S1 Episode 2: Paving The Way

without producers, directors or cameras. Things gonna get hear it out, you know, a little man, Hey, something's gonna be here. It out all right, They're going here. It all offering an honest, authentic look at who these athletes are beneath the pads and what it takes to go from a childhood dream to hearing their name called undraft day. Talking about it, man, what is it? I feel like I have that in factor that nobody has. And you know,

some people have it, some people don't. Some people got more it's than others, And you know, I feel like it determines how successful you'll be, how far you'll go, what you're willing to do. But you're willing to sacrifice, which you're willing to commit to it. And I feel like my if actor has has always been something that's set me apart. I mean, I'm not a first rounder, you know, I'm not even the top three rounder. This episode focuses on two new athletes playing the same position

in very different ways. We'll be hearing from the biggest men on the field, the three plus pound offensive linement. I'm a real dominant player. I'd like to see my man on the ground every play, and when you don't the ground, like to jump on top of them. This position requires a special kind of personality and comes with its own unique challenges. It's all a mind game. If you don't think you can beat that guy, and that guy knows that he's gonna bully you all day. Offensive

lineman are the unknown, unsung heroes of football. With technique, they give their star quarterback the time and space to pass, but tecting him from a brutal hit or providing a few extra milliseconds to make a big play. With brute strength, they move other three hundred plus pound men to create an opening that running backs can burst through for a game. Size and strength are critical, but playing offensive line is also about the immeasurables. Willpower, effort, and mental strength are

just as important as the physical. In this second episode of Drafted, we're about to hear from offensive tackles Mackay Beckton and Tremaine Anchrome, along with their fathers who helped push and shape them on the cusp of fulfilling their dream and finally being drafted into the National Football League. Right here anyway, because that's no no, I'm saying, when on whenever you picked, I'm wearing this kind of head. This is McKay Deckton, a highly touted offensive lineman, the

kind NFL teams build their franchises around. He's the guy who protects the star quarterback. Now he and his family are preparing for his own star turn on draft day. Now. I played at the University of Louisville, and I played in office a tackle. When I hear the words drafting, I feel great and I just get happy, you know, I just because I know my dream will come true on that day. With the draft only a week away, McKay has been shooting up mock draft boards, gaining momentum

as a potential top pick. He's hearing from everyone coaches, scouts, friends and family. Yeah, I'm doing good, looking, looking good too. I always look good. We're just ready now. Honestly, the only thing outweighing McKay is larger than life confidence is his mountainous, towering frame. It's almost impossible to talk about McKay without discussing how big he is. Always been bigger than the average kid. I was always standing over everybody

in pitchers. Always was the biggest kid. So there's something I'm used to, not just bigger than the average kid or the biggest kid, much much bigger than the biggest kid. Just ask his dad. My name is Jerome Beck then, and McKay is back then father, and he's my son. We used to have to walk around with his birth certificate because at some games we go to, they couldn't believe he was the age and the sad that he was.

As a thirteen year old high school freshman, McKay was six ft three, two hundred and fifteen pounds and rapidly growing. Sometimes when you have kids like that, you gotta let them still be a kid. When he was coming up, we always knew he was going to be special, but I didn't put that pressure on him far as you gotta be this kid, you gotta be that kid. Go out to have fun and work on your craft. That's what we mainly always told him. Just working. Cry, I

get better every day. I said. When you get better every day, that's when you know you'll get to see you what you need to get to. So don't just go out there and just be medio to just try to get better every time you you touched that court or you touched that field. And you know that always stuck with him. On the first day of high school football practice, mackay told his coach he wanted to play wide receiver or tight end. The coach laughed and said, at the rape McKay was growing, he'd be too big

to play those positions in a few weeks. That's when they moved him to the offensive line. He played football and basketball. He was actually leaning towards basketball for his first love when he was younger, but you know, he started getting bigger and bigger, so he always was the biggest kid on the football and basketball court. By the end of the ninth grade, he was six ft five and amazingly continuing to add weight to his lengthening frame.

