In Search Of Excellence - Arik Armstead: Jacksonville Jaguars & Developing a Winning Mindset With NFL Football | E105

Episode Date: March 19, 2024

Welcome to In Search of Excellence! My guest today is my good friend Arik Armstead. Arik is a star defensive lineman NFL football player for the San Francisco 49ers and a dedicated philanthropist. He has been nominated for the NFL's Walter Payton Man of the Year Award for four consecutive seasons, recognizing his on-field excellence and impactful community work.In this episode, we are talking about Arik’s remarkable transition from little league rejection to NFL Man of the Year nominee, his crazy spring break in Vegas and unexpected meeting with Floyd Mayweather, and the importance of humility, faith, and unwavering hard work in his path to excellence.Time stamps:01:36 Family backgroundMother wrote a book about being the illegitimate daughter of a priestBorn and raised in LA and was shot in a gang shootingFather is a respected basketball trainerTrained over 500 NBA playersArik was always with himGrew up as a gym rat and that shaped his mindset07:28 Arik’s childhoodBeing around famous athletes was coolThe influence of NBA player Mike WilkesBeing humble and having compassion for other peopleYour hunger to be successful must exceed your thirst to shine 15:39 Entrepreneurial spiritHis brother started a snack barWhen he went to college, Arik continuedDidn’t have entrepreneurial drive as a kidAt college, his creativity and problem-solving kicked in 19:03 A chubby kid in the gymWas always in the gym with his dadPlayed basketball and footballMatt’s advice about giving an effort 23:12 Playing footballPlaying football and basketball at 11 years oldOffered a scholarship to USC his Freshman yearStarted dunking in freshman year 26:44 Achieving goalsArmy All-American and a McDonald's All-AmericanTo play football and basketball in collegeWanted to be the first person to play in the NBA and NFLThe importance of dreaming big and setting your goalsThe importance of internal motivation 32:21 The importance of educationEducation was not super important to himHe would do some things differently today 35:57 Being available for the highest bidderOregon recruited himCoach Kelly’s promiseThe offers he gotKids should not only take the highest bidBut what else they will get – reputation, coach, skills 44:38 The humbleness of million-dollar athletesRandall’s story about a million-dollar player who wanted to be his internArik was aware he needed to learn and educate himselfThe wedding 48:13 Arik’s draftingDrafts are spectaclesHis was in Cleveland and he didn’t goDidn’t want to embarrass himselfHad a watch party with his loved ones at home 52:28 Crazy agent stories and meeting Floyd MayweatherHow sports agents workSponsors:Sandee | Bliss: BeachesWant to Connect? Reach out to us online!Website | Instagram | LinkedIn

When I was like 10 or 11, I tried football. I was like, this is trash. I was terrible. I was a big kid. I had to play with the older kids. Kids were way more mature and advanced than me. They was killing me. I was like, bro, this is trash.

I used to hide in the back of drills. Me and my dad used to write goals every year. So when I started playing football, I get to high school. Some of my goals in high school were I wanted to be an Army All-American and a McDonald's All-American. My goal was to play football and basketball in college,

and I wanted to be the first person to play in the NBA and NFL. Welcome to A Search of Excellence, where we meet entrepreneurs, CEOs, entertainers, athletes, motivational speakers, and trailblazers of excellence with incredible stories from all walks of life. My name is Randall Kaplan. I am a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and the host of In Search of Excellence, which I started to motivate and inspire us to achieve excellence in all areas of our lives. My guest today is my good friend, Eric Armstead. Eric is a star defensive lineman, NFL football player for the San Francisco 49ers.

In addition to being an absolute beast on the field, Eric is an active and very dedicated philanthropist, has been nominated for the NFL's Walter Payton Man of the Year Award for each of the past four seasons, which is given annually to commemorate a player's excellence on the field, a commitment to philanthropy and community impact off of it. Eric, it's a true pleasure to have you on my show. Welcome to In Search of Excellence. Appreciate you, man. Thanks for having me. It's a sight you're here.

So I always start my podcast with our family because our family helps shape our personalities, our values, and our future. Your mom had a very interesting background. We'll start with your mom. Your mom had a very interesting background. She wrote a book. She was an illegitimate daughter of a minister, and she's had a very inspirational story growing up in South LA. Talk to us about your mom and the impact she had on you growing up. Definitely. My mom, she's from LA, born, you know, what I remember, we used to always come here as a kid. All her family is still here. But just like what I remember about my childhood is like her never wanting to like raise us in L.A. And that's the reason that she left and went to Sac State and met my dad and never really came back.

Just from all the different struggles that she dealt with. You know, growing up in the jungles and happened to experience gang violence and not really feeling safe. And my mom at the time, she's light skinned with red hair. No one really looks like her. No one really, um, so she never really felt like she, she, uh, had any place for her or fit it or fit it in.

And, um, and, you know, her writing her book and, you know, being able to even, you know, I've heard these stories, but her like laying it all out, um, for people, um, you know, to, to read and, and read and talk about and discuss. I think it opens up conversations for people who go through, you know, similar situations. You know, my childhood, I knew the story of, you know, how she was born or came about. And I knew of the relationship with my grandmother and her counselor, pastor at the time, you know, in the Catholic church. And, you know, that was always like a weird thing to me. Like I never met, obviously I never met that side of my family. And so that's like the one kind of Caucasian side of my family.

But, you know, no one really no no one really knows anything about them. And so, yeah, it's very interesting. I definitely am super proud of her for getting that done. She's, you know, talked about it for a long time. And, um, you know, the main message of the book is, you know, in her search of not really knowing who her father was, she found her real father, which is her Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. So, um, yeah, it's a, it's a great, great memoir. Um, and definitely proud of her. Anybody wants to read it, check it out. There's a lot more details and stories in there. Yeah, she had a wild upbringing.

Shot in a drive-by here in L.A. She was shot in a drive-by? Yeah. Where was she shot? She got shot in her back. It was a drive-by. She was at her cousin's house. Through the window kind of thing?

Mm-hmm. Yeah, they were shooting, shot up the house, and bullets came flying through the house. And so, yeah, she has a lot of crazy stories. Grew up as a black Muslim here in L.A., which was a big thing during that time period. My grandmother was in the Catholic Church. in LA, which was a big thing during that time period. My grandmother was in the Catholic church, then she was a black Muslim. At one point, my mom has kind of been in every religion and always searching to be a part of something and feel like she fitting in.

And throughout this process, she found her Lord and Savior. So let's talk about your dad, Gus, one of the most respected basketball trainers in the United States. Played at Sac State, then he became a trainer. Trained for 35 years now, over 500 NBA players. What was it like having him as a dad growing up and hanging around all those cool dudes?

