D’Brick Ferguson: from open heart surgery, to NFL ironman, to nurse? - podcast episode cover

D’Brick Ferguson: from open heart surgery, to NFL ironman, to nurse?

May 25, 202336 min
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Episode description

Watch Second Acts on YouTube:  https://bit.ly/3ikkR2Q

Follow Roman Harper on Instagram: @Harp_41

Follow Peanut Tillman on Instagram: @peanuttillman

EP #28: The gentle giant D’Brickashaw Ferguson sits down with Peanut and Roman on the latest episode of the NFL Players Second Acts pod. D’Brick lived up to expectations as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2006 draft. He anchored the Jets offensive line during his 10-year career, started every game, and missed only one snap (there’s quite the story behind that play). For his work, in 2022 D’Brickashaw was inducted into the Jets Ring of Honor. Not bad for a guy who needed open-heart surgery at 9 years old to save his life. In this episode, D’Brickashaw expounds on the “miracle” of overcoming that circumstance to become the NFL’s ironman. He’s also on a journey to find his next calling, which has led him to…nursing school. D’Brickashaw has found success in many arenas, but he shares with Peanut and Roman the bumpy road he took to find himself. 

Topic Timeline: 

1:00 - D'Brickashaw talks about the only snap he didn’t play in during his entire 10-year NFL career 

2:18 - The evolution of the Key & Peele segment based on D'Brickashaw name 

3:31 - How yoga and martial arts helped D’Brickashaw become an NFL ironman 

6:36 - D'Brickashaw shares what led to him having open-heart surgery as a kid

7:45 - The value of playing different sports as a kid according to D’Brickashaw 

9:56 - D’Brickashaw shares the “surreal” experience of being inducted into the NY Jets Ring of Honor

13:02 - D’Brickashaw shares the experience of finding himself after his NFL career 

16:21 - D’Brickashaw shares his post-NFL journey to serve other players through financial literacy

18:56 - D'Brickashaw shares what led him to wanting to become a nurse 

22:15 - D'Brickashaw talks about education being the foundation of The D'Brickashaw Ferguson Foundation 

23:33 - D’Brickashaw shares his “welcome to the NFL” moment 

25:15 - D’Brickashaw gives advice to a newly retired NFL player 

26:16 - D’Brickashaw reveals why his own teammates fined him for his car choices 

27:52 - D’Brickashaw shares who is on his personal Mt. Rushmore 

32:00 - D’Brickashaw turns the table and asks Roman and Peanut how their transitions are going 

*NOTE: Timecodes are approximate 

NFL Players Second Acts podcast is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeart Radio. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Intro / Opening

Speaker 1

So we're honored to have our guests. Saw ferguson what's going on, boss, How you doing?

Speaker 2

I'm good. How you guys doing.

Speaker 3

We're good Class two thousand and six. We're in the building. Just to let everybody know, I.

Speaker 4

Mean, you're a big time you're Virginia cavalier. I mean, everybody loves Virginia if you've been there. I don't know anything about the campus. Tell me one thing, Brick that that most people that have not been to Virginia would know once you go in the campus or play football there.

Speaker 2

The dorms are different. They redid the dorms. Okay, so I used to live in old dorms, old Humphreys, and I think that's gone now. I think they've changed that.

Speaker 3

Okay, So I didn't know that.

Speaker 2

Yeah, a lot of a lot of new a.

Speaker 3

Lot of new construction.

Speaker 4

Everybody's keeping up with the Joneses absolutely all right now. The one thing that I did not know until we did a little more research on you, uh D break,

D'Brickashaw talks about the only snap he didn't play in during his entire 10-year NFL career

is that you only missed one snap. That's crazy, that's crazy. So you missed one? Man, how did you? First of all, how did you manage to do that? And I'll share with the people. It was in two thousand and eight, Week seventeen versus the Dolphins. You guys are going to lose the game, and they just pulled you out the last.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I think we did lose the game, but we're doing a trick play with something we had practiced. We take out all the offensive linemen, we put in all skill position players and kind of hike the ball and kind of.

Speaker 3

Do the the ra throw throw it back.

Speaker 2

It didn't work, and that was the play.

Speaker 4

Think the Cowboys, Let's or something like this this past year in the playoffs, and it really.

