The Dark Side of NFL Coaching โ What They Donโt Tell You! I Cassius Marsh DSH #506
Cassius Marsh shares jaw-dropping experiences from his NFL journey, the heartbreaking theft of his $20K Magic the Gathering collection, and the grueling transition from football to life after the game. This conversation is packed with valuable insights you won't hear anywhere else! ๐๏ธ
๐ฅ Tune in now to uncover:
- The cutthroat nature of NFL coaching ๐ก๏ธ
- The emotional toll on players and coaches alike ๐ข
- Cassius's unique journey from NFL to Magic the Gathering ๐
- Insider secrets on how top players stay sharp and competitive ๐ฏ
Donโt miss out on this eye-opening conversation! Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets. ๐บ Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! ๐ Join the conversation and let us know your thoughts in the comments below. ๐ฌ
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#CoachSacrifices #CoachingStruggles #CoachingPressure #NflCoachingCareer #CoachFamilyLife
CHAPTERS:
0:00 - Intro
0:40 - NFL & Magic The Gathering
5:58 - Transitioning Out Of Football
9:04 - Coaches Get You Cut
14:04 - Bill Belichick
19:17 - Emotional Maturity
27:10 - NIL
28:40 - Where Does NCAA Money Go
30:25 - Alabamaโs Dominance
31:08 - NLIโs Impact on Athletes
32:30 - Check Out Cassโs Business
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Transcript
Dude, coaching is tough, especially now.
They don't really give coaches a whole lot of time to like find success and build a culture and like change.
Two years, if you haven't started to show that you've had like, you know, that you can have some sort of success, then you're on your way out.
Coaches, dude, they don't sleep.
They sleep.
A lot of them sleep at the facilities.
They sacrifice a ton of time with their families.
Like I could never do it.
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Thank you guys for supporting, and here's the episode.
All right, guys, we got Cassius Marsh here today.
My man, thanks for coming on.
Appreciate it, man.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, dude.
You got quite the journey, right?
NFL and the sports cards and the Magic the Gathering.
Yeah, yeah.
I've been able to do a lot of things, man.
I'm blessed.
You wear a lot of hats.
When I found out you did Magic the Gathering and the NFL, I thought that was the most interesting dynamic I've ever heard.
It is.
It was, you know, when people kind of initially found out about me playing, it was really interesting because the way that it all went down is I had like a $20,000 collection stolen.
Stolen?
Yeah, stolen from
like a club.
An ex of mine went, took my car, and I had my backpack in there.
All the cars got hit, and my backpack had like...
Six, seven decks in it that were all magic decks.
And like, I think it's more like 30 or 40k now in value.
but yeah back then it was like 20k in value and i tweeted about it and it just blew up um because i i told i was basically like trying to get the thief to give it you know to give it back and i was going to give him uh seahawks tickets yeah for the rest of the season did you find out who did it no no i wonder if they knew how much they were worth
i honestly the the way that i i thought about it i think you know he probably saw like the cardboard box full of cards and might have even just thrown it in the trash you know yeah because you would have seen it sold on eBay or something, at least, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And one of the local cards, you know, it blew up.
So, like, one of the local card shops, like, somebody would have, you know, had it brought to them if they knew they knew what they had.
That's a shame.
So, did you have to rebuild from zero from there?
Um, I had a little bit of dude, honestly, the community, and that's another really cool part about Magic the Gathering: is the community is
incredibly like giving and supportive of just their people.
Like, if you're a legit person in the community, they
get behind people and i had so much stuff get sent to the facility that oh wow yeah wizards of the coast came out
and gave me a bunch of stuff to to open like sealed stuff old stuff
and um you know they i was able to connect with a lot of people through through the game that's done
so it's it's been a blessing it's been a cool part of like my journey outside of you know football yeah so yeah we'll dive into football are you more of a collector or do you battle with the cards oh i play oh you play i've been playing Magic since I was 11, bro.
Damn.
It's
by far the most complicated game.
