Nick Jackson | WUW 581

Nick Jackson is from Atlanta, Georgia and started his career at Virginia where he played all 4 years and was a Team Captain twice. After the infamous Virginia Football player shooting happened, his path took a turn, and he ended up at Iowa. An organization he describes as a perfect fit. We discuss his journey from being highly recruited out of high school, playing at Virginia, and eventually transferring. Nick shares his experiences, including adjusting to a new defense, leadership lessons from Coach Ferentz, and the emotional impact of the tragic events at Virginia. We also dive into his preparation for the NFL, the transfer portal process, and memorable moments like the handshake with Nebraska's Matt Rhule. Tune in for an in-depth look at Nick Jackson's football journey and insights into the world of college football.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Another one of those guys that requires no introduction, Nick
Jackson joins the show today. We had Jay Higgins, we
have the other half of the linebacking corps, and Nick
has one of the more interesting stories in maybe all
of college football. Started his career at Virginia, experienced tragedy
the transfer portal, and is now training for the NFL Draft.
Once a Cavalier, but as you'll hear, a true Hawk

(00:20):
guy love.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
This episode with Nick. You guys will too. Let's have
a day.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Let's go another Washington walk Ons podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Another guest, another recent graduate and senior from the University
of Iowa football team, joins us. That is Nick Jackson,
and he does not quite as a washed up walk On.
He's very much so still relevant and he had more
offers than Kevin and I could have ever imagined to
get in our lifetime. Obviously, this guy holds like some

(01:13):
longevity records.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Nick. I saw before I got on here.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
I was looking at like five hundred and fifty five tackles,
seventy three games played in I don't know how your.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Body is still put together. We appreciate you joining the
show tonight.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Man, I appreciate you guys having me, thank you, dude.
Does your body hurt not?

Speaker 4 (01:31):
And honestly feels pretty good, especially a couple months after
the season.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
So it feels pretty good right now.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
I would imagine right now during the during the training you,
I'm sure you've got massage like every Monday, stretch and
pt all that stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
Yeah, they do a really good job with treeing us
right and getting our body active.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Where are you at right now, I'm at Bamba Ritos
down in Miami, Miami. Gosh, I was just there about
a month ago.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
It was actually kind of cold, but it's a lot
better than Iowa right now.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yeah, I heard I heard what like you ten inches
of snow the other day or something like eight. It's
been negative tempts.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
I don't know if it's gotten above five degrees the
last three days.

Speaker 5 (02:12):
So tough time, pretty good.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
That part of Iowa. Did Virginia get cold.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
Nothing like Iowa And it just got like into the twenties,
probably snowed a couple of times, but for the most part,
it was nothing like Iowa. Okay, Yeah, it's a it's
a little bit different. When it gets cold.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Here, it's like, uh, it just it like hurts your soul.
So Kevin Grant remind me, I don't know if we've
had on a player.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
That's been a transfer portal guy. Is Nick our first
transfer portal guy we.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
Usually had because we because Nick.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
The way we usually start this show is like, ah,
how did you.

Speaker 5 (02:55):
Like we had James Butler while back?

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Okay, we did have James Butler in our class. Yeah, sure.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Usually we start this was like, how did I will
find you? Man?

Speaker 1 (03:03):
How'd you commit to Iowa City? But you've got a
little bit of a different story, and I did a
little bit of research. It sounds like iowould did recruit
you a little bit originally back in twenty eighteen.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (03:15):
Yeah, So when I was coming out of high school,
coach Wallace likes to give me a lot of hard
time about he came down to my high school and
apparently I didn't give him the time of day or
something like that. I mean, that's entirely not true though,
But I mean I just remember I was just a
high school kid in Atlanta, Georgia, and I didn't know
what Iowa was like. That was that was a long

(03:37):
trek from home. Heard great things about it. Tiga was
actually like in our kind of like area. So I
knew him, I knew all of him. I wasn't gonna say,
like we're close friends or anything. But then he ended
up going to Iowa, so obviously, like I saw a
lot of Iowa stuff and crossovers through social media.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
But yeah, I didn't.

Speaker 5 (03:56):
I didn't.

Speaker 4 (03:56):
I wasn't ready to go to Iowa right out of
high school, so I had to make my way around
after after the second time.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
I imagine Coach Wallace does give you a plenty of crap
for that.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
He likes to do that.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, he's like, he's our favorite guy around here. So
we got we got a T shirt with his face
on it somewhere. Yeah, Oh, we can get you one.
The Uh so you're from Atlanta, Yep. Football always the dream.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
So I was honestly like back and forth basketball football
probably up until middle school. And then when I got
to high school, you know, I stopped growing at like
six foot and a half six one, and you know,
that football dream just became way more of the reality.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
You know, I think I feel like that's that's how
it happens. That's just how Yeah, everyone wants to be
a basketball player til you stop growing.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Once you realize you're not going to be six seven
then you switch that.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, you got to make that decision. Were you pretty
good at at basketball?

Speaker 4 (04:55):
I mean I was high school good honestly, and now
I was like all region, but I I'm nothing like
you know, D one level or anything like that.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Did you and Jay ever go to the fieldhouse or
the wreck and go one on one?

Speaker 3 (05:08):
Yeah, he can't guard me. That's not a competition.

Speaker 5 (05:10):
But sound like he was a pretty good hooper though.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yeah, we asked him about it. He said he was
pretty good.

Speaker 4 (05:17):
I mean he was in Indiana, like real textbook, fundamental guy.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
So you're saying you're grittier, you got you. You just
have a better feel for the game. It was just
more fluid down there in Atlanta.

Speaker 4 (05:30):
Yeah, I mean we're hoopers down in Atlanta. You know,
we don't need the back door cut to go get
a bucket.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
I can't wait. I can't wait to We had him on.
I'm gonna send him that.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
I'm gonna send him that clip about all the time.
It's all good? Is it?

Speaker 5 (05:44):
Ah?

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Is it weird? Now you're in Miami? We had Jay on.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
He's in Dallas or something. Luke Lash he's out in Cali.
Is it kind of weird to go through that process?
And we'll get to your story about how you were
kind of there and then you weren't. You got another year,
and then you got another year, and.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Now you're finally here and you all split up into
these different training camps and you grab an agent and
they kind of have their place where they want you
to go train for the draft.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
Do you sit there right now during this.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
Sort of weird three month period and you're just like, man,
life is kind of crazy.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah, it's wild. Honestly.

Speaker 4 (06:19):
It's like because you know, like the season and how
rigorous the season is, and like you're with the same
guys for twelve hours a day for six seven months
straight and then it's like, all right now we're all
getting on a plane and we're all going separate ways
and I'll see you, you know, whenever pro day is.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
You know.

Speaker 4 (06:38):
So it's like it's it's crazy, but it's honestly a
pretty cool process though, just to go through. But yeah,
it's weird being without your guys, but I mean you
make new friends here too, but you know you missed
the guys for sure.

Speaker 5 (06:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
The uh, the process of choosing the agent and choosing
a place to.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
Work out to stay, Like what what was that like?

Speaker 3 (07:01):
Was that stressful for you?

Speaker 5 (07:02):
Was that?

