The Ryen Russillo Podcast - College Recruiting Stories Part 2 with Doug Gottleib, Antonio Pierce, Stanford Steve, and Damien Woody | The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Episode Date: May 5, 2020In part two of a two-part series, Russillo is joined by former collegiate and pro athletes to run through some of their best recruiting stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcast...choices.com/adchoices
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Before I get to today's recruiting stories, part two,
I was going to put a cap on this at part two.
I might do part seven.
These are so much fun.
I enjoy just listening to them instead of even talking through it.
But we have Doug Gottlieb on his journey from the OC to Notre Dame.
We have Antonio Pierce, Compton, Paramount High School,
from Compton, Paramount High School, next town over, I believe,
and then JUCO, then Arizona,
and now, of course, a coach at Arizona State.
We've got Stanford Steve, a.k.a. Five Star Steve, who ends up at Stanford but then doesn't want to go
there believe it or not Stanford Steve could have been an entirely different name and then Damian
Woody off the top rope recruiting stories at BC we're gonna have him back clean up because that
one is the one ah it's unbelievable all right it's actually not unbelievable it's totally
believable but he uh he brings it I do want to start with a real quick thing because after the last
dance that Bill and I've been recapping, go ahead, check out the Bill Simmons podcast.
I'm doing those every Sunday night, as you know, but this was kind of the Barkley episode. So I was
already in a bad mood going into it, knowing about it. That loss is a top five bad loss for me as a
sports fan, emotionally caring about somebody like Charles Barkley, who at the time I didn't even know. And I'll admit we're not
that close now, but I just wanted Charles to have a ring. I wanted Charles to have a ring to avoid
what has happened now for almost 30 years. And what has happened is that the idea anybody would hit send on a pro-Draymond Green-Barkley debate tweet is lunacy.
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I love Draymond Green.
I don't think there's anyone that would think that I've been ever anti-Draymond Green.
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that I don't even think is out there that much.
But I've seen real blue checks and basketball people suggest that Draymond is closer to Barkley.
What do you think a team would look like if Draymond Green were the number one offensive
option? Just do that exercise and feel free at Ryan and Russillo, or you can even do a long email,
lifeadvicerr at gmail.com.
I don't even know that I'll want to read it, but there are debates.
You go, okay, I can kind of see that.
I feel this way.
Hey, that's not really even close.
This one isn't even – I was trying to think of some comp,
but I felt like it was a disgrace to anybody that I was doing the comp with.
Draymond is a really nice player, exceptional, multifaceted,
does all these amazing things, very important for a winning team. In no world would he be a
number one option for a franchise the way Chuck was for a decade strong. If you want to get a
little technical and say, oh, well, he was at Houston, that's actually not. Fine, fine.
technical and say, oh, well, he was at Houston. That's actually not. Fine. Fine. Draymond would not go to Phoenix, win 62 games, and an MVP. It's not debatable. So stop debating it.
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Tustin basketball legend, Doug Gottlieb.
We know we've known each other a long time now, but I don't know.
I mean, I know there's parts of the recruiting story.
What's the best part of you coming out of high school and trying to figure out
navigating all the different places that wants you?
Well, I think there's a little bit of a misconception from people who weren't
recruited in the nineties and I, and I'm sure in the eighties and seventies, it was this way as
well, which is no matter how good you work with a couple exceptions, like, look, there's just some
schools that you weren't going to go to. Okay. So there's a couple of rules here and this is
sort of point guard specific, but it's a, it's a general rule at position wise, right? Like you weren't going
to go somewhere where a guy had started his freshman and sophomore year, right? Cause the
way it worked then, um, and the way it still kind of works most places, you, you, you go somewhere,
there's usually two point guards, right? And so you go somewhere where there's a junior and that guy's been a backup.
And the assumption is that you're good enough to beat him out.
You got to make sure you're good enough to beat him out.
So, you know, for example, I don't know if Duke would have offered me, but I know that
Wojo was the year ahead of me.
Wojo had signed there.
So he would have been a sophomore when I was a freshman.
They weren't even recruiting a point guard.
Like, so, so it's just, you have to understand that, that one of the things when people put their lists together,
like, yeah, you can dream of going to whether it was Duke or I don't know, other schools at the
time. But the first thing was if they had a point guard who had started as a sophomore, you weren't
going there. Um, and if they, you know, you want, they had one that was incoming and you were a rising senior
you weren't going there so that kind of parries down your list a little bit and you wanted to go
to duke right i don't know i mean like duke was hurley was my idol right um i grew up a ucla fan
but they didn't offer me early and my sister was a cheerleader there and my brother went to school
there so i i always kind of wanted to play there but i'd never totally dug like all of their guys
and there's other kind of conflicting alliances which i know you got into with chenoweth which
was like when i grew up there were three big au programs and even though a couple of my teammates
went and played there there was a little bit of hatfields and mccoys in terms of like we'd always
been rivals and enemies. Now we're supposed
to play together at UCLA, which is weird.
So yeah,
Duke would have been, absolutely.
And then Kansas would have been one.
But Kansas took
Ryan Robertson, who was from
I think St. Louis, which is real close. They took
him early. So, you know,
like, crossed them off the list.
And then Arizona, i would love to play
there mile simon's like my best friend growing up uh but they never offered me and a big reason why
was uh one of their assistant coaches that coached with my dad at long beach state and he got fired
my dad did not and they were not really friends and so like there's a little bit of
conflicting alliances there you know um syracuse was all hot they thought they were getting marbury
so even though my mom went to school at bayheim and close to bernie fine like that was never
really discussed sherman douglas is my favorite player before Bobby Hurley. I don't know about you. I mean, best alley-oop thrower ever.
So I wasn't really a Notre Dame fan.
And when I first, I remember when I got a call from John McCloud,
it was the first day I was home after ABCD camp,
which was one of the two big camps at the time.
And he called and he was like,
Dougie,
tomorrow we're going to announce that we're going to the Big East Conference,
the best conference in college basketball.
And, you know, Notre Dame brings great tradition and history.
I've known your dad a long time.
He knows about Notre Dame.
We play on NBC, on CBS, and now with Big East, we'll be on Big Monday.
We want you to be our first starting point guard in the Big East.
And so, you know, you start to research and you're like, all right,
they got Admore White, who had started some as a freshman,
then back up as a – that was going to be a sophomore year.
They were telling you it was going to beat them out.
