 Well, we're thrilled to have you on. This is Purdue. Thank you for being here. Thanks for having me. Thanks for the invite Nice. Yeah, we're excited. So you went to high school in Texas. How did you first find out about Purdue? Oh Wow, so you want to go that far back? What's interesting is I knew nothing about Purdue and Think I was looking to sign with one of the Texas schools originally actually believe I was committing to University of Texas and a guy named by which some of you might know Danny Hope Came to school and he wanted to meet with me I asked my high school coach at the time which was Johnny Ringo and Asked to meet with me in between class and so I go I see this this guy and he's like yeah I'm from Purdue University and I was like Purdue. Okay. Where is that? You know, I thought this might have been like a deep to deep three school and You know, you know after we had our conversation everyone did this research Come to find out. It was a big school. It was a big ten in Indiana of all places And I still never thought that that would be where I would attend and but he worked out and Yeah, how did you decide ultimately? You probably have different offers to go different places. I did I did You know Danny Ho was really instrumental, you know, we we connected funny story So he when I finally opened up to the idea of possibly going to Purdue He was gonna make an official visit to come visit me and my mom and my siblings And so where I lived at the time because my mom had moved from the city where I was at school My senior year I would drive 30 plus minutes to school every day every morning so I was staying with my mom at the time and When he flew in he was asking for directions. Now, I'm old enough to say back then We didn't have cell phones where you could just map, you know, use your eye You know, you're maps in your phone or your Android you actually had to go through Map quest or just ask somebody right and they'll tell you to look at either the stop sign Building that that kind of error. And so I told him. Yeah, I said go go North on 360 take a ride on, you know, look for this big old church with this sign and take it right there, but For some reason I'm dyslexic. And so at that point I'm telling him to go the opposite way of where he was supposed to go and come to meet us And so he spends two hours driving the suburb of Dallas trying to find me and finally he calls and like Amen, I don't know. I think I'm lost blah blah blah and finally I realized I told him the wrong, you know, the wrong directions And he cussed me out He cussed me out I was one of them cell phones like what and but finally, you know, we I got in the right directions And he came we laughed about it and my mom had a good Conversation with him. I had a good conversation with him. And I think at that point I knew something might happen And so long story short, I got in a car wreck my senior year during the spring I was in and out of school. I became an eligible to play divisional on football And so I had to go to junior college. I went to junior college with the Danny Hope also had a big part of this. He said don't worry Well, we'll get you, you know into a school. He said he suggested Coffeeville, Kansas would be a good place for me to go to school again I'm a Texas kid leave in Texas to go all the way up to Kansas and I ended up going to Coffeeville, Kansas. Our coffee for Kansas is so small our locker room was a Barn essentially and just stacked shells in there and but also You know, it was one of the great decisions that I made small town Small town by but great people great experience and Scott Downing was assigned to be my I guess to my recruiter at that point and he would come down You know as much as he could visit with me. And so when I had the opportunity to leave Coffeeville, I did well at Coffeeville. I was all-american J.C. Defense player of the year. I had opportunity to go to anywhere in the country anywhere in the country and Because of my relationship with Danny Hope and Scott Downing and the bond that we built in that Year, year and a half period. I knew Purdue was where I wanted to go So you get to Purdue your Texas boy. What was that like? Was it a culture shock? Did Kansas help? It was at the time I flew up on my visit I think it might have been in quotation mark the worst winter that we've had, right? So I'm thinking it could never get any worse than the recruiting visit. I get there and I was a mid-year so December January and Within two days of being on campus. It was a blizzard It was a blizzard And I'm having to figure out, you know, Texas kid. I Don't think I owned a coat. You know a warm coat Boots and having to figure it out. So I just laid it up. I would I would wear Two pairs of socks. I went to Walmart bought some long John's Wear jeans. I would wear a shirt a long sleeve shirt a sweater This is this is true story a sweater Then I think I borrowed a jacket from a teammate. So by time and I walked through campus So by the time I got to class I was dripping wet like I was sweating from having all that layers on Yeah, it was a culture shot and You know, you played football at Purdue, of course. That's why you why you came to Purdue What was it like playing for coach tiller? He has such a reputation. Yeah, he did and you know He played mind games with you Yeah, you know, so you had to