The following is a presentation of Playfly Sports Properties in Michigan State Sports Properties.
Well, well, well, welcome again. It is Thursday, March nine,
twenty twenty three. I'm your host Jason Straighthorn, along with my co
host tell You Chew culcrit Otis Wildly is on assignment deal with the higher ups
and management and the MSU Athletics. It's got to do some important stuff,
bringing you guys some good stuff down the road. So we're gonna take it
from here. Be sure to click the subscribe and like button. Thank you
guys for listening to us live you're not live, Click the button and follow
us on our social media platforms, and this is how to do that.
Thanks for tuning in to This is Sparta MSU. Interested in hearing more from
us, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and
even TikTok. Click on the link in the bio to head to our link
tree for more information. Help us grow our following by hitting the like and
subscribe buttons. Tell your friends and family to do the same. Have an
idea for a future episode, let us know in the comment section below.
And now back to the show. Well two two man, there's some guys
down in Indianapolis this past weekend at the NFL Combine. Jayden Reid, Bryce
Berenger did that thing. Talk about the results. Yeah, they absolutely did
their thing. They came out there and you know, like we talked about
in the show before us, an opportunity to showcase what you have, and
they did. They went out there and they did that. You look at
Jay Reid here ran a four or five, a four four five forty with
that and one of the big keys in there is that one point five that
ten yards split there. Really because it's that quickness. It shows that Jay
Reid has the vertical jump thirty three and a half broad standing broad jumped ten
feet one inch and his shuttle you know, those are the things. And
you know he didn't blow away people with the speed, and I get it.
You know, four to four used to be the thing. You know,
four to four was like if you ran a four to four, you
were demand, you were fast. Nowadays that four three. Some guys running
four twos. You have big linemen running four fours. But the quickness that
he possesses, especially at the wide receiver position, I think that's huge.
If you can make those quick shifty moves coming in and out of your routes
and losing guys. That's important right there. And you see this drill right
here, one of my all time favorite drolls for receiver, just displaying,
displaying your hands. You know, he didn't have anybody catches, just catching
everything with his hands, nice soft hands, running down the line, staying
staying, you know, focus on those things so you know, you can't
get any better than that. He had a great opportunity. And one thing
I love there, ball in the outside, hands, running down, use
the sideline as your friend, all that question. And he did this battle
in an eye infection. I know that. I don't know if we have
a picture of this, but he you know, he's basically doing this with
one eye open. Yeah, and you know, and shout out to him
for going out there and doing it because he felt he had something to prove,
didn't have the season that he wanted to have, you know, during
this and this is an opportunity to go out there and showcase that potential.
And some guys would say, hey, my eyes bothering me. I'm gonna,
you know, wait till you know pro day before I catch and do
everything. He's the guy that said, no, I'm not gonna do that.
I'm gonna come out here and compete and showcase. And I think he
won over a lot of teams and a lot of scouts by that gutsy performance
that he had. Wellout question, I mean, definitely proves everybody right as
far as what they see on film. The four four to five, you
know, it's a good standard right there. He was under four five.
That's usually the bar that's between or Okay, this guy is NFL ready,
and he's faster than that on the field. Some guys run faster in their
shorts and tank tops than they do in uniform. Jade Ree's not one of
those guys. He's actually faster on the field when you try to guard him.
Very tough guard and looking for him to have a stellar NFL career.
We're gonna have him in the pro day. I'm sure he's gonna do something.
It's probably not a lot left for him to do, uh before the
NFL Draft comes up. But moving on to Bryce Bearinger, the punter had
an outstanding showing. Yeah, one of my favorite guys. You know,
you look at you look at this punt chart here. This is something that's
really cool here. You know, you look at all the different punts that
he had and these are just the on field open punts. What that means
you're standing in the middle of the field and they say, just punt it
down down as you know, as far as you can and everything like that.
And uh, you know, he's averaging you know, almost fifty yards
you know, every time he punts the football. But the thing that you
need to realize here, if you play the game of football and you're on
that punt cover team, something that's your friend that can really help you.
It's that hang time. And he's averaging about five seconds of hangtime and in
a lot of cases that's unheard of for punters to have that five second hangtime.
And so looking at this is he's punting the ball far, he's getting
distanced, and he's getting paying time. So what that what that really means
for a cover team You have the opportunity to avoid and stay in your lanes
and get there and get down there, and it's gonna lead to a lot
more fair catches and everything like that. And you know we go here to
a directional punt now, so these are gonna be your coffin corner punts,
you know, everything like that. You know, punt right, punt left,
because in the huddle you get these directions that you have to make these
these kicks at and so it helps your cover team as well if you're accurate
in this direction and you get the hang time as well. And once again,
he's averaging over fifty yards in the directional punts with with averaging over five
yards over five seconds of hang time. That's unbelievable for a punter. Oh,
it's not even close. Go back to that one for a second.
