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113. All Pro NFL Safety and New England Patriot Brenden Schooler
2 Plays1 year ago
Description:
In this captivating episode of "The Sportlight Podcast," we have the privilege of sitting down with All-Pro NFL Safety and New England Patriot, Brenden Schooler. Join us as we dive deep into Brenden's remarkable journey, exploring the core values of work ethic, resilience, and the invaluable lessons learned both on and off the field.
Brenden shares insights into his experiences playing under the legendary Bill Belichick, offering a glimpse into the mindset required to thrive in one of the most competitive environments in professional sports. From the relentless pursuit of excellence to the unwavering commitment to teamwork, Brenden's reflections on his time with the Patriots provide invaluable wisdom for athletes, parents, and coaches alike.
Throughout the episode, we uncover the defining moments that have shaped Brenden's career, from overcoming setbacks to seizing opportunities with unwavering determination. His story serves as a testament to the power of perseverance and the unwavering belief in one's abilities, inspiring listeners to embrace the challenges they face with courage and resilience.
Whether you're a seasoned athlete, a dedicated coach, or a supportive parent, this episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking to unlock their full potential and achieve greatness both on and off the field. Join us as we embark on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment with Brenden Schooler, a true champion in every sense of the word.
Key Discussion Points:
- The importance of work ethic in achieving success in sports and life.
- Insights into playing under the guidance of coaching legend Bill Belichick.
- Overcoming adversity and bouncing back stronger than ever.
- Lessons learned from triumphs and setbacks on the field.
- Advice for athletes, parents, and coaches on cultivating resilience and determination.
Tune in now to gain invaluable insights from one of the NFL's brightest stars, only on "The Sportlight Podcast" by Especially for Athletes.
Especially for Athletes:
Website: https://especialyforathletes.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EspeciallyForAthletes/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/E4Afamily
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmbWc7diAvstLMfjBL-bMMQ
Join the conversation using #TheSportlightPodcast
Credits:
Hosted by Dustin Smith & Shad Martin
Produced by IMAGINATE STUDIO
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Support the show: https://especiallyforathletes.com/podcast/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Episode Teaser
00:00:00
Speaker
Wow, everybody, we are so excited for you to hear the discussion we just had with all pro defensive back for the Patriots, Brendan Schooler.
00:00:09
Speaker
Dustin, that was awesome.
00:00:11
Speaker
Talked about resilience, talked about his work ethic.
00:00:14
Speaker
What are you most excited for people to hear?
00:00:16
Speaker
Well, we got into a lot of things with him, even how he handled COVID and how some of the athletes he was around dealt with COVID and how they still figured out ways to get the work in.
00:00:26
Speaker
But the greatest things that he talked about was how he managed his day, that elite level mindset you have to have if you want to be successful at something.
00:00:36
Speaker
And then he even talked about some spiritual things that are important to him in his life.
00:00:39
Speaker
And so anytime we can have an all pro NFL football player on and talking to us while he's currently at camp out in Massachusetts, just finished up practice an hour ago, it's valuable to
The 'Sportlight' and Life Lessons
00:00:52
Speaker
listen to.
00:00:52
Speaker
Whether you play football or not, you ought to give this a listen.
00:00:55
Speaker
Yeah, this is awesome.
00:00:56
Speaker
Here's all pro defensive back, Brendan Schooler.
00:01:00
Speaker
Welcome to the Sportlight Podcast for parents, coaches, and athletes.
00:01:04
Speaker
The Sportlight refers to the time in an athlete's life when they have increased ability to affect the culture around them and the increased opportunity to learn life's lessons through sports.
00:01:13
Speaker
This podcast aims to help parents and coaches capitalize on their athletes' precious time in a Sportlight.
00:01:19
Speaker
The Sportlight Podcast is brought to you by Especially for Athletes program.
00:01:26
Speaker
So Brendan Schooler playing with the New England Patriots right now.
00:01:30
Speaker
We appreciate having you on, Brendan.
How Did COVID-19 Challenge Athletes?
00:01:32
Speaker
We were just talking off air about how crazy 2020 was, and you were an athlete at that time.
00:01:38
Speaker
You played at the University of Texas is where you ended up graduating or finishing your football career.
00:01:44
Speaker
Did you graduate there or did you come out early?
00:01:47
Speaker
I graduated at the University of Oregon and was a grad transfer to the University of Texas.
00:01:54
Speaker
Okay, awesome.
00:01:55
Speaker
During COVID as an athlete, how did that, I know physically it was tough because we couldn't get in person and do some of the same types of workouts in person on the weight room and things that we could do now or before then, but mentally, how did you see that effect either yourself or teammates and things of yours?
00:02:14
Speaker
How was that?
00:02:16
Speaker
Yeah, it definitely wasn't easy mentally.
00:02:19
Speaker
And, you know, luckily I had some really, really good teammates around me who were like-minded.
00:02:26
Speaker
And we didn't let, you know, the restrictions of us being in the building, the restrictions of us, you know,
00:02:32
Speaker
using the facilities kind of, you know, hold us back from wanting to accomplish a common goal that we all had.
00:02:40
Speaker
So we met up and we threw, you know, the football around at parks, you know, we put, you know, each other through drills and obviously, you know, running these things by our coaches.
00:02:51
Speaker
What do you think we should do since we're really not allowed to be, you know, in the building when we're not supposed to, to get that extra work that we wanted.
00:03:00
Speaker
So,
00:03:01
Speaker
Like I said, having those guys around myself and being able to push each other and keep everyone in line and have that same common goal at the end of the tunnel, I think was something that we all leaned on each other for.
00:03:17
Speaker
Everybody didn't know exactly what was going to happen, and there was a lot of uncertainty, but us having each other through that really helped us get through those hard times.
Coping Mechanisms for Young Athletes
00:03:27
Speaker
Had you been in high school during that time?
00:03:29
Speaker
And as you know, a lot of schools, they didn't play football, they didn't play any sports.
00:03:36
Speaker
Had you been in high school and then been told you weren't going to play your senior year because of COVID?
00:03:43
Speaker
What do you think that would have been like mentally for you and your teammates, being that football, I assume, was an outlet for you, right?
00:03:51
Speaker
Probably mentally, and it was your thing.
00:03:55
Speaker
Can you imagine or how would you have handled that, you think?
00:04:00
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that would have been devastating for myself and, you know, all my teammates and my younger brother, because that's something that sports and, you know, sports as a whole has been an outlet for myself, my brother, you know, guys on my teams, my friends.
00:04:17
Speaker
So to be able to, you know, have someone tell you you can't play a sport that you love,
00:04:23
Speaker
I mean, I would have gone through the gauntlet of emotions.
00:04:26
Speaker
I would have been frustrated, sad, mad.
00:04:28
Speaker
And then, you know, as a guy, you try to, you know, find solutions to things.
00:04:36
Speaker
Well, what can we do to, you know, put some film out there?
00:04:40
Speaker
Can we start our own league?
00:04:41
Speaker
Can we do this?
00:04:42
Speaker
Can we use this field?