be careful Which part of which, you know, it's almost saying which side of the bed it was he waking up on But you know the one thing about coach really was consistent, you know, he's very consistent He treated everybody fairly you knew, you know, he had expectations and he had standards as long as you you You were very true and intentional about living up to it and working hard, you know being a player that Wanted to succeed by just giving everything you have and being truthful You know, he gave you chances he gave you chances even when guys have messed up as long as they you can tell they were contrite He gave them chances for me my biggest lesson. I'm my I'm a story guys. I like stories. We love stories, too biggest lesson One of the coldest practices my first year Purdue Don't remember who we're playing so I finally had my mom or somebody Send a jacket up to me and that's back in the day when starter jackets were popular And so for some reason of all the jackets she could send it was a Philadelphia Eagles jacket And I wore that jacket everywhere even though I grew up in Dallas Cowboys She somehow found a Philadelphia Eagles jacket and she sent that to me practice Well, I can't remember the round time by once around three four o'clock. That's when practice was back then and it was probably 20-something degrees outside and we had to practice Our socks were tube socks for practice We did have long sleeves, but for some reason I said, you know what? I'm going to have this bright idea to wear my starter jacket underneath my shoulder pads So I wear tube socks Put everything else on pads pants and I put my starter jacket and put my shoulder pads on top of my starter jacket and I walk out to practice and Guys are laughing and Tila looks at me and all he does he sticks his hand out and points to the locker room He said go back like what? go back and Tells our equipment manager Mike to take all my long sleeves Anything that was warm take it away and just give me the tube socks and a short sleeve shirt And that's why I had word to practice for the entire season But because of that because of that, you know What he was trying to teach me was to be tough What he was trying to teach me was to I can't control the elements I can't control anything exterior outside of me or I can control as me and so from that moment on I had to Build mental toughness and build tough skin to get through the winter conditions And so for my entire Purdue career and my entire professional career, I never wore long sleeves for games Wow from that from that point from that day on I never wore long sleeves now. I played in Negative six degree weather in Kansas City when I play for the Dolphins. I played in Green Bay twice Yeah, I played in Green Bay twice where it was frigid cold and snowing and never wore long sleeves So he toughened you up. He toughened me up Yeah, yeah, what are you doing that? You know, it wasn't a direct, you know He just had a way of making you think or challenge you mentally so that not physically you could be tough Or you could understand a lesson Do you have a favorite story or memory? Maybe a favorite win from your time on the team? There's so many, you know, there's so many there's so many Memories from Purdue and the victories the style of victories, you know thinking The the Notre Dame game where Willie fell sits on the football and you know the clock runs out to You know the Michigan playing against Tom Brady, you know, I dropped an interception against Tom Brady We played against Michigan where there was just Beating us down in the first half and the second half we come back you know Travis Dorsch kicked the game winning field goal to go to capturing the Big 10 championship and Burp to the Rose Bowl and against our nemesis IU to me Those and a lot more but especially the Michigan and the IU game to win the Big 10 sticks out the most One for the Michigan because of the style the way we did it, right? We were just not we weren't having a good game in the first half defensively. We're getting clobbered Every I believe they probably scored on every single possession at first half And we go back in locker room was dead silent Nobody was saying anything until it was optimistic and positive I think Mademoiselle might have yelled one time But there was a there was something in the air and we knew that this wasn't us And we figured it out, you know I moved from defensive end to linebacker the second half and just kept going back and forth and We managed to just just kept pushing and fighting and fighting and we knew if we could get the ball to drew in the offense They would put points up and that was our golden ticket Just give the offense the ball and we finally figured out and kept stopping them the IU game The sea of Purdue fans and how much you can see because I'm getting chills just talking about that the sea of Purdue fans That to me was so memorable and so it's still vivid in my mind and Standing there and seeing all the fans run out on the field and stand and I don't remember who we're giving out the roses But just seeing them around us and seeing how happy and how excited You know the entire fan base and the hard work for my teammates Those were great moments. You mentioned drew. What was it like playing with him? It was great. He was great You know, he was he is the ultimate teammate Music