November 23, 2021 • 35 mins
Receiver Dez Fitzpatrick and his family watch the middle rounds of the 2021 NFL Draft from Greg's homemade "War Room" at his house in Michigan. But, despite all the preparation, Dez's big moment still catches everyone by surprise. Meanwhile, University of California Cornerback Camryn Bynum and his family arrive in Big Bear, California, for Cam's draft party at a lakeside cabin, where they relive his mind-blowing journey to draft day.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Drafted is a production of tree Fork Media, Clutch Sports Group,
and I Heart Radio. You're going to Minnesota. Welcome back
to Drafted. I'm Steven Johnson and this is episode eight
of season three. Last episode, quarterback Kellen Man got drafted
(00:24):
by the Minnesota Vikings at the top of the third round.
Everyone went crazy, So, I mean, it was a phenomenal
feeling in I tell a lot of people that was
probably one of the best feelings that I've ever had. Now,
the third round continues at the Fitzpatrick draft party in Pontiac, Michigan.
Receiver Des Fitzpatrick, his parents, Greg and Wendy, and his
(00:46):
friends and family all watch as the third round continues,
and although ten receivers were drafted in the first two rounds,
none have been selected thus far in round three. Des
his mom Wendy, describes the mood as the third round
winds down. So Thursday, we knew it was going to
(01:09):
be round one or two, you know, we expected that again.
We were hoping for a third and fourth. Third round came.
Nothing transpired from that. We were getting a little nervous
at that point. By the end of the third round,
(01:30):
five more receivers hear their names called. That means five
more players get vel growed up on Greg Fitzpatrick's draft
board at the party, and with the draft almost halfway over,
exactly fifteen of the thirty receiver names death and his
dad originally laid out are now assigned to teams, while
does his name plate still looms large on the adjacent table.
(01:53):
Here's does his dad Greg on the situation. So after
day two at night, I was a little worried. That
could be honest, I was a little worried. Fifteen guys
have went and I said, Okay, Jesus, I'm getting worried
because you know, when day three happens, it's like he
(02:14):
could just start sliding, Like you just never know what's
gonna happen. So that night I couldn't sleep that night,
and before I went to bed, I said, you okay, man,
he goes, yeah, dah. I knew it wasn't gonna happen.
And that was the night he invited everyone over. But
you know, I gave a speech at the end of
the night and say, hey and everybody and morning, welcome
to come back tomorrow. There'll be plenty of food and
(02:36):
spirits tomorrow. So so you guys everybody come on. Back.
Rounds four through seven will take place on the third
and final day of the draft, and if Daz is
feeling any stress or pressure about falling into the later rounds,
were possibly even going undrafted, he isn't showing it. However,
(02:56):
his parents, Wendy and Greg, can see right through their sons.
Composed is the facade. I'll say this dance sometimes comes
across as a robot because he kind of protects his
emotions when it comes to the stuff, because he's been
on like this crazy roller coaster, right, so he's been
on this incredible roller coaster. So he just tries to
stay kind of even, not too high, not too low,
(03:18):
no expectations. He's just like, I didn't think it's gonna
happen anyway. But I'm laying up staring at the selling
all night man three o'clock at Moore, I'm like, jeez,
please don't let this thing just go left. He worked
so hard. I can't imagine it just going left. What
Desmond does and he's always done this every since he
(03:40):
was little. He tries to to protect his heart. He'll say,
it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. I don't it doesn't matter.
And then we were constantly no, Desmond, it's okay. It's
like he didn't want to have feelings because now if
I have, if I show some type of feelings, now
I have my feeling as will be affected by either
(04:03):
hurt or mad or sad, And now I don't want
to have those feelings, So let me just try to
block it out like it doesn't exist. Of course, his
feelings do exist, and he does care deeply. He just
tries to hide it all. Only now that it's Saturday,
(04:26):
May one and Day three of the NFL Draft is
about to begin, his friends and family do wonder will
he be able to maintain this stoic demeanor throughout the
final day of the draft. So Saturday, we're like, okay, okay.
So when we got over there, it started at no
(04:47):
So Desmond leaves to go pick up some friends at
the hotel. We're there, We're like, where is the dement
needs to her and kid here does elaborates on how
the morning got messed up and at that point the
draft started I think at twelve on that Saturday, and
I was going to pick up because a couple of
(05:10):
my friends were at a nearby hotel, probably ten minutes away,
and I was picking up three of my friends from
the hotel, and I was about to run out of gas,
and you know, one of the gas pumps said that
the car didn't work. Obviously my car is working, so
I had to go to another one. We had to
stop like two different times to get gas. So this
is we're we're starting to run a little late now
(05:32):
and it was just a whole ordeal. And you know,
my friends are in the car with me and my
phone start drink game A hello, yeah, yes, sir, anybody
John Robin the younger, we're doing well, of coach, how
are you doing? I'm doing that manding congratulation were about
(05:54):
to make you. I appreciate it so much. Course, thank
you so much, coach. I don't think I don't you
go to your question. Yes, sir, of course I appreciated
so much. Coach, Thank you so much. And I'm gonna
let you talk to our great and you know what
kind of Dez Fitzpatrick may have just become the first
(06:19):
person in NFL history to be drafted while driving a car.
So as Daz tries to focus on the road, his
new head coach, Mike Rabel, gets on the call, thank you.
How are you doing, coach? I'm a great banking granulate.
I work and John and I don't want to want
up and got you. I want to you and branding coach.
(06:41):
I appreciate it so much. Coach. You know I'm gonna
do everything in my part of work car and make
sure that's a really great decision. I know, I know
you are man, I know you all love what you're about. Man.
I worked hard to work pretty okay, but where a
lot of people reaching indeed, and I'll be texting here.
Of course. I appreciate it again, a coach, So thank
you so much. The Titans general manager gets back on
(07:02):
the call. Go celebrate what you say. I'll tell you
we should. We finished the draft last night, and I'll
look at your cars. Don't ever forget a point a
way to get up to get that, um, coach, great
about your work. Okay, that's what we're about here, Okay, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir.
I'm gonna live up to that. Okay, wait to being
Because those were desert friends screaming as they got out
(07:36):
of the car in front of his dad's house. Here's
DEAs trying to make sense of being drafted by the
Tennessee Titans in the fourth round while driving to his
own draft party. When I hung up the phone before
I pulled up to my house, I was thinking, like, Okay,
I don't know what picked they're on on the TV,
so I have to make it home fast. So I
(07:57):
was going like seventy down the street trying to make
it home fast everything because I'm trying to think. You know,
nobody in the house knows, Like the other thirty people
in the house don't know anything yet. His parents and
all his other friends and family inside have no idea
any of this has happened. So now Dez opens the
door and enters his draft party with the biggest secret possible.
