March 26, 2024
Caleb Sturgis: A lot of Kicking is Mental
A St. Augustine native, Caleb Sturgis completed his All-American career at the University of Florida as the school’s all-time leader in field goals made. The kicker’s collegiate success prompted the Miami Dolphins to select him in the fifth round of the 2013 draft and he would spend the next two years in aqua and orange before an unlikely offseason injury derailed his tenure with the team. Contributors to this episode include Sevach Melton and Dolphins Productions. Theme song created and performed by The Honorable SoLo D. The Fish Tank is Presented by iHeart Radio.
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker 1: You're now diving.
00:00:07
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have been that pik.
00:00:10
Speaker 3: Who then.
00:00:13
Speaker 1: Sitting down with Seth living oh Jay jew Well, and this is strictly for I'm.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: True number one of course, y'all.
00:00:22
Speaker 3: This ain't the order nervusports talk that might have been that.
00:00:25
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Fish Tank, presented by iHeart Radio right here on the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network, Seth Levitt and my main man o J McDuffie Juice. I struggled a little bit to get this thing started, but we're underway now.
00:00:36
Speaker 3: How you feeling, man, I'm feeling great, big Seth.
00:00:39
Speaker 4: I'm a little worried about you though, man me damn, you stole the one that's usually the steady in force when it comes us doing this podcast, and today it's a little shaky.
00:00:47
Speaker 3: So I'm a little worried. Bro.
00:00:48
Speaker 2: You good, Yeah, I think so. We'll see how things unfold here, but it was definitely a rough start. Fortunately, we've got someone who's gonna hold up his end of the bargain here who is is not worried about out anything. It doesn't matter the conditions, doesn't matter the pressure, because I'm folding under the pressure. You don't send me out there on fourth and four with two seconds left on the clock to go win the game, but you would send Caleb Sturgis. Caleb Sturgis dives into the tag Caleb.
00:01:15
Speaker 1: How you feeling, man, I'm feeling good, feeling good. Love the im getting to talk to dolphins again. Feels like yesterday. But man, time's really flown.
00:01:23
Speaker 2: Man, Yeah, a lot of time has passed. I thought he was sitting there. He was kind of thinking about it. He's like, I was doing great until you screwed up the start of this show three times. Should I leave any of that in? Should I leave for the listeners? I think I'll protect myself a little bit and sound like somewhat of a professional.
00:01:39
Speaker 3: Now you are seth, you know what, you hold it down for us? Man. How many episodes now so far?
00:01:43
Speaker 2: So well, like one hundred and eighty something.
00:01:45
Speaker 4: Yeah, So yeah, you're good, bro, You're good. You're season pro man. You know you know what he's in pro. Sometimes we have our we have off days. Started off. It's how we finished.
00:01:55
Speaker 2: How you finish all the matters, that's exactly right.
00:01:58
Speaker 4: So we finished right, right, So it's okay. You know, we've got a ton of talk about today. You know, right here at the top of the show, I need you to settle something for us.
00:02:07
Speaker 3: So we've been going through this.
00:02:08
Speaker 4: It's been a it's been a bit polarizing here on the fish tank. And that's the infamous snap to the face. I mean you've heard, we've heard down Danny's side. We've definitely heard Brandon field side of the story. I mean we saw the tape, but nobody on this planet had a better seat in the house. Nobody had a better seat in the house. Definitely in uniform. To watch this thing unfold, can you tell us about the play and well, what was it supposed to be?
00:02:37
Speaker 3: And then what went wrong? We need to know what really really happened.
00:02:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, So it's funny looking back at that one. You know that was gonna be my one moment of glory. I didn't run the ball since, uh, like junior year of high school, so I'd wait a long time for that moment to come. We practiced it, I mean like seven eight weeks, just waiting to use it the Patriots in a big game. What I remember of it is we added one more thing to the cadence. You know, we added red or green. You know, green means go red means we call it off. We kicked the field goal, which isn't ideal for a kicker really because you want to create routine. So like when you're back there and you're thinking, like, all right, am I about to sprint out right? Or am I going to have to kick this ball? Not completely ideal. So I'm out there hoping we go green, go green. But it was just that extra cadence. I think John, you know, looks up, so he's used to having whether it's one or two things, and then he goes so, you know, adding that third queue to it was what really threw it off. So I'm sure Brandon blames John, and John blames uh Brandon. But maybe bring coach of Rizzy into it and put a little bit on it.
00:03:49
Speaker 3: Go pass it. We need you, Caleb, we need you. We don't. We don't need another fourth party. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:03:58
Speaker 1: If only would have hit off his helmet and gone the right way, maybe it would have sped it up as well. But I think it was there too. I think I would have got around the edge.
00:04:06
Speaker 3: So Kayla, what was the call then? Was it rad or was it green?
00:04:09
Speaker 1: We were going you're going with that he was going to make the toss.
00:04:12
Speaker 2: Well, there you go. I mean that, you know, that's the whole blame thing, right, Brandon's like the call was green, green, That's what Brandon said.
00:04:19
Speaker 4: My question also is for you, Kayla, when you know what's on, when you know it's a possibility that, so, how many opportunities are there where's a possible fake. How many times have you come across that where there's a fake possibly on it you might have to call off and go ahead and kick it.
00:04:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, So in college we had it all the time. You know, I played for coach Dirk and coach Mushamp, coach Meyer. All of them were very heavy in the fakes in both the punt in the field goal game. But once you get to the pro level, there's very little, at least from my experience. I mean, I think if you look over the past ten years, how many fake field goals now, it's gotta be maybe one a year at that, so extremely rare. So you know, just about that we were back, so it was kind of a hot play at the time. I don't know how many years it was since Elis you did it against US. I think was the first time a right, it was less Miles did the first throw over the back. I think it's before I got there, maybe in like seven or something. He did it, so a bunch of teams had tried it since, but it's still pretty pretty fresh of a play. Now. It seems like, you know, defenses catch on everybody studies film. Uh, you know you're always going to have a guy guarding that.
00:05:31
Speaker 4: That's what it was, shoulder right, Yeah, I like that's that's that's the sweet one, right there.
00:05:37
Speaker 3: One more now.
00:05:38
Speaker 4: Then when it comes to that though, Caleb, heart rate, When you know there's a chance, especially in the pros, it's just so rare. How do you like make sure you take the same steps back on your approach? How do you not have your heart rate way up knowing that? And then when you hear green, how the hell are you composed at that point? And then when it all goes awry?
00:06:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the hard part, right, I mean, I never am catching a ball, so you know, I think one of the biggest things is always try to slow the heart rates, slow myself down in general, because what you want to do is you want to go too fast the beginning, and if you do, that's going to throw off the timing because Brandon's throwing a blind pass backwards. And then also you know, I think you know you're playing against the Patriots. They're they're super in tune with everything going on. If they see my eyes going crazy or Brandon's eyes going crazy, they're going to know something's up. So you know, try to slow everything down, you know, slow the heart rate down, try to be extra slow in everything I'm doing, knowing that probably in real time it's still is looking a little bit fast, and and then getting ready to do it. But my biggest thing was catch the ball. Catch the ball.
00:06:49
Speaker 4: As a receiver, I understand exactly what you're coming, where you're coming from.
00:06:52
Speaker 1: Right, otherwise it's for sure.
00:06:54
Speaker 2: Well he didn't even get a chance to do it. No, I know, what was that, Caleb. I'm sorry.
00:06:58
Speaker 1: I was just saying, because if I drop it or if it gets past me, I mean, it's six points the other way. We've got a bunch of linemen, maybe a few tight ends, and I've got four dvs on the field.
00:07:07
Speaker 3: Well, you know, dolphin history has some kicker problems, you know what I mean. We had care of that.
00:07:13
Speaker 4: You know, A must snap and the ball you know, comes out of his hands, so at least you have nothing to do with the way this play did not work.
00:07:22
Speaker 1: It's true, and I think I maybe fell on whoever recovered it is, I maybe recorded a tackle.
00:07:26
Speaker 2: So not all there. There you go on the game, I put yourself in the box score. Oh that's too funny. Well, I guess we kind of cleared it up. If he said the call was green, juice. If he said the call was green, then I think that maybe Brandon could be correct here. I don't know. I know they said Denny was snapping blind, so who knows, but it was. It was pretty funny. He was backpedaling, Denny was backed brought it up. So I am glad that we got a little bit more information. Okay, we're gonna rewind. We're going to get back to dolphins, but I want to rewind to the beginning. So you are born and raised in the oldest city in the entire country, and for those who don't know what that is at Saint Augustine, Florida, talk to us about what was that like. Like I'm always fascinated by the idea of people who grow up in a town that is like this major tourist attraction, right, and then you throw in a place like Saint Augustine that's not only a tourist attraction, but it has all of this incredible history. It seems to me, I don't know, like if I lived there, I think, like, I think it's cool if I go to Saint Augustine, But if I lived there, I almost would be like, you know, that's cool that people like coming here, but I kind of want my town to be my.
00:08:41
Speaker 1: Town, right, Yeah, And I think that part's gotten a lot worse with time as far as how many people are visiting now, I mean millions of people are visiting. And then on top of that, I always when I was growing up, I always thought it was almost like a hidden gem in the sense that you know, it's probably half the price or a third of the price of South Florida, like beach real estate and everything like that, And our beaches aren't as nice, but but pretty close, you know, not near as much hustle and bustle. It's a very much beach community as well, and I don't remember being all that busy. But man, when you go now and you try to go the downtown area, you can wait in traffic for an hour and an hour and a half. But you just don't think of in a small town. You know, you have the field trip. I think most fifth graders go and see the fort there, and yeah, lot's of really cool history. I mean, my kids love going. But it's definitely unique living there. You definitely have lifers that just love it and you know, will be there their entire lives, and you have others just can't wait to get out. At eighteen, I was probably somewhere more in the middle ready to get out. But now, you know, have a little bit of nostalgia of being gone out of Saint John's County.
00:09:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what said. That's how it works out though.
00:09:49
Speaker 4: As a kid, you know, I mean, it's great you want to get up out of there because you've been there the whole time, and then all of a sudden, you know you'd leave and you're like, oh, this is what how Miami is, this is how you know Gainesville is, and things like that.
00:10:02
Speaker 3: But then when you get older.
00:10:03
Speaker 4: You're like, I kind of like that that quiet reserve type of.
