Raven's Bradley Bozeman talks about personal experiences with bullying

raven for the Ravens for a year. And also the success in the admiration with the University of Alabama and what has caused the consistency of the excellence competitive excellence that Nick Saban taught not only the Bradley but every young man that came through the University Alabama. Well, we're gonna start with the house, Bradley, I'm hearing University Alabama

not all. This is just don't equate to me, all right, going to the Universe Alabama playing with the Ravens union wife Nikki end up living in the r V. Let's just start there. How in the world does a professional athlete end up living in the r V for an entire year. So we have the Bradley Nicky Boseman Foundation, and it's a foundation that is based on childhood bulling and we focused and fight against childhood bulling. We go uh school to school, and then we were getting all

these conversations from you know, Arizona, Texas, California. I wanted to fly us out to come to their schools to talk. You know. We were like, well, we can't just fly out every weekend. So we planned a trip. We bought an r V and in the meantime we decided to live in the r V. Lived there for eleven months, absolutely loved it, met some great neighbors. Nicky and I worked on a communication skills because there's nowhere to hide in the in the r V. So you know, it

was just a great experience. We bought a house right before COVID and didn't have to go through quarantine and in the trailer, so happy about that. But uh yeah, it was an amazing experience. And went across country to um from Maryland to California and back and talked to over ten thousand students in twenty two different states. Now, Brad, I'm looking at you. You're not a little guy, so it's not like you walking around high school with somebody

bullying you. How did you end up with this passion to anti bullying when you were probably least likely at least once you got you got to high school to be bullied, right. So for me, you know, I was always tell the kids they look like a gust s glue from Tarling and Chocolate Factory. I was like a gust of Schluey from Charlton and the chocolate factory. So you know he falls in the in the chocolate fountain and all that stuff. But um, I was a big teddy bear. You know, I was a big kid teddy bear.

People taking advantage of that and they bullyed me. They picked on me. I had a um a reading challenge when at a young age, I was called stupid, slow, whatever you want to call it. You know that that affected me. And so looking back and Nicky was the same way. Nikki is six ft Once she played basketballt University of Alabama. She was the tallest kid in her grade for a really long time. People uh picked on

her for that. And so we we saw that we were asked to come to a school or actually do a video for this little girl that was getting picked on simply because of her her race. You know, she was beautiful, she was smart, she was athletic. I mean she was everything that a kid wanted to be. But she wasn't the right race apparently to some of these kids. So we were asked to do a video, and we said, well, instead of doing the video, why don't we just come down to the school and talk to the girl and

the kids that are buoying. So get down there. And the principle was like, well, you know, we set up assembly, so you guys, if you don't mind just talking to the old school, if you knowing me at the time, not a public speaker, like sweaty hands, like summing over my words, like I just can't hold myself together. But my wife is like she thrives and she loves it. So she's like, no, we're gonna do this. She's gonna

be fine. And so she was my girlfriend at the time, and so we got in there, we started talking, the words started to flow, and the emotion started rolling, and it was just it was such a beautiful thing that had happened there. We got to the car and her and I both just started started bawling. I mean, it was like, this is this is what we're called to do. So now we've talked over a hundred thousand students since two thousand and eighteen, and it's been such a life

changing organization for us. And then we switched to Food and Secure. After Food and Security after once COVID kind of shut down all the schools and everything. So we fed one point four million meals over the last five months to Baltimore area. Why did you get this philanthropic spirit? Why did you guys get this from so our parents? I mean, nick and I were both blessed to grow up with amazing parents that taught us life lessons and

values of being a good person and helping others. And then Nicky and I kind of just took that ran with it. We had the opportunity, were given the platform by the NFL, by football, and to have that platform and not use it, I feel like it's a little selfish. So to to use that and to try to take this to another level and to help as many people as we can. It is such a big passion of ours. Why did you and Nikki discover what you've been teased about?