It was amazing. I definitely feel like I had a unique childhood. And you know, love my dad and being a father, you know, now myself and really understand like the commitment to your family, you know, makes me appreciate him and love him even more. But the cool job that he had in terms of training NBA players, you know, he trained NBA players, elite college guys, elite high school guys. And so I just remember, you know, growing up, like I was his tag along, like wherever he went, you know, whether it was on the road,

um, you know, scouting, you know, uh, college games and, and, um, or whether it was in the gym, I was just, that's, that was my childhood. That was my upbringing. Uh, just being a gym rat. I used to get mad when he like, didn't like wake me up if I overslept and he went to the gym. I'm like, dang, I to stay at the house all day. I just love being in the gym and being around the guys. And it really shaped like who I am. Like what I do now, being a professional athlete, like it never seemed like too big to me. Like it always seemed attainable because I was around people that did it. And, you know, I saw like the ins and ins and outs of, like, what got them there,

how hard they worked. And so I felt like, you know, if I work hard, I can do it too. And so, yeah, it was great. You know, sports is obviously huge and huge in my family. You know, so definitely growing up, basketball was huge huge then I got into football a little later yeah we're gonna talk about that in a few were you the coolest kid growing up because you had all these NBA guys having dinner at your house you get to hang out I mean when I was younger I saw the center of the Detroit Pistons once I can't even remember his name I saw him in a building

I said oh my god that guy's huge I watch him him on TV all the time. Do people want to come hang out with you and sit at your dinner table and have all these guys and say, hey, what's up? Yeah, I think people really didn't know all the way, like my friends and stuff at school. It wasn't something that we boasted about, per se. It definitely, definitely, so I don't think I was the coolest kid by any means. I had to kind of grow into that, being a young man and working through adolescence. It's tough for everyone. So I wouldn't say I was the coolest kid on the block, but my dad and, you know, what he did and who I was able to be around was pretty cool. You know, this guy named, a lot of people might not know him, but his name is Mike Wilkes. Played in the NBA like 12 years. When I was a kid, met him, he came out to train with my dad his first summer out of college.

And throughout the course of our relationship, he started staying at our house every summer and training with my dad. And so being around him, this is an undrafted guy who played extremely long time and coaches for the Thunder now. So being around him and seeing how he operated, not only as a pro athlete, but as a man. He's a man of high character and does things the right way. And he had a family. He wanted to get a wife, and that's what he was on. So that's what I was on, too, as a family. He wanted to get a wife and, you know, that's what he was on. So that's like what I was on too as like a kid. Like as a kid, I was like, yeah, all this stuff that like my peers and stuff are doing, that's cool. But like, there's more for me in life. And like, I'm gonna have more fun.

Like when I was in high school, I was like, I'm gonna have more fun in college. When I was in college, I was like, I'm gonna have more fun when I'm a pro. So I was like, I'm going to have more fun in college. When I was in college, I was like, I'm going to have more fun when I'm a pro. So I just made, you know, sacrifices and tried to separate myself from my peers because I really didn't, like, think the stuff they were doing was that cool. And I really learned that from Mike and being around him. You know, and the sacrifices that he made training-wise. I never, you know, I never seen him party, never seen him drink or smoke anything. He was big on his faith. And so having an NBA player like that living with you during the summer

and, like, being around him and being able to call him, like, a brother, that really, like, shaped me as well, too. And that's how the person I am today, because like I kind of tried to do all those things as well, too. You do. We're going to get into some of those later. You mentioned that you weren't boastful. You had all these guys coming over your house and we went to dinner. I went to dinner with your family maybe three or four years ago and met your mom, met your dad. And one of the impressions I walked away with is how humble they are. And you're a very humble guy. Did they come from your parents?

Did they tell you, hey, we're not going to show off. We're not going to be flashy. I mean, you're known to be a very humble guy. You've known each other now seven, eight years. And I've never seen you be arrogant. I've never seen you be cocky. I mean, even when I, you know, we text, you know, great plan. It's like, oh yeah, man, thanks. I think definitely, you know, not only just my parents, but just, you know, growing up in the church, growing up in our faith and really like, um, you know, when you have compassion for like other people, um, and you have empathy for

other people, um, and you're able to think outside of yourself, um, and see other people and not just get so caught up in, you know, what you have going on in your life. I think that gives you a level of, you know, humility. And, you know, you have to, like, those both go, like, hand in hand, humility and compassion. I feel like because, you know, we have to bring ourselves, like, back to reality and, you know, realize that we really aren't that special. Like, you know, I play, I have a cool job. I play football. Very cool job. Yeah, I have a cool job.

I play football. I'm blessed. But other than that, like, that doesn't make me different than anybody else. Um, that doesn't put me like on a pedestal, um, over anybody else. Um, because also too, like that's, I'm blessed. Like that all wasn't just me, you know, um, my life has been guided. My footsteps have been guided by God. and it's a whole host of people that have allowed me to um be successful and uh even like at a young age like always appreciated um like things that I saw like um I uh like even as like a kid like some of my friends like parents were going through a divorce um and I was like man like I don't have to experience that like um dang like I'm like I'm

blessed like dang I uh like I feel bad for them I have compassion for that like I mean I can't imagine having to and so having but you but you're only, you can only, you can only think like that when you, you know, when you're not so caught up in everything that you have going on. And so like, I've been so blessed and, and I realized that and it's like, you know, I don't know why, you know, my life was shaped this way to be in this position.

It kind of just happened. That wasn't on my own doing. A lot of other things had to happen for that to happen. So that's just how I view it. I'm just a regular guy. I have a cool job. And yeah, it's really not that big of a deal. Your dad had a great quote on Instagram a month or two ago.

It said, your hunger to be successful must exceed your thirst to shine. Hunger to be successful must exceed your thirst to shine. I love that quote, by the way. I mean, I'm going to borrow it. People get caught up and wrapped up in the wrong stuff. You know, like I said, you know, in the environment that we're in, you know, it's constant, constant, you know, people telling you, you know, what you want to hear, all these great things about you. You you can get caught up in that and wrapped up in it and, you know, really feel like, man, yeah, I really did this. Like, yeah, I'm really him.

Like, yeah, like I did this, I did this by myself. But, bro, no one does anything by themselves. And so I think guys get caught up in that. And then that's how they start living and treating people. And, you know, so that. And, um, you know, so that quote is talking about, you know, you gotta be, uh, that quote to me sounds like, you know, you gotta be assessed with grinding the hard work,

the process rather than assess with how I'm going to shine or how I'm going to, um, you know, be in the limelight. Cause that stuff is fleeting. That stuff comes and goes. Um, you know, everything is, you know, be in the limelight because that stuff is fleeting. That stuff comes and goes. You know, everything is, you know, for a moment, momentarily, momentarily you might be the guy that's everybody's talking about, but it's not going to be forever and you're going to have to deal with that at some point. You're 13 years old. You were working a concession stand at a pro-am basketball game and selling Costco hot dogs for a profit. Were your parents telling you, hey, Eric, you got to plan for your future no matter what you do? Did you have the entrepreneurial drive then? Because we're going to talk about what you're going to do after football later.

