Special Guest – Kevin Rader

Count money man, money that grits us.

I'm trying to talk, trying to talk to my beast blood.

What's up gang?

Welcome to the grind cast.

Stop it, areas here.

Get ready to do it.

Get ready to do it.

New day.

What's up gang?

Welcome to another episode of the grind cast.

Get ready.

It's a new day.

And I got my man Kevin Raider in the house.

And I pronounced that the right way.

That's right.

Kevin Raider.

So I got my friend here.

And he was one of the stars on the Youngstown State

Penguin's football team the first to go back

to a national championship a few years ago,

since Coach Jim Trussell was there to do it multiple times.

So it was exciting to me.

I could remember before I met you in person,

I was on the beach in Florida when I kind of met you

for the first time because I was jumping up and down

in Treasure Island, Florida on my couch with my wife

because I was watching the semi-final game

where you caught that touchdown pass

to put us in a national championship game.

And I was going nuts.

And then I come to find out, you know,

I realized that you're the same person

that was from this area.

And I bumped into you at the Oxford Club before at the gym.

So we just kept bumping into each other.

Then I said, you know what?

You inspired me so much after that.

My mom went to Youngstown State.

I said, we're getting on a plane

and we're going to Dallas, man.

We got to go see this in person.

Then I saw you after the game, you know, again,

and then life would have it and you come all the way back

full circle.

And now you're here with the Pittsburgh Steelers

and in playing in Pittsburgh.

And we had a chance to link up recently as well.

So I just wanted to expose some of the listeners on here

to some of your success, man,

in the road that you've traveled

because it's a great road.

And it's a lot of kids dream to be where you're at.

But it's not exactly traditional or easy

to do what you've done and what you've accomplished

so far in your career.

And so why don't we just start off

telling people a little bit about you,

where are you from?

And what was your upbringing like?

Okay, so I grew up in Gibsonia,

slash Wexford area.

Yeah, right here.

This your hood right here.

I grew up at, I went to Pinewich and High School.

I was there from elementary school,

middle school, all the way throughout the whole system.

And I mean, my family were real close.

And if I had to talk about my siblings

and my dad and my mom, I wouldn't say anyone was very athletic

or just naturally gifted.

If I'm gonna say that, I'd say we're just very hard working people.

And how many brother and sisters?

So two siblings, I'm the youngest of three.

Okay, you're the youngest of three.

My brother's 30.

Okay.

And my sister's 27.

All right.

And now in high school, what position did you play?

So that's the funny part.

When I was a senior in high school,

I only weighed 200 pounds.

So I played wider receiver and defensive end.

I was always a physical football player.

So that's why I played defensive end.

And that wider receiver, I didn't get the ball much.

I always kinda like that guy split out wide.

That would crack block and stuff for the slot.

Yup.

And I was just that physical enforcer.

Love it.

Love it.

So when you went to Youngstown State,

after the transition from high school to YSU,

what was that like?

What was the transition like?

What was the climb like to get on the field and be a starter?

It's easy to see the one play I'm referring to

or the one moment or even just someone being a starter.

But I know a lot goes into that.

There's a lot of things that people don't see

in the dark for years until these things come to light.

So what was it like to transition into Youngstown State

and just play it and be in a penguin?

Yeah.

So I definitely had the harder path.

Since I was a smaller kid,

I'm in a high school.

My biggest, I'd say, slash offer was less Virginia.

They were talking to me,

but they gave my scholarship to another player.

And at that point, I had a couple Division III, Division II,

offers.

And in my mind, I knew I had the drive,

the play Division I football.

And I was talking to my dad,

and he knew someone that had connection to Youngstown.

So it was a week before Sonning Day.

And I went up there and visited on a Sunday

and they gave me a tour.

And I was like, yeah, I'm going to commit.

And I wasn't even on scholarship.

I was actually a walk on.

Wow, come on.

Let's go.