(08:19):
Everybody on our technology somebody, they asked him, He said
(08:48):
the same. That's dess Dad Greg in the background talking
about how one of DES's former coaches might be getting
some inside information about when and where Daz will be drafted.
That's how will Oh, he said. He said, that's I mean,
(09:11):
when I get the call already, don't know. I'm just
saw coach I love I know, he just he just coach.
Coach Ruce just said that's the word. I'm just selling.
Don't mess me mind for that. Greg received a text
message from the former coach that claims Dez is about
to be drafted soon. So Des counters that he would
have gotten a call from a team by now if
(09:32):
that were true, so the rumor can't be real. Okay,
standing guard there towards from one, the pick is announced
(10:02):
and everyone in the litterm He leaps up off the
couches in shock, everyone except Das and his friends who
were in the car earlier. Of course, here are Daz
and his parents on that moment. My dad said, I
had a great poker face, like he didn't know at
all this was coming up, and you know, they said,
you know, the pick is in and with the one
(10:22):
on ninth picks, you know, the Tennessee Titans select does
fit Patrick? And everybody was like, oh my sides going crazy,
started screaming, jumping up and down, and they're like, did
ain't here to call you? And I was like, yeah,
they called me like ten minutes ago. I'm thinking, well,
it can't be the Titans because he was gotten a
call by now and they're on the clock and they
(10:44):
only got you know, a few minutes, and the next
thing you know, they picked Das and the whole house
just erbs. There's tears everywhere. We just all jumped up,
all of the family and friends at the time, still
not knowing that Desmond and his friends already knew, but
(11:05):
we all jumped up and we just tears just started
just flowing. We're all just started hugging. We're all just
kind of boll Garden just pounced on Desmond and just
giving a home hugs and kisses and crying at the
same time all of us, and it was just there
wasn't a dry eye in the room. It was just awesome.
(11:28):
It was just awesome. That was a moment I won't
ever forget. We'll be right back. Ye. Kellen Mond and
(11:50):
Desmond Fitzpatrick are officially professional football players. They were drafted
in the third and fourth rounds by the Minnesota Vikings
and the Tennessee Titans. That leaves us with our final
two players and this season of drafting linebacker Hammaka Rashid Jr.
And cornerback Cameron by Him, who was currently on his
way to a cabin in Big Bear, California, so for
(12:18):
the draft, will be in Big Bear, California. We rent
a cabin right off the late. This is cam by
him had a lot of family from the Bay Area
in southern California, family and then a bunch of my teammates.
Cam is a Southern California native. So he and his
family arrived at the rented lake house in just under
two hours and the party starts almost immediately. So we
(12:41):
just got to the cabin. We're unloading everything and now
now we're star stuck. Is this place, this cabin matsion
is crazy? My mic alright, So I'm in here with
my all my city wings off, five of whom we
(13:01):
have a noisy house here, three dogs, five kids, two parents.
My aunt is over. This is where Cameron's come here, Kay.
Just like des Kellen Davante and most other players in
the draft, making it to the NFL has been a
lifelong dream for Cam. The differences is that his dream
(13:25):
always seemed more like a fantasy than a real possibility,
even since I was a kid. Obviously a super cliche
when people talk about Yeah, people ask me what I
wanted to do. I said NFL, and they said, well,
you gotta have a backup plan. That's the story for
all of us. But now it's it's it's way sweeter
knowing that at a point I wasn't super good at football.
(13:48):
That's what makes Cam's journey especially unique. For most of
his childhood and even as a young adult, he was
actually pretty bad at football. Here's his trainer, coach Anthony Brown,
describing the first time he saw Cam play. He was
a sophomore going in towards junior season. Where was at
one of our tournaments and he had a very very
(14:09):
bad day that day. I want to say he gave
about five touchdowns that day. Yeah, it was. It was
a long day for the kid. Cam was getting beat
on the field for a number of reasons. He hadn't
been taught the technique needed to play his position. He
didn't have a dad like Greg Fitzpatrick drilling him on
the finer points of play and receiver when he was
a little kid. And that's normal because most dads aren't
(14:32):
able to teach their nine year olds what they learned
from practicing with Jerry Rice. However, there was another reason
Cam kept getting beat over and over again for touchdowns.
All the other players were a lot bigger than him.
Here's coach Brown on what he saw that day. Now,
I've been doing this for years you know, Decenci backs
are looking like they're about six ft, you know, one
ninety So I had this kid going into his junior
(14:55):
season at Corona Centennial, like, well, how are we going
to get the job done? Cam was going into his
junior year at Corona Centennial High School and he still
hadn't hit a Grosberg or learned the finer points of
playing cornerback. It was at that moment his childhood dream
(15:18):
of becoming an NFL player looked utterly impossible. But growth
often comes from life's toughest struggles and failures, and that
day where Cam gave up touchdown after touchdown changed everything
for him. Now, as he waits for the NFL Draft
to begin, Cam talks about this exact moment with some
friends and family. Would you say, what's my what was
(15:40):
my well? Yeah, what was your the turning point here?
Where would like made you realize you were soft? And
now my catchup moment was I was already on ground zero.
Did a couple of tournaments, I was, I was surviving.
I just at the surviving always worked, but that training
(16:02):
was and it was just busy where just getting tired,
getting the shape and not doing actual DV ware. Cam
was lifting weights and running, but no one was coaching
him on the details of how to play defensive back.
So once one tournament, may ten remember stuff like that.
(16:26):
I remember that stuff may ten Long Beach City College Tournament,
Gridiron tournament. I'm gonna hear getting I'm getting popped for
six at least three touchdowns a game and Brown will
not take me out the game. And then I was
just looking at him like you know that look you
just like I can't do anything about this. Coach. They
(16:47):
take me deep every play. Brown is coach Anthony Brown,
who we heard from a minute ago. He was coaching
Cam's team in that weekend tournament, and despite the fact
that Cam was getting beat deep over and over, Coach
Brown wouldn't take him out of the game. I'm just
looking at him. He would not take me out, and
he's like, no, you're gonna You're gonna figure this out.
(17:09):
And then I don't even want to look at him.
He's calling me chicken. He's just calling me, like, just
breaking me down mentally, and he was like, I need
to see you this week. Monday, five am, Vanola Park
said that went up to Dad and Dad was like, yeah,
he's there and I was sick in my head, but
I knew I needed it and I was like, dang,
(17:30):
I gotta really work with this dude. So I went
and there was that was history, and yeah, Brown believed
in me. After that brutal weekend in the seven on
seven tournament, Cam signed up to train with coach Brown
every morning at five am. It was a commitment the
(17:52):
whole family would be making. Cam's father, Curtis, explains their decision.