If you could be like when you look at the punt chart there bright it's
at the top. If you look at punt number five, people say,
oh, well, what happened? There's a thirty seven yard punt that that's
that's a pooch punt because look at the hangtime on it. Thirty seven yards,
but it's five point two five seconds. So that thing was in the
air for an hour for just a thirty seven yard punt. Right, you
know, I all won't say guys like me, but guys, you know,
offensive line, we can get to thirty seven yards and five point two
five seconds. Absolutely yeah, And then so we take a look at the
pooch punts there. You know those are the ones that you're inside. You
know, you're in that in that gray area. There's a little too far
for your kicker to make a field goal. And you know, hey,
let's let's flip the field. Let's you know, change change the field here.
And either three, he only had one touchback, which is really good.
And the big thing about it two is look at where it's down.
One of this first punts down at the six yard line, the second one
is down at the eleven yard line. And uh, the hangtime as well.
In these things, it gives your cover team time to get down and
down the and down the football. So just like Jay Reid this, you
know Bryce, both these guys, you know their stock is going up after
their performance at the NFL Combine. Yeah. Looking at this tweet here by
Shane Graham, I mean it says he's busted his tail and training after seeing
myself and many of the other great trainers out there, he came into the
combine with a mission. Bryce posted what many are calling the best punter performance
at the combine in recent memory. Wow. I mean that's that's saying something.
When you look at I mean, how many punters get invited to the
combine About seven eight per year, right, And so with this performance,
I think he definitely solidified himself as a draft pick in the upcoming draft.
That's what we're looking for. Spartan's getting drafted. You know, it's rare
for punters to get drafted. There's a lot of punters who can come on
the free agent market and make it. It's a hard it's a hard not
to crack when you think about it. As a punter. There's only thirty
two jobs in the world in the NFL. As a punter, it's tougher
than a quarterback if you think about it, because they do carry mostly two
to three quarterbacks on a roster, but only one punter. And brycelets to
be one of those guys. Yeah, and you know if a team can
you know, because this is only comes back. You know, like punters
aren't drafted very often. But if a team gets a really good punter,
that's you know, a defense best weapon right there. You know, that
punter to flip the field, you know, put them put the defense in
a position to be successful, you know, to you know, to come
up and have the opportunity to pin their ears back. We looked at those
pooch punts. You know, he putting it inside the six inside, you
know, inside the fifteen, at the eleven and everything like that. Defenses
can pin their ears back. Offensive their playbook shrinks a little bit because there's
not that much that you want to do inside your own six year inside your
own six yard line when you're backed up like that. So that's a really
good weapon for the defense. And if teams have that opportunity to snag,
you know, a great punter like Bryce has you know, proven to become,
you know that's gonna be you know, some team's gonna be lucky to
get a guy like that. And you know, with that, people know
my love in a fashion way. I do love punters. I love punters.
I just don't like kickers. Kickers are not welcome off to Chu Island.
There's no doubt about it. You know, Bryce Beinger definitely a guy
who isn't in the kicking category. He's really truly a defender if you think
about it, he's a defender. This guy puts the offense in a bad
situation. So the luck to both of those gentlemen. As they continued and
we're gonna be covering senior day pro Day when they pro date at Michigan State.
When they have that, there're gonna be more guys performing there, as
Michigan State typically attracts a lot of the teams in the NFL to come and
get a closer look at the players that played a year ago. That a
draft out table. In other news from Michigan State football, Michigan State loses
commitment of Nick Marsh who was on the show. Wanted to thank mil Tucker,
but wants to continue to look around and open his recruitment. Yeah,
Jason, this is one of those ones where when people get excited about commitments
and commitments nowadays, unfortunately, it doesn't mean much until that inc is dry
and the kid shows up on campus. You know, is this you know,
why did he open up his commitment? You know, he's he's a
receiver. It had nothing to do with VT Leavin, you know, it's
is this uh, chasing the bag scenario, you know, and if that,
if that's the case, that's unfortunate. I would say, yeah,
you know, you know, we talk about this a lot like chasing the
bag, where they're not you know, I know that he expressed when he
was on the show with us that he wanted to go see other schools.
You know, he's from River Rouge, he hasn't been around so it needs
getting recruited by a lot of schools from a national standpoint, and he wants
to go see him like you and I talk about this a lot like chasing
the bag. What is chasing the bag if he's just saying, hey,
I'm just looking for more money anywhere, or is it an offer that you
can't refuse? To me, there is a difference. You you think the
other way, right, How do you feel about it? Yeah? I
think you know, chasing the bag if you're if there's a school that you
want to go to, you know you want to go there, you know
you can have success there. But just because some other school offers you more
money and you go there because of that, that's chasing the bag. And
you know, I don't think that's you know, like, if this is
the case, don't make a commitment, say you're going to shop around.
