The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler - Orlando Brown Jr - His Father’s Death & His Road to the NFL

Episode Date: June 8, 2020

My HoneyDew this week is Baltimore Ravens Pro Bowl Tackle, Orlando Brown Jr! Fresh off a historic NFL season, Zeus joins me to talk about his childhood, his father’s tragic death and his road to anchoring the right side of the greatest offense in NFL history! I can’t thank Zeus enough for opening up about his trauma and sharing his amazing story! Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel & watch The Dew there every toozdee! Sign up for my new Patreon show, The HoneyDew with Y’all where I highlight the lowlights with y’all! Submit your story to [e-mail] Sponsors: Go to http://omaxhealth.com and enter code HONEYDEW to get 20% off CryoFreeze and sitewide!———— Go to http://bluechew.com and use promo code HONEYDEW to get your first shipment free with $5 shipping!

What's up everybody? This is a little update video before the episode today. I just want to say we're here at Santa Monica Music Center right now. The windows are literally boarded up. We got a little makeshift studio going on here right now because Annie's the man and figured out how to set it up. And I just want to say thank you. Thank you to every single person. Thank you for the donations, the messages, the support, the love. Thank you for the donations, the messages, the support, the love. Everybody that has supported me somehow, thank you very much. And Lana supports the cause as well and thanks you guys as well.

You really stepped up. I'm speaking from the heart right now, so I might be stumbling around, but I'm overwhelmed by the love and the kindness, so thank you. Nightpants Nation Strong, I appreciate y'all out there. I do want to let you know that we're going to sell a shirt. It's up on the website now. Honeydew Strong. All proceeds will go to benefit Santa Monica Music Center.

And you're about to see this episode here. And then we've got two more already from the studio that we'll be able to bring. And I did three Honeydew with y'alls. So I've got two more of those. So in the meantime, uh, hopefully we can get some windows put in here and get the place back to normal and get back in here and recording for you. But, um, that's what's going on. Not going to let you down. We'll figure it out somehow. We're going to do it and we're going to do it right. And we're going to do it well. Like going to do it right and we're going to do it well like we always do it thank you for your support i love you guys um enjoy this episode this episode of the honeydew is brought to you by omax cryo freeze and blue chew more on that later let's get into the do you're listening to the honeydew y'all we're over here doing it at the honeydew studios i am ryan

sickler the website is ryan sickler.com make sure you subscribe to the email list there uh youtube.com slash r sickler is the link for YouTube. If you're listening and you haven't subscribed to the YouTube channel to watch, go do it now. Go subscribe. Make sure you're also following me on Facebook on the Facebook fan page. And thank you guys for sending in your honeydew stories, man. It's been really fun to go through these and talk to some of you guys. The patreon show is called the honeydew with y'all where we sit down and highlight the low lights with y'all so please if you think you have a story that should be heard or you know someone you're like you got to go tell

sickler this fucking story uh have them email me honeydewpodcast at gmail.com honeydewpodcast.com is the website you can go get your merch, get your night pants. I can't thank you again enough. Night pants nation. Y'all it's growing and growing night pants nation. I see out there in night pants in the daytime. Um, and I want to give a special shout out to my friend, Lana Negrete in the Santa Monica music center where I record here.

Look, if you live in LA and you need lessons for your kids or you just want them for yourself, this is the spot. I'm telling you, they've been here for 50 years. They're a family owned business. And I love that they serve the community. I'm so glad that my money goes toward a business that serves the community and not just some real estate mogul. And with all the uncertainty with not being able to come in and get in person and do lessons, they've really taken to the online lessons. So you'd live anywhere in the world,

and you could still get your kids or yourself lessons from local Los Angeles musicians. So go to SantaMonicaMusic.com and use code HONEYDOO, and they will waive the registration fee and give you one free lesson when you sign up for a package. All right, there's also a phone number on the website. Feel free to call them if you have questions. They have human beings, you believe it, standing there,

ready to answer your calls and take care of you guys. And over here, we highlight the lowlights, and I always say these are the stories behind the storytellers. And I can't wait to introduce this next guest here, man. He is a true honeydew, y'all. He's also the Pro Bowl right tackle who helps open lanes for Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, the reigning NFL MVP. of the Baltimore Ravens, the reigning NFL MVP.

He's also the right tackle who happens to block on the greatest rushing team in the history of the NFL. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Orlando Brown Jr., y'all. Oh, man. My only regret is we can't do this in person, but I'm so glad to have you on the show i'm i'm stoked to have you look dude i got a raven's hoodie and look look let me show you i got a raven's t-shirt under that motherfucking i love you i was stoked you were coming on dude um. Now, I'm going to let everybody know, you have such an amazing story.

This is not going to be a sports episode. I know a lot of people, but your story needs to be told. It needs to be heard. It's amazing. But speaking of amazing, just tell me, come on, how great was last season? I mean, you're the greatest rushing team in the history of the league in your second year yeah first things first appreciate you for having me on i didn't say that but thank you for having me on but dog that shit last year man it was just it was it was unreal the amount of fun that we had um i mean like i can take you

all the way back to otas and just how competitive practice was then, like as we're getting ready to transition into that phase of minicamp and then we get that break and then we come back and we hit the ground running as a team in the preseason. And, you know, we practice against Jacksonville, practice against Philly, Lamar showing out, you know what I mean? All of the top players are doing really well against other top talent. And I said, bro, we hit week one.

And, I mean, Hollywood is going crazy. I mean, obviously he had those big catches, and he took that slant for like 60, 70 yards. And I remember after he caught it, he's running downfield. I look at Marshall Yada to my left, and I just look at him, and he goes, damn, man, this guy's fucking fast, bro. I said, damn right. I told his ass.

I said, bro, I told you, i said bro i told you bro all he does is catch touchdowns it's incredible i'm so excited man that was an amazing season and uh you made the that's legit history that's not like you know he's made seven field goals and from 50 i mean which is also amazing but this is the greatest rushing team in the history of the nfl that's nuts to me dude um yeah and so it goes back to like we met at maryland live we met when i was on the road with tom and tom had hit me up before we were coming it was like yo orlando brown's coming to the show and i was like zeus is coming to the show i was so fucking stoked dude because i look i've been a huge fan of yours i've been following you

i look i read i go with the ravens the whole year i'm reading about the otas and who i know everything going on right now with the team that that they let you know that they let you know i know all that but i was so stoked to meet you and um tom had showed me the girl you were dating at the time and i was like man she's fine she is fine yeah and uh so we get we get to the show and the funny thing a couple things happened so i started talking there's two older black guys that did security for us and they're always my favorite guys they're always my favorite guys and one of the guys i'm telling him uh you know i'm from here i'm just you know i live in la now but i'm from here and and we start talking

about work and shit and i go i worked at ups for a while by the way shout out to ups baltimore hub primary one joe avenue uh and he dude he knew one of the guys i knew and we're sitting there talking about i couldn't get over i'm like god it's good to be back home so then the main security guy this dude was on point he didn't miss a detail so he we were waiting we kept asking like is he here yet is he here yet and then he came back at one point he's like orlando's here now and tom goes man did you see the girl he's with? And I'm telling you, like, like it was like this was a movie with a scripted line. That dude was so perfect.

He didn't miss. He goes, white chick with the fat ass. Oh, it's crazy, dog. That's not the first time something like that has happened. It's not, bro. And it's so normal, dog. That's not the first time something like that has happened, dog. It's not, bro. And it's so normal, man. Because, like, you know, when you think of a big black football player, bro, like, you think of pit bulls.

You know what I mean? I got three pit bulls. Yeah. You know, you think I'm having a white girl with a fat ass. I don't want a girlfriend. Why ain't she got a fat ass? You know, it's so typical, bro. It's so normal.

Oh, he was so funny dude it was so funny and then i also i want to say thank you for setting us up uh at the rams game out here because you took care of us you got tickets for me my stepson derrick tom and uh we were out there and i'm we took a couple picks so we took a pick together when i met you at la live or maryland live which we'll get into and um but we took one the i said tom like let's just take a photo of us together and we were sitting next to hollywood brown's grandma and she straight up fucking photo bombed our picture and i sent it to you i was like look at hollywood brown's grandma over here she was all smiling up at our pictures but the picture we met you after the show and i want you to know this you're just so you know your autograph mini helmet is in our office in the studio over here and the picture that you

took with derrick and me uh that is also framed in the office brother i'm telling you yeah you're the shit i love you man you're you're Yeah. You're the shit. I love you, man. You're, you're just a great dude. And you're an under, you've been an underdog your whole fucking life. I know you have.

And I root for the motherfucking underdog. So let's talk about this. Um, well, I got, I wrote some stuff. I wanted to talk to you. Well,

real quick, actually, if you could tell us what, what are you hearing about the season? Are you guys going to, are we going to have some football with no fans? What's gonna happen gosh man it's really hard to say you know i've heard a variety of different things man i've heard shit they're only gonna do half the stadium so if a stadium holds 80 they're only gonna let 40 is so 40 000 tickets um you know i've heard that

uh regular season may get pushed back a little bit, you know, if that second wave does hit, you know, towards the end of camp. As far as I do know, though, I'm pretty sure we're going to start training camp on time. Like there hasn't been any talk too much about training camp necessarily not starting on time. Now, whether something happens and we break from there, but as far as I know, everybody pretty much has a mindset on coming back to July 26th, July 27th.

Good, man. We need it. We need sports right July 27th. Good, man. We need it. We need sports right now. We need something, man. People are going crazy at home right now. I'm going crazy, man. I've been riding damn elliptical, doing drills, punching bags. I'm involved, man. I'm ready to play some ball.

Are you ready to hit somebody? Oh, that's my shit, man. That's what I do for a living. I know. It's a coping mechanism for me so i want to for for a lot of people even the casual sports fan i want to remind them who your father was your orlando brown jr your dad was also zeus as well i love that you carried over the nickname uh my dad's nickname was lefty I tattooed that shit on my right arm. I feel that shit.

I got Zeus right here. Big money, no fun, so I already know. But your dad was on the unfortunate end. A lot of people, if you're a casual sports fan, might remember your dad was on the unfortunate end of a penalty flag that was thrown, and it went in his face mask, and it blinded him. At the time, he was a cleveland brown that came to baltimore went back to cleveland got the flag in the eye and then was out of the league for i think almost three years right about that yeah no you're right it was uh from like oh

2000 or like 2002 is when he was out he first season back was like 03 and like that spring of 03. But he came back with the Ravens. Yep. Yeah. He came back. So from the things I've read, you know, he came back, he played, I guess he didn't have full vision, but he was no longer legally blind. Is that right? It was. Yeah, exactly.

So, man, I can kind of give you the details on that, man. It's super weird. So, like, originally when it happened in 99, like, towards December of 99, I remember, like, because I was actually at that game. I'm three years old. It's weird that I remember it, man. That's what I wanted to ask you when you were. I was three years old. So, he always had a box.

Like, whenever he played, like, he always had the box. So, as far as I can remember, whenever I went to a a football game i was never necessarily in the stands always in the family box and i remember the game man because everybody like when i was just at that age i'm at the games i'm not necessarily playing paying attention to ball i'm playing stopping gold red light green light tag you're it eating crab cakes shit like like that at the game. So I'm not necessarily locked in, but I remember we were playing around and everybody in the family room just went completely quiet. And, like, I remember my mom was there and she's just like, what is going on?

Why did he do that? Why did he do that? And then before you know it, like, they're showing the replays on the screen and then my dad's running back out on the field like look what you did to my eye you know and what was so frustrating for my dad is my grandfather got diagnosed with glaucoma in 1993 so he completely was blind and he lost his eyesight so uh like my dad's eyes were something like he really really really took serious and like i've been wearing since I was in the first grade, dog. So, like, he took it serious, bro.

Like, you know, my brother's too. Like, I mean, he consistently got us eye checks. He got his eyes checked. And that's the great thing that happened. That shit gave him PTSD, man. So, you know, it was unfortunate. That really is, man. But what a fucking... I just saw the NFL Films piece on your dad where I've never seen...

There's two people. They happen to both be Ravens. I've never seen Bill Belichick. Just... He loved your dad. I mean, have you seen that piece? You've had to have seen the piece where he talks about getting him a suit.

I mean, what a great story. And he was emotional telling that story. He really, really cared for your dad, it seems like. Yeah, man. Coach Belichick, man, he's somebody that's, believe it or not, bro, he's been a positive impact in my life since even a little bit before that, but even since I lost my dad at 15. I've still stayed in contact with him.

I stayed in contact with Ozzie throughout, you know, from that point in time in high school. But, man, Coach Bilitek, man, you know, I remember when I was coming out in 2018 for the draft, man, I kid you not, we probably talked for about an hour and 30 minutes, man, at the combine. Just me and him one-on-one, man, just talking ball to about 1030, 11 o'clock at night.

And, man, I mean, he's just an amazing person you know the relationship that he had with my dad was so special because believe it or not like my dad grew up in inner city dc in the 80s you know in his late in the late in the 70s and my grandparents are from south carolina and like augusta georgia so bro they're not they weren't he wasn't familiar with white people like anybody that knows him would tell you, bro, he was very unfamiliar with white people. And then they're throwing flags in his eyes and shit. Oh, yeah. Like, he was throwing the fuck off.

