Luke Johnson Podcast

My roommate had Covid, so that was a month I missed. And then I finally got back for the beginning of spring ball. First day of one on ones, I had a good route, caught it. And then the next one, I went up boss the guy and came down and I just landed like, super contorted and it knocked my pelvis in a weird way. And so it. It yanked on my hamstring and so I. I was out for that for like another month. So, yeah, that's. That was a tough spring for sure. Yeah. And then just go into the season, I'd work so hard, just cut block and then get hurt. Then Terry Racial. That sucks. But, yeah, it is what it is.

No? Yeah. And then during the season, obviously, yeah, like you said, like, you didn't get to play the first game because your shoulder. Then you. I mean, you had a couple. You had the West LA game, you did well in that, but then you ended up getting sick. And like, you'd even travel with us to the Glendale game in the game.

Before or the game after LA Harbor. That was week three. We are. The other team had Covid, so we didn't even play that game.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Hanging out. And then we started living together, sharing the room together.

Yeah.

Over in Santa Barbara. And then. Yeah, pretty much were roommates until we all left finally. So, yeah. Crazy to think about that. How. How time flies. Never felt like we were going to get out of that tiny apartment, bro.

I'm so glad we're not. They're not in anymore, though.

I know, I know.

Dudes into such a small space.

You're telling me, dude. I know crazy stuff. But yeah, super excited to have you on the podcast. I think your story is awesome and appreciate it. Unique story. So I'm excited to let you kind of take the reins and share a little bit. So why don't you kind of take us through, you know, go back as far as you won and kind of take us through your journey and how you end up over at Quincy, man.

Yeah, so, I mean, I always liked football. You know, it was my main thing in my life. I would definitely say that was my identity growing up, but I never thought I could even really play college football. I never tried to get recruited until schools started showing up at my high school, really, just because the school I went to, you know, the culture wasn't really about that that much. I didn't really have the foresight to look ahead at what I wanted to do in life. And it was really my junior year after the season My coach said, yeah, Luke, we think you could play, you know, college football. He said, like the GLIAC conference or GLIAC, however you pronounce it, D2.

And.

And yeah, so those schools started coming in, getting more calls, but I had a 1.32 GPA. I didn't. I didn't care about school at all. So I ended up having to go juco. And I didn't even know that my GPA was that low until like end of my senior year. I thought I was eligible. I didn't know there was a difference between core GPA and regular gpa and. Which is super stupid, but whatever. And so I committed to Dakota College at Botineau, which is a JUCO that is no longer has a football program up in North Dakota. Played there for six months just because it was a semester. And then Covid happened, transferred to Santa Barbara. And I mean, yeah, that was, that was really it for me. I. In high school, I didn't really do much recruiting for myself other than just sending emails and I went to camps before my senior year. I had a pretty good amount of interest, though. I probably had 30 schools talking to me just like D2, D3, NAIA, some FCs. But it was always, you know, question about grades. And during juco, I really had no, no one was continuing to recruit me. And for me, I think Coach Aiden was the biggest help for my recruiting just because, you know, he was. He gave us that recruiting path or the, the recruiting list is what you, what you offer. You know, just a bunch of schools and a bunch of emails and phone numbers and. And yeah, so, yeah, Coach Aiden helped a lot with that. I'm kind of getting a little off track here. I forgot where I was.

You're good. You're good.

Yeah, no Santa Barbara. So, yeah, I played there, played receiver, tore my ACL in the season. I had a rough season. I was in and out, starter, second string. I even. I cut block in practice when I wasn't supposed to. Got kicked out of practice. I was starter then. And then the next day I showed up four string, you know, so that's just how it goes. And I hurt it. My. Hurt my shoulder and got sick and then I tore my acl. So my season was pretty screwed up. But I. I had to, you know, play the cards I was dealt and ended up just staying in coaching for the next year because my nickname for the receiver group was already Coach Luke. Anyway, that's just kind of who I am. You know, before.

Before we get into like, you coaching a Little bit, like, just to kind of get people more of a background about, like, what was going on. So, like, you went to, you went to Boto, obviously, and you played a couple games there, right?

Yeah, I, I started there, yeah. And I hurt my ankle halfway through, so.

And so you didn't even, like, you didn't know about gray shirting, right? Because you didn't know about gray shirting there. Nothing, obviously, like, you probably would have gray shooted, right?

I feel like if I knew about that for sure, that's definitely the way to do it. Take less classes, spend less money in juco, at least, and just develop, you know, that's the best way to do it. Save your eligibility for sure.

Yeah. So you were coming into, like, Santa Barbara. You had one year of eligibility left. Obviously, Covid happened, so that kind of gave you a little bit more time to develop, and you did it. Like, I mean, obviously you did a tremendous job developing. But then even during, like, I mean, you remember the spring, like, you hurt your hamstring. Yeah, I'm like, I, I feel bad, like, replaying this, but I mean, obviously.

Such an unlucky time, dude.

So many things happened that were against you, like the hamstring injury, like mid spring. Then the. You, like, didn't you get Covid? Or at least your roommates got Covid.

Yeah, yeah, I forgot about that, honestly.

Yeah. Yeah.

So I, Yeah, I'm in this very beginning of spring ball, the first day of one on ones after, you know, we had two weeks off the whole.

Team, and then we didn't play Orange coast until later, obviously. And then. Yeah, then you got sick for a little bit there. And so like, that kind of derailed things. And then, you know, finally you get back to the starting spot. And then, you know, obviously you, you had that ACL injury.

First drive. Yes. Super bad.

Make a great play.

And then every single injury I've ever had is on like a great play or something.

Yeah, yeah, but I mean, I guess you can, you can kind of take it from here. I mean, just go, go through that kind of talk about that and then just, you can kind of talk about how you, you got into coaching at cc and then your, your, your practice pants.

Oh, yeah, I got my, my DCB practice pants right here. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, after I tore my acl, you know, I was really thinking about hanging it up for a little bit there because I was, I wasn't that fast in high school. You know, I played three sports. I played football, basketball, and track. And I love track. I love track as much as football, really. And so I was planning to run track at SBCC unless I got like a great offer, like from a D1 who, like, I can't pass that up, you know, for football, but. And you know, I couldn't run track because I tore my acl.

Crap.

I forgot where I was going with that. Oh. But yeah. Oh, yeah. I was thinking about hanging it up and just being done with sports really, in general because, you know, you tear your ACL second year juco, you know, what are you supposed to do? And so I just decided, you know, to coach. And I. I didn't really do much that spring. I just really did PT and rehab. I didn't even have a job. Thanks for my parents for helping me out during that time. And then I worked for, you know, SBCC as an assistant receiver coach. Just really just getting any role I could on the team. And I ended up, you know, proving my worth and, you know, being up there in the box and doing some things there, which helped. But. Yeah. And then after that, you know, I wasn't really sure. But before that, I did have. I had an offer to Morehead State that when I told them, yeah, I'm going to redshirt, I'm not going to, you know, I'm not going to come to your school, even in the fall. Then they pulled that, so. And they didn't even know I had tore my acl. But. And then I. For coaching, I really didn't know. I was really stressing about it. You know, I didn't know what I was going to do. I was thinking about maybe running track the spring after. So what, a 20, 23 spring? And then thankfully, at the end of the season, Quincy came. They were just coming to look at guys, and they got me on a little workout the next day after practice after I talked to them and they like seeing how I would run rounds because I was healthy, because I had worked my butt off to get back. Right. And they offered me a scholarship. So that's where I'm at now. It's a little D2 out in Quincy, Illinois. So, yeah, they're right. Offense.

No, I think that's just like. It's just crazy thinking back through all of that, like, all that you. I just remember all that stuff that you went through and I mean, obviously the ACL thing and having to go through that and I mean, I could only imagine. But then, like, in the end to like. I just remember the day that you got that offer from Quincy. We were like, pumped up for you.

Because that was awesome.

Dope.

Thank you, Coach Salazar and Coach Bass, for sure.

