Speaker 1: 0:13

I talk about the burn right, that fire that lies inside you. What is that? When you hear that, what does that mean to you? The burn right that lights that why and that purpose on fire.

Speaker 2: 0:24

I'll start out by saying this. Hopefully I don't cry doing this, because the burn means a whole lot to me. You just talked about my wife, trace, at 27 years. You just talked about the four beautiful children. You talked about the Hall of Fame. But so many times, just as social media, one of the disadvantages is many times people read into postings as a perfect life versus. I wish we would post more of the process to the perceived perfect life, because there's none. The burn that comes to me to answer that question, ben, is the burn to not quit to me to answer that question, ben, is the burn to not quit.

Speaker 2: 1:10

Success is the ability to bear pain, not be a pain. I wish I could tell you. It's been 27 years of bliss. It's been great, has not? I wish I can tell you raising the four, the three girls and the son has been easy, has been great. There has been challenging times and the biggest passion point burn. Right now that's coming to me to make sure anybody's listening before I go into any of the 55 interception all those things to be great in life that god has called all of us to be great at something.

Speaker 2: 1:46

There is a level of understanding that there is a burn to stay in it, to not quit, to understand that every part of it is a part of helping develop you, to become the person you are supposed to be at each phase of your life. So when you, when you talk about burn, that's what I think about. If you talk to anybody who's ever worked out with me seen me work out it's painful. My trainer I identified and I chose Mac Newton intentionally because I knew I would never master a workout. It was never a time where I did every exercise and every rep in his class, never, never, was comfortable in his class Never knew what was going to happen in his class the next day, even though it was pretty regimented. All of those things prepared me, because in a game, I don't know what scenario I'm gonna face. I don't know when they may have a completion, a touchdown on, because they have, but I don't give up.

Speaker 2: 2:56

One of my greatest assets with this passion been was the ability to get over a bad play and and, as a pastor, christ going to the cross, dying for our sins, extending grace to us, mercy to us. All of this, he says his mercies are new every day. All of this is because he knew, as human beings, even after receiving Christ, we would jack it up, we'd push the envelope, but he gave us a way to give us a covenant, to give us a promise that, even if you jack it up, if you'll be honest with me, as we had to be watching football after Sunday we had to watch the game film Ben I had to look at my mistakes. I had to own it. That's a big word for all of us. I own it Because it's so easy as a defensive back hey, they caught the ball because the defensive line didn't get to the quarterback. No, when you want to be great, your standard stays the same, regardless of the perceived obstacles. So once again, when you talk about burn, I'm burning to tell people hey, look at, look at the accolades, but make sure you understand there's a burn, that each of us have to not quit, and whoever is listening, whoever see this video, don't you dare quit. You may think about it, but once a thought crosses your mind, open your mouth and says come hell or high water, I am not quitting.

Speaker 2: 4:29

So all of a sudden, some things that look like a no turn out to be a yes to something else. So now I start figuring out who in the world was Aeneas, and so I gave my, ended up giving my life to Jesus Christ. That summer I asked the Lord two things Lord, tell me how you speak to us and tell me how we're to relate to you in everyday life. My coach allowed me to walk on the position I was going out for a bit. The coach was trying to replace the player. I end up starting by the fifth game. My teammates hated me because I'm running around all happy and they upset because I didn't join them in a month and a half of three days. So now I'm starting. But that's when I found out when you find your place, it doesn't matter how everyone feels about you. So all of a sudden I'm starting by the fifth game, ben, and then I play two more years. The next year they put me at cornerback. I led the conference with seven interceptions made, all conference, then going into my final season.

Speaker 2: 5:35

After my second season of playing football, ben, I graduate. So I'm going to play my final third season while in graduate school. Third season while in graduate school, my coach at the end of the second season, who allowed me to walk on in the cover of the sports section of the newspaper. He was quoted as saying Aeneas Williams is a good player but I don't think he'll ever play in the pros because at best he runs a 4-6-40. I said, wow, that's pretty strong from the guy that actually gave you opportunity.

Speaker 2: 6:10

And what I want to say to guys or ladies who's listening to this? A lot of people would have set their life now to prove the coach wrong, but that coach's assessment was the facts. The fact was I did run a 4-6. The the facts were being 5'10 and a half, a little under 5'11", running a 4'6" 40 at my position cornerback I probably wouldn't have played in the NFL. But that's when I learned the difference between the facts and the truth. Too many people allow facts to become their truth and my dad says all the time it's not what people know that hurt them, it's what they do know. That's not true. What I learned after reading that?

