Steelers Running Back, Trey Edmunds

Count money man.

Money back riches.

I'm trying to try and told him I'm a beast.

What's up gang?

Welcome back to another episode of the grind cast.

Get ready.

It's a new day.

And I got my man, my friend, my brother, Trey Edmunds in the house.

What's up, Trey?

Thanks for being on the grind cast.

Man, you guys are in for a special, special treat today, man.

Not only is I don't know if this is even going on right now, but the Edmunds brothers,

there's three of y'all in the NFL right now at one time.

Is that the only, is there any other brothers like that in the NFL right now?

I know the watch, you know, JJ's hurt right now.

Is there three of them?

It's three of them.

JJ's hurt, but still three of them.

Okay, but I think it's us two.

Okay.

Two families that got three kids in the NFL playing at the same time.

That got to be cool for your parents, man.

Absolutely.

How does something like that happen other than talent?

You know, obviously you guys got to have some special gifts to have the opportunity to

do that, but it ain't just that.

Absolutely.

What is it that maybe you guys have as a family that's special or something you guys have

done that people don't maybe necessarily see?

Absolutely.

Man, that's a loaded question.

That's a loaded question for sure, but the condensed version, man, is blessings.

You know, blessings, prayers, a little bit of luck, and everything else.

You know what I mean?

I think a lot of things have to go right, you know, to be in a position in which we are

right now.

I mean, and I think it was separate us.

Then the next set of three brothers is just a little bit of all of that stuff.

You know, it's like pouring in the cup.

All the different ingredients, you know what I mean?

But, man, we just had it all work out for us, and it all worked out at the right time.

How much do you think your faith has played a role?

Huge part.

Huge part.

You know, my parents are grounded.

They taught us how to be grounded, man.

You know, times where we make sure we are, we'll be aren't, you know, as direct on our

faith, you could just see a difference.

You could feel a difference.

Things just start to not working out how they used to be, you know what I mean?

So, you know, having that faith, man, having that anchor, you know what I mean?

That time alone where you could just really talk to them and really just strengthen that relationship

with the man above, you know what I mean?

Man, that speaks wonders.

We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that.

Love it.

So we got, we got Trey and Tarell or with the Steelers.

And then you have another brother that's playing with the Buffalo Bills.

Tremaine, yes sir.

Tremaine, yes sir.

Now you have to go, but two out of three so far, man, just great, great young men, great,

great people.

What would you say you've had to give up, you know, to play at the level that you guys have

played at, even at the collegiate level, you guys played at high level at once, you guys

were Virginia Tech for a while.

Did you play somewhere else also?

Maryland, I played at Maryland for a year.

Maryland, yes sir.

So that's, you know, that's high level football.

You've had to give some things up, I assume, sacrifices and stuff like that.

But things stick out to you, maybe childhood, high school, college, things that you had

to give up to go up time.

We gave up a lot of time, you know, we didn't have a typical childhood, you know what I

mean?

Like you talk about it all the time, grinding, we grind it so much, like we run on vacations,

we grind, when it was summertime, we grind before school, we grind like we used to work

out our school started at, we were leaving the house around like 735, 740, our school

started at 820.

We were going to work out at 6 a.m. at least three times a week.

Wow.

So in high school, so for the kids out there listening, I want to know what it takes.

Oh, yeah.

Three days a week.

There's the small things starting to separate yourself, not a lot of young people voluntarily

going to work out three days a week, six o'clock in the morning before school, making stuff

like that happen.

What other sacrifice?

Yeah, I think like that, my father coaches in football, you know, my mother was real hands

on.

She ran a professional track and field, you know, a Southern Illinois.

My father obviously played football.

He played at University of Maryland and played eight years in the league as well, you know,

what I mean.

We do it with the dolphins.

Yeah, the five years with the dolphins.

I remember Tarell told me about this one.

Yeah.

And we had him on the fight.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, man.

But just sacrifices, man, sacrifices, times, friends, man, like I remember we would do

a practice.

We would do the regular practice with everyone else right after school, you know, everybody

getting ready to go home, do their homework, do whatever they do at the house, eat, whatever.

We would do a whole another practice.

My father would take us through a practice that with my mother god of work.

She would come and take us to a whole another practice.

Two athletes, two athletes double trouble, man, I love it.

It was times where we would just look at him.

He was just like, nah, nah, we don't want, but they actually when we were real young, my parents

access, do you guys want to us?

It's just what you really want to do.

They never forced it upon us, you know, what I mean, they gave us the option.

But we all say yes.

And they said, okay, cool, this is what it's going to take.

And you know, they knew what it took.

They knew exactly what it took.

All that extra.

Yes, sir.

All that extra stuff before.

Yes, sir.

Absolutely.

And then, you know, we were just, you know, just what's going on in practice before.

