D-Hop, Corey & Charley talk about their NFL journeys! | EP 6 | Dawgs Only

Host Rodney McLeod has Dustin Hopkins, Corey Bojorquez, and Charley Hughlett join this episode of Dawgs Only to talk about what led them to the NFL, how they deal with pressure as specialists, and how support from family is key!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Dolls. On the podcast is O g Rod.
I'm very excited. I got my big three here with
me today, Charlie, Corey and d Hop the specialists, our
big three.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
I like that.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Come on, I've never heard that one, but it might
be a.

Speaker 4 (00:19):
Walking up.

Speaker 5 (00:25):
Let's kick things off, man, how was the how was
the off season?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Good? Good man?

Speaker 5 (00:30):
Any special trips?

Speaker 6 (00:32):
No, man, We we get back down to Florida, and uh,
once we get the kids backed up and settled, man,
we're there.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
We don't. I don't know.

Speaker 6 (00:40):
It's it's a hassle, you know, it's it's a it's
a whole thing trying to get kids on a plane
going somewhere. So we're just happy to be home and
enjoy the family, enjoy the friends down there, and we're
just we get settled.

Speaker 7 (00:53):
Well, we just got to play something Denver, so we
were busy setting that up. Went out to Hawaii like
we do every summer. Go visit some family, all right,
both sides of.

Speaker 5 (01:02):
All new home, new money. We'll get on that later,
no worries.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
And then uh we just we laid pretty low too.
We had a baby.

Speaker 4 (01:15):
We laid low.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
My wife's like, yeah, I was doing some work there.

Speaker 5 (01:17):
You know.

Speaker 8 (01:18):
But uh, yeah, we had we have babies, shoot five
months and some change now, so that kept us busy,
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
And then uh, we did one of those kind.

Speaker 8 (01:28):
Of rough kids like a four day trip where travel
was you know, not the best.

Speaker 4 (01:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, it was good, it was good.

Speaker 5 (01:37):
Your your go ahead.

Speaker 6 (01:39):
We actually did we we did take a trip I forgot.
We we went to Arizona, so we did the union
meetings out there, and we brought the kids and we
took him much of the Grand Canyon and uh, it's
about three and a half hours north of where we
were at Scottsdale, and we we took all all three
of them up there, got there and realized there was

(01:59):
there's no guardrails.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
So my daughter's trying to run away. I'm trying to
snag her hand.

Speaker 6 (02:06):
We ended up having to strap up the little one
on my wife's back and put her in the stroller.
She's four and way too tall for the stroller, but
I had to just strap her up because she was
about to freaking run run off the edge of that thing.
And she just kept saying, well, Dad, you'll come get me.
And I'm like, I don't know if there's any come
getting you there. It's like a two mile drop or
whatever it is. It was terrifying. So yeah, word of
the wise, with two kids a little older taking the

(02:27):
Grand Canyon, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
See, I just stepped into fatherhood, right, baby girls two.

Speaker 5 (02:34):
Months to date, let's go.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, but those flights kind of had up a little
bit right after age two, I hear.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, yeah, when they're when they're real young, they tend
to just sleep on you. Yeah, it's like I said,
it's like one and a half two, they start getting
a little more active.

Speaker 6 (02:51):
Like, for instance, to Arizona. My youngest was around one
and a half and he was at that screeching phase
where he was just screeching the entire time. He did
the entire flight four and a half five hours. It
felt bad for everybody around us, but it just was
what it was. We couldn't do anything about it. The
other two they're at the age where you give some
snacks in the coloring book.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
They're they're good.

Speaker 5 (03:10):
But yeah, no, the younger time, they're good to go.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, the youngest was, he was brutal in that way.

Speaker 4 (03:16):
Right now, Yeah, max it out.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
I got an example for you ready.

Speaker 8 (03:20):
This is this past trip I mentioned I'm not very
confrontational person in general. I will if I have to,
but I'm not really confrontational. We get on the plane
and one of the first ones on there, I'm holding
the baby.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
He's crying like loudly.

Speaker 8 (03:35):
My oldest is having a tough time in the seat too,
So we're making as a family, we're making a lot
of noise.

Speaker 5 (03:39):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
They haven't, I don't.

Speaker 8 (03:42):
I don't know if y'all have noticed this there recently.
I feel like planes are hotter than they've ever been.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
First step on, like there needs to be a regulation.
I don't know.

Speaker 8 (03:49):
Anyway, I'm sweating my shirt out. We got babies crying,
and I'm like bouncing to try to like and it's
it's not helping, but I'm just like sticking with it.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
Maybe it'll eventually.

Speaker 8 (04:00):
And a guy slides in in front of me and
he turns to somebody next to him. He's like, loudly,
it was like, it's gonna be a long flight, huh.
And I was like, I guess dad mode clicked on.
I was like, hey, hey, it's not too late. Now's
the time where it was. It was on a an
airline that you could choose your seat were signed. So
I was like, hey, it's not too late, buddy. I

(04:22):
was like, move now, because it might be a long flight,
but you have a choice right now.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
You're not going to urt our feelings if we choose
to move, you know. So it's like one of those
moments where it's like you're you're.

Speaker 8 (04:31):
Just you're sweating, you're tired, your dad, and you're like, hey,
make the decision.

Speaker 5 (04:35):
Yeah, you know, if you want to hold road to yourself,
bring the child.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah it was. It was a family
of four one row.

Speaker 5 (04:41):
Yeah, lovely, lovely.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
So we're on the topic of obviously fatherhood and you know,
when to miss a training camp right now, we all
know the daily grind, the physicality that exists for training camp.
It's very challenging on us. But as fathers, right and
as you go off into training camp or even throughout

(05:05):
the season, how hard is it during those days where
you're counting down to that moment where you have to report,
or even just throughout the season when you leave your
home and that time is now lost. You know, as
fathers and those moments we all chairish we unfortunately miss

(05:26):
So talk to us a little bit about how you
guys have dealt with that and how does it feel
for you now.

Speaker 6 (05:33):
I mean it's definitely difficult. I mean, you know, packing up,
leaving your family. I mean, you know, now that we're older,
camps a little different. We get to go home at night,
you know, once we're back. But honestly, I would argue
it's harder on the moms, you know. I mean, they're
they're they're grunting all by themselves, all by themselves, and
you know, I'm Facetimer trying to FaceTime at least twice
a day, you know, talk to her and just get

(05:54):
her mind off things a little bit.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
But yeah, it's a challenge, man.

Speaker 6 (05:56):
She's got three on her own, trying to keep them
all entertained, keep them all from cracking their head open
on the floor.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Like it's that's that's a job, dude.

Speaker 7 (06:06):
Yeah, yeah, I mean me, I definitely try to take
advantage of the off season, you know, when I'm maybe
taking an hour or two out of the day to
just go work out, kick do whatever. And the rest
of the time, I'm just I'm a dad, you know,
nothing else matters, and it's also time for my wife
to have a little bit of a break because during
training camp in season, like she's the one that handles

(06:26):
the baby, you know, especially at night if she wakes
up like she always handles it, so I can be
rusted up to go to work and stuff. How she
does it, couldn't tell you. You know, it's off days
during the season is my day to be, you know,
my dad or be the dad, and she gets to
go out and do whatever, and it is. It's exhausting. Honestly,
I give her a lot of praise. And you guys

(06:48):
with multiple kids, I mean.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
The wives are built different.

