Troy Drayton: I’m Very Comfortable in the Nude

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That's his personal cell we're given you, or you can visit dry Cleaner to you dot com to start making your life and your dry cleaning a lot easier. It makes you tell him that the fish Tank sent you because are my Man is giving our listens fifty off your first order how much fifty half Seth half off any dry cleaning services after that at dry cleaning the official dry cleaners of the Fish Tank who being down with Seth and this is strictly for them. Trans Number one one, of course, this was Talk's Tank, Welcome back to the fish Tank here and the Five Reason Sports Network, Seth Levitt and none other than O J McDuffie. Juice, what is going on today? Man? What's up, big Seth? I'm feeling like ship today, Juice. I'm not gonna lie going around big I'm a little bit while I'm not feeling you know, JJ man, I hope he's hanging in there, but I'm not feeling my best. But you know, I gotta be a gamer today because we have a guest in here who would not till rate me sitting out because I got a little sword throat and some sniffs, hell yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what. And finally, you know, it's been so gator heavy in here, Troy, it has been real gator real gator heavy. Finally we get to the right side of the table now, big yeah, man, we finally got someone that actually he didn't let get away in that whole process. Man fired. Well, you know, it was just one after the next. Who is your host? Who was your host? It was a little just one, okay, so so somebody else the other thing. Yeah, it was a big one. But Troy Drake, speaking of big ones, Troy Drayton is in the house representing the Dolphins, of course, representing the Ninny Lyons. Big fella, man, how you doing. I'm doing outstanding? How you doing? I'm doing great that you're here. Man, I'm feeling a little bit better then a little bit better. You know. The love is the love is definitely real. Yeah, you know, you know I like to hear you know, Troy and I go way way back, dude. Man, we were we were freshman at Penn State together. I came in, Man, that one came in as a highly recruited athlete, but he came in a little baggage. Yeah. I came in as a highly recruited athlete and didn't have any baggage. Absolutely, Troy, talk about a little bit about your Your road depends, I know, because I can brag a baggage, I can brag about you. I can brag about you a little bit. Coming out of Harrisburg area. Still still High The rollers. The rollers. Wow, that was my high school. That was that is so appropriate rollers that I love that. So I came out of a little small town called Stillton, Pennsylvania. Very small town. Actually it's right outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Right now we have one stop one we had now you have one. We have one. So you've gone back. Yeah, we've gone back. We had three, but we have one. Very small high school. Um, but you know, you had to have great athletes because we really didn't come off the field like like I was our starting free safety was starting in the beginning. You know what I'm saying. I was our kicker. You wait, you could kick the ball now? Were you straight on kicker? I had. I had a flat to ship you did that? Did it? Yes? I did? And I had the strapt you to make sure your toe stays out. Yeah it's crazy. Yeah. So sometimes my coach will put me back in the return punt everything like, but I didn't want to come off the field. You know, every now and then he will put me back there. When our guys dropped punts. He was like, listen, I know you didn't practice this, but worst case scenarios, do fair catch it. If you get a little room, run it and what did you do? My fair caught it. And if I got a little room, let me catch this thing and wait till the next place that makes happen. It makes sense. Yeah, it was, It was. It was great growing up in that place because you know, you have like I had some of my dad's teachers, but I also had my dad's principle when I was in high school as well, So legacy, a lot of things don't change. And this is type of town where your name, like I had my father's name, so basically they're saying, oh that's that's Billy ray Song. Now I wasn't Troy, but you had to earn your name, so you had to do something on the field where they say, now, oh that's Troy Draton. You get your nickname or whatever the case may be. But you know, we we played every sport, you know what I mean. We like we played basketball, baseball, football, you know sometimes we I think my senior year we had tracked. But you had to be an athlete and um, you know, my road depends. State wasn't one of those roads where you know, you get a scholarship, like I came in on a grant for inner cities kids. You know, I had coaches come down and and and and talk talk to me about it, and you know, they was like, hey, you know, we can't offer you a scholarship, but we can offer you a chance to walk on. I was like, okay, I'll take it whatever. So were there other opportunities to go somewhere else where there was a scholarship. Yeah, I mean I I could have gone to i U p UM I'm familiar with. You know, I could have gone to University of California, not not cal but the University California, you know, Edinburgh, any any of those East Stroussburg. But but the opportunity to go to Penn State, the opportunity to to go to Penn State, and I felt like I was a Division one talent and that that to me, it was a challenge of can I make it? Because you know, my thing is is the fear of failer. You know, people always telling you that you can't do something. And the biggest thing that people said that they said they I couldn't do it. They was like, oh, You're not going to go to Penn State and succeed. I was like, Okay, no problem. Yeah, I'm going to Penn State and that that was my challenge. My challenge was to go there improve everybody wrong. And I did that. Toy talk about, you know how he played all these different positions, different basketball. He played a little baseball, which I didn't know it until today. Yeah, I've never seen I'm a baseball. Yeah, I've never seen Troy with a round Paul. Oh, oh, we get I'm I'm Dennis rob Yeah, get it out. I'm gonna play. I'm gonna play some defense. I'm gonna rebound. I'm kicking it out. I got an open shot, Hey, I'll take it. Yeah. So we'll go back to choice humble beginnings at Penn State. And he came in there as a wide receiver. Yeah. Yeah, it's just sitting across from he came playing wide receiver. Or was six two stills? Yeah, I was about I was like six one six one six five when I when I stepped on the Pens State campus. What the hell were they feeding? And then you have to let's let's talk about that, because you think about it. Troy said, you know, he had to earn his way in. You know, he came in on the on the inner City the grant from for any city inner city kids. But he did get him in there, and he did earn a scholarship, and what scholarship came training table? Yeah? Absolutely. At what point did you get the scholarship? I got a scholarship beginning of my senior year. Oh wow, so you played there for three yeah, three years. I got a scholarsh in my beginning of my senior year. At what point did they start feeding you? Um? They started to feed me immediately. You know what it is. I think what it is is like when you get into a good program and you start eating you know, three squares a day, you know what I mean? Um, and then you have snack you know in the evening. I think that that that helps. And then my workout partner was a little power guy named Jerry Jerry Collins, and our strength training coach at the time, Check Furman was like he didn't let anybody go off script, Like it was like, this is what we're doing. But he allowed us to go off script a little bit because we were We didn't go off script too far, and you know, I just started growing, you know what I mean. I guess I was just one of those late bloomers where now you start to get stronger, you start to get faster. But more importantly, I think one of the biggest things that Penn state that you have to do to get on the football field, and this is where a lot of guys fail, is that you gotta put away everything that you learned in high school and you have to believe in the system. You have to believe that that system works. And a lot of guys they couldn't stop believing in their high school glory. So what happens is now it's a trust thing. You know, when Joe trust you, he's gonna now give you an opportunity. And at the end of the day, you know, a lot of guys didn't take that opportunity that they had because they didn't believe. And I always tell young kids, now, you gotta check your ego at the door when you go to college. And the first thing that you have to do is you got to forget everything you learned in high school and you gotta learn and believe in the system that these guys are teaching. And the minute that they understand that you are you brought into the system. Now your talent is going to be able to take over. They're gonna take that leash off, and then they're gonna let you hunt. I'll tell you one thing that Troy did too was like, uh, you know, I don't know how invested he was in his academics when he was a still high Um. I wasn't never less right, was trying to make it nice. I was. I was lazy. I'm I'm gonna be honest with you. I was. I was a lazy kid. Like I worked up to my I didn't work up to my ability. I was one of those kids that if you put me in a class with a bunch of kids that didn't know a lot. Oh, I didn't know a lot, you know what I'm saying. So but if you put me in that that room where people who were who were very smart, now I gotta I