natural leader. He's a competitor. He was friendly. He was humble You know, he never felt that all the attention and all the records that he was breaking was above anybody else You know, he felt that he was what he wanted to be one of the boys he wanted to be one of the teammates and You know, that's me with something I take away that you know I respect from the outside of football outside of the accolades and the accomplishments on a grid iron Just the the way he moved and carried himself and to this day, you know, I was with him at the Rose Bowl reunion Last year and we've stayed we stay in contact He's you know for a person who's accomplished so much and has done so much for others he's still Regular and he wants to be that guy that you can count on and I love that about him, you know, and we can use that that term or you know They're in agreement with each other just because you know We've had that rapport and respect for for him and his wife and all his accomplishments family and you know, he's a great guy What about the academic side? Did you have any favorite mentors or professors classes at Purdue? You're really diggin You're telling me previously you wanted to be an astronaut Yeah, yeah, I thought you know You know, I so when I young Elementary middle school high school early on high school, you know, I've always been enamored by the stars and the planets And I said when I grow up I go to college. I want to be an astronaut and part of Choosing Purdue's because I knew they had a good good program and a good engineering program and astronomy program I'm not and so I wanted to say, okay, maybe that could actually happen And you get there and you start learning and understanding that well, maybe my mind just doesn't work that way but it took me a while because So when I was younger, I actually won awards for painting and I would always paint something planet stars, you know And and and I had a good eye had a good hand and you know, it's kind of I guess artsy at the time But none of that equated to I guess becoming an astronaut or even having a mind for for that So, yeah, you know, I could definitely I chose a different route Yeah, tell us about your NFL career. What do you want to know? Man, I mean, what was it like after graduating college? You're this young man not not quite yet a grown man I like how do you navigate the NFL? Water You know Purdue prepared me for the NFL You know, I had a great college career, you know, I I think for me, I would say I Having 30 plus sacks in three years that I was there being a two-year captain being a team MVP You know for me it was good, but I never still saw myself as a NFL caliber player got drafted To Jackson and Jaguars in 2002 and I was around guys that you would watch and you know You were so enamored by their athleticism and their accomplishments Fred Taylor's first round draft pick You know big six one two thirty five Ranna. I believe a four three forty and you know 40 dash Wow, you know had that size he became my teammate Tony Brackens who went to Texas to me one of the most Athletic and smartest defense alignment that I've ever met and and I you know got to practice with him and play with him Hugh Douglas, you know all these guys that you know, I watched in were Pro Bowlers. No sudden I'm in the same locker room I'm on the same practice field and to understand that it is a grown man's These guys were were Phenomenal athletes they were such professionals. They were such Everybody worked hard and to realize there's another level of being a professional being an NFL player So you have two choices you can either Play out to the level and work your butt off and you know And show up every single day and be great Or you can tuck your tail between your legs and walk away and said this is not for me But being at Purdue and being around the staff that we had Danny Hope Scott Downing Coach Melvin coach E-man Coach Green Had Jim Cheney Oson coach Oson all these coaches Taught us so much at such an early age that it was transferable into the league and all I knew at the time was keep Your head down, you know show up be accountable Work hard, you know and compete and either if I could do those things, you know, I gave myself a real shot I didn't know if I was going to make the team even though I was a third round pick I didn't know if I would ever see the field matter of fact My first NFL game was against was against in that in theapolis Colts and and paid Manny I did not see one down a defense One down a defense. I played special teams, but I didn't see one down a defense And all of a sudden my second game of my rookie year was against Kansas City Chiefs and All of a sudden right before the game the head coach gets in my ear and says a can Adele You're starting this game getting the game to go from not playing to playing But all that all those attributes and all those lessons from Purdue prepared me for moments like that So it was hard. It was tough It was a lot of work But I was able to play as long as I did because of my time and because of the people that were around me at Purdue And what about post NFL, you know, I'm sure Purdue has prepared you for that as well because at some point football Ends, you know, most people leave the game not on their own accord and have to figure it out I was fortunate, you know to to call it quits at the time I did