Considered a Bust? Former NFL star Running Back 3rd overall pick and Alabama legend Trent Richardson opens up about his football journey, tough lessons, losing over $1.6M, importance of OGs, parenting & finding peaceNew episode

"We need the OGs. We need people like us who went through it and had the ups and downs in the game that's gonna tell you the truth..." This conversation is one we highly recommend as parents, athletes, coaches, those who have had the highest of highs and lowest of lows, and for people who feel they have failed at something and may have got lost in our purpose at one time and now look to forgive ourselves as we right the wrongs.... We sit as men reflecting on tough times, regrets, learning from one another, accepting accountability and being able to apologize when we own up to things we could have said or done differently. On this episode of The Pivot Podcast, apart of Fanatics, Ryan, Channing and Fred sit with former NFL star running back, the No. 3 overall pick in 2012 and Alabama legend Trent Richardson to talk about his football journey and respond to people who look at his career as a bust as we gain understanding inside the mindset of a young athlete and what went wrong: How did the NFL go from being a dream come true to football becoming a nightmare? Trent shares his experiences growing up in a household with a single mother to becoming a young father at 16 while balancing being a star football player at Alabama and how it affected his NFL career. With high expectations as a player entering the league as a high draft pick and trusting people with his finances, Trent saw over $1.6M of his money unaccounted for quickly while dealing with an unguided start as a rookie. Trent was traded from Cleveland to Indianapolis without personal knowledge, only finding out on the radio and often criticized for not playing up to standards despite having decent numbers and breaking some rookie records. Diving into his journey, Fred, who was seen as a mentor and idolized by the young running back at one time, talks through some of the struggles and misconceptions Trent dealt with. Trent opened up on the criticisms he faced while sharing how he felt his issues stemmed from not having the right tools to succeed and discussed the personal matters he was dealing with in private while trying to get his football career on track. Ryan and Trent share a powerful moment of accountability and forgiveness as RC shares how Trent taught him a lesson in analyzing sports after making a comment about his play in a way that Ryan wouldn't do today. Being a good father and role model for young people today is something Trent prides himself in, admitting that having his kids is one thing that kept him going in the dark times. Opening a facility in Alabama and trying to be a voice for athletes to help them not make the same mistakes or fall into similar traps he did is Trent's mission today. Tap into this episode of a story filled with obstacles and struggle but one that's important we hear as we navigate our lives today and influence young people along the way. We appreciate Trent opening up and trusting us with his journey, hoping to change lives by sharing. 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.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Here's your report.

• 0:01Speaker 01

  Oh, thanks, Jane. I wish I could hire someone just like you.

• 0:04Speaker 00

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• 0:20Speaker 01

  Let's do it. You're irreplaceable, Jane, but another you would be great.

• 0:24Speaker 00

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• 0:30Ryan Clark?

  I think Florida, for the large part, has better football players than Louisiana.

• 0:32Fred Taylor?

  It really don't matter because both our teams got...

• 0:35Ryan Clark?

  What up, my dog? Hey, nothing, boy. Good to see you. Family?

• 0:37Fred Taylor?

  Both our teams got the ass beat.

• 0:39Channing Crowder?

  Man, I don't know if I'm running up on you, brother.

• 0:41Speaker 05

  Pete Cola.

• 0:42Ryan Clark?

  That's right.

• 0:42Speaker 05

  Learn from the best, man.

• 0:43Fred Taylor?

  Pete Cola in the house, man.

• 0:46Ryan Clark?

  But yeah, Freddie T., I think Louisiana's smaller than Florida. So we have, especially recently, we've had a ton of good football players. But I think when you talk about Florida, for decades, to me, Florida's been like the number-one state when it comes to like top-level football players. It's why, like, back in your day, though, the Florida, Florida State, Florida State, Miami games were what they were because all them boys stayed home.

• 1:19Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, they stayed home. Now they kind of branch out all over the place. But, you know, you always were able to sprinkle in players from other places. Louisiana always had, dog. South Carolina, Georgia, all these places definitely in the South, you know, had amazing players. You got a lot of your quarterbacks and stuff. You poached them from California. But the meat, Texas, Georgia, Florida, you know, up there in the panhandle, and Pete Cola, you know, down south.

• 1:45Channing Crowder?

  Freddie, those are three states now. I don't know you're gonna make Ryan feel good about himself. It's Cali... For the little cute throwers, it's Texas for the big boys and the running backs, and it's Florida for the fast dudes. Historically, those are the three states that have football players. That's it.

• 2:00Ryan Clark?

  Well.

• 2:01Channing Crowder?

  That's it.

• 2:02Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 2:03Channing Crowder?

  Just top three is Florida, Texas, California.

• 2:05Ryan Clark?

  Trent Richardson has sat down. We'll have that conversation at another time.

• 2:25Ryan Clark?

  Man, Trent, welcome.

• 2:26Speaker 05

  Love the conversation.

• 2:28Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I know.

• 2:29Channing Crowder?

  I'm gonna get in on that.

• 2:30Ryan Clark?

  We'll continue to have it. Fred Taylor, Channing Crowder, I'm Ryan Clark. Pivot fam, thank you for pivoting with us. This is The Pivot, a part of Fanatics. Here with Trent Richardson. Trent, Doak Walker, award winner, SEC Offensive Player of the Year, Heisman finalist, third overall pick of the Cleveland Browns. I think a list of accolades that anybody who loves the Crimson Tide, or like myself, who hates them, you know. Makes sense. We, I should. We know those things. But it was something you said, man, a quote from you that I thought people should hear right away. It's when you were with the Birmingham Iron of the AAF, or there's an Alliance of America

• 3:15Ryan Clark?

  Football League, and they asked you, if you could give your younger self advice, what would you say? And the first thing out of your mouth was, learn to say no earlier. Of all the advice you could have given yourself, why would learn to say no earlier be what you would have told a young Trent Richardson?

• 3:38Speaker 05

  Simple fact is because I got a big heart. And me coming from where I came from, my mom had three kids. She raised 11 by herself. And so, and my grandma, you know, was down alone, you know. My grandma worked the city bus 30 some years until I retired her. And so, for me, man, like that's all I knew was love. If I had it, you got it. And so, that's one thing Coach Saban used to always say, man, I don't think I'm worried about you. It's going to the next level is your heart. It's so big. And so, for me, man, I had to learn that in order for me to take care of my kids...

• 4:16Speaker 05

  I gotta take care of myself first and I didn't. As a kid at that time, twenty, twenty-one years old, you know, I didn't. If I got it, you got it. I mean, I'm, I'm literally giving folks the shirt off my back or some of my shoes. Like I go places, see kids ain't got shoes and that was just me. And that's, that's the gentle side of me, right? But as you get older and you become more of a professional, you learn different, you know, different, different traits and different secrets in, in life to where, oh, I did that, I ain't going down that path again. Well, I tried that, that ain't really work out. Well, you know what? That might not be my time. And so saying no for me, man, is, is huge. Cause it's hard. It's hard when you got people out there that you don't know who life that you can change by taking a picture or writing something down.

• 5:02Speaker 05

  And, and it's crazy. I got some on my Instagram now of, of Robbie, quarterback at Auburn. He went to Utah. He played, he played, I think he's at Utah now, but he went to Oregon. But just me taking a picture of him when he was a baby, like it changed his life. Like he, like we got a picture of him when he was like six years old, about coming out to basketball jail. I think it was, might have been an Alabama Auburn basketball game. Went there, you know, to help, you know, representing all this other stuff. And that thing is like one of those times when I was at the war shows. Come out, a group of people want a picture. Dad was like, nah, don't worry about it, man, you know. I mean, I pulled the kids to the side, took a picture with them. Years later, this kid is getting recruited by Oregon, Alabama, Auburn.

• 5:45Speaker 05

  And he showed me the picture and, you know, we talked about it and it's one of them things that, man, you never know.

