Stay Tranquilo - The Story of Fernando Mendoza Before the Heisman & NFL - Stay Tranquilo

Episode Date: July 28, 2026

Now, Fernando is the starting quarterback at Indiana, and he’s headed into the National Championship Game this Monday vs Miami—back in his hometown of Miami. We talk mindset, preparation, pressure, and what it means to come home with everything on the line. Fernando breaks down why being a QB is “like studying for a final every week,” how visualization became a game-changer, and the weekly film routine that keeps him locked in. We also rewind to his Columbus state championship run, the late recruiting twist that took him from an Ivy League path to the Power 5, and what culture + discipline look like inside a winning locker room. We also get into today’s NIL + transfer portal reality, the pros and the problems it creates, and how to stay focused when distractions are everywhere. In this episode: National Championship week mindset (Indiana vs Miami in Miami) The QB weekly routine (downs, red zone, 2-minute, and more) Visualization and staying calm under pressure Columbus football culture shift + discipline turning a season around Recruiting during COVID + signing twice NIL, ego in the locker room, and the “highest bidder” era Rapid fire (favorite Cuban food, favorite concepts, game day mindset) 🎧 Subscribe for more Stay Tranquilo episodes: Miami culture, sports, mindset, and community. #StayTranquilo #CafecitoYCroquetas #FernandoMendoza #IndianaFootball #MiamiFootball #NationalChampionship #CollegeFootball #Quarterback #NIL Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're here with Fernando Mendoza, Class of 2002. From the, from the, from the, from the, C pride. And also quarterback at Cal right now. We're going to get into a ton of things. But before we get started, we'd love for you to give a little intro about yourself and tell the people some of the things you got going on. For sure. Yeah, first of all, thank you so much for having me on.

Of course. Truly a blessing and, you know, amazing. Just connect with the brotherhood, as he said. I went to Columbus, class of 2022. So I'll just show how the brotherhood is reinforced. That's the best, you know, all-boys school in Miami. We got the camera guy back there, also Columbus guy. Oh, yeah.

Pooch, the pooch. And then I'm now the Cal quarterback. So it's been a long journey from Miami all the way to kind of the San Francisco area, but it's been an amazing journey. I'm blessed through it all. Hell yeah. I think let's rewind to before the Cal Days, right? Yeah.

and your time at Columbus. You guys won a state championship, which also was a big deal at Columbus after a long stretch of not being able to get it done. Can you talk about what that year looked like a little bit at Columbus and kind of how everyone rallied around you guys? Yeah, so that was a special year in Columbus history. That year had been hyped up as we had a ton of national prospects

like Xavier Henderson, Elijah Roberts, and the famous Henry Parrish. such as you with the Sports Center run, everybody in the Columbus community was like, wow. That was a stiff arm, right? Yeah, that was a stiff arm, right? Yeah, that was like, especially on Beland,

that was like the epitome of Columbus football. Oh, my God, I forgot about that. So, iconic. So we started the year off really, really strong, and I was lucky to part enough to be a part of it. And throughout the season, by our sixth game, although we had all the hype,

especially the national level, it was Sports Center. And I know we were pretty ranked pretty highly on max preps. We ended up being like three, I believe it was three and three, like 500. And we lost some subpar teams at the time, which like South Dade and a couple other teams that we were highly favored to win. So at that point, some of the seniors like Jordan Garcia and so many other guys like Max Filar, Elijah, you know, Duby, which is Xavier Henderson. They all kind of brought us together and was like, hey, like, we need to turn us around.

This is our last chance because they lost in the States the last year by like a two-point conversion. So they already favor to go to states being 500 in the start of the season. And usually like Columbus, they go to the start of the season a little easier. And then they pick up the games for like more of the national teams. Yeah. So being already 500, they're like, oh, shoot, like we need to pick it up or else that's it. Our promise that going from junior year, all those guys to senior year, we're finally going to win it. We're finally going to get over that hump.

Like we need to change something. And that was when a big culture shift happened. And we have so much talent on the team. But one of the things that stood out to me is when they played Mandarin and they lost to them, they were like, hey, Mandarin came out. They were all in their same matching uniform. They were all like single file line. And although that's, you know, it's insignificant, you know, they're like, oh, whatever.

Maybe they're like, the coach makes him do it like that. It was a big thing is that we had so much talent in the Columbus roster, but it needed to be more disciplined. Right. Media more discipline. And the players took that account, anyone who's late, one minute, two minutes, three minutes, even as a star player, like repercussions. Yeah.

We played Western later in the season, Elijah Roberts, who was like American Conference defensive player of the year, he showed up like two minutes late or something like that, and Coach Dunn didn't let him play the first half of the Western game.

Holy shit. Which was like a playoff game at that point, and it was like a big game. Like we weren't winning by a ton. We weren't favored. And it was to show the team like, hey, this is discipline. This is a Columbus way.

We're not doing like any of this superstar massage treatment. Like, you Columbus, we're playing the best players, and we're being disciplined. I think that's like a big thing with Columbus, you know? Everybody was kind of the grinding, you know, over there in Westchester. So I think that's when it really, the culture really connected to the football program. Yeah. And Elijah, I mean, he's an amazing guy.

I play against him this year at SMU. So, I mean, he's a phenomenal player. He's going to play in the NFL one day. Got to mark that on the calendar. Yeah. Then after that, it was kind of, it was free flowing from there. of the starting quarterback Moody ended up getting injured and I ended up subbing in for six or seven weeks

and we ended up battling it out throughout the playoffs and since that 500 mark that we talked about undefeated since then and we were lucky enough to win the state championship against great players. We played against Jalen Carter who was a top 10 pick in the NFL draft I mean you see him now in the Eagles he's like wrecking things where do you go to high school? A popka

a popka that's right And the only reason he didn't go, like, top five was because of character issues, which has nothing to do on the field. You know, on the field, you're not, you're not asking for a handshake. You're just scared of the guy. And so, I mean, that was a great season and see Columbus in the community, like, even though I didn't actually, well, I held the field goal. But although I didn't actually, like, really, really contribute to, in the actual state game,

I was able to contribute to the season. And I saw the aftermath. We might have, like, three or four parades. Like it was like Columbus alumni who knew who I was and I was like the backup quarterback There was a time that I was I forgot what it was but I know I was in rushing at the sunset place to meet with one of my friends and I backed into somebody He had a car accident and I was like oh She's so terrible. You know, it was like a 10th care is my first time driving and the guy was like we ended up figure obviously with insurance But it was a lot easier through the process because he was a Columbus alumni

His brotherhood. He was like yeah just one let's go Columbus story. It's like, you run into the guy. You're thinking like the worst case scenario and all of the sudden, of course, it's a Columbus guy. And he knows, yeah, you're playing football at Columbus? Oh, don't worry about it. Yeah, it's a test.

