 Hey, how's everybody doing today? This is your boy, Rich, and I'm here with a very special guest today, Malcolm Williams. How you doing today, Malcolm? Hello, I'm good, I'm good, man. Thanks for having me on the show. Oh, I feel very blessed to have you on the show. Malcolm Williams is a wide receiver for the Toronto Argonauts. And what I wanted to do today is because I played high school football, and it's kind of like an Al Bundy story. You know, I've always talked about my high school football days. I feel blessed to be speaking to a real professional athlete that's made it in Canada, a Canadian athlete who has made it from the high school levels all the way to the CFL. I'd like to know your story. Can you share your story with us today? Like, how did that all happen? Yes, so originally actually, coming out of high school, I chose to play basketball. So coming out of high school, I committed to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. And that year, I played basketball, and that was quite the experience there. Get to travel a country, you know, 18-year-old kid coming in, and, you know, kind of got to feel what it was like to be a pro athlete, because, you know, university, you know, you kind of get held to a high standard, right? And so that was awesome. And then, so I actually ended up leaving UBC, and I played junior football in Langley. Wow. And yeah, and my first year playing with the Rams, I had a pretty good year, and some CFL scouts started to come around, and that's kind of what I knew, I was like, wow, okay, I actually have an opportunity to get to the league one day. And so I played three years for Langley, and after my third year playing junior football, I decided that I'd like to get to the next level and play CIS, so then I committed to the University of Manitoba to go and play football. So I had to win a peg, excited for the new opportunity, the next journey, had a good training camp, and then our first preseason game comes, and my coach calls me into the office, and I found out that I'm not eligible. Oh. Because of that one year at UBC, I was a few credits shy of being eligible. Oh, wow. So I found out right before my first game with Manitoba, that I have to redshirt for the year, and so that was a big blow for me. I didn't know whether I wanted to leave Manitoba, go home right away, play junior again, because I had one year of junior eligibility, but I decided that I was gonna stay at Manitoba, use the train at their amazing facilities, and study hard and then come back next year to get ready to play. And so I was just practicing all year, and I played with a guy named David Arnyumata. He ended up being a fourth round draft pick for the NFL. Oh, wow. And so there's a lot of scouts coming, a lot of scouts coming to practice, a lot of scouts checking them out, and so I can use that as an opportunity to kind of showcase myself, and I remember in December, you know, I go to bed thinking, okay, you know, I got his last exams, I gotta be ready for next year, and then I get a call, I don't know where, and it was a general manager, Jim Barker from Toronto Organize, and he had called and offered me a contract. And what was crazy about the thing was, was that I was eligible to be signed for a contract because I hadn't played at the university level. As soon as you play a game at the university level, you have to go through the draft process. And so because I had to sit out that year in Matoba after playing junior, I was eligible to get signed as a free agent right away. So me sitting out that year and registering ended up being a blessing in disguise. Wow, how funny how that works, eh? That's crazy. So that had happened. I was excited, couldn't wait to call my parents and let them know, like I offered a contract, and you know, we looked over at me and my mom, and I was signed, and then... Congratulations, by the way, that's huge. Thank you very much. Did you ever, hold on for a second, did you ever dream of ever making the CFL, honestly? Yes, so when I was younger, I grew up playing sports, football, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, and I remember going to BC Lions games as a kid, and I was like, man, like that'd be awesome to play down there one time in the future. And I knew professional sports and what I wanted to get into. I wasn't quite sure if it was football, basketball, or soccer. And as the years kind of went on, it played itself out, and I'm very thankful to be playing in the CFO. Wow, man, that's such a great story. If there's any advice you can give to anybody that's either Canadian or American that wants to get into the CFO, what would it be? Get into the CFO. I would say, first and foremost, lots and lots of hard work. I mean, yes, that's super easy to say, but you gotta spend time on your body, working hard in the gym, eating