Bussin' With The Boys - Luke Kuechly Opens Up About Why He Walked Away & His Football Obsession + NFL Votes To Ban Tush Push

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

Recorded: March 31, 2025 On this episode of Bussin’ With The Boys, Will Compton and Taylor Lewan sit down with Luke Kuechly—NFL legend, Carolina Panthers icon, and one of the greatest linebackers to ever play the game. Known for his elite football IQ and instinctual play, Luke opens up about his early retirement from the NFL due to multiple concussions, giving raw and honest insight into the toll the game can take. As well as his time playing with superstars Cam Newton, and Christian McCaffrey. Before the interview with Luke, Will and Taylor react to the news from the NFL owners meetings that they will vote on a potential ban of the Tush Push, popularized by the Philadelphia Eagles en route to their Super Bowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs last season. The conversation starts with Luke’s early love for football and the moment he knew the sport was his calling. He shares why he chose Boston College, what made it feel like the right fit, and what it was like training at IMG Academy alongside top-tier talent leading up to the NFL Draft. Luke gives a behind-the-scenes look at his NFL Combine experience and the emotions surrounding his draft day with the Carolina Panthers. From rookie-year adjustments and getting "Mossed" by Julio Jones to a hilarious story about not owning a TV, Luke keeps it real with the boys. He reflects on the veteran linebackers who mentored him and how they shaped his mental and physical approach to the game. Luke and Will also break down some of his most iconic plays in the NFL, offering a deep dive into how he could seemingly read quarterbacks' minds and always be one step ahead. Big hugs and some tiny lil kisses!  TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro9:09 Yankees Vortex Bats13:37 March Madness Final Four25:25 NFL Ban The Tush Push?32:38 Luke Kuechly Preview38:06 LUKE KUECHLY INTERVIEW STARTS39:54 When Did He Want To Play Football?41:53 Why Boston College? 47:19 When Was The NFL A Thought?53:22 LB's He Got Drafted With56:27 Combine Training At IMG58:58 Luke's NFL Combine Experience1:10:50 Rookie Year In Carolina1:11:47 Getting Mossed By Julio1:17:56 Was It True He Didn't Have A TV?1:20:13 The Linebackers He Played With Rookie1:24:52 The Origin Of Calling Out Plays1:29:30 His Weekly Film Routine1:43:20 Losing Super Bowl 501:44:01 Will’s Favorite Game Of Luke’s1:50:40 Guys He Played With In Carolina2:01:03 Learning How To Play After Head Injuries 2:09:50 The Thought Of Retirement 2:16:36 Scouting For The Panthers2:20:25 What Was Next After Football? 2:28:08 His Other Hobbies Outside Of Football2:30:13 Bud Light: What Would You Do Anything For?2:31:33 Paul Swann Is On The Bus2:32:09 Speaking To Vanderbilt 2:33:17 Playing With Christian McCaffrey 2:37:48 Best LB's In The League2:38:55 If Not Boston College, Where Else?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey guys, it's us The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen.

We don't care where you hear it. Welcome to another. episode of Bustin with the Boys, we are a show that brings a locker room to life through awesome conversations with incredible guests, a little bit of emotional trauma, but most importantly, we are a podcast about being for the boys. And I want you to be for the boys too, a way that you can be for the boys, wherever you're watching, wherever you're listening to this podcast right now. Make sure you are subscribed. You're on Apple, Spotify, Google, YouTube Rumble. We're on all the platforms. Make sure you're subscribed to the boys. And we also launched our merch store last week.

our website is live that is bwtb.com you can buy these hats you can buy our merch you can buy whatever to be for the boys just go shop at our merch store bwtb.com i am your host will compton some would say the CEO of how in the hell did he play in the league for that long alongside me as always is the boy taylor lewain built like a greek god brain of a toddler but god we love him we are the boys on today's episode we get in a little bit of march madness talk of the top we talk about how fried our brackets are how our brackets have basically just taken a beating by a torpedo bat. Speaking of torpedo bats,

we also dive into the torpedo bat conversation in baseball. And we also sprinkle in a little bit of NFL talk because the coach's picture came out. We throw a couple fun jabs at Vrable. We talk about his fit. We also talk about the tush push rule that is being decided today as you watch this episode. Then the main event, a two and a half hour conversation,

I believe is a two and a half hours, Mitch, with Luke Keekeley, your boy as a linebacker. I aspired. I aspire to be a poor man's Luke Keekly. This conversation, this is the smartest, scariest, and most respectful psychopath to potentially maybe walk on the football field on the defensive side. We get a deep dive into how incredible he was. He's like a Hollywood director watching film.

That's how much film do you watch. We dive into the mind of Luke Keekley, what got him out of the league with concussions, and we talk about his post football life. This conversation is everything you want. This is football porn with Luke Keekley. wherever you're at. Buckle up. This is a banger episode.

Whether you're in the gym, you're in traffic right now, or you're sitting in a meeting and you have one air pod in trying to listen to the boys talk while your boss talks. Wherever you are, dial it in.

This is a fun episode. Big hugs, tiny kisses. Let's go. Be like, uh, busing with the boys. Hang in with the face. Gonna tell us

what you do. And I'll just drinking beer and making that. Bussing with the boys. Bro. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Bus with the Boys. It is episode 32.

We have a massive guest, the greatest white linebacker, maybe the second greatest white linebacker ever walked this entire earth. As always, we are presented by the wonderful and powerful Fandual.

Bus with the Boys is presented by Fandual Sportsbook. Fandul is America's number one sportsbook. We did a couple of parles this week. Thursday and Friday. Thursday plus 600 odds. What happens, Will? Dinger. Dinger. See ya. Hepatitis. See you later. Friday. Optimism. You're feeling as good. This is literally just history in the making. We streamed two days.

First day, bets go well. Second day, we're like, it's going to go great. He's going to go amazing. Another plus 600 bangor we had ready, locked and loaded. Plus 600 banger. We had Michigan in there. We had a couple overs in there. Guess what? Not one of them hit. But if you were on that Thursday parlay, you might have made yourself a little bit of coin. I want to say too, it was like the first over under one. I think it was like over 143 and a half. And somebody won it might have been Michigan State. Maybe it was, I can't remember, but they won 73 to 70. Arkansas, yeah. Arkansas. Arkansas. 173 to 70, bro. God, that is sickening. And how does Vegas know? I just don't understand. They're great. I don't. We keep, we keep the lights on for them. We're going to sandwich this whole thing with positive,

negative positive my future's parlay that a couple of people thought I was jinxing it hit let's give that a round of applause real quick that what do you mean hey we thought you were jinxed we're fucking fucking we're getting one of those that's what we did that's I went in there I didn't know shit about basketball

I didn't know nothing about basketball I said let me just put my on the floor right here let me flop this thing on here and guess what happened we we knocked it out of the park and that is what a feeling what a feeling to know nothing and just go how about these four. Hey, I heard Houston's pretty good. I'll put them in the elite eight. Hey, Florida's pretty

good. Put elite eight. Sure. This is the phrase I keep hearing in my head. No one's going to be surprised if Michigan makes it the sweet 16. Let's plop them in there right there. And then your boys in Arizona. Boy, so what are we going to do? We're going to put them into the sweet 16 as well. Yes. All of them hit. Yes. All of them hit. Thankfully, thankfully, because you were on pace to jinx it. Fortunately, I threw a little prayer for you. I appreciate that. Yes. I was I appreciate that. There was talks about chickens, hatching eggs. He's just trying to do the same thing.

I understand. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's all in the brain of looking out for your boy. I love it. And I actually appreciate you guys doing that because it allowed me and Sherm to cook up a nice little video that I truly enjoyed. I enjoyed making that sitting on the train tracks. You and me and Jared shirtless.

Jared was filming that also shirtless. Almost got arrested by Homeland Security. Right. Guy pulled up on us right after, right after we finished. He goes, hey, we're just three pasty, guys sitting by train tracks he goes hey don't do that again right yes sir yes sir we all like piled back into my truck just one bench seat we just got to pull off out of there but it was fun to make it was fun to do it's nice to have those things happen home run parles we had a nice little one friday didn't

even get close did it was it plus one hundred and ninety three thousand 93 million million yeah 198 million odds so we learned a couple of things about fandle it's yeah 51 to be 51 cents to win $900, I think $96,000. Yeah. And so we get in the office for Friday morning. We're kind of hanging out. We're right and high because the home run jackpot parlay, like everybody was sitting dingers on opening day. Everyone, especially the Yankees.

Yeah. Going nuts. Yeah, them torpedo bats, which I kind of love. We'll get to that in a minute. But Sher and put together, no, Coup comes over to me and goes, my boys who love baseball, these are the three right here. It was like plus 800 or plus 1,000 odds. And I just was like, yeah, I mean, your boy say it. I'm going to bet it.

So I bet it. Then Sheren goes, I think I'm going to get a little crazy. He puts nine legs together with, you know, a number that I've never seen before my entire life, go to put in like a hundred bucks to possibly win a hundred million dollars. He was walking around. He was walking around with the Fandall app and he just hand you the phone and say, pick a guy in this game. Yeah.

This is work for me in the past. Yeah. And I find out on Fandle, the max bet you can win a million dollars. So we all had to bet like I think the max was 56 cents on that. Jared had a great little idea. bet it four or five times and then you can start cashing out periodically but I told them I was I'm pretty sure

like that would get flagged something was something would happen with that but I still but I fell I did the same thing I got I bet it like four or five times I'm kind of hyped up I go look at it I go home I literally tell my wife sweetie we're gonna win a million dollars today there's an opportunity for us to win a million

she goes how much did you bet I go two quarters and six cents that's what I did and the first leg nope second leg nope didn't even have a chance No, because we were all like one hit, right? A few of these will hit and we'll cash out.

Yeah, yeah. Get it up to a couple thousand. Yeah. A couple thousand kind of just pop that thing in there, no problem. But I think that's a thing we should do Fridays. Ungodly parleses. Put 50 cents on it. Because eventually you keep swinging, right?

It's baseball. Keep swimming. Eventually you make contact. 50 cent Friday. 50 cent Friday. I like 50 cent Friday. We might have to start looking at the few cats on the Yankees because they've just been going yard. There's a video that.

came out there's this guy sitting like right field Yankees fans got the Yankee shirt on Yankee hat and he goes I had a dream last night that the top three in the first inning all hit home runs and it shows him reacting to all three guys hitting home was like the first six guys right search is going off wait wait all of them had home runs home runs in a row no I don't think it was in a row but I think

the first three guys hit home runs right back to back to back to back home runs because these vortex bats which I kind of love the torpedoes yes before Before we dive into torpedo bats. You got to visit, listen, Dinger Tuesdays. All Fandual customers get a home run profit boost.

That means when you bet on moonshots, you can take your winnings to new heights. So whether it's a big blast or an Apo Taco, Fandul is your home for betting home runs. Visit fandul.com slash busing and gear up to go yard all season long. Fanduel is America's number one sportsbook and the official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball. 21. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers.

And guess what? We have some big news. news news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range

of podcasts throughout there. But, this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with the name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And... Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before

Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 7. Plus and present in Select States. For Kansas, in affiliation with Kansas, Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C. Opt-in required.

Bonus issued as non-withdrawable profit-boost tokens. Restrictions apply, including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler or visit RG-Helf.com. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Hope is here. Gambling helpline, MA.org, or call 800-3-27-50-50 for 24.

47 support in Massachusetts. Visit www. W.W.m.d.gamblinghelp.org and Maryland. Call 1-8-8-Hop-N-Y or text Hope N.Y. 4-6-7-369 in New York. And again, maybe use that home run token. Your best bet would be with the cat from the Yankees. Aaron Judge.

I mean, he's just hitting bombs. He's amazing. What was, I think I saw a stat that was like, he's hit, he's on paced to hit over 300 home runs right now in a season. And he's hit how many home runs? And like, like five home runs. seven at bats or something like that one point yesterday

it was four home runs at nine at bats in nine at bats I mean the dude is just going yard yes and you learn about this what is it some MIT guy some cat that they hired a new money ball

we need to get another money ball movie in the works get Brad Pitt back in there do it over this MIT guy averaging 545 that is incredible yeah with four home runs four home runs already two games in crazy

11 RBI Yeah. Help it as boys out. So what does anybody, we don't have coupon on the bus, so it sounds like they're taking some wood near the handle and they're putting it around the sweet spot. My understanding of the bat thing is that it has to be a certain weight. And so there's distributing more weight from the handle to the barrel of the bat, essentially giving us all our Little League vortex bats back. Yeah. But if you look at the shape, like how it like builds up and then goes back down, the end of it's like the same size of a normal bat, but they're like just compressing. the amount of wood that's in that one sweet spot. So if it hits, so they're juicing that one spot of the back. And if you miss it by a little bit,

like you'll still hit a good ball, but basically their focuses on this one spot of impact and you should have success. It's insane to me that that is legal. Legal. But I will say this. I personally enjoy it. Yeah, absolutely.

Let's just hit home runs. Right. Is there anybody here that's like, I'm going to get serious. Is anybody on this bus? Let guys take steroids. Let guys juice the bat and let's hit fucking home runs. Did you imagine TRT with this bat?

Yeah. It'd be insane. Everyone always talks about in baseball. I don't follow a whole lot of baseball, but they're like bringing back to Mark McGuire, the servicosa era of the steroids. Everyone was just hitting dingers all the time. You're always like tuning in to be like,

this guy's going to hit one. I know it's amazing. You're chasing records every year. Chase it records every single year. And now you bring in this bat without the needle. It's like you're kind of getting what you're asking for. Everyone's kind of getting back to whatever that time frame. once.

One, I don't know why it took so long because clearly it's allowed by the rules. Isn't that insane? Right. And if you're a team, how have you not already chased that edge for it? And then now if you're a team, you're seeing the Yankees, why wouldn't you immediately hire a staff and create these bats for your team?

Like this week, every team should have these fucking vortex, these torpedo bats. Me and my boys were saying the Yankees should just somehow trademark this thing. it, make sure no one else can have it. No one else can do it. That's when it gets canceled. That is when it gets canceled. But at least for this first like month of baseball, you'd be like, oh, you didn't read this fine print right here. Sure enough. Go ahead and stop production. We'll actually take those. You know, she owes $100 million now for even trying. So then you can pay your players. I do think it's nuts of how that loophole was found.

I'm making these bats. I want to see the first guy on the other team that noticed that bat, that the first up at bat, the guy holding the bat, I mean like, can they do that? I don't think I knew that teams made their own bats. Yeah. I just thought it was Louisville. Louisville sluggers. I thought we all just go to Dick's sporting goods in the corner and be like, all right, yeah, we'll get a MLB baseball bat. It's not how it works at all. A amount of money that's in baseball, especially money ball. You see all everyone's always trying to find that one percent.

Like how is this happening now in 2025? I can't believe it took this long. And the fact that that's, that's even allowed. It's like, yeah, what was the holdup? Yeah. And I want to know, I would love to know how that conversation went down and where this MIT guy sparked this idea. Really? I have an idea

I'm just slower stands up nervous that is crazy makes baseball more exciting people on Twitter like making it bigger each like photo yeah it's so funny each photo it is uh that's kind of dope yeah the size of Aaron judge using that bat

is just that's unfair yeah 6 7 what is he 260 he's enormous he's a unit yeah like me on the wiffa ball field Hey, Woffelball is a different game now. You see some of those cats at their pitching the way they do?

Just crazy. Yeah, baseball is getting interesting again. Now that we're down to the final four, who are you guys? I mean, it feels like a no-brainer Duke, right? I'm Duke. I have floated in my bracket, but I think Duke's going to pull it off. They look incredible, man. They look incredible.

They just operate too. It's like, I saw to where they're the highest scoring, like Duke team on points per game in the tournament of all time. It's impressive. You know, it's hard for Bama to have a showing like that against a team like Duke. You want to at least, you know, you think you slow momentum down a little bit with Cooper Flagg, but they have guys everywhere. Their center is insane. Yeah, seven, what's his name? Kinepple.

caniple something he's lights out proctor's lights out i think he's the most underrated guy on their team but to have a night like bama did on thursday to then that was just highs and lows in truest form i mean tennessee was struggling too jack how jack how is your mental how was your mental yesterday watching that game i mean you know well i don't know where we're gonna go with this Tennessee got their ass well. They played horrible. They were 0 for 14 from 3. They were 2 for 22 or 2 for 23 from field goals in like the first 13 minutes.

It was horrible. And then Houston was playing lights out too. So I was just happy that we put hands on Kentucky on Friday night. That's a big one for ball. I mean, like it makes how horrible the performance was yesterday feel a little better. But yeah, you know, just what happens, man. You play so many games. games in the span of three weeks that if you don't play lights out the whole time,

you're going to get got got, and Tennessee got got. But to any of the Kentucky fans out there, sorry. Sorry. That's the last laugh, didn't you? It's the Kentucky fan. I think what's cool about this Final Four is that it's two OG coaches versus two young coaches. But the style of basketball is very similar, you know, amongst everyone. and for John Shire, if they win, he could be the first ever guy to win as a player at his school

and as a coach at his school. And he's extremely young. And I don't know if y'all heard Pat Bev talking about him or if y'all remember watching John Shire playing. He was a dog in college, set records in high school. And I can't remember if he was from Ohio. He's from Illinois. Luke Kinnard is from Ohio that broke LeBron's record. But John Shire was like the guy in Chicago. Pat Bev's talking about him. Like, man, this dude, he would pull up to any gym. Everybody feared him. And this is in inner city Chicago.

John Shire pulls up. They're all like, we don't want any part of it. And the only reason he stopped playing in the NBA was because he got poked in his eye and he's legally blind in one of his eyes. No shit. Yeah, so he is, he was such a beast watching. He was like peak college basketball fandom.

I think they won 2010. So we're like freshmen in high school talking at the lunch table. Yeah. So it's cool to see him in the championship. Yeah, I don't know who beats them. I mean, I guess, you know, it's anybody's game, but just watching Duke thus far, like, they just seem to be operating in a different level when they're on the floor. Yeah. Houston, I mean, the fact that they're the team with the lowest turnover rate in the country, you always have a chance with that. But Duke, they just get easy buckets. Every other team, I feel like has to get hard buckets. And, Every single one of Duke's baskets on Alabama seemed like it was wide open. Yeah.

It was. But, Cooper came to the plane on Grant Nelson. Yeah. Grant Nelson caught his. An update on our brackets. I learned in the pre-production meeting that Garrett is now the leader in the clubhouse with our brackets throughout. Was it 99% tall?

Oh, yeah. One seed, baby. One seeds. None of this bullshit. God. Straight to the point. Saw the board. Yeah.

