Feb. 25, 2025
Albert Wilson II: Adversity Comes with Football
Whether it was growing up in foster care, opting out of the 2000 NFL season, or a career threatening hip injury, Fort Pierce native, Albert Wilson II, refused to let life’s challenges get in the way of his joy for playing football. Wilson spent four of his nine NFL seasons with the Miami Dolphins and delivered electric performances DolFans remember to this day. Contributors to this episode include Sevach Melton and Dolphins Productions. Theme song created and performed by The Honorable SoLo D.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:00
Speaker 1: You're now diving.
00:00:13
Speaker 2: Sitting down with Seth living Oh Jay, And this is strictly.
00:00:18
Speaker 3: Formrue number one of course, y'all, this and the other never sports talk.
00:00:25
Speaker 4: Welcome back to the Fish Tank, presented.
00:00:26
Speaker 1: By iHeartRadio right here on the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network, Seth Levitt and the toughest podcaster Dean Marino ever played with. He is oj McDuffie juice right side of the ball, right position group today.
00:00:38
Speaker 3: Come on, man, man, you couldn't get better than that, any better than that, big Seth. You know how I feel about you know, the offensive side. But now you've got wide outs on here. Yeah. That's always a special time then, because you know, you always get stuck sometimes in the defensive side of the ball at times, even some Florida Gators type of stuff. Man, But I'm glad that we we gotta figure it out today.
00:00:56
Speaker 1: Bro, well, we definitely do. He is Albert Wilson. Are we saying, Albert Wilson the second?
00:01:03
Speaker 4: Is it? What do we go?
00:01:04
Speaker 1: Because I know the nickname was Junior growing up right right, So Albert Wilson the second is diving into the tank really excited, really excited to have y'all Man, we were just talking before we hit record about how it's not often that we have people that qualify as alumni, like they need to get you your damn Awqua Jackets, but they qualify as alumni.
00:01:26
Speaker 4: But you were, like, you played with.
00:01:27
Speaker 1: Guys who are still on this roster, So it's really pretty cool for our fans to have somebody that was on the field so recently with us.
00:01:34
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:01:35
Speaker 5: Yeah, and it makes it that much more exciting to watch to see the guys that you was in the hoodle with still out there, you know, giving it. They're all so definitely, you know, a fan of those guys in the team, so definitely tuning in every weekend to catch them.
00:01:50
Speaker 3: You know, some guys actually they want to get away from the game. They don't want to tune in after they're not playing anymore. Man, you feel a little differently, huh.
00:01:58
Speaker 5: Yeah, Yeah, I get that a lot, you know, especially from guys I played with. They kind of want to you know, separate it. But I love watching it now. I never really watched it growing up, you know, or why I played, So now that I can sit back and you know, just enjoy it as a fan, I kind of see why I tell my wife all the time, like every Sunday. I see why guys sit here and watch football all the time. So yeah, I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying watching it as a fan for sure.
00:02:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what's up. So So if we say the name Albert Wilson, the second to any Miami Dolphins fail in the plant, I mean, the first thing that will come to mind, to their mind is a vision of you and Jaquim Grant high five and you know it's fifteen yard line on your way to score on a seventy five seventy four yard touchdown against the Raiders in twenty eighteen. And by the way, that was just you know, one series after you threw a fifty two yard touchdown pass to Jocqem on a double verse. Talk about that play, the high five, and just what kind of headspace you're in, you know, after helping your team get to three and l at that point and doing it in such dramatic fact.
00:03:00
Speaker 5: I was just really still trying to find my way into the organization and just trying to see how I fit onto the team. So I was just giving them everything I got, every opportunity I get. So you have those plays that you know for sure you're gonna get the ball in your hands. So man, So when when they make play calls like that, and then you have a guy like Frank Gore that's that's in front of you, that just tells you like, hey, come behind me. You just got to listen to some guys like that likes it's hard to make that cut on that jet suitet. But when when you have a guy like that, it tells you like, hey, just come on, you listen to him, and it turns out turns out that way. And but yeah, the high five was one of the greatest things that I've done in my career. People still stop me and just think, like, hey, how fw it is pretty cool.
00:03:49
Speaker 2: I love it, my boy Jaquem. It was just a great play.
00:03:54
Speaker 3: You know. But it almost seemed like it was playing because you guys, did you guys look at each other, and because I mean you guys kind of high fived at the exact same time, like it was going to go down like that.
00:04:04
Speaker 5: I actually got it from Tyreek really with the Anthony Thomas back in Kansas City when I was with those guys, and it just kind of happened was out in the open fielding. It was just us and it kind of and it kind of happened, and I'm happy it did. I'm happy it turned out the way it did.
00:04:20
Speaker 3: It.
00:04:20
Speaker 2: It was left fun.
00:04:21
Speaker 1: Nobody will forget that, right, Like, it's just not something that you see all the time. Well, first of all, especially you know, things have changed a little bit here, but we were coming out of an erarow where we didn't see seventy four yard touchdown.
00:04:33
Speaker 4: Plays that often either.
00:04:35
Speaker 1: So to have something where you're just kind of running free like that and to have two fast dudes, that was.
00:04:41
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was just a great memory.
00:04:42
Speaker 2: Going down some way.
00:04:44
Speaker 3: It was.
00:04:46
Speaker 2: Had to give him something to do.
00:04:48
Speaker 4: I love it. I love it. It's too good, man, It's too good.
00:04:52
Speaker 1: So there's so many great memories, I think, even just in a short period of time, And we're going to talk about all of that, but before we get into more Miami Dolphin stuff, I do want to dial things all the way back to really your origin story, for lack of a better term, because I think it's an important one, and even though it's an important one, it wasn't always a pretty one growing up for you.
00:05:11
Speaker 4: So I asked you about four Pierce earlier. You were born in Fort Pierce.
00:05:16
Speaker 1: You know, you ultimately went to school high school import Saint Lucy, but you know, life kind of took you over and through and around some serious obstacles at a young age to the extent that you're comfortable talking about it. Can you just discuss with us what life was like in Fort Pierce and just how things changed so dramatically for you growing.
00:05:38
Speaker 5: Up just pretty much like every kid in poor neighborhood where you know, dad, you know, in and out the household because he's in and out of jail.
00:05:49
Speaker 2: Mom's working hard all day.
00:05:52
Speaker 5: You know, so with five kids, so it was kind of you know, in and out, in and out on.
00:05:58
Speaker 2: Our own terms. You know, no real.
00:06:02
Speaker 5: I don't want to say no authority, but it was kind of, you know, we was kind of raising raising ourselves because you know, they had so much stuff to do. So once I got into foster care, I was kind of on my own, and I kind of always had my mind made up on you know, doing something, you know, the right way, always doing things the right way.
00:06:24
Speaker 2: So once I you know, got into foster care.
00:06:27
Speaker 5: And and seeing you know how my life wasn't written sort of say like I could have I could have turned in any direction, and I just knew, you know, right then, at the early age that you know, I wanted to do something right.
00:06:44
Speaker 1: That's so what you just said there, that the realization that it wasn't written just you know, we have our notes and our preparation, but it just hit me my day job. I you know, I run Jason Taylor's Foundation and we work with a lot of kids, actually some kids up in Fort Pierce area, but for Peer Westwood, you know, for Percentral some of those schools in poetry, and the idea that your destiny or your future, that you have an impact on it and it's not just all laid out therefore it wasn't. That's a really powerful realization to hear something like that. And what I read was also speaking of you know, you mentioned foster care. You had an opportunity to kind of go out of state. I think you had an uncle or somebody that lived out of state, but it was important to you to stay there here because of your sisters.
00:07:33
Speaker 4: Is that correct?
00:07:35
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, Well, we was in South Carolina and my dad kind of wanted my sisters to stay in South Carolina because it was a lot of aunties and a lot of female cousins around, and wanted me to go to Washington, d C.
00:07:49
Speaker 2: With my uncles and a lot of you know, male role models.
00:07:53
Speaker 5: But I just was my sisters was younger at the time, and I just wasn't able to leave them, you know. I just didn't think nobody would watch over them like I did. So I chose to stay with them in South Carolina and we were there for about a few months before that situation didn't work out, so then we moved back to Florida and that's when we kind of started the foster care journey all over.
00:08:16
Speaker 1: How old were you, Albert, because that's a pretty heavy decision, a pretty grown decision to make as a kid.
00:08:23
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:08:23
Speaker 5: I think I was going to the eighth grade. I think I was in the eighth grade. Yeah, I think it was like my third high school I was going to. But before that, I was in a shelter and they they told us that we was going to be together, but they split me.
