Inky Johnson on His Paralyzing Football Injury & Turning Heartbreak into Purpose

FOLLOW THE PIVOT PODCAST: MERCH | https://pivotpodcast.com YOUTUBE | https://www.youtube.com/thepivotpodcast INSTAGRAM | https://instagram.com/thepivot TWITTER | https://twitter.com/thepivot TIKTOK | https://tiktok.com/@thepivot FACEBOOK | https://www.facebook.com/thepivotpodcast FOLLOW HAPPY DAD: https://www.instagram.com/happydad FIND HAPPY DAD: https://www.happydad.com/find Athlete turned motivational speaker Inky Johnson joins The Pivot in an inspirational and touching conversation. Known for his motivational talks and being a man admired by many for his enthusiasm in life, perspective on challenges and making the most of every situation, Inky talks about what helped shape him into the man, husband and father he is today. Sharing the details of the unforgettable day where a routine play on the field changed his life forever, Inky describes the moment he realized he would never be able to play football again. Taking us through the exact play on the field to waking up around his teammates realizing he couldn't move to the urgency of the ER doctors when he realized he may not make it...this conversation carries so much emotion and powerful moments that will be life altering. An emotional Ryan, Fred and Channing ask how he has been able to recover and stay so positive when the sacrifices have been so great. Looking at his injury as a life blessing has been hard but also rewarding in making the pivot and finding his purpose. Along the journey, the people and many athletes Inky has impacted have been numerous from his time on coaching staffs to now touring as a speaker. In particular, Inky opens up about his close brotherhood with former NFL standout Eric Berry who wore #29 in honor of Inky and the two remained close as Inky overcame his own obstacles and in turn, he was there to help Eric through his cancer fight and returning to the field. Inky stresses that we may not be able to control our circumstances but we can control how we adapt, adjust and move forward...always willing to be stronger than the strongest excuse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest, or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra. Because it's not just a superior like beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 0:30Ryan Clark?

  I'm actually talking about Channing's Happy Dad shirt, because we went to every store in Atlanta, Georgia, and we can't find Happy Dad. What is wrong with your hometown?

• 0:38Channing Crowder?

  They love it too much here, man. They love it too much. We can't even find them.

• 0:43Ryan Clark?

  Do you think it's our promos?

• 0:44Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, I think so.

• 0:45Ryan Clark?

  You think it's our...

• 0:46Channing Crowder?

  They fooled me today.

• 0:48Ryan Clark?

  You know what? It's probably because when I speak about it, I speak about it like I'm Inky Johnson. And it's all about...

• 0:55Channing Crowder?

  Now, Ink right here too. He can't find a case.

• 0:59Ryan Clark?

  Alright, let's do it. Let's do it, show them. You are not exotic. They be like, is he Brazilian? Is he Cuban? Nobody's ever asked where you Cuban.

• 1:09Channing Crowder?

  And I did.

• 1:09Ryan Clark?

  No, they didn't, Channing.

• 1:10Channing Crowder?

  I said, "See."

• 1:16Speaker 03

  Hold up. Limited. Take a stomach kind of pinning it. I fought to hear the witnesses. Got my people feeling militant. Way I'm feeling got me up. On the mission got me up. Knowing me, I got the key. Only vision I can trust. Trust. Limited. Take a stomach kind of pinning it. I fought to hear the witnesses. Got my people feeling militant. Way I'm feeling got me up. On the mission got me up.

• 1:39Ryan Clark?

  Shoot, man, we back on the pivot. The place of the old most famous. And where at least we used to think, the place where everything always works out. You know what I mean? It seems the tide is changing. Obviously, we got the OG, Freddie T, Freddie Flowers. We got Chan. And today, we got a special guest. I'm in Inky Johnson. I, in doing my study, was like, there's no way his real name is Inky.

• 2:04Speaker 04

  Right on.

• 2:05Ryan Clark?

  And so, what I've tried to do, Victor Oladipo came on. I learned how to say his government. What I've learned is that, no matter how many times I was going to read your name, which is like four names, by the way. I wasn't gonna get the first one right. So I'm gonna let you introduce yourself to the world by your government, only if you're okay with it.

• 2:27Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 2:27Ryan Clark?

  Only if you're okay with it.

• 2:28Speaker 04

  Yeah, Inquarius Desmond Chad Johnson. Hence why the world called me Inky.

• 2:35Fred Taylor?

  Inquarius, is it like a mix of glorious and inky?

• 2:41Speaker 04

  Man, my mom, man, she said she was reading a book about the Iroquois Indian tribe, man, and she came up with it. Yeah, Inquarius, but my grandfather, because the first part of it, you know, people started calling me Ink. And so he was just like Inky. And everybody's like, yeah, man, I like that over that Inquarius. But yeah, man, four names, man. I grew up in the hood, RC, they give you all type of name.

• 3:04Ryan Clark?

  Nah, I love it, man. But man, welcome to the pivot, everybody. We thank y'all for your support. Please continue to subscribe, like, whether it's Spotify or Apple, where you want to listen to your podcast, or if you want to watch us on YouTube. I am finally out of the mindset that we are a podcast. We're a show, not a TV show, though, because we're a show where people just sit down, chop it up, and you get to know some of the people you see all the time in a different way. And I want to start here.

• 3:30Fred Taylor?

  Before you get going, this is our Oprah, right? Your mom, she read a lot, right? Is there anything that she could give us, that she probably shared with you to help keep the devil away? Because we're facing major pivot. There's been a lot of shit going on. You know, they say the devil attack when the success starts building, when things is going right.

• 3:55Speaker 04

  No doubt.

• 3:55Fred Taylor?

  What can you share with us? Before we get into the bag and the big stuff, is there anything that you might share or she would have given you?

• 4:03Speaker 04

  Yeah, man.

• 4:04Fred Taylor?

  Because shit's been tough.

• 4:06Speaker 04

  She would just always tell me, man, like, when life starts happening, like, Ink, get quiet so you can hear God. You know what I'm saying? She would just always say that, like, when things start happening, transpiring adversity, opposition, get quiet, right? Because everybody always got an opinion, always got a perspective that they want to share with you. And she just always would say to me, man, get quiet so you can hear God. You know what I'm saying? And so for me, that's always been my go-to. When I start going through it, or life start going like in a way that I don't want it to go, I try to find solitude, you know what I'm saying, so I can hear God.

• 4:41Fred Taylor?

  Damn.

• 4:42Speaker 04

  That means we gonna have to meditate as a group. You don't wanna hear none of that funny shit. We gotta tune in.

• 4:49Channing Crowder?

  But it does get quiet, man, you gotta sit in a dark room. I can't do that. Get quiet, what, because, bro, you talk for a living. We talk for a living, like, what does get quiet mean?

• 4:58Speaker 04

  Right on. I think it's just solitude, man. I think everybody finds peace in different ways, right? Like, you might find peace through laughter, right? Joking. I might find peace through just sitting back observing, laughing at cats. You gonna find peace a different way. RC gonna find peace a different way. And so, to me, the way I interpret it is, just find your peace, right? However it comes to you. And so, it all, it all comes to us in different ways. I don't think it has to be getting in a quiet room, cutting off the lights, chilling, pulling out your yoga mat, but if that, that works for you, do it. You know what I'm saying? But for me, it's just finding your peace.

• 5:33Ryan Clark?

  I think people, obviously, look to you for wisdom. I also know that part of your character is to provide it through experiences. But I feel like, you know, like, if we're looking at your social media or we're listening to your speeches or your presentations, it's kind of a synopsis of where you've gotten. I think we don't always get to know where you came from. And we're here in Atlanta doing this interview, and you said it earlier, like, you from the hood. Well, I think you grew up in a house of 13. You grew up in a place where it, it wasn't bright, that, that, that things could be bleak. How did you keep your focus through that to propel you to be on scholarship at Tennessee?

