
You know, I wouldn't point. I would not have gotten
us points.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Knowing you, knowing who you are, your athleticism, you're smarts
and all that you could have after three days, I
think if you'd given a few more to Anyways.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
My discus game is like my golf game is non existence.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
So I'm going to die on this hill, you would
have been a great Okay, that's your fondest memory, one
of your fondest memories athletically what you did there. But
you're on a heck of a football team, a heck
of a football player in high school. Because I've heard
a few stories about it, you know, the past from you,
but just retell it for those that have not heard
in this.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Forum here about the high school team. Yeah, awesome. Grew
up going to San Antonio Marshall. Good team.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
We've always had a good program, but not the converce
justin the KDS. So this one year was a special year.
It was my junior year and we had a running
back who was a senior by the name of Priest Holmes.
So he was pretty good at what he did and
we just had It's funny, Drew, when you bring this up.
I just had a chance to go toward my old
(08:41):
high school last week because I'm doing a free camp there.
So and that was the first time since I graduated
that actually went back to the school. Holy count and
I remember the steps, and I hope I could relive
or I hope I could allow people to know how
special this was. So the year before my sophomore year,
we went. We had a good season, like we went
(09:01):
to the city championship, lost the conference justin but we
weren't again a powerhouse. And I'll never forget I told
this young girl in summer I did a workout and
I was waiting for the bus and we're sitting on
the steps, and I said, we're going to State this year.
And she was like, that sounds that's cute, sounds good.
But something in me was like, we're going to State.
It wasn't like if we do this, or we have
(09:23):
to play high this, And it wasn't because of me
or Priest Homes, Like we had some dogs on a team,
Like we had some guys that like, if you're going
to a dark alley, you want to bring these guys
with you. And they weren't intimidated. Me and Priests were
the only brothers on the team, only black dudes on
the team. And we would go back then in the
late nineties, you know there's a stereotype if you go
(09:45):
play black schools, you know they just have to be good.
But we had guys where they weren't intimidatd man, we
don't care what they look like we don't care who
they are. We about to beat their ass, like you know,
like they stole something, and you mixed that with the
talent we had.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
It was a special year. So that year was my
junior in high school.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
We make the playoffs, then we just go on this
remarkable run, especially our defense. You know, Texan fans could
appreciate this because the plan is to get the defense
up the bar we had and it stance.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
To this day.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
This was back in nineteen I'm showing my age here,
nineteen ninety three, ninety two during this playoff run. To
this day, we still have the record for most shutouts
and at Texas high school playoffs.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Run, and there's been some great teams, you know, there's
been some great teams. So we had a great offense,
Priest Homes and we had another running back, Carlos Raisa.
Priest Holmes had over two thousand yards in the season.
Carlos Raisa, the other running back had over seventeen hundred yards.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
So like we were wisping, are we all running?
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Just like now?
Speaker 2 (10:46):
We just had two studs at running back. So our
coach was smart. It was like, okay, well let's just
ride this pony. But it wasn't even a wishbone or
triple option.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
We just ran.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
The were good because we had two very good We
had a great offensive line, so we.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Did you play any offensive and restrictly defense strict Yeah,
that was something sometimes they played absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Matter of fact, the team that ended up beating us
in state, their top players played both.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, like that's when reality. But we actually came here
to Houston, and Houston al Dean was ranked number one
in the nation nineties. Yeah, I grew up here. Eric
Gray believed. Step told me soul rest in peace. They
they were the number one team ranked in the nation
because the year before they'd won one state state championship,
(11:31):
and I think they just I think they were undefeated.
So we played them in the Astrodome and we beat them,
and no one expected us to win. And years later,
my head coach in high school he told me the
story because at the time we weren't thinking about it,
but you're supposed to play those games as the semi
final game in a neutral place. So our own head
(11:53):
coach when he told me the story, it blew my mind.
He said, after we won the game, to play h
to play all Dean. They were talking about, Okay, do
y'all want to play at Baylor Stadium in Waco. Do
y'all want to play in Austin? And our coach said,
you know what, we don't think we're gonna get past
Houston Aldean, so let's go play in the Astrodome so
my guys get a chance of playing an NFL stadium.
