0:00

The following interview with Nolan Carroll was recorded

0:02

prior to the tragic passing of Nolan's

0:04

former Dolphins teammate Vonte Davis.

0:07

All of us at the Fish Tank are sending strength to

0:09

the Davis family during this difficult time.

0:12

Rest in peace, Fonte.

0:13

You're now diving

0:26

down with Seth, O.

0:28

Jay Well, and

0:30

this is strictly but I'm a.

0:31

True fas number one

0:34

of course, y'all this and the other Nevers

0:36

boys talk.

0:38

Welcome back to the Fish Tank, presented by iHeartRadio

0:41

right here on the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network,

0:43

Seth Levitt and the man with the best

0:45

hands in the podcast business, O J. McDuffie.

0:48

Juice, I say that, and I gotta

0:50

be careful. I know he played on the other side of the ball.

0:52

I know, I know.

0:53

But our guest, Nolan Carroll might be like, well, wait a minute,

0:55

I'm a podcaster too, and my hands are nice.

0:58

Yeah, and he asked the wide receivers kills as well.

1:00

Man, So yeah, you gotta be very very careful. You

1:03

know, you could have came with a different intro bro just

1:05

because of our guest. You know, you could

1:07

maybe wanted to stir.

1:08

It up a little bit maybe wanted to stir it up.

1:10

Right away, right away like

1:12

that.

1:13

That's right, that's right, and there's no secret

1:15

I just said it.

1:15

Nolan Carroll is our guest today, but not only is

1:18

he a former Miami Dolphins defensive back,

1:20

he is indeed a podcaster. He's a philanthropist,

1:23

he's an entrepreneur, he's a coach, he's all

1:25

kinds of things which I'm excited to talk about. So,

1:27

Nolan, welcome to the tank man.

1:29

I appreciate you guys having me on. Thank

1:31

you.

1:32

Yeah, well, it's been some work you and I have been going back

1:34

to to make this happen.

1:37

I mean, we could got the president on before we gets

1:41

you know, any of the presidents you

1:43

know.

1:44

Well maybe at least the ones who are alive. Right,

1:47

he hasn't been that difficult. Oh

1:49

that's pretty good. That's pretty good. So,

1:52

you know, Nolan, Juice and I we always

1:54

go over how we're going to start every episode, who the guest

1:56

is.

1:56

It always is a little bit different. But the

1:59

fact of the matter is is that if

2:01

we've got.

2:01

Nolan Carroll here doing an interview

2:04

from Miami Dolphins theme podcast, there's

2:06

no other way we could start it

2:08

than with this and fortunate,

2:10

unfortunate, whatever it might be, there

2:13

is one thing you will always be remembered

2:15

for here in Dolphins Nation. And yes it

2:17

was your play, but it also is

2:20

this incident that happened. I'm gonna use the word

2:22

incident. Happened in December twelve,

2:24

twenty ten. It's your rookie year, right, So

2:26

we're at the meadow Lands. We're playing those

2:28

stinking Jets. Of course that had to

2:30

be the Jets. It's the third quarter.

2:32

Is only a ten to three game, I think,

2:34

so points are at a premium. Like every play

2:37

always matters, but in a ten to three game,

2:39

it definitely matters. And when you're punting

2:42

from your own fourteen yard line, even though we got that

2:44

big leg in Brandon Fields, it's an

2:46

important play.

2:47

They're all important plays.

2:48

You are the gunner on the Jets sideline

2:50

nearest to the Jets sideline, right, I'm

2:52

just setting the scene for everybody. I know everybody's like, oh my god,

2:55

I remember that play. This should be a

2:57

pretty routine play, but it

2:59

ends up being anything but routine.

3:02

Walk us through what you remember from that moment, because

3:04

I feel like it's something you've talked about before.

3:06

Yeah, I've actually I saw video

3:09

somebody put on Instagram yesterday

3:11

or probably put it on last week, but I saw yesterday.

3:14

I posted on my story and

3:16

it said point of view, like they have all those videos.

3:18

Point of view posted money

3:20

on the game, opposing coaches game,

3:23

and I made it funny, like

3:25

kind of in a joke, and I mean it is looking

3:27

back at it, it's someone's been what fourteen

3:29

years, I believe. Yeah,

3:31

man, just knowing and understanding. As

3:34

a gunner, you're supposed to use the sideline to your advantage.

3:36

That's what we're taught. And I just want to clear

3:38

that up because a lot of people thought I got pushed

3:40

into the subject and

3:43

I'm like, no, you guys got to watch the entirety

3:45

of the play. I used the sideline to my advantage,

3:47

Like you're taught as a gunner so you can gain

3:49

speed. And I was a fast I was one of the faster guys

3:52

on the team. So they put me out a gunner

3:54

and they expected me to do my job and get down

3:56

and use the sideline to my advantage. Well,

3:58

the Jets are teaching the same exact thing on their

4:00

side with their gunners, and they're like, well,

4:03

this is how we come back this Obviously they know which

4:05

guys are the fast guys, which guys

4:07

play gunner, and who are good and who's not. And obviously,

4:10

unfortunately that day they set up a wall,

4:12

which I had never honestly thinken back.

4:14

Now. I've never seen it on film, but I've

4:16

always heard stories about it, but I heard it was illegal

4:19

to do.

4:19

And most times they'll just kind of stand

4:21

in the way, not necessarily body you are trying

4:23

and trip you. And I remember getting out,

4:25

going down the sideline and looking at the returner,

4:28

but at the corner of my eye I also saw their

4:31

guys lined up as a wall, and

4:33

I said, there's only one or two things that I can do. I'm

4:35

either going to hit everybody and I'm going to

4:37

go down, or I'm going to try and squeeze through

4:40

is to make sure I get my angle right so it

4:42

shows that I'm going back in bounds, because you

4:44

can't just stay out of bounds as a gunner the entire time.

4:47

You'll get a flag. So you at least got to establish

4:49

an angle to where you're going to the returner. So

4:52

in my mind, I said, let me go ahead and establish this

4:54

angle. Well, at the last minute,

4:56

I just saw somebody leaning a little bit more.

4:58

It's funny how everything's going

5:00

fast, but in my mind it's going slow. And I

5:02

saw that at the last minute. I said, he's

5:05

not really doing this, like he's not right to

5:07

do this.

5:08

And then all of a sudden, I feel my knee

5:10

hit his and I kind of cave in a little bit.

5:12

Just remember falling to the ground and

5:15

it was like a stinging feeling. At first, I thought,

5:17

you know, something happened to my knee, but I moved it around

5:19

a little bit. I said, I'm probably good. But

5:21

then I remember thinking to myself, they just somebody

5:24

just tripped me. And the trainers

5:26

are coming over to the side, and the trainers

5:28

are asking me what's going on. I said, I just

5:30

got tripped, Like what are you talking. Everybody's looking

5:32

at me weird, like did you get hit?

5:34

Like somebody hits you too hard? I said, no, I got tripped.

5:37

And right when I got up and I'm walking

5:39

to our bench, I just remember seeing

5:41

Coach Berano, Coach Rizzy, a

5:44

couple other coach They're just pissed off,

5:46

and I guess they just showed the replay in

5:48

the entire stadium of what had just happened.

5:51

And those guys, I mean, they were like mad.

5:54

I had never seen coach Berano most of the

5:56

time he leaves his shades.

5:57

On, right, he

6:00

takes his shades off and he is I mean

6:02

he's almost in the middle of the field, and you

6:04

know, guys are like, what just

6:06

happened.

6:06

Nobody really knew what happened until the

6:09

replay and then after the game all the manness kind

6:11

of kind of happened and everything was

6:13

shown. But that's what I remember from that play.

6:16

But coincidentally enough, that's when I got

6:18

my first career pick too, and I think it was it

6:20

might have been that quarter, like a next drive

6:23

later or something like that. I just remember I

6:25

was pissed from that happened. I said, if I get back out there,

6:27

I'll make sure they pay. And that's exactly what I ended up

6:29

doing. We end up winning that game too, So all

6:32

in all, yeah, at.

6:33

The end, crazy situation. And

6:35

so for those who are listening, I can't imagine

6:38

that. You you know, if you were a Dolphins fan in that

6:40

era, you have to remember it because it's just not

6:42

something that you ever see. To your point,

6:44

Nolan but it was. There were six

6:47

people standing there.

6:48

It literally was.