At this point, when they just came out, I'm like, oh, shoot. Like, I'm grounded for sure. So. That's hilarious. Yeah, that's cool. I mean, like you said, it was, it was like the parades and everything. It was like if we won like a Super Bowl, essentially. But at the high school level, I mean, that's essentially what it is.

But the Columbus network took it personal and, like, they really rallied behind him. I mean, there was watch parties at Sports Grill. Like, it was a big deal. Yeah. So you win the state championship. Obviously, then you become the starting quarterback the year after, right? Yeah. And then you finish your career at Columbus and then you start getting recruited.

Can you talk about that recruiting period in your life where, you know, you start getting offers from school, and kind of, you know, making that decision of like what, what's, what's the next step in your, in your life? Can you kind of go through that process? Yeah. And the one word I would use to describe football recruiting would be subjective as it's not like swimming or track that they have the time. So, hey, we know you're this good. We know you're 39 seconds. This guy's 40 seconds. There's so many aspects of potential of size of just the character development and how good they are as a player overall. And I think a big lack of my recruiting process was the COVID. And obviously, you know, everyone could blame COVID. And I'm really thankful how my journey ended up going out.

And I thank God for all the time. But so once I started springtime is when the coaches come and see you. Especially a quarterback, quarterback is very subjective position. You see people like Tom Brady playing and, you know, like Josh Allen. We also have quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson and like Brock Purdy. They're all super different styles. It's not like O-Line where we want the biggest, baddest guy. It's very subjective. So at that point, none of the coaches could come. And since all the national recruits played their

sophomore year, the entirety of their sophomore year, it was tough to get recruited. So I had to wait until after junior year, to after I had all the film, because the camps were still shut down. So I couldn't, the coaches couldn't see me in spring, nor summer. And it was like wishy-washy if we were even going to play

because of how bad it was in Miami-Dade. I completely forgot about that whole COVID time. Yeah. That puts a whole wrench in things. So no one could see me. And then after my junior year, we had a great junior year. We went undefeated. We unfortunately did not win state because we didn't have the opportunity. We won the Tri-County, which we got a ring for because we were the two highest ranked teams.

It was Deerfield Beach and Columbus. And we won that game. So we hold that as a championship. It's not a state championship, you know, but it's definitely a championship. And so after that, my film, after junior year, going to senior year, that's when I was really able to kind of. mobilized my recruiting process. But all the schools like Alabama, Georgia, all these huge schools already have their guys going into junior year. I mean senior year. Yeah. Like if you see the Elite 11,

like those guys make bank off of, hey, like watch our Elite 11. We have the Georgia guy. We have the Alabama guy and all these huge fan bases come together. Yeah, they're recruiting way early in the process. Yeah. And you already know who the dudes are by 10th, especially 11th grade. Yeah. That's what it really is. 11th grade. And then so up to my senior year, the only real offer that I had was Yale. And I was like, bro, I mean, yeah. Let's go. Like, I guess.

Like, we're not really into football. Yeah, great academic program, obviously. Yeah, great academic. Like, hopefully I make big bucks on Wall Street one day to make up for football. But, and then against Yale, I mean. It could have been like the next Ryan Fitzpatrick. Yeah. And he's, uh, funny enough.

He went to Harvard. Harvard, that's right. Funny enough. That's, I talked to all, like, most of the Ivy League. I talked to everyone except Harvard, and everyone in their recruiting pitches where you can be like Ryan Fitzpatrick. All they even go to the school.

And which showed a little bit of a red flag because I'm like, you don't have your own NFL players to go after. Yeah, they're talking about another guy. You know, I want to play the NFL. That's my dream. That's my aspiration. That's what I'm going to do.

So my whole heart, that's what I believe. So, you know, I do a little red flag, but I'm like, hey, it's a great opportunity, great school, and it's a platform. It's a platform to play football. and actually funny story. The reason I didn't talk to Harvard is because I got on one phone call with him

because Coach Dunn, he actually coached to Harvard. Really? So he said... I know he coached that Catholic for a little bit. Yeah, so he coached to Harvard and he sent the contact and at the same time, the school was committed to Yale,

said, hey, we're going to call you soon, like from like the recruiting room with all the coaches and stuff like that. So I get a call, I'm like, okay, cool. And I pick up the phone and oh, it says Connecticut. because the coach was from Connecticut. And so I pick up the phone thinking it's Yale,

but it's really Harvard. So I'm on the phone this guy for 10 minutes, not knowing. And Yale and Harvard, this is like real deal. President's good at this game. That's a rivalry right there. And I'm like, I can't. Like a five minutes of the call in. I'm like, he's like, you got to come up to campus.

I'm like, I can't wait to come up. You know, New Haven's a great place. You know, go Bulldogs. And he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What? What do you just say? And I was like, yeah, go Bulldogs, you know. Yeah, yay, yay.

And I was like, at that moment, I just knew. It was like, you know the moment where you're like, yeah, you're like, I'm not getting doing anything. You play a nice language. You fricked up, you know. I was like, oh. And he was like, that's a bad side of the river. Like, don't talk about that school.

Like, and all that stuff. Was he like genuinely upset? He was genuinely upset. Holy. He was genuine upset. And obviously they wanted to recruit. That's a crazy story. And I was like, shoot.

And then from there on, I never heard from Harvard. Wow. Well deserved. But you know what? It wasn't meant to be. It wasn't meant to be. It wasn't meant to be. But then, yeah, so I was committed to Yale my senior year.

We had a good senior year, but good is, we made it to the semifinals. But now in Columbus, my little brother, he just won two back-to-back, junior senior years. So that's a down year. So we had a down year for Columbus football. And after that season, I was kind of like, okay, I'm going to Yale. We got accepted January. I mean, everyone already signs in December. January, I was like, okay, I'm about the press like, hey.

like let me matriculate to the system, let me go to Yale, you know? And then I get a call. I'm like, okay, like, what's his call? And it's the Cal coach saying that their quarterback flipped to UCLA on signing day, and now they're scrambling all ahead. They're like, oh, shoot, like all the quarterbacks already signed. Where do we go? And since legally you can sign people until, like, February 3rd, they still, like, had an option to sign me.

