The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Interview W/ Ray Roberts, UVA & NFL Star Player; Ray Roberts: All-American & 9 Years In NFL

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

“The Jerry & Jerry Show” headlines: Interview W/ Ray Roberts, UVA & NFL Star Player Ray Roberts: All-American & 9 Years In NFL Roberts Was Recruited To UVA By Danny Wilmer Coach Danny Wilmer Died February 26, 2025 Ray’s Virginia Football And Wilmer Memories State Of UVA Football – Ray Roberts’ Thoughts Florida State At UVA, 9 PM Tonight, ACCN Is This Ron Sanchez’s Last UVA Home Game? Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air Ray Roberts, Former UVA Football Star, joined Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller live on “The Jerry & Jerry Show!” “The Jerry & Jerry Show” airs live Tuesday from 10:15 am – 11 am on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to “The Jerry & Jerry Show” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Tuesday morning, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on the Jerry and Jerry Show. It's a pleasure to connect with you guys wherever you get your social media and podcasting content. The Jerry and Jerry Show airs on your favorite platforms. Today's program is a great one. We have Ray Roberts on the line. Mr. Roberts, nine seasons in the National Football League and All-American at the University of Virginia, a household name if you follow the

orange and blue, and a man that knows a friend of the program that has recently passed away, and Danny Wilmer. We're going to pay honor to Danny Wilmer on today's program, a guy who has touched the hearts of so many, a man that was responsible for the maturation process of so many young men who have donned the orange and blue here in Charlottesville. Hootie Ratcliffe played a fantastic legacy and honor to Danny Wilmer on JerryRatcliffe.com, and today is an opportunity to hear Ray Roberts' thoughts on how this coach, how this fallen man has inspired or influenced his life. Judah Wickhauer is behind the camera. He's the director and producer. Judah, if we can welcome the star of our show, Jerry Hootie Ratcliffe,

the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, on a program that already has a number of states watching the show. Jerry Ratcliffe, the introduction to Mr. Ray Roberts is yours. It's my honor and my pleasure. I've known Ray ever since he stepped on grounds at UVA in the late 80s, continued his career through the early 90s, and became an All-American, All-ACC, two-time Jacobs Blocking Trophy winner, best blocker in the ACC for two straight years. I mean, that's phenomenal.

That doesn't happen very often. And went on to a fabulous career with the Seahawks and the Lions, paving the way for the likes of Barry Sanders, 2,000 yards, as a standout left tackle and just an overall sweet guy. Maybe not on the football field, but off of it, for sure. As the kids like to say, this guy's a big-time baller. A big-time baller on the show, Ray Roberts. Big-time baller.

I try to be. I don't know if anyone's called me Big Puddin'. Well, your nickname is Big Puddin', right? A lot of people don't know that, I think. Absolutely. I think a lot of people forgot that or didn't know it to begin with. But, yeah, Ray's just a fantastic guy,

and it's been a privilege to know him all these years. And it's great that he's kept a strong connection with UVA and the Charlottesville community. He lives in Seattle now where he works with the Special Olympics and spreads his goodwill all over the country. Ray, thank you so much for taking some time out of your schedule. Thank you guys for having me, man. Jerry, you know I've always been a big fan of yours.

And like you said, I've known you for a long, long time. And you do a great job of covering Cavalier football, basketball, the whole nine. And then, you know, obviously coming on and talking about Coach Wilmer. That's just a dude that has always been a part of my life and a part of my journey. And just someone that I just love and respect like no other so yeah uh we were all saddened by the fact that he passed uh last week and uh got to see him shortly before he passed away went out to his house and uh it's very heartbreaking to to see that but uh i i read a quote from you ray where you said he changed my life can can you

talk a little bit about your encounters your early encounters with danny when you were growing up in in asheville north carolina yeah so it was it was really interesting because um i was probably a better basketball player in high school than i was a football player, but I was a football player. So I played basketball. So I wasn't like, I wouldn't say I was. Got him frozen right there. Stuff.

And so, but. right there. Stuff, and so... Connection's a little choppy. You got a choppy connection there, Judah? Come on. Sorry, I can hear you guys in my ear. The connection's a little choppy here, Ray.

I think we got you back here. Can you see me? It's frozen. I think it's frozen again here. Can you see me? It's frozen. I think it's frozen again. Yeah, we're going to try to reconnect here with Ray Roberts. The connection's a bit choppy here. Ray, we're going to call you right back here. We're reaching out to him via Skype, and we're going to see if we can get him back on the line.

Judah, I'm going to Skype him back in here. I want to hear how he was a better basketball player than he was a football player. I mean, man, that puts things in perspective. How good was he at basketball right there? I wouldn't want to run into one of his screens. Amen, brother. I mean, he's live from, is he in Seattle right now? He's live from Seattle.

So working with a cross-country connection here. I'm curious to hear his connections to Danny Wilmer as well. I thought what you put in perspective on JerryRackliff.com with Danny Wilmer's impact was very well written, Jerry Rackliff. And I know he meant quite a bit to you. Yeah, he was a special guy. I probably crossed the line. Writers and coaches aren't supposed to become friends,

but we became steadfast friends for a long, long time. And I think we got Ray back on the line here. Ray, we got you there. I'm hoping the connection is a smidge better here. And you know what was startling of what you were just saying is that Ray Roberts was a better basketball player than football player at one time that is a scary proposition my friend you setting you setting a pick or going for a rebound in the paint would scare the bejeebus about of anybody my friend well i will say like the physicality of the way i played i found out of

a lot of games but uh um but no i was a big time – I don't want to say big time, but I was an all-conference basketball player in high school and all that kind of stuff. But the cool thing about Coach Wilmer was my high school football coach, Joe Stedman, had coached with Coach Wilmer at James Madison. And so he told Coach Wilmer, you should come watch this kid play football. And Coach Wilmer, they couldn't make it to my games because it was a little bit late in the recruiting cycle. So Coach Wilmer came to one of my basketball games.

