Junior College Built The Player I Became

He was written off early: school felt like a fight, his grades cratered, and trouble found him before football ever did. Then one coach took a chance and everything shifted. Coach Ryan Jensen joins us to tell the full story, from getting humbled in junior college football to earning Division I offers and making history as a founding player at Old Dominion. If you’re a high school athlete weighing JUCO, recruiting options, or a big move far from home, this conversation gives you a clear, real-world roadmap.

We get into what junior college is actually like when you’re an 18-year-old lineman lining up against grown men, and how a strength program plus the right mentors can transform your body, your mindset, and your future. Ryan shares what it felt like when colleges started showing up at his door, why he chose legacy over logos, and how the bonds from a brand-new program still show up in his life years later.

Then we go behind the curtain on the NFL pro day grind, the injury that changed his path, and the hard truth about arena football and “almost making it.” From there, we widen the lens to athlete mental health, sports retirement, identity foreclosure, and why finding your people matters as much after sport as it does during it. Ryan also explains why he became a San Francisco police officer, and how he now gives back through Own The Line Football, a Northern California nonprofit focused on linemen, mentorship, accountability, and building men of character.

If this helped you, subscribe, share it with an athlete who needs perspective, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

The only podcast that is all about Athletes Supporting Athletes!

Transcript

Ryan Jensen’s Turnaround Story

Coach B 0:01

Hey everyone, welcome back. I'm Coach B. If you're joining us for the first time, well, you guys are in for an absolute treat because we have an absolute legend with us today. His name is Coach Ryan Jensen. Ryan's a former Petaluma High offensive lineman. But guys, his story didn't start on the field. Like many kids, uh school was a struggle for Ryan. He uh got in trouble with bullies, was expelled once, his GPA dropped to 1.8, and by every measure, he was just another kid slipping through the cracks until he was spotted by Coach Elson. Coach Ellison saw something in him worth investing. That relationship and introducing Ryan to football gave him what the classroom alone couldn't direction, discipline, and a reason to show up. Ryan went on to turn it around. He finished high school, went on to play at the JUCO level and then at college. And now today, he's giving back through his own the line of football, his Northern California nonprofit pouring into the next generation of young athletes. This episode is incredibly inspiring because not only is Coach Ryan Jensen an awesome person, a great former athlete, but he's also a San Francisco policeman. So guys, turn it up. Get ready for this as we join Ryan when he first started at JUCO.

Junior College Reality Check

Coach B 1:18

What was your junior college experience like?

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Well, I remember leaving high school and knowing that I wanted to keep playing. And there was a bunch of different schools out there locally. There was Med Time Medicino had football, Santa Rosa had football, City College, San Francisco had football. And I remember my peers basically saying, You're never gonna play at Santa Rosa. Like you're never gonna get up there. And to me, I work best with the tip of my shoulder, to be honest with you. Like I was like, all right, watch this.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Yeah, and bring it on.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

So like yeah, like this is my hometown. Like, and and I can't say enough good things about that program, Santa Rosa. It's a great option. Coach Dante DePaul is up there and Martin Taveseo, they're they're doing a great job. And what it is is basically a place for athletes who are maybe undersized or uh need development still, and then also the grades. So I went up there as a freshman and I wanted to play defensive line because I thought that was cool, and that's the the other side of the ball. And I remember doing a I was I graduated high school, I was 275 my junior year, and then I leaned out, I kind of lost my baby fat, and I got up to about two, I lost down to 250, and I was I was tall and skinny. And 250 won't do much in in football in college. You want to be around 300, right? So the first year was tough. I was going against grown men that were like, there were guys out there that were like 35 years old that were like Oh man, steroided out, steroided out construction workers, and I'm like an 18-year-old kid, you know, getting smacked in the head by these guys. That you know, I talked to I was coaching five football today with my kids, and someone said to me, He goes, You were so skinny that first year, and like you you got killed. And I'm like, I did, but it built character in it, and I never quit, right? But there's a system, and I have a kid named Logan who I'm coaching now, who's who's going there next year, and his weight's under right now. I told the same story. I said, like, you're going against grown men, all right? Like junior college, anyone can enroll after high school. So like you might get a 40-year-old construction worker that wants to give it a second chance, you know.

Coach B 3:03

I I never thought about it like that, actually. And when hearing you say about that, you're right. Anyone can go back to junior college, and I never looked at it from the perspective of holy smoke, you're actually going up somebody who, you know, it has years of of training, strength, age on you. I mean, mentally, how did you process that?

SPEAKER_02 3:23

It was hard. Like, I really got my butt kicked the whole first year. I was like the sixth tackle, so like, for the sixth man in. So like there's five linemen, I was the sixth guy, so I did a lot of like special teams, and like when when they would need a sub, I'd go in. Um, I wasn't ready. I I really wasn't. I probably should have redshered that year, but they needed me to play, and I did for the team. But it's a real wake-up call. And then from that, but but the great thing about junior college is you have a weight room and a strength program, and by the time I got to December of that year, I was about when I came back for spring ball, I was about 295. So I put on the freshman 50 at the JC. And that's not easy to do, but like when you have these coaches who care about you and give you the right direction, you know, I put on the size, and then by the time I played my sophomore year, which is the year you transfer, I was at full full size to go division one. So for all these kids out there that are listening that are undersized, like if you have the height, like there's way to put on that frame, and they'll teach you how to do it. So like I really recommend it. And even guys who leave high school and you're only getting small offers from you know schools that are you know, I don't want to shout at any schools, but like some of the smaller division three schools are gonna offer you in high school. But if you think you're worth more, why don't you bet on yourself and go, you know, go give the junior college a chance because colleges come and go to that pool, pull pull good kids out of there. So like if you think you're better than the offers you're getting when you're a senior, like give it a shot. I really recommend it. It did great things for me.

