Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - From Homeless To The NFL with Freddie Stevenson

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

Summary In this episode, Shawn French interviews Freddy Stevenson, a former NCAA football national champion and NFL player. Freddy shares his inspiring story of growing up in a homeless family and facing adversity. He talks about his journey from playing football at Florida State University to entering the NFL. Despite facing challenges and setbacks, Freddy remains motivated and focused on achieving his goals. He emphasizes the importance of discipline, consistency, and accountability in overcoming obstacles and pursuing success. Freddie shares his journey of transitioning from sports to writing a book and eventually getting into the film industry. His book, which initially aimed to help athletes struggling with the transition, gained global recognition and impacted people from all walks of life. Despite facing challenges and rejections, Freddie's story went viral and attracted the attention of film producers. He signed a deal with Warner Brothers and released his first independent film. Through his work, Freddie aims to tell inspiring stories and make a positive impact on others. The key takeaway is to believe in your vision and trust the process, knowing that God has a bigger plan. Takeaways No matter where you come from, you can overcome adversity and achieve success. Motivation may not always be present, but discipline and consistency are key to reaching your goals. Surrounding yourself with successful individuals can push you to become better. Don't let setbacks define you; use them as motivation to prove yourself. Believe in yourself and trust the process, even when faced with challenges and obstacles. Believe in your vision and don't let others' limitations define you. Your story can have a global impact and inspire people from all walks of life. Trust the process and have faith that God has a bigger plan. Helping others and making a positive impact is a fulfilling purpose. Connect with Freddie- Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/strugglemade105/ Trials to Triumph- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPg1bWjbjs8 Buy Freddie's Book- https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B095PX9CYN/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1641478806&sr=8-3       Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, you know your choices matter. You're the expert because you know what fits your life. And getting it right starts with good information. That's why America's beverage companies are sharing more information about our ingredients at good to know facts.org. No spin, no judgments, just the facts straight from the experts for more than 140 beverage ingredients. Visit good to know facts.org. But yeah, it was a lot of up and downs. I was battling with that because fullback, you know, it wasn't a sexy position.

I'm like, man, and ultimately, I was thinking selfish at that time. It was like, my mother, I remember that cheeseburger situation. I'm trying to get to the NFL. And the fullback's probably really in the NFL anymore. So if I'm playing this position, I'm going to make sure my family is straight. So I've battled with that the whole entire year. Southwest Florida is one of the most beautiful places on the planet to live. For those of you that are thinking of moving from other states to come to Florida,

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of constant second-guessing and self-doubt. It eats away at you and destroys your confidence. I've been there too. feeling like I didn't belong on the field with my teammates, but it doesn't have to stay that way. I used to compare myself to everyone around me. I thought that no matter how hard I work, I'd never be as good as the other guys.

It killed myself for the league. I now help athletes develop an elite mindset, so comparison no longer controls them. We teach techniques to cut out the negative self-talk and unlock the full potential. Imagine stepping into the box when it counts the most and feeling totally confident in your ability,

feeling invincible instead of insecure, ready to seize the opportunity instead of shrinking from it. That's the mindset I help athletes develop. Don't waste another minute on comparison and self-doubt. Take control of your mindset and become the confident, unstoppable competitor you were meant to be. VMware comment below, we get started with Edge and transform the mental one. What's up, everybody? We're back with another episode. I am your host, Sean French.

And before we get started with this episode, I want to encourage you if this first, time you're listening to the show, hit the subscribe button and binge watch or listen to all the other episodes because they are equally as amazing as this one is about to be. Today we're going to learn about a great dude who is a NCAA football national champion, a retired NFL football player. He's an entrepreneur, film producer, bestselling author. And he truly believes that no matter where you are in life, you can win. So you're about to hear a true homeless to the F.L. Story, I want to welcome my boy, Freddie Stevenson to the show. What's up, man? What's up, man? I appreciate you to have me. I know we've been trying to do this thing for a while.

I hit a few road bones, but I'm glad we're finally back doing it. I mean, we're finally back here doing it. And for the audience to give a little context, man, we live some busy lives. Right. And it's funny because like when I try to do things off the calendar, like just kind of off script, I get screwed up completely, you know? And then the last time, you know, He dealt with a car accident, which held you up. And, man, I just didn't, I didn't feel comfortable about putting an 18-minute show out. Your, your story is much more than that. So I appreciate you growing through these pains with me, and we're here, baby.

We are here. Yeah, let's do it, man. Let's do it. Like you said, the story's too powerful, you know, to cheat the audience out of, you know, the full story. And ultimately, I love, you know, your platform. I've been following a lot of the things that you do. and, you know, just you're taking that pride and, you know, we're in the world where everybody just wants to put something out, but you're just taking that pride and then I just want to give the people garbage just because it's content, you know, I appreciate that as well. No, I appreciate it, man.

You know, the internet's full with bullshit content and I don't want to be one of those, you know, pages that just has, you know, just stuff on there. And it's funny, like, I went back and I looked at her. And I want to apologize on air, man, because I look back at my messages when he said, like, hey, we might. might have to use that other recording. I'm like, yeah, I'm not going to do that. I was meaning like, yeah, dude, no way. Like, I can't do that because the story's too good. But I looked at it today, I'm like, well, I kind of came off like a little bit of an asshole.

So my apologies. I didn't mean. Yeah, no, I don't take text messages. You can't. I'm not a type of person that takes that, that person. I was just, when I said, I was like, man, all good. We'll kind of figure this thing out. I'm going to whenever I find some free time, we'll figure it out.