So I was a walk on Youngstown State.

And my freshman year, I actually played defensive end.

I don't know if you know Avery Moss or Derek Rivers

they're now playing NFL.

Oh, you two studs, two Bs.

They were on that team, would you?

Yep.

Those are who I played defensive end with.

And it's not until Bo Polini came, my sophomore year,

and he switched me back to Titan.

And once that happened, I had a lot of support

on a great Titan coach.

And I mean, it just took off from there.

Love it.

So when did you get your first start?

Was it sophomore year, junior year?

So sophomore year was a grind.

I'd played a lot of special teams.

I'd probably get in like third down

or goal line package stuff like that.

Kind of like, yeah, I appreciate in every moment of it.

Yeah.

But yeah, I didn't start really until my junior year

when we made that playoff run.

And even that year, I wasn't a complete starter.

Jacob Wood, who many people from Youngstown

and prior to the memory were 88,

mean him were basically splitting starting time.

So every snap I got, I had to make sure I did something

on the field that people would remember.

Accountant.

Yep.

So what things do you think in that process

have helped you get to this point?

Now what is this your second year in the NFL?

Yep.

So what came out of college with the Green Bay.

And then I actually got let go.

Saw you again.

After the preseason.

I was home that whole year.

And that was the year when the Steelers did not make the playoffs

when they put the bagels at home.

After that Sunday, they signed me that Wednesday.

And I've been there ever since.

Nice.

So this will be your second year with the Steelers.

Yeah.

Coming up.

Nice.

And so what things do you think in that process, if anything,

maybe nothing?

Well, what things do you think in that process

of going from defensive end to tight end?

And as a junior, split and time have you

gained from that experience or pulled from to get to this point?

Not a lot of people are split and time as a junior in 1-2-8 football.

And then all of a sudden, they're on an NFL roster for a few years.

Yeah, for sure.

So something happened.

I'd say for me, it's basically what happens when the doors are closed.

Everyone knows what people do when they see them in the spotlight.

But my entire career, I would say, is basically every single little thing I did Monday, all

the way to the next Sunday after practice, before practice, going in early for films.

Just getting that extra work that I knew I needed because I knew I wasn't the most athletic.

But I knew that if I did enough reps, enough study that I could overpass the guys in front

of me.

It's amazing.

It's easy to look at the people that you came up with from Pwees, to high school, to

college.

And it's not knocking anybody, but we got to keep it real for people because somebody

may need to hear this to inspire them.

But to me, it was crazy to see how much further even my career went in college, plan division

two football, mercy hers, four-year starter, captain.

I watched people that I grew up with and that I played with that were like phenoms and

their athletic ability, their side, everything was better than me.

When you look at the career and how everything played out, it was mind blowing to see where

I would end up and where those people would end up because I thought those people would

have been playing at Ohio State or Michigan or Florida and stuff like that.

To see where you've come from, saying, maybe I wasn't the fastest or I wasn't the best

athlete.

So I figured I had to probably a lot of people you saw that had maybe some more speed

or some more, they came in full scholarship, four-star recruit, D1 transfer and they don't

make it as far.

Isn't that crazy and what do you think kids or people that are pursuing a dream, whether

it's a young man playing football right now or somebody pursuing a dream in anything?

Because I think my only experience coming into business was other than me being in the

streets as a kid growing up.

My only other real experience that I think helped me in business was just playing sports.

But playing football specifically and doing it small with the same type of walk on mentality

chip on my shoulder.

And I think it all translates.

It's like the game of life.

You know what I mean?

Football has a lot of similarities.

What you're going to need to do in life.

What things do you think people can pull from all of that that we're talking about here

that you don't need to be the most talented and there's a way to grind through that.

What things do you think people can do, whether it's in business or in football to get an

edge if they don't have those things?

Yeah, so basically it doesn't matter if you're playing football, if you're in marketing,

if you're in a calendar, it doesn't matter.