00:04:44
Speaker
Like, what can we do just, you know, trying to go out there and just do something you love and have someone tell you no, it's...
00:04:51
Speaker
It's really frustrating, and I can't even imagine those guys that had to go through that and maybe didn't have the resources to pull together and start their own league or whatever it was, if it was an all-star league.
00:05:05
Speaker
So just having someone tell you no to do something you love is beyond frustrating, and I don't even want to picture myself in that situation, only imagining how hard it would be.
Character Development Through Challenges
00:05:18
Speaker
Shad, you're in the education world.
00:05:21
Speaker
Shad, it's been four years now.
00:05:24
Speaker
We've seen it up close, obviously, and especially for athletes.
00:05:28
Speaker
But in your world and outside of here, we're four years from it.
00:05:33
Speaker
What have you seen or noticed or we were all afraid of what might come of that?
00:05:38
Speaker
Are we dealing with some of the ramifications of the social inabilities that kids were forced to have during COVID?
00:05:49
Speaker
I think for sure, right?
00:05:50
Speaker
Even studies are beginning to show that.
00:05:52
Speaker
But one of the things is, as Brendan was speaking, one of the things that I thought of, I heard one time that trials reveal character, right?
00:06:05
Speaker
And I think during that time, one of two things happened, even at the professional levels and even at the college levels, right?
00:06:13
Speaker
High-level college athletics and
00:06:16
Speaker
is some people, if they have a good excuse to not do something, they'll take it.
00:06:22
Speaker
Right?
00:06:23
Speaker
And so, oh, I'm living this higher, you know, I'm really concerned about everything going on, and so I'm not going to do anything, right?
00:06:34
Speaker
It was a great excuse to completely disengage if you wanted to.
00:06:39
Speaker
But trials reveal character.
00:06:44
Speaker
And I think what happened during that time is we found out some people aren't as tough as they thought they were without the structure, without someone riding them, without those things.
00:06:55
Speaker
They really went downhill.
00:06:58
Speaker
But some cream rise to the top as well.
00:07:01
Speaker
It revealed who had high character, who had high work ethic, who had self-motivation.
00:07:08
Speaker
And as I think about what Brendan was saying there, that's probably why he's in the NFL, because of the fact that
00:07:16
Speaker
He got some people, and I'm sure it wasn't everybody, right, who's going to parks and they're saying, hey, coaches, what would be the most valuable things for us to do?
00:07:25
Speaker
And they're working and they're putting in that work and doing stuff away from the facility because they could.
00:07:32
Speaker
I bet there was plenty of people playing games.
00:07:34
Speaker
PlayStation at that time, right?
00:07:37
Speaker
And so I think one of the things we're just seeing now is what that time did to people.
00:07:44
Speaker
And it's not all people's fault.
00:07:47
Speaker
I'm not saying that, but those who were proactive, those who said, no, this isn't going to stop me from my goals.
00:07:54
Speaker
I'm going to find ways to make things happen.
00:07:58
Speaker
they really surpassed people.
00:08:00
Speaker
But I think it's kind of a metaphor.
00:08:02
Speaker
That was a super weird and exaggerated time of life that we all look back at now as so weird, right?
00:08:08
Speaker
But I think we face those things in our lives every day, right?
00:08:13
Speaker
Where either someone tells us we can't do something or some circumstances arise or we wake up not feeling good.
00:08:21
Speaker
We face that choice in little ways every day.
00:08:24
Speaker
Are we going to go to the park and work out or are we going to sit and play PlayStation?
00:08:29
Speaker
And so, I mean, that's what I'm seeing, Dustin, in my world is that I think it's being revealed right now who is resilient.
00:08:39
Speaker
who said, you know, I can't control this right now, but I'm going to do what I can do, and who just laid back and used it as an excuse to not do anything.
Success Beyond Talent
00:08:48
Speaker
I shared a quote on our social media not too long ago that said you won't, and I'm kind of paraphrasing the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of, you'll never become your best, or you won't become elite, or whatever if,
00:09:04
Speaker
you only work on the days you feel like it and you know and and in hearing brendan speak i was on a podcast yesterday talking more about the quarterbacks that i work with and and some of the ones who are currently division one and and and a handful that are in the nfl and the person asked me what separates those that made it that far and i said well
00:09:28
Speaker
First of all, we need to understand oftentimes there's some genetic gifts that those that these athletes are given.
00:09:35
Speaker
And it's, you know, I would love to say every one of them just woke up at 5 a.m.
00:09:40
Speaker
every morning and just and, you know, sometimes you're 6'8 and you're you're really big and you're going to have a chance.
00:09:48
Speaker
But there's a difference between talent and skill.
00:09:52
Speaker
Right.
00:09:52
Speaker
A skill set has to really be developed.
00:09:55
Speaker
And so I started talking about outside of that, what made them different.
00:09:59
Speaker
And Brendan, it was interesting hearing you talk about you could not as hard as you tried to answer that question, you couldn't get away from the fact that you you kept coming back to
00:10:10
Speaker
But we would go out and work and we would find other ways and we would figure other things out.
00:10:15
Speaker
And I loved hearing that because you're one who's made it.
00:10:18
Speaker
You're playing at the highest level of football.
00:10:20
Speaker
You've had a great season.
00:10:23
Speaker
You're with a great franchise.
00:10:26
Speaker
who really looks for guys like you.
00:10:29
Speaker
That's why they've been so successful.
00:10:31
Speaker
But you couldn't answer that question without coming back to the fact that you found a way to address the solution.
00:10:40
Speaker
And that was, we might have to go to a park.
00:10:42
Speaker
We might have to figure out a way to, you know, whatever.
00:10:45
Speaker
We just got to do something.
00:10:46
Speaker
And I said in that interview that that's really what separates the greats is that they –
00:10:53
Speaker
They plan their days around what they have to do to be great and they don't let other distractions get in the way of that.
00:10:59
Speaker
That's a priority and that's cemented.
00:11:03
Speaker
In your progression in high school and college in the NFL, some of the athletes that you've been around, has there been any that their work ethic or their example has really made an impact in your life?
00:11:17
Speaker
And would you mind, if so, sharing what it was they did that impacted you?
00:11:23
Speaker
Yeah, I think it all starts for myself.
00:11:26
Speaker
It starts with my dad and my mom because they were both collegiate athletes.
00:11:30
Speaker
My dad played football at Eastern Michigan.
00:11:33
Speaker
My mom was a volleyball player at Cal State LA.
00:11:36
Speaker
And I think from a very young age,
00:11:39
Speaker
They saw in my brother and myself that, okay, these kids, and my sister as well.
00:11:45
Speaker
My sister was a phenomenal volleyball player.
00:11:48
Speaker
They saw that, all right, these kids might be able to do something in the athletic world.
00:11:53
Speaker
And so they instilled in all three of us, there's people who go out there and will beat their chest and beat on the drums and say, I'm doing this, I'm doing that.
00:12:05
Speaker
You know, it's not those people who typically rise to the top.
