Roddy Layton on football, recruiting, and coaching

LA back after one week hiatus to watch WrestleMania, which was outstanding, by the way. I don't know if anybody was out there, watched it. Of course, followed up by the death of the Ultimate Warrior, who was an icon hero of mine until I realized that he was a complete lunatic asshole in real life. But nonetheless, shameful that he died after being inducted in the Hall of Fame on a Sunday and turns around and dies on a Tuesday. Isn't life grand sometimes? Oh, well, moving on. We don't need to talk about pro wrestling, although as much as I'd like to sit here and talk pro wrestling for hours and hours. Special guest today, prominent figure in the Southern California high school, college, Nessie alum, Roddy Layton, and friend of mine, Roddy Layton. Welcome to the show, Roddy. Thanks for having me, Coach. Yeah, no problem. Shoot, between, I almost said icon, the icon Roddy Layton, but I think icon's kind of a strong word. I was ready to go with the wrestling. I've been to an event before. Oh, yeah? In the Ultimate Warrior. I mean, those guys all made me want to do steroids. The way he had his wristbands tied around the arms and everything else. I knew it was fake, but I just liked the size of the guy's athletic behind it. In his Hall of Fame speech, he said something that was pretty cool, because I'm not much of a wrestling dork. I watched the Hall of Fame speech as well. He said something pretty cool. He said, I was watching Ray Lewis, and Ray Lewis was talking about channeling the powers of the Ultimate Warrior. He goes, well, I'll tell you one thing. Wrestling might not be real, but wrestlers don't act like wrestlers. They don't act like football players. They don't act like basketball players. They don't act like baseball players. But football players try to act like wrestlers. There you go. I was like, hey, he's got a point. You know? But Mount Sac, Mountie, Mount San Antonio College, predominant junior college program in this area. In the nation. In the nation. Yeah. Right? Which is a funny thing, because when I came out, I never even heard of them. Now I realize, sure, there couldn't be more than three. There couldn't be more than three teams in the country that are bigger than Mount San Antonio College. You played there after Ganesha High School. Now, coming out of high school, you were 18 years old. You had a child already. I was 17. 17 years old. Had a child already. Going into what I call a meat grinder, just a chainsaw bracket of California Junior College, where you got literally hundreds of kids going out for 100 spots. Yeah. What was that like going into that program? Like, what was it like going into that program? What was it like going into that program? What was it like going into that program? What was it like going into that program? And talk about some of the experiences playing at a place like that. I was actually out of school a couple years. At 19, I already had my two children. And it was actually Tom Moore, who's coaching now at Fullerton Community College, is the one that was trying to convince me to come back out. Dwayne Walker, who was a head coach at the New Mexico State and NFL coach at UCLA, they sat down, convinced me to come out, and I went out there. And I haven't played two, three years, and I go out there, and there's 300 football players. And luckily, a lot of the players that I played with that were freshmen, sophomores, when I was a senior, remembered my senior year. So they already, I think, thought like, oh, yeah, he's the same guy, went out there and competed. There's so much talent. I think a lot of people don't even realize at community college how many guys are coming, you know, from community college to a Division I and then later on to the NFL. It was a grind. I remember my freshman year, you know, there were so many recruiters there. We had Jesse Davis went to USC. We had six. Six DBs had scholarship. Two went to Iowa, San Diego State, USC. So we had recruiters all over the place. And my freshman year, I had to babysit my own children on Friday walkthroughs. I had my son running around the track. He's maybe two or three. USC's there. I'm, you know, thinking, you know, maybe there's that chance USC's here to see me already as a freshman. I'm excited. The coach calls me, hey, Leighton, you know, they need you, you know. So I'm running over there thinking, USC's recruiting me already. And I'm pumped up. And it was the trainer telling me my son failed. He's inside the rocks. I had to go get him. So it was crazy. But at Mt. SAC, I mean, you know, we play with, you know, Leonard Green, who was recruited all the way from Maryland. You know, he's one of the, you know, all-American player. I mean, I learned fast. We play with guys from Samoa, Hawaii, that it's not just the local Southern California kids. And we were playing with kids from, I mean, as far as Florida, Maryland, middle of the country, Nevada. I mean, people came from everywhere, literally around the world. And you have kids, you know, you had two kids at a time. You have guys getting out of the military. You have guys getting out of prison. It's like unnecessary roughness. Yeah, a good friend of mine, Jesse Davis, we played together at Mt. SAC USC. Paul Russell was a recruiting coordinator. He's coached multiple positions at Mt. SAC. But a good friend of his worked at the Chino Prison, state system. And he kept saying, we got a player that's about to get paroled. He's a hell of a player. You got to check him out. And Coach Russell, you know, I'm not going to a prison game. I'm not going to recruit a prisoner. And he finally got pinned down. You know, after enough requests that he had to go see a game and he saw this kid play. He was that good. He said, all right, well, when he comes out, tell him to come see me. Ends up being Jesse Davis. Ends up being All-American USC. His senior year, he led the Pac-10 in picks. Had a huge pick against Northwestern in the Rose Bowl. My boy Dre, he was NHC. I know he would want me to rep it if I said it. So, you know, he was there. Unfortunately, he's locked back up. Marcus Bonds was locked up at the YTS. And Chino, who also ended up being a teammate, again, at my USC. Malcolm Royster, who was the younger brother of two teammates who I grew up and played Pop Warner with, Marcus and Mazio Royster. So a lot of my friends and inmates that were locked up in Chino got paroled out. And then we had, you know, quarterback Ed Gravera, who served in the desert. Remember, it was Desert Storm. It was Desert Shield to Desert Storm. So we had guys that did Mormon missions that came back. We had veterans that came back. A couple inmates that got paroled and made the team. You know, some of us just had kids. And everyone thinks, oh, it's the 17, 18-year-olds out there. Man, I was 22, you know, playing with other 22-year-olds. And when I later on coached there, we had guys with ankle bracelets on, which now is illegal. So, I mean, you know, we had a... I mean, there was some games where when the fight, you know, broke out, you didn't know if it was us against them or us against each other. I mean, you know, you might have some Englewood blood fighting some, you know, Westside Crip. I mean, you know, or a Westside blood from San Bernardino fighting a Compton Crip. I mean... You know, it was... But I think that rough image that, you know, that gangster style of football we played kind of intimidated a lot of people. I know we played Saddleback a year after they won the national championship. And we got on them early at halftime. And they made us go through the same tunnel. And we're out there yelling, sack dogs, you know, throwing up the Crip sign, throwing up a blood sign. I mean, you know, we were just off the chain. I mean, guys wearing blue bandanas, red bandanas. And we're in the hallway. I mean, we just intended... I can remember seeing their faces. And the year before, we actually had a team brawl with them. And one of our players, David DeFede, big Samoan guy, knocked one of their coaches out. So, you know, this is a scrimmage game that couldn't even get finished because it goes into a team brawl. I mean, literally the whole sideline cleared. To the next year, we're playing them in a real game. And we're up at halftime. And now we're walking down the same hall just hooping and hollering and going crazy and