Yeah. But I mean, and then I think the other thing is this is one thing that I really wanted to hit on was, you know, obviously you can talk about, like, the whole, you know, never give up stuff like that. Obviously you did that. But then, like, to put yourself out there, like, you went up to the coaches and were like, hey, like, I'm a coach, but I played receiver. And, like, I'm healthy right now. I tore my acl. And, like, you put yourself there. And, like, I think one of the things was that they just, like, liked your personality so much because you put yourself out there and put yourself, you know, in that position, though.

Oh, yeah. I mean, you. You gotta be confident when you're talking to a coach. And I actually just saw some guy talking about golf and what you do with business. And if you can't handle competition and a business partner is trying to do business with you, they're not going to want to hire you because you're not confident you can't handle competition. You know, so it goes both ways. If you're talking to a coach and you seem scared or anxious, you got to just kind of bring that out of you. You got to be yourself, or else they are not going to trust that when the game's on the line, you're not going to be confident. That that's a huge thing. I've seen a lot of guys go down for just not having the confidence in themselves.

Yeah, no, I think that was, like. Because literally, you. You wrapped up that conversation. They were like, vanillatron. We love Vanillatron. And they were just killing you right after that. So, I mean, I think that was just so awesome because most guys just wouldn't even think to do that or be too scared to do that. And you were just like, oh, yeah, this is what I'm gonna do. And you did it, and it worked out for you. And now you're. You're here in this position where you're.

Yeah.

You know, competing over at Quincy and, yeah, we're able to get a scholarship even though you didn't even play the last season. Like.

Yeah.

So many guys have excuses. Like, I mean, you know, obviously I don't name names, but, I mean, plenty of guys tell me, like, oh, yeah, I didn't have film or this or that. It's like, you know, I mean, you. I mean, film helps, but there's so many other things you can do. And I mean, I think.

I mean, you definitely have to have film, number one. I still had pretty good film, and, you know, I was a good athlete, so there's, you know, if I had the work ethic and the grades, that's, you know, you can get it off or even while getting hurt, you know.

Yeah. Crazy stuff. But, yeah, I mean, that's kind of pretty much what I wanted to kind of talk about a little bit. And I don't know if you have anything else that you want to share just with your story of kind of what happened there.

Yeah, I mean, it's really all on you, especially if you go juco or really anywhere. Even in high school, it's all on you. If you don't put in the work, if you don't have the drive and. And to put down your ego and look at what you're bad at and try to turn that into your strengths. Like in high school, like I said, I ran track, but I wasn't that fast, you know, and so Covid really was a blessing for me, because for me, you know, if I want something, you, I'm gonna go get it, whatever it takes. I don't have the ego. I'm just gonna go hard. And so, Covid, I had a whole year, extra year just to develop, and so I went. You know, I was a manager at Papa John's delivering pizzas, worked at an RV factory, and bought myself a weight room just on Craigslist, Facebook, Marketplace. And I just ran a ton of hills, did a ton of plyometrics, and turned my weakness into my strength. And, you know, that turned me into being a track sprinter in college. You know, I wasn't able to run because my knee, but I was going to, and I became pretty fast. So, yeah, it's really it, man. Just do what you can do to make yourself better. That at the end of the day, that's all it comes down to.

Yeah. A hundred percent Cool, man. Well, yeah, I'm glad you kind of spoke about that a little bit more and got to share that. So we'll kind of segue a little bit into recruiting, because I know me and you would talk. We would talk recruiting all the time. Especially. Especially towards the end. We'd be like, I, oh, what about this? What about that? So I don't know. I don't even know where to start. Like, I guess. I guess we'll talk about talking to coaches, because you do a good job of that. I think I do a decent job. You probably do the best I've ever seen. Obviously, that's like. To Me? That's what got you. Your offer was like talking to coaches. So, yeah, I mean, what do you. You kind of talked about confidence. Like, what do you feel are some other important things when talking to coaches?

Well, yeah, so something I learned from my grandpa, who he served in Vietnam. You know, he's just a guy's guy, one of nine brothers, and all his brothers are successful with a car dealership. And, you know, he always taught me, when you go to talk to another man or a woman or anybody, you go up, look them in the eyes, shake their hand, stern handshake, tell them your name, and you know, that's the most important thing is just your introduction. You know, first. First results matter. I forget the term, but. But yeah, just being confident. Just tell them about yourself. Ask questions. You know, and if you, especially if you know a school is coming to talk to you, you should have already looked up where they are, what division they are, what coach could even be talking to you or like at your school, you should know these. This information that's at your fingertips on the Internet. And that's, that's something that people didn't have in the 80s or 90s, but now we do. So you should take advantage of that. At least know what division they are, because that can be very disrespectful for me, actually, with me and Trent went to a camp in San Jose. Yeah, that. And I thought Northern Arizona was NAIA and the coach was liking me in the camp, and so I kind of big dogged him. And then later on I talked to Trent in the car. I found out they're Division one. Like crap. Like, I should have known, you know, I should have looked up what schools were going to be there and what divisions they are, and I should have known ahead of time, you know, that's. That's something important.

So, yeah, no, I think researching schools, knowing what's going on, like, like you said, like knowing what coach might possibly come and then just kind of knowing about them and what they do a little bit more. Like that puts you ahead big time. Just in their eyes. They know, they recognize that. And like it's preparation at the end of the day, just like you would on a game day.

Yeah, exactly. Just have your questions ready to go. Know. Know what you want to talk about, know what you want to present about yourself, because ultimately you're trying to sell yourself. It is their job to field a good football team with good men and people who will have a high grade point average. Like, college football is not easy, and it's their job, you know, they got to put food on a table for their kids. So if they're putting down $100,000 into scholarship and travel and all this stuff and you. You've got to be what they want, you know, you got to be that guy.

Yeah.

And you only. Sometimes you only have five minutes to show that you are. You know, they see your. Your highlight tape, the best, very best plays you made all season, but they don't know who you are as a person, what you are, like, in the classroom and, you know, all the things like that.

Yeah. What were. I'm curious, like, what were the. Some of the questions that you usually ask? Like, did you have, like, go to questions or did it depend on the program?

It really depends. But for the most part, I would already know. Honestly, I would already know the answers to my questions a lot of times, but I would still ask them anyways because I want to keep, you know, you want to keep the conversation going, you want to keep the communication going, but good ones always are after you already know where they. Where they're from, where they're located, who the coach is. You ask about their career, their life. You ask what offense they run or defense. Big thing I would ask is, like, third down, you're playing a Cover 4 team. What do you. What's your favorite. Go to concepts to run. You know, even if you don't really know what's going on, you want to act like you do know what's going on. To be real. Yeah, I know what's going on for football and the X's and O's and stuff. But if you just have those kind of questions, you will seem smarter than you are. Really? Because, you know, I saw something, too. The smartest people or the people that seem the smartest are just the people that use the biggest words. It doesn't matter what their IQ is. If you just use big words, people are going to think you're smart. Same thing if you just say cover four. Oh, they think you know what cover four is, you know, even if you don't. So that's. That's a good tip for sure. Yeah. So.

Yeah. Yeah, I like that. I like that.

Do that in a while.

Yeah, no, I like that a lot. Yeah. For me, it was always, like, I would try to demonstrate, especially because at Santa Barbara, which you were laughing about how I talked about, you know, we left coach more up with the tall guys, run the offense and.

Yeah, that's cool.

Yeah. Because we were able to do that. I'd always Say in any call that I hopped on with the coach, I'd be like, yeah, one of the things I'm looking for is like, hey, we took control a lot of things in the offense, like pass protection, this, that and other. Like, just talk about that for a minute and be like, that's what I'm looking for in a new offense. Like, what kind of opportunities are you giving me? And then usually they be, you know, yeah, oh, well, like, hey, we can do this, that and other. I'm like, okay, awesome. Like, that's exactly what I'm looking for. Or like, hey, can I even do this? Because this is what we're doing here. Because like, we had full rain, so it was like, hey, I want full reign in your offense because I'm comfortable with that. And most, most quarterbacks aren't asking those questions. They're just like, oh, do you throw the ball? Yeah, yeah, cool, I'm in.