• 5:49Channing Crowder?

  For you to say that, what are some of the yeses that you look back and a lot of guys that were in your possession? You went number three, bruh. You went over Freddie. So this, this might be the first person that got drafted, higher than Fred got drafted in the history of the show, the old Miss Run everybody talks about. Like we know, we like, we, we remember what she was. Those yeses that made you say, I need to say no earlier.

• 6:11Speaker 05

  Oh, man, like. Like I wouldn't have started a kennel. A what? A dog kennel. Like I, like I, like I rebreed bullies, like I, like. And that, and me being from Florida, that's something in the South you do, right? Like you, like dog breeding, stuff like that, like, and I, and I love dogs. Like I wouldn't have did that. Or I wouldn't, you know, bought some stuff that I, you know, I know I didn't want. But because my family seen certain type of stuff, and not blaming nothing on them, but I went and got it. Or just, you know, just because it was a friend of the family, I made sure it happened. But there's certain type of stuff to where it's like, them type of yeses was like, man, think about yourself. Or think about your kids that I didn't get that early on. It's never a right or wrong way to do it.

• 6:55Speaker 05

  I think it's the experience that you have when you go through those.

• 6:59Fred Taylor?

  So Trent, it's, it's, it's good to see you in a, in a, in a good mindset. You know, we, we know all too well, eighty-seven percent of the guys, after they leave the NFL, you know, they're divorced within three years, or a filing bank rub, or, or any of those things. So one, for me to you, I'm, I'm glad to see that you're well, because a lot of these guys can have mental issues that eventually lead to their demise. But I, I firmly believe that everything happens to us for a reason. Right? You gotta go through something to figure out that person, who you really are, that person you were destined to be. With those experiences, is there anything you regret?

• 7:38Speaker 05

  I, I had to say, man, I don't regret none of it, because it, it's, it's kind of like, you know, when you talk about your ancestors, like, they had to go through that for we to, for we can have this. Like, it's a lot of stuff that y'all went through that we didn't have.

• 7:51Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 7:51Speaker 05

  And there's a lot of stuff at Bama going on right now that I know that we didn't have, you know what I'm saying? Like, stuff that you did, stuff that you did, you know what I'm saying, before I got to the league.

• 8:00Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 8:00Speaker 05

  And, you know, even when we went on, you know, went to the lockout, you know, my, my, my last year in high, in college, you know, y'all did that for us, you know what I'm saying? Like, and y'all didn't have to do that. Man, there's a lot of stuff, man, that I, I can say that, man, I might have did a little different, but I wouldn't have changed the result.

• 8:17Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 8:18Speaker 05

  If that makes sense. Like I, like I, like I was gonna always be that person that's gonna be in the community. I was gonna always be that person that was gonna stand up for, you know, what was right. That was just me, that's, that's just how. Life is just ingrained in me that you are a pleaser. You like to get stuff handled. And growing up, that's how you felt like that was the definition of a man. So it, and it's just like now, like people don't realize like I've always had my kids. Even when I was in college, my kids has always been, you know, with me. And Fred, T, you know, I mean, we, we talked, me and Fred, man, that was my idol, still is idol. That was my mentor. I remember my rookie year, I was calling you about, you know, sign these cards.

• 9:02Speaker 05

  Like, man, go ahead and sign them cards. I wish I would've did it.

• 9:07Speaker 05

  Like, man, I left so much money on the table, man. And it was stuff like that, like, we need the OGs. We need people like us that went through it, then had the ups and downs in the game. That's gonna tell you the truth. So you need the Bo Jacksons. You need all that. Like, if you don't have that, man, as a rookie, especially you go high, top five, top 10, are you going to the worst teams? You're going to the worst situation. And if it don't fit your playing style, it is what it is. And they gonna write it off.

• 9:34Ryan Clark?

  Trent, I want to get back to the OG statement. When you were talking about what you knew, your upbringing, you mentioned who your mother was. You mentioned what your grandmother did her entire life. You didn't mention your father. You went to see your father once he was sick. And you said that you had no hatred toward him. What were the effects of not having him around, not having those tutelage? And how did your father's absence affect you as to the man you grew to be?

• 10:12Speaker 05

  I think for me, man, I, I look at everything like this. Man, maybe if I had the access to him, I, I wouldn't have been here. My daddy was a dog. He, he, he was what he was, but he was a good human. Like, for me, I don't look at it, at, at me being a parent. Like, man, I'm about to have an 18-year-old next month. And so for me, man, like, looking at, you know, what pushed me and drove me to make sure I'm around, making sure that I'm in my kid's life, making sure that I'm available as an uncle, you know? For me, like, me and my brother had my kids, our, our kids at the same time. He is a couple of weeks, you know, before me, and so when my mom first told me about it, man, I was. I ain't know what she was talking about. I thought she was talking about, you know, my, my, my brother kid.

• 10:57Speaker 05

  And so, you know, what we was end up doing, man, we was able to raise my brother child. It's still, you know, he's still growing today. Were able to raise my child. And I was able to take my child and my brother child over to my dad's side before he passed. And so that was big for me. Like I, hatred for me, man, I just can't. Like it, it's too much wasted energy.

• 11:22Ryan Clark?

  Trent, what is that conversation like? To not have your father in your life? To develop this village of raising children, whether it's Terrell's kids, your kids? And be able to say, I'm gonna bring my brother's kids and my kids to say goodbye to a man that I never really knew and that they don't know?

• 11:47Speaker 05

  It was different. Cause I was trying to get, get as much as I can, you know, with him. And, and I was there every day, like every day on his side. And for me, like my brother was off to college. And so for me, man, to, to be there, it, it meant a lot to me. It felt like I knew him my whole life, even though he couldn't talk, even though he couldn't say anything. But like me, you know, just, just, I can hear a spirit. And like, people don't realize, man, it's not always the situation that we think, you know? It, it's, it's not always the situation of the dad don't wanna be there. Like, and, and I'm not saying that, you know, it, it was nothing wrong with, you know, my mom or anything like that. But you never know what their relationship was.

• 12:29Speaker 05

  And so, you know, I tell people all the time, man, like, what they know is between them. But when it comes to those kids, like, for me, like, my dad didn't do anything to my kids. He ain't, you know, if, if he was there, maybe, you know, it would've been a different outcome. Maybe they wouldn't be in there. And but for me, man, the, the best thing for me at the age that I was at and the path that I was going down was to have my daughter.

• 12:51Channing Crowder?

  As you talk about it, man, I, I kinda think about me and my dad, cause my mom and dad got divorced when I was nine. Then I moved to Atlanta and it was like, you know what I'm saying? And then I, I even joke about it when I talk, I'm like, man, stop. The mama say the daddy ain't shit, the daddy say the mama ain't shit. And you the little kid sitting in the middle looking back and forth at, you know what I'm saying? And all that. Your love for kids and your love for your kids, but also your love for all these kids. We sit in your facility. Did that come from that where I'm a strong black father now? And I can now be an influence on people and the influence you didn't have? Because I really think that's why I'm so gung ho about this fatherhood stuff that I'm going through. It's because I did not have that male figure.

• 13:36Speaker 05

  One of the biggest thing that my mom did for us, right? She never talked bad about my father. I've never heard anything bad about him. I've never, anytime, actually when my dad was on the dying bed and then my mom, you know, was sitting there saying if he needs somebody there, let her know. And that's just their relationship. They was always cool, you know what I mean? Like, I, I never really knew him like that, but they was cool. But for me, you know, building facilities, being able to, you know, be available to these kids, like, it's always been huge, man, because what my mom did, like, I've seen her, you know, we, we go with chicken and rice or, you know, we, and, and she makes something out of nothing. Like, Christmas is Thanksgiving, like, how do a single parent that comes off the street, you know, feed 11 kids?

