Heisman Trophy Winner Fernando Mendoza on Visualization and Approach for the National Championship

We're here with Fernando Mendoza Class of 2000. Class of 2022. From the C. C. And also quarterback at Cal right now. We're going to get into a ton of things. But before we get started, we'd love for you to give a little intro about yourself and tell the people some of the things you got going on. For sure. Yeah, first of all, thank you so much for having me on. I'm not truly a blessing and amazing to connect with the brotherhood, as he said. I went to Columbus Class of 2022. So I'll just show how the brotherhood is reinforced. That's the best. You know, all boy school Miami. We got the camera guy back there also Columbus guy. Oh, yeah. Pooch the pooch. And then I'm now the Cal quarterback. So it's been a long journey from Miami all the way to kind of the San Francisco area. But it's been an amazing journey. I'm blessed to do it all. Oh, yeah. I think let's rewind to before the Cal days, right? And your time at Columbus, you guys won a state championship, which also was a big deal at Columbus after a long stretch of not being able to get it done. Can you talk about what that year looked like a little bit at Columbus and kind of how everyone rallied around you guys? Yeah, so that was a special year in Columbus history. I've been hyped up as we have a ton of national prospects like Xavier Henderson, Elijah Roberts, and the famous Henry Parrish. That you have the sports center run everybody in the class community was like, that was a lot of stiff arm, right? Yeah, that was a stick. I was like, especially on the land. That was like, no, pit in me. I'm feeling this football. Oh, my God, I forgot about that. So iconic. So we started the year off really, really strong. And I was lucky to part enough to be a part of it. And throughout the season, by our sixth game, although we had all the hype, especially the national level of sports center. And I know we're pretty ranked pretty highly on Max Preps. We ended up being like three, I believe it was three and three, like 500. And we lost some sub part teams at the time, which like South-Dade and a couple of other teams that we were highly favored to win. So at that point, some of the seniors like Jordan Garcia and so many other guys like Max Valar, Elijah, Dubie, which is Xavier Henderson, they all kind of brought us together and was like, we need to turn this around. This is our last chance because they lost in the states the last year by like a two-point conversion. So they already favored to go to states being 500 in the start of the season. And usually Columbus, they go to the start of the season a little easier and then they pick up the games. Yeah. So like more than the national teams. They're starting to pick up. So being already 500, they're like, oh shoot, like we need to pick it up or else that's it. Our promise that going from junior year, all those guys to senior year, we're finally going to win it. We're finally going to get over that hump. Like we need to change something. And that was when a big culture shift happened. And we had so much talent on the team. But one of the things that stood out to me is when they played Mandarin and they lost to them. They're like, hey Mandarin came out. They were all in the same matching uniform. They were all like single file line. And although it's, you know, it's insignificant. You know, they're like, whatever. Maybe they're like, the coach makes them do it like that. It was a big thing is that we had so much talent on the Columbus roster, but it needed to be more disciplined. Right. Media board discipline. And the player took that account. Anyone that who's late, one minute, two minutes, three minutes, even as a star player. They got repercussions. Yeah. We played Western, layered in the season Elijah Roberts, who was like American conference defensive player of the year. He showed up like two minutes late or something like that. And coach Dunn didn't let him play the first half of the Western game. Holy shit. Which was like a playoff game at that point. And it was like a big game. Like we weren't winning by a ton. And we weren't favored. And it was a show the team like, hey, this is discipline. It's the Columbus way. We're not doing like any of this superstar massage treatment. Yeah. You Columbus were playing the best players and we're being disciplined. I think it's like a big thing with Columbus, you know? Everybody were kind of the grindin', you know, over there in Westchester. So I think that's when it really, the culture really connected to the football program. Yeah. And Elijah, I mean, he's an amazing guy. I played against him this year at SMU. So I mean, he's a phenomenal player. He's gonna play in the NFL one. Got to mark that on the calendar. Yeah. Then after that, it was kind of... It was free-flowing from there. The starting quarterback in Moody ended up getting injured. And I ended up subbing in for six to seven weeks. And we ended up battling it out throughout the playoffs. And since that 500 mark that we talked about, undefeated since then. And we were lucky enough to win the state championship against great players. We played against Jalen Carter, who was a top 10 pick in the NFL draft. I mean, you see him now in the Eagles. He's like wrecking things. Where did he go to high school? A pop guy. A pop guy. And the only reason he didn't go, like, top five was because of character issues. Yeah. Which has nothing to do on the field. You know, on the field, you're not... You're not... You're not asking for a handshake. You're just a scary guy. And so, I mean, that was a great season. And see Columbus in the community, like, even though I didn't actually... Well, I held the field goal. But although I didn't actually, like, really, really contribute to... In the actual state game, I was able to contribute to this season. Absolutely. And I saw the aftermath. I had like three or four parades. Like, it was like Columbus alumni knew who I was. And I was like, the back of quarterback, there was a time that I was... I forgot what it was, but I know I was in Russia at the start. I know I was in Russia at the sunset place, meet with one of my friends. And I backed in to somebody and I had a car accident. And I was like, oh, she's so terrible. And I was like a 10th grader. It was my first time driving. And I was like, we had to figure... I was with insurance, but it was a lot easier through the process because he was a Columbus alumni. He's brother and brother. And he was like, yeah, just one. Let's go. Columbus story. Yeah. You run into the guy. He was thinking, like, the worst case scenario in all of a sudden, of course, it's a Columbus guy. And he knows... Yeah, you play football Columbus. Oh, don't worry about it. Yeah. It's a test lap. At this point, it's when they just came out. I'm like, oh, shoot. Like, I'm grounded for shares. That's a various... That's cool. I mean, at Gisatt, it was like the parades and everything. It was like... It was like if we won a Super Bowl, essentially, but at a high school level. I mean, that's essentially what it is. But the Columbus network, I took it personal. And they really rallied behind me. There was watch parties at Sports Grill. It was a big deal. Yeah. So you win the state championship. Obviously, then you become the starting quarterback the year after, right? Yeah. And then you play... You finish your career at Columbus, and then you start getting recruited. Can you talk about that recruiting period in your life where... You start getting offers from schools and kind of making that decision of like, what's the next step in