That ain’t loud enough call you yeah for those of you who don’t know me my name is Britt Ken I’m the owner of Kent’s property preservation LLC also known as kpp that part you got it right Yuri mulling renovation experts here in Tallahassee I’m a recent graduate of leadership Tallahassee class 40.
Kpb specializes in kitchen and bathroom modeling along with complete Renovations wood rot decks and porches we also have a complete line of outdoor kitchens and fireplaces and have just recently opened a new showroom right that’s now 650 Blountstown Street Tallahassee phone number 850-567-1722 over the years kpb has won several
Awards such as the 2016 and 2021 Wakulla area area business of the year as well as this past weekend thanks to these gentlemen sitting at this table here we won the Bia which is the building industry Association of the Big Bend remodelers showcase silver Award of Home Rehabilitation greater than 150 000
Thank you guys couldn’t have done it without you kpp is continuously growing and doing everything we possibly can to support our local community we are glad to be here tonight sponsoring Tallahassee quarterback club and we would like to introduce you to an amazing talented young man who has accomplished so much
In his 33 years on Earth he attended Bayside High School in Virginia Beach where he recorded nearly 7 400 yards and 68 touchdowns and was an All-American quarterback in high school this young man played for Florida State Seminoles football team from 2008 to 2012 and was a member of the Pi Kappa
Alpha fraternity he also became the second Collegiate quarterback to win four straight bowl games in 2012-11 Seminoles to an Orange Bowl win against North Illinois and also led the Seminoles to a 12-win season for the for just the third time in program history he was drafted 16th overall pick
In the 2013 NFL draft by the Buffalo Bills he’s in 2017 he signed with the Oakland Raiders into 2019 he was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs but later that year he announced his retirement shortly after announcing his retirement he would join the ACC Network as a college football analyst ladies and gentlemen
I’d like to introduce you Mr E.J Manuel thank you thank you thank you thank you I didn’t start getting nervous until he started reading my bio that’s funny uh in all seriousness uh I first want to thank Hugh Thomas and I also want to thank the Tallahassee quarterback club
Uh for having me come out um it’s been about what three years in the making uh Hugh first asked me if I were coming to speak was it before covet or just after covet very weird time in the world for all of us and thank goodness we’re all still here
Um but uh I just want to say coming into this room I’m looking out the stadium and a lot of good memories out there uh one of my most fond memories uh maybe it’s not as fond uh I remember going out on a Thursday night here in Tallahassee
And we all know if you went to FSU Thursday night it’s kind of the night okay at least when I was in school and uh I had the bright idea during the Spring to go out stay out a little late get to 1 30 1 45 and I was with one of
My good teammates again this was the off season this is not in season nobody freak out it’s all good this is off season um and I was with Anthony McLeod uh he’s from Thomasville Georgia he played defensive tackle number 92. one of my dear friends was still good friends to
This day and uh we go out think Pot Bellies you know a couple different spots out pots out here um in all seriousness and uh we go and get some food after and uh we went to Whataburger a fine restaurant all right fine restaurant especially within the
Budget of a college student okay this before nil I didn’t have any money all right uh so we went and we had the bright idea of getting honey butter chicken biscuits all right a great breakfast but we wanted to have it I got
You we wanted to have it for a I guess a late night snack am I too loud y’all I’m sorry okay um and uh yeah we go and we have our food we go back to my house I lived off of Magnolia at a house my senior year so
We’re hanging out and uh again it was a Friday or incoming Friday at that point and uh we would have an early workout so normally on Fridays in the off-season coach Vic veloria our equipment our strength coach uh we do like an easy Friday kind of like a fast Friday we
Work out we run 110s it’s not too hard so I was like I’ll be fine okay I’m like you know I’m gonna go out have a good time and eat and uh come to find out he’s all right boys change of uh change of plans it’s like what and uh he said
We’re gonna do stadiums I was like oh God uh and my stomach also said oh God because about I guess five or six hours before that I had that honey butter chicken biscuit uh now again I gave full effort like I always tried to do 110 and I got through the workout
Um but I was also on the ground for about I’d say an hour after that in the locker room getting up that honey butter and chicken biscuit so just to again give some fond memories and uh was that too loud I’m sorry it’s a little bit here
And uh yeah so again as I come into the stadium of course I think of touchdowns I think of wins uh I think of you guys cheering for us uh I think of hearing the f-l-o-r-i-d-a-s-t-a-t-e Striking up the band um generally I get goosebumps every single time I come into the stadium uh
And even now as an analyst um it’s really special to come back to games uh covering our team and you guys all knowing my allegiance lies okay let’s be honest uh but also I know I can thank you but I try to be unbiased so when I do
Make comments it’s not oh you’re just a Florida State guy which of course I am but you know I want people to value my opinion um but it really means a lot to me to come back and still get that one welcome from all of you and my wife
Asked me would I be nervous you know to come do this speech and I was like who gets nervous coming to talk to family you know because this is my Florida State family and uh I really feel that way I see a lot of familiar faces I see
Charlie see what I want to expect you to come um but really good to have you here and uh I want to say you are an inspiration of mine since you’re here standing in front of me or sitting in front of me um I can remember my dad was a New York
Knicks basketball fan growing up so I knew Charlie Ward as a basketball player okay and then as I got older I then learned of the greatness of who you were not just as an athlete but also as a person and uh just want to say I tried