Speaker 4 (06:50):
Man.

Speaker 6 (06:52):
The level of patience, it's there, They're built differently, give
them the praise.

Speaker 8 (06:57):
Like I sure with yall yesterday is like, man, the
amount of sacrifice that moms have to go through physically
one and then mentally and emotionally. I think it's just
a different type of load than we have to take
on as fathers in a lot of different ways. So yeah, hey,
thank you. I think I speak for all of us,
thank y'all back at home.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
Absolutely, when women, I mean, they they're superheroes. Moms are superheroes.
I've I've gained a deeper level of respect for all
moms after witnessing you know what I observe for you know,
over the course of these ten months up until you

(07:40):
know that that date, and even now just seeing how
much they have to they have to sacrifice and the
job is never over, right, this is something it's a
full time jobs that we've all signed up for, but
even more so in this in this profession, right that

(08:03):
most of the time it takes up you know, we're
away and now the responsibility lies on these women and
our wives. So I think it's important for you to
get the right teammate, right, like the right teammate, because

(08:23):
not every woman understands what is required and what's asked
of us, you know, as an athlete, and how much
they truly have to give and be very respectful of
you know, our time, responsibilities in day to day so

(08:44):
you know oursolute, you know our wives, you know, for
for being that backbone for us, you know when we
need them. And honestly, and I would say, probably best
teammate that i've you know, I've had to date.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
That's right answer. You're absolutely right, man.

Speaker 8 (09:01):
I tell guys, younger guys, they'll ask me when they
find out I've been married for a while. They're like, so,
you know, they're asked a questions about marriage and I'm like, man,
when you find the right woman, and like, thank the
Lord I have, it's the best decision I've ever made
outside of become a believer.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
It's like, it's it's the best decision you can make,
is what I tell guys.

Speaker 8 (09:21):
I was like, but if you find the wrong one,
it could be one of the worst worst decisions you've
ever made, you know.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
So it makes it breaks your life.

Speaker 6 (09:27):
Man, It's the most important decision you make in your life,
like as your partner for life, you know, so no,
like who you settle down with, Like that's that's the
key to your happiness, man. Like you guys ask me
about that all the time too, And they're like, you know,
the really and like ask what it's like to have kids,
And I'm like, you know, would you recommend having kids young?

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Waiting a little bit like whatever, And I'm.

Speaker 6 (09:48):
Like, well, that's, you know, obviously up to you, but
I will tell you, like, does not make this job
any easier, Like you know, we've we've got to we've
got to sleep at night. You know, that's when we
you know, recover and U when you've got an infant
man like a sleep, it's not always there. And I
don't know about y'all, but I've never slept the same

(10:09):
since I've had kids, Like even now that we're not
really in the infant stage anymore, like it never went back.
Like I'm still like just like alert, like I'll hear
some little noise like I'm up and uh yeah, It's
just from that aspect alone definitely makes the job a
little a little bit more difficult.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
So, uh, you know, we've obviously were on the subject
of a ball for a lot of viewers. They may
not know you guys journey. You know, you can give
us a little snapshot to share as much as you
want or as little. Uh, but just tell us how
did you, guys arrive.

Speaker 5 (10:47):
To where you are today? Have you?

Speaker 1 (10:49):
Have you always dreamt of being an NFL kicker, punter,
long snapper? Like tell us tell us about tell us
about your your your football journey.

Speaker 6 (11:01):
So I started playing football on I eight. I don't
ever remember a time where I just didn't like love
football like I've always been obsessed with it. I grew
up watching my cousins play like I think that's kind
of what spurred it in my head, but that's like
before I even have memory, so it's just always been
in my head. Grew up, I was a tight end,
played through high school as a tight end. Played a

(11:22):
little bit of center my senior year but mostly mostly
tight end. Went to college, went to UCF sort of
snapping my junior year, just kind of as like a
side gig, you know. And when I went to UCF
as a walk on, you know, is be backup tight end,
backup snapper like whatever. But like two weeks before freshman camp,

(11:43):
our snapper who was our snapper had graduated the year before,
so the rising junior it was going to slight it.
Slater to be the snapper kind of just quit, like
quit the team. Not sure what happened. So there's an
open spot and they asked me to go out for it.
Ended up getting it, and then kind of once I
got that that spot, coach called me in said you're
not gonna play tighten anymore. You're gonna be our scholarship snapper.

(12:05):
So that was kind of how that worked out. I
was just happy to have a scholarship, so that was
that was cool with it. But yeah, and then then
from there just kind of took off.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Certainly. Never never thought I would be in the league,
that's for sure.

Speaker 5 (12:19):
So walk on from college.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
I've read something that said you also had you had
an offer from Brown?

Speaker 4 (12:26):
Is that?

Speaker 5 (12:27):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (12:27):
So I I uh, I got recruited by a lot
of one double A schools, and Brown was one of
the ones that came knocking on the door. As soon
as I figured out they didn't give out scholarships and
how expensive that school was.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Kind of kind of exit off for me.

Speaker 6 (12:44):
But yeah, no, I mean that that would have been
really cool obviously, but I don't think I would have
been a snapper there, So I think it ended up
working out.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
Yeah, everything, Yeah, everything works out of the way it's
supposed to. How how was that as as a as
a walk on in college? What was that experience?

Speaker 4 (13:02):
Like, well, I was.

Speaker 6 (13:04):
Only a walk on, I guess for like my summer,
first summer semester, so I kind.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
Of I quickly got a scholarship.

Speaker 6 (13:10):
So it's different though, Like I remember like definitely feeling
a little inferior, like you kind of had to have
like a prove it mentality. You were always like comparing
yourself to the guys that had scholarships, and uh, yeah,
you just wanted to be one of those guys. Like
I remember just like wanting to get a scholarship. That
was only my only thought. And then once once kind
of that opportunity or you know, arrived to take the

(13:34):
snapper route, I was just happy to do it. Like
I was happy to get on scholarship and not have to,
you know, take on debt or put that on my
parents or whatever.

Speaker 4 (13:42):
You know.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
So I was happy to do it.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
And I ask a follow up question. I know this
is your.

Speaker 8 (13:47):
At one you said you never thought you'd be in
the league. I've never asked you this at one point,
did you think that You're like, oh, I got a shot.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
Like it was like it was like spring going into
my senior year. We had it.

Speaker 6 (14:00):
We had a really good punter who played in the
league for a couple of years, and we had a scout.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
The scout was just over there watching me snap and
him punt.

Speaker 6 (14:08):
And I remember thinking like, oh, he's just watching the punter,
you know, And my buddy like tapped me and he's like, no,
he's watching you. He's timing your snaps. He's watching you.
And I was like no, he's not.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
He figured out he was, you know, so that that
kind of like opened my eyes. I was like, oh, shoot,
like this I might have a chance to do this.

Speaker 6 (14:25):
And at the time, I was just like trying to
get through school on scholarship and I planned at the
time was good to dental school. So I was like,
you know, studying up for my exams and trying to
make good grades and everything. And you know, over the
next couple of months, I kind of realized like that
that plan was going to be pushed back a little bit.
So I was gonna see how long football would football

(14:48):
would take me?