• 14:21Speaker 05

  And only three of them hers. Like, she had her doors open for everybody, man, and so being able to see that and, and having coaches around me, like, those are my father figures. Like, my brothers was my father. I'm the youngest in the house. And like, I tell people, I'm the rent of the family at that. And so I was the one that was, and that fun as that sound, right?

• 14:40Channing Crowder?

  Brother played DN or something.

• 14:41Speaker 05

  Brother played DN 6'6". My other brother was 6'4". And so, and like, man, my, my, my, my grandma's 6'2", 6'3". So like, it's, for me, I was the rent. My dad, granddad was 6'6". You know, i- i- it's one of them things that, man, just being able to, to, to touch people hard, to change their situation or to give them type of hope. Get them something to fight for, like, that self, that self-talk. Like, a lot of kids don't have that motivation for their self no more. For me, to say a black parent, a black father, I, I try to put a stop on the black part because I'm a great father. I don't care if I'm black, white, yellow, Hispanic, whatever it is.

• 15:25Speaker 05

  Don't put that label on me because we, we run this. We been doing this. Like, don't, don't, like, and I'm not, no, that's not, no, you know, it's nothing to you, but it's like, we gotta stop putting ourself in saying that, you know, as a black, you know? Yeah, it's, it's history, you get what I'm saying? Yeah, it's, it's all that, but at the same time, it's like, we been doing this. Like, this is, this is us. This is what we do.

• 15:47Ryan Clark?

  I love that.

• 15:48Fred Taylor?

  Trent, is this your sanctuary, your safe space?

• 15:52Speaker 05

  I think being around kids and helping people out for me, like to give back. Like, people think it's always gotta be money. Like, the wisdom. Like, you don't know how much you gave back to me when you was talking to me before the games. You know, just checking up on me and stuff like that. Like, oh, to hear that type of stuff, man, it means more than anything. And one thing about, you know, being around these kids out here, man, is more of a, they don't wanna let me down. Like, I ain't gotta do all the yelling. I ain't gotta do all that. Like, to know that I'm passionate for these kids and they know how much time I put in for them, you know, and with them, like, I get out here and work out with these kids. Like, I get out here, you know, and show them, like, if I'm doing this at my age, you can do it.

• 16:35Speaker 05

  Or the older kids, I put my little kids out there and showing them, hey, if these little kids doing it, y'all should be able to do this. And I let them know, like, bro, y'all talking to a man who didn't walk for two years in high school, who couldn't play football. Only sport I did all four years was track. And like, I had two kids in high school. A lot of people don't realize that. So I had to fight every day. And on top of taking my younger cousins that my mom adopted to the school before I went to school.

• 17:04Ryan Clark?

  Trent, when you had your first baby, you were on crutches.

• 17:07Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 17:08Ryan Clark?

  Your ankles are bad. You don't know if you're ever gonna be a football player at all, but a good one. I can't imagine being a sophomore in high school, walking into a hospital to see my daughter be born. At that point in your life, with all that had gone on, growing up in Pensacola and, you know, knowing what poverty is, right? Knowing what the drug game is. Knowing about having to sometimes go outside of what's legal, go outside of what's a societal norm to provide, and saying to myself, I want to be a good father. I wanna be a good man.

• 17:51Ryan Clark?

  Explain to me the thoughts of a high school sophomore with bad ankles, with a dream of playing football, walking in.

• 18:01Ryan Clark?

  To see his baby girl for the first time.

• 18:03Speaker 05

  The most scariest thing in the world for me because at the same time, like I'm 16. And when you get that phone call, man, like I remember like it was yesterday and I know exactly what I was doing, where I was. It was October, it was cold, it was about the fair time in Pensacola for us. People don't know, like, we used to deliver phone books to make money. Me and my mom and my brothers and stuff, and newspapers sometime too, but we delivered like, phone books all the time, every, every, every year on about October, you know, around about the fair time to get extra money. And it was one of them things that I couldn't walk. And so my brother let me use his car because my mom's car, she had a number phone book stacked in there. So we was them kids, when you pull up to school, they take you to school.

• 18:48Speaker 05

  You pull up the door, the phone books are falling out the doggone van.

• 18:52Speaker 05

  My brother had a car, man, I went up there, man, and I called my best friend. And, and I said, Brian, man, it's that time. And, and they're like, man, you good, man? You want to come get me? He had a game the next, it was on a Thursday, he had a game that day. And I was like, nah, I'm good, man, I'm gonna go. So I get, you know, into the room. I crutch up the doggone, I get to the elevator, get up in there. And it's crazy, I'm gonna show you the scene. And it's kind of like this. And the first person you see is Rakishi. My kids are Rakishi nieces and nephews. And so to see this big old joker come out this room, or to be in this room, you know, as a big bear. And to see Keish first, then you see Yomaga, which is Eki, Rakishi's younger brother.

• 19:36Speaker 05

  Rest his soul. But to see all these big Samoans, and you see my family over here too. But you see all the family and the love, like my family beat me up there. You know what I'm saying? So it was one of them things to where we was prepared as a family for the moment. But we still didn't know how this was gonna, you know, go down. Because, you know, in the Samoan culture, the grandparent get the kid and raise him. And so, you know, as a parent, you know, I'm like, nah, that's, we ain't doing that. Like, I gotta be a part of my daughter's life, and they respected that. Like, I gotta be like, that's me. I can't let this, nah, I, I take care of my responsibility. My mom already had told me, like, either you gonna work.

• 20:13Fred Taylor?

  Are you gonna make this football stuff happen? Like, that was, that was, it was my A to Z. It wasn't no A to B, this, no, it wasn't no Plan B. This was it for me.

• 20:23Channing Crowder?

  You ain't believe in rubbles in high school? How you just like, I understand this beautiful story, but I, like, you just kept making babies. Like, I, I can tell you how not to make a baby.

• 20:33Fred Taylor?

  I tell you what, man, when you, when you can't walk and you sitting on the couch all day, and now she, you know, come to take care of you, you already know it's finna go down. You sitting in one.

• 20:43Channing Crowder?

  He can walk, but he can sit.

• 20:45Fred Taylor?

  Hey, hey, Chad.

• 20:46Channing Crowder?

  He can stretch out.

• 20:49Fred Taylor?

  Ain't no difference than you. You had the COVID, baby.

• 20:54Fred Taylor?

  Oh, you had the COVID, baby.

• 20:55Channing Crowder?

  I got a COVID, I got a four-year-old. I got 13, 11, a four-year-old, 'cause we was sitting in the house too long.

• 21:00Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, that's what it was.

• 21:01Channing Crowder?

  We at the house, we might as well do a little something. Hell, they in virtual school, so.

• 21:05Fred Taylor?

  You come take the trips, huh?

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• 21:37Fred Taylor?

  You say your mom say this, this football thing, you know, it, it gotta work out if the other thing doesn't. But at that moment, man, you just took, you know, you put your whole entire family, your lineage, on your shoulders, and you made it happen. Even knowing the pressures, knowing where you come from, you know, just to be able to go and do the things you did at Alabama, to put yourself in position to be selected third overall, regardless of all the other stuff that happened. You know, for that moment, you said, I'm gonna be the guy that, that jumps out here and make sure, you know, I take, take care of my family. How much pressure was it on you to, to have that mindset and then to be able to go and eventually make it happen? Pressure, man, pressure. Too much.

• 22:23Speaker 05

  For for somebody that was 16 and going to the same school as Emmitt Smith. And and having the same running back coaches, the head coaches Emmitt Smith had. And then he's he's still coached De'Brooks too. So you got two Hall of Famers. Has been coached by the same guy. So he know what it looked like, like how practice supposed to be. Like how how how training supposed to be. Like weightlifting class, like the your your your schedule, your football schedule. He knows what all that look like. And the craziest thing, and the first time I met him. It was different for me because I never had a Caucasian guy talk to me like this. And what he was doing to me, man, he was mentally getting me strong. So I remember the first time, and he told me I wasn't gonna play running back.

