Former NFL QB & Pac-12 Passing Leader Luke Falk Discusses Mental Strength, His Upcoming New Book and More!

Episode Transcript
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THEME SONG (00:05):
Heavy stars rock and rolling through the cool guitars
shops got the questions diggingso sharp, feeling back layers
hitting the heart.

Chuck Shute (00:21):
Yeah. So welcome Luke Falk, amazing pack 12, all
time passing leader. I believe,right, that, and

Luke Falk (00:27):
I think I got the sacks, negative rushing yards.
Always joke about that too, so Ithink I've got them all. Yeah,

you're kind of humble about the passing record.
I would be like I probablymentioned that five times an
interview, maybe if it was myrecord.

Luke Falk (00:41):
The fun thing about that is it means I was on some
pretty good teams, and so it's,as leech said, with those
things, it's a team award. Andhe's certainly right. It's not
like I could do that by myself.
So

yeah, so when leech convinced you to go to
Washington State, I know, likewith minshu, he told him minchu
was thinking about being thebackup at Alabama, and he
famously said, like, Well, doyou want to be a backup at
Alabama, or do you want to leadthe NCAA in passing yards? Did
he have a line like that for youat all because you were a walk
on at that

Luke Falk (01:10):
point? Yeah, no, I was more so doing the Hey,
Coach, can I please be on theroster rather than them doing
any recruiting? I think hisrecruiting pitch to me was, you
know, if I wanted to be acollege coach, that he had a
great tree, I think in histhought, or is in his mind, it's
like, all right to walk on agreat value add for coming up
here as that post career. If youwanted to be able to get into

(01:32):
coaching, you know, he was agreat resource for that. So I
don't think he really intendedthat I would be a guy that would
break the PAC 12 passing recordwhen they were recruiting me,
you know. So it wasn't like hewas telling me, Hey, don't,
don't pass up the Alabama numbertwo job because I didn't have
that. I only had a opportunityto go to Cornell and go pay 40

(01:55):
grand or wherever the heck itis, at an Ivy League school. So
yeah, a little bit differentrecruiting story than most,

right? Because, for people who don't know you walked
on because it was a thing whereyou had transferred in high
school, and so your senior, Ithink it was your senior year,
you didn't get to play, right?
So they're looking at yourjunior tape

Luke Falk (02:13):
close, yeah. So my family transferred to a place
called Oaks Christian when I washalfway through my sophomore
year, and things did not go wellthere at all. That's in
California. So we moved fromUtah to California. Things blew
up with my family. Ended upcoming back three games into the
football season there, and thenthe state of Utah deemed me
ineligible to play. So I was aglorified graduate assistant

(02:38):
from a high school coach at thattime. Filmed all the games,
broke all the games down. Andactually, I filmed my team win
the state championship here inUtah. They went 14 and oh, they
had one of the best seasons.
Talk about a tough pill toswallow as I'm filming the them
win the state championship atRice cycles. And, you know, but
it's funny kind of how thingswork out, because then six years

(02:59):
later, I broke the tacticalpassing record at that same
stadium where I was up in thestands filming. So I always like
to tell people one I cautionparents when they they want to
go all in on the transfer bill.
I always say if it's led by thekid, and probably less than if
it's going to be goodholistically. Because football

(03:20):
is just such a small piece, orthat sport's such a small piece.
But if it's more so led from thesociety scoreboard and thinking
you're going to get recruitedand how are people going to view
us, then probably hold off.
Caution yourself on making thatdrastic of a decision. There's
more to life than the scoreboardor the optics of that. But then
the second piece I always tellpeople is, if you're great at

(03:41):
where you're at, things have afunny way of working out. So me
learning that in high school, ofdoing the GA work well that
helped me have a betterknowledge of defenses and, you
know, film study and all that,which then led me into helping
me break that PAC 12 record atthat same particular spot. So I
just think life's pretty funnythat way, if you put your best

(04:02):
foot forward at where you're atgood chance things are going to
work out for you.

Yeah, but did you have the dream to play still at
that point, when you'rewatching, you're filming things
and you're being an assistant,did you still have those visions
in your head of playing in theNFL, which you eventually would
end up doing? Yeah, I

Luke Falk (04:23):
mean, at that point that one seemed kind of like a
pipe dream for me. I just wantedto play high school varsity
football. I had never been asolidified starter or a solo
starter. I we went back andforth. My sophomore year split
time, and then my junior year, Igot benched, like my second
game. So I at that point, Ihadn't even really played a full

(04:45):
season as a high school starter,so sure, I had the dreams and
goals of playing in the NFL, butreally, I was just trying to
become a great high schoolplayer in hopes that I would get
an opportunity to go play at thenext level in college. Because
it's kind of funny after my.
Sophomore tape, it was goodenough, apparently, to get a
Florida State offer. So I got aFlorida State offer early on,
but then obviously, goingthrough my whole debacle, teams

(05:07):
put the red flags on me, youknow, like, Oh man, this is,
this is going to be one of thosesituations. So thankfully,
Washington State didn't, or ifthey did, they're like, well, at
least this guy doesn't cost usany money. And what I think is
unique about what Coach leachdid is he gave me an equal
opportunity to beat out the guyson scholarship, which a lot of

(05:29):
coaches wouldn't do, becauseyour reputation is on the line
if you recruited a certainplayer and he doesn't pan out
for you. Well, how does thatlook from a recruiting
standpoint, if you're going toallow some walk on kid to come
beat him out. And it was evenodder in that case, because they
were trying to build upWashington State. I mean, you
remember the Dark Ages there,and they got Tyler Brugman, who
was one of the top recruits thatWashington State had seen in

(05:53):
years. He was, he was a highlytouted four star kid. So now I'm
in the same recruiting class ashim. Nobody's known about me. In
fact, even there's probably somered flag on me, what coach would
really, truly stay true to hisword and allow me to equally
compete with the other guy? Nowit wasn't all sunshine, rainbows
and scout team and all that. Thedefense coordinator, they didn't

(06:14):
oblige that. I didn't get onescout team rep that whole
season. I fumbled the snap earlyon in practice one time, and
then I got cold, told by coachWilson, who I love to this day,
but he's like, you're not takingif I see you in there again,
pull you right out. You know.
Now he said something a littlebit more coach derogatory terms,

(06:35):
but, yeah, no, it's just it wasa unique time. And then kids
that even want to walk on a dayif there even is going to be a
walk on, tell them it's such adifferent landscape. It was
hard. Then it's even harder now,because they can just, they can
go bull guy and get a get ascholarship player, or an N i l
guy in the portal, or who knowswhat. So do you

think it's a better strategy for kids today if they
wanted to work their way up?
It's almost better to start at asmall school where you are going
to get some experience and startjust kick ass at that small
school, and then go to theportal and then take your
offers.

Luke Falk (07:09):
Certainly, yeah, that would be the route that I would
advise people. And I frequentlydo the athletes that I work with
who are in Hey, do I walk on ata place I really want to go to?
Or do I go play at a smallerlevel school, my recommendation
to them now is go play. Go play,because you're not going to get
penalized by moving up, and alsothe odds are going to be so

(07:30):
stacked against you at a certainplace because so you get to the
third position, well, guesswhat? They're going to go
recruit a couple more guys. Nowyou're getting buried on the
depth chart again, unless youjust totally wow people away.
But even then, they're going tohave their their blinders on to
a certain degree of what you'recapable of, because who they
just invested in. It's a it'salmost a reflection of them as a

(07:53):
coach, based upon theirrecruitment and stuff. So
there's some egos involved withthat.

