Prepared to Win: The Leadership Playbook of Jey Yokeley

There’s a difference in trying to be right and trying to get it
right. Yeah. A lot of folks try to be right. Theywant to be the one that man
that was my idea. Yeah. I’m the one that, you know,instead of trying to get
it right, right? And if we can all get on the same page as to what are we
trying to do, howare we going to do it? And why are we doing this and focus
on solving the root problem at the core, trying to get itright, that’s how
we’re going to be successful. Welcome to the Know Your Ship podcastpresented
by E-Hub. I’m your host, Frank Dolce,Jay Yley. Man, it’s so nice to have you
here on the Know Your [ __ ] podcast. And by the way, thanks for your
suite.Yeah, man. The opportunity we make it work in your room. That’s
awesome. First question, those are some nice boots.Thank you, man. Tokovas.
Tokovas are the best. Big Tovas, guy. I didn’t know they madeIs this like an
ostrich? It is ostrich. Yeah. This is my first pair. I got this pair probably
four orfive years ago. Uh and the collection has grown since. So big. Yeah.I
only have one pair and I keep I keep threatening to buy another. I have the
suede. I’m going to suggest thatI got the suede. What color suede do you
have? It’s like the honey. Is that what it’s called? Honey. So there’s a honey
suede.I should have the honey suede. Yeah. Um there’s a tan suede. Uhhuh. Uh
there’s like an off graysuede. You know, they got unique names for all their
boots. I know. Yeah. I’ve got I’ve got all the suedes.So, yeah. Have you ever
been in one of the stores? Oh, yeah. There’s one in Charlotte experience. I
go there frequently, getmy boot shine, get a beer, sit there, hang out. I
know. That’s the nice thing about that store is they make it a
wholeexperience. They do. That’s That’s kind of their thing, man. I think the
closest one to Wait, do theyhave one in California? I don’t know. I’m in Salt
Lake. I think the closest one is in Fort Worth. Yeah. That be the
closest.Well, you know, they they found it in our headquarter in Austin.
Yeah. Oh, maybe Austin. So, but yeah, we got one in Charlotte,man. It’s my
go-to. It’s the only place I buy boots now. You’re in Charlotte? Is that
where you live? Born and raised.Oh, is that right? That’s right, man. That’s
a perfect segue. I was going to ask you where you grew up. Born and raised in
Charlotte, NorthCarolina. So, did you want to be did you want to be a dookie
or did you want to go to do you want to be a Tar Hill?So, I grew up one of my
grandfathers went to Chapel Hill UNC. So, I grew up aCarolina basketball fan.
My other grandfather went to Clemson, played football at Clemson, which
iswhere my football passion came from. So, I grew up a Tiger football fan, a
Tar Hill basketball fan. Not very fond ofDuke, not very fond of NC State.
Respect them both, but yeah. Don’t pull for them.The rivalries. I grew up in
LA. Okay. I grew up a UCLA basketball fan and aUSC football fan. Really? So,
I know what I know where you’re coming from. Yeah. Yeah. My childhood best
friend just got hiredas the offensive coordinator at UCLA. Who’s that? Tino
Sinceri. You’re kidding. That’s your childhoodbest friend. Yep. Did you ever
want to I mean, you have a great football career. You have a great football
story. Did you ever want to Imean, was that your path? Did you want to be
involved in football, coaching, playing? Yeah, I I thought that’s where I
wasinevitably going to end up for sure. Uh coaching was where I thought my
calling was.Um I’m sure we’ll get into that. I had a bad injury in college
and missed an entire season and during that season Iactually spent that in
the box with the headset as an extension of the coaching staff. It was where
I really got my feet wetand our head coach at the time, legendary Hall of
Fame coach Jerry Moore at Appalachin State.Absolutely. one of the greatest
men I’ve ever had the privilege of of knowing. Uh he asked me instead he
persuaded me ortried to instead of trying to come back and play my senior
year cuz he cared about my health if I wanted to go ahead and join thestaff
as a quality control coach and get my career started there. But I just felt
that I couldn’t go out like that. I hada little bit more left to give. Um so
I came back and played instead. And for whatever reason, man, I decided notto
go the coaching route. It’s going to I mean NIL is already in some states
