Transfer Portal Reality: Flipping Rosters vs. True Culture

The transfer portal can flip a roster in months, but it can’t instantly build trust. We sit down with Trey Owens, Tristan Smith, and Dontrae Henderson to get honest about what it takes to walk into a new locker room, learn a new standard, and turn “new teammates” into real brotherhood. From Texas to Jonesboro, from JUCO to a long-earned starting role, and from a national championship program to a fresh opportunity, each story shows how much environment and relationships shape performance.

We also dig into the mental side of college football, especially for high-pressure positions. Trey breaks down the quarterback reality: you’re praised like a hero one week and blamed the next, so you need routine, discipline, and emotional control to stay steady. Dontrae talks about cornerback life, where confidence and a short memory are non-negotiable, and how “snap and clear” helps you reset after a bad play. If you care about sports psychology, leadership, and consistency, this conversation gives real examples you can use.

Off the field, we talk about the true student athlete grind: morning classes, late practices, film study, and the small choices that keep you eligible and improving. We also get into why Arkansas State football stands out, from the recruiting approach to facilities that surprise players who’ve been around big-name programs, plus the season goals that matter most: staying healthy, winning week to week, and making a real push for a Sun Belt Championship.

If you enjoyed the honesty and the behind-the-scenes look at college football life, subscribe, share the episode with a teammate, and leave a review. What’s the hardest part of staying locked in when everything around you changes? @Arkansasstatemedianetwork.com. 

00:00 - Introduction

01:15 - Portal vs. Trust

04:30 - Walking into a New Locker Room

08:05 - The Quarterback Reality

11:45 - Cornerback Psychology: Snap and Clear

15:20 - The Student-Athlete Daily Grind

19:10 - Why A-State Facilities Surprise Recruits

23:45 - Sun Belt Championship Goals

Transcript

Welcome And New Places

SPEAKER_03 0:10

Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Inside of Den. I am Justin Parks. I'm here with Trey Owens. Swiss Smith. Trey Henderson. Alright, it's really nice, you know, to have these guys here today, you know, sacrificing a lot of time through their busy college athletic schedule. Um, so obviously, Trey, you know, coming in from Texas, how's everything, you know, been? You know, how's the transition been from going from Texas to here, you know, day-to-day life, you know, everything like that?

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Um, it's good. It's a lot more homey, no city. There's significantly less people. Um it's a lot more of a homey feel. And um definitely the biggest thing is a lot less distractions. And um, I feel like I've settled in pretty well. About to move into a new apartment in June. So I'm looking forward to that. I'm having a blast so far.

SPEAKER_03 0:54

Yeah, I'll help you move if you need to. You don't get no moving company, pretty expensive. Uh so Trishan, you know, being here obviously, you know, going on year four, right? Or year five, you're getting older, but you're old. So, you know, how's everything, you know, been, you know, just being here for the past, you know, previously? Because you transferred in from junior college. Yeah, so how's everything been from that transition? JUCO product.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

That's the city to me. You know, I'm from Crossett, so yeah, Booney Town. I'm from a Booney Town, you know, uh Jonesburg, everything you need, everything you want for me.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

Yeah, we call Tristan the mayor of Crossett. That's the mayor of Crossett right there. He's the mayor of Crosset for real. No, I'm not the mayor of Crossett. I just know people in Crossett. But um, so Duntry, obviously being, you know, in North Carolina, Charlotte kid at that, you know, host you on your OV, you know, like, you know, like how's everything? Now you're a national champ, you know, just worn just previously Indiana national champion. So, like, how's you know everything, the transition from being basically in a similar program, you know, Sydney and Butch kind of like operate a lot alike, you know. So, how's the transition been?