(12:15):
Like when he told me that, I had mixed feelings
because you know, when you're a kid, you think, oh,
we could beat anybody, do anything. But I really appreciated
that story. But at the same time, I was like,
hold on, coach, like you didn't believe in us. So
we played Houston Aldean here at an Astrodome and you know,
we ended up beating them to go to State. But
it was funny, like when we walked in their fans,
(12:38):
they were like laughing at us, like pointing and laughing
because we didn't look the part except for myself and
maybe a couple other guys. But they're like, man, we're
about to run y'all out of this stadium. And when
I say, like I said, we had some guys like
they just had no fearing them. One of the biggest
plays of my career. Intercesement a pitch and ran it
(12:59):
back drs for a touchdown and we only score like
fourteen points. I think you know what there is. And
they used to embarrass me when I used to call
state games in the two thousands. They would always bring
up that old.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Video that's what nothing embarrassing about touchdown.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
But they would never tell me, and they'll be like, hey,
can you break down this plane? We'll be live on air.
And but but that that was a beautiful run. And
then from there I was lucky enough to be recruited
by most of the schools I dreamed of. But my
parents were like, you're going to Rice so and you.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Need to listen to the full story which you told.
We shared with Travis on the podcast. We'll mentioned that,
like why you chose Rice as a as a Really
it worked out perfectly for you, But it wasn't what
you wholeheartedly wanted to do originally?
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Was it?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
No?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
No at the time.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
And again I've mentioned this, but when you grow up
in a Nigerian household, you do what your parents say.
If they say run through the walls, like okay, it
doesn't make sense, but I'm going to do it. And
they're all about education, so you know, they really didn't
get caught up into this football thing until late in
high school when they realized how important it was here
in the state of Texas. But when when I started
(14:10):
getting letters, when I started getting interests and coaches started
calling the house, they were excited, appreciative of the opportunity
of potentially earning a scholarship by playing football. So my
dream school was Oklahoma. You know, like I enjoyed the
trouble they got, you know, off the field at the time.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
They were they were kind of coming off the Switzers.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Going on, and they had an awesome recruiter. I mean
he would call me.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Weekly, John who would become the head coach.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah, yeah, man, you know your stuff. And he would
call me weekly and like, hey, if you're here right now,
this is what would be going on. And he's not
talking about anything on the football. He knew how to
get to me. So that was my dream school. Then
I mentioned Priest Holmes. He was a year ahead of me.
We were good friends. So he was at University of Texas.
(15:02):
They were recruiting me because UT is about an hour
drive from San Antonio. I was literally there Drew every
weekend just to hang out with him. Then obviously I'll
see the coaches. It got to one point where it
was just a foregone conclusion. I was going to UT.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah, but my main purpose was, you know, to hang
out with him, party, go see this.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
And they had some squads back then too. People forget
about Oh there was John Mack Ofvick years. They could
be really high. They were exactly, but yeah, they had
some some talent there.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
That they as far as the teams, you know, and
they're overall success, but they definitely had some talent, some
talented guys. So UT just thought, Okay, we got this guy.
Like when I say they stopped recruiting me, not in
the disrespectful their like he's here every week, he's you know,
taking our calls.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
You know, the A and MS.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I remember going to A and M for a game
and my mom was like, oh no, this place is
too big, there's too much going on. My baby's gonna
get lost in the shovel. So when it came down
to actually make a decision, you know, I had enough
respect for my parents. I remember we sat in the
living room and I said, Okay, if it was up
to y'all. Where would y'all want me to go? They
(16:04):
both said Rice at the same time, and I said, Okay,
it's going to be right. And I'll never forget the
UT coach when I told him, because my dad made
me call everybody and let them.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Know that's a stand up thing to do.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah, it was tough. It was hard, but I think.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Think about what that made you or how that made
you grow as a young man. Having to do that.
That teaches you a lot about business, toughness everything.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Yeah, well said, I mean, it's unfortunate, but in my
business now there's times where you have to let people.
Times where I was let go when I was cutting,
you know, so it just prepares you for that. But uh,
the UT coach said, good luck. I hope you understand
what you do. He was not disrespectful at all, but
he said, I have never lost a recruit to Rice University,
(16:49):
and h I remember the BYU coach. He was a
little upset because I told him, and he was still
being a salesman, said well, just still come up here,
still come up here and just check us. And I
was like, coach, I'm playing basketball. I don't want to
miss any games. You know, to visit school that I
really don't have interest in. Then he said, well, it's
not like you're going D one and basketball, so you
might as well come up here. And that's when I
(17:11):
was Okay, you made it easier to say. Yeah, but
that was the reason I chose Rice, And I say,
and I tell my parents, best decision in my life, Like,
I'm so.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Appreciative Ivy League level education.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
And at that time it was the Southwest Conference, so
I'm playing against the A and ms of the world.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
The uts you were.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
You were on that conference championship team that shared it
all right, Yeah, you beat Texas Texas goal post came
down on a late game and beat Texas Tech. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
I never take comfort in losing. But at that time,
Texas A and M was the cream of the crop.