But what was behind upselling Costco hot dogs? I had no entrepreneurial drive at that time. Really, the entrepreneurial drive in my family was my oldest brother. So my oldest brother started the snack bar and he did it to make some money before he went off to college. Then he went off to college and then I got the keys to the snack bar and kept running it. but the kind of business was already kind of in place. We go to Costco, a pack of hot dogs is $9.99 for a 30 pack. You know what I'm saying? We go in there, we go buy all this stuff, and then we used to create little meal deals,

like a hot dog, chips, and a drink. It's called a meal deal? A meal deal, yeah. People ate meal deal? Yeah, yeah. No, no, a meal deal. Like a meal deal, yeah. Oh, a meal deal.

Yeah. Okay. So we used to call it like a meal deal. Oh, a meal deal. Okay. Yeah, like a, you know, like you go to McDonald's and order a number one. Okay. So like we used to, you know, we used to sell the items separately or you could, you know,

make it a little deal. And I think it was like three, I don't know, what was the charge for that? Like four bucks or something? And yeah, and then we was just kind of running it up that way. But Entrepreneurial Drive. We've talked about some stuff. You called me a couple times. What do you think about this?

Yeah, no, Entrepreneurial Drive as as a kid, I would say wasn't there. Entrepreneurial Drive kind of started for me, I would say, in college, really. Not that I executed on any of it, but those are when my ideas and stuff, that's when I started thinking different really and viewing I feel like that's when like my creativity kicked in and I start like walking through life like viewing asking questions trying to problem-solve I saw my friend like we're talking about this the other day like when I my uh freshman year in college I got sick and like FaceTime had just like just like came out and I was like man like I'm sick

um it would be cool if people could like FaceTime your doctor just from like the comfort of your home and like not have to like go in and like that would be that would be like pretty cool like stuff like that like I used to just my would be that would be like pretty cool like stuff like that like I used to just my brain started working differently and then I started like viewing stuff and seeing um like where problems could be solved things that I think people would like or would enjoy and so I don't know I'm still the same way now and uh but it's not really like just stuff just kind of comes to me at times. You could have been the first one doing the telehealth.

I think it's probably been $50 billion of wealth created. But I was in college, playing football. You know, everyone has ideas. It's all about the execution at the end of the day though. But yeah, but my brain did start working differently when I got to college. So I think one of the things that's most important to our success is work ethic. And sometimes we've got to get our ass kicked by someone.

Tell us about what happened with Matt Barnes when you were 13 years old. Yeah, Matt. First of all, Matt was a very good NBA player. Yeah, my dad started training Matt in high school. So I knew knew matt you know since i was a kid and my you know every summer he trained with my dad in sacramento um and so i used to be around the gym obviously i wasn't old enough to i started training and playing with the guys, the pros, probably when I was 14 or 15. But before then, like, I could train, you know, with the high school sessions.

Playing basketball, just for the viewers. I mean, we're going to talk about basketball and football, but right now you're talking about that. So this is basketball. You were a beast in basketball as well. This is basketball. So I used to be able to get in some of the drills, like that time, um, with the guys, I couldn't play with them yet. Um, like five on five and stuff. Couldn't play with them, but I used to get in the drills and then my dad used

to have like other groups and sessions, you know, um, not pro guys and I could get in those and play. And so I'm playing, I'm, So I'm playing, I'm working out. Like I said, I used to be in the gym every day. I'm working out with my dad and I'm actually working out with some of his high school girls that he used to train that are gonna go to, that were going to college too.

And so I'm like 13. They're, you know, they're in college. Some of them are about to go to college um and this is right before like the pros are working out so pros are coming to the gym Matt's coming to the gym everybody's kind of like watching you know getting ready watching and Matt just didn't like the way I was working that day he's like he felt like the girls were like outworking me or like I was like being lazy, which I probably was because I mean, I do this like this is I'm always doing these this type of stuff. And he pulled me to the side and was just like, like, what are you doing? Like, you look

you look bad, like, like you don't let these girls like outwork you in a workout. Like, you're going to let these girls, like, outwork you in a workout? Like, do you want to be good? He's like, don't ever, like, let me see you, like, training like that and not give an effort. And I was like, dang. Like, I was 13. Obviously, I looked up to Matt. He's in the NBA. And it kind of hurt, but it was true.

It was like, man, man like these guys are actually taking an interest in me and i better be you know on my stuff like um and i need to i need to be you know self-evaluating like work harder and you know fast forward now you know those all those guys like super proud of me obviously for everything that everything that I'm doing. And they never would have even imagined like this little chubby kid in the gym. You're chubby? Yeah, I was a little chubby kid. When did you have the growth spurt? Like how old were you?

How tall were you maybe in sixth grade, eighth grade? I was always a bigger kid. And there was like a couple kids as big as me. And then like eighth grade, like middle school through high school, I used to grow two inches and gain 20 pounds every year. So it wasn't like one summer, I just sprouted like five, six inches. It was like two inches, 20 pounds.

So I was like 6'3", 6'5", 260. Next year I was like 6'7", 285. I just kept kind of getting bigger and bigger gradually. Natural? Diet? Eating your Wheaties? Nah, just blessed, really. It was just God, really. My dad is like

6'2", 6'3". My mom's like 5'8". So, they're not small people. But one of my brothers is 6'3", and my other brother is 6'5". I don't know how I got 6'8". I don't know where that came from. So basketball is your true love.

You're hanging out with the gym, NBA players. You didn't touch the football until the eighth grade. I actually played when I was real young. Didn't like it. Quit. When you say young, how young? Like 10, 11. Okay.

Yeah, when I was like 10 or 11, I tried football. I was like, this is trash. I was terrible. I was a big kid, so I had to play up because they had weight restrictions. So I was a big kid. I had to play with the older kids. Kids were way more mature and advanced than me. They was killing me.

I was like, bro, this is trash. Like, I used to hide, like, in the back of drills. It was nothing but conditioning. Get there, they make you just run laps. And I'm like, bro, this is not it. And at the time, I was really good at basketball. So it was like I was starting something that I wasn't good at. So I was like, ah, I don't like this feeling of not being good.

And so I stopped playing. I played two years, stopped playing for like two years. And then my eighth grade year, my basketball coach convinced me to try football again. And his son played on the team. And he's like, man, you got to do something. Like, you're hella big. Like, you got to do something and at the time my eighth grade year my brother was all-american in uh high school he's going to usc in hoops no no football

and football yeah football so he was an all-american going to usc so everybody was looking at me like your brother don't play football like what is he doing like so i was uh so i felt pressure like dang i gotta got to be good. Everybody looking at me because my brother's good. I got to be good too. So I started playing. Wasn't very good. But I started getting better and better throughout my eighth grade year.

And then my freshman year of high school, I got a lot better. And then after my freshman year of high school, it was when I got my first scholarship offer. So I got a scholarship offer before I played varsity football right so we'll talk about that in a second when was the first time you threw one down and did a tomahawk dunk over everyone and when that happened you know does he give the stare at everybody man I got this a dunk uh i mean i started dunking like freshman year high school i wasn't i wasn't super bouncy um like that um dunked on somebody probably didn't dunk on anybody until maybe like my junior year yeah junior. Junior year of high school.

