Dyslexia. Racism. The NFL.

Chris Spencer2:50

Yeah. I mean, growing up, you know, it it was intense in in some areas, but not all the areas that, you know, it was that intense, but at the same time, like there was a respect level, you know, throughout Mississippi where, you know, if you're working in the farms and you're, you know, you have to get this done, people kind of really left you alone because they they also relied on that, you know, and so there's things that has come up in my my life there.

Um, you know, like one story I remember, um, remember coming out of the out of the fields one day, my mom, I think I was probably like 7, 8 years old, and my, uh, my granddad told my mom to come pick me up, get me back to the house. And as we were pulling out of the out of the farm, there's these two guys standing there with boat paddles smacking the hood, telling us to get off their land, uh, when it wasn't their land, it was our land.

But they were trying to bully us. and and let me tell you now, my granddad didn't play. So, we get home and um you [snorts] know, my mom pulls up in the driveway, my granddad pulls up behind us on the tractor and my mom's crying and and my granddad asked what happened. She told him the story and he goes in the house, grabs his shotguns and and he said, "Come on, boy, get in the truck." Throws me a shotgun. we get in a truck and we go back down to the fields looking trying to find these guys and um you know and so you know we have you know we have some things like that but for the most part man like you know because of the community so tightknit you know so close people don't really want that kind of smoke you know to kind of penetrate those type of environments and so

Chris Spencer5:28

I mean I I mean we still we had a pool and you know the town that I grew up in where you know you knew you know it didn't say whites only but you knew as a black kid that you're not going to this pool you know so we still had that when I was growing up.

Chris Spencer5:55

Yeah.

Chris Spencer6:13

I credit that to my mom. My mom always said to me, it's like, you know, no matter what's going on around you,

Don't allow people or any type of anger you had have about anything allow you to miss your blessing from God. And so, so I always thought about that in every situation. It's like if I get upset, if I get angry, will I miss a blessing because I'm angry and I can't see clearly? Yeah. And

So I still to this day, that's some of the things that I live off of. My principles is that

Don't allow someone else or anything affect my reactions and my behavior. Figure out how to move. And I know, you know, we get all this this stuff about Dr. king about turn the other cheek and all that, you know, but I think the the bigger message in there is like don't allow yourself to to go because you know once you go once you go you're the one that's going to go get locked up and be you know and and now your whole future is shift and change because of your because of your reaction whether it's warrant I mean and it's a lot of it is warranted.

Yeah. But at the same time, like, how do I protect my future knowing that I'm I'm designed to be do something much bigger in life than to get into it with somebody for for brief seconds.

Chris Spencer8:01

Yeah. It's like you could say what all say anything you want to say, but just don't put your hands on me.

Chris Spencer8:07

Just don't put your hands on me.

Chris Spencer8:21

I never realized I can it it was going to translate to that even later into my years. Um you know, but it was it was around the time I was I think I was about sixth grade. my granddad end up selling the farm, you know, and all that. You know, in between time, I was doing mechanic work, framing houses, you know, you name it. Any kind of odd jobs that were out there, I would doing them. And so what I would tell my mom is, "Hey, mom, after school, I'm just going to go, you know, work [snorts] with my cousin Rena.

He was a shade tree mechanic." And so I'm just going to go work with him instead of go to the instead of going to the farm. Well, she was working so she couldn't pick me up and take me over there cuz it was another it was 25 minutes away. And so she grabbed my hand my hand one day as she was picking me up and she's like, "Well, hold on one second." And she drove me into the the football coach's office and she was like, "Hey, he belongs to you now.

This this is what he's going to do after school." And and I'm looking at her because I was so programmed to, you know, getting up at, you know, 4:30 in the morning, helping my granddad get the tractors and stuff ready. And so like I grew grew up early on thinking that I'm just going to be a farmer.

Yeah. And so when she drugged me in there, I'm looking at her like, I played football, you know, pick it up and run it, but I didn't have time to actually like learn how to play the game. And so

What are you doing, mom? And so my coach, it was coach Sly. Um, love coach Coach Sly. But he was like, "All right, I got him. I drop him off in the afternoons when when it's time when we're done with practice." And she's like, "All right."

