Emmitt Smith - Create the Life Podcast - Episode 019: Hosted by Edgerrin James

[Music] yo what's up this The Edge today we on create Life podcast and you know we're always focusing on the Five Pillars mindset self-mastery Financial Freedom Community networking and lifestyle Leisure but today I got the greatest one of the best or the best all time if you played football you play running back everybody in high school football po one or whatever you always play running back running back at the position we we we that deal everybody start out right now all day every day and now you got the greatest all time Emy Smith man hey what it feel like to be the greatest all time is you know it's an amazing fing because coming from the state of Florida as as you would know uh P Cola PCA small town of Pensacola Florida coming out of attage court 138 adage court and to see the road that's been traveled and the progress that has been made and the difference and the struggles and the fight to get there and when you re look up and you reflect back over your life and you say wow wow I've done something that no other man in history has ever done that's an amazing feeling it has to be it truly is an amazing feeling and you feel like you've been Touched by an Angel in order to make that happen because things like this just don't happen to everybody don't happen to anybody or anybody for example I mean seriously you you're absolutely correct I mean so to be singled out or pointed out as a Gody that has done something that no other man in history has ever done and understand what it took to get there it's a totally different feeling it's a level of respect for the journey and the process of getting there but most importantly it's humility to know that you've been blessed to be that person out of so many folks yeah that have traveled the same road I can't tell you why you're not the guy I Can't Tell You Why Barry's not the guy I can't tell you why someone else is not the guy right we can discuss and debate about all this I'm not going to worry about myself being called the greatest at all because at the end of the day it is that road it is that Journey itself that has made me very proud to be able to withstand the fiery darts of so many things that I had to go through man when you it's like when you when it's like so if I if I look at the world of Emy Smith or look at the running back position or the sports in general and I'm coming from I'm the greatest to have a play how do you look at like backs or even athletes like how do you even measure them because now we're in a different era yeah and in this era a lot of us from the old school we like hey they don't work hard enough or they don't we we got all these things but how do the greatest look at those athletes great question uh because I look at first and for for foremost mind body and soul mind do you have the right mentality to play the position do you understand that and the mind side is do you understand uh when the Journey Begins and when the journey ends and do you understand the significance of every play and your role within the scheme of what we're doing right whether I'm running the rock or blocking or running pass routes if you're that guy that has that much of an ability to be that Dynamic of a player to where you can impact the game on the offensive side of the ball I'm valuating that side of who you are but not just running but remember your your bar is so high no no the bar is not that high you talking about em Smith but but but think about this in order for em Smith to understand what em and Smith needed to do somebody had to come before me to show me how all right it wasn't something that I created it was something that I had to understand other words I had to understand what Thurman Thomas was doing right and and I was talking to Thurman earlier we're here at the hall of fame y'all just in case y'all don't know what we are so I was talking to thur I was like man you don't get enough credit for who you are and how you set the bar in order to be on the football field and give yourself a chance to even reach 18,000 yards you have to understand your offense intimately absolutely you have to know your role intimately meaning you have to sacrifice intimately and you have to take everything extraordinarily high at a high level so running is one aspect of who I was right I had to develop the blocking aspect in terms of pass blocking being able to pick up the wheelie backer or the Sam backer or the Mike backer or even the safety both sides strong and weak including Corners I had to be able to see things and understand how to process it so not only did that make me a better Runner but it also made me a better all-around football player right and then once I got past the pass block ins side can I run rounds so you may ask the question why you need to know all that the reason why you need to know all that is because you understand the game you help your offense become better not only that if you are considered to be the best player on the field you have the most opportunity to impact everything I can disguise pass routes with run plays which helps the coordinator himself call plays and do it in a way that makes our offense very Dynamic take Marsha far for example faul as a running back could have played the Y and for those who don't know what the Y is that is the tight end position and then he could have played the Z and he could have played the X the X may be the primary guy the z may be the secondary guy and the Y is the third position guy so therefore I got three position on the field now if you got a four wide or three wide offense with fault playing the Y I got for wide and I got nothing but mix match issues on the field right that doesn't mean that faul is still not carry the ball he can be in the back field and still run the Rock and and in that situation you have less big guys on the field and you have more agile guys on the offensive side of the field right and you have match up issues so that gives you an opportunity to not only run the rout but catch passes and therefore your career is extended and various ways because you are that Dynamic of a guy Chris mcfey modern day guy yeah you see so from my perspective when I'm judging players I'm looking at it from and I'm glad you said how