gotta raise my level. The trick is getting in that room. The trick is getting in the room. And I think when you when you're at Penn State, you don't know that level, but you already know that if you don't produce academically, you're not playing. So you have to raise your level of academics when you're at Penn State. So you know, no matter what room I'm in. I also utilize everything that they gave me. I utilized the tutors, you know what I mean. Superternal was my She was my tutor in college. You know what I mean. I heard that last name. But at the end of the day, like she didn't allow me to not be my best, and she always pushed me to be the best that I could be. She would not allow me to to be lazy. She would not allow me to rest on my loyrels or anything that I did. Like if I gotta be on my last paper, she wants to see an A on the next paper. So she constantly pushed me to be the best football player, but more importantly, the best student that I could be. And it seems like you responded well to all that, whether it was in the weight room, whether it was in the classroom. I think sometimes you need a kick in the ass. Yeah, I mean. I had a teacher in high school and she was the first teacher that called me out. And she called me out in front of the class and she said to me, her name is miss fall Still remember, yeah, absolutely, And I was sitting there and I couldn't fit with my legs underneath the desk, so I would. I would always sit out with my legs in the aisle, and she always and one day she just so mad at me, and she said, you know what, there's a person in here who has so much potential to be whatever they want to do, and they worked to the level of other people. So she said, he called you right out. She said, she didn't call me by name. And she said, they have an opportunity to to go on and do something something special that a lot of people in this town don't have a chance to do. And I'm sick and tired of allowing them to to just sit here and not work up to the potential. And she kept me after and I was mad. I was like, because you knew right away everybody knew, like you know what I mean. So I was like, all right, so I stayed after classes. She she said, try, you have so much potential. It's not like you to get mad at authority. Yeah, yeah, I was. I was mad because she called me out, and you know what I mean. So I was just like, man, you know, like this is but what she told me, She's like, Troy, you have all the potential in the world, but you worked to the potential other people. You need to set a standard. Did you did you at that moment realize and you know, we're obviously not necessarily where we're going with the show here, but at that moment, did you realize that you work to the potential of other people? Like it was kind of what you were doing, but wasn't subconscious or when she mentioned it, we were like, oh, ship, she's she's kind of spot on here. I was like, this is the first person who actually called me out. She sees right through me, So you knew, but you thought you had everybody else full? Yeah, I mean I would go in there. I'd be like, man, yeah, I mean you know, because like if you didn't have to study for certain things, like you didn't you know, you knew it, like you didn't have to study it. But I studied enough to get a good grade. I wasn't failing. That's that's the way that I was like, I wasn't failing, So you know, I was cool, you know what I mean? But when she put it like that, I think it it what it what it did, was it it says, you know what, finally somebody's calling you out and they're not your parents, and they see right through you. So when I'm in that class now, I'm working to my ability, you know what I mean, because at the end of the day, like I don't want to let her down, right, And and I it's been on record that I credit her for helping turn me into a good student. That was the beginning, Like she was a catalyst that propelled me forward. It's interesting here in the back story now because when I hear because I've heard you plenty of time speak to young people with the role that you have now or stuff you've done with our organization or and now these messages, I mean you've learned them firsthand. Oh yeah, so it's you've lived them. So it's really I mean, I think that's the only way, like when I speak to young people like I I spoke to Hyaliyah yesterday or Tuesday, and I was sitting at home and I was saying to myself, I said, how did I get to where I What did I? I came up with like an acronym, and it was Troy. The acronym was true, I know myself right out, I said that I know myself best, right, so I can talk about those things. And and and it started off with T trustworthy. You know, you have to be trustworthy. And the R was for resilience. You got to overcome obstacles. The oh was I'm trying. Oh wow, I bet it was good. It was um. The why was yearning the be your best? The oh was you had to be open minded and you had to be optimistic because at the end of the day, like that's what you might need to trademark this, you know what I mean? So like, those were the four things that I talked about, and I could come right off the top of my head exactly those little stories that happened to me along the way that helped push me to where I am. That's really cool. Before we get back into some more more football, let's talk about where you are from that day from Mrs Fall you said, yes, Ms Fall. Yeah, So where you're at now with your master's You know what, man, I credit her um for for pushing me to that point. I credit Superternal for pushing me to that point. You know, those people were instrumental in getting me to where I am academically, Like, yeah, my dad would take away certain things, but you know, when you when you talk about people in your life who really pushed you to be the best, like those were those people. That's what it taught me. It taught me to never put a cap on my potential. And you know those two people are very instrumental. Shout out to misfall in my life, like and super Turn. I mean Sue, Sue, I mean she still has stories about about me. I mean the day that I walked across and I and I graduated from Penn State. I went online and finished my degree, right, That's what I was gonna ask you about too. Yeah, I went on my Yeah, I did that. Did you ever get like a lot of guys just get calls from Joe to be a decade after you leave there early without finishing, be like, where are you gonna come back? Joy? What are you gonna finish? Did you get that call? I didn't get that call. You know what it did. I made a promise to my mom before I left Penn State, and she said, the only way that I will allow you to do what you want is that you have to promise me that you're gonna go back and get your degree. Is a promise. And you know, once I retired, you know, she never said anything to me, And I was like, man, you know, I need to go back and go ahead and start because I got I had my realist. How many years you went back? At what? At what point I went back? I went back in two thousand. I think I went back in two thousand, like late two thousand six. Always go back and I and I and I did it online. And I didn't tell anybody that I was doing. I just I just did it. And what I did was I called I called the president academic advisor there because he had all my he had all this stuff from our old one, Don Farrell, and I'm like, hey man, I'm ready to re and roll back in Penn Stay. And you know, he got me all the paperwork. And because that comes with a price too, you know, they better figured out that's really amazing. But I but I went and did it online, and you know, it was challenging, and UM, what I did was, um, I started slowly finishing, and then when I got to the end, I was like, you know what, And I still haven't told my mom. I said she didn't know. So what I did was when I finally got the okay that I was graduating, what I did was I sent my mom a Mother's Day present I sent it to her job. I said, hey, when you get this, make sure you open it and you call me. So I didn't send her a card or anything. I sent her my graduation announcement and she lost. She was like all this time, She's like, how long when you've been going back to school, I'm like a year and a half. She was like, and I talked to you all this time, and you never said anything about her, You never mentioned him. I said, I wanted to surprise you. I knew I kept my word. You allowed me to go and you know, live my dream. And this is the reward. That's really cool. Planet Protein is back juicy and they are once again raising the bar in the world of clean nutrition, this time with a brand new organic protein shake that is sure to please everyone from a defensive lineman to your busy family. In fact, we're enjoying Chocolate Magic right now out before we hit the studio with our next guest, and it's delicious. Yeah. Chocolate Magic brings together super foods from every corner of the globe. Cacao, racy mushrooms, brought a keen while and tia to fight depression, boost mental cognition, and improve your heart health. Even with that holistic ingredient list, the flavors out of this world rich deep chocolate over an earthy, fulfilling base, the perfect blend to stay on top of your game and do what you do. That's right, big seth. And once again, if our listeners used to code fish Tank, they were received off all purchases at Planet protein dot com. So definitely use the fish tank code at Planet protein dot com to take advantage of that amazing deal and check them out on Instagram as well at Planet Underscore Protein. Try to get back some football man. It's really cool back some football man. Let's let's talk about you coming out of high school and