The Sevan Podcast - #725 - TYSON BAGENT - THE GREATEST COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYER
Episode Date: December 29, 2022Support the showPartners:https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATIONhttps://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK!https://asrx.com/collections/the-real... - OUR TSHIRTS... Learn... more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Are you cold?
Am I cold?
Yeah.
No, I feel good.
Oh, bam, we're live.
We did it.
Today, I'm just frantic, frantic, frantic, Sebi.
Hi, Caleb.
Good morning.
Oh, Caleb, your internet's all busted up.
And we have an echo.
Oh, much better.
Hey, do you have a YouTube window open, Tyson?
Do I have a YouTube window open?
Yeah.
Just because I hear a tiny, tiny echo what about now oh yeah better all
right ah no maybe it's on my fault maybe because look at caleb's uh cam did you guys get bombed
no we did not i'm gonna pull you down Caleb, until your connection gets better. Something's up.
Can you see me good, Tyson?
I can see you perfectly fine.
Awesome.
And you're in West Virginia?
Yes.
It's not cold?
It's cold as shit.
Yeah, it's really cold.
Outside, it's freezing.
Outside, it's freezing.
Hey, don't swear.
Your dad's going to get me in big trouble.
He says I'm a bad influence on you. He said you're you're the perfect child and when you get around me shit gets weird oh darn it i just did
it yeah just like he's the just like he's the perfect dad he is the perfect dad how dare you
um holy cow has it been a year since i've talked to you it's been just over just over a year since I've talked to you? It's been just over a year since we did this last time.
I can't believe it.
You look exactly the same.
You're not aging.
Yeah, my hair is a little bit shorter this time, but everything else is pretty much the same.
For people who don't know, and probably most people do know, I'm probably one of the few knuckleheads who doesn't have very good football knowledge.
You just finished your senior year at Shepherdstown, right?
Yes.
And you passed the all-time NCAA touchdown
passing record for all divisions.
Yes.
I can't even believe I get a chance
to talk to someone like you.
What a, how much. It's just crazy how much hard work everyone knows you had to put into your life to get to that. Does it seem like hard work to you or I mean, it is my life. But the whole record thing is pretty crazy because I
just constantly would just think about all the college quarterbacks there's ever been. Like,
every NFL quarterback played college football, you know, so many years of football. And then
for me to be at the top of that list statistically is really cool to think about.
When I was talking to your dad, I'm like,'m like hey is he tripping is he like walking around the house tapping on shit and acting all weird he goes no dude this
dude is cool as a cucumber i'm like no signs he's like no nothing no i uh we had we had a uh
there was only one little one moment where um he was just talking a little bit too crazy and i just
looked at him in the kitchen i was like hey listen Hey, listen, you know, as the, as the, as the touchdown King, you know, I, you know,
I really appreciate if you didn't talk to me like that.
Are you cool as you cucumber? Do you like, so it's the final gate. It's it's a,
did it happen in the final game that you played of your college career?
No. So it happened in the second to last.
In the second.
So in the regional championship, we lost to the team and we got to play them again deep in the playoffs.
Oh, you lost to them the year prior?
No, we lost to them about four weeks prior.
Oh, holy cow.
Yeah.
So then we were able to get a rematch and then I did it in that game.
So it was pretty, it was very cool.
and then I did it in that game.
So it was pretty, it was very cool.
And when you go into that game,
do you have any like,
panic attack might be too strong,
but do you feel heart flutters and anxiety or anything out of the normal?
Nothing out of the normal.
I would say that before every single game I ever played in,
I feel like I want to die,
like just from how anxious I am.
But I feel like that in itself is what I feel like I want to die like just from how anxious I am but I feel like that that in itself is what
um I feel like kind of bring arises me to the occasion and kind of helps me play good because
you know I'm actually terrified so it kind of just helps me play fast and uh do what I have to do
um when I when I used to uh I would I'd be filming with matt fraser right before he would take the
floor that was the crossfit games champion five times yep and uh literally they'd be in the corral
right before they would come out into this pack stadium and he would literally like have be in
the bushes making like vomiting sounds i never saw vomit come out but that was like he looked
i don't know if he looked forward to it but that was his protocol right before he would take the floor. Uh, what is that? Is that what it was like for you to like, you almost feel
like you're going to throw up? Yeah. It's almost like it means it just like what you're doing kind
of means so much in the amount of work that you put into it. It would just be, it would feel like
the end of the world if it, if, if, you know, if it weren't to go as planned, um, or if, you know,
you didn't succeed in some, in some fashion.
So I think that's, has a lot to do with it.
People are saying I have an echo.
Savon, you have an echo.
I know.
What is that?
700 shows and no echo.
And all of a sudden I got Tyson Bajan on here and echo.
That West, that West Virginia connection.
I wish I could blame you here.
Here we go.
Matt Morrison.
I threw up before every seven
podcast that's hold on i'm gonna i'm going to uh i'm gonna uh i'm gonna drop out for a second and
see if i log back in give me one second okay don't don't panic this is way easier than a football game
now you get to be here by yourself.
Oh man. How are you doing today?
Pretty good. Glad to have you on.
Appreciate it.
Okay. You're stepping up, Caleb. It's better. Now it's fine. Thank you, Matt.
Executive producer of the Sub-On podcast, Matt Souza chimes in. Now it's fine.
Okay. There we go.
executive producer of the seven podcast matthews it chimes in now it's fine okay there we go so so when you when you do that i'm assuming that's just adrenaline ramping up
yes yes i'll tell you adrenaline just kind of um what's that kind of what was at stake especially
it was a little more amplified this year just because of know, in order for me to do what I wanted to do, you know, this, this year coming, um, I knew I had to be successful and execute at a pretty
high level, uh, throughout the season this year. Um, so all that, you know, combined with, you
know, obviously wanting to win the game and having, you know, thousands of people watching
you, I think it all just plays a part in the nerves pregame. Do you have an adrenaline dump
during the first quarter or
anytime during the game? Or do you just stay up the whole game? Now, I would honestly say that
throughout the week, probably. So if we're playing on Saturday, probably around Wednesday
night is when I'm like, start really when I start feeling it. And then it kind of just
stays that way until Saturday. But then usually once we get on the field, like pregame,
if we're once we're warming up, and I get to throw the ball a couple times, just warming up,
usually tends to calm down a little bit. And then about 15 minutes before the game, you know,
there's just there's so much waiting involved. You know, especially if you play at noon, you start
getting ready for the game at like eight in the morning. So for whatever, for whatever reason, people do that, you know, four hours prior to the game. Um, it's just a
lot of waiting and a lot of anticipation. And I think, um, that's when I kind of have, you know,
the adrenaline dump, I would say probably about 15 minutes when we're just sitting there waiting.
Is there, do you, um, feel a different Tyson? Um, like the Tyson who just gets up in the morning, gives his mom a kiss, goes down to the store, buys milk, comes back, whatever, hangs out, makes your bed?
Do you feel a different Tyson show up?
And are you intimately familiar with that guy when you're on the field?
Yeah, I would say it's definitely a different a different
tyson i think we talked about this last time i was on but you know just being uh not i wouldn't
say shy but just kind of you know to myself and introverted um outside of football and then once
you know you get to step on the football field, be able to let loose. And then, yeah, I really kind of let a lot of my emotions and a lot of my volume definitely goes up when I'm on the field.
Just talking wise and just trying to lead a team to win.
Definitely a different side of me comes out.
Do you have to summons that guy?
And has a game ever started and you're like, oh, shit, Tyson, where are you?
Come on, i need you you know yeah it's kind of like uh i would say i put a lot of emphasis on
trying to be uh trying to get as much you know big or little success early on in the game as i can
because i feel like that'll help me you know as well as the the team kind of getting a rhythm and
then getting that you know flow state where everything's kind of clicking and then you kind of play more
loosely and, you know, kind of just be more of an athlete as opposed to just
trying to, you know, trying to be perfect.
So it's kind of like if you were a fighter, you're,
you're not walking out there and maybe you're trying to get some punches in,
you're trying to get some jabs in,
you're trying to get some good footwork going.
Yeah. I would say you want to, you want to get some, you want to get some jabs in you're trying to get some good footwork going yeah i would say you want to you want to get some you want to get some of that going and also it
wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to get maybe get tagged a couple times oh to wake you up
yeah just so you can get you can be fully in it wow yeah and that's interesting that's exactly
what fighters say too hey it always kind of takes getting hit once or twice to kind of wake the guy up inside
of you yeah just to get kind of acclimated to what's going on uh colin lawrence already attacking
me this morning for 499 game day equivalent for you seven when you call dave and he actually
answers nervous but excited all right thank you i think he's referencing dave castro um when you
uh so if you get on the field at eight, have you eaten yet?
Um, so it was funny. I kind of, I had a different approach to that, uh, this year. So, um,
last winter I got into, um, fasting and stuff. So I would, I would, um um eat normally uh throughout the week and then on Sundays I would not eat all
day and then so in the season it was kind of hard to do that just because of team meals and
everything so on game day just because with how um and game days on Saturday the day before your
fast so game days on Saturday but we would always have team meals on Sunday. So I couldn't take advantage of that, that full fasting day. And I always knew how amazing I felt, you know, deep into Sunday, as well as Monday morning before I ate. So I tested it out early on, like the first game, and I played in a fasted state. And then I kind of just continued that throughout the season. So it helped that we were
playing at noon, like we weren't playing in like late afternoon games. So I wasn't really hungry
enough that it was a distraction. And really before games, you know, I'm so caught up in
thinking about the game that, you know, kind of wanting to eat anything was kind of on the back
burner. So I would just make sure I drank a lot of water. I would drink coffee, make sure I use the bathroom before the game. And then, um, usually after the game,
you know, where they hook us up, uh, food wise. So then I would just, I would eat after the game.