6:49

A wall of guys shoulder to shoulder, and

6:51

they were like, their feet were right

6:53

up to the white They were as close as

6:55

as you could be to still be considered

6:57

on the sideline.

6:58

But here's the thing. They weren't guys

7:00

in uniform.

7:01

It was all the inactive guys.

7:05

So it's like, all right, we're gonna make us out of you. And

7:08

then the person who was closest to the

7:10

line of scrimmage was their strength and

7:12

conditioning coach, a guy by the name of Salahlosi.

7:15

And he's the one that it wasn't like

7:17

his feet were there and Nolan stepped on him.

7:20

Dude's kneed bends forward, the foot kind

7:22

of comes out like it was what it was. He

7:24

had an apology later, he was I think

7:27

suspended for the rest of the season. Let go, and

7:29

and his career has been an interesting

7:31

one. But it was just wild.

7:34

And here's what's really funny. I meant to textan

7:36

beforehand. So in Nolan's

7:39

Wikipedia bio, it talks about this

7:41

play. That's when you know it's legit, right, it's in the

7:44

bio, but it talks about this play, and

7:46

they quote Zach Zach Thomas

7:48

saying that, yeah, they built the wall. It was clear

7:51

Zach didn't even play for the team then.

7:52

Like Zach's never in the media,

7:55

Zach, and you're in He's like

7:57

even he did was like that's dirty.

8:00

Yeah.

8:00

Yeah, that was the funniest part of the whole thing

8:03

I can say about that was no,

8:05

my teammates had my back. I remember Carlos

8:08

just being you know, interviewed talking about

8:10

it. I didn't have to say much. I didn't want to say much, especially

8:12

when you're a rookie. You don't want that type

8:14

of attention, especially after we won as a team.

8:16

I was always thinking the team, and you know,

8:19

just in light of this, I didn't want it to be about

8:21

me and getting an apology. So I'm

8:23

glad for those guys, you know, sticking

8:25

up for me and having my back and

8:28

having my back the entire season, not just that time.

8:30

But you know, I got the apology right when I got

8:32

on the plane, so sounded sincere,

8:34

you know, But the dam whiche was done. But all in all,

8:36

I still got to play seven more years, so I'm

8:39

not tripping about it, you know, And I still

8:41

I made plays against it, just later on from there and

8:43

we kept winning. I don't think we probably lost one

8:46

game, maybe one or two when we played

8:48

them, So it ended up being

8:50

being a good career my time down in Miami playing against

8:52

the Jets.

8:52

All in all, big sad. The hell with that man?

8:55

You know, that was a dirty ass playing dirty

8:57

man. I mean as a dirty man, and a lot

8:59

of guys, including myself,

9:01

for the loss their shit and want

9:04

to retaliate after something like that.

9:05

Man.

9:06

But you know, honestly, the way you're

9:08

talking right now, losing control is really

9:10

counter you know what I mean to how you were raised,

9:12

is it? I mean you, of course I say that because you

9:14

were raising a military family, but

9:16

not just any military family. I mean your father

9:19

was a senior Master sarget in the Air Force

9:21

and your mom was a lieutenant commander in the

9:23

Navy and then went on the you

9:25

know, on a trailblazing political

9:27

career where she became the first black, the

9:29

first female, and the first Trinidadian

9:32

American lieutenant governor of Florida.

9:35

I mean, tell us about your parents a little

9:37

bit and what it was like growing

9:39

up in a household with that kind of

9:41

dedication, and obviously you're discipline.

9:43

Yeah, definitely.

9:44

You know, the first thing people think about when

9:46

they hear military parents is just

9:49

strict across the board. And you

9:51

know, my parents were strict when they needed to be, but

9:53

leaning at the same time, they allowed

9:56

me to understand the consistency

9:59

of working, consistency of discipline,

10:01

the understanding of making sure you get

10:03

your things done first before you go and play and

10:05

have fun, you know, making sure that you're

10:08

respectful of your elders, making sure that

10:10

you're putting in the time to your craft, and just

10:12

seeing them. My dad did twenty five years in the Navy,

10:15

Mom did twenty years, and excuse

10:18

me, my dad twenty five years in the Air Force. Mom

10:20

doing twenty years in the Navy. You saw

10:22

it every day. At least I did them. Waking

10:24

up at five o'clock in the morning and making

10:27

sure everything's in line before they

10:29

had to go to the base, and then leaving

10:31

me with stuff for my brother and sister

10:33

to make sure they have their clothes on, they're

10:35

ready to get ready to go to the bus stop. You know, those

10:37

things my parents instilled in me early

10:40

and then allow me to do that with my brother

10:42

and sister. So I got to experiment

10:44

and understand how to become a

10:46

responsible adult at a young age. And

10:49

you know, when I did wrong, I was punished for it. When I did

10:51

right, I was rewarded for it. By the end of

10:53

the day, it all came down to you're

10:55

expected to do your job. And I

10:58

just held that with me from high school

11:01

to college to the NFL. And I

11:03

believe the reason why I played as long as I did and

11:05

I was given certain leadership aspects

11:08

to be able to lead younger guys was because

11:10

of that. My parents teaching me those

11:12

qualities that I'm still using

11:14

to this day. So I'm very appreciative of them. And

11:17

they just they were always about actions.

11:19

You know, they spoke, but then they also backed it up with what

11:21

they did. And that's how I've

11:23

modeled my life. I don't just want to talk about what

11:25

I'm going to do. I actually want to do it at

11:27

the same time and then tell you,

11:29

hey, this is how it needs to be done, this

11:32

is the mistakes I made, this is how I overcame.

11:34

And you just continue to do that in life. And

11:37

I have a ten year old son and I

11:39

try and just use the same principles my parents

11:41

taught me. And some of the stuff that I've learned and applied

11:43

and hopefully passed it down to him so he can

11:45

continue this. But I'm very fortunate

11:47

for my parents. I see it every day,

11:49

you know, just with what's out here nowadays,

11:53

broken houses, parents

11:55

fighting, like I barely saw that,

11:57

you know, And that's one of the things I

11:59

believe that's just allowed my demeanor to

12:01

be the way it is because I wasn't

12:03

exposed to that every single day, meaning I

12:06

didn't see if my parents did fight. They never

12:08

showed us whatsoever they were going through

12:10

things. They never showed us. So at

12:12

the end of the day, they we knew that whatever's

12:15

on your heart, whatever's on your mind, get

12:18

it off before you go to bed, and then when you wake

12:20

up, it's a new day, and then you work at

12:22

it. Growing forgiving those type of things. So

12:24

I think with all those qualities that they've shown

12:27

me and they're still show me now, I

12:29

still use that, and I

12:31

mean it's just been it's been a big blessing. It's been

12:33

great, Like I said, appreciative because not

12:36

everybody has that. And I knew that when

12:38

I got into the league, and I know that now that

12:40

I'm retired, and I'm seeing just how society

12:42

is with it.

12:43

So, like I said, thank you Mom and dad

12:45

for that.

12:46

Yeah, well I love that.

12:47

But you know, if we are speaking about discipline

12:50

and leadership, Juice, well we can't also

12:53

leave out the fact that mom initially wouldn't even

12:55

let you play football, right, So soccer was

12:57

the sport to start off until

13:00

the head coach at Clay High

13:02

School, which here's and I have

13:04

this question, but it's really kind

13:06

of crazy the way these things line up sometimes.

13:09

We just a couple of days ago interviewed

13:11

Caleb Sturgis, who went to Saint

13:13

Augustine High School.

13:14

And I know you guys were teammates in twenty thirteen.

13:17

Clay High School, for those who aren't familiar with it,

13:19

is about forty minutes west of Saint

13:21

Augustine, and you're about, I guess about an hour south

13:23

of Jacksonville is at what I saw on the map.

13:25

Is that fair?

13:26

So it was just crazy though that we had a

13:28

Saint Augustine guy and we had a Clay High School

13:30

guy within a couple of days. But it

13:33

took the head coach, Juice to convince

13:35

your parents that no one might

13:38

have a shot like he might be pretty good at

13:40

this football thing. Of course he was

13:42

right. You start it wide out

13:44

until your second game

13:47

of your senior year and you break

13:49

your leg. I can't imagine what

13:51

that's like, because here you are, you're trying to get

13:53

a college scholarship, right, You're trying to live out your

13:56

everybody knows senior year that's the big

13:58

year. Clearly you put enough

14:00

tape out there because it didn't prevent

14:02

you from getting recruited. You signed with the

14:05

University of Maryland, and then

14:07

your red shirted as a freshman. And so given

14:10

your whole history that you obviously know, I'm sharing it

14:12

for the listeners. But the point that I'm trying to get

14:14

is there's almost two years of you not playing

14:17

in a football game, and I

14:19

just wonder, what is that like for someone.