So, when he got Bill Belichick, that shit changed his life completely, man, because he felt like he met a white man that he could trust. Right, yeah. You know know based off his cultural background and my grandparents cultural background how about just based off of everything going on right now still yes and that's you know and that's real life and you know thank god for

people like Bill Belichick you know people like you you know that understand you know the unfortunate events that a lot you know, that understand, you know, the unfortunate events that a lot of black men in America have to deal with and why it makes them the way that it makes them, you know, and I was fortunate enough, man, to, you know, my dad exposed me to those days in DC. Shit, I grew up cleaning the barber shops in DC, Northeast DC, cleaning up Marvin Gaye Park, man. So that's what I did in the summers. And, you know, he exposed me to all that different type of stuff and those different type of people so you know i was fortunate enough to not necessarily have to

grow around it but understand it well i really want to get into your story because you have such a fascinating story i mean you're a maryland kid um who i mean you grew up on the Ravens sidelines, and they draft you, and you end up playing your dad's position, wearing his number. And don't they have some equipment they've still had? Do you wear some of your dad's equipment? Yeah, I will. So, like, I always wore, like, a bandana, like, in college and stuff. And I wore it a little bit my rookie year. They won't let me wear it on Sundays just because of the new era rule.

But, yeah, man, I've always worn a bandana i love it dude and then you get drafted by the team you grew up on the fucking sidelines for and now play your dad's position i mean come on so we're at we're at maryland live and again the funny thing too that that i forget about you is that how old are you? Twenty what? I just turned 24. I mean, you just turned 24. You're six what? Eight?

Nine? Six, eight. Six, eight. Six, eight. When I look at a man your size, the age, I bet you've probably dealt with this in your life. You look like, you know what I mean? Like, you feel older than me when I look, when my neck has to tilt up. You know what I mean? I want to call you sir. You know when I look, when my neck has to tilt up to look, you know what I mean?

I want to call you, sir. You know what I'm saying? I got fucking 23 years on you. I want to call you, sir. Uh, but I,

I was, I was so stoked to meet you and I didn't want to bother you. I never want to bother people, you know, and I didn't want to say anything to you. And the whole time I'm standing next to you and I just, it's just fucking, I just want to be like,

and you were so, you're like, can we take a picture? Can I take a take a i was like can i take a picture with you you know what i mean like jesus christ and then i was like dude can i please just say something to you like yeah i'm sorry but i gotta say this like you're a maryland fucking kid who grows up on the raven sidelines and your dad tragically passes and then you get passed over in the fucking draft and then the Ravens swoop in because they know you and they know your character and your hustle and they know they got to steal and boom you come over and now you really got something

to prove because your dad's legacy is on the line there too and you know you're going to fucking step up. Not that you wouldn't have done that for any other fucking team in the NFL but there's an extra edge when the Baltimore Ravens come knocking because it's Ozzie, and you know Ozzie. And now you play his position, you wear his number, you're a fucking pro bowler, and you're on the greatest rushing team

in the history of the goddamn NFL. It is storybook shit. It's a Cal Ripken type story. You're that you're that maryland athlete man you're you're the athlete and by the way i cannot stop uh staring at the the sanford sun shirt that i'll let you know i'll we talked about it before you start i love it but you i'll please i would love for you to walk us chronologically through your story yeah no man i can i can get over in the old man so i was born in 1996 john hopkins hospital um baltimore maryland

um you know from there uh that was the first year that the ravens were in baltimore you know coming from cleveland because they shut down the franchise in Cleveland. And in 98, they reopened up the Cleveland Browns. So they gave some of those guys that were originally on that Cleveland team that moved to Baltimore. They gave them opportunities to move back to Cleveland with the restart of the franchise there in Cleveland. So my dad was one of those guys. And so we moved back to Cleveland in 1999. I had another brother. I was born in 97 in Baltimore. I had another brother that was born in 2000 in Cleveland.

My mom is originally from Cleveland. So that's how my parents met. They actually met at a club called The Mirage. I don't know if any of your listeners are from Cleveland, but they met at a club called The Mirage. I guess my dad spelled his nickname wrong or some shit. But, uh... But, uh... But, um...

So, yeah, so that's 2000, man. My parents, they actually split up in 2001. Their divorce was in final to, like, 06, 07. My dad played ball from, finished up his career from, like, 03, 07. And, you know, from there, man, I, you know, I always wanted to play ball. Football was something I always wanted to do, but my dad wouldn't let me, like, he was just very adamant on look, pay attention to school,

do like become a doctor, be a lawyer, leave this football shit alone. It's difficult. It's too hard, you know? And so he spent a lot of time, like a kid like i remember in second grade not a lot of people know this but in second grade my mom signed me up for lutherville chargers and so like i'm playing little league ball i'm in second grade i'm playing with the fucking eighth grade or seventh grade because of my weight and them exactly and so at the time my dad was still in the league and come to find out my mom did it behind my dad's back so i would only play every other game so like you know the season starts in late august Yeah, yeah. So I'm like, yeah, he played away game.

Exactly. And so, man, like around the third. Unless it was against the Redskins. Exactly. So my dad finds out that I'm playing second grade ball. Man, he calls my mom, snaps. He gets the Lutherville coach's number. He snaps. I text my dad.

I'm like, well, can I go return my gear? He's like, no, don't worry about it. I'll just give him a check for it. Keep that shit. So I still got that gear somewhere, man. I actually wore double zeros. I couldn't fit shit else. I had double zeros.

Double zero jersey. I had to get that. My mom has. Yeah, man. So, you know, that's early on in life, like around, you know, 2000, 2002 or whatever. You know, from there, getting older, I really like from there, from that point on, I didn't play organized football again till like seventh, eighth grade. Were you playing any other sports? Were you playing baseball or basketball or anything else? I wasn't doing shit, but eating. I wasn't doing shit but eating i wasn't doing nothing but eating man

i was in the ac playing video games and eating cereal that's what i was gonna say were you a gamer oh yeah yeah no man video i was playing video games all day and um yeah man so by the time eighth grade rolls around i'm six six 450 pounds damn eighth grade eighth grade sixth grade six six 450 in eighth grade 450 pounds man i don't know why the hell my parents let me get that big yes dog i like i know it sounds unbelievable i have to see you a picture of me and one of my closest friends bro you're gonna laugh please please email we'll put it in this if you give it to us in time for sure the o-line in baltimore loves to pick bro dude but i mean god you're towering over every teacher everyone everyone oh yeah so i've been a big kid my whole life man and and you know that was

something that even at a young age you know shit i'm in kindergarten the same height as the fifth graders you know what i mean it's like you know i grew so fast and then i just kept growing you know i even i grew half an inch in college you know did you really so yeah but i grew half i came into college at like what was it i think it was something weird like like six six and six six and three quarters or some shit like that and my final measurements at the combine was six seven and three quarters but wow it's six eight so so yeah but eighth grade man believe it or not man man, I called my dad, like went into that year. And at the time, my parents had joint custody. So in the state of Maryland, you can't like pick who you want to live

with to your 13 years old. So we had went through the summer, like in the summer times with my mom and dad, me and my two brothers, it was four weeks with mom, four weeks with dad. And so literally, dog, I remember remember like I'm riding home, my mom from Florida and we were staying at my grandmother's and we're driving back up to Baltimore. And man, I was just thinking to myself, man, gosh, I want to be in the NFL someday. And, you know, I feel like it was in that moment, you know, when I got back, I got with my dad, I told my dad, man, I said, dad, I want to play football.

I want to be in the NFL. And, uh, you know, the thing that he told me was, he said, dad, I want to play football. I want to be in the NFL. And, you know, the thing that he told me was he said, look, I'll let you play. All I ask is that you don't stop doing this shit till you're 10 years in and you're a Hall of Famer. I was like, 10 years in, like an NFL or like he's like 10 years in the NFL and you're a fucking Hall of Famer. That's when you can stop doing this shit. And I'll be like, okay, anything before that is not acceptable. I'm not letting you quit. So I made that commitment, man, at 13, you know, that

I was going to do what I needed to do to better myself. And at the time, bro, I was so bad. Like, you know, we talking about a 6'6 kid who's uncoordinated, hasn't been running. I like, it was just so weird, so awkward for me, man. So I got out there and the first game he dropped, you know, I'm out there playing.

I could always, I always remember where he would be. He'd always be on like the 50 yard line. So, and wherever that would be like in the stands, I always knew like I could look left or right, whatever side. And so I remember like we were midway through the first quarter, and I look up and I'm like, damn, man, where'd my dad go? And then I look back up in the third quarter, I'm like, damn, he's not there. Game

ends. I'm like, man, have y'all seen my dad there? Like, no, man, he left in the middle of the first quarter. Damn, what the fuck? Okay. So I get home. I get home. My friend Barry took me home. I get home. I was like, dad, why'd you leave? He was like, yeah, it was just hot out there. It was hot out there.

So the next game hits. So the next game hits. Same situation. I said, Dad, why'd you leave? Third game hits. I said, I come home. I'm like, Dad, why do you keep leaving? I got questions.

I want to know what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong. And he said, listen, Lando, I'm going to tell you straight up, dog. I can't sit there and watch this pussy ass shit. You over here. All you want to do is you just want to hug him. All that hugging shit. That shit ain't football. That's not fucking football.

None of that shit means anything. I want to see you. I'm a motherfucker. RK on him. Jump on top of him. DDT him. I don't want to see nothing of that kind of shit. If there ain't no flags being

thrown, I'm not staying. So I was like, oh shit. And he was serious as shit. Serious as shit. So bro, so literally. He was leaving. He was leaving. Oh, leaving. Crazy, crazy. So after that, after he says that, he says, he says,

I got something I want to show you. And like, I had watched the water boy before with adam sandler yeah but like never substance you know what i'm saying when you're a teenager 11 12 years old but it's like shit just you laughing h2o sucks but bro he shows it to me and he shows it to me and he's like he's like you see how you see how you put his face he put his face on that guy you got anybody you don't like at school put the face on that motherfucker treat him like that and so and so i go out there the next week and we're playing southern maryland i'll never forget there was this other big kid he's about six five he's about 380 pounds the other big kid and on in the in the league and so i remember telling myself like yo i'm gonna fuck this kid up i'm gonna i'm gonna jump on top so the ball so the first player gave

me lines up over me ball is snapped i kid you no i'm not even kidding you and it's a little bit more dramatic and i'm explaining it but less dramatic but so i'm driving the kid for about 10 yards and like my helmet's in his chest and I'm just running and the whistle blows and I just hit toss him. And he, oh, the big ass kid, big as shit. He falls.

And then I fall with an elbow on top of him, dog. This kid, this, this kid leaves the game, bro. My dad came down from the fucking stands dog all the way to the sideline talking i mean the whole way yeah that's like going in bro and so like it was in that moment that i was

like oh shit okay this is how you play ball like this is how you do it and uh bro like that shit that shit just bred me to what i what i am and who i am today and how i play the game bro so it's i love that dude i love that yeah man and then um you know so from there you know yeah go ahead i was gonna ask you that's your so how old are you when you first 13 your first year playing 13 okay so then next year is high school or do you go what high school did you go to in maryland so i went to demath for two years and then real quick there's i just saw a promo for this basketball thing i think it's on showtime and they're profiling pg count yeah and the fucking athletes that come i mean this one specifically i think is just

basketball but there's so many good athletes from that oh yeah that maryland area man it's crazy yeah when i was at high school there my freshman year was victor aladipo was on the basketball team um jeremy grant who's in the nba now um hosh quinn cook had just left uh josh shelby had just left he was a guy that played in the NBA for a little bit. I'm trying to think of some other names in there I'm missing, but they'll come back to me, man. But, bro, it was a whole – that shit was just crazy to me, man, because, you know, it was basically – the math is in D.C.

It's an hour away from Baltimore. So, you know, and I'll get in and explain that if you're ready, you know, for like about that time. That's around the time of that. Yeah. I mean, I, I, I went to Liberty high and we knew, I mean, I played soccer. I didn't play play, but we played you guys. And we knew like you, when you talked about the top football team and not, we're not talking about Maryland either. This is one of the best in the country is always the math, the math,

the math. Yeah. So, okay. you go it says you're you're one year into your football career and now you're you're in high school yeah so i go into high school man i'm still heavy as hell i'm probably at this time 420 pounds instead of 450 and um man I go into high school as a freshman, hopes high, man, hoping that I can make varsity. There was no way in hell I was ready to do anything besides squirt water in my mouth, dog. I was just like – it was just – my body was so out of whack. I was not in good shape.

And so that was, like, the first time I had, you know, like really done something super organized with ball with structure with school with football with going to practice and all of this and i remember like after training camp ends which was so hard for me bro i got so many i could tell you a goofy ass story about training camp dog my freshman year so years ago this is gonna trip me out so my dad had an Alienware laptop. And so like an Alienware laptop and he used to be like, listen, I'll let you

borrow it. Just don't watch porn on my shit. You're going to give me a virus. It's embarrassing and shit. So I had one of those long ass days where I was like, man, I'm going to beat my meat. So I get home, bro. I get home.

I got the laptop. I'm laying in bed. I don't remember what the hell I was looking at. Pulled it up. I get ready to jack off, and I catch a charlagorse in my hamstring. So I didn't pause the damn porno video. So my dad can hear me screaming. He runs downstairs like, what's up?

What's up? What's going on? I said, man, I got a crack on my hamstring. It's killing me. I don't know what to do. And so he looked over and he saw the porn. He said, man, your ass was beating on me. Man, I told you that shit going to make you go blind, dog.