You know this is that's totally fine. Say hey, I want to enjoy
the recruiting process, and there's nothing wrong with it. I wanted to enjoy
the recruiting process. I wanted to be wind and dying. I wanted my
mother to be wined and dying. I wanted to You don't get flu flued
out and the long with it. Say you want to enjoy the process,
and you know, that's fine, but don't make a commitment and then and
then, because because nowadays with the whole nil and everything like that, people
make commitments just to see how much they can get from another school. And
that, yeah, you know, I don't I don't agree with the commitment,
the early commitment. Sometimes you know, the kids get caught up in
the moment, you know, I mean, and then look to their credit.
Some of these coaches put a lot of pressure on these young men to
make early decisions. I think you should allow the process to play out so
that you don't have this all this kid flipped and that you know too early
in the recruiting process, he's a class twenty four guy. Most of the
class twenty fours will be taking their official visits coming up in the summertime and
throughout the football season. You don't see them signing until that early signing data
is somewhere in the later December time. I don't know where it is for
the twenty twenty three, our twenty twenty Yeah, those those twenty twenty fours
will be signing in late December of twenty three, so it's time. But
his mother did post that she really hopes that our son still does go to
Michigan State. So we remain hopeful for Nick Marsh to come back to Michigan
State, but he will open this recruitment and move on to see other schools.
We talked about it in our show a couple of days ago. Michigan
State. You know, we got to we're working on it right. We're
trying to get better facilities wise, nil wise and all those things. So
we're comparable to those schools that he may be going to see. Come to
the school for the school, and that's going to take care of you.
That you can propel yourself to the next level. It's not always about chasing
that bag. You know, you and I were talking about it, and
you you know, given this scenario about you know, if the company offered
me. You know that same scenario there that you said, what was that
again? Okay, so you know, so you know, you learn you
have a company now that you're working for, you making X, I don't
know right, and I call it one hundred thousand dollars and some other company
that is in the same business says, say you, we want to get
you five million dollars a year. I don't think that that you're not then
chasing the bag. I think that's a This is a it's a family decision
as long as it's the same type of company, comparable same conference, similar
conference, similar coaches, and you're getting that like it's that much more.
Now if you left for one hundred and ten, I say, man,
come on, man, like, why would you do that? But when
the if that delta is too big? Why like what why would that be
considered chasing? Soon offered it? Man, I get it if you offered
it, But then am I going to develop the same at this other place
that oh you got a way all you really want to go. It's not
it's not all the same though. It's no. No, you have to
look at that. That's what I'm saying. Absolutely have to look at that.
You can't go to a school that has no coaching, that can't develop
you for more money and then you're on the street. That's what we're seeing.
That's what we're seeing look at look at Texas, A and M.
Look at those feed All those people are transferring out of there because they can't
be developed because they chase the bag to that. And don't get me wrong,
at this point in my career and everything, if another company's said,
hey, I'm gonna give find hell, yeah, I'm going you have to.
You've got a couple, man, I mean, you'd be crazy that.
That's where I come from. Like, it's some of these schools are
in a position where they make kids offers they can't refuse. And I'm not
saying the schools, because it's not necessarily the schools to be technical. It's
the collectives and all those people, assuming the rules have been followed, they're
making offers that kids can't refuse. And and that's that's what we're seeing now,
Texas saying them, you're right, look at look what's going on there.
Uh, it's it's kind of a you know, a show, you
know what I mean, it's not good, right, But what happens in
places? What happened to kids betting on themselves too? Yeah? I might
not make you know, five million dollars there, but I'm gonna make one
point two here and then make more than that at the next level. Oh,
betting on themselves. You know, we gotta look at that. You
absolutely have to look at that. You got to weigh all the options,
and you just hope the kids all have guidance and people that they trust and
understand the ramifications of where they're going. And when you're misguided, you don't
know because everything that sounds good to you, it ain't always good for you.
And hopefully, you know, Nick marsh makes the right decision for him
and his family moving forward. I think the misis state time is a great
place to play. You can get developed here, but we don't know who
else is on the table, what's going on. We will way time will
definitely tell. Now moving on to one of our favorite sports, the gymnastics
program, Women's gymnastics set a school record by one ninety eight point two two
five. You yeah, that's you know absolutely, you know, we had
you know, a gymnast on the show. We had a coach Rowe on
the show as well. You know this one eight point two like that.
