Inky Johnson

all class. Get wait on you all right? Hey, So over the weekend, I saw something that's been training a little bit on social media, so I wanted to get your take on it. And I love a good social media list behind on social media, that's fine. That's why I want to ask you this because I know you haven't seen this. That's why I want to ask you in real time to get your reactions. So this is a top ten list the most exciting college football players

of all time. Alright, top ten lists? Notes, alright, alright, right, just down, write it down. I'm gonna go through one through ten. Alright, Number ten, Jabrill Peppers, what exactly? Jabrill Peppers? Number ten is what you wanted? Jabrill Propers all time, all time. I know Tim Tebow in the top three. Alright, let me let me run through the list. Number nine, Michael Vick, okay, I like vic numbers of baller. Number eight, Peter Wark m it was so smooth. Number seven, Braxton Miller,

Ohio State. Oh oh, Now the eyeballs are going the quarterback, the quarterback. Hold on, yo, yeah, say save your opinions when the list is completed, because there's there's more of a Is this a coast like East coast? This is? This is? I will diverge the source at the end. This is, but this got's a lot of Braxton Miller, Bxon Miller. Number seven. I'm not gonna put his full naw d b Miller. Number six, Lamar Jackson all time, all time, most exciting college football players of all times.

So how does on here? Because you said exciting? Trek number ten, Jabrill Peppers, number nine, Michael Vick, number eight, Peter Ward number seven, Braxon Miller six, Lamar Jackson, number five, Johnny Manziel, Who Johnny Manzi Johnny Football? Number four? N Right, here, guy's your podcast. Number four, Christian McCaffrey, continue, number three, number three, number three before number three can do this? Number three not Manny, Number three, Smith my Son number three,

The shadowest is the kiddie pool of college football. This is all like in the last twenty years, number all time. Number three, This isn't three year old, did it? You're trying to take my shoine, It's all I'm just I'm baffled. Number three, you got Johnny football and Braxton gets it gets better. Number one Reggie jam Miller. Damn, it might be him too, benjam Miller might be on this. They

all look alike. Number three, say Kwan Barkley. Number two, Number two Tavon Austin, who table from from West Virginia, from West Virginia. And number one, as we revealed, Reggie Bush who did this? So so? Just Kyle Brant who so so this has been getting I mean just think about it. Before I even say where this came from, think about who's missing off of this list. Jon Bo Jackson,

Bardershall Walker, Ricky Williams. You can even said Tim tebow S, Bessel was Braxton, Ron Dane right, Tommy fra Yes, Lawrence Phillips. I mean we can go on and on, right, this is number this is the top ten list. Top four. So this went around. It was going around on social media and it was in my group and it was my it was in my group chat. So I download the pictures. It wasn't fat bad, it wasn't fat. But he didn't time in on this. He didn't. He didn't

time in on the conversation. So so I get the pictures sent to me and so I download cause I'm like, we gotta talk about this on the podcast. This would be this would be great. So then I download this picture. So I'm so so dumbfounded. I wrote the wrong wrong. So I'm looking at him like all right, we're gonna talk about this, and I'm like, all right, where I'm like,

where did this? Where did this come from? And I zoom in on the picture and read at the very bottom the source of the It's from Tavon Austin, number two on the list, created his own social media debatable top ten list. You're number two and you created this list. To your point, bro, if you're born after you shouldn't be making a list like all the people that and

you put yourself second. He's not even sit, not even a humble like I'm gonna put myself in there, like you know, like if I'm a top five, and see, like you know, y'all might humbly put myself in eight, right, like evenlu Wayne doesn't do that, right, But come on, you're gonna put yourself at number two? Come on, man, where's he's number two? Sa Kwan was three? Sa Kwan is three, and he put he put himself a number two. And then Reggie Bush. I can't really are Reggie Bush

is up there? Right? Reggie Bush is up there? I don't have Reggie Bush is on this sure? No Vince Young, But like the list is like of players that some of the players. Maybe he was you know, yeah, he was exciting, he was this, he was there. But in the same cap, you're telling me that he surplants Barry Sanders, right, Like, there's so many players, so any fantastic players, heralded players, And I mean, I know CMC, but Peter Ward, Peter

Ward deserves to be on that list. But not don't even I don't even know bracting like that, And I don't even want him to be offended. But were just we're just debating the list. It's not it's debating the list. I am removing names. You're you're now amending the list. No, No, I am please record striking from the record number ten, number seven, it's just all time. I'm not I don't think putting Lamar Jackson at six all time right now with still with his career and let me big number nine.