You know, he don't fucking around with vision either. Oh, dog, dog. I'm dying, bro. He be like, yeah, that shit going to make you go blind, dog. He be like, I got you, dog. I got you. Just stand on the cold floor. So I'm standing on the cold floor and he's hitting my hamstrings

like Mike Tyson, dog. I mean, hey, bro, left, look, right. I mean, just going in. And I'm like, that's good. My dad's head is going, it's going. Like, oh, fuck that shit. Get that shit. We gotta get that lactic shit out of there. So he's just swinging, swinging his head in there. Like, he finally lets up.

And he was like, see, I told your ass about that jacking off shit. Stop doing that shit. Just wait till the time is right. I was like, all right, dad, my bad. Damn, man. The whole time, dog, I'm just in a damn t-shirt with no pants on, dog.

I'm 14 years, 13, 14 years old, bro. 6'8", dude. Let's not forget that. Bro, she was hilarious, bro. I actually asked her, like, the next day, like, why you say I could go blind from jacking off? She'd be like, shit, you never almost shot yourself in your eye? What the fuck?

She'd be like, what the hell? And so, yeah, bro, so I played B-tackle whenever my freshman year, man. Just learning stuff. Oh, you started on defense first? Yeah, so that's where I originally started at high school on freshman ball, just playing all D-tackle. They didn't feel like I was capable of playing O-line, which I wasn't.

And then my sophomore year, you know, which is the year my dad passed, like that's when I like started. They let me play varsity they didn't have me on junior varsity i was basically just a backup on varsity and so um you know it was hard for me at first to really even understand like man you know there's guys out there in my grade you know that i felt like i was better than and you know coach didn't want to play me or whatever it was but uh you know long story short so basically my setup setup at the math was because it was an hour away from my, and we lived on the Harbor, uh, like right off the Harbor in Baltimore with my

dad. So the math was like a legit, like 59 minutes hour away from the Harbor. So, but my grandfather, he lived in Northeast DC still where my dad grew up. So I would stay there with my grandfather and my uncle Leroy, and they would basically commute me to school during the weeks. And so my dad dropped me off on Monday. I'm pretty much in DC till Friday. I go home, stay with my dad Friday, Saturday, Sunday, dad drops me off at school on Monday. Okay. So my 10th grade year, man, this shit kind of gets sad, but my 10th grade year, first week of

school, second week of school, third week of school. I'll never forget. He drops me off in a fucking Phantom. He had like 11 cars. He drops me off in a damn car. He's like, shit, he's like, hey, dog, you need some lunch money? I was like, hell yeah, shit.

I was like, I got some money left over. some lunch money i was like hell yeah shit i was like i got some money left over he was like shit take this shit bitch and just threw two hundred dollars at me and drove off and that like but that was i mean it's funny as shit but man that was the last time i seen him bro it was like always like no it was brother last time i fucking seen him bro but like man i like i appreciate that like, fuck man, like that shit is still such a vivid, good memory, you know? And so, so like, so we're going throughout the week and, but the weekend, that weekend I had a, I had an unofficial visit at the university of Maryland,

which was my first college visit. And like, he wasn't feeling well enough to go with me. So I was like, damn dad, you sure you don't want to go? He was like, no, I'm going to just drop you off, go hang out with your granddad. So I was like, damn, dad, you sure you don't want to go? He was like, no, I'm just drop you off. Go hang out with granddad. So I was like, OK, cool. So I do that. You know, we go through the whole weekend and everything and drops me off on Monday.

Gives me the lunch money and shit. He texts me on Tuesday like, damn, man, really not feeling well. Need you to come back home and help me out a little bit. So I said, OK. I was like, OK. And I didn't drive at the time. Like I didn't even have a house key, man. My parents had a crazy ass divorce, bro. I was like, OK. And I didn't drive at the time. Like I didn't even have a house key, man. My parents had a crazy ass divorce, bro.

She was just like unreal. So my dad had this weird trust issues with me. My brothers have a cell phones, the keys, the shoes, weird shit. So I didn't even have a set of keys to the fucking house, man. So so literally, so I tell my uncle, he was the one that did all the driving and everything. My grandfather's blind. So I'm like, oh, man, my dad shot me a text. Shit says he's not feeling well. I was like, shit, I think I, you know, I think I need you to take me home tomorrow after practice.

And my uncle was like, shit, man, well, you know, I got to work and shit. You know, let's just do it on Thursday. I'll take you on Thursday. You know, I'm like, all right, well, shit, he don't never text me like this. You know, I'm like, fuck, man, he like never text me like that. And so I was like, shit, man, you know, like, I think it's more urgent than that know, I'm like, fuck man. He like never text me like that. And so I was like, shit,

man, you know, like I think it's more urgent than that, but I was like, all right. And so go through Tuesday, call him on Wednesday, which was the last time I spoke to him,

September 21st and 2011. And so I'm talking to him on the phone. I had gotten to a fight with a kid at practice. I'm like, shit, dad, my dad, man,

I fucking choked this motherfucker out. That was wearing goggles. I was like, fucking dog was started fogging up. He's like, Oh shit. Y' like, shit, dad. I'm like, dad, man, I fucking choked this motherfucker out that was wearing goggles. I was like, fucking goggles started fogging up. He's like, oh, shit, dog, goggles fogged up? How the fuck you do that? I remember the conversation.

He's telling me, man, just stay consistent with that shit. Just keep working and understand none of this shit that you want is going to happen without you working. You got to take everything that you want in this football shit. Nothing is for granted. And so that was our last conversation. And I remember I hung up the phone, came downstairs,

and my grandfather was like, hey, give him a call back, man. I want to talk to him, see how he's feeling. Called him back. He didn't answer. So Thursday. So I'm calling him all day Thursday. I'm like, damn, see how he's feeling. Called him back. He didn't answer. So Thursday. So I'm calling him all day Thursday. I'm like, damn, man, he's not answering. Like in between lunch breaks and shit like that,

calling him all day Thursday. I'm like, damn, man, okay, this is fucking weird. You know, and so Thursday after practice, my uncle's like, all right, we'll shoot you up there. You know, because I had to get a reading book for class as well. So I'm on my way to Baltimore and everything. Call him. He doesn't answer.

Get there. Knock on the door. I'm like, man, what the fuck? Like, you know, not answering the door. I go around back off the terrace, look in the window in the kitchen window. I can see his phone on the couch. I'm like, damn, OK, so maybe he just fucking sleep. You know, I called the house phone.

I didn't answer that shit either. And so, man, my uncle was like, shit, you'll be all right. We'll get you booked. Don't worry about it. Just tell your teachers a bullshit excuse. You called the house phone. They didn't answer that shit either. Man, my uncle was like, shit, you'll be all right. We'll get you booked. Don't worry about it. Just tell your teachers a bullshit excuse. You'll be all right. We drive back to D.C. Friday rolls around, which is game day. Man, I'm calling my dad, calling my dad, calling my dad.

Out of nowhere, Harriet Sheridan, who at the time was his assistant slash lawyer, she answers the phone and she's crying. I'm like, well, shit, man. I was like, Harry, what's going on? She was like, your dad's sick. Your mom's on the way to school to come get you and your brother. So I'm like, well, fuck man, this is fucking weird. And so, so literally, so I go through the day, it's a Catholic school, you know,

the math is a Catholic school. So I'm sitting in class. Me and my brother actually had a history class together the weirdest shit ever mr brown was the fucking teacher but uh so we're fucking in there and uh mr brown's like we just want to say a prayer for for orlando and justin and uh the class you know he says the prayer class has a prayer and shit uh principal comes and grabs us and we're walking through the hallways, and all the fucking teachers are in the hallway. I'm like, man, what the fuck is going on? So, he puts us in the

principal office, and me and my brother Justin sitting down, and at the time, I had basically my first cell phone, and I had just made a Twitter, and I had got a tweet that said, RIP Zeus. And I was like, I remember, I looked at it, Twitter and like I had got a tweet that said RIP Zeus. And I was like, I remember like I looked at him and I'm still alive.

And I asked the teacher, man, the principal. I said that my dad passed. He was like he just walked out the room. I remember, bro, like, fuck, man, my brother started crying and shit. He was all fucked up. He's a type one diabetic and everything since he was in fourth, or 5th grade. Our dad was in our life completely. Full Prado man. Like I said,

full custody. I lived with him from the point where I was 13 up until the point where he passed. That shit was just so fucking crazy for me, bro. Yeah, bro. It was just like, holy shit, this shit fucking hit

fast. It's thunderstorming outside, bad rain. And man, I'll never fucking forget, bro. It's just crazy shit ever. My brother, Justin, he's like fucking, although he was diabetic fucking athlete of the family, he can do 10 times the shit I can do and all of that. And bro is the saddest shit ever, man. He fucking, I remember like we were leaving and he was like, listen, bro, I'm going to go clean on my locker, man. I can't do this football shit.

Like, that was my motivation. And I was like, what? He's like, bro, I can't play this shit no more, man. Like, for me, it was the passion and the love that he showed when he was there. I just, he's like, without that, I can't do it. You know, and like, shit, bro, he never played ball again. Wow. Yeah, man, that shit's fucking wild, bro. you know and like shit bro he never played ball again wow um yeah man that's just that's just

fucking wild bro but that like that shit that shit like it changed me completely and you've been through it bro like that that next day is really the hardest fucking day because it's like holy shit that shit really happened you know it's like what the fuck my dad died when uh i was 16 and he actually was in Hopkins. The short story was he had just gotten out of the hospital. We spent Thanksgiving weekend in Highland

Town at my aunt's place down in the city because it was close to Hopkins in case some shit went down. We weren't going to move them all the way out to Carroll County. We'll go right there. Then we went out and we still had that monday off and that's sunday night it's just different everything's different you you look back on it and it's like huh that's that that was a different thing like you you know like your dad's phone on the couch and the text getting a text like that these things these these different things lead up to it that you don't see until you're able to reflect back

and um we went out and and uh i remember i i was always up late i was always up late but that night i didn't i went to bed kind of early and i remember stopping and looking back at my dad and we had just gotten in trouble because a buddy his parents got uh busted us for having a house party at his house we were involved in this party my dad was disappointed he was like he was like i heard y'all were like look man that wasn't us that's him we were there but we didn't throw you know we weren't promoting the part like we went um and i remember walking down the hallway and i looked back at him i stopped i don't even know why i stopped and looked back at him watching tv on on the couch

and then i went to bed and we woke up my little brother was waking us up saying like i don't think that's breathing um and yeah he had a massive heart attack or a clot or something that that killed him in the night and we all three found him in his bed in the morning yeah it's awful and you know for you to be i mean and so you and i and this is the this is the weird thing and tell me what your experience was like with this but we're children you know and are i'm talking to adults my friend's parents who their parents are still alive they don't even know how to talk to this kid about what's going on. Cause they've never experienced it themselves.

And you very quickly realize like, oh shit, man, I'm a, I'm kind of on my own here a little bit. Yeah, no, man,

seriously, bro. And like, it's like, it's just, it's just so overwhelming, man. Cause my girlfriend,

she lost her dad when she was 52, you know, to agent orange. And, um, it was just like, yeah, man. was 52 you know to agent orange and um and it was just like yeah man so you know it's it's just one of those deals where you know you know the thoughts that you have and the emotions and the feelings that you have are just it's almost like a fear man

because like for so long in your life that's what you you knew. And that's what you had. And, you know, man, it's just like, it's just like scary as hell, man, to, to really experience that, you know, as a, as a young man, you know, especially, you know, it was just so difficult for me to really even wrap my head around, you know, God's like, now I'm the man of the family, you know, for me. And, and just like, God's bro, it I'm the man of the family, you know, for me. And, and just like, God's rose, just like, just so much, so much things that just, just went into it. I remember, and I'm curious what your experience was like with this too. You know, they allowed us to have an excused,

it was an excused absence in school if you wanted to come to my dad's funeral. And then I just remember going back to school that first day after all of it and i just i know everyone meant well teachers students friends but i just felt like i was in this fucking fishbowl floating through these hallways with every set of eyes on me some not knowing what to say some saying things that they thought were the right thing and i just remember feeling like this i just felt like a fucking charity case and i hated it i didn't want to feel like that you know yeah man same bro i like and and from that point my dad

passed man i was just like fuck school like for me it was literally like man i'm just gonna play ball like this is what i want to do. And believe it or not, my dad passed September 23rd on a Friday. Shit, man. I went back to school on the next Tuesday. I was just like,

man, I got to go back and practice. And then the math was if you don't go to class, you can't practice. And so I was like, shit, I'll just go through the school day so now i'll literally just sit in the locker room like for six hours a day wait on practice go do practice and leave it at that because like i just like for me ball was where like i found comfort you know and releasing that anger that stress that fear of my gosh, I'm out here alone now. I'm 15 years old.

What does my mom know? It's just, you know, all of those different things that you're dealing with, you know, as a young man and, you know, your body and mind has changed so much that it just was so hard for me to really learn and to grab on to things. So I just turned the ball. Like, that was just my coping mechanism that, you know, to make you know the best of it and you know man just from from that point on uh man i just you know it's just always been fuel for me you know to get where i am today and and to do the things that i do today and um you know man that's just like you know it's like that just

you know it changed my life completely man sports are saving grace man it's the same exact thing we just dove more into sports because also you're with your friends you know what i mean and that's the that's the camaraderie you need you you got you got a lot of fucking anger and confusion and you can take that out in that sport i loved wrestling for that reason because i would get to take it out on that part that poor son of a bitch over there didn't know what i was going for you know what the hell i was dealing with at home oh i already know man i already know how you what you mean so so you went the opposite way your brother did it lit a fire for you and and i don't know for you but for me like when i did my very first um network television appearance on the late Show, I wore my father's Pan Am crew chief shirt because I wanted I wanted him to be there with me. I didn't wear it for a look or an image or I'm blue collar.