The only reason the signing period is so above. And you had no contact with them prior to this point. West Coast. I barely even knew. Like, I obviously knew Cal and Stanford. Of course, yeah.

I knew like Aaron Rogers, Marshall Lynch, but like I'd never watched like a Cal game. I was like, cow. You know what I mean? I literally caught one of my friends, Marcelo Mueller,

he's at Michigan now. I was like, hey man, like, you know anything about Cal? Because we're on the phone, like stuff like that. He's like, yeah, great business school.

I'm like, all right, sounds good. And I talked to the coach. I obviously researched more about cow. Yeah. And I was lucky enough.

He said, hey, we're going to come down and see you throw. And that day I was sweating bullets. I'm like, okay, that's my chance. Because I got a cow with Aaron Roger, Jared golf. Or do I go to like the Ivy League? I'm a Miami guy. I went on my official visit at Yale. Loved everything about it, except it was negative four degrees when I went.

Yeah. I mean, I can't play football negative four degrees, you know, every day. That's rough. So I was like, let's go. End up going well. They offered me a scholarship, and I signed like three days later. Wow. What a crazy turn of events.

At the last hour or two. Last, I really thought that I was going to go to Yale. And my mom kept on saying, like, hey, you're going to get a Power 5. At that point, there are five conferences. Right. Rip the Pack 12. But I was like, no way, mommy. Like, there's no way.

Like, I'm going to Yale. And then magically happens. Mom's always no. It's weird. Mom's always no. They always know. It's weird. Damn, that's pretty awesome.

Well, so then now you sign with Yale, I mean with Cal, and then you start that process. You fly in basically that summer essentially, right? And start doing all the practices, taking your classes and all that. How was that transition from East Coast to West Coast? Yeah. So before I said that, funny story, Yale doesn't have any scholarships because they're Ivy League. Right. So I actually signed on the December Sunday.

a date with Yale, and then I for real signed in February with Cal. So Mr. McKee and athletic director is like, you're the first player who's ever signed twice in Columbus history. But signing that paper, I mean, I didn't know what my life was going to come to. I mean, the West Coast. Had you visited the campus before? I visited it once for two days, but it was like really quick because they got to get back and sign the documents and go because there's a deadline.

And I'd never been to California in the first place. like prior to that. So I was like, okay, nonetheless, San Francisco are like, I visited campus and stuff, but... Because where exactly is count? It's 20 minutes out of San Francisco. Okay. And it's literally sandwiched.

The San Francisco, Oakland, and then sandwich in between there, and then up above, you have, like, Napa. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, where Stanford is. Okay. So it's right by the coast. You can see the water from the stadium and everything like that. And so I was like, okay.

And when I tell you, it's literally Miami flipped upside down, like everything else. opposite. It is, I mean, everyone's a little bit more relaxed. Yeah. It's definitely very different. And luckily, I had a great roommates and a great support system to kind of get adjusted there. Because I saw like a couple kids who, you know, it's tough moving away from home, you know, moving away from home for. It's a tough transition. Full-time job. Yeah. Full-time job. And they're kind of like, okay, like maybe should I sign with my hometown team, you know? And I I was lucky enough to have a great support system and have a smooth lane.

Like obviously there was a points where I was homesick once. Yeah. And smooth points that, you know, I didn't get a, the culture. It was a little bit of culture shock. Like, especially in Miami, like in the high school, whenever you meet somebody, you're like, hey, how are you doing? And give them like a little hug and stuff like that. So there's a little athlete.

As Hispanics were like touchy. Yeah, like very touchy, you know. And there's a little athlete thing, you know, all the new athletes. I'm like, okay. And so I'm obviously with my football boys. And we meet another sport, like another woman's sport. I think it was like a track team or something. I can't remember.

And I go, like, hey, how are you doing for now? They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing? That's like the kiss, the kiss on the cheek. I remember like the first time I did that was like, I think in like New York or Boston or something. And it was the same shit? I went, I went there to like say hi, I'm Andre and they're like, was this guy trying to kiss me right now?

Like, what's going on here? Yeah, where this guy's manners? It's a little bit of reality check there. And I got to like check back in when Miami and you got to adjust. Berkeley. So that was definitely a little bit of a culture thing. And there's a ton of amazing Asian food over there. Okay.

A ton of amazing Asian and Indian and a lot of Mexican food over there. So that's something that I've been kind of exposed to. No croquettas and pasta litas. Actually, there was like at the facility we had, there was like a day. It was like Cuban sandwiches. And everyone like knows that I'm Cuban, you know, being from Miami and stuff. And they're like, oh, they're Cuban sandwiches. And I ate it.

And the chefs at our school are amazing, like world class because they got to serve world class athletes. And I love all of them. Shout out, Mr. Rob, that's my guy. But the Cuban sandwich, and I was like, oh, it's just not the same, you know? It was so good, but it was not the same. And all my friends were like, oh, it's a Cuban sandwich just tastes like. Yeah, for them, it's like, holy shit, it's amazing.

But yet for you, you're like, this is a name. Like come down to Versailles or Casacuba or something, man, you know? Hell yeah. That's cool. one question I actually wanted to ask you, did you ever get recruited by like UM or FIU? I mean, considering like the local, right, it's tougher to get recruited from,

I know yours was a little bit different because it was like at the last hour kind of thing. But they like to recruit locally. Did anything really happen there conversation-wise? Yeah, like you said, like all the schools like to recruit locally. Like Miami, like their motto recruiting, obviously they want to pull the national things. They want to build a fence.

Yeah. You know, that's what they've said in multiple. interviews and stuff. They want to build a fence, all the talent to go right to Miami. And I did get recruited by FIU, but the coach knew that he was getting fired. And he was like, butch at the time. It was but it was under that. And it was like the quarterback coach. He was like, hey, I know I'm getting fired in two weeks. And there he told me. Yeah, that was a mess during that time. Mess. And they're like, hey, I'm only getting fired in two weeks, but I'm going to give you this offer just so you can get their name out. Got it. Okay. But I mean, there's no saying that the new

coach is going to honor it. Right. He's going to have his system and who's to know. that he's actually going to bring in the people that he was trying to bring in. He just said that he liked me a lot and that if he was still the coach, that he would take me in, but that he didn't have that opportunity anymore, but he wanted to give me kind of for like social media, that if some school says, oh, look, FIU offered him, let me take a look at him. Right, exactly. And then that senior year beforehand, it was still the Manny. It was the Manny Diaz reign.