Yeah. Because you, you need to ask those kind of questions not only to see for them, to see if you are a good fit for them, but to see if, if the other way, if they're a good fit for you. You know, that was the number one thing I liked about Quincy was hearing about their offense, just knowing that they are straight, vertical. I'm a vertical receiver, I'm tall, I played basketball, I ran track, I'm good at running down the field and catching the ball. You know, all the release moves and crazy stuff. You know, that's not my forte. I'm, I'm good at it. Like, I can get by, but what I want to do is go run and catch the ball, do some vertical routes, you know, stuff like that. And so that was important for me to hear just for the fact I want to know if I'm a good fit for them for my own right, not just for them. Because if you're talking to all these schools and you know what your strengths are, then you can kind of determine what school would be best for you.

Yeah, 100%. I think that's so important. Like, people always think, like, I'm just going to go to the best school, but it's like it's so important to find the right, the right fit. I feel like going juco really made me realize that because I had no clue. Like in high school I was like, you know, you're just giving your coaches and you're just kind of expected to deal with it. But then after high school you get to choose your coaches, which is like completely game changing.

Yeah.

And you realize like oh, who I have. Like, because you're. Then the coaching dynamic changes. Like, you got coaches like coach Johnson over here coaching you and coach Aiden and coach Merap. And like, I enjoyed having that coaching staff. Like, yeah, they'd get on us sometimes. Sometimes I want to love them, but I was always like, this is an awesome staff. I enjoy being around them for five hours a day. Like, I want something like that in my next school. And so that was something I looked at, was like, okay, talking to these guys on the phone or going on a visit, I was like, okay, like, I jive with the coaching staff. I can talk with them, like, I can joke around with them. I feel like I mesh pretty well with them. That makes a lot more sense for me.

Exactly. And just two, where are they? Is it close to your home? Is it far away? Is it in the middle of nowhere? Is it in a super big city like you? That is the most important thing. I feel like people overlook. They just want to see that logo on the hat or on their T shirt, but they don't really know where they're going to live. Like, if you would really like that, like, that was the number one thing about Santa Barbara, you know, it's in paradise. And I wanted to live there because you don't really, like, if you're coming out of high school, you may think you're this, you may think you're that good, but at the end of the day, like, you're not really going to know until you step on that field and put out those pads. So if you all of a sudden, oh, I suck at football, you better be in a place where you enjoy life because it's going to get real hard real quick. If you hate where you live and you suck at football and you need to develop and this and that, you know, those are really important things. Like, your mental health matters a lot. And that goes along with confidence and all that too. Like, I knew I could go outside and get the sunlight wherever. I could go to the beach and do all this stuff after hard practice. Like, that makes it all better. It does.

Yeah.

And that's the number one thing about Quincy I like. It's a. It's a town that's the right size for me. It's not small, but it's not big. It's close to home, which mattered to me. I wasn't even really trying to get recruited on the west coast anymore just because I wanted to be back in the Midwest. So, yeah, that definitely matters for sure.

Yeah, I mean, I think it at the end of the day, you have to like figure out what's important to you because like, to me, you know, I knew I'd probably have to go out to the Midwest or go out to south or east or something like that because there's not a lot of west coast. Like yeah. D1 program. So I knew that. True. And plus to me, I wanted to get away from home a little bit more. Like Santa Barbara's four hours. Like you'd, you'd done the far home thing, now North Dakota and, and Santa Barbara. So you, you figured out like, yeah, it's nice being in a nice warm area, but I'd rather be closer to home.

Exactly.

A more familiar area and like this and that about living style. So I like, that's awesome that you were able to figure that out. And then for me it's like, I guess it's similar. Like I couldn't be in a place where I wouldn't want to live like this. The city, Sioux City here is pretty nice. It's a bigger town. Like, you know, you have some stuff to do. It's not just like they've got a couple movie theaters, not just one.

Yeah, that's all you need in like, like juco, you have a lot of free time, but when you're at a four year, you don't have any. So really, like you need Walmart, you need a bowling alley, you need a movie theater, you need a golf course and a grocery store. That's it.

Yeah.

You know, so it's easier to pick and choose when you're at a four year just because you're going to spend so much time just at the school. But yeah, yeah.

Are you guys, are you guys in summer workouts right now or what are you guys doing right now?

Yeah, yeah, we do. I'm not there because I don't, I don't have a lease yet. I got my lease for July, so I'll be there in July just because I didn't want to stay in the dorms anymore. Just some bad experiences in those communal bathrooms. So I had to get myself my own apartment and just happen to be July. So yeah, I'll head out there when that happens. But yeah, there are some workouts going on right now.

Cool. Okay. I just wasn't too sure about that.

You guys too. I think you're there. Is that.

Yeah, yeah, We've been going out some more workouts for a while now. I think we're on week. Week six now. Yeah, week six. Yeah, yeah, we started May we Got like one week off in between finals and. Yeah, one week. One week off. That's crazy. But the schedule's not too bad. We, we work out at, we run at six, then have a seven and eight lifting group. I lift at eight. Yeah. I get done at nine.

Yeah, that's cool. Get out the way.

I'm done for the day. Like we just started doing seven on, seven in the at night. So like. Yeah, schedule is not too crazy.

Yeah, that's not bad at all actually.

No, no, not at all. So I guess we'll talk. I mean, is there anything else you want to talk about as recruiting wise?

Yeah, I forgot to mention too, you want to know who your strength and conditioning coordinator is because you're going to, you're going to spend a lot of time with them. Like it's good to know about the offense and everything, but at the end of the day, football is one in the weight room, if we're being honest. Like you need those hogs down front eating food and benching a ton and squatting a ton and you know, even as a receiver that's important. Do your squats and your plyos and see what your strength conditioning coordinator is all about. Like are they just a true. Just get under the barbell and go or are they gonna incorporate some of that new style of, you know, cleans and plyometrics all interconnected within the workout? You know, you got to know that because that's huge. Like that's what I loved about Santa Barbara was coach Aiden knew everything that you needed and you can also put in your own things. Like I did my own research and I presented coach Aiden with some things that he put in, you know, and it wasn't my, like, I didn't create the workout, but I found it. And that stuff is just so important because when you come in as a freshman, like you're going to be playing against 22 year old, 23 year old guys, 24 even 24 years old, two kids got a mortgage. Like you got to know what your strength conditioning coordinator is all about because if they don't got a good one, then your program most likely is not gonna succeed in the future and you're not going to develop to your best ability.

Yeah, to be honest, I think I was just thinking, I didn't even think about that. That's a good point. But I think it kind of improves. Like your strength and conditioning coach is good. It improves your quality of life of where you're at. If you're strength and conditioning coach has you benching all the time or like just doing heavy squats and not taking care of your body. Like you're going to be beat up all the time. You're going to hate going to the weight room. But if they like over here, we. Our strength and conditioning coach just left sadly. But he was great and we're still using it. We're still using his program right now. The guy who's taken over runs the defense and he's done a great job. But like that program's great. We have mobility in there. They're not killing us a ton. You know, pretty good stuff there, similar to what we did in Santa Barbara. And so like, it's like it just makes a world of difference. Like I couldn't imagine going back to like what I was doing in high school when they were just beating us up and throwing us under the ball bar the whole time and just getting mad at us. Yeah, we're not toughing it out or whatever.

Yeah, yeah, no, that's a lot of that stuff is like a Quincy too. I think the coach is really good and he knows what he's doing. I got a lot stronger over there. I just think we need to do more running in the, in the spring. I think we ran enough, but I mean we had spring ball so we were out on the field a lot, but up until then we didn't run much. Also though, you know, it's winter, we don't have a million dollar indoor. So it is what it is. But that's just good stuff to know. Know what you're getting yourself into for sure.