That's interesting, yeah. But do you think, I mean,
going back to you beat outBrugman, who, again, yeah,
you're right. He's a four star,highly recruited guy. Do you
think those star ratings are alittle overrated at this point?
Like it feel like it's almostsame as the NFL Draft. There's
so many first round picks thatgo bust. Then there's, there's
those stories of Tom Brady,who's a sixth round pick. And

(08:19):
obviously we know the story, theending of that so, I mean, do
you think they're wrong on a lotof those things?

Luke Falk (08:24):
I do. I mean, I think there's some obvious ones where
they're right. Where you look ata kid, he's like, Wow, that guy
is that guy is good. I mean, Iwas just at a quarterback camp
in Arizona, and there was aClemson commit there, and you
knew who's a Clemson commit. Imean, that guy was physically
gifted, but I think you'recertainly right where, you know,
a lot of these places, it'salmost pay to play. I'm writing

(08:46):
a book right now, and I'mlearning about all the pay to
play. Hey, if you pay this, youcan get on this. And I think
there's a lot of that within thehigh school recruiting world,
right? Hey, you pay us X amount,we're guaranteed to give you a
star here. I mean, it's abusiness, really, everything's
been turned into a, you know,trades of service here, or goods

(09:09):
of service to surgery, evenrecruiting, right? There are
people that pitch, hey, if youpay us X amount, we can get you
recruited. Now, I know there aregood people in that space, and
there are also some people whoare a tad bit shady in that
space, and when I get approachedby a parent or somebody who
asked me about that inparticular, well, I just say,
Listen, I know my parents paidfor that because they wanted

(09:30):
what was best for me. They werethey were like, the we're going
to do everything possible. And Ididn't get a scholarship and I
played in the NFL. So how goodwere they at their job? How good
are they at delivering on whatthey said they were going to No,
you know, despite how they areas a human or individual, just

(09:51):
the ROI that my parents putinto, and I don't know how much
they did or not, or reallyanybody that was involved in my
quote, unquote, recruiting type.
Process. So I walked on and Iplayed in the NFL, so I had the
talent, I it was good enough toget there. So I always just
caution people like be just bevery careful who you're allowing
in your inner circle, who you'relistening to,

hmm. So yeah, explain that to me, because I'm
just so fascinated with howpeople become successful. And
your path is just sofascinating. You come in as a
walk on, and I think you saidyou were fifth on the depth
chart, and you got, again, yougot the four star recruit. You
got these other guys who areahead of you. You said Peyton
Bender was really talented. Howdid you work your way up? I

(10:34):
mean, as you're again, you'vesaid too that you constantly
being reminded that you're awalk on, you eat in a separate
spot, your locker room? Is it?
Your lockers in a separate,separate spot than everybody,
and you're constantly beingreminded that you're not, you
know, a scholarship player. Andyet you just, how'd you have
that motivation to keep goingand pushing?

Luke Falk (10:52):
Yeah, well, you know, I heard from Tony Robbins, if
you have a big enough why, youcan handle pretty much any how
or anything in that regard, andand I really did, I had a
burning desire to be a startingquarterback. I was internally
and externally motivated. Ienjoyed the game of football.
And I also want to prove a lotof people wrong. I had a hit

(11:12):
list of all the people who saidthat I couldn't do it or
wouldn't do it, and proudly, Ipretty much checked off a lot of
those names off the list when Idid it.

But I think you officially, like, text them,
like, mean or No, I

Luke Falk (11:27):
didn't text them.
Now, it was just kind of likethe I had the Toby Keith song
playing in my head all the time.
How do you like me? Now, youknow whenever, whenever
something like that happened,like, you know, I could give you
an example. Would be my highschool coach, whom I love and is
in my core five to this day. Imean everything from football or

(11:47):
business decision standpoint. Iwill send it to him and get his
feedback on it. He also did notmince words of what he thought
was probably a good and a badopportunity for me. He said at
Washington State, where theywould never give me an
opportunity to play, and itwould be very challenging for me
to, you know, do what I wantedto do there. And that didn't
feel very good hearing that froma guy who I looked up to as a

(12:09):
mentor. And so, yeah, his namesuddenly got on that list, and
it was great to be able to givehim tickets to the game at
Oregon State in 2015 when I wasthe established starter for the
first time and him come see methrow six touchdowns against a
guy Gary Anderson, who was thehead coach at Oregon State, who
was the head coach at UtahState, who I was really good

(12:31):
friends with his son, so we wentto high school, and we played
high school ball together, buthe didn't give me opportunity to
walk on or any of that stuff. Soit was like two birds, one stone
in one game. So no, I didn'tofficially text anybody back,
like, Hey, I showed you. Blah,blah, blah, blah, blah, yeah.
You don't have to, yeah. I justkind of figured, hey, I had done
it, and there was peace withinthat. But I think the biggest

(12:51):
thing for me is, you know,you've seen my play, I'm not. I
wasn't a physical talent. Like,if you went to practice at
Washington State, you might notthink I was the starter based
upon the guys that were throwingthere. I mean, Peyton Bender was
a phenomenal, phenomenal talentin terms of just being able to
throw the football I was not.
And the thing that helped me,though, was I worked with a

(13:13):
mental performance coach, and Iwas able to unlock what I had.
And that really helped methrough the process and the
times that I was on point anddoing everything that I should.
2015, 2016, seasons, playedreally well when I took it for
granted, when I was very lax,when I allowed success to create
entitlement, when I, you know,surrounded myself with a poor

(13:36):
environment, things didn't workout that way. I didn't have
enough physical talent toovercome the interferences. In
fact, most, a lot of peopledon't. So I always tell people
with my clients now, it's like,listen, mind strength and mental
performance isn't a I get to adestination. I am good. It's a
continual journey. You have toput in the work, day in and day
out. There was certain games inmy career where I did the right

(14:00):
process, UCLA in 2015 we havethat fun fourth quarter
comeback, great. But then thereare games like the University of
Washington game, my very lastgame as a coug, where I choked,
you know, where I allowed myneed for approval and wrapping
my identity up and what peoplethought of me and how I'd be

(14:20):
perceived, all of that to thencome allow me to have a
crumbling down performance. Soit's not a hey, I did it one
situation. I'm going to do itagain. I certainly learned that
the hard way.

Yeah, there's so much to unpack right there. But
let's Yeah, let's talk about theApple cups, because that is
something I really was alwayscurious about, oh, man, yeah. I
mean, I grew up in Washingtonand watched all the apple cups,
as many as I could. Couldremember, you know, didn't
really have a dog in the fight,you know, Huskies, Cougs,
whatever, started to become acoug fan when Mike leach took

(14:56):
over. And so then I was alwayslike, Okay, where are these good
apple cups? Course the historywas there. What happened? So you
say you're, you're taking a lotof the blame yourself, but I
mean, it was other quarterbacks.
I mean, I don't think, I thinkleach only won one of the games.
His excuse was always, well, youdub, they have way better
recruits. But the reason I don'tbuy that is because you guys
would play UCLA, who would havefour and five star recruits, and

(15:17):
you'd smoke them. Yeah, what doyou think it was a mental thing
in the Apple cups,

Luke Falk (15:23):
Buzz, perfect storm.
One. Chris Peterson is one ofthe best college coaches, I
think, of all time, and theywere pretty dang good that Vive,
Harry, Gaines, Bucha Baker. Imean, they had a number of guys,
and they also had a really greatdefensive philosophy going
against the air raid, really,anytime we played somebody from
that Boise tree, they found away to supplement a pressure us,

(15:44):
basically meaning, hey, they'renot bringing more than we can
handle. But they had suchcreative looks to make it feel
like they were, or even U DUB ingeneral, just rushing three, but
being able to get home to thequarterback. And you know, they
really had us dialed in fromthat number. But I also think
probably the biggest thing wasthe mental piece, especially