00:08:37
Speaker 2: And my sisters up.
00:08:38
Speaker 5: So I think that was the main decision of like, once I got back to I wasn't gonna let them get out of sight there.
00:08:46
Speaker 4: Wow.
00:08:47
Speaker 3: Wow, that's check it. I mean, with everything that you're dealing with growing up, like you're talking about, man, clearly, football was definitely an outlet for you and your achievements as a high school quarterback in Port Saint Luci. I mean, I mean they gave you a chance to get some meaningful opportunities in life. I think right first, you get a chance to play college ball at Georgia State. I mean where you big set, he crushed at Georgia State. Bro look at me. By the time you left there, you held so many records for the you know, for that school. You know, you had the longest reception ninety three yards, the longest run eighty yards, longest kicked off return one hundred yards, longest part returned sixty two yards, a lot of high five and a lot of high five. Man. I don't know if there's anybody even catch up with him at that point that could run with him at that point, big scept But but what it did was it allowed you to be the first player in your school history to be invited to the Combine. You know, how big of a moment was it for you to be invited to the combine? Given everything that you know you've dealt with in life, and at what point did you see that the NFL wasn't just a dream but had the potential to become your reality.
00:09:48
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the way you know, my life shaped out, I just never believed it.
00:09:53
Speaker 2: I think it always.
00:09:54
Speaker 5: I always woke up, you know, even in college, just woke up like I'm really in college, Like this is crazy. I'm playing for like a university, Like I'm out here at practice, like I'll just be out there catching myself like in the days, like I'm really a King City Chief like this is crazy.
00:10:11
Speaker 2: Like I'm really a Miami Dolphin, Like this is wild.
00:10:14
Speaker 5: Like and to this day, I still think to myself, like I really played in the NFL, Like it's all still surreal to me. Like, but like growing up, it like prepared me, Like football was like the most consistent thing I had in my life. So like I thought, I owed the game, you know, to work as hard as I could to that because I knew that wasn't going nowhere, So I just wanted to hold on as long as possible. So that's that's where all the motivation and the drive kind of came back. And of course, you know, putting my family in a better situation, because you know, our situation wasn't the best. So you know, those two things kind of you know, led the whole you know journey of you know me.
00:10:53
Speaker 4: Such good stuff.
00:10:54
Speaker 3: Yeah it is, man, I mean I know that that NFL dream man, And you know, the paths are all different for a lot of people, man. And the fact that you had that that drive and that vision and you know that ability, man, it's it's it's what a lot of us coved, the ability to make our lives better for ourselves and our family coming from wherever we come from, man. And that's just that's a that's a hell of a motivational factor, man. Having having the girls that you have to look out for, the family, look out for, man, but also realizing your dream. That's pretty dope.
00:11:21
Speaker 1: I love the fact that you know, you're saying, I'm really a Miami dolphin like you were a seasoned vet at that point. And so the fact that it was never it never felt like or that it always had that feeling of man, I can't like every day is a holiday kind of a thing is very cool.
00:11:38
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:11:38
Speaker 5: Yeah, I had I had it. I had it the whole time. It was you know, you're lucky to be there. It's hard to get there, and you know, I definitely, you know, knew that I was blessed to be you know, wanted us here to get there.
00:11:51
Speaker 1: Fans love hearing that too, right, there's a there's sometimes it's fair, but sometimes it's an unfair perception that professional athletes don't appreciate the opportunity that they have that. You know, so many people wish that they you know, have the skill set and the work ethic and so on and so forth. But when you hear that a guy, there wasn't a moment that it was lost on you.
00:12:10
Speaker 2: Is.
00:12:11
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm really connected with my community back home, so it ain't too many of us, you know, coming coming from where I come from that that make it. And I know it's a lot that's trying to get where I've been, So I think that's what kind of always kept me grounded too, of like how close I was with the kids back home and the community back home to just know how big of a gap it is or how how.
00:12:34
Speaker 2: Far it's far. But it's not far.
00:12:36
Speaker 5: It can happen, but how how unlike the chances are of the happening is not really like it.
00:12:42
Speaker 1: Yeah sos like keep going off script here, but everything Alvert saying is like just grabbing me.
00:12:47
Speaker 4: So so that's an interesting thing.
00:12:49
Speaker 1: As well, right, because here you are, you grew up under tough set of circumstances. There's so many guys that some guys just love ball. Some guys love ball, but they also are working towards getting themselves out of the circumstances that they're in. But yet you never you know, that idea of not forgetting where you came from. Like, yeah, I don't want to be in this situation anymore, but I'm not leaving four Pierce behind. So you mentioned you mentioned in Kansas City Chiefs they sign you as an undrafted rookie free agent.
00:13:17
Speaker 4: Don't worry, jus, I won't do it. I like to bust it.
00:13:19
Speaker 3: Man, maybe I will wait, I waiting.
00:13:21
Speaker 1: You said, everybody has a different path. Some guys are first round picks and you know it's all good, but like to give them a hard time. Give my partner a hard time here, Albert.
00:13:31
Speaker 4: So the first few years you're like that quick, explosive guy.
00:13:34
Speaker 1: Can give you something in the kicking game, give you something in the passing game, and then in twenty sixteen.
00:13:39
Speaker 4: You mentioned Tyreek Hill earlier.
00:13:41
Speaker 1: The Chiefs draft a guy who we now know a little something about Miami. But there's some similar things in terms of the way you guys are built, in terms of the style of play right also return game. Also you know that guy that can turn that can turn a jet sweep into a seventy four yard er. You know that there's some similarities there. How similar was it for you going to practice, going to meetings? How similar were the things that you guys were asked to do when Tyreek was brought into the equation there in Kansas City.
00:14:12
Speaker 5: When we was in Kansas City, I think we kind of had everyone doing everything at the receiver group we had.
00:14:18
Speaker 2: It was we were all pretty young.
00:14:20
Speaker 5: I think it was like me, Tyree, Chris Connley, the Marcus Robinson. I think we were all you know, fourth year and under guys. So I think we all just attacked where we all can be in any position, and that's how we attacked every day. And we were just happy for whoever was out there, you know, doing the thing because we didn't really have no like high class guy you know, out there. So it was it was really fun with those guys, we were just running around fast as we could, you know, getting the job done.
00:14:53
Speaker 2: So it was fun.
00:14:54
Speaker 1: He was saying they didn't have that first round draft pick, is what he was saying.
00:14:58
Speaker 3: You do that back, and yeah, I get it, I get it.
00:15:01
Speaker 4: I didn't cut you off too funny.
00:15:05
Speaker 1: And it's also kind of wild, just again the path. So you're in Kansas City two years in the year. I guess in your third year, Tyree comes in. You leave Kansas City, go to Miami, and then as you're leaving Miami, Tyree comes in. So it's just kind of interesting that you guys have followed a similar, similar path in that regard. And another fun fact that, just in doing the research, your last regular season game with the Chiefs happened to be the first ever start for a quarterback some people may have heard of named Patrick Mahomes. And you know, by the time that game's over, you've got ten catches for one hundred and forty seven yards. It's your first hundred yard game of your career. How quickly were you like, oh, this dude's a little bit different.
00:15:47
Speaker 5: Oh man, I want to say, halfway through the season, just him going against our defense, Wow, he was making throws and you know, giving them guys a hard time. And we thought we had a pretty good defense at the time. So when you know, though, when he was giving those guys a hard time, we knew he was pretty good. And then he got the chance in Denver and it was just it was all history from there. It was like this guy, he definitely talented, He definitely making the right throws. He can get the ball out, and he can extend the play. So it was and then coach Reed is just a great coach on the offense side.
00:16:24
Speaker 2: Well, he's a.
00:16:24
Speaker 5: Great leader overall, but on the offensive side, like he does a great job of you know, just preparing the guys and getting getting the guys out there, you know, motivated to go out there.
00:16:35
Speaker 2: And do their job.
00:16:36
Speaker 5: So it was it was a it was a great situation, you know for for.
00:16:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, a great situation. But I won't know how you lobbied to get the eleven targets, like what I'm talking about, look at look at this guy.
00:16:48
Speaker 5: I'm probably because I was probably pretty much the most seasoned guy out there at the time.
00:16:53
Speaker 2: It was the game I started, I started set.
00:16:56
Speaker 5: I believe the Anthony Thomas might have broke his legged that game, and I end up playing coming in and playing, you know, in his spot, and I guess, you know, he was just like shoot, wee hours out there, so let me get him the ball. And every time I turned my head, it was right there in my chest of eleven targets, eleven catches came pretty easy that game.
