Decide To Try Podcast With Rickie G. Rush

NFL Veteran Isaiah Stanback: Faith, Resilience & the Power to Keep Going

• Rickie G. Rush

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Former Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants player Isaiah Stanback went from turning down a $1M MLB contract to battling career-threatening injuries—seven surgeries in all—before becoming a Super Bowl champion and sports media voice. In this powerful conversation with Pastor Rickie G. Rush, Isaiah shares how faith, perseverance, and purpose guided him through adversity, racism, depression, and career changes.

Whether you’re chasing your dream, fighting through setbacks, or looking for motivation, Isaiah’s journey will inspire you to decide to try—no matter what.


00;00;13;33 - 00;00;42;26
Unknown
Welcome to another episode of the Decide to Try podcast with Ricky G. Rush. Today we sit down with NFL veteran Isaiah stand back through injuries, uncertainty. He had every reason to quit, but he didn't. Isaiah became a Super Bowl champion entrepreneur and now serves as a well known sports analyst. All but this he decided to try. Let's get into it.

00;00;42;26 - 00;00;43;52
Unknown
me, me.

00;00;43;52 - 00;00;50;43
Unknown
we're here today with, Isaiah. Stand back. Now, what I, what I love about we're going we're just going to be regular.

00;00;50;52 - 00;01;21;48
Unknown
Yeah. Have a regular conversation today with a guy who's just not regular. This guy is very special. He's super. He have faith, hope and community all in perspective. He understands how to navigate through difficult times. I, I am honored today to have on the Decided to Try podcast Isaiah stand back Isaiah. He's a he's a young man with all man wisdom, and he's an older man with a young man's heart.

00;01;21;48 - 00;01;39;35
Unknown
And I am just honored to have him. I want to jump right into this podcast, because most people would love to be a superstar and in and in your own humble appeal. I want to say that because you've been able to accomplish something early that people dream about.

00;01;39;35 - 00;01;45;53
Unknown
And, you know, we talk about winning a Super Bowl. We talk about being an NFL quarterback.

00;01;45;58 - 00;02;10;19
Unknown
You've been with several teams. You had a lot of reasons to me to quit. I'm, I, I thank God that a part of your journey, we call it the Jesus journey around here is you had an opportunity to be influenced to impact, and he's going to enjoy this. He's going to enjoy this because that locker room was full of people who were part of this ministry, and we were able to pull into each other.

00;02;10;24 - 00;02;32;40
Unknown
And when we look back up a few weeks ago, man, I was like, golly, yes, it was. And I am so appreciative that you would take the time to stop by. And you've inspired young people throughout this country. But your story, man. If just listening to your story. Yeah, I don't know where to start, so let's just talk.

00;02;32;45 - 00;02;58;54
Unknown
Yeah. You broke some ligaments. You told them you grew up with a mom and dad family. You had a solid foundation early. Correct. And that's important to me because when I hear about the solid foundation that you started with, storms hit. They rock houses. But, man, your your parents were strong in the faith. You started out you you could have been a knucklehead like, you know, we all knuckleheads.

00;02;58;58 - 00;03;25;39
Unknown
But if you a knucklehead and you got that foundation under you, you know, I want you to talk. Talk to us about that. I'm not used to sitting down talking to people, are you? I was, I stand up and talk, but I want to just have a conversation with someone. You. I do watch you almost every morning I wake up, I wake up, and there's Isaiah speaking, on the NFL network.

00;03;25;54 - 00;03;51;23
Unknown
And you always. You're so knowledgeable. I'm like they how do they know this just happened yesterday. And you always I watch you break down plays. I watch you break down offenses and defenses and I'm going really. Yeah. And all of the years that you were playing and I know I'm just going on right now, but but there may be someone on this podcast that's never heard about this that I don't understand.

00;03;51;27 - 00;04;18;01
Unknown
Football is a strategic game. You have to be smart. Yeah. Smart enough to to do something without getting hurt doing it. But hurt is going to come. Yeah. And so you have learned how to look at something from one aspect and think, wait a minute, how can this how could this have been different? Somebody did drugs. Alcohol.

00;04;18;01 - 00;04;36;47
Unknown
You decided in your community to put an influence together to say, no, I could do all of that. And I have been around all of that. But that foundation comes back again. Yep. Absolutely. And so talk to me about. Yeah. Well, I grew up in, in Seattle, Seattle, Washington. And I always say that every city has a right.

00;04;36;47 - 00;04;57;55
Unknown
You know, that was that was the I was in the Central District of Seattle, Washington, and, my grandfather had three homes in a central district. And really, growing up, I, we kind of cycled through every house. My mom, my dad were separated. So, I stay with my mom, you know, I guess her arrangements, I was with her for two weeks, and then I would go to my dad every every other weekend.

00;04;58;00 - 00;05;13;46
Unknown
So I had that weird dynamic of, having to split time, you know, between parents. But my mom lived in the hood. My dad lived off in, in the suburbs. And, all the cars I would hang out with in my neighborhood, you know, the cars was pretty much on the block all the time.

