November 28, 2023 • 45 mins
Life was rough growing up for Reuben Droughns, but no one would ever guess that based off the permanent smile he wears on his face. No one would know he stayed in hotels at times, was homeless other times and dealt with custody issues. Reuben could have used his young life as an excuse, instead he just stayed positive and forged on towards a career in the NFL that lasted three times longer than most others.
Reuben mostly grew up in LA and when his grades weren’t where they needed to be, he went to junior college after high school. He played football and tore up the field as a running back – in 1997, he was the nation’s top JuCo running back. Soon he got his grades up and took his talents to Oregon where he continued to run like crazy and was 1st Team All-Pac 10 his senior year.
He was a 3rd round draft pick by the Detroit Lions in 2000 and would get traded a few times and spend time with a few teams including Denver, Cleveland and the NY Giants. After a nine-year career in the NFL, he tried high school coaching, overseas coaching and these days is just being dad, to FOUR girls. Of course he’s still always smiling.
Reuben mostly grew up in LA and when his grades weren’t where they needed to be, he went to junior college after high school. He played football and tore up the field as a running back – in 1997, he was the nation’s top JuCo running back. Soon he got his grades up and took his talents to Oregon where he continued to run like crazy and was 1st Team All-Pac 10 his senior year.
He was a 3rd round draft pick by the Detroit Lions in 2000 and would get traded a few times and spend time with a few teams including Denver, Cleveland and the NY Giants. After a nine-year career in the NFL, he tried high school coaching, overseas coaching and these days is just being dad, to FOUR girls. Of course he’s still always smiling.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
He's like, well, he's leaningback in his chair. It's like,
Ruben, I've taken chances in mycareer. Are you willing to take a
chance in your career. I'm like, if it means I don't have to
play fullback. Yeah. So he'slike, well, I think we're going
to trade you. I'm like Iwas kind of shocked, but I was
like, okay, had that beena thought in your mind to be traded?
(00:22):
No, I didn't want to leaveDenver. Welcome to cut, traded,
fired, retired. If this isyour first time listening, welcome.
If you're returning for more, welcomeback. This podcast features conversations with professional
athletes and coaches who have faced avariety of challenges in their careers and lives.
I'm your host, Susie Wargen.As you know if you've listened to
(00:42):
any of these podcasts, every professionalathlete has a different path. Very few
have a nice, smoothly paved path. Most have a rough road with a
number of hills, kind of likethis episode's guest, Ruben Drones, is
the perfect example of making it byjust getting noticed, not by going to
a big name college right out ofhigh school. Rubin actually spent his first
(01:02):
two years in junior college, thenmade his way to Oregon, where he
led the nation in rushing yards hisjunior season. He was a third round
pick in the two thousand NFL draftand then got injured on the very first
play of his first preseason game.Not the best way to start a pro
career, but Ruben stayed optimistic,and he lasted three times longer than the
average running back in the NFL witha few different teams, including three seasons
(01:26):
with the Denver Broncos. These days, he's a girl dad times four.
Yeah, four girls to keep himstraight, and he never stopped smiling ladies
and gentlemen. Ruben Drones Cut TradedFired, retired podcast with Susie Wargen Ruben
Drones. How you doing. I'mdoing good. I'm doing good, excellent,
(01:47):
actually good. I was so excitedthat you were the honorary captain at
a Broncos game and I hadn't seenyou in forever. We would and we
yes, Jo, you were thekey. That's right. Now, you
got to come back every time I'mgoing to this game, so I hopefully
more games for Reuben. Yeah,well good, this is great to see
you. You were a force tobe reckoned with when you were with the
Broncos. You were in the leaguefor many years, and I love your
(02:10):
background of where you came from andhow you kind of came up, because
I think everybody thinks that you've gotto be Division one to make it,
and you proved that wrong. Andwe're going to get into that because you
said you have a theory about that. I do have a theory. I
love that. I love that yourparents. Yeah good, Let's go back
to the beginning. You're born inChicago, but eventually make your way to
(02:30):
Orange County, California. Talk alittle bit about your childhood and how that
happened. So, you know,I grew up in Anaheim, California.
Things weren't as fortunate for me outin Anaheim, but you know, I
had a lot of friends and alot of support system that kind of carried
me through. It was actually funnybecause I had a friend across We were
living with my Granma at the timeand had a friend across the street from
me that played pop worn and footballand he was one of my best friends.
(02:52):
And we got to talking and heloved the Chicago Bears, and I'm
from Chicago. So I loved theChicago Bears and Walter Payton and everything.
Yeah, and so he's like,man, you know I played football and
you know you should come out andplay. And I'm like, well,
So at the time, I wentback to Chicago to visit my dad,
which I stayed out there for aboutanother three years. And then when I
(03:12):
came back, I went to hishouse and I'm like, hey, man,
I think I'm ready to play football. It was about ten years old.
He told me what to do andhow to get signed up. Actually
the coach lived right next door tohim, Papa Ti. We called them
Publican and it was it was amazing. I started off at defensive lineman.
Oh you did the defensive and thenhow did that go? Did you just
kind of fall in love with it? I know that you also wrestled in
(03:36):
high school. I did, butI fell in love with it. You
know, I was getting I wastaking a beating and bruising and everything I
had. I was planning to getsome older guys and stuff. So I
had to take my punishment at anearly age. And then one year,
you know, I think it wasmy last year in Pop Warner. Well,
yeah, my third year in PopWarner. The coach was like,
hey, hey, Unfortunately they calledme Spookums, but it was my nickname.
(03:58):
Wow, I don't know, that'sfunny, funny, right, and
so you know it's funny cause Istill use it for things like emails and
stuff like. But he said,hey, he Spookings, We're gonna put
you at running back. And I'mlike, are you sure? Coach?
He's like, yeah, you're fast, so I think you would be good.
And so he's like okay. SoI tried it and it was great.
(04:20):
And the first time I ran theball, ninety yard touchdown, No
way called back, oh fall startexactly. Oh no. So the second
time I ran the ball, Idid it again. That's where I was
meant to be. Coaches were lovingit and they're like, dude, you're
(04:40):
naturally at running back. And soI continued on and tried to word number
thirty four because Walter Payton was myidol and everything. So that's fun.
And so you played in high school. You did very well in high school
and also in wrestling. You letteredin both sports. Yeah, in three
sports. Oh three sports. Yeah, So all you all your kids out
there, the day of resports isstill there. You guys can do it.
(05:01):
What was your third sport? Trackand field? Okay, what did
you do in track? Obviously sprinter? Maybe I was a sprinter and a
jumper, yeah, yeah, highjump, long jump. So in high
school football wise, you had fortynine touchdowns and almost five thousand rushing yards.
Wow. I didn't even know thatWikipedia is correct. I got most
of those my sophomore year. Thenreally, oh wow, I read for
(05:21):
two thousand yards my software year.Yeah. Oh my gosh, Reuben,
that's insane. It was fun.Wow. And when you did finish,
you finished with the second most inthe history of Orange County at that time,
second most rushing yards. I didn'tknow that. Well, somebody's updating
your Wikipedia. It's not me.I'm not boasting myself out there. Like,
(05:43):
did you also win a wrestling title? I didn't win state. They
have weird divisions in yeahs. Iwon CIF and I won Masters and I
made it the state and I wrestledto get it was a man. Oh
memory, bad memory. I amsorry. I wrestled against the number one
guy in the nation. I wasnumber ten and I chose down. He
pinned me. I don't think Iwas pinned, but the rev called me
(06:03):
a pin, called a pin andI lost to him. I'm like,
oh my god, if I coulddo it all over again. And you
wrestled at yes, I started atone forty five. I was only waying
one seventy one when I wrestled at. Oh, Sue, you really did?
You wrestled up? Yes? Whydid you do that? Because of
my brother? My brother was oneseventy ones and I would always beat him,
(06:25):
so I wanted them to get achance. I hope he's not listening
because it would be older and younger. He's older than me. I'm the
youngest. Oh wow, okay,you would have beat him all the time.
If you stayed at once cheated,he would like he would dig his
elbow when we were at practice,he'd dig his elbow on my side and
stuff like that. He knows howto get me mad, and so that
(06:46):
would like, you know, justknew all the buttons to play. How
many siblings do you have? Threeolder brothers? Oh geez, you're the
youngest of all the boys. YesI am, And now you're being paid
back. We'll get to this,but you have all daughters, so we'll
get to that later. But Ithink we could think my mom for that
one, she thought I was goingto be a girl and like, oh
my godness, yeah yeah, yeah, wow. So you had a lot
to live up to then having threeolder brothers I did. They pushed me
(07:09):
hard, and you know, justkind of the situation I was in.
I really wanted to, you know, achieve greater things in my life.
So when you're done with high school, you go to junior college, you
go to Merced Merceded Junior College,And why is that? Did you get
any scholarship offers? With the statsthat you had being in Orange County,
I would think that you'd be onsome radars. I did get a lot
(07:29):
of scholarships. I actually got ascholarship to Oregon. And that's why I
chose because it was funny because thecoach came out there. It was a
special teams coach. He came outthere. He seemed me. The ball
went over the fence. It wasthe fence probably about yay hi, and
I jumped over the fence with mypads on and he was like, wait,
who's that kids like, who's thatkid? We want to sign him?
(07:53):
And so they stuffed me away atMERCEDAD junior college, and I didn't
have time to you know, Igraduated. I hung all my friends for
about a week and I was gone. Really, so, did Oregon have
you go to junior college? It'sdashed me there. Yes, oh smart.
It was smart of them. Didyou know that's what they were doing?
Yeah, of course. And Iwanted to go there because I wanted
to you know, I had offersfrom other schools, but I wanted to
(08:16):
go to a school that was goingto play in southern California and my parents
can get to watch me and stufflike that. And at that time it
was the Pac Ten. Yes,so you're playing against all the California schools
at that time. Yeah. Whatother schools offered? Did you go on
other trips? Ucla? I wenton the trip to UCLA. They kind
of rubbed me the wrong way,and I didn't really like that. I
could have went to USC, butI wanted to get out of southern California.
(08:39):
I wanted to try my talents andsee if I was any good in
other places and stuff and go againstother than people that I've known play in
southern California. And when you werein junior college, you led the nation
in yards. In nineteen ninety seven, you had over sixteen hundred yards.
You were the top junior college runningback in the nation. Yes, yes,
that was my sophomore year, right, or if this was my fresh
(09:00):
year, well ninety seven, sothat would have been your sophomore year,
senior year, yeah, because myfreshman year. Man. So my freshman
year there was the leading All Americanrunning back and I ended up taking his
spot by the six game of theseason. Really, yeah, So he
didn't like that. Yeah, sure, he didn't like that at all.
And so next year I came instarted and it was an amazing season.
(09:22):
I enjoyed it. I played somespecial teams and everything. And you know,
for me, playing football was morefun with the guys around me,
you know, because I was playingfor them. It wasn't necessarily for me
or to achieve a higher goal.It was playing with my friends. There's
something in that locker room field thatyou just can't get anywhere else, right,
Oh you do, yeah, andthen you got and battle with them.