Wow. So although Sunday was your fasting day during the season, you on Saturdays,
you would, you wouldn't eat until after the game was over. You'd wake up and just coffee.
would you wouldn't eat until after the game was over you'd wake up and just have coffee yeah so i would i would fast from friday at around noon um until um saturday after our noon game
did that cause any concern for your coaches were people like yo dude you can't do that
and do you know anyone else who does that i mean that's a pretty big tweak i mean i i approve
there's a ton of of champion fighters in the uf the UFC who do their first training every morning hard,
you know, completely fasted. Yeah. I mean, it was, it's, it's one of those things like,
cause I would say that there's been a couple of things I've, I've changed within the last year
that, you know, I think I'll continue to do for the rest of my life. It's fasting. I started getting in cold water and then just consistently getting
into the sauna. And all three of those things, you get like the, I guess, not the normal person,
but just a person who's not used to, you know, going out of the box like that would be quick to
be like, you know, don't do that. So I kind of, I just would tell my close buddies who kind of knew um
who I had you know at least had them at least done a fast with me or you know done crazy stuff like
that with me and I would let them in on it but I would never tell my coaches just because
I mean they're you know all they know is you know eat breakfast lunch and dinner you know that's
what everybody does that's what normal people do so I just kind of kept it to myself until the end of the season. I kind of let
everybody in. I was like, yeah, listen, I've been doing this all year and we've been killing it. So
I really don't want to hear, you know, what anybody has to say about it.
How, um, uh, how did that creep into your mind between your junior and senior year to,
to use fasting as a tool?
your mind between your junior and senior year to, to use fasting as a tool? Um, so I started,
I think I was listening to you on a, on a podcast or on a video. And I think you, you were, I had already heard about it a couple of times and I had a couple of people, right, not in my circle,
but you know, right outside of my circle, um, kind of comment
about it. So I was interested in it. And then you, you brought up, I think you said you do like a 36
hour. Yeah. I'm old though. I'm 50. Like, yeah. So it was one of the, it was, yeah, it was one.
I don't need any Sundays. I don't ever eat Sunday. Yeah. It was one of those, uh, it was one of those
things where it was just like, seemed like a cool thing to at least try um so i started doing it um i actually i started doing it before last year i did it i would do saturday at
noon to sunday at noon just seeing how it worked and i noticed how um how you know obviously i'm
not starving i eat throughout the week but how hard it was and kind of just like the, the, just the
addict feel of just wanting to eat.
Like once you get uncomfortable, just like, man, like in order to feel uncomfortable,
I feel like I need to eat, but really I don't need to eat.
So it was just something that really, uh, interested me.
And then the football season happened.
I didn't do it at all last football season.
And then I kind of got back on the train a couple months after the season.
And then I just, I didn't stop and just continuing to just, you know, research it and just understand the benefits of it. It really just seemed like a no brainer to continue it. How old are you?
Um, how old are you? Uh, 22.
Fasting is like doing some like major tinkering, right? Uh, we're all like our own personal laboratories and we got to try stuff, right? Like, Hey, what's it like drinking 12 glasses
of water a day versus four versus fasting versus if I run every day and you're a tinkerer already.
I mean, I don't know. I can't think of any kids who at 22 years old would already start tinkering.
But you it sounds like your dad told me that you got a slack block and you just became obsessed with that thing, too.
You're just you view yourself like that. It's kind of like a laboratory and you need to test things out.
Yeah. And also just like, yeah, just trying things.
And then if they work and it makes sense, I just I I don't see a reason to, to not do it, especially, um, yeah, if it works, like, so I just continue to do it. If it's going
to have, you know, healthy benefits on my body. Um, I just see no reason not to do it. Yeah. The
Slack box is pretty Slack box is a crazy thing though. Cause like the image of it, it's like,
I bring it out in front of our buddies and I'm telling them all the, at first I would tell them all the benefits of it.
Like, yo, this thing, you know, can do this, can do this, help you with this, help you
with that.
And then I bring it out and it's like a piece of wood on top of a pool noodle.
And they're like, what do you, what do you mean?
But then they get on it for two minutes and then they realize from their ankle to their
butt is lit up.
Um, so yeah, that's been a, that's been a really cool addition to kind of what I do on a daily basis.
And I think it's, you know, definitely done a lot of helping rather than hurting.
So once again, just continue to do it.
Is there is there anything. So so I guess food is one of the things not eating on Saturdays.
Food is one of the things, not eating on Saturdays, but is there anything else that you've done that you let go to the wayside that you're like, okay, I'm not going to do that anymore.
I don't think that's helping.
Anything stand out?
I mean, yeah, just a tiny example, something that comes to my mind, when I was young, like when I was younger, like early
college years, I would do a lot of my quarterback, like training, so to speak, would be a lot more,
it was a lot more footwork oriented, rather than just being athletic and working on, you know,
my throwing technique. And then I quickly realized that, you know, the footwork side is not nearly as important
as the amount of emphasis I was putting on it, as opposed to just being able to move quick laterally
and be able to be fast and be able to throw the ball off of any platform. So then I quickly was
like, yeah, no, I'm, I'm done doing that. And then just kind of train, change the way that I train, you know, quarterback wise.
So basically just move the percentages around.
So like if you're in the weight room, 40% of the time and you realize you don't need
that much, reduce that to 30% and then increase throwing another where you have the extra
time and just keep, keep kind of moving those numbers around.
Yeah.
extra time and just keep keep kind of moving those numbers around yeah and it's also you know you bring up weightlifting like any type of heavy upper body lift like upper body you know i'm 95
percent of it is pull-ups push-ups and dips like other than that i there's no reason and i i kind
of noticed this before coaches began telling me um like there's no need for me to try to bench a bunch of weight.
And there's no need for me to do anything in my upper body that's going to, you know, promote, you know, feel good in your upper half, uh, as well as being powerful in your lower half,
I think, uh, has helped me be able to throw the ball at the level that I've been able to.
So just exiting all that stuff early on too.
Tyson, is there a, um, you know, you hear about these people who have these stories where they're
like, uh, yeah, my third grade teacher told me I'll never amount to anything.
Or, you know, someone's a girlfriend broke up with them, you know, a girl in the fifth grade told them they were ugly and they become a supermodel. Is there any thing that you,
you remember in your youth that was the sort of the catalyst? Maybe it's nothing negative like this,
but had you set the goalpost so far away as the NFL?
I mean, it is a really ridiculous goalpost to set.
Did you ever have anyone tell you, hey, dude, be realistic?
Come on.
I don't have like a defining moment where somebody did that to me.
I do remember being around nine or 10 years old and I was at my grandma's house and we were all
hanging out and I was kind of just off wandering around by myself. And I was, it finally clicked
where I was like, oh man, like this football thing is kind of unrealistic. And it like,
there's a very high chance that it doesn't work out. So like what in the world else would i want to do and i had it
was the first time i had the thought of like football maybe not working out as like my whole
life um so that was that i that was just that's just a funny thing that i remember but i mean
other than that i mean you mean just like i've been to your grandparents house and it kind of
is out in this well at least for us california, it is kind of out in the sticks. So you're just out in the middle of the woods,
some quiet time walking around out there at nine.
Yeah. Everybody's in the back of the house.
She had a pool in the house they used to live in.
So everybody's kind of swimming. I was done swimming. I'm wandering around,
I guess, you know, just, yeah,
just wandering around in the front of the yard by myself.
And I had that first thought and I, it was just like,
I kind of stopped in my tracks. I was like, wow, I never thought about it like this.
This might not work out. What in the world else would I want to do? Um, so I've always kind of
had from that point on kind of obviously thought about it in a more realistic sense,
but just always was patient enough and knew what I had to be good at in order to put myself in the
best situation possible. Um, and then, I mean, football is such a crazy sport with so many crazy fans.
Like this year I threw, there was one game I threw for 500 yards,
which is crazy, which is pretty ridiculous.
And my buddy is saying that in like the third quarter that there was some fan
that was like, Oh, well, you know,
I heard we had the best quarterback in the nation.
I'm just trying to figure out where he's at.
And at that point I've thrown for almost 400 yards and I'm just like thinking like, man, you can't really please any of these crazy people.
So, yeah, I would say I didn't have any of that in my youth, at least not to my face.
But, you know, as of as a you know being a football
player i don't think it'll ever go away and your mom your mom and dad never were like hey you need
to have a plan b well you did graduate yes i graduated last may yeah congratulations but
they were never like hey uh tyson uh you got to have a plan, the football thing is just a pipe dream.
Nah, I mean, my dad's pretty crazy.
So, no, he never said that to me. And then my mom was just super supportive of me, you know,
throughout, you know, my entire life.
So they never put that on me.
But I was always, you know, I wasn't like,
I feel like that's a conversation you have with a with somebody
when you can kind of see the trajectory of their life maybe not going in the best direction and i
was always kind of just pretty level-headed and uh like a just a aware person that you know
understood things so there wasn't really anything that they felt like pressure to be like, hey, man, you need to get your shit straight.
So it was they never really had to have that conversation.
Any any between when was your first football game you ever played?
Do you remember that?
Well, my first year I was so terrible.
So I.
How old were you?
I was six.
I was six.
So I grew up when, when, yeah,
I grew up when they were putting pads and stuff on six year olds and then
throwing us out there. But, um, yes.
I remember I came to a couple of your practices when I was filming the movie,
pulling John with your dad.
And I couldn't believe the size discrepancy between the kids and some of the
kids would get just drilled.
Yeah. And it's that weird, it's that weird, like, like youth league is that weird.
It's a weird thing to where, yes, when you, there's a six and seven year old division,
you know, everybody's relatively small.
You know, you got a few kids that are more athletic, but then you start getting eight,
nine, 10 and 11.
And then all of a sudden it's like the heights change and kids start getting just beat on
by these kids that are growing up faster than other ones. And luckily for me, I was always pretty, I was always pretty, I was on the bigger side
of the kids. So it worked out for me, but I could easily see where, you know, if a kid has a,
has a late growth spurt that they could already, their parents could have already yanked them out
years prior, just cause they were getting pounded on by kids that were bigger than them.
So, so if you started when you were six and you were nine and you were already thinking,
wow, I might not, you know, my words, not yours. I might not go to the NFL
somewhere in between six and nine. You started feeling, I guess the dream form.
Yeah. So luckily for me, my father was crazy enough to be the head coach of my team and put me at quarterback before I even deserve to play quarterback.
So you can easily see where the other parents on the team are like, man, what are you like? This is crazy.
You know, what are you doing? Coach's son, this and that. My dad, he was just like, you know, F you.
I don't care. We're going to put him at quarterback because I want him to play quarterback.
Right. Y'all just got to deal with it. Uh, so, um, my set, when I
came back from my seven-year-old season, I was, you know, acclimated to, you know, all the hitting
and everything. So I was a lot more comfortable and we actually threw the ball, um, a little bit,
my seven-year-old season had a good year. And then from that point on, we, we continued to throw the ball. And I was pretty good at it, which, you know, from at a young age,
you're getting good, you know, you're good at something, your family's happy with how you're
performing at something, and then you fall in love with it. So that's kind of what happened to me.