Speaker 4 (14:48):
So we are years.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
He'd be a big dentist man.

Speaker 6 (14:53):
Yeah, everybody said that it was kind of the family occupation.
So uh decided I'll just kind of follow in the footsteps.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, So as a long snapper right in the NFL,
like what are teams looking for when as a long snapper?
Like what what are the keys to to success? And
for you having as long as his career as you have, right,
like what separates you from from the rest?

Speaker 6 (15:27):
I mean obviously like accuracy, you know, and and the
balls got to get there in a certain amount of time,
So you gotta be accurate. It's got to be relatively fast,
not too fast, because that, you know, tends to freaks
some punters out. But I would say the next thing
is probably protection, Like you got to be able to block,
like you can't.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
You can't just be getting run over.

Speaker 6 (15:44):
You're gonna get puntchs blocked, field goal is blocked, whatever
it is.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
So you gotta be able to block. You gotta be
able to cover decently.

Speaker 4 (15:49):
Well.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
Some guys cover better than others.

Speaker 5 (15:52):
What would you rate what would you rate your coverage?

Speaker 2 (15:55):
Man, I'm gonna put myself right in the middle, right
in the middle.

Speaker 5 (15:59):
But it's tight end. But the tight end, the tight
end back.

Speaker 9 (16:02):
Oh, we got a special special guests, special special guests.
We were just talking about tight ends too, right, the
back of the tight end. Uh, background that you had
allows you to be able to block an elite level.

Speaker 4 (16:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (16:19):
I just came when I heard that he was going
to be a dentist. That's kind of probably one of
the scariest.

Speaker 6 (16:25):
Yeah, I think, uh yeah, I think it's a good
thing that that football worked out.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
I mean, it's not too late, but it is too late.

Speaker 4 (16:33):
Man.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
I'm thirty four years old, schools four years now.

Speaker 4 (16:37):
It's too late.

Speaker 1 (16:39):
It's never, it's never really too late.

Speaker 5 (16:41):
And Pa Pa Pa covered that tuition. Yeah, yeah, that's true.
You know, man, what's good? So you appreciate you. Yeah,
you're doing right, but this is life.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
You lose your shirt?

Speaker 4 (16:56):
Yeah on baby, Yeah, I find it?

Speaker 5 (16:58):
Oh cat, what you got?

Speaker 4 (17:00):
What you got for words?

Speaker 10 (17:01):
I was I just finished Oxygen right and I saw
Dom and he told me about this great podcast that
you have, and I was like, I gotta come.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Come on, come on, you know what I mean. Yeah,
so we're gonna get it. We're gonna get a special
one on one with David and Joku.

Speaker 5 (17:20):
Is that coming up?

Speaker 4 (17:21):
Is that?

Speaker 5 (17:21):
Is that soon?

Speaker 4 (17:22):
You're the boss. You're telling me to do and I'm
doing all right?

Speaker 3 (17:25):
Maybe thirty for thirty.

Speaker 8 (17:28):
I know part of it, you know when I got
hurt day was trying to come in and kick a
little bit.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
I'm gonna try cup Cub, I'm gonna try it. So
maybe that's what.

Speaker 4 (17:36):
I forgot about that. Kevin wasn't having it though.

Speaker 5 (17:40):
Kick I'm strong.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
Let me because that's a point in your mind.

Speaker 5 (17:50):
I don't know why, Like I can kick and there
might be some room for you.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
This year a zoo. But I can definitely kick.

Speaker 10 (17:57):
And if it's a hup of team, I'm all for it,
you know, because we're looking.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
We're looking for somebody, you know, potentially the new kickoff
rules and everything.

Speaker 5 (18:05):
You could be that guy.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
To do, to do what you said, kick or kick.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yeah, and then and they gonna make the tackle. I'm
an office a guy all the way time. My whole
you offhysic guy, whatever of offense. But I see you wrestle.
I see you wrestle in the lock.

Speaker 10 (18:22):
When when I get mad, but I'm not mad all
the time, don't get me mad.

Speaker 4 (18:27):
Don't do that. I can.

Speaker 10 (18:28):
I can tell you're gonna push your buttons coming.

Speaker 5 (18:32):
All right, huh, I mean we got space.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
There's no room here.

Speaker 5 (18:47):
For sure.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
No thanks for having me.

Speaker 10 (18:50):
I just wanted to come by and say hi to
the guys and to the fans, beautiful fans.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yeah, yeah, come on, man, that's blessing the pleasure, all right.
You know, new knewest. We got some competition, you got
some competition.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
Hey, let me keep this job, all right, let me
have this. I'll let you keep that in thank you.

Speaker 5 (19:18):
All right. Now we were on the cory your journey.

Speaker 7 (19:24):
I don't recommend this route. Okay, it's not for not
growing up no interest in football. I played baseball. That
was my thing, huge Dodgers fan. That's what I want
to do.

Speaker 5 (19:37):
A position.

Speaker 7 (19:38):
I was kind of all over end of my playing
at like thirteen, you know, I was centerfield. You know,
I was the I would argue the best hitter on
the team at the time, but uh yeah, just got
burnt out. Wasn't doing it anymore. Just started playing soccer
after that again, like I did when I was younger,
going into high school, playing soccer my sophomore year. After

(20:01):
the season, we're basically just conditioning, getting ready for the
next season, and I'm not having it. I don't like
to run, you know, while I'm kicking the ball. Sure,
besides that, I don't run. Hence why I'm a punter.
I don't have to do anything. And the punter at
the time was graduating. He was top two three in
the country, you know, real good punter. And they had

(20:23):
an open spot and usually you know, they always come
out the soccer team who wants to kick and punt?
And so I was like, you know, I talked to
my coach, can I get out of practice to go
do this, and he was like, sure, that was the
end of it. I don't have to run anymore and
I can just go kick a ball. So training with
him for a couple of months, got the job and
never looked back.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
You know, I know, well, I know the process. Was
it just a straight line, you know, to to where
you are right now?

Speaker 4 (20:50):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (20:51):
I almost stopped playing a couple of times. Coming out
of high school. I was all state my senior year
and was going to go to Sacramento State, you know,
somewhat you know, six hours away or so, kind of
close to home, not too bad, but cal Pauly sam
Luis Obispo also had some interests and they're real good
engineering school and that's kind of what I wanted to

(21:11):
go to school for. Uh So, towards end of my
senior year, you know, I called Sacramento State. I'm like, hey, sorry,
like I'm going you know, not even football reasons, just
education wise. I want to go here for engineering. And
they're like, cool, we get it. No worries, you know,
it's just a preferred walk on. So it wasn't a
big deal. I think it was two or three days
before I graduated high school. We're having our senior farewell
assembly and I get a call from a coach at

(21:32):
cal Pauly.

Speaker 4 (21:33):
So I step outside real quick, get on the phone.

Speaker 7 (21:35):
Hey man, what's up. How's it going? And he's like, hey, buddy,
here's the thing. Roster's full. We can't have you come
out anymore, like spots taken. Sorry, Bud, go to a
junior college or something. We'll get you at the semester.
You know, like all right, so go to junior college.
Freshman year terrible, wasn't good. Reach out to the coach, nothing,

(21:55):
never hear back.