And after that extra stuff that starts to separate people for an after was pivotal, we

sacrificed friends, man, we sacrificed.

What do you mean by that sacrifice friends and hanging out?

Man, you know, just you're high school, you're middle school, you want to do the typical

high school and middle school things, you know, but the path that we were chasing, those

high school and middle school things weren't necessarily in our best interests.

We wanted to hang out.

We wanted to go to the parties.

We wanted to, you know, walk around them all, you know, do whatever, you know, we just

wanted to be out there.

We wanted to be on our own.

We wanted to have a chance to grow up, have a chance to really like being in our community,

you know what I mean, and get into whatever in our community.

We wanted to do that because that's what our friends were doing at the time.

But at the same time, you know, no salt being thrown on any of them, you know what I mean?

Because I still keep in contact with a lot of them.

But our paths were in the line.

You know what I mean?

Our paths were not aligned, you know, the vision that we had in the vision they had was

just a little bit different.

You know what I mean?

And at the time, it was kind of hard to see, you know what I mean?

Because we're young, we're thinking young minded, we're not thinking long term.

But at the end of the day, I personally was best.

Other people that were in our corner knew it was best.

And we had to separate ourselves, you know what I mean?

It definitely ended some of those friendships.

But some of them, they were able to see, we were able to see.

And we kind of, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And we understood, we understood.

Most people don't understand in that transition when you're going to another level,

when you got to separate a little bit.

It's tough.

It's tough man.

Takes a lot of leadership traits and qualities to be able to walk that route man.

Because you start being called, you know, all different types of things.

Sell out, he thinks he's better than everybody else.

Because he can't come hang with us, can't do this and can't do that.

You know what I mean?

You get caught on that.

You know what I mean?

They want you to disown your neighborhood almost.

You know what I mean?

But we grew up in the same place.

We were from the same place.

We did the same things.

Right.

My street is your street.

But none of a sudden I'm different because I chose a different route.

Just certain things.

What things your brother also mentioned a lot of the impact your parents had on both of

y'all.

And I mean, just in a short period of on this podcast, you brought it up a lot.

Absolutely.

What things have you grabbed from both of them that you could point to?

Man, I really can point to these couple things for my mom.

Yeah.

These couple things from my dad.

What stands out?

Man, my parents, man, they were super, super instrumental in our growth.

Even to this day.

They're honest all the time.

But we needed.

A couple things that stick out.

Man, they taught us how to survive.

You know what I mean?

And I think that survival, that survival word kind of gets lost, especially in today's

culture because everybody is out here doing whatever.

People are growing up way faster than what we did back in the day.

And I'm sure what you did when you were growing up.

But man, they just taught us how to survive.

How to make it.

How to, I guess how to like see trouble, but not find it.

You know what I mean?

Like, identify what trouble is and know where it is, but not get around it.

You know what I mean?

Because you got to know what it is so you'll know what to stay away from.

You know what I mean?

But at the same time, like, all right, cool.

Now what I know is there, now don't need to follow it.

You know what I mean?

They taught us like, obviously, what's right from wrong.

You know what I mean?

They taught us how to love.

They taught us how to respect people.

You know, they taught us how to grind.

You know, my parents instilled that, waking up at 6 a.m. working after another practice.

They instilled all of that in us.

You know what I mean?

So now, when we get the college, when we're in the league, now we're doing that same type

of things that we're doing extra workouts after workout.

We're standing there doing extra stretching after practice, catching balls, doing whatever.

You know what I mean?

But it's just a continuation of what they taught us growing up.

You know what I mean?

So, man, my parents taught us all of that stuff.

You know, they taught us how to lead.

You know how to separate ourselves.

You know when things don't look right, exit or board mission.

You know what I mean?

It's just a few, man.

Like, my parents are real instruments.

They've been there every step of the way.

They never strayed away.

They knew the odds that we were faced against, but they always showed us that they were

in our corners.

You know what I mean?

So, they showed us what support is.

You know what I mean?

It's just a few.

Anyone outside of your mom and dad that you maybe had as a mentor that you looked up to

that you grabbed some things from?

Yeah, absolutely, man.

I think without saying anyone specific, I think all the women in my life.

You know what I mean?

I think, well, women bring to the table was so different than what men bring.

I mean, you know, men, we handle things.

We get things done by the end of the day.

A woman is a rock.

You know what I mean?

Like, it's not necessarily just in a family sense, but a rock in a sense of, they get things

done.

Like, they really get things done because they have to.

If a woman don't get it done, no one will.

You know what I mean?

Like, they show you how to provide.

They show you how to work.

They show you how to sacrifice.

Like, the woman in my life, man, like just sitting and work multiple times.

You know what I mean?

Lose out on sleep, lose out on family time.