(16:05):
later on. You know, early on,when you're playing them, I
don't think it was that much ofan issue. In fact, I really wish
that I had an opportunity toplay against them my sophomore
year. I didn't do to havingconcussions at that point, but
because I really think we had,we really had a great roster
that year, maybe maybe evenbetter than them. I don't know

(16:26):
if I can even say that on air,but I mean, they absolutely
kicked our butt that day. Imean, it was like the beginning
of how all the apple cups Iplayed in would be. But really
the biggest piece, I think, isthat we put so much emphasis on
the outcome and how people wouldview us in the meaning of the
game, and we you can't controlthe outcome of a game. And when

(16:48):
you focus on things, you can'tcontrol anxiety. Speak, spikes.
And if your anxiety spikes, whatdo you think is going to happen?
Your performance? Well, it goesdown, especially if you're tying
your identity and how peopleview you, or whatever you're
worried about, all those otherthings that are out of your
control. Which I was, I wentinto that senior game and the
Apple Cup going, man, if we winthis game, I could be considered

(17:09):
one of the greatest quarterbacksWashington state history. At the
same time, if we don't win thisgame, I will be one of the few
quarterbacks who never won anApple Cup in Washington state
history. Oh, what's this goingto do to my draft stock? What's
this going to do? You know, allthese things. So all that
pressure I put on myself tofocus on the outcome, anxiety
spikes, performance decreases.

(17:31):
And what do I do in themeantime? Well, I didn't focus
on the process, the things Icould control to help me produce
the outcome that I wanted,versus I did that at UCLA. You
know, UCLA game. We got a minute11 seconds, or however much time
there is left for 80 somethingplus yards to go. We weren't
thinking about as a team. Hey,what's it going to mean if we

(17:52):
win or we lose this game? Whatwe were focused on is the task
at hand, doing our job,executing at a high level, the
things that we can control. Sowhat happened? Our anxiety
decreases, our performanceincreased. And I think it
started with Coach Leach. And Ithink it started with me. You
know, I think leach did a muchbetter job in the Apple Cup of
not putting such an emphasis onthe outcome. But I didn't. I put

(18:14):
a huge emphasis on the outcome.
And I think, you I'm notcomparing myself to Peyton
Manning, by any means, but Ithink Peyton Manning and some
other great people andquarterbacks and performers who
haven't been able to, quote,unquote, get over the hump, they
do the same thing, right? Hecouldn't beat Tennessee. Well, I
guarantee, maybe not guarantee,but I'm pretty sure, guarantee,
he put such an emphasis on theoutcome and needing the outcome,

(18:37):
his anxiety increase, hisperformance decreased, rather
than doing what he had done allthe other games. Versus you look
at a guy like Tom Brady, who isno stranger the spotlight, I
think what Tom Brady did betterthan anybody is being able to
dial in on the process and doinghis job and focus on things he
could control.

So do you think to tie this in to my team, the
Seahawks, here, your formerteammate, Sam darnold, what
happened with him? Because tome, that looks like exactly what
you're talking about. It's likea mental thing. Because of the
he had such a stellar seasonlast year. I was like, Oh, this
guy is the real deal. And thenat the end, it just seemed to
fall apart. Do you think he justput too much emphasis on those

(19:20):
last couple games,

Luke Falk (19:22):
probably, and then one two like Sam's case. I mean,
New York, that was a tough placeto be for him. It starts with
leadership. You got to have theright people around you at
quarterback. Like I said, thePAC 12 record wouldn't have
happened had we had a had we hada bad team, had we had bad
pieces around us, or a badsystem, or bad leadership? So
Sam kind of got caught in areally difficult situation early

(19:45):
on in his career. But I thinklast year, one two, let's not,
let's not take out of theequation, Sam was playing
against some really freakinggood football teams. He played
against the lions, who were thenumber one seed going to the
NFC. And then he played againstthe Rams, who. However, many
years earlier, three yearsearlier. So won the Super Bowl.
So it's not like he went againstsome scrubs, but he probably did

(20:07):
put too much emphasis on theoutcome, rather than going out
and executing his job andfocusing on what he could
control, and not allowing thenarrative of focusing on, well,
what's it going to mean for mycontract? What's it going to
mean for where I'm going to benext? What's What are people
going to say about going to sayabout me? All those things that
athletes can get into, andreally, anybody can get into,

(20:28):
right? And then all those thingsare out of your control. And
when you focus on those thingsout of your control, the anxiety
increases. It is, you know,it's, it's at the core of what I
teach you got to be, be able tohave the discipline and the
ability to refocus on what it isat hand that you do have control
over.

No, that's that's why I love this stuff. That's
why I think sports, it really islike a metaphor for life. So how
do you do that? Because I knowyou talked about leach had one
technique that he would use,where he would when you were
getting to, you know, in yourhead, or whatever, he would have
a word that would distract you.
I don't, I don't think,

Luke Falk (21:05):
yeah, I was gonna say, I can't say that. I'm not
on air. Probably, of what youcan't,

Unknown (21:09):
I don't care, but if you I don't want to embarrass
you. So, yeah, it was somethingthat would

Luke Falk (21:12):
even embarrass me. I think my, my wife, would kill me
if I said it on air. But yeah,he did a great job of just being
able to get myself out of thesometimes the paralysis by
analysis and focusing on theoutcome, or not being in a great
head space, and he'd be able todo that for, I think, a way for
athletes. And this is how I wastaught, and how I teach it

(21:34):
within the athletes that I coachright now is literally make a
list, what are the things youcan control in your sport, what
are the things you can't andthat's the starting point. And
you start focusing on thosethings and bringing yourself and
your mind back to those yourbreaths, one of the biggest
things you can focus on, right?
So when you find your anxiety isspiking, well, you're probably
focused on the external,something you can't control,

(21:55):
worrying what somebody'sthinking of you, worrying about
the outcome, future, the past,whatever it is. So dialing in
your breath, and the method thatI use is the four six breathing
method, breathing in throughyour nose for four seconds,
breathing out through your nosefor six seconds. So that's kind
of the first pillar, being ableto really create a breath work
technique when you find yourselfgetting in a headspace where
you're focused on things youcan't control. The next piece

(22:17):
would be then to startidentifying and creating skills.
So there are physical skills,there are mental skills, there
are spiritual and emotionalskills when it comes to
athletics and being and we havea process to be able to code
them so that they triggercertain meanings. But then, you
know, I saw Tom Brady one timein training. He had, you know,

(22:37):
those quarterback wristbands,and he had three bullet points
on there, and they weren'tplays, but they were skills.
They were reminders to him ofwhat he needed to do in his
throwing workout. So what's hedoing? He's not focused on the
spiral. He's not focused on theoutcome. He's focused on the
process that goes in to gettingthe good outcome, the thing he

(22:58):
could control. It's like, forexample, do you play golf?

I don't know if you would count it as playing. I try
to swing a club, and I suck atit, but here you go.

Luke Falk (23:10):
You go out of the golf course. And so one of the
most high anxiety producingshots, besides the $5 putt or
the water, is the first tee box.
And why? Because people are soconcerned about how they look,
right? I think the greatest Iheard Dr Michael Gervais, I
think he called it like Faucifear of people's opinions, or
fear of other people's opinions,which I think so true, the

(23:32):
greatest source of interferencefor athletes and people in
general is they just worry aboutwhat people think of them. They
tie their identity in needingapproval from other people. That
was me, and you're on a teetertotter trap. You get the
approval. You feel good. Youdon't you, you feel bad. And
what it does is it becomes, youbecome so outcome focused,
because think about it, you hita good golf shot, you're going

(23:54):
to get the approval, or we beatUSC, guess what? I got 450 text
messages that teeter totter isgoing up. But if you don't win
that game, and you lose to theApple Cup, or you get cut by the
jets for the fourth time, wellnow you get nobody reaching out.
So your mind gets trained tofocus on the outcome, because
that's how you get approval. Sonow I'm up at the golf course

(24:14):
and I'm about to hit my shot.
Rather than focus on something Ican control, I'm focused on am I
going to hit it out? Am I goingto put it in the middle of the
fairway? What are people goingto think of money? Anxiety
spikes, performance decreases,and then you hear the lame
excuse of all my back's notwarmed up, or, you know, I need
a breakfast ball when, when Mr.
Shankopotamus, or Mrs.

