#DIVEIN
April 9, 2024

Nolan Carroll: I Believed in Myself

Nolan Carroll: I Believed in Myself

Former Miami Dolphins defensive back, Nolan Carroll, discusses growing up a DolFan, breaking his leg as a senior at the University of Maryland, and being tripped on the NY Jets sidelines as a rookie. 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.

Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker 1: The following interview with Nolan Carroll was recorded prior to the tragic passing of Nolan's former Dolphins teammate Vonte Davis. All of us at the Fish Tank are sending strength to the Davis family during this difficult time. Rest in peace, Fonte.

00:00:13
Speaker 2: You're now diving down with Seth, O.

00:00:28
Speaker 3: Jay Well, and this is strictly but I'm a.

00:00:31
Speaker 4: True fas number one of course, y'all this and the other Nevers boys talk.

00:00:38
Speaker 5: Welcome back to the Fish Tank, presented by iHeartRadio right here on the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network, Seth Levitt and the man with the best hands in the podcast business, O J. McDuffie. Juice, I say that, and I gotta be careful. I know he played on the other side of the ball.

00:00:52
Speaker 3: I know, I know.

00:00:53
Speaker 5: But our guest, Nolan Carroll might be like, well, wait a minute, I'm a podcaster too, and my hands are nice.

00:00:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, and he asked the wide receivers kills as well. Man, So yeah, you gotta be very very careful. You know, you could have came with a different intro bro just because of our guest. You know, you could maybe wanted to stir.

00:01:08
Speaker 6: It up a little bit maybe wanted to stir it up.

00:01:10
Speaker 3: Right away, right away like that.

00:01:13
Speaker 6: That's right, that's right, and there's no secret I just said it.

00:01:15
Speaker 5: Nolan Carroll is our guest today, but not only is he a former Miami Dolphins defensive back, he is indeed a podcaster. He's a philanthropist, he's an entrepreneur, he's a coach, he's all kinds of things which I'm excited to talk about. So, Nolan, welcome to the tank man.

00:01:29
Speaker 7: I appreciate you guys having me on. Thank you.

00:01:32
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, it's been some work you and I have been going back to to make this happen.

00:01:37
Speaker 4: I mean, we could got the president on before we gets you know, any of the presidents you know.

00:01:44
Speaker 5: Well maybe at least the ones who are alive. Right, he hasn't been that difficult. Oh that's pretty good. That's pretty good. So, you know, Nolan, Juice and I we always go over how we're going to start every episode, who the guest is.

00:01:56
Speaker 6: It always is a little bit different. But the fact of the matter is is that if we've got.

00:02:01
Speaker 5: Nolan Carroll here doing an interview from Miami Dolphins theme podcast, there's no other way we could start it than with this and fortunate, unfortunate, whatever it might be, there is one thing you will always be remembered for here in Dolphins Nation. And yes it was your play, but it also is this incident that happened. I'm gonna use the word incident. Happened in December twelve, twenty ten. It's your rookie year, right, So we're at the meadow Lands. We're playing those stinking Jets. Of course that had to be the Jets. It's the third quarter. Is only a ten to three game, I think, so points are at a premium. Like every play always matters, but in a ten to three game, it definitely matters. And when you're punting from your own fourteen yard line, even though we got that big leg in Brandon Fields, it's an important play.

00:02:47
Speaker 6: They're all important plays.

00:02:48
Speaker 5: You are the gunner on the Jets sideline nearest to the Jets sideline, right, I'm just setting the scene for everybody. I know everybody's like, oh my god, I remember that play. This should be a pretty routine play, but it ends up being anything but routine. Walk us through what you remember from that moment, because I feel like it's something you've talked about before.

00:03:06
Speaker 8: Yeah, I've actually I saw video somebody put on Instagram yesterday or probably put it on last week, but I saw yesterday. I posted on my story and it said point of view, like they have all those videos. Point of view posted money on the game, opposing coaches game, and I made it funny, like kind of in a joke, and I mean it is looking back at it, it's someone's been what fourteen years, I believe. Yeah, man, just knowing and understanding. As a gunner, you're supposed to use the sideline to your advantage. That's what we're taught. And I just want to clear that up because a lot of people thought I got pushed into the subject and I'm like, no, you guys got to watch the entirety of the play. I used the sideline to my advantage, Like you're taught as a gunner so you can gain speed. And I was a fast I was one of the faster guys on the team. So they put me out a gunner and they expected me to do my job and get down and use the sideline to my advantage. Well, the Jets are teaching the same exact thing on their side with their gunners, and they're like, well, this is how we come back this Obviously they know which guys are the fast guys, which guys play gunner, and who are good and who's not. And obviously, unfortunately that day they set up a wall, which I had never honestly thinken back.

00:04:14
Speaker 7: Now. I've never seen it on film, but I've always heard stories about it, but I heard it was illegal to do.

00:04:19
Speaker 8: And most times they'll just kind of stand in the way, not necessarily body you are trying and trip you. And I remember getting out, going down the sideline and looking at the returner, but at the corner of my eye I also saw their guys lined up as a wall, and I said, there's only one or two things that I can do. I'm either going to hit everybody and I'm going to go down, or I'm going to try and squeeze through is to make sure I get my angle right so it shows that I'm going back in bounds, because you can't just stay out of bounds as a gunner the entire time. You'll get a flag. So you at least got to establish an angle to where you're going to the returner. So in my mind, I said, let me go ahead and establish this angle. Well, at the last minute, I just saw somebody leaning a little bit more. It's funny how everything's going fast, but in my mind it's going slow. And I saw that at the last minute. I said, he's not really doing this, like he's not right to do this.

00:05:08
Speaker 7: And then all of a sudden, I feel my knee hit his and I kind of cave in a little bit.

00:05:12
Speaker 8: Just remember falling to the ground and it was like a stinging feeling. At first, I thought, you know, something happened to my knee, but I moved it around a little bit. I said, I'm probably good. But then I remember thinking to myself, they just somebody just tripped me. And the trainers are coming over to the side, and the trainers are asking me what's going on. I said, I just got tripped, Like what are you talking. Everybody's looking at me weird, like did you get hit? Like somebody hits you too hard? I said, no, I got tripped. And right when I got up and I'm walking to our bench, I just remember seeing Coach Berano, Coach Rizzy, a couple other coach They're just pissed off, and I guess they just showed the replay in the entire stadium of what had just happened. And those guys, I mean, they were like mad. I had never seen coach Berano most of the time he leaves his shades.

00:05:57
Speaker 7: On, right, he takes his shades off and he is I mean he's almost in the middle of the field, and you know, guys are like, what just happened.

00:06:06
Speaker 8: Nobody really knew what happened until the replay and then after the game all the manness kind of kind of happened and everything was shown. But that's what I remember from that play. But coincidentally enough, that's when I got my first career pick too, and I think it was it might have been that quarter, like a next drive later or something like that. I just remember I was pissed from that happened. I said, if I get back out there, I'll make sure they pay. And that's exactly what I ended up doing. We end up winning that game too, So all in all, yeah, at.

00:06:33
Speaker 5: The end, crazy situation. And so for those who are listening, I can't imagine that. You you know, if you were a Dolphins fan in that era, you have to remember it because it's just not something that you ever see. To your point, Nolan but it was. There were six people standing there.

