Bussin' With The Boys - Spring Tour: Coach Mike Ekeler (Tennessee)

Episode Date: April 19, 2022

Recorded: April 13, 2022 | Legendary recruiter, Mike Ekeler, joins the boys for the 3rd interview of our Tennessee stop. He shares all time recruiting stories and tells us what it was like recruiting Comp. ----- SHOP: https://store.barstoolsports.com/collections/bussin-with-the-boys FOLLOW THE BOYS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bussinwtb Twitter: https://twitter.com/BussinWTB Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BussinWTB Website: https://www.bussinwtb.com ----- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS: Chevy: Chevy Silverado - The Strongest, Most Advanced Silverado Ever. Duke Cannon Supply Co. Georgia BootFor more, visit barstool.link/bussinwtbSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Today, another episode with Coach Eckler, Eckler, Eckler. Eck? Eck, Eck, Eck, Eck, is that you go by AC. You go by act? You go by act. And you guys know each other really well. Let's give a round of applause for the boy. Electric to have you on the podcast.

Listen, so we were kind of just sitting here, mosing around with some small talk. Words about being a second degree black belt was thrown around. And I know a lot of people like to lie about that. Is this true? Yeah, that's true. That is true. When I was younger, I doveed in that, yes.

How old were you? Yeah. I was, you know, I think I quit when I was, you know, a teenager. Are we talking, we in high school? Yeah. You're a second degree black belt in high school? Oh yeah. Oh, yeah.

Oh, you were being the shit out of kids then. Well, a little bit, yeah. Now, at some point when you started getting, you know, that kind of skill, that kind of expertise in the karate world, was there a point where your, like, your sensei was like, hey, you can't be using some other kids? Most definitely. You know, you know, the old kung fu movies. Yes. Absolutely. You know, where the guys, like, go and rip out somebody's heart, take a bite out and stuff.

that was kind of stuff I was kind of into. So some context, before you get into, Eck recruited me out of high school. We spent three years together before he dipped on us and went to the University of Indiana. Disgusting. Yeah, poor choice. Tears in his eyes, tears in all the backers' eyes

when he tells us bowl practice that he's leaving and going to coach Indiana, it was heartbreaking. Before you guys even played the bowl game. Before we played the bowl game, yes. Do you love your players? Oh, big time. Yeah, and these ones just weren't good enough for you. You had to go to Indiana.

I just had a room full of NFL linebackers. I was like, shoot, man, I've done all I can do. Oh, you had Levanti David in there. You had the real deal, Phil Dill. Yeah. He had your boy Compto in there. Yeah. I mean, we had like, shoot, that was about seven linebackers that ended up playing in the league.

Where did you? We'll rank up to like a Levanti David. Oh, man. I think he really taught Levanti everything he knows. I can see that. Fuck that, dude. So I break my foot. Remember that?

Hold on. Hold on. I want to tell the story. You'll enjoy this one. I will. I'm all yours. So we just get to Nebraska. and the first person that our head coach,

Bo Polini, went out to sea, was this guy right here. He and Tom Osborne actually went to Bontair, Missouri. He comes back and he says, hey, heck, listen, I don't care if we sign one guy in this class. We're building our defense around William Earl Compton. You're lying. No, hand on a Bible. Hand on a Bible. He said, we're building our defense around Will Compton.

I don't care if we sign one guy. So I'm like, yeah, this is easy. It's a layup, man. And he's already been committed forever. So I go see him, go to his house, meet, meet mom and dad, go in, look at his room, Nebraska, all over, everything in there. Okay, go to school, okay, meet him, his best friend at the time in high school, Logan, and a young lady named Anna. And they take me around, take me around school. We had a freaking blast.

He takes me into this class. He's like, okay, heck, you got to see this video. He has a video, and I don't know, I don't want to get you in. any trouble by saying that's like that the statute of limitations already probably up but he had built a sparkler bomb and he's like what listen this and he shows me his bomb going off right we're doing to show a coach no I yeah and then like car alarms are going off and stuff it measured it measured bigger than a stick of dynamite the explosion cops came to the house how did you know it measured bigger than a stick of dynamite because their meter or some radar thing went off to where

if an explosion happens, it goes beyond like a stick of dynamite. That's why they get the call and go wherever the location is. Really? Yeah. It was nuts. We were so high. But obviously when the cops came, you're like, oh, shit. But we had the sparkler bomb that we wrapped with electrical tape,

cut off all the bottoms of the sparklers. And I'm talking, spent hours wrapping it with electrical tape. Then you leave one sparkler out. Airtight. Airtight. That one sparkle that sticks out. You light it. It sat.