It all comes down to your work ethic in my opinion.

I've seen the most athletic people in the world that just don't have the drive.

Am I a personal opinion?

The guys that do get the bigger division one offers like Ohio State, LSU, Alabama.

Don't get me wrong.

Athletic gifted people out there knocking on any of them.

But most of the time they're fully developed in ninth, tenth grade.

They're fully grown into their bodies.

So these big programs want them early.

And I was the opposite of that.

I was a late bloomer, which there's a lot of kids like that.

That's when you're playing especially when I was a youngstown and we'd play bigger teams.

They went to Pittsburgh and there are guys on the teams and they're all, we're going

to lose or I don't want to play them.

I remember we had an opportunity to play Ohio State before they made a role that we couldn't

play the big ten.

And I was upset about that because I would love to play Ohio State.

It all comes back to the work ethic.

It really does because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter.

If you're going to go harder, if you know more about the game or just in life if we're

talking about people in the average working class, then you can over pass anyone.

It just all comes down to how bad you want it and what you're willing to do to get there.

It's crazy.

What you can create in this world, if you're willing to sacrifice, get there a little

bit earlier than everybody else, stay a little bit later than everybody else, study a little

bit longer than everybody else, work out a little bit.

Even as we were walking up here, I was telling you, I was what Ryan Shayze earlier today.

And I got so excited because this is what I represent.

I mean, the grind cast.

If you talk to anybody that has ever known me from a kid till now, I don't think anybody's

ever played a sport with me.

You can't find one.

That would say I wasn't out there grinding, representing what the label is.

I mean, that's what I wrapped my whole self around.

I wasn't even supposed to be in a situation I was in.

So I just, like when he told me that, I wanted to just like, I couldn't wait to see you.

You know what I mean?

To tell you, like, man, that's the shit that people got to be doing.

That's the stuff that you can control.

And I remember I spoke recently to a group of kids in college and they were saying all

this stuff, picking my brain after I talked and I said, look, tell me who is the top three

hardest working people on your team.

And when they named it, it wasn't them.

And I said, that's the first thing you got to change is that's a controllable is if

you ain't the hardest working person in that gym, especially if you're trying to make

it, you already beaten yourself because you can almost create in this world.

You can control in this world a lot of the things in your outcomes, if you're willing

to put in that work.

So, you know, let's talk about the game that I was talking about when I'm jumping up and

down on the couch and it's a semi final game, I believe, you know, but the game before

the national championship game, yeah, if we won that game, we go to the national championship.

Yep.

And I think it was was it third down, fourth down, when you got that pass.

There were four seconds left on the clock.

Four seconds left on the clock.

Yeah, so that was it.

Either way, this is the last play.

Yeah.

So, there was four seconds left on the clock and this is the last play at a game and

walk me through what that was like, you know, just seeing the ball coming your way.

You know, the feeling of, you know, did I catch it?

Did it count, you know, the main and the emotion of walk me through all of that.

So me making that play, that in my opinion, that was nothing to do in that moment.

That's what I did the two weeks prior to that game.

I ran that play.

I want to say six or seven times in practice.

I got the opportunity to practice it.

And there were other plays in that game leading up to it that I knew we were going to run.

So I had a feeling it was going to come up.

It was going to come up towards the end of the game.

And it was a three by one set.

So it basically put me on the backside one on one with a corner.

And basically how it happened in the game is not how we drew it up.

The corner didn't cover me.

It was a linebacker.

So we're off the bat.

I did not think I was going to get the ball.

And I ran at the same way just so the quarterback had the trust in me that was going to be where

he wanted me to be.

And I looked back and the ball's already there.

So that's not normally the way that we draw it up.

But it's basically he that linebacker.

He was actually a Cooper Cups brother at the time.

He played a perfect.

He was inside of me.

And the only way I could catch that ball is how you saw it get caught.

I didn't have my left hand available.