But, yeah, I'm not a person that gets some of my feelings. of a text message because it's easy to read into things the wrong way. Yeah, man, I always, I always look at things like, you know, what if we all just had good intentions and just expected everybody else to have the same and didn't read too much into certain things, right? But no, I'm, dude, I'm glad we're here, man, and I appreciate you. And so for the audience that doesn't know who Freddie Stevenson is, like, I just want to catch them up a little bit, National NCAA Football National Champion at Florida State University.

played football in the NFL and has a truly amazing story. And I just want you to take the time now to kind of start from the beginning, man. You know, just your origin story, brother. Let's hit the audience with it so they can know fully what they're about to get into. Yeah, yeah. You know, people hear the story, you know, of me making it to the collegiate level winning the national championship, making it to the NFL. Like you said, best seven, an alter film producer.

But I come from home, but again, early in my childhood, you know, my family's homeless, bouncing around from place to place because my father at the time is in prison for drug trafficking. It's like a huge king pin in the area. He's facing, they're trying to charge him with a double life sentence because I think this is his second time

getting charged, and the judge tells him the time before that if he sees him again, he's not getting out. So then he comes back to the judge and they try to give him a double life sentence. So he's fighting for his life in there. And my mother,

she's struggling, working two, sometimes three jobs just to make ends meet. And it's tough for us, just even at times it's hard for her to pay for the babies, diapers, and we're all over the place. And the tough part about it is a lot of other people that are in our situation in our area, they're struggling as well. So you can't always get the help that you need. And we find ourselves homeless at times bouncing around from place to place. and it was tough, but you don't necessarily, like I said,

you don't know how much you're struggling because everybody else is struggling. And I remember a day in particular where it kind of hit me how much we were struggling. We had been staying with someone at the time, and she kind of got fed up, like she was starting to turn off the air in the house, turn off the lights because we're kids. You know, kids do what kids do.

We're running up the light bill, turning on the lights and turning down the air when we get hot. and she found herself at one point turning the arrow off this, kind of try to force us out of the house toward the point where my mother's letting up the windows at night and mind you, we're in the neighborhood

that's like a high crime area, shootouts happening all the time. So letting those windows up, it's likely that somebody's going to try to break in the house, but she's just letting the windows up, ultimately hoping that it cools us down long enough to where she can let it back down before any trouble comes by.

and fast forward a few days one of my siblings break something in the house and we get kicked out so we find ourselves homeless homeless again and we don't know where we're going to stay this night so fast forward throughout the day

it's like 8 in the evening we hadn't eaten and by this time on most days worst case scenario we all would have like a loaf of bread or something and my baby sister starts crying and my mother just gathers everybody up, brings us together, tries to calm us down, tells us that everything's

going to be okay. And she just starts walking us around. And mind you, at this time, we're not really around any restaurants, any stores, and we're homeless. So we know that we need some hot food. And we start walking for probably, it lasts like an hour or so. Then we come up on the McDonald's. My mother walks us inside, orders a cheeseburger. Me and my siblings are looking around like, hold on, what's going on? We don't know she only has a dollar to her name at the time. So she orders a cheeseburger, and the total comes out to a dollar and five cents. And realizing that she doesn't have the nickel, she asks the cashier if it's okay for her to get the cheeseburger without the nickel.

And the cashier says no. So we watched my mom have to go around McDonald's and ask somebody to the loaner a nickel. And everybody's watching us. And this went on for a little bit, and I, after a while, somebody was generous enough to give it a nickel. We're embarrassed at this point. She gets a cheeseburger, walks us outside. And then she started slicing the burger up into five pieces.

Mind you, there are six of us. But we're hungry. We're not thinking of it. As kids, we just start eating immediately. And as we're eating, my older sister notices that my mom isn't eaten. And she asked the why. So the rest of me and my siblings that were eating, we stop and we offer our mom a piece of our individual slices.

And she bursts in the tears. And it's like, no, y'all keep eating. Turns it down. It tells us to keep eating. And this moment, it stuck with me my whole entire life because we struggled, but we never saw our mom sweat during any of those moments through everything. But that moment kind of made you realize, like, this is rough. And ultimately, ultimately, for me, that lit a fire in me.

It's like, man, I know a lot of people in our area are struggling like this, but this cannot be the story for my family. this has a change at some point. And if I have the power to do it, I'm going to do it. I don't know what it is, but I'm going to find a way. So that was kind of my, you know, my childhood. Ultimately, you know, you fast for it later. My dad gets out of prison.

Hey, Freddie, I'm sorry. One second, bro. I don't want to stop you real quick. How old were you at that point, man? I was around maybe like, I say like three or four years old. Shit. Yeah, and I'm like the point, certain moments from that, that era, you don't really remember but moments like that they just stick with you never forget it like it's crazy because

I remember that moment but I don't even remember where we slept that night but I remember my mom crying that's a core memory man that's a core memory right there even though it wasn't you know a happy core memory you know the one woman that had yel's back was your mom and you saw her pain you know and it just stuck with you it's uh you know there's no mistake of why you've become successful right i i don't want to derail the conversation too much i just wanted to know how old you were because um to me that that was just for some reason important for the audience to have context and just understand you know you know they may have three or four year olds and now this story hits them a little differently right so might get them to feel a little more grateful for where they're at

in their life right and what they're able to provide for their kids so anyway i digress my apologies go ahead yeah so we i'm like three or four at the time and then later on you fast forward my father get us out of prison. And we get some help when he gets out for a while. It's kind of hard for him to get a job who has a felon. And we get some help financially, moves us to a better area. And they put me into sports. And the sports thing was, you know, ultimately, you know, them giving me a football