00:06:48
Speaker 6: It literally was.

00:06:49
Speaker 5: A wall of guys shoulder to shoulder, and they were like, their feet were right up to the white They were as close as as you could be to still be considered on the sideline.

00:06:58
Speaker 6: But here's the thing. They weren't guys in uniform.

00:07:01
Speaker 5: It was all the inactive guys. So it's like, all right, we're gonna make us out of you. And then the person who was closest to the line of scrimmage was their strength and conditioning coach, a guy by the name of Salahlosi. And he's the one that it wasn't like his feet were there and Nolan stepped on him. Dude's kneed bends forward, the foot kind of comes out like it was what it was. He had an apology later, he was I think suspended for the rest of the season. Let go, and and his career has been an interesting one. But it was just wild. And here's what's really funny. I meant to textan beforehand. So in Nolan's Wikipedia bio, it talks about this play. That's when you know it's legit, right, it's in the bio, but it talks about this play, and they quote Zach Zach Thomas saying that, yeah, they built the wall. It was clear Zach didn't even play for the team then.

00:07:52
Speaker 6: Like Zach's never in the media, Zach, and you're in He's like even he did was like that's dirty.

00:08:00
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:08:00
Speaker 8: Yeah, that was the funniest part of the whole thing I can say about that was no, my teammates had my back. I remember Carlos just being you know, interviewed talking about it. I didn't have to say much. I didn't want to say much, especially when you're a rookie. You don't want that type of attention, especially after we won as a team. I was always thinking the team, and you know, just in light of this, I didn't want it to be about me and getting an apology. So I'm glad for those guys, you know, sticking up for me and having my back and having my back the entire season, not just that time. But you know, I got the apology right when I got on the plane, so sounded sincere, you know, But the dam whiche was done. But all in all, I still got to play seven more years, so I'm not tripping about it, you know, And I still I made plays against it, just later on from there and we kept winning. I don't think we probably lost one game, maybe one or two when we played them, So it ended up being being a good career my time down in Miami playing against the Jets.

00:08:52
Speaker 4: All in all, big sad. The hell with that man? You know, that was a dirty ass playing dirty man. I mean as a dirty man, and a lot of guys, including myself, for the loss their shit and want to retaliate after something like that.

00:09:05
Speaker 3: Man.

00:09:06
Speaker 4: But you know, honestly, the way you're talking right now, losing control is really counter you know what I mean to how you were raised, is it? I mean you, of course I say that because you were raising a military family, but not just any military family. I mean your father was a senior Master sarget in the Air Force and your mom was a lieutenant commander in the Navy and then went on the you know, on a trailblazing political career where she became the first black, the first female, and the first Trinidadian American lieutenant governor of Florida. I mean, tell us about your parents a little bit and what it was like growing up in a household with that kind of dedication, and obviously you're discipline.

00:09:43
Speaker 7: Yeah, definitely.

00:09:44
Speaker 8: You know, the first thing people think about when they hear military parents is just strict across the board. And you know, my parents were strict when they needed to be, but leaning at the same time, they allowed me to understand the consistency of working, consistency of discipline, the understanding of making sure you get your things done first before you go and play and have fun, you know, making sure that you're respectful of your elders, making sure that you're putting in the time to your craft, and just seeing them. My dad did twenty five years in the Navy, Mom did twenty years, and excuse me, my dad twenty five years in the Air Force. Mom doing twenty years in the Navy. You saw it every day. At least I did them. Waking up at five o'clock in the morning and making sure everything's in line before they had to go to the base, and then leaving me with stuff for my brother and sister to make sure they have their clothes on, they're ready to get ready to go to the bus stop. You know, those things my parents instilled in me early and then allow me to do that with my brother and sister. So I got to experiment and understand how to become a responsible adult at a young age. And you know, when I did wrong, I was punished for it. When I did right, I was rewarded for it. By the end of the day, it all came down to you're expected to do your job. And I just held that with me from high school to college to the NFL. And I believe the reason why I played as long as I did and I was given certain leadership aspects to be able to lead younger guys was because of that. My parents teaching me those qualities that I'm still using to this day. So I'm very appreciative of them. And they just they were always about actions. You know, they spoke, but then they also backed it up with what they did. And that's how I've modeled my life. I don't just want to talk about what I'm going to do. I actually want to do it at the same time and then tell you, hey, this is how it needs to be done, this is the mistakes I made, this is how I overcame. And you just continue to do that in life. And I have a ten year old son and I try and just use the same principles my parents taught me. And some of the stuff that I've learned and applied and hopefully passed it down to him so he can continue this. But I'm very fortunate for my parents. I see it every day, you know, just with what's out here nowadays, broken houses, parents fighting, like I barely saw that, you know, And that's one of the things I believe that's just allowed my demeanor to be the way it is because I wasn't exposed to that every single day, meaning I didn't see if my parents did fight. They never showed us whatsoever they were going through things. They never showed us. So at the end of the day, they we knew that whatever's on your heart, whatever's on your mind, get it off before you go to bed, and then when you wake up, it's a new day, and then you work at it. Growing forgiving those type of things. So I think with all those qualities that they've shown me and they're still show me now, I still use that, and I mean it's just been it's been a big blessing. It's been great, Like I said, appreciative because not everybody has that. And I knew that when I got into the league, and I know that now that I'm retired, and I'm seeing just how society is with it.

00:12:43
Speaker 7: So, like I said, thank you Mom and dad for that.

00:12:46
Speaker 6: Yeah, well I love that.

00:12:47
Speaker 5: But you know, if we are speaking about discipline and leadership, Juice, well we can't also leave out the fact that mom initially wouldn't even let you play football, right, So soccer was the sport to start off until the head coach at Clay High School, which here's and I have this question, but it's really kind of crazy the way these things line up sometimes. We just a couple of days ago interviewed Caleb Sturgis, who went to Saint Augustine High School.

00:13:14
Speaker 6: And I know you guys were teammates in twenty thirteen.

00:13:17
Speaker 5: Clay High School, for those who aren't familiar with it, is about forty minutes west of Saint Augustine, and you're about, I guess about an hour south of Jacksonville is at what I saw on the map.

00:13:25
Speaker 3: Is that fair?

00:13:26
Speaker 5: So it was just crazy though that we had a Saint Augustine guy and we had a Clay High School guy within a couple of days. But it took the head coach, Juice to convince your parents that no one might have a shot like he might be pretty good at this football thing. Of course he was right. You start it wide out until your second game of your senior year and you break your leg. I can't imagine what that's like, because here you are, you're trying to get a college scholarship, right, You're trying to live out your everybody knows senior year that's the big year. Clearly you put enough tape out there because it didn't prevent you from getting recruited. You signed with the University of Maryland, and then your red shirted as a freshman. And so given your whole history that you obviously know, I'm sharing it for the listeners. But the point that I'm trying to get is there's almost two years of you not playing in a football game, and I just wonder, what is that like for someone.

00:14:20
Speaker 6: Who lives and breathes this sport and is an athlete. And clearly you're more than just an athlete.

00:14:25
Speaker 5: But all of everything you've done, you've put into this game and then for two years you are on this hiatus. How difficult was that? And did you ever question whether or not you would see the field again?