• 6:17Speaker 04

  Man, you know, growing up, the way I grew up, you know, it's two bedroom house, 14 people, southeast Atlanta. It's the best time of my life, you know? One of the best times of my life, I would say that. You know, because you had everybody in the crib and you learned a lot. I always tell people, the fortunate part for me was I got to see both sides of the fence. Every single day, right? When I walked out of my door, I got to see cats that made the right decisions and what it yielded, and I got to see cats that made the wrong decisions and what it yielded. And I think the thing that, that helped navigate me to a place such as Tennessee was I listened. Right to cats that I felt like had my best interest at heart.

• 6:58Speaker 04

  Even if a cat was in the street, you know, and they gave me advice and insight. And I knew they had a good heart, I would listen, right? Because just because a person makes certain decisions and choices, that doesn't mean that they're just a terrible person. Like my uncle, man, my uncle is in prison, one of the best people I know, right? And he could be a product of his circumstances and situations because of the way we grew up. And so for me, I always felt as if I had been blessed with a gift and I didn't want to mess it up. Right? And so when I was coming up in that two bedroom home with 14 people, the thing that I wanted to do more than anything was I wanted to make my mother proud because my mother was working a double shift at Wendy's and I wanted to make my grandmother proud.

• 7:43Speaker 04

  And I'm the type of person, I'm extremely loyal. And so I had a lot of people that helped me, man, that didn't have to, right? Like the cat paid for me to play ball, like out of his pocket, he didn't have to do that. And so for me, whenever people would do stuff for me, I was the type of person, I couldn't see myself doing something on the opposite end of that, letting them down because I knew they didn't have to do it. No cat had to come to my house and be like, oh, this cat growing up two bedroom house, 14 people, let me help him. We weren't their responsibility. Like the way my mother raised me was ink, the world don't owe you nothing, right? If you're gonna make something out of yourself, get up and make it happen, right? And so me watching her work a double shift and coming home,

• 8:24Speaker 04

  driving an old beat up Buick Regal, hubcaps off the car, seats torn up and not making an excuse, it shaped my mentality and my perspective and my spirit and the way I live my life. And so when I got to Tennessee, Tennessee was gravy for me, right? It was, it was gravy. The journey getting there wasn't so much gravy, but when I got there, it was gravy.

• 8:45Channing Crowder?

  Hey, what does that look like, man? Because that blew my mind. Well, I ain't, I ain't grew up with no silver spoon in my mouth, but 14 in a two bedroom?

• 8:53Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 8:53Channing Crowder?

  What happens at 11 o'clock at night? Like what do people go, what do people do?

• 8:58Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, we on them pallets, man. We pull out them sheets. We on them pallets, right? That's, that's the beauty of it, right? You there with your cousins, well, it's, it's, it's a blessing and a curse, right? Because many nights you will be on that. Pallet and you be talking to your cousins and sometimes you had questions. Like I would always say, sometimes I was on the floor and I wish I was under the same roof as my father. Right? Because of some of the things I would see and I wish I could come home and say, "Hey pops, man, I saw this today. Like, what's your thought process on that?" But me and my cousins would pitch and catch about it and we would try to figure out life together. We had our uncles and stuff like that, but the beauty of it was, it made you grateful. Right? When you would wear a shirt on Monday, your cousin would wear it on Tuesday,

• 9:40Speaker 04

  your other cousin would wear it on Wednesday and y'all would go to the same school. Right? And cats knew y'all was wearing the same clothes. It's all good, right? It made you grateful when you couldn't just go in there and ask for something to eat and be like, "Nah, I don't want that." You had to eat whatever got put on the table.

• 9:54Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 9:55Speaker 04

  Right? And you had to finish it. You know what I'm saying? And so it created a certain spirit to where I was grateful, I made the best of it. And I wasn't tripping. Like, it wasn't like we was growing up and it was like every single day we would get up and be like, "Oh man, we growing up like this." Nah, like the neighbors was living that way as well. Right? And so it was just the environment we was in and we made the best out of it. But I, I loved it, man. I loved it.

• 10:19Fred Taylor?

  Was there a point, because we had similar situations. I, I recall that so vividly, man. Boiling the hot water.

• 10:25Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 10:26Fred Taylor?

  Pouring it in the tub, sharing the food, being, just learning how to be grateful.

• 10:29Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 10:30Fred Taylor?

  And I think, at least my kids, I'm gonna show them this, this episode, they gotta listen to you. Was there ever a point when you told your mom, "Look, I got you." You know, I'm, whatever it is, whatever it takes, no, I got you. I'm gonna get us out of this situation or I'm gonna pay you back for everything that you've done for me.

• 10:50Speaker 04

  Absolutely. Man, me and my mom would be in the park. When she would get off her shift and she would come in and I would, I would hug her, I would kiss her. I would say, "Mom, if you don't mind, can you turn on your car lights? All right, I gotta do some extra drills. I gotta make it to the league." Just a kid with a dream, you know what I'm saying? And she would sit there and she never was like, "Nah, income tied, let's go." And she had every right to do it. And if she would've said it, I'd have got my butt in the car and it would've been all good. I wouldn't have felt any way about it. But when she would do that, I would be like, "Man, I'm gonna make, I'm gonna make good on these sacrifices. Like, I got you." Right? And I don't think it mattered to her either way. Like, my mom wasn't the type that she was tripping on like, oh, Ink, you gotta make it.

• 11:33Speaker 04

  Right? You gotta make it and you gotta take. My mom never said that to me. That was something that I wanted to do personally because I felt as if it was the vehicle that I could help take care of my family. And so when I was young, I was saying it, but she never put that type of pressure on me to where she was just like, Ink, you gotta do this, which I appreciated.

• 11:52Ryan Clark?

  I watch, you know, so much of your stuff and then studying for this and seeing where you came from and all those things. I was like, oh, Ink actually kinda hooded. You know what I mean? Like Ink, Ink, Ink grew up, because you know, it's just the eloquence in which you speak, right? I don't use, he's articulate.

• 12:10Speaker 04

  Right.

• 12:11Ryan Clark?

  Right? I think that's a, I think that's a cop out as opposed to what, right? The eloquence in which you speak, it shows not only experience, but it shows education, it shows, it shows study. But you talked about telling your mom, cut the lights on, right? So I can go do extra drills and having that dream, you know, you, you, you get to Tennessee, your sophomore year, you begin to play, and there's a night where that dream ends.

• 12:36Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 12:36Ryan Clark?

  Can you take us through the night, what, what led up to the hit? What's the feeling when you're on the ground and you're trying to figure out what's going on with you? And then the, the start that turned you into the Inkie we know now?

• 12:53Speaker 04

  Yeah, man, it was, um, it was September 9th, 2006. I remember it vividly. We was playing against Air Force my junior year at the University of Tennessee. I was starting that corner in my second year as a starter. It was the fourth quarter of the game, a little bit over two minutes left, and Air Force had the ball and we was up. And so we break the huddle. At the time, Gerard Mayo, he was our captain, right? And he called a play and as we break the huddle, we had quarters coverage. And so I had a quarter, keeping everything back to front. Play starts to unfold, looking at the quarterback, he's tapping the ball.

• 13:34Speaker 04

  Cats running their routes, quarterback looks in my direction, releases it, cat catches it. I go to make a routine tackle. So I thought. And so when I roll up to hit him at the point of contact, as soon as I make contact, it seemed as if everything in my body just left, right? My body went completely limp. I fell to the ground. I blacked out, never experienced anything like that before. Been in a lot harder collisions. And when my eyes opened, my teammates were over me and they was like, hey, get up, let's go. And I was like, I can't. And it was a shock at the time. It was going from the crown of my head to the bottom of my feet, one of the scariest moments in my life. And then it eventually left, but it stayed in my right arm and hand. And I thought it was just a stinger or a broken arm.