(09:43):
Oh, I'm sure everybody talks aboutthat. So you do two years
in JUCO, then you do goto the University of Oregon. How did
that go to? Did they justsay, hey, go spend two years
here and then you're going to bewith us. Or well, I had
to you know, I had toget my a degree and everything like that,
and so I had to raise myraise other goals. Okay, so
there was a GPA GP. That'swhy I failed my history classes in high
(10:05):
school? You did, yeah,oh man, So I didn't have the
right grades for to go straight toorgan. Okay, that's so I had
to spend two years a junior college. Okay, so you raise your grades
up, you do two years there, and obviously after your sophomore year,
they're probably just salivating and can't waitto get you on their teams. Yeah.
Well, you know, it's funnybecause, like, you know,
I talked to like Darien Latimer,who's from Colorado, Like they we call
(10:26):
him three g's because he ran forthree thousand yards in Colorado. He was
telling me, he's like, dude, we didn't even know who you were.
You know, you're coming in andwe're like, oh man, this
guy and I was the last everystop I've made, I've been like the
last guy on the depth chart,and so I get the last reps and
stuff like that, and then bythe beginning of the season, the coach
will come up to me and belike, hey, we're gonna put you
in that position. We're going tostart you. I'm like, what what
(10:46):
about this guy? Wow? Yeah, that's very cool. So that happened
at Oregon then, ye yes,wow. So when you're there, So
you're there in nineteen ninety eight andnineteen ninety nine, you have some huge
games your junior year, you endup fracturing your tibia. Any game do
you still keep playing? Did Iread that right? Okay? Yeah?
(11:07):
So wow, yeah, so Ireally did never play baseball. We were
beating UCLA. They were number twoat the time, and we were I
think number twelve, you know,catening down and all those guys and Sean
Foster and all those guys, andwe were beating them. And then my
quarterback, Achille Smith, He's like, dude, you gotta slide. You
gotta slide. I'm like okay.He said, don't go out of bounds.
I'm like okay. So I triedto slide, got caught in the
(11:30):
crabgrass set on top of my ankle. I crawled off the field and I'm
like, dude, tape it up. Because all my family was there.
Just tape it up. He's like, no, it's broken. I'm like,
I don't care. Tape it up. I'm going back in this game.
So cow, how much pain wereyou in? I didn't feel anything.
So much adrilling was flowing through me. I taped it up until my
(11:52):
tibula and my fibula went on theside of my foot and I tore all
the ligaments. So little more damage. I did some more damage. Yeah
yeah, and then you're out forthe rest of that season. Out for
the rest of the season. Ithink at the time, I was actually
leading the Heisman race. Oh man, yeah wow. And so Ricky ended
up winning it that year, andoh that was your Ricky Williams one.
(12:13):
Yeah shoot, yeah, yeah wow. So you come back your senior year.
Though my senior year rehab it's stillkind of itchy, you know,
as far as running, it's youknow, I'm still not beyond the pain
yet and stuff like that. SoI have an okay season. I thought
I had an okay season. Wedidn't do our best that year, but
Joey Harrington was a great quarterback.AJ Feely was also my quarterback. Both
(12:35):
of those guys had great careers inthe NFL as well, So you must
have done well enough to get draftedin the third round of the draft in
two thousand. Yeah. Yeah,I was surprised, were you. Yeah
yeah, See, A lot ofguys will come and be like, yeah,
man, I thought that I wasgoing to go here, and then
I was so disappointed when I wentto the second day, I was I
was just excited to go anywhere,Like getting a chance to go and play
in the NFL. I love that. It was an awesome experience. Going
(12:58):
to the lines was very hard.Well, and you were the first running
back that they drafted since very Yeah, that's huge pressure. Yeah yeah,
yeah, and it was great.And then Bobby Ross ended up leaving,
the guy that drafted me, andcoach Moeller was there and he was a
great coach. You know, Ithought both of them were good coaches.
But then Martin morning Wig and thingschanged a little bit. Well, let's
(13:20):
go back to the very beginning ofyour time with the Lions, because you
separated your shoulder on your very firstcarry in the very first preseason game and
they're the third round draft pick.Ow So you know, one of the
things that I always told myself,like, I'm like dude, all these
dbs are speed bumps. So Ithought I forgot his name. He played
for the New England Patriots. Hewas his name was Tony something. And
(13:43):
I hung out with him later andI'm like, dude, you I thought
you were a speed bump, butyou were You were more concrete wall,
concrete wall. So you ran rightinto him. So I ran right into
him, and I had no idea. They're like, stay out there.
I'm like, no, my shouldersomething, my shoulders, my arm is
not connected. They're waving me backand I'm like no, no. So
(14:05):
they thought it was dislocated at thetime. So they put me on a
little gurney and they had a gallonof water and they would have me drop
it off the side of the littlegurney. Come to find out there was
a chipping there. Yike. Yeah, and so it hurts cruciate. Oh
I bet it did. Yeah.And so then you were out the whole
season, weren't you. I wasout the whole season, Yeah, yeah,
the whole season. And I talkedto a lot of guys Ruben about
(14:28):
being in Jordan. You you hadthe injury in college as well, and
just what a lonely place that is, and when you've just come in as
a third round draft pick, howhard was that? Oh my god,
it was difficult because you're excited,you've seen your team and other players going
out there and playing, and youhave to sit. And it was the
hard thing, especially in Oregon,because we were something special at that time.
(14:48):
We're undefeated, we had the numberone offense in the nation. Keey
always tells me, he's like,dude, you ruin my national championship.
And I'm like, I'm like,thanks, bro, don't I know that?
But you know, we went tothe Hawaii bo I still made the
best of it, and I actuallychief it was a trainer at Oregon.
Still he doesn't like this, butI ditched my crushes behind the concierge's desk
(15:13):
and I was riding a scooter,funning well, just a fresh off of
surgery, probably a few weeks.Oh yeah, those guys don't like that,
so they didn't. So yeah.With the Lions, it was difficult
because it was my first year inthe league and it was the first game
in the first very first play,and so I had to sit out the
entire season and that was very,very difficult for me. I bet it
(15:35):
was. Yeah, So you dorehab, though, you come back and
as you said, you had somecoaching changes in there. And then also
in two thousand and one, yoursecond year, the Lions wave you,
yeah on eleven on one eleven,they wave you. Miami picks you up
to go on their practice squad forall of three weeks, and then you
get back with Detroit. Well there'sa thing about Miami though. Okay,
so you know they had a reallygood defense. They had Sam Madison,
(15:58):
Patrick Curtain, Senior, Daryl Gardner, Zach Thomas, Jason Taylor studied and
I'm out there murdering now in practicein practice, and Dave Once that was
the coach at the time, andhe was like, what the heck are
you guys letting this day practice squadguy run all over you for and I'm
looking at Hi. I'm like,hey, coach, I'm not normal.
(16:22):
And then it's so funny because DarylGardner, who you know, I'm sure
you remember him, he had alittle small stint with us. He took
that and he he ran with it. I ran the ball the next play.
He just close lined me, andI'm like, oh, welcome to
football. You're not going up againstthe threes and fours. Yeah, yeah,
(16:48):
yeah, I was doing it againstthe one and the coach was mad.
And then so the Lions called meback and I was making practice squad
money, and I was like,they were talking about bringing me up,
but I was like, this isnot fast enough. I want to go
make that good money, so we'llgo back to the Lions. So I
went back up there, and andyou were an active player when you went
back up there, which gets youin a different category of y salary.
(17:11):
I played special teams most of thetime. The first time I got back
there, I ran on down andkickoff, tackled Corey Dillon on the three
yard line. Unfortunately, he scoredthe next play gets the defense. Oh
man, Yeah, were you areturner as well? Yeah? Did you
like doing that? I love specialteams. Special teams was very special for
me. Yeah. It's a coolthing if guys look at it the right
(17:33):
way, because it's your opportunity toreally shine. I mean it's just you.
Yeah, it's gets your foot inthe door, and you do whatever
it takes to get your foot inthe door. And I was willing to
do whatever. I told him.I'd play defensive tackle if they needed me
to. I just wanted the chance. I love that you have the best
attitude room, and it's it's sogood. Okay, So after your two
years in Detroit, you get onwith the Broncos. Yeah, yeah,
(17:56):
I had no shot. See,Detroit released me at the end of year.
They didn't even sign me back.And I come to the Broncos Terrell
Davis, Mike Anderson, Kron Coleman. I think they just draft Tatum Bell
that year. So I was justliterally you again, I'm the last man
out again, and I'm just lookingto get film and hopefully get to another
squad somewhere. Trell goes down intraining camp. And then, like you
(18:18):
know, I was willing to doanything. Play some tight end on practice
squad, played some tackle on practicesquad, and they put me at fullback
on the practice squad. And sowhen I played fullback, I was going
against the first team defense. Andthese guys will not like to hear this,
but like Ian Gold was a startinglinebacker, I bent his helmet,
you did, yeah, And Iwas going there and I would hit John
(18:38):
Mobley and stut them up and everything. And I was weighing two hundred and
five pounds. Dang. I playedfullback in the National Football League five wow,
maybe even two o two. Butyou, Reuben were just like it.
It was like you get in andI've had Howard Griffith on the on
the podcast before. He was aphenomenal full back, phenomenal, but you
(19:00):
reminded a lot of people I thinkof him because you just got in there
and it was just like, go, yeah, just for this bowling ball
that was to be wreckoned with wreckingball, I should say, to be
wreckon with. Yeah, it wasamazing to watch. I wasn't. I
didn't shy away from hits. Iprobably should have, but my shoulders told
me something different. But yeah,no, I just I love the game
(19:22):
so much and I was willing todo whatever it took to get on the
football field. And that's what ittakes sometimes. Yeah, you know,
I mean coach came. It wasso funny because he changed Mike Anders position
to fullback as well. And ClintonPorters will never give me credit either for
that two thousand yard season. I'mlike, bro, like, I seen
things differently. I played running backall my life and they put me at
(19:44):
fullback and so I'm seeing a linebackerflow who is my block? Oh he's
out of the play. I seethat defensive end on the end. I'm
going to crash down the here.Everybody else is running themselves out of play.
Clinton with all the speed he justcut back and right run. Oh
my god. I was like,Clinton, give me some credit, bro
rightes. Yeah, I did itall myself. Man, that's so funny.
(20:07):
So did Mike Shanahan come to youand tell you that? Did you
to make the team? Yeah?Well he came to me and told me
that we're going to move you thefullback and I was like, whatever it
takes, coach, I'm good withthat. So he's like, well,
if you do that, you're goingto make the team. So I made
the team and that was It wasa great three years playing for the Broncos.
Yeah, you you had an fortwelve and forty yards. Yes,
(20:29):
I just signed that fullback contract forthree years. And Mike Anderson goes down,
Tatum Bell goes down, Quentin Griffithsgoes down, So we're down to
me and Garrison Hurst. So Igo, I'm walking to the meeting and
I have no idea at the time, and I'm walking to the meeting.
