September 28, 2020 • 42 mins
In this third episode of DRAFTED, we meet scrappy, feisty running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn and super fast cornerback Bryce Hall. Both players overcame serious injuries, personal struggles and self-doubt to find their way to the 2020 NFL Draft. In the run up to the big day, former Vanderbilt Commodore Vaughn introduces us to his young son, who’s become the most important reason he fights so hard on the field. Hall then takes us through his early years and the thrilling on-field moments he matured into a potential first round draft pick, then re-living a devastating injury that derailed some of his dreams.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Drafted as a production of tree Fort Media, Clutched Sports Group,
and I Heart Radio. You couldn't play football in Kansas
until you were in first grade. Yeah, and so the
very first organized thing you could get into with soccer,
it would be like about ten kids of all bunch
(00:20):
together and then Bryce would be about eight yards in
front of him because you just had these long stride
and you were just running away from one time, He's
going like nine crash. That's so funny. That's crazy, because
I literally thought soccer was gonna be my sport until football. Ye.
(00:52):
Welcome back to Drafted, where eight elite college football players
take us on their own personal journeys as they entered
the NFL Draft. They'll mike themselves up without producers, directors,
or cameras, offering an honest, authentic look at who these
athletes are beneath the pads and what it takes to
(01:14):
go from a childhood dream to hearing their name called
on draft day. Last episode, we took a big bite
out of the three d pound world of offensive linemen. Today,
we'll hear from cornerback Bryce Hall. When I hear draft Dad,
I just think dreams come true and I get butterflies
in my snubbing. But I also get like a burden
(01:35):
on me that it's just something that stirs up in
me when I think about it, because it's like, dang,
I got an opportunity to do something special. And running
back Keyshawn Vaughn don't care who in front of me,
You don't care what team we're playing. Came over by
the step of your way. It's gotta be rid to
just take over a game, especially playing running back, because
on the field you've got no friends. On whatever game
(01:55):
day is, you've got no friends. So much in me
don't allow me to quit, you know, quitting me to
skill position players thriving less on size and strength and
more on speed and finesse. These positions can live and
die under a perpetual spotlight. Running Backs make the highlight,
real plays, pick up the crucial first downs and score
the big touchdowns. They get tons of love and fantasy football,
(02:18):
and they're the ones who celebrate in the end zone.
Then there are cornerbacks. They have to defend against ultra
athletic playmakers every snap, often playing one on one against
the fastest, most reliable pass catchers in the world. It's
feast or famine. Almost every time the ball comes their way,
every play they make or don't make is highlighted for
(02:40):
all to see. In today's episode, We're going to take
you inside the lives of these two players and the
obstacles they've faced to arrive at draft day. We'll hear
what all the hard work, sweat, and tears mean along
their bumpy roads to get to this life changing weekend,
and how their football dreams are finally coming true. Said
(03:01):
Mary William What what was rep? Wash it? Quick, Nasa.
(03:25):
This is Keyshawn Vaughan, an explosive running back known for
his hard nosed, violent style, A player some describe as menacing.
How you do kersh Keishan could be picked as high
as the second or third round or as low as
the fifth or even sixth rounds in the coming draft.
He's a complicated prospect, an undeniable talent, but too many
(03:48):
also an enigma. L how do you donna do that? Wat?
You just see it? Ever since Septemp Bird seven, two
(04:10):
thousand nineteen, I have been doing this for my son,
and that's kind of who helped guide me through the season,
even though he can't talk or nothing. Just seeing his
face I kind of understood it was a bigger purpose
than just me been on that field. M h m hmm.
(04:38):
Proud father. My son name is Keeling Vaughan U. I
spelled the same way as mine with Apostophe, except it's
Kae Apostophe l a and killing Vaughan. Um me six months,
he'll be turning seven months on the seven. His eyes
lights up when he seen me. He ain't seen me
a couple of hours and he's seen me first time.
(04:58):
Eyes just lights up and you can tell he's gonna
be like a daddy boy. So that's my guy. Hell
that what are you doing? What are you doing? What
you're doing? What the puppy like to go for a ride?
(05:19):
I got a mouth, I got a feed now. So
that's that's what I've been playing for ever since there.
But before then, it was mainly to give my family
in a better position. Um that was the biggest thing
my whole life, always just for I was the one
who could cut my family in a better position. So
I stuck with football and they'll pay out soon. This
(05:39):
a week coming. Keyshawn runs like he's on that mission,
he describes. To get to the NFL fighting through would
be tacklers and his share of adversity in hopes of
one day reaching the draft. Well, I went to one
of the biggest public high schools in the Nashville Pearl Cone,
and so kind of high school I go. In my
(06:00):
freshman year, I made it to the varsity squad, was
probably didn't touch the field first four or five games.
End up getting on the field late game score my
first touch down against Eastern Nashville. Now on I was
like a second string and running back. End up breaking
my ankle my freshman year during the playoff game against
c p A. The whole team for like, I don't
(06:22):
break my ankle, we win that game. And so that
was the first big injury I had playing the game.
So that that let alone just kind of scared me
a lot. I'm like, I don't know if I want
to play this game no more. I don't know if
it's for me. And now I'm trying to figure out
what I'm gonna do. And then from right there that's
when I want to quit football, kind of give it
all up. But so much so much in me don't
(06:46):
allow me to quit, just not in my DNA. It
just want't sit well with me as a person as
a man, ain't know quitting me. This doggedness can be
seen every time. Keep Sean touch just the ball. One
scouting report describing his playing style says, you'll get his
best effort. He'll make you earn it. He is likely
to outpunish you if given the opportunity, says another. Keyshawn
(07:10):
describes his rushing attack in a different way. I call
it grimmy. That mean I don't care who in front
of me, who trying to stop me. I don't care
what team we're playing. I just feel like you gotta
have a can't be funk with attitude, can't nobody step
in your way. You's gotta be ready to just take
over a game, especially playing running back, because on the field,
you've got no friends. On Saturday, Sunday, whatever game day is,
(07:32):
you've got no friends. So you gotta have that mindset
at all time because you it ain't no turning it on,
turn it off. It's when I step on this field,
no matter what field, practice field, game day, I gotta
be ready to go. I can't come out here and
I hope this team let me run on him today.
Now you gotta goat gonna take it. You gotta take
(07:53):
what you want either be eighty's to sum it up.
No status are revealing about his playing style than the
fact that of Keishawn's one thousand, twenty eight rushing yards
this past season, seven hundred and forty three of them
came after contact. That means nearly of the time he
(08:13):
gained yards, he broke a tackle or dragged the defender
down the field with him. That fight comes from somewhere
deep inside him. But back as a high school kid
returning from a serious injury, the most intimidating opponent he
faced was doubt my album A year. A year I
had to gain that confidence back in my ankle. You know,
you're going out there and play football, and a long
(08:36):
time he just broke ankle. Oh, you're kind of scared
out there. So that's album. Yeah, that's kind of the
season that I was able to get my confidence back
and my ankle and myself. By his senior year, Keishan
ended up winning a state championship in track and running
for two thousand, six hundred and forty six yards and
forty five touchdowns on the gridiron. He was named the
(08:59):
Tennessee Gatorade Football Player of the Year offers from top
college programs like Ohio State, Notre Dame, Louisville, and West
Virginia poured in, along with one from the local hometown school,
Vanderbilt University. Keishawn felt an urge to leave Nashville and
he liked the University of Illinois coaching staff, so ultimately
he committed to go play for the ELNI, and I say, uh,
(09:24):
far as college as a whole, things has just been
crazy as hell. Before I hit college, I was going
through trials and tribulations. When I signed. A couple of
weeks later, my coach get put under investigation. Allegations of
player rebews suddenly surrounded the coaching staff. So make it
through camp. My freshman year coach get fired a week
(09:46):
before the first game, So now my kind of whole
world just shifts. My position. Coach goals to head coach,
and they just sent the running backs grand assistant. So
that was kind of one the coach and that a
freshman needed, especially playing as a true freshman, you needed
somebody with that coaching experience who can help guys who's
(10:08):
basically coming out of high school straight to college and
playing as a true freshman. Most highly sought after recruits
like Keishan choose their schools based on their close relationship
with the coaching staff. A week before Keishawn's first game
of his freshman year, his coaches were gone. Keishan became
the starter as an eighteen year old, and suddenly his
(10:28):
running back coach was a grad assistant barely older than him.
