In & Out Talks Podcast: Episode 68: Ron Monroe

On this episode of the In & Out Talks Podcast, powered by Tier One Performance, we sit down with Ron Monroe, a Houston native and former Division I football player at Vanderbilt University.

Growing up in Houston, Ron was a multi-sport athlete before taking his talents to the college level. At Vanderbilt, he competed in the SEC as both a quarterback and wide receiver, experiencing firsthand the dedication, versatility, and discipline required to compete at one of the highest levels of college football.

In this episode, Ron takes us through his athletic journey—from playing multiple sports as a young athlete in Houston to making the transition into Division I football. He shares his experiences at Vanderbilt, the challenges that come with competing at the collegiate level, and some of the lessons sports taught him that have continued to influence his life and career.

Now back home in Houston, Ron has transitioned from athletics into a leadership role in sales, where many of the competitive habits and principles he developed through football continue to play a role in his professional success. Outside of work, Ron enjoys spending time with his wife and family.

🎙️ Tune in for a great conversation about football, being a multi-sport athlete, competing in the SEC, life after sports, leadership, and carrying an athlete's mentality into the professional world.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Guys, welcome back to the In N Up Talks Podcast, hosted by Tier One Performance. Your host here, Mitch Metulia. Today's special guest, personal friend of mine, standout athlete, Houston native. Went to Fort Ben Bush High School where he was a three-sport athlete. Later on, got a college scholarship, played football at Vanderbilt. Ron Monroe, welcome to the show, my friend. Hey man, long time coming. Good to be here. Appreciate you guys for having me. Dude, thanks for being on today, man. Thanks for taking the time. Uh, we got a lot of stuff that we want to cover with you. Obviously, man, uh, this is our first SSC football player we've ever had on. So this is a big time for us. And uh first and foremost, Ron, just a little bit about yourself, our viewers out there, where are you from, a little bit about your upbringing and how you got into sports, man?

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Yes, sir. So uh name's Ron, uh Ronald Monroe. I'll go by Ron for short. But um grew up in Houston. Um, my dad was in the military, so moved around a lot, lived in San Diego. We were little, uh, Fort Worth. Um found our way back to Houston. We lived to Corpus Christie, our eighth grade yeah, and that's when we found out like this could actually be, you know, sports to be a thing. We were just demolishing kids down there, being my twin brother. And like when we came, when we moved back to Houston, when everybody found out the news, everybody was just like, oh man, like the twins have to come to our school, like they have to come to our school. And like my aunt had a house that she let us use until we found our own house, which is directly across the street from hers. Yes. And it so happened we ended up in the Fort Bend district and with Coach Courtney, and it was just amazing. But I mean, growing up, man, my dad was like a military guy, like I said, so it was just like discipline. It was like really started out first playing baseball. Like it was just a fun thing to do. Like, we were out there playing baseball. I played shortstop, my brother was the pitcher, so it was kind of reverse opposite because once I get later on, I'll tell you how we formed out in high school. But the kids were like hitting the ball to the fence, and like nobody would go get it. I would run out there, get the ball at the fence, and I would throw it all the way in, and everybody's like, God, he he has to be a quarterback or something. Like kids got a home on him. So I went from playing baseball to not even like acknowledging that part to then going to basketball way around six. So basketball was my first love. Like, fell in love with basketball, wanted to play basketball player the whole time, and then I mean, we started getting into football around like middle school, junior high. And at the time, I was in seventh grade. I went to Dallin High School, it's kind of zone to Madison.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

But there was a seventh grade team and there was an eighth grade team. And I was in seventh grade, they were like, Yeah, you're gonna be the starting quarterback for the eighth grade team. Like, you're the only one who can throw the ball decent enough. It folks you up. So I was a seventh grader playing eighth grade football. So I was just like, this is crazy, man. Like, it's crazy. And then at that point, I knew like, okay, like football, I might have to like just play football. Right. Talking to my dad, my brother, we were just like, what sport do we want to do? And even like I'll go further, like our trainer, our high school trainer, Derek Junkins, really cool guy, great guy, does a lot of training and stuff like that. But we were working out with him all the time, and he's like, just stay in both. Like, everybody, like, dual sports is gonna help you out in the long run. It'll help you like in aspects where like, you know, get training in football, you get those in basketball, and vice versa, like that. So we just kept playing both sports, got to high school, and obviously the football coach is like any skill position in football, you guys were running track. So started running track, and I mean, we were non-stop, just sports, rotational, just all year around. Like it was football, they're riding the basketball, they're riding the track. So, I mean, we were pretty used to like just having like a busy schedule with my dad in the military. He would always like have us in order at house. You get home, you do your homework, you work out, then you eat. Like, if you didn't do whatever you have to do before, why was he gonna reward us with a meal? So we kind of had it instilled in us like this is the life we're gonna live. Like, we're gonna work out, we're gonna do our school work, and then we can enjoy whatever we want after that. So, thankful for my dad to do that through high school, kept us in order, kept us in line, and and yeah, man. I mean, at the end of the day, when the offer started rolling in, football just kind of took off. So it's kind of where I knew I was going. Um actually, like my sophomore year, I really only had three offers coming out. I was Houston, New Mexico State, and Texas State. Yeah, I took an unofficial visit to Texas State. Dude, what I'll tell you, we went on like the visit, they're just going around campus, beautiful campus. I was like, you know what? Come in here. We actually drove by the river, and I was like, I'm for sure coming here. Like, I'm getting here. So community purposely take you through cars. So you can see this. But yeah, I mean, just talking to the people that were at Texas State, and I have nothing bad to say about it. It was a great school, great community. It's just bigger opportunities presented itself as junior year came around. I started getting more and more offers. Vanderbilt ended up being my only SEC offer, and the time where I was in high school, 2010 to 2014, yeah. SEC is where you want it to be. I mean, my favorite aisle, Camp Newton, he was playing at Auburn SEC. So I'm like, that's what I want to go play in the SEC. So despite all the break schools that kind of offered me wanting me to come play, I just took a chance on Vanderbilt and they came and sat in our house, and they tell my mom, it's not about the next four years in this life, it's about the next 40. So just setting up the educational aspect of it as well, best decision I made so far.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