You know, you hear a lot of stories for parents
kind of drunk their kids and say we want you
to do this. This was always what he wanted to do,
and not once where I remember we had to pull
him out of bed or force him to go. He
wanted to go. And those times where you know, I
was working so much of the time to my wife
(18:12):
and a lot of transporting back and forth and think
like that, but not wants to shiver. Tell me, hey,
he didn't want to go today. You know, he didn't
feel like training. This was all this was his dream,
This was all him. Cam loved football and was willing
to work incredibly hard, which made his struggles even more puzzling.
By the time he made it to a sophomore year.
(18:33):
He just hadn't improved as much as he should have.
Sophomore year of high school, I was trash of football
fifth training on JV. A lot of my friends obviously
once starting on varsity getting offers already. Most people that
are getting drafted, that's that's their story about when they're
(18:54):
in high school. They're always the guys since freshman year,
always the best one of the same. But for me,
that wasn't the case. If you listen to season one
of Drafted, you might remember Ohio State star cornerback Jeff Okuda.
He plays the same position as Cam, and by the
end of his sophomore year in high school, he had
received dozens of scholarship offers from almost every top program
(19:15):
in the country. At that same point, Cam was backing
up the backup for the third stringer on the junior
varsity team. When I was twisting on JV, the first
thing I did was like, Okay, I need to I
need to work and get my way, get my way
out this whole. And so the best thing I did
was find a coach that really put the time into me,
(19:36):
really invested into my future, trying to teach me that
the real details of football, not just a coach out
there doing busy work. He's getting me tired of stuff.
You really taught me the game, just being becoming a technician.
Never was the most athletic, biggest, fastest, or strong, especially
back then I was tiny, like super undersized. But as
soon as I started learning the game, becoming the technician
(19:58):
and putting that time and knowing that I put more
time and and separate myself with the amount of work
I put it and I somehow get better than somebody.
So that that kept going throughout the whole year, my
whole career, even when I got to college, still doing
those crazy hours, still putting in an extra hours more
than anybody went a whole year without missing a dave
doing extra work. So that's that's really been the whole
(20:21):
story of my entire career, just putting the extra work.
Know that, Okay, I might be behind some things, but
I'm setting for myself with the details and just how
much extra work is cam talking about throughout the week?
It was before school go there, We're start workout starts
(20:44):
at five so because we had to start school it
was seven thirty back then, so we have to do
that right before school. Obviously, I've practice lifting during school
at the right after school, another practice on the field
at the high school, then right back at five o'clock
we're back with the facility doing our speed work, doing
our lifting, and one more GB workout. So it was
(21:05):
at least fourteen hours a day just from the time
you wake up at five am and I'm not getting
home until seven at night. After my last workout, then
I had to do homework and then right back and
now that was basically my whole routine. Even with Cam
working fourteen hours a day on football, Coach Brown knew
the daunting odds that they faced. Basically, I'm scratching my
(21:31):
head like wild. We mentioned NFL, but at the time
we're just mentioned and trying to just get him on
track to be a football player, you know, because he
had the ambition, he had the motivation, he had the
heart in the work ethic, but looking at him, the
skills set by eyes wasn't there and everything else. So
the first few sessions would count it was two left feet,
(21:57):
two left feet, you know, he couldn't do the drills.
It was really a no rhythm at all. And the
daughters in the car watching us and asked, I'm finishing
up the session with you, so we're getting the car
and she's first things that my daughter in mouth was
like that, why are you training this kid camp? You know, Dad,
he's not a football player. I have to tell my daughter,
I say, baby, as long as he keeps showing up
to his training sessions, we're gonna keep showing him to
(22:18):
the training session. When you get a kid that believes
in itself, I couldn't tell the kid no. I didn't
want to be that that guy saying kid, football, it's
not your sport. So as he showed up, I showed up.
(22:43):
We'll be right back. Coach Brown needed to figure out
how to turn his sophomore cornerback giving up multiple touchdowns
(23:06):
a game into a high school starter, and he needed
to build a foundation where Cam could continue to grow
into a college player and maybe even one day into
an NFL defensive back. But the million dollar question was
how So One of the things was we never had
a football. I never trying to account with a football.
(23:28):
So it's one of these things. As the parents, you're
looking like, Okay, who is this man and what is
he really doing? Because none of the things where we're
doing look like it was football related. You know, we
started from the ground up, so we had to actually
built the coordination, I placement, you know, built the Rivermnis
feed and things like that. You know, the big total
power inside arts so he can move with you know, consistently,
(23:50):
would have would have smoved rhythm. Scouts often say the
best cornerbacks never look out of control or out of position.
They described them as smooth and fluid. They can turn
and run with receivers without losing any speed. They always
know where the ball is. They anticipate where the receiver's going.
That's the kind of work Cam and Coach Brown put
(24:11):
in morning after morning, week after week, without ever touching
a football. It was reminiscent of Daniel LaRusso learning karate
by waxing Mr Mayagi's car and painting his fence over
and over again instead of sparring with the kids in
Cobra Kai and like the karate kid, Cam and his
(24:31):
parents couldn't help but question the process at times, But
as the weeks went by, Cam's parents began to know
it's a difference in their son. Over time, you saw
the progression he was making, like he was getting better.
So now I was like, Okay, let's continue to do this.
(24:52):
That hard work and that discipline no matter whether it's
pro football or anything in life, that translates everywhere, and
everyone respects hard work. Whatever Coach Brown sawing Cam over
those weeks, whatever progress he made or bond they built,
he also felt that he couldn't let the young cornerback down.