The highest that you can get is two hundred. You know, just starting
listeners out there that you know, they'll understand how huge this is and it's
the first time in you know, program history having that and two you know,
perfect scores of ten. You know, if you're doing something, if
you're participating something in a sport that is that technical and you work, every
single thing has to come together, mentally, physically, gravitationally, all those
things have to come together for you to get a perfect score, and you
get two of them in the same meet and then propelling your your team to
you know, the highest score in school history. And this is also the
really kicker too. This is after the fact they had already won the big
ten titles. So for some it could be like, yeah, we can
sit back and rest in our laurels is our swan song in East Lanson Senior
Day, we can just you know, wave to the crowd, blow kiss
us and get bouquets. But no, they went out there with the mindset
of hey, let's just keep growing, let's keep this momentum going, and
they did that. Congratulations to the women's gymnastics team, you know for this
feat. Yeah, Nicki Smith, one of the perfect tens on the vaults.
Let's take a look that frustrating from us Bloomville, Michigan. Wow,
Wow, that was a flawless vault right there, perfectly stuck. Another one
of those ten point zero start values. We'll see what the judges have to
take off if they have anything to take off on that. That looked pretty
outstanding to me. See that block off the table, great height, legs
are glued together in the air, perfectly stuck, no movement. Yeah,
and you know, and the crazy thing about it is you have to go
do that handspring, that handspring jump, propel yourself, do your routine in
the air and come down between those lines. You can hit the line,
you can step on the line, that's fine, you just can be outside
the line there and you know, and it's perfect. Is she stuck the
land and didn't have any type of movements or anything like that. And what
a more perfect time to do it than on the last meet at home?
Doing that a perfect and there's nothing that you can say a lot of times,
you know, there's a lot you can work on and everything like that,
but watching that, there's nothing you can work on. There's nothing more
you can do to get a higher score, you know, for that right
there and definitely you know, good to go. That was an outstanding performance
by Nikki and Jory, who was on the show with Coach Rowe had a
perfect ten on the bars without any fear in competition versus in practice. There's
Terry Jacket Joy I'll start out with that Jaeger release move as well. Are
you grabbing that high bar? Beautiful? She has had some struggles with that
in the past, but that was gorgeous right there. Back up to the
high bar, just her dismount left, She'll do a blind full into a
double talk. Beautiful handstand there and a stuck dismount definitely trunding in the right
direction. There, a great routine from Jory Jacker. The team loves it.
Solid performance right there. Outstanding. I mean, you know what they
talked about, if you remember on the show last week, was the chemistry
that they have. That's all they really touted. You know, we had
a couple of football players talking about the lack of chemistry on last year's team
and what they're working towards this year. But you see what chemistry can do
for you. Yeah, absolutely, you see that. You see them cheering
each other on, you see them you know, that was just exactly what
they worked on. And you saw when her teammates when she was hitting those
moves and you know, sticking those land and making those catches and everything like
that. It was like, Okay, great, well she's working on something.
And the anticipation just kept rising and rising rising in the in the building
there. And when she stuck the land and you saw Coach rose Ns go
up, her teammates go and she knew that she had stuck a perfect ten.
Just from that end. You know. The funny thing is when we
had her on the show, you know afterwards she was like, oh my
god, I'm so nervous being on here. But when she was in her
element, you know, she showed no nerves. She it was she was,
it was clockwork. You know, what's the song? What's the song
that she said to listen to before? You know, she must have had
that Rihanna run this towny know, you know they must have you know,
had that going because they were running the Jennison Fieldhouse that last Sunday. Well
out question, man, that was a great performance, Miss s Jim.
That's the whole Congratulations to them, Coach Rowe and absolutely Nikki Smith and Joy
Jacker for being perfect on their final meet in Jennifer Fieldhouse for MSU women's gymnastics.
Now looking at another Olympic sport, wrestling. You know, Jim from
one tough sport to another. Wrestling has three qualifiers to the NCAAA. They
sent there's Cam Kathy qualified at one hundred ninety seven pounds. Cam, I'll
go ahead. And there's Lane. That's Lane Machesky. He was qualified at
a hundred and eighty four pounds. And then Chase Sold Sold Dottee. Chase
Chase Sale Dotee. Chase qualified at one hundred fifty seven pounds. Yeah,
congratulations to these guys. The wrestling program. You know, you know last
year, you know at NCAA Finals that was being held in Detroit, Michigan.
We had guys and the I was at that event. It's a really
cool event. If you've never been to an NCAA wrestling tournament, I highly
suggest you go. Even if you don't know anything about wrestling, you will
learn right on the spot and you'll turn to a wrestling junkie a little bit.