You're in the 99% of you. 99% of you. 99% of. Yeah. I mean, top 300,000? I had to take my guys out for, you know, the betterment of the bracket. Yeah, you understood. Business decision.

You understood. Yeah. You understood better than I did. I got a little too generous with Michigan. But the futures hit. Futures hit, though. We put it where we need him in that futures bet. I do think the best matchup is Florida Duke,

just because Florida has bigs that can try and guard Duke. Florida's got a point guard that lights out, and Duke is proven. that they're... And do you have Duke in Florida in your final two? I do, so I'm a little biased. Yeah. Yeah, because I got Houston and Florida in my final two.

I wonder if I can catch you. Garrett is ranked in the top 10,000 brackets. No shit. Yes. Let's go, Gene. 99.9%. God, bless. All right, G.

One seat. Yeah, this weekend I just see JP tweeting about next year I'm only going, while you're auto drafting. Bro. You thought every upset in the world was going to happen, didn't you? It's March. It's March, man. That's how it used to be.

And that's how you used to get paid. Yeah, not anymore. But now I just hold on to it. And, yeah, I mean, there was only one upset in the first round. Obviously, in the elite eight, it was all ones and twos except for one three seed. Yeah, so it's, yeah. Tough year. Yeah, tough year.

But there's always next year, but it seems like the best. Yeah, geez. The best days. They laid it out for us pretty. The best days of March Madness are behind us. I hope not. As far as upsets go. The quality of basketball is very good.

I don't know. Do you guys watch a Michigan-Oborne game at all? I mean, it was like there was quality basketball going on, but there was a five-minute span in that second half where it was just turnover after turnover. Everyone just running down to the other side of the court, losing the ball. And someone grabbing it and then losing the ball on the other side.

The last five minutes of the game were like that. Well, the ball in this tournament, there was a lot of complaints at the beginning that it's like over. Overinflated. So a lot of guys were having trouble ball handling and everything. Overinflated. Yeah. A little opposite of Tom Brady, deflategate. Right. Something going on. Okay. All right. Dude. Auburn. It's all connected. Tom Brady, Michigan. Overinflated.

Let's see what's going on here. Michigan, always the common denominator in those things. When during the SEC tournament, G said he went to the game and he saw Florida and Alabama. And Florida just wiped the floor with Alabama to the point where G's like, I just got to sit here. Oh, I'll get to a point here. he's like I gotta sit here and basically just watch great basketball take place and so when I'm watching the Michigan-aubert game like Michigan's down by one at the end of the first half and the second half they go up seven I'm thinking holy shit the boys are going to do it my bracket's looking fantastic and then Auburn this center goes crazy and then zero this freshman starts going nuts like just basically closing his eyes and throwing

the ball in the air and goes in every single time to the point where they just started to run away with it and I thought I was in the same position I thought about you and I was like like this is I just got to watch Auburn do incredible things right now because they were not missing they there's nothing Michigan could do and I'm gonna let jp say his two cents about the center but oh you like him he he is a little demonstrative with his hand gestures he loves to be seen I don't hate that zero pediford's nice Auburn still ass fuck Auburn but pediford is nice I'm gonna let JP talk about four real quick dude broom I tweeted it out but he is the the most over dramatic player in college basketball. Yes, he is a beast, but he's also like 23 years

old and he carries himself like he is LeBron. And I want him to do, I want him to have, I want him to get rich after school. I don't wish any, I don't want him to have a horrible career in the NBA, but I can't see him in the NBA doing his thing. And the way he carries himself, you would think he's, he's a number one draft pick. But last night in the game, did you all watch it? This guy, bro. Now he went down and like it looked like he kind of messed up his knee. And so it's like, oh, snap, that's obviously not good. But then you start hearing it's his shoulder or something, his elbow. And he's like sitting there on the ground with that look of like, man, my tournament's over. And so you're feeling for him. He's walking by his teammates. He hugs his mom. He goes to the locker

room. He told coach you, I'm done. I'm like, dang. And you know, he bought out through some injuries earlier in the year that we're also kind of overhyped when it first happened. But he goes to the locker room, comes back out, gets to big cheer and then immediately grabs a one-handed rebound and then goes and knocks down a three and is like juicing everyone up. I'm like, this is not, you can't do this. This is not allowed. And Taylor likes it.

He went in there, got that Blue Mountain State shot. Bro. He went in there, he was a Blue Mountain State training staff and they got that needle out. I can't wait until he's gone from college basketball. I didn't know he did that. Listen, he overcame an injury. I guess. He overcame an injury.

He is good. I mean, I hated that he was doing it to Michigan, but I loved, like, his physicality in the paint. Like, he was body and cast, putting him in a corner. You know, like, we're in there and then hooking it in. Everybody grew up playing sports. Like, you all, you know, you know those teammates that were like, dude, are you even that injured right now?

I know. And he is that teammate. And now he's getting, and he's up for national player of the year, too. Oh, you would hate that. Yeah. Oh, you just the way you set up for you would despise that. We need the flag broom. God.

Dude, this guy, man. I've been hating on him for a while now. Oh, really? So I brought up a sore subject. I didn't even know. He'll be doing it like he'll put it on South Carolina, even though we should have beat them this year, lost in the end.

But, yeah, he's been bothering me for a while. Damn, man. Hope the best in the NBA. It does got talent. Auburn has 10 seniors. And don't you want your players to be like overconfident in their abilities? Don't you want like if this guy's on South Carolina, you would love them. No, no, no.

Yeah, I mean, I would. I love anybody that wears Garned and Black. But the Pettiford guy, he's a perfect example. Like he runs his mouth. He thinks he is one of the best point guards ever to touch the basketball court. And he's fun to watch and he doesn't give off the vibe that Broom does. Like the Auburn point guard, he has this tape from high school where he's just finding every camera before the game. like I'm killing these.

I'm doing it into everybody. Then highlights are all putting on a show. And I'm about that. He done fake injuries. This kid zero. He didn't fake injuries. This kid zero was insane. He's a beast.

Unbelievable. He's a freshman, right? Yeah. I had to drive into the paint on you guys. Drove into the paint. Stopped, turn, spun out of it and hit like a fade away jumper at the elbow. And it was. We had that seven footer.

He like somehow got like the. exchange. Someone tried to do a pick and so the seven-footer went on him. And he like just stuttered him real quick and put that kid's feet and just went around, laid that thing up, no problem. It was crazy to watch. And anywhere he was, dude, anywhere on the court he was, he put that ball in the air. Either went to somebody he got an assist or he just, it went in the net. It was crazy. Yeah. Tough slender boys. There were good games over the weekend, but then there were some really bad ones. Yeah. Yeah. All of our team just got murdered. me, Jack, we're getting paid though.

Yeah. That bracket. Shout out that bracket. Shout out March Madness, dude. It's awesome. Coming to an end. Do we have any football topics? I know the NFL is officially voting on banning the tush push.

Why? My vote be no ban. It'd be no ban. It's like I get frustrated watching it, but at the end of the day, you got to line up. You got to figure out a way to stop it. Right. I think, if anything, they need to be very, they need to be very detailed on the offense, like, fall starting. Because it's just such a different looking formation when everybody's all, like, on all fours.

And I feel like there's fall starts that kind of happen before the ball is snapped. I'd be more focused on getting that kickoff reversed back to what it was. Right. Like, we got bigger issues out there than the touch push. Like, you just have man on man. You have dudes on dudes. How tough are you versus how tough am I? and we're going to find out who's better in this moment.

Yeah. It's an extremely hard play to get past. There's no doubt. I mean, they've done it for a couple of years now and just have had an insanely high success rate. Other teams have tried to mimic it and can't do it. But no one's stopping anybody else from doing this formation. It's the torpedo bat.

Yeah, it's the torpedo bat. It's the torpedo bat. But yeah, you brought up the bills. The bills did it, but they do it differently. Like Josh Allen takes a step to the left and goes through the B gap. They just do it differently. Right. And you're saying it and not have success.

I'm saying the bills. Like, if you're going to do it, you just need to go all out and do it like the Eagles. Do it exactly like the Eagles do it. Have to. I mean, it's not like they, they patent it.

And they're like, hey, nobody else can do this play. Anybody else can do that play and get it done. Sorry, the Eagles quarterback, squat 650 pounds. Like, get you a quarterback in the way. Yeah, behind that old line.

Yeah, behind that old line and you have three guys pushing, like, I don't see anything wrong with that at all. I see nothing wrong. It sucks. It sucks. It sucks, especially when your team's playing the Eagles and it's fourth and one,

you know, hey, they're going to get it. and making you jump. Yeah. Then they can award you a free one. But it's just, I think it's almost ridiculous to even like outlaw this. Did you see, do you see the coaching photo?

Do you see our boy braves? Yeah. So it was a little stiff in there, huh? He looks a little stiff. He's got that funny. He's got that little grin, that smile where he's actually given a smile. I saw a zoom in on the photo of the,

the four guys in there. Callahan's in there. It's like when you have to hang out with your ex, your girlfriend's ex-boyfriend. It's kind of just kind of sitting there and rapes is over above him. in that that is Braves has got to feel good

to walk into that building right there I'm fucking back you know he's got his little walk in yeah he's got the little strut he's just owning the room but that right the strut

the confidence and swag that we know Vrabel has none of it none of it isn't that photo he's doing the Will Compton flex is what he's doing the shoulders

brought up a little he's got this little thing going he sees his pecks kind of pop has he been in the white room a little bit no no he's been hitting that he's been hitting that bag real slow with stretching the corner him and frank you think he was salty they had they had him at the end maybe yeah who knows maybe i just pictured the person in charge of the photo like all right

everybody line up please single single file line and you just got andy read in the front yeah like i just pictured that whole behind the scenes process being hilarious yeah i wonder if everybody was like tried to walk towards the middle like oh could you might right right actually hey mike's over here to the right some yeah a little farther yeah i've only won a few super bowl at some at some point And he's like, he's like away from everybody else. There's like a big space. All right, good, that's good. That's perfect there.

Think it to himself too. Like, I've only won a few Super Bowls and played 14 years. Yeah. How many, how many years in the NFL, these guys play? That's crazy. It's like the one time you know, too, that you can look at this photo and kind of laugh, knowing you can kind of goof on them.

Yeah. I feel like, yo, I would have whoop your ass in this situation. But knowing like this is the only moment. Outside of it, it'd get a little too physical. All right, bro, we're fucking around. Relax. Put your little chest pat on and go to practice. Let's go to OTA.

Trust me. We know you're a psycho. Yeah. It's interesting. I mean, he's got to feel good walking in. Patriots head coach. They spent like $140 million this off season. They're just getting all.

He's getting all his guys, Harold Landry, Spillane, all these things. He's getting everybody he wants. He's got Drake May who, people are kind of whispered. Like, this kid's a lot better than people think. They brought on two digs. Yeah. Brought Diggs on, which, interesting. Interesting.

Brable Diggs dynamic. That is going to be interesting. That is going to be. I feel like he can handle it. He needs his guy like that. He needs his guy. Yeah, he needs a dog. I thought for a minute they were going to get AJ.

I thought for a moment they were going to snipe AJ over from the Eagles. I mean, I don't know digs whatsoever, just on headlines. Right. And gossip and everything else. But again, it's like Braves was working. Braves worked with a lot of different personalities on the Titans. I feel like Braves is somebody that gets that out of those guys. Yeah, he's got that Tomlin-esque kind of vibe where he can take multiple personalities,

make them work together. Yeah, it's like we were built around the run game. you had a savage like a j brown on the outside who you know was frustrated at times i mean i mean j was going off corey davis was going off as soon as a jay got there you had um who else john new smith like you had so much talent on some of those teams caliph raymond just burning cats in baltimore so in the right amount those guys want to be challenged and they don't they don't want to coach that they can say everything they want to they want a guy that will sort of check them And I feel like it does.

Like you said, bring out the best. Yeah, there's definitely a respect factor that needs to happen with some of these personalities. And whether or not as a player, whether or not you want that or you like that.

Right. It does. It ultimately like lifts you up. And then you kind of look back on like, oh, this guy was good for me. Yeah. This is where,

this is where Rabel's 14 year comment is going to probably go a long way with Diggs. Yeah. Like he did do it for a long time. Yeah. It'll be nice. He'll always be chirping about how many touchdowns he has and all these different things.

How many you got this year? That's cool. I had this man one year. those types of deals bringing up legends like big personalities like Randy Moss walked through here I don't know if he played with Randy though

no I think you well it'll be called it's like being able to play as a team yeah when did Freibs retire scoot down a little bit sure yeah he played with Randy right that's that 2007 I know I was walking around

I can I can picture myself walking around my high school hallways spouting off about how I have Randy Johnson on my fantasy football team so I don't Randy, Randy Johnson's a pitcher for the guy. Randy Moss. Spout off about how I have Randy Moss in my fantasy football team.

But I don't know, he might have just missed it. Was it 08? No, he was still in it. 08 was his last year. 07 was that season, right? 07-08 Super Bowl. Or was it 08 season 09 Super Bowl? I think it was 07-08.

Oh, yeah. He played it. Yeah, there they are. There it is. Good research, Sherm. Nice work. But yeah, shout out Braves being back in there, man. We got to fix that photo, though, Braves.

Let's take care of that. Next time you go in there, let's get a shirt that's a little more fitted, a little more customed out. Yeah. We got to get out to Fox bro, too. We got to sit out. Yeah, we got to see the boy.

You got to see him. We've got to see him. We just curl up. Hey, my bad, my bad. Put our feet on his desk. He walks in. Oh, shit. No doubt.

Look at him in shape. What a beauty. Yeah. What else we got, boys? We feel good. And we have a massive guest today. Yeah. Do you want to, I'll let you up the floor.

This is a big moment for Wilcompton. Yeah, I mean, I was ecstatic when he was about coming to Nashville because he was wanting to come on when we were going to the Super Bowl. But it was like, bro, we got to get you on the bus. If we can find him if we can find out. Because we've been going back and forth with Luke since maybe November, October last year. Because Paul Swan, shout out Paul Swan. He kind of hooked it up. Put us in a group chat.

And we were going back and forth. He was all, you know, Luke would be out hunting. He's an outdoorsman. He'd have a lot of different things going on. He was requesting to come on during. during the Super Bowl. But again, it's like, bro, we got to get you on the bus. So we can find a moment.

And I think he came out and worked with Vanderbilt. Like he was out with Vanderbilt earlier. When he came on the bus, it was in the afternoon. But he was at Vandy all morning, I think, just helping with the staff, maybe talking to the players, working with the linebackers. But yeah, get Luke Kiklione on. I mean, one of the most accomplished. How long did he play?

Was it eight? Seven years? It was eight years. I mean, one of the most accomplished careers in that short amount of time ever. Ever. I mean, he's one of the best. And if you're a guy that, like, truly loves ball, like loves the X's and O's of what's going on,

you're going to love watching Luke Keekeekly dissect all these things. We go into some of the plays he's had, his back-to-back picks against the Lions, how he, they were in a blitz, they check out of the blitz. I'll let him tell a story. But the way he went about the process of the game is a massive reason why he was so successful.

Talks about the players he played with, the leadership that was in the rooms. It shows how important a young guy, it is for a young guy to get leadership, in a room that he walks into. And how important is for those guys that are 9, 10, 11-year vets to help the young guys out

because it seems like he had great habits before but getting in with them and them teaching him how to be a pro just sent him to a whole new level. Yes. Empowering him like, hey, you are the guy surrounded by guys that are older than you and had like cut their teeth in the league

and very like very respected players that were ahead of him. Absolutely. But dude, it was awesome. I mean, it's Luke Keeckley. And having them on too, it's like getting to talk to him about all the concussion stuff because he's somebody who played his career and he doesn't really

go on much or he hasn't necessarily talked about it a whole lot. So getting to kind of dive in on what the insecurities were like, like what was popping up like when those concussions were starting to create a pattern like being at peace with retired. When did he know he was going to retire? Yeah. And him jumping into scouting the year after I thought was insane. Yeah.

You're just curious. A guy at that level, why would you want to go into potentially being a scout in the NFL? Like are you trying to be a GM or are you trying to be a. a coach and just dabbling in his life after ball since retiring and just hearing him talk about it was awesome and it does seem like he's he he was super at peace with everything which i was kind of like you know like as a backer knowing that he played at the highest level every year that he was on the field it's like man do you ever think about like you know are you bum that you didn't get to play like 15 years or put up a career or play as long as like ray lewis did like knowing

where his stats probably would have fallen yeah It's the only player I've ever seen in my entire life go from being a physical backer and then a little more heady, finessey, and still have the same amount of productivity. Yeah. Because he just understood the game at a different level than everybody else. Yeah. And just his like, the dude ran a four or five. I want to say he jumped extremely well in all the combine stuff. Like his physical capabilities like paired with all that mentality and that preparation and everything else.

You just got to see, he was a stud on the field, man. And his closing speed, the way he could, again. We're talking about at the time Julio Jones dunked on him, but he's covering Julio Jones. Which it looks like strike to stride. Yeah, like we were talking about cover four, breaking it down how he has to run with Julio Jones.

He wasn't really getting a whole lot of help. He had some like late safety help, but we're talking about him running and covering and competing with Julio Jones, like when he unfortunately got dunked on. Yeah. But he's just, dude's a specimen. And getting to break down the Dallas Cowboys plays

and him turning his head around and getting that pick, Like his ability was crazy. Jumping out of cover two because he knows that that's covered. He's probably Stafford gone from his read to somewhere else. Having his back to a play and knowing what a person behind him is thinking and able to turn. Yeah. It's just incredible to him. Yeah.

It's amazing. It just shows like the capability of some football players in their brain that just allows them to operate at that level is just nuts. Yeah. Just wild. Dude's a legend. Legend. Let's get in this episode before we do. Let's talk about TikTok.

What do you say, Willie? Yes. Hey, Taylor, I have a question. What does a mechanic and auto shop owner? in Georgia, a taco restaurant operator in Arizona, and a life-saving medical innovator in Tennessee all have in common. Are they all in small business owners? And they're all thriving on TikTok?

Yes, bro. Across the U.S., over 7.5 million businesses from family-owned shops to entrepreneurs are using TikTok to compete and grow. In fact, boys, get a load of this. 74% of businesses on TikTok say TikTok has allowed them to scale their operations, increasing sales, and expanding into new locations. What does that kind of growth mean? It means jobs.

Today, there are over 7.5 million U.S. businesses on TikTok employing more than 28 million people, and that number keeps growing. Small businesses thrive on TikTok. Learn more about TikTok's contribution to the U.S. economy at TikTok Economic Impact.com. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. First people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys?

