#406 Packers Unscripted: Player profiles

Mother's Day to all the moms out there. I neglected to mention that last week when we signed off, but along those lines, West, you had a really nice piece on our website over the weekend in celebration of Mother's Day, to talking about the really poignant and well told story of Kenny Clark and his mother Nicole and everything that she went through to uh to raise her children, one of whom is now a rising star in the NFL.

A really nice piece. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, be sure to go on Packers dot com and click on that. But just your overall impressions of getting to talk to Nicole and talk to Kenny about his back story and everything and how it all came together, well, I just want to put this out there is for a backstory to his backstory. The reason why I wanted to do a story like this, I've been wanting to write a Mother's Day story for years,

going back to my time at the Press Gazette. But I wanted I didn't want to do it just to do it, as I wrote an insider Inbox. I wanted to find the right story. And this thing with Kenny worked out great because actually I was thinking about doing some kind of a profile on him late last season. Well then obviously he ended up having the elbow injury. He ended up missing the last three games, and then once the season got done, I went up to him

in the locker room. I said, you know, I would be really interested in writing a story about you and your mom, because you know, if you know anything about Kenny in in where he comes from in San Bernardino, um it's not the best area. And obviously he lost his father when he was nine. Uh, Kenny Senior still incarcerated um in in the state of California right now.

And that story has been told a lot. But the story we didn't really hear about it, at least I hadn't seen before, was how Nicole managed that as a as a mother of four when her husband's now out of the picture and she has to provide for all these children. Not only did she provide in the monetary sense, doing double shifts as a nurse in one of the

corrections facilities out there for women. She also had to do it, you know, mentally, emotionally, and being able to do that in an environment that sometimes can pull your kids away from you. She understood the value of family. You know, she was not raised by her parents. She was raised by her great grandmother. She didn't have her parents in her life. She was on her own when she was sixteen. If she ever got to that point in her life, she wanted to make sure that the

dad was involved no matter what. And that's what she did. And I thought her building that foundation for Kenny Jr. And her other three children was really set them up for success. His brother, Kian now is actually at forty State playing football. He has twin sisters that are currently going to school to be nurses. There was a nephew and a niece, a brother and a sister that she

also welcomed into their family. So providing that kind of atmosphere and sort of sheltering her children from, you know, some of the the things that could take you away from your goals, Yeah, I thought was so important and it's amazing to see the relationship they have today and and really how important she is not only to Kenny

the player, but more importantly Kenny the person. Yeah, and it sounds like she's certainly done her share of traveling to football games and UH and being around for Kenny and UH and his exploits on the field. One of the pieces of that story I thought was really interesting was how even with Kenny's father in prison and for those who don't know, um, he was convicted of second to murder, the family maintains his innocence. He maintains his innocence,

that he's been wrongly convicted in this. Unfortunately for them, several appeals have not gone his way, so he does remain in prison. But she made sure that not only was he involved to a certain extent in in his life and growing up, but that he was involved in his recruiting at the process of you know, um finding that college, finding the right scholarship and the right fit for a college program. And um, you had some details in there about recruiters from u c l A. Sitting

down in the prison with with Kenny's father. I find that uh somewhat fascinating. Um, you know, but you talk about you know, college coaches, recruiters doing their homework on somebody and really getting to know the kid and the family and everything like that. That was all part of it for them as well. Yeah, Angus McClure, who ended up being his defensive line coach at u c l A,

is also the recruiting coordinator. He was the one that kind of took the lead on that went and met with Kenny Sr. It's very interesting because Nicole, she's not

a football person. She she really didn't know anything about the game until Kenny Senior was in prison and then suddenly had to be sort of a shepherd for Kenny, and now she was the one that was going to have to sort of drive this recruiting process because more than anything, she wanted her kids still does because Kenny left early once her kids to get four year college educations, and she wanted to make sure it was the right fit. The football was great, but she wanted to make sure

the college was a good fit. U c l A was worked out great because one it was in the area. She was able to get to those games as you talked about, but also felt like McClure and the coaches that U c l A felt really invested in making sure Kenny grew as a person in addition to as a football player. Um And the bigger thing I kind of looked for that I think is just so important whatever happened with Kenny Sr. And in the situation that that is, it is what it is, he's serving fifty

to life. They're still holding out hope that through some different new evidence over years to um that maybe they could get a new trial. But the thing is is he had four children, and you want to make sure that those four children, and I'm talking as a society, not just as Nicole Clark the mother. You want to make sure that those children are able to lead healthy

and productive lives. And I think that's one of the things she really did a service to her children in making sure they did have that open communication with their father, because Kenny Jr. Was furious. He admitted it. When he first was growing up, that's a tough time. He's nine years old. He doesn't understand why his dad isn't there anymore, and suddenly he's asked to be the man of the household.