To follow your steps as much as I could and um yeah so let me get back to what I was going to say here so again as you uh introduce me I’m from Virginia Beach Virginia I played High School football at Bayside High I was a five-star recruit
Um the way I kind of ended up at Florida State is pretty interesting uh who remembers Rick Trickett offensive line coach yeah Richard he did not play games he did not play games uh but I guess he had a few favorites and uh Rodney Hudson
Was one of them who just got inducted to the Hall of Fame I think two or three weeks ago against Southern Miss and I think I was probably one of them too sometimes and so I remember I was at a camp in New Jersey and I remember Coach
Rick Trickett I didn’t know who he was he saw the little short guy I didn’t know he coached offensive lines I mean he coached the big guys okay um but found out he was Marine he’s a badass don’t be honest like he is a serious dude and I remember him kind of
You know I was let’s say I was where C Ward was and he was kind of on this back fence just hanging out you know trick kind of walks around like this yeah yeah okay just watching him and looking around and uh I remember him calling Jimbo
And I think it was a rising Junior at this time and uh he’s like Jimbo he got to look at this kid manual out of Virginia Beach man it’s a good player he can throw it up and so during that camp I got MVP of that day and uh
Funny enough like literally the next day my high school coach’s phone was ringing off the hook um and I really feel like coach Trickett was kind of that one to kind of get that really going for me even though I got an offer from Florida state but I also got
Like 40 other offers after that too um so I ended up with like 51 uh and the reason I came to Florida State uh Beyond you know playing for Coach Fisher it was really to play for Coach Bobby Brown and uh you know God Rest his soul man because he was
Such a special man for me and my life Grant I only played for him for two seasons my Redshirt year and then my red shirt freshman year uh but I remember specifically my red shirt freshman year Christian Ponder who was a starter that year um he went down uh with a I think
An elbow injury or something after we played Clemson and uh coach Bowden called me into his office uh same office coach was talking about and he set me down now mind you I’m 19. okay uh you know I was a good player but I was nervous you know I mean
I was like wow okay because normally that was ponderous thing he would go and have the coaching meeting because he was going to start that week and he sat me down and he was like EJ I just want you to be yourself I want you to have fun
You know coach downward talk you know what I mean that southern draw I want you to just go out there and just have fun you’ve been doing good on Scout team you know you don’t do what coach Andrews asked you to do when you’re throwing interceptions but it doesn’t because you
Know as a scout team quarterback you’re supposed to throw to a specific receiver now I’m like coach Andrews I’m not gonna get any better if I’m throwing picks man like I actually want to complete the football I was throwing touchdowns on them Tony Carter used to get mad Monroe
Used to get mad uh Jamie Robinson used to hate me I was that you know freshman that I still wanted to make plays uh but in fact it actually was really helping me and I remember getting that first opportunity and like I said sitting down in that chair in that room with Coach
Bound it gave me such confidence and I’m actually getting Goosebumps is now thinking about it because I remember like it was yesterday and uh what a person to instill you know belief confidence love a reminder of who you are kind of gave me self-worth at that time because again I wasn’t playing and
Sometimes as an athlete you kind of lose focus you start to think man and I make the right decision I’m at the right spot and uh he just kind of reinstilled that for me and we went out we played Wake Forest that week we we busted their tail
Uh I had a pretty good game and then we played Maryland a following week we also beat them then we played the Florida Gators I hate those guys and we did not beat them that year so I’ll give them that respect and Tim they had a good team I want to
Say they might have won the championship National Championship that year uh and then we played in that bowl game and who remembers the West Virginia bowl game who’s there who’s at that game all right awesome awesome so I’ll tell you what man going into that game
You got to think about me the moment okay as a a red shirt freshman uh and you’re the quarterback of Bobby bowden’s last football game no pressure exactly literally no pressure and that’s the funny part because hey man no pressure just go out there again have fun be you like coach
Stop playing man I know you want to win this game let’s be real and uh West Virginia went bad down here and uh I think we were having a yeah they were pretty good they were pretty good and uh we weren’t you know we had a I think maybe seven and
Five that year 84 an average years yeah six and six maybe yeah because we had to fight you’re right we had to fight to get to a bowl game we actually uh we’re looking at maybe not going we had to win two of those last three regular season
Games to go to a bowl so thank God we did and uh just playing in that game having success I actually got MVP of that game and I remember getting that Trophy and Coach down looked at me and he said I told you just be yourself and look what happened and literally I’ll
Never forget that moment I’m getting Goosebumps as I say that because it really took my career from a spot where I was like man can I do this to hell yeah I can do this you know seriously and uh it really just reminded me again
You know go out there and and have fun and be yourself and so those are some fond memories I have of Coach B um I’ll tell another quick story as to why I ended up at Florida State so our team Chapman was Clint Ernest I’m sure a
Lot of you may know who Clint is um I’m not sure what Clinton’s doing now but uh he’s still around okay awesome awesome I know he’s not the chaplain anymore but uh great great man and when I say you know Clint has been there for me in
Moments uh where I’ve you know made some bone-headed mistakes as a 20 year old 19 year old you know I’m not perfect that’s one thing I will tell you guys none of us are perfect in this room and neither am I and I can remember Clint literally
Holding me praying with me over certain situations and uh being there for me because again my parents were in Virginia so Clint was kind of like a father here for me and uh funny enough when I came here on my unofficial visit as a junior in high school