Speaker 2

Very rare that you know, it's like, if you have to do that, you've lost. Yeah, and you're dying a second.

Speaker 1

So another another another player that has a similar stat Joe Thomas. He's got the I don't know how many career snaps he's played, but he holds I guess the record of having the most snaps ever played. Or he didn't miss a single snap his entire career. He played what eleven years? If I'm not mistaken, So do are you? I don't know, how do you feel about it? Is there any disgruntleness?

Speaker 2

Or he's a phenomenal athlete. Yeah, he's in consistent. You know, I applored everything that he's done.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 1

So I'm a huge fan of the show, Key and

The evolution of the Key & Peele segment based on D'Brickashaw name

Pill right, crazy fan. And when I get car services, I use the nicknames that they had for the All Star Games. So whenever there's a car service, you might see the name El Carpatron and Duke Marriott or Charmlotte mass Doon you know what I'm saying, krig mckringle Berry, Uh did Jiggo Lynch Margoon, LSU University?

Speaker 3

Like I use all those names.

Speaker 1

I think you were like one of the original guys for that, right, tell people, please tell me how you got that, Like did they come to you?

Speaker 2

Did they did come to me? It wasn't as you know personal. I actually met I think Kegan later at a separate foundation event, but they were saying that, you know, the idea kind of spurned from that. I think one of their representatives reached out to me and I'm like, yeah, I'd be open to do it. And so it was

just a fun thing. You know, a lot of times I've heard my name a couple of times in movies and it's always interesting where it's like, all right, well, I know who they're talking about it's not too many of us. Fact, there's one.

Speaker 4

So yeah, yeah, tell me this though, all right, back

How yoga and martial arts helped D'Brickashaw become an NFL ironman

to your career a little bit more, because I'm still a little bit taken back that you.

Speaker 3

Only missed one snap.

Speaker 4

Was it anything in particular that you did to stay healthy? Was it anything that you did to take care of your body, your mental I mean, did you even miss practice or did you miss play?

Speaker 3

Like you didn't. This is just not your thing.

Speaker 2

You just and I think the funny thing is, it was nothing, nothing that I ever thought about, right. I think earlier on, you know, Eric Mangini, he had us doing a lot. We were doing yoga, we were doing martial arts, jiu jitsu. I mean, we were back in the old days when everybody that all season, off season, you know, they kept us at the facility. You know, there was no time restrictions. It wasn't like four hours, No, we were there all day. And so I think the

idea of just football being kind of everything stuck. But I do counted a blessing. I mean, there's a lot of guys that have done the same things or even more, and they've suffered injuries. So I don't want to say like it was something that I was doing that they weren't. It's okay.

Speaker 4

How's your body feeling now? I mean you did all those things.

Speaker 2

I cross my leg like you, so yeah, shake the ankle a little bit, so that's a good sign. You know, hip flex was are good.

Speaker 3

You know, I'm good about that.

Speaker 4

Gets your body good, genuinely because you're that bigger guy. Most bigger guys have issues as they get older.

Speaker 3

How much way did you lose after you.

Speaker 2

I was about three ten when I played. I've gotten down and let's say to about to sixty, but I'm probably about like two seventy. That's probably what I do.

Speaker 5

You feel good?

Speaker 3

You look good, all that joints and all that.

Speaker 2

Shit that you know. I I think I've always been a curious kind of athlete, and so I would I would dabble in different things like what ice skating? I try to do clinics, Yeah, try.

Speaker 3

To you skate backwards not fast.

Speaker 2

I mean, I'm not out of here. Just like you know, some people are graceful.

Speaker 3

That's not so you're not.

Speaker 4

You would not use the term graceful to describe.

Speaker 1

I say, you know somebody who's learning my son, I'm sure. I'm like most dads, you know, you want your son to do something to help them get disciplined and learning focus and things like that, and ours was taekwondo.

Speaker 3

My son is a typical boy.

Speaker 1

He wants to run and kicking, punch and jump off and wrestle and you know, break everything. Taekwondo, you know, get some good discipline. And my son did it for about four maybe four or five years, and he ended up getting this black belt in taekwondo, and it was like, I was so proud of him because it was something he stuck with it for a long time to accomplish, to accomplish something, and it was great for him to learn that and see that at a very young age.