(24:35):
Shankopotamus comes out. Butinstead, if they focused on the
task or the skill at hand, likekeeping a front straight arm,
having an easy temple swing andkeeping their eye on the golf
ball, or working on their breathwork, or whatever goes into
hitting a good golf shot. Theiranxiety decreases, their
opportunity for performanceincreases. It's like dominoes

(24:56):
falling. It's like what dominoneeds to fall in order to
create. Result in the outcomethat you want. So I'll give you
one more example. I know I'm I'mgoing on a tangent here, but no,
I love it. This is all great.
Donovan Mitchell, one of myfavorite NBA players because he
was a Utah Jazz now he's withthe Cavaliers. Went oh for three
down the stretch in the playoffsagainst the Pacers. He's a
better free throw shooter thanOh for three down the stretch.

(25:19):
But why did he go for three? Inmy opinion? Obviously, don't
know this for sure, but based onmy experience, focused on
missing or making a shot, right?
It's what most people do, maybeworrying about what it's going
to mean from them winning thegame or his legacy or whatever.
So now his anxiety is up becausehe doesn't have direct control
of that, and then, as a result,performance goes down. Versus if

(25:43):
he focused on having good kneebend, keeping his eye on the
back of the rim, and having agreat high follow through, all
three of those things he couldcontrol. Anxiety would go down.
All three of those things. If heperformed that at a high level,
his opportunity to be able tomake the outcome that he wants,
making the shot significantlygoes up. Do you see that? So

(26:04):
yeah, it's

kind of like, kickers too, right? I feel like,
because you'll see a kicker missa kick and like, Ooh, that was a
bad miss, and then they'll dolike, five bad kicks in a row,
and you're like, what happened?
Like, this was a great kicker,yeah? And now this got into this
groove of, like, missing, andthen it's hard to get out

Luke Falk (26:21):
of it, certainly, because what, what happens in
that case is funny on bright youbrought that up. I call that the
negative play cycle, a bad playhappens. And I even asked my
athletes, I'm like, can one playequal two? And they say, Well,
no. I say, Yes, it can. In fact,it'd equal three or four. It
could equal a game. It couldequal a week, you know, however

(26:42):
long if you allow the previousplay to negatively impact the
next one, and what happens inthe negative play cycle is bad
play happens. They immediatelygo to the past and wish it
didn't happen, and they getembarrassed that it did. But
then they bypass the presentmoment. They go to the future
moment. They have fear and worrythat's going to happen again. So
you're you're living in the pastand you're living in the future,

(27:04):
two things you don't havecontrol of when you're too far
in the past, you have guilt.
When you're too far in thefuture, you have fear and worry.
And then what happens is thepresent moment gets squandered.
So from a quarterbackperspective, what it might look
like then as well. They'refearful of making a mistake. So
the check down. Charlie comesout, and you bypass all your
reads. You just throw it to therunning back, or you try to make
it all up in one play, and youforce the ball like my junior

(27:27):
year against U DUB, I threw apick late in the second or
second half, and then I threwtwo more picks on the two
consecutive drives because I wastrying to make up for the last
one, right? So you're moreaggressive. You're taking more
risk. You take more aggressive.
It's like you think that one byby having some superhero play,
you're going to get it all back.
It's going to make up for thelast one when it's not and it

(27:48):
kickers that never worked. Thattechnique never, never did. No,
never did. Did leech try to

steer you that way?
Though? Did he or did he say,okay, just calm down a little
bit. Or he say, go out there andthrow a bomb. His his

Luke Falk (28:03):
cue is, just play the next play. Play the next play.
And what that meant is, go outand do your job. Your job isn't
to force it in between twodefenders. Your job is to go
through the reads and put theball in play. So for a kicker,
you know what happens to them asthey go through that whole
negative play cycle and they'refearful it's going to happen
again? Well, where's their mindfocused on the outcome. Well,
they can't control the outcome,so then they forget the actual

(28:25):
process to kick a kick, right?
So the great does

leeches techniques is, does that play into your
philosophy now, or is it, is itcounter to that? Because you see
things like it, MississippiState, where the receivers were
dropping balls, and he folds upthe chairs and puts them away.
Like, is that? That seems likecounter to what you're talking

Luke Falk (28:48):
about. Leach learned a lot of mind strength with
Coach Leach. In fact, a lot ofit, though, I think he was spot
on. You know, there's even, likea mind strength technique of
stating what you want. You know,Coach Leach, I remember he's
like, don't think of a pinkelephant. I'm like. He's like,
What did you think of? Well,pink elephant. He's like, Yeah,

(29:09):
state what you want. That's theimage that goes in your head.
Now, there would be some gameswhere he's like, don't throw a
pick. I'm like, Coach, what doyou want? So you had to flip the
statement in your mind. But Ithink he was kind of ahead of
the curve. And what was so greatabout him is he just kept things
simple. He kept them easy. Heand that's that's a dirty word
in football, but by doing thatallowed the mental space to be

(29:30):
able to play fast. And then whathe was great at is he just he
never got too high, he never gottoo low, sure he'd get pissed
off, sure he'd make you up down.
There was that same Oregon Stategame I was telling you about
where I threw six touchdowns thefirst half. In the second half,
I was doing Up Downs, you know.
But it wasn't necessarily, maybeabout the outcome. He just

(29:50):
didn't like the process that wewere going about it, and in
terms of thought that my mymental state, or the way that
we're operating as a team,needed a recheck. Right now he
could get now he could getoutcome focused at times, if I
checked a run into a light box,for those of people that are
listening, means there's lessdefenders in the box. We have

(30:12):
more people to block. And if itdidn't go well, I might get
yelled at and chewed at, versusgoing, Hey, that's a good check,
and that's a good process. Wedidn't get the outcome we
wanted, where we'll work on it.
Sure, there were certain timeslike that, but I think the
majority of the stuff that Itook away is he helped me
perform at a higher level bydoing the things that we're
talking about.

Like, yeah, how did he, how did he never get
canceled? Like, how did peoplethat signed up for Team Leach?
Did they kind of know what theywere signing up for because,
again, there's a lot of peoplethat are, you know, more modest,
such as yourself and and, youknow, probably didn't enjoy all
the lewd language and stuff, butthey also didn't like say
complain about it, and quit theteam, or whatever. They stayed

(30:53):
with him.

Luke Falk (30:55):
Yo, you signed a waiver when you got to
Washington State. You know, I'mjust kidding. You signed away
all your rights to be able to doany of that stuff. No, it's not
just football like.

I've never, I've never played on like a college
football team, so I'm assumingit's probably, is it like that
in every lock? I mean, you'vebeen in several locker rooms NFL
in college, so you kind of know.

