Youth Unmuted

Ep. 2 - Malcolm Mitchell On Grit, Reading, And A Super Bowl Ring

• Boys & Girls Club of Benton County • Season 1 • Episode 2

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A broken leg in seventh grade. Meniscus tears, an ACL, even a fractured hip. Then a Super Bowl ring and a decision to build a life that outlasts the game. We sit with Malcolm Mitchell to explore the real engine behind his journey: a daily commitment to reading, a stubborn work ethic, and the kind of leadership that shows up as a warm jacket and a better pillow in a cold New England winter.

Malcolm walks us through the uneasy bond athletes form with pain and why he chose to become the best person he could be, not just the best player. He shares how being grounded by his mother’s discipline kept him on track at Georgia, how he navigated the NFL by doing the simple things consistently, and what it felt like to slam into the “rookie wall” just weeks before the biggest game of his life. The Tom Brady stories aren’t about touchdowns; they’re about being seen, supported, and reminded that self-talk can change outcomes. A handwritten card, read thousands of times, helped reset his confidence when it mattered most.

We also revisit Super Bowl 51 and dismantle the myth of the halftime speech. Bill Belichick’s message was disarmingly plain: play better to win. That clarity and the refusal to quit at 28–3 became a blueprint for how to handle setbacks in school, work, and life. If you’re a student up at dawn for “finish Fridays,” a parent modeling effort for your kids, or anyone battling burnout, Malcolm’s stories offer a practical playbook: show up, be coachable, stack small wins, and let your preparation speak.

If this conversation moves you, follow Youth Unmuted, share the episode with a friend who needs a push, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. Your support helps us bring more honest stories and real tools to young people everywhere.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome back everyone. My name is Holden and I am your host for the Youth Unmuted Podcast. This is a team-led podcast with the Boys and Girls Cope of Biton County where we share unique stories that relate to today's youth. Let's get started. Hello everyone. Welcome back to part two of our podcast with the amazing Malcolm Mitchell. In our first one, we got to talk about a little bit about his literacy platform, you know, what it was like growing up, the struggles that he has endured, and just like the amazing adversities he's overcame. It was something super awesome, and I'm super grateful to be a part of. And now we're going to get to hear a little bit about his football career. Cool. All right. So, first question. What role did you experience with injuries, injuries, and the eventual end of your NFL career? And how did that play a solid role in to pursue a career in writing and literacy?

SPEAKER_02:

Man, I had my first surgery that was football related in seventh grade. Broke my leg and ankle at practice. The next one came in tenth grade, tore my meniscus. Next one came my junior year in college, tore my meniscus again. That same year I tore my ACL. After that, once I recovered from the ACL tear, I fractured my hip. And then after that, I tore my meniscus again. And then the final one that took me out, I was in the NFL, and at practice I got hit on my knee. And I had no more meniscus to tear. So, you know, it was bone on bone at that point. And I had to decide if I wanted to be able to walk around with my kids or not. So I had already begun my journey with reading. What the injuries did was it didn't deter me from playing football, as if you can believe that. Because you kind of develop this unhealthy relationship with the trauma. Right? You just say, oh, it's part of it, no big deal. Right? I got one finger that'll probably never be the same. That I get, I know it will never be the same. And somehow you tell yourself it's okay. So reading wasn't didn't start as this thing to back up my football career. It just started as this thing that I could either be the best football player that I wanted to be, or I can be the best person that I wanted to be. And those are two different things. If I wanted to be the best person I could be, well, I had to infuse reading. Yeah. So I started reading long before the injuries really stacked up on me. But the injuries did remind me that this is not something that will last forever. You know, but I'm thankful for them because I'm not sure I would have ever latched on to something else to the degree that I have without them. You know?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and just being able to hear your platform. So that's something super cool that you're able to overcome. Um, let's talk a little about you mentioned in college, you know, in high school is where those injuries started. Um, what was it like being um SEC off freshman at the University of Georgia? It's exactly what you think.