I wasn't very like, I was a big kid, so I wasn't super bouncy. My game was more skilled on the ground. But I started dunking my freshman year. When I was a senior at Michigan, Chris Weber was a senior at my high school, Detroit Country Day. They were in the finals. And he was a man child. How old are you your freshman year in high school?

I think he's 14 years old. I think he's 6'7". And he was tomahawk dunking over these kids. These kids were blips on the screen. I don't know if he had like 35 points or something, but this could stop him. There was no one on him at all. Yeah I would say I wasn't like a man child like that when I was a kid. I kind of became like a man child like in high school where like I just kept going like this and then like the other kids just started going like that.

So you switched to football and you had goals. You wrote the goals on your door every day. What did the goals say and how are you tracking them? Yeah, me and my dad used to write goals every year. So when I started playing football, I get to high school. I mean, some of some of my goals in high school were I wanted to be an Army All-American and a McDonald's All-American. So I wanted to be. And my goal was to play football and basketball in college. And I wanted to be the first person to play in the NBA and NFL.

And? And... We'll talk about, you played a little bit your freshman year in college and then you really had to focus. But you accomplished your goals. And then what is your advice to people who set these goals? I mean, I don't think a lot of people in high school write goals on their doors. Should they? What's the importance of

writing things down and holding yourself accountable to them? I think you should write your goals. I think you should dream big. Also, you should protect your goals, especially if you're easily swayed otherwise. What does that mean, protect your goals? You should protect your goals from other people who are pessimistic and ain't really did nothing with their life, so they're going to project their failures onto you. Haters. Not even hating on you, but like... Because they could mean well, but just like, you know, when I was like, I want to play at the next level, football and basketball, like, these are the things I want to do.

No, I mean, it's not, no, like, it's probably not going to work. It's not going to happen. You know, when I was playing, when I started playing football, everybody was like, you should just play O-line. Like, I don't know why you're trying to play D-line. Like you're more of an offensive lineman. I shouldn't play both sports. I should just focus on one.

No one can, no one can do that. And I haven't done it yet. I haven't played in both yet, but I think dreaming like that and working that way, you know, got me to this point and we're on that now. You still want to play in the NBA? Yeah, I think when I retire from football,

I might give it a shot. Seriously? Yeah, I'll play in the G League and see what's up. You told me once at dinner, well before I did my research for this podcast, that yeah, I had a choice. I could have played in the NBA and could play in the NFL. I was thinking, what? Just that simple? I mean, most people just don't have the skill set to do both.

No, it would have been, I can't say that I just would have made it to the NBA. I think, you know, being realistic now, like, basketball-wise, like, going back, if I really – I would have had, like, a little bit of a different plan. Like, I would have stayed around, like – I would have stayed around, like, 260, 270. Like, playing basketball at, like, 290, 300 is pretty tough. Yeah, I would have. So I would have did things a little differently. So I can't say that I would have for sure like made it to the NBA, but I think I had a great skill set and could have possibly done it.

But I feel like I would have really had to focus in on basketball if that was the case. But it could have been done for sure. I mean, like my dad and the players he works with, a lot of the players specializing at that time, undrafted guys, working their way up through the G League, like Matt Barnes, Mike Wilks, all these people I'm talking about, they weren't drafted. You know, Matt had to start in the G League and make a career for himself and, like, really develop. So I feel like I could have did that and gotten in the league somehow.

There's so many parents I know who push their kids to be great at sports. You know, they're driving them around to practice or driving them to games or pushing them, you should do this, you should do that. You were hit in the gym in the weights at 6 a.m. Do you think athletes can be successful if they're not motivated internally and you have people just pushing them to be their best and to perform at the highest level no i don't think they'll be successful without internal motivation um you know my i think my dad did that very well it was like

you know he never like forced me you know to necessarily like go work out or he laid the table and was like, if you say I want to do this, this is what you need to do. So it definitely takes a lot of internal motivation. I think parents can cultivate that though in some ways, like exposing their kids to different things and not just what you think is best for them,

but exposing them to different things and whatever they take a liking to. But I think you definitely have to have that passion for it. It's not going to work if it's just forced. You mentioned you got a college recruiting offer. It was from UCLA. A defensive line coach named Todd Howard recruited you, even though you had never played a down of varsity football. Were you thinking, man, I'm the man?

And was college any less important to you in terms of your studies? Or were you thinking, I really don't need to study at this point because I'm 14 years old, I know where I'm going, and education's not that important to me? I would say education was not super important to me. It was somewhat of a means to an end. Like it was important in the sense that like, there was standards like, our standard in our family was

like A's and B's. But it wasn't like, you don't get straight A's, blah, blah, blah. So, not that I didn't take school important. You know, like, I tried. You know, I did my best. I wasn't just like, oh, I'm just not going to, I'm just focused on sports. Because I knew that you had to go to school to, you know, get to where you want to get to. And so, yeah, but it wasn't as of importance to me that I feel like now as it should have been to me back then, I would say.

And I wish I would have done a few things differently. What would you have done differently? Definitely in college, I would have got out of my comfort zone, met some other people around campus, like tapped in with other students. Because you were hanging around with the athletes? Yeah, just not been so like football, football. Right. I would have, you know, just not made everything so football, football. I wanted to study business. Then you learn, like, oh, business is actually a grad school thing.

Well, not if you go to a great school like University of Michigan. It's not. Oh, I didn't know that. So you can study. In the undergrad, yeah. There's a good undergrad? There's a great, yeah. The Ross School of Business.

You can get in your junior year. You apply. Oh, really? And then you of Business. You can get in your junior year. You apply, and then you get in. Yeah. And some people can get in now freshman year, in fact. Actually, that you say that, like, I actually wish I would have took a trip to Michigan just at the time. Did they recruit you? I mean, we're going to talk about your recruiting. Yeah, they recruited me.

Brady Hoke. Who? Brady Hoke. Yeah? Brady Hoke. Yeah, Brady Hoke. So I'm a huge Michigan guy, you know, and you can congratulate me for being national champion this year. It was a great, great moment for us. But Brady Hoke was a terrible coach for us.

I mean, he was awful. And some of the players that I knew on the team said I didn't have respect for a coach who wasn't in shape. He was a little heavy. He was a little schlocky looking. And he just didn't look physically great. Do you agree with that? In terms of respecting him, no. I mean, Andy Reid is sloppy. He is sloppy. The walrus. But people love the stache. Yeah, Andy Reid is sloppy, and he gets a lot of respect. That's true.