Luke Falk (31:14):
But it's just a different world. It's not, it's
not the new age of somebody saidsomething and it offended me, so
now I need to go ruin theirlife. It was, you know, there's
a great mind strength skill Italk about with Coach Leach.
It's like, what was said, what'sthe coaching point I can take
from it? Okay, not how is itbeing delivered, not taking what
he said So personally, which somany of us do, and in today's

(31:38):
day and age. So, yeah, thelocker room is a different
place. It's not a place forpeople who have not thick skin,
I would say, especially playingfor Coach Leach. He was the old
school mentality in that regard,where he was just going to say
it, how he wanted to say it, andhe wasn't concerned about your

(31:58):
feelings and how you were goingto take it. It was your job in
order to take his message and goapply it in a good way. And you
had two ways of being able todeal with it. You could become a
victim over it, or you couldallow it to take the coaching
and empower you and go be youryour best self and try not to
get yelled at again for the samemistake, you know. So, yeah, I

(32:18):
think people knew what they weregetting with Coach Leach. Some
guys didn't like it, you know,some guys quit. Some guys still
talk about them. I can't saythat I enjoyed every interaction
I had with him, and it's notlike him. And I had the most
sunshine and rainbowsrelationship by the end of it,
but looking back at it now withthe perspective I have, I'm so

(32:38):
very grateful for him, and Ithink I was just immature during
those times. And, you know, itprobably could have gone both
ways. I'm sure we each had ourpart within that relationship
riff. But overall, I mean, Icouldn't have asked for a better
head coach for me, andespecially, I mean, nobody would
know who the heck I am. I mean,how many guys give you an
opportunity like I said, andthen to create the offense and

(33:01):
the system and the freedom, andI'm just forever grateful to
him,

yeah, does he also as part of his philosophy, kind
of creating a I mean, everycoach has their philosophy of
what kind of environment theywant to create, like I would
think the locker room with leechis very different than Sabin or
Belichick. I mean, those guysjust seems like no personality,
and leech is so quirky to methat would be fun, but also

(33:28):
maybe a little scary, because ifhe gets mad, I'm sure if any of
those guys get mad, though it'sscary,

Luke Falk (33:35):
probably more so you're scared for your your
playing time, not necessarilylike the verbal insult, or any
of that, you know, I think,yeah, I just think Coach Leach,
it's funny. He had, like, hiscoach side, and they had the
public side, and some of them,sometimes it crossed over. But a
lot of the coaching side wasdifferent than what the public

(33:55):
side. The public got to see himgo on the long rant, the tyrants
and rants about this, that andthe other sure he did that. If
you're the quarterback, youprobably heard more of that, but
if you're part of just theeveryday, regular team, you more
so heard the football messagescoming from him, and
occasionally he would bring upsomething from whatever you're
studying that day. But really,the public got to see more of of

(34:16):
the quirkiness leech than a lotof the players did, excluding
quarterbacks, the quarterbackswe got to see it all. I mean,
there's okay, there's no I

wondered if it was maybe he was even quirkier
behind the scenes, like so Ithought he tried to kind of tone
it down for the press. So you'resaying he he ramped it up for
the press, and he was evenquirkier than he was in the
locker room.

Luke Falk (34:36):
Well, I just think he was himself in any situation.
But when it came to football, hehad to go do his job. I'm not
saying he wasn't the players. Hecertainly was. Now, I don't
think leach was like, I'm gonnago turn it on for this crowd. I
really think leach was justbeaten to his own drum, and had
a very was very authentic, andhad a great authenticity about

(34:57):
him, which is what made himgreat, right? He wasn't trying.
To be anybody's not. He wasgenuinely interested in all
those topics at that time. And Ithink he genuinely enjoyed the
discussions. And I mean, really,anytime you if you interacted
with him, personally, it's notlike he wanted to talk football
the time, like most of thesefootball coaches did. He had so
much, so many other interests.
And then when he was in thefootball building, he, you know,

(35:19):
he made sure that the messagewas was clear. So did

you ever have those moments where you didn't talk
football, like where he talkedabout other things he was
studying, or conspiracytheories, or advice or
philosophy?

Luke Falk (35:34):
Yeah, well, that's why I said the quarterbacks did
we spent so much time with them,versus like a defensive player,
really how our team wasstructured is which was so great
about Coach leach is, Coachleach was a master at
delegating. He hired greatcoaches, and he trusted them to
coach so he wasn't trying tomicromanage everything the

(35:56):
defense did. And in fact, AlexGrant, who was our DC, he was
basically the head coach of thedefense, you know, those guys
got to interact with Grinch thatmuch, versus my roommate, you
know, Isaac Dodson, or somebodyhe really didn't get to interact
with leech all that much,because it would only be during
team settings. But usquarterbacks, yeah, we got the
full scope. It was 70% nonfootball, 30% football, and it

(36:19):
was whatever the flavor of themonth is that, you know, okay,
you're, you're writing a bookabout Geronimo. We're going to
learn all about drama. Okay,you're, you're, you're learning
about the Vikings here. Okay,now we're going to learn about
the Vikings. Now, he'd bringsome of that within our team,
like before each game, he'd havesome, you know, video or
whatever emphasis that he wantedto go into the game, and

(36:40):
whatever he was studying at thetime, it might get thrown in
there. We'd watch some videos ofVikings or, you know, an animal
stocking some prey, or whatever,like whatever was interesting to
coach leach at the time, andthen he'd make that part of the
team video. So I don't know ifthat's a good enough
description, but it's like thereare certain guys that really
didn't get a lot of personaltouch from Coach Leach, because

(37:01):
they weren't in his quarterbackroom, and in your quarterback
room, you know his quarterbacks.
That's why a lot of them have somany stories, because you're
with them all the time.

Yeah, no, for sure.
So I mean, going back to youwere talking about your senior
season, you said it was maybe alittle bit of a disappointment,
because I remember people, Idon't if you saw these T shirts.
People had T shirts that saidit's our Falcon year. And I
thought that was so good, likeit. And you started off so
great, and but you said that youkind of, you're more loose with
your regimen then, and it was apoor environment. And, I mean,

(37:31):
is there things that you wouldhave changed your senior season,
done differently?

Luke Falk (37:37):
Yeah, well, one, I would have been on better terms
with Coach Leach, you know, itwas at the time I was getting
advice from pretty much everyoneunder the sun who was in the
agent space that based upon thequarterback class that year,
that it was a lighterquarterback class, and that I
was a projected second or thirdrounder, and that I'd be crazy
to go back for my senior seasonand but I really wanted to go

(38:00):
back. We were one game away,really, for like, the past
couple of years, it seemed likeof being at the PAC 12
championship game and winning itand having the opportunity to do
that, so I wanted to go back andfinish it out with people that I
came in with. And so at the timethe off season, it was then a
debate of, okay, well, can WSUpick up more of my insurance

(38:24):
policy? So if I come back andsomething happens, I get an
injury, or if I fall in thedraft, that I would be
compensated for me taking therisk of coming back? And that
became a huge riff initially,with like Coach Leach and the
powers that be at the time. Andso it started off on the wrong
foot, and then I allowed kind ofthat whole riff at that point to

(38:46):
probably lead into the season ofbeing pissed off and not feeling
supportive, and I allowed somevictim type thinking in that
regard. And I also, too, youknow, I got to the point where I
was tired of coach lead showingup 50 minutes late to our
quarterback meeting. And ratherthan me thinking it was funny,
like I did when I was a walk on,I was like, I feel like we're

(39:08):
wasting you know, I wanted morestructure, more regimen and type
of deal. But instead of doingthat in a powerful, proactive
way, I, like I said, I selfdestruct. In a sense, I quit
working on the things thathelped me be a great player, but
working on my mind strength. Iquit hanging out with my
teammates the way I did in 2015and creating personal
relationships outside offootball to create trust within