Let me tell you about Johnny Manzeil. Johnny Manzel more exciting than Michael Vick. The Sugar Bowl game, John Ball. I know some people may think that's a shade, so let the shade begin. My man is whether he chooses not chooses. He is in a football league right now because of his lack of ability to play in the NFL. He was, yes, an exciting football player in college who

had weaknesses like every other college football player has. But to say that he is four spots ahead of Michael Vick, he is three spots from the top player Reggie Bush and Tavon Austin is even on this list is remarkable, the self serving list. But then Jabrill Peppers as number ten. Jabrille was a dynamic player, absolutely, but he is not a step below Michael Vin. He's not on the same page as Peter Ward now. He is on the same piece of paper with Braxy Miller, which is which is aflow.

He had a great career, but I mean defensively, Charles Woodson was even a more impactful player. Charles Watson is not on this list. If we're if we're gonna have a defensive player on here, no Charles, No, No, Honey Badger, Like there's there's been some more impactful, even defensive players, Lavaran. Yeah, I would say Matt Liner before I say Johnny man Zail. I can see that. I can see that. I would

say Carson Palmer. Yeah, definitely, Johnny man Zail, Like, come on, yeah, if you if you're born after I don't know that you should be listing out stuff. You haven't seen anything yet, come on, come on, tape on. Should have gave him the big dummy. I'm not even gonna say anything. He's gonna take it the wrong way if I say anything. I watched you much film, right, I'm just top ten most exciting college football players of all time, Braxton Miller, I'm still you're still react. This is this is why

I wanted to give it to you. It's not even because I'm you just talking about when you you talk about Lamar Jackson, talked about oh swift right, Pete a Ward not fast, but just smooth. Peters definitely right, Peter would be top five. Michael Vick, Bye bye bye series see fast, Reggie Bush flipping Braxton Miller. I don't I don't have a memory, and I'm not trying to shave, but I don't have a memorable Braxton Miller play like I can think of. I'm thinking of place right now,

Peter Ward, of Michael Vick, of of Reggie Bush. If I was just the guys who were on here, I just go down to Ohio State Memory Bank. Reggie Germany, mm hmm, Terry Glenn ted Ginn. Yeah, Maurice Clarette. You're talking about Zeke Zeke, but Braxell Miller does not ring a bell of man that that play that that defining even just one place. George right right, so we could

we could dissect this all day. I'm just grabbing some names that I'm just like, well, I'm just saying in terms of players we know that should be on there. That's that's he was on the squad, but he ain't on the All Times squad and I ain't on it either. But I tell you who needs to be on He need to be over here on the list with me, which is nobody's no, man, I'm just being honest. Goodness gracious, well, hey must be nice to be able to just be a returner go from team to think. That's me. What

we got now? Who we got besides Shade? Coming up on the Cut to It Podcast, We've got Inky Johnson, a renowned motivational speaker, former college football player at the University of Tennessee and the native of Kirkwood, Georgia. Inky Johnson on the Cut to It Podcast, Our first segment is called get iced Up. You don't know what's coming, so buckle up, Smithy game. The first one, all right,

what did you eat this morning for breakfast? Hash? Brown's egg, white blueberries, m m okay, carbohydrate starts and then uh, yes, sir, you like you see how you see how I broke that? Broke it down? Bro? What so would you have to drink or you're gonna lie and say you have water? No? No, I have some O J and some gatorade? Nice hydrated? Hold on? Hold on? Yeah o J and gatorade. Yeah, o J and gatorade. Why both get that vitamin see and try to stay hydrated. I usually hit the steam

room or the sun in the morning. Oh, Okay, I get a little hydration in a method to the madness. Yeah, or he lazy touch your club workout and then him being an athlete, that's it. Hey, you know how to manipulate use that steam. He'll be in a state. I've been in the steam shower fully dressed just to get that wet. She calls it, Daddy, are you being trash man the game today? Because I got the trash bag of sweat out fit in the steam room? Yes, sir,

in my steamroom episodes, do you know who what you got? Inky? Inky less Brown m that's serious. I am in love with Inky's intensive Yes, and anytimes his post just right. It's always right about six o'clock. I know I'm gonna get Inky on my feet and morning motivation. Get Inky. I'm talking about the YouTube like Intertwine. I'm talking about twenty minutes like I'm in there sometimes. My wife came in there one time. What she showed me to the glass. She goes, are you doing push ups and sit up

in the steam room? Yeah? I got that. I mean, what's up everything? So so I can have that orange juice and gatorade and hash brown egg whites and blue Bears man as real. What's your go to genre that gets you relaxed? Man? Um, I like that old school music, man like because I used to hang around my uncle's coming up and they used to play that the old school, you know that Sam Cooke and Old Jay's, you know

all them cats. Man, just chill. I joke with the wife a little bit, play around like I could sing, but you know I can't. Common in the back, some rooftop type stuff. So yeah, doctor a babe, you know all that. I was listening to. My wife came in off and she said, what do you listen to? I was listening to Miles Davis. M hmm. You gotta have that old school, especially if you if you like inky,