I think one of the years they went undefeated, but
they were on probation so they couldn't go to a both.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
But two years Drew they only beat us by a
touchdown in each game.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, like, and they were bullies back then. That's saying
a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
It was fourteen to seven one year, the other year
seven zero, And I remember one of the offensive Linemen.
After the game, he came to, you know, shake our hand,
and he was just shaking his heads, like, man, y'all
gave us everything.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
You know, we can handle it.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
So you know, at the time I was upset, I think, sure, crying,
But when I look back, I'm like, man, that was
you know, that means something.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
I mean something. What was draft day? Draft weekend?
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Like for you? Anxiety fulfillment?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I mean you talk about mixed emotions and having all
your emotions and a blender. It was something that I
just grew up dreaming of. You know, some people, some
great players like Hall of Fame. Oh, I didn't really
think about the NFL one else, you know, like I
thought about it. I dreamed about it like I had
pictures of if you're on an NFL roster and I
(18:46):
saw your picture in the Sports Illustrated, I was cutting
it out and putting it one back then it was
the Chicago Bears, Walter Payton, the Fridge, Jimmy Man like
there was just that was my squad.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
You're like me because I grew up here in Houston
in the early to mid eighties. The Oilers were horrible,
so if they played a home game, they didn't sell out.
This was in between Love You Blue and The Run
and Shoot Days, So I mean they're picking first just
about every other year. So the games, the home games
were not on TV, but you could always count on
(19:19):
the Bears being on TV every single With those Bears. Yeah,
and for a lot of the same reasons. That was
my favorite team growing up because I wasn't gonna like
the Cowboys. I like the Oilers, but I could never
see him. So Walter Payton, I mean he was the
greatest of all time at that point, and then you
have all those personality Yeah, I was great.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Point.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
I didn't even think about that because growing up in
San Antonio, you don't really have a team some se
either Dallas or Houston, right, and Houston. I just don't
remember seeing Houston on TV because they weren't good back then.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Dallas.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I wasn't one of those Dallas haters, but it was
almost like we just get too much of it growing up,
saying Tony, but you're right for some reason, because I
wasn't looking for the Bears. Yeah, I just remember, Oh,
this was a pain guy. Man, he's good. Oh free,
you got it, defensive tackle, You're gonna line them up
at full back. You know, you just really just enjoyed.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Think about I've talked about this, think about the greatest
teams of all time. Clearly the eighty five Bears is
one of them, as you can easily make the argument
that is the greatest. But the other teams have arguments too,
But you'll never see that much greatness on a team
come today. Combined with that loose a media landscape and
(20:29):
group of media personalities, that that gets squashed down these days,
you know what.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
I mean, or or could it be Drew. Everyone's trying
to do it now, so it waters it down.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
It's some of that too, some of that too.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Super Bowl shuffle to me, that was thriller.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
They did that, and they did that the morning after
they lost their only game, which was a Monday night
football game at Miami. They did that the next day.
I mean, that's just and they backed it up.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Yeah, they backed it up. I remember watching that. This
is the greatest music video.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
I watched that zillion times. Yeah, if you're a little kid,
you watch that thing. Because I'm a couple of years
younger than you. I mean, you watched that a zillion times.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
So guys, now they're all you know a lot of
them want to be rappers, you know when you hear it, Yeah,
those guys actually do that, and to do it after
a loss.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
But yeah, just the Bears. That was my squad.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yeah, okay, Oh so back to draft weekend. You get,
you get a call? What's it like?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
So leading up to it, my thought, my mindset, I
don't care where I go, I don't care what round
I go in. I just want to go to someone's
camp so I can show them what I could do.
Like that was my mindset. But what's funny about that?
As the drafts going on, So the first day I
was watching it like a fan with popcorn, like, oh
that's so and so you know I played against him,
good for him? Oh that's also good for him. Then second,
(21:46):
third round, some of the names that were going I
was like, hold on, I played against him, Like how
he already off the board. And then fourth round I
started to get nervous. I was like, you know what,
maybe this isn't you know, your mind starts playing tricks
on you. And I was like, maybe this isn't gonna
happen despite everything that's led up to it. And I
remember talking to my sister my older sister, and she
(22:09):
kind of had a nochal line, like, you know what,
You'll just go to law school if it doesn't happen,
Like that was just you know, well, life goes on, right.
That kind of put me at ease. But I was all, no,
you know, I think I could do this thing. So
fifth round. Now I'm like getting a little upset, which
sounds silly because you're about to live out a dream.