As they say, a matt rat, you're right, yeah, you
know, it's a it's a it's an opportunity. You know, there's no
sport like wrestling that's like the ultimate you know, like Noah Kim came on
the show. He talked about the ultimate com that like fighting and everything like
that. That's wrestling right there is you against someone else and it's uh,
you know whatever. You know, it's the best man win. You know,
you have you know, three rounds you know to to compete, and
the best man win. The strongest wins, the most technical win, the
ones with the most endurance win. And I love how can you go against
Cam Cafe's heir. You know, he has to hear, he has to
look and you know, the pose and everything like that. He has a
bright person soonality and you know, if you're making the trip the trek to
Tulsa for this year's NCAA Wrestling Tournament, my suggestion is there's this great watering
hole in Tulsa, Oklahoma called the Bar. It's a really cool spot,
strong, strong libations and you can't go wrong. Small, you can order
food to come in there. They don't have a kitchen. Tell them Cheo
Choo sent you, uh huh the Bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That's a
wrestling capital right there, Tulsa, man. I mean, they know how
to do it. And of course you know the watering hole. We would
expect nothing less from Choo Choo than to give you a place to invite if
you're into that sort of if you're into that kind of thing. Yeah,
but good luck to all the Mischigan State wrestlers who have earned the right to
go to Tulsa in the NCAA and hopefull they can bring back some high places,
maybe a championship. Love to see it, man, go green for
those fellas. Moving on to another Olympics sport, hockey, Man, they
had a nice series win over Notre Dame, went in two to one.
Yeah, this is the first series win, you know, big ten tournament
series win for the Spartans. You know, it was a great three.
It was a great series. You know, North End came to took the
first game in Michigan State. You know, came back, went to the
drawing boards, sustained and came back and took it. You know, great
job for them. Coach Nightingale when he came and he injected some juice,
He injected some energy into this program, making the hockey season so exciting and
fun and at one point it was one of the hardest tickets to get in
East Lanson. Is getting into mont Ice Arena for a hockey hockey game.
And now they're going to take this the show on the road to Minnesota on
Saturday night as they take on the Golden Golphers. If they win this game
straight, they they definitely punched their tickets in the Big Ten Finals to become
Big Ten Tournament champions. Definitely pulling form on that one to make it happen.
So against Minnesota, Minnesota, Yeah, that's gonna be a good game.
I'll be tuned in watching that see if the Spiers can pull it off
man and get to the championship. We have a special guest on the show
coming up, but before we get to that, with a special announce that
we're gonna listen to this message from our friends over at I hop introducing new
sweet and savory crates. Whether you like the flavor of cinnamon bun after sunset
or prefer to wake up to a little eggs and bacon day or night,
it's always time for crapes really and for a limited time, buy one,
get one free with five flavors that are delicious anytime of day only for my
Hop. Download the app and earn free food with every order. Question for
you, stray, Are you a creepy guy? Not really, I'm not
really crape guy either. You know, like it's it seems so fluffy and
too like I need some stuffed substance, something that's gonna stick to me.
Yeah. Yeah. The closest I can do is like the International Pancake House,
they had these like forty nine or flapjacks that are similar to that.
But you know, now I don't do that because I only eat I hot
pancakes, so you know, but I won't be doing the crapes. Maybe
we gotta try the crape So we got to try the crap that. I
think my wife likes crapes. Yeah, it is, but see yeah,
see it's it's quite fluffy, it is. It feels like I'm gonna start
floating or something. He started floating. Maybe our guests coming on likes crapes,
you know. Maybe you know creaking dude. You know MSU quarterback,
great Detroit Lion draft pick and Super Bowl champion with the Tampa Bay Buccaneer Drew
Stanton joins the show. What's up, Drew? What's going on? Guys?
Drew? You a crape guy? You got me pegged, man,
you already know I like crape. I love breakfast food, so all breakfast
food I did not discriminate. And funny story about I Hop not the one
in East Lansing, but in spring Lake when I got my Super Bowl ring,
uh we uh. The first place I ever wore it was to to
I Hop. My son was there and he's like, Dad, you gotta
wear your ring out. And I was like, this thing is so big
and so gaudy. I cannot wear this out. So we go to breakfast
and I had it in my pocket and all of a sudden, I pulled
it out and he was like, you're it and I was like, yeah,
I had it on for thirty seconds at the I Hop in spring Lake,
so uh, you know, as soon as I came up, I
did not get crapes that day, though, I got just a traditional breakfast.
I'm sure that was a talk of the I Hop that they if people
saw it, probably when you pull it out of pocket, there was like
a light that came out. Yeah. Yeah, must be a champion here.
So Drew, talk about some good news some things that are going on
with your organization. You're gonna have a event coming up here in Michigan on
March thirty. First, Yeah, exactly. So first of all, thanks
for having me on, guys. Always good to connect with you and see
what you guys are talking about everything Michigan State. We appreciate that because there's
so many great things. But within that my foundation, the High Five Foundation,
we obviously have our golf outing in Michigan and looking forward to partner with
coach Tucker again make that event everything that it can be for Special Olympics.
But this other event that I started last year is really really cool. So
it's a bowling event. Again. I try to do as much inclusive stuff
as I can, and so through that, we're gonna go on the road
to Detroit and jay U's backyard, have him there again. Who doesn't like
bowling, So we're gonna team up. We're gonna have a lot of fun.
