November 15, 2024 • 17 mins
San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Sam Okuayinonu joined the 49ers “You’ve Got Mail” podcast presented by Delta Dental to share his story of immigrating to the United States, his late start to his football career and his pathway to the NFL.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's up, faithful, Welcome to the forty nine ers You've
got mailed Podcasts presented by Delta Dental. I'm Linda pilaris
your host and today we have another first time guest
of the podcast, defensive lineman Sam Okuwana. Sam, thanks for
spending some time with us.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Pleasure to be here, Happy to be here for.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
S Sam, you could write a book about your journey
to the NFL, and it does not begin in the
United States, and it does not begin with the love
of football, no man, it does not.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Definitely a long journey coming to the United States from
Liberia and finding my love and passion for the sport.
I'm still growing every day love of the game and passion.
And you know, my mindset towards the game is still
growing every day.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You came over when you were twelve years old with
your mom. What brought you to the States?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Just better life, better opportunity, you know, like beerriers are
gone by. Where I'm from has gone through you know,
a lot of tough times, a lot of civil wars,
so you know, it's just looking for a better opportunity,
better education, you know, means to make a living for ourselves.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Really your landing spot with your mom was Lowell, Massachusetts.
What were your first impressions of life in the northeast.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Cold Man, I've never really experienced any colde like that,
you know, coming from West Africa where it's always hot.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
The closest thing we got to that is like rainy season,
like with yall spring here. It's what we call rainy
season back home. But yeah, I know, it's nothing close
to it, man, back home, and like Barrier, you know,
they say snow tastes like ice cream, And I tell
everybody this story. You know, when I came to the
United States, Man, the first thing I did it was
a blizzard in Boston and I grabbed a handful of
snow and I was like, well, this not taste like
(01:53):
ice cream.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So you know, it's a bit disappointed there.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
But it was so cold, man, But I was just
happy to be in a new place environment. I remember
stepping off that plane and driving through Boston and seeing
all these big tall buildings and just all these lights
and these cars. Man, I was like, whoa this place for?
Like Heaven is own? It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Do you still consider yourself a cold weather guy? Have
you gotten?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
You know, so you.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Like the West Coast.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Oh yeah, I do, I do, I do.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I love the West Coast man, It's very scenic, especially
up here, man, I love good views. I'm big nature guys.
So you know what was going to different beaches and
different parks and hikes and stuff, and you know, the
Bay is the perfect play for all that.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So, now that you've got quite a number of years
here in the States, what's the most fascinating kind of
American cultural thing you've picked up or that you have
enjoyed seeing during your time here.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Man, it's been a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I would say, like y'all sports culture, man, just like
how diehard fan you guys are for your sports team
and being from you know, like outskirts of Boston, and
just saying that for the first hand, like the Celtics
fans and the Red Sox fans, you know, those are
like old fans, you know, and like they really loved
their team. And seeing on Sundays, how you know, everything
is kind of just slowed down and people just watching
(03:08):
football all day.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
You know, that was It's pretty amazing. You know.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Back home, we we love soccer. We watched soccer a lot,
but you know, we don't love it like that you know, man,
you know some people out here on game day, man,
you know, fully dressed in their team gears and stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
So I was deciding to watch. Man.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
This is a number of other other things, but I
would say for sure that was the one that.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Cut my attention.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
You mentioned soccer, so that was the sport you love
the most growing up. Played through your sophomore season of
high school, then decided to try out for football. Why
the switch up?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
It was really my cousin.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Both times I tried at football, I released I would
get bigger and bigger. I remember when I first came
up from Africa, I was playing for a bunch of
different clubs and I started up playing striker. You know,
it's like fast, you know, he's scoring and stuff. And
then got bigger, and then moving to me field and
got bigger and moving the defenders going back, and you know,
I didn't want to end up a goaligue. So my
(04:06):
cousin was like, man, you athletic, you big, you can move,
You might want to try this football thing.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
And yeah, I tried it out.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I hated it. Did not like it at all. It
was like, while these guys hitting, it's cold up there,
you know. I don't want to be touched on this
cold man. And it was tough. It was tough. It
was tough, man, But I would say, uh, the toughest
part was just like, you know, just staying there after
school and not when you know you're not your heart
(04:34):
is not in the sun. It's hard to really focus
and stuff. And I was just looking up the time,
ready to go home, you know. Yeah, you know, I
hated it at first, but you know, senior year. I
end up quitning my junior year after like three or
four games, and I went back to playing soccer. And
then my journey year, my senior year, my cousin was like, man,
(04:55):
just stick to it, just stick with it and see
how it plays out. And that's why I fell in
love with the sport. Started hanging out with the cool
guys man you know football.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
You know, so you like the status, Yeah I did.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I felt like, I feel like the status of football
got me into football, and then I just kind of grew.