Speaker 3 (07:02):
Did you try to make that easy? What what did
that look like? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (07:06):
So, I mean I just really kind of came down
to like someone I could trust and I knew that
believed in me.

Speaker 5 (07:11):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (07:11):
You know, you hear a lot of the pictures from
like agents and stuff, and they all sound really similar,
you know, they kind of like it's it's like rinch
wash repete.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
But then it's.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
Just like how who can you trust who's going to
be a good image of you when when they're just
talking to those higher ups and stuff like that, And uh.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
I'm just going through that process, you know.

Speaker 4 (07:35):
I just kind of asked my parents and a lot
of like what they thought to when we were on
those zoom calls and stuff like that. As for the facility,
it was more just like, you know, what have you
get on with guys in the past, Like what's the
like workout routine, schedule, what do you specialize in for
like my needs specifically for when I test? And then

(07:57):
just kind of like going through all that, like how
many guys you have, like are you gonna be with
like those you know, Travis Hunters and all those freaks shows,
so like you weren't worried about them than you are
about me. So kind of just going through and uh
taking all that in.

Speaker 5 (08:10):
What what are you what are you hoping to work
on most of this? Uh before before the testing days
come on?

Speaker 4 (08:16):
Uh, mostly just the forty. Really seanna run the fastest
forty possible.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
I feel like you might be a guy who.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Like you're gonna do You're gonna do your best, You're
gonna go and ball out on Pro Day, and then
you just you're just you just want to shot, like
you're just your mentality is maybe just get my foot
in the door and I'll make it happen from there.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
Is that Does that sound right? Yeah? Yeah, no doubt
about that.

Speaker 4 (08:41):
Like I just any opportunity, whatever it calls like that
won't punch.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
We we have to talk a little bit about this.
I mean, my man, you were snubbed. I mean it's
like the news of last week. You were snubbed.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah, tell me about tell me about that.

Speaker 4 (08:56):
Yeah, I mean honestly, it's Uh, it's one of those
things where you can you can look at it and
you can you can dwell about it. You can, you
can get sad about it or whatever, but honestly, like
my mentality was like I'm not gonna flinch. Like you
know anything about it. You can't control it. This whole
process is one process you really can't control. Like your

(09:17):
your tape, as your resume, you can control. You got
opportunity at pro Day. Uh you know, I know Coach
Wallace has put me in some great situations and helped
me really confident about learning defenses and schemes and everything
like that. So you know, anything like I'll have his
opportunity on Pro Day and you know I won't flinch.

(09:37):
Give me an opportunity, get my foot in the door
and let's play ball. Like when it all comes down
to it, just more time to train, right, Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 5 (09:46):
No man, You're like you're like one of those guys that,
like you said, just just turn on the film. You've
got probably more film out there than any other linebacker
in your class of uh of you planes. I do
think that there is this bias. Tell everyone in the
NFL is like, all right, well what is testing numbers?
Where's test numbers? Where is testing? But bro, man, if

(10:09):
if you can't play if you can't move in space,
if you can't diagnose a play and just boom and go,
it's like, all right, you're fast, but you're running the
wrong direction, dude. So I think the right team's going
to see that in you, and I think I think
you're a dude just fine.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
Man, I appreciate that. Yeah, it's a highway. Yeah I was.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
I was gonna say the same thing, keV if if tape.
If tape is the resume, and that's that's what people
care about.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
There ain't nobody that got more tape than this guy.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
I mean, my goodness, dude, five hundred and fifty five tackles,
four seasons with over one hundred Tacklessie.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
Josie Jewel, who what this is our shirt? By the way, Nick,
that's awesome. Tell me about Goat. Tell me about Goat Wallace.
What makes him about.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
He's honestly like, that's my guy when it all comes
down to it, Like, I love coach Wallas. He uh
he cares so much about the guys that he coaches
with that passion. And you know when someone like you
know when someone cares about you that much, Like however
they comes across if they say it. It's because it

(11:21):
comes from a place like they want you to succeed,
They want you to make plays. They genuinely care about you,
like like he knows that like how much it means
to us, and he knows how much it means to him.
But he wants us to go out there and perform
our best, and he puts in every minute, every hour,
every second, honestly to give us the most preparation possible

(11:42):
for for for Saturdays.

Speaker 5 (11:46):
You got a favorite? Is he still doing the the
acronyms on the wall there?

Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, he still has him up there. You got a favorite.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
He's changed the meetings of a couple. But I'm just
gonna walk on mentality. I'm all leaving that one. I
like that one.

Speaker 3 (12:06):
Okay, we like that. That's a nick.

Speaker 2 (12:08):
Nick bringing the fire, he's bringing the vibe here.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
It is a good mentality to have because sometimes you
just gotta you gotta find.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
A way to get it done.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
Uh, let's swing it back to when you were coming
out of high school.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
You chose Virginia. You had a long list of offers.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
I mean you had some big ten offers you had,
like I imagine being in Atlanta was sec ever the
the dream, like is that where guys want to go?
It seemed like in a couple other interviews, Virginia was
kind of I think your dad went to Virginia maybe.

Speaker 4 (12:42):
Yeah, so my dad went to Virginia and so there
was a huge connection there and okay, did you not
play there? No, he didn't play, but uh he uh
was like real cool with a bunch of dudes on
the team and so he like hung around those guys
a lot too.

Speaker 5 (12:57):
Okay, but.

Speaker 4 (13:01):
Like going to Virginia, it was kind of like, honestly
like my like dream from the get go, because I mean,
Virginia is all over the house.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
Virginia's everywhere.

Speaker 4 (13:10):
So it was always like I was visiting schools like
saying like why like would I not go to Virginia,
Like could this be better than Virginia versus just like
going to Virginia.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
But yeah, definitely an SEC country.

Speaker 4 (13:22):
You know, everybody was huge on the SEC and definitely
pushing the SEC agenda for for me to go into
the SEC.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
But just.

Speaker 5 (13:35):
What you say, do you have any SEC offers?

Speaker 3 (13:37):
Yeah? I had a few.

Speaker 4 (13:38):
I don't I didn't have like the the blue Bloods
and stuff like that, but you know I had a
few of them, like the Missouri kind of level, Arkansas
all that stuff. But uh yeah, honestly, like I'd be lying.
I said I didn't want to like play in the
SEC being from Atlanta, But you know, I think that

(13:58):
it's really cool, like when you it's a bowl game
and stuff like that, playing against SEC school because when
you go back and talk to your boys back home
and they're like, all right, like the SEC is not
all that, but.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
It's It's true. It was always like that yearly test.
It seems like in bowl games.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
keV. We played l s.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
U, Tennessee, Ye, Stanford Florida, we played We played three
SEC teams in in our five years of bowl games.

Speaker 3 (14:25):
It didn't go well, No, it didn't. It didn't.

Speaker 5 (14:29):
The crazy thing is the most talented team we played
was the the team that we played the closest. That
team was oh yeah about that, the.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
Quarterback ob J. Jarvis.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
Their their defense was loaded, uh like that.

Speaker 5 (14:50):
I think they had nine future draft picks on that defense.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
Yeah, and we we played them to the fourth quarter
like it was.

