00:00Yeah, I've never been to a graduation.
00:01Yeah, no, I've never been to a commissioning, so it was super cool.
00:05It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and something that you look at all the time
00:08and you see so much coverage that it gets.
00:10It's truly a special moment for the United States Naval Academy.
00:13So now you're a lieutenant, right?
00:14A second lieutenant, sir, in the Marine Corps.
00:18So it's an honor.
00:20It truly is.
00:21Do we have to call you a lieutenant?
00:24Yeah, well, if you want to.
00:25You can call him whatever you want, but a second lieutenant,
00:27I guess that's my official rank right now.
00:29Yeah, so it's super cool.
00:30It's a blessing to be able to be a commissioned officer
00:32and be in the reserves right now while I play football.
00:35It's such an honor.
00:36What is your military obligation when you're done with football?
00:38So pretty much when I'm done with football, I'll be in the reserves still.
00:41So I'll probably go back active duty if I want to.
00:43We'll play by ear whenever that time comes.
00:45What will you do?
00:46What am I doing?
00:47So in the offseason, I'll do either like a social media event
00:50or there's some type of recruiting or some type of drill work in the offseason
00:54as a reserve.
00:54That's like my reserve duty right now while I'm playing football.
00:57It's a pretty rainy event.
00:59Did that kind of damper things?
01:01No, no.
01:01A little more special?
01:02No, it was a little more special.
01:03That's what it's all about.
01:04You know, it's gritty when you're out there in the rain
01:06and everybody's shaking and, you know, we're all cold,
01:08but we're in it together.
01:09And I enjoyed it with all my friends and family.
01:11So it was a good time.
01:12Is there anything that surprised you about it
01:15or something that made it really special?
01:17I think just being there with everyone.
01:20You know, I was here for two weeks before going back and commissioning.
01:23So being able to go back and see all my friends and my family
01:25and everybody there, the long four years, four or five years
01:28that we were at the Naval Academy.
01:29So being able to go back and celebrate that with them,
01:31that was super special.
01:32What was that moment like for you?
01:34It's a blessing.
01:35It's something that you go through.
01:37I went to the prep school, NAPS, and so it's five years for me.
01:40So it's a long time coming and being able to finally walk across that stage,
01:43get my commissioning, and get my degree in cyber operations.
01:45It's so special.
01:46So I'm excited to get back here and get to work, though.
01:49Are there things that, things about the Naval Academy
01:53that you think helped you in the game of football?
01:56Absolutely.
01:57You know, the discipline, the perseverance, football's a hard game.
02:00You know, it's hard on your body.
02:01It's hard on the mental.
02:02But when you go through, you know, something like the Naval Academy,
02:05it's truly a crucial thing.
02:06And being able to stay focused, stay disciplined, you know,
02:09through the hard times, that's how you continue to get better.
02:11And I think that's helped me out a ton with football, for sure.
02:16What was the speech like?
02:18I guess it was Dan King gave me a draft, right?
02:21Yes, yes, yep, yep, yep.
02:21One of the chairmen of the Joint Chiefs Staff.
02:23So it was a great speech.
02:24It was pretty much just stay cool under pressure.
02:26That was pretty much his main phrase was to stay frosty.
02:29He kept saying that.
02:30That was pretty funny.
02:31But it was just cool to be able to hear from him
02:33and just listen to all the wisdom that he gave us.
02:36It was a really cool experience.
02:38Is there anything else that stuck with you besides other people?
02:40Our superintendent is always a super energetic guy.
02:43Yeah.
02:44And he's such a great leader and such a great officer.
02:46So being able to hear from him as well was super cool.
02:49It was a blessing every time you're here on the streets.
02:51The fact that a military guy made the address was that kind of special too?
02:55Very special.
02:56I know because like they, I guess they have a rotation, right?
02:58President, Secretary, maybe Vice President.
03:01Right.
03:01I think it's one of the first times in Joint Chiefs we've ever done it.
03:05Yeah, I think it was.
03:05But no matter who's talking in there, it's really special.
03:08And being able to hear from them,
03:09those guys are making really big decisions for our country.
03:12So being able to, they have the time to come here and speak with us.
