From UCLA Gridiron Glory to Life Coaching: Kam Brown's Journey

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Former UCLA wide receiver Kam Brown shares his journey from growing up as the son of Super Bowl MVP Larry Brown to carving out his own path in college football and beyond. His story reveals profound insights about grit, faith, and determination that extend far beyond the gridiron.

• Growing up in Texas football culture, playing since age four but never feeling forced into the sport
• Choosing UCLA for its unique campus environment and experiencing it as life-changing
• Balancing the intense demands of being a D1 athlete while maintaining academic performance
• Learning to manage pressure and public spotlight from an early age
• Navigating faith and perspective through challenging times as a collegiate athlete
• Developing a vision for mentoring young athletes post-career
• Offering insights on the evolving NIL landscape and how players should approach it
• Understanding that everyone processes adversity differently and mental health matters
• Finding authenticity and purpose beyond football
• Leveraging social media as a platform for motivation and growth

Follow Kam on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube @theKamBrown and on Twitter @KameronBrown__

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Warriors fall in, it's time for formation.
So today, folks, on the MorningFormation podcast, I'm joined
with former UCLA wide receiver,cam Brown.
So this is kind of a fanaticmoment for me because for the
last eight years or so I've beena season ticket holder for the
UCLA Bruins and I love collegefootball.
College football is coming justaround the corner for us and

(00:23):
for me, because I love the game,I go to every single local game
possible.
Today it's an absolute honor tohave Cam Brown on and we're
going to talk about his life,growing up in a football family
to carving out his own path onthe field.
Cam has an absolute, incrediblestory of grit, faith and
determination, and so we'redriving into his football

(00:45):
journey and the lessons he'scarried into life after the game
, and we're just going to talkabout what he's into now, and so
this is definitely an episodethat I'm super excited about.
Cam, thank you for joining meon the Morning Formation podcast
.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
No, thank you for having me.
It's an honor to be here.
I'm here to be as transparentas possible and answer any
questions and just give back.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
That's what I love about it, man.
So I've been doing this podcastfor two and a half years now
and I mainly focused on mostlymilitary content and I've kind
of spanned it out, because a lotof the things that I learned in
the military also translateinto the civilian side and into
life, and you, being acollegiate athlete and a

(01:30):
full-time student man, that is ahard thing to juggle.
But I want to take it back fromthe beginning and for those
folks out there who are justmeeting you for the first time
and may not know your story, canyou walk us through how you
fell in love with football andwhat it's meant for you in your
life?

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Oh yeah, I fell in football as early as I can
remember.
I started playing when I wasfour, playing flag football.
I was always throwing the ballto myself, reenacting plays
around the house.
My dad played the NFL for 10years, so you know it was kind
of already in the family.
But it was one of those thingswhere I was never forced to play
, it wasn't.
He didn't just put me in it, itwas something that I wanted to

(02:08):
do from as early as I couldremember.
I was always carrying afootball around.
I was always setting up conesin the backyard, acting like I
was scoring just by myself.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
That's where I really knew I loved it and you grew up
in the great state of Texas.
Right, yeah, I did ColleyvilleTexas.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Was it like Friday Night Lights?
It was.
It's crazy out here it's a lot.
That's the thing I started tolearn as I got to college and
met guys from different statesFootball.
I didn't realize how bigfootball in Texas really was.
Even some of my family thatused to come down here and visit
us.
They would see like the middleschools around here and they're
like there's no, there's no wayyou went to middle school here,

(02:48):
like they were saying it lookslike their high school fields
yeah, yeah, I've been out in themiddle of new mexico, even uh,
down in artesia, and they have ahigh school down there.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
That's uh, the city is mostly supported on the oil
fields and they have like ajunior college artificial turf
stadium out in the middle of thedesert and on Friday nights in
the fall that's where everybodyis.
And I moved from Hawaii to thestate of Ohio when I was around
12 years old.
I played football in Ohio, wentto a real small school out

(03:20):
there and I would imagine it'snot quite on the level of Texas
but it's pretty damn close towhat you guys had down there and
I mean it's led to like booksand movies made, so I can't even
imagine how amazing that was.
But you grew up being the sonof Larry Brown, a Super Bowl MVP
.
Now how did that shape yourmentality and your approach to

(03:40):
the game overall?

Speaker 2 (03:42):
I would say it shaped it a lot for sure, um, and a
lot of great ways.
But it's hard being young causeyou don't understand and a lot
of people around you can'tcomprehend or understand either.
So you just kind of you know alot of stuff.
I just had to take his word forit.
You know, growing up, as soonas I told him that this is what
I wanted to do from a young age,it didn't matter it was like

(04:04):
okay, this is what you want todo, this is what it's going to
take to get there.
So I was having to miss stuffwhen I was seven years old, like
going to hang out with friends,little parties going on, and I
would be like mad because Iwould be training and doing all
this extra stuff at the time.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
But it's one of those things, things and seeing how
it really could put you ahead inlife.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah, did you have brothers and sisters?
I had two sisters.
They're both older than me, soI'm the baby Wow.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
And you're the only boy too, so you had a lot of
pressure, right, I did.
So what ultimately drew you toUCLA?
How and how would you sum upyour experience overall being a
Bruin for the three years youwere there?

Speaker 2 (04:49):
What drew me there originally.
So my dad's side of thefamily's from California, my
mom's side of the family's herefrom Dallas, so we would always
go back and forth to California.
I played in a couple of 7-on-7tournaments growing up that we
would travel out there for too,and just every time I would go
out there, my dad would alwaystake us to UCLA and USC and for

(05:10):
some reason there was a lot ofpeople hyping up USC.
They would be talking about USCback in the day, USC back in
the day.
But it was just something aboutUCLA's campus and it was like a
breath of fresh air and from akid I was like, yeah, I'm going
here, I want to go to schoolhere, I want to go to school
here and then end up getting togo to my dream school, and the

(05:32):
three years that I was there was.
It was a great experience,life-changing, very eye-opening,
and I would say there's nocollege experience like UCLA.
It's like everything that Ithought of UCLA.
It was that and more.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, I can tell you, I moved here, like I said, most
of my teen years I was an OhioState fan.
I moved here to LA and I seethis beautiful stadium up in
Pasadena, great venue, greatteam.
I mean, the thing I love aboutthe Bruins is they're never
overhyped, they always seem tobe gritty and they always seem
to have heart, which is what Ilove about football.

(06:09):
It ain't about the money, it'sabout the heart, right, it's
about the grit, it's about theunderdog story, and so that's
why, year after year, man, I goand I buy my season tickets and
I go to every single home game,and I can totally understand
what you're saying about that.
And I can totally understandwhat you're saying about that.
And during your time at UCLA,what would you say?
What's one of your favoritememories or biggest highlights

(06:31):
from your college footballcareer?

Speaker 2 (06:32):
That's tough because I really I enjoyed just being
around my team.
The coaches always tell youlike this is the only time in
your life where you guys get tolike all the stuff you guys get
to do the way you guys jokearound, having like built-in
friends.
Soak it up and enjoy it now,because once it's over and you
get to the real world, it's likeyou're not around.
You know 50 guys that you'rejust friends with every day.