do I look at them I look at them through the lens of a complete football player not what everyone else is saying they should be but what I know they that they should be right and and how I know they can impact the team because your skill set is so unique when you're able to do all of those things yeah now that's why like when you think about the greatest the greatest like cuz you know the baret is raised right you know depending on where you where you at and how you see the game and that's why I was always curious about man when you in a position where you are the greatest it's like it's a reason you became the greatest because you're willing to do things that else might not be willing to do right and so that's what in over a period then dur durability to a to be able to play that long and play especially playing this position this position is a tough position people don't much so very much so and they get eight I got 12,000 yards and got 18,000 yards like that's a 6,000 that's another career in between in between and I'm Number 13 all time let's tell you like how serious this position is yeah and when I and so when I look at and I take the game serious and then when I say like dang like I wonder how Emitt look at this thing because because man this thing right here for him to be able to maintain sustain and steady like be comping at the right time I mean at at a high level for a long time you got to look at things totally different all right you're right I just gave you the context in terms of the football player right we talked about longevity I mean you mentioned that a little bit in it and being blessed to be able to be on the field so other words the study or the student of the game has to be vast and he has to understand different aspects of the entire offense but beyond that how do you take care of your body exactly how do you preserve your body and make sure that you're ready to go every week what people don't understand is I mean I think it was LeBron James somebody said LeBron James spent about1 to $200,000 on his body said like a m for him okay maybe a million for him but you understand what that means that means I got private chefs that means I got uh massage therapist that means I got the right car Cairo that means I'm doing the right interventions in terms of all these different things that are natural that that would fall under the radar radar of being legal right and get myself ready to play every week in the game of football and that's what I did I did that in '95 before some of the [ __ ] that everybody's doing right now be became popular so it's part you had a routine I had a i bro I learned first of all I'm GNA be straight up candid and I told somebody this earlier today I was my rookie year after my rookie season I'm in my offseason I go back home to paccola and my high school trainer was a chiropractic he and I became good friends so I go back we going hunting we driving from Pensacola up to Alabama somewhere to his to his Ranch and I'm popping a a a erson which is a painkiller all or a anti-inflammatory if you want to call it that you can look it up see what it is I mean hell it was years ago so the reality of the fact is I was doing it because I had 10 to 9s in my knee from running on that astro turf that we used to play off right so he said what are you doing I said um taking some medication he said what kind of medication are you taking he asked the question I said I'm taking the Indy he said why I said because I have 10 and 0s in my knee he said don't do that get off of that medication it's too strong for your body it's going to hurt your kidneys and maybe your liver so with a trusted source that I believed in and trusted since I was was in high school telling me that and no one in the National Football League is giving me any in inclination of how dangerous this medication can be on my body in the long term right I left it alone and I started he said take Advil take two or three Advil until you feel comfortable then you you don't have to take it no more and so an ail is easy on the body I'm like okay great so I did it I stopped doing all this stuff even when a doctor prescribed Viking or whatever he wanteded to toll I didn't know about toour doll shots until my 15th year in the National Football League 15th year I saw guys going back into the training room getting tour do shots and everything else I did not recognize that I didn't I saw it but I just never really paid attention to it never was curious enough because I was already in my I was I was already in my regimen you know what I'm saying and so when I saw that I okay great then I understood what T turol was I took one and it's an amazing medication it really is it get you right it get you right I mean you recover like you like 20 years old but you don't realize the damage that you're causing to your body or to your liver or to your organs that you're that you're absorbing all of the stuff so I left it alone I'm glad I was in my 15 15th year but going back to the dark side of it I learned that medicine even though it's there it's only there to mask the pain for a period of time you still have to deal with the repercussions and me and Walter Peyton having a conversation with him about his training regiments I started to incorporate things like massage therapy Chiropractic and anything else that was on the natural side and workouts I started incorporating those type of workouts into my regimens because I knew that if he did it and he lasted as long as he did right not knowing all the the other things that he had to do behind the scenes gave me the the top of stuff he had like a little blueprint yeah he gave me a little brewprint but it wasn't like something that had no one is going to tell you I'm taking tour it off right no one's going to tell you I'm taking Naperson no one is going to tell you I'm taking indon no one going to tell you any like your last resort like I gotta I gotta do something because I want to play type thing that's that's what I see if it came down that serious if it came down that serious I'm going show you how serious what I'm talking about when I tore my shoulder against the Giants in ' 92 93 in New York and we going into the playoff the first playoff game I did not take a shot I wanted to feel everything I lasted for a quarter