Desert Valley Blitz

EP#19- Former Hooper Explains How Competitiveness, Coaching, And Academics Took Him To The NFL-The James Dockery Story

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The moment James Dockery says he didn’t play tackle until eighth grade, you can feel the room lean forward. From Pomona grit to Oregon State swagger to four-plus years in the NFL, his story is less about luck and more about stacking habits that hold up when the lights get hot. We walk through the mentors who nudged him in, the youth coach who bought the cleats, and the way basketball instincts—pressuring guards, timing rebounds—became elite cornerback tools once he embraced contact and technique.

Recruiting drama gives way to real decisions: why culture beat branding, why coaching continuity matters, and how a 6'2 corner can build a clearer path than a 6'2 point guard. College felt like a job, and that’s the point—time management, film, meetings, and accountability turned into life skills that employers love. Dockery shares the mindset that carried him: hate losing, dominate where you live, then look outward. It’s a blueprint for any athlete who wants to turn potential into performance, with academics as a differentiator and special teams as a launchpad.

When the league arrived, so did the realities—injuries, burnout, and the truth behind “not for long.” He saved, pivoted, and discovered that coaching sparked the same adrenaline he’d been chasing. Back in the desert at Xavier, he built with loyalty, purpose, and an unapologetically tough schedule to attract real football families and sharpen his roster. His advice for young coaches is practical and blunt: start where you’re needed, bring film nuggets to meetings, let consistency earn you more. For players, the message is clear—be coachable, protect your GPA, sacrifice distractions, and build the daily habits that compound.

If this conversation gave you fuel, tap follow, share it with a teammate or fellow coach, and leave a quick review to help more people find the show. Your support helps us keep bringing real stories and actionable lessons from the desert to your headphones.

#palmdesert #oregonstatefootball #nfl #nflplayer #footballcoach #xavierprep #howtogopro #profootball #oregonstatebeavers #football

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome back, everyone, to Desert Valley Blitz. This is our coach's corner section. And today, man, we've we're real excited because we've got a legend in the house. This guy's been to the top of the game. He's been all the way to the pro level. And now he's back here teaching the youth. Mr. James Dockery, thanks for coming in, man. Thanks for having me, guys.

SPEAKER_00:

Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we're real excited, man.

SPEAKER_03:

I just want to bring it back to the beginning. I was aware of you when you went to college. Yeah. Where did your football journey start? Like where what happened?

SPEAKER_00:

Man, there's a lot. Obviously, uh, my uncles, I my uncles, rest in peace, um, Kevin, Michael Dockery, and Ronald Cochran. Um, you know, they're they're not here with me right now, but I wish they were because they they really set me on this. Um, one of them, uh Ronald, he played for uh Indiana. He was an offensive lineman. He's a big dude. That's my mom's brother. And then my dad's brother, uh Kevin, uh, he played for USC, Mount Sack. You know, we're a Pomona family. Uh, so he was a football player as well. They're both businessmen. Uh their birthdays are November 10th and November 17th. I'm November 9th, so we're Scorpios. So we got a lot of synergy, and neither one of them had boys. Um, and so I was kind of like their guy. Um and so just hanging around those guys, going on business trips, uh, you know, watching football with them, throwing the ball, um, they got me, they got me into it. And the funny thing is, they wouldn't let me play tackle football. And uh they passed away. My first uncle passed away when I was in sixth grade, and my second passed away um seventh grade summer when I had just moved to the desert. And when they kind of passed away, obviously that was hard for me. Um, but it was an opportunity because that summer I went to the uh Palm Desert Rec Center to play basketball, and I had met a kid in there, Drew Harrell. He's a uh chiropractor out here, one of my best friends. And he was uh playing football for the Roadrunners under Coach Woody, Woody Germany. If you guys, I mean, if you're a Valley guy, you know Coach Woody. And um he was like, man, come to the come to the park if you play football. I'm like, I know how to play, but my mom won't let me play. So anyway, I went to the practice and I watched them for a second, and Woody was like, Hey, can you, you know, can you play football? Like, I'm like, yeah, I can play. And uh I went out there, I did it. He was like, Oh, yeah, this guy can play. But I'm like, my mom ain't gonna let me play. So, you know, we gotta see. So he talked to my mom, uh, bought me some football cleats, and I came back like probably like two, three days later. And uh I did training camp Hell Week with him. Just I was the last one to sign up. I was number 78 running back for the roadrunners, and uh that's where it really got started. So I always had been trained as a football player, but uh my uncles were strict about tackle. And so, you know, when they passed away and me and my mom moved out here, it's kind of like, oh, no dad around, no no uncles around. I'm about to play tackle, and uh, and that's what we've been doing ever since.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. So you started at what age? Uh eighth grade.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, I've always been playing, I always had hands, I'd always had the jukes and all that stuff, but I didn't play tackle until eighth grade.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, so you're a little late, late to the game in terms of getting the helmet and the shoulder pad. Definitely.