right, and then after you go out and have a hard practice, take care of your body afterwards, whether that's getting in the ice tub, whether you, some guys like eating sausages, whatever it is, I would say really, really focus on your body because your body is your tool, you know? So- Absolutely. If there was one thing that surprised you about the CFO, what would it be? I'll give you an example, like Johnny Menzel was a very high draft pick in the NFL. Everybody knows Johnny Menzel, Johnny Football, and he's struggling in the CFO, and I think he thought it was gonna be easier than what it is, and it's not. It's not. It's still a professional sports, and I would say 95% of the players are American, correct? Yes, yes, I would say more than half the guys are American, yes, and when you're getting into a locker room, and you get to know other guys, I was a guy who always called football, was always watching it, and you find out that these are the guys that you were watching on TV. That's crazy. And I kind of was putting these guys on a pedestal, and it was nice to know that once I got here that you fit in, so. But the biggest thing that's, the one thing that I would say would be a big surprise for me to leave the guys on though. I know you guys have bigger balls. Yeah. And I know you guys have the bigger feel, right? I would say for me, the crowds that you play in front of, you know, I was definitely not used to playing in front of, you know, 20, 30,000 fans, 20, 30, 20, 30, 40,000 fans, the atmosphere that the CFO creates, man, it's truly a blessing to be able to play in the league. Oh, for sure. And what would you say is the best stadium to play in? Where do the fans get the loudest? The fans get the loudest. I don't have to, there's a couple of tough ones, but I'm gonna give the nod to Saskatchewan. I was gonna say, Saskatchewan, those people are crazy, man. Yeah, and they got the new stadium and they really designed it well to keep the noise in. And, you know, they always come out in big numbers every game. So it's always fun to play there. Does it give you goosebumps when you go out and the fans are just going crazy? Yeah, like when you come out of the tunnel, especially for in a way game and everyone's like, Ooh, actually, it kind of gives you goosebumps. It kind of gets you ready to go. Yeah, and then you need that first hit and then you feel good, right? Then you're like, okay, I'm ready to play. I'm ready to play. Get that first hit, just to, okay, now I'm settled into the game and just go and have fun. Well, listen, man, last year, you won a CFL championship. Yes, yes, I was fortunate enough to win a great cup, 27th grade cup in Ottawa there, a snow game. And my first real snow game that I got to play and where it was coming down and I couldn't see, you know, like you look up to the upper deck and you can't see anything. There's a snow was just coming down. That game was classic, man. I was so happy to see the Argos win. Oh my goodness. I know you guys are having a tougher year this year, but you know what? Congratulations on the championship. And I'm so proud of all the success you've had. And as a Canadian football player myself that played high school football, I can tell you that I played football with Jeff Johnson who played with the Toronto Argonauts for like 10 years. And I was a DB and he was a running back and he never made it to running back. He played fullback in the CFL because that's how hard it is to be a running back in the CFL. That guy to this day gives me nightmares because when I was on the edge trying to tackle him one-on-one, I could never tackle him. I'm telling you, I was a very good tackler. I could tackle everybody, but that guy's footwork was so good and he could just juke me and get around the corner and gone. And I still to this day have nightmares trying to tackle that guy. And it just goes to show how good the players have to be to even get to the CFL. So congratulations, Malcolm, man, for getting to that level, man. And I wish you all the best of luck on your future endeavors. I wish you all the best of luck in your success with the Argonauts and beyond that. And if there's anything else you want the people at home to know about Malcolm Williams, what would it be? That's one thing I wanted to know. How can they contact you? If they want to get in contact with or if they want to follow you on social media, is there anywhere to follow you? I'm on Instagram, xwilliams11, check me out. Yeah, man, it's a kid from a bad city, working hard, just living the dream. Well, congratulations, man. We'll be watching you very closely. And thank you for your time today. I really appreciate it. I appreciate that, man. Thank you very much for having me on the show. Always a pleasure. I hope to do it again soon, Malcolm. Thank you very much, buddy. Take care. Cheers.