Interview #21: Austin Seibert of the NY Jets talks Deestroying in UFL, NFL Journey, and More

[Music] what's going on everyone I got a real awesome guest coming on today Austin cybert pretty much a kicker mercenary at this point but currently with the Jets um Austin first off thank you for making time coming out I know you're extremely busy thank you for uh showing up St Louis you know yeah thanks for having me happy to be here well I had a plan and my plan was to talk about you know you know big game Bob time at Oklahoma you know the stuff you do off off the field NFL career and then that grind but kickers have kind of become a little bit of a social media meme in the last 48 hours as many people know you know we cover a lot of UFL CFL NFL anything in between right what are we making about this destroying situation um you know we talked about this a little bit before we started live on this but but um I do think it's you know it can be trailed back to a publicity stunt to try and draw more attention to the UFL um and with that being said the season hasn't started yet so I know he's got a couple other guys there that he's competing against and I've known destroying I know Matt amandola and then I know Chris Dunn and I believe they're all on the same team push comes to shove I'm going to take the two guys who have been on an NFL roster yeah um and you know whatever destroying is doing whether it's for clout whether it's for an actual opportunity at football he's making a ton of money off of YouTube so I don't know why he would sacrifice that to go make $50,000 to kick a football well it kind of goes back to like the whole and I think the positive of destroy destroying was like the nil probably stemmed a lot from him because I think he was one of the first guys to like this is what UCF is like and all that goofy stuff and then obviously he made a choice and I would like to believe that fiscally it worked out for him and you know maybe he still has that itch to scratch but you know it's been what six years since his CFL time but I think that opens up a really murky area just like with the nil of destroying is not like you have to allow him to have his platform in training camp and all that goofy stuff with they allow that for Mt amandola you know I didn't even know they were allowing him to bring his like do his like YouTube stuff while he's on the team I mean they have to what's the whole the whole point of you know with this being backed by Disney like that's not confirmed but like would they let that for matad and Mandola and my qu my answer would be no no yeah I think he's he if he's doing that first of all I think that's going to rub some people the wrong way and secondly it's I don't know it's I don't know it leaves a bad taste in my mouth thinking that he's going to be privileged in order to bring all these people in when some of these guys are like fighting for you know legitimate shot at making it not only in the UFL but maybe it transitions into the NFL so this is what guys are doing to prolong their football careers and get another shot at playing in the NFL and making some money to provide for their families not just a game yeah I mean I don't think there's I think especially with like salary cuts and whatnot we've talked about it there's not many people growing up saying I want to be in the UFL for the next 15 years of my life especially like yeah no vested pensions and whatnot right and then you got a guy like amandola who was just kicking for I believe Houston three months ago less than you know Chris Dunn another guy you see on the on the workout cycle a lot you know it's like those are just two guys like how many guys like you you did the tour this year essentially like how many guys did you did you meet what about even he's your brother right that Lyndon would new just's a lot of things that and i' to your take on the whole fraternity of kickers right now right right yeah and I I would say that I know a lot of guys throughout the NFL when it comes to pun and kicking and snapping even guys who aren't in the NFL anymore guys who are in the UFL the CFL um I've kind of tried to keep relationships built since high school and and uh I would really say I got a decent background and knowledge just about on everyone that's playing still but um when it comes to you know being on the workout chain and getting around guys I can know pretty much within three to five kicks if you're a guy who can compete or not and I think that's realistic for everyone um around the league you go to some of these workouts you're like okay like this this is mine for the taking and I felt like that was a lot of the time like me going to places as long as I'm on I feel like I'm going to be the guy coming out on top and I think that proved true um but then you know you have guys who I've never seen kick before that come to these workouts I've only heard of them and you're like okay this guy this guy's a baller and um I tell guys that I help train all the time like you can be really good at kicking but if you're not personable too and like a like a GU guy in a sense you're going to get rubbed the wrong way when it comes to these coaches cuz you still got to sit down and talk to him and get coached by him and if you're just a weird kind of guy that's a strike against you but yeah so and and and Matt amandola has a very live leg Chris dun obviously won the L Gro so he can make kicks obviously they both had a little bit of a stint in the NFL and haven't really stuck anywhere but you know they're in the UFL for a reason because they're on that Fringe line when it comes to the NFL when you're talking to these guys I know you trained down I believe some it was in Tennessee like y'all are all pretty in step with each other and the unfortunate business side of this is like there's only 32 spots and you know there's new kickers coming up like hundreds upon hundreds of kids in college and you know history has shown that that um you know it doesn't you don't have to go to the Oklahoma you can go to Mississippi Valley State to like you know obviously get an NFL opportunity to see someone that's like been out of the Loop for so long get that when I'm sure there's someone in your phone that you're