Speaker 4 (21:56):
They sell it.

Speaker 7 (21:57):
Ghosted me, yeah, first of many and and uh they
scholarship some other kid, you know, and it was just
kind of left hang, you know basically, and you know,
we had a pretty good junior college.

Speaker 10 (22:11):
You know.

Speaker 7 (22:11):
DJ Reid plays for the Jets. We were teammates there.
Uh Kyle Peckoh, he's a d lineman I think with
the Broncos. Now maybe you know he went there, so
you know, it's a good program. So if you know
what these other guys are getting, looks, someone will see me.

Speaker 4 (22:24):
No big deal. Uh.

Speaker 7 (22:27):
USC comes out before my sophomore season and my head.
Your offensive coordinator tells the scout like, this kid's gonna
be an All American punter. You guys are gonna have
it next year. And I was like, yo, us C,
like let's go. Like that'd be sweet. Go out end
up being an All American that season. Uh, reached him
out to him nothing the scholarship some Australian kid who

(22:48):
ended up losing his job the next season to walk
on freshman h and it. You know, there's just nothing
I had to offer from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Uh,
New Mexico where I ended up going.

Speaker 4 (23:00):
And then Indiana State. Uh.

Speaker 7 (23:03):
And you know I was expecting a little bit. I
guess bigger schools just with what I had done. You know,
maybe my ego was just a little big and I
didn't realize it.

Speaker 5 (23:11):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (23:12):
But yeah, went to New Mexico. Uh.

Speaker 7 (23:15):
Junior year wasn't great. Senior year was pretty good. Got
to play with Jason Sanders, Miami's kicker.

Speaker 4 (23:20):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (23:21):
We kind of helped push each other in a couple
of ways. And then you went undrafted, went to New
England and up again claimed by Buffalo and skip around
country a couple of times in.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Here ash respect power power in the story. You know,
the perseverance in there. Uh you know, like I said,
I know the role here wasn't wasn't easy, but you
stay with it. I know about the undrafted life, you know,
we had, we had that in common.

Speaker 5 (23:49):
Uh was some thirteen, Yeah, thirteen and you're now, what year?

Speaker 4 (23:54):
What this is a year seven for me? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (23:56):
Seven? Yeah, you know define the odds.

Speaker 7 (23:58):
Yeah, I mean, shoot my rookie year week one, I
think there was eight starting rookie punters and I think
three or four of them were drafted, and I think
there's two or three of us left, you know.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
So, And that's the difference though between our worlds though, right,
Like at my position, let's say give or take you
keep six, right, maybe six safeties, five or active one
practice squad, maybe four or five whatever.

Speaker 5 (24:25):
In your world, it's one.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
There's one we play forever. Good luck getting Yeah, It's
like you might have.

Speaker 6 (24:33):
Like what two or three spots of like true rookies
coming in that that make a team. Like it took
me three years of It wasn't ntil my fourth year
out that I finally made a fifty.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
Three college Yeah.

Speaker 7 (24:46):
I didn't play in the preseason. My rookie year, they
helped me out sitting. They're like, oh, I'm just gonna
be on the practice squad, go get a free ring,
I guess, and the Buffalo said.

Speaker 4 (24:54):
Nope, you're coming with us. Yeah, six and ten.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
Babi, Hey, we chased it for whatever in this year though,
come on, all right, d d hot.

Speaker 8 (25:08):
Let's see. I grew up playing if it was a sport,
I was in like love playing sports. It was a
huge part of my identity at that point, you know,
like being good at sports is like part of who
I was. And you know, played soccer football from the
earliest stage you can play either and football. It was

(25:29):
always like like, hey, who can kick, and be like
I can kick, and I feel like God had had
given me a gift to just kick the ball farther
than my peers. Even from a young age, it was
just like I can just kick the ball far and
so I kicked for my football team and play soccer.
But kicking was never like a primary thing. It's like,
my my favorite player was either like Terrell Davis or

(25:52):
Deon Sanders.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
You know what it was like, Yeah, you know, like
dudes like position players that were like doing stuff.

Speaker 8 (25:59):
So it was I always thought like, man, I'll do that,
and so then you know, fast forward, I'm still doing both.
Kicking still a side thing, and I get hurt like
my freshman year, and every time I'd go to sprint,
it would feel like the injury would not go away.
It felt like I did it yesterday. It was just

(26:19):
like I would rest two weeks, do some pte, try
to work my way running again, and it was still
the same.

Speaker 3 (26:25):
Like and when you're when you're young like that.

Speaker 8 (26:28):
And sports are like a part of your world. It
was you know, we're grown now with kids, it doesn't
it doesn't matter. But at that point it was like
a big deal. And for some reason, I could swing
my leg through and it didn't hurt to do. Like
so I couldn't run, but I could swing my leg.
So I was like, well, this is all I can
do to be a part of a team. Then like
I'll become a better kicker. So I went to a camp,

(26:50):
a kicking camp. Shout out Cole's kicking. He's been my
coach since then. But anyway, so go to a camp
and I was looking for instruction. I didn't even know
that they did rankings at that time, but they have
camps all over the country and they did rankings, and
so I went for instruction, got some instruction, and then
after the fact, I think one of my parents were

(27:11):
looking it up online and they had ranked me like
it was like two or three in the country or
something like that the very first time somebody had seen me.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
And so that kind of opened my.

Speaker 8 (27:22):
Eyes of like, yeah, maybe I could maybe I could
be a position player somewhere like a maybe a smaller
school or something. I was like, or you can just
walk in something that is clearly something that I was
gifted at. Yeah, And I was like, well, I think
that's probably going to be the road to play major
Division one football. Yeah, And so went that route, got

(27:43):
a scholarship to Florida State another you know, met my
wife there.

Speaker 3 (27:47):
So it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Speaker 8 (27:50):
And the people they were awesome as a school that
appreciates kickers because they've been on the bad and the
good side of that.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
And now I'd argue, we're kicker you you.

Speaker 8 (27:59):
Know, I say, Man Janikowski, Graham Gano, Roberto Yo Me
and there's some other good ones that Yeah, Scott Bentley
that touched touched the league.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
But there's a few of us.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
You know, kicker, you you heard it right here, DAWs
only podcast, can't here you somebody get that T shirt, doesn't.

Speaker 5 (28:20):
Get a T shirt?

Speaker 10 (28:21):
Right?

Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (28:22):
Then then uh bounce around the league a number of
different teams. Uh, through injuries, good performances, bad performances.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
Uh. I was thinking about the other day. I think.

Speaker 8 (28:37):
Maybe maybe there's one. I don't think I've been picked
up off waivers. But other than that, I think I've
been a part of every type of transaction you can
be a part of in the league.

Speaker 3 (28:45):
Like I've been on peace squad. I was I guess except.

Speaker 4 (28:50):
I was draft.

Speaker 5 (28:51):
I was drafted.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
I was on Peace squad.

Speaker 8 (28:53):
Uh. I've been active, but on the non active like
on game day, I've been on I R I've been traded.

Speaker 3 (29:01):
It's like I've checked.

Speaker 5 (29:04):
Years.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
You It's crazy.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
So obviously you're the only person here that was drafted
six sixth round right, sixth round draft pick. Talk about
that day, Like how did that moment feel for you?