00:10:08
Speaker 2: But juice, you're not running back to Cleveland.
00:10:10
Speaker 4: Oh hell no, hell no, I run back for a weekend or maybe two days, not even the whole weekend sometimes, man, But I get it. But it's not Florida, though, except right right, this is Florida. This is this is a beautiful. My family went there like for you know, for weekends, you know, for like a decade, to go to Saint Augustine.
00:10:31
Speaker 3: And I know exactly what he's talking about. I even went to a couple of weddings.
00:10:34
Speaker 4: In Saint Augustine, so I get what he's talking about. The beaches are great, it's quiet, it's so serene. It's just a beautiful area. Man, But it's kind of it's slow for somebody that's a little bit younger, like twenties to probably forties.
00:10:49
Speaker 3: But once you get to my age, it's a great spot. Your move to St.
00:10:54
Speaker 2: Augustine.
00:10:55
Speaker 4: No, no, I didn't say all that shit. Now, don't get it twisted. I love South Florida still, Caleb. I love South Florida.
00:11:02
Speaker 1: That what I did too, And again I called it the hint and jam in the sense again just from a price standpoint, it was just so much cheaper. But now, I mean you look at pawn of Viad real estate and things like that, and it's it's caught up. People have moved to North Florida.
00:11:14
Speaker 3: Well, I think everybody had to move north. There's nothing else.
00:11:17
Speaker 4: There's nothing left down here, So moving north is the key, That's what damn sure, So so Skaling, we clearly we know that.
00:11:24
Speaker 3: You know, soccer had a big presence in your family.
00:11:26
Speaker 4: You know, your older brother Nathan, he's a big time soccer player at Nice High School. I think Seth already he of course Seth always says this. You know Tebow went there, right exactly.
00:11:38
Speaker 2: It's just fact they had to put the note in there. Fact right, I don't know played sports there.
00:11:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, if they flew him in, him in on game day, I get it.
00:11:48
Speaker 3: I get it.
00:11:49
Speaker 4: And your brother played on the club club circuit before becoming you know, playing at Clemson and then professionally for you know, I think what a decade and a half maybe, but you didn't attend niece talk about why you went to Saint Augustine High and then how you transition from the pitch, which we all now, we're all soccer fans.
00:12:09
Speaker 1: So it's funny. Well, I mean kind of in that introduction he kind of answered it a little bit too with Tibo. So my oldest sister, she played soccer. William and Mary oldest brother, played soccer at Flagler and then Nathan left when he was sixteen to go play the under seventeen national team and went on the Clemson But anyway, they were all homeschooled. We were all zoned for Saint Augustine. But at the time, nobody really cared what homeschool kids were doing as far as where they played sports, because again, we usually played weird sports like soccer, and that just didn't move the needle. But then all of a sudden Tebo I think, was zoned for maybe Bartram Trail and ended up playing football at Nice. And then all of a sudden the county decided, and maybe it was the whole state that know, if your homeschool, do you need to play where you're zoned for. So I don't know what they call it, but it's the Tea rule. And yeah, so that was why, you know, no matter what, I was gonna end up playing sports at Saint Augustine. But I was also probably the toughest student for my mom, so she was also ready for me to go to school. So I was the first one of the six to go to high school. The other three were homeschooled all the way through high school.
00:13:19
Speaker 2: Wow, now why were you the toughest student, Like, you know, I want to know what that means.
00:13:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, we need war, we need war.
00:13:25
Speaker 2: I need a little more juice there.
00:13:27
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, my oldest sister, she's an attorney, super smart, super good in the books and all. Maybe I had more questions. I don't know. I don't know what it was, or I mean I think I think it just got harder and harder too. Is what the rules of, you know, making sure that you pass all the correct exams. I think the fcat was getting really big at the time. So just it was becoming tougher in the admissions process in college, being homeschool at Verse High school. So I think all of that played together. And then for me socially, I was just kind of you know, the older siblings are out of the house. I was ready to get the social aspect of high school that you miss out on.
00:14:07
Speaker 2: Well, now we're about to get to the good stuff too. So we got through high school, graduated, and.
00:14:13
Speaker 3: I knew it was coming.
00:14:14
Speaker 2: Caleb, we got to get there right. So so Caleb, I have spent the better part of nearly three decades, trying to explain to my partner here why it's great to be a Florida Gator. And so the only thing better than being a Florida Gator is being a Florida Gator great. And that is exactly who Caleb is. So you you really had an incredible career there in Gainesville. You were part of a national championship squad as a freshman, two time first team All SEC selection, First Team All Americans, a senior, and when all is said and done there you leave as the school's all time leader with seventy made field goals. So you did your thing for the Orange and Blue and it was just an amazing run. Talk about your experience at UF because the time that you were there, like the roster that was there. You know, we already talked about Tim, the Pouncy Brothers. You know, we've had both of them on the show. You know, Mike and Marquis were there, Percy Harvin was there. Cam Newton I think was even there when you showed up as a freshman. So just talk about the experience in Gainesville, but also the bevy of talent that you walked into.
00:15:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I came in early in January. Again, I saw t Bow do it, so I thought that was the thing to do. It wasn't very smart in retrospect, is.
00:15:32
Speaker 3: Why not? Why not?
00:15:33
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I'm a kicker, so I could have probably got just as good of working on my own instead of jumping into all the matt drills and the stadiums. And because you know, I think if you come in the year before, you're coming off the six National championship, everything's pretty good in the building. I got there coming off to seven. We lost like four regular season games and then got spanked by Michigan in the bowl game. So the coach, Mick, the strength coach, and I mean coach my, I mean, they were ready to kind of make or break every player at that point. So so I kind of hopped right into the fire my first semester there. But yeah, I mean, just from an overall picture, it's one of those things you don't realize when you're in it until you get out of just that that wasn't the norm of having that much talent in one building, you know, looking back, with just the generational talent that Cam Newton is or was, I mean, I still think his one season at Auburn is the greatest season out of any college football player there's ever been. I mean, you look at the roster that they had maybe two other NFL guys, and to win a national championship in the modern earrow is really unreal because you look at Florida and what we won with. I mean, you have a eight team, probably forty guys are on NFL rosters, just so much talent.
00:16:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was pretty sick. It's pretty nauseating right now to hear how you get it.
00:16:58
Speaker 2: We had a great run for a while. We had Lewis Oliver, then we had Channing on and we had how many other guys?
00:17:03
Speaker 3: I brought it.
00:17:04
Speaker 2: Trace Arms truck. We had all these Gators like at one time, and juice was over.
00:17:09
Speaker 3: Nah.
00:17:10
Speaker 4: You know what, man, Because I know those guys as Dolphins, I don't really know them as Gators. So it made a lot easier on me. Yeah, you know what I mean. But I'm gonna tell you what I mean. You can't deny the talent. It is what it is, man. And you know, and of course a great school for everybody to go to, and not only for for academics like Seth went for because obviously didn't go for shit else.
00:17:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, what I mean? That was it?
00:17:33
Speaker 2: I had an intermural championship or two either.
00:17:37
Speaker 1: I know a lot of friends spent many years trying to get one of those.
00:17:41
Speaker 2: So we just keep dropping the division down until you get a title. That what division were you win, big, Seth? I think I started in the B. I might have won my title in the C division. Actually in Okay, that's not bad gym, that's not too bad a division. You're playing like all of Caleb's teammates. I think my one year I said, these guys were in the A division. This is when they had like Jackass Green and all those guys. Like, how in the hell can you even compete with them?
00:18:06
Speaker 3: Anyhow?
00:18:06
Speaker 4: You know, we kind of goten off track right here, you know, and Caleb, you are a UF legend, Seth. I don't know what kind of legend you were at UF, but at least you won that that division C championship, and that means a lot to a lot of people.
00:18:21
Speaker 3: Probably.
00:18:21
Speaker 2: I still have my T shirt, juice, I still have my T shirt.
00:18:24
Speaker 3: Anyhow, let's get back on track here.
00:18:26
Speaker 4: Man, you did have tremendous success in college, and you earn something that is rare for your position, and that is a spot in the NFL Draft. Now, the NFL Draft, you know, most kickers don't get an opportunity like that, Kayleb. But the Dolphins select you in the fifth round. What were your expectations heading into the draft and was Miami on your radar? I mean we asked this, you know, we we asked because Dan Carpenter was.
00:18:49
Speaker 3: On our team at that point.
00:18:51
Speaker 4: Dan was a popular player here on the roster, had then to a Pro Bowl. I just wonder if you were coming in once it happened, what we expectations, what you got here.
00:19:01
Speaker 1: Yeah. So as far as like leading up to the draft and all I knew probably the hottest name would be Dustin Hopkins had a really good career at Florida State. I think at the time he was the all time leading scorer. There was a guy named Quinn Sharp out of Oklahoma State did a really good job doing all three and I had a really bad back.
00:19:21
Speaker 3: In all three means kickoff, punt, and point. Yeah.
00:19:24
Speaker 1: So he did all at Oklahoma State, I mean at a really high level. I think he like led the nation and touchbacks back and this this was back when we kicked off from the thirty, so if you're hitting touch backs from the thirty, it was it was a big deal. And the ball came out to the twenty.
00:19:38
Speaker 2: Five, so there used to be a.
00:19:41
Speaker 1: Much higher premium on kickoffs than there is today. So all that to say, I hurt my back really bad my junior year, wasn't sure if I continue to play football, and then just came out my junior and senior year played really well, so it wasn't completely sure where I stood. But really that time between finishing my senior season and all the way up to the draft just was the best kicking I've really ever ever had. I was the healthiest I'd ever been. I went fifteen for fifteen at the Combine between all my my pro day and all my trials, probably missed two or three field goals the entire time out of a few hundred, So just kicking at a really high level. And coach Rizzy did come here and we did a one on one workout together. I remember it being a good workout. But there was definitely some teams that I thought had a bigger need for a kicker at the time, so you know, I thought it was more than likely I was going to end up with the Browns or Jets. So I was a little bit surprised on draft day when I ended up seeing the South Florida number. Kind of cross my fingers and when I when I got that call, knowing that had the opportunity to stay in the state.
00:20:46
Speaker 4: Well as a kicker and as a wide receiver, South Florida means a lot when it comes to conditions.
00:20:52
Speaker 3: I mean, think about that.