Speaker 3 (14:56):
It was tight.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
Kevin and I didn't have anything to do with that game,
but we we watched it from the Southern sideline.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
Yeah, and it was cool.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
It was It was sort of an eye opening experience
for us. Like, I mean, Obj wasn't Obj in.

Speaker 5 (15:09):
That Yeah, you made Ob catching that game, but he.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
Did make a crazy catch in that game, and it
was like, damn, Like these guys are good. But you
kind of realize like, okay, like Ohio State's good, Michigan's good.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
All you know these Yeah, they're not special, right.

Speaker 4 (15:24):
Like's they're teams. I mean, they strap up the same
way you strap up.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
Sure, Yeah, they.

Speaker 5 (15:32):
Just might look a little better walking off the bus.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
Yeah, they definitely look good. They look good.

Speaker 5 (15:37):
They look great, man, they look good in the jersey,
as he would say.

Speaker 3 (15:40):
Pad State, they look great.

Speaker 6 (15:42):
Okay, So you go to Virginia and you get early
playing time, man, like you were I think you uh,
I think you played in every game your freshman year,
true freshman year, and then you were starting by your
sophomore year.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
Right.

Speaker 3 (15:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (15:56):
Yeah, So I got to play special teams for the
first half of the season, and then once our starting
mike kind of went down with an injury my freshman year,
I got, you know, go in and start a couple
of games and then you know, rotated in in a
couple of games where he kind of go it was
hurting him a little bit too much, so got some
some good tick there.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
What was the mentality out of high school? What was
your expectation of when you would see the field?

Speaker 4 (16:22):
Honestly, like looking back on it, like I was so
naive out of high school, Like I was more just
like just sit down and work hard, and you know,
whatever's gonna happen is going to happen.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
And you get to college.

Speaker 4 (16:35):
And I remember my first fall camp practice when I
got to Virginia, like I could barely get through the
warm up, like I was so tired, Like it was hot,
it was everything, and I was just I was dying
to it. Like I didn't even want to like go
in for seven on seven or any of those drills
because I was like, I'm not going to make it through.
So you know, I just was like trying to build up, honestly,
like just trying to get better honestly every single day.

(16:57):
I didn't know what like was in store for me
really that year. I know, just like when when you
are that number two as a freshman, you kind of
just like every game you're kind of just sitting there
like like what's gonna happen? Like every time your starter
gets hit, it's like okay, like am I about to
go in or what? So like having that scared mentality

(17:18):
as a freshman, like like help me prepare, you know?
So I was always felt like I was getting more prepared.
I was learning more about football, and the event was
really good and just teaching me like the ways and
stuff like that. So just like learning a lot and
just trying to get as good as possible. So when
my time was called, I was I was kind of ready.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
I mean it seemed like you were pretty ready.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
You ended up being two time captain, you know, several
successful seasons as a starting middle lineback, right yeah, yeah,
and early on when you started to get that playing time,
the guy goes down, was it was it a nervous energy,
like like you said, kind of a scared energy or
did you feel comp it going in?

Speaker 4 (18:01):
So I felt I felt felt like I was a
little confident because you know, I got sprinkled in if
we were up by a bunch, you know, I've gotten
a couple of reps. But like so the first time
I got in, which is crazy, is like we were
at Louisville and we were I think we were like
seven and two or something like that, or maybe like

(18:22):
probably like it was earlier in the season, so we
probably three and one or something like that. I don't
even know, but we were at Louisville and he got
a targeting call.

Speaker 3 (18:31):
Right so I'm going in. I'm playing. It's second half,
it's like third quarter. I'm going in.

Speaker 4 (18:37):
This is when Louisville has Makaie Beckton, so I go in.
Makai Becken is the starting guard on the Eagles right now,
like six seven, three thirty three point fifty. He's like
a top five pick in the draft. Next day, they
run just like outside zone right to him and just
she just throw me right off. I mean, I was
kind of like a welcome to college football moment.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
It's like, hey, but like.

Speaker 5 (19:00):
There's some dudes out there.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yeah, there's there's some shifts out there. I think they
schemed that up knowing that you came in that play.

Speaker 4 (19:06):
Yeah, I think they saw, you know, that guy went
out and you know freshman came in, and I think
they were like, let's go right at him, so see
what happens.

Speaker 5 (19:14):
But it's what SMARTO sees do right, Yeah, what we
got against him? Right? Yeah, Makai Beckton is one of
the bigger human beings I think I've ever seen on
a television.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
Yeah, he was.

Speaker 5 (19:27):
He was a little banged up during the super Bowl
and they saw, like you saw him trying to warm
up there on the side, and I'm just like, that's
a massive human being.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
Yeah, yeah, he's.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
What's crazy, travit or keV is that Worfs is like bigger.
He's not six seven, he's like six five, but like
Worfs is like three sixty. I don't know it has
worse ever been back in the building, Nick, when you
were there.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
Oh, I don't think so. I don't think I saw
him maybe once.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
I mean, he's down. You could probably drive and see
him right now. He's uh, just over there in Tampa.

Speaker 1 (20:07):
So you play a bunch, you're name to captain, and
then this crazy shit happens at Virginia, the whole shooting thing.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
Which I didn't even know was part of your story.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
And you know over in Iowa, like you said, you're
down in Atlanta, I don't even know where Iowa is.
You kind of when you're in your own state or
your own area of the country. Everything else is kind
of like this outside noise, and so like from our perspective,
you hear that that, you know, that whole event happens,
but you're like, oh shit, like that's crazy, like but
it's not me, right, So yeah, it just kind of

(20:42):
goes away eventually, and that's not really something that goes
away when you're a part of it. And like you
were about as close to that as as you could be.
What was that like, man, Like, what it's got to
be unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah, I mean it was terrible. Honestly, it's just stuff.

Speaker 4 (21:00):
It's one of those I mean, you speechless, you still
can't put words to it because it's like those are
your brothers. You know, you've been in those locker rooms too,
and you know how you treat those guys and your
best friends, and uh, you've been through a lot together,
you know, and you go through dorms with guys, you
grow up with guys, you know, go get meals, jokes,

(21:20):
all that stuff, and you compete against the guys.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
That's like family. So I mean it hurts.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
It hurts every day, but you know, you you kind
of live in the honor of those guys and and
play for those guys, and uh just know like the
mentality that they would have, just just knowing like how
much they would what they would do to be in
your spot right now, and and you love them, you
miss them every single day. But yeah, there's no real

(21:49):
words other than just you know, it's it's it's it's
it's a tragy travigy.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
And that happened in the twenty two Yeah, it happened
in twenty twenty two, which was your junior year.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
That was my senior year. Every was your true senior year.

Speaker 5 (22:06):
Yeah, what's the aftermath like that? Like, I mean, like
everyone's just in shock, I'm sure, but like I don't
even know how you show up to the complex the
next day or the next week or whenever it is.

Speaker 3 (22:20):
You know.

Speaker 4 (22:21):
Yeah, So, I mean our season was over pretty much
after that, so I mean we came in, we worked out,
but we didn't Our last two games were canceled, So
I mean, it was it was tough.

Speaker 3 (22:31):
It was tough. It was tough on everybody.