you've grown around older people. Oh you you you gotta listen to their music because they're not going to change to your stuff back today. You gotta listen to that stuff, you know. So last one, the weirdest spelling of inky on the Starbucks cup. I'm gonna be real with you. I don't even do Starbucks. Oh I don't even do Starbucks too. When the cat doesn't spell inky with a cue, you know, and of course we all know it's in k but the cat. Don't put in che eye. That

was one of our dudes too. Didn't my man trip out? It was a brother, wasn't ye? He was struggling, man, struggling? Your birth name is what? And Corey is incorious? And who is? Who is? Who? Also is incoorious? Are you a junior? No? So my son is a junior. But my mom she was reading a book about the Iroquois Indian tribe and she came up with incurious, But my grandfather came up with inky m So everybody kind of just took to it for obvious reasons. That inquorious kind

of drawn out. Do you like your first name? Yeah, it's unique, it's unique. I struggled with it early on though, trying to spell it, you know, smacking me upside the head. But I like it. It's unique. So I'm trying to be funny, but I'm being serious. You can't read it right right, you know as a kid, you don't know how I found out. Are you trying to spell? Yo? You're trying to spell emporious? And every day listen and I'm just saying how we want to how we want

to say. It's a grown folk conversation, right you gave me my name. I'm getting my asswoll from not knowing how to spell it. How come that's my fault. It's my fault, you get I can be I can remember being at the kitchen table trying to spell up my name. I was like five years old and struggle with my last name because it has so many letters. Last name is a little john, right, so it has so many letters.

And it was just trying to remember like the coming for to eat, Like I can remember that the same thing, like I got this name, how to spell it? Love having you on here, man, I told you, like I said, Man, I just love your intensity. I love what you do, how you do it. And so we really want to get into, uh, really the way how did you become

who you are? UM. We know a little bit. I know a little bit a lot of bit about your story also too, but I really want to let you dive into, um really the aftermath of what happened and and and what you have gone through internally to become inky and not allow the incident to be a story, but the outcome to be your story. Where are you from and in the place you call your hometown? Absolutely you know it's um it's southeast corner of Atlanta UM

neighborhood by the name of Kirkwood. You know, Kirkwood today, with gentrification and things of that nature, is a lot different than it was back when I was coming up. You know, your typical inner city. You know, you got everything, drugs, gangs, violence, you name it. We had it. And uh, just a kid with a dream, man going to a mother at sixteen two bedroom home. Fourteen people are sleeping on the floor, you know, roaches and rats. And I wanted to change

my family situation. You know, I had uncles in that how it's going in and out of prison. Um saw cops kicked down my door numerous number of times. I watched my mother get up and go to work at Wendy's a double shift. You know, from the time I was a kid to the time I went to college, and it's dream feeled me. Man. I just wanted to get my family, my grandmother, my mother, my uncle's, my aunt's just a better living condition. And I felt as if at the time, football was that vehicle, and I

put all my chips into it. And I had a lot of people along the way that assisted me and helped me. You know, it helped me accountable. How did growing up that way impact you on how you saw the world because you had to see it in a different light compared to the person on the other side of the tracks. Absolutely, you know, I always tell people, and I felt like I was fortunate because I got to see both sides at an early age. You know.

I think sports gave me a certain, you know, avenue of exposure to know that it was more out there than just my environment. It in my living condition. And in the same sense, I saw the collateral damage that came with you know, crime. I saw a collateral damage that came with cats getting sent to prison, right and

seeing what it did to their children. I've seen the collateral damage of when a cat go out and make a certain decision, or when a cat went to work and did it the right way to take care of his family. I was able to see both sides of it.

And my grandma used to say something to me, like all the time, like me and my cousins be walking to the bus stop, and in my little age range I was the oldest, you know, they were younger than me, and then my other cousins they had me by three or four years and they were older than me, and my grandma used to say to me every morning, she would say, hey, Inky, remember you got a choice, right, Remember you got a choice. Every single day. You got

a choice. And the way I processed it was, I got a choice of my decisions, my choices, right, how I view life, the perspective that I have about the things that we were going through at the time, and it shaped and it fueled me right more than anything, I used it as my dry having forced right to know that it was more out there than just my living condition and inside of Atlanta, because I attended Atlanta Public school system and at the time my school was

one of the Lord's performing public schools in the state of Georgia, and so the conversation was just different. So through sports, it exposed me to a different world. We have to take a break and the morning thing, we gotta pay some bills, you got checks. I love cut to It, and I love it even more when you download us and subscribe and you can follow us on social media too. Smithie, where where at that's at? Cut to It on Instagram? What about Twitter? At? Cut to It? Facebook?

Cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr. What about online and you can follow us at cut to It podcast dot com, where you can buy merch and you can subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. I got all my answers questions. Uh yeah, I got all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother, Cut to a podcast dot com. What were would you use to describe what football meantor you growing up? Mm hmmm. It was an escape for sure, right because of what

it did for me. It helped me take everything I was dealing with at home, and when I got on the field, man, I just forgot about it right, Like it escaped me right and I was able to be free. I felt like when I played ball, I was free. I'm sleeping on that floor with the roaches and rats from seeing cats in the corner doing what they're doing, And I would say it was it was an escape for sure. Being from a big family. I'm from a

big family. My mom is one of thirteen. When my mom being one of thirteen, she had two children, me and my brother, but one of my aunts she had five now that an't had three. And then those cousins grew up to be adults like myself. And then I have four, and my brother has two. Mother cousin has three. You had all those up. It's about sixty of us living and breather. About seven percent of us live outside of the state of California. The rest of them live

live in California. You had to learn some things good and bad from your from being a close knit family. Whether you want to be or not, you have to be because of the circumstances. So what were some of the things that you experienced being in a two bedroom house. You could have been in a tin bedroom house, it didn't matter. You were in the house with a lot of different folks, a lot of different attitudes, a lot of different perspectives, a lot of different viewpoints. And then

you add the cold trull part on there. You add you add the struggle on in there, and it is a cocktail. Some would say disaster. But we're talking to Inkie Johnson today with one of some of the things that he experienced. And there was a cocktail for success because it fueled you. It made you intense. That people are intrigued in love the intensity of you. So what what did that strong, tighten it forced living situation do for your your internal dialogue of how your family structure

was absolutely man it um. You know, Steve, I always tell people, Man, I say, those are some of the best times in my life. Now, of course, you know I've had more because I got children, got a wife. But growing up, man, that was some of the best times in my life. You know, me and my cousins will be sleep on the floor and we will lay out pallets. And at night when a cat would jump on the phone and be talking to a girl and all us base dropping and we're a joke with him.

When you get off the phone and all of us right there in the same environment, you know, it taught us protection. It taught us you protect family, right, you care about family. Because in that same family, you got certain cats. You know, they're doing what they're doing, and they're going to prison, and they got their reasoning for You got other cats in that same house that get up and they go to church, they go to Bible study, and so you got two different types of cats in

that same house. But at the end of the day, it was still a level of unconditional love. Meaning when a cat went to prison, right, you you might you might hold him accountable, you might criticize him, you're gonna talk to him and where you're gonna talk to him. But at the end of the day, that's family. Like when me and my cousin used to wear the same clothes to school, Right, I wear it on Monday, my cousin wear on Tuesday. My other cousin weared on Wednesday.

Other cousin wear on Thursday. Other cousin wear it on Friday. Right in a catory talking crazy at school, right, we weren't tripping. You say what you say, But we're gonna protect each other. We're gonna hold each other down at the end of the day, and we're gonna love each other. When a cat will bring that Roman Nooters in the house, you know what I'm saying, And we gotta split them, the Roman Nooters and you're breaking down one pack so you can have a little extra saut or a cat

doing a syrup sandwich, you know what I'm saying. It taught us gratitude. It taught us appreciation for family, and you made the best out of what you had right in that current situation. Like I never saw my grandmother complain. I never saw my mother complain, right, And so even though the environment was what it was, right, We were still grateful, we were still having fun, and you just suggest to it, right, it just is what it is.

And so it taught me a lot, man, a lot of the things that I think of, shaking the mold of me into the man that I am today. It's easy for people, I believe, to remember what you didn't have. It is so tough to remember what you had. And as I and allows what Inky just said and even feeling it right now, just the love that I can

remember having. My grandmother didn't have a lot, had probably the reading level of a third or fourth grade, but the love that I remember having, the protectiveness that that our family have, and so never being avoid in that. Maybe not having a lot from a financial standpoint or or an abundance from that, but man, in abundance of love. Uh, Inky, who was the person you talk about, the cousin you talk about that. Who was the person or people that

were inspiring you and your family? Yeah? It was, it was. It was a lot of people, man. But if I had to choose one, you know, outside of my mom, I would say my uncle. You know I had an uncle named JJ. You know, well he's still living today. But you know, he dropped out of school early, you know, just grew up in a different time and he poured concrete. Right. He used to bust driveways and he still does it

till his day. And some sad of the days or on the weekends when we didn't have a game, he would take us to work with him, right, and he would let us bust a driveway, give us a couple of dollars, whatever the case may have been. And he would always give me like the jackhammer, right, and Jack him was about bigger than me, right, Like I'm not a big dude. Jack him werl be wearing me out. But I'm a competitor. So at the time I'm young, I'm mad, Right, I got snapped coming out of my nose.

I got on goggles, and he got my older cousins with him as well, And so I'll never forget. One day we was going to work with him, and I told one of my other cousin, like, man, if he give me the jack Himer to day, like, oh, y'all bigger than me, Like he needs to give y'all to Jack him. I want to smooth the country out, you know what I'm saying. He's giving me the jack himmer, And sure enough he gave it to me, and it's hot and we're working. I'm wrestling with the jack himmer.