Coach B 4:40

It you know, it's such great advice. And even though you've had a you know a kind of a challenging start start, even and I'm as you were talking, I was thinking, geez, like you had a pretty rough trot in in high school. You kind of got you know given really the rough end of the stick in high school and battered around a bit, and then you get thrown in against, you know, I I'm thinking like ex-con construction workers with big tats at the end.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

There were ex-cons. There were ex-cons. Yeah.

Coach B 5:06

I would be freaking out. But yeah, you clearly you were so resilient, you were so strong, you kept going, and he he didn't like Coach Ryan didn't just survive. Okay, he went on to be all NorCale offensive tackle, which is super impressive. And then you got recognized by D1 College. So where was that? And and what did that feel like when you when all that work finally paid off?

SPEAKER_02 5:29

You know, it was really special and a really proud moment in my life where I finished that sophomore year and basically colleges were coming on campus, and like, you know, all of a sudden I'm getting texts like, hey, this college wants to come and talk to you. And a knock on, I was living at home at the time in junior college, like knock on my parents' house, and then this coach from Arkansas State comes into my house and and he he makes me get like makes me squat and wants to check my flexibility. Like they were treating me like a cow, you know, like I'm a prime piece of meat that they want to see it. Like I'm I'm legit. And then like I remember Texas State came out and was like, you know, you'll love this school, like girls suntan and bikinis all down the river, like it's what you know, like they all have their own pitch, right? Like, right, right. But then Old Dominion came through, and uh the I was playing right tackle, the left tackle Tobin also got offered by Old Dominion, and they go, We want both of you guys, you friends, to come out to Virginia and come play for us. It's our first team. He goes, Do you play video games? I go, Yeah. He goes, You know the college football game? He goes, You ever do the dynasty mode? And I'm like, Yeah, and he goes, Well, you play all these teams that you know have kind of sucked historically, or like maybe play Alabama once a year, lose 100 to nothing. Why don't you be a part of a team that's never played before? Like you are the when you get the record book, it's zero and zero. And how do you want it? Do you want to be part of this legacy? And not hooked me. And like I I remember I got a lot of negative feedback from peers, like, you want to go to Old Dominion? Like, that's like a division five school, you know, shit like that. And uh, but in my head, I'm going,

Earning A D1 Shot

SPEAKER_02 6:49

no, no, no, I'm I'm set I'm the first person to play for this school. Like that's something you could never take away from me or my family. So it's one of the proudest things in the world to me that like we went in there, we went nine and two our first year. We set the record for the best startup college football team in the history of college football.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

And then old Dominions just propelled the new levels where they're I think they were 10 and 3 last year, won a bowl game. And that school literally, when I went on my visit, was covered it was a dirt field, you know, it was dirt. And they're like, this is the they showed me the you know the the PowerPoint, like this is what it's gonna look like, kid. I mean, we went out there and it was it was the best experience ever. It was the town was super excited for football for the first time, you know. They don't have pro sports in Virginia, so like all of us are serious in that in that area. And it's one of my things. I'm a founding father of old Dominion football, and you can't take that away from me.

Coach B 7:31

You certainly can't. And you were actually part of history, and I think that that's phenomenal. And I really love your perspective. I really love that you how you looked at the opportunity you were given. And one of the biggest takeaways I want our athletes to hear is that opportunities can look really different. Not all of them are packaged with a bow, okay, and say UCLA. There's so many like great schools out across America, and there are smaller schools which have phenomenal coaches. There's fantastic uh, you know, opportunities that could come from that. Like, you know, Steph Curry went to Davidson, which sure is a well-known school now, but it wasn't when he first went there, okay. And so I I I just am bringing this up specifically, also is because numbers are really dying out in some of those smaller schools. And you hear these stories of, you know, as and now as being a researcher and doing my PhD, I'd love to return to talk to teach at a college one day. But I'm hearing that, you know, the professors, because I don't have enough money at these schools, they're also janitors as well. So, but Coach Ryan is living proof of like what can happen when you look at things a little bit differently. You step back, part of history. You had a great time in college. You were part of like what I'm sure you're still connected with those guys today. Are they still are they like your bros or like is that we call it gamer Friday every Friday night?

SPEAKER_02 8:51

We all pop on the Xbox or whatever, we we get in a chat room and like we're all over the place. Like some guys are in northern Virginia, some guys are you know, all over the country, and we pop in once a week and all the boys get together and chop it up and you know, shoot some people on the internet with video games. But like it's just a chance, it's just a way for us to stay connected, you know what I mean? And like those guys were in my wedding, like I have friends for life from a place I never thought I'd go. But going from Petaluma to Norfolk, Virginia is like 3,000 miles if you look at the map straight across. It's straight across. And that experience, everything, like life experience, like having to do your laundry, having to grocery shop, like you become grown real quick when you're you don't got your mom and dad and you're 3,000 miles away. So I can't say enough good things like any kid that's thinking about a big move, like you're just gonna get so much stronger as a person. Like once you cut the cord of of the family, you just have to be an individual and you have to gain life experience on your own, or else you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna falter, right?