And in that game, I think I had like 18 points and about 12 boards, about five block shots, a couple of dunks. And after the game, Coach Wilmer came into our locker room and said, son, we don't have anybody like you on our defensive line. And so, uh, and so he offered me a scholarship right there in the, in the locker room. And, uh, and I hadn't even taken a visit to Virginia or anything. And so, uh, finally got around to do the official visit up there. And on my official visit, I met Sean Moore and Tony Covington. And Derek Boyd was like my host at that time. And I had already verbally committed to Tennessee.

But after going to dinner with Coach Wilmer and just the way he – my mom just really took a liking to him. Like my mom could see right through all the BS. And so she just really took a liking to Coach Wilmer. And that kind of sealed the deal for us. And on our way home, we're about Lynchburg, going back to Asheville. And I just told my dad, hey, I think I'm going to go to Virginia. He was like, what? Like you said, you're going to go to Tennessee.

I'm like, no, I think Virginia is a place for me. Like it just fits me better. Coach Wilmer is like really excited about what I can do on the football field. And so that's how I ended up at UVA. What did that mean to you, Ray, to get that kind of opportunity coming out of Asheville? Well, it was huge because, no, we've had like a couple of basketball players from our high school that were big time. Like this one kid that was older than me that graduated, my sister, Buzz Peterson, was the state high school player of the year over, Michael Jordan. And actually played with Jordan at Carolina and all this other kind of stuff.

So he was like the biggest, like, named dude that people could remember. And we had a few guys go to some smaller schools, but not, not like a big time kind of a thing. And so it was kind of cool for me because I just wanted the kids from my community to see that, uh, that they could go and do these types of things. And even academically, you know, a lot of people didn't think I'd be able to make it academically at UVA and it started out slow, but, uh, but I ended up, you know, finishing strong at UVA academically too. So the, my mission at UVA was bigger than me just playing football. It was, uh, it was set an example for some of the young kids in my community that may had dreams of playing college football or going to NFL or whatever, you know, whatever it was. And I just

put it on my shoulders to be the guy that tried to lead the way. Put in perspective for us, Asheville, North Carolina, my parents live in Hendersonville, and I know Western North Carolina is far removed from ties to the University of Virginia. And that part of North Carolina has got allegiances with a lot of collegiate programs. And I know when you were in high school, Phil Fulmer was not yet the head coach at Tennessee.

I believe he was the offensive line coach at Tennessee at that time. So you saying verbally yes to Tennessee and then saying no to Tennessee and going to a school in central Virginia, that probably sent some shockwaves throughout western North Carolina. Yeah, a lot of people thought I was crazy for doing it because I think Tennessee had just won the national championship in like 81 or 82. And so there is a real powerful football team and biggest stadium at the time in the country. I think they had the biggest stadium. When we took our visit down there, I just remember standing in the middle of the field that

kind of introduced us at the time and i looked at my dad and i said there's more people in the stadium than there is in the whole in all of asheville because at the time there was maybe our population asheville's maybe 60 to 70 000 and that stadium held 90 000 people and so i was like if i make a mistake, like the whole, it's going to be 90,000 people yelling at me, Dad. And so it was a huge, huge stadium. It was unbelievable, like the pomp and circumstance, everything that was going on.

It was unbelievable. Coach Majors was the coach there. You know, I can remember going through the locker room. And, you know, I'm 6'5 and 250 pounds. And the players are like, oh, yeah, Coach, we can put some weight on him. And I'm thinking, like, what? Like, am I not big enough? And so it was really interesting, the visit there.

I mean, it was a great visit and all that stuff. When I met Sean, like, Derek Boyd, who was like a backup receiver from Winston-Salem, he was like my official host. But he hung out with Sean Moore and Tony Covington. And Tony Covington was from North Carolina as well. Sean is from Martinsville, which is like an adopted North Carolina. And so we just hit it off. And I just told my dad, I was like, my personality just fits there better than it does at Tennessee. And then the other underlying factor to it was, I had, my mom was a janitor at our elementary school and one of the administrators there told her that it was good for me to go to Tennessee because I wouldn't graduate from

Virginia. And so my mom never graduated middle school. And so she just took that as the gospel. And so I was like, man, you can't tell my mom that. You can't put limitations on what I can do. And so that was another factor, me switching from Tennessee and going to Virginia as well. I guess when you first got here, it sounded like things might have been a little intimidating and Danny Wilmer kind of set your mind straight yeah so you know I was way out of my element like just from a culture

perspective like when I say I was poor I was dirt poor like I came to Charlottesville with a duffel bag and I had two shirts a pair of pants and some shoes. That was all I had. And so you get there and people are driving around in Mercedes, you know, BMWs and nice cars and they have all the clothes and all this stuff. And like, I wore all the stuff that the team gave us. That was my clothes, the sweats, the shorts, the shoes. I'd like then, I wore my turf shoes as tennis shoes. Like I didn't have – I had nothing. And so it was a culture shock. And so it kind of zapped some of my confidence.

And so one day I was walking through U-Haul, and I'm just – you know, you're kind of tall and I'm kind of slumped over and just kind of staring at the ground. And Coach Wilmer pulled me into the men's basketball locker room. And he said – he got behind me, pulled my shoulders back, made me stand up tall. And he said, hey, boy, like these grounds are yours for the taking. Like you belong here.

Like this is your team, your gym, your grounds, your classroom, your football. Like everything he started, he could see he was naming, saying it was mine. And he's like, and I just want you to carry yourself that way. And, uh, and it was something about, it probably was like a five minute conversation. Um, because I was about to go into the U-Haul to a basketball game. And, uh, it just changed my whole mindset in that one moment. And, uh, and then from that point on, I was just like, you damn right. Like, this is my place and I'm going to make it my place and I'm going to do what I got to do to, you know, to be successful here. And that's, I was still on the defensive

line at the time. And so, um, that just really lit a fire in me, man, that just no one had ever told me that in my life, no one had ever said like, you know, this is yours to have, you know, like everything that I got, I had to work really hard to get it, you know, this is yours to have, you know, like everything that I got, I had to work really hard to get it, you know, had a really tough childhood, you know, growing up the way my, you know, my family life was. And so to be somewhere where someone saw something in me that I didn't see in myself, uh, and then actually called it out, you know, like, like put actually, you know, you're talking in the Bible, always saying that, you know, like like put actually, you know, you're talking in the Bible, always saying, you know, God is like placing his hands on you. Well, he put his hands on me and said, this is your place.