I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast. we could call in and say, hey Jonas,

and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. And also, you can go find Bert's new special, Lucky, only on Netflix. Shout out, Bert Kreisher.

Shout out, Bert Kreisher. Let's get to this episode. You guys enjoy it. Subscribe, unsubscribe, re-subscribe, and rate five stars. us. Big Cucks, tiny kisses. Ladies and gentlemen, this interview is presented by the one, the only, Bud Light. Something about that, Bud Light, baby. But Light has always brewed with four simple ingredients for a clean, crisp, refreshing taste. Stock up on Bud Light now and head to Budlight.com

forward slash locator to find a store near you. But Light is the official beer sponsor of the NFL, the NFL Draft, tied in you with Bud Light Partner, George Kittle, the UFC, Shane Gillis 2025 tour. Bud Light Partners include Will Compton, Peyton, Peyton, Taylor-Lawain, George Kittle, Baker Mayfield, Emmett Smith, Shane Gillis, Post Malone, and Dustin Porier. Our guest today, quite possibly the greatest white athlete to ever

beyond this earth. A man who has been said, got an apartment his rookie year, had a bed, no TV just for his iPad so he could be the greatest. Somehow went to Boston College, should have gone to the University of Michigan or Nebraska. Ladies gentlemen, give a round of applause for Luke Keekeley.

When it drops, also Paul Swanus. When it drops one day, Hall of Fame, all white teamer. There we go. Gotta be. Starting backer, bro, welcome to the bus. I appreciate it. It's good to be on here. Yeah, dude.

So how do you want to start? How do you want to do this? Heart's pounding. Hey. Yes. A lot of going on. Right. Right.

All right. I'll take this. Go ahead. Go ahead. Because I'm just looking out. Right. That's. That's Luke Kikli.

Yeah. Yeah. Do you want to start early in his life? And he's younger than me, too. That's what's even crazy. I know. Like that's... Did you tell Luke that you actually played two more years in the NFL than him?

No, I figured we'd get to that point. It's a fact. Can't hide behind that. Yeah, can't run from that situation. We get to that point. You get to that point eventually. But yeah, you can go ahead and start it off. You can go ahead and kick it while I start to gather my thoughts.

Luke, how does it feel to be the best white linebacker to ever live? Oh, my gosh. So Brian Erlacker was the guy that I grew up watching him and Zach Thomas were pretty daggone good. And then Chicago guy Dick Buckas. I feel like he kind of got it all rolling a little bit. Can you hear me? Yeah, get it close.

Yeah, get that close. Yeah, but, uh, no, it was fun, man. The game of football was special and the guys that I grew up watching, Black, Zach Thomas, Derek Brooks, Ray Lewis, those are the dudes that when I was growing up, I want to be like those guys. When did the bug hit you? Because everything I know, this is obviously the first time we've made.

But playing against you, practicing against you one time when you guys came to Tennessee, brutal. It's terrible. You guys had joint practices? We went to a joint practice. And I was always told this guy, Luke Keekeley, like he, is a football guy. He's a machine the way he operates. He calls out plays. You have so many clips of guys saying, oh, we would be sitting there. We checked you a plan and you would call out to play.

It was no difference when we were in practice. I actually don't know if you remember us. I walked up to you in the middle of practice between plays and said something to you, you were like a goddamn robot. Like you were so dialed and trying to get off the field. I mean to drink. So when did the bug hit? When did you realize, okay, football is what I want to do with my life? I think growing up, I wanted to play football, probably start in like second or third grade. You know, you grew up in the Midwest. I grew up in Ohio. The first game that pops on is at noon. So you wake up on Saturday. We always, would us have football practice on, I don't know, Saturday mornings. We'd play on Sundays. And then you'd watch college football all day. So I think for me, it was started as a young age. That's the one game that I wanted to play. And we didn't have an opportunity to play until I was in fourth grade.

Because just how the school was set up, my dad didn't play football. We weren't really a football family. growing up. So by the time I got involved with it, I was in fourth grade and my brother was in fifth grade and we just played on the local school team. It was a group of, I think was St. Mike's, Our Lady of the Sacred Harbys where I went to school and then St. Xavier. Those were the three schools that made up the team. So it was really like third grade that I knew I wanted to play and then fourth grade is the first year that actually played. Yeah. Why Boston College? Like how many, were you, were you an offer guy coming out of high school? Yeah. So I knew, you know, when you're coming up, you never expect you're going to play in the NFL.

I think for me it was always what's the next logical step for me? So when you're in grade school, you want to play on, so it was third and fourth, fifth and sixth and sixth and eighth and eighth. So when you move up to fifth grade, you're on the fifth and sixth and sixth team, you want to play on that team. And then as a sixth grader, you play. And then on seventh grade, you go back in the same situation. And then you get to high school. We had a freshman team, a JV team and a varsity team. So my goal in high school was to play on the varsity on the varsity team as a junior.

Which is a crazy. It's crazy. We just had, we had so many, I went to a private all or a Catholic, Jesuit all-boys school in Cincinnati. That's kind of one of the reasons I went to BC. But there's 1,600 boys and we probably had, you know, three to 400 kids in the football program. Oh, yeah.

It was huge. Three to 400. So your school is one of the reasons why Ohio is looked at it such a big. Yeah, we were southwest Ohio. So we had like 135, 140 kids on the freshman team. The JV team was. just sophomores. And then that was probably 70, 80 kids.

And then on the varsity team was like 140 kids again. So those numbers get big quick. I went to BC because academically was really strong. That was one thing that my parents talked to me a lot about was go somewhere that you wouldn't be able to get into without football. So I wasn't getting in the Boston College. I looked at Stanford. I wasn't getting to getting there. Duke and then Virginia were the schools that I was looking at.

And I was like, I can't get in to any of these schools without football. And I'm like, if I can get a scholarship to one of these schools, I got an opportunity to get a five-year education, a master's for free and go play football. So that's kind of what you're thinking coming out. And Tom O'Brien was a St. Xavier guy that's who went to high school. He went to St. Xavier. And then he ended up coaching at Boston College and started pulling kids out of the high school to go out to play football at Boston College. So we probably had a kid there for, I don't know, 20 years in a row from the high school just overlapping. And the guys that went to school up there had a ton of success.

A lot of them were team captains. A lot of them played really well. And it was a really how that program was run was very similar to how the program was run in Cincinnati at St. Xavier High School of just toughness, playing hard, doing the right thing. We didn't always have the best athletes, but we played really well as a team. And when I was being recruited, Matt Ryan was there. So they got as high as number two.

They beat Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on that pass across the field. From Matt, I think, I think Andre Callender caught that ball. And there was just a ton of hype around them when I was being recruited. And it was good academically. He was outside of Boston. I knew guys that were there. It was a Jesuit school just like my high school. And they were playing really, really good football at the time.

Were you an overachiever? Like, were you a beast in high school as well? Like, are any guys in that school, that 3 to 400? Are there any freshmen or guys playing varsity? No. So, I mean, you know, my freshman year, I didn't play a whole lot. We had we had since the team was so big we had an A team and a B team. So the A team would play like on a Wednesday and the B team would play on a Thursday.

So we'd play the other. This is freshman? Freshman team. Yeah. So when did the JV team play then? They played on I think on Saturdays. No shit. So the varsity team played Friday nights and then we played Saturdays typically.

I think is what happened. So freshmen don't play on varsity typically. I don't think, I don't know the last time it's happened. Occasionally you'll get like two or three sophomores play varsity, but they got to be dudes. Yeah. But I would say that 85% of guys don't aren't on the varsity team until they're juniors. So. Yeah.

So that's why your goal was varsity as a junior. Yeah, I mean, I just. I'm thinking you, like if you had the bug, if you had this kind of drive the way everyone sees and talks about, this kid must have been a freshman on varsity. But the school you're at seems like an absolute powerhouse. Yeah. And I loved, I loved the game of football. I was small. So my freshman year, I played outside lineback in my sophomore year, they moved me to tight end.

because the backers that we had, they were bigger than me. They're just better. So my sophomore year, those guys all played backer, and then I played tight end. And then my junior year, I was a good blocker. Yeah. Run football team.

I'll tell you what, I'm so glad I didn't have to play offense because all formations and trades and shifts, you play Mike backer, you just line up in the middle of the field. You don't got to go anywhere. Yeah, but you're also calling out all those trades, formations and shifts. Yeah, but offense of formations. There was a guy named Ryan Long. he played right tackle and he played tight end in the year before and then I think in like training

camp and then they moved me to tight end and then move him to tackle so he knew all the formation so I'd line up next to him in the huddle and they called the play like hey where do I line where do I line up no shit so I Ryan long was like my my life support uh playing tight end and then I switched back to linebacker as a junior and then I played like a hybrid safety as a senior so so as a junior on varsity. Were you starting at that point? I did. Okay, that's when there was so I started to grow. I started to grow a little bit. I got a little bigger. How big were you going into BC? Oh man. So I played my senior year at like 212 and then I got to bc I was probably like 218. So I played I don't know 218 220 as a freshman and then like 228 as a sophomore and then as a junior I played like 2 301, 232.

Just a thick you when did you know in college? that, hey, I might have something. I might have a future in the NFL. So I think, you know, you, so in college, it was interesting because Mark Hurslick, you guys remember him? Monster. Yeah, so Mark Hurslick was a junior. I went to spring game.

He was a, he was going into his, what was it? Because he got done with his junior year, right? Yes. He was like a first round potential take. The cancer thing happened. Yeah. He fought his way, sat out a year or fought his way back. I go to spring ball going as, when I'm a senior, Mark,

He's going to be a senior in college. So it's his spring ball before his senior year. And they'd been telling me, like, Mark's got like a low back hamstring thing. He's probably not going to play a lot in the spring game. I was bummed because I wanted to watch him play. So he goes and plays a couple snaps, comes out. And then, like, a couple weeks later,

he's got Ewing sarcoma bone cancer. So I get to school. Mark's out the whole year. Essentially he redshirted as he was dealing with cancer. I don't know how the guy did it. He was there all the time, worked out every day, was still big and strong, was in all the meetings. He was fantastic as a young guy to come in.

While these guys fighting cancer. Yeah, he had gone through chemo, radiation, everything. But he was a great older guy to have at BC as a freshman. He wasn't playing. So there was like no stress of, I mean, he was dealing with cancer, obviously. But he's no stress. Yeah, yeah. That is a football thing to say.

Yeah. The stress of playing is crazy. So then Marks out. Mike McLaughen was our Mike linebacker. He's like the prototype from Massachusetts. He had the cowboy collar, neck roll. He had the little bull ring. He wore the diaper chin strap.

No, he had a diaper chin strap, then he switched over to the padded one, but he was like the prototype. Yeah. He was coming back from an Achilles, so he was going to miss the first couple games of the season. And then, I don't know, a week or two in the training camp, our starting Mike backer,

Will Thompson gets like a shoulder stinger. So I'm over with the freshman doing inside run, get my teeth kicked in and they just needed a mic backer so they called me over and I had to go over as like little skinny 220 pound Luke and play against the older guys and just got my teeth kicked in.

I was like this is awful and my coach came up to me after that period and he's like I was pretty terrible you got to figure it out because you're going to play week one because we don't have anybody else. I was like, what about this guy? And he's like well that guy got popped for a drug test

so he can't play either. So I go to school You're looking at the coach saying Hey, you're being told You're going to play week one But you're like hey hey what about that guy I'm like that's where your confidence Yeah I'm like my confidence is zero

So hers licks out Max out Will Thompson gets hurt Guy gets popped for a drug test And then before you know Your top four guys are out And so there's really no one left So like hey week one

You're just going to have to figure it out So the first couple games of season Or disaster go down to Clemson We play in Death Valley Again CJ Spiller and that Yeah, yeah, yeah. They had the D-Ns at the time.

They had Dequan Bowers and they had another, I forget Another cat. They had another cat. He's back there gritting a Steve. JP's a South Carolina guy. He hates Clemson. Yeah.

Every time they're mentioned, they have to be trashed off. Yeah, so, but then you make a couple plays in those games. You're like, oh, you know, I got a chance. And then I remember my sophomore year was when I was like, okay, you played against in Clemson

against, you know, C.J. Spiller, and then you just start going through the guys that you play against. You're like, these guys are all getting, drafted in the NFL, like this might actually be an opportunity for me. So it's just interesting how you go from high school. You want to play on the varsity team to as a freshman.

Like you're, you don't really have a choice. You get in there and play. And then you're like, man, this is fun. I'm starting to have some success. And then you fast forward. You kind of the next thing you look forward to is like, I love the game of football. I've had a ton of fun. I'd love to keep playing this as long as I can.

So you kind of look back as probably, probably three quarters of the way through my sophomore year, you look back and you're like, these are the guys. that I played against. This has been their career in the NFL. Like, maybe I got a chance. So there wasn't like a specific play in mind that you made a big play. And you're like, oh, shit, okay, I can do this. It was a reflection period for you.

Yeah. But you were to look back and kind of be like, all right, all these guys are playing in the NFL. This means I can do X, Y, and Z as well. Yeah, I just think you, you know, you look at it and you're like, I've played in like big games. We play it at Clemson. We played at Florida State.

We played at Notre Dame. And you're like, these are the teams and the situations that you grew up watching. And now you get a chance to, be in them and it's something I always tell guys is like you need to enjoy the game because when it's gone it's gone so I was so when I was playing so laser focused on football in the process that you don't ever take a second to really look back and say damn like that was that was pretty cool you know yeah because your sophomore junior you're correct me if I'm wrong but you led the NCAA in tackles yeah yeah we just we were on the field a lot he's saying we're on the field a lot we didn't we kind of we kind of

didn't have a choice. You know, you played 80, 90 snaps. Like, you got more opportunities, especially, you know, the other thing, too, is like, we weren't ahead a lot late. So, you know, what happens at the end of the game? Their teams are running four minutes. They're going to run the ball. And they got right at you. They got five or six run plays and they're going to run power. They're going to lead and they're going to run stretch. It's like, perfect. All right, here we go. Buddy, every time he, like, you'd see a stat sheet on like league leaders. And he's sitting there every week averaging like 15 tackles a game. That is, that's what I'm thinking, who is this Luke Keakley guy from ball?

He must be on the field a lot. Yeah. That's like the excuse to the competitor makes like, oh, they got to fucking be on the field. Well, you know what's funny is you look at all those things and like people are lying if they don't look at that stuff, right? So then I went and looked at it one time and I had number of snaps played and it was like we had a gazillion and you go look at like Alabama that got like Dante High Tower was at Alabama.

He had like half the amount of snaps played that we did. Chris Borland at Wisconsin. Chris Borland had a million. He was a dog. You were here as 2013? 2012. That linebacker class was strong. Yeah, you guys had, because I was 2013 while I was undrafted, but 2012,

you guys had, it was you. So, Dante High Tower. And then Bobby got drafted in the second round, Wagner. Levante David. DeMario Davis. Yeah. There were some, I'm sure, and I'm probably missing some guys, but those. But those top four that you just said.

DeMario Davis, Levante, David, yourself, and Bobby Wagner. Three of those guys, I mean, DeMario's still playing with the Saints, and that dude, he's, you look at his stats and it's like, oh my gosh, like what he's been able to do. Yeah. Same thing with Bobby. The guy that I never feel like gets enough credit is Levante. You're on the right podcast for that. I love Levante.

You're on the right podcast. Go look at his sacks, his force fumbles, and his fumble recoveries. It's unbelievable. Dude, he is always around the football. He's a great dude. Yeah, he's phenomenal. Yeah. Yesterday, the Bucks, their profile posted like his stats.

He has 1,600 tackles right now. There's only eight guys in the history of the game to have over 1,600 tackles. Him and Bobby Wagner are both still doing it. It's unbelievable. As guys who have those numbers. Yeah. And they're not slowing down. Bobby had over 100 last year.

I think he just resigned and then Levanti signed another deal with Tampa, which is cool because, you know, as great of careers he's had, he's been on the same team the whole time. Yeah. Yeah, there's something to be sad about that. It's cool, man. Especially the longevity that he's had. Yeah. And to not get jaded over kind of being overlooked by so many guys, yourself at points,

Bobby Wagner at points. I was telling JP he has one Pro Bowl, I believe. And it was as an alternate. But it's such bullshit because he's like one of the most underrated players of all time. Well, the thing that hurts him is that he's classified because they were four three. He was an outside linebacker. Yeah. So like the prototype outside linebacker is like, you know, the Russian, the guys got 15 sacks.

Right. That's where, yeah, those Sam and Will. kind of get screwed over in the pro bowl because the guys are hand in the dirt. When the funniest part about the pro bowl is that those off the ball backers, they're listed as outside linebackers, it's only a four down look,

so those guys have to play off the ball. Yeah, they're playing a four or three. Yeah, so Justin, Justin Houston is playing off the ball at five yards. Like, what are you doing? Yeah. You know, at the fourth quarter of the game if it's tight though,

so they're, hey, I'm going to have to take this right here. Yeah, exactly. Because it is a little bit of a war. We interrupt this episode to bring you neutral. Have you tried neutral before? If not, you are missing out and let me tell you why. Real vodka, real juice.

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Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Were you at IMG training for the combine? Yeah, is that where you were? Yeah, that's where I went as well. And that was like, I think my first introduction to the Luke Keechley, you had like yourself a little mural on the wall and they're like, you know, that guy was overall pick last year.

That was so fun. Dude, IMG really is an awesome place because there's no, like I was a big time partier in college. and then, you know, got a little straight as I got into the league. But like, when you're in Bradenton, Florida, there's like newlyweds and nearly deads. There's no in between. There's no nightlife or nothing. So it was me and like the 30 other guys that were training.

Awesome. That's all we had. We had like a small little shitty. Those little apartments are just off of the IMG campus. You had the golf cart. Yeah, the golf cart you're ripping around in. You thought it was the first time you had a little freedom. Yeah, it's kind of nice.

You got a golf cart in your own place. But it's also well regimented. I loved it there. Was that, were you thinking about between there and Exos? No, because the guys so, Mark Hurts, like, and then Anthony Costanzo is a gangster. So Boston College guy too. Yeah.

So he, they were the year ahead of me in the draft. So Anthony got drafted first round by Colts and then Mark, Mark was, went to the Giants and those guys trained at IMG and I went to school with them and I was like, guys, exos or IMG and they're like, just go to IMG. We went there. It was sick. We enjoyed it. It was awesome.