This will be the second annual event and we're gonna partner with Commune the
Opportunity Center, a really neat organization that I just learned about last year.
It's about helping special needs adults through assisted living around the Detroit area. A
lot of this is privately funded and obviously with the impact of COVID and people's
availability to give these funds. It's very hard. So we had a great
inaugural event and looking forward to build on that. There will be celebrities there.
Jay, you already said he's coming. He's going to bring his bowling
ball and he's set in the tone, so that's kind of it. It'll
be Friday, March thirty. First, as you said, from twelve thirty
to four thirty, we get to the people at oak Lane's Pub and girl
right there on Middle Belt at Westland or gracious enough to host us again.
So again, anytime I do an event, I want everybody to be able
to come out, have fun, but also raise awareness for the causes that
we believe in and want to go out and support. Yeah, that's excellent.
See the High Five Foundation bat org right there the website if anybody wants
to give. But maybe you can't beat west Land Bowl in l A and
Westland. That sounds like a good time man, cold beer, coldest bear
in town. Oh yeah, you had me at pubub Oh yeah, yeah,
Drew, you know like you you you know, one of a kind,
you know type of guy. You know, I had the opportunity to
you know, you were my quarterback at Michigan State. I remember one time
I thought I was gonna get really just chewed out, because you know,
the quarterbacks are known as the golden gooses, you know, and off and
one time there was one flag we came and we just banged into each other
one time, and then it was another time I stepped on your toe and
you know, just the quietest I've ever heard it go in the practice was
and thank god I was not in there. It was during blitz pick up
and someone didn't get the d line, got back, drew through and his
hand got hit on the helmet and everybody went dead quiet, and all the
running backs are back to like, thank god I wasn't in there. Who
was it? Juan and I were sitting back there, I'm sure yeah,
because I know it wasn't like of course it happened to agent and this poor
kid had the worst luck ever. He all he wanted to do was to
please people. He just you know, unfortunately it was. It was a
tough day for him. But I never lost face too. But you know,
through all that stuff, you always had a knack for helping people.
And uh, I know, you know you were big into the I believe
it was the Hertwood School in the Lansing area. There that you know Thursday
or tuesdays or off days, you were big into, you know, going
there help and you were you know, drawing guys to go in there for
you know, like the Special Olympics days and all that stuff there And uh
what you know, since what's that what really drove you towards that cause?
Yeah, exactly all right. So my foundation I was drafted by the Detroit
Lines in two thousand and seven. I already had so many resources in place,
So being able to tap into those resources in Michigan state, as you
talked about learning about Special Olympics understanding and how important it could be to not
only donate money, but also to be able to sit there and get involved.
There's so many great things that we can learn through athletics, and we
can teach through athletics, and we can learn how to persevere and overcome things.
And nothing is more special when you see somebody accomplish a goal. And
these special needs kids that set their mind to a task and see it through
is so unique. So being able to partner with them, and then Children's
Miracle Network is the other thing that I got involved with at Michigan State doing
the Make a Wish and different activities through Spare Hospital where I was actually born.
So it comes full circle and you feel fortunate to be able to give
back again. I realized at a young age how powerful a tool it was
to be able to show up to a hospital room, or to be able
to show up to a gymnasium and sign an autograph, to take a picture,
to run a race with a kid and let them beat you or not
let him beat you, and he just straight up beats you. You feel
bad to So anyways, whatever whatever it may be, competition brings out the
best in people, and when you give people an opportunity. That's the main
thing that my foundation has always been able to do and and one of my
greatest accomplishments of being in the NFL and doing all these things that I was
able to do on a football field. My foundation hit a million dollars in
donations a couple of years back, and to be able to have your name
attached to that, that's the legacy I'm more concerned about leaving. Wow,
that's fantastic. You You had a very consistent presence as a golf ounding over
the years, how many years is it now? Yeah, that's a great
question. So it started down in Marshall, Michigan. I took it over
from a teammate, Mike Furry, who was a wide receiver. We did
it for two more years down there, and then we've made the rounds,
tried not to get kicked out, but unfortunately that happens at some different places.