and believing at me. And then once I find out that I'm good. It's like, I don't want to make them proud. But ultimately, I'm thinking back to that cheeseburger moment. It's like, man, they put, they take me to this area. where I'm the only kid, like, I'm the only kid from the inner city and area. We moved to, like, an upper middle class area and we get some help. Because my father, his biggest thing when he got out of prison was,

if I truly want to change my life, I can't be surrounded by the things that got me either. So he wanted to get away from that type of lifestyle, and we need to help to do it. So some people were willing to help us out early on when we didn't have the financial, you know, backing to do it. and that's ultimately how it played out. But yeah, you find I'm the only kid from the inner city, all these people that are kind of, you know, like well off. We're like the struggling family in the Pop Warner League,

the family that can't necessarily afford to play there. But then they find out this kid's gifted. They're like, listen, you don't have to pay. This is our guy. You don't have to pay. You don't have to pay at all. And everything ran through me on the football team. And once I found out that I was good,

like they even put in a two touchdown rule for me. He can't touch the football after two touchdowns. I couldn't even snap the ball and hand it off to somebody else. I just had to stand around. But once I found out I was good, it's like, man, I'm going to use this to change my family's circumstances. My mother would never have to deal with a situation like this. Nobody in my family would ever have to deal with a situation like this. And that's what football became for me.

It became that source, that tool that I could use to change my family's life. That's beautiful, man. That's beautiful. You know, I caught something in there that I want to bring up. You know, it's crazy to me. And this may be an odd question for you, but I see it a lot, right? I see it in baseball, you know, at the little league level, et cetera, and just all around, even travelball organizations. And it's like, why is it the kid that is a stud, you know, that gets a financial help, right?

It's almost like they use it as the key determinant sometimes to be like, oh, this kid's a dude, man, you ain't got to pay. But if like, if you had two left feet, would they give you the same opportunity? And so it just kind of begs the question of like how early the identity and the judgment of the youth based on how good they are at sports really starts. It starts. The reality of the world we live in is people use you for what they can get. so that's just that's the bottom line the tough bottom line of this world and I you know have a real conversation you know I'm a pop Warner coach now

so having those real conversations with kids now and getting them prepared for the world that they live in like this world isn't isn't always fair you won't always get what you you deserve and just having them you know prepare for that reality I think when it happens and it comes to them it makes it easier for them to adjust then I see things now that, you know, I'm able to, you know, keep it professional with.

Like, you know, these people don't care about you, but keep your business because ultimately, at the end of the day, there's a bigger purpose that play than me. I'm fighting for people that, you know, underdogs that don't get opportunities that are ready to throw in the towel. So if I allow this moment to become bigger than what it needs to be, then I let those people down. So that's ultimately the mindset that I keep, but I understand, you know, what's at play. people use you for what they can get and that's just as it's like word word no i i feel that man and i'm and i'm with you it's just it's an interesting thing right it's like you would you would hope it wouldn't be like that but unfortunately it is and you know i on my show i talk about adversity and i talk about mindset right and how those two things shaped you as an individual i mean hell

man you won a national championship you know in college that is amazing and then you got to play in the NFL and you're doing some amazing things now you know but like dude like walk me through your mom's mindset because i know you were young but your mom had this mental strength you know and some people can look at it's like oh well she passed you know she passed on a cheeseburger you know let her kids eat it big deal that's her job no it's not really man she's got to survive and sustain herself too so what was it about your mom dude that just made her so strong mentally to to guide you guys through some really tough times, you know, a father facing a double sentence. That's not easy.

That is not easy at all. Yeah, my mother, people ask me about, you know, ultimately the mindset and how I was able to, you know, get to where I was and just really modeling myself a lot after her. When you talk about a straight dog and go get her, like, she's not going to let anything to break her. That's her. That's why the moment with the cheeseburger was so. impactful because you never see that from her.

She never allows anything to break her. She continues to push and then that moment got to her. So it stuck with me. But ultimately, just the model that she's set for me, just life's going to happen. You're going to run in the roadblocks. If she's going to happen. But how can you respond?

And she has this saying that I put on all the back of my hoodies. And basically it's when you have overcome every obstacle that was sent for your demise, that is success. And just, that's how she lives her life. Like, these obstacles, they just test, like, and I have a sand struggle made. Like, that's my Instagram platform, but just that's her, that's her, my mother. Like, she's lived her life by that model, and I've just tried to follow it the best way I can, you know. And even, you know, people, they're looking at me now and they're motivated, but I couldn't, you know,

I'm not half of, you know, as strong as what my mother is, you know. and just trying to model myself out to hurt. You know, it's one of the things I really respect about you, man, because I pay a lot of attention to what you got going on too, man. And for those of you listening, you know, I believe your handle is Struggle Made 105. Is that what it is? Something like that.

Yeah. So at Struggle Made 101, 105, it'll be in the show notes. But I want you guys to go connect with him on this platform because you're going to see everything that he does for the youth. I just, dude, it's amazing to me, man. It's amazing to me. I can see the connection that you have with these adolescent student athletes. It's everything.

It's everything. And it's crazy because when I coach kids, it reminds me a lot of kind of how I approach things from a real life standpoint. It's not about the game. It's not about the decisions in the game. It's not about necessarily why your demeanor within the game matters, but it matters out there in life beyond that, beyond the gridiron and beyond the gates of the baseball field.

And so always try to correlate. everything when I'm coaching on the field and then mentally with my athletes is like dude this is about so much more this is about so much more this is about everything you're going to face and how you respond now is going to create that neuroplasticity in your brain that is going to solidify how you respond in the future and I just think it's so important you know for kids to understand it like even an 11 year old throwing his hands up when a coach what I what am I doing wrong like Like listen, that's how it starts. That's how it starts.