Speaker 4 (22:32):
Like I mean, there's there's no really going back to
life like as you knew it.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
After that.

Speaker 5 (22:39):
A lot of other guys end up transferring out.

Speaker 4 (22:41):
Too, declared transferred, But yeah, I mean everybody kind of
took their own path.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Twenty twenty two, so you were nineteen twenty twenty one,
twenty two, so you're your second year. There is the
COVID year, which means you pick up that extra COVID
year at that time, and you're.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
Sitting there, what is your mindset like was there? What
percentage were you like, I'm going to stay here and
finish out my career at Virginia.

Speaker 3 (23:11):
Or I'm going to enter the portal?

Speaker 2 (23:13):
Like when did that even come to your to your
mind after all that craziness happened.

Speaker 4 (23:20):
Yeah, honestly, it was more like I was thinking either
like stay at Virginia or like declare honestly at that point. Yeah,
and then just like after everything like was going on
and stuff, you know, like mentally, I was messed up
for a while, right, So it hurt me. Like DeShawn,
like Lavelle Devin, like they're my brothers, Like there's my boys.

(23:42):
Like DeShawn especially was like one of my best friends.
So it was like it was hard for me just
to like process everything, and I just knew I wasn't
in the space to you know, like even going through
this training process. Now, like you're alone a lot, right,
so I really want to be alone. And I knew
that I wanted to get my to and graduate from Virginia.
So like our program, like at the Business School was

(24:05):
was a four year, four semester program, and they wrote
it like that, so you can't do stuff like and
transfer try and like do any the way or graduate
earlier or something like that. They want you to stay
four semesters for it. So I knew I had to
stay that spring semester. So I figured that just transferring
and entering my name in the portal was the best

(24:25):
bet from it. But honestly, I entered on the last
day of portal season or something like that. I didn't
even know because I was so just like like I
wasn't planning on transferring at all. Yeah, So then I
entered and then like they were like the next like
I'm getting calls and stuff. But then like the next
day it's like the dead zone or something like that.

Speaker 3 (24:44):
So it kind of worked out well.

Speaker 4 (24:48):
And then just went back home, relaxed for a couple
of weeks, and then came back to Virginia and you know,
just started the process of just trying to graduate and
just being a normal student that semester.

Speaker 5 (24:59):
When you finally a normal student, Like, yeah, it was interesting.

Speaker 3 (25:06):
Honestly.

Speaker 4 (25:07):
It's like because you go to like the Wreck, right,
and then you work out and you know, like you're
just trying to like do your workouts and stuff like that,
and you know, you see some guys in there with
like some twenty five's and kind of struggling a little bit,
and you're like you're just so like trained to see
like guys throwing up crazy weight, like everybody's got two
plates on the bar, Like you're kind of just used

(25:28):
to seeing that versus like just what reality is. So
you kind of get set in that way, but it's.

Speaker 5 (25:34):
Hard to fit in and uh, you know, stay under
wraps when you're Yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
Ge Bony, can you imagine going to the wreck at
Iowa and just one of the football guys in there
just hankling in two seventy five.

Speaker 7 (25:46):
I mean there's some I mean they're definitely not like
the football team's not pumped but the record at it.
But there's some guys in there who, like if you
were even thrown around like at any above average weight,
like you're like the whole gym's kind of. So I
can imagine Nick, when you're in Virginia, It's like, oh, hold,
County Jackson's pulling up again.

Speaker 3 (26:05):
We all gotta we're gonna watch this guy work out
a little bit. YEA, give this guy an audience.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
When you finally decide, you get through that, you're like, Okay,
I guess I'm gonna get in the portal. We're gonna
figure this out.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
I'm gonna take advantage of one last year, make the
best of it.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
What in your mind are you looking for?

Speaker 1 (26:25):
Maybe you're not even thinking about it, but like what
what makes a school attractive at that point? What is
what's guiding your decision and where you're gonna end up
in the portal?

Speaker 4 (26:34):
Yeah, I wanted to just go to a school that
kind of like football was like its main tradition, Like
it was a football school, like they have history behind it,
and honestly just like a program where like defensively I
was gonna get developed and just I was gonna learn
and be able to like take that next step to

(26:54):
the NFL and learn anything that I might not have
learned at Virginia or might not have been able to do.
A Virginia kind of just hone in on that and
just kind of going through that process that just ended
up being Iowa.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah, decent spot for all the things you just said.

Speaker 3 (27:10):
Yeah, all right, Yeah, So I hope you sitting down
with him was awesome.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
What were the other so we talked to we recorded
with Brad Heinrichs last week. I think he mentioned that
it was between Iowa and Oklahoma.

Speaker 4 (27:24):
And yeah, Oklahoma and LSU were kind of my top three, which.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
I mean, when you talk about schools who are football
schools tradition, I guess I don't know so much about
how if they pride themselves on defense in those two programs,
it seems like maybe not.

Speaker 5 (27:40):
As out of the three.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yeah, yeah, but you know, obviously very very attractive schools
for football.

Speaker 1 (27:49):
They've both done great things just in the past ten years.
Great players, pedigree, what makes that final push there? And
we were also told that there i'd have been a
bottle of Pappy involved.

Speaker 3 (28:04):
Oh Brad, what a guy. H But yeah, honestly, it's like,
not for you, by the way, not for you. Nick
wasn't Nick.

Speaker 2 (28:17):
Nick wasn't trying to say, hey, who could get me
this bottle.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
With that one? Huh oh?

Speaker 4 (28:27):
But yeah, honestly, when you're when you're talking about schools
like that, I was, honestly, it was a blessing to
kind of be in that situation. You hear about a
whole bunch of people who who get caught in the portal, right,
and it's those horror stories where they kind of try
and leave a place and you can't get out.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
And I was lucky.

Speaker 4 (28:43):
I mean, I had options, which was I mean, I'm
blessing at that point. So I was happy about that, honestly.
But it really just came down to, like when I
got to Iowa, like what it felt like, honestly, and
then when I when I met with coach Parker and
Coach Wallace and just got to like got on the
board and learned about the scheme you know, Virginia, Like
we did a lot of like just blitzing exotic stuff

(29:05):
and uh man the Man and stuff like that. Right,
So I thought, just you know, learning like linebacker and
playing more just based stuff honestly, and then playing more zone,
which is uh.

Speaker 5 (29:16):
Different than what you're you're used to.

Speaker 4 (29:17):
Yeah, yeah, So it was it was really helpful to
you know, kind of add that into what I was
going to be ready for at the next level ultimately,
which I mean I might play a lot of man
at the next level, I might play a lot of zone.
But just learning at zone, uh, like zone structures and
stuff like that was was really cool. And you know,

(29:39):
just the way they broke it down. And you know,
coach Wallace, he's firing anytime he watch his film, and uh,
that was that was the guy that I knew I
wanted to just you know, trust my next chapter with.

Speaker 5 (29:50):
So before we get more into you know, your your
time at Iowa, I'm just curious. Like obviously, high school
recruiting is a year's long process, Like you know, it
starts sophomore year for bunch of guys junior year versus
transfer portal. This is over the course of a couple
of weeks, right like or maybe sometimes even less time.
What's like, I feel like kind of like there's a

(30:13):
lot of pressure there, like you know, you got to
make your decision and kind of make it under No.