So the only thing on my mind was, okay, coach,
can I come and see a football game?
And he's like, what game?
And so, like, I was like, do you guys play Michigan this year?
He's like, yeah.
So that's why I visited Notre Dame,
because I wanted to see Notre Dame-Michigan football.
That's it.
That's the only reason.
I'd never seen Rudy at the time.
I wasn't super into school.
Orange County, where I grew up,
obviously there's tons of Notre Dame subway alums,
but I wasn't super into it.
But as we can get to, there's a that like each school ends up kind of falling off
and then you end up picking your school. All right. So which ones were still even in play
then before you decided Notre Dame? Like what's the funniest of the stories that you have where
as a young kid, like the thing that's consistent is how often you guys are always changing your
minds. Yeah. Okay. So, um, so here's the way it works. is how often you guys are always changing your minds. Yeah.
Okay, so here's the way it works.
I was going to visit Florida.
I was going to visit Michigan State, UCLA, Notre Dame, and UConn.
And if you look back, they all took a point guard that year.
Stanford called, and they're like, we got Brevin Knight.
You're not going to beat him out.
And at the time, I'm like, who the fuck is Brevin Knight?
I don't know.
But they just said, Montgomery was super matter-of-fact.
Like, hey, you'll sit for two years.
You'll play with him some, be his backup.
Then you'll be a starter for two years.
So Art Lee took that role.
And then Art Lee starts on a Final Four team.
But I was going to sit.
I'm like, hey, thanks. I, starts in a final 14, but I was going to sit, I'd like, Hey, thanks.
I know Stanford's a great school, but pass. Um, and you know, UCLA,
remember this is before they won the national championship.
So Cameron Dollar was like perpetual backup.
It was Tyus Edney actually beat out Derek Martin as a freshman.
So Tyus Ed he was graduating so nobody
thought like anything of Cameron Dollar at the time um so I was supposed to visit all those
schools so I took an unofficial to UCLA and again like I don't know like I'd known the O'Bannon's
forever and they just were not they were kind of dicks like not they weren't like intentionally dicks, but they were just so UCLA guys were so arrogant.
And I, I also carried with me the bias of this. This is probably the best story of,
um, so we, we were UCLA season takeover since the mid eighties.
And so we had tickets behind one of the baskets. So then they like hey this is the year before they're like come
up bring jr henderson who's my au teammate um who they end up signing bring go with kriston johnson
come to a game we'll leave you tickets so we go and see him play like cal and jason kidd and you
know we go and they get like a you know recruited athlete pass game right everybody else gets
tickets like right next to the court like my
tickets are so fucking high that the concession man's like nah dude you're gonna have to come
down here like it was the worst and then and then they're like oh it was a mistake sorry our bad
just sit with the other guys so i'm like sit with the other guys and then at halftime they come out
and they get all the recruited athletes and bring them in the locker room to hear what harrick's
saying at halftime guess who they didn't get like me right it left you by they get all the recruited athletes and bring them in the locker room to hear what Herrick's saying at halftime.
Guess who they didn't get?
Like me,
right?
Left you by yourself while all the other guys.
And like insult to injury.
My sister,
I think it was that year she was on the dance team.
So my sister's a beautiful woman. And like,
look,
when your sister's a UCLA cheerleader and she's pretty girl,
you know,
like guys are going to say stuff, but you know, then like the dudes come back out of the locker room and the dance
team's performing and they're wearing these like all black tight outfits and you know like saying
stuff about your sister you're just like god this is the most uncomfortable day of my entire life
like fuck ucla like i love ucla but fuck ucla like dude i i i've been to more ucla football and basketball games
than any of these guys that even played there um and i was like i was so down on ucla that by the
time they offered me a scholarship like in the middle of the summer they i i you know i just
kind of almost made them beg and i don't know it just i kind of want to go away from home. So then Michigan state, Tom Izzo called
from the delivery room of his first baby. He puts the doctor on the phone. Uh, hi, uh, this is Doug.
Yeah. Hi, this is doctor, whatever his name is. Um, I just, I just wanted you to know that, uh,
coach Izzo's wife is in labor and, uh, he's going to be the head coach of Michigan state, as you know, in 1995.
And he wanted me to tell you that this is a real legit deal that he wants. And that's how much he
wants you as his point guard. And I was like, this is amazing. Right. But at the time, Michigan state
like wasn't a hot program. And so their wholesale was Robert Traylor, Jason Klein, Albert White, Antonio Smith, and you.
We're all going to visit together.
So I visit Notre Dame, and it was cool.
I got a good little Notre Dame story in a second.
But I never forget that I was getting ready to visit Michigan, and Albert White and Robert Tray white and Robert trailer committed to Michigan like right away.
And I was like,
I don't know.
Anybody went to Michigan state.
I don't know anything about Michigan state.
I don't know how this guy coaches.
I'm going to take a pass.
And then I visited Notre Dame and Notre Dame.
They would,
they,
they basically said,
Hey,
you're our,
you're our primary option.
But Jeff billet,
um,
it's from New Jersey, private school,
wants to go to Notre Dame,
but it's your scholarship until he visits here.
He's visiting here in, I don't know, three weeks or a month.
So I like, okay, I got to get these other visits done.
UCLA, like, I don't know.
UConn, Jim Calhoun called.
I couldn't understand a word he said because of his accent.
I was like, I don't know what you he said because of his accent. I was like,
I don't know what you're talking about, coach,
but I love the way UConn plays.
The problem with UConn was
that Kevin Olley was their point guard. He was
graduating. My dad knew
Kevin Olley because he coached against him
in the Slammin' Gym.
Kevin Olley was like,
it's an awesome place to play
with awesome players, but Calhoun's going to literally bring in a point guard every year to try and beat you
out.
He does not give a shit.
And I was like, hmm.
And then my mom is from Connecticut and went to Syracuse.
And people from Connecticut who remember UConn back in the 60s and 70s think of it as like
a junior college.
She's like, no, you're not going there.
That's like cow tipping you.
No, you're not going there.