SPEAKER_00 1:59

I say the uh transition has been well for me. Uh, everything's been going good. I got a good relationship going on, all my teammates and stuff. It's a good life, brotherhood over here for sure. Coach Butch, he uh he really uh voiced that that connection and brotherhood. So I really appreciate that, and it's been good for me. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

Yeah, no doubt, no

Building Brotherhood In The Portal Era

SPEAKER_03 2:21

doubt. Like I feel like a lot of people don't talk about this enough though, just like you know, especially high school, you know, you had the same teammates for about four years. Middle school, you had the same teammates for two years, depending on which state you start playing football on it was different. Alabama was seventh, eighth grade. But um, then in college, you know, for the most part, when I initially got in here, it was you had the same teammates for four years, then that changed with the port and everything like that. So operating in that, how did you know create those? How was it creating these new relationships with these new players, you know, with this new model?

SPEAKER_00 2:51

For me, it's kind of like the normal, because like when I got to Indiana, our whole team was new. Then that second year, our whole team was new basically again. So this, like basically the regular, and this is the norm in the new uh era cause football. So it ain't like nothing really crazy or spectacular or different for me. It's just the norm. Right.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Right. That's fair. I think being here, like different from Texas, there's there's nothing else but football and your teammates around. So like that's who you just spend your time with, and it naturally that's where that connection happens. Whereas you're in Texas, you're in a big city, you have a lot of distractions, a lot of other people, a lot of different activities you can go do. Whereas here it's it's it's just you and your boys, and it's it's been a fun time being able to get to know all my new teammates and create those relationships. Right.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

And Trishan, you know, I normally wouldn't even ask you this, but like but it's just different. I could say this going into my start, my junior and my senior year, like the the my teammates changed drastically with the port and everything like that. So, like, how's it been for you, you know, being a veteran guy here, being here a long time, knowing the standards, expectations, but also having, you know, a whole new group of guys coming in. How's it like been for you? Just I guess creating new relationships, even though you saying staying in the same spot.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

Yeah, it's most definitely a struggle having to learn what 50 new faces every year. Yeah, having to reteach the same standard, reteach the same program over and over again, but over about second, third year doing it, you pretty much get used to it.

SPEAKER_03 4:20

So ain't nothing ain't nothing new. Yeah, no, no doubt, no doubt. So um so just like kind of like switching gears right

How Football Started For Us

SPEAKER_03 4:27

here. So, like, how you know what is your journey? You know, obviously you've been here four years or whatever, just your journey from football up to now, like whether it could be little league or middle school, like what you know started your love for the game? Like, how's your process led you up right out of here? You know? Oh, you know, I started playing football fourth grand.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

Really just wanted something to do on my free time. When really I'm really an angry kid, I wanted his home. So I started playing football four grand, fast forward to high school, senior year. I didn't like my offers. So I said, you know what, I'm gonna go to Juco for a year. I went to Juco for a year, uh, put up some some decent offers. And then as soon as I go Arkansas State, I'm from Arkansas. So I was like, I told the online coach at the time, Andy Kwan, I was like, You offer me right now, I'm committing, I don't care about the offers. So he offered me. Uh like as soon as he talked to me, I committed. I came here like a week later, and rest is history. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

I've been here four years. Yeah, uh, that's a good little process, man. So what about you, Trey? Like, how's everything being well obviously you from uh from Houston? Houston area, right? So Texas football, that's religion down there. I remember growing up watching Friday uh night tights. So I grew up watching that, you know, a lot of kids of my age at the time, but it was just like crazy seeing like how big, you know, how important, how crazy, you know, some of the parents acting like down there, but like how was everything growing up?

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Um, yeah, it's got the best football in the nation. Um I don't really think that's a competition. Um I mean it's just the smartest best football. I think population has a lot to do with it. For sure. Absolutely. More people football's gonna be better. Takes football good though. I give it to you. It's great. Um growing up, started playing football as a first grade, flag football. I grew up in an athletic family. My mom played volleyball, my dad played football. They both played at SFA. Um, and I've yeah, I was born with football in my hand. Um started playing quarterback third grade. I was a running back, believe it or not. Um our starting quarterback got hurt in a game, and I went in and I started playing well. So I was like, all right, uh, let's start throwing the ball. Actually, actually, the first time I was at a KiBee um lesson for my quarterback at the time, and he was working out with Gerard Johnson, who's now the quarterback coach of the Texans, and I threw him back a ball. He's a he tossed me the ball back, he's like, just do that again. And I started throwing, he's like, I'd like the way you throw, you just can work out and try to play quarterback. So I did, and then like you said, the rest is history. I've been playing quarterback since third grade. I never started a game at quarterback until my freshman year of high school. I was always a backup, and then once I took the reins, started on freshman team, then sophomore year, started on varsity, a little shaky, kind of just first year playing like big boy football, and then junior years when everything started picking up and really flowing, and then took off, committed to Texas, went and played there. And you know, now I'm here and I'm I couldn't be happier. It's been life-changing, it's been uh just a super fun experience being here.