I throw it down. I go over to him and I'm like, oh, man, why why are you always giving me the jack? Him give it to them like they're bigger than me. And he was like, look at him. And I looked at him. Cats that quick, all right? They drinking a pickled juice. They acting like they're getting cramps. And he was like, look at him. I looked at him. He said, I see something you don't seeing them. He said, That's why I give you the jack Cameron. He said.

I know you're gonna fight when you feel pain, he said, but also I want you to feel this manual labor, so one day you probably never have to do it another day in your life if you handle business the right way. And he was that guy for me. Man that when my father wasn't present, my uncle, you know, he showed me the ropes and he shaped and molded me and my mindset throughout life. And he never spoke ill of my father up until my father came back

into my life. So he taught me a lot when you were saying, as you were questioning your un that served as your father, when your father wasn't there at that moment, he was saying that he knew you were conditioned to hold the jack hammer. You just didn't know it. You our mind was prepared, but your effort wasn't. And so it was really cool that he saw something in you, that guy placed in you that you didn't know that

you had in you. And the discernment from him, You know that Inky has something inside of him and already seen it there. Because it's always crazy. Those older folks, they always know because they live life, so they know who you're supposed to be around him he shouldn't be around And for us, you know a lot of times we're hard anyway, so we don't want to know and you end up having to learn the hard way. But man, just even that level of discernment from him, so you

were built off that. Take us through, Take us through that moment at the University of Tennessee. That changed your life, that made you into the guy fearing. You were guy fearing, but it really changed your perspective on how you saw everything.

That September nine, you know, two thousand and six. He was playing against the Air Force, you know, fourth quarter of the game, a little bit over two minutes left half Florida the next week, and um, I just thought I was about to go make a tackle in the game, you know, maybe force a fumble. And when I hit him, you know, I never forget. Man, it seemed as if my soul left my body right and and my body just went completely limp. I fell to the ground. I

blacked out. Had never happened to me before. When my eyes opened, it was a shot going from my head to my toes, just constantly going up and down my body and I couldn't move, and my teammates like, inin't get up, let's go, And I was like, man, I can't. It's like what you mean you can't? So I can't move. And the shock eventually left, but it stayed in my right on in hand, and they put me on the spine board to get me in the ambulance and they say to me, we'll get you over in a couple

of tests. No, it's football. Things happen, You'll be good. And they get me over and they run their tests and everything is going smooth, like it's protocol. And when they put me in the room. You know, my mom comes in. She kissed me on my forehead. Cracks a joke, says incors football. Things just happened. And when she walked out of the room, I'll never forget I flipped my

head to the left. When I flipped my head to the left, the head doctor was he was jogging and he was screaming, and he was saying, guy's guys, get in here. We gotta rush this kid back to emergency surgery. He's about to die. And I was like, die. And I thought he was joking, like trying to make the situation more intense, and I was like, doubt, you mean die. It's like, yeah, we ran the test. We noticed you

had ruptured your cyplavian artery and your chest. You're bleeding internally said we gotta rush you back right now and take the main vein out of your left leg and plug it into your chest in order to save your life. He said, I guarantee you you won't be here in the morning. And the next morning, man, when I woke up, I had six cuts down my left eye, one cut across the left side of my neck, one across the

right side. Twice through my right ribs had cut out my right pack, bottom of my armpit to the bottom of my hand. I had three fifty staples in my body. And they said when they went in to repair the artery, they noticed I had torn the nerves and might break your plexus. What are the nerve roots that go from my spine that controls my shoulder, my arm, my hands, and my fingers And they said they can't be replugged.

And they said, we hate to tell you, man, but you probably can never play the game of football again. And so, Bro, my life got turned completely upside down overnight. Yeah. When you say turned upside down, m hmm, what do you exactly mean? Was it that? What your experience of the life threatening injury? What was the career in the injury?

I would say a little bit of both, you know, because it's like, you know, I think it's people sometimes we never think about how fleeting life is, right, I know, I had never thought that something like that could happen to me. I just never thought about it, right, that no injuries happened. But I never thought I could get an injury in a game and be fighting for my life that night and wake up the next day, and my life has never went back to the way that

it was prior to that injury. I just never thought about it that way. And so when I say got turned upside down, a little bit of both, because a lot of people see the injury and they're like, man, you gotta paralyze right on my hand, And people don't really realize what you just said that I was really fighting for my life. Like if they didn't catch that,