(39:31):
them. From a leadershipstandpoint, I quit being one of
the guys. I was more soisolated. I was more so
concerned about what otherpeople thought. You know, I
really, I really digressed mysenior. I really got quote,
unquote fat and lazy and justdidn't continue to do the things
that I needed to do in order toplay at high level. So then,

(39:51):
when it came down to the seasonone, I didn't have coach Leach's
trust, nor do I think I had thetrust of my teammates at the
time. I probably had thepublic's trust. Based on what I
did, but based on what I haddone in the off season, the
daily deposits I was making,they weren't big enough. In
fact, I was probably making morewithdrawals with everyone,
including myself. And I think itcomes back down to two is I had

(40:13):
a lot going on in my personallife from an environment
standpoint, that I didn't havethe skills to create healthy
boundaries for me. And it waslike I was, I was really not in
a great headspace going intothat year. If I look back on it,
I would say it was more of kindof like a depression type stuff
and but I just, I didn't, Ididn't do what it took to help

(40:35):
me get out of it. And in fact,that kind of went all throughout
until I finally got cut by bythe final time with the jets
that just that whole headspacedark cloud, it seemed like. And
then finally went and got somehelp from a therapy standpoint,
and started really unpacking andunwinding a lot of things that I
probably had suppressed just togo out and perform, because as a

(40:59):
performer, and you're playing infront of however many people,
however many hundreds of 1000sor millions, millions of people
on TV. It's like you're tryingto just compartmentalize and
make sure you're ready for thegame on Saturday, where you're
might, maybe not, you're, you'remaybe not dealing with the
things that are going on thatsomebody else would. And I
really didn't feel like I hadthe skills at the time to

(41:21):
properly do that, until I wentto therapy and started to
decompress. Okay, what justhappened? Okay, here's what
happened. And I started workingthrough that. And I got back to
my mind, strength skills, I gotback to the things that helped
me in that regard. But that'swhy I'm you know, I made a post
on it today. Your environment'sso important, because your
environment really influencesthe decisions you make, the the

(41:44):
work ethic you have, what youwhat information you're in
taking in, you know? So it'slike, even within my own family
at the time, we're grateful thatI walked on at Washington State.
By the end of it, we're pissedoff, because, you know, we felt
like we're entitled. We're owedsomething when we got to the NFL
and they slowed in the track,two different mindsets, two
different outcomes, same person.

Yeah, wow, that's a lot. Yeah, I mean, and that's
interesting. I know you say thatyou're not a mental health
expert, you're a mental strengthcoach, and it's different, but I
do think they're, they'rerelated, right? Like, I think if
people can build up their mentalstrength, I mean, it's easier to
work through mental healthissues. And, I mean, you must
know that too. I mean, I hadHollins, keys, parents from

(42:27):
Alinsky hope on my show, wetalked, we talked for like, two
hours of just unpacking thatwhole thing and a whole
situation. I mean, was that kindof when that happened? Was that
a little bit of a wake up callto you at

Luke Falk (42:38):
all? Or Yeah? And you know, so I'm not sure if I'm
supposed to share this or not,but like, I've been chatting
with Mark, and we're probablygoing to team up with my book
coming out and doing somethingto, you know, help create some
proceeds going to Lensky soap.
Because a part of mind strength,to me, what mind strength is, is
learning how to change a tirebefore you need to know how to
change a tire. You know, it'sabout being able to equip

(42:58):
yourself when tough moments likethat happen? Well, you know,
there's this game where Iplayed. It was the Holiday Bowl
in 2016 I got hit so hard by aMinnesota defender that my
helmet was stuck in the ground,and I couldn't get it up unless
I put two hands and I forciblyput my head back, and I had this
big grass divot on my helmet.

(43:20):
Now I joke that that's thehardest I ever got hit in a
football game, but that's dullin comparison to what life's hit
is going to hit at you, youknow, and sometimes a tire
doesn't blow out, sometimes thewhole car implodes. And what are
you going to do then? Well, atthat point, it's shows great
strength to ask for help. And,you know, I think there's

(43:40):
audibles on the football field.
There are audibles in life, andone of those audibles might need
to be, Hey, easy, easy. I needsome help. I need some
direction. I need some guidanceto unpack what I'm going
through. And for me, when thatthing happened with Tyler, yeah,
it was a wake up call.
Initially, it was more sosadness for him and like, how
the heck did that happened,because that kid was as bubbly

(44:02):
as it gets. And like, you know,everybody liked him. He seemed
like he had great things goingfor him. He had two more years
to be the guy. He just had somegreat moments at that year. And
then, you know, it was like,super shocking in that regard.
And then I even got to theperspective too. It was like,
Well, I probably wasn't thenicest to Tyler. You know, we

(44:23):
were competing. I probably, andput things from a life
perspective of, like sports,they're that much, but how you
treat people in therelationship? We're all human
beings, and I really had a lotof guilt and remorse of I could
have treated Tyler better. Icould have been a better
teammate, not even a betterteammate, but a better human
being, probably to him andeverybody in that room. But I

(44:45):
was so from the walk onmentality, that everybody is a
competitor in my eye, that Ididn't view it from that lens
until he passed like, holy shit.
Like, really, all this time thatI spent competing, I could have
been a better. Human being, abetter friend, a better support
for that guy. And then, youknow, fast forward, I get cut by
the jets for the final time.

(45:08):
Well, my dad had a healthdiagnosis. Didn't go well. My
mom was dealing with mentalhealth stuff. I was I just got
done with the five yearengagement type deal. My dog
died. You know, it's like mycareer ended. I was in a place
where I'm like, Well, what am Igoing to do now? I had double
hip surgery. So there's a lotthat happened all at once. And

(45:29):
you know, what's sad about it isI still felt like a failure,
felt like I should tough it out,that I don't need the help. But
it wasn't until my sisterNatalie was like, Luke, you need
here's, here's, here's thistherapist number Karen. Go call
her. And was avid that I do it.
And thank God I did, becauseafter having that conversation
with her, I started to unraveland unpack things that had been,

(45:51):
you know, suppressed or whateverI had dealt with for such a long
time. What I had done initiallyis just stuff it down, suppress
it, compartmentalize and go onand and, you know, people think
mind strength when I when I talkabout it, maybe they think it's
about being perfect. It's not.
It's about really thevulnerability of saying, Hey,

(46:13):
I'm not okay in this certainsituation, but I have the tools
to be able to help me reboundquicker. Because when I went
through therapy, I'm sure Irebounded quicker than maybe the
average Joe, because I did havethese skills, but I had to find
them again. You have to continueto work on them, and it's okay
to need guidance and support. Infact, I still use therapy in my

(46:34):
own life to this day, because Ifind such benefit in it anyway.
So that's probably way longerthan you want to go into. But

no that. See that.
But it all makes sense, youknow, and we talk about this,
and I'm so glad, like with theHollins keys, hope. I think
they're doing such a greatthing, because they're just
bringing this issue, you know,for people to talk about it,
because there was, there'salways this stigma, like, Oh, if
you go to counseling, I mean,I'm a counselor. I was a
counselor for 17 years, and so Ilove psychology, I love
counseling, but there was astigma. I feel like it's kind of

(47:06):
disappearing now, but especiallywith men and football players.
Football players, no, you'resupposed to be tough. You don't
need counseling. And, and that'sall BS to me,

Luke Falk (47:16):
yeah, there. And there's certainly, you know,
there's certainly a fine linetoo, where you can't just pat
everybody on the back and and,you know, not have them go
through some hard things. Butcertainly it is okay to not be
okay in that regard. And there'shelp there, and there are great
professionals out there to helpyou. You know, you we can't baby
everybody, but at the same time,we being too much of the other