14:20

Who lives and breathes this sport and is

14:23

an athlete. And clearly you're more than just an athlete.

14:25

But all of everything

14:27

you've done, you've put into this game and

14:30

then for two years you are on this hiatus.

14:32

How difficult was that? And did

14:34

you ever question whether or not you would see the field again?

14:37

Yeah?

14:37

I I never questioned

14:40

if I would see the field again. I

14:42

just never knew when.

14:43

It was going to be. And the thing

14:45

about this game.

14:46

Is, you guys know you can put your all

14:48

in it and still not get anything back in return.

14:51

And I was one of the risks that

14:53

I took because I believed in myself that much.

14:55

You know from the story you were talking about. In high

14:57

school, my mom was not gonna let

14:59

me football. But

15:03

I remember this so vividly. It

15:05

was junior high school and they were having tryouts

15:07

for the eighth graders in ninth grade

15:09

for JV and my junior

15:12

high was right up the street from my high school. And

15:14

I remember probably the night

15:16

before, I told my sister, Hey, look, I'm probably

15:19

gonna get grounded. This is what I need you to

15:21

do. I need you to watch Nico, which

15:23

was my youngest brother. He comes home from elementary

15:25

school. My sister was still in junior high.

15:27

I said, you're going to go to the bus stop, you're going to

15:29

pick him up, and you're going to take him home. I'm not going

15:32

to have my phone on me. I'm going to tryouts for football.

15:34

I only got one day, one shot at this. So

15:37

I go to the tryouts and I

15:40

let the coaches know and this was the JV coaches

15:43

at the time. I'm letting them know I only got one day here.

15:45

My name is Nolan Carroll. I go to Green Coach Springs

15:47

Junior High and I remember

15:49

I'm in the back and I'm watching all

15:51

these other guys do the drills and messing up

15:53

and the coaches explaining to them how

15:55

to do it right. So I'm just like, all right, I just need to

15:58

do it the way coach is telling me. And

16:00

sure enough they're like, yeah, this guy's pretty

16:02

good. So I had

16:04

that one day where I was it. I didn't hear from the coaches,

16:06

in't here from anybody else for a year. And

16:09

I remember my freshman year, I'm coming

16:11

in. Mom still not let me play, but she'll

16:13

let me run track and play

16:15

soccer. But coach Riddle remembered

16:18

me from the workhouse when I was in eighth

16:20

grade, because he remembered when

16:22

I came out there, and he asked me,

16:24

well, why didn't you come out to JV, And I told him Mom

16:27

would let me because I got a babysit my brother and

16:29

my sister. Because now since I'm getting

16:31

home before them, I need to watch him.

16:33

Now, watch both of them, so without

16:36

him telling me, he goes and he lived down

16:38

the street, like five minutes down the street from my mom, Like you can

16:40

literally walk to his house. He goes to

16:42

my mom's house and he basically says, look,

16:45

give me two weeks to work with your son, and

16:48

when you come to the jamboree game or I think he was

16:50

our first game, if there's no improvement,

16:53

then you can take him off and he won't play football

16:55

again. He tells me this.

16:56

All the time.

16:57

He says, when my mom was walking in, I

17:00

was scoring a touchdown. That was my second

17:02

toime a game. I scored three touchdowns that

17:04

game. I had no idea about this, bet. I

17:06

just enjoyed being out there playing football.

17:08

I liked the game.

17:09

I was like, well, shoot, I can show off my speed.

17:11

I played receiver, so I was just like, look,

17:14

as long as you throw a deep and let me catch it, I'm

17:16

cool with that. And I get to score touchdowns, all

17:18

right, I'm cool. I'm so I did that, and

17:21

you know the rest is history. My mom kept telling him,

17:24

your son has an opportunity to get a scholarship where

17:26

you don't have to pay out of pocket to go

17:28

and get his education for free, and that was the biggest

17:30

thing in my family, was the education. And

17:33

when he put it that way, my mom

17:35

bought in. And then when she bought in, I was

17:37

like, cool, I'm doing this until I can't

17:39

do it anymore because I just had fun with it. And

17:42

you know, like I said, I'm appreciative of him for

17:44

allowing me to do that. But you know, when I

17:46

broke my leg my senior year, I bought

17:48

out my junior year. I bought up my sophomore year, my junior

17:50

year, and I knew I was

17:53

going to be that four star guy because I was

17:55

already a three star kid because I had

17:57

two good years. I knew this was my breakout

17:59

kind of season with my senior year. My first my

18:01

first game, had one hundred yards receiving out was

18:03

like I knew it was clicking.

18:05

OJ.

18:05

You know this, when

18:08

you're clicking going into the season, You're like, hey,

18:10

I'm about to have a great season. And unfortunate,

18:12

you know, I break my leg that second game in season,

18:15

and I think the hardest thing was the

18:17

shock of it. But then after I got

18:19

off over that shock and

18:21

I understood I still had my scholarships. I

18:23

had like thirty five, close to forty

18:26

something like that. I only had two drop off, which

18:28

was UCF and it was Florida.

18:30

That was the only two. So other than that, when

18:32

I saw that, damn, I looked at

18:35

it and it's like, well, I'm good. It's not the end of the world. I

18:37

still have options. I still have opportunities.

18:39

But I was.

18:39

I narrowed it down to three. It was Old miss

18:42

it was Colorado, and it was Maryland. Those

18:44

were always my top three schools, and

18:47

you know, I just kept.

18:48

That in my mind and never told anybody. And then when it.

18:50

Came time, you know, coach Regent was the most

18:52

consistent, telling me, hey, look that

18:54

injury does not change how we feel

18:56

about you. We still want you to come in. We

18:58

still want you to come in and compete, and

19:01

you know, don't worry about the leg, just rehabbing.

19:03

You'll be fine.

19:04

So for those two years and I come in, actually

19:07

I beat the clock as far as my rehab time.

19:09

I ended up running track that year to solidify

19:12

and show them and I still have my speedback. So I

19:14

end up running something like a ten

19:16

to seven and one hundred coming off of an injury.

19:18

So I was able to show them that I could do

19:20

that, and that solidified everything completely.

19:23

But then when I got to Maryland, now there's

19:26

thirteen guys in the room, you know, so it's all

19:29

right. Now I'm last on the depth chart,

19:32

trying to fight through that the scope of

19:34

college and adjusting to that the playbook,

19:37

you know, being red shirted, and then the

19:39

following year, I'm still down on the

19:41

depth chart.

19:42

You just had to work.

19:43

And my biggest thing was knowing

19:45

what I went through with that injury, the

19:47

hard work that I had put in, and not getting I

19:50

guess per se to accolades that I did want or

19:52

saw at the time as being that guy going

19:55

into college. You know, it's just about my work.

19:57

I knew when I came in. If I was on scout

19:59

team, pretending like you're going

20:01

against UVA, who's the starting receiver on UVA?

20:04

Model him like, look at film, look at that guy

20:06

West Virginia, look at that guy Boston

20:08

College, look at that guy.

20:09

Just to help your defense.

20:11

And you know, at the same time, if I'm

20:13

making plays on our starting defense, well,

20:15

how's that going to look to the starting offense when they start

20:17

seeing film when they're doing scout team. So

20:20

I started putting that together and understanding, don't

20:22

don't get bitter about the situation, and you red shirting

20:25

look at as an opportunity to grow. And if I'm

20:27

continuing to play every single day, you

20:29

know during the season, I'm getting those reps. I

20:32

just have to continually just work at it and ship at the rock.

20:34

And you know, it didn't work out the way I expected

20:36

it to, and I'm going to my retro freshman year, I

20:38

was still minimal stabs. And you

20:41

know, after my retro freshman year, I

20:43

took a risk on myself. I felt like I could play

20:45

corner. I felt like that's what I liked more.

20:47

When I got into college, I started watching more

20:49

of those guys, and you know, then I saw Al

20:51

Harris. I don't remember what game it

20:54

was, but then I became a fan of Al Harrison. I

20:56

just wanted to play defense, and I modeled my game

20:58

after him and was on the depth chart

21:00

again. But at this point in time,

21:03

just over the last three years, four years or whatever

21:05

it was, and just consistently just working hard,

21:08

working, consistent, and just staying focused.