I was like, no, no, mom. It's like a great basketball. And she's like, I don't care. You're
not going to UConn. So that was like off the list. Michigan State's off the list. And then Florida,
they had recruited me for so long. And like, are you coming or not? Like, well, are you going to
come do a home visit? So what happened so what happened with florida was miles had taken a visit there and loved it and then got back on the plane was like it's too far can't do it and so i think
their whole deal was like we're going to go through all this different hoops and then got
leaves going to get on the plane and be like it's too far and i was telling him like it's not too
far like i don't give a shit about where i go but I think the miles thing and they had sold me on,
Hey, we're going to get Vince Carter, you and Vince Carter. Um, and they ended up taking Eddie
Shannon. So the Notre Dame thing, like billet was coming. I was kind of running out of places
that I felt like were great. And, um, I hadn't really watched Notre Dame play, but I had a good time. And when I got home
from visiting Notre Dame, they have like, I don't know if they reached out, but like,
Jerome Bettis is calling you and Richie Branning, who grew up in Orange County, was a Notre Dame
point guard. Like, he's calling you. Like, all these powerful Notre Dame subway alums are like,
you got to go there they take
care of domers take care of domers you know I want to do tv NBC was basically the Notre Dame
broadcasting company so at some point like they were basically like hey you got to shitter it off
the pot Bill wants to come in this weekend do you want the scholarship or not and I was like
okay let's do it and And then you did it.
And you know, you're like, all right, fuck it.
We're in.
I mean, so, so, but here's the, I'll give you the cool part of the Notre Dame business.
So you fly in, there's cool parts and there's weird parts.
So, um, you fly into Chicago and then Chicago, you go to a private terminal.
So we all get on this little plane and they fly you in and you bank right by the stadium. So you see the stadium, you see the Golden Dome, and then you land and they
pick you up. And they immediately take you to the Golden Dome, which is where the president at the
time, Monk Malloy, is waiting for you. Coaching staff's there, Monk Malloy's there. And Monk
Malloy was a basketball player in his
youth. And he actually played with John Thompson in high school. And so there's pictures of
basketball. He knows everything about you. And then you go from there, we went to Loftus,
which was at the time, the indoor football facility, the basketball team was doing like
conditioning. And I'll never forget that we're all kind of, you know, you're like in a line,
you're basically on a tour,
seeing a campus or pointing things out.
And I'm like the last guy.
And there was this big crowd waiting for Ron Paulus,
who's the quarterback.
He'd started two games.
Yeah.
And they're waiting at like Ron Paulus autographs,
whatever.
And so, you know,
security's parting like the Red Sea for you.
And I was last in line.
So I get to the door and security's
like, where do you think you're going? I was like, I'm a recruit. I'm going into the basketball.
They're like, yeah, sure you are. So I'm literally like the coaches go in there, the players go in
there, you know, some six foot white kid from Orange uh that looks like this only better hair um so finally
they had to come out and get me in so then we go to the pep rally now the pep rally notre dame
is they still have it in the arena it's packed they're undefeated they beat northwestern first
game of the year like i said like ron paulus remember bino cooks like he'll win two heisman
trophies by the time he's done right it's all hype they're
playing Michigan and so first you you walk into the pep rally and they start the students are
chanting we want you we want you we want you and you're like I'll sign anything you want right now
um so then you go to the coach's offices and Lou Holtz comes in. And, you know, they prepped him. But he comes in, he's like,
Doug Gottlieb, touching California.
I know your dad, Bob's coach.
He's like, you're a perfect fit for John McCloud.
We need a point guard.
It's so bad.
It's so bad.
Listen, I'm promising this.
You come here, Notre Dame's going to be a great program.
It's a great place for you to, right?
And you're like, Lou Holtz knows my name.
Lou Holtz knows my name.
I walk out and I'm like already on cloud nine. I walk out and you sit in this little section and they're chanting We Want You. And the pep band marches out of the tunnel. And like, look, I did not grow up a Notre Dame fan. I am Jewish. I am not Irish Catholic.
I am not Irish Catholic.
I would challenge anybody to sit there and not get chills in their spine when they start playing the Notre Dame fight song.
You know, and the whole place is singing.
And you're like, fuck, I'm in.
Right.
I'm in.
And then the next day they're playing Michigan in football and you're on the field before the game and they come out of the tunnel and they're slapping the play like a champion sign.
Right.
And Fran McCaffrey, who's now the coach at Iowa, like he, he was the one recruiting me every, like literally talked to him every day. And he's like, Hey man, look up there.
Three point Jesus. You know, it's touchdown Jesus, but it's also a three point three pointer. Right.
And he's like, you know, Jesus was a Jew. Jews are bad in Notre Dame. Like it's all sarcastic shit.
But I,
I had a great visit.
The only weird part was there's one former player who was hanging around and got drunk.
It was like,
they don't want to come here.
We fuck and suck.
You know,
everything fucking sucks.
He played for digger.
And yeah,
I mean,
I,
I mean,
I loved it and it was a,
they were good dudes to hang out with,
but it wasn't the facility. Like wasn't i wasn't sure like there was no facility thing back then
it was just more like hey we need a point guard if you want to come here and play like this is
the cool spot to drink beer and we think we'll win if you come here that was it let's do the long
form one another time because i want to talk about all the NCAA agreements, disagreements that we have.
So I'll catch up with you.
Thank you.
That was great.
Before I met him at ESPN, he's a guy who won a ring with the Giants and now is the assistant head coach and co-defensive coordinator with Arizona State with Herm Edwards.
It's Antonio Pierce.
But Antonio, your path is a little different than some of the other guys that we've talked to because we're talking
Paramount High School.
You're from Compton
and you end up at JUCO, which is
Mount San Antonio College,
Walnut, California.
Then you end up at Arizona.
What's your favorite memory of that time
leaving high school and trying to figure out the next step?
It's funny
because you think you're the man in high school.
You know, you win all your little awards locally and in the state.
And in fact, you're watching all your boys like Chris Claiborne, who went to USC,
and Niall Diggs going to Ohio State.
And you feel like you're right there with them.
You're on every all-star sheet with them.
And I'm wondering, I'm like, man, why hasn't any of the college coaches called me in for,
you know, an official visit or, you know, send me kind of the national letter of intent.
And, you know, that's before the whole internet, Google kind of do your own research and go to
the library, get some numbers, you get the yellow pages and you start making some phone calls.
And then you realize, well, what's the problem? You know, my problem was, you know, I didn't have the GPA and test score with SAT
to be cleared through the NCAA Clearinghouse.
So that's around like January, right?
So you're waiting there where everybody's signing.
And it's like that last week, right before signing day.
And that's when I ain't gonna lie, it hit.
I'm like, wow, hold on.
So I'm gonna be one of the guys locally that's not signing.