SPEAKER_03 7:35

Right. No, no doubt, no doubt. Definitely a great journey. What about you, Duntre?

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Shoot, I started playing football when I was four, which is crazy. But I come from an athletic family as well. So my pops, he played uh V2 football. He went to uh JCSU, Savannah State. My mom, she played basketball in high school. And my oldest brother, he played at Campbell, he played safety. My brother, right now, uh, he plays at Virginia, he played corner over there, he just transferred there from Rutgers. My sister, she had produced, so like I had to play sports whether I wanted to or not. Luckily, I wanted to play football, so it all worked out in the end. But yeah, my uh high school journey, I started at one spot, we wasn't too good. I started on JV, got moved up at the end of the year, and I actually ended up starting, but we were so bad it really ain't matter. Ended up transferring, and that's kind of like where uh my football really like took off for real because I went to like a powerhouse in North Carolina. Like we just got uh a round one draft pick, Kevin Conception. I used to go against him every day, so like that was a good bump. And then the year before we had a the end, James Pierce, he went uh first round two. So like just coming from that school and like what they instilled in me, like just going against the best of the best every day, and just like having that mentality like really helped me. My senior year, um, I didn't play, I had for my ACL like right after my junior year was over. Luckily, I had a couple offers, a lot, a lot of offers went away, but uh some uh school stayed with me. Ended up committing to uh GMU with Signeti. He ended up bringing me with him to Indiana, and then that's just like how uh everything came about. Ended up here now. I'm at uh Arkansas State and just ready to like really show something on the field this year to be honest. Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.

Why Arkansas State Made Sense

SPEAKER_00 9:27

So, like, you know, let's talk about that. So, why A State? A State, to be honest, I seen I seen the film when I was like, while I was at Indiana knowing I was about to get in the portal, I was like catapult watching film, just watching A State games and like seeing the culture and like seeing the defensive scheme and like how y'all had made that jump from 2024 to 2025. I know I could see myself in this scheme, making plays, and just kind of being a valuable uh player to this team. So that's kind of why I came here to be honest.

SPEAKER_03 9:59

Nah, nah. What about you, Jersey? Even though it's up, well, you already said so it was coach scoring for you being an Arkansas kid. So what about you, Jerk?

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Um when I I knew once I wasn't where I wanted to be on the depth chart at the beginning of the season at Texas, I knew this is ultimately gonna happen. Um but going into the portal, I was kinda I I had to make some decisions if I wanted to go be a backup again for a bigger school or go play at a smaller school and you know, ball out and really give myself a good chance. Um and ultimately made that decision. So I mean it came down to a couple schools, but I think just coming here and how hard Coach Altman recruited me, like I got a I got a text from my agent. It's like, hey, the New Arkansas State OC wants to text you and talk to you. I'm like, alright, cool. I gave him a call. He goes, It's this is Thursday night. I'm about to go hang out with my buzzy. It's like buddies, it's like 8 30. He goes, What how you doing? We get to talking. It's like, when you come visit him, man, I'm free, I got nothing to do. Let me know. He's like, You gonna flight at 7 a.m.? I'm like, I mean, I can. Are you sure? He goes, All right, I'm booking you flight for seven, get be on the plane in the morning. I'm like, I live 45 minutes from a uh hotel, um, or not hotel, uh airport, and you gotta get there an hour and a half early. So I mean I'm waking up now at 4:35 to go go for a visit. I was like, this better be good. I'm not about to wake up for 7 a.m. and not like this place. And then he's recruited me super hard, and he's super personable, and then talking with Coach Jones while I'm up here and just feeling the love from all the the staff and even some of the recruits that already committed, started recruiting me, and I just I really liked it and connecting with some of the old players and people I know from Houston, and it was just kind of a small world, and it felt it felt like home immediately.