00:14:37
Speaker 7: Yeah?

00:14:37
Speaker 8: I I never questioned if I would see the field again. I just never knew when.

00:14:43
Speaker 7: It was going to be. And the thing about this game.

00:14:46
Speaker 8: Is, you guys know you can put your all in it and still not get anything back in return. And I was one of the risks that I took because I believed in myself that much. You know from the story you were talking about. In high school, my mom was not gonna let me football. But I remember this so vividly. It was junior high school and they were having tryouts for the eighth graders in ninth grade for JV and my junior high was right up the street from my high school. And I remember probably the night before, I told my sister, Hey, look, I'm probably gonna get grounded. This is what I need you to do. I need you to watch Nico, which was my youngest brother. He comes home from elementary school. My sister was still in junior high. I said, you're going to go to the bus stop, you're going to pick him up, and you're going to take him home. I'm not going to have my phone on me. I'm going to tryouts for football. I only got one day, one shot at this. So I go to the tryouts and I let the coaches know and this was the JV coaches at the time. I'm letting them know I only got one day here. My name is Nolan Carroll. I go to Green Coach Springs Junior High and I remember I'm in the back and I'm watching all these other guys do the drills and messing up and the coaches explaining to them how to do it right. So I'm just like, all right, I just need to do it the way coach is telling me. And sure enough they're like, yeah, this guy's pretty good. So I had that one day where I was it. I didn't hear from the coaches, in't here from anybody else for a year. And I remember my freshman year, I'm coming in. Mom still not let me play, but she'll let me run track and play soccer. But coach Riddle remembered me from the workhouse when I was in eighth grade, because he remembered when I came out there, and he asked me, well, why didn't you come out to JV, And I told him Mom would let me because I got a babysit my brother and my sister. Because now since I'm getting home before them, I need to watch him. Now, watch both of them, so without him telling me, he goes and he lived down the street, like five minutes down the street from my mom, Like you can literally walk to his house. He goes to my mom's house and he basically says, look, give me two weeks to work with your son, and when you come to the jamboree game or I think he was our first game, if there's no improvement, then you can take him off and he won't play football again. He tells me this.

00:16:56
Speaker 7: All the time.

00:16:57
Speaker 8: He says, when my mom was walking in, I was scoring a touchdown. That was my second toime a game. I scored three touchdowns that game. I had no idea about this, bet. I just enjoyed being out there playing football.

00:17:08
Speaker 7: I liked the game.

00:17:09
Speaker 8: I was like, well, shoot, I can show off my speed. I played receiver, so I was just like, look, as long as you throw a deep and let me catch it, I'm cool with that. And I get to score touchdowns, all right, I'm cool. I'm so I did that, and you know the rest is history. My mom kept telling him, your son has an opportunity to get a scholarship where you don't have to pay out of pocket to go and get his education for free, and that was the biggest thing in my family, was the education. And when he put it that way, my mom bought in. And then when she bought in, I was like, cool, I'm doing this until I can't do it anymore because I just had fun with it. And you know, like I said, I'm appreciative of him for allowing me to do that. But you know, when I broke my leg my senior year, I bought out my junior year. I bought up my sophomore year, my junior year, and I knew I was going to be that four star guy because I was already a three star kid because I had two good years. I knew this was my breakout kind of season with my senior year. My first my first game, had one hundred yards receiving out was like I knew it was clicking.

00:18:05
Speaker 7: OJ.

00:18:05
Speaker 8: You know this, when you're clicking going into the season, You're like, hey, I'm about to have a great season. And unfortunate, you know, I break my leg that second game in season, and I think the hardest thing was the shock of it. But then after I got off over that shock and I understood I still had my scholarships. I had like thirty five, close to forty something like that. I only had two drop off, which was UCF and it was Florida. That was the only two. So other than that, when I saw that, damn, I looked at it and it's like, well, I'm good. It's not the end of the world. I still have options. I still have opportunities.

00:18:39
Speaker 3: But I was.

00:18:39
Speaker 8: I narrowed it down to three. It was Old miss it was Colorado, and it was Maryland. Those were always my top three schools, and you know, I just kept.

00:18:48
Speaker 7: That in my mind and never told anybody. And then when it.

00:18:50
Speaker 8: Came time, you know, coach Regent was the most consistent, telling me, hey, look that injury does not change how we feel about you. We still want you to come in. We still want you to come in and compete, and you know, don't worry about the leg, just rehabbing.

00:19:03
Speaker 7: You'll be fine.

00:19:04
Speaker 8: So for those two years and I come in, actually I beat the clock as far as my rehab time. I ended up running track that year to solidify and show them and I still have my speedback. So I end up running something like a ten to seven and one hundred coming off of an injury. So I was able to show them that I could do that, and that solidified everything completely. But then when I got to Maryland, now there's thirteen guys in the room, you know, so it's all right. Now I'm last on the depth chart, trying to fight through that the scope of college and adjusting to that the playbook, you know, being red shirted, and then the following year, I'm still down on the depth chart.

00:19:42
Speaker 7: You just had to work.

00:19:43
Speaker 8: And my biggest thing was knowing what I went through with that injury, the hard work that I had put in, and not getting I guess per se to accolades that I did want or saw at the time as being that guy going into college. You know, it's just about my work. I knew when I came in. If I was on scout team, pretending like you're going against UVA, who's the starting receiver on UVA? Model him like, look at film, look at that guy West Virginia, look at that guy Boston College, look at that guy.

00:20:09
Speaker 7: Just to help your defense.

00:20:11
Speaker 8: And you know, at the same time, if I'm making plays on our starting defense, well, how's that going to look to the starting offense when they start seeing film when they're doing scout team. So I started putting that together and understanding, don't don't get bitter about the situation, and you red shirting look at as an opportunity to grow. And if I'm continuing to play every single day, you know during the season, I'm getting those reps. I just have to continually just work at it and ship at the rock. And you know, it didn't work out the way I expected it to, and I'm going to my retro freshman year, I was still minimal stabs. And you know, after my retro freshman year, I took a risk on myself. I felt like I could play corner. I felt like that's what I liked more. When I got into college, I started watching more of those guys, and you know, then I saw Al Harris. I don't remember what game it was, but then I became a fan of Al Harrison. I just wanted to play defense, and I modeled my game after him and was on the depth chart again. But at this point in time, just over the last three years, four years or whatever it was, and just consistently just working hard, working, consistent, and just staying focused. It made it easy for me to climb the ladder and really hone in my craft. And be focused and disciplined, and I was able to play two years really at corner and I got drafted by the Dolphins.

00:21:22
Speaker 7: So that's kind of how that story unfolded.

00:21:25
Speaker 8: But just that discipline and focus that I have for my parents and then going through that situation in high school at a young age and happened to prepare mentally that entire time before I actually crack the.

00:21:35
Speaker 7: Field going to my sophomore year.

00:21:38
Speaker 8: There's just a lot of work, a lot of work to stay disciplined to what I believed in, and that was myself.

00:21:44
Speaker 3: We know it is with colleges.

00:21:45
Speaker 4: Man, they get you in the building and then they want to change your position.

00:21:49
Speaker 3: It happens all the time, you know what I mean.