He remembers the moment in high school when he first realized his new fountain size had made a difference on the field after the first game of my junior year because we played against our arrivals and I've played really good and that was my first varsity game, and that's when I felt like, I can take this to the next level and take you more seriously. When wants to

click with him, he put that high work in. It's just disguised with the limit he wants his off of start rolling in the high school, that's when he really took a serious and made it to his craft that he he was gonna try to make it as a professional. By the end of high school, mackay received offers from thirty one major college football programs thanks to some significant growth spurts and serious hands on coaching. I coached him all the way until he went in the high school.

Once he got in the high school, I just let him. You know, I didn't apply to the coach at the high school, but through the rings of recreation, I coached him since he was five. My dad. He definitely coached me harder than anybody else on the team. I'm not gonna lie to you. The first year he coached me, I was expecting him to take it easier because on his son. But no, that wasn't that wasn't the case. I mean, I got coached the hardest out of everybody,

but I feel like it helped me out and long more. Honestly, I mean him, me and my coach definitely gave me tougher skin as I got to these other coaches that just talk to you any kind of way. I definitely gave me the tougher skin. Tough love, coaching, commitment to the craft, and an ability to handle criticism are not all Jerome gave to his son. For anyone wondering where McKay's athletic ability, size, or good looks comes from, are you getting from the fathers? Yeah, you know, he definitely

gets his an athletic ability from his pops. He definitely gets it from me. You know, I introduced it something because I did play football. I played that's my pro and I played a renal football, so you know, and the rest of his history. Me and my dad are the same person, I would say. I mean, we looked the same, act the same, We were the same person is splitting me, so me it's just like talking to myself, honestly, like him, like me. So I mean, as my guy.

Mackay decided to go to the Atlantic Coast Conference the a c C to attend the University of Louisville. He became a starter his freshman year and somehow he kept getting bigger bigger, but the team struggled his sophomore year, only winning two games. Louisville fired their head coach and hired Scott Sadderfield, who brought in a new offensive coordinator and an offensive line coach, former NFL center Dwayne Ledford.

It's just from day one, WM Dwayne Lefford came in and just told me the things that I was doing before was wasn't right. Me and him had a meeting the first day he got there. I mean, because I already knew about his resume and when he did at North Carolina State, he he had like one of the top a CC lines. So like the first day he got there, man just had a meeting and he was telling me how he watched my film and the things

I needed to work on. At first I felt some type of way, but then I was like, all right, I gotta listen to him. Because he's been to the league. He's been there, his name is in there and people know him. So from that day on, I just listen to everything he told me. Went in I just played

different This year. Years of learning to channel his dad's constructive criticism at home and the field prepared mackay to truly take the new coaching to heart, and because of that, he became even more dominant, being named first team All a c C and winning the award is the best blocker in the conference. But McKay seemingly never ending growth involved a lot more than just the Louisville coaching staff. And his father and then his mother have a great relationship.

His mother is the one that is the cook of the family, so she makes sure we all eat well. He was always in the kitchen with her when she cooked. But his mother, she hates for somebody to be in her kitchen. He worked his way in there, so she cool with that part. Now. My mom is the same way as my dad, jeez, the same way. You know. They both are tough love. They're gonna tell you when you're right, tell you when you're wrong. They're gonna help

you whenever you are wrong. I mean it's just they always They always made sure we had it even if they didn't have it. So they were definitely providers, I would say, great providers. That's especially true when it comes to his mom, who happens to be a professional caterer. Now McCay needs to eat around to six thousand calories

every day just to maintain his playing weight. When I was at Louisville, it was hard to morrow my weight because once I started training, I started to figure out that I would burn like twelve hundred caloriesies gonna workout, and I wasn't restoring it in food. I need to eat more. As much as life has changed and will change for McKay, his mom and dad still provide and are still all about tough love, even with the newest generation. Get over here, I don't know what. He just stop

touching stuff. That's when he was saying, yeah, no, just now we're about He said, no, wow, both of your this is just ridiculous. Although McKay clearly thinks the grandkids have it easier than he did, it was that tough love and pushed to continually improve got him to the point where he was ready to declare for the draft once he declared for the NFL. His mass that was on'm gonna kill a combat. The NFL Combine has been described as a meat market for scouts. Others call it