Yeah, 100%. I think it's, it's important especially like, I guess you just don't. These are just things you don't really realize when you're coming out of high school. It's tough to like grasp that because yeah, you're young, you just haven't experienced it enough. I think it almost like going juco like teaches you a lot of these things. You like recognize it because it's like a trial period for college and you're. And I mean you did two juco, so you kind of got to see the bad side of juco and then the better side of you.

The worst, the worst side of college football altogether.

No, but yeah, so I mean you got, you got to experience it twice and I got to at least see Santa Barbara and like recognize what at least some, some good like program looks like. So you just get a better idea. So anything, anything else on recruiting you're thinking about?

I Mean, you just get in what you put out or you. Yeah, I think I said that, right. Yeah. I mean, if you're not talking to schools, if you don't have good film, if you don't have good grades, you're not going to get recruited. You know, there's no excuses. You can't, you know, you. You have to be transparent. You can't lie about anything. Tell them your real 40 time, tell them your real weight, tell them your real height, because they're going to find out, they're going to invite you to a camp, they're going to time you, they're going to test you, you're going to do all these things. So when you're emailing and talking to these coaches, there's just no reason to lie. Just be honest. Email as many schools as you can. Talk to your high school coach or whatever coach you can and have them help you. Because a lot of times, like my high school coach helped me a lot. You know, I was doing my own thing with emails and all that stuff, but he was the one really putting in the weight for me, getting the schools to come because they're. They're not just going to come just for you. Most likely they're going to want to know about your teammates, too. So, like, like, and you could get bigger schools out of that, come check you out just because your boy is raw and vice versa. So talk to your high school coach and see what he knows and, you know, get him helping you out. Because if he sends out film and he sends out, you know, five guys that are all quality players, you're just going to end up getting more coaches in. And ultimately that's the most important thing, is just getting looked at, really. Just get eyes on your film. And if you have the grades and you're good enough, they'll talk to you.

Yeah, that's so, like, so, so true. Like, the biggest thing, number one, like, obviously take care of the foundation stuff of, like, grades and having some good film and stuff like that. But, like, as long as you, like, the goal is just to get eyes on you. Like, if you get eyes on you, then good things happen. Usually, like, if you don't get eyes on you, then you're never going to get recruited. Like, then you're just. If you're not sending enough emails, you're not sending enough dms, if you're not posting on Twitter, like, you're just not gonna. Nothing's gonna happen at that point.

Yeah. And find out a good way to structure your emails. You Don't. Like, I changed my format a ton over time. You know, the first one I sent was probably just horrible and I don't know if I still have it. But at the end, you know, I would just make sure you have a good subject. It's just your name and maybe your class or your name and your position for the subject of the email because that's what will pop up. It'll say, you know, more Luke Johnson, wide receiver prospect. And then it'll say the first sentence of your email and just make sure you put your name, class, gpa, and then you put your film, your link to your film, and then put maybe some athleticism stats and then maybe a little bit about yourself, but that's it. Don't, don't put much more because they probably won't read it. So there's no point. But yeah, just definitely make sure you have a good format for your emails so you don't get overlooked. Even if they happen to click on it. If you have some crazy convoluted message, they've got to look at a thousand emails, so they're probably just gonna click off and go to the next one.

Yeah, exactly. And I think, like, for you, like, like your subject line should have been like, Luke Johnson, 65 receiver. Like, yeah, really, like flashing on that part because, I mean, you're, you're tall. So. Yeah, Yeah, I agree. 100. Like, there's no reason to write a real long, like, email because they're not going to read it. Like, don't pour your heart into your email going, oh, coach, like this and that. Just tell them like, oh, hey, coach, like, this is me. This is where I'm from. This is where I'm at. I play this position. I run this 40 time. Here's my film, if you want to check it out. Here's my contact info.

Exactly. And if you do, if you do want to write like a personal letter, like all about yourself, just put it last. At least put it after everything. So it's optional for them to read. It's not in the way. Just make sure link is number one. That film and gpa, that's got to be the first thing they look at for sure.

That's a really good point. Yeah. I think one of the ways you can do personal stuff instead of including it in the email and the text and this is something that we're probably going to start trying with. Some of the clients I work with is doing like a personal video. I think that's a good way to get it Done. Because, like, that'll probably get watched.

Oh, yeah.

It's a little more unique.

Yeah, that is smart.

Yeah. And then Twitter, you can start now. You can do, like, voice messages. So that's kind of like another way, too, that you can kind of do something that's a little more unique and personalize it.

Yeah, yeah, that's a good idea.

Yeah, but. Cool, man. Yeah. Anything. Anything else recruiting you want to touch on or is that.

I think that's all good.

Yeah, I think that's some good stuff right there, for sure. Yeah, I think that's. That's some. That's some. Some wisdom right there. Recruiting wisdom that we. We just dropped.

Yeah.

From all our years in. In juco.

Yeah, dude. Oh, my gosh.

I mean, you. You have more than me, so.

Yeah. It was all worth it, though. You know, there's good times, there's bad times, but at the end of the day, you make it through. It's all good. It's life experience. You'll grow for sure.

100. Yeah.

So.

So, I mean, we'll kind of. I like to talk juco with the juco guys, obviously.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, we'll probably have a lot of juco guys because that's a lot of guys. I know.

Yeah.

So, I mean, why don't you talk a little bit about the difference between North Dakota Botno and Santa Barbara City College?

The first thing, the location, where you live. I hated dcb. I hated it because of where it was. And, you know, I. Out of high school, like I said, I had no foresight. I had terrible grades, all this and that. I didn't even know I could play ball in college until I went there. And, you know, I was a starter. You know, I was decent. Our offense was horrible. Our OC was a alcoholic. He got fired after like two weeks. Our. Our head coach was calling offensive plays and defensive plays like you call it. There's levels to it, man. Like, you got in the right spot for real, like Santa Barbara. I came there, it was like I was playing in the NFL. Like, the talent, honestly, was about the same. Like there were some dudes at dcb to be real, but it was. All the difference was in the coaching. You know, Coach Mop, Coach Aiden, Coach Willis, Coach Weed. You know, all those guys, they did such a great job of making it a real program and having that strength conditioning and all that stuff to. To really help you develop and, you know, have structure as a program. And then, you know, like I said, first, just the location. You can't Go run sprints in the winter in North Dakota, because it's negative 20 in Santa Barbara, you could run sprints all year long. It doesn't matter. You can. And there's a ton of hills, so you can run hills anywhere. You know, that's something you don't really think about. North Dakota's flat. There's no hills. You can't run hills. You can't do the thing that makes so many players great because you're. The location where you're at is flat. So, like, that's little things you have to think about if you're really trying to be great, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah. That was definitely the fundamental differences right there.

Yeah, I mean, I got to hear a lot about those. We'd talk about it, and I'd just be shocked sometimes at some of the stories. So. Yeah, I mean, what do you feel like? Because when you kind of got to. Obviously you went to North Dakota botano, so you kind of went to that, and then you got to get a second chance at the juco and go to Santa Barbara. I mean, what do you think people should be looking for in a juco when they're choosing one?

Well, like I said, just, you know, a good fit. You know, I had. I looked at every single. And if you have the grades and you're good enough, they'll talk to you.

Yeah, that's. That's so, like, so, so true. Like, the biggest thing, number one, like, obviously take care of the foundation stuff of, like, grades and having some good film and stuff like that. But, like, as long as you, like, the goal is just to get eyes on you. Like, if you get eyes on you, then good things happen.

Usually you go into country to be real, like, after. Because our program was going to get shut down and the school told us because our team GPA was 0.5, which is. Is crazy. 0.5. Our star DN was in my English class. I had no idea. I had no ideas in my class. And so they. Yeah, they shut down the football program and that I actually had a 3.0 GPA, you know, so I was really feeling good about myself. So, yeah, I. I just stayed up all night. One night after they told us that they're shutting down the program, and I just. Like Trent does for everybody. It. And that is so tedious to do.

Like, if you don't get eyes on you, then you're never going to get recruited. Like, then you're just.

If you're not to collect emails of every single school. Like, that is such A nice thing.

