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
38 episodes
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 ...
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Season 1
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Episode 38
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1:46:57
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...
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Season 1
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Episode 37
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1:17:59
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...
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Season 1
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Episode 36
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1:38:04
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 ...
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Season 1
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Episode 35
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1:37:55
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...
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Season 1
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Episode 34
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1:30:15
Soul Searchers
Episode SummaryEpisode 33 starts with a viral laugh—“non‑practicing whites”—and quickly turns into what Higher Valleys does best: use humor as the doorway, then walk straight into the room where the truth lives. Spencer and Jelani...
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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1:38:41
Shut up and Listen
Spencer and Jelani unpack Super Bowl LX, Bad Bunny's historic halftime show, and the predictable white fragility backlash amid rising nationalism and ICE raids. They celebrate J. Cole's The Fall Off—a project that demands stillness in ...
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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1:52:56
Head to the Sky
Spencer and Jelani kick off with Grammys talk: Olivia Dean's divine feminine energy ("a hug that lasts 2-3 seconds too long"), Bad Bunny winning Album of the Year and headlining the Super Bowl, and Kendrick's performance. They debate the Pro Bo...
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Season 1
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Episode 31
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1:15:21
Smell the Flowers, Blow the Candle
Jelani's breaking ice in his Maryland driveway while Spencer's complaining about 72 degrees in LA—but the real temperature check is on resilience. From teaching Cairo that a waffle to the toe isn't a crisis to Jelani's 93-point Bop It dominatio...
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Season 1
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Episode 30
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1:31:52
Not Another Cinderella Story
Spencer returns from Cabo recharged and ready—this is the real start of 2026. He and Jelani unpack Indiana's historic national championship run as proof that the NIL/transfer portal era is leveling college football in ways we've never seen. The...
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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1:39:28
Front Snap Kick
Spencer and Jelani are back after the holiday break, and they're not buying into the "new year, new you" pressure. This episode digs into stamina over motivation, building systems that prevent creative burnout, and the intentional work of makin...
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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1:51:30
Jingle Jangle
This episode is about letting go and starting fresh. Spencer reflects on cutting his hair as a ritual of renewal, while Jelani shares the emotions of watching his kids and classmates performing for the holidays. They explore how trust is built ...
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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1:54:20
Losing Recipes
Jelani and Spencer close out Thanksgiving with a sprawling conversation that moves from farting on airplanes to reimagining the holiday feast, from losing family recipes to a five-year-old navigating questions about his hair. They...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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1:53:56
Troubleshooting
Jelani and Spencer navigate the delicate balance between coaching and nurturing as fathers—from Spencer stepping into flag football coach mode to Jelani's lesson on troubleshooting with his kids. They celebrate wins like Madden do...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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1:21:35
Belt to A$$
This episode takes an unexpected turn—what starts as a lighthearted gripe about overly cheerful school drop-off teachers spirals into a raw conversation about discipline, memory, and the invisible marks our parents left on us. Jelani and Spence...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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1:34:23
Breathin’ Season
In this episode, Jelani and Spencer move from Mercury retrograde and astrology to aliens and the Atlas Comet, from Lego obsessions to their kids' endless art projects, and from millennial parenting to the weight of vulnerability. ...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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1:14:17
Los Doyers!!!!
Spencer skips a championship parade to sit in the pocket with Jelani—and what unfolds is a masterclass on legacy, presence, and the long game. Baseball becomes metaphor: the quiet between pitches, the pressure in the ninth, the heads-up play no...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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1:38:43
No Limit
In this episode, Jelani and Spencer move from the Cash Money vs No Limit verzuz battle to the future of student athletes in the super school era. What starts as nostalgia for Southern hip-hop becomes a sprawling conversation about...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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1:54:43
Cruisin’
(Episode Summary)A winding conversation about what we're losing and what we're holding onto. Jelani and Spencer move from Michael Irvin debates to D'Angelo's passing, from birthday party survival mode to the weight of rest. They w...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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1:49:03
Cyborg Era
Episode SummaryIn this episode, Jelani and Spencer move from pumpkin patches to the ethics of AI, from fatherhood fears to legacy-building anxiety. What starts as Halloween banter about spiders and scary movies becomes a sprawling...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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1:31:07
Please and Thank You
Spencer and Jelani celebrate reaching episode 17 - officially past the average podcast failure rate - before diving into wide-ranging conversations about AI, athlete accountability, and the intersection of technology and humanity....
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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1:40:31
Black Jesus
In this episode of Higher Valleys, Spencer and Jelani span the spectrum—from football field wars to fasting hacks, fatherhood lessons, and navigating today’s cultural divides.They open with Spencer reliving Oregon’s rise to nation...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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1:59:49