Speaker 2: 6:57

I went to a teammate named Brian Thomas, who was one year under me. This is where I want to point out to people, young people or anyone your mentor does not have to be someone older. Brian was younger, one year younger. He played wide receiver. He's 6'3", weighed about 205 pounds. He was the fastest guy on Southern's football team and the fastest guy on the track team. I went to him because he had speed. He was a receiver. I line up 10 yards off of him as a defensive back. He would run by me. I couldn't cover him, even though I was all-conference.

Speaker 2: 7:36

I went to Brian Ben and I said Brian, can you help me get faster? And I went to him because he had credibility of speed. Now, this also against my natural inkling. All my life I've been taught in my formative years either you have speed or you don't. You can't coach it, which is not true at all. You may not run as fast as I'm getting ready to tell you I was able to run, but you certainly can get faster. So I went to Brian and I said Brian, can you help me get faster? Ben? He looked at me as I'm looking at you. He says Aeneas, you can run a 4, 3, 40. And he said it so convincingly and because of his credibility, I believed him. This is when I found out that belief can be transferred into another human being. So so I say Brian, what do I do? Brian is also from New Orleans.

Speaker 2: 8:28

This was at the end of the fall semester, december. We were getting ready to have a break in between Christmas and New Year's. We were going to go home to New Orleans. Brian says Aeneas, I'm going back. When we go home and work out with my high school coach, I want you to get up 6 o'clock in the morning, come and meet us and just get next to me and do everything that I do. I said great and I did it. I'd never trained like that before in my life. I hurt like I don't know what when we got back to the spring semester while I'm in graduate school.

Speaker 2: 9:01

Brian says Aeneas, walk on the track team. I said Brian says Aeneas, walk on the track team. I said, brian, walk on the track team. He said, yeah, you walked on the football team. I said, oh, yeah, you got a point right. I said what do I do? Get next to me and do everything I do. I did it. I didn't know. My teammates were coming out in the mornings and in the afternoons, afternoon, watching us around the stadium and laughing at me because when I was running next to Brian, brian, we take off and if we're running a 400 meters I'd be with Brian maybe the first 10 yards and then he would leave me. And then I mosey on a lot around and then eventually, at the end of the workout, I'm on the ground thinking I'm going to die and Brian is walking like he hadn't framed. So I'm looking at him while my legs tell me, while I'm on the ground, ben, saying Nias, you can keep this up, but we're finished.

Speaker 2: 9:50

This is January. April is the pro day when the pros come and work out all of the eligible players for the draft. At Southern University I clocked a 4-3-40. I became the second rated cornerback in the nation, behind Todd Light out of Notre Dame. That following fall, I set the national record with 11 interceptions and made national black college player of the year. All of that submitting to Brian.

Speaker 2: 10:25

When you talk about the burn, when you talk about the process, when you talk about Brian telling me also, aeneas, while you're in the dorm, before you go to sleep, stretch, you need to get more flexibility. I used to couldn't touch below my knees. Then he says Aeneas, speed has to do with footwork. Every night, before you go to bed, jump rope. So literally I was stretching and jumping rope while my teammates were going out to the clubs at night. I wasn't going. So all of these things, god can have a purpose for your life, there can be a destiny for your life, but the passion that burn has to be constructively put in a process of development with mentorship, like a Brian Thomas and many others that had an impact on my life.

Speaker 1: 11:11

Where did your burn come from and how important has athletics been to setting that foundation for your life.

Speaker 3: 11:18

I think my burn, man, it just comes from my upbringing.

Speaker 3: 11:21

You know, first and foremost, my mother, my father, just seeing them coming from humble beginnings and just how they worked hard. And I'll just say, you know, it just rubbed off on myself, rubbed off on my oldest brother in life and as far as you know athletics and you talked about it growing up in Newport, new Virginia, just growing up around a lot of, uh, great athletes, that was just one of the things as a young man, um that I took to my older brother played sports, so, um, just continuing that, uh, through through high school, um, through college and, you know, fortunate enough to have a 14 year, a career in the NFL, um, just those athletics, man, they teach you so much, they teach you the partnership that you have with your brother alongside of you, they teach you discipline, they teach you accountability and a lot of things in the football world you can take into your second career. As you know, you talk about athletes transitioning. So those type of things, man, it can just help you succeed in life in general.

Speaker 1: 12:22

How important was it for you, speaking of those disciplines, to always be ready for that opportunity, and what can you say to these young athletes who really lack patience today?

Speaker 3: 12:33

Yeah, man, that's the biggest thing. People ask me what can I contribute to my success? Um, and it's, it's consistency, right and then. So your point is being ready for that opportunity and taking full advantage of it, and I think that's one of the biggest things that I can say. Um, just in my career, like you know, my first year I was the number seven safety on the depth chart, going into spring, uh, spring practice.