Speaker 4 (30:18):
I kind of like the transfer portal way better in
a sense. I was way more mature. So it's like
I know what I want, Like I know what I
want to know what I'm looking for, Like I'm not
a namor to post like, oh I got like bussed
to receive an offer from you know this school.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
It wasn't me, like but coach Wallace.

Speaker 4 (30:38):
Like they were like, hey, let's go to this photo shoot,
and I was like, I don't want to do that,
like you know what I mean, Like he's probably think, oh.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
Yeah when you said that.

Speaker 1 (30:46):
When you said that, wall was just like, oh yeah,
we got a fucking football player here.

Speaker 4 (30:50):
Like I mean, I just don't want to do a
photo shoot right now, Like I'd rather like, I think
Kaylen Clark was playing.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
So we went to the Kaylor Cark game.

Speaker 4 (30:56):
And so I was like this is way more entertaining
than me putting on a you.

Speaker 3 (31:01):
Know, football helmet and just like taking pictures of myself.
Like that's not like I.

Speaker 5 (31:05):
Give as followers at man.

Speaker 4 (31:08):
Yeah, like how many followers I have or anything like that.
It's more just like let's play ball and we can
watch ball. Let's watch ball. So I thought that that
was you know, uh, when they took me to the
game and stuff like that, that was that was really
cool throughout that process.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
But yeah, I think just.

Speaker 4 (31:26):
Being more mature, you know, you see kind of like
a school for what it is versus like you know,
when you when you're seventeen eighteen years old, you're a
namor with everything, man, like you know, a name, a logo,
everything like that, Like what you know, your high school
friends are going to think about your commitment all that stuff.
So I'm glad, Like it was short sweet and you know,

(31:47):
you just you pick the right school.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
I do have a question, though, Nick, because as much
as you mature in those three years, and you do
a lot, and you can get past some of that
superficial stuff on the high school side, like the taking
pictures and who was it, Like I think it was
Jay who was making fun of kids who were like
taking pictures with Ferrari on the field and stuff like that.

(32:11):
There was one major thing that came into play just
a year before, like not even I think in the
summer of twenty one is when the NIL stuff passed.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
Was that a factor in your decision? Did that play
into it at all?

Speaker 1 (32:23):
Like obviously I mentioned Brad he was part of that process,
you know, Brad heinrichs now Like obviously it had something
to do with it, But how much did you really
put into that versus the other intangible stuff that you
talked about.

Speaker 4 (32:35):
Yeah, so when I got in the portal, like I
didn't even know, Like honestly, it was actually funny because
I got in the portal and you know, I drove
back to Georgia, like a seven hour drive, and like
some coaches were calling me like the whole ride, and
you know, they would call me and be like, is
this like a money grab? Like you just want to

(32:55):
be like the highest paid dude, or like are you
looking for a good school or like you're trying to
stay in the c And so I'm sitting there like
I didn't even know, like money was on the table,
like at Virginia we were just starting our NIL program,
like guys were getting a little bit of money, but
like it wasn't anything like you hear about on social
media now, right, So I didn't even like like NIO

(33:16):
wasn't even a thought process and transferring for me, Like
it was more like where can I go play ball?
And then you get in the portal and then you
hear like X and you hear why here's E And
you're like, Okay, well this is insane, Like it's a
it's a cool process, but honestly, like Swarm and Brad
they do a lot, right, So I mean I'm really

(33:38):
thankful for them. And at the end of the day,
Brad's a really good dude. Like I think that's why
people don't like, like some people don't see it, but
like he's a great human being and you know, like
what he does for us and when he does just
for for this, like he doesn't have to do really,
so I mean it's just it's a huge tribute to
him and a huge tribute to everyone who donates to

(33:59):
SWARM because I mean, they had this landscape in this
football landscape, like it's it's needed and it helps get
the players that we need just to be successful at Iowa.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
He certainly doesn't need to do the SWARM. He is
funny successful in his own right, and that is keV.
The more I hear this guy talk, the more I
think that KF and Coach Parker.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
And uh and uh in woods.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
When Nick left the building, they're like, this is the
one we just lucked into. Like this guy's looking for
the Iowa program and we found him. And also, not
to mention Nick, you come in at a time where
Jack and Seth had just left, right, Yeah, yeah, like you,
I mean, this was almost a matchmate in heaven.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
Like it was perfect. I couldn't have dreamed of a
better fit.

Speaker 5 (34:48):
You know, now, when you guys are going through your
recruiting and you're you know, doing your board talk with
with Parker and Wallace, did they talk to you about like, hey,
we see you as a MIC, we see you as
a Will or anything like that, or they just kind
of go through Grant scheme of things, you know, not.

Speaker 4 (35:04):
They kind of went to the Grand scheme of things.
They talked about Mike, they talked about Will, So it
was kind of like going back and forth.

Speaker 5 (35:10):
Sure, So what was that like when you actually get
in here is like moving to the Will position? Obviously
it's completely different philosophy of defense. So I mean, even
if you stayed at the MIC, probably wouldn't have been
all too similar. But what was the adjustment like there
when you start to when you get on the field
for Yeah, with defense.

Speaker 3 (35:29):
Yeah, it's different, honestly.

Speaker 4 (35:31):
I mean like you're sending zone a lot, and you know,
I mean there's no secret to that.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
The whole world knows it. But it's it's different, you know.

Speaker 4 (35:39):
I Mean you're used to blitzing exotic man stuff like that. Right,
and you're kind of sitting there in your ear and
coverage and then you're reading and reacting and then you're
manipulating the front all that stuff. So I think it
was cool. I mean, everything in the boundary I feel
like happened a little bit faster than it did. To
the field feel is definitely more base, but the boundary,

(36:00):
it's just like, if it's going to be a pass,
it's going to be boom.

Speaker 5 (36:04):
The attack our Will linebacker and pass love.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
Yeah, so it was an adjustment for sure.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
I mean, as you guys can probably see in the
first couple of games last year, right, Uh, So, I
mean I definitely learned a lot. But yeah, I mean, honestly,
that was one of the cool things too. It's just like,
you know, you play three or four years at Mike
and then now you get to play Will. So I
just kind of add into the repertoire of what you
feel good about at the next level.

Speaker 5 (36:32):
How many times did you get beat by the hunter
out in practice before you finally figure it out? Because
I feel like takes every Will linebacker at least two
weeks their first time playing it.

Speaker 8 (36:42):
A hunter out still, so I get i'd be lying
if Coach Wallace is watching and I told you guys know,
be like, yeah, okay, call you up. You know Stroy
who is named after Uh it was just a linebacker
name Hunter or Jeremiah Hunter.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (37:01):
So if they name a route after you and you
are a defensive player at Iowa, it's not a good thing.
It means you could not fucking guard it. So as
long as it's the Hunter route means that we've had
good enough winebackers that they haven't had to rename it.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
So are there any ward routes out there?

Speaker 5 (37:18):
There's no ward routes out there. Okay, you actually have
to get on the field and get beat by it.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
So oh yeah, okay, that makes sense.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
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Speaker 2 (37:32):
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Speaker 3 (39:09):
Back to Nick, what was.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
It like coming into the room and meeting this guy
named Jay Higgins?