(06:54):
Just you know being stuckaround them doing dumb stuff.
So I would say really justevery moment around our
teammates after a game, thedifferent experiences you get to
get, like me and my friends, wewe loved.
I'm kind of I'm bougie, I don'tcare so we would go to like a
nice rooftop dinner or just likea nice dinner after a game.
That was just like our thingand just like that experience,

(07:16):
like looking back on it going tolike a rooftop dinner, um,
being able to go to nobu, likeit, just I don't know, it was
just a great experience.
Um, and being around those guysbeating LSU was for sure one.
That was a.
That was a great moment, causethey had um shot confetti from
the Rose bowl, so all theconfetti coming down and that

(07:38):
blue and gold, and that was apretty sweet moment.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
I was there for that game, man, I was there.
Yeah, man, I loved it, man.
That was a big win too for youguys.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
That was huge.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
What would you say was your biggest game that you
played Most pressure?
Or would you say the biggestone that sticks out in your mind
?
There's got to be one.
Either.
It was an SC game.
You guys beat the crap out ofSC during those years.
I loved it.
We did.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
I would say Personally, like I was like
Fresno State for me, because Iwas the first game, that was the
first year I got there and Iwas like that was the first game
that I had got.
It got my first target.
You know, I was out there Everygame.
I was running wide open on film, every game, like coach, like'm
, like coach, I need the ball, Ineed the ball.
Come on, come on.
And my first game, I finallygot my first target.

(08:28):
I went for 120 yards and that'swhere I was like, okay, it's
about to be like this everysingle game.
Now I shelled them.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
So that was a great moment.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, that was a home game.
We ended up losing in.
That's when they marched downthe field with we went down and
scored.
Kyle Phillips had caught the wethought was the game-winning
touchdown and then they get theball.
I want to say there was like 40seconds left, no timeouts, and
I just remember standing up andI was screaming at our DBs like

(09:00):
they have no timeouts, they haveto get out of bounds and just
feeling so anxious like there'sno way they're gonna go down
here and there's no way they'regonna do it in 40 seconds, no
timeouts, they went down there,end up scoring.
That was like a sickeningfeeling I was there.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
That was a night game .
Yeah, I was there, man.
And, uh, man, that those fanswere gnarly, I don't know what
they I've never been to fresnobefore, but they were.
They were unlike other fans.
That was, I think.
When was that?
When Hayner played?
Yep, it was, he had a.
He played a great game.
I remember that man.
He was running aroundeverywhere, man, yeah, I was

(09:35):
there, man, I was there for thatgame.
That's crazy, yeah, dude.
So what's something that mostpeople don't see about?
You know the life living as aD1 athlete that you wish more
fans would understand.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
There's no way for them to actually be able to
understand.
But I wish a lot of peoplewould be more considerate of how
hard it actually is.
You know a lot of people.
Just they see the dollar signsand, oh, you guys are getting
your school paid for.
You get meals like you guys arespoiled.
You don't know what it'sactually like.
I don't want to drop their names, but there was a few guys that

(10:11):
were walk-ons at UCLA and theyended up telling me, because it
was my second year, they endedup coming on and they were like
I have a totally different levelof respect for football
athletes Because it doesn'tmatter.
Once you're a walk-on, you'redoing everything that a
scholarship athlete does,everything they have to do, you
have to do.
So them being on the outsidethinking that it was just oh,

(10:33):
you guys are spoiled, you guysget money, free meals and you
have all this time to do whatyou want.
Them actually seeing howphysically and mentally draining
it was and trying to upholdyour academics at the same time,
it ended up opening their eyesand they had a whole different
perspective on it.
So I would say, just reallyunderstanding that it's not,
you're not a little spoiled brat, just having just this super

(10:56):
great time, all the time Likeit's a job and it's tough.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
Yeah, man, I tell you what, even over the years, my
hat's off to student athletes.
I mean, I can't imagine what itwould be like to try to
maintain my grades, my GPA, andthen doing all that training the
same time and make baddecisions.

(11:22):
I mean, it's just, it's.
It is grueling and crucial andI, whenever I get an opportunity
to get to work with acollegiate athlete man, I
definitely do, I encourage tohire them.
You know, at at my currentemployment I there's not enough
to be said about it, man I can'teven imagine what it's like for
you guys and when it, when youstart training, like, let's say,

(11:49):
after your last game.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
When does the training start up again?
It starts up in the spring,right?
Yeah, it starts up pretty fast.
So depending on it depends onwhen your last game ends up
being.
But you usually finish inDecember and you start back up
in January.
Like there's very little time,like you have very little off
time, so you have to really loveit and learn how to enjoy it
and you have to find a way toenjoy it through all the tough
times.
I would say that's that's likeone of the biggest things,

(12:10):
because every day is not goingto be fun yeah, what?

Speaker 1 (12:13):
what piece of advice would you, would you give to
younger athletes out therechasing that d1 dream?

Speaker 2 (12:20):
just got to believe in you.
Really that's it.
Nobody, your parents, nobody'sgoing to believe in you like you
do.
All the crazy.
Every time you see somebodymake a crazy play, a crazy catch
, like by them, it could be youtoo.
And a lot of times I've seen ittakes for people.
There's a lot of guys whodevelop at different ages some
young, some old and sometimes ittakes for you to go against a

(12:43):
player that everybody said wasso great.
And sometimes it may happen byaccident where you beat them and
that's like the eye openingmoment where it's like I could
do this, because nobody, nobodyin their whole life, is
undefeated at anything.
If you play football, you'velost a rep, everybody's lost a
rep before everybody's dropped apass before.
You just have to tell yourselflike they're gonna lose the rep

(13:06):
when it's your turn and that'sit, instead of you know getting
caught up like they have to showyou.
That's the biggest thing,because a lot of guys there's
people built like Hulk,especially nowadays.
You got, you got guys like Idon't know if you like Femi Femi
, now UCLA man, he came in.
I'm like there's.
There's no way you're thisyoung, like there's and built
like this, like there's guysthat are, you know, look like

(13:27):
they'll tear your head off.
But then there you got to havethe mindset mentality that they
got.
They have to show you they'reno different than you.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, I really think that's important as character
and grit overall.
I mean, you could be anathletic beast and not take it
seriously and get away for acertain amount of time, but at
the end of the, at the end ofthe day, the guy that's going to
be working harder and has theheart and is spending more hours
training is going to win.
Every time, I think, what, whatwould you say?

(13:54):
Uh, did you ever have a momentlike that where you, where you
got over on someone that was,you know, maybe a real, uh,
superstar, db, and you're ableto burn them and just take off
and you're like, ah, I got it.
You know what I mean?
Like any moments like that thatstand out in your mind.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
So growing up in Texas we like a lot of, a lot of
like the hub of athletes, likecome from Texas.
So I played against a lot ofthose guys since I was young.
So like I always give theexample, like if you and your
brother, if your brother, if youhave a brother and he turns out
to be one of the biggestcelebrities on the planet,
that's cool and all, but at theend of the day in your mind he's
still your brother.