I wore it because I was like, man, I want my dad to come out there with me because he's the one that introduced me to comedy. Comedy is my football. And this was my my zeus you know and and just recently too this is the thing too you're 24 wait till you see how it just it just keeps it never stops isn't it you're gonna hear there's times i'm in the grocery store where i hear a song or something i'm like in the frozen pizza section i'm getting all all emotional shit i'm like, God damn. I wasn't expecting that.

There was a lady cutting me some cold cuts at Thanksgiving, and her name was Carmella. After I told her this story about my grandmother, and at the end of it, I go, what's your name? She goes, Carmella. That's my grandmother's name. I got all, I was like, what'd you say your name was? Oh, shit.

I couldn't even believe it. But just last night i had some fans send me tops had made a baseball card out of me and they did these different versions of them and one of them was um like a game worn jersey card and they were like you can put a shirt at whatever you want so i took the shirt i wore on uh the late late show and i cut it up and they cut it up into pieces and they put it out in cards. And now my father's with me in baseball cards all over the place that people have. And last night, I'm getting fired up.

I'm writing some things down to talk to you about. I'm doing some extracurricular activities out back, getting some fresh air, you know what I'm saying? And I got music going, and i opened this little envelope and there are two cards from fans that want me to sign them and send it back and it's the game worn jersey cards and i instead of getting emotional this time i laughed out loud like it was my dad being like dude i'm so stoked for you you know you're gonna be talking to zeus tomorrow i'm telling you that's's the way I feel about shit. I'm telling you, dude. Bro, I'm with you, man.

I'm with you, man. My dad, the craziest part, man, he passed on my brother Justin's birthday on September 23rd. Dude, we have a lot in common. My father was buried on my youngest brother's birthday. Still not sure who was in charge of the funeral directions, but he was buried on my brother's 13th god damn bro like did i already know bro that's a fucking fucked up day and shit like even though you know it's like fuck man weird ass fucking day but so he died on

your brother's how old was your brother on that day my brother was turning 14 so he turned 14 so this is the same brother that was walked out of the school with you then right oh man and it's his birthday his birthday man yeah bro fucked up shit man but um bro like man like but it's crazy you say that about the tops cards though because you know like i'm like ever since he's passed i feel like i see like and i said september 23rd i always feel like i see 923 on the clock i always see 77 78 somewhere shit like that man i'm sure you experienced the same shit you'd be driving just look at a fucking license plate and be like damn is that the fucking date my dad you know what i mean like yeah it's just a weird november 27th

i know and and and they grew up the house they had in baltimore was 11 11 elm road i went back one night i came back to do some shows i i had a couple drinks in me and i went to that old house and i fucking pride i pride you know you know baltimore row homes with a little it's a little piece of wood on a diagonal it's got the house number on it i went up and pried that shit out of the like three in the morning i stole that shit from that house and i took it i have it above my door in my home now i repainted it and made it look nice and it's 11 and i see 11 11 all the fucking time all the time yeah man and i just you know i you know whether it's an afterlife or not i believe in it man but uh gosh i just look at that as as you know him you know let whether it's an afterlife or not, I believe in it, man. But gosh, I just look at that as

him, you know, letting me know, like, shit, I see you. Like, you know, I feel you. This is, you know, his spirit, his energy. And gosh, man, like, you know, I'm just, I'm appreciative for everything that he taught me up until that point, you know.

And it helped me grow into who I am today. Just even though, you know, shit, he was a very raw parent, you know, just like your pops and stuff, you know, you know, if you're watching Richard Pryor with your kid, you're watching San Francisco with your kid, you're raw as fuck, you are raw as fuck as that.

You're a raw ass dad, like, you're shooting shit straight. So, you know, man, and that's just how he was, you know know just a lot like your pops in that way man i'm just fortunate man i was able to take in those things that he taught me so here's the thing that that still gets me so i want to talk to you more because now moving forward everything is bittersweet you know you go on to so tell us how how how um what's happening when you start playing varsity ball are you getting a lot of recruits are you being looked at heavily what's

going on when you and and when does that happen for you in 11th grade 10th grade where are you when that starts coming dog that's a really shit like i've been told in a while bittersweet bro because that's the truth but um man so I uh so basically after my dad passed September of 2011 my mom moved us to uh Atlanta January 26 2012 so um I just finished up that semester at DeMatha and then I moved down south and I met Mark Fleetwood who was my high school head coach uh throughout my time there in Georgia and I mean man he was just such a such a huge impact on me uh growing up as a person and as a young man that had lost his father at the time. And so I moved down there in 11th grade and right away, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky,

Florida, and they just start coming in, man. And, you know, my name got out there because my high school coach was a really good coach. My high school was Cameron Hayward in Pittsburgh, Bradley Roby in Denver, and Kevin Minner at LSU and Arizona. So, you know, man, it was just like, it was so many guys that had come through there before and were successful in first round picks in the NFL. So it was considered a hotspot at the time. And when that county football in Georgia is typically where a lot of your ballers come from, you know, you can look at the past, you know, whatever ESPN 300s and a lot of those guys, those five-star guys in Georgia are in that county. And so I was playing against a lot of great competition and man, I just, I just consistently, you know, I started off really

rough my junior year just because I spent so much time in my sophomore year taking in all the offers and lying to myself about me being ready and, oh, you know, I'm going to ball out this year without any focus on my craft, any focus on my body and my conditioning. And so I go out there in that first game. I'm getting my ass tore up. And my coach Fleetwood was just like, man, you're not helping the damn offense. You got to get your shit together. I'm like, all right, yeah, whatever.

We go to week two, Parkview High School. At the time, Chris Carson was the damn running back of the Seahawks. He's at the Seahawks now. He's running back at Parkview High School. He's tearing us up, man. I had three holding penalties. I've never had nothing that bad. I gave up. I gave up. I've never had nothing that bad since then, bro.

Man, it was literally like, I'm like, you know, I'm 16 years old at the time. Man, I'm traumatized as shit. I'm just like, damn, man, I'm letting myself down. I'm letting my dad down, my coaches and friends, family. And Fleetwood pulls me in his office the next week. And fortunately, it's a bye week, so we got the week off. He was like, listen, you're not a damn starter anymore. I can't start your son. Shit, this shit's embarrassing.

I'm like, coach, what do you, what do you want to see me do? What do you want to see me do? So there was this kid. Drop kid that kick in the motherfucking chair. That's basically what the fuck you showed me. But I had a mentality part. I just didn't necessarily, I didn't get, like, to take it to the next level. I just took it as, I'm going to make contact

with my guy and wrestle him to the ground. I didn't understand taking it to the next level as far as my craft, my fundamentals. And so that's when he sat me down in his office. He showed me this big ass Cuban kid, Alex Daruby. I'll never forget. He's like six, eight, fucking three hundred something pounds, supposed to go to Miami, didn't have grades, goes to Middle Tennessee. He didn't end up making it to the NFL, but his high school shit was crazy, bro.

Like, yeah, the partnership. So he's like big ass kid out there cutting safeties hitting linebackers flying around running around playing with fundamentals playing hard and so so he shows me that i said shit coach i said coach i know exactly what you want to see i'm gonna give it to you and man from that point on shit bro i just i feel like from that point on i just consistently got better every day and i'm still getting better every day, man. Let's take a quick break and tell you about our first sponsor, Omax Cryo Freeze. Living with chronic pain is the worst. It's more than a feeling of discomfort.

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that. I needed to be set back. I needed to be put back in place because I was at the time, I was hiding behind those offers, hiding behind all of that shit, not keeping it real with myself because I was trying to run away from the loss of my dad, running away from, you know, going to class and all that different type of stuff. So, you know, man, I

got down there. I didn't hit the ground running, but once shit got lit, shit was lit the fuck up. I'm like, crazy. I had a great spring going into my senior year of high school. Actually, I committed to Tennessee May

2nd. I was committed to the University of Tennessee. I i'm gonna give you that whole story too as we go on i'm explaining as we get closer but um yeah so i committed i committed to tennessee at 17 on my 17th birthday and um that's my junior year going into my senior year man i had took three or four visits there but i just felt like it was a family atmosphere good opportunity for me felt i thought i could play the freshman. It was crazy shit. And so go through my senior year, I mean, I'm sitting down top notch,

five-star guys. I'm playing my ass off. Other colleges, like at the time, you know, like I had pretty much lost all my scholarships just because I was committed to Tennessee. So, you know, like it was just – it was literally just Tennessee. Now Oklahoma, Coach Stoops, Coach Biedenboe both my old line coach, they would still be writing me letters. They'd be like, you know, hope everything's going well. And you know, if something ever happens with Tennessee, hit us up.

So they would just consistently, you know, write letters. And so December hits of my senior year of high school and Fleetwood calls me in his office. He goes, Hey, Tennessee has to see your transcripts. Now, I had been running from this shit for years, dog. I can't tell you how many bits I've been on there. Like, shit, can we sign these papers? Give us access to your transcripts. I'm like, hell no.

Like, next question. You know what I mean? So, like, my GPA at the time, sick, it was a 1.7. Over four years, bro, I'm not the top six, it was a 1.7. Oh, my God. Over four years, bro. I'm not a dumbass, but I was just like, I told you, bro. I was like, I don't want to do school.

Look, I'm with you. I didn't want to do any school after. You don't want to do anything after that. You know, look at your brother. You know, he was like, I'm done with all of it. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Fuck school, fuck football. I'm out yeah straight up dog and and you know i i treated it like that when i which i shouldn't have man

and uh gosh you know that that shit set me so far behind coming in as a freshman oklahoma but anyway so you know i'm like shit coach flea what do i do he's like shit you gotta send the transcripts man like they gotta know this shit like you know you can't hide it out you know, I'm like, shit, Coach Flea, what do I do? He's like, shit, you got to send the transcripts, man. Like, they got to know this shit. Like, you know, you can't hide it, though. You know, signing days are two months. So I'm like, all right. So they send the transcripts. The coaches find out.

They come in, have a meeting with me and my counselor. Can he qualify? Counselor's like, yeah, but he needs four A's or three A's or four A's and one B to qualify, and he'll be good. He's like, she said he's got one ACT, but I think he slept the whole time. He scored a 13. I said, shit, I was sleeping the whole time. I said, I was

sleeping the whole time, bitch, bro. I'm sorry. But I had a 1.7 GPA, 13 on the ACT. I'm committed to the school, right? So some time passes, man. January. I'm committed to the school, right? So some time passes, man. January, January, I'm supposed to come up, like, for an official visit in January, but it was an ACT, like, test that day.

So I was taking every test all the way up until, you know, I needed what I needed. So there was a test on, like, January 15th or something like that. And it was also an official visit weekend. So I told them, like, hey, look, I'm going to stay, take the SAT test, you know, and then we can just set up my official visit for later. Okay? And so they're like, okay, cool. So I wake up to take the SAT test, and I told you my brother type 1 diabetic.

So he goes into a suit, like, you know, and I don't know if you're familiar with diabetes at all, but when someone's sugar goes low in the night, they wake up, but there's no body function. So he needs sugar in his bloodstream to even function. So I wake up at 7 a.m. and I'm just checking out with everybody, like saying that I'm heading out. And I look in there and I just noticed that he's breathing, and his eyes are open but I'm like Jay you alright and I can just tell

like oh shit this shit is not good you know and so that was like the second time that I had witnessed something like that with him and so I'm like oh shit man so immediately I called 911 and I like I learned this weird ass trick man because I noticed that like they shoot they basically they shoot like glucose into

his bloodstream directly with the 911 people do, wakes him up, he's good to go, can go on about his day, so I was like, shit, man, you know, I know he can open his mouth, I know he can't necessarily communicate, I was like, shit, I wonder if I fucking pour some syrup on his fucking tongue if he'll swallow this shit

so I fucking in my mind, I'm thinking you're gonna give him a straw and some orange juice or something i took that shit to the next fucking level i was like shit i wonder if some fucking syrup would do with this well so i go downstairs but i get some angel mama syrup and i put it on his fucking tongue and within like probably i mean this motherfucker might have drank. He probably drank by that fucking cigarette. He fucking woke up. He came

back to him and he was just like, damn, bro. What the fuck did you give me? They sold fucking medics to show up and shit. They tested sugar. This shit went from being like fucking 25 to like 700. They're like, listen, man,

we gotta take you in, bro, to get this shit under control. So they end up taking you in. I know. It was crazy as shit, bro. I was like, shit, I mean, it sure worked, bro. Like, fuck, it worked faster than hell. Yeah, hell

yeah. That is great. So I give him that, man. And, gosh, like, the coach calls me the next day, how did SAT go? I tell him what happened, why I wasn't able to make it. I didn't get all the specifics, but I'm like, shit, man, my brother went to the student. They know he's a diabetic.

And so they're like, okay, all good. We're going to set your official visit date for uh two days before Sunday so I'm like okay cool like you know it's only two hours two hours away Tennessee from Atlanta Knoxville and so um you know time passes me and my mom my brothers we go up and everything and I could just tell the whole time the energy is weird energy is real weird like you know with the dynamic of the coaches and everything and And so we get to the last day. Everybody meets with Bush Jones. They tell me I'm the last guy that's going to meet with him.