00:21:52
Speaker 4: So you're the one that said, look, I don't want to play wide receiver. I mean, I don't want to do the city. I want to play corner. I mean usually they do it without even without your knowledge, man, without any any consideration for your feelings.

00:22:04
Speaker 3: Man, you're telling me that you do the one that made the decision.

00:22:07
Speaker 8: I made the decision, and they you know what, they fought me for a month, and my defensive coaches every day they're just like, hey, man, you look better on defense, like they would plant that seed and they were.

00:22:18
Speaker 4: Recruiting, Well, I gotta, I gotta wait, I gotta, I gotta go this route tonight. You were a return man and a wide receiver. A lot of times they moved people to dB because of their hands, knowing I mean, don't tell me the hands with us man with a hands sus.

00:22:32
Speaker 7: They had some question marks sometimes.

00:22:34
Speaker 5: Ah, that's why he didn't argue when I said the best hands of the podcastiness.

00:22:38
Speaker 7: That's why I'm not arguing with that. That's why they're drafted me a DV man shoot.

00:22:43
Speaker 8: At times, it was just one of those where you know it is when you're thinking too much. I got I've never been used to a pro style offense with Coach Region, and obviously he brought in his offense from the Chargers back in ninety four when it went to the Super Bowl. So I had just only been used to three routes curl, slant, fade. If I ran a pose, you're throwing it to like I was the gimmicks guy, the reverse guy.

00:23:05
Speaker 7: I was the screen guy. Like I was that tight.

00:23:08
Speaker 8: So while I'm here in double's right, three forty three over I'm like, wait, hold.

00:23:12
Speaker 7: Up, wait, I don't know none of this. Let's go back.

00:23:15
Speaker 8: But it was you don't have time to really once you get into college, you don't have time to There's no real grace period to sit there and just learn for a whole year. You got to eat a ketchup and adapter or get left. So my thing was I was always playing ketch up and I had to skill. They see it, but it was just never consistent enough. And you know when they coached Cosh and you know my coach Lempa, they were on the defensive side. I said, we need corners, we need bigger corners like there was I was. Once I came to that side. I was the biggest corner in the room and I was six one and a half.

00:23:45
Speaker 3: Two o five and I could fly. I could fly.

00:23:48
Speaker 7: Oh yeah, so I played. I was playing man and cover too.

00:23:51
Speaker 8: I was like, all right, these are the only two I need, and I'm on the boundary side. I can do this, And that's what I ended up doing. But the hands got better, and as I started getting more comfort, I was like, yeah, I'm I've been had hands.

00:24:02
Speaker 7: I always had hands. It's just all a time where you're doubting, Like, man, you're looking at them like these things work, you know.

00:24:09
Speaker 2: You know?

00:24:09
Speaker 4: So no, you know, before the colleagues opportunities we talked about, you broke your leg. But then again, you know in colleagues, before the draft, you break your leg again.

00:24:19
Speaker 3: Ye, I mean, what was going through your mind?

00:24:21
Speaker 4: What the hell was happening right now before these big moments in your life as a football player.

00:24:27
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's one of those where you still I'm still trying to figure it out. But I believe they happened because they had to teach me about just tests at the next level. Whatever I was getting ridy to face. My injuries helped me with that. When I was in high school, it was teaching me about the two years that I didn't play. So I had to learn about discipline, patients, working diligently every day even though I don't.

00:24:52
Speaker 7: See my muscles coming back in my leg.

00:24:55
Speaker 8: You know, day twelve doesn't mean it's not gonna come back day twenty one, twenty two, you know. And just doing that consistently and always telling myself, I'm going to get better.

00:25:03
Speaker 7: I'm going to get better.

00:25:05
Speaker 8: That gave me the resilience to be able to push through those years that I wasn't playing and you know, just working harder, consistent, wanting it more. Going into my senior year. Had everything you can imagine as far as like the accolades going into my senior year, and I can remember this because my buddies were just.

00:25:22
Speaker 7: Blowing my phone up.

00:25:22
Speaker 8: I guess at the time there was rankings that would come out as far as corners, and in my draft class, not talking about the underclassmen, but the seniors.

00:25:31
Speaker 7: Out of corners, there was one hundred and forty that.

00:25:33
Speaker 8: Was supposed to come out, and they ranked me as number seven, and I had enough. I was at an internship I was working at the time, and my phone was just going crazy, and my buddy's just telling me, congratulations, congratulations. And I looked and they had me as a late first round, early second.

00:25:50
Speaker 7: And this was my junior year. I'm on the Thorpe list.

00:25:53
Speaker 8: So I'm just looking at all the things that I have, the preseason, all acc lists, Like I'm looking at these things. I'm like, all the work that I put in is actually starting to pay off.

00:26:03
Speaker 2: Now.

00:26:03
Speaker 8: All I have to do is enjoy my senior year and play well. And you know, we lost against col. But I played a good game against Cal and then that second game was just a free accident.

00:26:13
Speaker 1: Man.

00:26:13
Speaker 8: I went on the blitz. We were playing James Madison. We were struggling, I think they were.

00:26:17
Speaker 7: We were. We might have been down by two, and nobody expected us to to really.

00:26:23
Speaker 8: Be struggling in this game. And I remember calling the blitz. It is like third and four or the blitz was called for me. It was a corner blitz. I just remember coming off the edge, trying to wrap and roll and twist do the gator role, and one of my former players, you know, he's running around too, He's coming around the edge of his defensive end and my legs whipping around, and you know, he ends up kicking me, and I just remember just in pain, and you know, it's it's unfortunate. I knew exactly what it was when I went down. I remember just looking at it.

00:26:52
Speaker 7: And just like, but was it the same leg, same leg, same leg? Oh Man.

00:26:58
Speaker 8: The first time I didn't get a rod in, it just naturally healed it. And then you know the second time I had to get surgery. It was just it was inevitable at that point.

00:27:05
Speaker 7: But you know, before my coach came over, ambulance, all that stuff came over.

00:27:10
Speaker 8: I just said, hey, look man, you've been through this before. You know it's you can't worry about the draft over this time.

00:27:15
Speaker 7: You know you got The only thing you have to.

00:27:17
Speaker 8: Worry about is what to what extent is this and what type of surgery you're going to need? And then next is how is your family going to feel? And I had to remember once they came to the ambulance, I remember just smiling, just letting them know it's going to be all right. Don't don't stress about anything. Don't worry about nothing. I'm not worried about you know what the future is. I just have to worry about today, like tonight. That's the only thing that matters. And you know it did suck because I remember waking up the next morning. The first thing I asked.

00:27:45
Speaker 7: Was did we win?

00:27:46
Speaker 8: Because I had no idea. And then the second thing was, you know, how long is this going to take? And once I understood the timetable, which was about seven months, I had to look at it. I was just going to affect me and pro date because that's the only thing I thought about was prote I didn't think about Combine draft nothing, And you know, I just put my mind like that. I said, if I can concentrate on the rehab, everything else is gonna work out, which it ended up doing. You know, I still went to the Combine. I ended up rehabbing, showed them. I went to a bunch of different meetings. Miami was the one I went to the most. I didn't expect them to draft me, but obviously I crossed off all the t's and died in my eyes because it took a chance on me.

00:28:23
Speaker 7: But you know, all in all, it worked out.