Make sure a meal is there on the table every single day.

You know what I mean?

Make sure that house is clean.

Make sure you have the proper supplies and make sure you're homework.

It's not just different things like that, man.

Like, they showed me, you know what I'm speaking on myself.

They showed me what it's like.

You know what I mean?

To really, really sacrifice.

You know what I mean?

And they showed me what it's like to be faced with all these odds.

But still to fire.

You know what I mean?

So, man, I definitely just want to give a huge shout out to all the women.

You know what I mean?

Who are in my life and who are instrumental in my process, then and now.

Love it.

Absolutely.

You know, we're wanting back a little bit.

We talked about, you know, needing to separate from friends, stuff like that.

That's a question I get a lot.

That's something that in our youth program, we talk to people about a lot.

What advice would you give to some young folks right now that are trying to go to the next

level?

You know, most people ain't going to go play professional sports.

But they're trying to make it in some aspect.

And part of that, making it causes separation that needs to happen.

What things would you say to the young folks, you know, listening out there that are maybe

trying to do something that they need to separate from a crowd of friends, not that they're

bad?

It's just you just got to separate for a minute.

What advice would you give to those people?

Yes.

So, first I would just say, you know, identify what you want to do.

You know, what you want out of this life.

Like, like, what is your dreams?

What is your aspirations?

What is your purpose?

You know what I mean?

Identify that.

And once you've identified that, then see who can align along with you to help you get

to that.

You know what I mean?

Like, who is an asset and not a liability?

You know what I mean?

You want to bring people along that can help you and assist you not slow you down.

You know what I mean?

Like, you want to bring people along that's going to bring nothing but, you know, joy,

positive around for me, all of that stuff to it, all this positive stuff.

But anybody is bringing anything negative.

That's what you want to sit there and okay, cool.

I don't really know about him.

We cool, but not in this sense.

You know what I think that there's different lanes for different friends.

You know what I mean?

Like, if you're trying to go somewhere, I'm not saying the disregard your party friend or

disregard your friend that just want to hang out all the time or whatever, but, you know,

maybe he got to take a back seat for a while until you get to the point in which you

are.

And then you can reevaluate that.

We reevaluate that.

You know what I mean?

But, I definitely think that first you should identify where you want to go.

Identify what your purpose is and then from that point, you need to sit there and really

identify your friends one by one.

All right, cool.

Can they help me or can they not?

Can they help me or can they not?

Are they with me or are they not?

You know what I mean?

And at the end of the day, you have to make those conscious decisions on yourself because

it's only going to affect you.

You know what I mean?

Like, and if they can't understand where they really are friend in the first place, you

know what I mean?

Like, we just said earlier, like, everybody has to come to the same understanding.

Like you guys all have to be on the same page.

You know what I mean?

And then one person is looking at you different or if one person is saying, man, you change

or you're doing this or you acting different.

Well, what was there in tenches in the first place?

And that's going to show you a lot.

You know what I mean?

And a lot of times, we figured that out late.

But if you could figure that out early, I think that's a huge life hack, huge life hack.

Amen.

Yeah, the point is not to abandon people or to a root of who you are, but growth is changed.

Go to change.

Go to change.

If I don't change, nothing changes.

I'm telling you.

The part of that, man, you acting different and you change.

Thank you.

Because that's exactly what that's the mission.

That's what we're supposed to be doing.

And that's a hard reality.

That's hard for young people.

It's hard for people in general to be able to take a stand and say, you know, I'm comfortable

on my own skin.

I know my heart.

I know how I feel for people.

I know what I would do for people.

And I'm okay with if not everybody is understanding it.

What coaches, you know, playing sports all the way up, you know, it's hard to say, oh, man,

I had a favorite.

So many coaches play such a role, you know, in your life.

But maybe any couple coaches or anything stand out from some of your coaches, you know,

that you can stand out and say, man, this is what I grabbed from these coaches, you know,

that stand out to me.

For sure.

Like I said, outside of my parents, because my parents did coaches, especially my father,

he was my head coach in high school.

So outside of him, man, another football coach I had, late great Dennis Sanders, you know,

we all called him Dino.

He was father figure, you know, in our main life.

He's still a life in us.

You know, I always respected the coach that could preach life as well as sports.

You know, in a maybe because outside of the excess and those, whatever sports you do,

outside of that, man, it's a huge life out there, you know, what I mean.

And I want to be able to take the things I learned within the lines of scrimmage or within

the two, whatever the feel, whatever you're in.

I want to be able to take that, you know, and apply it to everyday life.

You know, I want to be able to apply teamwork to, you know, working, you know, outside of

football, you know, what I mean.

So he was big on that, man, he was big on that.

He took guys in as his own, you know, what I mean.

Like he picked guys up for practice.

He took them home.