mounting and sack dog. And, man, I remember seeing their faces, their coaches' faces, just the intimidation they had. And the second half, they quit. I mean, I don't even think they wanted to come back out of their locker room. But that's just that philosophy and edge that Mt. SAC has. I mean, it still has it to this day that we're better. And you know it, and we know it. And that's how we're going to play. Well, you had guys come out of it. You might not play with them. I know Leonard Russell, Patriot fans that are listening. Leonard Russell, you know, How You Like Me Now, Kumo D video. That is the soundtrack. The highlight reel, I think, we showed every recruit going from... Because I met Leonard Russell. He was... I was recruited as a DB by Dwayne Walker coming right out of high school. And that's the first player I met when I go to Mt. SAC. You know, he just bounced back from Arizona State. Ended up being a first-round draft pick. And it's the late 80s, so the shimmo shorts and short shorts are still in. And this guy stood up, and I'm looking at something, you know, three times as big as me. I'm thinking, fuck, I don't want to tackle that guy every day at practice. Yeah, his neck is bigger than your thigh. Yeah, so that quickly converted me to go play receiver. You used the term bounce back. Explain what's a bounce back. Well, we get a lot of them. You know, what happens is you get a player that goes to a Division I level. Sometimes they just, you know, it's very difficult when you're the man in Pop Warner, you're the man in high school, then you go to college. And, you know, everyone during the recruiting process, you are the man. They recruit you like the whole system's going to be based around you. And then you get up there, and you're undersized. You're not fast enough. You don't know the plays. You don't know the drills. And next thing you know, you're getting yelled at. And I cannot compare it to a military, but it's like a drill instructor yelling at you, and everything you do is wrong. So a lot of egos get hurt, and they come back. Or you get players up there that barely made, you know, eligibility much harder now than it was back then. But you get players that, you know, just couldn't handle the college process, that fell out of college, and they come back. So, you know, we would get people, you know, such as, you know, Leonard Russell, who wasn't a teammate of mine, but we always showed that video for recruiting purposes, even when I was a coach. You know, guys that play Division I level, they come back. Maybe they're not happy at their school. They thought, I should have chose a different location. I mean, when I was a coach, we got bounce backs. But it's someone who went to a Division I collegiate level, maybe a Division II collegiate level, that came back to it. And he went to community college for a second chance to get back into college or to go to a different college. And Leonard was one of them. Antonio Pierce as well. Now, did he go to another school after him? No, I think he's straight Mountie. Yeah, I was going to say, but there's not that many of the guys in the pros who were straight Mountsack. Yeah, well, I mean, Bruce Ervin, Seattle Seahawks. There's another guy. He was out of school two, three years. I don't even think he'd been playing. And he came in and went to Mountsack. Oh, really? I didn't know he was a Mountsack guy. Yeah, you know, as a matter of fact, him and Rocky Sato, one of the coaches with the Seahawks, they're both Mounties, both played at Mountsack. So, you know, Antonio, player of the year. You know, I think Leonard did two years at Mountsack, one back at ASU and then, you know, first round. But Antonio, those guys still come back. I mean, I see those guys when I'm on the sidelines of Mountsack. They still come back and visit Mountsack. Delaney Walker was two years ago when Mountsack was playing, two or three years, I think it was three years ago when they were up in San Francisco playing in the national championship. Delaney Walker was still with the 49ers and he came to Mountsack. He came to the team hotel and spoke to them. So there's a lot of, you know, Mountie pride. You know, we're sack dogs. I mean, believe it or not, people got tattoos that says sack dogs. D-A-U-W-G-S, of course, tattoos. So it's like a community college level, but playing, you know, with a Division I mindset. It's like a club. Speaking of Delaney, well, after your playing days, you coached at Mountsack for a while. You recruited Delaney Walker. I did recruit Delaney. And I tell you, Kittrick Taylor, who caught the first pass Brett Favre ever threw in the NFL. Kittrick Taylor. He's a Pomona High School grad. And, you know, Kittrick Taylor was a Pomona High grad coaching at Chafee Community College down the street. Now, Delaney's Pomona High. So I'm like, well, I got a disadvantage because I'm G-High and he's Pomona High. So there's already going to be a rival because we're city rivals. And then Kittrick's black and I'm white. So I'm thinking I'm a white guy. I'm going up to the block, which HBO had a documentary series, you know, kind of covering that area. Northside Pomona pimps up, hoes down. Really? Yeah. So that was, I was, I was, I lived up that street. I was on Kingsley. So. Can you find that on YouTube? I'm sure you can. It's called pimps up. Pimps up, hoes down. Write that down. Yeah, pimps up, hoes down. All right. So here I am, you know, people who don't know, you know, I'm just a white guy walking in, recruiting this black athlete on the block in Northside Pomona. And then you got Kittrick, who, you know, is a Pomona High grad. So we took Delaney to a lot of dinners, took him up to the Shiloh Inn, Hilltops, and, you know, about weekly we recruited a couple of his, his friends. Well, Joe Steele. Joe Steele was a legit recruit. Joe Steele. Yeah. A friend of the program has been on several times. Joe Steele was someone we wanted. Joe, Joe was a. Great athlete. Oh, great athlete. I used to love watching him play basketball too. I mean, that guy has some unbelievable hops. Great personality. I mean, that's a guy, the first time I met him, I mean, I seen him play athletically and I was like, I want that talent. And then when I met the guy, I was like, shit, I could hang out with this guy all the time. And that's the one you want to coach because he's going to be fun. And just, he was always, what could I do to get better? Coach, what could I do to get better? And at the same time, he would, you know, he would pull on your chain or something like you were the same age. And then, and then 9-11 hit and Joe Steele signed up. Joe Steele signed up for the Army September 18th, 2001. Yeah. Right after. You know, and he had some other things. You know what? You know, I mean, that, that guy, you know, he took care of his younger brother. Part of it was to making sure he had the money and the benefits to take care of his younger brother. I mean, you know, it's funny to sometimes, you know, people look society might look at him and try to get him a bad rap, but that's someone who tried to do all the right things. And society almost failed him. Well, we talked about it earlier. Guy. It's just circumstances. Yeah. Not getting in the right, you know, who knows what would have happened. Yeah. Yeah. I think, you know, maybe that doesn't happen if he doesn't have the obligation and the duty, you know, and the manliness and willingness to go out and kind of help his brother. I mean, he could have had a great college career because he had the size. He had good speed. He had great hands. He threw the football further than any of our quarterbacks. I mean, he probably could have been a quarterback too, as well. Had, you know, groomed in that right situation. He was a legit, he was a legit recruit though. But Delaney, you know, that, that was, probably the best high school football player that I recruited. And I knew it. I saw him and Odell, I think it was Odell Howard. They both were at Pomona high, but Delaney was the biggest, strongest and fastest football player every Friday night. Matter of fact, the coaches criticized me. Head coach, Bill Fisk, Mountie Bill, another Trojan. He told me, stop just going to Pomona high games. You need to go recruit all the kids. I'm like, coach, if we get this one right here, we're good. You know, and Delaney was an unbelievable strength. And speed