SPEAKER_02:

I it's funny now, man. I'm 32. And in the adult world, I'm still very young. Yeah. In your world, I'm probably old. No comment. You know, but I was I was the cool guy, bro. You know, I was I was what people your age aspire to be.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I'll tell you that. Yeah. Whatever you, whatever y'all want, I've experienced it. Yeah. And it was it was fun. It was a good time. Luckily, I had I was grounded by my mother, her faith, her discipline. So I was able to stay. I didn't get too far off the path, yeah, you know, but it was a good time.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's good. Um, how did you like I can tell you those stories off the podcast? No, yeah, we'll talk about that later. Uh, but how did you kind of like use that high and just like grad it into like your NFL career and like everything that happened after that?

SPEAKER_02:

Truthfully, I didn't even watch sports growing up, so I didn't understand what all of that meant. I just saw how people were responding to it.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. And when I was in high school, someone came along and said, Hey, would you like to keep playing football? I said, Yeah, great. They said, well, just do what you need to do to get in college. I said, okay. Once I got to college, someone said, Hey, would you like to play professionally? They'll pay you for it. I said, Oh, that sounds amazing. What do I need to do? They said, just play well. Said, oh, okay. And by the time I got to the NFL, uh, they were like, Do you want to keep playing? I said, Yeah. They said, well, just play well. And I was like, okay. And for me, it was simple. Just I guess because I had been immersed in it for so long, it all made sense that all you have to do is what you're supposed to do. Yeah. But this that's the concept that we neglect every single day.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Right? Just do what you're supposed to do. And you will get you have a better chance of getting the outcome you want. And that's the NFL. To me, if people want to be professional athletes, wake up every day, practice, and do what you're supposed to do.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And the moment you don't, you run the risk of not getting where you want to be. Yeah. And I think I just always understood that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And that's something super cool that I feel like not a lot of people have. So it's a very simple but yet very difficult concept.

SPEAKER_01:

Just every single day, do what you gotta do. Do what you gotta do. Do what you gotta do. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and you did that. And um, you some people say you got to play along with the goat, the greatest quarterback of all time, a lot of people's opinion. So, what was it like playing with Tom Drake? I'll tell you a story.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm from South Georgia, where during Christmas we wear shorts outside. I moved to New England once I was drafted by the Patriots, and there's a completely different climate in the Northeast. It was in November where I was walking to the facility with this jacket I had purchased in preparation for Northern Winters. It was this North Face three in one jacket. It was red and black to mimic the Georgia Bulldogs where I went to school. And man, it was about$300,$350 jacket. And this is before NIL, so we weren't getting paid money in college, right? So a$350 jacket. Let's go. That's a nice jacket. I feel it. I feel it. I was wearing that jacket every day. Every single day. Tom and I were next to each other in the locker room. So I'm right here, and Tom was right there. And got to interact with him every day, do some small talk and kind of, you know, um have just casual conversation. One day he looks at me after wearing this jacket for about three weeks, and he says, Wow, that's the only jacket you got. I look at him like, yeah, buddy. Three and one, North Face, 350. Let's go. He says, That ain't gonna cut it. And at this point, get competitive, right? And my competitiveness gets the best of me sometimes. He's like, that ain't gonna cut it. So now in my mind, I'm wearing this jacket every day. I don't care what happens. December rolls around, and the wind up north is drastically different than the wind in our little region. And it starts slicing through the jacket. It feels like I'm wearing nothing. And I'm freezing, but I can't get another jacket because now I'm competing. Yeah, yeah. He told Tommy, like, this is mine. One day I walk in and in my locker is sitting a brand new jacket that's fit for northern winters. And he looks at me and says, You're welcome. That's Tom Brady. I walked in one day holding my neck. And he looked at me and said, What's wrong? I said, My neck's hurt. He says, What kind of pillow are you using? I said, Whatever came with the set, buddy. Two days later, I had a brand new pillow in my locker. That's Tom Brady. I could talk about the football stuff, but you already know that. It's those things that to me defined who he is in my mind. He's a guy who he could have done whatever he wanted. Whatever you wanted. He decided to give me a jacket and pillow. That's my guy. Yeah. Yeah. Stand up, just real world guy right there. Just a real guy. You know? His stardom will always put him in a situation where he'll get judged on other things. Hey, that's just part of it. But if you really know him, you know him.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he's a genuine. And that's cool that you really got to like know him on that level. A lot of people, millions of people don't.