And so it just really changed my perspective from that point on. And then I just became a different dog. I was different in the weight room. I was better in the classroom and then on the field. It was just it was it was unbelievable unbelievable even as a defensive lineman you know i fought all the time and uh i didn't let the offensive lineman get the like extra little push on me and all these different kinds of things so it just people were just like man like what happened to this dude and nobody really knew what coach wilmer had said to me and it just really it just really lit me up so i was ready to go from that point on. And then I got moved to offense. And there's a story about that.

Yeah. Yeah. Like and so this is like I was ahead of my time because I was on the phone. And this is when you had the cell. I mean, phone booths. I was in the phone booth trying to call Tennessee to see if I could transfer to Tennessee because I was going to play defense there. And I'm like, I don't want to play offense. And somehow my dad found out and drove to Charlottesville and spent about 15 minutes telling me what I was going to do, which was stay in Charlottesville. And that's what I did. And so I remember one of the practices i i just couldn't get i didn't know what i was doing on offense i couldn't learn the plays and stuff and so uh coach

o'brien and obi and coach welsh got into a big argument we used to have three fields so you know how they had a big practice facility used to be three football fields so one defense one offense and then we do our team stuff in the middle. When on that middle field, the three of them were arguing over me. Like Coach Wembley wanted me back on defense, and Coach Welsh wanted me on offense, and Obi just wanted me to get the plays right. And so it was really interesting to see this happening all over me. And so ultimately, obviously I stayed on the offensive line and that was great and had a great career there and loved Coach Welch's insight to be able to see that in me.

But, yeah, Coach Wimmer was my guy, man. He was always, always fighting for me. You know, even in that situation, he was like, there's nobody over there that can block him. But you want him. But you take him away from me and all this stuff. And so then then your brain goes all over the place years later because you're going like, man, we ended up with Chris Slade. Like he would have been on one side. I'd have been on one side. Like, so who knows? But but now Coach Wilmer, you know, even just the way he talked to my parents, you're like, you know, Coach Wilimmer can be an intense, emotional kind of a dude. When we came to the official visit, we were at the Aberdeen Barn, and he was getting so excited trying to tell my parents his plans for me. He knocked the drink over in my mom's lap. I'm thinking to myself, like, man, this dude needs

to like, calm down, bro. Like my mom, you know, these, we don't have a whole lot. He just spilled like a drink all over my mom's clothes. And even in that though, my mom was like, there's something about that man. And, uh, and that was at that dinner where he told my mom, like when he leaves here, I promise you he's going to be a man. And, uh, and so I think, you know, that type of commitment to me and that type of, uh, uh, conviction and what he was saying, uh, it was more than just, uh, Hey, we just need to get another big body on our team. And, and then, you know, we'll have somebody else doing the same thing next year. He was really convicted in his commitment to me and as a person and i think that's what sold uh him on my mom and dad yeah yeah you know george uh one once upon a time i

sat in joe paterno's office interviewing him and they were going to open the season with virginia i think or play him early and uh he told me that me that George Welsh was the greatest evaluator of talent he had ever been around. So I guess George saw something in you as a potential left tackle. And if I recall, they had recruited Terry Kirby, who was the National High School Offensive Player of the Year. And George said, well, if we're going gonna have an all-american running back we need an all-american left tackle to open the holes for him and and you were the guy yeah yeah but

the thing about that jerry is like i didn't know that story until you know later on um uh you know i you know in my my post on social media i you know, at one point life punched me in the face and Coach Wilmer took me in. And so I was staying with Coach Wilmer. My wife and I had separated and I'll just I don't know, I just kind of kicking myself in the butt and just sleeping in my car and all kind of stuff. And Coach Wilmer found out about it and said sent his wife Myrna to come get me. And so he's like, hey, like I got this basement apartment. You're going to stay here in this basement apartment. You and I are going to figure out what the next moves are and you can stay here until you get your get yourself right. And so one day we're just having some lunch and I said, Coach Wilmer, like, how did I end up on offense?

And he said, well, we're going down through tidewater we're all in this van driving together and uh and i was asking george like what why are we moving ray roberts to what you know why do we move ray roberts to tackle and he said uh because if we're gonna have an all-american running back we need an all-american left tackle i'm like well why didn't you guys tell me that it would have been nice nice. No one told me that, like, no one told me to rhyme a reason for why I was moving, you know? And so it's all like, if some, if you had told me that, maybe I'd have had a different perspective on it, you know, at the time,

but, but, uh, but yeah, so it was, it had, it had been a, I had been a top of conversation with the two of them for quite some time. And, uh, and a lot of it you know was built on this vision that coach welsh had that was beyond what any of us could see because obviously terry kirby didn't just jump on the scene his senior year this dude was a monster from the time he got into high school football and uh and so coach welsh was already a couple years ahead of everybody you know trying to get the trying to get the situation set up so that we could have this dynamic football team.

And we had Nicky Fisher and Marcus Wilson, really good running backs, but Terry Kirby was a game changer in his talent and ability and stuff. And so at the time, could not see the vision when it first happened. But after I got over there and had success and figured out what I was doing,

man, there's no other position I'd rather play, you know, and it fit me just perfectly. And Coach Welsh, I mean, Coach Wilmer reminded me that I didn't have to play like an offensive lineman. I could play like a defensive lineman, still be aggressive, go after guys, finish dues, put them on their back, like all those kinds of things. And that's how I played, you know, and I played that way all through the NFL. Like I just, I was never one of the dudes that kind of let the defense dictate to me.