your life? Can you kind of go through that process? Yeah. And the one word I would use to describe football recruiting would be subjective. As it's not like swimming or track that they have the time. So, hey, we know you're this good. We know you're 39 seconds. This guy's 40 seconds. Right. There's so many aspects of potential of size, of just the character development, and how good they are as a player overall. And I think a big lack in my screen process was the COVID. And obviously, you know, everyone could blame COVID, and I'm really thankful. I might journey ended up going out, and I thank God for all the time. But so once I started springtime is when the coaches come and see you. Especially a quarterback. A quarterback is very subjective position. You see people like Tom Brady playing and, you know, like Josh Allen. We also have quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson and like Brock彭ter. They're all super different styles. It's not like O-Line where we want the biggest baddest guy. It's very subjective. So at that point, none of the coaches could come. And since all the national recruits played their sophomore year, the entire year, their sophomore year, it was tough to get recruited. So I had to wait till after junior year, after I had all the film, because the camp for still shut down. So I couldn't, the coaches couldn't see me in spring, nor summer. And it was like, wishy-washy if we were even going to play. Because of how bad it was in Miami-Dade. I really forgot about that old COVID time. Yeah, that puts up a whole wrench in things. So no one could see me. And then after my junior year, we had a great junior year. We went undefeated. We unfortunately did not win state because we didn't have the opportunity. We won the tri-county, which we got a ring for because we were the two highest ranked teams. It was a dear Phil Beach and Columbus. And we won that game. So we hold that as a championship. It's not a state championship. But it's definitely a championship. And so after that, my film, after junior year, going to senior year, that's when I was really able to kind of mobilize my recruiting process. But all the schools like Alabama, Georgia, all these huge schools already have their guys going into junior year. I mean senior year. Like you see the Lila 11. Like those guys make bank off of hey, watch our Lila 11. We have the Georgia guy, we have the Alabama guy, and all these huge fan bases come together. Yeah, they're recruiting wearily in the process. Yeah. And you already know who the dudes are by 10th, especially 11th grade. Yeah. That's when it really is 11th grade. And then so up to my senior year, the only real offer that I had was Yale. And I was like, bro, I mean, yeah, let's go. Like I guess like when I really need a football, yeah, great academic program, obviously, yeah, great academic. Like hopefully I make big bucks on walks of one day to make up for football. But and then against Yale, I mean, it could have been like the next Ryan Fitzpatrick. Yeah. And he's a very enough. He wants to be hard. Hardly great. Hardly, that's right. I love that I talk to all like most of the Ivy League. I talk to everyone except, well, everyone except Harvard. And everyone of the recruiting pitches were, you can be like Ryan Fitzpatrick. All the time he goes to the school. And which was showed a little bit of a red flag because I'm like, you don't have your own NFL players to go after another guy. You know, I want to play that NFL. That's my dream. That's my aspiration. That's what I'm going to do. So my whole heart, that's what I believe. So, you know, do a little red flag. I'm like, hey, it's a great opportunity, great school. And it's a platform. It's a platform to play football. And actually funny story. The reason I didn't talk to Harvard is because I got on one phone call with them. Because Coach Dunn, he actually coached Harvard. Really? So he said he coached Catholic for a little bit. Yeah. So he coached to Harvard and he sent the contact. And at the same time, the school was committed in Yale. Said, hey, we're going to call you soon. Like from like the recruiting room with all the coaches and stuff like that. So I get a call. I'm like, okay, cool. And I pick up the phone. And oh, it says Connecticut. Because the coach was from Connecticut. And so I pick up the phone thinking it's Yale, but it's really Harvard. So I'm on the phone to this guy for 10 minutes, not knowing. And Yale and Harvard, this is like real deal. Yeah, that's the right way. He's got his game. He's got his rivalry. Yeah, like I can't, like, one of the five minutes of the call in. I'm like, he's like, you gotta come to campus. I'm like, I can't wait to come up. You know, New Haven's a great place. You know, go Bulldogs. And he's like, whoa, what? What do you just say? And I was like, yeah, go Bulldogs, you know, yeah, Yale. And I was like, at that moment, I just knew. It was like, you know, the moment where you're like, yeah, you're like, I'm not getting any of you. You play a nice language. You freaked up, you know, I was like, oh, and he was like, that's a bad side of the river. Like don't talk about that school. Like in all that stuff. Would you like genuine the upset? He was genuine the upset. He was genuine upset. He was genuine upset. And obviously, he wanted to recruit. And I was like, shoot. And then from there on, I never heard from Harvard. Wow. Well, deserved. But yeah. You know what, it wasn't meant to be. It wasn't meant to be. It wasn't meant to be. But then yes, I was committed to Yale my senior year. We had a good senior year. But good is, we made it to the semi finals. But now in Columbus, my little brother, he just won two back- Yeah. Junior senior. So that's a down year. So we had a down year for Columbus football. And after that season, I was kind of like, OK, I'm going to Yale. I got accepted January. I mean, everyone already signs in December. January, I was like, OK, I'm about to press like, OK, like, let me matriculate to the system. Let me go to Yale. You know? And then I get call. I'm like, OK, like, what's this call? And it's the cow coach saying that their quarterback flipped to UCLA on signing day. And now they're scrambling all ahead. They're like, oh shoot, like all the quarterbacks already signed. Where do we go? And since legally you can sign people until like February 3rd, they still like had an option to sign me. And the only reason to sign it period is so above. And you had no contact with them. No contact. No contact. West Coast. I barely even knew like, I obviously knew Cal and Stanford. Of course, yeah. I knew like Aaron Roger, Marshall Lynch. Yeah. I'd never watched like a cow game. I was like, cow. You know what I mean? I literally caught one of my friends Marcelo Mueller. He's at Michigan now. I was like, hey man, like, you know anything about cow? Because we're on the phone. Like, stuff like that. He's like, yeah, great business going. All right. Sounds good. And I talked to the coach. I obviously researched more about cow. Yeah. And I was lucky enough. He said, hey, we're going to come down and see you throw. And that day I was sweating bullets. I'm like, OK, it's my chance because I got cow with Aaron Roger, Jared Goff. Or do I go like the Ivy League? I really, with, oh my, I'm a guy. I won my Fitchal Busy Yale. Loved everything except about it, except it was negative four degrees when I went. Yeah. I mean, I can't play football negative four degrees, you know, every day. That's rough. So I was like, let's go. End up going well. They offered me a scholarship. And I signed like three days later. Wow. What a crazy turn