Speaker 5

I'm very proud of them.

Speaker 1

I heard or I learned that you are a black belt and you hold a brown belt.

Speaker 3

Now what do you hold your black belt in shore to com okay?

Speaker 2

And what is your brown belt in taekwondo? So that was around the time that I had open heart surgery. It was very early eight nine.

Speaker 3

Yeah, this is what we wanted to bring up.

Speaker 4

So most people don't know that you actually had open

D'Brickashaw shares what led to him having open-heart surgery as a kid

heart surgery when you were eight or nine years old. Yeah, maybe you could talk about that if you're willing to share with us.

Speaker 2

Yeah. So, I think as a younger child, I was just a little bit out of breath and it came up on a random check through my pediatrician and she just recommended, hey, can you do some more testing. You know, we're just noticing some things. And I had a slight defect. I think in one of my vowels, I had too many veins on one side and they changed that. So, you know, I think about that as a as a starting point, and I think of kind of where I've ended up, particularly in my football career and even the

things that I do now. And that's why I can't say like, oh I just did this thing and this thing, and that's the reason why I've had this outcome, because I don't think it was, you know, ever supposed to be that initially. I think even when I had my initial results, they were saying like, hey, no contact sports. You know, you may always be limited in some ways. So I guess it did. It was a miracle. It is a miracle. Yeah. I had the opportunity to go on and play sports and it didn't hold me back.

Speaker 3

You know, there are a lot of similarities.

The value of playing different sports as a kid according to D'Brickashaw

Speaker 1

Do you think the taekwondo or the martial arts played a pivotal role in you one being drafted for early in two helping you manhandle I think you know, defensive linement.

Speaker 2

I think the value sports at a young age is just like learning your body, you know. I think a lot of times, you know, kids, unless you're in a sport that's organized and teaches you, okay, no, stand a certain way, bend a certain way, have your head up, you don't learn how to move well. And I think when you have that as a foundation and you continue

that going moving forward, you can build on that. I think it's sometimes harder when you start later and you're trying to learn how to be coordinated and learn things.

Speaker 3

You know.

Speaker 2

Now, if you look at YouTube, you'll see these little kids doing these.

Speaker 3

Little drugs, all the drills, like at.

Speaker 2

Very early ages, and I'm like, wow, Like, how do you compete with somebody who's been doing that since three and you're learning to play a sport at nine or fifteen, It's very hard to compete with that.

Speaker 1

One of the things I try to tell parents, and I get to ask a lot of questions about, well.

Speaker 3

How old were you when you played football.

Speaker 5

Should I let my son play football now?

Speaker 1

And I guess the one answer I give them every time is I say let them play. But flag football, whether you're the big kid, the little kid, the male, female, boy, girl, whatever, I think flag football is good for you because you learn how to use your body, whether you're an offensive lineman, and you know you're not going to be a running back when you get older because you're one.

Speaker 3

Of the bigger kids.

Speaker 1

But play It allows you to play every position. It allows you to run the ball, it allows you to learn cut and do all those things. And not only that, but play basketball, play baseball, play play hockey, play as many sports, tennis, whatever, maybe not golf, but play all the sports you can play. I feel like, no, no, no, he think he tiger woods over here, but any We'll get to that later on off camera. But I'm a huge advocate for kids playing every sport they can at

such a at a really young age. I think nowadays kids they focus on one sport and they specialize more. And that's not time to specialize. You gotta do that later on in life.

Speaker 4

So you were inducted into the Jets Ring of Ball.

D'Brickashaw shares the "surreal" experience of being inducted into the NY Jets Ring of Honor

Speaker 3

I was up there, I was. I went up there a couple of months ago. I was, Yeah, I went up there a couple of months Yeah, I was. I went up there. It was great. But you got a very a great dry sense of humor. That's what I love about you. It's like you always got you always come and something.

Speaker 4

But emotionally, what did that do for you? Especially knowing that you retired early, people were still wanting more of the brickishaw Ferguson when you stepped away. You never missed games, you never missed practice, and to be honored at the end, what does that feel like?

Speaker 3

What does that do for you?

Speaker 4

I know you're a guy that's not you like to keep things light and you're not gonna you're not gonna talk about yourself and you're not gonna be too over indulgent. But for us, I want you to I want you to tell me what it was like for you to like be honored in that moment.