It was sick. Yeah, their entire. It's your spot JP. Yeah. JPM work there. Because IMG, I feel like they do it better than anybody else. as far as like getting guys ready for the combine. Because they don't just do the weightlifting and the running,

but they're also, they have classrooms to go over media stuff. Almost improvisation classes. Okay, you're throwing off with this. What do you do now? What do you say to X, Y, and Z? They bring up maybe some things that aren't so great about you. Like, how are you going to attack this situation?

So I think IMG was such a great experience. It's so funny. You do all that work. And then when I worked with the team, the first year I got done playing, I worked at the team in the scouting department, and you can pull up all your profiles of, you know, Combine and, you know, every, every, you know, report written on you and height, weight, speed, and all your tape.

And so I was like, I got bored one day. I looked at it. And I looked at my Combine interview with the Panthers. It was a disaster. Really? Yeah, I was, like, sitting, had my glasses on. I was nervous. I was probably sweating.

And I was super. Like, they'd ask me a question, like, yes, that's cover four. And I'm like, gosh, you suck. You sound so bad right now. how obviously getting drafted. Like you, I met with the Titans. And I was probably the same way, but a year removed, seeing those same familiar faces now in that room. Yeah. Look how timid you are. Oh, you're so scared, man. Because the train station is no joke. Yeah. Like that, that combine experience was your, did you have a good combine experience? I really, yeah, I really enjoyed it.

Yeah. I think that first night of those interviews, because you have the train station, which is like, they can just come and grab you, obviously. And then the one-on-ones where they put you in the room, where it's only 15 minutes and half the first two minutes, three minutes are them introducing themselves and the last two or three minutes of them leave you leaving. Right. So it's only like a 10 minute window and then they're peppering you with questions and I'm nervous. It's your job interview and you're trying to put your best foot forward.

And I was just nervous and I was sitting in there just and I was like, I would not draft that guy. Yeah. Well, what the combine is so crazy is everyone sees what happens when you're running and benching and jumping on that. Really all the scary shit happens. Oh, that's easy. There's three, four days prior. The running's easy.

When you get to go run, you're finding like, thank God it's over. Yeah. Because you get there the first day and it's like kind of introductions, hey, this is how it's going to happen. This is your landlord. This is how the train station works. This is how your official meetings work. 4 a.m.

You have a piss test. Yeah. So it's like, the number one rule is like, just do not miss it. Yeah. And make sure you don't pee. So I remember I was roommates with Zach Martin. Yeah. And we took shoes and we put it on top of the toilet seat just in case you wake up in the middle

of night and try to go pee. And we would be like little count of billow buddies. Make sure we're all up together. Yeah, which is nice, though. Yeah, it's what you need. Because you're nervous. Because you're up at 4 am. for a drug test. And then it's meetings all day, MRIs the middle of the day, and then back to the train station and everything else.

Were you a weight guy? Did you have to keep weight on? I was always a guy that had to gain weight. Yeah. So, you know, they get you there. And then you can't eat as much as you typically do. There's no scale. So then when you have to go weigh in, you don't know how much you weigh.

Right. And they're like, Luke, you need to be over 240 pounds. So you're just in there chugging. And they have the worst fucking snacks. Like it's all like Reese's cups and skittles and shit. I guess this is what I'm doing. I got to do it. I got to drink.

I got to eat something. Yeah. I did a great job having like food waiting for you. Oh. They had a little area where you go and stuff your face. They had a backpack and they just stuffed it with everything. I'll tell you what. The combine was I loved it.

It was so cool because you grow up watching it. You don't really grow up watching training at IMG. Like you don't really understand that. But you grow up and you watch these guys run the 40 and jump and bench and do all that stuff and then you get there and you're like, this is sweet. I get to do,

it's like your first step to the NFL. You have to do a load of MRIs? I had to do it. I had to do them on my knees and I had something on my elbow, but like not a ton. I was pretty lucky. It's funny too how much everybody,

because I know Levanti, him being like an undersized guy, guys just obsessing over hitting a certain weight. Got to weigh in. Just so you hit the metric. Like Levanti always played like in the like, like 220 to 220. 25 and he's like I have to be like 233 pounds. Isn't that crazy?

I never weighed 240 ever again in my life. Yeah, but on that little stat sheet says 240 and you're like, 242 and you're like, yeah, yeah, dude. Every don't, don't skit me a pound right there. Yeah, when you step on the scale too and you saw 242, how juice were you. That thing kept ticking up. Yeah. And I was like, yes.

Dude, you know what? Another thing that's kind of a sleeper. Did they have the little egg pods? Yeah, you'd do that afterwards. Yeah. So we would do those IMG like every couple of weeks. Like anything's gonna fucking change. But my body fat would be like, I don't

know, like 20 or 19 or something like that. Okay. But it had to be in those rooms, they had to have a certain pressure for those things that read correctly. Yeah. So when I got to the combine, they had them like this open room where it was like being opened and closed a bunch. So my body fat was right at like 15%.

Like, yes. I'm like, oh my, I made a 4% jump in a week. That's crazy. I thought I was killing. I've been on my shit. Yeah, I've been on it. What was the most nerve wrecking part for you at the combine from the like athletic standpoint? Oh, man.

Probably the 40. Yeah. Because that was the question was how much you're going to weigh and what are you going to run. So I actually had to run it. I ran the 43 times. You mess up on one? So the first one I run, it goes really well. Second one, because you know you can't see it.

You got to find ways to like get it. You know, you look at your phone and somebody text you. Right. But it's not. They don't do that anymore. Do you watch it now? No. Now they have people in the stands and they show your 40.

They show it on the board. Oh, that's kind of nice. Because it was the same way for me too, where you go up and like a couple of the guys. you're like, hey, what I run, they're saying X, Y, and Z. Yeah. Oh, it's fucking no. So then second one comes up. And you know when you get in that 40s start, there's holes because everybody's been

there. So everybody takes like the same like first two steps. So there's kind of an annotation in the ground. And I was off just to half step to the left. And I took my first step out and I stepped kind of in the hole sideways. And I turned right real fast. And I almost ran into the laser reader and then straighten it out. And I ran like, it was.

I ran like 4-9. And I was like, oh, gosh, that was terrible. You said that was the second one. That was the second one. What was the first one? The first one was like four or five. And then I go four-nine. And this guy comes up to me.

And he's like, yeah, he's like, hey, you're going to probably have to run another one. We got a bad reading on either the first or the second one. And I was like, oh, no. Did you know at the point two that you had ran a four or five in the first one? Yeah, I knew I ran well. And then the second one, I knew I stepped in the whole. And I'm like, okay, this kind of makes sense. So then everybody had to go run their second one.

So I was the last guy after the last guy in the line to go run again. And I ran it again and I looked at a guy. I was like, how was that? He's like, you're going to be good. I was like, all right, perfect. You'd be good. So you run the four or five range. Yeah, he's like, he's like the middle one must have got messed up.

But it was I stepped in a hole or I step, my step was bad or something. But you know, it's so nerve-wracking. That's just like the only thing that matters. What's that? You didn't want to focus on getting a tan before the combine? No, of course not. You look faster that way. Did you ever test?

Did you ever test in the four-fours? No. At IMG? I don't think we ever really ran, I think we ran a 40, like the first week we were there. Yeah. And then everything was just segmented out. Yeah. So you work on starts, flying 20s, you know, flying 40s. So you never really get a true number for what you're going to run. But you have an idea. Like I felt good. I felt strong. I felt my starts were good. And then it's like just go. I look so stiff running it. But I know because it will at IMG. You're trying to do everything right. When you're like elbows and this and that and relax your face. I remember we, I remember we, I I ran a 40, when we first did the 40 IMG and I was like a 5-1. Yeah. I was like, there's no fucking way. I'm like, I'm a sub-five guy, no doubt. But I was like trying to like mechanically do exactly what they were saying the whole time to where it was just awful. Part of me thinks that they click it a little bit slower.

I thought the same thing. So they're like, oh, you ran 5-4. So then when you run 4-9, they're like, look what we did. Half-second faster. We're the greatest thing ever. They were unbelievable. Lauren Seagrave was, was he there? Oh, I believe so.

Yeah, yeah. He was unbelievable. Older, older guy, right? Yeah, he was always wore orange. Always wore orange. He had the really shining shoes. And then who was the chick from London? Did you have the girl?

Yeah, she was a, yeah, she was a gangster. Awesome. Yeah, she was a great running coach. I can't remember her name right now, which kind of sucks. It was, I had a ton of, like, everything that they did, there was a reason why they did it. It's not like we just showed up and they're like, all right, you're going to do this. Right. And I remember running like the short shuttle.

It was footwork. It was like seven or eight steps. Yeah. It's all down to, you're talking to the, the LDLULD and the 5105. Yeah, because the 5105 was like two, three, three, three. two or something like that. They had like numbers to it. You're like,

okay, if you were somebody who could like skip over to the first five and just get in like two steps, you're like dialed in. Yeah. Yeah. This was amazing. Like all that stuff that you put in for,

you know, there's Lawrence Seagrave right there. Yeah. Yeah. He is awesome. He was great. Dude, so I don't know if you felt this way, but after I ran the 40 and I got the time that I wanted,

it felt like everything else was just cake after that. Yeah. Because it's so stressful when you're standing up because we had, what number were you? Do you remember for the combine? Oh. I don't. So what I was...

13 maybe? I don't know. 19. 19. I was 23. Okay. And my whole thing was like, I just don't want to go first. Yeah.

So I was like, oh, I'm 23. Last name's Lawan. I'll be solid. Well, they broke it up into two groups. Yes. So it was one through 22. So I was the first guy to go in the second group. And they're like, we're all kind of warming up.

Everyone's so stressed out. Yeah. That's my Beyonce walk. And you see that tan. You look, yeah. You look like you look like you're about 15% right there. Yeah, that's what the body comp said. But that chick that I can't remember her name, the one from London, she's like,

hey, when you run, go to the back of the platform and have your Beyonce walk. Like the whole combine, everyone, you're waiting on everybody. Yeah. But once you do that, it's now your time you take as long as you need, whatever. And so I took all the time in the world because I was, my heart's racing right there, my little gazelle legs. How good did you think your walk was? How did you think your walk was?

You give it a thumbs up. I was thinking about, okay, steps, you're moving your little feedback. And you're just thinking, please don't get called back on this start. Yes. That was what I was most nervous about. Because learning from IMG, they basically tell you like, your first start's going to be your best one or your first two. After that, you kind of like, your brain fucks up. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So it was, once I ran that and I got back to the boys and saying, hey, they're saying four nine right now. I'm like, all right. I know I'm selling. Yeah. I feel good about it. Is there a team you felt like you knocked out of the park with in the interview process?

Oh man, you know what? Not really. I don't really, I don't remember that. I thought the stuff with the Panthers went really good because, so Ron Rivera obviously with the Bears, my high school road roommate was Mike Morrissey. He was two years older than I am. I was. And he was a great older guy. So when we went on trips on the road, he was my roommate for away games.

His dad played with the 85, on the 85 Bears, played with the Bears like 10 years. And he played linebacker with Rivera. So I remember going to the combine and be like, I don't know any of these guys, but I know that Jim Morrissey and Mike Morrissey have said really good things about Coach Rivera and his experience with them and their friendship and playing together in Chicago. So I'm like, at least I have one guy that I kind of have a connection to. So that one was out of all of them, it was probably the easiest one after I said how bad my interview was on that video. But I felt probably the most comfortable with them because I feel like there was a little

bit of a connection there. Did you know, did you feel really confident that I was going to be the Panthers that grabbed you in the first round? I thought there was a chance. So you kind of looked at like teams that I took a visit to Carolina. So I met with them at the Combine. I took a visit down there pre-draft. And I kind of knew like nine to 15 to 20 because 15 was Seattle. And they drafted Bruce Irving, Bruce Irving and then they ended up with Bobby in the second round. So they were going to draft a linebacker. I thought Buffalo was at 10. I think they drafted Stefan Gilmore from SC. And so I thought it was going to be one of those teams. I also took a visit to Tennessee. So I think it was, oh man, who did? They actually, that was

yeah, but they did draft a linebacker and it was Zach Brown. Zach Brown. He was a chapman. Yeah, but they judged him in the second round. Yeah, yeah. He could fucking run. Um, dude, Trent Richardson. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know where they drafted. What point? Yeah, scrolled down a little bit. I want to see what they took. Who are you talking about the Titans?

Kendall Wright. Kendall Wright. Yeah. Damn. You've been done to see that they would have got him anyway. You knew who was. Yeah, true. Should have traded up.

Yeah. But yeah. So did you have any, did you have a place you wanted to go? Like you looked at the locker room and everything? I thought Carolina would have been cool. I had some family. I was down there.

I was familiar. I liked it because Iran. Okay. That was the biggest thing that I thought was cool was that I knew him and they spoke so highly of him and he was a linebacker and he coached like Erlacher and Briggs. Yeah. He's with San Diego and he was with the Bears. It just, it felt, I was like, that would be a cool place. How was it when you first got there?

How was he as a coach? Because I'm sure he's probably hard on you since you were a backer. He was phenomenal. He was like, he did a really good job of separating being the head coach, but also. Like he wanted to be a player again. So he'd be in the locker room. He talked to guys. He'd have you over to the house.

He just made you feel very comfortable. So I always felt like, you know, he was obviously the head coach. But he felt like a guy that he just wanted, he wanted to help you. He wanted to put you in a position to be successful. It was awesome. I couldn't have been in a better spot as far as just the people that were there. Sean McDermott was a defensive coordinator. I don't think that I could have ended up in a better system for to play line.

with that four-down look. I played Mike, which was, if I was playing Will, I would have struggled. Because in space, you're matched up on receivers. It's just bad news. Yeah, but you can run. Yeah, you can run straight, but you got to be able to... Julio Jones did, you know.

He did what he did, but everybody's getting out. I'm sure they can pull a picture of that up. Yeah. Yeah, sure won't be back there working. Julio Jones Luke. There it is. It's, yeah, the threat, you know, that's not even the best one. there's one that's like two pictures

three pictures to the right on that search that one looks better that one looks like a matter of fact look how much higher he is there take me I'm not even off the ground he just high pointed it he just high pointed it so you get to play because you're running with them

so it's quarters and you're competitive on the ball so it's quarters and if you have speed at number three which Julio definitely accounts for that you get a backside the backside quarters defender on the hash helps you out Get you a three to X. Yeah, we called it a fax call.

But yeah, same thing. I was like, great. Look at these two bonding right now. I said great. You understand my struggle. And they motion the empty and I'm like, uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh. Oh, man. Uh-oh.

So, for the people listening, when they motion to empty, why is that? So now there's no more facts or, or, there's no more help from the court. Yeah. They motion to, they motion two weeks. Look out. Look out. This looks so, this look, you know what Matt Ryan's saying right here is my guy's just better than all of you? Because he looks like he's covered right now.

Yeah. You are covering. So I'm running down the field. I'm like, man, I am in good shape. They throw that ball, and I'm like, I am in great shape. I can't see him, but I know he's behind me. I reach up, and all I hear is, and it's the ball hitting his hands and me falling down, and my face hit in the ground, and I just hear the crowd explode.

Oh. And I run, and I remember I pick my head up, and the only thing I remember him seeing is like, you know, when these guys used to score and they go like this as they run through the end zone, I just saw him do that. me just face down and I'm trying to I'm hearing the crowd scream right now and then I pick my head up did you and they right at the end they show them kind of right there that's what I see when I look up I see that I see it says I can't even see the name Jones because he's tilted forward like that and then I get to the sideline and my coach is like hey yeah you know you're supposed to be on him right

I was I know I was that is the crazy that is the crazy. craziest comment a coach can make. You're a Mike linebacker. You're coaching Keeckley and Julio Jones gets in scores on a competitive ball and you're like, you know you're on it. I mean, a competitive. Competitive is a nice way to say it. I mean, it looked competitive. And then when the ball got thrown, the competition kind of went out the window a little bit. Let this play a little bit. I'm running. He's running like three-quarter speed. I'm running literally as fast as I can and he's still running away from me. Your safety over top was trying to get in on the action. Yeah, it was just... I mean, he looks covered right there. He's covered until...

Yeah, Matt, right, he just throws the ball up for him. Yeah. Look, I'm trying to pull through the, I'm trying to pull through the pocket. I'm trying to pull through the pocket. I'm trying to pull through the pocket. He just kind of big-boiled me there a little bit. God. I mean, you see a guy like Julio Jones. You don't have to give me, you don't have to give me excuse. You just say that you got... You got got got. You got got. You got got. That was on Randy Moss's, you got Moss the next week. So you always want to be on You Got Moss's. You Got Moss the next week. So you always want to be on You Got Moll. Moss as a little kid, but not for that reason. Not that way at all.

Was that, what is like the toughest play, like the worst moment you've had? The worst mom. Was that it? No, that wasn't it because kind of felt like it was the best I could have done. Yeah, and it's Julio, you know. You give 100% effort the result. My effort was strong. It's just kind of like, hey, man, like, gosh, he made a play.

He's just better than you. He was better for that moment. Yeah, he's just better. I remember my rookie year we were playing Seattle, and it was Russ. Russ was a quarterback. Russ and I trained together at the combine for the combine. Remember, he breaks contain. He's running to his right. He breaks contain. Obviously, he's running down the field. I'm in coverage. So he crossed the line of scrimmage. I was like, I'm going to crush him. And he's running, and he's running like almost straight at me. I've got a great angle. And he's running like this,

and I'm running like, I'm going to crush him. The last second, right before I'm about to hit him, He puts his left foot or left foot in the ground and cuts back this way. And I'm getting ready to just like fall into the tackle. And I turn and look. Guess who was running Mach 5 at my face, that Russ set up. Mike Robinson. Remember him? Yeah.

And Penn State guy. He, he hit me. He hit me so hard that I don't really, I didn't even feel it. It wasn't a dirty hit. He didn't mean in the head. He just hit me and I just crumpled to the ground. And I remember. like looking up and he just smiled at me and I was like he got me he's like I know

I know so it was uh that was you talk about like welcome to the NFL your rookie moment yeah that was one of them and then we played uh played Tampa my rookie year at home it was we were up at the end of the game we were probably up six or seven points they ran a vertical ball three verticals in cover four and I was matched up on Vincent Jackson and Josh Freeman throws his great back shoulder ball to him and I thought I had him covered in college you're close to him he's covered yeah I didn't know I didn't know what a back shoulder ball was see the eyes and so I'm running with him and then all of a sudden he spins he opens up and he puts his hands backside and he catches this football and I was like how that happened like some of that stuff you score a touchdown they

tied it up they go to overtime we lose an overtime oh so it was just like one of those things where you don't you're just naive and then something happens in a game and you're like oh that's what they were yeah that's what a back shoulder ball is and that ball I was I was I mean I felt like I was in great position but the ball was literally perfect my awareness was zero and he just put it on his back shoulder Vincent Jackson opened up and caught that ball and I was like damn I sucks. Yeah. So did you really not have a TV in your apartment?