And so I went to the camp and I was pretty heartbroken because, you know, I really really, good camp and stuff like that. Like, they knew who I was because it was the Columbus quarterback and stuff like that. And the coach at the time kind of told me like, hey, like, well, maybe look at you for a walk-on spot here. And I was like, and I had a confidence myself, I thought it was good enough for a scholarship spot, you know? Yeah, yeah.

Like, all this stuff. You proved it. And so I was definitely heartbroken then. I was huge Miami fan growing up and everything. And it kind of did something, like something similar to my brother. They were kind of like, hey, like, we really like you, but, you know, we don't think you're, you're that guy. Right. So it was a little heartbreaking for both of us, but luckily I have the chance to redeem myself as you play him this year.

Hell yeah. So let's get into that. Yeah. Let's talk about, so that was year one for you, right? At Cal? So this was year two. I read shirted in my first year. So you registered year one and then, but technically eligibility-wise year-wise year-two.

Yeah. You play this year. So from what I remember, quarterback one gets hurt at Cal, right? And then that's where you came in and started playing, right? Yeah. So it was kind of a weird scenario. I know you want to talk about NIL later.

Yeah, I do. One of this great guy, amazing guy. We're bringing two quarterbacks, actually. One from TCU and run from NC State. And throughout the entire fall camp, we're all battling, all three of us. And it ends up shaking out like the last practice. Like at one point I was starting and it ended up shaking out of the last practice that I was actually third. Holy God.

Going into the game. Like it was very like hairs. Wow. Like it was this competition could be split. A, one B and one C essentially. Basically. And so the starter goes in and the start in the second string, they kind of battle it out for the first four or five games. They kind of like they both like one of the first has minor injuries, but then he ends up getting the starting job again.

But then he loses it to the second string guy. so it was kind of like our quarterback situation was shaky at the time. Gotcha. And the sixth game, I was like a little impatient, but I was also like, okay, like, you know, my time will come. It's this, no one's playing lights out here, you know, like. And to take our team in the next level, we need good quarterback play, especially that's what, like, all teams need. NFL, you know, everything is. Yeah, but he is.

Quarterback is arguably the most important position. And although they're great guys, great quarterbacks, they know they're going to do great things that are at their next school. like at that point of time the production wasn't there and the coach called me funny enough on my birthday i was talking to my family i got a call i got to hang up coach is calling yeah coach's calling this might be important he's like sunday night and he's like hey fernando just want to let you know we we value your preparation everything you done for the program you're starting next week no matter if you throw 20 million touchdowns or 20 million interceptions you're playing for the entire game prove me right right, get ready.

I'm like, oh shit. Wow. Yeah. I'm there. I'm like, got to hang up guys. And this is how many days before the game? Seven days. Seven days.

And at that point, I like, I had a midterm that week. At that point, I'm like, all right. This might be my only chance ever. Being a two-star recruit, like, very lowly recruited, like to ever play, like, and start a college football game, especially a cow at a power five level. 100%. And that week we were playing in Oregon State who, that time had the number one defense in the pack 12 over Oregon over Washington over UCLA.

Were they ranked at that time? They were ranked. Yeah. They were like 13. Top 15. Top 15. Yeah. They were 12 in the nation, I think.

And I was like, wow. So that night, I literally go in that entire week, 7 and 9 p.m. just in the film room, learning everything about them, learning everything about them. And I was able to find out like a little bit of tendencies with them, which helped me on the field. And I was like, no matter what. But I want my preparation to be so well. And so, I mean, just be so, like, well thought of and just be so deliberate in my preparation that I'll be able to sleep well at night.

Whether I throw 20 million interceptions or 20 million touchdowns, I want to sleep well at night knowing that I did everything possible, that humanly possible that I could do to make sure I have a good performance. And I get out there, the first two throws in the dirt. I mean, I am nervous. My body is like, oh my God, a college football game. I can't even imagine. Columbus, you play in tropical park.

In cow? Okay. It was a night game. And it was like, I'm like, oh, okay, like a tropical park, we have 200 to 500 people. That game, it was like 50,000 people there. Holy cow. You know, and you just look up those hands. You kind of get a little shell shock.

You're like, it's like the lights like this that you can barely see if you look in the lights. You could try to mentally prepare for that moment, but you can't because you have nothing to, like, as a foundational piece to do that. And that's a big thing why everyone in redshirts. They're like, none of these quarterbacks are ready enough to play. You got to get thrown in the fire. And I ended up picking it up. We had a great game offensive-wise. I mean, we boat raced the number one team in the Pack 12.

We was like, we lost 40 to like 50 in that game. Yeah, I remember it being a shootout. I was a shootout, though. And that game, I mean, the Oregon State defense only averaged like 12 points allowed per game. That's incredible. Until up to that point. And so that was that kind of led. me into, hey, you're starting the next week.

Exactly. And then we played Utah. And let me tell you. You guys had a crazy stretch of games. The first five games I played. Oh no, I played the last six games. All teams were ranked

at some point, top 20. At some point. We play Utah. Then you play USC, then you play USC, who's top ten nationally. I watched that whole game. That game was insane. U.S.C. Then we played Oregon who was a new year. They were like number six. One time they're number four in the nation. And then we play Washington State, who was ranked during the season.

That's right. And they play UCLA, who was ranked at that time that we played them. And it was crazy. And being from the East Coast, you don't understand. And I didn't understand the West Coast environments. When I went to Oregon, when I went to Utah, when I went to the Rose Bowl, UCLA, it's things I've always thought of, you know, Doe Campbell and hard rock and like all these other. and like Clemson, but going to these stadiums, it was surreal. It was like, wow, like, I'm really playing in this.

Like, two years ago, I was, didn't have, I only had an offer to Yale. And now, like, I'm playing against UCLA to fight for bowl eligibility, the first bowl we'd made in the last four years. You know what I mean? It's like, this is a big game. Or Stanford sold out. I'm like, this is, like, huge rivalry. You're talking about historic environments, too.