a televised tryout or the world's Strangest job interview. For three days, players compete in a series of drills and interviews where scouts evaluate everything from weightlifting to agility to how many times someone blinks. A team really asked a player to participate in a staring contest. It's a level of pressure and scrutiny found nowhere else, and so NFL prospects prepare like their career depends on it, because sometimes

it does. He left school, I think like three days later he was in Florida to training, and he had been training that here ever since. So his mass that was to kill a combat. Macaw always been a big guy, and you know, now everything prototypical. They want to be see a certain certain thing. Last year, every Pro Bowl offensive tackle except one played around fifteen pounds and most

were around six ft five inches tall. Not Surprisingly, NFL general managers now idealized the six ft five pound offensive tackle prototype. They want all their prospects to fit that exact model. When McKay showed up for the combine. He was six ft seven and a half and three hundred and sixty four pounds. With Louisville really not being on TV, a lot of them haven't seen Macca. So when McCAT first walked into the combine, they was at all I had tall and how big he was, you know what

I mean? They and they even they heard about it. They figured that he probably was a big, sloppy kid or what have you. But then they seen him. He was putting put together real well. They was like, oh my god, this this man is huge. You know. That was the main buzz that he really gat it like. They was impressed of his size and how he was put together. But he moves like no other person you've ever seen in your life. You know, his basketball skills

helped his football. Football helped his basketball skills, so you know, he's always been athletic. After a meeting with teams, mackay took his position to run the forty yard dash, arguably the most talked about and publicized drill in the combine. Teams use the forty to gauge not just speed, but also a prospects athleticism as Mackay crouched near the starting line. Analysts once again marveled at his size. Number five on the offensive lineman group, but also number five on your

top fifty players available in this year's draft. Why do you have him so high up? You can't get through him? And he uses his length and pass pro you can't get around him. And in the run game, it's an avalanche. When he down blocks, he just takes everybody with him, and he's moving pretty good. Boom by words, somebody that large running a second? We just watched somebody who's three hundred sixty four pounds, the heaviest individual at the scouting combine.

Did we just see him run five one one? The fastest forty yard dash ever is four point to two seconds by one hundred and ninety four pounds. Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver John Ross, Olympic gold medalist sprinter Usain Bolt also ran a four point to to forty yard dash that's less than one second faster than Mackay. When he was training in Taxes, Tear and Armstead went down there to visit, and when he walked in the room and

saw him, he said, what is that? Well, right now is the initial run of five one one was the fastest forty by a player three hundred fifty pounds or bigger by point one five seconds as a large number for a forty yard dash, breaking the over three hundred fifty pound record with an official time of five point one seconds. Now, McKay lines up for his second forty

yar dash. All players run the forty yard dash twice to ensure there wasn't a mistake, but McKay's five point one seconds time at three hundred and sixty five pounds makes the scouts and the announcers series slee wonder was this first run and error? Could it have been a problem with the clock or a once in a lifetime performance for McKay. So mackay takes off a second time. You've got out oh by. Once I finished through the forty, I heard every coach that was sitting at the forty like,

take a deep breath, life. So I knew I ran a good time when I heard that, a lot of people didn't expect me to do what I did. McKay's second forty yard dash is clocked at five point one three, almost identical to his first run. Stunned announcer Daniel Jeremiah makes the comparison to Raiders Pro Bowl tackle Trent Brown. Brown is a six ft eight, three hundred and sixty pound bulldozer who became the highest paid offensive lineman in the NFL with a four year, sixty six million dollar

contract in two thousand nineteen. We saw the money that Trent Brown got in free agency, and you're gonna see the equivalent of that of how Hi McKay Beckton goes in this draft, because guys like this are just rare. McKay's performance at the Combine and the reactions from teams and the TV analysts changed the entire conversation about him. Even his family back home can't stop talking about it. Wait a minute, he just see my word, my word

that it's always good. On the first one, mackay is no longer viewed is simply a prospect with impressive size. Teams now realize how fast and athletic he is. Mel kayper Jr. The famous ESPN NFL draft analyst, names McKay one of his favorite prospects in the entire draft. Suddenly he's being discussed as a possible top five pick and the first offensive lineman that will be selected. Rumors circulate that he could be picked as high as number two. Overall,