legal for high school. Yeah. Um right,wrong or indifferent. I think they’ve
got to build some structure around this whole process, which they are kind of
putting in almost like a salary cap typewhere they’re going to limit what
what teams can do. But I think that high school is going to go that route. I
do. Um however, theonly thing with high schools, they still have zoning,
right? There’s population restraints of how many kids can go to a school. But
private schools, look,here’s the fact is high schools have been recruiting
since the beginning of time, man. Imean, I I was recruited to multiple
schools in high school. Like, there’s options and there’s ways that schools
can make itwork, but I do think eventually all of football is going to follow
a similar trajectory where there’s going to bemoney involved. That’s just
it’s crazy. I don’t know what the future looks like in that game. And I don’t
think anybody start. You’regoing to be coaching the the state championship
team. Your star quarterback is going to be making more than you. Taking you
out to dinnerpotentially. Hey, but if we’re winning if we’re winning titles,
you’re okay with that? Yeah. Yeah. Title town. All right. Well,that’s a great
goal. Okay. So, you started out in North Carolina. You had an athletic
family,obviously. Is was that you growing up? I mean, you were just involved
in all the sports and encouraged by your family todo that. Yeah. So, my
grandfather played football at Clemson. Yeah. Uh he was a fullback and
defensive endback in the 50s. And my father played football growing up. He
was a quarterback growing up. So naturally, itwas, you know, wanted to follow
and be like my role model growing up. My parents didn’t pressure me to
playsports. But what they did, I look back on it was very strategic. They
didn’t allow me to stay inside. I didn’t havevideo game consoles. I was never
a video game guy. Um, if I was inside too long, it was,”Hey, get out of
the house.” So I was an outdoors kid. You know, I was riding my bike
around, getting into trouble,playing neighborhood football pickup games. We
had a big field in my neighborhood growing up where, you know, 20 kids would
get out there and we’dfull tackle, you know what I mean? It was full go.
Yeah. So, I I played kill the carrier. Yeah. Yeah, man. So, I grew up
playing,you know, football, basketball, baseball, like most kids do, just
staying active throughout the year,playing different sports. When did you
figure out that you were pretty good? Like, you thought you might be able to
continue doing that? um about8th grade. 8th grade uh my family I grew up in
the south side of Charlotte um andwe moved further south when I was going
into the eighth grade and uh went to aschool called Weddington Middle School
and that’s actually where I met my childhood best friend Tino Sinceriwhose
dad was the defensive line coach for the Panthers at the time and this is
when the Panthers had you know Julius Peppers, Mike Rucker, Chris Jenkins,um
Brenton Buckner. this is a Super Bowl era when we went and you know lost to
Tom Brady and the Patriots. Mhm.Um and Tino who went on to be a very
successful college quarterback at Pittsburgh. He’s top three in yardageall
time. Played in Canada. He had a great arm on him. Um and when Imoved out to
Weddington, uh got out there that summer, got in with tryyous for the
footballteam. Uh that’s when I kind of knew because that was when things
started toreally click. I kind of was growing into my body at that time. You
know, I was clumsy. I was tall. Always been tall,but I was man, I mean, you
if I stood behind a light pole, you couldn’t see me, you know. But that’s
when it really started tokind of come together and I started to realize that
I had the ability. I justneeded to keep working on it. And the coaches
started to pull me aside and said, “Hey, like you you got what it
takes.”You know, as a eighth grader, you don’t know what that means,
right? So, even when I went into high school, I playedfootball, basketball,
baseball my freshman year. sophomore year played just uh I playedfootball and
I ran track in the spring. So I realized I wasn’t you know I’m 63wasn’t
basketball wasn’t going to be my future. I was a role player at best but I
love playingbasketball. Baseball was honestly my best sport. It was just too
slow for me. Uh that notenough action going on. Um, and I realized that at
that point, footballcould likely be my path to college and maybe beyond that.