• 14:18Speaker 04

  And they brought the spine board out, took me off the field and they get me to the hospital. And they was just telling me like, we're going to take you back, run a couple of tests, you know, put you in a room and see what's up. And so I didn't think it was anything serious, right? I still couldn't really feel my arm, but I thought it was probably broken, stinger. I didn't think it was anything life threatening. And so when they ran the test, they brought me back into the room. My mom came in, she kissed me on my forehead, cracked a joke. She walked out and when she walked out, I flipped my head to the left and I remember seeing the head doctor come in and he was saying, guys, guys, get in here. We got to rush this kid back to emergency surgery. He's about to die. And I thought he was joking, right? Cause I had been there and everything was so calm. And I was like, like die?

• 15:02Speaker 04

  Like away from me, like die? And he was like, yeah. I was like, what happened? It's like, we ran the test. We noticed you ruptured your subclavian artery in your chest. You're bleeding internally. So we got to rush you back and take the main vein out of your left leg and plug it into your chest in order to save your life. He said, oh, I guarantee you, you won't be alive in the morning. You'll bleed out.

• 15:23Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends, like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra because it's not just a superior light beer. It's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 15:52Speaker 04

  And I was like, "Let's go." And the next morning, I woke up. I had six incisions down my left thigh. One incision across the left side of my neck. One across the right, twice through my right rib. Cut out my right peck. Bottom of my armpit to the bottom of my hand. 350 staples in my body, and they had banished me from my neck to my knees. Because I tore the nerves in my brachial plexus, which are the nerve roots that go from your spine that control shoulder, arm, hand, fingers. And so, at the point of contact, what happened was, when I went to hit him, at the last minute, he made a slight shift. When he made the slight shift, his helmet hit me between my shoulder and my neck. So I sent my neck one way, shoulder opposite way, ruptured the artery, tore the nerves from my spine,

• 16:36Speaker 04

  and it paralyzed my right arm and hand. Ended my career.

• 16:40Ryan Clark?

  So when you see or hear the doctor come in the room, and you say, "All right, let's go." Because he's explained to you, "This is what's happening, this is what's going on." And in your mind, "This is how I gotta save my life." At that point, though, are you thinking about anything else? Or is it just about living? Because, like, I know, I know for me, the thought of, "Okay, you're never going to get to do the one thing you love more than anything, ever again."

• 17:06Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 17:07Ryan Clark?

  Could you even think of that in that moment? Or was it just too fast?

• 17:10Speaker 04

  It was too fast. To be honest, I... It didn't cross my mind. You know, like, I didn't think I could lose it all in a moment. You know, like, you hear this stuff coming up, like, your career can end, like, something can happen. But it's the bravado of a young athlete, of a cat when he plays ball. You thinking, "Yeah, that's cool, but it ain't gonna happen to me." Right? Like, you just got that thought in your head. And so, even when they said they had to save my life, I'm still thinking, like, "Even when they save my life, like, I'm gonna come back." Right? Like, that's my train of thought. Like, it happened so fast, I never thought, like, "All right, and they save my life. Tomorrow, when I wake up, my career gonna be done." Even when my career was done, I didn't think my career was done. I couldn't believe it. It was surreal.

• 17:55Fred Taylor?

  How long did the "Why me?" moments last?

• 17:59Speaker 04

  Two years? Two years, a solid two years. And the reason I would say two years is because with a brachial plexus avulsion, that's like the timeframe they give you if you're gonna get anything back. Right? They put you in a two-year process and they say, "All right, if something is gonna come back," 'cause I had no feeling, no movement. If something is gonna come back, it's gonna come back in a two-year timeframe. But within those two years, it's all type of tests being done. They sending me up to the Mayo Clinic. They shooting dye in my back with long needles. Like, it's just a strenuous process. And so it took me about two to come to a level of peace to where I was like, "All right, it might be done."

• 18:45Fred Taylor?

  But in that timeframe, though, much like RC was saying, you know, you could have fallen into depression, just giving up on everything. But instead of that, you pivoted, right?

• 18:56Speaker 04

  No question.

• 18:57Fred Taylor?

  You parlayed that into pretty much where you are now in life. Why didn't you quit?

• 19:04Speaker 04

  Just being real with you, Fred, like, I wasn't raised like that. Like, I could lose everything, bro, like, and I'm a steel scrap. Like, that's just how I was raised. That's how my mother raised me. And so even when my career ended, like, I was raised a certain way to do the right thing in spite of. My whole life, I never had everything I felt I needed. Right? I always felt like I was going against the odds my whole life. And so I'm comfortable there. Right? Whereas most cats, when they in that space and place, it's very uncomfortable. I'm very comfortable in opposition. Like, I'm very comfortable in adversity. I'm very comfortable when I don't have all the resources. I'm very comfortable when I lose things because that was my life.

• 19:50Speaker 04

  Right? It's like Bane in Batman. When Bane told Batman, "You adopted the dark," I was born in it. Right? And so I was very comfortable there. And so even when it happened, I was still going to rehab. I was still showing up, going to workouts with my teammates. I was still going to meetings with this false thought that, "Man, at the end of the two, I'm gonna be back." I'm gonna be stronger than ever. And I had a day, man, in the indoor football facility to where it just hit me. Like, I went to one of my rehab sessions, and I had been going for a while. And I wasn't seeing nothing, like, no results. I'm talking about every time I would go, they would have a different device they would try out, and it would be nothing.

• 20:32Speaker 04

  And one day, I went out on the turf in the indoor, and I just broke down, bro. It was like, it was freedom, right? It was tough, it was heavy, cried. And on the opposite side of that, it was like, alright, you got it out. Like, let's move forward now. But I had been holding that for two years until that day when it hit. And reality set in, like, nah, Ink, it's done. Like, it's a wrap. Like, it's time to close this chapter. That was a hard day for me.

• 21:03Channing Crowder?

  And that next day, you woke up, bro. Because you grind from living with 14 people in a two-bedroom. You grind to get to Tennessee, playing ball. One hit against Air Force. You still grinding. You say it, your mama ain't raised you like that. You still grinding. And that day that you broke down and got to a point that I need to find something else to do. Like, this football shit ain't with, it's not gonna be that no more. Like, bro, that realization, but that next morning. I think that, just listen to it, bro. I'm tearing up a little bit too, but just listen to it. That next morning, how did Inky Johnson that we all know, all the followers, all us watching stuff,

• 21:48Channing Crowder?

  was it created in that realization of this football shit's gone?

• 21:53Speaker 04

  Yeah. I think a little bit of it was created in that moment, but I think also it had been cultivated over the years. And so... Just to explain my train of thought. So when we tell a cat, all of us play ball, right? And come from that background. And so when you tell a cat every single day, "All right, man, you gotta be dedicated. You gotta be committed. You gotta work hard." You talk to young cats, kids. We got kids. And you tell them and you stress the importance of, "Hey, man, show up on time, right? Do what you gotta do, right? Like, handle your business a certain way." And cats don't really see the value in it. Right? Cats go, "Yeah, it's cute. Like, that sounds good. Yeah, I hear you. Why me? Like, I ain't gotta do that." Cats say all type of stuff. Cats got all type of response. I'm paid all re-

• 22:37Speaker 04

  Cats got all type of responses, right? Until something real happens, like a real situation, to where it don't matter how much money you got. It don't matter what type of car you got. It don't matter square footage of your house. Like, a real deal situation. Like, when a cat's wife gets sick. When your children get sick. When you in the emergency room with your family, right? Don't none of that other stuff matter, right? But the work that you put in every single day, the mindset that you cultivate every single day, the spirit that you cultivate every single day, the work ethic, the dedication and commitment, that's you, right? That's your essence. That's your ethos. That's who you are, right? Like, I'm Ink. Like, I believe in with every ounce of the word when I tell a cat,

• 23:21Speaker 04

  "My arm and my hand paralyzed. My heart isn't." It isn't. Like, "My arm and my hand is paralyzed. My mental..." It isn't. My dedication, my commitment level isn't. And so the next day for me was, "All right, bro, regular scheduled programming. That's rock, right? Because I didn't have anything to go back to." Yeah. Like, "Well, I'ma go back to a pallet? I done came all this way to go back to the floor at my grandma's house? So they can say, 'Ink, good run, bro. You went farther than anybody that's ever went in that family. Come back to the trap.'" Nah. "I'ma finish what I started. I'ma go on and get my degree. I'ma show my little cousins, when we encounter adversity and opposition, you keep it pushing. Lot of people done sacrificed for you to be in this moment."