00;05;13;46 - 00;05;30;43
Unknown
You know, these are the cars. And they across the street, they were, you know, my boy. Oh, and some of his cousins and and all these guys, they, their uncles were like the neighborhood track dealers, you know, and I just thought they had nice cars, you know, said, that I had no issues with them, but I understood what they were doing.

00;05;30;48 - 00;05;49;48
Unknown
So I had to create this invisible line, being cool, cordial friends with people who weren't necessarily, in line with what it is that I wanted to do. And having and really, my faith element from both of my parents is the only thing that really kept me grounded, you know, and kept me on the straight and narrow.

00;05;49;53 - 00;06;07;51
Unknown
I mean, I believe that is very important to establish what your goals and aspirations are early on in life. And once I had set that goal, like many other kids, I imagine at that time I wanted to be a professional athlete, right? That was not only something that I admired, something that I aspired to do, but I also understood that it was a way out.

00;06;07;51 - 00;06;36;32
Unknown
I'm not gonna let you go out that fast. No, you said you were stable. You were grounded in faith, man. To say that at a time like this is kind of different because you're saying that and it's just so powerful. I would pray that every young person and probably young adult would hear this because the first detachment sounds like, oh, my parents are separated.

00;06;36;37 - 00;07;00;09
Unknown
That's okay. They had you, but their lives were their lives, and that's okay. But they both have the same solid foundation, man. We you have two people. Yeah, it is saying so if you have anything happen, don't leave the rod. Yeah. And so you start going into neighborhoods and it could have gone either way easily, easily. I mean we saw this stuff that yeah we had drive bys all the time.

00;07;00;09 - 00;07;15;22
Unknown
I mean, my mom worked, you know, two jobs trying to take care of myself. She my mom had my brother when she was 15. My sister, my sister when she was 16 had me too, you know, ten years later. So my mom was that prototypical, you know, young lady in the hood that, you know, didn't have it easy.

00;07;15;22 - 00;07;33;12
Unknown
So, you know, single parent, you know, all of us had different fathers, you know. So I saw my mom struggle. So I'm a mom grind. And I wanted to do everything I could to change that situation. So not only did we have the faith element from there, you know, obviously my dad was a singles minister. So when I went to his house, it was very straight and narrow.

00;07;33;12 - 00;07;49;27
Unknown
Right. And it was, you know, no secular music city, no secular music, anything, you know, out of the out of, out of scripture. So, I had the good version of faith and I had the boogie version of faith, you know. So what kept it from being strict? I mean, I mean, let's say was strict. Yeah. Is strict okay.

00;07;49;27 - 00;08;11;51
Unknown
It's okay. I mean, but understand strict while growing up in the hood, like there's some things I had to give. Right. So like, I understood that I had to put on a quote unquote, a different hat when I went to my dad's house. You know, it was just a different environment, which is perfectly fine. But I had these two lives kind of that I was living, but still were both grounded in faith.

00;08;11;56 - 00;08;34;16
Unknown
In respect. Right? Yes. Yeah. I have both my parents. Both my parents. Blessed to have that. But. Yeah. So growing up in that neighborhood, you know, just wanted to grind. Everybody was was grinding. Everybody's playing sports. But I had aspirations of being a pro, and I understood that to be on that path meant that I was going to have to make hard decisions to not be.

00;08;34;21 - 00;08;55;31
Unknown
I could be around, but I couldn't be in and with everybody else that what didn't have those aspirations. Right. So when everybody else is doing drugs, when everybody else is hanging out and, and going and drinking alcohol and all the other things and going out and banging on the block, I not only was I scared of my mom, but I, but I also I understood that those things were only going to be distractions.

00;08;55;36 - 00;09;15;23
Unknown
And if I am walking on a path, anybody. Right. But at that time, for me, I was walking on a path, trying to become a professional athlete. I was never, and to this day, I still refuse to allow outside influences to take me off the path that I have set for myself. It's easy because they're along the journey.

00;09;15;23 - 00;09;40;10
Unknown
I'm a firm believer that that the devil can work through things I want to. You can work directly to us. I think he can work through, you know, through other things to get to us. And I think that those, those, those, those mines and those potholes and those, you know, hills, bumps in the road, like, those are all things and distractions to get you distracted because that's the only way he can he can get to you right, is to get you through other, other methods.

00;09;40;10 - 00;09;48;58
Unknown
So I, I was diligent upon remaining steadfast through all those things. And was it allowed for me to stay black and white and make firm decisions?

00;09;48;58 - 00;10;12;27
Unknown
So many of us are athletes, and sports sometimes is a way out of it. Yeah, you had so many reasons man. This being the Decide to Try podcast, you you you had to make a decision. You keep talking about those decisions man. That stuff is right in your face. Yeah. And you decide okay is here.

00;10;12;32 - 00;10;34;57
Unknown
And I, I know it was difficult. Yeah. Talk, talk to us a little bit about the downfall, at the end of this story and some of it, you know, you end up. Yeah. You talk about we fast forward this journey, let's do this. Let's do this journey for a minute. So obviously growing up playing baseball, basketball, football, track, those were my four sports that I played baseball was the best sport of all of them.