So for them to have that relationship with him and then him to be involved in the decision making process to go to U C. L A. I think it really galvanized that family. It really brought Kenny a sense of direction. He talks to his dad frequently. He calls before games Um. Last year when Kenny was the packer's nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, Kenny Senior did a video congratulating and how him on that. So there's so many different things, so many different avenues

you can go down. But the charitable efforts the families may the impact they're trying to continually make on the San Bernardino area. Uh, it's something that that really has been a calling for Kenny. And only twenty three years old, Michael, He's gone through a lot in his short amount of time and trying to find a way to help improve the lives of maybe some of these less unfortunate children. Is less fortunate children is is something that I think

is really important to him. In Nicole Well and I think you know, when when we look back to that terrible story from last December when all of the toys for the annual toy drive were robbed, stolen out of a storage shed or a garage type area and Kenny was telling, you know, a group of reporters about that, and you know, and this was what it was a few days before before the whole Christmas toy drive and these these toys were going to be distributed to all

of these you know, underprivileged kids in in the San Bernardino area. It's you know, your heart just goes out for stuff like that. And and then reading in your story how you know a mom like Nicole working double shifts and and to take care of her kids and provide for them, and and Kenny even saying, you know, it never felt like we wanted or needed, you know, anything that that it was all there for us. You know, we had presents at Christmas time, we had um family

activities and and things to do. So, UM, I hope certainly that he can continue what he's doing in San Bernardino with his mom and with his family members with this annual toy drive. And hopefully I guess get some better locks on the doors. I hate to, you know, but yeah, they're not there anymore. That was at her old house. UM, they would actually were in the process of moving out of there. They still had the garage. They've since sold that. So next year. I'm guessing this

won't be the same issue hopefully. Yeah, they were able to do. I believe it was a go fund me or something to kind of rally to be able to still get presents to kids. But it's just so interesting listen to Kenny tell the stories because everything that he does, she calls herself. I don't even know if she does. I think some of the friends and family call her

the manager for Kenny in terms of handling. You know, she's the lead person on his financials, but also any of these type of you know, camps and clinics and and drives that they run, she's involved with it, man. I mean, he talked about her his first football clinic that he ran in the San Bernardino area. She was cooking for everybody there. It's two hundred some kids. She was the one that was providing all the food and everything. I mean, that's just the way she's wired. She wants

to give back. One of her big things now that she's looking to do independently is to put together a facility um for the for the disabled in the San Bernardino area, people that have had difficulties. I mean, hearing some of the stories they didn't make it into the story, and the written story some of the stories about what she encountered when she was at the prison and the

people that she worked with. She's seen it because in some reguards, she's lived it with her husband, been being incarcerated, with them still being together. As she said, I mean, these are human beings, They're not dogs. I mean you have to treat people like they are people. In the hope being is that if you give them a semblance of hope, they're gonna want to correct their ways. And I just think you can't have enough Nicole Clark's in the world. That's the reason why we wrote the story.

And hopefully if you checked it out, um, you know, maybe a little bit inspired to by her story, her perseverance and you know the kids that she's raised today. Yeah, no question about it. And uh and obviously we'll be looking to see just where Kenny Clark's football career goes from here, because it looks like he hasn't even scratched where he might be when this is all said. Where

were you when you were twenty three, Michael? I was no. I was actually out of grad school with then I was working at the wasaw Daily Hero the But I mean for Kenny to be a third year veteran, just got his fifth year option picked up. I mean, everything's going so well for him professionally, but as Nicole said, he still needs to make sure he ties in church every Sunday, needs to make sure he's finding ways to give back because there's some people that haven't been as

fortunate for him to like him to find a way out. Yeah, alrighty well, I'll take care of a little bit of sponsored business here west. The Green Bay Packers get ready for game day with the powerful noise canceling technology of Bo's Quiet Comfort three five headphones. To learn more at www dot bos dot com, Slash Packers Bows the official headphones of the Green Bay Packers, and at Homer. Here in the stands, we all know that Green Bay fans give it their all and that takes a lot of energy.