Your big right and she's tall, end up playing basketball, You end up playing football. I was also a tease feet too big, No, it's too big. He was too big and I had to dip in my head. But those big feet allowed me to cover ground. Then big nos allowed me to breed them more air so I could have endurance. When did you guys realize that what

you're being teased about became your assets? Yeah? Absolutely, And that's what that's what our mention is to the kids, like, you don't know what you know Jim or John is going to turn them to be. You don't know what their future holds for them. You don't know their background at home, you know, you don't you don't know what's

going on behind closed doors. And for us, you know, to to go out and use that and to um show these kids that you know, athletes and you know professional athletes and college athletes go through the same thing as as they're going through and to give them a voice, to someone to talk to and someone to to relate with is just so powerful to us. So a lot of the young people that you guys spoke with, do you find they think that we're exempt as far as

athletes because we're in this bubble. Do they look at athletes say Okay, they can't relate to like what you just said. They don't understand what it's like being bullied. Il could Bradley, who was at the University Alabama, come back now and tell us our story. So how do you get them to realize that we're just everyday people. Yeah, so we just we tell them our story. We start from the top, you know, like I told you, we start with I like a gusts plue from Charlie and

Chocolate Factory. You know, Nikki goes through her her whole her story was a bus situation where this kid picked on her every single day the bus every single day, would not leave her a long just constantly was just just harassing her. She saw that there was a flower for basketball trits practicing the mornings and you practicing that from so for her, hey, I get off the bus.

So that turned into playing, getting the scholarship and play at the University of Alabama starting for four years, you know, doing such amazing things. I mean, she's a better athlete than I am, but but I mean, you know, it's just that for her turned into something very special. And so to to use that and to talk to these kids and just be real, like just be every day people to them. And we always open up the floor at the end of the day whenever we're talking these kids,

we've talked to fifth through eighth grade. For the most part, I think no one's gonna share their story, no one's gonna talk about what's going on. But every we've never had a session where a kid didn't raise a hand and start talking. And I mean, just it's the most powerful thing. You're sitting there, You're listening to these kids that are, you know, twelve fourteen years old. They're talking about committing suicide and talking about, you know, wanting to

kill theirselves and just all this powerful stuff. As a thirteen year old, I've never thought of And you know, they shouldn't have a care in the world. It shouldn't it shouldn't be an issue for them just to go and live and love life. There's with social media, there's been such a rise in in suicide rates and young adults. So to to try to change that, to try to help and try to to take that statistic down, it's such a big cost to us, you know, social media.

When I even when I was growing up, you know, I went to school, I'd get picked on, I got home. I was safe. For these kids, they wake up in the morning, it's on theirselves. They go to schools. At school, they get home, they get on their video games, on the video games, and it's on everything. There's so much access to these young people and they're constantly going through this this challenge every single day. It makes sense, and it makes sense why why suicide rates have risen so

high for young adults. It's a second leading killer among young teens. What I hear is when you do those assemblies, not only the victims, but it has to be enlightening for those that are building absolutely when they now here what the impact of what they're really doing absolutely right. So, Denzel washed you to play the movie called Equalize It, where if somebody was done wrong, he's this uber driver

guy and he'd go right it. How do you manage your passion when you see someone I saw someone being bullied, but now you're this big guy. How did you manage that? What you did? Hey be about to stop, leave you, but leave him on? How did you balance that in terms of manage it to make sure you didn't go now I'm gonna thump you said you bully somebody else?

How did you manage that? Um, it's a great opportunity when you see it, especially now knowing everything that I know going through the things that I've gone through to be able to use it as a learning tool, to be able to walk over and it's like, all right, so how is this making you feel? How is this making you feel? Why are you doing this? Because usually there's an underlying issue with the kid that is bullying.