And then what we have to do is we have to, we have to take control of that and teach them the right way to be on that field and how to respond to pressure and adversity. Because they're going to face it their whole life. I mean, I mean, every single day I'm faced with something, brother. Like,

I mean, I'm sure you are too, Freddie. It's like the moment I feel like I'm getting to one threshold, I'm busting through that wall. Like, okay. And then a bigger wall is there. And I'm like,

holy shit, I didn't even think about that while. I better start thinking ahead a little bit, right? Like, our job is to coach the youth to overcome adversity with their minds. Without a doubt. Which, you know, that's ultimately something that, you know, I try to do in one of the things I went into 20, 24 with this model, nothing gets left on the table. So any way that I can, you know, make an impact and utilize my gifts to the fullest, because I believe it's human beings sometimes. Sometimes we get complacent. It's human nature.

You get complacent and, you know, things are going well. And you're like, oh, chill, you know, take a break and enjoy things. But ultimately, when I leave this earth, I want to leave everything here. Like, I made the, I utilize every single gift. And then, God's like, job well done. You utilize every single thing that I've given you. And that's ultimately the mindset that I'm going into it with. And I think sometimes, you know, like it may be, you know, the job opportunity or maybe somebody in sports that was trying to make a team and they get to the point where they're about to make cuts and you're asking yourself, did I do enough?

And I truly believe that if you have to ask yourself that, then you didn't. You didn't do what you needed to do because ultimately if you did, there wouldn't be any doubt in your mind. And even if they screw you over, you can live with yourself because you know you gave me. everything that you've got and that's how I live my life like I'll give every single thing that I have in in everything and if things don't go go my way cool it wasn't meant to be and if they do it's like all right let's rock up but ultimately if I do the do the best that I possible can do I won regardless because if it doesn't work out it's like all right I can I adjust it you know just going for it so that next time things may work out in my favor or maybe it's something

else that's meant for me and I learned that throughout the process. So that's one thing that I go into the 2024 with and that mindset is my fiance even her is like, man, listen she hates me but it's it's a good in a good way.

Like man, because she's not really the gym rat that I am but I'm telling her like you don't understand how much all of this stuff translates. Being physically sharp, it impacts your mental, spiritual all of these things they tie it together. And I want to be the best version of me.

Like if I'm not on point physically and I go in front of a group and I'm speaking, they're like, man, this guy's telling us about discipline. And he's 300 pounds of weight. Like, they're not going to listen to it. And that's just in everything. You've got to be short because all he's going to do is continue to make you better as human being. And people see that. Like now people see me on my gym grind.

And I've got people that have been eating bad. their whole entire lives, like to where, you know, it's a family thing. You have people dying from diabetes, heart disease, all of these things. And they're like, man, I want to change. I want to make that change for my family because they see you doing it. And it matters. So I want to be that example, that like for people in all aspects. Like I can't, like I said, nothing gets left on the table.

I got to be sharp in every area. I love that, dude. Nothing left on the table. You know what I named 2024, right? For me, it was the takeover. Takeover, the takeover, right? Because that's the same thing, right? It's like, I'm a take over because I've been preparing, I've been working, I've been doing all of this.

And I don't have any question in my mind whether or not I've done enough. Not in this. I'm sure there's areas in my life. I go, wait a second. Am I giving everything? You know, like I thought that today with my nutrition. I woke up this morning, random thought, bro. Freddie, five o'clock in the morning.

thought, am I doing the best I possibly can on my nutrition? The answer was no. I said, okay, cool. What can I do? Well, you can sit there and you can meal prep. Weird thing about me, dude, I do not like my own leftovers. Like, I won't, it's just, it's weird, dude. I just have this mental block with it. I'm like, okay, cool. If that's not going to work with me, then what is going to work? Because you need to find the solutions. That way, when you're out late for baseball or whatever and you come home and you haven't hit your protein or your calories and you're like, you know, 30 grams, you know, low on your protein, about 450, you know, calories away from hitting your goal for the day, man, you got to have a meal in the fridge. So I just, I got 20,

I bought 20 meals being delivered on Tuesday, right? So like, you know, then I know that, like, okay, great, I'm going to do that for six weeks and I'm going to evaluate. Where am I? Right. because a lot of people forget about decision fatigue, right? If you're always thinking, what am I going to eat? What am I going to eat? Where am I going to go? What am I going to cook? Well, at 9 o'clock at night when you're hungry, you're reaching for those cookies

because you already have that decision fatigue. So it kind of ties into a point where, hey, you know, I want people to understand when they're listening. I'm just not going on a rant about some random nutrition meal. It's like there's checkpoints in your lives every day, y'all that are listening. Pay attention to this. There's checkpoints every single day that you ask yourself, am I doing enough? And if you're not, that's okay.