21:11

It made it easy for me to climb the ladder

21:13

and really hone in my craft. And be focused

21:15

and disciplined, and I was able to

21:17

play two years really at corner

21:19

and I got drafted by the Dolphins.

21:22

So that's kind of how that story

21:24

unfolded.

21:25

But just that discipline and focus that I have for

21:27

my parents and then going through that situation

21:30

in high school at a young age and happened

21:32

to prepare mentally that entire time before

21:34

I actually crack the.

21:35

Field going to my sophomore year.

21:38

There's just a lot of work, a lot of work to stay

21:41

disciplined to what I believed in, and that was myself.

21:44

We know it is with colleges.

21:45

Man, they get you in the building and then they want

21:47

to change your position.

21:49

It happens all the time, you

21:51

know what I mean.

21:52

So you're the one that said, look, I don't want to play

21:54

wide receiver. I mean, I don't

21:56

want to do the city. I want to play corner. I mean usually

21:58

they do it without even without your

22:00

knowledge, man, without any any consideration

22:03

for your feelings.

22:04

Man, you're telling me that you do the one that made the decision.

22:07

I made the decision, and they you

22:09

know what, they fought me for a month, and

22:12

my defensive coaches every day they're just like,

22:14

hey, man, you look better on defense, like they would plant

22:16

that seed and they

22:18

were.

22:18

Recruiting, Well, I gotta, I gotta wait, I gotta, I

22:21

gotta go this route tonight. You were a return man

22:23

and a wide receiver. A lot of times they

22:25

moved people to dB because of their hands, knowing

22:27

I mean, don't tell me the hands with us

22:29

man with a hands sus.

22:32

They had some question marks sometimes.

22:34

Ah, that's why he didn't argue when I said

22:36

the best hands of the podcastiness.

22:38

That's why I'm not arguing with that. That's

22:40

why they're drafted me a DV man shoot.

22:43

At times, it was just one of those where you

22:46

know it is when you're thinking too much. I got

22:48

I've never been used to a pro style offense with Coach

22:50

Region, and obviously he brought in his

22:53

offense from the Chargers back in ninety

22:55

four when it went to the Super Bowl. So I had

22:58

just only been used to three routes curl, slant,

23:01

fade. If I ran a pose, you're

23:03

throwing it to like I was the gimmicks guy, the

23:05

reverse guy.

23:05

I was the screen guy. Like I was that tight.

23:08

So while I'm here in double's right, three forty

23:10

three over I'm like, wait, hold.

23:12

Up, wait, I don't know none of this. Let's

23:15

go back.

23:15

But it was you don't have time to really once

23:17

you get into college, you don't have time to There's

23:20

no real grace period to sit there and just

23:22

learn for a whole year. You got to eat a ketchup and adapter

23:25

or get left. So my thing

23:27

was I was always playing ketch up

23:29

and I had to skill. They see it, but it was just never

23:31

consistent enough. And you know when they

23:34

coached Cosh and you know my coach

23:36

Lempa, they were on the defensive side. I

23:38

said, we need corners, we need bigger corners

23:40

like there was I was. Once I came to that side. I was the

23:42

biggest corner in the room and I was six

23:44

one and a half.

23:45

Two o five and I could fly. I

23:47

could fly.

23:48

Oh yeah, so I played. I was playing man

23:50

and cover too.

23:51

I was like, all right, these are the only two I need, and

23:53

I'm on the boundary side. I can do this,

23:55

And that's what I ended up doing. But the hands got

23:57

better, and as I started getting more

23:59

comfort, I was like, yeah, I'm I've been had

24:01

hands.

24:02

I always had hands. It's just all a time where

24:04

you're doubting, Like, man, you're looking at them like

24:06

these things work, you know.

24:09

You know?

24:09

So no, you know, before the colleagues

24:11

opportunities we talked about, you broke your leg. But

24:13

then again, you know in colleagues,

24:16

before the draft, you break

24:18

your leg again.

24:19

Ye, I mean, what was going through

24:21

your mind?

24:21

What the hell was happening right now before

24:24

these big moments in your life as

24:26

a football player.

24:27

Yeah, it's one of those where you

24:30

still I'm still trying to figure it out. But I

24:32

believe they happened because

24:35

they had to teach me about just

24:37

tests at the next level. Whatever I was getting ridy

24:39

to face. My injuries

24:42

helped me with that. When I was in high school, it was

24:44

teaching me about the two years that I didn't

24:46

play. So I had to learn

24:48

about discipline, patients, working

24:51

diligently every day even though I don't.

24:52

See my muscles coming back in

24:54

my leg.

24:55

You know, day twelve doesn't

24:57

mean it's not gonna come back day twenty one, twenty

24:59

two, you know. And just doing that consistently

25:02

and always telling myself, I'm going to get better.

25:03

I'm going to get better.

25:05

That gave me the resilience to be able to push through

25:07

those years that I wasn't playing and you

25:09

know, just working harder, consistent,

25:12

wanting it more. Going into my senior

25:14

year. Had everything you can imagine as far as

25:16

like the accolades going into my

25:18

senior year, and I can remember this because

25:21

my buddies were just.

25:22

Blowing my phone up.

25:22

I guess at the time there was rankings that would come out

25:25

as far as corners, and in

25:27

my draft class, not talking about the underclassmen,

25:29

but the seniors.

25:31

Out of corners, there was one hundred and forty that.

25:33

Was supposed to come out, and they ranked me as

25:35

number seven, and I

25:38

had enough. I was at an internship I was working

25:40

at the time, and my phone was just going crazy,

25:43

and my buddy's just telling me, congratulations, congratulations.

25:45

And I looked and they had me as

25:47

a late first round, early second.

25:50

And this was my junior year. I'm on the Thorpe

25:52

list.

25:53

So I'm just looking at all the

25:55

things that I have, the preseason, all

25:57

acc lists, Like I'm looking at these things.

25:59

I'm like, all the work that I put in

26:01

is actually starting to pay off.

26:03

Now.

26:03

All I have to do is enjoy my senior year

26:05

and play well. And you know, we lost

26:08

against col. But I played a good game against

26:10

Cal and then that second game was

26:12

just a free accident.

26:13

Man.

26:13

I went on the blitz. We were playing James

26:15

Madison. We were struggling, I think they were.

26:17

We were. We might have been down by

26:19

two, and nobody expected us

26:21

to to really.

26:23

Be struggling in this game. And I

26:26

remember calling the blitz. It is like third and four

26:28

or the blitz was called for me. It was a corner blitz.

26:30

I just remember coming off the edge, trying

26:33

to wrap and roll and twist do the

26:35

gator role, and one of my former

26:37

players, you know, he's running around too, He's coming around

26:39

the edge of his defensive end and my legs

26:41

whipping around, and you know, he ends up

26:43

kicking me, and I just remember just

26:46

in pain, and you know, it's

26:48

it's unfortunate. I knew exactly what it was when

26:50

I went down. I remember just looking at it.

26:52

And just like, but was

26:54

it the same leg, same leg, same leg?

26:57

Oh Man.

26:58

The first time I didn't get a rod in, it just naturally

27:00

healed it. And then you know the second time I

27:02

had to get surgery. It was just it was inevitable

27:04

at that point.

27:05

But you know, before my coach

27:07

came over, ambulance, all

27:09

that stuff came over.

27:10

I just said, hey, look man, you've been through this before. You

27:13

know it's you can't worry about the draft over this

27:15

time.

27:15

You know you got The only thing you have to.

27:17

Worry about is what to what extent

27:19

is this and what type of

27:21

surgery you're going to need? And then next is how

27:23

is your family going to feel? And I

27:25

had to remember once they came to the ambulance,

27:28

I remember just smiling, just letting them know it's

27:31

going to be all right. Don't don't stress about anything.

27:33

Don't worry about nothing. I'm not worried

27:35

about you know what the future is. I

27:38

just have to worry about today, like tonight. That's

27:40

the only thing that matters. And you know it did

27:42

suck because I remember waking up the next morning. The

27:45

first thing I asked.

27:45

Was did we win?

27:46

Because I had no idea. And then the second

27:48

thing was, you know, how long is this going to take?

27:51

And once I understood the timetable,

27:53

which was about seven months, I had to look at it.