00:28:25
Speaker 8: Because ultimately, like I was telling you guys, I believed in myself no matter what I knew, if I had that high of a grade, regardless of the underclassmen that came out, which was Joe Hayden, Kareem Jackson, Kyle Wilson, guys that recently just retired. You know that being in that class and going on those same visits I was going on with them, like I felt better as I kept progressing that I'm gonna be fine. Somebody's gonna take a chance on me, and whoever does, I'm gonna make it worth a while.

00:28:50
Speaker 7: Because all the things that I went through it's this is almost like a cake walk.

00:28:54
Speaker 8: You know, this is this is me just proving to you all the stuff that I really proved for myself that I'm able to do well.

00:29:01
Speaker 5: We know who took a chance on you, because your phone did rin on draft day. Jeff Ireland and Tony Sperano had decided they were gonna make a commitment to defense in this draft. You go look at the draft class in twenty ten and there's a lot of dudes on one side of the ball juice, and it's not the side.

00:29:16
Speaker 6: That you like.

00:29:17
Speaker 5: But it's okay, okay, it did work out. So and a couple interesting tidbits. The first thing is, so no one was drafted in the fifth round. He's one of two defensive backs drafted in the fifth round. The other one was Rashad Jones. You were selected before Rashaw. Did you remind him of that? By the way, did you remind.

00:29:33
Speaker 7: Him love it? I remember, I remember it like that. That's the thing.

00:29:38
Speaker 8: I didn't watch too many Georgia games, but I remember number nine from Georgia, and I was just wondering how he got so far down in the draft, because I'm like, you should have been the second round picks.

00:29:48
Speaker 6: He was wondering, two he's been on.

00:29:52
Speaker 7: You should have at least been a second round pick.

00:29:54
Speaker 8: But I mean, yeah, vividly, he's like, man, I'm gonna make sure everybody remembers when he did that, like he was Yeah, would say out of our draft class with seat, with Shot and Cole mecI, if Cole was able to play more years, I say, out of the draft of that draft year, those are the.

00:30:08
Speaker 7: Two strongest ones out of our draft class. Man.

00:30:11
Speaker 8: They used to do things where I'm just like, I see why you are you are or the reason why whatever school you went to, because you guys are.

00:30:19
Speaker 7: That guy and it was fun playing with them.

00:30:20
Speaker 8: Man, But I do remember that I don't never I don't never poked jabs at him or nothing at all.

00:30:25
Speaker 6: Is yeah, you're a good man.

00:30:27
Speaker 7: Yeah yeah, no, he's mymate.

00:30:29
Speaker 8: But where it just validated for me and gave me more confidence knowing that I missed my senior year and I still got drafted at the end of the day when I wasn't it was getting towards the point where I was accepting that I'm probably going to be an undrafted guy. Right the fact that I was able to still have that chance, and you know, there was a little bit of it. I think the backstory and I'm still finding out as as I get older. Coach Regent, my head coach in Maryland, is friends with Bill Parcells. Supposedly they grew up together in New York. I just remember my strength conditioning coach diech Gald when he was at Pen he went to Maryland and he was at Penn State. He just retired from Penn State as a matter of fact, but he was the one always keeping me abreast of what was going on, how scouts re viewing me. And there was a point in time where I got granted my medical richer to come back for my sixth year. And I remember I'm going into the weight room to work out with DJ. He comes up to me and says, no, you're not coming back. He said, don't even think about coming back. And at the time I didn't know why. I just knew if he's saying it, then there's something something to it. And maybe twenty nineteen when I found this out, Coach Regent had told coach Parcills.

00:31:39
Speaker 7: Hey, look, man, I have a corner. You need to develop him because he missed a senior year. But I'm telling he's gonna be pretty good. Give him a based on the strength of you knowing me. Give him a chance, because if you don't, Cincinnati's going to come and get him. And that was a backstory. And coincidentally enough, Cincinnati had to pick right after Miami.

00:31:58
Speaker 5: Oh wow, Yeah, it's funny, Burks.

00:32:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, let me tell you what.

00:32:03
Speaker 4: Buffalo had to pick out the Miami when I was coming out of draft. So we both got lucky.

00:32:08
Speaker 1: Bro.

00:32:09
Speaker 3: I mean, Cincinnati Buffalo are about the same damn thing. Man.

00:32:15
Speaker 6: Oh that's too funny. That is too funny. And you're a good man, I tell you know.

00:32:19
Speaker 5: So I run JT's foundation to this day, and Sam Madison to this day reminds JT that he was taking in the second round.

00:32:25
Speaker 6: J T was taken in the third, so I think even in Canton he told him that.

00:32:29
Speaker 5: So you're a good guy. Not to do that to Rashad. That's hilarious. The other thing that's interesting is you were selected. The reason there were two fifth round picks that year for the Dolphins is you were selected with the pick they obtained from trading Ted Gant Junior to San Francisco. So just and then I think I think you had like a couple interceptions off of Cam Newton that were intended for Ted, and.

00:32:51
Speaker 3: Yeah he did.

00:32:52
Speaker 8: I had to make sure that everybody knew I was a better pick out of that trade for us, Like that was always on my mind because everybody like, oh, it was the first round pick got traded for a fifth round pick. Let's see how the fifth round pick is. I said, all right, anytime we play them, I'm gonna make sure y'all want to know that, Yeah, this was a pick.

00:33:11
Speaker 7: At the end of the day, that was the best trade that could happen.

00:33:14
Speaker 5: Look it up, Jews, and it doesn't matter whether he was in Miami and Philly, like every time he lined up against Ted Ginn you could go see what happened. It's it's pretty I didn't know that part of the story, but that is fascinating. The other thing I wanted to ask was we establish at the beginning of the show you were a Florida kid. You weren't a South Florida kid. You were a Florida kid. You grew up in one of your favorite teams was in Miami Dolphins. There's this great picture I found Juice where he's like in his crib and he's got this Bob greasy. It's a true story. So what was it like for you to be drafted by.

00:33:47
Speaker 6: The Dolphins when you you know, it was one of the teams you cheered for as a kid.

00:33:51
Speaker 8: Yeah, it was surreal, you know because my dad, he's from Liberty City, and you know, he wanted to get out, like that was his thing, want to get out. So we went to the military and obviously we ended up coming to Jacksonville. But they didn't show a lot of Miami games. I showed Jaguar games, but they never could show Miami games. So when I saw Miami game, I was.

00:34:11
Speaker 7: Blewed in it. I remember u oj, I remember ouran day.

00:34:14
Speaker 8: I remember at Abdul Jabbar when he had his name trains, like, I remember those guys and obviously Dan Marino, and I'm just like, man, this I like this team.

00:34:23
Speaker 7: Like I don't like the Jags even though they were playing well.

00:34:25
Speaker 8: I like the Dolphins because I was my team, and you know I still now to this day. I'm about to give it to my son. I have trading cards. Upon trading cards, I need you to sign oj. I got like four of yours.

00:34:36
Speaker 3: I know that I got you. I got you.

00:34:38
Speaker 7: I just was always a Dolphins fan man, because of my pops. And you know, it's funny.