my expectation was definitely higher. After ran that forty, well after I performed at the Combine, I felt pretty confident. It's a great feeling, you know, just to see him on television, and he's proven it every year of college and he works on every aspect of his game to get better. He went from people always tell him he's

just doing it because he's a big kid. He took that as fuel and made it and said his fire sky's a limit for him and and he will show that once you get into the NFL, he's going to be great. As high as the praise and expectations of growing for Mackay, teams do have questions. Some raised doubts about his ability to keep his weight and check how there's wonder if his pass blocking needs more work. We

kept hearing different things. People kept out on this different stuff that you know, they say his pass pros need a little help, which that's one thing I didn't understand because he only gave up one stat in three years, you know what I mean. But it still was the unknown. I was making us nervous of the situation. Because you really didn't know exactly what was going to happen the way he was going. Of course, raising questions about highly

touted top draft prospects is an annual NFL tradition. From Peyton Manning to cam Utant to last year's Rookie of the Year Kyler Murray, scouts and analysts find ways to poke holes in the armor of even the most sure fire prospects. This year, Ohio states Chase Young chose not to participate in any NFL combine drills. Now scouts and analysts whisper about what he's possibly hiding. Some wonder if

skipping the drills will hurt his draft position. Because tens of millions of dollars are invested in each top pick, each player is under a microscope. Teams want a sure thing. So now as the draft inches closer and McKay's path to the top of the first round seems a little less certain, the only question becomes how serious are the questions about it? We'll be right back. This year's draft

will be as unique as any in history. All the players, coaches, general managers, and even the commissioner will be remote calling in from cell phones and webcams. The biggest difference with this draft and others is if you know Bill Belichick and you know any read if they lose their WiFi, they may lose their draft pick. You know, somebody didn't pay their phone bill. That's Tremaine Anchrome, offensive tackle from Clemson.

He's a shining example of one of the things that hasn't changed this year, the fact that NFL players come in all shapes and sizes. Mount McKay Beckton is as large as offensive lineman get a run blocking force of nature who overpowers his opponents with his three hundred and sixty four pounds. At the other end of the spectrum is Tremaine six ft two and a little over three hundred pounds. Tremaine Anchorum is more of a pass blocker,

someone who thrives off technique and agility less than brute force. Anchorme, just a week out from the day that may change his life, reflects on the moment, I guess guess just why you know? Yeah, I feel like, you know, I can give the whole spill about how my hard worker and you know, the better use of I guess this time is talking about it? Man? What is it? I feel like I have that it factor that nobody has. And you know, some people have it, some people don't.

Some people got more of it than others. I don't feel like you're born with it. And you know, I feel like it determines how successful you'll be, how far you'll go, what you're willing to do, but you're willing to sacrifice, ah, what you're willing to commit to it. And I feel like my factors has always been something that's set me apart. I mean, I'm not a first rounder.

You know, I'm not even a top three rounder. This doubt is a new phenomenon for him, lingering ever since you feel it's just pro day in front of NFL scouts. Now he's returning home to Powder Springs, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, settling into a routine with his family in another new circumstance, the new normal of quarantine. It's eleven o'clock in the morning, and I'm making breakfast. Why because I'm a housemaid in the house. I'm just cooking breakfast

for myself. And He's saying breakfast. I always cooked eggs, potatoes, and whatever meat is available. You know, today it's baking. Tomorrow could be fish. Ribs whatever breakfast is not champions with consistency. So here we are. How the potatoes may they're good. I'm notam playing. She's just cleaning a little bit. Dad's outside gritting papers. Uh. He looks more anxious about the draft than he does the papers. But yeah, yeah, he's really anxious. But you know, I'm just worried about

where I'm going and his stepmother, Mirabelle. My hopes for Tremaine and the NFL in life are that he continues to be the great person that he is and continue to grow, um and just have an amazing happy life. Those are my hopes for him. Um, if Tremaine wasn't a football player, I think he would definitely be somewhere on TV or on the radio because he's an amazing speaker. He's charismatic, he has a great personality, and I think