It gave a delay like you didn't know if it was going to happen or not. and then I'm talking monster. It was insane. But yeah, apparently I'm fired up. I'm showing Coach Lewis. So anyhow, so we go in. The principal says, hey, just take my office. We're sitting in there, the four of us, just cutting it up.

And Will, I got to leave. So I walk out to my car. Will walks out. He goes, hey, Coach, I just want to let you know. I appreciate your recruit me and everything. But I'm not coming to Nebraska. You said that. Oh, yeah.

And, oh, it gets better. There's a coaching change. He said, he was listening. He said, last game I went to there, they played Southern Cal, got beat by 50. He was,

I'm not coming. It wasn't with that kind of bravado. He said, I just felt for that face. No, no, no, it was. I wasn't, I'm not coming. I wasn't like that.

No, you said, I'm not coming. And you said, I just haven't decommitted yet. They're strict to that. I'm just talking about the facial expression you're making. You're on camera right now,

and you're looking, I look like some asshole. Well, you know, you're like, like, hey, you would probably talk now. I can't listen here's the deal. I'm probably not going to come here. Yeah, but does it sound like me to be like, hey, you guys just got 50 hung up on you by USC.

Like, I'm not coming as well. You said. It doesn't sound like you. Maybe the words, but words. I haven't decommitted yet. That is true. The words of feeling have more meaning. The way you're saying is. That is true. Makes it seem like Willis. So, so I get in my car in my phone rings. And it's a head ball coach, Bo point. And he's like, hey, act, man, how did it go with Compto?

And I'm like, Bo's Italian. And you got a little bit of a temper now. And I tell you what that Italian. thing. He's really been a deal here on this tour. So, so he's like, how to go with Comptill? And that split second, I paused for a second, I thought. And I said, do you know what, Bo? It went awesome, man. No shit. Oh, yeah, true story. Said it was awesome. Because his ex-first linebacker job. Yeah. Yeah. And he's like, that's awesome. He goes, again, man, that's my guy. And so I'm like, oh, shit. And so then I got,

This guy gave me my Ph.D. in recruiting. I figured out his mom and dad wanted him to come to school there. Yeah. All right. But they were like, we're letting it up. We're leaving it up to him. Okay. Well, the two people that he was leaning on were Logan and Anna.

And so guess what? Hey, Logan comic book? Yeah, Logan. Superhero. So guess what? I stopped recruiting this guy and I recruited those two. You're lying. No, true story.

So Logan ends up coming to Lincoln, Nebraska. He gets them both jobs. I did not. Okay. I did not. Like it's, there's nothing that can happen. I would tell this story

if it's me and you sitting on the bus. No, I did not get them both jobs. Oh, it doesn't get them jobs. Get some interviews. Interviews. It's who you know, right?

Yeah, yeah. They go through the interview process. They kill it. They're the best candidates for the job. Allegedly. And they end up getting, Logan gets a radio gig, and it gets a gig at Victoria CECA.

Yeah. Yeah. And so anyhow. That's fucking wild. Hey, so then we're recruiting. we're still recruiting well this is after the fact right so we skipped a few layers here so as we're going through recruiting um we had one last shot to go to his house right so the whole staff was going to

fly in there we fly in that's when i i snuck away in lincoln about a three blocks from the stadium there was a tattoo parlor you know a little something about it looks like yeah yeah i know my and so i got this i get this tattoo right on my bicep of black shirts the skull and crossbone and it's at Compton in Old English. And it was like, it was a two-week temporary tattoo. It looked fucking real. Hey, I didn't tell anybody. So I go in, we go in, the whole staff goes to the house.

I invited all his friends over. We had a freaking party in Boon Ter, Missouri. Oh, wait, the, Bonterre. Yeah. And you invited Will's friends over. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So anyway, so we have a great time.

