3x Pro Bowler LaVar Arrington Talks About Mentoring Shawne Merriman, Guys That Helped Him Be A Pro, A Funny Story About Shawn Barber And Simone Biles

guy's family. UM. Someone who mentored me as a kid when I was in high school. UM, LaVar Arrington from the former Washington football team when he got drafted by by the team, and I was at Frederick Ducklan's High school and up a Marlborough, Maryland. I convinced LaVar's younger brother to come and play high school basketball with me. And that's how LaVar and I relationship started. Uh. With somebody who I've always looked up to it and and look that as a mentor and one of the reasons

why I started off early. I give him a lot of credit because I got a chance to be around another pro and seen the lifestyle, found out how to work and replay books and watch film and just how to go about my everyday life. Uh this is at at the age of sixteen seventeen, So LaVar engine, what what's what's going on? Mann? Bro? Are you are you coolding?

Are you coaching right now? Too? Right? All right? So I'm taking the year off because I have kids that where I would coach, they went I coached them last year, so they can't follow me. So I'm gonna take I'm taking the year off, which it's mad Mass freshman year, so I'm just watching him and and watching and the guys, and then when we get back to the the other kids their senior year, I'm gonna come back on the sideline. So, so,

how how has that been? Because you you've always you've always kind of, you know, took guys in your wing, me being one of them, you know, as a as a kid and stuff like that. Man, But you really just kind of got into the coaching aspect as far as I knew you when I was growing up, and you kind of took me under your wing, it was more of like a mentorship. When when did that? When did the whole culture thing come around? Man I had I had mentor for so long it had morphed than

to training. So now I was using training to to like be the catalyst of me being able to mentor guys. And I was pretty good at it. So once I realized that I was pretty good at teaching, it was like kind of the next step for me to prove to myself for add to my resume, was how good would I be able to take um the skills that I use and and training to coaching because training is

a lot different than coaching as well, you know. And so I I actually got pulled into coaching by Antonio Pierce to Long Beach Polly, which was really cool because you go into a scenario where it's such a rich culture in tradition to to that program, and I coach linebackers. I assisted Claiborne on on as as a defense coordinator

with with the defense schemes. But you know, when I was sitting in the meetings and and like just kind of getting into it as like man, like I started I started saying to myself, It's like I could call this offense or set this offensive situation up better, Like they think that if you played one side of the ball then you don't know the other side right, and and and so it's kind of funny because being good at playing defense was because I was really good at

playing offense. And I just applied what I did on defense to the understanding of how I played, you know, and thought on offense, you know what I mean. So it kind of went from schematically, it's like, man, I'm limiting myself. I would like to go build a program. So I was like, I'm gonna fight to try to get a job, and and and the school I ended up going to, I got a head coaching job and there's a small private school and past dina Um got

my opportunity. And when I got my opportunity, we we won six games my first year and went to the playoffs. We hosted a home playoff game, so we were good enough to host a home game. We lost, we got our heads beat in um, but it was a successful season. And then we came back my second year and we we had the same like the same exact season almost as six seven when when win season and we made

it to the playoffs again. Literally, Sean, I was playing with two three lineman and like nineteen kids, how small our team was it was like not even a lot of kids. So I was like making chicken soup out of chicken, you know what. And and so this last year I had a couple of really really good, good young men that were aging and we had to abbreviate it year and we went undefeated at one h the

league championships. So I've since set step down because the numbers in the participation weren't good enough, the support from the school wasn't good enough, um to build the program. So, you know, my son is going into high school and the kids that had came and followed me to Marion after to come there, they needed to go to a better a better situation. So that's where we're at currently.

But coaching, it just it just kind of happened. Who So I never asked you this, but because you've been mentoring so many of these kids, and so many of a lot of these kids actually came around and became something like big you know has produced who was some of the guys because you played with some of the people who I watched growing up, like you get you played with Bruce Smith on instead um God, who else, dion Y, Daryl Green, Champ, Bailey who was one of

the guys like that, because you've been told so many people like when you came in the locker room that you that kind of like grabbed you up. And I remember me walking in the locker room. It was Lt. Lorenz O'Neill um, you know at the time, roaming open that just you know, just came over to um and you know, Jamal Williams, Randall, Goffrey, Donnie Edwards. So I walked in the locker room full of guys who were in the league ten pluge years. And so who was

that for you when on your team? Yeah, don't come good name. Uh. When I came into the league, probably probably prime. But I would say Marco Coleman was probably the one that had the biggest influence on me in terms of just how I handle things as as you know, bro, he was a o G by the time I had came in and he definitely his locker. They put me next to his locker. Um. He has always you know, to some gum, calm down, like to some gum that

that was his thing. Like like I'd be like so tightly wound up, I'd be breathing all hard, you like, just to get a here and take this piece of gum to the gun, bro like relax uh. And he was a o g off the field too, So I learned a lot about how to handle things um off the field, A lot of a lot of things I did. Um.