SPEAKER_03 11:57

No, that's definitely I think it shows I feel like maturity obviously coming from a bigger program, but just like you know, especially hitting on what you said of like, do I want to go to another program, be a backup again, or I wanted to, you know, better myself, you know, and go play. You know, at the end of the day, I feel like, you know, you know, big logos, you know, some people matter more than most and some people, but you know, just I feel like we played the game just to play, you know what I'm saying, not just watch but the play. So that really, you know, shows the maturity that that you

Earning The Start When It Counts

SPEAKER_03 12:26

have. So, so Tristan, obviously, so let's talk about like, you know, obviously, you know, starting in the bowl game, the one, you know, 2024, the adventures bowl. So, like, how was you know getting the first bowl game, you know, probably like you know, six years for us? Like, how was how did that you know feeling knowing that you started that you anchored that offensive line, which y'all had a lot of rushing yards that night? So, like, how did that, you know, how did that moment feel to you?

SPEAKER_02 12:49

Really incredible. Because, you know, that was really my first start here. So, you know, I uh go here two years, don't really get much field time besides special teams, maybe a little bit of field goal, a little bit of punt. And going in that 2024 season, I ended up being the sixth man. So I had to come in, finish all the games out. I had to come in. Um somebody rolls their ankle, sprains their ankle, I gotta finish the game out. So going from that to Bowl Week, the now office align coach, by the time intermittent head coach, I mean office align coach, Coach Grimes came to me and said, You're starting this week. I was like, Okay. He was like, uh, he told me that in my opinion, you're a really good player. We should have been starting you, and you're starting this week. That's okay. And I didn't want to let him down, so make sure we got a lot of rushing yards.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

Yeah, race racist history, though. No, I I think, you know, one thing I was on that team, but you know, just you know, it shows that, you know, just wait your time, you know, and just be ready when your time comes. Because I think a lot of us fall in that scenario like we're not playing, you know, we're worried about the circumstances, we letting dictate circumstances dictate our mood, you know, the way we think, you know, what we put in our mind, you know, and then we get that opportunity, then we don't execute the opportunity. Now it's just like now you lose trust. So like, you know, always use that thing, stay ready so you don't have to get ready. Exactly. I feel like you did a good job of

Pressure Proof Mindsets At QB And Corner

SPEAKER_03 14:11

that. So now with you, Trey, so like just operating, you know, quarterbacks, you obviously gotta be a little different to play the position, you know what I'm saying? Like, you know, if we win, you're the greatest on earth. We lose, you suck. You know what I'm saying? You I know a lot of quarterbacks shit off the air. Social media is during the season, you know, just all the declutter, the distraction. Like, so how do you operate knowing that you play such a critical position, one of the hardest positions in sports, probably arguably the hardest position, you know? How do you like go about it on a day-to-day basis? You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Um you brought it up like turn off your social media and all that, but it's I think it just comes with the comes with the role, like you gotta be able to take it. Like it's just it's what it is. You're gonna have bad games, you're gonna have good games, but you can't let it like you can't let it f affect your emotions. Like you can't you can't ride the highs too much, and you can't like go search at all the comments that are saying bad stuff about you. Like it ju you can't let that get to you. Um how I live my life on a day-to-day basis, um, just keeping a good routine. I think that's the biggest thing I learned once I got to college was like living on my own. Like, I have to have a tight schedule, I have to do things differently. And um that was that was my biggest adjustment, and just staying on a good diet. I had to lose a bunch of weight when I got to college. I was I was being an idiot in uh high school. I was just like, how much weight can I put on? And like so people can't hit me, and like like I'd people just bounce off of me. And so I lost like 25 pounds immediately when I came into college. So I had to really lock in on that aspect, and that's that's really hard when I'm I'm by yourself, like sitting on a dorm. I used to be like, I can just door dash, I can go eat like trash, but like mentally you have to be really strong to be able to play this position, and yeah, I think that's just that's the most important thing is just being having a routine and being mentally strong and like having discipline. Not a doubt.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