Chris Spencer9:47

This was in middle school over in uh at uh East Flora. And this is in Flora, Mississippi. What's the closest big city? Um, Jackson.

Chris Spencer9:55

Jackson.

Chris Spencer11:20

Yeah, it was mostly mostly black. We

We had a couple of white kids on our team, but it was mostly black. Um, and you know, the team was actually really good, you know, and I remember the first day going out there.

We had a uh one of my teammates, Jarvis Mack, and everybody know him knew him as like the head hunter.

Okay. And I've never really put on past before.

Chris Spencer11:47

It doesn't matter. And you you got to figure out how to

Buck up.

Chris Spencer11:52

And I remember they, you know, the new guy put me in the line with him. He was the first guy. And and I'm like, "All right."

And the moment he he fired off, we was playing like Oklahoma drill and we took off and we just like clashed back together

And everybody was standing back was like, "Oh." Cuz normally new guy come on on the field,

Jarvis was knocking their head off. Even I had a cousin who was bigger than me when he came out. The first time Jarvis hit him, knocked his ear pads out, you know, and uh and everybody was kind of like, "All right." And so coach looked at me and grabbed me. He's like, "All right, you going to play Dline, you going to play?"

Chris Spencer12:54

Yeah. He

Chris Spencer12:56

Oh, no. He he he on our way out to the field as he's buckling up my chin scrap for me. He's like, "All right, we're going to do a drill and this drill is going to be tough. And you got to make sure you, you know, want to keep your head up. You want to get your pads down and you can't be scared. You just have to just fire off.

Chris Spencer13:18

Oh, man. I

Chris Spencer13:25

Yeah.

Chris Spencer13:48

Ken, I was scared shitless. I was I was standing there looking at everybody. These guys have done it, you know, multiple times. And I'm standing there like,

Chris Spencer13:58

Oh, you got to get the reps. talk about I I talk about it all the time.

You know, even with our kids, they they watch all these videos. My my youngest son, he loves fishing. He watches all these videos and he knows how to he can tell you about every hook, all the lines. He can tell you all the types of fish. And we get out there and I'm like, "Hey, you want me to you want me to hook, you know, put your hook on and do all that for you?" And he's like, "No, Dad. I know how to do it." And then five minutes later, he's like, "Dad, can you help me?"

And and it's just a constant reminder of you can watch all the videos. you have you can read all the books, but if you don't get the reps at it, you don't get better at it.

And so that was my it was my wake up of like, all right, welcome to football. And um right as I I stood there in the line just thinking about like, man, I hope I don't poop myself cuz cuz my stomach is rumbling, my you palm sweating, and I'm sweating profusely.

Chris Spencer14:50

No, I believe it or not, I was like the second smallest kid in my class up until about fifth grade.

Chris Spencer15:02

And then I went to Detroit one summer and stayed with my cousin and basically we ate out for every meal and I came back to Mississippi and I look like a fat butterball. Like literally my mom didn't even recognize me as she's standing in the airport waiting for me. I walked by her and she didn't even recognize me. That's how much I

Chris Spencer16:07

No. And it and it and it started my like my rise of being a lineman.

Chris Spencer16:13

Because I didn't stop when I got even when I got back to Mississippi. I didn't stop. And so I was like by about about sixth grade I was roughly you know the size of you know the the big guys on the on the field. So it wasn't like

Chris Spencer16:29

Yeah. It was no there was no question of like and you going to be a tight end or you going to be a lineman. No, it was you you're a lineman. No question.

Chris Spencer17:21

Yeah, I think it was probably about my second game, you know, I was playing defensive tackle and I gave a swim move and and just crushed the quarterback. He fumbled, we scooped and scored and everybody was just like looking around like, "This is the new guy." Yeah.