You're a rookie. That's so, uh, no, I had, I had everything. I had a, oh,

no show. The lure of gas. So what happened. So what happened, so what happened was, you lied. So, no,

it happened going into my, the, the rumor was going into my second year, I've moved apartments, like in, end of July. So then, you know,

going in July, I, you're going in the training camp for the first, like three or four weeks of the season. And I just, it was on the back burner for, to set up cable. I had my internet set up. But I was like, I don't need cable for this first like six, eight weeks because I'm

never going to be here. Yeah. So I didn't have it set up. And somehow one of my buddies got wind of it. And it just turned into this, it just turned into this whole thing where. So that came from one of your buddies. Somehow. Yeah, came in a locker room.

Like, hey, did you watch like, somebody's like, hey, you've been watching whatever. I was like, no, I don't have. I don't have the cable set up in my, in my apartment yet. They're like, why not? I was like, I just moved. I didn't have time to set it up. Like, we just went to training camp. Like, I'm not here very much anyway.

So when I get back from after training camp, I'll get a set up. So that was like, what had happened. Everyone's like, you didn't have TV? I'm like, I'm not a psychopath. Very much frame like that. Yeah, which is, you just pictured you in a carpeted room with a blowup mattress. Yeah. Maybe a hyperbaric chamber in the corner.

Yeah, just paper plates and a microwave. And macaroni and rice and rice. Raman. Never microwave. It takes out too much nutrients for a meal. Yeah, there it is right there. God. Yeah, that is one of the things that like...

Look at it. I mean, that's an insane throwing catch. And then they went for two. They're down, they're down eight. So then they got the two-point conversion afterwards. God. And I ran into the goalposts and that was just like insult the injury. Like I just got worked and I just got crushed by the post.

I need the roll over too. Watch this. Oh, look at my leg. God, it sucks. And then you turn around. And then you turn and then you look up and you're like, he definitely caught it and look at the official. Yeah. It's like he was waiting to do that.

Looks like, was that on me? You were taking a peek first? Yeah, yeah, yeah, he scored. I was like, nobody touched that ball? Oh, dang. Look at me. I'm like, gosh, I suck. Good hip flexibility though.

Yeah, that was 21, so it didn't really matter. Dude, defensive player rookie the year, though. Luckily, they didn't see that play. Yeah. But how awesome is that? It was cool. It was fun. I mean, it was, uh,

you just to have the opportunity to play like that as much as I did as a rookie was so cool. Yeah. In a great system. It was, that system was set up for linebackers to just run around. It was cover three, cover four, a little bit of man. We had really good guys in front of us. Our defense line was sick. And they called plays that highlighted the linebackers.

So it was Thomas and I. So John Beeson, I'll talk about. Who was it, Thumper? Who I was talking about, like, so go back to college with Herslick and Mike McLaugh. like great older veteran guys that had no their pride never got in the way. They were just there to help you. Mike Morrissey, the guy I talked about that new Ron,

and those guys were so helpful. And then when I got to Carolina, it was the same way. So when I got there, it was, James Anderson was coming off her career year. Beast was coming back from an Achilles, All-Pro, Pro Bowl, or like, the dude in the middle, like a stud. And then Thomas was coming back from his 30 ACL.

Thomas at full speed was what Thomas was for 16 years in the NFL and then me. So there was four of us. I was the rookie. Bees and TD were coming back from substantial injuries in Achilles and an ACL. And then James, excuse me, was going to play, obviously. Healthy, had a great year coming off a good year. So I remember I showed up my rookie on my first days there.

TD comes in and he's like, hey, I'm Thomas. Here's my number. Lock me in. If you need anything, let me know. And I was like, that's just an older guy coming in and like checking a box. in doing all this stuff. But he was the best. Helpful.

Talk to you through things. Taught you stuff. Who to talk to, you know, chiropractors. Where to just where to do everything in Charlotte? He was fantastic. How to practice. How to be tough. How to play hurt.

Like all that stuff. And then Beasts was, Beast got hurt. Beast got put on IR, I think, after the Atlanta game, my rookie year, which was like week or two or three. And so then I slid from outside linebacker to. inside linebacker at Mike's Beasts's spot and all Beasts ever did was help me. Sat next to me in meetings, talk to me, watch tape with me, hey, this is how I, this is how I played cover two and this is why. This is where my eyes looked like. There was never, there was never

any sense of like you're playing Mike, your first round pick. Like I'm hurt. I've been hurt two years in a row. Maybe I, there was never like, I'm worried about my job. It was how can I help you? So I think, you know, I was always very fortunate to have guys like that through my football career, high school college, and then Bess and Thomas and James and a guy named Jordan Sen who was played with us for a long time. He was like a could play all three spots, big time teamer, but was very smart, very intelligent, great with his body. He sat right next to me in the locker room and he would just, all he ever did was just help me. So I was just great coach with Ron and McDee was a deaconian. and then those guys around me was like a perfect situation dude TD had a hell of a career I mean three ACLs and able to come back and play the way he did and I I met him out at one of the

NFL one of the NFL PA meetings and this dude you see like burger and fries and oh that's how he sits there I'm like hey are you eating like this throughout the season he's like oh I eat whatever I want all the time which is why buddy how in the fuck do I think some of those guys like that's just they're more that's just what they're their best that. Yeah. Like this is what he plays. This is what he's,

how his body reacts, the best, and that's what he's going to do. But his, like, six-inch snap was unbelievable. He was so fast. Yeah. So explosive.

Snap, ultra-physical. And just a great guy to watch as far as how to do things. Just a dangerous lineback room. Yeah. Just tough, high effort,

ultra-competitive, you know, like all those things that require no, athletic ability. It's all like decisions. Like, you know, you are what you are athletically. You are how height, weight speed, whatever. You make a decision how tough you are, how physically you are, how hard you play,

and how much it matters to you. Like, those are things that you control. And he was, it was great to see that from an older guy as a young guy. Like, these are non-negotiables that you make the decision when you walk on the field. You're going to do it a certain way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Sounds like a great leadership. Yeah. Walking in, helping you out. On that defense. Yeah. That's unreal. When you, you obviously,

there's such a conversation revolved around you about, like, calling out plays and the game. Did you already have that capability to break down film or did those guys, were they a big part of teaching you that stuff? So I was fortunate in high school, our high school coach would bring us down to his office during lunch

and he'd put on a VHS tape and we'd eat lunch down there and he'd put the tape on. The tape would just run and we could, like, rewind it if we wanted to. Yeah. But then you don't really understand why you're doing that until,

you know, you're in the game and you're like, Oh, I saw that. And when we were watching tape with coach, and usually it's after the fact. So it's like very retrospective. But you start to figure out like, oh, I can get a real advantage by watching tape. So we kind of did that in high school. And then I got to college and there's a guy, another guy, West Davis, he was a safety,

California guy, super smart, intelligent, big tape guy. So when you get to college, you know, it's like you can watch whatever you want. You can sort it. However you want to watch it. personnel formation down a distance you know how it is whatever you want so i go in there and i'm like this is too much for me to handle i got to figure out how to do this so i would go watch tape with west this is as as a freshman and you know west would be in there and he'd be like all right imagine we're playing cover four and you get this like how you play in it so you start to figure out

all right i can match my call up with the play so when i watch when i watch tape i can envision myself in that situation so that was kind of like the first step and then the second step would be Wes would be in meetings and say, all right, he's like, this, this gives us problems in cover three. And in my head, I'm like, I don't really know what that means, but like, sure. So he'd like, this is why it gives us problems. He's like, if I see this look in a game, I'm going to let you know. And then we'll just kind of play it like this. You know, you kind of play the play a little bit.

And he's like, all right, I'm going to give you a heads up in the game. When we're going to get it, he's like, I'm going to tell you when I play it's a certain way and we'll be in good shape. I was like, all right, great. So then comes up in a game. Westman gives me like a nod and I'm like hey this is what he's talking no like give him a nod back because I like hey what's up like and the play what happened and I would just be aloof he'd like I gave you a nod I was like I gave you one back he's like no that was the play that was it so then just slowly over time you're like okay now I understand why he's watching tape so

you watch tape you understand situations and you pick stuff up and you accumulate knowledge and Over time, you just understand, like, this is how teams really want to run the football. This is how it matches up against our defense. These are the top formations. I mean, you know how it is. It's like if it's two by two and the tight ends on the line of scrimmage, their top wrong concepts are probably this, this, and this. Right? And once you know that, then it's like, all right, so if we're in an overfront and they run that first run play and we're in this defense, who's going to block me?

Okay, this guy's going to block me. All right, say they run the other play and the same defense, same front, boom, now this guy's going to block me. And you go through that and then when practice rolls around, you get it. And then when the game rolls around, it's like, all right, here's my formation, here's my call on defense. This is how we're lined up. The ball gets snapped.

I get my one read from whoever I'm reading. Boom, now I know who's going to block me. I know where the ball is going to go. I have to beat that guy in the run game, whoever's going to block me and then I'm clean to the football. You know, one guy is blocking you on each play. So if I know top run concepts I know how it fits within our defense

I know where I line I know where my stressors are The ball gets snapped I read boom now I know who's gonna block me Now I have now I already have a plan of attack Well I'm gonna get after him Before the ball gets snapped So then you're playing the game before the ball gets snapped And then everything just slows down

As the ball gets snapped So I fucking love it dude It was just because you gotta like you know it is You gotta this is a bad play right here So I remember exactly this play I like to see this one So Andy Galex's center You guys ran.

It was like a split zone look. Split zone. Hang on. We're in man coverage. Hang on. It's an in and out. With the safety down here? Yeah.

So TD and I are like the in and out guys. So my guy goes back across the formation, the tight end. I got to fall back in a pass game. But if it's a run, I got to stay front side. So it was a run. I see the guy go back across the formation. I fall back and this ball stays front side. And look where it hits.

I get blocked by. I think Andy Galax's center. He's a BC guy. Look to where it gets hit. right where I should be kind of a disaster. Who's... That's Indygalic, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, so... This was a touchdown. I mean, there's a lot of holes. Dexter McCluster on this touchdown here. So what was this? 2015? Yeah. We were bad then, too.

How would your... Three and 13 year for us? How did your prep develop, like, in the league? Like, are you breaking down each day? Like on Monday, are you first second down... Yeah, so what's a schedule looks like? Yeah. So, like, Monday was, so you know, Monday you come in, you get a workout, flush.

watch the watch the game from the night before and kind of a day before whatever make your corrections and then I'd always watch two first halves of the team that we were playing and just get like general feel and I always feel like first halves

were better because you got to feel for who they were right so like think about we're like say we're watching we're watching the Titans and I watched the whole game maybe in the second half you guys are up big and so now you guys are running the ball a little bit more maybe the past game's not as

aggressive, they're different than what they want to be coming out. Right. First in the first half, like your first 15, your first probably 25 plays or things that you guys have really thought about your top concept, stuff like that. So I'd watch two first halves and just get a feel for like, you know, what do they look like up front? You know, are they like, for example, we play the Falcons, right? Alex Mack, like big, athletic, smart, ranging, really good player.

I'm like, damn, I got my work cut out for this guy. And then you go, you know, in the back field. It was Kevin Coleman. He's like big, kind of a slasher, like one cut wide zone type guy. Devante Freeman is like a little bit of shake, good burst, could run, physical, not a real big guy, but gets lost and like is a firm really good. I thought he was really good. And if he could speed you up, slow you down, run through you. And then you look on the outside, Austin Hooper was the tight end.

And then it was like Roddy White and Julio Jones. You're like, all right, boom. So like, this is how they. look up front. This is what they look like in the backfield. Like, you know, we play the falcons. You don't really need to watch Matt a whole lot because you got a really good feel for we played them twice a year. He's Matt Ryan. You know, like I don't, you know you take a ton of notes on that, but you get a feel for our Kyle Shanahan wide zone shifts and motions. They're going to try to get you in a compromised position. They want to run the ball to the bubble. So that's

Monday and just it's like click through like click through stuff real quick. Tuesday. Now are you a big notes guy or you just notes? Because that helps me, if I write it, then it helps we remember. And this Monday, you're not necessarily taking notes. You're just feeling the game. You're feeling the process of the game. Yeah, and feel them and like, I'll write down some notes. Like if they've got a dude that I'm not used to playing against or I haven't seen a lot of them. Like, this is, like, offense line moves really well. Center 51's a really good player. Running backs, this is how these guys feel. Because I always felt like with running backs, if you don't play against them a lot, you don't know how they like feel on contact.

And I didn't like that. Like, I want to know early in the. a game, how do you feel? Are you firm? Like, stuff like that. And I felt like that was one thing that I was wanted to watch during the week is how do they run? How do they take contact? Do they like contact? Like, are they a stiff arm guy? What do they like doing? Because then in the game, you got to have a plan. I mean, you can't just like run in there and hope you're going to get them on the ground. So then I would take light notes on that and just get a feel because mentally, I was like, Monday was a day where I'm like, I need to kind of break it up a little bit. So if I took a ton and notice, I'm like, this is just too much mentally. So then Tuesday, you come in, hit a little workout,

and then I'd watch run game. So our coaches did a good job of breaking down run game based on, like, formation, down a distance, excuse me, top concepts. And then I would go and highlight like four games. And then, you know, you can sort everything. So I'd sort it by like personnel. So like, all right, I want to see all their 12 personnel runs. And like, how do they run the ball out of 12 personnel? It's a 3 by 1. Is it 2 by 2? do they like running 12 personnel and putting the tight in in the backfield? Because if so, now it turns into like two back run versus like if they're in a wing or double like ace both on the line of scrimmage.

Now it's like one back run. It's like 21. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like a completely different concept. So I want to know what they do. And then I would break it down by like personnel group then formation and then top concepts inside the formation.

I take notes on all those and just chart it because like it took a lot of time. but I felt like if I could write it down, then I would remember it better. So then, and by Tuesday, I usually had the game plan, like first and second down game plan. So then I'd watch all that, chart everything, watch those games, and then I'd watch a full game.

After that, and then see how it fits. So, like, when do they run it? Like, when are they 11? When are they 12? What are they, like, doing out of 13? When do they do it in a game? And, like, what's the game flow? And then I could call defenses within that.

within that watching that game. So, you know, first and 10, the first quarter of like, all right, I'm just playing cover three. So line up in cover three, see my overfront, see where I got a line, see where rotation is, and then kind of go through it that way. And then, you know, just kind of buzz through it like that. So then you get a feel for how they want to run the ball out of formations. You get a good feel for what they are. And then you see how it applies to the game and how they get to stuff.

And then I can apply our first and second down game plan to that. and just run through that. And then Wednesday, after practice, I do the same thing, but with first and second down pass. So break it down the same way and see how the run game matches with past game. What conflicts you could potentially be in.

And then, like, you start to figure out, like, are they a formation-based team in the sense of, do they run plays, run plays, and pass plays out of formations? So regardless to what the personnel is, like, if it's three-by-one wing, they could run that at 11, they could run it at 12, they could run at 13, they could run it at 10 if they wanted, but it's the same run concept. And they're just looking for the best matchup within personnel groupings that run play.

Or are they a personnel group team where in 11, these are their top five run concepts. And then in 12, they want to run this. And in 13, they start getting heavy. It's like short yardage. They're going to play too heavy, a wing and a backside tied in. And it's going to be like load power, counter O. Y, three poolers going somewhere. or are they just like I said a formation-based team. So then as the week goes on, you get a feel for what this team wants to do,

why they want to do it, how they get to it. Are they a shift motion team? Do they build sets? Because the only thing that matters in football is what's the final formation. So are they stagnant or do they line up in three by one and then shift to two by two and then motion this guy across to three by one? I don't care about any of that. I just want to know what's a final result.

What's the final result of the formation is what I want to get to and how do they do it? So when the game comes around, you're not like, oh, well, it's three by one, but I didn't anticipate them getting to it. Like, no, I already knew that they're going to be a heavy shift, heavy motion. My brain's already turned on to it. So when they get to, when they start to move guys, it's like, I've already prepared myself for this. And then third down, you just watch it by, you know, down the distance. Right, right, right, right. And then watch another game and see kind of all ties together.

And then Friday was red zone and specials. So like if we were playing, you know, Cal or Alvin Camara, like you get a lot of matchups one-on-one with him if we play man coverage. I don't like that matchup. Yeah, because are we able to get to rat in the situation? Or like, stay in the box. And if I get put in a bad situation, I need to have a plan of attack of like, does he like moving off a certain foot? How does he stem? Where does he get uncomfortable?

Where does his move area out of the backfield? Where does he like going? And then so when you get in that situation, if it's man, you're like, all right, like, he's better athlete than me. He's going to probably make me miss a bunch. But like, here's my plan of attack that I've already thought about on Friday. So when it comes around in the game, you're like, all right, I'm good. Like, this is my plan of attack.

And like, I feel good about it. And I'm going to go attack him. And if it works great, if not, like, I feel good about what I did going into the game. Yeah. How big of a role did the TV copy? Love TV copy. Yeah, the TV copy. where you found out like their checks and their verbiage and stuff like that so you just I would just watch like the all 22 and then anytime the quarterback comes in the line of scrimmage you turn on the TV copy and see what you got everything that he says you got to listen to it and write it down and then you got to check it a few times you know do you remember any teams that were changing their verbiage because they essentially knew that they were playing against you no if I didn't if I didn't if I didn't know a word I never guessed

but like you always have to it's always just like a like you and TDU is probably like salt pepper yeah did I tell you that? Black or Briggs yeah salt and pepper so that was using the Super Bowl and I thought salt was left and pepper

was right because salt is an L and pepper was right no because they had I'm just thinking white black you've got a white line back out there in a black line background they ain't salt salt salt salt hey you're white hey they're going to be

block in my ass it looks like hey left left left they're going left And T.D. Hey, what's crazy? I'm on the same page with you. Because inside that game, so inside the game, they said, like, Tiger. And if Paredes, Matt Paredes was the center, and he said, Tiger, Tiger.

And one of the offensive linemen was like, huh? And he said, Tiger, er. I was like, ah, you're going to the right. So I took that forward to Salt and Pepper. And I remember having an argument with TD about it. And we get in the sideline. And I'm like, I don't know why they call Pepper. and they went to you.

I was on the right side or whatever, the left side, they're right. And he's like, no, you missed the whole thing. Salt, you're white.