My love for the games kind of grew as I played,
you know, and yeah, hunger for the game grew.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I read somewhere also that you didn't love the physicality
of football initially, So how do you get over that hurdle.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
I feel like I just started to like hitting people,
you know, honestly I stopped. Uh, well, I play defense,
so you know, I'm always doing the hitting for the
most part. But I remember the first time I had
a really good hit. It was like junior college in Mississippi,
and I like killed the quarterback and I was like,
(05:45):
it's just good.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
And that's where that physicality and I love just kind
of started growing. And then my mindset just kind of changed, honestly, like,
you know, playing football doesn't matter how good you are man.
Physicality went out the end of the day. The more
physical teams I was going to win and try to
pride myself on that.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
You talked about spend some time in junior college. Actually
three of them, Yeah, and the first one did not
involve a football career. So talk us through that period
of your life. You decided to go to community college.
And was it that you weren't set on playing football
or the opportunity hadn't presented itself yet.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Well, I mean, honestly, I was not a good football player.
I'm out of high school, you know, being I had
just started my senior year, and also my grades wasn't
really that good either. I wasn't really sure what I
wanted to do with my life, you know, if I
started playing football, so you know, school wasn't really a
passion for me or you know, football. So after my
(06:47):
senior year, I was just really trying to get my
grades up so I can go to a four year
university and you know, pursue like education. And I remember
it's going to class every day. Man, I just thinking
like this is this can't be it like and I
started missing football, started missing that feeling, you know, being
around the guys, being in crture environment, you know, practice
every day, you know, being tired with your guys and
talking about how tired you guys are, Like it's a
(07:09):
part of the game, It's part of front like the
locker room environment.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I started to miss out a lot, and I remember
telling my mama like this this ain't it. You know,
I gotta I gotta continue to chase this football dream.
So I sent my high school tape, which wasn't really
much kind of sent out everywhere around the country, and
this school in Mississippi reached out to me called Kahoma,
And I remember telling my mom the school in Mississippi,
(07:33):
you know, trying to get me out there to play
football from Boston, Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
You know that was yeah, that's a huge jump.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And uh, you know, it's not a lot of good
things being said about mississippif you live in Boston.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
So you know, my mom was a little worried. She
was scared. Man. I remember how to beg.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Her, just like I gotta do this, like you know,
and she had to work like three full jobs, man.
And I remember when I got there, my mindset was
just like, you know, focused on school. Get this grades
right so you can go to it, you know, for
your university. You know, your mama don't have to keep
on paying for your school.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Man.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
So that's really when I'll say my love for football
helped me focus on my education because I knew if
I wanted to continue to playing football, how to get
my grades right. So I remember when I came home
had through five GPA.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Man, my mom was happy. She doesn't care about football.
She still doesn't care about.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Right, you know, that was just like a booneness or whatever.
But she did not care at all about football. It's
all about grades for her. And I remember sometimes just
thinking like damn, she's working three full jobs.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Like, I cannot be tired right now. I gotta get
this homework done.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I got to make a play on this on this play,
I gotta I gotta be a guy just can be
average man.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
So she's my motivation for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I love that love for moms is top tier, all right,
So you how to convince her to let you go
to Kahoma. But that isn't That is the funnest stub.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
And I still did not.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
University just yet. No, man, what was the next jump?