It's not a time for guilt and shame. It is not. Leave that hustle culture out the door. You know, lock the door, don't let it in. The shame and guilt don't have any place in your success. But just make a move, right? Do something there. It's like, okay, like the people in Freddie's, you know,

community are seeing him on his grind. And let me tell you, do that gym grind is big for you, man, because you're doing, I mean, you ain't making it look pretty, bro, right? And that's what makes it so great. You're in an older gym, real iron, and you're going, not worried about the aesthetic, but you know what? You're inspiring people, right? You're inspiring people to say, hey, am I doing enough? Am I even, am I even trying? And that's what a real, I hate the word influencer, but that's what a real leader that influences people does. They live their lives, they document it,

and then people start following. And I think that's where you're at. I know that's where you're at. And I love seeing it, man. Yeah, and I never try to paint the picture that I love going to the gym. And it's like, no,

I love to chill every single day, drink the soda, eat some five guys, whatever the case may be. And most days that I go to the gym, I don't want to go. But ultimately, that's when I find out the most about myself

those days that I don't feel like going, I'm not motivated, and I got to grind through a leg day or a heavy leg day or a heavy, heavy back day, or cardio, I hate cardio, but, you know, now I'm to the point where we're turning things up and I've got longer sessions

of cardio, and just those days, that's when I really have to gut it through and these workouts I'm going to now, man, like three or four times throughout the workout. I'm trying to get myself to stop, convincing myself that's enough

go home and it's like nope still got more in that sheet you didn't check off so it's not it's not easy

at all but nothing in life worth having is easy if I'm truly trying to become the person that I told

myself that I want to become I can't cut any corners because you cut those corners and you don't

get the results that you want to get every single year eventually you got to change something up you can't blame

anybody else you can't look to your left you're right it's that person in the mirror. You got to hold them accountable. So, yeah, we're not cutting any corners. We're not leaving anything on the table.

I'm going to find out, 2024. I'm going to find out who I am. That's what's up, man. That's what's up. I love that, man. I love that. It's all about accountability, right? Keep your word to yourself.

And like you said, most of the days that you're at the gym, you don't want to be there. You know, I'll admit, you know, there's days run there at 4.30 in the morning and there's days. I mean, I'm a full-time entrepreneur. I have my own schedule now. There's times I, you know, yesterday I was there at 11 o'clock in the morning. Like, I'm going to go what I want, right? The reality is, though, I would say about out of the four, four to five days I'm in the gym, I only want to be there one time.

That's typically Monday. You know, every other day, I'm like super tired because I've had the whole work week. You know, I'm tired mentally. And when I wake up in the morning, I'm exhausted because I didn't go to bed until 11, you know, because I had a baseball game or I had something, right? And to your point, and for the audience's sake, it's okay to feel that way. No one's going to judge you for saying, like, I really don't want to be here right now. If someone came up to me in the gym and said, yo, bro, man, I do not want to be here right now.

I'm like almost in tears because I'm just so uncomfortable and I'm just, I don't want to be here. I would have so much respect for that person, right? Because they're open with their feelings and saying, like, hey, this is not where I want to be. but they're there doing the work anyway, right? And I think that's super important because that's how we gain that confidence in ourselves and we create that trust, right, in order to say, okay, nothing left on the table in 2024. I'm going to find out who I really am and what I have to give to this world and to myself. And, dude, you're going to inspire massive amounts of people doing it, including your beautiful fiance,

which by the way, she does all your shirts, right? She does all your apparel. Yeah, she's been doing it for a while. Like, I was going through somebody, you know, I went through, you know, a trial and and everything, so many different situations where I would go through people and start relying on them, especially once I started getting, because I released the clothing line. That was the first thing I released before anything. So that was kind of the breadwinner.

And then I released the book and I started, you know, doing what it did. So I kind of neglected it a little bit. So I started leaning on other people to get everything done for me. And it was always situations where people would kind of let me down. So like, no, I'll take it over. You're trusting people that you can't count on. I'll take that over. And so she takes pride in it.

Like she has a cup business that took off during the pandemic. And so like the creations thing is something that she loves and she's passionate about. So it worked out perfect. It's funny when you always leave it in somebody else's hands, this is something that I'm experienced. Like I've experienced in the last four years like, dude, you're let down. You know, certain things we need to handle ourselves, right? Because we know it's going to get done. But let's go back to, man, we've,

already been on here half an hour almost, dude. This is like flying by and like quick style, dude. This is a great conversation. Y'all, I hope you're enjoying it as much as we are. Let's get into, you know, your time at Florida State and then going into the NFL and just talking, you know, walk people through that journey. Did it look like what it, what you wanted it to? Was there adversity there? What did it mean to you and your family, all that kind of good stuff? Yeah, Florida State, it was full of up and down. Everybody, you know, even the national championship year for me, because ultimately the national championship year,

I'm playing fullback. For those of you that don't know, I came out of high school as one of the top linebackers in the country, recruited by everybody. But my junior year, I had an injury that doctors told me at the time was career in it. I break my fibble, break my ankle, lose all the cards in my ankle,

and I break a few bones in my foot. And I was the first person, people don't notice, but I was the first person in the state of Florida. that had to have the cartilage, like injection surgery, they injected some gel in my foot to try to recirculate the cartilage in my ankle. I was the first person, I was a test dummy for that. And that was like 2012. So, yeah, that was a crazy process, but it's crazy now to see the people that had the same injury

that I had, and they pounced back so fast because they have, you know, the research and, of course, they have moms. was high school. A lot of of people obviously have now there, you know, in organizations that have, you know, the resources to kind of get them back faster versus the doctors are telling me like, your only worry is

being able to walk. You're not going to play, man. So, yes, I still struggle with that leg now. So fast forward to Florida State, I come in and they give me an opportunity to start as a freshman at Lineback. I come in in the spring and I kind of

shock everybody. And, And so I come in in the summer, they're like, man, you got to put on some weight. And that pride kind of kicks in. You're like, man, I want to be, you know, one of the first freshmen in a long time to start at linebacker. Kept hearing that from people in the hometown. Like, it hasn't been a freshman linebacker that came in and started at Florida State in a while. So that pride kind of kicked in. And I'm a guy at the time, I'm like 210.