• 23:09Speaker 05

  Said I was gonna just play safety. So I went through the whole spring, then played no running back. And he was like, you gotta earn it. He was like, you can sit out the spring or you can play. Said, but you still gonna have to earn it. Because he had heard, you know, the talks he has seen, you know, he actually came back to coach me. They fired my first two year coaches, Coach Gillen and Coach G. And it was great guy, great guy, took care of everybody. But they, you know, went and hired Jimmy Nichols. And I played two plays in the spring at running backs, go both plays. And I looked at him, said, Coach, you sure ain't gonna be no running back? And my cousin was the running back at the time, right? And we was always one and two. But I like I had that little chip on my shoulder, like, man, I, hey, I can't let you beat me out type. And he been there all spring and, you know, I think, you know, he was tired or something, or something had happened. I went in there two plays, go both plays.

• 23:54Speaker 05

  I said, Coach, you sure you don't be no running back? He looked at me, shook his head and smiled. I said, all right.

• 24:00Ryan Clark?

  You drafted third overall. You actually break some of Jim Brown's, Cleveland Brown's rookie rushing records. And you traded in your second year. You're sitting there and you're taking stock of being where you were probably a year and a half, two years prior. You've now learned that through family, through decision making, in a year, people around you have spent 1.6 million dollars of your money.

• 24:32Ryan Clark?

  You buy a house that has multiple people living in it. And none of those people, at least at the time, are even your kids. And sitting there, man, being like, I was drafted third overall. I was traded in my second year. People around me spent 1.6 million dollars of my money. And now I'm taking care of all these folks in this house while trying to play football. At that moment, how are you dealing with your circumstances?

• 25:05Speaker 05

  It's almost like, so like being traded, right? That was it for me. Like, I couldn't stand football after that. Like, I didn't want to watch football. If I did watch ball, it was gonna be bad. Like, I didn't watch no NFL. I didn't want to watch sports in it. Like, I didn't want to watch none of it. Like, I didn't want to even be a part of it. Because my whole life, I played a game because I loved it. And so when it became a job and you get traded, I'm like, hold on, I know I'm the best player on this field. Like, I just put up a thousand rushing. Like, I didn't even get to play. I played, what, 950 my rookie yard, and they didn't let me finish the last game against y'all. And I played with two knee surgeries that year. And I had, like, three or four broken ribs that year. I played 12 games of broken ribs as a rookie.

• 25:50Speaker 05

  And so for me, man, when I got traded, I'm like, bro, I'm giving this program my all. I'm making appearances. I'm showing up to all the, you know, the community events. I'm doing everything I can. And so when I get traded, I didn't, I was in the building. I didn't even get the phone call. Like, I was in the building. Like, we was getting ready to pay Adrian Peterson. We was like, we getting ready to play Minnesota. I was ready to go to battle. It's the first time I get to see him play, you know, in person. And, you know, that was a big brother to me. And, you know, we always had our little competition going, you know? And so for me, man, I was ready to go, like, that Wednesday. And I remember like it was yesterday. I get the phone call from my partner, and he say, uh, maybe being traded to the Colts. I'm like, man, get off my phone. I turn the radio up.

• 26:33Speaker 05

  John Richardson is being traded to, to the Colts. Huh? First person I talked to was Joe.

• 26:42Speaker 05

  And he was apologizing, he was telling me, "Man, you're gonna do great stuff, man, I don't know how this happened." And, you know, just stuff like that, man, and Joe always been our guy, you know? One of the best trainers ever, man. But it was one of them things to where, like, football wasn't the same for me, bro, like, and as a kid, like, I didn't get the, "Man, this is, this is business." Like, you're a transaction. I didn't get that part of it, so football, like, for me, I hated every bit of it. Especially my second year in the Colts' uniform, and we're passing the ball averaging 55 times a game. And I'm, we only averaging five runs a game. And that's between me, Andrew Luck, and Ahmad Bradshaw. And so it was one of them things, like, how can I even get in the groove to even, you know,

• 27:27Speaker 05

  because a running back, you got, it got to be the flow of the game. Like, you can't just break a run every play. You know what I'm saying? It gotta be, you know, like a punch, you know? Hit the punch, hit the punch. Then that big rule's a con, you get the knockout.

• 27:40Channing Crowder?

  Right.

• 27:41Speaker 05

  So that's how, you know, a running back plays game.

• 27:43Channing Crowder?

  Hey, fellas. You ever felt just a sense of uneasiness when you leave your crib, like, something's gonna happen?

• 27:51Fred Taylor?

  I remember having my vehicle stolen.

• 27:53Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 27:53Fred Taylor?

  And that was the worst feeling ever. I mean, someone came in my yard and took a car. When all of that happened, I knew I needed something. I knew I needed something to keep my family safe. So now that I have Simply Safe, I can look through my phone, I can monitor everything. I get instant alerts, the response is quick, a few seconds, so I'm good.

• 28:13Channing Crowder?

  After we started all this traveling, I did the research, and I found Simply Safe. Man, the live monitoring,

• 28:17Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 28:18Channing Crowder?

  anything that happens, I can speak to. If I see somebody outside the door with Simply Safe, I can talk to the intruder right there. Don't do that. Five seconds protection. You know what I'm saying? Like, I just love it. And right there on your phone, man, it makes me feel good for my baby to be in the house, my wife to be in the house with Simply Safe.

• 28:35Ryan Clark?

  It's easy to install and activate your Simply Safe system in less than an hour. Or choose a professional installation to have a pro do it for you.

• 28:42Channing Crowder?

  You're not locked into no long-term deal. It's a dollar a day for the safety. Your family, I love that.

• 28:49Ryan Clark?

  I mean, I could be anywhere in the world. I can log into the app and I can have a sense of control of what's happening at my house. But more importantly, a sense of security. I mean, there's really no safe like Simply Safe.

• 29:00Channing Crowder?

  Simply Safe has been named best home security system by U.S. and world news for now five years running. Everybody knows about Simply Safe. Get you one. It's my babies, I want to protect your babies too.

• 29:12Fred Taylor?

  Protect your home with 50% off with a new Simply Safe system. Plus the free security camera when you sign up for fast protect monitoring at simplysafe.com/pivot. That's simplysafe.com/pivot.

• 29:27Ryan Clark?

  There's no safe like Simply Safe.

• 29:30Fred Taylor?

  So many reasons I took a liking to you. One, we played the same position, we're both from Florida. You know, I didn't always like the fact that you went to Bama, but I was still a fan, you know, of your ability and what you did on the field. But it's other reasons are the similarities, you know, and things that happened to both of us. My agent took advantage of me earlier on. I had a $5 million signing bonus. 3 million, 2 and 1/2 million went into offshore account, which eventually became a Ponzi scheme. And this is after my rookie year. So now I'm dealing with some success on the field. But I also also have to deal with the fact that this man just stole majority, all the money I just signed for.

• 30:15Fred Taylor?

  So then the injuries start happening. So now I got to deal with the money problem and the injuries in football being taken away from me. That was the thing that when when we started talking and we developed a friendship. I said, you know, I want to do my best to try and look out for him, to try and help him avoid some of the pitfalls. But the hardest thing for me, I became a bit depressed. You know, I started developing like these just overthinking and these mental issues, what have you. But Jacksonville, they went to hire a sports psychiatrist for me and Trevor Moawad, who passed away a couple of years ago due to cancer. But Trevor kind of put my head in a safe space, which allowed me to kind of get out of that funk. For you.

• 30:57Fred Taylor?

  How did all of that stuff that happened to you with the family, with football being taken away, being traded? How did it affect your mental? How tough was it?