like man how is this dude not even got a phone call like granted I'm sure Mason Crosby would say no but just a guy who's kind of put in those three or four years maybe has 20 plus kicks under his belt to kind of be put to the Wayside is that a little bit disheartening just for the overall like legitimacy of the league uh you know I I was really hoping that the UFL um would really turn into something bigger and I think they're on the way to doing that just from observing the last year um but I do think that you know you live and you learn and they're probably going to learn from this and who knows maybe destroying is legit and he goes out and he crushes it and ends up becoming the starter but um you know the track record kind of proves itself and um you know we'll see we'll see what ends up happening but um I do think that they the UFL can hold to a little bit of a higher standard and like you said there are guys who are busting their tail day in and day out just to get an opportunity in this league is you know really for those guys who maybe do start at a smaller school and need an opportunity so this is a great chance for them to present their talents and you know there's guys with there's a guy with a few million dollars still trying to kick and he's 27 you know we were in the same class in high school and it's like dude you have your career path just keep capitalizing on that yeah which they tried to do that with him like when I watched a couple of the games and I was on the sidelines when he was there and St Louis and like he was there in St Louis because he's friends with Marquette King and that's it yeah yeah pretty much and like you know every it's kind of like my biggest gripe with like last year was every five minutes I'd hear about the gambling and then every five minutes if he was at a game I'd hear like oh destroying has five million subscribers and then like for me you know when I was traveling or something I'd see something about like him at a game and I'd just write oh did you know he had 5 million subscribers and the over unders 37 like I'm like I get it bro but like he does a great job with his videos and and you know catching the audience's attention um and he's done a great job at branding himself um but like I said I mean now it's now it's now it's go time and you'll see if he's about it or not we saw in the usfl Brandon Aubry come onto the scene and whatnot you know soccer player technically a St Louis guy born here uh High School in Dallas but we saw him go from soccer you know do the kick I think they worked with the same trainer does the community in your opinion kind of have a more like this guy's kind of earned it a little bit more to a Brandon Aubry who was a professional athlete never really played organized football and then you know kind of found his footing in the usfl and then not only did it for one year did it for two years yeah uh yeah I think you know at the end of the day anyone not anyone can kick but guys like Brandon who prove themselves and I think Brandon's a very good kicker um I played against him this year in Dallas and he's a big dude and can strike a really good ball um especially being newer to kicking I I mean he had about the best rookie season ever Y and um you know I think he gives more kids um and even soccer players like hope and like the dream like follow your dreams things like that this stuff can happen but it is also very rare for this stuff to happen and he was going to a coach down in Dallas I've heard good things about um but the thing is like when you get with your different kicking coaches and stuff people get very territorial when it comes to these kids and uh I'm not a huge fan of that I think you uh we don't have to get into all that yeah conversation offline conversation yes yeah yeah it's but I think that's kind of just been a good um segue into you know what you're doing in the off time I think I think everything with kids right now because of the pressure because of nil and you know because of more athletes like doing the the camps I think everything has just become so I don't want to say politicized because I think that's just such an overused term but it's become so clicky of like yeah you have to be with me not him or like oh you know this and that and I think it's just kind of like Youth Sports has always been a business I don't I don't I don't buy that it's supposed to be fun it's a it's a business because even if you're not making money in low League like you're doing the travel teams and all that stuff like I just think it's it's getting so ridiculous right now and and um obviously I help out at a gym in Smith then uh fast um Freaky's Advanced strength training but we see a lot of baseball kids and I like to say St Louis is like Texas when it comes to football but baseball up here yeah when you got seven eight-year-olds playing select baseball traveling all over the place playing year round it's like these kids get no other development playing basketball playing soccer playing football they're strictly on baseball and by the time they get to high school they're burnt out of it yeah and it's they're going to all these different guys to see oh this is how I should pitch this is how I should hit this that and the other and the way that I like to tell my Kickers is I don't care who you train with it doesn't matter to me I'm very cheap when it comes to training I'm here to help I'm here to you know help you get and achieve your goals whatever it may be but in my eyes it's if you want to be a good High School kicker go work with a guy who was a good High School kicker if you want to be a college kicker go work with someone who played in college if you want to be an NFL guy and you have aspirations of that go work with someone that played in the NFL that's great but it all comes down to your work ethic and you have to do things on your own your mom and dad can't hold your hand but I think that's what it boils down to you can't have how was a guy who only played in high school going to teach you how to get to the NFL yeah you know what I mean there's you did the right things to be a good High School kicker and maybe there's that Rare Breed where they can get you there but from my knowledge