of events at the last hour or two. Last night, I really thought that I was going to go to Yale. Yeah. And my mom kept on saying like, hey, you're going to get a power five. At that point, there are five conferences. Right. Rip the pack 12. But I was like, no way, mommy. Like there's no way. Like I'm going to Yale. And then magically happens. Mom's always know. Mom's always know. Yeah. Always know. It's weird. Damn, that's pretty awesome. Well, so then now you sign with Yale. I mean, with, uh, with cow. And then you start that process. Yeah. And basically that summer, essentially, right. And start doing all the practices, taking your classes and all that. How was that transition from east coast to west coast? Yeah. So before I say that funny story, Yale doesn't have any scholarships, because they're Ivy League. Right. So I actually signed on the December sign day with Yale. And then I for real signed in February, with cow. So Mr. McKee and athletic directors, like, you're the first player I mean, I signed twice in Columbus history. But signing that paper, I mean, I didn't know what my life was gonna gumt you. I mean, the West Coast. Have you visited the campus before? I visited it once for two days. It was like really quick, because they got to get back and signed the documents and go, because of deadline. And I had never been to California in the first place, like prior to that. So I was like, okay, nonetheless, San Francisco, I was like, I visited the campus and stuff, but, because where exactly is Cal? It's 20 minutes out of San Francisco. And it's literally San Francisco, Oakland. And then San Francisco between there and then up above, you have like Napa. Okay, yeah. And stuff like that where San Francisco is. So it's right by the coast. You can see the water from the stadium and everything like that. And I was like, okay. And when I tell you it's literally miming flipped upside down, like everything opposite, it is, I mean, everyone's a little bit more relaxed. It's definitely very different. And luckily, I had great roommates and a great support system that kind of get adjusted there, because I saw like a couple of kids who, you know, just tough moving away from home, you know, moving away from home for full time job. Full time job. And they're kind of like, okay, like maybe should I sign with my hometown team, you know. And I was lucky enough to have a great support system and have a smooth lane. Like obviously there was a point where I was homesick once. Yeah. And smooth points that, you know, I didn't get a, the culture, it was a little bit of culture shock. Like especially in Miami, like in the high school, whenever you meet somebody, they're like, hey, how are you doing? And I give them like a little hug and stuff like that. So there's like little athletes. And they're like touching. Yeah, they're very touching, you know. And there's a little athlete thing, coming all the new athletes, I'm like, okay. And some obviously with my football boys, and we meet another sport, like another woman sport. I think it was like a track team or something. I can't remember. And I go, like, hey, how you doing for Nano? They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing? That's like the kiss on the cheek. Kiss on the cheek. I remember like the first time I did that. I was like, I think in like New York or Boston or something. And it was the same shade I went there to like say hi, I'm Andre, and they're like, what was this guy trying to kiss me right now? I was like, what's going on here? Yeah, where's this guy's manners? It's not a little bit of reality check there. And I got to like check back in with Miami and just. Berkeley, so that was definitely a little bit of a culture thing. There's a ton of, a ton of amazing Asian food over there, a ton of amazing Asian and Indian and a lot of Mexican food over there. So that's something that I've been, that's really, really exposed to. No, no, no, no, that's that, that's it, that's it, that's it, that's it, that's it, that's it. There was like, at the facility, we had, there was like, a day, it was like, Cuban sandwiches, and everyone, like, knows that, Cuban, you know, being from Miami and stuff, and they're like, oh, Cuban sandwiches, and I ate it, and the chefs at our school are amazing, like world class because they got to serve world class athletes. And I love all of them, shout out Mr. Rob, that's my guy. But the human sandwich and I was like, oh, it's just not the same, you know? It was so good, but it was not the same. And I always put all my friends were like, oh, it's a human sandwich, it tastes like. Yeah, for them it's like, holy shit, it's amazing, but yet for you, you're like, this is the same. Like come down to Versailles or Casacula or something, man. So. Oh yeah, that's cool. One question I actually wanted to ask you, did you ever get recruited by like UM or FIU? Yeah. I mean, considering like the local, right? It's tougher to get recruited from, I know yours was a little bit different because it was like at the last hour kind of thing. But they like to recruit locally, did anything really happen there conversation wise? Yeah, like you said, like all the schools like to recruit locally. Like Miami, like their motto recruiting, obviously they want to pull. Plus just plenty of talent down here. They want to build a fence, you know? That's what they've said and meant multiple interviews and stuff. They want to build a fence, all the talent to go right to Miami. And I didn't get recruited by FIU, but the coach knew that he was getting fired. And he was like, I was a butcher at that time. It was but it was under that. And it was like the quarterback coach. He was like, hey, I know I'm getting fired in two weeks. And they were told me. During that time. Mess. And they're like, hey, I'm not only getting fired in two weeks, but I'm gonna give you this offer. Just so you can get their name out. Got it. Okay. But I mean, there's no saying that the new coach is gonna. Right. He's gonna have his system and who's to know that he's actually gonna bring in the people that he was trying to bring in. He just said that he liked me a lot and that if he was still the coach that he would take me in, but that he didn't have the opportunity more, but he wanted to give me kind of, for like social media, that if some school says, oh look, FIU offered him. Let me take a look at him. Right. Exactly. And then that senior year beforehand, it was still the mani. It was the mani Diaz reign. And so I went to the camp and I was, I was pretty hard broke because it's not a really good camp and stuff like that. Like the new one I was because the Columbus quarterback and stuff like that. And the coach at the time kind of told me, hey, well maybe look at you for a walk on spot here. And I was like, and I had a conference myself. I thought it was good enough for a scholarship spot, you know? Yeah. Of course. All that you proved it. And so I was definitely hard broke and then I was huge Miami Fanger growing up and everything. And it kind of did something, like some of similar to my brother, they were kind of like, we really like you, but you know, we don't think you're that guy. So it was a little hard break for both of us, but luckily I have the chance to redeem myself as you play him this year. Oh yeah. So let's get into that. Let's talk about, so that was your one for you, right? At count. So this was your two. I read you to my first year. You read you to your one and then, but technically eligibility wise, first year or two, yeah, you play this year. So from what I remember, quarterback one gets hurt at count, right? And then