And I ain't gonna lie, I was not signed it and i was hurt man i
was hurt so bad but um so nobody like antonio no one called you from any of the power five programs
was it just because of the grades or like what was what i mean i know i was definitely recruited
you know back then it was different because it's not like today where you know you got social media
you get graphics and all that stuff it was kind of like you knew you were getting recruited
when you had a bunch of letters.
And I have boxes and boxes of recruiting letters
and handwritten letters saying how much they want you to come here
and do this.
But I didn't understand the process.
From our high school, not a lot of guys had went to college.
So I really was relying on my head coaching and counselors,
and they didn't really know anything.
So I was actually stuck because i remember during my senior season coaches coming by there checking me out high school being at the games and then yeah no they didn't they didn't
reach out and i remember it's funny you said i remember going to my mailbox like damn there's
something wrong did mom did you get the mail or did it get moved or what happened you know but um
man things just worked out funny.
So what happened is I had a couple of buddies that are a couple of years older than me,
two years prior, go to Mt.
SAC, Mount San Antonio Junior College.
And they were doing really well.
So I'm like, man, JUCO.
I was kind of embarrassed, to be honest.
I'm like, man, I ain't going to JUCO.
So I remember calling UCLA in Oregon, like, look, I don't know if I can walk on.
I can do this.
They're like, well, it doesn't quite work out that way. said well damn I really got to go JUCO and to be honest man I
went up there I was driving every day from like Long Beach California to Walnut about a 40 minute
40 mile drive with traffic in LA traffic I mean I was gonna get home for about an hour and a half
and I remember like by the second week of going to practice up there at JUCO, and I was like, man, I'm about to tap out.
And my coach at the time, linebacker coach and defense coordinator,
Lenny Rodriguez, was like, hey, I got you.
This is what we're going to do.
Kind of set me up, got me a couple guys and said,
look, we're going to get your apartment there.
By that time, my mom didn't want me staying in the inner city,
so she was like, look, we're going to get up and move.
And that even hurt me more because I'm like, hold on, man.
I'm about to leave my boys behind.
I'm about to go out here.
But listen, that was the best thing that happened to me
because moving from the inner city,
pretty much 40 miles away from where I grew up,
was able for me to focus on school,
get my stuff together, and keep going.
But I was driving a 68 Bug.
And here goes the problem.
Here goes the real catchment on it.
I'm driving a 68 Bug.
68 Bug is like a ball for $700.
Fix it up,
spray painted inside,
bad boy,
banging music,
false gate.
You can hear me coming
from two miles away.
But it's a hundred degrees
outside driving to Mount Sack.
Man,
that bad boy would overheat.
The thing starts smoking
about two or three times.
You saw if he pushing,
that's probably how
I got stronger and faster.
Cause I was pushing
the goddamn bug
for about,
I don't know,
three or four miles to get to the next exit to get to a gas station to get it fixed man so it almost didn't
happen just because of the 68 bug couldn't handle the heat and the pressure of going and driving up
and down the highway so it it i just you know the scary thing is like how often do you think
maybe you don't think about in the moment maybe maybe you're like, oh yeah, that could have happened. But how close were you to just saying, screw this. I don't want to commute and just going back to Compton. Like it was close.
Benny Rodriguez from Mount Sackler just said, look, you don't need to stay local.
Don't go to local colleges.
You know, the biggest thing for me was being too cool for school and hanging with my boys off the field and not handling my work, you know, in the classroom.
So, you know, after a couple of conversations, sitting around, banging heads, you know, you just have to make that decision.
Like, what's best for AP?
What's best for me? And at the time, the best thing was to get my butt up and get out of that area and focus on school at Mount Sac.
So the Mount Sac thing, let's pick up then once Arizona and the other places, you're going to be getting out of JUCO.
How does that work? Because I don't think many people even understand it.
No, it's tough. It's the same thing.
But at that time, though, I will say this. I'm going to throw out a lot of names that people heard of
that were playing in the same conference as I was in junior college.
Chad Johnson, Ocho Cinco, TJ Huchmezada, Dolores Grant, Ruben Drome, Steve Smith.
You know, all of us were in the same conference at that time in junior college.
So it was pretty hot.
It was a lot of good prospects out.
But the thing that I was fortunate about, my sophomore year,
my second year at Mt. SAC, we went 12-0,
won the national championship for JUCO, state championship in California.
I was one of the top players down there, so I was getting recruited heavily.
But here goes the catch again.
By that time, I wanted to play Papa. So i had my son at the time at 19 years old so i'm thinking like okay hold on
i'm looking at all these schools on the east coast down in the south texas a&m pitts north carolina
arkansas nebraska and in reality i'm like how am i going to be able to go way out there with a son
with a newborn so that really led me to to Arizona. They would recruit me hard.
They recruited me a little bit out of high school,
along with Oregon UCLA.
And I just looked at it like, look, they got a good defense.
A guy who played at Mt. SAC the year prior with me was Chris McAllister,
was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens, so I was familiar with that.
A couple guys I grew up with in the neighborhood,
Brandon Malabayuna was there, Dennis Northcutt as well.
So I'm like, look, that's a no-brainer.
You know, we're in college now, make it work.
And that's kind of how I started with Arizona.
It was kind of one of those deals where I remember going on a visit
and not them even pressuring me, but like, I'm good.
They're like, what do you mean?
I'm like, I'm coming.
And they couldn't quite understand why,
but there was a lot of backdrop to it, obviously,
with my son and having relationships prior.
Was there anyone else that was close?
Oregon.
Oregon.
And Drones ended up there, too, right?
Yeah, Reuben Jones was there.
And then there's a guy that I played with as a youth, Michael Fletcher,
who a four-year starter there.
Wisconsin was trying to get me up there.
But I ain't going to lie.
I wasn't a fan of the Reign.
You know what I mean?
But I'll tell you what would trick me about Arizona, and I ain't gonna lie. I wasn't a fan of the rain. You know what I mean? But I'll tell you what, what tricked me about Arizona,
and I know better now by being here as a coach,
is that they brought me in in January and it wasn't that hot.
And it wasn't until that summer of my junior year,
I realized what hot was.
And when it gets to 120 and legit,
everything in your car melts and just not in the shade or put away.
That's when I said, well, man, maybe Oregon wasn't so bad,
but it all worked out, man, at U of A.
We had a great team.
Our first year was 12-1, beating Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl,
and then the rest is history.
So when you went undrafted, you must have been like,
this shit again?