(14:34):
You know, you still rememberall the times you beat him up,
you beat him in races, just in.
You know a lot of stuff, eventhough the world sees them a
different way to you.
That's your brother and I wouldsay growing up in Texas it was
the same way for a lot of thecompetition.
A lot of those top kids go toall the big schools.
So for me it was just like I'vebeen playing against him since
peewee football, like he'snothing, even though the world

(14:56):
is like, oh, this guy's a firstround pick, he's a second round
pick, he's the greatest thingever.
And that's like where theconfidence piece comes in.
It's all about how you perceivesomebody, because some people
they say a lot of people yourconfidence in yourself could
scare other people.
That's true.
I've seen a lot of guys thatare so confident in themselves.
It put fear in other athletes,even when the person actually

(15:17):
wasn't.
You know, like that.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
Right, yeah, no, that's actually really huge.
I've been training BrazilianJiu-Jitsu for the last 12 years
and I've done a few competitionsearly in my life and sometimes
it can be intimidating, likewhen you see someone from a
specific school has been trainedby someone specifically, but at
the end of the day you knowthey put their uniform on just
like you did, and having thatconfidence in yourself is huge

(15:41):
when it comes to that.
You know, since you've been offthe gridiron, I noticed that
you've been on social mediaquite a bit on Instagram,
talking about motivation,mindset and growth.
What would you say overall, hasbeen your drive to keep you
going when you're not 100%?

Speaker 2 (16:01):
I would say remembering everything that
you've been through and alsoknowing why you're doing what
you're doing.
Because if you've anything thatyou've gone through in life,
you didn't go through it for noreason.
It doesn't matter what it is,even the most negative things,
those stuff that you wentthrough as a kid, that you
didn't realize why untilprobably like three years later
of the world, and end up notbeing the end of the world.

(16:21):
And you learn from it andyou're just like you know.
You always look back and you'relike I can't believe I used to
think like that.
I can't believe I used to saystuff like that, like I can't
believe I used to wear clotheslike that, like what was I doing
wearing those clothes threeyears ago?
But it's all for a purpose.
So the older you get, I meanpeople tend to forget that going

(16:42):
against them, they don't knowwhat to do and they're just
panicking.
And you just have to realize,you know, just really sitting
back and realizing like I didn'tgo through everything I went
through for no reason, I didn'tlearn everything that I learned
for no reason, and just knowingthat there's a reason behind it.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
Yeah, that's absolutely huge man.
A lot of people would call thatlike failing forward.
Sometimes, if you fail atsomething, at least take a
lesson out of it and keep going.
I can tell you that I wouldimagine it's the same for you
when I joined the military and Ideployed to Operation Iraqi
Freedom in 2004,.
Just in that one year I wasdeployed I grew up and became a
man.
Do you think that collegeathletics, especially like

(17:18):
playing at your level, helpedyou grow up and mature faster
and learn more life lessons thanprobably the average college
student did?

Speaker 2 (17:26):
For sure I would say it has its perks.
So I would say it's like 50-50.
It for sure did.
But there's also a side you'remissing, because the football
side is a business.
So, like me and my friends incollege, we used to always talk
about the different ideas wehave, like we want to own our

(17:50):
own company, we want to do thisX, y, z.
You see videos about real estate, you want to do all these
different things, but you don'tactually have the time to go out
there and make all the mistakes.
That's going to happenregardless.
If you have the best mentor inthe world, you're still going to
have to make some of thosemistakes and go through it to be
able to actually understand andhow to build.
Versus when you're playingfootball, you're so time
consumed with it that a lot ofit is just soak up as much
knowledge as you can.
But once you're done playingand everything, that's where

(18:11):
guys tend to actually be able togo act on it and find out, see
what they're good at, see whatthey don't like, see how
different it is from what theyactually thought it would be.
So but like while you'replaying, it's pretty tough.
Besides, like consumingknowledge, I would say consume
as much knowledge as you can andif you could find time to act
on it, act on it.
But for most guys they can'treally find that out till
they're finished.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
Would you say that networking during your time as a
collegiate athlete isabsolutely necessary and
important?
I know I've learned it as anadult in my profession how
important networking is.
Would you say, would you givethat advice to folks or to
athletes that are in there rightnow that are currently playing
to make sure that you network.
You never know where you'regoing to end up.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
One million percent.
That's one of the mostimportant things that you could
do, and it's crazy becausepeople will tell you that all
the time, but a lot of peopledon't know what it looks like.
A lot of people will say go geta mentor, but what does that
actually look like?
Like I, people would say thatall the time, like you need to
get a mentor.
I actually did.
Like what does that actuallymean, though?
Like what does that mean?
I watch videos on YouTube.

(19:15):
Like what does it actually mean?
So I would say, likeunderstanding what it actually
means to network, like you'renot just talking to try to get
free stuff, like you're, likeyou actually want to build, like
a real connection with somebody, and they could come back and
help you in ways that you nevereven knew of or thought of.
I would say it's so important.
It's so important that willopen a lot of doors for you that
your degree won't just simplyby knowing somebody, and they

(19:39):
know what type of person you are.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
Right, like finding common values with other folks
that may be in positions ofprofession that you might see
yourself in someday, possiblysocial media.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
Like I don't even know if you can, but if I can go
back in time, I would be, youknow, going to UCLA, being

(20:13):
around a real estate empire justin Los Angeles.
I would be tweeting out like,hey, is there any real estate
developers out here who, likeyou, know, whatever, I'll train
your kids for free.
I'll be doing stuff like thatif I can go back in time.
But especially in LA, they havesuch a great opportunity that
they need to utilize it, becauseyou're going to start to look
back like when you finish and Ieven utilize it a lot.

(20:34):
But like looking back now thatI'm done, there's a lot of
things that I wish I can.
I wish I would have gone backand done a little bit
differently as far as, like thenetworking goes, and like I
would really try to leverage ita little bit more.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
You mentioned about the mentoring thing earlier.
We talked before we startedrecording and you you mentioned
that you're reaching back,trying to help out collegiate
athletes to make betterdecisions, right, more or less.
Are you looking to get intothat, into that role as maybe a
collegiate athletics mentor?

Speaker 2 (21:06):
yeah, for sure.
I I've seen a lot of crazystuff go on in college and also
meeting a lot of people fromdifferent backgrounds.
A lot of people's way ofthinking is not the same.
Stuff that you may think iscommon sense, somebody may think
that's normal.
It's really like politicsYou're either on this side or
you're on this side andeverybody thinks they're right.