He provided food for guys who didn't have it, you know, what I mean.

Like when it was game time, sometimes he would go in and provide clothes and, you know,

a nice certain type of guys who didn't have it, you know, what I mean.

Because that's just, that was the reality of it, you know, I mean, at the high school,

I went to, it was just some guys who just didn't have it for whatever reasons, you know,

what I mean.

But we had a lot of good father figures, man, who just happened to coach as well, you know,

what I mean.

And I think that that's what's.

separated them. And like I said, he just passed not too long ago, but man, he was a real

good solid stand up guy, you know, as well as a coach and also in college. I had a coach

named Mike London, you know, he coached at University of Virginia for a while, but I had

the pleasure of having him at the University of Maryland. He was just a real, another stand

up guy man, like the way he taught, he was real methodical, you know what I mean? Like

he taught with principle, he taught with law, he taught with things that made you think,

you know, that man, like he was real biblical, he was real spiritual, but also man, he was

real, you know what I mean? He knew what went on in the real world, but he also knew what

you needed to know, you know what I mean? He was able to apply the Bible with the streets

in a sense, you know what I mean? So I think anybody that's able to connect it to man,

as special individuals, powerful, powerful, no doubt for sure. No doubt for sure. What qualities

would you say make a good leader or captain, you know, if people are captains in the NFL

or captains on a college team, what qualities have you saw in those people that would qualify

them that you think makes them a great leader? Yeah, a couple of things stick out to me, man.

One ability to listen, you know what I mean? I think one of the number one qualities

of a leader is just being able to listen, you know, knowing that you don't always have

the right answers and you're willing to listen to your team because you created a team

in which you can trust. You know, the main team in which, all right, cool. You guys understand

my vision. So therefore, if you bring something, I know it has to be for the greater of the

group. You know what I mean? So I think that's number one. Number two, the ability to be able

to make hard decisions. I don't think everyone has their quality. You know, and that's just my

personal opinion. I think the ability to make those tough decisions, you know, those decisions

that could either make you or break you. I don't think everyone has that. And if someone

does have that man, their leader automatically, and just another one man, just someone who's

not scared to use their voice, you know what I mean? We all say the cliche saying, what's

right is right, what's wrong is wrong, but who can really live out that principle on

an everyday basis? You know what I mean? Who could teach that to others? You know, who

can show that to the people that's trying to get along, trying to get aboard and what

we're doing. The players or the people that you teach or the young kids or whoever,

you know what I mean? Who could teach that just by what you do, just by your everyday

actions like who can really teach that? And I think those three things, men are kind of

with separates the leaders, you know, from everybody else that she's from the Indians.

Yeah. What, what if you grab from Coach Tomlin? Yeah. Oh man, I think he does all of those

to a tee. You know what I mean? He, he embodies all of those traits. You know what I mean?

He, he understands how to relate, you know, and how to relate to grown men. I think

that's another thing. You know, you have to be able to understand your audience and who

you're trying to reach, you know, and he's dealing with a lot of grown men, a lot of

egos, a lot of pride, you know what I mean? A lot of attitudes. So being able to navigate

through all of that, but still have his voice be bigger than ours in a sense. You know what

I mean? Like I'm big dog, but I value you guys opinion. I value you guys time. I understand

what you guys bring to the table. I'm not solving anything you guys do, but at the same

time, this is my ship. This is how I'm running it. You know what I mean? And I think

that he does that balance of being able to listen, pull things from the team. Absolutely.

Be open. But when it comes time to have some authority or make a tough decision, he's

not afraid to not afraid to do it. Make a tough decision. Yes, sir. Bucket connect well

absolutely with people. Yes, sir. Absolutely. What other things stand out? And anything about,

you know, it's like, man, Ben's been quiet, you know, for a while, you know, here in Pittsburgh.

Yeah. So it's been really intrigues me because I think I don't know if it's true, but I've

been seeing it come up a lot, you know, right now, I'm saying about, you know, Ben made this

maybe his last year, you know, all that stuff. But regardless of that, you know, what things,

you know, from a distance when you watch, you know, him, what, what, what things stand out

about, about big Ben? Yeah. I think big Ben is more of the type of leader that, you know,

what I do, not necessarily as I say. I've been in four years, you know what I mean? And

Ben is vocal, but he's not the biggest vocal leader. Ben is more the guy that are cool. I've

been in the fog certain amount of years, a long time. I want super balls, you know what I mean?

Like I've been in face of this franchise, and this is how it's done. You guys watch me.