00:20:53
Speaker 4: You really have to you know, half the season you might go somewhere else, but you know at the beginning of the season, it's not that Badami instead of league, Yeah.
00:21:02
Speaker 3: Well there you go exactly exactly.
00:21:04
Speaker 4: As a wide receiver, you know, I wanted to go close to home or warm and warm was the better situation for a guy that's trying to catch passes, especially when you got damn Marine. But for a kicker, conditions like dome, warm weather for most of the season, perfect grass. That had to be huge when you got drafted by the Dogs.
00:21:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's massive. When you get the schedule before the season, you kind of look of where all the games fall and everything like that, and you're hoping that all your player road games in December or other warm climate places. But yeah, with Miami it's usually you know, maybe two games a year. Your Pennsylvania's being like, oh that might be tough. If we go to New England December, that's going to be tough, or the Jets might be somewhat tough. But even the Jets isn't near as bad as a lot of other places. So it other than a dome, especially now with the semi roof that's been put on, it is up there for one of the better places to be as a kicker.
00:22:02
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:22:02
Speaker 2: Well it was obviously the right place at the right time for you that year, and the decision was made to move forward, right, so they moved forward with you. Dan Carpenter was let go. And now here you are. You're a rookie year early twenties and you are spending fifteen hours a day plus with two guys who are not in the early twenties. So you got Brandon Fields who's in his seventh NFL season and John Denny and his ninth NFL season, and those are those are like your coworkers. What was that like as a young guy having them every day? And anybody knows anything about football knows that the three of you spend a lot of time together. It's all about building that operations. You spend all that time together, talk about what it was like being with these older guys because that they were old by NFL standards at that point. And then I need to hear it's another one of these stories that came out in in either Brandon or John's or both of their their interviews. But I need to hear about the rookie dinner. I need to hear about this rookie dinner that happened with the specialists.
00:23:09
Speaker 1: But did they mention my rookie dinner?
00:23:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, yes, that's the one I'm talking about. That's exactly what.
00:23:15
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, so let's let's know, Well, first off, you know, both of them are old and NFL standards, then both of them are kind of like old souls to begin with as well, like they just I mean, two very much family guys, but you know, they definitely settled down a lot, and you know, very much we're in their routine and things like that. So you know, coming in as a younger guy and stuff with them being very dry and things like that, it was definitely tough to break into kind of their circle what they did, and you know, hang out a up but pretty quickly, you know, John was a golfer. We golfed a few times. Also, I always liked the Jim. John was, you know, definitely a Jim Rad. He was in there every day for a few hours working out barhards. That was another thing that I enjoyed about that group. You know, they worked super hard on and off the field. But yeah, and then the other guy that both of them hung out with a lot was Jason Trusnik. He was kind of a semi specialist at the time because he was really just He's one of the core guys played all four. If you had to plan on defense, you're in trouble a little bit.
00:24:22
Speaker 2: Jason was technically a linebacker for those who don't.
00:24:26
Speaker 1: Every team usually carry one or two. Pretty rare.
00:24:29
Speaker 2: I love it.
00:24:30
Speaker 1: If in trouble, they'll give me a hard time about that. But yeah, so as far as the dinner goes, you know, I grew up one of six kids in Saint Augustine. My dad was a pastor. We didn't have a lot of money growing up, and so I just was not used to nice things. But by any means, so they tell me that we have to do a rookie dinner. I'm like, okay, you know whatever, it's three of us, I'll be able to do that. And then as well, we're also going to bring our wives. And I'm like, all right, well that's you know, now we're now we're at age or or six or whatever. And then it's like, oh, yeah, we've and Trusnik and his wife are coming as well, so I'll start to add it up and then like, oh and it's it's our Prime one twelve, and so, you know, I pull up my phone.
00:25:16
Speaker 2: Out of it.
00:25:18
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, okay. When we get there, and the first thing they do is order their drinks and the seafood platter. They definitely enjoyed, you know, seeing the sweat coming down my face as the bill started to rack up and and again. As a kicker, I was on the league minimum, so obviously for a twenty three year old, I was making a lot of money, but at the same time too to consistently take care of big meals at Prime one twelve. Probably not so. They they enjoyed sticking it to me as a rookie, and and John's a good dude, so I don't know if he mentioned this part, but he slipped me some of the money back.
00:25:56
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:25:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, so Brandon said, he goes and started crying about it. John's giving them money under the table. Brandon said, he was kicking John on the table and say, no, we went through this, He's got to go to So I'm not surprised that John was the guy that was feeling sorry for you, But that's he probably looked at you as like his sixth child or something at that point.
00:26:17
Speaker 1: But that's yeah, No, they were good guys. They I mean, but man, they really stuck to the true traditions of you know, having to make it. You know, I didn't just have to buy the meals every away trip for my rookie year. Had to do it through what the first three games next year technically year and then and then somehow I think they continue to like, oh well, it's so the youngest guys lost to get it. So but they knew what they were.
00:26:44
Speaker 4: Doing right right, Yeah, And that battery changes very rarely. And that's that's one thing I want to ask you about, Kaylab because a lot of times, like when I got to the Dolphins, Duper and Clayton were there, and then they were gone, And so the whole thing with Marino came. It seemed like a little stressed because he was used to hanging out with some other guys. Do you think that the whole Dan Carpenter thing had anything to do with like, you know how they're like, all right, Carpenter's our guy, and now he's gone. Now he's got this young guy, and now we're going to be, you know, treating like a young guy. But of course eventually they loved you like they like they talked about when we had them on the podcast.
00:27:21
Speaker 3: But sometimes that's the way the NFL works. Huh.
00:27:23
Speaker 1: It's the toughest part of the business for sure. Right, So, I mean, i'll i'll ever again and there again. You know, three of the friendliest guys I've ever been around, you know, would give you the shirt off their back. Yeah, so and again I think I maybe had told set this story before, but at the time, you know, those three were super tight. And then they're all married at the time, and from what I remember, I think all three of their wives were pregnant at the same time when I came in. So, you know, the first time Brandon invites me over to his house for something, right, I go over there, you know, by myself, and you know, all three of them there with their wives who are all pregnant at the time, So you do you know, there is a little bit inside you feel bad about the situation and what you're trying to accomplish. But obviously, as you know, it's just you didn't make the decision, right, I didn't make the decision for the Dolphins to draft me. All I could do could do is control what I could control, So try to really focus on that. Again, a lot of kicking, right is mental, so you just can't have many distractions when doing it. So I think you just have to zone out for that part of the picture, really focus on what you control. And for me, I knew Dan was going to play whether it was in Miami or somewhere else. He was one of the best thirty two kickers at the time, and I was just really focused on showing that as well.
00:28:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt about it. Man.
00:28:43
Speaker 4: It's so crazy, big Steff, because I remember when I came in for the Dolphins and there were some guys that had been there for a while, you know, like we talked about and you know, it's part of the game.
00:28:53
Speaker 3: It really is. It's a tough part of the game. But like my rookie year, like.
00:28:58
Speaker 4: I remember like it was yesterday, there were all some some amazing moments and uh you know, there were definitely some some lonely moments, and I have to imagine that experience even more as a kicker. As a kicker, I mean, you guys pretty much, sir, pretty much by yourself.
00:29:13
Speaker 3: I watched all the time when I was playing.
00:29:15
Speaker 4: We're over doing all this other work kicker, long snapper, holder, punter.
00:29:19
Speaker 3: All you guys are like doing your your own thing.
00:29:22
Speaker 4: And you had your You had JR ups and downs that year, to be honest, But one of the high points happened on one of my favorite nights, Bigs Half, because you know me as a fan, I was always at every game, even when I retired, with that Halloween night Thursday night football against the Cincinnati Bengals national stage. So it's already gonna be electric in the stadium, but then you you have to throw in the people in costumes, and it was just it was just absolutely nuts. And I think I might have had a costume one big saff but I won't. I won't tell you what it was.
00:29:52
Speaker 2: Wait a minute, you wore costume to the stadium.
00:29:57
Speaker 4: I probably I won't tell you what it was. Yeah, sometimes I go in in you know, incognito. Sometimes you know what I mean, I need so but I won't tell you what it was. We'll talk about it off off air. But you know, now everyone remembers this game and how it ended, you know, with the can't wake sack and Andy Dalton in the end zone for like the walk off overtime safety, which is one, you know, one of the greatest moments in team history. But what gets lost in this is that you know, Cam never would get this opportunity if it hadn't meant for you nailing that forty four yard field goal, you know, with thirteen seconds left from the clock.
00:30:34
Speaker 3: What do you remember about that game yourself?
00:30:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, well I know, I remember I missed the first field goal that game, and I was on a you know, a really tough streak at that point, and I started off really well and then hit a really tough patch. I know, the Patriots game played really poorly in so I just remember, you know, I missed that one. Just the way it works in the NFL, at kicking, right, like you only get so long and these cold patches, So you know, if I'm I missed one in the thirties, I think first one I hit, and I think it was a pretty pivotal part of the season as well, where you know, we're just above five hundred, trying to make finish the push for the playoffs. So if I missed that one, it's gonna be pretty easy to point to where the problem is on the team. So I remember that being a massive kick both for the team and for myself my career. So that was definitely special. And then again, how many overtime games end in a safety that was that was pretty may you know. I think a few guys kind of stood there on the sideline for an extra second, like does that actually finish the game? So it was a pretty incredible game.
00:31:44
Speaker 4: It sounds like the Super Bowl just happened, like you know, they don't nobody knows overtime rules.
00:31:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, geez man, I can have happened more than two or three times ever.
00:31:54
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, I don't even know. Gosh, I don't want to say something that's wrong, but I for some reason, I feel like that that was historic when he did it, Because you're right, it just it's just not set up to end that way, right, I Mean, typically teams are at least going to start on the twenty yard line, and as we know, the odds of if you win the coin toss, you know how meaningful that is, and so to have multiple possessions and then like that was crazy. But yeah, that was a big kick.
00:32:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, Adam Marino jersey, I was that was damn Marino that day.
00:32:26
Speaker 2: By the way, were you dressed up as Danny Well wait a second, beyond the jersey, what else were you wearing?
00:32:31
Speaker 3: Well, you know, just well just damn Marino jersey.
00:32:34
Speaker 2: Did you have some is oftners on or something?
00:32:36
Speaker 1: Like?
00:32:37
Speaker 3: Any bro?