(21:27):
Once you get to college and youstart stuff that's common sense
to you, a lot of people it'snot common sense to them.
The way they talk, the way theymaneuver and where they act and
just being able to help peoplelike understand like you can't
keep moving like that.
That's why a lot of guys theydon't play their freshman year
or sophomore year.
They don't end up blossominguntil later on in their career

(21:48):
because a lot of stuff that goeson behind the scenes that
people don't see is like stufflike that that it takes some
people to maybe two, three yearsto like actually drill it in
their head and start doingactions that you know kind of
follow up with that Right.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
I think you'd be a great, a great coach or mentor,
because you you talked aboutearlier the importance of
thinking further, further thanthe tip of your nose, and
thinking bigger, and that wouldbe so huge for anyone that's
currently in college, right now,to offer up their skills and
abilities on the football fieldfor a potential real estate

(22:23):
developer, maybe for their kids,just so you can be around them
and gain that knowledge.
So you're playing football,you're going to school, but then
you're also around this otherprofessional that's successful.
I mean that's a deadlycombination right there.
Yeah, you know, I think, Ithink your advice is is is
excellent, man.
So, yeah, I mean, I think thatthat's probably what college

(22:45):
football needs now is probablyfolks like you to reach back and
help, mentor and coach them,because I don't want to get into
it too much, but we've seenwith NIL, especially with UCLA
and a certain somebody comingback and swapping schools, and
then we've also seen with thedraft, you know, kind of a huge

(23:06):
PR debacle on people slidingdown the draft boards, and I
think a lot of that is exactlywhat you just talked about is
mentoring and coaching.
So I think that's a huge voidthat needs to be filled, and I
don't know how many formercollegiate athletes are doing
that right now.
But I think now more than ever,aside from the money, man, I

(23:26):
think people need the advice,the type of advice that someone
like you would provide,especially.
You know you growing up with aSuper Bowl MVP.
You know an NFL professionalfor so many years, so you
already had the edge, I guess,in collegiate and being a
professional overall wouldn'tyou say yeah, I would say so.

(23:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
Yeah, great advice, great mentorship, and I would
say it's huge because a lot oftimes when they do bring you
somebody to kind of articulatethat in school, it's always
somebody who's older nothingwrong with nothing wrong with
that but a lot of guys don'tfeel like they could relate,
it's like okay.
Why is it always somebody that'sbeen done playing for 15 years
telling us this now like it'slike okay.

(24:08):
Show us somebody who's fresh,like that's actually actively
going through it, not somebodythat went through it and just
like you know, somebody likefresh in the flesh, that we feel
like we can connect to, who'salso like smart and can
articulate themselves.
And you know, I would say thatthat's a big part of it, because
if you bring somebody in who's70 years old, even though he's
like a legend, I mean you gotguys that are 17 years old in

(24:30):
the room Like they don't knowwho that is, they can't
understand, they can't relate.
So I would say, bringing insomebody who's relatable, that
the coaches trust, that also youknow had a good reputation
while they were at the school orwhatever, I would say that
could be like a huge gamechanger.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
Oh, no doubt, man, and I would even say this like
times have changed.
Like you know, when I wasgrowing up, we didn't have cell
phones, we had landline phones,we had phones that were
connected to the wall, that wehad to, like, hold up to our ear
, and even some phones had thelittle turn thing.
And then there was no internet,like when your dad was playing.
There was no Twitter, none ofthis crazy stuff.
So it's important to be able todefinitely relate to who you're

(25:05):
coaching or who you'rementoring.
For sure and I saw I wasscoping out your TikTok man.
I saw you spoken about faithand perspective on there.
How have those things shapedyour journey, especially through
your tough times?

Speaker 2 (25:19):
A lot, man.
I would say that the hardestthing is keeping faith through
those hard times, because itsounds good, like when you pray
and you get what you want.
You're like thank you God.
Thank you God.
When stuff goes wrong it's kindof like it didn't go my way,
but sometimes that was God doingthat too, and a lot of times
it's hard to see it in themoment until he reveals it later
on.
You understand why you wentthrough it.
You understand why you need toget what you wanted at that time

(25:41):
and really understand, likewhat's for you is for you and
what's not it's not.
And everything comes with time,the right timing.
And it's hard with social medianow because you got some people
where it appears that somepeople it happens overnight,
some people get lucky, but mostpeople you don't see them
posting content because theyweren't posting during the times

(26:02):
of their struggles.
They weren't posting when theywere going through it.
So all you see is thateverything great, all the glitz
and glamour oh, an 18 year oldmillionaire buys a Lambo or 24
year old buys this but youdidn't see all the the five
years before they werestruggling, like mentally going
through it.
Um, so I would say not, don'tcompare yourself to anybody else
, because if you look at likeeven Steve Harvey and people

(26:26):
like that, a lot of them didn'tstart getting going until they
were like 37, some people 40,some people in their 50s and
it's just like dang.
Now we feel so much pressurethat if we're not a millionaire
or close to it, or making closeto 100K a month by 30, then like
something's wrong with us orour life is over.

(26:47):
So I would say, gettingadjusted to that, because I
experienced it too Constantlyseeing young kids, you're like
dang, is this the new normal?
Am I the one who's jacked up?
What am I not getting here?
So I would say, just don'tcompare yourself.
Have faith through it all andyou'll start to and really you
have to have faith when youcan't see it.
That's the point of faith andyou'll start to really realize

(27:08):
and God will open your eyes ofto what's going on and where he
wants you to go with your life.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
You seem like such a genuine grounded individual man.
Your dad, your dad did, did.
Uh, did you right by raisingyou the way that he did?
Was there a lot of pressure foryou to go to the next level
after college?

Speaker 2 (27:28):
I never felt pressure , and that sounds like I'd
always say the only times I onlyfelt pressure when I was doing
something I wasn't supposed todo.
Like if you were to tell me orif I wasn't prepared.
Like if you were to tell me, goout there and try to hit five
home runs for major leaguebaseball, I'm going to feel a
lot of pressure because I can'tdo that.
Like I've never trained for'venever trained for that, ever in
my life.

(27:48):
I'm not prepared for that atall and it's not what I'm
supposed to be doing.
But football I always felt likeit was what I was supposed to be
doing.
So I never felt pressure withthat and I was always prepared.
I always made sure I wasprepared.
I always woke up on time, I wasalways early, I always
stretched, I always took care ofeverything I needed to.
So like it sounds kind of crazysaying like I never felt
pressure, but like when it cameto football I never felt

(28:11):
pressure.
I felt pressure with otherthings in other areas, but it's
because I wasn't super preparedin that field which made me feel
the pressure.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
Right, it just seems like that's kind of your
personality too.
Would you say that you justkind of ingrained with just
having that?
You're just kind of laid back,but then you're always ready for
the moment, right?

Speaker 2 (28:26):
yeah, I'm always I'm a.
My dad's friend used to call methe quiet assassin because I
would just sit back like calm.
I was never the person.
Even if I had a play, I didn'thave to go stand over somebody
and, like you know, talk allthis mess and put on like a show
to have the cameras watching me.
I wish, I wish in high school Iwould have done a little,
seeing how, where the socialmedia and everything was going

(28:47):
and NIL and marketing yourself.
I wish I would have did alittle more in high school.
But I mean, you know, I wasjust being me myself, just like
calm, laid back, I make the playcool, like I didn't have to do
a bunch of extra stuff to try tosay, hey, look at me.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, I just met you, maybe what like 20 minutes ago,
but I'll say that you know, Ican tell that you're like cool
under the collar, cool underpressure.
Thank you, I get that vibe fromyou, man.
When you were getting out ofhigh school though I didn't ask
earlier were you recruited byUCLA, or what colleges were you
being recruited by, and did theyhave the star rating back then?