00:12:11
Speaker
It's the people who do their work in silence and who do it day in and day out.
00:12:16
Speaker
And they enjoy the grind.
00:12:17
Speaker
They love the process.
00:12:18
Speaker
They love going through the pain, the sweat, the tears, all of that.
00:12:23
Speaker
They love...
00:12:24
Speaker
to compete.
00:12:26
Speaker
And I think having that instilled in me at a young age was just work, just go to work, just go to work, just go to work, no matter what's going on in your life, make that a constant, go to work, go to work every day.
00:12:41
Speaker
You know, there's going to be days you wake up and you don't want to roll out of bed and you want to hit that snooze button and you want to go get that extra hour of sleep, but your goals and aspirations don't care how you feel at the end of the day.
00:12:55
Speaker
And that was one of my old teammates.
00:12:56
Speaker
He said that Jalen Mills last year.
00:12:59
Speaker
I remember it was during this time last year and we're, you know, running like dogs out there.
00:13:05
Speaker
And, you know, he kept saying that quote over and over again.
00:13:07
Speaker
And that's one of the quotes that stuck with
Brendan's Training Philosophy
00:13:10
Speaker
me.
00:13:10
Speaker
And, you know, you get to this level and everybody is just physically gifted.
00:13:16
Speaker
Everybody is, but it's the guys who can go through all of that hard training and, you know, the early mornings and, you know, lifting heavy weights and, you know, everything that happens in between there.
00:13:30
Speaker
It's the guys who are mentally strong enough to show up every day and be that same guy every day.
00:13:36
Speaker
whether that's for yourself, whether that's for your teammates, whether you're a leader, whether you're leading by example or you're a vocal leader, you got to show up every day and put in the work.
00:13:48
Speaker
And I think having my parents instill that in me, I'm like, look, there's not going to be a single soul on this team who's going to outwork me today.
00:13:57
Speaker
I'm going to lay it all on the line.
00:14:00
Speaker
and I'm going to get up tomorrow, and I'm going to do it again.
00:14:02
Speaker
And I'm going to wake up the next day, and I'm going to do it again.
00:14:05
Speaker
And having guys who are like-minded like that around you, when you start pushing each other in those ways, where you just test your mental strength, because your mind will take you to places your body didn't think it can go.
00:14:18
Speaker
So as long as you're rock solid up top,
00:14:21
Speaker
you're going to be fine in whatever workout that you're going to be doing.
00:14:25
Speaker
And if that's you having to drag people along with you, then be that guy.
00:14:29
Speaker
Or whether that's you, when you know you're going to get a little mentally fatigued in a workout, lean on that guy who's going to be mentally strong and have him drag you.
00:14:37
Speaker
Because at the end of the day, he's going to prove to you that whatever you put your mind to, you will accomplish.
00:14:45
Speaker
Well, first of all,
00:14:47
Speaker
I just have to pause here and say I played baseball at Cal State LA.
00:14:50
Speaker
There we go.
00:14:52
Speaker
You don't hear that college a lot, but, you know, yeah.
00:14:56
Speaker
So shout out to your mom there, a Golden Eagle, a fellow Golden Eagle.
00:15:01
Speaker
Yeah, but that's all I wanted to say, Dustin.
00:15:06
Speaker
I didn't have a profound thought.
00:15:07
Speaker
I just, you lost me.
00:15:09
Speaker
I'm sure everything you said after that was great, but no, I'm just kidding.
00:15:13
Speaker
You just wanted a name drop that you played at Cal State.
Discipline Over Comfort
00:15:16
Speaker
That was awesome.
00:15:19
Speaker
I remember your mom.
00:15:20
Speaker
She was probably a couple years before me.
00:15:24
Speaker
Can I ask a question about his response, which was awesome.
00:15:29
Speaker
So awesome.
00:15:29
Speaker
Can you say that phrase again about your feelings?
00:15:35
Speaker
Your goals and aspirations don't care how you feel at the end of the day.
00:15:40
Speaker
Yeah, because if you put this out there and you're like, look, guys,
00:15:46
Speaker
this year I want to be whatever accolade that I want to get.
00:15:51
Speaker
Well, guess what?
00:15:52
Speaker
You put that out there and you made it clear to everybody else that this is what you want to do.
00:15:57
Speaker
Well, guess what?
00:15:58
Speaker
That goal doesn't care if you don't want to wake up early one day.
00:16:02
Speaker
That goal doesn't care if your back's feeling a little tight, like, oh, I can make this excuse.
00:16:08
Speaker
My back's tight today, coach.
00:16:09
Speaker
Sorry, I can't.
00:16:11
Speaker
Your feelings don't care.
00:16:12
Speaker
So you've got to do
00:16:14
Speaker
Whatever it is that you have to do to get there.
00:16:17
Speaker
And, you know, having that rock foundation for me, I wasn't highly recruited at a high school.
00:16:24
Speaker
I was a two star recruit at a high school that was super thankful to get a scholarship offer from the University of Oregon.
00:16:33
Speaker
And that's all I wanted to do all of high school was just work my tail off to get to that spot.
00:16:41
Speaker
And it didn't matter how I felt that day because I made that goal and I made that promise not only to myself, but to my family.
00:16:48
Speaker
It's like, I can go do this.
00:16:50
Speaker
I'm going to go do this.
00:16:52
Speaker
So what I didn't want to
00:16:54
Speaker
run those gaps after practice or if I didn't want to, you know, stay late at track and like work on my starts and, you know, do all these things that athletes need to do outside of their necessities, their training that they're called to do.
00:17:13
Speaker
you aren't going to reach that potential because everyone's always got potential.
00:17:18
Speaker
But you've got to go find it.
00:17:19
Speaker
You can't rely on your coach every day to go tell you to go do something because he can't want it more than you.
00:17:28
Speaker
So having those obstacles to overcome and
00:17:32
Speaker
you know, the trials and tribulations that you go through in life, you just got to find a way through it.
00:17:38
Speaker
And for me, that was just to work.
Competing Against Oneself
00:17:41
Speaker
Like, let me go to work and let me show you why I deserve to be here.
00:17:46
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:17:47
Speaker
And that's, you went into this a little bit, but the question I had is, I'm just trying to help athletes picture the way an elite athlete thinks.
00:18:00
Speaker
Because being exposed to that, they could start having those thought patterns.
00:18:04
Speaker
So I'm sure like everybody else, even as a professional athlete, you wake up some mornings and you don't feel like doing what your goals demand.
00:18:16
Speaker
But your goals don't care about your feelings.
00:18:18
Speaker
So...
00:18:20
Speaker
Can you take us into your mind, like, when you have that hesitation, when you're thinking either, I don't want to get up right now, man, I just want to sleep, or after practice, I don't want to stay and run those gassers, what does an elite athlete tell themselves to overcome those feelings so that they can meet their goals?
00:18:41
Speaker
Tell us about your inner talk there in that moment.
00:18:45
Speaker
I don't know if you really want to know what I tell myself in the morning.
00:18:49
Speaker
It's definitely not a nice choice of words, but I kind of look at it as like, you got to be kind of crazy.