everyone that I've worked with that has had kicking background has touched the NFL in some kind of way yeah so it's funny I saw a tweet or an Instagram post or something on social media and it was calling out like offensive line coaching coaches like private offensive line coaches and you it was something along the lines of like are you really a good offensive line coach or did you have a 66 330 PB kid just come through your door and you know there's 129 F you know was it division one a when you were going to college cuz you're we're like the same age so there was D1 and the d1a yeah back before it was the FBS or whatever you know it's going now but that's how you could tell you're old or Not by the way if it was Division division one a or double A and um it's like you know there's 129 of these schools UMass or Appalachian State is going to take a flyer on a 66 kid like doesn't it doesn't mean you're like the best coach or whatever and then you throw that Jersey up there and like oh I trained thaty guy did you probably yeah and and that's another thing too is like I also try and help lead and Mentor these kids a little bit more than you know your average coach would and really I'm just trying to be as blunt as possible with them and honest and like hey you have to do this this and this if your grades are crap you're not going to be anything hey you're not performing you shouldn't like if you go to this camp and you're not working you're going to get you're going to get your tail beat in you know what I mean and it's and it's you know and I'm not a huge fan I'm going to I'm going to say this but like East St Louis sunk it great football coach yeah great football coach has done a lot for that community on the football realm but does he turn his high school players into great role models and leaders in his in their communities just take a take a look at that and let's see where his players end up at the end of the day I yeah I think that's something that like like where I coach at the nii level you know h honestly the only chance I do we do see getting um a guy to the league would be a bounceback or a bounceback from a major program or like probably a specialist honestly but uh when I was doing our recruiting visits you know last week the dad the dad was like what what about you are you going to do for my son right which I totally get I'm like I you know it's four different Avenues you know like if this kid wants to go to the NFL like you know I could send a couple DMS to people and see like okay like this is a camp you need to go to and if you can't hack it there if this kid wants to do well in business I'll sit down and write business plans with him if he wants to be in the military I can do that for him if he wants to be a firefighter I can do that for him like I need him to be a good human being because at some point like I can't work anymore and I need this person to like be a contributing member of the society so I could like be okay with living somewhere and like this knowing that this person isn't going to break into my house because I was mean to them when he was 19 like I know that's a little farfetched but it's really not yeah yeah no I I agree completely and that's like going to Oklahoma and whatnot you know most of the guys who couldn't get on with the I guess motto of Oklahoma football would transfer out or be asked to leave and most of the guys that I I can say that I played with you know have turned out to be decent human beings because if they weren't coach stops and Coach Riley would not let that happen and even the leaders on the team would not let that happen if something was going on like it was resolved very quickly when you went to OU and I don't know who was doing doing your pitch and whatnot but when you're talking to assuming coach bware was there yep Coach Bo was my coach and um you know when you're talking to him and then doing I'm sure the initial meeting with Coach Stoops and whatnot of like okay if you're going to come to Oklahoma like like look at the look at the thing and like you know not only do we have championships and NFL guys we got guys who are like making a decent amount of money in the real world and whatnot how important do you think at the power five level and like your recruiting process that you try to bring to these kids how important is that to like stress like yeah you're you want to be a professional in football or whatever you're doing but you need to be a professional in life more than anything else yeah so before I so my my recruiting process was very rare for a kicker punter um coming out of high school I was a number one punter number one kicker according to ESPN um you know I held probably around 20 some FBS offers um and I was pretty much dead set on going to Northwestern why is that my my uncle is a wild cat so I think he listens to this I'm not sure but I hope he does yeah no I was uh I was actually dead set on going to Northwestern you know I I had a bunch of different offers missou Kentucky Miami Indiana um Penn State LS you all that and um I visited northwester I loved it the coaching staff really paid a great deal of attention to me um they were my first offer you know Fitzgerald was awesome up there and Coach Springer and Coach hankwitz all those coaches up there were really good to me and they really stressed the importance of you know you could go to the NFL but at least when you come here we're preparing you for the next 40 years every one of their athletes at the time they would have a resume done and they would have a job if they weren't going to play professional sport Sports by the time they were done and Northwestern did a great job of helping facilitate that and um other schools really didn't have the same kind of message to him but there's where like we're preparing you for the next 40 not the next four yeah and um so I was I was really really liked that philosophy that they had there and then um I got an offer from Oklahoma and went down there and just like envisioned myself playing there and ended up going there and uh obviously that's the big football brand and my goal was to play in the NFL and you know and play Big Time football and and that really suited me and uh they also told me that I