Speaker 3 (08:59):
So I remember I went down to the Mississippi That
was really my first time seeing like a real football
being played, and you know, the guys were way bigger
and strongery. It was just crazy being down there. And
I remember after the fall, uh when in Mississippi a
junior college. First of all, you have to be on
scholarship to be able to play, and uh, you know,
there's only ten spots for out of staters on scholarship.
(09:22):
And I wasn't gonna not to go to put be
put on scholarship at the time, so you know, they
they just kind of kept me around like I was
like a water boy, you know, slash like part of
the team manager. Yeah, you know, so I'm I'm trying.
I'm just trying to stick around, man, just trying to
look at what the coach is teaching the guys on
on the D line. And you know, I would watch
(09:42):
film at night, just just trying to learn and try
to just like walk through what they was learning. And
then when the spring came on came along, I balled out,
like everything he was teaching the guys in the spring
ended doing the fall and during the season, I kind of,
you know, learned that, and then when spring came around,
I just kind of perform everything he was teaching the.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Guys, falling out doing great.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
So you know, I'm thinking like this next fall, they
got to put me on scholarship. And I remember after
the spring season, Man went in the coach office trying
to talk to him, you.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Know, like, what's going on.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
You guys gonna put me in scholarship to come back
because my mom was working all the jobs. You know,
I'm trying to at least help her out in any
way I can. And I remember they told me we're
not really sure about you, and you got to come
back in the fall and camp.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
We're gonna see how it goes.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
So I wasn't really satisfied with that answer, so I
just kind of took my tape from that spring and
send it everywhere else again in the country.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
And then uh school in Minnesota reached out.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
To me another.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yeah Minnesota was brutally cold, Oh my god, but I
remember reached out. He reached out to me, Man talking
about how great opportunity was go to Minnesota and play ball.
And you know, I started looking up some of the
former players who's made it out of there, and there's nobody,
you know.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I'm just like, I got to be the first.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
You know, nobody ever made it out of there.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Even in like the All Americans with Juco's, nobody ever
really made a nominations out of the conference. So I'm thinking, like,
WHOA like the girl. The goals that I have for myself,
I'm not going to be able to accomplish. And this Juco, you.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Know that nobody knows about. But he convinced me.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Man convinced me that I was gonna be fine, and
I just how to dominate. Really, it can be like
a mediocre guy can be a good guy. Gotta be
like a standout player. So I remember going back to
my mom, you know, trying to convince her again to
go to another junior college.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Man.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Yeah, oh man, I remember my coach had to beg her,
the head coach how to beg her. I was begging
her for like three days.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
But she just kind of told me like this is
the last chance. And that's when they really like stuck
with me, like this is this is it. I have
to make something pop out of the situation. So going
to Minnesota, man, my mindset was just like different. It
was just business, strictly business like, there's no messing around,
like going to parties, you know, like I like to
have fun. But when I was in Minnesota, that mindset
(12:04):
was just business like, whoever was in front of me
gonna get it. I'm gonna dominate them from start to
finish in the game and end up having a crazy
season in Minnesota, first team All American. I led the
country in sacks like seventeen and a half. Man, I
started going crazy and a couple of SEC schools reached
out to.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Me to play with them.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
But with the whole SEC thing, I have had to
either spend another year at at the college in Mississippi,
go back to the college in Mississippi or stay another
year in Minnesota. And I had the first like PAC
twelve and the organ and stuff, so I was just like,
I'm not I'm.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Not staying another game.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Juke.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
So you know, I had a bunch of good Division
one Power five schools, so and I was just tired
my mom, you know, working on the job trying to
pay for my school.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
So you know, the opportune was there.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Time was now, and I had to go, you know,
And I remember the juke of in Mississippi hit me
up like you're trying to come back for another year,
and I was like, yeah, y'all ain't want me back then.