00;10;35;06 - 00;10;52;58
Unknown
I was I played baseball from the time I was six years old. I didn't touch a football until I was 13. So baseball being my primary sport when I was graduate, when I was get ready to graduate from high school, I actually was about to get drafted in the first round of, MLB, and I turned down the draft.

00;10;52;58 - 00;11;08;54
Unknown
Really? MLB understand that was the hardest decision I've ever had to make in my life. Oh, is that you to be an athlete? Mom and dad. They both were athletes. I was just around it, you know what I mean? I was just around it, and I mean, I had people that are watching sports. I just fell in love with sports.

00;11;08;58 - 00;11;22;17
Unknown
And then, you know, my my brother and sister were so much older than me. I saw a little bit of them, but then they were gone to college, you know. So all I had was you know, guys like Shawn Kemp growing up, you know, in Seattle, you know, Ken Griffey Jr, you know, those are the guys that I watched.

00;11;22;22 - 00;11;40;11
Unknown
You know, and I wanted to try to emulate, you know, I didn't have a relationship with them, but I tried to emulate them. So from the time I was 17 and I turned down the MLB draft, the reason why I turned it down, the thing that I worked for my whole life, thing I was most passionate about, is because I had made a commitment to go to college and play football.

00;11;40;16 - 00;12;06;42
Unknown
So, getting that phone call from the Mariners representative and him telling me we're about to offer you over $1 million, and Meade easily telling him no and him saying, well, you want to talk to your parents about this. And I was like, no, because I've been taught about commitment and I've already committed to go play college. And I knew that, had I taken the baseball route, but that was, that was put in front of me.

00;12;06;42 - 00;12;29;27
Unknown
Everything I had worked for now, this is my dream that I wasn't going to be allowed to go to college. So. And so you're like the second, African American black quarterback? Yep. At University of Washington at Washington. So now it's coming together. Baseball. That strong arm in baseball that sharp aim of baseball played a lot into huge here.

00;12;29;34 - 00;12;44;28
Unknown
So that's why when I went out for football my first time, you know, for tryouts, you know, I'm sitting up on top of the hill because my father wouldn't allow for me to play football. The one time my mom actually gave my dad permission to take control of my outcome. I wasn't up there watching my my cats in the hood there at football practice.

00;12;44;28 - 00;12;56;45
Unknown
I'm sitting on top of the hill, and the coach, you know, calls me down is like, why aren't you practicing? And I was like, my parents when my dad won't let me. So I went back, had an argument with my dad about it, and he said, where are you going to do whatever you want to do. Anyway, that was my yes to football.

00;12;56;45 - 00;13;16;07
Unknown
So I touch football my eighth grade year, and my mom made me sit out my freshman year. And then I started playing my sophomore year. So I really played one year Little league, three years of high school ball. I mean, was one of the top recruits, but to your point, when I went to University of Washington after having made that declaration that I wasn't going to do baseball professionally, I was all in at this point.

00;13;16;11 - 00;13;33;30
Unknown
My chips were all in on football. I, I did baseball my freshman year, I did football. I mean, I also I'm doing track in college, but I went through a lot of turmoil trying to become the second black quarterback. I faced a lot of racism. You know, that's what it was. When. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I knew exactly what it was.

00;13;33;30 - 00;13;52;52
Unknown
And I just wanted to keep trying. Had to keep trying. I had to keep trying. And my it was it was so bad. To the point I grew up with one of those moms is like, you know, raising young men crying wasn't allowed. You know, my mom didn't allow you to cry. You know, like, you get hurt. I look to the sideline, my mom's like, you better not, you know what I'm saying?

00;13;52;52 - 00;14;16;52
Unknown
Like, I had one of those type of moms, right? So. So when I call my mom out of frustration because of everything that I'm facing, I couldn't bear it any more. I couldn't bear that weight. And I was crying. She knew. She knew what it was. So luckily I had some some great leaders within the organization that I could lean on who had been through, you know, a lot of those times who had been there and to mentor Warren Moon.

00;14;17;01 - 00;14;51;50
Unknown
So Warm Moon came in and took me out to lunch and provided me a completely different perspective, because a lot of times when you're going through, when you're going through those difficult times, if you don't have another lens to look through, you think that you're going through the worst thing in the world. So having Warren Moon, even in that short there, that brief moment, be in my life and present me his experience and allow for me to not only have, a different lens and a different perspective, but it gave me it gave me a hope that I didn't have, that I could persevere through it because he's been through it.

00;14;51;55 - 00;15;15;16
Unknown
So going through that, and then following that injuries, you know, I had a bunch of injuries, you know, and in college, I had one major injury in college, my senior season, after overcoming all the racism, overcoming all the all the things that becoming a starting quarterback in college, being a second black and university's history, you know, we finally got in the path of getting the university in and winning ways again.