I definitely, I definitely agree. Like, don't trade someone for you playing the corner position is a lot like I guess the second hardest position, you'll say I sometimes I'll make that argument saying it's the hardest, but it's definitely subjective. Like, so how do you like you know operate knowing that you gotta have like that killer, that killer instinct playing corner? You gotta have a really a short memory, you know, especially you know, you get bombed on you, you can't let one play dictate, but you know, they always remember the bad. Like, how do you operate knowing you know what you'll go through?

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Facts. Uh for me personally, I say you just gotta have that confidence, you gotta have a certain mentality to play corner, because like literally covering a guy playing backwards and like you don't know where he's gonna go, you just gotta trust, trust your technique, trust the work you put in, and just be you out there basically. And um that play about uh or whatever about when you let a catch get on you or you getting bombed or whatever, you just gotta snap and clear. You can't let one play affect how you play the rest of the game or how you uh finish out practice, and that's something I done heard here for real, for real. Snapping and clearing, because like if you if you in your head at corner, it's not gonna be good at all. You at all. Like it's really gonna be over, to be honest. So snapping and clearing and just practicing that on a daily basis, like, all right, bet be ready to feet at don't don't think about the past, don't think about what just happened. Be ready for the next play, be ready to make a play. That's all we think about it. Right.

Routines For Football And Class

SPEAKER_03 17:32

So obviously, you know, you guys being here, you know, what is like your day-to-day, you know, life life operations right now. I know we're just kind of like getting out of spring balls, still kind of operating off a similar schedule. Like, how do you like operate on a day-to-day basis? You know, obviously it's different than a regular student. You know, we got our football obligations and everything like that. Then we gotta still be a student on top of that. Like, how do you manage that? You know, how do you kind of like keep yourself disciplined while knowing you have this obligation in order to be eligible to play?

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Well, you know, me, I'm being blessed right now because I'm on my last year, so I'm in the master's program. So I'm on school right now, it's online. But fast forward like two years ago, you wake up at 7 a.m. You got class, class, class, class, you got workout, then you got practice. You up there till about seven o'clock at night, turn around, do it over again. But now, you know, I'm I'm blessed right now, so I wake up about um eight o'clock, nine o'clock. Yeah. Sit there. I do my own thing till about 11, then I head to the facility, I do my workout, do my practice, but I do stay late. So I'm not getting out every day until like eight o'clock, sometimes nine o'clock, because I like to watch that film. And then, but I it's easy when you know you don't have to be a real early the next day. Yeah, no, that definitely helps out every time.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

What about you? Um big difference coming here, we do workouts in the afternoon in Texas. We everything was um in the morning, so I was used to I was used to getting up early, but it's for football, it's just a different mindset than I'm having to wake up 7 30 to go to class. It's obviously not as fun, like you're not ooh, let's go to let's go to my communications class. But that's the biggest thing for me is morning class. That's it's been it's been tougher, but um it gets me up and go in the morning, which I always need to do. I it's I like to start my day early, so having morning class give me something to do, and that's been that's been the biggest change is morning class, I think. Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

I gotta agree with trade in morning, morning class. It's my first time I had an 8 a.m. in my life since like high school. That jumping. It's been getting to me, it was getting to me at first, I ain't gonna lie. Yeah. I had to lock in, get right. Cause uh yeah, my mom, she don't be playing that back grade stuff, so I had to tighten up, get that right. But yeah, I'll say morning class for sure. That's been a big adjustment.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Yeah, especially I've got 8 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and we practice Tuesday and Thursday. So I gotta I gotta practice when I don't get out here till nine and dumb 8 a.m. class. Like right back. It ain't really like no two.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

And I say like with the 8 o'clock, like you just gotta like, it's just it's just tough. Like it's one of the tougher things. Like, that's nobody talks about that no eight o'clock class in college. Like high school, you already get no, like, but college is just it's just different, though. You just gotta like, it's one of those things that like you only I only went through it a semester and then I was done. I made sure all them classes at nine, no later than, well, no early than 9 30. So I had to be academic advised about that. But you know, once I get up and going though, it's like it's just cool. It's just it's just rough out there. Yep. The early mornings, but um, so kind of like switching gears here.