Um my high school coach Darnell Moore at Bayside he was like Hey whoever prays with you before you leave their University that’s where you should go to college and I kind of thought about like okay cool like I got you but what coach is really gonna pray with me you know
Like and I grew up in the church and he still you know I’ve given my life to Christ when I was 13. um but yeah thank you thank you thank you um well our excuse me for my cuss words then I apologize uh but in all seriousness uh I remember
We came here on our visit and Myra Rose was a roller scholar a great man I really wanted to be like him as well uh because again he wore free he got his medical degree obviously Myers like a brother to me he’s a he’s a head neurosurgeon at Mass General if you guys
Didn’t know that very very proud of Myron and what he’s done but I remember you know coming in and doing that visit with him and then when we were about to leave to drive back to Virginia Clinton had called my phone he was hey EJ you’re
Still here and I was like yeah Clint we’re about to go to the parking lot and uh he was like well look I want to pray with you before you get in the car and literally I looked at my dad and that was the confirmation that was the
Confirmation I remember we drove about 10 minutes and I said Dad this is it this is where I want to be and I called uh Jimbo and I said Jimbo I want to be a Florida State seminal and so Clint I would say had a huge hand in that along
With Coach Bobby Brown and I’ll tell another story about Coach B so he came to see certainly uh you know back then I guess they still do it now the coaches go on these house visits and they come to your neighborhood and have dinner with you and all that kind of
Stuff so I remember coming to my high school uh first off there was quite a few coaches coming through I remember Nick Saban he flew a helicopter into the field and landed all like oh brother you know that’s not the turf man what are you doing uh Phillips Homer he did the
Same thing but thankfully he practically he landed on the practice field which was much appreciated um and then again uh less miles at the time a whole bunch of coaches whatever whoever you can name it they’ve been there jumper turned all those guys and then when Bobby Brown came it’s a little
Different it was a little different and uh I remember him coming through the hallways be honest with you the school shut down the school literally shut down kids were coming out of their classroom and this is when we had the old phones we didn’t have iPhones she had like the
Little flip phone within you know the ugly Flash and all that but everybody was taking pictures with him and uh it was just really really cool but that wasn’t even it was more so when he came to my house all right now we didn’t have
A big house and it was kind of tight and fact I think our AC might have not been working that day and I just remember being real hot in there but Coach B was so cool and he didn’t you know he didn’t make my mom or
Dad who I’m sure were embarrassed at the time he didn’t make them feel bad or nothing like that he sat right in my Dad’s chair um actually my dad was about to sit down but coach Donald you know if I sit there and he’s like yeah you go ahead coach
You got that you got that um but funny enough we had a neighbor uh his name was Mark all right and he lived two houses down from us huge Florida State fan and uh somehow Mr Mark knew that coach balance in town so sure enough I remember him knocking
On the door and I didn’t my mom got it and I was in there talking to coach and Jimbo and uh he asked like the most random question hey Jackie that’s my mom’s name Jackie Jackie y’all got me uh y’all got any sugar y’all got any sugar
Coach battle is that you back there hey what’s going on don’t lie no lie not that up that is God’s Not as true literally Mark walked in and then like 12 other neighbors and our cul-de-sac came over all took pictures somehow have football so coached down this side uh
And again you know coach D was super gracious about it and uh you know he signed everybody’s stuff took pictures and uh one thing that he instilled again to my parents was that he was going to take care of me and that um they you
Know coach Bob knew that I was raised in the church raised by Christian uh family and that was one thing that I know a lot of us players always talk about see where I’m sure you can relate you know he’ll always take us to a church you
Know a Catholic church or a Baptist Church different things like that so then you can experience you know where you can find a church first off here in Tallahassee uh but also you know for those that may not have been raised that way and so just again just bring up
Great memories of Coach Bowden uh and that was a funny story Mr Mark actually still has that football in those pictures um so yeah and we didn’t have no exactly I’m gonna have those little packs of sugar or something like that right um so yeah I want to give again uh a big
Thank you as well I think with Miss Billy ruding where you just want to say hi to you real quick give you some love so cool thing about disability in my relationship [Applause] um obviously I met her when I was here at Florida State but throughout my NFL
Career uh and even to this day you still send me emails just checking on me uh let me know that you’re watching me on TV so I want to say thank you again for that and again that’s what I think is special about being similar you know
This is really a family in here you know what I mean like I said uh getting a chance to come home uh either for a game or for this moment to come speak to you guys it’s special and I really don’t take it for granted I’m super thankful
Uh while I was here at Florida State you know I learned a lot of things uh one of them being toughness another funny story uh one funny at the time but uh against Notre Dame you guys may not know uh throughout that game I think in the third quarter I had broken the
Non-weight-bearing bone in my my uh my calf so I guess that’s the fibula tibia and what is which one is that any doctors here thank you and so I just remember uh I think we were down at that point in that game and uh this was 2011. and uh into
The sideline Olympian or whatever and uh sit down and you know kind of when you have those types of injuries once you sit down that thing starts throbbing and gets real stiff on you and uh I told Coach you know coach Fisher unless I see
The toughness came in uh I said Jim I I can’t walk man I can’t walk I don’t know if I could go he looked at me get your ass back in the game all right coach I got you showing up I pushed through and uh you know threw some touchdowns after that
