 Kyle, thank you so much for joining us on This Is Purdue. How does it feel to be back in Indiana, back in West Lafayette? Is there some nostalgia you're feeling? Yeah, definitely. Just good to see old friends. Tom Schott had breakfast with them this morning and definitely brings back good memories and seeing people that were so supportive of me and helped me along the way to get where I got. It's always good to see those people. When did you first find out about Purdue? What made you come to West Lafayette and attend Purdue? Yeah, I went to a small high school in Iowa, so I was definitely looking to stay in the Midwest to go to college. And when I was in high school, we were a ground and pound team and only probably threw the ball maybe 13 or 14 times a game. So I probably started really looking at schools. I saw a former junior year in high school and saw Purdue and Drew Brees and Coach Tiller and the type of offense that they ran. And early on, really thought to myself that that would be a good opportunity for me to just make myself a better quarterback. And you mentioned Drew Brees. What was it like playing after him and kind of following in his footsteps? It was good and it was tough. A good experience for me because obviously an unbelievable player and it's tough to always follow those expectations, especially when he's coming off of a great senior season and I'm coming in as a true freshman, an 18-year-old kid. And you think you'd play pretty good and then you'd go back and compare your game to him. And you'd say, oh boy, you got a long ways to go. So it's fun. He was a big reason why I came to Purdue. He would reach out to me when I was in high school. And I remember that it was very cool to get a big name college guy calling you up and say, hey, come to this school. And was he kind of like your mentor along the way? No, he was busy with his stuff. Obviously, we never overlapped. Outside of he was a coach for one of the football camps that I got invited to coming out of high school. So that was probably the most time that I spent one-on-one with him. He would show me around on recruiting visits and all that stuff when I was in high school still. But he had early success right away in the NFL. Obviously, doing his thing. And I had early success in college in doing my thing. And it was definitely fun to meet up later and play in some good games against him. Tom told me to ask about the first game that you started in as a freshman. Apparently, it was pouring rain. Tell us about that game. Yeah, in Bloomington, playing against probably one of the best college players ever, Antoine Randallel. I think in that game, he was a punt returner, the quarterback, running back. He punted, just an unbelievable all-around college player. And we had tough time. He was running all over the place. And the field was so wet, you would hydroplane, you would really slide for 10, 12 feet after the play. We had guys sliding all over the place trying to tackle them. And starting the game, I thought, boy, we're going to run the ball every time. It's pouring down rain. Nobody can even grab the football. And we start the game. And we had such a hard time taking a snap from underneath the center that we ditched the game plan. And I think we ended up throwing it 65 times that game. My first game really getting a lot of playing time. And I thought, man, that's why I came to Purdue. That's what I wanted to do was throw the ball a lot. And Coach Teller has quite a reputation. I know you were really close with him. What was it like playing under Coach Teller? It was great. He put us in an opportunity to play in huge games, play in a top-notch program. But he never really put the pressure on the kids. He always wanted you to have fun. Always wanted you to go to the bowl game and enjoy your success. And was just a great coach. When I think back at Purdue, pretty much think about coach. Do you have a favorite story or memory about success? Oh, just lots. Probably just one-on-one time with him. I think he took a special liking to me. I don't know why. I'm glad that he did. But actually, when he left Purdue, went back to Wyoming. I was playing in Denver. And once, twice, maybe three times a year, he'd go to a game and lair me. And then come in on Sunday. And our net would come in for the game. And come in and stay with me and my wife. And really got to spend time with them in a relationship outside of playing coach. And that was really special. That's awesome. Do you have a favorite memory from your time as a student? Like any spots on campus that you loved or anything that sparks your memory? Yeah, my whole time at Purdue, pretty much good memories. Just a lot of great friends. My good friend, David Owen, from the football team. He's my daughter's godfather now. I'm his daughter's godfather. Just all those great relationships. And great relationships with the equipment guys, the unknown guys on a football team. I mean, they were my best friends. You'd spend so much time at the facility. And guys like Eric Lilly, and Kyle Gurgley, and Michael Shandrick, and all these guys that they really put so much time into making your experience easy and you become great friends with them. Is there an accomplishment that you're most proud of during your Purdue career? Probably. I just really, with my whole career, just wanted to be a good teammate. I wanted to try to work as hard as I can and maximize my potential. And I feel like I did that. So yeah, I guess all of it's good. In 2004, Purdue beat Notre Dame in South Bend. What was the excitement like after the game, even during the game? What were you