Don Shumpert First NFL Coach Turned NFL Agent | WUW 579

Don Shumpert joins the show. Don is from St. Louis MO and joined the Hawks in the class of 2010. We re-connect wit Don after a decade as he was a senior during the Walk Ons freshman year. We reflect on past memories and dive into Shumpert's journey from Iowa to his current role as an NFL agent. The hosts discuss his recruiting story, college challenges, and his transition to coaching. Shumpert shares insights into his experiences in the NFL and his unique perspective as a former NFL coach now helping athletes as an agent. They reminisce about shared team experiences, highlighting the toughness required during their collegiate football careers and how it shaped their lives. Tune in for a chat about perseverance, career pivots, and the future of football talent management.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Episodes like this or why We do the podcast got
to reconnect with the teammate after ten years since the
last time we talked. Don Schumpert joins the show a
leader and guy who did things right when Kevin and
I stepped in twenty thirteen, went on to become a
coach gad for the Hawk Guys, coached in the NFL,
and is now an NFL agent. Don has a great story.

(00:20):
We know you'll love it. Let's have a day. Let's
go another episode of the Washup walk Ons. This is

(00:54):
one of those episodes. We need Drake here because he
would give that fantastic intro. We don't have him vacation
right now. Actually we have me. I'll try to do
it justice. We have one of our former teammates on tonight,
Don Schumpert, our guy Shump. Haven't talked to him in
a decade. We're really excited to have him on the show.
He's been doing big things since we left Iowa. He
was there in our first year during twenty thirteen, and

(01:18):
when you're a freshman, you don't get a lot of
time to learn about the older guys. Shump's walking around
as freshmen. We're just scared. It's like Kirksey and Sheriff
and all these guys are walking around. You're just trying
to shut your mouth and learn what you're supposed to do.
Shump was one of those guys. He didn't have a
lot to say back then. When he did say something,
it meant something, kind of led by example. We're gonna

(01:40):
learn a little bit more about him tonight and hopefully
tell a little bit more about his story as a
Hawk guy and beyond. Don Shumpert, Welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Thanks for having me, Tyler. I appreciate it. It's always
good to catch up with a former team mate.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
It's been a long time Black and Gold. How did
Don Shumpert ever end up in the Black and Gold?
What did that recruiting story look like?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, so ironically, I want to say about my junior
year University of Oliowa.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
They started recruiting me.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
I didn't know where I was located on the map
and I'm from playing right above me right, Yeah, so
I had to go on the map and check it out.
And once I took a visit, you know, you just
got that family atmosphere, that continuity, longevity, you know, that's
what really brought me to Iowa and thankfully that's what

(02:33):
really got me into coaching. You know, Coach Farrence, he
took the opportunity to bring me back as a GA
in twenty fifteen to start my coaching career.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
You know, after I left Oliowa.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
So you know, I think the same reason why I
went there, you know, it paid out for me because
it's still the same continuity. You know, it's the same
good people, and you know it was good for me.
It was good for me.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Who recruited you?

Speaker 3 (02:56):
Oh so Eric Johnson?

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Eric Johnson, I don't know if Eric was around with
you with Tyler, probably not.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
For he So that was his nickname was Soup right whatever?

Speaker 3 (03:08):
That was Coach Campbell.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Oh that was Campbell. Yeah, yeah so Eric Eric Johnson.

Speaker 4 (03:13):
Yeah, for about a year and a half during our.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Ten years, Johnson went on to like he like got
out of football and started owning Culver's right, Yeah, he did.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
He did.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
That's one of the funnier stories.

Speaker 4 (03:23):
I mean, a pretty good pivot.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Not gonna lie, no, it definitely is. I mean he's
a businessman.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
He actually is doing on financial services now oh really, Yeah,
he just got certified and he started a company with
a couple of other guys.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
So so you keep said again, you're keeping.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
Touch with them then or just can't keep I do.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
You know, we probably touch base once or twice a year.
You know, he looked out for me a lot, you know,
just being my recruiting guy. You know, he made sure
I was good when I got to Iowa. You know,
them days we wasn't eating a lot of meal. You know,
you had one meal today and it's sime you had
no meals, So it was it was crazy. But you
know he'll make sure he give me a couple of
burgers or something. You know, I could throw it on

(04:06):
this on the stove, so you know for this little
small stuff like that. You know, since my freshman year,
me and him had a type of nation because he
was always about the athlete.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Man.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
It was crazy back then. Yeah, like you got one
meal day only during like certain periods of the of
the year or two for to get training table. So
it's like back in the summer, like guys had to
get jobs just to afford rent and food.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Especially.

Speaker 4 (04:33):
Yeah, during the summer, it's like and if you just
got on campus, like you're trying to figure out which
way is up and you gotta get a job. You
got show up to workouts. You have no idea what's
going on workouts and classes or anything. Man. That's the
guys these days have no idea how easy they got it.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Oh man, they haven't made So my first year coaching
at Alua, that was the first the first year where
they actually got three meals a day.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
And I was saying to myself, like, you guys just
don't know.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
We have to go to Hill Chris eat norm food
and basically, you know, every Monday we had to make
weight so that that Sunday, you know, we eating Papa
Joan McDonalds.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
We could possibly eat game and weight yeah cheap, you know.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
So those were some different days were on.

Speaker 4 (05:22):
A budget tea you got to go get a five
dollars foot long from subway or.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
You know, uh that that it is funny, And that
was for everybody like that was they got dinner. They
got like five meals a week, six meals a week.

Speaker 4 (05:36):
And it was Hillcrest food. It wasn't the catered meals
that they got nowhere we're like really high quality stuff.
It was it was basically the same stuff that every
other stick got a hill Crest.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, really when did you know, semp that you were
going to be a football player? Like was in middle
school early on? Where your back like Saint Louister's basketball
players in Saint Louis, Like what what did that look like?

Speaker 2 (06:01):
So actually was a basketball player, you know, that was
my first spoor. I started playing basketball in the first grade.
Actually had some D one offers to play basketball, like
at the time on Wichita State. You know they gave
me an offer. Yeah they went to the final four,
like they did. They went on the run, bro. And

(06:22):
so I started playing football in the eighth grade, like
I was a late bloomer, and you know, it just
started to take off for me. My high school was
more of a football school, and so as I continued
to play and I grew, I started to get bigger offers,
you know, like big ten offers, and so I think
that's what made me play football.

Speaker 5 (06:40):
It was.

Speaker 3 (06:40):
It was just a bigger offers.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
I mean from a body standpoint, if I can go back,
I'll probably do basketball.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
I'm sure you guys can relate. You know, it's a.

Speaker 4 (06:49):
Lot of playing basketball.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
I was really like a two over three two or three,
you know, do a little bit of everything. You know,
slasher but extremely athletic.

Speaker 4 (06:58):
Bro So man, uh, that would have been a fun
run at what Chaw State poping over there, Dude, do
you ever have any regrets about not going that route?