SPEAKER_00:

Which, I mean, ultimately it didn't matter, but I'm a little bit because learning how to tackle, like a lot of my friends uh were better tacklers than me. I didn't really learn how to tackle, I think, until uh probably junior, senior year. Like I was uh willing to tackle, but learning how to actually get guys down that are bigger than you. Right. Uh I saw that a lot of my friends that had played earlier in life, they were a little bit better at that. Um so you know, you gotta have the heart to do it, which I had that, but the skill to do it, it takes a little bit of time.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I coach the youth right now. I tell parents takes at least a year. Yep. At least a year to learn how to it's not normal to run full speed into another human being. Exactly. You gotta learn, you gotta train your mind to do that.

SPEAKER_03:

Especially when they're a little bigger than you.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, exactly. You gotta get rid of that fear factor. But that's awesome. So when you got to high school, how tell us a little bit. I know you had a little journey through high school. Yeah. I mean, you started with the Ruin Runners. How did that high school journey go?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh, it went pretty good. I mean, we were from Pomona, you know. So uh when we moved out here in eighth grade, we didn't really know about any of the desert uh history or tradition. Uh when my mom moved out here, we actually moved to uh Cat City and then DHS. And so my mom was looking for like, you know, which are the high schools out here that can um, you know, really support me both academically and athletically. Uh because one thing about my mom, you know, and she's got a whole story that she could tell on a podcast, but you know, as tough as we were growing up, he's like, the homework's got to be done. Like if you're not doing the homework, you're not getting it done, like you're not going to practice, like no matter what they had going on, you know. So she immediately looked at the best high schools out here for academics and basketball. I was a hooper, uh, I'm a skinny dude, you guys know that. And uh, so I was hooping mainly. And so that year, Palm Desert High School in 2002, they went to this, uh they went to the CIUF championship, they lost, and then they went like second or third round in state for basketball. So uh with my you know favorite sport being basketball, she was like, Oh, I think Palm Desert is where I'm gonna send you. Uh, I already was going to Palm Desert Charter Middle School. And so uh Coach Brady, I don't know if this is breaking rules or not, but Coach Brady popped up at a PE class one day uh and was like, hey, you know, I heard you might be going to La Quinta or Palm Springs, and we didn't really, really know, you know, where we were going. And uh, but after that, you know, it takes a little bit of attention from a coach sometimes. And once I saw him come see me in eighth grade, I don't even know this guy. And I'm like, man, I think mom, that's good. You're thinking Palm Desert, uh, I think that's where I want to go. And then when I got there, I wasn't really thinking about football, but you know, Coach Blackburn's a great recruiter, he's gonna recruit his campus. And so when I got on campus, uh Blackburn got got his uh hooks in me. Um, and I think it was a great decision.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So going from the road runners to that that program, how how long did you it really take you before you started getting? Because you were I remember you when you were playing, I was coaching, I was a young coach, and you by your senior year you were you were already a D1 guy. So how did that how did that go from not really willing to tackle? How how long did it take you before you started getting noticed on that side? Because I know you were initially a hooper, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I was. And I think like basketball always gave me great ball skills. Like if you're you know, first off, if you're a point guard, you should be able to defend somebody as a corner press coverage. You know, that's no different than really getting up in a a guard, you know, getting up in his stuff and you know, really uh competing. Um, as far as like going up for rebounds, I was a guard that liked the rebound. That's high pointing