I try to dictate to them all the time. And so that I can use my athletic ability and all that kind of stuff. And man, Coach Wilmer, like I'm glad that I got the time to spend with him when I stayed with him because just the wisdom that he had for me and then the love that he had for me. I don't know if there are very many coaches that are going to find a guy that they coached, you know, 20 years before and said, hey, come move in with me. Like when you're having a tough time and I could stay long as i wanted all those kinds of things and uh and at the time he was that's when his ankle was really first starting to bother him and all that kind of stuff but right um and then like the piece of property he had out there had this little pond or creek on it and he would have my sons come out and um he they'd be fishing and riding the four wheelers.

And the only thing that was a little nerve wracking is that every time they left, he was giving them like weapons, like, Hey, take this knife with you. Take this thing. And I'm like, coach, we're like, no, like, no, they're not ready for that yet. You know? And, uh, Oh boy, they're just, they're just like, I'm gonna teach them how to whittle this wood. He's like teach them how to make, you know, whittle the wood and all this stuff. And, uh, and so like, just're just, they're just like, I'm going to teach them how to whittle this wood. He's like teaching them how to make, you know, whittle the wood and all this stuff. And, uh, and so like, just this dude, his love for people that he loved was ginormous.

And, uh, and it's amazing that he had that type of love for a lot of people. It's hard to give that much to one person, you know? And like, I think Greg Mccclellan ended up going and staying with coach wilmer at one time yeah um the way that you know you listen to all the different stories uh there were some some guys i know that played at virginia tech when they saw the post about coach member they're like man coach mover recruited me too and uh and they they had love for coach warmer so this dude just had a way of like injecting himself into your life in a way that you know that he's there, but he's not getting in your way. But he's just but he's behind you, like pushing all the time. You can do it. You got it. I'm here with you. Don't worry about it. Don't be afraid. I love you.

Like he was like that type of dude. And those types of people are hard to find because it was genuine. You know, it's authentic. It wasn't something that he was putting on just to get you to the school. It was something that lasted a lifetime, you know, and and you don't see that a whole lot anymore. You may see guys saying their coaches when they go back for like alumni weekend or something like that. But Coach Rummer was like in my ear all the time, you know, in the NFL. Once I retired, when I got married, during my divorce, you know, about, you know in the nfl once i retired when i got married during my divorce you know about you know with my kids like everything he was this dude was intertwined into to my entire life so just love that dude with everything i have yeah he was special you

you're right you you don't find that kind of genuine uh love anymore there's so many fake people in the business and telling kids whatever they want to hear. He was definitely a unique guy. No question about it. I'll throw this to you, Ray. What'd you make when you saw that he passed away? First things that went through your mind? Well, I mean, I knew that he was having a hard time. And at one point, his caregivers reached out to me because they said,

man, we kind of know your name and stuff, but Coach Wimmer just keeps asking for you. And so a couple of times we tried to connect, but they were trying to find times when he was the most viable and we just couldn't find a good time to connect. So I never got to talk to him. But honest to God, it took me a while. By the end of the day, I was just full of tears, man.

There's four people that have had the greatest impact in my life, and Coach Wilmer is one of them. And three of the four have passed away. And so it just kind of hit me that the people that helped shape me and mold me and are part of who I am, uh, it was no longer there, you know? And I, you know, just the, the, the fire like that coach, coach Wilmer had like the intensity that he does things and he loves the same way. And so it was like, man, I like, I don't, that love for me is not in the world anymore, even though it's not gone. But the, the, the physical person that, that, uh, that gives me

that isn't around anymore. And so I just started bawling, man, because I think when I first heard it, I was trying to be strong about it. Like, oh man, that's too bad. And I didn't really want to feel what I was feeling, but then I allowed it to, you know, allow myself to feel it because this is a dude that deserves me to express my feeling and my heart and my sadness and my joy and my happiness and my gratitude. He deserves all of that. And so for me to hold any of that back in that moment would have been disrespectful to him because he was just too big a part of who Ray Roberts is for me to try to hold that back and act like some tough guy about it.

This is a dude I absolutely love with every freaking atom in my body. And there's nothing that I would not have done for him because I know there's nothing that he would not have done for me. And even in the times where, you know, I was probably headed down the wrong road, he was the dude that reeled me back in, you know, and was like, no, that's not how it's going to happen. This is what you're going to do. And these are the, like, no coach Wilmer is just, um, I don't know what his relationship, if it was listen to other guys, it sounds like it was the same, but I feel like mine was unique to me. And, uh, and so I'm sure they feel the same way. And, uh, it's hard when you lose people that mean so much to you that have meant so much to you that, that, I mean, it changed, it changed my life. Like I'm telling you, like, um, you know, we didn't have running hot water. Like I never had a new pair of jeans until Jason Wallace, my roommate's mom bought them for me when I was at UVA. You know, we never, any type of vehicle we had, it was a, had to be something that my dad built and it fell apart every other day.

It's like, so when I was coming to UVA, man, I was stepping way out of my element and way out of my comfort zone. And if you had looked at me on paper, there was no reason for me to be there except for Coach Wilmer. Like if on the paper, out of all the things that say I should or shouldn't be there, if his name is on it, that was the reason I was supposed to be there because he wanted me there. And and so that's how much that guy means to me. And that's when I said it changed my life forever. It changed my life. I met the mom of my kids there. You know, I have some of my best friends of all time are from there. Sean and Jason and Myron and Tyrone, like those are my dogs, Tony Covington, Derek Boyd. Like those are my guys forever. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like I would have never met them. And I can call those dudes at any time of the night,

any time of the day, but it would have never happened if the connection wasn't made with coach Wimmer and all of those dudes who were recruited by coach Wimmer too. And so it was just, um, this dude, his life. Um, I don't know that if there's enough airtime and enough podcasts and enough interviews and enough words on social media or TV to express how much this dude means to so many people, because he was that type of guy. And he's a type of dude that's hard to find. And so I try to actually model my life after Coach Wilmer, man. I try to be there for all the people in my life. I try to show up big for young people. The work I do for Special Olympics, I was just telling my girlfriend the other night, I don't enjoy all the traveling I do, but man, I'm exhausted when

I'm done doing these presentations and working with these athletes because I give them every ounce that I have. And that's what Coach Wilmer did. And so I try to give the people that I love and care for, people that reach out to me, that need help, whatever it is, I try to love them the way that Coach Wilmer loved me. And when I say he changed my life, it wasn't just financially or football or whatever, he actually changed who I was and who I am. He's got a lot of questions coming in. I told you he's a sweet soul. Yeah. He's got a lot of questions coming in. I told you he's a sweet soul.