We got the offensive meeting going on, and I'm still full back at the
time, and coach Kob comes upto me in the hallways like, hey,
(20:52):
You're gonna be our running back.I'm like, hey, coach,
what about Garrison Hurst? Like Ihad full back. I just signed full
back contract, so I don't knowanything about running back right now in the
National Football League. And so he'slike, yeah, you're gonna be our
starting running back. I'm like,okay, how much of a learning curve
was there? It was, youknow, I asked Mike Anderson a lot
(21:14):
of questions. You know, meand Mike came out in the same draft.
We were best friends at the time. I asked him a lot of
questions. I was like, man, what do I do here? So
he just said, just run hard. So yeah, because if you know,
if you just look at a play, you look at a running back
and a fullback, and it seemslike they're interchangeable, but they're completely different
positionally, different position. Instead ofgoing and seeking out a block, you're
trying to get away from those tacklers, you know. And man, it
(21:38):
was that first game we were goingagainst Carolina Panthers and they had the like
number one defense at the time fromthe last year's Super Bowl. Yeah,
and I'm like terrified. I'm like, look at these big dudes, man,
Like, oh my god, I'stwo hundred pounds. You know,
honestly, it was the same feelingthat I had from junior call to college.
(22:00):
You know, coming from Juco,you know, you're playing against some
advertised guys, and you're coming intocollege. You're playing against You're seeing Julian
Peterson, Robert Smith. I mean, these guys are like huge. Yeah.
I'm looking at the program. I'mlooking at the weights and the size
and the height, and I'm like, dude, i gotta what even though
everybody adds two and fifteen pounds,they're still big. This is true.
(22:22):
This is true. This is true. Yeah. I was six three in
high school, which I'm a fiveto eleven right now. So you take
that as far as you want tothrow it. Oh my gosh, that's
funny. All right. So youhave your three years in Denver. I
have my three years in Denver.So the hardest thing about that I never
wanted to leave. You know,after that twelve hundred yard season, you
(22:42):
know, everybody was coming back.Quentin Griffiths was coming back, Mike Anderson,
Tatum, Bell, all these guyswere coming back, and so I
went into Mike's office and I'm like, hey, coach, I really don't
want to play fullback anymore running back. I thought he was gonna be on
board with it. He's like,well, He's leaning back in his chair.
It's like, Ruben, I've takenchances in my career. Are you
(23:04):
willing to take a chance in yourcareer. I'm like, if it means
I don't have to play fullback.Yeah. So he's like, well,
I think we're gonna trade you.I'm like, I was kind of shocked,
but I was like, okay.You know, it was a fresh
start for me, and it wasa chance for me to do, you
know, make my own path.Had that been a thought on your mind
(23:25):
to be traded. No, Ididn't want to leave Denver. I actually
loved loved Denver, you know,and that's why I'm still here. I
mean, I love the Broncos.It was my favorite team. Coaches were
great, players were awesome. Andthen they trade me to Cleveland for two
players, mind you, that's howThat's how important you were, Ebenezer and
Michael Myers. And so yeah,as a training card as a kid,
(23:48):
you've been like happy about that.Yeah. And then Corney Brown came out
here too, right, Courney Brown, Yeah, that's right. And so
I get to Cleveland and Romeo Cornellis the first year and he's he's ticked
off because they've traded away their defense. Defense. Yeah, so he's he's
(24:10):
sitting there, he's just mad asheck about that, and he's like,
this is what you gave me.I'm like, hey, coach, I
hopefully I can help you out.Hopefully I can help you out. And
so I get to Cleveland and Ihad a lot of fun in Cleveland.
Yeah, the fans were great.The fans are a passionate fans. We're
not winning very many games, butthey're passionate about their team. You respect
(24:32):
that absolutely. And so I wentout there and played my my butt off
for these guys. The blocking wasn'tgreat, Yo, still had the yards
didn't come as easy. Yards didn'tcome as easy. I was trying to
get hit in the backfield every timeI touched the ball, like I hit
you know, hope, ob Imean, are listening to this, They're
gonna be pissed me. I'm gonnaget a few calls after this. I'm
not trying to throw you guys underthe bus. You guys were wonderful,
(24:52):
wonderful, Yeah, but you're therethree years, right, two years,
two years, two years. II get I get there, and I
rushed a thousand yards, which nobodyhad done in like twenty or twenty five
years in Cleveland, which was crazy. I was like, what, that's
a long drought, just a longdrought. But we're used to here every
year where we expected her for avery long time. We expected our backs
(25:14):
to get a thousand yards plus.But the hardest thing was for that year
was watching the Broncos go to theAFC Championship game and I'm like, I
should be there. I should bethere. Yeah, and you know,
and then they played against Pittsburgh.You know, defensive we played against them,
you know, two times that year, and I did okay against them.
They were studded out though. Iwas watching our guys, you know,
Mike Anderson and Tatum Bell and wewere getting just torn to pieces with
(25:37):
blocking and stuff, trying to blockJoey Porter, and I was watching on
TV. I was like, oh, oh, you know, like thinking
about all the things you could havedone and it could have been all three
of us. I didn't care.I just didn't want to play fullback no
more. Wow, you know,and it's like, you know, I
wanted to be here, and youknow, I built a good core nucleus
(26:00):
here with the group of guys thatwere here for three years. Now.
I played here for three years andI enjoyed every moment of it. Yeah,
And it's funny you say that becauseI feel like there are a lot
of guys and there are so manyguys like you that played here and maybe
they went elsewhere afterwards, but thencame back and everybody's still friends. Like
you, guys all stay in touchand you see each other and you do
stuff together. And I think that'sa really cool we you know, respect
(26:23):
this organization. After what happened toDT, you know, we all came
together and we were like, youknow, we we don't talk to each
other enough, We don't reach outto each other enough. So we got
a big Bronco alumni group from theguys that we were playing with, you
know, Al Wilson, Chap Bailey, all these guys are on this group
and we all chat and syntext andyou know, sometimes we send tiktoks and
(26:45):
stuff like that, and you know, try to make each other laugh.
But it's it's funny. But becausewe stay in contact and stuff like that.
And when we Dominic had the alumnicome back for a game and stuff,
it was amazing. I think Carriewas in charge of that, right.
Yeah, the Pens have been andthey've they've been amazing, tried to
get that going again. It's greatfor the alumni, amazing for us.
They're doing things for us that cityabout ten years since Pat Bowler was was
(27:11):
around exactly. They're reinvested into mostof the alumni, which is great,
you know what I mean, Andthat means we love coming back and we
love being here. With that beingsaid, I didn't want to leave Denver,
Yeah, and I didn't want togo to Cleveland. You know,
not a lot of people do nothingagainst Cleveland, againstland I love, don't
take me wrong. I loved itout there. Yeah, you know,
it was great. The city wasgreat, the fans were great. You
(27:33):
know, they had Lebron James atthe time, So me and where we
became friends and you know, RichPaul was one of my boys and stuff
like that, and so it wasfun. It was fun, but there's
still a piece of your heart thatwants to be in we were. I
went from Detroit losing, then Iwent to Denver that taste of winning,
and then I go to Cleveland andI'm losing again, and I'm like,
(27:56):
this is not fun. You gettraded from there? Then the New York
Giants. Yeah, I'm ecstatic toget out of Cleveland. I wasn't ecstatic
to get out of Cleveland, soto speak, because Jamal Lewis was coming
out there. You know, meand ja Mal we're buddies and stuff like
that, and I thought we couldhave been great together. And but just
(28:18):
the feel of people that expect towin. They expect you to win in
New York. The organization, thepeople, the media, everybody, they
expected us to win. Michael Strahan, Sam Madison was out there too.
He was one of my quarterbacks inMiami and he came out to New York
and it was just a great nucleusof guys that weren't accepting losing makes a
(28:41):
big difference. It makes a hugedifference. Yeah, it makes a huge
difference. And they used you alot, from what I can tell,
on goal line and third downs,and you led the team in two thousand
and seven with six touchdowns. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you were a
starter, were you? I wasnot the starter. Brandon Jacobs was the
guy. I was a short yardistguy. But then I lost my position
(29:03):
after the Philadelphia game. So itwas like the third quarter of the game.
We get a third and one andthen like I'm cold, like like
I'm cold, like no, I'msaying like I haven't been doing I didn't
warm up on the sideline anymore.I'm just I mean like I was playing
special teams, but I was sittingmost of the time. Yes, And
so I get out there on thirdand one and I break along with and
(29:26):
I'm almost to the end zone.Here comes Brian Dawkins from the other side
of the football field tackles me onthe one yard line and we get stopped.
We don't score. We have tokick a field goal. And I
got the doghouse and my Bradshaw thebirth of a mob Bradshaw come wow,
(29:48):
which he was a phenomenal running back. I was a phenomenal Brandon Jacobs,
him and Brandon Jacobs, Derek WoreBrandon Jacobs and my Bradshaw and all those
guys were they were phenomenal on runningbacks and stuff. Well, there were
so many good running backs there inthe two thousands, and for you,
Ruben, to be able to havea career from two thousand to two thousand
and nine, that's triple what mostrunning backs will do in the NFL because
(30:11):
it's about a three year lifespan.I was willing to do whatever it too.
Special Teams was my itch. Youknow, I loved it. All
those guys out here. I justlove these guys out here. Man.
The Bronco organization was and is stillone of the best organizations in the National
Football League, not only the waythey carry themselves, but the way they
treat their alumni group and their formerplayers, which is awesome. Yeah,
(30:33):
I love that all right. Youget released by the Giants in two thousand
and nine. Is there a releasestory there? Do they just not sign
you back? So, you know, I get hit on a special teams
play, and it was right beforeit was in the playoffs, and I
get hit on the top of myhead and I feel my whole body going
numb, and I'm sitting there onthe field and I can't move my extremities.
(30:55):
And so when they released me,I just didn't want to try to
come back. I was done.Was a scary moment right there, and
that could be really serious. Absolutely, and so I was like, you
know what, that's it. Nineyear career, pretty good, that it
is really good. I finished prettystrong. I want a Super Bowl.
Had he had a Super Bowl withthe Giant. Yeah? Yeah, I
get the undefeated Patriots that year.We like to call it eighteen and one
(31:15):
Giant loss. That's great. Allright. So in two thousand and nine,
you're done, you're retired. Youtry at high school coaching not really
for you, and then you goto Serbia. Yeah, and you spend
years coaching in Serbia. So talkabout that journey. That's fascinating. So
I tried the high school thing andI had a player come to me.
(31:37):
It was like challenging me, andI was like, bro, like this
is what did he challenge you on? He got in trouble and I was
like, hey, you got todo this. He's like, man,
I'm gonna have my brother come andbeat you. I'm like, bro,
oh god. First of all,I was like, please send them.
And then I was like, youknow what, I'll take him. Yeah,
And I was like, you know, this is not for me.
If kids aren't going to be ableto respect me enough, even the fact
(31:59):
that I had a long NFL career, then this is not for me.
And so I went over to Serbia. I actually searched out. It was
the team in the south of Franceand there was a team in Serbia.
I was like, you know,and I reached out to a few teams,
but I was like, whoever getsback to me first, That's where
I'm going. And so the ownerof the Serbian team, he's a Bronco
fan, and so he's like,dude, it's serious. Do you want
(32:21):
to come out here and coach.I'm like, you reached out to me,
I'm coming. So I ended upgoing out there, and I mean,
it's a third world country. Whereis Serbia? Oh, Yugoslavia.