could do punt kick and kick off if I earned the jobs and um ultimately ended up doing that but that's one thing in my exit interview down there when I talked to you know the assistant ad and everyone is that they need to have more job placement for guys who aren't going to the NFL cuz you know you hear stories about some guys who are going to Oklahoma whether it be Oklahoma you know maybe it's Texas maybe it's Texas A&M whatever but they end up just like not not that it's a bad thing but being a clerk at a gas station with a four-year degree yeah and you know I think mentioned Texas and I don't want to throw shade at any University but when we think of Texas and a nonsuccessful career path the first name that comes to mind for me is Vince Young yeah and they made him like a fake job at the University because like you can't have Vince Young on the street you know right begging for quarters on six Street man and like I mean Kudo is the Texas but if Vince Young wasn't Vince Young and he was you know Joo joeo or you know maybe I was going to say Case McCoy but I think the McCoy name helps you out a little bit but you know backup quarterback number 22 like do we do we care about like the lack of success person I mean at the same time those big programs it's it's uh it's a feeder you know like you're you're kind of her and cattle you know trying to get guys in cuz you need bodies and whatnot and and who will take the who will take that task to hand and you know where you go to those smaller institutions where it's private and whatnot the I guess the you have a little bit more connection with the coaching staff and the alumni and whatnot like Notre Dame and things like that like those guys are they done they're set after they go to Notre Dame you know well I would I would argue the same about Northwestern yes absolutely yeah even even if they didn't have a business plan just for yeah the kids are going there for school and then they're playing football yeah I mean that's that's always a flex in my mind too when you got this talented dude like going That's why being like eight and5 in the Northwestern is like such a big deal well who was it Barry Sanders not Barry Sanders son um one of them committed to Stanford um um I think it was his son no it wasn't cuz I tacked Berry Sanders Jr when he played at Oklahoma State yeah yeah yeah yeah his son went to Oklahoma State who am I thinking of um hersel Walker maybe I think his son went to Stanford because herel went to Florida I have a good Hershel Walker story all all nine nine of his kids I'm in Atlanta and this is when he's running for Senate so he had a he's he lives in Texas but he you know tried to move the lines a little bit which I don't really care I think that's pretty I think that's pretty cool in my opinion that he could afford to do that that but uh homie's at the gas station right he's just filling up and then a mob comes up to him like a 9-year-old kids and like I'm just filling up my suburban and then I go to like I see him and I'm like dude that's that's Hershel Walker you know and I'm thinking about like you know the Cowboys and like you know him with the generals and Trump and all that stuff and I'm like I you know just pretended to be his bodygard real quick I was like Hey guys everyone gets we get one picture but Mr Walker has to go to uh to a meeting and he's like you he talks exactly how he is oh thank you man but it's funny you mentioned the tackle um the kicker tackle um because Edelman was talking to Rich Eis I saw it on like a Tik Tok or some nonsense like that and he was talking about like you know it's like the the sacrilegious thing for a returner to get tackled by a kicker but it's like the ultimate Flex when a kicker makes a tackle right right yeah he was talking about McAfee got him and uh he was someone else um M's a freak athlete dude dude is yoked yes he's very strong and I you know you what I see him on ESPN like you know in the in in the uh in the wife be there I'm like bro is Yol man yeah he's he's he's been very strong I think when he was with the Colts he did a they did like a force plate test yeah and like it measures output of force like when you're squatting or jumping or something like that he tested the highest on the team I mean I believe it I mean some I'm pretty sure he was hand cleaning like 275 for sets of eight when he was playing dude some of the and you know you know better than I do man like some of these kickers like you know it might be like I say normal size like you're 225 for 15 on bench press type thing but like then squat like 500 600 lounds yeah guys are strong like just just just chilling like no issue and I'm just like dude those are more so your punters though yeah well they're all they're all Australian they're all 36 years old well Ethan Evans on the Rams D2 product y yeah he's squatting 650 yeah I mean dude some of these he's freak I mean everyone uh it was Weatherford is who he brought up oh from Illinois yeah when he was yeah when I mean but that dude's been on men's health or muscle and fitness like every time I go well not anymore they don't do magazines at the gas station dating myself again but uh every time I go to gas station be like NFL punter workout Steve Weatherford I'm like this dude's a bodybuilder yeah he is yeah dude dude is he's yoked y man I'm talking about freaking Steve Weatherford and destroying in the same podcast I all all the clicks all the all the AL rhythms when you're doing the process though like you know when you went to Oklahoma and it started getting real like because you played all four years and whatnot like punted and kicked did the McAfee essentially like was that was it a little bit of a dream a little bit or you just had that same mentality of like I'm I'm going to do this I'm going to compete and I'm going to make plays essentially yeah so when I got to Oklahoma um usually there's freshman workouts over summer for the Freshman I got thrown into the the uh the group with all the old dudes uh at 1:00 in the afternoons and they had me moving and and chugging and and we were we were rolling full steam ahead um and then I got into camp and I was competing against a scholarship kicker and a scholarship punter who were both seniors