Speaker 5 (29:26):
Your family?

Speaker 3 (29:27):
Uh?

Speaker 5 (29:28):
And honestly, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna say the
truth because.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
Like you know, coming in I was undrafted twenty twelve,
I thought I always had a chance to go to
the rams.

Speaker 5 (29:36):
They had like six picks, and one of them was it.
They took the kicker and.

Speaker 4 (29:39):
You were a bitter.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Oh my god, I said, what world are we living
in where they took a kicker over over a skilled
position like me? And and I didn't know at that time,
but as my man Greg to let so much respect
the Gregs and like.

Speaker 5 (29:57):
You know, so I salute you. But how how did
it feel?

Speaker 3 (30:01):
They feel awesome? I have my family and friends there.

Speaker 8 (30:05):
Shoot, even though it's like a low round, you feel
like it's like you might as well have been a
first rounder, just the feeling.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
You know what, I.

Speaker 8 (30:12):
Don't even think I don't I don't think I drink it.
But we had a bottle of champagne that I was
like shooting off. I don't even think I had had
a drink, but it was still just like you know,
so it's it's a good memory. See the people you
love in the time, they they don't know firsthand, but
they know about as close as anybody. The time you
invest all of us that you know, how much you
put into your craft to try to be as good

(30:33):
as you can. And those people are the ones that
understand it the most as closely as they can, and
so to celebrate that moment.

Speaker 3 (30:40):
With them, was is a is an honest memory?

Speaker 5 (30:42):
Yeah, it's priceless.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
Priceless.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
Yeah, to be honest with you, each of your positions
we know on the team is like it's valued, right,
but like to the outside world, similar to your journey
and even you you weren't once a kicker, or you
didn't dream of being a kicker. You wanted to sec
see roll the one that would ultimately be you know,
it's like but but honestly, you know, we know the

(31:09):
value in which all of you guys serve and how
important it is and how each play that you're a
part of, how how it's magnified, right, Uh talk about
like that level of pressure because we all deal with pressure,
you know, in each of our positions. But going out
with two seconds on the clock having a naother thirty

(31:32):
yarder or going out for only let's say two punts
a game, and your job is you know what I'm saying,
to change change and flip position right, because the game
is about uh field position right, and you play a
big role in that. And then obviously you Charlie like
it starts and ends with you every time. So talk

(31:53):
about like that that moment and how do you handle
like those clutch moments of pressure.

Speaker 6 (32:03):
I mean, for me, it's a lot of a lot
of deep breaths, man, Like I do, I honestly do
do a lot of breath work, like sitting on the sideline.
You know that moment's coming up. I'm sitting there just
like controlling the heart rate, controlling the breath, trying to
stay level. And then kind of once you get out there, man,
it really does kind of for me at least, like
turning the muscle memory. You try to just forget the situations,
just like every other thing you do, and you just
kind of go out there and I throw back there

(32:24):
and I just you know, hoping, hoping the thing goes through.
And luckily Dustin he's putting it through. So it's it's
been a good feeling to know as long as I'm
doing my job, I can trust these two guys that
do theirs.

Speaker 2 (32:37):
And it's fun way to win games.

Speaker 6 (32:39):
I mean, I'm sure it's a it's probably a little
stressful for everybody else, but.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
I enjoy it.

Speaker 4 (32:46):
Man.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
Dud's just praying knee and hugging dudes you'd never even touch.

Speaker 5 (32:50):
Before you name it, it gets done.

Speaker 7 (32:54):
Look, Charlie was saying, you know you just that muscle
memory kind of kicks in.

Speaker 6 (32:57):
I'm sitting there on the on the sideline stressing. I'm
trying not to. I'm stressing for sure, and then and
then once you get on the field, you know, it
takes over. But yeah, I'm leading up to it. I'm
sitting there. I'm like, here we go.

Speaker 4 (33:08):
Man.

Speaker 8 (33:09):
Yeah, I like it's a good mix between these guys
for me, you know. And and I think Charlie's making
himself probably out to be more nervous than I.

Speaker 3 (33:17):
Feel like he puts off.

Speaker 8 (33:18):
At least he handles it seems like he handles it's
like a duck, you know, calm on the surface's legs underneath.

Speaker 6 (33:26):
Well, you notice I just stay snapping, like I just
keep my.

Speaker 7 (33:30):
Nervous energy, and he's snapping in the Net's like, Charlie.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
We're done for me. I think.

Speaker 8 (33:40):
I think I got like two perspectives, I think, and
one of them is like a big picture. I'm like,
eternally speaking, this kick does not matter. Does that make sense?
Like it's like, man like, uh kind of like I
mentioned earlier, as as fathers, you understand that there are
more important things going on in our life, and not
that you don't want that, and you want to enjoy
that with your teammates. You want that for like man,

(34:00):
y'all are out there working hard.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
I want that for y'all as my team.

Speaker 8 (34:03):
And so it's not a lack of desire to do well,
but it's more of man in the gram scheme of
life and eternity, this is a very small thing, you know,
And so that's one perspective. Another perspective also big picture
is like my bad day, an entire city hates me, okay,
And some people hear that and they're like, well that's horrible.
I'm like I will just move cities, okay, whatever. But

(34:27):
like somebody else's bad day, like you're in the medical
field or you're in like you're a soldier, and I
look at their bad days are so much worse than
my bad days. I'm like, I can handle I can
handle that. Like, but like losing a friend or losing
a patient or like you know.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Those are tough.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
Those are tough days.

Speaker 8 (34:45):
So big picture, that's kind of how I like, I
don't know, take the pressure off is just still just
a game.

Speaker 3 (34:52):
And then in that moment.

Speaker 8 (34:53):
In college, there are times where you know you have
a negative thought and you try to replace it and
you're kind of having that mental battle. And and there
was a time where that didn't work. And then another time,
like I was so confident, overly confident going into a kick,
like and it wasn't like fake and like I really
believed it, and it that didn't work either, and so
what so what I found, what I found is is

(35:15):
don't be results oriented. It's like being that moment and
so all I'm thinking about as we're walking up and well,
let me let me backtrack. It's so nice not having
to think about a snapper a hole, like, because there's
been times sometimes you're like, I don't know what I'm
about to get here, But having these guys on the
front end it makes I don't I don't think people
out there realize, like they know snapping and holding is important.

Speaker 3 (35:36):
To a kick, but how vital, like a good picture
of the football is going in. Yeah, and these.

Speaker 8 (35:41):
Guys like we're a huge part of our team success
but also like my success because of how good they
are at what they do.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
So like I'm really thankful for y'all.

Speaker 5 (35:51):
First of all, come on, big three. He starts with
a snap, mom man, come.

Speaker 8 (35:55):
On, and so but in that moment, all I'm thinking
about are are like kind of like I guess a
golfer would call them swing thoughts. So it might be
like and it changes depending on the week, depending on
what's working or not working leading up to that game,
but it might be patient contact. And that sounds really simple.
But I'm not smart enough to think of more than

(36:17):
two things in my head at the same time, you know.

Speaker 5 (36:19):
So that's all.

Speaker 8 (36:20):
I'm just filling my head with those two things, reminding
myself like, oh, in the swing, I want to do this.
And if I'm focusing on that moment, on those swing thoughts,
it doesn't guarantee that you're gonna.