And my game was built off speed. So I literally, in the summer, I go from 210 to like 235-ish, 2.30. that's a lot of weight fives. Yeah, bro. And that, mind you, I'm still dealing with the leg issue. It wasn't an issue when my weight was lower, but as soon as I put on that weight, I could not move anymore, not that first year.

So I'm seeing plays. I'm diagnosing everything and I can't get there. And I remember the stab, they're bringing me in, but I'm like, yo, what's going on? There's something going on at home? Like, this isn't the same player we saw in the spring. And I'm like, God. Yeah, yeah.

Like, this isn't the same guy we saw. man like what's going on. Then Jimbo brings me in the office and he's like man listen because I had offers on both sides of the ball. I had schools offered me at running back and linebacker. Jimbo's like man listen you're probably going to red shirt this year and

at linebacker he's like but I want to give you a look at fullback and I go over there and man I think I practice with them for about two weeks and then we have a first game against the bottle then I break for like a 25 yard run and then I school up

touchdown in the first game. And I was like, man, they did not let me go back the linebacker, man, it's not happening. But yeah, it was a lot of up and downs. I was battling with that because fullback, you know, it wasn't a sexy position. I'm like, man, and ultimately I was thinking selfish at that time.

It was like, my mother, I remember that cheeseburger situation. I'm trying to get to the NFL. And fullback aren't really in the NFL anymore. So if I'm playing this position, I'm going to make sure my family's straight. So I've battle with that the whole entire year. and but you know it was still a blessing like just going through that that process being around elite level of athletes every single day like we talked about it not you know people think when you're

playing at a high level like that everybody just comes in motivated no it's not the case 90% of the time guys don't want to practice they hate it hell no man that best practices is weird guys go in complaining like coach give us a day off like we've been growing and give us a day off and he's like, no, we got to stay on it. And guys are mad, they're going to practice piss, but we end up having one of our best practices we had all year. So it's just those things. You're not going to always be motivated to do it.

But the discipline, the consistency, like your discipline and your consistency has to kick in when your motivation runs out, and you've got to understand the goal that you set for yourself because you're not going to always feel like it. Things are going to happen. You're going to always have obligations, but ultimately the job has to still be complete.

So being there at Florida State and being around these highly successful individuals, Jimbo Fisher, Jaylon Ramsey's, you're Davin Cooks, James Winston, all those guys. You're like Iron Shopping's Iron. You're around these guys, you don't get better if you're doing something wrong. So just being around them to help me and, you know, going from my freshman year being the guy that is complaining about playing fullback and then I fall in love with it, and I'm becoming a number one player at my position coming up. So end up fast board, go to the senior bowl, NFL combine.

And I signed with the Bears in 2017. So that was kind of my college of NFL career. Then in the NFL, that's kind of why my first stint with politics at that level. And I'm not the type of person. I hear a lot of people complain about how politics weren't on their side. I'm not the type of person that's going to complain about how the politics screwed me over because I'm a firm believer that if you execute at a high level, you can overcome any odds, anything that, you know, that's that,

anybody that doesn't want you to win. And I was in a situation where ultimately a few of the guys that were the biggest decision makers as far as I go, officer coordinator and the running vats coach, they didn't want me there. So that was kind of my weird thing, dealing with an agent that kind of screwed me over. I had a situation where another team was trying to triple what the Bears offered me, but he has another client that plays a similar position to me on another team. So he doesn't want two clients competing for a spot. And I'm going into this thing blind and naive.

But later after my career, I kind of realized everything. So with the Bears ultimately, I get into a situation where at the time we have Jordan, Howard, Bending Cunningham, and Jeremy Lane for their playing running back. Of course, I'm the fullback. But these guys go down and training camp. The bear's bringing another fullback to kind of compete with me. And he's the OC and the running backs coach. They coached him two years prior in Detroit, I believe.

So this is their guy. Like, they're going on dinner. They're going out of dinner, all this. Like, they got a personal relationship. And they say from day one, and we have a team meeting, they're like, oh, he's going to make make us better. but I knew I couldn't make a mistake. He wasn't going to beat me out physically.

I'm more gifted than him. He wasn't going to outwork me. It wasn't going to happen. But this is their guy. You can't give them a reason. Ultimately, they're just looking for one reason to get rid of you. So fast forward, Jordan, Howard, all our running backs go down. And I'm playing fullback.

John Fox comes in. He's like, we're not going to sign any running back. We got Freddie. You can play full back in, running back. Freddie. I hope you're ready. you in shape because you're going to get double duty. So I'm playing both and I'm like, man,

this is what I'm looking forward to this. I've been waiting for this opportunity in my whole career to showcase all the things that I can do. It's kind of hard in college because you've got job to cook and you're not taking careers away from that guy. Like that's just being realistic. So I remember being in a situation where we're going to the pre-season games with a game plan

and the running back coach has put me in for past protection players. and taking me out whenever it's time to run the ball because he doesn't want me to get any film and beat this guy out. For those you that don't understand, the practice, beating the guy out and practice is one thing, but the games holds a whole,

they hold the whole different level of weight. So he was trying to make sure that I didn't get the film to beat this guy out. So fast forward to the second to last season game, we're playing the Titans. They give me a carry, and it's a full-back dive. I reach out, get hit, knee hits the ground,

and then the guy posts the ball. I know I'm down, but they call it a fumble on the field. And I remember running to the side line, and the coach is like, the running vats coach, he's like, man, you were clearly down, but we'll see what they say on the review. On the review, the bodies are kind of covering it up. Like, on the field, I'm thinking like, I'm down,

just going to go ahead review it. But the bodies are covering it up. I'm like, man, they're going to stick with the call they made on the field. But at that time, I was like, man, that's that one reason they were looking for. This is the second and the last preseason game, but I knew that was the reason they were looking for. And I'm like, shoot, I'll still end up somewhere else after. So we finished the preseason. They let me go.