Pepper. I was like, oh, it makes sense now. Even the craftiest of minds get caught. Oh my gosh. It was so funny, man.

Dude. I mean, yeah, there's definitely like a crazy amount of you calling out those plays. Like, what do you think your batting percentage was on those? I think if you feel,

good about it like I remember we played Tampa in 2015 and they had a toss play and it was Tulsa and I remember we were it was a check they talked about we were it was like on a third down maybe and we were all mugged up so Thomas and I were both mugged up we had a safety mugged up so we were you know if they had and they had a front side bunch and so if they if you just down block pin and pool the off the ball defenders that are supposed to make the play are never going to get there. It's like throwing a screen out of a mug look,

like a wide receiver screen. And I remember he gets there and James comes up and looks around and he's like, all we got double mug. All these guys in the line of scrimmage, safety's down showing off the backside, the rotational guy and the nickel's showing up because it's a bunch because he's got to press the point.

And he checks Tulsa and I'm like, oh my gosh, perfect. Yeah. And so we pull everybody out and bump everyone, plus everyone, on front side, just totally get out of the blitz. We're supposed to be dropping defensive tackles.

It was like a sim pressure. And we just told all the defense, I'm like, go. Don't drop. It's a run. It's a toss. Go. And one of the guys, I think Jared Allen made the tackle. And I just, I was so happy.

It was like, it all worked, you know? You get that one play you make based on film and you just like, it's all worth it. Yeah. Yeah. All the preparation was worth it for sure. And TD was. great at that. TD watched a ton of tape too, so we had a good little combo. When you get to those games, the amount of preparation you put in knowing like Alvin Kamar,

when you're like, this is I'm going to attack him. So I know regardless, like my process has been correct. Yeah. Did you have nerves before the games? Or was it like, Hayes in the barn? Oh, I was always nervous. Yeah. Like, you want to, you always want to get in the flow as fast as you can of the game. And the longer you're out of the flow of the game, the less you feel like you're part of the game. Yeah. So you can prepare all you want, but you want to get into the flow of the game as quickly as you can. And if you're not in the flow, you feel like you're floating. And I hate that. So you're always nervous to go in the game because you don't know. Each game feels different. Like it feels different from, you know, the surface is different. How the team you play

is different. The coordinators are different. How they want to attack you is different. The players are different. The run game's different. Everything feels different each game and you were always like, I don't know about nervous, you're anxious. Yeah. To like feel, feel the game and feel like you're a part of the game. And until you do that, you're kind of like, damn, like, I need to get in there. Need to get in there. I need to feel somebody. I need to like a little action early in the game. With that thought process, was it better for you in your mind to go three and out,

your first defensive drive like, oh, boys, we got them three and out or like a nine, eight, nine play gritty drive? where maybe they come up points, but like you know the kid this next drive. I feel like I'm immersed in this game now. So I feel a whole lot better. I think it depends on if you get a piece of something early.

Yeah, yeah. Like you got to get a piece. Explain to me the piece of something. Like if you make a good tackle like on first or second or third down or like first or second down, you make a good play like around the line of scrimmage in the run game. You're like, all right, I like kind of feel. First hits out of the way.

I'm good. Or like you make a good play on third down. You get a stop. We're off the field in like a three and out. or, you know, you just, you're in the mix or like you feel, say they're on power and you like, you like stick a guard and you force a guard, you're like, all right, I'm in good shape. But if it's like pass, toss, run away, incomplete on third down, you're still like, like, itching a little bit. Yeah.

You need to get like, you need to get a piece of something. Yeah, you need to feel somebody. Yeah. Talk about the pain from the Super Bowl. Yeah. And have you forgiven Cam Newton for not jumping on that phone? Oh my gosh. It was

The further you get away from it, the more you appreciate it. Like how special that year was, how much fun we had, how good our locker room was, like all the games that we played in that were so fun. The city of Charlotte was awesome. Like the media coverage of that season in the locker room.

It was like anybody that was anybody, reporter-wise, was in the locker room every week. We didn't lose a game until Christmas. We played on Thursday. We played, yeah, here you go. played on Thursday night in Jerry World down in Dallas on Thanksgiving. Oh, buddy. I'm sorry to interrupt you.

That was my favorite game to watch of you. I'm like, you're like a proud father and I'm your son. It's like you just got like super comfortable in that chair. Because we'll talk to the Cowboys. He usually has a dim light on it. So it's nice to see them light up with the Cowboys. Just as a backer and appreciating and respecting the game that we played. Like watching, getting to watch that Thursday night.

football game because again you're not like watching everybody else like when you're playing on sundays but knowing that you had there was dedicated time like on holidays to where it's like oh these teams are playing today and watching you against the cowboys those two play those two picks you had back to back i sat there and i was trying to get everybody in the room enthralled like do you guys understand what just happened you being a tampa two player and them trying to run you out clear you out for that deep dagger by one and you coming down to pick it off after you already have your responsibility taken care of. That is art. Oh, you're coming back, you're kind, coming back the next series and knowing you're in a cover four responsibility with wit as the

tight end, and they're trying you over the top without any safety help, and you picking that ball off, getting your head around, that's art. And I just want you to know that I need you to hang around me and talk me up a little more. I obviously, you have all the accomplishments in the world, but just like some of those plays, and you're just talking through Tulsa, knowing you're mugged up and everything else, I appreciate the art that you put on display. It was, I appreciate that. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I'm getting real used up right now. But these plays right here, boys, like, you guys need to lock in.

The guy that made the play was Thomas. So we were in a sim pressure. So basically what was supposed to happen is TD was supposed to blitz, and we were supposed to drop the defensive end to the field. So Romo saw the pressure. So he's like, all right, the hook player, it was just sim pressure cover three. The hook player is a defensive end. So I'm going to throw this dig right.

behind the defensive end. So Romo checks protection, swings everything. And so Thomas is like, do we need to get out of this? They just push protection to me. It's a bad matchup. So he checked, Thomas looks at him, he's like, hey, we need check cover two. I was like, all right, cool, let's do it.

So. Who's at the green dot? I did. But Thomas and I and like Roman and Kirk Coleman, it was like, it's just a discussion. Yeah, it's just on the same page. It's a discussion. It's crazy that you guys have enough time

to have a discussion as well. That's wild to me. TD and I had like a, hey, he's like, he just miced. You want to go to cover two? And I was like, you want to? He's like, yeah. I was like, all, cool. Check cover two.

So like, you've got time. And then this play is like one of those plays that you talked about. Like you always want to get this play in cover two. And it never works out that way. Right. Like either you're a backside hook player or you're blitzing or it's man coverage. And it's just one of those plays where it's just right place, right time. Like it happened.

And you're taking a shot. Oh, yeah. You're like kind of, like you're trusting that. Look at Witton. Yeah, he's wide open. Yeah. But again, you're trusting your, you're trusting. Can you go back to the top of the play? And a lot of it starts too with. It's like you starting high and trusting that, all right, Romo's went through this progression. And we're now I'm going to take a shot and leave the middle of the field to go pick off this dagger. The other thing is Benet. So Ben-Wickery is playing, he's one of our corners. He's playing at the, I think the same at the bottom of

the screen. If you don't get a good jam on that guy, then I can't see the release. So the release by one, if he inside releases and you get a clear out and then a sit, look at the jam. Do you see the jam by B'nai? Yeah. So the jam slows it down. This is what we're talking about. Yeah, down low at the bottom. Yeah, he gets the good jam, pushes him inside and puts those two guys on levels and slows him down. So the progression for Romo is slower. Right. So he doesn't get to dot that ball when he wants to. But I get to see inside release by one. I can see the sit by two. And then once he puts his foot in the ground, I'm like, all right, I'm clean. Like, I'm good. Because I know that once his inside release this company. He's probably going to run an in-cut

and that's going to push Roman to that over. Right. So then you're like, but then like you said, you're kind of you're kind of taking like a calculated chance a little bit. Yeah, yeah. So as the mic backer, you have the middle of the field. Yeah, Tampa, too, you've got to bail out

and you're deep. Yeah. And his backs to the quarterback. So again, he's taking like a calculated wrist just coming out of the middle of the field. And so why at that point? And it's so funny the hook player, you know, it's like you're jumping the fat lady when the pretty one's behind you. Why at that point are you like, okay, I'm safe because you know your safety is now coming back over the top to help you out? Yeah, and you kind of know where that ball is meant to be thrown. The ball is meant to be thrown to the dig.

Got you. Because Romo in his mind is still thinking you guys are in a simulated pressure where the end's going to drop and that guy's covering him. I think he probably knows at this point that we're not. I just think he probably is like, oh, I got Tampa. The hook player jumped the the little in and out route, the whip route. So I'm just going to throw it behind. Right. So I had a little bit more time to kind of feel it out because Bona got such a good jam. He slowed the progress to that guy really got him inside. So it's one of those things. Like you don't just make the play by yourself really good jam.

Right. We had really good pressure that whole game. We hit him a bunch. So like that clock gets sped up. And then Thomas' great awareness by him of like getting out of that. Yeah. You have incredible quarterback answers of shouting out the team throughout the entire answer. I mean.

It's like what Romo seems. It's like he knows as the hook player sitting there, he's like, oh, this is 100 out of 100. I'm going to hit this clear. I'm going to hit this dig over top. Because you can see right here, even with you covering the stamp guy, like, that almost seems a little open to me,

but he's throwing right here. Yeah. And that where him, he's like, oh, there's no one, because he's expecting you to still go up the middle of the field. Because, right, yeah, because avoid in the middle of the field. The nickel is moving out towards that whip. So that ball is supposed to get thrown between the numbers in the hash, right? That dig.

That's the dig window. So he's like, I'm in good shape, you know. Yeah. And I'm sure we're not able to show the screen like during the YouTube. So anybody that's curious is Tony Romo throws an interception to Luke Keekely. Look that play up. Yeah. You'll be able to show stills.

Yeah. Because that is, that is art. Like, that's the beauty. That's the game within the game that kind of like people see and they're like, wow, Luke Keechley is amazing. But for you to like give us what TD was saying, the jam, all of that. Like that is good football. That's a good 11 guys getting after.

What are you going to say, JP? I just say it's so funny how he's like, you know, we had time. He bumped him and put him inside. He gave me more time. It's like, this is happening in four seconds. Yeah. Yes. Which is just so crazy because you're not supposed to be anywhere near that ball when it's thrown.

Yeah. It just, it's cool. It just all fits, it like all fits together, you know. Was there, and I hate to bring this up again, any chatter about Cam Newton not jumping on that fumble? Honestly, no. No one ever said, no one ever whispered? No. know, his toughness, we never questioned it.

The guy never complained. There's a first guy in every day. He worked so hard. Never, never yelled at guys, never threw guys into the bus. Like, talk about a dude that just, all he wants to do is play football. And it's just a, that was just a bad game for us. We just didn't play, we didn't play our best game that night. Seeing Cam Newton on the field, there's like, there's like a few guys.

Calvin Johnson comes to mind. but seeing Cam Newton dress and on the field He looks like to create a player Yeah he's like an action figure out there's like all of six five Everybody has well he's taller than six five We saw him at power slap and he was eye to eye with me I felt like he was taller Must have that hat too

He's got the hat he's got the hair about He's like he's like seven feet tall with all that Yeah no doubt He's not getting any rides But that's interesting you say that Because the way he's portrayed in the media is that like He's a cat that seems like a very much an eye guy.

When he's when he's on ESPN, he said, I would rather have my MVP trophy than a Super Bowl trophy. I'm not getting that same vibe as I'm getting from you. You were like, oh, he's a team dude. Would you give up your defensive player of the years for that Super Bowl? Yeah. The Super Bowl is like the mecca, man. Yeah.

You know, that's all you want. It's not even a quest. You just want to win a Super Bowl. He looked at you like you were dumb right there. He's like, what? I tell you what? Toughness, competitiveness, love of the game of football, love of the Carolina Panthers.

Like, Cam. Just tough. You never questioned, is he going to play hard? Like, you never questioned that. You might question like, what is he going to wear? But the dude competed. He played so hard. Loves football.

Just tough and competitive. And it just, it also, clearly he knew what was going on. But it's like that, what is it, that clip of that play where somebody's trying to call out something. Somebody's trying to call us something. He's like, I see what you're trying to do here. Oh, you like that? Watch this. Yeah.

Oh, that was Clay Matthews? Because Clay's like, watch that wheel route. Watch that wheel route. Oh, you watch film. Me too. Watch this. Yeah. Yeah. And he threw that ball to McCaffrey.

But it's interesting. So Cam, it's like he can, he remembers like everything. So they had a signal him and Greg had a signal for like, it's like a route that he ran. Yeah. And Cam's like, hey, dude, like we got to switch it up. We've run this too many times. Like everybody knows what it is. And Greg's like, all right, what do you want it to be?

And Cam's like, ah. I don't know. We did this like four years ago against Atlanta and it was like the third quarter. And, you know, it was like 10 minutes ago in the game and 10 minutes ago and third quarter. And I gave you like this signal. Like, I don't know. That's cool. We just want to do that.

Greg's like, whatever. Yeah. And like, I like went and looked it up. And I was like, whoa. Like he was spot on. He was like pretty daggone close. Yeah. So.

But him and Greg had a really good connection. Like Greg has such a great feeling. for you know space and timing and windows and just he was really good at a lot of things great he was big he'd catch everything could run block never came off the field but he had such a good feel for like where to be how to get there how to stem guys like he was so good at that and cam and him had such a great connection that they could just kind of look at each other and they both knew what was going on they'd line up in this set it was a three by one set so Greg they called it one by three Greg was backside and

you could line up in cover three, cover four. It didn't matter. It was basically man. Because it was just Greg in a corner or a safety by themselves. And they just look at each other and figure it out. And it was really cool to watch. But a lot of it was just Cam's super smart, remembers everything, tough, competitive. And it was fun to watch him and Greg play with each other. How was it being in the mix of the O'Dell Beckham and Josh Norman?

Oh my gosh. That was like peak Josh Norman. Yeah. Yeah. And that was part of Josh's game. I remember when we played Dallas, him and Debs were going out at the whole game. And that was part of Josh's game. And, you know, it was, we were in it.

And I'll tell you what, they let those guys play a little bit until there was a cup. There was like one or two instances where like they had to separate them. You know, like, Odell went head-to-head missile shot after a play. That one, that one was, that one wasn't great. But that Josh was another guy. Josh, great feel. Great feel smart, unbelievable ball skills in ultra competitive. Ultra competitive.

So that was a great matchup for them. Josh played fantastic that year. Josh was exactly what we needed in our defense. Like long, rangy, great ball skills could compete competitive. He was really good. And that was an interesting game. We were up a million points. And they came all day back.

O'Dell actually caught a ball there at the end of the game to tie it up. and then Cam went down and Ganoe kick the field would have a win it, but it was like, we were there, Josh and I have a good chat here. You try to tell him to keep his cool? I said, hey, keep doing you, man. Yeah. We had him at Washington.

His ability to punch the ball out, the peanut punch. He learned it from peanut. Yeah. So Josh was always around the ball. Then Peanut came in 2015, and Josh was like his, Josh, I think, saw that, and he's like, huh, like I can do that and he just had it's a timing thing you know it's a timing thing it's an opportunity thing he was just really good at it so yeah he was a stud at it peanut was awesome he

talked about a teammate oh my gosh great teammate uh peanut tillman oh my gosh I love that guy you guys had some fucking dogs that he was that's super boy year so it was cool I mean you you you always like Jared Allen too I'm like oh shit just like Jared Allen and peanut that in a 2015 year and Roman Harper. So Pep came in. I remember the first time I met Pep, I was like, oh my gosh, it's true his peppers. Yeah. And he's brought up.

He is a monster too. He's big, but he's very, he's proportional. So like when you see him from a distance, you're like, oh, he's big because he's so proportional. And the closer you get to him, you're like, oh. Yeah. He's a monster. That's a density deal.

I was so happy when we played y'all and he was, I think he went back, right? He played and then he went to the Packers. So when you played us in 15, he was in, he was in, he was in, Green Bay. So he went Carolina, Chicago, and then Green Bay, and then at the end, he came back to us. Because when he, that was like his last year, right? His last two years are in California. His last two years. So when we played, I mean, he put his hand in the dirt. I'm looking at my forum and his forum. I'm like, this is not the same. We're not playing the same game. Him and aren't just equal. But he was in that, he was in that mode of, I'm going to pick and choose

my shots to kind of win to really go hard. But he was like playing the game and it was love. I was so happy about that. Just so talented, man. He's unbelievable. Him and guys, like Suggs too. Like this kind of like understood the game at a level where like they knew when it was time to turn it on and not like on that older age was just so cool to see. And then another guy that was a freak athlete, Shaq Thompson. Shack. So you're mentioning all those vets and yeah, Shaq Thompson had the ability to, he had a lot of range. Oh my gosh.

So it was interesting. They bring Shaq in and he played running back, linebacker safety at Washington. And we bring him in and Thomas was playing Will. I was playing Mike, so like there's not a ton of room. But we're like, we need to get this guy on the field because he's so talented. He does everything well. And he was super smart from the day he got there. You tell him at one time, he got it.