Speaker 3 (07:07):
Bro? I think about it a lot.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
I also thinking like if I if I did, I
wouldn't be in a position I am today as as
far as from the football side of things.

Speaker 3 (07:17):
So you know, it played out the way it was
supposed to.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
Everything works works out for a reason for sure. Yeah,
it's uh yeah, because you're what six three.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Yeah, sixty three, no forty in vert loan.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Casual casual and he ain't lying, he ain't lying. We
in the weight room freshman year, and you know there's
a freshman you're looking around, Hey, what do these guys got? Like,
can I hang you? Look down? Humps on the vert
on the vert he's jumping out of the gym. Okay,
I'm not jumping with that guy. Like that's that's not
that's not in the cards today.

Speaker 4 (07:50):
Like you're you're a long snapper. You don't give a
crap what everyone else is jumping. I'm the dB that
just walked into the facilities, Like all right, what do
I got a guard?

Speaker 1 (07:59):
I'm like, off, I'm mauch trouble, gotta guard shump, you know,
tough on, tough on.

Speaker 4 (08:08):
So you did you have any memories like that where
you like, walk into the facility, it's like, damn, there's
some dudes around here. Man, I gotta I gotta bring
my ship and compete.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
No, for sure, man.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
So I was recruited as a safety, no working, actually
recruiting as a safety, and you know, I was cool
playing safety. But we had a conversation. He was like,
you know something, you want to switch over to offense.
And when I seen how big them defensive players was.

Speaker 3 (08:33):
I was like, yeah, LI like this twitch bro.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
I was like one seventy solid, soaking with going to
I left two hundred. But I mean them dudes was
extremely big. You know this this the first time you
go to a game and you see them dudes walk out.
You're like, yeah, this is a different type of level.
You know, And as a young cat, you don't really
I don't. I guess the belief is not as high
as you would like it because you know, you got to.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
Work yourself into it for sure.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
But definitely that was my moment, like going to a
first game it's like a recruit like these dudes pretty big, bro.

Speaker 4 (09:05):
I think it's kind of healthy to have a little
bit of self doubt as an eighteen year old true
freshman or like I don't know, senior year going into like, yeah,
a recruiting business, like because if you think like you're
just gonna walk in and have all the confidence in
the world and just dominate, like yeah, you know, it
might work out for you if you're a freak, but

(09:26):
it's more and more unlikely you're gonna get your bell
round you're gonna woken up to a college football is
all about. So I'm curious coming out out of high school,
most places recruiting you as a defensive player or as
a receiver.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
I think I had more defensive guys, like like Wisconsin
had me on defense on Minnesota had me on defense,
but I was I was more an athlete. You know
about Robbins, They had me as an athlete. So the
schools was really giving me, giving me a chance to
play both ways. It was kind of up to me.

Speaker 4 (09:56):
Okay, And so did you spend like a whole years
of dB before moving on over?

Speaker 3 (10:00):
What did that looks like? Yeah, it actually happened. Quick.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
On the first training camp, I think we was low
on receivers and soup at the time.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
Coach Campbell, you.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
Know, he brought me into the office and just asked
me that I want to switch as a young player.
Of course, I said, yeah. You know, looking back at it,
like defense is the way to go. It's more things
that's in your control as a receiver. It's a lot
of the variables that have to you know, play out
for you to make it to the next level. For so,
you know, if my son decided to play football, I'm

(10:29):
telling them, bro, you're playing defense, Like that's the way
to go.

Speaker 4 (10:32):
Yeah, that's a good way, good way of putting it right. Yeah,
you know, I think that's smart.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
Right.

Speaker 4 (10:37):
It's like you always got to follow where your opportunities
that you know, Like I had somewhat similar things when
junior year camp. So we ran out of leo linebackers
and I'm sitting there at third string safety and like, hey,
we need you to go play linebacker for a few days.
And that few days became the rest of my rest
of my career. So yeah, sometimes like when they asked

(11:00):
or was like it's more, hey, we really think you
should do this.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yeah, they kind of tell you in a sense like
this is going on.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
Well, it's it's It's one of those things too, where
when a coach, somebody in a position of authority, hopefully
that you respect at like nudges you in a position
you're like, oh, like maybe they want me there, like
maybe they think I can succeed there, or this is
where they think in their mind I could best help
the team, And so you're like, okay, well that kind

(11:29):
of seems like the place then, you.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
Know, where you can best help the teams use you
your best opportunity to get on the field too.

Speaker 3 (11:35):
Right, Yeah, especially as a young guy.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yeah, the young guy. Yeah, when you were when you
were you started to get off or shumping, you know,
junior year, like you said, when you when you were
a freshman, maybe you don't even remember freshman sophomore in
high school? Did you picture yourself going away from home
for college or were you were you a home body?
Was that hard for you to I mean again, Saint
Louis right, you probably by the way, you probably had

(11:59):
like Idaho and Ohio and Iowa all confused. You were
one of those guys.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Yeahs for sure. I'm like, what is this.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
So, you know, Saint Louis is what maybe six hours
away from Iowa City seven about four? Actually is it
only four?

Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (12:14):
So I'm thinking Damine, I didn't know if the okay,
So it's not that far away, but far enough that
it's hard to go home on a weekend or you know.
So what was that like in your head as a
young kid seventeen eighteen years old?

Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah, as a young kid, you know, the school that
was big and Saint Louis was Missou. But at the time,
I think Missoo was still in the Big twelve, if
I'm not mistaken. And yeah, they also you know, they
never recruited Saint Louis like heavy back in the day.
It was more they was recruiting a lot of the
Texans kids.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
So I figured that the Missou dream was kind of
that was that was cut short after?

Speaker 2 (12:55):
You know, the Missou dream, I mean University of Illinois,
you know, Champagne, that's pretty close. But I wouldn't consider
it at home, so I knew I would have to
leave home to play big time ball. I just never
knew what it would look like. And you know, as
a as a young guy going on campus, you just
like you said, you don't know what you're getting yourself into.
I mean, especially going into that summer camp and you're

(13:17):
going to work. I used to work at the stadium
at Kenny Stadium, and you know I was paying different
things and cleaning up trash. It's like, now I'm like
an adult officially, you feel me like a young adult.

Speaker 3 (13:29):
And you know, it was different being away from home.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
You know, being away from home, but it makes you
grow up and it turned you into a man. So
you know, I definitely recommend, you know, leaving home for anybody,
you know, just so you can grow up.

Speaker 4 (13:41):
Definitely had to grow up a little bit faster back then.
I mean with aniol These days, I mean, does anybody
get a job anymore?

Speaker 1 (13:49):
Bro?

Speaker 3 (13:49):
No, I doubt it.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
I highly doubt it less unless they got parents that
are just like, you need to work. But like, as
a student at this point, you're like, well, what, like
I have money to pay for the stuff I need
me working?