And never between then and your,
in current time, you were like, man, this is my dad's dream.
I don't want to do this.
I just want to be an accountant or I want to be a landscaper.
No, I would say my dad introduced it to me at the age where I, like my six-year-old season,
if I would have had it my way, I never would have played football again.
I hated it.
It was the worst thing ever.
You know, my mom was on the same page as me.
Like this is, you know, this is a terrible thing.
So he introduced it to me, got over it, had success at it, started to like it.
And then around middle school, you know, he wasn't my coach anymore.
And I was playing a lot of basketball and I really liked basketball.
And then thankfully, thankfully, I moved to Martinsburg because where I was from, the programs, especially, you know, football wise were atrocious.
So I would have just been taking a beating every week.
And I knew that, you know, football wouldn't have been fun if that if that was happening, just because it's such a team sport.
You need you need guys around you. So I went to Martinsburg my freshman year.
You need, you know, you need guys around you.
So I went to Marsburg my freshman year.
I was like on the freshman team, you know, just an afterthought with ever starting on varsity.
Luckily I had a growth spurt.
And then I would say it became my goal and my dream my sophomore year.
The coaches allowed me to win over the starting job and then having success.
On the varsity team or on the
JV team, the varsity team. So, yeah, so it was a big jump. Um, and the coaches, I mean, I can't
think the coaches at, you know, my high school enough. Cause we had a seat, we had a quarterback
who started on the varsity, um, the year before that. And they still let a, they still allowed
for me to, you know, have a, to battle for the starting job. Um, and then when you're at a young age and you're having success
with older guys, it was like, holy, like, this is the most amazing thing I've ever been a part
of in my life. I can't wait to do this again next year. Uh, so that's when I kind of became
obsessed with it and kind of began to, you know, kind of work on my own and, you know, research into it and
find out ways to get better. And then to this point now. So, so your sophomore year was the
year that tinkering started like, Hey, football season's over or practice is over, but I'm going
to come home and research something. I'm going to study route patterns. I'm going to study different
workout techniques. I'm going to start studying different ways to heal. That's when that started happening. Yeah. And it also started like,
like I also started to view other things with how can this benefit me for football? So I wasn't
playing basketball just because, oh, I can't, I want to, you know, get buckets and, and, you know,
I can't wait to win games on my team. It was like, no, I can utilize basketball so that I can be in
better shape for football or to keep me in shape in a fun way, you know, for football season the next year.
So that's kind of how I started to think about it.
Yeah. I was going to ask you why you did play basketball. Are you glad you did that in hindsight
or do you wish you wouldn't have done that?
Yeah, it's funny. I'm actually the best I've ever been at basketball is actually,
you know, right now. So it's, it's, I i i'm constantly looking for ways to make just conditioning fun
um you know crossfit is obviously um something that i love and something that i do but sometimes
it just i'm just like oh man i don't want to do thrusters like that's terrible so i'm like all
right they're playing basketball i got i'm actually got included in this group in Marsburg.
This older guy named Eddie Stanley, he just loves to play basketball.
So he hits up all the best players in the area and always getting them together.
And we actually played last night.
So just figuring out ways like that to keep my conditioning at a high level.
you know, conditioning at a, at a, at a high level. Um, and, but my, my best friend growing up, his dad was like my dad, but in the basketball sense. So we were always playing travel basketball,
even when it wasn't basketball season. And I was always around it. And, um, I ended up being able
to shoot the ball relatively well. So just the same thing with just having success in something
and then just, you know, finding a liking to it and just continue to do it.
I'm yeah, I think I got a lot of my skill set from basketball.
Crazy. When you're on the basketball court, is it is it quarterback Tyson Bajent out there or is it just the at home regular Tyson Bajent?
Like, do you feel those leadership skills and that mindset come in,
even just in the games you play in basketball?
Yeah, I would say it's just at-home Tyson.
It was kind of just a breath of fresh air
whenever I was playing basketball
because we were pretty good for our area.
So, you know, some of the rivalry games,
the whole arena would be super packed.
And I was able to,
I was good enough to get in the game
and stuff, but it was never like, I was like, if we lose this game, I'm still going to sleep
perfectly fine tonight. So it was more so just fun, um, which is something that I enjoyed.
Um, cause you know, I obviously have fun with football, but there's a lot more nerves that
come into play, uh, pregame and as well as during the game. But I would say I kind of take a back
seat and just try to, I just, I'm a role player and just try to have fun whenever i played basketball in high
school is is everything um about football for you i'll give you an example um like i the only
reason why i wouldn't watch the ufc if I didn't do shows with UFC fighters.
Everything I'm doing is – everything I'm doing, I'm thinking of stuff.
How can it make this podcast better?
Or I'll give you another example.
There was this professor at Yale, and he was an artist, right?
And he was also an entomologist, a guy who studies bugs, and he was also a marathon runner.
So what he would do is he had this cabin, and he would go up there, and he would set these on this like 15 mile route.
He would have these places where he put rotten bananas or a dead animal. And then when he would run to them, there would be bugs there and he would draw them. So he'd get his artist fix.
He would study the bugs and he would get his running in and then come back. And like he had
his life just dialed like that. It sounds like that's like at an early age, you started being
aware that's the way it needs to be.
Yeah, I'd say that's pretty accurate. I mean, just like I said, with basketball, I'm just want to stay in good shape for football.
Just like, you know, with my health and stuff and, you know, eating right and fasting and doing cold and hot therapy.
I want to make my body feel as good as it can for football.
You know, you know, any type of,
I don't do yoga because I really like doing yoga. I do yoga because I know it'll help me be,
you know, more fluent on the football field. So kind of like that, where everything is kind of
just, you know, going towards the same thing and kind of helping me in one way or another at
football. Yeah. And that probably made decisions easy for
you. So going to parties and drinking, kids smoking around you, people spending too much
time on their phone, it goes through this filter like, hey, is this going to benefit football or
not benefit football? Exactly. Exactly. You're in a really, I mean, your generation is in, I guess every generation is, but definitely your generation is in uncharted territory with just all the media.
There's just so, so much stimulus coming in.
Is it easy for you to block that out because it doesn't work for your goal?
No, I wouldn't say it's's I would not say it's easy.
I would say that, you know, growing up, I grew up in an age where, you know, kids started getting cell phones for Christmas and birthdays and stuff like that.
And I my parents got I was I was one of the last ones of my of my class to finally get a cell phone they gave me a cell phone when I was
in eighth grade wow and then yeah so I really wanted a phone growing up but then kind of like
around fifth grade I accepted it and I was like all right whatever I don't really I guess I don't
really need there were kids in the fifth grade who had cell phones no I mean I just yeah there
were definitely a couple outliers in elementary school whose parents were crazy enough to give them a cell
phone, but it was one of those things where it was new and nobody really knew the negative impact
that it could have on a child. So I would say I got in eighth grade and then, you know, finally
getting in eighth grade, I'm locked in. I'm on the Instagram. I'm on everything. I'm chatting with people. I'm on
Uvu. I don't know if you remember Uvu. It was group FaceTime. It was just an app that you could
group FaceTime all your buddies. So I'm doing all that. Um, and then it didn't really, uh,
I would say like round two years ago, I started to, it was like the food thing, you know, you don't eat for a while and you're like, holy crap, I'm not, I know I'm not hungry. Like, I know I don't need to eat right now, but like, I'm so used to eating so much. And like, I just feel like I need to, same thing with the phone. Like, it was like, man, I could delete all these apps right now, but for some reason, I feel like it would make me feel
uncomfortable. And so noticing that that's when I kind of was like, all right, I need to take a
backseat to this thing. Cause I could easily see where this could be an addictive thing, um,
that could, you know, kind of take over. And then all of a sudden you're procrastinating
and you don't have time for anything else because you're always tied into your phone.
And then also with that, just with how crazy football people are, you know, it's hard to get on there because it's so much just like it's either super high praise or super high, just negative, just negative comments.
And, you know, most of them aren't even true. So that, that can also drive you crazy. So I just try to, um,
I try to limit my time the best I can, um, on all the media stuff.
There's a, there's a theme here, the ice baths, the CrossFit, the fasting,
uh, realizing that deleting apps would be uncomfortable and then doing it.
Um, you're definitely not afraid of being uncomfortable. realizing that deleting apps would be uncomfortable and then doing it.
You're definitely not afraid of being uncomfortable.
You're almost attracted to it like a moth to a light.
Yeah.
And I would say it's even the opposite where it's so amazing to me how uncomfortable it is that I'm just like, wow, I need to do more of this.
Because like, why is this so uncomfortable?
And I feel like it's so uncomfortable just because of the because like why is this so uncomfortable and i feel like it's
so uncomfortable just because of the perception that everybody puts out into the world like
it's constantly family members in my family that are like oh man you're crazy for doing that like
man why would you ever do that why would you ever do that like grandma sees you get in the ice bath
and she thinks you're not yeah exactly like things like that but But then I'm like, I'm like, because I would say that I'm, I'm different from my other family members. And they I know that they love me for it. And they love everything, you know, that I am that I've come to be. So when they kind of like, not negatively shoot down whatever I'm doing, but when they kind of come at it, like, Oh, man, you, you don't need to do. You're going to get sick or something. I'm like, well, that's kind of made me who I am. So why
would I stop? You love everything that I got going on. So why would I stop doing all the things that
have gotten me to where I'm currently at? So just kind of viewing it from that point and just
realizing that things aren't necessarily weird. Just people think they're weird because they
don't do it.
And I think they're a little bit threatened by it in the sense that like fasting freaks people out because they can't imagine not going 12 hours without eating.
Or, you know, we used to do I used to do this thing where like I would try not to buy it.
Like, how many days can I go without pulling my wallet out?
Like, why is my life surrounded around buying shit just to just to so and it kind of it's it's it's kind of like free awareness right because when you put yourself in those struggles you get you get elevated awareness because you're kind of on guard from like oh i'll just run out and buy a sandwich
or i'll just eat a piece of cantaloupe right now or something like that but you can't be like that
you have the heightened awareness you got to be on guard from your habits yeah it's almost like just, I don't know, I feel like you can't be the best person unless you do like, unless you're constantly doing like a lot of stuff that's like, feels terrible, but in a good way.