(25:13):
I've been in coaching twenty five years plus, started at
To You Love with Dead High School, but it was
it was morrisover, resident of intervention, loving the kids. I've
been officer for twenty years, so my background is serving
the people who need to be served. Coach Brown is
also a veteran police officer in southern California in addition
(25:36):
to working as a football coach and trainer. I understood
that camp came first, So it wasn't about me playing
in the NFL. It wasn't about my college career, it
wasn't about my high school career. It was about putting
everything I could put into this kid to where he
can have what I didn't have. And even though Cam
(25:59):
still hadn't started game for the varsity team at his
high school, he was already working towards his next goal,
getting an offer to play in college. Cam and his
parents explained, I've always wanted to go to Bury and
my families out there, so Stanford and Cal as my
two main ones. UM. Stanford was my dream school. We
(26:21):
went up to their junior days and this was before
they even weren't even thinking about Cam. We would just
go to their junior days. That's Cam's mom, Jennifer. I'm
just trying to get their name out there, filling out
the little questionnaire things UM before they actually acknowledged them. Yeah,
that's pretty. And every coach of DM sit up the
(26:43):
Gratus district, like, what's up, coach? Is everything I can
do to gradars? Yeah, sitting my links, sending workout videos,
sending me We made a seven on seven highlights tape
just for something because I was like, I need a
need to get see an episode two. We heard about
(27:04):
how Alabama coach Nick Saban flew to Pensacola, Florida, and
personally showed up at Alex Leatherwood's high school to recruit him. Sometimes,
entire teams of coaches will make recruiting trips to convince
a player to come to their school. By the time
Cam's junior year started, he was the one recruiting college
coaches instead of the other way around. He would text
(27:24):
and email them, sending highlights from seven on seven tournaments
since he didn't have high school game footage yet. Once
I started training in that offseason after my sophomore season,
that's when I started. I went in up going to
the camps, and I got an offer from cow Poly
Slow out of camp just because I bought out with
(27:45):
that in the varsity tape. So that that's when I
started reaching out. Okay, I can I can go to
camps and I can do well. I'm now, and I
can have something to vouch for me with some film
from a camp or something. So that's when I started
doing out those questionnaires. Hid him. Coaches, Uh say, yeah,
I just got my first offer, checked me out, blah
blah blah, all that stuff. Just in every single coaches
(28:07):
d M sending emails begging players for coaching numbers. Cam
would ask other players at camps for the coach of
cell phone numbers, and then with text and cold call
the coaches, he tell them all about his offer from
cal Polly, using it as a part of his pitch
on why they should consider him. Here are his parents,
Curis and Jennifer. Once again, he was very proactive in
(28:30):
reaching out coaches and then I kept a business card.
We had spring showcases, and I always made it a
point to work at the table where the coaches have
to see me first, and then I would you know,
network with them, tell him my sin is on the side,
and get a business card. His mom was running an
equally aggressive recruiting campaign, and then that helped. I just
(28:53):
found that note. But it was a binder that I
created and had it all organized, put all their business
cards and had a little harpe who we reached out to.
When Cam like messaged, um, what was the correspondence, you know,
what was the feedback? And he just always make sure
he followed up and reaching out to all those coaches. Yeah,
she was sent at the transcript table with if they
(29:15):
they're interested in in a player, they got to go
ask for the transcripts. So of course she would work
at that table. But oh yeah, it take this. It's
a lot of my transcripts in there. Just doing the
ex that's just extra. With the coaches, they would always say, okay,
can I have a player between three point five g
P at a four point up? Yeah, I would, I
(29:37):
would slide his, and then the g p A really
made a huge difference to It was probably annoying to them,
but at the end of at the end of my
junior season, that's when they started coming around, and they
ended up coming to one of my playoff games at
the end of that year. So all that reaching out
and all that stuff helped, especially once I was able
to start my junior season. Cam's college pursuit turned into
(29:59):
the family business. He would recruit coaches while his mom
worked the relationship management angle, and almost all of this
took place before he ever started a game for the
high school varsity team. Then Cam's the next step was
a social media marketing campaign. When I was going through
the process, talking to Stanford a lot more than I
(30:20):
was cal put all my eggs in that basket your Stanford.
So added my two eight classes I needed, and trying
to do everything just to be able to get into school.
So one day my recruitment was picking up. One day
I took a visit up to Stanford. I posted on
social media and as soon as soon as I posted,
cow coach cause and said, Okay, we're gonna offer you,
(30:42):
And I'm like, Wow, and it's crazy how that works.
I post posted I'm up at Stanford, and now you
guys want to talk, so we started. I started talking
to both of them and still ended up taking the
st A T twice trying to get into Stanford because
I have to actually get in as a regular student,
and so you needed a certain amoun out and every
section of your s A T. And I took it twice.
(31:03):
Wasn't able to get it on one section. So I
was like, all right, from Calf, I was super glad.
I did it, cald best best decision I've ever made.
Coach Brown watched as Cam used a cal Polly offer
to leverage Stanford to then get cal Berkeley interested. You
get a Kyle Polly offer, you know you better than that.
The writers are are writing about you, So what do
(31:25):
you have to do? He did to refer psychology. You know,
he created his own recruiting bus between the schools that
he thought was going to be attractive to him to
actually go to. He used social media to wake up
Cayl Berkeley to come over and take a good look
at him. And when he's seen it, look they bid
on it. They did on it, and it worked. It was.
(31:49):
It was a genius move on his part. His parents
were equally impressed with just how enterprising and zealous their
son was at every step in his journey. Looking back,
this is a story you can tell later, you know,
years down the road to other people, like look what
I did. Look at my struggle now, you know, I
mean in the NFL. And you know he's like he said,
(32:11):
he started off a fifth string JV player and the
journey has just been great. So to me, it was
all word. It all paid off, and it was like,
you know, it taught him a lesson to like networking
at an early age. You know, you know what, young
kids don't like to do that these days. It's like
now you need to follow up, follow through network. Whenever
you meet someone, shake their hand to build a connection
(32:32):
and build that network. And by him dm ng all
these coaches and just reaching out and you know, just
trying to get exposed. All that networking training, practice and
hard work transformed Kim from fifth string JV to first
team all packed twelve, he became the team captain at
(32:55):
kel Berkeley and now he's sitting in a huge lake
house with his friends and family watching NFL draft, waiting
for his future coaches to finally call him. This time around,
here's coach Brown once again. He wasn't a five star,
he wasn't how to recruited, he didn't have multiple offers.
(33:16):
So now guess what it does. It brings streams back
to the normal kid that it's being looked over. Because
you know, when you look at college, when you look
at the NFL, there's always the University of is So
kids ought to make these as something that you have
to take this one particular route to get there. But
it is a street called count Bindo that you can
take and you can end up there also, you know,
(33:38):
And I think there's a lot of kids an understanding
it's a street with their name on it, you know.
And that's the blessing of it all that sitting back
that hey, this morning, one street to get to the NFL.
(34:00):
Next I'm drafted. Now that it's like literally less than
a day away, it's kind of starting to get surreal.
I finally starting to get real for me to buckle
down and get straight a's to qualified. And he's like,
I know, you do it. I'm training my butt off home,
working out with two coaches, going to two places just
to be stayed. It was a trying time for all
(34:21):
of us. We had just went through a family breakup,
and you know, he would just had to be strong.
It's like, you just popped for COVID, You're just positive.
And I was like what, He's like, Yeah, you need
to go home right now, like right now and walking
home and didn't leave my house since then for fourteen days.
So we just had to keep encouraging him and until
(34:41):
you can figure this part out. Drafted is a production
of tree Ford Media, Clutch Sports Group, and I Heart Radio.
The executive producers are Kelly Gardner, Lisa Amerman, Eric Slot,
Eric Weiner, and Shaun Titone. The series is produced and
(35:04):
written by Eric Winer. Garme Mamalu is our coordinating producer.