Historic. Historic. Historic. I mean, Stanford, no matter who wins. by how much or how well they're doing that year, they storm the field. Absolutely. A year before,

we only won four games. They stormed the field when we beat Stanford, you know? So. Yeah. No, I can't even fathom, you know, and it's crazy, like, hearing it from you, what the emotional side of it is, you know, like, there's you as a fan, right, like growing up, watching that as a kid and looking at those environments and being like, damn, that is sick, right? Like, I want to witness that at some capacity.

and then being in that situation without really much of a expectation, you know, like you're saying, hey, whatever that week was that you started, you're starting here, and by the way, you're going to keep starting now because you're performing well. So every week is a new level of preparation

that you're not necessarily used to. Obviously, you did your preparation at Columbus and you had your level of preparation there. But you're in a Power 5 program going against some of the best teams in the country and it's just like, go figure it out. Yeah. Like, it's crazy.

Exactly. And like you said, like there was no expectations. So I have my wristband. The three things of my wristband was, praise God. It was play by play. Because somebody like quarterback, you do preparation. You got to analyze a defense. At Columbus, all we got is to put it into the non-football audience is cover three

and cover one, which are very simple defenses. Right. And Cal through the entire stretch of like those six games, I saw over 30 different coverages. so it was like and it all happens very fast and in high school no one disguises right they're disguises right they're disguising you're out there trying to like on the level of athlete too on the other side of the ball i mean you're talking about speed is is is is way higher in in in that level of football size smart you know everything you're getting the best of the best on both sides of the ball yeah and

i mean this year we played last game in ucla i don't know if you watch NFL draft but it was very offense heavy yeah and the first first defensive player took was, Lai Latu, we played him. That's right. Utah? No, he was UCLA. UCLA.

So I look at them, looking at the draft and I'm watching him sack me. I'm like, oh, all right. Hey, that's me. I'm like, hey, that's me. I like, all of a sudden, like, three people call me, like, my Columbus got and buddies, and they're like, hey, saw you TV? I'm like, I don't want to hear about it, you know? Not the right way to see me on TV.

So, wow. I mean, it was really cool, like, being in these environments and seeing how. much it meant to everybody. It was definitely very surreal. Yeah. So what's kind of the expectation this year? Yeah. So this is the best we've finished in a while.

And the one thing that I would say that is why we had to, we were so improved last year was because of the culture change. Like mid year, we're kind of like, hey, we lost Oregon. We got killed by Oregon. It was like 60 to like 20 or 30. Yeah. It was bad. Yeah, it was bad. And we were like, all right, we need to win the next three games to make a bowl game.

No matter what the coaches say, no matter what anybody says, administration, like, we need to come together players in differences. We got to like start being accountable. And you need to just level it up at all work harder, prepare harder, play harder. And I was like, okay, it kind of sounds pretty familiar. Yeah, it's like Columbus little turnaround. And so going in the next season, we're going to the ACC, which is crazy. because I could see the Pacific Ocean from my apartment.

I was talking about that before. I could see the Pacific Ocean from the football offices and now we're playing the Atlantic Coastal Conference. Yeah, holy cow. So it's going to be a lot of long flights but next year

I mean the Pacti of was super competitive last year I mean I think almost every team was like almost every team was like ranked. Yeah, yeah. Like so going to the ACC I mean our expectations are

you know through the roof I mean we're definitely like we made you realize you guys can compete in that conference coming from the conference that you guys came from last year like you're saying was stacked essentially um and what seems to be a weaker acc essentially obviously you still got the clemsons the fsus the miami's can't ever take anything away from those programs obviously but realistically i think you guys got a shot yeah so what side are acc are you guys on i mean i think the division what is it remember it's uh it's uh co coastal dea man

Is that what they're called? Coldstone Island, I don't even know. To be honest, it should be more educated on that. I don't know. I just know the opponents we play. And although people... It's all that matters. It's not important.

Yeah. Deem has a weaker ACC conference. He still never want to take anyone for grabs. Absolutely not. Wake Forest 2022, they were in the ACC championship, and then this year they had like a down year. They're working on ACC. So that's like, those turnarounds can be super quick. Especially because of the transfer portal.

True. Like a team has a need, they fill it up like this. Boom. Like FSU, Miami, both new quarterbacks. Yeah. So the transit support, you really never know who's going to be good. Yeah. And who's going to be a little bit more poor.

So, I mean, this year, our goal is ACC Championship. And we know that if we win the games that we need to win, you know, even if we have one road bump or two road bumps, you know, throughout the way, that we still have a really good shot at it. Yeah. And we're all really confident in it. It's a long season and you're going to run into those road bumps along the year. And it's obviously, obviously, coaches got their job. I think you said it best. Like the players are going to rally and that sense of leadership,

obviously in the locker room is extremely important and keeping everyone focused on what the end goal is too. You know, I think that's always crucial. You look at the most successful programs historically and it all starts with the internal kind of cultures inside and the attitude and, you know, no big egos in the locker room where no one's better than anybody else. It's a team sport at the end of the day.

And you've got to rally amongst each other through the good times right? Because it's always good. Everyone can be on the high horse when you start the season four and oh. But guess what? You can go lose the next four games and it's a completely different

temperature in that locker room. For sure, for sure. And like you said, it all starts internally. And I think that we all have a chip on our shoulder. Just because you see and you see, like we see the articles and stuff like that.

Oh, Cal, Stanford and SMU are coming to the ACC. And everyone's like, all right, we got a couple of low-level teams coming to the ACC. They're like, what? Like, we're going to go win this thing. Yeah.

And you see FSU trying to get out of the ACC conference. Right. Obviously for playoff reasons, but we're like, and in their thing, they said that Cal and Stanford weren't like competitive enough for something like that. And we're like,

okay, we play you guys. Like, we'll see about that. Obviously, they're a powerhouse program. We respect them. But it's, we have a chip on our shore. We know a lot of teams don't want to come out all the way to the West Coast

and make that six, seven hour flight to come play us. I know they're not going to be excited to come play us. Yeah. So we know we can take advantage of them there. Or, hey, Cal's coming in our house, you know, whatever, it's Cal, and then boom, and then we could surprise them.

Oh, yeah. You guys got a chip on your shoulder, a ton to prove. I think that's exciting. Do you play Miami? Play Miami and FSU. Miami here? No, we play Miami there, and then next year we play Miami here. One's that Miami game over there?