03:15It means a lot.
03:16That's for sure.
03:16Were you surprised to see him there?
03:18Yeah, you know, I was.
03:19Yeah, I didn't know who he would be.
03:21Being able to see him there and who comes to speak with us is really great.
03:25What did your dad say?
03:26My dad, he was just super proud of me.
03:29He was extremely proud.
03:30Like I said, it's five years coming.
03:32You know, you go to the Naval Academy and it's a lot of long, hard days.
03:35And you're just getting better and better every single day.
03:37But being able to finally get that commission, I guess, is what matters.
03:40So it was great.
03:41What made you want to go to the military?
03:44Was there anything that happened that made you go there?
03:46You know, it's just different.
03:48I don't like being like everybody else.
03:50I like being different.
03:51To do something that's special.
03:54The Naval Academy is truly special.
03:55It's a place that you're not guaranteed to go to the NFL.
03:59You're not supposed to make that happen.
04:01So being able to still do that and just continue to work and get better every single day, I think
04:06that's what the Naval Academy helped me do.
04:08And truly, it builds you as a man.
04:10It builds you as a person.
04:11And obviously, the academics are very challenging.
04:13So something that it was a challenge.
04:15And I wanted to go and take a full scheme ahead.
04:17Did you ever consider anything else?
04:19Or just going to college and playing football?
04:20Or was this always like a big bowl?
04:23No, I learned about the Naval Academy pretty late in my high school career.
04:27So once I learned about it, I was like, man, this is a special place that has a lot of
04:30special people that are going to go on to do a lot of special things.
04:33So being able to be around those people for four years, learn from them, and then being able to have
04:38the opportunity to play football and bring that here, it's super special.
04:41So I'm excited to do that.
04:42How's it going for you here?
04:44It's awesome.
04:45I'm learning every single day.
04:46I have a very veteran room with Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen, all those guys.
04:50So learning every single day, it's been awesome to be able to learn from them.
04:53It's really cool.
04:55So how does a gymnast father turn out for this?
04:58Yeah.
04:58I guess the genetics of being physically strong, I guess.
05:02And being able to control your body weight in certain ways, I guess that's a part of it.
05:07But also my mom, I think she was a big-time volleyball player back in high school.
05:10And then just the dedication, the work, a lot of long days, a lot of hard workout sessions.
05:16So I think all that just built up to whatever we just said.
05:18When did you start getting serious with weight?
05:20I'd say I took a weightlifting class my sophomore year of high school.
05:26And I think that just sparked, like, man, I can continue to build my body like this.
05:30So I think I just fell in love with it after my sophomore year.
05:33So it was super cool.
05:34So are you hitting the sled after pretty much everybody was off the field?
05:37That's right.
05:39You've got to put the extra work in.
05:40You know, I missed a few days last week.
05:41And you've just got to continue to get better every single day.
05:43You've got to stack the days, I always call it.
05:45So that little extra time that either before practice or after practice that you spend,
05:49hitting the sled, hitting the sled, and it still is that muscle memory,
05:52that will pay off in the long run.
05:53So I'm going to continue to do that and I'm going to make it work
05:56when the actual pads get on.
05:58Jerry's giving you a lot of feedback for almost every rep.
06:02Yes.
06:02How do you take it?
06:03It means he cares, right?
06:05If you're doing something and he's like, okay, run that back, run that back,
06:08you know, get it right, that's when you know he cares.
06:10So being able to work on that after practice.
06:12I stopped him on this foot off the field earlier.
06:14I think, Coach, like, can we talk through that one more time?
06:16Just how you be coachable.
06:17You've got to be coachable.
06:18You've got to be able to learn from your mistakes
06:20and then go after practice and work on it.
06:22So those are the things I just want to participate better on.
06:24How tough was it as a rookie to ask for a couple days off
06:27even though it was for something like that?
06:29No, the coaching staff and the team and the coaches,
06:32they've been very generous with it.
06:34So I'm just so glad they were able to let me go.
06:36I just went to them and was like, hey, I've got to graduate.
06:38And they were like, go ahead.
06:39So it was super cool.
06:41It's just a blessing that they were able to let me do that.
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