I wouldn't have woke up the next morning. My mother would have walked into that room, my father would have walked into that room, and I would have been dead right just from the cyclavian artery bleeding internally. Yeah, it's such a it's such a balance because to seize one thing where you're alluding to, like you were projected first round, pick you or a star at Alonzo crim in Atlanta. What was the biggest change that this injury caused you

to look inward? Like the biggest change internally for you? Yeah? Man, it um it made me evaluate and self assess a lot, you know, just in terms of priorities, in terms of my life. You know what I wanted my life to mean after that, You know what I wanted my life to represent after that, and it convicted me, Man, to be honest, it convicted me because I felt as if I had given everything I had to something, and all those years have given everything I had to something. I

lost it like that. Whatever my little dream, my little aspiration and my goal was, I lost it in a moment. And so it convicted me, like, man, you gave everything you had to this, and you wrapped your identity up in this and you lost it that quick, right, and you never thought that it could happen. And so the conviction came with me trying to search and find fulfillment and purpose because my identity for so long was a football player, right, And I was cool with it because

I never had to think outside of that. And what the injury did. It convicted me and made me think outside of what I once was. You wrote a book, m hm, and I really want to focus on the title because I think it's really interesting. Um faith, Yeah? And what was the last one? Perseverance? Yeah? So I know what I have in my nose, but I wanted you to say it because it's a setup. What is the meaning of perseverance for you? Today? Inky? You know how like um in the Bible. Right, it says, um,

no weapon formed against me share prosper. Right, And we hear people say, well, let's say no weapon formed against me shall prosper. It didn't say the weapons wouldn't form. Is that they wouldn't prosper. And so in terms of perseverance, when I think about perseverance, always like interconnected, outside of what the definition of perseverance is, I interconnected to this two shall pass, right, like keep pressing forward, This too shall pass. No matter how tough, how rough, how bad

it gets, This too shall pass. And so my ability to persevere is predicated upon that's a moment. I'm not about to make a permanent decision to give up over temporary condition. This too shall pass. That's what perseverance represents to me. This too shall pass. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. It didn't say they wouldn't form. It said they wouldn't prosper. Now, how we navigate and get through that, that's on us. But this too shall pass.

That's what it means to me, outside of the definition of what perseverance means. So I'm a piggy back off of the question that that Smitty proposed. So then what does faith mean to you? Absolutely, faith for me represents you know. In the Bible, it says the Biblical definition is faith is a substance of things hopeful to evidence

of things not seen. And so for me my whole life, even before I knew pretty much what faith was like the essence of it, what it always represented to me was everything is gonna be okay, right, Like me growing up to bedroom home, fourteen people, Everything gonna be okay, right, me having this injury, Everything's gonna be okay, right, Things are gonna work itself out if I do my part right.

That's what faith is for me, continuing to press forward and knowing that everything is gonna work itself out and be okay, right. And so with situation, circumstances, with adversity, with our position. Faith is that hope, right, that unbelievable hope that man, when you go through it, I knew it maybe hard in a moment, but everything will be okay.

It's like we all experienced stuff in life, as people like I tell people all the time, I'm like, bro, the one thing we all got in common, no matter where we come from, no matter where we grew up at, we all gonna face that version in opposition. It might look different, but we're all gonna go through it. And what it means is just bro. You keep moving forward,

you keep pressing. Everything's gonna be okay, and the things that you thought wouldn't be okay you look back on it and if you acquired the right perspective about it. I think we all got moments in our lives to where we look back and in the moment we didn't appreciate it. But a month later, two months later, three years, four years down the line, like, man, I'm grateful for that situation because it's shaped and molded me into the man that I now am. I think it's about that time.

Just take a little breather, goudadud, let's get down to do it. Hey Gerard, why did you get that T shirt? Oh? Yes, I got it from cut to a podcast dot com where we have exclusive merchandise shout out right guys and seven or four shot. But yeah, you can go on buy you a T shirt subscribed to us wherever you listen to podcasts And you when did that hit you that you you know now you've you've you've pivoted, You've

become an amazing motivational speaker. Not amazing. You short change it to give me, give me the adject, let me go. How about our door opening for Inky? Right? But coming to the stage, y'all know him as Mr Johnson. However, Age and eighty nine knows him as Inky. He's not a guy that just had three hundred fifty staples lost his packing, also has lost his limb. He is a guy that internally is bigger than what he could have

been on a football field. He also understands holistically what you need to bring to the table to be able to tackle and also shake off the haters of life. He also understands and needs you to stand up and if you said and we will remove you, let Inky know how much you love them, how much you need him. And coming to the stage, my friend, my encourage her and the man that motivation Inky Johnson and that music copy What's what's what's song you gotta play? What's your

woke up? So, man's what's your woke up on that? If Smithy did that whole intro? What's what's the song I played that I played at Field College? Coming in the air to night. I used to be joint Okay, I got my mind right. Oh man, that was fun. We did not playing that at all. But but but I would love to know when when did you decide that you wanted to encourage others and embark on this career being a motivational speaker. You know, I never I