Speaker 4 (14:02):
Is you're spending sixty plus hours a week being a
student athlete.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
It's like yeah, I mean you can make the argument
that any energy you put towards a job is just
a detriment to you being better as a student athlet
I mean it's.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
Like I don't know.

Speaker 4 (14:14):
Yeah, but you know, it's just like you know, twelve
years ago, it's just another thing that you just kind
of had.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
To do for Yeah, there's no choice, no choice. I
still think the greatest story is Travis and bo and
Josie working at the trailer park. Boy, did you know
Kirksey same class, right.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, yeah, we both came from Saint Louis, mad So,
you know, we came to Iowa together.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
I think that was back in twenty teen. Yeah, you know,
came to Iliowao left the same year at fourteen.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
So did you know did you know him before Iowa?

Speaker 3 (14:52):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (14:53):
I know him in high school. Yeah, I know him
in high school. My sophomore year we had met. We
had met at Hazel woodies know, we became close. It
was good friends, you know. So it was incredibly a
cool story. Definitely was a cool story.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
Do you guys like talk to each other like when
you're committing or choosing your score or what?

Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (15:11):
We uh we actually you know committed on the same day.
Man to coach Johnson, Like, I say, Coach Johnson, that's
my dude.

Speaker 3 (15:20):
Man. He was a great guy, great.

Speaker 4 (15:22):
I had him to a nice cigar that day.

Speaker 3 (15:24):
I definitely did. He got a two man for one special.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
You step in that twenty ten summer, I assume maybe
you came in camp, but probably summer sometime. And what
was your first impressions of the team, your new teammates,
the you know, the new schedule was it? Was it
a little bit daunting? Did you have trouble adjusting or
was it? What was that?

Speaker 3 (15:48):
Like the schedule?

Speaker 2 (15:49):
I would say the toughest thing was maybe waking up
like at five thirty five o'clock, especially like in the
winter time when it was snowing outside and we had
to make our way up with the piz had to
knock out their early lift, like I.

Speaker 4 (16:03):
Mean you were looking at the more pets started in
the winter.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
Sometimes No, for sure, bro, I think that was the
most mentally challenged thing because your body was so sore
already and you had to like push yourself that next
morning knowing that you don't really have no energy. But
as soon as you you know, as soon as you
touched coach door, you it's only popable. You know, it's
not no warm up into it, like you better be

(16:26):
ready to go, you know, So I think they helped
me as I got older though, It helped me just
snap into it and start knocking things out. So I
think it was good. But at the time I was like, ooh,
this took you know.

Speaker 4 (16:38):
I think as a freshman, that first hour of every
day I ran on pure anxiety before any energy actually
kicked in.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
For sure, like don't want to be late on to
make sure you're at the right spot.

Speaker 4 (16:50):
Yes, don't mess up the cone drills. Don't mess up
the ladder drills, like.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
For sure, and the ladder drills you're getting sent home.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
The worst one was the hurdles you had, like kick
over the hurdle and if your if your heel clips
that hurdle. It's not like you can't hide it because
everybody hears it. It's like you're done, It's over.

Speaker 3 (17:12):
Is over? Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
I still get anxiety thinking about it.

Speaker 3 (17:16):
But uh, the.

Speaker 1 (17:18):
Uh it was called and you your whole career, Yeah,
your whole career was at the old facility.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
Yeah, bro, like the whole time.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Man Like when they got that new facility, I was like,
you guys, just y'all do not know.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
Do they?

Speaker 4 (17:36):
I'm curious if like they mentioned that facility at all
to you during like your recruiting years or your your
early years, like, oh yeah, you'll be in there by
the end of your career.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yeah yeah, I think so. I definitely think so.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
I missed it, of course, but I got to see
it on the coaching side, so that was pretty unique.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
To see it on the other side.

Speaker 4 (17:57):
I think the coach has got a pretty good set
up up there too.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Drake set up for sure.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
So you get there. One of only a few true
freshmen to see some action that year in four games.
I got your I got your bio, I got the
don Jump bio pulled up on the side of it.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
I love it, man, I love it.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
What was it like, What was it like to get
in early, you know, get a little action. Probably I
think you you played special teams, right, Yeah?

Speaker 2 (18:22):
I was special teams. I was more like the gunner,
you know, back in them days. You had your ram
and your line and when the ball was snapped, these
guys move on the snap and we was ball guys,
so I had no laying responsibilities.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
I used to love it, bro as.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
A freshman, like my first my first game was at
the University of Michigan at the Big house, and I
had like three tackles on kickoffs that day. I mean
that's all I was. You know, I was living for kickoffs, bro.
I wasn't necessarily getting in a receiver. But you know,
as a young young guy, you gotta do whatever you
got to do to make the team, you know. And
I really feel like a lot of these young casts
today that's the thing that they don't understand.

Speaker 3 (18:59):
You know, they don't under standard.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
Competition and you know the failures, and you know, once
you fail, how to push yourself and you know, to
get back to that next level.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
You know, these guys like to you know, give in.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
You know, I think all you will taught me how
to just keep fighting and how to keep pushing because
you know, it supposed to be tough. You know, a
lot of things. A lot of people want things easy.
It's not an easy life, you know, in football, not
an easy game.

Speaker 4 (19:21):
So there's a there's a hell of a lot of
dudes competing for not so many positions and a hell
of a lot of money, and uh in a big sport,
so it ain't nothing going to be easy about it.
And these yeah, coaches being paid millions of dollars, athletes
being paid a crapload of money now, like, if you
want it easy, you should have chosen something else to

(19:41):
do with your life.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
I agree one hundred percent you get in a few games.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
I really think you're an interesting case, Shump, because when
you talk about kids nowadays versus a decade ago, it
makes us sound old. But a decade ago when the
transfer portal wasn't so much a thing and nil wasn't
a thing, and you just kind of stayed where you
were and fought out position battles, or you know, maybe

(20:10):
you hear of a guide transferring and finding another school.
Now now kids are at a different school four or
five years in a row over the course of your career,
and I'd love to hear it in your words, but
you know, it might not have panned out receiver wise,
like you you may have saw it as you came
from Hazelwood East in Saint Louis. Every guy thinks they're

(20:30):
gonna be the guy, and then it's gonna be the
league and that's it. Like it's a rap. I'm gonna
make ten million and that's it. What how do you
look back upon that time? Now you've already mentioned it.
A couple of times of how it really shaped you
as an adult now in your thirties, and it teaches
you hard lessons like what what do you think about

(20:50):
that time? And what do you think what do you
think would have happened if the if the transfer portal
was a thing back then?

Speaker 2 (20:56):
Yeah, for sure, that's a great question. So freshman, sophomore
or season. You know, I'm just fighting to get receiver reps.
Going into my junior year, I become like the third receiver,
so eleven person there. I come in you know, mostly
third now, second downs, whatnot, you know, getting my feet wet.
We're playing Oyowa State and it's fourth downs, fourth quarterway.