But College Fields was great. We went to College Fields, they hosted
us over there. They're phenomenal. We just grew so fast, so quickly
went over to haw Colo and unfortunately, you know, had a little bit
too much fun or twenty seven holes and we just saw things differently as far
as pricing was concerned, and so we moved again to on campus, which
was great, and those presented different challenges in COVID with you know, alcohol
and tobacco and all this stuff. And again, we want to have a
good time, but we want to be responsible in doing that. We emphasized
that at the same time, we want to create unique experiences. So we
were able to do that last year and partnering and changing again, taking and
George Purlis's golf out and partnering with coach Tucker as I talked about and doing
two flights at Lansing Country Club. So we're looking forward to a great event
there. Again, they're so gracious and letting us make this event what it
is of bringing in different sponsors and partnerships that we've created again through the community
of Michigan State, through Lewin Harry's, through Chipotle, through Pizza House,
Douglas Jay comes out and give them. This is a unique golf outing that
nobody can replicate because again, the relationships that have been cultivated over fifteen years
of time. Father, oh man, that's a different story. Oh you
know, that's a daily battle. The hardest thing is being a dad,
but it's the most rewarding thing because right now as I transition to figure out
what I want to do next to where I want to concert, uh,
make a concerned effort to make an impact, and the foundation has been a
great thing to be able to do that. But fatherhood is something that I
hold above everything else. Being a good husband and being a good father matters
to me more than anything. And so being able to be my son's baseball
coach. I'm coaching my daughter's softball team, and then I'm coaching a T
ball team which don't tell my daughter's glorified babysitting and I'm not good at it.
But she looked at me with these eyes and she stick, Dawn,
are you're going to be my coach too? Right? And I was like,
oh yeah, get out. You know, it's like half the time
it's a successful practice if the kid if no kid like picked up a bat
when he wasn't supposed to hit somebody, or a ball did and hit some
kid, or they didn't play in the dirt too much. But uh,
you know, that's the joy of parenthood is you get the opportunity to be
invested in their lives. And I don't take a single day for granted in
that regard. Yeah, that's really cool. I remember when you know,
talking to you a couple of weeks back, and you were it was draft
day. You were at your son's base Oh yeah, draft, you know
the whole draft board and everything. Oh yeah, no, I want this
is nine to ten year old baseball. Unfortunately, right like this is nine
or no, this is ten and eleven year old baseball. My daughter's softball
teams, eight year old, this is eleven and twelve year old kids.
And I have set up a full draft board of where I'm going to go
and trying to do everything. But again, it's youth sports, and I
think it's I take that role very serious again, being able to have these
kids when when I take them on and the eleven kids I have on my
team, the ten other kids that are not my son, I treat as
my son, and I'm trying to instill a sense of manhood. I treat
them like man. I make them, you know, be accountable to one
another. And I have one rule, be a good teammate. And it's
all encompassing, be a good teammate. And I can simply look at him
and say, is that being a good teammate? And they're like, oh
man, we're still working through that. We got the old school, so
we're sponsored by the Diamondbacks. We got the old school, like purple pin
stripes with the black sleeves. They're sweet, and I'm like, I just
told the kids because I was like, we got to come up with a
name. We have to have a name or so we can have an identity.
And they're like, nobody came up with them. And I was like,
all right, if you don't show up on Friday with the name,
You're gonna just start running laps and everybody's like, no, I probably won't
wake them really run laps, but I want to, you know, at
least scare them into doing that. I came up with the name of the
Kingpins, so we've got pin stripes, but which is also going to coincide
with the bowling alley? Right? Uh so what was the strategy? Say
you had a draft board, what's your draft strategy? Best player available?
Man? Always Now I value p because I'm all over the board. You
gotta have good pitching. When you're talking about eleven and twelve year old kids,
you gotta have kids like I gotta have a catcher. I gotta have
a pitcher, a shortstop. My son Asher, he's left handed, so
he's the first base when he's locked in there, and then center field.
He doesn't get to play the infield. I'm old school when it comes to
baseball. And you know, the the four months that I was on the
baseball team at Michigan State, I still hold and cling to that four months.
So yeah, John al Smith came in getting ready to go on the
spring break trip all that stuff, and he was like, you're you're a
football scholarship. Guy, you're not playing baseball. And I was like all
right. And I didn't have the ability to just transfer like these kids.
I couldn't just pull the plug. So I had to see it through and
go play special teams and do all that stuff. But again, every situation
we're in we can learn from. We can be better for going through it,
and my time at Michigan State was for that. I just it's unfortunately
I had to give up a baseball career. It manifested itself into Beer League
Softball for Ricks, which I was the m v P with her. You
and I were on a softball team for one year. Yeah, sponsor Rick
sponsored. Her was the pitcher he had to pitch, but I was a
shortstop. And so yeah, I mean that's, uh, that's what it
became. It became playing baseball as a freshman at Michigan State, pitching and
getting ready to do everything to then uh doing that and then going into my
senior year. I haven't played in five years, and Kurt Gibson came up
to me and he was like, hey, he was like, you don't
need to go to the combine, you don't need to do any of this
stuff. Just just go play baseball this spring, and I was like,
are you out of your mind? And I was like it worked out for
you, but like you're one of one, Like you're probably be one of
the greatest football players ever played at Michigan State and everybody knows you're a illustrious
baseball career. I was like, that's not real sound advice for me to
sit here and say, I'm just not going to go to the combine.