And so I'm like, okay, you know, we're waiting around all day. And, man, fucking, I get in there. I get in there with Bush Jones. It's just me and Bush Jones and my mom, who was the head coach at the time. And they had, like, the academic counselor or something for the football team. They pulled out my transcript and my grades and my ACT score. And they were just like, hey, you're not going to qualify. We don't have a scholarship.

We're not going to send you a scholarship on signing day. But we got junior college options for you. And I remember saying like, hey, you know, I get where you're coming from. I get what you're saying. But like I got friends that aren't going to get a high school diploma that's got scholarships. You know what I get where you're coming from. I get what you're saying. But, like, I got friends that aren't going to get a high school diploma that's got scholarships. You know what I'm saying? I did.

So I'm like, bro, like, what's the deal? Like, what's going on? You know, and at the time, I didn't understand. So I'm on my way home. I call Fleetwood. Fleetwood's like, oh, okay, I got this shit. Well, come in my office first thing tomorrow morning on Monday. So I go in on Monday, and I go, Fleet, I go, man, Coach,

what the hell are they trying to do? And Fleetwood's like, he's like, shit, I'm going to tell you what happened. They got 33 commits. They only have 31 scholarships available. You and this other kid, they're leaning on the whole grade situation because me and one other kid, he's like, they're going to try to say that you guys are going to qualify so they can get these other guys scholarships, basically. And they oversigned.

So I said, holy shit, no way. And so, you know, he asked me, he said, well, you know, he gets on the phone, curses him out, does all this crazy shit with Tennessee. And after he gets off the phone with UT, he says, you know, so where do you want to go? I was like, man, I said, shit.

He said, you know, South Carolina, they'll re-offer you. I'm sure Alabama will. They didn't. Auburn re-offered. Kansas, Ohio State, Urban Meyer was real big, real big on me. Clemson. So, like, those schools had re-offering. He was just like, man, where do you want to go?

And I said, man, coach, I know it's strange. I know it's weird. I said, man, but I feel like the right place for me to go is Oklahoma. And I had never visited Oklahoma, the university, never met with a coach, didn't know what the hell, I thought it was tumbleweeds out here

and horses and shit. I didn't know nothing about Oklahoma, man. And so, you know, he was like, you sure you want to do that? I was like, well, shit, coach, I think it's the best thing for me. Like, you know, it's far away from home, but not too far. And, man, I feel like, you know, they put out a lot of NFL talent. And so he was like, all right, well, I'll get on the phone with Bob Stoops.

So he got on the phone with Cole Stoops and we basically explained to him the situation and Bob was just like, hey, hey, hey, listen, listen, shit, I'll send your ass a scholarship. All I ask is you just sign it. Just sign it. You sign it, we'll take care of the rest. We'll get you in here when you get in here. We'll make sure you qualify.

So, man, I ended up signing that shit on signing day. It came in probably 10 minutes before the fucking signing ended. I signed. Shit, man, I ended up signing that shit on signing day. It came in probably 10 minutes before the fucking signing ended. I signed. Shit, man, they helped me, you know, get with the right people and the right things. I ended up qualifying late. I had to take a summer class and shit. Ended up qualifying.

And, like, my first day on campus was, like, July 26, 2014. And, man, I showed up. Training camp started on, like, July 28th. And, like I said, bro, I hadn't done shit. Like I, I was laying on my ass. So that shit, that shit was just such a rude awakening for me when I got here. Um, but prior to that, like going into like my senior year, um, man, I had like met Jamal Brown. Right.

And so like he was someone that was familiar with my dad, played in the NFL at a high level pro bowl, all pro player, went to Oklahoma here. So, you know, I got to know him a little bit over the time. And when I got here to Oklahoma, like obviously he went here, he lived here in the off season. So I just really got to know him and be around him more. And man, bro, like literally, you know, he took me in like one of his own.

I was so fortunate to have him in my life. I still have him in my life, man. The things that he was able to teach me that I didn't get from my dad. I was getting things from Fleetwood. I was getting things from Coach Stoops and my old line coach. Jamal

helped me out so much of understanding the importance of being an adult, the importance of being a man. And, you know, man, I remember, like, the first time I met him, I came over to his house. He was like, damn, you must be as ill. He's like, what the fuck you shower with? I was like, I was laying in my seat, man.

How did you say that? I didn't even shower after practice. He was like, you didn't shower after fucking practice and you're sitting on my couch and i was like i was like yeah i guess i am man like shit my bad i didn't know much of it and you know like shit man that's what he explained to me like listen man like if you're gonna be fucking hanging out with bro you gotta wash your ass at least i was like you know it's embarrassing shit but it's good life lessons right there washer you know i'm learning that's the 18 i should learn that at 15 60 but you know it was just little lessons like that that were so important for me and uh man i just i met him like i said

got around him a bunch and i mean just from, just from there, bro, like, I just feel like he helped take my work ethic to another level. And, gosh, you know, I redshirted my freshman year. I was behind two tackles that ended up getting drafted. And at the time, it was two redshirt seniors. And then going into my redshirt freshman year the next year, 2015, which was like, man, our rookie, our freshman class at Oklahoma, man, it was me, Baker, Mark Andrews, Devon K. Bond, Doriel Green, Beckham, gosh, bro, D.D. Westbrook. I mean, just so many big names. And Joe Mixon.

Yeah, man. So it was just so many guys that, like, came in with us. And, you know, I just, you know, picked off of them and their mentality and their approach. And I just, you know, went from there, man. And I was able to basically win a job as a redshirt freshman, man. I beat out two seniors and shit. I started every game from there on out. And gosh, man, college was not easy in any way for football, but I got better over time.

So let me ask you this like what are you going through emotionally like you're you're now leaving your family that you know in atlanta and going to a place you've never been to um you know i was the same coming to california like i i left ever i i'm not i mean i'm not i like to think a man, I'm a man, but I'm not even gonna lie to you. I cried from Maryland to Tennessee on this drive. I was like, ah, every, felt the distance getting farther away. You're like, I'm, I'm on my own. This is real now.

So like, are you, what do you, what are you feeling? What like, does any of these coaches or anything play with your dad? No, your dad, like, is there anything there for you to talk or resource or anything like that? And what are you going through? Like,

I'm sure, like I said, it's bittersweet. You gotta be so stoked. Like, holy shit, I'm going to fucking Oklahoma. I wish my dad was here.

Exactly. And it's still like that, man. Like you said, like I remember, you know, I was, when I got that, that call, you know, from, I remember, you know, I was when I got that call, you know, from from the counselor that I, you know, made the Pro Bowl as alternate shit, man. That shit was just so hard for me because it's like, holy shit, man, you know, he's not here to see that. And like, gosh, you know, and my girlfriend said something to me a few months ago, man, like we were just talking about our dads.

ago, man, like we were just talking about our dads and, you know, she mentioned like her biggest thing in life that she struggles with as far as it is that he never is able to see her as a grown woman, you know, and, you know, like she's like, gosh, like, you know, although, you know, his spirit's around, I just, I wish

that I was able to be a grown woman and, you know, he could see who I became, you know, while he was still here on earth. And, you know, I was like, man, you know, could see who i became you know why he was still here on earth and i was you know i was like man you know i feel that 110 you know all the way through man it's just like this has always been bittersweet with everything that i do in life and listen that's never gonna stop like you know i i same thing i've got a i wouldn't say this to the moment you pulled lamar across that goal line i'll bet your dad would have gone ape shit on that one right there.

For sure. Like how much fun do you think your dad would have had watching this last season of you guys? Just, Oh yeah. I would have had to keep, bro. I would have,

man, I would have had to, I would have had to keep him out of the facility. Like it would have been like to the point where like Ozzie and Harbaugh would have been like, Hey man, uh, tell your dad, say something to the point where like ozzy and harbaugh would have been like hey man uh tell your dad like shitty he's trying i know like that's your dad and shit but god he's getting paid for practice and shit too like to watch like you know he'd be bro he'd be so involved like that but you're 24 how old's your girl uh she's 28 so wait till you become parents and then you're it's all over again

like that's the greatest moment of my life so for me my daughter was born october 14 2014 and i'm holding her and i'm crying because i'm so happy and i'm also like crying because man i'm a dad i can't even i can't ask my dad any questions like how the fuck do you do this how did you do that how did you do that but the one thing that made me feel great was and you you know as a maryland boy the orioles were in the goddamn playoffs for the first time in forever and i'm watching it in the hospital i remember my daughter's mother's like we're not watching sports and i said listen to me we're paying for this motherfucking pregnancy and that oriole team is going on this damn tv and i sat there and held my newborn daughter and watched them lose because the

royals were the same they were it's it's rare that you get two exact same teams and they were like the same two i was like fuck and they made like a couple more plays a game than we did and it got us but that's the only thing that eased you know it just felt like i grew up going to memorial stadium with my dad and i remember walking up the ramp and seeing the green grass and being at these stadiums and now i'm holding my daughter and here the orioles are back in the playoffs it was again everything is just so fucking good and it never stops it never stops you know i'm i wouldn't i wouldn't that shit it comes and gets me every now and then i'll just be sitting there going god i

wish i could ask my dad how the hell he did this yeah no man i'm with you man that's it that's just the hardest part about it though you know of losing someone with that type of impact in your life you just can't you can't get the questions that you want you know what i mean it's like shit man i wish i could press a fucking button ask a question you know what i mean like the thing is you can get answers from people but i don't i want the answer from you you know what i mean like you can ask any you can ask a million people the same question you're gonna get a million answers i want your answer and i can't get those anymore do you i want to get back to what's happening in college in a second but do you ever have um vivid dreams your father like moments of your dad yeah man it's crazy you say that i remember so uh somebody that i really spoke to a lot of stuff about that was i had a strength

coach in college named scott colat who lost his dad as well uh when he was in his 20s in college and uh he was very big uh in church he's like, he was very big, uh, in church. He's like a drummer at the church here in Norman. So man, I would always talk to him and I'd be like, man, listen, Scott, man, I, I fucking, and I don't have him so much anymore. Like I, like I have him now, just not as intense and vivid as they were then. But man, I'm like, man, I had a dream last night, man. My dad came to me and told me I'm doing good at life. I'm like, shit,

like, you know shit like what the fuck that's the spirit you know that's God and understanding everything that's going on in your life and where you're at and you know take it as a positive like shit man that shit was scary for me for a while yeah

alright so now you're at Oklahoma and you're freshman year. Yeah. And walk us through the next few seasons. Yeah, so shit, man. So 2015, that was the first year I started. You know, that was Bakes' first year and Mark and all of us, man. What did Hollywood come in?

Hollywood came in my last year, my red shirt junior. Okay. Yeah, I'll tell you all about that shit. That's some funny ass shit. you know, that shit's good. It was the same, it was a similar issue with Lamar too, but I'll tell you when we get there. But, look, so yeah, so man, 2015, man,

you know, it was my first year starting. I win the job over two redshirt seniors. These guys have been in the program for five years. Man, the coaches, Coach Riley trusted me, Coach Stoops and Coach Beedleboe, man, they saw how hard I was working my ass off and everything. And, man, they were just like, hey, look, you know, we're going to get you that start left tackle job, and it's yours to lose. I was like, well, shit, I can tell you, I ain't never going to lose this motherfucker. So good. And it's yours to lose. I was like, well, shit, I can tell you how you're never going to lose this motherfucker.

They were like, all right, well, show us then. Well, show us. So, you know, I went on to have a really good freshman year. I wasn't like a unanimous or consensus freshman All-American, but I was on a few teams. And then, you know, we ended up losing the playoffs to Clemson. But I had played against a lot of top talent in fucking ball. Like, I mean, I played my ass off, you know, to be a 19 year old kid going against all these, you know, top talents and stuff. And so my race or a sophomore year, we which was another really good year for us. We started off kind of slow.

I played okay against Ohio state and those guys at the time, you know, it wasn't my best game, Houston. I played okay. You State and those guys at the time. It wasn't my best game. Houston, I played okay. I actually gave a fucking sack to Ty's bowser, bro. It was some bullshit, but it was a fucking true sack. I still talk to

him about it all the time, bro. Yeah, man. We started off that year kind of slow and we ended up finishing really well. I remember But yeah, man, we, you know, so we started off that year kind of slow. And, man, we ended up finishing really well. I remember, man, we were so close to making the playoffs. We had just beaten Ohio State.

We would have been in. And, you know, they told us we were playing the Sugar Bowl against Auburn in the SEC. And I remember telling the offensive line, like, hey, get your minds right. This shit's about to be a fucking blow. We out here with the double- Shotgun reloading and spraying shit So get your minds right man We ended up going out there I mean we kicked they ass man

Like up front man, and all those dudes like I mean they are great players, they were just all pretty much First round, second round picks this year And this year's draft But we kicked they ass man I mean I never had so much fun in the game i was talking so much crazy shit but uh but um yeah so we go and do that and then uh going into the season of my last year here uh i understood that you know i could have an opportunity to leave

and i didn't have my mindset on necessarily leaving, but, you know, I had my mindset on, gosh, I want to put myself in position to leave. And so, man, I just I went to work, you know, work my ass off and my craft and my fundamentals. I got better at my body was was better than the best state that had been been in at that point. And I went out and Ohio State was like our first big game. It's fucking Nick Bosa and Hubbard and Taequann Lewis. They had all of these. Their whole D-line was fucking drastic, man.