that's where you came in and started playing, right? So it was kind of a weird scenario. I know you want to talk about it a little later, but I do. One of those great guys, amazing guy. We bring in this, we bring in this two quarterbacks, actually. One from TCU and one from NC State. And throughout the entire fall camp, we're all battling. All three of us. And it ends up shaking out like the last practice. Like at one point, I was starting. And it ended up shaking out the last practice that I was actually third, going into the game. Like it was very like hair. Wow. It was the top of this. It could be one A1B and one C essentially. Basically. And so the starter goes in and the start of the second string, they kind of battle it out for the first four or five games. They kind of like, they both, like one of the first has minor injuries. But then he ends up getting the starting job again. But then he loses it to the second string guy. So it was kind of like, or quarterback situation was shaky at the time. And the sixth game, I was like a little impatient, but I was also like, OK, like, my time will come. It's no one's playing lights out here. And to think our team at the next level, we need good quarterback play, especially that's what like all teams need. Yeah, I felt, you know, everything. Yeah, that he is. Quarterback is arguably the most important position. And although they're great guys, great quarterbacks, they're going to do great things that are at their next school, like at that point in time, the production wasn't there. And the coach called me, funny enough, on my birthday. I was talking to my family. I got to hang up. Coach is calling. Yeah, coach is calling. Coach is calling. This might be important. He's like Sunday night. And he's like, hey, Fernandes, Smiley, you know, we value preparation, everything done for the program. You're starting next week. No matter if you throw 20 million touchdowns or 20 million interceptions, you're playing for the entire game. Prove me right. Get ready. And I'm like, oh shit. Wow. Yeah. I'm there. I'm like, got to hang up guys like, you know, this is how I got days before the game. Seven days. Seven days. And at that point, I'm like, I'm at a midterm that week. At that point, I'm like, all right. This is my, this might be my only chance ever, being a two star recruit, like very low recruit, to ever play like and start a college football game, especially at Cow at a power five level. 100%. And that week we were playing Oregon State, who at that time had the number one defense in the pack 12 over Oregon, over Washington, over UCLA. Wait, wait. Ain't that that time? They were ranked. Yeah. They were ranked. They were like 13. Top 15. They're 12 of the nation, I think. Yeah. And I was like, wow. So that night, I literally go in that entire week. Seven and 9 p.m. just in the film room, learning everything about them, learning everything about them. Now, I was able to find out like a little bit of tendencies of them, which helped me on the field. And I was like, no matter what, I want my preparation to be so well, and so I mean, just be so well thought of and just be so deliberate in my preparation that I'll be able to sleep well at night. Whether I throw 20 million interceptions or 20 million touchdowns, I want to sleep well at night, knowing that I did everything possible, that humanly possible that I could do to make sure I have a good performance. And I get out there the first two throws in the dirt. I mean, I am nervous. My body's my cool. My cool, my god, I call it football game. I can't have that. I can't have that. I can't have that in cow or in cow. Okay. It was a night game. And it was like, I'm like, oh, okay. Like a tropical park, we have 200 to 500 people. That game was like 50,000 people there. Holy cow. You know, and you just like a little stanch, like a little shell shock. You're like, it's like the lights like this that you can barely see if you look in the lights. You could try to mentally prepare for that moment, but you can't because you have nothing to, like as a foundational piece to do that. And that's a big thing why everyone retrics. They're like none of these quarterbacks are ready enough to play. You gotta get thrown in the fire. And I ended up picking it up. We had a great game. Offensive wise, I mean, we boat raced. The number one team in the back 12. It was like, we lost 40 to like 50. Yeah. I remember it being a shootout. I was a shootout though. In that game, I mean, they've had the Organ State defense only average like 12 points, allowed for game. That's incredible. Until up to that point. And so that was, that kind of led me into, hey, you're starting the next week. Exactly. And then we played Utah. And let me tell you, you guys had a crazy stretch of games. The first five games I played. Oh no, I played the last six games. All teams were ranked at some point. Top 20 at some point. We played Utah, they played USC, who's top 10 nationally. I want to say that game was insane. USC, they played Oregon, who was, they were like number six. One time they were number four in the nation. And then we played Washington State, who was ranked during the season. That's right. I played UCLA, who was ranked at that time that we played them. And it was crazy. And being from the East Coast, you don't understand. And I don't understand the West Coast environments. When I went to Oregon, when I went to Utah, when I went to the Rose Bowl, UCLA, it's things. I've always thought of, you know, Doe Campbell and Hard Rock and like all these other, and like Clemson, but going to stadiums, it was surreal. It was like, wow, like, I'm really playing in this. Like two years ago, I was, didn't have, only had to offer to Yale. And now I can play against UCLA to fight for ball eligibility. The first ball we've made in the last four years. I mean, it's like, this is a big game. Or Stanford sold out. I'm like, this is like huge right? I'm talking about historic environments. It's historic. Historic. I mean, Stanford, no matter who wins, by how much or how well they're doing that year, they storm the field. Absolutely. A year before we only won four games, they storm the field when we be Stanford, you know? So. Yeah, no. I can't even fathom. You know, and it's crazy like hearing it from you. What the emotional side of it is, you know, like, there's you as a fan, like, like growing up, watching that as a kid and looking at those environments and being like, damn, that is sick, right? Like, I want to witness that at some capacity. And then being in that situation, without really much of a expectation, you know, like you're saying, hey, whatever that week was that you started, you're starting here and, well, by the way, you're going to keep starting out because you're performing well. So every week is a new level of preparation that you're not necessarily used to. Obviously, you did your preparation at Columbus and you had your level of preparation there. But you're in a Power Five program going against some of the best teams in the country. And it's just like, go figure it out. Yeah. I like, it's crazy. Exactly. And like you said, like, there's no expectations. So I have a wristband. The three things my wristband was, praise God, it was play by play because something like quarterback, you do preparation, you got to analyze the defense. A Columbus, all we got is to put it into the non-football audiences, cover three and cover one, which are very simple defenses. Ain't cowed through the entire stretch of those six games. I saw over 30 different coverages. So it was like, and it all happens very fast. And no one just, in high