So that's how it, that's how it all panned out. That's awesome, Ron. So you didn't even play organized football in elementary school. Like you didn't start playing organized football until middle school? Well, we played like in our look.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

So we lived in Waco, Texas at the time. Okay. So six or sixth, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade. We lived in Waco, Texas. So we had a little pop warner team. I was the quarterback, my brother was the running back. I mean, that was the thing, but we really never really thought much of it.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Like, right.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Yeah, we were better than the other players half the time, just because like me and my brother were just like we outgrew everybody at a young age. So we were just kind of bigger than everybody, faster than everybody. And I don't really count pop warner because it was like, yeah, I mean it was way too easy for us. But like getting into middle school where we started playing like older people older competition, more people that were like involved in the sport, then it became okay, like this is our setting. We kind of know where we stand in that setting. So I mean, I don't think it really took off until like middle school time.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

So got you. Because I had this conversation with a lot of uh guests on the show, and like Jordan and I, we we grew up playing four or five sports a year, and we felt like that made us better overall, well-rounded athletes. Yeah, and like yeah, and so do you feel the same way? Do you feel like that kids today are specializing at too young of an age? Whereas you know, playing three, four, or five sports a year can enhance not only their athletic ability, but also like prevent boredom.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

And like I see that on Instagram all the time. Like people talking about like, should my kid play one sport, pour all into one sport, or dabble dab into the most? What my take is on it is let them do like as many as they can, as many as their body can take on, just because, like, like you said, they could probably catch on to one thing in one sport and be like, oh, well, I can apply this to this sport, and it'll probably make them better in both sports. Like the lateral movement, vice versa, like baseball, hand eye coordination. So, like, if let's say I had a son and he's like, Dad, I want to play tennis full time. Well, I would tell him, I'm gonna try to get him in all his sports that make his hand eye coordination, his feet quicker, his feet better. So I would play baseball, soccer, just to get him like used to using those things like on a daily basis. So like now when he uses it in tennis, it's at 100% capacity. He knows his limits, he knows what he can do, what he can't do. So I do think multi-sports people should just and in general, like you're casting a wider net. Yes. If you want to like be a professional athlete in one sport, you gotta be super great in that one sport.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

So why not just cast the net and see what charge you get with with those sports and go from there?

SPEAKER_00 8:17

And coaches are attracted to athletes at the higher levels, yeah. So it's like to play big time division one football or or baseball or even to play professional sports, it's usually the best athlete on the field. Right. Like, yeah, and it's like because you can polish an athlete.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Yes, you can't just need a random guy and make him athlete. Yeah. So that like and like you said, the recruitment, like when I would be recruited, like people would be like, so what other sports do you play? Like they would come, like out of football scouts come watch me play basketball games, like just to see, like, I want to see how athletic this guy is. How competitive he is. How competitive he is in other sports, and like what drives it. And so, like, like you said, I think if their kids want to do multiple sports instead of like just holding the mail on one, just cast that in.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

You never know what happened. 100%. I couldn't agree more. And so for you, a majority of your scholarship offers started in your junior year. And you said that you've had you had up to 45 offers at one point, right? Now, when did a majority of those offers come in? Was it was like via mail, or was it like, I mean, how was that? Or was like coaches calling you, coming to your house?

SPEAKER_01 9:21

Like so, like sophomore, into sophomore year, beginning or freshman year, because I was on freshman, I played on the backup quarterback on varsity as a freshman, so I never played freshman, JV, none of that.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

So you never even played with your freshman team, you just never played freshman, never played freshman.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

I think I did one scrimmage at the beginning of the year, played JV with we went down to Galveston Ball. Yeah. We had a scrimmage. I played JV that one time, and they were like, yeah, okay. It was just a man amongst the city. It was like, yeah, this is like it's too easy for. Yeah. It's just, and literally, like, not to sound like cock or anything, but it was like literally just too easy for me at the time.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

I was used to like, like I said, I was in seventh grade, playing eighth grader, so I'm used to just playing bigger and better people.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

So I played backup quarterback or varsity, got a couple of games in, a couple of snaps. But I mean, it started with just like letters rolling in. And I mean, when I was a kid, like letters meant everything. You would always see on Instagram or like well, right, Twitter, Facebook when we were in uh in school, kids get letters, posting letters like letter from USC, letter from this. And then you open the letters when you get it, but it's just like, oh, we're interested, we'll continue to watch you. So it's like, it's not really like, oh, yeah, it's a great letter, but it's like, okay, I'm I'm on the radar. Yeah. Typically, when you get offers, like when I was in school, they would typically be in contact with you through like DM, social media, things like that. But when you get that official offer, they want to like call you, tell you, like, hey, we're offering you a full ride scholarship, university at Vanderbilt University, or you go on a recruiting visit, and while you're out there, they're like, they bring you in last day to the head coach's office, and he's like, We want you here. Like, we're gonna offer you a scholarship. And that's typically how it works for me. I never got anything in like mail or anything like that. It was always like a phone call or in-person offering. That's official, man. That's official.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Yeah, it's definitely still in the box. It's better than the letter. 100%, dude. I still kept all the letter envelopes, though. Just in the box. Well, you just gotta prove your kids, hadn't that? Well, so you went on an unofficial visit your sophomore year. Now, was Vanderbilt your first official visit, or was it like how many of you? It was actually my last official visit. Really?