And we won the game and uh yeah wild enough man so I say I learned toughness I’m making a joke there but in all seriousness you know this this game is not easy uh this game is not for the make of heart this game is not for those
With thin skin uh you know this is a game for people that really love it you gotta really love football if you’re gonna play football your high school players are learning that man like you gotta really love this thing because there’s so much work that goes into it
Um there’s so much Brotherhood so much time spent to be great not not just to be good but to really be great at that Sport and so that was a fond memory that I had and truly just kind of learned and taught me grit I also learned leadership
While I was here you know getting a chance to be a Florida State quarterback alone is pretty cool I’m not gonna lie like that’s that’s pretty dope to say yeah I played quarterback at Florida State and I don’t care if I’m in Florida if I’m in California if I’m in Oklahoma
If I’m in Utah if I’m in London like everybody knows who and what Florida State football is and so that’s just so near and dear to my heart so I learned toughness I learned leadership I also got a great education and I cannot say how important that was to me yeah
One of my favorite professors was Mark Ziegler and uh I think he taught rhetoric didactic literature uh in my junior year and this was when I was in school of communications got my degree there and uh it’s funny because that’s actually what I do now and how many of
Us actually get a chance to use our degree in our profession and so um it’s funny that’s how I ended up doing ACC Network and I’ll get to that later on as I speak but I just gotta say I got a world-class education here and I know a
Lot of players now in college are about the nil and about the transfer portal which I I don’t think there’s nothing wrong with that I think whatever the player thinks is best for him or her that’s what they should do because at the end of the day it’s their career and
They don’t want to look back and make any regrets but I do know the education piece is what you cannot forget about and I talk about it on TV talk about on the radio you young men the the high school players I understand there’s money there’s all these accolades but
Get your education get your degree if you can make any promise to me just get your degree okay please fall back on that at some point um I also learned how to order a drink uh here in Tallahassee again uh in all serious there’s just you
Know some really fun times man um you know I didn’t drink growing up obviously uh but I do again remember summer pool parties going to Chubby’s going to uh Coliseum and you know I’ll tell you what uh as hard as we worked here in the football field it was really cool to go
Out and you know and have a good time because that is also what college is about this is one of the most cool places to go to school uh it’s sunshine I’m from Virginia so we didn’t always get the heat of the sunshine like you get here and you know respectfully
There’s a lot of beautiful women here as well so that also made it very easy to come to Florida State uh again just being very honest uh but to get to the story about how I became an ACC network analyst uh my excuse me sixth year in the NFL
Um so my first four I was with the Buffalo Bills as you all know um my fifth I signed with Oakland Raiders and our head coach was Jack Del Rio now he’s the defensive coordinator for the Washington commanders a fire Jack at the end of the season and
Actually I was dang it because I had a good year with it like I was a background their car I was trying to revamp my career at that point just try to change the narrative around who I was as a quarterback and uh they fired him
Before he got back on the bus to go back to Oakland and I think a few days later they were going to hire John Gruden and I felt good about that because you know I had a new group from quarter I think he had like a Gruden QB camp or
Something on ESPN and uh I did well in that so I thought all right I’ll be good I’ll get resigned great and so uh March comes around that’s free agency and NFL uh they call me back um I had two other teams offered me you know opportunities uh and I ended up
Signing again with the Raiders and so uh throughout that time uh it was good and then it was not so good and I felt like at times you know I wasn’t getting as many opportunities as I would have liked and I felt like he was trying to also
Have a younger player kind of be that back of role which again an NFL and you know this is a pro athlete you kind of learned the business you learned the business it was like okay cool maybe there’s gonna be the spot for me I can go somewhere else but they didn’t
Release me and so the fourth pre-season game of that training camp uh I get to start we’re playing the Seattle Seahawks and uh probably have the best game in my career literally I was 18 to 22 I remember the stat line 18 to 22 224 yards three touchdowns no interceptions
Great game I played the first three quarters got out of there so I was like yeah I got you know I got the backup job I’m good okay cool and so I actually had a condo in Los Angeles at the time that I was renovating took that weekend off
Go down play and they get I get a call from the assistant GM on that day off and uh he’s like EJ uh you in town I was like nah I’ll be back tomorrow morning you know for you know get started with the season because again I thought I
Made the team it’s all right okay well we need to come back today now when you get a call like that after a good game you think maybe you can get a restructure of the contract or you know a pay bump or something like that so I
Was like ah cool okay good I’ll be back I’ll book the flight you know maybe my way back to the airport then my agent called me and I was hey what’s up man I’m all excited because I hated to tell you the news I was like yeah he’s like
They tell you they’ll cut you I was like oh no you know what I mean like and so I end up getting let go uh but this also again taught me toughness it taught me mental toughness and uh you know I went through a lot in the NFL I
Really did a lot of good um a lot of bad and it’s funny and again this is more of a message for you young guys man like I think at that time this is when like social media was getting more popular and you read comments and
You see good things but then you see one or two balance and it hurts it’s like oh God you end up kind of dwelling on the band and I did that in Buffalo I allowed my confidence to slip and this is me being very transparent with my family