And I basically just grabbed out with my right hand and just pinned it to him.

Pinned it to his body.

Yeah.

It was on his back left shoulder.

One hand.

Yeah.

Two his back left shoulder.

And you hit the

ground. And what happened there? I mean, did you know it counted? You know, what was

the feeling? What did you see first? What the hell happened? So that was emotionally.

So when I caught the ball, I knew that could not like go over that because that was the last

play of the game. I knew that going in. And I basically took my left hand over top of his

neck and like squeezed the heck out of them. And when I hit the ground, the ball didn't

move. We rolled over. I said, ball still didn't move. And at that point, two or three of

his buddies came in and started tearing at it. And that's when you see the pile and

every all the wraps are coming in. And they, I didn't like go of it, basically until

you see there's pat me on the back saying touchdown, touchdown, touchdown because I did not

want there to be any chance of a reversal because I knew they're going to replay it. So yeah,

I basically didn't let go until they bait, bait me let go. Game over. Yeah. Game over.

We go to the national championship game. I mean, I mean, that's something that you'll

take with you and show your kids one day. You know, I mean, that's, that's something

that that's so rare. It was only SPN. Yeah. I think to awesome. And so you even look at

that and you're thinking, you know, it was, it was the week's prior to that. It was probably

even years prior to that of, of, you know, who knows what, what amount of work or work ethic

you put in to have the strength in the coordination to pin that ball on the way down, thinking

about not letting the ball move, you know, all this going on. How many reps that, that,

that maybe other people would have skipped out on, you know, maybe was it a couple of

shoulder days that you didn't skip out on or, you know, it's like, who knows what ounce?

Because that's every ounce of you. Well, the big thing is my Tide Enko. She always told

us when your numbers call make the play because us as a tie then, you don't get many opportunities.

And if you drop the ball, that coreback's probably not going to come back to you. So every

chance I get throughout college, even now I make sure I make that play because you don't

know when you're not going to have that opportunity anymore. Walk on to a couple years in the NFL

now. There's a lot of people that go big time D1 and less than 1% of these people are, are

in the NFL for a year, two years. What things, and I know we've grabbed a lot of this already,

but just what things do you think separated you somehow to out of all these players, all

these people, all these big time schools, you now make it. And I bet you there's a laundry

list of superstar athletes that were not walk on that started as freshmen, you know,

at Alabama and they didn't get a chance. You know, they, they didn't make it. What, what

things do you think separated you a little bit from the others to put you to where you're

at right now? So it's kind of cliche kind of people kind of over think it sometimes, but in my

opinion, it's effort. And I've actually been quoted on that throughout my college career.

And because you don't know what play in a football game is going to make the difference. You

just don't know. If you take one step, if you take a play off, someone can pick intercept the ball

and they could score. You got to be that guy to tackle them. And Ray Lewis, I love watching his

motivational stuff because he's one of the best speakers and one of the best linebackers ever play

the game. And he always says your effort is judged between yourself. No one else can judge it

between you and you. And if you take that play off, you don't know what's going to happen. So I mean,

that's one thing I take pride in. They've gone on special teams. If I'm on offense or there's no

playsoff. You're getting in my career on defense. It doesn't matter. Yeah. I'm going full speed

100% of time. Love it. How about anything in the off season? You know, anything you think that

that you've done differently, you know, in the off season that not everybody does from an effort

standpoint? I think it's just a routine. There's obviously a lot of distractions out there.

If you've lived in the city, which I do. And I mean, sometimes you got close friends, you got

family. I mean, people that want you to do things. Sometimes you have to say no, especially your local.

Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of people. Not only everything else that would normally that would

bring, but now you got, you know, you got people you're from here. You know, too, self. So there's a lot

of people that hit me up on the regular that I grew up with. And sometimes I hate to do it, but I

have to say no, because I have a strict routine that I do daily. And I wake up at the same time every day.

