73 Everyday I Had To Execute With A Tenacity That Was Unmatched Former Nfl Player Jesse Williams

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I'm Mark Boris, and this is Straight Talk.

My mom didn't want me to play

because she was worried I would hurt other kids.

Jesse Williams, a.k.a. The Monster.

I knew I had to outwork every single person.

I was happy to die out there.

My agent called me.

He was like, San Diego Chargers is going to take you.

A Washington number comes up.

He said, we're going to take you right now.

I'm like, what's the charge?

Chargers?

And they're like, nah, it's the Seahawks.

I was like, what the hell's going on?

Touchdown, Seahawks!

First year was my knee.

Second year was the other knee.

And then my third year, kidney cancer.

And he said, this type of cancer is just bad luck.

Where do you see yourself in the next five years?

What do you want to achieve?

The youth is really important to me because that was me.

That changed my life exponentially.

Jesse Williams, a.k.a. The Monster.

How you going, mate?

Good, man. Appreciate it.

Look at the size of you.

My God.

Yeah, I'm testing out the weight limit of these chairs.

That's for sure.

I'm hoping it's secure.

What are you weighing in at?

Right now, I'm probably like 160 kilos.

How old are you now?

32.

Okay, go back to, you know, eight years, nine years, whatever it is.

What were you weighing in then?

I played the NFL around 150, 155.

In college, maybe 10, 15 pounds less.

But still roughly all big.

155 kilos.

Kilos.

Let's just wind it back a little bit to when you were up in Queensland

and, uh...

You were playing footy up there, uh, say, 18, 19.

What were you...

How big were you then?

To be seriously honest, probably close.

I was probably like 135, 140.

Oh, even then?

Even then.

So you've always been a big lad.

Yeah, I think really it was like late teens.

For my 16th birthday, I asked my parents to give me a gym membership.

And then from there, sky's the limit, you know?

It was just lifting weights and getting big.

Is that genetic?

I mean, I don't know if that's just lifting weights.

I could do...

I could lift weights all...

The rest of my life, I'd never get like that.

It's a lot of eating too, you know?

Yeah, yeah.

No, I don't think it's genetic.

Both my parents are quite small.

My brother's pretty big.

We're about almost the same height.

He's probably...

He's cut down a bit now.

He's probably about 110 kilos.

But, um...

The frame is there.

Can I just ask you?

I love that ring.

That's the Super Bowl from 2013.

My God.

The year before the Super Bowl, we lost to the Patriots.

I think for me, this...

It kind of signifies...

Even showing people, it just...

For me, it shows great range.

For me, it was the range of being a 14-year-old kid,

like shy, chubby, self-down kid in the south side of Brisbane

with no anything to what the epitome of standing on a stage at that level

and then the transgressions of in between those two points

is that that's what that means to me.

What does that mean, like, you know, for you?

Yeah, I think for me,

it was, you know, being a young Indigenous kid

from the south side of Brisbane,

you know, two loving parents, younger brother.

Sport was my life.

It was everything.

And I didn't really have a great path set out for me.

Even, you know, still to this day,

there's a lot of systemic stuff

that really probably isn't great for the community,

Indigenous and non-Indigenous.

And I think I sort of fell into the trap of playing sports

and just doing what every other Aussie kid did.

And that was just...

Play sports for the weekend,

go to school and keep doing that.

I never really had hopes or ambitions around that.

And for me, it was like,

man, you're battling everything.

High school, getting bullied,

getting in fights, playing sports,

trying to live a normal life.

And I think for me,

having that Indigenous side as well

and a cultural upbringing

was really important to keep me sort of grounded in who I was.

But it was still a pretty tough 14-year-old life.

I was just blessed to have a good family around me.

To keep me locked in

and at least push me to the things I wanted to do.

Yeah, because, I mean, you obviously,

in terms of sport anyway,

Super Bowl, it's a pretty big...

There's a big distance between that

as the kid in South Brizzy, you know,

to end up in that territory.

You know, that's the biggest game in the world.

Probably billions of people to watch it all around the world.

I know everyone in my office is watching when it's on.

And down the pub downstairs too, by the way.

Absolutely.

They're not doing it in the office.

Did you understand the significance

of what you were doing at the time?

I don't think at all, at all.

It never crossed my mind.

I never slowed down enough to think about stuff like that.

For myself, watching the Super Bowl was pretty much like,

you know, I'd beg my parents to let me get the day off

because it would be at like 9 or 10 o'clock in Australia.

And I remember doing that a lot.

And then obviously going through the ranks,

playing here and everything.

It never was a focal point for me.

I never wanted to...

I never needed a crutch.

I never needed...

I never needed a leverage point.

I wanted to fit in with everything.

I never needed to be treated different

because I was from somewhere different,

especially in the US.

I wanted to show them that football is first.

I'm from Australia, sure.

But I can still hit people with some force as well.

Do they have a view on Australians?

100%.

When you arrive there, what's the view?

It's different.

Like in the US, it differs from state to state, right?

Each state's like a different country.

Like when I first got there,

I went to a junior college in Arizona.

And the junior college is like a melting pot

of like some troubled kids

that are trying to get out and make a difference.

And it's a very interesting outlook in Australia.

Most people don't think that,

A, there was no like dark people.

Every Australian person was like some,

like looked like Chris Hemsworth was surfing

and like, you know, just surfed.

And that was it.

And they saw me come over, you know, tattooed,

you know, playing football pretty good,

like still with pretty, you know,

janky accent and whatnot.

They were just like,

they thought New Zealand straight away

or they were like,

some other place.

Yeah, they were like,

what sort of Australian is that?

But then in the South,

like I was talking to some people

that never left the state of Alabama.

So let alone see anything close to Australia.

So a lot of it is pretty interesting.

Like how far was the drive from Australia?

Like what, you know, what sort of, you know,

what sort of government do you have now?

And all this crazy stuff.

But the perception is really weird.

I think it's a lot better now,

but it's still,

people just think there's like huge snakes and spiders.

And like, as soon as you jump off the plane,

like you're on, it's red alert.

You know, you might die

trying to get to the hotel or something.

It's funny.

I once used to go with an Irish girl

and when she first came to Australia,

she woke up in the morning

and there was kookaburras,

you know, how they make that noise.

She thought they were monkeys.

She thought there was a zoo close by.

They, you know, they'd laugh to the head.

It sounds like monkeys.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And she thought there was a zoo nearby.

I said, no, that's kookaburras.

She's like, what the hell?

And it's funny, the perception,

people have about us or about our country,

probably more important,

but equally asked culturally,

and Australia is quite diverse when it comes to culture.

How does someone like you, Jesse,

establish yourself as a different person

in an American football environment?

Because they all are pretty much the same.

It doesn't matter, you know,

whether they're black or white,

or they might be Latino.

They're pretty much culturally very similar

in football environment.

Yeah, yeah.

You're different.

Yeah, for me, I think like setting my standard,

it just started day one for me getting over there.

And I had to leave, like coming from here,

like there was no one really before me.

Not in this era of like going to college

or doing any of this sort of stuff.

So it was like, everything was unknown.

So I had to be pretty open

and be ready for essentially anything.

So for myself, that's what it was.

As soon as I left, I told my parents,

like, I don't want to come back.

I only had, I didn't go over on scholarship.

I had to work three jobs to make it.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

So I didn't go straight to Alabama.

I went to a junior college.

What's a junior college, by the way?

