#NFLVideos: Channing Crowder overcame 3 ACL tears to make the NFL, blew $750k before the Draft

Channing Crowder overcame 3 ACL tears to make the NFL, blew $750k before the Draft

Man, I came off that edge. He said, “Oh, there you go, young fellow.” So, I ran up. He kicked back. Oh, there you go, young fellow. That’s don’t try to spin. I hear him say, “Don’t try to spin mid play. There’s no way I’mma spin now.” So, now I’m a bull rusher. Jo, hit it. Word for word. What he told me when he grabbed me. Strong as ox. He just grabbed me. Yep. Young fella, you might want to get into the weight room. the weight room is essential and the play is going on and I’m just sitting there wiggling like a little ragd doll. I said I wouldn’t call my home I call like my family home. I called him after that game. I said bro these dudes are different. These are different human beings in this league. Yeah, we see your ass. What up everybody? Hey, I’m Peanut Tilman and this is the NFL Players Second Act podcast. And with me as always as my trusty co-host, Pineapple Roman Harper. What’s up, baby? These are not pineapples, but thank you again. This is from the President’s Cup. I I don’t I don’t want this guest thinking I got pineapples all over my chest cuz you know, tell him what he’s going in his mind if he thinks that. So, let’s get get to the guest, Pet. Okay, this gentleman is a product of the University of Florida uh linebacker for six seasons for your Miami Dolphins. He is the co-host of the Pivot podcast. He is on Miami Sports Radio and he has his own cooking brand. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the pot Channing Crowder representing a college you didn’t even go to. I like it, sir. Yeah, man. And you know, you get married, you got to you got to adjust to the trend. My wife went to Howard and the the real HU, you know, they got a lot of pride. So wife went to Howard. I damn near went to Howard. I got you. I got you. Talking about wipes, man. I wash my hands, have my ring off. I’m going to put it back on real quick. Anyways, don’t do that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let me do that. Let me get back right. Let me get back right. You see, mine ain’t come off in years. I got the little tan lining off. Yeah. Yeah. There it is. All right. Now, now Channy, I got to be honest. I didn’t know this about you because when I’ve seen you and I’ve only known you since college watching on watching you on TV also you went to my played here the Miami Dolphins. So I thought you were a Florida guy. No, I did not know. Why did you go to Penn State like you grew up or you were from that area right there in uh in State College. It’s even worse than that. I was born there. We moved when I was like I think two months three. I was born December 2nd. Penn State played in the hoola bowl. My dad was coaching. Uhhuh. My dad played played at Penn State, played in the league, right? He was coaching back with Joe Paterno and them. They brought him in when he retired for football. So I’m born in State College. My mom didn’t want to coach anymore cuz he was never there. I have two older sisters. So she just she’s just sitting at the house and state college ain’t thing to do. So she ain’t want to coach no more. So I moved to Tampa when I was like two months old. Ah. But my dad Randy Crowley passed recently, got arrested. So, he was the first black captain ever at Penn State. Three-time all-American at Penn State. They got a 50-foot picture of this damn dude on the wall in the stadium in Beaver Stadium. I’m going to Penn State my whole life. I’m going Penn State stuff, all that stuff. Bro, they made a critical error on my visit. I went to the the summer camps in ninth grade, 10th grade. I’m flying up there. We ain’t got no money. We broke. We had a single family. We we living in the projects in Atlanta. Flying up there, find a way to get there. I’m going to Penn State. I’m getting cool with the code. I’m going to Penn State. They brought me on my official vision. I remember the date. January 11th. Courtney Brown. I remember I was bro. It was 4 ft of snow on the ground. We flying in. They fly you into Pittsburgh. Then they take that little puddle jumper over the over the Nitney Mountains and you come down in state college. Man, everything’s white. I’m sitting on the plane with Jay Paternal, Joe’s son, my mama and his little bitty plane. I looked at my mom, I said, “I’m not coming here.” She said, she think I’m just nervous or whatever. I said, “I’m not coming here.” She said, “What you talking about? I can’t this white.” Went stayed. We walking around 4 ft of snow. They had a big picture. They had all my highlights. Beautiful, beautiful uh presentation for my visit. Yeah. I am not coming here to live in this. No. The snow. Not doing. We got back on the puddle jump. I told my mom again, “I’m not coming here.” Went down, got back to Atlanta, visited Georgia, committed to Georgia, and then Spurer left and went to the Commanders. They were named differently back then. Yeah. So, I was I was going to visit Georgia in Florida. When Spurer went to Commanders, I then committed to Georgia. I committed to Georgia for three weeks. Charlie Strong left South Carolina. Zook brought him as DC. Love Charlie Strong. Visited South Carolina. Columbia, South Carolina. No place for a black man. So I said I’m not going coach. I love you to death and I’m not going to I’m not going to Columbia, South Carolina. Why isn’t it a place for a black man? When you ever been there? I have not. I have. You You feel You feel uncomfortable. Well, especially if you’re from Atlanta, you know what I mean? Like I’m from Alabama, so it’s a little bit different. You’re used to it. I’m definitely used to it. Columbia is not that bad for me, but Okay. Well, I walked in and going to gas station. She said, “I thought I was Why y’all jumping? I’m I came in to get me some fun years in the summer. Why y’all jumping?” I’m like, “I was uncomfortable.” But Zuk brings Charlie in running the defense. Charlie calls me the second he gets the job. He says, “Chan,” and me, me and Chuck are cool, we cool to this day. I still talk to Charlie. We the Buccaneers right now. He said, “Chan, just take your visit.” I’m I’m fully committed to Mark Rick in Georgia. He said, “Chan, take your visit.” I like, “Coach, I’m going to Georgia.” He said, “You have one visit left cuz I canceled my Florida visit after Spurer left. This was the last visit I had. He said, “Just take the visit here. Come down here, eat some free stone crab, eat these steaks.” Yeah. Party with the boys. You good? I just come down. Went down to Florida. Had me a good time. No doubt. There was some boosters that really enjoyed my ability to make tackles and plays. Absolutely. What we got to say? Hypothetically. Hypothetically. Allegedly. Allegedly, I might have got slid a little something. Yeah. Allegedly. And I said, “You know what? The Gator ain’t bad.” Decommitt from Georgia. And that’s how I end up Florida. Man, I like Gainesville. Gainesville ain’t bad. I mean, outside of the campus, it’s kind of sketchy, but it ain’t nothing out there. Yeah. You like it? Because we was talking the week before and you was in G. You ain’t going to game. He’s like, “Bro, I’m going home.” Yeah. Well, you was in Gainesville. I’m going home. You leave campus. It’s a big ass lake over there and fields. Elatchwood County. Yeah. Nothing. I I thought it was way more because you think it’s Florida and it’s not at all like that. But I’m sure you had a great time. Oh yeah. Got arrested twice, detained another two times. Ask about that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We going to talk about that. That was in the rundown. Okay. Yeah. Y’all can do y’all run down, man. You know, I’m I’m over I’m a oversharer, as they say. I’d love to get you in the interrogation room. You be telling on everybody. Oh, you going to get me. Hey y’all, come on out. They got us. No, they got you. They ain’t get us. Oh, yeah. We all in trouble. I do got one question for you though is while we’re in that little zone still is like what is that Channon Crowder in this picture cuz oh that’s a that’s a cuz it’s an aggressive young man. What kind of smile was that? That’s called the pre get your teeth done for 20 grand smile. That’s the you know what happened is that y’all know Randy Mcichel? Yeah that you know the people that suck their thumb and they get that loop like Randy got that loop. He got his teeth done now. He got his little braces put in. But when I was 12, we ain’t had no no we ain’t have skates and rollerblades. So my teeth just grew in cuz my teeth were they grew in late. I’m I was messed up. My daddy, if y’all know, is sore. He, you know, he did drugs and stuff back in the day. I think I was affected by that in the womb. Okay. Cuz a lot of stuff there. I born with one kidney. A lot of stuff was up. A lot of stuff with my my body was just it was it was different. Just different. So my two my two front teeth didn’t come out. The the the the grown teeth wouldn’t pushing my baby teeth out. So they had to snatch my baby teeth out. Put a retainer in with teeth on it to let my grown teeth grow down cuz something was going wrong. You know, my daddy was in Miami in the 70s. Messed up the DNA a little bit. So then as soon as my grown teeth go down, there was this crazy dude. Now I’m look back. I shouldn’t have been talking to this man up the hill for me in our project. old white man and he would always ask, “Do you want to skate and stuff?” I don’t know why he was trying to get me to come to his house. I look back. He kind of sound like the guy from sketchy. Look the the the Hey guys, want some popsicles? Look, the pervert pedop field. Yeah, he sound like Herbert the Pervert. So, I wore a size nine. I’m probably 11 years old. He gave me a size 12. I get on rollerblades. I’m a dude, little black convince in Atlanta. I ain’t know how to do no rollerblades, but they look cool. got on them, couldn’t stop, roll down the hill here, hit a speed bump, landed face first, and bust all four of my front teeth. And that’s that’s why my smile looked like that, cuz all four of my front teeth were bust open from rollerblades on a pedophile’s 12 when I wore nine. What a story. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything. So, you met Herbert the pervert? That’s awesome. That’s amazing. Roller blades, huh? Want some popsicles? He went right on over there. Right on over there. Yeah. Yeah. He be going to get me. You going He better pack his lunch. He ain’t just taking me upstairs. All right. Well, this is a great transition. So, what was your welcome to the NFL moment? Oh my god. I had Well, first was in camp cuz that we had Ronnie. Ronnie was drafted second pick overall. Ronnie a big old boy. Yeah. Ronnie running that thing and Ronnie could that thing. They had Vernon Kerry and high school all-American, college all-American. Like you just just run around. Y’all know I’m talking to y’all. Y’all know how it was. Yeah. High school and college. It’s easy. Yeah. Easy. Yeah. You know, three touchdowns, 18 tackles, intercept. You know, high school was easy. College, all SEC as a freshman, all American as a sophomore. Like I got to that league, first person put their hands on me that was like was Vernon Kerry in camp. First day of pass, I came off the edge and he grabbed me and I went to slap that little wrist and it didn’t move. And all the time it’s on film, too. I wish they find it for me. And I’m still slapping and he just drive me to the sideline. And at do old Dolphin camp, it was about five yards to the chain link fence off the field. End of the play, I’m laying in the corner of the chain link fence. He done drove me to sideline and threw me, pushed me all the way. And I’m laying against the chain link fence. and George Edwards, great great coach, smart dude. That’s who walked up to him. He was like, “Yeah, you you mind to try a different move at this level, buddy?” And that was the that was the first one, man. Hitting Marawn. I’ll say one of the most memorable early on was going against Jonathan Ogden. Who would just he would talk to you during the play. Hall of Famer. What was he saying, man? So, my coach, we did a lot. I was with Zack. Man, I watch more film than I didn’t know there was that much film to watch. I used to watch film in college. Yeah. Had Charlie Strong. Like he made me We watch film. Zack would watch two days of film throughout a six day break getting ready for that next. Zach was film crazy. If the coordinator was a first year coordinator at that team, he would watch whatever team he was at before that the whole season to see his adjustments game to game to be ready for the next se. Like Zack was stupid. So we watching Finn, we’ll see Finn, we’ll see a tackle get beat. So you know, we’re in the middle of a game. So we got a a communication system with George Edwards where like if you knew it coming off the edge, you kind of peak to him. And we had like hand sign, you know, try spin jet. We had like little hand signals of what to try on this tackle cuz he’s been beat or this is his weakness, you know, up and under. We had like these little hand signals. Man, we playing the Ravens. Walked up on the edge the first time. What was it? We’ll see. walked up and I peed at George. That shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t give you nothing. He had no weakness. Jo had no weakness. I never got a shoulder shrug. This is This is well into the season where this this little was working that something. You know what I’m saying? He said, “Coach it, man.” I came off that edge. He said, “Oh, there you go, young fellow.” So, I ran up. He kicked back. Oh, there you go, young fellow. Don’t try to spin. I hear him say, “Don’t try to spin mid play. There’s no way I’mma spin now. So now I’mma bull rush him. J hit it. Word for word. What he told me when he grabbed me. Strong as ox. He just grabbed me. Yep. Young fella, you might want to get into the weight room. The weight room is essential. And the play is going on. And I’m just sitting there wiggling like a little rag doll. I said I wouldn’t call my home. I called like my family home. I called him after that game. I said, “Bro, these dudes are different. These are different human beings in this league.” Yeah, we still have children. But that it wasn’t like my that was it was well into the scene, but that was kind of like my welcome to the NFL when Jo. It was hit, man. It was so many. First time I hit Marawn, it’s like running into one of these pillars, man. Watching Randy Moss jump. Oh yeah. where he jumps and his knee is at your eyes and you now you’re a spectator. Coach Crowder, what are you doing? What you want me to do? I can’t get up there. I’m watching greatness. I can’t get up there, bro. He’s 66. So he do this, he already at 9 and 1/2 ft. Now he got a 40 in vertical. That bastard jump at 13 ft. Now coach, I could barely dunk with two hands. He got two up at 13 feet. Co, bad matchup. That’s y’all fault for put me over at three. Three, three up is three. Three up a three was Moss come inside there. He he going to make me look stupid. But it was some Yeah, this league, bro. I tell all the young boy I talk to him, y’all about to walk into a rim of the best athlete you have ever seen in your life. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, what made you go from 52 to 55? I know you were 55 in college. Yeah. Yeah. Why 52 in the league? Well, cuz juniors say I was here my rookie year. Oh, yeah. you a and they said, “Yep, Joe Samino, he’s still here. Come in rookie camp.” He said, “Yeah, they 52 was in my locker.” And I was I kind of looked and he knew what was going on. He walked out, told me. He said, “Uh, yeah, we gave you 52.” You know, I think Derek Pope at 56. It was 52 was available. So, I got 52. If you want to get 55, we have a 55. And I knew junior was on the team. It was junior. My starting, we say 34. So, my four linebackers, I started next to Zack Thomas, Jason Taylor, Junior. Say, three Hall of Famers. and and my little goofy ass sitting there over there in the in the moon. I knew Junior say I was here. They were like you can go ask Junior and Derek Pope and Eddie Moore over there. Dude say you can go ask Junior to get 55 if you want to. They tap me and say Young Blood don’t ask don’t ask Jun for the 55 just say I said yeah 52 is fine. Then I got conf you know you got to be cocky cuz you didn’t sound like you know no yeah you know I’mma make 52 mean something. Yeah. They didn’t gave it to 100 people since I Hey, shout out Derek Pope, Alabama, man. That’s my dog. We went Yeah, man. We was in school together. And what was it like playing with that trio trio of linebackers that you just met, man? How was that? Like the meeting room, too. I can’t imagine. What was that like, bro? Zack, it was really like I Zach is like my big brother. Zack still stayed here. I still talk to Zach all the time. Like without Zack, I would say I I wouldn’t have I wouldn’t have started. I wouldn’t have played. I wouldn’t, you know, I led a team in tackle a couple years. no chance without Zach cuz he taught me how to really get ready for football games like really prepare and you know so the little stuff you see move the fullback’s fingers to the to the to the light you know the left guard is always on his toes to run always on the hill like he’ll know stuff like that he’s been in the league 10 years at that point he knew like he knew Kevin wise hey if he’s doing this he’s going to do this if he looks down and looks up he’s pulling like he would know little stuff like that but the film study stuff so he’s just his his I would say like not even more and passing almost like crazy approach to a game mentally. And then Junior was the total opposite. Junior told me stuff like, “Don’t get over coached.” Like, you know what he’s saying? Yeah. Go, bro. Go play. Junior be like, “Body, don’t get over coached, buddy. Don’t get over coached.” We were playing the Jets one time. He had Wayne Crebette in the slot. I had the running back. Junior saw something. If he was going to blitz, he would say, “Apple baby or Charlie.” That means what gap you going in. If you’re detackling in the B gap, he’s still going through the B gap. So he’s telling the tackle, get out of the B gap. Go either way you want to, but I’m running full speed through this B gap. Wayne CB in the slot. Not not not in the wing, in the slot. He said, CC, I’m gone. So I knew what that mean. Like try, you know, cover me. He knew now that, you know, I started learning football. He explained it to me on the plane. He knew that if he blitz, the back can’t release now cuz he has to check. So if he checks, but the back was weak. So he can’t get over there in time to get Junior. But so my my guys handled cuz he’s going to try to come block Junior. Junior going to run it back. Junior was huge and that he was made in the in in the damn lab. I’m weak over the back. I had to sprint over to try to cover Wayne Creette all the way in the slot to cover Junior’s back. I’m running over there. I’m like, “This man about to catch the ball and get Dell on.” Wayne Creette was good. Could go. I’m running sprinting over there looking at Wayne. Wayne curl up. All out here we had in New York. Oh, cuz Junior just knocked the hell out of uh Chad Pennington, left his man, took off running. So I learned from him like if you see something, go get it. Go make a play. Like you got to make a play. Zach was by the book cuz he knew what was going to happen beforehand. And JT was just talented, man. Like he just he was one of them dudes that like was made in life to rush the passer. Yeah. Just made in life to rush the passer. That’s that’s what I I could learn something from Junior, learn something from Zack, but JT like I can’t I asked him one time something like that. Like, hey, he had two set. It was like 06. He is defense player of the year. So, I’m about to rush off the edge. I was like, yeah, JT, you know, saying they going to start running this, you know, cuz you’ve been coming off the edge, they about to send you on the knees. I’m coming off the edge. You know, you beat this man three, four times already. Yeah. Give me some. Give me Give me Give me something. Give me something. It’s kind of important. Yeah. Just get off. Just get off real quick. one rounded. Yeah, might get off a little slower than you get off JT. Might get off a little slower. But yeah, I think I was blessed to have those type guys. And even Sam Madison, Jeremiah Bell, uh Vonnie, I’m playing behind Vonnie Holiday, Keith Trailer, and Big Tractor, uh Vonnie Holiday, Kevin Carter, and Big Truck, bro. We had a pros around me. Yeah. Yeah. I couldn’t do nothing but succeed, right? Cuz they were going to cuss my ass out if I messed up. So, how I want to know the experience of playing for Nick Sabin. So, you got post LSU Nick Sabin, but you got the pre- Alabama. Yes. Nick Sabin. So, what was that experience like knowing that he had just come from al excuse me, he had just come from LSU, had some success there, but he wasn’t he was like Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He’s coming out hot now. I said he had success. I said some success. I’m I’m sorry. You want to see national championship? Well, he did. It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. He wasn’t my coach. So, I’m not hating on the man. I’m just saying. Like, yeah. What was What was the experience like for you? Question. I was I was used to saving cuz I came straight out of college. Z was crazy. I’m used to I heard Ron Zuk was crazy. Ron Zook was nothing. I saw Ron Zuk kick a long snap in the face cuz he he cuz he he sailed a