(21:21):
I think we're down by about three to four points.
You know, we're putting the drive together. I'm running the
dig route to my left. I'm running dig at about
sixteen yards. C J Beth that he put it on me.
I jumped left my feed by him in my chest
fourth down game. Over the next couple of weeks, I
kind of my playtime decreased, bro. So mentally, I'm just

(21:43):
you know, I'm not there, bro, I'm just like, man,
you know, there's one play and all of a sudden
it's gone, you know, But the next year, as I
you know, as the season kept going, my reps kept
getting decreased.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
All they did was just make me go harder.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
Like going into my senior year year, bro, if you
if you turned on the type that practice, you wouldn't
gonna see it rep me not going one hundred percent,
if it was me blocking a corner down the field,
if it was me running the route, I literally just
had to give it everything I got. And in return,
you know, I was you know, I was. I was
basically starting my senior year, you know me and tomorrow
we was kind of shining reps and you know, I

(22:20):
ended up going into account with the you know, Chicago
Bears and the Chiefs. So it really just showed me
if I keep my head down, you know, I could
figure it out.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
But if you the moment you quit, you know, those
opportunity sees.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
Man, it really just made me become a harder worker
because I never was a guy that felt sorry for myself.
I was just gonna put it out on the tape
because you know, the tape don't lie. And so that's
how I took that, man, and anything anytime I go
through something tight like tough in life, today. You know,
I always flashed back to those type of moments, you know,
knowing that I can push myself through if I keep

(22:52):
my head down.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
And that's uh.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
I think that's one of the beautiful things about college
football and going through the program is you know, you
take a big step back, and it takes a long
time to regain the coaches trust and in your quarterbacks trust.
But you know you just talked about, I mean that
was like a year and a half process for you
to get back up up to like the starting role.
You know, we showed up in twenty thirteen where you

(23:14):
were kind of already in that role, and I definitely
remember like you being one of those guys that coaches
would would point out it's like this is the type
of effort that we need, like going through special teams drills,
going through you know, just you know, every now and
then they pull out effort plays during camp, and like
you would be one of the guys that they pull
out somewhat frequently. And like coach, like Clover said here,

(23:41):
like you weren't always the most talkative dude as a
as a as a senior. I mean I always obviously
we we were freshmen, we didn't really talk to the
seniors very much, but you were one of the dudes
that we could definitely look to. And it's like, this
is how you work. So I just want to say
I appreciate you for that.

Speaker 3 (23:57):
Oh yeah, man, I definitely appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (24:00):
You know, going back to like if I would have transferred, probably,
like I probably won't never stuck it out.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
I mean, you know.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
And what's crazy is like ten years later, successful you've
been into coaching. Now now you're doing the agent thing
like you've don't You've got to like you're you're doing
it man, Like you're you're finding all the success in
the sports, still helping out others. And I just wonder,
like how many guys nowadays, you know, like you said

(24:30):
with the basketball thing, if you would have took that
basketball route, none, none of anything right now would be
happening probably. And all these guys that are transferring now,
they're not sticking it out. They they don't play their
freshman year. I mean, it's crazy these kids come in
and think, if I don't get your time my freshman season,
I got to go somewhere else. And it's just like

(24:50):
how many stories are getting cut cut down? Because they
just they don't let it develop. And I get the urgency.
You only have so many years in college, although it's
seems like they'll give you six or seven now nowadays. Uh,
it's just like, I don't think I don't think we
have any don Schumps if uh, if you just transfer

(25:10):
all the time and you just got a bunch of quitters.
I just and I like having shumps of the world
like I like Kevin said, I wholeheartedly agree. I think
we got to be in the building with you as
teammates for four or five months. But all I can
remember is this is a guy who you look to.
He puts his head down, he works, he does everything right.
He takes the coaching, he gets bat like everything you

(25:34):
want from as a coach, from a player is what
you were shump. And I just I don't know, I
don't know. I don't know if we have as many
of those guys out there these days.

Speaker 4 (25:41):
I got I got one more thing I got to
pull up from you know, I remember and now and
then uh, you know, coach Davis to pull up some
game clips during the games. Do you remember his his nickname.

Speaker 5 (25:52):
For you.

Speaker 4 (25:55):
Explain to the people why you were nicknamed Spot.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
So Coach Davis.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
Man, I love coach by the way, man, Coach Davis,
he always called me spot because he said wherever I
caught the ball, that that was the spot I was
gonna land that. In other words, he was saying like, yeah,
was not good, bro. He was saying, it was gonna
be a catch spot first down.

Speaker 3 (26:16):
Bro, we'll take it.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
We'll take it. We'll take the first.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
Yeah, we'll take it. Hey, we moved the change. I'm
gonna get up. hYP We're gonna move them change. That's
funny though, man, I remember, yeah, I agreed on toler
You definitely don't get the same stories that you probably
would have got, those rich stories. That's putting your head
down and just working through things. In this environment, it's
just gonna be a little tougher, and you know, I

(26:41):
think it's a disservice for some kids, you know, especially
even just the the parents and you know, the people
that's baby and these kids right now, you know, they
really don't understand it the reality of life. And you know,
we had to really figure out the reality once we
put the pass down. I'm sure that's probably one of
the toughest transition for both of you guys to go

(27:02):
through just trying to figure out what's nicks, you know,
but I'm sure you probably you know, leaning back to
your ALLIOWAO days, you're like, well, if I made it
through that, I think I can make it through this,
you know, because it's not gonna be too many workouts.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
It's tougher than the ALLIU will workout for four years ago. Life.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
Bro.

Speaker 3 (27:17):
I mean, come on now, let's let's just be serious.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
Bro.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
That's like we was different, Bro, Like there's a reason
why you know, every year we always compete and we
got a good team because it was the way we work,
you know.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
So I love hard work and amen to that.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
Brother.

Speaker 4 (27:32):
Yeah, we've we've talked about the transition from post athletics
a few times on here, and you know, I think
the hardest thing for me was, you know, it's always
it's a lot easier to compete in a team environment,
but now you got to go out and compete with
yourself and find meeting for yourself outside of the team,
without anyone else there along that battle with you. But

(27:53):
like you said, man, you got you gotta lean back
on all the tough experiences that you've been through for
the last four or five years and makes it a
little bit easier. I agree, I will say this, you know, yeah,
I do think the the gritty stories they're they're definitely
less uh less frequent now given where we're at with

(28:15):
college football. But I do think that the ones that
that still stick around, that the stories that do come out,
Like we had Jay Higgins on the podcast a few weeks.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
Ago, you know.

Speaker 4 (28:27):
About a guy sitting on the UH sitting his time
for two three years and then becoming an All American.
I think that makes it even more special because you know,
he could have he could have transferred, he could have
gone somewhere else. And I don't know if his story
ends up the same way, but he puts his head down,
he goes to work. I think he's got a great,

(28:48):
great set of parents that kind of pushed him to
do it too. And I don't think there's anybody in
the world will say that he didn't reach his full
potential at Iowa.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
Oh yeah, for sure. Great player.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
Speaking of potential, Kevin, speaking of potential, Before we go
any further, shump as you see down on the screen there,
presented by Eagle Points Solar. Tonight, we do it big
around here, right, we're big time. We got sponsors.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
What is the potential savings that you could have, Kevin Ward?
If you switch to solar energy? What a question? How
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energy bill? Go to Eagle pointsolar dot com do their
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out how much money you could save.