Speaker 3 (36:29):
Make it, but it gives you. It gives you the
best chance that you have. I think.

Speaker 8 (36:33):
Yeah, it's kind of like like, what's the saying, you know,
working hard doesn't guarantee that you'll win, but guarantee that
if you don't, you don't have a chance type of thing.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
So it's funny.

Speaker 6 (36:44):
I think we all have to like think about something
other than what we're actually like doing with our bodies.
It's like I'm not like thinking about like, oh, I
just got to like throw it right there. Like I'm
literally just focused on I'll pick some little point on
his elbow and like I'm just thinking about that point
on his elbow and the ball.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
Just you you like your body do the rest.

Speaker 6 (37:01):
Like I feel like in sports, at least for everybody,
I think like if you're thinking about it, you're probably wrong,
you know, so like we probably all have our own
little ways of like thinking about something that's not actually
what we're doing, if that makes.

Speaker 4 (37:14):
Sense, you know.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
I think what also brings like that level of calmness
is routine and you know, a regiment, right, So talk
to us a little bit about on the day to day,
like what does your general like routine look like in
order for you to have that success?

Speaker 5 (37:37):
You know, come come on Sundays.

Speaker 6 (37:41):
I snapped the gold post a little bit to warm up,
and then I kind of just jumped right into it.
To be honest with you, Like my warmost.

Speaker 8 (37:47):
Pretty see that's humble, Charlie, you know, like he lifts,
he studies film in.

Speaker 5 (37:57):
The off season.

Speaker 3 (37:58):
I'm walking in a couple days early and I was like,
what are you doing here? He's like, I'm watching some tape.

Speaker 5 (38:02):
Yeah. I was like, it's precent having started care.

Speaker 1 (38:06):
I was like, man, it's like, how are you ensuring
that those snaps are Chris? How you ensuring that you
keep your seat? You feel me year to year like
all of those things that contribute to uh this thirteen
years that you you've been playing ball.

Speaker 2 (38:22):
Well, I mean, who want to go in the weight room?
Like I do take the weight room like very serious.
You know, it's different.

Speaker 5 (38:28):
It's a different you like being in coverage. You feel
me you gotta a.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
Man right there?

Speaker 6 (38:32):
Ye well no, I do think like that's that's how
you make it through a season. Like you can't just
come in without lifting your your body has to be
used to the forces that you know come at you
during the season. So it starts there.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
You know.

Speaker 6 (38:44):
I'm snapping in the off seasons, Like I'll start snapping
in March, Like I'll take like two months off and
it's back to it.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
You know.

Speaker 6 (38:52):
Even my poor wife's out there catching snaps from the
off season sometimes.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
See I'm telling you, yeah, best teammate ever.

Speaker 6 (39:00):
Different, look like whatever you and I mean, we try
to get together the off season, but it doesn't always
work out, like we're in different cities or whatever. But yeah,
I know my wife catches. She's been catching snaps for
a long time.

Speaker 4 (39:15):
Yeah, right there.

Speaker 7 (39:18):
Yeah, my wife snaps for me what she used to. No,
we got the baby out.

Speaker 5 (39:22):
Wow.

Speaker 7 (39:22):
But I try to keep practice exactly what I do
warming up for a game, you know, So I go
through no steps, one steps and then full step punts.

Speaker 4 (39:33):
I do six of each each direction. Do the same
thing at practice.

Speaker 7 (39:38):
And then after that, I kind of, depending what the
wind is, you know, just try to get a feel
for what it's doing at different spots on the field,
so I know when I have to switch to ossie ball,
you know that backspin.

Speaker 11 (39:49):
Of one you don't catch it, and yeah, I mean
I just kind of figure out what it's doing that day,
if anything, you know, and then kind of have a
general plan going into the game and then just kind
of wing it.

Speaker 12 (40:05):
See what happens, Humble, this guy's himself out there like
you Yeah, yeah, just wing it, man.

Speaker 5 (40:16):
It just bombs it.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
It's a beautiful part of his play. It's just as
like I'm gonna go out there and do the things.

Speaker 4 (40:22):
Just do whatever.

Speaker 5 (40:23):
Yeah, that Cali life.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
Yes, it works for a lot of guys. I will say, yeah,
I feel like that.

Speaker 7 (40:28):
I mean, playing in Cleveland, you know you'll get a
thirty forty mile an hour win. You know, I was
in Buffalo for three years. I mean, holy smokes. Like
you almost have to like not not care, but like
just accept what's going on and just like listen, it
is what it is.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
At this point, I can't There's only so much you
can do.

Speaker 7 (40:47):
Yeah, so all those indoor guys out there, Cory's jealous,
That's what he meant.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
One day.

Speaker 6 (40:55):
I do remember one time we're lining up and you're
putting out of the dog Pound end zone and I'm
lining up. I'm looking between my legs at you, and
a gust out of hell just comes out of nowhere
and it's like it went from like twenty miles per
hout or like fifty miles per hour.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
Just I don't know.

Speaker 6 (41:12):
I don't remember the game. I look between my legs
and Corey's like, please don't stop.

Speaker 4 (41:19):
Wait.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
I look up at the play clock and I'm like,
we gotta godde that.

Speaker 4 (41:23):
Thing moved five feet from the left to the right.

Speaker 9 (41:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (41:26):
I tried to wait as long as I could, and
I was like this, this gust ain't stopping.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Dude, it's coming and you just wing it. Yeah, that's it, and.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
You just got natural hands. Now I think about it,
you forget about.

Speaker 7 (41:38):
I know these guys Coop David, they think they're great
at catching. Sure, go ahead. I got the most receptions
on the team every year. You got all the pumps
and on it. I would dratch anybody on the team,
but out a drop, I'll drop gloss.

Speaker 4 (41:51):
They all use gloves. I don't use gloves.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
I used to operate the jugs machine for him every day.

Speaker 3 (41:56):
A lot of fourteen yard receptions. Bam, a fourteen and
a half?

Speaker 8 (42:00):
Was It depends on Okay, we're on routine, right, yeah,
do we have enough time?

Speaker 4 (42:05):
Alright?

Speaker 2 (42:07):
The longest, longest warm up routine in the NFL there gives.

Speaker 3 (42:11):
Me a hard time.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Long whatever you gotta do, I.

Speaker 6 (42:17):
Just know we're close to you when you put the
footballs under your butt and stretch up, you.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
Know, yeah, Rob, maybe you can relate to this a
little bit. Okay.

Speaker 8 (42:29):
I feel like the longer you play, there are certain
parts of your body you gotta warm up that maybe
you didn't have to warm up.

Speaker 5 (42:34):
When yeah, I'm too. I'm there, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 8 (42:37):
So as you go through and maybe you're like, oh,
there's a piece of maintenance that I had to do
for X amount of time, it kind of.

Speaker 3 (42:43):
Gets added to your warm up.

Speaker 8 (42:45):
And so that's kind of how mine over the years
is kind of like one thing gets added, nothing gets added,
and here we are.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
Nothing got deleted, nothing I kept.

Speaker 5 (42:56):
So we got that.

Speaker 8 (42:57):
I got a long warm up, all right, I get it,
guess And I think guys that previously played with it
would say the same thing.