I chose to go to grad school went to George Washington University and then I moved to New York Worked for a wealth management company And I did that for a short time and then some of the partners and the wealth management company Transition and asked me to join them and we Formed a partnership to start our own wealth management private equity company Call Eagle Rock, which I then headed led the Private equity side of the business. I did that for seven years and Life then hits you and and you have to pivot Which was the pandemic And at the time I was traveling a lot my wife my wife now We were engaged plan to get married But we were both a lot of times two ships in the night traveling because she was the top the lead Educator for a skincare line called Tartan Harper And she had the entire Midwest and Southeast region and I was traveling because we lived in Dallas Our my business was in New Jersey and traveling back and forth to New Jersey And so I knew that that wasn't a life that I wanted. We both talked about it And we decided to make a pivot and so I pivoted into the insurance business I was asked by the leadership of world insurance who you know, I now work for To be part of their team part of the leadership team and to help them grow And so now I'm a business development executive for world insurance and that's been cool I'm a lifelong learner Purdue spark that My academics and their relationships and teachers that I met there spark that and gave me confidence that it was okay I'm dyslexic I was diagnosed with ADD or ADHD whatever it is At a young age, so that was a challenge growing up And I never and I always thought that because of those labels that I was going to be conformed to a box And I could I had tapped out at a certain point, but when I got to Purdue I made a Dean's list You know, I was able to get through my classes. Even I knew it was challenging I got all the help and resources that I needed to get through all that and that really gave me confidence that you Know, I could push myself academically. I could push myself Intellectually and so going through new stages in life isn't necessarily As difficult it's there's a challenge there But it's just a matter of the work you want to put into it and so pivoting into going from finance to insurance It was just about us making a decision and and and moving forward with it. So I'm excited. I'm learning. I've only been at it for nine months now and You know, it's it's been a great journey so far. What was it like adjusting, you know, the NFL is probably so fast-paced and yeah What was it like going to kind of a nine-to-five job for you? Yeah The biggest the biggest adjustment great question the biggest adjustment was not having Your your time set for you So every when you when you playing football high school college pros, you know There's a certain time of year and you know exactly what you're doing to the tee You know, where you're gonna be, you know, you know, who you're gonna be around and you know what your life is very predictable going from that to all of a sudden now I call a civilian life, right and You know, you either you go corporate or you become an entrepreneur on such your own business There's so much that's out of you control and you don't know what the day could look like You know, you could be in Dallas at 9 o'clock and could be in in New York at 3 30 I and so much could go on and and haven't to navigate that having to navigate your own schedule Having to allow others and trust in others to set your schedule for you Corporate life is different. So it's so much different, but I Would say being an athlete again prepares you for that I believe and you know, I also look for Athletes people who've had an athletic background not that they had to play professionally, but who Compete it had an extracurricular activity outside of that because there's some disciplines that goes with that And there's a lot of positive attributes that come from that that they can transition into a business or into corporate life And you know, we look for that and I look for that and myself Have known I know personally that that has was got me through all the different stages in life You know, it's like you go through this one stage here But it's really you're going through that just to prepare you for that next stage and all the stages of football The evolution of that in my life has really prepared me for all these pivots and all of these transitions that I've gone through What would you say, you know when you think about the boiler maker spirit and the community And you're still very generous and give back and you're here with us during this Naples weekend What does that mean to you? Like why was that important to to stay passionate about Purdue and and to give back? Yeah. Yeah Great question. Great question For me all my accomplishments Everything I've done in my life You know, nobody does great things by themselves You know every talent needs great people to be successful and That's one of the things that I am I'm aware of and I know that I am very fortunate that somebody Gave to Purdue so that I could have a scholarship that changed my life That changed my life. What a lot of people don't know is I grew up in a single parent household I am the oldest of four. I'm dyslexic. I have ADD I've never met my father We grew up in tough neighborhood