Speaker 6 (29:35):
You got split screen, got monitor over here is just
Eagle Points Solar.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
I knew you were. How about last How about last episode, Brad?
You know that guy's pretty good with his money, right,
head of the Swarm collective, done pretty done, pretty well
for himself with his own Uh, what's he do? What? What?

Speaker 3 (29:52):
What's this thing?

Speaker 4 (29:53):
Acts?

Speaker 1 (29:54):
Actuary man has solar on his house? These uh, these people,
they h.

Speaker 4 (30:00):
I assure he ran the numbers.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
He ran the numbers, and they want to run the
numbers with you, Eagle Point Solar. They just want to
educate you, sit you down. That's what the free solar
analysis is for. By the way, if you do that
two hundred dollars Amazon gift card, they're going to sit
you down, talk it out. Maybe you don't save any money.
Who knows each individual situation is different. Maybe you do.
What if you had twenty five fifty one hundred dollars

(30:23):
extra month because you're saving money on your energy bill?
Who knows? Three people? This past weekend I heard reached
out to Eagle Point Solar because of the washtup walk cuns.
You could be one of those people. You could be.
That's all I'm saying. As long as the sun doesn't
die back to shump schump. When in the hard times

(30:45):
right your sophomore year, you're going through those hard workouts,
it's the winner all that stuff. Who did you lean
on other than maybe coach Johnson who recruited you. Who
are some of the guys in your class, maybe some
of the other coaches on the staff, or just anybody
when you had a bad day, like man like we
always get that story, even from some of the best

(31:06):
players I think worst. A couple other guys have come
on here, guys who played in the league, and they're like, nah,
I had I had a few days where I was like,
I don't know if I can if I can make
it here, I think I might quit. Who is that
for you?

Speaker 3 (31:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (31:20):
First off, I would say my mom and my dad,
you know, just talking to them, you know, after a
tough day. Always you know, my number one cheerleaders motivate me,
you know, tell me to keep going, keep pushing, you know,
So just talking to them it was good encouragement. And
also just had like really good close friends. I grew
up with, like a couple of boys that I can

(31:41):
always just vent to. I think it is man, you know,
we need to learn how to open up, invent and
so I think as a young age eighteen nineteen year
old kind of taught me that, like bro, you know,
we could just sit down and just had like bro talks.
And you know, because everybody going through some you just
don't know what they going through, you know. So I
was just saying, man, friends and family really kind of

(32:03):
got me through those tough days.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
Is there ever a day specifically you remember where like
you got cracked and you're like, man, I.

Speaker 5 (32:09):
Don't know if this is I don't know if this is.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
Is there any hit that you took during your time
where you're like, God, you're still thinking about that guy.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
I tell you what, it's a it's a hit that
I that I gave it to le'vy yond Bill my
freshman year.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
Bro.

Speaker 3 (32:25):
Okay, feel they hit to today?

Speaker 1 (32:28):
Bro?

Speaker 2 (32:29):
You know remember we were talking about kickoff man, and
so I was the I was like a gunner of kickoff.

Speaker 3 (32:34):
I was a ball guy. You know.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
We're playing in Michigan State my freshman year. Kick it
off to le'vey yond. You know I'm going to him.
It's about I probably hit him right about the twenty
twenty five yard line, chopped his legs down. But soon
as I hit him, Bro, all the pain went straight
to my back.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
Bro.

Speaker 3 (32:52):
Yeah, Bro, like to this day, I can still feel it.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
And so I was actually happy because you remember I
said I was going to ALLYI to play defense.

Speaker 3 (33:00):
That's what I was like.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Maybe I made the right decision. I'm like, bro, I
got to hit dudes like this every play. Leban was
two twenty five, two thirty eight.

Speaker 4 (33:08):
Was a big boy man.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
He was a huge dude, bro, And I smacked him,
but I felt all to hit.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
I mean all of it.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
Bro.

Speaker 3 (33:15):
It was crazy.

Speaker 4 (33:16):
Did did you get up like you're like nothing happened
or did you like that one hurt?

Speaker 1 (33:22):
Now?

Speaker 2 (33:22):
You know, you know, we gotta get up like the drenaline.
We're gonna get up and act like it's all good.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
Played it off right now, he played it off. He
was like, yeah, trying to find the camera. Those those
kickoff tackles are those are some of the most fun
tackles to watch, man. They really are the kind they're
kind of they're cutting it down with the new rules
in the league and all that stuff, and college guy's
just fair catch it now. It's it's kind of crazy.

(33:49):
But I still think about God, what was his name,
Ah Collins?

Speaker 3 (33:58):
What's collins Collins?

Speaker 1 (34:00):
His last name was Collins? What was his first name?

Speaker 3 (34:03):
What position?

Speaker 1 (34:04):
I don't know. He was built like a brick though
he played one. He played our freshman year. It would
have been your your senior year, hump. He was number
fifty five. He had dreads.

Speaker 3 (34:13):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:15):
Yeah, and he would just go calm a cozi people
on kickoff.

Speaker 3 (34:20):
Man, I know what you're talking about. I think it
was Marcus Collins. Oh.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
I was gonna say Michael, but I know it's not.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
Right Marcus Collins. Man that it was that kind of stuff,
watching you guys run down on kick that's special meeting.

Speaker 4 (34:35):
I think he actually, uh, he may have killed some
dude versus Michigan, Western Michigan our freshman year murdered him.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
Yeah, I believe crazy he was.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
He was he was built unbelievably. So you graduate a
couple of mini camp invites, I think Bears, maybe one
with the Chiefs. I think I saw somewhere. Yeah, and
what was your expectation? You know, where were you at
mentally coming out of your senior year?

Speaker 3 (35:06):
Just wanted the opportunity.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
Yeah, you know, I know my my career didn't go
as well as I wanted it too from a stat standpoint,
you know, So it was like, you know, put all
the eggs on pro day, perform good, and then just
see what happened. So for me as a player, it
was great to you know, go through those two camps
just to see it up close and just to know
that you can't compete at that level, you know.

Speaker 3 (35:29):
So it was really good for me.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Now when I had to put the pass down, you know,
that's when things got a little tough.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
But you know that that's part of life.

Speaker 4 (35:38):
I mean, I know, I know, for speaking for myself,
that was that was a very soundber moment. When you
you guys ain't on it's pretty much it's done.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
Man.

Speaker 4 (35:46):
You play your last snap, talk to us about you know,
your where your emotions were going through that that period.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
It was tough.