and a half until I got caught in a bad position Bryce Pope knocked that shoulder completely back out I was done for the rest of the game come play this is the playoff so fortunately for us we went on to beat the Packers that next week is the NFC championship game against the 49ers in Dallas this is our second Super Bowl year second superow run I said the hell with this I'm going take this shot give me this shot doc he gave me the shot I went on the field felt great went through it boom did my thing survived the whole entire game we won the game and now we off to the Super Bowl last game of the year I said doc give me another shot he gave me another shot I went through that Super Bowl won the Super Bowl became MVP in the Super Bowl two days later I'm at Dr Andrews in Birmingham get my shoulder fix two days later was it worth it hell yeah it was worth that's the thing and that's the thing as a player you up against is like you you thinking about your career you're thinking about man I want to lose my position I want to be a to have success and the season is so short yeah in a sense it's like but some one thing I've learned is sometimes we definitely have to take a step back to preserve our own lives especially in this game but in the midst of in the midst of it how how how can you take a step back in the Emy Smith you about to go got chance to go to Super Bowl and you got tore all or the pain you felt I tried to feel it before I couldn't M I couldn't last but I knew what was at stake and this is how we make personal sacrifices for our teammates and I don't think people realize what you the things we do to our body our bodies for the sake of the whole yeah even the organization the fans like I I play with a great organization your organization been great to you but it's like I don't I think people really understand the sacrifices you make because you know this not good for you but I can't let the city down I can't let the fans down I can't let my teammates down and then plus I don't put in all this work and there only a shot there only one shot and so I I equated it to when you get to that decision I equated it to military fight the Japanese did kamakazi stuff they fly in and sacrifice themselves just to take out something so it can preserve the life of others it's kind of the same way you take that shot to preserve the opportunity for everybody to benefit because confidence level is extremely high when you're in the game and it's extremely low when you're not and every player can turn to that guy and they know who that guy is that they can turn to and say I need you and when they say I need you they expecting you to step up so I understand exactly where you come from there's always this this Balancing Act if you will to where we as players have to make tough decisions and you have to make calculated decisions right the public don't doesn't even know and they really don't care all they care about is you reaching the ultimate goal that they have set out for you the money that they're betting on you to achieve the highest thing or to score that touchdown so you can I can win my fantasy football league that's all they care about right they don't care about the decision making process that you go through they really don't and that's what separates us from the average everyday joke right right because we understand the pressures of what it's like to be a team player most of them are think about themselves and we're separated in that context because we believe in something much greater and we believe in a team concept and we also believe in each other because every day we go train with the team we see our teammates running the same things that we're running right and therefore I know when I go on the football field you've done what I've done you've seen him work yes and we go from there and so when I make a sacrifice you understand why I'm making that sacrifice right you understand you don't put in the work and like for me I always looked at the sport as a gladiator sport it is and so if it's a gladiator sport I'm really to lay my everything on the line so it was no question what needs to be done because I chose to play this sport if I didn't if I didn't feel like it would be right if I had to question any of those decisions to be available CU availability is everything in the lead exactly so here's the thing that makes it a easier decision I was dealing with a shoulder not legs my legs is how I made my living right my shoulders is how I protected myself so the question became can my shoulder withstand the the pain and the pressure and the docs confirm you know it's going to hurt but you can make it through it if you're mentally tough so now I'm testing my my mental toughness the shot itself made my mental toughness much stronger right because it neutralizes the pain and what I realized was after the shot I don't know if it was tour do whatever it was I was okay I can manage and being able to manage is where we at but the problem with managing you don't know the damage that you're causing right the future damage the future damage and so going through that process and learning that I can manage and I don't know what the future damage going to be but I know I got to have surgery anyway and it's going to be what it's going to be but you're going to win a Super Bowl get the MVP oh yeah it's worth it oh yeah so when I when when you know like on cre Life podcast we always like to try to figure out things or give insight to people to say okay like what makes people different what makes the great great what makes this person who he is so you say Emy Smith I'm taller than emit you know I don't know if I bench more than emit but what makes EMT Smith what makes it great great you know because we have people that you know a lot of time we like to judge physically right and then mentally we all come from situations that are pretty much parallel right right and then you start saying man this dude just got that it factor or these dudes are just different even us as a group of Hall of Famer ma 336 m260 we all we all here but it's like what is it from your perspective like what makes the great great or what separates people when they have because you've grown up with people with physically they were talented you always got everybody got somebody back