Yeah, I think in that situation, you know, it could have been more this wasn't going good. So then you like double it down on like the physical and the sloppiness or whatever. But no, it's pretty a sloppy coach's dad. Got a lot of respect. So you're a stud. You're getting D1 offers from everybody. Bama, Amongna, you go to Nick Saban's house. You know, hey, come on on over a little din-din mm-hmm and then tell us about why Chip Kelly was different and what should people be thinking about all the recruits out

there watching this show well I mean I could have could have gone a lot of places the thing I appreciated about, which I'm super proud and wouldn't have changed anything to have gone there, they recruited me. They let me know, especially the D-line coach, Coach Az, who was there at the time. Coach Ass? Coach Az, A-Z-Z. Oh, okay. Coach Az.

Azanero was his name. Coach Az. A-Z-Z. Coach Az, Azanero was his name. Coach Az, like they recruited me. They let me know that they wanted me, but it wasn't like, like, but at the same time, it wasn't like they went like super overboard, like just did a bunch of wild stuff that, you know, now that I know, um, a while stuff that's not like real, like promising this and promising that. And like, like they weren't like pampering me at the same time. So they recruited me, they let me know that they wanted me, but they weren't like you know um calling me all night and trying you know so I actually respected that and appreciated that and they had a plan for me he liked tall defensive linemen um me and DeForest Buckner came in at the same year um so he had a plan for us um and they they had a track record too like they already, they already had guys there, you know, were like 6'6", 6'8". And I saw how they were playing.

So I saw myself being in that role. And Oregon wasn't too far from home. Far enough, but not too far. And we won a lot of games. Had a great run. And so let's go Ducks. He told you. go blue, sorry. He told you at some point that he may take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coaching job.

He still went anyway. Who's that? Coach Kelly. Yeah, no, he told me when he was recruiting me, he said this. He's like, if you come here, I was like, Coach, how do I know you're not going to leave or whatever? He's like, I'm not going to guarantee that I won't leave. But I guarantee, like, if I do leave, not much is going to change at Oregon. Like, it's going to still be, you know, very similar.

So he kind of prepared me for it. Truthful. He was honest. Yeah, he was truthful and honest. He's like, I'm not going to promise you that I'm going to be at Oregon your whole career, but I can guarantee you that if you do come, not much is going to change. It's still going to be very similar. Probably going to hire from within, which they did.

Hired Helfrich, who was the OC. So college athletics, huge profitable business for the school, billions and billions of dollars. They were paying football players 20, 30 years ago in college, and now it's basically legal to pay the players, not from the school, but from sponsorships, and there's huge money. Did you see any of that when you were being recruited? Did someone say, hey, Eric, I mean, you're smiling right now, so we know what happened. I didn't personally take anything, no. You didn't take anything, but I'm saying what was the biggest offer someone promised you? We're not going to name any names and we don't have to go into the details, but did someone

say, hey man, they they they read the room well. So they knew like. My family wasn't on that, like my mom at the time. I mean, I don't know about how I feel about this now because we were broke then she it didn't sit like right with her spirit. She it was illegal. So she didn't feel right about it. And, like, all the coaches knew that because, like, how it goes. It's like you let them know, like, okay, this is how this is going to go. So they knew, like, my family wasn't like that. So it wasn't a whole lot of, you know, conversations about that type of stuff because they knew like my family really wasn't really wasn't like on that. We weren't necessarily searching for that.

Right. But people still offer. I it wasn't direct offers, but it was like. Eric, anything you need. Gotcha. Let us know, Eric, anything you need Gotcha Let us know Eric anything you need Let us know

So I I probably could have got Like 200,000 I would say From It would have been From an SEC school Where they would have

Just paid you cash Under the table Give you a lump sum And a suitcase Or pay these guys Every week or Um How'd it work

Back then I'm not one who took it So Yeah I don't know how exactly it works. But I've heard some stories about some other guys that's kind of, you know. It's crazy, right? Kind of somewhat how it works. You know, guys get a brown paper bag. But, yeah, I mean, for the type of recruit I was at that time and, like, the schools that I was dealing with, yeah,

if I would have asked for, like, 200, probably could probably would have got it. And today you go to the highest bidder, right? You can get sponsorships. And I've got some friends who are coaches and they just said, hey, you know, so I'm going to pay someone $2 million a year, $3 million a year. They're going to take it. Right. Even if they're going to a lesser school.

I mean, if you're that good, you're probably going to go pro regardless, give or take. Maybe not always. I mean, you'll get more chance to shine on a great team, so maybe you take a little bit less. But my friends that are coaches all say it's just about a function of the highest bidder. It is definitely a lot of highest bidder now, but I think kids should still look at their situation and you know think about what's best for you know your career, you know your situation, because you know once you once you just get into that, oh, I'm available for the highest bidder, now you're just super monetarily driven.

And so I also think that kids should, I think they should definitely value the money as well, too. But they should also look at, you know, who on the coaching staff is going to mentor me and help me become a better football player? What does the school have to offer me in terms of things I'm interested away from sports? Like, how can I get connected? You know, like I mentioned earlier, like, I know now about the alumni and everybody and how prestigious it is to go to University of Michigan, alumni all over the world. I understand that now. Most winning football program in history, biggest alumni base in the world.

Yes, that's cool. So, like, you know, I think, like, those are the type of things that you, like, athletes should be looking at. And, like, shoot, if I was in college right now, or if I was in high school going to college right now, I'm definitely going to look at the money. I'm going to look at who my position coach is, what's your plan to develop me. Because I was a kid, I'm like, I want to be out of here in three years in the league. So what's the plan for that? Like, how do I become that player? Like, is it,

I play some my freshman year and then my sophomore year, I'm the starter. And then my junior year, you know what I'm saying? Like, who's going to help me develop my skills? And then I'll be looking at like, no, I need like guaranteed development away from football too. If this doesn't work out, like you guys need to introduce me to X, Y, and Z, um, a part who are part of the university. Um, I need an internship if I want it. Um, whatever you're interested in shoot, like, even if it's not business, if you're interested in music, make them get some music execs connected to you. Start those intros and stuff.

As soon as you get in college, that's what I would be. I would be using my leverage more than just money. Yeah, what's interesting, and I want to bring this up at some point in our show, we were at DeForest Buckner's wedding. That's where we met. And I love football.

Sports guy. You were hanging out with some of your teammates and you were kind of isolated. Not really talking to the rest of the crew. And I said to my wife, there's some football players. And I said, I'm going to go over there. And she said, no you're not. But I was already five steps ahead

and I was on my way over there. And I was like, hey guys, what's up? And I just wanted to go over there. And he said, no, you're not. But I was already five steps ahead, and I was on my way over there. And I was like, hey, guys, what's up? And I just wanted to say hello. I'm a huge football fan, and we started talking. And what was interesting to me is that, first of all, you guys were all super humble. You were actually interested in what I did for a living. And then when I told you guys what I did, one of you, and I'm probably not going to mention his name.