school, no one disguises. Right. They're disguising you're out there trying to like, on the level of the level of the level of the game. Yeah. And the other thing, too, on the other side of the ball. I mean, you're talking about speed is way higher in that level of football. Size, smart, you know, everything. You're getting the best of the best on both sides of the ball. Yeah. And I mean, this year we played last game in UCLA. I don't know if you watched the NFL draft, but it was very offensive. Yeah. And the first defensive player took was like, lie-la-to, we played him. That's right. You told? No, he was UCLA. UCLA, UCLA. So I look at them, looking at the draft, and I'm watching him sack me, I'm like, all right. Cool. That's me. Oh my god, that's me. I like almost a lot of people call me, like my Columbus God buddies, and they're like, hey, it's all your TV. I'm like, I don't hear about it, you know? Not the right way to see me. And not the right way to see me on TV. So, wow. I mean, it was really cool, like, beating these environments and seeing how much it meant to everybody. No, it was a surreal experience. It was definitely very surreal. Yeah. So what's, what's kind of the expectation this year? Yeah, so this is the best we've finished in a while. And the one thing that would say that's why we had to, we were so improved last year, was because of the culture change. Like, mid-year, we're kind of like, hey, we lost the organ, we got killed by organ. It was like 60 to like, 30, like 20 or 30. Yeah, it was bad. It was bad, yeah, it was bad. And we were like, all right, we need to win the next three games and make a bowl game. No matter what the coaches say, no matter what anybody says, administration, we need to come together players in differences. We got to start being accountable. And we need to just level it up. At all, work harder, prepare harder, play harder. And I was like, okay, that sounds pretty familiar. Yeah, exactly. It's like the lumbus little turnaround. And so going in an X season, we're going to the ACC, which is crazy, because I can see the Pacific Ocean from my part. I'm about to have a four. I can see the Pacific Ocean from the football offices. The Naurapoint Atlantic Coastal Conference. Yeah, holy cow. So it's going to be a lot of long flights. But next, I mean, the pack top was super competitive last year. I mean, I think almost every team was like almost every team was like ranked. Yeah. Like, so going to the ACC, I mean, our expectations are, you know, through the roof. I mean, we're definitely like, we made, you realize you guys can compete in that conference, coming from the conference that you guys came from last year, like you're saying was stacked essentially. And what seems to be a weaker ACC essentially obviously, you still got the Clemsons, the FSU, the Miami's, can't ever take anything away from those programs obviously. But realistically, I think you guys got a shot. Yeah. So what's the other ACC you guys on? I mean, I think the division, what is it? Remember, it's a... It's the coastal area, man. Co... Is that what they're called? Coastal and I don't even know. Do you answer, should be more aged care on that? Yeah. I just know the punks we play and although people... It's all that matters, it's not important. Yeah, Dima has a weak games. Weak or ACC conference, you still never want to take anyone for granted. Like Wake Forest 2022, they were in the ACC championship and then this year, they had like a down year, they're working on ACC. So that's like, those turn arounds can be super quick. Oh, it's a tough all the time. Cause the Transporal. True. Like a team has a need, they fill it up like this. Boom. Like, FSU Miami, both new quarterbacks. Yeah. So the Transporal, you really never know who's going to be good. Yeah. And who's going to be a little bit more poor. So, I mean, this year our goal is ACC championship. And we know that if we win the games that we need to win, you know, even if we have one road bump or two road bumps, you know, throughout the way that we still have a really good shot at it. Yeah. And we're all really confident in it. It's a long season and you're going to run into those road bumps along the year and it's obviously coaches got their job, but I think you said it best. Like, the players are going to rally and that sense of leadership, obviously, in the locker room is extremely important. And keeping everyone focused on what the end goal is, too. You know, I think that's always crucial. You look at the most successful programs historically. And it all starts with the internal kind of cultures inside and the attitude and, you know, no big egos in the locker room where no one's better than anybody else. It's a team sport at the end of the day. And you got to rally amongst each other through the good times, right? Because it's always good. Everyone could be on the high horse when you start the season 4 and 0. But guess what? You can go lose the next four games and it's a completely different temperature in that locker room. For sure. For sure. And like you said, all starts internally. And I think that we all have a chip on our shoulder. Just because you see and you see like we see the articles and stuff like that. Oh, Cal, Stanford and SMU are coming to the ACC. And everyone's like, all right, we got a couple low level teams coming to the ACC. Or like, what? Like we're going to go win this thing. Yeah. And you see FSU trying to get out of the ACC conference. Right. Obviously for playoff reasons. But we're like, and in their thing, they said that Cal and Stanford weren't like competitive enough for somebody like that. And we're like, OK, we play you guys. Like we'll see about that. And obviously they're a powerhouse program. We respect them. But it's, we have a chip on our shoulder. We know a lot of teams don't want to come out all the way to the West Coast and make that six, seven hour flight that will play us. I know they're not going to be excited to come play us. So we know we can take advantage of them there. Or, hey, Cal is coming in our house, you know, whatever. It's Cal. And then boom, and then we could surprise them. So yeah, no, yeah, you guys got a chip on your shoulder. A ton to prove. I think that's exciting. Do you play Miami? Play Miami and FSU. Miami here? No, you play Miami there. And then next year we play Miami here. What's that Miami game over there? I think it's a little, it's like, later in the six, or six game. Maybe we make a little roach about that. Obviously. Yeah. I'm not a Miami fan though. He's a Miami fan. There you go. You usually cry. But yeah, man, that's exciting. I love it. I forgot that you guys were going to the ACC. We talked about it before, but now that we're talking about it again, I'm like, yeah, that's a big shift and a lot to come with that, which is exciting. So let's get into some of that NIL talk. Obviously, that's the talk of land. And ironically enough, something happened, you know, yesterday with the whole NCAA, and lost seats and all that stuff. So there's a ton going on in that world. What's your point of view of NIL right now and kind of the landscape that you've kind of seen it, but I know you guys did a campaign to with a burrito or something over there. And so in California. Yeah. So we lost them and those are burrito at the local Mexican Berkeley spot that everyone goes to La Burita. And I've been friends with the employees for a long time. And I've gave me the owners and we ended up creating this burrito. Where all the proceeds go to the National MS Society. And my mom has MS, so it's a cause and very dear to my heart. And I love my mom, just my