So we're getting ready to leave. And this is our last shot. He was going to decide like two days later. So I look, his dad sitting on the lazy boy, and he's sitting back there and cheer in beer. And I said, you know what, Will? I said, before I leave, I wanted to show you something. I got a little something before I left Lincoln. To remind me, every time I look in the mirror, if you don't come to University of Brasque,

you're making the biggest mistake of your life. And so I pull up my shirt, and it's that tattoo. And your dad is like, boy, that's the tattoo I'm getting right there. It was done. It was like you just kind of looked at it. Holy shit. You didn't know if it was like creepy or like, oh, that's pretty dope. Yeah.

But yeah, they did. They left the house that night. I was like that is where I want to go. Because I wasn't going to go there. It was like a coaching change year. We talked about with Coach Bo. They went through like coaching changes and everything and they didn't have a good year at all. And Missouri and Illinois were both, Illinois is in the Rose Bowl.

Missouri had a really good year and went to like the Alamo Bowl or something. They had an awesome year in that in-state pressure and stuff. But yeah, Eck was, uh, he was. his tactics were fun. They were funny. It was going through your head when he first pulled it off. You thought it was a little creepy? Yeah, but he was like that from the get-go.

Our first phone conversation? Yeah, our first phone conversation was he calls me up. He's like, Will Compton, greatest linebacker in the country? And I kind of chuckle on, like, yeah, hello? He's like, this is Coach Mike Echler. I'm the new lineback coach for the University of Nebraska. I'm going to be your coach. Oh, nice to meet you, coach.

Listen, man, if you don't come here, I told my two little girls, because you had two at the time, right? Yeah, we have three kiddos. We had JJ and... Oh, yeah, JJ, JJ and the two girls. And he goes, I have my three kiddos. And I told them, if you don't come to the University of Nebraska, I'm going to climb up to Memorial Stadium and jump,

and then they're not going to have a father anymore. That was our first interaction. True story. True story. True story. You know, you're proud of that. Well, you know, I don't know if I said it with, you know, with those...

Oh, they were using the use against you on him. Yes. I don't know if I said it with those voices. But, uh... So what the fuck did you say to that? I laughed. And then, you know, we're just you're kind of like you're on the phone from recruiting and stuff like then you're just like fuck like

who is this dude type of thing but they came from ls u bo pelini had the number one defense at like they they had the number one defense at lsu for you know two three years in a row type of thing national championships and so like them coming on like defensively like they were they were the dudes and uh i just wasn't like feeling nebraska anymore he was even telling me hey you want to go to lsue i'll get you an offer to ls u probably thinking like fuck i don't want you to go to lsu because i was like oh man that'd be awesome. How you told him that? No, I did not see that.

Yeah, you did. Come on, man. Promise. No, but yeah, that is not true. Yeah, that's real. That's a true stuff. Heck, I went to Nebraska. We're boys.

Like, we're on buzzing with the boys right now. But yeah, that's how it works, man. And even like, even in college, you'd have, like, the recruits, the recruiting visits. We'd go to, like, famous days. Eck would always hook up everybody with as much food as possible because that's when you could, like, give food. That's when players can have food when you go to those dinners. Yeah.

Occasional meals. And that could hook. looking up big time. Eck one time bought a huge RV. Him and his family went to get an RV. They had a temper pitting mattress in it. X sells it to me because he can't give it to me against the rules. X sells it to me for $1. I'm moving. We move in our new house and I need a bet. He's like, hey, I got this temperateic. Like, listen, I can't give it to you. I'll sell it to you. We'll talk, you know, we'll talk price down the road. He gets to where he delivers it over the house. I gave it to you for luck because JJ peed on it, man.

But sells it to me for a dollar, but, uh, hey, X was all time. man, it did suck when he left. But there's a lot of awesome memories. He talks about building the defense until Levanti David showed up. Mind you, I broke my foot, came back in eight weeks. I was a starter. No job to be had when I came back. Really?

Yeah. No one talked to me. No one said, hey, this is Levanté show now. You kind of knew what the deal was after game one. Lavante, David, he had like 13 tackles. Actually, he had 20. He was killing dudes out there. He had 27 against us, and was it 11 or 12?