You guys do what I do. Now there are times where he will go in and insert itself, you know,

I mean, vocally, but more times out of nine, Ben is just one of those guys. We just got there and

does it, you know what I mean? And once you've been around and once you learned them, you're able

to understand that you're able to see that like, all right, cool. He's not one of those raw, raw

guys, you know what I mean? Like we have guys that's like that Cam Hayward for an example, TJ sometimes,

but but can't, but Ben is one of those guys is just like, this is what a champion does. This is

what a super world champion does. This is what a future Hall of Famer does. You know what I mean? This

what a MVP does. Like, so just follow suit God. I don't know. I don't know TJ at all, but I know

Cam somewhat. I've been around Cam a good amount, man. And he got a really good heart, man.

Has a heart for for people cares about people. What what what what is his leadership style? What does

he bring to the team that causes people to want to follow? Man, Cam, Cam brings a heart. You

know the main whenever you think of Pittsburgh still is hard, smart, tough, you know, the main

Cam brings that and Cam's vocal. So him and Ben, I think for them to be at my opinion, probably

the biggest player leaders on our team, you know what I mean? They they're their offices, but at the

same time, they both feel with each other likes in the sense, you know, to me or not necessarily

likes, but don't do, you know what I mean? Cam Cam's going to tell it to you exactly how it is.

If you need to pick it up, he's going to let you know. If you need whatever he's going to let you

know he's Cam's vocal. Cam's the one that's going to break it down. Cam's the one that's

going to be in your face. Cam, but it's all coming from a good place. You know what I mean? And

like myself, like man, I've been around in my whole life. So I'm used to that. Like that's how

I need that exactly. Exactly. So I think Cam brings that to the team man and we need it, especially

in times like this man, because we struggling. You know what I mean? So we need, you know, we need

to come more Cam's or come on out and just be like, all right guys, look, this is what it's got to be.

What separates, you know, people that make it and don't make it, I guess we'll just use the

NFL as an example, you know, they say the NFL stands for not for long. To me, for you to be in the

league, five years man, says says a whole lot. I mean, I know some really good people that played at a

real high level in college and didn't make it five years, didn't make it three years. I mean,

that's that's a blessing. And the great thing about you, man, is whenever the day comes when

you're not playing ball, you got you got a lot of juice, man, you got a lot of wisdom, you got a

lot of energy, you got a lot to offer that you're going to help a lot of people out there. Whatever

journey and whenever that journey comes, man, I just I will put my money on you as as taking

something to the next level and being super, super successful. But what does it take? You know,

what separates the people that you've seen make it and not make it, you know, if you could kind

of put it in a box for us of like man, the people that ain't supposed to make it, that do make it.

Yeah. What what stands out about those people? Right, right. Well, I could say before I say

what stands, I could tell you what doesn't, you know, I mean, talent, you could throw that out

because everybody's talented. So that has nothing to do with it. You know what I mean? Like it's

cast that come in the league every single year, you know, I mean that that that could play 10 years

if you were strictly based off of talent, you know what I mean? Couple things, man, I think it takes

understanding the business, you know what I mean? And that goes along with any business,

strictly for the NFL man, you know, just knowing how the NFL works and knowing, you know, how you

could fit in. I think a lot of guys come in and everybody wants to be the man. Everybody's not

going to be the man, you know what I mean? Especially if you got the man that's already in your position,

you know, you have to be able to humble yourself in a sense to where it's all right. Cool. I know my

role. Now I got to perfect my role. You know what I mean? Till it's time for me to elevate, not saying

that you should, you know, think less of yourself or it's not about that. You know what I mean? It's just

about knowing where you sit, knowing where you stand right here, right there. You know, on the main

and knowing what you could do, you know, I mean, to bring something to the team because that's what the

coaches are looking for. The upper management, all they're looking for with each individual can

bring to our team. You know what I mean? Like, bins are starting quarterback. If somebody else wants

to come in and be the starting quarterback and their pissed off that they can't be binned and their

players reflecting that, they're not going to last. Simple as that. You know what I mean? It doesn't

matter if it's Mike Vic. You know what I mean? Shout out to Mike Vic because that's my guy. You know what I mean?

But I'm speaking about as far as like someone with that much talent. You know what I mean? Like it

just doesn't matter because it doesn't fit the system. It doesn't fit what's already working for us.

You know what I mean? So you have to know your role and then you have to play well again.

I think being able to control your emotions, control your ego, control your pride.

You know what I mean?

I mean, your ego pride and emotions. That's a big one. That's a big one.

And it's tough. It's tough, man, because we all got to you wouldn't give you if you didn't have it.

Got to have it. Got to have it. Got to have some of it.

Got to have some of it. How do you control it and balance it?

Man, I think it takes time and patience. You know what I mean? It may even take failure.

You know what I mean? I think with me, um,

fell and taught me a lot sitting on the sidelines watching guys watching cats do what I do.

You know what I mean? Having the game taken away from me for short periods of time.