Speaker 3 (39:16):
And it's like.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
You're both stepping into a starting role the same year
you're filling.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
Some big shoes.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
I don't even know what your perception of Benson and
Campbell was as you stepped in, but we were on
the outside a little bit worried when those two guys
are have to be replaced, and we're like, Okay, who's
gonna be our linebackers? And then we were just gifted
you and Jay Higgins. Like it was amazing from our side.
What was it like from your end?

Speaker 3 (39:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (39:45):
I mean it was, Uh, it was one of those
things you don't really think about, but you know, you
when you in a transfer portal, you're looking.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
At guys coming.

Speaker 4 (39:53):
You know you're gonna play similar positions too, right, And
you see Jack Campbell and you see Sev Benson and
you watch the tape on them and just dogs, you know,
just Junkyard dogs and those guys made.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
Play after play after play after play.

Speaker 4 (40:06):
So I mean it excites you to go into that defense,
but yeah, you have a lot to live up to, right,
So I mean, those guys, you're never gonna be them, right,
So that's kind of the mentality that we had, you know,
just never gonna be them, but you just go down
and work as hard as you can and try and
make as many plays as you can just to just
to kind of hold that standard. But yeah, man, those guys,

(40:29):
I watch a lot of their tape, you know, and
Jack obviously buckets winner. You hear them everywhere, right, But
as good as everyone knows he is, I think Seth
Benson doesn't get nearly. There's enough enough credit, Like he's
an adult, and he made a lot a lot of plays.
So I was I was really like interested just to

(40:50):
just you know, watch your tape, learn more about it
than when I actually like knew what the defense was
and stuff like that. But those guys, you know, we
never really talked about just like trying to be those guys.
We're just trying to be ourselves really and knowing that
like every week we're just gonna up for a new challenge.
And you know what they did for for their tenure
was was really special, and uh, we just had to

(41:11):
attack every single day just to try and hold the
standard as best as we could. Just uh kind of
mimick those guys, man's.

Speaker 5 (41:20):
Leave the jersey in a better place, right, So we
find ourselves in a similar scenario going into twenty twenty five.
We asked, we asked Jay a little bit about it,
but who do you see stepping up for us this year?

Speaker 3 (41:33):
I mean, you got some guys in that room. I'll
tell you what.

Speaker 4 (41:35):
You know, Jayden Harrold, I mean he's he's a good player. Now,
you know, you got Carson Schier that's a killer. Like
that's a that's a killer, right, and then Rex Rost's
made plays. You know, all those guys in there. You
got some we got some walk on mentalities and knowing
DeLong and you know I think that uh j Mont,

(41:57):
all those guys, man. So if you're watching it, I
missed your name, but like, I'm sorry, but I think
that that that linebacker group right there is the deepest
on the team for sure.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
The Jay talked to us about a little bit what
you mentioned when you said that as a player, you
weren't trying to be Jack and Seth you and you
and Jay were going to be your own version of
whatever you were going to be. Jay said that Coach
Wallace did a really good job or just in general,
does a really good job of coaching guys, figuring out

(42:33):
a way to coach guys the perfect way that they
need to be coached.

Speaker 3 (42:38):
Ye. I think his example was.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
Like for you and Jay, you guys just wanted the
call and then that would allow you to get up
to the line and just play football. And for them,
Seth and Jack, they had like sixteen different ways to
check into something different and they love doing.

Speaker 3 (43:00):
It that way. What what other than that?

Speaker 2 (43:05):
And maybe you can elaborate on that too.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Allowed Coach Wallace to set that standard from the top
because this linebacker room, going back to our time with Josie,
going all the way back to the guys on the
wall of that meeting room you sat in, Chad Greenway,
Hot abdul Hodge, like all these guys. Why is why
is Coach Wallace able to just hold that standard?

Speaker 3 (43:28):
And what is so special about that room? I mean
it's just we don't let everybody in, you know, we don't.

Speaker 4 (43:35):
Let everybody in it. I like that but I think
that it's you know, you have to earn the right
to be in the room. You have to earn the
rights to stay in the room, right, And it's a standard.
When you're in that room, you know that you have
to you know, you have to know the front. You know,
you have to know the back end, and you know
you have to go out there and perform and you know,
execute and operate at a high level.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
Day in and day out. You know, even in the facility,
you have to set a standard for the team. Right.

Speaker 4 (44:01):
So because he always talks with about just the way
you present yourself and even when you present yourself in
team meeting, and how you're operating in academics, you know
he should be able to you know, watch film during
the academic meetings.

Speaker 3 (44:13):
Right.

Speaker 4 (44:14):
You shouldn't have to worry or hear anybody that's a
list guy in in the linebacker room. He shouldn't have
to hear anybody missing weight, missing refuel anything like that.

Speaker 3 (44:22):
That's not the culture in there, right.

Speaker 4 (44:23):
So I think that when you have that standard like
that and you bring in guys like that who are
all are operating on a team first basis, you know
those guys will do anything for the team, right, And
I think you know, nowadays you get caught up with
a bunch of guys who who maybe not are is
interested in the team anymore with everything going on just

(44:44):
in college football. But he does a great job of
making it all about the team and how we operate
is in sync with making this team go.

Speaker 5 (44:54):
I love that answer, Love that answering. I just didn't
know until a.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
Few Dude, I'm saying, man, he could have been could
have been five six years at Iowa too.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
Hypothetical.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
One of your boys from Virginia hits you up, you're
you're catching up, and they're like, hey, what's coach ference? Like, like,
tell me about coach ference?

Speaker 3 (45:15):
What is your answer? He's unbelievable.

Speaker 4 (45:21):
He's a true leader, honestly, Like he's a true like
a great person. Like there's no reason that he has
to be up at four thirty in the morning. It
is to say hello to us in the weight room
when we're working out. Right, There's there's like there's nothing
he has to do about that, Like there's nothing in
his job description that says that that's what he needs
to do. There's nothing that says that, like he needs

(45:41):
to stay for dinner and check in on all of us.
And he knows every single person in the building's name
and checks in on every single person every single day, right,
and he sees he will say hello, and he cares.
You know, you could tell how much he cares about
each individual person and how much Like you develop someone,
and you care so much, like you're working to develop someone.

(46:03):
That like builds your real and strength into relationships so
much more with someone versus just like someone's like, hey,
I care about the football side of you, and are
you already good or are you not good?

Speaker 3 (46:12):
Right? It's like how can I get you better? What's wrong?
Like how can I help you? Like what's going on?

Speaker 4 (46:18):
And Coach Parents does an unbelievable job of just connecting
with his players, and everybody wants to play it like
through the walls for him.

Speaker 3 (46:26):
Football guy, Yeah, huge football guy.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
You remember off the top of your head the first
time you saw emotional Kirk.

Speaker 4 (46:34):
You know he gets that, you know his face starts
to I just I think I don't remember the first time.

Speaker 3 (46:40):
I just remember I looked at Kyler Fisher and I
was like, is he crying? Like I've never had?