Yeah, remember, Michigan. When we went to the Big Ten, though. No, no, no, I wasn't. I watched that game, though. Yeah, Levantte had like 27 tackles. 27. But Levanti had like 20 tackles. I was surprised you didn't block him.

Listen, I probably tried. It sounds like he's like. Savage, bro. And he had so many busts that game, but you just knew like, oh, this dude is fucking legit. But I came back, there was no job to be had. It was, it was Levanti's gig after that. But that, yeah.

Yeah, that was. Heck never talked ever, like, ever, heck never sat me down, told me. It was tough. But that's part of the gig, right? Yeah, it's part of the year, but you still play. What do you mean? There's no job.

He just took your job, so you did a different job? Yeah, we play dime most of the time because it's spread offense in the big time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're in dying most of the time. So we're running one linebacker sets. Yeah. And Bo never trusted a second linebacker to cover tight ends and shit like that. Just never did for whatever reason.

And so Levanto would be the lonebacker, me and Fish, we'd all be just chilling on the sideline. Equite, he always has the, I mean, you see him he has the most positive of energy of all time. You do have fire energy. There's going to be, there's another story I was thinking of. Hey, I'll tell you another, another cool story. So I leave, right? And I go to

Indiana and I call Will up. We're getting ready to play. I think it was Michigan State. Yeah, it was Michigan State. I put him on speakerphone and he's in the defensive staff. I'm in defensive staff. And long story short, his freaking breakdown, he did as a player,

was more extensive than the breakdown I did as a defensive coordinator. I mean, he was rattling off all this stuff. And I'm sitting there taking notes. And I'm like, son of a gun, I missed that, man. And I mean, it was pretty darn impressive. How do you think will it be as a coach?

Oh, he'd kill it. Yeah. Yeah. Future head coach type vibes. Oh, big time, man. I appreciate that. How are you missing your calling? I do.

I would enjoy coaching for sure. It just seems like a lot of fucking work. I mean, you've been at, you've been at several places. Oh, yeah. Of all the places you've been to, and we can leave Tennessee out of it. if you're just going to give the blanket answer, like, oh, I love Tennessee. Obviously, you're wearing orange right now. But you've been the USC, Georgia, Nebraska, Indiana, LSU.

Where else? Some hitters. Oklahoma. North Carolina. What's, like, which of those schools you think had the best, like, college experience? Wow. I mean, that's a tough one. I mean, they're all unique in their own way.

I mean, I'm sure you had an unbelievable time at Michigan. Great time. I know you had a great time in Nebraska. I think just where you're at at that time with those people. And all of them are cool. I mean, college football is pretty cool. That's a cop-out answer. No, no, I just don't.

I mean, if you really want the legit answer, I've never seen anything like this place. Yeah, Tennessee's out of it. Tennessee is an awesome fucking experience. We've loved it here. But you've been in so many spots. Like, I'm just curious, like. Well, I will say this, Nebraska was probably the most unique, like, legitimately, everybody in that whole state knew everything about you and your family.

I'm talking about as a linebacker coach. I mean, it was like, it was like you're a rock star. You got that kind of treatment wherever you went. So that was pretty unique. When that stuff happens and everybody in the whole state knows everything about you, do you think, is that making your job a little bit harder? Because, you know, everyone's watching everything you do. And if you don't have the success that you guys want to have,

does that make kind of make everything feel a little heavier? No, it kind of goes back. to a question that your dad asked me way back when when I was recruiting you he said you know you know you guys must be under a lot of pressure you know to restore you know at that time nebraska football and this and that and i said you know what they said you don't know how much pressure we're under that much really yeah and here's why said because there's no pressure that any fan any media anybody could ever put on you as a coach more than what you put on yourself yeah and so i don't I don't even listen to that. I don't read any of it. I don't think about it. As a coach, you expect to win every single game. And if you don't, you know, it crushes you. You don't remember the ones you win. The ones that you lose, it's like the fear of losing, man. That's what drives you. The fear of not being prepared. And that's just kind of how I'm wired. He is a, uh, literally what we're witnessing with, like, this is him at all times. He's glass half full always. Um, um,

A story that always jumps out of me was the time that I had a shoulder surgery. Oh, yeah. I puked all over his house from having shoulder surgery. I remember you told me that story. Yeah. Yeah. I had labor surgery and you're not like, again, I'm not trying to say all the stories of you've been bending rules or anything like that.