and, and what happened with him now, what happened? Now I tried to get him at, at USC and Pete Carroll told me this one, Mike Williams was a USC. And this is, you know, I don't want to say Mike Williams, a bus and NFL, but this is when he, you know, he's going to be the next Keyshawn Johnson in the whole bit. And, you know, Delaney, we're, we're going to try to get out there. And Pete Carroll told me this would be like having two Mike Williams on each side of the ball. I mean, you know, when they line up offensively and Delaney could have been, and I still believe he could still be an NFL safety or linebacker. I mean, you see what he does on, on special teams, but we tried to get them in SC. I left Mount Sac. I was actually still driving from my house, going over to pick him up to take on a Mount Sac, come back to my house, take my kids to school and then go to work. So I wanted him to finish up with his degree and we just couldn't get a man, but we ended up getting them central Missouri where we had Greg Valenzuela, a quarterback that played at Charter Oak that we coached, you know, had a Mount Sac and he went over there. Of course he was all American kick returner, wide receiver. And then, you know, when I still play, and then, and I still firmly believe he could be, he could be either side of the ball. He's that much of a talent. Another Mountie, Anthony Cavill, right? Yeah. Anthony Cavill. Matter of fact, I played against him in high school. That's, that's my fame. Picked him. We played La Pointe his senior year, but. But for those that don't know Anthony Cavill, you should because there's some people that say if he played in the NFL, they think he could have been one of the all time greats. He's a legend in Canada. He is the greatest CFL quarterback to play statistically. He won more great cups than anyone else. Oh yeah. He is statistically. The best. No, everyone associates Doug Flutie. Well, don't, don't say like that. I'm not putting Doug down. But Cavill is number one. Yeah. Anthony, Anthony Cavill is. He's another Mountie. And I, and I read and thing that people convinced, there are several people convinced he could have been one of the all time great NFL quarterbacks. If you got a chance. Yeah. He unfortunately didn't. And coming out of Mount Sac, he had one offer, Utah state. And that was it, you know? And you know, no one recruited him really out of high school, thin Mexican kid coming from La Pointe. No one gave him a shot. Tom Mard, saw something in him, went up there and lit it up for two years at Mount Sac, Utah state. And I think he's had a couple NFL shots, but he's staying in Canada now at this point. Yeah. Well, he's shit. He's almost 40 years old. Yeah. He's lucky he's still playing. Well, I guess probably one of the articles I read, he went and tried out with the Steelers and he had gotten really hurt before he went for the tryout and it didn't, didn't go so well and circumstances. Yeah. That's all it is. Shit happens. Yeah. You know, after Mount Sac, you, you, you, you had a great career at Mount Sac, you know, use that. What was the recruiting process? Like what would you say? Hey, look, I want to go to USC. You at this point, you were 23 years old. The funny thing is I grew up a USC fan. And, uh, when I went back to Mount Sac first year, the academic advisor wanted to let me play out of 1.22 GPA. I didn't read my first book until I was 19. I never completed a book until I was 19. So my first English class I took at Mount Sac wasn't even transferable. So, uh, by the time I graduated from Mount Sac, I mean, I had, I knows, you know, it took me three years, you know, I'd really kind of transformed into something different, but I grew up a USC fan. And then when I was at Mount Sac, they said, you need to have an ed plan. Which school would you like to go to? And I, I always liked Berkeley. I liked the whole, you know, they're there. You know, you look at the sixties and the Berkeley, I mean, who, who wouldn't want to be around Berkeley? So I was like, I'm gonna go to Berkeley, great education, you know, liberal and everything else. So I actually had an ed plan through Berkeley and they did actually offer me a preferred walk on. But, you know, the, the schools I was recruited by was Columbia. I was supposed to take my trip to Columbia. They had a, you know, kind of like a blizzard right now, snowstorm. And we were going to have to postpone my trip, never ended up making it. And that was the school that I really wanted to go to. Once I felt like, you know, I evaluate all the schools academically, Ohio U actually verbal too, but they wanted me to leave. And a good friend of mine, Casey Gale went there and, and we grew up together and he was already there. So it was going to be, you know, he was another receiver. So, you know, we, we felt we'd be, we'd be the two receivers and they wanted me to leave my children behind to, to get acclimated to college. And at this point I'm a straight A student, you know, I had five B's. So I'm like, you know, I don't, I'm acclimated. You know, I'm, I'm, there's no way I'm leaving my children behind. I took a trip to San Luis Obispo in central California, left in the middle of my trip, new, absolutely for sure. That's not for me. I mean, everyone, it's, I'm a white guy and there's a lot of white people up there. It's the beach, but I'm fair skin white. It's just, I just, it's just not me. It's not my style. I'm more IE. Took a trip to Chico state, but loved it up there at Chico state. I have some cousins up there and got recruited by BYU. My wife's Mexican from Mexico. She's like, I can't, I can't do it. She's like, I married one white guy, but I can't live with nothing but white people around me. Did they offer you any money to go there? They did. Of course. I mean, I was a high academic student as well. And, and BYU actually was a great fit because you had a lot of other parents there or older players because of the LDS, you know, the Mormon missions. And, and, um, you know, it's hard to get in there academically. And, and I think that style probably would have been better than SC just because they were kind of like a, a quick short route, dink and dunk. Did you ever, at some point you say, look, I'm just going to take what I can get as far as a free, free education, you know, a sub, a sub six foot white guy with two kids, 22 years old. Those guys aren't getting scholarship offers everywhere. Uh, I, I, I, I, I, here's the funny thing is I, I, uh, university of Laverne, isn't it? You know, you're a starving student, division three school. They keep calling and calling and calling. I'm like, you know, in my mind, I'm like, I'm better than division three. I got to go somewhere else. And, um, they said, we'll give you a free lunch. Just come over. We'll feed you blah, blah, blah, blah. So I'm a starving student with two kids, free food. I'll take it. So I go over there and they put a financial aid packet together that says I'll pay nothing. I mean, you know, with all the, with the, with the financial need, academics, everything else. So, you know, we, you know, my wife and I, we talked about Berkeley, but it was like, I'm 60 degree weather. You're not gonna be able to handle East coast, Northeast, you know, um, we're not to mention raising two kids in New York city. That's what she said. Who's going to watch your kid? Yeah. So, um, we actually considered doing Laverne. And then my wife was like, well, Laverne could do it. Why can't someone else? And, uh, you know, Berkeley came through with an ed plan where I pretty much was going, you know, pay nothing. UCLA did too. I don't even know why I applied to UCLA. Cause I, you know, I mean, I grew up SC person. There was no way I was going to go there, but SC came through. And, um, just for me to say, yeah, they said, we'll give you this much money academically. And, um, wasn't going to come very little out of pocket. We called the coaches. They knew who I was. Cause Leonard green was going there. Jesse Davis was going there. And I was maybe at practice for a week and a half. I'm like 23 against some, you know, I just got done playing community college football training with a bunch of, you know, Daryl Henley, who's locked up. I mean, that was one of my, my, you know, the people I used to train with and Rodney Thompson and Rodney Thomas and, and different NFL guys. So I'm out there. It was