And and then from there, it just kept happening where, you know, I scoop I make someone fumble, scoop the ball up, I'm running it back. I always get caught because I was a lineman, but I started to realize like, okay, uh, all right, I can I can do this. But I never had this mindset of like, oh, I'm good at this. It was just like, okay, at least I was having fun. I didn't I was at a place where I didn't feel embarrassed. I didn't I wasn't embarrassing myself.

And so progressing that into high school, I remember

My eighth grade year, the high school football coach came over. He would always come over because we ran pretty much the same system as high school. And so around your eighth grade year, you know, the high school coach come over. He's trying to identify who's, you know, who's upcoming for freshman and all that. And I remember him pulling me aside. He's like, "Hey, we got some big things for you." And I'm just like, "Okay, cool."

Chris Spencer18:22

No, we were we were 49ers friends because Jerry Rice is in our family and so my family, you know, when we had free time, yeah, turn on the 49ers game to watch. Let's go watch Jerry and um but other than that, no, I was everything that I did was around working helping my mom.

My mom had me when she was, you know, she was pregnant with me at 15, had me when she was 16.

And so we pretty much grew up together. And so my whole thing was how do I not be a burden to my mom who has, you know, we she a family of five, you know, family of six cuz we had she had five kids and it was just her.

And then we were with my aunts who also have kids and two of my aunts, we all live together. And so I was trying to figure out how do I not be a burden. So one thing that I knew I can do is work. And as I started to kind of progress through football, football wasn't a thing for me. I didn't really I was doing it. I was having fun, but I it wasn't like I was looking at football as like my way out of anything.

It was this is, you know, believe it or not, this is a place I can hide at.

Chris Spencer20:05

Everything is sharable. It was sharable in our household." And it was like first come, first serve. So, even, you know, it was bath time. It was like two by two. They were putting us in a bath together two by two. Then, you know, food hit the table. It was like, you know, rice and chicken and

And whoever's going to eat the fastest is going to get a a second piece of chicken, you know, so it was like, you know, so crazy.

So everything in our house was sharable. And so, you know, as I was kind of coming through, when I tell people about my success, you know, as a as a number two lineman in the country coming out of high school, the number one recruiter in the state of Mississippi, go to Ole Miss, first round draft pick, all of those things that I've, you know, was able to to uh accomplish. You know, the thing that people don't realize is that I was a kid who was sitting in a classroom hoping a teacher didn't call on call call on me to read because of my dyslexia.

And [clears throat] so, early on, I was diagnosed with dyslexia. And so football was a way for me to hide.

Chris Spencer21:02

So I wasn't thinking about all the other things that I could accomplish in football. I was thinking about, man, if I'm good at this, if I can become really good at this, no one would ever know that I have dyslexia. My friends won't know to make fun of me.

And that's why I was so good at, you know, at the age of seven driving a tractor.

I was good at taking a transmission and a motor out of a car because

If I get became really good at these things that my brain understood Yeah. then people always look at me as like, "Oh man, this kid, he's going somewhere. He's he's going to be good." So football was never one of those things that I thought about,

Hey, this could be my way out. So,

Chris Spencer21:45

Oh, absolutely.

Chris Spencer22:21

It's like very intellectual game. It is. And people who can read a CAD drawing, you're like amazed by because as a just a normal person trying to read a CAD drawing, you have no clue what the hell you're looking at.

Chris Spencer22:34

Well, football was like that for me. I It was like my whole world opened up when I got plays. I saw the I could see the field. I could see what's happening and it all made sense to me. So that's why football was a place that I can hide at because it was the first time in my life where outside of you know the the hard labor that was the first time that things was really easy made sense to me. And so

Coming [snorts] through high school, I mean it was super super simple for me in high school. Uh getting into, you know, college super simple because I understood I picked up playbooks really quickly. Um and even in the league, you know, picking up playbooks, I played in a lot of different offenses. And so what I now believe that, you know, my my dyslexia was my superpower because I can see what linebackers are doing, see what safeties are doing, especially as a center, and I can make quick calls and I can get everybody on the same page and uh and it's all happened really fast in my brain.