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Yeah, so I took five official visits. Yeah. Um, my first official visit, I went to Washington State. Okay. So that was like mid-December of my senior year. Went to Washington State. It was amazing. Rest in peace. But Coach Leach was the head coach there. So he offered me when I was there. Um, I loved it. I committed on Christmas Day. So I went like December 13th. I called him on Christmas Day. I was like, I'm committing to the school. Like, I want to come to Wazoo. I want to be a, you know, I want to be a Cougar. So that happened there. That's when the heat really started picking up. Like once I committed to Washington State, then the offers started rolling in. So I had offers from almost like almost everywhere you can think of. But I took a trip to Utah State just because they had a quarterback similar to my style who was doing really well, projected to go through the NFL. We might know of Jordan Love. Yeah, you know, uh, but I went out there, that was pretty great. I went to BYU. Okay. Awesome as well. Um, San Jose State, and then Vanderbilt was my last visit. You know, I went to Vanderbilt, it was just like a dude, like if you ever been to Nashville, you gotta go. Because Nashville is like the city alone, this is just like it's awesome, bro. SEC money just hits different. I was just like, this is this is the place I want to be. They just had a standard receiver, Jordan Matthews. He had a long career at NFL, and like I was coming in right after the next year, and I was like, you know what? Like, they did some really great things. Why not continue it? The recruiter class we had, like, we all sat down in our recruitership, and I was like, is this what we want to do? Like, it was a couple people that already committed. Some of us were like on the feds, right? And we're just like, well, is this what we want to do? Like, can we make this work? Yeah, sure enough, two weeks after that, bro. Everybody who bought in, we all committed, showed up to Materville.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Wow. And that day you met with the head coach in his office, and he's just like, we want to offer you a full ride.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Yeah. So and it was tricky because like they had just gone through a coaching change. So uh James Franklin and just went to Penn State. I didn't know I said it at Vanderbilt before. He was right, he was at Vanderbilt before I went to Penn State. And then we had Derek Mason coming in, who's in DC at Stanford, coming in to be the head coach at Vanderbilt. So his first hand coaching job. And the guy who was recruiting me at San Jose State, I had just got off a plane from a trip from San Jose State. Like just later at Houston. I got a phone call. Hey, because like when I went out there, the coach wasn't there. And I was like, where's like where's Coach Kenwick? Like, he tell me he's gonna be here, not here. Yeah. So soon I got off the plane, I got a phone call. He's like, hey, just got a coaching job at Baberville. We want you here. Like, we want you to come out on a recruit trip next week, get you out here, see if you like. So at that point, I get done with the trip, and I'm like, Coach Kenwick, man, like, I love it. Like, let's buy in. So it was the last recruiting trip I took just because like another coach had a job offer, so I'm thankful for that. Only SEC offer, and I'm like, that's what that's where I want to play. So what unfolded.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Dang, bro. So it was like a lot of things like had to come together, but like it's on like it was now in the city of Nashville, but it was a campus, it was the coaches, like all those things sold you.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

And more importantly, so my mom, my dad, my parents, like education like was big for us growing up, and like for them, like Vanderbilt was top-notch, top tier, should be a high league school. So they're like, yeah, you get the best in both worlds. Best football, best education, it's no bringer.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Man, so and you were were you playing both ways in high school, or you just a quarterback?

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Like, I just played quarterback towards the towards the like the end of my or my senior year, I was playing like a little defense just because some colleges like recruited me to play safety, corner, like they kind of wanted some tape out there. So I played corner and safety a couple of games, but nothing really too serious.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Were you the same size in high school as you are now?

SPEAKER_01 15:17

A little bit thinner, so I was probably like 6'3.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Probably like 185. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

And what was your high weight going into college?

SPEAKER_01 15:24

It was about the same. So yeah, my first year going in, same height, same weight. Sophomore year going in, I think I was about, which is crazy, 6'3 and three quarters.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

But then I was 215, 220. So definitely the weight program, real like we had uh Coach Dobson, he came in from I think Nebraska. Yeah. Strictly vendition head coach from Nebraska, and he came in to Vanny my first year. And man, that program is awesome, bro.

unknown 15:48

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

So dude, what was it like stepping on foot at Vanderbilt your freshman year, going into an SSC football program? What was that like?

SPEAKER_01 15:55

I'm not gonna lie, bro. It's pretty scary. Yeah, it was like I see these guys on TV, like you get on campus, you finally actually see how big the other guys are, like the offense lineman, the defense lineman, you're coming from high school. Like, you always probably saw maybe one or two of those on the field at a time. Right. Now it's like it's a field of 11 of just massive and not to get bro. I'm 18 and there's like people 23, 20, like thrown men in college. And bro, like, it really didn't hit me until like the very first game. Like, we played Ole Miss in the Titan Stadium. Wow. And when they walked out the tunnel, like coming from high school, I thought our team was big. But everybody was saying, like, we had to go to a small SEC school. And just seeing like the size of the other guys, like the other team, it's like wow. Like, okay, this is real. Like, yeah. Let me lock in. These guys are monsters. But I mean, once you get playing, once you get going, you get that first hit out, jitters get out, and you're like, okay, this is just football. Everybody does the same thing. It's a game. It's a game. But like once you get past the eye test, dude, everything falls in line. But most people typically don't get past the eye test. They're like, man.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

They're just stunned and they're almost intimidated before the game is starting to get started.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Before the game even starts. So that's what I would say. The biggest thing is just like knowing, like same people across the field, they're the same, same human as Leo. They put their pants leg on one leg at a time. 100%. Same thing. So but I mean it was it was pretty scary, but once the nerves got out, I mean, it was like highlight games every weekend. Like we played top performer people that are getting drafted first round every week. And it's just like it was kind of awesome. Just so I registered my freshman year, so it's kind of awesome just out there watching like studs just be studs. And it's like, man, I can't wait until I'm on the fellow and just doing that as well. So it was pretty cool, man. Like best times I've had they treat you like freaking celebrities. Yeah. I mean, not even in the NFL yet. So that was the biggest thing, biggest adjustment is like most of the time you want to do stuff yourself, just from high school, like you want to do it yourself. They're like, oh no, I got it. Like, don't even worry about it for whatever you need in the bag. We'll pack everything up for you, we'll get it on books. Like, what don't you work? And it's just like, okay. That's awesome. Like you'll get a text message, you got a class, like they know your class schedule, they know everything about you. You get a text, you're like, hey, you got a massage for four o'clock. And it's like, okay, great. Call your massage at four o'clock. Wow. That's a big time. Yeah, it was pretty awesome, you guys. Growing up, like, I didn't really have much. Like, my dad was in the military, so like my mom, she used to work, and then she stopped working, so she became a single household or a stay-at-home mom. Had four siblings, so it's just like, never really had like the greatest of things, worst of things. So it's like just seeing people like acknowledge you for like what you've accomplished over the years and getting to a great point is just like, man, like this is the best thing in the world. Like, you know, no worries in the world. Everything is just taken care of for you.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Yeah, that's awesome. Now, Ron, you came in as a quarterback and you transitioned into wide receiver. So, talk about that. I mean, what was that like and when did that happen?