I didn't have that luxury. My senior year didn't go according to play and
it wasn't everything that it was meant to be. I'm going to try and
do everything an opportunity I can to go ahead out here and get drafted as
high as I can. Smart move, yeah, really smart movie. Yeah.
So you know, back to the bowling event that's coming up on March
thirty. First, I know you mentioned me as a celebrity that's gonna be
there. I mean obviously, but who are there, Well, there's celebrities
you have there, can people have opportunity to bawl with Well, a couple
of weeks ago, as you talked about you're like Dave Rainers on there,
the kicker and not too cho Dave Rainers still slang in real estate over there
in Oxford if you need something, so he'll be there. If you need
to talk about real estate questions, Jason Hanson will be there. Anybody in
Detroit areas, Yeah, well, no, we've got other guys. It's
just sometimes you're hesitant to name guys because you don't know if they're really going
to come or show up and things pop up and do everything. So,
uh, there will be some former teammates there college wise, also NFL wise
and being able to do that. But again, these events that we get
to host are so unique in the sense that we get to interact with the
people that are actually impacting and you get to see where your funds are going
to. We're gonna have an auction which is online. If you can't make
it to the event, please go on there. If you want to make
a flat donation because you believe in the cause, that's great too. But
High five Foundation dot org, you know, is right there on the screen.
It's confusing. I wish I hadn't done that when I was making it
fifteen years ago because the number five I suppose the IV when I got too
creative. But that's that's the foundation. And again, everything you need to
know about what we're trying to accomplish is on the website. There. You
can sign up there. There's sponsorship opportunities, there's great things. I'm obviously
going to be there bowling and having a good time, even though a good
bowling day for me is scratching one hundred. That sounds like a good time.
Man, if I'm in time, I'm definitely gonna be I'm in if
I'm here, Yeah, for sure. Come on, we need one more
for a team. It's teams of four and we'll have a good time and
U get after it absolutely, man. So hey Drew, and we appreciate
you coming on and giving us this. And you know what you brought up
something a minute ago about your special team's day. I think that is something
that we'll never see again a quarterback at your level of talent playing on special
teams. Man, that was something to see. But uh, probably not
gonna see that anymore. Man to you, man, just pull a plug
now. Now they can just transfer. It's college free agency. It's like,
I'm terrible, that's I'm out of here. Yeah, I don't like
your situation. This coach talked bad to me. Or call me this like
it's tough. It's a tough era that we're in right now. I mean
the nil era and transfer portal. I don't know. Hey, and we're
gon. We're gonna talk about it at the bowet event. We're there,
we're gonna have we want discussions. Yeah, a little bit. We'll put
the bumpers up for ju too. It's at a pump, so by that
time I might need the bumpers. The final score is the final score.
It doesn't matter how you get there, right exactly. Oh man, Now,
Drew, appreciate the time. Man. You welcome any time to go
on the show. Man. Love having you. A great foundation, great
cause, and you know, definitely go to that number, that High five
Foundation dot org and donate there it is right there. Well. Always good
to see your guys's face. Uh, love chatting with you guys in catching
up and look forward to seeing you guys soon. I appreciate it, brother,
all right, man, hey, it's always good to see Drew.
Yes, and you you I mean the Ricks Softball League. Of course,
when he said that, I said, I know Chach was on that team.
No, there's no doubt in my mind. If there's a rick softball
anything ricks right here, good times, good times. We choot you hey
man that we're coming a lot Olympic sports today. You know, had a
big show a couple of days ago, and Drew stand coming on being he
Drew stands what he is man, just a great human being. Final thoughts
for you before we wrap this show up. Yeah, man, it was
it was a good show. It was a fun show. You know.
Good luck to you know, the men's hoop team that's gonna be competing tomorrow
night. I believe the two thirty tip for them. Good luck to them,
good luck to the wrestling team in the tournament. Good luck to the
hockey team in Minnesota. And you know, hey, let's keep let's keep
this train rolling. Let's keep rolling, Let's keep being Spartans, Let's keep
supporting each other. Yeah, look for the Spartans making a nice run and
the Big Ten tournament basketball wise, we're gonna be there cheering them on too.
Great job as always for Otis Wilid who's on assignment handling business. I'm
Jason Strahor. This is Sparta. Have a good night, God bless and
go green, go white. This is Sparta MSU as a combine presentation of
Playfly Sports Properties in Michigan State Sports Properties. The show is produced by Pete
Manez with additional support from Tony Costella Operations and Social media support is provided by
Alicia Straehorn with support from Cecily Max Brown on location. Technical support is provided
by Good Fruit Video. Be sure to follow our hosts Jason Strayhorn, jay
U Culchrik and Otis Wiley on social media to stay up to date with all
the latest This is Sparta news. Please like and subscribe by visiting our link
tree and tell a friend to do the same. Thank you for your support
and as always, go green.