00:34:44
Speaker 8: During the last day of the draft, my mom, brother and sister, they all went out shopping. They couldn't hand my mom couldn't handle the draft suspense. But my dad and I we were just chilling in the house and I remember, I'm getting ready to take a nap because I said, I'm over there. So it's a fifth round, I'm probably probably gonna get undrafted. I'll just wait for my phone to ring, you know, four hours from now.

00:35:05
Speaker 7: And it was a nine to five four number that called me right when I'm getting ready to take a nap, so I pick it up. And then right when I pick it up, I guess my dad saw it on color ID. So he comes rushing down the hallway.

00:35:16
Speaker 6: I know that area code.

00:35:17
Speaker 7: He's like up in my face, like he's he's looking in my eyes trying to see going on.

00:35:22
Speaker 8: And here the conversation and uh, you know when when uh Coach Ferano, mister Ireland and Coach Parcels all asked me, hey, do you want to be a Dolphin.

00:35:31
Speaker 7: You know, my dad just like he lost it.

00:35:33
Speaker 8: Man, he's running through the house celebrating. I mean, he just it was a great moment for for myself, but also him because that was his you know, his childhood team, and every single time that he came.

00:35:46
Speaker 7: To a game.

00:35:47
Speaker 8: You know, I cherished that because I knew, you know, from his perspective, he's looking at it as a young kid being a fan of his favorite team, and now his son gets to play for his favorite team. And you know, it was one of the things that I was just always had fun with, you know, coming out of the tunnel or whether I was making plays, whether it's home or what else. It's not about my dad, you know, just just being that fan and in that time where we celebrated when we got when I say we when we got drafted, and that's just yeah, it's a true story.

00:36:15
Speaker 2: Man.

00:36:16
Speaker 8: I've been a fan since I was two years old, when I knew about the Aquan or excuse me, where I just became a fan regardless I was in Jacksonville.

00:36:26
Speaker 3: I go to games.

00:36:27
Speaker 7: But he's always fins up that.

00:36:30
Speaker 3: So yeah, that's so good man.

00:36:34
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you know, and no one, honestly, man, your draft class is one thing man, But your position group was another I mean the room you ended. I mean we had just gotten guys in your position that we just selected the year before in the first and second round. I mean I'm talking about you know, of course Vanta Davison and Shawn Smith talk about that dB room and those unique personality because I know you have to have Vante and Shawn stories that or two.

00:37:03
Speaker 3: But it had to be.

00:37:04
Speaker 4: But what was it like, you know, being a young guy going in there with those guys on the roster, trying to earn a spot, knowing that the team had already invested and some guys already Yeah.

00:37:13
Speaker 7: That was the best situation for me because I had entered a room where it was other young guys. You know, Vontae Sewn has just got drafted year before. So they're just like, hey, look, man, just don't do what we did and this is what we did wrong. Don't do that. And obviously I did it because I'm young, I'm still learning. But to have them freshly know it and show me what not to do, that helped me out. Because we also had Chris Clements in the room, who was the second half guy.

00:37:37
Speaker 8: Then we ended up having Rashad as well. The only older guys that were in there was Will Allen and Will was hurt, so Will was in and out. Then you had Hermia Belt so Yere and Maiah has all these young guys in the room, they just got to teach, and all of us gravitated to year Amiah because he knew it and he was one of those guys that was always teaching us. So as a group, we understood that we're very talented. It's just there's growing things, man. And I just remember Coach Bowles trusting all of us and him being able to voice how he feels about our position group and them not going out to get a big group of veterans and just let us let us display how we know what we need to do. And we did that for the most part. It's it's hard because you're dealing with young guys. You show flashes of it. Sometimes you're consistent, sometimes you're not. But overall in our room, there was no negative competition whatsoever.

00:38:30
Speaker 7: Like we went out together, we went out to eat together, like after practice, were hanging out.

00:38:35
Speaker 8: Like those guys were cool to be around, but Shaw was to be around. Sean was cool to be around. Chris was cool to be around here Maya will Vonte, Like even when Jimmy Wilson came, Jimmy was cool to be around. Like all of us, we were just cool with each other. And when one guy made a play, we were hyped up about it. When a guy got paid, we were hyped up about it. Like there was no animosity at all. And we knew, we knew we had a good group. It's just we were young and we were learning, and you know some of it. Sometimes we talk about it, like if they really kept us together, like tried to keep us together. I'm not talking about breaking the bank with it, but one year deal here, a two year deal, maybe three year or something like that. I think we would have shown as a group that we were pretty good, because we did show it up last year together. We showed that we were a pretty good group. We had very good games. There's unfortunate that it came down to the last game of season, and you know, if we won, we winning the playoffs. But when you look at the total of those guys in the back end, I'm even forgetting to meet you, Patterson, I forgot, But you're just having guys like that in the room that cared about each other's success and cared if somebody was nicked up or was heard was going through some crazy stuff. Now, that was big for my development because it showed that guys really do care more than just money, more than just getting the back, like they actually care about if you're making plays. But there's some stories during games. Man, it's it's like heat of the moment stuff where especially Sean, who just lightens the move. It could be third and four for the game, and Shawn's is like, hey, man, I don't know. I don't know my hamstring kind of I'm gonna sit on it.

00:40:14
Speaker 7: I'm gonna sit on this route.

00:40:15
Speaker 8: If it's a slant, I'm all. But if it's anything else, I'm dead. Like I'm just like Sean, you can't say that, man, you gotta tell her and everything.

00:40:26
Speaker 7: He's like no, and I can't. I can't then go four quarters. I only got a little bit left and say he like, honest. But you know stuff like that where you laugh and you laugh back at it now, but during the time, it's just the way those guys were able to be light in the room. And even though there was that one year where we started zero seven I think that's probably the most fun I have even though it sucked. We we just knew we were very immature, and we were we took a lot for granted. But then you saw after when we won five straight what it can look like if we did it right. And and that's when we really figured out as a group. Man, we just need to continue to get better and play for each other.

00:41:02
Speaker 8: And no matter where we go, let's still still keeping communication and contact and we all do, which is the cool thing about it, you know, just being so many years later, how how we're able to talk about those times. But those guys, I think that those four years and I was there, just the three that I was with Sean and who I was with and the one I was with Brent Grimes, two I was with Dmitri before I was with with Sean.

00:41:27
Speaker 3: It was it was fun, man, It really was, you know, Big Seth.

00:41:32
Speaker 4: You know, I just always I see this recurring theme when it comes to these dvs.

00:41:36
Speaker 3: Man, they.

00:41:39
Speaker 6: Dvs.

00:41:39
Speaker 4: Man, they get they they love it. They kick it, man, you know what I mean? And I love the chatter that people don't hear on the football field in the middle of a game when you hear something like Sean saying something like that, you know and you and you don't realize that some of those.

00:41:55
Speaker 6: Things stay out the streets. Sean, Come on, that's what.

00:41:59
Speaker 3: The hand strength problem came from.

00:42:01
Speaker 2: What it was.

00:42:02
Speaker 3: I'll tell you rest in the meetings late we had sewn the tank, so he kept it one hundred us about.

00:42:09
Speaker 8: I'm going to tell you, hey, man, I was out, but guess what, I'm still showing to Practice's one thing I know about. Shawn n followed the Michael Irvin kind of kind of real right there, but I'm still gonna ball at the end of the day, and he did.