inspiration. We talked really on the podcast about her, you know, having the belief in me. And Tom Brady has said that all the great ones have always someone that loves them unconditionally. And my mom loves me unconditionally and I love her unconditionally as well. So that was something that was really cool. It would have a positive impact in the community. You know, walk around Kansas, you're like, you know, burrito, you know, it's pretty cool, but now it's a burrito. It's like it was a human inspired too, right? So it's Cuban inspired. So, you know, it's, you know, we tried to do a little pork, but the restaurant doesn't serve pork, but we got around to do some chimichurri and stuff in it. And we're doing some future more Cuban heritage aspects later down the line that we have planned. But oh yeah. Like you said, the NIL space. I see it and a lot of my teammates see it. And a lot of people just there, like people that in the NIL space, like, I want to say agents, but I would say people that, you know, collectives, maybe agents, stuff like that. The rules are changing so rapidly. There's so much overturn. No one knows. What's legal? What's not? Where do you get in trouble for? Like, it's like that. He saw like Jim. So a ton of gray area in there. So much gray area. I saw some programs are very, oh, I don't, we don't want to think that risk. Which you've seen a couple programs do. I think Boise State came out saying something like, no NIL deals are coming through here and it's maybe probably part of that reason. It sucks because players are obviously looking for that because they want to get paid. Players looking for that. But it's, yeah, I didn't know it was like that. And a lot of programs are like, all right, no gray or we're going to attack, you know? And so there's been a lot of discussion. I mean, it's supposed to the administrative level if you want to get in trouble or not. But it's not being enforced. It's not, it's truly not really being enforced and that's where you see. I guess you got hit with some sanctions on NIL, right? I think, I think they got some sanctions, but I think none of them is severe. No, they're not, none of them are losing. I mean, to what does NIL outweigh the costs? You know, they bring in this amazing Chantra class. They're great. They go to the coach ball playoff. You don't care about those sanctions anymore. You know, and all this, and all the NIL stuff is just other programs trying to blackmail and, you know, bring down another program. Exactly. But the one thing that's super interesting, but that kind of solid mix of everything together of the NIL, transport, and all these new rulings is that you said all the great teams starting inside the locker room is the ego thing. Now, hey, I'm not better than you. You and me are the same. We're brothers. Right. I'm a fight for you. You're going to fight for me. No ego. We're the same. Now, we're being valued. You're worth 100K. I'm only worth 20K. What do you mean we're the same? You know, maybe you get on me. It's like, you're at least you're getting paid more. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, the funny makes it changes the whole day. And money changes the politics of the locker room. You don't see that cows. You have a really good culture. And no one's like putting money in there with people with faces and stuff like that. But other programs that I've heard out of friends at, not going to disclose that, they say like, hey, people are like, hey, I'm making this much. Like, what are you making? And they're not making anything. And nonetheless, there's still walk-ons on the team that are paying for college. Right. That, like, especially like a cow, we have a couple of walk-ons who are going to be like, great this year, you know? They're not on pocket. And so, I mean, it puts a lot of politics in the locker room, especially with the schools now. Now, the rulings even make some more complicated. The rulings, the schools paying directly. For example, FSU, public school. That needs to go on record. How much are paying everybody? Because they're employees. Right. So now you can search up online. How much is the FSU quarterback? Very true. How much is all these, how much are the alligator players getting paid? That's public. And I think that's going to have a lot of animosity within the locker room. People of jealousy. Well, it's going to set an expectation, too. Imagine you're going to go, you're a player that's being recruited. You're going to go now look and say, okay, FSU, they're getting paid 50K here. UCF, they're getting paid 25. Bam, they're getting paid 100. And then you're like, well, I'm going to go there then, because I'm seeing that they just are paying their student athletes X amount of dollars. And it just alters decision making now, too. That to me is kind of like the part that I wish they could have maybe put a little bit more emphasis on when they were kind of trying to build this program out of all NIL. And some of these other things that the NCA is doing right now. But right now it's like, high as bidder, just go there. And then what it's creating is these players aren't even so focused on football. Obviously they're extremely talented and they have every right to go to these programs. But they're so more worried about their personal image as a person, right? And building their brand and getting the social media followers and having all this hype around them. Because then what is it going to do? That big donor that's got a million dollars is going to say, hey, go over here. And I'll never forget the day that Travis Hunter got flipped to Jacksonville State or Jackson State, right? The Portanoi basically bought him for a million dollars essentially. And because he was boys with Dion and Dion got him to go there. But he was an FSU guy. Number one recruit in the nation at the time and flipped for a million dollars. Obviously they want to Colorado and he got a bigger platform and a bigger stage. But if you're thinking NFL, Jackson State or Jacksonville State, it was Jackson State, right? It was Jackson State. Jackson State. Jackson State was not going to give you the best shot of making it to the NFL because the NFL scouts, even though he might have all the wrong talent in the world are looking at him and saying, hey, you know what? You're not really playing against the best of the best. So how can we really accurately grade you to make it to the pro? He just took the money and road. They maybe had a plan of action that Dion wasn't going to be there for a while and then obviously made it to Colorado and all that. But you can already see that people were altering decisions based off of the fact that where am I going to go get the money? And I get it. Imagine being that kid that didn't have, that comes from a rough, you know, rough neighborhood. Yeah, their mom is working six jobs. Their, you know, their brother's all shares a bedroom and their six of them in the bedroom. Like, money is essential. But at what cost does it become a problem, right? Like obviously there's the essential component that these kids deserve to get paid. But there's also the component that's like greed and like you said, egos that get involved. And I think that creates a larger problem in the long term of all of this. Yeah, I create a large problem. I mean, a couple of things I'll say about is football. First off, always everybody understands it's in the business. Football is a very, very physical sport. Right. At any point you saw Jordan Travis. That's a good, that's another good point. Let's say, let's say if he was like in his first year, boom. Yeah. And now value goes down