home with like man he was better than me or something like exactly exactly so in in your words what makes the great great that's a that's a real good question I think what separate most great athletes is is the 10 Ines that sits between one ear to the left how we see things and how we process things but most importantly what we believe I think greatness is in in in a belief system that is unquestionably unshakeable because when you have confidence and reassurance that you can I played hurt many times through high school and I play Hurt many times through college and I perform every time I played hurt at a high level that told me that I had a mental capacity to not only process what was happening but the mental fortitude to persevere through it and and not hurt my team so I've been there right been through it I reflected back on my life history that helped me get through that moment I tell my kids all the time every time you have a challenge as insurmountable as it may appear you get over that challenge right at some point because that challenge is not there forever right a it's there for a period of time and once you come to realize that hey I got to be honest with myself but also have to have faith in who I am and what I'm capable of you only do that through experience through multitudes of examples all right because the reality of the fact is everybody can't go where you're going whether I leaned on my mom or I leaned on my dad or I lean on my friends a lot of them don't even have the same experiences that you and I would have so am I'm leaning on the right people or am I'm establishing my own path so when you start to establish your own path and you understand that wow this is a serious challenge my mama can't help me through this they never been through it my daddy can't help me through this no one else can help me through this this is my journey that's why your journey is your journey and your path is your path and what you gain from that and underlining all of that what you gain from that and what's underlining all that is a level of humility because somebody is teaching you something somebody's pushing you somebody's pulling something out of you that mama ain't pulling out of you or Dad ain't pulling out of you coaches have impacted our lives in such a significant way that is not even recognizable but it's up to us individually to remember where I learned that from Who challenged me at that level right who pushed me at that level cuz when I was being pushed my mom and dad was nowhere around somebody pushed me at that level to to to even even my mom and dad even pushed me somebody pushed me to say hey son you can do it you can do it no matter what the circumstances are you can do it or a coach said hey the great ones they fight through these battles they go through the hardship and they understand what it's take what it takes to get on the other side of this and when they say that you like Who's the who are the great ones then you start looking out into the world and say who are the greaty ones oh Peyton okay Jim Brown Jim Brown went through something that I've never experienced before in my life Reggie Jackson went through something I never experienced before in my life and even though I'm experiencing it in a different way right now it's supposed to be covered up but that [ __ ] ain't covered up right it's real so when you start balancing up the realities of the world and you bringing into your world and you like she this is nothing I can make it through this yeah you know what I'm saying long as I got these right here I can make it I can make it do this I can run away I can make it do you know what I'm saying as long as I got these I do it I can do it and even when these are injured for example ankle here ankle there whatever it is if I can still make it and I can go downhill and punish somebody I'm going punish him so you learn how to become a Punisher and you learn how to be a finesser yeah you learn you learn your limitations exactly yeah so like I can't go I can't go too strong with the right so I'm do so you learn these things and you take these things with you they become your library of life is what I call it yeah no that's that's that's a great answer that's the a good way to put it you know so like like I remember last year we was here and we was all at the table we was talking about we was talking about our children and we were talking about you know being a parent and having having a name and having the world look at you up here and your children they got to be the ones that kind of fill the wrath of being em Smith son or Edan James son like how did you deal with that part when you know you had a son wow you're one of the greatest wow and your son he went to Stanford right yeah yeah he go off to school and he got all these expectations and now you got to sit back in the stand with a go back to what we saying expectations are up here you're in the house he's in the house so he's supposed to be a dog yeah so how how do you like even relay it down to them or even kind of put that in them and still let them be them or what do you do in those situations well it's funny because that is a awesome awesome question because the way I grew up is not the same way he's growing up exactly it's just not the same but how do you create the environment for him to be in a competitive environment what I did was first and foremost I put him in in the most competitive environment that I could I took him out of the suburbs y' was in Dallas or Y but I put him on Dion's team the the truth okay as a as a little league football team and as an organization and they play select football against some of the best right and I put my son out there and he had to go up against Daren W son and other people's son so they you know how we do it in the hood right it's going to be Oklahoma drill and it's going to be mono mono and you gonna have to do it and my son had to learn just like you and I had to learn right how to compete because I think competition is the one thing that's missing in most people lives better now because most of them are growing up in this place of comfort and then when they run into to a place of discomfort they cowed right they hit the transfer portal yeah they hit the transfer portal and all this bull stuff be because