• 31:07Speaker 05

  Man, it was a lot. Because you gotta think about, I had Trevor too. Coach Saban hired Trevor to come be with us too. I didn't have none of that when I left. Like, I didn't have a Dr. Elko's, I didn't have a Trevor, I didn't have the Wizard. Like, I didn't have none of them guys. And so, you gotta think about, I'm around a whole bunch of people that's immature to stuff too. Like, we never had money. We never had this type of success. Like, we'd never been traded. Like, I was mature to a lot of stuff. And so, for me, man, like, I didn't have out. Man, I would go home, bro, and get my kids in a room and shut the door. Knocking on the door. "You want some eat?" "No, I'm good."

• 31:46Speaker 05

  But it was one of them things to where it was like, man, like, football for me became my biggest nightmare. You know how we say that's my biggest dream? Like, that became my biggest nightmare because of the relationship part with my family, the relationship part with just realizing, like, when they say, "Faith, family, football", they mean you have faith in us and this building. And we your family. And you gonna play our football that we finna pay you for. And so, I didn't get that at that point, right? And so, I'm still a kid in the mind. And it's just like, bro, like, it just took everything from me.

• 32:31Speaker 05

  But, you know, like I said, man, you learn different ways to get through stuff. And so, for me, I never turned to drugs, never did that, never. I don't even drink. And so, man, like, imagine getting messed with about weight, right? I'm 232, with only 4% of body fat. How can I lose weight? And now y'all trying to make this a thing, man? Have you ever been in a damn complex and your GM tell you that you dead to me?

• 33:00Speaker 05

  Who was the GM at that time? Ron Grigson. Wow. He said you're dead to me. Yeah, said the same thing about Dirty. Well, he told me he said that about him.

• 33:11Speaker 05

  Like, how can I play for somebody like that?

• 33:14Speaker 05

  And it's just like, bro, like, why did y'all come get me?

• 33:18Channing Crowder?

  What was the context of a conversation where Ryan Grigson would say, "You're dead to me"?

• 33:24Speaker 05

  So when I first meet the guy, he go and say, "Man, I'm that guy that, you know, when I'm eating, I don't want nobody talking to me. I don't want nobody messing with me." "All right, cool. All right, that's you." And so year one go by, you know, year was, you know,

• 33:38Speaker 05

  up and down, so we going into the second year. And it wasn't a year that, it was just like, I was just doing bad. Bro, I center was 274, six foot tall. Andrew was getting hit when I was there 10 times a game. When I left, he was getting hit 25 times a game. And not now, one time, I gave up a sack. You know what I'm saying? And so it was one of them things to where it's like, you know that we didn't have the offensive line for the offense that you're talking about. Y'all go back and go hire Andrew Luck, offensive coordinator from Stanford. And so like, he told me, "That's all I know is Andrew." And a lot of stuff was on my head. And so, man, you get that context of, we're sitting there having this conversation of going, you know, the expectations. And he said, tell me, man, "Yeah,

• 34:23Speaker 05

  if the season don't go like it's supposed to, we gonna pull the bullet." And as of right now, you dead to me. This was before the season even happened. He said, "Yeah, but Ryan, he dead to me too." I told Dirk, "He dead to me."

• 34:37Channing Crowder?

  We had, uh, it's crazy, Jamarcus Russell too. We had him on, I don't know if you saw the show. And we were talking about people calling the bust, and Jamarcus felt a certain way about that. Well, now just hearing you talk about your path and your, and the way you saw Cleveland to Indy and all of that stuff. Could you have been, you talking about Emmitt Smith from Pensacola, from your high school, like, could you have been Emmitt if you was in a different situation?

• 35:03Speaker 05

  Man, I tell you what, send me to Seattle. Send me to Dallas. As a matter of fact, keep me in Cleveland. Like I was, I was doing good in Cleveland. Like I, you know, ball won't come away every play. And, and you know, it's expected to happen. But at the same time, like, stuff was working. Like, but i- it's one of them things to where like, man, when you come from Bama, or, or a place at that time where it was big time, like, say like Georgia today. They expect you to come in and be a fire your vet. Like, that's the, the gift and the curse that come with it. And, you know, we, we, we gotta live up to it, I get it. But at the same time, man, I'm still only 20 getting into the league.

• 35:44Speaker 05

  You know what I'm saying? Like, we, we, we talk about, you know, success stories, but, and, and this is no knock to, to, to my, to my young fellow Derrick. And, and I love Derrick the devil, but Derrick first two or three years, it wasn't the Derrick the king that we know right now.

• 36:00Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 36:00Speaker 05

  Yeah. And so they had to put the pieces around him and go get that, you know, for him to be successful like he done had his career so far. With them first two or three years, I mean, even with Marshawn, right? Like, Marshawn didn't have a bad career in, with the Bills, but they was trying to get rid of Marshawn. And he go to Seattle and they got the right program around him that fits him. And Marshawn is beast mode.

• 36:24Speaker 05

  And so, man, like you, you.

• 36:26Fred Taylor?

  I think really in all fairness, like when you look at, historically, you look at the draft, if you're drafted in the top five picks, you are going to go to a bad team. Right? You have to play extraordinarily, like exceptional, in order to try and help lift that team out. And it ain't a, a one-year thing. It ain't a two-year thing. Sometimes it's a three-year thing. You know, unfortunately for you and your situation, I mean, you had a great rookie year. You know, you, you broke my, one of my favorite backs all the time, Mr. Jim Brown, rest in peace. You broke a lot of his rookie records and that says a lot for me. But you didn't necessarily have the pieces around you. Then you're in a division where you gotta play twice a year. Super Bowl champ, Pittsburgh Steelers. You gotta play the Baltimore Ravens. You know what I'm saying?

• 37:11Fred Taylor?

  Like, you're coming into that. You gotta play Cincinnati, which at the time still had a really good team. So, the odds weren't necessarily in your favor. You know, in that sense, to succeed. Then you had some people that prematurely, I believe, pulled the trigger a bit too soon before they gave you an opportunity to really go out there and see what you were gonna turn out to be. Then you compound all of that with family stealing from you. Mental stuff going on, you know, and having a dislike for the game. So I try to look at stuff holistically and give people a chance. I would love to be able to see, you know, a Trent Richardson drafted in the middle of the draft.

• 37:52Fred Taylor?

  You know, where you might go to a team that had a pick from the previous year, a good team that made the playoffs or something like that. Now, I always admire your ability to play football, to play the running back position. And not making any excuses for you, it's just I would obviously love to see you in a better start, having a better start in the NFL. But a lot of times it's not about the start. Like I said earlier, you have to go through something in order to get to that point to realize who you really are and who you are meant to be. And I think in this space, what you're doing for the children, having that type of heart, now I think is just great for our community.

• 38:35Fred Taylor?

  I think your personal growth shines through all of that. The resilience of having gone through the ups and downs of being a guy who was a top pick and now being in a really good mindset with the opportunity to give back to people that come from the sort of backgrounds that you, I, you know, a lot of us come from. I think that's the blessing in all of it, man. So I want to say just push that because you're going to be blessed 10 times over by the way these kids that you're pushing to be good human beings. That's where your true blessing is going to come from.

• 39:13Channing Crowder?

  How in the hell somebody spent 1.6 million dollars of your money and you not know it? I didn't know that story. 1.6, bruh?

• 39:20Fred Taylor?

  You gotta think about this, bro.

• 39:21Speaker 05

  10 months.

• 39:22Channing Crowder?

  That's crazy.

• 39:23Fred Taylor?

  You gotta think about this, when you got your money and people and stuff like that or when you, you trust me, like, and at that time, like, you don't really have time to really pay attention to that stuff because I'm young. I'm trying to figure the playbook out. Man, I had three different office coordinators less than 14, 15 months. So they got rid of Pat Sherman though.