00:18:58
Speaker
Like nobody in their right mind wants to put their body and test their mental strength in whatever sport it is.
00:19:08
Speaker
Like you got to go tap that potential yourself.
00:19:12
Speaker
And when you're, you know, dog tired after practice and you got to go run
00:19:18
Speaker
or do extra work with whoever you're going to drag along with you, I think it's at the end of the day, it's like, if I'm doing this, which is like the baseline, like if I'm just doing the necessity that I need to do, somebody else is out there trying to do this as well.
00:19:36
Speaker
So what am I going to do to give myself a leg up on my competition?
00:19:40
Speaker
Because at this level, they're trying to replace you every year.
00:19:45
Speaker
They're trying to get a new group of guys in who want to take your spot.
00:19:48
Speaker
So how hungry are you?
00:19:49
Speaker
Because I remember how hungry I was leading up to the draft, leading up to, you know, when I got the phone call from the Patriots and I was undrafted, but, you know, I still got that phone call and I was like, hey, I'm coming to you guys.
00:20:04
Speaker
I remember how hungry I was.
00:20:05
Speaker
And so I think about all those kids coming out of college who are just as hungry as I was.
00:20:12
Speaker
So I'm like, okay, well, I got to do something more now.
00:20:14
Speaker
I got to be a little crazy.
00:20:15
Speaker
I got to find someone who's crazy like me to help push me through whatever workout we're doing.
00:20:21
Speaker
And my really good...
00:20:23
Speaker
My good buddy, Adrian Phillips, who actually played at Texas quite a few years before me and was with the Pats for the past four years.
00:20:34
Speaker
Him and I work out together in the offseason, and he's just as psychotic as I am.
00:20:38
Speaker
In our workouts, we're like, oh, how many reps did you do here?
00:20:42
Speaker
Oh, I did 10.
00:20:43
Speaker
All right, I'm doing 12 just to make you mad.
00:20:46
Speaker
I outworked you today.
00:20:47
Speaker
So it's having those people to push you and, you know, always having that drive where I'm like, no one is going to come in and take my spot.
00:20:55
Speaker
Like I've worked too damn hard to get here.
00:20:58
Speaker
And if I'm going to let somebody do this, no, no, no, that's not happening today.
00:21:02
Speaker
So just always having that constant, like thought in the back of your head to never settle and never be complacent because somebody out there is working just as hard or harder to have the spot that you're in.
00:21:17
Speaker
See, and what I hear, Dustin, and I'm sure you got thoughts, but you're like competing against yourself.
Staying Ahead in Professional Sports
00:21:22
Speaker
Like a true competitor doesn't need an opponent, right?
00:21:27
Speaker
He or she just needs a temptation, like stay in bed.
00:21:30
Speaker
And it's like, forget you.
00:21:31
Speaker
I'm not staying in bed.
00:21:32
Speaker
Like I'm getting out of bed.
00:21:33
Speaker
You almost have to compete against those thoughts just like you would against an opponent.
00:21:38
Speaker
Yep.
00:21:40
Speaker
The old Native American sitting bull has a phrase that he says he has two dogs inside of him.
00:21:49
Speaker
And which one becomes the alpha dog is the one that he feeds the most.
00:21:56
Speaker
And all of us is a dog that wants to rest.
00:21:59
Speaker
There's the inside dog that wants to be inside and be warm and be taken care of and fed.
00:22:06
Speaker
And, you know, it's the house cat or the house dog.
00:22:09
Speaker
And then there's the one that wants to go to work and go earn and do things.
00:22:12
Speaker
Whichever one we feed the most will be who we become, right?
00:22:16
Speaker
What our personality will become.
00:22:19
Speaker
And I'm sure you're aware of the name Eric Weddle.
00:22:23
Speaker
Yep.
00:22:23
Speaker
You guys play some similar positions.
00:22:26
Speaker
Eric's a good friend of ours, friend of our program.
00:22:28
Speaker
We've had him on the podcast.
00:22:30
Speaker
He's been at a couple events of ours, and he's probably going to be in the Hall of Fame, I would guess here, not too long.
00:22:39
Speaker
But he said something as you were speaking, and I want your thoughts on this, because it's funny how you guys, Shad, you probably felt this.
00:22:46
Speaker
There's just this similar...
00:22:49
Speaker
And to play defense, I'm an offensive guy.
00:22:53
Speaker
Football is my life.
00:22:57
Speaker
And you've got to be a crazy son of a gun to play defense, especially to be good at it.
00:23:02
Speaker
And sometimes I just hate you guys.
00:23:04
Speaker
I wish I could take part of you and put you in some of the offensive guys I coach because you're just crazy.
00:23:12
Speaker
He would go through his day and he did it on our on our podcast, how early he'd get up and go in the weight room and film and then a massage and then an ice bath and then anyway, go through the whole thing.
00:23:23
Speaker
But he said something really interesting in our podcast and we've used it many times where he talked about.
00:23:29
Speaker
Knowing that there was somebody else coming every year to possibly take his spot, that that was a motivation to him.
00:23:36
Speaker
But he said he learned a lesson early in his career.
00:23:38
Speaker
He would ask other safeties, other people who played the position he played for advice.
00:23:44
Speaker
Guys on his own team and even guys from other teams.
00:23:47
Speaker
And he was surprised at how few of them were willing to give it to him.
00:23:52
Speaker
And until he realized, wait a minute, this isn't like the old days.
00:23:58
Speaker
This is a business.
00:23:59
Speaker
These guys see me as a threat and they don't want to give up any of their secrets or anything that they look, man, you got to figure this thing out yourself.
00:24:07
Speaker
I'm not giving you anything in the inch because you might come and take my spot someday.
00:24:11
Speaker
But Eric actually took it the other way personally himself where he said,
00:24:17
Speaker
He went out of his way to give the younger rookies or the younger football player that came into the franchise to give them advice and to help them and to actually tell them things that would make them better.
00:24:30
Speaker
And then he said something that was so awesome.
00:24:33
Speaker
And I said, why shatter?
00:24:35
Speaker
I asked him, well, wait a minute.
00:24:36
Speaker
Aren't you nervous about the same thing?
00:24:38
Speaker
You just gave them some advice that...
00:24:41
Speaker
could maybe later cause you to lose your spot to them?
00:24:45
Speaker
And he said, yeah, that's why I give it to him is because I got to go find new tricks now.
00:24:50
Speaker
When I give them something, I now have another reason to wake up and get back to work because I just gave somebody who could take my job
00:25:02
Speaker
some tricks, you know, some advice that could help them that I had to learn the hard way.
00:25:07
Speaker
So I got to find a new way to fight now.
00:25:10
Speaker
And, you know, that's the kind of mindset that you're talking about, right, Brendan?
00:25:16
Speaker
A hundred percent.
00:25:17
Speaker
Yep.
00:25:18
Speaker
Yeah, you got to have that killer.
Critical Aspects of Recovery
00:25:20
Speaker
We call it winning the hour.