then coming as a wire receiver. First of all, you ended up being a tight end. How that transition happened. And I know you fought it because you came in there, which I didn't. I didn't think it was cool at all, you know what I mean? Make that It's hard enough for me to get on the field at that point. Oh God, this big fella big to run catch. You're not a tough one five you know what it was? What it was was you have the number one receiver and the number one player in South Carolina coming to Penn State as a receiver Bobby Angle and I've paid my dues. This is me and juice, you know what I mean. I'm like, yeah, this is my time right now. You know, Bobby is a great receiver. I mean, he was outstanding. I just remember coming in one day because my locker was kind of right as the coaches were, uh leaving the locker room or enter in the locker room. So I had a coach. Paterno came out and he said like, hey, I want to talk to him and Bill Kenny. I'm like, man like, and in my mind I'm thinking, like, okay, what did I do? And I'm going through all the list of the stuff that I did that I thought I got away with you. I mean what I'm saying, just come back and you know bite being behind. So I go in there and I sit down and Coach Paterno was like, you know, what, what's your aspirations Troy, I said, Coach, you know, I'm I want to I want to graduate, you know, and potentially play on the next level. He said, well, this is what I want to do. He was like, you may not like it, but we're gonna move you to tight end. I was like, huh, just like that. He said, We're gonna move you to tight end. And I was like why, I said, coach, you know, I paid my dues, Like I've done everything you asked me to do academically, I've done everything in the weight room to build my body to where it is right now. How much were you weighing at that point? I was probably two oh five And I'm like, coach, like, you can't do this to me right now, like this is this is my junior year, you know what I mean. He was like, Troy, let me, let me explain something to you. He said, at the come, he said, at our combine, you ran a four or four or five at two twenty whatever, he said, you can probably be put on a few more pounds, he said, but I feel like you're fighting your wing. He's like, but and wide receiver that can run a four or five four four is average. A tight end that can run that it's special? Which one you want to be? Yeah? I mean make sense, right? I guess that's you know what I mean? So you know, we we started that transition. I thought it because I felt like I paid my dues. But if this was the way that I was going to get on the field, like I needed to embrace this. That was more than Yeah, exactly right. And I'm gonna tell you, we started doing some different things with Troy, and he was you know, he was on the end of times, you know. And then at three point stands, we also started flexing him out. Yeah, I started doing that because he was a wide receiver by trade, but he's a big guy that could run and catch. So that was that that made it real difficult for teams to handle us a little bit. So the first game that I actually lined up with my hand in the third Penn State versus the University of Miami and the Orange balling, Oh man, I think it's I was learning. I was blocking draw plays and then we had put this, uh we had put the shuffle pass in and it was so sweet. I mean, we we put the shuffle pass in for for Miami. So they were so aggressive on the edges up the middle, so you know, we're we're trying to beat this. So I'm basically I just take a step off the line and I'm running right down the line and Tony Socca is supposed to shuffle pass it forward right and I hit it right up the middle. So Tony gets this, um, he gets this idea. Hey, you know what, this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna fake it left and I'm gonna throw this thing behind my back and it's gonna be a dead football. Um, and you can hit it right up the middle. And he tried it in practice and Joe was like, don't you ever her try that? And ton he was like, screw him, We're gonna do this in the game. But not only, but not only did he throw it left handed, he did it right handed. Both hands didn't matter. It didn't matter. And I mean I gassed. I gassed the universe of man. I killed them. I mean like Armstead, yeah, Barrel Smith, oh yeah, the whole linebacker names. So I'll tell you a story. So after the game, I had these sweet gloves, you know, eastern gloves. I'm saying, see, he's still a wide receiver. I had. Let's just talk about how he has he tried to dress out. Oh yeah, yeah there. So I'm coming off the field, I'm mad because we lost. And who runs up to me, lamar time, yo, man, let me get those gloves. I was like, what, yo, dog? I need to get those gloves. I said, man, y'all just cheating us down here. You want me to give you my gloves? He's like, yo, dog, did you know him at all? He just liked your gloves. He was like, yo, need those gloves. I was like, here, man, I gave him to him. He's like, where the hell did you come from. He's like, you weren't even on the depth chart exactly right, right, that's crazy of all people to do that. And then you guys end up all people were spending whole off season getting ready for you man and defense secret weapon that name we all do you want if you gave him those gloves? Did he ever pay it back? When? You know? But he remembers. He remember, he said, Man, I wore those gloves next week, he said. Because we used to go to other people and other teams and we beat people down, we asked them for their gloves because we were trying to find the sweetest gear out between all the receivers. Me somebody's man, Yeah, it was a quarterback. That's crazy. That's hilarious. So that is crazy. Then we then we came back and beat and played him at our place, and they beat us again. But had another outstanding did you have to give up your ship. I'm gonna tell you. I gave Ryan McNeil the business, took it for a ride first played the game. Yeah, I took it for a little ride. Joe was Joe was smart because he knew the longer that they had me going without the ball in my hands, like it's you know, Troy's gonna start losing it at some point in time. He came out right here, man, he came out the first place. I was like, oh, it's on the popping now, like, yo, it's ready, We're ready. And when I tell you I ran Ryan McNeil over, Oh my gosh, I still think it's his number is tattooed in the turns. We gotta find some video of that. We get video of that. We I would love to see that. So well, you know, clearly moving to tight end was a good decision. So so Joe, Joe was right about that. And it's a good thing that you bought in eventually, and uh and you you know, you achieved the dream. And I don't want to gloss over the first four years of your career, but I gotta get your ass to Miami, right, So I gotta do that. And so you know, for me, nine six was my internship here. So here I am and and and we've talked about a little bit on the show, but just kind of wide eyed. And and Jimmy was cutting dudes in training camp, and and and guys who write, guys who were like Stoyanovitch, you know. And it finds out he's on the field and he gets he gets traded, and Terry Kirby and guys that you know, I know, guys you were close to, guys that were really popular in this town. And so I was like, this is a wild West out here, you know, this is what the league is like. And then about three weeks into the season, so you figure once the seasons arts, the rosters set, and I not, Yeah, it wasn't. And I guess you learned that that's usually the bottom part of the roster turns all season long, no matter what the team is. But Jimmy it didn't matter. So so it was about two three weeks in Troy and we go get the big fellow juice from from l Ansa. Wait, wait what Billy Millner's gone. And Billy, you know, a nice guy, It just just he wasn't. He didn't fill in it at Richmond web Roll like I think they had hoped he would. And uh and Jimmy wasn't having it. And incomes Troy Draton, Well, so talk to us about what that was like he played three and a half years somewhere really and and now you're coming to Miami. Yeah. I was actually walking through the mall, um when I got buying some gear. No, you know, so I had this routine like that. We had a California Pizza Kitchen right there, and so I would I would, you know, I would go there and have some lunch and then I would get a massage and and I'm pretty much done for the day. Um. And I was walking through the back and um, about to go to California Pizza Kitchen. And Gary wi Shard is my agent, and he he calls me and he's like, um. He's like, hey, man, what are you doing. I was like walking through the monde about to grab me a bite to eat. Then I got a massage. He was like, um. And I actually had a radio show that I was doing in uh in St. Louis at the time as well, and I was like, um, I just got a couple of things I need to do. That's it. He's like, um so um. I was like, well, what's up? He was like, uh so you're going to Miami. I was like, what I said? Gary started playing. He said, Troy, you know you're the starting tight end on the Los Angeles Rams or the St. Louis Rams. And he said, you have a backup tackle who has more catches and more touchdowns in Kansas City. I think his name was Joe Valerio. He had more touches, He had more catches and more touchdowns than I had in two weeks. He had to two catches and two touchdowns and I had zero catches in two weeks. He said, I had to get I had to get you out of there. Now. That's Gary. Gary will do. Yeah. So I'm like, stop playing, Garry. He's like no, He's like, Jimmy's gonna call you here and probably about a few minutes. So, um, just