It doesn't matter if it's an off day or a work day because I know if I change it, that's affecting my

diet. It's affecting my sleep later in the day. And I mean, with what I do day to day, my body is

my job. So I have to stay pretty disciplined and strict on what I do. I think that's critical. I

think even in, you know, and not only sports, but in business, show people that you'll see people

that have a big time chance or a shot, especially if they're young and they can't separate that.

I want a party. You know, I want to have fun, you know, to mean because you could be thinking, man, I'm

20, what are you 24? 24 years old. You know, I'm playing with the Steelers and I'm living in town.

And I only live once and I'm young. And I could just let's go out every day. You know, let's go to

the South side. You know, let's have, you know, let's, let's, and I think that's where a lot of athletes

start to lose it is, is, is they, they can't control that party, you know, that, that if they want

a party and that's how they start to lose it. And that's how people like you to walk on start to

gain those inches. And all of a sudden you give those people a chance. And by the time you realize

what happened, it's too late because they've already developed themselves in the, in the hours that you

were losing discipline. You know, to mean so. One thing I've seen actually is, if you're talking about

big division one programs, compared to walk-ons or guys from smaller schools, you're seeing guys that

are coming from smaller schools being drafted more often now, which didn't happen before. And the

reason is is those guys that are bigger programs, they have, they're at a high level and they're used

to being at a high level. And when they're not giving something or they're asking you something

different that they're not used to, sometimes they get defiant or they don't like that. And the

guys that aren't giving that and they never were giving it are so hungry that they'll do whatever it

takes to get there. Great full-fretty opportunity. Yeah. Great full-fretty opportunity. I think when

you have that attitude of gratitude, I'm just grateful to be here. And so I get a chance to do this

and you get obsessed with that. You know, I think the word for anyone that I've seen do anything

real special is, I think you need to be obsessed. You know, sometimes it's a negative word,

you know, people look at it as, but, but, you know, I don't, I think what you're describing to

me is somebody that a lot of people would describe as obsessed. I got to wake up no matter what,

I got to wake up at this time. Like, that's crazy to a lot of people. Oh, yeah. It's not crazy to me.

Yeah. I got up at 2.30 to work out. That's awesome. I was at the gym at 3.45 because my day wouldn't

have, would have went the right way if I couldn't get these things done before. I was in Youngstown

by seven o'clock before seven o'clock. Those things are the things that I think start to, to separate

people. And I think the obsession, you know, of, because if I don't do this, I got to, I won't get

enough sleep or not got to worry about my recovery or I won't get enough meals in. I won't get the,

like, that's a freaking obsession, dude. You know what I'm saying? That's not an average like,

ah, we're just going, no, that's like someone that is meticulously obsessed with what the heck they're

doing right now. You know what I mean? How, how, how would you describe, you know, what I'm talking about

as far as obsessed? Would you say that you need to be some form of, of, of obsessed to achieve certain

levels of greatness? I had to say, I mean, people that, I mean, you look at people home the fame,

they always say, you gotta have a little crazy in you because not everyone gets there. You gotta set

yourself apart to get to that level. And I mean, it's, it's pretty simple. I mean, people overthink it.

I mean, it's very simple to do and it's very hard to do at the same time because there are so many

distractions. So many things pull it out. Exactly. What tricks have you used or what, what advice or

tips would you give to not everybody, but especially young people, you know, in their early 20s,

have a chance to be successful, having all these distractions. What, what advice would you give to

someone on? How do I quiet that stuff and stay in my zone? Well, the one thing I've noticed with

young, with younger kids and stuff is sometimes I think their goals are unachievable, which I mean,

I was one of them. When I was very young, I was actually an insecure kid that thought some things

were out of reach until I understood and I talked to people that, basically, we're talking right now,

that told me it is possible. And basically, what I'd say to them is if you want to do it, go do it.