So that's kind of something I went through my freshman year,
made through my freshman year good. I think I have
about seven hundred fifty rushing about eight nine hundred total,
made the All Freshman team. By the end of his
freshman season, the interim coaches were also let go, replaced
by former Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach
(10:50):
Lovey Smith. Smith became Keyshawn's third college coach in less
than a year, and then saltomore year, new coaching staff come. Man.
I was a starter for three games, then I got
benched with no reason, no explanation, and so from there
all created that I have built up just disappeared. Far
(11:12):
as to the n C double a world, he faced
another challenging moment head on. Man, I feel like just
at that time I kind of didn't know what was
going on. Myself. I was kind of still trying to
figure out that, and so that was probably the most
mental thing that I probably had to go through, especially
like keeping my cool the whole season when I got benching.
(11:36):
I don't have a reason why I got bench trying
to find happiness even though I really don't want to
build this team because they benched me and ain't told
me why. I wanted to quit. Every day for the
second time in his short football career, t shot the
questions why he plays, what drives him, and whether he
wants to continue. That's kind of was my mindset. But
(11:57):
I talked to my mama every day I have to practice.
She telling me to just keep pushing, don't don't create
no batter relationship with these coaches because they can They
can use that against you when you're trying to transfer,
or even it could have used it against me um
trying to get to the league if coaches went back
and talk to Illinois staff and asked about me. So
(12:17):
that Illinois situation was more long term, the kind of
short term my mom would helped me get through that well.
I figured the best thing for me wasn't being there
because things had kind of got out of my control.
I was no longer competing with players on the team.
It was starting to become competing with coaches. And that's
kind of something that I knew I couldn't do um
(12:39):
in my position. So the best thing for me was
to leave. For a player who drags defenders down the field,
who gained over three fourth of his yards after the
first hit by refusing to give up on the play,
deciding whether or not to leave the University of Illinois
program is an excruciating decision. Quitting goes against his character,
it goes against who he is, But the prospect of
(13:00):
being a backup seems even more demoralizing than transferring. So
Keyshawn looks back home. When I announced I was transferring,
one thing I didn't know Coach Mason. I called him
on sign to day like a coach. I ain't coming
to Vanderbilt. I'm going somewhere else. He understood why I
(13:20):
didn't want to go to Vanderbil. He knew I wanted
to get away from home because Vanderbilt like ten minutes
from where I grew up from. So he knew. He
understood why I wanted to get away, and he was like, all,
we got your awful waiting. Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason
said he would always have an offer waiting for the
hometown hero, just in case he changed his mind. Me
and him had already had relationship kind of built just
(13:43):
based off recruiting from high school and him will understanding
why I didn't want to go to Vanderbilt at the time.
That's kind of one of the only coaches who really
done game I trust, So that's how I got the
Vanderbilt coach. Mason was one of them guys who I
knew I can trust. A National Signing Day coach. Mason
made the announcement, um in the running back position, of course,
(14:06):
you know, look at Keishawn von in this class. I
think his abilities will running back to get yards after contact,
to be a home run a player. And I was
gonna have to sit you, but I think he's gonna
be tremendious in this program. It's gonna get, you know,
in the products. So I'm back home and and he'll
(14:27):
do he'll do national problem. You know, he's six one five,
uh and day all day and uh you know for him,
I know he's glad to be back home. So we
get a really good player. I think. I mean, he
may be the best running back signed in this class.
I don't care what school you look at. So when
it's all said and done, that's that's what we need.
Keishawan transfers to Vanderbilt and sits out the season per
(14:48):
n C double A rules. When I transferred home in
the Vandy kind of had the look homey kind of
vibes and then also able to play scout team and
get in the looks as he can't play in games.
Keishan practices on the scout team with the second and
third string players. In football, the scout team helps prepare
the starters for their opponent by mirroring the other team system.
(15:10):
Every week, Keishan ran Vanderbilt's opponent's offense, so the Vanderbilt
defense knew what to expect. I enjoyed that first year
I transfer back home. That's really what I said was
my fun is you're playing football. Ever on scout team,
I'm able to just run around and play without hearing
that that coaching that you know, the coaching you don't
(15:31):
want to hear that. You want to hear you but
like when you don't gotta here and you're like, you
just get able to run around and be free. I
enjoyed doing that so much so that two seventeen year
on scout team, that was the year I looked at
us getting better, working on new things to add to
my game, which will improve my game. Once he finally
(15:52):
got his chance at Vanderbilt, playing as a junior against
many of the top defenses in the country, Keishan ran
for an absurd even point nine yards per carry. That's
the eleventh highest season average ever in the SEC Conference,
better than the best college seasons from some of the
conference's most revered running backs, stars like Bo Jackson and
(16:13):
Sean Alexander. Even more remarkable, Keishan did it on a
Vanderbilt team that only won five games and lacked many
other weapons on offense. Defenses could focus on Keishan. They
just couldn't stop him. So after such a strong junior season,
Keshan is faced with a stomach churning decision enter the
draft and hope his rushing numbers speak for themselves, or
(16:35):
returned to Vanderbilt for his senior season. I had one
year school though I'm a guy like, I hate school.
Mom she wanted me to had a degree. Is whatever
with me own really care about school anyway, but Varios
you need that degree and ask something that I want
(16:55):
to give her. Mom did a lot for us growing up.
For real, there's so much like she There's so much
he be prepared for fully even got out of me.
Graduating Vanderbilt coming back a year was kind of because
of her too. The decision wasn't only about the degree.
Questions lingered about Keyshawn's potential at the next level. Well,
(17:15):
I had to make the decision whether to come back,
we'll go to the NFL. Had await a lot of things.
One was my projection. I was getting full filth six
seventh round projections. Then I looked at it as it's
a whacking get into the first round, come back and
have another dominant season. He returned to Vanderbilt with the
goal of finishing his degree and jumping from a fourth
(17:38):
to seventh round pick to a certain first rounder. Unfortunately,
the team struggled. That statistic about seventy of Keishawn's yards
coming after contact this past season tells us something else.
There weren't many open running lanes. He didn't have a
Mackay Beckton or a Tremaine Anchrum clearing the path defenders
were constantly on top of him. Vanderbiltly won three games,
(18:01):
and Keishawn's numbers were down in nearly every category. I mean,
the season ago was great, but I graduated made It's
who I want to be, so I'm good total. But
(18:26):
there is another way to look at Keishawn's senior year
that it changed his life for the better, providing something
much more valuable than gaudy rushing numbers or dozens of touchdowns.
What's up this keeling Crash? So what's up? So? What's up? Hey? Heybody?
(18:47):
He ain't listening to me. Only nine months so it's
just going in one year out the other. But my
son I called him Crash. The name Crash came from
the situation with his mom and while he was bren
kind of really Friday night before a game, I get
a call she had gotten a wreck and UM rushed
to the hospital. His heart rate was dropping, so that
(19:11):
to take him three weeks early. And that's kind of
where the name Crash came from, making a beautiful thing
instead of the ugly situation that occurred. Man, Crash Bond
is just kind of crazy. You can't kind of tell
that he's gonna be a daddy'sh boy. I can yell
(19:32):
his name, and I didn't be nowhere around him to
see me. He would just started going crazy. And that's
kind of me and his bond. He gets super hyped
when he seen me, and um, I love. That was
too much. Keishan found a purpose bigger than himself. Another
reason he can't quit one even more important. There's nine
(19:57):
oh six him. Yeah, crash still up what I know?
Killing quick touch and stuff. No, it's not for you
(20:20):
to do killing. Thank you again. God. Cut where I've
been to, Holliday Son time what you ain't want to see?