So it's like a level down, kind of like a,

it's a smaller school.

So usually a junior college,

you go there to get your, an AA degree,

which allows you to go to, like an undergraduate,

allows you to go to a bigger school.

So that school actually came over to Australia

looking for punters, saw me.

I played well enough in front of them,

got MVP of the tournament, we were playing for Australia.

And he said, man, you probably could go play in the US.

At this time, I'm like,

I'm taking it with a grain of salt, man.

Like you just know that I'm big and tough

and that's probably what I want to hear.

So I ended up sitting down with my parents.

I'm like, oh, let's put some effort into trying doing this.

You sat with your mom and dad?

Yeah, yeah.

After I got back from the tournament, like I won MVP.

Like I was clearly like the best player in the country.

We played against New Zealand.

And it was like slowly becoming apparent that like, okay,

maybe I'm, maybe I'm pretty good at this.

Maybe this does have a bit of a future in it.

So then I've,

this junior college says, yeah, you can come over

and we'll save you a spot,

can't give you a scholarship or any money,

but you know, there's a spot here.

So then I had to figure out, it was about $9,000.

And I worked three jobs and obviously my parents are poor,

managed to make that happen.

So then I left the country at the age of 17, 18,

with like $200, one bag, and then flew out to Arizona.

That's mad, like for anybody,

like it doesn't matter whether you come from South Brisbane

or east suburbs of Sydney,

just especially if you don't have that much money

in your kit bag, you turn up and you start work.

What'd you do?

You start working there, like, and you're at college,

like that's a big deal, junior college.

You start playing, then you go and play football for them.

But like, how did you, like when you got off the plane,

you obviously knew you were gonna leave,

did you live at the college premises?

Yeah. Yeah.

So you turn up there,

you don't know where the lunch joint is.

You don't know what, you probably weren't even drinking coffee

in those days.

You're probably not, you're not old enough to drink.

You're probably not, you're not old enough to drink.

You're probably not, you're not old enough to drink.

You're probably not, you're not old enough to drink.

You're not old enough to drive.

You don't know a soul.

You didn't know anyone, did you?

All I heard was Jerry Dominguez,

which was the defensive coordinator.

I had his phone number written inside my passport

that I still have.

That was it.

I got there, I had some money that I converted over

in Australia, cause I didn't know how it worked here

in the US.

And then I got there and I had to walk to a pay phone.

So I fly to LA first, then I fly to Yuma, Arizona,

which Yuma, Arizona is like, it's a rough joint.

It's on the border, Mexico, Arizona, and California.

And take this tiny plane,

which I thought was barely going to make it.

So I get there, it's 120 degrees when I first get there,

it's stinking hot.

And then walk to the pay phone and talk to this guy's number

and say, I am at the airport.

I waited 45 minutes, he drove out there,

picked me up and then took me to the school.

I went there two weeks early.

So I was on school campus.

By yourself?

No one.

So I was just wandering around.

All I would do is I'd wake up,

I'd work out, I'd come back, I'd eat, go work out again.

All I did that was that for two weeks.

And I chose to go there early on purpose

to sort of get myself ready.

Cause the heat was a big one, but yeah, it was different.

Like I didn't know where the store was.

I didn't know how to get there.

There's no Ubers, there's no nothing at this time.

So I'm like, yeah, I was taking the shoelace express.

You know what I mean?

I was just walking everywhere to figure out

and people started showing up some of the players and stuff.

And it was just like,

some of the first interactions happened in the US.

It's just like, well, we better make this good then.

I had to set the standard from there.

So for me, it was just like,

I didn't go over to make friends.

I went over there and I knew I had to outwork

every single person.

There was no leniency for being from Australia.

There's no quicker, easy route to the NFL

if you're from Australia.

So it was like, well, I got to take it from somebody.

I got to beat all these other people.

So I got to start now.

And that's all I did.

Where'd all that come from, that focus?

I think I did so long not getting or having what I wanted.

You sort of get to a point where it's like that.

Got to take it.

Early on, I'm a pretty nice guy, you know?

I think a lot of it was you try and go and earn stuff

and work for it.

And it just didn't work for me.

I had to change my mindset around no one is making more money.

No one is making more jobs.

Nothing is being created anymore.

I had to go and take it from somebody else.

So it was a different attitude.

It was a different attitude.

It was a different attitude.

It was a different attitude on how

I had to approach these things, especially going into a football

team where you got four to six spots at a defensive tackle.

All my size, all Americans, all been playing since the year.

Four years old.

OK, well, I'm not going to go earn a spot.

I have to go in there and fight and rip it out

of someone else's lifeless hands.

So I need to match that intensity and work ethic,

or else that's not going to happen.

Like, competing with guys that have been doing it for years,

it's hard.

It is real hard.

Technically hard, too, though.

Very hard.

It's technical stuff you have to learn.

Man, like, it's a brand new sport.

My background is basketball, you know?

So I'm going over there, and it's just like, yeah.

I played a little bit of rugby in school.

My mom didn't want me to play because she

was worried I would hurt other kids because I was so big.

And she didn't want me to get in trouble at school, which

was going to happen either way.

But I had to be over there.

Like, even in my years in the NFL,

I was still learning the game every day.

It's not something you go over there and like, hey,

let me just give you a crash course in American football.

You'll be great once you come out

the other side.

That's impossible.

Because I remember when Jared Hayne went over there,

and that's sort of the issue he had,

was learning all the calls or the moves or whatever.

Yeah, the plays.

The plays, yeah.

It's like playing chess, you know what I mean, as a coach.

So you can imagine the schematics

and the changes that happen in a live game, as well.

And then you put the biggest, freakiest humans

you can find on Earth in there, it becomes quite tough.

And for me, I just knew that if I outworked everyone,

even if I didn't make it or fell short,

I would be happy about the effort that was there.

And that would be the story I would tell.

It was about the effort and the intensity I put to it.

So when you're lining up, standing opposite,

some person is the same sort of structure as you.

And you're thinking to yourself, I've

got to impress coach here and the rest of the staff here.

I've got to be better than that dude there.

How do you take the fear out of your mind?

I didn't really have much, to be honest.

Then?

Yeah.

What is it?

Just youth?

Or what would you think?

I don't know.

It was definitely, there would be a sprinkle of naivety in there.

I think for myself, I left the country.

I was in a completely different world by myself,

different culture.

There was a very small slither of safety

in that whole environment.

So, well.

You've got nothing to lose.

Yeah, I literally have nothing to lose.

I might as well be the risk instead of be under risk.

So for me, it was just going out there.

And one of my strengths was strength.

The other one was being volatile.

So I'd say that's-

Crazy, I mean, basically crazy.

Pretty much, yeah.

As volatile as you can imagine, being real tough and-

That crazy Aussie bastard, yeah.

Yeah, pretty much.

I was the crazy dude.

I had a Mohawk, tattoos on my face.

And if coach said, we've got to run through brick walls today,

then damn, Jesse's most likely going to go first.

And that works.

That works.

I've always had a plan.

I had to plan really meticulously how I went about that.

And I just had to execute with a tenacity.

A tenacity that was unmatched.

And that's what I had to do.

And I had to do it every day.

But you see, how quickly did you work out that's your story?

Because at the time I'm talking about, because that's pretty mature.

Like you're in college and you're trying to establish your position.

You've worked out you've got, it's quite a mature thing,

but you worked out you've got nothing to lose.