They've taught me, you know what I mean? Like I'm sure different people catch on or

grasp at different times, man. But just being able to control those things because

man, this game is just so it's an emotional rollercoaster.

No doubt. It's high as a life.

Um, as it's life. Man, you know what I tell I tell, I tell, I don't want to just say the young people.

But man, I wish the older people would listen as well as the young people.

But many young people sometimes they come in and they're like, man, it's a sponge.

I always want to be that way. I don't care from 50, 60. I want to cast a black man.

It's dude. You got a young spirit. I'll listen to somebody 25. If you got something to

give me, right? But something, something I try to teach on this is 51 49.

So you look at something as 100%. And you need that ego.

You know, you, you got to have a certain level of, yeah, you got to, but, but 51 49,

so 51% humility 49% ego. The minute that you get that ego above the humility,

whereas 51 ego 49 humility is when things start going south.

You're not going to be as good of a teammate. You're not going to be as good of a leader as a

husband, as a father, as a friend, as a coach, as a whatever. As soon as that ego gets up here and

then percentages, you know, get out of whack, but you can't be 90% humility and 10% ego.

You got to be right at that line because you got to bring that dog out. You know, we ain't,

we ain't out here just, you know, trick or treat. Not, you know what I'm saying?

You got to bring a certain level of dog, but you got to balance it balance it with that ego.

I think, I think that's tough, man. I think that's tough. What, what things, you know, you've,

you've inspired me, man, I love your messages that you spit on some of your social media and stuff

like that and we'll get to sum it out in a minute. But what, what do you, what do you like to teach on

talk on the most? Because you're always out there spitting fire. You're always spitting fire. I

didn't know you had that in you when I first met you, but we got a lot in common. I wish we had,

I wish I had the guns and the size and comment. I better hear it to me and everything.

Give me, give me some of that juice, man. What do you feel most passionate to talk about? You

know, what do you, if you had to put yourself in a zone of like, man, these are the principles that

I feel like if I, if you want my heart to come out, these are the key things that I would try to

give to somebody that, that I'm most passionate about talking about, that it requires to, to make it

in anything. What, what do you, what would that be? Oh, man, as a whole, man, I think it's just my story,

you know what I mean? Like, I think my story is so unique, you know, just my journey on getting here.

And then my journey, once I've gotten here to this point I'm at right now, you know what I mean?

Like, I've experienced it all, man. You know what I mean? Being all the way on top to being all

the way at the bottom, you know, the main and then kind of balance it back out in the middle. But like,

just just just being through all of that, man, and seeing all of that, you know, you know, being,

being on the roster one year on the practice squad one year into reserve one year, man, just experiencing

all of that, you know what I mean? And still dealing with everything goes going on around me. You

know what I mean? It didn't happen to younger brothers coming in and just hit the scene,

explode the scene, you know, and kind of taking a back seat to that. But still, you know what I mean?

Wanting to perfect my crowd, wanting to be out there, wanting to do my thing. But also,

man, knowing like, all right, cool, like, this is what it's going to take. This is what I got to do,

you know, but at the same time, like tearing them on and, you know, just giving them all the

energy I got, giving them everything I got. You know, I'm not going to say it and say, I taught

them everything because I didn't, you know what I mean? But my whole goal, man, was just to be an

example for them, you know? So I guess what I'm most passionate about, man, is telling my story.

You know, I think that there's a lot of small lessons, you know, in the big, in the, in the

virtual spectrum, me telling my stories. You know, give me a couple of tenacity men, resilience. You

know what I mean? Like in college, I played one four year out of five years, I played one four year

ball in college, you know what I mean? I wasn't supposed to make it my very first surgery. I had 2013.

Dr. Tober, there's a 50% chance that I can come back and play football. What was the surgery?

I had TBR, fibula, fibula, and torn ligaments in my ankle. All happened. It was the day I had the

things given. Day after things given, that happened. Dr. Tober, 50% chance. I asked what was my alternative.

He said, not play ball. I said, let's do the surgery. I was out, man, I probably was out,

man, about 18 months. I'm almost to see there it is right there. There's the things that somebody say,

oh man, I'd love to be on the Steelers roster. I'd love to be five years in the NFL. That's for

people hang them up. That's it. That's it. Right there. I ain't doing 18 months. That's it.

With no guarantee. That's it. And I've been through some of this already and stuff. These are the

these are the separators. Keep going, man. Man, I always ask anytime somebody asks me something,

anytime I'm faced with some type of opposition. Man, I'm always asking, what's the alternative?

What else is there? You know, if I don't do it, then what? Go back to what I'm used to. You know,

the man, go back to what I was doing before I got here. Now that's easy. If I feel like I can go

back to that, you know what I mean? So I'm taking my chances every single time. You know what I mean?