yeah and uh I thought I was going to red shirt you know that's what the coaching staff had planned for me and I ended up beating them both out and starting as a true freshman so you know kind of I don't know I kind of gritted it out I guess and just like I said this is my spot for the taking and um you know it is what it is no hard feelings I mean if they got hard feelings against me for beating them out it is what it is yeah it goes back to that mentality I always tell people it sucks a suck dude it sucks to suck and you know who cares about other people's feelings you know I mean everyone you know there's with we talked about it a couple times 32 spots that's right get it figure figure it out or go hang out with destroy and kicking is yeah and kicking is very white and black so you're either doing good and making kicks or you're not and um I think like I said like coaches get a read on guys and if you're not your stereotypical kicker I think coaches kind of you know gravitate towards that guy a little bit more yeah you know well especially I think like character in your spot it's so important because like realistically you're only on field what 13 times a game yeah so maybe 30 seconds yeah so I mean you got to be a team dude you got to be you got to be able to like not you know don't bring drama or anything right yeah your teammates got to got to like you and um that was probably one of my biggest accomplish accomplishments when I was at Oklahoma is the team voted me as a captain my senior year well especially like because what was that like 2018 or something like that yeah so I mean you're going through the Heisman years College playoff years like you know the transition from you know big game Bob to to uh Lincoln Riley and everything like that like just to see all the the dudes on that team and whatnot just gravitate and have respect and whatnot to me is like a testament of character more than anything else yeah yeah and obviously that translates to the NFL yeah you know getting drafted as a kicker an accomplishment as itself and what were you like fifth round yeah yeah fifth round Y what was that process like as far as transitioning to the NFL and everything like that uh yeah you know going you playing your senior year and then you like I played in the Senior Bowl like 2 weeks after my senior year so the leg never got a break you got to go there and you're put on the spot immediately doing these interviews and then you got to go and perform and you got to brag about yourself in these interviews because you want to show your confident then you got to go out and perform and oh there's another kicker there too saying the same thing that he's the best and then you got to beat him out and and then after that you're going you got workouts these these coaches come to your school and they they work you out and you're going through workouts that they PR prepared and you got to do good at those and then uh cuz they're making a list on who they think the best coming out is and then what we had what then you have the combine you got the combine you got to go there and then the night before you're talking to literally every special teams coach and their assistant coaches and they're asking you why you're the best guy in this class why they should draft you if or why they should take you and then the next morning you're waking up early you're going out and you're performing and it's literally like you could hear a pin drop and there's just you know 100 100 coaches and maybe 150 Scouts and everyone's up in their Booth watching you so everything's charted documented you can just hear pens clicking every time you kick and then um and that's another thing where it's white and black like there's it's Last Man Standing type deal um then after that you got prod day yeah so pro day at Oklahoma everyone's there Kyler Murray want the Heisman so you talk about the pro day obviously a couple more you know not only you got the scouts you got the coaches then you got the GMS and then you got the assistant scouts because Kyler Murray's there so yeah so every like legitimately everyone is there and Oklahoma did me a really big favors typically your kickers go last at workouts yeah well they switched it to where I went before Kyler so I had everyone watching me and I crushed it at my pro day um and uh so that's another thing you know you just got to keep climbing the ladder and um you know I really knocked out everything um you know on the way to the draft and you know Fielding phone calls from teams and whatnot was I mean it's it's a pretty cool process and then um you know I got drafted by Cleveland and I didn't even think Cleveland was going to talk to me or draft me but who they have was it Hopkins no they had Greg Joseph at the time and he had a solid year the year before um and uh yeah came in and competed against him and I had a really rough Camp as a as a rookie um was it just like it's just a lot of pressure pressure mental being a draft pick going yeah yeah that and then like I mean there's there's really no room for error you're competing right away You're a draft pick there's the pressure and then I mean shoot Cleveland is like a media hot spot they try and really really you know get the press out about you and then there's fans like we we would have 10 th000 fans at every practice this is this the playoff year or the year before the this was the year before so this was Freddy Kens as the head coach John D with Baker I gu yeah was a baker yeah so on the this is the just on the up and up and I had a I had I had a really bad camp but I turned it around in preseason and crushed preseason and then shoot I had I made my first 17 field goals with Cleveland and ended up going 87% my rookie year and we were second in second first or second in kickoff yeah and I think I was first or second in hang times on kickoff because we directional kicked and um had a really good year and then you know organizations changed and new people come in and you move around so going into the next year obviously it was you got the injury no that wasn't that that was uh after so I went into the next year with Cleveland y got cut and then I ended up in Cincinnati yeah and uh Cincinnati is kind of where