Jonesboro Food Draft Picks

SPEAKER_03 20:49

So like, you know, y'all being here, as long as y'all been here. What's your favorite restaurant, Jonesboro? All of them. Oh my god. No, I play all line, I can eat. So yeah. Like it's one, like somebody tell you, like, you gotta like uh like go-to food. Like, I like Freddy's a lot, but I just told somebody Freddy's is better than TJ Burgers, and they ain't wanna.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

I haven't been yet. I haven't been yet. Yeah, I've been to it. I haven't seen it. I'm just I've I mean I've seen it on like Yelp. I'm a big Yelp cat, that's what I do. Yeah. And uh haven't I haven't been yet, but it's got good ratings. Yeah. Um I mean J Town's good too. Oh yeah, too. No doubt. Love J Town. That's a spot.

SPEAKER_03 21:31

Love J Town. Everything's good there. Yeah, he's finna say insomnia. I see this man insomnia every day. Captain Bray.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

I know he's loving it. How did an off time insomnia five? True valido, I gotta go to Slim Sliders. That's Slim Sliders. Ain't that what it's called? They just call sliders. Oh, it's called Sliders.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

This is my time, man. Yeah, time last week.

SPEAKER_03 21:54

I think Drew Brees restaurant.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Forget Whataburger just got open.

SPEAKER_03 21:58

Have you been yet? I haven't been on. I haven't made my way. It's always like I always drive it's like way over there. I'm living over there. This is the best fast food burger. Yeah. Not gonna lie, I like that. I like water burger. Yeah, you're gonna pay 30 bucks? That's true.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

And I gotta go in and get it.

SPEAKER_03 22:13

Hey, nah, five guys. I love five guys, man, but that's like one of those things I eat once a year, man. They gotta they gotta drop those prices down for me, man. You're getting a lot of food, but the fries, yeah, you'll get a lot, but many fries, whole bag filled. That's pretty lit, but I'm not paying 30 bucks to do it. I could literally cook all that at home for like maybe 12 by the little ground beef. Oh, yeah. And at walk-ons, have you been a walk-ons before? I'm I literally said I'm gonna spend my money there every day. Yeah, walk on. We're gonna make it. It's like the occasion beat up. Yeah, yeah. New Orleans-based restaurant. It's a Drew Brees restaurant as well. So he he taking over the streets. He knows what he's doing. Yeah. It's about time though, man. We it but like they just constantly building all that canes. When they open up the like that whole whatever that street called, it's gonna be hard to travel there that whole week. Line drop to line, be all the way out to the main road. It's gonna be crazy, man. It's gonna be crazy. Love that.

Facilities That Surprise Powerhouse Transfers

SPEAKER_03 23:09

So like uh honestly, so facility-wise, so like how does having you know our facility, which is probably one of the better ones in the country. I know y'all obviously come from big schools, but like, you know, when y'all came on a visit, were y'all expecting because I know you like you say you woke up at four o'clock. Like, was you expecting to see that? Like, was waking up there early worth it, you know, to you?

SPEAKER_01 23:29

100%. Um, I had no clue to expect. I hadn't even really thought of Arkansas State until my agent introduced me to Alt. And then I came, I walked in, I was like, and I walked into our team room, it's way bigger than it is at Texas, and I was like, Where am I? This is kind of sick. And then walk out in the field, it's got waterfalls and all that fun stuff. And I'm just like, we have our indoors that's right next to the facility. We had to drive buses to go to the ones that are at Texas. Um, they're building a new one now, but like it it is it stands up to, if not better, than like what powerhouse schools have. Right. Um, and it was written high-opening, it was pretty cool. It's a it's a hidden gel for real.