get ready to get yourself packed and get ready to go. I was like, all right, So I'm I'm walking to my car. Bam, Jimmy calls me. I'm like, hey, coach, how you doing. He was like, Hey, Troy, how you doing. He's like so Gary told you we traded for you. He's like, listen, I tried to get you in the draft in the in the drafts that he wanted you. Then, yeah, he said, but we had to pay him it. So that's why we traded out of the first round. And we tried to get you in the second round. And I'm damn rams. They jump up and they grabbed you out of nowhere, and um, He's like, but I have you now. He said. The only thing I need you to do is give me a chance to sign you after the years off. I said, okay, no problem. I said, when you need me in their coach he said, UM, I need you here tonight. I'm not in Atlanta now. I said, okay. So you know I went it in my radio show. I talked to uh, the radio guy, and I said, I said, this is not gonna come out until tomorrow. But I was wondering if you broke the news. I didn't know, actually I I was. I said, hey man, you know, this is probably gonna be my last show. And he was like why. I was like, because I've been traded. He was like, I said, but you can't. You can't announce this till tomorrow. No, No, he actually honored it, and UM, you know, I didn't really have a lot of time to to think about it. Like, you know, I got my massage. I told my massage therapist. She wasn't happy. But um, I ended up getting stuff back, you know what I mean. I ended up getting my stuff packed and I hit Miami that that that next night. I mean that that night, and I was here and I got a physical and UM came in and they gave me number eighty six. They gave me they gave me Green's number. And what I noticed, because I read the news all the time, you know what I mean, I was like, everybody who got number eighty six they get cut. I said, So I had eighty six for one practice And I said, Coach, I said, I don't feel comfortable in this number. What were you wearing eighty What were you wearing it? I was, and I got eighty six when I came here, I was like something right, Yeah, I can't do this, coach, he said, okay, So we had a tight end. I forgot his last name. His name is first name is Brett. So he walks into the locker room. He walked into the locker room he says, uh, Brett, Troy wants his number. We're gonna change your number. And Brett was like, okay, coach, no problem. That was so so I one of those guys like pre you know, you see these guys they're paying you know, seventy thousand, you know, sixty and they're paying all this money and I get my number for I get my number for free. Personally right now. The person that Jimmy walked in there and said it, I didn't say so. Jimmy was like, Troy wants his number, So we're gonn to switch your numbers. Troy, let's talk about you know, I think in l A your quarterbacks for Steve washing Tony Banks, Tony Banks, um, who else? Uh t j rubiy and Jim Everett, Jim and Chris Miller. But you're going you're going to play with Dan Marino from you know what's so funny? You know I talked to Isaac Bruce all the time. He's a good friend of mine, and um, he gave me a call a couple of weeks after I got traded. He was like, Troy, you know my dream is to play with Dan Marino, right yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. But he was, but he was like, you know, how is it, man, Like, how is it? What is it like catching baths from Dan? I said, well, I haven't really caught anything from him yet. I said, you know, Craig Erickson was a quarterback at the time, So you know, I came in, I got my friend of who I did everything. We played Seattle that week. This is nineties six. Yeah, play Seattle in the ring. Yeah, and Brian blake Hard in the last player of the Yeah. But I'm gonna tell you, yeah that that that passed over the top from Joey Galloway. So, um, So we come in the next week and uh, I'm sitting in my locker that Monday and Jimmy was like, uh, try, I need to talk to you real quick. I was like, what's up, coach. He's like, we're gonna name you the starter for this week. I said, for real? He said yeah. He said, make sure you get there and learn everything you need to learn, and you're our starter. I was like, wow, So we're playing in Buffalo. You know those quarterbacks I had had my everything. I had them on both arms right, and the whole playbook. Yeah, we were still on the old playbook. Yeah, we hadn't hadn't paired it down to the six places. So so basically I'm in, I'm in my stance and Craig Ericson calls something and I'm and I don't see it on my sheet in my left hand, and I can't look at my right so I'm like and I kind of looked back at Craig like with this confused look, and he was like, shit, Troy, just just make sure that Bryce Pop doesn't get to me. I can do that, you know what I mean? And uh, I remember, I remember going. You know, we we beat him that day. I called a couple of passes that day, which was more than I caught my first three weeks. You finally got ahead of that final but maybe not by much, but I finally got I've got some receptions in the book. And uh, the first time I was. The first thing I remember about Dan was going. We were sitting there, we were we were on the going on the bus leaving, and I remember seeing this big cooler beer at the bottom of the bus and I'm sitting there saying, the hell did I get myself into? So sit on the back of the bus. I'm all the way in the back. Timbo is back there as well, and and then Dan comes back there as well. I'm sent back there and Timbo pulls out this bottle of Hennessy. You know, he pulls out this bottle of Hennessy, and I'm like, he's like, yo, you want some of this. I was like yeah. I was like he took it to the Miami, you know what I mean. And Dan was like, he was like, Dan, put on the sunglass. He was like, Timbo, let me hit that. I said, I'm gonna love this place. The rams were just remember they were just a memory at that point. At that point, yeah, I was like, yeah, this is what I got my number and trying to relax. Man, it's just so so wound up man all week long after the game, playing such a fevere pitch man. It's nice to but that's the bus. We haven't even hit the plane. Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. Well, speaking of the plane, you know what, So a couple of things jumped out of me and ninety six with Troy. Well, one was when we traveled. You know, Jimmy, I just always remembers a business trip and he expect everyone to travel like it was a business trip, Juice, And I didn't know the history. I didn't know all the the Louis Louis Oliver pressure he was putting on you guys, and how you have to dress. Um. I worked in as on the staff with Harvey and Neil, so it wasn't real hard for me to try and be the best dress guy in the department. But I said, that's the only way I'm gonna stand out. You know. We talked about interns making a name, but be doing it subtly. So I kind of had my little sport coat in my little suit and everybody would get all dressed up, and you see the guys with the custom suits and what have you. And Troy would come on the plane, Juice, there's a business trip. Troy had some jeans, some Timberland always some Timberland's probably a towel hanging out in the back pocket a night. He did wear a collared shirt. He was just like he got on today. He was wearing a polo shirt, collarge shirt and he had the hat to the quarter flat room hat and that was and didn't hear any time. I'm like, it's not didn't get on the plane where stuff, So you know, I didn't know the whole Jimmy situation, but I guess that this was a business trip for you. That was that was your business attire. Yes, the only thing I heard was college shirt, college shirt that you got a college I got a college shirt on the T shirt wasn't the T shirt. So but that's how I felt comfortable. You gotta understand, like kids from Pennsylvania, Philly, Harrisburg, Timberland's are like sneakers. You understand what I'm saying. I mean, you got guys playing, they running full court basketball with Timson. You know what I mean. But but at the end of the day, like you know, I felt comfortable, and I like, I'm the type of person like I have to be comfortable in my environment, not to be comfortable in my surrounding and if not, oh yeah, definitely so but that that it helps me relax. It was one of those things like I'm totally relaxed. I know, it's a business trip, this is my business time. That's your business attire. You know, he did rock and roll and I will say this juice and he get on and everybody else come on, suit sus sus, suit and Timbo would come on and Timbo and Toy would chopping up the same because the same damn, and nobody was telling me, yeah, did anybody did Jimmy, did anybody ever say, Troy, can you maybe put on something like no? No, it was good. He had a college that was it. I love it, so so that stood out to me. The attire definitely stood out to me. And then you cannot and we talked a little bit about it now. But but the size and the strength, you know, because because Billy Milner was a big guy and Grant a different position, what have you. But I know strength was not necessarily something that was associated with Billy. But Troy came in and you gonna talk to John Gamble, who by the way, is on the ESPN Classic strong Man Competition carrying logs on his head and the whole thing. And John would tell me that the only guy that he really you know, there are two or three guys that as far as strength, that he respected that he would actually give them credit for being strong. And he loved him some. Yeah, you know, me and John were were those guys, like he always had my best entries. I looked at John like he was my father