00:17:18
Speaker 3: You know, a lot of times, a lot of times you get the opportunity to play with the guy that was actually the backup. But going before getting to that game, did you guys do a lot of dammage against your defense? Like as a you know, when I first started off, I was like Bernie co Star was our backup, and so I got a lot of opportunities against our defense. But when Bernie got the starting role, he was so comfortable with me. That's how I got my opportunities from Bernie Kosar. Did you feel the same way about you and Patrick Mahomes?
00:17:42
Speaker 2: No, for sure, that's that's definitely.
00:17:44
Speaker 5: I definitely got a lot of reps, you know, just getting those those extra reps in practice, you know, with him maybe against our started defense or you know, maybe those extra reps. You know, the first team don't take two or three plays here where he comes in and you know, against our second team, so we definitely was getting a lot of reps in at the time, so he probably was more comfortable of just those extra practice reps we was getting in.
00:18:06
Speaker 3: So for sure, Big Big Set. All right, now, let's get our back to Miami AL Radio.
00:18:10
Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, I mean it's probably a good idea. Let's getting back podcast.
00:18:14
Speaker 3: I mean, we did, we did. We did talk about the Raiders game earlier, but things really blew up, you know, three weeks later in a game against the Bears. Check these numbers out. Big Set six grabs one hundred and fifty five yards two touchdowns, including an electric seventy five yarder to help the Dolphins battle back from and have an overtime victory, good enough for you to claim AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Did you feel that you had arrived at that point?
00:18:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, at that point, you sir.
00:18:39
Speaker 5: At that point, I feel like I think the team knew what I had to bring to the table, and I knew what I could could offer. So I feel like things was was clicking at that point, and it was just kind of you know, get the ball in my hands, you know, kind of in space and let me, let me run with it.
00:18:54
Speaker 3: Definitely fun to watch that, man. But you know, as too many of us know, man, far too well, this this game could help you and heart you know, and heartbreakings. Loyal man, What do you remember from the Detroit game? You know that ended up being the last game you played in twenty eighteen season.
00:19:10
Speaker 2: Oh man, it was a big game for us.
00:19:12
Speaker 5: We was you know, we started hot, you know, we had a couple of falls, and then we came back, you know, and had an exciting game at home. You know, then we was back back at the Rock. So you know, it was things where you know, decided kind of you couldn't decide the season on how things was going. And like you're saying, things was changing, Like I was getting a lot of more opportunities, you know, inside outside, you know, just moving me around and getting a lot of targets. You know, come across the middle, you know, one of the same catch you know that kind of kicked off the game for Chicago, same play route across the middle, and I pulled out a tackle in Chicago, made a couple of moves, went up the sideline. This game kind of pulled out and you know, jam my hooping and fractured Hi. I just didn't think that it was going to be that serious. Like, I just never thought it was was that serious. And I think that's the kind of thing that hit me, you know, a few weeks later on how big of a deal it was. But you know, it's a part of the game. And I always you know, took the game how it came. You know, I never thought I was old anything, you know, playing this sports. So you know, when the injury came, I just thought, you know, it's another thing that I would have to attack. And I like, like you're saying, like growing up was kind of hard. I always feel like I had to fight against adversity. So, you know, playing football, you know, it was easy to go out there and you know, play this game because it was a game, and adversity come with football and you got to learn how to deal with things and learn how to you know, not get the playtime you want or learn how to you know, not get the calls you want or things like that. So I always knew how to roll with adversity, and I take that as a blessing because it's hard to you know, deal with it. So that's one thing I always kind of kind of knew I couldn't let me down. So once I knew the hip was an issue, I just knew I had to attack it and move on.
00:21:13
Speaker 3: I love that, yeah, you know kind of That's how it reminds me how Bo Jackson did his you know, yeah, pulling away. You know he's got that strip you guys got that lower core, that that body strength where you can pull. That's a strong man right there. Albert Wilson, the second big stet be able to do that same thing.
00:21:31
Speaker 5: And I had him, you know, with me seeing the same doctor he's seen and just kind of had to and seeing what he went on and did after. So you know, God always put you in a position, you know, so you can you know, thrive from. So he put the right people in my corner for me to see it how what it came. Not get over it, but you know, deal with it.
00:21:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it is kind of a lot of ways, I know what you're saying about knocking over it, but in a lot of ways it's that is kind of what you were able to do. It's just I just love hearing the way you talk about it. There's an uplifting kind of an inspirational spirit about you.
00:22:05
Speaker 4: Man.
00:22:06
Speaker 1: So it's it's pretty cool. Think about some of the things I complained about, and I'm like, man, exactly right, he just toughened up. That's what I need to do. So before the injury that season, I think you were six seven games in the season, you had three hundred and fifty nine receiving yards, but three hundred and thirty five of them were yards after the catch. It led the entire league in yack. So that's more than ninety percent of your production was actually yards after the catch. And when I read those no, I was like, wait, let me run that.
00:22:37
Speaker 4: Back real quick.
00:22:39
Speaker 1: So and then you start to go watch the highlights of some of these games, and that's what it is.
00:22:43
Speaker 4: It's a jet sweep.
00:22:44
Speaker 1: Which the fact that's even a pass, right, you know, it's crazy, but it's it's the jet sweep, or it's just a little you know, screen and next thing you know, it's going sixty seventy yards. And so it was so much yack. And it reminds me of when Mike McDaniel first took over as the head coach here in Miami. You started hearing guys talk about wanting to get drunk off yac. That was the term, get drunk off yac, you know, which is a great term. Do you watch the way that that Mike McDaniel and you know this year wasn't as electric as the first two years in the system, but do you watch the way guys like Tyreek and Waddle are using the way they get off and think about maybe the healthiest version of you playing in the system like this?
00:23:26
Speaker 5: No, for sure, you know it's a lot of defensive guys you know that I played with, you know, they just they tell me you're running back.
00:23:34
Speaker 2: You know you're running back, you know, and receiver.
00:23:37
Speaker 5: So it was just like, you know, if you can get the ball in my hand in space, you know, maybe you know, maybe I can make some things happen. And it became like a new found for the wide receiver position, Like now you know you can have those Smarler guys. You know, maybe you can't put them at running back you run between the tackles, but maybe you can get them out in space and get him the ball and get him going. And I love to see it and all around the league. Actually, you know a lot of a lot of teams are you know, finding creative ways of getting getting their guys the ball in space and letting them do with what the best at doing.
00:24:16
Speaker 2: So it's great to see for sure.
00:24:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, big sef get the ball to those guys and get the hell out the way, you know what I mean?
00:24:23
Speaker 4: Right right? Yeah, just block down field, man, because there's gonna be a player.
00:24:26
Speaker 3: To be made. Yeah. So hour you recover from the hip injury and return to playing in twenty nineteen, you know, all those things do look a little different at this point. Brian Flores has replaced Adam Gaseh. There's significant roster decisions that are made in the interest of you know, long term future, not necessarily that season, but longer. But you essentially play the entire year. But the following March, the entire world touched down as a result of COVID nineteen pandemic comes out, and you come to a decision that is in your best interest, you know, to opt out of the twenty twenty season. How the call was it for you to make that decision? And look it back on it, do you would you have done it the same way?
00:25:07
Speaker 5: It was?
00:25:07
Speaker 2: It was real difficult.
00:25:08
Speaker 5: I just wasn't sure. It was a lot of unknown things happening. The information that was just getting spread around wasn't just wasn't very certain for you know, me and my family. I had a younger nephew at the time that we was bringing into the house, and it was just unclear of you know, how things were gonna go. So the decision was made, you know, with me and my family to you know, sit out that that year and about regretting the season the decision or not not, not at all. I actually feel like it gave me, you know a little more time to you know recover you know, mentally and physically.
00:25:46
Speaker 2: As a player.
00:25:47
Speaker 5: It gave me you know an extra push to kind of get back out there and you know play the sport of football. But was everything you know, kind of the same once I got back and and sort of say I wouldn't say everything was the same, and on that's part, But as far as the decision is regretting, I wouldn't say I regret decision. You know, I stood you know, I prayed about it, you know, and I can look myself in the in the mirror every day about the decision.
00:26:15
Speaker 2: So I really have no regrets over it.
00:26:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel you man, I'm with you on that, bro. I thought, I thought for the same reasons that you know, the the uncertainty for certain out there. That means that's your guys who playing football were here all over you know, you don't know what We didn't know what was going on there, and I thought it was a good chance you, like you said, Melan physically to get get healthier.
00:26:34
Speaker 2: Man.
00:26:34
Speaker 3: So that's that's good stuff, man, all great stuff.