• 24:05Speaker 04

  That's why it's hard for me to understand when a cat get in a certain situation and they trick it off. That's hard for me. Like, I tell cats all the time, "The hardest part of my injury wasn't my injury. It wasn't. The hardest part of my injury was walking into a facility and seeing cats take it for granted every single day." Right. That was the hardest part for me. Knowing that a cat's mother had worked for them to be in that situation. Knowing that a coach had sacrificed to put them in that situation. Teachers believed in them, put them in that situation. And cats came in every single day and treated it like it was nothing. I ain't talking about the league, whether you make it to the league or not. That's inconsequential. I ain't talking about the league. I'm talking about what will you do with the vehicle that you've been blessed with

• 24:50Speaker 04

  every single day to become a better man? That's it, right? And so for me, when I couldn't play no more, it hurt. I cried, it was probably the toughest thing I've ever been through in my life. But I had stock in a spirit that I had created from the time I was seven years old. That it wouldn't just let me, it wouldn't let me lay down.

• 25:13Speaker 04

  You're fucking me up.

• 25:15Channing Crowder?

  I got it quick, friend. Was that a blessing?

• 25:19Speaker 04

  Of course.

• 25:20Channing Crowder?

  I don't know if you see what I'm saying. But just listen to see, brother, this shit is deep.

• 25:26Channing Crowder?

  Like you said, hell with the league. You might not have made it. But I don't know if you would have been what you are now without that injury.

• 25:32Speaker 04

  No question.

• 25:33Channing Crowder?

  Can you ever look, can you look at that injury as a blessing? Which is a crazy damn thing to say.

• 25:38Speaker 04

  Absolutely, 100%. And I can honestly say I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing if it wasn't a result of my injury. I 100% say it, I wouldn't. I wouldn't be speaking. It doesn't match my personality. Like, that's why I'm so grateful to be able to do it because it's total opposite of my personality. My personality is more reserved, observed, like I don't, I don't speak. And so for me doing it, I'm grateful for it because I know it's being orchestrated by a power that was a lot greater than me. And so I look at it as a 100% blessing. And I can 100% say if my injury didn't happen, I wouldn't be doing it.

• 26:19Fred Taylor?

  Just listening to you describe, you know, that day. You know, was it September 9th, 2006 versus Air Force? Step for step, play for play, each and every second, just going back through it. And I wanted to ask you, you know, how often does that replay in your head? But we can save it. You know, the circumstances in which you came up, you know, as a kid that got you to Tennessee. All the different adversities that you've gone through. To hear you passionately just turn it on right now. You know, this is your game day. Speaking and trying to get everybody in play. I can tell it's your game day and we getting it for free.

• 26:57Speaker 04

  Listen, I'm gonna be honest.

• 26:59Fred Taylor?

  We getting it for free.

• 27:00Speaker 04

  I stopped doing the show for like five minutes just now. And my eyes was watering, I was fired up.

• 27:06Fred Taylor?

  I teared up too. But I guess with your transition, I do want to transition into that. What's your ticket, bro?

• 27:15Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 27:15Fred Taylor?

  What's the cost to get you to speak?

• 27:18Speaker 04

  It's different, man, it's different. It depends on the scope of work, man. It's different. But I will tell you this, it has changed, right? Because, you know, when I first started doing it, man, I was so grateful for the opportunity just to be asked to do it. You know, I never thought I would be doing it. And so I was just going into a room and I would prepare and I would try to do my best in terms of the opportunity. But I'll never forget, man, I was in a room one day and I was speaking on a bill and there was several cats speaking. And a cat came in who was on the show, like a cat was running the show, the program. And it was me and like three other speakers in the room. And the cat came in and he was like, hey, man, can y'all exit the room?

• 28:02Speaker 04

  Like my man want to come in the room. He want to had a room to himself. It was another speaker. So I wasn't tripping, I'm like, all right, cool, my man get the room. But the other cats was like, they couldn't believe it. Like they were like, what? He want the room, all of us speaking, you know what I'm saying? And so they was like, my man wants some water, all type of stuff. And so we standing outside and it's hot and my man get the room to himself. And one of the dudes that was on the program came over to me. He was like, I want to talk to you. And so I was like, bet, what's up? He was like, nah, let's walk and talk. He was like, you see all them cats over there? I was like, yeah. He was like, all them getting paid more than you. I was like, okay. He was like, and you better than all them.

• 28:44Speaker 04

  And he was like, not only are you better than him, he was like, you care more than him. It's like, it ain't nothing against him, but, it's like, but I done talked to him, I don't care. Like, this is a transaction for him, right? And I was like, alright, he was like, man, don't be out here on the road and traveling and doing that to your family.

• 29:01Fred Taylor?

  Wasting time.

• 29:02Speaker 04

  I was like, I got it, respect. And so, at that point, it changed everything in terms of business structure, in terms of opportunity, in terms of preparation. You know, I view it, I view it different, right? Because I know, just being real, man, I know, I done been in the room to where, I done walked in a room and I'm the only black cat there. Young brother. And I could feel it when I walk on the stage, cat suited and booted like, what my man got to say to us, right? I ain't knocking it, I respect it, I get it. Cat, thirty years my senior, like, I get it, I respect it, right? But I'mma handle the opportunity the right way, and I'mma do what I gotta do, because I feel like I'm being trusted to steward the opportunity,

• 29:43Speaker 04

  so the next young brother that comes behind me that does what I do, can get the opportunity to do it again. And so, I ain't tripping, man, like, every opportunity I get, I feel like you get what you give in life. If I steward the opportunity, I'mma get what I'm do, right? And so, for me, that's how I view it, that's how I look at it, but, yeah, man, I, I, I done been blessed, it's all good.

• 30:03Ryan Clark?

  Like, that, to me, is down the line, right? We, we all eventually hope we understand our worth. And, and, and in understanding our worth, we also learn and realize, whether it's football, doing what you do, you kinda end up being worth what people are paid. So, but before you get to that, like, you gotta find that passion. Like, I tell people all the time, I was very little, I was four years old, my dad was coaching a football team, and I was on the side playing throw-up tackle with just, like, the regular kids, because I wasn't old enough, and I was killing them. And the coach was like, asked my dad, because my dad was coaching, like, why don't he play? And he was like, well, he's too young, coach was like, he can do something. And I remember playing defensive end, my dad gave me one rule, keep contained. Right, and I was wide as hell.

• 30:48Speaker 04

  Forced everything in.

• 30:49Ryan Clark?

  Right, I was forced everything in, forced everything back. But the point, my point in reliving that story was, from the time I touched the football, I knew exactly what to do with it. Right, you are one of the most dynamic, impactful speakers I have ever heard.

• 31:06Speaker 04

  Thank you, man.

• 31:07Ryan Clark?

  Right? We knew when we touched the football that that was a talent, that could be something. When did you know that this could be something that was not only a career, but a passion for you that changed lives?

• 31:19Speaker 04

  One of my first gigs, it was in the backwoods of Mississippi. And at the time, I didn't have a contract, I didn't have a rider, I didn't, like, nothing. I was just going on the strength of the opportunity. And I went to one of these places in Mississippi, and at the time, I had just moved back to Atlanta. And so I was leaving from being a graduate assistant, I was on Kiffin's staff. Kiffin went out to USC, offered me an opportunity to come with him. My wife had got pregnant with our daughter Jada, and she was like, "Ain't, we gotta make a decision." So I made the decision to move back to Atlanta, to the same neighborhood I grew up in, couple blocks away, to work at the rec center, to create leadership curriculum for the kids in my neighborhood.