00;15;15;16 - 00;15;33;57
Unknown
And then I got hurt halfway through my senior season. So everything I had overcome and worked through and everything I had sacrificed in terms of not going to pro baseball, all this stuff was, you know, that weight of the world was on me. And then to blow, I literally, had an injury called a Liz Frank injury. And I it's literally you tear all the ligaments in the middle of your midfoot.

00;15;34;01 - 00;15;55;17
Unknown
So they had to completely restructure my foot, had to relearn how to move my toes, relearn how to walk all the stuff. And that was the senior year trying to go into the NFL after I had already literally, you know, said no to my number one dream, which was baseball. Right? So you said no to baseball. You decided to try football.

00;15;55;22 - 00;16;20;36
Unknown
You get hurt at football. Football is over now because you don't overcome a broken. No you're not. That's not your whole weight. You're shifting all that stuff on grass and astroturf. So now it's over. It doesn't. Yeah, that's what everybody would think. So what? Yeah, that's what I would think. So sitting in that doctor's office, sitting in a doctor's office, the doctor told me it was going to be 9 to 12 months, 9 to 12 months in November.

00;16;20;42 - 00;16;37;43
Unknown
That's a year. That's a year when the draft is in April. So last time I did math, I was six months. Yes, six months away from getting drafted. Not even a combine, not even a ball games, not even a senior bowls. Not all the things that you need to do in order to be viewed as a high, you know, a valuable draft pick.

00;16;37;54 - 00;17;02;43
Unknown
I was not allowed to do any of those things because I was rehabbing. So that was the toughest time for me. That's where my faith was truly tested. If it wasn't tested with trying to overcome racism, it was definitely tested by being literally what I perceived at the time at the bottom of the barrel. You're rehabbing, you can't do the thing that you've always loved to do.

00;17;02;56 - 00;17;20;40
Unknown
You could barely walk. You're you're a shadow of yourself. You don't have an identity outside of, you know, sports. And now that's taken away. So you truly feel like you are nothing at that time. And if you don't have faith, which is all I could lean on at that time, then I would have been, I would have been.

00;17;20;49 - 00;17;37;06
Unknown
Yeah. And in a world where we're told not to cry by yourself, did you ever feel. Oh, yeah, I let it out. I was, I was hurting. So it's depression and being, you know, is it real I funny you bring that up. I didn't believe in depression, neither did I, I didn't I didn't believe in depression. Real talk.

00;17;37;06 - 00;17;59;58
Unknown
I did not believe in depression. After that injury, I fully understood what that was. And I'm so much more empathetic to that. Now we're going to get back to this. There's a kid maybe that's watching, I hope maybe the second time around this podcast, someone says to a young person, there's things, voices them. Yeah, I want you to hear this testimony, the story of Isaiah.

00;17;59;58 - 00;18;25;51
Unknown
Stand back. This guy we know he's won a Super Bowl A of Super Bowl team and all of that. But his story one day, you know he thought that life was about over. And if you're listening right now and you're a young person and I'm not going to put it on young people because I understood that as an adult, as a kid, as an adult, as a person watching that says, I think it's just a mindset.

00;18;25;55 - 00;18;51;06
Unknown
But when you go through that adversity, it becomes a reality. And you have sometimes these people who say, no, I'll be with you thick and thin. They just don't know how thick it can get. Yeah, at the point where you're this is it. You, you you bypassed one dream, decided to try something else. Hurt. There now you done?

00;18;51;06 - 00;19;23;52
Unknown
Yeah. And you get better with the surgery. And here you go through rehab. Why did you go through rehab? You decided to try it. You didn't quit. It hurt. Yeah, but so I was I was told by majority, majority of the NFL teams that this is an injury that you won't overcome. And at that time I took that as not only a challenge to me personally, but I took that as a challenge to to my faith because I, like you, don't know who I'm rocking with.

00;19;23;57 - 00;19;43;40
Unknown
You know what I mean? So I took that as a double a double challenge. And the the thing that's made that made me great as a athlete, the competition side of it, they kick that in. They, they they kick that into, into overdrive. So I went to doing everything that I possibly could control, rehabilitation wise.

00;19;43;40 - 00;20;06;44
Unknown
And I wanted to disprove everything that they said that I couldn't do. And then I found my way not only getting back healthy, but getting drafted by the Cowboys. Having played only six games my senior year, in the top of the fourth round, and I got drafted top of the fourth at a position I never played before with one of the for our by one of the best organizations in the league.

00;20;06;48 - 00;20;32;25
Unknown
And now you're a cowboy, you know, now this is where you're going to retire I yeah. You kind of think that. Yeah. You love this. You love it. You say on this journey. Yep. And now what? Yeah. So now I'm, I'm at the now I'm with the Dallas Cowboys 2007. And I am literally trying to still get healthy while being thrusted into the highest level of competition in the sport that I've decided to commit to.

00;20;32;30 - 00;20;54;13
Unknown
While trying to get healthy. What was your position? I was I got drafted as a receiver and never played it. Wait, you went from quarterback. That's right. Yeah, obviously. Yeah. I got drafted as a quarterback while injured with one of the worst foot injuries you could possibly have while still rehabbing at the highest level of competition and then thrown in there.