Speaker 3: 12:58

So again, you know, when that opportunity presented itself, I had to take full advantage of that. And then to the young guys, man, like, it's very, very, very important for you to be patient and, just, you know, go through the process, whatever that process is. You know, everybody have, um, everybody's stories won't be different. You know, everybody can't have that same story. So for the guys that's sitting back, that's waiting for their opportunity or waiting on their turn, just be ready when that time comes, because it will come. You don't know when it's going to come, but it will come. And when it comes you have to be ready, because you don't know when you'll get another opportunity.

Speaker 1: 13:36

Follow-up question to this, because this is something I really admire about you and you know we're new friends, getting to know each other, and I've enjoyed our bond thus far and look forward to continuing to grow and helping each other on this path of life. One of the things that I admire about your story you talk about aggressive patience and staying ready. You went to Howard. You know, I think of the Aeneas Williams who go to Southern and you go into Howard and the individuals who you didn't play at a powerhouse school. You didn't play at a school that's entering the college football playoff, yet you maximized your opportunity. So how important is it for maybe these players You're not at a Michigan, you're not at a Michigan State, you're not at an Michigan State, you're not at an Ohio State, you're not at a Georgia, you're not at one of these Kansas State, these top institutions how important is it, no matter what school you're at, to recognize you can make the most of this opportunity and take it as far as you want?

Speaker 3: 14:33

to take it. I mean, you hit it on the head regardless of where you're at, as my high school coach, as my college coach told me, if you're good enough, they'll find you. Obviously, I think everybody's goal is to go to college and play on that huge stage, play in front of 90,000 people. But, like I said before, everybody's story is going to be different, everybody's path is going to be different. So my path took me to Howard University, um, hbcu, and again, you know that that right, there was my story, was my path, which makes for me my story that much special. And you talked about, you know, aeneas Williams, walter Payton. You got so many legends that that had a similar path, that went to a smaller school that was able to go to the next level and have a major impact on a game. So again, regardless of where you go, take advantage of the opportunity and do the most with it.

Speaker 1: 15:27

So, and then you mentioned I love what you just said your coach telling you like, maximize your opportunity and they will find you. And so here's what I think is unique. We could talk about Super Bowls and we could talk about all those things, but where I really felt you light up is this next phase of your life. So what was it in winning a Super Bowl, becoming a champion, raising that Lombardi trophy, what were those habits and disciplines that have now carried over to you? Being this example, to where you're going back to Howard taking entrepreneurial lessons right, it's. You're not going back like doing the mental performance coach for the football team. You're going back there creating business opportunities and and helping former players there and current players there. So how important is your entrepreneurial career been? Because, from with me, you're winning c the field from your busine. So tell us a little bit a and your entrepreneurial. It's been for you to win that's.

Speaker 3: 16:33

That's been one of things for me. You know, think I'll ever be able to obtain that high like it was running through the tunnel on Sunday? I don't think I'll ever be able to match that high. But to your point, transitioning is tough. It's tough for anybody, regardless of what that transition looks like.

Speaker 3: 16:56

So for me, being an entrepreneur man, it's something that's intriguing to me, it's something that pushes me, it makes me use my mind, right? So we talk about the things that football was able to afford me. So, regardless of the Super Bowl championships or Pro Bowl, it's the life lessons that I was able to learn on a day-to-day basis, right. Being on time, being able to work with people, being dedicated to the craft those are the things that I could take that I learned from football and use in the entrepreneur world. So now, you know, I have a restaurant and again, that's just a team oriented business where everybody has to lean on one another for the success of the company, right? So if the company is successful, the employees are successful. So we just a triple down effect.

Speaker 3: 17:48

Having a trucking company, you know, going in, having a partner in the trucking company again, those are the type of things that you have to be dedicated to. You got to be resilient, because everything is not going to be peaches and cream just like on the field. You will have ebbs and flows, you have ups, you will have downs. It's the same way in the entrepreneur world. So, again, I think football set me up to be partly prepared in the entrepreneur world. As you know, it's tough. It's tough running your business and going through the things, but again, man, the transition has been good. It's been tough but again, man, I know it's definitely going to be rewarding for me.

Speaker 1: 18:32

How much have you believed in that philosophy of we only get one shot and you better leave this place better than you found it?

Speaker 3: 18:40

because, understanding the context of the book I I know that's important to you no, it is man, and as long as we play this game again, trophies the money. Whatever the case may be, that's fine. When you leave this earth, and if that's all they can say about you is that, hey, he was a great football player, like you failed um, being able to have that platform. I think the biggest thing for me is just to have the impact on the people, right, uh, what, what have you done for the people? How have you helped the people? That's that's how I live by, that's what I go by. And again, you know betting on yourself. If you don't bet on yourself, who is you know, in any aspect of life? And that's why I wrote the book. You know everybody has their story, decided to put the pen to the paper and just try to give people motivation. Right, if I can do it, anybody can do it, regardless of what, where you at in life, the color of your skin male, female go out there and better yourself, and it can be done.