Coach B 9:40

So absolutely. And you know, just to it to all our athletes listening, it uh what Coach Ryan is saying is just so important because it is scary taking that kind of step away. And I I know when I started college, and to be honest, was bored out of my brain, and I've said that before, but i isn't it bizarre that I was so bored and now I'm still I'm actually still doing schoolwork. So it's like it's it's crazy. But at the time that I actually dropped out of college, I went to my dad, and my dad's a scientist, and he's an academic, and I said, Dad, I'm gonna drop out. And I was freaking out. I thought maybe he's gonna say, No, you can't. So I'm gonna drop out, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try to be pro. And he said to me, Go for your life. If that's what you want to do, it'll always be this. And so there's fear in anything, guys. And it doesn't matter if you shoot for the stars and then you fall on your butt. Because guess what? You just pick yourself up and you keep going. And I get a sense, Ryan, that you have picked yourself up a lot of times. And now you really showing other young men how to do the same with what you created with on-the-line football.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

Yeah. So basically how this thing started was I'd see that there's all these activities for basically the skinny guys in the community, the wide receivers and the guys that catch the ball and run the ball. There's all these activities, and there's nothing for the kids that were like me when I was, you know, 15, 16. And I said, why don't I just create something? So I went online, I looked at places like Texas, Florida, and I saw things they were they were doing, and I I just started this thing off, you know, kind of on a whim. And a lot of people are like, oh, it's not gonna work, it's not gonna work. And my goal was to do uh I want to do a fundraiser camp for high school football around here. So I went and got guys that played in college, some NFL guys, and I got them all together. I made some calls of friends, and I said, We're gonna do a camp this summer for kids in the community, and the money we raised, 50% is going back to the high schools. And I thought, you know, maybe I'd be lucky to get 30 kids, and it ended up being 80. So like it shows it was a it's a niche, and like there's a need for this, and there's some great, great, great kids in this area, and it's just it was one of the best days of my life, to be honest with you, because like the 15-year-old me would have loved this, you know what I mean? And now like I make it a point, and like every Saturday now, I'm pretty much I you know I go to my kids' baseball and then I do my own line for an hour or two, and it just gives me like you gotta be dad first, right? That's important. But then I also want to be that leader that someone was for me, and that's what I'm doing. And like, for example, I'm doing the thing called it's called my college prep program. I sat down with these guys on Saturday and I made them, I got went to CVS and I got you know 15 notebooks and I sat them down. I go, uh here's what I want. One, write your goal for your summer. Or like write a goal for football. What do you want to do

Building A Legacy At Old Dominion

SPEAKER_02 12:11

next season? Number two, write a goal for the summer. What strength or physically, what do you want to change in the next three months? Because they have May, June, July to get better. All right. And then the last one is a personal goal. How do you want to be a better person for your family? Or or just in general, like, what do you want to work on as a person? So, like, what I'm doing is not only football-related, I'm trying to mentor these men and make them great people. I want them to be great fathers, great husbands one day. Like, I want to be make sure that these guys lead my program and they're better. And when they go back to their high schools or their coaches, they let the coaches see a difference in this in the character. So, like, that's really what I'm working on. It's not just X's and O's. Yeah. We're we're trying to, you know, give these these young men purpose.

Coach B 12:51

Well, you're definitely a change maker. I've got to say that. You're a change maker and you are making a difference. And those young men who are turning up to Own the Line football camps and and meeting with you every Sunday afternoon. Something that I that I just left out for a second, but I'm gonna add it in right now. And I've been kind of plugging it on the Plan B by Coach P Instagram page. If you haven't found that, guys, please check it out. You will be able to find Own the Line football at the bottom of this episode. And then you can get to know Coach Ryan a little bit more. But he's not just a great person, great leader, great athlete. He he's actually a bit of a legend because he made it all the way. Okay, this is what is an important piece, and why those young men are looking up at you and listening is through all everything that you endured from that 1.87 GPA to those bullies to getting expelled to time away from school to then Coach Ellison really turning your life around. You then kind of like were transported into a fantastic support unit unit at the JC. You went ended up going to a D1 college, making history, and then to top it off, guys, and I love this part, he went all the way to the NFL pro day. Okay, and he got worked out by like multiple teams. That's not an easy feat. And and in fact, prior to coming on tonight, I was just mentioning this to my 16-year-old son. He was like, you know, oh mum, who who's on tonight? And I was like, Well, this guy, he's like a hero. And you know, he told me that he didn't, you know, go on to to NFL, but he he did also play in the arena football league, which is awesome. And uh for 98% of college players who get close but don't make it to that 50 man roster, the arena league was another option for you. We he was just like starstruck hearing that you made it to the NFL pro day. I think he said, Oh, that's sick, or that's tough, or something like that. And I agree. So those young men listening to you, wow, how lucky are they to have you uh as a role model? And before we get back to them, and I really want to deep dive into some of the issues that you know male athletes encountered today and why it's so important that we provide support. Can you just give us a little insight? Because I'm really like curious, what was that NFL pro day like? Did you just get torched? Were you like just absolutely knackered at the end of it because they just hammered you? Talk us through what that day was like.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