00:32:37
Speaker 4: He won't give me any, would not give you gotta go buy him his code, ever, and I can't get any.
00:32:44
Speaker 2: I thought he took care of the hands, that took care of him.
00:32:47
Speaker 4: I thought that was kind of the that's just commercial, that's too funny.
00:32:54
Speaker 2: So Caleb, it's it's kind of fascinating, right, just the I guess the peaks and valley of an NFL player in general, but certainly a kicker. Here you are, you're drafted by the team. That's a rare thing. Kickers don't get drafted all the time. So you're drafted by this team, you're named to the All Rookie team at the end of twenty thirteen. You actually improve statistically from year one to year two. But then we get to training camp going into year three, right, and it's August. It's camp. Everybody's working their tail off, and Joe Philbin decides, Hey, we're working hard out here. Let's do a little bonding and build some camaraderie. How about we play kickball. Now, if I'm the kicker on the team and they say let's play kickball, and I come from a soccer background, I'm like, oh, they're playing like I'm about to be messy up in here. But it didn't go down that way. Talk about what happened, man and the aftermath.
00:33:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, So now this was so this was during OTA's I think, yeah, an offseason. So one thing, you know, ever since I hurt my back junior year of college, struggled really bad with soft tissue injuries. Just would pull things in my hips a lot, a lot, a lot of groin pools quad and also I had kicked the day before and so my right leg was feeling really sore. I don't think I quite like pulled my right quad, but it definitely felt close. So I was like, I'm not going to kick right foot at this time. Like the last thing I'm gonna do is hurt myself playing kickball as a team thing. I'm very competitive whatever I do, which is I should have sat out and completely because it's tough to you know. I mean, the one thing about a bunch of NFL dues, no matter what you do, if you put them on a field or anywhere, and you started getting talking going like it gets competitive. But I'm like, well, I can still kick left footed better than nine percent of these guys other than maybe Sue. Sue could boot it at the time, and so I tried to kick left footed, just hadn't really done since soccer, and for whatever reason, I almost completely tore my left quad. I got, yeah, kicking with my opposite foot, Yeah I didn't that, Yeah, So it was it was opposite lag. So completely unfortunate. Really bad timing too, right, I mean I didn't have the best rookie season. My second season again wasn't good enough. So I knew it was a pivotal year for me. So already, you know, trying to get back in good graces. To then hurt myself playing kickball already have a little bit of an injury tag on me was definitely not the ideal start to to that offseason. But yeah, so I missed the rest of OTA's and I think I got cleared maybe a day or two before camp started, So yes, I could kick, but I just started kicking day or two before camp starts. Camp get I mean, you're playing preseason games in two weeks, so you know, probably wasn't exactly where I wanted to be entering that training camp.
00:36:03
Speaker 2: You know, when John was on, we talked about he had that streak right that in the iron Man streak where he played all that time, and he had spoken about one game where he hurt his shoulder very bad. I think it was the rain game against Pittsburgh what have you. And you know, he ended up playing through it, and it wasn't about the streak for him. It was at like, look, this is the NFL. If you can't practice, especially at a position where they only carry one guy on the team, the next day somebody's going to be out there and they're going to put film out there and next thing you know, maybe you are competing for your job and he never wanted to give anybody that opportunity. Did you feel that a little bit when that happened? Like I mean, you had to know as soon as you kicked that ball with your left foot, you had to know immediately, shit, something just went wrong.
00:36:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah, I mean it was a pop again, it was almost a grade three, so you know, almost you know, started pulling off the bone. So yeah, I knew, I knew it was not good. And yeah, it's you know, kind of my entire career sum up that a little bit of It's that constant fight when you are a little bit of an injury prone guy of knowing that you know, if you do let that other guy come in, you know, he might end up turning out like a Jake Elliott, right, you know when I got in Philadelphia and now he's probably a top five kicker in the NFL. So you know, anytime you give someone else that opportunity, they can take it and run with it. But it's that fine balance, and you know, when you look back at things, you think of what could I have done differently, Maybe played a little bit longer, maybe on a few of the injuries I had I should have taken a little bit longer and made sure I was completely right. But does that cut my career down to two years instead of six years? You know, who knows how it plays out in that way, but I think that's something that a lot of NFL guys struggle with. Maybe not your ones and twos and receivers, but you know your fifth and sixth receiver are going to struggle mightily with do I try to play through this or not?
00:38:00
Speaker 4: After you had the situation you had in Philadelphia or your last stint, how many times did you try to go back out? And how many times you try out after that? Because there are only thirty two guys that do what you do. And I know once you get healthy that you're you're one of the most accurate guys in the business. So if you're healthy, you had to feel like you got a chance to, you know, beat out hell half the guys in the field.
00:38:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so that was where you know, I think I knew it was just it was my time by the time I got to the Chargers. At that point, it was just trying to kick to not hurt myself instead of kicking to make it. And you know, It's hard enough to play in this league and make kicks. When you then try to start guiding the ball to not pull a muscle becomes really hard and not near as much fun. So I think I had a few more workouts after, but you know, comparing those to the first workouts that I had when I got cut by the Dolphins again that at that time, those workouts were probably the closest to how I was kicking, you know, before the draft and everything, to where I was six years in having dealt with all these things. I just I was a shell of myself at that point. I wasn't gonna help any team, and you know, it does become to be a lot mentally, you know, when you're letting your teammates down and you feel like you're family and things like that, just because you're not able to do what you once were.
00:39:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, I know the feeling.
00:39:19
Speaker 4: Man, we have very few of us, including myself, get to leave the game the way we want to, you know what I mean, And tell you, uh, my foot injury still to this day is one of the things that you know, I look back on is the reason I couldn't get the opportunity to go out there and be myself and being a shell of yourself. It's not, it's not, it's not what it's about being in the NFL. You gave it shots, man, you gave it a chance, bro, and that's that's commendable.
00:39:45
Speaker 3: Brother.
00:39:46
Speaker 1: I appreciate that.
00:39:47
Speaker 3: Oh man, I don't even know how we even transition.
00:39:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, sorry, I'm sorry too, because yeah, we're both yeah, we we both now the league works, man, how the game is to us and you know, I say, we get the most out.
00:39:59
Speaker 3: Of the game that we can get.
00:40:00
Speaker 4: But Caleb, we have to end our shoulder will be always into our show man.
00:40:05
Speaker 3: We know how you know.
00:40:07
Speaker 4: Have you put an explanation point on a lot of two minute drives? However, you've never been in the fish tank two minute drives. So we're gonna put you in the two minute drive that we do. So buckle up your chintz draped and we're gonna, you know, we're gonna put you through two minutes on the clock and fire off some quick hitting questions and let's see what you've got.
00:40:26
Speaker 3: All right, you good, good, all right, let's go.
00:40:29
Speaker 4: We know you're from Saint Augustine and obviously looking at you, you're a pretty young looking guy right now. Have you ever taken a drink from the Found of Youth?
00:40:41
Speaker 1: Yes?
00:40:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh wow, I'm.
00:40:45
Speaker 3: Coming, chef. Let's go man road trip right now, We're headed to St. Augustine.
00:40:51
Speaker 4: Look at him and look at our grades like, we're like, we gotta go, we gotta go.
00:40:54
Speaker 2: But I was like, are you allowed to do that? Or is that like a high school senior night prank kind of a thing?
00:40:59
Speaker 1: Some one of my buddy's granddad owns that property, like it runs that little area, so they sell the little bottles of water.
00:41:09
Speaker 3: I need a gallon. I need.
00:41:14
Speaker 2: Get a five gallon, Joe, one of those Gatorade jogs.
00:41:16
Speaker 1: Do you get?
00:41:17
Speaker 3: I need one? Butler like this every day, just a sip day. I love it.
00:41:21
Speaker 2: Wow, apparently it really works. Okay, you won a national championship as a freshman at Florida, and despite a September injury, you're considered a Super Bowl champion at least by Wikipedia standards. As part of the Eagles twenty seventeen squad, two championship rings with a combined total of one field goal attempt in those two seasons. Did you accept the rings? Do you have them? And do you still have them.
00:41:45
Speaker 1: Yes, I still have them. Have a a high school state championship as well.
00:41:49
Speaker 3: Let's go, I kicked that efect.
00:41:52
Speaker 1: I kicked three field goals that year. I think sc ten points. Ten points on a Super Bowl team.
00:41:57
Speaker 2: I mean, oh, there you go, correct me. Yeah, good for you.
00:42:07
Speaker 4: Your father smile these Sturges, which, by the way, is you know, one of the all time great names, as we all know, is a passer. Have you ever sung the Dusty Springfield song Son of a Preacher's Man to anyone?
00:42:21
Speaker 3: And for whatever reason? Have you ever sang that song?
00:42:25
Speaker 1: I mean I think probably sung along with it listening to it, but not.
00:42:30
Speaker 2: That's not your karaoke go to.
00:42:32
Speaker 3: No, that's your go to. Okay, all right, all.
00:42:37
Speaker 2: Right, So last question here at his inside the five Brewery in Ohio, your former teammate and holder, Brandon Fields named a beer after the infamous snap to the face play that we talked about earlier. If Brandon decided to create a beer in your honor, what would it be called?
00:42:55
Speaker 1: Oh man, probably kickball?
00:42:58
Speaker 2: Yes, kickball, that's the two minute drill. He is Caleb Sturge's great sense of humor. I love it.
00:43:05
Speaker 3: It is awesome.
00:43:06
Speaker 2: Paul, that is that is too good. I appreciate you, man. You fought through a lot just in this show me trying to get the damn things started. We had some internet issues, had to change locations, but in the end, nothing for you to apologize.
00:43:18
Speaker 3: That was awesome, Bro, that was so awesome.
00:43:21
Speaker 1: Then I appreciate it. I O job.
00:43:23
Speaker 3: So.
00:43:23
Speaker 1: I grew up with big Jaguars family. My brother was a big Dolphins fan, so I know he had probably thirty forty of your training cards growing up.
00:43:30
Speaker 3: So oh, that's what's up. That's tell him I signed them all for free?
00:43:35
Speaker 2: Thirty or does he still have him? Yeah, let's get him down.
00:43:38
Speaker 3: All every single one of them. Does You can't do anything with him after worth like twenty five start.
00:43:44
Speaker 2: Don't start that self deprecating stuff.