No time soon it's you don't want to I'm gonna
(20:44):
start putting me on the bed time give me the
bed triumph, Greg, you can do, just do it will
be we want to do. Some of the people making
decisions on draft day will only see what they want
to see at Keyshawn Vaughan. He's the running back version
of the famous psychology ink black test. Scouts and analysts
watch a play, only to report completely different accounts of
(21:05):
what they see. Some teams wonder about Keyshawn's maturity. They
have questions about why he was benched in Illinois, why
he was transferred. Why his numbers were down. The other
camp points to his perseverance, his improvement and production as
a player, and his maturity as a father. We'll be
right back, I say, if anything, having my son just
(21:32):
kind of tightened up my focus more. I'm always in
the house in a way, so it didn't change my
behavior or approached thing. Is kind of just tightened up
my focus, more attention to detail. Knowing that he looking
up to anything that I'm doing, even if I'm not
thinking he is. He's watching my every movie. He still
(21:53):
he's got a new relationship with his son and with football.
The way McKay, Beckton's dad and Tremaine and Crum's dad
cared to deeply about their sons success, all wanting to
provide a better life for them. Being the father, you
have to set a good example because he probably want
to be just like me. Yeah. Yeah, I have to
do everything right to give him something to look up to.
(22:16):
I'm already putting stuff in place for him. Um, so
he's straight. Like supporting their thing, that's mandatory. Love support,
that's that's required. But like small stuff and fishing, how
to change tires, little little small stuff like that, That's
what I want to do with him that nobody ever
did with me. Don't play running back. That's my only thing.
(22:40):
I'm gonna tell him. Play a more chill position. They
really don't take a lot of crazy hits. That's kind
of something I wanted to play. If he is gonna
play football, But I mean, even if he ends up,
I wanted to play running back. I can't do enough
but respected and support it. Keepshaw doesn't worry about the
scout or the punpits these days. He's focused on controlling
(23:03):
what he can, thinking only of the future and the
ever increasing magnitude of draft Day. It's kind of more
like you have options um to do really anything at
this point, because it wasn't really many options for meals.
Football was the way I was gonna get out of
(23:23):
my situation where I was gonna make some more money.
That was kind of the only option I kind of had.
But with him, I want them like I want to
have so many options. Let them be able to make
choices for itself. So that's why name of Jr. Or
kind of anything like that, because I want to let
him know that you an individual, he can do kind
(23:45):
of whatever he put his mind to that's my thing.
M no, suir, hey m. When I was were a
little were in class, one of my teacher she asked me,
(24:08):
um she was we had those activities where they she
asked us to draw what we wanted to be when
we grew up. I remember John a football player, and
so I remember just as a little kid. This is
something I've been dreaming him out. This is Bryce Hall,
the football player, not the TikTok star le. Bryce Hall
from the University of Virginia, a cornerback, widely considered a
(24:32):
first round pick in the NFL Draft after leading the
nation and passes defended his junior year. He plays with size, strength,
and remarkable speed, all on display during one crucial game.
I was selling Vanessa about the soccer thing, huh, because
that was like, like we wanted. This was the first
organized sport that you could play. His dad, Michael, tells
(24:54):
the story over breakfast to Bryce's step mom, Vanessa and
his girlfriend end Zel. You couldn't play for ball in
Kansas until you were in first grade. Yeah, and so
the very first organized thing you could get into with soccer,
and it was so hilarious how you would be running away,
it would be like about ten kids of all bunch
together and then Bryce would be about eight yards in
(25:17):
front of him and he nobody would pass the ball
and anybody. So once he broke out of it, he
was gone another goal because you just had this long
drive and you were just running away from one time.
He's going like nine goals crashing up because it was
so funny because even no passed the ball. Oh yeah,
(25:43):
because they didn't know how to play. That's crazy, because
I literally thought soccer was gonna need my sport until football.
That's forward to fourteen years. Bright showcases his talents in
another crucial moment, this time against the Miami Hurricanes when
I ran down the running back from Miami. The running
back broke free down the sideline and then I came
(26:05):
from across the field and pushed him out of bounds
at like fifteen yard line. He ran for like almost
sixty yards. They clapped me at two miles per hour.
Is the fastest I ever ran before, and something came
over me to help me get to the to the
speed that I was at the top speed anyone ran
(26:26):
in an NFL game last season was twenty two point
three miles. The same blazing speed Rice hit chasing down
the Miami player, that little kid on the soccer field
faster than everyone else now a junior at the University
of Virginia, And then they ended up kicking a field
goal on that drive, and we end up winning the
game by two points. I believe the score was fIF
(26:49):
and I felt like that was a defining game for
our season and turned us our season around, catching that
running back save the touchdown, holding Miami to three points
and that of seven one Virginia the game. That game
started a winning streak. One play changed the course of
their season from then on. We went on to win
(27:10):
eight games after that and go to the Bowl Game
back to back foot ball games for the first time
in like a decade. Qualifying for back to back Bowl
games was a stunning turnaround for the Virginia football program,
which had only won eleven games in the previous three
years combined. And it was a stunning turnaround for Bryce,
who seemed destined for an unremarkable college football career. I
(27:31):
never ever thought I would go to u v A,
and um, honestly, it was the best thing for me.
I probably would have been playing defense. I've been somewhere
trying to play receiver. Bryce played wide receiver in high
school and was rated a two star prospect out of
a possible five. This meant he wasn't in the top
seven hundred and fifty to one thousand recruits in the country,
(27:53):
and scouting services considered him unable to compete against the
top athletes in his class. He only received offers from
two call programs, Virginia, which had won four games that year,
and Coastal Carolina, which played in the College Football Subdivision,
essentially the minor leagues. Bryce chose Virginia, switching from offense
to cornerback almost immediately. My school is shaped me. I
(28:17):
feel like my heart's always gonna be in Charlottesville, Virginia
because I came in as a boy and I left
as a man, and some of the principles that were
instilled at me while I was at college. UM, I'll
never forget a lot of athletes who excel from a
very young age, like Bryce, continued to dominate as they mature.
They're named top recruits early in high school, like Ohio
(28:39):
State cornerback Jeff Okuda, who received scholarship offers as early
as his sophomore year, or Keyshawn Vaughan, but highly recruited
Tennessee high school player of the Year before Virginia, Bryce
was an unconfident, undersized freshman at Bishop McDivitt High School.
There was a lot of really good players that came
out of that high school, some of um most people know,
(29:01):
like Lashawn McCoy, Noah Spends, Ricky Waters, Aaron Berry. And
I remember my coach saying one day as I was
a little skinny freshman and I didn't have much confidence
in myself, and he he was saying, I can't wait
till you continue to grow and develop, because you're gonna
be the next player that's gonna have multiple offers coming
out of here. And I just remember when I didn't
(29:22):
believe in myself, he was somebody who saw that in me,
and I think that gave me so much confidence to
know that I could actually do this thing. Like I
knew that was my dream. But he instilled that first
little bit of hope in me, and I believe that
what he said was true even when I didn't necessarily
see it. Bryce didn't have a five start phy, seek
(29:45):
ability or confidence. His dad, Michael again on just how
vast the size and talent cap was when Bryce was
around middle school age, there was a kid in football.
He was from Africa, so when he came, he didn't
have like a birth certificate. They didn't know like how
old he actually was, so they estimated his age. So
(30:07):
he was always like his side burns. It was he
wasn't he was. He was fast and stronger. He was huge.
Most of its saw like the eighth grade of playing
against filth grade. Yeah, the thing is hold on, I'm
about to show you, but this is like freshman year
of college. But he was the same. Size is the
(30:30):
same with the five star athletes, as I figured it out,
a five star You remember how you look at your
sophomore year after you got the UV. That's what a
five star athlete looks like in high school. Yeah, they
already have that. It wasn't until two years into college
that Bryce looked and played the way a five star
prospect does. Some of that is genetics growing and physically
(30:54):
maturing later. Some of it is coaching and work ethic
continuing to improve year after year, and I'm of it.