He was a first-round pick coming on a $60 million contract. Somehow I started talking about my summer internship program. And he said, hey, I'd like to be an intern next summer and learn from you. And I'm sitting there, shit. My interns are freshmen and juniors in college, and here's a guy who's a professional athlete, I think at the time 23, you know, 24 years old, is a millionaire, and he wants to be an intern

with a bunch of college kids. And that struck me as huge, because I had an impression that a lot of football players, athletes, basketball players, yeah, I think it's more common now because I had an impression that a lot of football players athletes basketball players yeah I think it's more common now for people to want to think ahead when their career and their playing days are finished but I just found that was a very mind shifter for me and I was I was blown away by you guys I just thought that was awesome mm-hmm yeah really uh know, for me, when I met you

and got to connect with you, I was at a space like where I was like, I'm in Silicon Valley, I'm in the Bay Area. A lot of people are having conversations that are like way over my head and I didn't like that feeling. And you know also too it was like if people are there's gonna be opportunities but if I if I'm so like man I have no clue like what they're talking about and I'm like be off of it. So I was like I need to learn well So I was like, I need to learn.

Well, since I'm out here, I need to learn about this space. I need to learn kind of what's going on around me. So when I when I come around people, I know the lingo. I know I might not know it at the expertise that you do, but I know it well enough that I know what makes sense and what doesn't. And when I met you, I was already, you know, interested in your space. And so it was like a no-brainer to, like, connect even more. And I really educated myself a lot, you know, during that time and was trying to connect with people who, you know, had more knowledge than me. And during that time, too, I went to, there was a course offered. I know a lot of, well, not a lot of people,

but some people might be familiar with, like, the Harvard Business Sports, like, course that they do do, like it's like a few weekends or something. I did one like that. It was all on venture investing at Columbia University. So this is during like OTAs. I was during OTAs. I would fly out there on the weekends. And looking back, I probably didn't have to. I probably could have just went up to Stanford, but I don't know, just something about it. I guess I went to Columbia, maybe because it was Ivy League. But I learned a lot. And just taking that time to learn that, it's helped me a lot when I'm interacting with people in the space and stuff.

Let's talk about the wedding. We're going to come back to your career and business in a minute, but we got to talk about that wedding for a minute. I mean, insane, right? Yeah, it was dope. One of and a good friend, Lance Sheblett, great dad, Shannon, great, great, great mom, put on this sick wedding, Honolulu, and you and DeForest Buckner are basically besties, right? You were teammates, roommates for a while?

Teammates, roommates in college. Teammates, roommates. So roommates for a while in college as well too, teammates teammates, and then, you know, obviously played together with the Niners, too. So we had been together like eight, five. Yeah, we've been together five years professionally and then three years in college. So a couple of things I remember from that wedding. First is how awesome it was. Second was great people were there,

and I met some great people like you who have become lifelong friends. And third, that DeForest Buckner is one of the best dancers that I've ever seen. And the guy, what is he, 6'9", 290? And he was doing the moonwalk like Michael Jackson. I was looking. It was unbelievable.

Yeah, no, he can definitely dance. I've seen. And that's how he is. That's why he's a good player, too. He's loose and athletic, and he can dance. He can dance crazy. I've seen it on multiple occasions. So let's talk about junior year.

You finish playing. You don's talk about junior year. You finish playing. You don't play your senior year. 2015 draft, you're the 17th pick. These drafts are spectacles, right? Now they're televised live and you've got the commissioner. The first pick goes to the 17th pick and all these dudes are in the craziest suits that you've ever seen.

Right? You've got neon green and you you got the just crazy suits. You didn't go. You stayed on the Sacramento. You stayed on with your couch. You had a party with your family. Why didn't you go? Well, for one, the draft was in Cleveland.

What's wrong with Cleveland? It was, yeah. Whoa, all the Cleveland people out there. what are you going to say to them? No, the draft, what I remember, the draft was in Cleveland. The reason I didn't go was because I didn't know where I was. My agent told me, like, you can go from anywhere from, like, 10 to, like, the bottom of the first, or bottom of the first or bottom of the first round so i was like uh yeah i'm not about to be out there looking down if this don't if this don't go how it's supposed to you were worried you were afraid that your stock would fall and you wouldn't hit the first round so you didn't want to be

embarrassed going that because i didn't know i wasn't like a bonafide, like locked, you know, top 10 pick or like my, my draft range was pretty wide. So you never know how it's going to go. And then too, I just, we had a, I watched it with my family, but we also had a party for like, literally like every, I feel like every significant person in my life was like there. So there was like a watch party. So then I went and met with all those people as well too. So it was, it was, it was a great experience for me. I wouldn't have, wouldn't have changed it because I got to share that with so many other people who played a huge role in my life that I wouldn't have been able to, you know, they would have been just excited from,

from home or whatever, but they actually got to share that moment with me. Agents are notorious for recruiting athletes even when they're not supposed to. Agents are showering football players with attention, talking about money. What was that like, and why did you talk about Shafie Fields and how you selected him as your agent?

Yeah, the agent process. By the way, when you smile and pause like that, I know you're going through some really good stories. So just tell us about some of the guys. I mean, don't name names about some of the crazy shit they did. And then tell us why you chose your agent. Let's take the filter off and tell some, tell these one or two crazy stories about some of these agents.

And then tell us why you have an awesome agent. You know, we had a dinner as well one night. Great guy. Very successful agent. Yeah, the agent game is very interesting. Well, back then it was a lot different, too. It was more, you know, with NIL I think it's kind of opened up and kind of brought everything to light so. But back then it was different. My dad controlled my process of picking an agent and there's a few people reaching

out heading to my junior year, you know, there's a few people reaching out. And then my dad kind of was like the cipher. So everything went to my dad and he's all this trash, this trash, this trash, this trash. We ain't talking to you. We're not talking to you. And then he would like let like, you know, so that was like the first first kind of wall. And then after my junior year, when I decided to declare, it was like, all right, these are the, these are the three that, you know, we feel now you can pick from like these three who we feel like are pretty solid options. So my dad, well, my agent Shafi, he first, like, saw about me, like, my junior year because he told me, he was like, it was this game versus Michigan State.

It was a really big game. And I played well, made a bunch of plays. And he was watching that game. I mean, he's like, dang, who is this kid? And so that's when he had first, you know, heard about me. And then he reached out to my dad after that. And they went through the process. Because he knew your dad was controlling the process?

Like, did these guys just show up at your dorm room and say, hey, I'm an agent? So they got different ways. So it's like, you could reach out to the school. So back then, some of the schools handled the process. Right. Like, for people who didn't have like family or anything to like kind of. But my dad's been in basketball. You know, he's worked with the agent throughout his career. So he knows the landscape from the

basketball side. And it's pretty similar, you know. Also, my brother, you know, played in the NFL. So it's kind of like me going through it twice. And so Shafi, heard about him, reached out to my dad. Him and Joel Siegel worked together. So they were talking to my dad throughout the year. I finished my junior year, played a bowl game, declare, and then I have, I have these three meetings. And just felt like they were the best fit between Joel and Shafi at the time, having both of them.