00:43:47
Speaker 3: Juice.
00:43:47
Speaker 4: Yeah, Hey, thanks for diving in, Caleb.
00:43:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you guys. I really appreciate it. You having me on. You're now diving just like Jew said.
00:43:59
Speaker 2: Thanks, 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 at this time
Speaker 1: You're now diving.
00:00:07
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have been that pik.
00:00:10
Speaker 3: Who then.
00:00:13
Speaker 1: Sitting down with Seth living oh Jay jew Well, and this is strictly for I'm.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: True number one of course, y'all.
00:00:22
Speaker 3: This ain't the order nervusports talk that might have been that.
00:00:25
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Fish Tank, presented by iHeart Radio right here on the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network, Seth Levitt and my main man o J McDuffie Juice. I struggled a little bit to get this thing started, but we're underway now.
00:00:36
Speaker 3: How you feeling, man, I'm feeling great, big Seth.
00:00:39
Speaker 4: I'm a little worried about you though, man me damn, you stole the one that's usually the steady in force when it comes us doing this podcast, and today it's a little shaky.
00:00:47
Speaker 3: So I'm a little worried. Bro.
00:00:48
Speaker 2: You good, Yeah, I think so. We'll see how things unfold here, but it was definitely a rough start. Fortunately, we've got someone who's gonna hold up his end of the bargain here who is is not worried about out anything. It doesn't matter the conditions, doesn't matter the pressure, because I'm folding under the pressure. You don't send me out there on fourth and four with two seconds left on the clock to go win the game, but you would send Caleb Sturgis. Caleb Sturgis dives into the tag Caleb.
00:01:15
Speaker 1: How you feeling, man, I'm feeling good, feeling good. Love the im getting to talk to dolphins again. Feels like yesterday. But man, time's really flown.
00:01:23
Speaker 2: Man, Yeah, a lot of time has passed. I thought he was sitting there. He was kind of thinking about it. He's like, I was doing great until you screwed up the start of this show three times. Should I leave any of that in? Should I leave for the listeners? I think I'll protect myself a little bit and sound like somewhat of a professional.
00:01:39
Speaker 3: Now you are seth, you know what, you hold it down for us? Man. How many episodes now so far?
00:01:43
Speaker 2: So well, like one hundred and eighty something.
00:01:45
Speaker 4: Yeah, So yeah, you're good, bro, You're good. You're season pro man. You know you know what he's in pro. Sometimes we have our we have off days. Started off. It's how we finished.
00:01:55
Speaker 2: How you finish all the matters, that's exactly right.
00:01:58
Speaker 4: So we finished right, right, So it's okay. You know, we've got a ton of talk about today. You know, right here at the top of the show, I need you to settle something for us.
00:02:07
Speaker 3: So we've been going through this.
00:02:08
Speaker 4: It's been a it's been a bit polarizing here on the fish tank. And that's the infamous snap to the face. I mean you've heard, we've heard down Danny's side. We've definitely heard Brandon field side of the story. I mean we saw the tape, but nobody on this planet had a better seat in the house. Nobody had a better seat in the house. Definitely in uniform. To watch this thing unfold, can you tell us about the play and well, what was it supposed to be?
00:02:37
Speaker 3: And then what went wrong? We need to know what really really happened.
00:02:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, So it's funny looking back at that one. You know that was gonna be my one moment of glory. I didn't run the ball since, uh, like junior year of high school, so I'd wait a long time for that moment to come. We practiced it, I mean like seven eight weeks, just waiting to use it the Patriots in a big game. What I remember of it is we added one more thing to the cadence. You know, we added red or green. You know, green means go red means we call it off. We kicked the field goal, which isn't ideal for a kicker really because you want to create routine. So like when you're back there and you're thinking, like, all right, am I about to sprint out right? Or am I going to have to kick this ball? Not completely ideal. So I'm out there hoping we go green, go green. But it was just that extra cadence. I think John, you know, looks up, so he's used to having whether it's one or two things, and then he goes so, you know, adding that third queue to it was what really threw it off. So I'm sure Brandon blames John, and John blames uh Brandon. But maybe bring coach of Rizzy into it and put a little bit on it.
00:03:49
Speaker 3: Go pass it. We need you, Caleb, we need you. We don't. We don't need another fourth party. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:03:58
Speaker 1: If only would have hit off his helmet and gone the right way, maybe it would have sped it up as well. But I think it was there too. I think I would have got around the edge.
00:04:06
Speaker 3: So Kayla, what was the call then? Was it rad or was it green?
00:04:09
Speaker 1: We were going you're going with that he was going to make the toss.
00:04:12
Speaker 2: Well, there you go. I mean that, you know, that's the whole blame thing, right, Brandon's like the call was green, green, That's what Brandon said.
00:04:19
Speaker 4: My question also is for you, Kayla, when you know what's on, when you know it's a possibility that, so, how many opportunities are there where's a possible fake. How many times have you come across that where there's a fake possibly on it you might have to call off and go ahead and kick it.
00:04:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, So in college we had it all the time. You know, I played for coach Dirk and coach Mushamp, coach Meyer. All of them were very heavy in the fakes in both the punt in the field goal game. But once you get to the pro level, there's very little, at least from my experience. I mean, I think if you look over the past ten years, how many fake field goals now, it's gotta be maybe one a year at that, so extremely rare. So you know, just about that we were back, so it was kind of a hot play at the time. I don't know how many years it was since Elis you did it against US. I think was the first time a right, it was less Miles did the first throw over the back. I think it's before I got there, maybe in like seven or something. He did it, so a bunch of teams had tried it since, but it's still pretty pretty fresh of a play. Now. It seems like, you know, defenses catch on everybody studies film. Uh, you know you're always going to have a guy guarding that.
00:05:31
Speaker 4: That's what it was, shoulder right, Yeah, I like that's that's that's the sweet one, right there.
00:05:37
Speaker 3: One more now.
00:05:38
Speaker 4: Then when it comes to that though, Caleb, heart rate, When you know there's a chance, especially in the pros, it's just so rare. How do you like make sure you take the same steps back on your approach? How do you not have your heart rate way up knowing that? And then when you hear green, how the hell are you composed at that point? And then when it all goes awry?
00:06:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the hard part, right, I mean, I never am catching a ball, so you know, I think one of the biggest things is always try to slow the heart rates, slow myself down in general, because what you want to do is you want to go too fast the beginning, and if you do, that's going to throw off the timing because Brandon's throwing a blind pass backwards. And then also you know, I think you know you're playing against the Patriots. They're they're super in tune with everything going on. If they see my eyes going crazy or Brandon's eyes going crazy, they're going to know something's up. So you know, try to slow everything down, you know, slow the heart rate down, try to be extra slow in everything I'm doing, knowing that probably in real time it's still is looking a little bit fast, and and then getting ready to do it. But my biggest thing was catch the ball. Catch the ball.
00:06:49
Speaker 4: As a receiver, I understand exactly what you're coming, where you're coming from.
00:06:52
Speaker 1: Right, otherwise it's for sure.
00:06:54
Speaker 2: Well he didn't even get a chance to do it. No, I know, what was that, Caleb. I'm sorry.
00:06:58
Speaker 1: I was just saying, because if I drop it or if it gets past me, I mean, it's six points the other way. We've got a bunch of linemen, maybe a few tight ends, and I've got four dvs on the field.
00:07:07
Speaker 3: Well, you know, dolphin history has some kicker problems, you know what I mean. We had care of that.
00:07:13
Speaker 4: You know, A must snap and the ball you know, comes out of his hands, so at least you have nothing to do with the way this play did not work.
00:07:22
Speaker 1: It's true, and I think I maybe fell on whoever recovered it is, I maybe recorded a tackle.
00:07:26
Speaker 2: So not all there. There you go on the game, I put yourself in the box score. Oh that's too funny. Well, I guess we kind of cleared it up. If he said the call was green, juice. If he said the call was green, then I think that maybe Brandon could be correct here. I don't know. I know they said Denny was snapping blind, so who knows, but it was. It was pretty funny. He was backpedaling, Denny was backed brought it up. So I am glad that we got a little bit more information. Okay, we're gonna rewind. We're going to get back to dolphins, but I want to rewind to the beginning. So you are born and raised in the oldest city in the entire country, and for those who don't know what that is at Saint Augustine, Florida, talk to us about what was that like. Like I'm always fascinated by the idea of people who grow up in a town that is like this major tourist attraction, right, and then you throw in a place like Saint Augustine that's not only a tourist attraction, but it has all of this incredible history. It seems to me, I don't know, like if I lived there, I think, like, I think it's cool if I go to Saint Augustine, But if I lived there, I almost would be like, you know, that's cool that people like coming here, but I kind of want my town to be my.
00:08:41
Speaker 1: Town, right, Yeah, And I think that part's gotten a lot worse with time as far as how many people are visiting now, I mean millions of people are visiting. And then on top of that, I always when I was growing up, I always thought it was almost like a hidden gem in the sense that you know, it's probably half the price or a third of the price of South Florida, like beach real estate and everything like that, And our beaches aren't as nice, but but pretty close, you know, not near as much hustle and bustle. It's a very much beach community as well, and I don't remember being all that busy. But man, when you go now and you try to go the downtown area, you can wait in traffic for an hour and an hour and a half. But you just don't think of in a small town. You know, you have the field trip. I think most fifth graders go and see the fort there, and yeah, lot's of really cool history. I mean, my kids love going. But it's definitely unique living there. You definitely have lifers that just love it and you know, will be there their entire lives, and you have others just can't wait to get out. At eighteen, I was probably somewhere more in the middle ready to get out. But now, you know, have a little bit of nostalgia of being gone out of Saint John's County.
00:09:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what said. That's how it works out though.
00:09:49
Speaker 4: As a kid, you know, I mean, it's great you want to get up out of there because you've been there the whole time, and then all of a sudden, you know you'd leave and you're like, oh, this is what how Miami is, this is how you know Gainesville is, and things like that.
00:10:02
Speaker 3: But then when you get older.
00:10:03
Speaker 4: You're like, I kind of like that that quiet reserve type of.
00:10:08
Speaker 2: But juice, you're not running back to Cleveland.
00:10:10
Speaker 4: Oh hell no, hell no, I run back for a weekend or maybe two days, not even the whole weekend sometimes, man, But I get it. But it's not Florida, though, except right right, this is Florida. This is this is a beautiful. My family went there like for you know, for weekends, you know, for like a decade, to go to Saint Augustine.