His confidence. Everybody was like intimidated by him, including me.
You were afraid of him on defense. I was scared.
I was legit scared of play against him because he
was just so much bigger than everybody else. Even by
(31:16):
the time he got to high school, somewhere in Bryce's mind,
he was still that frail little fifth grader catching the
ball and getting crushed by the bigger, stronger kids. At
one point, he thought, maybe football wasn't the sport for him.
We'll be right back. He wanted to play baseball, Yeah,
(31:39):
but then I had the patience for baseball, basketball, baseball, football,
Like you know, I was gonna have a weekend. It
was crazy in baseball. Had too many games sitting there
in the dusty because I would come home with dust
(32:02):
all over me, Like, no, I'm not sitting for hours,
it's like a day. It was boring. I never could
get it so because I didn't like that. True, I
thought it was because I didn't have the patients for
(32:23):
some reason, because that's hilarious. As a kid, Bryce tended
to always follow his dad's lead. They've shared a close
bond ever since his early elementary school days. My dad
has been somebody who's been um so supportive of me,
and me and him have a special relationship because it
(32:46):
was just me and my dad in the house for
a while and whatever I was committed to my dad,
he would always do research. He was so analytical and
how like he approached everything. And that's where I get
my film study, my preparation, and my analytical aspect of
trying to figure out and crack the codes, you know
(33:07):
when I go up against offenses. Is I think he
really instilled that discipline in me just watching from him.
He poured a lot into me then and and contributed
a lot to where I'm at now. From that little
kid drawing pictures of his dream to a fifth grade
were scared of getting hit by the bigger kids, to
a skinny freshman full of doubt, now to a potential
(33:29):
first round NFL draft pick. Bryce has faced daunting challenges
along the way. Honestly, it's really UM shaped me and
get me to where I'm at now, just from going
to experience a lot of adversity in my life, like
UM with my mom when she passed away when I
was in fifth grade, going to sixth grade. When you
(33:51):
experience something like that that lost at such a young age,
it does something to you. And I think for me,
there were like negative repercussions. I like shunned away from
being opened up with people and allowing my heart to
trust fully and because I just didn't want it to
get hurt like that again. And I realized just how
important relationships are in cherishing the moments and things like that.
(34:14):
Family just huge for me now. Bryce's hard fought maturity
is one reason why he's such a compelling prospect, but
other factors are his aggressiveness, his twenty two mile per
hour speed, and the two d plus pounds he's forged
onto his six ft one frame. Before adding all that muscle,
Bryce didn't even register on NFL radars. Then his stellar
(34:37):
play his junior season transformed him into a second team
All American and a projected first round pick. The media
and NFL scouts embraced his story. I got to talk
to the coaching steff prior to this football game, and
they really really loved Bryce Hall the individual, one of
the most consistent guys, loves the game. Self made man.
(34:58):
Bryce might be as cell made as they come in football.
And then shockingly, he turned on the pros and opted
to come back for his senior season to continue building
the program at Virginia, to continue learning and developing from
his coaching staff and maybe just maybe to continue spending
time with his girlfriend and Zelleville June, a field hockey
(35:20):
star at Virginia. We met about two years ago at
a party and we just were chatting away and we
kind of like go along really well. Actually Bryce was
super fluty with me, if we're being real, but you know,
(35:42):
I think he was just more into my accent, if
I'm being honest, most of the year. But yeah, and
so we met then, so we kind of were just
like acquaintances. After that, we didn't really nothing ever came
from it. And then a year later, okay, yeah, and
we were part of this group called Athletes in Action
at u v A, and it's like a Christian group
(36:03):
for student athletes. So yeah, so we knew each other
through that. And so then like last year for spring break,
we went on a mission trip to Belize together. Um,
and that's where we really like became close. But yeah,
then me and Bryce kind of like hit it off.
I definitely knew first that I was into him. I
think he was so focused on just like football and
(36:24):
you know, his whole career and stuff. And then uh,
like halfway through the semester, I went to storm at
the hospital, like really late at night after the surgery
because we were out. We were in Kentucky, Um. We
had played for Rocky there after that night, I think
we both were like, yeah, this is it. What turned
out to be a defining moment for his relationship with
(36:45):
Nzel can only be described as a nightmare for his
football career. In the sixth game of the senior season,
after he turned down millions of dollars in the pros,
Bryce got hit awkwardly on a punt return. It was
kind of crazy experience because I was on the ground.
(37:05):
I saw my leg on my foot twisted the other
way and it was and I knew, like, Okay, that's
not supposed to happen. And I just remember calling over
the people from the sideline like yeall need to come
and you know, do something about this, and ain't supposed
to look like this, and yeah, and I knew that
was kind of It's pretty bad. It was a broken fibulu,
(37:28):
a dislocated ankle, and a torn ligament. It made me
realize like that nothing is really guaranteed, and to really
cherish and make the most out of the opportunities that
you do have in each day. He missed the remainder
of his senior season with the injury, and he's been
rehabbing ever since. His ankle still hasn't healed enough to
(37:50):
participate in almost any of the pre draft workouts or
combine drills for scouts. Now, with the draft only one
week away, Bryce tries to put his complicate had passed
behind him and focus on the future at the end
of the day, like how things will land with the draft,
(38:11):
it's out of your hand. Honestly, you never want to
get to a position where you're like, man, if only
I had done a little bit more there, or man,
had I only just took in this a little bit
more serious, maybe I wouldn't be in this position I'm
at right now. So Brise trains and rehabs as hard
(38:31):
as his body will allow. I'm with my girlfriend ganzel
ll Um. So right now we're running where there's a
whole there's like Helen Hills. Yeah, hold on, just Helen Hills.
So what we're doing is we're just running the hills
and then we're walking down the back side of him.
(38:54):
So let's get it. Okay, one, what's a good one?
(39:14):
I don't I'm not even port to the next time
because that was like a mountains who h Yeah, he
hears the whispers and doubts. Is the ankle going to
keep him out of most of the season. Will he
regain his confidence on the field, Will he ever be
the same player he was before? According to most sources,
(39:36):
he's fallen out of the first round, now projected to
go somewhere in the second or third rounds of the draft.
I'm still not yet. I gotta like I'm being patient.
I'm trying to stay disciplined and do all the right
things and all that stuff. But at the same time,
when I a draft, yeah, I just think dream come
true and I get butterflies in my snubbing. But I
(39:58):
also get like a burden on me. Dad. It's just
something that stirs up in me when I think about it,
because it's like, dang, I got an opportunity to do
something special. After this long road, he finally sees himself
as an elite player, a five star NFL prospect, transformed
into one of the best football players in the draft.
(40:18):
Then he got hurt. Now NFL teams have more questions
than answers. He goes into the draft with as much
upside and as much risk as any prospect out there.
But Bryce knows what it's like when the scouts don't
believe in you, or when you don't believe in yourself.
He's been through this before. Coming up on the next
(40:43):
episode of Drafted. This whole draft thing been filling really
because of Corona. So with this, what are you doing
right now to stay in shape? Why would you ask
me that question? Wide receiver of Leavisca Chennault fell, Guy,
I was like in a black hole and like just
from that point on, like I feel nothing and like
(41:06):
I'm working on that cornerback is saying, Bassie. My hope
on draft day is that my name gets called, uh
flat out? Who is that that? No? I think eleven? Yeah,
eleven years old? Yeah, at defensive end, Chase Young. Let's
compare status, let's compare stats. I mean, if you want
(41:30):
to go down in the numbers, that's all. That's the
only thing that matters. Drafted as a production of tree
Fort Media, Clutched Sports Group, and I Heart Radio. The
executive producers are Kelly Garner, Lisa Amerman, Eric's a Lot,
(41:51):
Shawn to Tone l Key, and me Keegan Michael Key.