So it's right next to Croatia,next to Turkey, Croatia and Italy's not
too far Slovenia. I'm hungry.Had you ever been over there before?
Never in my lifetime, Never inmy lifetime have I been what you did.
(32:43):
Take a leap, my goodness.Yeah, And for me it was
a great leap because I created somegreat connections out pleach of my little Serbski.
You know, so I can speaka little bit of Serbian and I
can understand some Serbian. And theplayers, you know, the players respect
you so much for the fact ofwhat you did and what you accomplished.
Did they know football or was thatA lot of your job was teaching them
(33:06):
football? A lot of my jobwas teaching them. They knew football,
but they learned on YouTube. Ohwow, it's just like we all do.
Right. Yeah, if you wantto fix that light bulb, you
know, you just look at YouTube. If you want to figure out how
to play running back, which istrue, you could go watch some of
the greats play running back and seewhat their style and kind of mixing your
(33:30):
style. So I would go outthere and like, there was another coach
out there and John Harper was hisname, and he would only play the
best players. And these guys werenot coming to practice, and he's still
playing them. I'm like, andI'm observing. So eventually I'm like,
I'm telling these guys, if youdon't show if the practice, you're not
playing for me. And so Iwouldn't play the star players. And these
(33:51):
guys were studts. And so I'dgo out there and I train the This
is the weirdest thing though. Youcould play from fifteen to forty fifteen to
forty oh geez, so teenagers againstgrown ass men. Yeah, okay,
basically, yeah, So I havea fifteen year old kid. Nobody gave
him an opportunity. Nobody gave hima chance, and he was like sitting
(34:12):
on the bench. He became ourguys coaching defense. He became our best
corner. He had at least thirteeninterceptions that year. Wow. Oh,
he was killing it. He gainedconfidence over the year. And I'm playing
all these guys and like my ideawas, I want accountability just throughout the
years what I've learned, and youknow, with Mike Shanahan and all stuff
like that, you know, i'dbe cool. I could be a cool
(34:34):
dude and everything like that. Butyou gotta be accountable. You know,
you got to show up to practice, you got to go out there and
work and put the work in andstuff like that. And so and so
these guys like took a hold ofme, you know, and we went
out there and won a few championshipsand kid, yeah, it was great.
And you did that for how manyyears, like six years or something.
I think it was five years.Five years. I ended up being
I don't know if you remember SeanImbery, Oh yeah, yeah. Seawn
(34:58):
ended up coming out there with meand he had became the head coach,
and I was like, I'm nota head coach. Yeah, because once
they Frobally John Harper, they mademe the head coach. And I was
like, whoa, it's a wholedifferent. It's a whole different. WHOA.
I got to control both of theseguys and all these guys. Yeah,
you're the CEO. Yeah, yeah, I made it work. We
(35:21):
took second that year. So Icalled up Sean the next year and he
came out and coached with me.And that's a lot of commitment, though,
Ruben to leave for six months,right, So, how did you
do that with your family? Andit was it was very difficult because at
the time I was divorced my littlegirl. I left her and I felt
so bad for doing that because itwas early years and stuff like that.
So I'd leave for about six monthsout of the year, mid January or
(35:44):
something like that, and then I'dcome back late July or something like that,
and so it was difficult, youknow, because I missed all those
sports time, and she was playingI nine and I know, yeah,
my son, we'll stop there.I got you. And so every time
I had come back, I'm like, dude, what is this. You
(36:05):
didn't even do anything. You gota trophy, like a trophy, and
so I was like, uh,yeah, I need to stop. So
I stopped going over there, andI spent more time and focused on my
daughter's career. You know, hermom was like, well, if I
was like, we're going to takeher out of the right night, he
said, well, you've got tofind her a sport. I was like,
well, that's not a problem.I find volleyball. And she loved
volleyball. And then she ended upquitting her senior year and then she ended
(36:29):
up running track and getting a scholarshipin track. Wow, here the deal.
Just like I told my child,you need to play multiple sports,
and she didn't want to do that. I'm like, dude, like,
like I told you early on torun track, I'll put you in track.
Had you ran track early on,you would have probably had the skills
to make it to the Division onelevel. But unfortunately you wanted to start
(36:52):
track late. You had the COVIDyear your freshman year, and then your
sophomore year you got injured, andso you had your junior and senior year,
which was not great. I meanit was great because she got a
scholarship, but she was really upsetwith the fact that she didn't get a
Division one scholarship. But I'm like, hey, listen here, man,
this is my philosophy right here.I went to junior college and I made
(37:14):
it. So I feel that ifyou're gonna make it no matter where you're
at, you're going to make itanywhere. I don't care if you're at
a lower level. If you havethe will and the power and the drive
to make somewhere, you're gonna makeit no matter where you start. It
doesn't matter if you go to aDivision one school or not. You can
(37:34):
go to a JUCO and still getthat scholarship and make it to a Division
IE school and it's still achieve allyour goals. So it doesn't matter where
you start. With all your parentsout there, you don't have to pay
for you know, school all thetime. Ju goos are great. They
are there's such a great way tomake that transition. Are they are,
And they help you grow, youknow, to be honest with you and
prepare you for the Division one levelor college or you know what I mean,
(37:57):
because to be honest with you,would you have been read for Oregon?
The first two years are washed.Yeah, for most kids. They
are both students. You're trying tofigure out what to do with school.
You're trying to figure and then ifyou're adding in being a student athlete at
the same time, there's so muchgoing on. So if you can have
something to kind of bridge that gap, yeah, you help me grow,
you know, and helped me preparefor what I was to face at the
(38:21):
Division IE level. I worked hard. I had to push myself, I'm
sure Juco you know. And itwasn't easy, you know, because you
don't have money. You know,you're not on a scholarship, you know,
your own pail grants to pay forschool and stuff like that. So
it wasn't easy. But I hadto push myself through to get what I
wanted to achieve. And you didsomewhat. And now these days you get
(38:45):
to just be a dad. You'vegot four girls, two they're older,
the twenty five and eighteen, andthen you also have round two. Yeah,
yeah, six years old. Youknow. You know, I'm like
barrel girls. I didn't get enough. They just drop me back off of
the middle of Johnny. But howfun is it this time around because you're
(39:07):
able to be around and it's great. It's great because you know, like
when you're playing ball, you stillhave your family. You're still you know,
but you have to feed your family. So you have to go to
work, you have to go train, you have to be in training camp
and you're gone for a couple ofweeks there. When you're training, you're
gone somewhere else, training off somewhereelse. And when you get home from
(39:27):
practice and stuff, it's you getan hour with your children and it's it's
bedtime. And are you also nota little bit of an outsider during especially
during the football season, because they'regoing to figure out their schedule and you
don't have a lot of time athome. So when you come home,
it's like, hey, fit intoour world because you're not here very much.
Yeah, we have to, likethe wife controls it, and you
got to try to jump in andfit in with the schedule that they got
and that's hard, and it's hardbecause you you know, one of the
(39:50):
things you can't do, and that'sone of the things that you know,
what you learn from through the NFLis you can't bring work home. That's
one of the main things because whenyou bring work home, it just throws
your whole life off with your family, you know, because you may be
upset that day. Don't bring thatloss home, you know, you cannot
do that. And so, yeah, this is so much. It's not
(40:14):
easier. I'm gonna tell you rightnow. If you're a dad, you're
raising your children on your own oryour your the wife is working and stuff
like, man, listen, respectall moms because it's hard work raising children.
And my wife was working. Sowhen she's working, like I'm taking
all the car pool I'm doing acar pooling. I'm taking the kids to
school, picking them up from school, doing it the school mom stuff.
(40:37):
I'm gossiping and I'm like, whoathis is this is a whole different life
here the only dad all the schoolman, I'm like, what is going
on? Like what what adn Evelyndo today? And so you know,
you fightre out where you can't parkat you know, oh yeah, real
fast, Oh man, they cameup to me. I parked in the
(40:58):
parking like it's like a drop offand I just got out of my car,
and he's like, the principal cameup. Hey, yeah, no,
no, you can't do that.You can't do that. I'm like,
oh, man, the principal isgood, dude. I ended up.
He's coaching football now and I helpedI helped him out. But yeah,
he got me that day, gotme that day. And uh.
And so now my wife is notworking, you know. Now she's become
the school mom. And so now, oh, you're out in the cold.
(41:21):
Oh dude, oh do you moveit. Let me tell you this.
The moms they talk to me still. But I'm like an outsider.
I mean, she's got a Christmasparty. You can't be trips. And
I'm like, what about me?I was your buddy, And so now
I'm out in the cold. I'mstuck at home. My wife's out camping
(41:42):
with the school moms. He's like, why don't you mow the lawn.
I'm so sorry, Ruben, yougot to pick up the rest of the
slack. Now. I thought itwas one of the cool moms, mom,
dad's whatever, you want to callme. Yeah, and maybe you'll
get back there again. Maybe youcan work yourself back in. We talked
(42:02):
we you know, I still talkto him and stuff like that, but
it's not the same relationship anymore.Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. You
know, Like my wife's like,well, they liked me better. The
same thing happened with Mike and I. I was telling you before we started.
When I was working at nine News, he was with all the moms
because I had a schedule where Ihad to go to work at three am
until eleven am. And then whenI stopped working at nine News because I
(42:25):
wanted to spend more time with thekids, then I started doing all that
stuff and he's like, what whatcan I still go do? And I'm
like, no, no, Iget to do this now. And he's
like, but I'm like, no, they do like me better. Think
so he thinks they all like himbetter. We get outed so fast.
I'm like, man, what isgoing on here? I felt like I
(42:45):
was, I was bonding, Iwas one of you, and now I'm
not. So this is a toughtime for you, very tough, very
tough. So now I found myselfdoing more yard work and shoveling. Now
we're getting in and you know,I got to put the cereal bowls away
in the mornings now and you're goingoff to school and taking the kids to
(43:07):
school and being with your cool moms. Oh, my goodness, is so
funny. I'm so jealous. Okay, this has been awesome. You already
kind of answered my last question.But I always ask everybody the same thing.
When you talk to people, andyou talk to your kids, you
talk to other kids and other peoplein general when they have ups and downs.
You've gone through them in your career, what do you tell people on
(43:27):
how to get through some of thosetimes? Susan, One of the things
I've always learned in my life isyou always keep a smile on their face.
Because I've come from some serious roughpatches, you know, staying in
motels and stuff like that, tobecome the super Bowl Champion, being homeless
at times, and one of thethings I always do is keep a smile
on my face because there's always somebodyout there doing worse than you. If
(43:49):
they see you smiling, maybe youcan bring some joy to their life,
some sort of joy to their life. I love that. And that's just
what you are. And that's whatI remember of you and you were playing
here, is there's always a smileface I'm always smiling, I'm always laughing.
I love having a good time,and your teammates love you too.
Yeah, and that's what you playfor. You know, I'm going to
be around. I'm the money isall great and all that good stuff.