And there's guys that can like memorize and there's guys that just have great feel for the game of football and how to play and competitive and effort. Shaq showed up in the day that he got there. He had all of that. And so we need to find a way to get him on the field. So we would play him at Nick. Right. And we called it Buffalo and it was just like a it was just a package we had. It was like a big nickel. So we could play all of our nickel calls, but have a bigger body in there. So we could like blitz him. We could play five down with him on the line of scrimmage. We could play zone coverage. So then there was really no matchup issues. But we were able to get him on the field and highlight what he's able to do. And it was just awesome. Yeah. He's a great. He took so much pride. in being the young because our room was good so it was like Thomas A.J. Klein was a really good player because he was a fourth rounder that yeah he was Iowa State kid was he 2013 yeah yeah yeah he was

my year because he sat behind you but anytime like you would be down and he'd come in he'd light it up like he got to go on and take a contract to get bigger money yeah with New Orleans right yeah with New Orleans yeah with New Orleans so AJ would play shack would play but our room was like established older guys and he came in and it was like his mission like I'm not going to let any of you guys down so like that's how he prepared that's how he practiced he plays special teams never complained ever

just a good guy that like got it so he's got a great career yeah fires me up you guys did have just a hell of a room yeah I'm sure like AJ you know you just got to be itching to get on the field at times like playing behind somebody like yourself or just knowing you're not going to be seeing the field unless an injury or something like that happens because AJ was a stud at Iowa State. And again, anytime he came in during a stint that that you'd be out, like he'd light it up. Like he was a hell of a middle linebacker. Yeah. I tell you what,

you give those guys a lot of credit too because he was like the first guy in wherever. So if his need to be Will, he could play Will. If he needed to play Mike, he could play Mike. If he were playing, you know, three backers in like a base look, he could play Sam. And you know, you don't get reps at practice. Right. Like, you don't get any. So he had to show up and lock in, lock in, meetings and go to practice and, you know, do his thing there and then go run down on teams and then oh, hey, somebody, hey, Luke's out. Like, go play Mike Backer. All right. Well, next week, TD's out. Luke's back in. All right, now you're going to go play Willbacker. And it's like he never, he never lost a step or like had a mental blip. He's just, it's impressive,

like those guys that are able to do that at a high level. Yeah. Dude, what was so fascinating to me is watching your career and like when you, when you started like four, five, six started to sustain a couple of injuries, your ability to kind of take your head out of it, but still be so productive. How did, how is that like transition for you? Because it seemed, at least from me on film, obviously, like, okay, this guy's not putting his face in as much, but he's still finding ways to manipulate blocks and be just as productive. You kind of nailed it. Like you, the order you get, like, physically, you slow down, right? But it's like, like, physically you slow down, but like mentally, you, you, you learn more. Yeah, you surpass your physical ability with mental ability. Yeah. So then you're

like, all right, well, I don't need to, I don't need to go smash that guy. Like, I know where his point of attack angle is, I know where mine is, can I speed him up? Can I slow him down? Can I get him playing at my speed? Like, my advantages are, I'm quicker, I'm faster. I might be a little bit, I might have a little bit more like quick pop than he does. If I get in a dog fight with him, he's bigger, he's stronger, he's more powerful. I'm going to lose like nine out of ten times. So it's like, how can I manipulate a block in the sense of like, if I need to get there and I can you to slow your feet down or stop your feet now I can speed up faster than you I can slow down faster than you I can speed up faster than you so instead of like trying to run through your

chest if I can get you to stop your feet doing boom I can just get past you that way so it's like how can I you don't want to hit a million guys in the game I just wears you down yeah but there's an ego element to it like yeah my linebacker being a thumper like you could hit like was there ever point where like I don't want to give up this part of me but I know it's the best from my longevity yeah you just like you got to you love the game of football like you better figure out how to play it long as you can. And that's just kind of part of the, like, just kind of part of the game, you know?

Talk to us about how when you were first starting to sustain the concussions, like if I'm a teammate of yours and you get dinged the first time, oh Luke, he's got a concussion, second time, Luke's got a concussion. Third time when a pattern starts creeping up and then you're coming into the cafeteria or something. And it's like, hey, what are you learning?

Like, talk about that time as a pattern starts to show itself with your head injuries. Because there's always a point of feeling like vulnerable, like almost like mortal. And two, like when you're getting stuff like concussions, you know, there's a part, anytime you have an injury and you're coming in the room, you're, you feel like you've let everybody down. Or like if you have an ankle, right, or a high ankle sprain.

And guys might be like, you know, they're not questioning can you go, but in your mind, you're insecure enough to where you're like, I hope these guys know that I am facing something pretty bad right now. I'm just not able to be on the field. Yeah. But yeah, talk about your head injuries. I think a lot of it is what you learn. And, you know, like you said, you're 25 years old.

you're like, I'm fine. I think a lot of it is with the concussion stuff, it's like you need to be as honest as you can as you can with yourself and with everyone taking care of you. Because if they don't know how you feel, they can't help you. So like the more honest you are with them, the better and the quicker you can come back from whatever

you have going on concussion-wise. And that's what I learned, you know, probably the hard way is like, our doctors are phenomenal. They took great care of me. They did everything they needed to do. And I just wish I would have learned from an earlier age to be more honest with them.

Because you got to get all the way back before you can go play again. Right. Yeah. Like there's no, like, say you have like a wrist that's bugging you. You can like tape it and like, like, okay. It's kind of like a badge of honor when you're like when you have a little. Like figure it out. Like, or you do something to your finger like, all right, but like you don't really.

You're going to be fine. Yeah. Versus your head. It's like you can't really tough it out. And the more you try to tough it out, the worse it gets. And then you start to. realize like why do I like you said you want to play and like you want to bring value to your team right and then you start to realize like all right if I'm not honest and I go back out before I should and I

get dinged again I'm providing less value to my team because now I'm going to be out for longer so it's like all right maybe it takes me you know two weeks to come back I'd rather be honest and take those full two weeks and come back then after we'd be like I'm good and like and you're not and then you get dinged again. Now it's five weeks. So instead of it being a two-week injury, it's a six-week injury, and it's all because you didn't take care of yourself.

Like, that's really, I think what I learned, you know, probably not as quickly as I should have, but what I learned was the more honest you are with yourself and the more honest you are with the guys that are, their job is to take care of you, then the better it is for you, for them, for the team, for your, you know, I just want to play football.

Yeah. The faster I can get back to play. playing football so it's like everything gets better the more honest you are do now when you had the first one like how many do you would do you think that you had before that first I don't think I had zero zero like for sure like 100 percent because you always wonder like well I know if I get one and then the first one I got was in 2015 and I was like yeah that's that's one yeah so and did that when you're saying oh I wish I would learn it sooner so third If you feel like you didn't have any before that first one, was there some of those early ones that you're like trying to in your brain tough enough?

No. So that one was the first one and I was like, I was like, I need to like get my, I need to get better. And it worked out literally perfectly. So that was week one. And then I think we played, yeah, we played three games and we had to buy. So, you know, you got to two weeks into it. And our trainer's like, dude, he's like, you need to relax first of all because you're putting all this stress on yourself. So what's just you're not going to. You're not going to. You're not going to. play next week. How about that? And I wasn't, I wasn't going to be back anyways. But he like, I'd give him a lot of credit. Ryan Vermilion, he took all the pressure off me and was like, we're just, you're not going to play next week. And then the following weeks of biweek. So like, you have two weeks. So just like kind of relax. And that happened and I was like, like, like, oh, like, okay. So then I remember I went home for the bye week and I, I knew how to aggravate it. Like I knew how to give myself a lot of it was, uh, oh, uh, exercise base, like heart rate base. Like if I got my heart rate up, then I would start getting like headaches. And I was like,

all right, I feel really good. It was like Thursday of the by week, Thursday or Friday. I was back in Cincinnati. And I rode up like a really hard workout. And I was like, all right, this is like it. Like either I'm going to be good or I'm not going to be good. And there's like no in between either. I'm going to feel like crap or I'm going to feel really good. Yeah. And I hit that work on. And I was like, all right, I'm good. And then I had a full other, a full another week of practice. So essentially you had like five weeks, you know, you're not really hitting anybody in practice.

Right. Especially at that point. Yeah. So that's the third week of the more. Yeah. So that was probably the best I could have handled it. And then moving forward, you just have a couple when you want to play. And so maybe you don't like, you just, I didn't handle it as probably well as I could

have. And like, it just, it was a, it was unfortunate, but like, Now it's like you go talk to guys. You're like, if you get one, like, you have to be smart and you got to be honest with yourself. Yeah, it's such a difficult game you're talking about, though, because you have the hindsight of like looking back. Like when these guys, like Will and I talk about all the time.

Like when you're in it, there's like these blinders that are on your eyes and are solely focused on this thing. And this is the main storyline of your life, but everything else, like the next 40 years of your life, you're not even concerned about it. Yeah. And you're also like, the only thing I want to do is play football. Right. Like, that's it. Like, I just want to play football.

I want to be on the field with the guys. Like, I love playing football on Sundays. And then this prevents you from doing it. So you're like, I just won't play football. Like, I just won't play. I just won't play. I just won't play. And that cloud's your judgment more than like, really anything else.

It's like, I just miss wake up on Sunday during football season and like, just like watching it from my house. Yeah. Like we played Tampa then 2015. And I remember sitting in my apartment, like, the team went down there and I was just watching it at my house. I'm like, this friggin' sucks. There's no, there's no lonelier feeling than when a team, you're injured and the team

goes on an away game. And you watch the buses leave and you're like, you feel so isolated from everybody in your life. Yeah. It's terrible. But then it's like, it's good perspective. It's like, what do you take from it? And it's like, all right, well, when other guys are missing games, like you got to have

like, you got check on those guys. Like, dude, how you're doing? Right. Because you know what's eating them up the same way. Isolating it is. Yeah. He's like, dude, I feel you, man. like just get better yeah they get better so how many did you end up getting throughout your

career i don't i don't know i mean i missed some time and obviously 15 16 i miss a game in 17 and then like nothing that was like really nothing like big after that when was retirement starting to come into the fold end of that 2019 season because you just like clip a guy and you're like dang like like i don't it wasn't like you know you used to just go smack dudes yeah and have no issues, I would go hit a guy and I'm like, eh, didn't really feel great. And so then once you make the decision in your mind, like, you know, I'm not all the way in it. Once like mentally you're, you starting to think about it a lot in 2019? Yeah, like the last like the last game of the year. I was like, I'm done. I'm done. So that's when you made your decisions that last

year after. So it was week, it's week 16. So obviously week 17's last week. Week 16. Week 16. I remember being like, eh, probably done. Really? Was there a process of like talking to anybody or was just feeling?

I just remember after that game like I was like, yeah, you don't, you don't got it anymore. Like, you just, you don't have,

like, you don't have it. What's your, you don't have it? Because like, like, you know, yeah,

because you'd still be playing right now. Yeah, like, you know you can't play. I would have been fine if like, I'd physically slow down. Like,

can't run as well. Like, not as fast maybe I'm not as physical maybe like I don't have the same like fire I would have been a fine with that and I would have like kind of just probably milked it out a little bit more like man I love playing but once I knew was my head and I'm like like mentally I'm like dude it's either yes or no like if you slow down you can like physically you can still play football hard and like play it fast and play with great effort but once I knew in my head mentally like it's not any of that it's like your head's like your head's stuff. Now you can't, you can't in your brain, in my brain, I couldn't rationalize like, I can't play as hard as I want to. My effort's not going to be there. I can't be as physical. And once I knew that, I'm like, man, it's not fair to the guys and the team. And it's not fair to the fans and myself and my family for me to go out there at like mentally 75%. Like, if I got to thump a guard and push a guy back to Shaq to make a play and I'm like,

eh, yeah. And like I get widened and then the shack the tackle's really hard on Shaq. Like, that's not fair to Shaq for me to like, no, especially mentally, I know the reason why I'm not stuffing that guy. Once I knew that, I was like, okay, versus like, you know, Sam's still playing right now and I'm 33 years old and I go to stuff a guard and like that dude's 25 years old. and he just malls me. Like, I'm like, eh, I mean, I did everything right. I tried hard. I prepared in the offseason.

Like, I gave it everything. I had that guy's just a young dude and just beat me. Versus, like, in my head, I'm like, I didn't take him on as like, I didn't hit him how I should have. Like, I'm not with that. Like, I couldn't do that. Yeah. It's knowing that your effort wasn't 100%. My effort wasn't there.

And like, that's not fair to like the guys in the team. So I was like, all right. And yourself too. Like you have the stand in your head of how you play the game. how you want to play the game and you know like not that you're half assing but if you're thinking about that trying to smash a guard and you're like I didn't do this because of X, Y and Z in my mind. It's just not fair to anyone.

Yeah. Yeah. You know. I love that you're sweating on the bus with the boys right now. It's hot here. Yeah. This is like we need to have this outside. Yeah.

Well, we've had it out. We actually started in a gravel parking lot. Yeah. In the middle of May. Yeah. Dude, it's, it's so impressive to me because like when I talk to you when I listen to Utah, I'm like, this motherfucker loves ball. Yeah.

You could just tell. He's not just about himself. He's about the team. He's about everybody. Everybody else's job. And I can feel that from you. And then you sit there and say, week 16,

I knew I was done and that was it. Yeah. It's, what was that transition like for you? Because now you're going from a guy that I have, no doubt was 100% in on football's entire life. Oh, hell yeah.

To now you're, what you got on. He's a pool service, white glove service over here. This is bus brand right here. You're 100% in it. And now you're waking up in the fall. Yeah.

And it's like, okay. You wake up an office. And I know you're feeling of we've done it for a few years now. It's like you wake up in August and you're like, it's fucking great. Like there's a place of it's like, all right. Like I know all them boys. 15 minutes out of my house are dying right now.

And I just woke up with my kids. You know, I'll grab a little breakfast with them. There's so many positives. But then there's those Sundays where you sit there and it's like 2.30 and the noon slates ending. And you see your team catching a big win. Yeah. And it's like, fuck.

I miss what that locker room is going to feel like when they go back in there. Yeah. So my first year out, I worked with the team in the scouting department. So that was cool. And then on game days, I was in the booth with the offense. And I was the personnel guy. So, like, they'd come out and I'd be in charge of like, are they in nickel? Are they in base?

What kind of base are they in? All that kind of stuff. So that was, hell yeah. Look at that. We did upgrade and we go from paper towels to pre towels. It's great. I felt like a little air coming in too. Luke, talk about your concussions.

Yeah, sweat my ass off. So it was cool. I got to be at the games on Sundays. And the first year was like, damn, man. Like, I still think I can play. And so that part was hard. And then the further way you get from it, you're like, like, I do the radio with the team now. I do the radio broadcast.

And I go on the field before the game. And you see these guys run by you. And you're like, I'm good. All set. I'm good, man. Appreciate you. Like, Tristan works. He comes running by.

And you're like. I'm all good. There was a video two days ago on Instagram of him squatting five plates for like three or four reps with ease. He's like the nicest guy in the world. Yeah, he's a great human, Iowa cat.

Like he's just a great dude. He's an athletic ability of a linebacker. Yeah, but he can squat 700 pounds. I mean, we were filming that a couple years ago when we were at that Arizona Bowl and you're just seeing the guys kind of warm up and practice

and pop the pads a little bit beforehand and you're just sitting there thinking like, what the fuck? It kind of becomes like, yo, what psychopath would do this? Yeah, because once you get out of it, like, you get soft quick. You want to be the guy that's like on the team, but they put you on season ending IR. So you're like, you get to show up, like, kind of have a job, but like you don't have to play.

You can still travel. You're in the meetings. Yeah. You're like, walk out to practice. You drink some coffee. But you're on the team. So like your way of life is like socially acceptable. You know what I mean?

Versus like if you get done, you're like, I can't just like go hang out in the locker room and like lift. Like, you can't do that. Yeah, like here comes a pro scout, Luke. Yeah. Yeah, you're like the narc. He's trying to replace us right now. You got to go bring a guy upstairs and get cut. Yeah.

That year. Did you ever have to do that? Brought one guy up. No. It was the worst. Yeah, talking about the year being in the pro scouting department. I'll tell you what you learn a lot about the NFL. Like, what plays, types of guys in the NFL, like, you learn a ton.

And it was super cool. Like, I learned a lot and it was super beneficial. But it wasn't something I wanted to do long term. But like, you really get to see. like what play like the difference between personnel in a three four versus personnel in a four three like body types like length what guys are looking for what plays what doesn't play types of running backs like you don't have a feel for that while you're playing because all you're do is studying an opponent you're not studying like you know height weight speed size how they play what kind of

football player they are and you learn like the whole league by doing that because we did we had to watch all the free agents for that season going to into the next year so then like now moving forward like you watch a guy you're like man like we watched that guy for 25 minutes and graded him and wrote a report on him and like it's it was really cool what was it like cutting or bringing him up not cut him i just remember going up there was his name like luke here's your he's your first one i probably was a linebacker too i remember it was a corner um and i remember just walking up there and i remember i walked into the gm's office and i'm like hey look like I'm down to do a lot of things like kind of don't want to do that like after after the

fact that yeah I was like guys like I'd rather just like not do that I feel bad because I'm like I know how hard it is to play and like in make the roster and feel like you're on the roster and then get cut like you see all your buddies do that throughout your whole career and you're like man like I'd rather not be that guy that has to do that and they're like they're like yes all right we don't have to do that anymore like all right cool like damn you know you got pulling the gym apologize Yeah. Luke's a grim reaper. Yeah, you're that guy.

You don't want to be that guy. No. Because you know you're standing at the door waiting for them to come in from practice and everyone's like, Luke, what's up, man? You're like, hey, can I talk to? And they're like, dang. Yeah.

And one year removed. Yeah, I'm like, I'm sorry, dude. 80% of that roster knows you as a teammate. As a teammate. So I got up there and they're like, yeah, we're sorry. I'm like, it's cool. I just rather not do that again. Yeah.

Was this a guy that was on the team the year before with you? No, but he was a dude that's like, he was like, he was a dude like a dude in the league for a while oh so and when you when he says something to him was there any like common like man you're the green reaper no i think he i think he probably knew it was common yeah but it doesn't make it any easier yeah but he's a he was a vet he understood the game he's been in the league for a long time and like was a dude so i think he's probably like yeah yeah luke's trying to study on how to cut guys he's just throwing on money ball yeah i mean dude that's at any point during that season of you being a scout or doing whatever you're

were doing. Did they ever approach you and be like, hey, could you play a couple more games for us? They always joked about it. But I was like, guys, like, you know how quickly you'd tighten up? Like Amshunds, quads. Yeah. And low back. Yeah. You know those videos that guys like running and looks like they get shot? Yeah. That would have been me, like, first time they run, you know, a scene ball. I got chase a guy down the middle of the field. Yeah, but you know the first game, the first game that Michael linebacker didn't have a great one and someone made a joke to you if you would have been like yeah i'd give it a go they'd be like are you for real yeah my injury waiver would have been like this

long yeah yeah yeah i mean that paycheck though hey it would have been a league minimum no no no no no you would have yourself a little bag pull that hamstring i are the rest of the season that's a dog week i are hey yeah there you go that'd have been nice bro thinks he's on the team still yeah yeah that guy dude yeah that had that would suck to be. Now, did you, were you in a point too mentally to where you're, uh, you're juggling or trying to figure out what you're wanting to do long term? Like, how's everything shaking up now?

You mentioned you're a youth football coach with, uh, with Greg also. Shout out the boy Greg. You do radio stuff. But was there a moment to where you're like, man, I kind of don't, I have no clue what I want to do and I'm kind of chasing some dead ends. I think you, yeah, I think there's, you don't know what you want to do, obviously. Like you get done and like, like, like perfect word. I would, I would have loved to have kept playing.