00:26:37
Speaker 1: We read when that happened. You know, you would read the statements made from the team or what have you. How how was it received either from your teammates, from coaches, Like, were people respectful of decision? I feel like though everybody was just there was so much uncertainty around what was happening and how how dangerous you know, the virus was, and all of those things.
00:27:00
Speaker 4: You feel like you were supported in your decision.
00:27:03
Speaker 2: I think so.
00:27:04
Speaker 5: I think on our end, you know, with our coaching staff, you know, with our organization, I think they supported my decision. I don't think they showed me any backlass or any certain feelings about, you know, the decision I made. And you know, once I got back, everything you know, picked up where left off. You know, throughout the season. You know, we was on communication with the training staff on if we need anything, or with the coaching staff on how things are going. So it wasn't no distance between that time off or anything like that. But that was just you know, my situation.
00:27:34
Speaker 4: Well, right, you can only speak for how you were treated for sure. No, that makes sense. Well, look, man, I know you got a lot going on.
00:27:40
Speaker 1: But before we we get you out of here and go to our last segment, I do think you indicated a little bit earlier about how invested you are in your hometown and particularly young people in your hometown. Can you talk about just how important your community work is to you. I know you did a lot of stuff here when you were with team and visiting foster care centers and what have you, and and you created a nonprofit organization that definitely did a lot for young people that were in the foster care system back back home in the fourth Pierce Sports Saint Lucy area. Can you just tell us why it was so important for you to to do those things, even years beyond years into.
00:28:20
Speaker 2: Your career, you know, one just simple of just I think it's, you know, our duty to serve.
00:28:27
Speaker 5: So I think it's you know, just right to you know, if you're in a position to you know, lend a hand and to serve, I think you you should do that. But you know, me getting back home and you know, doing these events, and I think he gave a lot of people hope, you know, gave a lot of kids, you know, drive to get to the next level and you know, want to be the next Abra Wilson. So you know, all I want to do is you know give it, give you know, someone the hope or you know, the drive to to you know, move on from their situation. So that was you know my main reason of just get back in the community and you know, letting them see my face and being able to know they can you know, reach out and you know, make it happen for themselves.
00:29:08
Speaker 1: Well you're talking to a couple of guys who love that. And Juice had his foundation for decades. Man, I kind of cut my teeth helping him out with his and been blessed to be able to work with JT and the work we do now. But it's just still very cool to see guys who are who are so invested. And then you being from the area, you know, you were able to a lot of guys come here and then they start to do the work where they're playing. But you were able to do it in the city we were playing in and just a couple hours away from the city grew up.
00:29:39
Speaker 5: So yeah, no doubt that was the whole plan, you know, getting back you know, to the community, giving them the chance, you know, to see me play, you know, play in the community, you know, give back to the community. So it was all part of the decision on you know, getting down here to play football in the first place.
00:29:54
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:29:55
Speaker 1: Who so if I'm living in the Fort Pierce area, right, you know, I'm two hour north of South Florida, I'm south of like Tampa.
00:30:03
Speaker 4: Who are what team are people rooting for?
00:30:07
Speaker 5: Man Vero Beach is pretty good, you have you know, four Paers Central got a pretty good coach. That's that's that's that's making things happen over there there. You know, their program is pretty good usually, but you know, it's just so many high schools in our in our area. You know, kids are kind of spread out in such a small area. But it's a lot of talent, you know, it's a lot of talent coming from the area. You know, Treasure Coast Elite is one of the seven on seventeens, and you know the Outlaws is out there. You know, it's a lot of a lot, a lot of big talent coming from those teams.
00:30:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, but then and then who do they like what NFL teams are they're cheering for? Man? Dolphin fans?
00:30:45
Speaker 1: Are they like?
00:30:46
Speaker 4: Oh?
00:30:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
00:30:47
Speaker 5: You know, being in Florida, you're gonna get your Dolphins on You're gonna get your Dolphins on TV. And then now you know with this this this new you know, fast wave of the Dolphins, and you know this is siting football. You you definitely have you know, you have your fans looking out especially you know, I came home and played for the Dolphins, so you know, it's a it's a lot of you know, a lot of new Dolphin fans around for sure.
00:31:09
Speaker 4: That's what we like to hear.
00:31:10
Speaker 1: That's the way it should be, all right, man, Well, listen, we end every episode of the Fish Tank the same way. It's our Fish Tank two minute drill. You're a guy who's a home run hitter, So I don't know, we got a few questions for you. We're gonna put two minutes on the clock sometimes he just needs one play. Just give him one play, but we'll have a little fun with you and get you out of here. Sound good, Just do it all right? Right?
00:31:33
Speaker 3: Yo? All right? Three oh five, nine, five, four, eight, one six or seven seven to two? Which one? Which one? You claim more than anything? Day?
00:31:46
Speaker 4: You knew that one? That was a layup? That was a layup?
00:31:49
Speaker 3: All right?
00:31:49
Speaker 1: Mine's a little bit I don't I don't know. This is a little bit risky. So hopefully someone's not impersonating you here. I saw that you were on LinkedIn as a businessman, the owner of DNA Empire legitis.
00:32:00
Speaker 4: Is that legit is that you?
00:32:01
Speaker 2: Yea sir, that's okay, just stick Truck and Company that me and my wife own your shirt?
00:32:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, it says you specialize in transporting temperature sensitive products. I have been accused of being a little temperature sensitive myself, you know, especially it's been in the forties here recently, so, but I what's like the craziest thing you have ever had to transport that you can actually talk about?
00:32:22
Speaker 4: No, we don't.
00:32:23
Speaker 5: We don't get too much craziness with the temperature control. You know, mostly it's the ice cream and you know, the alcohol, the liquids that the chicken and the meats that wants to get transported or the least the relationships that that we've.
00:32:35
Speaker 2: Gained so far. So it hasn't been nothing crazy, you know. So we're just trying to stay on on that aer row.
00:32:42
Speaker 4: So you have me, You have me at ice cream, Albert ice cream.
00:32:46
Speaker 2: They do with ice cream.
00:32:48
Speaker 3: I love it all right, Okay, keep it moving here. Okay. I once beat Damn Marino in a distance throwing contest when I played for the Dolphins as a former quarterback, yourself, does your arm compared to the quarterbacks that you play with?
00:33:00
Speaker 2: Not at all?
00:33:03
Speaker 5: Make it real quick, you know what I'm saying. Or draw everybody on and let it launch. But the talent these these guys have with their arm.
00:33:13
Speaker 3: What about this is wise and me. You probably throw it for some guys, right.
00:33:19
Speaker 4: Quick, guy.
00:33:21
Speaker 5: You guys have competition on seventy seventy five yards and that's just like the that's just like the acquirement to come as a quarterback.
00:33:29
Speaker 4: Now that's true.
00:33:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're different.
00:33:34
Speaker 1: They are different, especially the guys you I mean, play with Pat Mahomes and Tu and some other guys. So no doubt about it. Okay, last question. You are a track guy in high school, not just a football guy. You are a track guy. We've seen that track speed on the football field. And you played with as we said earlier, drakeem Grant, you played with the Cheetah. You actually were here for Jaylen Wattle's rookie years, so you've seen all these guys up close and personal. If Juice and I organized as they charity two by two hundred race, it's you and your queen against Tyreek and Jalen Waddle. Who takes home the gold? You guys in your prime. Everybody's in their prime.
00:34:10
Speaker 2: In the prime, and I like me and it is for sure in the two hundred, y'all take it.
00:34:21
Speaker 3: I love it.
00:34:23
Speaker 4: That is the two minute drill. He was humble in the passing game, Juice, but not.
00:34:30
Speaker 2: Boy got the Olympics speed in the two hundred. But hopefully we can make it up somehow.
00:34:35
Speaker 4: I love it.
00:34:37
Speaker 1: Great stuff, man, Albert, you were awesome for making the time for us. I know I've been was texting you. I was trying to push him into last week. Juicy's like, man, I gotta take my mom, so you know, like he was family first.
00:34:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Yeah, I had to go to mom.
00:34:49
Speaker 5: You know, she right up the road. So you know, ain'ty chance I'm able to, you know, go see her. I'm definitely gonna go do that. But I appreciate y'all having me. It was definitely fun, you know, to get on here, you know this about you know, good times and you know, talk about the foundation.
00:35:03
Speaker 3: It was.
00:35:03
Speaker 4: It was great.
00:35:03
Speaker 3: I appreciate it. Hey, Albert, thanks for diving in. Man, you're now diving into the fish tank.