Speaker 3

You could tell me too, though I'm here.

Speaker 2

You know, it's a very surreal moment. I think a lot of times as athletes on the things that we've done wrong, the sacks that we've given up. It was interesting. One of my worst games was against Andre Carter. He was playing at for the Patriots at the time, and this was like i'll say, three years before the end whatever. And then he he and I were coaching. I was

doing an internship with the Jets. It was with strength and conditioning, and he was actually coaching the defensive line at that time, I think under Greg Williams, and I would look at that guy. I'm like, man, you you.

Speaker 3

Just never got over it. You never get over it.

Speaker 2

And I'm still looked at it, and we were pretending to do a moves and I'm like, still hot.

Speaker 3

I'm like, how many years is this afterwards?

Speaker 2

I mean it's it's got a bit. I mean it was a considerable amount of years. I meant it was at least like I don't know, like I don't know seven, Like it was considerable or more. And it was considerable. And I'm looking at this man like, I don't know that I could ever be your friend because of what you did to me. We played a game, we played them twice, played them earlier in the year, normal game, you know, of doing my shots, feeling good about myself.

I guess he didn't feel that way, right, And then the next game changed everything. He went to the Pro Bowl that year and I helped him. I don't like that. So when you have moments like that, you fixate on that. You don't forget those moments clearly, and then you know you you get a call and you know, mister Johnson and Nick, Nick Mangle and Mark Sanchez on their show presented me with this this honor. You're kind of like, I don't know how, I don't know where to place this.

I think of all the coaches and all the coaching points. I think of college, I think of you know, the transition into retirement. I think of all those things that cause you know, certain amount of challenges, and then you get this recognition like, hey, you know, you were a good player. You you did accomplish some amazing things, and you want to acknowledge that. It kind of gives you a different perspective. And I think it's sometimes healthy to

D'Brickashaw shares the experience of finding himself after his NFL career

get those acknowledgements because you don't know where people are. You know, you don't know the things that people are going through. I know we have this podcast to see like what's happening now, but it's a bit of a journey. I know a lot of athletes talk about their time and retirement, and it's a stage of finding themselves. You know, we were in that executive program together in finance, you know,

a lot of internships. You know, went through a divorce, Like a lot of things have changed, and now you're in a position where you're like, I think I'm in a good place now, you know, And it doesn't just happen. It takes different opportunities. It takes different things, like a recognition, like getting into nursing school, like you know, raising your daughters, like meeting someone and spending time and building relationship. It takes these things in order to like get to a

different place. So it's a part of that journey.

Speaker 1

How long would you say it took you to get into that place to find that that safe space, say, after.

Speaker 5

You were dealing with football, after you're retired.

Speaker 2

You know, I think the biggest thing, I'll say one more thing. I think the biggest thing is as an athlete trying things, you have an idea. It's like, hey, you know, I want to be proactive. You know, you do the things that you learn about. Oh, I'm going to take this boot camp, I'm going to take this course. I'm going to intern with this company. But I think it's very different being a retired player trying things right

because now it's real. Right now you don't have the football as you're back, well, now you can leverage the opportunity. But even in leveraging that opportunity, have you carved out a skill set where you can say, well, no, this is who I am, this is how I'm showing up. I don't want to just be the front for this thing. I want to be able to do that skill. And I think you know, you have some real personal conversations.

I'm sure you guys have had it as well, where it's like, all right, what am I going to do, whether you're financially stable or not, how am I going to you know, show up in this time in my life? Who am I today? Who am I now? And I think it takes a couple of years, whether you're in a good space or not, in order to like let that sink in.

Speaker 3

You know.

Speaker 2

The pandemic I don't think was a help in the sense that it caused people to kind of be distanced or re evaluate. All right, I don't have the same opportunities. I can't just go and meet up with friends now, or if I do meet up with friends. You know, we have to, you know, make sure we're socially distancing because this is a real thing that's impacting lives. So it took a number of years, and I do think it is an ongoing process, right, it's reinvention. You know

who am I today? You know how am I evolving? But forward, moving forward is progress and I think having the opportunity to like continue and pursue the things that have interest to you has allowed me to be in a better space.