No, I'm telling you was it was a damn insane because
again same kind of deal you know the conference at that time it was a adam archuleta was a good
linebacker you had um zeke marino out of usc jeremiah farms out of washington yeah niall
diggers coming out guys that i was really familiar with from california and you're watching the draft
you're looking at your number you're looking at your numbers,
you're looking at what you ran,
you're watching.
At that time, the NFL was, you know,
two backs, one tight end,
big boy football, linebackers,
need to be 6'3", 6'4". You know, the double shoulder pads,
double thigh pads on,
so you can look really big,
like O'Lyman.
I didn't look like that.
You know, I'm looking,
I'm at 228 running around,
you know what I mean?
With a little speed and aggressiveness. So you watch the draft, I'm like, all right, cool, you know, third day, you know, they'm looking, I'm at 228 running around, you know what I mean? With a little speed and aggressiveness.
So you watch the draft, I'm like, all right, cool.
You know, third day, you know, they'll pick me up.
You know, I'll get that phone call and I'll be down.
When it happened again, it was one of those moments like, all right, I didn't even blink.
I just took a pen and paper, wrote down every guy's name that got drafted and said, I'm
going to beat these dudes out without a question.
And that was my, that was my whole drive and purpose.
My nine year career in the National football league was being the last one standing
and having hopefully the better career out of all of them yeah when you brought up archuleta
which is the irony that they're your rivals i'm so i'm sure you hated him i'm sure you're sitting
there and going this dude went 20th overall and i can't get drafted and then everybody would watch
his workout videos and i remember just being a younger dude who wasn't even in sports been like wow this is insane
and now you're at Arizona State so maybe you've softened a bit but that one had to have stung
no it did because you know that's right when the internet started you know the internet started
blowing up so guys would be able to post their workouts on videos and it was getting more digital
and I'm looking like yeah he's smaller than me but you know he did it on a fast time. He was throwing the bench press up
and catching it with his hands.
Yeah, the Archuletas.
Like, he had a move
named after him
because he was catching
the bench reps.
I remember seeing it
and going like,
what the hell is this?
I wish I'd have known
some trick to do
and put it on YouTube
or whatever digital platform
to get myself drafted.
But look,
it didn't work out that way.
And again,
sometimes I always tell
our recruits now,
it's just not how you start, man.
It's how you finish that bad boy.
At the end of the day, you need an opportunity.
And most people wish to get an opportunity
to step on that grass in the National Football League.
And then it's what you do with it.
But you see a lot of first-rounders go in the league
and they made it, they got it.
And then they're done in three or four years.
And then the league is pretty much made of those
mid-rounds, undrafted guys anyway.
So look,
I'm just one of those stories.
One of the realest dudes.
I met my entire time at ESPN.
That's Antonio Pierce.
Get it done with the sun devils,
the iron devils,
or the Cali devils,
depending on what kind of recruits are bringing in.
So keep up the great work,
man.
I really appreciate it.
I appreciate you.
Good talk to you.
And we got two more to go here. Sam receive up next. I love food though. I appreciate you, Ryan. Good talking to you. We've got two more to go here.
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I get a little text like, hey, Ryan, your food is outside.
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Everybody's staying safe.
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One of my closest friends, I wouldn't even say in the business, Steve Coughlin,
also known as Steve Coughlin, also known as Cocktails,
a.k.a. Five Star Steve, a.k.a. Stanford Steve, was our producer
and now is on the air, and I'm really proud of him.
You're from Ansonia, the Valley.
When I first met you, I introduced you to my pops.
We went to, I think, a Pitt-UConn game together,
and my dad, who had played big high school sports in Connecticut,
was like the Valley man.
He was even referencing how tough the Valley was in the 60s.
And so you're an Sonia guy all the way.
You were not just a football star,
but how many points did you score in your career in basketball?
1,042.
Okay, but you were like a point forward, 6'5", hybrid point.
What were you?
Uh, yeah, I was, I played point, uh, two guard usually guarded, you know, we, we ran zone,
uh, played a little man. I was pretty versatile. I was only like two 10 Ryan. Like that's the one
that people can't get in their minds is I was this height to 10. I could move. I could jump. I could run.
Couldn't really shoot.
But I was good around the rim.
I could dunk.
By the time I left eighth grade, I remember going in the gym and just like,
I'm going to dunk before I leave eighth grade.
So I was able to do that.
Played varsity as a freshman all three sports.
But I only made two career three-pointers,
and I shot like 67, 65% from the line and still was able to score 1,000.
So it was a lot of buckets.
We were a bucket getter.
And you were also what?
The pitcher, too.
The whole point is I'm trying to make is how much I hate you
because you're basically everything that I wish I had been in high school,
and you were that guy that was like,
oh, that dude who's going to go anywhere in the country to play football.
He's also an ace pitcher, right?
Yeah, the pitcher tailed off.
It ended up just being center fielder and leadoff guy.
I was the biggest leadoff guy, I think, in the state of Connecticut history.
But it was fun.
I loved it.
I loved playing all three sports because it gave me something to look forward to,
and it gave me something to work on.
I would assess everything after each season and then just remember that
when I was getting back when it came time around for that.
And I didn't get bored.
I think of all these baseball kids that just play baseball now,
and obviously everybody brings out the arms and stuff,
but I couldn't imagine just playing baseball, one sport.
It's just the competitiveness. I know that's a
big word now that after the last
dance at Jordan, but it's just what I want.
It was a way to compete in different ways.
So, junior year,
you're a quarterback.
How many games did you guys actually lose in Ensonia
when you were on the team?
Oh, man.
I lost in the state championship my freshman year.
I lost one game as a sophomore.
I think it was like 48-2.
48-2, okay.
And you played QB your junior year
and then went to tight end senior year, correct?
Yeah, well, we had a young kid.
His name was Luke Richmond, who ended up playing football.
He used to start quarterback at UConn. So when he was a sophomore and I was Luke Richmond, who ended up playing football. He used to start quarterback at UConn.
So when he was a sophomore and I was a junior, I would start the games at quarterback.
And we would go up like 21, 28-0.
And then he would come in and I would go to receiver.
And it was awesome.
Every first play, we would just throw a fade, a post, a deep out, something like that, just to get it going.
And it was so much fun. But, but I ended up playing receiver.
Then he got hurt senior year.
So I ended up quarterbacking like three or four games.