punt snap over the punter’s head, man. Kicked him in his face. I said, “Oh.” I called I called Kevin Whitley, my high school coach. I said, “Coach, they up here kicking me. I might need to go somewhere else. If this kick me, it’s over, coach. I don’t know what’s going to happen.” But he needed dictatorship. Mhm. And y’all know y’all vets like name a guy. The guys I just I think I think Sabin was 38. Truck was 36. They was in they was high school together. Yeah. I’m not bowing down to you. I’m not calling you coach Sabin. And the vets, Junior knew it. Everybody knew it, but Junior and Truck would mess with him the most because they knew he hated to be called Nick because he was so Nick S. like players are supposed to call me Coach Sabin, not Nick. You’re not my equal. And it was so obvious when they would say, “Hey, Nick.” He’d have his little paper and like you could see him kind of just tensing up cuz he he’s used to being a dictator. He’s not he wasn’t a co-orker. So, I think people ask me all the time, they were like, “Do you think he could have been successful in the league?” I think if we got Drew Brees that year instead of Pep and we he would have stayed cuz we would have had success cuz he was used to being success. He weren’t used to going 79. No, not at all. He lose a game and he was hot. He ain’t used to going he was a 500 coach in the league. You know what I’m saying? But uh I think he could have made it but playing for him it was like there was no football is football like make the main thing the main thing. Yeah. That’s it. There was a player who went up to him and told him, I forget his name, a safety, came from New England. Went up to him and told, “Hey, my wife’s pregnant. If she goes into labor, I’m going to leave practice.” This first camp with T-buck. Uh comes down, he hot. We like what’s up? Told him his wife pregnant. He said, “My entire team’s on the field at 4:00.” He said, “But if my wife goes in labor, I’m going to leave.” He said, “You have any kids?” He said, “Yeah, I have two.” So you seen You saw both of them come out, right? My whole team’s on the field at 4:00. Like it was football. Football. I used to hide in the um player like in the janitorial bathroom and you know play on my phone during meetings. I know I talk about how much film I used to watch. Now I’m hiding in I bro I I’m not watching the week before. I watched the upcoming game. Y’all want to sit and watch the first quarter of the game we play? I remember what happened. I was out there. I’m good. What happened here? Oh, they get three yards on the power play. I I was I made the tackle. I don’t need to watch that. So on the you know that little money me I go I go play play on my phone. If you look under the bathroom stall and you see big black legs as a player you just keep playing on your phone. You look under the stall you see little skinny white legs with them air monarchs on them coaching shoes them air monarchs as a coach. Flush the toilet and you leave. Look under there I see the little white legs with air monarchs. Walk out is sabin now you know saying and it’s you know and I’m still young. I panic a little bit. So I go over, it’s a tiny, it’s a janitorial bathroom. So it ain’t it ain’t but one stall, one urine under the sink. So I go over, I’m like, I can’t be in a bathroom with my head coach and not say a word to say something. I got to say something, right? This is this is maybe five, six games to the season. Walk, I wash my hands. He he look at me and just look back down at the toilet. So my mind is like, what can I say to him that not going to piss him off? Not just something real nebulous. So I say, “Coach, how’s Terry?” He always talk about his wife. Talk about his wife damn near every meeting you in. He says something about me. He’ll start it by saying, “Well, me and Miss Terry were eating last night.” And and then it’ll be some kind of football story or some kind of, you know, some kind of motivation. But he’d always be on his wife. So I say, “How’s Terry?” Without missing a beat, when I talk, he look back down, then look back at me. He said, “She’ll be a lot better if you can cover a effing back on third down.” And that was it. The game before it was a third and eight. I had an option route on the weak side, right? Somebody caught the ball and got a first down. That’s all was on his mind. Not me as a person, not me with this, not Florida, not college, not the fruits of the season. When he saw when he when I asked him that question, only thing on his mind was me missing that tackle on third down. And it was in the second quarter. We won the game. That’s all he was worried about. Go make that tackle and we’re off the field. That’s how that’s the I would say the the the the why I tell that story. I’ve told before cuz that’s like the microcosm of what Nick Sabin he is not worried about anything other than winning football not just the game every single snap every hand placement every angle that’s all that’s on his mind when he’s coaching and he never changed it it’s it’s funny cuz like he didn’t coach me he coached at my school though so um but the first time I met Nick was coming out in the draft so him and Kirby Smart interviewed me uh when I was coming out in the draft to 06. And then all of a sudden, a couple years later, he’s at my school and I go back, they just won a national championship game. I come there like a week or two later. I’m on campus. I go by and I’m like, “Hey, coach, you know, like congrats on like winning, you know, congrats.” He’s like, “Fon what?” I’m like, “I mean, you won that championship.” And and like the way he says it too is aggressive. And I’m just like, makes me question like, why am I congratulating him? And I was like, well, you won a national championship like two or three weeks ago. He’s like, I don’t give a about that. That was weeks ago. I’m behind on recruiting. I got I got three scholarships and I’m looking at six dudes right now and I’m trying to figure out who the hell I want. D was like like this guy’s a machine. He never stops. And he cannot do small talk. He’s not he’s not a small talk guy at all. like he’s like allergic to it or something. Like he he’s And is he is he socially awkward? I wouldn’t say he’s socially awkward, dude. He just doesn’t do small talk and he’s like just likes ball. You’re in his world. Yes. Okay. And if you don’t want to be in Sabin world, don’t speak to me. Yeah. He’s very cool with us like not talking to him. Like it’s fine. It’s not personal. That’s just how it is. Yeah. But like even it’s just way of life. But the his approach it’s not like there’s no there’s no tact there’s no nuance there’s no you know hey how you been how you doing okay let’s get to what I want to speak no genius defensive coordinator G like he sees stuff he knows stuff he called the defense they had they had Kirby here they had Mus Champ here when he came to Miami yeah all those boys from Alabama came with him they had they made they named Richard Smith to DC because he was a vet a veteran guy they needed some veteran coaches on the staff Yeah, they couldn’t he couldn’t make his he couldn’t come in as his first year head coach and hire a bunch bunch of college guys as coordinator. So he they but Muschamp called he called the defense. He’s the one that signal was on the mic. Richard Richard Smith just broke down how to stop power on a Wednesday meeting and stuff but Sabin really called it through Mus Champamp. But Sabin would come to your on I use myself for example came to me at um third quarter of a game. We’re going out on the field, warm back up for the for the third quarter after halftime. He could have said this, “Hey, Channing, I think they’re gonna they’re gonna get in trips and they’re going to try you on the backside with the weak screen. Just mug up a little bit. Go make the tackle. We get off the field.” I got you, coach. Appreciate it. That that could have been what what could have been said and the same thing would have happened. Gator, that’s what he called. Never said my name. Two years. Never said chain ain’t going to crowd. They call me Gator cuz I went to Florida when y’all went uh not y’all LSU went 12-1. Florida beat him at at LSU in Death Valley. They were 12-1. We went down there CO league. We beat him. I had a hell of a game. And he made he he let me know that I drafted you because of that game when I got drafted. Gator. Yes, coach. I don’t think you can cover. They don’t either. Okay. They’re going to get in trips and run a screen backside cuz I would do the same thing to you standing over there by yourself. Just go make the effing tackle. How about that? Can you do that? Yeah, coach. Thank you. Why would you speak to me in that manner? You could just come tell me, you know, watch the weak screen. But that’s how he It’s It’s no person personal connection, niceness. It’s go do your damn job. But do you think he does that? Because Rod Marinelli is a guy and a genius, defensive genius, decoordinator, right? He would talk to certain players different kind of ways. To me, he called me he called me Gangask. He called me Gangaskhan because Gangaskhan took whatever he wanted. Just like you take the football, he called me Genghaskhan. So, he had my little nickname. Hey 33, hey 54, hey 95, hey 99, hey 41, hey 52, hey 5. Like if he liked you, he’d call you by your number. But there were certain players that he would say certain things to to get them fired up. But he couldn’t just say, “Hey, they going to run the screen backside. Be ready.” All right, 41. He would might have to go, “They going to catch this football all on you and go 99 yards if you don’t make this tackle.” Like he would do that and it would piss the player off, Henry Melton, and he would go out and actually make the play. Yeah. And it was a I think I noticed it because Henry made the Pro Bowl that year. It was like it was his it was one of his best years. So I guess my question is do you think he did that to you because he knew what you were capable of and there may or may not have been some laziness involved and it was just trying to like psych yourself up to say no, I’m going to get this play. Like he was just trying to piss you off. Uh I I I I understand exactly what you’re saying cuz Charlie Strong was like that. Yeah. Where he knew who to push, he knew who to cuddle. He you know, but everybody him and Zack Thomas got into fighting one day at practice. Not physically, but yelling at each other. Him and Keith Trader left practice one day arguing with say he just talk he would talk to Pro Bowl 16ear vets the same way he was talking to me as a rookie. I just think it’s it’s a disconnect with the human. I’m sure he don’t talk to his wife that way. Absolutely not. Once you get on this field, I don’t think I was Shannon Crowder. I think I was will linebacker one. I don’t think Zack