Right, right, voluntary suffering is just like, just being able to, you know, at least do that. I mean,
for me, I just, at least once or at least a couple of times a day, just suffer in some way,
shape or form. How do you, how do you not, um, overtrain? It's really easy as a 50 year old for
me to look back and see that I, that there were times in my youth that I just over-trained.
Do you, do you have to keep yourself in check on that? Yeah, I would say it's easier for,
I would say it's easier for me than it would be if I was just, um, if I, if I wasn't an athlete and I was just, if I was just, you know, an athlete in the sense of just, you know, just
trying to keep my health. Um, since I, since I play as a sport, I, um, I
understand that I need to feel my very best in order to perform how I need to, uh, in the sport.
So just listening to my body and then I'm not really into, um, overexerting some area of my
body and then it coming back to bite me in the butt with just affecting me negatively on the field so i feel like it would be harder if i didn't play football
to to um to not overtrain the there was that footage from last year uh it was it was two
games it was at the end of your season in both games as i recall you through touchdown passes as the clock was running out
basically yes when when you take that um you go can you walk me through that like you go into the
huddle and like what's going through your mind and who calls the play and do you think it's going to
work and is your brain is it noisy in your brain is it what what goes on
um so i would say so the other team scores with 30 seconds left yeah isn't that just how do you
stop yourself from going okay well that's over i gotta go warm my car up so the ride home isn't
cold yeah yeah i don't i don't really i don't even i don't really know i just know that they
scored there was about 30 seconds left.
And now you're putting a lot of emphasis on this next play.
How far can we return this kick?
And what field position can we get to make this easier or harder or whatever it's going to be?
And also, I always think about, man, when I'm after this game and I'm, I'm at home tonight,
um, am I going to be, am I going to hate myself because I just laid down and let this terrible
thing happen? Or would I be so much more happier if I was able to just know that, you know, we
made something happen and that, you know, you stayed locked in and you stayed focused and you
just played as hard as you could. Um, so we ended up getting a nice return. Um, and know, you stayed locked in and you stayed focused and you just played as hard as you could.
So we ended up getting a nice return.
And then so now you've got 20 some seconds left and, you know, you got four good plays, you know, at the most.
So being able to be successful early on in that drive is definitely going to do nothing but help you.
First play, we're lucky enough to get a 40-yard gain. Who calls the play? Is that your decision or the coach's decision? So there's the head coach and then there's the offensive coordinator.
He kind of coordinates everything that happens on the offense. And then as the quarterback,
I'm able to take the offense coordinator play call and run it, change it, you know, whatever I,
you know, think is necessary. Um, um but in my head whenever i get to play
i'm all i'm just thinking about all the variations of how this play could look you know different
spots spots on the field that we could attack within this play and then so literally in that
second someone says whatever the play is and as you're as you're walking up to the line you're
looking out at the field you're you you're already seeing the play play out in 50 different ways, like a chess game.
Exactly. Yeah, exactly.
So we were successful in that first play.
Call a timeout.
Clock stops with 10 seconds left.
We know we've got we know we're in field goal range, so we can kick a field goal to tie it if this play doesn't work.
field goal to tie it if this play doesn't work or um but then we ended up calling a play trying to score a touchdown because um you know kicking a field goal is a shaky situation it's 50 50 whether
it goes in or not so um not not wanting to put it in the kicker's hands and then we call the play
uh it ends up breaking down um i roll out to the right what does that mean like right off the snap like you're like oh
this isn't going as planned now so you know get the snap i'm looking around how the play is drawn
up on paper how it's supposed to work uh-huh didn't didn't happen didn't happen like that
and you don't panic no so i mean i mean i i't know if that, if me running is panicking or not, I'm just kind of just improvising, I would say, but then, uh, running out to my right, I saw that the receiver, um, had one against the guy that was guarding him. And then just, I was able to put it in a pretty good spot. So it all, it all worked out. And then there was one second to go whenever he caught it so it's pretty crazy uh great job caleb um when when you say you see
that the receiver has won what does that mean that that he's six inches away from the guy who's
guarding him or a foot or yeah just i mean he's just the guy is not i i know that if i if i can
put this ball in a good spot that he'll be able to make the catch it's easy to see sometimes where
the guy's just draped all over him and he's
covering him really well. And you're like, okay, well, you know,
we're not going to go there. So he had a couple of steps on his guy,
as you can see in that frame right there.
So I know if I could at least lead him, you know,
into the catch that I knew he, he,
he did a pretty good job catching the ball that year.
So I knew we had a good chance at a touchdown.
And then we won a game.
Shepherdstown goes crazy.
And we're still talking about it a year later.
Right.
What will be the difference?
So in February, you're going to go to the Senior Bowl.
Yes.
And for people who don't know what the Senior Bowl is,
the way I understand it, there are three Pro Bowls in college football.
Three big ones. I think there's a handful of others, but there's three pretty big ones.
It's the Reesey Senior Bowl, which has been the unanimous number one bowl game.
The East-West Shrine game, which is now competing with the Reesey Senior Bowl game.
The East-West Shrine game, which is now competing with the Reese's Senior Bowl game, just trying to figure out ways that they can get on the same level.
And I think they've done a really good job this year with making their game a more attractive game to play in. And then there's the NFL PA game, which is the number three bowl game.
It's weird that the NFL one would be the number three one, right?
Yeah, I don't really know how that all came to be or how it works. But yeah, it is, that is
interesting. And so I'm looking at this and I was looking at like, what are the implications of this
senior bowl? And it's crazy. There'll be approximately 110 players who show up there
from all over the country. They'll be the best players. They'll be the best players in the country.
And what,
what,
what are some of these numbers that I heard?
The 2021 and 2022,
two consecutive years in a row,
106 players of the 110 went to the NFL.
That's awesome.
Yeah,
that's,
that's absolutely nuts. And, and and the nfl in those
years only drafted 262 players so they took more they took almost a half of the players from this
single game yeah uh the senior six players were drafted in the first round and uh for in the and
45 players taken in the first three rounds so this is a good sign that you were invited to this thing.
It is. Yeah, it is. It was the goal going into this year.
Just because any question that anybody has on my,
one of the big ones is just the level of play that I'm playing against.
And so this was a great opportunity to be able to showcase everything I have
against the best players in the country. So it'd be a big, it'll be a big week for me.
Are there any other division two players that you know of who are going to the senior bowl?
Um, I, I, I know of, I know of one more, he's a line, he's offensive lineman.
Um, but other than that, I don't, I don't think so.
of linemen um but other than that i don't i don't think so and are you um anxious excited scared how do you feel do you feel threatened by the fact that it's going to be a this different level of
play now i would say i'm excited you know you get to go in there with a clean slate. So it's just being able to go in pretty focused and just get,
get into the mental aspect of it as soon as I can, just so that I can play,
you know, as fast as I can, just because I know that, you know,
everybody there is going to be fast and they're going to be, you know,
the best from where they come from. So it's just the best going against the
best. So just being able to, you know,
execute early and just try to have, you know, just try to make it as fun as possible. Um,
but I'd say more than anything, I'm just, I'm pretty excited.
Do you get to train with these guys ahead of hand?
Yeah. So it's a, so it's a full week. So you have a week of practices and then the last day of the
week you play in the bowl game. So it'll be a, um,
it'll be a lot of opportunities for people to get eyes on me just, you know, in practice and
in the game and stuff. So every day I'll be pretty important.
Another crazy number I saw is that a 600 people from the NFL will be there. What is it? Uh, let
me see if I can get the, more than 600 nfl staff and personnel will
be on site during the week to scout elite talent nice yeah it's a it's a big deal i mean it's i
like it how you like that you're like yeah yeah it's i know it is uh it's a spectacle for you
know for fans and then also scouts and coaches and everything. And will be an NFL coach who coaches your team?
Yes.
And do you know who it is?
I do not. I do not know yet.
I think they base a lot of it off of the success or the, the, you know,
not so successful teams throughout this, this season.
uh, teams, uh, throughout this, this season.
Um, Lee, I want to talk about leadership. Where, where did you learn about leadership? When did you learn,
how old were you when you learned that leadership was part of the, um,
the position that it's not just, you know, uh, three, two, one go.
And you run around the track that you can't just be good at throwing the ball and running around that you have to lead guys. Yeah, I would say, uh, I had a,
I guess I kind of understood, um, like I had been around leadership my whole life. I don't think I
really clicked for me what leadership was until probably like my junior, senior year of high
school where, you know, a lot of, lot of just understanding that a lot of really good teams don't just have leadership from their coaches,
that they can also garner some leadership from teammates as well, and that those teams usually end up being the most well-rounded competitive teams.
being the most well-rounded, um, competitive teams. So being able to just, um, I always kind of just put myself in the right position. Like I was always doing the right thing. So I let, I was,
uh, I led by example, um, still quite kind of like on the quieter side, other than when the
game was going on. But then I'd say in college, just kind of, uh, wanting to take over that role,
uh, of just being a leadership in all areas, just with, you know, teaching guys,
you know, certain plays and, you know, given motivational speeches and keeping dudes in check
and making sure they're doing the right thing to put us in the best situation possible.
So I would say I kind of learned what it took and then kind of, I learned what it took. And then I
would say about three years later began to implement it, um, you know, in, in the teams that I played on in my own life.
So the example makes sense. You were always working, you kept busy in the off season,
you were improving yourself, you were tinkering with yourself, but what about, like you said,
motivational speeches? Is this something you're just there and you open your mouth
and you have faith that the right words will come out or do you prep for that stuff?
Um, I, I wouldn't say I prep for it. I say I have a general idea of the, maybe the one or two things
that I'm going to touch on, whether it's something we've been struggling at, whether it's just
trying to get dudes like to have an understanding of what really is at stake. And then just being real loud. And you, a lot of times, if you're, you know,
courageous enough to be loud and around a group of people,
then they'll, they'll usually gravitate towards that.
And it'll usually get them pretty excited.
Your junior year, you did something. And I don't know exactly,
I don't know what this means. I'll ask you what it means.
But it says in his last offseason, he put his name in the transfer portal.
So that's after your junior year.
You won the Harlan Trophy, best Division II football player in the country.
And then you put yourself in this thing called the transfer portal,
but you didn't end up switching schools.
What was the transfer portal?