00:35:11
Speaker 1: Just like JUW said, Thanks for diving into the fish tank. Presented by iHeartRadio. Be sure to follow us on whatever streaming platform you're using, and don't be afraid to rate the show or leave us a comment. We love your feedback, and remember you can find us as well as Drive Time with Travis Wingfield and all of our international partners on Miami Dolphins dot com. Time
Speaker 1: You're now diving.
00:00:13
Speaker 2: Sitting down with Seth living Oh Jay, And this is strictly.
00:00:18
Speaker 3: Formrue number one of course, y'all, this and the other never sports talk.
00:00:25
Speaker 4: Welcome back to the Fish Tank, presented.
00:00:26
Speaker 1: By iHeartRadio right here on the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network, Seth Levitt and the toughest podcaster Dean Marino ever played with. He is oj McDuffie juice right side of the ball, right position group today.
00:00:38
Speaker 3: Come on, man, man, you couldn't get better than that, any better than that, big Seth. You know how I feel about you know, the offensive side. But now you've got wide outs on here. Yeah. That's always a special time then, because you know, you always get stuck sometimes in the defensive side of the ball at times, even some Florida Gators type of stuff. Man, But I'm glad that we we gotta figure it out today.
00:00:56
Speaker 1: Bro, well, we definitely do. He is Albert Wilson. Are we saying, Albert Wilson the second?
00:01:03
Speaker 4: Is it? What do we go?
00:01:04
Speaker 1: Because I know the nickname was Junior growing up right right, So Albert Wilson the second is diving into the tank really excited, really excited to have y'all Man, we were just talking before we hit record about how it's not often that we have people that qualify as alumni, like they need to get you your damn Awqua Jackets, but they qualify as alumni.
00:01:26
Speaker 4: But you were, like, you played with.
00:01:27
Speaker 1: Guys who are still on this roster, So it's really pretty cool for our fans to have somebody that was on the field so recently with us.
00:01:34
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:01:35
Speaker 5: Yeah, and it makes it that much more exciting to watch to see the guys that you was in the hoodle with still out there, you know, giving it. They're all so definitely, you know, a fan of those guys in the team, so definitely tuning in every weekend to catch them.
00:01:50
Speaker 3: You know, some guys actually they want to get away from the game. They don't want to tune in after they're not playing anymore. Man, you feel a little differently, huh.
00:01:58
Speaker 5: Yeah, Yeah, I get that a lot, you know, especially from guys I played with. They kind of want to you know, separate it. But I love watching it now. I never really watched it growing up, you know, or why I played, So now that I can sit back and you know, just enjoy it as a fan, I kind of see why I tell my wife all the time, like every Sunday. I see why guys sit here and watch football all the time. So yeah, I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying watching it as a fan for sure.
00:02:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what's up. So So if we say the name Albert Wilson, the second to any Miami Dolphins fail in the plant, I mean, the first thing that will come to mind, to their mind is a vision of you and Jaquim Grant high five and you know it's fifteen yard line on your way to score on a seventy five seventy four yard touchdown against the Raiders in twenty eighteen. And by the way, that was just you know, one series after you threw a fifty two yard touchdown pass to Jocqem on a double verse. Talk about that play, the high five, and just what kind of headspace you're in, you know, after helping your team get to three and l at that point and doing it in such dramatic fact.
00:03:00
Speaker 5: I was just really still trying to find my way into the organization and just trying to see how I fit onto the team. So I was just giving them everything I got, every opportunity I get. So you have those plays that you know for sure you're gonna get the ball in your hands. So man, So when when they make play calls like that, and then you have a guy like Frank Gore that's that's in front of you, that just tells you like, hey, come behind me. You just got to listen to some guys like that likes it's hard to make that cut on that jet suitet. But when when you have a guy like that, it tells you like, hey, just come on, you listen to him, and it turns out turns out that way. And but yeah, the high five was one of the greatest things that I've done in my career. People still stop me and just think, like, hey, how fw it is pretty cool.
00:03:49
Speaker 2: I love it, my boy Jaquem. It was just a great play.
00:03:54
Speaker 3: You know. But it almost seemed like it was playing because you guys, did you guys look at each other, and because I mean you guys kind of high fived at the exact same time, like it was going to go down like that.
00:04:04
Speaker 5: I actually got it from Tyreek really with the Anthony Thomas back in Kansas City when I was with those guys, and it just kind of happened was out in the open fielding. It was just us and it kind of and it kind of happened, and I'm happy it did. I'm happy it turned out the way it did.
00:04:20
Speaker 3: It.
00:04:20
Speaker 2: It was left fun.
00:04:21
Speaker 1: Nobody will forget that, right, Like, it's just not something that you see all the time. Well, first of all, especially you know, things have changed a little bit here, but we were coming out of an erarow where we didn't see seventy four yard touchdown.
00:04:33
Speaker 4: Plays that often either.
00:04:35
Speaker 1: So to have something where you're just kind of running free like that and to have two fast dudes, that was.
00:04:41
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was just a great memory.
00:04:42
Speaker 2: Going down some way.
00:04:44
Speaker 3: It was.
00:04:46
Speaker 2: Had to give him something to do.
00:04:48
Speaker 4: I love it. I love it. It's too good, man, It's too good.
00:04:52
Speaker 1: So there's so many great memories, I think, even just in a short period of time, And we're going to talk about all of that, but before we get into more Miami Dolphin stuff, I do want to dial things all the way back to really your origin story, for lack of a better term, because I think it's an important one, and even though it's an important one, it wasn't always a pretty one growing up for you.
00:05:11
Speaker 4: So I asked you about four Pierce earlier. You were born in Fort Pierce.
00:05:16
Speaker 1: You know, you ultimately went to school high school import Saint Lucy, but you know, life kind of took you over and through and around some serious obstacles at a young age to the extent that you're comfortable talking about it. Can you just discuss with us what life was like in Fort Pierce and just how things changed so dramatically for you growing.
00:05:38
Speaker 5: Up just pretty much like every kid in poor neighborhood where you know, dad, you know, in and out the household because he's in and out of jail.
00:05:49
Speaker 2: Mom's working hard all day.
00:05:52
Speaker 5: You know, so with five kids, so it was kind of you know, in and out, in and out on.
00:05:58
Speaker 2: Our own terms. You know, no real.
00:06:02
Speaker 5: I don't want to say no authority, but it was kind of, you know, we was kind of raising raising ourselves because you know, they had so much stuff to do. So once I got into foster care, I was kind of on my own, and I kind of always had my mind made up on you know, doing something, you know, the right way, always doing things the right way.
00:06:24
Speaker 2: So once I you know, got into foster care.
00:06:27
Speaker 5: And and seeing you know how my life wasn't written sort of say like I could have I could have turned in any direction, and I just knew, you know, right then, at the early age that you know, I wanted to do something right.
00:06:44
Speaker 1: That's so what you just said there, that the realization that it wasn't written just you know, we have our notes and our preparation, but it just hit me my day job. I you know, I run Jason Taylor's Foundation and we work with a lot of kids, actually some kids up in Fort Pierce area, but for Peer Westwood, you know, for Percentral some of those schools in poetry, and the idea that your destiny or your future, that you have an impact on it and it's not just all laid out therefore it wasn't. That's a really powerful realization to hear something like that. And what I read was also speaking of you know, you mentioned foster care. You had an opportunity to kind of go out of state. I think you had an uncle or somebody that lived out of state, but it was important to you to stay there here because of your sisters.
00:07:33
Speaker 4: Is that correct?
00:07:35
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, Well, we was in South Carolina and my dad kind of wanted my sisters to stay in South Carolina because it was a lot of aunties and a lot of female cousins around, and wanted me to go to Washington, d C.
00:07:49
Speaker 2: With my uncles and a lot of you know, male role models.
00:07:53
Speaker 5: But I just was my sisters was younger at the time, and I just wasn't able to leave them, you know. I just didn't think nobody would watch over them like I did. So I chose to stay with them in South Carolina and we were there for about a few months before that situation didn't work out, so then we moved back to Florida and that's when we kind of started the foster care journey all over.
00:08:16
Speaker 1: How old were you, Albert, because that's a pretty heavy decision, a pretty grown decision to make as a kid.
00:08:23
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:08:23
Speaker 5: I think I was going to the eighth grade. I think I was in the eighth grade. Yeah, I think it was like my third high school I was going to. But before that, I was in a shelter and they they told us that we was going to be together, but they split me.
00:08:37
Speaker 2: And my sisters up.
00:08:38
Speaker 5: So I think that was the main decision of like, once I got back to I wasn't gonna let them get out of sight there.
00:08:46
Speaker 4: Wow.