the football and and and and you know, high pointing the basketball is the same thing as going up to get it in um and uh in football. So um I think those traits from basketball really carried over. A lot of basketball players will be great NFL players or great uh D1 players. It's just a matter of the toughness, right? Um, and so I think uh playing basketball really prepared me. Um and I like I grew up hard, man. So I already was tough. You know, I had you know tough cousins and tough sister, rest in peace. So um that part of it was easy for me. Um and then uh, you know, going into Palm Desert High School, having Coach Blackburn and those guys, it took me a little bit to get adjust uh get adjusting to it. But you know, when you're an athlete, it kind of comes a little natural, a little quickly. Um, you know, but I was thankful that like I fell into the right spot with Coach Brady, Coach Blackburn. Um, I couldn't have asked for a better, you know, two coaches to have in high school because they really developed me.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, he's a Blackburn's a great guy, man. He's a good coach. Um uh jump in are so your junior, senior year, you're like, I got a shot to go do one. It's just the offer started coming in. Yeah, um, what was it like when you got to college? Like what was was it um like when you go to college, it's like a it's like a business, man. It's it's like high school football is fun, and then you get to college and all of a sudden you're like, dang, this is like a job. Was it easy for you at first, or how did you navigate that?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh man, honestly, I think it really comes down to just the preparation that I had. You know, um, I didn't really think about going D1 in football until probably the end of my sophomore year. I was really, you know, focused on basketball. Um, that was my thing. I really wanted to play point guard. And I just remember one day Coach Blackburn called me into the office and he was like, uh, you know, you want to be a 6'2 point guard or you want to be a 6'2 receiver DB that can do what you can do. And at that time, I didn't, you know, I was like, I was young, I was probably like 14, 15 when he told me that. And I started to think about it, like, yeah, how many of you know my favorite basketball players are 6'2? Okay, Alan Iverson, he's six foot. Like I'm barely taller than him, but he's got a 42-inch vert. This guy's a freak. Like, uh, then I was like, okay, Keyshawn Johnson, he's a little bit taller than me, you know, but he's how many corners do I like that are my height? Charles Woodson, that's only one. So I started really putting that together and I realized, like, man, if I play football as 6'2 as a receiver or a DB, that is different than being a 6'2 point guard. So once I had that conversation with Blackburn, and then I realized, like, okay, I'm at the right school academically too. Um, I think at that point I really started focusing on football. And uh, I think I got my first offer. Blackburn can verify this or not. I think I got my first offer sophomore year. I think it was San Diego State or UTEP. Um, I remember my first letter was uh Nebraska. And uh funny how like my freshman year, Joe Johnson was there. And uh shout out to Joe Johnson, me and him going back and forth because he he doesn't like his ranking on this top 100. But but anyway, like his whole room.

SPEAKER_01:

A lot of people complain, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, his whole room was like full of letters at his house, right? And I went over there and I'm like, damn, this dude got all these letters. Like, I gotta get that. And he was already at my school, thank God, because that was my motivation right there. So, you know, after I got my first offer of sophomore year in Blackburn's like, hey, you can get a lot more of these if you take care of business in the classroom and uh keep doing what you're doing. So um I answer your question, you know, going to college, it is a full-time job. It's 60 hours a week. Um, but uh that routine is something that employers look for. You guys know, you guys are business guys. So student athletes, they can work under pressure, they can work well with others. Uh they know time management, they know discipline. And so I'm just so thankful that I had that journey. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