What were your thoughts about it, and why didn't you switch? So I wasn't in the transfer portal, but you didn't end up switching schools. What was the transfer portal? What were your thoughts about it? And why didn't you switch? So I wasn't in the transfer portal after the
season, wasn't planning on getting into the transfer portal, was kind of just really cool
with where I was at and finishing up at Shepherd. And then I started getting like illegal phone calls from, you know, relatively big schools.
Illegal meaning they're not supposed to call you.
Yeah, because if you're not in the transfer portal, you're not allowed to have any contact with any coach ever from any other school.
So luckily enough, I was around my family when I got one of them and I put it on speaker and, you know, swore to the guy that I was by myself. So, um, we're going through the phone call and just like
the, the amount of interest that I was getting without even being in the transfer portal kind of,
you know, grabbed my attention. I started to think about, you know, what could be, you know,
maybe I can go to, you know, maybe I can go to Oklahoma or maybe I can go to Texas or maybe I could go to one of
these huge schools and be able to play my last season. Um, and, you know, obviously get my name
out there more than it already is. So, um, kind of thought about it for a little bit,
ended up going to the transfer portal, got a lot of attention. Um, and, um, it was, it was very fun.
We went on visits. We visited West
Virginia university, West visited Maryland university. Um, but on the visits, I realized,
um, that I, you can't just go to a different school and pick up academically where you left
off. Um, you have to, you have to do a certain amount of hours to get a degree from a university. So I was already
set to graduate a couple of months. Oh, I see what you're saying. So even if you had everything you
needed, you couldn't just take one class or you have to at least establish a hundred hours and
just some shit to leave. Okay. So I had nine credits left, which is, which is nothing. And
it was set up in a, in a weightlifting internship that I already had set up and it was already set, like, you know, it was already good to go. Um, but then realizing that
if I would have transferred to a different school, I would have had to put in 40 more hours,
um, which I had already completed. Um, and I wasn't, you know, by any means,
um, looking forward to my, to my academics, you know, by any means looking forward to my to my academics, you know, throughout throughout college.
I did well, but it was just something I did so that I could play football.
So that as well, I knew.
Oh, oh, someone called him or text him, huh?
Still alive. And then also I had no issue with where i was at in the first place so um
it was it was an easy decision once i figured out i had to put in um a year and a half more
i know you know this uh but for the listeners um the last Division II quarterback to be drafted was by the Cardinals in the seventh round in 1999.
And the last Shepard player to be drafted to go to the NFL was by the Baltimore Colts in the 20th round in 1960.
20th round.
My goodness.
goodness so so you uh it's almost like there were two paths through the forest and one had just been cleared and one hadn't been cleared in 20 years or 30 years or 60 years and you chose
that path why didn't you why didn't you choose the other path why didn't you choose if the nfl
was the goal why not choose somewhere where the watering hole where the NFL regularly goes to and drinks?
Yeah, I would say.
I'm not a buzz killer.
I'm not a buzz killer.
I hope not.
I hope not.
The year's over.
The year's over.
Yeah, I would say.
Well, so the quarterback that played at Shepard the year before I got here, I was very invested in, you know, watching all the Shepard games. So I got to watch him throughout the season. He had a really good year. And then he got a chance with the Redskins is what they used to be called now the commanders, but he got he got a shot with the Redskins. And at 17, thinking in my head, I was like, man, I think
I'm almost as good as that guy right now. So I think if I can go to Shepard and I can do what
I need to do, I know they're going to throw the ball a million times. I know my family's going
to be able to come to every game. It was really a no brainer, especially with the lack of attention
that I did get from colleges through high school. I had two division one
offers, one of the university of Albany, where it was really cold and they just ran the ball a lot.
And then one was Robert Morris university in Pittsburgh, who they were going just one in 10
every year. And they were just getting, you know, beat down every year. And it wasn't,
it wasn't a good enough situation at either of those schools to take me away from what I knew I could potentially have at Shepherds University.
And then so obviously putting my time, you know, did what I was supposed to do, got in the transfer portal.
And then just a combination of school as well as, you know, you going in, you're getting involved with a bunch of people that you really don't know when this is your make or break year, you only have one year, you know, all you can really do
is mess it up. It's not that you, it's not like you can, um, really, you know, gain a whole month,
a whole lot from the world, um, in one year. So it was just a, the risk reward as well as having
to go back to school. Um, it was an easy decision for me to come back to Shepherd.
And I'm glad I did.
We had a really good year this year.
Have there been any hard decisions?
So you said that was an easy decision, but that sounds like it would be so hard for me.
Especially when I imagine how focused your goals are.
especially with when I imagine how focused your goals are, like there's these decisions,
like whether it's to buy a new pair of shoes or to fast or to what school to go to.
Yeah, I would say in the moment, it was not as easy as I'm saying it is right now. But looking back, looking back, I think it was a no brainer to do what do what i you know ultimately decided to do but i would say in the
moment obviously you feel the the stress and the anxiety behind your decision and wondering if it's
gonna come back to bite you in the butt um at a later time but i think looking back it was a
the right decision and an easy decision there before you broke the ncaa record for most
touchdowns you broke another record that
was in your is it called the conference uh what was the record it was most touchdown passes like
in in that conference and you were okay yeah so first it was the most touchdowns in division two
history and then it was the most touchdowns in all of college football history. Okay. Can you tell me about the moment when you broke it?
Most touchdown passes in Division II history.
Your dad kind of alluded to the story, what happened right when you broke the pass.
Can you tell that story, including what the play was?
Yeah, so it was, we were playing at East Stroudsburg University
and, you know, crazy enough, the guy who owned the record for,
um, I want to say 15 to 20 years up until that point was the head coach of the team we were
playing. Crazy. Yes. Super crazy how it worked out. But, um, i knew i needed three going into the game knew we needed three touchdowns
in order to beat it um so it was right before halftime uh where we were driving down the field
the play was uh left trips 500 uh cloud wide glance so that was the play call all do all the plays have long long names like that why why can't it
just be like seven yeah pick up on it yeah so i don't know left trips is the formation 500 is the
protection for the offensive line um cloud is the concept for the receivers and then wide wide
glance is backside what the guy guys running backside of the concept.
So I don't know shit about football.
It sounds like it's more like flying a plane than playing checkers.
Stop laughing, Caleb.
I can see you back there laughing.
Stop laughing.
So the play ended up working out just how we thought it would.
And then actually I threw the pass to my best friend on the team.
And so that was a really cool moment.
And then celebrated with the team.
East Stroudsburg University actually did a really nice thing with just stopping the game, having a moment.
Me and the coach met at the middle of the field.
It was a pretty cool deal.
Impromptu?
So, like, you throw the pass, the guy completes it,
and then all of a sudden you're
the it's a touchdown the coach comes out there boom throw the pass obviously everybody's like
oh my gosh dude you did it holy shit this is crazy my get to my buddy he's like yo what this
is crazy i can't believe this is happening i'm like yeah man this is this is freaking crazy we're
jogging to the field dapping everybody everybody up, everybody's loving on me.
And then you start hearing the announcer
say what just happened.
And then the ref stopped the game.
The coach starts walking out to the field
and then I met him in the middle.
But you had no idea that was gonna happen?
I did not know that was gonna happen.
Wow, was that emotional?
Like when, do you remember his face?
Yeah, it was, I didn't get didn't get emotional but i did i was
just like you know one of those things where i was like man how in the world did this come to be
like this is this is like i don't know this is just like one of the craziest things ever like
who would have ever thought that this would happen i didn't even think this would happen i knew i was
going to be good but i didn't know that this would happen and i didn't even think this would happen. I knew I was going to be good, but I didn't know that this would happen. And I always kind of look back to the,
to a moment in time, like before my freshman season of college. So that summer when I was
really, you know, training hard, you know, trying to get ready to play college football,
I would be on the field and then sometimes I'd be by myself and I would just,
I would just think like, I would just think
like, man, I wonder if I will throw a touchdown at college. Like, I wonder if that will really
happen for me because so many people go to college and, you know, it ends up just not,
the ball doesn't roll their way. It doesn't end up happening how they, how they imagine it to.
Um, so I'd be like, and I'd always watched Sheppard football so many years of my life.
And I was just like, man, I wonder if I really will throw a touchdown, you know, for Sheppard,
like that would be a crazy thing.
And then it was just like, I'm thinking back to that moment and now it's like 150 later,
man, this is, this is insane.
And, uh, did you know when you were playing the game that that coach had the record?
Yeah, it was a big story leading up into the game.
It was just whether or not I was going to end up doing it that game
or another game.
Wow, absolutely nuts.
What a moment.
Do you think there's these two ideas, nature and nurture,
meaning you're born who you are or it or it's nurture and maybe it's an
oversimplification but do you think it sounds like your dad um i don't want to say made you
i know you had to do all the work but it sounds like your dad like put you on the right track if
you were a slot car or do you do you think that
do you think you're more nature or nurture do you think you were taught to become a great
quarterback or and it's almost i feel silly even asking the question because obviously i know that
you put in the endless endless amount of work you have the typical like obsessive work ethic you
know make yourself better uh personality and personality. And when I mean typical
you're, you're in rare company, but we've heard this story before from other great people.
Do you have any thoughts on that? What I'm trying to say here?
Yeah. I would say that my, my athletic abilities have definitely been nurtured. Like I, I, I think
that my dad definitely put me in the lane that I needed
to be in in order for me to figure everything out and and become you know as athletically
blessed as I've become but then I would say just I think just the way I think about things I think
that was more more nature than anything I'm just I'm really happy um with the way I'm just, I'm really happy, um, with the way I think just cause, um, just thinking from the,
you know, standpoint of just, you know, continuing to try to get better and to be able to be
moldable and to be open to trying new things. Um, just like all the things that I, that we
talked about, uh, earlier that have, you know, allowed me to become so much better, um, in, in football and in life,
like with just like the, um, the cold, the cold exposure and, you know, fasting. So I'm, I'm,
I'm happy with the way that I think, I think that's more nature than nurture, but, um,
my athletic ability, I think definitely was, was nurtured by, by different people in my life.
I heard you in an interview, a short interview you did,
like 15-minute podcast you did,
and you said,
let me see if I can find this.
Maybe I'm going to have to paraphrase here.
You're basically talking about the guy was asking you.
I don't even remember the question, but what caught my attention is you were talking about things that you do every day.
Oh, he said, he said, OK, this was the question.