Chris Spencer23:31

But when it came to reading, they [clears throat] just didn't it was like that mind's eye is jumping all over the place trying to figure out,

All right, what context were we in? Okay, let me just get the context of the story so I can then, you know, figure things out. go to the bottom of the paragraph and then I read it backwards and then now when you go to read it forward you putting extra words in

And that's when you start to sound and start to feel like you you don't belong or you're not you're not smart enough and so it's not how people treat you it's also how you feeling about yourself

Because it doesn't cuz why can't I this is this should be simple site words should be simple but sight words would just have my mind's eye all over the place and so these are some of the things that

That for me

When you start looking at my career it was Like football is just that thing that I can just like let me just duck off in here cuz I know what I'm doing here.

Chris Spencer24:18

You know, I can hide over here. I don't want anybody to know that I'm, you know, have slower in reading and

Chris Spencer24:22

And I was a good kid in school,

But I was really good at trying to figure out, you know, when that teacher start, all right, we're going to read this story today and you knew that like you knew what number you were you were in. It's like, man, it's coming. And I, you know, I remember I laugh at it about it all the time cuz I I would put my head on the desk and pretend like I was sleep and then people would be trying to wake me up and and it would take the teacher too long.

It take them too long to try to wake me up. So I wouldn't wake up and they say all right let's move on to the next guy and I'm like and then finally I slowly start uh what's going on or you know right in the middle of hey I need to go to the bathroom so it was hurt really bad you know and so you know so can you imagine the hormone that's going on in in my head

You know to navigate through all of that you know as a kid and so um so yeah man it you know with football

You know I didn't have that kind of anxiety and stress around it so

Chris Spencer25:20

I was a junior in high school when I really started to and I was doing some powerlifting as a sophomore, but really around my junior year in high school. Um, and it was I was pulling concrete one summer.

Chris Spencer25:30

Out of Meridian, Mississippi. And I mean, again, it was hot. It was so hot. And I remember scooping uh concrete out of a bucket of a tractor, climbing a stairs. I mean, climbing a ladder, and then we were pouring these apartment complex stairs, and I almost fainted because it was so hot. And I remember sitting in getting going back and sitting in a truck and realizing like, God, it has to be something more for me than this. Has to be.

And it was like ding ding ding. I had went to these camps the summer before and I got all these offers.

Wasn't even thinking about the offers. Ole Miss had offered me. Mississippi State, LSU, all these schools had already offered me scholarships.

Chris Spencer26:05

And so, and that was the moment I realized like, all right, I need to go and quit this job, tell my mom, hey, mom, I'm sorry. I just cannot work anymore. I need to put my time into football. And I went home and told her that and she was like, "Yeah, I never expected you to do the things that you do." Um, so go put your time in working out.

Chris Spencer26:43

No, I mean I don't think so. I think it was more that you know it was just what everybody else was telling her.

Chris Spencer26:49

You know, so she would you know my coaches and people were always telling he's going to be really good. He's going to be really good. So

Chris Spencer26:56

No, I had no idea what to expect even like in high school. All I just All I knew is I just going to line up and I'm going to kick the [ __ ] out of the guy. That was that's the only thing I I mean some games I have like 20 pancakes because that I was just I'm going to kick the [ __ ] out of the guy in front of me. Well, especially when I started training, you know, I won powerlifting um championships.

I was, you know, my junior year in high school. I squatted 705 lbs. Um you know, and then broke the state record at 705 my junior year in high school. Broke my record in my senior year in high school. But it wasn't like I trained for it.

Yeah. Well, in the gym, I had been training all these years, holding holding transmissions up and pulling motors out of cars and, you know, doing all this hard labor. And then all of a sudden, I walk into the gym and I start squatting and the coach was like, "Oh, let's put on like 250." Squat and do it easy. Oh, well, let's put on 350. Squat and do it easy. And I remember this like yesterday. I went from 250 to 350 to 405 on the same day.

And and then my coach looked, he said, "Well, I don't know how strong you are." I mean, we're just going to stop here for the day and then we'll see how

Chris Spencer28:07

Yeah.