Because by the way, the risk is if you don't, when it comes to fear,

if the risk is if you, fear tells you to look at risk.

But there's also a risk if you let fear take control.

There's a risk in relation to that as well.

So you can actually get just as hurt if you let fear get in your way.

So how did you become so mature about all this, you know,

and invent the story about yourself?

I'm Jesse the Mad Bastard, who's a big strong fella.

It didn't.

Was that a conscious thing or just, you just remember that?

Honestly, that's who I am.

You know what I mean?

Did I say?

Yeah, still a little bit.

I mean, I'm a little, hopefully a little bit less now.

But at the time, like, I wasn't, it wasn't an act at all by any means.

Like people.

Wanted to find out I was the person you find out from.

It wasn't conscious in a way that I was like, this is who I have to be.

I just woke up being that I woke up being strong, hardworking.

That's all I knew.

That's kind of how I was raised.

I didn't really have any quit in me.

I was happy to die out there.

That that was would have been a cooler story to me than failing or giving up

and coming back here and, and, and, you know, doing some labor job

or something like that, that would have killed me quicker than

the risk that was.

Yeah.

Apparent to me.

That's interesting because I remember once interviewing George Cambosis,

the fighter, and he said to me, and I just couldn't believe he said it to me,

but I know him quite well and he's got kids, wife, lovely family.

And he said to me before he went into fight, his last fight, he said,

I'd rather die in the ring than lose the fight.

And I said, you know, his wife was sitting there in the podcast.

And he said, yeah, that's, that's who I am.

I'd rather die in the ring.

You know, that's a pretty incredible.

Not many people would say that.

Yeah.

Or more importantly, wouldn't even get to a point where they consciously thought about that.

You just said something similar sort of thing.

I'd rather die there than come back here as a, as having failed.

Pretty much.

Yeah.

Like that, that's pretty much how I played.

I had very little regard for my body.

And, you know, I've told my parents multiple times when I was playing,

like if anything ever happens and I break my neck or other things, I was like, dude, I'm going to die.

I'm going to die.

I'm going to die.

I'm going to die.

I'm going to die.

I'm going to die.

Do not keep me around.

I used to tell my dad that all the time.

Pull the plug.

I was like, let me go how I'm supposed to go.

I was like, I'm not here gripping onto hopes and wishes.

And have you guys look after me?

I'm like, nah, let me go.

I was like, I'm out here.

I'm playing like that sacrifice means something to me.

And it does.

Like you go to war every day with these guys.

If you saw some of the guys had to go against, you'd realize it's a war real quick.

And it's a conscious decision at the time, but it's too easy for me at the time.

I want it no other way.

Did you ever sort of wake up in the middle of the night sort of say, what the fuck?

What am I doing?

Like this has consequences.

Yeah.

I mean, I've had about 10, 11 surgeries in my time there.

You know, when I was in college, college was a lot harder.

You know, you're under-resourced, you're not getting paid or anything at the time.

And you know, I used to have my college girlfriend at the time pretty much have to stay over

because I would play so hard.

I would barely, I would rarely sleep until like the Sunday or Monday.

Take me through that.

So you'd play on, say the Saturday.

Saturday.

Yeah.

So what happened?

Oh, you, you would just have so much adrenaline and like the painkillers and everything like

that playing that like when that wore off, your nervous system was just firing shot.

So like I pretty much have her there.

So if I like just make sure that I'm still like breathing, if I do fall asleep, um, because

of the intensity that you're playing, like I'm all worried about like my brain, my heart

and all those things now.

But at the time when I'm playing, I had no regard for anything.

That type of football lasts for a long time.

And it's sort of quite different to the way we watch rugby league and rugby unit, et cetera

in Australia.

Ours is shorter and sort of, um, more heart and lung full on, um, that you're getting

up, rolling, moving all the time.

The game that you play though is very structured, but intense in short bursts, a little bit intense.

And when you have a collision, it's massive collision.

When you got home at night, I mean, did they, for a start, did they put you through the

coal bars and the, you know, all the fizzles?

All the physio and all that sort of stuff when you're at college, did you go through

the process or you just had all that?

Yeah.

You had all those things, um, for sure.

And give you some, um, anti-inflammatories.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's like take some packets of Advil and a Gatorade and you'd be fine.

Um, yeah, that, that definitely was there.

Like it wasn't from the lack of support or resource or anything like that.

It was more just the intensity and like, you know, very structured game, but the game also

relies heavily on the types of teams as well.

So we play, I played at the number one school in the country at Alabama.

And, um, so you're playing against.

The best players in the country, every game.

So the intensity and then the duration of that, how many plays you have to play.

It's like getting hit by a car 50 times in a game.

Really?

Yeah.

Um.

You were, by the way, that would feel like they've been hit by a truck when you get there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I was the car.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Um, so I think a lot of it, um, is really just like your body feeling off that as well

as, um, your mental highs and lows from that.

We're playing in front of 110,000 people every week.

That's mad.

It's not something you get used to.

Um, you kind of.

Acclimate to some extent to play and, and you sort of understand the game, but you got

110,000 in the stadium, another 150 outside.

And I got to try and walk back to my truck or try and get home.

Like it's in a tense situation.

So your nervous system is just firing.

Um, it's, it's like on any, anything I can compare it to in Australia, but is it like

a high?

It is.

Yeah.

I was lucky.

It was a lot of highs cause we won a lot, but the lows and they, they come, I only lost

two games in my college career.

Wow.

Um, but they were, they were tough games and like when you play at a school that is

used to winning, losing, it's not good.

Um, but a lot of it was just like the mental mix with a lot of the physical contact and,

and the buildup and it's just intense, especially playing in front of that many people will

know when you're on TV, like the game, every game means something and it's, um, you never

know when it's your last.

And I used to like playing.

I really got a kick out of knowing that this could be my last game right here.

I could die tonight, you know, touch wood.

But guys, does that happen to people?

Yeah.

A lot of it, like, you know, hot stuff, you can die.

Um, I mean in the U S a lot of it is, there's a risk with a lot of things, you know, drive

and being around anywhere that there's a risk of that.

But I think for myself was, um, I had to have that mentality.

That was what, it's always been intrinsic for me.

And it was, it's always been like a little bit of a battle and um, that was part of it

for me.

It was, it was, it was firing me.

It was, that was, was keeping me there.

I didn't want to play if it was easy.

I didn't want to play if everyone can do it.

I didn't want to play if it was no risk, it was nothing on the line.

Um, I tell people all the time, I was, I was made for the fourth quarter and that's what

I like.

I like the pressure.

I like being a little, not scared, but nervous, you know, um, and that I was lucky enough

to get that a lot playing in some big, big stadiums.

And how did you deal with, um, people holding you up as being the great Aussie defensive

player, like big dude, damaging everybody reputationally.

How'd you deal with that?

Let's call it fame.

Yeah.

I honestly, I, I, I talked to people about a lot.

I, I didn't listen to a single thing.

Um, I think one of the things I feel my parents are most proud of is I'm very close to the

same person is when I came back, obviously grew and progressed in other ways, but I stayed

true to what it was.

And when I was over there, Australian media showed no love whatsoever.

You know what I mean?

They didn't, you know, they were doing what Australian media does.

Right.

Um, but the us media, the world media.

They were shining on me when I was doing well and winning.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Um, but I, I didn't believe in any of it, you know, that, that was part of sort of me

humbling myself to death a little bit.

Um, I didn't want to get swayed either way.