So when I finished my senior year, I so let me backtrack a little bit. My fourth game, my senior year, at the time agents were allowed, there was no NIL, this new program, all the stuff that's going on. Some agents contacted my mom and dad and were like, hey, like we want to look at him for the NFL, blah, blah, blah. That game, after that, like I went to bed like all ecstatic. I'm going to the league, like, it's gonna be great, blah, blah, blah. That next game, I was cramping up. We were in Delaware, it was like 110 with heat index. And I hit a guy, and I just feel my bicep go, and I looked, I hear, I heard it, and I looked down, my bicep had dropped from like right here all the way down. And I was like, oh shit. And we don't, we don't, we don't huddle up in the offense we were in, so like I had to finish the drive. And I got on the bus and I was hysterical. Like, I was like, my career's over. Like, I got four games into my senior year, my bicep's done. But I ended up playing the rest of the season with basically one and a half arms with a bicep. I finished out, I started every game, I grinded it out, went to the playoffs, like it was a good season, but I didn't want the NFL to know that that happened, and I thought I could hide it. And that was the biggest mistake because one thing in the NFL is if they're gonna divest in you and they're gonna pay millions of dollars, they're gonna give you a physical. So I didn't say anything. I tried to hide it. I went to my pro day. I was like, when when I finished in December at all Dominion, I was like, I'm I'm done. And I remember my weight dropped from like 300 to 270 in two weeks. Like, that's how much eating you have to do to maintain that weight.

Coach B 16:20

And I was like, That sounds honestly, that sounds like a dream to me. I, you know, just only need to look at Amaka's and chunk up straight away. That sucks.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

It's a gift and a curse. I'll tell you why. Because like all every year, like Christmas time comes around, the prime ribs flowing, what the drinks, whatever, like I'll shoot up to 270 in two weeks, but then I can drop back down to 250 by the summer. So like it's always up and down. Like people have joked that I'm Oprah that I can go. Like, you know, no, I am Oprah too.

Coach B 16:44

I am 100% Oprah.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

And yeah, it's just it's just it's tough. So I was like, you know what? Like, if I don't give this closure, if I don't try for the NFL, I'm always gonna regret it. So my junior college coach, Rocky Trell, great dude. He I I reached out to him, I go, hey, listen, like my pro day's coming up. Can you train me? And every day at five in the morning, I would drive to Santa Rosa from Petaluma, and I would go in the weight room and I'd work out with them for two hours, and then I'd eat all day, and then I would go bartent because I had to make money. Because like I was out of college and like I had to make money. So I would do like banquets and like whatever, but like, you know, now I went from Division I college, full scholarship, all this attention to where I'm wearing like the waiter outfit, the black polo with the black slacks, and you know, whatever. And I was grinding, I really was, but I ended up getting up to 305 and I set the bench press. So basically, what an NFL pro day is all the scouts come. I think there was 21 teams there, and you do your bench press, 225, which is two plates of 45s on each side, how many reps? And I banged out 31, so I set the record for old Dominion, like it was really good. And I did the speed stuff, I had pretty good times, and I was 6'4 and a half, two 305. So I was like, I have a shot, like it's gonna happen, this and that. And basically word got out, your bicep shot, dude. Like you're it was it literally looked like Popeye. Like when you'd look at it, it would be down here. Man, and there was no hiding it. There was no hiding it.

Coach B 17:56

It kind of speaks volumes though to how kind of how like tough you are. You definitely know Oprah. I was more thinking, you're more like I was in one of my episodes, I was I think it was with Jade and the wrestler. I was we would we were talking about our love of Arnold Squashnegger. I think there might be a little bit Arnie in you.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

I'm definitely I've had like I'm a huge wrestling fan, like WWE. So like I've always had that kind of meathead side of me. Just like I love the the aesthetics and like the gym. I love going to the gym. Like yeah, like, and I and I know you probably talk to athletes that like if I work out every day and Arnold talks about this, I've heard him talk about it. It's like if I go in there and I knock my thing out first thing in the morning the rest of my day, my mental clarity is perfect. So like to this day I still do that. But like when I was at school, it was the same deal. But basically I went in, I did it, had a good pro day. I got I got invited to the 49ers regional combine workout, which means that all the local kids get invited to the Niners workout. So I flew home, I came all the way home, I bought my ticket and I had no money at the time. And I get home and I'm ready to go to it, it's a Santa Clara, and I get an email from my agent that says, because they've moved from Candlestick Park in San Francisco to Santa Clara, Petaluma is out of the 90-mile radius, so you're no longer invited. So I'm sitting there and I'm like, this sucks. And then like the only other team that was kind of flirting with me was the Bears, and then just nothing happened. So it was like, what do I do now? And the San Jose Sabercast called me, which at the time was I mean, they were an arena team, it's very different. It's not as like I'll give you an example. The top arena guy is probably making twenty thousand dollars, the top NFL guy, lineman-wise, making thirty million. So like it's very, very different. And I was like, they they call me, they're like, hey, we we heard you're out here, like come come come look out for us. So I go down there, it's at a middle school, classes in session, so like there's kids everywhere, and then in the back they have a cage, and I'm sitting there with this guy, Mark Greeb, who's NFL, like he's I think he's an arena football hall of famer. He's a 40-year-old quarterback who had been around for a long time. I think he's a high school coach in the area now. But it was $200 a week with one meal stipend. So they buy you a sandwich, $200 a week, and I'm like, this is just not working for me. Like, I think it was time to go to work. And like, so then there was a strike when I was for for wages with the league. So I was like, I was out, and then they called me back to be a scab basically to go against the the sc the the strike. I was like, ah, this is my chance, but I didn't want to be a scab. And then one more call came in from Salt Lake City, Utah, the Utah Blaze. They play at the Jazz Arena, so I went to Salt Lake for two weeks, and when I finished that, I was like, you know what? I think I'm going to the work world. Like, this is it. But I will say, like, from a mental health standpoint, the fact that I gave it my all and really tried and really pushed everything into it, I have no regrets about that. And to this day, like people like people will be like, you should give it a shot. The 49ers need your help, you know, all that bullshit. And I'm like, Yeah, it I'm content with where I'm at that I gave it my all. And I respect everybody in the NFL, I respect all these players, but my time was done. I got college paid for for free. I had a great experience, I made a ton of friends, and when football was done, I'm happy with like, trust me, I would love to go out and play tomorrow. But now I'm 37.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