So like the stats weren't great, but, uh, if you,
if you came to see the chargers play, you knew, uh,
you knew what was going down.
So were you legitimately a five-star guy?
Yeah.
You were a five-star and they're not,
I just don't think people understand how few five-stars there are in each
class.
And were you also player of the year nationally?
Is that,
didn't you win that award?
It was right before the internet.
And there was a,
there was a magazine called super prep magazine and they get like,
I didn't even know.
I remember a coach at Stanford called me.
It was like, Hey, congrats super prep a coach at stanford called me he's like hey
congrats super prep and i'm like what and like there's blue chip illustrated there's all that
this is before rivals and he's like you're a national player of the year i'm like i didn't
it was like middle of my senior year like it was the weirdest thing so that thing took off
but like just going back to like junior year what was funny was like to to when coaches would
come talk to you you know in school they couldn't talk to you so they would go talk to the high
school coach the high school coach would go get you out of class and then you would walk into the
gym off you know where the gym teachers hung out we had a bunch of teachers that hung out gym
teachers they had like a little golf simulator in the in the gym so i would literally just walk in and like they'd be like oh yeah it looks pretty good but i would
say hi and then like a couple guys were like buying the book and but then another guy like i
remember frank solich came from nebraska um tom clements came from uh notre dame the most rising
you know from stanford tim brewster was back at north carolina Tim Brewster, who's back at North Carolina with Matt Brown, who's followed him around.
If you know Tim Brewster, he's an unbelievable recruiter. He came up, I remember, before a practice in a like a mink coat.
Like we were practicing on the snow before a state championship.
And like just to see the kids on my team's faces, like Coach Brewster, Coach Brewster, just coming up in like a like a full fur coat.
And freaking Aunt Sonia Connecticut with snow on the ground.
It's just names and people.
I'm watching the old Orange Bulls and Fiesta Bulls.
That was when I was in high school getting recruited with Notre Dame
and Florida State and Nebraska and all those guys.
So it's just the 90s were the 90s.
All right. So, gosh gosh there's so many things
and i i know some of this stuff just from hanging out with you what's what's the notre dame part of
it let's start there because that one is great like when i tell people people wanted stanford
steve notre dame was like please be our quarterback and stanford c is like well i i didn't i grew up despising notre dame i i couldn't stand
notre dame uh you know just i mean they were so like just watching the game the other night
they were so good loaded and holtz just went about the way he did my dad wasn't really a big
blue holes man um but anyway i was like you know what i'm still gonna do this i'm gonna i'm gonna
you know listen to them i mean they send the recruiting envelopes, they got the gold helmet on there. Like they just stick out like nothing. Like, you know, my coach is like, look what came today. And it's like, wow. So I ended up going to camp there before my senior year. And I'm like, all right. And I'm walking around. I had gone down to like North Carolina, Duke, NC State, and Wake Forest just to check things out.
Did it unofficially at like BC.
Went to camp at Syracuse.
So like I knew some general things about college campuses.
But when I went to Notre Dame, I was just like, this is, it's just old.
And like the dorm we put us in was like a closet.
They made us sing the Learn the Words, the fight song one night after dinner.
I'm just like, wow, you guys really, really love yourselves.
So I get there and like, they really don't know who I am.
And then Bob Davey, like I'm running routes.
I went and worked out as a tight ends and Davey just came up.
He's like, where are you from boy?
Like, what's your deal?
I'm like, well, you know, this has happened.
I could tell there was a disconnect in the coaching staff.
Like certain guys didn't talk to certain guys.
So I go to camp.
Everything's good.
Like Coach Holtz is basically like, you know, we watch you.
You know, everything's good.
You know, we'll set up an official.
And then poof, like never hear from him ever.
And I'm just like, I don't know what happened.
Then one of my friend's dad was a huge Notre Dame fan.
And he, what's the magazine? Blue and Gold? Yeah. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. Then one of my friend's dads was a huge Notre Dame fan.
What's the magazine?
Blue and Gold?
Yeah, something like that.
They put top 15 recruits coming into this class.
They had Steve Coughlin, quarterback.
Not sure he's ready to be the quarterback or the Irish or has the talent level.
Something like that.
Pretty derogatory.
And I'm just like, wow.
I'm like, that's pretty messed up.
Still nothing from Notre Dame.
It goes all the way into I'm done with my visits,
and I'm about to commit to Stanford.
And Holtz and Bob Camel call me from the Orange Bowl,
and they're like, we don't understand.
The coaching staff is in disarray.
You know, Clement left.
He ended up going to the Packers and coaching for over a decade, I think.
But he recruited the Northeast.
So, like, everything just went up recruiting.
I'm just like, guys,
it's been seven months since I talked to you.
And I'm ready to come in.
I went to Stanford.
I went to North Carolina.
We can get to that in a second.
But I'm just like, it's too late, man.
I can't just, you know, come in.
It just felt like Notre Dame, like that's what they did.
They just, you know, if they heard about something or something,
they just came parachuting in, dropped the Notre Dame things.
But I tried, and it just wasn't going to – it wasn't there.
So then why Stanford?
Well, my brother was – he went to Columbia, played football when I was in junior high.
And he took over.
He was working in New York City when I was a junior.
And he was just like, you've got to check out Stanford.
You've got to check out Stanford.
So I think he set them a note.
Willingham takes over.
They make this big push.
We're back to Bill Walsh, Denny Greenstown.
We're going to recruit Nashville.
So this guy, Moe's rising, comes in. in he's andre rising's cousin we hit it off he ended up going
to coach with the jets with herm for a while and um so i'm like stanford i'm in north carolina i'm
in like it's it's basically those two i could have went whatever no uh ucla michigan you name
but anyway it comes down to it so i I'm like, I'm definitely going.
It's right before Christmas.
I'm still playing basketball.
I'm the captain of the basketball team.
So I'm trying to just, you know, get this in
and just not try and be, you know, a dick to anybody
because I love my high school guys.
And, you know, we won a state championship the year before,
so I wanted to, you know, make sure we were defending that.
So I go out to stanford the
first week you can go it's the week after the state championships in connecticut so i go out
to stanford and like anybody that knows that drive you land in san francisco they drive you on 280
the back way you know through all that and it's just like wow this is california and i had always
said to myself i always wanted to go away to school always my dad passed away after my sophomore year so i i was i was dead set on i proved myself i could go play so we go to stanford
uh we go to the first dinner and the first dinner it's like oh yeah you know coach rising's like you
know you're at the head table with head coach all right i'm like that's weird i'm like there's 16
of us like why wait he's like just just you're gonna want to be at that table you want to be
at the table and i'm like all right so we're going to want to be at that table. You want to be at the table. And I'm like, all right.