It's like the game strategy theory, it's
you have to be very sharp to be good.
Yeah.
To be good.
And like a lot of the best...
A lot of the best magic players end up being poker players because, you know, the game theory and
analysis and stuff is there.
So,
yeah, it's an incredibly good game.
I've been playing since I was really young and it's been one of those things that helped me off the field, like stay out of trouble.
Instead of going out on Friday nights, I was at Friday Night Magic.
I love that.
Playing until like two in the morning.
I love that.
So yeah, you pretty much got to anticipate their cards, right?
That's why it's so intense.
Yeah, so it's like the knowledge of...
All the cards that you can see in certain situations and like it's very timing based, you know, like misplays are very easy to, you know,
it's easy to misplay within the game,
especially when the margin for error when you're playing really good players is tiny.
Yeah, so if you make one mistake, you pretty much lost.
Yeah, it could cost you the game.
Yeah, it's basically like
who's able to
anticipate.
There's like things that happen at instant speed.
So like,
I don't know, it's hard to, it's hard to, you know, break down.
Like,
I've seen Yu-Gi-Oh!
So is it basically like you have a set amount of hit points, right?
And then you play cards and you attack and try to kill other cards.
Right, right.
But there's also ways to like just straight up win the game, and then you can make somebody draw all of their cards, or you can do infinite loops that basically, like, you have infinite life, or you create infinite...
Like, there's one deck that basically...
makes the game go in limbo.
Damn.
And like nobody wins.
That sounds annoying to play against.
Yeah, there's, I mean, there's some really like toxic people that play Magic of the Gathering.
Like, they get off on.
Do those kind of decks get banned in tournaments, though?
Yeah,
they have
a committee that
handles all that kind of stuff.
Anything that's bad for the game, they ban in competitive play and try and keep it clean and fun for everybody.
Yeah, I know Yu-Gi-Oh!
Ban even certain cards if you're too overpowered.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Have you ever won a tournament?
No, you know,
I've never gone to try and be really competitive at it.
I think the competitive side of magic is
a grind, bro.
It's like anything super competitive.
You know what I mean?
Like when you're playing ball, like when you're even playing football, like I love that game so much, but it's incredibly intense.
You know what I mean?
Like just playing the game.
So like you have to be mentally prepared.
You've got to be practicing.
You've got to take it seriously.
And so I haven't yet taken the time to try and really compete at a high level, but
one day.
Yeah, yeah.
I love that.
When you were transitioning out of football was that a tough process for you
yeah man it um
it is it's a really tough process to uh
change your way of life you know i was i played ball since i was a young kid um obviously high school you know but from college on is where i think you know guys really lock in and take things um
you know try and start be learn how to be professional so you know 12 years you know almost 12 like 12 12 14 years I was locked in on on being a football player everything I did in life you know my routine yeah how I ate how I lived you know revolved around football so
figuring out how I was gonna transition into you know business and you know life after ball and what I wanted to do what I was passionate about you know it took time and yeah there's a lot of mental stuff that comes with
you know the NFL and and that that the life that we live because you're not it's it's such a short timetable Yeah, that you're able to succeed in so a lot of the things that might you know hold
make you take some time and
And rethink you don't really have you don't really have that time available Absolutely you got to lock in and get the most out of it So and you probably felt like you had more to give to the game, right?
Definitely bro like
Broynon did a sprint workout yesterday and I was just like flying I was just like yo, I am a complete freaking nature for what you know what I mean
Where do I put all this?
But like, I've been playing some pickup basketball games, which has been fun.
I'm so down, bro.
I love hooping, bro.
It's just the competitive side of things.
Like, I feign for that.
Like, even just talking about hooping for a second, like, gave me chills.
Yeah, yeah.
Cause I just, you know, I've always been extremely competitive.
So I have a ton of fun with
anything, you know, magic or something.
Yeah, you hear that from a lot of athletes, though, because the average career is three years in the NFL.
And when I had TJ Ward on yesterday, he played eight years and similar to you.
He felt like he had more to give to the game another few years.