He said, hey, Tyson, can you walk me through a typical day?
And you said you had prey in there.
Is that oh, here we go. said you had pray in there. Mm-hmm.
Is that – oh, here we go.
You read and pray every day.
What does that look like?
What is prayer?
I don't even know what that is.
What is prayer?
I mean, I think prayer for me, because I think it's, I think it's different, you know, for everybody, uh, prayer for me, uh,
really just making sure that, you know, that, you know, a higher power just knows and understands
how unbelievably grateful that I am for all the things in my life that just means so much to me.
So just being, you know, extremely grateful for the people that have,
you know, for whatever reason, uh, are a part of my life. So my family, um, any, any coaches or
friends I've been lucky enough to meet along the way that have, that have stuck and that are just,
you know, really amazing people just being so, uh, making sure that, you know, really amazing people just being so, making sure that, you know, that just that, you know,
the world knows and God knows that, you know, I'm so, I can't even,
like, I don't even, I don't even understand why all this is happening,
but I'm just so excited and happy for it. Thankful for, you know,
my mindset, the way I think about things. And that just really,
I put a lot of emphasis on, um, just praying that my, uh, that my little siblings can, you know, make good,
good decisions, uh, that day. Family's hugely important to you.
Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. Yeah. That that's, that's really cool. Who introduced you to the
idea of prayer? How did you get introduced to prayer?
I would say I grew up going to an Episcopalian church with my family. They baptized me at an early age. I was introduced to the whole idea of going to church on Sundays and praying in church and praying before, before, you know, you eat food, and all that. And I would
say when I was about 16, when I was about 16, or 17, the church that I'd been going to was kind of
just an old traditional church. One of those things where you could easily see a kid being
like, Oh, man, I don't really want to go. It's boring. Um, and that's kind of where it was,
how it was with me. So kind of stopped going, I would say from about 12 to 16. Still, I mean,
there was never a time where I didn't necessarily believe, but I just like, I was just like, man,
that is like, that's boring. I don't want to really want to go. Um, uh, there was a new church
that came into the area called Crossroads Church.
It was a little more like teenager friendly.
Like, you know, they weren't just, it wasn't, you weren't just sitting in silence a whole
lot.
It was a lot of, you know, better music at the beginning.
And then the pastor definitely, you know, preached his word in a more, in a way that
you could understand as a younger adult, exactly what was being said and what was going on. And I
kind of latched onto that with my mom at 16. And then I've stayed pretty consistent with going
there ever since. And actually, you know, the pastor is a really good dude. I've been to his
house. You know, he's helped me out, you know, with my spiritual journey, so to speak.
And being able to kind of like how my dad introduced me to football.
And then I kind of took over with the whole getting better at it part.
It's kind of the same thing.
My family introduced me to church.
And at a certain age, I kind of took it upon myself to kind of make that a priority in my life.
Did anyone teach you that or it was just the consistency and habits from being a kid?
Yeah, it was one of those things where I was like, man, how can I get better at this?
I don't really know.
Like, I don't really know what the blueprint is to be good at this.
But then, I mean. You mean to be like a good blueprint is to be good at this, but then, I mean,
You mean to be like a good Christian, to be a good churchgoer?
Just to be a good, just to know how to pray and to know how to do, you know, yeah, exactly,
all the things. And then basically it's, you know, everybody says that it's your own journey and
everybody's path to it looks different, just like anything else in life. So that kind of helped me
out. That kind of helped me a lot with kind of understanding and how I went about it.
There's this theme building too. And this, every time I talk to you, right, you're, you're the
epitome is how I do anything is how I do everything. So you want to be a good, if you're
going to participate in the church, you want to be a good representative of the church. If you're
going to play football, you want to be the best football player. You're, you're, if you're going to participate in the church you want to be a good representative of the church if you're going to play football you want to be the best football player
you're you if you're going to be a family member you know you're praying
not hey i hope i go to super bowl but hey i hope my siblings uh have a safe and healthy journey
no doubt yeah exactly i was just i mean just trying to maximize um you know just all the things you know that, that I want to do and that I care to do in my day and in my life.
Do you think that you could, as a dad, do you ever think, do you think you're going to have kids?
Yes.
Wow, you're adamant about that. Yes.
Do you think you could make another Tyson Bajent?
that yes do you think you could make another tyson baygent you think you could do this stuff your dad did to you to get you to where you were at in your mom or what your mom did to you to get
you where you were at uh i don't really know i think parenting is a really hard thing i know a
lot of amazing adults who are horrible parents and i know a lot of yeah it's like i don, there's no, like, I think I have a general idea of how I could make a pretty cool
human being, but I mean, I mean, I don't know. I know a lot of cool people who are terrible parents.
So, um, yeah, I don't know. I think I'm just like any, I feel like anybody who becomes a really,
you know, uh, like a quote unquote, really good, uh good individual, I think it's kind of like super
lucky. Cause I think even with how great of a job my mom and dad did, I can easily think back
and look at situations in my life and, you know, in high school, especially where, you know, I'm,
you know, just with all the sports I was playing, you tend to hang around some, some shady people
who are doing some shady things that I could easily, you tend to hang around some shady people who are doing some
shady things that I could easily see where that could have, you know, gone south for me. So I
think it's obviously having good parents, but then also there's definitely luck involved as well.
Your senior year, all 32 NFL teams came out, sent someone at least at some point to watch you play?
Yeah, it was pretty cool. So it started, you know, in August, we went through camp,
which is just a month of practicing, you know, gearing up for the first game. And then
throughout practices each week, and as well on game days, there was always a NFL scout around.
And I think that was, I think that was really cool for the team. Cause I think anytime there's a
NFL scout around, I think everybody's play tends to increase a little bit because they want to make an impression on the person.
So I think it helped us prepare better and practice with a lot more intensity, which I think helped us on game days.
So, you know, they're there. Yeah. So though. So they make it obvious. They'll be there when everybody's warm enough for practice, completely decked out in whatever team they're from, bright colors always, and they make it known that they're there and that they're watching.
And do they all talk to you at some point, come over, shake your hand, or do you have interaction with them?
at some point come over shake your hand or do you do you have interaction with them yeah most of them will find a um like a maybe a downtime in practice to introduce themselves or some of them will wait
till after practice to introduce themselves or do a little short interview some will come before
practice if they don't feel like watching the whole two-hour practice just to get to know you
on a more personable level um there was no one way that it, that it went, it was always just kind of whatever
worked that day. And do you get any feedback from them or is it like a job interview where no matter
what, you're not hearing back from them and you don't know how you did? Yeah, more so I would
never hear from, uh, them like feedback from them, but it would also like, if they had let my coach,
um, know anything that my coach would always be like,
Hey man, they said they really, you know, they like this.
They like what you said here. They like what you did here.
They like how you, you know, you know,
different situations and they, they liked her something about what you did
throughout that day.
Do they look at everything?
Like if you got suspended in the fifth grade for throwing a rock at a,
at a, another kid, like, are they just digging through all your stuff stuff i don't know if they i i doubt that they probably go that far but
i i i do think that they um especially as a quarterback they want somebody that is you know
sharp enough to to lead a team and to be able to you know use be able to use and utilize their
verbiage and and different plays and schemes and know what everybody's doing. They want a pretty sharp individual, you know,
back there playing quarterback. So I can imagine that they,
that they probably do look, look into your history.
Do they interview your friends? Are they like, Hey,
does Tyson go out and drink on Fridays or does he do a dangerous motorcycle
riding or shit like that?
Nah. So I think that they,
they talked to the offensive coordinator to kind of get a feel for like,
you know, what kind of guy, what kind of guy is he as well as, you know,
what are his strengths, weaknesses, et cetera.
And then they talked to the weightlifting coach and they talked to the
athletic trainer, the weightlifting coach,
just to get like an idea of like numbers and work ethic and stuff like that.
And then the trainer obviously see, does he have any history of injuries?
You know, is he care about taking care of his body?
All that stuff.
So that was usually the three people that they would throughout the day talk about you to.
Look at this.
This is exactly what you're saying in the beginning of the
show um uh uh so uh melissa says this man is so wise i'm very impressed then there's this dude
down here with the giant biceps crazy you can tell how robotic his responses are what the fuck are
you talking about we just traversed from god to we just traversed the
landscape i didn't do this program to give tell right now have you been trained has anyone trained
you to be uh to like you know like i just remember i didn't watch a lot of basketball but anytime i
would see like a basketball game the nba games someone the reporter would ask a question and
like like i don't know kobe would never answer the question he just said what he wanted to say yeah like have you gone through any training like
that by the way that person's totally wrong don't even nah yeah it's um it's all good but
i wouldn't say in his bedroom at his mom's house he's fucking 22
i wouldn't say that i wouldn't say i've had any training, but I have been lucky enough to have a lot of repetitions.
And I think that has helped a lot.
A lot of interviews. Yeah. And your dad is quite the showman. And your mom is a very poised woman also.
I mean, you do have very your your dad's kind of the opposite of your mom.
And I mean, he's a showman and your mom is very poised you know she's very you know good posture very present kind of yeah i feel like i feel like if there was a good way to
put it like my dad in an interview is always looking for his for his moment to to make it
drop that one liner yeah to make it electric or funny or whatever he's whatever antic he's
going to use he's looking for that opportunity at all times i feel like if my mom were to do
interview it would be very um just it would just be very neutral yeah and then i i try to
stay somewhere in between those two which makes sense because they're my mom and dad so um and
your dad could get away
with way more because the arm wrestling, I mean, there's nothing on the line, $6. Yeah, exactly.