Thomas was all pro Hall of Fame middle linebacker that did this for 10 years. Your middle linebacker one. Jason Taylor was defensive in one. That’s why I think he looks at players as chess pieces and not like, oh, this is Jason Taylor with philanthropic um, you know, cherries and married with, you know, three kids and a wonderful person. You are paid to get to the quarterback. Go get to the quarterback. You need to make tackles. You need to cover receivers. That’s how I think he approached ball. And that’s why I think he’s so successful. But also, it rubs people the wrong way. I didn’t care. I got My mama cuss me out my whole life. You can cussing me all day. I don’t care. So, it don’t bother you. But I think some people like I know y’all heard the Manny Wright story. We’re the one that made him cry. He made him cry. Manny wasn’t ready to be coached that way. And so, he went I don’t know what he whispered in that I we all saw. We was walking to the field. He whispered something in that man’s ear. That man was 67 350. Manny was a big old boy from USC. Whispered something in his ear. Not long either. Just man bust out crying. He had a uh now the women wham to get their stomach down. He had a little He wore a little little corset or something. His corset rolled up his back. I said, “Man, this a bad look for the whole team.” And it was an open practice. We got a 250 lb man crying with his with his belly out, a corset, belly button showing. I Is this on TV? It was definitely on TV. This was like this made a big headline news. Nick made this guy cry. You know, you didn’t play long. So like at what point cuz I’ve read that you you kind of did it for the money. So, at what point were the checks must be no longer your motivation? Um, well, first off, I had I had I tore my ACL three times in high school. So, I had three. And you still that highly recruited reconstructions in high school. I actually tore my ACL my last game of my senior season. Wow. Playing fullback. I don’t know why they had me cuz I was on a sorry ass team and I had to carry the team play. Bro, I used to have eight catches, 30 carries, and 20 tackles in games. Like, we had it was a performing art school. Usher Raymond, Raven Simone. I was at a performing art school. Performing art school. Yeah. So, we had a big ass kid in the performing arts school. We had dudes out there dancing and singing and I’m trying to bust some people down their face masks off and they they wearing glasses under their helmet like the little giants. Swear to God, I sent him his his his glasses under his helmet. I know. No goggles. that ain’t blocking a soul. But but I told myself uh they I went to Florida late because I they wanted to save my scholarship by bringing another guy in that 2002 class and I enrolled in spring just to get another scholarship. So I was I was already injured. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so got to the league first round graded. Male copy told I’m going 20 to Green Bay 32. Patriots won the two quarter year four. No later than 32 to the Patriots. I went out spent about a minute and a half. Yeah. Got a London Lord of London credit line. I’m going first round. Last 30 the the pick 32 pick the year before me got eight plus million. So I’m about to get at least 8 million. So I’m good to go. They looked at the knees and they looked at the uh and the arrest record. I got locked up all the times. They like it’s a character issue. But Mike Ty and the media told me what you know. He look at oh he’s just a fighter. You like to fight? I said yeah. He said well linebacker likes to fight. That’s no problem. I’m not doing nothing crazy. I’m not stealing, man. I’m not doing drugs or stealing or beating no women or nothing like that. If you call me a name and we this close and you disrespect me from inner city Atlanta, I’mma punch you in the face. I really thought nothing was wrong with that till I got to Gainesville and I’m an all-American linebacker walking around the streets of Gainesville punching people in the face and getting run down by horses and getting put in electric county jail. So, but then get to the league and uh get through my first contract, then get my second contract. Everybody get their second contract. Get my second contract. It was headed into the lockout. What was that? 0. What was like 0 11? No. It was 10. Yeah. So, when you signed I signed a three-year deal going into the lockout be my last year. So, you get your you get your signing bonus, but you also put some you you defer some of your signing bonus to the end in case we locked out that year. you can still have, you know, keep your money until the law got figured out. So anyway, long story short, they end up cutting me the second day of camp the third year of my contract, last year of my contract. So I was already guaranteed some money and they asked me to take a pay cut and I’m like, “Y’all owe me money. I’m not I deferred the money that I could have had already. I’m not taking a pay cut to play when y’all got to pay me anyway.” They’re like, “Well, we going to cut you.” I said, “Well, congratulations. cut me.” So they cut me. So, I’m already getting paid that year. So, I’m I’m going to just take the year off, get healthy. I end up having a athletic pubalgia a couple years before that. I had a Liz Frank with I still got screws in both my feet. So, I you know what I’m saying? I was I would get injured always late in the season and then I’d work out all off seasonason, come back, start again, everybody out and just keep playing, keep playing. I took that year off. My wife, she was nine months pregnant when they cut me. We had our son August 29th, right? you know, right at the end of camp. So, three weeks after I got cut. So, I’m sitting there one day and the it wasn’t the physical side. I was sitting there with my son running around just watching TV on like a Wednesday morning drinking coffee and I was like the the weight I felt off my back to perform and the weight and I didn’t know how much pressure I put on myself to be prepared and to make Zach happy to make Junior happy to make Jo was happy to make Charlie Strong happy Ron Zook happy Kevin Whitley happy in high school like to be the guy I just it was part of life like you have to be ready You have to go, you got to prepare, you got to run bikes, you have to I was like almost like uh crazy about being ready to play football, knowing every snap, knowing everybody’s job, knowing this. When I felt the other side of retirement, which I didn’t know at the time it was the other side of retirement. I’m taking a year off to get my body back. Right. Man, I felt the other side of retirement. Told my wife it took months for her to believe me. I said, “Man, I ain’t going back. I ain’t doing that no more.” She cuz I love football. She knows I coach. I I still I watch Maction games on Tuesday. I love Maction. Maction. Maction is fun. It’s fun now. It’s a lot of points. I like the guest. They going to run. Oh, they going to run that RPO again. There you go. He go motion cross. He going to sit behind the tackle. Like I like the the the what we used to do from that side. I still like to do it and be watching the game more X and O wise and all that. But when I it was more the mental health side. And now they talk about a lot more. That was 2011. Mhm. When this was happening. Now you talk about a mental health side. That was preconcussion stuff too, pre CTE and all that stuff. But it was that that’s why everybody said, “Did you” But now they all Now, now the thing is, it was first was uh uh the injuries like, “Oh, the injuries caught with you.” I was like, “Not really. I could have played a couple more years and then it was, oh, you you started getting n I was never dizzy. I had all the little birdies and all that. I’ve been knocked out before. Charles Bentley knocked me to sleep in the game. They had to wake me back up on the sideline sitting on the bench. That’s when you came back. They shook me to wake me up on the field. I walked back, sat on the bench, and dove back off. Y’all remember L Charles. He was in he that joker was so strong, too. That was another one. When he caught me on my chin, I said, “Boy, I coach, I’m not running no more.” He got blesses. What you mean? I said, “Send me around the edge. Send me anywhere.” I’m not running by that man anymore. That man just knocked me to sleep twice. Yeah. I He knocked me to sleep twice with one hit. I’m not going in there no more. But when I felt when I felt the mental that mental pressure I was put on myself since I was hell high school, so probably 15. When I became like the man, you know, y’all were both the man. When you became the man and everything, the win, every win, every loss, every touchdown, every anything was on your shoulders. I felt all that relief and I said, “Man, I like this. I like this retirement life.” That’s when I was like, “Yep, I’m done.” Went on radio and told him. Nobody believed me. my whole family, all my friends. Oh, bro, you going back. I said, watch. Don’t believe me. Just watch. Mhm. Now it’s 14 years. Yeah. I play now, man. All I’m going to do is fail a fail a P test and throw up some bills. About all going to happen. I go back to that league. I like it. I like it. So, I want to get into your second act. So you you’re in the broadcasting the media space, right? You have this Are you okay with calling it that? The broadcasting? Yeah, cuz I always feel weird cuz we just all I just always grew up thinking that I said media space. I know the media is the enemy. That’s why I hate sometimes I try not to act like I’m part of the media. You are. I know. I know. I know. I get it. You you you are. You are. We We him. We them now. That’s us. Okay. All right. That’s We crossed over to the dark side. You got to be I had to address one for my friends. Uh G5 uh Rashad Jones. I was covering the Dolphins. He was still playing. I played with him. He came in as a I was a vet then. He came in as a puppy from Georgia. Dude from Georgia, Atlanta guy. So we was tight. And somebody told him I was on radio lighting their ass up and our daughters are best friends. And so we was out, we was fishing on the golf cart round out by the house and he just all of a sudden was like, “Yeah, see I heard you was killing the defense on radio.” I said, “Bro, y’all just gave up 189 on the ground. You want me to say I did a good job?” Damn, you right. So I You got to justify it to him. But if you talking like, “Man, they going they going to tighten up.” But it’s u you’re in a different spotlight cuz you’re you’re like analyzing. Yeah. So you have to This is why the So you honestly do it when you talk watching. You do it when you’re broadcasting. Yeah. I can say whatever I want at any time, anywhere, and it’s all opinion. The podcast, we own everything. Yeah. The radio, I’ve been on radio for 