27:55

I was just going to affect me and pro date

27:58

because that's the only thing I thought about was prote I didn't think about

28:00

Combine draft nothing, And you

28:03

know, I just put my mind like that. I said, if I can

28:05

concentrate on the rehab, everything else

28:07

is gonna work out, which it ended up doing. You know, I

28:09

still went to the Combine. I ended up

28:11

rehabbing, showed them. I went to a bunch

28:13

of different meetings. Miami was the one

28:15

I went to the most. I didn't expect them to draft me,

28:18

but obviously I crossed off all

28:20

the t's and died in my eyes because it

28:22

took a chance on me.

28:23

But you know, all in all, it worked out.

28:25

Because ultimately, like I was telling you guys,

28:27

I believed in myself no matter what I knew, if

28:29

I had that high of a grade, regardless

28:31

of the underclassmen that came out, which was Joe Hayden,

28:33

Kareem Jackson, Kyle Wilson, guys that recently

28:36

just retired. You know that being in that

28:38

class and going on those same visits

28:41

I was going on with them, like I felt better

28:43

as I kept progressing that I'm

28:46

gonna be fine. Somebody's gonna take a chance on me,

28:48

and whoever does, I'm gonna make it worth a

28:50

while.

28:50

Because all the things that I went

28:52

through it's this is almost like a cake walk.

28:54

You know, this is this is me just proving to

28:56

you all the stuff that I really proved for myself

28:59

that I'm able to do well.

29:01

We know who took a chance on you, because

29:03

your phone did rin on draft day.

29:06

Jeff Ireland and Tony Sperano had

29:08

decided they were gonna make a commitment to defense

29:10

in this draft. You go look at the draft class in twenty

29:12

ten and there's a lot of dudes on one side of

29:14

the ball juice, and it's not the side.

29:16

That you like.

29:17

But it's okay, okay,

29:19

it did work out. So and a

29:21

couple interesting tidbits. The first

29:23

thing is, so no one was drafted in the fifth

29:26

round. He's one of two defensive backs drafted in the fifth

29:28

round. The other one was Rashad Jones. You

29:30

were selected before Rashaw. Did you remind him

29:32

of that? By the way, did you remind.

29:33

Him love it? I remember, I

29:36

remember it like that. That's the thing.

29:38

I didn't watch too many Georgia games, but I

29:40

remember number nine from Georgia, and

29:43

I was just wondering how he got so far

29:46

down in the draft, because I'm like, you should have been the second

29:48

round picks.

29:48

He was wondering, two he's been on.

29:52

You should have at least been a second round pick.

29:54

But I mean, yeah, vividly, he's

29:56

like, man, I'm gonna make sure everybody remembers when he did

29:58

that, like he was Yeah, would say out

30:00

of our draft class with seat, with Shot

30:02

and Cole mecI, if Cole was able to play more years,

30:05

I say, out of the draft of that draft

30:07

year, those are the.

30:08

Two strongest ones out of our draft class. Man.

30:11

They used to do things where I'm just like, I

30:13

see why you are you are or the

30:15

reason why whatever school you went to, because

30:18

you guys are.

30:19

That guy and it was fun playing with them.

30:20

Man, But I do remember that I don't

30:22

never I don't never poked jabs at him or nothing

30:25

at all.

30:25

Is yeah, you're a good man.

30:27

Yeah yeah, no, he's mymate.

30:29

But where it just validated

30:31

for me and gave me more confidence knowing that I

30:33

missed my senior year and I still got drafted at

30:36

the end of the day when I wasn't it

30:38

was getting towards the point where I was accepting that I'm

30:40

probably going to be an undrafted guy. Right

30:42

the fact that I was able to still

30:44

have that chance, and you know, there

30:47

was a little bit of it. I think the backstory

30:49

and I'm still finding out as as I get

30:51

older. Coach Regent, my head

30:54

coach in Maryland, is friends

30:56

with Bill Parcells. Supposedly they grew

30:58

up together in New York. I

31:00

just remember my strength conditioning coach diech

31:03

Gald when he was at Pen he went to Maryland and

31:05

he was at Penn State. He just retired from Penn State

31:07

as a matter of fact, but he

31:09

was the one always keeping me abreast of what was going on,

31:12

how scouts re viewing me. And there was

31:14

a point in time where I got

31:16

granted my medical richer to come back for my sixth

31:18

year. And I remember

31:20

I'm going into the weight room to work out with DJ.

31:22

He comes up to me and says, no, you're not coming back.

31:25

He said, don't even think about coming back. And at

31:28

the time I didn't know why. I just knew if he's

31:30

saying it, then there's something something to it.

31:32

And maybe twenty

31:35

nineteen when I found this out, Coach

31:37

Regent had told coach Parcills.

31:39

Hey, look, man, I have a corner. You

31:42

need to develop him because he missed a senior year. But I'm

31:44

telling he's gonna be pretty good. Give him a based

31:46

on the strength of you knowing me. Give him a chance,

31:49

because if you don't, Cincinnati's going to come and get

31:51

him. And that was a backstory.

31:54

And coincidentally enough, Cincinnati

31:56

had to pick right after Miami.

31:58

Oh wow, Yeah, it's

32:00

funny, Burks.

32:03

Yeah, let me tell you what.

32:03

Buffalo had to pick out the Miami when I was coming

32:05

out of draft. So we both got lucky.

32:08

Bro.

32:09

I mean, Cincinnati Buffalo are about

32:12

the same damn thing. Man.

32:15

Oh that's too funny. That is too funny.

32:17

And you're a good man, I tell you know.

32:19

So I run JT's foundation to this

32:21

day, and Sam Madison to this day reminds

32:23

JT that he was taking in the second round.

32:25

J T was taken in the third, so I think even

32:27

in Canton he told him that.

32:29

So you're a good guy. Not to do

32:31

that to Rashad. That's hilarious. The other thing that's

32:33

interesting is you were selected. The

32:35

reason there were two fifth round picks that year for the

32:37

Dolphins is you were selected with

32:39

the pick they obtained from trading Ted

32:41

Gant Junior to San Francisco. So

32:43

just and then I think I

32:46

think you had like a couple interceptions off

32:48

of Cam Newton that were intended for Ted,

32:50

and.

32:51

Yeah he did.

32:52

I had to make sure that everybody knew I

32:55

was a better pick out of that trade for

32:58

us, Like that was always on my mind because everybody

33:01

like, oh, it was the first round pick got traded for a fifth

33:03

round pick. Let's see how the fifth round pick is. I

33:06

said, all right, anytime we play them, I'm gonna make

33:08

sure y'all want to know that, Yeah,

33:10

this was a pick.

33:11

At the end of the day, that was the best trade that could happen.

33:14

Look it up, Jews, and it doesn't matter whether

33:16

he was in Miami and Philly, like every time

33:19

he lined up against Ted Ginn you could go see what

33:21

happened. It's it's pretty I didn't

33:23

know that part of the story, but that is fascinating. The

33:25

other thing I wanted to ask was we establish

33:27

at the beginning of the show you were a Florida

33:30

kid. You weren't a South Florida kid. You were a Florida

33:32

kid. You grew up in one of your favorite teams

33:34

was in Miami Dolphins. There's this great picture I found

33:37

Juice where he's like in his crib and he's

33:39

got this Bob greasy. It's

33:42

a true story. So what was

33:44

it like for you to be drafted

33:47

by.

33:47

The Dolphins when you you know, it

33:50

was one of the teams you cheered for as a kid.

33:51

Yeah, it was surreal, you know

33:53

because my dad, he's from Liberty City,

33:56

and you know, he wanted

33:58

to get out, like that was his thing, want to get out. So we went

34:00

to the military and obviously we

34:03

ended up coming to Jacksonville. But they

34:05

didn't show a lot of Miami games. I showed Jaguar

34:07

games, but they never could show Miami games. So when I saw

34:10

Miami game, I was.

34:11

Blewed in it. I remember u oj,

34:13

I remember ouran day.

34:14

I remember at Abdul Jabbar when

34:16

he had his name trains, like, I remember

34:18

those guys and obviously Dan Marino,

34:20

and I'm just like, man, this I like

34:23

this team.

34:23

Like I don't like the Jags even though they were playing well.

34:25

I like the Dolphins because I was my team, and

34:28

you know I still now to this day. I'm about

34:30

to give it to my son. I have trading

34:33

cards. Upon trading cards, I need you to sign oj.