and that Somebody took a chance on this kid but all these red flags and Said you're okay to come here and you're okay to learn and you're okay to play ball You're okay to get exposed and you're okay to me. I used to wear I used to wear My hat really low and I had this one house my favorite hat It was it was a polo polo golf hat I don't know where I found it and it was I wore so much that it had the threads Just hanging up and Joe Tiller hated that hat He hated he threatened me one time. I wore that in an interview He threatened me that if I ever wore it again, I was going to do some extra gasses but I would wear this hat and you know when I first got to Purdue I Would see these people you know called you I called people from Indiana country, right? And I'm from the country, but I caught me when you're sure like you know I don't know about these country people. They look at me funny or they're looking on my hat and all of a sudden They just would embrace me all of a sudden they would invite me to you know their dorm or they would invite me to their party Oh, they don't bite me to come hang out and the warmth and the friendliness of the culture that we have in West Lafayette and Purdue University and I find myself letting my guards down I find myself embracing this new culture and the people that now I'm meeting that call family and friends that To this day I can pick up my phone and call you know that alone is part of you know Why I give back and why you know I feel that it is important to reach back and give Because somebody gave to you for you to get to your goal Somebody gave to you for you to accomplish your dreams and that you have to go ahead and turn around and also open those doors So others too can reach theirs and you're the co-founder of the dream builders foundation. Yes Tell us I'm sure a lot of that has to do with what you just told us But but explain that foundation to us and how you founded it. Yeah. Yeah, so I originally I Dreambuilds foundation was originally Akin's path Akin's path was a mentoring program for high school students every year I would pick five high school students where I would mentor and I would take them to do community activities I would we would get them Tutors for subjects in it and programs that they needed extra help in would also take their parents out on on a trip What I noticed was that there were a lot of Athletes in my in my locker room that wanted to do good, but had a hard time Navigating and setting up their not-for-profits at 501c3 So, you know, I thought to okay, let's try to create something that I we could bring everybody in underneath the same umbrella That supported them and covered all their issues all their legal challenges or their set up challenges and because what I saw was either My teammates were getting where people were taking advantage of them. They were spending a lot of money that wasn't being used properly Or they were some some legal issues because of that. So I said a dream-builds foundation want its Kids and youth initiatives. We focus on education extracurricular activities and nutrition The other part of the dream builders is we partner with professional athletes basketball NBA NFL and and Baseball MLB Athletes to be captains and as long as it's kids and youth youth initiative or program that they want to support or it's their own Foundation that they want to partner with We we join forces together and it's all really about supporting kids with challenges with academic challenges Kids who want to have an extracurricular activity and it's not just sports You might have a kid who wants to learn an instrument. We find ways to support that and find resources You might have kids or youth leagues that maybe you don't have equipment, you know, we support that We partnered many years ago with Amazon and the Kindle because we had we know this is an area in certain certain regions where kids were having reading issues and reading literacies, so we said let's we partner with a Tech company that put a program in these Amazon Kindles that help kids to learn how to read better, right? these are all creative programs that we set up over the years and we're 16 years into it and Even though I'm not a professional athlete anymore We're still able to support programs and still able to partner with different athletes across the country Think right now we have close to 30 different athletes They're part of our professional athletes are part of our organization that partner with us And we have over 10 corporate partners that regionally sponsored or supports our programs. That's really unique. That's cool Yeah, thank you. Thank you over the last 10 years We've raised over four million dollars and donated those four million dollars back into the community That's amazing. Thank you So when you look back, I know we've been talking about this the whole time But like what what type of impact to summarize did Purdue have on your life? Summarize it There's a lot There's a lot. I would say that the one of the things I go to is You know, I became a man of Purdue You know, I found my calling at Purdue The person I am now is because of the seeds that people planted in me at Purdue And I'm grateful for the experiences the relationships and the opportunity To attend a university that cares about its students is alumni It's alumni and and to continue