So, I ran trackreally just for the only purpose of working on speed, just
trying to get faster for for football. And then by myjunior year, I focused
just on football because I started to get recruited, started to go to
camps,um, started to get some offers and I realized, okay, if I really focus
on this, then this is really kind of whatmy path could could be. Did it feel
like work to you to do that? I mean, did you have to kind of talk yourself
intogetting out of bed and doing workouts and going to practice or was it
natural? Did you just figure likeNo. No. I never felt like work, man. I mean,
first off, naturally, when I think you are good at something, right,humbly,
right? I certainly there was guys that were better than me out there. I
wasn’t a national top ranked recruit,but you kind of gravitate towards what
you find yourself excelling at. Uh, and I love football. I I just had a
passionfor football. I mean, growing up, I was glued to the TV all day
Saturday, all day Sunday, right? And so, I had a realdeep love and interest
in the game and grew up going to Clemson games every year. My grandfather,
you know, hugealumni, contributor. So, I was just kind of bred into it, man.
And all my idolsgrowing up were football players, you know, playing
quarterback. Brett Favre was my my favorite gunslinger back inthe day. So,
no, it never felt like work because it just felt like I was working on a
craft that my identity was a littlebit wrapped up in it. Yeah. Here’s the era
difference. You were a Brett Favre guy. Probably like a Troy Aman erakind of
guy. I was like Roger Stack, Kenny Stabler,Terry Bradshaw. Terry Bradshaw.
Hey man. Yeah. Was that is that before or is that afterFrank Tarkington’s
time? No, Frank Tarkington was right right around the same time. Fran
Tarkingtonwas the original scrambling quarterback. He was way before his
time. Yep. Yep. Yeah.Good group. Not a bad group. Joe Montana. Joe Montana.
He’s pretty good. Yeah,he wasn’t bad. Yeah, he was okay. Okay. Goat. Who’s
the goat? Quarterback.It’s Tom Brady. No, it’s not. It’s Joe Montana. It’s
Tom Brady. If I had to if you hadto score one touchdown at the end of a
football game and they said you can have Tom Brady or Joe Montana. I’m taking
JoeMontana. Why? Because he just had the ability to do tomake that drive at
the end of the game and he was so, you know, they called him Joe Cool. You
saying Tom didn’t?I’m not saying he didn’t. Seven and three in Super Bowls.
I’m saying that four-0 in Super Bowls.4 and0. and but never threw an
interception in a Super Bowl game.Yeah. Well, that’s look, those are
impressive stats. I get it. However, it’s a very we’re arguing something
thatprobably can’t be settled. It’s like the Jordan LeBron argument. You got
different generations, different time.You I’m a Jordan guy all the way. Yeah.
All the way. All the way. All right. But I think Tom Brady and here’s
here’smy kind of stance that separates him from the rest. There’s players
being inCarolina, Charlotte, Bryce Young at the Panthers, right? Yeah. Bryce
Young in high school with a modernday high school, number one national
recruit at his position and overall player. Mhm.Plays at one of the
nationally ranked best high schools in the country, surrounded by nothing but
fivestartalent. Right. And he put numbers off the charts. Yes. Goes to Alabama.Mhm.
Surrounded by four or five star talent. I couldn’t agree more. Puts numbers
off the chart. winsnational championship, goes the Carolina Panthers, and
people he got benched after a first year.People question his ability to even
play in the league. Now, I think he with the right talent around himMhm. he
can be a very good NFL quarterback, but there’s a difference in really
goodplayers that perform at a high level when they’re surrounded by talent
versus really good players that bring out thetalent that they’re surrounded
by. And I think that’s where Tom Brady, and it’s not that Joe Montana did
it,but I think Joe didn’t have the opportunity. Tom went to Tampa. Yeah. Took
a team that was mediocre at bestand immediately turn them around and goes and
beats them in the Super Bowl against the Chiefs. I’ll give you that. I If I
look acrossthose careers and you look at the talent, like there’s Hall of
Fame talent all around Joe Montana. I mean, at thereceivers, tight end,
running backs. I mean, he he he was surrounded and and aand a great defense
as well. There’s no there’s no question about it. I think that you could make
the argumentthat Tom Brady did more with less aroundhim. Although, he did
maybe have the greatest tight end of all time around him, but he never really
had a greatrunning game. He never really had like two guys on the outside
that he couldreally rely on. One year he had Randy Moss and they broke every
record. Was that amazing?But look at the rest of his Edelman. That’s true.