Speaker 1: 19:35

What was it, during the ups and the downs through your career, that kept you believing in what you just said, which is what it was all about was the relationships.

Speaker 4: 19:44

I think to me it's really that ability to realize that obviously there's things you're chasing and things you want to be successful at individually. But when you play a sport like the game of football, where it's going to come down to intangibles of toughness and discipline and effort, really you know that culture and that teamwork. People love to use that word, but what does that word really mean? To me, it means being vulnerable, learning how to trust each other, learn how to have patience for one another and learn how to instill confidence in each other. Learn how to have patience for one another and learn how to instill confidence in each other. And to me, when you find a team that all of a sudden it's like wow, we're starting to be patient with one another, we're being vulnerable to one another, like guys are starting to share, guys are starting to be open about something to struggle with, they're willing to kind of give that to their teammates and trust their teammates with hey, this is something I'm dealing with. And then, by the way, they're also like starting to kind of confidence in one another and wanting to bring each other along, so that feeling of a team culture starting to take over and having those little moments where you just find it in a game, where you're down and you just through grit, determination and your culture, you find a way to win the game. And then guys come back in and you don't see them take that for granted and they dig even deeper in, like that's what fires me up. I mean I love that more than I love a win. I love that more than I love any moment in sports is when I see people start to believe in themselves and to believe in each other. I think that's one of those feelings I've always chased, I've always loved. It doesn't matter what industry or what I do or what I'm involved in. I love to see people want to put their arms around each other and have that moment where they realize, man, you know what I'm in, the scenario, I'm in the situation I'm in. I believe in it and I believe in the people I'm doing it with. And to me that's where a burn comes from is that everybody has to bring their own individual feeling of desire and passion. But then they got to learn how to share it with the people they're doing it with and they're having the chance to chase that championship with and when they can do that and find that way to be together and have that burn, that passion, that belief that we all are going to be able to accomplish if we're on the same page. To me, that's one of the rarest things in sports and it's what fires me up to play the game that is so powerful.

Speaker 4: 21:57

Yeah, and I think I think it really comes down to like how many I would say this all the time like the great players spend their time getting better at what they need to get better at. I see so many guys come in the league and so many guys that, like they're a quick, twitchy guy and all they do is work on quick, twitchy stuff and I'm like, dude, you're not doing well because you're not strong enough. You're not doing well because you're not sitting down on blocks, you're not moving people in the line of scrimmage, like you're not covering the best like you should be working on. Every one of us has a special trait, and let's say that ad special trait is up here.

Speaker 4: 22:32

Whatever that you want to say, his special traits are what makes aaron donald the best player on the planet is he spends all his time bringing up everything that you might say is a weakness. Every time, everything he's working on is chasing his special trait, rather than these guys. You see, come in the league and it's like they're strong. All they do is bench press and squat. They lift weights. They're getting no faster. They're not working on their conditioning, they're working on their twitch, and then you take a twitch again, all he does is do twitch stuff and it's like you're not getting any better because you're not chasing your best trait. Like your best trait, you should spend 10 to 20 percent of time on all the other things should be what all your time's consumed on and that's how you bring up who you are as a player and that's who the guys who last is they start to eliminate their weaknesses, not maximize the only thing they're good at.

Speaker 1: 23:20

One of my favorite quotes of yours if you are a true champion, competition does not scare you, it makes you better. And when you look at the longevity of being a champion and that warrior mindset that you took in, like this is going to make me better, almost like. Are you saying in that quote like you crave the competition because without it you could never see how great you could be. Is that what you mean by that?

Speaker 4: 23:45

Yeah, I think without the competition, without the opportunity to fail, you never know what success feels like. And so to me I always thought of it like hey, you're an offensive lineman, here's the truth. Like people aren't going to notice you until you do something wrong. I mean, that's the nature of our position. You either hold somebody, you go up a sack, you miss your block on a run play. All of a sudden you know the announcer's saying your name or people on TV know who you are, but if you're doing your job, they probably don't know who you are because that's your job.

Speaker 4: 24:20

And so to me, failure was always embarrassing. It's not like a D-lineman can jump out of his gap, running back and go for 80 yards. Nobody even knows right, nobody has any idea that that's what he was supposed to do. But an O-lineman, you mess up. It's usually more than likely 90-something percent of the time. Everyone knows it was your job that you didn't do. So you naturally play a position where failure is going to be embarrassing or a mistake is always going to be maximized. People are always going to know you made it. So the sooner you realize that you know what. I don't care about competition, I don't care about failure, I'm willing hit me in the face. No-transcript.