So we're sitting down.
There's one seat open.
I'm like, we're waiting.
And Coach Willingham's walking around, like, trying to make sure everything's good.
And then Coach Willingham walks up, and he's just like, hey, we're still waiting for our guests of honor.
I'm like, all right.
So we're just sitting there.
And then finally, Tiger walks in.
And it's like, whoa.
And, like, he had just won a couple amateurs.
He was a sophomore, I think.
But everybody knew who Tiger Woods was.
He sits down, and he's like, Russ, he's, like, sweating a little bit.
He's got a hat.
And he's just like, hey, man, sorry I'm late.
He's like, you know, I'm Tiger Woods.
He's like, I just had to stay and watch.
My roommates just built a computer from scratch.
And I'm like, what am I doing here?
Like, this is a computer.
I didn't even have email, like, computer app classes at Sonia.
Like, these dudes are building computers.
So the next day, I went and asked, like, this lady, Verity Powell.
I'm like, who's the academic lady here?
I'm like, I just want to make sure that I can pack it here. Like, you know,
it's not the best school system. So I met with Verity and she's like, do not worry about a thing.
You are, you're, you're admitted, you're in, we will take care of you. Don't worry about the
classes. And that's basically all I had to hear, but they really wanted me to commit. And I was
not going to commit. So I will go to North Carolina the following week. But on the way home from
Stanford, I have a high school Heisman thing in New York City, which is the Monday after
the Heisman. So it's all past Heisman trophy winners, and Eddie George had won the award
that year. So there's this tri-state area team that I make. I'm the only white guy.
If you go back and look at the names, Penn State, Tekus Pettigrew,
Rashard Casey was a Penn State quarterback.
Joe Dawkins was a running back track star that got hurt.
Like there are some big names on there.
And we go into the side room and Eddie George is like,
what's your deal, white boy?
Where are you going?
I'm like, oh my gosh.
Did he say white boy?
Yeah.
And I'm like, whoa.
And I'm like, beat red.
Like, they took B-roll.
Like, just go to the meeting.
And I'm just sticking out like a sore thumb.
I'm like, man, I know I belong here, but, like, this is kind of awkward.
But I started telling my story.
Like, hey, I just went to Stanford.
I went to camp with Rashard Casey at Syracuse.
So we always kind of stayed in contact.
And he had just gone to North Carolina.
So I was like, hey, you know, what, what'd you do? What do you know?
And I'm going to Carolina next week. He's like, man, it's awesome.
And, but I knew all along that he was going to Penn state.
Regardless, we come out of that room, we go back down and sit down.
And now they put on this highlight video of all the guys on the team.
And it's like to muse, like it's professionally done. MSG had done it.
So like there's music on it. it's like sped up a little
bit so like you're looking you look real fast sure enough i'm the first guy on there and like
they thank god whoever did it because i looked like i don't even like like gronkowski i guess
like it was just awesome like breaking tackles they put a perfect like cutback run i had on
all this stuff so that ends and in Spurrier is there.
He's a past Heisman trophy winner.
They're about to go play Nebraska in the national championship festival.
And he just, you know, him, I can't do his voice. He was like, well,
that was pretty impressive. What's your, what's your deal?
Where'd you go this weekend? I was like,
I was out at Stanford and blah, blah blah blah and he's like well we want you
got to come down to the gamesville and check it out i'm like you're playing a national title he's
like yeah he's like we'll figure out some tickets if you want to go to that game too who's this your
brother right here he's like you guys want to come to the festival i'm like so all this is going on
in shrews i get home i get home and you know home and, you know, back in the, you know, house,
my mom had a voicemail, you know, the voicemail, voice,
what do you call it?
Answer machine.
Yeah, answer machine.
And Spurrier calls, has a message like,
Mr. Conklin, just want to let you know, Steve is a good boy.
We had a good time today.
We want you and him to come down to Florida.
So, mind is blown.
My brother's like just head in his hand like,
I'm like, he's like, you want to go to Florida now, huh?
I'm like, hell yeah, I want to go to Florida.
So, that was it.
You're like, I'm going to Florida.
I'm playing for Spurrier.
He's like, well, you just said Tiger Woods and Stanford
and all this stuff across the country.
I'm like, Florida, man.
I'm like, they're number one in the country.
I'm like, I'm going to go catch the ball.
Spurrier said I can catch 80 balls. I'm like, I'm going to go catch the ball. Spurrier said I could catch 80 balls.
Like, why am I not going to go there?
So I go, I sleep on it.
And I'm just like, and, you know, my brother called me.
He's just like, think about this.
You know, just think about it.
I'm not going to say anymore.
I go to North Carolina the next week.
Unbelievable visit.
The guys there are just incredible.
But I just, Stanford factored in everything i i my
birthday was january 1st i grew up watching the rose bowl i always wanted to play a game on my
birthday growing up um i'm gonna uh you know undoubtedly gave me the best education the guys
i met the locker room we had at Stanford, guys from all over the country,
I honestly could sit here and say, what did we – we just had our reunion, 20-year reunion.
20 years later, like, I'm fired up I made that decision.
And, Ryan, just real quick, to go back and, like, all the recruiting stuff,
like, I think it was, like, August 1st before your senior year.
Coaches could call you. I was working for my uncle's oxygen company. I was delivering oxygen
tanks and hospital beds and stuff like that. And so I went to work. My mom kept a yellow notepad.
There were like 56 schools that called before 5 p.m. that day. And just to try and sift through
all those guys and you build up these relationships. I didn't have a dad.
I was talking to coaches every single night my first three months of my senior year of high school.
And to be able to tell those guys, you know, I can't do it.
I can't do it, coach.
It was really, really hard.
And some guys were really big dicks about it.
And some guys were really, really cool and professional about it.
But it's really, really a lot for a 17, 18-year-old kid.
And that's the stuff I remember of just building up relationships and then, you know, having
to be the bad guy and being selfish because I didn't want to make anybody mad.
I just wanted, you know, everything to work out.
And you realize that like halfway through the process that there's some ugly parts,
man.
There was some bad, ugly things said
and stuff like that
that still carry on with me to this day.
Who were the worst, Penn State?