(44:12):
But you want to be remembered byyour peers, you know, you want
to be remembered where what you didon the football field and the type of
character you were, and you know, in the lot, whether it's in
locker room or on the football fieldor anywhere else in life. Yeah.
Absolutely, this was so fun.Thank you, Thank you for coming in.
I appreciate thank you for having me. Absolutely, thank you, Ruben.
I literally love that guy's smile.New episodes have Cut, Traded,
(44:37):
Fired, Retired. I released everyTuesday. Please follow, download, rate,
and review this podcast wherever you listento podcasts. Keep up on podcast
releases and updates on Twitter and Instagramat CTFR podcast and also on the website
ctfurpodcast dot com. I'm your host, Susie Wargen. To find out more
about me, visit Susiewargen dot com. Thanks for taking the time to check
(44:58):
out this episode and any others.Until next time, please be careful,
be safe and be kind, takecare,
He's like, well, he's leaningback in his chair. It's like,
Ruben, I've taken chances in mycareer. Are you willing to take a
chance in your career. I'm like, if it means I don't have to
play fullback. Yeah. So he'slike, well, I think we're going
to trade you. I'm like Iwas kind of shocked, but I was
like, okay, had that beena thought in your mind to be traded?
(00:22):
No, I didn't want to leaveDenver. Welcome to cut, traded,
fired, retired. If this isyour first time listening, welcome.
If you're returning for more, welcomeback. This podcast features conversations with professional
athletes and coaches who have faced avariety of challenges in their careers and lives.
I'm your host, Susie Wargen.As you know if you've listened to
(00:42):
any of these podcasts, every professionalathlete has a different path. Very few
have a nice, smoothly paved path. Most have a rough road with a
number of hills, kind of likethis episode's guest, Ruben Drones, is
the perfect example of making it byjust getting noticed, not by going to
a big name college right out ofhigh school. Rubin actually spent his first
(01:02):
two years in junior college, thenmade his way to Oregon, where he
led the nation in rushing yards hisjunior season. He was a third round
pick in the two thousand NFL draftand then got injured on the very first
play of his first preseason game.Not the best way to start a pro
career, but Ruben stayed optimistic,and he lasted three times longer than the
average running back in the NFL witha few different teams, including three seasons
(01:26):
with the Denver Broncos. These days, he's a girl dad times four.
Yeah, four girls to keep himstraight, and he never stopped smiling ladies
and gentlemen. Ruben Drones Cut TradedFired, retired podcast with Susie Wargen Ruben
Drones. How you doing. I'mdoing good. I'm doing good, excellent,
(01:47):
actually good. I was so excitedthat you were the honorary captain at
a Broncos game and I hadn't seenyou in forever. We would and we
yes, Jo, you were thekey. That's right. Now, you
got to come back every time I'mgoing to this game, so I hopefully
more games for Reuben. Yeah,well good, this is great to see
you. You were a force tobe reckoned with when you were with the
Broncos. You were in the leaguefor many years, and I love your
(02:10):
background of where you came from andhow you kind of came up, because
I think everybody thinks that you've gotto be Division one to make it,
and you proved that wrong. Andwe're going to get into that because you
said you have a theory about that. I do have a theory. I
love that. I love that yourparents. Yeah good, Let's go back
to the beginning. You're born inChicago, but eventually make your way to
(02:30):
Orange County, California. Talk alittle bit about your childhood and how that
happened. So, you know,I grew up in Anaheim, California.
Things weren't as fortunate for me outin Anaheim, but you know, I
had a lot of friends and alot of support system that kind of carried
me through. It was actually funnybecause I had a friend across We were
living with my Granma at the timeand had a friend across the street from
me that played pop worn and footballand he was one of my best friends.
(02:52):
And we got to talking and heloved the Chicago Bears, and I'm
from Chicago. So I loved theChicago Bears and Walter Payton and everything.
Yeah, and so he's like,man, you know I played football and
you know you should come out andplay. And I'm like, well,
So at the time, I wentback to Chicago to visit my dad,
which I stayed out there for aboutanother three years. And then when I
(03:12):
came back, I went to hishouse and I'm like, hey, man,
I think I'm ready to play football. It was about ten years old.
He told me what to do andhow to get signed up. Actually
the coach lived right next door tohim, Papa Ti. We called them
Publican and it was it was amazing. I started off at defensive lineman.
Oh you did the defensive and thenhow did that go? Did you just
kind of fall in love with it? I know that you also wrestled in
(03:36):
high school. I did, butI fell in love with it. You
know, I was getting I wastaking a beating and bruising and everything I
had. I was planning to getsome older guys and stuff. So I
had to take my punishment at anearly age. And then one year,
you know, I think it wasmy last year in Pop Warner. Well,
yeah, my third year in PopWarner. The coach was like,
hey, hey, Unfortunately they calledme Spookums, but it was my nickname.
(03:58):
Wow, I don't know, that'sfunny, funny, right, and
so you know it's funny cause Istill use it for things like emails and
stuff like. But he said,hey, he Spookings, We're gonna put
you at running back. And I'mlike, are you sure? Coach?
He's like, yeah, you're fast, so I think you would be good.
And so he's like okay. SoI tried it and it was great.
(04:20):
And the first time I ran theball, ninety yard touchdown, No
way called back, oh fall startexactly. Oh no. So the second
time I ran the ball, Idid it again. That's where I was
meant to be. Coaches were lovingit and they're like, dude, you're
(04:40):
naturally at running back. And soI continued on and tried to word number
thirty four because Walter Payton was myidol and everything. So that's fun.
And so you played in high school. You did very well in high school
and also in wrestling. You letteredin both sports. Yeah, in three
sports. Oh three sports. Yeah, So all you all your kids out
there, the day of resports isstill there. You guys can do it.
(05:01):
What was your third sport? Trackand field? Okay, what did
you do in track? Obviously sprinter? Maybe I was a sprinter and a
jumper, yeah, yeah, highjump, long jump. So in high
school football wise, you had fortynine touchdowns and almost five thousand rushing yards.
Wow. I didn't even know thatWikipedia is correct. I got most
of those my sophomore year. Thenreally, oh wow, I read for
(05:21):
two thousand yards my software year.Yeah. Oh my gosh, Reuben,
that's insane. It was fun.Wow. And when you did finish,
you finished with the second most inthe history of Orange County at that time,
second most rushing yards. I didn'tknow that. Well, somebody's updating
your Wikipedia. It's not me.I'm not boasting myself out there. Like,
(05:43):
did you also win a wrestling title? I didn't win state. They
have weird divisions in yeahs. Iwon CIF and I won Masters and I
made it the state and I wrestledto get it was a man. Oh
memory, bad memory. I amsorry. I wrestled against the number one
guy in the nation. I wasnumber ten and I chose down. He
pinned me. I don't think Iwas pinned, but the rev called me
(06:03):
a pin, called a pin andI lost to him. I'm like,
oh my god, if I coulddo it all over again. And you
wrestled at yes, I started atone forty five. I was only waying
one seventy one when I wrestled at. Oh, Sue, you really did?
You wrestled up? Yes? Whydid you do that? Because of
my brother? My brother was oneseventy ones and I would always beat him,
(06:25):
so I wanted them to get achance. I hope he's not listening
because it would be older and younger. He's older than me. I'm the
youngest. Oh wow, okay,you would have beat him all the time.
If you stayed at once cheated,he would like he would dig his
elbow when we were at practice,he'd dig his elbow on my side and
stuff like that. He knows howto get me mad, and so that
(06:46):
would like, you know, justknew all the buttons to play. How
many siblings do you have? Threeolder brothers? Oh geez, you're the
youngest of all the boys. YesI am, And now you're being paid
back. We'll get to this,but you have all daughters, so we'll
get to that later. But Ithink we could think my mom for that
one, she thought I was goingto be a girl and like, oh
my godness, yeah yeah, yeah, wow. So you had a lot
to live up to then having threeolder brothers I did. They pushed me
(07:09):
hard, and you know, justkind of the situation I was in.
I really wanted to, you know, achieve greater things in my life.
So when you're done with high school, you go to junior college, you
go to Merced Merceded Junior College,And why is that? Did you get
any scholarship offers? With the statsthat you had being in Orange County,
I would think that you'd be onsome radars. I did get a lot
(07:29):
of scholarships. I actually got ascholarship to Oregon. And that's why I
chose because it was funny because thecoach came out there. It was a
special teams coach. He came outthere. He seemed me. The ball
went over the fence. It wasthe fence probably about yay hi, and
I jumped over the fence with mypads on and he was like, wait,
who's that kids like, who's thatkid? We want to sign him?
(07:53):
And so they stuffed me away atMERCEDAD junior college, and I didn't
have time to you know, Igraduated. I hung all my friends for
about a week and I was gone. Really, so, did Oregon have
you go to junior college? It'sdashed me there. Yes, oh smart.
It was smart of them. Didyou know that's what they were doing?
Yeah, of course. And Iwanted to go there because I wanted
to you know, I had offersfrom other schools, but I wanted to
(08:16):
go to a school that was goingto play in southern California and my parents
can get to watch me and stufflike that. And at that time it
was the Pac Ten. Yes,so you're playing against all the California schools
at that time. Yeah. Whatother schools offered? Did you go on
other trips? Ucla? I wenton the trip to UCLA. They kind
of rubbed me the wrong way,and I didn't really like that. I
could have went to USC, butI wanted to get out of southern California.
(08:39):
I wanted to try my talents andsee if I was any good in
other places and stuff and go againstother than people that I've known play in
southern California. And when you werein junior college, you led the nation
in yards. In nineteen ninety seven, you had over sixteen hundred yards.
You were the top junior college runningback in the nation. Yes, yes,
that was my sophomore year, right, or if this was my fresh
(09:00):
year, well ninety seven, sothat would have been your sophomore year,
senior year, yeah, because myfreshman year. Man. So my freshman
year there was the leading All Americanrunning back and I ended up taking his
spot by the six game of theseason. Really, yeah, So he
didn't like that. Yeah, sure, he didn't like that at all.
And so next year I came instarted and it was an amazing season.
(09:22):
I enjoyed it. I played somespecial teams and everything. And you know,
for me, playing football was morefun with the guys around me,
you know, because I was playingfor them. It wasn't necessarily for me
or to achieve a higher goal.It was playing with my friends. There's
something in that locker room field thatyou just can't get anywhere else, right,
Oh you do, yeah, andthen you got and battle with them.
(09:43):
Oh, I'm sure everybody talks aboutthat. So you do two years
in JUCO, then you do goto the University of Oregon. How did
that go to? Did they justsay, hey, go spend two years
here and then you're going to bewith us. Or well, I had
to you know, I had toget my a degree and everything like that,
and so I had to raise myraise other goals. Okay, so
there was a GPA GP. That'swhy I failed my history classes in high
(10:05):
school? You did, yeah,oh man, So I didn't have the
right grades for to go straight toorgan. Okay, that's so I had
to spend two years a junior college. Okay, so you raise your grades
up, you do two years there, and obviously after your sophomore year,
they're probably just salivating and can't waitto get you on their teams. Yeah.
Well, you know, it's funnybecause, like, you know,
I talked to like Darien Latimer,who's from Colorado, Like they we call
(10:26):
him three g's because he ran forthree thousand yards in Colorado. He was
telling me, he's like, dude, we didn't even know who you were.