I think it's a little, it's like a six or six game. Maybe we make a little roach herb out there. I'm not a Miami fan, though. He's a Miami fan. There you go. but yeah man that's exciting I love it I forgot that you guys were going to the ACC we talked about it before but now that we're talking about it again

I'm like yeah that's that's a big shift and a lot to come with that which is exciting so let's get into some of that NIL talk obviously that's the talk of land and ironically enough something happened yesterday with the whole NCA lawsuits and all that stuff so there's a ton going on in that world

what's your point of view of like NIL right now and kind of the landscape that you've kind of seen it. I know you guys did a campaign too with a burrito or something over there in California. Yeah. So we launched the Mendoza Burrito at the local Mexican Berkeley spot that everyone goes to La Barita. And I've been friends with the employees for a long time and ended up getting meet the owners. And we ended up creating this burrito where all the proceeds go to the national M.M. society.

Nice. And my mom has MS. So it's a cause and very dear to my heart. And I love my mom. She's my inspiration. We talked earlier on the podcast about her, you know, having the belief in me. And Tom Brady said that all the great ones have always someone that loves them unconditionally.

And my mom loves me unconditionally. And I love her unconditionally as well. So that was something that was really cool. It would have a positive impact in the community. You know, walk around campus. You're like, you know, I have a burrito, you know, so it's pretty cool. But no. It was a bit of Cuban inspired too, right?

So it's Cuban inspired. So, you know, it's, you know, we try to do a little pork, but the restaurant doesn't serve pork. But we got around and just some chimicherry and stuff in it. And we're doing some future more Cuban heritage aspects later down the line that we have planned. But like you said, the NIL space, how I see it and a lot of my teammates see it. And a lot of people are just that are, like, people that end the NIL space, like, I want to say agents, but I would say people that, you know, collectives, yeah, maybe agents, stuff like that. The rules are changing so rapidly. There's so much overturn.

No one knows. What's legal? What's not? Where do you get in trouble for? Like, and stuff like that. You saw like Jim. So there's still a ton of gray area in there. So much gray area.

So some programs are very, oh, I don't, we don't want to take that risk. Which you've seen a couple programs. I think Boise State. came out saying something like, like no NIL deals are coming through here and it's maybe probably part of that reason. It sucks because players are obviously looking for that because they want to get paid.

Players are looking for that. But it's, yeah, I didn't know it was like that. And a lot of programs are like, all right, no, we're going to attack, you know? And so there's been a lot of discussion, I mean, especially in the administrative level, if you want to get in trouble or not, but it's not being enforced.

It's not, it's truly not really, being enforced and that's where you see. FSU got hit with some sanctions on NAR, right? I think they got some sanctions, but I think none of them is severe. You know, none of them are losing. I mean, to what does NIL outweigh the costs? You know, they bring in this amazing transfer class.

They're great. They go to the college football playoff. They don't care about those sanctions anymore. No, exactly. You know, and all this, and all the NIL stuff is just other programs trying to blackmail and, you know, bring down another program. Exactly.

But the one thing that's super. interesting, but that kind of salad mix of everything together, the NIL, Transfer Portal, and all these new rulings is that you said all the great teams start inside the locker room is the ego thing. Now, hey, I'm not better than you. You and me are the same. We're brothers. Right. I'm going to fight for you. You're going to fight for me. No ego. We're the same. Now, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, now we're being valued. You're worth 100K. I'm only worth 20K. What do you mean we're the same, you know? Maybe you get on me.

It's like, at least you're getting paid more. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, the money makes it, changes the whole dynamic. Money changes the politics of the locker room. You don't see it at cows.

You have a really good culture and it's, and no one's like putting money in other people's faces and stuff like that. But other programs that I've heard I have friends at, not going to disclose that. They say like, hey, like, people are like, hey, I'm making this much. Like,

what are you making? And they're not making anything. And nonetheless, There's still walkons on the team that are paying for college. Right. That like, especially like a cow, we have a couple walkons who are going to be like great this year. You know? They're coming out of their own pocket.

So, I mean, it's, it puts a lot of politics in the locker room, especially with the schools now. Now the rulings, even makes it more complicated. The rulings, the school is paying directly. Like, for example, FSU, public school. That needs to go on record how much you're paying everybody because they're employees. Right. So now you can search up online. How much is.

is the FSU quarterback. Very true. How much is all these, how much are the, all the Gator players are getting paid? Yeah, and I think that's going to have a lot of animosity within the locker room and people,

jealousy. What's going to set an expectation too. Imagine you're going to go, you're a player that's being recruited. You're going to go now look and it's like, okay, FSU, they're getting paid 50K here. You know, UCF, they're getting paid 25. And then you're like,

well, I'm going to go there then because I'm seeing that they just are paying their student athletes X amount of dollars. Yeah. And it just alters decision making now too. That to me is kind of like the part that I wish they could have maybe put a little bit more emphasis on when they were kind of trying to build this program out of all NIL and some of these other things that the NCAA is doing right now.

But right now it's like highest bidder just go there, you know? And then what's what it's creating is these players aren't even so focused on football. Obviously, they're extremely talented and they have every right to go to these programs. But they're so more worried about their personal image as a person, right? And building their brand and getting the social media followers and having all this hype around them. Yeah. Because then what is it going to do? That big donor that's got a million dollars is going to say, hey, go over here.

And I'll never forget the day that Travis Hunter got flipped to Jackson, Jacksonville State or Jackson State, right? Yeah. Portnoy basically bought him for a million dollars essentially, and because he was boys with Dion, and Dion got him to go there. But he was an FSU guy, number one recruit in the nation at the time, and flipped for a million dollars.

Obviously, they went to Colorado, and he got a bigger platform and a bigger stage. But if you're thinking NFL, Jackson State or Jacksonville State, it was Jackson State, right? Jackson State. Jackson State was not going to give you the best shot of making it to the NFL

because the NFL, even though he might have all the raw talent in the world or looking at him and saying, hey, you know what? You're not really playing against the best of the best. So how can we really accurately grade you to make it to the pro? He just took the money and rode.