(47:38):
way is, I don't believe healthyeither, and there's even a
stigma when it comes to mentalperformance training. It's like
the probably the greatest thingthat can help somebody unlock
their performance or be adetriment to them, is their
mind. It's not a physicalcapability, but so, but we have
no problem spending all thismoney on quarterback coach,
strength coach, weight, youknow, speed coach, whoever it

(48:01):
is, the sport specific, physicalthing, but when it comes down to
it, the thing that holds themback is their mind, or the thing
that allows them to unlock allthat stuff to their mind. But
there's kind of a stigma aroundit, like, Oh, we don't need it,
or I can train it myself, or mycoach is doing it. Well, you're
really not. And anyway, so I'mkind of working through that in
this field as well. I know otherpeople in my space are too. And

(48:24):
really what I think's going onright now is there's a mind
strength movement. Yes, I'm anadvocate for mental health. I'm
really an advocate too to hey,let's strengthen your mind like
you would any other part of yourbody. Let's like you're going to
the weight room strengthen yourmind beforehand. And yeah, there
are going to be things that lifethrows at you that are going to
be really hard to deal with, andat that point, certainly go get

(48:45):
the help that you need.
Certainly go talk to the people,the professionals. And if you do
that, and you have a baselineand a foundation where you're
already have some great mindstrength skills and tools and
coping mechanisms and resiliencetraining, wow, you're going to
be able to rebound a lotquicker. Life ain't easy. It's
going to throw you some curveballs. It's going to throw you
some stuff. It's going to it'sgoing to beam you, it's going to
hit you in the face. Sometimeyou're not going to know what to

(49:08):
do. But if you have theseunderlying, base, fundamental,
foundational skills on top ofthe sport that you get now,
you're really cooking, and inparticular, you know, really
targeting college quarterbacksin particular because they got,
they got so much noise. Now,they got so much noise. N, I, L,
all their handlers, uh, rev,share, social media, pressure,

(49:30):
pressure, pressure, all thisstuff, all external. Well, let's
train them in their inner worldso they can handle anything that
the external world throws atthem, you know, let's, let's
help them get the tools to beable to equip themselves. Not
only so they play well onSaturdays, I want that listen. I
want them to have greatoutcomes. But what I'm really
after with this training is, howcan you become a more confident,

(49:53):
more, you know, well equippedindividual internally, more
people. Peaceful, more sureabout yourself, more self
secure, rather than approvalseeking and having a calmness
within, not an anxiety, becauseyou're always looking to the
outer world. So it makes sense.

Yeah, do you think with some quarterbacks? The the
what would you call? It like,the cockiness is maybe too much.
I mean, there's so many storiesof quarterbacks who are a little
too cocky and maybe they didn'tput in the work ethic. Like, I'm
just thinking shoulder Sandersright now, like, that's one
that's controversial. I don'tknow, like his work ethic behind
the scenes and all that, butjust, you know, he was a guy who

(50:34):
they said had the talent to be atop 10 pick or something, and he
fell to what the fifth or sixthround, I think, of NFL Draft.
What do you think's going onwith him? I

Luke Falk (50:43):
can't comment on that one in particular. I don't know
shador. I know that he was agood college player. Obviously,
there's a lot of hype aroundhim, based upon the N i l he
made and who his dad is. Theonly thing I can comment on is
it wasn't as big of a drop, orit wasn't as big of the news
headlines like his. But in myexperience, I had something

(51:06):
similar. I thought I was goingto go higher, and I fell, and I
had two choices to make. I couldhave my walk on mentality and be
grateful for the opportunitythat I had and put the time,
energy and effort intomaximizing my skills, or I could
do what I did and feel entitled,feel like a victim, feel angry,
mad, bitter, upset, feeling likeI got slighted. And so he's got

(51:27):
the two decisions he can do, andit'll be interesting which one
he takes. If he takes the firthe first one, I think he's
going to be a great player. Ifhe takes the ladder, he'll
probably end up having a careerlike mine, and it'd be very
short,

yeah. Yeah. So let's talk about your NFL
career, though, because so youdid get drafted by the Titans,
and they cut you, then thedolphins picked you up, and then
you ended up on the jets, andyou played well, from what I
could see, what I remember inthe preseason, obviously, it was
well enough to you. I think youwere number two on the depth
chart, right? That's how you gotto start for the Jets. I

Luke Falk (51:59):
got to be so I was on the third on the depth chart,
and then Sam got mono. He waskissing girls out in New York or
something. And just kidding, oh,you're calling him out right
now. No, I mean, I think thatobviously people would speculate
on that, right? Or he drinkssomebody's water bottle. Who
knows? Let's call that, yeah.
But then, then Trevor started,and then he unfortunately got

(52:21):
injured by miles, Garrett andbroke his ankle. And then that's
how I saw I was. I went fromthird to first in a matter of a
day, two days,

yeah, so maybe they, you didn't have the
preparation, I mean, because Ithought when I before, you know,
listening to your last coupleinterviews, like, just from on
being on the outside, I waslike, man, he got a raw deal.
Like, they gave him, like, onegame to start with. And I can't,
I feel like, at the time, Idon't know if the jets had the
greatest like offensive line andweapons and receivers and
running backs and all that. Andthen they just like, cut you.

(52:54):
They went, you went fromstarting a game to not even,
like, practice squad. And Ithought you got a raw deal. But
then when I listen to interviewsago, it was all my fault. I take
all the responsibility I didn'tplay well, Bobo, I'm like, wow,
that's such a 180 from what Iwould have thought you would
have said,

Luke Falk (53:08):
well, if you would have asked me in the immediate
aftermath of it all, I wouldhave said all those things,
well, we played two playoffteams on the road. Well, I
didn't get any notice. Well, wehad a bad team, bad environment,
bad this, bad that, but I'mgiving all my power away, then
I'm I'm the victim I'm blamingand my external environment, if
my external environment is good,then I'm good. When I've had

(53:30):
time to really reflect and havegreat perspective on it, it's
well, I didn't necessarily dothe things that were going to
help me be in a best position toplay well. Like, here's tale of
two. Again, like, I think it'spretty funny. Within my career,
there really is, like twocareers, one of doing the right
things, and one of not. But myfirst career start against
Oregon State. You know, samething happened. Star gets

(53:53):
injured. Connor holiday getsinjured. My first game, I
planned packed 12 Player of theWeek threw for over 500 yards,
played great and never reallylooked back after that moment,
my first career start againstTom Brady and New England
Patriots didn't go all thatwell. And what people say when
it comes to being lucky is, youknow, preparation meets

(54:14):
opportunity. Well, I had theopportunity both of them, but
the first one, I was a whole lotmore prepared that didn't have
anything to do with the staff,or how many reps I got in
practice, because I didn't havea ton of those things early on
in my college career. But I madethose reps. I took the time
after to find and look for thesolutions. I went through the
script, I visualized. I wroteevery play down. I met with

(54:35):
coaches. I got extra stuff inthe weight room. I was, you
know, in a completely differentmindset, I would not be denied.
Versus in the NFL, I did thebare minimum. You know, I'm I'm,
I did what I was asked. I didnothing more. So when I got that
moment, my anxiety was up,because what's the number one
thing you have control of as aplayer? Well, your preparation
and my preparation wasn't onpoint. And, yeah, so if you

(54:58):
would ask me right after. And Igot cut, I'd have so bitter I
was beyond better. How could youknow? How could this happen?
Blank, blank. If only this wouldhave been the case. But now I
can see clearly, Hey, I betthings would have been a whole
lot different had I done what Ineeded to.