Speaker 5 (35:54):
Man.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
So this is back in twenty fifteen. I actually ruptured
my quad most who was well, Like it was one
of them injuries where you knew everything was over. Like,
I mean, it's over, bro. Like I was running and
it just popped on me. And so I'm dealing with that,
you know it the first time. You know, I was
a freak athlete, and now I can't even walk. I'm

(36:17):
not playing football anymore without a job. Already didn't have
no money, you know, back then we were really seriously
like I mean, hell, we was making with like eight
hundred to check us a month or something.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
I can't remember. I mean, it wasn't a.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
Lot, you know, And so right now I'm just trying
to figure out, like what's next. And then luckily, you know,
as time went on, I ended up getting into coaching,
and I was coaching at my high school my first
year in twenty fifteen. That's what kind of catapulted, you know,
life out the football for me. So it definitely worked
out when it's all sit and done.

Speaker 4 (36:50):
Did you always have coaching like in the back of
your mind going through during during college, it's like something
you want to get into or just kind of something
you kind of fell into.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Yeah, you know, I always told myself that I wanted
to get in the coach and when it was all
sat and done, I always thought as a player, I
was pretty smart as like picking up the plays and
just memorizing play books, so I thought they can carry
over and of course, you know, just making the impacts
and building those relationships with athletes, you know, the main
reason why I got into it. But I definitely saw
myself as a coach, you know, while I was.

Speaker 4 (37:21):
Playing Nice Nice. So you spend a year with your
your high school and then you get a GA come
back to Iowa, Like, how did that process go? Did
you reach out to KF for like have a conversation
with him about it.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
Or yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
So anybody that's trying to get into coaching or do
something new, always tell them just to write a personal letter,
like that's much better than the email or text message.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
You know. So I wrote coach friends a letter that's
e spreads.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
On my entest telling them, you know, I'm getting it
back into coaching, and ironically, you know, he hit me
back in the song of fifteen. And I tell people
all the time, treat every day like an interview, because
I never had the interview for that job. The interview
was my four years as a player. And you know,
like you guys said, when you first came in as freshman,

(38:15):
you know, you remember me as the guy that was
doing things right, and so that's what I want to
be remembered. You know, a man of my word, showing
up on time, you know, being disciplined, a hard working guy.
So you know, those characteristics. It really helped me into
the next phase of my life and that's what really
got me into coaching.

Speaker 3 (38:33):
But definitely think outside the box sometimes.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
You know, if you're trying to, you know, get into
something new, you got to find and find a way
to get into it.

Speaker 4 (38:42):
That's a great quote, and I actually love that. Treat
every day like an interview. That's that's good stuff to
take that with me.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
Oh yeah, I appreciate that, brother.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
I had forgotten that chump came back, and now that
I think back, I remember running around with you as
a g I remember that that was and that was
a fun year.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
Obviously, it was that was what six sixteen right.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
Fifteen six I mean fifteen would have been our undefeated year.

Speaker 3 (39:11):
So I actually missed the fifteens.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
Okay, so so it would have been sixteen. Then when
I came in sixteen, I remember running around you out
there with the you know, wrangling guys up all the
you know, scout team like it was. It was fun.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
That was good times. Like that's when I was actually
learning football at that point. Yeah, football junkie.

Speaker 1 (39:30):
So it was Phil kf is good about any guy
who wants to come back in GA. Like he he
brings back a lot of dudes. Yeah, they've turned out
like a lot of a lot of guys too, like
a lot. I mean yeah, like all over the place.
I mean, Miles is doing his thing.

Speaker 5 (39:48):
I was going out to law he is really he
just got hired by the Charger really both, Oh my god,
he got.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
By the Chicago I saw that. Definitely, do you the
oc up there? So it's guys moving. Definitely guys moving
from ALU when I worked with a Ponte you do
you when I was a you know, it's a GA.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
So it's good to see them guys, you know, continue
to make that client.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
It's crazy.

Speaker 4 (40:16):
It is actually kind of you think about it. Yeah,
but it's it's pretty cool to see how how was
your experience being on the other side of things, you know,
being a player just not only a couple of years
prior to that.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
So you know, you just you really have to grow
up quick. You know, you have to really learn, you know,
what it's like to be a coach. So you know,
it's really getting up early, staying late, doing whatever you
can do for the player. For me, it was really
learning football. You know, I took it serious, like just
like football class. So let me learn things that I

(40:51):
don't know, you know, things about defense, protection, run game,
whatever that may be. You know, I really just became
a sponge during that time as young coach that's trying
to learn as much as I possibly could.

Speaker 4 (41:04):
Can you uh maybe uh you know we've talked about
this a couple of times before, but elaborate for the
fans and the time commitment that the coach has got
to put in, especially during the season.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
Yeah, it's different. It takes a different guy. Different guy.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
But I would say, like me, from my experience coaching
in the lead I was when I was the Giants
my first season, I'm like, just imagine like a GA
in the NFL. You know, I'm like an assistant, but
I'm doing all the ga the grunt work. I worked
one hundred hours a week for six months straight, no
days off, just getting it in.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
Bro.

Speaker 3 (41:47):
I'm up at five o'clock in the morning, im back
at midnight. You know. My job is to draw the
power points, to break down the film, to draw the play.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
So I'm doing all the back end work that people
don't see. But the operations don't go without me because
you know, you need a grunt guy at the end
of the day. And so it was tough. You know,
it was tough. I just have to That's the reason
I kind of pivoted out. Let's just put it like there.

Speaker 4 (42:12):
That's the reason that that is, Like you said that
that is that is grunt work that will make uh,
I think some dudes in the Marines blush a little bit.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
I mean, it's it's That's the thing too, is because
it there's only there's so few jobs, right, Like everybody
wants a job as a assistant coach, as a coordinator,
Like everybody wants football to be their job, right any
guy who played there's just such a saturation of a
lot of supply or a lot of a lot of demand. No,

(42:46):
a lot of supply, not a lot of demand, and
that you've got to cut your teeth doing that crappy work.

Speaker 3 (42:54):
And man it is.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
I mean we watched it happen. And then even when
you get out of it, if you're in college, still
those guys don't go home. Like we talked to coach
Woods this past summer and he's talked about how multiple
times he slept in his office and.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
Yeah, I used to sleep in with It was his
first season in twenty fifth sixteen.

Speaker 3 (43:16):
I was his GA bro. So he had the long
nights together.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
Bro.

Speaker 3 (43:20):
Telling you that's cute, man, that's cute.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
I mean, like, you just really have to love football,
and that's got to be it's got to be a
true passion. And then even past that, you got to
have the right opportunity and some luck and it's just
it's just a lot. You were and then you were
You were with the Cardinals for how long?

Speaker 2 (43:41):
Yeah, I was with the Cardinals on from nineteen to
twenty three, so like five seasons.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
Okay, that's all I mean, that's a long time.

Speaker 2 (43:47):
Yeah, definitely, Man, it seemed a lot, you know, it
was good. It was a great experience, that's for sure.