a bunch of high school kids. They just got recruited USC. I stood out maybe there a week and a half. They told me to go see some academic advisor and they said, Hey, everything's paid for. Wow. Yeah. There's a big difference between an 18 year old kid and 23 year old. Yeah. Without a doubt. And you're going in there and these kids have been told that their shit don't stink. Coming in SC. I mean, yeah. You know, not five bigger programs in the country. Yeah. And you got this guy who came through the chainsaw bracket with a couple of kids. It must've been tough. You know what I mean? Cause it was a lot of those guys probably came, came at you like very disrespectful. Yeah. Well, you know, I remember we had Ken grace. He was a wide receiver and he's smaller than me and I'm not a big guy, but my thing is I've always been one of those weight room guys and pushups and everything else. And, you know, you, you grow up white in there where I'm glad you learned to fight. And usually I was the one that initiated. And so, you know, I mean, I think, I think the reason why I got to kick it with so many people is cause I was the crazy white guy who would go start a fight or something. So anyways, Ken grace, he tells me my fresh, you know, my first year there that I'm a character. I'm like, I'm going to carry his bag, you know, to the bus and all this. And you're 23. Yeah. And I'm 23 and I'm thinking, I ain't carrying. I'm like, I'm a father of two kids, you know, and you know, and you smaller than me, you know, it's not like one of the big guys is trying to punk me. So I'm like, I'm not carrying anything. And we kind of get out at Friday where the Coliseum stretching before the game, we're going to open up against Washington. He's, he's wolfing. So I'm wolfing right back. We brought to get down on a Friday, you know, Coliseum walkthroughs. So then I talked to my buddy, Jesse Davis and Marcus bonds. My two friends have been locked up in the Chino prison system before us. Hey man, you know, you guys got my back on this. Cause I'm not bowing down at this point. They're like, man, he ain't gonna do nothing. He ain't gonna do nothing. So, um, you know, he afterwards told me, he's like, I ain't carrying shit for you, man. You know? And he was like, well, we're going to get all these guys. We're going to fuck you up. We're going to get you this and that. So, you know, I looked him dead in the eyes and I don't care how many people come with my ass. I'm a fuck you up when it's all done. And that was it. You know, and after that, I never carried anyone's bag. No one ever came at me. Um, you know, not that they could, but I think they just knew I was going to stand my ground. Well, you had some guys in that, on that squad, that SC squad. What was that? 95, 94, 95, 95, Rose bowl, 96. I'm playing wild playing in Rose bowl. You got Keyshawn Johnson squad, Tony Basselli, T-bone, T-bone of the funny story with Tony. There's a guy you almost backed down to. I would have backed down to him. We, we, uh, in the showers, you know, the showers all open up in the side. I usually walked in closest to my locker room was where the hot water was. And as you went further down, it must've been away from the heating system. So it got to the colder water. But one day, Jess Hogan, a walk on running back was in there showering T-bone. Tony Basselli comes walking in and he just get the fuck out my shower. That's all I told him. Jess Hogan stepped over. So, you know, he rinsed off. We were walking out and I said, man, why you get punked like that? I'm kind of teasing him next day. I'm in that shower. Tony Basselli comes walking in. I'm about to rinse off, fuck out my shower. So I'm thinking I would joke with them and said, man, you know, when I'm done, you know, kind of, you know, fuck you. When I'm done, I'll get out. And it was like, someone hit the mute button. Like the shower sound even turned off. Like everyone stopped. And then I'm like, Oh, you know, and I said, I'm just kidding. Let me rinse off. And I walked out and everyone's like, dude, why don't mess with T-bone? He's going to kick your ass. And it was like, everyone on the team kept coming up to me like, dude, Tony's going to kick your ass. What were you thinking? And I'm like, I was just joking. And everyone's like, no, dude, you don't joke with T-bone. So for about a 24 hour period, I'm, I'm shitting bricks. Cause I'm thinking this guy's going to kick my ass. He's, you know, he's six, six, 300 pounds. You're looking at his belly button when you tell him this. Yeah. I mean, we were both sitting there, you know, with the way God made us, but naked. I mean, you know, his balls on your chin, you know what I mean? Standing up. Yeah. He was going to billy club me with his dick. I mean, you know, what was I going to do to fight him? So, uh, next day we're in the weight room, James Strom, our strength coordinator is in there. He opened it up. I'm in there early. I was probably in there early. So I gave my workout in before I saw Tony and in comes Tony Bozzelli. And I fight, man, you know, I was just joking yesterday. He said, yeah, nobody like, you know, have big, big relief off my chest. You know, yeah. And I was like, cause I was not going to be able to fight that guy. You know, Keyshawn Johnson. What was it like playing with Keyshawn? Number one draft pick. Well, he was a number one draft pick overall. Tony Bozzelli was number two. Or two. No, T-Bones the year before. Tony Bozzelli was number one draft pick the year before. Back to back number one picks. USC has a history of having number one picks. You know, Keyshawn, the funny thing is when we started talking, we, you know, I was talking about my friend and he was talking about his friend as Claudius Wright, who was a Pop Warner guy that I grew up with who played the University of Arizona and then later with the Raiders. Um, so Keyshawn's like, no, I grew up with Claudius. I'm like, I grew up with Claudius. I'm like, it can't be the same Claudius. And, and it's Arizona week. Like, that's him. Like, no, that's my buddy. I grew up with him. And then we realized we used to compete against each other when we were younger. And I, I finally remember, oh, Keyshawn, I remember you, you, that skinny kid, that tall skinny kid that always talks shit. And then he remembered me, you know, oh, you're the white kid. I was the only white kid. So, you know, he's an LA guy. What did he do in high school? Uh, Dorsey high school, I believe, you know, but anyways, um, uh, you know what? Everyone was a slam Keyshawn when he came out with the book that, you know, that, that he wrote or someone wrote and, you know, titled them. But here's one thing I would say about Keyshawn. He did work hard. He knew his stuff. I remember one time, uh, um, you know, he had the coming out party for football, not, you know, coming out can mean something different in today's terms, but, you know, he had us coming out party and it was a who's who, you know, it was there. And power 106 was talking about, you know, the, the, the big radio station here was talking about who was there. And I mean, they said, you know, the two, you know, the alcohol stops getting served. So it started in, by the time it was done for, and that was the big talk. And the next day, man, he showed up to class, you know, and, and, and I mean, he got his degree. He promised his mom, his degree. Um, you know, I mean, he, you know, I remember only time I ever said, you know, you know, you start to get a little jealous when you don't get a play as the Arizona state game. And I was like, well, shit, if they threw me the ball 10 times a game, I would, I'd be balling out too. And I was like, when's the last time Keyshawn did something. And right when I said that, he kind of hit, shook a DB, made a move on a safety and ran for a touchdown. I'm like, yeah, he's great. I don't know why I'm hating on him, but number one pick overall. No, he was, but I always say that, man, he, um, another favorite story of mine was, you know, we, we went to, um, they, they flew him over to Disneyland, him and John Robinson. We're practicing this for the Rose bowl. So we're practicing and here comes a helicopter lowering on our field. So we're all sitting there watching, you know what I mean? Practice has stopped. The helicopter is landing, helicopter lands, outcomes, Keyshawn Johnson, which we didn't even know he was