because he had that type of presence around me. But you know, I'm the type of guy like you know, I know. I was talking to Ed Perry about this the other day. He was like, you know, He's like, man, I hate it when you came here. I was like, why, He said, because you made us do three fifteen, right. I said, well, I wasn't gonna do to seventy five. I was I would was not trying to do. And John was like, I told And I went to John, I said, I said, John, I said, to seventy five is not I'll do that in my sleep. I said, um, I need to do three fifteen. He's like, well, if you do it, all the other titles got to do it. I said, that's not my Explain to people that. He said, that problem, not my problem. But explain to folks what that means. So do you have to do three fifteen and what part of yours? So we always had a pretest and we had a post so so basically, you know you had to do three fifty or you know, you had the receivers had to do I think the skill guys had to do two in a quarter. The linebackers and other guys had to do like to seventy five, and then the offensive defensive line had to do three and it was rep out and test your strength based on got it? Got it? So now was there a team record at this time? I don't know, I I do you know for me? You know, I came I coming from St. I mean, coming from St. Louis Like, we had some really strong guys. So I didn't know. I'm just like, I don't care what these guys to seventy five. I'll do a thirty five time, right, you know what I mean? So's it's not a challenge, you know what I'm saying. So I was like, all right, well let's let's uh it's sick, it's not my problem, like quick talking, right, Yeah, this is truth. Man. Whenever Troy left in the weight room, the whole weight room stop just to watch, you know what I mean. It stopped, and he did it elevate a lot of other people's, you know, performances because of they were trying to get the way it was or exposed them go ahead. I mean. So so basically, when I when I get down on the bench, I can tell based off of me getting it off the rack, how the set's gonna be kind of day, this is gonna be okay. So what most people do is they count one, two, three, four, five six. So when you get higher in your mind, you're like, you get the fifteen, you're like sixteen seventeen, You're like, damn eighteen, nineteen twenty, you know what I mean? So that fatigues you. I didn't do that. My reps were five at five, so I would go one two three four five, one two three four five. So now I'm truly fatiguing. Now were you? Were you doing the total in your head? I just that's all. I can see. How many sets of five you could do? How many sets of five I can do at three fifteen? Yes? So where where where would we average? Where were we? Like you know, pretest anyway between twenty five and twenty nine? It was sick at three fifteen, Yes, it was sick. I remember he had you know, we had some guys that we had some really strong guys and sitting over there like run that back. We had some really strong guys on the team, and I know, like Darrell Gardner, he tried to challenge Big Troy and we didn't work out too well for me. I don't think anybody got over twenty you know, and Troy was doing like you said five twenty nine. Remember Charles Jordan is probably the strongest receiver I ever played with. We did to twenty five. He did it like twenty times. It's incredible. Lamar did it one time a half post test, right, and so he had to challenge Troy with five verses three fift team and Troy beat Charles. Charles one of the strongest dudes man. But it was the whole weight room stopped. It was an event. It was an event like I would sneak down there, I would know what when Troy going a little stiles. Okay, he said get in there, and you know I'm not supposed to be in there, But that that was an event. It's funny you bring up Darryl and Daryl has been brought up on the show once or twice. You know, Jay and Darrell have a have a history. But um but he but uh he, I know there's a story because another guy who was stupid strong was Timbo and and uh there was a story in the weight room with Darryl because Darrell wanted to be the for the defensive lineman. You know this story, and he had to get a certain amount of reps and and Timbo came in and was like, what did he get? And Timbo literally stopped one rep short of what Daryl didn't just put it back on no spot, took it off the rack, put it back on the rack three hundred fifteen pounds. And somebody said, Timbo, what you You could have blown through that because I don't want to break that man spirit. He works out every day he goes out. Timbo didn't work right. He just would show up when at the time, this is how strong I amily puts it back on that and he you know, at the end of the day, Oh my gosh, Timbo is he's he's He's an amazing specimen. Like seriously, I remember one time I was I was coming in motion and I don't win anybody, Okay, like they didn't. They didn't put me in the wham and quarterback calls the cadence and Timbo comes across and I'm just now getting I'm right at the edge of the tackle, I mean the edge of the guard and Timbo comes across that line and hits me in my shoulder. But I'm I'm trying to get past him, but I'm trying to get past him, and I thought my my shoulder was broken. And I said, damn Timbo. I was like, yo, man, what are you doing? He was like, Troy, man, I thought you was gonna win me. I said, when the hell have I anybody? I said, if I'm gonna wem you, I'm gonna tell you before I leave the huddle that I'm coming to get you. He was like, you know what, that's a true state. And I said, okay, so you almost brought my damn shoulder. Let me go put this thing inside and we'll try and run this again. Yeah, man, biggest Troy was as strong as he was. I hid behind Troy a lot, so I talked a lot of trash and locker room man, And soon as I did, I got right behind Troy. You know, I'm a little guy there, but I talked a lot of trash, a lot of big guys, man, and some big guys talk trash to me. But when I did you find where Troy was out, Troy had to be closer at the beginning. Wait minute, Troy could be in the training room and the way, he had to be right beside me when I started talking. So it seemed like you were a hot head, but it was very strategics, very strategic. How many times have you had to to step in and put those big paws on? Some of that was coming after listen once he said, I you can get look, I'm behind big listen. Man. You can't people poking people in the head. I'm like, how many times you found a lot I'm just in the locker room, maybe at a part of your took, but I'm just like in life, Yo, this ain't going down. And I always that's all. That's all I would say. I'm like, whatever it is, it ain't going downs, you know what I mean. So you know that that that's always that's always a fun part about the locker room. Those are the things like when you retire, like you really miss you know what I mean, Like you miss those those intimate moments that you have that are that are just funny. You know. I think that's you know where a lot of guys like when you think about retirement, that's where a lot of guys have a hard time. At Justine's. You can't ever replicate here every guy that comes on the show set. We tried to hear in the tank though, So I mean, you come to Miami, Timbo, Danny the Hennessey o J. You're back reunited with him. This's Miami and the city's probably stylistically a little more along the lines of of what your tastes are. Um, and you had a lot of great relationships. You had a coach in your in your position room, Pat Jones. Pat Jones talking about that relationship. Man, we had a love hate relationship. Man. I remember one of the first encounters that we had was UM. We had we had played the Indianapolis Colts and the Indianapolis Colts beat the Breaks off Ours, I mean big. It was thirty five now. So we come in and we we have to we have our individual meetings and I time it like I know on the clock when to leave my leave my my locker to walk into the meeting to get there on time. I'm always like a minute early. Yeah it's not Joe pot time, but you know, I'm always on time. So I walk in and uh, right on, right on schedule, a minute early. And I'm sitting around. I'm sitting down and Ed Perry sits in front of me and he turns around. He said, Troy, please don't start. I said, what the hell are you talking about? So Pat was like, um, I'm gonna find you. Find who he said you, I said, find me for what he said, for being late. I said, I'm early. I'm actually a minute early. I walked into this time every single day. He said, well, I'm a fine. I said, you really gonna take my money? He said yeah. I said, all right, we used son of a bitch. I said, at the end of the day, don't expect no damn Christmas present from you. This christ that's your Christmas present right there. That money that you're taking away from me. I said, Yo, this is this is bullshit. You know what I'm saying. Like I really came away to Christmas on them. Every year I would get money from our guys, and I would buy this man a bottle of blue label Scotch every single year except that one. Except for that one. I was done. And he gives us his cheap ass seven dollar mugs that you can get out of wau like like a like a mug that you're sitting there drinking at medieval time with our names on him. Favorite things to remember? How many of them, you guys? I got four of them? I got four those thicker mugs with I'm like, no, I never gets that. He got him every year, he got four bottles of Blue Label every I'm like, no, the hell with that, Like this is bullshit, you know what I mean? And that that's the at our relationship downhill. So we were we were in Oakland and this