Speaker 3 (43:53):
You know.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
I mean, you got to live in Arizona. That's cool.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
I loved Arizona. Now the summers are extremely brilli, but
I still love because that was the first time I
got introduced in the snow. And now I'm out in Cali,
so obviously it's like, I'm not going back to the snow.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
Bro.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
I'm gonna let you guys have it.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
Visit St. Louis for Christmas, and then that's about it.

Speaker 3 (44:14):
There there you go.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
So when was the first When was the first time
you got a little like inkling of what you're doing
now because you've you've transitioned into you're an NFL.

Speaker 3 (44:25):
Agent, Yes Surrey, yes, service and I see I.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
See on your story you still do a little bit
of training athletes, right.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
Yeah, I'm always train, you know, coaching always would be
like in me, so I'm gonna train for the rest
of my life. And so this is what happened as
far as me transitioned into an agent. So back in COVID,
we was, you know, working from home. We was leading
the football meetings from home, and I'm like I can

(44:52):
get used to this, Like this is actually pretty sweet
not having to you know, get up extremely early and
report and going to the office still get your work done.
And I was like, okay, I had basically six months
to finish my semester to finish my masters, and once
I got let go of the Cardinals my last year,

(45:13):
I decided, let me just go back.

Speaker 3 (45:15):
And finish my masters and let me just pursue this
agency thing.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
Because you know, I was always been a business man,
Like I was teaching myself financial literacy and things of
that nature after I left college. You know, I really
studied it, did real estate and other different ventures. But
I just felt like football was taking too much of
my time for me to be as creative as I
wanted to be. And so I now stepped out on faith,

(45:40):
you know, better on myself. But I'm actually the first
NFL coach turned NFL agent, So you know that hasn't happened.

Speaker 4 (45:48):
I'm surprised that's that you're the first one.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
Yeah, bro, I mean, if you think about it, like
like Tyler was saying, it's already hard enough to get.

Speaker 3 (45:57):
An NFL job. Sure, you know, most people once they
get their job, they good.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
You know, they locked into their career, and you know
they're trying to coach them to today they die, you know,
but I just I got a different, you know, blueprint,
and you know it's going good because the end of
the day, I got into coaching for the athlete, and
it's the same with the agency side. I just I
just as a coach, I kind of figured just for
me looking at the players, like guys was not getting

(46:24):
the right guidance. And it might be just as simple
as this, fix your credit and buy you a house
when you first get into the NFL, and they'll take
you a long way post career. But it's just like
I just feel like people, you know, taking advantage of
these guys and not necessarily showing them how to keep
the money, how to stay on top, and really how
to just go through a whole NFL because just like

(46:47):
as a college athlete, you got to go through those
different stages, it's even more brutal in.

Speaker 3 (46:52):
The NFL because it's.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
And you know, most of those guys used to playing
all of a sudden they got to sit on the bench,
and so really just getting that mental help and you know,
having somebody you can vent to and talk to it,
you know, there's real critical for them guys, And I
really feel like, you know, that's where I can help
bridge together well.

Speaker 4 (47:11):
In addition too, like you just mentioned being the only
coach who's then to become an agent, Like you've got
such a perspective that know the agent can offer these guys, say,
hey man, these are what these guys are looking for
you to do. This is what you got to work
on in the off season, this is what you got
to work on during your pro day and really show
them that you can do. This is what they're gonna
be looking like analyzing you for. And then once you

(47:33):
show up in the building, they want you to you know,
just how they want you to act. That's how I
want you to perform. It's like that's that's got to
be invaluable for a young athlete coming out of college
to hear one.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
Like I tell the guys, it's like really having a
cheat sheet. You know, I'm gonna tell you everything you
need to know, and it's kind of up to you
just to execute it.

Speaker 3 (47:55):
But you won't be blind.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
Folded as far as what's about to happen, you know.
And I really feel like I tell guys too, it's like, bro,
would you go have a doctor operate on you.

Speaker 3 (48:05):
And he never went to school for eight years.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
Like a lot of these guys that are agents, they
never even put on the path. So like how can
they possibly relate to you on the day to day
on exactly like what's really going on for sure, you know,
And so that you know, I just really just I
just hope that you know, guys would you know, believe
in me and they can see, you know, the different
things that I'm doing. I can help you know, prolong
their career as a player, and you know, post career.

Speaker 1 (48:31):
A lot of guys out there just want that just
coming for the money. Most of them they just see
that contract like I can help a guy out'll take
three you.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
Know, yeah, I mean most of them are. I mean,
it's just it's a doggy, doggy world. I mean, let's
just be honest.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
You know.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
I many good people that you actually come across, not
a lot, you know. And so me, that's what I
try to have my reputation. Just like you guys remember
me from Alu as a guy that took her been.
I like people to remember me as being as real
as they come. I'm not a two faced person. Like
what you see is what you get I'm not trying
to sell you a dream like I'm really just trying

(49:07):
to help you get to that next level, you know,
by using my experience.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
That's a process too, right, either the I mean you
got to take a task, get like accredited or get certified.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
Right, it's it's a tough test, extremely tough test, sixty
questions about three hours. People typically fail the first time.
But me, I want to say, me working in the NFL,
the terminology wasn't as hard for me to get. I
just had to you know, get in, dealt with the
numbers and you know how to do the different contracts.

(49:37):
But it wasn't bad on my locked in for a
good four to five months with studying every day. You know,
if you put the work in, you know, good things happen.
So got it down there, and I got a couple
of guys, you know for this draft and you know,
continue to work.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
You know, see what happens.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
Man, that's so sick.

Speaker 4 (49:55):
Who you who do you got coming out this year? Oh?

Speaker 2 (49:58):
So I got a Mookie Mookie Cooper. He's from a zoo.
He reminds me of guys that I coached in the past.
You know, guys just smaller like five eight, but they
really good with the ball in their hands, you know,
pint return guy, kick a return guy, you know, make
the first guy missed play multiple positions, So you know
I got him. I got a couple other receivers from

(50:20):
University of Elon a couple of cars.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
Said again, I don't know if seanp knows who DeMarco is.

Speaker 3 (50:28):
Yeah, yeah, I know Marco.

Speaker 1 (50:30):
Oh you would have been yeah, he would have been
there in sixteen.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
Yeah, yeah, so one hundred percent.

Speaker 4 (50:36):
Dude, he's creaking out. I watched videos online and some
of the stuff that those guys do. The he's got
some dogs on that team.

Speaker 2 (50:44):
Now he do and uh, he's a dog himself because
some of the workouts does that's crazy. I'm like, bro,
my whole back of fall apart. If I try any
of that.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
He's not, so what does that look like?

Speaker 3 (50:56):
Then?

Speaker 1 (50:57):
Uh? Because we have a a pseudo friend, a Husker
friend that we met through and he played at Nebraska.
He's an agent now as well. He's been doing it
for two or three years.