00:25:22
Speaker
So the first chapter of our book, the sport light, we talk about winning the hour and we use the phrase going 16 and 0.
00:25:30
Speaker
We actually are talking more about the other eight hours, but we talk about the 16 hours that you're awake, assuming you sleep eight.
00:25:38
Speaker
Now, recently we've discussed how we need to talk more about the importance of the eight.
00:25:44
Speaker
that you're getting sleep.
00:25:46
Speaker
How important is that to you as a pro athlete to make sure that you're getting the proper sleep, winning the hours you're awake?
00:25:56
Speaker
We're talking about not wasting time, prioritizing your day, making time for what really matters.
00:26:01
Speaker
But how important are those eight hours that you're getting rest to being an elite athlete?
00:26:08
Speaker
Oh, it's huge because that's when your body does the most recovery is while you sleep.
00:26:14
Speaker
And so not only am I real cranky if I don't get like a good eight hours of sleep, but my body just doesn't feel right.
00:26:22
Speaker
And that falls into the category of just like recovery in general, where, you know, I'm the first one to say I hate the cold tub.
00:26:31
Speaker
But guess what?
00:26:31
Speaker
I'm like one of the first guys into the cold tub because I know how beneficial it is
00:26:37
Speaker
to my legs, my knees, my joints, my muscles, all of that.
00:26:43
Speaker
And that also leads into taking care of yourself with your diet.
00:26:49
Speaker
You have to eat clean.
00:26:50
Speaker
You can't be going out and eating McDonald's, drinking all these sodas.
00:26:57
Speaker
Every once in a while, go treat yourself.
00:26:59
Speaker
We work hard for this stuff, but you've got to put the right things in your body because then that leads to inflammation and your joints.
00:27:07
Speaker
And then that leads to you getting hurt.
00:27:09
Speaker
Then that leads to you ultimately not being on the football field, not being on the court, not being wherever you are.
00:27:15
Speaker
Because you didn't take care of the easy things and that's easy.
00:27:19
Speaker
You're not even going out You don't got to break a sweat to cook good food But it's you know not as convenient as it is going through a drive-through So having recovery your sleep your body getting massages and I had one of our Our older players uh, jbrill peppers on our team talking to us last weekend
00:27:40
Speaker
He was talking about how guys will go to the club, spend $1,000 on alcohol, but are mad when they got to pay $250 for a massage.
00:27:51
Speaker
It's like, well, look, that's an investment into your body.
00:27:54
Speaker
Let's not spend so much money on those things that make you look good.
00:28:00
Speaker
but let's spend the money on the things that are going to make your career last longer, things that are going to make you make more money at the end of the day.
00:28:09
Speaker
You know, you get to do this a couple years longer because you took care of your body in the moment instead of having so much fun.
00:28:15
Speaker
And, you know, look, life's all about give and take and moderation and
00:28:19
Speaker
I get it.
00:28:20
Speaker
You want to have fun.
00:28:21
Speaker
You want to do these things.
00:28:22
Speaker
But you got the rest of your life to do that, man.
00:28:25
Speaker
And I think having those influential guys and having the old heads on the team when I was in college, when I was first getting into the league, kind of show you the way and be like, look, don't make these mistakes I did.
00:28:40
Speaker
Don't do this.
00:28:41
Speaker
Don't do that.
00:28:42
Speaker
They're telling you for a reason.
00:28:43
Speaker
It's because that stuff is true, and they went through it.
00:28:47
Speaker
Recovery is huge at the end of the day.
00:28:50
Speaker
That's half the battle right there.
00:28:54
Speaker
We have a principal, Shad.
00:28:56
Speaker
Maybe I'd like to get his thoughts on compete without contempt.
Respect and Humility in Competition
00:29:04
Speaker
That's another principal of our program, another chapter in our book.
00:29:08
Speaker
Brendan, we stress competition.
00:29:12
Speaker
We were athletes.
00:29:14
Speaker
We love sports.
00:29:16
Speaker
I'm coaching every day, and I hate competition.
00:29:19
Speaker
people who don't want to compete, whatever it is, right?
00:29:24
Speaker
So when we say compete without contempt, we purposely don't say sportsmanship, not because we want kids to practice poor sportsmanship, because that's an easy phrase to throw out.
00:29:38
Speaker
And I think everybody understands, well, yeah, you should be a good sport.
00:29:41
Speaker
And we all kind of know what bad sportsmanship I think looks like, but we don't want to undervalue the importance of competition.
00:29:49
Speaker
And as Shad mentioned earlier, and you kind of talked about the biggest opponent is that you're competing against yourself, right?
00:29:56
Speaker
And I talked about the two dogs that are inside of us.
00:29:58
Speaker
That's what we're competing against.
00:30:00
Speaker
But competing with contempt, if your fuel, if your motivation is because you hate contempt,
00:30:08
Speaker
your opponent.
00:30:09
Speaker
You hate the person that you're going against.
00:30:12
Speaker
We try to encourage athletes that that's a very short-term motivation, that your motivation should be to compete because you've worked hard now to have the opportunity to go out and showcase what it is you've developed.
00:30:26
Speaker
And win or lose, you get a chance to do it.
00:30:28
Speaker
And so demeaning or
00:30:32
Speaker
you know, or devaluing your opponent by competing with contempt doesn't do any good for anybody.
00:30:39
Speaker
What are your thoughts on that and how can we teach young people and adults that competition is good, but we don't have to rub it in everybody's face when we win.
00:30:50
Speaker
There's a right way and a wrong way to compete.
00:30:52
Speaker
Do you have any thoughts on that?
00:30:54
Speaker
No, I think you hit it on the head.
00:30:56
Speaker
I think, you know, there's times where you play in big rivalry games where you're like, you just do not like this school or, you know, this team or whatever it is.
00:31:08
Speaker
But the way I've always, you know, been told and taught how to conduct myself is your opponent should be faceless.
00:31:17
Speaker
Now, should you know their last name, their number, where they're from, height, weight, what they're good at, what they're not good at, 100%.
00:31:26
Speaker
Study your opponent.
00:31:27
Speaker
And I think that is kind of the art of the game.
00:31:31
Speaker
You've got to know what they're good at and what they're not good at and attack those weaknesses.
00:31:36
Speaker
But when I say no face, I mean, it shouldn't matter who's lining up against you.
00:31:42
Speaker
And my philosophy is like, whoever lines up against me, my goal at the end of the day is to just impose my will on you every snap, every moment that we get to go up against each other.
00:31:55
Speaker
You're gonna feel me.
00:31:56
Speaker
You're gonna feel all those days where we were running gassers, where I was dying, where I didn't wanna do this, I didn't wanna do that.
00:32:03
Speaker
You know, those dog days you have,
00:32:05
Speaker
leading up to a season like you're gonna feel all of this and it's not because i don't like you but it's because i want to just dominate and just be the best at whatever it is i'm doing i want to be the best version of brendan i want to be the best version you know that my parents get to see my family my friends i want to be
00:32:24
Speaker
that athlete, you know, that, that, that God gave me these talents and I want to go showcase those talents.