at least like $500,000, you know, with a torn like destroyed knee and everything. Like lucky to be like playing that NFL now, which is amazing for him. But it's very physical. I mean, you never know when your last nap is going to be. I made it true. And you never know, especially like Drew Bletso, like his last nap and he could come back, but you never know if somebody goes rise up. So I mean, the NIL, I mean, especially with the transfer portal, is that kids are entering the transfer portal now. And they're getting these offers and whether they go to these schools or not, they have value and they have leverage of their own school. They're like, hey, FSC wants to pay me 50. What are you going to match it or what's going to happen? And then some mini NFL basically. And especially with the egos and stuff like that, with the brotherhood. Like one thing you see by the Columbus, I think Columbus is so great a football now, is the brotherhood. The culture is established. And I mean, we all go work out there, like you said, like Jordan, you know, like Elijah Robert, Henry Perry, Xavier Henderson, Shalokanway and Trinity Conway. I mean, you just see all the Columbus guys working out there. And we're all working. It's because we're together for three, four years. Transfer portal, you're, you mean your boys? And let's say you're the receiver, they bring in somebody and he starts right over you because they pay him. That creates a little bit of tension in the locker. Absolutely. You know, we've been boys for four years and all of a sudden, they bring somebody else in that could throw off the entire locker room dynamic. Very true. Like whoa, whoa, whoa. Our boy, Johnny, like he was the guy now all of a sudden, you're bringing somebody else in. Oh, you're bringing someone else in my position. You don't believe in me. You're paying it more than me. So it gets really, I mean, it's a fierce landscape and I mean, hopefully some regulations get to it. It's going to take a while, I think, to balance out. I mean, I think it was the inevitable of what was always going to happen. For sure. It was just like, I think they just said, we're going to open the flood gates up and we're going to figure it out as we go. I mean, the reality is the, you know, college football was making a ton of money, you know, so they had to make a way for everybody else to kind of benefit, you know, on the player side of it. But they kind of just said, it's a wild west and we'll figure it out as we go and we don't really care what happens in between. But I mean, eventually with all this money that's going to be important, you're going to assume that there's going to be some sort of like cap. Yeah. I mean, you would think so, but you never know, especially with, I saw a lot of, you know, private equity they want to get into college football. It's been like a whole sotties. Or the sotties. It's not one of the sotties about trying to buy them out to go to another conference. Yeah. So I mean, it's, I mean, it is crazy. But the one thing I will say and the one hope it has for a lot of players is like you said, a lot of players aren't really focusing on football now. Yeah. So it's a lot of like YouTube channels and it's kind of like always, always monetizing all these other distractions, which is great because they're monetizing. But for the people who, you know, have that Tom Brady mentality, that Kobe Bryant mentality, whatever you want to demonize, there is so many distractions. If you were against so distracted that it's, I would say that it's pretty, not easy because nothing's easy. It's easier than ever to get to the NFL because kids want to stay in extra one or two years to get paid more. Kids are now like, hey, let me just, I'm doing social media now, you know? And so if you were to be a college player who would grind, let's say, back in the day, everyone used to grind head down, no, everyone's like, I need to make the leak for the money, you know, no matter what neighborhood or where you grow up, like I need the money. I want to be successful in my career. Everyone puts their head down, grinds, grinds, grinds, grinds, grinds. Then you have that whole entire pack of players like, hey, trying to enter their third year, your velcro year, their fourth year. But now you have players who are grinding distractions, you know, like doing photo shoot, just doing just what, what are the grand deals, whatever, all of that stuff that I've known to it. And maybe too much at some point that if you were to really grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, it could put you ahead, it could put you a step ahead. Not saying that it's a goal and ticket, but it could put you a step ahead. 100%. Then you would not have been exposed to and kind of, that's a good part of what. You almost look at it as like an advantage compared to, you know, a distraction essentially where, hey, I'm not going to partake in that for the most part, you know, I might do a thing here and there, but my goal is football and I'm going to double down on football because that's what I want to do. Yeah. And like I heard a story, it was a kid at, don't quote me in this, but it was a kid, it was a H.C. conference. It was a teammate, a C.C. conference and a quarterback, you get four games for RedShirt. And basically he played four games in the middle of the season because it started at hurt and they wanted him to start the last three games of the season. But he said, no, I want to forego those three games, not play, let someone else play because I know my, and I have, and I have values high and I want to transfer somewhere else. Are you serious? I mean, I really let another kid play who wanted to be better than him and the kind of kids and I always had value dropped. I need to have transferring, but like, holy snap. But also, like, people need to realize, like, if you're not playing those three games, like, that shows how this school is how you, like, what your character is, like, your character is. That's exactly our goal. That's a perfect girl leader. But still, people are so enamored with their N.I.L. value. And they're being treated amazing and not being treated enough that they're always looking for the quick way out. Hey, like, I, like, just look at what's in front of you. Like, you're starting at this ACZ program, you know, like, this is an amazing opportunity where you have to take for granted, like, yeah, like, you might make an extra whatever, a couple dollars, I mean, the angle should be the NFL. I mean, my angle's NFL because that's where, you know, that's my dream. Yeah, that's awesome. That's a good, that's a good point. It's cool hearing that, you know, from you as a player and hearing, like, kind of, like that internal point of view because it's a monster of a, of a topic right now. Yeah. Before we wrap up, we're going to do like a quick rapid fire questions. So, first question I wanted to ask you was, and what's your favorite Cuban dish? Like, when you're back here in Miami, do you have a, like, a go-to dish that you have to go to? Uh, the one thing I will say, it's not really a dish, but I would say it's a side. Okay. I roast going freeholds. Everyone I got to have it. I was a fairly skinny kid and I've boked up because these guys, like, I see them on TV, but when they're hating you in person, I mean, it is like, oh, my God. I can't even tell when you even grow a bee that must kill her. I didn't have that. I didn't show you, I'll show you a picture after, and then you put it on the screen forever. This guy at Oregon, he's sacked me and I'm like, this guy can't be real. Like, how is he really, he's like, I think I'm a tall