So like, I probably happened earlier than I wanted it. to and so then the process becomes like you have to just continually try stuff until you find stuff that you like and then once you like it then just keep doing it and then if you don't like it then you stop doing it but like you have to there needs to be a concerted effort to if you're going to go do something like you got to go all the way in because if you tiptoe around it you're not going to get the full experience and you're going to waste your time more importantly you're you're using somebody else's time too like if somebody's going to help you try to dive into something and you and you don't go all the way in you're wasting their time so it's

like all right i'm going to go all the way in on a couple things i'm going to try certain things out i tried the scouting just wasn't my thing it was fun it just like i'm not doing this long term and then the hours are crazy too yeah it's just busy then the next year i did the radio with the panthers radio broadcast like that's like i really like that so that's pretty much the whole season and then the the uh youth football stuff with greg so his son Tate's in that picture. And that's his dad, Chris. His dad, Chris, coached high school football in Jersey and just look them up.

They didn't lose a game for like five years in a row. Look them up. Look them up. Just look them up. So we've been doing that for, this will be our fourth year. So it's been awesome. Like, we have a ton of fun with it. We coached at a school in Charlotte.

Charlotte Christian. This is a school. Check us out. Okay. And this, our first year coaching at Charlotte Christian was last year because Tate, Greg's oldest was in seventh grade. So we'd coach Pop Warner for two years and then Tate got in the seventh grade. So then we coach at the grade school, which is attached to the high school.

And then we'll coach again at the high school this year. So what happens to the current staff that's like, you know. So they kind of bounce back. Kind of like, hey, Greg Wilson, Lou Keekely, they're coming in. So it's awesome. So it's really. We got a new staff. Yeah, right?

The two guys that like make it run it are Greg and his dad. Like, they're phenomenal. And then the other, we've got two or two or three. other guys, three other guys. So it's Stu, Jonathan Stewart, coaches the running backs, which has been phenomenal. It's just a crazy. And then Todd Blackledge. So Todd Blacklidge is a quarterback at Penn

State National Championship, was a first round pick. Now does NBC, I think it's NBC college with Noah Eagle, Ian Eagle's son. So he does college football on Saturday, big, big game. So he did Ohio State Oregon last year. He's legit and he lives in

and he lives in Charlotte. So it's so much fun because i mean Greg and stew were like some of my best buds when we were playing so now i get to hang out with them Greg's dad's awesome todd's great and we just have a ton of fun with it would you ever want to call games like Greg does or rap like Greg does rap right the i think so the radio the interesting thing about radio and tv so radio you really just talk about like what's happening in the game and like why it's happening what i think's cool about tv is you like Greg does a phenomenal job of

of like setting games up. And like, what I mean by setting it up is like talking about what he anticipates going to happen in the game, why it's going to happen, what, you know, say it'd be like if say Tristan Wirfs has missed the last couple weeks and he's back in the lineup. Greg will talk about, you know, Tristan Worf's is back in the lineup. This is how it affects him in the run game and the past game. This is where Tristan Worf's is really good on the run game. So maybe they're going to double up like Greg does it way better than that.

But you can really lay out a game. doing TV because you don't have to explain what's happening every play because the viewer can watch the game and Greg is able to set it up early in the game and then really talk through situational stuff and get into really why things are happening and why it worked why it did he does a great job with that um I think that part would be really cool but I just have a ton of fun with the radio stuff and like I told you guys like I just try to do things that I enjoy and I enjoy the radio, I think the TV would be really, would be really fun as well. So we just kind of see what happens. You ever... You got out to Buffalo for some, for some coaching. Do you ever see yourself

coaching in the league one day or trying to coach at a high level like that? I think it'd be a ton of fun. It's just those hours are like... Bro, they're nuts. It's like take what players do when they're studying all week long and coaches, man. It's like around the clock. It's just all the time and like, I'm just not ready to give up that much time. So, I mean, answer. probably not. Yeah. Yeah, the hours are crazy. I don't, I mean, you, the boy might. I, there's like an itch. There's an itch in there. It's somewhere. I don't know if it'll ever be scratched, but it is I thought. I thought a lot about doing is doing it during OTAs. Yeah. So get out there in OTAs and like, and be like, hey, these next six weeks, like, I'm in. Like, every day, I'm in whenever you guys are

and just do it. And then you'll know by the end of that of like, yes or no. Yeah, but OTAs is such a different vibe than camp and season. OTAs is so alike. OTAs is so alike. the coaches are feel good. Everyone's kind of joking around. The minute you walk in the building July 25th or whenever that, you know, everyone goes into camp, but holes are tight.

Not only that, but if you get behind the eight ball in the season. Yeah. Yeah, you start out, you know, two and two, one and three. People just pissed off.

You're trying to navigate bad attitudes everywhere. It's difficult. Yeah. That's like one thing you don't miss is like the bipolarness of coaches and teammates. But you miss like,

you miss like that, like not stress, but like that pressure of like we gotta go like we gotta yeah it's a big one right here like we gotta go make this like this a big game this is for a lot of reasons like you miss that like the urgency that urgency that urgency that pressure those week like week 14 on when your team's like on the bubble like are we gonna make the playoffs are we not what do we control in our destiny what teams have to lose and it's like you're kind of with your little whether it's a linebacker group or me with the offensive line it's like we got to do

x y and z to make a wild car didn't happen for us that's why you play the band of brothers December, like you want to be, you want to, you want your season the matter in December. Yeah. You know, I mean, you obviously want it to matter in like September, October, November, but like, if it comes December and you're like, hey, like, you're in the on. We're in the mix. And then anything can happen in January. It doesn't even matter.

Like, you're in the mix. Like, you're in the mix. It's all that matters. And now you got to just go play your best ball. It's, that's the best part of that is. The worst feeling in the world is December and nothing matters. Yeah. And you're like, you hear the older guys in my first two years.

We won five games my first two years. And I'm hearing older guys talk about Cabo and all these things are going to go on. And you're just still so involved. Like you think every game still matters. Yeah, what's going on here? Guys, that's the worst feeling. Yeah, have somebody.

Exactly. Play for the name on your back now. Yeah, anything. Just find it. You got to find it somewhere. Yeah, you got to find it somewhere. Yeah, dude, it's a brutal. But you get those coaches to worry,

you know, they might be on the outs where they just start giving the play for the name on your back. Whatever you play for, whether it's your family at home. Just find it. And you just know. way, we're all in December. We're, we know, ain't nobody making the playoffs.

Yeah, we're done. Whether it's a name on your front, your family at home, maybe the cash of the bank account, name on your back. Let that hard turn black when you walk out there. Oh, man. He's got to find it though. Yeah, yeah. This has been awesome.

Yeah, it has. I was just going to ask if you have any hobbies outside of like the football world. I love, I love, so I love the bow hunt. Really? That's my favorite thing. I get a little jails. You guys are out there catching with Ronella. Yeah.

Yeah, dude. He's a real man, too. Bro, they'd have you out there in a heartbeat. I love, that's another reason I want to coach. I love to bow hunt. Like, white tail, elk, anything with a bow, that's like my jam. I'm assuming you'd go out there to Montana. So, yeah, I love to hunt elk in Montana, and then New Mexico's a really good state too. Well, I'm just saying, since we're on the airways right now, Garrett, Cal, Ronella, whoever's listening from Meat Eater.

Yeah. Get your boy, get your boy with Keechley out there. They got a great concept. I hope he has had fun. Oh, it's a black. They're so much fun. Yeah. I missed,

but it was a blast. Yeah. Yeah, but you, that's part of it. But you pulled the trigger. I did pull the trigger. I did pull the trigger.

So you did something. At that moment, the moment you showed up. I know. And it's fun too because Will and I, we don't, I look in your eyes and you talk about bow hunting. I just don't,

I don't have that. But to go out with them and then, like, work us through like long range rifle shooting. I went and sat down and I went one for five on my first five shots. And I was like, this is going to be the longest couple of days in my life. But then Gary starts sitting there,

working with me and he's like try this isn't this he's lining me up they're great coaches they don't make you feel stupid even though they're like such bigger better men than you are it's just awesome man when it's like they're those these animals live in beautiful areas yeah oh bro it's gorgeous you go hunt elk you're going to be somewhere sweet yeah the mountains the weather's beautiful it's in the fall and it's just that's like my favorite time of year and they go do that stuff it's just sweet what's been your longest like elk hunt to where you're you're tracking it down we did so climbing mountains and shit i i usually you usually We usually hunt out of like an outfitter and it's usually, I haven't done like the full like nine miles, 10 miles in on a horse and then you.

Oh shit. Spike camp. I haven't done that. I'm like, I'm going to wake up early in the morning. I'm going to be out all day and then. Yeah. And then I'm going to probably come home. Yes.

Is there one more? Do we have that? You don't have to read that. You can just read the question. Okay. Perfect. We do have a Bud Light question for you. Okay.

People would do anything for a Bud Light. what would you do anything for? Oh, probably my parents. I think probably my parents. Yeah. That's a wholesome answer. Dude, it's a lot. Like, you think about your parents and like what your parents have done for you.

Everything from growing up to high school to college, out all my games in college, it came to down to Carolina. It's like your parents, my parents were fantastic. They set you up for everything. Everything was about my brothers and I. And so, yeah, you do anything for them. They do anything for you. You do anything for them.

I love that. It's a short answer. He's got such a good heart. Awesome. Beautiful. So my parents. How many brothers you have? I got two brothers.

So there's a picture. Older brothers on the right, that's John. He lives in Cincinnati. There's my dad, my mom, and then my younger brother, Henry. Were they some dogs? John played football in lacrosse through high school. And then Henry was a basketball player. Okay.

So yeah. Nice. I love that. Yeah. Do you, I'm sure you have. Who's that profile that has the Luke? Kikli video where he's going psych where he's going psycho who's next?

Oh that somebody sent me that that's awesome that guy that guy's good. Who's next to Danny or something like that? He's all time. That guy's hilarious. Yeah, he is. Paul, anything that we've missed. We do have Paul Swan sitting in the back with the boys right now grinding it out.

Paul was very pivotal in getting the boys in a creatine and intangibles group chat with Luke Kikli and myself. Creatine and Intangelo? Do we got creatine on the bus right now? Can we take a couple shots? house but i don't know if i have some of my suitcase we can take some later on when we get done here just put some up the pipe that kind of creatine yeah it's some going boys not the real creete team yeah anything that i've missed with luke that we don't i mean this this is the all-american man right

here and that answer right there i mean that's just that's gold the the parents one yeah yeah wow so i actually just got done hearing him talk about most of this when we were talking to coach leo over at vanderbilt So he's been talking about it a lot today. Just diving in. Yeah. You know he's breaking down all the players too, how to watch film, how to break down film. I'll tell you what, that, like, Diego Pavia, he's, he's like, got it. Yeah?

Like, it. He's a savage. What do you love about him? He's, like, he walks into a room and he's the dude without trying to be the dude. And he can talk to everybody, you can talk to offensive coaches, defensive coaches. He understand, he's got, his football IQ is great. ultra competitive. He's just, he's that dude, like, he's got it.

I love it. You know what I'm saying? You can tell Luke's got his pro scouting background too, so he can, like, talk about these guys. You think he's got a shot. He's like, his six and snap. Yeah, if guys come talk to him, they'll be like, we need to find a way to get this guy around us.

Yeah, because he is, he is electric. He's a football dude. He's a football guy. He just loves ball. He loves a game. He embraces it. That's all he, you know, he's all about football. And, you know, those guys.

they're hard to come by you know you still I was going to say did CMC have it when he first came oh my gosh that dude was born with it that he is talk about a guy that loves football and all he wants to do is just

be a good teammate play hard Christian the OG incredible white yeah he's he is another hall of fame first ballot hall of fame you talk about a guy that's a tough photo for CMC though

it's a bad I mean CMC is a built cat That is a tough hope for that's a bad angle. But yeah, I'm so excited for him this year. Come back. Rip.

You're going to be a daddy too. Yes. Shout out CMC. Let's go. We'd have a great year. Hey, I'd be remiss to say, you know,

listening to Luke is art listening to his football knowledge, but your ball knowledge is, it's phenomenal. I appreciate that. I got to say. I do pride myself on some IQ. Some good linebacker.

You might not think I played in the league a long time, but from the, I was a neck up. You are, I mean, you are looking. You are looking. You are looking.

You are looking. I'm thin. Nine years. Nine years. What are you waiting right now? I was there for the 10th year, but, you know, the league said notes. Did you get accredited season? No, because I had a gambling show, so they wouldn't let me play.

Look, did you ever come across Wilcofton film at linebacker? No, never take anything from his game? Yeah, absolutely. Effort, toughness, instincts. Try hard. Try hard. A blue collar guy. Yeah.

I'll tell you what it's those plays you break down. I don't like that shirt. I don't like that shirt you have on. Yeah. It's, uh, Akirin, you see. you too talk about plays happening that you don't necessarily make. Like being mugged up in the eight gaps.

They got you in a bunch. They're checking Tulsa, putting you in a tall situation. Any type of situational ball awareness, it's music to my ears. Yeah. But I do appreciate that ball. We'll get you that year 10 if you want to come pit some race cars. That seems like a different life too.

Do I have to be just... Can you do it with a gambling show? Yeah. I think you can do with the gambling show. Yeah, they'll let you play. I was down there to sign and rip. They're to sign. and contract wouldn't go through because they're like let's hold up the NFL Goodell shut it down

yeah Goodell shut it down dang thanks what's good what's good though gonna come on the bus I don't know he's got an open invite does he he can come yeah I apologize to will for yeah scrapping your 10 you had a good you had a good number too 5-1 it's a good yeah it's a great white linebacker that's Sam mill's number that number wasn't available you see that pick right there kelly Moore week 17 yeah we'll cover how many how much you have we covered you have What covered you in? We were in Tampa there, and we had somebody drop in low hole. Nice.

Because we knew he was going to try to work Whitten over the middle. Kellamore airmails it right to the breadbasket. But hey, you know, the hardest thing about the interception is got to catch it. Buddy, that was my first one. And when that ball was in the air, and I saw that I could make the play on it. I was like, you better fucking catch this ball. I kind of just put the hands out there, too, and was just so hype. I hope these gloves were.

I hope these gloves were. You got sticky gloves or those offensive line gloves? What's up? Those gloves you're wearing right there. Those stickies? Yeah, we don't wear. We don't wear offensive line gloves. I don't know.

We'll walk in a little confident. You never know. I'm rocking the stickies. I can never get on board with the keeckley wrist with the wrist braces though. You always, dude, the wrist guards were money. Were you a wrist taper? Way better tape. It's a little swaggier.

Yeah, it's a little better. You brought up Jonathan Stewart earlier, too. I did put him on skates in our game. It's just FYI. It was late game. You put him on skates? Oh, I murdered him coming through the, A gap.

Oh, got you. Yeah, not put them on a skates, jukeed him out. Put him on skates, like put him in the air. Oh, oh. Put his ass to the grass. Late in the game, we were getting our backs blown out by the Panthers. But your boy, we're still playing for pride at the end of the game. Was that black heart when you go out there?

Yeah. Yeah. The heart was black in that play. Ran right through the B gap, right through the A gap and just murdered. Stu's going to want a rematch after listening to this. I know. He's going to want to line it up. I don't get it anymore.

But if we can find that clip, I will show you guys. And you know I got it. Yeah. But this, hey, look, this has been awesome. Yeah, thanks for having me on. Thank you, there's a long time coming. This is big for Wilco.

It's big for myself as well. Love it. To see you two together. It's just great to get a Hall of Fame White linebacker just. We've had our lacquer on. Yeah. Dude would love to get Ray.

He's not white. Gotta get Ray. You got to get, you got to get this process out of a Hall of Fame white linebacker. I'm just saying like just the linebacker appreciation that we have on this bus, you got to get Ray Lewis on here.

There's no better position. Yeah, we've had Fred Warner on that dude. That dude is a monster. Yes. You should get Roquan. Bro, Roquan is a monster. Who are some of the guys right now? You just named a couple.

Roquan, Fred Warner. Oh, man. You got, I mean, Levantte is still doing it. Levante, Bobby. Now you put me on spot here, and I got to be sure. DeMario. DeMars has been doing it a long time. Yeah.

Zach Bonn. Yeah. And him going, too, from transition from on the ball. It's all off the ball. I feel like he's a heady transition for Zach Bond. You know who I like Nick Bolton. Yes, bro. He just resigned with the chiefs.

I like Spillane, just to. Bobby Spar knows fit the A-gap. He just signed with the baby. Stack that power pole. Come on, baby. He's a stunt, too. He's a guy. He's a guy.

He should get him in here. We love Bobby Spalline on the bottom. Oh, yeah, we could explain for sure. He had his third and one stop on Derek Henry, 20-20. On the goal line. Put him on the map. How about Cooper de Jeanne stick on Henry?

Wow. Yeah. Great form tackle. I mean, perfect. It was. It was nice. Iowa guy. Iowa guy.

Iowa does produce some corners. If you could go anywhere else besides Boston College. If you, if this is all going to end the same exact way, you couldn't go to Boston College. Where would you go? Probably Big Ten school. Yeah.

Which one would that be? Oh, I don't know. Wisconsin guy. You know what have been fun? Team up north? I mean, I'm not going to say Michigan. I'm not going to say Ohio State.

Those are the two easy ones. Okay. I feel like playing linebacker at Penn State. Oh, yeah. With like a sick, what are those sick? Cowboy collars. Paul Puzzlez, Lesney, that collars. The butterfly collars sticking out.

Sean Lee. Sean Lee was a monster. Puzzlezny, Levar Arrington, Michael Parsons. They got the kid now, Abdul Carter. Yeah. They had some freaks there. Yeah. You could have wore a black shirt.

Yeah. Is that how I'm at the game, back there? No. Is that Nebraska? It's a nice one. Nebraska just reps. The classic,

they're the classic end. I love the cross. Luke knows we stopped the mud hole on their ass for, what was it? What was it? The ball. The pinstrike bowl.

I don't know how to. Pinstrike bowl. He's waited the whole podcast to say. Yeah, just wait. That line. Big bad mowers bowl, whatever they call him. And he tried to pretend

like he didn't know the name of it. He's been preaching after three months. They put that on the board up there. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, because I waited to, uh, I waited to where you're up to hit the group chat. Yeah.

To talk shit. Yeah. It's all right. Well, you like Bill O'Brien? Yeah, I like him a lot. Yeah, big fan of him. He's just, he, he is Boston college football. Tough, physical, run the football.

He's great. Yeah. He did a great job last year. I'm excited for this year for him. All right. Okay. Well, dude. Yeah.

I see we got a rid of a standing round of applause for. There we go. Hats off. Hell yeah. Appreciate it. Hey, this is awesome. Thanks for turning the air conditioning. Yeah.

We were waiting for you. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called.

Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick.

Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.