was like the big blow up. So We're in Oakland and I had just I broke my hand the week before, So I'm playing with a broken hand. I'm playing with a bad knee and turf toe and I had just taken a shot in my toe. I had my knee drain. I've taken a shot in my toe before the game, and you know, me like we break the hut of what I'm walking up to the line of scrimmage because when I you know, I walked up to the line of scrimmage so I can start to see how things are being set, you know. So I get down in my stands and um, you know, the plays over, I go to the side, like he calling me off, and he was like, you need to stopped walking up you know, you need to stop walking to the line of scrimmag sas during the game, I said, I'm I'm getting up there the same time as everybody else. What the what the what are you talking about? He said, Well, the next time you walk to the line of scrimmage, I'm gonna put Hunter Goodwin in there. I said, we'll put Hunters in there, and I don't give a damn. I and sit my ass on the sidelight and finally get some rest, you know, So I sit on the sideline. So he did put Hunter in. Yeah, he put Hunter in and there was it was a pass play and Jimmy was like, what the hell is Hunter doing in the game. He said, keep trying the game. So I go back in the game. And at the after we after we're out, you know, we come off the field. He comes over and he starts. He's like, damn it, I need you to get up to the line of scrimmage. I said, Pat, do me a favor. I said, walk down to the other end of the field, take a chill pill, and come back. I said, because I'm a second, and I'm gonna interrupt you for a second. That's for folks who don't know Pat Jones. Troy's being nice here right now, because Pat Jones could put combinations of curse words together like I've never heard, so I know he didn't just say I need you to walk up to yea, So he said, ship, I've never heard of like, and I heard a lot of stuff he had, so I can just imagine a little pat in your face saying those things. So I just want people understand it wasn't like him just saying I need you to walk up. So I god, damn trying, motherfucker. Yeah, that's exactly what it was. So I said, man, you need to go down there and take a chill. Soide, I said, but I ain't gonna be too many of them, you know what I mean. So um, he said something else to me, and it was bad, and I don't even remember what it was. And I got up and I started to go towards and then John Gamble jumps in the middle, and I said, if you ever talk to me like that, I will fucking break your neck. And the only reason why I stopped is because of John. And then Danny comes over and then he was like, I told you to leave Troy alone. He said, what y'all need to do is get the damn plays in faster. He said, y'all not calling, You're not giving us any time in the huddle, the plays, y'all need to get the plays in. He said, Troy's walking up to the He's walking up to the line of screams, just like everybody else. So it's nothing that he doesn't do in practice. And I told you to leave him alone. I told you to lea him alone because I was gonna I was gonna choked and um. And I just remember like Jimmy having to address it afterwards. He's like, oh, that's just during the heat of the game, and you know they have that type of love hate relationship, but you know it's more love than it is. Hey, you know what I mean. But I that was the first time I ever went after a coach. It's because he took it past that first point. Well, yeah, that was the first time. Yeah, that was the first and only time that not after the coach because at the end of the day, like he took it past the point that it wasn't it was now we weren't playering coach. It was personal. Yeah, Like what he was saying to me was personal. Like I was like, hey, man, I was trying to de escalate the situation, like, man, just go down there and chill out, man, Like we gotta cover. But the fact that I'm playing with a broken hand, a bad knee, and turf toe, and I had to take these shots to play shots. Bro, Like, what are you doing right now? You're tripping right now, you know what I mean? He would say he had a way of getting under your skin. But you know, at the end of the day, like, you know, we had to them draining your knee, said, this is one of the nastiest things I've ever seen in my life. When they used to drain his knee, the needle was about four inches long. It seemed like I don't know, I don't know exactly how long it was in the tube was probably two inches in circumference or whatever. And then it was biggest hell and it was just full of blood puss. It was so nasty that everything, and it would take my knee back. They would bring my knee back down to normal size until after the game blow right back up. Yeah, But I mean, those are the things that you had to deal with when you know, when you want to get to the field. They forced you to do a lot of times. But you know what the thing about it is like I wanted to be out there for my teammates because at the end of the day, like I felt like I needed I didn't want to let them down, like they were the most important things to me next to my family. But they are my family. But did you feel like it ever threatened your career? I felt I felt like there were the time that I had a knee surgery, um my last knee surgery, when they took out my meniscus that I think that jeopardized my career because when they took out that meniscus, now I have no cartilage in between. Like I played. I played at one point, I played with bone chips in my knee. And when there's bone chips get into that cartilage of your knee, it's just like you know, you're throwing metal pieces into like ball barons. It's just gonna chew it up and just spit it out, you know what I mean. And I should have had have had surgery to just get those bone chips out, and then I probably wouldn't have torn my meniscus. But I'm like, Okay, I'll have the surgery after after the season, you know what I mean. I'll have the surgery after the season is over. Then I end up tearing up my damn knee, you know what I mean? And that was like that was right before the playoff game that we went into. Yeaham so at the end of the day, like when you tear it out, I was getting my injections. Yeah, so like when you do that, I'm like, godly, like, you know what I mean, So you know your reb I remember specifically going down because I I was like, damn, I'm having more pain than normal and um. He was like, hey, you know, come on down, let's take a look at it. And I was like, um, I was like, what's the verdict. He was like, well, you want the good news of the bad news. Let's said, Well, give me the good news. He said, you have to have a surgery. I said, well, damn, what kind of good news is that? He said, when do you want it? He said? I said, what's the bad news? He said, you wanted today or tomorrow? Oh damn? After they let you chew it up? Yeah, I was like are you serious? He's like yeah, he said you eating anything? I was like, no, is this Yeah? He's like, are you eating anything? I was like no, I didn't anything. He was like, okay, so we're gonna will Yeah, I'm a call Ko and tell him eat anything will now. Yeah. He's like, we're we're gonna will Yeah, we're gonna get you ahead of Yeah, you know what I mean. So I'm I'm I go in have surgery and um, you know, next day, I'm on a bike getting ready for getting ready, trying to get ready for Seattle. You know, this was prior to this was prior to the Seattle game. I'm trying to get ready for Seattle because I gotta Now, I gotta get my range of motion back, you know what I mean. I gotta get my range emotions. So how they do that is they lowered the seat and they you know, you gotta ride this bike. And I missed the Seattle game, but I was like Jackson, but I got me ready for Jackson was so I had that big ass don Joy, you know, a knee brace on my knee, and uh ended up not really not really playing in that game. Um, but that was that was the worst loss in in our history, you know what I mean, the history of probably the Miami Dolphins. Yeah, I think in playoff history. I think it's still the worst playoff loss. It was pretty damn bad. It was pretty damn bad, you're listening to the five Reason Sports Network. We've created a menu of intelligent and entertaining content on demand for commutes, workouts, and more. And by now you're already familiar with the fifteen different podcasts in our network. Today, we are proud to announce the premiere of our brand new website, five reason sports dot Com. On it, you'll find columns for more than a dozen of our hosts, many who are professional writers in the market. Watch original videos from shows like Miami Heatbeat and Balls Cast. Brows are full merchandise shop and unlike other outlets in the area, there's no paywall. Everything is absolutely free. All of this from a network that's credentialed from all five major sports teams in South Florida. Oh yeah, did we mention that it's free. We're by Miami four Miami, We're sports on your skitch all We're Miami Sports on Demand. We're the five Reason Sports Network. Go to five Reason sports dot com today. So that was ninety nine and we're talking about coaches and relationships and ninety eight, I think was the end of the ninety eight season. We had we had another offensive coach, Gary Stevens, offensive coordinator at the time, and uh, we you know another And Juice, you've talked about a lot on this show that unfortunately in your career, when the offense was rolling, the defense wasn't. And then when the defense started, when we had the the Zack and j T and the Timbos and and all those guys shutting things down in the corners and and Pat and Sam and so on, that the offense