Here as I’m sharing this with you guys um and just more of a message for somebody else out there as you hear it I remember let my confidence slip and I was in a very very dark place like I actually went through a depression like
Legit like I was not okay and um you know I ended up seeing therapy and that’s why I say I relied on my relationship with God to really get me back to just being a normal person and thank God I even got through my career
At that time because I was in such a rough spot uh but I remember and I this is where I really learned the business and uh you meet with the GM you meet with your offensive coordinator you meet with your QB coaches you’re heading out
Of the facility and I met all those guys hey man you’re gonna get something tomorrow man you had a great preseason yeah cool I agree and then um I would have thought I would meet with Jon Gruden the head coach you know what I mean just to say bye and uh nah they
Tried to escort me out but I said no no no I’m gonna go say bye to coach real quick and I’ll never forget I knocked on this door and uh he kind of acted like he was on his computer like didn’t want to like
Say nothing to me I was like hey coach I just want to say thank you for the opportunity and I appreciate it uh before I headed out and then you know games came hey man you’re a great guy you’re a great guy so again I took that as a moment of like you
Really gotta take the take the horns of your own career in your own life as well and uh there’s always going to be opposition you know in life it’s not always going to be perfect it’s not always going to be touchdowns not always going to be hand claps uh it’s not
Always going to be everybody cheering you on but I think what it taught me was perseverance it taught me to create other options for myself because once that happened I said okay what’s my plan B even though I still wanted to play football what’s my plan B and while I
Had that time off from playing football because I was a free agent I took an interview with ESPN and the ACC Network that was launching later that summer did two auditions did well and uh okay they were like hey well we want you to come
And be with us and so didn’t play that season Kansas City called me and uh they signed me that February going into 2019 and I was like I’m Gonna Keep playing this will be my seventh season and I’ll go there you know mind you I had three or four meniscus injuries throughout
This time throughout my career too so those were starting to kind of wear on me and I go there April May June own and ESPN was like Hey look are you going to come work and do TV or should we hire somebody else so I prayed on it I
Thought about it hard for at least two or three weeks kind of asked myself hey attachment homes goes down right now based off how my knee is recovering do I think I can lead this team for 167 weeks and this is also a Super Bowl team they
Did win the Super Bowl that year and uh I was honest with myself I was like I don’t feel good enough okay and I ended up telling coach Reed like just how you guys are sitting down face to face across his desk I remember it was a
Monday morning coach read them I go move on and do TV he’s like what you mean you’re gonna do some media today I was like nah nah I’m actually going to forego my career here and start a TV job and uh he’s like you sure and I said yes
Sir and he respected my decision he told me I wish I had you when you were younger because we could have really helped you and all that kind of stuff I was like I appreciate everything but I ended up taking a leap of faith and going into my second career which again
Was a part of my uh my degree and I’ve been doing it ever since I love it I enjoy it I appreciate y’all for supporting me in that I try to get better every time I know I make mistakes of course but again it’s something that
I enjoy and it’s a lot of fun so that’s kind of like my quick story in a nutshell there’s a whole bunch of little details in there but that’s kind of how I became a ACC Network and ESPN analyst uh and I actually still know I can still
Play if I really wanted to but [Applause] um so this is a message and I’ll put these thoughts together uh a few days ago and I just wanted to give some messages because I knew Hugh had said there would be some young athletes here that would be receiving Awards uh so
Just you know you can receive it or you don’t have to listen it’s all good but I just want to share it so my biggest I guess uh advice that I would give to my younger self when I was a junior senior high school ask questions there is no
Such thing as a dumb question I think the more questions you ask the more you will learn in life I think that is so important and something my dad always taught me there’s never a such thing as a dumb question it’s not about who you know I genuinely believe it’s about who
Knows you and who will answer the phone for you if you need a favor or who will answer the phone uh if you need to get you know belt out of something if you need help with something and I say that to say you got to cultivate relationships so when you meet people
Say yes sir no sir yes ma’am no man it takes five seconds to change somebody’s day just by saying something nice always bet on yourself again you’ll run into opposition throughout your journey but the belief in you has to be bigger than anybody else’s and then you’re asking
Bigger than your moms your dads your coaches uh anybody you have to believe in yourself don’t get caught up with an instant gratification I think now we live in a world where you can Google an answer for a test I can send a text to my wife right now
Um I can go on Instagram and look up what LeBron is doing right now like we really have everything kind of the world at our fingertips and I think it’s so important to instill that to even us older you know older people not saying nobody holding here sorry but even us
Grown adults I think it’s so important for us not to get caught up in instant gratification uh it’s okay to fail it’s okay to fail you know I think the best learning lessons I’ve had have been through failure when I’ve messed up when I’ve thrown an interception I saw cover
Free and I thought I could fit it in there but I couldn’t do it so I won’t do that again I won’t make that mistake twice or I made that decision and went through that door shouldn’t have did that let me turn around and go this way
So it’s okay to fail uh because again you always have a Learning lesson from them speak up for yourself this is your career this is your life this is your education this is your story you’ll be the author of your own story uh tell Mom Dad Grandma Grandpa Auntie Uncle cousin