00:32:31
Speaker
And I'm going to, I'm going to let you have it every single time that we're lined up against each other.
00:32:35
Speaker
And then I'll pick you up after.
00:32:37
Speaker
And I'll be like, it's going to happen again.
00:32:39
Speaker
And so that's kind of how I was always taught to, you know, approach your opponent.
00:32:45
Speaker
Well, that's the beauty of it.
00:32:46
Speaker
Cause if you don't have that,
00:32:49
Speaker
And we're all three, I'm sure, the same way.
00:32:52
Speaker
You don't want to ever show up and play somebody who's apathetic towards who wins or loses.
00:32:56
Speaker
Like, that's not fun.
00:32:57
Speaker
I don't want to, you know, if we're competing in something and you're just kind of nonchalant, well, I don't care if you beat me or if I beat you.
00:33:04
Speaker
Like, that's annoying as well.
00:33:05
Speaker
Like, no, I want you to...
00:33:07
Speaker
I want you to want to give it to me and take it to me and beat me because I want to find what I'm made of, right?
00:33:14
Speaker
So we should appreciate the fact that there's an opponent there that's giving us a chance to test ourselves.
00:33:21
Speaker
But like you said,
00:33:24
Speaker
it's okay to like them off the field or to help them up or to be respectful because without them, we don't get that opportunity.
00:33:34
Speaker
I like the way that you worded that.
00:33:36
Speaker
There's nothing wrong with wanting to dominate in sports.
00:33:40
Speaker
These games, especially football, it's a very physical, violent sport.
00:33:43
Speaker
It is what it is.
00:33:44
Speaker
If you get into it, you got to know that.
00:33:47
Speaker
It doesn't mean you have to stand over somebody or text them or tweet at them after and try to ruin them.
00:33:53
Speaker
Because the truth is, most of our opponents, if they were on our team, would probably be our best buddies.
Using Love as a Motivator
00:33:59
Speaker
Yep.
00:34:02
Speaker
You know, Dustin, it's something you said and something Brendan said is just to build off it.
00:34:08
Speaker
I love when you started to talk about what, like, you don't need to hate your opponent, they're faceless.
00:34:13
Speaker
You know, you started to mention things like family, love of the game, you know, God.
00:34:20
Speaker
And it's like, for me, those are the sustainable fuels.
00:34:26
Speaker
Right.
00:34:26
Speaker
Like wanting my mom was at every single game I was ever at.
00:34:32
Speaker
She wanted to see me be successful.
00:34:34
Speaker
You know, she had to bring joy to my family, to bring honor to my last name that was on my back.
00:34:40
Speaker
The way I conducted myself, I loved especially, you know, the schools that I got to play for and and even growing up.
00:34:50
Speaker
Like I love representing my high school.
00:34:53
Speaker
I represented them.
00:34:54
Speaker
I love my community.
00:34:56
Speaker
I love my school.
00:34:57
Speaker
I love my college.
00:34:58
Speaker
There's so much love that could motivate us that I think sometimes when people and I've seen this, you've probably seen it, too.
00:35:07
Speaker
And I'm not even going to mention names, though.
00:35:08
Speaker
There's one on the tip of my tongue, but it's like they.
00:35:12
Speaker
They have to find something that their opponent did that offended them.
00:35:17
Speaker
And then they're going to go to the press and be like, oh, they said that, you know, like, and now I'm motivated.
00:35:23
Speaker
And I just almost think if you have to have hate and you have to invent things about your opponent's character or something they did to offend you, I don't know that you're a true competitor.
00:35:35
Speaker
I just need a ball and someone to play against, and I want to win.
00:35:39
Speaker
My family gets mad at me for Monopoly.
00:35:42
Speaker
I don't want people to cheat.
00:35:43
Speaker
I think, no, let's play fair.
00:35:45
Speaker
Let's see who wins.
00:35:46
Speaker
I think it's a lack of competitiveness when we need hate to be our fuel.
00:35:53
Speaker
But when it's just, I want to beat that guy.
00:35:55
Speaker
I want to dominate that guy because it's my...
00:35:59
Speaker
Like it's all about me and my family and my school and the organization that trusted enough in me to pay me to play this game in your instance.
00:36:07
Speaker
That's a way better fuel.
00:36:08
Speaker
The fans that pay all that money to come watch you and you want to bring joy to the Patriot fans like that is a great.
00:36:17
Speaker
positive fuel.
00:36:18
Speaker
You don't need any hate within you to get motivated.
00:36:21
Speaker
So I just, I heard that in both of your, your statements there.
00:36:24
Speaker
And I just think it's a cool way to think about competition, that the fuel should be love, not hate.
00:36:30
Speaker
It's just more healthy, more sustainable, more fulfilling.
00:36:34
Speaker
No doubt.
00:36:36
Speaker
You, um,
00:36:39
Speaker
Remind us again, when did you graduate or come out of college and end up as an undrafted free agent with the Patriots?
00:36:46
Speaker
What year was that?
Brendan's NFL Journey
00:36:48
Speaker
So my rookie year was 22, so I'm heading into my third season with them now.
00:36:54
Speaker
And you played quite a bit, right, last year?
00:36:58
Speaker
Yep, yeah, I didn't miss a single game, yeah.
00:37:02
Speaker
And my understanding is you received some awards as well?
00:37:06
Speaker
Yeah, it was the first team All-Pro.
00:37:08
Speaker
Got that award, which was huge, man.
00:37:11
Speaker
Super thankful and blessed.
00:37:13
Speaker
And I wouldn't be anywhere I am today without my coaches and teammates who believed in me.
00:37:20
Speaker
And mom and dad, brother, sister, those were the ones that were there since day one.
00:37:27
Speaker
And, you know...
00:37:28
Speaker
Fell short of a couple other accolades that I wanted, but that one was super special to me.
00:37:35
Speaker
Just trying to go out there and do it again this year.
00:37:38
Speaker
That's the game that we play.
00:37:41
Speaker
You're only as good as your last performance.
00:37:45
Speaker
Right now, no one cares that I got that award last year.
00:37:48
Speaker
It's cool, but
00:37:50
Speaker
I don't want to hear it.
00:37:50
Speaker
I don't want to hear, oh, but you got this, you got that.
00:37:53
Speaker
Like, no, I got to do that again, though, this year.
00:37:55
Speaker
So it doesn't matter really what last year's accolations were.
00:37:59
Speaker
But, yeah, I was super happy, man.
00:38:02
Speaker
That was big time because, you know, coming as a kid coming home in third grade and telling his dad, you know, I want to be...
00:38:10
Speaker
professional football player to getting an award like this that's voted on by your coaches and you know the the guys you go up against it's it's it's a huge a huge uh accomplish uh you know something to accomplish and man i just like i said i'm super thankful for that i mean i couldn't couldn't imagine getting something like that we have a a all pro first team all pro
00:38:36
Speaker
defensive NFL football player with us today.
00:38:39
Speaker
And he's talking about things that you're not going to get every day from just a regular person on the street.