He can say whatever he wants, um, and not get any backlash for it or care if he does get any
backlash for it. Look, I'm a robot too. The only robot here is seven. Oh, that's good too.
robot too the only robot here is seven oh that's good too uh did you graduate in three years tyson no so i graduated in four years on time but with covid was able to play um for my fifth year since
my third year got canceled due to covid did that freak you out when the third year got um got
canceled were you like oh shit there go my dreams or were you like what happened to everyone so yeah no it wasn't it wasn't like oh there goes my dreams
but it was like man this is like really strange i wonder how the world is going to adapt to this
like i wonder you know what is next um but then there was also there was always like
conversations with coaches and and people just higher up that kind of were kind of, there was some light
at the end of the tunnel, uh, with it. So that was always, that was always good, but it was, I mean,
but it was like, it was one of those things where I was like, man, this whole lockdown thing is
happening to everybody. Um, did the NFL drop a year or did they play through? They played through,
but no fans. So it was like one of those things with having light at the end of the tunnel like okay i can deal with not they're
not being fans in there they're still playing um right so that that's cool so it was weird how they
pumped into cheering right and that was so weird yeah it was it was a strange year 2020 is definitely
um pretty weird uh as a junior you just became the ninth player
in college football history across all divisions to reach 5 000 yards and 50 passing touchdowns
were there receipt because of your pat throwing touchdowns were there receivers on your team who were also breaking records um did you ever throw to the same guy all four years was there a guy who you
got to shepherdstown with as a you threw a touchdown past him you're a freshman sophomore
junior senior it was it was completely different every single year i had a whole different uh set
of guys every year and um i would say last year not there wasn't anybody that was getting
singled out with having all the records and stuff but i would say there was a good handful of guys
that were all having tremendous years there was the i watched a couple plays last night and there
was a tiny little white guy i saw catch like three or four passes how little was that guy
yeah he um yeah he was a bit he burst onto the scene last year as a freshman.
He was, I mean, honestly,
if you want my honest prediction on how tall he is,
I say he's 5'4", but they have him on.
Yes!
They have him on as 5'6".
I don't believe that.
But he's the fastest person on the team.
So, I mean, it was unreal to watch him do what he did last year.
Yeah. It was crazy. That that's crazy. He's, and you would throw to him just right off the
snap a lot, right? Yeah. A lot of times, um, you know, if they're giving him any space,
you know, he's a quick little fast guy. So being able to just get it to him and,
you know, let him make somebody miss and do his thing.
Would you, will you stay in touch with those guys or no?
Yeah, I would say a lot of them, yes.
I mean, some obviously no because there's so many dudes on the football team.
But I was lucky enough.
I was around long enough and was able to meet some pretty solid dudes
that are pretty good friends of mine.
So I will definitely keep in touch with them.
pretty solid dudes that are pretty good friends of mine.
So I will definitely keep in touch with them.
I guess on one hand it's, it's kind of it's not ideal that the team shifts every year, right? You want to build consistency with,
with your favorite players, but I guess on the other hand,
it's great practice. It's more, it's more just like,
it's more just like ideal discomfort, uncomfortable prep for where you're
headed.
Yeah, exactly. You get, you know, more different, more body types that go to different speeds that
go to, you kind of get acclimated to all the different things. And, um, college football is
so crazy. It's almost like you just start from scratch, uh, every year, just cause you've
constantly got guys going out, coming in, going out, coming in. You know, Shepherd University doesn't have a whole lot of funding either.
So even coaching wise, you've got, you know, kind of coaches using Shepherd in order to get a better job so they can, you know, support their family in a better way.
So you really just start from scratch year in and year out.
I don't mean this as a dig.
It might be taken that way.
But if you're a diamond and you were sat on, let's say, you know,
on a silver ring, now that diamond is leaving that silver ring
and it's going to go to a gold ring, meaning you're the quarterback,
but everyone around you now theoretically is going to
be significantly better than where you came from are you are you excited about that because then
that's going to elevate your diamond also like are you like yeah wow i mean because you kind of
maxed out the potential at least you can think this way you maxed out the potential of the guys
you were around so maybe we still haven't even seen the best tyson tyson agent there is because he was mounted on a silver ring
you know i mean like you were driving a nissan and now you're going to get a fucking indie car
exactly yeah exactly i think about that a lot just because i think it's happened uh in my life
you know going from middle school to high school uh i think my game oh so you told that story so you came there as a
fret you came your sophomore year you were like oh my god i'm already running the the varsity team
and you think it's gonna be like that yeah yeah yeah so i mean yeah it's just like you know i
don't think it'll be it'll still be you know me just around you know other human beings but just
so happens that these guys are you know a, little more athletically blessed than other people I've been with,
just because just like the other stages in my life,
going from middle school to high school, high school to college.
So I know that that's coming and that it'll, you know,
increase my abilities just because, you know,
you're throwing the faster guys at a faster pace,
things are a little bit more in-depth.
So I think that definitely will happen.
It's been something that I'm excited about.
How tall are you, Tyson?
6'3 and 1'8".
What is the average size for an NFL quarterback?
I would say probably right around there.
I would say there are some shorter
guys in the nfl and then there's some bigger guys in the nfl and i would say probably the
the average is probably right around where i'm at so that's a good size you're a good size for
a quarterback yeah i'm i'm typical quarterback quarterback size uh as it comes no surprise
that the average height of a starting quarterback in the league
is six,
three.
There we go.
Bingo.
So good,
great football player,
good family praise takes ice baths.
One game left.
I mean, theoretically this next game could be the last game you ever play.
Yeah, and I wouldn't even look at it as if this counting as a typical game.
This is just more of like an extracurricular gig that can increase my uh my draft um possibilities i would say that i i kind of had that thought whenever
you know we played in our last game um this past year just because you know no matter what happens
from this point on you know the chances of me having the freedom and the ability, just the ability to just be loose and play the game to its maximum extent.
I know that's over and I know that it's just more so of a business now.
And so I'm just excited to take advantage of whatever opportunity I do get just from here on out.
But just having an understanding that it's more so business
than anything from this point on.
Wait, but when you're out there on the field,
it won't be like that, right?
When you're out there on the field,
the business just dies when you're out on the field.
I mean, if you go on to play in the NFL, right?
Yes, yes, yes, exactly, yes.
Do you go on to play in the NFL? Will? Yes. Yes. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Do you go on to play in the NFL? Will I, are you asking me? Will I? Yeah.
Yeah. I, that is, that is the goal. And that is, uh,
that is what I'm striving for. And it, you know, it, look,
all the pieces have fallen into place up until this point. So I'm really,
I'm excited to, you know, get that opportunity to, you know,
make it as far as I can.
Crazy. Well, that I wonder, I mean, you haven't done it yet, but I wonder if that'll be like starting on day one again. Yeah, I don't know. I don't, I don't know what exactly it'll be like.
I know I'm just like imagining it to be the absolute hardest thing ever so that if it is
different than that, it'll just be that it's not
as bad as I thought it was going to be. So I'm just right now preparing for it to be the absolute
most overwhelming thing in the entire world so that, you know, mentally I can just be, um,
I can just be ready for whatever. And then if it's not what I thought it would be,
it would just be because it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be,
which is perfectly fine too. Right. Dude, thank you for coming on. What, what, what a crazy,
uh, what a crazy opportunity for me to talk to someone like you who who's done so much and
accomplished so much. And, uh, everyone I know that knows you so proud of you and is in awe also.
Um, thanks for doing this.
Yeah. Hey, you're the man. I will come on this show whenever this is,
this is, this is the podcast that I listened to. So yeah, you're the man,
you're the man. I, uh, I appreciate you having me on. It means a lot.
Anytime brother. Thank you. And, um, uh, we'll be in touch. I'll be,
I'll be texting you.
Perfect. Have a good day.
All right, dude. be texting you. Perfect. Have a good day, Savant. All right,
dude. Hey, one more thing. And thank you in this time of, you know, you know, a planet that's in
so much turmoil for being such a good role model and such a light. You really, really are. You're
impacting, you know, you're impacting more people than you could ever imagine. So, so thank you.
Thank you as well. And tell Ezra I said, hi, I can't wait to get him on the podcast too.
Yeah.
He needs a little bit more interview work before he,
before he can handle this smoke.
All right, brother.
Have a good day.
Bye.
Man.
I'm so happy for his parents.
I'm so happy for his parents.
Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah, right?
Right?
God, he's so cool.
I was surprised how nervous I was.
I couldn't get settled.
I couldn't get settled.
I was like, holy shit.
I kept Googling ESn articles about him and just
kept getting more excited about it yeah i guess maybe i just wanted to he's like one of those
people i just want to grab him and hug him uh seven you got a discount code for the slack
block i don't i don't and i know they're not cheap but i will tell you this i use mine every day too
i wish they made one that was a little lower.
It's pretty thick.
And I want my mom to start using it,
but I'm concerned like that super thick one
should fall off.
Hey dude, what's up with your internet?
Caleb, did you guys get downgraded?
Someone didn't pay the bill or what's going on?
Bailey Walker, me too.
How do I parent my kids like that amazing i'm telling you uh the the you know half dozen times i was around travis is um he's very intense he's very very
intense and he kept those uh kids in check there was no he matched there the thing is i mean you
know this probably especially with the boys their energy level is so high that if you can't match it, which oftentimes I can't, you have to have a way to corral it.
You know, one of the things I maybe say this will help someone. One of the things I do, my boys will just just a fight will just break out.
And the three of them just can't stop hitting each other and taunting each other.
three of them just can't stop hitting each other and taunting each other and i immediately just take them into the garage and i have this little tiny yellow ball and i and i make them stand like
i don't know 10 feet apart in a triangle and um they have to throw the ball and they have to pass
it around 10 times without dropping it and every time they drop 10 times consecutively and every
time they drop it they have to do a burpee and start over at one again. It's a great game.
It's a great game.
I should win the fucking Nobel Prize for it.
They end up doing like 100 burpees, and they're laughing their asses off by the end. They cry a little bit, but it's great.
It's great.
Hey, Caleb, what's up with your internet?
I have no idea.
Had some shitty weather lately, and I think it's messing with everything.
Yeah. Had some shitty weather lately and I think it's messing with everything.
I, I, when I had kids, I told Travis, um, uh,
and it would always make him feel uncomfortable. He would always try to change the subject, but that as like,
he had a tremendous influence on me as a parent. Um,
and it was how he talked to his kids because he talked to his kids like,
like, like they were adults, even when they were little. Like, I just remember he,
there was, there's no bullshit with that dude. Like he, he kept it fun,
energetic, but he would, you knew you were in the room with a bull and Travis
was a bull and he didn't, he didn't pull punches on the kids and he made them
work hard and he was loving and all and all that but man he would uh
he spoke in a very strong voice and um he cracked the whip and i and i knew i was like oh that's how
i'm gonna do it too just very real with them very real with a a dose of entertainment so
um uh jason sometimes when i watch this podcast it makes me a little bit uh a little sad because
i learned so much and i could have been a much better parent with the information i have now
you know what that i have to guess that's everyone right i have to guess that's everyone
my dad said that to me the other day he's like shit i wish i would have done uh with you what
you're doing with your boys.