How did you choose uh the college though? I mean, you had all these choices, right? I mean, what was the what was the deciding factor? You know, I always wonder like, was it the trip? Was it the party you went to? I don't know. I was telling some guys about this yesterday. Girls you met over there. Like, what was the ultimate deciding factor for you?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh it was a little things. Um, I was getting recruited by like Washington, Nebraska, Oregon. Oregon, I liked Oregon to sound like, but it was like a little too business-like for me as a business guy. That sounds crazy now. Um, but my godmom, who I was living with in high school, she's from Eugene, Oregon. So she was all about the duck. She wanted, she knows people there, the coaches. Uh, she wanted me to be a duck, but they were just kind of recruiting from like a business standpoint, where Oregon State was recruiting from a family standpoint. And uh Coach Riley had been there for a while, and I just felt like I didn't want to go to a college and then the coach leaves, and then I have to like Riley is a legend in Corvallis, so like he was like Joe Pa. I felt like Riley would have still been there even today, right? And so I just had a feeling that he would be there with the guys that were recruiting me. And so they were super family uh oriented, and uh that really helped. Um Blackburn coached with my D coordinator at Oregon State at Northridge, so we had that little connection as well. Um, and then when I went up there, I was 16 years old and on a Halloween weekend in Corvallis, and anybody that is familiar with Oregon State, they know about Halloween weekend in Corvallis. It's uh it's a sight. Uh and so I was up there a little younger than I needed to be. And uh I came home. I come home the next week, I said, Coach, cancel the Washington trip. I think I'm going to Oregon State. Wow, just like that, huh?

SPEAKER_01:

Didn't even take your final trip.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I didn't take my final trips. I knew it. Coach Banker, um, Coach Riley, the Oregon State staff, and uh USC was dominating at the time. And I didn't really want to go to the Pac-12 because I felt like USC would just always win the league title. Right. And if I wasn't gonna get recruited by SC, um, shout out to Pete Carroll for the motivation. Um, I just felt like I wanted to go to who can compete against them. And that year, Oregon State, they were right there head in head with uh uh USC and Reggie Bush took a punt return to the house. So I was like, okay, if I'm gonna go anywhere in the pack, I want to go with whoever has the best jerseys and whoever uh is gonna be competitive with SC. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And they were close that year. They were close for a couple years.

SPEAKER_00:

I agree. And then we beat them three out of five years when I was there. Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, there you go, man. Give a little revenge to USC for not recruiting you. Well, that's awesome, man. So you had a great, you had a great, obviously, a great high school career. You're like, you know, all state, all CIF. What high in college it gets to be business, right? Yeah. When did you kind of feel like, because you know, you made it to the highest level. So when did you kind of feel in college that you, hey, maybe I can make a profession out of this? You know, I don't, I don't, you know, when you get there, you're kind of like a fish out of water for those first couple years. When did you finally feel comfortable to make that push?

SPEAKER_00:

Man, that's a great question. Um, I think it's always been kind of wired differently. Like those of you guys that know me uh personally, they just know how competitive I am, man. Like um, it's almost a gif and a curse because I mean the competitiveness has gotten me to where I'm at, but it's also um created some roadblocks too, just because I mean, I love to uh, you know, I hate losing more than I love to win. Like winning is cool, but I can't stand losing, you know. So, and that even when I lost at the Mount Sack relays like in 1996 or something, I was crying. And my mom was like, if you're gonna cry every time you lose, like, you know, what, you know, like that's not a good habit. But I would just hate losing so bad. And so uh when I got to Oregon State, my my friends that did not go pro, but my classmates, they would always say, like, doc man, you came in here thinking like I'm going to the league. Um and they always just say, like, I don't even know if I believed it myself, but I just felt like, you know, I gotta speak it into existence. Like, if you're not thinking that, like, why are we here? I'm not here just for the education, like, yeah, but I'm here to try to make this money. Like, I wanna, I wanna change my life. And so I always knew that I needed football to change my life, just you know, socioeconomically. And so um I was just locked in, you know, from day one. I was just always locked in and competitive. And so um, you know, Blackburn would always tell me, like, you know, you gotta dominate where you live, you gotta dominate your team, you gotta be the best person on your team before you can even look at UCLA or Cal Berkeley. So I just really went into training camp trying to get my feet wet. Um, and I think that once I realized, once I got up there and I knew, like, oh, I'm a little weird. Like most guys are not as competitive as me. And so once I knew that about people, then it was just like you smell blood in the water. You know, then it was like, okay, you guys don't really want it like I do. Like, I'm coming from a different spot. And so, you know, just that competitiveness and one-on-ones and drills and stuff, always trying to win. Um, it just led to just being having successful traits, you know. So I would just tell kids, you'd like, hey, just concentrate being on the best, like be the best DEL player, you know, be the best in Southern California, be the best in San Bernardino, be the best in the IE. This focus on like being the best where you're at. And if you can keep doing that, you're gonna be successful. Yeah.

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SPEAKER_01:

Keep trending upward, right? That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

And some people call that cocky in high school or overconfident, but I was using that as a defense mechanism too, because like I went to Palm Desert and I wasn't really like those kids. Like, you know, no disrespect to any Palm Desert families, but we get it. You know, they you know, they're living good. A lot of not, you know, my friends, we I kind of kids. Yeah, I hung out with the friends that were kind of like me. And I, but I was, you know, shout out to you know, Mr. Heckman, Dick Heckman, rest in peace, because you know, he was somebody that was so successful business-wise, and I was really good friends with his daughter. And uh I was able to see, like, man, this is a whole nother side of this life. And if I want to get there, like I may not be able to get there through business right now, but this ball is gonna help me get closer. And so that was able to like motivate me. And so I'm thankful to go to Palm Desert High School because seeing that other side of the of the world uh really motivated me to just put my head down and grind.

SPEAKER_01:

And it prepared you for the future. Yeah, prepared you for what was coming after football. Exactly. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

So what what side coaching? When did that pop up?

SPEAKER_00:

Like coaching, man. Um coaching, uh, you know, I got done playing football. Uh, I tried to, I signed with the Raiders because, you know, my wife is from Portland. Raiders. Um, you know, I'm from SoCal. And so I wanted to, you know, being out on the East Coast for the Browns and the and the Panthers, I was like, man, I gotta get back to the West Coast, either the Chargers or Raiders. So Chargers were talking to me, but we couldn't work out the numbers, and Oakland gave me an opportunity to come out there, and I was like, man, I gotta go. Hindsight is always 2020, right? Because I had a great organization with the Panthers. Um, probably should have just tried to stay there. Raiders, I like the Raiders. My family likes the Raiders, but uh organizationally, right now I love them. Chip Kelly, P. Carroll, like I would sign up for them any day right now. Um, but at that time, it was just tough, you know, it was tough. So anyway, I come back there, it didn't work out there. And by the time I left training camp with the Raiders, and after being on the team for almost under a year, I was just burnt out.

SPEAKER_01:

And so How long have you been in the league at this point? A couple years. About four and a half years, yeah. Almost going on year five.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so I was just like, you know, has saved my money, have been smart. I'm like, I don't really need to play. Sure, I would love millions, but like, you know, was your body kind of telling you three surgeries the year before with Carolina, my hand, both shoulders. So I was just kind of getting that point, like, we'll see. Yeah. I had some business ideals in my mind. And um, and anyway, so I went, we went back to Portland after uh that didn't work out. And I was working as a financial advisor because I really wanted to help athletes, you know, manage their money. A big thing about athletes, you know, going broke, I would love to say, and I I do have money from the NFL still, not as much as I did, but I, you know, but I'm not bankrupt. So I'm proud of that. It's something that really I take pride in, you know. So I wanted to help other guys uh do the same thing. But when I was in those financial offices, like I would just be drawing plays, man. I'm on the Colin Heard podcast, I'm doing fantasy football, and I was making money and doing that thing too, but I was like, I gotta coach. And one of the Oregon State alumni out there, Coach Atkison, he was coaching at Westview High School. Uh, Westview High School is like where most of the Nike execs their kids go to and all that, they're a good public school. And I went and coached there on the defensive side that year. And we went from being like a team that was like kind of good to being number three in the state. All right. And I was on the defensive side helping out with the uh defensive passing game and defensive coordinating, things like that. And I was like, hey, I'm getting the same intensity, that same a kid get a big hit or get a pick. And I'm like, oh, this feels like this feels like something. And uh, and so, you know, as as fate would have it, a couple months later, my wife got pregnant and um and I was thinking, like, man, I got money in the bank account, but I can't buy a house because the career I'm in right now, I can't prove the income, blah, blah, blah. Um, I know I want to buy a house, I want to have my, I want my kids to have a stable foundation. And Coach Blackburn hit me up, like, hey, there's this school, you know, Xavier, they're hiring a football coach and an athletic director. And me and Blackburn had had these conversations in life, like, what do you want to do besides football? Blackburn always asked me, like, what are you gonna do when you're done? He would always ask me this stuff. So we already had that plan, like, all right, athletic director. And so that had an opportunity to work with Mark Campbell, who's the president now. And uh, so it was an alignment football, athletic directing, and then I wanted to teach kids about business. And so Xavier had that opportunity for me. And I didn't think I was gonna get the job. Honestly, I was 27. I was like, let me just do it to do it. And then lucky enough, they were crazy enough to hire me, and here we are.

SPEAKER_01:

So that's how you ended up back in the desert, huh? Coming down here. Now, did Xavier even exist when you played? No, they opened up, they opened up the year after I left. Wow, so they didn't even exist. You had no idea what this school was. No idea. Honestly, no idea of this school. No idea. I mean, but I remember when you took it over. I mean, they were just they were kind of a middle of the pack kind of team. You know, they were they'd have some, they were just too small, their roster was too small. And I think you coming in with that vision and and I've seen what you've done with the program, man, for sure. Over the years, I mean, you guys have top line talent. I mean, there's no like when you line up with your ones, you can compete with anybody. You know, so I mean it's a uh it's a it's a a shout out to what you're doing, man. For sure. It's a it's a good job of building. So when you get over to Xavier and you look at the surroundings, I mean I mean it's not that you had to turn it around, but you had to build it actually, right? You kind of had to build build a foundation for something.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, a little bit. You know, Coach Coach Lewis, the first coach there, did a great job. He's still our shoot coach. When we first started off, we're butt heads a little bit, but he's so passionate, so my he's an alpha, he's a dog, you know. So sometimes you get two dogs in a room, you know, they're gonna bite, you know. And uh, but man, that's my teammate right now. You know, he's there with my guys every day at the weight room. I'm blessed to be able to pick up my kids from school, take them to practice, jiu-jitsu, golf, whatever it is, because I know after school, when my guys go in the weight room with Coach Lewis, they're locked in. You know, and so he's gonna hold them to that standard. So he did a great job getting this, you know, no lights, no field. I mean, the stories that Coach Lewis talks about. He's the godfather of that coach, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

You started with nothing over there.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, shout out to him because it wouldn't be a program without him. Uh Coach Bob Moyet did a good job. He had a little bit more than Coach Lewis, and I've had a little bit more than Coach Moyet. Then the next coach, whenever that time comes, probably gonna have a little bit more than me. Right. But we just try to leave it in a better place. And so um, yeah, I mean, we have some good players there. Uh, we've hit the ground hard. Uh, my coaching staff, we've been the same since you know nine years. A lot of loyalty on my staff. That's important. A lot of creativity on our staff. And um, man, I'm blessed. It's been a heck of a nine-year run because it's a hard job. It's a hard job, but it's a it's a great job. Has it already been nine years? Yeah, this is year number nine.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, man.