that would be a perfect fit for him. Tremaine hopes to take that refined personality to the NFL, and not surprisingly, his approach has little to do with what team picks him and more to do with culture. Are more, I guess anxious about finding a system that you know I can grow in and people that you know work with great character. Guys. I want to go to work every day and some locker room, but you know from for an office and all the staff. I mean, I can't

be the only asshole in there. Need to try somebody else in asshole too. So. A two year starter for the Clemson Tigers, Tremaine played an integral role in one of college football's most successful programs, winning a national title in two thousand eighteen and returning to the championship game in two thousand and nineteen. His team ranked third in total offense in college football during their championship run and

fourth the next year. They were lethal, scoring twenty nine points against the renowned Ohio State defense with Chase Young and Jeff Okuda, and then scoring twenty five points in the championship game against l s U. Tremaine was one of the anchors for the offense, blocking for star quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Clemson's all time leading rusher and two

time a CC Player of the Year Travis Etienne. So going into his pro day at Clemson in March, he was optimistic, I have the ability to play different positions. Most teams sound There's nothing I can't do. It was five spot I can get on the field and help the team win. Tremaine's resume looks as complete as any lineman in the draft, a clear first or second round pick on paper, he succeeded on the biggest stage in college. So why then, does he feel he's fallen to the

back half of the draft. What are the knocks against him? Not big enough, not long enough, not aggressive enough. A product of the system he played in, surrounded by top talent that covered his mistakes. These knocks from analysts and scouts can get to even the most confident of athletes, even a big, self assured lineman like Tremaine. Which is kind of weird, because I don't want to suffer the

embarrassment of not being drafted. Possibly and I'm one of those sad stories on the TV somebody not getting drafted. I don't want that page. How Rather, there's no I'm going I can't let myself be cheated out of the process. That was no regular person. I've never been a regular person. I'm not trying to do as comfortable. I'm trying to

do what makes me the best. According to the Scouting Academy, the average NFL tackle is six ft five fifteen pounds, the size and shape of all Pro bowlers from last season except the aforementioned Trent Brown. These are huge people. In fact, Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcels the Big Tuna used to call playing on the offensive line the

dance of the Elephants. Tremaine is a bit shorter than the Elephants playing tackle at this level, and he's a little light at just over three hundred pounds, so the NFL has projected him as a guard, not a tackle. Plagued alongside the center, guards are usually the more compact lineman who engaged the interior defensive tackles, likely a better fit for Tremaine. At the next level, when you're playing inside as an offensive guard, it's more of a wrestling match.

It's more of a bull fight. You need a really good leverage. When you're playing off of the tackle, it's more of a dance out there. You're gonna be at a little bit more athletic, be able to play in space, have long arms, be able to use your feet and hands better than you would inside, and you're playing a much much better athlete than you are playing the inside.

But he could play both positions at Clemson. His versatility and maturity outweighed any scize disadvantage while anchoring the prolific offense. In addition to that versatility, scouts are touting Tremaine's other intangible He's already a professional and how he approaches the game. Just listen to his mindset and how to handle the one man wrecking crew of Chase Young in the Fiesta Bowl.

So going into the House Day game, I knew I had to play a player like Chase Young, and I had to understand that, hey, this is a big task. The biggest part of an offensive linement and defensive linement matchup is the mental game. It's not so much who wins one rep and it's over. No, it's a continual game of chess, not checkers. The only way we get to the national championship, the only way we achieve the goal of winning the game is that I do my job. We can create a great game plan, We can do

everything with the receivers, the running backs, quarterback. We have all this talent. It doesn't work if I don't win my matchup. Clemson one scoring more than twice the average Ohio State allowed on defense every game that season, improving their winning streak to games in a row. The Mighty Chase Young didn't have a sack in the last game of his college career. Tremaine and Clemson contained the Predator.