00;20;54;13 - 00;21;17;21
Unknown
It was like pretty much try to swim because we're not going to teach you how to figure this out. You got to figure it out yourself. So I didn't have I had a coach, but he wasn't really guiding me. He wasn't focused on me. I wasn't the premier guy. So I had to figure out a lot myself. So I had to grind and I had to meet with guys after practice, and I had to follow guys and watch and do everything that I possibly could to become relevant again.

00;21;17;25 - 00;21;36;42
Unknown
Go back and watch old college film of myself, even though it's not the same position, but just trying to remember who I was because I had lost who I was. I have been so far removed from that. But the grind started. And I got back in literally after I overcame the foot injury. In the midst of that, I started playing.

00;21;36;42 - 00;21;53;11
Unknown
You think that story is over? I'm like, okay, boom. Finally I made it. Literally. I, ended up getting hit and tearing my shoulder and I end up, just dislocating sublets on my shoulder. The doctors told me that, you know, you can hang it up this year, or you can play through it, and it's going to be very painful.

00;21;53;23 - 00;22;12;28
Unknown
And I was like, I just spent the last 12 months rehab, and there's no way I'm about to not play my my rookie year. So I played my whole rookie year, my shoulder popping in and out. Dislocated it pretty much every single day. Practice, sleep, whatever it it was middle of games. I mean, I got surgery after the season.

00;22;12;33 - 00;22;34;00
Unknown
After that season, I again use a whole offseason nurse. And that back the health went out play the next season tore right through that same surgery that I had on my shoulder. So everything that I had just built up, rehab tore right through that same surgery as if it never happened. So for a second consecutive year, I deal with the same pain, the same, frustration, same lack of confidence.

00;22;34;00 - 00;22;49;57
Unknown
All the things again, to your point, you know, could have easily shut it down. I could have easily taken that as a sign as it said this, this isn't going your way. You know, three straight years of surgeries, four surgeries already at five surgery at this point, you probably should just shut it down. Decided not to.

00;22;49;59 - 00;23;08;09
Unknown
Decided to keep grinding. Played that whole year. Came back, got rehab, came out again. I'm healthy again. I tear my knee. I had a lateral, meniscus tear in my knee. Shortly after the Cowboys indoor facility, I went down. We're practicing at a local high school and tore my knee. Simple play. Nothing crazy. Just breaking down.

00;23;08;09 - 00;23;36;39
Unknown
Fell some weird knee balloons up. Now you need surgery again. So now I'm six surgeries in, And I'm in my. I'm six surgeries in. And I'm just now hitting my third year in the league. Year six. Yeah. So now. The. Did you get drafted. Traded. Did you just I got fired I got fired yeah I mean yeah Jerry Jones got tired of me taking all his surgery money I guess.

00;23;36;39 - 00;23;52;34
Unknown
So I by this time I had been through it. You know, I was still trying to figure out who I was, so I got fired. I got picked up. Next phone call, I guess, was from Bill Belichick and Bill Belichick. You know, obviously the, the amazing coach, you know, Hall of Fame coach from doing the Patriots calls me.

00;23;52;34 - 00;24;20;23
Unknown
And that's the first thing he asked me is can you still throw the ball. So Dallas Cowboys didn't want me at quarterback. But Bill Belichick who has Tom Brady on his roster, wanted me at quarterback and told me that he was going to draft me. It hadn't been for had it not been for the Cowboys. So I go out there, literally after the phone call, I go start throwing the ball again after having not thrown for three consecutive years trying to, now I'm trying to remember who I was as a quarterback while still helping out at receiver and practice.

00;24;20;23 - 00;24;38;51
Unknown
Oh, and I was on practice squad. I had to earn my way onto the roster. But after my first week there, he pulled me aside and told me that he needs me to catch up on the playbook and that I will be playing. I'll be in quarterback meetings as well as starting at receiver. So I finally had one year.

00;24;38;52 - 00;24;53;48
Unknown
This is my third year in the league. Now I have one year of no injuries. End up leaving. They're going back home to Seattle my fourth year, which is your contract year. Where this this is what you this is what you try to get yourself in position for, right? The big payday that you never really have to work a day in your life again.

00;24;53;53 - 00;25;18;52
Unknown
And I'm back home in Seattle. Everything is going awesome. I'm healthy again. No injuries. And and in the middle of, training camp practice, I tear my Achilles. And at that point, at that moment, I realized this is this is bigger than me. Yeah. At that point, I literally it was instant. I knew what it was when I did it, without ever even thinking about what an Achilles was.

00;25;18;57 - 00;25;39;37
Unknown
I knew I had tore it. I knew what that meant for my career. It was a hard truth to accept. I knew it wasn't the end of my story, but I knew it. It was the beginning. It was a sowing of a seed for the next chapter of my life. So from that point forward, I did everything I could to get back healthy.