started to regress. And I'm being kind as compared to what what O J has said about it. And so we we finished the season. The offense wasn't where we wanted it to be. And Kevin Ding was a reporter. I remember Kevin Ding ended up going into the NBA, but I think he was writing for the Herald and he caught Gary Stevens in the parking lot and he questioned Gary, I don't know if you remember this, remember I thought you remember it. So he questioned Gary about, you know, the offense and so on, and Gary says to him, you can't make chicken slid out of chicken ship. He says it to him. And then they found Troy and they said, hey, your offensive coordinator just said, I don't know how they found you. It was the same day or whatever. Man, I was not happy, but you were, and you expressed that. You know what the thing about it is, man, when you when you go in and you believe in somebody, Okay, you believe that this man is what he says is the word. What he didn't say was we didn't make any changes to our offense. I mean he never said that. He never said that, Hey, we went in with the same exact game plan that we've had the week before. We made no change. Well, this had to be after Oakland, right, I guess that's what it would have been. You understand what I'm saying. I mean, so, how do you but when you say that and this man is sitting up there and he's he tells you, hey, you need to run this route and this is the way you need to run it, and I guarantee success, and you do it and you run, and so what his word is bond? And then when he said something like that, it's deflating. But I needed to see him as a man. You understand what I'm saying. I needed to see him as a man because you need to answer to that. And you know, once I left here, once I left Miami. I went to Oakland for a hot second and Gary was the o C out there and I said to him, I said, listen, Gary, I said, I got a problem and you need to answer to this. I said, that comment that you made about you can't turn chicken salad and chicken ship, Like, what was up with that, bro? I said, because you know, we believed everything that you said. He was like, you know, it was just the heat of the moment. I was upset this and that. I said, I understand that, Gary, but at the end of the day, you got all of these men that you have to lead, but you didn't say we didn't change our game plan or it's all on me. What you should have said that right? That's why his ass got fired going home. Was Actually Gary was actually in the team offensive meeting talking about how much talent we had right before that. But that's my whole boy, but how many guys that you know, it could be all conference and all this, and you know, it's like he was gassing us all up because you think about Richmond, Me, Troy, Danny, all those guys that were in there. We had some talent in there, but you know, we, like you said, we were stuck in a rut with our with our game plan. Yeah, well, I remember your response was something to the extent of I can't play for a man like that. That's my whole point. And that was all Jimmy needed to hear. But I didn't know the backstory. I didn't know that you and Jimmy were you know that that you were the chosen one like that. But you know what, you know, what's so funny. We're coming back from the number We're coming back from New England after that game, right, I didn't play the whole second half, and Jimmy walks back and you know, you know, we're we're having we're drinking, we're having a couple of drinks. We're pissed, and he kind of kneels down and the aisle he says, starn't you. I said, yeah, Jimmy, I said, shoult, I didn't play the whole second half of the game. He said, well, you know, you know we had to go to three wides. You know, we had to throw the ball up. We were behind. I said, I understand that, but damn, Jimmy, like I said, I'm I consider myself one of the best receivers on this football team, you know what I mean. And at the end of the day, like I need to be on the field. I can't. You didn't bring me here to sit me on the sideline, Like that's not me, you know what I mean. The whole second half of the game, Like really, He's like, I understand, he said, but you know what, there's gonna be a lot of changes made starting today. And I was like, Okay, no problem. It's fascinating to me that he went and had those that level of conversation with Troy Us, you know what I mean, because and Jimmy, the guys he was close with, he was close with. I just didn't realize that that was the level of the relationship. Yeah, I mean, I mean, you know the thing about it is like I have to play just called you a company that I have to play for demanding people. You understand what I'm saying. And this is a pattern in my life. Mrs Fall, Mrs Paternal coach, Paternal Jimmy Johnson. I had my best years under people who were very demanding because they would not exigned me to let rest on my laurels. Like people always say, who would you have want to play for? As a coach outside of you know Coach Johnson and you know Joe paternal and NFL coach. And I said, Bill Parcels And I said that. And the reason why I said that is because Bill is very demanding. He's very demanding of his players. And I understand the relationship between you know, nine nine and the whole nine and I didn't agree with that whole thing, but he was one of those guys I could play for, a guy like Nick Saban, I can play for those guys because they're very demanding. And there's not very many NFL coaches maybe Bill Cower, who's a guy who's very demanding. So what it sounds like to me that I hear is that you don't mind, not even don't mind. You need demanding, you almost thriving demand, but you don't want unreasonable. That's what it sounds like I'm hearing. My thing is that Jones reasonable, like if you're unreasonable. But honestly, the person, the person that I wanted to play for, and I was jealous every single day that they had him was coaching for. He was demanding. And you know what, Pat Jones, when he couldn't answer a question, I went to coach Ford because he coached Jake Nocheck. Yeah, you understand what I'm saying. Yeah, it's hard to argue with that. And then he came out to me one day and he was like, because I used to jump into their routine, Coach Ford had this this and he throws it. I mean, you're you're sitting there and he's just sitting there. He's just throwing you both, I mean bad and I'm I'm like, yo, I gotta have this, Like this is what I need right now. I need this guy to take me, take me to the absolutely. But but he but you know what, you know what he told me one time, and this let me know that Pat Jones like to me, wasn't the guy from me. He said, hey, man, I can't give you a lot of advice because Pat doesn't want me to do that. He wants you to come to him. And I remember, but you're making me a better player, He's not. You don't understand what I'm saying. So I'm gonna come to you for those answers. And he was trying to you know, he obviously had a hierarchy and portant policies. But the thing about it is that but I understand exactly what what I needed was him to take my game to the next level because of all the things that he was doing with o j and and your Teal and Charles and mar and all our receivers. I wanted that and I couldn't be a part of that. Plus we were running Dallas and style offense, so that was a better fit for the guy that had Jane No going Pro Bowls to be able to Dell Troy how to how to run that tighten position in that offense. He was actually the guy who worked me out at Penn State. And let me tell you what, I didn't drop a ball. I dropped one ball within between the combine and my personal work, and I still want to go back and get that damn ball. We're gonna find it for the man. So I know we've had here for a long time. I got two more things I wanted you, Okay. The first one is we had one of your former teammates, and well we've had a lot of your former teammates, but we had Calvin Jackson in here, and Calvin talked about that, you know, his game, and what he liked and what he didn't like, and what was tough for him, and playing big tight ends was kind of his arch nemesis. But he said that there was a moment. He said, couldn't let Troy get his shoulder square. But he said there was a moment. There was a moment that he got you one. I'll tell you. We were having a scrimmage. I don't know if we were in Lockhart. I think that would make sense, would be live like we're in Lockhart, and right near the end of the scrimmage, Danny throws hot you know, so one of two things happened, either the linebacker's blitz, linebacker corner combination of linebacker one of safeties. That's that's our hot read and our hottest five yards turned around. So you do that to your own guys enough, they know where the hot read is and you know the hot read comes. And I don't miss hot reads. I missed one hot read my whole that I missed one my whole time, you know what I mean. And I was and I missed it in practice, and and Kippy Brown said to me, he said, Dan, that's the first hot read you've ever missed. I was like, damn, man, I'm slipping, you know what I mean? But I turned around, Danny delivers me the ball and as soon as I turn around, Calvin hits me right in the quad. But my my quad, I mean my fivepad had shifted over, so he hit me. See it hit me square on my thigh and I go down. I get up. I'm like, okay, you know, I gotta, I gotta. You know, this thing hurts, it's it's the pain is excruciating. But you know, I finished out the practice. And that was the only time that he ever got me. I always tell I always tell guys, if you're going to hit me, if if I remotely get my shoulders turned, I mean, it doesn't have to be much. But