Yeah. I mean, do you do you look back on that now
and say, I mean, because you'reonly 30 years old, I believe,
like now you have thisperspective, and you have the
different mindset, why not makea comeback and try out for I
mean, especially now, with allthese besides NFL, they have
these kind of minor league, Idon't even know what they're
called. They're like, kind oflike next minor league NFL. I

(55:38):
don't know what it's called, XFLor something. I mean, you could
potentially make a comeback ifyou wanted.

Luke Falk (55:44):
Well, if you saw me move around right now, you'd say
probably, you probably have ahard time starting on the high
school varsity team right nownow, but in, yeah, just some
injuries. I mean, I took a lotof hits on my own doing in
college, and my hip surgeriesprobably didn't go as well as I
would have hoped, and havingsome issues in that regard, and
some aches and pains from reallynot getting rid of the football,

(56:07):
probably in college, andaveraging 35 sacks a year. You
know, that's way too many, andas a quarterback coach, that
would have friggin driven menuts. But the real truth of that
is, is I don't have a passion tomy passion is, and what I felt
like my real calling is, if Ireally look at it as a player, I
was pushed to be a player. Imean, like, from a young age,

(56:30):
it's like, that was what I wasgoing to do. That was like, Who
Luke Falk was. That was what wascreated the environment for me.
And that was like, that was thethe family dream, in a sense,
and I got it. And quite frankly,you know, it was like not all
that was cracked up to be when Igot to the mountain top. And I
think that's part of where thelack of motivation was to like,
is this all there is, you know,I got to a place where I thought

(56:52):
I would be fulfilled. I thoughtI would be and it's not you can
never get enough of what youdon't need. And what I found is,
you know that I found a realcalling in my own life that is
fulfilling to me, and it'scoaching like I love being a
coach. I love helping peoplemaximize and achieve their full
potential through strengtheningtheir mind, through the coaching

(57:13):
tactics that I have. And I viewevery opportunity. It's not
like, oh, woe is me. I wentthrough all these things, those
trials and tribulations, thehighs, the lows. What a great
apprenticeship for me to be ableto pass it on to the next
athlete to help them prepare toget off the teeter tire trap,
to, you know, focus on thethings that are going to help
elevate the performance, notonly on the field, but also in

(57:33):
life, and also help them just,you know, be more self secure,
not so insecure. I was soinsecure, so So, so insecure,
and I'm still battling andworking through it. And what I
always tell people, probably thegreatest mind strength, skill
you could ever give yourself isto love who you are. You know,
to love who God made you to be.
Because you, we all have aninherent, unchanging, unwavering

(57:54):
worth. That's God given, and itcan't be changed or dictated by
based on the outcome. And somany athletes, so many high
performers, so many highachievers, they get so wrapped
up in needing the outcome.
Because, like I said, that's howthey get the approval. And they
need the approval in order tofeel like they're loved and they
matter. And it's a sad reality.
So then when they're not, andwhen that sport gets taken away,

(58:17):
or when that job, or when thatwhatever that was, that they
place their identity and getstaken away, then they have an
identity crisis, like so manyathletes, so many high
achieving, so many performers,do? I know I did. That was part
of my I joke, my quarter lifecrisis, and I went through a
quarter life crisis, and itreally helped me put things in
perspective. And I'm stillworking on them, you know? I'm

(58:38):
still working on them, stillworking on loving the man in the
mirror that I see in order tohelp me have a foundation in
that, not even even on, hey, ifI have a great post that takes
off, not making that myidentity, not making, you know,
I got this book coming out, ifit's a best seller, not making
that my identity or my coaching.
It's not my identity. It's notwho I am, it's what I do.

So what is your identity? You mentioned treating
others well like you wish youhad treated Tyler better and
other things that you want to beknown for, besides football and
your book or whatever.

Luke Falk (59:12):
Yeah, I just think being a it's like people
remember how you made them feel,and just treating people the way
I wanted to be treated. Andreally, my identity is rooted
in, well, what's going to giveme? What's unchanging,
unwavering, knowing that I amhere for a reason, that the way
that I was made, the way thatthe situation, the family that I
come from, where I grew up, allthe things in my life are here

(59:35):
for a reason, for me to havesome higher work, some higher
plans and higher purpose, and,you know, to have acceptance.
For such a long time, I fixatedon things I couldn't control,
and I would get mad, angry,bitter, all those things, and
have anxiety around it, and itreally put a external focus
through that lens of needingpeople's approval in order to

(59:58):
make me feel good about myselfor feeling. Like a matter. And
what I did is I lived on theteeter totter trap. And I hinted
at it, but it's like, it goesup, it goes down. And at the
root of the teeter totter trap,and the foundation of it is it's
externally focused, so otherpeople dictate it, or other
situations. And what I did is Ilived in a constant state of
anxiety, in a constant state of,you know, wondering how I

(01:00:21):
looked, how I viewed. And soeven a situation where I'm Luke
Falk, the quarterback atWashington State, right? I'm the
talk of the town, I have a badsenior year. Well, what happens?
The teeter totters down now Ifeel poorly about myself. Well,
now this guy, Gardner Minshew,comes in, and he's, you know,
he's way beyond Luke Faulk. He's40x that from a from a
perspective. Well, now, how do Ifeel about myself when nobody's

(01:00:44):
in that regard? You know? Soit's like going through of I
can't allow my identity be basedupon any external. It's got to
be rooted in something that'sunchanging, and that person's
within me, and it's you got tohave a love for yourself. So
there's even a poem I wroteabout it through my own struggle
that I've shared at some of mymy talks. And I know I'm a
little bit long on this, but itgoes, you know, who cares what

(01:01:06):
they think I surely do everymove I've made, I've thought of
the review, how will I look, andwhat will they say? Will I win
their love and approval for justone more day? Why do I do this?
How could it be? Does it allstem from a deep root of a lack
of love for me. And if this isso, how then do I grow? The
answer becomes clear, startloving the man who is standing

(01:01:28):
in the mirror. And that's reallywhat I think my purpose and my
calling is, is to help peoplewho have struggled with that, to
help people who have walked thatsame road like I have, and help
them by finding the answerswithin myself. So then I'm best
equipped to be able to bringthem along with me. So I love
it, yeah. I love all that. Yeah.
So, like I said, all the outcomestuff, I want people to have

(01:01:50):
that. But really, what I'm afteris that inner Foundation, the
thing that can't be changed, itcan't be wavered, it can't be
moved, uh, or shaken

Chuck Shute (01:02:01):
Well, I was a fan of you as a football player, and
now, after talking to you for anhour, I'm a fan of you as a
person, as a strength coach, andI'm excited to read this book.
It sounds amazing. I'm inspiredjust from talking to you, so I'm
sure the book's going to beamazing. I

Luke Falk (01:02:16):
appreciate it. Thanks for having me on anytime I can
pick out the message. I'm happyto do it. So thanks. Yeah, if
you're ever

in Arizona, come down to the coug bar and watch a
game with us. Like, we'd love tohave Borg. He's been there, and,
you know, some of your buddies.

Luke Falk (01:02:30):
So that'd be great.
Where's it at in Arizona?

There's one in Scottsdale, like, kind of, like,
Fountain Hills, cold beer,cheeseburgers and, yeah, it's,
it's really fun. You'd have agood time that you would
everybody would love you.

Luke Falk (01:02:43):
Well, I think, well, my wife would really like to
take you up on that. Get down toScottsdale in the fall. Sounds
pretty good. Okay,

yeah, hit us up.
Yeah. All right, thanks. Okay,go cooks. Bye, bye.

THEME SONG (01:02:55):
She'll be learning again. So let Fauci.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Former NFL QB & Pac-12 Passing Leader Luke Falk Discusses Mental Strength, His Upcoming New Book and More!

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Former NFL QB & Pac-12 Passing Leader Luke Falk Discusses Mental Strength, His Upcoming New Book and More!

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