I learned to do it in the house. Don't don't go anywhere, Um I did you and and in so many ways with with early just how my home was, just the environment that was there from things in my house like Marco, and you know, it's half fun out your crib. Be safe, um secure and and and really position yourself where you don't have to have any regrets about you know, the times that you're having. That was one of the quickest lessons that I learned when I got to the league. But I say Sean Barber was

was a pretty good He was a dope friend. I want to say he was a mentor. We were just we were like brothers and and how close we were um when when I got in I learned a lot from him, um organically. But I would say Marco Coleman was probably the one that had the biggest influence on me in terms of just how I handle things. As you know, bro, why are you smiling that Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.

Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live. Because I want to end up, because you know what, I want to ask you something about about Barbara with the card? Good? Is it cool? I know about that. You don't know about everything. So he he borrowed my He borrowed my three sixty Medina. I was out of town. He borrowed my three sixty Medina, wrefted,

wrecked my car. I never knew. So you know, I was around, but I wasn't like around when it happened. But I think I might have been around Stephen Davis. So what it was something was one of the guys I was around, and I was a kid, I think I was. I was, I was young. I was like pri sixteen and seventeen at the time. And so I heard he had, uh, Barbara bar at your car. So that's true, that's one to happen. Yeah, he borrowed the car, drove it, I believed to Richmond, Virginia. But we were

this tight night. We were tight enough where he could go get my keys and knew where my keys were and take my car. So he drove the car to Richmond. I think on his way back he rapped. Honestly, I kept it. It's when you brought up his name. I wanted to ask that story because I was. I was young then, and man, that's crazy, that's crazy. There's no way in here. You're a lot better than me, because there's no there's no way in hell I would have.

We was tight. You and listen, you were you were around me, so you know how I was like, I just you know, if you was in my circle, I loved you. We was. It is what it is, like, I just take it our face value. Now, if he was somebody different, it was somebody different, it would have been some smoke, you know, you know, big drain that might have been up in there. Lad That dude yoked up for me while I pointed out him and touched him on his chest and told him, what's gonna happen

to you right now? But something? So it was like I was more happy he was. He was okay, more so than anything else, Like you all right, you know, now, get my car fixed, you know what I mean? And we went from there. But yeah, that's the true story, dude. I I always um, I always wanted to ask you. It's funny. It's funny you said that. But when you brought his name up by the first thing, I started thinking about what. Um let me let me ask because

we you know, a couple of minute. I want to ask you something about the wholesome one bittles things because I tweeted something the other day, UM about you know, mental mental health, which I don't know about you all, man, but I you know when I retired, especially when you do it from an injury, because you it's crazy, man, how are you know kind of stories and paths and matched up in a lot of different ways because of the injuries and and and having coming off the highs

of highs and being in known as the best of what you do, then get injured and not not really kind of finding your way again. For me, when I retired, that first year or two was kind of rough, and I had plenty of things lined up to do. It's just I felt like I had more and I was never able to get to do that more. And that was that was me personally. So you know that the whole depression things, they're the anxiety, the stress, and you know,

just everything. But I tweeted something the other day about someone vials about um, you know, mental health is important, but so was mental toughness. So you know, to me, it wasn't a big thing. I looked and it got retweeted like thirteen thousand times or something, or like thirteen thousand times, retweeted thirty three thousand times, and you know, I had a bunch of negative ass comments, And for me,

I don't I don't really care. You know, we we come from a different cloth where we're not sitting around worrying about what a damn with. Nobody's saying that We're gonna say what we say. Um, your opinion, and everybody got to respect that, you know. And I've come from a side of respect somebody else opinion, even if I don't believe in what they're saying. UM. But I feel like personally that if I wasn't mentally tough, I wouldn't have I wouldn't have been We couldn't be doing this

right because I wouldn't have been here. You know, I wouldn't have been in a position to even continue on because you know, so many things happened to all of us. Everybody got their own different story, whether it's injury or something happened to you as a kid, or something that we all deal with. But I just simply made the statement of being mentally mental health. Obviously it's very important because you know, I'm a big hot yoga I meditate

and do stuff. Even now when I go and do my man boxing and stuff, it's still a form of meditation for me, period. So I believe in mental health. It's a very important thing. But also I'm not gonna let anybody use that as a crutch. And I see that nowadays, in my opinion, I'm seeing a lot of that being used as a crutch as opposed to somebody saying, you know what, I'm just having a tough time right now. This is life. This like this happens in life. Man. What what do you What do you feel about that?