00:42:20
Speaker 7: I mean, yeah, man, he got a couple of bags, so he.

00:42:25
Speaker 6: Was left held to du Yeah.

00:42:26
Speaker 4: Well, he's a talented South Florida's not it's not a it's not an easy place for young guys man at all.

00:42:34
Speaker 3: Trust me, I know.

00:42:36
Speaker 7: We all know, man, it ain't for the week man at all.

00:42:40
Speaker 6: That That's what I hear.

00:42:42
Speaker 8: Anyway, GM plantation and make sure just just make sure you say far enough the way to where once you hop on fine ninety five, you gotta contemplate you want to take this drive and.

00:42:52
Speaker 3: Then when you go ninety five south. You really got to start contover.

00:42:56
Speaker 5: You got I think once you're heading south on ninety five, it's a lost cause you know.

00:43:03
Speaker 6: It's calling.

00:43:04
Speaker 3: You can turn around right, you can exit on fine ninety five.

00:43:10
Speaker 4: Hey not unless you get on an expressway though the expressway no miss over for you.

00:43:15
Speaker 6: They didn't have that though Jews.

00:43:17
Speaker 7: They didn't have that then back then. So it's like, okay, you get the bab last.

00:43:22
Speaker 5: Sure clearly he's had that inner struggle. Juice Nolan has had that inner struggle in the past. That is hilarious. Well, you talked about your four years as a Dolphin, and I don't want to ever dismiss another four years of somebody's career. But it is a Dolphins podcast, so we're not going to dismiss it. But we're gonna skip ahead. We're going to fast forward, and uh, obviously I'm being a little bit funny, but I want to make sure before we get you out of here that we talk about how you utilize your platform as an NFL player to do so much more in your post playing career, and very specifically, what I'm hoping you'll share with us is to tell us about the Jacksonville Athletic Academy, What inspired you to create it and what exactly is your role there?

00:44:08
Speaker 8: Yeah, so the Jacksonville Athletic Academy is a junior college is here in Jacksonville, Florida. And my brother actually came up with this idea and it was towards the end of twenty twenty obviously COVID and you know, we're just looking at sports in general, how things were getting canceled, closed down, kids not being allowed to really have the opportunity to continue their athletic career in college. And it was just something about when he described it and when I was betting him about, you know, is really what can go wrong in this as far as what we're going to be able to do to help these kids. And you know, the things that we talked about really weren't that bad. You know, it's just about people kind of doubting. But for us, we've got to show that there's value in it. You know, I mean value is.

00:44:52
Speaker 7: Showing these kids what this football business has become now. And that's what it really is. It's not about, you know, just a feel good story to give these kids an opportunity to continue to play football. It's giving them the opportunity to understand the business of football, because we hear it all the time when we're in the NFL, but we only think that's contracts. We don't understand the branding side of it. We don't understand the recruiting side. We don't understand that going to school part of it, understanding the preparation before games so you can play well because your resume is your side of film that you put on basically for coaches to see.

00:45:24
Speaker 8: So my brothers suggested, since you know a lot about the NFL and you've been exposed through for many years and college and understand the recruiting aspect of it, why not apply that to Jacksonville and get these local kids, give them an opportunity to play games and still have film and hopefully advance their their athletic careers and academic careers and get their education elsewhere. But let us be that platform and that catalyst to show them what to do so that when they do go to another school, it's not just them going to another school with bad habits. It's them going to a school and being an impact player and student right away. So I love that when we started in twenty one, I just went gung ho with him. Man, I felt like the knowledge that I had from this isn't me saying I know it all.

00:46:11
Speaker 7: But there are guys that.

00:46:13
Speaker 8: Won Super Bowls that have coached me, defensive coordinators that became head coaches that have coached me, Guys that I played with and against that I know that are head coaches now, and just that knowledge of me being able to still talk to them. I just applied all the lessons that they gave me, and I give it to these kids and I make sure that they know exactly what it is like to compete at the top level. And when I mean compete, not just on the football field, I'm talking about your grades. I'm talking about your recruiting. I'm talking about what you post. You want to be able to sell yourself to get a scholarship or at least get eyes on you so that when a coach asked, is this guy going to fit in with my team? Is it somebody that we need to spend money on to help us not from just a team standpoint, but a community standpoint.

00:46:57
Speaker 7: What does that look like?

00:46:58
Speaker 8: Can we take a chance on this guy or this guy or not take a chance on this guy that has an attitude and take a chance on the guy that we know is coming from a place where he's getting coached properly. And that's the reason why we started JAA to do that. And I have wonderful coaches as well, guys that either played in the CFL, the NFL, or the AFL, just to give these kids an understanding of what it actually takes to get to these different places on the football field, and that there's many other ways to do it. So don't just get discouraged because of the dynamics of what is going on now, the transfer portal, the lesser recruiting in high school. Don't worry about those sales guys. The fact that you're with us now, we're going to show you how to be like the five star guy. We're going to show you how to prepare so that at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you're five star, doesn't matter if you're all American when you're playing football and you're prepared more than the other guy. And we've just seen this time and time again. It's all about your heart. And if you can show a guy how to play properly and you're always testing him every single day to his limits, like a Division one school. When he gets ready to play those Division one athletes, He's not scared, he's not intimidating.

00:48:07
Speaker 7: He knows I am prepared, I'm trained for this.

00:48:10
Speaker 8: And they go out and compete, man, and ultimately they have fun and we get our kids out, and you know, it's just for me that has been it's been my it's been the thing that's giving me the momentum to keep going, keep increasing this thing. And the fact that in three years we've got nine kids out, you know, to Division two and Division one schools. That says a lot of what we're doing here. And my hope is for this season, we have about nine guys that I believe can get signed for this year that are Division two, Division one guys, just because the work ethic and the mentality behind believing in themselves is so high that then all I have to do is guide them, guide him and tell them which choices you should make that's going to help benefit you. I'm not, like I said, this is not for me to go around like Coach Prime. I love Coach Prime, I love him to death, man, but I'm not doing this. Hey look at me, Look how great of a coach I am. It's more of when you turn on the film and those guys that you didn't see before the year before, you're seeing them now. When you see them now, they jump off on film, and when you start to understand who they are, the more you want to invest in a kid because you know he's going to be that type of kid that you want in your program.

00:49:19
Speaker 7: So basically, my eight years in the NFL has gotten me to be more involved in this, and I have other things I'm involved with as well, but those things are pretty much running by themselves. I've gotten to that point where just being able to do.

00:49:33
Speaker 8: That now just from my seven years or not just retiring and getting into two other things, those are running by itself. But this school, I feel like is something that can really help nationally because we don't just have kids in Florida. We get kids from California, Minnesota, Texas, Alabama, Pennsylvania.

00:49:50
Speaker 7: They come from everywhere because they're hearing it now.

00:49:52
Speaker 8: And my biggest thing is, man, if I can teach you to write things from the pro level, you'll be so far ahead from other guys that I think they're the guy, so they don't put in as much work and they just think it's all.

00:50:03
Speaker 7: They take it for branded.

00:50:04
Speaker 8: And when you have a guy that's actually been working for it and he comes in and you two are facing each other, the guy that's been prepared for it is going to want more than a guy that took it for granted.