Coral Silverberg is our associate producer. Tom Monahan is our
senior audio engineer. The show is mixed, edited and hosted
by Me Stephen Johnson, additional production help from Tim Shower
and Hailey Mandelberg. For transcripts of the show and more
information Undrafted, go to tree for dot fm, and for
(35:26):
more podcasts from my Heart, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,
Drafted is a production of tree Fork Media, Clutch Sports Group,
and I Heart Radio. You're going to Minnesota. Welcome back
to Drafted. I'm Steven Johnson and this is episode eight
of season three. Last episode, quarterback Kellen Man got drafted
(00:24):
by the Minnesota Vikings at the top of the third round.
Everyone went crazy, So, I mean, it was a phenomenal
feeling in I tell a lot of people that was
probably one of the best feelings that I've ever had. Now,
the third round continues at the Fitzpatrick draft party in Pontiac, Michigan.
Receiver Des Fitzpatrick, his parents, Greg and Wendy, and his
(00:46):
friends and family all watch as the third round continues,
and although ten receivers were drafted in the first two rounds,
none have been selected thus far in round three. Des
his mom Wendy, describes the mood as the third round
winds down. So Thursday, we knew it was going to
(01:09):
be round one or two, you know, we expected that again.
We were hoping for a third and fourth. Third round came.
Nothing transpired from that. We were getting a little nervous
at that point. By the end of the third round,
(01:30):
five more receivers hear their names called. That means five
more players get vel growed up on Greg Fitzpatrick's draft
board at the party, and with the draft almost halfway over,
exactly fifteen of the thirty receiver names death and his
dad originally laid out are now assigned to teams, while
does his name plate still looms large on the adjacent table.
(01:53):
Here's does his dad Greg on the situation. So after
day two at night, I was a little worried. That
could be honest, I was a little worried. Fifteen guys
have went and I said, Okay, Jesus, I'm getting worried
because you know, when day three happens, it's like he
(02:14):
could just start sliding, Like you just never know what's
gonna happen. So that night I couldn't sleep that night,
and before I went to bed, I said, you okay, man,
he goes, yeah, dah. I knew it wasn't gonna happen.
And that was the night he invited everyone over. But
you know, I gave a speech at the end of
the night and say, hey and everybody and morning, welcome
to come back tomorrow. There'll be plenty of food and
(02:36):
spirits tomorrow. So so you guys everybody come on. Back.
Rounds four through seven will take place on the third
and final day of the draft, and if Daz is
feeling any stress or pressure about falling into the later rounds,
were possibly even going undrafted, he isn't showing it. However,
(02:56):
his parents, Wendy and Greg, can see right through their sons.
Composed is the facade. I'll say this dance sometimes comes
across as a robot because he kind of protects his
emotions when it comes to the stuff, because he's been
on like this crazy roller coaster, right, so he's been
on this incredible roller coaster. So he just tries to
stay kind of even, not too high, not too low,
(03:18):
no expectations. He's just like, I didn't think it's gonna
happen anyway. But I'm laying up staring at the selling
all night man three o'clock at Moore, I'm like, jeez,
please don't let this thing just go left. He worked
so hard. I can't imagine it just going left. What
Desmond does and he's always done this every since he
(03:40):
was little. He tries to to protect his heart. He'll say,
it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. I don't it doesn't matter.
And then we were constantly no, Desmond, it's okay. It's
like he didn't want to have feelings because now if
I have, if I show some type of feelings, now
I have my feeling as will be affected by either
(04:03):
hurt or mad or sad, And now I don't want
to have those feelings, So let me just try to
block it out like it doesn't exist. Of course, his
feelings do exist, and he does care deeply. He just
tries to hide it all. Only now that it's Saturday,
(04:26):
May one and Day three of the NFL Draft is
about to begin, his friends and family do wonder will
he be able to maintain this stoic demeanor throughout the
final day of the draft. So Saturday, we're like, okay, okay.
So when we got over there, it started at no
(04:47):
So Desmond leaves to go pick up some friends at
the hotel. We're there, We're like, where is the dement
needs to her and kid here does elaborates on how
the morning got messed up and at that point the
draft started I think at twelve on that Saturday, and
I was going to pick up because a couple of
(05:10):
my friends were at a nearby hotel, probably ten minutes away,
and I was picking up three of my friends from
the hotel, and I was about to run out of gas,
and you know, one of the gas pumps said that
the car didn't work. Obviously my car is working, so
I had to go to another one. We had to
stop like two different times to get gas. So this
is we're we're starting to run a little late now
(05:32):
and it was just a whole ordeal. And you know,
my friends are in the car with me and my
phone start drink game A hello, yeah, yes, sir, anybody
John Robin the younger, we're doing well, of coach, how
are you doing? I'm doing that manding congratulation were about
(05:54):
to make you. I appreciate it so much. Course, thank
you so much, coach. I don't think I don't you
go to your question. Yes, sir, of course I appreciated
so much. Coach, Thank you so much. And I'm gonna
let you talk to our great and you know what
kind of Dez Fitzpatrick may have just become the first
(06:19):
person in NFL history to be drafted while driving a car.
So as Daz tries to focus on the road, his
new head coach, Mike Rabel, gets on the call, thank you.
How are you doing, coach? I'm a great banking granulate.
I work and John and I don't want to want
up and got you. I want to you and branding coach.
(06:41):
I appreciate it so much. Coach. You know I'm gonna
do everything in my part of work car and make
sure that's a really great decision. I know, I know
you are man, I know you all love what you're about. Man.
I worked hard to work pretty okay, but where a
lot of people reaching indeed, and I'll be texting here.
Of course. I appreciate it again, a coach, So thank
you so much. The Titans general manager gets back on
(07:02):
the call. Go celebrate what you say. I'll tell you
we should. We finished the draft last night, and I'll
look at your cars. Don't ever forget a point a
way to get up to get that, um, coach, great
about your work. Okay, that's what we're about here, Okay, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir.
I'm gonna live up to that. Okay, wait to being
Because those were desert friends screaming as they got out
(07:36):
of the car in front of his dad's house. Here's
DEAs trying to make sense of being drafted by the
Tennessee Titans in the fourth round while driving to his
own draft party. When I hung up the phone before
I pulled up to my house, I was thinking, like, Okay,
I don't know what picked they're on on the TV,
so I have to make it home fast. So I
(07:57):
was going like seventy down the street trying to make
it home fast everything because I'm trying to think. You know,
nobody in the house knows, Like the other thirty people
in the house don't know anything yet. His parents and
all his other friends and family inside have no idea
any of this has happened. So now Dez opens the
door and enters his draft party with the biggest secret possible.
(08:19):
Everybody on our technology somebody, they asked him, He said
(08:48):
the same. That's dess Dad Greg in the background talking
about how one of DES's former coaches might be getting
some inside information about when and where Daz will be drafted.