The series is produced and written by Eric winer. Jared
Brom is our coordinating producer. Tom in a Hand is
our senior audio engineer. Mixed and edited by Steven Johnson,
additional production help from Tim Shower, June Rosen, and Hailey Mandelberg.
For transcripts of the show and more information on Drafted,
(42:11):
go to tree Fort dot fm. And for more podcasts
for my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Drafted as a production of tree Fort Media, Clutched Sports Group,
and I Heart Radio. You couldn't play football in Kansas
until you were in first grade. Yeah, and so the
very first organized thing you could get into with soccer,
it would be like about ten kids of all bunch
(00:20):
together and then Bryce would be about eight yards in
front of him because you just had these long stride
and you were just running away from one time, He's
going like nine crash. That's so funny. That's crazy, because
I literally thought soccer was gonna be my sport until football. Ye.
(00:52):
Welcome back to Drafted, where eight elite college football players
take us on their own personal journeys as they entered
the NFL Draft. They'll mike themselves up without producers, directors,
or cameras, offering an honest, authentic look at who these
athletes are beneath the pads and what it takes to
(01:14):
go from a childhood dream to hearing their name called
on draft day. Last episode, we took a big bite
out of the three d pound world of offensive linemen. Today,
we'll hear from cornerback Bryce Hall. When I hear draft Dad,
I just think dreams come true and I get butterflies
in my snubbing. But I also get like a burden
(01:35):
on me that it's just something that stirs up in
me when I think about it, because it's like, dang,
I got an opportunity to do something special. And running
back Keyshawn Vaughn don't care who in front of me,
You don't care what team we're playing. Came over by
the step of your way. It's gotta be rid to
just take over a game, especially playing running back, because
on the field you've got no friends. On whatever game
(01:55):
day is, you've got no friends. So much in me
don't allow me to quit, you know, quitting me to
skill position players thriving less on size and strength and
more on speed and finesse. These positions can live and
die under a perpetual spotlight. Running Backs make the highlight,
real plays, pick up the crucial first downs and score
the big touchdowns. They get tons of love and fantasy football,
(02:18):
and they're the ones who celebrate in the end zone.
Then there are cornerbacks. They have to defend against ultra
athletic playmakers every snap, often playing one on one against
the fastest, most reliable pass catchers in the world. It's
feast or famine. Almost every time the ball comes their way,
every play they make or don't make is highlighted for
(02:40):
all to see. In today's episode, We're going to take
you inside the lives of these two players and the
obstacles they've faced to arrive at draft day. We'll hear
what all the hard work, sweat, and tears mean along
their bumpy roads to get to this life changing weekend,
and how their football dreams are finally coming true. Said
(03:01):
Mary William What what was rep? Wash it? Quick, Nasa.
(03:25):
This is Keyshawn Vaughan, an explosive running back known for
his hard nosed, violent style, A player some describe as menacing.
How you do kersh Keishan could be picked as high
as the second or third round or as low as
the fifth or even sixth rounds in the coming draft.
He's a complicated prospect, an undeniable talent, but too many
(03:48):
also an enigma. L how do you donna do that? Wat?
You just see it? Ever since Septemp Bird seven, two
(04:10):
thousand nineteen, I have been doing this for my son,
and that's kind of who helped guide me through the season,
even though he can't talk or nothing. Just seeing his
face I kind of understood it was a bigger purpose
than just me been on that field. M h m hmm.
(04:38):
Proud father. My son name is Keeling Vaughan U. I
spelled the same way as mine with Apostophe, except it's
Kae Apostophe l a and killing Vaughan. Um me six months,
he'll be turning seven months on the seven. His eyes
lights up when he seen me. He ain't seen me
a couple of hours and he's seen me first time.
(04:58):
Eyes just lights up and you can tell he's gonna
be like a daddy boy. So that's my guy. Hell
that what are you doing? What are you doing? What
you're doing? What the puppy like to go for a ride?
(05:19):
I got a mouth, I got a feed now. So
that's that's what I've been playing for ever since there.
But before then, it was mainly to give my family
in a better position. Um that was the biggest thing
my whole life, always just for I was the one
who could cut my family in a better position. So
I stuck with football and they'll pay out soon. This
(05:39):
a week coming. Keyshawn runs like he's on that mission,
he describes. To get to the NFL fighting through would
be tacklers and his share of adversity in hopes of
one day reaching the draft. Well, I went to one
of the biggest public high schools in the Nashville Pearl Cone,
and so kind of high school I go. In my
(06:00):
freshman year, I made it to the varsity squad, was
probably didn't touch the field first four or five games.
End up getting on the field late game score my
first touch down against Eastern Nashville. Now on I was
like a second string and running back. End up breaking
my ankle my freshman year during the playoff game against
c p A. The whole team for like, I don't
(06:22):
break my ankle, we win that game. And so that
was the first big injury I had playing the game.
So that that let alone just kind of scared me
a lot. I'm like, I don't know if I want
to play this game no more. I don't know if
it's for me. And now I'm trying to figure out
what I'm gonna do. And then from right there that's
when I want to quit football, kind of give it
all up. But so much so much in me don't
(06:46):
allow me to quit, just not in my DNA. It
just want't sit well with me as a person as
a man, ain't know quitting me. This doggedness can be
seen every time. Keep Sean touch just the ball. One
scouting report describing his playing style says, you'll get his
best effort. He'll make you earn it. He is likely
to outpunish you if given the opportunity, says another. Keyshawn
(07:10):
describes his rushing attack in a different way. I call
it grimmy. That mean I don't care who in front
of me, who trying to stop me. I don't care
what team we're playing. I just feel like you gotta
have a can't be funk with attitude, can't nobody step
in your way. You's gotta be ready to just take
over a game, especially playing running back, because on the field,
you've got no friends. On Saturday, Sunday, whatever game day is,
(07:32):
you've got no friends. So you gotta have that mindset
at all time because you it ain't no turning it on,
turn it off. It's when I step on this field,
no matter what field, practice field, game day, I gotta
be ready to go. I can't come out here and
I hope this team let me run on him today.
Now you gotta goat gonna take it. You gotta take
(07:53):
what you want either be eighty's to sum it up.
No status are revealing about his playing style than the
fact that of Keishawn's one thousand, twenty eight rushing yards
this past season, seven hundred and forty three of them
came after contact. That means nearly of the time he
(08:13):
gained yards, he broke a tackle or dragged the defender
down the field with him. That fight comes from somewhere
deep inside him. But back as a high school kid
returning from a serious injury, the most intimidating opponent he
faced was doubt my album A year. A year I
had to gain that confidence back in my ankle. You know,
you're going out there and play football, and a long
(08:36):
time he just broke ankle. Oh, you're kind of scared
out there. So that's album. Yeah, that's kind of the
season that I was able to get my confidence back
and my ankle and myself. By his senior year, Keishan
ended up winning a state championship in track and running
for two thousand, six hundred and forty six yards and
forty five touchdowns on the gridiron. He was named the
(08:59):
Tennessee Gatorade Football Player of the Year offers from top
college programs like Ohio State, Notre Dame, Louisville, and West
Virginia poured in, along with one from the local hometown school,
Vanderbilt University. Keishawn felt an urge to leave Nashville and
he liked the University of Illinois coaching staff, so ultimately
he committed to go play for the ELNI, and I say, uh,
(09:24):
far as college as a whole, things has just been
crazy as hell. Before I hit college, I was going
through trials and tribulations. When I signed. A couple of
weeks later, my coach get put under investigation. Allegations of
player rebews suddenly surrounded the coaching staff. So make it
through camp. My freshman year coach get fired a week
(09:46):
before the first game, So now my kind of whole
world just shifts. My position. Coach goals to head coach,
and they just sent the running backs grand assistant. So
that was kind of one the coach and that a
freshman needed, especially playing as a true freshman, you needed
somebody with that coaching experience who can help guys who's
(10:08):
basically coming out of high school straight to college and
playing as a true freshman. Most highly sought after recruits
like Keishan choose their schools based on their close relationship
with the coaching staff. A week before Keishawn's first game
of his freshman year, his coaches were gone. Keishan became
the starter as an eighteen year old, and suddenly his
(10:28):
running back coach was a grad assistant barely older than him.