00;25;39;41 - 00;25;57;55
Unknown
You know, I, I you try hard not to ask God why. In that moment, in that time, I had to start learning how to ask God what? I had always ask why? Like, why is this happening to me? Why do you keep. Every time I get back healthy, you knock me back down. Like, why is this happening, right?

00;25;57;58 - 00;26;15;33
Unknown
I'm doing everything you asked me to do. But I change my perspective and I start asking, okay, great. Now why? All right, I get it. All right? This is this is this is my seventh surgery now. God, like, all right. Like, obviously you don't want me to be amazing at this sport, right? Like, so older. So what do you want me to learn?

00;26;15;38 - 00;26;36;35
Unknown
As soon as I. Soon. As soon as I ask that question, everything else changed. I ended up getting, let go by Seattle during that time, got picked up by the Giants. I was actually on practice squad with the Giants. Had to work my work, my tail off, and we end up winning a Super Bowl. And it was almost like you made it like you pass the test.

00;26;36;40 - 00;26;56;10
Unknown
You know what I mean? It was one of those things was like Super Bowl. That's it. Yeah. Like, I'll put you through all this just to bring you here. And had you not decided to try. Yeah. After that first foot injury you would not have experienced the Super Bowl, which is like yeah, it's like heaven for people trying to get, you know, that's the ultimate.

00;26;56;14 - 00;27;14;57
Unknown
And now you're celebrating your Super Bowl championship. Your mom's proud of the foundation. Your dad's proud. The foundation. Your brothers and sisters are part of the foundation. So now you're going to be you're going to retire as a giant for the rest of your life. Yeah. You think so? You go out there, you compete, you do everything you can.

00;27;15;02 - 00;27;35;04
Unknown
Sometimes it just as a roll your way. I end up getting, let go there. And then I go to Jacksonville. At this point in time, my my now wife, we had we had our youngin at that time. So we had our first baby girl. And I'm doing now I'm playing my third offensive position in the NFL, with my fifth team.

00;27;35;09 - 00;27;57;15
Unknown
So it's just madness, right? Just bouncing around at this point and I'm healthy. Everything is good, but I end up still getting fired in the day that I got fired is the same day that I found out that we were having twins. So I found out we're having twins. Two hours later, I get fired and it was the easiest.

00;27;57;19 - 00;28;32;37
Unknown
I'm walking away from this journey that you can ever imagine because as soon as they told me I was let go, I wasn't even sad. I wasn't even sad. I was so ready for the next chapter, even though I don't even know what the next chapter was. I was I realized that everything that God had put me through, everything that I had to try to overcome, everything that I was able to overcome, that I was prepared for whatever it was that he was going to have for me next.

00;28;32;42 - 00;29;02;19
Unknown
And from that, you know, I went back home. And at that time, I had already started a business called Steadfast Fitness and Performance, which comes from First Corinthians 1558. And I built community, you know, I built community. I used my experiences in sports. I use my, you know, the hurdles that I had to overcome, you know, steadfast was a very important word for me, because of everything that I had been through.

00;29;02;24 - 00;29;28;25
Unknown
But I also realize that everybody has a story I love that be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. But surgery, Achilles on the shoulder, not being put on the things, traded, fired. And you still steadfast, you didn't lose your character. And you know, I don't know when it was we first met, but you still have your glow.

00;29;28;25 - 00;29;51;57
Unknown
You have a smile. You have your faith in God. You are still going to church. Not just being a Christian young man, because that's kind of, you know, and your success to end up in church on Sunday mornings. And, and, and, and I love that. I love the fact that it was being steadfast. And now this thing goes full circle.

00;29;52;02 - 00;30;15;44
Unknown
Yeah. And now you become the voice described what other people don't quite understand. You're like the preacher to the, you're having a breakdown, the word breakdown. But play make people interested. Make them understand. Never thought about that way. That's right. You are the TV pastor, man. You are. And when I get up on Mondays, I was after games and I looked up.

00;30;15;44 - 00;30;31;50
Unknown
And I see you even now. Yeah. Okay, break it down. Tell me what happened. Why did this person not get drafted? Why did that person not get drafted? What happened to this? It was such a perfect play. No, it was not nonsense. And you will say no. See that route? That guy. Right? If he had thrown it just two yards ahead, they would have.

00;30;32;01 - 00;30;50;24
Unknown
And I'm like, God, why didn't I see that? Because I'm not the pastor. That's right. You had to be Moses. You had to spend some time in the wilderness for God to say, okay, now I need you to lead some other people. And it's not leading them necessarily with the football. It's giving them a path through a wilderness called broken legs, broken families.

00;30;50;28 - 00;31;10;09
Unknown
I think the path through the wilderness of the broken shoulder. You could have lost some children. There's a lot. There's a lot that could have been stolen. But you decided to be steadfast. And I'm not thinking. I'm just. I'm just helping another somebody who may not like sports, but they need to understand that we are always in some kind of race.