guy. Yeah. His way taller, let me, way stronger than me. Just, so I needed to bulk up a little bit. And even from a young age, like, playing in Columbus, like, higher level football. And so my mom would make the best at roast going freeholds. And it's not the same as just putting a can of white rice and a can of black beans. Like, there's an art making. Oh, I've made it. It hits different. It hits different. So I would say that's my thing right there. Nice. Do you have a favorite route that you like to throw? I. Oh, okay. So I would say, I mean, to be honest, whatever gets me the completion would be the right answer. And whatever gets the ball of my playmaker, the easiest. But I would say my favorite play, I would say kind of like with the routes, I mean, it needs to be like a bread and butter play. I love, especially for us, I love the play action plays. As we have amazing running back and amazing offensive line running back J and I, he's like, ranked the third running back in the nation this upcoming season. So everyone bites up. We have like, an either a nice big post go or corner out and a couple of overs to one of my best friends at tight end, Jack Andres. Oh, yeah. And then a couple of people in the flat, that's easy to check down to. So those are some of my favorite plays. Nice. Whatever. Coach Blush calls, shout out, coach Blush and coach Gilbert. So whatever they call them, I'm good with. You're good with that. Yeah. What's the game they play? They look like. So funny enough, my philosophy changed on that midway through the season as a quarterback. The week of the Oregon State game. The reason I was in there seven to nine p.m. wasn't because I was working out or wasn't because, you know, anything physical. Because at that point, the work's done. You're not going to do anything in a week that's going to elevate your game major from, you know, maybe like a mid performance to an amazing performance. Right. That work goes into all of season. You just got to stay healthy mentally. A quarterback. It's like studying for a final every week. I have an entire routine every week. I had a game we went happy, whatever, celebrate with my teammates Sunday. Come in. I need at least watch and label four games of that team. Whoever's previous season, if he's at DC at another school, watch that team. He was at the year before. I need to watch these four games. Mondays, first downs, first down in 10s, Tuesdays, second downs, Wednesdays, third downs, Wednesdays, third downs, third downs. Wednesdays, we have like red zones in special situations, like two minute, fourth downs, and all that stuff. Then Friday, kind of like a little test. What I'll do is I'll play those four games back and I'll be like, pause the pre snap and try to go through this pretty quick. I'll be like, hey, what coverage are they playing? You know, what play what I call here? So I kind of have the call sheet there and I'm like, hey, what play what I call here? And then me and the OC, we kind of go through it. So when I'm already, I'm there, we're a dope Campbell. It's third and three. I'm like, all right, Wednesday, I already know all the coverage is they do third and three. So I'm like, I'm expecting this call and this call and the play calls, the OC calls it. I'm already ready for it. And I'm like, we're like, we're mentally kind of viewing exactly what to expect in that situation. So I'm going through my notes the entire week and that's why he's quarterbacks like pit and man in Tom Brady. So successful. They're not as talented as Patrick Maholam. There are always other guys physically, but they're preparation. But they're preparation and that's a thing is when I listen to all the music, especially the music that gets disposed in the football space of all like the rap and hip hop, it kind of clouds my brain. Yeah. It's like, you're getting so hyped up. I'm getting so hyped up. I can't think straight. You know, I'm getting so hyped. I'm going with the momentum quarterback. I'd play by play because you can't go with momentum. You need play by play. Hey, new play, Rysha. You got to stay grounded and you got to stay grounded. I say, the moment you go with the waves, I mean, that's. That's when it gets a little risky because yeah, it can go up. But as soon as you go up, one or two back completions, you go down and the team goes down. So actually, like I saw Josh Allen, he actually listed like the classical music or like it was like, reggae or something like very chill. And so I started doing that. But then the ad I just stopped on game days, I just don't listen to music. Really? Because it clears my head and that's something that I find a lot more. It's just you just getting in your head and just thinking about it. Yeah, I meant allowing you not to have any external distraction just literally you thinking and visualizing everything. Visualization is key. And one of my mentors, Mike Poloski, who played a cow when they were number nine in the nation and played many years pro, he said the biggest thing that took a step up in his game was visualization. So that's something that I'm working on now a lot. That whole thing can implement this season. Yeah, you see that a lot with a lot of the biggest athletes across the board golf. Your golfers are really big about the visualization because that's such a mental drain essentially where you don't have a team around you to elevate you or motivate you. It's you thinking about the shot and not getting too much in your head when you're standing over that ball. Football, obviously, same thing, baseball, same thing where they're there before the games visualizing every scenario in their head. And visioning go make that play the left center field where I might have to be full sprint and make that play on that wall. Like, or throw at home or the pitch that I got to throw, you know, like all that's in your head. And it's a good point because, yeah, music emotionally can get you up, right? You know, it has that effect. But like you said, it actually dilute it because you're not thinking about the things that are going to go into your actual performance. Exactly. Exactly. And some of those like, there's a visualization. One of the big things you visualize, like, especially in those pressure moments. So when all the adrenaline and cortisol runs through your body, you recognize it. And you're like, okay, they're not going to let this affect me because it's like fight or flight. You don't want to, a lot of people get scared in the big moment. And there was a couple of moments last year that I was like, oh shoot, like I've been in this moment, you know, like, it's just like, hey, when you play, like, what are you going to do? I'm talking to myself. Yeah. And being with a visualization this year, I mean, visualize that play, hey, it's the game when you play, you know, let me recognize those feelings. And then I take it in order to not have the flight, but to take all that energy and put into the fight. And I'm ready for the situations now. And that's something that I'm really looking forward to. To how this season. That's awesome. That's powerful stuff right there. Like, I mean, good for you, dude. Yeah. Like, that's impressive because that showcases a powerful human being, in my opinion. You know, I mean, I'm sure you've seen the Kirk Cuzin's thing. Oh, yeah. That's what that reminded me right there. I was like, yeah, you know, and that's it shows. It shows, man, so good for you. Like, we're rooting for you. I think it's going to be an awesome season and keep doing what you're doing. We're definitely rooting for you. A lot of people are and we're excited to see you play this.