00:38:45
Speaker
I'm going to ask you a hard question here, Brendan, because we didn't preface that I was going to ask you this before the interview, but...
00:38:54
Speaker
And I don't know you well enough.
00:38:56
Speaker
I do know as an undrafted football player to be three years or two years later, an all pro NFL player is a pretty intense rise to success.
00:39:08
Speaker
So I know that didn't come easy.
00:39:10
Speaker
Congratulations on that.
00:39:11
Speaker
But looking back on your life, and this doesn't have to be sports related.
00:39:17
Speaker
We oftentimes, one of our other principles in our program is resiliency.
00:39:21
Speaker
And we talk about that we don't really know if we're resilient until we have to be resilient, right?
00:39:26
Speaker
We think, yeah, I'm resilient.
00:39:28
Speaker
Well, we don't know it until life kind of kicks us in the face and then we find out if we are or not.
00:39:34
Speaker
What has been something, football or non-football related, that you feel like your resiliency has really been tested?
00:39:42
Speaker
Have you had something in your life where you've really had to buckle down and really evaluate, can I get through
Overcoming Academic Obstacles
00:39:51
Speaker
this?
00:39:51
Speaker
Something hard that you got through that we might be able to share with our listeners that are struggling with something hard right now themselves.
00:40:00
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the first thing that really pops into my mind is, you know, my journey through high school, where there was a mistake with one of my academic advisors, and she didn't realize I wanted to be put on track on a four-year plan, and she just put me on a plan to be eligible to get into a junior college.
00:40:21
Speaker
So this was caught...
00:40:24
Speaker
my senior year by one of my new academic advisors, and she was like, all right, well, this is saveable, but you're going to have to take a couple extra classes, stay a little later.
00:40:37
Speaker
And colleges would see that I'm not going to be a qualifier, and they would just be disinterested right away.
00:40:45
Speaker
And even when myself, my mom, my dad would tell them I'm going to be a qualifier, it's just not going to, it doesn't say that right now.
00:40:56
Speaker
And, you know, Oregon came around and they were talking to me and my DB coach that really got me there, John Neal, he knew.
00:41:07
Speaker
He knew what the deal was, but it was trying to convince the head coach and, you know, the defensive coordinator.
00:41:14
Speaker
And, you know, I was actually enrolled at a junior college.
00:41:18
Speaker
I didn't sign on signing day.
00:41:21
Speaker
I was ready to go to a JUCO for a year and then go find a home somewhere and Oregon ended up having this guy that got kicked off the team.
00:41:30
Speaker
And I signed my letter of intent on June 30th, which was well after signing day.
00:41:38
Speaker
And I actually missed like the first week of summer camp at the JUCO, my local JUCO.
00:41:42
Speaker
And
00:41:44
Speaker
missed all of fall camp, not all fall camp, all of summer school, summer workouts at the University of Oregon and just showed up two days before fall camp and ended up winning the two, the backup corner spot.
00:42:00
Speaker
I played corner my first game up at Oregon and then moved to the starting nickel spot and was a starting nickel.
00:42:08
Speaker
And then by the third game, I was the starting safety and
00:42:12
Speaker
Was if it was a freshman all-american and was you know led the team in interceptions and
00:42:19
Speaker
and whatnot.
00:42:20
Speaker
But what I'm getting at is my mom kept telling me, you just got to jump through the hoops, just jump through the hoops they want you to jump through.
00:42:27
Speaker
And I think it was her just with that constant reminder that there's a common goal, there's a goal that you're working towards right now.
00:42:36
Speaker
And like we said earlier, your goals don't care how you feel, like you just got to keep working towards them.
00:42:42
Speaker
keep jumping through those hoops and doing whatever it is they need you to do to prove to them that you're ready to be there and you're going to be a qualifier and you're going to do this and you're going to do that.
00:42:53
Speaker
I think that taught me the resiliency.
00:42:56
Speaker
Well, she taught me that resiliency to believe, not only want to believe in myself, but just to do whatever it is you got to do within yourself now to get to that spot.
00:43:08
Speaker
And then, you know, having a new head coach every year of football and,
00:43:12
Speaker
Having to deal with staff changes and coaching changes, it just taught me to whatever life throws at you, take it how it is and just make the best of it.
00:43:23
Speaker
Whatever it is that you've got to do, however it is you have to approach this situation that you're in, and when you pray and you ask for strength, God's going to give you an opportunity to be strong.
00:43:36
Speaker
or you pray and you ask for patience, God's going to give you these opportunities to have patience and demonstrate that and have yourself learn what patience looks like, what being strong looks like, and having a great family and having a religion to fall back onto.
00:43:53
Speaker
I think that helped me get through those tough times of just jumping through hoop after hoop.
00:44:00
Speaker
That's
Early Graduation and Career Control
00:44:01
Speaker
awesome.
00:44:01
Speaker
Now, can I ask a question?
00:44:03
Speaker
Because
00:44:05
Speaker
It sounds to me like you graduated from Oregon.
00:44:07
Speaker
How many years were you at Oregon?
00:44:09
Speaker
I was there from 2016 to 19.
00:44:11
Speaker
So I actually got my degree in just a little over three years.
00:44:16
Speaker
But that was that was that was I was able to be a grad transfer because of that.
00:44:22
Speaker
Because I know it's like as soon as you get your degree, you hold all the power like you can go or you could say you can do what you want.
00:44:29
Speaker
So I was always very motivated to get that done pretty, pretty, pretty quick.
00:44:34
Speaker
which is cool and a cool story of resilience that here's this kid that everyone's worrying about whether or not he was going to qualify and whether or not really what they're worried about is can this kid hack it in college, right?
00:44:47
Speaker
And that's what the qualifying process is for.
00:44:50
Speaker
And then you not only jump through the hoops to get there, but then you didn't like, ah, you know, and relax.
00:44:57
Speaker
It's like, forget this.
00:44:58
Speaker
I'm going to graduate in three years to open my options while I'm playing football.
00:45:02
Speaker
which that just shows why you are where you are and why you're an all pro undrafted all pro in your second years, because it's just kind of that, that attitude that you're going to be relentless.
00:45:15
Speaker
Like after our interview, I'm just thinking, man, Brendan schoolers, uh, he's just a relentless dude, you know, he's just going to keep going and keep going.
00:45:24
Speaker
And I think that's what resilience is.
00:45:26
Speaker
So that's cool that you, uh,
00:45:29
Speaker
struggled to qualify and then not struggled like academically or anything, but because of that situation and then graduate in three years, open up your options and then it leads to this.
00:45:39
Speaker
I think that's a cool story of resilience.
00:45:42
Speaker
Thank you.
00:45:43
Speaker
Well, I'm going to pick up on one thing you asked and then maybe ask a final question or one thing you said, excuse me, and then ask a final question.
How Do Spiritual Beliefs Impact Work Ethic?
00:45:52
Speaker
You said if we pray for
00:45:56
Speaker
you know, for work, God's going to give us work.
00:45:58
Speaker
If we pray for patience, God's going to give us a chance to be patient.