13 years. And we generate, you know, radio, you have to generate money from sponsorships and endorsements. We generate enough money where we can go on there and whistle for four hours as long as the money keeps coming in like Right. Right. Right. Yeah. So, like I’ve I’ve learned the space, but yeah, being an analyst is it’s always going to be hard. Somebody going to be mad. You You praise them, the other team going to be mad. You badmouth them, they going to be mad. Man, all y’all little babies can go to hell. I’m 40 years old. I ain’t worried about that mean you doing something. That mean you doing something right. Nobody hating on you. You’re not successful. Absolutely. But I did grind though. I I grinded. I was making 20 grand a year doing radio first and just doing reps. Reps and Yeah. Go back to your original question. I apologize my boy. No, no, no. You good. But you’re you’re in the media space. I’m I’m not gonna call it broadcasting. You’re in this media space. You have a very successful podcast with your co-host, with your your coworker, excuse me. And you hear a lot of the struggles that players go through when they make that transition from NFL, NBA, from actor, entertainer, whatever. and you hear the struggle that these these uh these entertainers go through trying to get out of their their main act. Mhm. How does how does that feel when you when you hear these struggles? Like how does that strike you? That really breaks my heart cuz I when you when you’re when you’re talking about it, I’m like y’all it dudes pop up in your head. Damn. You know he’s struggling. Damn. You know, he I know I know that I’m thinking of never say his name, but he made double what I made in NFL. He’s a resource officer at his school at his in his hometown right now. You know what I’m saying? Like, damn. It’s a lot of guys that their identity is football and they can’t they can’t continue that. And it just it just breaks them. To get where we got, you worked so hard. 500 a.m. wake up, 6:00 a.m. workout, year round trainers. What’s the people put this stick the needles and in you that acupuncture? Acupunctures, massages, cold, hot tub, the diets, the shakes, the pills, the all the stuff you just to get your body to be able to do that. And then you want to go into something else, the second act, and you ain’t going to put half the effort in. You can’t you a lot of you just throw money at stuff. I’mma buy a studio. I heard that so many times. Hey, see, I’m buy a studio. Game insane. You can’t rap. You can’t play instrument. Why you buying a studio? Cuz they they they try to throw money at everything. You going to keep throwing that money and that money going to run out. Now you’re broke with no job. But I say the guys that are just crazy physically talented, I see a lot of them, the guys I know that didn’t work hard but are just stupid talented, just where God just Yeah. sprinkled a little extra on them. I’ve seen a lot of them fail. The guys that work hard that probably wouldn’t have made it if they didn’t have just a crazy work ethic. That’s the that’s the honey hole. I think the dudes that wield themselves to professional sports is those are all the my friends that were that all have post careers seamlessly. The guys that were god-given talent and worked hard became Hall of Famers, but some of them struggle post career. Even if it’s not financial, because they just they never had to work that hard. I can go out there and get three sacks. You know what I’m saying? I go get three sacks doing They probably think they go get three sacks right now. Yeah. But now I have to build a second career where I have to, like I said, go to work every day for three hours, do three-hour radio show, drive there, prepare for the show, make 20 racks a year. I went from making, you know, my best year was what, $4 million. I left $4 million to make 20 grand. It’s not about the money. This is going to lead to something. I’m building like I built I didn’t get paid in high school. I got that made a a scholarship. I get paid. We didn’t get paid in college. Y’all might not have, but uh I didn’t. But you know what I’m saying? You’re building and then you and it starts paying off. You do all that. I started riding bike school when I was 12 years old for the for the fruits of the NFL where guys don’t want to start from the bottom again after they’ve been to the top. Nobody wants to fall off the cliff, look back up and just take that next step to start climbing up. And I think that’s the that’s the biggest problem with the second act is that I’ve seen I’ve seen just guys just don’t want to grind. I ask them all the time the podcast stuff is the huge like this is the new explosion. We caught it early. Yeah. Yeah. You did. We caught it early. Hey man, I’m do my own podcast. First thing I ask, how many you got? Huh? How many podcast you got? It’s it’s easy to, you know, especially like little GoPros. Easy. Like you don’t got to have you know y’all got y’all got setup setups. Yeah. Yeah. Y’all, y’all are established. I appreciate that. Go for somebody that is established. I appreciate that. Yeah, y’all see the cameras. I don’t know what those I don’t know. They got numbers on them and Yeah, I know. T47000s and all that I know y’all got nice stuff, but I’m like, “Bro, get you a little camera. Go to the to to the to the circus city, get you a camera, start talking. You got a guest, have somebody move the camera.” Like, you could start small, but just gr just work. I think they got him at Best Buy. Little Circus City is no longer in business anymore. Circus City, stay out of business. It’s like Radio Shack. So tell me this. They were lazy. See, Circus City was lazy. If I had to say, “All right, Channing, what would that one piece of advice be?” You would say it is grind or what would it be to use it in in the postc career the podcast and stuff is consistency. We haven’t missed a Tuesday in going on four years. We haven’t missed it on Tuesday in four years. We might have missed 10 Fridays. Yeah. In four years. You know what I’m saying? So, yeah, that’s that’s big. It’s content. You got to p you got to put it out there. Got to push it out. And now you have people asking, “Who y’all got Tuesday?” Like random people at the gas station. You know, who y’all got Tuesday? You know what I’m saying? So now people are looking for it everywhere. They going somebody going to come on. Peanut jumped on. You know what I’m saying? I saw that. I was so happy. He didn’t tell me. I saw that Peanut. Man, that crazy with the FBI stuff. They had no idea. I’m having those conversations consistently everywhere I go cuz you got that following. But if you you if you and honestly the the podcasting algorithm, you can’t you have to have consistency to get to the higher pay scales of them and stuff like that. Well, you can have three great shows. They ain’t giving you six figures for three shows. Now, if you have three months worth of shows that are consistently doing well, now they can see the marketing side of it. Oh, they’re have they’re getting quarter million, half a million, million views for months on end. I can throw them some money now. Yeah. For the next three months, I can throw them some money now because I’ve seen the work. Uh, you know, three shows is three weeks. No, but that’s not a big enough sample size in this industry. Yeah. You know what I’m saying? It’s just like football. Everybody can have a good game. Everybody have a good month. even a year, you got to come back, get another year, do it again, do it again, do it again. And that’s what I say. Consistency and really work, man. People, honestly, I say to the kids, people are lazy and people too worried about their damn phones. When I talk to a lot of, especially young, I don’t do it to grown men cuz I don’t, you know, I don’t really care about grown people like children. They’re already jaded. Life done beat you up already. You ate this, you going to hate it. I’m not talking you talking no 50y old eating octopus. You don’t want octopus, you ain’t eat octopus. But when I talk to kids, youngans, and I, it’s funny, I’m old now. Call like them 20-y olds, teenagers, mid20s, call them kids. They ask me stuff about success. I said, “Open your phone. Go to screen time. Everybody got all every all children now that age 10 plus hours of screen time a day.” I show them mine. Mine’s never over three. It’s It’s always two and some change. And I say, “So, I am doing something to help myself get better for seven hours in one day more than you are cuz you’re looking through social media or liking pictures or texting girls, whatever you’re doing on your phone. I have seven I’m 7 hours ahead of you every single day. Do the math. 7* 7 49. It’s almost I’m 50 hours ahead of you in one week. I’m 200 hours ahead of you in a month. You’re playing on your phone. You playing your your success away scrolling that phone. That phone is ruining people, man. I know I sound old and people hate this opinion. I get killed for it. That phone that phone is really messing up people. And I know Listen, I tell you, answer when you’re thinking it. I know they’re streamers. I know there’s people that that monetize online. I monetize online. I do. I don’t sit and look at them damn people’s screens and see if you went on vacation to California on Wednesday. I don’t give a damn where you went on Wednesday. I’m trying to go to California and doing that. I need to be successful. So that what I say. Stay off your damn phone. Don’t do the the Facebook, MySpace, Tik Tok. They just keep making up too. There’s more social media sites now than damn than gas stations. It’s always something for that phone to distract you. Yeah. you can stay off that phone, have that work ethic, and be consistent with what you’re going to do. That’s how I think guys that have successful second careers make it. So, you sound Well, thank you for that that that um coaching tip, that advice. Um you sound like you busy as hell all the time. Ain’t a Tuesday in over four years. That’s crazy. I didn’t know that. Yeah, I didn’t know that. It’s dope. That’s why y’all again successful. So, you got the podcast sports radio, you got the the the cooking brand that you do, and you also have you got a lot of followers and on on on social media. How do you find time to do all these things? Cuz you sound like you’re extremely busy all the time. Honestly, baseball and you got travel. Yeah, you got cuz people that if you don’t know you that’s real. Oh, travel. Aaou and travel driving hotels. Yeah. Honestly, uh my wife my wife does a lot. Yeah. Cuz I guess got to be there. Like the podcast isn’t hard, but it’s just the travel just It’s time though. It’s it’s time away from your family and your your kids and stuff, right? But football was the same. When we play ball Mhm. you got to be if you really if you