The Higher Valleys Podcast
Welcome to the Higher Valleys Podcast, where former NFL teammates Spencer Paysinger and Jelani Jenkins trade real conversations about fatherhood, sports, ambition, identity, and life after the game.
Each week, we unpack the tension ambitious fathers face: chasing success, strengthening marriages, and raising emotionally secure kids… without losing ourselves along the way.
Episodes
56 episodes
Phased Out
Episode SummarySpencer and Jelani ease into Episode 56 with preseason football, back-to-school energy, and the strange realization that they are officially becoming the old heads of their sports era. They talk NFL player benefits...
Antennas Up
Episode SummarySpencer and Jelani close out summer talking about the stretch before school starts: expensive camps, keeping kids occupied, grandma’s house memories, family recipes, and the kind of unstructured play that used to d...
Wise Eyes
Episode Summary Spencer and Jelani spend Episode 54 in their movie and football bag, opening with camp fights, helmet-on chaos, and how fall-camp energy still lives in their bodies years after retirement. From there, they f...
A Sky Full of Fathers
Episode SummarySpencer and Jelani open Episode 53 in full dad mode, talking birthday parties, boring trolley‑museum gatherings, and why kid celebrations should be about joy and movement instead of adult aesthetics or history lesso...
PAC: Shon Hart
Episode SummarySpencer and Jelani keep it personal in Episode 52, opening with a conversation about being stoic versus being honest, and how hard it can feel to hold in emotion when you’re wired to talk, feel, and process out loud...
These Are The Days
Episode SummarySpencer and Jelani open Episode 51 with an empty house, sitting in the ache of 15 days without wife and kids and the news that Jelani's wife’s grandmother has passed. From cleaning the garage and resetting house sta...
Father Time
Episode SummarySpencer and Jelani hit Episode 50 fresh off Fourth of July, using fireworks, Palm Springs trips, and golf rounds to talk about patriotism as Black Americans and what “America” feels like in a World Cup year versus i...
Standing on Business
Episode SummarySpencer and Jelani celebrate Episode 49 in the thick of a big life shift — Spencer finishing his master’s program, turning 38, and stumbling into “ice cream week” at Whole Foods with eleven pints of Jeni’s, Reese’s...
Screen Time
Episode SummarySpencer and Jelani sit 24 hours removed from Father’s Day, unpacking a week that swung from Rufus Du Sol concerts and cycling‑class playlists to balcony prayers, ancestral gratitude, and the strange guilt of trying ...
Summer Rules
Episode Summary Spencer and Jelani are officially in summer mode, trading stories about first‑time dad grilling, Frankie Beverly Sundays, and why “outside is too expensive” when you can be in the backyard with kids, sandals...
Win Some, Lose Some
Episode SummarySpencer and Jelani unpack why hip‑hop is the only genre that refuses to age gracefully, tracing it back to crack‑era fatherlessness, systemic design, and an industry that keeps “old heads” out of the spotlight even ...
Anthems Only
Episode SummarySpencer and Jelani start by unpacking a ten‑year anniversary that didn’t go exactly as planned, and how letting go of a “perfect” La Quinta redo opened the door to something more intimate, rooted, and family‑center...
Water Your Grass
Episode SummaryA funny electric slide moment opens the door to something deeper: confidence isn’t just personal — it’s cultural, communal, and learned in real time. Spencer and Jelani move from dance floor lessons to NBA futures (...
Empty Tank
EPISODE SUMMARYSpencer just walked across the stage for his master's, in addition to the victory lap, the room got honest. This week is about what celebration actually feels like when you're running on empty — and what burnout, su...
PAC: Alexys Feaster
Episode SummaryJelani and Spencer open up about Mother’s Day, fatherhood, and what it really means to build legacy as a dad—beyond one holiday or one “perfect” gesture. They swap stories about kids’ performances, community events,...
PAC: SOUL Cole
Episode SummaryJelani and Spencer sit down for a live Higher Valleys conversation with mindfulness leader and former NFL player Soul Cole, recorded at the Pro Athlete Community Accelerate conference in Phoenix. They open with ...
Thriller
Episode SummaryJelani and Spencer unpack what it looks like to parent with both strength and softness—especially inside youth sports, where pride, pressure, and old wounds can show up fast. From spring-break chaos to sideline coac...
Guilty Pleasure
Episode SummarySpencer and Jelani wrestle with the tension of loving art created by complicated people—using Kanye as the mirror. They move through mental health, accountability, and the weight of cultural influence, while groundi...
Heaven Sent
Jelani and Spencer unpack what “authentic” really means in today’s music—how hip hop carries cultural memory, why the internet demands perfection, and how social media can turn every moment into a verdict on the artist. From Jack ...
Adult Puberty
Episode SummaryMidlife can feel like a second puberty—same awkward growth, higher stakes, and a clearer view of what actually matters. Jelani and Spencer unpack the 30–42 mental shift: mortality showing up in quiet moments, gratit...
Losing the Plot
Episode SummaryJelani Jenkins and Spencer Paysinger move through the real terrain of fatherhood: the tension between urgency and presence, the weight of legacy, and the responsibility of modeling humanity in real time. They talk d...
Reality Check
Episode SummaryIn Episode 35 of Higher Valleys, Jelani and Spencer move through the messy real of life and performance: stress showing up as sickness, weather changes, and the raw vulnerability the NFL Combine can pull out of you ...
Be Present
Episode SummaryEP 34 moves like the timeline itself: love and friction at home, pride and tension in public life, and the nonstop chaos of a world that can flip from comedy to tragedy in one scroll. Spencer and Jelani unpack how w...