Amandola. I know. Wes Welker. He made all those guys. I mean,and he made
Gron. What’s Grock without Tom Brady? Grank never played without Tom Brady.
Heeven fall. He’s just another failure from Arizona Wildcats. That’s all he
is. Well, I’mglad that you talked about all of that stuff because I think as
we as we start transitioning in this interview, I wantyou to think about the
importance of a team, the team that you build around you and how critical
that is to your successwhere you are currently, but I’m not I’m not leaving
football yet, okay? Because it’s a really interesting story.You find yourself
Oh, by the way, are you a Davo guy or not a Davo guy? I’m a Davo guy.Are you
kind of a Davo guy or are you all in on Davo? I’m not a dabble guy.Like I
appreciate what he’s done and what he’s built there, but for some reason
whenever he startswhenever he starts talking, I am like tuning out a little
over the top a little bit.I’ll tell you why I’m a Davo guy. I’m a Davo guy
because he proved that he coulddo it his way and win championships. And not
just win championships, but he knocked Sabin and Bam off the throne.Yeah, he
sure did. The reason why I hesitate a little bit is because I think everybody
has to accept that change isinevitable and if you’re not willing to adapt to
change then you will not survive. Right? You know the old CharlesDarwin
quote. It’s not the strongest nor the most intelligent that survives. It’s
the one most adaptable to change.The landscape like we talked about is
changing in college football. It’s changing in high school football.He’s been
more close-minded than I think he should be to adapting to the change of the
transfer portal and NIL and hewants to keep his culture and I think he has to
understand that if he doesn’tpivot then there will come a time where he will
get left behind becauseyou know sometimes you can’t do things the way you
want to. You have to do things the way you need to. That’s another great
point that youbring up and we’re in an industry where you have to be adaptable.
Absolutely. We’ll talk about that. We’ll talk aboutthat as well. Okay. You
find yourself at, and now I’m going to say this incorrectly, so you correct
me. AppalAppalachian State. You said it right. Appalachin State. I was
practicing and I almost messed itup. I thought you were going to say
Appalachian State. It’s like Appalachian No AppalachianState. Yep. Which is
an which is an great historic I mean that that program has a lot ofhistory.
Yeah. You find yourself on campus there. You go there as a quarterback.
2008.Is that right? Yeah. Okay. And you’re kind of fighting your way through
well in your junior year.Mhm. You have a setback. Can you can you tell us
about that? Yeah, I sure can, man. So, most I I’llkind of start from here.
Most people when when they say, “Hey, where’d you play Appalachin
State?” What do youthink the first question I always get is? Were you on
the team that you played? They did. Yeah, I was going to say I wasgoing to
say, “Were you?” It’s like, well, no, that that was my senior year
of high school. But that was a big recruiting tool. You know, I mean, look,I
grew up in Charlotte, just Boon, North Carolina, where app is, isjust over
two hours from Charlotte, but I’ll tell you, I’m the last person that wanted
to go to school in the mountains in the cold. I mean, I like cold
weathertemporarily. I like to be able to leave it when I want to, right? Uh,
and app, everybody knew about app,but it wasn’t it was not even on the top of
my list, right? But obviously things change when you go out there and beat
atop five opponent and look that was the de on their field. Lloyd Carr’s
career is over at that point. I mean that team was stacked too.Chad Henny,
Mike Hart, Mario Manningham, those guys were Yeah, they were studs. Forgot
about those guys.So to go in there and win that game, all of a sudden it’s
like, well, you look at things differently. It’s okay. Do I want to go to a
big schooland you really have to, you know, bring in big time guys every year
competingcompeting? Well, I’m not going to shy away from competition, but
where can I stay relatively close to home that’s farenough away where I can’t
get home in a night? Family can come see me play. If I need to get home, I
can. Reallycompetitive team and now a nationally recognized team. So, and
education thatmattered to me, too. Yeah. So, when they called me, I was I was
interested. Um, and I went there as aquarterback and Armani Edwards was there
at the time. For those who don’t know aboutArmani Edwards, when I played it
at we were formerly onea, right, which doesn’t exist anymore. Now you got the
FCS andthe FBS. Yeah. Um, and Armani is the only twotime Walter Payton award
winner in oneahistory, which Walter Payton is the equivalent of the Heisman
for for power five schools.He was he was special. He just had the it factor.