SPEAKER_03 24:14

I know you come from Jukra. I know when you came up here and seen that. I know you was like, I know you was like, golly, I know because I'm I'm from Birmingham, bro. So I've been to UAB facilities, I've been to some other ones, but when I came up here, it's kind of like a lot with Tracy. It's like like dang, this up here, like it was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

What about you? Yeah, just seeing all the resources that uh we have here, it's like we pretty much like what we don't got that these power five schools got like. I didn't see no real really big difference, maybe not as much football fields, but like we got the indoor, we got the stadium with waterfalls. That's insane. Like, I remember one time after spring, I got in a waterfall after uh practice, it was so hot. But just being able to do that is like crazy. Like just into the summer.

SPEAKER_03 25:06

Every conditioning session, y'all gonna be. That's all we did. It's hot out there, boy.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Nah, nah, but yeah. Just seeing the waterfalls in the field and like the indoor, everything was nice, weight room nice. Yeah, yeah.

Season Goals And Sun Belt Dreams

SPEAKER_03 25:22

Yeah. So what like, you know, what are y'all personal, you know, personal and team goals for this upcoming season?

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Um, ultimately talking about it. Like, we had I had JMU make it last year to the college ball playoffs, so it's like, why not us? Why can't we be that team? Um, but I don't wanna I wanna I'd like to go more like a game to game to game basis because you can't look too far ahead if you don't attack the week. Um so just just winning the next game every time. I know and shoot shoot, if you win it every game, then ultimately that's just gonna happen. Right. I know the it's it just got made harder for us to make the playoffs with the old Notre Dame role because they don't want to join a conference. But um I think seriously, like we have the talent to like make a run. I I truly do think that playing the defense every day and like know we have an offense and the O-line we have and the receivers and running backs, whatever. Like I really do think we have like a good enough team to make it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

I'll say just like what Trey said, going one-on-one every week. I put in uh looking past any team, respecting our opponent each week, because I definitely feel like when you say we got the talent for sure. And like I feel like like I ain't ever like I'm not trying to lose, I'm trying to win. So like whatever we gotta do to win, and you know we got the talent to win, let's do it. That's why I'm looking at it, cuz I feel like we definitely can make a run, especially go get that Sunbelt ship, like why not us, funny? Right.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

No, no doubt, no, no. Personal goals really just finish the season at healthy for sure. And then main goal, team goal, I wanna win a Sunbelt Championship. You got it up before he makes the playoffs. And I really want to finish off strong while I'm here.

Injury Recovery And Staying Positive

SPEAKER_03 27:18

Yeah. So like speaking on that, like, because I was a your fellow injured guy as well, never completed an off-season. Just I was just only good for end season. Like every off-season I was under the gun, uh, surgery-wise. You know, obviously you having the uh the ankle surgery during the season, Troy game, had like an elite level game according to PFF, you know, like 80, 87 plus that game, just run blocking grade, and then I think you had an ACL injury, correct? You had an ACL, so like Troy, you had any injury?

unknown 27:47

Nope.

SPEAKER_03 27:48

So like how was like, you know, you know, could you just talk about like how y'all, you know, your recovery process during that injury? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, how did you, you know, keep yourself, you know, positive in such a negative scenario?

SPEAKER_02 28:01

Yeah, most definitely easy to be negative, you know, when it happened, a cry like a little baby. Not because it hurt, but really just because I knew I won't be to play no more. And so uh just getting over the bumps of it's not gonna be better the next day, and just understand that it's a process. And the process takes time, and you gotta come back. And you're telling me I'm gonna come back stronger, yeah. Ain't nothing to it but to do it.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Yeah, nah. For me personally, uh I had it to remind my end of my junior year. So like right before my recruitment was about to start picking up. Ain't gonna lie, mentally I was all messed up because I ain't really had no offers. I probably had like two offers. And I thought, dang, man, I didn't work for this my whole life, and now I just had an injury about to mess me up. But luckily, I was blessed enough. I uh grew my relationship with Christ, and that kind of helped me get through it. And I had a great support system around me, and just being able to do like get the opportunity I got when I had for my ACO and I didn't even play a snap in my senior year, it was just like crazy, and I'm like truly blessed for that. And yeah, I'll say that just I grew my relationship and just trust the process for real.