on there. So he's coming out like the president of the United States. He comes down, he walks over to where we're all standing. He looks at us, turns back, looks at the helicopter and goes, I think I'm gonna buy one of those, you know, but we went to Disneyland that day and, and we had kids signing autographs. Um, you know, we'd always go out and we went, you know, we, we go to the hall to eat and, uh, Keyshawn signed every single one. And I remember he was eating and somehow some kid got in there and they asked him and, you know, can we get your autograph? He said, man, I'm eating. And he saw the kid's face getting real sad. And he called the kid back and signed his autograph. I mean, he did all those right things. Um, you know, I, I always tell people, you know, I, you know, I know the media when he was younger in the NFL, they made bad things, but he actually really was a good guy. He did work hard. He was a great teammate. He was great for the youth in our community. Never turned down an autograph. And I mean, those things, you know, as a father at that time, and my son looked up to Chad Morton, who also went to the NFL. And I'm very thankful for the way Chad treated my son when my son was at the practices, but Keyshawn did all the right things. And, and I mean, it was, it was great. We actually graduated, uh, side by side and he signed a 10 million, I think signing bonus with Adidas and a 10 million signing contract with Jed. So he made 20 million before he stepped in, but we are going to graduate. And, uh, he said, Hey man, all ASB, ABC, ESPN is there to film it. And he wanted to switch names. So when he went up there, it would say Roddy Layton. And when I went up there and said, Keyshawn, we thought that'd be funny. And I did, it's about the last minute. And I said, no, let me, I want to make sure my, my mom and dad get to hear my name when I walk across the stage. But he actually is a good guy though. I'm sure he is. And you almost went in for him in one game, right? Here's my note. You know, when USC, Notre Dame play together, you get Ronnie Lott and Joe Montana, Anthony, all these great, yeah, great, great alumni's come back and talk. And, you know, and Anthony Davis gets to come back and talk about his years, you know, what he did to Notre Dame, the Notre Dame killer. So, we're playing Notre Dame at the Coliseum. And, you know, we, we're on a loose streak. We haven't beaten Notre Dame in a couple of years now. And, we're driving down the field and the referee tells our coaches that number three doesn't have knee pads on. Keyshawn doesn't have knee pads on. So, I see this as an instant opportunity that, you know, someone has to go in. So, I put my helmet on, I slide forward, the coach looks me in the eye and I'm thinking, hell yeah. At this point, I'm like, throw me a dig, a post, I'm taking it. And Dave, coach, I, I, I, I don't even know that I'm, I'm gonna catch the ball. I have plans. I'm gonna catch the ball score. I'm gonna run up the tunnel. I'm gonna just run through the end zone, up the tunnel. I'm gonna disappear. Now, the crowd at 95,000 just saw a football player score a touchdown and disappear. And when I come back out, I'm gonna be riding Traveler, the horse, you know, with the sword up high, yelling fight on to get the crowd going. So, I have all these wild dreams. So, the coach looks at me, I'm ready to go. He's like, Layton, and I'm, here I go. I mean, dream all night, you know, USC, Notre Dame, I'm about to go in. And give them your knee pads. Oh, shit. But, that drive, we, Keyshawn got to stay in. We drove down the field. We tied the game. So, we broke the losing record. On your knee pads. Because of my knee pads. That's my contribution. Joe Montana might have a story. Ronnie Lott, Anthony Davis, but no one's gonna beat my story at USC, Notre Dame. The knee pads. It was the knee pads that did it, man. So, you got in a few games, right? I did get in a few games. I was talking that night, a good friend of mine, Frank Brady, we both, he walked on to San Diego State, and got to play at San Diego State. We both went to Mt. SAC. And, both of us that year, we, you know, USC beat Cal Berkeley 66 at three, I think, that year. Jesus. And San Diego State beat Berkeley that year. So, we both got to play against Cal Berkeley, and both of us actually talked about going to Cal Berkeley. So, Cal Berkeley ended up being great for me, you know. And you could have played there, though. Yeah. Look, and it's great, you know, to be a Trojan, but do you ever say, shit, I had a few more years left in me, and I could have played somewhere. Do you ever regret that? I do. You know, it's, I felt like I got winged off of football. It's great. 95% of the time, I'm glad I went to USC. Received, I mean, it's a free education. I got to, I got to play for John Robinson, you know, a head coach I grew up idolizing. Charles White, who was one of my favorite collegiate running backs, was my running back coach. Dennis Thurman, who I always tell people, I thought was the first prime time before Deion Sanders. You know, he was our DB coach. That was great. But then sometimes I'm like, what if I would have went to Chico State? I could have had two more years, I could have had fun. You know, I mean, a San Luis Obispo. That's the, that's the, and this question, you know, is it better to be a big fish in a small pond, or be a guppy in a big pond? Malcolm Gladwell's book, David and Goliath, says it's better to be the big fish in a small pond. Well, you know, at least you would have played. Yeah, I would have. You know, I probably would have played more in one game than I did in my two years at USC. Or even at Cal. At Cal. You know, and that's, but, but I grew up an SC fan. It was a great experience. I had teammates. I got to play. You know, John Robinson, when I was growing up, it was the 70s. I mean, John, you know, I mean, USC went to eight Rose Bowls in 11 years. It was a poster on my wall. I was a huge Ricky Bell fan, Charles White, Marcus Allen, and, you know, John Robinson's the coach, so I got to play for him, and we, we were going to play, our senior year, we're playing the Rose Bowl against Northwestern, and I know. Wow, that was, that was that Northwestern team that came out of nowhere. That's right, yeah. Donnelly, and everything else, yeah. And now, you know, we already did the pregame warmups. Robinson, who was a hell of a motivator, great speaker, he gave this great speech. We're going to leave, and, and, you know, the team's going out there. We're, we're, you know, it's kickoff time, and the little OCD I have, I got to go wash my hands, because I know I'm going to be chewing sunflower seeds on the sideline. I want to make sure they're clean. So, I go back in there, and I kind of take those last few moments to realize this is where I'm at. I'm, I'm about to go out to the Rose Bowl, play a nationally televised game with John Robinson, the coach who I looked up to as a kid. Not just a nationally televised, the Rose Bowl. the Rose Bowl, right? So, I go in there to wash my hands, and I'm just overwhelmed with this sense of emotion. I, I go, I turn the water on, I start washing my hands, I look in the mirror, in the reflection, there's a bathroom stall that's missing a door, and sure enough, John Robinson's in the middle of wiping his ass, and we make eye contact, and that's my moment, seconds before going out to the Rose Bowl. And I thought, oh, there goes that great image, and here's this great coach. I caught him, and that action, you know what I mean? You're talking about the most vulnerable moment. So, the whole Rose Bowl game, I couldn't get that image out of my head. Matter of fact, Arsenio Hall was on the sideline, and we, I talked to Arsenio Hall the whole game, and, you know, I mean, for a couple moments, you know, we would talk about stuff, and this is when he was off, and I was like, we gotta get you back on TV, man, like I'm some producer, right? So, every moment, I kind of forget about the John Robinson thing, and then, you know, timeout break, or a lull between our conversation, it would come right back to me, and I'm thinking, oh, great, that's the way I'm gonna remember J-Rob. You're lucky Robinson said, hey, Layton, come here, wipe my ass. Thank God he didn't know my name, huh? I'll tell you what, one practice, he called us in, and, you know, John Robinson, he's a joker, you