if I get my head around, it's forgetting. You're not there, you better bring the whole cavalry. Yeah. Well Calvin was aware of it, so that that was again very strategic on his bar. So so the last thing. And I saved this intentionally for I saved this intentionally for the end. But you know, our interaction and and so, and I'm getting off topic a little bit. One of the things people don't know, and and Troy mentioned it that Gary Shard was his agent. So Troy was like a big brother to j T. Because because Gary was literally like JT's dad, and he in the absence of a father. Gary was a very very special man. A j T talked about it the Hall of Fame, and so when JT got here in ninety seven, Troy had already been here for a year. Gary was like, you gotta look after this cat so uh. And and people don't understand you. And I talked about that, they don't realize how close you and JT really. Yeah, man, Jason is like, man, I look at him like he's my little brother. Yeah, and I think he looks at you that way. I'm a part of that family. I'm a part of the Tailor family. Like you know, I was in Jason's wedding and and uh and the first time I ever saw a man. You know. You know what makes it so bad was I was through that whole process, just like you know, just the wedding and everything. Like Jason has been a big part of my life. Like sometimes I would go out of town, I would be like, here, Jason, just take my card to drop me off at the airport and pick me up, you know what I mean. So before it's the big time, Yeah, yeah, exactly, but I mean, I mean that's when Jason lived in Weston and he had the Lexus truck. Remember had the Lexus truck. But we used to Oh, I mean we all we always hang out. We would get those uh those white stretch limousines, the white one, the S six hundred and the S five hundred stress limousines. We would go hang out. But I would always remember you know him and and uh, you know Derek Rodgers. I mean one time I was sitting at home. I had surgery on my knee and I never locked my doors. So I got those big dogs. I had my two rot Wiles. You're not coming in there with that, Yeah, So they just run up in the house. It was like what you're doing. I'm like nothing, I'm laying on the couch. They was like, uh, we're going, we're leaving, We're going. I said, where are we going? They were like, we're going down to the next game. What's what's the next game? They wanted us about to come on, Yeah, we're going down to there. We got court side seats. But we're driving your car. You jump into the back. So I had so at the time, and Jason and there they put me in the back seat there in the front seat, and we get down there and work court side. That was when um, Alan Houston hit that shot. And I'm sitting there, I got this big gass cast on my leg from my ankle down to my Wait, they made you get in the back seat, in the back seat my own car, you know what I mean. So they're driving my car. You must drive, but I couldn't drive on the right foot. Yeah, it was so um. I get down there and I'm sitting on the sitting right court side, and I remember Keith Asking sitting near the end of the bench and he was he's the game's going on. He's talking to me, like, yo, man, what happened? What's going on? I'm like, basketball, man, I've never a different animal right completely. What you're doing, man, Like you should be making me uncomfortable. You should be don't have pet looking down here and looking at me, you know what I'm saying, Like you a different world. You should be paying attention to what's going on in the field. But I was like, yeah, I'm messing my knee up. I got you know, but such a different world. But they were real close, So Troy and I got close because of that. Because obviously j T and I had a good relationship, but really we're Troy and I. Professionally, we're worked together. Was you know, I was PR guy, so his interviews said, Hey, Troy, can you talk to this guy? Can you talk to that guy? Patrolling the locker room? Both during the week after games and so on, everybody had different routines, and certainly after games, certain guys want to get completely dressed. Certain guys, you know, camera Wake. We all like to tease camera Wake. You know, you never saw cam do an interview without it, you know, with his shirt on, and then and they give you the towel wraps, right, juice, you get the towel wraps. Walk around Troy the funding these naked interviews for him, I never you know, in all the years I worked in pro sports Troy with Jose, I'd come down and he's Troy talking to somebody. He'd have twenty five guys around him camera. They're they're like literally eight inches away from the guy, you know, standing their cameras in his face. He's buck fucking naked there. Man, I'm very comfortable in the news. Comfortable man. You know, Troy so laid back here one time man was doing his interview and he was right right behind him. Was it was the bin you know where everyone throws the dirty laundry, and the guys are trying to grab the equipment. Guys are trying to grab the bin. Troy was there and then he just leans back and say he's got the lean on bass. Guys. I'm like hoping guys don't bump into you know, like on the what the hell? You know what? I always pride myself want always tell me about it besign being always pride myself on not saying no to those guys. Yeah, it didn't matter. It didn't matter what I was wearing, whether I was closed, give you a minute, no, No, I was just like, you want to do it, let's do it right now, let's go. It was really think that they would be like uncomfortable and they'd be like Troy like, yeah, why don't you go ahead and put that on first? They never said anything, so I'm like, okay, well, honestly you're comfortable, so I am. I It was the most awkward thing, and like you know, I try and stay around and water guys saying and certain guys you want to make sure they don't say something or whatever, or at least if they do, you were there for it and you were present. And Troy was one of those guys that that was gonna speak his mind. But I was like, I don't want to get too close to that hole. Man, give Troy some space. That is funny. That was really funny. Hey, man, like you want you want the interview is like you want to now, so I want to help help you guys get out here so you can get your tape set up and whatever. Everything to be above the shoulders. And what's crazy now if you google, if you google Troy Drading, the first picture it came up wasn't fucking naked anything picture. I can't even make this stuff up. Let's make it up here, right, he really really? Yeah? Because I was putting his question and I buried it at the end. Look, man, that's his Wikipedia profile in Wikipedia profile. And I was sitting right on my stool. Yeah. Sometimes I'm on the scene the whole thing. It was. I guaranteed that, like, you know, you've seen this before, but guys have a tele wrap on. Troy had not a fucking thing on. Yeah, man, jud So I had to bring that ship up, you know, and it must be a pen steak thing came was carried on the tradition. Yeah, but at least someone stand had some damn pants on, or at least a towel wrap. You know what I'm man, that's the rollers. That's how they roll. Hey, man, Like you might even catch me Mike sometimes, Man, I just you know, I'd be in the house and I just get up and I go to the well. That's all I know. Like you know a lot too. I promise you. Guys who we know who have played with you, who listened to this show are rolling right because they know that try you never put their clothes on. So but as a pr guy, I just felt that I had to. I had to bring that. Well, thank you for bringing to my attention, like fifteen years later for me at the moment, man, I'm a little more comfortable now that conversation. Hey, dude, we wanted a big fella in here for a while, and we know that you work for the team and there's certain lines on the cross, but we greatly appreciate the fact that you made some time. No, man, I appreciate this. Man. This is uh, this is actually my I don't know, I think this is my first podcast. Actually, this is a great place. So yeah, this is a great place to start. I'm glad I can do it for you guys. Man, thanks for diving it you now. It's always a pleasure. Soo man, you're now diving. Been that pitch tank? Who that sitting down with Seth living oh j And this is strictly for them true fair Dolphins number one one of course, y'all this aint the ordinary sports talk. Ever been that pitch tank? Don't get a go on, yes, time to never been that petch tank. It's on the legend that we're talking when you've never been that petch tank rocking well, oh Jack, your Seth fool, you've never been that petch Tanks had a te dever for him down celebrate, bigger, cry hard, leave it out on the field. We're gonna try hard. Old school a new school, mixing in feeling like we're up close when we listen in Dolphin spells. Here Miami is the deepend we've have been with our favorite players. No secret we get with step and mc duffie bringing up stars we never heard to the public. Man, We lovely Dolphins fans, never question. We're loyal to the team wasn't happy and we upset. We'd be like, what's next. Don't swist the subject. You know what's all about the fins h. If you read it for that wasn't time to dive in. Don't switch the subject. You know what's all about the fins h. If you're down with dolphins nations trying to dive in, don't swish the subject. You know what's all about the fins You're looking at that fish tanking. Time to dive in tank? Okay, so I go on, Yes, it's time of devil. Be in that pitch tank. It's on the legend that we're talking when you dementitch tank rapping. Oh James, step devil minute. Don't ever