00:10:31
Speaker 3: And I know exactly what he's talking about. I even went to a couple of weddings.
00:10:34
Speaker 4: In Saint Augustine, so I get what he's talking about. The beaches are great, it's quiet, it's so serene. It's just a beautiful area. Man, But it's kind of it's slow for somebody that's a little bit younger, like twenties to probably forties.
00:10:49
Speaker 3: But once you get to my age, it's a great spot. Your move to St.
00:10:54
Speaker 2: Augustine.
00:10:55
Speaker 4: No, no, I didn't say all that shit. Now, don't get it twisted. I love South Florida still, Caleb. I love South Florida.
00:11:02
Speaker 1: That what I did too, And again I called it the hint and jam in the sense again just from a price standpoint, it was just so much cheaper. But now, I mean you look at pawn of Viad real estate and things like that, and it's it's caught up. People have moved to North Florida.
00:11:14
Speaker 3: Well, I think everybody had to move north. There's nothing else.
00:11:17
Speaker 4: There's nothing left down here, So moving north is the key, That's what damn sure, So so Skaling, we clearly we know that.
00:11:24
Speaker 3: You know, soccer had a big presence in your family.
00:11:26
Speaker 4: You know, your older brother Nathan, he's a big time soccer player at Nice High School. I think Seth already he of course Seth always says this. You know Tebow went there, right exactly.
00:11:38
Speaker 2: It's just fact they had to put the note in there. Fact right, I don't know played sports there.
00:11:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, if they flew him in, him in on game day, I get it.
00:11:48
Speaker 3: I get it.
00:11:49
Speaker 4: And your brother played on the club club circuit before becoming you know, playing at Clemson and then professionally for you know, I think what a decade and a half maybe, but you didn't attend niece talk about why you went to Saint Augustine High and then how you transition from the pitch, which we all now, we're all soccer fans.
00:12:09
Speaker 1: So it's funny. Well, I mean kind of in that introduction he kind of answered it a little bit too with Tibo. So my oldest sister, she played soccer. William and Mary oldest brother, played soccer at Flagler and then Nathan left when he was sixteen to go play the under seventeen national team and went on the Clemson But anyway, they were all homeschooled. We were all zoned for Saint Augustine. But at the time, nobody really cared what homeschool kids were doing as far as where they played sports, because again, we usually played weird sports like soccer, and that just didn't move the needle. But then all of a sudden Tebo I think, was zoned for maybe Bartram Trail and ended up playing football at Nice. And then all of a sudden the county decided, and maybe it was the whole state that know, if your homeschool, do you need to play where you're zoned for. So I don't know what they call it, but it's the Tea rule. And yeah, so that was why, you know, no matter what, I was gonna end up playing sports at Saint Augustine. But I was also probably the toughest student for my mom, so she was also ready for me to go to school. So I was the first one of the six to go to high school. The other three were homeschooled all the way through high school.
00:13:19
Speaker 2: Wow, now why were you the toughest student, Like, you know, I want to know what that means.
00:13:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, we need war, we need war.
00:13:25
Speaker 2: I need a little more juice there.
00:13:27
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, my oldest sister, she's an attorney, super smart, super good in the books and all. Maybe I had more questions. I don't know. I don't know what it was, or I mean I think I think it just got harder and harder too. Is what the rules of, you know, making sure that you pass all the correct exams. I think the fcat was getting really big at the time. So just it was becoming tougher in the admissions process in college, being homeschool at Verse High school. So I think all of that played together. And then for me socially, I was just kind of you know, the older siblings are out of the house. I was ready to get the social aspect of high school that you miss out on.
00:14:07
Speaker 2: Well, now we're about to get to the good stuff too. So we got through high school, graduated, and.
00:14:13
Speaker 3: I knew it was coming.
00:14:14
Speaker 2: Caleb, we got to get there right. So so Caleb, I have spent the better part of nearly three decades, trying to explain to my partner here why it's great to be a Florida Gator. And so the only thing better than being a Florida Gator is being a Florida Gator great. And that is exactly who Caleb is. So you you really had an incredible career there in Gainesville. You were part of a national championship squad as a freshman, two time first team All SEC selection, First Team All Americans, a senior, and when all is said and done there you leave as the school's all time leader with seventy made field goals. So you did your thing for the Orange and Blue and it was just an amazing run. Talk about your experience at UF because the time that you were there, like the roster that was there. You know, we already talked about Tim, the Pouncy Brothers. You know, we've had both of them on the show. You know, Mike and Marquis were there, Percy Harvin was there. Cam Newton I think was even there when you showed up as a freshman. So just talk about the experience in Gainesville, but also the bevy of talent that you walked into.
00:15:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I came in early in January. Again, I saw t Bow do it, so I thought that was the thing to do. It wasn't very smart in retrospect, is.
00:15:32
Speaker 3: Why not? Why not?
00:15:33
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I'm a kicker, so I could have probably got just as good of working on my own instead of jumping into all the matt drills and the stadiums. And because you know, I think if you come in the year before, you're coming off the six National championship, everything's pretty good in the building. I got there coming off to seven. We lost like four regular season games and then got spanked by Michigan in the bowl game. So the coach, Mick, the strength coach, and I mean coach my, I mean, they were ready to kind of make or break every player at that point. So so I kind of hopped right into the fire my first semester there. But yeah, I mean, just from an overall picture, it's one of those things you don't realize when you're in it until you get out of just that that wasn't the norm of having that much talent in one building, you know, looking back, with just the generational talent that Cam Newton is or was, I mean, I still think his one season at Auburn is the greatest season out of any college football player there's ever been. I mean, you look at the roster that they had maybe two other NFL guys, and to win a national championship in the modern earrow is really unreal because you look at Florida and what we won with. I mean, you have a eight team, probably forty guys are on NFL rosters, just so much talent.
00:16:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was pretty sick. It's pretty nauseating right now to hear how you get it.
00:16:58
Speaker 2: We had a great run for a while. We had Lewis Oliver, then we had Channing on and we had how many other guys?
00:17:03
Speaker 3: I brought it.
00:17:04
Speaker 2: Trace Arms truck. We had all these Gators like at one time, and juice was over.
00:17:09
Speaker 3: Nah.
00:17:10
Speaker 4: You know what, man, Because I know those guys as Dolphins, I don't really know them as Gators. So it made a lot easier on me. Yeah, you know what I mean. But I'm gonna tell you what I mean. You can't deny the talent. It is what it is, man. And you know, and of course a great school for everybody to go to, and not only for for academics like Seth went for because obviously didn't go for shit else.
00:17:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, what I mean? That was it?
00:17:33
Speaker 2: I had an intermural championship or two either.
00:17:37
Speaker 1: I know a lot of friends spent many years trying to get one of those.
00:17:41
Speaker 2: So we just keep dropping the division down until you get a title. That what division were you win, big, Seth? I think I started in the B. I might have won my title in the C division. Actually in Okay, that's not bad gym, that's not too bad a division. You're playing like all of Caleb's teammates. I think my one year I said, these guys were in the A division. This is when they had like Jackass Green and all those guys. Like, how in the hell can you even compete with them?
00:18:06
Speaker 3: Anyhow?
00:18:06
Speaker 4: You know, we kind of goten off track right here, you know, and Caleb, you are a UF legend, Seth. I don't know what kind of legend you were at UF, but at least you won that that division C championship, and that means a lot to a lot of people.
00:18:21
Speaker 3: Probably.
00:18:21
Speaker 2: I still have my T shirt, juice, I still have my T shirt.
00:18:24
Speaker 3: Anyhow, let's get back on track here.
00:18:26
Speaker 4: Man, you did have tremendous success in college, and you earn something that is rare for your position, and that is a spot in the NFL Draft. Now, the NFL Draft, you know, most kickers don't get an opportunity like that, Kayleb. But the Dolphins select you in the fifth round. What were your expectations heading into the draft and was Miami on your radar? I mean we asked this, you know, we we asked because Dan Carpenter was.
00:18:49
Speaker 3: On our team at that point.
00:18:51
Speaker 4: Dan was a popular player here on the roster, had then to a Pro Bowl. I just wonder if you were coming in once it happened, what we expectations, what you got here.
00:19:01
Speaker 1: Yeah. So as far as like leading up to the draft and all I knew probably the hottest name would be Dustin Hopkins had a really good career at Florida State. I think at the time he was the all time leading scorer. There was a guy named Quinn Sharp out of Oklahoma State did a really good job doing all three and I had a really bad back.
00:19:21
Speaker 3: In all three means kickoff, punt, and point. Yeah.
00:19:24
Speaker 1: So he did all at Oklahoma State, I mean at a really high level. I think he like led the nation and touchbacks back and this this was back when we kicked off from the thirty, so if you're hitting touch backs from the thirty, it was it was a big deal. And the ball came out to the twenty.
00:19:38
Speaker 2: Five, so there used to be a.
00:19:41
Speaker 1: Much higher premium on kickoffs than there is today. So all that to say, I hurt my back really bad my junior year, wasn't sure if I continue to play football, and then just came out my junior and senior year played really well, so it wasn't completely sure where I stood. But really that time between finishing my senior season and all the way up to the draft just was the best kicking I've really ever ever had. I was the healthiest I'd ever been. I went fifteen for fifteen at the Combine between all my my pro day and all my trials, probably missed two or three field goals the entire time out of a few hundred, So just kicking at a really high level. And coach Rizzy did come here and we did a one on one workout together. I remember it being a good workout. But there was definitely some teams that I thought had a bigger need for a kicker at the time, so you know, I thought it was more than likely I was going to end up with the Browns or Jets. So I was a little bit surprised on draft day when I ended up seeing the South Florida number. Kind of cross my fingers and when I when I got that call, knowing that had the opportunity to stay in the state.
00:20:46
Speaker 4: Well as a kicker and as a wide receiver, South Florida means a lot when it comes to conditions.
00:20:52
Speaker 3: I mean, think about that.
00:20:53
Speaker 4: You really have to you know, half the season you might go somewhere else, but you know at the beginning of the season, it's not that Badami instead of league, Yeah.
00:21:02
Speaker 3: Well there you go exactly exactly.