You know, I, I, I pride myself on being a little bit unshakable and not influenced real

well from negative stuff, but even more so from positive stuff, I just try and stay true

to my values and what I need to get done.

People telling me how good and how strong and how handsome I was.

That didn't really help me.

You know what I mean?

Even though I knew I was handsome, it just didn't help me at the time.

You know?

Um, so I had to stay true to myself and that was where the grounding part came because

I just never thought I, I made it.

Never thought I did well.

I just kept chasing, kept chasing.

It's really hard to satisfy me in any sort of performance factor.

I like that humbling myself to death.

Where does that come from?

I don't know.

It sort of just came to mind.

But I guess it, it sort of sounds very Aussie in some respects, um, or is that more your

community or is that who you thought you were?

It's a little bit of being raised like that.

And I think for myself, it's like, it's probably wrapped up tightly in a little bit of self

doubt.

Um, you know, when you put yourself on a pedestal, it's, it's, it's, it puts a bit of a target

on your back, especially in Australia.

Um, but for me it was, it was just my way of staying true to what I had to do.

All I had to do was keep the main thing, the main thing.

And I was here to play football.

I wasn't here to make friends.

I wasn't here to be popular.

I wasn't here to do anything.

I never even, when I left, it had nothing about that.

I was here to play football.

It had nothing about the NFL came to mind.

It was like, just get over there, just play football, just do well, just don't come back

here.

You know?

Um, and that's what helped sort of keep me on that lawn.

It's pretty, and I often say this about, uh, good sports people, in my, my view, my theory,

uh, people who get to the top of any sport, I don't care what sport it is, generally speaking,

have a high EQ, emotional intelligence and, uh, normal intelligence as well.

Um, mainly because it's not just.

It's not just about your talent, your physical talent.

There's so many intellectual things you have to navigate.

So many challenges.

They're just as many emotional and intellectual challenges put in front of great sports people

as you get better and better and better as there are physical challenges.

Did you consciously think about it?

Not consciously.

For me at the time, it was like, I took this like adapt or die mentality and that the football

was this very small slither of the life that encompassed being over there.

Totally.

Still had to go to school.

Had to still get a degree.

I had to navigate.

Is that a compulsory thing?

Is it?

Going to school is compulsory.

For sure.

Getting a degree was, uh, what I told my mom I would do that allowed me to leave the country.

Um, and I think, um, people sort of underestimate that as well.

Like I went to a very prestigious four year university, graduated.

I was all American academic, Dean's list, president's list, you know, there's not much

more I could have done in the classroom as well.

I think for myself as I, I took the attitude across all boys.

You know what I mean?

I didn't go to, I didn't really go to parties.

I didn't do all that other stuff.

I just focused on stuff I knew would push me closer to what my goal was.

Was that keeping it simple though?

Yeah.

It was just, I didn't want to complicate the life that I had.

Yeah.

Simple, non-complicated is what you're saying as opposed to just keeping it simple.

I probably didn't say the right word.

Don't complicate stuff.

Yep.

Like the path is laid.

Those big schools, the support, it's just there for you to navigate and you navigate

that with your effort and your intent to what you want to do.

And that's all I did.

I just showed up and worked hard and that that's been the, my life in a nutshell, just

show up and work hard.

When I got to the U S it was show up and outwork everybody else to your utmost ability.

And, but the showing, showing up part is important.

Because there's a lot of times where emotionally, like just as a man prideful wise, you don't

want to show up or you think it's, you know, it's something else, but I just showed up

every day and I made sure my effort was there to me, you know, how I did the little things

was how I did everything.

How I did my playbook or how I did my, my stance when I play in the NFL was how I studied

was how I read books, made sure I get my degree the same way I approach learning about

other teams is how I learn about business or how I learn about, you know, other situations

I'm going into.

It was just, it was just who I was.

It was just, I had to work hard and I just found my ways to do it.

You know, by no means am I a genius or I had the blueprint set out that like, Hey,

this is the best way to get a degree or play in the NFL.

It was all through failure.

It was all through learning through mistakes and, but I couldn't make those mistakes.

So I didn't show up.

What was your support group?

You had to sit, you said had a girlfriend and you probably had a couple of girlfriends

throughout the period, but did you have mates around you?

Like did you develop, you know, footy mates or college mates?

It's hard.

Like I did, I did have a few friends.

It was like.

I had a roommate.

It's my other guys.

And I didn't really know a lot, you know, like I was still learning about like what

people, what this restaurant sort of does, like what, what this side of town is like,

I was learning very basic stuff.

You know, once I got all the other hard stuff taken care of you know, but most of my support

base was like, I would talk to my family maybe once every three months on Skype.

You know, we had no FaceTime or nothing back then.

So it was just Skype.

And then the rest was honestly me.

Like I didn't.

I don't like relying on friends or I'm very intrinsically driven.

Like, like I would say 99.9% intrinsic and I'm very hard to be swayed.

I wanted to learn those mistakes and I wanted to find out I'm an interested person.

I'm like.

You're curious.

Yeah.

I'm like, what's this guy doing?

I'm like, you know, w w what is this about?

What's this, you know?

Um, and that's what opened the connections up and talking to people and everything like

that.

But majority was my family and myself.

Um, because I knew I was.

I was transient, you know, um, from college to college, hopefully the NFL, like I was

just like, as long as I can rely on myself to get all these things done, done, then I

can, I can keep going.

Do you remember the, when you got drafted?

I do.

Yeah.

Well, can you take me through that one?

Man, it was, it wasn't a negative thing.

It was definitely a positive thing, but I was supposed to get, I was, I was rated first

round.

Um, and then I tore my knee up playing in the championship game, which we won, um, you

know, which is all part of football.

I would nothing.

I would change about that.

What do you mean?

You tore your knee up?

What do you mean?

Uh, I tore a bunch of stuff in my knee.

Uh, PCL, LCL, MCL.

The lot, yeah.

Yeah.

Uh, everything but ACL.

Yeah.

Um, came back and played, you know, played on it, won national championship and I slid,

I slid to the fifth round, even though I was rated for the first round, which was fine

for me.

It was never about money.

It was just about foot in the door.

So, um, but I do remember I had, I had my three phones, uh, don't ask me why I had three iPhones

at the time.

Um.

I just remember I was sitting in my apartment for the first round just by myself.

My family couldn't come over.

There's no point.

They were watching a little bit back in Australia and I was just like, it's not like me just

to sit and wait for these opportunities.

So first day I watched, it only goes for a few hours.

I didn't get picked in the first round.

That's fine.

Call my agent, tell him, just call me when something happens.

And the rest of the time I pretty much just worked out.

The next day I was in the gym, I was on the field, all that sort of stuff because I knew

no matter what number I went.

I had to jump on a plane like everybody else and be ready to play as soon as I landed.

And then, um, on the third day, I remember seeing the number come up, my agent call me

and he was like, San Diego charge is going to take you and I'm like, cool, 136 or 137

and I'm like, all right, cool.

And then on the same exact phone, Washington number comes up and it's like, Hey, so we're

going to take you right now.

I'm like, is this the charges?

And they're like, nah, it's a Seahawks.

I was like, what the hell's going on?

And then.

It came up on the TV, Seattle jumped up, I think one or two spots to take me because

the chargers were going to take me.

And um, I remember getting the call and I spoke to John Snyder, who's the GM and, uh,

Dan Quinn was a DC at the time and it was crazy.