But like, you know, your family, nobody's there to like help you out on the first night, right? We're in dorm rooms. And it's like, oh, you come stay at my house. Like, you know, I'll make sure you get all the right stuff and stuff like that. So I'm like sleeping. At first I started in JJ's bed. Yeah. And it was so uncomfortable, like, trying to lay on my back from shoulder surgery that I go down to a chair downstairs.

They set me up downstairs. Like, all right, are you good? And all this stuff. And I had, you know, I was drugged up and everything. I was like, oh, I'm good right now. Yeah. Yeah. That nerve block.

That nerve block hadn't worn off yet. Yeah. And I had pasta that night. Eck had hooked me up with, like, pasta and stuff at the, at the cafeteria. And everybody goes to bed and I'm sitting there. And the nerve block wears off early in the night, bro. I'm upstairs. All I hear is.

Heck. heck and then I hear him all over just ripping it all to your house he didn't even hear me before we had to wake him up oh yeah all over the walls he didn't point it down he pointed it up

I tried getting to I tried getting to the bathroom I tried rushing the bathroom because I felt it coming up and I got like half on the rug and half on the hardwood and then some on the wall and I just sat there

and I tried cleaning it up by myself before I had to ask for help because I'm like holy shit this is embarrassing yeah yeah I'm on my coach's house. Like, I don't know his family really. Like, they're super nice, but I don't know anybody.

So I'm, like, trying to get paper towels. And I'm trying to, like, bend down. And I am in so much pain from this nerve block. Now, are you still going up from the food or from how much pain you're in? I probably a combination of all of it. Like, the drugs, the nerve block wears off. You're having food, all that stuff. And I go and, like, look in the mirror.

And I just have puke all over myself. And I just stare at myself like, God, you piece of shit, dude. You got to figure this out. And I couldn't figure it out. The lowest of the low. Yeah. where there's like tears in my eyes I'm in so much pain. So I go up and that's where he's like, oh, my, heck.

And he doesn't, he's sleeping. And his wife's like, Will, honey, do you need something? I was like, I go, yeah, can you get coach Eck? And that comes like, he's like, well, what's wrong? And I go, hey, I'm so sorry. I just, I peaked everywhere downstairs. He goes, oh, man, I don't envy where you're at. He comes down, cleans it all up.

But that's just like, a, that's like a story of coach ex, coach Ech and I's like relationship. Like he's always an amazing relationship. Oh, yeah. Is your relationship like this with all players or select field. Yeah, it'd be a select few. Really? I mean, you know, this, this is the first guy ever recruited. I mean, and just going back to like those stories and family, I mean, absolutely love his family. I mean, just there is, we go back a long way. We broke a lot of huddles

together. We did. How do you feel like you've changed from that first year at Nebraska and developed as a coach, like over the years? Because you've been at a lot of different stops. You've had linebacker rooms. You've been a coordinator, special teams now. How do you feel like you've developed as far as like owning your own rooms? When you first start out, you just don't have a lot of experience to draw from. And like as a coach, you know, you don't know what you don't know, obviously. And so if I could go back now and coach you for 20 years of experience that I have, I mean, it would be totally different.

So I think you just gain a lot more confidence, a lot more knowledge. And when you really study the game, because let's be honest, in football right now, in particular in college football. I'll just say it. I mean, there's a lot of quote-unquote recruiters out there who can't coach freaking dead in the Western, man. And that's just a truth. That's pretty funny.

I didn't think about that for a second, but that's pretty funny. But that's true, you know. And the thing about it is I've come up with this in 20 years of coaching. I tell our guys, like when I first got here, I told them this. It said, It's my job to earn your respect. And so let me be clear about that. Okay, what I mean now is if I can't teach you and develop you into the best player you can be, I'm worthless to you. You don't need some 90-year-old friend.