00:21:04
Speaker 4: As a wide receiver, you know, I wanted to go close to home or warm and warm was the better situation for a guy that's trying to catch passes, especially when you got damn Marine. But for a kicker, conditions like dome, warm weather for most of the season, perfect grass. That had to be huge when you got drafted by the Dogs.
00:21:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's massive. When you get the schedule before the season, you kind of look of where all the games fall and everything like that, and you're hoping that all your player road games in December or other warm climate places. But yeah, with Miami it's usually you know, maybe two games a year. Your Pennsylvania's being like, oh that might be tough. If we go to New England December, that's going to be tough, or the Jets might be somewhat tough. But even the Jets isn't near as bad as a lot of other places. So it other than a dome, especially now with the semi roof that's been put on, it is up there for one of the better places to be as a kicker.
00:22:02
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:22:02
Speaker 2: Well it was obviously the right place at the right time for you that year, and the decision was made to move forward, right, so they moved forward with you. Dan Carpenter was let go. And now here you are. You're a rookie year early twenties and you are spending fifteen hours a day plus with two guys who are not in the early twenties. So you got Brandon Fields who's in his seventh NFL season and John Denny and his ninth NFL season, and those are those are like your coworkers. What was that like as a young guy having them every day? And anybody knows anything about football knows that the three of you spend a lot of time together. It's all about building that operations. You spend all that time together, talk about what it was like being with these older guys because that they were old by NFL standards at that point. And then I need to hear it's another one of these stories that came out in in either Brandon or John's or both of their their interviews. But I need to hear about the rookie dinner. I need to hear about this rookie dinner that happened with the specialists.
00:23:09
Speaker 1: But did they mention my rookie dinner?
00:23:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, yes, that's the one I'm talking about. That's exactly what.
00:23:15
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, so let's let's know, Well, first off, you know, both of them are old and NFL standards, then both of them are kind of like old souls to begin with as well, like they just I mean, two very much family guys, but you know, they definitely settled down a lot, and you know, very much we're in their routine and things like that. So you know, coming in as a younger guy and stuff with them being very dry and things like that, it was definitely tough to break into kind of their circle what they did, and you know, hang out a up but pretty quickly, you know, John was a golfer. We golfed a few times. Also, I always liked the Jim. John was, you know, definitely a Jim Rad. He was in there every day for a few hours working out barhards. That was another thing that I enjoyed about that group. You know, they worked super hard on and off the field. But yeah, and then the other guy that both of them hung out with a lot was Jason Trusnik. He was kind of a semi specialist at the time because he was really just He's one of the core guys played all four. If you had to plan on defense, you're in trouble a little bit.
00:24:22
Speaker 2: Jason was technically a linebacker for those who don't.
00:24:26
Speaker 1: Every team usually carry one or two. Pretty rare.
00:24:29
Speaker 2: I love it.
00:24:30
Speaker 1: If in trouble, they'll give me a hard time about that. But yeah, so as far as the dinner goes, you know, I grew up one of six kids in Saint Augustine. My dad was a pastor. We didn't have a lot of money growing up, and so I just was not used to nice things. But by any means, so they tell me that we have to do a rookie dinner. I'm like, okay, you know whatever, it's three of us, I'll be able to do that. And then as well, we're also going to bring our wives. And I'm like, all right, well that's you know, now we're now we're at age or or six or whatever. And then it's like, oh, yeah, we've and Trusnik and his wife are coming as well, so I'll start to add it up and then like, oh and it's it's our Prime one twelve, and so, you know, I pull up my phone.
00:25:16
Speaker 2: Out of it.
00:25:18
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, okay. When we get there, and the first thing they do is order their drinks and the seafood platter. They definitely enjoyed, you know, seeing the sweat coming down my face as the bill started to rack up and and again. As a kicker, I was on the league minimum, so obviously for a twenty three year old, I was making a lot of money, but at the same time too to consistently take care of big meals at Prime one twelve. Probably not so. They they enjoyed sticking it to me as a rookie, and and John's a good dude, so I don't know if he mentioned this part, but he slipped me some of the money back.
00:25:56
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:25:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, so Brandon said, he goes and started crying about it. John's giving them money under the table. Brandon said, he was kicking John on the table and say, no, we went through this, He's got to go to So I'm not surprised that John was the guy that was feeling sorry for you, But that's he probably looked at you as like his sixth child or something at that point.
00:26:17
Speaker 1: But that's yeah, No, they were good guys. They I mean, but man, they really stuck to the true traditions of you know, having to make it. You know, I didn't just have to buy the meals every away trip for my rookie year. Had to do it through what the first three games next year technically year and then and then somehow I think they continue to like, oh well, it's so the youngest guys lost to get it. So but they knew what they were.
00:26:44
Speaker 4: Doing right right, Yeah, And that battery changes very rarely. And that's that's one thing I want to ask you about, Kaylab because a lot of times, like when I got to the Dolphins, Duper and Clayton were there, and then they were gone, And so the whole thing with Marino came. It seemed like a little stressed because he was used to hanging out with some other guys. Do you think that the whole Dan Carpenter thing had anything to do with like, you know how they're like, all right, Carpenter's our guy, and now he's gone. Now he's got this young guy, and now we're going to be, you know, treating like a young guy. But of course eventually they loved you like they like they talked about when we had them on the podcast.
00:27:21
Speaker 3: But sometimes that's the way the NFL works. Huh.
00:27:23
Speaker 1: It's the toughest part of the business for sure. Right, So, I mean, i'll i'll ever again and there again. You know, three of the friendliest guys I've ever been around, you know, would give you the shirt off their back. Yeah, so and again I think I maybe had told set this story before, but at the time, you know, those three were super tight. And then they're all married at the time, and from what I remember, I think all three of their wives were pregnant at the same time when I came in. So, you know, the first time Brandon invites me over to his house for something, right, I go over there, you know, by myself, and you know, all three of them there with their wives who are all pregnant at the time, So you do you know, there is a little bit inside you feel bad about the situation and what you're trying to accomplish. But obviously, as you know, it's just you didn't make the decision, right, I didn't make the decision for the Dolphins to draft me. All I could do could do is control what I could control, So try to really focus on that. Again, a lot of kicking, right is mental, so you just can't have many distractions when doing it. So I think you just have to zone out for that part of the picture, really focus on what you control. And for me, I knew Dan was going to play whether it was in Miami or somewhere else. He was one of the best thirty two kickers at the time, and I was just really focused on showing that as well.
00:28:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt about it. Man.
00:28:43
Speaker 4: It's so crazy, big Steff, because I remember when I came in for the Dolphins and there were some guys that had been there for a while, you know, like we talked about and you know, it's part of the game.
00:28:53
Speaker 3: It really is. It's a tough part of the game. But like my rookie year, like.
00:28:58
Speaker 4: I remember like it was yesterday, there were all some some amazing moments and uh you know, there were definitely some some lonely moments, and I have to imagine that experience even more as a kicker. As a kicker, I mean, you guys pretty much, sir, pretty much by yourself.
00:29:13
Speaker 3: I watched all the time when I was playing.
00:29:15
Speaker 4: We're over doing all this other work kicker, long snapper, holder, punter.
00:29:19
Speaker 3: All you guys are like doing your your own thing.
00:29:22
Speaker 4: And you had your You had JR ups and downs that year, to be honest, But one of the high points happened on one of my favorite nights, Bigs Half, because you know me as a fan, I was always at every game, even when I retired, with that Halloween night Thursday night football against the Cincinnati Bengals national stage. So it's already gonna be electric in the stadium, but then you you have to throw in the people in costumes, and it was just it was just absolutely nuts. And I think I might have had a costume one big saff but I won't. I won't tell you what it was.
00:29:52
Speaker 2: Wait a minute, you wore costume to the stadium.
00:29:57
Speaker 4: I probably I won't tell you what it was. Yeah, sometimes I go in in you know, incognito. Sometimes you know what I mean, I need so but I won't tell you what it was. We'll talk about it off off air. But you know, now everyone remembers this game and how it ended, you know, with the can't wake sack and Andy Dalton in the end zone for like the walk off overtime safety, which is one, you know, one of the greatest moments in team history. But what gets lost in this is that you know, Cam never would get this opportunity if it hadn't meant for you nailing that forty four yard field goal, you know, with thirteen seconds left from the clock.
00:30:34
Speaker 3: What do you remember about that game yourself?
00:30:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, well I know, I remember I missed the first field goal that game, and I was on a you know, a really tough streak at that point, and I started off really well and then hit a really tough patch. I know, the Patriots game played really poorly in so I just remember, you know, I missed that one. Just the way it works in the NFL, at kicking, right, like you only get so long and these cold patches, So you know, if I'm I missed one in the thirties, I think first one I hit, and I think it was a pretty pivotal part of the season as well, where you know, we're just above five hundred, trying to make finish the push for the playoffs. So if I missed that one, it's gonna be pretty easy to point to where the problem is on the team. So I remember that being a massive kick both for the team and for myself my career. So that was definitely special. And then again, how many overtime games end in a safety that was that was pretty may you know. I think a few guys kind of stood there on the sideline for an extra second, like does that actually finish the game? So it was a pretty incredible game.
00:31:44
Speaker 4: It sounds like the Super Bowl just happened, like you know, they don't nobody knows overtime rules.
00:31:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, geez man, I can have happened more than two or three times ever.
00:31:54
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, I don't even know. Gosh, I don't want to say something that's wrong, but I for some reason, I feel like that that was historic when he did it, Because you're right, it just it's just not set up to end that way, right, I Mean, typically teams are at least going to start on the twenty yard line, and as we know, the odds of if you win the coin toss, you know how meaningful that is, and so to have multiple possessions and then like that was crazy. But yeah, that was a big kick.
00:32:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, Adam Marino jersey, I was that was damn Marino that day.
00:32:26
Speaker 2: By the way, were you dressed up as Danny Well wait a second, beyond the jersey, what else were you wearing?
00:32:31
Speaker 3: Well, you know, just well just damn Marino jersey.
00:32:34
Speaker 2: Did you have some is oftners on or something?
00:32:36
Speaker 1: Like?
00:32:37
Speaker 3: Any bro?
00:32:37
Speaker 4: He won't give me any, would not give you gotta go buy him his code, ever, and I can't get any.
00:32:44
Speaker 2: I thought he took care of the hands, that took care of him.
00:32:47
Speaker 4: I thought that was kind of the that's just commercial, that's too funny.