Speaker 4 (51:09):
And he's described one.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
Yeah, he's kind of alignment guy. He's talked about how
you know, the season rolls around for college football and
he's he's out there basically recruiting guys. It's kind of
like a coach, like you're trying to go find guys
that are gonna sign with you with NIL and all
this stuff. All these guys have you know, NIL agents
now while they're in college. It kind of blurs the lines.

(51:32):
What is that? What's your process of going and finding
a guy or finding a roster of guys for a
draft class? What does that look like?

Speaker 2 (51:38):
Yeah, you know, for me, I just have an eye
for the certain guy that I'm looking for. Okay, so
you know, I might go through the college rosters and
see certain guys that I that I know probably won't
be high round pigs, but they got potential to play
in the NFL, and so I kind of just make
the liz, you know, And after I make my list,
I go out and contact guys. And then after that,

(52:01):
like some you know, as I continue to grow people,
you know, they give me leads and so sometimes I
look up other guys that people have you know, sent
me or whatnot. But it's really just doing my own
homework and then if I feel comfortable on the guy,
just like as y'all was getting recruited or whatnot. You know,
Like then that's when I really up up the annie
and you know, and I really press him and you know,

(52:22):
to try to tell them about myself the different things
I can offer. Like you said, now, it is a
lot of nil agents. So you know, the earlier you
get on guys, the better. But you know, for some
guys it might work, but for other guys, you know,
they'll realize that this dude probably isn't the best for me.

Speaker 3 (52:38):
I need to probably switch.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
So I really think it's a two wage street on
how to handle it or whatnot. But it's definitely different.
Things are changing, and it's a lot more agents these
days as it probably was years ago, so it's a
lot more competition as well.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
For sure.

Speaker 4 (52:55):
Our last podcast, we had a conversation with Brad about
these nil agents and there may be a business model
for undercutting them because they're these guys are taking like
ten to fifteen twenty percent.

Speaker 2 (53:06):
So no, for sure, like they are taking a lot.
It's like the wild wild West right now. I mean,
I'm sure they're trying to get some rules put behind you,
but it's definitely way you can cut it. And I
just think twenty percent of anything is just insane.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
But that's why.

Speaker 4 (53:22):
I mean, yeah, the government started taken almost half and
then you gotta give the earth. Yeah, it's crazy. Not
a whole lot of the pie left after that, for sure, right.

Speaker 1 (53:30):
Gebon And I don't want to if you have any questions,
you have the floor. I don't want to thank you
quiet the whole episode. Oh I do got one burning
question for you.

Speaker 6 (53:39):
I've got some friends who are from Missouri's will Saint
Luis area, and uh, my thing with Missouri.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
A lot of people call Missouri the South.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
Would you say that Missouri is the South? That's what
I got to know from someone who actually lived there.

Speaker 2 (53:51):
I would say the whole culture is more Southern driven, Okay,
but I would say just looking on the map, we
kind of call it. To me, it was, but I
think the culture is more South. So actually why people
say that?

Speaker 6 (54:04):
Okay, So you like Saint Louis itself, like, because I
feel like there's a difference between like Columbia and Saint.

Speaker 1 (54:09):
Louis, Missouri, right, Like would you.

Speaker 6 (54:12):
Like would you can like I know Columbia's and the SEC, right,
but like in terms of Saint Louis and like the
I guess, like.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
Is that even northern Missouri.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
It's kind of the middle, right, like in the middle
towards the east.

Speaker 6 (54:23):
Yeah, you would still that's still you would consider that,
like the this is the South, Yeah, I would consider it.

Speaker 3 (54:28):
So yeah, right there, fool. You think of the South,
you think of good food.

Speaker 1 (54:33):
You know, what's the best spot back home? If you
if you if you go back home, what's the.

Speaker 2 (54:37):
Spot we're known for? A Chinese food? For our rice
is outstanding?

Speaker 1 (54:43):
Okay?

Speaker 4 (54:45):
Chinese food? Yeah, bro, is there like a little China
in Saint Louis.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
Well, basically all the Chinese spies they kind of cook
them very similar and it's just like a Saint Louis statele.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
To be honest, I would do some fried rice right now. Man.

Speaker 4 (54:59):
Yeah, the barb in St.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
Louis a couple, bro, it's a spot called on Rigs.
I mean it's a lot of spies. They known for
barbecue and Southern food. So sol food. You know, you
come to Saint Louis, you definitely would eat good, that's sure.

Speaker 1 (55:14):
Now.

Speaker 4 (55:15):
They got a follow question to Grant's question. There's a
rumor out there says if you cut the bottom ten
percent of Iowa and give it to Missouri that both
states IQs increase.

Speaker 3 (55:29):
One more time.

Speaker 1 (55:31):
The idea, Shump, is that if you took the dumbest
people from Iowa and you gave them to Missouri, both
state's IQ average would go up.

Speaker 3 (55:42):
I can see that. Hey, look, I mean Jump's one
of those.

Speaker 1 (55:48):
Hey Trump was two time academic All American. Yeah, he
isn't a part of that.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
He isn't a part of that. I'm on the other side.
But I didn't meet a lot of smart, all with people,
so I could see where you're going.

Speaker 4 (56:02):
I'm not nigh with natives, so I can't claim that.
I can't claim that one.

Speaker 3 (56:05):
Okay, okay, where are you from a gang?

Speaker 4 (56:08):
I'm from outside Chicago, Okay, I've I've since made Iowa
on my home I've lived, I've I haven't left since
since school for sure.

Speaker 3 (56:17):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
Well, Shump, this was uh, this was a good time
catching up.

Speaker 4 (56:21):
Man.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
We're happy we got to do this. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:24):
I appreciate that, man, Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
I'm stay in touch and I'm gonna keep following you.
I I I love seeing what you're doing with you
or with the agent stuff. And again I saw you
training people out there doing footwork yesterday, so I'm into
that stuff too. So we uh we like, like we
said before we hit record, it's cool to see former
teammates doing cool stuff and we're uh, we're happy to
know you.

Speaker 2 (56:46):
Yes, sir, I appreciate it. Man, keep up the good work.
I've seen the podcast has been taken off ever since
you guys launched it, so I always respect guys.

Speaker 3 (56:55):
They keep the head now and you know they keep
doing it. You know this tough. A lot of people
like the quits. I salute you guys.

Speaker 1 (57:01):
So one thing we haven't done is quit quit. Hope everybody.
Hope everybody enjoyed our pod with Shump. I know you did.
Thank you guys for listening to this episode. We'll be
back again next time. We're trying to get yeah, a
couple guys on the team that just graduate. I think
we got a couple more lined up, so we'll see
if we can get them on next time. We'll see

(57:24):
you then, peace. Hey, thanks for listening to the show.
If you want more, you can check us out on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,
and YouTube by searching Washed Up walk Ons, And if
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half of your subscription benefits the kids at UI Children's Hospital.

(57:46):
We'll see you next time. Hawks by a million US
Bust Bust post