And, you know, like just little things like what I were even when I'm doing online, like I feel little tweaks and you know, whatever. I'm getting old and I feel it now. But in my head, I'm still a 25-year-old kid that could do it.

Coach B 21:03

But you know, it's supposed to you see you you make so many great points, and uh, you know, I want to jump on a few of them because sport doesn't always look like ESPN guys, all right. And whatever sport you're doing, if you heard have seen some of the athletes that we've had come through, you know, on season two, we had Maddy Anima, who was a UCLA gymnast. She was a walk-on, okay, and she's a mathematics major, and you know, she has now come to the end of her gymnastics career. And there's Adriana, who's a jiu-jitsu athlete, who you know said there's absolutely hardly any money in her sport. I know in the day when I was, you know, at the top of my game, like, you know, I'm talking like top five in the world, there was hardly any money in triathlon, uh, depending on what if you didn't do the Olympic distance, and I did long distance, which can't be televised. So there wasn't a lot of money in it. And I think one thing I I keep hearing, just in the way that Coach Ryan is talking, what also came kept him going from those really tough days at high school was that he loved his sport. He absolutely loved it. And the reason he's helping young men today and created a whole business on-the-line football for offensive linemen and defensive, no doubt, I know you go both ways, is because you love the sport. And it just, I can't tell you, and for every all the other coaches who are doing this in other sports, it shows, guys, like people see it. Athletes are not idiots. Like when my athletes even turn up to meet with me in sport psychology, they know that I deeply care about them. And I do it because I loved my sport. I had people helping me. You had people helping you. That also drives us. It's not always the money. Sure, the money brings stuff. But hey guess what? At the end of the day we're all going to the same place. And guess what? None of us can take our Ferraris or whatever with us. Nope. And so it's about what you do here and now. Don't get lost in all the glitz of glam or only D1 or oh I have to be pro. No, just do what Coach Ryan did. And he just lived in the moment for every chapter of his football career. And now you just returned from a camp at Utah last week where you were obviously running your style of camp that you you know run for the boys on on the Saturdays. Can you talk to us a little bit about what you see from the young male athletes that you work with, the themes and what and what's your overall objective when you're kind of running these camps? Yeah so I was a guest it was in Idaho but I was a guest Idaho Utah Idaho there's all both of them have like wackadoodle crimes. So whatever's going on up there I just hope you didn't drink the water.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

No it was the water's beautiful out there.

Coach B 23:42

Great place up great

Creating Own The Line Football

Coach B 23:44

place great people great people. Keep going.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

So I I'm blessed to have been invited to uh last summer I did a camp with Colton McKibitz who's the right tackle for the 49ers and Tarekisine. They run a gym called Empower in San Francisco. And what Empower basically does is it's not only a physical training situation it's more of mental and mentorship and physical all in one. And Tarek's brilliant he's a he's a great dude and Colton McKibitz who is a 49er basically ran into struggles as a pro athlete where he was like projected you know to be a starter in the NFL for many years and he ended up getting cut and it was like a big wake up call for him and he got with Tarek and he kind of changed his whole mentality and I'm completely bought into their system. Like they are so good with accountability like things are don't be a hypocrite like everything you do like change narratives about yourself and then and then a big thing for him is for Colton which was this was his this his camp was that to fulfill himself and be the best player he can be he wants to serve. That's his mission to serve. And what Colton's doing is a great thing for the seventh leaders. Seventh leaders so like he has a success he just signed a great extension with the 49ers he doesn't need to do this but he does it because for him to be the best player possible he needs mentally to know that he is helping the 15 year old version of himself. And I steal that same theme with what I'm doing but it's it's really true. Like there's kids out there that need this help. And what Colton did was he contacted me to come out to Idaho for this we went out I flew into Boise three hours north in the middle of nowhere and I'm talking these kids are in a small town we were going to the practice field one of the kids' dads on a horse wrangling cattle. Like I'm talking they're going on bear hunts they're mountain lion hunting like they're out there like this is not the kids and you know all respect to my kids at Petaluna but they're not door dashing you know they're not playing Fortnite all night like these kids are working for their food like these are real kids. So we went out there for four days with these kids there were seven athletes and basically we sat down with them and we same kind of same deal what I do with my guys. What is going on with you personally? What is going on with you as a player and how can we help you? And it was really it was a really really powerful experience. Like I'll give you an example one kid I'm not going to say his name you know for confidentiality reasons but his he has a 1.0 GPA and Colton and Tarek met with him and the school counselor and sat down and said let's make a plan and this kid's never read a book in his life and we gave him a challenge you've got to read 10 pages a day and he's like I don't like books. I don't know any books. Well Tarek the guy who's running it wrote a book and he goes here's my book dude here you go and the first day they go go read 10 pages. He read one page and fell asleep and we're like he told us in the car only read one page and we're like all right well you got 19 today. You know what I mean? Right. And we made him we brought him out he sat in a chair in this lodge and he he read 25 pages. He went above and beyond and it's like this kid's reading now. And the beauty about this program is what they announced at the end of it was if these kids every month we're going to Zoom call with these guys and check in on them. We're not just going there for Instagram photos or whatever. Like we are fully involved in these kids' life now. Like and I told Colton I was like I want to be in these meetings too because now I'm invested I'm completely invested. So once a month we're going to meet with these guys we're on Zoom. If they fulfill for 12 months every commitment they made to us and for themselves they're going to get a 10,000 scholarship for education or a 10,000 scholarship to start a business after high school if if education is not their path. So like can you talk about like powerful like changing lives like it is the most rewarding thing I've ever done. Like I sat in this thing and I'm like he's doing God's work he really is like he is helping the version of himself that needed that. So to be a part of the power program you know I I can't thank him and Tar for inviting me in half like it's it's a blessing. Like these kids are you know I have I have seven kids in Idaho now that I never knew, never would know that like I care about and I I want to say succeed. So like it's a super powerful program.