I grasp uh you know myself as a kicker and my special teams coach there Darren Simmons was phenomenal and I give him a lot of credit for helping me out um but that was during Co yeah so they kept me on active roster for 11 weeks because I can kick a punt yeah because I did both in college well both and that's and I think the covid year and even 2021 just opened up because one they they opened the practice squads up on that on that factor but just like we need guys who can do things yeah because like if I look at you the wrong way and then 3 weeks later you have Co now I'm like we obviously saw the Broncos and whatnot or they were trying to get their their quality control guy to play quarterback or something like that like I felt like just the versatility of anyone like oh you played linebacker your first two years in college well you're not that good at tight end but guess what like you might be a starting linebacker so welcome to the team champ I feel like there was a lot of that going around yeah a lot of panic and whatnot yeah and and they kept me on the active roster so I wasn't even on the practice squad that entire season so I I claimed game checks every week doing that and that was pretty sweet service time that's right that's right get the pension yeah yeah y uh and then after that they drafted Evan mcferson yep and I competed with Evan and we had it was a dog fight in Camp obviously he's a draft pick so you kind of know it's his job yeah so you can come in and you can you can knock up or you can kind of you know bow down and um you know I think I gained a lot of respect from that or organization and coaching staff by coming in every day and just swinging you know do you feel like cuz this is what 2020 going into 21 y do you feel like you could relate a little bit more to Greg when you know because now you're essentially Greg going becoming with Evan coming in and whatnot yeah yeah and and uh is there like a maturing aspect that probably doesn't get talked about enough like I think so um you know and that's the thing too it's like they were Cincinnati was upfront and honest with me um and they were going to keep me on the practice squad if I didn't get picked up somewhere else but they were in trade talks with a couple teams and uh the Lions ended up claiming me and I went to Detroit and uh after camp and preseason I had a good preseason with the Bengals and I ended up playing for the Lions and was really crushing it up there you know really hit my stride was the first eight games you know I think I was on like a 10 kick streak and then ended up teing my groin against the Eagles and uh was out on IR the rest of the year but kickoffs we were number one in the NFL yeah while I was playing and then uh field goals you know I was I was in the mix making kicks kicking well and I had a lot of confidence and I think the organization itself did and then um recovered from that came back in 22 won that job um and uh got to week three and went through some stuff and ended up tearing the groin again yeah so and then after that I was like second surgery you don't know what's going to happen just kind of on the street staying ready and U you know got to work out with the Jets and went there and crushed it and they signed me and uh played a game with them and was on the practice squad for a couple weeks after that and in elevation got that game play against the Cowboys y yep so got that and then uh you know kicked well I was on that workout chain worked out for uh let's see the Rams the Raiders the Titans the jet that's the Saints and um I worked out for the saint I kicked well at all of them and I worked out for the Saints and got signed there for a couple weeks on the practice squad and kicked really well down there and then um I was on a flight or getting ready to go on a flight to Jacksonville um on Christmas they called and wanted to work out yeah I think that's when you called me or something it was around that time where you were like hey I might not be able to make it because I got to go do stuff so I was getting ready to go to Jacksonville and then uh the Jets called my agent were like hey we're just going to sign him he doesn't have to work out again so come here and I ended up going back to the Jets like it all happened within 30 minutes it was very rare and bizarre yeah ended up going back there really lik the special teams coach there in the organization as a whole I thought they treated people fairly and really nice and um liked the guys so that was an easy decision for me and then um you know being around zerline and morstead and and those guys who have played a long time you can really soak in some valuable information yeah it's like you're never stop never stop learning and whatnot on that faction yep yep seeing this career you know going through the ups and downs and you know I've talked you know the NFL mantras not for long average career three years and you're going into year six year seven were there times that you were just like I don't need to deal deal with this anymore like I got other stuff going on like you know I've got a couple dollars in the bank like I'm good like have there ever been times that you're just like you know what man like I've done more than 99.9% of the the you know athletes I've ever come across is there any time you were just like mulling retirement and whatnot especially injury yeah coming back from well not only one but two groin surgeries um you know sets you back back in a little bit of a a weird space you're like should I keep doing this you know I kind of got two red flags against me you know and I tore my groin the second time due to some stuff that shouldn't have happened um and you know it's all resolved now but um it wasn't technically my fault that I tore it again okay I wish people would have listened a little bit more yeah and um so I knew it wasn't like my body itself you know what I mean I just was it it was weird it was weird we'll go with that but um yeah definitely I uh you know you think about like should I still do this you know and it just comes back to like the competitiveness that you want to do like what do you portray like I'm around kids every evening teaching Speed and Agility teaching lifting