And yeah, we've had a great relationship ever since. Okay, but you didn't answer my question. Take the filter off. Give me one story about something crazy some agent did to me yeah bro i honestly like honestly all right all right let's do it so uh this this is this is a story that a lot of people don't know. So when I was at Oregon my sophomore year, heading to my junior year, I had a friend on our team. We were real cool.

It was spring break and we needed something to do. So my homie, he was like, I got this guy, he's in L.A. He said we can come hang out with him. I was like, oh, for real? He's like, yeah, I know him from back home. He's like, cool. He's like, come out and kick it. I'll take care of you guys.

So I'm like, all right, cool. So we got a little vibe going. Like, all right, we're about to slide. We're going to go down to L.A., have fun for spring break, I guess. So we get down here, get down to L.A. You drove or you flew? We drove. We drove from Oregon, stopped in Sacramento, kicked it with my fam, and then got up in the morning the next day, came down to L.A.

We get here, and we meet the guy. We have dinner the first night. It's cool, like, because we got there pretty late. It's cool. We go check into the hotel, and then we check into the hotel. It's just like a, you know, Marriott double room, like, nothing crazy.

And the guy texts my friend. He's like, hey, yeah, like, you know the you guys need to meet with this guy in the morning. He's like, huh? What do you mean? He's like, yeah, the guy who's taking care of you guys, he guys, he wants to meet you in the morning. And I'm like, huh? He's like, yeah, it's an agent. He wants to meet you in the morning. He's the one taking care of you guys while you're down here. So I'm like, bro, what? I'm like, I'm talking to my friend like, bro, what? Like, we're going to get. I'm like, nah, bro, like we can't do this. Like we're going to I'm going to my junior year. I'm trying to leave. Like I can't have no NCAA violation gets suspended or nothing. So I'm like, nah, bro, I'm not doing it. So we left the hotel.

Remind you, we're supposed to be down there for spring break. The spring break story gets very long. So we leave the hotel. I'm like, bro, we can't stay here. We're not meeting with this dude. We can't stay here. I don't know who this dude is. And it's just not worth it, bro.

For a little double room Marriott like you about to buy us for a marriott room like 100 bucks a night like nah bro so we left the room didn't have nowhere to go some crazy stuff couldn't find a hotel room by the time we find another hotel room it was like a la quinta for like 350 a night really like hell 350 hell no la quinta a la quinta for like 350 i can't even imagine it was like the middle of the night like i don't know what was going on in la it was like la quinta for like 350 and i'm like nah bro we're not doing that we're broke we're we're on we're on our fast one that's all we got i i think I had like $600.

So we were like, nah, bro, we can't do that. So we slept in the car that night. What kind of car? My Expedition. Okay, so you got a little room. Yeah. We slept in the car that night in the hotel parking lot. Woke up the next day, didn't have nothing to do.

Kyle Long, our former teammate, was in the NFL at the time. Snapper, long snapper. No, no, he was an offensive tackle. Okay. Yeah, O-line, yep. Okay, I'm thinking of someone else. Oh, yeah, you're thinking of, I know you're thinking of, but Kyle Long was,

it was offseason for him, so he was out here. We went over there and just tried to kick it at his house as long as we could because we didn't have nowhere to go, but we kind of overstayed our welcome. And then the story gets way longer and longer and longer,

but I don't know if we want to get into all that, but that's probably the craziest thing. No, we do want to get into it. Just give us some of the funny highlights, because I see you smiling, and these stories are incredible. Oh, man. So, we overstayed our welcome at college he doesn't even know this we went to his house with nowhere to go and we were over there chilling hanging out he doesn't even know that we have nowhere to go but he's like all right like um you know like what do you guys you know like i'm about to i'm about to go to dinner like we're like oh man. Like, we'll see you later. So we end up leaving with nowhere to go. My homie's like, my homie's like, man, we had nothing to do. We had nothing to do.

So we're just driving around L.A. We leave Kyle's house. We're just driving around L.A. He's like, man, let me, I ain't been to L.A. Let's go see where Biggie got shot. So we drove to Hollywood to see where Biggie got shot because he had never been to L.A. And nothing to do. So he saw a spring break spot on Twitter at the time.

It's called Lake Havasu. I guess it was like a spring break spot for Arizona schools. So he sees it. He's like, bro, it's only like a three-hour drive. I'm like, hmm. So we were like, bro, it's only like a three-hour drive. We literally had nothing to do. Because our plan was to be in LA for like four or five days.

It's like, it's only like a three-and-a-half-hour drive. So we're like, bro, we're not doing nothing. It's late at night. We're like, all right, let's hit the road. So we're headed to Lake Havasu now. And so we're heading to Lake Havasu. We stop in Barstow and sleep. Sleep in the car again? No, no, no.

We got a little cheap hotel in Barstow. Okay. Going to Lake Havasu. get to Lake Havasu. I had like $300 to my name at this point. It was a spring break, and my FAFSA, which is like your financial aid, was supposed to hit, Pell Grant or whatever. It was like $1,750. And so when you get that in college, $17.50 is like...

It was like $17.50 every four months or so. I was waiting for mine to hit, but mine wasn't hitting, so I was running out of money. But we get to Lake Havasu. We get to Lake Havasu. We get to Lake Havasu. We get there. It was fun. It was dope. We found, like, a little Best Western. We had fun.

But I'm running out of money. One of our other teammates, he was in L.A. We tell him to come because his financial aid hit, so he had $1,750. I borrowed some money. I was like, bro, just send me, like, $500 until we get back, and my financial aid hit, so he had $1,750. I borrowed some money. I was like, bro, just send me get like $500 until we get back and my financial aid hit. So I was like, alright, we're good now. So we're at the Best Western. Lake Havasu, I guess it was like boats on the lake.

They had parties and stuff. It was fun. We had a good time. We got spring ball in a few days. I tell you, this a good time. We got spring ball in a few days. I tell you, the story gets long. We got spring ball in a few days. So we're like, all right, we got to start making our way back up north. We're in Lake Havasu, Arizona, I think. I think it's in Arizona. Lake Havasu. At this point, and we got to get back for spring ball all the way up in Eugene.

So we got to start making our way back. So we're starting to drive. And we're starting to drive. And, like, to get back, I think we had planned on, like, stopping, like, back in L.A. or something. But when we're driving, so we're leaving Lake Havasu, we're driving. And it's, like, you can either go, you can either start going that way through Las Vegas or through LA. So we're driving back, and I'm driving, and it's like,

we can go to Vegas or LA, guys, what do I want to do? So I'm driving, and we're just like, I don't know, what are we going to do? Driving, driving, and then like, we're just like, I mean, I don't know. What are we going to do? Driving, driving, and then, like, the exit is getting up where, like, we got to, like, make a decision. Like, are we going to Vegas or are we going to L.A.? Because you could either stop in L.A. or stop in Vegas on the way back to – we were going to stop in, like, Sacramento and then go back up to Eugene. So I'm driving, driving, and we're like, what are we doing?