I've played a lot of great players, and every time you make it about them, you lose sight of what's really important, which is you. You gotta focus on internal, what you can put out, what you can do, not what they can do to you. And I knew I didn't have to do anything other than just be myself. And then once I kind of understood that, that's where

my games took golf were regardless of the competition. Tremaine's business like approach and preparation drew the attention of Clutch Sports Group, the agency representing NBA stars like Lebron James and Anthony Davis, Saints star running back Alvin Kamara, and now Tremaine Ancram. It's these qualities that Clutch super agent Rich Paul describes as one of the separating factors for who makes it and who doesn't. There's a lot of athletes out There's a lot of talented people out there,

but there's very few professional athletes out there. And because you play a professional sport, doesn't necessarily make you a professional athlete. This is the special approach Tremaine brings to the game every single day. It's one of the reasons why Paul's agency will be representing him as he takes the leap into the NFL. If I'm evaluating the athlete, just as important as the talent is the character. Now does that mean you've got a super talented player and

his character isn't that high? Are you gonna not represent them? No, that doesn't mean that. But you have to value their character because, as we see every day, it's a big deal. It's a big deal. It can make a break your career. And so if you can build good habits and have great character, I think it puts you on the right side of success for a very long time. Now, if you can bat that with unbelievable talent, then you got a superstar on your heads. We'll be right back Tremaine's

humility and workout there. We're learned at home here in Powder Springs. I felt like Powder Springs made me who I am values that people kind of have here. Powder Springs is I guess the best place to raise a family. I mean, you got parks, I got Rex Center, crackheads, I mean you got I mean, yeah, farms, you know, you got your own little hoods over there. But then

you got like places. Yeah, good God. But then you have exactly you know what we we We we identify and we support everybody that who wants to identify is game bankers from Powder Springs, Georgia or whatever. Homes where your heart is. As cliche as that is, you can quote me on that. But then you also have like country walk with like gas stations for neighborhoods. I thought you walked on. I attribute off a house to my white game. That was my training table. Everything on the menu,

you know, scatter covered, peppered, diced, all of that. It's loful house. If you're listening, throw me a bag please, or just a limited waffle house for rest of my life. Yeah, man, I love Powder Springs throughout his childhood and Powder Springs Tremaine Junior always lived in the shadow of another larger than life presence Tremaine Senior, High school business education teacher. Everything good, Everything is fantastic, good good good. Keep them

busy out there. He's keeping busy and I'm on I'm on summer break right now. Tell you a little bit about my son. Tremaine is is a very introspective, thoughtful, hard working young man. He epitomizes what you would want out of a son. You want your kids to be better than you. So I need training to be a better for a husband to me, a better man and me and a businessman than me at the end of the day, and want your son to be better than you, and and you're seeing the pitfall that you've made, and

you don't want him to make the same pitfall. I wanted to be a great college athlete. The bar to be better than Tremaine Senior is hot an All state basketball and football player in Colorado. Tremaine Senior eventually played college basketball at the University of Southern California. My goal was to get a college scholarship pay for my school. Was so Tremaine then think about Tremine is that the next evolution is we know you're gonna get a scholarship.

Now how much further came His dream is different because of looking at the NFL L was. So it's just evolution of life and I think we've we've kind of maximized it. This has been a lifelong process for Tremaine Senior, like the situation with Mackay and his dad, Jerome Tremaine Senior coach Tremaine Junior in football and basketball throughout his youth, pushing him hard along the way. One thing I never wanted to do is I never wanted people to think that it was daddy ball with him and and and

I was giving a special treatment. So I kind of wrote him a little bit harder. But I did that too because I wanted him to understand what hard work was about, what it was like and for no one to give you anything. Tremayne Senior knew what it took to excel at a very high level in sports and what it took to motivate his son, but all of that came with the price. Having your dad as a coach is no walk in the park at all, by

any stretch of the imagination. It comes days where you know Dad and and coach just you danced that line to where you're not sure which one you had have You know, he's obviously hard on you, and he's obviously wants the best out of you. Sometimes he greens coach back home in place of Dad, and a lot of the conversations you have. It's it's a lot of coach conversations, and you know, as a kid, sometimes you want to have those dad conversations, but you're not sure if you

can have them because the coach switched still on. You know, that was tough. There were it was some tough days where you know, I felt like I didn't have a dad I could talk to about certain problems. He was only coached to me. And then, uh, it kind of it weighed on me for sure. This road to draft day as father and son coaching player senior and junior wasn't easy for either of them. It wasn't always like

this between us. It took us a minute. And then by time, you know, Tremaine Turn, I think it was sixteen years old, we took a cross country trip to to do some uh look at some schools, and we really got a chance to kind of get to know each other. And well, I got a chance to explain to him why I was so tough on him. And and once that happened, we became we can't really close.