Speaker 4

I think it's so important also to bring up the fact of being confident in these spaces, like we're so confident in football, and then when, like you said, you don't have that to fall back on or to lean on to say, now I'm really Roman Harper or Penat Tillman like and I'm just doing this on the side. But now no, I cut the cable, and now you have to be in this space and be confident in it.

D'Brickashaw shares his post-NFL journey to serve other players through financial literacy

You're probably a great example because since you've transitioned out of football, you've done some financial things and I want you maybe talk to me and share with everybody that transition what that was like for you to get into the financial space. Being confident in what you were doing. Like when we did that executive class, I was just

like enamored with you because you were so confident. You're already doing some other things, but then at the same time, you were still learning, you were still on this journey of growing. And then now since you've moving from finance,

you're doing some other things as well. So I want you to be able to give you the floor and share with us on that whole period of this whole journey that you've been on really found yourself and still gaining confidence in this space, because I think that's the one thing that all of us players lack once we're not playing football.

Speaker 2

Absolutely absolutely, So I think you know, it starts with you know, how can I help?

Speaker 3

Right?

Speaker 2

It starts with how can I help? And that's a broad statement, right, And I really you know, you read the SI article why Athletes Go Broke? You hear all these different things, and it's like, well, how can I be an advocate for my for my peers, Right, how can I learn about this space bonds equity? Like, how can I educate myself in a manner where I know what I'm talking about? So I interned with a couple of companies and I I started. I actually work with

my financial advisor for about a year. We had like interned, and so when I learned about the executive education program at Columbia, and it was about angel investing, and I wanted to be able to educate myself on okay, this area as well as the base of knowledge which I developed working with my advisor. I worked for a sustainability impact company that was more of like a startup, and they were doing some exciting things and like sustainability and

impact investing. So I was like trying to get it all. But I think I didn't find what I was looking for from a sense of like purpose purpose, Like how am I? Like, is this really what I want?

Speaker 3

You know? Yeah?

Speaker 2

I could ask a question like, Okay, did I want to try to work for, you know, a different kind of firm? Did I want to stay individual? You know? How did I want to work with my peers? I think I struggle with the idea of like coming to you like, hey, you know I want to manage your account. You know I want to I want you to trust me in my firm and allow me to invest your funds. I think I probably could have gotten more comfortable, but

I don't think that's really what I wanted. So I kept on looking, you know, and I kept on looking.

D'Brickashaw shares what led him to wanting to become a nurse

The pandemic happened, you know, again changed my relationships. So my situation was completely different. And I'm like, well, I still have to find self. I'm still alive, right, I still have purpose. Yes I played football, Yes I had a great career, But what am I today? And I was having a lot of conversations with my mom and she was like, you know, the one thing that I she's a nurse. One thing that she liked about nursing

was the opportunity to learn a new space. But you can also learn a lot of different spaces, a lot of these, whether it let's say becoming a doctor, whether it become a lawyer. Sometimes the barrier of entry is a little bit longer. You know, you can become a go to law school and not get a job. You know, you can become a doctor, but that might be a seven year commitment, especially if you specialize in the area. And I just needed that sense of like, I think

I can I can do this, right. I hadn't done sciences since I don't know high school, so my confidence in that space was like, I don't know if I can do this. UVA was hard for me, so I'm like, I don't know about this, you know. So I went to community college. I took my prerequisites, and I just kind of started, you know, one class at a time. I think for me, it was really important. I think

we touched on it a little bit before. Is like I wanted something that I could offer, Like, yes, I played football, but I have this I'm qualified to do this work. And I played football. So if both of them helped or you know, encourage one another, great. But even without football, I can still do my job with excellence, right, and that's something we learned as athletes. So did the prerequisites,

and then I just started applying to nursing schools. I applied to nursing programs, got into several, and then you know, going to start in the fall. So I'm excited for that opportunity. There gives me an opportunity whether I want to, you know, do more like a nurse practitioner. You know,

I can, I can do my training and reassessed. Maybe I don't want to do that, Maybe I want to do more like urgent care or just so I don't know and I think I like that I have the ability to learn and figure that part out.

Speaker 3

Are you willing to be a travel nurse?

Speaker 2

Travel nursing a little challenging with kids.