That's how will Oh, he said. He said, that's I mean,
(09:11):
when I get the call already, don't know. I'm just
saw coach I love I know, he just he just coach.
Coach Ruce just said that's the word. I'm just selling.
Don't mess me mind for that. Greg received a text
message from the former coach that claims Dez is about
to be drafted soon. So Des counters that he would
have gotten a call from a team by now if
(09:32):
that were true, so the rumor can't be real. Okay,
standing guard there towards from one, the pick is announced
(10:02):
and everyone in the litterm He leaps up off the
couches in shock, everyone except Das and his friends who
were in the car earlier. Of course, here are Daz
and his parents on that moment. My dad said, I
had a great poker face, like he didn't know at
all this was coming up, and you know, they said,
you know, the pick is in and with the one
(10:22):
on ninth picks, you know, the Tennessee Titans select does
fit Patrick? And everybody was like, oh my sides going crazy,
started screaming, jumping up and down, and they're like, did
ain't here to call you? And I was like, yeah,
they called me like ten minutes ago. I'm thinking, well,
it can't be the Titans because he was gotten a
call by now and they're on the clock and they
(10:44):
only got you know, a few minutes, and the next
thing you know, they picked Das and the whole house
just erbs. There's tears everywhere. We just all jumped up,
all of the family and friends at the time, still
not knowing that Desmond and his friends already knew, but
(11:05):
we all jumped up and we just tears just started
just flowing. We're all just started hugging. We're all just
kind of boll Garden just pounced on Desmond and just
giving a home hugs and kisses and crying at the
same time all of us, and it was just there
wasn't a dry eye in the room. It was just awesome.
(11:28):
It was just awesome. That was a moment I won't
ever forget. We'll be right back. Ye. Kellen Mond and
(11:50):
Desmond Fitzpatrick are officially professional football players. They were drafted
in the third and fourth rounds by the Minnesota Vikings
and the Tennessee Titans. That leaves us with our final
two players and this season of drafting linebacker Hammaka Rashid Jr.
And cornerback Cameron by Him, who was currently on his
way to a cabin in Big Bear, California, so for
(12:18):
the draft, will be in Big Bear, California. We rent
a cabin right off the late. This is cam by
him had a lot of family from the Bay Area
in southern California, family and then a bunch of my teammates.
Cam is a Southern California native. So he and his
family arrived at the rented lake house in just under
two hours and the party starts almost immediately. So we
(12:41):
just got to the cabin. We're unloading everything and now
now we're star stuck. Is this place, this cabin matsion
is crazy? My mic alright, So I'm in here with
my all my city wings off, five of whom we
(13:01):
have a noisy house here, three dogs, five kids, two parents.
My aunt is over. This is where Cameron's come here, Kay.
Just like des Kellen Davante and most other players in
the draft, making it to the NFL has been a
lifelong dream for Cam. The differences is that his dream
(13:25):
always seemed more like a fantasy than a real possibility,
even since I was a kid. Obviously a super cliche
when people talk about Yeah, people ask me what I
wanted to do. I said NFL, and they said, well,
you gotta have a backup plan. That's the story for
all of us. But now it's it's it's way sweeter
knowing that at a point I wasn't super good at football.
(13:48):
That's what makes Cam's journey especially unique. For most of
his childhood and even as a young adult, he was
actually pretty bad at football. Here's his trainer, coach Anthony Brown,
describing the first time he saw Cam play. He was
a sophomore going in towards junior season. Where was at
one of our tournaments and he had a very very
(14:09):
bad day that day. I want to say he gave
about five touchdowns that day. Yeah, it was. It was
a long day for the kid. Cam was getting beat
on the field for a number of reasons. He hadn't
been taught the technique needed to play his position. He
didn't have a dad like Greg Fitzpatrick drilling him on
the finer points of play and receiver when he was
a little kid. And that's normal because most dads aren't
(14:32):
able to teach their nine year olds what they learned
from practicing with Jerry Rice. However, there was another reason
Cam kept getting beat over and over again for touchdowns.
All the other players were a lot bigger than him.
Here's coach Brown on what he saw that day. Now,
I've been doing this for years you know, Decenci backs
are looking like they're about six ft, you know, one
ninety So I had this kid going into his junior
(14:55):
season at Corona Centennial, like, well, how are we going
to get the job done? Cam was going into his
junior year at Corona Centennial High School and he still
hadn't hit a Grosberg or learned the finer points of
playing cornerback. It was at that moment his childhood dream
(15:18):
of becoming an NFL player looked utterly impossible. But growth
often comes from life's toughest struggles and failures, and that
day where Cam gave up touchdown after touchdown changed everything
for him. Now, as he waits for the NFL Draft
to begin, Cam talks about this exact moment with some
friends and family. Would you say, what's my what was
(15:40):
my well? Yeah, what was your the turning point here?
Where would like made you realize you were soft? And
now my catchup moment was I was already on ground zero.
Did a couple of tournaments, I was, I was surviving.
I just at the surviving always worked, but that training
(16:02):
was and it was just busy where just getting tired,
getting the shape and not doing actual DV ware. Cam
was lifting weights and running, but no one was coaching
him on the details of how to play defensive back.
So once one tournament, may ten remember stuff like that.
(16:26):
I remember that stuff may ten Long Beach City College Tournament,
Gridiron tournament. I'm gonna hear getting I'm getting popped for
six at least three touchdowns a game and Brown will
not take me out the game. And then I was
just looking at him like you know that look you
just like I can't do anything about this. Coach. They
(16:47):
take me deep every play. Brown is coach Anthony Brown,
who we heard from a minute ago. He was coaching
Cam's team in that weekend tournament, and despite the fact
that Cam was getting beat deep over and over, Coach
Brown wouldn't take him out of the game. I'm just
looking at him. He would not take me out, and
he's like, no, you're gonna You're gonna figure this out.
(17:09):
And then I don't even want to look at him.
He's calling me chicken. He's just calling me, like, just
breaking me down mentally, and he was like, I need
to see you this week. Monday, five am, Vanola Park
said that went up to Dad and Dad was like, yeah,
he's there and I was sick in my head, but
I knew I needed it and I was like, dang,
(17:30):
I gotta really work with this dude. So I went
and there was that was history, and yeah, Brown believed
in me. After that brutal weekend in the seven on
seven tournament, Cam signed up to train with coach Brown
every morning at five am. It was a commitment the
(17:52):
whole family would be making. Cam's father, Curtis, explains their decision.
You know, you hear a lot of stories for parents
kind of drunk their kids and say we want you
to do this. This was always what he wanted to do,
and not once where I remember we had to pull
him out of bed or force him to go. He
wanted to go. And those times where you know, I
was working so much of the time to my wife
(18:12):
and a lot of transporting back and forth and think
like that, but not wants to shiver. Tell me, hey,
he didn't want to go today. You know, he didn't
feel like training. This was all this was his dream,
This was all him. Cam loved football and was willing
to work incredibly hard, which made his struggles even more puzzling.