Yeah, he's got a lot of questions coming in. Ray, you're crushing this right now. This is coming from Georgia. Travis is a lifelong Virginia football fan, and he said, I love the interview. The words from Mr. Roberts are inspiring right here, and he wants your best George Welch story for the viewers and listeners. Oh I know what this well

my bet my best George well story is uh as my first year at UVA I was on the defensive line and you know you do these so many practices and then we have these scrimmages and At one of the scrimmages. I was going against Roy Brown and Chris Morris. That's not his name, Chris. The center. And they were setting me up. Like, they would go like, hey, Ray, slow down a little bit.

And so I'd slow down. And then whack, they were just like, they were killing me. So I'm like, hey, man, you can't ask me to slow down and then go they were just like they were killing me so i'm like hey man you can't ask me to slow down and then go full speed like that and so then the next time they did it i just grabbed somebody's face mask and i just started throwing blows and i'm just i'm punching anybody that was on offense and i'm i'm just going at it and the next thing i know i could feel something on my back and it was coach welsh with his hat and he was hitting me going get off the field get off the field so like i'm like he's on my back so i'm like what am i supposed to do

you know like yeah the head coach is on my back and uh and so he kicked me out of practice and and so i was just like man like i don't know what that means does that mean that i lost my scholarship am i fired like what am i supposed to do So I tried to take a few plays off and run back on the field. And he was like, no, go to the locker room. And so I was just like, oh my gosh, like, man, if I tell my dad, I got kicked off the football team, I'm going to be in like big trouble. Well, then Jason Wallace came in and Tyrone Lewis came in and like, hey man, like Coach Wallace just wants you to calm down. Like you need to calm down. And so, uh, it's a legendary story around UVA, uh, that he jumped on my back, you know, beat me with his, with his baseball cap. And, uh, and I think at one point,

I don't know if it was coach Wells told a story or not, but the two people that he like got into it and kicked out of practice like that was me and Herman and so he was like if if you want to be a top 10 pick get kicked out of practice by coach Welsh yeah so uh so yeah that's my that's my story like if most people that are close to the program at least when I was around they all know the story story. It was like I was scared to death. But, yeah, I got kicked out of practice by Coach Welsh after him jumping on my back trying to stop the fight I was in. I think that's legend now. Yeah, I've heard that one. The Herman he's referencing, viewers and listeners,

Herman Moore, greatest wide receiver ever, playing in the National Football League as well. Questions are coming in so quickly here. How about this one? Best NFL story for you and toughest guy to block in the National Football League. I would say the best NFL story is me getting drafted.

It was pretty incredible. The year that Barry rushed for 2,053 yards when I was playing in Detroit, we had Coach Ross, who had coached at Georgia Tech, which every day I would remind him, you do know that you guys stole that game from us. But after the first two games of the year, Barry only had about 11 carries and 53 yards. So we had this meeting, and they brought me and Herman.

I think Don Mikowski was still on the team. So Detroit was like UVA North. And so Don was on the team, and then they brought in a couple other players, and the offensive coordinator said, hey, like, what should we do? And I said, dude, I don't get paid to call the plays. I just block whatever you call but if you're asking me i would give it the number 20 until the shoes fell off and i'm like he's a he's the best running back you know in ever and he's only had 11 carries

after two games like like what does that mean i'm like i would have the world's biggest oxygen machine behind the bitch and tons of shoes because we were, we're going to run him until he just can't run anymore. And from that day forward, that was before the third game, we rushed 14 straight weeks over a hundred yards and we rushed for exactly 2000 yards in 14 games. And so I know it doesn't add up the same, but people always say,

well, OJ did his 2000 yards in 14 games. And we leave, we finished with 2053 yards after starting with 53. So we rushed for 2,000 yards in 14 games. And so it was pretty cool to be part of that history and part of that select group of dudes that have blocked for 2,000-yard rushers. And so it was a pretty cool – that's like one of the coolest NFL stories for me.

You know, on a more like sentimental side, you know, like you dream of playing the NFL. And I can remember when our first home game and they said starting to left tackle from the University of Virginia, number 73, Ray Roberts. And I cried the whole way out. I was still crying when the first play, you know, the coach is like, are you going to be OK? I'm like, I'm fine, dude. It's just like this is like you're you're living your dream, like literally living the dream. And so I just it was an emotional thing for me. And and so just about probably for the rest of my career, probably every fourth or fifth game when they were introduced to offense, I'd have that same type of response because it was unreal that this is something you dreamed of doing and you're actually getting to do it.

And so when they would introduce me, I would still kind of have like that emotional kind of response to it. And for those that don't know, Ray was picked as the number 10 draft choice in the first round. So yeah, absolutely. That's a big deal. That's a very big deal. That's a very big deal. That's a very big deal.

More questions continue to come in. Viewers and listeners, we're trying to get as many of these as possible here. You mentioned the Aberdeen Barn. I think every football player that comes on this talk show right here has an Aberdeen Barn reference. I mean, how many scholarships were closed over ribeyes at the Aberdeen Barn here? Put the Aberdeen Barn in perspective.yes at the Aberdeen Barn here? Put the Aberdeen Barn in perspective. Stories from the Aberdeen Barn.