Yeah.
Well, you know, you get a little bit older and then you get expensive, you know, and then like teams and the league decide, you know, this guy's,
you know, too expensive.
You know what I mean?
And they also, they're trying to build a culture.
And then, you know,
there's a whole.
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There's a whole politics behind behind the NFL and all that kind of stuff.
But dude, TJ was a great player.
Definitely had more years to play.
Like guys who analyze the game, who know the game, like TJ was playing at a really high level.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a shame to see that, man.
Injuries and just politics.
It's tough, man.
And the business side of things.
Yeah, it sounds super cutthroat.
And I saw you say on the Rick Lassman show that even coaches are not to be trusted.
Dude, so I have
a quick shout out to my boy, Michael Bennett.
He was a
Pro Bowl defensive in that played for the Seattle Seahawks.
And he was like one of my mentors, him and Cliff Averill.
And he had this funny saying that
he's a very vocal guy.
Yeah.
Very educated.
Both of his parents were like professors.
And so, you know, he was highly educated, so he spoke his mind.
And he would walk through the locker room and meetings, and he would say stuff like, Coaches get you cut.
And he would say it in front of the coaches.
You know what I mean?
And I just thought it was the craziest thing.
Like, you know, I'm like, and he was super high paid.
He was a great player.
So, you know, we're like, you know, if anybody can get away with it, it's him.
But like, he would walk into our meeting and be like, yeah, I'm not listening to no coaches today.
You know?
Even at practice?
But he was good enough to go.
But he was so good because the things that he taught me and Cliff taught me and Michael and Brandon Meebain and Bruce Irvin and all these guys that played with me, the things they taught me were far more valuable than anything any of the coaches taught me.
Wow.
Way more valuable.
I learned how to play the game from those guys.
Bobby Wagner, K.J.
Wright, Cam Chancellor, Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman.
Those are the guys that taught me how to be professional, that taught me how to play the game, how to study the game.
The coaches
just give you the game plan.
You know what I mean?
But how to execute the techniques, how to get better, how to build yourself.
That stuff comes from your vets.
From the vets.
And TJ was even saying there's so many young teams now.
Some of them don't even have vets.
Well, yeah, that
because ultimately coaches are very, they have huge egos, bro.
Coaches?
Huge egos.
I didn't know that.
Huge egos.
I won't talk about any of them individually, but yeah, they.
You can't even give them like critique or anything.
You don't get to critique coaches, man.
No matter.
And I've seen it.
You've had great players that know the game extraordinarily well or very intelligent.
And they'll try and talk to.
You just can't speak to coaches.
They're the coach.
You're the player.
You do as they're told.
And you need that, right?
You need the chain of command you know, in any business organization.
But,
yeah, coaching.
That is interesting, man, because you played on eight different teams.
So for you to say that, I mean, it's not a coincidence.
It's happening everywhere.
It is.
It is happening everywhere.
And, you know,
it goes even further is that certain organizations are ran very well, and certain organizations are ran terribly.
Is it based off money mainly?
The richer ones?
I don't think so.
Like, Jacksonville, like, has one of the richest owners.
Okay.
And they just struggle, man.
Yeah, they know.
They've struggled for a while, honestly and and they're a newer franchise too so it's you know um and like i i i you know i had fun out there it was what it was but um you know some of these organizations you know some of it might have to do with money some of it might have to do with just you know um
how they how they set up the infrastructure man it's it's really down to like the you know the GM and then all your scouts and how they process talent and how they bring them in, how you develop talent,
how you evaluate coaches, coaches, how you evaluate players.
It's complex.
I think from a coach's point of view, it's one of the most stressful jobs in the world.
Coaching?
Yeah, just because their timetable is like, not a lot of them last.
Dude, coaching is tough.
Yeah.
I do also see from that side of things, like why they are the way they are because the pressure is, especially now, they don't really give coaches a whole lot of time to like find success and build a culture and like change.
Yeah, maybe two years and that's it.
