WEBVTT

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All right, let's start from the

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beginning. When did you first fall in

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love with football?

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>> When I first fell in love with football,

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I remember I was like probably 6 years

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old and one day I was just at the house

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just chilling and I know my dad came to

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me and he was like, [music] "We're going

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to go to the field today." And we went

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out went to the field and spent some

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time just getting clothes together and I

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was just like, "Where are we Where are

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we possibly going?" [music] And he

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actually took me out to play flag

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football. When I was running around just

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scoring touchdowns and everybody was

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like, "This kid's actually pretty good."

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So, that's kind of when I explored like

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my love for the game.

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>> And when did it occur to you that maybe

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your height was going to be an issue or

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maybe even an advantage?

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>> Uh definitely I'd say getting into high

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school because, you know, you have some

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people out here who's getting heavy

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looks just because or maybe [music] they

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might be 6'5". They look the part from

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everybody, but I definitely had to

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figure out like early on that I can

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control the controllable. There are

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things that you can't control.

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>> [music]

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>> Your height is not something you really

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can't control. It's genetics, really.

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>> When those thoughts came to you like,

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"Man, maybe I'm not cut out for this.

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Maybe I'm not tall enough." What did you

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say to that voice?

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>> Uh that voice it definitely gets to you

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for a second, but at some point you

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realize if you want to be successful,

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you really you're going to have to make

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a way or find a way. Like one of the

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biggest things I know is like for me out

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of my book, I know that one of the

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biggest things is the will principle.

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That's actually a principle explaining

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like the people you have around you.

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That's something I can't control and one

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of the biggest quotes I go by is "Show

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me your friends, I'll show you your

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future."

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>> You had higher standards for yourself.

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You are a full-time student athlete

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[music] in college. So, you have your

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classes, you have your tests, you have

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your projects, you have your studying,

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then you have your practice, you have

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your games, you have your travel for

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games. What in the world make you want

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to write a book on top of all that?

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>> I I feel like it was really important

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because I know as I said earlier, my

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father was definitely a coach when I was

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younger and I looked up to him [music]

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like as he was inspiring kids to be able

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to go outside their comfort zone maybe

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whether that's in the classroom. [music]

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Maybe you might not have everything just

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made out for you, but basically just my

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passion for giving back. So, that's

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That's my biggest reason for writing the

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book.

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>> What's your message out there? Athlete,

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non-athlete, just anyone out there who

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feels they have [music]

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a disadvantage, maybe not physically,

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but they can still find their success.

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>> My biggest [music] message is just stay

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the path you're on, to be honest. If you

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Like even in the book, there's even

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parts where [music] you actually have

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questions, so you can self-reflect on

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making sure that you're actually being

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honest with yourself and letting

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yourself know like if I'm trying to do

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what I want [music] to do. If I really

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say I really want to do that, am I

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putting as much work in as I'm saying I

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am?

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>> The most important question I ask you

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today, is there any [music] school you

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want to give a shoutout to out there?

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>> I'm going to start at Ron Clark Academy.

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They built my whole foundation, [music]

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just being able to develop social

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skills. Woodward Academy, that was the

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first high school I went to and I had an

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amazing experience with them. Went to

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Walker in my last [music] senior year. I

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enjoyed that experience and met a lot of

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great people. Now, I'm at Jacksonville

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State University [music] and now that's

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where I'm starting my college journey,

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so every place I actually took my

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journey is where I want to shoutout.