Like I was there by myself.

I actually got the call while I was in the gym at Alabama.

I was training.

Um, and it was funny because that's very, if you know me from a young age, I spent a

lot of time in the gym.

So it only makes sense to get the call in the gym.

And um, yeah, it was cool for me, you know, it was a 15 minute phone call, a few texts

and then finished my workout and you know, it's all starts again.

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And you know, for me, it was like full circle moment of like, man, you can make some stuff

happen, man.

Like, this is crazy.

What do you do?

Do you celebrate?

What do you do?

I didn't do anything.

I just finished my workout and went to grab some food and went home.

Um, like I said, I wasn't a drinker or a smoker.

I wasn't a party guy.

I didn't really have anyone at the time.

So it was just like, I was going to be sharp, be ready.

You know, I was locked in was an understatement.

I was, I was dulled.

I was, I knew it was coming.

So like I had nothing else really to distract me.

I want to get a sense of the injuries that you've had to bear.

Oh man, they didn't start in the NFL and I had everything.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, you know, the ones before like stress fractures, my neck, feet, uh, knees busted

up.

That's just part of the position, you know, broken fingers dislocated this dislocated

that.

Um, but then in the, in the NFL was really, um, it wasn't no crazy injuries besides my

last one.

The other ones were two just really small ones.

It was more just the timing.

So it was both first year was my knee.

Um, someone landed into me while we were practicing.

And, um, yeah.

Um, football can't do nothing about it.

It's not my place to complain about other people being on the field.

Um, second year was the other knee kind of similar, uh, ended up finding out it was a

weird shaped meniscus in my knee that caused me to hit that right there.

And then my third year obviously was kidney cancer.

That was probably like the icing on the cake.

Do you think it had anything to do with playing football?

The cancer?

Hmm.

You know, it's funny when I first got diagnosed, I, I, I asked him like, I'm an interested

person.

I'm like, please tell me what caused this.

Like if it's some sort of protein, if I need to stop eating something or drinking something,

you tell me.

And he said, this type of cancer is just bad luck.

So I just said, well, man, make sure you cut that bad luck out as well when you, when you

get it out.

Um, but that was it, man.

Like it was just the epitome of, um, things can be.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It can be taken at any time.

The thing that went through my mind when I was a kid, I was always told that, you know,

we sort of want to punch each other in the arm when you go around punching someone in

the arm.

And someone, one of the parents once told me that, uh, if you keep doing that, um, you're

going to give that person cancer.

And I often used to think to myself that if you, you know, like say for example, your

kidney, if you got kept getting hit in the ribs or around that territory or the shutter,

you know, does it change the shape or change the, you know, maybe the DNA or the cellular

structure of your kidney?

Can it, can that create a cancer?

That was what was going through my mind when we're talking about it just then.

Um, and you know, cause I, I guess we're always looking for something to blame.

How come Jesse's not the dude who tries to find something to blame, just copped it on

the chin.

Like, cause it seems like everything that happened to you is I'm just going to cop it

on the chin.

I'm going to go with it.

You were that type of person.

Yeah.

I didn't feel entitled enough to fight back.

And like in a weird way, I was just like, ah, stuff like this happens when it's really

funny.

Cause when I was really young, I was like, if I ever get to write a book about my life

and like try and tell my kids or my future grandkids or whatever about how my life was,

I got to make this story really good.

And that's how, you know, that's why I chose Alabama being such a hard school.

Cause no one ever thought I would make it there.

And I played every game, national championships, same with the NFL or half these other things.

Like when I'm writing a book, which I'm trying to do at the moment and I get to cancer, if

I just write it like, oh no, then he quit and went home and he was all good.

Yeah.

That would be a shitty story.

You know what I mean?

So I was like, man, I'm just going to run straight at this thing.

I was like, nothing else killed me up to this point against all odds.

Let's see how this goes.

And I just treat it like I had the flu.

Like I remember the exact time they told me, I remember that like it was a movie playing

in my head and I just never bought into it.

Like I had found out on a Tuesday, we put the media release out on a Wednesday and I

was going in for surgery on a Thursday.

Like the world erupted.

My phone, I had calls from everywhere.

Every coach player I ever played with, whatever.

Great support.

And I was supposed to be in hospital for four or five days, whatever.

I go in there, I have this kidney surgery.

It takes like eight or nine hours, whatever.

They took it out.

Soon as I woke up, I said, I need to get the fuck out of here.

I was like, I'm not sending this hospital.

Like it's, it's real quiet.

It smells real clean.

Like I don't belong here.

So she said, the doctor said, if you have to stand up, I'm going to get you out of here.

I was like, I'm not sending this hospital.

Like it's, it's real quiet.

It smells real clean.

Like I don't belong here.

So she said, the doctor said, if you have to stand up by yourself, take the catheter

out, which by the way, the catheter is the worst part of having any type of surgery.

You mean?

Yeah.

That is fucked up.

I was awake when she took it out.

And it was like, she was playing tug of war with me.

You know what I mean?

It's like, it was making me feel weird.

Just even real.

I've had it done.

It's just makes me feel weird thinking about it.

Yeah.

It's a deep feeling.

Um, and then, uh, she said, you know, if you walk around the ward twice, you can go.

So I have this surgery.

I've been in this hospital 16 hours.

My parents are coming from my house right now with get well balloons and flowers and

all this other crap.

And by the time they get there, I've walked around the ward, got changed, took the catheter

out and I'm ready to go.

And I, I drive my truck from the hospital.

Seriously?

Seriously.

Like it would have been 20 hours tops and that's given a little bit of leeway.

They wheeled me out into the parking lot in a wheelchair.

I stood up and just jumped in my truck with my family and I was like, all right, I'm out.

And then.

That's so Australian.

Yeah.

And then I stopped at the facility in Seattle and everyone was still there practicing, getting

ready.

And everyone saw me like, oh man, when's the surgery?

When's the surgery?

I'm like, all right.

I had it yesterday.

Oh yeah.

I'm like, I had, you know, um, I had nine incisions and I was bleeding and stuff out.

All of them all split up.

You probably had a bag on it too.

Nah, no bag.

Everything was all sealed up.

Thank God.

And then, um, everyone was freaking out.

They're like, what the hell are you doing here?

I was like, oh, they said I could leave.

Like I wasn't going to sit in there.

Like I'm fine.

They took it.

These mad bastards.

Yeah.

And then I just went home and you know, I remember.

Collapsed.

Nah, nah.

Um, there was seven weeks, five days till the first preseason game.

And everyone's like, oh, Jesse has to take the year off.

Jesse got to take two years.

Like it's a major organ also stuff.

I told my dad, I remember sitting there before the surgery.

Because, um, I actually posted on my Instagram yesterday.

He took a photo of me.

I said, take a photo of me sitting on this bed.

And I posted on my Instagram and said, no fear in my heart.

This was right before surgery.

Cause I could have died.

And, um, after he took the picture, I posted and I said, I got seven weeks, five days.

I said, I'm going to come back in and play.

I said, I, I need something.

And everyone was like, you know, kind of like, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Like sort of brushed me off.

Like Jesse's locating and crazy in the head, man.

So I was like, as soon as I got this job.

I got surgery, got all these bandages, all this crap.

Um, so I was like, all right, seven weeks, four days.

I'm like first preseason game, San Diego.

I got to get ready.

And at this time, everyone still thinks, damn, Jesse's maybe got a little bit of a screw loose here.