never wanted to just speak, you know. I thought after I got done playing, i'd be a coach, you know, I thought that would be a natural transition. I was a graduate assistant for three years and then I moved back to Atlanta and I was supposed to have a job at the rec center. I grew up, you know, playing ball all that things of that nature, and things kind of fell through, and I was just doing service projects because a lot of people helped me and my

family growing up. And I would go back to Knoxville from time to time do service projects. And every time I would go somewhere, somebody would see my arm because of the atrophy, and cats would just strike up and then formal Q and a like, man, what happened to your arm? Man? Like all your arm look like that? Or what happened? What's the story behind it? And I would be talking, not speaking, just tell them what happened and when I would leave, Cats would be like, man,

you might need to look into speaking. I'll be like, no, I'm good on that, and I'll never forget I Yeah, yeah, why did you say now I'm good on that? Like that? Because yeah, something internally you battle with you You shot it down so quick? Why m Because I never saw myself as that, right I never I never thought to be honest, like I tell people all the time, like we all know cats that then went through something that

grew up a certain type of way. Like I never thought my situation, you know, it was anything special, Like I never because I was growing up in it. It just was what it was to me. I never thought even when I got injured, like cats get injured a lot. After I got to a place to where I could accept it, I never thought it was anything special for me to try to stand up and talk to people, right.

I never liked standing up talking to people. My personality is I played a background like that's just who I am. I observed I'll come in be quiet, you know, and just chill. And so I shot it down because it was just something I never saw myself doing. And I'll never forget. Man um I did an interview in Knoxville, and after I left, I went to the mall. Later that day. When I was leaving the mall, a guy

was running towards me. I never forget it. He was running towards me, and I'm like, what's up, my man? And he stopped a couple of feet away from me, and he was crying and he was like, man, thank you. Man like thank you, and he was saying it in a passionate way. And I was like, thank you. I was like, if you don't mind, what are you thanking me for? And he said, I saw your story on the news earlier. And he said I saw you making humor of your situation. And he said, um, I got

a wife and I got three daughters. And he said when I saw you, I was like, man, if that dude could stand there and fight with what he's going through, surely I can stand there and I can fight for my wife and my three daughters. And he said. I was about to leave him, man, and he said thank you and he left. And when he said it, I was like, man, if I represent that the people, I gotta take, you know, my life a little bit more serious. I gotta take what I'm doing a little bit more serious,

and that sparked it. Man trying to find purpose, and I felt as if this was what God wanted me to do, and I wanted to be obedient to it. How have you really intentionally sought out self care or

help to kind of manage no fellers. When I when I was saying that like the situation, I think one of one of the greatest things that it did for me was, um, it made me, you know, self assess with conviction, right in terms of the thought process I had, the way I went about things, and when the injury happened, like y'all said, it was a process because I was

in a process to where nobody could give me any answers. Though, because when you go through the break your plexus evulsion, nobody can't come to you like an a c L like a shoulder injury and say, hey man, three months, six months, nine month, twelve months, They said to me, think we're gonna put you in a two year process from Knoxville, Tennessee to the Mayo Clinic. Best pieces of equipment on the world, give you access to what's supposed

to be the best doctors in the world. We just need you to show up every week and for two years, and we'll see what it produces. We can't guarantee you that your fingers will work after you're done. We can't guarantee your arm will work. We can't guarantee you one day you'll be able to hug your mother. You get married, you'll be able to hug your wife. We can't guarantee that.

They said, we're just trying to get you to assist it daily living right, And I'm like, what's that like if you go to the grocery store, you could put a bag up under your arm and you can hold it right now. I was like, cool, sign me up. Because my mentality, my whole life has been I never needed a result to get gone. I never needed you to guarantee me anything for me to show up and work hard. I never needed you to say, Inky, I'm

gonna promise you this like I never needed that. I'm gonna be dedicated and committed just from my circumstance and what I've been through. Now when I got a family and I got a wife and I got two kids. I'll never forget telling my cousin man some of the things we were taught, like it was wrong, like not wrong in a bad way, wrong in terms of they gave us the best that they had. Now we're in a totally different situation. Now we're dealing with different circumstances.

Now we have different resources. And so when it came to my children, I'll never forget trying to explain things to him and help him with certain things right, And I'll never forget. One day, my wife said, sometimes it's people. We can get so focused on who a person can become that we forget to acknowledge, like where they are and who they are. And so with my children, when they would do something great, I would always say, man, that's cool, but if you do this, it can produce that.