You know, I ain't going back now. So you know,
I was happy for my coach man Minnesota great. He
gave me a great opportunity. And then when I was
out there, man, he just let me do me. You know,
(13:12):
he just knew the athlete I was, the type of
player I was, and he knew my mindset and my
goal so he just kind of let me do me
out there and ended up great man for.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
The both of us.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
So where did you see your biggest growth in your
game over those two seasons you spent in Juco.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I would say in Mississippi it was my biggest just
like everything I learned. Like I said, you know, football
in Mississippi is different. You know down south they got
that real ball and everything in the coach had taught
me and taught all the guys that had learned. You know,
I wish he would have given me the opportunity to
show him, you know what I've learned. But I'm not
(13:47):
mad at it. You know, I'm blessings. You know, I
got to go somewhere else and display my full dominance
on a different team. You know, ended up winning Conference
Defensive Player of the Year and first team All American
Virginia College. Being a guy who just stopped playing football
two years ago. You know that was huge, you know,
getting all these offers to these big schools and choose
in Maryland.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
So yeah, it was a blessing.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
You know, you spend three seasons of Maryland correct, then
go undrafted, get picked up by the Titans, then waived
six games after.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Yeah, at this point, where is your mindset of what
am I going to do with my career?
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Messed up? That's first of all. That's remember my first time.
You know when you in these moments, it's like day
to day routines, like it's.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Like, ah, man, I got good meetings, I gotta do this,
I gotta do that.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
But when it's not that, you miss it, like when
it's not like your day when you have all these
free times, it's just like what am I doing here?
Like I remember just saying at home like I should
be in the meeting right now. But mindset was dark, man,
I was in a very dark place. It's like physically
mentally just like not even motivated to even move and
(14:56):
get out of bed. And then I remember the day
I got cut, like cut cut because I remember if
like my rookie year, they moved me up and down
the practice squad a few times, so you know that
was whatever. But being cut and like not knowing you're
going to come back, that was a tough one, man,
because I really loved this game. I loved this sport,
loved the guys on the team. I remember I went
(15:16):
home just side of my couch like all day just
they didn't move, they didn't pick up no phone call,
just sat there and just thinking like am I really
now on the team.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I don't have a job right now? So I remember
it was like a stadium.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
I started working on Nashville probably like a week or
so after, you know, wenting on a call, went on
a call, waiting on a call, and this at this point,
it was probably like two months, like week I want
to say, like week ten.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
So I was like, I'm going to go home.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
I'm going to home the masters, be around my family,
you know, help with the mental So I went back home.
Like another four weeks go by, I get a call
from the Panthers. They brought me in for a workout.
Killed it. They're good. You know, I'm thinking, you know,
they about as sign me to the practice squad at
least next Monday. They head coach get So I'm just like, dang,
that's tough. Go back to the couch.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
You know, I'm waiting.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
It's week seventeen, right, so I'm like, you know what,
I'm just gonna play the spring ball. Because nobody called
my phone. Yeah, I'm just getting ready to play the
spring ball. So I'm gonna get a job. So I
went into I got a job with like working with
children with disability, learning disabilities and stuff, you know, helping them.
And I remember the first day I went in, I
(16:26):
left work side in my car. I got a phone
call from my agent. Like the very first it was
like a saying from a movie. It was crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I think you might have write.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
It was crazy, Larry gotta work. Like just don't even
know where my mind set is at this point. Sat
in my car and I get a phone call from
my agent. He's like, man, and nine is time to
bring you in for a workout. How you feeling. I said,
we gotta go, We got to go, We got to go.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Man.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
I remember just saying everythinging like thank God, thank you Jesus.
It was a great opportunity. I went home that night. Man,
I just ran around the neighborhood, try to freshen the
legs up, the little bit, try to get the cub
waves off man and then the fly here, the whole
fly here. I'm thinking, like, I'm not going back to Boston.
I'm not going back to Boston. I'm telling myself that
the whole time, like I'm not going back to my room.