Just kind of doing that whether I feel a little succeeded at it, but just doing that, it kind of just

built up this very, very tough exterior on the outside. You know what I mean? To wear is really

nothing phases me. You know what I mean? Not in a sense where I like, I'm emotionally numb, but in

the sense to where I.

I can handle it.

You know what I mean?

I know how to, how to know how to accept it.

But at the same time, it's like, all right, cool.

Not enough experience, those emotions.

You've learned to handle your emotions that come with set back, obstacle, failure, life,

so is life.

So many tap out during those periods and tap out in the comfort.

Because man, this is bad.

I was dealt with bad hand.

This happened.

This is messed up and then they said, man, I'm hurting them upset.

I'm pissed.

Whatever.

Exactly.

And you've learned how to find a way out of that.

So what I'm hearing is one of your things in your mindset is thinking of what's the alternative.

So if I stop, what does that give me?

What does that give me?

And if I keep going, what does that give me?

I look at it.

And the only way I'm stopping is if somehow I wrote it to the wheels fall off and then I'll

take the alternative because it's because I went all in.

Because I've never been able to be because I quit.

I'm never going to quit.

I'm never going to quit.

You know what I mean?

I told my parents every year they asked me like, how you feeling?

Where are you mind?

I'm good.

I'm good.

I've gotten to a point where things aren't working out the way I want them to.

But at the same time, I'm seeing different.

You know what I mean?

Not saying that they don't still believe me because I know they do.

They support me 100%.

They know that I still got things left in the tank.

You know what I mean?

But I just look at it as, all right, cool.

I'm just setting my life up.

I'm being real methodical right now.

I'm playing chess in the sense.

You know what I mean?

But the concept, the concept, you know, and it's just like, man, no matter what we go

through in this life, young, old middle age, it doesn't matter.

We have to have this resilient attitude to where as, man, we can't quit because in life,

we're going to face things that's 10 times harder.

You know what I mean?

Like forget a football.

Like football, that's minor.

You know what I mean?

That's only a portion of what I do.

That's only a portion.

It's not even who I am.

I just do.

I play football.

I just happen to be decent at football.

You know what I mean?

But the lessons and the laws and the stuff that I've learned, you know what I mean?

We're playing football, I haven't been footballed taking away and watching football and learning

football, man.

It speaks wonders.

You know, so when I talk to people, when I have conversations with people, when I do

my talks on Instagram and Facebook, like, man, I'm just telling people the stuff I've

learned through playing football.

You know, football is just what's going to track them because they want to hear from an NFL

guy, you know what I mean?

But I'm just like any other guy giving their message.

But I'm not afraid to do it, you know what I mean?

You guys think that I'm this huge hero because in front of my title is NFL player, but we're

the same person.

You could do the same exact thing I'm doing.

We're stopping you.

Simple as that.

I love it.

You know, something that stuck out when you were saying that is recently, I've been reading

a ton of always read a lot.

And I heard a quote said that, man, during times like these, remember there's always been

times like these.

We already been through it.

We've been through a lot.

And we ain't the first one to ever go through it.

Somebody else broke a leg and made it.

Somebody else been dealt this hand and made it.

Some single mom out there is hustling, working two jobs, handling two three kids and finding

a way to get it done.

What's really our, what's really our excuse?

I remember asking one of my biggest influences in my life in mentor, Jim Tressel, who's the

one that connected me with Ryan first and Cam.

That's how that relationship started.

And I remember asking him about how he handled adversity.

And he's like, man, adversity compares to what.

You know, when you think of, like, you know, I pointed out a couple of his adversities

that were on the public scene.

And he's like, adversity compares to the kid that don't know how he's going to eat

tomorrow.

It's not adversity.

You know, I've been doing this for so long.

I got money in the bank and I got this.

I've accomplished these things.

So my adversity, how I've learned to handle some of these adversities, is to put it in

perspective and really who got it worse.

And it really is not a real adversity when you look at the grand scheme of things.

People would be dreaming to be in somebody's shoes, man.

So I think that's a powerful message.

That's good.

How would somebody go about, and I want you to talk a little bit about, you guys have

a charity that you guys do.

Tell us a little bit about the charity.

Is it E-boys?

My brother's keeper.

My brother's keeper.

Okay.

E-boys is the brand.

Okay.

All right.

And what's my brother's keeper?

So my brother's keeper, we started that in 2018.

After my brother got drafted, it's basically geared towards, man, anything and everything dealing

with the youth.

That's kind of a quick summary.

We do it all.

You know what I mean?

In Danville, Virginia, at hometown, in Blacksburg, where Virginia Tech is.

We've done stuff in Pittsburgh here and in Buffalo.

You know what I mean?

We don't have it as full drives.

We do holiday gifts.

Expansions.

We do holiday shoppers.

We put on a talent show one time back at the house.