really going you going to the facility to get the early workout in. Yeah. So when that window that little that little the little we call we always call it the sorry dude window that little after practice workout that’s not a real workout. You tired as hell. I agree. Go in the morning get that workout in then go to meetings got some recovery time. So practice and then the dudes that going to be in the league for eight months nine months they going to work out after practice cuz they ain’t want to wake up early enough. So that’s the thing the grind of it right now. I miss a lot of stuff with my kids. My wife has to take them to school. Every day I’m home, I take him to school, but I’m out of I’m out of town at least two days a week shooting, you know what I’m saying? Filming. Um, miss basketball practice after school cuz I have a radio show from 2 to 6, Monday through Friday for 13 years. It’s just the sacrifice is the same sacrifice that everybody does. There’s firemen out there that work 12 hour shifts. They’re missing stuff. Yeah. There’s a lot of people that are grinding in their realm that are sacrificing for success for money for whatever that that thought is. And why wouldn’t I? Even though you know, oh, you got money. I know. And I want more. Can I get a billion dollars? You know, I want I want a billion and $1. I don’t even want two billion. You don’t even want two. I don’t even I’m not even looking at two. If I if I if I win a billion dollars, I’m just looking for that next one. I got a billion in one, man. I get the bill be two sooner or later. You know what I’m saying? Like, we literally talked about this in a car on on the way up here. So, this is it’s easy cuz all you want when you’re young, I just want a million dollars. Then when you get one, you’re like, I think I want two, man. I ran through, bro. I ran through a million dollars in four months. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Let’s talk about this cuz everybody loves to hear how the people spend their first million dollars. Act like it ain’t hard. Super easy. Well, you know what? I’m like, it was 700 grand cuz I ended up it was 750 cuz I had a million dollar credit line through Lawyers of London who gave me the advance. You know, they’ll do the research and say, “Oh, you going first round. You about to make 8 million. We’ll give you a million credit.” I could call a lady anytime 24/7 and say, “I need 30 grand.” I could look on my phone on the app. We app. We didn’t ourselves. We had no apps here. There were no apps on my little phone. But I could go on the website, log in, refresh, and 20, 30, $50, $100,000 just pop up in my account because they were just transferring it. I go to the mall. Remember Jabbo Jeans? Yeah. So I worked out Tom Shaw, Ker, Louisiana. Yeah, I worked out with Tom Shaw pre-draft. Espanate Malls across the street. Jabbo Jeans was the was that thing. I couldn’t afford him in college. That’s over in Ker, bro. Was that? Yeah. Ker right there by the lake. I was, bro. I was there for 4 months. I wanted to go into the mall, tell the lady, I want all every color jabbo jean you have, every color jab short you have. Or if you don’t have them, order them. Well, that would be, you know, that would be 32 pair of this, that would be 30 pair of these. Okay, order them. Well, sir, that would be, you know, $18,000, whatever it was. $18,000. Okay, I need 20 grand put in my account. Okay, thank you. Hold on one second. 20 pop up, give them the credit card. It was monopoly money. It really was monopoly money. I bought a I bought a Hummer, a big one. The one H1 the H1 cash. Terrible on gas. Terrible on gas. Not a good ride. It’s a military car. seats are hard. It don’t have no shocks. But I look hard riding through Gainesville in that H. But white H1. What? I know you had some shoes on it. Oh, a system. I had shoes. I left. I left I left it military looking, but I did throw 315s in the back. Okay. And I bought a 1983 Chevy. 1983 cuz I was born in ‘ 83. Okay. 19 83 uh Chevy. What was the name? I And this is all before you got drafted. You got drafted just to make sure. I knew I was leaving. I already I had Joel Seagull. I already met with agents my s my sophomore year. gray shirt. Sophomore year, I already met with a already. I didn’t sign with Joel cuz you know you couldn’t sign with why you still. So, we played in the Peach Bowl against Frank Gore Hester and them boys. They beat the hell out of us in Peachb January 1st 05. I declared January 2nd. I had the hummer January 4th. I went and found a dude that g that did Young Jeezy’s cars because why wouldn’t I? Because that’s what you I mean he Jeezy told me get a remember get a Chevy same color Tropicana orange juice. Y’all remember that song? Yeah. Trap die. I went and bought a Chevy. Told him to paint it the same color as Tropicana orange juice. I bought 11 alligators from California. They were Cayman’s cuz I wanted alligator seats cuz I was a Gator. It was orange and blue. Orange, blue, and white the whole car. So I was like, I want alligator skin interior. They were like, oh, we got this, you know, alligator print. I said, no, I want allig I want to sit on alligator skin. They were like, well, we don’t have alligator skin just laying around. You’d have to buy the alligators, kill them, skin them, get it tanned, orange, and blue and then give them to us and we could we can make the seats, we can make the dashboard, we can make everything. Say less. Say less. I’mma find a way to find these gators. I bought 11 alligators from California. Never saw them alive. Got them killed, got them skinned, got them dried, got them tanned, shipped them to Atlanta, and got my alligator skin interior put in the car. $7,000 sound system, TVs everywhere. And we Everybody had TVs in cars, too, back then. Already had a sunroof. The normal slideback sunroof. That wasn’t good enough. TI the rapper told me you need the T-top. The sunroof ain’t cool enough. You got to have where the T-top where you know where it’s the split in the middle. Old school T-tops. So I got the whole roof redone because they had a sunroof. So they had a big hole. I had the whole roof redone just to cut the T-top holes in it. It was a 1983. I put over a hundred grand into a 1983 vehicle. And that’s 2005. You still got that car? I sold it 25. I probably sold it about eight years ago. I had it for a while. Okay. What made me want to sell it was I had in the garage and for what was it? Cuz my son’s five. It might have been my daughter. And we were like, “Yeah, I’m going to take out the Chevy.” It had no clips for the for the baby seat. It had no clips for the baby seat. And I was like that. It was the dumbest thing in the world to make me think, damn, man. You in your mid30s with this with this car. this $100,000 Chevy with T-top with a system in the back. You can’t even hear. You can’t you cannot even play. You can’t hear anything. No, I can’t I don’t know what song this is. All I My My ears are busting. And I was like, you know what? Let me sell it. Then I sold it to some some real some rich dude up in in Ocala who loved the Gators and he doubled the price when he found out it was my old car. And I had my signature uh etched in etched into the speaker box. And I had 52 everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Candy Paint 52. It was hard now. Was hard now. It was hard now. I want to see a picture when we when we finish when we wrap this up. I want I definitely want to see a picture, man. Same thing like Vince Young thing. Who Who that gave hell about buying out Cheesecake Factory? Was that Vince? I I know. Um Mario Williams did a lot too. Like that. Yeah. Mario did a lot. You make it. If you go to the club, hey, I got bottle service for everybody. Just I got 20 with me. It’s only five a table. I want four tables. Three bottles a table. Easy math. So, I got to buy 12 bottles. Cool. Back with your ass. Hey. Uh, back right back on the phone. Hey, Elizabeth, I need uh 25,000 here. Take this credit card right here. It was It was Monopoly money. It was Monopoly money. Then when I when I dropped to the third round, this is it’s funny, too. I didn’t know no better. I was I just turned 21 December 2nd. They gave me a million dollars. A month later, no financial education, nothing. So when I dropped to the third round, I went from 8 million. My first my first contract was four years for 4 million. So I went from $8 million guaranteed up front to four for four. My first my first year I made $700,000. I spent I think I spent 33 I did the math like 30 something thousand dollar less the f my first year contracts my signing bonus and my first year uh contract my first year salary I I only made $30,000 that year cuz I spent I spent $740,000 and I made 780,000 or something like that. That boy living on the edge. Well, I mean, so when you’re when your name’s not being called and you know all the damage that you’ve done, are you getting nervous at all or you or is that not even on your mind? Fire hot. Fire hot. Okay. I went out. It’s uh I went fishing. Me and my my homeboys had took the big Hummer, packed up, got shiners, got worms, had a big old thing of cool big old cooler full of beer and liquor and drinks and all kind of stuff. had uh my homeboy, me and my homeboy rode in the Hummer. Then we had some from friends that weren’t boys drive behind us. We had a little party. So, we had a little per, you know, little perk. I’m like, I don’t want to I don’t want to do the thing while I’m sitting in, you know, sitting nowhere. I ain’t get invited to the draft. So, I’m like, you know what? I’m going to go out to the lake. I don’t want no cameras around. We gonna just chill. I’m gonna get picked. We be good. So, we out there, we fishing. Man, got the pose laid out. Had a music playing and I had my phone with me plugged in. to the uh speaker where if the phone rings the music would cut off. Mhm. And so I had the phone there. So they call you know this calling and I’m you know I’m checking checking my other phone looking at okay they on the 15th pick. Okay I’m not go to 20. So 20 come around I look Green Bay select somebody. Okay. So 32 at the latest male Kyper told me this who’s a liar. I don’t know you probably work with him. He don’t know what the he’s talking about. Anyway I got my own experience. I got my own experience. So they say 32 they they drafted Logan Menkins who was a great player I played against Logan play but they said so it gets into the 28 29s say yeah y’all. So I turn the draft on blaring over the big speakers in the homer had the big system blaring over speakers in the homer 29 go ahead 30 31 hey y’all. Hey y’all. Here we go. Phone a ring. Nobody said anything but Mel Kyper. Here we go fellas. There we go, ladies. 