I went out there and played my ass off against them. That shit just really set the foundation for the rest of the year. I was able to become a unanimous All-American. Gosh, we made it to the playoffs. We ended up losing the Rose Bowl. Saddest shit ever. Unanimous All-American.

I was the trophy finalist and I was able to go to Atlanta to the award shows and Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year again, man. So gosh, college at Oklahoma was so much fun, bro. I mean, I got so many fucking stories as far as... I was just telling you about Hollywood.

So, fucking Hollywood, bro. Hollywood comes in. I remember seeing him. I'm like, I saw him on his visit. I was like, man, I said, Coach B, fuck is this 17, 16-year-old kid out here on his official visit? He's like, no, man. He's a Juco kid out of Cali. He's like, shit, man, he's a Juco kid out of Cali. He's like, shit,

he's from Florida, but he's out of Cali. He was like, shit, I guess he's a fucking... Yeah, yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah, so he started at junior college because he was so small. So you know, I was all Juco at Catonsville Community College for soccer, and I'm telling you that specifically because I know

you know where that is. Hell yeah! Oh, shit, dog. I didn't know that that is. Hell yeah. Oh, shit. I didn't know that. Bro, what the fuck? I was out there beating up Essex and Dundalk and all the other community colleges, Zeus. I didn't know that.

Holy shit. So he came out of Cali here, huh? Yeah, so he's originally from Florida, same area as Lamar, but he went to junior college in California. I guess it was his best opportunity. And he actually was working at Six Flags while he was in school. I read that.

I didn't realize it was the Six Flags out here. No, no, no. Yeah, Six Flags in Cali. Yes, I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. so i guess he's working and um yeah man it's like you know he had a pretty you know like shit this shit was getting out the mud for real he's undersized shit so you know fast forward to when he said oh you in the spring i'm like damn man this damn jersey he got on big as a motherfucker. I was like, holy shit. I'm like, bro, I asked him, I said,

man, what size jersey you got on? He said, man, this shit is small. I said, man, you got some growing to do, dog. It's so literally. So the talk all offseason was we had just lost D.D. Westbrook, and they were like, yo, D.D., we got somebody faster than you. This Marquise Brown kid's faster

than you. So they weren't lying, bro. I mean, this motherfucker would fly. But he was so fast that Bakes' arm wasn't big enough. So the early stages on is spring ball and fall camp. Baker's throwing the ball, throwing these fucking deep brows, these verticals. He can't get the ball to Marquise because he's out. He's got so much separation.

But Bakes' like, what the fuck? I can't throw 100 yards, bro. You know what I'm saying? It's like, holy shit, you need to slow the fuck down. He had to slow down. Yeah, he had to slow down, man. And so, like, as the season got on, as the season started going on, Oklahoma's real big on how you perform in practice.

It's the opportunity you'll get to play, especially at the receiver position. There's so many skill guys. And so Marquise just kept getting better. Him and they kept getting on a better page. And, bro, I remember the Oklahoma State game. I believe someone had got hurt the week before. They were like, Marquise, you up?

And I remember looking at him on the way out the tunnel. I was like, shit, bro, you ready? And he just like had them gold front sand. And he's like, shit, yeah, hell yeah, I'm ready as shit. And he just had them gold front seats. And he's like, shit, yeah. Hell yeah, I'm ready as shit. So I went out there and he tore that shit up, dog.

He tore that shit up. And it was a similar issue when he got to Baltimore with Lamar. Lamar's like, bro, listen, you too fucking fast. Slow down, bro, so I can get you the ball. Because I guess the best way I could explain it is when you've got a guy that has that much separation that quickly it's hard for a quarterback to diagnose where he wants to put the ball on the spot it's so like that's the issue that a lot of quarterbacks have ran into with him at first but once they get it i mean shit bro it's like hot fucking hot fire in greece and hot grease bro that shit is is... Who's faster? Hollywood or Lamar?

Bro, Lamar is like a lizard, dog. You can't... If you thought... Bro, he is a different level of fast. He is. It's kind of weird. But in a straight line, does Hollywood take him in a straight line?

Shit, it's close, dog. I bet you Hollywood probably runs... It is, huh? No, I bet you it's close, dog. I bet you Hollywood probably runs it. No, I bet you it's close. It wouldn't be a long shot, but man, guys, bro, that'd be a hell of a race. I'll tell you that much. Wow, that's crazy, man.

I saw his videos at Hollywood working out in the backyard. You know what I love about that? They're right there at this school. There's a whole neighborhood around. It doesn't even know those guys are over there practicing right there you know what i mean i see that video they be god damn mom they were right out front like shit they were right there no yeah shit bro it's funny as hell you say that i've been i was with uh when we played cincinnati last year uh me, and Marquise, we went to the mall.

Seth Roberts, we went to the mall. And then after we left the mall, he's like, man, I'm hungry as shit. Let's go to Cane's. So we go to Cane's, and Lamar's on Instagram Live in Cane's in Cincinnati. And, bro, out of nowhere, like within 10 minutes of him being on live, bro, people just start showing up. I'm like, what the fuck? They replied in there, dude,

we're outside. Come sign my jersey. I said, man, get the hell on live, bro. We got a game tomorrow. We need to go home, dog. So, what the fuck? I was like, yeah, bro. People really do that shit. It's crazy to say that. Well, I know you had to you were doing that show for a little while

and I hit John john up i was like you gotta have zeus and lamar signed some mini helmets for me so i got both of you i got lamar before he was the mvp i got lamar with nobody listen on my fantasy team last year i picked lamar i picked ingram i picked mark andrews i was picking people nobody picked and then they were like you want to train i was like nah we going to run this league this year, motherfucker. Those three people alone. I mean, come on. Did you win?

You won your fantasy league? Yeah, well, I killed everybody. I kept telling everybody, pick Hollywood Brown. I'm telling you, get them late. You'll get them. I took them early. I took them right away. I was like, I'm going to get them, and I take Tucker and the Ravens D.

I mean, it was a year last year. Yeah, shit. If I had a franchise that's who i would drive to like on my fantasy shit bro because i bet you that week one your week one set oh god dude it was stupid it was stupid and here's the other thing too we're gonna get back to oklahoma in a minute but all these records you guys set all these numbers that lamar and it was a game basically he sat out the equivalent of almost if not maybe even a full game so imagine the numbers that he could have padded if he was

in there the whole time we the only reason he's sitting because you guys were kicking the shit out of some people and it's like no sense of getting hurt in there like you know let's see what else we got and give somebody else an opportunity to and plus you get the fuck like one of my all-time favorite ravens is marshall yonda and you're getting a block next to i mean another hall of famer there is no doubt and i used to i mean i'm just so proud of baltimore and everything like and i love seeing again the underdog he's the only lineman on nfl top 100 i want to see you i want to see you on that nfl top 100 he's the only offensive lineman

on that whole fucking top 100 i think that would get voted yeah not bro i mean and i can't say enough good things about him man what he was and you know we can set football aside for a minute what he the type of man he is like as a father as a husband as a friend bro i mean i've never necessarily been around anything like it. That's what makes him so unique. And just the way that, bro, he took me in. I mean, shit, I got drafted on like a Friday.

Shit, he's on the phone with me on a Monday. You know what I mean? Talking to me about shit. Holy shit. Talking to me about stuff and talking to me about Baltimore. Talking to me about the system and the importance of being a pro and all of this stuff. And, you know, man, that was just so real for me and authentic for me

for a 12-year, 11-year vet at the time to, like, you know, I reached out to him, obviously, but, man, he called me right away. You know, and he's just going over everything about, you know, being a pro. And, you know, when I got in the building, I started working with him and everything. And, you know, man,

just everything he's saying about, you know, what to take from, you know, the coaches and, you know, what you do in your free time, what you do in the off season,

you know, your focus at practice every day, your drive and motivation and aggressiveness on Sundays. And, and just, you know, things he talked about as far as being a dad and being a husband

and all of that different stuff, bro. I mean, he was just unreal type of guy he is. I love that dude, man. I love watching him play and I was excited that you were getting to play with him too because what a wealth of fucking knowledge to get to play next to a walking encyclopedia of football

and then to watch the guy then to watch the guy fucking hurt his shoulder go to the left side and be just as goddamn dominant that'd be like asking me right now ryan take this fucking one course of chinese and speak it fluently at the end of the day and marshall yonder would have done that shit he made the pro bowl from not his position i can't i mean he's the shit man he's the shit he is bro i love him i love him to fucking death man i just sent him a text the other day told him how much i miss him so all right back to oklahoma things are heating up now when do you start hearing like when do you start for you specifically when you start hearing stuff about

being drafted and combined and workouts and all that? Like, where are you at with that? Yeah, so basically the transition from college to the NFL is like one of the weirdest transitions ever, man. It's like, you know, you're not on any team. You know, you have no control of the team you're going to. It's just your minds and emotions are all over the place,

and you can't do anything but focus on yourself. And so from the point where we lost that Rose Bowl game, like I had a feeling I was going to leave. I had to send my grade in and everything and see what they would say about my grade. At the time, Lincoln Riley, Bill Biedenboe, they were just like, hey, listen, man, you did everything that you needed to do in college to be in this position. You're one of the best tacklers in this draft.

It's right for you to leave. You know, there's no need for you to come back. And I'm glad they told me that, you know, because I needed to hear that from them. Would you have gone back if they didn't tell you that? Yeah, most likely. Most likely. You know, if they thought as though, you know, like I wasn't ready

and they hadn't heard the right things from the scouts, oh, yeah, absolutely I would have went back, man, to make more money. I'm glad I left when I did, though. You know, gosh, bro, I love the NFL. And look where you are. Exactly, man. It's a dream come true. So, basically

from that point, picked out my agent and everything, Justice Shuman, Joe Panos, the athletes first. That's who represents me, both of those guys, 50-50. And Joe's got a bunch of big-name guys. Shuman does as well. Panos is just more of the offensive line guy, so

I felt a little connection with him there. And guys from there, man, I was living in Santa Ana, California training, getting ready, you know, for the combine and everything like that.

Are you out here training out in California? Yeah. Okay. I was in Santa Ana. Yep. I was in Santa Ana. I lived in Santa Ana from shit, basically like January 6th to fucking like,

damn near March, April. I was out there pretty much living, man. I enjoyed myself, man. I always wanted to live in Cali. I actually wanted to go to USC as a kid, like growing up. Like that was like my school. But, I mean, I love LA. Like shit, someday when I'm 60 years old,

I hope I can buy a house in the hills somewhere. I'm sure you'll be able to buy a house in the hills. And guess who's 80-year-old ass is coming over to Cannonball for your fucking diving board? Me. Yeah, right. Hell yeah. When I turn 60, I'm not wearing no fucking drawers.

I'm going to let it hang. Yeah, man. So I know living out there training everything go through the combine that shit was a fucking disaster um you know man it was just like shit that shit was just such a bad experience overall you know i'm not someone that uh like man fuck i i literally just started doing this shit 11 years ago you know what i mean like yeah and at that time it was eight years ago i just had just started running and jumping and doing all this crazy shit. So, man, I didn't lift weights until I got to college, really. You know what I mean?

I didn't train the way I trained until I got to college, really. And so, gosh, bro, I was like, I felt like athletically, not from a football standpoint, athletically, I'm still behind. But at that time, I was so far behind from guys of my size and my position.

Most guys my size, they're like, shit, man, I used to be 220, and then I gained 120 pounds. That's why I'm 360. You know what I mean? Like, shit, man. You're like, I lost, baby. Yeah, I'm like, shit, bro, I was bigger than this. You know what I mean?

Like, fuck, man, I wasn't doing shit. I wasn't playing basketball. And so, you know, I was behind the eight ball athletically, man. And I go out there, you know, and teams knew I wasn't going to test well. And teams asked me in my meetings, you know, they'd be like, hey, you know, what are you going to test like? You know, what are your benches? What's your bench going to be?

What's your 40 going to be? Where do you think everything's going to be? And I told every team I met with, I said, listen, I'm the worst athlete here. Like, that's not my game. Like, that's not who I am. That's not my genetic makeup. I'm the worst athlete here.

I'm going to have the worst times most likely. And, you know, that's just who I am. That doesn't mean I'm not ready for ball. And so, you know, the thing that helped me out so much throughout that process that helped make me a third-round pick was, gosh, after the combine, the questions were about my work ethic and my character. I'm a big guy. Is it going to be weight? Is weight going to hold him back? This, that, and the other? How much does he love ball? love ball. Fortunately, I had all of those meetings with Baltimore. I met with Baltimore probably the most out of anybody. And so, you know, they were able to understand my character, you know, how much I love the game,

how much I knew about the game, how much I knew about my position, how much it, how easy it was for me to pick up the system and everything. I mean, shit, man, I didn't ever learn to go my first official visit there. So gosh, man, like all of those things played into a factor. And I guess in some way it gave them comfort, man, to say, you know, look, we know he's an athletic outlier, but I think we know the type of guy we're getting, you know, and thank God. That's it, man.