So that's kind of something I went through my freshman year,
made through my freshman year good. I think I have
about seven hundred fifty rushing about eight nine hundred total,
made the All Freshman team. By the end of his
freshman season, the interim coaches were also let go, replaced
by former Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach
(10:50):
Lovey Smith. Smith became Keyshawn's third college coach in less
than a year, and then saltomore year, new coaching staff come. Man.
I was a starter for three games, then I got
benched with no reason, no explanation, and so from there
all created that I have built up just disappeared. Far
(11:12):
as to the n C double a world, he faced
another challenging moment head on. Man, I feel like just
at that time I kind of didn't know what was
going on. Myself. I was kind of still trying to
figure out that, and so that was probably the most
mental thing that I probably had to go through, especially
like keeping my cool the whole season when I got benching.
(11:36):
I don't have a reason why I got bench trying
to find happiness even though I really don't want to
build this team because they benched me and ain't told
me why. I wanted to quit. Every day for the
second time in his short football career, t shot the
questions why he plays, what drives him, and whether he
wants to continue. That's kind of was my mindset. But
(11:57):
I talked to my mama every day I have to practice.
She telling me to just keep pushing, don't don't create
no batter relationship with these coaches because they can They
can use that against you when you're trying to transfer,
or even it could have used it against me um
trying to get to the league if coaches went back
and talk to Illinois staff and asked about me. So
(12:17):
that Illinois situation was more long term, the kind of
short term my mom would helped me get through that well.
I figured the best thing for me wasn't being there
because things had kind of got out of my control.
I was no longer competing with players on the team.
It was starting to become competing with coaches. And that's
kind of something that I knew I couldn't do um
(12:39):
in my position. So the best thing for me was
to leave. For a player who drags defenders down the field,
who gained over three fourth of his yards after the
first hit by refusing to give up on the play,
deciding whether or not to leave the University of Illinois
program is an excruciating decision. Quitting goes against his character,
it goes against who he is, But the prospect of
(13:00):
being a backup seems even more demoralizing than transferring. So
Keyshawn looks back home. When I announced I was transferring,
one thing I didn't know Coach Mason. I called him
on sign to day like a coach. I ain't coming
to Vanderbilt. I'm going somewhere else. He understood why I
(13:20):
didn't want to go to Vanderbil. He knew I wanted
to get away from home because Vanderbilt like ten minutes
from where I grew up from. So he knew. He
understood why I wanted to get away, and he was like, all,
we got your awful waiting. Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason
said he would always have an offer waiting for the
hometown hero, just in case he changed his mind. Me
and him had already had relationship kind of built just
(13:43):
based off recruiting from high school and him will understanding
why I didn't want to go to Vanderbilt at the time.
That's kind of one of the only coaches who really
done game I trust, So that's how I got the
Vanderbilt coach. Mason was one of them guys who I
knew I can trust. A National Signing Day coach. Mason
made the announcement, um in the running back position, of course,
(14:06):
you know, look at Keishawn von in this class. I
think his abilities will running back to get yards after contact,
to be a home run a player. And I was
gonna have to sit you, but I think he's gonna
be tremendious in this program. It's gonna get, you know,
in the products. So I'm back home and and he'll
(14:27):
do he'll do national problem. You know, he's six one five,
uh and day all day and uh you know for him,
I know he's glad to be back home. So we
get a really good player. I think. I mean, he
may be the best running back signed in this class.
I don't care what school you look at. So when
it's all said and done, that's that's what we need.
Keishawan transfers to Vanderbilt and sits out the season per
(14:48):
n C double A rules. When I transferred home in
the Vandy kind of had the look homey kind of
vibes and then also able to play scout team and
get in the looks as he can't play in games.
Keishan practices on the scout team with the second and
third string players. In football, the scout team helps prepare
the starters for their opponent by mirroring the other team system.
(15:10):
Every week, Keishan ran Vanderbilt's opponent's offense, so the Vanderbilt
defense knew what to expect. I enjoyed that first year
I transfer back home. That's really what I said was
my fun is you're playing football. Ever on scout team,
I'm able to just run around and play without hearing
that that coaching that you know, the coaching you don't
(15:31):
want to hear that. You want to hear you but
like when you don't gotta here and you're like, you
just get able to run around and be free. I
enjoyed doing that so much so that two seventeen year
on scout team, that was the year I looked at
us getting better, working on new things to add to
my game, which will improve my game. Once he finally
(15:52):
got his chance at Vanderbilt, playing as a junior against
many of the top defenses in the country, Keishan ran
for an absurd even point nine yards per carry. That's
the eleventh highest season average ever in the SEC Conference,
better than the best college seasons from some of the
conference's most revered running backs, stars like Bo Jackson and
(16:13):
Sean Alexander. Even more remarkable, Keishan did it on a
Vanderbilt team that only won five games and lacked many
other weapons on offense. Defenses could focus on Keishan. They
just couldn't stop him. So after such a strong junior season,
Keshan is faced with a stomach churning decision enter the
draft and hope his rushing numbers speak for themselves, or
(16:35):
returned to Vanderbilt for his senior season. I had one
year school though I'm a guy like, I hate school.
Mom she wanted me to had a degree. Is whatever
with me own really care about school anyway, but Varios
you need that degree and ask something that I want
(16:55):
to give her. Mom did a lot for us growing up.
For real, there's so much like she There's so much
he be prepared for fully even got out of me.
Graduating Vanderbilt coming back a year was kind of because
of her too. The decision wasn't only about the degree.
Questions lingered about Keyshawn's potential at the next level. Well,
(17:15):
I had to make the decision whether to come back,
we'll go to the NFL. Had await a lot of things.
One was my projection. I was getting full filth six
seventh round projections. Then I looked at it as it's
a whacking get into the first round, come back and
have another dominant season. He returned to Vanderbilt with the
goal of finishing his degree and jumping from a fourth
(17:38):
to seventh round pick to a certain first rounder. Unfortunately,
the team struggled. That statistic about seventy of Keishawn's yards
coming after contact this past season tells us something else.
There weren't many open running lanes. He didn't have a
Mackay Beckton or a Tremaine Anchrum clearing the path defenders
were constantly on top of him. Vanderbiltly won three games,
(18:01):
and Keishawn's numbers were down in nearly every category. I mean,
the season ago was great, but I graduated made It's
who I want to be, so I'm good total. But
(18:26):
there is another way to look at Keishawn's senior year
that it changed his life for the better, providing something
much more valuable than gaudy rushing numbers or dozens of touchdowns.
What's up this keeling Crash? So what's up? So? What's up? Hey? Heybody?
(18:47):
He ain't listening to me. Only nine months so it's
just going in one year out the other. But my
son I called him Crash. The name Crash came from
the situation with his mom and while he was bren
kind of really Friday night before a game, I get
a call she had gotten a wreck and UM rushed
to the hospital. His heart rate was dropping, so that
(19:11):
to take him three weeks early. And that's kind of
where the name Crash came from, making a beautiful thing
instead of the ugly situation that occurred. Man, Crash Bond
is just kind of crazy. You can't kind of tell
that he's gonna be a daddy'sh boy. I can yell
(19:32):
his name, and I didn't be nowhere around him to
see me. He would just started going crazy. And that's
kind of me and his bond. He gets super hyped
when he seen me, and um, I love. That was
too much. Keishan found a purpose bigger than himself. Another
reason he can't quit one even more important. There's nine
(19:57):
oh six him. Yeah, crash still up what I know?
Killing quick touch and stuff. No, it's not for you
(20:20):
to do killing. Thank you again. God. Cut where I've
been to, Holliday Son time what you ain't want to see?