SPEAKER_02:

Man, if we we have time, I'll tell you another story. Yeah, go ahead. As we're gearing up for Super Bowl 51, where we were playing against the Atlanta Falcons, and what now is considered the greatest Super Bowl comeback of all time. Two weeks before that game, I hit what they call a rookie wall. It's a theory for rookies that's essential to burnout for workplace environments, right? Because for rookies, you play your last season in college, then you prepare for a senior game, like a senior bowl or something. Then you prepare for the combine, you have the combine, then you have individual team workouts, then you have your top 30 visits, then you have the NFL draft. After the draft, you're then flown up or flown to wherever you have to play. You have rookie minicamp, OTAs, organized team activities. After OTAs, you have minicamp with the whole team, then go back to OTAs, then you have fall training camp. So the ideal is through all that time, rookies don't get breaks from football, so they burn out at some point during the regular season. I did not think that theory was true because during my first season, I was playing the best football of my life. Two weeks before Super Bowl, I had the worst practices of my life, and I promise you, I'm not exaggerating. I dropped every passer on my way that week. It was so bad that the coaches went and got a guy by the name of Michael Floyd from the Arizona Cardinals to replace me for the game. Great guy. Extraordinary story. Michael Floyd's a stand-up guy. I have a lot of respect for him. Obviously, at the time, I was bothered by this. A week before the Super Bowl, teams usually fly to the location in which the game was going to be played, which was Houston, Texas. As we're gearing up to get on the planes to fly down, Tom sees me in the hallway, and obviously he had to watch this debacle all week. He looks at me and hands me a card. And he says, I want you to read this card anytime negativity creeps into your mind. Now, this is a at the time, I think he was a four or five time Super Bowl champion, had already been considered the GOAT. He has me this card. He walks off. I read the card maybe 10,000 times before that game. And by the time we we we got to the game, I was playing some of the best football I had ever played. On that card that said, My name is Malcolm Mitchell. I run every pass, I catch every route. I catch every ball, I run every route. I can't be stopped on the best. What we tell ourselves matters a lot.

SPEAKER_01:

Tom taught me that. That is inspirational. I mean, there's so many things in life. Like I heard a I heard a I was listening to another podcast. It was it was a lecture from a professor in college. He was like, we get so used to like that rotation in life, that continuous cycle, like every day, and we can kind of just let that like wear us down and like make an impact on who we are. And we don't always think about like those outside circumstances, but if we can just like in our minds, like give us you say you had a lot of optimism, and like you're an optimistic person. If we can find that and channel that and really just be able to, like, you got this every day, like have those reminders, have those values in your life, and like instill those into who you are, it makes a difference 100%. I think that I mean, obviously, my experience on the basketball court in practice is nowhere near what you have to go through in an NFL. Um, but we do something called finish Fridays in the off season. So we always have practice after school uh for like an hour and a half, two hours, nothing crazy. But then the off-season, when it's just the basketball-only people on Fridays, we'll come in in the morning at six in the morning and we'll simply run like different types of running drills, like just like like make like make it painful, like make it hurt, but just like a lot of like overcome it and like feel like what it's like to like you know, really like push through that at a state. And so like it just makes me think of that, and like there are times I'm like, oh my, this is ridiculous. Like what we're not even touching a basketball, and I'm here at six in the morning. Like it makes me like want to give up, and like in my mind is just keep going. Like you just gotta push through, like you can do it. Like the the only thing that's in your way is you, and like that's a big lesson. Like I've done myself, is no one is like doubting that you can do it except for you. You can push through, like you can make it. I know you're tired, I know you never wake up this early, but just do it, and like it makes a difference because like you'll be more in shape when you're tired in the fourth quarter of the game, maybe in overtime. Like, keep going and you'll have that experience.