techniques I'm coaching kids on the weekend like how am I a role model to them if I just give up on it so I ended up training staying ready and I coached at freeberg high school helping their kickers and punters out and running some special team stuff and sure enough you know one day I'm out there helping and I get a call from my agent hey Jets want you to fly out in three hours this is this was in September yeah this was in September yeah yep and uh was like all right sweet let's go do it whatever and then um you know it kind of just like re shocked everything to where you're like okay let's see what happens this year and most guys give themselves a year on if you don't get a call or something like that but I was making phone calls you know getting ready to I have my resume ready like I was ready to go get a job and um put that on the back burner for now cuz we're still kicking and we're still alive we're still on we still have a we still got a you know on Wikipedia the color the color it's still there year six so year five and the last three years I can say that you know I haven't really been released because of my performance it's been due to injury so and uh I can still prove myself when I kick like I know if I got it or not and the numbers thing too like you know I don't want to throw shade at any organization or anything like that but like if they got you know guy who's got a tweak hamstring or something like that which happening all the time and that he's on a three like Graham Cano three-year deal or something like that like you kind of read the room a little bit especially when it's like you know I he didn't do anything wrong he's got tweak hamstring and they also got $9 million guaranteed like it's his job to lose so you'll come in get some film and maybe you never know how it's going to happen or shake out but yeah I get that you know yeah there's a there's a few spots every year that are open some guys will get hurt for longer periods of time and you'll go and fill in and and it's just a dog eat dog kind of world yeah do you um I always try to say like mentality wise like mental mental strength all the all the key buzzword right I think quarterback obviously up there I think you know Corner Corners honestly being put on an island obviously up there of like the next like bounceback mentality but I think being a kicker probably you know top two or three I want to say most important position because they're all important but like as far as no one cares about who the kicker is until it's time to you know three seconds left yeah is that like with the injuries and everything I feel like that's just kind of like mentally hardened you in a positive way of like like you said Knuck up be a man go out make a play type thing right yeah and uh I think that all stems from your preparation um you know being younger in the NFL uh you know I really had that aspect of I don't want to let my teammates down I don't want to let people down like I want to perform and help and now it's just uh you know the mindsets kind of flipped I got a wife and a kid and a daughter and uh when I go out on the field it's like okay I'm prepared and now I just have the mindset of like I don't care I'm GNA make this kick you know worst thing that happens is this team Cuts me I've been cut how many times now I'm going to go home and I'm going to keep chugging along and it's weird to say that but I think that's the mindset you need to have like you have to realize that at the end of the day this is still a game but you're here for a reason yeah just prepare like you're here for that reason you know yeah I definitely I definitely feel that like I don't know it just kind of adds to like character like all the buzzword man and I I hate sounding cliche and everything like that but like I definitely feel like the more adversity you go to like I always used to make this joke like if she ain't got baggage she ain't along for the ride type thing so that's that's my head space on it um what you're doing now with the kids you kind of hit on it but if you want to go in a little bit more of that with the gym and everything like that show Spotlight on it obviously still on an NFL roster so you know training camps coming up you know probably be quicker here than we know it but if you want to highlight these kids and the stuff you're doing with them and whatnot as well I think that'd be real awesome for the viewers yeah yeah so I started training um with Alex fricky and his Jim and smithin once he built it and didn't really know what I was getting into um just went there and was like hey I'll train with you like let's see what you got to do you know and uh really enjoyed the training and um you know it just progressed to now we're doing Speed and Agility classes you know there's a beginner class there's an advanced class and then there's lifting and we got a college group over summer where we're going to have probably 15 college kids from D1 to niia coming and training we'll have like your Elite high school kids who are going to be College Bound training with those kids so there'll be a group about 20 to 25 kids we'll start training at 6:00 a.m. I'll be working out with them myself and uh every evening we're either doing some kind of team sport or we'll have like a soccer team a baseball team come in um and use the facility and we'll train them and going through all that stuff and we intensify the workouts and we kind of have a a brand for the gym like this is a gym for serious athletes if you don't want to be a serious athlete like don't don't come here yeah don't waste my my time don't it takes energy out of us to develop you and we have a lot of kids who are really grasping that and um you know kids who appreciate that and parents who appreciate that it's just kind of opening up people's eyes to how hard you actually have to work and what you actually have to do to be successful and there's really not a ton of gy around here who I think are are doing that I know there's a few um but there needs to be more people who are like likeminded to us when they're training kids and and trusting their kids with us and it not only helps with physical you know capabilities but also like the mental stress load these kids