A supporter, JerryRackliff.com. Give some love to the Aberdeen Barn, Ray Roberts. Oh, absolutely. Like I said, man, when on Friday nights after football games, my mom would make pork chops. And pork chops were our steak. Like that's like, that's the most expensive piece of meat we could afford.

And so it was like, Oh man, I can't wait to get these, this pork chop after the game. And so then we go to the Aberdeen barn and honestly, like we have no, we weren't schooled in all this stuff. And so me and my mom and my dad were looking at the,

we're looking at the price of things and we're like, well, who's paying for this? We're going just order these appetizers because we don't know like like we we can't foot this bill if we leave in here like this and then coach will was like no i just order whatever you want and so we're like whatever you want like anything like yeah so i'm like i'm looking down the thing and the prime rib i'm like well shoot that's what they say they're great at like i want this this thing called the prime rib i had no idea what it was i'm like i that's what i want though because it's the most expensive thing on here and uh and i will tell you that every time i come back to charlesville and go to the aberdeen barn i get the prime rib

because it's just that good you know what i'm saying and they and it's amazing how uh i don't know if they're still there, but for a while when I came back there, the staff was pretty much the same. So it was cool how they would recognize when you come in. Oh, Mr. Roberts,

we got paid. Come sit in this spot, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, through Charlottesville without stopping at the Aberdeen Barn. Like you said, it closed a lot of deals, but it's also a lot of great food, too,

and good people that work there. Absolutely. My longest-standing sponsor, so I'm very – and I love their food, too. You can't not love their food, right? Oh, yeah. If you love that food, you don't like food right ray what do you think of uh what do you think the state of college football today and here's a follow-up question to that with the transfer portal i would bet and i'm just talking out loud

here with the transfer portal i would bet ray roberts his first year second year when they're talking about switching from defense to offense with the option of the transfer portal maybe tennessee would have been the destination uh what do you make it state of college football now and the transfer portal and where we're all at well i will say this uh probably that early in my career i probably would have jumped in the transfer portal but once um i was like intricate part of the team we were building something different like all these dudes from virginia were staying at home uh you know we had some of the some of the better players from um north carolina a few from like

pennsylvania area and you could just tell that something different was happening there, that something was about to jump off. You know, my first year, you know, Scott Seekules was a quarterback, and we did some good stuff. But everybody knew – sorry that it's getting dark in here. Everybody knew that Sean was going to be the future of what we were doing because the dude was just a dynamic person and a dynamic leader. And then we could see in practice how great he was.

And then we had all these other pieces, you know, McGonigal at tight end, like that could do stuff, you know, Herman at receiver, Dooley and Finkelson. Like all these dudes that we had that could play football. And then on the other side of the ball, you know, we ended up with Chris and David. You know, we had, you know, what David Griggs and Logman were my first year. They were the biggest linebackers in the history of the world. But we have some dudes, you know, Jason Wallace, Tyrone Lewis, that were Tony Covington, McMeans. Like we had some dudes that were that were ballers.

And so it would have made it hard at that point to leave unless that, unless there was a mass exodus, you know, because we're building something new and different for UVA. And so I think having survived my first year, I probably would have, I probably would not have left as it relates to the state of the game right now. I do have always felt like players should be compensated somehow. And because you generate a lot of revenue for a lot of other people and for the university.

And it even there's even data that shows like when you're you're especially your football team is good, like your applications for the school go up. And so like it's impacting, you know, a lot of different things. People donate more money to the university, all these different kinds of things. So you're you're really impacting a lot of different things. People donate more money to the university, all these different kinds of things. So you're, you're really impacting a lot. And so people will say, um, well, you know, you're getting a free education. Well, a lot of times that free education even has boundaries on it because there's classes you can't take. Uh, there's majors you can't have because of the time commitment that it takes to do football and practice and work out and train and all that kind of stuff. I changed my major twice at UVA. I started out as I wanted to be in an engineering school, but that our practice

times and stuff just wouldn't work for me to do all the labs. And then I was majoring in economics and then all the economic classes were in the afternoon, my second year. So then I couldn't do those because that's when we were practicing. So then I changed it to, I just looked on my transcript. It was like, hey, I got these communication classes. So this is what I'm majoring in. And so it's almost like they're saying like, you can have this house on the lake, but you can't use the water. You can't use the lake, you know? And so people will use that sometimes. It's like, well, they're getting compensated with the education, but even that is limited to a degree. So I do appreciate that they came up with a system.

I just think the system needs some tweaking. And I don't like that it's supposed to be named image and likeness and it's become a pay-to-play kind of thing. And if that's what it's going to be, that's what it's going to be. But, like, at least, you know, bring some order to it. It just seems like a little too shooting from the hip kind of a thing. And you don't know if guys have been taken care of the right way. And I don't know. I'd have to have some other players speak on it.

But I would just be curious to see what the dynamic in the locker room is between the guy that's getting a million dollars and the guy that's getting nothing, but they're working all the same. And so it would be interesting to see what that dynamic is. But I do like that the players are getting paid. I just don't like maybe the disorder of it. And I hope that they can bring something to it. And then and then, you know, I don't like people that say that kids are avoiding adversity by transferring, because to enter the transfer portal, you're entering adversity because there's a there's a chance that you don't come out of the portal. And if you if that happens, you've lost your scholarship at the place you left and you don't have a place to go to school and get your education. And there's no guarantee that the school you go to is going to be any better,

that you're going to get any chances. So I like the idea that you get to bet on yourself. And I do like the idea that it invites adversity, and I don't like a lot of coaches that beat on it and say that, oh, players don't want to work hard, they don't want to earn things, da-da-da-da-da-da-da, well, then stay at the school the school you coach forever. Don't ever change. Don't ever leave and go find another job. Do what you do at your place the entire time for your whole freaking coaching career, if you're going to say that. I do think there's a little narrative out there about our young people not wanting to earn and

feeling entitled and all that kind of stuff. All they're doing is they're doing what all of the rest of America does. They're taking their best opportunities where they feel like they can express themselves the best and make the best opportunity for themselves. And so I don't have any problem with the transfer, and it's just bringing some order to it. Want to close her down, Hootie? That was a great answer right there. Oh, that's terrific. Yeah, I mean, this has been a very enlightening interview, Ray, and I've talked to you so many times over the years. It's always so much fun because you have such great insight into

not just college football, but life in itself. And we really appreciate your time, and especially your thoughts on Coach Wilmer. I think you probably had a closer relationship with him than any of his players. I know he loved them all, but I do think you were special to him. He talked to me about you a lot, and thank you so much for sharing some of those stories with us. We appreciate it.

