Tommy Mellott on the winning process - Swim Lessons the Podcast

[Music] it's music to my ears okay so when did you know Montana state was going to be the place um I I don't ever think there was a doubt you know I I started getting recruited by Montana State and and you of him at the same time um and uh it always just well yeah I mean it was just always kind of obvious to me that I wanted to go to Montana State um you know it was funny because like I said we had lost to Boseman and so at that point I was like holy cow like there are Rivals throughout all of high school like I don't want to go to Boseman now like I just felt sick to my stomach you know I hated Boseman High because they they beat us in the state championship game and like I said that was my dream so I just felt like I was crushed and I was like holy cow I don't want to go to Boseman and be supportive by those fans but uh obviously that changed quite quickly when I got over there and you know got to meet you know all of my teammates all the coaches I mean I knew all that stuff before I suppose but I really got to know my teammates and then um feel the love of of Boseman and and get to know um you know how supportive they are and and at the end of the day you know it was it was more my I was making stuff up in my head like there was some real you know beef between you know High School sports for Boseman and bu you know it's obviously there's a good rivalry there and and I love the in the energy of games but you know at the end of the day just you know High School game against each other so um you know I just guys competing and and uh you know kind of just leave it at that but yeah know I knew I knew I go to Montana State it was always obvious for academic reasons you know I I came out of high school and that was one of my main priorities um when I was looking at colleges for you know footballs you know certainly it's never guaranteed that you're going to be healthy for one or that you're ever going to see the field when you decide to go play college ball you know because you don't know what the situation is going to be with coaching you obviously have to be in a system that will benefit you you have to um stay healthy which is a very very hard thing from what I've seen now and whatever you know and um you know sports are unless you really do have the you believe and and you have all the tangibles that you know that you can go make a living playing the sport well even at that you don't know if you're going to stay healthy so I don't know I mean I I I always knew that academics was the most important thing and so that's why I want to go to Montana State just I knew uh I was going to find a major there that would um just be the best for me and so and then on top of that obviously the coaching um and the recruiting from the coach in was pretty special just kind of seeing that um continuity between what i' had been coach from coach gray and into what they kind of um modeled there at Montana State and so I just thought that as an as an easy uh transition well let's talk a little bit about that cuz when you come from coach gray and then you get to on the campus Montana State you're kind of by yourself what was it like was was the game a little bit faster where the coverage is a little bit different what was your first few weeks uh on the campus there like yeah um um I mean I'd have to say that I was probably U very fortunate because that first fall Camp is tough yeah and when I got there was the co year and so when when we woke up for our first day of fall Camp you know everybody you know no sleep the night before just you don't know if like you're cut out to be where you are you have no idea and you wake up and we get an announcement that FCS football is canceled so everybody you know from me all the way up to the you know fourth year seniors they're going to be fourth year seniors fifth year seniors like shoot like we have practiced so we you know show up we go practice um but it's not a full fall cam schedule like coach Cho he was you know obviously the head coach at that time um you know he realized that it you know we weren't going to play so he's like yeah we're still going to practice but we're not going to kill you guys like a normal fall camp and so but we were planning on going all the way through it um regardless just cuz they didn't know what else to do um but we practiced for I I think four five six days and then you know we just shut it down cuz a lot you know some of the older guys were like I'm not going to get hurt like you know yeah and and we don't have a season like a lot of guys were crushed you know so they didn't have much inspiration to be out there um but yeah I mean I I certainly even through those few practices uh you know it's it's unbelievably um different than high school sports I'd say probably the biggest thing is just the exent nose and how much detail there is into that um you know obviously a quarterback you have to know everyone on offense and defense and so um High School most teams they just kind of line up in there their defense and they you know they don't really roll to anything or or they don't you know show pressure on one side bring a pressure on the other side and and offense you know I never really knew much about protections so having to learn how to change protections and and you know learn the whole new system on offense um because you know outside you know all the Gap schemes that they had outside inside you know zones um triple option stuff and and and Jet reads and then you know all the different pass game with play action pass pop passes um um dropback you know um seven M protections all that stuff was so different for me so it was it was a you know I I had to stud my butt off um and uh and to learn those things so that was probably the biggest transition is just the knowledge that was kind of required I mean High School coaches know there's a limited amount of time that they have to coach their kids what you know the plays are and so they keep it simple and they let their you know the kids really make the difference in the game but you know college obviously the kids you know the the time is kind of optimized for football like that's why you're there so have a lot of time to really dive into those things and coaches um you know certainly have all their it's you know it's a business that's their livelihood so they have everything you know up up and down to make sure that the team has got the best opportunity to be successful and so they need all those schemes after you kind of learned all this what was it like in for Tommy to know that you when you became the starter what was that feeling like H well I still was clueless at that point huh like I guess knowledge wise like when I um it was just you know obviously just going into the playoffs um and and throughout the season all I was was a wildcat quarterback you know I was sat in on all the quarterback meetings I was there but you know there's so many things that you know the older guys would talk about and you know they' discuss and I'd go right over my head CU I I didn't understand