And I'm sure I'm going to do the same thing.
Thanks, Mark.
I was really, really excited.
I didn't even want to ask him. It was one of those things where I didn't even want to ask him to come on the podcast because I felt like, you know, it's my friend's son.
And maybe that's why I was a little nervous too.
my friend's son.
And maybe that's why I was a little nervous too.
Travis did say to me,
Hey dude,
you could keep,
keep your fucking mouth clean during the podcast.
He sent me a text.
So,
uh,
maybe that's why I was a little nervous too. Cause I,
cause I wanted to,
uh,
I wanted to make,
I wanted to make Travis proud.
I wanted to be a good friend. I wanted to make that he he felt like i was i was being cool to his
son yeah right the thing is is um my dad um my parents were workaholics and which was important
like i i kind of wouldn't have it any other way either.
Like I just, I was always so impressed of how hard my parents worked. I really liked it.
I like to see them. Um, I just was impressed. I just remember from a young age and it made me appreciate stuff. It made me really, really appreciate the things that I had because I knew it was my parents' time that they were putting in.
Janelle, I give grace to myself because all the ways I screwed up, I still have a lot of chances to do better. Yeah. Well, that's kind of the funny part too. My dad says that to me, but then he
comes over to my house and we don't even hang out. He just hangs out with my kids. So yeah, It's so, uh, yeah.
Uh, more than 600 scouts will be at the senior bowl.
I think it's sometime in February.
I think you have to have the NFL network in order to watch it.
Um, there's a list.
If you go to, to, if you type in Tyson Bages name, you can see all the records.
Um, he's, he has, it's absolutely nuts.
Um, let me see if I can tell.
There were only five quarterbacks invited to the Senior Bowl this year.
He's one of them. I have to assume he's the only Division II.
Yeah, I mean, look at all these.
I'm sure he's going to win the Harlan Hill Trophy again
as the best quarterback in 2022 in Division II.
We talked about how 32 NFL teams came out to watch him play during the year
this year.
You heard how the,
the,
the coach came out into the middle of the field and they stopped the game and
shook his hand.
What a crazy
confluence.
Is that the word?
That's not a word.luence convergence he was a harlem hill nominee first three or first two years and then he was a finalist
junior and then got a senior year so like every year he's been in contention for harlem hill
yeah nuts right wait there is a word wait wait there is a word confluence the junction of two
rivers yes yes that is what i was going it was a crazy confluence because that head coach who had
the it was the junction of the two rivers it was the uh you know what i mean the act of yes
merging right that that coach was there thank you c. Indeed. Even if you don't mean it, I appreciate the yes.
The coach was there who broke the record, you know, however many, 15 years earlier.
Nuts.
Nuts.
Thank you, Robot Beaver.
Mark, what were you doing saying he's a robot?
He's 22.
What are you doing? i don't think it was
it was a different mark not that oh yeah yeah wasn't that one mark okay where was it mark this
one it was the guy with the buff arm working on the c2 rower yeah
oh i wanted to ask him if he when when was the last time he cried in a game like what
like you cried when you were six probably, probably when you were seven.
I wonder if he cried in his last college game.
You think he did?
That's tough.
Like when you know it's like that's it, it's really shitty.
Like you just worked so hard for so long,
and you don't even know if you'll ever be able to play again
because you'll never play.
If you don't play at the next level,
then there's no level after that that'll meet what you just played at.
Yeah, your whole life from when you're 6 to when you're 21,
that's all you do, and then it's just over.
Yeah, your whole identity for 20-something years is that sport and walking onto the field and putting on your helmet or putting on your cleats or whatever.
And then now you have to learn to be somebody else, to be like a real estate agent or like a peddler.
Go to trade school, start cranking wrenches yeah but then like wherever you go like that's your title you're like oh that was the guy who played for nebraska
and now he's a mechanic at auto zone you never get to put pads on again i cried at both my last
college game and high school game high school i cried because i never got to put pads on again. I cried at both my last college game and high school game. High school, I cried because I never got to run the ball.
Nice.
Probably how Tia feels right now.
I don't know, man.
She's probably so stoked she's pregnant.
Yeah, then someone trying to make him feel those feels again
by saying that that may be the last game that you ever play.
I didn't know if i was cursed
if i'm like jinxing him by asking him if he if he thinks he's going to the nfl
but he but right he clearly thinks he does right everything i've looked at says that he has a
if not an outside chance he has a chance of being drafted into the NFL.
To be honest,
from what I've been watching of all these,
all these NFL games,
there are a lot of quarterbacks that have their jobs in question right now.
So I wouldn't be surprised if somebody took a chance on him.
I watched clips last night forever.
I cannot believe how good he is.
He moves so well on the field.
I agree.
I'm not like a super football analyst,
but I know he looks better than a lot of other division one quarterbacks.
And,
and if all 32 teams came to visit him at Shepherdstown,
I mean,
it's totally off the beaten path.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
32,
32 teams,
32 scouts went to the middle of West Virginia.
Yeah.
Watch him practice for two hours.
And the fact that he's invited to the Senior Bowl as a quarterback is bizarre, too.
He's probably one of the only Division II football players to be invited to that Senior Bowl as well.
Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
I know he probably doesn't think it's a big deal, but, like, not a ton of people are, you know, like, where he's at are getting picked up for that Senior Bowl.
I asked Travis. he's so different than
travis i'm like hey is he is he freaking out at all he's like no dude he's chill as a cucumber
always yeah he's super cool yeah he's better than russell wilson right now hey um someone like that
you would think you could just take and make like Twitter needs a CEO. Why not pick that dude?
The ball score guy?
I mean he's – he knows something about leading fucking – if you can lead 20 fucking testosterone-filled men who –
Closer to 100 probably.
Yeah, 100. Yeah yeah then you can do anything
it's it's insane whenever i played football in high school i was a kicker so that's crazy
but like you could see the guys who are really good leaders because they just had this aura
about them like they were they could like they could come up with pre-game speeches on the spot
they could like help their teammates with any aspect of their game.
Everybody just flocked to them.
It was always those guys.
And those guys now are the same thing.
Good leaders.
28, 30 years old, the exact same.
I would take that dude to lead Twitter or be president of the United States over any Harvard, NBA, or lawyer, or PhD in economics or anything.
And you know why else I would pick him?
Because that dude wants to learn.
He said a few times about, hey, he just wants to be open enough to keep learning.
I cannot believe he talks like that at 22.
I cannot believe, like, that was not me at 22.
I needed money for gas and condoms.
I love that.
He was talking about how he was working on his diet and working on like his
recovery game.
And look,
that's shit that people at his age don't think about division two athletes.
Don't do that.
Division three athletes don't do that.
Most division one athletes don't do that.
How about fasting?
Is he nuts? Dude, that's insane. Go buy a pack of twizzlers and stuff yourself yeah oh yeah
you and that's a hundred percent of what happens for college football players they'll just get a
bunch of snacks that fucking vegetate in their room and eat all day until practice happens and
then they go to practice and they practice and they go back and eat some more. He had perfect skin, crystal clear eyes, great voice.
You could tell never that you can tell those tonsils and never suck down a bong load.
I mean, just pristine, pristine lungs.
I mean, you can just hear it and feel it.
What a good dude.
Definitely.
All right.
Do we have anyone for tomorrow? Oh, we have cat sheer tomorrow yeah affiliate owner nice uh co-host of the kleisdell podcast
double nice uh paul rubio on friday and then on saturday probably a a live call-in show.
Do you have a calendar?
Do you know exactly how many days before you come home?
Yes.
I think it's 38 days until the Senior Bowl.
How many days before you come home?
Probably about, I don't know.
It's close.
I,
um,
yeah,
I,
I, I,
I had,
that's how nervous I was.
I really wanted to ask him about the draft,
like where he's going to be,
how that's going to play out.
But I am going to,
yeah,
I will definitely watch it this year.
I went back and watch division two football games.
I don't watch any football.
I thought it was funny when he pulled up,
when he started talking about the play that
he called for that that touchdown pass i said there's no fucking way someone knows what this is
no i had no idea it makes me happy that it's such a technical sport like that though you know and
that i'm just a closed-minded jerk off that just thought it was like number seven you know and
everyone just scrambles around you should you should see like some of the play cards that they have it's like
a note card like you know in did you ever take a test where they're like okay you can have
as many notes as you want but it has to fit on this note card yes that's exactly what football
play cards look like that with play everything there's plays written out like that and
they keep it on like an armband on their sleeve and it's just minuscule writing that's how many
plays they have crazy uh savon is gonna be on tv when he finds out it takes three days for the
better three days seriously yeah dude it's crazy wait so it's not just like seven who do you
want i'll take tyson agent uh who do you want caleb and it doesn't just go that fast and in a
simplified yeah it does do that but they do that but it's that you have time windows and so it's
like okay cleveland browns pick this person and then after they pick somebody, the next team has X amount of time to like go through.
Oh shit.
So if 262 players are drafted and they give every,
every team,
uh,
10 minutes to pick your 2,620 minutes,
it takes forever,
which is,
which is nobody watches that for the first day anyway,
which, Oh, that for the first day anyway which oh except for the dude the kid's parents who haven't the kid hasn't been picked yet yeah and the last guy they call him
mr irrelevant because nobody cares that he's the last one picked uh what i say 2660 divided by 60 minutes. Wait, wait, wait.
2,660 divided by 60.
Oh, yeah, it's a full week.
That's 40 hours of drafting.
Okay, shit.
If each pick gets 10 minutes.
Oh, three minutes?
That's what they get three minutes between each pick?
Probably. That seems more reasonable
the longer it goes uh the more trades happen oh there's trade trading starts happening right away
too while dudes are getting picked well yeah because so sometimes like a team will say hey
i want to trade like my first round pick for a second round pick and five hundred
thousand dollars or something or i want to trade you like this person on my team for this round
it's the whole it's this insanity uh jessica valenzuela good idea jessica for caleb's internet
fund well thank you thanks dude thanks just pay your taxes and then maybe we'll get better internet
uh there you go.
After day one, it shortens.
All right.
Cool.
Well, I'll see you tomorrow morning.
All you guys.
Guys, see you.
Bye.
Bye-bye.
Plus, everyone boos the commissioner.
Oh, I'm going to love that. All right. Mark. Buh-bye. Plus, everyone boos the commissioner. Oh, I'm going to love that.
All right.
Mark Moss, buh-bye.