Well, my battery is going to die in a second, so I just want to say thank you guys for having me on. But more importantly, thank you guys for celebrating Coach Wilmer. And I know that some people will say, like, oh, man, it's too bad we get to the end of someone's life before we celebrate them. But I'm almost 100 percent sure that the dudes that he impacted have all communicated that to Coach Wimmer in some form or fashion. And so this dude knows that we know that he loved us and he knows that we loved him because we would go to the end of the earth to do anything for him because he did that for us. And it'd be great.

You know, like I can't say that me and Coach Wilmer agreed on everything. But the one thing that we did agree on is that the humanity of people matters. And that's the level that we connected on. And because of that, like I said, he just changed my life forever. Great dude. Love him to death. Love his family. We'll always remember him and think about him and know that he is part of my journey and he's part of who I am. Thank you, Ray.

That was awesome. We appreciate you, Ray. Absolutely. Love you, brother. All right. You guys have a good one. You too, Ray. Thank you.

Ray Roberts, ladies and gentlemen. The man is one of the best in the game right there. Judah, if you want to go to the studio camera, and then we'll switch seats. And then make sure we get these mics on for us, J.O. Make sure these mics are on if you could. Ray Roberts, ladies and gentlemen, an All-American, a nine-season National Football League player, and just a man who has a way with words. And you can see the impact that Danny Wilmer has had on so many that have matriculated

through the University of Virginia, through Scott Stadium, and through George Walsh's football program. Hootie Ratcliffe, as good as an interview as we've ever done here on the Jerry and Jerry Show. Yeah, Ray is excellent in those terms. He was always really good, know in college uh but you know since going to the nfl and and now you know having uh graduated from the nfl and gone on to good things in life um he does his own podcast now i think he calls it big ray's garage or something like that and uh even when he was in Seattle, I used to have him on an old radio show I did back in the mid-'90s for, I think it was WCHV back then. And he would do, he had a radio show while he was a Seahawk out there in Seattle.

And he would not just talk football, but he would review movies and stuff like that. He's a well-rounded individual and well-spoken and a very smart guy. I appreciate Ray's time and I love hearing the nostalgia with this Virginia football program. We'll segue as you get headlines on screen to basketball. Ron Sanchez, Florida State. Is this Ron Sanchez's last home football, home basketball game as coach of UVA? Well, it very well could be.

I'm thinking that it most likely will be. I don't have any inside information or it's just speculation and just reading the tea leaves. But I'm having a feeling that it probably will be, but I could be wrong. He may get a second chance. Nobody really knows that. But if I were having to place a huge bet on it, that's probably where I would throw my money. I hope he can find some magic and make things work.

I think he's a great guy. Your money is on this. This is his last home basketball game as coach of UVA. I think so. I think the Clemson game probably did some damage, even though they were running up against one of the more experienced teams, not only in the ACC, but in the country. They just were manhandled and had a big lead, not a big lead, but a healthy lead at halftime.

All that just came apart at the seams in the second half, and they couldn't do anything about it and um i don't know i just just reading the tea leaves it seems like that there's a lot of call for change uh which is sad because uh you know you could be saying goodbye to not only ron sanchez but uh a staff with a lot of former Virginia players on it. And that's always a sad thing. Is there a situation where the head coach is replaced and the Willifords and Colmans and Isaiah and Kyle are kept on staff because of their ties to UVA?

Or does the head coach come in, clean clean house and bring in his own staff? Well, it depends on the coach. If it's somebody who has any familiarity with Virginia, they may want to keep a couple of guys who know the area for recruiting purposes and know the program and what it takes to get a kid into school here, into the program, and all the facets of UVA because it is a different place. But if it's someone from outside who has no connection whatsoever with Virginia, he may want to bring in his own staff or put together a new staff

and he may consider keeping someone, but there's no guarantees of that. I don't know. We could be wrong. Carla Williams may be thinking that she may not be able to get who she wants.

They may be after a couple of people that they can't get. Shaka Smart and Ryan Odom, the short list. That seems to be the short list. And who knows if Shaka Smart would want to leave and come here. I don't see why he would, frankly. Yeah, I mean, a lot of people see that. I just do not see why he would leave a program in Marquette where he is the biggest program in Marquette where he is

the biggest fish in the pond. He's in maybe the best conference in America. He is in a hot recruiting bed for an Atlantic Coast conference that is

not the ACC of yesteryear. Yeah. You know, he's well-established, and like you said, he's got a top 25 team. He's well-compensated. Not one of the higher-paid coaches in the country, but I ended up being wrong about their arena. I Googled it, and it said they played in Al McGuire Arena,

but apparently they i don't know if they play some games there or not but apparently they play in a 17 000 seat arena okay uh there i don't know if it's the bucks arena or if there's another arena then i don't i'm not that familiar with milwaukee but is that a viewer and listener that pointed that out uh yeah somebody on my twitter yeah pointed that out and so, somebody on my Twitter pointed that out. And so thanks for that. I appreciate it. I don't like being wrong. But that's what Google told you when you look it up.

But, I mean, who knows? Who knows what direction this thing is going to go in. But something is going to obviously happen quickly in the next couple weeks. Viewers and listeners, what do you think? Ron Sanchez's last home basketball game. He got Florida State, 9 o'clock tip-off. No one likes the 9 o'clock tip-off. ACC Network.