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Yep, so I played quarterback in high school, yeah, all of high school, and like I mentioned earlier, people were just recruiting me for different types of things like safety, receiver, quarterback, and how it came to Vanderbilt. So the coach Kenwick uh Thompson came from San Jose State, they wanted me to play quarterback there. And until Derek Mason, like, hey, like, this guy's a pretty good quarterback, we'll be lucky to have him at quarterback. So just going through that uh recruit trip and then talking to Coach Mason at the end, he's like, I understand you're a quarterback, you want to play quarterback, you're really great at it. But we do have this pocket passer quarterback, high-rated from St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida, highly decorated, Wade Freeback. If he commits to our school, we're gonna try out at something else. And me, just being me like team player, like, cool, I don't have to play quarterback. I want to play in the SEC, I want to play for Vanderbilt, like I'm I'm committed here. I'm open. As soon as I got to the campus, first David Walker to the locker room, look up at the nameplate, Roman Rook, wide receiver. He's and I'm like, all right, there it is. There it is. I guess that's what I'm playing. Which, I mean, sometimes, yeah, I wake up look and look back and be like, man, I should have just gone to a school, wanted to quarterback. Things could have panned out different, but me, it all turned out how I was supposed to be in the long run, and I'm grateful for every opportunity.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

That's awesome, man. So talk about your experience as a wide receiver. So, I mean, like, did you start your sophomore year, or like how much playing time did you get going into that sophomore season? That's the red shirt year.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Going in the sophomore season, we had some some pretty great studs who came into my recruiting class as well. So we got in Trent Shurfield, he's in the NFL right now. We had uh CJ Duncan, also a great guy. He had a state in the NFL as well. And um called him sauce.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

His name's Caleb, not his last name, but very great as well. But we had a great group of guys. I never really started at Vanderbilt, did was in the rotation, got some playing time. I mean, not gonna sit here and lie, he got all American, you know, catching 75 touchdowns, but it was just awesome, man, playing on the field with those guys, learning from each other, like just getting better and better. The transition was kind of rough for me because like I never really played anything other than quarterback. So go on a receiver, just learning like the ins and outs, like I always like new like route concepts, want to break it off, things like that, like reading defenses was easy. But just like the the the fist, the hand fighting at the line, like the releases, like getting the custom to like somebody actually being in your face before the play starts without a line of protection. So it was just kind of getting used to like just like the hand fighting, the battles, the the the pass interferences, like where I can push, where I can shove, things like that. I didn't use my body, but it eventually panned out and you know worked out in his favor.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

That's awesome. And what what would you would you say was your strength as a wide receiver? Like, were you a good route runner? Like, could you jump up and just grab balls like super high at the same time?

SPEAKER_01 21:53

I would say I would say catch renewus and just IQ, like knowing like what coverage they're in, where I need to be, like finding. Zone, um, yeah, so catch radius, and I would say like just IQ, like knowing where to be. You could put it in my vicinity, I'll come down with it. Um, yeah, I mean, that's pretty much it. Just kind of use my body, get open, you put it near me, I'll bring it down.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

That's awesome. That's awesome. What was your speed like? I mean, were you a 4-4 guy?

SPEAKER_01 22:19

So, yeah, coming out of high school, kind of ran like a 4-4 high school after I picked up away, kind of ran like a 4-4-5 guy. So didn't really waver too much, but you know, there's guys in college running 4-3s, 4-4. So if you taught football, the guys were in the locker room, I was considered, you know, medium guy, not really the fastest, not the slowest, but if you're talking to like an average Joe, pretty fast.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Fast as she 100%, bro. And so, man, like what was the day of the life as a SEC football player, like from when you woke up in the morning to you went to bed? Like, what did that look like?

SPEAKER_01 22:55

So with Vandable, freshman year, it was it was a struggle. So anybody who's been at Red Bridge played uh sports, you know, freshmen are on a totally different canvas than the rest of the school. So we actually have like cross the bridge past the hospital just to get to like the facility, the stadiums, and everything like that. So, I mean, starting off, we have to wake up, it was an early wake-up call. So, like, they put all of us in like the same dorm for like summer training.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

So we would get up, we would make sure everybody's up, knock on everybody's door, make sure everybody's ready to go. We would go down, eat breakfast, get taped up, things like that. We would practice. Once you practice, you get we thought we were done, we're on the field, and they're like, all right, wait room. So as soon as you get down on the field, it's in the weight room, you're lifting weights, you're doing that. After that, shower, eat, chill out for maybe like an hour or two. Now we got me. So once you go to meetings, you go over what you did in practice, what you need to correct, things like that. In the summer, we had two of these. So after those meetings, you would eat dinner, or after the meetings, you would go to practice. After practice, you would correct whatever you did wrong in film session, you would learn something new, then you would go to dinner. Once dinner happened, you had meetings after to obviously correct what you did in practice after in the evening. After that, everybody walked back to the dorm and kind of hit it out. During the school year, it's kind of different. You practice once in the morning, right? Or some schools practice in the evening, or whichever vice versa. You lift on whichever one you don't do. So in the morning, if you're not practicing, you lift it. Okay. Then you go to class. Class, usually at venue, we had class from probably like maybe 10 to 3 because we practice in the afternoon. So we lift in the morning. 10 to 3, you have to get about two or three classes in that way. After that, eat lunch in between that as well. So 10 to 3, you eat lunch between those classes, and you have to practice. After practice, you have meetings, and after that, you're kind of on your own. You can either get some more workout in, do your schoolwork, catch up with friends, hang out. Very limited free time if you like want to be good, want to be great, you gotta divorce yourself to the game you're playing. So we kind of like my my little group, we kind of grouped up together. We would go work out early in the morning before I lift. We would lift, do everything accordingly. I mean, we would like just barn together as like a group, whether that's we would all work out together, we would go to the rec, might get some cardio in, just play some basketball. Right. Or we would like we would go off campus together, go to the malls. It was just like we were trying to do everything we could just to like stay in the pack, but all stay on like the right path. That's so day-to-days were it was pretty like routine, bro. Like it was wake up, you know what you're gonna do, you know what you're gonna eat. Most of the time, we ate the same thing just to keep it pretty much routine. And yeah, bro, and like never really switched up unless you had like an away game. There's like a day or two before where you gotta like travel, you're hotel. A lot of people don't know, but like home teams stay in home hotels for hop for game nights just to get away from like the school. Like, yeah, just to be folks, like you don't want you staying in your dorm, they're gonna be a party two-door down. That's true. Obviously, you got to get your boats. You get up, go to the party. So we would always stay in a hotel downtown just away from everything, drive back to the stadium in the morning. So yeah, it was just routine, routine, routine.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