Something's wrong.

So then soon as I could walk, I was running a little bit.

As soon as I could lift weights, I was lifting every day.

As soon as I could put any pressure on everything, I was going.

As soon as I could practice, I was out there full speed and I was involved in every step of the way.

And then fuck crazy thing.

Seven weeks, five days later, Jesse runs out there starting against San Diego.

What was coach saying?

He said, you're fucking crazy.

Um, and they, they sort of knew as well.

They were just like, man, they, they couldn't really jump in front of me.

Like, it was like, no, like they were like, I said, this is what the goal is.

And we're going to work towards that.

They said, all right, we'll see how you go.

I was like, no, I'm like, that's what the goal is is we're doing.

So I ended up coming back.

I play all four preseason games.

It was pretty good.

And, um, as you can imagine, like I was wrecked.

I was going to say, what was the side effect of it?

That like after playing the game with one kidney, like what, what happens?

Um, for starters, my body was not used to it at all.

I was still bleeding.

I split all the stitches.

So I got some pretty crazy scars.

I've already, I tattooed over them, but some pretty crazy scars cause I split all the stitches trying to play football.

And, um, I split them so many times.

I just got sick of it.

They were just like, we're not stitching up anymore.

Um, but I think the biggest thing was just my body.

My nervous system, all of my adrenals, everything was just, it's like, yeah, you were dying.

Like this is not something hormones, everything was all whacked out.

And I was trying to do everything clean after the surgery.

I took no painkillers.

I only took CBD because it was all legal in the state of Washington.

I didn't take nothing.

And, um, by the time the fourth preseason game came around, walking upstairs from like our lower level, like weight room to like meeting rooms.

It was like a workout.

And I was like, I was playing out of my skin just to be a practice, you know?

And, um, I didn't want that.

I couldn't live with that.

I couldn't take another hardworking person's spot playing average.

You know what I mean?

Just basically because of your reputation, you couldn't do it.

Yeah.

For myself internally, I couldn't.

And I watched the last game on film and I was playing good, but I was like, I'm looking a bit slower.

Yeah.

You know, I don't look as strong.

Is that the sort of person, um, I want to be remembered for?

And it wasn't, you know, I worked with a team and I spoke to John and coach Carol and it was like, man, I don't know if I can, I don't know if I can do this, you know?

Um, and then obviously fast forward, I was like, yeah, no, I can't do it.

So I, I finished up there in Seattle and, you know, props to Seattle.

Like they helped me the whole way through and looked after me mentally and physically through that.

Cause I still didn't really have heaps of support or anything around me.

Um, and yeah, it was probably the, not the ending I wanted for a career, but like everything else, I just was like, okay, that's it.

Then what's next?

We'll move on to something else.

You know?

How do you come out of these things financially at the end of the day?

Like, are you okay?

Like, you know, like.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You do well enough.

Yeah, we were doing well.

Yeah.

And like, I was lucky enough that I was never defined by football.

I was always doing so much other stuff.

Especially like speaking.

Other business stuff.

I was just always wanting to be involved in other things.

So I promised myself, you know, when I started figuring out, okay, I'm going to do this for a little bit.

Until the age of 35, I just wanted to do as much as I possibly can.

If I, if I make it to being an old man, I just wanted to be those guys that are like, man, I used to do this.

I've done this before.

I've done this.

My story already seems like that for some reason.

Um, I just wanted to get the experience.

I was already traveling the world.

I was around really cool people.

Amazing athletes, coaches, men and women.

I was like, ah, I just got to learn from all these people and help them do this.

Help them do this.

So that's where for me, it was like really from a receiving role, whether it was confirmation, attention, love to more of a serving role.

Um, and that's when I went back to coach.

Um, and that's sort of what's led me to all the stuff we do now with football and like giving back.

Um, it just made sense to me.

I never wanted to.

I could have signed with other teams.

I could have signed with other teams and tried to go again and, and push it and grind myself.

But that time faded out.

That was one phase in my life.

Now I had to move on to the next one.

Um, and I just had to come to terms with that.

Did you ever at any point line up against some, an opposition and look in their eyes and think to yourself, oh my God, this dude's a beast?

Yeah.

I mean, playing at Alabama, the number one school, I played against absolute dogs every day.

And, um, you know, we used to fight, you punch on, you play and all that sort of stuff.

Um, I think the best guys they ever played against were the guys that were on my team.

On your team in Alabama?

Yeah.

And that's because I knew how much effort they were putting in.

So if they were still there with me and I'm crazy, I'm like, okay, this guy's, this guy's for real then.

Um, and then it just becomes like a, who wants it more, right?

Um, but yeah, there's plenty of guys.

I mean, you just look at some of the pitches of the guys that play in the NFL, especially like defensive linemen.

Some of these guys, man, some of the African American guys, um, these are like creative players.

These guys are like aliens, man.

You brought some of these guys to Australia, they would scare people out here.

Um, so just playing against them.

In terms of structure, statue wise.

Yeah, absolutely.

Like I played against DJ Fluker.

He played Alabama with me.

He was about 6'9", probably 6'10", played at around 380 pounds and was running.

Like he wasn't a big fat dude.

Like he was just a big human being.

Yeah.

And it was just like, I remember him getting a pitch with my dad.

My dad's like 5'7", or 5'8", and like standing next to him.

And it was just like, like, what the hell?

Like I was showing my parents and my grandparents back in Australia.

And it was just like, what?

You got to go, I got to go against him and another person trying to block me.

Two people.

And yeah, it's just, it's unlike anything in Australia.

Just different breed of people, man.

It's funny.

We have a, there's a young, you might know him.

I don't know if you know him.

There's a young fella here.

He's probably in his twenties.

His name's Alex Simons.

His name, nickname is Godly Strong.

And he's about 6'5".

He was the strongest man in Australia at one stage, you know, bench and all that sort of stuff.

And he's 195 kilos.

And he's a, he's now trying to get in the UFC, but he's a boxer and an MMA fighter now.

Much lighter.

But I remember seeing him when he was 195 kilos.

And I thought to myself, what the hell is my, it's like a mountain.

And he can, you know, deadlift 450 kilos and bench press 280 kilometer.

What the hell?

But move beautiful.

Like there are people in this world and you would see him in NFL all the time.

Yeah, yeah.

Giants, but who can actually move beautifully.

Yeah, yeah.

It's crazy how fast some of these guys are.

Like run to the 40, jump and avert, you know, like can single leg squat this much and run, play basketball.

Like, you know, dunk a basketball.

I mean, as much as I do, like it's crazy for a lot of these guys.

I just don't think we see a lot of caliber athletes like that in Australia.

Obviously it's population and, you know, hyper competitive nature of population as well.

Sort of trim it down to these elite level guys.

But yeah, it's a different world.

It took a while for me to get used to.

That's why I had to work so hard.

As soon as I saw some guys that I by no means am gifted with half the stuff some of the guys I played with.

Talent wise you mean?

Yeah, talent.

Like God given talent.

Some of these guys come out ready to go.

Where I had to like really had to.

Have an extra work ethic and a little bit more validity behind some of the things I was doing to get to their level.

What's your strongest characteristic you reckon that helped you successfully get drafted into the NFL and get through all that college football, etc.

And just to get you to America and on your own and do what you did.

What do you think is probably your best characteristic?

I think like grit.

Like being unshakable.

And just be able to wake up and show up, push through.