Speaker 3

Okay, let's back up, guys, we're gonna go.

Speaker 2

In the RV. You know, Lord, that's what's up.

Speaker 1

Though, Man, I think I like that I kind of found myself in your I can identify with that because when I retired, I I did some media stuff for a while and I enjoyed it. I just didn't have fun with it immediately. It was fun, it was good, but it just wasn't like I needed something just a little bit different.

Speaker 5

And then now, you know.

Speaker 1

Six almost six years later, you know, I'm kind of back in the media and now I'm I'm loving every minute of it.

Speaker 3

You know.

Speaker 4

It's also about the company you keep.

Speaker 3

Yeah, definitely about the company.

Speaker 1

It's my guy, say he's been partnering crime. I will say, I did this show by myself and it was trash. I was terrible, but I needed somebody to help me. And this has been my guy, even Age Boone Cooon since since yeah, since day one.

Speaker 3

So yeah, I appreciate you.

Speaker 4

So let's talk about somebody that is helping, and that's

D'Brickashaw talks about education being the foundation of

you break your foundation really high value in.

Speaker 3

Education in our youth.

Speaker 4

Could you talk about what clearly education has been a big part of your life and I can tell your mom's a big influence on that. Maybe just share with us the importance of it with you, your foundation and the educational part of it.

Speaker 2

And I think that was something earlier on that we were like, look, everybody doesn't have this opportunity to play in the NFL. I had people who I went to school with and for whatever reason, weren't given the same opportunities, whether financially, to go to college and do those things right. So I wanted to be able to financially give scholarships but also have transition programs. You know, what is it like to be a student athlete. So we had like skills and drills. How do you learn? How do you

what are some of the learning skills? Are you more auditory? Do you have to write things down? Like can you see like what visual?

Speaker 3

Like?

Speaker 2

What are your learning skills? And so we would bring in different professionals, even a little finance. You know, do you want to get that credit card in college or do you just not mill? Don't you just get the meal plan, eat the nasty pasta. But you're not going to be in debt when you're thirty, right, So it's like you learn those little skills and it was just a way to kind of equip students as they transition into college.

D'Brickashaw shares his "welcome to the NFL" moment

Speaker 6

We're going to take a short break and we'll be back in a minute.

Speaker 4

All right, So what was your welcome to the NFL moment?

Speaker 2

Well, one of the positive welcome to the NFL moment was the draft, and I think that was an exciting, exciting time. I remember my first game Tennessee Titans went against Travis Leboy and I'm like, man, I could do this. I think I could play. I've also went against some other guys where I'm like, I don't I don't know if this is for me, And I think I got

to think about this. I was going against Warren Sap one game and he's just telling me what I was doing wrong, too hot, rookie, too high, sank and I'm like, oh, you know, I was like, man, I don't know.

Speaker 1

You know, I don't think i've ever heard somebody.

Speaker 3

I was early.

Speaker 2

I was early in the game, but I was older. I went against DeMarcus where did the same thing, you know, you know, sack my quarterback.

Speaker 3

Hey Brick, how you doing you?

Speaker 2

All right?

Speaker 3

Man?

Speaker 2

I'm like, get off me.

Speaker 3

I don't know you stop.

Speaker 2

We're not friends, but yeah, you know something, I disliked the nice guys more than I like the angry guys. Like the angry guys, I like, I don't like you either. The nice guys are like, hey, man, you know the sack you you sack a quarterback and they help you.

Speaker 3

It's the nicest guy.

Speaker 1

He hated him for because I didn't want to jam him, because I was just like, I want to just shoot you, but.

Speaker 4

Then you'll crack blocking when you're not watching.

Speaker 3

It's like with.

Speaker 2

That Hines Lord.

D'Brickashaw gives advice to a newly retired NFL player

Speaker 3

Fits is.

Speaker 5

That's that's him, all right.

Speaker 3

So let's let's let's do these quick hitters real quick.

Speaker 1

So obviously we all have to retire, and we all have to try to figure out something.

Speaker 3

Uh what we're gonna do? What would what?

Speaker 1

What would be your advice to a newly freshly retired NFL player?