Speaker 2 (29:24):
So, yeah, they had the star rating back then.
I was recruited by likeliterally everybody, but there
was a lot of schools I didn'tcare for.
Like you know, just growing upusually a fan of whatever your
parents are a fan of, there's alot of great schools out there
but you just never really thinkabout it.
So there was a lot of schools Inever really paid attention to
that.
We end up going on visits towhere I was like, oh wow, this

(29:46):
is a lot different than Ithought.
Like my dad wanted me to getout there and start looking at
schools and he wanted to makesure that I would go there.
If I was a student and Icouldn't play football either,
Because you don't want to go toschool if you could only see
yourself playing football there,because you're going to be
miserable in every other aspectyou want to make sure somewhere

(30:11):
that you could go as a student,have fun there.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
You could live there, even if athletics was taken
away from you, and UCLA for mewas that option.
Yeah, I couldn't imagineplaying football in Anchorage,
alaska, when you hate theabsolute cold.
Right, you got to be able tostomach the environment or the
city that you're in.
Do you miss LA?
I do.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
I do it's expensive.
It's expensive, but I miss it,though it's weird, it feels like
I grew up here in Texas, but itfeels like more of home to me
out there.
It's hard to feel stressedbecause even if I was feeling
down, you know, having thosedays it's like walking outside,
seeing palm trees, like drivingjust to go to a restaurant and
just seeing the beach and theocean right there, like in the

(30:45):
sun setting.
It was like dang, like, likethis is actually real, like it
could be worse, like and I loveTexas too but it just felt like
home and it was like it wasmotivating, really motivating,
seeing a bunch of other youngpeople out there like
entrepreneurs, just doing alltypes of crazy stuff and
ambitious people.
I'll tell you, it's a.
It's a great place.

(31:05):
As long as you have your head onand you know what you want out
of life, it could be great.
Some people think it could be adistraction, but I just feel
like if you're in that phase ofyour life, it's going to be a
distraction regardless.
If you're in the phase of yourlife where you want to build it,
you know you're going to beperfectly fine.
It just depends you know whattype of person you are and where
you're at in your life.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yeah, and you got to know thyself.
When I applied for college, Icould have went to like an Ohio
state, but I knew thyself and Iknew that I would never go to
class.
So I chose to go to a smallerschool in Dayton, ohio, before I
went into the military.
And cause I knew like I justknew that you know what my
strengths and weaknesses were.
I was aware of myself.

(31:45):
That's actually huge to be ableto sit outside of yourself and
see yourself and understand that.
I know that if I go to schoolat Hawaii, I'm never going to go
to class and I'm just going togoof off the entire time.
Right?
So you must've had a reallygreat head on your shoulders,
man, because there's a lot ofdistractions here in LA, that's
for sure.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah there's for sure a lot in LA.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
That's for sure, yeah , there's for sure a lot yeah.
And overall, you know, withsocial media it can really be a
double-edged sword.
You know, I've heard a lot ofpeople say, oh, I hate social
media, and then, like a coupleof years later, they're on
social media, and they're notjust on social media, but
they're hiring a videographerand everything else.
How would you say, with socialmedia and people making comments
and critiques and things likethat, how did you manage the
pressure and the publicspotlight that comes with being

(32:31):
an athlete overall?

Speaker 2 (32:33):
Honestly, from the time I was young, a lot like
people are always going to saysomething it's crazy.
So, collierville, where I liveat now, my parents my dad played
for the Cowboys so my myparents built a house here
multiple houses here beforethere was even a high school
here, before there was anything.
It was just all dirt andeverything.

(32:53):
And I've had people, even athigh school parents, trying to
say that I didn't live in thecity.
So I you know, cause I was onvarsity as a freshman.
So, yeah, those parentscomplained to the school that I
didn't live there.
And my parents have like rentalproperties and stuff and people
were trying to say I lived at.
I actually lived in acompletely different city, super
far away.
It was just crazy stuff.
And a lot of people know likethey know where I live at, they

(33:15):
know who my dad is, they know myfamily because we've been there
longer than everybody.
So you know dealing with stufflike that.
I'm used to people saying stuffyeah, people were like, oh, he's
on varsity because of his dad,Until you see me go out there
and play, and it's like he's notthe one making the plays out
there.
Me being a sophomore in highschool, I was like second at the
time in, uh, from my class inlike yards and touchdowns as a

(33:38):
sophomore and stuff.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
It's like he's not doing you know a reason for
things yeah, no doubt,especially when they're not on
your team and they're on theopposite team.
Right, they're like let's tryto get this guy, let's try to

(34:00):
get this guy suspended orsomething.
Let's just come up with some,some bs over, though, what do
you think you've learned as faras dealing with the doubts and
the setbacks?
What advice would you give toyounger athletes or young adults
out there that are facing thosemoments?

Speaker 2 (34:19):
I'll say talk to your teammates, because most of the
world it's like 1% of people getfull ride scholarships to.
You know, it's like 1.3% orsomething like that.
You know get scholarships toplay in college.
So I would say that's a smallpercentage of people, but those
are really the only people whoare going to actually be able to
understand what you're goingthrough.
So a lot of times people feelembarrassed, like I don't want

(34:41):
to tell my teammate this, butyou'd be surprised.
Everybody's either felt what youfelt at a certain time on their
point.
They've either gone through itor they're going through it too
and also don't want to sayanything.
And when you start to get inrooms and sit down with people
and you're kind of forced totalk about certain things, you
start to realize like it makesyou feel good and makes you like
open up and realize like dang,like I'm not the only one going

(35:03):
through this.
It felt like the end end of theworld.
But like eight other guys feellike that, Like okay, yeah, we
can get through this.
And then you guys start, youknow, picking each other up.
So I would say, talking.
Talk to the people that aregoing through it with you,
regardless if they look likethey, you know, got everything
put together, Cause those arethe people that are going to
understand of times like yourown family, because they're your

(35:24):
family, but they're notactually going through what you
went through.
And if they did go through it,it was 30, 40 years ago, so it's
a little different now.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
Right, you definitely have to find your tribe right.
Or find your team, find that,find that group.
I you know it's like theyalways say like if you're
hanging out with five scholarathletes, that makes you the six
, if you're hanging out withfive idiots, that makes you the
six idiot right.
So making sure you find yourtribe Cam.
Now life after college football.
What is your purpose now?