And you guys had your own athletic like mule hole, right? Like where you guys are.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Yeah, so we had our bad. You would swipe your ID card in, and then you go in, you could just eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner, whatever you wanted in there, eat. Obviously, if you wanted to like, so we had like vanity bucks, it was like just money on our car to eat anywhere that accepted it. And around Vandy, if you've been in Nashville on Broadway or West End, there's like PF Chang's, Cadoba, just a lot of food places that take the Vanny Bucks because they're so close to campus. So uh you could either go spend money there, you can go on to like regular calves on on campus. It just depends on where you are, what you what you want to do, what you want to eat. If you want to eat something that you know is gonna be good for you, like you would go to just our athletic food hall. And there you could run it to soccer girls or basketball guys, that's like that's where if you want to be around just athletes, you typically go to the food hall. But if you want to just be out about, catch what's going on in the day, you could eat at it was called Rand, just a massive food hall in the middle of campus. Wow. Yep. And you're doing like four or five meals a day. Oh, yeah. Like when I was a college dude, I would just not, I would eat wake up, I would eat probably like maybe a bowl of oatmeal, some bananas, some fruit, then I would lunch, I would eat like a just a salad full of everything, like just give me everything on it. Yeah, maybe put like some fish or chicken in there just to keep it healthy, and then dinner would always be at the athletic call duty, and that was probably the best part. Like every night it's either steak, lobster, you get like it was just five-star meals just like coming out easy, and it's just like, man, we're living the life. That's awesome. I'm guessing you guys had nutritionists as well. Nutritionists, like, so towards my sophomore year, that's when we started bringing in like nutritionists. They got we got like a little upgrade to the uh training facility and everything like that. So we got like a little nutrition station to where they were like we had like smoothie king shakes after every practice, whether you were like needed to gain weight, maintain weight, lose weight, as well as like meals. So, like if you want to lose weight, these are the should eat on this rack. If you want to maintain this rack, if you want to gain, eat off this rack. It went to as far as like drinking stuff before practice mix. Like, hey, if you're a light sweater, you're on this one. If you're a medium sweater, if you're a heavy sweater, I think you should drink bottles at the bottom just to maintain your bottom. Like more electrolytes. Yeah, it's just it was just crazy about the technology. Like they put trackers in us, like see how much energy we're exerting, like top speeds we were doing. It was just like it was going from high school toward my high school didn't really have like upgraded technology stuff, right? To now going to a place where they're like, no, we we can keep we can track everything. Like you're good, do what you do, we'll let you know what you need to do. If you need to eat more, eat less, or what you need to eat. So, and bro that and then like coming from high school, like I don't know about y'all, but like my parents were like super strict. Like, I didn't go to parties, I didn't do none of that. Like, my girlfriend came up once a week, like we hang out, and that's it. So, going to college, we're like, that's the only thing y'all are telling me to do. Like, I can do whatever you just are telling me how to stay healthy. Uh huh. I'm with it. Like, wow, I have freedom, and you guys let me know when to cut something out, when to start. I'm there.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

This is that's awesome, dude. Yeah, and academically, man, like how was that transition because Vanderbilt is such an academically challenging school, right? Like, how are classes?

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Dude, classes were so Vanderbilt is a private institution, so not really like massive classes unless you're just in like a general class, like a uh like an English seminar or something like that, then yeah, the classrooms got massive. But if you were like locked in on like your your your major things like that, classrooms were typically like more small around like 15, 18 people. No way, so it's pretty cool just being able to like have that singular one-on-one relationship. But I mean, like the athletic department helps you out so much, man. They sent you up to succeed like every day. We have like study hall hours. So after dinner, you'd go to study hall, you have to get logged in at least like 16 hours a week. So they keep track, make sure you're in there. There's tutors available, we have academic advisors. Even before we got on campus, like we had to go meet with like the academic staff, and they had to like let us know like we hold you guys to a very high standard. Like, not only do we not usually let people in just off athletic ability, but now you have to maintain the academic standard. So it is a little like eye shocker, because like just coming from high school, like well, me speaking for myself, like my high school wasn't a college prep high school, so it wasn't like a I'm setting you up on how to write college papers, how to study, how to do any of that. So, like for me, big transition in the studying. Like, yeah, I'll procrastinate a lot, do a lot of things I didn't want to do before I even did the homework, which first years it was like, you know, this is might hurt me a little bit. So I have to lock in, you know, honey and do what I needed to do. But I mean, any any athlete who goes to an elite academic school, yeah, they're gonna set you up for success. They're gonna make sure you have every tool available to make sure you don't fall behind or you don't lack what you need. So that's the one thing I did like about it is like it was always dope there. Like whenever you need it, like there was somebody there.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

That's awesome, dude.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

Any like any memories, any stories that stick out to you as like your favorite SEC, favorite Baderville, like memory stories, like on the field, off the field. Like, what do you what do you got for us? Man.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