To have send enough emails. You're not sending enough dms if you're not posting on Twitter, like, you're just not going to. Nothing's going to happen at that point.

Yeah. And find out a good way to structure your emails you don't. Like. I changed my format a ton over time. And to just be able to buy that, like, if I could have just bought that, I would have bought it 100 times because I really spent all night long just painstakingly, tediously collecting all these stupid juco contact informations and did all this research. And so I was in contact with Lackawanna after they won or they lost the national championship. And then it was Santa Barbara, and I think citrus. You know, the first one I sent was probably just horrible. And I don't know if I still have it, but at the end, you know, I would just make sure you have a good subject. It's just your name and maybe your class or your name and your position for the subject of the email because that's what will pop up. It'll say, you know, Luke Johnson, wide receiver prospect, and then it'll say the first. And those were, those were really the three that I was really looking at. And what was your question, though? I forgot your question. Your original.

What should people be looking for in a juco?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So just a combination of what we said before. You know, location, fit, you know, offense, strength and conditioning. You know, do they have a meal plan, you know, things like that? What degrees do they offer? Because, you know, you're going to college, you're. You're going to school, you. You gotta know what you want to do and you gotta have a plan and you gotta talk to the coaches. You just got to feel what is the best fit and just trust your gut and pick at the end of the day. And when you do pick, you got to go all the way and be the best version of yourself you can be.

Yeah.

Sentence of your email and just make sure you put your name, class, gpa. And then you put your film, your link to your film. And then put maybe some athleticism stats, and then maybe a little bit about yourself, but that's it. Don't. Don't put much more because they probably won't read it. So there's no point. But yeah, just definitely make sure you have a good.

I agree with that. That gut pick. I feel like some people, like, they, they play the, like pros and cons games too heavy or they play.

Oh, yeah, they.

They just look into the details too much. And it's like, I feel like you should have a feel for what's the best one. And if it's not, if it's not like 100%, like you don't feel 100 that it's the right choice, then it probably isn't.

Yeah, exactly. Gotta go with your gut.

So, I mean, format for your emails.

So you don't get overlooked even if they happen to click on it.

Yeah, I mean, that was kind of a question that I had because you just got. You kind of did it more times than I did personally. But I thought the same thing. Like, for me it was like, fit. It was just fit for the most part. It was like, hey, do I fit here as like a player, as a person?

Do I feel if you have some crazy convoluted message, they've got to look at a thousand emails so they're probably just going to click off and go to the next one.

Yeah, exactly. And I think, like, for you, like, like your subject line should have been like, Luke Johnson, 65 receiver. Like, really like coaches, the location was like a bonus to me because it was, you know, obviously. So I agree with all your points 100%. Yeah. You just got to have that feel, though, at the end of the day of like, okay, are they. Because I think the other part is you have to have like that, that sixth sense of like, is the coach being honest with me? Yeah. And are they. They tell them the truth. Because that's like, that's a big one. I think is a lot of people just buy into whatever flashing on that part. Because, I mean, you're. You're tall, so. Yeah, Yeah, I agree 100%. Like, there's no reason for the coaches saying, and I haven't experienced too many times where I'm like, oh, this coach is just lying. But I definitely have had a few times where the coach is talking about, like, their team or a player on their team, and I'm like, oh, my gosh. Like, they're talking about their player like that. Like, I do not want to go there because then I write a real long, like, email because they're not going to read it. Like, don't pour your heart into your email going, oh, coach, like this and that. Just tell them like, oh, hey, coach, like, this is me. This is where I'm from. This is where I'm at. I play this position. I run this 40 today. Do not seem like a good person. And I would. They probably would say the same thing about me if I Went there. So.

Yeah, yeah, no, that's. That's a good point too. You know, that's. That was. I didn't. I forgot about that. I was talking to Citrus, which was another JUCO in California, and their coach spoke highly of Coach Aiden and just Santa Barbara City College and Coach Morop and everybody.

So here's my film if you want to check it out. Here's my contact info.

Exactly. And if you do, if you know that went a long way for me and honestly choosing to go to the school that that coach was not at, you know, I do want to write like a personal letter, like all about yourself. Just put it last. At least put it after everything. So it's optional for them to read. It's not in the way. Just make sure that go to Citrus. I went to the guy who went to the school that they talk good about. So. Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely. Gotta, gotta see through the BS for sure when you're talking to a coach because they're trying to be a salesman. You know, know, film link is number one. That film and gpa, that's got to be the first thing they look at for sure.

That's a really good point.

They're trying to sell you, so you got to know if you're really trying to buy for real.

Especially in juco, especially in California Jucos because they can't offer scholarship. It's like, hey, come to. Come to our pay to come to our school and come play here with us.

Pay. Pay me to yell at you to run up this hill.

Yeah, yeah, that's what they're trying to convince. Yeah. I think one of the ways you can do personal stuff instead of including it in the email and the text. And this is something that we're probably gonna start trying with. Some of the clients I work with is doing like a personal video. I think that's a good way to get it done. So they have to like, do a really good job doing that. And so obviously you gotta, gotta be kind of wary of what, what's going on. Sometimes though, I think like, that was one thing that I really liked about Santa Barbara was like, they were honest. Brutally honest. Definitely brutally honest. But it was always. Because like, that'll probably get watched.

Oh yeah.

It's a little more unique.

Yeah, that is smart.

It's like really good for us. And I never, never was like, had hurt feelings about it or anything. I was like, oh, no. I mean, I can see that. So yeah, not for sure. Cool. I don't know what other JUCO stuff Should we. Should we talk about, I mean, juco stories? Juco?

Yeah. I don't know. I mean, if. If you're going juco, you. You gotta know that you love.

Yeah. And then Twitter, you can start now. You can do like voice messages. So that's kind of like another way too, that you can kind of do something that's a little more unique and personalize it.

Yeah, yeah, that's a good idea.

Yeah, but cool, man. Yeah, anything.

The game. Like, if you don't love the game, you're just wasting your time. Like. Yeah, it's. I guess it's different.

Anything else recruiting you want to touch on or is that.

I think that's all good. Like, California juco is a lot different than, like, the NJCAA. I feel like the NJCAA is like, nine times out of 10, you're gonna live in a super shitty place. Like, you're gonna be on the prison cell, but you're not in prison. But, you know, it's going to feel like that if you're. If you're going to East Mississippi, I mean, you're going to have FBS guys who got out of prison that are going to take your spot.

Yeah, I think that's some good stuff right there. For sure. I think that's. That's some. That's some. Some wisdom right there. Recruiting wisdom that we. We just dropped.

Yeah.

From all.

And California is like, you got all these, like, surfer bros that are like four years in.

In juco.

Yeah, dude. Oh, my gosh.

I mean, you. You have more.

Oh, yeah. I'm just playing ball because it's city college, you know, and you're gonna run into a lot of that. And California is incredibly expensive, so you gotta have your financials right.

For sure. More than me. So.

Yeah, it was all worth it, though. You know, there's good times, there's bad times. That's another reason I was like. The only reason I was even able to go was because I was able to save up money during Covenant and be able to work a job because we didn't have, you know, a season for a while. But. Yeah, I forgot the question that you asked again.

No, I was just asking what you thought. But I think that's a good point. I mean, me and Alex talked about that kind of last. The last episode.

But at the end of the day, you make it through. It's all good. It's life experience.

You'll grow for sure that, like, juco's a grind. It really tests your love for the game and 100. Yeah. So, I mean, we'll kind of. I like to talk juco with the juco guys, obviously. Oh, yeah. I mean, we'll probably have a lot of juco guys because that's a lot of guys. I know.

Yeah.

You know, like you said, like, so many guys walk in there thinking it's gonna be a piece of cake or like they're gonna start right away or. But it's going to be easy because juco and then next thing you know, they disappear like on day three because, like, they're trash. Oh, yeah.

It's crazy.

It's crazy. So, I mean, why don't you talk a little bit about the difference? See that?