Big bro big sis that you love them I think that’s so important to share love to give love to people that care about you uh that weren’t good for you uh when one door closes another door usually opens so always be prepared for that next opportunity create options for yourself again it
Takes five seconds to change somebody’s life or to get somebody’s card and cultivate that relationship um and this is another one that I think is actually good I’m laughing reading it now uh when you can’t buy property when you care about property real estate
Is one of the best days you can have as an asset and also remember you matter you matter we all matter in this room we really all matter in this room whether we you know have a rough day and you know you and uh bumper to bumper traffic and somebody’s
Cussing you out you still matter all right you still can have a smile on your face and also use your gift we’re all we’re all blessed with the gift we really are um whether it’s to throw a football uh whether it’s to run a business whether
It’s to hire people whether it’s to be a bus driver whatever it is use your gift that God gave you to the best of your ability and then again spread love not hate and uh that’s me in a nutshell man you know again I am just so grateful to
Be here uh it’s always nice to come home to my family and I’m so also happy that our team is doing great this year and uh I would say this on behalf of the players you know you guys are why we do it for real you know uh because it’s
Hard again when we have these tour days and well I guess they don’t have two days anymore they’re getting soft but you’re running the stadiums and all that kind of stuff in all seriousness to know that you have the crowd behind you I remember going to Media day and that’s
Actually how I think I met Miss Billy uh just give me a big hug I didn’t know where I was like man just he’s so nice to me and got my email just always checked in on me uh Beyond football that’s why I think that’s special and I appreciate you for that
Um but again you guys mean so much to me so much to us as Florida State players and uh God bless y’all thank you thank you uh q a yes sir uh one thing I love about it the last three years that’s where the Gators went 25 because
He went 5-1 against these guys but can you tell us the best lesson you learned from coach Fowler the best less maybe the Jimbo yeah it may be best pro list best lesson from coach Bobby Bowden uh C Ward might agree with this one so I remember as a freshman Bill and scout
Team and as a scout team quarterback you think you don’t matter but you actually really do you’re actually getting the defense prepared for whatever opponent we’re playing that week so if you’re playing Maryland you know I’m wearing a Maryland helmet I’m trying to be like their quarterback we’re playing Florida
I’m trying to be like Tim Tebow and uh what really the best lesson I got from coach Bowden on the football field was he would always tell me hey if you throw like a gold ball you know we all know that long go ball never throw it out of
Bounds he would always say never throw a go ball out of bounds keep it in bounds the worst thing that will happen you can get appearance if you throw a short right because then the receiver comes back the DB ends up hitting them you get
A flag so I remember that as you asked that question I was the first thing to come to mind do not throw go by out of bounds I hate when I see guys do that because what a waste of a play uh coach Fisher man I spent a lot of time with
Coach Fisher a lot of time um he was really the one that recruited me here he was a quarterback coach and offensive coordinator when I was in high school and then became the head coach as you guys know and uh I think the biggest lesson really man was
Toughness you know Jimbo Coast is hard the coast is hard and he made practice so hard that when you got into a game it was genuinely easy like it was so easy and you were able to just allow your talents to come to the light and so yeah
Athleticism your arm strength all those things because you were challenged so much in practice you know to the point where if you threw a ball here it needed to be here even though it was a completion okay and then but really that that level of detail I think helped me be a first
Round pick I generally do I’ll give him a lot of credit I mean I don’t know how many coaches have three back-to-back first rounders I mean you say what you want about our careers but we all win the first round and Christian did it I
Did it and then James did it so I think that’s pretty remarkable um my best lesson from the NFL you know uh best memory uh my first Victory ever actually uh against the Carolina Panthers my rookie year uh you guys may not know but I have tore my
Meniscus for the first time in the second preseason game so that was in August and I remember getting surgery the day after and I thought maybe I’m out for four or five weeks which is standard for meniscus and they was like hey we need you back in like two weeks
It’s like wow okay that’s enough and so uh did my best and I was a yes sir guy you know I wanted to please and again looking back if that was my son I’m like nah shut him down you know what I mean he’s a first round pick let him get
Healthy to start his career whatever so go out there uh we played Tom Brady the first game ever and we’re winning TB gets the ball back it was like a minute 20 left they go down kick a field goal and they beat us but my second game
Which is the first Victory throw a touchdown or a game-winning pass to Stevie Johnson against Cam Newton and Luke cookley and all those guys so that was a fond memory of mine and uh it was like an 80 hour drive to do it so great memory yeah
The lesson uh she fighting I guess you know what I mean just keep fighting uh it’s not over till it’s over okay good question yeah well here’s the thing I mean I know he’s done well in recruiting um and I know that with nil that was all
The talk last year we talked about on the radio a lot and they didn’t have the result that they wanted um you know I have a I have a big I have a love for Jimbo man I mean he he was one that got me here I felt like he
Helped raise me in a way but as far as how he’s doing there um you know not as good as Florida State I have to put it like that uh they’re not undefeated Miami blasts them uh and uh now he’s playing with Max Johnson who is Mark richt’s uh nephew if you guys