know, he has great funny stories, but he called us in at practice, the end of practice, and he has this big, I mean, our practices are, you know, all the football players, the trainers, the alumni, the fans, so, you know, there's a couple hundred people there, yeah. So, you know, tell a joke, well, the players are like, you know, Layton, Layton, so they have me, I get up in the circles, me and John Robinson, and they're around us with a hundred football players on the knee, and I'm behind that, or the, you know, the fans, the boosters, the trainers, everything else, the joke goes, and I'm, you know, you know, I call John Robinson J-Rob, I'm probably one of the few people that, you know, would say it, but the joke goes, you know, there's, there's, you know, a couple different kind of orgasms that a woman could have, and one's a positive orgasm, one's a negative orgasm, one's a religious orgasm, of course, everyone knows about the fake orgasm, so, you know, the positive orgasms, and that girl's just like, oh yes, oh yeah, you know, the negative orgasms, when she's going, oh no, oh no, now, the religious orgasms, when she's playing, oh God, now, the fake orgasm, and I look John Robinson in the eye, says, when she goes, oh J-Rob, oh J-Rob, you know, and everyone busted up laughing, he laughed, and he turned red, and I was walking away, and a couple of players said, when I walked away, he said, who is that guy? So, I probably saved my time on the team, because he could never figure out who I was. What? Even here? Yeah, who let that guy on the team? When at graduation, though, he came up, and said some really nice things, in front of me, and, you know, the whole, you know, like any coach would say, when a kid's graduating, I wish we'd have played you more, you always worked hard, and I always gave them a good look, that's for sure, and my dad, who's a huge Rams fan, you know, when the Rams lost to the Bears, and, you know, and, and the 85, I think, NFC Championship. Yeah, Eric Dickerson. Yeah, yeah, and, you know, my dad used to get mad, and, oh, damn it, John Robinson, and throw the remote, and stuff, so my dad was right there, John Robinson walked away, I was like, dad, there was your chance, to tell John Robinson, what plays he should have been calling, in the 85 NFC Championship. That team was amazing, and I know, I was watching at the end of the NFL Network, the other day, about Eric Dickerson, and the quarterback for that team was, they were terrible, the whole line was terrible, it was just, pitch the ball out to Eric Dickerson, and let him go, he fumbled 14, they lost 14, Eric Dickerson fumbles that, yeah. Wow. Isn't it amazing though, you go back and watch, guys from the 80s, the NFL Network, which is a godsend, you see, you see Walter Payton, you see Eric Dickerson, you see Ronnie Lott, and they all carried the ball, like a fucking loaf of bread. Yeah, yeah. It's just funny, how that game has changed so much, and those are three, of the greatest running backs, all the time, and they're all running with, Ronnie Lott played defense, but, no, Eric Dickerson, Roger Craig, sorry, thank you, thank you, Roger Craig, same fucking thing, they all carry the ball, up and down, like a street kid. And I was a Payton fan, I met him, I asked him one time, how do you, you know what I mean, because everyone, you know, today is such a high and tight eye in the sky, tight against your chest, four points, five points, and he just says, he has really strong hands, that's all he told me, he has really strong hands, you know, but, I mean, if you're a Ditko, what are you going to tell him, you're talking about one of the greatest, I mean, that was my favorite football player growing up, you know, what are you going to tell him? I know, and they talked about this year, with Bill Belichick, and Ridley, you know, Ridley fumbled, he fumbled the ball like four times, and Belichick benches Ridley, you're talking about some of the greats, of all time, you just got to let the players play. yeah, but here's the difference, that guy is not a great yet, you know, when you're a great, you can get it, it's the story of Jim Brown, showing up late to the bus, Paul Brown steps off the bus, lets Jim Brown go by, the guy one yard behind him, gets cussed at, you know what I mean, I mean, it's, you know, right, Jimmy Johnson, you know, he's like, I have one simple rule, I treat everybody differently, yeah, what are you going to do, players are players, yeah, great way to be successful, so you get out of SC, did you say to yourself, immediately, hey, I want to go coach football, I want to be a football coach, the joke I used to make with my players, I mean, you're talking about, I mean, a lot of guys go on to the NFL, from that team, oh yeah, Sammy Knight, Sammy Knight was actually, probably my favorite player to watch, he's a defensive guy, here's my Sammy Knight story, we're running, you know, ones against ones, number one offense, versus number one defense, the play was at 887, Keyshawn runs a dig, across the middle, converts it, you know, from a pose to a dig, he catches it, it's uncovered, he goes, coach Burns, our defensive coordinator, screams and cusses at the defense, what they should have done, and then he yells, run the play again, run the play again, so, same play, same play, so everyone in the world knows what's coming, well, they're not going to let Keyshawn run, across the middle, so of course, Leighton, you know, we'll put you, in, so, I don't even know if I got a hand on a ball, Sammy comes, I know my helmet hit the ground, before my feet did, I mean, they leveled me, I'm on my back, seeing stars and birds, and coach Burns jumps over me, and pounds Sammy in the chest, like, that's how you fucking hit, and da, da, da, I'm like, hey, thanks, you know, I mean, makes it easy, when you know where the ball's coming, and what route I'm running, but, and the way the game's played today, that's laundry everywhere, that's freaking 50, it's an ejection, our whole league's become less of five, you know, I mean, that's, I'm a wide receiver, and that is the rule, when you go across the middle, you know you got to take a hit, you know, and I'm not saying these deliberate hits, but, sometimes I see hits, and it's through a receiver's eyes, that I see stuff, but I don't, no, it's football, I mean, you know, it's football, why, you know, I know, once the damn science gets involved, you start looking at these concussions, I know, you can't win, you can't win, the thing though, leaving SC, the joke, because, I mean, Sammy Knight, and Keyshawn, Tony Bozzelli, Daly, Daly McCutcheon, I mean, we have a lot of guys, I'm on a guy, Daly McCutcheon, Bishop of Mont, Bishop of Mont, yeah, so he's a son of Lawrence McCutcheon, so, you know, D-Mac, all these guys are going to the NFL, my joke was always, you know, I'm going to get there, but I'll just be the referee, and I'm like, but I'll be wearing spat and eye black, I'll look good as a ref, you know, so, you know, I had an opportunity to be a GA, a couple places, SC just wouldn't be a fit, what am I going to tell players, that started over me, hey, you should really cut your route, break it off this way, well, yeah, but I mean, you look at guys like Bill Belichick, and Josh McDaniels, and they've played a lick of real football, in their lives, but, yeah, I didn't see any point, yeah, but, yeah, I went back, and I went back to Mount Saks, where I ended up coaching, how long did you coach there, for four years, three, four years, four years, and at that point, did you say like, hey, I want to, I want to use this, to get back into, I did, there was a time, where I was like, yeah, I want to go be division one coach, when the USC staff went to UNLV, there was some interest, you know, and I still do, I mean, I sat down this year, with the ASU head coach, who's a former, world history teacher, and he first coached, the junior high, Brady Hoke, who's now in Michigan, I know I sat, and talked to him, and he was a former, probation officer, who started coaching, I mean, and all these guys, you can make it, but, that was when I was younger, you know, just with children growing up, I mean, I was coaching my daughter's, travel softball team, and it's just a commitment, it's not, it's not a single man's job, I mean, it is a single man's job, it's not a married man's job, and I mean, you know, my