feeling? And I think the year prior time at South Bend, I think we had a really good chance at beating them and had a couple bad breaks and a couple fumbles or close game that we ended up losing. So we thought we had a chance to time before. And we knew we had a good team going into that game. And I remember Taylor Stubblefield running scot-free for 98-yard touchdown or something like that on an audible that we called. And just the excitement with, you know, I got a picture in my office of me and Coach, you know, coming off the sidelines. We were pumped up and the bus ride home was great. So that was a special game to win up there for sure. Looking back, you know, what was the draft like? What was the NFL draft like? What were you feeling at that time? Yeah. The draft was really, to be honest with you, a really low part of my football career, to be honest with you, I thought I had a good college career and thought I was lined up to be a pretty high draft pick. And just for whatever reason, it kind of started sliding. And that first day of the draft back then, you had two days of the draft and had all my friends over for the first day. And the agent told you, oh, you know, at the very worst, you're going to go third round. Kind of thought I might go late first round. Definitely thought kind of second round. And boy, that second round goes by. And no quarterbacks were called. It was a strange draft. Sharon Rogers went really late. And everybody started to slide and gets into the third round. And I'm thinking, boy, this might not happen today. And I start, you know, the friends start leaving, you know. And next thing you know, it's just you and the family, you know, and you're not drafted. And got a call the next day by the Bears. And fourth round draft pick. And you're thinking, boy, you know, tough start to the career. And just funny how sports works because, you know, I think two months later, I was a start and quarterback. And we won 13 games that year and won the division. And you would have never thought, you know, with the way the draft happened, I would have thought that was going to take me four years to get back on the field. Did that like hurt your confidence at the time? Yeah, there's always stuff that hurts your confidence, you know, and always adversity in sports. And that's really, you know, as you move higher and higher into your career and more competitive sports, you know, really, I feel like a lot of people kind of have the same ability, but the guys that can have the short memory, the guys and girls that can have the short memory and respond to adversity in the right way and use it to fuel their workouts and to give them a goal, you know, those are the people that eventually make it to the top. And looking back on your NFL career, how would you describe it? Crazy. Yeah, crazy. You know, play four years for the Bears and loved it and had a lot of early success, got on the field right away and thought, boy, this is going to be just like college. I'm going to just, you know, kind of walk in and I'm going to be the guy and go from a really high high in my first year to boom, I'm number three on the depth chart, you know, my second year and bummed out third year, don't play and then finally get my opportunity again, my fourth year. And I kind of knew it was like now or never, you know, if you wanted to be a starter, you know, you had to play well and played well enough and kind of went on the deal to where, you know, I think my daughter was, she was five and she had lived in six different cities and kind of looked at her and said, I think that's enough. How did you feel when you was hired? Were there mixed emotions there? No, no, not really at all. I, you know, I really wanted to be a committed dad like I had and just played for 10 years, four years in college and blessed to play a game for a job my whole life and I was pretty healthy and, you know, like I said, really wanted to be that active dad and I think I had probably chances to play for under three or four years and just, I kind of knew. Some guys don't know, I definitely knew. Okay, that's great. What did you think, you know, I know that you went back to school to earn your degree. What kind of spurred you to do that? My mother, 100% my mom, I think I had 12 hours when I left school, maybe nine hours when I left school and I believe that somehow hours got added so I ended up with 15 hours so I had maybe 15 or 18 hours I had to complete when I was done and my mom, the first year, Kyle, you're gonna do it. And I didn't do it the first year. I said, give me one year off, mom. The second year she came back, said you're gonna do it and I said, okay, so got it done. I'm really glad that I did and glad that I got it done from the school. What was your major? History. Yeah, started off in political science and then switched to history. My dad went to law school and was a state employee for Iowa for 30 years and didn't know if I wanted to maybe go to law school, teach or do something in politics but definitely a history major. Okay, so after you graduate from Purdue, you played in the NFL, you've graduated, how did Purdue tee you up for success after? Living all over the place, one thing you'll find is there's Purdue alumni everywhere and always in the business community so I've made good relationships through that and really just college life taught me, whether it was academics or football, just you gotta work hard and you have to stay committed and you have to have goals and I think if you can do that, you'll be successful. Do you still follow the Purdue program closely? I do, I follow them as, obviously