34:35

I got like four of yours.

34:36

I know that I got you. I got you.

34:38

I just was always a Dolphins fan man, because

34:41

of my pops. And you know, it's funny.

34:44

During the last day of the draft, my

34:47

mom, brother and sister, they all went out shopping.

34:49

They couldn't hand my mom couldn't handle the draft

34:51

suspense. But my dad and I we were

34:53

just chilling in the house and I

34:56

remember, I'm getting ready to take a nap because I said, I'm over

34:58

there. So it's a fifth round, I'm probably probably

35:00

gonna get undrafted. I'll just wait for my phone to ring,

35:03

you know, four hours from now.

35:05

And it was a nine to five four number that called me right

35:07

when I'm getting ready to take a nap, so I pick

35:09

it up. And then right when I pick it up,

35:12

I guess my dad saw it on color ID. So he comes

35:14

rushing down the hallway.

35:16

I know that area code.

35:17

He's like up in my face, like he's

35:20

he's looking in my eyes trying to see going on.

35:22

And here the conversation and uh,

35:24

you know when when uh Coach Ferano,

35:27

mister Ireland and Coach Parcels all

35:29

asked me, hey, do you want to be a Dolphin.

35:31

You know, my dad just like he lost it.

35:33

Man, he's running through the house celebrating.

35:37

I mean, he just it was a great

35:39

moment for for myself, but also him

35:41

because that was his you know, his childhood team,

35:43

and every single time that he

35:46

came.

35:46

To a game.

35:47

You know, I cherished that because I

35:49

knew, you know, from his perspective, he's looking

35:51

at it as a young kid being

35:53

a fan of his favorite team, and now

35:55

his son gets to play for his favorite team. And you

35:57

know, it was one of the things that I was just always

36:00

had fun with, you know, coming out of the tunnel or

36:02

whether I was making plays, whether it's home or

36:04

what else. It's not about my dad, you know,

36:07

just just being that fan and in that time

36:09

where we celebrated when we got when I say

36:11

we when we got drafted, and that's

36:13

just yeah, it's a true story.

36:15

Man.

36:16

I've been a fan since I was two years

36:18

old, when I knew about the Aquan

36:21

or excuse me, where I just

36:23

became a fan regardless I

36:25

was in Jacksonville.

36:26

I go to games.

36:27

But he's always fins up that.

36:30

So yeah,

36:34

that's so good man.

36:34

Yeah, I mean, you know, and no one, honestly, man,

36:37

your draft class is one thing man, But your

36:39

position group was another I mean the

36:42

room you ended. I mean we had just gotten

36:44

guys in your position that we just selected the year

36:46

before in the first and second round. I

36:48

mean I'm talking about you know, of course Vanta Davison

36:51

and Shawn Smith talk about that

36:53

dB room and those unique personality

36:56

because I know you have to have Vante

36:58

and Shawn stories that or two.

37:03

But it had to be.

37:04

But what was it like, you know, being a young guy going

37:06

in there with those guys on the roster, trying to earn

37:08

a spot, knowing that the team had already invested

37:11

and some guys already Yeah.

37:13

That was the best situation for me because I had

37:15

entered a room where it was other

37:17

young guys. You know, Vontae Sewn has just got drafted

37:20

year before. So they're just like, hey, look, man, just

37:22

don't do what we did and this is what we did wrong.

37:24

Don't do that. And obviously I did it because

37:26

I'm young, I'm still learning. But to

37:29

have them freshly know it and

37:31

show me what not to do, that

37:34

helped me out. Because we also had Chris Clements in the

37:36

room, who was the second half guy.

37:37

Then we ended up having Rashad

37:40

as well. The only older guys that were

37:42

in there was Will Allen and

37:44

Will was hurt, so Will was in and out.

37:46

Then you had Hermia Belt so Yere and Maiah

37:48

has all these young guys in the room, they just

37:50

got to teach, and all of us gravitated

37:53

to year Amiah because he knew

37:55

it and he was one of those guys that was always

37:57

teaching us. So as a group, we understood

37:59

that we're very talented. It's just there's growing

38:02

things, man. And I just remember

38:04

Coach Bowles trusting all of us and him

38:08

being able to voice how he feels about

38:10

our position group and them not going out to get

38:13

a big group of veterans and just let us let

38:15

us display how we know what we need to

38:17

do. And we did that for the most part. It's it's

38:19

hard because you're dealing with young

38:21

guys. You show flashes of it. Sometimes you're

38:24

consistent, sometimes you're not. But overall in our

38:26

room, there was no negative

38:28

competition whatsoever.

38:30

Like we went out together, we went out

38:32

to eat together, like after

38:34

practice, were hanging out.

38:35

Like those guys were cool to be around,

38:38

but Shaw was to be around. Sean was cool

38:40

to be around. Chris was cool to be around here Maya

38:42

will Vonte, Like even

38:44

when Jimmy Wilson came, Jimmy was cool to be around.

38:47

Like all of us, we were just

38:49

cool with each other. And when one guy made

38:51

a play, we were hyped up about it. When

38:53

a guy got paid, we were hyped up about it. Like

38:56

there was no animosity at all. And we

38:58

knew, we knew we had a good

39:01

group. It's just we were young and we were learning,

39:03

and you know some of it. Sometimes

39:05

we talk about it, like if they really kept us

39:07

together, like tried to keep us together. I'm not talking

39:09

about breaking the bank with it, but one

39:12

year deal here, a two year deal, maybe three

39:14

year or something like that. I think we

39:17

would have shown as a group that we

39:19

were pretty good, because we did show it up last year

39:21

together. We showed that we were a pretty good group.

39:24

We had very good games. There's

39:26

unfortunate that it came down to the last game of season,

39:28

and you know, if we won, we winning

39:30

the playoffs. But when you look at the total

39:33

of those guys in the back end, I'm even forgetting

39:35

to meet you, Patterson, I forgot, But

39:37

you're just having guys

39:40

like that in the room that cared about each

39:42

other's success and cared

39:44

if somebody was nicked up or was heard was going

39:46

through some crazy stuff. Now, that was

39:48

big for my development because it

39:51

showed that guys really do care

39:53

more than just money, more than just getting

39:55

the back, like they actually care about if you're making plays.

39:58

But there's some stories during games.

40:00

Man, it's it's like heat of the moment

40:02

stuff where especially Sean, who

40:05

just lightens the move. It could be third and four for the

40:07

game, and Shawn's is like, hey,

40:09

man, I don't know. I don't

40:11

know my hamstring kind of I'm gonna sit on it.

40:14

I'm gonna sit on this route.

40:15

If it's a slant, I'm all. But

40:18

if it's anything else, I'm dead. Like I'm

40:22

just like Sean, you can't say that, man, you

40:24

gotta tell her and everything.

40:26

He's like no, and I can't. I can't then go four

40:28

quarters. I only got a little bit left and

40:30

say he like, honest. But you

40:33

know stuff like that where you laugh and you

40:35

laugh back at it now, but during

40:37

the time, it's just the way those guys were

40:39

able to be light in the room. And even though there

40:42

was that one year where we started zero seven I

40:45

think that's probably the most fun I have even

40:47

though it sucked. We we just

40:49

knew we were very immature, and we were

40:51

we took a lot for granted. But then you saw after

40:54

when we won five straight what it can look

40:56

like if we did it right. And and that's when we

40:58

really figured out as a group. Man, we just

41:00

need to continue to get better and play for each other.

41:02

And no matter where we go, let's still

41:05

still keeping communication and contact and

41:07

we all do, which is the cool thing about

41:09

it, you know, just being so many years later, how how

41:12

we're able to talk about those times. But those guys,

41:15

I think that those four years and I was

41:17

there, just the three that I

41:19

was with Sean and who I was with and

41:22

the one I was with Brent Grimes, two I

41:24

was with Dmitri before I was with with

41:27

Sean.

41:27

It was it was fun, man, It

41:30

really was, you know, Big Seth.

41:32

You know, I just always I see this recurring

41:34

theme when it comes to these dvs.

41:36

Man, they.

41:39

Dvs.

41:39

Man, they get they they love it. They

41:42

kick it, man, you know what I mean? And

41:44

I love the chatter that people don't

41:47

hear on the football field in the middle

41:49

of a game when you hear something like Sean

41:51

saying something like that, you know and you and

41:53

you don't realize that some of those.