competition they run away away from they looking for the easiest ride out that's where we are in society today with my kids I put them in the most competitive environment I can put them in even though they were coming out of the suburbs and I'm going to say the suburbs because where we live was suburbs it wasn't the ghetto where I grew up at it wasn't 138 had a score was none of that BS it was it was straight up it was no government cheese they had they had proper food and proper drinks they had the bottle water they had all that they had everything that they need but they did not have the environment which I came from that fight that hunger that thirst for Independence that thirst for comp competition so had to create those moments for them with my kid and all my kids I've always told them you don't have to do what Daddy did whatever you do we going to compete we got to be the best at it yeah period period you may not win all battles but damn it you better win some battles or it ain't for you or it ain't for you it's just not for you so you have to understand the mission is not about doing what Daddy did the mission is about putting you in environment so you understand that the world is not forgiving right and it's not equal it's given there it's there for the person who has the drive and the determination to be successful and you have that in you you are my seed DNA is De how can you do not want to fight for what you believe in so we got to have a faith a belief and a determination to be successful you put those three things together then you add in knowledge work ethic and all these other things you have a chance definitely got I didn't say you will you have a chance definitely got that's the beginning because if a boss says the wrong thing to you are you going to fold are you going to listen and hear what they saying versus how versus how they're saying it right some people get caught up in the how versus what they're saying yeah they don't listen to the message the message is much greater than the how yeah the tone and the tone Oh you you your tone is different disrespecting me yeah you disrespect disrespecting you you ain't earned the respect yet right so it's those things to me that are very critical to the mindset of the individual because I know your coaches got in your face and said some things that that tick you off yeah I had some coaches get in my face that say some things that tick me off even as a professional athlete but it was for my good right it was for me to reflect upon so but when you go to your with your child that's going through all those things is like how do how do you keep them into it when the purpose is different right great here's I'm GNA tell you this story my son EJ I'm G give just give you the context my son EJ was born May 15th 2002 my birthday is May 15th 1969 same birthday same birthday same day I share it with my oldest son you talking about pressure I gave him my name that's pressure pressure because I there was no way I could not give him my name when he was born on my birthday so he is e EMT James Smith ivth his sophomore year in high school I believe maybe his junior year in high school he came to me one day he said Dad how do you deal with de pressure out of the blue I'm like pressure son tell me it didn't exist tell me what you're dealing with I said what are you feeling he said how do you deal with the pressure with everybody wanting you to do this and expectations of this and blah blah blah blah blah and I looked them squar in the eyes and I said let me ask you this are their expectations any different than what you have for yourself that's good right there and he said no I said so where's the pressure that makes so much sense right where's the pressure do you expect to be something special whatever that may mean don't mean that you will replicate what your daddy did but you have a goal to be something right what is that goal what is that mission what is the purpose what is your purpose and he answered that question no I said so where's the pressure they kind of summed it up right there son I said Son forget what everybody else is saying about you and what their expectations are of you what do you have and what are your expectations of yourself have they missed the Mark or are you missing the mark one or the other it's one or the other I mean they may have expectations but all you got to do is meet what you're capable of doing and develop what you're capable of doing regardless of what other people say I think like you first of all you have a built-in Advantage the DNA is there only thing I see missing is the purpose and the drive outside of that that's missing that's the only we have we have like our kids personally have the training they have the experience we've got we we've cut out all the guessing to the game like as a running back there's nothing they can tell you right about that position so you cut all that out and so now it's like I try to look at like you got to really find your why that's that's the only thing to hold you because talent wise obviously you have some skill set you got it you got some skill set and you got the proper training and everything else but why are you doing this are you doing this to make me happy or you doing to make yourself happy because at the end of the day my happiness I love you you are my child and there is nothing in the world going to change that and so I'm here to support you but the one thing I want for you is what you want for yourself I want you to be the best version of yourself what does that mean Daddy what that means if you going to be an engineer damn it be the best engineer you can be all always greatness strive for greatness strive for excellence understanding Excellence is never attainable that [ __ ] is a moving Target even when you think you have achieved a level of greatness and most of us think we have achieved a level of greatness because we were in high school we was the the Superstar player on the team we won a state championship and blah blah blah everybody saying we gonna be great no you were great at high school yeah yeah but then there's college and you go in there's more more dogs now than they were in high school and most dogs are on team so how do you compete against these these college guys and do you become the