• 39:46Speaker 05

  They bring in, you know, uh, from, uh, Carolina. They, well, they bring in that group the next year. Then I get traded. I had to learn the Colts stuff and they had over 300, you know, different packages. And so like, man, you don't have time. Like I said, bro, I was in Indianapolis or I was in Cleveland Wednesday practicing. Wednesday night, I'm in Indy practicing Thursday with the Colts. And I'm playing Saturday, my Sunday and Amari Bradshaw go down. And so they only dressed three running backs. Me and, and, and, and, uh, Brown and Amari Bradshaw and Bradshaw went down. So I don't know none of the plays. I'm just going off total instinct.

• 40:30Speaker 05

  And we playing San Fran and I'm talking about they got them two linebackers. Y'all know who they is. They coming full force. Patrick Willis, Navarro, boy. Man, what? Coming full force. Yeah. And I gotta go in there and say today, cause in, in the mil, in the beginning of the game, Amari go down. And I don't know nothing.

• 40:47Speaker 00

  Here's your report.

• 40:48Speaker 01

  Oh, thanks, Jane. I wish I could hire someone just like you.

• 40:51Speaker 00

  Try LinkedIn Hiring Pro. It's more than a job board. It's like the recruiter you always wished you had. Hiring Pro uses real time insights to match your role to LinkedIn's unique network of professionals and delivers a shortlist of best fit candidates. You'll spend less time sorting applicants and more time talking to the right people.

• 41:08Speaker 01

  Let's do it. You're irreplaceable, Jane, but another you would be great.

• 41:12Speaker 00

  Hire right the first time. Post your job for free on LinkedIn today at LinkedIn.com/quality.

• 41:17Fred Taylor?

  But it goes back to, he said it, trust.

• 41:20Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 41:20Fred Taylor?

  It's trust. Back in those days, it was easy for a financial guy to say, you focus on football. We gonna focus on this over here. But that's why I love your story. Because it helps the other young men that are in the league right now in that position. It helps them see it. Plus nowadays, the technology, they can just open a thing. These guys are getting 50 million. They can open it and see the money everywhere. Back in those days, it wasn't necessarily always the case.

• 41:45Speaker 05

  And y'all know back in that day.

• 41:47Ryan Clark?

  When you hear Trent Richardson is one of the biggest busts in NFL draft history.

• 41:56Ryan Clark?

  What do you think about that?

• 41:59Speaker 05

  I laugh at it. Like how? Like it went like I was playing bad. Like I just didn't have the tools. Like I wasn't playing bad. You look at when I got bitch, right? I still led the lead in broke tackles after the contact. For like six weeks after. And so like, bro, y'all don't realize like I'm not getting nothing at the line of scrimmage. Man, we getting a game. We go down 14-0. Now we in hurry up offense. And that's almost every game. Like we didn't have a really opportunity to run a ball. When you look at it, but it's just like, bro, like when people talk like that, man, it's like y'all don't understand like how the draft work or how the process work.

• 42:43Speaker 05

  You gave me something one time and I'm like, man, this my dog. Like how you saying this? He said something. You had a high school player playing better than me. Uh, you were better than me. I'm like, what? Come on, bro.

• 42:56Ryan Clark?

  RC, did you really?

• 43:00Speaker 05

  But it was one of them things that was like, bro, you know what? I'm gonna make sure. This don't happen to my boys, right? I'm gonna make sure this don't happen to any of these kids that I train or, you know, I'm around anytime because like I'm gonna teach these kids early. Like it's a business. Like don't, I know, I get it. Play the game for the love, right? But at the same time, now these kids getting paid at high school now, right? So they get a chance to learn. They get a chance to, you know, to see how to lose money. They get a chance to see how to handle money. And everybody ain't so mature when they get to the NFL. You gotta think about it, bro. We 19, 20, we can't work, we hungry. In my sense, I had kids. I had to go. It wasn't no NIL.

• 43:45Speaker 05

  It wasn't no COVID years. I would've stayed five years if I was getting NIL, not to, you know.

• 43:51Ryan Clark?

  So I do, I do wanna speak to that. I had been, it was my plan to end the show with it. It just came faster than I thought it did. Cause you actually noticed it or remember it. I was just gonna apologize. I think first off. I want to say I'm sorry for saying that because I've grown and matured enough to know now that not only do I not know everything that's going on football wise, I don't know everything that's going on in the real lives of players. I don't know how that affects them mentally and emotionally, which in some point will affect them physically.

• 44:33Ryan Clark?

  As a young analyst, you know, you look at stats, you look at yards per carry and you say, okay, how can I say this without saying he's averaging this yards per carry to where it's entertaining and the point comes across that statistically this is low. And I was more focused on the value of the entertainment than the value of the person. I've learned now, as I've grown, to never focus on the value of the entertainment over the value of the human, which is why I can walk in locker rooms and be received the way I am. When I reached out to you initially,

• 45:18Ryan Clark?

  it was to have the chance to look you in the face and say, I'm sorry for that. To say that you were a learning experience for me because after I say that, I learned all of these other things about your life. You taught me that before I worry about what the film says or what other people are telling me is the reason a person isn't playing well, try to learn why the person isn't playing well. And in saying that they aren't, talk about what the film says, not what adds the most entertainment value. I'm glad you're doing well.

• 45:58Ryan Clark?

  I'm glad that didn't affect you in a way to where it's hindered your life going forward. But I also know that's not the case for everyone. I also know that you're stronger than what some people are to be able to have the sort of life you've had, have the sort of career you've had and not internalize that as the truth about yourself. But I was wrong and I am sorry. It doesn't take it away that I did it. But I do think and did think I owed you a face-to-face apology for doing something that downright in my position as a former player will always be wrong. And, you know, I appreciate you being so gracious to me to answer the DM,

• 46:41Ryan Clark?

  to give me your number, to allow us to be here and have this conversation with you, which I think is wholly important, not only for our platform, but for other people who see you and know who you are, but for me personally, to have an opportunity to say that. It was very important to me. And so, I thank you for your grace, I thank you for the forgiveness, uh, I thank you for being an adult in that manner. But to move forward, when you look back, and I know Fred asked you about regrets, I don't want to talk about regrets. I want to talk about what do you wish you knew about the business that could have helped you have a longer career?

• 47:25Ryan Clark?

  Because if you don't consider yourself a bust, what do you consider when you look at your career?

• 47:32Speaker 05

  So, and I want to say I appreciate you, man, for that, man, like, for real. Like, you know, at the end of the day, about that situation, you know, I looked at, you know, he, he doing his job, like, and he probably just looking at the numbers. Like, he probably ain't even watching the film.

• 47:47Ryan Clark?

  Nah, I watched the film too.

• 47:50Speaker 05

  But it's, it's one of them things where you get hit in the backfield, what can you do? Like, look at it now, I mean, but what I would, um...

• 48:04Ryan Clark?

  Like, what do you think you were accountable for, Trent, in your career, right? Like, so you told us about...

• 48:09Speaker 05

  It's everything.

• 48:10Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 48:11Speaker 05

  And, and I don't put blame on the situation and the program. It, it for me, it was me because I didn't, I didn't have that talk to me. And, and if it was, I wasn't listening. So, when you got hundreds of people in one ear pulling at you and doing all the three people that's in that other ear that's telling you, like, "Ay, lil' bro," or "nephew." You don't need to do that right now. Or, man, that's them. Let them have that. You know, don't even buy into it. And so when you talk about a career for me, man, it's like, listen, I'm not doing the field, I'm performing. Now, all the chips might not feel like I wanted to do, but it did what it's supposed to.

• 48:56Speaker 05

  Like, my timing was for me. So now, I got a chance to teach my kid, my sons. I got a chance to teach my daughters when they get into their field. Like, this is the real world. Like, we've been playing football our whole lives. And so for us, it's just been, you know, I ain't gonna say it's just been like playing football, but when we get to the real life, like, that's what kept me strong, my kids. Like, if I didn't have them around, bro, I'd probably gone.