Speaker 4 (46:44):
Like I mean, coach Minnenhall cried one time, but I
just I mean, he cried and I was like crying,
and then like Kyler Fisher's like, yeah, this shit fires
me up. So I was like yeah, I was like,
oh okay, I bet like we're like we're fired up now, Okay,

(47:05):
So like this isn't this is normal when kf cries.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
At least this is the way it was for me
as a player. You can it's like this something's in
the air. You can like feel how much this man
loves the game of football and loves his guys. Yeah,
and that's what that's what fires you up. You're like, Okay,
here we go, let's go to war. I don't care
who it's against. I'm I'm with this guy, right.

Speaker 4 (47:32):
Yeah exactly, Like you look to sideline, You're like, I'm
going to war for this guy.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
Like I'll put my body on the line. I don't care,
I think.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
I mean, we we played for him for five years,
so we probably had a few more emotional emotional chaofs.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
Than you did.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
But man, it's just like there were even some moments
where like you wouldn't even expect it and you're just like, God,
this guy cares he like he it means so much
to him. Yeah, he's he's uh uh a true leader.

Speaker 3 (48:02):
I love the way you describe it with that, a
true leader.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
Have you got anything else before we toss it up too, I.

Speaker 5 (48:11):
Was gonna say, you know, we got we we got
Jay's side of the matt Ruhle incident. I want to
I want to hear what your thoughts were about that
whole thing. Obviously you had a few things to say
towards the after the game, you know, because like you
were the one like he's walking in front of you
during like the the pregame warm ups or something like that,
or like what what the hell was going on that day?

Speaker 3 (48:36):
Yeah, I mean, I mean Jay's Ja's kind of elaborating.

Speaker 4 (48:40):
It was very open to the media about a lot
of the stuff that was going on.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
You two gave the best tandem interview after that game
that I've ever seen.

Speaker 4 (48:48):
By the way, It's funny because he's like two dudes
that are training down here that played at Nebraska, so
you know, I think, like, you know, thanks Bud. But
even one of them, honestly was like talking about how
they got in like some pregame uh altercation or something

(49:12):
like that, uh maybe a couple of games before.

Speaker 3 (49:16):
At usc Us they did.

Speaker 5 (49:17):
I think I caught right they did. I mean it's
like kind of like, hey, uh, I wasssed out of
five bars. Man, it's not the bar's fault.

Speaker 4 (49:27):
Told them, I said, have you ever like thought about
the fact that if everyone's having a problem with you
and they've never had a problem before, that maybe you're
the problems education man. But uh, yeah, those guys, I mean, uh,
you know, everything's ramped up a little bit when he

(49:49):
when you put pads on, and you know, you don't
like to play the game before the game, right or
or or get angry or anything. But you know, uh,
there's a certain respect that comes with playing the game
of football that you have for.

Speaker 3 (50:03):
Your opponent, and.

Speaker 4 (50:08):
Whether it's in play before the game or anything like that,
you treat the game with respect and dignity. And I
think that just in terms of that, like we felt
a little bit disrespected, you know, so you know at
that cost, you know, it was it was emotional for us,
and you know we wanted to go win that game
for sure, just because you know, I don't think that

(50:30):
that's kind of acceptable really, it just makes.

Speaker 5 (50:34):
The win so much more sweeter though, doesn't it.

Speaker 3 (50:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (50:37):
I mean it's already a rivalry game. Everything's already hyped up,
and you know, you hear the chatter all week. Okay, yeah,
we only beat you on a game winning field goal
last year. YadA, YadA, YadA, like all that stuff. So
you know, I mean, you know how much you hate
to lose, right, So it's just anything like that you
hate even more. So you're doing anything at any cost

(50:58):
just to go win that game.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
The pettiness of Jay's handshake with him after the game
is just.

Speaker 3 (51:08):
Ship's kiss.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
I mean, I've never seen any execution better than that.

Speaker 3 (51:13):
It was is my favorite.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
And then you step into that interview and you both
got a smile on your face. It's the last regular
season game you you guys know you don't have to
play them again, So you guys were a little bit
looser in that. I mean, it was I mean Bramo,
Nick Jackson, and Jay Higgins.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
That was that was art. It was theater.

Speaker 5 (51:35):
Performance too.

Speaker 3 (51:37):
Yeah, I mean I didn't understand, like, I didn't even
know until.

Speaker 4 (51:40):
We got in there that uh that Jay ran over
there and shook his hand and I was like, that's amazing.
But I just remember he came to the sideline after
and after they went out for the coin toss, right,
and he goes, He's like, they didn't shake my hand,
like they didn't shake our hands. Like I was in there,

(52:01):
like what do you mean? Like it's like they need
to shake our hands. So then it's just like you
strap it up. You're like, all right, let's go, like
let's let's go, like it's go time, right. Yeah, And
the game wasn't going our way really at all, you know, So,
I mean we had some heroic plays by John Nesser getting.

Speaker 3 (52:17):
That punt down, and then we had.

Speaker 4 (52:20):
Caleb Johnson's you know, just going Caleb Johnson beast mode.
I don't even know how to describe what that like,
how that happened the most Iowa victory ever. But yeah,
I mean as soon as that kick went in, and
you know, I'm just you know, going to celebrate with
my teammates, and I look up in the media, Jay

(52:41):
Higgins went to go celebrate with my role So that
was awesome.

Speaker 3 (52:45):
What are your I'll let giebon and I promise I
let you ask questions. I have one more. What's Kinnick like?
From an outsider's perspective.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
You come in your first couple of games, you get
to play two years in Kinnick Stadium, What was that
experience for you?

Speaker 4 (52:58):
It's nuts, It's unreal. It's like you can't even hear
yourself think. Right, It's an adrenaline rush that I'll never
get in my life again.

Speaker 3 (53:08):
Probably, So.

Speaker 5 (53:10):
Come on, man, you got a few more football games
left in you.

Speaker 3 (53:14):
Yeah, but I don't know if it'll be like in it.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
I mean, if you're like Coop and you just get
drafted by the right team.

Speaker 4 (53:22):
Yeah, but it's just the way it's built, right, So
it's just like the way when you get to the
north end zone, it's like true, everything's on top of you.
Like I don't know if that level, Like even when
we played in the wide out at Penn State, it's
like that, like how loud it is still doesn't like project.

Speaker 5 (53:39):
Can't everyone's right on top of you.

Speaker 4 (53:42):
Yeah, So like everything on Kinnick is just right on
top of you, which is unreal.

Speaker 3 (53:45):
Like a bunch of the dudes here.

Speaker 4 (53:47):
They came to me and they're like, dude, Like we
played at Texas, we played at Oregon night Games, all
that stuff, But like when we played at Iowa. It's
by far the loudest environment that I could ever like
like dream of.

Speaker 3 (53:59):
So I'm like love to hear it.

Speaker 4 (54:01):
Yeah, So, I mean, Kinnick's unreal and the fans come
laterality and you know, it's it's awesome.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
I'm hoping at some point they redo the south end
zone like the North.

Speaker 5 (54:11):
End zone to mirror the North End zone.

Speaker 3 (54:15):
They could do and then just put.

Speaker 5 (54:16):
Another press box on the on the east side too.