wife, and family, already had to make a commitment, to let me, you know, be on the sidelines at USC, and, you know, I don't, I don't about it anymore, I mean, it's still there, I would like to be able to, but, you know, I mean, I think where I'm at, it's about where I should be at. Yeah, you don't think, even still now, you know, the kids are older, kids are older. Well, this year, you know, I was sitting and talking, and, I'm interested, there's no doubt about it, it's just how much I could switch, you know. Look, from knowing you, I think you'd be great at it. Yeah, I think I'd probably be better at it, I think you'd be great at it. Because, you know, high school, you know, and college, you get to, it's one thing I love to Mount Sac, there was no meetings with mom and dad, you know, shit, I mean, I had 52 wide receivers one time, I cut 26 in one day, and I didn't have to have one parent conversation, on why your child was cut, your kid's just not good enough to play here, you know, and, bounce backs, we talked about earlier, I mean, I had Aaron Holsack, who was a bounce back from Utah State, I had Scott Mitchell, who was a bounce back from New Mexico, I had Delaney Walker, who was going to be a future guy, I had James Banning from, or James Carter from Banning High School, I mean, we had kids from all over Southern California, that were studs, so, I mean, your kid's just not good enough, you could say, you know, you do that in high school, oh, little Johnny's mom wants to sit down, and discuss why, you know, that kind of stuff. And the way it is, they all have a voice, because they're all special. Oh, yeah. But once they get to that next level, yeah, fuck it. Yeah. You know, the funny thing is, I keep saying, I tell people all the time, only six and a half percent of high school players, go on to play any level of college, and everyone thinks their kid's going to be division one, and then, you know, it's 1.8% of division one players, get drafted in and fail, you take a hundred division one college football players, only two go to the NFL, 98 are to go do something professionally, outside of sports, but you know, everyone thinks their little Johnny's, is going to be the next great one. And, that's what would, well, I'm in the business as well, is one of the things that kind of, that gets me, but I think you could do it. Fuck it, man. You know, you're still a young enough guy. Yeah. You could do it. No bullshit. I don't know if I could take the pay cut though, too. That was a, that's the tough part. I've actually had conversations the last few years, with a couple colleges, had some money thrown my way. I actually make more as a high school teacher, and coach, than I would as a cleaver. Now, the potential is, you know, I, you know, like Demetrius Martin, a UCLA, DB coach right now. I mean, he took a shot in grad assistant at USC, and then he had to come back to Mt. SAC, and coach, because, you know, he didn't get picked up, and then he, you know, he gets picked up at Washington, when Sarkeesian gets there, and then from Washington, he's at UCLA, and now he's making great money. So, you know, the potential is always there. The potential is there, and then, you just gotta, and then all of a sudden, it could be gone like that. Yeah. Yeah. And I have another friend, that's coached several different teams in the NFL. And now he's calling you for a job at a high school. Exactly. For a $2,000 stipend. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. I don't even know if it's $2,000. Yeah. But, yeah, you know, hey, that's life though. Yeah. You know, I mean, you've kind of, in some ways, you know, you're still a young guy, relatively. You know, you've already, I don't know. You might want to take that shot. But now, coaching at the high school level, we don't have a ton of time, but, the game's changed so much. The high school game has changed so much, particularly in this area. Yeah. What do you think of the seven on seven? I talked to all my guests about this. The seven on seven, the culture of the agent, essentially, agents have taken over high school football. the, the, the player agents, I don't like at all. Obviously. You know, but as a head coach, we have to always think about how I'm going to feed my program to be successful. You got to hire player agents. In other words, if this guy's an influential pop owner, a junior all-American coach, and this goes for any sports, I mean, if this is your, you know, you know, club volleyball player agent, or travel, football, basketball, whatever it is. More so in those sports. I think it's more so. More so in volleyball, because they'll never, they'll, they'll never be able to sanction full contact football outside of the high, the CIF high school level. Yep. That's the big advantage. But see, the seven on seven's becoming, it's such a pain to deal with because, and I keep telling these players, I mean, it's good. You're out there competing to get better, but there's no colleges there. And you get these people like, oh, we'll get you a college scholarship and blah, blah. But no recruiters are looking at seven on seven film. And I talked to, recruiters, we had 72 recruiters step on campus last year. I talked to them all. Wow. They don't, they don't pop on a seven on seven shorts and shirts, seven on seven drills or passing. So, you know, that whole bit. And then, you know, here on the West coast, there's warm weather. Everyone wants to do the, the, the run and gun offense and everything else, which, Hey, great. If you got the players that do that, but you know, for a smaller school, you know, those guys are going to get tired running both sides of the ball. I mean, you got to find a way. And, and seven on seven encourages it because it's like, yeah, pass every play. Well, when you're only playing for 25 minutes and you give up, you know, a couple of interceptions, no big deal. And the point I've made in this program before, and anybody who listens will say, Hey, being a dead horse, but it's true. You put so much in the quarterback. Oh, and if the quarterback's not having a day of the quarterback's girlfriend broke up with them in six period, you know what I mean? All of a sudden you're fucked because he's, he's not putting the ball where he needs to put it. You tell me one NFL team that has a good winning record with a horrible quarterback. They probably have the number one defense, but that's it. It doesn't happen. I mean, you know, the last Ravens, a Superbowl, I know the trend deal for effect, but even the last Ravens Superbowl, you know, I go, it wasn't bad, but you know, any team that has a great quarterback, you know, you look at Andrew luck. I mean, Colts aren't horrible and he's a young, good quarterback, but it's a great quarterback. He's giving me one of the best. Yeah. If you don't have a quarterback, you're screwed, you know? Yeah. And in high school, it's not that easy to get, you know, you're not drafting them, you know what I mean? Even still, when you're drafting them, you know, Andrew luck and Peyton man, only come down the pipe once a year. Where's Manziel going? Where's Manziel going? Early, early or late? Oh, team wise, it'd be hard to pick earlier. Like you, if you're a coach, you take them early or late. I would take them. Number one. If I, if I was the Houston Texans, I would take a number one. You can't, the risk, the reward is too high. Yeah. And, oh, you know, I'll make the point again. I think he's going to be better in the center because the ball's going to disappear and the guy can run. I think, I think they actually did him a disservice at Texas A&M, put him in the shotgun. With five wides, but would play action, him booting and shit. Yeah. He's going to make Russell Wilson look average. Yeah. He's ridiculous. He's a freak. Oh, he's exciting to watch. He's a freak athlete, but he's a white boy. So everyone like, oh, he's a spoiled white boy too. But he is, but he's, he, oh, someone's, he, I'd be shocked if he doesn't go in the top 10. Yeah. I'm hoping the NFL adapts to him. I do like this training of the NFL being a little bit more like college football. Well, NFL has become a little boring compared to college football in a sense of the systems they're able to do. They innovate more because there's so many more teams. Yeah. You're talking about a hundred something teams. Yeah. You're supposed to 30 teams, you