But I'm like, I have a respect for everybody that's
(22:31):
played college football, but there are some guys that I'm like,
I think I'm better than Like, is it because he
went to a bigger school? Is it because I'm only
two forty seven at the time and this guy was
closer to three hundred. So then I'm starting to get
nervous and upset. But then I get the call. And
at the time, Ray Rhodes was the head coach for
the Philadelphia Eagle.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Legend man saw everything, saw everything.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
And players love him. I don't even know what his
win lost record is, but I don't think you'll find
a player say.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Anything they had an assistant coach, he'd be in it.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Oh yeah, yeah, him too. Yeah, I mean, ye had success.
Is that he didn't have as much success as a
head coach, just a great coordinator. But he actually called me.
So that was kind of cool because, like you said,
the way you talked about him, that's how we felt.
So to know that Ray Rose, you know, was calling
me saying, hey, you know, do you want to be
a Philadelphia Eagle? That that was outside of seeing my
(23:22):
kids born, like that was That's probably one of the
greatest moments of my life.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
I can't remember. Did you overlap with him here at all?
Or was he after you?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
And we knew each other and when I was here,
I was a truth so he will talk to me
like like, hey, we're thinking about bringing this guy on,
we're thinking about letting this guy go, and we had
it was It was actually really cool because when I
was with him as a rookie, you know, I was
just running around trying to prove myself to him. But
when I was here with him, it was kind of like, hey,
(23:53):
you know, let's rap, let's really talk.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
He was awesome. It was interesting before games on the road,
every so often he'd be sitting on the bench hours
before kickoff and he would be telling stories, you know,
and you kind of absorb some of that as you're
doing some of what or what I was doing with
my job. But that was that was really cool getting
getting see that one why I.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Fond his memories of Ray Rose. This is a head coach,
right him and Emmett Thomas. I don't know if you
remember that name, Yeah, from Chiefs Chiefs. But he was
with the Texans. He was a decordinator, I mean, I'm
sorry with the Eagles. He was a decoordinator under Ray Rhodes.
And they would just be sitting playing dominoes against the players,
and I was like, huh, Like, I just you know,
(24:35):
the head coach player relationship has always been yes, sir, no, sir,
get out of my way.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Let's move on.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
But I remember after practice they would be playing with
some of the bigger name guys just dominoes, and I
was like, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
All Right, We're gonna do more of this down the line,
because we haven't even touched your Texans days. But before
we do, before we go, one little Texans nugget about
the current team, because we got to get into your
playing days. That'll be part two this conversation. When did
you first think that Demico Ryan's being head coach of
this team was an actual possibility.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
When it happened, not until it happened, because I thought
it was such I wanted it so much. I thought
it made so much sense. And in life, things that
make sense typically don't happen. Yeah, so I felt like
it just makes too much sense. A great leader here
as a player, he is a Houstonian, even though I
know he's not gonna, you know, turn his back on
(25:29):
his true roots, a great leader, and I just felt
like everything just fit. And typically you don't see that happening.
Seemed too good to be true to thank you, they're
too good to be true. So, and you know, he
and I had a relationship. I'll text him yeah one time.
I can say it now one time. And this was
like a year before. I have this nice briefcase with
the textan logo, and I took a picture of it
(25:51):
sent it to him and I was like, you should
be taking this to work every day, and he kind
of just sent the laugh emoji. So I think he
knew something at the time. You planted the seed is
what you're saying, that could be it of this credit, right, Yeah. So,
but but when it finally happened, I was, oh, man,
what a great move. And I'm not just saying this
because I'm talking to you and we're on Texans Radio.
(26:11):
But the last what eighteen months, you know, year, year
and a half, they've made some great moves. If this draft,
if CJ. Stroud, Will Anderson turned out to be bust,
I'm still gonna give credit to the Texans and whoever
decided to go get the number one available quarterback and
(26:32):
then to make that aggressive move and bring.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
In the number one defensive playing the gutsyman.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Yeahtsy moves.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
It's easy to hindsight twenty twenty and it's football, like
you know, things blank happens. You know, something might happen
and somebody might not live up to it. But I
just think the move to be that aggressive, to go
make those moves, I'm a fan of those moves.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Here here all right.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
This is part one of where are They Now? With
Ndy Klue. Can't wait to get into part two, three
and four and five and six and seven over the
coming months. Andy. Always good to be with you, my friend.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
But you look, I'll say this about you. I remember
when you were young in this game, when I was
still playing the way you've grown, how professional you've been,
the respect you have for the players, but still entertaining,
you know, you keep up with you're doing.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Oh, I appreciate that. Thank you very much. I've slimmed
down a little bit. I've noticed that a fat face
about ten fifteen years ago. So anyways, dy, thanks so
much and we'll do this again soon
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