You know, you're coming in andwe're like, oh man, this
guy and I was the last everystop I've made, I've been like the
last guy on the depth chart,and so I get the last reps and
stuff like that, and then bythe beginning of the season, the coach
will come up to me and belike, hey, we're gonna put you
in that position. We're going tostart you. I'm like, what what
(10:46):
about this guy? Wow? Yeah, that's very cool. So that happened
at Oregon then, ye yes,wow. So when you're there, So
you're there in nineteen ninety eight andnineteen ninety nine, you have some huge
games your junior year, you endup fracturing your tibia. Any game do
you still keep playing? Did Iread that right? Okay? Yeah?
(11:07):
So wow, yeah, so Ireally did never play baseball. We were
beating UCLA. They were number twoat the time, and we were I
think number twelve, you know,catening down and all those guys and Sean
Foster and all those guys, andwe were beating them. And then my
quarterback, Achille Smith, He's like, dude, you gotta slide. You
gotta slide. I'm like okay.He said, don't go out of bounds.
I'm like okay. So I triedto slide, got caught in the
(11:30):
crabgrass set on top of my ankle. I crawled off the field and I'm
like, dude, tape it up. Because all my family was there.
Just tape it up. He's like, no, it's broken. I'm like,
I don't care. Tape it up. I'm going back in this game.
So cow, how much pain wereyou in? I didn't feel anything.
So much adrilling was flowing through me. I taped it up until my
(11:52):
tibula and my fibula went on theside of my foot and I tore all
the ligaments. So little more damage. I did some more damage. Yeah
yeah, and then you're out forthe rest of that season. Out for
the rest of the season. Ithink at the time, I was actually
leading the Heisman race. Oh man, yeah wow. And so Ricky ended
up winning it that year, andoh that was your Ricky Williams one.
(12:13):
Yeah shoot, yeah, yeah wow. So you come back your senior year.
Though my senior year rehab it's stillkind of itchy, you know,
as far as running, it's youknow, I'm still not beyond the pain
yet and stuff like that. SoI have an okay season. I thought
I had an okay season. Wedidn't do our best that year, but
Joey Harrington was a great quarterback.AJ Feely was also my quarterback. Both
(12:35):
of those guys had great careers inthe NFL as well, So you must
have done well enough to get draftedin the third round of the draft in
two thousand. Yeah. Yeah,I was surprised, were you. Yeah
yeah, See, A lot ofguys will come and be like, yeah,
man, I thought that I wasgoing to go here, and then
I was so disappointed when I wentto the second day, I was I
was just excited to go anywhere,Like getting a chance to go and play
in the NFL. I love that. It was an awesome experience. Going
(12:58):
to the lines was very hard.Well, and you were the first running
back that they drafted since very Yeah, that's huge pressure. Yeah yeah,
yeah, and it was great.And then Bobby Ross ended up leaving,
the guy that drafted me, andcoach Moeller was there and he was a
great coach. You know, Ithought both of them were good coaches.
But then Martin morning Wig and thingschanged a little bit. Well, let's
(13:20):
go back to the very beginning ofyour time with the Lions, because you
separated your shoulder on your very firstcarry in the very first preseason game and
they're the third round draft pick.Ow So you know, one of the
things that I always told myself,like, I'm like dude, all these
dbs are speed bumps. So Ithought I forgot his name. He played
for the New England Patriots. Hewas his name was Tony something. And
(13:43):
I hung out with him later andI'm like, dude, you I thought
you were a speed bump, butyou were You were more concrete wall,
concrete wall. So you ran rightinto him. So I ran right into
him, and I had no idea. They're like, stay out there.
I'm like, no, my shouldersomething, my shoulders, my arm is
not connected. They're waving me backand I'm like no, no. So
(14:05):
they thought it was dislocated at thetime. So they put me on a
little gurney and they had a gallonof water and they would have me drop
it off the side of the littlegurney. Come to find out there was
a chipping there. Yike. Yeah, and so it hurts cruciate. Oh
I bet it did. Yeah.And so then you were out the whole
season, weren't you. I wasout the whole season, Yeah, yeah,
the whole season. And I talkedto a lot of guys Ruben about
(14:28):
being in Jordan. You you hadthe injury in college as well, and
just what a lonely place that is, and when you've just come in as
a third round draft pick, howhard was that? Oh my god,
it was difficult because you're excited,you've seen your team and other players going
out there and playing, and youhave to sit. And it was the
hard thing, especially in Oregon,because we were something special at that time.
(14:48):
We're undefeated, we had the numberone offense in the nation. Keey
always tells me, he's like,dude, you ruin my national championship.
And I'm like, I'm like,thanks, bro, don't I know that?
But you know, we went tothe Hawaii bo I still made the
best of it, and I actuallychief it was a trainer at Oregon.
Still he doesn't like this, butI ditched my crushes behind the concierge's desk
(15:13):
and I was riding a scooter,funning well, just a fresh off of
surgery, probably a few weeks.Oh yeah, those guys don't like that,
so they didn't. So yeah.With the Lions, it was difficult
because it was my first year inthe league and it was the first game
in the first very first play,and so I had to sit out the
entire season and that was very,very difficult for me. I bet it
(15:35):
was. Yeah, So you dorehab, though, you come back and
as you said, you had somecoaching changes in there. And then also
in two thousand and one, yoursecond year, the Lions wave you,
yeah on eleven on one eleven,they wave you. Miami picks you up
to go on their practice squad forall of three weeks, and then you
get back with Detroit. Well there'sa thing about Miami though. Okay,
so you know they had a reallygood defense. They had Sam Madison,
(15:58):
Patrick Curtain, Senior, Daryl Gardner, Zach Thomas, Jason Taylor studied and
I'm out there murdering now in practicein practice, and Dave Once that was
the coach at the time, andhe was like, what the heck are
you guys letting this day practice squadguy run all over you for and I'm
looking at Hi. I'm like,hey, coach, I'm not normal.
(16:22):
And then it's so funny because DarylGardner, who you know, I'm sure
you remember him, he had alittle small stint with us. He took
that and he he ran with it. I ran the ball the next play.
He just close lined me, andI'm like, oh, welcome to
football. You're not going up againstthe threes and fours. Yeah, yeah,
(16:48):
yeah, I was doing it againstthe one and the coach was mad.
And then so the Lions called meback and I was making practice squad
money, and I was like,they were talking about bringing me up,
but I was like, this isnot fast enough. I want to go
make that good money, so we'llgo back to the Lions. So I
went back up there, and andyou were an active player when you went
back up there, which gets youin a different category of y salary.
(17:11):
I played special teams most of thetime. The first time I got back
there, I ran on down andkickoff, tackled Corey Dillon on the three
yard line. Unfortunately, he scoredthe next play gets the defense. Oh
man, Yeah, were you areturner as well? Yeah? Did you
like doing that? I love specialteams. Special teams was very special for
me. Yeah. It's a coolthing if guys look at it the right
(17:33):
way, because it's your opportunity toreally shine. I mean it's just you.
Yeah, it's gets your foot inthe door, and you do whatever
it takes to get your foot inthe door. And I was willing to
do whatever. I told him.I'd play defensive tackle if they needed me
to. I just wanted the chance. I love that you have the best
attitude room, and it's it's sogood. Okay, So after your two
years in Detroit, you get onwith the Broncos. Yeah, yeah,
(17:56):
I had no shot. See,Detroit released me at the end of year.
They didn't even sign me back.And I come to the Broncos Terrell
Davis, Mike Anderson, Kron Coleman. I think they just draft Tatum Bell
that year. So I was justliterally you again, I'm the last man
out again, and I'm just lookingto get film and hopefully get to another
squad somewhere. Trell goes down intraining camp. And then, like you
(18:18):
know, I was willing to doanything. Play some tight end on practice
squad, played some tackle on practicesquad, and they put me at fullback
on the practice squad. And sowhen I played fullback, I was going
against the first team defense. Andthese guys will not like to hear this,
but like Ian Gold was a startinglinebacker, I bent his helmet,
you did, yeah, And Iwas going there and I would hit John
(18:38):
Mobley and stut them up and everything. And I was weighing two hundred and
five pounds. Dang. I playedfullback in the National Football League five wow,
maybe even two o two. Butyou, Reuben were just like it.
It was like you get in andI've had Howard Griffith on the on
the podcast before. He was aphenomenal full back, phenomenal, but you
(19:00):
reminded a lot of people I thinkof him because you just got in there
and it was just like, go, yeah, just for this bowling ball
that was to be wreckoned with wreckingball, I should say, to be
wreckon with. Yeah, it wasamazing to watch. I wasn't. I
didn't shy away from hits. Iprobably should have, but my shoulders told
me something different. But yeah,no, I just I love the game
(19:22):
so much and I was willing todo whatever it took to get on the
football field. And that's what ittakes sometimes. Yeah, you know,
I mean coach came. It wasso funny because he changed Mike Anders position
to fullback as well. And ClintonPorters will never give me credit either for
that two thousand yard season. I'mlike, bro, like, I seen
things differently. I played running backall my life and they put me at
(19:44):
fullback and so I'm seeing a linebackerflow who is my block? Oh he's
out of the play. I seethat defensive end on the end. I'm
going to crash down the here.Everybody else is running themselves out of play.
Clinton with all the speed he justcut back and right run. Oh
my god. I was like,Clinton, give me some credit, bro
rightes. Yeah, I did itall myself. Man, that's so funny.
(20:07):
So did Mike Shanahan come to youand tell you that? Did you
to make the team? Yeah?Well he came to me and told me
that we're going to move you thefullback and I was like, whatever it
takes, coach, I'm good withthat. So he's like, well,
if you do that, you're goingto make the team. So I made
the team and that was It wasa great three years playing for the Broncos.
Yeah, you you had an fortwelve and forty yards. Yes,
(20:29):
I just signed that fullback contract forthree years. And Mike Anderson goes down,
Tatum Bell goes down, Quentin Griffithsgoes down, So we're down to
me and Garrison Hurst. So Igo, I'm walking to the meeting and
I have no idea at the time, and I'm walking to the meeting.
We got the offensive meeting going on, and I'm still full back at the
time, and coach Kob comes upto me in the hallways like, hey,
(20:52):
You're gonna be our running back.I'm like, hey, coach,
what about Garrison Hurst? Like Ihad full back. I just signed full
back contract, so I don't knowanything about running back right now in the
National Football League. And so he'slike, yeah, you're gonna be our
starting running back. I'm like,okay, how much of a learning curve
was there? It was, youknow, I asked Mike Anderson a lot
(21:14):
of questions. You know, meand Mike came out in the same draft.
We were best friends at the time. I asked him a lot of
questions. I was like, man, what do I do here? So
he just said, just run hard. So yeah, because if you know,
if you just look at a play, you look at a running back
and a fullback, and it seemslike they're interchangeable, but they're completely different
positionally, different position. Instead ofgoing and seeking out a block, you're
trying to get away from those tacklers, you know. And man, it
(21:38):
was that first game we were goingagainst Carolina Panthers and they had the like
number one defense at the time fromthe last year's Super Bowl. Yeah,
and I'm like terrified. I'm like, look at these big dudes, man,
Like, oh my god, I'stwo hundred pounds. You know,
honestly, it was the same feelingthat I had from junior call to college.