SPEAKER_00:

I think after this last win, not that I'm counting, but I think we just got to 500. Very good. And uh, we're proud of that. We got two ties and we're 500 because it's hard, man. Our schedule that we've gone against, we've never shied down. I mean, you guys can go back and check. You know, uh, you know, we play Aquinas every year. We got Palm Desert in our league. We've had Silesian, we've had St. Pius. I mean, we've lined it up with anybody, and we weren't ready to line it up. But I knew like if I want real football families to come here, hey, we're not gonna play a cupcake schedule. We're gonna play real teams, so you know what we're doing.

SPEAKER_01:

You got to, right? And you gotta do that to get the best guys, right? That's right. You gotta play against the best. So no doubt. Shout out to you guys, man. You guys are doing it. I've seen what you've done with that program, and it's it's it's it's been it's been a big transformation since you got there. Daryl kind of set you up and you kind of finished the job, man. So I'm still getting there. Yeah, you're still getting there, but you're you're you're getting close. So I think you know, you got a you got a good court players at a community run, man. Um, we're getting kind of close to time, but we always want to ask our coaches to the young guys that maybe want to get just you know getting out of playing the game and maybe thinking about getting into coaching, which we know is not an easy thing to do. What advice would you have to a young guy that maybe is thinking about getting the coaching profession?

SPEAKER_00:

Hey, don't be afraid to ask for help. You know, when I took this job over, I wanted to have make sure I had young coaches, no shot, no disrespect to anybody that got some gray hair, because I got a few up here now. Um, but I wanted some guys with some energy. Like my first criteria was like no wives, no kids. Oh, yeah. Like, I just want people that like all you care about is football. You know, so the first two guys that popped up, Michael Carl. Yeah, uh, you know, Carl, he shout out to Carls. He he's uh he he just got engaged this weekend. But when I first met with him at uh JT's, man, this dude, he didn't care nothing. He he's just a football junkie. And so I wanted that. Then Taylor Pope had just graduated college. I'm like, you ain't got no job yet. Like, what's up? Like, let me try to get you on campus, let me get you. I wanted local guys that resonate in the living rooms, one guy from the East Valley, one guy from the West Valley. I want to be able to go in those neighborhoods. We want to take kids from those powerhouses, and we want them to come here. And uh, so I started with those guys, you know, Pope and Carl, and then my my best friend Nick Exales, who top 100 player, all those guys. We have four coaches that are on the top 100. And uh, but those guys were willing to reach out and humble themselves. Like they weren't necessarily trying to be a coordinator or trying to be the head coach, they just wanted a chance, you know. And as they took that chance, they got better and better. And like Carl has been a coordinator, Pope has been a coordinator, Pope is going to UW and coach Cincinnati. Um, and now they come back, and you know, Pope is you know taking the over to offensive coordinator and and Carl is the JV head coach, and you know, they're still brothers. And so we've been able to, you know, I've been lucky. I wouldn't be here uh winning these games without without the staff that I have. So um I would just say any guy, any guys that are out there, don't be afraid to reach out, humble yourself, ask for help. And if a coach tells you, hey man, I need you to be like D line coach for J V, don't don't think you need to be D-line coach for varsity. Right. Just show up to J V and show him that you're great, break down the film. And when we have your meetings with the coaches, give him something that he goes, like, oh damn, you've been watching tape. Right. You found that it. Because one thing about Carlson Pope, and like when we get to our Sunday meetings, especially when they were younger, like they're finding things like, hey, this, and then when we do it in the game, it works. So if you want to move up in the ranks as a young coach, do whatever they say at first, and then give those head coaches those nuggets so they go, like, okay, I know this guy, he's putting that work in. Right. And the cream will rise to the top, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Because I've seen it in my career.