top dog and do you ex do you uh excel at that level all right then once you do that for three or four years do you you have an opportunity to go to the pros then once you go to the pros you come to realize there's a bunch of grown ass men about to knock my head off and have a true purpose and they got a true purpose to provide for their family what is your true purpose you don't have yeah so your true purpose got to be competition to become the best yeah you got to want to be the best you got to want to be the best and and you have to figure out how to become the best Kobe had to learn how to become the best he had to create those scenarios Michael Jordan had to create scenarios in his own head how to become the best people had to figure out ways to to to get around some of the best players in the world so I can understand what they do how they protect themselves how they prepare themselves to become the very best it's a mentality and you cannot be afraid to even go there if you're afraid to even go there you're not even prepared to even be the best it's not going to happen it's not going to happen it's just not going to happen and I'm going tell you right now it's not going to happen it's just not so you have to elevate your mind right you have to be willing to go through the fire to get it and that fire is hot serious it is hot but everybody's fighting for those little spots so yeah you fighting for little Spots I'm fighting for the big spot so you fight for the little to get it you got you got to exhaust all everything everything you keep fighting for the little spot I'm fighting for the big spot that and you fighting for the big spot o that bright that light is bright that heat is intense definitely going to be tough but those like those are the things that I like to try to bring to people's attention and you know I always because we both have sons and I think it's a familiar situation and for me I found myself in situation where you have Outsiders always poking at your child so much that your child kind of res being that same name as you like I want to make my own name and so those things that you have to go through when it's like you should just really embrace it but that outside noise is so powerful is extremely powerful they they were they they were pry into a situation when it's like it don't even have to be like that so and that was and that's when we go back to that when we were sitting at the table it was me myself yourself Ray and all us has Juniors all the other half Juniors and you start looking at it you start saying okay we all run everything runs parallel and we all run through the same situations and our kids they they is damn they got to put them together to say look dude y'all need to hang with them because nobody else going to really understand you at all and you're absolutely right in the context of uh the influence of others because Society itself even coaches that think they're great coaches when they're really not great coaches they only great students of the game a lot of them was never good at the game a lot of them don't even understand the psychology around the game game or the strategy within the game they just know the ex's and O they only know the ex's and OES and the systems that they actually run they created they created or someone created for them that they're running right that has a tremendous impact on our young men and women it doesn't mean that they're great coaches they just have a great systems and the systems may not translate to the next level that's the thing that most parents should be looking at I think parents most parents today are caught up in how can I give my son or my daughter a scholarship so I don't have to pay all that money for them to go to college I think it went from scholarship to nil now all right scholarship nil they looking for all that [ __ ] we're trying to get some money now exactly we trying to get money so the mission and the motive is distorted and it's distorted because of money and most kids are not not as good as most parents think that they really are because they haven't had the proper training but they also put them in the best situation the best program too that's that's why they never be good yeah that's what they because they're not mely prepared to be good I see people that jump around like and it still holds true you sit back and see the ones that jump around to be in this situation in that situation they usually don't have success because adversity is what builds you up build character as a player as a person especially as a teammate you know I want somebody who go to war with me somebody who's gonna sit there and say look we're gonna figure this out not just point the finger exactly and I see that happening too too many times we see it happen often times and and that's the part when you asked me the question earlier how do I see yeah the gay how do I see players I see players through those lenses that we're we're talking about right now I look Beyond a skill set and I see do I have a player that can be a great team player he may be a awesome player but a jackass how does that work in the locker room can you spot can you look can you go to a youth program or go to like a high school program and look at a kid and be like this kid got it yes this kid got potential yeah that's what I'm saying he don't have it he got potential and that potential is it's like it's like a diamond in a rough cut yeah it's not even shape yet but it's coming out of the roof but it has to go what through the fire has to be forged has to be shaped in order to make it a VVS one right and it has to be either in a in a rectangle or it has to be in opal or has to be in some kind of format to where it looks beautiful because a beautiful d on a on a ring on a finger is it's tailored for that ring and that finger and so when you start thinking about the rough cut we began as rough Cuts yeah and coaches and teachers and mentors shaped us and then once you became a professional we still had coaches and mentors shaping us when you become a Hall of Fame Famer they shaped you yeah you you ain't shaping no more you shape me to the point where I'm here it's hard to even shape somebody now cuz they they going to leave you you really get on them like they're not they're not prepared to be