Anything is possible. All you gotta do is put the work in. It doesn't matter what you want to be,

if you want to be in NASA, if you want to be the president, if you want to do it, you

want to put it in the work. Exactly. Go get it. No doubt. No doubt. So being with the, with the

Steelers, I would have to assume, you know, growing up in Pittsburgh that you were at some point,

maybe a Steelers fan, did you, did you like the Steelers growing up or was it a different squad,

where you're a rebel? Oh, no. I mean, me, my brother, sister, my grandfather, everyone loves the

Steelers. My brother actually growing up were Franco Harris jersey every single day. So love it. Yeah.

Love it. So, you know, that was me with the penguins. You know, to me, I just, I grew up on

Y's shoe, man. And when I was coming up as a kid, they were winning everything. We were dominating

winning national championships. What have you seen? You know, you were, you were briefly with the

Packers, being with the Steelers, you know, you hear so much about how great of an organization it

is. You know, it's success leaves clues, winners win. Every year, you know, you look at just the,

the, the, the last 10 years or 20 years, you just, you'll see how many times a day win, how many

times a day make the playoffs, how many times a day win a Super Bowl. You know, it's, they're up

there with one of those few franchises that got that ring. And they got the most wins in Superbow

history. So this is, this is, you know, one of the organizations. Is there anything that you can see

you know, in that organization that you would be willing to share and it's okay to share

that stands out on what's so special about the Steelers was to sauce. I mean, there's a couple

things. You could look at their coaching and the in the history. There's not been many.

They vary, they invest in the guys they bring in that organization and they trust in them.

They invest into the people that they bring into the organization and they trust in them.

Yep. Not a lot of turnover at the, at the head coaching position. Much like we were talking

about with, with, with why issue. Yep. Same thing. Yep. Now, I'm going to bring up this past season

that we just had because a lot of people think that we were going to do much worse than we did. And,

I mean, if you look at what we were dealing with injuries and people out on, I mean, no doubt. Exactly.

And I'm going to go bring up Mike Talman right now and his biggest quote, which I love, he says,

the standard is the standard. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter where you came from.

It doesn't matter if you're division three guy, division one, if you were walk on in college,

the top prospect coming out of the draft. If your number's called and the guy in front of

you's hurt or unable to play, you have to perform the same exact level as, I mean, my position would

be Van Spectonel. I mean, the other one people know would be Routhis Burger. He was out this year.

But yeah, that's the standard. If you get your opportunity, you're expected throughout that

organization to play at that high level. Love it. Any differences that you see that stand out

between Pittsburgh and YSU or how's that different? Other than you're going to class and obviously

you're in college and one you're playing professionally. But anything other than the obvious,

that's different or is it a lot alike and very similar? I'd say yes on both regards. Obviously,

the schedule is different. You got class and you got football day. Now it's the job. It's different

perspective. Everything is on you. I'll give you an example. When I was in college, the weight training

or stuff like that, the runs, they're all organized and it was mandatory. If you didn't do it,

you were punished. You had to do extra cardio and stuff like that. Now you're not punished. If

you don't do it, you don't do it and they don't care. It's very blunt and some people take offence

to it in the industry but you're a pro and you have to look at that way and you make your own

decisions on and off the field and basically what you do on and off the field determines if you're

going to stay around because a lot of guys get pushed out the league. The average is around two or

three years. I don't know if people know that. Three years I think. Yeah. And it's very hard when you

hear about guys retiring eight, nine years in NFL. It's a very impressive thing to do. Right. And

especially some games. The same organization. Eight, nine years man. You you ran the gauntlet.

Different level of respect to make it that far. Yeah. Those guys have a full

another level of knowledge and expertise on what they do every single year. Why do you think

those people make it because I got friends, you know, my neighbors. I got friends that have played

in the NFL that I'm close to and they got eight, nine years. And even the schools that the ones I'm

thinking of where they came from, you know, not perennial powerhouses, you know, one of them.