Speaker 2 (35:53):
I'll tell you, my purpose is just giving back to
the game that I gave everything,to, giving back all the
knowledge that I received andlearned from different people,
different coaches, differentteammates, learning different
ways to navigate through thesport and school the best way
possible without having to, youknow, be stressed all the time.
Just giving back all theknowledge I have and doing it,

(36:14):
while it's still what I used to,you know, always hate as a
player too, where they bringsomebody back to talk.
I used to love listening toguest speakers, though, but it
was, like always, a repetitivething.
It's always somebody who's beenremoved from the sport for so
long that even even what they'resaying is so great A lot of
people can't relate to it,because you know it's just been
so long.
Even though a lot of theprinciples are the same, you

(36:36):
still want somebody who you,where it feels like they're
going through it with you orthey went, or they just went
through it, or they just figuredout a way to overcome that
obstacle.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
Yeah, that's, that's.
That's true being relatable andfinding folks that can actually
relate to what you're goingthrough and where you're at and
what point you're at.
Sometimes, you know, it getsfrustrating because I've given
advice to family before and itdoesn't sound as good when it's
coming from me.
The same advice comes fromsomeone else's mouth.

(37:07):
It sounds so much better tothem.
So it's exactly what you'resaying, man.
It's like it sounds bettercoming from someone else with
the same fundamental advice,right?

Speaker 2 (37:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
But I mean that's huge in order to open up the
ears and to get folks listening.
We talked about it briefly, man, have you contemplated coaching
?

Speaker 2 (37:26):
So I've always I would out-train people.
I've had a lot of people tellme you should coach, you should
coach, you should get intocoaching.
A lot of my coaches have toldme that, like you're going to be
a great coach one day and to me, like coaching through coaching
somebody through life is thesame way, like it's still,
you're still coaching, you'restill helping them out.
I just don't want to deal withall the politics that comes with
coaching and people above youreally pulling the strings,

(37:48):
because then at that pointyou're going to have to lie to
somebody.
Some kid's going to have to getlied to, even if it's not just
a straight up big lie in theback of your head.
You know, like dang, like myjob's to bring the best kids to
the school, but I can't play him, even though I know he's good
enough to start somewhere else.
He could potentially ride thebench here for his whole career.
I want to want to do that.

(38:09):
I want to actually apply value,something that they could go
and use picking the right schooltraining, habits, drills that
are actually going to benefitthem.
Different questions to ask thecoaches, cause a lot of people

(38:31):
lie and we'll tell you stuffthat sounds good, but how to
actually go do your own researchto find out, like, what the
best school is for you, so youdon't have to transfer multiple
times because moving sucks, likeit's hard moving, just getting
up and leaving NIL, knowing howto market yourself, go get
bigger deals.
Should you do it on your own?
Should you have somebody doingit for you?
How do you find somebody?
You know a lot of that stuff.
A lot of people don't know howto you know maneuver through all
of it because it's foreign tothem.
So just you know helping peoplenavigate through that better.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, a lot of these
young adults I don't want to saykids a lot of these young
adults, 17, 18 years old, aredealing with a lot of money and
they're making huge decisions.
Man, I remember when I was 18years old, deciding to go into
the military, I didn't know whatthe hell I was doing.
I just went in and put ablindfold on and signed up for a

(39:12):
branch.
I didn't know the difference.
I didn't know what was thedifference between anything.
No one was there to explain itto me.
So being that trusted, authentic, genuine voice of reason is
definitely.
I love college football.
I do and I love the game offootball because of the heart
that's involved in the game, andhaving played it myself in high

(39:32):
school level, at a very smallschool, I think, ingrained me
even more into just falling inlove with the sport.
But having that trusted voiceis something that I think
college football needs today,because there's too much money
involved in it and there's lessreasoning and logic involved in
it anymore.
So is that something thatyou're trying to get into?

(39:54):
Is actually becoming an agentof some sort or being a life
coach for collegiate athletes?

Speaker 2 (40:00):
Yeah for sure, absolutely.
I'm just trying to figure outwhat side of the space I want to
be on and like the correct termthat I would use, right, you
know, consulting it sounds likesuch like a corporate thing to
say, but like really likeconsulting through life, not
just one specific avenue.
Like I don't want to be therejust as your agent trying to
just help you with stuffregarding the football.

(40:22):
Like, I know a lot of stuff.
I've been through a lot ofstuff just help you with stuff
regarding the football.
Like I know a lot of stuff.
I've been through a lot ofstuff.
Regardless of my age, I'mqualified to talk about a lot of
stuff, regardless of ifsomebody's been in the industry
doing it for 10 plus years.
If you know more than somebody,you know more than somebody.
Information has no age limit,the knowledge that you conceive
yourself.
There's no age limit oranything to that.
Like, if you're good atsomething, you're good at it

(40:50):
regardless.
So just trying to show thatvalue and knowing how many
people are like misguided outhere, it's wild and it's insane
and I feel like I would feel badgoing to sleep every single day
and dying with all theinformation, everything I know,
and I never told it, because alot of players, a lot of players
, feel the same way.
They don't know what's going onand when they start to realize
what's going on, they stillthere's still a lot they don't

(41:11):
realize and understand.
So like it just puts them in abad place mentally.
And everybody cares about themental health and stuff.
When something happens,everybody comes and posts like,
like you know, we're praying forso-and-so, like mental health
is real, but a lot of times theyonly say that stuff when
something after an event happens.
But a lot of times they onlysay that stuff when something
after an event happens.
But a lot of times players aregoing through stuff caused by a
lot of different reasons Couldbe their coach, and then you

(41:32):
know in the meantime it could be.
You're just being soft, likesuck it up, it's part of life,
and then something happens.
It's like you know mentalhealth, so like understanding
who you could talk to, how totalk to somebody, and also like
as a coach, being like an oldercoach and a new age and adapting
to things that are problems now.
They weren't problems for thosepeople, so it's hard for them

(41:52):
to be able to comprehend a lotof certain things, regardless of
how they view it.
They could.
You know, some stuff is softnowadays.
Like you know, I hear it a lotbecause my dad, like y'all kids
nowadays, but at the end of theday, like he'll never be able to

(42:21):
understand it or comprehend ithow we do, and just like I'll
never know what it's like to,you know, go a week without food
, like, no matter how hard hedrills into my head that he had
to do something, or like that asa kid I try to teach me, is not
going to do much.
So that's why I'll say, reallyhaving somebody who's freshly
out the game to be able to talkto, because they could relate to
you, they could understand you,versus being so far removed.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
Yeah, no, I love it, man.
I really think that it'spractical and it's necessary for
modern times, especially incollege football.
I mean, a lot of people werethrowing, no matter what side of
the fence you're on, about NIL,the spring portal that opened
up and the quarterback fromTennessee that transferred to
UCLA.
I mean, everybody jumped ontheir video cameras and their

(42:58):
microphones and just gave thisguy all kinds of whatever about
it.
But at the end of the day, ifyou're not happy location wise,
like you mentioned earlier,because we don't know, like
nobody knows, that could be apossibility, man, like, if you
just go somewhere and then yourealize you know what this isn't
, this isn't me.