as close as I follow any college, I'm gonna be honest, I hope there's some changes to college football. I think the amount of money that's gotten into the game over the last 10 or 15 years is staggering and it's not the kid's money, it's the adults that are in the game that make all the money so I really hope that, because I love amateur athletics and I love college football, I really do and I love the tradition of the game, I love the Indiana Purdue game, I love the Indiana Notre Dame game, I love the Nebraska Oklahoma game and something's gotta change for it to happen because I don't think it's going in the right direction right now. Yeah, how would you compare when you were playing today? Pressure, pressure for kids, pressure obviously for the coaches because they make so much money that it's a right now deal and the problem is people look up to the college so my son looks up to the NCAA and high schools do and it seeps down so much pressure now in youth sports and it seeps into high school so I just, I hope the leaders in the NCAA realize that it's an amateur game, academics are important and that come Sunday if you wanna get paid and make the big money that's played in the NFL. And you want these kids to be having fun, right? I want the kids to make enough, when you play college athletics, the time requirements for that sport are such that you cannot have a second job. So I want those kids to be able to make money, no doubt about it. It's just the adult money in the game is crazy. What role would you say Purdue has had in your life? Boy, colleges just have such a formative role in your whole life. I mean, you always just wish you could go back to be 17, 18, 19 years and meeting all your friends. I've got such long-term friends from college and just people that have helped form who I am. And it's just great memories. Did you ever run into any Boilermakers in the NFL community or play with them against them? Oh yeah, for sure. We probably one of the most underrated things about Purdue was how many guys that we put into the NFL and guys that had great careers. I mean, wow, great careers drew obviously, but man, Matt Light starting left tackle, Pro Bowler, just a great player. The list is too long to name all the guys, but you couldn't go many Sundays without playing against a Boilermaker. And always one of my favorites would be going to Kansas City and Lynn Dawson would always come down after the game and find me in the locker room. Hey, Boilermaker, how you doing? And saw that he passed and that was very sad. He was a great guy and a great Boilermaker. When you think about the fans and the Purdue spirit, the band, all the great things that make Purdue Purdue, what does that mean to you? That's great, it's tradition. That's college football, it's college sports, and that's exactly what I hope we don't lose by what's going on. But college athletics is all about tradition. It's all about playing for something and playing for each other. And that's really the great part of the game. Looking back, what does that Purdue community kind of mean to you as you went through it? You played, you came back to Purdue to finish your degree? It's a small community, and that's like I said, when I was in high school, that's what I was looking for. Now that I've been through my career, I'm back in a small community in Iowa. That's kind of the person that I am. I love being in the Midwest and it really feels a lot like home, 400 miles from Iowa or whatever, but driving through the farm towns and stuff, it's pretty similar. Why didn't you go to Iowa? Did you ever have your sights set on that? Coach Stiller, they didn't have Coach Stiller, so he was the reason, him and his whole staff, Coach Stiller, Jim Chaney, Greg Olson, like I said, guys that they made me a lot better football player, but I think they made me a lot better person and they let me have fun, and it was a special, special staff. Is there a moment that you have in your NFL career that you look back on and you're like, wow, I can't believe that happened? Or you were so proud of maybe? Yeah, just, I guess I'm proud that I was, I think outside of the one stop in Kansas City, I think I was a captain on every team that I've played for. So I think I always had the respect of my teammates and any job that you're really in, you're searching for the respect of your peers and I think I had that and had a nice career. And like I said, it's a crazy life, it's a great job for a 25-year-old without kids and all that stuff and did it while I could do it and got out while I could. Are your kids entering the A's where they would be interested in college? Do they have any interest in it? No, I got a 10-year-old daughter and who's a great horseback rider and a little outdoorsman and then a six-year-old son who's just getting into sports himself and getting into football and he's so pumped up to come to the game this week and then drive up to Chicago and get to go to the Bears game. So he's gonna have some big guys for sure come this weekend. Okay, so they're a little too young to be. Yes. To be looking at colleges. My wife's a big tiger so my wife's from LSU so it'll be, she's all in there about Baton Rouge and Go Tigers but I think my son will probably listen to me when it comes to that. We hope to have a little orton on the football team again. Is there anything else you wanna say to the fans, to the Purdue community? Just thank you for the support over all the years. I had a great time when I was playing and definitely fun to turn on Boilermaker football and watch them when they're playing. Awesome, thank you Kyle. Thank you.