00:50:13
Speaker 4: That's what it's all about, my love hearing about guys that played in the league, man, that you know are conveying these message to these kids, not just football stuff, but life stuff because you've seen it all, you've been there, and hopefully these young and is listen. Sometimes you know it can be sometimes man, these young boy I can't get him listen to me for that. I'm too old for him. But you had a good age there. Nohen you're at a good age bro right.

00:50:34
Speaker 8: I'm at the border because they sometimes they look at me. He's like, coach, this is what I saw on YouTube. I'm like, look, man, this is how.

00:50:44
Speaker 7: You need to do it.

00:50:45
Speaker 8: So it looks like YouTube and right, man, but hey, you do it. You do it because you understand it and you've been You've gotten the right teacher. And that's the main thing is the guys before me that taught me how to do it. I'm teaching those guys, and I'm patient with it, Tony Dungee type of patience. But I turned into Dan Cambell real quick.

00:51:08
Speaker 4: Sometimes that's a great well, Nola man. I mean, you've been fantastic.

00:51:15
Speaker 3: Man.

00:51:15
Speaker 4: We know you're a busy man. So we're going to wrap it up real quick here. But we can't wrap it up before we do it. We always do right here on.

00:51:22
Speaker 3: The fish tank. And that's the fish tank.

00:51:23
Speaker 4: Two minutes drill, So get ready to run as we're gonna put two minutes on the clock and fire off some quick hitting questions. And maybe you'll end this thing with a pick six. Well, who knows, we'll see. Maybe you're in it with a picked six. Well, if you've been a wide receiver, you know, instead of you know, not trusting your hands, it might have been something different.

00:51:41
Speaker 3: But since you since you ended up being a dB, we go see if you get a pick six.

00:51:45
Speaker 7: Dog, you know some of the things that I have to deal with. Yeah, I know, I love it.

00:51:54
Speaker 4: I love it alight, I'll get it started for us, big set. All right, you're the host of Conversations with Carol podcast. What's the toughest thing about being a podcaster.

00:52:04
Speaker 8: Toughest thing about being a podcaster is coordinating guests and getting that is the hardest thing.

00:52:11
Speaker 6: And amen, the brand of it is good.

00:52:15
Speaker 7: If you have the brand, right, I guess right, and you have your topics right, then that is that is key for success. But you have to be consistent with that that you can't think you're going to be four or five and end.

00:52:25
Speaker 6: Up like Joe Rogan, right right, right, I think that the truth. Good answer. I like it all right at some point because I saw different things.

00:52:33
Speaker 5: But at some point you were asked what your favorite movie was, and your answer was the cult classic Big Trouble in Little China. What was the name of the street gang that confronted truck driver Jack Burton and kidnapped Is it Malayan?

00:52:48
Speaker 6: Malion was the girl with the green eyes? What was the name?

00:52:51
Speaker 3: You remember him?

00:52:52
Speaker 6: They came out there and then he's trying to rack the brain.

00:52:55
Speaker 7: Oh my goodness, yes, I remember the scene change sing and uh.

00:53:02
Speaker 6: Uh the Lords of I don't remember the Lords of Death.

00:53:08
Speaker 5: They were the Lords of Death, that's all right. Those were the first guys to stop the truck. And he went out there and had to fight him, and there yeah.

00:53:15
Speaker 7: Yeah, change sing was the gold and white robe and the guys right he was.

00:53:20
Speaker 6: He was the dude.

00:53:21
Speaker 4: That's right, good stuff, all right, clocks right and so and so Seth mentioned the Bob Greasy.

00:53:28
Speaker 3: I can't it's hard calling it the doll, but a stuff told me, what do you want a tough.

00:53:33
Speaker 4: Player in your crib? You know who was your who was your favorite Miami Dolphin player growing up?

00:53:38
Speaker 6: Though?

00:53:41
Speaker 3: It was you? Man, No, I don't no, I didn't give me that. Man. I mean when you was a wide receiver. I get it. Yeah, I get it.

00:53:48
Speaker 7: I was a wide receiver. So when I saw games, it was you, and I was like, all right, shoot, I got to pick one. Picked somebody.

00:53:58
Speaker 6: I'm probably a little more like Juice than you, Aronde.

00:54:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, we had more speed in both of it. That's the damn show.

00:54:03
Speaker 6: Yeah, he was faster than both of you though.

00:54:04
Speaker 7: That's for yeah, I'm looking at the run.

00:54:06
Speaker 8: I'm like, I'm not speaking to him, so oja, that fits my mold as a kid. You're looking at people that fits your mold as a player, And that was what I was a receiver, so I didn't know I knew Dion, but I wasn't like I wasn't that so it was it was yours on the Dolphins now outside.

00:54:22
Speaker 3: I love it.

00:54:23
Speaker 6: That's that's a good answer.

00:54:24
Speaker 3: Appreciate that that you know what that is.

00:54:26
Speaker 5: That's just like when everybody's was at Juice' house playing basketball. He was always the first pick. And Jus said, is because he knew that that they would get ball first, and he'd keep the lights on b on the.

00:54:35
Speaker 3: Court, right and my name was on the court except.

00:54:39
Speaker 5: And he got every damn call. All right, last question here. We talked about Salilosi earlier. Okay, he might have got over on you as a rookie. But if Nolan Carroll, the eight year Wiley veteran, lined up to cover a punt and this time he saw a wall of guys and they were lining up there towards the boundary, what would that Nolan care? What would that version of Nolan Carroll do?

00:55:00
Speaker 7: A version Nolan Kills still gonna do the same thing. I'll just make sure I know where he is next time I'm gonna make the tackle.

00:55:06
Speaker 6: I know that that's what he's gonna make the tackle. There it is, I was that's the two minute drill.

00:55:11
Speaker 1: I like it.

00:55:11
Speaker 6: He's gonna make the play. And that's him too, Jews. He wasn't talking shit.

00:55:15
Speaker 5: It's just like, I know what now I've learned, I'm gonna make the play because he's disciplined.

00:55:19
Speaker 6: That's what we get there from Nolan Carroll. Man, this was so good. It was worth the wait. I appreciate you giving us his time and this was great stuff.

00:55:26
Speaker 7: Certain I have fun. Definitely. I gotta get more involved again back with Dolphins stuff. Man.

00:55:30
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:55:31
Speaker 8: Man, Like I'm always saying, I'm appreciative of the team that drafted me, and I'm appreciate my time there.

00:55:37
Speaker 7: My thing is giving back and I feel like, man, I just gotta.

00:55:40
Speaker 8: To find a way to do more more more healthy Dolphins out and I know they're balling, but it's the other stuff behind the scenes that I want to get involved with, man, and just make sure the organization that gave me a chance is still still going strong, you know. So I love it guys having me on and interviewing me and going down memory line.

00:55:57
Speaker 3: Bro, You're always welcome, man, come on back down. Man.

00:55:59
Speaker 4: We always got some great stuff going on for our alumni, man, So you know, and Nola, Man, really, man, thanks for diving.

00:56:05
Speaker 3: In man really appreciate it.

00:56:08
Speaker 2: You're now diving into the tank.

00:56:12
Speaker 6: Just like Juw said.

00:56:13
Speaker 5: Thanks for diving in to 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