Penn State, yeah.
No doubt.
I was guessing.
You can catch him out at Stanford Steve
and, of course, with our man SVP
weeknights on SportsCenter. okay damian woody goes last and
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Damian Woody, before the Super Bowl ring,
before being inducted into the Boston College Hall of Fame,
just a stud lineman out of Patrick Henry High School in Ashland, Virginia.
How did you end up at BC?
So here I am, 17-year-old Damian Woody coming out of Beaverdam, Virginia, backwoods of Virginia.
And I had all these scholarship offers you know michigan university of virginia
alabama um man you name it i had offers all over the country and do you remember your ranking do
you remember your recruiting ranking coming out of uh i don't i mean i know i was all-american
i was the all-american defensive defensive tackle coming out of high school.
I don't remember my ranking, but I definitely
was All-American.
And so I wound it down
to three schools.
University of Virginia, Boston College
and Michigan.
I took a visit to Michigan.
Michigan was fantastic.
But I'm like, damn, it's cold as hell out here,
man. This is crazy. But I loved the big house. The scene was great. But I'm like, damn, it's cold as hell out here, man. This is crazy.
But I love the big house.
The scene was great.
University of Virginia, I had actually taken a couple visits there
because I only lived like 45 minutes from UVA.
So I was very familiar with the school.
And actually, that was my first choice growing up because I grew up a UVA fan.
But I ended up turning it down.
And my other option was Boston College. up because I grew up a UVA fan, but I ended up turning it down. And the last, my last, my third,
my other option was, was Boston College. So I'm sitting here and I'm like,
this is different. This is, this is, this is different. And, and so I went up, took a visit
to BC and brought my parents with me. and so we get separated uh we were there
for a couple nights and then so the first night that we were there uh my host man he uh we went
out to a party went to a club and then while we was at the club we met up with a couple couple
guys from the from the patriots and wait a minute what would you remember the club that you
went to because you know look i lived across the street from bc for a while it was after you had
been gone and so i i just remember the bc community was so detached from the fact that it was also a
city like you could go to bc and never go into the city even though it was only 15 minutes in
so that that's amazing that they do you remember the name of the spot it's it was only 15 minutes in. So that's amazing. Do you remember the name of the spot?
It's been closed for a long time.
I forgot the name of the spot.
But you're right because when I was at BC,
all we did was go to different pubs on Com Ave.
We never really went to Boston to go to clubs and stuff.
We would just go to Com Ave, go, go to pubs and just, you know,
just drink a lot. Um, but we ended up going to a club, man.
And there was like six other Patriots there.
And so as a 17, at that point,
like I'm just now getting out of Virginia and I'm looking, I'm like, man,
these dudes driving around in Benzes and chicks everywhere.
I'm like, dog.
Okay.
I'm like, okay.
I'm kind of feeling this.
So my host was Boyz.
I'm not going to say which one.
But he was Boyz with Warner Patron.
So we're going back to his place.
But he was boys with one of the patrons, so we ended up going back to his place.
And, bro, there was like 20 girls up in there at his spot, waiting. I'm not talking about like with us.
I'm talking like they're already waiting.
And I'm like, okay, what in the hell is going on right now
we so we get up and then we're drinking all the stuff all the stuff and then all of a sudden
because there were other like two other like two other crews um that were with me as well
and then like dudes start disappearing into rooms and i'm'm like, wait a minute, where'd everybody go?
And then all of a sudden, my host put his arms around me.
He was like, you ready?
I'm like, what's about to pop off?
And then all of a sudden, going to the room, man, it was like, man, it was like,
man, it was like four chicks up in there, like in the room.
And I'm like, yo, this is crazy.
Now, I'm not going to get into everything that popped off in there.
But after that and partying with all the fellas from the Patriots, the club that night,
and BC at the time, the year before, they won like 10 games.
Man, I'm like, I'm 99% there.
And then the next day, man, a booster came up to me at a little luncheon,
and he just started talking. He was like, man, I heard came up to me at a little luncheon. And he just started talking.
He was like, man, I heard a lot about you.
A lot about you.
And as he was saying, I heard a lot about you.
He put a little envelope in my jacket.
And I, you know, I just tried to play it off because my mom was like right there too.
So I didn't want her to like start tripping.
So I went to the bathroom.
I look in the envelope.
Dude, it was like a lot of money in there.
I'm talking five figures up in there.
Five figures.
And all of that just sealed the deal for me i'm like i'm in i'm in where do i sign up at i'm in
yeah that's uh that doesn't sound like it was about the facilities
it had nothing to do with the facilities the facilities that i could i could
give a damn about the facility it had nothing to do with the facility it was everything outside
the facilities that was crazy now you didn't you didn't even take a trip to bama like you were like
once that was it you didn't care about the process anymore i didn't care i just knew like i just like
just putting it all together,
the fact that BC was a really good school,
it was like, it was really important for me,
really important for my parents.
Ten wins.
I felt real comfortable with the guys that I was,
like, in the same recruiting class,
the guys that were already on the team.
And they're putting pros.
They're putting guys in the league.
They're putting guys in the league.
They're putting guys in the league.
And so for me, I'm like, okay, yeah, it's not – BC's not Bama like Michigan, but it's like on the come up.
And I'm like, okay, I want to be a part of this
because if I go to Michigan, and I'm not doubting my skills,
but I'm like, okay, if I go to Michigan,
who's to say I'm just another piece?
But if I come here, I'm the man.
Like, I'm the man here.
And so it just, like I said, man, it just made too much sense for me.
And I ended up committing that weekend to Boston College.
Did you tell your mom about the money?
Yeah, I ended up telling her about the money.
She was shocked, but she wasn't going to say anything.
She's like, I'm not going to get into trouble over that.
Yeah, yeah.
If that's the game, then who cares?
Did she make you give her some?
Did she make you give her some? Did she make you give her some?
I gave her some, of course.
And then you get to BC and you were like, what happened to all the girls?
Oh, man, it was, man, I get to BC, man, it was, there was none of that, man.
We had to come up there early and we had to do a program and we're doing all this conditioning
and coaches barking.
I'm like, I guess the recruiting,
the recruiting is over,
huh?
It was like,
Oh yeah,
we,
we got you now.
You ain't,
you ain't going anywhere.
Hey,
you can see Damien all over the ESPN airwaves and,
uh,
and a good dude,
man.
So thanks a lot for that.
Yeah,
no problem,
man.
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