No time soon it's you don't want to I'm gonna
(20:44):
start putting me on the bed time give me the
bed triumph, Greg, you can do, just do it will
be we want to do. Some of the people making
decisions on draft day will only see what they want
to see at Keyshawn Vaughan. He's the running back version
of the famous psychology ink black test. Scouts and analysts
watch a play, only to report completely different accounts of
(21:05):
what they see. Some teams wonder about Keyshawn's maturity. They
have questions about why he was benched in Illinois, why
he was transferred. Why his numbers were down. The other
camp points to his perseverance, his improvement and production as
a player, and his maturity as a father. We'll be
right back, I say, if anything, having my son just
(21:32):
kind of tightened up my focus more. I'm always in
the house in a way, so it didn't change my
behavior or approached thing. Is kind of just tightened up
my focus, more attention to detail. Knowing that he looking
up to anything that I'm doing, even if I'm not
thinking he is. He's watching my every movie. He still
(21:53):
he's got a new relationship with his son and with football.
The way McKay, Beckton's dad and Tremaine and Crum's dad
cared to deeply about their sons success, all wanting to
provide a better life for them. Being the father, you
have to set a good example because he probably want
to be just like me. Yeah. Yeah, I have to
do everything right to give him something to look up to.
(22:16):
I'm already putting stuff in place for him. Um, so
he's straight. Like supporting their thing, that's mandatory. Love support,
that's that's required. But like small stuff and fishing, how
to change tires, little little small stuff like that, That's
what I want to do with him that nobody ever
did with me. Don't play running back. That's my only thing.
(22:40):
I'm gonna tell him. Play a more chill position. They
really don't take a lot of crazy hits. That's kind
of something I wanted to play. If he is gonna
play football, But I mean, even if he ends up,
I wanted to play running back. I can't do enough
but respected and support it. Keepshaw doesn't worry about the
scout or the punpits these days. He's focused on controlling
(23:03):
what he can, thinking only of the future and the
ever increasing magnitude of draft Day. It's kind of more
like you have options um to do really anything at
this point, because it wasn't really many options for meals.
Football was the way I was gonna get out of
(23:23):
my situation where I was gonna make some more money.
That was kind of the only option I kind of had.
But with him, I want them like I want to
have so many options. Let them be able to make
choices for itself. So that's why name of Jr. Or
kind of anything like that, because I want to let
him know that you an individual, he can do kind
(23:45):
of whatever he put his mind to that's my thing.
M no, suir, hey m. When I was were a
little were in class, one of my teacher she asked me,
(24:08):
um she was we had those activities where they she
asked us to draw what we wanted to be when
we grew up. I remember John a football player, and
so I remember just as a little kid. This is
something I've been dreaming him out. This is Bryce Hall,
the football player, not the TikTok star le. Bryce Hall
from the University of Virginia, a cornerback, widely considered a
(24:32):
first round pick in the NFL Draft after leading the
nation and passes defended his junior year. He plays with size, strength,
and remarkable speed, all on display during one crucial game.
I was selling Vanessa about the soccer thing, huh, because
that was like, like we wanted. This was the first
organized sport that you could play. His dad, Michael, tells
(24:54):
the story over breakfast to Bryce's step mom, Vanessa and
his girlfriend end Zel. You couldn't play for ball in
Kansas until you were in first grade. Yeah, and so
the very first organized thing you could get into with soccer,
and it was so hilarious how you would be running away,
it would be like about ten kids of all bunch
together and then Bryce would be about eight yards in
(25:17):
front of him and he nobody would pass the ball
and anybody. So once he broke out of it, he
was gone another goal because you just had this long
drive and you were just running away from one time.
He's going like nine goals crashing up because it was
so funny because even no passed the ball. Oh yeah,
(25:43):
because they didn't know how to play. That's crazy, because
I literally thought soccer was gonna need my sport until football.
That's forward to fourteen years. Bright showcases his talents in
another crucial moment, this time against the Miami Hurricanes when
I ran down the running back from Miami. The running
back broke free down the sideline and then I came
(26:05):
from across the field and pushed him out of bounds
at like fifteen yard line. He ran for like almost
sixty yards. They clapped me at two miles per hour.
Is the fastest I ever ran before, and something came
over me to help me get to the to the
speed that I was at the top speed anyone ran
(26:26):
in an NFL game last season was twenty two point
three miles. The same blazing speed Rice hit chasing down
the Miami player, that little kid on the soccer field
faster than everyone else now a junior at the University
of Virginia, And then they ended up kicking a field
goal on that drive, and we end up winning the
game by two points. I believe the score was fIF
(26:49):
and I felt like that was a defining game for
our season and turned us our season around, catching that
running back save the touchdown, holding Miami to three points
and that of seven one Virginia the game. That game
started a winning streak. One play changed the course of
their season from then on. We went on to win
(27:10):
eight games after that and go to the Bowl Game
back to back foot ball games for the first time
in like a decade. Qualifying for back to back Bowl
games was a stunning turnaround for the Virginia football program,
which had only won eleven games in the previous three
years combined. And it was a stunning turnaround for Bryce,
who seemed destined for an unremarkable college football career. I
(27:31):
never ever thought I would go to u v A,
and um, honestly, it was the best thing for me.
I probably would have been playing defense. I've been somewhere
trying to play receiver. Bryce played wide receiver in high
school and was rated a two star prospect out of
a possible five. This meant he wasn't in the top
seven hundred and fifty to one thousand recruits in the country,
(27:53):
and scouting services considered him unable to compete against the
top athletes in his class. He only received offers from
two call programs, Virginia, which had won four games that year,
and Coastal Carolina, which played in the College Football Subdivision,
essentially the minor leagues. Bryce chose Virginia, switching from offense
to cornerback almost immediately. My school is shaped me. I
(28:17):
feel like my heart's always gonna be in Charlottesville, Virginia
because I came in as a boy and I left
as a man, and some of the principles that were
instilled at me while I was at college. UM, I'll
never forget a lot of athletes who excel from a
very young age, like Bryce, continued to dominate as they mature.
They're named top recruits early in high school, like Ohio
(28:39):
State cornerback Jeff Okuda, who received scholarship offers as early
as his sophomore year, or Keyshawn Vaughan, but highly recruited
Tennessee high school player of the Year before Virginia, Bryce
was an unconfident, undersized freshman at Bishop McDivitt High School.
There was a lot of really good players that came
out of that high school, some of um most people know,
(29:01):
like Lashawn McCoy, Noah Spends, Ricky Waters, Aaron Berry. And
I remember my coach saying one day as I was
a little skinny freshman and I didn't have much confidence
in myself, and he he was saying, I can't wait
till you continue to grow and develop, because you're gonna
be the next player that's gonna have multiple offers coming
out of here. And I just remember when I didn't
(29:22):
believe in myself, he was somebody who saw that in me,
and I think that gave me so much confidence to
know that I could actually do this thing. Like I
knew that was my dream. But he instilled that first
little bit of hope in me, and I believe that
what he said was true even when I didn't necessarily
see it. Bryce didn't have a five start phy, seek
(29:45):
ability or confidence. His dad, Michael again on just how
vast the size and talent cap was when Bryce was
around middle school age, there was a kid in football.
He was from Africa, so when he came, he didn't
have like a birth certificate. They didn't know like how
old he actually was, so they estimated his age. So
(30:07):
he was always like his side burns. It was he
wasn't he was. He was fast and stronger. He was huge.
Most of its saw like the eighth grade of playing
against filth grade. Yeah, the thing is hold on, I'm
about to show you, but this is like freshman year
of college. But he was the same. Size is the
(30:30):
same with the five star athletes, as I figured it out,
a five star You remember how you look at your
sophomore year after you got the UV. That's what a
five star athlete looks like in high school. Yeah, they
already have that. It wasn't until two years into college
that Bryce looked and played the way a five star
prospect does. Some of that is genetics growing and physically
(30:54):
maturing later. Some of it is coaching and work ethic
continuing to improve year after year, and I'm of it.
His confidence. Everybody was like intimidated by him, including me.
You were afraid of him on defense. I was scared.