You need a mentor. You need a coach. Somebody's going to help develop you, right? So the next thing, it's my job to earn your trust. And when I say earn your trust now, that happens over time. Happens in the fourth quarter when you're playing and, you know, the shit hits a fan. Am I going to point a finger? Am I going to point a thumb?

Are we in this together? Are we in it together? And then the third thing, once you get those two, which take time, once you get, and then the third thing is, once you figure out, they actually care about you, actually love you, now we got something. But that's kind of like really what's going on here at Tennessee. Like our players, we came in here,

and that's what we had to do. Those things, we had to earn their respect, we had to earn their trust, and now it's freaking gravy. It's time right now. Our players know that we absolutely love them. And they trust us and they know we can develop them. And so now you're going to see some great things continue to happen here.

When is Tennessee coming back to prominence? When? Yeah. What's today's date? Hey, Jack, good use. Jack, look at Jack. Claifing. Shall we?

Yeah, we shall. But hold on. I want to hit that real quick. Okay, okay. I got to tell you one, I got to tell you one funny story, though. So. So I'm a bucket story. Yeah, let's say.

So I'm coaching at coach at North Carolina. Had a linebacker that reminded me a lot of Will the thrill, right? And so, so anyhow, Cole Holcomb's his name. So it's two weeks before the draft. And at the time, you were playing for the Titans at the time. Right. And because you were not with Washington anymore. So I get a call from Rob Ryan.

And phone, you know, the number doesn't, isn't in my phone just pops up. He goes, hey, this is Rob Ryan. And I said, coach, how are you doing, man? Doing great. Hey, just wanted to ask you about one of your former linebackers, Cole, and blah, blah, blah. And I said, coach, listen, I don't know you, but I kind of feel like I do a little bit. You like to go out and have a couple drinks, right?

You like to maybe go out and have a couple smokes. Well, here's the deal. Draft him. You look like a damn genius. Because when you go into your meeting room, you can tell them exactly what you want, and you can go out to practice and smoke two packs a day, man. He will be the second smartest player in the NFL behind Will Compton. True story.

Oh, damn. Coach Eck's my hype, man. If I knew a speech. It's a truth. Yeah, it's good to take a compliment, too. I know. I know. He's been throwing a lot of this month.

It's an observation. I appreciate that, Coach. That's special. I'm enjoying. not even being a part of the spot. I'm like in just kind of in this little triangle of love right now. It's kind of nice. I don't know like we just want a hug or something.

Like it's been so long. I kind of want that. We have our Duke Cannon question. No, Duke Cannon, not for clowns. Taylor, you're seeing him. He's holding the antiperspirant deodorant. Did I say that right?

Anti-perspirant plus deodorant. We also got the dry ice on the table. We got a couple lotions there. We're going to hook you up with our NIL deal, which is a Duke Cannon military. bullet case full of goodies. And again, not for clowns, but this segment is brought to us by the one and only Duke Cannon. My question would be the same as the other coaches.

Like, I need a recruiting story, not a Wilcompton one. We've done enough Will Compton stories. What is a recruiting story out there that's been like unique, some that you tell all the time, some you tell often? Because the recruiting stories of me are the best. Man, I got a ton of funny recruiting stories. one I was coaching out at Southern Cal and we have this big camp coming

and we got all these guys from all over the country we have Leonard Fourne is that a Fortinette Leonard Fournett and Delvin Cook they were there and then we have this skinny linebacker from San Diego who's just locking everybody down and he had no offers right and so I tell Coach O

and tell Lane like look I love this kid man he's got great balance, great body control. He freaking locking down these guys. And I think we should offer him. They're like, well, who's offering? And nobody. And, you know, and then I get from Coach O,

that's not what L.A. USC windbacker looks like. You understand me? I'm like, yeah, okay, that's fine. But I think it's pretty damn good. So we end up offering this guy, right? And we're the first offer him, and he ends up having another, only one other offer,

I believe, at the end of it. all. But it was Fred Warner. Really? Yeah. Yeah, pretty damn good. Hey, stud. He is a stud, bro. He was like 6-2-195 pounds at that camp.

And I was like, son of a gun, man. He was pretty impressive. And he played at USC? No, no. He actually went, we got let go that year. Then I went over to Georgia. But he went to BYU. That was the other offer.