I not going back to Boston. I'm not going back
(17:13):
to Boston.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
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What's up, faithful, Welcome to the forty nine ers You've
got mailed Podcasts presented by Delta Dental. I'm Linda pilaris
your host and today we have another first time guest
of the podcast, defensive lineman Sam Okuwana. Sam, thanks for
spending some time with us.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Pleasure to be here, Happy to be here for.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
S Sam, you could write a book about your journey
to the NFL, and it does not begin in the
United States, and it does not begin with the love
of football, no man, it does not.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Definitely a long journey coming to the United States from
Liberia and finding my love and passion for the sport.
I'm still growing every day love of the game and passion.
And you know, my mindset towards the game is still
growing every day.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You came over when you were twelve years old with
your mom. What brought you to the States?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Just better life, better opportunity, you know, like beerriers are
gone by. Where I'm from has gone through you know,
a lot of tough times, a lot of civil wars,
so you know, it's just looking for a better opportunity,
better education, you know, means to make a living for ourselves.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Really your landing spot with your mom was Lowell, Massachusetts.
What were your first impressions of life in the northeast.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Cold Man, I've never really experienced any colde like that,
you know, coming from West Africa where it's always hot.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
The closest thing we got to that is like rainy season,
like with yall spring here. It's what we call rainy
season back home. But yeah, I know, it's nothing close
to it, man, back home, and like Barrier, you know,
they say snow tastes like ice cream, And I tell
everybody this story. You know, when I came to the
United States, Man, the first thing I did it was
a blizzard in Boston and I grabbed a handful of
snow and I was like, well, this not taste like
(01:53):
ice cream.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So you know, it's a bit disappointed there.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
But it was so cold, man, But I was just
happy to be in a new place environment. I remember
stepping off that plane and driving through Boston and seeing
all these big tall buildings and just all these lights
and these cars. Man, I was like, whoa this place for?
Like Heaven is own? It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Do you still consider yourself a cold weather guy? Have
you gotten?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
You know, so you.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Like the West Coast.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Oh yeah, I do, I do, I do.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I love the West Coast man, It's very scenic, especially
up here, man, I love good views. I'm big nature guys.
So you know what was going to different beaches and
different parks and hikes and stuff, and you know, the
Bay is the perfect play for all that.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So, now that you've got quite a number of years
here in the States, what's the most fascinating kind of
American cultural thing you've picked up or that you have
enjoyed seeing during your time here.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Man, it's been a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I would say, like y'all sports culture, man, just like
how diehard fan you guys are for your sports team
and being from you know, like outskirts of Boston, and
just saying that for the first hand, like the Celtics
fans and the Red Sox fans, you know, those are
like old fans, you know, and like they really loved
their team. And seeing on Sundays, how you know, everything
is kind of just slowed down and people just watching
(03:08):
football all day.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
You know, that was It's pretty amazing. You know.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Back home, we we love soccer. We watched soccer a lot,
but you know, we don't love it like that you know, man,
you know some people out here on game day, man,
you know, fully dressed in their team gears and stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
So I was deciding to watch. Man.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
This is a number of other other things, but I
would say for sure that was the one that.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Cut my attention.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
You mentioned soccer, so that was the sport you love
the most growing up. Played through your sophomore season of
high school, then decided to try out for football. Why
the switch up?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
It was really my cousin.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Both times I tried at football, I released I would
get bigger and bigger. I remember when I first came
up from Africa, I was playing for a bunch of
different clubs and I started up playing striker. You know,
it's like fast, you know, he's scoring and stuff. And
then got bigger, and then moving to me field and
got bigger and moving the defenders going back, and you know,
I didn't want to end up a goaligue. So my
(04:06):
cousin was like, man, you athletic, you big, you can move,
You might want to try this football thing.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
And yeah, I tried it out.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I hated it. Did not like it at all. It
was like, while these guys hitting, it's cold up there,
you know. I don't want to be touched on this
cold man. And it was tough. It was tough. It
was tough, man, But I would say, uh, the toughest
part was just like, you know, just staying there after
school and not when you know you're not your heart
(04:34):
is not in the sun. It's hard to really focus
and stuff. And I was just looking up the time,
ready to go home, you know. Yeah, you know, I
hated it at first, but you know, senior year. I
end up quitning my junior year after like three or
four games, and I went back to playing soccer. And
then my journey year, my senior year, my cousin was like, man,
(04:55):
just stick to it, just stick with it and see
how it plays out. And that's why I fell in
love with the sport. Started hanging out with the cool
guys man you know football.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
You know, so you like the status, Yeah I did.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I felt like, I feel like the status of football
got me into football, and then I just kind of grew.