The game was slow for him.Yeah. you know, he didn’t have the strongest arm,
but he was accurate. Imean, he could throw a pin and hit the bullseye of a
dart board from anywhere in the room, right? He just had thatthat feel for
the game. So, I knew I wasn’t touching the field at quarterback in my first
couple of years because hewas a junior when I got there. So, I really knew I
had couple years to really learn from him and develop from him, which I was
okay with. I I I think thatthere’s a lot of benefit to sitting behind
somebody and learning from them before you get out there. So went tocollege.
I was his backup my red shirt freshman year. I red shirted.Backed him up for
two years. And then going into my red shirt junior year, uh,the coaches came
to me and said, “Hey, we want you to stay at quarterback, uh, and we
want to have some designpackages around you in in a much lesser
version.” Imagine like Tim Tibo is hisfreshman year at Florida. 10, 15
snaps a game. Third and one, we want you to run and get the first down. We’re
going to havesome pass plays for you. Um, more like wildcat type situational
plays. And that was just a way to get mein the game and get acclimated and
really kind of have a dual system. Yeah. But they also said, “We want
you to also play Hback, you know, Travis Kelce, ZackZ type player, which in
today’s game has become a, you know,” and this was when an Hback was
really just what is anHback? Like, well, it’s not a running back and it’s not
a tight end. It’s kind of a hybrid of that, right? You got tobe able to get
in a three-point stance, two-point receiver stance, you got to be in motion a
lot. It’s really for like autility athletic guy. Yeah. and I said, you know,
sure, whatever I can do to contribute to theteam and get on the field, I
think I can really bring value there. So, at that point in time, man, I was
focused ongetting bigger and stronger. Uh, I showed up on campus my freshman
year, 200 lb, soaking wet. Um, after firstfall camp, I was about 195, 190,
you know, and then every year I put on about 10 pounds. So, you know, by this
pointI’m probably 225, 230 going into this season. Uh, we’re in fall
camp.Mhm. It’s third day of practice. It’s August 11th. Uh, I’m on punt
return team. So, Iwas, like I said, I was the utility guy. I was on all
special teams. I was taking reps at quarterback in practice, reps atHback in
practice. So, I was never sitting still unless defense, right? But even then,
I was still out there runningplays from a scout team or second team reps. I
was the we have this anymore. Weknow we had when you played the wedge on on
on punt team, right? So the wedge,for anybody who doesn’t know what that
means, you got three offensive linemen typically that are standing in front
of a punter and they snap the ball throughand they converge and form a wall
in front of the punter and somebody on that punt return team has the job of
bustingthat wedge wide open so that two guys can come around it and you’re
trying to get those three guys to focus on you.Well, I was the wedge buster.
Why not? That was my job. You asked me to do my job, I’m going to do it 100%.
And sorushed the wedge, helmetto helmet contact, right? which is hard to
avoid in football. Next thing I know, I feltjust a massive just shock in my
back. And I didn’t know what really was happening at that time. I just
thought,”Oh man, you know, oh, he got hit, right?” Well, I was
laying on the ground and everybody starts the trainer startedsprinting over
to me and I was in shock. I, you know, I didn’t think anything of it at the
time, but I tried to get upand I couldn’t get up. And what they saw was when
I tried, I had paralysis fromjust under my kneecap down. So they have what
they call drop foot. Drop foot is where your foot just drops and you gotno
movement in it. I I ruptured my L4, my L5, and my S1. So your lower three
vertebrae. Completerupture. Um the disc just completely, you know, shot out
the back of my of myspine. Hit all the nerves, killed all the feeling and
movement to my left leg. andI was rushed to uh the hospital. You know, God
works mysterious ways. Mysister at the time was a full-time nanny and she was
a nanny for the top spinalsurgeon in the Southeast, a guy named Josh Pat.
Mhm. So, she called, my trainers got a holdof my family. She calls Josh and
says, “Hey, you know, Jay’s just hurt hisspine and he’s can’t move his
foot.” yada yada. And this at this point, you know, I’m in the training
room andthey’re trying to figure out what all is going on. Um, and he said,
“Get him to my house. Get him down here ASAP.” So, Iwas taken down
to Charlotte and went right to his house. He helped me inside.I had crutches.