First of all, you can't measure heart either. You cannot. That's something that you that you there is no uh statistical measurement for heart and for determination and for hustle there's just not and the other thing too is i it's so beautiful because i'm watching a draft and i'm like oh my god he's still fucking available he's still fucking around he's still fucking available and they also knew the person they were getting and the character your character that they they were getting and and also like fortunately for you a lot of guys

aren't around as long as ozzy's been doing his thing like he could have known you as a kid and it could have been some new people there that didn't even that that didn't even matter to them or or resonate with them at all so there's so many fucking things have to fall in place. So, yeah, I'm sitting there watching. I'm like, he is, come on, come on. And then when I saw, I was like, you got to be fucking good. Like, I was so excited for you, dude. I was so excited.

Like, I'm excited that you're in the NFL, but to get to play for my team, I say my, you know but but i mean i bought enough ravens gear and i should i should have at least a peek down the tunnel or something every now and then you know what's the score what's the score i want a golf cart ride at the under armor performance center god. God damn it. Yeah, man. So what's happening on – all right, so let's talk about – you had most meetings with Baltimore, and then what happens? Now we're at draft night.

And where are you on draft night? Because all you got – I mean, so many of you got drafted. Yeah, yeah, a lot of us that year. So at the time, like me and Mark Andrews, Mark Andrews, he was my best friend, man. We came into college together. We got the same agents, trained together, drafted to the same team. He's in Arizona at the time. And so I'm actually here in Oklahoma at a friend's house, Tom Marks, man.

He's got a nice little area out here. So I'm here. I'm here with my mom, my brothers. Jamal and his family are here, and I'm here. I'm here. My mom, my brothers, Jamal and his family are here and Tom and stuff. And so I'm sitting upstairs, man. And I'm like, damn, the damn second round is going through. I'm like, man,

this is so I watched the first day. I'm like, I didn't expect to go on the first day, but I saw the damn tackles going. I'm like, the fuck? Like, okay. All right. No disrespect. I get it, bro. Okay. So, and so, you know, I'm like, all right. No disrespect. I get it, bro. Okay. And so, you know, I'm like, all right, first round ends, whatever. All right, tomorrow's my day.

And so second round's going, and I keep seeing all these damn tackles getting drafted. So I'm like, man, what the fuck, man? Like, what? You know, I'm like, gosh, you know, and no disrespect to any of those guys. I'm like, damn, the guy from North Carolina A&T, I don't know who the hell that is. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, damn, bro, that shit, like, I've never even heard of him before. And so, you know, like, I was, you know, just being lame in the moment and upset, you know, those guys were going before me and stuff.

And so, man, I go downstairs, I'm sitting outside watching it on my phone, on my Derek TV app, and my phone starts ringing, like, and it's fucking Coach Riley. I said, damn, man, what the fuck, horrible timing. Okay, so I'm like, look at my phone. I look at my phone and say, all right, I'll answer it. I answer it, and he was like, hey, what's going on? I was like, nothing much. He said, man, I just spoke to Buffalo.

He had asked about you. You know, they're coming up here in the third round. I think they're going to take a tackle, you know, but they had just asked about you. Just letting you know. Just be on the lookout. I was like, I appreciate it, coach. I spoke to a few other teams as well. You named them off and stuff. I was like, all right, coach.

Appreciate it. I was mad as shit he called me at the moment. So I go back in the house. It's like third round had just started. Maybe a few picks in. I'm just upstairs. I'm sitting next to my friend Quinn. And I was on this app, man. It was like, gosh, maybe NFL draft diamonds or some shit. And I'm looking at the guys getting drafted.

And it said Michael Gallup to Dallas Cowboys, who was like one of my friend Quinn. He went to junior college and he played ball with Michael Gallup, who plays in Dallas now. And he went pick 82 or something like that. He won. And he was like, oh, man, you went to Dallas. Bro, that's awesome. I was like, hell yeah, bro, that's dope as shit. And then my phone started ringing, and it said Randallstown, Maryland.

So I've got two sisters, and I got a sister that's 10 years younger than me and 11 years. So I had a sister living in Randallstown at the time. I'm like, damn, I know she's not fucking calling me from her house home in this very moment right now. I'm like, damn, I know she's not fucking calling me from her house home in this very moment right now. I'm like, damn. So, originally, I just swiped it, and I was just like, hello? And he said, what's going

on, Zeus? I said, oh, shit. Ozzy? He said, what's going on, man? We're going to take you. We're going to take you in at 83. I said, no way you're going to fucking clip me in purple and black. I said, there's no way. Ain't no way you're putting me in this shit in purple and black. I said, there's no way. Ain't no way you put me in this shit. He was just like, yeah, we're doing

it. We're going to do it, man. I don't want no fucking weight problems. I better not see your ass on the treadmill on Fridays. He's like, we're bringing you in here to make an impact from day one and you better come here with mentality. Your ass better work. I was like,

listen, you're going to get everything that you want and more like i'm gonna give you everything i fucking got man like this is you know my dream and you know believe it or not man i like i didn't want to go to any other teams man like you know for me it was i really like new england i really like baltimore you know and it was more so about the culture, you know, that those teams had and, and, you know, the way that they operate as far as business, man, it's, it's easy to respect it. And, um, you know, from, from a professional standpoint. So, man, I really, really wanted to get drafted there and I did, um, you know, uh,

I knew that, you know, I was basically going to be in a job competition for the right tackle position. And, uh, James, what's going through your mind?'re getting you you're talking to ozzy you're going to be in a familiar place too you don't even have to go even go in and learn a new play you know the fucking locker room you know the stadium you know everything i mean how overwhelmed i saw the nfl films when you finally hung up the phone and had a moment to yourself like how overwhelmed are you like again bittersweet like holy shit not only did i make it

to the nfl i made it to my hometown team the team my father played for my dad's go i mean what is going through your mind during this moment yeah man all of those things man uh you know i i i was i spent so much time away from my sisters because of my mom moving us to atlanta because of me coming to oklahoma like that was one of the first things I thought about man like God gave me the opportunity to be in their lives again and and you know be some type of a positive impact you know because I'm so close to them like that was one of the things that I really thought about you know I thought about my dad and uh you know just how happy he would have been you know to to be in that moment with me because you know I wish you not. And I was just talking to Coach Harvey about this last season,

towards the end of last season. Gosh, and he remembered too. When I was 13 years old, I had just started playing ball. My dad would always get my equipment from the Ravens. So I'd go in, get my cleats, get like a little helmet, some shoulder pads. Because you're an adult- size man at that point. That's right.

I got like size 17 rubber bottoms and shit. I'm getting a 4XL glove, so I'm in there getting suited up, man. It's like, he goes, let's go upstairs and let's go see Ozzy real quick.

Because Ozzy was one of the guys that gave him an opportunity along with Bill Belichick. And so we go upstairs, and Ozzy's like, what's going on, Lil Zeus? How you doing, man? Shit, you going to Alabama, right? You going to take your big ass to Alabama. That's where you want to go, right? My dad was like, nah, he ain't going to motherfucking Alabama, man. You better worry about the Alabama shit, man.

Ozzy's like, ah, shit, he going to go. That's where winners go. Winners go to Alabama. So, bro, so I'm like, ah, shit. Whatever, you know, that conversation ends. Then we see Harbaugh on the way out. I talked to Harbs and with my dad and everything. And my dad was chiming up with him.

And Harbs, out of nowhere, he just goes, he was going to be a Ravens someday. And I remember saying, saying to him, like, if the opportunity ever presents myself, yeah, I will play. I will play for the Ravens coach,

you know, but it's like, it's one of those deals that is just so far fetched. You know what I mean? It's like, yeah, it's pretty hard to get here. You know what I'm saying?

I'm saying to get in, to get in the NFL and have a cup of coffee is hard. You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, get in and get in the nfl and have a cup of coffee is hard you know what i mean yeah i mean you've accomplished something that that the majority of athletes don't ever accomplish i know that looks like there's a lot because there are a lot of nfl players but there are so many more football players that never even get this opportunity and then to go to your hometown team where you know people to fucking play your dad's position so were you you they told they did tell you you were you were going to battle it out for

right tackle yeah yeah man yeah they let me know straight up like shit they let me know that at my damn meetings you know like hey you know our right tackle position um it's going to be a competition there if we draft you um you know martwig was the OC at the time and everybody was just real straightforward man like look you know you're not coming in here to be a backup and be a swing tackle for four years you're coming in here to ball and start you know so prepare

like that and I took that approach man and you know I didn't end up winning the job James Hurst won the job man fucking great guy great player you know and he was very He helped me out a lot as well just as much as Marshall as far as being a pro and doing things the right way, showing up on time and all of that type of stuff. There was no animosity in there for me, man. I just took it as an opportunity

to, okay, shit, if I'm not going to be a starter in the NFL, I'm going to be a sponge. I played a role where I was basically like the 6-0 lineman where I come in on big packages, short yardage, goal line, extra lineman, that type of stuff. I blocked guys, all that weird shit.

We go on. We're playing Tennessee my rookie year. Alex Lewis gets hurt. And so normally in practice in those situations, they would kick James Hurst from right tackle to left guard and put me in at right tackle, okay? In the game, in the Tennessee game, I was playing so much of that extra O-lineman package,

they put Bradley Bozeman in at left guard, left James at right tackle, and he got me there. So at first I'm like, shit, man, I don't know what my deal is going to be. I hope, hopefully, next week I can make my first start in the NFL. And it was New Orleans against Cam Jordan. So I'm like, oh, shit, trying to

wrap my mind around that and everything. And literally, man, I remember I came in on a Monday and Coach D was just like, hey, Joe De La Senga was my line coach hey you know we're going to start you at the right time for this week it's a big week for you

Cam Jordan is a really good player and you know I got nothing but the utmost respect man for any guy that does you know what Cam Jordan has been able to do Lil Mac Von Miller you know when you can be that consistent at a high level for so long you got to respect you know what I mean for so long, you got to respect that. Man, I have so much respect for Cam and his play style, man.

I just studied my ass off. They went into it with a really good game plan for a young rookie tackle making his first start, basically at a 4-15 kickoff under the lights. Man, bro, we ended up losing that game. Hold on a second. Because I'm going to go back.

I'm such a big fan of you and your story. I made my daughter's mother. And, Derek, we all sat down and watched your little NFL, the NFL films thing they did, that little piece. And at the end when you're crying, we're all crying. I mean, I look over at his mom. She's crying. We're all crying, for you like we we love you so much so now tell me what is it like when your kickoff just happens and you're you're about to go out what is going through your

mind are you how much of your dad are you thinking about as you're running out to fucking get in that huddle yeah uh man like believe it or not man i uh like for me like what i remember doing before i like i took the field like i always tapped the front of my number back of my number and uh you know point up like there's just something like just always like to you know i guess give myself like a boost of confidence in that moment you know and just let myself know what that number represents but but before that i remember looking up to like section 290 293 because that's where like our suite was and i just remember there man like you know i got real i got teary-eyed thinking about that shit you know before i took the field man because you know before that bro like shit right i got goosebumps now like you know, you know, it was literally, you know, at that point, you know,

eight, what would it have been? Eight, nine years ago, man, 10 years before that, man. Like, you know, I was just a kid up there watching my dad play the Buffalo Bills. You know what I mean? And watching him every game. Like, that shit just humbled me so much in that moment, bro. I was just like, I got to ball. I got to go out here and ball.

And, you know, before every show i walk out i rub my lefty on my right arm before i fucking walk out to my show i still did like my you know i go back to being a little kid in that house and i snuck down and saw my dad watching this movie that i saw kids in it and i thought oh i'm allowed to watch this movie there's kids in it and i thought oh i'm allowed to watch this movie there's kids in it and ended up being richard pryor busting loose when he was driving he was driving the kids to the fucking or the bad kids to the orphanage and i started laughing and i got caught he said get in here and i was like oh shit dad's about to fuck me up and he goes sit down and i sat down and finished watching this with me and that was it that was the birth i was 10 or 11 that was the birth of comedy for me and every time i take the

stage i like just a little take them out there with me so i i'm just a romantic about that kind of shit you know what i mean so i know you are i can tell you are i know what a great moment yeah so then you go out your first game. You make Pro Bowl this year. You make the Pro Bowl. Yeah. And I feel like maybe it was in that little piece where – or maybe you had said it like you just – or your dad. Your dad always talked to you about what?

Like one day you make the Pro Bowl, I'll be down there hanging out with you telling the old stories with the guys and all that shit. That would have been so much fun. Yeah, man. Because he played for 13 years, man, but he never was able to make a pro ball. And so that was something that he carried on in life, like a guilt almost that, like, shit, man, I never really amounted to that. You know, as all I was a highest paid O-lineman at one time.

And, you know, I sat this guy down, did this. You know, he never necessarily got that nod. And the Pro Bowl voting is a lot different now than it was for him. You know, like now you got fans involved, media, coaches, players. At then, bro, it was just like, they vote for the most famous O-lineman. Jonathan Oliver, Orlando Pace, Walker Jones. Those were your guys. You know what I'm saying?