Didn’t know that he’s his quarterback now as they’re back up their starter got hurt so I think he’s doing the best he can SEC is tough but the acc’s tough as well so I pretty like that yes I do yes all right this one doesn’t involve me okay so what kind of my
Roommate my freshman year was zebri Sanders and we lived at Burt Reynolds Hall shout out to Bert this is liver Burton yeah we all did and so if anyone’s been into Bert you have you walk in the tour it’s a living room yeah TV couch walk a couple more steps and
Then in the kitchen bathroom a couple more steps from the back that was the bedroom all right and uh coach Trickett would have he’s 5 30 in the morning meetings like when we would normally as a team I mean the afternoon like we had classes from eight until I guess one and
But he would make the online go early I’ll never forget zebri uh who played that as a freshman actually forgot to set his alarm and zebra woke up I think uh maybe from my alarm because I was getting up to go to workouts or something at I don’t know
6 30 and his meeting started at six and so I’m getting up and he looked at the clock thinking like it’s okay and I guess he kind of realized that he was late and when I say I’ve seen a man that’s six foot six 350 pounds get up
And out the door so fast it was probably the quickest I’ve ever seen him move in his life he woke up in a panic felt so bad for me think he cried in fact I’m not making a problem but I felt so bad for him uh and cross trigger did not
Care like he still made him run stadiums do bear crawls all that kind of stuff on the ground uh but besides you know that awful story for zebri um coach Trickett you know was such a tough guy I think the first time I actually saw him cry first and only time
I saw him cry is when Rodney Hudson was leaving Florida State like he loved her so much we all knew that her was his favorite because again he would yell at all of us you know cuss out of stage Choice words to us but he never did that
To Rodney so those again some some fond memories that come up about Coach tricks but also I will say you know he he took care of me because he got the offensive line prepared for us quarterback so we could have time to throw and run and all
That kind of stuff so great man great man I got a lot of respect with coach something so I think we’re in favor of the rest of this season huh what is a tracking does you think you pull up the schedule then hold on let’s let’s talk okay you’re a
DraftKings guy are you a FanDuel guy okay you’re talking about favorites uh let’s see let’s look at it let’s talk um okay so let’s talk about that we got Virginia Tech here at home dub Syracuse at home dub Duke at home Doug Wake Forest on the road
Dub pit on the road and I’ll say this you know in all seriousness pit on the road they’re struggling struggling the quarterback is not playing well um coach narduzzi hasn’t made a change at this point in three games now so I don’t see him making a change truthfully
I think the options behind him are better the Trap game could be y’all Miami yeah I know Miami is pretty good Miami’s pretty good this year and it’s here um and not to say that’s a trap game because it’s always a good game because it’s a rivalry because that game simply
Just means more but I think that is a game that we’re going to have to bring you know it’s going to be like a Clemson matchup um the Boston College game personally I think that was a good game for us because it built character I think it
Was our first road matchup when we knew okay hey nobody’s gonna lay down for us you know I mean yeah we’re top five actually we got Jordan Travis all these great players but guys want to make their name off of us as a Florida State team we always knew that she wrote I’m
Sure you experienced that funny enough I remember going to NFL and if somebody beat Florida State it was almost like their Super Bowl I’m like bro what’s the big deal it’s just one game like why are you in my face about this you know what I mean but I realized that we’re that
Brand seriously and not to sound arrogant but Florida State being a Seminole is a big deal man and there’s a lot of players that wish they could have come here to play and so I think that’s something that this team has learned uh and it’s nice to not play your best
Games and still win so I think that showed up in Boston College it also showed up against Syracuse excuse me against Clemson on the road but I think that Miami game is going to be where we got to bring our hard hat for sure quick observation and then a question I
Lost your clip with Eric mcclaining where he’s taking the fight song My Favorite clip is when there was a live camera we read the desk of Eric and with Coach Rick yeah and it was you were watching the LSU game from last year and after the block extra point you guys
Went bananas oh yeah I went bananas yeah James’s freshman year he was redshirted and I’m sure you were asked us a mentor to that progression yeah so I called him jayboo okay j-a-b-o-o uh jabel is a special talent planning something can play football can play baseball um can’t play basketball somebody said
That he is not a Hooper uh but yeah that time was cool because James was you know young like every freshman you know a young immature like I was at that age um wasn’t taking it as serious because he knew he was arrested that year and I remember coach Craig our quarterback
Coach at the time you know we’d be doing quarterback drills and James be over there playing around or doing something and you know Jacob come on man like come on you know what I mean and I think that was really good for me and for him
Because I saw a lot of myself and him you know as a player as a person a similar family his dad is you know he and his dad are typing so my dad and I uh same with his mom um you know but I remember having some
Real talks you know what I mean and and talking to him especially once I left because now it was his team and uh if we hadn’t lost to NC State that year uh we would have been in the Navy and I understand we lost to Florida too but I
Really think we had a national championship level team in 2012 and when I left I told him I was like yo you finished the unfinished business and he did boy he did boy did he uh he had probably the best freshman season I think ever or one of the best and so you
Know I’m not going to take credit for what James did uh at all because he earned every single thing that he’s gotten but you know just that friendship that Brotherhood that Bond um I think me leading by example getting up in front of the team talking to our