Coach B 27:20

I love that story. And you'll have to like send me all the details of these guys because I would love to put them at the bottom of this podcast because they're doing incredible work. And I I want to give a shout out to these to all these people and it's not you know to get more clicks it's not to get more likes it's to create something where we can help each other because really that's what it should be about. It's not about being you know more popular on that I do want to give a plug to to the people that do listen and the people that do follow and that share and help other athletes. That's the only reason we're created like this podcast. Although maybe Daily Wire if you're listening and you think I'm all right give me an interview because I reckon I I could actually do something. But I think that just comes from having masses of call coach B Daily Wire Dailywire call coach B I'm I'm ready. I love Matt Wolf. Okay I I'm I'm right there. But I love hearing that now you just said something and I'm gonna just as we come towards the end of our podcast I am going to launch into it when you talk about God's work and these coaches are doing it you're doing it with On the Line Football. Coach Ellison did it for you at Petaluma High. Undoubtedly your coaches at Old Dominion were doing that type of caring nurturing coaching um directing guidish um guiding but hey off the football field guys Coach Jensen does God's work 247 okay because he is a San Francisco police officer and that is unreal. And I take my hat off to you thank you so much for your service thank you to all the guys in blue. You don't get thanked enough and you do God's work in an in different ways by caring for our community. And it's one of the hardest jobs in the world and I am just a huge fan and I will you know be one of those people that jump in the ring if anybody like puts down the police because they really do work hard. And I just wanted to get a tiny little snippet of why did you choose to also on top of everything that you do for other people, you're still giving in your day to nine to five job as a police officer.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

What drew you to that field you know when I got out of college and I stopped playing football I was applying for I mean tech recruiter jobs, Airbnb, whatever, like tech jobs and I was just like I I would get to the point of the hiring page and be like I just this seems boring. Like I don't want to do this for my life and like I've always been kind of like take what I can get in terms of like the work world but I was just like I'd get to the hiring day and I'm like I can't do this. Like I really can't. So I was a teacher like when I first got out of college I went my teaching credential and I was doing PE and respect all the teachers out there but like my wife's teacher too but like they don't get compensated enough for the work no it's a hard job. Such a hard job we'd love the teachers by the way we love the teachers there's no no disrespect to the teachers but they're undercompensated.

Coach B 29:59

Yeah and living in the Bay Area I was like I'm never gonna be able to uh you know whatever own a home like put your kids through college just basic stuff. Oh by the way California Gavin Newsom you're not helping okay I'm sorry just adding that here we go I'm getting back on track but I like I said Plan B podcast is authentic it's real and it's getting more and more real guys so hang in there it's only gonna get better.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

Keep going coach so so so basically one of my mentors was like you should be a cop like I think you'd like this and I was like uh you know and I went I went back to Virginia and was a sheriff in the jails an old inmates town but that job was babysitting inmates like feeding them it was just it was brutal. I was making $22 an hour and then I looked and it's like in in in San Francisco you can make a good living as a police officer here and I'm like I want to go home like I'll use this as a stepping stone to get to San Francisco. And I applied for like two years. I thought it was going to happen. First day the academy comes up and I wasn't on the list. I knew guys that I played football with that were in the class and I'm like why are they not picking me like I got my college degree I scored well on all the tests I you know I passed backgrounds like and they didn't pass me and then you know acting God whatever you want to call it the first day someone couldn't do pushups and quit on the day one and they called me and they go get up here like we have one spot in the academy. So day two so my start date if you look at my higher date for the city is one day after my class so like I'm the junior guy.