Oh man, that's great. But if you do this, it can produce that. And I'll never forget. Fellas one day, my my daughter got in the car and she's ten now, it's probably when she was around eight, and she got in the car and she had a grade from school and she said, Daddy, I gotta I gotta be on this. And she was like, you might not think you know it's that good, but I'm really proud of myself. That's how she was talking to She was studying with and every I'm really proud of myself now, I said, no,

I'm proud of you. Maybe they're a great job. And I thought to myself, have I created an environment to where I'm always telling my children, yeah, that's cool, but if you do this, it can get that. And I never stopped to appreciate the small things. I never stopped to congratulate them on the small winds, because that was my mentality my whole life. Like that's how I was wyat my whole life. Ain't that's not good enough? Bro, You gotta do twice as much. You come into better

from home fourteen people. Right, you're being raised by a single mother. My daughter got both for a parents in the home. That was my mentality growing up. And your mother working a double shift, bro, Like you can't do a hunted shots, you gotta do a thout like that was my mentality growing up. And so taking time to deconstruct all of that reverse engine near all of that and put myself into space to where I quiet new

skills to try to be a better human being. It wasn't that any of the things I learned was that bad. It was just every next level of our lives demand the new version of us, and we got to be in a constant pursuit to become better. Well, ink, your last segment is called the deep three smythe I'm going to give him the first one. As an athlete, we relish more plays, more drills, more weights, more challenges. Um. What is the more in your life today that you want to attack like a like a workout or or

or an opponent. Man, Um, I'm really on this pursuit, man, just in terms of more, like just being more as a father. Right, it's being more in terms of my communication with my children, my timing with my children. Um, you know, dealing with certain things with my children in terms of situations and circumstances and my response. Right like I felt I felt like, Um like it was certain times last year, in the year prior. It was moments that I failed in my communication. Right, it was moments

where I failed in my timing. Of course I'm near form, but just just trying to be better. And you know what I'm saying, that's that more for me man, being more as a father. You mentioned a couple of times

how you wanted to break generational curses. What other generational curses are you striving to break now just um, you know, generational wealth man, in terms of decisions, choices and not just financially, just a lot of information that you know, I didn't have access to, Like when I was speaking about you know, the generation that brought me up, you know, to a certain extent, they gave me what they had access to. And like you always just speaking about resource

wise now you know, cats are wealthy. You know, you got all types of resources around you, all type of access and so generational wealth not just from a financial standpoint, but also my information standpoint, you know, get myself in the best possible position to educate you know, my children, my family and cats that just God brings across my path. Yeah, if you could put a billboard up to reach millions

of people. Mhmm, what would you put on What would you want to put on that on the billboard and what would it say? I would say, have gratitude and advance for everything, because everything plays apart into your development as a person. M Yeah, gratitude and advance before it even shows up. Be grateful for well, Inky, I really appreciate um you coming on this podcast again. I love your intensity man, that means a lot of Thank you brothers, man,

thank you both for the opportunity. Man, I enjoyed this. Man. Have you always separated your identity from age and eight nine? M uh no, because I mean the identity age and a not just kind of you know, last couple I'll probably say last ten years. So um, you know, I think more than anything, which is probably shocking, is I found my identity agent eighting and honest Steve Smith saying you all that stuff it is me. It's all wrapped together. It's all wrapped together. Um, so they will never you

didn't just leave Agent eighty nine on the field. Age and nine comes off the field too. Yeah, but but that part is is um you know, of the business aspect of it. There are times where I'm asked to do things and I will say how much of it? And people think I asked the price because um, focus on the money. I asked the price because then that tells me how much of my time will be required,

what you are expecting out of me. And there are times I've declined some prices where I don't have the time to put all of that in there, So no, thank you? And why is that time parting important? A little bit I'm sure what Inky just told us. Because you can't get it back and get it back, how many times is he doing a speaking requesting, leaving his kids, leaving his wife, or you're not you're not present because

you're you. You've said I'll do this for a big sum or little something, and then you do all of this stuff prepare for it. So you have event on Saturday, but you spent Monday through Thursday preparing for it, and then you try to check in for a little bit on Friday, and then you're off to your event on Saturday. You've pretty much been absentee individual for the last six and a half, five and a half days preparing for that. In thirty five minutes, Time's almost valuable resource. Time is

a non renewable energy. You cannot It's a resource that is not renewable. You can't get in the back. Nope, that's that's the end of the day. You're not You're not getting it back. And I'm always reminded it. I'm here's the thing, my my my my daughter is six right now, I'm never gonna have memories with her again being five years old. You can't get it back, right, So every every moment is precious. Every every time, every every piece of time, every second, it's all. It's all.

It's all precious. Man, it is. You are a unique person, you are well worth it, you are competent, and most of all, you're lovable. I'm Steve Smith, Singer, I'm Gerard Little John and this has cut to It Cut two with Steve Smith Senior. That Is Me is a production of Cut to It LLC, Balto Creative Media, The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. For more podcast from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio Apple Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows from Cut

to It. Executive producer Steve Smith, Singer, co host Gerard Little John, talent in booking manager Joe Fusci, Social media team Wesley Robinson and John show from Balto Creative Media. Cut to It is produced by Brian Baltaschevic and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lebrec. Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You ain't heard about it, then We're about to let you know. It's all two