shaped that's that's could you could you coach the youth football right now it'd be hard that's why I look at be very hard you know it's it's crazy you say that like like walk around the room especially like this time of year when you're around a bunch of Hall of fam you ask these questions and everybody say the same thing because everybody think about like I'm hard NOS I'm straight to the point I'm disciplined I'm detailed we're going to work and you know what and everybody realize everybody has accepted the way this thing is now to everybody rather just walk away I think we I think a lot of great coaches or mentors are kind of just walking away because they know what they're up against it's ridiculous it's tough you can't say nothing to a kid because he gonna go home to his mom and daddy and his mom and dad going to come up and act like why ain't my kid playing because your kid didn't show up on practice practice on time if you can't respect people time and respect the process of becoming a team player mom and dad what are we talking about we're going to have issues yes I understand you got a job I understand you got responsibilities I understand that I respect all of that trust me every great coach should respect that I get that but when your kids show up 30 minutes late for practice don't expect him to start on Sunday or on Saturday whenever we play or Friday don't expect that to happen once you get to high school there shouldn't be any excuses because he going to leave from high school go straight to practice anyway right when you playing L Le ball there there could be some excuses but setting the tone and the tempo in everything I don't care if you're a married couple sitting there having a conversation how we going to spend this money how we going to save it how we going to manage kids when we have them what you going to do what I'm going to do what do I need to do what do you need to do what is your role what is my role def Define everything not don't come in oh this is gonna be great I'm married now when life hit you and it will hit you kids and N no kids you have decisions to make what is our decision-making process who has the last last word who has the biggest responsibility on the last word if I take the last word I got the biggest responsibility if I allow you to have the last word you accept that responsibility or will you say well you should have did no don't work that way it doesn't that's not even a partnership so the reality of the fact is in all these situations kids are growing up in environments that allowing them to be selfish they got wiggle room and too many they got too much wiggle room too much too much wiggle room and the laws are giving them more power than they deserve they haven't earned it they they don't deserve it right about that and it is what it is so when you start thinking back and you ask me about coaching when I got to coach that that's tough yeah but you want me you don't want me you want me to be the version for you that you need me to be for you and your son they want you in Spurs you want me in Spurs you don't want me because if you got me then it's going to be a different game right right because I'm looking at integrity and I'm looking at at at all the things that are fundamentals to who we are and what has helped us to become Hall of Famers do you think like first of all I personally think I can take if I see a kid I think he has he has it I think I can take him all the way to the pros do you think you can take a kid like you look at a kid from a physical burn any injuries yes I could if that kid was humble enough to follow your blueprint right hey and that's and that's one thing I always look I'm like I see kids I'm like I can get you to the pros if I don't have no interference no interference and you got discipline out the child right you got 100% control they're going to do what you're supposed to do cuz the blueprint is dead I see so many they get they pick and choose they get sidetracked because you know what as you I'm going just say this you are one voice think about how many voices are in that child's ear mama and daddy best friend girlfriend uncles cousins all of them including teachers and some coaches are in that child's ear and it swell that they have and you have one voice you are the voice but you got to contend with all these other voices all right and that child trying to figure out how to grow who to trust that's a challenge for that young man or woman period That's What I'mma sit over here I'mma sit my black ass right here too so we got my man Emy Smith the greatest all time you know when I when I go running backs I don't even put in no particular order because I always got EMT Barry got Walter Jim Brown throw him up against the wall whoever stand up first there it is that's my guy you know what I'm saying I think I think that right I think anybody that plays a position you know when you when you talk about who's the best to ever play you know anything outside of those four right there you know you got to start a new count but my man Emy Smith now we're going to take this we're going to switch GE we're going to take this thing back to our respective universities because August 31st which is my daughter's birthday we go down to Gainesville we go to to the swamp the University of Miami goes to the swamp and we going to play against Emy Smith Gators what you think gonna happen I don't want to get em in trouble cuz he know we coming man and I don't know how I don't know how you feel about that program I know he love the Gators but I do we coming so and we going to be ready no like no you ain't saying with that confidence no we going to be ready we going to be y going to have a lot of noise you're going to have a packed crowd but y'all ain't ready in it no we ready we going to be ready we going to be ready we going to be ready we going to be ready the Florida Gator people want to win I'm telling you the SEC is tough to win period but you know I would love to coach the University of Florida I'm gonna go ahead and say that let's make that clear right now you would love to coach I would love to coach the University of Florida you I would love to coach the unity that we have it on C life podast em Smith wants to co Florida Gator so after we beat them down University of