30 second pick. It was weird that the Patriots had called me by now cuz they usually when they pick you, they’re going to call you before they pick you. I’ve seen it on TV. The Patriots select Logan Min guard out of I don’t know, Western Northern Kentucky. I don’t know where the hell he went to school. Now everybody just stand homeboy stand. Girl stand. Nobody know what to do. I’m just kind of looking. I start looking at the lake. Yeah. Hey y’all, let’s wrap this up. I didn’t I didn’t I turned everything off. I was there. I I was hot hot. Got back in the car. No music on the way back. Nothing on the driver. We not talking. We ain’t doing nothing. It probably about 45 minutes outside of Gainesville. Roll back to my apartment. So now everybody’s sitting around the apartment. So I’m sitting there about we get back probably about the end of the second round. Staying got a call. And so in the right at the end of the second round, my homeboy who my boy to this day J&T played with me at Florida. They was like, “Hey y’all, let’s go grab something to eat.” They just, they knew that, “Man, let’s leave this man alone. This man need some time.” So, everybody leave my apartment. And then the Dolphins picked me. What was it like 63rd or something like that? It was early in the third round. Yeah. And when Nick Sab called, I wasn’t even happy when my phone rang. Hey, how you doing? Somebody will talk to you. Okay. Hey, Crowder. Hey, this is, you know, Nick Sabin, you know, we’re done draft you here at the next pick, man. That’s cool. I’m hot. I’m hot. that. So that it’s funny when I tell when I tell the throw the story to people for they’re like but you like you went you were the 60th best player in the draft. I said bro I was planning on being the 32nd best player and make $8 million as soon as my name’s called. Right. And now I’m sitting on I think my side of bones was 588. I went from 8 million to 588. I’m not happy at all cuz I really I was I I say like the prize fighter thing. I’ve said it before. You you brought it up. People said it. Bro, I was trying to like change my my kids’ lives. Like my whole thing, I got to get out of this. Like, I’m not staying in this apartment. I’m sleeping. My my bedroom in high school ain’t even have a closet. Now I look back, that’s why the washer and dryer were in the kitchen because I was really sleeping in the damn laundry room. And I didn’t have a closet. And I didn’t know why I didn’t have a closet. Cuz I was sleeping in the laundry room. I’m not sleeping no more. I’m going to go get this money. I’m going to go knock these dudes out until they start paying me. Absolutely. And got paid. Yeah. Yeah. Damn. I ain’t never heard a story like that. That’s a new one. That’s what I had to know. That’s a new I had to know. That hot when you think you going first round and don’t. I’m telling you that’s I wouldn’t wish that on nobody. Sounds awful. You’re Mount Rushmore of greatness. You get four picks that people have helped you become the man you are today. You get four picks. Who are those four people? I go backwards. My wife is the first the first one I’m chiseling. Mhm. Cuz I didn’t that was no plan. I ain’t never, you know, I wasn’t a virgin when I met her. Mhm. But I I never thought about I never thought some I never saw somebody in the light. I saw my wife and she changed me totally. That’s awesome. Yeah. I was wild. I was wild. Not you. Wild. I was down in Miami. Gainesville to Miami starting bowling. Got a unique look with the tattoos, the dreads and all like Yeah. Miami was I was I was enjoying every second of South Florida and uh and met my wife and it just totally totally just switched me around. So that’s awesome. I joke we joking now. I’m like man I might I don’t know where I’d be. I wouldn’t be I wouldn’t be successful like you talking about this the second act. This second act would not have happened without my wife. We met I played one one more year. Me and my wife dated for my last season and then got married two years after we met. So, I married a year into my retirement. But yeah, without her, there’s no pivot. There’s no none of this stuff. There’s no there’s no crowd powder. There’s no cooking line. There’s no TV. There’s no radio. There’s nothing without her. Going backwards. Zack Thomas has to be on there. Zack took a Zack took me under his wing weirdly. And people told me cuz Zack Zach was the Zach was the dolphin. Zack was JT. Everybody knew that. Zack and JT was the Dolphins. After Marino, it was Zack and JT and they brought in they brought in Pope to play next to him. They brought in Eddie Moore from Tennessee play next to him. Before that, Morland Greenwood was here. They had some guy they had some linebackers playing as Zack, but the guys that you know the vets that were already here, they were like, for some reason, Zack kind of took me under this one. I don’t know what it was, but he just he would ask me, hey, and he’s just he man a few words, but he’s Zach. He come to me during like right after the first camp. We kind of saw you know he saw I could play and then we going into after camp and you know you had that time off and you come back to prepare for the season. Yeah. Like I think it was maybe that second day we come back to like you know who’s the starters you let’s get ready for the regular season blank. Let’s get ready for the Jets. Let’s get ready for like that week. AC practice comes to the crib and he went upstairs. He had a whole movie theater in his house for film. He had the clicker just like the coaches had razor like he had all that stuff. And he just sit there, wouldn’t say nothing. He just watched and he wrote notes. He’s he right-handed and I I’d sit to his left. He’d write his notes crossbody and just have his notes between us two so that I could read him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He didn’t say, “Hey, well, when this tight end yaks across, you know, he would never say that.” He just write his notes. He watched the play. I watch the play, put his clicker down, write his notes between us, and just keep watch. to do it for hours. So without him, I wouldn’t I wouldn’t have known how to be a professional. That’s awesome. Without Zack. I like that. Charlie Strong was big teaching me football in co in college and uh just like testing me where he saw something in me that I like I knew I was good, but he would he he would he would really try me. He would really bring you talking about like the saving thing where he knew to try people. Chuck would try me at all times. Run to the sideline. We were playing Florida State at home one time. They had big Greg Jones. That was huge. Oh man, he almost destroyed that guy from North Carolina. He broke my face mask off my helmet. I looked like I was playing in the 40s. We hitting that B gap pop and I stood up and my face mask fell off. He started laughing. him. But him and Leon, I had to chase Leon Washington a little fast ass around. Then I had to hit Greg Jones. Man, Charlie comes to the sideline. That’s what I going to say. And so, you know, it’s loud as hell. It’s in the swamp. So, I turn my turn my head like this, you know, so you can hear yell in my ear, you know, my ear hole and I don’t hear nothing and I look and I do that again and I look at him. He just stare me in the eyes. I like, “What’s up, bro? You all American, ain’t it?” Well, go play like all American goddamn. It was no X and O stuff. He called a timeout to bring me over there to like Yeah. Get this is your game. They are you’re our best player and their best players are your competition. Went out there and baldled that game. That was like he it was early timeout too. I was we I was weirded out like why y’all call a timeout so early. It was for him to cuss me out. So that was that was his way of being like no bro I ain’t going to let this happen to you. Went out there and did it. So Chuck even through high school he was coming to my high school. He used to like get he used to tell me stuff watching me on film in high school. Come from South Carolina. Hey uh don’t get deeper. He’s the one that in high school I used to play like nine yards at middle linebacker. He told me I was playing all up. He came he’s like hey play deeper so you can run. Yeah. He said you’ll get to you’ll get to those g you fast enough to get to those gap like I want to see you get all the way over there and your D lineman ain’t holding up nobody. He was like deepening up deepening up. Deepening up. And every year I started backing up back there with the safeties 215 with a cowboy column at nine yards deep. Oh, and the last one probably my mom cuz everybody thinks my dad made me start football, but it was my mom. I didn’t play My mom and dad got divorced when I was nine. I didn’t play football till I was 11. And my mom and dad hated each other. They cuss each other out. They cuss they cuss each other out when they weren’t there. I’m visiting my dad in the summer. It’s ratty I’m I’m going to bed at night school year. Hell, daddy ain’t worth a damn. Like, damn, we in Tampa. We’re in Atlanta. Why are you talking about my daddy for? I thought I thought neither one of them were worth a damn. But uh but yeah, so she she’s the first one. Isaiah Rody, Lonia Bulldogs in Atlanta. She was the first one put a put a helmet in my hand and just supported me. She didn’t miss a game till I got to the league cuz Atlanta easy right around Atlanta. Then I got to Gainesville. That’s when the SEC was tight. Now they got people in California in the SEC. That’s very true. But it used to be you could drive to any SEC team from Gainesville 3 4 hours max. She came to every single one of my my my college games. She didn’t miss a game till I got to the NFL. We that was something crazy. We played in Miami and then San Diego. I could have flown out there if I had spent all that damn money before the draft. I ain’t had nine my rookie year. We was hurting. It’s a good lesson to learn. I’m glad you learned it. I love that story. I love that story. A good lesson to learn. Um I um we normally end with that, but I want to ask you something because I saw uh recently on a pivot episode you talked about um going back home u for your father in Frell, Pennsylvania. Yeah. To go uh to your where your dad had a little something for your dad Randy passed away and how important he was to that community. and you walked away and you said, you know, everybody was talking to you about all the football stories, but the one thing that really hit home with you was this this little white lady, older white lady, and how he treated her and how it really came back home. It was like it’s all about humanity, being a good human, how separated we are in this world and then and in this country at times, like how important that was for you to be able to see your father in that light. Maybe you could share that with us and and maybe talk to us about since then how you trying to aim to live your own life. Yeah, man. You would have got I would have cried two months ago. I would have Well, no, it’s fine. I like I would Yeah, I would have cried two months ago cuz it’s still to this day. Uh if somebody It’s crazy to this day when people say like I hear man you if I hear that anyone say those two words together I think about my dad and it’s crazy. I never thought that that would trigger that thought. So you think you talking you talking with the boys and somebody’s you know man you a damn man LSU man you and I start tearing up because that my dad said that so much and that was kind of like our little cuz we messed around with each other man did get your old ass around me daddy man you ch yeah he’d always say it so it triggered that in me but that’s the that was the thing man I is he like I said he was all all everything like three-time all-American like he could play ball you know he played back with shoing all them and with the Dolphins. Then he got locked up too because he was in Miami in the 70s and you know he’s on Cocaine Cowboys the movie. He one of them do Dolphins going to the airport to pick up the dope. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I get it solid. I get it honest now. I got two sons. If they don’t go to jail, we done already progressed. Me and my dad done been locked up. But uh he was just a he was could play ball. But so everybody telling me he played, you know, tight end, tackle, they put him at quarterback. Now they telling me these football stories thinking it’s football. I’m a football player. But those stories like him the story was the lady came up to she was like I moved into Frell in middle school and Frell’s a little bitty still still working town. So everybody from there is there. And her dad moved in from somewhere. She was like and I was outcast cuz everybody had their little c groups already. And in eighth grade, seventh, eighth grade of middle school, she said, “Your dad saw that I was sitting by myself at lunch and he was he was born and raised feral guy. He was the man. He was the biggest athlete, the big old he a big old black dude.” And so he was like, he came and set with me and that that second that lunchtime moving forward, I was accepted by everybody cuz Randy, Big Randy messed with me. They called him Joe. He was like, “Big Joe was my friend. I’m everybody’s friend.” And he changed he changed the trajectory of my my next five years until I left to go to college. Just with that with him noticing that I was I wasn’t accepted until he kept sat with me. Just stories like that made me think like man he’s I know he’s a good man but just seeing that at that age and just being a good person and like you say man the world is crazy now. just the the the people questioning themselves and then just the the social media, the information that kids are getting, people are getting so fast and the negativity that’s out there so much. Like I don’t overlook good people. Like I try my best to make everybody around me feel better, feel fine. I try to lighten every room I’m in because why wouldn’t you? Anger and hate is the easiest. Anger is the easiest emotion. I tell people that all the time. It’s the easy because now I can get mad. I can scream and y and now I control the narrative of this room. If I got pissed right now, everybody get quiet. It’s an easy emotion. So that’s what I try to just bring positivity to everything. And knowing that I come from that, knowing my dad’s like that, seeing people that aren’t, knowing people that aren’t. My family members, I’m gonna call them not anybody. I know my family members that live in turmoil. You know them people you call them. How many people you know you call them? Hey, what’s up, auntie? Well, you know, the dog died, so I got to deal with that. And man, they want this mortgage every single month. You know, it’s just God. It’s just all bad. It sound like that letter from life that Eddie Murphy read. So and so the dog died and then your two cousins died and your Yeah. And it’s just all negative. Everything negative. So that’s what I like and I I try to pre I do a lot of charity stuff. I do. Like I said, honestly, like I joke about it, but everything I do is for kids. Every Boys and Girls Club, turkey giveaways, Christmas toy drives, everything I do is for kids because they’re not they’re in that situation cuz somebody else, right? I want to help them. and know let them know somebody cares about them because whatever situation they’re in that’s a failure of a grown person grown person failure is a failure of you so you just need to tighten up but the kids I try to give that and just help people out and push people because that’s all we got at the end we all you know every folks got money folks got love folks got you know success whatever you what however you see success but when it’s said and son, you never seen a damn uh a brink truck behind a hearse. You can’t take it with you. True. But the people that are good humans, man, my dad is was dead and gone. And all I heard was good stories about them. When I’m dead and gone someday, I’m going to make sure that everybody, even in this room, y’all got a staff and y’all I want them to go back to wherever the hell they from. The uh Australian girls from New York. I know that cuz I was talking to her cuz hell she came to get me from the parking lot. Hey, how you doing? Where you from? And she talking about Veggie Mike, which is disgusting. Don’t try to. But like that, like I want everybody that ever met me for 10 seconds. If my name is brought up to be like, “Oh, Channy Crowder, oh man, he’s a great dude. He’s a good guy. He handle talk to me. I was a produ production assistant.” But he said, talked to me, had a good time. You know, that’s not hurting me. That’s not doing that’s not is that inconvenencing me at all. No, it takes nothing to be kind. Takes nothing to just be nice and be kind. And them people that walk around, athletes do it. You don’t you know the thing. Oh, this guy’s a butt wipe. This guy’s a butt wipe. If you find somebody that calls me a butt wipe, you need to ask them, “What did you do to him?” Cuz there’s no way he just flat out cussed you out, right? It might be one of them people I beat up in college. If you find a dude that said he don’t like me, cuz I broke a dude’s jaw. I wouldn’t like me if I broke my jaw. But I do I do try to bring happiness and joy to everyone around me. And I think if the world tried to do that and this sound like a you know a a Christmas carol story. But if everybody try to do that bro it’ll be a better place. It’ be less negativity less hate. But there’s a lot of factors not politically getting there. There’s a lot of factors in this world that make people go the other direction. Yeah. Well dude I appreciate it man. I love your energy. Appreciate you, bro. You’re a special human being, dude. Real talk. I I love you guys on Pivot cuz you got RC who’s RC. Then you got you who’s nothing but the outside humorous factor and giving the the just the love, the high vibrations. And you got Fred T who’s brings the emotional aspect. Yeah. Who may cry sometimes, the serious one. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it’s just awesome, man. And he talks slow. Yeah. I I appreciate you, man. Uh you can talk a little slow. I also appreciate you. Uh my brother met you at Kansas City one time at a bar uh at the NFL draft and he said you were the most nicest, coolest person ever. So you continue to be yourself, man. So appreciate Appreciate it, man. For real, man. All love to y’all for for sure. I watch I watch you on TV. Appreciate it. You was over there chasing chasing around drugous. Thank you so much for your for your service, sir. You You’re welcome. Sleeping safely at night. No, man. Y’all boys on the field. I was watching y’all. We was playing together. Y probably y might not have known me. Yeah, we definitely knew you. That little lightkinned boy in Miami. But no, man. And just the same thing we talking about, man. I like this. It’s a small the in on the field is a small fraternity. Act two is a smaller fraternity. Absolutely. And to be a part of it, you always re you always recognize the I tell the when people have dreads, you don’t have to know them. But if you see somebody with dreads, men or woman, you always nod it to them. It’s a un It’s a unspoken thing. Dreads is a fraternity. I It’s weird to me. I had to learn it when I locked up. When you see a ex player doing their thing and you see them out there grinding, you see them just not even making money or being famous. I see ex play out married with a beautiful family eating dinner. I’m going to give him that nod, bro. And he knows what I’m saying. I’m not just saying hi, bro. I got you. I’m doing the same. We still doing it. So, I see you. Yeah. I see you. I see what you doing. I see you. You know what I’m saying? It’s crazy. I see that you understand this. I see that you figured it out. And I respect you for it. Cuz we know the other side. We all know the other side. But all respect to y’all, man. I appreciate y’all having me on this platform. When I got the text, I was like, “Really? I got off work early today for y’all.” We appreciate that, bro. We appreciate that. No damn doubt. All right, man. Appreciate it as always, man. Thank you, Channing, for checking in with us, man. You’re awesome and probably the best pre-draft story I’ve ever heard in my life. So, uh, thank you all for listening and tuning in wherever you pick up your podcast with his Apple podcast, iHeart Radio app. Make sure you continue to look in, give us a like, share, subscribe. Uh, a couple comments for Peanut. Let them check back in on that, man. And you can also check us out on the NFL pages uh, YouTube channel. I’m Peanut. That’s Rome. That’s Shanny. And this is the NFL players second acts podcast. We out.

Channing Crowder overcame 3 ACL tears to play in NFL, blew $750k before the Draft, The Pivot Podcast
On the latest NFL Players podcast, former Miami Dolphins linebacker and media star Channing Crowder joins hosts Peanut Tillman and Roman Harper. In this raw and hilarious conversation, Channing opens up about how he chose University of Florida over his hometown Penn St. (2:15), his “Welcome to the NFL” moment (10:00), the lessons he learned from Zach Thomas & Junior Seau (14:42), and how Nick Saban’s intense coaching style shaped — and tested — him (19:38). He also reveals when he knew it was time to retire (32:16). Channing then gets into his second act grinding in the media space and his transition from the game (39:42) and gives advice on the power of consistency (46:58). He also reveals how he blew $750,000 before he was drafted (53:39). Channing shares who is on his personal Mount Rushmore (1:05:40), and how his father influenced the man he became (1:12:30).

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