By the time he made it to a sophomore year.
(18:33):
He just hadn't improved as much as he should have.
Sophomore year of high school, I was trash of football
fifth training on JV. A lot of my friends obviously
once starting on varsity getting offers already. Most people that
are getting drafted, that's that's their story about when they're
(18:54):
in high school. They're always the guys since freshman year,
always the best one of the same. But for me,
that wasn't the case. If you listen to season one
of Drafted, you might remember Ohio State star cornerback Jeff Okuda.
He plays the same position as Cam, and by the
end of his sophomore year in high school, he had
received dozens of scholarship offers from almost every top program
(19:15):
in the country. At that same point, Cam was backing
up the backup for the third stringer on the junior
varsity team. When I was twisting on JV, the first
thing I did was like, Okay, I need to I
need to work and get my way, get my way
out this whole. And so the best thing I did
was find a coach that really put the time into me,
(19:36):
really invested into my future, trying to teach me that
the real details of football, not just a coach out
there doing busy work. He's getting me tired of stuff.
You really taught me the game, just being becoming a technician.
Never was the most athletic, biggest, fastest, or strong, especially
back then I was tiny, like super undersized. But as
soon as I started learning the game, becoming the technician
(19:58):
and putting that time and knowing that I put more
time and and separate myself with the amount of work
I put it and I somehow get better than somebody.
So that that kept going throughout the whole year, my
whole career, even when I got to college, still doing
those crazy hours, still putting in an extra hours more
than anybody went a whole year without missing a dave
doing extra work. So that's that's really been the whole
(20:21):
story of my entire career, just putting the extra work.
Know that, Okay, I might be behind some things, but
I'm setting for myself with the details and just how
much extra work is cam talking about throughout the week?
It was before school go there, We're start workout starts
(20:44):
at five so because we had to start school it
was seven thirty back then, so we have to do
that right before school. Obviously, I've practice lifting during school
at the right after school, another practice on the field
at the high school, then right back at five o'clock
we're back with the facility doing our speed work, doing
our lifting, and one more GB workout. So it was
(21:05):
at least fourteen hours a day just from the time
you wake up at five am and I'm not getting
home until seven at night. After my last workout, then
I had to do homework and then right back and
now that was basically my whole routine. Even with Cam
working fourteen hours a day on football, Coach Brown knew
the daunting odds that they faced. Basically, I'm scratching my
(21:31):
head like wild. We mentioned NFL, but at the time
we're just mentioned and trying to just get him on
track to be a football player, you know, because he
had the ambition, he had the motivation, he had the
heart in the work ethic, but looking at him, the
skills set by eyes wasn't there and everything else. So
the first few sessions would count it was two left feet,
(21:57):
two left feet, you know, he couldn't do the drills.
It was really a no rhythm at all. And the
daughters in the car watching us and asked, I'm finishing
up the session with you, so we're getting the car
and she's first things that my daughter in mouth was
like that, why are you training this kid camp? You know, Dad,
he's not a football player. I have to tell my daughter,
I say, baby, as long as he keeps showing up
to his training sessions, we're gonna keep showing him to
(22:18):
the training session. When you get a kid that believes
in itself, I couldn't tell the kid no. I didn't
want to be that that guy saying kid, football, it's
not your sport. So as he showed up, I showed up.
(22:43):
We'll be right back. Coach Brown needed to figure out
how to turn his sophomore cornerback giving up multiple touchdowns
(23:06):
a game into a high school starter, and he needed
to build a foundation where Cam could continue to grow
into a college player and maybe even one day into
an NFL defensive back. But the million dollar question was
how So One of the things was we never had
a football. I never trying to account with a football.
(23:28):
So it's one of these things. As the parents, you're
looking like, Okay, who is this man and what is
he really doing? Because none of the things where we're
doing look like it was football related. You know, we
started from the ground up, so we had to actually
built the coordination, I placement, you know, built the Rivermnis
feed and things like that. You know, the big total
power inside arts so he can move with you know, consistently,
(23:50):
would have would have smoved rhythm. Scouts often say the
best cornerbacks never look out of control or out of position.
They described them as smooth and fluid. They can turn
and run with receivers without losing any speed. They always
know where the ball is. They anticipate where the receiver's going.
That's the kind of work Cam and Coach Brown put
(24:11):
in morning after morning, week after week, without ever touching
a football. It was reminiscent of Daniel LaRusso learning karate
by waxing Mr Mayagi's car and painting his fence over
and over again instead of sparring with the kids in
Cobra Kai and like the karate kid, Cam and his
(24:31):
parents couldn't help but question the process at times, But
as the weeks went by, Cam's parents began to know
it's a difference in their son. Over time, you saw
the progression he was making, like he was getting better.
So now I was like, Okay, let's continue to do this.
(24:52):
That hard work and that discipline no matter whether it's
pro football or anything in life, that translates everywhere, and
everyone respects hard work. Whatever Coach Brown sawing Cam over
those weeks, whatever progress he made or bond they built,
he also felt that he couldn't let the young cornerback down.
(25:13):
I've been in coaching twenty five years plus, started at
To You Love with Dead High School, but it was
it was morrisover, resident of intervention, loving the kids. I've
been officer for twenty years, so my background is serving
the people who need to be served. Coach Brown is
also a veteran police officer in southern California in addition
(25:36):
to working as a football coach and trainer. I understood
that camp came first, So it wasn't about me playing
in the NFL. It wasn't about my college career, it
wasn't about my high school career. It was about putting
everything I could put into this kid to where he
can have what I didn't have. And even though Cam
(25:59):
still hadn't started game for the varsity team at his
high school, he was already working towards his next goal,
getting an offer to play in college. Cam and his
parents explained, I've always wanted to go to Bury and
my families out there, so Stanford and Cal as my
two main ones. UM. Stanford was my dream school. We
(26:21):
went up to their junior days and this was before
they even weren't even thinking about Cam. We would just
go to their junior days. That's Cam's mom, Jennifer. I'm
just trying to get their name out there, filling out
the little questionnaire things UM before they actually acknowledged them. Yeah,
that's pretty. And every coach of DM sit up the
(26:43):
Gratus district, like, what's up, coach? Is everything I can
do to gradars? Yeah, sitting my links, sending workout videos,
sending me We made a seven on seven highlights tape
just for something because I was like, I need a
need to get see an episode two. We heard about
(27:04):
how Alabama coach Nick Saban flew to Pensacola, Florida, and
personally showed up at Alex Leatherwood's high school to recruit him. Sometimes,
entire teams of coaches will make recruiting trips to convince
a player to come to their school. By the time
Cam's junior year started, he was the one recruiting college
coaches instead of the other way around. He would text
(27:24):
and email them, sending highlights from seven on seven tournaments
since he didn't have high school game footage yet. Once
I started training in that offseason after my sophomore season,
that's when I started. I went in up going to
the camps, and I got an offer from cow Poly
Slow out of camp just because I bought out with
(27:45):
that in the varsity tape. So that that's when I
started reaching out. Okay, I can I can go to
camps and I can do well. I'm now, and I
can have something to vouch for me with some film
from a camp or something. So that's when I started
doing out those questionnaires. Hid him. Coaches, Uh say, yeah,
I just got my first offer, checked me out, blah
blah blah, all that stuff. Just in every single coaches
(28:07):
d M sending emails begging players for coaching numbers. Cam
would ask other players at camps for the coach of
cell phone numbers, and then with text and cold call
the coaches, he tell them all about his offer from
cal Polly, using it as a part of his pitch
on why they should consider him. Here are his parents,
Curis and Jennifer. Once again, he was very proactive in
(28:30):
reaching out coaches and then I kept a business card.