But it happened really quickly where we started powerlifting season and I was already doing 650 lbs. And then and

Chris Spencer28:23

A separate powerlifting team. Oh,

Chris Spencer28:31

Yeah. And that was my way of like, okay, I know I got to catch up.

Chris Spencer28:34

You know, in my head, I got to catch up because I've been working in the summertime. Yeah.

So, I'm gonna get on the powerlifting team. So, in, you know, this summer, I can just powerlift and then I'll be ready for football.

Chris Spencer28:49

Yeah, won state championship, hold all the records, you know. Um, I think my sophomore year I was dabbling around the powerlifting team. I was the the manager and we won a state championship that the my sophomore year and then my junior year then I broke all the records my junior year one state and then we won state again my senior year.

Chris Spencer29:09

Football team was we had some studs. I mean my junior year we won state really.

And on that team we had

Doug Buckles who went to Ole Miss and played with me. Mike Espie was a receiver who went to Ole Miss and played with me. Um Paris Harrison, God rest his soul. um he played um went to Tennessee and then Steven Gazowski was the um our kicker who went to Memphis and then got drafted in the NFL. Um and then and then myself and so all of us on that team and then there was probably another three to four guys on that team that probably should have played, you know, in the pros.

Um a running back

And we call him Bobo Bobo Brown.

Chris Spencer29:47

He was phenomenal. Yeah.

And so we had a really good team and we won state my junior year and then we lost in the north half my senior year.

Chris Spencer30:06

Around my my junior year. Uh and I think a lot of it too is that Doug Buckles was a year older than me and he was getting a bunch of offers. He was a 66, you know, 295 lb guard that end up going to Ole Miss. And then you were playing center

And I was playing right tackle.

He was playing left guard. I was playing right tackle. In high school, I played tackle. You know, you put the big bodies on the outside and cave everything in.

About my junior year, I started getting a lot of recognition. My sophomore year, I start I had already started getting offers. By the time my junior year, I pretty much had just about every offer in the country. Uh and then going into my senior year, it was, you know, parade all-American. you know, Dandy does and all these different, you know, accolades around it where again, still I'm not even thinking about what I'm going to do. It was just kind of like, oh, I remember going into the woods and going hunting and sitting in the treeand thinking like, man, this is crazy.

All these people are coming here to see me like coaches are here. I'm in I'm in the woods because there was like line of coaches at at the school trying to visit with me, but I'm like it was so overwhelming to me that I just would just leave.

Chris Spencer31:09

It it does a thing with your mind where you're you know you know that there's tension but you also know that you know when we talk about privilege I was you know I realized very early that I had football privilege.

Chris Spencer31:46

You know there was things that that I can do that my friends couldn't do.

Chris Spencer31:50

You know and that was like always wild and crazy to me as I start to like process all of that. Um, but to go from not just kind of just being a football player and then all of a sudden like everybody around knows who you are. I mean, my junior my senior year in high school coming out again, I was a number two lineman in the country. I was a number one recruit in the state of Mississippi. And again, I'm just like, all right. Okay. Football

Chris Spencer32:25

Yeah. Me and my mom, we're sitting in the living room. Coaches come down. You know,

Now that this NIL stuff is, you know, all the back room stuff is, you know,

It's now out front, but man, [snorts]

Chris Spencer32:44

I think the craziest story was I had a coach come in and put $100,000 on the table. Um, but his recruiting pitch was like, you know, kind of like the same thing that Lane Kiffin is doing right now at LSU against Ole Miss. You know, he would come sit down. He came and sat down. He pulled out these pictures, which is I thought was the most the most insane like recruiting pitch, you know, cuz you got to read the room. You got to understand people who I'm talking to.

And he read the room wrong when he pulls out these pictures of all these kids, all these white kids at Ole Miss and like driving Mercedes and like really nice cars and he was say that's what your son would have to go and compete with. Then he pulls up pictures of all these kids at his school uh that will remain nameless. Um and he's like, you know, if he comes to school here, he'll be amongst his peers. And he pulled up all these black kids driving beers and pickup trucks.