00:08:47
Speaker 3: Wow, that's check it. I mean, with everything that you're dealing with growing up, like you're talking about, man, clearly, football was definitely an outlet for you and your achievements as a high school quarterback in Port Saint Luci. I mean, I mean they gave you a chance to get some meaningful opportunities in life. I think right first, you get a chance to play college ball at Georgia State. I mean where you big set, he crushed at Georgia State. Bro look at me. By the time you left there, you held so many records for the you know, for that school. You know, you had the longest reception ninety three yards, the longest run eighty yards, longest kicked off return one hundred yards, longest part returned sixty two yards, a lot of high five and a lot of high five. Man. I don't know if there's anybody even catch up with him at that point that could run with him at that point, big scept But but what it did was it allowed you to be the first player in your school history to be invited to the Combine. You know, how big of a moment was it for you to be invited to the combine? Given everything that you know you've dealt with in life, and at what point did you see that the NFL wasn't just a dream but had the potential to become your reality.
00:09:48
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the way you know, my life shaped out, I just never believed it.
00:09:53
Speaker 2: I think it always.
00:09:54
Speaker 5: I always woke up, you know, even in college, just woke up like I'm really in college, Like this is crazy. I'm playing for like a university, Like I'm out here at practice, like I'll just be out there catching myself like in the days, like I'm really a King City Chief like this is crazy.
00:10:11
Speaker 2: Like I'm really a Miami Dolphin, Like this is wild.
00:10:14
Speaker 5: Like and to this day, I still think to myself, like I really played in the NFL, Like it's all still surreal to me. Like, but like growing up, it like prepared me, Like football was like the most consistent thing I had in my life. So like I thought, I owed the game, you know, to work as hard as I could to that because I knew that wasn't going nowhere, So I just wanted to hold on as long as possible. So that's that's where all the motivation and the drive kind of came back. And of course, you know, putting my family in a better situation, because you know, our situation wasn't the best. So you know, those two things kind of you know, led the whole you know journey of you know me.
00:10:53
Speaker 4: Such good stuff.
00:10:54
Speaker 3: Yeah it is, man, I mean I know that that NFL dream man, And you know, the paths are all different for a lot of people, man. And the fact that you had that that drive and that vision and you know that ability, man, it's it's it's what a lot of us coved, the ability to make our lives better for ourselves and our family coming from wherever we come from, man. And that's just that's a that's a hell of a motivational factor, man. Having having the girls that you have to look out for, the family, look out for, man, but also realizing your dream. That's pretty dope.
00:11:21
Speaker 1: I love the fact that you know, you're saying, I'm really a Miami dolphin like you were a seasoned vet at that point. And so the fact that it was never it never felt like or that it always had that feeling of man, I can't like every day is a holiday kind of a thing is very cool.
00:11:38
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:11:38
Speaker 5: Yeah, I had I had it. I had it the whole time. It was you know, you're lucky to be there. It's hard to get there, and you know, I definitely, you know, knew that I was blessed to be you know, wanted us here to get there.
00:11:51
Speaker 1: Fans love hearing that too, right, there's a there's sometimes it's fair, but sometimes it's an unfair perception that professional athletes don't appreciate the opportunity that they have that. You know, so many people wish that they you know, have the skill set and the work ethic and so on and so forth. But when you hear that a guy, there wasn't a moment that it was lost on you.
00:12:10
Speaker 2: Is.
00:12:11
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm really connected with my community back home, so it ain't too many of us, you know, coming coming from where I come from that that make it. And I know it's a lot that's trying to get where I've been, So I think that's what kind of always kept me grounded too, of like how close I was with the kids back home and the community back home to just know how big of a gap it is or how how.
00:12:34
Speaker 2: Far it's far. But it's not far.
00:12:36
Speaker 5: It can happen, but how how unlike the chances are of the happening is not really like it.
00:12:42
Speaker 1: Yeah sos like keep going off script here, but everything Alvert saying is like just grabbing me.
00:12:47
Speaker 4: So so that's an interesting thing.
00:12:49
Speaker 1: As well, right, because here you are, you grew up under tough set of circumstances. There's so many guys that some guys just love ball. Some guys love ball, but they also are working towards getting themselves out of the circumstances that they're in. But yet you never you know, that idea of not forgetting where you came from. Like, yeah, I don't want to be in this situation anymore, but I'm not leaving four Pierce behind. So you mentioned you mentioned in Kansas City Chiefs they sign you as an undrafted rookie free agent.
00:13:17
Speaker 4: Don't worry, jus, I won't do it. I like to bust it.
00:13:19
Speaker 3: Man, maybe I will wait, I waiting.
00:13:21
Speaker 1: You said, everybody has a different path. Some guys are first round picks and you know it's all good, but like to give them a hard time. Give my partner a hard time here, Albert.
00:13:31
Speaker 4: So the first few years you're like that quick, explosive guy.
00:13:34
Speaker 1: Can give you something in the kicking game, give you something in the passing game, and then in twenty sixteen.
00:13:39
Speaker 4: You mentioned Tyreek Hill earlier.
00:13:41
Speaker 1: The Chiefs draft a guy who we now know a little something about Miami. But there's some similar things in terms of the way you guys are built, in terms of the style of play right also return game. Also you know that guy that can turn that can turn a jet sweep into a seventy four yard er. You know that there's some similarities there. How similar was it for you going to practice, going to meetings? How similar were the things that you guys were asked to do when Tyreek was brought into the equation there in Kansas City.
00:14:12
Speaker 5: When we was in Kansas City, I think we kind of had everyone doing everything at the receiver group we had.
00:14:18
Speaker 2: It was we were all pretty young.
00:14:20
Speaker 5: I think it was like me, Tyree, Chris Connley, the Marcus Robinson. I think we were all you know, fourth year and under guys. So I think we all just attacked where we all can be in any position, and that's how we attacked every day. And we were just happy for whoever was out there, you know, doing the thing because we didn't really have no like high class guy you know, out there. So it was it was really fun with those guys, we were just running around fast as we could, you know, getting the job done.
00:14:53
Speaker 2: So it was fun.
00:14:54
Speaker 1: He was saying they didn't have that first round draft pick, is what he was saying.
00:14:58
Speaker 3: You do that back, and yeah, I get it, I get it.
00:15:01
Speaker 4: I didn't cut you off too funny.
00:15:05
Speaker 1: And it's also kind of wild, just again the path. So you're in Kansas City two years in the year. I guess in your third year, Tyree comes in. You leave Kansas City, go to Miami, and then as you're leaving Miami, Tyree comes in. So it's just kind of interesting that you guys have followed a similar, similar path in that regard. And another fun fact that, just in doing the research, your last regular season game with the Chiefs happened to be the first ever start for a quarterback some people may have heard of named Patrick Mahomes. And you know, by the time that game's over, you've got ten catches for one hundred and forty seven yards. It's your first hundred yard game of your career. How quickly were you like, oh, this dude's a little bit different.
00:15:47
Speaker 5: Oh man, I want to say, halfway through the season, just him going against our defense, Wow, he was making throws and you know, giving them guys a hard time. And we thought we had a pretty good defense at the time. So when you know, though, when he was giving those guys a hard time, we knew he was pretty good. And then he got the chance in Denver and it was just it was all history from there. It was like this guy, he definitely talented, He definitely making the right throws. He can get the ball out, and he can extend the play. So it was and then coach Reed is just a great coach on the offense side.
00:16:24
Speaker 2: Well, he's a.
00:16:24
Speaker 5: Great leader overall, but on the offensive side, like he does a great job of you know, just preparing the guys and getting getting the guys out there, you know, motivated to go out there.
00:16:35
Speaker 2: And do their job.
00:16:36
Speaker 5: So it was it was a it was a great situation, you know for for.
00:16:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, a great situation. But I won't know how you lobbied to get the eleven targets, like what I'm talking about, look at look at this guy.
00:16:48
Speaker 5: I'm probably because I was probably pretty much the most seasoned guy out there at the time.
00:16:53
Speaker 2: It was the game I started, I started set.
00:16:56
Speaker 5: I believe the Anthony Thomas might have broke his legged that game, and I end up playing coming in and playing, you know, in his spot, and I guess, you know, he was just like shoot, wee hours out there, so let me get him the ball. And every time I turned my head, it was right there in my chest of eleven targets, eleven catches came pretty easy that game.
00:17:18
Speaker 3: You know, a lot of times, a lot of times you get the opportunity to play with the guy that was actually the backup. But going before getting to that game, did you guys do a lot of dammage against your defense? Like as a you know, when I first started off, I was like Bernie co Star was our backup, and so I got a lot of opportunities against our defense. But when Bernie got the starting role, he was so comfortable with me. That's how I got my opportunities from Bernie Kosar. Did you feel the same way about you and Patrick Mahomes?