Two years.
if you haven't started to show that you've had like you know that you can have some sort of success like after two years then you're on your way out you know um and i see the same thing with like young quarterbacks and young players like it's it's perform now um or it's really hard you know on the back end so um
coaches dude they don't sleep they sleep a lot of them sleep at the facilities they sacrifice a ton of time with their families like i could never do it no um you know maybe at a smaller level, like helping, you know, pass rushers like hone their craft or like going to UCLA and working with those guys a little bit or whatever.
But
the daily grind of,
you know, they're in the office like 5, 6 in the morning, you know, and they're there till like 10, 10, 11 at night.
So like, that's why a lot of these guys just, you know, during the season especially, just sleep at the facilities.
Wow.
I never knew that, man.
Yeah.
Like Bill Belichick would set up, like, his office was set up so so that he could sleep there.
And he did, like, very often.
Yeah.
Do you think him not having success after Brady is kind of hurting his reputation?
This is an interesting conversation right here because
I don't know how much you know or like if you've seen, but like I said some things about the Patriots
after I had left.
Oh no, I didn't see that.
Okay, so I said some things about the Patriots.
Basically, long story short, I said that they didn't have fun in their organization, right?
Now, obviously, they had fun winning games, right ultimately winning Super Bowls nothing more fun more satisfying great but I was just talking about like their day-to-day
and coming from Seattle where it was all about like family and like competition and like having a good time and feel good rah rah rah and then we went over there it was like
military like nothing you say matters structure you know it was it was very it was a very difficult transition looking back at it i could have absolutely handled it much much much better but anyways when i left I said something like, you know, the Patriots don't have fun.
And so it's always been a thing that people want to ask me about, like my time with the Patriots and like
how I see Bill Belichick and how I see that organization.
Yeah.
Bill Belichick is an amazing coach.
He is incredibly smart.
He knows the game better than anybody else.
The way he handles his players might have not aged very well, you know, and maybe that's why Tom left a little bit early.
You know, Rob retired early.
Yeah.
And that's happened.
But, I mean, I don't think Brady,
if Brady went to a different coach, like if it wasn't Brady Belichick, I don't think Brady is who he is today.
Really?
Right?
Because he won on the Bucs.
Yeah.
Well, he also won.
I'm not saying Brady
isn't great, right?
Yeah.
And he's found success without Bill Belichick.
He's the go, no, no, hands down.
But I think that going to Bill Belichick initially, coming out, the way that he
demands perfection and pushes you and never, like, nothing is ever good.
Right.
You are just doing, if you're winning and you're succeeding, that's what's expected.
And I think the combination of having Tom in that situation is why they were able to get, you know, the six championships and go and do what they were able to do.
You know,
it is a little bit crazy to see that Bill hasn't had very much success since Tom left, but, you know,
Tom's, Tom's the GOAT.
Yeah.
It's, it's, you know, and I mean, I don't think, I think a lot of people would struggle with a transition like that.
For sure.
I think people expected that, but to this degree, I think that's where the conversation is because they're not winning many games right now.
Well, you know, he's not coaching now.
I thought it was really interesting that he didn't get a job.
Oh, is he out now?
So
they moved on from him.
The Patriots moved on.
I think they, you know, I didn't know that.
You know, he passed it down to a former player, Mayo,
Gerard Mayo.
He was a great player, and like we'll see what he's able to do.
But, you know, there was a good amount of head coaching vacancies,
and
he didn't get hired, you know,
which is
you would think
like the league would just jump.
Everybody in the league would jump at the opportunity to six ranks.
Yeah, to hire Bill Belichick.
But you never know what goes behind that.
You know, he could have other plans.
You know, he could want to take some time.
He's been coaching non-stop for a really long time.
Absolutely.
Did you have a favorite year, favorite team during your tenure?
Yeah, I mean,
I really enjoyed my time with both the Seahawks and the 49ers.
I think Pittsburgh's a great organization.
I like my time with the Bears.
My favorite team would probably be...
Probably my second or third year with the Seattle Seahawks.