to grow with it even though I live all the way here in South Florida Or even when I was in Texas, you know, I've had a connection with the university and then reaching back You know supporting me or me supporting them and that I'm grateful for that relationship and have that kinship with with everybody there What would you say, you know, if you're out in Texas or Florida, you're wearing your Purdue stuff Do you ever get some boiler ups? Oh, yeah, most randomly. Oh, yeah randomly and actually I've actually here in South Florida I've noticed is actually more Purdue fans More Purdue alums than I realized which I love, you know It gives me confidence to wear because they're hostile down here. That's a different client They're kind of hostile down here So but I have more confidence now to wear my Purdue gear knowing that I could possibly run into You know a Purdue fan or Purdue alum Do you still follow the football program or any of the athletics? Oh, yeah, all of it Because now again, I'm old enough to wear some of my teammates I actually have kids that are in college and are attending Purdue You know Rosewood Coffin has his daughter who plays volleyball at Purdue And I just heard her a couple months ago. I believe his son Either Purdue offered him a scholarship or he committed. I'm not sure you guys in here for me But there's a chance you could attend attend Purdue and play basketball there. So yes, I follow football basketball Swimming soccer A lot of the programs just because of still my relationship and connection to the university And you talked a little bit about you get chills when you think of all the Purdue fans Yeah, certain games. What is that spirit in that community mean to you? Oh You know, we we played for each other a lot most of the time at Purdue But there was a sense of pride knowing that You know that you had loyal Fans and students especially the student section that you know watch and support you and The cool part of that is you know where we're on campus, especially when I was there, you know You have just the most authentic Conversations yes, they cared that she was a football player and then they watched you But they genuinely like cared like you or a person and you know, we just have the most random conversation about You know, if it's your family or dog or something that just would Light, you know your day because it wasn't just about X's and no and how come you didn't you miss that tackle How come we lost that game? Well, how did we win that game? No It was something off-key that grounded you and so that connection to the fans that connection to the alumni that connection to All those who really support you Means a lot. It means a lot and I know the athletes there now have that same connection and with all the success that we're having Over the last, you know, a few years or so years they're coming I see that to continue to grow and to expand because what I would love for us is to be Regularly spoken about in the media because I think we a lot of times we do get overlooked and I think we continue to do that academically And in our sports as well and in all the programs. Is there anything else you want to share with our listeners? Continue to watch this podcast Support Calling Like a like a Twitter session where I guess you would have to be live Right. Yeah. Yeah Interation of this I like it. Yeah, I like it anything you want to say to football fans You know the from the Rose will win. Yeah. Yeah, you know, I Would say For one of you know, a lot of the I have a lot of stories a lot of stories But all my stories what is always attached to it is the fan base and The the reasons why you know, we sometimes you have that ever flow of a game But the highs of the games are because the support and and and and the vibe like there's a I'm not a Like I'm not necessarily an emotional person or this person. It's like vibe vibes or feelings But there's something about playing a game and you can feel the energy of the people in the stance You can feel the energy of the fans and to continue that support to continue to show up You know, I know it's snowing now. Thank God. It's not football season But when it's not and when season is there, you know, rain sleet snow sign Support be there. We love it when they're in the stance. We love it, you know, when they're tuning We love it when they tailgate. We love it when they show up and out there so continue to do that know that your energy is felt by the players and And just continue just to just to be all around Anything about the we're celebrating the 50th year of the president's council What does it mean to you to be involved with the president's council? Yeah, you know, it's it I feel honored One and the fact that my generation I can be a representative for my generation I look at it as an opportunity to open up doors for more people To have a voice at the table and to really just give a unique perspective From my lands and from those who you know are similar to me So and I I like the fact that we have that and I and I'm honored to be part of it Well, it was a pleasure having you. Thank you so much. Thank you. You kind of took it easy on me Not gonna come in here with hard any questions when we want to talk to you. It's okay We'll have to do this again. Okay. Well, I'll really dig next time Thanks for having me. Of course. Thank you