Okay, so a couple more boys. It was me, Trent Shurfield, this guy named Trey Herndon, Trey Ellis, and Trey Tarpley. I know it's a lot of Treys, but yeah, they're all names of Trey. That was our little fruit. Man, we used to like late at night, we used to walk all the way to the food hall in the middle of the uh freshman campus. So we were freshmen of town. We would eat there, and then we would take our, it was a bandy van that like drove around campus to drop people off in certain spots on campus. We would hop on a bandy van, we would rack and freestyle all the way around so we got to where we were gonna get. Most of the time it was to the Red Center. So we got the Red Center, we'd go into like these little stores, and we would just like overload all the snacks. But like our cars that I was talking about, you could use them in those little tiny, like mini markets around campus, and we would like load up our favorite thing to get. You ever been to the gas station? You got those little smoothies where you take out the freezer and you put it in a little cup and it makes it for you? Yes. Bro, we used to go hand warm those, bro. And then we would get on the van, or some sometimes we would skip the van back and just walk back. I used to carry a speaker in my backpack, bro, in college, and I would walk around campus playing music. So when we were going back, I would just play a beat and we would all just be rapping to the instrumental just going back across campus. Bus driver would love y'all. Bus driver would love us, man. Everybody would love us. We were like the four people on campus. Another hilarious moment. It snowed, so it snows in Tennessee. We were in there, we were in uh the freshman campus, and everybody was trying to get to the food hall. So the way it was set up, it was dorms at a like circular motion. Yeah. And the food hall set in the middle of it. So everybody could see the food hall from your like if you face forward in your dorm, you can see the door, the food hall out your window. There's glass windows, like glass windows, everything like that. So we come out of our dorm and we see people running. Mind you, it's it's snowy, so it's ice out there. Dude, there's like four girls back to back to back. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Eating it downstairs, dude. We had nothing to do but laugh, bro. Like, we couldn't even help them. It was just like this is like y'all are just tumbling, bro. Just ice. Ice. But we man, I have so many stories, bro. So many memories, man. Like my guy Trent Sherfield, his wife, Marcella, she went to Lipscore University, which is uh a volleyball school in Tennessee. It's like 20 minutes from us.

SPEAKER_00 33:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

At the time, Trent was like, they were talking. And Trent one night's like, hey Ron, let me use your car, go pick her up, man. This is gonna be my wife. I'm like, yeah, yeah, whatever, bro. Here's the keys. Sure enough, they got married a couple years later. And I was insane, bro. So it's like so many memories that like happened there, where it's like, dude, what every time I go back to Nashville, I just gotta walk off campus. I just walk on campus and memories just start popping up, man. That was some of the most funny times, best people I've ever ever met, man. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

That's awesome. Any what was your favorite city of the playoffs? Like, what was your thing? Favorite stadium.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

Gotta be the Florida. I hate to say it because I hate this school. So yeah, but Tennessee. There was just so many people there. So loud in Tennessee. But Florida is like the stadium is so close. And the way it's angled, right? So loud. It's so noisy. It's like a bowl. Yeah. Pish bowl. And it's like the fans, if they wanted to, they could just reach out and touch you on the vision. So it is. It's security just and you tell them that. They do it on purpose. Do it on purpose. But yeah, I mean, what I mean. Yeah, I would say those are the loudest. South Carolina had a lot of like just towels, bro. It was like when you look up, you're like, oh, Sarah's storm, so that was pretty cool. Yeah. But yeah, I would say Florida was probably like loudest by far. Loudest, and just we're talking about a great atmosphere. That was it. Really? Georgia. Okay. Old dogs with the ferns like around us. Yeah, and I had Todd Gurley. Oh. He was a he was a problem. Georgia's stadium was pretty lit. But yeah, I mean, Bam came to us, so we didn't care. We didn't get to go to Bamlin. Texas AM came to us, and we went to Texas AM the year before I got there. But yeah, I would say Florida, Tennessee, just because those like the most people I ever been in front of, and Florida was just the loudest.

SPEAKER_00 35:36

Because you were at Bannerboat at a time where like there was a transition happening with the program. Like it was becoming and it was evolving into a very, like a much better SEC program. Whereas before, they were kind of like, hey, scroll the pack, right?

SPEAKER_01 35:48

Like I would I would say kind of opposite. So when a couple years before, so the Jordan Matthews, if you guys remember um Aaron Rodgers, his brother Jordan Robinson was the quarterback because of Pad Robinette. So the years James Franklin was there, it was like two or three years before I got there. Yes. They were bowl game every year, more than like eight, seven games winning. They were a good team.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

Right.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

When I my freshman year, we lost to Temple in the first game of the season, and we played all four quarterbacks on the roster.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

Coaching change. Coaching change.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

And nothing, nothing enough Derrick Mason, he's a great guy. I just don't think he was fit for like head coach at the top. Like awesome defensive, like coordinator. Like our defense was always top-notch. Like it was great. But every year I was there, we had a different office of coordinator. Like we could never and half of it, I would say, like, this is just my opinion, like it's kind of hard to recruit at bandy, to recruit a great player who's also committed to score. Most of those people who are great kids really don't even care about education. They just want to go play football. So they go play the bear schools. We're like, dude, education is the least of our worries. Like, are you gonna make us a million bucks? Like they might go there. So I would say Vanderbilt's at a disadvantage that way just because like they don't lower their standards. Like they're not gonna make an exception just because somebody's good at athletics. Like that's just not what they're gonna do. Right. So it puts us at a disadvantage, but I mean, back to what I was saying, man. Like, I just think Derek Mason took over the range at the wrong time. Like now he's at Middle Tennessee, done a great job. So I feel like you know, it was just bad timing on that part. And the part the time I was at Vandy, we were not that great. Like we had great pieces. Sure. As a team total, like our record doesn't show that we were great, but I would say we had like we had potential to be great if we had you know the right direction, the right path that we were on. Like we could have we could have been a great team. It's just wrong timing, and I mean you can't do nothing about that. No, yeah. Well, were you a part of any bowl games? Like, did you guys go to some bowl games when you were there? So I actually left Vanderbilt my uh third year. Yes. But they didn't go to bowl games after so the the crew I used to think I went there, I think they went to bowl games those last two years. Yes. And then now Vanderbilt's obviously starting to get some traction and starting to beat some good teams, like they're going to bowl games, but when I was there, I didn't go to any bowl games. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 38:17

Got you. Dude, so um, man, walk us through, so I wasn't asking was my train of thought.