00:32:54
Speaker 2: So Caleb, it's it's kind of fascinating, right, just the I guess the peaks and valley of an NFL player in general, but certainly a kicker. Here you are, you're drafted by the team. That's a rare thing. Kickers don't get drafted all the time. So you're drafted by this team, you're named to the All Rookie team at the end of twenty thirteen. You actually improve statistically from year one to year two. But then we get to training camp going into year three, right, and it's August. It's camp. Everybody's working their tail off, and Joe Philbin decides, Hey, we're working hard out here. Let's do a little bonding and build some camaraderie. How about we play kickball. Now, if I'm the kicker on the team and they say let's play kickball, and I come from a soccer background, I'm like, oh, they're playing like I'm about to be messy up in here. But it didn't go down that way. Talk about what happened, man and the aftermath.
00:33:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, So now this was so this was during OTA's I think, yeah, an offseason. So one thing, you know, ever since I hurt my back junior year of college, struggled really bad with soft tissue injuries. Just would pull things in my hips a lot, a lot, a lot of groin pools quad and also I had kicked the day before and so my right leg was feeling really sore. I don't think I quite like pulled my right quad, but it definitely felt close. So I was like, I'm not going to kick right foot at this time. Like the last thing I'm gonna do is hurt myself playing kickball as a team thing. I'm very competitive whatever I do, which is I should have sat out and completely because it's tough to you know. I mean, the one thing about a bunch of NFL dues, no matter what you do, if you put them on a field or anywhere, and you started getting talking going like it gets competitive. But I'm like, well, I can still kick left footed better than nine percent of these guys other than maybe Sue. Sue could boot it at the time, and so I tried to kick left footed, just hadn't really done since soccer, and for whatever reason, I almost completely tore my left quad. I got, yeah, kicking with my opposite foot, Yeah I didn't that, Yeah, So it was it was opposite lag. So completely unfortunate. Really bad timing too, right, I mean I didn't have the best rookie season. My second season again wasn't good enough. So I knew it was a pivotal year for me. So already, you know, trying to get back in good graces. To then hurt myself playing kickball already have a little bit of an injury tag on me was definitely not the ideal start to to that offseason. But yeah, so I missed the rest of OTA's and I think I got cleared maybe a day or two before camp started, So yes, I could kick, but I just started kicking day or two before camp starts. Camp get I mean, you're playing preseason games in two weeks, so you know, probably wasn't exactly where I wanted to be entering that training camp.
00:36:03
Speaker 2: You know, when John was on, we talked about he had that streak right that in the iron Man streak where he played all that time, and he had spoken about one game where he hurt his shoulder very bad. I think it was the rain game against Pittsburgh what have you. And you know, he ended up playing through it, and it wasn't about the streak for him. It was at like, look, this is the NFL. If you can't practice, especially at a position where they only carry one guy on the team, the next day somebody's going to be out there and they're going to put film out there and next thing you know, maybe you are competing for your job and he never wanted to give anybody that opportunity. Did you feel that a little bit when that happened? Like I mean, you had to know as soon as you kicked that ball with your left foot, you had to know immediately, shit, something just went wrong.
00:36:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah, I mean it was a pop again, it was almost a grade three, so you know, almost you know, started pulling off the bone. So yeah, I knew, I knew it was not good. And yeah, it's you know, kind of my entire career sum up that a little bit of It's that constant fight when you are a little bit of an injury prone guy of knowing that you know, if you do let that other guy come in, you know, he might end up turning out like a Jake Elliott, right, you know when I got in Philadelphia and now he's probably a top five kicker in the NFL. So you know, anytime you give someone else that opportunity, they can take it and run with it. But it's that fine balance, and you know, when you look back at things, you think of what could I have done differently, Maybe played a little bit longer, maybe on a few of the injuries I had I should have taken a little bit longer and made sure I was completely right. But does that cut my career down to two years instead of six years? You know, who knows how it plays out in that way, but I think that's something that a lot of NFL guys struggle with. Maybe not your ones and twos and receivers, but you know your fifth and sixth receiver are going to struggle mightily with do I try to play through this or not?
00:38:00
Speaker 4: After you had the situation you had in Philadelphia or your last stint, how many times did you try to go back out? And how many times you try out after that? Because there are only thirty two guys that do what you do. And I know once you get healthy that you're you're one of the most accurate guys in the business. So if you're healthy, you had to feel like you got a chance to, you know, beat out hell half the guys in the field.
00:38:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so that was where you know, I think I knew it was just it was my time by the time I got to the Chargers. At that point, it was just trying to kick to not hurt myself instead of kicking to make it. And you know, It's hard enough to play in this league and make kicks. When you then try to start guiding the ball to not pull a muscle becomes really hard and not near as much fun. So I think I had a few more workouts after, but you know, comparing those to the first workouts that I had when I got cut by the Dolphins again that at that time, those workouts were probably the closest to how I was kicking, you know, before the draft and everything, to where I was six years in having dealt with all these things. I just I was a shell of myself at that point. I wasn't gonna help any team, and you know, it does become to be a lot mentally, you know, when you're letting your teammates down and you feel like you're family and things like that, just because you're not able to do what you once were.
00:39:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, I know the feeling.
00:39:19
Speaker 4: Man, we have very few of us, including myself, get to leave the game the way we want to, you know what I mean, And tell you, uh, my foot injury still to this day is one of the things that you know, I look back on is the reason I couldn't get the opportunity to go out there and be myself and being a shell of yourself. It's not, it's not, it's not what it's about being in the NFL. You gave it shots, man, you gave it a chance, bro, and that's that's commendable.
00:39:45
Speaker 3: Brother.
00:39:46
Speaker 1: I appreciate that.
00:39:47
Speaker 3: Oh man, I don't even know how we even transition.
00:39:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, sorry, I'm sorry too, because yeah, we're both yeah, we we both now the league works, man, how the game is to us and you know, I say, we get the most out.
00:39:59
Speaker 3: Of the game that we can get.
00:40:00
Speaker 4: But Caleb, we have to end our shoulder will be always into our show man.
00:40:05
Speaker 3: We know how you know.
00:40:07
Speaker 4: Have you put an explanation point on a lot of two minute drives? However, you've never been in the fish tank two minute drives. So we're gonna put you in the two minute drive that we do. So buckle up your chintz draped and we're gonna, you know, we're gonna put you through two minutes on the clock and fire off some quick hitting questions and let's see what you've got.
00:40:26
Speaker 3: All right, you good, good, all right, let's go.
00:40:29
Speaker 4: We know you're from Saint Augustine and obviously looking at you, you're a pretty young looking guy right now. Have you ever taken a drink from the Found of Youth?
00:40:41
Speaker 1: Yes?
00:40:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh wow, I'm.
00:40:45
Speaker 3: Coming, chef. Let's go man road trip right now, We're headed to St. Augustine.
00:40:51
Speaker 4: Look at him and look at our grades like, we're like, we gotta go, we gotta go.
00:40:54
Speaker 2: But I was like, are you allowed to do that? Or is that like a high school senior night prank kind of a thing?
00:40:59
Speaker 1: Some one of my buddy's granddad owns that property, like it runs that little area, so they sell the little bottles of water.
00:41:09
Speaker 3: I need a gallon. I need.
00:41:14
Speaker 2: Get a five gallon, Joe, one of those Gatorade jogs.
00:41:16
Speaker 1: Do you get?
00:41:17
Speaker 3: I need one? Butler like this every day, just a sip day. I love it.
00:41:21
Speaker 2: Wow, apparently it really works. Okay, you won a national championship as a freshman at Florida, and despite a September injury, you're considered a Super Bowl champion at least by Wikipedia standards. As part of the Eagles twenty seventeen squad, two championship rings with a combined total of one field goal attempt in those two seasons. Did you accept the rings? Do you have them? And do you still have them.
00:41:45
Speaker 1: Yes, I still have them. Have a a high school state championship as well.
00:41:49
Speaker 3: Let's go, I kicked that efect.
00:41:52
Speaker 1: I kicked three field goals that year. I think sc ten points. Ten points on a Super Bowl team.
00:41:57
Speaker 2: I mean, oh, there you go, correct me. Yeah, good for you.
00:42:07
Speaker 4: Your father smile these Sturges, which, by the way, is you know, one of the all time great names, as we all know, is a passer. Have you ever sung the Dusty Springfield song Son of a Preacher's Man to anyone?
00:42:21
Speaker 3: And for whatever reason? Have you ever sang that song?
00:42:25
Speaker 1: I mean I think probably sung along with it listening to it, but not.
00:42:30
Speaker 2: That's not your karaoke go to.
00:42:32
Speaker 3: No, that's your go to. Okay, all right, all.
00:42:37
Speaker 2: Right, So last question here at his inside the five Brewery in Ohio, your former teammate and holder, Brandon Fields named a beer after the infamous snap to the face play that we talked about earlier. If Brandon decided to create a beer in your honor, what would it be called?
00:42:55
Speaker 1: Oh man, probably kickball?
00:42:58
Speaker 2: Yes, kickball, that's the two minute drill. He is Caleb Sturge's great sense of humor. I love it.
00:43:05
Speaker 3: It is awesome.
00:43:06
Speaker 2: Paul, that is that is too good. I appreciate you, man. You fought through a lot just in this show me trying to get the damn things started. We had some internet issues, had to change locations, but in the end, nothing for you to apologize.
00:43:18
Speaker 3: That was awesome, Bro, that was so awesome.
00:43:21
Speaker 1: Then I appreciate it. I O job.
00:43:23
Speaker 3: So.
00:43:23
Speaker 1: I grew up with big Jaguars family. My brother was a big Dolphins fan, so I know he had probably thirty forty of your training cards growing up.
00:43:30
Speaker 3: So oh, that's what's up. That's tell him I signed them all for free?
00:43:35
Speaker 2: Thirty or does he still have him? Yeah, let's get him down.
00:43:38
Speaker 3: All every single one of them. Does You can't do anything with him after worth like twenty five start.
00:43:44
Speaker 2: Don't start that self deprecating stuff.
00:43:47
Speaker 3: Juice.
00:43:47
Speaker 4: Yeah, Hey, thanks for diving in, Caleb.
00:43:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you guys. I really appreciate it. You having me on. You're now diving just like Jew said.
00:43:59
Speaker 2: Thanks, 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 at this time
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