They maybe had a plan of action that Dion wasn't going to be there for a while and then obviously made it to Colorado and all that. But you can already see that people were altering decisions based off of the fact that where am I going to go get the money? And I get it. Imagine being that kid that didn't have, that comes from a rough,

rough neighbor their mom is working six jobs their you know the brothers all share a bedroom and there's six of them in the bedroom like money is essential but at what cost does it become a problem right like obviously there's the essential component that these kids deserve to get paid but there's also the component it's like greed and like you said egos that get involved and i think that creates a larger problem in the long term of all of this yeah it creates a large problem i mean a couple of things i'll say about his football first off all is everybody understands it's in the business football is a very very physical sport right any point you saw like jordan travis boom it's a good that's another good let's say let's say if he was like in his first year boom yeah his niao value goes down at

least like 500 000 you know with a torn like like destroyed knee and everything like luckily to like playing the NFL now which is amazing for him but it's very physical i mean you never know when your last snap's going to be I mean, and you never know, especially like Drew Bledso, like his last nap and he could come back, but no, never know. Someone could rise up. So, I mean, the NIL, I mean, especially with the transfer portal is that kids are entering the transfer portal now and they're getting these offers. And whether they go to these schools are not, they have value and they have leverage of their own school. They're like, hey, FSU wants to pay me 50.

Right. What are you going to match it or what's going to happen? Yeah. And then it's a mini NFL, basically. And especially with the egos and stuff like that, with the. about the brotherhood. Like one thing you see by the Columbus, when I think Columbus is so great

of football now is the brotherhood. The culture is established. And, I mean, we all go work out there, like you said. Yeah. Like Jordan, you know, like Elijah Roberts, Henry Parrish, Xavier Henderson, Shiloh Conway, and Trinity Conway. I mean, you just see all the Columbus guys working out there and we're all working.

It's because we were together for three, four years. Transfer Portal, you're, me and you're boys, and let's say you're the receiver, they bring in somebody and he starts right over you because they pay him that creates a little bit of tension in the locker

absolutely you know we've been boys for four years and all of a sudden they bring somebody else in that could throw off the entire locker room dynamic like whoa whoa whoa

our boy Johnny yeah like he was the guy now all of a sudden you're bringing somebody else in oh you're bringing someone else to my position you don't believe in me

you're paying it more than me so it gets really I mean it's a fierce landscape and, I mean, hopefully some regulations get put on it. It's going to take a while, I think, to balance out. I mean, I think it was the inevitable of what was always going to happen. For sure. But it was just like, I think they just said, we're going to open the floodgates up and

we're going to figure it out as we go. I mean, the reality is, you know, college football was making a ton of money, you know, so they had to make a way for everybody else to kind of benefit, you know, on the player side of it. But they kind of just said, it's the Wild West and we'll, you know, figure it out as we go and we don't really care what happens in between. But I mean, eventually with all this money that's going to be poor, you're going to assume that there's going to have to be some sort of like cap. Yeah. I mean, you would think so, but you never know, especially with,

I saw a lot of, you know, private equity. They want to get into college football. That's been like a whole Saudis. The Saudis are talking to the Saudis about trying to buy them out to go to another conference. Yeah. So, I mean, it's, I mean, it is crazy. But the one thing I will say, And the one hope it has for a lot of players is, like you said, a lot of players aren't really focusing on football now. You know what I mean? There's a ton of like YouTube channels and just ton of like all these. Yeah, yeah. Ways to get monetize that stuff.

All these other distractions, which is great because they're monetizing. But for the people who, you know, have that Tom Brady mentality, that Kobe Bryant mentality, whatever you want to deem it as, there is so many distractions. If people are getting so, so distracted, that it's, I would say that it's, I would say that it's, not easy because nothing's easy, but it's easier than ever to get to the NFL because kids want to stay an extra one or two years to get paid more. Kids are now like, hey, let me just,

I'm doing social media now, you know? And so if you were to be a college player who would grind, let's say back in the day, everyone used to grind, head down, no, everyone's like, I need to make the league for the money, you know? No matter what neighborhood or where you grow up, like, I need the money.

I want to be successful in my career. So everyone puts their head down, grinds, grinds, grinds, grinds. Then you have that whole entire pack of players, like, hey, trying to enter their third year, the year of eligibility or their fourth year. But now you have players who are grinding distractions, you know, like doing photo, like photo shoots, just whatever. Grand deals, whatever, all that stuff that goes into it, yeah. And maybe too much at some point that if you were to really grind, grind, grind, grind, grind,

it could put you ahead. It could put you a step ahead. Not saying that it's a golden ticket, but it could put you a step ahead. 100%. Then you would not have been exposed to and kind of. That's a good point. You almost look at it as like an advantage compared to, you know,

a distraction essentially where, hey, I'm not going to partake in that for the most part. You know, I might do a thing here and there, but my goal is football and I'm going to double down on football because that's what I want to do. Yeah. And like I heard a story. It was a kid at, don't quote me in this, but it was a kid in the, it was an ACC conference. It was a team at a CEC conference and a quarterback you get four games for red shirt and Basically he played four games in the middle of season because the start got hurt and they wanted him to start the last three games of the season But he said no

I want to forego those three games not play let someone else play because I know my and I have an I L value is high and I want to transfer somewhere else Are you serious? So they let another kid play who ended up being better than him and the kid's Nilead value dropped. I ended up transferring, but like, holy snow. But also, like, people need to realize, like, if you're not playing those three games, like, that shows other schools how you, like, what your character is, like, you're a quarterback, you're a leader.

But still, people are so enamored with their NIL value. Oh, I'm being treated amazing. I'm not being treated enough that they're always doing for the quick way out. Hey, like, I, like, just look at what's in front of you. Like, you're starting at this ACZ program, you know? Yeah. This is an amazing opportunity. Don't take for granted.

Like, yeah, like you might make an extra whatever a couple dollars. I mean, the angle should be the NFL. I mean, my angle is NFL because that's where, you know, that's been my dream. Stuff like that. That's awesome. That's a good point. It's cool hearing that, you know, from you as a player and hearing like kind of like that internal point of view. Because it's a monster of a topic right now.

Yeah. Before we wrap up, we're going to do like a quick rapid fire question. So first question I wanted to ask you was, what's your favorite Cuban dish? Like when you're back here in Miami, do you have like a go-to dish that you have to go to? The one thing I will say, it's not really a dish, but I would say it's a side. Okay. Arros con friholy. Everyone, I got to have it.