SPEAKER_01 38:25

He's like, locked in. Shit, I was locked up. No, dude, so did you go play anywhere after that? Or did you say that? So yeah, so I went, so my brother left New Mexico state, and he went to play JUCO in Texas at Cisco. So when I left Vanderbilt, I was like, you know what? Like, I want to continue playing, like throwing China's quarterback thing now. I kind of gave up on it. So I went and played quarterback at Cisco Junior College for a semester.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

After that, I was getting a lot of traction, but you know, I just at that point, like I didn't think the schoolwork needed, like, I was like, okay, this is like I transferred, like, school is the least part of my words. Right. So and Juco, I didn't do the best that I could. So sub schools, I had like traction from Oregon, some some Utah schools, and it's just like I couldn't, you know, push through and finish at the end for the grade, so I ended up going to uh Central Oklahoma, which is the D2 in Oklahoma. Okay. So I went there, played the last two years I had left, and I mean it was it was a great experience. At quarterback? Correct. And I actually played a receiver. So the coach that I commit to at Washington State, yes, Jarrell Jackson, he was the receiver's coach at the time. He was then coaching at Central Oklahoma, and he was like, oh yeah, we'd love to have you come over. So I played at Central Oklahoma for our receiver for two years, and after that I did the the um the pro day and everything like that, and just didn't come up with uh any NFL traction. So I mean, you know, it is what it is. Loved all the opportunities I got.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

That's awesome, bro. Now I I remember I was gonna ask you, so you played and you played you played with and against all the NFL players, right? What was the biggest difference that you saw with those guys who made it to the league? You end up having careers with this sport, what did they do differently? Like on it off the field.

SPEAKER_01 40:07

I mean, so one guy specifically, um, instead of like going to like a school with like a big name, I mean, he was like, I want to go somewhere where I can plug, I can be seen, yes, talent to be seen. So he went to a very small school. It's not really that small, but it's smaller when compared to like power file schools. He went to Toledo.

SPEAKER_02 40:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

So he went to Toledo, played his ass off. He did really great, put on some great film, and he didn't get drafted, but he didn't get signed as an undrafted free agent. And it's just a testament to like when I look back on it, I just think I should, like, instead of chasing like the SEC or chasing the name of the school, I should have just went somewhere where I knew I'd be comfortable, I'd get a shot at doing what I want to do, things like that, and just seeing him do that. Like, it was just like, yeah, man. If you want to do something, you put your mind to it, you you stay committed to who you are. Don't worry about like the fame and chase everything else, everything will work out. So he did that. And I mean, there are a couple other guys like Emmanuel Ogbutt. He was just a stud. He won Big 12 defense player of the year at OSU. Yeah. And he got drafted in the NFL, won a Super Bowl, so he's doing fantastic. And a couple of other guys, so Trey Herndon he and Trey Tarpwin, they actually got a shot at the NFL. Just Trey Hernie played in NFL for I think maybe like five, six years, maybe seven years. Just, you know, time catches up with you, and it's, you know, God tells you when it's time to stop playing football. So I mean, those guys just stuck to what they know, stuck to themselves, just kept at it, kept working hard. They obviously put the time and effort into it. They wanted to be great. And, you know, sometimes I kind of slacked off then in college. It was like my first time out and about, so I kind of wanted to see what the world was. So yeah, I was out there partying, doing things that I shouldn't have done when I shouldn't have done it. But I mean, you you can't reverse time. I mean, everybody grows from it, it was just grantings. Those the kids I was hanging around, they had freedom in high school, so they were normal to the thing. They're like, okay, yeah, I can miss a party. But bit's like, I never went to a party, I'm not missing a party. So things like that. But I mean, due to the long run, like they literally just kept their mindset the same, like stayed true to the work and really put the time and effort into being who they are now. So just I mean, what I can take from them is just, you know, the next time opportunity presents itself in life to do what I want to do, just don't shy away from it and stick to that path.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

Stay focused, stay consistent. Yeah. And uh, what would be your biggest piece of advice to kids who are maybe high school who are trying to get recruited? Um, what would be your biggest piece of advice for them, man? Have an open mind.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

You know, don't be stuck to like I have to do it this way. Like, I have to do this, I have to do that, I have to do that. Yeah, your end goal might stay the same, but the path you take, it can be completely different than what you imagine. Like, who knows? Like, we were just talking earlier, like somebody might get offered to San Jose State great weather, and they've never been to California. Like, when they get there, they absolutely love it. But it's not a USC. Sure. So instead of them being like, well, you know what? Like, I've always been this the care the California school is USC, like I want to go to USC. Instead of doing that, keep an open mind. If San Jose State offers you everything that USC offers you and aligns with your with your goals, and you just like to do that, I would say do it. My biggest advice for the kids, man, is just believe in who you are. Like, don't let nobody tell you you can't do anything. If you put your mind to it, you set yourself up for success, you work hard, you stay committed, everything's gonna pan out. And just make sure you listen to those who did it before you. They know how to fail, they know how to succeed.

SPEAKER_00 43:47

So just make sure you take all the advice that you can get. Man, you said something really powerful, and that was awesome, Ron. I appreciate that message for the kids for the other generation, but it's like go somewhere where you have the best opportunity to play. Because that is your best chance at playing at the next level.

SPEAKER_01 44:03

Yes. And even nowadays with the with the transfer system, like let's say you want to go to this power file school, but you know you're going to be fourth, fifth string, like you're not going to get anywhere near a chance to showcase your talent. Why not go to a smaller school who's going to give you that chance, showcase your talent, maybe put the school on the map, and then now that opens up more opportunities for yourself. Now maybe a power file school is like, I shouldn't take a chance on them. I want to take a chance on them now. And now it's up to you to decide. Do I want to just up and leave this school because now people see what I'm capable of? Or do I want to stay where I'm shooting? Kind of like the Ashton Jinzi store. People are like, Correct. Why have you never transferred from Boise State?

SPEAKER_00 44:42

Excuse me.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

Boise State believed to be. Like, this is one of my only offers. Like, I'm not going anywhere after people have seen what I can do. I want people to see me for what I can do in the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 44:53

That's I mean he ends up being a top three overall pick, right?

SPEAKER_01 44:57

I mean, can't doubt him. And that another thing I would tell kids is like, no matter where you go, they will find you. Like, whether that's the NBA, you're good, NFA, MLD, like a hundred percent. They will find you. A hundred percent. These people get paid millions of dollars to find people like you. They will find you. It doesn't matter. And for them to find you, you've got to play. You gotta play film. You gotta have film. Like, bro, they will find you no matter where. Like, there's kids, HVCUs. Michael Strahan went to Texas, Texas selling. They found like it doesn't matter where you go. And the more you the more reps you get, the better it is. Yep. The more reps you get, the better you get. So now you do play where you want to get. Like, okay, I've been doing this with like I know what's what ride back. I know what's going on.