Like, I just, we had such an amazing group of guys, like, of human beings, just high-level,
all-time greats, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
And I just learned so much from those guys.
And I'm so grateful for that time.
And I feel like in those years is when I really developed into the player, you know, who I would
be.
So those are the times that I truly cherish.
You know, I had some good times in San Francisco with some teammates, some great teammates too, but when I got there, they were young.
Like Fred Warner was a rookie when I got there and now he's you know the best linebacker in the league that's cool did you see that in him when you he was really good okay 100 like but you see crazy talent all the time yeah so it's about how you build build yourself out um build out your regimen build out you know your work what your work ethic looks like how you can process information like how you can grow can you take coaching can you take adversity can you stay healthy a lot of factors so many things that factor into the success of a football player.
Yeah.
Where were you on the talent scale?
Did you have a lot of raw talent or did you have the work ethic or both?
I think I had both.
I think what got in my way was
I was emotionally immature.
I let my emotions get in my way a lot,
specifically with the Patriots.
So you weren't starting and you were pissed?
Well, I was starting.
So here, I'll tell you just the quick thing that what happened because people don't really know what happened when I was with the Patriots.
So
I went over there, totally different culture, you know, but I was locked in, playing well, making plays for the team.
I got
like speared on my shoulder and I had like a little separation.
This was right before the bye week, right?
So I got, I had,
they checked me out and they said like, oh, it's grade two, blah, dah, dah, you know, separated shoulder.
And, you know, I just went about, like, moved forward.
Well, we went on the bye week and I went home.
You know, it was my uncle's funeral, so I really had to go home, but I got treatment every day.
And I came back and my shoulder was still bothering me.
And they didn't give me an MRI initially, so I asked for one.
The moment I asked for an MRI,
they took me off all the starting roles.
They had me doing like practice service.
What?
And, you know, I was hurt and they wouldn't let me get treatment during practice.
They made me stand out there with like shoulder pads on.
And so
I don't know what the purpose of that was, but I really struggled with that.
And this is where like I really started to mentally like kind of break a little bit.
Yeah.
And then we went to play a game in Mexico City and we spent the week prior in practicing at Air Force Academy.
And basically Coach Belichick said like your practice habits need to improve.
Now mind you, I was always practicing like at a very high level.
That was something that I was taught very early.
So, but I was like, okay, you want to talk about my practice habits?
Like, this week I'm going crazy.
Like, I won't get blocked.
And that week, I had an amazing week of practice.
I did not get blocked.
I did service team.
I did all my reps, like, was locked in.
And then the next game came and they gave me one play in the first half.
And the way they went about it was crazy because I was waiting.
Like, and you could tell the coaches,
it just, the energy was off.
They put me in for one play and, and took me out.
Wow.
And I did didn't, it's not like I went in there and did anything wrong.
It was a regular play.
And it almost seemed like a, like a sign or like a signal.
You know what I mean?
Like, they were trying to tell me something.
You know what I mean?
And that, that moment just,
it honestly, it broke me.
And I reacted to it and was far too emotional.
And I called a meeting with Bill and I called him out on some stuff.
And that led to me, you know, being released from the Patriots.
Wow.
Just
well,
I called
a meeting with Bill and basically called him out on all these things.
You don't do that.
You know what I mean?
I'm in no position to speak to Bill Belichick about
how he's choosing to coach me and coach his team.
He is Bill Belichick.
I'm just
fourth year player and
have had success, but I'm not Tom Brady.
I'm not Rob Gronkowski.
You know what what I mean?
I'm not even a couple notches below that at that point in time.
So
I should have, looking back, I absolutely should have just controlled my emotions and ate it.
And I probably would have ended up in a lot better position.
It ended up
biting me
throughout the rest of my career because any
like GM or coach that came from the Patriots organization from that point forward, like just stared clear of me.
And there's probably a ton of them.
Yeah, of course.
I mean, yeah, you have any sort of success.
Like, people are going to hire people that win.