• 49:24Speaker 05

  And I don't mean, I ain't saying just dead on some suicide stuff, but I'm talking about like mentally. Like, if I didn't have them, like, bro, them kids does so much justice for me. And to see that my child is a National Honor Society child, kid, student. You know, my kid is fit to graduate this year. Like, who can say that? You know what I mean? And the accomplishments that she done have had, both my kids, both my daughters, 11th and 12th grade. Like, people don't realize, like, I did that in high school. And I'm still here, you know what I'm saying? Like, I'm still here. And I have my kids by myself.

• 50:06Speaker 05

  And it's like, bro, it's not, it's a lot of parents that's not into their kids' life. And you can't say I'm one of them. And it's a lot of stuff that I have done in life, man, that you can't take away from me. Like, we talk about the compliments with the Heisman. I had them won. They put a hunting badge in at the last minute, and we had to split the South votes. And so that was one of them things, was like, bro, that, man, that's for the team anyway. Like, we gonna go get another trophy. It is what it is.

• 50:33Channing Crowder?

  To that point, though, like you saying, you was third in voting for the Heisman that year. Went number three over all the money. I joke about it, because I was projected to be a first-round pick, got locked up a bunch of times, had knee injuries, so they took me in the third. If they'd have gave me $10 million on draft day... I'd probably be dead right now. Cause I was not ready to have that kind of money. Do you think going that high, getting that kind of money, having that prestige? Do you think that had anything to do with it? If you went late first round or second round, would your career been different? Cause you're saying kind of the situation you in, but being 20, and I was young, I left as a gray shirt sophomore. So I was young too. I turned 21 in December 2nd. I got drafted that next May.

• 51:18Channing Crowder?

  Do you think being that young and having that money was something that affected your career? Cause I, I could not have dealt with that kind of money at that age.

• 51:26Speaker 05

  I think it, it affected the, the outside of my career around me. And so for me, like I was still gonna ball. I was still gonna play ball, but the stuff that was happening on around football, you never take what's going on at home into the workplace. I didn't understand that, cause it wasn't a job for me. And so whatever I had going on, like I was gonna take it out on the field. That's what, that was my, that's how I was gonna run you over. I was just gonna put your head on whoever body who did that in the game, and then we were gonna go at it. That's how I picked who, who was gonna be my subject of the day.

• 52:01Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 52:02Speaker 05

  But it was just one of them things, man, like it's not hard to talk about it now, because it's like, I went through that. That was my process. At the end of the day, like I tell my kids all the time, like you are your way out. Like it's on you, whatever you do in life, your last name gonna be remembered. That's the only thing you can leave here with your name. All the jewelry and clothes, the YouTube, all that, like it don't matter. Like the compliments, like whatever your name you wanted to be, is how you dress it up along your journey. And it's a marathon, it ain't no 100 yard meter. Like I had to figure that out. Like, and at that age, like, I don't think it was the money. I think it was the money that changed the situation that was around me. Not going high like I did, I wish I would've, you know, went to temple, but.

• 52:48Speaker 05

  They jumped to get you now. We know the story. It was crazy too, man. Coach had told me, said, "Man, if you still on the board, we're gonna come get you with Mark Ben." And Cleveland jumped to get me and I was like, "Dang." But it was for me, I was saying dang because my mom got lupus. And so for her, like, when it's too cold, like, she go paralyzed. And so when I told my mom, that was the first thing she said. I was like, "Oh, I'm mic'd up, I'm mic'd up." We was in the green room. And but she, that's the only thing she would think about, man, but, man.

• 53:19Fred Taylor?

  Man, just sitting here, hearing your entire story, being able to share with the people that are watching. What has been your biggest pivot in life?

• 53:27Speaker 05

  I think overcoming, man. Like, overcoming the naysayers. Like, the people that can talk mess that's never been in your shoes. But, like, getting up every morning. Like, bro, I was getting up at 4:00 in the morning in high school and working out by myself with my baby in a car seat beside me. And to my, running up them sand dunes that everybody looked at on YouTube in the dark, no light. Like, I'm doing it. And so to say that, you know, "Oh, I was too fragile to make it to a SEC school or to play at Alabama." Like, I did that. I ain't know how good I was until I got to college. Because I never made it to a playoff game in high school. We could score 100 in offense, but I didn't play defense.

• 54:12Speaker 05

  So I never got a chance to see what the football world was outside the panhandle. And it was great football out there. You talking about Alfred Morris, we all, you know, down there, Doug Baldwin. And they played on the same little league team. They were cheating.

• 54:28Fred Taylor?

  They cheating in Bama, too.

• 54:29Speaker 05

  Nah, there you go. It was cool when y'all was doing it, though.

• 54:35Speaker 05

  Man, listen, I remember your son, man, recruiting your son. And the mental, like, his mental was so...

• 54:43Speaker 05

  Way far than, you know, his age to where I felt like I was talking to you when I was, I had to realize like you were like you young young, why am I talking to you like this? So when you come on recruiting visits or when we was texting through, you know, through the year, man, it'd be like, man, who Big Bru is like he might be Big Bru at this point, you know, because he, yeah, he was just so complete as a human.

• 55:04Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 55:05Speaker 05

  And, and, and like I modeled a lot of stuff that I do off the field of how you handled your son. Yeah, man, so I appreciate you for that.

• 55:16Fred Taylor?

  We appreciate it, man. Like RC said, we appreciate you coming on with us, man. It's always a lesson in it and hopefully, you know, from the OGs mouth to, to the camera, these young boys, the younger guys, I don't want to call them boys, the younger men, will take something from it so they can avoid those, you know, certain pitfalls. But eventually the message I think will ring clear to a lot of them. So for me, man, I, I love the fact that you came on, bro. Appreciate it.

• 55:44Ryan Clark?

  Appreciate you, man. To the Pivot fam, thank you guys for pivoting with us one more time. Trent Richards, my dog, appreciate you.

• 55:53Speaker 05

  Your top five Alabama backs.

• 55:55Ryan Clark?

  Ooh, that would have been a good one, too.

• 55:58Speaker 05

  We, we, we gotta give them to me. Top five, your top five Alabama backs. Without me in it? I mean, I look, man.

• 56:07Ryan Clark?

  You gotta include yourself.

• 56:08Speaker 05

  You went to Bama, right? I mean, while, while you, while in college. Definitely had to throw myself in there.

• 56:13Fred Taylor?

  Okay.

• 56:13Speaker 05

  Um, gotta throw Sean in there. Mark, of course, what he's done.

• 56:18Fred Taylor?

  Yup.

• 56:20Speaker 05

  Josh Jacobs.

• 56:22Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 56:23Speaker 05

  And you can't leave Derrick out. But a lot of people sleep on Josh Jacobs, man. Because he wasn't the starter. But Josh was probably that, to me, was the most closest thing to me that I seen in a long time. Like Derrick did his thing, but he did his name a different way. You know what I'm saying?

• 56:42Ryan Clark?

  Josh didn't get the carries that all the, the bell calls that Alabama got.

• 56:47Speaker 05

  Yeah, but a lot of people don't realize, like my last year in school, I only played two whole games. And that was both of the LSU games. And so like, I think my last year in school, I might've had a hundred yards, a hundred carries less. Then, then what I had, what Mark had his last year.

• 57:02Ryan Clark?

  How did, how did losing the, the game of the century motivate you to do what you did in the Sugar Bowl though?

• 57:09Speaker 05

  Man, I knew we was gonna win. Like, cause we let that slip and we, they kept taking me out in the reds. I'm like, why y'all keep taking me out? I'm not tired or nothing. And it was one of them games like, hey, we, we going down to the, you know, semifinals and we, we, you know, last moment type stuff, man. And so that was the atmosphere, bro. I loved the beginning. But like, losing that game, bro, we were just like, man, like, we slipped. Like, how we let this happen? Like, it wasn't no playoffs.