00;31;10;09 - 00;31;32;59
Unknown
We're always the enemies, always competing against a loser. So what are you doing? Like, now? Yeah. So now, I'm still running Steadfast Fitness Performance. And I'm also in the broadcast media space, so, my wife got tired of me calling out what I saw on TV. In regards to, you know, what's happening in football games. And she told me to go try, right?

00;31;33;01 - 00;31;54;14
Unknown
She said, just go try it. Just go see. So I made a commitment to not only her, but I made a commitment to myself just to see whatever I had been so in golf, we're trying to build the community of steadfast that I had never I had put my self aspirations to the side. So this is the first time I commit it back to myself and say, okay, let's see what else God has for me.

00;31;54;19 - 00;32;09;14
Unknown
And I started I went out to a speaker's bureau through the NFL program, learn how to present in front of public. From there, I went to a break. I did a broadcast media camp through the NFL. And from there, I had opportunity. Wait, that's a that's a lot. That's four years of college. All this stuff.

00;32;09;26 - 00;32;30;39
Unknown
You know, this was this is quick. These are like weekend little workshops. Yeah. So weekend workshops. But it was funny because the opportunity that I got, was actually the, the boss who runs all the media for the Dallas Cowboys. Through somebody I had met at one of these workshops, community, they connected us and said, hey, are you interested in doing a podcast for the Cowboys?

00;32;30;44 - 00;32;48;22
Unknown
I was like, at this point, again, I made the commitment. I was like, okay, got it. Yep. Yes. I'll try it. You know, I'll try it. He's like, yeah, well, funny thing is, the boss who runs a media for the Cowboys, he heard you speak at church. Wow. And he goes back to that faith. Yeah. He, he heard you speak at church, and that's.

00;32;48;27 - 00;33;13;16
Unknown
He wanted to connect with you there, but there were some people that was talking to you. But that's how the connection happened. And from there started doing a podcast. This is actually during the Covid year. So we're all sitting in front of our computers at home remotely. And I started doing podcasts for the Dallas Cowboys. And that one podcast turned into in the doing seven shows on the Cowboys platform, from doing those seven shows on a Cowboys platform, including podcast pre-game shows, post-game shows, other content for them.

00;33;13;16 - 00;33;32;02
Unknown
I started doing a CBS pregame show here locally in Dallas. From that, did the workshop again through the, through the NFL. And I had an opportunity to go work at NFL Network on Good Morning Football. So now that along with radio. So it's been I've been blessed to be presented these opportunities. But it all started by me just saying.

00;33;32;02 - 00;34;02;55
Unknown
Yeah, I'll try it. Just decided to try and now, you know, Your show is so inspiring. And it's not just. Your show is just sincerity is your smile. I don't know, I'm a dude. Okay? Dude, but a duke is eight. Another dude. Keep that light glowing, man. Is. That is the smile. Sometimes when you can watch. Because those of us like me, I just leave my channel on the NFL network.

00;34;02;55 - 00;34;22;36
Unknown
And I know that all of you out there judge me. I mean, I, I, I look at, okay, I look at NFL that's just stuck. I may not be on your Christian broadcast network. Oh I don't you know, but but I love just so sometimes I turn it up because I see you light it up. Yeah, yeah. I mean that, you know, because you just keep it down.

00;34;22;36 - 00;34;40;43
Unknown
I'm waiting on some highlights, and, and I see you and of course, the other analyst there, and then you light it up like, oh, dude, what are you saying? And I rewind it to see what he, So keep that light in. That light came from a lot of pain that, like, came from your own darkness. I think God lit your candle a long time ago.

00;34;40;47 - 00;34;56;48
Unknown
And he didn't let you know that he was lighting a candle. But your candle was a pilot, and your pilot was what? You know, that's the thing inside the heater. He would turn the hot water heater on the boom and it gets hot. But there's a little pilot light that always stays on, and you have always kept that on.

00;34;56;48 - 00;35;28;31
Unknown
And to your mom, your dad, your man of God, the people who have always been drawn to you, the fire was always lit. God never. Whatever it was, he never allowed it to blow it out, man. And I just I just want to give you some props for that and and to thank you for that. And that's why to do this podcast I thought, okay, I do I don't do podcasts, you know, but back in the day we did the oh what in hell do you want when heaven is all you need kind of a radio thing.

00;35;28;36 - 00;35;55;07
Unknown
But today, because of the light that I have witnessed you do on that, I thought I did a sit down. Yeah, I'm about I appreciate it. And so if you can inspire an old guy like me who's been preaching from the mountaintop for years, I promise you that God has some of the young people not looking at you now in a field, but they're looking at you through a lens and saying, where does that light come from?

00;35;55;07 - 00;36;13;25
Unknown
That smile and, they may have knock you off your feet, but they didn't knock your teeth out. So you're still confident in your smile. You can feel confident. And that does work. That does work. So we're going to play a quick game right quick. All right I'll let you go. This game is you know, making the decision on the Decided to Try podcast.