Uh, he did a couple tests and he said, “Get to the hospital now.”
And he called the hospital and putme right in the front for I mean went right
into surgery. He said, “Every minute that goes by that you don’t
getfeeling back or you don’t get these discs that have ruptured off of your
nerves, the chance of you gettingfeeling and moving back will slowly decline,
decline, decline.” So, I was rushed to the hospital, uh, had
surgeryabout 5:00 a.m. They went in there, cleaned out the discs, shaved them
down, and closed me back up. Uh, and I hadpretty extensive rehab, man. Uh, I
had a walker for two months. Uh, I dropped out of I didn’t drop out of
school, but Ihad a medical leave of absence. Went home with my family uh for
about 60days. Had a walker. Had to walk with a walker everywhere I went. Just
take a right step and drag that foot. Slowlyover time, the that muscle memory
and the movement came back and, you know, was doing a ton of rehab three
times aday every day. Finally got clear to go back to school and I just lived
in the training room, man. you know, and so,you know, they used to throw all
these marbles on the floor and I had to use my toes to pick these marbles up
and putthem into a cup. Oh, man. I’m cussing up a storm, right? You know, I’m
getting so upset cuz I’msitting here trying to pick up a 100 marbles with my
toe. And I’m like, but it was a process, man. And so, youknow, naturally,
everybody’s telling me, you know, you don’t want to mess with this kind of
injury. Don’t come back.Don’t play. It’s not worth it. Yeah. You’re done.
Your career’s over in a lot of cases. Yeah. But I before Iwas willing to even
I didn’t even allow that thought in my brain. You know, for me it was that’s
not even an option. SoI don’t I mean I hear what you’re saying, but like I
didn’t even feel like I considered that to be something thatwas on the table.
It was no, I’m going to figure out how to get back and I’ll do what it takes
to get there. So Irehabbed all of August, September, October, November,
December, Januaryfinally. And look, I remember the first time in the weight
room doing leg press. My strength coach who Mike Kent at thetime, love that
guy, man, just a hard-nosed old school strength coach. He had me on a leg
press, no weight on themachine, and I remember doing a single leg and you
know, my leg just there wasno stability, no. I mean, it was just like
starting fresh, man. Like like a new deer that was born learning how towalk,
man. Very humbling. Very humbling. Long story short though, man, I rehabbed
it back and I got cleared right before springpractice. Wow. And got You’ve
injured yourself at the beginning of fall camp.So that’s in August,
September. Yeah. August. August 11th. August 11th. And now you’re already
backinto February. End of February. That my goal that is my goal was I will
be back for springpractice. Oh, you know, as a former athlete, Frank, spring
practice, that’s really where youhave the opportunity to kind of solidify
yourself going into fall camp cuz fall camp, you pretty much know whoyour
starters are going to be. Um, the first two weeks of camp are assessment,
getting guys back in shape,and really just building that mental fortitude.
The latter half of camp, we’re prepping for the first game. Absolutely. And
so,we’re not really evaluating anymore. So, I knew if I didn’t get back
before spring, then this was going to be atotally different situation. So, I
came back, eased back into it. You know, the coaches were very kind of timid
aboutit, and I got my starting spot back at at Hback going into that season,
man.Um, and that was huge for me because it it wasn’t even about proving
people wrong. I didn’t care what other peoplethought. Nobody knows what’s
going through. You can’t see reality through somebody else’s eyes, right? So,
nobody knew what I was feeling or what myreal determination was. I just
wanted to prove myself right that look, you have this in front of you. What
are you goingto do? Right? like what’s your options? Your back’s against the
wall. There’s two ways you can go. You can sulk, you can be upset, and you
can say, “Man, mycareer didn’t work out the way it was supposed
to.” Or you can do everything you can and look in the mirror and say,
“Well, I damn sure know I turned everystone that was in front of me to
get back.” Right? So, but during that year, going back to one of the
earlier pointsthat you made when I was rehabbing all season long, Coach Moore
called me in and said, “Hey, I’d love for you to helpus from, you know,
a coaching perspective.” Mhm. He’s like, “I’d love for you to be in
the box with a headset talking to ourspecial teams coordinator, helping him
see things from a bird’s eye view.” And that was very exciting for me
becausethe longer I played football, I never fell out of love with the game.