We had spring showcases, and I always made it a
point to work at the table where the coaches have
to see me first, and then I would you know,
network with them, tell him my sin is on the side,
and get a business card. His mom was running an
equally aggressive recruiting campaign, and then that helped. I just
(28:53):
found that note. But it was a binder that I
created and had it all organized, put all their business
cards and had a little harpe who we reached out to.
When Cam like messaged, um, what was the correspondence, you know,
what was the feedback? And he just always make sure
he followed up and reaching out to all those coaches. Yeah,
she was sent at the transcript table with if they
(29:15):
they're interested in in a player, they got to go
ask for the transcripts. So of course she would work
at that table. But oh yeah, it take this. It's
a lot of my transcripts in there. Just doing the
ex that's just extra. With the coaches, they would always say, okay,
can I have a player between three point five g
P at a four point up? Yeah, I would, I
(29:37):
would slide his, and then the g p A really
made a huge difference to It was probably annoying to them,
but at the end of at the end of my
junior season, that's when they started coming around, and they
ended up coming to one of my playoff games at
the end of that year. So all that reaching out
and all that stuff helped, especially once I was able
to start my junior season. Cam's college pursuit turned into
(29:59):
the family business. He would recruit coaches while his mom
worked the relationship management angle, and almost all of this
took place before he ever started a game for the
high school varsity team. Then Cam's the next step was
a social media marketing campaign. When I was going through
the process, talking to Stanford a lot more than I
(30:20):
was cal put all my eggs in that basket your Stanford.
So added my two eight classes I needed, and trying
to do everything just to be able to get into school.
So one day my recruitment was picking up. One day
I took a visit up to Stanford. I posted on
social media and as soon as soon as I posted,
cow coach cause and said, Okay, we're gonna offer you,
(30:42):
And I'm like, Wow, and it's crazy how that works.
I post posted I'm up at Stanford, and now you
guys want to talk, so we started. I started talking
to both of them and still ended up taking the
st A T twice trying to get into Stanford because
I have to actually get in as a regular student,
and so you needed a certain amoun out and every
section of your s A T. And I took it twice.
(31:03):
Wasn't able to get it on one section. So I
was like, all right, from Calf, I was super glad.
I did it, cald best best decision I've ever made.
Coach Brown watched as Cam used a cal Polly offer
to leverage Stanford to then get cal Berkeley interested. You
get a Kyle Polly offer, you know you better than that.
The writers are are writing about you, So what do
(31:25):
you have to do? He did to refer psychology. You know,
he created his own recruiting bus between the schools that
he thought was going to be attractive to him to
actually go to. He used social media to wake up
Cayl Berkeley to come over and take a good look
at him. And when he's seen it, look they bid
on it. They did on it, and it worked. It was.
(31:49):
It was a genius move on his part. His parents
were equally impressed with just how enterprising and zealous their
son was at every step in his journey. Looking back,
this is a story you can tell later, you know,
years down the road to other people, like look what
I did. Look at my struggle now, you know, I
mean in the NFL. And you know he's like he said,
(32:11):
he started off a fifth string JV player and the
journey has just been great. So to me, it was
all word. It all paid off, and it was like,
you know, it taught him a lesson to like networking
at an early age. You know, you know what, young
kids don't like to do that these days. It's like
now you need to follow up, follow through network. Whenever
you meet someone, shake their hand to build a connection
(32:32):
and build that network. And by him dm ng all
these coaches and just reaching out and you know, just
trying to get exposed. All that networking training, practice and
hard work transformed Kim from fifth string JV to first
team all packed twelve, he became the team captain at
(32:55):
kel Berkeley and now he's sitting in a huge lake
house with his friends and family watching NFL draft, waiting
for his future coaches to finally call him. This time around,
here's coach Brown once again. He wasn't a five star,
he wasn't how to recruited, he didn't have multiple offers.
(33:16):
So now guess what it does. It brings streams back
to the normal kid that it's being looked over. Because
you know, when you look at college, when you look
at the NFL, there's always the University of is So
kids ought to make these as something that you have
to take this one particular route to get there. But
it is a street called count Bindo that you can
take and you can end up there also, you know,
(33:38):
And I think there's a lot of kids an understanding
it's a street with their name on it, you know.
And that's the blessing of it all that sitting back
that hey, this morning, one street to get to the NFL.
(34:00):
Next I'm drafted. Now that it's like literally less than
a day away, it's kind of starting to get surreal.
I finally starting to get real for me to buckle
down and get straight a's to qualified. And he's like,
I know, you do it. I'm training my butt off home,
working out with two coaches, going to two places just
to be stayed. It was a trying time for all
(34:21):
of us. We had just went through a family breakup,
and you know, he would just had to be strong.
It's like, you just popped for COVID, You're just positive.
And I was like what, He's like, Yeah, you need
to go home right now, like right now and walking
home and didn't leave my house since then for fourteen days.
So we just had to keep encouraging him and until
(34:41):
you can figure this part out. Drafted is a production
of tree Ford Media, Clutch Sports Group, and I Heart Radio.
The executive producers are Kelly Gardner, Lisa Amerman, Eric Slot,
Eric Weiner, and Shaun Titone. The series is produced and
(35:04):
written by Eric Winer. Garme Mamalu is our coordinating producer.
Coral Silverberg is our associate producer. Tom Monahan is our
senior audio engineer. The show is mixed, edited and hosted
by Me Stephen Johnson, additional production help from Tim Shower
and Hailey Mandelberg. For transcripts of the show and more
information Undrafted, go to tree for dot fm, and for
(35:26):
more podcasts from my Heart, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,
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