My love for the games kind of grew as I played,
you know, and yeah, hunger for the game grew.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I read somewhere also that you didn't love the physicality
of football initially, So how do you get over that hurdle.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
I feel like I just started to like hitting people,
you know, honestly I stopped. Uh, well, I play defense,
so you know, I'm always doing the hitting for the
most part. But I remember the first time I had
a really good hit. It was like junior college in Mississippi,
and I like killed the quarterback and I was like,
(05:45):
it's just good.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
And that's where that physicality and I love just kind
of started growing. And then my mindset just kind of changed, honestly, like,
you know, playing football doesn't matter how good you are man.
Physicality went out the end of the day. The more
physical teams I was going to win and try to
pride myself on that.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
You talked about spend some time in junior college. Actually
three of them, Yeah, and the first one did not
involve a football career. So talk us through that period
of your life. You decided to go to community college.
And was it that you weren't set on playing football
or the opportunity hadn't presented itself yet.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Well, I mean, honestly, I was not a good football player.
I'm out of high school, you know, being I had
just started my senior year, and also my grades wasn't
really that good either. I wasn't really sure what I
wanted to do with my life, you know, if I
started playing football, so you know, school wasn't really a
passion for me or you know, football. So after my
(06:47):
senior year, I was just really trying to get my
grades up so I can go to a four year
university and you know, pursue like education. And I remember
it's going to class every day. Man, I just thinking
like this is this can't be it like and I
started missing football, started missing that feeling, you know, being
around the guys, being in crture environment, you know, practice
every day, you know, being tired with your guys and
talking about how tired you guys are, Like it's a
(07:09):
part of the game, It's part of front like the
locker room environment.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I started to miss out a lot, and I remember
telling my mama like this this ain't it. You know,
I gotta I gotta continue to chase this football dream.
So I sent my high school tape, which wasn't really
much kind of sent out everywhere around the country, and
this school in Mississippi reached out to me called Kahoma,
And I remember telling my mom the school in Mississippi,
(07:33):
you know, trying to get me out there to play
football from Boston, Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
You know that was yeah, that's a huge jump.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And uh, you know, it's not a lot of good
things being said about mississippif you live in Boston.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
So you know, my mom was a little worried. She
was scared. Man. I remember how to beg.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Her, just like I gotta do this, like you know,
and she had to work like three full jobs, man.
And I remember when I got there, my mindset was
just like, you know, focused on school. Get this grades
right so you can go to it, you know, for
your university. You know, your mama don't have to keep
on paying for your school.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Man.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
So that's really when I'll say my love for football
helped me focus on my education because I knew if
I wanted to continue to playing football, how to get
my grades right. So I remember when I came home
had through five GPA.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Man, my mom was happy. She doesn't care about football.
She still doesn't care about.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Right, you know, that was just like a booneness or whatever.
But she did not care at all about football. It's
all about grades for her. And I remember sometimes just
thinking like damn, she's working three full jobs.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Like, I cannot be tired right now. I gotta get
this homework done.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I got to make a play on this on this play,
I gotta I gotta be a guy just can be
average man.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
So she's my motivation for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I love that love for moms is top tier, all right,
So you how to convince her to let you go
to Kahoma. But that isn't That is the funnest stub.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
And I still did not.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
University just yet. No, man, what was the next jump?