are coming in they're getting their aggression out they're getting you know all that stuff out and they're more head level and and easygoing when they leave and if kids have problems or need some discipline it's easy to do in the gym the parents will let us know like hey my kid's being a dick at home to his mom and we get high school boys like that all the time yeah so you want to be addict to your mom I want to come in and you're going to you're going to understand what it's like to be a dick to your mom when you're pushing a sled for freaking 10 minutes yeah so well it's definitely something too like some of my kids it's like they try to get an attitude with me and it's like am I really guy like you trying you trying to step or I mean you know what I mean like yeah it's like you don't want that smoke dude yeah well it's not it's it's from that like it's like dude like one like why are you like most kids don't come at me when it like they get like mad or something like that it's pointless too it's like you're here for a reason and I have to remind him like you're here for a reason to become a better athlete yeah so if someone's dragging ass in the class I'll call him out on it like you're dragging the rest of the class down you're not here doing what you need to do right now so pick it up and usually kids get it um and then uh on the weekends giving kicking lessons um I've been giving kicking lessons since I was in college just helping kids out started out giving kids lessons for $25 yeah and uh now I give lessons for $50 on the weekends inflation's a killer yeah it's it's a killer yeah so 50 bucks for we're out there for 90 minutes to two hours and uh it's it's fun we uh you know film do all the drills compete a little bit and I it's fun this year I've had I have about three to four kids who are College Bound I got a couple younger guys who are ranked through Kohl's kicking and whatnot and uh you know it's fun kind of tapping into St Louis because there's a huge soccer Market here yeah and most kickers turn out to be uh former soccer ER players so I'm hoping that you know we keep tapping into that market and really start grabbing some talent and making St Louis a staple for you know Specialists yeah well I mean there's you there's Blake grupy there's Jack Fox Riley Patterson yeah I mean 64 divided by four I don't know the numbers but I feel like that's a pretty hot's from more towards Kansas City isn't he sadelia okay I mean me so me and Jack Fox played baseball together growing up me and Riley played against each other in high school and then so there was also Tucker mccan uh he was uh he went to Ofallon he's he's been in NFL preseason but he's another guy too so in our conference alone there was three guys that played in the NFL and then we also had kid at bille East Matt soropoulos who went to Carbondale the kick we had Donovan gagan who ended up punting at Kanas Austin Barnes went to oallen he was a punter that went to Eastern Michigan um I want to say there was another guy too but I mean in that conference alone there's six kickers that played division one football it's pretty crazy yeah and I'm you know what gets lost in it is the NFL workout like you know I'm sure a lot of those guys got a cup of tea to like mini camp and I mean or they go to zoners out in Scottsdale and do stuff like that yeah I mean to me it's like I felt personally we talked about this offline like when I started looking at like like I went through when Joe first was like you should do a podcast you know a couple of these guys all that goofy stuff I went through every Wikipedia page within 30 mes or 30 minutes of St Louis on the Illinois side to just like you know St Louis going all the way out to like certain parts of Franklin County and it just said NFL player NFL player NFL player and I was like you know granted people move away all the like from New York originally obviously and like you know I just was like there's so many guys here within the last like 10 years that have like that have a little bit of like Moxy and a story to tell to just be like you know and you see it man and even St Louis produces a lot of athletes yeah I think it's like top I think it's top five in the country has to be yeah at least for football and baseball like basketball I think New York basketball's got a lot there's a lot of kids from here that basketball EJ Liddell it was Mr Illinois two years in a row Bradley Beal yeah you know oh yeah I forget Beal was from Tatum is but even like that Edwardsville like you know edwardsville's got you know the EP Brothers I mean it's just you go through the list man it's it's it's pretty belligerent and I don't think it I think drink is doing a really good job of showcasing it I think you know mizou success with like oh yeah nil helps mou is a starved fan base so they're paying those kids so much money yeah all the all the all the doctors that went to went to M you know keep a you know I mean that's a whole different conversation but obviously you got Trader and cook and I mean this is offline off topic a little bit but you know Truman State is getting a lot of commits right now because they all want to be the next Cody Trader yeah and nesbit's like yeah keep it coming right I'll take 2,000 yards over five over three seasons of you as a starter yeah man keep coming bro that's right so I mean that's a little offline off topic on that front but Austin thank you for coming on man yeah thanks for having me if you want to you know shout shout out your social media if you want to shout out Alex's JY so people can follow Alex's JY and know you might want to be a little bit more and whatnot oh yeah it's just @ frickies Advanced strength training on Instagram and Facebook and uh my soci you can just look up my name on social media Austin cybert if you want to follow me big big but I think Austin you are like the first NFL player or pro football player that's like not towering over me so I do appreciate that yeah there you go you're welcome but thanks guys for tuning in I'll link the socials in in the uh description appreciate y'all make sure you do all the goofy stuff that you know Keeps Us relevant like share subscribe but thank you Austin for coming on man yeah no thank you