Speaker 1 (43:05):
Yeah, it's got to come out because at the end
of the day, it got you paid, right, it got
you paid.

Speaker 5 (43:13):
Here that's what we're going. That's what we're going, both
of you, guys. This is the this is very high price.

Speaker 3 (43:20):
Corey got our dinner last night and I'm too poor
to be paid.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
We did a credit card roulette, Corey loss.

Speaker 4 (43:27):
I love it.

Speaker 7 (43:28):
Some hurt more than others, But that's us trying to
be like the DBS manna little credit card.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
That's that's just a staple. That's a staple in the
league in general.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
What's your strategy strategy for roulette?

Speaker 1 (43:40):
I play I played last man standing Okay, yeah, there's
really no no strategy.

Speaker 5 (43:47):
I probably throw.

Speaker 1 (43:48):
I probably do throw in the car that has a
little material, different material than the rest.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
That's how you get picked.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
Yeah, but I'm last man standing, right, So it's like
you keep going until whoever, whoever, whatever the last card
is that's in there is the one.

Speaker 4 (44:04):
That I like.

Speaker 6 (44:06):
I've got a metal card and I've got a plastic card.
The metal card I never put in there because it
like sinks to the bottom of the hat, and I.

Speaker 8 (44:12):
Feel like they might think if they feel a metal card,
like this person should pay.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
Yeah, it's a normal card. It's just happened.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
Probability is different though, for you guys three versus maybe
a group of fifteen.

Speaker 8 (44:23):
Yeah, well, but then the implications are much lower for
us fifteen.

Speaker 5 (44:28):
That's true.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
I'm not going to do Yeah, I think I've only
got picked selected ones for credit card.

Speaker 5 (44:33):
But let maybe one thirteen years.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
Yeah, one time, and the times I play, I'm good,
but I do right, I do. I do right by
my guy. So I think God just looks out, you know,
no need, He's he took care of it at a
different time. Okay, not this time. Somebody else needs to
do it. We talked, we were talking to we on

(44:55):
the topic of the of the money on top of
his money, all his money, there's money that's in here now,
like honestly, like how how does how does that feel
for you guys, you know, for the organization to honor
you with you know, both you know, new deals.

Speaker 7 (45:12):
I mean it's the first time I've resigned somewhere, you know,
So I'm grateful for that to be able to stay
in one place, especially with the family now, Like it
was hard enough moving with two dogs, my wife, you know,
and I got traded like that was just a disaster.
So having a baby now just I mean, you guys
don't get it, you know, But to stick with these guys,

(45:33):
keep this group going, working with Bubba and Bravo, this
team kind of where the direction of the team's going.

Speaker 4 (45:39):
It's good.

Speaker 8 (45:39):
Yeah, that echoes and what Corey said, I think anytime
a team has a desire to bring you back is
like that's a good feeling, you know, Like, yeah, it's corny,
but it's like it's nice to be wanted, you know.
I think as a player, we all want to Yeah,
you want you want that.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
You know.

Speaker 8 (45:53):
So I think a huge part for me was just
how the team has treated me from day one coming in,
Like as soon as I got traded, I felt like
I was welcomed to her like in a way that
no other team I don't know that had welcomed me before.
So from the very jump to how they've h I
don't know, I feel like in a lot of ways

(46:15):
prioritize family more than other places I've been.

Speaker 3 (46:19):
Is that's a huge piece for me of wanting to
be a part of what we have here culturally.

Speaker 8 (46:25):
In addition that of like all the pieces we have
in place, it's exciting, and you want to be a
part of a winning team. And I think another piece
of that is is you want to be paid. But
we talked about all the work you put in, how
much you invest not just physically and mentally, but like
like emotionally in your craft, you know, so you want

(46:48):
to be you want to be paid in a way
that you feel like, Oh, man, I feel like I'm
I'm with like in this tier guys or whatever. In
I know some guys want to set the market. For me,
it was just a matter of wanted to be in
a group that I thought was like, oh, these these
are a section of upper echelant kickers that I feel
like I'm a part of, and like you said, I

(47:09):
just do feel very honored that, like the organization, like
we saw eyed eye on that, you know. So, and
shoot the fan base, not to mention like I've been
a part of some fan bases, some really good, some
not as good. And to go out there on a
day that is like, let's be honest, the weather is

(47:31):
horrible a lot and for them to be like, yo,
we're gonna fill this place up still, We're going to
be loud and we're going to stay.

Speaker 3 (47:38):
For the whole game. It's like as a player, that
means a lot when your fan base is committed, for sure.
So that's a that's a really.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
Nice aspect too real you know all about it.

Speaker 5 (47:50):
You know, the longest ten year you know what I'm
saying player on the team.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
Uh, Joel Joe's gotta be about a couple months. But yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
Yeah, And give credit whords you're the oldest on the team,
am I Yeah, people tend to think I'm the oldest,
know this.

Speaker 5 (48:09):
So I got to get it off of me. I'm
just going to toss it to you.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
But honestly, though, like that is a huge, you know,
badge of honor and respect from the organization and peers.

Speaker 5 (48:21):
Like how does that feel.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
Like knowing that you've been a part of this organization
for the past, you know, thirteen years.

Speaker 6 (48:29):
I mean, we're definitely blessed to like you know, Court
kind of touch on it, you know, doesn't touch on it,
like like moving your family around, Like we've been blessed
to be in one place, Like all my kids have
been born in Cleveland, Like there's there's no matter how
long we're here, Like Cleveland's always going to have a
part in our life, like a part of our family history.
Like it's just it's just gonna be a part of
us now forever. So like it's it's always gonna have

(48:51):
a spot in our heart. And like like you guys
were saying, like the fans, you can't beat them, Like
it don't matter how cold it is, don't matter if
it's reign and are like they're out there, and like
especially like coming from the seasons where you know, things
weren't necessarily going great to like where they are now.
Like it's definitely like a you have like a blessed
feeling of like you realize like wins are winds are

(49:15):
hard to get, you know what I mean, And so
like now that we have like a team with some
talent that can really do something, you know, it's just
like it's a great feeling.

Speaker 5 (49:23):
Yeah, yeah, I love it. Man. I just got one
last question for you guys.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
We call this our our dog moment, and it really
speaks to being able to overcome an obstacle, a challenge.
You know, like I said earlier, there is no straight line,
you know, to reach in the top of that mountain,
right and knowing that we are one percenter and we

(49:50):
didn't get here on an easy track. So if you
can think of like that one moment in your career
or even then life where you had to channel that
inner dog that lives inside of all of us, what
would that be?

Speaker 6 (50:07):
I mean, tell me if I'm on the right track here.
I mean, for me, it was like at one point
in my career, I had gotten I was with Dallas
my first two camps. The second camp I got cut
and I didn't I didn't play in the preseason, I
got cut before the games, and I was a free
agent for ten months sitting here called didn't hear nothing.
I thought, I was probably done. Got a random call

(50:29):
from the Patriots. They had a scout in Tampa who
called me, except meet me at this part.

Speaker 2 (50:33):
We're gonna do a workout.

Speaker 6 (50:34):
I was like, cool, you know, almost almost didn't bring
a football because I thought it was an NFL workout
or footballs, but it's a good thing I did because
he didn't have a football. He grabbed a lady who
was playing basketball to come catch my snaps and I

(50:56):
ended up getting signed off of that.