SPEAKER_03 29:14

That's definitely God is good for that though. I think a lot of people don't talk about like just thinking about thinking, think of that scenario, think about how negative you could have been. Like, you know, it ain't like college where you can register after you get hurt, you get hurt your senior year, you you know you never go through it, and it's so easy could have getting beat up and down. You know, nobody ever knowed the Dun Trey Henderson story, but for you like uh persevere through that, because I can only imagine. Like, I I thought I was gonna like I was doing a training session, my recruitment during COVID, so y'all got to take like official visits. None of that. None of that. It was literally Arkansas State was my only one of my one of four unofficial visits I took during my junior year. Then when COVID, everything else was zoomed. So, but for you to be here now today, you know, being able to do what you do, you know, learn that story, you know, motivate you, inspire you to do better, you know, getting a chance to do this, you know, that's truly remarkable.

Gratitude For The Opportunity And Goodbye

SPEAKER_03 30:04

And like we on that topic, like, how does it feel, you know, like millions of kids, you know, high school, you know, just you know, playing football, you know, everybody having that goal of just being a division one athlete playing in the the shoe or the big house or in Tuscaloosa or Austin or in Bloomington, Indiana. Like, how does it feel to truly, you know, be one of those to like few to make that next step, be a division one athlete, do it at a high level? Like, how does it feel to y'all just have a scholarship, you know, everything like that?

SPEAKER_01 30:34

It's it's it's awesome, but same time, like every day I miss high school football. Like, seriously, it's those are the guys you grow up with, like every everything's changing, like you're getting older. Um, and like we're talking about now, like you play different guys every year now. Those are your guys you played with for four years, you grew, grew, grew, and then like um, like especially in Texas, it's just like I I'll tell stories for the rest of my life about high school football, and like those are the most fun years of my life, but obviously it's a dream being able to play college football. It's been my dream since I was young. I remember um in our like we had it's like fifth grade day, but in our graduation, we gotta say what we want to be grow up, and I said be a professional football player, and I'd taken this next step. It's just one more part to the one more step in the dream, and um it's yeah, it's just been a dream come true. Right.

SPEAKER_02 31:30

Just truly blessed. God allow me to be in this situation. So really just a blessing. I I ain't doing nothing to be here.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

So yeah, I said it's a blessing for sure. Just being able to experience it and being able to have that title behind you, like just being at those games and seeing all these people out here looking for you and seeing like what you can do on the field is truly a blessing. I ain't gonna lie.

SPEAKER_03 31:58

No doubt, no doubt. I always thought of it as, like I said, just a blessing. You know what I'm saying? I I agree, high school, like, you know, that's one of the things I still tell stories, you know, to this day. That was just so fun. You know, I'm obviously blessed to be in this situation though, because it's like, all right, what's the next thing? All right, I I'm able, I'm blessed to play at the next level at a high level, like I did. But um, I say, man, you know, just keep doing what y'all are doing, you know, like keep lead, you know, keep being, if you ain't a leader, be the best enforcer you can be, you know, just making people do right, you know what I'm saying? But um, no, I'm definitely uh rooting for y'all, rooting for y'all boys this year for everybody's success, you know what I'm saying? I I enjoy just seeing y'all being successful, you know. But um, okay. So that's gonna bring us to another episode of Inside the Den. You know, I want to thank Trey, Tristan, and Dante for being here today, you know, taking time out their busy class schedule day. Um, make sure you follow all at Arkansas State Media Network page for all your updates. This video will be released. So um, I really appreciate y'all for your support and what was up. Let's get it. Yep, thank you. You