It's it's just really a crazy
thought to even have. I mean,
I remember just being a little kid,
and I mean my first dream was just to
play under those lights right out there.
And it. And after that happened, my next
dream was to play college ball.
And I mean you always want to play the NFL.
But then you always know there's
those stepping stones in between.
So I just took it and tried running with
it and doing the best I possibly could.
That feeling is this tremendous feeling,
but at the end of the day,
there's still work to be done.
There's still a lot of work to
be done between now and then,
and there's going to still be a lot of
work to be done even after that process.
It's definitely a good feeling knowing
that you're moving down the right path and
you're moving the right direction that
you dreamed of as being a little kid,
so that's it's definitely a unique feeling.
I think that I've been physically
and mentally prepared through my
coaches and definitely grown a lot as
a human being and I just feel like
there's no better time than now.
I mean, it means the absolute world.
I remember watching Eric Page play
here and then Eric Page is like the
biggest thing to ever come out of.
Springfield went Toledo two time,
all American and my first ever college
football game was actually watching
him play against Iowa State down there.
And I'm I was like man,
that's awesome.
And then especially your
first college football
game and you're looking shoe.
It's like, wow, like everybody cheering.
And I was like, wow, that'd be neat one day,
but there's no better feeling than
putting on a show for your hometown.
I mean, you end up meeting a lot of
people building on relationships
and those relationships.
I'll hold the church for the rest of my life.
I'm even people outside of my school,
outside of Springfield community.
I've met and built relationships
with and I just feel like it's
something cool when you see,
like an entire like city.
Kind of. Come around and support
certain people like me, Tyson, Mitch Berg,
tire long all the Springfield cats,
the Saint Johns, everybody from Saint
Johns I think that's just a really cool
feeling my favorite player to watch
growing up was Todd Gurley from Georgia.
He was at Georgia when I was just in most
school when I really started taking things
serious in football and in high school.
And then what the adversity he's been
through and still what he wasn't in the NFL.
I actually still just blows my mind.
I'm really just train as much as possible
and make sure my body is in tip top
shape like I've never been before so
we can perform across the board and
put on a show. I mean, that's huge for any
really anybody to come into college and
really see some names like that and
see what they went on and did and I'm.
And then you never really expect
to see your name up there.
You know that you're going to
work as hard as you possibly can,
and that that's your goal is to
have your name in the list of
people like that because they.
They're at the top.
They were at the top.
They they've accomplished all these things.
So to see your name up,
there just knows that it start all that
hard work you put in when nobody else is.
Watching is definitely paying off,
and I didn't even realize that I was
even that close to grasping those
things even last year going into
this year all the way throughout I,
I didn't know any of that stuff until
it happened, and I, after the game,
coach would be like, hey,
you did this and this I'm like wow,
really, that's crazy.
So it's definitely exciting to
hear it come out,
but I never really focused on that really.
Just tried focusing on helping.
In whatever way I could for us to have
the best chance of winning the game,
I think it means everything.
I mean, it's kind of.
It's the centerpiece of what helped build
me and shape me into who I am
today as part of the community.
And it's where I went to school
and I absolutely love it.
I love everybody that is a part of
it and what it stands for. I mean,
it's definitely a different feeling.
It's it's definitely bittersweet
because you got to leave such
great people behind. But
at the end of the day, it's for
something bigger than yourself.
But it's it's it's going
to be a sweet feeling.
I just know that there's a lot of
work to come ahead and. Be ready,
ready for when the time comes so there's
always there's always work to be
done no matter how good you are,
especially in sport of football.
You have to keep your body in
tip top shape. So I try not to
put the cart in front of horse
and really just take it day by day. It
definitely instilled some values
in me and definitely helped build a
lot of character that's in my head.
I'm not. I won't ever quit on
anything I give up and I'll give
it my 110% until it quits on me.
So that's why I'm going to give football.
And until the day quits on
me and they all hang it up.