• 32:03Speaker 04

  The plan was never to speak, right? I remember the cat telling me like, "Man, we could pay you like 20,000." I was like, "Bet." You know what I'm saying? I'm like, "Bet, I'm gonna be there in a few days," right? And I go back, and I go there, to the rec center, and they was like, "Oh, man, we meant to tell you, man, you're overqualified." And I was like, "Overqualified? It's a rec center, man, I got two degrees." And it was like, "Yeah, bro, we don't know what to tell you." And at the time, I was getting little opportunities here and there, and cats would tell me, like, "Man, you need to speak." And I was like, "No, I'm cool on that." And I took this opportunity in Mississippi. And I'll never forget, I pull up late night and I'm in a field. Like it's a barn in the back, I see strobe lights.

• 32:46Speaker 04

  I'm texting my cousins, I'm like, "Bro, if y'all don't hear from me in a few hours, like this where I'm at." Like I'm in one of those places, right? And a gentleman comes out, man, nicest all get out. And he was like, "Hey, man, this is my property. I'm doing this for the kids here, right? Hope it's a great experience." And I go and I speak and I get back home like mid-morning. My wife waited up on me and she was like, "Inc, how did it go?" I was like, "Baby, it went great." She was like, "What'd they give you? Like what'd they pay you?" And I was like, "Man, they gave me this cool coffee mug." And she was like, "You sure this what you're supposed to be doing?" I was like, "Yeah, it felt right." And she was like, "All right, go for it." And at that moment, man, I knew.

• 33:30Speaker 04

  Like I felt it when I spoke to them kids in Mississippi in that field, in that barn. Like I felt it. I got a similar feeling that I got when I would be in a tunnel at Tennessee, getting ready to run into that stadium and run through that tee. Like I just got the feeling regardless of what anybody would have said beyond that day. When I got that feeling, that was God's confirmation to me like, "Inc, I got you, right? I got you. Now you just gotta have the faith to trust it." And so from that day moving forward, I just wanted to be obedient to what I felt God had called me to do with my life.

• 34:02Ryan Clark?

  How does it shut off, right? Because like even here, like my whole thought was, "I'm gonna get Inc. out of that space, right? Like out of the space of educating us, out of the space of motivating us." I was like, "I wanna talk to him about like some..."

• 34:18Speaker 04

  I'm gonna get him in a second.

• 34:19Ryan Clark?

  Ah, Lord have mercy. I was like, "I wanna talk to him about some real stuff." Like how does that shut off for you, the father, right? The husband? You know what I mean? When that guy comes into play, obviously you draw off of all of your own experiences. But is that when we see the Inc., like you said, that's reserved? That sits back, that that's quiet?

• 34:44Speaker 04

  Yeah, man, I'm chill, man. My personality is chill. It's just when I talk about stuff that I'm passionate about. And things that I'm involved in, like I get ramped up. But just in terms of my personality, like my kids, my wife, my mom, my little sisters. Like if you ask them, like, who is Ink? They gonna be like, he chill, he silly, right? Like, it's a totally different person, like when I step on stage because I'm speaking about things that are real to me, right? And so it's just who I am when I do that. But just in terms of my personality as a person, I'm chill, I'm reserved, I'm laid back. And I just chill, man.

• 35:24Ryan Clark?

  Do they know who you are, though? Like, like in, like, in your house? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, you know, like, we all play ball. My kids could care less. You know what I'm saying? Like, my son, my son balls now. My son balls now. He knows, like, he looks back on it. And he, like, really appreciates what I did, how I worked, what I went through. Like, all those dope things. But like, when they were kids, it's just like, ah, that's gonna work. You know what I'm saying?

• 35:47Channing Crowder?

  Ink, Ink, Joy would like me more than he like him.

• 35:50Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, yeah. This is probably true.

• 35:54Channing Crowder?

  He twenty-one, so he came to my family, I told him a good time.

• 35:59Channing Crowder?

  Joy my man, Joy my man.

• 36:00Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, that's probably true. You know what I'm saying? Like, do they, do they get it? And do they get a little bit of that sometimes? You're like, are your kids brushing your teeth? You gonna brush your teeth better than anybody ever brushed their teeth. You gonna adamantly brush your teeth. You know what I'm saying? Like, do you, do you really?

• 36:16Speaker 04

  Hey, no, man. I, I, I bow to not be that dude, man. I bow, bro, like. But nah, man, they don't really be tripping on it, man. Even my wife, like, that's one of the reasons why I love my wife. Like, me and her been at it since fifth grade. Like, she ain't never cared about no ball, no sports. Like, she just never been about that. Like, she is who she is, she love me for who I am. But my family, they don't really trip on it, man, because they just see me as dad. My wife see me as her husband. My mom see me as her son. My little sister see me as their big brother. You know, but they don't really be tripping on that, man.

• 36:54Ryan Clark?

  Hey, Chan, you know what I do? I be like, he'll do something, well, she, you said yesterday, that you gotta be accountable every day.

• 37:01Speaker 04

  Where's your accountability?

• 37:04Channing Crowder?

  That's a good ass question. E, what about when you mess up?

• 37:08Speaker 04

  Yeah, all the time.

• 37:09Channing Crowder?

  So you done been inspiring all these people and then you mess up. How does that go? Anybody throw it back at you?

• 37:15Speaker 04

  Oh, y'all already know. My wife gonna throw it at me. I'm talking about every time. My daughter gonna throw it at me. Got a 11 year old daughter, my son 10. But absolutely, man, all the time. And it's good for me. Like, I need it. You know what I'm saying? Like, I need it in the worst way in terms of my development and my self-mastery. But like, I tell people all the time, early in my career, man, I made a, I made a big mistake. And I saw a side of my wife that I hadn't seen. You know what I'm saying? Like, I hadn't even seen this version. And I had been knowing her since 10. And so when I first started speaking, man, I'm getting opportunities. Then I started getting paid, and I'm running from poverty. You know what I'm saying? I'm running from my childhood.

• 37:59Speaker 04

  I'm speaking, I'm taking every opportunity. And I get an opportunity that comes, it's gonna pay me more than I'd ever been paid at the time. And like, I'm like, man, bet. Like, I can't wait to do it. And they send the date through. And the date falls on my wife's birthday.

• 38:16Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra. Because it's not just a Superior Light beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 38:45Speaker 04

  I'm like, damn, man. And then I started working it out. I'm like, bet, she'll ride with it. I'm trying to work the situation out. I started negotiating, I'm talking for my wife, right? So by the time when I get to my wife, I done buttered it up, I done made it sweet. And she can see how excited I am. She like, bet, no problem, do it. I'm like, yeah, man, I go speak. I can send you and grandma to the spa. You know, then I fly back in later that day, we'll go to dinner. Smooth. She like, bet, okay, good. We do it, everything goes great. I would say two days later, it was something small, man. It might have been like some socks in the dryer or something. Hey, bruh, she spazzed on me. And I knew exactly what it was. You know what I'm saying? I knew, I knew it.

• 39:30Speaker 04

  Cause I felt that and I shouldn't have did it. You know what I'm saying? But my intentions was right, but I made the wrong decision. And so when I did it, she spazzed and I knew. I was like, man, she felt as if I didn't value her and I valued the opportunity and the money over my wife's birthday. Right? And I would never get that moment back again. And so it was a vital lesson for me. And she had grace with me in that moment. And she got on me about it. And I grew from it. But I needed that moment, right? To make that mistake early on. So later on, I wouldn't make a bigger mistake. But yeah, she give it to me though, for sure. For sure, for sure.

• 40:05Ryan Clark?