00:17:42
Speaker 2: No, for sure, that's that's definitely.
00:17:44
Speaker 5: I definitely got a lot of reps, you know, just getting those those extra reps in practice, you know, with him maybe against our started defense or you know, maybe those extra reps. You know, the first team don't take two or three plays here where he comes in and you know, against our second team, so we definitely was getting a lot of reps in at the time, so he probably was more comfortable of just those extra practice reps we was getting in.
00:18:06
Speaker 3: So for sure, Big Big Set. All right, now, let's get our back to Miami AL Radio.
00:18:10
Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, I mean it's probably a good idea. Let's getting back podcast.
00:18:14
Speaker 3: I mean, we did, we did. We did talk about the Raiders game earlier, but things really blew up, you know, three weeks later in a game against the Bears. Check these numbers out. Big Set six grabs one hundred and fifty five yards two touchdowns, including an electric seventy five yarder to help the Dolphins battle back from and have an overtime victory, good enough for you to claim AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Did you feel that you had arrived at that point?
00:18:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, at that point, you sir.
00:18:39
Speaker 5: At that point, I feel like I think the team knew what I had to bring to the table, and I knew what I could could offer. So I feel like things was was clicking at that point, and it was just kind of you know, get the ball in my hands, you know, kind of in space and let me, let me run with it.
00:18:54
Speaker 3: Definitely fun to watch that, man. But you know, as too many of us know, man, far too well, this this game could help you and heart you know, and heartbreakings. Loyal man, What do you remember from the Detroit game? You know that ended up being the last game you played in twenty eighteen season.
00:19:10
Speaker 2: Oh man, it was a big game for us.
00:19:12
Speaker 5: We was you know, we started hot, you know, we had a couple of falls, and then we came back, you know, and had an exciting game at home. You know, then we was back back at the Rock. So you know, it was things where you know, decided kind of you couldn't decide the season on how things was going. And like you're saying, things was changing, Like I was getting a lot of more opportunities, you know, inside outside, you know, just moving me around and getting a lot of targets. You know, come across the middle, you know, one of the same catch you know that kind of kicked off the game for Chicago, same play route across the middle, and I pulled out a tackle in Chicago, made a couple of moves, went up the sideline. This game kind of pulled out and you know, jam my hooping and fractured Hi. I just didn't think that it was going to be that serious. Like, I just never thought it was was that serious. And I think that's the kind of thing that hit me, you know, a few weeks later on how big of a deal it was. But you know, it's a part of the game. And I always you know, took the game how it came. You know, I never thought I was old anything, you know, playing this sports. So you know, when the injury came, I just thought, you know, it's another thing that I would have to attack. And I like, like you're saying, like growing up was kind of hard. I always feel like I had to fight against adversity. So, you know, playing football, you know, it was easy to go out there and you know, play this game because it was a game, and adversity come with football and you got to learn how to deal with things and learn how to you know, not get the playtime you want or learn how to you know, not get the calls you want or things like that. So I always knew how to roll with adversity, and I take that as a blessing because it's hard to you know, deal with it. So that's one thing I always kind of kind of knew I couldn't let me down. So once I knew the hip was an issue, I just knew I had to attack it and move on.
00:21:13
Speaker 3: I love that, yeah, you know kind of That's how it reminds me how Bo Jackson did his you know, yeah, pulling away. You know he's got that strip you guys got that lower core, that that body strength where you can pull. That's a strong man right there. Albert Wilson, the second big stet be able to do that same thing.
00:21:31
Speaker 5: And I had him, you know, with me seeing the same doctor he's seen and just kind of had to and seeing what he went on and did after. So you know, God always put you in a position, you know, so you can you know, thrive from. So he put the right people in my corner for me to see it how what it came. Not get over it, but you know, deal with it.
00:21:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it is kind of a lot of ways, I know what you're saying about knocking over it, but in a lot of ways it's that is kind of what you were able to do. It's just I just love hearing the way you talk about it. There's an uplifting kind of an inspirational spirit about you.
00:22:05
Speaker 4: Man.
00:22:06
Speaker 1: So it's it's pretty cool. Think about some of the things I complained about, and I'm like, man, exactly right, he just toughened up. That's what I need to do. So before the injury that season, I think you were six seven games in the season, you had three hundred and fifty nine receiving yards, but three hundred and thirty five of them were yards after the catch. It led the entire league in yack. So that's more than ninety percent of your production was actually yards after the catch. And when I read those no, I was like, wait, let me run that.
00:22:37
Speaker 4: Back real quick.
00:22:39
Speaker 1: So and then you start to go watch the highlights of some of these games, and that's what it is.
00:22:43
Speaker 4: It's a jet sweep.
00:22:44
Speaker 1: Which the fact that's even a pass, right, you know, it's crazy, but it's it's the jet sweep, or it's just a little you know, screen and next thing you know, it's going sixty seventy yards. And so it was so much yack. And it reminds me of when Mike McDaniel first took over as the head coach here in Miami. You started hearing guys talk about wanting to get drunk off yac. That was the term, get drunk off yac, you know, which is a great term. Do you watch the way that that Mike McDaniel and you know this year wasn't as electric as the first two years in the system, but do you watch the way guys like Tyreek and Waddle are using the way they get off and think about maybe the healthiest version of you playing in the system like this?
00:23:26
Speaker 5: No, for sure, you know it's a lot of defensive guys you know that I played with, you know, they just they tell me you're running back.
00:23:34
Speaker 2: You know you're running back, you know, and receiver.
00:23:37
Speaker 5: So it was just like, you know, if you can get the ball in my hand in space, you know, maybe you know, maybe I can make some things happen. And it became like a new found for the wide receiver position, Like now you know you can have those Smarler guys. You know, maybe you can't put them at running back you run between the tackles, but maybe you can get them out in space and get him the ball and get him going. And I love to see it and all around the league. Actually, you know a lot of a lot of teams are you know, finding creative ways of getting getting their guys the ball in space and letting them do with what the best at doing.
00:24:16
Speaker 2: So it's great to see for sure.
00:24:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, big sef get the ball to those guys and get the hell out the way, you know what I mean?
00:24:23
Speaker 4: Right right? Yeah, just block down field, man, because there's gonna be a player.
00:24:26
Speaker 3: To be made. Yeah. So hour you recover from the hip injury and return to playing in twenty nineteen, you know, all those things do look a little different at this point. Brian Flores has replaced Adam Gaseh. There's significant roster decisions that are made in the interest of you know, long term future, not necessarily that season, but longer. But you essentially play the entire year. But the following March, the entire world touched down as a result of COVID nineteen pandemic comes out, and you come to a decision that is in your best interest, you know, to opt out of the twenty twenty season. How the call was it for you to make that decision? And look it back on it, do you would you have done it the same way?
00:25:07
Speaker 5: It was?
00:25:07
Speaker 2: It was real difficult.
00:25:08
Speaker 5: I just wasn't sure. It was a lot of unknown things happening. The information that was just getting spread around wasn't just wasn't very certain for you know, me and my family. I had a younger nephew at the time that we was bringing into the house, and it was just unclear of you know, how things were gonna go. So the decision was made, you know, with me and my family to you know, sit out that that year and about regretting the season the decision or not not, not at all. I actually feel like it gave me, you know a little more time to you know recover you know, mentally and physically.
00:25:46
Speaker 2: As a player.
00:25:47
Speaker 5: It gave me you know an extra push to kind of get back out there and you know play the sport of football. But was everything you know, kind of the same once I got back and and sort of say I wouldn't say everything was the same, and on that's part, But as far as the decision is regretting, I wouldn't say I regret decision. You know, I stood you know, I prayed about it, you know, and I can look myself in the in the mirror every day about the decision.
00:26:15
Speaker 2: So I really have no regrets over it.
00:26:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel you man, I'm with you on that, bro. I thought, I thought for the same reasons that you know, the the uncertainty for certain out there. That means that's your guys who playing football were here all over you know, you don't know what We didn't know what was going on there, and I thought it was a good chance you, like you said, Melan physically to get get healthier.
00:26:34
Speaker 2: Man.
00:26:34
Speaker 3: So that's that's good stuff, man, all great stuff.
00:26:37
Speaker 1: We read when that happened. You know, you would read the statements made from the team or what have you. How how was it received either from your teammates, from coaches, Like, were people respectful of decision? I feel like though everybody was just there was so much uncertainty around what was happening and how how dangerous you know, the virus was, and all of those things.