(43:18):
Like, I'm not happy here, I'mhappy on the gridiron, but I'm
not happy outside the gridironbecause this just is not my city
or state or whatever I'm atlike that's a huge factor too.
At the end of the day, there'sa lot of 18, 19, 20 year old
young adults that are makingvery adult decisions, and so
everything you're talking about,man, like in the military, we
have, uh, several differentsystems out here that that we

(43:43):
utilize.
Either it's nonprofits or it'sjust programs that we have set
up for mentoring.
Does college football haveanything, or college sports have
anything like that at all,where you've got athletes like
yourself that can reach back andbe a part of the lives of folks
that are currently in right now.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
So I would say they'll bring on speakers every.
It's not often, but they'llbring back some former players
who used to play.
Like I said, it's usually guysthat are, you know, a little
more removed, like they playedthere eight years ago or
something, and you're just like,yeah, but in your head you're
like who's this guy?
Like you were a kid, like youdon't remember him, like who was
this guy over here trying totalk to us Like versus?

(44:24):
You know, if you brought back aplayer who just finished
playing last year and was likeno, like I want to tell you guys
how it really is outside ofhere.
One guys know you, so you knowthey're oh, what's up, what's up
.
But they're really going tolisten to you because they know
they can trust you and they know, like you're not far removed.
But as far as like somebodythere really been like a program

(44:48):
for it, there's not yet.

Speaker 1 (44:50):
Okay, yeah, man, I definitely think there's a huge
void that someone of yourcharacter needs to fill for sure
.
So, cam, in the next few years,what's your vision for Cam
Brown beyond the gridiron?
Where do you see yourself inthe next like five years?

Speaker 2 (45:05):
I see myself back in California, for sure, nice, like
high rise windows all acrossthe bedroom, big balcony and
just helping people through lifewith football.
How to navigate through sports,I don't really know what that
looks like yet, but for surealong those lines, you know,

(45:28):
building some homes, designingsome buildings, all those things
that I've always wanted to dosince I was a kid, really
hopping into that, but for sure,having my foot on the gas in
the football, space managementrelations, just guiding,
consulting.
I don't really know what thatlooks like yet, but you know,
we'll see.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
It's okay.
I mean it's okay to have adirection and not necessarily an
azbeth, I mean cause.
At the end of the day, fromwhat I see on your social media,
you're moving in a directionand as you move in that
direction, things are going topresent themselves to you and
you have the lateral option ofsaying yes or no to those things
and, at the end of the day, youare who you are.

(46:11):
You're a man of great character.
I've only met you for the last45 minutes and I can tell you
you're very cool under thecollar, as they say, and you're
a true leader for sure, and oneof the main themes of my podcast
is Adapt and Overcome.
So, cam, would you mind sharinga moment in your life when you

(46:33):
were forced to pivot or faceadversity, and what that moment
taught you about?

Speaker 2 (46:35):
resilience and growth .
There's a lot of moments whereI've had to face adversity Too
many to count and it looksdifferent for everybody.
Don't ever think that's yourproblem.
Somebody told me this once.
Like, don't ever try to saythat your problem is less than
somebody else's just because ourcircumstance seems worse, cause
mentally it could still playthe same toll on you, like some.

(46:58):
I know it's a crazy analogy tosay, but if I lost a book, like
if I lost my notebook, it could,it could take the same toll
mentally on me that somebody wholost, like a family member, did
.
It's a crazy job.
But don't ever try to compareyour situation and be like well,
so-and-so is going through morethan me.
Don't ever do that becausementally you never know how it
affects some people.
Everybody gets affecteddifferently, understanding

(47:18):
you're going through something.
But it's not the end of theworld.
It's not the end of the roadyou got to keep pushing.
Talk, not the end of the road.
You got to keep pushing.
Talk to people.
Don't think you're alone.
Everybody's mentally goingthrough something.
I promise you they are.
So don't ever think you'realone in it.
Talk to somebody.
It'll help you get through itand know that sometimes you have
to go through stuff by yourselfand alone to learn how to
overcome it.
When something presents itselflater on in life, don't think

(47:41):
because you're alone sometimesthat it's a bad thing.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
Wow, that sums up a lot of great advice right there,
man.
I mean, perspective is huge.
Perspective is so huge andeveryone has a different level
of what a bad day looks like anddifferent levels of resiliency.
Right yeah, and I think that'spart of your growth as a
collegiate athlete that you'vemanaged to learn over the years

(48:05):
where other folks out there whomay not have been through so
much adversity may not, may notunderstand, and I think that's
that's why you're such aprofessional with with where you
are right now.
Cam, I'm hoping to see you atsome games this year.
Man, are you planning onattending any of the ucla games?

Speaker 2 (48:21):
I'm trying to work it out with my schedule, but I for
sure want to come back to acouple games yeah, I'm
definitely going to be, uh, atleast at every home game,
possibly the unlv game too, outof town.

Speaker 1 (48:31):
Who's your pick this year to win the national
championship?

Speaker 2 (48:34):
I would love for the bruins to win um.
Honestly now, with collegefootball you never know.
You never know.
Just like cincinnati came onthe rise that one year like you
met, like you really never know,especially now.
Like normal teams historicallyaren't like what you would think
they are.
Um, I remember when we played Ithink it was Alabama State.

(48:56):
I believe they had a lot oftransfers on their team from,
like the SEC.
So it's like this isn't justlike a normal um Alabama State
team that you guys would thinkthey are like some just bad team
, like no.
Like even these small schoolsnow are loaded up with some
players I was there for thatgame.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
It was hot, yeah, during the day, man I was like
freaking drinking a lot of waterthat day.
You guys had alabama state andthen you had alabama.
We had another alabama too.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
Alabama, a&m.

Speaker 1 (49:26):
Yeah, it was HBCU team.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
Yeah two.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
Alabama teams that year.
Yeah, I was there for boththose games, man.
I loved it, except for the damn95-degree weather.
It was nice, man, it was bad.
Some good victories there.
So, nil man, before we roundthings out here, name, image and
likeness is reshaping collegefootball.
Where do you see the gameheading in the next few years
and what advice would you giveyounger players navigating this

(49:51):
new era of college football?