Coach B 31:19

I'm pretty I'm pretty sure they spotted you. I'm pretty sure you you this I don't think Coach Ryan can hide and I'm pretty sure during the academy they had you on their radar.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

So uh I'll tell you what I don't think they did because I'll tell you why I was blowing up their email accounts if anyone quits I want in I was like I'm like this is it because it was hiring list that ended I was the last hiring list so it would be a whole new testing cycle to get back in. So I was blowing up and this is like being persistent and being like and that's something I learned for sports like I was emailing them like if anyone quits I went in on and then finally someone quits and they're like come in. So I went in my suit that I bought at Macy's cheap suit you know and everyone in my class

NFL Pro Day Highs And Injury

SPEAKER_02 31:56

is wearing like the police recruit uniform and I'm in a suit because I didn't have it yet because I was still you're still in training. And like we're doing like burpees and stuff and like my butt's hanging out in my suit and I'm just like whatever I'm here dude I got it I got the job. So it worked out it worked out. But the one thing I love about law enforcement is and we talked about this on the the first go around is take one. Yeah sorry there is a sense of locker roarery that is lost in sports. And when you stop playing sports you lose it like I've heard someone talk on a podcast board like you know why are you so weird now like in life or whatever. It's because the last team you were on was that team and now I feel that with the community and law enforcement I'm on another team and it drew me to it. And like the first five years in the department I was working with my partner who played college football too. So we'd ride around on midnights all night me and this guy you know talking or stories from football whatever and like interest enjoying the job and like there is a sense there's a lot of former athletes that join either firefighting or law enforcement just because of that camaraderie that's that's in those locker rooms.

Coach B 32:57

You know I you just hit on something so important and hey there's I know as we come to the end of another like college year there's going to be a lot of athletes who are facing retirement and facing and retirement unfortunately for athletes it you know hit me at 34 and it comes to all of us some of it us earlier than others but what Coach Ryan really hit on and I want everyone to take away from this is just find your people. Find your people in a different sense whether that be a team with law enforcement whether that be a team in academia whether that be just you know a a team in your workplace like you can just pivot and go start the next chapter of your life. I kind of I I actually just changed a reel tonight. I, you know, I even though you know my university said get off social media and do your work but I I jumped back on and I did a few remixes. So I will get off and promise I'm starting Tuesday with the uh librarian or something but I can't stand on social media seeing all this doom and gloom about the sadness of when athletes retire. Yes it's a massive loss. Yes there is a grieving process because you lose your community like Coach Ryan said. But it's also an opportunity to start again at something different. And you're you did that or you're doing that right now. You know you're in you're an active law enforcement officer you took you've taken your passion for sport and you're still going and it it's so great to see and I want to I want to lift those stories. I want those stories to be in your feeds none of this oh you know it's so hard we've lost our sport. Yeah it's a chapter that closed and a new chapter begins. And I want that kind of to be the focus for for all athletes when when they do face a retirement it's not the end of the world. Think about it as you were blessed to have athletic ability that not everybody has.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

And there's a challenge like in in uh we talked Mike about this a little bit but when football ends there's no pickup games like there's no going to the gym shooting around like when it's over it's over and there's a serious identity crisis with a lot of athletes there's books that have been written on this but you go from this place where you play in front of 2000 plus people and you the talk of the small figure big fish in a small pond and then you come home and it's like it's over dude. There's no and you see guys like I still see guys that I played with like doing ladder drills on Instagram like preparing for this inevitable comeback. And it's like at some point you have to move on. You have to find a new team like you said. And there's a significant psychological change with finding your purpose after sports because it consumes so much of your life. Like you really have to be all in to be successful in it. And I know you know that from being a pro. But um football especially like there's no you can't go you know play pickup basketball. You can't go swimming laps like it's over dude like there's nothing else and that's you can coach and I hope if you coach you coach with good intentions. It's not a matter of trying to reflect what you could have been on a kid and I don't like that when I see that you know you have to uplift these young men and and women and and realize that you use the experience you got and pass it forward and do it in a positive way.

Coach B 35:54

100% and I I love that you really honed in on that issue. The the identity crisis for athletes is real and I'm not like blowing over it but I'm also saying we've got to fight against any kind of negative feeling and I'm actually doing an episode next week what's it's actually the term for it is identity foreclosure. And it's not isolated just to athletes okay it was actually you know it was created by famous psychologist Erickson his name was and it's a real issue but it does deeply impact athletes because of of you know the the community the friendship the everything that we had you know since we were a child I that was all I knew from the age of nine to 34 and when I retired and became mum which was great and had an amaz and had an amazing husband still do love and you know I'm wrapping up my podcast in a second but it's like I lost all my I lost my training partners that were all over the world. They were my best friends and I had to learn to find friendships again and it they weren't the same because they didn't understand what it was like to be an athlete. So I do get it but we have to channel all our talents that you know God blessed us with and just pivot and go into a new direction. And on that we are heading in a new direction because you have a family that you've got to get back to. You can't be yapping all night and undoubtedly you've probably got another shift rolling up so we are going to go into our lightning round of questions for you. So here we go. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_02 37:16

Okay best teammate you ever played with Brian Morrison toughest opponent you ever lined up across from he was okay I don't know his name but he was from a small school Norfolk State and I underestimated him because he went to a bad school and he gave me a real tough day. I don't know where he is I don't I can look up his name later but I underestimated someone because they went to a school that wasn't as high a prestige and I remember him to this day like when he hit me the first time I was like this guy's different I played a lot of good players this guy's different so wherever he is Norfolk State defensive end 2011 yeah he was a dog.