So, you know, my dad kind of got overlooked amongst that crowd. Especially because at the time, right, Orlando, Page, Walker Jones, those were your guys, you know what I'm saying? So, you know, my dad kind of got overlooked amongst that crowd, especially because at the time, right tackles, man, they didn't, you know, they weren't as important as they are now. And, you know, man, it was just such a big deal for him to make a Pro Bowl, and I got that

opportunity to go, man, and it was just like that was hard, you know, for me, because it's just like, damn, man, you know, I had my brothers down there, my sisters, my mom, and everything. I was just like that was hard you know for me because it's just like damn man you know i had my brothers down there my sisters my mom and everything i'm just like shit man i really wish you know he could have been a part of that to see that happen man just based off where everything started you know when i was 13 years ago 10 years i have uh two questions i want to ask you one is what do you miss most about your dad? Oh man. Gosh, what I miss most. Bro, that's a tough question, man. Uh, it's a lot of things, man. But gosh, I think I just, I miss like,

I just really missed it. Like our, our, our like adult, like conversations, you know what I'm saying? Like, and I'm sure you had them. Like, I remember, uh, like I remember, you know what I'm saying like and I'm sure you had them like I remember like I remember you know like one of our conversations like he talked to me about getting my first piece of ass like I just like

you know and I look back on that bro like I was fucking 11 12 years old like I don't know nothing to do with that you know what I mean like I had girls that I had crushes on and stuff but you know i don't know nothing about that you know what i mean like i got girls that i had questions about this stuff but you know i didn't know anything about that at the time man and um how it's bro like it is like like that's that for me you know that's probably like the the thing that i miss the most just like the adult conversations and having a resource there as a parent and a player and i mean you have so many levels and layers to you exactly man um i think about this all the time and especially as i get older if you had 24 hours

with your father right now what would you do 24 hours guys bro i ain't a lot of y'all probably spend the first at least eight to ten on a boat in the chesapeake bay fishing room but shooting this shit it's the sad look my mine is damn near the same i would i would if i had 24 hours we'd be on the y river crabbing like we used to do back in the day take the the boat out, go crab, bring the fucking crabs home. We'll sit, we'll have a crab feast. We're going to watch the Orioles lose

in September and then we're going to go down and then we're going to go down to the M&T, to the bank and we're going to watch a Ravens Monday night football game with Orlando Brown Jr. paving the way for Lamar Jackson. That's what I would do.

And then after the game, I'd play catch and talk to him until the fucking sun came up and it'd be a wrap. Hell yeah, dog. You're a Maryland boy out on the Chesapeake. You're right, dude. I love it. I love it. You're a Maryland boy.

I love it, dude. I'll be out there with him, man. After that shit, we'll come back to the crib and just talk some shit, man. Watch him stand for his son, probably. Oh, yeah. Talk about life, you know. That'll be what I'll do. Well, I can't thank you enough for coming on and opening up and being so honest.

Look, man, when we can get together, I want you to come back because I know you've got a million more stories. And when I get back to Baltimore, maybe we could do a live one at, uh, at Jimmy's we should do a live one at Jimmy's. That'd be a lot of fun. Yeah, man. Well, you know, like I do my show and stuff this season. So, you know, uh, all the viewers out there, don't forget to tune in. Uh, just like last year, but, uh, I do my,

I do my show at Jimmy's seafood pretty much every Thursday night for every away game. Best crab cakes in the country. In the world. Yeah. Might be the best restaurant in the world. Jimmy C. Food. Jimmy famous. No doubt. John Minodakis is the man, brother. He is the man.

Yeah, man. So if you ever want to bring your ass on the show, come on and talk to Bob. I would love to, man. I would love to. would love to look man listen let me tell you something this has healed a wound for me i don't know if you know but i was supposed to be a ball boy for the 1984 baltimore colts and i told the whole story it's there's a link on my website i did it uh told this on this is not happening on comedy central and uh man my dad woke me up in the middle of the night to watch the colts sneak out of town in the mayflowers and

there goes the ball boy gig there goes my dad sees the tickets like we're all crying on the fucking we were all right yeah that would have been sad as hell man oh it was devastating i was and then we lose football and until 96 it did make me make me a better football fan because then I started – I wasn't just focusing on my team only. I started learning about Walter Payton and Barry Sanders and Steve Largent and Dave Craig and all these guys on these other teams. But, yeah, man, this has been such a treat. You're such a great dude now you're a great

friend and i appreciate you for even giving me the opportunity to sit here and talk to you like this and and for you being so open and honest about it so um my last question is advice to your 16 year old self looking back now because you're only 24 so it's not that long ago what would in these last eight years what would you tell 16 year old orlando brown jr yeah man uh i would just tell i would tell myself to be more honest with myself man at that point in time where i was in everything uh i definitely would have gotten ahead of the curve as far as my work ethic you know i was somebody that's always worked hard but you know maybe more than the next man but not hard enough you, you know, for me and who I am, who I was and everything. I would tell myself to work harder.

I would tell myself to take your ass to class. You know, I would just be, you know, tell myself, man, just be more honest, you know, and that was just really in all aspects of life, whether that be girls, whether that be ball, you know, and that was just really in all aspects of life, man, whether that be girls, whether that be ball, you know, and friendships, man, just be more honest and keep it real, bro, like, you know, and I didn't necessarily recognize that until I was 18,

you know, until I was 19 and I got away from home and I learned everything, man, I just, you know, those are two things to me, like, the ox, bro, that, like, you know, I could have gotten ahead of the curve, you know, if I understood, like, shit, like shit man like the importance of diet the importance of hygiene and all that other type of stuff it's funny you said that's great advice it's funny you say that too because i really feel like with my father dying and the way it went down because my mom had already left

the family so my brothers and i were on our own at that point like from 16 on we're we're taking care of each other and it certainly gave me an education uh that i never would have got had that not happened but i really feel like it set me back 10 years in like i didn't have anybody the same thing i don't have anybody show me how to tie a tie i didn't have anybody talk to me about finances and saving money and invest none of that i didn't have any of that shit that would you would hopefully normally get from uh parents and and just advice and and i had none of that so i feel like the the there was a hindrance in some of aspects of my life and while other things went forward in a way where no other people even knew how to deal with that kind of shit that you know um and and to this day i do one of the best and i want to say thank you

to sagora too because tom's the reason i got to meet you and the year before that he was at the lyric which is the modell theater now which i love that they named uh the theater after art and um the um we did it i got to do stand up at the lyric and that's the one where like if there was any show i wish my father and grandmother could have seen that that would have been the one that would have been the one that's the fucking lyric and one of my friend's wives said to me after she's like you just got to perform at the lyric in baltimore that's a pretty fucking big deal for a baltimore kid and i was like you know what it is so thank you to score all right that that's one question I do want to ask you.

Of all the games you've played, whatever, I don't care, college, NFL, whatever, what's the one you wish your dad could have been at? Okay. I got a story for you, too. I wouldn't tell you a goofy-ass story. I'm a rookie here. But, gosh, okay. The one game, man.

Gosh, the one game. It would have to be. Would it be the Pro Bowl? No, man, it would have to be the first, that first Pittsburgh game I started in in Baltimore, my rookie year. They called the offenses out. That was the first time I ever ran through the tunnel. Oh, nice.

Yeah, man, whenever they would call my dad, the stadium would go, Zeus! Yeah. And so, man, they started that tackle with Landon Brown 78, Landon Brown's 78, and the whole stadium just goes Zeus. And I just remember like, man, I looked up

man, like, you know, like I got chills, dude. I got chills, dude. I got chills. Holy shit. I was like, bro, this TJ Watt I'm about to go against is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bro, this is like, this shit is real life. Like, in that moment, man, I was just like, I was just like, wow. Like, you know, I haven't made it, but like, I'm here.

Like, holy shit. You know what I mean? Like, I wish, you know, he could have saw but like i'm here like holy shit you know what i mean like that's i wish you know he could have saw that that's great man you say you had a story from your yeah so so i got a crazy ass story bro it's about a chick bro it's funny shit though you know you can put this in the show or whatever you want to but don't get in trouble i don't want to see i don't want to hear any bullshit about orlando brown jr's sideline for some weird illness and it's all this podcast bro this is some silly ass shit man so so uh so like you said bro hometown kid this that and the

other so like i'm getting like and like i lived in towson my rookie year like so which is like a college campus you know i literally i went that's where i went i finished at towson yeah yeah okay yeah so you already it was it probably was a little smaller it's fucking huge now bro like that towson is so built up even from when i was a kid then when i went it was called towson state it's now towson university yeah it was a kid. When I went, it was called Towson State. It's now Towson University. It was a state school when I was still there. They got like 33,000 students now. Something crazy.

Holy shit. I met this chick. Plenty of shit ever, bro. I had just got there. You got all the hype around my name and everything. I had met this chick. She hit me up on like maybe like on a weekend, like, hey, my parents just left.

You can come over. I'm like, man, I'm like, man, I remember telling my friends like, bro, I don't want to go over here, bro. I don't know this girl. I don't know who her parents are. I don't know what the deal is. You know, obviously, like she's like a little bit older than me. And so she's like, just come over. We can have a drink.

I'm like, no, I don't want to do all that like i gotta work out something like that right so so something in me was just like fucking bro let's go see what's up yeah something in there i go over there bro i go over there i get over there she's like she like meets me at the door and everything is like, it's like somewhere in the country, bro. Like between all these meals and towels and dogs, like it's like, you know how those houses are in those neighborhoods.

So she comes grabbing and go through the side gate. And one of her friends and this guy is there. Right. So this guy, like he's got an accent and shit. Like, you know, he's,

you know, what's going on? What's going on, bro? You know, I'm such and such from. So I'm like, okay, cool. So, you know, he's, you know, what's going on? What's going on, brother? You know, I'm such and such from da-da-da-da. So I'm like, okay, cool. So, like,

you know, she had been, you know, drinking a little bit. Her friend had been drinking. The guy had been drinking. They were drinking like vodka or something like that and Red Bull. So they were, like, all super excited, turnt up and shit. Nobody's, like, belligerent or anything. And so, like, so literally, the girls get up. They go, hey, I'm going to go refill our drinks. You know, youent or anything. And so, literally,

the girls get up, they go, hey, I'm going to go refill our drinks. You know, you guys want anything? I said, no, I'm good. He said, yeah, I'll take another one. So, fucking the girls walk off, they close the door, and he looks at me, and he goes, what's going on, man? I'm such and such, bro. I said, bro, where the fuck your accent

go? He goes, yeah, man, these bitches don't know, but yeah, bro, I the fuck your accent go? He goes, yeah, man, any of these bitches don't know, but yeah, bro, I'm definitely not from England, dog. But anyway, man, I sell fucking suits, bro, so if you need a fucking suit for the season, just let me know. Take my name and number. He, bro, gave me his real name.

He's making a suit sale. Bro, gave me his real name and everything, bro. I was like, okay, bro, I appreciate it. I was like okay bro appreciate it i was like okay so what's the deal like how you how you know these girls he's like shit dude i fucking met the one girl on tinder bro she's fucking hot i'm just here to do my thing and that's it dude anyway like i said they're coming back yeah yeah okay england right remember i'm from england i go in the house do my thing thing. I'm fucking downstairs. We're downstairs chilling.

Being a girl I know in the living room. And out of nowhere, he just running down. He comes running downstairs just in his fucking like in his T-shirt, his drawers and like one pant leg on. He looks over and he goes, all right, bro, I'll see you all later. And fucking runs out the fucking door. So I was scared as fuck in this moment. It's funny now. I was scared as shit in this moment because of the world we live in. I'm like, bro,

I know this motherfucker didn't do nothing. He's sitting there, right? And so, yeah, so I'm like, oh shit, I'm like nervous and shit. I'm like, god damn, I'm a black guy. I'm the only fucking black guy here. I'm like, shit, man, shit is scary. And so the girl comes downstairs and she's got tears in her eyes and shit. I'm like, man, what do you do, man? What do you do? I'll go find her. I'll be like, shit, that shit is scary. And so the girl comes downstairs and she's got tears in her eyes and shit.

I'm like, man, what do you do, man? What do you do? I'll go find her. I'll be like, shit, what do you do? And she goes, no, everything was good. Everything was consensual. I just, he asked me if I was on birth control while we were fucking and he just, and I said no and he just pulled out and nutted

on me. And I said, what the fuck? I said I said, what the fuck? I said, bro, what the fuck? Bro. Bro, I literally looked at that girl. I looked at that girl, man. I said, man, listen, I'm so sorry he did that. And I was like, I got him.

So I fucking ended up going home, bro. I shot that dude a text the next day and let him know that girl was crying and shit. He was like, dude, don't fucking worry about it. It happens all the time. What are your measurements? I never replied, but... Bro, that's my rookie year story, dog. That shit happened my rookie year

with them being there for a few months. Oh, shit, man. So you can do what you want to do with that. I hadn't even thought of fucking using a fake accent or any of that shit man i'm telling you i didn't even follow that he's got a haberdashery over there man oh dude zeus thank you so much man this has been so much fun you are welcome on here anytime i can't wait to get you in the studio i can't wait to see you when i come back hopefully you guys are playing i can't wait

to sit at home and scream i can't wait to see the seven second delay they got to put on these games to hear you all out there talking shit because the whole world's gonna hear everything you guys say with nobody in the stands good luck i'm excited i'm excited for that shit hell yeah i've been following the draft man we got with queen i mean man we we don't pay i know everything's paper and everything's if you stay healthy but man we got we got the looking uh we're looking good we got the makings of a dynasty right now and and i think yeah man this is gonna be a fun time watching you fucking mall people dude um and any ravens any ravens see this and want to come on they're welcome to come on we'll zoom with them from here man they can all come on and tell their

honeydew stories but you got the one man this it's i'm such a fan of you and your story and how this is is going for you it is seriously storybook stuff and thank you for coming on here and sharing it with me for real dog i appreciate you man I'm a fan of you as a person, you know, let alone a comedian. I love you. Thank you for everything. Ryan Sickler on all social media,

Ryan Sickler.com. Talk to y' you next time.