it and they weren't going to take the time to explain something to me cuz I'd never go out there for that stuff I'd be you know I'd be out there for the Wildcat stuff which is just essentially reading one guy um um you know and then shoot at other points in the season I was wide receiver and I was you know just only on special teams as other points and so you know I was trying to learn all these other things with techniques and and um you know getting know special teams was kind of big tube um and so when they kind of put me back at quarterback I had no idea what was going on but they kept you know obviously like I said they they know how to get the system to to fit their um with their opportunities you know what the players they have and so uh they fit it for me you know obviously extremely well and you know obvious viously it puts a lot of stress on defenses that are trying to scout us because they have no idea what they're going to get and then game in and game out throughout that you know four game run it no one it wasn't the same thing you know from the first game to the second game to the third game and so again it makes it harder for them to Scout and so you know we got to catch them on a few on a few things that um just by kind of building that up a little bit that's another beautiful thing about college sports that I never really considered is just the continuity throughout the entire season and how coaches see you know play calls because you know obviously it's always about winning but it's also about you know setting things up and that's it's the kind of the most one of the most beautiful things I've seen about college sports is just you know game one to game five like you're you know you're doing something in game one because you know in game six that team is going to be scouting you out for something specific and you know you don't want to show them what you think you can do against game six opponent in game one because then they'll be prepared for it m so that's that was one of the most incredible things when I started to learn about that stuff but yeah that's a good answer I like that so now transitioning a little bit more you guys make it to the FCS Championship give me a point of view when you run out of that tunnel what that was like and what it was like to be not only a starter you get like this nickname Tom touchdown Tommy you get to play like I just said for National Championship you're running out in Frisco Texas what uh what's going through your mind uh yeah I mean I uh I was I was young and and um you know every single game it was just it was a blur I I really didn't know what was going on to be honest with you like I was saying you know exes NOS but then even just seeing things like I've talked to a lot of people that you know imitate this but those first few games like it was really like you blacked out you could only see what was straight in front of you he lost your peripheral vision you know through the entire game and it's just an insane amount of adrenaline because of how much you prepare and you're not really prepared for that and so were you pretty nervous oh yeah absolutely all you know the entire run and I'd have to say like you know without a doubt that was the probably the hardest thing in my life you know obviously it was there was a lot of excitement surrounding me but um just the pressure and the expectations was was um you know that maybe I put on myself more than anything um was just uh unbelievable and it was you know it was it was tough to um to be honest with you go out there you know it's hard to it's hard to understand but like a national championship game you obviously think that that's like your you know the dream but I was just I was struggling to just get through the next day cuz I just knew that like you know what I was doing was kind of like I said it was just all um I felt like it was almost by luck like I was just going out there and doing kind of what I could do and it was like it just happened to keep on working but I knew I wasn't running an offense effectively or efficiently or like what an offense should have looked like like I knew at some point like it wasn't going to you know that wasn't going to work and but um so I don't know like like obviously excitement um running out there um but there was just so much like the anxiety was unbelievable at that point yeah yeah no I totally get that 100% um one one award that you got that I think was pretty cool and I was doing a little research on the way here about you but was the Doris Robinson award and you were the first uh athlete to get that out of the Big Sky what did that uh that award mean to you yeah um like I mean like I was referring to earlier I went to Montana City because education was an extremely important part of my you know decision process and um I think that this award kind of embodies uh what my choices were and then my actions how they've reflected um you know what I what I inspired to be um and just the consistency piece I think that's that you know that's what I have to say is it kind of embodies those two things and that's what I uh you know certainly believe in is just consistently consistency and effort um and um you know certainly being recognized for a national award like that was was pretty incredible um you know each conference in the FCS they all had uh nominees you know each team nominated somebody and then all those teams um in each conference they chose one for each conference and now they you know they chose one from you know the entire the entire nation with that perspective and you know I think we have a lot of guys on our team that are you know deserving of of an honor like that just to be nominated within our team um so then to be you know chosen from within the team and then within the conference and within you know the entire nation was um you know an unbelievable honor for sure yeah and and I watched I can't remember if it was on YouTube or what but when you accepted the ward um there was a guy there that was talking about he got pretty emotional about it because it was in front of your team right yeah yeah that could had to kind of been that set you back a little bit like this holy this is a big deal yeah well I mean that guy was was Gary reasons uh he was a three-time FCS All-American who went on to go play for the Giants um with with Bill belich you know back when he was uh assistant over there and um you know he was a two-time Super Bowl winner and um you know so he was it was incredible just to meet him but then you could just see the passion that he had and the honor it was for him to just go around and and that wasn't the only time he had visited um a school to present an award but um you know he that's what he does is he's involved with all the FCS stuff and that just means so much to him because you know certainly he's an FCS guy that went on to go play um you know in two Super Bowls in make you know significant plays throughout his career um and be coached by some of the best people in the you know basically in all of history with uh Bill parcels and you know Bill belich here come the B