  The, you know, like what's crazy is, you know, now you're doing this and this is like way back, like way off the subject. And you know, we're talking about different talents. You know what I'm saying? I don't have a lot of them. You know what I mean? Like I have learned, I'm only gonna do stuff I'm good at. And like, if I ain't good at it, like I ain't really tripping on it. Like people like go golf. For what? Like, so I can go out there and be hot as hell and suck? I'm cool on that. I'm not going to do that. Right? But, you know, you mentioned working with Kiffin and, you know, being at Tennessee.

• 40:35Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 40:36Ryan Clark?

  You know, and you talked to me about a camp. That you guys had. And listen, I, I'm on here with two Gators every day. So anytime I get a chance to talk about a Tiger, I'm gonna talk about it. You said Tyron Matthew came through Tennessee. And like, sometimes I feel like the gifts that people have aren't necessarily recognized or appreciated. Tell me a little bit about the meeting after you watched Tyron at camp.

• 40:59Speaker 04

  Yeah. And so you know how like at the college when they had a camp and the high school cats come up? And I was a graduate assistant at the time. And Tyron came up and there was a bunch of cats from, I think, St. Alb? Yeah.

• 41:11Ryan Clark?

  It's the only all-black Catholic school in New Orleans.

• 41:14Speaker 04

  Yeah, it was a bunch of them cats, man. And I saw this little cat, man, Tyron. And he was doing the DB drills. They was doing one-on-ones. And I'm talking about whether a cat would catch the ball or he would break the pass up. I'm talking about my man just, he dogging the line. Like every time he'll do a rep, he'll run back up, get the next rep. Until my cat's on the side like, "Coach, man, my man won't let me go." Like, he keep going. And so, we had a staff meeting, and they just going around the room. And they like, "Did anybody stand out, you know, that you guys can speak about today?" And of course, I'm just a G A, so I'm on the wall in the back of the room. And so, when they got in my area, I was trying to let them, I'm like, "Hey, man, it's this cat, Tyron Matthew."

• 41:56Speaker 04

  And so, one of them was like, "Ah, I don't know, man, too small, too slow." I can't remember who said it, and then they just passed on. And so, I heard he was going to LSU the next week. And Chavis, who was my D coordinator at Tennessee,

• 42:09Ryan Clark?

  Yep.

• 42:09Speaker 04

  was at LSU. And I was like, "When he go to LSU, Chief gonna offer." That's what we called Chavis. I was like, "Chief gonna offer him." And sure enough, he went to LSU the next week, and Chief offered him. But I was like, "Man, if we could've had that cat and Eric Berry, man, I think we'd have had something special."

• 42:27Ryan Clark?

  I'm glad you brought that up, actually. Eric Berry is one of my favorite players.

• 42:31Speaker 04

  Oh, that's my guy.

• 42:32Ryan Clark?

  One, Sean Taylor is obviously my favorite player. He didn't wear gloves and he taped his fingers.

• 42:36Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 42:37Ryan Clark?

  And E B would not wear gloves and tape his fingers. I think E B was like 14 or something

• 42:42Speaker 04

  Yeah, he's 14.

• 42:43Ryan Clark?

  in college, but he was 29

• 42:45Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 42:46Ryan Clark?

  for the Kansas City Chiefs. And there was a reason he picked that number. Can you tell us a little bit about your relationship with him?

• 42:53Speaker 04

  Yeah, E B, man, E B is like a little brother to me, man. When he got drafted, I'll never forget when he called me, and he was like, "Big bro, I'm gonna wear 29." And I was like, "Man, you ain't gotta do that." And I was like, "Bro, your dad played." Like, "What your dad number?" You know what I'm saying? You're a great player, like, just rock your own number. You ain't gotta wear a number for me." And he was like, "Nah, man, you don't know what you did for me." He's like, "I wanna honor you, man, I'm gonna do that." And it meant a lot to me, man. It meant a lot to my family, because we all know how E B plays the game. And to be able to watch him every Sunday when he did play. Like it was special for me and my family, right?

• 43:35Speaker 04

  Because we knew what that number meant, but also just the relationship that me and EB cultivated. Like when he first got there, I had that cat write down every goal he wanted to accomplish. I still got the papers in my office at my house. Everything he wrote down, he accomplished at Tennessee. Like every single one of them, I still got it on a notebook, piece of paper at my house in my office. Right? And so for us, even when he encountered cancer, right? I remember taking him to breakfast in Atlanta at homegrown on the east side of town. And I was talking to him and he was telling me his chemo schedule. You know what I'm saying? I get emotional talking about him because he mean that much to me. And he was telling me his chemo schedule. And I was like, bro, we gonna treat this like, like camp.

• 44:19Speaker 04

  Every single day you show up, you do your thing, you handling your business and you gonna beat it. You know what I'm saying? I remember seeing him, we was at church and uh, this was when his hair was coming out. You know what I'm saying? And um, and I saw him and I saw his spirit. His spirit was still strong, right? But his hair was coming out at the time. And I was like, how you doing, man? How you doing, two nine? You good? He's like, I'm good. He's like, I'm getting through it, bro. I'm good. And then I was in the stadium, his first game back. You know what I'm saying? And it was special. And so for me and EB, man, I uh, I got a lot of love for that cat. You know what I'm saying? That's like a, that's like a brother to me. You know what I'm saying? Little brother.

• 45:04Ryan Clark?

  You, you mentioned, you know, talking about his schedule. Did you draw back on anything you went through with your injury to try to help Eric get through what he was going through?

• 45:19Speaker 04

  Absolutely, absolutely. But you know, also, man, EB comes from a great family. I'm saying, great mother, great father, little brothers. And so his foundation was set, you know what I'm saying? Comes from a great, great infrastructure, but also just, I feel like we all go through things in life, not only just for us. Like, I think it's certain experiences that we have and we encounter. So, once we get on the other side of it and another cat comes along that encounters something to the extent of what we went through, we can share how we got through it, right? I think that's the blessing of it, like it says in the Bible. Overcome us by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. And so that's why when we hear a cat share something that we can relate to, we like, bro, like, respect, you know what I'm saying?

• 46:04Speaker 04

  And so for me, I felt as if I'd encountered this and got through it. So, when another cat encountered a struggle, you know, around the game or in the game, I can come along and not try to share with them how they need to deal with it. But like, hey, bro, listen, man, I'm here, you know what I'm saying? Like, I think that's the difference between sympathy and empathy. I think empathy is a powerful tool. Sympathy is when somebody goes through something, Fred go through something, just like, man, Fred, tough break, bro, bad state of affairs. Chan go through something, bro, tough break. But empathy, like, nah, I'm gonna come there, bro, I'm here if you need me. I'll walk with you if you need me, you know what I'm saying? Because I done went through something that I done extracted something from it that I feel I can apply to your situation and add a certain level of value.

• 46:48Fred Taylor?

  You know, people hear you speak all the time. And in that, you know, they tend to develop their own perception of you and your situation. But we all know it ain't gravy. No question. They see us on here every week and they think these guys got it in order. And we don't, right?

• 47:06Speaker 04

  Hell, no.

• 47:07Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 47:10Fred Taylor?

  What are some of your greater challenges, you know, in your current situation?

• 47:15Speaker 04

  One of my biggest challenges, even when I got hurt.

• 47:20Speaker 04

  Was just asking for help, you know what I'm saying? Like, coming up, man, I think the blessing and the curse of growing up the way I grew up, with this mentality of, alright, man, you get it how you live. You know, you handle your business, you get up, you make it happen, right? Like, I'll never forget saying to my cousin one day, like, "Bro, some of the things we got taught, it ain't nothing against the people that taught them to us, but, but I was wrong." Right? We can seek insight, we can seek advice, we ain't always gotta be the cat with the bravado, you know what I'm saying? We can go to people and seek wisdom, right? We can go to people and ask for help in certain areas that were not as strong. And so, for me, that was always a challenge for me, even when I got injured,

• 48:02Speaker 04

  to come to somebody and say, "Hey, man, can you help me with that?" Or, "Hey, man, can you help me expand my thought process and perspective with this?" Because of the way I grew up, I didn't experience much, and it was all good, and it served me well, right, on the level I was on, but when I started growing and evolving and experiencing certain areas and aspects of life, I needed some insight and advice, and I had to drop my pride and be willing to ask for help, you know? And also, one of the things that I struggled with, just as a man, is, like, I got the perspective that adults know what they're doing. Like, when they do certain things, they know the intent, they know the intentions, and they know why they're doing it.