Speaker 1 (54:19):
And well you're probably not going to do that because
it'll block the hospital, but you're just saying the saying
goodbye to the kids.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
Can't wait woman anymore?

Speaker 1 (54:28):
You could do then if you can also in the
press box, you could renovate the hospital to add another
five or ten stories.

Speaker 5 (54:35):
You do you do a skywalk so that the kids
can walk over to the press box. There you go,
There you go.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
Good idea, g Bony, anything for for a guy here.

Speaker 7 (54:43):
Yeah, I know, I got a few questions for you, Nick. So,
going off of what you said earlier about the photo
shoot stuff, I thought that was funny. But you did
mention you were recruited by l s U and around
the same time that Brian Kelly video was going viral
him like standing and doing dances with the recruit and
like the.

Speaker 3 (54:58):
Spinning selfie stick or whatever.

Speaker 7 (55:00):
I think, like it's not the best description of it,
but I think you know what I'm talking about. Did
Brian Kelly ever make you do that or try to get.

Speaker 3 (55:06):
You that way? Nah? No, I never did that with
Brian Kelly.

Speaker 7 (55:11):
Okay, all right, I just had to make sure, all right.

Speaker 5 (55:13):
I don't know if that video there's not some hidden
footage out there.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
Yeah, I was Jackson going to find it? Like, No,
I think Wallace would resent the offer. He might, he might. Well,
I was hoping too.

Speaker 7 (55:27):
It's like, well LSU had Nick Jackson until Brian Kelly
tried to do a dance video with him. So then
I was listening to another podcast You're on. You said
you were close with a lot of other Virginia sports
on campus. They're all very successful while you were there,
Like I think basketball was either just off the championship.
I think lacross one too while you were there, Like

(55:48):
who are some of the other athletes that you were
interacting with a lot? Were you close to anyone else
from other sports?

Speaker 1 (55:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (55:55):
Yeah, So I mean, like John O, is there a
bunch of guys on lacrosse team. Uh, you know Italia
Stadi Janssen, all those girls on the women's soccer.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
Team, and then.

Speaker 4 (56:07):
You know on the basketball team, we hung out with
like Trey Murphy and you know Ki sometimes and those guys.
But yeah, honestly just kind of like just bouncing around,
you know, a Virginia. It's kind of it's like a
big school, but like a small school in the sense
of like everyone's in the same area. You know, if
you go out, like you're gonna see the same guys,
So it's like everybody knows each other. So you know,

(56:30):
you go out and you support those guys because you
know everybody knows what everybody's going through.

Speaker 7 (56:35):
Right, Yeah, you get how much like credit do you
want to take for the back to back lacrosse championships?

Speaker 3 (56:39):
Do you want like like five percent?

Speaker 7 (56:41):
Do you want just it from like an enthusiasm maybe
like a fan standpoint the cross.

Speaker 3 (56:45):
Sky we got here?

Speaker 4 (56:47):
Yeah yeah, I mean if Johnah watches this, I tell
him like I got like at least ten percent on it.

Speaker 3 (56:53):
Okay, all right, See.

Speaker 7 (56:54):
These guys get crazy when I say, like when of
like fans watching the game is like at least two percent.

Speaker 3 (57:00):
Like it's got it. It's a small margin, all right.
You you love chearing for all the modern you know
what I mean? Like there's like you cheer for I
always here for Virginia. You're gonna be rowdy about it.

Speaker 2 (57:09):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (57:11):
And then my last thing is we do a lot
of big ten stadium talk, like we've gone back and forth,
Oh the spots maybe underrated or whatever. But I don't
know if I mean, I might have missed it. I
don't think we've ever done the ACC stadium talk. You
have more experience than anyone we've ever talked to. What
are some underrated ACC stadiums that Iowa fans might not
be aware of in terms of just the environment for wait.

Speaker 4 (57:31):
Too, I mean hard Rock is cool like that one
was super fun playing, okay, honestly, Like when we went
to hard Rock, I think it was a top twenty
five matchup, but it wasn't like it was sold out.
But it's just loud the way it's built too, Like
the in the Dome Syracuse was a really good Friday

(57:53):
night game.

Speaker 3 (57:53):
Yeah, dome sold out. That was a loud playing for
something like a dome.

Speaker 2 (57:59):
You're seeing the Iowa, the famous Iowa highlight goal line
stand from the Syracuse Gan.

Speaker 4 (58:04):
Yeah, and I also saw that j Man had you know,
four interceptions or something like that.

Speaker 1 (58:11):
Sorry he uh that tough day, tough day for him.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
But he's the he first of all, he's the he's
the man.

Speaker 3 (58:20):
He is. I'm just messing with him. He's Yeah, he's awesome.
Friend of the show.

Speaker 2 (58:26):
We had him on for an episode a couple of
years ago when he first came.

Speaker 3 (58:28):
Into a couple two what he slung a couple in
the in zone.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
Right, he would have had two of because they won
the game, so, I mean they had to score somehow,
But that that goal line stand is all time.

Speaker 7 (58:44):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (58:45):
Josie actually did something somewhat similar, I think against like
Rutgers one year. Yeah, he had four tackles in a
row on the cold, which honestly kind of sounds like
a Nick Jackson or Jay Higgins thing to do. Like
the one like it seemed like every time a running
back came through the hole against you guys, it was

(59:05):
just there was a wall there.

Speaker 2 (59:08):
And you're just describing the Northwestern Uh. Yes, that one
specific Oh beautiful.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
Just I think I speak for all Hawkeye fans and Nick,
when I say we are thoroughly going to miss watching
you in the Hawkeye uniform. I heard in a in
your in another interview you did that you wanted to
leave an impact, and you didn't just want to be
viewed as a transfer portal guy, and you wanted to
be seen as a as a Hawk guy. And I

(59:36):
got exactly what you meant when you said that, because
some guys nowadays in this world, they transferred there at
a place for a year, and you're like, wait a second.

Speaker 3 (59:45):
He went he went there like he was just passing through.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
Yeah, I can tell you one hundred percent from the outside, Nick,
that you were a Hawk guy, and that is how
we view you.

Speaker 3 (59:55):
And we appreciate everything you did in the black and goal.
Thank you. That is that is more and then you'll
ever know I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
And we hope that that Jaden and Carson and all
those boys can can fill the shoes because they're big
shoes to fill. You guys left the jersey in a
better place. So we also, I mean, we thank you
for the hour.

Speaker 2 (01:00:15):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:00:15):
It's it's uh.

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
We understand you're you're busy, You've got some important shit
on this very near horizon, and we wish you.

Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
All the best. Thank you guys so much. I really
appreciate you guys having me on.

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
Thanks everybody for listening to the show.

Speaker 3 (01:00:30):
Episode five eighty two or something.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
We're nearing six hundred very soon, shout out.

Speaker 3 (01:00:35):
Give us a little subscribe on the YouTube.

Speaker 1 (01:00:37):
By the way, if you're still watching on that version,
we're trying to hit four thousand subscribers.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
We'll be back with more guests.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
Here soon the in the coming weeks, and we'll see
you then.

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
Peace.

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
Hey, thanks for listening to the show. If you want more,
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Speaker 3 (01:01:07):
We'll see you next time. Hawks buy a million