I love the game today. But what I really foundwas that my interest was in the
preparation for the game. The the weightlifting, the conditioning,all the
work that nobody sees that prepares you for just a 60-minute game on
Saturday.Mhm. You know, that’s just 60 minutes of the whole equation, man.
Everything else isdictated really before you get there. But I love the
strategy. I loved, you know, getting on the whiteboard, drawingplays, read,
understanding, watching film, reading defenses, looking for cues, drawing up
a game plan that wasgoing to allow us to be successful against what different
looks and coverages we were getting on defense.Cuz to me, football is like a
game of chess. And I don’t think a lot of people don’t realize how strategic
football reallyis, man. I mean, you’re really you’re trying to outsmart the
other team. Mhm. If you can outsmart them, you don’t haveto have the best
athletes on the field to win. You just got to put your guys in the right
place and position to besuccessful. And then we’ll get and we’ll get into
we’ll get into how that correlates to the corporate world herein a little
bit. Absolutely. Um but yeah, it was uh it was certainly a life-changing
experience that thatwhole ordeal um certainly changed perspective and really
made me appreciate things in a different light.But I wouldn’t change it for
anything, man. You know, it’s part of the journey, part of the story. You
know, it’s so crazy that you mentioned that. I hearthis all the time when we
talk about people overcoming obstacles and significant challenges in their
lives. Ialways want to ask that question and most of the time before I can
even ask it, people say I wouldn’t change anythingbecause that made me who I
am. Isn’t that an interesting perspective? and you know the whole thing, the
obstacle isthe way and you have to fi fight through it and the story of the
butterfly who has to find its way out of the cocoonand all that stuff. So te
tell me throughout that experiencewhat did you what did you learn about
yourself? What did you learn about your strength, desire, uh the the ability
toovercome that obstacle? I wouldn’t say I learned this, but I would say it
was the validation that kind of confirmed what Ifelt was I prefer to be under
pressure. I prefer to operate with my back againstthe wall because I think,
you know, two things happen when you squeeze somebody. They’re going to focus
or they’re goingto fold. And I learned that for me, having to overcome
something gave memore discipline and more intrinsic motivation because it
gave me something to chase, right? And I think that’scritical in anything in
life, having something to chase. Uh you know, what are you trying to
accomplish? How are you trying to do it?And why are you trying to do it,
right? And so for me, uh I I have a unique kind of viewpointon this, but I’m
a glutton for punishment, but only because I think it’s necessary.I think
that you have to be willing to suffer in order to grow and change,right? It’s
like anything in life. If you’re not willing to really push your boundaries
and experience the unknownand you know the old saying of get comfortable
being uncomfortable, how do you know what your true potential is,right? And
so for me that whole experience was okay, this is the hand that you’redealt.
You you got two ways you can go with this. You can just let this define you
or you can let this define you inthe way that you want it to define you. And
that’s why no matter what you put in front of me, I’m going to figure out
away to overcome it, right? I mean, my whole mentality of anything is humbly
I truly feel I’m just unbeatable, right?Like you’re going to knock me up. I’m
going to take some shots. I’m going to have some scars. I get that. But
losing is just never something that I reallyever consider. You know, it’s
you’ll find a way to win somehow. For me, that was a validating moment that I
I operatebetter and I’m more dialed in and focused when I know I’ve got to
overcome something. Mhm. So, how important isthat mindset, that mentality,
and are you able to teach that? Are you able topass that on to people you
work with? I think it’s extremely important. Youknow, I think uh on a on an
earlier podcast today, this conversation, not this exact conversation, but
the conceptaround, you know, what separates successful people, whoever you
want to call it, athletes. Like, I’m certainlynot in a Michael Jordan
category. are not even in the same universe as him. But there’s this, you know,
there’s this saying that the greats of anything, theTom Brady’s, the Joe
Montana, the Kobe Bryants, the Michael Jordans, all these folks, it’s not