There's an underlying issue, whether it's home life, it's school, it's it's something, and they're they're using, you know, picking on someone else as a either a cry for help or a just just to relieve theirselves and to be able to go and neutralize that situation. I think there's a set out there that even for kids to intervene, there's one person intervenes on someone being bullied two percent of the time, the bullying stops for the remainder of

the year or the remainder of the lifetime. So it's um, you know, your your voice is a very powerful no matter how big or small it is. Speaking of bullying, how do you keep people from bullying? Let's transition to the ring events. How do you keep guys from bullying Lamar? When Lamar runs? What is that like? What is it like blocking for Lamar Jackson? The dual threat? What is that like? It's I mean, it's great as always start with Lamar is. Lamar is a better person than teammate

that is a football player. And guys had every opportunity to have a big head, to be arrogant, to to go and just be this the snob. But he hasn't. The guy has stayed the same person as he walked in those doors, hungry and driven. I mean, he's just the ultimate teammate, the ultimate person. I mean, guy shows up at at our charity events, he's you know, he does everything. He's being mobbed by people and he's just like it's fine, Like I'm not I'm not worried about this,

you know. He said, I was like, thank you so much for coming to our to our event. He's like, that's we're family. That's that's what we do. Like, Lamar is just he's an amazing person. But blocking for him is a whole another animal. That guys is special to get us out of situations where things are looking too great. I mean he is, he is a great, great football player, and he gets me out of a lot of sicks. So that helps a lot too. So you gotta you

gotta just stay blocking with him. You know, you gotta stay engage the entire time because you never know he's gonna end up, but he usually makes it look good. So when your office of alignement and you have a mobile guy like Lamar, first I got a chance to know him. We uh we actually Hall of Famous win against he and some other current players on family feud, right, and just to shout out and make sure everybody know

we beat him. So but that's what I meant and realized his humility is probably the power of the secret, absolutely of that ability. As an office of lineman. Take us into when you have a jewel at the quarterback position like that, how do you guys see man like if somebody trying to bully him, like hitting him on the ground something like that, how do you guys view that? As an office the line unit, You're you're gonna protect those those type of guys, I mean, like they're the

family jewels. You know that those guys are special. Now you get some you get some quarterbacks that are arrogant or cocky or whatever you want to call it, and you want to protect him. Obviously that's your job. That's that's what there we're there for, you know, But you know you're not you're gonna have their back. But at the same time, when you have a guy like Lamar, like you know, you'll live and die by the guy.

You know, he's just a he like you said, he's a jewel, like he's a great teammate, not just a great quarterback. The final question has released to professionally what makes a good officer the line um and the key line, because you guys have to be on the same page, right. It's communication and just that opportunity to work together to mesh too. I know, if I have a combination block with my center, what foot he's stepping with and he knows what a foot I'm said that we're not stepping

all over each other. We're not stumbling over each other my tackle, I know what kind of pass pro said he's gonna take, So that way I can adjust myself with him. Because he's the initial setter, you know. So if if he's setting flat, I can't set back because we're gonna get picked. But if he's you know, jumping way back and I'm setting up, I'm gonna get picked. So it's just about knowing knowing your fellow offensive lineman to go in there and just play balls to the wall.

Didn't know that those guys are gonna give you everything they have. So I think that's the definitely the key. So here a couple of random questions. You're in the r V park, but that year you're at Nikky War in the r V What was it like what your neighbors seeing Brantley Ravens player living in their RV park? What was that like? It was pretty common, honestly, So I was like, I don't, we don't. We don't talk

about it much. You know, we're normal people, you know, we we just football is what we do for a living. So the first time they found out was the first two people that found out where they're groundsmen that worked there. Uh, they're Gary and Bill. They're great people, you know, they have great families. You know, they helped us out tremendously through that whole like getting everything set up and getting new gravel in and all types of stuff. But you know,

it was definitely a funny. It was. It was funny. It's like you've been been They didn't know for like two months, Like you've been living here for two months and we had no clue like that what you did? They eventually asked me. And it's hard for me to lie to people about what I do, so I'm just like, yeah, I played for the Ravens like like no way, and just they loved it, so you know, they kept on