• 48:45Speaker 04

  And so, I'm the type of person, I ain't really gonna ask you to explain why you did it. I ain't gonna come to you and be like, "Hey, bro, why you did that?" Like, you fifteen, I might come to you and say, "Hey, youngin', hey, whoop a snapper, let me holler at you real quick, because you probably don't understand the layers in what you just did." But with an adult, I don't always be like, "Hey, man, let me talk to you, let's talk this out real quick." I'll just bounce, right? And we'll just never probably communicate again. And that's a struggle of mine, because I felt as if that was a layer that I added on in my childhood when my father wasn't present. And that's how I got through it.

• 49:30Speaker 04

  Right, and so even when I relate, like our, our relationship is great now. Right, that's my dude, right, great grandfather, that's my man. But it was a coping mechanism when I was young, that when he wasn't present, that I could just cut people off and keep it pushing. And now as an adult, it's certain times that maybe I do need to have that dialogue. Maybe I do need to converse with this person. Right, and I don't always do that, and my wife, I'm, I'm thankful and I'm grateful for her because she challenges me sometimes on that with different people. And I need to grow in that area as a man, yeah.

• 50:02Fred Taylor?

  Is it difficult asking for help these days? Or is it, do you have some sort of routine where the kids just enjoy helping pops with, whatever he needs help with?

• 50:11Speaker 04

  Nah, they help me, man, uh, but sometimes it is, you know what I'm saying? Just being real because like when you go through something like this, I tell people all the time, like, it's a blessing to live with adversity. Right, every single day I encounter something that I can't do, that I used to be able to do. Because of the nature of my arm, right? Yesterday, me and my daughter, I picked my daughter up from practice yesterday. And I thought we had had enough encounters and interactions that, you know, about my arm, that she had asked questions that she wanted to ask. I thought we was just in a solid place. And yesterday I pick her up and I'm, Jay, how you practice go, Jada? Practice went great, Dad. She's like, Dad, can I ask you something? I was like, yeah, sure, fire away.

• 50:55Speaker 04

  And she was like, can you tell me why is that arm, your right arm, smaller than the other arm? She's like, can you just tell me why is, like, I see it, but can you tell me why is it? So I went to explain, I'm like, Jada, like, you got atrophy that happens, but I got a big scar down my arm from surgery. And I was like, my arm doesn't work the way your arm works. Right, like, I don't have feeling in my arm, I got paralysis, I can't use it. Right, and so naturally, because I can't use it, I can't build muscle, I can't do anything. And so she was like, okay, and she was like, when people grab it, like if somebody grabbed it, does it hurt? I was like, yeah, that's why I wear the sleeve most of the time.

• 51:36Speaker 04

  Right, I wear it so if I'm out in public, if a person grabs this arm, like because I got nerve grabs, like it'll shoot a pain up through my arm and through my chest, that's like, it's like unbelievable. You know what I'm saying? And so I wear it more so out of awareness. Right, that if I'm out and a cat see it and the cat's like, oh, because if I'm in the airport, most of the time, a cat thinks it's a prosthetic, right? And it's not, but I got their awareness enough to where they won't hit it, cat won't walk up and just grab it. And so for me, yeah, it's tough, man, but like, like that dialogue yesterday with my daughter, it was refreshing. And I didn't expect it, but it was good for both of us.

• 52:16Fred Taylor?

  Was amputation ever on the table at any point?

• 52:19Speaker 04

  I think they discussed it, but when they came to that two-year point and they was like, if anything is gonna come back, you know, it'll probably be in a two-year timeframe, we was like, bet, let's see what comes back. And so even after the two years, they've came to me and been like, hey, Inc., you wanna go here and try this option? They got this. But I've been like, nah, man, because like it took so much out of me. You know what I'm saying? Like it took a lot out of me, man. When I went through those surgeries, it took a lot out of me. And so now, having a wife and having children, and I captured peace.

• 52:52Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 52:53Speaker 04

  It took me a long time to get there, right? I remember when this first happened, bro, and I would go out. And when you got something like this that happens, people look, you know what I'm saying? And when I first used to go out and somebody would look at my arm, like it bothered me. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, man, cat just looking at me, right? Like, man, what is that? You know what I'm saying? Without asking a question, or a cat might just look at you and shy away. That, that hurt more than anything, right? In the early years when it first happened. And so, once I captured peace and I was cool with it, like because even till this day, I go out with my family, cat still gonna look and be like, what's going on? But I'm in such a place of peace, because I've had to deal with it for so long, I'm cool.

• 53:35Speaker 04

  That I don't even wanna encounter another option, because I know how much it took out of me. And I don't want my family to have to deal with that and go through that. And so now I'm in such a place where it's like, man, I'm all good, I'm living with it. And I consider it a blessing and something that I could use every single day of my life. Whether it be to spark dialogue, whether it be for a person to ask me a question, or whether it be to just serve as a blessing to the world.

• 54:00Channing Crowder?

  And then I want to ask, man, with the, like you said, you like to touch people. That's what I gather with the, with the Barry story, EB story. You like to touch people, you want to be a part of people's lives. You were coaching, and now you're speaking. You think you could touch more dudes coaching? Because you have a baby, you walk in a room for an hour and you're gone.

• 54:19Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 54:20Channing Crowder?

  Coaching, you could really sit down and get a relationship like you and EB had. Because you touch more people coaching, because you, I don't want to say quit, but you retired. You retired from coaching.

• 54:31Ryan Clark?

  Career change.

• 54:31Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, there we go, Freddie.

• 54:33Speaker 04

  I pivoted, right? But I thought about it, man. Like, I thought, I thought that was the next step after my injury. I really did. I was like, man, it's a smooth transition. I can coach, I love the game, I love young cats, man. I feel like that'd be great. And so I thought that was the thing that I would be doing. And I often think about it even to this day. Like, I was with my son's team last year, right? And they was nine, but I loved it. You know what I'm saying? I had a great experience, but I stepped away from it because I didn't want my son to see me as dad and a coach every single day. You know what I'm saying? And so I stepped away from it, so my man could just see me as his dad, you know, and not his coach.

• 55:17Speaker 04

  But I loved it, I thought I would be doing it, but, you know.

• 55:20Channing Crowder?

  But you quit.

• 55:21Speaker 04

  I took me down a different path.

• 55:23Ryan Clark?

  He's a quitter.

• 55:24Speaker 04

  I pivoted, bro, I pivoted. I had to make a pivot, bro.

• 55:28Ryan Clark?

  You know, and we have been, you know, I think, the, the one thing about this show is, is that we bring on people who have become very successful in a line of work. Or in a certain way that people see them every day. And I think we try to get to the root of what makes this person successful, or what brought them to a certain place. My last question would be, when you are speaking, do you go into every speaking engagement and think to yourself, "Okay, I gotta realize who is in the room and what they need." Or is everything for you, "I'm gonna draw off of my experience,

• 56:10Ryan Clark?

  and from my experience, give them what I feel will help." How do you approach, like Channing said in Touching People, how do you approach that when you do only have a select time to be in the room with those individuals?