Chris Spencer33:38

"Man, is this your recruiting pitch?"

And I'm like, "It has to be more to this." I'm like, "You have to have more here." And and then the more came and was like, "Hey, here's a here's $100,000 cash untraceable. You know, you come to my school then, you know, we'll make sure you even have more, you know." And he's looking around our house and our house was small and he's like, "You know, you guys can use the use the extra cash."

Chris Spencer34:01

And I remember my mom looked at him and she's like, "Coach, my son's not for sale." It's crazy.

He's not He's not a piece of meat. He's not for sale.

Chris Spencer34:14

I didn't say a word. I just waited. And then they I mean, he packed up really fast and left the house. I mean, like spinning rocks out the driveway. And I looked at my mom. I said, "Mom, we could have taken that money and still went whatever wherever we wanted to go because they're not going to tell them themselves." Yeah.

And she's like, "Son, if you take something from somebody, you'll always be looking over your shoulder wondering when they come in and ask for it." Again,

Chris Spencer35:11

Oh, it wasn't for my mom, I would made a lot of pitfalls because um she was like very, very wise.

Chris Spencer35:19

Very wise. And so she when she said that I'm just like all right. And so all these little stories that you know the things that were happen always like stuck in the back of my head. And so at some point throughout my career things would come up and I'm just like oh okay I'mma operate how my mom operated or how I'm operate how my granddad operated here. So

Chris Spencer35:50

Yeah, for me it was it was a combination. My mom had just had her second open brain surgery. Um, and I wanted to stay close to home, but it was more of like I still she always like you're going to go somewhere and when you tell me this is a place you feel like at home, that's where we're going to go. I don't care where it is in the country. And so I visit LSU, I visit Florida, I visit, you know, Tennessee. I actually committed to Tennessee.

Chris Spencer36:14

Um, and you know, I really like Coach Farmer. He was the head coach at the time. Um, and but then when I came back to Ole Miss and always had a good relationship with Coach Cutcliffe and to this day, he's still one of the best men I know. And and I remember calling him and telling him that I committed to Tennessee and he was just like on fire.

Chris Spencer36:36

Oh, yeah. And

Chris Spencer36:41

It was both. Both. He was hurt because we had a good relationship. He just knew that I was coming to Miss

And so he was like, "Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?" And I'm like, "Coach," I said, "Are you kidding?" He's like, "Are you still going to come on your visit?" I was like, "I'm still coming on my visit." He's like, "Okay, all right."

Chris Spencer37:05

Oh. And

Especially for a young kid. And he was smart and because he he coached with Phil Forman so he knew he knew his playbook.

Chris Spencer37:13

And so he knew how to combat the playbook. And so we pull up on campus and he didn't even talk to me. He went straight to my mom.

He wrapped his arm around my mom. He had my mom glued to his hip the whole recruiting trip.

And by the end of this trip, my mom looked at me and she was like, she what do you think? I was like, I always felt like I'm at home here. I always feel like I'm at home here. I love the guys. Love the, you know, the type of coach. John Latina was the O line coach. Like that man, man, he is like a technician. And he was putting lineman in the league and I was just like, I feel at home. And she's like, well, what about Tennessee?

I said, well, I already committed to Tennessee, mom. She was like, baby. My mom's softspoken Mississippi. She said, baby, you playing for that man right there. I said I said, what do you mean? She's like, that's the type of man I want you to play for. someone who is not just about football that's going to teach you how to be a man. And I was just like, "All right."

Chris Spencer38:13

Decommitted to Tennessee, called Coach Foreman back and he was just like, [sighs and clears throat]

I knew Cut was going to swoop in on me. I knew he was going to get me.

Chris Spencer38:30

Oh, absolutely. You know, when you get to that level, you you you you want competition. Yeah. You want your team to be good. And so, if you're worried about somebody gonna come in and take your job, then your team won't ever improve. Yeah.

And so, the O line was so tightknit. I mean, Marcus Johnson, Belton Johnson, you know, being

Chris Spencer38:53

All these guys were like, got to come in and compete, you know.