Not one part of the pathway has been like, man, I just sailed through and it was easy.

Everything has been uphill battle.

And if you're not comfortable being uncomfortable, then it ain't going to be for you.

And I think grit was the only thing that got me through.

Grit, I like that.

Like the surgeries, the getting knocked down, getting back up, getting knocked down, getting back up.

You know, every little, not just football, like all the outside stuff.

Schooling and all that.

Man, you want to quit every day.

And the grit and all that.

And my resiliency around that, which is, you know, if I feel like it's wrapped around grit.

That is what was stopping me.

Like we ain't done yet.

You know, you're not done yet.

The mission's in front of me and I'm going to complete the mission.

Yeah.

And that, honestly, that's how I am now.

Like there's plenty of stuff where I could just like, oh yeah, let's just cruise and do that.

I don't want to cruise.

Like I like being uncomfortable.

I like challenge.

Especially now.

I want to help people.

And helping people is a very hard business.

There's a lot of challenge in that.

So, cool.

That's what we're going to do.

You know?

And I think I don't want to lose that skill.

I'm trying to lean into it.

You know?

It's a whole new form of learning too.

You've got to learn a whole new lot of skills.

Especially, yeah.

Like right now we're doing a lot in the U.S. and here.

And a lot of it is those skills are so different in different places.

You've got to be real sharp and be able to communicate.

You've got to be able to listen really well.

And that's kind of the battles I'm dealing with at the moment.

Yeah.

But they are new skills.

It's got nothing to do with just charges or knocking dudes over.

Yeah.

It's about you've got to do that.

But it's in a sort of intellectual way you've got to do it.

Yeah.

And you can't.

You've got to be kind at the same time.

I do want to ask you this though, Jesse.

Like and I think this is an important thing.

I'd like to know this.

When you were killing it over there and if you came back to Australia.

Yeah.

Which I know that you did to visit family, whatever.

What was it like for you to go back to where your family lived?

I loved it.

You know, I never really, like I said before, I didn't buy into like the fame or celebrity component.

I didn't really enjoy it to be honest.

So when I came back to Australia, because the NFL back then wasn't that big.

So like I would come back and like no one would recognize me.

And I was like, this is awesome.

But like if I go to the U.S., like I'm getting stopped everywhere in Alabama, everywhere in Seattle.

So I loved coming back and being able to, I would do it in really short stints.

I might do a week a year, two weeks a year maybe.

And then, yeah, I would just stay with my parents or, you know, hang out, work out, live like nothing around me had changed at all.

From when you were a kid?

From a kid.

Like get soak up that for a hot minute and then back to work.

You know, I didn't want to, I didn't want it to put blood in the water.

Like that's something I wanted or something that was driving me because it wasn't.

It was just a small piece of, you know, some memories and spending time with my family.

And then it was back to what was real.

How conscious did you become though of not coming back with a big head?

Yeah.

I didn't feel like I had a big head at all.

I think for me, I never felt like I made it.

You know, I came back and, you know, one trip was one national championship.

Another one, another national championship.

Another one, the Super Bowl.

And it's just like the whole time.

Like.

Super Bowl ring.

Like it sits in my house in a safe.

Like I don't wear it every day.

I wear it like three or four times a year.

And the rest of the rings are like still there.

How they ever take them out.

And I never bought into it.

I tell a lot of people like don't take me on my, my last wins.

I was like, take me on my, my next ones that are coming.

And I think that really put me in a good head space to be like, I'm not worth any more than anybody else.

My value is like, what is right now?

If I just went around and told, I take it with a grain of salt.

Cause it kind of, I don't like telling my story all the time.

Cause I feel like people think I'm like gassing myself up, which I'm not.

I'd rather just be living like what I'm doing right now.

You know, for myself is just like, I just want to keep winning.

I'm not worried about those last wins.

That's done.

Nothing I can change.

Great story.

Cool.

I'm over.

Like what's next?

Are we talking about a form of humility though?

Or are you talking or, or is it beyond humility?

You just think, listen, I'm, I'm interested in what I'm doing now or I'm going to do as opposed to what I have done.

It's a mix of humility, but also like, I don't want my thoughts to be saturated on all the previous stuff.

I just want to be able to affect people and help and do that.

And like, that's never determined on how many rings I have, all the stuff I've done.

Was it great?

Sure.

And it builds a certain platform or, or around maybe how I speak or what I say to certain people.

But take me on right now, who I am, what we're still doing.

The presence we still hold.

Don't get me wrong.

I love the journey.

I love the story.

I just don't buy into it enough to use it as a leverage point to, to build anything now.

Not in a egotistical way.

That's a very intellectual decision though.

You're still a young man in my, my books anyway, but that's a very intellectual decision to make.

That, yep, good story, blah, blah, blah, but really understand who I am right now and what I want to do for the future.

That, that's, there's a lot of consciousness in that.

Yeah.

I never wanted to be defined by football.

You know, whenever I come back to Australia, people are always like NFL this, NFL that, you know what I mean?

Like, my name is Jesse.

Got a dual degree from the University of Alabama.

I've got this, this, this, this, and this, and that maybe at the end of it, you can add how many rings I got, you know?

So I think that's sort of where that leads into, I never really wanted to be defined by football.

So I was always, I have to not be defined by football.

I have to push into some other areas.

And I have to be able to start getting some wins in those areas and push myself and do that.

And that's all I wanted to do.

Because it's a long road with very few turns.

And you're only young.

You've got a long way to go.

Yeah.

Well, I tell people all the time, like, if my life is this long, football is this.

Yeah, yeah.

Like, what, I'm supposed to talk for another 50, 60 years about Super Bowl and National Championship?

Like, man, hopefully, touch wood, the work we're putting in right now, we're going to make much greater wins than the ones I've had.

Well, then I'm going to ask you, Jesse.

Well, then I'm going to ask you, Jesse, today.

Where do you see yourself in the next five years?

What do you want to achieve?

I think for myself, with the growth of football, we've spent the last few years working in indigenous community, the youth space.

The youth is really important to me.

Because that was me.

You know, and no one ever stuck their hand out to help me.

No one ever showed me other things to do.

I had to sort of fall into it to find it myself.

So right now, we're working really hard around football, American football.

And getting kids to the US.

And it's huge at the moment.

Football is growing exponentially in Australia.

NFL Australia now has an office in the Gold Coast.

There's so much more happening.

For me, I don't care about sending guys to the NFL.

I care about taking kids from here that are not going to make it into a, I don't think, a very successful rugby league, rugby union pathway.

To get them on a pathway to get a degree in college, to be able to travel and experience that.

Because that changed my life exponentially.

More than football ever would.

So working really hard with that at the moment.

Gridiron Australia, the local national body here.

Pushing that.

I'm putting all my effort into that.

Because if I can have such a positive impact on my community.

And I send another hundred kids.

And then another hundred kids after that.

Man, Lord knows the positive impact it will come from.

Getting that many kids out of the situations that are currently in Australia.

Whether it's western suburbs of Sydney.

South side of Brisbane.

All that sort of stuff like that.

You know what I mean?

So working really hard with that at the moment.

I'm trying to get a facility built in Brisbane to house these kids.

And work really closely with the government to try and get some kids out of here.

I just think the opportunity of being in the U.S.

Around that many influential people.

Positively in a system.

Whether it's sport or academics.

Is life changing.

And it would be unjust.

Me being the only one.

Me being the only one here.

That have the capabilities.