Coach B 37:56

Awesome hey I might even get you to try and hunt his name down because that that that's a cool one coach who changed your life and if there was more than one give him a shout out I'm gonna give you a few. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 38:05

Love it. Steve Ellison my first football coach Kevin Harrington rest in peace he was my offensive line coach Pedal Mahai. Uh Bill D was my offensive line coach at Old Dominion. He died from cancer I went back to tell him getting engaged and after I told him that news he goes I'm uh dying right now of throat cancer so like what a great dude but like he was in college you never really see like a father like figure because it's a business you know what I mean but he like we were West Coast guys on the East Coast like every Thanksgiving he'd bring us over to his house he'd make team dinners like he was a high school coach that went to college so you see that difference of like caring. Yeah and Bill D, I still talk to his wife Margaret and uh his daughter Katie but Bill D was a great when when I do my camp in the summer I bring out a picture of him with rosary beads on it and I put him on the field. You know what I mean?

Coach B 38:50

I love that. You know and you just also hit on something that Riley Feelin mentioned who was the baseball player that we had season three, episode two, you just hit on something and it just pinged my memory because you talked about a high school coach who went to college and how he was a little bit different. And Riley echoed that he talked about a coach similar who had made that transition and how it's noticeable. So I think it's kind of really amazing you really see the coaches who have all heart just that heart for the game heart for the sport because because to be honest to be a high school coach you've got to like truly love it because there are a lot of kids there just turning up to go through the motions and it drives you nuts. You don't get paid anything you're there every afternoon. So those coaches are unreal.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

Okay last couple of questions and you two more Rob Gotrell oh hang on JC

Arena Football And Closure

SPEAKER_02 39:33

a line coach Al Scott JC a line coach and then I've got that's it. But I've got to shout them all out.

Coach B 39:37

Great dudes all of them no I I I love coaches and which is why I'll probably be coach B for the rest of my life because I'm very very proud to be associated with coaches. They do change lives and uh all the coaches that were in my life certainly did the same. Okay back to the questions.

SPEAKER_01 39:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 39:52

Hardest part about being a cop that nobody talks about this goes back to like during the civil unrest of like 2021 like during George Floyd and all that like a lot of my peers and people that I thought were friends assumed that I was Derek Chauvin from Minnesota. Like and it was tough because like I'm literally coaching football in the inner city and like trying to do all these right things for the community but like everyone I work with like there's I'm telling you like these are good people and it's just a stigma that when one cop in the country does something that is criticized you become part of that. You're all wearing the same shirt right so like the biggest challenge of being a police officer is being stereotyped into that when you're trying to do right and you know your friends are trying to do right. So the people that disown me or my family during that time, I don't bye you're out you're out of the circle. I don't want you in the huddle with me because we know I know I'm doing the right thing and I know that my peers are as well.

Coach B 40:48

So yeah and I tell you yeah well trying to tell you there's a a huge majority of the population even though they might say it out loud I'm gonna say it out loud now. We're behind you 100% it's always a tragedy when someone loses a life with George Floyd but it's always a tragedy when you're trying to do your job and things go wrong and you're in incredibly stressful, risky circumstances and you're doing what you were trained. So that's all I'm gonna say on that before I get myself in trouble.

SPEAKER_02 41:13

I've already been like I've already got myself in trouble with that one but you know what I'll stand on my ground on that like uh I work with good people and I know that so I applaud for that they are great people and I am thinking of you know my father-in-law right now who's a who was a cop back in Australia.

Coach B 41:28

So finally and the signature one what is your plan B story to inspire others in one sentence like you know when plan A fails and you come to plan B, which is the whole reason why I created like plan B. People think I named it after myself. No I didn't the whole purpose is hey every athlete needs to have a plan B.

SPEAKER_02 41:48

I really believe like you can do anything you want to if you like you put your mind to like that the plan B like everything I've done in life like was an idea. And if you just buckle down and grind like you have to balance your time and like all the athletes that are listening you know how to do it already. And I think there's a higher like I always say to the SFPD like hire athletes because they know how to balance the schedule like I'm a cop I'm a family man I am a coach I do it all like I have a busy schedule. But you learn to balance that time in sports and I would say like if you want to do something do it. There's no reason there's no one stopping you. If you fail you'll figure it out you'll do it better the next time so I'll give you an example this is not a one sentence this is the worst fighting right now of all time. No key go we're gonna finish with your inspiration I did last year like everyone's like you don't have time for that you don't have this you don't have resources you don't have that and it's like I went out I talked to people I did my thing and like by the end of it there was 80 kids 80 linemen from my community working out together and and having a blast and it's like people said I couldn't do that. And it's like you know what if you have an idea you want your plan B if you have an idea do it dude do it. That's this is my sense do it dude all right get after it like you why not? What do you have to lose? Who cares? If someone criticizes you you know I'm not gonna be vulgar here but like you don't need to I love it.

Coach B 43:02

I love it. It has been such a pleasure coach Jensen we are going to list at the bottom of the plan B podcast page where you can find the on the line football we're gonna list that I I'd love you to to list Tariq and the details about you know one of the some things that that you experienced when you were in um Idaho last week and finally I know I know I listened the last one was final and it was more than one sentence but what you what you're saying is gold, Ryan it's so powerful for all our athletes listening. And I guess I I would really like to hear you know what was something that stayed with you from what Coach Ellison said to you when you were an athlete.

Police Work And Athlete Identity

SPEAKER_02 43:40

It's not exactly a quote from the coach but just the fact that you take a chance on a kid that others doubt if that makes sense. Because I was that kid I was failing grades expelled wanted to send me to gangbanger high like you know he took a chance on me. Like why wouldn't I do that to another kid? You know and and and why wouldn't another Coach do that. Like just give a kid a shot. Like people have pure arts, they really do. You just gotta tap them.