No. This is a game that could go Virginia'sia's way game could go against you i mean florida state and uva very similar records here what went wrong first against clemson i think uh clemson at halftime made some nice adjustments they had attacked virginia in the paint in the first half and the uh, but Virginia was able to counter that with really good shooting. I think they just turned up their defensive intensity in the second half and shut some of that down. Virginia only scored 18 points in the second half

up until the last few minutes when it didn't matter anymore. Virginia just can't match up inside you can't beat a top 15 team scoring 18 points in most of the house yeah and and i mean interior play continues to be an issue for virginia they gave up 50 uh 48 points no yeah 48 or 52 48 points in the paint it's just too much. And that means over the last two games, they've given up 100 points in the paint. And over the last four games, they're giving up an average of 44-point-something points in the paint per game over the last four games.

It's hard to win basketball games like that. Yeah, Kofi and Buchanan in particular are getting manhandled inside. They just do not have the strength or the size to match up. Robertson gets in there, and he's got upside, but he's constantly in foul trouble. And, you know, frankly, Anthony Robertson, while he could finish around the rim when given a chance to flush the

basketball, dunk the basketball, his offensive game is limited. Things have to go right for Virginia to win in pretty much every aspect of the game. And against Florida State, if McNeely and if Ames and if Rohde are not connecting from downtown or from the perimeter, this team is limited offensively. Yeah, no question about it. Scott German and I were sitting together at the game in the press box, and we were commenting, what if Virginia had one of those two big guys from Clemson on this team,

big physical rim protector, inside scorer type guys that they had. One of them scored 21, one scored and had 12 rebounds. What if Ryan Dunn comes back? Oh, yeah, that too. You got to, even though he's undersized, he was still a good defender. Long, great leaper. Yeah, no question.

Great rebounder. But they don't have that. And until they do, they're going to be susceptible to the same thing. Yeah, Florida State tonight, 9 o'clock tip. Last home game here. This could be the third to last game of the season for Virginia, folks. You got Syracuse to close the regular season, then the ACC tournament. We don't know what's going to happen with the NIT. If they get an NIT berth or not, only

time will tell. What do you got with the Seminoles here? Well, Florida State's lost three in a row coming in. They're not the typical Florida State team that we've seen over the years. They have the identical records. Virginia and ACC 7 and 11. They're tied for 10th, so the winner of this one will be possibly still tied for 10th or 9th or whatever with Pitt. But, you know, they're the second tallest team in the country.

Even though they only have one 7-footer this year, they usually have like five or six of them. But they do have a couple of 6'11 guys, and one of them is Malik Ewan. I don't know how you pronounce his last name, but he's leading the ACC in field goal percentage, and he's made 22 of his last 24 field goal attempts, which is unheard of. That's almost 92%. He's shooting 63% in ACC games only for the season.

And he's a weapon. And then senior guard Jameer Watkins has scored over 20 points over his last three games, and that's against Louisville, Carolina, and Duke. So if he can lighten it up against those guys, you've got to watch out for him. Leonard Hamilton's last season, obviously he needs one more win for his 200th ACC regular season win. He's already fifth winning his coach in ACC history behind Krzyzewski, Dean, Roy, and Gary Williams from Maryland.

So his last trip to JPJ in Charlottesville for a basketball game, and Leonard's a really good guy. Great guy. He's a great guy. One of the best guys. Hall of Fame coach. Yeah, no question he's a Hall of Fame coach. He's been at Florida State for 23 seasons.

Made Florida State basketball. He really did. He turned around. They were sort of lost in the wilderness, kind of like Virginia was for a while. A team nobody cared about at Florida State. All they cared about was football. Yeah, yeah. I remember going to some games down in Tallahassee before he got there

and even early in his career there. A couple hundred people in the stands. Yeah, they would always, for some reason, it seems like Virginia played them late in the season in Tallahassee, and there were three events going on in Tallahassee, always the same Saturday that Virginia was there or Sunday. It was the Florida-Florida State baseball game, Florida State basketball game with Virginia and, uh,

a boat show and the basketball game was outdrawn by tons more, uh, at the boat show and even the baseball game. So, uh, it was not a big deal in those days. And he, he turned that around, gave him a lot of credit. He made them relevant. Folks, potentially three games left in the season as Virginia plays its last ball game in the John Paul Jones Arena with Syracuse to close out the regular season. The Ray Roberts interview was fantastic.

Cootie Ratcliffe. Yeah, Ray is a special guy, and I hope he never loses touch with Charlottesville and UVA because he's an important part of what happened here. To me, one of the great things in my career is seeing guys like him just rise from the ashes and become an important part of our society and well-educated, successful football player, but more successful in life. You heard him. I mean, he was dirt poor.

He couldn't even afford a pair of jeans and had no running water in their house when he was growing up. So for him to, one of my favorite quotes of all time, and I think it's from an anonymous person, I don't know where it came from, ages ago, but it's, judge me not from the heights I've reached, but from the depths I've climbed. And I don't think there's a better example of that than Ray Roberts. Ray Roberts, the interview was absolutely awesome, guys. Inspiring interview and a fantastic paying homage to Danny Wilmer, who is in a better place right now. I encourage you to read Jerry Ratcliffe's words on Danny Wilmer, who is in a better place right now. I encourage you to read Jerry Ratcliffe's words on Danny Wilmer.

They're on his website, jerryratcliffe.com. We'll watch the game tonight. It's a 9 o'clock tip, folks. Let's see what happens. Not only for this Virginia men's basketball team, not only for Ron Sanchez, but the future of this program, which is certainly a future that's in flux at this point. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera, Jerry Ratcliffe, the star of our show. The show airs and is archived anywhere you get your social media and podcasting content. And we encourage you to check out jerryratcliffe.com as we do each and every day.

Thank you kindly for joining us. For Hootie Ratcliffe and Judah Wickhauer, my name is Jerry Miller. So long. and every day thank you kindly for joining us for hootie rackliff and judah wickauer my name is jerry miller so long tell us when the mics are off that great robert's interview was awesome Thank you.