That connects.

And the learnings.

Anecdotal learnings.

To be able to help these guys.

I have to do that.

So we're putting a lot of effort behind that at the moment.

I really enjoy it.

There's going to be so much more attention coming from the NFL.

Now with Jordan.

And a bunch of other kickers.

Like Nathan Chapman from Pro Kick in Melbourne.

Sending guys every week over there.

And I just think there's so many guys like Jordan.

That don't fit the rugby mold.

That.

Okay.

You have the option of staying here.

Being a laborer.

Working in whatever.

Which is not.

A bad thing.

Or you have the opportunity to go over and.

Yeah.

Sacrifice a lot for a few years.

But.

Look at the outcomes.

You know.

So that's what we're pushing at the moment.

Working really hard around that.

And football.

And.

Just trying to.

Not be an influencer.

But just be a positive influence.

And is it.

Does that mean you go to schools.

Or.

How do you.

How do you tell the story.

I mean.

Or how do you.

Get out in front of them.

Yeah.

So at the moment.

Working really hard.

We actually have camps and combines.

Around the country.

And how do they find these places.

Just through social media.

And stuff like that.

Like.

Gridiron Australia.

Myself.

Usually a big one.

So at the moment.

We're going through.

And we're working.

And getting brands.

And other people on board.

Obviously.

To make it.

Essentially free for all these kids.

But we're going to have camps and combines.

Around the country.

Because the talent is out there.

I did a bunch of camps.

50 kids.

That could have went to division one.

Schools.

Wow.

And it's like.

That's for free.

So.

We just recently set up.

The first step foundation.

Which is my family's foundation.

So.

That we can.

Help raise funds.

To help get kids.

From here.

To the actual school.

And get them equipment.

And all that sort of stuff.

Because I think the path.

That I took.

Is.

Probably not feasible.

For everybody.

I don't want them.

Living off.

Ramen noodles.

And fresh air.

Like I was.

Probably a bit better path.

More longevity.

Along the lines of that.

So.

We're working with that.

Camps and combines.

We will try.

And push a little bit more.

Into the schools.

And obviously.

It's still growing.

As a sport.

As you can imagine.

Superbowl's popularity.

Is going tenfold.

Totally.

So.

I really want to capitalize.

On that.

And a lot of companies.

That work.

The US.

To Australia.

And vice versa.

Are also.

You know.

They know how big.

A catalyst sport.

Can play in that.

Sort of global environment.

So.

I don't want to.

Fall out of the union system.

Or too big.

For league system.

Or getting too big.

For basketball.

Like.

Man.

Find me on social media.

Because.

US schools.

Hit me up.

On a daily basis.

Just because.

I'm the only one out here.

And they just want big kids.

So the US schools.

Are looking to you.

To.

So help them recruit.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Well.

You know.

It makes me feel old.

But a lot of guys.

I played with.

Are now.

And so big.

They make me look normal.

In some of these photos.

So.

Yeah.

Maybe.

And they'd be too big.

For rugby league.

Or rugby.

Yeah.

Way too big.

Yeah.

So it's like.

But way too big.

For rugby.

It's perfect.

For me.

You know.

I mean.

Give us a few months.

Like.

We'll work with you.

Get some film together.

And these schools.

They're not looking out here.

For NFL.

Hall of Famers.

They're looking for.

Raw.

Football.

And a workout.

Absolutely.

I never went over.

Not one part of that story.

Was like.

I'm a good player.

It was just like.

Tell me what we need to do.

And I'll just do it.

As best I possibly can.

And that's.

That's all they're looking for.

And.

Australia is in an abundance.

Of big kids.

At the moment.

That are sort of stuck.

Rugby league.

And union.

The game.

Is getting a lot more athletic.

A lot faster.

So those bigger kids.

Getting pushed further.

And further out.

To the rim.

So.

Man.

If you can get a college.

For free.

Just to play football.

There is no places in Australia.

That can offer you that.

Yeah.

And I.

Because I actually love.

The academic side.

Or at least.

You know.

The education piece.

That's a big deal.

A lot of these kids.

Would never get that opportunity.

In Australia.

Hey.

Someone could steal this ring from me.

I could lose my watch.

I could lose everything else.

But they'll never take my degrees.

Yeah.

Take the piece of paper.

The rest is.

Here.

It's on my name.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So like.

That stuff's important to me.

I don't want to talk about.

You know.

The universities.

And being a part of.

Something greater than yourself.

But just the sheer opportunity of.

Like.

Even if you go over.

And get a degree.

Getting a job.

Coming back.

Knowing people you've traveled.

You've got a.

A degree from.

A prestigious university.

In a different country.

Like.

It has weight.

More than.

Going to TAFE here.

Even though that's not bad.

It's more just.

There's other opportunities.

But there's all the experience.

That goes with it too.

Like.

The whole experience.

And the maturity you get out.

Of these.

Yeah.

I just want to pay forward what you did.

I just know that I, yes, probably worked hard and got all the things,

but there's some greater life scheme around me having all the things

I was able to get.

And I'm not competing with anyone here.

I'm the only person in Australia that has any of the stuff that I have,

and it would be silly for me not to.

You know what I mean?

There's no obligation.

Yeah, it's like no one helped me when I was coming up.

That's fine.

That doesn't mean that's how I have to be.

And, you know, traveling around, right now it's working with football,

but I want football to breach into, you know, indigenous,

specific communities to create other opportunities.

Sports for myself has always been the adhesive in my life

and catalyst for change in community.

And I'm just trying to strengthen that with a different sport

with much better opportunities for longevity pre, during, and post-career.

You know, there's opportunities coming out of it.

I'm playing American football, which unlike most sports in Australia.

And it's important for me because I meet a lot of kids.

I've been around a lot of programs.

I coach a lot of football.

And people need these role models.

They need opportunities.

They need these leverage points more than just, hey, do you want to be a tradie?

You know, you can do this or this.

I want to be able to expose these kids to something different.

And the NFL can see the opportunity here.

So it only makes sense for me to lead, have everybody ready

so we can make the most of the NFL being out here

and get some kids over there and start a bit of a system.

Because the love is there on the U.S. side.

We just got to make the most of it here.

And it's going to be, by no means, any of that story is going to be easy.

Creating all those things is not easy.

It's cost a lot already.

We're already traveling around and doing a bunch of stuff

and working with some really good brands and really good people.

And we're just trying to increase that and increase,

our positive touch on the world.

I'm not going to be here forever.

I've already faced death plenty of times.

You know, I'm here for a good time, not a long time.

So I better make it real good.

And I'm not here to just be famous and hang out and do nothing.

I want to help some people.

I want to continue my story through thousands of others, hopefully.

You know, I just put my Super Bowl jersey out to be raffled off

to raise money so other kids can do it.

You know, like it's the metaphor of sacrificing a piece

of my journey to help start the thousands of others.

It means more than having a Super Bowl jersey sit in my house.

It's been sitting in my closet for who knows how long.

You know what I mean?

If I can sacrifice that, raise a couple hundred grand,

I'll change a thousand kids' lives, you know?

And that's much more powerful than having a piece of jersey in my house.

Well, what's really powerful to me is the inspiration

you just dropped right on there.

So Jesse Williams, thanks very much.

Really appreciate it.

And by the way, best of luck, mate.

Appreciate that.

Thanks for having me.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Thank you for listening.

Welcome to another episode of Straight Talk with Mark Boris.

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