know what I mean? But Pete Carroll's kind of put the mold out there, you know, drafted, get a defense that can run. Yeah. Hold on to football, get a big back that can run, good offensive line, a quarterback doesn't make mistakes. Yeah. Play action. Yeah. Don't turn it over. Really not that hard of a thing, but you know, people like to outthink themselves, but. Yeah. That's his, that's his philosophy though, in general, you know, defense aside, get the ball off inside, keep the ball. Well, that's a key thing that Pete Carroll has really, I wouldn't say revolutionized the game, but, but you, you've talked to this about this before. He has a sound philosophy and he sticks to it. I don't think a lot of, and he has organizational lead way. Yeah. They give him, they give him the keys to the franchise. I think Belichick has a lot of that too. I think that's why you see those teams be successful. Without doubt. Because they don't have a GM that they don't get along with. They don't have an owner that they don't get along with. It's a one, one vision thing. And whatever you say about pistol Pete guy, fucking wins. He's had a lot of success. Well, he wasn't so successful with the, with the Patriots back in the day. It was only two years. So, you know, as much as I like Drew and I think Drew Bledsoe should, I think borderline whole fama. He's got some great stats. I don't, you know, two years and, and all that. And Belichick book, Belichick came up, Belichick's first year with that team. He was five and 11. Yeah, I know. And he wasn't very great with Cleveland. And they lucked out and they got Tommy Brady. He has six round. And they lucked out. I know. We're broken. I talk about that all the time, but of course it helps. But a guy like Pete Carroll, you must know Pete Carroll fairly well. Had a chance to meet him. The great motivator, great speaker, lots of energy. Yeah. Lots of energy. And like I said, a good friend of mine, Rock Sato has opportunity to coach with them daily. And Pete does a lot of good things back down here in LA still, you know, even though he's up in Seattle, but, uh, um, great motivator, great energy. I love going to his practices. You know, when him and Ed Orton were on the same staff, it was unbelievable. I mean, the, the, the energy and excitement. And I thought we had good practices when I was a player at SC, but those are the best practices I've ever seen. And I've been, you know, I've been to a couple of different NFL practices. Um, and, and I would still say that's the best energy practices I've seen was Pete Carroll's at USC. That's his thing. That's the thing. How was last thing we're going to get out of here. The recruiting process in high school, from, when you were in high school and when you were coaching at Mount Sac, how do you think it's changed now? Because now you're putting kids out and you put a lot of kids out. You put a, how do you think it's changed? Well, internet, it's easy to communicate. You know, it used to be VHS tapes and tape recorder. I mean, when I first started doing that, I mean, you would have to find a player's plays, rate all his plays, then figure out how you're going to cut it. You want the best plays in front. So, I mean, it would take hours to create one highlight reel. And then pick up the phone and then call. And there was a lot of trust related. You know, the older recruiters, still build great trust relationships. Everyone else, I mean, you and I could right now pop on the internet, you know, Hey, Southern California, top wide receivers and some YouTube video will show up. And okay, there's where we go. So that process has really, you know, been helpful. Parents have a much, you know, much better shot, a little bit more of a burden on the play or the coaches now, because there's so much information. How do you dissect it all? You know, I think it's almost too much information. No, because I mean, you know, you, you, you got to go find your guy. I couldn't do it. I've had a couple of guys I've talked to a couple, my buddies want you guys on this 50, 60, a hundred text messages a night. Oh yeah. Every fucking night. You got to respond to everyone because little Johnny has to feel special. Oh, that coach doesn't want me. I'm going to other school or something else. And that's the part that becomes a drain. You know, you really got to stroke these 16 year olds who, you know, think they're the best. And then you become a 16 year old yourself because now you're fucking sitting there all night. Fucking texting. I couldn't do it. That's, that's why it's not a married man's job because eventually your wife, my wife's going to start nagging, you know, get off the phone and, and, and watch murder. She wrote with me, but all my buddies, all my buddies, they're all married. Yeah. You know, and I'm like, how the fuck do you guys do this shit? Why do you do this shit? You know what I mean? And, and just do, it's just the way it is. I couldn't do it. Yeah. I couldn't do it. That's why I think the only job I can have is being a high school coach. And even still you, you're how many on a Friday night after a football game, how many text messages, do you have on your phone? Oh, I mean, sometimes this year I had something that sometimes we're in the forties, forties, literally in the forties. And what? Not in one this year. And we lost two games. We were undefeated league champs. And that was it. I mean, you know, you know, sometimes I get texts and it's, you know, I'll read them at one or two in the morning. I'll be like, coach, throw my son the ball or throw the ball to this. I'm thinking like, do they really think, you know, that the scene from the blind side where Sandra Bullock calls the coach on the sideline, like what coach has his phone on is taking, you know, I mean, my phone's off and that's why. And in movies, that's cool. Yeah. That's cute. Oh, look what she did. She helped get on, you know, geez, the guy's six, six left tackle. What high school coach wasn't going to try to get on me. You know what I mean? That's a, you know, it's funny. The guy I just read the other day, the guy who played Michael or just got thrown off a flight because he's 500 pounds and he took up too much space. The guy who played him, who played him. You think that's cool in the movies. It's cool, but it's fucking not when you're a coach and you put a little time in and people think they can call you. Yeah. And tell you how to do your job. How about some kind of, if you're an accountant and he's sitting there and then there's all these outside people are just going to start texting you. Oh yeah. Hey, that's, that's probably the worst part about coaching. Really? I would think it is the worst. And you know what? The scary thing is, it's not getting any better. No, it's getting worse. That's our society in general. It's only going to get worse real quick before we go. Everybody's talking about the concussion thing. Do you think football as we know it with pads is going to go away? You only got, you only got about a minute. Do you think it's going to go away? What kind of modification do you think is going to happen? Billion dollar industry is not going away. And then they might have, so they're going to just continue trying to find safety. But I'll tell you what, I'm a wide receiver. Knock me in my head. I'll survive a concussion. You take my knees out. My paycheck's gone. They're going to have to figure that out because a lot of wide receivers would say, I'd rather you go up top than down low because you know, this, this is how I support my family. Are you going to let your grandson play full contact football? And if so, when? I don't think he'll, uh, allow me not to. Uh, but when his body's ready, when his body's ready, give me an age. If he's eight and wants to do it, we'll do it. If it's right, coach, if not, let him, let him mature and get to high school. I don't know. You watch what those guys do. I don't know. They put those kids. Yeah. I don't know. Teach them golf. That's a long time career. Still the best sport going. Fuck that shit. I watched him. Masters is boring as hell. Bubba, Bubba Watson's not an athlete. Fuck him. I got more muscles in my legs than he has in his body. That's it. We're out of here. Thanks for coming on. Love to have you any other time. Follow us on Twitter. Hard yards, LA. I'm the coach. We're out. We'll talk to you guys next time.