One's Wisconsin, the other one's Minnesota, two D1 schools. But just don't run. When you look

at when they were drafted, you know, all that, just it's not somebody you probably would have bet on

over a lot of other people. Making it eight, nine years. What do you think those people maybe had

other than skill set? You know, what do you think those people have that people that don't make it,

you know, average three years, you know, any NFL, anything stand out? Yeah. So obviously you hear

about the superstars and the league and then there's a lot of special teams guys that play eight, nine

years in the NFL. A lot of people don't know about. And then the biggest thing is there are, I mean,

I don't know how many colleges are in the United States and stuff like that. But I think well, how many

college football players come on every single year? Tons. So you're not just competing with your team,

you're not just competing with other teams. You're competing with every single guy coming out of college

with ball. And it's basically your hunger and you have to

stay on a constant increase of getting better and better and better because if you don't

you're going to get passed up and the big thing is the longer you are there the more

expensive you are. Your contract gets bigger and bigger and the younger guy is not you

got to either bring in that much value. Yep. And if it's a if it's a wash I'm going with

the guy that's cheaper. Exactly. Yep. Yep. I mean yeah that's exactly the way I look at it.

What's your what's your you know you hear I even hate using this term because you hear

it so often now it's so cliche like I stayed away from the whole model of 2020 vision this

year because I knew everybody was going to be using it. But you know what's your why you

know you hear people saying it all the time. What's your why you know what's your what's your

reason what's your motivation you know anything driving you you know but behind this effort and

work ethic you know do you have a specific why or also is there a place that you go when you

need motivation is there any mental trips or habits that you have when you feel like you need

a little extra juice that you go to. Yeah so for me there's actually a few obviously it's my family

I mean I at some point I do want to give back to them I made my mom a promise I want to buy her

a car at some point in my career and I very much want to do that beyond that it's me with my goals

in the game I mean it's I want to constantly get better and once I lose that drive I'm probably not

going to play anymore that's so much I love playing football and you have to at this level and

and any people that are successful they're going to have the same story now what field they're in.

Right. Success leaves clues. Yep. Yep. Um and I mean any mental mental motivation

stuff when when you're down or when you need a jolt. Yeah so me personally I brought the

Ray Lewis thing I love watch videos and anytime I'm with those guys I ask questions kind of like

you're saying you're speaking then guys are picking your head about things like that. Um I've talked

together. You're a ten of always asking questions when you get into room with with some of these

people you're asking them questions and and being a ten of. You're going and looking up

YouTube of Ray Lewis is that what you're saying you're you're going to. I have to for yes motivation

okay um but me personally when I got in the NFL my two guys in my room at the time were Jimmy

Graham and Mercedes Lewis and also Lance Kendrick's. Um all have nine plus years at that time in the

NFL so I had some knowledge in the room. Yep. Um was that a green bay? Yeah okay so I went there

and then they signed that Lance was there and then they signed Jimmy and Mercedes. Okay. So the

competition was steep at that point in that room um but the one thing I learned is take care of

your body. That was number one if you're not available you're not going to stay there. Yep biggest

things availability and the other thing is your drive. You gotta be hungry like I'm saying 24-7

and the one thing Mercedes Lewis was talking to me about is because he's now 14 and 14 plus in

the NFL years and when he hit year nine he changed the way he was training. He went more mixed martial

arts and oh yeah you were telling me about this guy and uh it increased his speed and everything

like that off the field and when he went on the field his his senses and twitch fast twitch muscles

were off the roof and that's something I've actually been incorporating to my training. I've been

picking up boxing and stuff like that. Beautiful. Yeah coaches you know any influential you know

coaches people you know I'm sure there's been a lot but any couple coaches stand out you know

that that played a big part in your life influencing your life and what did you get from those people.