00:46:03
Speaker
There's a lot in that statement.
00:46:05
Speaker
And, you know, when we go around and speak at schools,
00:46:08
Speaker
We can't talk about that sort of thing.
00:46:11
Speaker
We can on this podcast, so we're going to talk about it for a second.
00:46:15
Speaker
Because I love that.
00:46:16
Speaker
I agree with that.
00:46:17
Speaker
I think oftentimes those of us who believe in a higher power think that if we pray for something, God's just going to give us
00:46:27
Speaker
work ethic or he's just going to give us patience because we ask for patience.
00:46:31
Speaker
So all of a sudden we're going to wake up a day or two later and be super patient and nothing's going to rattle us.
00:46:38
Speaker
The truth of the matter is what you just said is if we pray for these things, we're probably going to be given opportunities
00:46:45
Speaker
to test our patience or to test our resiliency.
00:46:48
Speaker
And it's up to us to, you know of our motto, we wear it on our wristbands and we'll have to mail you one.
00:46:55
Speaker
We'd love to have you wear it.
00:46:56
Speaker
You know, we have one or two guys in the NFL right now, maybe just one.
00:47:01
Speaker
I know Jaron Hall with the Vikings.
00:47:05
Speaker
And maybe there's one or two others, but it would be awesome if you did and you were kind of an ambassador for us in the NFL.
00:47:11
Speaker
But eyes up, do the work means exactly that, that if we take our eyes up to God and ask for something, he's probably going to tell us, OK, here's your chance.
00:47:19
Speaker
Now go do the work.
00:47:21
Speaker
Yep.
00:47:21
Speaker
Right.
00:47:22
Speaker
Like you're aware of something.
00:47:24
Speaker
OK, here's your opportunity.
00:47:26
Speaker
You might not like the answer to it, but are you willing now to put your big boy, big girl pants on and your work boots on and go to work?
00:47:33
Speaker
Because I'm not just going to give it to you.
00:47:35
Speaker
That's not how this works.
00:47:37
Speaker
And I think the more we understand that as human beings,
00:47:41
Speaker
And you probably said the word 20 times today is work, work, work, work.
00:47:46
Speaker
That at the end of the day, if we don't know what should I do, work.
00:47:50
Speaker
You know, that's really the answer.
00:47:51
Speaker
So that builds into my final question.
Learning from Bill Belichick
00:47:55
Speaker
We would be stupid if we didn't ask you this because you play for probably the greatest, at least one year.
00:48:01
Speaker
He's not there now, but all-time coach, NFL football coach of all time.
00:48:08
Speaker
What was that like in your interactions or something that you learned from playing for Coach Belichick, who is an all-timer?
00:48:16
Speaker
Yeah, I was thankful, you know, that he took a chance on me.
00:48:20
Speaker
Like, he didn't have to bring me in.
00:48:22
Speaker
But at the end of the day, it was like it was his say-so.
00:48:25
Speaker
So super thankful that, you know, he took a chance on this long-haired kid that played at Texas.
00:48:32
Speaker
But, you know, getting to be, you know, two seasons under, you know,
00:48:38
Speaker
under bill it was you just learned that no one no one's too big for the team like you there's a common goal and if you know you put the team before yourself that will bring you personal accolades that's going to bring the team success
00:48:58
Speaker
And I think with him, it's just like, you got to find whatever that role is on a team and just be the best at it.
00:49:07
Speaker
Prove to him, prove to the coaches, prove to yourself that you deserve to be there.
00:49:13
Speaker
Every single day and you're gonna show up and you're gonna be consistent and you're gonna be dependable and tough and like You're gonna be that nitty-gritty football player That is gonna get the job done day in and day out and we know exactly what we're gonna get so I think just having the football knowledge that he has and being able to Break down film and learn how to look at tendencies and you know like
00:49:41
Speaker
as a rookie and you know second year guy you just try to absorb everything you can and he just has you know over these these decades of just football knowledge up in up in that noggin of his so when he did spit out those little you know golden nuggets you're just like oh let me write this down real quick and you know because you're probably going to forget it if you don't write it down so just knowing what it means to be you know a true pro
00:50:08
Speaker
um in the nfl and you know show up to work every day and you know put the team first and do your job and do it to the best of your ability that was that was like that was the you know the epitome of of what he preached to us day in and day out well that's awesome man and and if anybody wants to look at resiliency and and and also look at the
00:50:33
Speaker
The truth of sports is that it's not always great.
00:50:36
Speaker
Not every year is great.
00:50:38
Speaker
Go look at Bill Belichick's coaching record.
00:50:40
Speaker
Go look at his career.
00:50:42
Speaker
He had years where he didn't win a lot of games.
00:50:46
Speaker
Especially early in his career, he had some games where, or seasons where he didn't do great.
00:50:52
Speaker
He was let go.
Episode Wrap-Up and Encouragement
00:50:53
Speaker
He just kept grinding and kept grinding and then ends up now being
00:50:57
Speaker
you know, most likely Andy Reid's coming after him, but the all time greatest football coach, at least at the NFL level.
00:51:06
Speaker
So
00:51:06
Speaker
Brendan, we probably better wrap this up, but listen, man, we'd love to have you on again.
00:51:11
Speaker
You said some, talk about spitting out some golden nuggets, man.
00:51:16
Speaker
You said a lot today that we can use and we're going to use, and we'd love to keep in touch with you.
00:51:22
Speaker
We're going to be fans of you, and I told you on the phone, you're going to have a lot of fans out in Utah now of you following you and the Patriots.
00:51:29
Speaker
So didn't know if you knew that you'd become a fan of some random people out in little old Utah, but
00:51:37
Speaker
Your interview has for sure done that.
00:51:39
Speaker
We're going to keep an eye on you and we look forward to talking to you in the future.
00:51:44
Speaker
Thank you guys for having me as well.
00:51:46
Speaker
Thank you.
00:51:46
Speaker
Well, Dustin, that was a great conversation.
00:51:49
Speaker
Any concluding thoughts to our interview with Brendan Schooler?
00:51:52
Speaker
Well, I think there's a lot of things there that we, I hope that when athlete or parents or coaches that hear this will ask their athlete or their son or daughter to listen to that and do so with a notebook handy.
00:52:04
Speaker
Because there were several quotes, several, you know, just quick blurbs that were said that we could have dove, you know, into and spent a lot more time talking about.
00:52:13
Speaker
So, you know, yeah, please share this with every athlete should listen to this interview we just did with Brendan.
00:52:20
Speaker
Yeah, I agree.
00:52:21
Speaker
So like it, share it, listen to it.
00:52:25
Speaker
And as always, keep your eyes up and do the work.
00:52:27
Speaker
This has been the Sport Life Podcast from Especially for Athletes, sponsored by Coca-Cola.
00:52:33
Speaker
You can learn more about Especially for Athletes by visiting the website at especiallyforathletes.org.
00:52:39
Speaker
You can also learn more about the book, The Sport Life, by Shad Martin and Dustin Smith at especiallyforathletes.org.