Tough love to raise a strong man and wanting a better life for your son, pushing him to succeed past the level you were able to We hear these stories over and over again in sports for good reason. And our relationship now is it's really good now at some point now to where you know, any big decisions that he makes in his life, for anything that he's gonna do and and things that he wants to do, you know,

he's gonna bounce it off of me. Now. It's a great, great opportunity for me to look back and to see, you know, the fruits of our hard work that we put in before and and now you know what he's getting right now is everything that he works, he should be proud. I mean, I actually got a tattooed of his tone number in my form to kind of remind me of the man I want to be. Um kind of father. I want to be. One thing I've always loved about my father, He's lived it and he's a

guy that cares. This father's son bond is grained in the culture of football. It's been in the dna of the sports since the very beginning, from all the countless fathers who coached their sons and youth leagues, growing up to more than two hundred sets of fathers and sons

who played professional football. The famous NFL family dynasties like Archie Manning and his son's Peyton and Eli, and all the other dads who played arena football like Jerome Beckton, or even college basketball like Tremaine Sr. They all want their kids to go a step further, be more successful and share the sport they love. He's confident, He's confident in his ability, and he you know, he commands a room. He's a natural born leader. I definitely get that from

my father. To go through what he went through and to strive for excellence and really dominated what he did. Um, you know, that's that's adible. That's something that made me think, like, hey, you know that's in me. I think Tremaine is a protector. He protects quarterbacks, running backs, but he also creates holes. He he's aggressive, he's athletic. I think he's one of the most hardworking players I've ever been around in my lifetime, as a basketball player and as a basketball coach, and

as a football player and as a football coach. As a man, Tremaine as a leader. He makes his own rules in his life, and he's willing to put the work in to make sure that he can follow those rules. My hopes for Tremaine are very exactly the same was my hopes and dreams work form growing up. I want them to continue to push the envelope. I wanted to be a leader. I want them to be one that doesn't worry about following anyone else because he sets the

rules so people will follow him. It's clearly not just Tremaine Jr. Who hopes to be drafted in a week. It's also his dad. It's Mackay and it's his dad, It's the whole family. A moment to celebrate the hard work, achievement and how far they've come, especially in their own relationship.

I guess I can kind of compare it to when you know, the white coat family of doctors, Like you worked all this way and now you're, you know, officially professional, right, You've done all the work this that in third, now here's your white coat. Well stead of white coat, I get a number, uh draft or not? I'm just want a number on the team, right, And that's that's all you can ask for, just a chance. And that's what

drafting needs me. It's a chance, and then I can succeed, you know, grow warm, rooted at coming up on the next episode of Drafted. Ever since September two thousand and nineteen, I've been doing this for my son, running back Keyshawn Vaughn. I call it grammy. I mean, I don't care who in front of me, who trying to stop me. I don't care what team we're playing. I can't nobody step

of your away. I think he was just to more into my accent if I'm being honest most of the year and cornerback, I remember in my coat saying one day as I was a little skinny freshman and I didn't have much confidence in myself, and he he was saying, You're gonna be the next player that's gonna have multiple offers coming out of here. Just like Dang, I got an opportunity to do something special. Drafted as a production of tree Fort Media, Clutch Sports Group, and I Heart Radio.

The executive producers are Kelly Garner, Lisa Amerman, Eric's a Lot, Sean to Tone l Key, and me Keegan Michael Key. The series is produced and written by Eric Weiner. Jared brom is our coordinating producer. Tom Monahan is our senior audio engineer. Mixed and edited by Steven Johnson. Additional production help from Tim Shower, June Rosen, and Hayley Mandelberg. For transcripts of the show and more information on Drafted, go

to tree Fort dot fm. And for more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Three