Yeah. Like, you really. That, that's something. Like you're gonna. You don't, you don't really. Like I said earlier, you don't really know if you're good or not. Like you're gonna find out. Like, you, you can think you're so good or so bad, but you're going to find out when you put on those pads like, like at Santa Barbara. What? Barry D1DB, Jacoby D1DB, between North Dakota.

Botno and Santa Barbara City College.

The first thing, the location where you live. I hated dcb. I hated it because of where it was. And you know, I out of high school, like I said, I had no team MVP. Probably could have gone D1 just quit. Just stop showing up. You know, he never could, you know, just get it right with. I don't think he really loved the game, but bro could wake up, run no foresight. A terrible grades, all this and that. I didn't even know I could play ball in college. 4, 4 had striations in his muscles like I've never seen in my life. And would go out there and moss a DB just to not know the playbook and, you know, just not care that much about football like that. That's. That's California juco football. You're going to be lining up across a dad who's 30 who just decided to George until I went there and, you know, I was a starter. You know, I was decent. Our offense was horrible. Our OC was alcoholic. He got fired after like two weeks. Our. Our head coach was calling offensive plays and defensive plays like the gym class, you know, because that's what it is. It's a gym class and nobody cares about you at all. Like, I got the ring, you know, for our conference championship. And I'm like showing people and they're like, oh, is that high school? Like, come on, man, you know, but it is what you call it. There's levels to it, man. Like find the right spot for real. Like, it is. It's. You gotta love the game, man. But you could end up great, you know, you'd like, like buried Jacoby there. Well, they're at Syracuse now, right? You know, know Alex is at Washington. Tore my ACL coached and I'm getting a free degree, you know, so.

Yeah, 100. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, Luke Edwards, like Santa Barbara. I came there, it was like I was playing in the NFL. Like, the talent, honestly, if you love the game, you put in the work.

Yeah. I mean, Luke didn't like Luke Edwards and he didn't start.

That was about the same. Like there were some dudes at DCB to be real, but it was. All the difference was in the coaching. You know, Coach Murat, Coach Aiden, Coach Willis, Coach Weed, you know, games.

He's over.

Yeah.

So I didn't start that many games. I'm over here. Like.

Yeah.

I mean, it doesn't like, if you really love the game and you're able to get on the field, get some good.

All those guys, they did such a great job of making it a real program and having that strength film, like.

You can get out and go. Yeah.

And that's another thing about Juco and kind of back to recruiting. The uniqueness of it is like, so you're. You're supposed to be developed. Like, you can still have like auditioning and all that stuff to. To really help you develop and, you know, have structure as a program. And then, you know, like I said, first just the location a little bit left in the tank. Like you really should, especially if you're in Cali just because of the meal plans. You don't really have a meal plan. So, like, you should be able to put on more weight and, you know, things like that. But for the recruiting, you can't go run sprints in the winter in North Dakota because. And the uniqueness of it, it's like you should be developed. They've seen you play in college, so you're more likely to find a good fit. But because of that, you. It's negative 20 in Santa Barbara, you could run sprints all year long. It doesn't matter. You could also are likely to not get recruited quite as much because schools will know exactly what you are or, like, what you should be. So, like, you're you. They know your weaknesses and your flaws a lot better than if you're in high school. Because high school, like your film, honestly, and there's a ton of hills. So you can run hills anywhere. You know, that's something you don't really think about. North Dakota's flat sometimes means nothing. Like I've seen some guys with crazy high school film that there's no hills. You can't run hills. You can't do the thing that makes so many players great because you're. The location where you're at is flat. So like that's little things you have to think about if you are trash that are just not good at the game of football. And it's crazy how it works out like that. But juco, I mean, you're going to be playing with so much talent that you're going to really thin out the herd. So the schools that do recruit you, like they're going to call you on the phone and they're going to offer you. Like that's. That's juco recruiting. Like they're going to come see you in person and really trying to be great, you know?

Yeah, yeah.

That was definitely that. You're either getting offered or you're never getting talked to again by this coach. Like it's that black and white to be real. Like sometimes you'll get strung along like, and the only time that'll happen. Fundamental differences right there.

Yeah, I mean I got to hear a lot about those. We talk about it. I'd just be shocked sometimes at some of the stories. So.

As if they're looking at like three guys that are all about the same.

Like.

Like.

Yeah. I mean, what do you feel like? Because when you kind of got to.

For just for quarterback example, like they're looking at three six foot plus guys at different jucos and they're not exactly sure which one to pick. You know, they're just trying to maybe see which one would actually commit to their school too. Like, are they the right fit? Are they really interested in us?

Obviously you went to North Dakota Botano, so you kind of went to that. And then you got to get a second chance at a gym. Yeah, yeah. 100%. Yeah, yeah. Like what you said. I always try to get that point across. Like they're not. When they're. When schools are looking at juco, they're not looking for someone that can develop or can grow or can be like a better player in the future. They're like, hey, we need someone who's ready right now. Like if you were not juco and go to Santa Barbara, I mean, what do you think people should be looking for in a juco when they're choosing one. If you're not, like, literally, they'll probably just look through the roster, look at your. The school's prospect list and be like.

Well, like I said, just, you know, a good fit. You know, I had. I looked at every single juco in the country to be real, like, after. Because our program was. Was going to get shut down in.

The school and just have the criteria of like, okay, we need a guy whose weight is this and whose height is this. And if you're not this, you will. We won't even look at your film.

Like, exactly.

We don't even know who you are. You don't exist to us. Like, we need this criteria. And if you're not that you're going to get looked at.

Told us because our team GPA was.05, which is crazy.

You're going to get passed up unless, like your film's insane, which is like, Marcus Bella.

Yeah, yeah, you can be a dog man. Like, and you could be tall and have no film and they're not going to talk to you. You know, at the end of the day, how do you play football? But that's, you know, with juco, like I was saying earlier, just about the fit, you know, they're going to know where like they're going to five. Our star DN was in my English class. I had no idea. I had no ideas in my class. And so they, yeah, they shut down the football program and that. I actually had a 3.0 GPA, you know, so I was really feeling good about myself. So, yeah, know who you are. They're going to know your strengths. So it's. I think it's better to go juco because number one, you're going to find out if you're like. If you're not like a guaranteed D1 guy. Like, if you don't have all these offers, I think you should go juco if you really love the game. Because number one, you're going to find out if you're good or not without an I. I just stayed up all night one night after they told us that they're shutting down men's financial commitment. So you're not going into debt with loans as a preferred walk on somewhere and you're going to end up finding out what you're truly good at. Like the program. And I just like Trent does for everybody. It. And that is so tedious to do to collect emails of every single school. Like, that is such a nice thing to have. You're going to find out if this offense is good for you. This offense is bad for you. So when you get recruited, most the time you're going to end up at the bet at the best fit for you. You know that. So.

Yeah. Yeah. Plus you get to test out football, like college football.

And to just be able to buy that, like, if I could have just bought that, I would have bought it.

A hundred times the ball and see, like. Because I mean, I never had anything against the people that were like, you know what? I'm done. Like, I don't want to play. Yeah. I only, I only had problems with the people that were like, oh, like.

Because I really spent all night long.

Just painstakingly, tediously coaches this and that or whatever. Like those, those are the people I have a problem with. But like, they were. If they were. At the end of the day, like, I can think of guys off the top of my head that like, they were just like, hey, this isn't for me anymore.

Or like I collecting all these stupid juco contact informations.

I'm just never gonna play or this or that. And like they realized that they were like, I'm gonna go do something else. And I was always okay with that. And so it's like a good trial period of like, do you really love it enough to go the four years? Because we go like and did all.

This research and so I was in contact with Lackawanna.

I. You know, at these small schools, like even here at Morningside, like they recruit.

After they won or they lost a national championship. And then it was Santa Barbara and.

I think Citrus freshman class of like 30 or 40, because like half of them were going to drop by their sophomore year because they just didn't, like, they weren't really. They didn't know what they were walking in.

And those were, those were really the three that I was really looking at. And.

And so at least you can go juco and kind of like experience a little bit without that large financial commitment like you were talking about and kind of experience it a little bit and kind of get a taste for it.