SPEAKER_00:

You same thing, you kind of just okay to be loyal to a program and stay there and grow and climb the ranks. Because I see a lot of times like a lot of coaches have like every polo from the valley. And that's like that's not for me. Yeah, you know, you know, our guys that have been with me, like we got a polo. Yeah, you know, that's that black and gold right now. That's right. You know, and and you know, hopefully it stays that way forever. It may change one day, but it's not now.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, stay, stay loyalty. Goes a long way in this business. It does. Chain of knowing the chain of command and loyalty, that that that can you can definitely work.

SPEAKER_00:

And I learned that from Blackburn, man.

SPEAKER_01:

So share it up. So that's that's a good little nugget. So, but so you've been to the top of the game, right? You've been to the NFL. So now that we have an NFL guy on here, we get to ask this question. What would so the young players out there now, young players that are thinking, hey, you know, I want to I want to do like Dockery and get to the NFL. I'm from the Coachella Valley. What advice would you give those kids that are thinking, hey, I got I I can do it if he can, you know, I think I can do it too. What advice would you give them, these young bucks coming up that that maybe have that dream?

SPEAKER_00:

Ah man, I I'm hesitant on that. Even Coach JB knows I don't like talking about the NFL too much because it's just it's uh one NFL stands for not for long. Ah, absolutely. Two, there's so many more professions you can do in life that can make you a great husband, citizen, all that stuff. But yes, if you're a die hard football player and you want to make it to the league, man, you just gotta be a coachable guy. I mean, like, I it's hard to say what the recipe is. Some of that is genetics, you know. But my dad is 5'8, my mom's 5'8, but like people in my family are top athletes, so I I got the genes, but um man, competitiveness, uh academics, you gotta be eligible and beyond eligible. You gotta like shout out to Jeremiah Johnson, like guys like that, you know, 4.2 Rancher Mirage getting offers because one, he's a great athlete, but also his academics. So um how to get to the league, man. Uh it's hard, man. It's it's it's really it's a really hard question because it's so hard. Like you gotta just be a dog.

SPEAKER_01:

The numbers are against you, right? Yeah, the numbers are against you. It's not for long, like you said. If you're going into coaching, you have a long-term plan.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but again, just just dominate where where you're at. Yeah, I love that. Like Blackburn never let me come off the field. Like I always say it was like child abuse. Like, you probably get mad. But it's like, nah, I'm playing, and that's why, you know, top 100, it's like, look, man, I never came off the field as a special teamer. Yeah, I never came off the field on defense or offense. Ask my mom, my god mom. I'm cramping up all throughout the night, all those long nights, sacrifice, no parties, no this, like you know, like it's a grind. Like, if you really want to go to like top 1%, you got to be willing to do what nobody else is willing to do. And luckily, I grew up in Pomona, California. Luckily, I grew up a little differently because that motivation from that experience, like I didn't need motivation from a parent. I didn't need motivation from like my coach. Like, it was already in me. So if you are growing up like a little better, two-parent household, nice garage. If you are growing up, even if you live a little harder out here in the valley, if you know, you gotta like be willing to sacrifice. Like, you gotta be willing to sacrifice social media, you gotta be willing to sacrifice the late nights of going out. You gotta eat, you gotta sleep, you gotta work out, you gotta grind, you gotta watch tape, you gotta get bigger, stronger, faster every single year. And so, I mean, it is a lifetime of commitment.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So hear that young players, hey, start now, man. Start building those habits now from a guy that's been to the top of the food chain. That's what it's gonna take. Well, coach, man, you're a legend. Appreciate it. Thanks for coming in, man. We've been we've been blessed to have you. Um, a lot of good tidbits on this episode, man. Um, so if you guys found some value in that, and you know the routine, like, subscribe, and follow. And we'll see you next time on Desert Valley Blitz.