Speaker 3 (08:59):
So I remember I went down to the Mississippi That
was really my first time seeing like a real football
being played, and you know, the guys were way bigger
and strongery. It was just crazy being down there. And
I remember after the fall, uh when in Mississippi a
junior college. First of all, you have to be on
scholarship to be able to play, and uh, you know,
there's only ten spots for out of staters on scholarship.
(09:22):
And I wasn't gonna not to go to put be
put on scholarship at the time, so you know, they
they just kind of kept me around like I was
like a water boy, you know, slash like part of
the team manager. Yeah, you know, so I'm I'm trying.
I'm just trying to stick around, man, just trying to
look at what the coach is teaching the guys on
on the D line. And you know, I would watch
(09:42):
film at night, just just trying to learn and try
to just like walk through what they was learning. And
then when the spring came on came along, I balled out,
like everything he was teaching the guys in the spring
ended doing the fall and during the season, I kind of,
you know, learned that, and then when spring came around,
I just kind of perform everything he was teaching the.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Guys, falling out doing great.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
So you know, I'm thinking like this next fall, they
got to put me on scholarship. And I remember after
the spring season, Man went in the coach office trying
to talk to him, you.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Know, like, what's going on.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
You guys gonna put me in scholarship to come back
because my mom was working all the jobs. You know,
I'm trying to at least help her out in any
way I can. And I remember they told me we're
not really sure about you, and you got to come
back in the fall and camp.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
We're gonna see how it goes.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
So I wasn't really satisfied with that answer, so I
just kind of took my tape from that spring and
send it everywhere else again in the country.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
And then uh school in Minnesota reached out.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
To me another.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yeah Minnesota was brutally cold, Oh my god, but I
remember reached out. He reached out to me, Man talking
about how great opportunity was go to Minnesota and play ball.
And you know, I started looking up some of the
former players who's made it out of there, and there's nobody,
you know.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I'm just like, I got to be the first.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
You know, nobody ever made it out of there.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Even in like the All Americans with Juco's, nobody ever
really made a nominations out of the conference. So I'm thinking, like,
WHOA like the girl. The goals that I have for myself,
I'm not going to be able to accomplish. And this Juco, you.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Know that nobody knows about. But he convinced me.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Man convinced me that I was gonna be fine, and
I just how to dominate. Really, it can be like
a mediocre guy can be a good guy. Gotta be
like a standout player. So I remember going back to
my mom, you know, trying to convince her again to
go to another junior college.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Man.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Yeah, oh man, I remember my coach had to beg her,
the head coach how to beg her. I was begging
her for like three days.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
But she just kind of told me like this is
the last chance. And that's when they really like stuck
with me, like this is this is it. I have
to make something pop out of the situation. So going
to Minnesota, man, my mindset was just like different. It
was just business, strictly business like, there's no messing around,
like going to parties, you know, like I like to
have fun. But when I was in Minnesota, that mindset
(12:04):
was just business like, whoever was in front of me
gonna get it. I'm gonna dominate them from start to
finish in the game and end up having a crazy
season in Minnesota, first team All American. I led the
country in sacks like seventeen and a half. Man, I
started going crazy and a couple of SEC schools reached
out to.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Me to play with them.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
But with the whole SEC thing, I have had to
either spend another year at at the college in Mississippi,
go back to the college in Mississippi or stay another
year in Minnesota. And I had the first like PAC
twelve and the organ and stuff, so I was just like,
I'm not I'm.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Not staying another game.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Juke.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
So you know, I had a bunch of good Division
one Power five schools, so and I was just tired
my mom, you know, working on the job trying to
pay for my school.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
So you know, the opportune was there.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Time was now, and I had to go, you know,
And I remember the juke of in Mississippi hit me
up like you're trying to come back for another year,
and I was like, yeah, y'all ain't want me back then.