• 57:32Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 57:32Speaker 05

  So like, bro, we ain't fit to get in this championship game. That coach was like, hey, we good. Y'all just keep working. He kept saying that. And then Oklahoma State lost. Old Justin Blackman them lost then, uh, man, that, that doggone, that doggone, uh, cause we was here in Birmingham, uh, cause after SCC game, we always do our banquet. So that doggone hotel, man, that hotel went off. That thing was lit. Yeah, man, but we knew who was gonna win.

• 58:04Ryan Clark?

  Bro, I was, I was all on TV saying Oklahoma State deserves to be in the championship.

• 58:07Speaker 05

  Yeah, I heard you.

• 58:08Ryan Clark?

  Hey, I was saying, cause I already knew. Cause if you watched the game, they missed like three field goals. Eric Reid took the ball from the tight end.

• 58:15Speaker 05

  We missed five.

• 58:16Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, oh, it was five?

• 58:17Speaker 05

  Yeah, we missed five field goals.

• 58:18Ryan Clark?

  And cause like, I already knew. I was like, if they play again, I was like, one, I know we can't score.

• 58:22Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 58:23Ryan Clark?

  I said, and they were driving the ball. They just didn't get it in the end zone. Man, I was on TV. I was like, man, no, Oklahoma State deserves it. We don't need two SCC teams.

• 58:35Speaker 05

  That's how the playoff happened though. Like, from that game. Like, the playoffs happened from that game. Cause they ain't wanna see them two SCC schools in there like that.

• 58:43Ryan Clark?

  It was, it was 21-0, but you the only person that scored though, huh?

• 58:46Speaker 05

  Yeah. When we played the Steelers my rookie year, I asked Coach, the game went to touchdown, he was in the hole. Uh-oh.

• 58:52Ryan Clark?

  And you gave me that, you gave me that, yeah?

• 58:53Speaker 05

  Nah, he, he gave me one of these.

• 58:56Ryan Clark?

  It's on now. I will, I will get the film. It will tell you what happened. It's on now.

• 59:00Fred Taylor?

  We had D N on the show.

• 59:02Ryan Clark?

  It was, it was five. I had Trent five times in the open. I had Trent five times in the open field. I tackled him four. The one time.

• 59:10Fred Taylor?

  Don't do that.

• 59:13Ryan Clark?

  It's on now. It's on now. Middle of the field. It was middle of the field. I missed him.

• 59:17Fred Taylor?

  The game went touchdown.

• 59:18Ryan Clark?

  Middle of the field. I missed him for sure.

• 59:20Fred Taylor?

  Go to the tape.

• 59:20Channing Crowder?

  But did you, did you try?

• 59:22Ryan Clark?

  I just missed him.

• 59:23Channing Crowder?

  Oh, okay. So you tried?

• 59:24Ryan Clark?

  Middle of the field. He broke through the middle, open field. I just missed him.

• 59:26Channing Crowder?

  But did you slide?

• 59:28Ryan Clark?

  I ain't never sliding. You crazy?

• 59:30Fred Taylor?

  When, when we had D N on the show.

• 59:32Ryan Clark?

  It's a wrap.

• 59:32Fred Taylor?

  When we had D N on the show, it was a conversation about what's gonna happen in the hole.

• 59:36Ryan Clark?

  It wasn't the hole, Freddie T. It was the middle of the field.

• 59:39Fred Taylor?

  The middle of the field.

• 59:40Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 59:40Channing Crowder?

  Uh oh.

• 59:41Ryan Clark?

  Nah, he scored for sure.

• 59:42Fred Taylor?

  Long as y'all lined it up, man.

• 59:43Ryan Clark?

  Nah, I'm done.

• 59:44Fred Taylor?

  Both of y'all went at it. Long as y'all lined.

• 59:46Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, he got it.

• 59:46Fred Taylor?

  That was the year before you shut it down?

• 59:49Ryan Clark?

  I was two years before.

• 59:50Fred Taylor?

  Oh, two?

• 59:50Ryan Clark?

  That was 11.

• 59:51Fred Taylor?

  Fifteen, you were thirteen?

• 59:53Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, that was, that was 11.

• 59:55Channing Crowder?

  Oh, thirteen.

• 59:56Ryan Clark?

  Nah, he definitely scored.

• 59:57Fred Taylor?

  I was a father too.

• 1:00:01Ryan Clark?

  Fellas, the NBA season is about to tip off. It's almost October 22nd. How about we give our folks, the Pivot family, Fanatic Sportsbook family, our MVP picks and our finals predictions?

• 1:00:14Fred Taylor?

  Shoot, I'll just jump out there, man. You got the new look Knicks, man. I mean, they, they went and made some amazing moves. If they can stay healthy, I think they get a shot. And I know New York fans will love it. So I'm gonna go ahead and go long shot. I'm gonna go with the Knicks in the finals versus Denver Nuggets.

• 1:00:29Ryan Clark?

  Ooh, okay.

• 1:00:29Fred Taylor?

  Uh, Jokic. He, he would be my MVP. He, he's wearing this thing like he's drinking water, man. So Jokic would be my MVP. And I like the Knicks versus the Nuggets in the NBA finals.

• 1:00:40Ryan Clark?

  So for me, it's a place where we film very close to very often. I'm gonna go with the Philadelphia 76ers. They said they're gonna have Joel Embiid on sort of this different plan with his trainers. That's gonna be all the way focused on having him healthy for the playoffs. They added Paul George, Tyrese Maxey, one of the best guards in the game. So I'm gonna go to Philadelphia 76ers versus, you know what? I like what the. Timberwolves have done, right? You go out, you add Julius Randall, because you don't want to play those two bigs like they've been playing with Rudy Gobert and Cat the entire time. Now you add Julius, who can do some running. DiVincenzo is a guy that can play the wing, also defends. So I'm gonna say if we're gonna get the 76ers versus the Timberwolves, and if we get the Timberwolves,

• 1:01:25Ryan Clark?

  that means Minnesota had a great year, and my dog Ant-Man will be the MVP. So that's where I'm going. 76ers, Timberwolves, Ant-Man, Anthony Edwards is the MVP.

• 1:01:36Channing Crowder?

  It's crazy, fellas, because NBA know what they doing. October 22nd, you got the Lakers, because LeBron's playing the Timberwolves. And I'm with you. I'm with you on Ant-Man. I'm with you with the Timberwolves doing. But you also got Boston, Freddie, playing New York. They gonna put out their best thing, because they want us to watch their best product on the first night.

• 1:01:55Channing Crowder?

  Whew, I gotta ride with you, RC, in the West. I like the young team. I like the Timberwolves, a year of maturity. And having Ant-Man, having that, having Anthony Edwards doing his thing in the West. And on the East, man, I just think Boston is so superior. I know the Bucks are gonna be good. I gotta bring up the Heat, because they always gonna mess with people and play that physical style of ball. But I think Boston goes from the East. I think Minnesota goes from the West. And MVP, it's crazy. I gotta try to ride with you, Fred. I think that big bastard with the Nuggets.

• 1:02:29Ryan Clark?

  I'm thinking you can say that.

• 1:02:33Channing Crowder?

  Bro, that slow-ass game, that slow, meticulous, meandering game, I just think he's gonna bounce back. He gonna stop riding horses. He gonna stop dancing in the club. He gonna tighten up about five months. He gonna get that thing.

• 1:02:46Fred Taylor?

  Hey, listen, Fanatic Sportsbook got you covered. No matter what we think, it's about what you think. Because Fanatic Sportsbook got you covered with 100% profit boost token. Two of them. They got two 100% profit boost tokens to tip off this NBA season. So don't miss out on the action. Make sure you're on Fanatic Sportsbook. Tap in, tap in, tap in.

• 1:03:34Speaker 08

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

• 1:03:39Speaker 09

  We go V.

• 1:03:42Speaker 08

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