Yeah. And two, you know, you, you find out if you really love. What was your question, though? I forgot your question. Your original.

What should people be looking for in a juco?

Oh yeah, yeah. Of it too. And you just play like.

Yeah.

If you go to a four year, like I said, like even a juco, like there's gonna be like 25 year olds and stuff, but there's going to be a lot less of them and odds. Yeah. So just a combination of what we Said before, you know, location fit, you know, offense, strength and conditioning, you know, do they have a meal plan, you know, things like that? What degrees do they offer? Because r, if you're 25 and you go, you're probably just a bad athlete. So like an 18 year old might actually just be better than you anyway. But I mean you're going to play like if you're good and you're actually going to go, you know, you're going to college, you're, you're going to school, you, you got to know what you want or D2, you're going to play more in your first two years of juco than you would at your four year. Unless you're like NFL, you know, or just at a school that's just way too bad for you want to do. And you got to have a plan and you got to talk to the coaches. You just. But that's also a great thing about juco. When you, when you play, it's going to be hard to get under recruited, you know, like if you do the stuff in the game and all that, you gotta feel what is the best fit and just trust your gut and pick at the end of the day. And when you do pick, you gotta go all the way and be the best version of yourself you can be.

Yeah.

Like you're probably gonna find yourself at the right level for you at the right school, most likely.

Yeah. No, I agree. I agree for sure. I think. Yeah. As long as you play. Like it seemed like everybody to me ended up at the level that they should have or that they wanted to at the very least. Like, I don't, I can't think I agree with that, that gut pick. I feel like some people like they, they play the like pros and cons games too heavy or they play. Oh yeah, they, they just look into the details too much and give anybody. Off the top of my head, like now that we kind of got through the whole recruiting cycle, like, I mean Jacoby Barry both ended up in a Power 5 school, which is crazy to think about. And then together.

Yeah, I'm hella happy for them.

I know. I'm. I'm jealous to see that because that's so cool. Yeah. And then it's like I feel like you should have a feel for what's the best one. And if it's not, if it's not like 100, like you don't feel 100 that it's the right choice and it probably isn't.

Yeah, exactly. We almost did, bro. We almost did Crazy.

Crazy. That would be crazy. Mexican and Vanillatron. Yeah, no Mexican missile.

Gotta go with your gut.

So, I mean, and then Kobe. Kobe made it. Went fcs.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Hessler's getting recruited still. Damien's gonna go D1. Probably. Yeah. I mean, that was kind of a question that I had because you just got. You kind of did it more times than I did, probably. I don't know where he's gonna end up at, but somewhere.

What's his name? Roa. Josiah.

Ro went to Jackson State. Alex went to uw.

Like, our whole.

Our whole line, personally, but I thought the same thing. Like, for me, it was, like, fit. It was just fit for the most part. It was like, hey, do I fit here as, like, a player, as a person? He's gonna play tight end. I know.

That's crazy. He'll be good, though, if he can learn how to catch the ball.

100%. Yeah. I mean. And, I mean, I. I can't even think of any coaches. The location was, like, a bonus to me because it was, you know, obviously Luke. Obviously, Luke ended up where, you know, he should have. And we'll see where the other guys end up. But, like, yeah, I mean, I think everybody that I felt like should have gone, you know, to a certain place, went to that certain level and maybe even exceeded my expectations. So, like. So I agree with all your points. 100. Yeah. You just got to have that feel.

You can even exceed your own, you know, like, like I said, you know, I was getting recruited by some good schools before I tore my acl. And, you know, I'm very happy where I'm at.

Although at the end of the day of, like, okay, are they. Because I think the other part is you have to have, like, that at Quincy.

But, I mean, you might exceed your own. You know, you might develop into some.

That sixth sense of, like. Is the coach being honest with me?

Yeah.

And are they. They tell them the truth. Because that's, like. That's a big one, I think is a lot of people just buy into.

Whatever, you know, speed demon or strength demon that you never thought you had inside you. And it's good for that for Juco, because then you can, you know, end up winding up at a better spot than you could have out of high school.

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's some good stuff for sure. Yeah. And the competition aspect in Duko's awesome, too. Like, how the. I wouldn't say for the coach is saying. And I haven't experienced too many times where I'm like, oh, this coach is just lying. But awesome. Not the time you're like this sucks. Like yeah, I have a starting spot. Definitely have had a few times where the coach is talking about like their team or a player on their team and I'm like. And next thing you know I'm not the starter anymore. But like that does push you every single day to be like, like oh my gosh, like they're talking about their player like that like I do not want to go there because on your A game and like makes practice intense and it's a pretty unique situation that you know, you don't really get at a four year level. Yeah.

And that's, I mean competition, that's really what it's all about. And you know like we were talking about earlier, you're going to be playing against Robledo. I'm going to be playing against Chase Wells, my boy and another.

They just do not seem like a good person and I would, they probably would say the same thing about me if I went there.

The guy Taron Yancey from DCB and Chase was at sbcc, you know and we're now at rival schools. You know we were competing for reps and then now we're gonna be playing against each other.

So.

Yeah, yeah, no that's, that's a good point too. You know, that's, that was, I didn't, I forgot about that. I was talking to Citrus which was another JUCO in California and their coach. That's just so cool. Like you can't pass that up or you can't write that better in the storybook. You know, it's just awesome to be able to do that.

Yeah, no, I agree.

Spoke highly of coach Aiden and just Santa Barbara City College and coach Marop and everybody. So.

Yeah. And you just develop. I mean like we said like JUCO is a really test of your love of football. Like during that time you just develop these like close bonds. And so I've been like, you know, I mean obviously you're spending a lot of time together but just because you go through this thing that like sucks so much. Yeah, instantly. Like I have like the utmost respect for everybody that that made it out and I want.

No, that went a long way for me and honestly choosing to go to the school that that coach was not.

At, you know, but the best because I know like exactly. Like I'm sure people are so confused.

Go to Citrus. I went to the guy, we went to the, the school that they talk good about. So. Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely gotta, gotta see.

Through the be on. Like, oh, why would you be friends with Alex or this or that? Like, because you guys were competing all the time.

Yes, for sure. When you're talking to a coach because they're trying to be a salesman, you.

Know, it's like, I know exactly what he went through because I went through the same thing. And we both worked our butt off and it was never against, like, it was never, oh, Alex sucks. Or like, I suck. It was like, hey, we both are pretty good. Like, let's go compete against each other and go try and make this team better. And we did and we both got out and we're like both rooting for each other and it's awesome.

You have no ego. They're trying to sell you. So you got to know if you're really trying to buy for real. Especially that's the number one thing. You have no ego.

Yeah.

It's competition, but you love each other as your brother. You. You try to make Alex better. Alex try to make you better. Same thing like I tried to make.

Chase in juco, especially in California, juco because you can't offer scholarship. It's like, hey, come to. Come to our pay to come to our school and come play here with us.

Pay, pay me better every single day. You know, and he did the same thing and it, it ends up better for the both of you at the end of the day.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's just awesome. It's awesome. We should just go back to yell.

At you to run up this hill.

Yeah. Yeah. That's what they're trying to convince. We should just. Let's just, let's just all. Let's take out our fourth and third juco years.

No, I, I wish Santa Barbara was a four year bro.

Oh, that'd be so. That'd be. That'd be pretty cool. That'd be a good ucsb. Ucsb four year.

Yeah.

Program. I know.

Yeah.

Not you to do so they have to like do a really good job doing that. And so obviously you gotta. You gotta be kind of.

I missed my time there for sure.

Yeah, we gotta. We'll have to all go back and wary of what. What's going on. Sometimes though, I think like that was one thing that I really liked about San. And definitely catch up at some point.

Oh yeah.

That's what I'm looking forward to. I haven't. I haven't been back since Island Barber was like. They were honest. Brutally honest. Definitely brutally, brutally honest. But it was always like really good for us. And I never, never Was like. Had hurt feelings about it or anything. I was like, oh, no, left in December and I definitely want to go back.