Speaker 2

Self awareness is key, really learning like who am I, what do I do well? What don't I do well? And not from us like not presenting to other people, but like understanding self like, what are the areas that I really struggle with? And because I think those are the things that don't go away, you'll you'll still be with those as you go to all these different places. And so I think learning that as best as you

can is helpful. That could be done through therapy, that could be done through church, that could be done through friendship. I think it's a collection of everything. You know, some really tight friendships where people are just telling you about you and not just you know, telling you maybe what

D'Brickashaw reveals why his own teammates fined him for his car choices

you want to hear or what has always been the norm. But I think if you know yourself a little bit better, you can make decisions that are more in line with who you are, particularly as a retired athlete.

Speaker 4

All Right, so I'm supposed to ask you a quick hitter, but I gotta I gotta know this one. Because you got paid when nobody went back in the day before they changed the SBOCA. What was your first big splurge purchase.

Speaker 2

I mean, so I was I was one of those rookies that like didn't it was new to me, so I didn't want to touch it, you know, I didn't know what to do. And so here's a funny story. I'm sure you don't know. This one my offense on line, my brothers in the trenches. They would find me every day until I bought a new car. I had a four Tourist green I think it was nineteen eighty three, and.

Speaker 3

You were rolling through this every day. How long did you know?

Speaker 2

Then I upgraded my bed. I'm sorry. So my dad he used to have cars for work, business cars, and you can have the option to buy it. So it's like a two thousand and two gray gun metal four tours and I had that, and my all lineman would find me. Pete Kendall, Brandon Moore, Anthony Clement, they would find me.

Speaker 3

How much were they finding you every day?

Speaker 5

I don't know.

Speaker 2

I don't remember. At this point, I guess it was just enough where I knew that I was messing up.

Speaker 4

It was just annoying.

Speaker 2

It was just annoying. And I did buy a car. It was like a new car, but it wasn't the latest model. And then I got disappointment looks on them,

D'Brickashaw shares who is on his personal Mt. Rushmore

They're like, this is what you bought. So it was hard. It was hard from the beginning. You know, there was another player like me who was like, yeah, save your money, do all the things that you're supposed to do. I wasn't getting that positive reinforcement.

Speaker 4

And my last question break is who's on your mount rushmore of influence in your life, whether it's sports, personally, emotionally. Uh, it's four and I'd like to know your personal mount.

Speaker 2

Rushb m hmm. Definitely my my I'll say my parents. They're they're a unit. They're solidied, all right.

Speaker 3

Can we count him as one?

Speaker 2

Yeah, willcount them as one. I have a principal. His name is Jim Brown. He's somebody who I feel kind of led the way early was this high school, junior high really junior high school, junior high school. But we've been in I met with him recently. We stayed in contact. I was in his wedding, like you know, and I think he provided a sense of leadership outside of you know, that family household. I would see him in school and

everybody had that his respect. I would I want to say a pastor, pastor Harry J.

Speaker 1

White.

Speaker 2

He's sense deceased, but he was a natural encourager. You know, he got out of his way to acknowledge myself and my brother, even to the point where you get in trouble, right because you can't be calling out people's kids. And then you know, there's a whole church of kids, and man, these these Burgerson boys, oh man and these other children. Everybody in the church. Just clap your hands for the youth, for the youth. And uh you know, so he was.

He was definitely somebody who I felt was impactful. And I'll give you in the coaching spirit. Uh, he was my Showta con instructor. His name is Ray Bobin.

Speaker 3

For those that don't know what shodakan is.

Speaker 2

So it's a Japanese style of martial arts. You know. Back when we grew up, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, like Jackie Chan that was everything. That was everything. Nowadays it's like, oh, that's that's nice, that that's cool.

Speaker 3

But it was Steve.

Speaker 2

So that was the beginning and and so they even had it, you know, it was retro. I don't remember if you uh he's an actor, Jim Kelly the uh he was like, uh, he's a black martial artist back in the day.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 2

So it's like my my learning was from uh, like I said, brother, very strong, but it was like the beginnings of discipline. There's a point where the novelty wears off, I don't want to do this anymore, and you look at your parents and like this is we're doing this, and.

Speaker 3

You're like, but I.