I think there's a fine line that that is that exists there between the whole idea of having mental toughness versus understanding what the mental health and the value of the mental health is um and someone bows's case, I feel like the fact that she had to come out and be the one that was having the conversation about it was incorrect, right. It just tells you how far behind people are in terms of understanding how serious mental

health is. It's not more so because when you think about mental toughness, mental toughness is more so you digging deep and finding a way to continue on. It would be more comparable to say, imagine if you had to play a game with a fully ruptured Achilles tendon or a fully fully ruptured a c L you know what I mean, like like have the mental toughness to get up and go back out there and finish the game.

That to me is the equivalent of mental health. So for her to be in a situation where she had to pull herself out, for her to have to give the explanation, it just continues to show that we're not We're still not to the place or where we need to be to understand how exactly to approach mental health.

You can You can have uh, five six different people come out there if she breaks her arm or breaks her leg while she's competing, and they'll check her physically and they'll cart her off, and everybody will have closure on her not competing because you were able to visually see why she can't compete, and that's been like the age old argument with with mental health is you can't see mental health. You can see it when it's not there, when it's not present by the way people do things,

but you can't see it in in general. Like think about with Junior, Like you know, you wouldn't be able to see that he was dealing with things emotionally and mental health wise because he was too dope of a dude, like you're too busy admuring do but he's sitting there and all of the mental health injuries that he had that probably needed like surgery, you never address it. All

the injuries that you sustained during your career. You were able to get the physical aspect of your body together, but they never addressed your mental They never they never did a diagnostic uh deal or did mental rehab on you. And if somebody approached us to do it, it's so foreign to us. We look at it like I'm not crazy, I don't need mental health assistance. I'm I'm good, I

feel strong, I'm getting my body back together. But now I think that things are changing in a way where the conversation has to be had that if you can spend millions of dollars on a training facility for lifting weights or a training facility for physical rehab. Why can't you put millions of dollars and and and you know commitment into the mental health rehab as well. You should be able to go in there, and you should be able to do the same type of exercises that get

you physically ready to go. You should be able to go to a place that mentally gets you ready to go as well. It's like we're where we're we are patched up, we are fixed, and we are put back on the field, and the only time that the mental health issues become real issues is once we're retired. So now those mental health issues come out and it's like we were never getting them fixed. It's like compiling a whole bunch of physical injuries through the years and never

addressing them. You know, there should have been support in terms of how simone vows was withdrawn, how it was handled was what made it kind of it comes down to interpretation, Like when we hear athletes say it's up to us to create an interpretation and have an opinion of it. But if a trainer would have came out

and said like, look, this is what's going on. She has to deal with this data that will give you an update, and just like how they're doing sports on anything else, we'll give you an update as it unfolds. We got to do some evaluating data that will reevaluate it and then we'll get back to you. That's really how it should have been handled, honestly speaking. But the fact that we don't, we don't pay attention to it

the way that we need to. It played out, in my opinion, from the jump, it played out the wrong way a far man. I appreciate you man for just stopping in real quick and then, um my god, one of one of these days we gotta we we gotta do a long hour just on just all this man, just in general. Um, because I do think I do think there's a direct correlation with a lot of this stuff.

And obviously, you know we we talk all the time, but maybe getting an opportunity to share some of this information with with people out here, and you know, you don't know who's listening, who's gonna help, We're gonna make a difference. Man, It's coming. The time is coming. We just gotta keep grinding. It's gonna happen. Yeah, harding bro. Love you, they appreciate it, Love you too. What all right?

Thanks guys listening to another lights our podcast and me Sean Merrimon and uh, that was that was awesome and I honestly we we could have probably went another forty five minutes to an hour, um, but we had a lot of stuff to cover. H the bars. Uh. You know, he's been a great mentor they on listening now, a great coach um, and his work ethic has always been undeniable. So thank you guys for listening in to another lights Out podcast. Me Sean Merimon and we'll be back again soon.