(22:00):
You know, coming from Juco,you know, you're playing against some
advertised guys, and you're coming intocollege. You're playing against You're seeing Julian
Peterson, Robert Smith. I mean, these guys are like huge. Yeah.
I'm looking at the program. I'mlooking at the weights and the size
and the height, and I'm like, dude, i gotta what even though
everybody adds two and fifteen pounds,they're still big. This is true.
(22:22):
This is true. This is true. Yeah. I was six three in
high school, which I'm a fiveto eleven right now. So you take
that as far as you want tothrow it. Oh my gosh, that's
funny. All right. So youhave your three years in Denver. I
have my three years in Denver.So the hardest thing about that I never
wanted to leave. You know,after that twelve hundred yard season, you
(22:42):
know, everybody was coming back.Quentin Griffiths was coming back, Mike Anderson,
Tatum, Bell, all these guyswere coming back, and so I
went into Mike's office and I'm like, hey, coach, I really don't
want to play fullback anymore running back. I thought he was gonna be on
board with it. He's like,well, He's leaning back in his chair.
It's like, Ruben, I've takenchances in my career. Are you
(23:04):
willing to take a chance in yourcareer. I'm like, if it means
I don't have to play fullback.Yeah. So he's like, well,
I think we're gonna trade you.I'm like, I was kind of shocked,
but I was like, okay.You know, it was a fresh
start for me, and it wasa chance for me to do, you
know, make my own path.Had that been a thought on your mind
(23:25):
to be traded. No, Ididn't want to leave Denver. I actually
loved loved Denver, you know,and that's why I'm still here. I
mean, I love the Broncos.It was my favorite team. Coaches were
great, players were awesome. Andthen they trade me to Cleveland for two
players, mind you, that's howThat's how important you were, Ebenezer and
Michael Myers. And so yeah,as a training card as a kid,
(23:48):
you've been like happy about that.Yeah. And then Corney Brown came out
here too, right, Courney Brown, Yeah, that's right. And so
I get to Cleveland and Romeo Cornellis the first year and he's he's ticked
off because they've traded away their defense. Defense. Yeah, so he's he's
(24:10):
sitting there, he's just mad asheck about that, and he's like,
this is what you gave me.I'm like, hey, coach, I
hopefully I can help you out.Hopefully I can help you out. And
so I get to Cleveland and Ihad a lot of fun in Cleveland.
Yeah, the fans were great.The fans are a passionate fans. We're
not winning very many games, butthey're passionate about their team. You respect
(24:32):
that absolutely. And so I wentout there and played my my butt off
for these guys. The blocking wasn'tgreat, Yo, still had the yards
didn't come as easy. Yards didn'tcome as easy. I was trying to
get hit in the backfield every timeI touched the ball, like I hit
you know, hope, ob Imean, are listening to this, They're
gonna be pissed me. I'm gonnaget a few calls after this. I'm
not trying to throw you guys underthe bus. You guys were wonderful,
(24:52):
wonderful, Yeah, but you're therethree years, right, two years,
two years, two years. II get I get there, and I
rushed a thousand yards, which nobodyhad done in like twenty or twenty five
years in Cleveland, which was crazy. I was like, what, that's
a long drought, just a longdrought. But we're used to here every
year where we expected her for avery long time. We expected our backs
(25:14):
to get a thousand yards plus.But the hardest thing was for that year
was watching the Broncos go to theAFC Championship game and I'm like, I
should be there. I should bethere. Yeah, and you know,
and then they played against Pittsburgh.You know, defensive we played against them,
you know, two times that year, and I did okay against them.
They were studded out though. Iwas watching our guys, you know,
Mike Anderson and Tatum Bell and wewere getting just torn to pieces with
(25:37):
blocking and stuff, trying to blockJoey Porter, and I was watching on
TV. I was like, oh, oh, you know, like thinking
about all the things you could havedone and it could have been all three
of us. I didn't care.I just didn't want to play fullback no
more. Wow, you know,and it's like, you know, I
wanted to be here, and youknow, I built a good core nucleus
(26:00):
here with the group of guys thatwere here for three years. Now.
I played here for three years andI enjoyed every moment of it. Yeah,
And it's funny you say that becauseI feel like there are a lot
of guys and there are so manyguys like you that played here and maybe
they went elsewhere afterwards, but thencame back and everybody's still friends. Like
you, guys all stay in touchand you see each other and you do
stuff together. And I think that'sa really cool we you know, respect
(26:23):
this organization. After what happened toDT, you know, we all came
together and we were like, youknow, we we don't talk to each
other enough, We don't reach outto each other enough. So we got
a big Bronco alumni group from theguys that we were playing with, you
know, Al Wilson, Chap Bailey, all these guys are on this group
and we all chat and syntext andyou know, sometimes we send tiktoks and
(26:45):
stuff like that, and you know, try to make each other laugh.
But it's it's funny. But becausewe stay in contact and stuff like that.
And when we Dominic had the alumnicome back for a game and stuff,
it was amazing. I think Carriewas in charge of that, right.
Yeah, the Pens have been andthey've they've been amazing, tried to
get that going again. It's greatfor the alumni, amazing for us.
They're doing things for us that cityabout ten years since Pat Bowler was was
(27:11):
around exactly. They're reinvested into mostof the alumni, which is great,
you know what I mean, Andthat means we love coming back and we
love being here. With that beingsaid, I didn't want to leave Denver,
Yeah, and I didn't want togo to Cleveland. You know,
not a lot of people do nothingagainst Cleveland, againstland I love, don't
take me wrong. I loved itout there. Yeah, you know,
it was great. The city wasgreat, the fans were great. You
(27:33):
know, they had Lebron James atthe time, So me and where we
became friends and you know, RichPaul was one of my boys and stuff
like that, and so it wasfun. It was fun, but there's
still a piece of your heart thatwants to be in we were. I
went from Detroit losing, then Iwent to Denver that taste of winning,
and then I go to Cleveland andI'm losing again, and I'm like,
(27:56):
this is not fun. You gettraded from there? Then the New York
Giants. Yeah, I'm ecstatic toget out of Cleveland. I wasn't ecstatic
to get out of Cleveland, soto speak, because Jamal Lewis was coming
out there. You know, meand ja Mal we're buddies and stuff like
that, and I thought we couldhave been great together. And but just
(28:18):
the feel of people that expect towin. They expect you to win in
New York. The organization, thepeople, the media, everybody, they
expected us to win. Michael Strahan, Sam Madison was out there too.
He was one of my quarterbacks inMiami and he came out to New York
and it was just a great nucleusof guys that weren't accepting losing makes a
(28:41):
big difference. It makes a hugedifference. Yeah, it makes a huge
difference. And they used you alot, from what I can tell,
on goal line and third downs,and you led the team in two thousand
and seven with six touchdowns. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you were a
starter, were you? I wasnot the starter. Brandon Jacobs was the
guy. I was a short yardistguy. But then I lost my position
(29:03):
after the Philadelphia game. So itwas like the third quarter of the game.
We get a third and one andthen like I'm cold, like like
I'm cold, like no, I'msaying like I haven't been doing I didn't
warm up on the sideline anymore.I'm just I mean like I was playing
special teams, but I was sittingmost of the time. Yes, And
so I get out there on thirdand one and I break along with and
(29:26):
I'm almost to the end zone.Here comes Brian Dawkins from the other side
of the football field tackles me onthe one yard line and we get stopped.
We don't score. We have tokick a field goal. And I
got the doghouse and my Bradshaw thebirth of a mob Bradshaw come wow,
(29:48):
which he was a phenomenal running back. I was a phenomenal Brandon Jacobs,
him and Brandon Jacobs, Derek WoreBrandon Jacobs and my Bradshaw and all those
guys were they were phenomenal on runningbacks and stuff. Well, there were
so many good running backs there inthe two thousands, and for you,
Ruben, to be able to havea career from two thousand to two thousand
and nine, that's triple what mostrunning backs will do in the NFL because
(30:11):
it's about a three year lifespan.I was willing to do whatever it too.
Special Teams was my itch. Youknow, I loved it. All
those guys out here. I justlove these guys out here. Man.
The Bronco organization was and is stillone of the best organizations in the National
Football League, not only the waythey carry themselves, but the way they
treat their alumni group and their formerplayers, which is awesome. Yeah,
(30:33):
I love that all right. Youget released by the Giants in two thousand
and nine. Is there a releasestory there? Do they just not sign
you back? So, you know, I get hit on a special teams
play, and it was right beforeit was in the playoffs, and I
get hit on the top of myhead and I feel my whole body going
numb, and I'm sitting there onthe field and I can't move my extremities.
(30:55):
And so when they released me,I just didn't want to try to
come back. I was done.Was a scary moment right there, and
that could be really serious. Absolutely, and so I was like, you
know what, that's it. Nineyear career, pretty good, that it
is really good. I finished prettystrong. I want a Super Bowl.
Had he had a Super Bowl withthe Giant. Yeah? Yeah, I
get the undefeated Patriots that year.We like to call it eighteen and one
(31:15):
Giant loss. That's great. Allright. So in two thousand and nine,
you're done, you're retired. Youtry at high school coaching not really
for you, and then you goto Serbia. Yeah, and you spend
years coaching in Serbia. So talkabout that journey. That's fascinating. So
I tried the high school thing andI had a player come to me.
(31:37):
It was like challenging me, andI was like, bro, like this
is what did he challenge you on? He got in trouble and I was
like, hey, you got todo this. He's like, man,
I'm gonna have my brother come andbeat you. I'm like, bro,
oh god. First of all,I was like, please send them.
And then I was like, youknow what, I'll take him. Yeah,
And I was like, you know, this is not for me.
If kids aren't going to be ableto respect me enough, even the fact
(31:59):
that I had a long NFL career, then this is not for me.
And so I went over to Serbia. I actually searched out. It was
the team in the south of Franceand there was a team in Serbia.
I was like, you know,and I reached out to a few teams,
but I was like, whoever getsback to me first, That's where
I'm going. And so the ownerof the Serbian team, he's a Bronco
fan, and so he's like,dude, it's serious. Do you want
(32:21):
to come out here and coach.I'm like, you reached out to me,
I'm coming. So I ended upgoing out there, and I mean,
it's a third world country. Whereis Serbia? Oh, Yugoslavia.
So it's right next to Croatia,next to Turkey, Croatia and Italy's not
too far Slovenia. I'm hungry.Had you ever been over there before?
Never in my lifetime, Never inmy lifetime have I been what you did.
(32:43):
Take a leap, my goodness.Yeah, And for me it was
a great leap because I created somegreat connections out pleach of my little Serbski.
You know, so I can speaka little bit of Serbian and I
can understand some Serbian. And theplayers, you know, the players respect
you so much for the fact ofwhat you did and what you accomplished.
Did they know football or was thatA lot of your job was teaching them
(33:06):
football? A lot of my jobwas teaching them. They knew football,
but they learned on YouTube. Ohwow, it's just like we all do.