00;36;13;30 - 00;36;30;14
Unknown
I'm going through a word out a couple of words out. And you're going to tell me what your decision would be. Okay? Okay. Ready? Let's do it. Now, you got to have. I got to have time to think about our bet. It's going to go fast. All right, here we go. Baseball or football? Oh, man. Baseball.

00;36;30;19 - 00;37;07;06
Unknown
Oh. Ready? Yeah. Okay. Ice cream with cake. Ice cream. Okay. Elevators and stairs. Elevators. Lazy. The hood. The suburbs. Oh, the burbs now. Yeah. Car is that. Trucks. Trucks? Dogs are cats. Dogs. Really? Okay. City life, a country life. Who has our city? City first? Okay. Inside a country college cut a dreadlocks. Oh, man.

00;37;07;11 - 00;37;32;33
Unknown
You had his all day. Boy, a girl. You got him with that one? Oh, crap. Girl. Okay, so. So your father, I am. How, how protective. Do you have a daughter? I have two daughters. I'll protect you daughters. I said I'll take it. How protective are you of your daughters? I am I'm very protective of my daughters, obviously.

00;37;32;33 - 00;37;54;10
Unknown
Okay, I'm going to ask the big question. Are you strict? Oh, yes. Very much. Oh, very much, but not. Not like crazy circle. Not crazy though. So I give my daughters and my in my son as well. I give them information I don't, filter information. I give them as much as they can handle so that they can make informed decisions.

00;37;54;14 - 00;38;13;20
Unknown
Wow. You know what I mean? Because, you know, the reality is they're not going to be inside the walls of my house forever, so I can protect them to a certain point. But they need to be able to make sound decisions, and I need to be able to guide them right as they make those decisions. So I am strict, I try to make things as black and white as possible.

00;38;13;29 - 00;38;32;42
Unknown
How old are they? How do the girls. My, oldest daughter's 13. And then I have boy girl twins that are 11. This is. Well, this is the year you go, oh my goodness, I know, and I don't, but that's. But that's beautiful. And I thank God. And I want to continue to cover you in prayer, man. Because now, you've been tempted in a lot of different areas to quit.

00;38;32;47 - 00;38;54;27
Unknown
But when you're tempted to stop parenting and you realize you can't, you just have to withstand your parents. I stress more and sometimes are attacked and blood pressures and other depressions, because there's a year between 13 and 19 where there's a whole different something happening. You know, even God, when he created man, he skipped right over teenager.

00;38;54;27 - 00;39;24;01
Unknown
He could have said that was create teenage him the right man. Look, I don't need a human to deal with, but I appreciate that. I appreciate your humbleness. I appreciate your staying true to your foundation for being a Christian and an athlete, and the father and the husband and an analyst and a world opinion. And now, see, I just deemed you as the pastor of football.

00;39;24;01 - 00;39;50;58
Unknown
Yeah, I see you're having to break down the word to people who would not necessarily even be interested in. Sometimes I guarantee they don't want football is going to see what this guy has to say. And that's the platform I think God gives us. Yeah, right. Is there. Thank you so much for giving us a chance today to jump into the life of someone who's so impactful on this, decided to try a podcast, and if you don't mind, I'd like to end the podcast today with a prayer.

00;39;51;03 - 00;40;22;56
Unknown
Because, you know, the only advertisement that we really have for the world is the light and ask God to use us to intercede. I notice every time when you guys are on the on the. I guess I probably know more about good morning football than you. Good. But I notice y'all, there's always a break for the sponsors to come in and pray for the show, and we just want to stop right now and and thank the sponsor of the show for paving away and paying the cost for us to do what we do and have fun.

00;40;22;56 - 00;40;43;04
Unknown
And I pray that maybe someone will listen to this podcast, subscribe to it, send it out to other people, maybe like it. I don't know how you get people drawn to it. I don't I'm not I'm not big into that. But whatever it is that says, hey, go check that out. Yeah, we're going to thank our sponsor right now for that.

00;40;43;04 - 00;41;04;53
Unknown
All right brother, father, in Jesus name, we thank you for this opportunity to grow. We just heard from the pastor of a network. And Lord, there's some people that may think I'm poking fun at that and I'm not. I just want to put these words of the mission to tell people good news, and it comes through different ways.

00;41;04;57 - 00;41;27;14
Unknown
I thank you for I thank you for his family. I thank you for his past. As crazy as it was, I thank you that he today has modeled how to try and never quit. Even though quitting is an option that we don't know we could take. I thank you God that you allow depression discouragement to stand right in his face.

00;41;27;19 - 00;41;49;04
Unknown
And he said, no, I'm going to continue to walk with the God who got me here. And I pray that everyone listening today, something is touched in their hearts. In your name we pray, and in the name of Jesus we thank you because Isaiah stand back has never stopped on his Jesus journey. He started in the hood and it's going to end

00;41;49;04 - 00;41;50;22
Unknown
in the Kingdom.

00;41;50;27 - 00;41;52;17
Unknown
Amen, Amen.

00;41;52;17 - 00;41;52;59
Unknown
All right.

00;41;57;47 - 00;42;06;06
Unknown
Okay. In.