the download For the most part. We had some good close neighbors that that were really respectful and uh, you know, they come over for dinner and different stuff. But um, they were so cared about the people we were rather than what we did for a living. So it was it was always a good, good combination. All right. I want to close out what I called the half Fields and McCoy's. That's those families at always at war. University of alban University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. You tell me you

live within sixty miles of the University of Aubura. You end up going to the University of Alabama. First, did anybody in your city give you an evil eye? He chose Alabama? Yeah, for sure. Um, you know there for a while, I mean I was wearing some Auburge stuff. You know, I was a difference, and I would I would start just wearing Aburge stuff just to make the Alabama people and everybody listening. No, there's no in between, Like, it's not we all from the state of Alabama, we've

all been in Alaba, we all want them to win. No, it's if Alabama's in the National championship, albrage sharing for Hoover's playing against him, and vice versa the other way. So, I mean, you know it was growing up, it was there was no proteins. There was no you know, pro baseball, basketball, football, nothing. It was Alabama or Auburn. And you know, if you you whoever you picked at bird was who you stayed with the rest of your career. At birth, you were

you were your point. And this is like the baby gets when they come out the womb, and then there was a decision. There's a swaddle that's put on the baby if it's Alabama Albard. So usually whatever, I'm serious. Yeah, I mean you kind of you're kind of born into the family and you have the kids that kind of branch off. But I want to be different. But um, I grew up in an Alabama family. You know that. My my family was Alabama. My grandmother was Auburn. She

absolutely loved album. My dad was was Alabama. You know, it was, yes, definitely, you you picked the team you you rocked with him, But yeah, I love messing with my people in my hometown because they were like, Oh, you're gonna go to Auburn. Nope, it's like you're going to Alabama. I don't know yet, but yeah, So I grew up, you know, forty five minutes from Auburn UM. But I loved Alabama. Alabama was my was my team, was my dream. That's what I dreamed of doing my

entire life. Yeah, I told my dad was really young kids like I want to win Multipleness Championships. I wanna be a team captain. As ten years old, you know, I want to do all these these great things. I want to win the Rimmington Award. I want to win you know, I want to do all these things. Was ten years old, you know about all the names of Eastward Yeah, I mean yeah, I did. I loved it like we I loved album football and it was my

dream to go and play there. And so, Nick Saban, how do you first come in contact with the universal out of men when it comes down to recruiting? When did you meet Nick? So? I met coach Saban after my freshman year. So I was in finish up ninth grade. I had. We had connections through UM Tommy Hill, which was our UM apparel provider, and he had connections with the coaching staff up there, and he got me in contact. We changed information that got me up to a thing.

It was a day, so I got up there and then coach Saban is coming around in his you know, his blue suit. He always wears a funny colored suit whenever a day. And so it's like the spring game. So it's like, you know, the red team versus white team, the offense firsus defense, and so you know he comes around. It's like, holy smokes, that's that's an excapment right there.

And so you know, we got got the picture and shook hands, you know, did the whole whole spill, and you know, it was great, and then went on from there. We went over fifty visits there UM, So it was it was a great experience going through there and and having the opportunity to play. Last question, what would you say is the key to close sab in the universe of Alabama success? Why have they been had? They have great talent, a lot of teams do. How has he

managed to be consistently excellent? I would say discipline and probably mental strength. He he builds mental strength, their mental character. Everything is geared towards that. Our practices are geared towards you know, gonna break you down. Are running conditioning is gonna break you down. And just to have that that mental fortitude to continue to go forward and make your legs take that extra step to just you know that the practice to go that extra period, it's just it's

it builds it in you. Wow. This has been great. Absolutely, thank you, Thank you very much. Please tell Ma you we say a little keep up the great work too. I will do I'll stand well do. Yeah. This has been the NFL Legends podcast. To provide feedback or request a topic for discussion, email us at NFL Legends at nfl dot com