41:55

Things stay out the streets. Sean, Come

41:57

on, that's

41:59

what.

41:59

The hand strength problem came from.

42:01

What it was.

42:02

I'll tell you rest in the meetings late we

42:06

had sewn the tank, so he kept it one hundred

42:08

us about.

42:09

I'm going to tell you, hey, man, I was out, but guess what, I'm

42:11

still showing to Practice's one thing I know about. Shawn

42:14

n followed the Michael Irvin kind of kind

42:16

of real right there, but

42:19

I'm still gonna ball at the end of the day, and he did.

42:20

I mean, yeah, man, he

42:23

got a couple of bags, so he.

42:25

Was left held to du Yeah.

42:26

Well, he's a talented South Florida's

42:28

not it's not a it's not an

42:30

easy place for young guys man at

42:33

all.

42:34

Trust me, I know.

42:36

We all know, man, it ain't for the week man at

42:38

all.

42:40

That That's what I hear.

42:42

Anyway, GM plantation and make

42:44

sure just just make sure you say

42:46

far enough the way to where once you hop on

42:49

fine ninety five, you gotta contemplate you

42:51

want to take this drive and.

42:52

Then when you go ninety five south. You really

42:54

got to start contover.

42:56

You got I think once you're heading

42:58

south on ninety five, it's a lost cause you know.

43:03

It's calling.

43:04

You can turn around right, you can exit

43:08

on fine ninety five.

43:10

Hey not unless you get on an expressway though

43:13

the expressway no miss over for you.

43:15

They didn't have that though Jews.

43:17

They didn't have that then back then. So it's like,

43:19

okay, you get the bab last.

43:22

Sure clearly

43:26

he's had that inner struggle. Juice Nolan has

43:28

had that inner struggle in the past. That

43:30

is hilarious. Well, you talked about your four

43:32

years as a Dolphin, and I

43:35

don't want to ever dismiss another

43:38

four years of somebody's career. But it is a Dolphins

43:40

podcast, so we're not going to dismiss

43:42

it. But we're gonna skip ahead. We're going to fast forward,

43:45

and uh, obviously I'm being a little bit

43:47

funny, but I want to make sure before

43:49

we get you out of here that we talk about

43:52

how you utilize your platform as an

43:54

NFL player to do so much

43:56

more in your post playing career, and

43:58

very specifically, what I'm hoping you'll share with us

44:01

is to tell us about the Jacksonville Athletic

44:03

Academy, What inspired you to

44:05

create it and what exactly is your

44:07

role there?

44:08

Yeah, so the Jacksonville Athletic

44:10

Academy is a junior college is here

44:12

in Jacksonville, Florida. And my

44:14

brother actually came up with this idea and it was

44:16

towards the end of twenty twenty obviously

44:18

COVID and you know, we're just looking

44:21

at sports in general, how things were getting canceled,

44:23

closed down, kids not being allowed

44:26

to really have the opportunity

44:28

to continue their athletic career in

44:30

college. And it was just something about

44:32

when he described it and when I was betting him

44:35

about, you know, is really what can

44:37

go wrong in this as far as what we're

44:39

going to be able to do to help these kids.

44:41

And you know, the things that we talked

44:44

about really weren't that bad. You know, it's just

44:46

about people kind of doubting. But for us, we've

44:48

got to show that there's value in

44:50

it. You know, I mean value is.

44:52

Showing these kids what this football

44:55

business has become now. And that's what it

44:57

really is. It's not about, you know, just

44:59

a feel good story to give these kids an opportunity to continue

45:01

to play football. It's giving them

45:03

the opportunity to understand the business of football,

45:06

because we hear it all the time when we're in the

45:08

NFL, but we only think that's contracts.

45:11

We don't understand the branding side of it. We don't understand

45:13

the recruiting side. We don't understand that going to school

45:15

part of it, understanding the preparation before

45:18

games so you can play well because your

45:20

resume is your side of film that you put on

45:23

basically for coaches to see.

45:24

So my brothers suggested, since

45:27

you know a lot about the NFL

45:29

and you've been exposed through for many years and college

45:31

and understand the recruiting aspect

45:34

of it, why not apply

45:36

that to Jacksonville and get these local kids,

45:39

give them an opportunity to play games and still

45:41

have film and hopefully advance

45:43

their their athletic careers and academic

45:46

careers and get their education elsewhere.

45:48

But let us be that platform and that catalyst

45:51

to show them what to do so that when they do go

45:53

to another school, it's not just them

45:55

going to another school with bad habits. It's

45:57

them going to a school and being an impact player

46:00

and student right away. So I

46:02

love that when we started in twenty one, I

46:04

just went gung ho with him. Man, I felt like the

46:07

knowledge that I had from this

46:09

isn't me saying I know it all.

46:11

But there are guys that.

46:13

Won Super Bowls that have coached me, defensive

46:16

coordinators that became head coaches that have coached me,

46:18

Guys that I played with and against that

46:20

I know that are head coaches now, and

46:23

just that knowledge of me being able to still talk

46:25

to them. I just applied all

46:27

the lessons that they gave me, and I give

46:30

it to these kids and I make sure that they

46:32

know exactly what it is like to

46:34

compete at the top level. And when I mean compete,

46:36

not just on the football field, I'm talking

46:38

about your grades. I'm talking about your recruiting.

46:41

I'm talking about what you post. You want

46:43

to be able to sell yourself to get a scholarship

46:45

or at least get eyes on you so that when

46:48

a coach asked, is this guy going

46:50

to fit in with my team? Is it somebody that we need

46:52

to spend money on to help us not from

46:55

just a team standpoint, but a community standpoint.

46:57

What does that look like?

46:58

Can we take a chance on this guy or

47:01

this guy or not take a chance on this

47:03

guy that has an attitude and take a chance on

47:05

the guy that we know is coming from a place

47:07

where he's getting coached properly. And

47:10

that's the reason why we started JAA to

47:12

do that. And I have wonderful coaches as well,

47:15

guys that either played in the CFL,

47:17

the NFL, or the AFL,

47:20

just to give these kids an understanding of what it

47:22

actually takes to get to these different places

47:25

on the football field, and that there's many other ways

47:27

to do it. So don't just get discouraged because

47:30

of the dynamics of what is going on now, the

47:33

transfer portal, the lesser recruiting

47:35

in high school. Don't worry about those sales guys.

47:37

The fact that you're with us now, we're going

47:39

to show you how to be like the five

47:41

star guy. We're going to show you how to prepare

47:43

so that at the end of the day, it

47:45

doesn't matter if you're five star, doesn't matter if you're all American

47:48

when you're playing football and you're prepared more than

47:50

the other guy. And we've just seen

47:52

this time and time again. It's all about

47:54

your heart. And if you can show a guy

47:57

how to play properly and you're always testing

47:59

him every single day to his limits,

48:01

like a Division one school. When he gets ready

48:04

to play those Division one athletes, He's

48:06

not scared, he's not intimidating.

48:07

He knows I am prepared, I'm trained

48:10

for this.

48:10

And they go out and compete, man, and ultimately they have

48:12

fun and we get our kids out, and you

48:15

know, it's just for me that has been

48:18

it's been my it's been

48:20

the thing that's giving me the momentum to keep going,

48:22

keep increasing this thing. And the fact that in three

48:24

years we've got nine kids out,

48:27

you know, to Division two and Division one schools.

48:29

That says a lot of what we're doing here. And

48:32

my hope is for this season, we

48:34

have about nine guys that I believe can get

48:36

signed for this year that are Division two,

48:38

Division one guys, just because the

48:40

work ethic and the mentality behind believing

48:43

in themselves is so

48:45

high that then all I have to do is guide

48:48

them, guide him and tell them which

48:50

choices you should make that's going to help benefit you.

48:53

I'm not, like I said, this is not for me to

48:56

go around like Coach Prime. I love Coach Prime, I love

48:58

him to death, man, but I'm not doing

49:00

this. Hey look at me, Look how great of a coach I

49:02

am. It's more of when you turn on the film

49:05

and those guys that you didn't see before the year

49:07

before, you're seeing them now. When you see

49:09

them now, they jump off on film, and when

49:12

you start to understand who they are, the

49:14

more you want to invest in a kid because you know he's

49:16

going to be that type of kid that you want

49:18

in your program.

49:19

So basically, my eight years

49:21

in the NFL has gotten me to be more

49:24

involved in this, and I have other things

49:26

I'm involved with as well, but those

49:28

things are pretty much running by themselves.