Man, we do so much.

We did save the suit.

We donated 200 suits to kids.

We provided a ceremony where they have got to bring their families.

It was dinner.

Nice.

Everybody dressed up.

And they just got to walk across.

You know what I mean?

I've never seen a suit before.

Absolutely.

You know what I mean?

Like you just say, man, put it into perspective.

You know what I mean?

Like, I got suits.

I've always had suits.

You know what I mean?

But some of these cast men just droid on their face.

You know what I mean?

When they see the suit, you know, just being in front of them

teaching them how to tie.

Tie, tie.

You know what I mean?

Just simple and small things like that, man.

We just don't know that those type of days, man,

could shape their kids life.

It could save the kids life.

You know what I mean?

My mother teaches in the inner city in Denver, Virginia.

You know what I mean?

So she encounters this on a daily basis.

She loves it.

She will not let us tell her to quit her job.

She will not.

You know what I mean?

She goes to work every single day.

She will come to a game on Sunday night

cocking the work on Monday.

Wow.

That grind.

That grind.

That grind.

At the Sunday night game, she's going

to write the work on Monday.

There's the little stuff right there, man.

You know what I mean?

Because she think that, you know, her being there,

just her presence alone, her conversations with these kids,

man.

You know, she, she firmly believes in her heart.

And I do too that, you know, she has some type of influence,

you know, on maybe just one of the decisions

that those kids can make.

You know what I mean?

My parents have done foster care.

They've had over 29 kids, almost 30 kids.

You know what I mean?

Since I was in like middle school, I think.

Yes, since I was in middle school.

You know what I mean?

So just them, you know, and this was before we even made it.

Made it through high school.

Made it this was before any of that.

You know what I mean?

Like they are cool.

Like we got them past the primary stage of life.

Now we want to lend a hand out, reach back and bring up.

Ready to go back out.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

They believed in their blueprint so much that are cool.

This is the plan.

We know it works.

You know what I mean?

Even if me, to run a terminal thing, we know it works.

We're going to bring somebody else on.

We're going to bring somebody else.

Has it all been successful?

Absolutely not.

You know what I mean?

It's rare that you're going to find 100% success rate and anything.

It's very rare, you know what I mean?

But in a sense, if you could say one person's life,

if you could keep two people from out of jail,

if you can get one person to college, that's a win.

Amen.

That's a win.

We can take every single win.

Amen.

How would people go about following you, man?

Because there's so much that people can learn.

Parents out there that are looking for somebody to look up to.

This is somebody that definitely would be a good person

and be a role model and somebody to look up to.

How would people go about following you?

Yeah, yeah.

Man, I'm real active on the social media as you know what I mean.

So you could follow me on Instagram and Facebook.

All you do is type in my name, type in Trey Edmonds, T-R-E-Y-C-R-E-Y-E-D-M-U-N-D-S.

You know what I mean?

Type that in and everything or so up, everything.

And man, I try to respond to as many DMs as I can.

You know what I mean?

So kids coming up, whether it's parents, whoever it is,

you know what I mean?

I try to respond to as many as I can.

So I thought that was one of the first time, man.

Shoot me a follow DM or anything or message or comment whatever.

And I'll try to get back to our promise I will.

Man, shout out to the Edmonds family man and the Edmonds in the Edmonds stock man.

The more I hear about you, the parent, your parents, the more I can't wait to meet them.

And I know it.

But I've seen the product.

You know, they say you could tell what kind of trade is about a fruit that it bears.

And I've seen the fruit that your parents have bear, man.

I'm an Edmonds fan regardless of what Jersey, you know, I'm a Browns fan.

So it don't matter about the team.

I'm an Edmonds fan on and off the field, man, because of your heart and the way that you're all rolling and treat people.

And I appreciate you coming all the way out here to be with us on the grind cast.

So thanks for joining us and thanks to everybody for listening to another episode of Grindcast.

Get ready us a new day.

Count money, man.

Money, bitches.

I'm trying to told them I'm a beast.

But thanks for joining us again on another episode of the Grindcast.

If you're looking for extra help, extra mentorship, or you know somebody that does just this past year, my partner Marcus Smith and I,

who was the guy that started me into business called my resume and was one of my first mentors.

My partner Marcus and I opened up cash money mentoring, something that would provide an affordable way, you know, for people at all different walks of life, different businesses, different stages of their life and career.

For us to be able to in person live, mentor folks and help them.

You know, I got so many messages on Instagram and social media.

So many people asking for time.

And I hated that I had to say no that we found a way to say yes.

And so every month we're spending a few hours with people.

So head over to cashmoneymentoring.com.

Maybe look at it as a Christmas gift because we know Christmas is coming up.

And thank you, as always, thank you for the time that you've invested with us.

And let's get it.