SPEAKER_02:

So, yeah, I I love that y'all do that because that's life, yeah. Right? If you think that you're gonna go through life and it's gonna be easy and you're gonna get everything you want just because you want it, you've only fooled yourself. Yeah, this world provides a lot of great opportunities, but you have to earn it. You have to earn it, right? My mom used to tell me nothing given easily is worth having. And you know, I disagree, right? I really like watches. So if somebody gives me a really nice watch, I'll take it and say, Man, that's awesome. Right? But here's the thing nobody's just gonna walk up and give you a really nice watch. That's right. That's right. Nobody's gonna give you a scholarship if you no one's gonna give you anything worth having. Right? If it was easy, here's another one. If it was easy, everybody would do it. Everybody can't wake up, everybody doesn't choose to wake up at 6 a.m. Or be somewhere at 6 a.m. to run those sprints. Right? Jerry Rice has a quote, I think it's Jerry Rice. Today I will do what others won't. So tomorrow I can do what others can't. Who do you want to be? Look in the mirror and understand that it's gonna require. I talked to my five-year-old, and I talk to him like that, and my wife's like, he's fine. I don't care. Right? But if you want it, well, what are you gonna do to get it? Right? And it's gonna be respectful, it's gonna be um authentic, we're not gonna cheat, we're not gonna try to find ways around it, we're gonna go down the path that's respectable in order to get where we want to get. And if you don't get it, well, that's okay too. You'll be further than where you started. And that's what all that matters. Let's take one step forward every day.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. And you you did that work. You were up every day, you've told us, you did all these two days, these practices. Like you said that you got burnt out, but like you persevered and like you went through that. And um, one thing that came out of that was the Super Bowl. So tell us about that Super Bowl experience. Tell us about like what it was like to win that Super Bowl, and maybe tell us something that we don't really get to see like behind the scenes on TV about that.

SPEAKER_02:

So leading up to the game, our coach was Bill Belachet. He now coaches UNC, I believe. Leading up to the game, he was telling us that, and I had never been a part of a Super Bowl, obviously. It was my rookie year. He was telling us that the Super Bowl is like two games, the first half and the second half, but because halftime is so long for the halftime performance, the Super Bowl feels like two different games. I think we had Lady Gaga that year. And by the way, I gotta meet her. Oh, um, it was brief. She was walking on to practice before the game, and I was just walking along the sideline like pregame warm-up, and we just crossed paths, and she was like, hey, good luck. And I was like, and kept walking. You know, yeah. Um, Luke Bryan was there too, but he was a Georgia fan, so I was able to talk to him. I think he did the national anthem. Um he was telling us it was like two games, and the first half was obviously terrible. I think it was like 24-3, 21-3, something terrible. We were getting beat. Bad. When we come out, we go into the locker room for halftime, and everybody feels like Bill gave us this electrifying speech, or Tom stood up and said something that rallied the troops. No. It's nothing like that. In fact, we were in the locker room, and I was looking around, like, okay, who's gonna give a speech? This is bad. Who's gonna say something? Now you had certain players chirping, and that chirping is they were just repeating sayings like, come on, guys, we can do it. Or uh Julian Edelman was saying, you gotta believe. And Dante Hightower was saying, we got to get our stuff together, right? We had guys who were saying positive things, but nobody stood up and gave an electrifying speech. Well, during halftime, the first five or ten minutes, the coaches meet on their own and then they come out and make adjustments. Once the coaches come out, I'm thinking that Bill is about to stand in front of us and deliver the message, right? And he stands in front of the team, and I think to myself, here we go. He'll say something that gets us back on. He stands in front of all of us. He scans the road. And he says, Man, if we play better, we'll win. And he walks off. And I thought to myself, that's it. That's all. That's it. Yeah, that's all he's gonna give us. Man, you know what that moment taught me? Either you're prepared or you're not. And he knew either my team either I've done a good job getting my team prepped, but there's nothing I want to say in this moment that's gonna change anything if they're not already ready to go. Um man, we came out of halftime and the Falcons scored again. I think that that point it was 28 to 3. But you know what? It's a philosophy that I live by these days. I may lose, I may be down and out, but you can bet I won't quit. And I think that's what the team was thinking. We had to think that because it was so bad, there's no way we thought we were gonna win, but we knew we weren't gonna lay down and just take it. And in life, sometimes you won't win. You can prepare all you want. All right, but you put up a fight to the very end, and I think we did it long enough for us to see the light at the end of the tunnel. And when we saw that light, oh, it was on. Yeah, it was on. So that was that's how I felt about the game. I felt that you may win, but we ain't gonna just let you. Yeah, you know, yeah, absolutely. And through that fight, we put ourselves in position, they made enough mistakes to give us an opportunity.