Wow. Yeah, true. I went. I went back for spring break. See my girl.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you? I mean, I guess we shouldn't talk about it too much on here, but. Yeah, good times. Good times.

Yeah.

I was gonna say I was just gonna go into some other stuff, but.

Talk about that after.

I mean, I can see that. So. Yeah.

Not for sure.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. No. Cool, man. I think we're hitting about the one hour mark, so I'll probably wrap it up here. Anything else you want to leave it? The. Cool. I don't know. What other juco stuff should we talk about? I mean, juco stories. Juco. The viewers with here, the ones that the. The couple people that probably made it to this point.

Yeah, man. If you're about it, be about it live. That I wanted to get fat. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, if. If you're going juco, you. You got to know that you love faster. Every single day of my life, every minute, every second I thought about getting faster, you got to visualize it. You got to go out and do the work. You got to do every single thing that you possibly can do to get what you want, or else you won't. You won't. Or you just won't achieve your potential. Like, if you're gonna. If you're. If you're into video games and you're gonna do this. The game. Like, if you don't love the game, you're just wasting your time. Like, yeah, it's. I guess it's different. 2k my player and turn yourself into 99 overall. Do that in real life, bro. Like, what is the point of doing it on a video game if you're not doing it real life? So. But yeah, that's it. Like, California juco is a lot different than, like, the njcaa. I feel like the NJCAA is like, nine times out of ten, you're gonna live in a super. Just be about it.

I like it. That's good. We'll wrap it up there, man. Appreciate you coming on and I'm sure I'll have you on again.

So, yeah, forgetty place. Like, you're gonna be on the prison cell, but you're not in prison.

But yeah, the last time. But yeah, I appreciate you guys coming on and. Yeah, let's. Let's wrap it up here. Thanks for watching, guys, and see you on the next.

It's gonna feel like that if you're. If you're going to East Mississippi, I.

Mean, you're gonna have the recruiting game podcast. Peace.

Fbs. Guys who got out of prison that are going to take your spot. And California is like, you got all these, like, surfer bros that are like, oh, yeah, I'm just playing ball because it's city college, you know, and you're going to run into a lot of that. And California is incredibly expensive, so you got to have your financials right.

For sure.

And that's another reason I was the. Like, the only reason I was even able to go was because I was able to save up money during COVID and be able to work a job because we didn't have, you know, a season for a while.

But.

Yeah, I forgot the question that you asked again.

No, I was just asking what you thought. But I think that's a good point. I mean, me and Alex talked about that kind of last. The last episode. Just that, like, juco's a grind. It really tests your love for the game and that, you know, like you said, like, so many guys walk in there thinking it's gonna be a piece of cake or, like, they're gonna start right away or that it's gonna be easy because Juco. And then next thing you know, they disappear like on day three because, like, they're trash. Oh, yeah.

It's crazy.

It's crazy to see that.

Yeah. Like, you really. That. That's something. Like, you're gonna. You don't. You don't really. Like I said earlier, you don't really know if you're good or not. Like, you're gonna find out. Like, you. You can think you're so good or so bad, but you're going to find out when you put on those pads like. Like at Santa Barbara. What? Barry D1, DB. Jacobe DB, Team MVP. Probably could have gone D1, just quit. Just stop showing up. You know, he never could, you know, just get it right with. I don't think he really loved the game, but bro could wake up, run a four, four, had striations in his muscles like I've never seen in my life. And would go out there and masa db just to not know the playbook and, you know, know, just not care that much about football. Like, that's. That's California juco football. You're going to be lining up across a dad who's 30 who just decided to join the gym class, you know, because that's what it is. It's a gym class and nobody cares about you. At all. Like, I got the ring, you know, for our conference championship, and I'm like, showing people and they're like, oh, is that high school? Like, come on, man. You know? But it is what it is. It's. You gotta love the game, man, but you could end up great, you know, you'd like, like Barry Jacoby there. Well, they're at Syracuse now, right? You know, Alex is at Washington. Tore my ACL coached and I'm getting a free degree, you know, so.

Yeah, 100. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you.

If you love the game, you put in the work.

Yeah. I mean, Luke didn't like Luke Edwards, and he didn't start that many games. He's over.

Yeah. Yeah.

So I didn't start that many games. I'm over here, like.

Yeah.

I mean, it doesn't. Like, if you really love the game and you're able to get on the field, get some good film, like, you can get out and go.

Yeah. And that's another thing about juco and kind of back to recruiting. The uniqueness of it is like, so you're. You're supposed to be developed. Like, you can still have, like, a little bit left in the tank. Like, you really should, especially if you're in Cali. Just because of the meal plans. You don't really have a meal plan, so, like, you should be able to put on more weight and, you know, things like that. But for the recruiting and the uniqueness of it, it's like, you should be developed. They've seen you play in college, so you're more likely to find a good fit. But because of that, you also are likely to not get recruited quite as much because schools will know exactly what you are or, like, what you should be. So, like, you're. They know your weaknesses and your flaws a lot better than if you're in high school. Because high school, like, your film, honestly, sometimes means nothing. Like, I've seen some guys with crazy high school film that are trash, that are just not good at the game of football, and it's crazy how it works out like that. But juco, I mean, you're going to be playing with so much talent that you're gonna really thin out the herd. So the schools that do recruit you, like, they're gonna call you on the phone and they're gonna offer you. Like, that's. That's juco recruiting. Like, they're gonna come see you in person and you're either getting offered or you're never getting talked to again by this coach. Like, it's that black and white to be real. Like sometimes you'll get strung along. Like, and the only time that'll happen is if they're looking at like three guys that are all about the same. Like, like for just for quarterback example. Like they're looking at three six foot plus guys at different jucos and they're not exactly sure which one to pick. You know, they're just trying to maybe see which one would actually commit to their school too. Like are they the right fit or are they really interested in us? You know, so.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like what you said. I always try to get that point across. Like they're not. When they're, when schools are looking at juco, they're not looking for someone that can develop or can grow or can be like, like a better player in the future. They're like, hey, we need someone who's ready right now. Like if you are not, if you are not, like, literally, they'll probably just look through the roster, look at your, the school's prospect list and be like. And just have the criteria of like, okay, we need a guy whose weight is this and whose height is this. And if you're not this, you will. We won't even look at your film.

Exactly.

We don't even know who you are. You don't exist to us. Like we need this criteria. And if you're not that, you're going to get looked, you're gonna get passed up. Unless like your film's insane, which is like mar.

Yeah, yeah, you can be a dog man, like and you could be tall and have no film and they're not going to talk to you, you know, at the end, how do you play football? But that's, you know, with juco, like I was saying earlier, just about the fit, you know, they're gonna know where, like they're gonna know who you are, they're gonna know your strengths. So it's, I think it's better to go juco because number one, you're going to find out if you're like, if you're not like a guaranteed D1 guy. Like if you don't have all these offers, I think you should go juco if you really love the game. Because number one, you're going to find out if you're good or not without an immense financial commitment. So you're not going into debt with loans as a preferred walk on somewhere and you're going to end up finding out what you're truly good at. Like you're gonna find out if this offense is good for you. This offense is bad for you. So when you get recruited, most the time, you're gonna end up at the bet at the best fit for you. You know that.

So. Yeah. Yeah. Plus, you get to test out football, like, college football, and see, like. Because, I mean, I never had anything against the people that were, like, you know what? I'm done. Like, I don't want to play.

Yeah.

I only. I only had problems with the people that were like, oh, like, the coaches this and that or whatever. Like, those. Those are the people I have a problem with. But, like, they were. If they were. At the end of the day, like, I could think of guys off the top of my head that, like, they were just like, hey, this isn't for me anymore, or, like, I'm just never gonna play, or this or that. And, like, they realized that they were like, I'm gonna go do something else. And I was always okay with that. And so it's like a good trial period of, like, do you really love it enough to go the four years? Because we go, like, I. You know, at these small schools, like, even here at Morningside, they recruit freshman class of 30 or 40, because half the of.