So grab a warm bowl of Campbell's Chunky Soup. It's meaty goodness, feels the greatness of Packers fans everywhere. Try the delicious classic excuse me, classic chicken noodle soup. Just visit your local supermarket and asked for Campbell's Chunky sup Official sup partner of the Green Bay Packers. Okay, another thing going on on our website right now in terms of our stories West, We're going back to some of the interviews we got from the rookie mini camp a

couple of weeks ago. UM extending u UM some profiles on some of the Packers draft picks. One of those that was posted on the website on Monday was on Tye Summer's the linebacker from TCU seventh round pick was the eighth and final pick that the Packers made in

the draft. Has a really interesting story because anytime you come across someone who whose football career was headed down the path of being a quarterback, but then they end up doing something completely different but still make it to the NFL playing a completely different position, it's always a fun story. And and Summers is one of those guys. He was a star dual threat quarterback in high school, ran for a lot of touchdowns, through for a lot

of touchdowns. But his offers to play quarterback were from Rice, the military academies, UM places like that, and certain Ivy League schools he mentioned as well, so certainly nothing to sneeze at there, but he got an opportunity. TCU was interested in him to play linebacker, and his initial thought was, well, Gary Patterson and defense in the Big twelve, Yeah, why

the heck not? And so he uh, you know, as I said in the story, he has a lot of faith in his faith, and he knew that, hey, this is gonna work out, this will be the right thing for me. I've got faith, I've got trust in it, and it has. He had a very very impressive career as a linebacker at TCU for Gary Patterson and now here he is in the NFL with Green Bay. Yeah.

I mean, he's a quintessential seventh round pick. I mean, how many times have you and I talked about you look for if you if you're in the seventh round. These are guys that, from a fundamental standpoint, probably have some flaws to their game, but some areas that you

want to develop. You look at his forty four point five one seconds twenty seven bench reps, all the other things that he did at his pro day and being able to show what he can, you know, offer teams from an athletic standpoint, he hits all the targets in that regard. The other thing I really love about him is He's the true statement of an athlete. Uh We

we talked about it on draft night. You heard the stories a little bit about how Okay, when things got really rough for TCU and they needed him to step in as an edge rusher, as a defensive end, he did that and I kind of wrote it off like Okay, cool, whatever, I mean, he did what he had to do. Then when I saw him in person in the locker room, I'm like, that's an inside linebacker. There's no You're not gonna get anything confused in terms of where his position

is supposed to be. But for him to still play that spot and hold up, you know, his end of the bargain there. I think that says a lot about what TCUs coaches thought of him and really what he provides a defense and as the Packers also hope on special teams, and as you mentioned, getting back to the quarterback thing, a lot of times you do see guys that really do you know, your top players in high

school A lot of times are quarterbacks. That's just the position they want to play and it's the position that the team needs them to be at best athlete have the ball in their hands as much as possible, exactly. But with Summers, you understand a little bit, learning his background, learning where he came from, and especially being in the state of Texas exactly, probably the upside that was there,

and he doesn't back away from it. He thinks he probably could have tried to make it in the league as a u f A, but his best position was linebacker. He has that knowledge behind him. He keeps that in the back of his mind. This is a smart guy that has a lot going for him. And now we'll try his hand at, you know, making a career for himself in the NFL is and as an inside guy. Yeah, and this is a guy that has a red shirt freshman.

I believe he had twenty three or twenty four tackles in a game for TCU when he was really just still learning the linebacker position. I'm curious to see just because of the body type, those combined testing numbers that you mentioned, Um, I'm really curious to see how he adjust to potential special team's role in the NFL. He looks to me like one of these guys who can be a you know, all what they call the four core you know, on all four of the major special teams.