I was a fairly skinny kid and now it bulked up because these guys, like, I see them on TV. But when they're hitting you in person, I mean, it is like. I'm like, how could someone even grow and be that muscular? I didn't know how I would get up if I took one of those days. I didn't show you. I'll show you a picture after. Yeah, you can put it on the screen or whatever. This guy at Oregon, he sacked me.

And I'm like, this guy can't be real. Like, how's you really? He's like tall. I think I'm a tall guy. Yeah, yeah. He's way taller than me, way stronger than me. Just so I needed to bulk up a little bit. And even from a young age, like playing in Columbus, like higher level football.

Yeah. And so my mom would make the best at Roskron Freehold. And it's not the same as just putting a can of white rice and a can of black beans. Like, there's, There's an art to making. Homemade. It hits different. It hits different.

So I would say that's my thing right there. Do you have a favorite route that you like to throw? Oh, okay. So I would say, I mean, to be honest, whatever gets me the completion would be the right answer. And whatever gets the ball of my playmaker, the easiest. But I would say my favorite play, I would say kind of like with the routes, I mean, it needs to be like a breader.

and butter play. I love, especially for us, I love the play action plays. As we have an amazing running back and an amazing offensive line. Running back J.D.A. He's ranked the third running back in the nation this upcoming season.

So everyone bites up. We have like an either a nice big post, go or corner route and a couple overs to one of my best friends of tight end, Jack Hendries. Hell yeah. And then a couple of people in the flat

that's easy to check down to. So those are some of my favorite plays. But whatever coach blush calls. Shout out Coach Blush Bletch and Coach Gilbert. So whatever they call, I'm good with. You're good with that. Yeah.

What's the game day playlist look like? So, funny enough, my philosophy changed on that midway through the season as a quarterback. The week of the Oregon State game, the reason I was in there 7 to 9 p.m. wasn't because I was working out or wasn't because, you know, anything physical. Because at that point, the work's done. You're not going to do anything in a week that's going to elevate your game major from, you know, maybe like a, a major. performance to an amazing performance. That work goes in the off season.

You guys stay healthy. Mentally, a quarterback. It's like studying for a final every week. I have an entire routine every week. Saturday game, we win, happy, whatever, celebrate with my teammates. Sunday, come in. I need to at least watch and label four games of that team.

Whatever was previous season. If he's at D.C. at another school, watch that team. It was the year before. I need to watch these four games. Mondays, first down. first down and tens, Tuesdays, second downs, Wednesday's third downs, Thursday's third downs, Thursday we have like red zones, a special situation,

like two minute, fourth downs and all that stuff. And then Friday, kind of like a little test. So what I'll do is I'll play those four games back and I'll be like, pause it pre-snap and I try to go through this pretty quick. I'd be like, hey, what coverage are they playing? you know, we'll play what I call here. So I kind of have the call sheet there. I'm like, hey, we'll play what I call here.

And then me and the OC, we kind of go through it. So when I'm already, I'm there, we're Doe Campbell. It's third and three. I'm like, all right, Wednesday, I already know all the coverages. They do third and three. So I'm like, I'm expecting this call and this call. And the play calls, the OC calls it. I'm already ready for it.

And I'm like, we're in the same way. So you're already mentally kind of viewing exactly what to expect in that situation. Yeah. So I'm going through my. notes the entire week. And that's why you see quarterbacks like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady so successful. They're not as talented as Patrick Mahomes or all these other guys physically. But their preparation.

But their preparation. And that's the thing is when I listen to all the music, especially the music that gets disposed in the football space of all like the rap and hip hop, it kind of clouds my brain. Yeah. It's like a game's so hyped up. I'm getting so hyped up. I'm getting so hyped up.

I'm going with the momentum. Quarterback, I'd play by play. you can't go with momentum. You need play by play. Hey, new player, reshap. You got to stay grounded and you got to stay. The moment you go with the waves, I mean, that's when it gets a little risky. Because, yeah, it can go up.

But as soon as you go up, one or two bad completions, you go down and the team goes down. So actually, like, I saw Josh Allen. He actually listened to classical music or like it was like reggae or something like very chill. And so I started doing that. But then the end, I just stopped on game days. I just don't listen to music. Really? Because it clears my head.

and that's something that I find a lot more clear. So it's just you just getting in your head and just mentally. Yeah, it meant allowing you not to have any external distraction, just literally you thinking and visualizing everything. Visualization is key. And one of my mentors, Mike Pulaski, who played a cow when they were number nine in the nation and played many years pro, he said the biggest thing that took a step up in his game was visualization. So that's something that I'm working on now a lot, the whole thing I can implement this season.

Yeah, you see that a lot with a lot of the biggest athletes across the board golf you know golfers are really big about the visualization because that's such a mental drain essentially where you don't have a team around you to you know elevate you or motivate you it's it's you thinking about the shot and not getting too much in your head when you're standing over that ball you know football obviously same thing baseball same thing where they're there before the games visualizing every scenario in their head you know and visioning go make that play you know the left center field where i might have to be full sprint and make that play on that wall Right? Or the throw at home or the pitch that I got to throw.

You know, like all that's in your head. And it's a good point because, yeah, music emotionally can get you up, right? You know, it has that effect. But like you said, it can actually dilute it because you're not thinking about the things that are going to go into your actual performance. Exactly. Exactly. And some of those like visualization, one of the big things you visualize, like, especially in those pressure moments. so when all the adrenaline and cortisol runs through your body

you recognize it and you're like okay you're not going to let this affect me because it's like fight or flight you don't want to a lot of people get scared in the big moment and there was a couple moments last year that I was like oh shoot like I'm in this moment you know like it's just like hey when you play

like what are we going to do I'm talking to myself yeah and being with a visualization this year I mean you'll visualize that play hey it's the game when you play you know let me be recognize those feelings and then I take it in order to not have the flight but to take all that energy and put it into the fight and I'm ready for the situations now and that's something that I'm

really looking for to have the season. That's awesome. That's that's that's powerful stuff right there like I mean good for you dude. Yeah. Like that's that's impressive because that that that showcases a powerful human being in my opinion like you know I mean I'm sure you've seen the the Kirk Cousins thing. Oh yeah yeah. That's what that reminded me right there. I was like, yeah, you know? And that's, it shows, it shows, man. So good for you.

Like, we're rooting for you. I think it's going to be an awesome season and keep doing what you're doing. We're definitely rooting for you. A lot of people are and we're excited to see you play this.