Team before we played like Jimbo didn’t have to do a lot of that for us at that point you know I did it tell them Smith did it uh Lamarcus Jordan would do it um Camp Irving at times would do it offensive lineman and then like I said
Once I moved on Jameis obviously took over with that and also would get the team riled up so I’m sure he probably learned from me just by watching uh but you know a lot of fun a lot of good memories and uh you know I got his
Jersey up in my house the Heisman Heisman Jersey in my crib and I’m so proud of him even now that he’s still playing and doing his thing so a great young man family man as well got a beautiful family wife and kids so he’s going in the right way very proud of him
[Applause] yep that’s going down with I think Rashad was always in left coming across about 20 yard Square I guess you have to memorize it sure my question is when that place so that plays talk about specifically it was a touchdown pass to Rashad green
And to be honest I didn’t do a whole lot like Rashad did the rest as you know in that play uh but when that play card came in you know we just wanted 10 yards we won in the first down and at the point because again it was third down a
Hostile environment in Lane Stadium it was cold Florida boys you know I know I’m from Virginia but I kind of my blood has gotten thin since I moved down here to Florida and uh we go on the road to Blacksburg uh really hard place to play especially that time of the year
Um and they were good that year too Virginia Tech was really really good and uh when the play card came in I mean we broke the Huddle and said hey somebody let’s be great I literally remember saying that like somebody make a play Let’s be great and uh didn’t know who it
Would be whether it would be me or Devante Freeman Chris Thompson Rashad green we had a great team and we had so many good players so many good players and uh you know everybody brought back they win the drop eight defensively uh which is just had three guys rushing the
Rest of them just DBS dropping back and uh everybody was covered deep the shot came in on that slow that low drag kind of late delayed drag and got the ball made two guys miss rest was history and he ran it in for a touchdown now that
Game was was really special for me because again I’m from Virginia right so the fans of Virginia Tech and getting at me forever up into that point because they beat us in 2010 in the AC championship game and uh I’ll tell y’all this is you know whatever I remember in
2010 before the game I’m warming up they’re like skinny leggy I was like hey man shut up you know me like talking about my cast but in all seriousness uh I’ll never forget that and uh it was a good game it was going back and forth
Um but you know that’s some banter I’ve always had with the Virginia Tech people because they were mad when I left VA and came here to Florida State uh so I’m glad we got them in their house before we wrapped that up yeah what was your uh welcome to the NFL mom
Good morning okay so second victory of my career which was the third game uh we played the Baltimore Ravens and we were beating them and I think the Ravens have won the Super Bowl the year before or maybe the year before that all right when they played in New Orleans remember
The lights went out and all that kind of stuff that Super Bowl and uh Terrell Suggs I’ve been talking trash to be the whole game and it’s funny like when you get in the league you know you watch these guys on TV as a kid and you end up
Playing against them so it’s kind of weird it’s like you almost want to ask them for autograph but at the same time they’re your you know your counterparts they’re trying to rip your head off literally and so I remember our offensive coordinator was like hey man
Look Nathaniel Hackett by the way uh not the Jets uh he said uh I want you to take a knee but when you get the bonds just so y’all know you have a mic in your helmet in the NFL so he was saying all this in my helmet when you get the
Ball you know instead of just going straight down for a knee take like five seconds off the clock like pause a little bit and for most NFL guys especially a young rookie uh defensive ends don’t like them especially all probes okay so I get the snap I go back
I’m holding I’m holding I’m holding and all I know is out the corner of my eye Tyrell Suggs comes around anybody know what’s real sucks they don’t know what it is right yeah yeah he comes around the edge literally doesn’t talk on my body like rips off my helmet and all my
Chips got everything end up I thought I broke my nose but my nose all bloody uh what a way to get my second Victory right I had to earn that one uh but that was a great uh NFL moment another one real quick first game ever uh like I
Said was against the New England Patriots and uh you know playing against Tom Brady I mean the goat in my in my eyes like literally the best to ever do it almost beat him had a good game uh for two touchdowns in that game one to Robert Woods another Stevie Johnson had
Him on the ropes again he had that two minute drive for the welcome to the NFL moment um was him call me by my first name like at the 50 after the game even though we lost kind of like re-energized me if I’m being honest see what I’m sure you felt
That way in the NBA you know what I mean and uh just seeing guys like that come in treat you like a counterpart was really special uh got a bunch more but those two come to mind get my rip my helmet ripped off and beating Tom Brady so yeah oh yeah family update
Um so I have a son on the way uh yeah on the way my wife is 16 weeks pregnant I also have a 16 month old daughter her name is sakima and I have a 17 year old stepson as well so I got quite the spectrum of family
Um but I yeah I’m so blessed as well you know let me give some credit to my wife as well because you know marriage is uh it’s it’s fun but also it is challenging we can all be honest about that it takes work and I have a strong woman you know
By my side it’s funny how we met too I won’t get into all that uh but she knows nothing about football like she’s from Europe um she came came to Miami like 10 years ago we met down there and uh great woman great mom
Um but yeah we got a son in the way his name’s gonna be Zion Eric Manuel uh didn’t want to do Eric the third because that can be messed up with bills and all kind of stuff and everything issue with that um but we’re gonna call it E3 so y’all
Give me 17 years I’m gonna have it ready to Vietnam thank you that was wonderful EJ y’all think was that a great was he a great Seminole on a great guy thank you thanks uh thanks for making this way three years too have a good night everybody
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