So
I think what kept me from a higher level of success in the NFL was emotional maturity.
Damn,
that's insane because you had the talent, right?
So it wasn't that.
I was definitely very talented, and I loved the work, and I loved to compete, and I always made plays.
But I definitely got in my own way.
Wow.
It's cool to see you admit that, though, because some players, that would happen, and you know what I mean?
And they make their excuses.
Excuses are the worst thing in the world, bro.
I hate excuses.
I'm not a fan of them when people make them.
It's just they're useless.
It's such a huge waste of time.
You know what I mean?
Anything within your control is your fault.
Facts, yeah.
A lot of people have victim mentality, though.
Yeah, yeah, that's that's a whole nother conversation.
You know what I'm saying?
I don't want to get into that one, so yeah.
How many years were you at UCLA for?
Four years.
Oh, all four?
Four years, played four years, started four years at UCLA.
You didn't want to drop bruins i did and you funny my coach convinced me that he would do all these things to like help me like uh make more plays in my senior year he did none of them um
you know but uh yeah i could have left my junior year and decided to stay and you know uh my time at ucla was great bro i played with some amazing players shout outs to you know anthony barr eric hendricks Brett Hundley was our quarterback.
Kenny Clark's Pro Bo level nose guard in the NFL.
He's honestly all pro level.
Miles Jack, Jordan Zumba.
He had so many great players on that team, and I'm still really, really close friends with a lot of those guys.
So
love my time at UCLA.
And we finally, you know, we finally hired a really good coach over there.
Oh, yeah.
Deshaun Foster.
Oh, shawn.
Quarterback in Notre Dame?
No, Deshaun Foster was a running back for UCLA.
And then he went to the league.
He played like eight years.
He was like Pro Bo level running back, great player, great guy.
And they finally hired him over there.
So like all of the UCLA alum are very excited.
Nice, you know,
yeah, yeah.
Yeah, to see former players like who was the guy at that Colorado, the big quarterback, forget.
Colorado hired him.
Hired a quarterback?
It was the, he's like a Hall of Fame quarterback, isn't he or something?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I went all over the news.
I forgot.
I don't know.
They hired like Warren Sapp over there, too.
Like, you know, it's, it's, you
I won't say that being a player makes you a better coach because either you can coach or you can't.
But having the experience and the respect that you gain from
your players
is instant when you're, you know.
somebody who's achieved everything that they're looking to achieve.
Yeah, definitely the respect factor for sure.
What do you think about the NCAA in general?
Because I see a lot of people talking negatively about it.
Dude,
the NCAA is crazy.
I mean, you think about players are just now getting
the ability to make money.
You know, when I was in college, bro, I was broke.
You know, I had people that had to help me out, like, getting me Chipotle gift cards.
Wow.
You know,
we were supposed to survive off like $1,400 a month in Westwood.
Damn.
You know what I mean?
And mind you, you know, we're all trying to invest in our bodies and
eat good and and like live you know live good um and
we were we were just broke i mean it was when i first got to ucla we had to tweet in order to get new socks like our equipment staff was giving us like hand-me-down socks just crazy the life that like some college players experience you know and and we're in college football college football and basketball make the most money and get like the most preferential treatment but like i i can't imagine what it's like for like you know a smaller school you know playing a sport with like less significance.
You know what I mean?
Like the NCAA really takes advantage of kids, man.
That's brutal.
And their likeness and everything like that.
So it's.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The NIL is kind of a good thing, though.
It's a great.
It's so like the NIL thing
is a little bit like I'm conflicted on it because I think
I think it's great.
I think players needed, they needed to find a way to play, pay, pay these college players.
Like you look back, you go look at like Reggie Bush.
You know how many number five jerseys USC probably sold?
Tens of millions of dollars.
I mean crazy money.
Matt Leinert, all the,
I mean, you think, I think about SE because when I grew up, SE was so dominant.
That was like my, I loved USC and I like I wanted to go there initially.
And you just think about all these great players and the amount of money that all these colleges are making and players aren't touching any of that money.