So there are two and they were actually on the staff that we made the run with and at Youngstown

my junior year it'd be Bo Pley and then Joe Gans. Joe Gans was my tight end coach um he changed the

whole perspective on how I prepared for the game. He was he actually played quarterback at Nebraska and

he taught me through a quarterbacks mindset of how looking at the field how every time he lined up

you got to have a plan. You're reading the triangle of the corner linebacker and safety and

road he helped you a lot with that football IQ yeah exactly he shot my football IQ through the roof and

that's one thing that has in my opinion helped me read the field as I'm playing football um and in

Bo Pleyney he he he's a very very good coach and the thing he basically has the same thing as

Mike Thomas the standards the standard it doesn't matter who you are he doesn't care and some coaches do

they they they like the big name guys and stuff like that but um as long as you get the job done

it doesn't matter and he was always about work ethic and um you stay and after you there early

what are you what are you doing when we're not in the building watching you that's what he was talking

about yeah and that's something that I do every single day staying after yep and they're early

gotta pause everything if I if I'm doing a workout and I'm tired and because everyone has those days

they don't feel like doing it I have a monster no doubt and uh I make sure I try to do one or two

things that help me every single day that like boost myself to make me better tomorrow or next year

or something like that yep what what what is your daily you know habits or or routine that you think

keeps you on on track you mentioned you know I get up at a certain time I go to bed at a certain time

for the most part kind of what what's that routine looking like so it depends on the time of the year

right now we're in the offseason so uh everything's voluntary um all the workouts are up to you and for

me uh I'm getting up around 7 a.m right now at which will be earlier when it comes season time but

um I'm working out from that's a roughly 8 30 until 1 p.m now that's not just a lift that's

doing different things I'm doing a five hours yeah full lift I'm watching film I'm doing core I'm

doing mobility I'm uh they we actually have a lightboard in our facility that it trains your fast

switch reaction time so when I when I see that football I can react faster and make catches like

the one we were talking about earlier yep um yeah there's this little things like that that helps me

separate because I know there's gonna be more and more competition every year than I'm in this

industry no doubt about it well I'm I'm I'm excited for for you man I'm excited for you you're

somebody that you know you you want to see do well you root for that person that was a walk on

and and now they're planning their hometown and they're putting in they got to do everything extra

and all of that stuff so you know first of all congratulations to to you and how far that you've come

um you know but at the same time we got to stay stay hungry and not you know pat our cell phone

to back for that stuff um to where you lose that hunger you know what I mean so for sure um

closing out any any final thoughts or pieces of advice you know for somebody that is maybe

in an industry or in a sport where they're a little undersized or maybe not the most talented

uh any inspiration motivation words of wisdom words of advice on on how to go in their life

from walk on to NFL I'm gonna bring up the grind like you were saying um what you talk about all

the time and uh people get told this all the time that they can't do things I was one of them as a

kid and my basically what I want to say is don't let someone tell you that I mean you can walk away

or say something back it that it's up to you but if someone tells me personally I can't do something

I go nuts in the head and I am gonna do whatever I can to prove them wrong and I would just say do

whatever you can and it doesn't matter like you were saying to what an industry job

that will make you better and that will help you reach your goals and achievements in life.

Amen. Amen. Well congrats man and and uh Kevin how would would anybody you know is there any uh

follow you know if they wanted to follow you you know some of our listeners wanted to learn a

little bit more about you um you know because not everybody knows your name yet yet so how would they

get a whole of you how would they find you on social media or uh any other outlets. Yes my social

media is K-rated 83 um that's the same with my twitter you can follow me on either one of those and

I'm trying to be very be very interactive with fans that want to follow me or have questions or

things like we're talking about now um and I've been trying to get back to those people and as much

as I can and help them out in any way I can. Awesome man awesome. Well congrats on your success and

uh good skills not good luck on the on your continued pursuit of greatness uh here in Pittsburgh

brother thanks for coming on uh on the grindcast thanks for joining us on another episode of the

grindcast get ready us a new day. Count money man money that grits is by time told trying to

tell them I'm a beast.