And I remember meeting with other teams. And now this narrative comes out that, oh, why didn't Freddie beat this guy out? And now people, now are circulating that I'm a bad character guy, which is weird for me because coming out of college, The biggest checkmark next to my name was my character. Yeah. Everybody, team captain, high character guy, everybody loves them. They used to always make jokes. Like, man, are you paying everybody off?

You're the only player we found in this draft that has no red flags. And so to see this coming out, I kind of knew it was somebody within the organization trying to paint this narrative. But it was outside of my control. All I could do was, you know, kind of move forward. But I remember, I think, a workout that I had with a team. and I came in at 245 and mind you this is the way that I played at my whole entire career

but they started to believe the narrative that was painted about me before I even come into the door so they tell my agent it's like yeah he came in overweight he was 245 at the combine he was 235 I'm like everybody drops wait for the combine but I played at 245 since college

but it was like man listen this narrative they're sticking with it they're believing it but I can't control it So ultimately I bounce around and I never get on the team. Then I go to a developmental league, the AAS Alliance of American Football. And this is the league where the guys doing the fraud, the developmentally to get guys back into the NFL. That league folds. And at this point, it's like, man, I don't think the NFL is in is meant for me.

Because for most people, the situation for them is they're just not good enough. but that's not my story so I believe that that God is trying to direct me to do something else and it's weird because I'm so young at the time but I don't know I was just paying attention to everything it's like man it's not like I'm putting out bad film and it's not like I'm not dominating

I've been dumbing it since I've played this game I've always been dominant if I couldn't play it anymore I would have laid it down a long time ago but that's not the situation So maybe guys trying to leave me somewhere else. So I transitioned and then I write my book. Like, man, there's some guys, because the transition for me was, it was tough. So I wanted to help out, initially I wanted to help out athletes that struggle with that

transition after the game. And the book just took off. And you get the 2021 and the pandemic hits. Now you have people from all over the world that don't even follow sports that are I read in my book. Like, my book ends up in China, Japan, Germany, Ireland, all these crazy, all these crazy places. But it started from a place of me just want to help people out.

I wasn't worried about being the best selling author at all. I didn't, I didn't know what was for me, but I wanted to help out a few athletes. And, but people are the pandemic, they're losing their jobs. And I remember a guy reaching out to me at this point, and he messes me on Twitter. He was like, man, you don't know me. but I came across your book on Amazon and the name just caught my attention. I don't follow sports.

I lost my job. He said he lost his job. His wife left him. He was about to take his life, but he started reading my book. He said, I haven't been able to stop. I just finished the book and your book kept me from taking my life.

And I just want to thank you. He's like, keep telling me your story. Do not stop telling me your story. It's like, you really changed my life. And I didn't realize, like, at the time, I didn't realize, you know, my, you know, even though I knew I had been through a lot, I didn't realize, you know, there are a lot of people in the world that were, you know, fighting these battles, these similar battles, and they need some type of inspiration.

So from there, it's like, man, let's take this thing up a notch. Let's continue telling this story, but let's try to tell it on an even bigger level. So once the book became a bestseller, you know, I started to start. reaching out to some of the people that I knew in the industry, in the film industry. And, you know, none of them really wanted to give me an opportunity. And then my story goes viral

on Facebook. I share one of I shared, I had an interview with somebody and the cheeseburger story goes viral. Next thing, you know, you've got all these different film producers reaching out to me wanting to work together. So it's like, all right, okay. So a guy from Netflix

wants to work together, but I didn't really have the opportunity to, you know, tell my story the way I wanted to and I didn't really have any power in that situation. So I was like, I don't know if this makes sense. There's some guys that had worked with Warner Brothers that were trying to branch out and do their own thing. They reached out and we ultimately got a deal done. So at the end of 2021, I signed a deal with them. We started filming in 2022.

We released a film at the end of 2022 in October. And mind you, this is all independent. I have so many different people like my independent putting all your money up so putting all your money up released the film in October I don't really know about the film festivals or anything like that

I was like man if you don't enter it in film festivals it won't get picked up and I'm like okay no shoot I'm not really thinking about that at this at this point it's like this is a blessing even if it ends here so less than three months after releasing

the film we get a message from a guy from Gravitosh Venters, one of the biggest independent film distribution companies in the world. They reach out. So a guy that I had connected with months prior, he had a

relationship with them and he had followed the story and he had been sending them all of my work and he showed them the documentary. And they had, be like, man, they have a film deal on the table. And I don't know if you're interested, but they did his film a few years prior.

He kind of told me what this film made on working with them. I was like, man, let's do it. So at the beginning of 2023, we signed a deal with them and the film released everywhere worldwide in May of 2020. So on prime video,

Apple TV was called Trials of Triumph, the documentary. And this is after people telling me that it wouldn't get picked up because it wasn't in film festivals. And mind you, this is my first ever film I'm working on. I don't really know how a film should be formatted. Anything is just,

I'm just thinking about what I think, what I want people to hear. Because ultimately the documentary at first was just going to be me telling my story. It's going to be short, probably like a 30-minute, you know, short film. But I was like, man, no, I don't want to just tell my story.

I want to bring in other people telling their trials and triumph stories. So that no matter who watches this film, They'll find somebody that they feel like they can relate to because life's real. Everybody's not going to relate to a national champion or an NFL player. But they can relate to your everyday person that's still trying to fight and grind their way through or your person that was at the top and they lost it all. Those type of stories need to be heard.