Like, what are we doing? And remind you my my other teammate he got his 1750 so we got a little bit of money now you know what i'm saying like my homie got a little bit of money we got 1750 from his his financial aid so we were like cool we got a little money so we're driving we're like all right all right we're going to vegas so now we're going to Vegas. And so we get to Vegas, and we try to get a hotel on the Strip. We don't got no plans. We're just doing stuff at this point. We try to get a hotel on the Strip, and it was, they were all, we couldn't because of the mini bars in the room.

We couldn't get a room. No one would give us a room. You're not 21. Yeah. We couldn't get a room no one would give us a room so not 21 yeah we couldn't get a room um we weren't 21 yet so we're like dang so my homie who this is this funny part um he was like man i knew we shouldn't have came down here like we're doing too much we should have just went to la then went back home he's like man we're doing way too much like we're doing too much we should have just went to LA then went back home he's like man we're doing way too much so we're like all right bro whatever so we end up finding um a hotel off the strip um a regular hotel we're like bro we're he was like we're doing too much man I told you guys we shouldn't have came here blah blah blah so we're like all right bro let's

just make the best of it so we literally just get a hotel room and then we go walk the strip so we're just walking the strip like that was the thing to do when you couldn't do anything was just walking the strip i guess like i did that all the time for like au tournaments like when i was a kid just walk the strip so we're just walking the strip literally we're passing by caesar's Palace. And so we're walking through the shops. We're past Caesar's Palace, like a Louis Vuitton store. So we walk in to the mall area and we see the Louis Vuitton store, but nobody's in it.

And we're like, bro, this is weird. Why is nobody in the store? And there was like two big old dudes standing outside with the Money Team shirts on, TMT. So we're like, Money Team? They be with Floyd, the Great Wall. That's Floyd's security. And then we look in the store, and we see Floyd in there. We're like, oh, dang, Floyd Mayweather's in there.

So we go up to the security guards and we're like, hey, can we meet Floyd? I walk up to the security guard. His name is Big Adam. We're still cool to this day. I say, can we meet Floyd? And he's like, y'all some grown men and want to interrupt another grown man to like meet him. We're like, huh? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's not like that. Like we play football at Oregon. Like we're just like big fans. He's like, oh, you guys play

football. I'm like, yeah. He's like, who are you? I said, I'm Eric Armstead. He's like, oh, dang, you play D-line, right? It was like, yeah. He was like, yeah, my son plays D-line. I watched you play in the Army game. I know who you are. He was like, actually, Floyd likes you guys. He likes the Oregon Ducks because he used to bet on us all the time because we used to always cover the spread because we used to beat people by like 70. So he was like, actually, Floyd likes you guys. He was like, I'm not going to bother him now, but you guys can come to the gym tomorrow and watch him train. So we went from not being able to get a room to now we're about to meet Floyd and go to his gym and watch him train.

And my homie, who was like the biggest Floyd Mayweather fan ever, was the one saying, I told you we shouldn't have came here. I told you we was doing too much. So we that happens and we go back to the room like little kids like, oh my gosh, we got to go to sleep for our big day. We're about to go meet Floyd tomorrow. So we wake up the next day. We go to the gym. Super dope. He was, I can't remember exactly who was fighting, but it was a huge fight. He was getting ready

for it. Showtime, All Access was there. Swiss Beats was in there. Like all types of celebs was watching them. We watched them train for, like, we were there all day. We were there all day. We were there when other guys were training, and then when Floyd got there, and he trained for, like, five hours straight.

Sparred three different dudes. Like, first, it was all defense. He was just moving and dodging. Second guy, counter punches. Third guy, he started attacking. Like, he switched up his boxing style versus three people in a row. They kept sending guys in. Then we watched him hit the bags.

It was crazy. Like, that was one of the – I've been around a lot of hard work, but that was, like, the most hard work I've seen someone do. And it was just him. You know what I'm saying? Everybody's just watching him work and train. And it was crazy. So we were in the gym all day. Like that was a motivating experience, like seeing somebody that successful and how hard he worked. And then he gets done. We we meet him chopping up with him and then you know we're just talking he's like yeah y'all want to go to eat and we're like

yeah I mean we're not doing anything I'm really yeah so he's alright let's. So everyone just starts leaving. He leaves. He hops in his Bugatti, takes off. His whole entourage just start hopping in the car. It's taking off. We're like, where are we going? So I just hop in my car and just start following. So we're following like seven cars through Las Vegas.

Like I'm trying to keep up with them. And we go to this hibachi spot like close to the strip. And it was cool. We hung out with them, you know, we're eating, chilling, you pay for everything. Um, so we got done eating. It was cool. You know, we talked a little bit and then he was like, uh, y'all want to go to the movies? And we're like, huh? I mean, mean yeah we're not doing anything so we go to South Point and we go to South Point Casino

whole movie theater is just ours get whatever you want from the concession stands and so we just get we're just getting whatever we want and then we go into the movie and then like in the in the movie theater before the movie started we like really talking to we were really talking to him and he was telling us about like how he bets on us and

like you know he was telling us that like he always watching us and got to talk to him a little more. And then the movie starts. It's the movie Jonah with... It was Jonah... No, no, no, not Jonah. I'm sorry. Noah's Ark with Russell Crowe. Oh yeah, Russell Crowe. So we watch the movie. Literally 10 minutes into the movie this man stands up Floyd stands up

like man this movie's boring let's go so everyone just left and then that was like the end of it I guess so that was our

that's insane that was our spring break it started off while an agent trying to meet with us not having nowhere to go bumming it around going to Lake Havasu

finishing in Vegas meeting Floyd and hanging out with Floyd and we were like yep meet with us, not having nowhere to go, bumming it around, going to Lake Havasu, finishing in Vegas, meeting Floyd and hanging out with Floyd. And we were like, yep, it's time to go back home. I don't know what more could have topped that. Yeah, I'm not sure I've ever had a spring break like that. Are you and Floyd still in touch? Nah. I mean, we weren't really in touch then, but...

No, I'm proud and pumped that Floyd's agreed to do my show. Oh, yeah? He is. So I'm excited. Shout out to Rodney Jerkins on that. He was an amazing guy on my show. Grammy Award winning producer, songwriter, incredible guy. So he hooked me up with Mike Tyson.

Props to Rodney on that. I'm super excited about Floyd. We haven't set up yet, but I will mention this during the interview. He probably won't remember it. That's like a regular day for him. But I would say the biggest thing I took away was the training part, watching him train and work and seeing the level of success he's at. It was definitely because of like how hard he works.

And so that was, that was real, like, you know, inspiring and motivating. All the other stuff was like cool, but that's like what I like took away from it most for sure. Thanks for listening to part one of my amazing conversation with Eric Armstead,

the star defensive lineman of the San Francisco 49ers. Be sure to tune in next week to part two of my awesome conversation with Eric.