Right. Yeah, if you wantto fix that light bulb, you
know, you just look at YouTube. If you want to figure out how
to play running back, which istrue, you could go watch some of
the greats play running back and seewhat their style and kind of mixing your
(33:30):
style. So I would go outthere and like, there was another coach
out there and John Harper was hisname, and he would only play the
best players. And these guys werenot coming to practice, and he's still
playing them. I'm like, andI'm observing. So eventually I'm like,
I'm telling these guys, if youdon't show if the practice, you're not
playing for me. And so Iwouldn't play the star players. And these
(33:51):
guys were studts. And so I'dgo out there and I train the This
is the weirdest thing though. Youcould play from fifteen to forty fifteen to
forty oh geez, so teenagers againstgrown ass men. Yeah, okay,
basically, yeah, So I havea fifteen year old kid. Nobody gave
him an opportunity. Nobody gave hima chance, and he was like sitting
(34:12):
on the bench. He became ourguys coaching defense. He became our best
corner. He had at least thirteeninterceptions that year. Wow. Oh,
he was killing it. He gainedconfidence over the year. And I'm playing
all these guys and like my ideawas, I want accountability just throughout the
years what I've learned, and youknow, with Mike Shanahan and all stuff
like that, you know, i'dbe cool. I could be a cool
(34:34):
dude and everything like that. Butyou gotta be accountable. You know,
you got to show up to practice, you got to go out there and
work and put the work in andstuff like that. And so and so
these guys like took a hold ofme, you know, and we went
out there and won a few championshipsand kid, yeah, it was great.
And you did that for how manyyears, like six years or something.
I think it was five years.Five years. I ended up being
I don't know if you remember SeanImbery, Oh yeah, yeah. Seawn
(34:58):
ended up coming out there with meand he had became the head coach,
and I was like, I'm nota head coach. Yeah, because once
they Frobally John Harper, they mademe the head coach. And I was
like, whoa, it's a wholedifferent. It's a whole different. WHOA.
I got to control both of theseguys and all these guys. Yeah,
you're the CEO. Yeah, yeah, I made it work. We
(35:21):
took second that year. So Icalled up Sean the next year and he
came out and coached with me.And that's a lot of commitment, though,
Ruben to leave for six months,right, So, how did you
do that with your family? Andit was it was very difficult because at
the time I was divorced my littlegirl. I left her and I felt
so bad for doing that because itwas early years and stuff like that.
So I'd leave for about six monthsout of the year, mid January or
(35:44):
something like that, and then I'dcome back late July or something like that,
and so it was difficult, youknow, because I missed all those
sports time, and she was playingI nine and I know, yeah,
my son, we'll stop there.I got you. And so every time
I had come back, I'm like, dude, what is this. You
(36:05):
didn't even do anything. You gota trophy, like a trophy, and
so I was like, uh,yeah, I need to stop. So
I stopped going over there, andI spent more time and focused on my
daughter's career. You know, hermom was like, well, if I
was like, we're going to takeher out of the right night, he
said, well, you've got tofind her a sport. I was like,
well, that's not a problem.I find volleyball. And she loved
volleyball. And then she ended upquitting her senior year and then she ended
(36:29):
up running track and getting a scholarshipin track. Wow, here the deal.
Just like I told my child,you need to play multiple sports,
and she didn't want to do that. I'm like, dude, like,
like I told you early on torun track, I'll put you in track.
Had you ran track early on,you would have probably had the skills
to make it to the Division onelevel. But unfortunately you wanted to start
(36:52):
track late. You had the COVIDyear your freshman year, and then your
sophomore year you got injured, andso you had your junior and senior year,
which was not great. I meanit was great because she got a
scholarship, but she was really upsetwith the fact that she didn't get a
Division one scholarship. But I'm like, hey, listen here, man,
this is my philosophy right here.I went to junior college and I made
(37:14):
it. So I feel that ifyou're gonna make it no matter where you're
at, you're going to make itanywhere. I don't care if you're at
a lower level. If you havethe will and the power and the drive
to make somewhere, you're gonna makeit no matter where you start. It
doesn't matter if you go to aDivision one school or not. You can
(37:34):
go to a JUCO and still getthat scholarship and make it to a Division
IE school and it's still achieve allyour goals. So it doesn't matter where
you start. With all your parentsout there, you don't have to pay
for you know, school all thetime. Ju goos are great. They
are there's such a great way tomake that transition. Are they are,
And they help you grow, youknow, to be honest with you and
prepare you for the Division one levelor college or you know what I mean,
(37:57):
because to be honest with you,would you have been read for Oregon?
The first two years are washed.Yeah, for most kids. They
are both students. You're trying tofigure out what to do with school.
You're trying to figure and then ifyou're adding in being a student athlete at
the same time, there's so muchgoing on. So if you can have
something to kind of bridge that gap, yeah, you help me grow,
you know, and helped me preparefor what I was to face at the
(38:21):
Division IE level. I worked hard. I had to push myself, I'm
sure Juco you know. And itwasn't easy, you know, because you
don't have money. You know,you're not on a scholarship, you know,
your own pail grants to pay forschool and stuff like that. So
it wasn't easy. But I hadto push myself through to get what I
wanted to achieve. And you didsomewhat. And now these days you get
(38:45):
to just be a dad. You'vegot four girls, two they're older,
the twenty five and eighteen, andthen you also have round two. Yeah,
yeah, six years old. Youknow. You know, I'm like
barrel girls. I didn't get enough. They just drop me back off of
the middle of Johnny. But howfun is it this time around because you're
(39:07):
able to be around and it's great. It's great because you know, like
when you're playing ball, you stillhave your family. You're still you know,
but you have to feed your family. So you have to go to
work, you have to go train, you have to be in training camp
and you're gone for a couple ofweeks there. When you're training, you're
gone somewhere else, training off somewhereelse. And when you get home from
(39:27):
practice and stuff, it's you getan hour with your children and it's it's
bedtime. And are you also nota little bit of an outsider during especially
during the football season, because they'regoing to figure out their schedule and you
don't have a lot of time athome. So when you come home,
it's like, hey, fit intoour world because you're not here very much.
Yeah, we have to, likethe wife controls it, and you
got to try to jump in andfit in with the schedule that they got
and that's hard, and it's hardbecause you you know, one of the
(39:50):
things you can't do, and that'sone of the things that you know,
what you learn from through the NFLis you can't bring work home. That's
one of the main things because whenyou bring work home, it just throws
your whole life off with your family, you know, because you may be
upset that day. Don't bring thatloss home, you know, you cannot
do that. And so, yeah, this is so much. It's not
(40:14):
easier. I'm gonna tell you rightnow. If you're a dad, you're
raising your children on your own oryour your the wife is working and stuff
like, man, listen, respectall moms because it's hard work raising children.
And my wife was working. Sowhen she's working, like I'm taking
all the car pool I'm doing acar pooling. I'm taking the kids to
school, picking them up from school, doing it the school mom stuff.
(40:37):
I'm gossiping and I'm like, whoathis is this is a whole different life
here the only dad all the schoolman, I'm like, what is going
on? Like what what adn Evelyndo today? And so you know,
you fightre out where you can't parkat you know, oh yeah, real
fast, Oh man, they cameup to me. I parked in the
(40:58):
parking like it's like a drop offand I just got out of my car,
and he's like, the principal cameup. Hey, yeah, no,
no, you can't do that.You can't do that. I'm like,
oh, man, the principal isgood, dude. I ended up.
He's coaching football now and I helpedI helped him out. But yeah,
he got me that day, gotme that day. And uh.
And so now my wife is notworking, you know. Now she's become
the school mom. And so now, oh, you're out in the cold.
(41:21):
Oh dude, oh do you moveit. Let me tell you this.
The moms they talk to me still. But I'm like an outsider.
I mean, she's got a Christmasparty. You can't be trips. And
I'm like, what about me?I was your buddy, And so now
I'm out in the cold. I'mstuck at home. My wife's out camping
(41:42):
with the school moms. He's like, why don't you mow the lawn.
I'm so sorry, Ruben, yougot to pick up the rest of the
slack. Now. I thought itwas one of the cool moms, mom,
dad's whatever, you want to callme. Yeah, and maybe you'll
get back there again. Maybe youcan work yourself back in. We talked
(42:02):
we you know, I still talkto him and stuff like that, but
it's not the same relationship anymore.Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. You
know, Like my wife's like,well, they liked me better. The
same thing happened with Mike and I. I was telling you before we started.
When I was working at nine News, he was with all the moms
because I had a schedule where Ihad to go to work at three am
until eleven am. And then whenI stopped working at nine News because I
(42:25):
wanted to spend more time with thekids, then I started doing all that
stuff and he's like, what whatcan I still go do? And I'm
like, no, no, Iget to do this now. And he's
like, but I'm like, no, they do like me better. Think
so he thinks they all like himbetter. We get outed so fast.
I'm like, man, what isgoing on here? I felt like I
(42:45):
was, I was bonding, Iwas one of you, and now I'm
not. So this is a toughtime for you, very tough, very
tough. So now I found myselfdoing more yard work and shoveling. Now
we're getting in and you know,I got to put the cereal bowls away
in the mornings now and you're goingoff to school and taking the kids to
(43:07):
school and being with your cool moms. Oh, my goodness, is so
funny. I'm so jealous. Okay, this has been awesome. You already
kind of answered my last question.But I always ask everybody the same thing.
When you talk to people, andyou talk to your kids, you
talk to other kids and other peoplein general when they have ups and downs.
You've gone through them in your career, what do you tell people on
(43:27):
how to get through some of thosetimes? Susan, One of the things
I've always learned in my life isyou always keep a smile on their face.
Because I've come from some serious roughpatches, you know, staying in
motels and stuff like that, tobecome the super Bowl Champion, being homeless
at times, and one of thethings I always do is keep a smile
on my face because there's always somebodyout there doing worse than you. If
(43:49):
they see you smiling, maybe youcan bring some joy to their life,
some sort of joy to their life. I love that. And that's just
what you are. And that's whatI remember of you and you were playing
here, is there's always a smileface I'm always smiling, I'm always laughing.
I love having a good time,and your teammates love you too.
Yeah, and that's what you playfor. You know, I'm going to
be around. I'm the money isall great and all that good stuff.
(44:12):
But you want to be remembered byyour peers, you know, you want
to be remembered where what you didon the football field and the type of
character you were, and you know, in the lot, whether it's in
locker room or on the football fieldor anywhere else in life. Yeah.
Absolutely, this was so fun.Thank you, Thank you for coming in.
I appreciate thank you for having me. Absolutely, thank you, Ruben.
I literally love that guy's smile.New episodes have Cut, Traded,
(44:37):
Fired, Retired. I released everyTuesday. Please follow, download, rate,
and review this podcast wherever you listento podcasts. Keep up on podcast
releases and updates on Twitter and Instagramat CTFR podcast and also on the website
ctfurpodcast dot com. I'm your host, Susie Wargen. To find out more
about me, visit Susiewargen dot com. Thanks for taking the time to check
(44:58):
out this episode and any others.Until next time, please be careful,
be safe and be kind, takecare,
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