That's right. Yeah, he is a stud, bro. He's a beast. I was Bloss was here, too. just enjoy that story. He was like he was active and played in the game. You guys played right? Like do you have like when you guys are breaking him down on film?

Is he like the dude? Yeah, he was a guy, you know how Rable's meetings are. When we do like a Friday tape or something like that, it's kind of like, hey, if you just drip, if you block 54, you're going to be all right. But you know, the 49ers defense, they have studs across the ball on the defensive line. He's unbelievable.

And I think they had Sherman then too, Richard Sherman. Oh, and the night. I think he was on the Niners that last year. Was he? I thought he was on the box. No, he was the box. He was on that as you before. But yeah, he's one of those dudes that like...

Very efficient in his movement, too. Yeah. Very efficient in his movement. When I was coaching Nebraska, I was recruiting down in Compton out in L.A. And I'd go into school, go see this young man and go out after school. School that just broke. I'm in a Mustang convertible. Top down and get right outside school.

freaking gang fight breaks out right in front of me. Police car surrounded me. That was pretty wild. That was Hayes Pilar, I was recruiting too. Oh, my God. Were you just scared shitless? No, I put my top up, though. Is it always intimidating going in in, like, those rough areas?

Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I'd say intimidating. I mean, nobody ever really messes with the coach. I went into it at school when I was in Nebraska, and I was down in Houston right across the University of Houston. Right? Yeah, so I go into the school, right? And I'm going in to see the quarterback. And I'm walking in.

And right as I'm walking in, the police cars are all around. And they're coming out with this guy and a stretcher and rolling him out. He'd just been shot. And so, you know, they let me still go in and see this kid. And so I called Bo on the way back. And he said, well, how'd it go? And I said, well, good news, bad news, man. I said, bad news is I went in the school.

We wheeled somebody out or just got shot. I said, good news, it wasn't a quarterback. That's outstanding. I'm sitting here thinking, like, if you're rolling up in a rough area, you've got to be careful. Like, if you're a coach in Nebraska, you've probably got to be careful wearing red. Oh, for real. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Just walk. Yeah, Nebraska on there or something like that. We got to go with the black if you're a Nebraska coach. Yeah. And you're rolling up in an area that might identify with color T-shirts. You know what I get away with it, though, because I'm a light-skinned Jamaican. God, you always say that, bro. You're not Jamaican.

Bro, I'm dual citizen. That's fact. Is that an actual fact? You always fuck around about that. No, it's a fact. I don't mess around with your heritage from Bontair, Missouri. So I don't appreciate you. Don't step on his toes, Will.

I'm with you. We just met. I'm just trying to be on your side right now. I don't believe you. but I'm going to be on your side of with this. No, it is true. Is that really true? I keep thinking you're fucking with me, dude.

It's been a decade-long joke. No, it's not a joke. It's a truth. Have you done the 23 and me? Listen, I don't need to. I know, Negro Jamaica. Look it up, man.

How? From 7 mile, 7 mile beach. I'm registered. How often do you go back? Well, with COVID, it's been a couple years, but I try and go back every year. See family? Yeah, you know, family friends.

Hey, he's lying. I think so, too, bro. You gotta think he's lying. But I swear it's the same. He never deviates from this stupid story. And I'm just like, you know, you're fucking lying. Listen, we got married. My wife and I got married over there on a beach in Jamaica, right?

You have to go to our country. You have to go four days early. And you have to declare citizenship. Why? To get married over there? Yes, it's how our country makes a little more money. This is, we're going to look all this up. It's true. It's fact.

How our country. So you're not American? Well, are you doing? You're dual. You're dual. When it comes to paying taxes, I'm Jamaican. We have no state income tax. Yeah, I love that.

We appreciate you coming on, man. Yeah, thank you very much. It's been a pleasure to hear these stories. I know Will, you know, he's probably listened to a couple of these, getting a little red on the cheeks. But for me, it was an absolute dream to hear all these nice, stories about Wilcovers. Especially when you look over at me and stuff. You just, you know how it is. You're like trying to like get gas too hard. But at the same time, it's

kind of nice. Yeah, I appreciate it. I appreciate you guys. It's been fun, man. Thank you. Subscribe to the boys. 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.

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