Units as far as coverage and returns and can really make an impact there with that, with that type of athletic ability, I don't want to write him off completely on defense yet, but you said it, West, He's he's a seventh round pick. He's at a position where the Packers at Blake Martinez, you have Orn Berks was a third round pick last year. You have various safeties who are playing this hybrid linebacker safety spot. But special teams is a place that the Packers know they want to upgrade,

they need to do better there. It's it's the phase that that is going to get a lot of attention here, and this is a guy who could really do something. If you're a seventh round pick, you better be able to play special teams. That just comes with the territory. Heck, if you're a second rounder, a lot of times you need to be able to play there too, and I think Summers embraces that. And at six, he has the

perfect body type. That tight end inside linebacker body type is what you often look for as those core four units, and I think he presents that the Packers. As I wrote an inbox this past week, I think there's gonna be two or three guys that are gonna make this roster, maybe new to the roster this year, strictly based on special teams alone. It's a big point of emphasis that for them this season, wanted to make sure they find the right guys for those units, not just trying to

plug and play backups from other positions. So that's gonna be really interesting and in treating to watch, And the thing I really like about Summers is he has a good head on his shoulders and he really seems eager to show that he can belong and I think in the long run that's gonna be something that helps him and and if you know down the road defense presents itself, you know that that's gonna set you up for that

as well. Yeah. Well, another late round pick for we have a story on the website if you want to check it out as well, is the sixth round pick, the cornerback out of Toledo, Kedar Holman. We talked about him a little bit initially west when he was first drafted about the odd jobs and stuff that you know, and unloading dunkin donuts, trucks and and other things that

he's done. It's a really interesting story. And definitely a player to follow here just in terms of how how far he said to come just to get where he is right now. Well, and we got a couple of details last week talking to him about what those jobs are, because it's one thing to just hear what it is in terms of a label, but actually understanding what they required is a little different. And you know, first off

with the unloading the trucks as a driver's assistant. You know, he's going around the Tri state area there long days to begin with. Your whole goal is you got your semi truck and you've got to unload all this you know stuff to all these different coffee shops around the area. And then if weather got bad, which as you know New York, New Jersey, Connecticut it can. Uh, they just put you up in a hotel and you're then rooming with this basically a stranger, uh that that you didn't

know before this trip. Uh. He did that for two weeks and then you know, moved on. He also had a job as a bread factory, basically just sitting in a line making sure that everything is up to you know, what it needs to be to go out to the public and making sure everything was edible and whatnot. Different type of job in terms of he wasn't traveling, but in this point you're just standing in one place. Did that for two weeks too, he said, he did pick

up a deli job before he went to college. When he got his opportunity to Toledo, that was probably the one he enjoyed the most. But all of those experiences taught him. Even though he had a lot of things to overcome in terms of academics, in terms his set scores, he knew in that moment he needed to get to college and he wanted to play football. He knew he could play Division one football, and then Toledo gave him

the opportunity as a walk on. Two years later too, and half years later ends up getting a scholarship, and now he finds himself in the NFL. It's quite the journey. Well, I'm sure before too long he'd like to start talking more about what he's doing on the field as post these odd jobs that that he was was handling in order to try to get that scholarship or get that

Division one football opportunity. But quickly, before we go in the subject of odd jobs, what what one in your past is the one that stands out the most, that you take the most memories from. Yeah, I mean everybody has their first fast food job, right, I think you did as well, Dirry Queen in high school. Yes, yeah,

I had my first at McDonald's. And then, because you know, you're always chasing the dollars, I then moved up the ladder on and I worked at a you know, a meat shop for a little bit and cleaning up like carts in that you know, when you got you know, they they come through and you go through the process of the cow not living anymore, and then you have to you know, actually clean up all the stuff afterwards. I got a chance to do that for a year

and a half. Then finally Mike vander Moss came calling and I can't was able to go to the green. I pressed cazette and didn't have to work those odd jobs anymore. So, uh yeah, but we all we all have them right there. What they are who shape us to be who we are today. Yeah, a couple of summers home from college, I actually worked on a painting crew. My uh um, my U s history teacher in high school.

He sort of ran a little summer business of like painting houses to raise extra money for his family, and me and another buddy of mine, like we we kind of like latched onto his crew and did that. And I mean, it's it's tough work, but I was also really thankful because then when I bought my first house in Green Bay and even my second house in Green Bay that my wife and I bought, I've painted like all the rooms and everything. Like I know, I it's

like I kind of know how to do it. I didn't have to, you know, just try to do it by the seat of my pants, so to speak. I actually knew what I was doing to, uh, to make my house look at nicer on the inside. You and Kyler Facral that was Facrol's job. That's right, That's right. Yeah, I'll have to share some share some painting stories with with the outside linebacker from Utah stay here before before too much longer, But with that we will call it

a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com. If you like podcast, you can subscribe and like us on iTunes and other podcasts services. On Twitter. He's at West Hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers to follow for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, We'll see you next time. M