SPEAKER_00 45:42

That's awesome, bro. Yeah, dude. I mean, you just missed out on the NIL, right? Which we talked about earlier, man. Uh, Jordan and I did too. Bomber for all of us, right? Uh, especially you playing SSC football. We got paid a little bit more than we would have got. Um, dude, so what what's your take on this on the NIL? Do you think that the rules they have in place do need to be maybe turned down a notch? And like, you know, what's your what are your thoughts on it?

SPEAKER_01 46:06

Um, I mean, honestly, I don't have any too many negative thoughts on the NIL. I would say the only thing that if I were running NIL, I would implement anybody who's getting NIL money needs to have some kind of financial advisor. Like, yes. Because there's no way we're out here giving 16, 17-year-old, 18-year-old kids two, three, four million dollars. Like, and be like, that's yours. Like, impossible. But then be broke by the age they were 23. Yeah. They need to require. I do think they need to require anybody who's receiving NIL money over let's say $100,000. You need to have a financial house. Because like just seeing kids now, like just buying jewelry, fancy cars, yeah, you deserve it, you earned it. Just not the time to do it. Like, right, right. Dude, you're 17, 18, 19, and you're driving people's house mortgages. Wait till you're not going to be able to do driving Ferraris. Wait till you sign that big contract, Louise, and then you know, treat yourself like treat yourself like now. I think that money should be put up for like backup plans. Correct. Or like most smart college athletes now, they're giving back to their community, they're doing like fundraisers, charities, things like that, giving back to like the youth who need the stuff. I just don't think it's smart to give kids that much money and expect them to do it on their own. Like obviously their parents are helping out, doing that, but some parents have never seen that amount of much money either. So when they get it, they act crazy as well. Yeah. So that's why I think they should just have somebody professional, like just taking account of their money, like making sure they're not spending it on BS, investing it, setting themselves up for life instead of just enjoying the million dollars they have now. I like that, man.

SPEAKER_00 47:45

I like that because it's like I've got to go because it protects the players. Whereas before, when we played, you were stuck out of school. And if it was a bad opportunity or just a bad place to be for you personally, you were kind of locked there. I mean, unless you want to transfer out and sit out for a whole season, right? But it's like nobody wants to do that. So I do like the fact that A athletes are being compensated. Uh they're able to transfer out if they're in a bad situation, or if they're promised something that it wasn't given to them, it's like, okay, well, I don't owe anything to this school, I can leave. Yeah. Um, because as we all know, there's those shady coaches out there that will promise you certain things that are true.

SPEAKER_01 48:23

It's kind of like what happened with uh Lane Kiss Lane Kipplin at LSU. He said the the quarterback that happened, he wasn't wearing number five. He said the last coach that was there promised him number five. So I'm gonna give them what he walk because they should be promised what they are promised to come here. Like he should get what he was promised when he came here. So he'll be wearing the LSU at their number five this year because they promised it to him. Tyro Matthew, all the grays wearing five, right? Well, they used to wear seven, all the grades used to wear seven. I think they're kind of slowly shifting to five, but I would still say seven's probably historically. That's my bad.

SPEAKER_00 48:54

Matthew's seven.

SPEAKER_01 48:55

Patrick Peterson's seven. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 48:58

Um also, who is the running back that wore seven? Later four n. Sevens. Yeah, but I think like at some point, they need to put a limitation on how many times you can transfer. Right?

SPEAKER_01 49:11

I 100% agree. Because even when I'm playing like the video game, you can transfer every year. Like you go to six different schools. I think the number should be two. I think you should be able to put max transfer maybe one time. Like you go to one school, yeah, and then you have one transfer applied. There should be no we like me personally, I don't think kids should pick schools because of the coach. Like, coaches lose their jobs all the time.

SPEAKER_00 49:34

What should you okay? I mean, obviously every everyone's different, right? Like what should kids kind of like value more so that maybe it's underrated?

SPEAKER_01 49:45

I would say the overall environment of the city they're going in. Okay. Because like most people just like take Ohio State, for instance. Most people are like, oh yeah, I want to go to Ohio State. Never been to Columbus, Ohio dear in their lives. Right. If you're from Houston and you move to Columbus, I promise you it's gonna be a drastic change for us. Like it's just not the same. Like, we don't experience severe cold weather. No, they don't experience severe hot weather. So there will be some things like my wife's from Ohio, so that's why I use Ohio State. Because like we're we're like completely opposite when it comes to things. Like, there's food that she knows of that I have never heard of. She calls a beanie a toboggan. I'm like, what? That's a beanie. Yeah, she calls a purse a pocketbook. So I'm like, like, there's just like there's so much stuff. Like, even when I went to Vanderbilt, like I didn't really know much about Nashville. And when I got there, that was honestly the first time that I experienced racism, like, in a city. Like, it's crazy. Like, if I had been that before, I probably would have been like, oh, well, skeptical, ongoing. Right. But I just feel like people should do a lot more like research, like, of like what you're getting yourself into, like the type of like safety is around the city. So like Nashville is rated like maybe top two safest cities in Nash in Tennessee. So it's like that's cool. Also, Memphis is rated level one for crime. So it's like if you go to Memphis, you know, it's Tennessee, right? You know what I'm saying? Like, it's all about like where you fit in. Like, okay. And I would say the people other than the coaches that are in that athletic building. Like, you weren't if you get along with like the players, if you want to get along with the janitors, like the the cooks, everybody that's involved with your everyday life. You want to make sure that you're comfortable, you know, you're feeling good, then you can trust them when they're telling you something. Right.

SPEAKER_00 51:35

Other than just football. I like that, dude. I like that. Rod Ben, really great to have you on the podcast. We're gonna have to each one again, dude. But 100%. We we really appreciate you taking the time, man. We had a fun time today. Less than be here, brother. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 51:50

Five, four, three, two, three, tier one performance.