Right.
You know, even go back like Bo Jackson.
You know, you talk about all these great players and all what they've done for all these universities.
Like, what do the universities do for them?
They tell you that, you know, what you've done, like what they've done to pay you is give you an education.
Yeah.
Which they never use.
Which, yeah, which either you don't use.
And whether you use it or not is, is irrelevant to me.
Like, what's the most, like a, what's the most tuition a year?
that that like you know what harvard's like maybe what 70k something like that
70 80k a year so you're telling me that like these players that are bringing in millions of dollars you paid them 80k a year and like that's that's the exchange you know and and and it's and it's on education so it's not even money in their pocket you know so yeah it's pretty wild so if the college makes a ton of like when they sell tickets to a game is the ncaa eating some of that ncaa i don't know how exactly the ncaa gets like paid from each college but the the i mean the nca i don't know what the money from the nca
where it goes.
Yeah.
You know, I don't know, like, all the money that they've made over years and years of college football.
Like, I don't know where it goes.
Yeah, I wonder what kind of
jobs people are even doing there.
You know, like, and is it, is it, I don't even, I'm not familiar if it's a non-profit or not.
Like, uh,
yeah, it, it's just, it's, it's just crazy, bro.
And the rules that they make, like keeping players in a position where they're broke and just regular students, like, it's just crazy to me.
But now that NIL is here, it's changing the whole landscape like you know UCLA right now like we signed zero players out of high school on national signing day zero what because we have no NIL money whoa you know and like if you're a UCLA alumni and you're watching this then you need to hit me up it's time to get time to put get put get some money to UCLA so we can get some of these kids so now it's like a pay-to-play almost for it is absolutely pay-to-play wow it is absolutely pay-to-play you want the top players in the country you're gonna have to pay them.
I wonder if that's why Alabama's taking a step back.
Maybe they don't have much money.
They have the money.
They have it.
They're alumni and their support system.
Alabama's.
If you talk to any other Alabama player, they may not admit it on camera, but those guys were being very well taken care of.
They were good.
And the way they build out their facilities and their support for their players was incredible before
NIL.
But it will, you know, kind of even the landscape now you know because
you know Alabama was getting away with whatever they were getting away with but now every every team can go and and pay you know players so like you know University of Tennessee's got a ton of money University of Texas has a ton of money like you know a lot of these universities have a lot of money so things are gonna even out you know but it's also gonna be unfortunate for some of the lower level schools you know they won't get like the big-time players I do like it though because a lot of these kids are dedicating their whole lives to this they're hiring coaches trainers, spending a ton of money.
So for them to get paid finally, because a lot of them won't go pro also.
That is the other thing, you know, that's the other great thing about the NIL thing too, is that like now players can
build up their own brand and almost create like their own business and create something bigger than just themselves as players.
With the money that they earn as a player is one thing, but being able to create a brand and get paid and learn how to like build your own business through your likeness, I think that's a valuable tool for a lot of these players and you know you're seeing guys transition into like um
i was watching on the way over here uh this kid named max brown he's now doing podcasting and like has his own like you know um little show that he does about football and evaluating quarterbacks but like he was number one player in the country went to sc five star like supposed to be like the next coming and dude he didn't even splash in the league damn you know and uh but he was able to transition in the podcast.
You know, and
find a
new way to,
you know, monetize.
Yeah, to monetize and just to like, it's just a new passion, you know, just we all, we're all looking for purpose.
And, you know, I think football players especially, like, we thrive for,
we want structure.
Absolutely.
We want structure.
We want to work towards something.
We're goal-oriented.
We're competitive.
And I think that's why a lot of football players translate, well, athletes in general, but football players especially translate very well in the business world.
I love that.
Cassius, it's been fun, man.
Anything you want to promote or close off with?
Yeah, man.
Appreciate you having me on.
Really, it was awesome.
Great conversation.
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Thanks for coming on, man.
Thanks, brother.
Thanks for watching, as always, guys.
See you tomorrow.