Miami beat them down y'all call emit ain't gonna be no beat down be ain't going be no beat down ain't going to be no beat down I will say this um our [Music] program we are in a rebuilding mode but everybody's in a rebuilding mode because of nil yeah n has players jumping for whatever reason and most of them are jumping because of money Mone not because of playing time and some may be do that doing that but those are guys that are at the University of Alabama schools that are so deep to where it's going to take two or three years before I get on the football field anyway right I can understand that and I can respect that but if you're a guy that's getting 90% of the carries or 90% of the catches why are you leaving you only leaving you only leaving because of money and so when it comes down to my Gators we got money I know we do so em SMI comes and become the head coach of Florida Gators but he don't but you gota be willing to pay no I don't have to I don't know about that I don't have to how how you going how you gonna get the players when everybody the world is paying right now the world is paying for players that are not even developed that's true but that's where we at we we're in a space right now day you can be in that category but if I can get a player that's disciplined got some skills that I can work with and train and prepare him to be that guy I'mma take that guy because you know what that guy is hungry but is the school gonna give you time to develop I'mma have the time because if I go to the University of Florida as a head coach I'm going have the time because that's what's going to be required I'm going take a guy that's not heavily recruited but got skill set and Got Talent and develop him and and I'm if he give and I'm G tell him you give me the chance to develop you I'm gonna put you in the strength program I'm gonna put you in this and you gonna get paid but you ain't going to get paid as everybody else because all these other Hypes these are hypers hypers when you put that thrash on them watch how they coward and I'm trying to I want hunger I want desire I want fight and a lot of these kids coming to the table with nothing but hype yes I got a great marketing machine behind me I got a great Instagram team behind me and they taking all the great photos they making me look good and everything else and the world thing I'm I'm a five star but I play like a three star give me three star that plays like a five star that what you're gonna that three star is gonna be that guy where you gonna recruit at State of Florida but man we got on lock we got the whole South on no you don't you to come with a bag now no no do y'all hear that see we got em Smith is coming out he's coming for our kids I'm coming for your kids because you know what I'm a so he's telling you that we're going to win this I'mma transform I'mma transform your child's life in multitudes of way because you know what I'm giving them something I'm G give them a path to become a professional athlete and I'm G show them how and I'mma I'm also going to make sure that they good balance-wise because you know what balance is the key to anything else you think they going for that nowadays no they may not be going for it them kids want a Hellcat they want a Cuban Link that's why they ass ain't going nowhere else no more than where they are right now that's all they want if that's all you want go somewhere else if that's what you want go somewhere else but if you really want if you want do you want a career you should go to fam you no she go to F no no University of Florida go to University of Florida period period so Emy Smith going to be the head coach of the UN florid University of Florida I I fly back move back down the games get my house down to the hell Plantation somewhere out there oh yeah I'm broken I'm a broken this deal I need my percentage man we F to start that right now I'm Brak you as a running back coach n no there's no way I would not coach for Florida Gat I can't do that never say never Randy Shannon did I'm a I'm a real Miami hcy Shannon did it Randy Shannon did what he had to do but for me I am University of Miami I cannot I can 36 come on man no man I might I might send you a kid or two I'll send you a kid but it's not for you but for it's for the kids it's for the kids I can't be in Gainesville anyway man in Gainesville you end up going to jail right around at night that could be anywhere that can be anywhere so prediction Florida Gator home team playing against University of Miami August 31st we winning score we winning what's the score 25 17 2517 I say we're going to win 3117 University of Miami okay and we're going to get out of there all safe and sound yeah you gonna get out of safe and sound so but we going to bite your ass on the ankles yeah D you have you got my man in Miss Smith in the building on Creative Life podcast man I appreciate you coming on man and you know we we love when me you can just chop it up and for me personally I get a chance to sit back here like I'm big fan cuz that's my man that's that's the big dog I'm hanging with the big I'm interviewing the big dog Ed thank you man I appreciate the opportunity to just to share my thoughts and uh go Gators that's all I can say go where Gators we going to get up in that we going to get hey man we going to give her that ass that's what we we already know how we already know how it's we know how it's going to go man The Bookies already got it laid out manies don't always have it right they sometime they just go with the you know it is what it is man we got the better team man we got the better team this year we do and so it all fell in place but he said what his score he said I said 257 257 I said 3117 yeah you did so we'll be up in Gainesville the swamp hopefully you hear what Smith he said hopefully Fred Taylor he said hopefully ton Crowder he said hopefully we Anthony I hopefully all them answer my call because them guy them boys they ain't gonna answer that phone call after you um after they see that they come across Sports Center and college football know they need us back they need the canes back we back hey hey man it's going to be good good luck hey what that man say good luck cre live podcast man the greatest all time em Smith hanging with the edge M8 336 m260 we out peace