00:27:00
Speaker 4: You feel like you were supported in your decision.
00:27:03
Speaker 2: I think so.
00:27:04
Speaker 5: I think on our end, you know, with our coaching staff, you know, with our organization, I think they supported my decision. I don't think they showed me any backlass or any certain feelings about, you know, the decision I made. And you know, once I got back, everything you know, picked up where left off. You know, throughout the season. You know, we was on communication with the training staff on if we need anything, or with the coaching staff on how things are going. So it wasn't no distance between that time off or anything like that. But that was just you know, my situation.
00:27:34
Speaker 4: Well, right, you can only speak for how you were treated for sure. No, that makes sense. Well, look, man, I know you got a lot going on.
00:27:40
Speaker 1: But before we we get you out of here and go to our last segment, I do think you indicated a little bit earlier about how invested you are in your hometown and particularly young people in your hometown. Can you talk about just how important your community work is to you. I know you did a lot of stuff here when you were with team and visiting foster care centers and what have you, and and you created a nonprofit organization that definitely did a lot for young people that were in the foster care system back back home in the fourth Pierce Sports Saint Lucy area. Can you just tell us why it was so important for you to to do those things, even years beyond years into.
00:28:20
Speaker 2: Your career, you know, one just simple of just I think it's, you know, our duty to serve.
00:28:27
Speaker 5: So I think it's you know, just right to you know, if you're in a position to you know, lend a hand and to serve, I think you you should do that. But you know, me getting back home and you know, doing these events, and I think he gave a lot of people hope, you know, gave a lot of kids, you know, drive to get to the next level and you know, want to be the next Abra Wilson. So you know, all I want to do is you know give it, give you know, someone the hope or you know, the drive to to you know, move on from their situation. So that was you know my main reason of just get back in the community and you know, letting them see my face and being able to know they can you know, reach out and you know, make it happen for themselves.
00:29:08
Speaker 1: Well you're talking to a couple of guys who love that. And Juice had his foundation for decades. Man, I kind of cut my teeth helping him out with his and been blessed to be able to work with JT and the work we do now. But it's just still very cool to see guys who are who are so invested. And then you being from the area, you know, you were able to a lot of guys come here and then they start to do the work where they're playing. But you were able to do it in the city we were playing in and just a couple hours away from the city grew up.
00:29:39
Speaker 5: So yeah, no doubt that was the whole plan, you know, getting back you know, to the community, giving them the chance, you know, to see me play, you know, play in the community, you know, give back to the community. So it was all part of the decision on you know, getting down here to play football in the first place.
00:29:54
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:29:55
Speaker 1: Who so if I'm living in the Fort Pierce area, right, you know, I'm two hour north of South Florida, I'm south of like Tampa.
00:30:03
Speaker 4: Who are what team are people rooting for?
00:30:07
Speaker 5: Man Vero Beach is pretty good, you have you know, four Paers Central got a pretty good coach. That's that's that's that's making things happen over there there. You know, their program is pretty good usually, but you know, it's just so many high schools in our in our area. You know, kids are kind of spread out in such a small area. But it's a lot of talent, you know, it's a lot of talent coming from the area. You know, Treasure Coast Elite is one of the seven on seventeens, and you know the Outlaws is out there. You know, it's a lot of a lot, a lot of big talent coming from those teams.
00:30:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, but then and then who do they like what NFL teams are they're cheering for? Man? Dolphin fans?
00:30:45
Speaker 1: Are they like?
00:30:46
Speaker 4: Oh?
00:30:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
00:30:47
Speaker 5: You know, being in Florida, you're gonna get your Dolphins on You're gonna get your Dolphins on TV. And then now you know with this this this new you know, fast wave of the Dolphins, and you know this is siting football. You you definitely have you know, you have your fans looking out especially you know, I came home and played for the Dolphins, so you know, it's a it's a lot of you know, a lot of new Dolphin fans around for sure.
00:31:09
Speaker 4: That's what we like to hear.
00:31:10
Speaker 1: That's the way it should be, all right, man, Well, listen, we end every episode of the Fish Tank the same way. It's our Fish Tank two minute drill. You're a guy who's a home run hitter, So I don't know, we got a few questions for you. We're gonna put two minutes on the clock sometimes he just needs one play. Just give him one play, but we'll have a little fun with you and get you out of here. Sound good, Just do it all right? Right?
00:31:33
Speaker 3: Yo? All right? Three oh five, nine, five, four, eight, one six or seven seven to two? Which one? Which one? You claim more than anything? Day?
00:31:46
Speaker 4: You knew that one? That was a layup? That was a layup?
00:31:49
Speaker 3: All right?
00:31:49
Speaker 1: Mine's a little bit I don't I don't know. This is a little bit risky. So hopefully someone's not impersonating you here. I saw that you were on LinkedIn as a businessman, the owner of DNA Empire legitis.
00:32:00
Speaker 4: Is that legit is that you?
00:32:01
Speaker 2: Yea sir, that's okay, just stick Truck and Company that me and my wife own your shirt?
00:32:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, it says you specialize in transporting temperature sensitive products. I have been accused of being a little temperature sensitive myself, you know, especially it's been in the forties here recently, so, but I what's like the craziest thing you have ever had to transport that you can actually talk about?
00:32:22
Speaker 4: No, we don't.
00:32:23
Speaker 5: We don't get too much craziness with the temperature control. You know, mostly it's the ice cream and you know, the alcohol, the liquids that the chicken and the meats that wants to get transported or the least the relationships that that we've.
00:32:35
Speaker 2: Gained so far. So it hasn't been nothing crazy, you know. So we're just trying to stay on on that aer row.
00:32:42
Speaker 4: So you have me, You have me at ice cream, Albert ice cream.
00:32:46
Speaker 2: They do with ice cream.
00:32:48
Speaker 3: I love it all right, Okay, keep it moving here. Okay. I once beat Damn Marino in a distance throwing contest when I played for the Dolphins as a former quarterback, yourself, does your arm compared to the quarterbacks that you play with?
00:33:00
Speaker 2: Not at all?
00:33:03
Speaker 5: Make it real quick, you know what I'm saying. Or draw everybody on and let it launch. But the talent these these guys have with their arm.
00:33:13
Speaker 3: What about this is wise and me. You probably throw it for some guys, right.
00:33:19
Speaker 4: Quick, guy.
00:33:21
Speaker 5: You guys have competition on seventy seventy five yards and that's just like the that's just like the acquirement to come as a quarterback.
00:33:29
Speaker 4: Now that's true.
00:33:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're different.
00:33:34
Speaker 1: They are different, especially the guys you I mean, play with Pat Mahomes and Tu and some other guys. So no doubt about it. Okay, last question. You are a track guy in high school, not just a football guy. You are a track guy. We've seen that track speed on the football field. And you played with as we said earlier, drakeem Grant, you played with the Cheetah. You actually were here for Jaylen Wattle's rookie years, so you've seen all these guys up close and personal. If Juice and I organized as they charity two by two hundred race, it's you and your queen against Tyreek and Jalen Waddle. Who takes home the gold? You guys in your prime. Everybody's in their prime.
00:34:10
Speaker 2: In the prime, and I like me and it is for sure in the two hundred, y'all take it.
00:34:21
Speaker 3: I love it.
00:34:23
Speaker 4: That is the two minute drill. He was humble in the passing game, Juice, but not.
00:34:30
Speaker 2: Boy got the Olympics speed in the two hundred. But hopefully we can make it up somehow.
00:34:35
Speaker 4: I love it.
00:34:37
Speaker 1: Great stuff, man, Albert, you were awesome for making the time for us. I know I've been was texting you. I was trying to push him into last week. Juicy's like, man, I gotta take my mom, so you know, like he was family first.
00:34:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Yeah, I had to go to mom.
00:34:49
Speaker 5: You know, she right up the road. So you know, ain'ty chance I'm able to, you know, go see her. I'm definitely gonna go do that. But I appreciate y'all having me. It was definitely fun, you know, to get on here, you know this about you know, good times and you know, talk about the foundation.
00:35:03
Speaker 3: It was.
00:35:03
Speaker 4: It was great.
00:35:03
Speaker 3: I appreciate it. Hey, Albert, thanks for diving in. Man, you're now diving into the fish tank.
00:35:11
Speaker 1: Just like JUW said, Thanks for diving into the fish tank. Presented by iHeartRadio. Be sure to follow us on whatever streaming platform you're using, and don't be afraid to rate the show or leave us a comment. We love your feedback, and remember you can find us as well as Drive Time with Travis Wingfield and all of our international partners on Miami Dolphins dot com. Time