You know, I ain't going back now. So you know,
I was happy for my coach man Minnesota great. He
gave me a great opportunity. And then when I was
out there, man, he just let me do me. You know,
(13:12):
he just knew the athlete I was, the type of
player I was, and he knew my mindset and my
goal so he just kind of let me do me
out there and ended up great man for.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
The both of us.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
So where did you see your biggest growth in your
game over those two seasons you spent in Juco.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I would say in Mississippi it was my biggest just
like everything I learned. Like I said, you know, football
in Mississippi is different. You know down south they got
that real ball and everything in the coach had taught
me and taught all the guys that had learned. You know,
I wish he would have given me the opportunity to
show him, you know what I've learned. But I'm not
(13:47):
mad at it. You know, I'm blessings. You know, I
got to go somewhere else and display my full dominance
on a different team. You know, ended up winning Conference
Defensive Player of the Year and first team All American
Virginia College. Being a guy who just stopped playing football
two years ago. You know that was huge, you know,
getting all these offers to these big schools and choose
in Maryland.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
So yeah, it was a blessing.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
You know, you spend three seasons of Maryland correct, then
go undrafted, get picked up by the Titans, then waived
six games after.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Yeah, at this point, where is your mindset of what
am I going to do with my career?
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Messed up? That's first of all. That's remember my first time.
You know when you in these moments, it's like day
to day routines, like it's.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Like, ah, man, I got good meetings, I gotta do this,
I gotta do that.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
But when it's not that, you miss it, like when
it's not like your day when you have all these
free times, it's just like what am I doing here?
Like I remember just saying at home like I should
be in the meeting right now. But mindset was dark, man,
I was in a very dark place. It's like physically
mentally just like not even motivated to even move and
(14:56):
get out of bed. And then I remember the day
I got cut, like cut cut because I remember if
like my rookie year, they moved me up and down
the practice squad a few times, so you know that
was whatever. But being cut and like not knowing you're
going to come back, that was a tough one, man,
because I really loved this game. I loved this sport,
loved the guys on the team. I remember I went
(15:16):
home just side of my couch like all day just
they didn't move, they didn't pick up no phone call,
just sat there and just thinking like am I really
now on the team.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I don't have a job right now? So I remember
it was like a stadium.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
I started working on Nashville probably like a week or
so after, you know, wenting on a call, went on
a call, waiting on a call, and this at this point,
it was probably like two months, like week I want
to say, like week ten.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
So I was like, I'm going to go home.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
I'm going to home the masters, be around my family,
you know, help with the mental So I went back home.
Like another four weeks go by, I get a call
from the Panthers. They brought me in for a workout.
Killed it. They're good. You know, I'm thinking, you know,
they about as sign me to the practice squad at
least next Monday. They head coach get So I'm just like, dang,
that's tough. Go back to the couch.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
You know, I'm waiting.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
It's week seventeen, right, so I'm like, you know what,
I'm just gonna play the spring ball. Because nobody called
my phone. Yeah, I'm just getting ready to play the
spring ball. So I'm gonna get a job. So I
went into I got a job with like working with
children with disability, learning disabilities and stuff, you know, helping them.
And I remember the first day I went in, I
(16:26):
left work side in my car. I got a phone
call from my agent. Like the very first it was
like a saying from a movie. It was crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I think you might have write.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
It was crazy, Larry gotta work. Like just don't even
know where my mind set is at this point. Sat
in my car and I get a phone call from
my agent. He's like, man, and nine is time to
bring you in for a workout. How you feeling. I said,
we gotta go, We got to go, We got to go.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Man.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
I remember just saying everythinging like thank God, thank you Jesus.
It was a great opportunity. I went home that night. Man,
I just ran around the neighborhood, try to freshen the
legs up, the little bit, try to get the cub
waves off man and then the fly here, the whole
fly here. I'm thinking, like, I'm not going back to Boston.
I'm not going back to Boston. I'm telling myself that
the whole time, like I'm not going back to my room.
I not going back to Boston. I'm not going back
(17:13):
to Boston.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
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