Speaker 2 (49:54):
wow, that's interesting.
Let's try to think about whereit's headed, because they're so
you know they.
Finally they let go of all theyou know the rules and
everything.
They were like, okay, you guyscould finally be able to make
some money off your name, butthen now it's like, okay, whoa,
whoa, like some guys, you guysare getting paid too much money.
Now there's no regulations onthis, so it's tricky to find out

(50:16):
where it's going to go, ifthere's going to be limitations
or like salary caps.
It's going to be interesting,but I would say, for sure,
leverage it while you can.
A but I would say, for sure,leverage it while you can.
A lot of people don't realizehow much money they're getting.
It's like a lot of these guysare in the top 1% earners of
America right now, but it's onlyfor.
Most of the guys aren't goingto the NFL, so it's only for a

(50:38):
short amount of time.
So, for sure, maximize it whileyou can.
I remember when I was incollege, I was training with
some NFL guys and they weretelling me like you guys are
getting more brand deals, yougot guys who don't play, who are
able to go out there and getbrand deals.
I'm in the whole NFL.
I'm a professional athlete andbecause I'm not one of the

(50:58):
household names, I can't evenget brand deals.
That's crazy to think.
I'm a professional Like youguys are trying to get to where
I'm at and you guys havesomething that I can't, even you
know, get access to.
So I would say understand thatbecause that's true, and
leverage it while you can.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
Yeah, Make sure you brand yourself, make sure you
market yourself, make sure yourepresent yourself online.
I think that's really hugeright.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
For sure.
Yeah, they're watchingeverything and there's people
that are people out there thatcannot wait for you to mess up
Even the smallest facialexpression.
Somebody will try to clip itand put words over it and people
will just run to the commentsand, you know, deem it as true,
or so, just being aware thatpeople are always watching you,
somebody wants you to make amistake, even though, as crazy
as it sounds, that, there'speople you know out there like

(51:41):
that, it's true and it'shappening.
So just carrying yourself, youknow well and being a good
person, because that'll open alot of doors for you, regardless
, if somebody has better,there's people who had better
stats than me accolades andstuff but a lot of doors were
open for me just because of youknow, being a good person.
And some people think that justtheir ability alone is going to
open every door for them, andthat's just like a bad way of

(52:03):
thinking.

Speaker 1 (52:07):
Yeah, you're absolutely right, man.
Definitely your natural skillhas a ceiling at some point and
your character kind of takesover after that.
So I can definitely tell you'rea man of character for sure,
man, and your dad definitely dida great job raising you, even
though you're the youngest ofthree and you're the only boy in
the family, which is a lot ofpressure probably for you to
play sports and play football,and you know it's.

(52:28):
It's been such a pleasuretalking to you today.
Was there anything in thispodcast that I didn't cover that
you'd like to mention before weround things out tonight?

Speaker 2 (52:36):
I feel like we covered a lot.
It's hard Cause I always I feellike, right, when we get off
I'm going to remember somethingand be like dang, like should
have covered this.
But I think we, I think we, youknow we pretty much hit on the
nose or just said you know,believe in yourself, be yourself
.
That's the only way you'regoing to.
There's only one of you outthere.
Don't try to say what somebodyelse is going to do or what

(52:59):
somebody else is going to watch.
I was like nervous.
I was always good with thecamera, but I was always bad
when I had to put it on myself.
Like if somebody else washolding the camera, it was fine,
or interviewing me, but withthe content and everything,
having to put it on myself andlike me talking to it, was like
I would get nervous and I'm noteven nervous in front of the

(53:19):
camera, but like doing it, youknow, for myself was a little
tough, but I was like you knowwhat, after I put out a couple
of videos, started to feelcomfortable now, like I could
talk about anything on there.
Just post the video, um, andit's fine.
But don't ever put limitationson yourself.
Don't ever say what somebodyelse is gonna do.
Whatever somebody else is gonnawatch, don't say that nobody's
gonna buy your clothes.

(53:39):
That's what you want to do.
Just don't ever do that because, like you really never know.
People are into some of theweirdest, craziest things and
the internet amazes me everysingle day.
So, like, just reallyunderstand that when you see
what some people are really intoand some of the trends that
they follow and there's peoplewho watch videos, who love
videos of people like clippingtheir nails and stuff like the

(54:02):
weirdest stuff, like people areinto anything.
So, as long as you're yourself,there's people that are going
to gravitate towards that.

Speaker 1 (54:08):
Don't try to be anybody else, but you I'll say,
man, over the years I've beendoing this podcast for a couple
years I get in my own way.
Sometimes I'm like, oh, I can'tdo that.
I can't hold the camera infront of myself, and even for a
long time it took me uh manyepisodes to get used to just
sitting here talking to someone.
Like I'm talking to you rightnow, man, because I feel stupid.
I know my friends are gonna seethis, I know my co-workers
gonna see this, I know they'regonna make fun of me, but I

(54:31):
don't care.
I don't care you know what Imean.
It's just kind of what I'msaying you get in, you get in
your own way.
Those same people that aremaking fun of you are also kind
of envying what you do, in a way, and wishing they could do what
you do so they'll come backaround.

Speaker 2 (54:43):
They always do.

Speaker 1 (54:45):
Yeah, man, they become fans, right.
So, no man, dude, you're sofull of like awesome advice, man
, and just life lessons.
It's been such a greatconversation overall, man, and I
, like I said, I'm kind offanaticking out man because I
literally saw you on thegridiron just a few years ago.
Man, I love football.

(55:06):
I really appreciate you givingme the opportunity to tell some
of your story today, share yourstory from growing up in a
football family to making yourmark at UCLA and, most
importantly, you know thelessons that you've carried
forward into life after football.
Just hearing your insights onleadership, nil, adversity,
finding your purpose beyond thegame and truly captures the

(55:27):
heart of who you are and what mypodcast, you know, is about the
adapt and overcome for folksout there that are interested in
following you on your socialmedias.
I know you're on Instagram, uh,and I believe you're on Twitter
and LinkedIn, right.

Speaker 2 (55:43):
I'm on Instagram, twitter, um, my Instagram's at
the Cam Brown with the K.
I just started the YouTubechannel, actually probably like
four days ago, and it's at theCam Brown with two N's.
My Twitter I think I'm notpositive about my Twitter handle
.
It's like Cameron Brown withtwo underscores.

(56:05):
I believe I could be wrong, butyou know I'm in.
My TikTok is at the Cam Brownas well, same as my Instagram.
So you know, I'm trying to getconsistent post content at least
across Instagram, posting rightnow on Instagram and TikTok and
trying to, you know, get toYouTube a little bit, start
uploading some shorts anddifferent things like that.

Speaker 1 (56:23):
That's awesome, man.
I'll definitely make sure thatI post in the show notes.
If you're listening to this onthe podcast, it'll be down in
the show notes.
If you're watching this onYouTube, you can see Cam's
awesome pink headset andmicrophone that he's wearing.
It was the last minute, right?
You know the technicaldifficulties behind this, Cam,
right?
Sometimes you got to do whatyou got to do, man.
I appreciate you doing thattoday, brother.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
No problem.
No, I love being on here.
I'm grateful that you had me.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
No, the pleasure is all mine.
Honestly, man, it's been anhonor.
Man, I can't believe.
I watched you from the standsand now I'm sitting in front of
you having this conversation, sothe honor is all mine.
Man, Thank you so much andthank you for your years at UCLA
and providing the sportsentertainment that you did, man,
and giving it your all.
That was truly a great teamthat you had and you guys had a
lot of heart.

(57:09):
Back then you guys didn't havethe same hype maybe as some
other teams, but at the end ofthe day, man, you guys put in
some real, real like war effortsin some of those games and I
loved it.
So, thank you, Thank you.
And for folks out there, makesure you follow Cam on his

(57:29):
social medias Again, scroll downto the bottom show notes and
then also on YouTube.
You can see it down in thedescription.
And for everyone else out there, as always, I want you to stay
tuned, stay focused and staymotivated.
Warriors fall out.