49:30

I've gotten to that point where just

49:33

being able to do.

49:33

That now just from my seven years or not

49:36

just retiring and getting into two other things, those

49:38

are running by itself. But this school, I

49:41

feel like is something that can

49:43

really help nationally because we don't just have kids in

49:45

Florida. We get kids from California, Minnesota,

49:47

Texas, Alabama, Pennsylvania.

49:50

They come from everywhere because they're hearing it now.

49:52

And my biggest thing is, man, if

49:55

I can teach you to write things from the pro level,

49:57

you'll be so far ahead from other guys that I

50:00

think they're the guy, so they don't put in as much

50:02

work and they just think it's all.

50:03

They take it for branded.

50:04

And when you have a guy that's actually been working for it and

50:07

he comes in and you two are facing each other, the

50:09

guy that's been prepared for it is going to want more

50:11

than a guy that took it for granted.

50:13

That's what it's all about,

50:15

my love hearing about guys that played in the

50:17

league, man, that you know are conveying

50:19

these message to these kids, not just football

50:21

stuff, but life stuff because you've seen it all, you've

50:23

been there, and hopefully these young

50:25

and is listen. Sometimes you know it can be sometimes

50:28

man, these young boy I can't get him listen to

50:30

me for that. I'm too old for him. But you had a good age

50:32

there. Nohen you're at a good age bro right.

50:34

I'm at the border because they sometimes

50:38

they look at me. He's like, coach, this is what I saw

50:40

on YouTube. I'm like, look, man, this

50:44

is how.

50:44

You need to do it.

50:45

So it looks like YouTube and right,

50:49

man, but hey, you

50:51

do it. You do it because you understand it

50:55

and you've been You've gotten the right teacher.

50:57

And that's the main thing is the guys before

50:59

me that taught me how to do it. I'm teaching

51:01

those guys, and I'm patient

51:03

with it, Tony Dungee type of patience.

51:05

But I turned into Dan Cambell real

51:08

quick.

51:08

Sometimes that's

51:12

a great well, Nola man. I

51:14

mean, you've been fantastic.

51:15

Man.

51:15

We know you're a busy man. So we're going to wrap

51:17

it up real quick here. But we can't

51:20

wrap it up before we do it. We always do right here

51:22

on.

51:22

The fish tank. And that's the fish tank.

51:23

Two minutes drill, So get ready

51:25

to run as we're gonna put two minutes on the clock

51:28

and fire off some quick hitting questions. And

51:30

maybe you'll end this thing with a pick

51:33

six. Well, who knows, we'll see. Maybe you're in it with

51:35

a picked six. Well, if you've been a wide receiver, you

51:37

know, instead of you know, not trusting your

51:39

hands, it might have been something different.

51:41

But since you since you ended up being a dB, we

51:43

go see if you get a pick six.

51:45

Dog, you know some of the

51:47

things that I have to deal with. Yeah,

51:50

I know, I

51:53

love it.

51:54

I love it alight, I'll get

51:56

it started for us, big set. All right, you're

51:58

the host of Conversations with Carol

52:01

podcast. What's the toughest thing about

52:03

being a podcaster.

52:04

Toughest thing about being a podcaster is coordinating

52:07

guests and getting that

52:09

is the hardest thing.

52:11

And amen, the brand

52:13

of it is good.

52:15

If you have the brand, right, I guess right, and

52:17

you have your topics right, then that

52:20

is that is key for success. But you have

52:22

to be consistent with that that you can't think you're

52:24

going to be four or five and end.

52:25

Up like Joe Rogan, right right,

52:28

right, I think that the truth. Good answer.

52:30

I like it all right at some point because I

52:32

saw different things.

52:33

But at some point you were asked what your favorite movie

52:35

was, and your answer was the cult classic

52:38

Big Trouble in Little China. What

52:40

was the name of the street gang that

52:43

confronted truck driver Jack Burton

52:45

and kidnapped Is it Malayan?

52:48

Malion was the girl with the green eyes? What

52:50

was the name?

52:51

You remember him?

52:52

They came out there and then he's

52:54

trying to rack the brain.

52:55

Oh my goodness, yes, I remember

52:58

the scene change

53:00

sing and uh.

53:02

Uh the Lords

53:05

of I don't remember the

53:08

Lords of Death.

53:08

They were the Lords of Death, that's all right. Those

53:12

were the first guys to stop the truck. And he went

53:14

out there and had to fight him, and there yeah.

53:15

Yeah, change sing was the gold and white

53:17

robe and the guys right he

53:20

was.

53:20

He was the dude.

53:21

That's right, good stuff,

53:24

all right, clocks right and so and so Seth mentioned

53:26

the Bob Greasy.

53:28

I can't it's hard calling it the doll, but

53:31

a stuff told me, what do you want a tough.

53:33

Player in your crib? You know who

53:36

was your who was your favorite Miami Dolphin player growing

53:38

up?

53:38

Though?

53:41

It was you? Man, No, I don't no,

53:43

I didn't give me that. Man. I mean when

53:46

you was a wide receiver. I get it. Yeah, I get it.

53:48

I was a wide receiver. So when I saw games,

53:50

it was you, and

53:53

I was like, all right, shoot, I got to

53:55

pick one. Picked somebody.

53:58

I'm probably a little more like Juice than you, Aronde.

54:00

Yeah, we had more speed in both of it. That's the damn

54:02

show.

54:03

Yeah, he was faster than both of you though.

54:04

That's for yeah, I'm looking at the run.

54:06

I'm like, I'm not speaking to him, so oja,

54:09

that fits my mold as a kid. You're looking at people

54:11

that fits your mold as a player, And that was what I

54:14

was a receiver, so I didn't know I knew

54:16

Dion, but I wasn't like I wasn't

54:18

that so it was it was

54:20

yours on the Dolphins now outside.

54:22

I love it.

54:23

That's that's a good answer.

54:24

Appreciate that that you know what that is.

54:26

That's just like when everybody's was at Juice'

54:28

house playing basketball. He was always the first pick.

54:30

And Jus said, is because he knew that that they would

54:32

get ball first, and he'd keep the lights on b on

54:34

the.

54:35

Court, right and my name was on the court except.

54:39

And he got every damn call. All right, last question

54:41

here. We talked about Salilosi earlier.

54:44

Okay, he might have got over on you as a rookie.

54:46

But if Nolan Carroll, the eight year

54:49

Wiley veteran, lined up to cover a

54:51

punt and this time he saw

54:53

a wall of guys and they were lining

54:55

up there towards the boundary, what would that

54:58

Nolan care? What would that version of Nolan Carroll do?

55:00

A version Nolan Kills still gonna do the same thing. I'll

55:03

just make sure I know where he is next time

55:05

I'm gonna make the tackle.

55:06

I know that that's what he's gonna make the tackle.

55:08

There it is, I was that's the two

55:10

minute drill.

55:11

I like it.

55:11

He's gonna make the play. And that's him too, Jews.

55:14

He wasn't talking shit.

55:15

It's just like, I know what now I've learned, I'm

55:17

gonna make the play because he's disciplined.

55:19

That's what we get there from Nolan Carroll. Man, this was so

55:21

good. It was worth the wait. I appreciate

55:24

you giving us his time and this was great stuff.

55:26

Certain I have fun. Definitely. I gotta get

55:28

more involved again back with Dolphins stuff.

55:30

Man.

55:30

Yeah.

55:31

Man, Like I'm always saying, I'm

55:33

appreciative of the team that drafted me, and I'm

55:35

appreciate my time there.

55:37

My thing is giving back and I feel like, man, I

55:39

just gotta.

55:40

To find a way to do more more more

55:42

healthy Dolphins out and I know they're balling, but it's

55:45

the other stuff behind the scenes that I want to get involved

55:47

with, man, and just make sure the organization

55:49

that gave me a chance is still still

55:51

going strong, you know. So I love it guys

55:54

having me on and interviewing me and going down memory

55:57

line.

55:57

Bro, You're always welcome, man, come on back down.

55:59

Man.

55:59

We always got some great stuff going on for our alumni,

56:02

man, So you know, and Nola,

56:04

Man, really, man, thanks for diving.

56:05

In man really appreciate it.

56:08

You're now diving into the tank.

56:12

Just like Juw said.

56:13

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56:16

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56:18

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56:20

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56:22

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