Speaker 2

So it becomes hard. You're doing your pushups, you're you're doing all the things that you don't want to do, but you're learning your body, you're learning how to fight through things. And so when I met my high school coach, I leaned on this. Then I met my college coach, I leaned on high school. When I met it always got harder, it never got easy, it never got easier,

but I had something to lean on. And I think those individuals like that provided foundation throughout my whole life that I can use even today as I reflect on you know, everything, And I think even as I get older, I have a different type of respect for my mom. I have a different type of respect for pastor White because now I know them, I know more of their story.

Now when I've heard things that have popped up, it's like I'm seeing that as an adult and not as a kid, you know, and so it's like, oh, wow, Okay, there's depth here. It's not exactly what I thought when I was a child, but it's actually even richer. Now you know, when I think of my old instructor, I think of my old principle, It's like they just provided leadership at a time that I didn't even realize I needed, but it was there and it was a pillar, you know' that's dope.

Speaker 3

I'm using that just what I lean on.

Speaker 1

I'm gonna try to tell that to my son because good luck, yeah, good luck.

D'Brickashaw turns the table and asks Roman and Peanut how their transitions are going

Speaker 5

I'm still gonna use it though. We're gonna see what happens.

Speaker 4

Pete and son is the same kid that gets his socks wet, takes him off, and then when he needs to go put shoes on, puts the same wet sox on.

Speaker 3

I'm getting there. He is extremely consistent. So I love it.

Speaker 2

I love quality. You know, how is your transition? You know we've been out, we've been out the league for some amount of times. I mean, I the last time we had spoken was during that Columbia University, you know, and so at that time it seemed, you know, that was that time. So just like a snapshot, like house's life change for you, guys words, it brought you.

Speaker 3

So deep brick.

Speaker 4

At that point in time, I had three kids, and now I have four at a COVID child, another baby boy. Me and my wife are still married. But at that point in time, I was not doing anything. I was literally just trying to figure out what I wanted to do.

Speaker 3

I took three hundred and sixty five.

Speaker 4

Days did nothing, and then once I did that, this was part of my after three sixty five days when I was taking the class at Columbia and and really just trying to figure out what I wanted to do. And so since then now I work for ESPN SEC Network. So so Saturdays, we got a show called SEC Nation, so we travel around the SEC were covering all the teams, and I do a show on Tuesday night.

Speaker 3

So that's what I'm doing.

Speaker 4

I'm doing this as well and in some other real estate place around the South that I'm kind of trying to be looking out for and things like that. So that's really what consumes my life and four kids. So yeah, I mean that's that's all I got. But I live in Charlotte. We got to exchange numbers because you know, you're one of my favorite people when we get together.

Speaker 2

That's how I praise. I appreciate that.

Speaker 5

Oh yeah, I did the I did Fox Sports.

Speaker 1

I did that for a while. Just got out of that, did some law enforcement. Now I'm working with Rome. We're doing this show right here, got four kits.

Speaker 3

I'm busy. I'm busy with my.

Speaker 5

Kids and uh yeah, that's that's that's about it.

Speaker 3

But hey, man, I appreciate you.

Speaker 4

H this is one of the best interviews we've had, just purely because you were so open candidate, and you really gave like the listeners and viewers like a real insight on like not just telling you what to do, but like some steps to achieve it. Also being vulnerable and like, look, man, it was a lot of growth and like the things that happened in my past were

it wasn't always good. Actually, when I got continue to advance, I needed to lean on those rough times absolut to continue to push me and to tell me I'm award for the next journey.

Speaker 3

Like you don't even see.

Speaker 4

What's out there, but the things that you're going through now is it's really going to get you through the next the next one. And uh man, that was just really deep and good, bro. It was getting ship very genuine well break man. Appreciate it, man, Thank you for joining us. Man, you were off the hot seat.

Speaker 3

Man.

Speaker 1

Thank you guys, for listening. You know, with every show we do, in every guest we have, we try to make it very authentic and just be vulnerable and open and secure and make this a safe place for these guys to talk. And you guys have been awesome for supporting us. We can't thank you enough.

Speaker 4

We are here to educate and entertain, So make sure, like always and I always ask you, make sure you hit the subscribe button, give us a five star rating, tell a friend to tell a friend to do repet tell a friend, make sure anywhere you get to your podcast where it's Apple or iHeart linked in.

Speaker 3

Appreciate y'all

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