I was legit scared of play against him because he
was just so much bigger than everybody else. Even by
(31:16):
the time he got to high school, somewhere in Bryce's mind,
he was still that frail little fifth grader catching the
ball and getting crushed by the bigger, stronger kids. At
one point, he thought, maybe football wasn't the sport for him.
We'll be right back. He wanted to play baseball, Yeah,
(31:39):
but then I had the patience for baseball, basketball, baseball, football,
Like you know, I was gonna have a weekend. It
was crazy in baseball. Had too many games sitting there
in the dusty because I would come home with dust
(32:02):
all over me, Like, no, I'm not sitting for hours,
it's like a day. It was boring. I never could
get it so because I didn't like that. True, I
thought it was because I didn't have the patients for
(32:23):
some reason, because that's hilarious. As a kid, Bryce tended
to always follow his dad's lead. They've shared a close
bond ever since his early elementary school days. My dad
has been somebody who's been um so supportive of me,
and me and him have a special relationship because it
(32:46):
was just me and my dad in the house for
a while and whatever I was committed to my dad,
he would always do research. He was so analytical and
how like he approached everything. And that's where I get
my film study, my preparation, and my analytical aspect of
trying to figure out and crack the codes, you know
(33:07):
when I go up against offenses. Is I think he
really instilled that discipline in me just watching from him.
He poured a lot into me then and and contributed
a lot to where I'm at now. From that little
kid drawing pictures of his dream to a fifth grade
were scared of getting hit by the bigger kids, to
a skinny freshman full of doubt, now to a potential
(33:29):
first round NFL draft pick. Bryce has faced daunting challenges
along the way. Honestly, it's really UM shaped me and
get me to where I'm at now, just from going
to experience a lot of adversity in my life, like
UM with my mom when she passed away when I
was in fifth grade, going to sixth grade. When you
(33:51):
experience something like that that lost at such a young age,
it does something to you. And I think for me,
there were like negative repercussions. I like shunned away from
being opened up with people and allowing my heart to
trust fully and because I just didn't want it to
get hurt like that again. And I realized just how
important relationships are in cherishing the moments and things like that.
(34:14):
Family just huge for me now. Bryce's hard fought maturity
is one reason why he's such a compelling prospect, but
other factors are his aggressiveness, his twenty two mile per
hour speed, and the two d plus pounds he's forged
onto his six ft one frame. Before adding all that muscle,
Bryce didn't even register on NFL radars. Then his stellar
(34:37):
play his junior season transformed him into a second team
All American and a projected first round pick. The media
and NFL scouts embraced his story. I got to talk
to the coaching steff prior to this football game, and
they really really loved Bryce Hall the individual, one of
the most consistent guys, loves the game. Self made man.
(34:58):
Bryce might be as cell made as they come in football.
And then shockingly, he turned on the pros and opted
to come back for his senior season to continue building
the program at Virginia, to continue learning and developing from
his coaching staff and maybe just maybe to continue spending
time with his girlfriend and Zelleville June, a field hockey
(35:20):
star at Virginia. We met about two years ago at
a party and we just were chatting away and we
kind of like go along really well. Actually Bryce was
super fluty with me, if we're being real, but you know,
(35:42):
I think he was just more into my accent, if
I'm being honest, most of the year. But yeah, and
so we met then, so we kind of were just
like acquaintances. After that, we didn't really nothing ever came
from it. And then a year later, okay, yeah, and
we were part of this group called Athletes in Action
at u v A, and it's like a Christian group
(36:03):
for student athletes. So yeah, so we knew each other
through that. And so then like last year for spring break,
we went on a mission trip to Belize together. Um,
and that's where we really like became close. But yeah,
then me and Bryce kind of like hit it off.
I definitely knew first that I was into him. I
think he was so focused on just like football and
(36:24):
you know, his whole career and stuff. And then uh,
like halfway through the semester, I went to storm at
the hospital, like really late at night after the surgery
because we were out. We were in Kentucky, Um. We
had played for Rocky there after that night, I think
we both were like, yeah, this is it. What turned
out to be a defining moment for his relationship with
(36:45):
Nzel can only be described as a nightmare for his
football career. In the sixth game of the senior season,
after he turned down millions of dollars in the pros,
Bryce got hit awkwardly on a punt return. It was
kind of crazy experience because I was on the ground.
(37:05):
I saw my leg on my foot twisted the other
way and it was and I knew, like, Okay, that's
not supposed to happen. And I just remember calling over
the people from the sideline like yeall need to come
and you know, do something about this, and ain't supposed
to look like this, and yeah, and I knew that
was kind of It's pretty bad. It was a broken fibulu,
(37:28):
a dislocated ankle, and a torn ligament. It made me
realize like that nothing is really guaranteed, and to really
cherish and make the most out of the opportunities that
you do have in each day. He missed the remainder
of his senior season with the injury, and he's been
rehabbing ever since. His ankle still hasn't healed enough to
(37:50):
participate in almost any of the pre draft workouts or
combine drills for scouts. Now, with the draft only one
week away, Bryce tries to put his complicate had passed
behind him and focus on the future at the end
of the day, like how things will land with the draft,
(38:11):
it's out of your hand. Honestly, you never want to
get to a position where you're like, man, if only
I had done a little bit more there, or man,
had I only just took in this a little bit
more serious, maybe I wouldn't be in this position I'm
at right now. So Brise trains and rehabs as hard
(38:31):
as his body will allow. I'm with my girlfriend ganzel
ll Um. So right now we're running where there's a
whole there's like Helen Hills. Yeah, hold on, just Helen Hills.
So what we're doing is we're just running the hills
and then we're walking down the back side of him.
(38:54):
So let's get it. Okay, one, what's a good one?
(39:14):
I don't I'm not even port to the next time
because that was like a mountains who h Yeah, he
hears the whispers and doubts. Is the ankle going to
keep him out of most of the season. Will he
regain his confidence on the field, Will he ever be
the same player he was before? According to most sources,
(39:36):
he's fallen out of the first round, now projected to
go somewhere in the second or third rounds of the draft.
I'm still not yet. I gotta like I'm being patient.
I'm trying to stay disciplined and do all the right
things and all that stuff. But at the same time,
when I a draft, yeah, I just think dream come
true and I get butterflies in my snubbing. But I
(39:58):
also get like a burden on me. Dad. It's just
something that stirs up in me when I think about it,
because it's like, dang, I got an opportunity to do
something special. After this long road, he finally sees himself
as an elite player, a five star NFL prospect, transformed
into one of the best football players in the draft.
(40:18):
Then he got hurt. Now NFL teams have more questions
than answers. He goes into the draft with as much
upside and as much risk as any prospect out there.
But Bryce knows what it's like when the scouts don't
believe in you, or when you don't believe in yourself.
He's been through this before. Coming up on the next
(40:43):
episode of Drafted. This whole draft thing been filling really
because of Corona. So with this, what are you doing
right now to stay in shape? Why would you ask
me that question? Wide receiver of Leavisca Chennault fell, Guy,
I was like in a black hole and like just
from that point on, like I feel nothing and like
(41:06):
I'm working on that cornerback is saying, Bassie. My hope
on draft day is that my name gets called, uh
flat out? Who is that that? No? I think eleven? Yeah,
eleven years old? Yeah, at defensive end, Chase Young. Let's
compare status, let's compare stats. I mean, if you want
(41:30):
to go down in the numbers, that's all. That's the
only thing that matters. Drafted as a production of tree
Fort Media, Clutched Sports Group, and I Heart Radio. The
executive producers are Kelly Garner, Lisa Amerman, Eric's a Lot,
(41:51):
Shawn to Tone l Key, and me Keegan Michael Key.
The series is produced and written by Eric winer. Jared
Brom is our coordinating producer. Tom in a Hand is
our senior audio engineer. Mixed and edited by Steven Johnson,
additional production help from Tim Shower, June Rosen, and Hailey Mandelberg.
For transcripts of the show and more information on Drafted,
(42:11):
go to tree Fort dot fm. And for more podcasts
for my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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