• 56:24Speaker 04

  I wanna be as effective as possible. And so, the way I look at being as effective as possible, I need as much information as possible about the group that I'm going to serve. And so like me and Fred was talking about, like I'm gonna go speak to Florida, University of Florida football team, you know, during camp. And so before I go on that campus, I'm gonna have a lot of information, whether it be from coach, whether it be from player development, whether it be from a couple of the players. Like if I go speak to Chick-fil-A, I'm gonna have a lot of information before I walk into that room. Part of it is just respect for where I'm going. I want the people to know, when I throw out certain verbiage, when I throw out certain terms to try to bridge the gap,

• 57:08Speaker 04

  I want them to know like, "Oh man, my man did his homework." Right? Like he respects us enough to do his homework, so when he steps on the stage, we can know that he's done some actual research and he's not just up here talking, thinking that it's gonna relate. You know, but also, from a preparation standpoint, I'm spirit-led as well. And so, I'm gonna be honest, man, I was in a presentation once, and right as I was about to start, right? I'm talking, and then my spirit is saying, "Go a different direction," and I'm fighting it. And I look and I'm perifying. And I'm looking, and I see a guy get up from a table. And I could just see it, but the mic is here. And my man starts walking. And he just collapsed, bro, collapsed, phew, fall out.

• 57:52Speaker 04

  People start panicking, ladies start screaming. They get the ambulance in there. They get my man woke up, they get him out of there. And at that moment, my spirit was like, "I told you, now pray." Right, but I'm like, man, I'm a spiritual cat, but I'm like, I ain't one of these cats that's just gonna come and try to push my beliefs on you or you. I ain't that type of person, man. Like, you believe what you believe. It's cool. I got grace for everybody. And I prayed, right? And when I prayed, I got done, the cat that brought me in said, "Man, I really think we brought you in just for that."

• 58:34Speaker 04

  He said, "I don't think nobody else would have handled that situation the way you just handled it. Thank you." And so part of me is preparation, but part of me also, I have to trust my spirit is leading me in the right direction from my preparation.

• 58:50Fred Taylor?

  You've spoke across the globe, man. You've colleges, corporations, you know, just about anywhere. But your childhood dream, make it to the NFL, right? Is it different when you enter an NFL stadium? And is there a specific speak that stands out to you that you would say it touched you a bit different? Than speaking at other teams?

• 59:13Speaker 04

  I would say, I spoke to Tampa, man, and I got this speech on YouTube. It was a while ago. Every team, man, like, sports, I do corporate. Corporate is probably my number one source of business. Right? And it's not even close. Like, corporate, corporate sales, like, number one. Like, it's not even close. And sports is probably two, but sports is where I'm in my element the most. And like, I feel like I'm with the guys, you know what I'm saying? And they relate, but it's a speech I gave to Tampa Bay Bucks, "Prepare for Glory." And I feel like that was the rawest and most I've been in my element with a squad in a long time.

• 59:56Speaker 04

  And this on YouTube, and this from a couple of years ago. And it was special, man. Like, I always think about it in terms of like, alright, I didn't make it to the league, but I made it. Right? Because of the opportunities I get to go in and speak to the squads, right? The access I get. And so I'm grateful for all of it, man. Like, even like, like, just breaking it down real quick. Like, I asked my partners, man, like, "Bro, do y'all realize how blessed and..." Like how gifted y'all are, right? Even athletes to this day, I ask them all the time. I'm like, think about how many cats that started off with the dream, or didn't start off with the dream. Didn't want to do it, didn't care nothing about it, and they just played ball. And it happened, right? Like it actually happened.

• 1:00:39Speaker 04

  Like cats that started from seven, eight, nine, and it happened. It's me. You know what I'm saying? Like it happened. You know what I'm saying? Like the dream actually manifested. Like how much of a blessing that is, right? And so, I always try to get cats to just be grateful for the opportunity that they have, right? But also not to take the opportunity for granted, right? Even if it doesn't go the way that you want it to go. The game is incredible. It's an incredible tool that I feel can prepare you for several phases of life. And so for me, when my injury happened, at the time, it didn't feel good, right? But now I look at it as an extreme level of preparation, right? It just prepared me for the pivot, right? That's all it did. It prepared me for the pivot, right? The transition.

• 1:01:24Speaker 04

  When I had to be like, alright, bro, I can't do it. The game prepared me for the ultimate pivot in my life to my purpose, right? No doubt.

• 1:01:34Channing Crowder?

  And on the other side, have you ever said, "To hell with y'all, y'all motherfuckers ain't listening"?

• 1:01:41Channing Crowder?

  Like you ever start talking, be like, "Man, these motherfuckers don't care, man, catch my ass".

• 1:01:45Speaker 04

  Oh, you already know. You already know. You gonna have some of them young cats, man. I had to tell a cat last week. He tried to bring me in to speak to some young kids, and he was like, "Give him like 45". And I looked in the room, and I was like, "Nah, eight minutes, top". "What you mean, eight minutes"? I'm like, "Man, you see them cats, they trying to hear that"? What you say about 45 minutes? You just know, right? And like, everybody, like I tell cats all the time, it's hard for cats to understand, like, everybody don't need it. You know what I'm saying? Like, so many cats-

• 1:02:18Channing Crowder?

  Do they not need it or do they don't want it?

• 1:02:20Speaker 04

  Right, some cats don't want it, but some cats like just self-starters, right? They'll listen to it like, like y'all, y'all pros, right? Y'all get to the point where y'all are pro, right? A cat ain't gotta come in and tell you how to operate. That's the challenge for me, even being labeled a motivational speaker. That's tough for me. I never called myself that. I never one time came out, "Hey man, motivational speaker." Because there's so much in the industry that's not authentic and genuine.

• 1:02:48Ryan Clark?

  It landed with us, I think the, the excitement was, was seeing a different Inky. And we got it for a little bit. And then every now and then, we ask the question and you flip back into it. But I think, I know, I know for us, it's about giving ourselves, because I believe truly when we have men like you or women like you on the show, we take things away from it. And I've taken a lot away from this, but we also do it more so for the people that are watching. So from your experience, if you have a short time to give our viewers, our subscribers, just a, a message about persevering in life, what would that be?

• 1:03:34Speaker 04

  Man, always, always be willing to be stronger than your strongest excuse, right? Always be willing to be stronger than your strongest excuse. And also, always be willing to extend a level of grace to others and yourself, right? I think one of the toughest things for us as people, in terms of the realm of forgiveness, is sometimes forgiving ourselves, right? For our shortcomings and the mistakes that we may have made along the journey. But every single day, man, getting up, and as cliche as it sounds, when you tell a person, "Hey man, don't take life for granted," right? And a cat'll hear it, go in one ear, go out the other. But bro, one of the most underrated blessings is leaving your house and making it back home every single day.

• 1:04:14Speaker 04

  Know what I'm saying, like that's an underrated blessing that we just assume it's gonna happen. And every single day cats leave the crib and they don't make it back to their children. They don't make it back to their spouses. But we leave our house every single day, we just assume, alright man, I'm gonna make it back, I'll see you later. Right, and it's like, man, who promised you that? And so the mindset that I've acquired as a result of my injury is that, man, every single day, all that comes with it, right, highs, lows, successes, failures, right, tough moments, right, great moments, all that comes with it, the totality of it, appreciate all of it, right? Because we need all of it in terms of our development and the people that we're striving to become.

• 1:04:57Speaker 04

  And I say striving because we're constantly evolving. And so I would say to them, man, always be willing to be stronger than your strongest excuse, and always be willing to extend a level of grace to both yourself and the others. Because if you haven't needed it yet, I guarantee you it's gonna come a point in time to where you gonna need another individual to extend a level of grace to you. This is the pivot. That's right.

• 1:05:24Speaker 04

  Man. I appreciate y'all, man. This is the show where I know I'm not smart enough.

• 1:05:29Channing Crowder?

  I expected, but I didn't expect.

• 1:05:32Speaker 04

  Big dog. And thank you so much too for responding, man. Oh, no question, man. I really appreciate it, dawg. No question, man, it's respect.

• 1:06:03Speaker 06

  Every game day, you show up for your team. Now, it's your time.

• 1:06:14Speaker 06

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