SPEAKER_01:

That's crazy because in in my mind, I'm like, all right, like 21 to 3, like that halftime speech must have been electric, you know. Tom Brady up there, Bill Belichick, like Tom didn't even say a word. If you want to win, fix it. Yeah, you know, that was enough to just resonate with everyone. He knew, you knew, the team knew. You got this.

SPEAKER_02:

That's life though. You know, it's not it's not just confined to football, right? Do better. It's do it, do better, right? If you're not getting the grades you want, then do better. And maybe doing better is staying up for an extra 30 minutes to focus on that. All right, set a timer. 10 minutes, five minutes. It doesn't have to be long. Just do better, just try. All right. There's this saying in sport that I know you know is you can't coach effort. Yeah, like you don't have to be talented, you don't have to be brilliant to try. All you have to do is try. I look at my look at my son and say, all I gotta do is try. You don't even have to get it right. All right, you could take that shot and miss it, but have you tried to get your form down to the best of your ability so you can make it? Just try. All right, it costs you nothing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I mean, you talked about form. Let me tell you, I I have had the worst form you could think of when I was younger. I mean, like, the coaches would have to work with me so much extra. It was bad. Like it was not good at all. But like, as I like noticed, like that difference was coming, like, my shots were starting to fall. And like I my freshman year is really just from like I found it and I found the love for the game. And it was just like really putting in that extra work, kind of like helped me define like who I wanted to be like as a basketball player. Um, just being able to be coachable, something that's super important, and just putting in that effort all the time. And I that really made a difference in who I was, like, not only on the court, but off as well. And that transitioned into my life at the Boys and Girls Club, my life at school, my life with my friends and my family. So, like those those like lessons that you learn like in the NFL, just in high school basketball and any of those sports, they can really like put in perspective for you like the rest of life and like how the values that you should have to live. Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_02:

I agree wholeheartedly. Another one is um working through adversity. Yeah, you know, I learned that probably to a very um unhealthy degree because I can something can be going on, and I'd be like, well, I gotta still do it. Sometimes you got you gotta take care of yourself too, though. Absolutely. You know, be smart, is what I say.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and I appreciate that. And unfortunately, that is all the time we have. Yeah, but we have had a great conversation, and I so much appreciate you being able to take the time out of your day. I know you got so many different things you could be doing right now, but I appreciate you taking the time to come and be on this podcast. First episode, first two episodes, you get to be a part of that. And I'm super grateful for you and your team and everyone that made this happen. So thank you. Yeah, I appreciate you. Yeah, no problem. Yeah, thank you guys all for tuning in. Make sure to like and subscribe and join us back next month. Thank you guys. Yeah, man, that's great. You got natural talent. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. It's it's easy when I have someone like you to talk to. I mean, appreciate it. It's just honestly a great conversation.

SPEAKER_00:

All yours. Thank you so much. Yes, sir. Thank you. This is awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

I have to get this like framed immediately. Or just throw it around y'all.

SPEAKER_00:

No, no, no. Definitely not do it that one. Definitely not doing that one. I'll buy another football for that. But uh, thank you so much to manage time.

SPEAKER_01:

It was a pleasure. Thank you all for tuning in. Again, I am Holden your host. Please like this video and subscribe to Youth Unmuted wherever you get your podcast. Until next time, peace.