Speaker 4 (50:57):
Wow.

Speaker 6 (50:58):
Got cut two weeks later, and I thought at that point,
I was like, I'm going to down school like I'm done,
like and got called from Jacksonville.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
A couple of weeks later.

Speaker 6 (51:07):
I'm in the library studying up for my exam and
I didn't even answer the phone because I was like, finally,
like set my life a certain way, like I'm moving on.
Immediately called my girlfriend now wife and was like, Jacksonville's
calling me, Like what do I do? And she was like,
what do you mean?

Speaker 4 (51:23):
What are you gonna do?

Speaker 2 (51:24):
I was like, I want to go to didn school now,
like I'm moving on.

Speaker 6 (51:26):
She was like, You're gonna regret that for the rest
of your life. And I went to Jacksonville had the
best camp of my life at the time. Yeah, and
started making practice squads and eventually ended up here.

Speaker 5 (51:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
So that was a big, big moment for me.

Speaker 7 (51:41):
As going into my third season, I was in another competition.
This is actually the first season I haven't had another
punter ink camp.

Speaker 4 (51:50):
It's weird.

Speaker 7 (51:51):
And going into my third season, Buffalo is a very
very high competitive team. They got competitions going on all
the time throughout the day OTA's training camp.

Speaker 4 (52:01):
That's just what they do.

Speaker 7 (52:03):
And you know, they pushed us a lot, and you know,
I didn't have a great second season.

Speaker 4 (52:08):
You know, a lot of weather that we dealt with.

Speaker 7 (52:12):
And going into my third season, it was kind of
you know, last year rookie contract make or break basically,
you know, and the guy was he was real good,
best punter I competed against, you know at the time. Somehow,
you know, beat him out, and it was during that
COVID year, so we didn't have like a real training
camp preseason and all that. They cut him and I thought, okay, cool,

(52:32):
like I got it, and then they signed another punter
like a day later or something like that, and it
just kind of felt like no matter what I did.
I was always having to fight no matter what I performed,
They're always gonna do something, and so it was like
at that point, it's calling kind of like you know what,
like if I'm not gonna worry about it, I'm just
gonna do my thing, gonna work hard, they bring someone

(52:52):
else in, you know, they're just wasting their time.

Speaker 4 (52:54):
Basically. It's kind of how I took it, and you.

Speaker 7 (52:57):
Know, ended up beating them out led the league and
punting year and signs.

Speaker 8 (53:04):
That was good professionally, I'd say in twenty fourteen, I
was out of the league for like fifteen weeks, which
like like you're sitting at home then, like I was
doing PTE, trying to get right, and I finally get
healthy with three weeks left in the season, and I
tell my agent to like, hey, if anybody's interested, tell

(53:26):
them I'm healthy enough to do a workout, because I
didn't do a workout earlier because I knew if I
wasn't healthy. You know, the NFL is a small place anyway,
but especially in the specialist community. Like you said earlier,
there's only there's only so many coordinators, there's only so
many players, And I knew if I put a bad
look on tape in a tryout that word we'll get around.
So I wanted to be healthy, so it got healthy.

(53:47):
Finally had him put word out, had to try out
with the Saints and they end up signing me to
pea squad the last two weeks of that season. But
it was a long road when you're on the on
the couch and you're like, well, uh, there's times where
it's like, I don't know if this football thing is
gonna work out, you know, as you could try to

(54:08):
do everything you can't you can do within your control,
but you just there's questions, you know.

Speaker 4 (54:12):
And so.

Speaker 3 (54:14):
I would say that that that.

Speaker 8 (54:16):
Timeframe of trying to get healthy and trying and the
question of hey, is this thing going to happen? You know,
is a and now to fast forward and look back
on it, it's I don't know, it's cool. It's cool
look back on on those moments and it kind of
you said a phrase earlier, but basically it was like,
how how those moments tough times helped make like right

(54:38):
now so much sweeter? You know, you didn't say it
quite that way, but it was something it was yours
I think nicer.

Speaker 3 (54:46):
Yeah, i'd say that.

Speaker 8 (54:47):
I'd say that, and then personally I'd say, uh, Like,
my son is special needs, he's on the autism spectrum,
and I think, uh, to get well my and my
wife is an all star. She's like a hero of mine.
But as a father, when that happens, I think you
have a picture of what life will look like like
as a dad, Like you're like, man, I'm gonna play

(55:07):
catch with my son in the front yard.

Speaker 3 (55:09):
I'm gonna do with these things.

Speaker 8 (55:10):
And it's not that he can't accomplish those things at
some point maybe, but it's just understanding that, hey, life
is gonna look different.

Speaker 3 (55:17):
It's not it's not better or worse.

Speaker 8 (55:20):
It's just different, and we're gonna enjoy like the gifts
in the moments we have, even though it's different than
the picture of the life that you had in your
mind beforehand, if that makes sense. So I'd say just
gearing up for fatherhood is a what is it called
the dog moment? The dog moment, just like like, hey,
like being a present father every day, like like I

(55:40):
think we all try to be.

Speaker 1 (55:42):
No man, it's appreciated, h for sharing, and it's it's
beauty and all of our struggle.

Speaker 5 (55:48):
You know what I'm saying. But that's it's a part
of us.

Speaker 1 (55:51):
It lives within us, and it's made us who we
all are sitting here today.

Speaker 5 (55:56):
So much respect.

Speaker 1 (55:59):
Before we get out of here, we got some questions
from a few of our fans.

Speaker 5 (56:04):
I'm just gonna just give y'all one apiece. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (56:08):
These are quick hitter. He's easy, you know as nothing? Yeah, yeah,
lighthearted fun.

Speaker 5 (56:16):
Let's go. Let's go have averse order here. We're gonna
start with with who's the funniest guy on the team
right now?

Speaker 4 (56:21):
Let's say James.

Speaker 3 (56:25):
I feel like it's not even that closer for sure,
So funny man. I love him?

Speaker 5 (56:31):
Yeah, I would agree, I would agree. And that was
from Aiden Blandon.

Speaker 1 (56:35):
He asked, who's the funniest guy on the team. This
is from Noah Boltonly, what is your what is that
personal goal for this season for you?

Speaker 7 (56:47):
Be a first team All Pro? It's been close a
couple of times, so I think this might be leader.
Let's do it.

Speaker 5 (56:53):
Manifest all right, Charlie. Uh.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
This is from It looks like I can't tell what
this is, but we're just going we just what is
the what is the matchup? You're most excited for this year.

Speaker 2 (57:13):
I always get excited to play the Ravens.

Speaker 4 (57:15):
Man.

Speaker 6 (57:16):
Always it's between the Ravens and the Steelers, but I always.

Speaker 5 (57:20):
Excited keep it in the division. Yeah, you know, I
like it man. That is That is all we have
for today.

Speaker 1 (57:27):
I appreciate you guys for man taking some time out
for you know what I'm saying, everybody to get to
know you just a little bit more so.

Speaker 5 (57:36):
It was an honor and the pleasure. Appreciate y'all.

Speaker 4 (57:39):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
We have released the dogs and that's all we have
for today. This is your host O g Rod and
tune in next time to The Dog's Only Podcast.