Like, you know, celebrities are cool, but you got everyday people that are superheroes to meet. And I wanted to bring in people from all different walks of life for this. and ultimately make an impact. So that's, you know, that's the message that we tried to get across with it. And we did that. So we'll see where things go from here. I know it's just the beginning. That's amazing.

And I want to, you know, land the plane here. But I want I want the audience to take away something really, really big from here. And it is within the last five to ten minutes of what you were saying. I mean, they could take a bunch of things. But I want them really to dive in on this. It does not matter what other people. say or feel about what you're doing as long as you can believe in it and you truly believe it at the heart of the core of you and you're giving it everything you got you have to understand that god has a

bigger plan and if he's for it there's nothing anybody can do to stop it so you stay the course and it's funny i'm going through something similar right now you know and i'm listening to you and i'm just completely mind blown and my wheels are turning because i'm going through this massive growth opportunity and there's just a lot of things kind of fluid with it right now. And I got one group saying this. I got another group saying that. That's not going to work. This will work.

That won't work. And I'm thinking, oh my gosh, right? What's going to happen? And then I have my wife, who's my business partner. She's more of a silent partner,

right? You don't see her, you know, she's not like the image of the brand or anything, but she's my confidant. You know, this is like, hey, babe,

this is what's going on? like where are we at and she goes yeah none of this matters i'm like it absolutely flipping matters and she was no that's not what i'm saying she goes i already know the ability you have you're already gifted we know that and if this is what god wants he's going to step in at some point but you got to allow him and and she was i'm just going to let you know if i have any apprehensions about anything. We're not doing it. And then I pipe up my, what do you mean? You just can't jump in now. Like, I'm in this every day. She goes, no, I can and I will. I can and I will because I see things differently. I'm seeing them objectively. You're in it.

Right. You're in it. But, you know, I guess what I'm saying to you, Freddie and to everybody who's listening, it's just, it's not for us to figure out. It's not for us to figure out. It's not for us to figure out. You know, there's certain templates and there's certain, you know, processes that you usually go through, like with films, go to the, you know, go to the festivals. But it's not the end all be all. Clearly, it's not. Right. So what we have to do is we have to trust in what we're doing. Trust that God is taking care of, taking care of us and putting us in the right situations. And we're executing, you know, through our goodwill and our free will. And if it's, if it's meant to be, it's going to be. you know and if not hey man you gave it hell right like and that and that too like right there that is hard for people right that's hard for competitors like like you and I now I you know I thought when I when I baseball was over I was like how could he take that like honestly I questioned him like how could you take baseball away from me it's the only thing I know how to do is the only thing

I'll ever be good at and now I'm sitting here. right and my experiences have led me down a road to help athletes and and dude i have three division one athletes right now that are that are putting on their cleats for opening day that are my clients that i've helped over the last five six months and i'm just like this ball of energy is excited for him i got one at mazoo that one at etsu one at fgCU and they're all in the starting lineups and and they get to kick off their season, you know, and, you know, I get to see this transpire. Had I become the athlete that I wanted it, I might never be in this position I'm in now. And I love to see others win.

And even if it means I didn't win like I wanted to back then, well, I can relish another success now. And that's what I'm about. So, and I just want to thank you. you've provided a ton of value to the audience. And I really hope they go back and listen to this again. So if you're listening, go back and listen to it again. Because there's so many lessons, guys.

There's so many lessons in Freddie's story about determination, grit, faith, just motivation and discipline, adversity, and overcoming all the obstacles and all the adversity, that this is not a one listen episode. Go back and listen to it again, guys. And I just, again, brother, thank you so much for coming on. I'm so grateful and blessed that we got to finally do the episode. I know it's going to impact a ton of people.

So just... I want to, before we leave, say one more thing to the audience that they can take with them. Come on. You know, just, you know, ultimately not, you know, believing the limitations that people place on you. If I had told you that a kid that comes from the industry that's been homeless, made it to the NFL, after all the obstacles that he had to go through.

You'd be like no way, like, no way at all. And in sports, we see these inspiring stories. Everybody has a sad story, but nobody cares until you win. So for me to be telling my story at this level, after not being a Hizman contender, not being one of the, you know, a Hall of Famer, careers long gone, didn't last long in the NFL, but people want to hear my story.

Like I just literally last week had an NFL Hall of Fame and reach out to me like man I want all your struggle made here and he wants me on the show so but that goes to show you no matter where you're at in your life

you can win and God is always moving even when you can't see it like some of these situations like with the film God is setting people up lining them up and they're mentioning your names and rooms to get through opportunities like I'm not even trying to get my film out there at the point because I don't you know

I'm like man shoot this was the big opportunity. But now you got people behind the scenes. They're like, man, I love this story. I wanted to be heard by more people and never mentioned it, mentioning it. And that's how God moves. You can't, when I thought football was all, like you said, with baseball, God was like, no, I took away football because you would have never found your voice

if I'd have kept you on that field. So I had to take away some things and build your character a little bit. So now you can go share your story and utilize those experiences to impact the world. So anything with you and what you're doing, And there's somebody right now that's struggling with that transition. It's like, man, God's already prepared a way. You just got to go trust the process. Absolutely, brother.

Well, dude, man, I hear you. And I believe in it 1,000% and listen, y'all, I need you to go connect with my boy, Freddie. Everything's in the show notes. Go connect with him. See what he's all about and become involved with him any way you possibly can. I just, again, brother, thank you again for coming on. And y'all, until the next time, stay determined and go chase your dreams. Peace.

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