Chris Spencer38:59

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, these guys, I've never been a part of a group, you know, like myself came in and we I had Bobby Harris, Trey Stallin, Marcus Johnson, Belton Johnson, Ben Claxton. I've never been around a group of guys that were they were so they were so willing to give you information and then you had to figure out how you going to use that information to take their job.

Chris Spencer39:22

And that's the same mindset I took into the lead. No matter who they brought in, I was always giving them all this information, but I knew I was going to outwork them. I knew that they had to figure out how to use the information that I gave them in a way for themselves to outplay me.

Chris Spencer39:44

Absolutely.

Chris Spencer40:02

No, because I the small town that I was in, we didn't have a high school.

Chris Spencer40:07

And so the high school that we had to go to was over in Madison, and Madison is like still one of the the most affluent areas in Mississippi.

Chris Spencer40:16

It wasn't a shock. So, I went from, you know, predominantly black black high school to probably a 7030

Um high school and 70% white, maybe 80, not sure number on that, but

And [snorts] those kids were driving nice cars. I mean, you know, they, you know, I remember having friend girls that would wreck a car and dad would buy them a new car the next day and wreck it again and buy new car. Yeah,

I was able to get expos, you know, it it wasn't my life, but I was at least, it wasn't a shock to me when I got there.

Chris Spencer42:08

Coach Cut didn't play that.

Chris Spencer42:10

Coach Cut didn't play.

Chris Spencer42:13

Coach Cut didn't believe in, you know, hazing young players like that because, you know, you got to count on these players.

Chris Spencer42:33

Right? And but you got hazed in a different way.

Chris Spencer42:36

And the different way was in that weight room.

Chris Spencer42:39

You know, I remember my my first day there.

Chris Spencer42:46

Yeah, it was. Yeah. My my first day in the weight room, I did 500. It was uh we had to do five sets of five. And I think my first set was with 500 lb. And I had to do five

Sets of 10 with 500 lb squats

And then do all the other lifts. And then I remember a coach was like, "All right, we got we got 10 110s." And I was just like, "And I've never run more than 25 30 yards in high school."

Chris Spencer43:45

We talking about grown men.

Yes. No, this is these were grown men and

Chris Spencer43:53

Yes. Yeah. They it was kind of like wait a minute this is a I mean I'm talking about guys who you know was in their third year still wasn't squatting 500 lb, you know? So I finished that that workout and I'm just like I'm over in the trash can already like

Chris Spencer44:10

Just hanging on just like hoping I don't like let it go.

Yeah. And so that I look at the strength coach who was Ruben Mendoza who was like probably one of the biggest guy biggest strength coaches I ever met.

Chris Spencer44:21

And I was like, "Coach, does a freshman have to go out here and run?" He was like, he's like, "Have you ever put your hand on a fire?" He's like, "What happens when you put your hand over fire? You get burned." He's like, "I'm throwing you in the fire. Let's go." I was like, "All right, coach. I got to get some energy." And we used to have these like um you remember these protein shakes, the boost,

They call them boost. [snorts] And I I went and grabbed me one of those strawberry boots before we went out and ran.

Chris Spencer44:45

And I just like chugged it.

And everybody, all these older guys were sitting around laughing. I didn't know why they were laughing.

Chris Spencer44:52

Even the strength coach is laughing.

So we get out on the field, you know, and I was a smooth runner.

Chris Spencer44:57

We got on the field, we get to that first 110 and I'm out in front of everybody

And I'm like like, "Oh man, these guys I'm in the weight I'm crushing them in the weight room and I'm about to crush them here." About that third one, man, it was like a piano jumped on my back and I'm breathing hard. About that fifth one, man, I was over in the trash can and I was just like, how do I get five more in me?

Chris Spencer45:24

And so I did the five five more of them. I didn't make my times.

Chris Spencer45:28

And then I remember going back to my dorm that night, calling my mom saying, "You got to come get me. College football's not for me. You got to come get me." And my mom hung up the phone on me and she didn't answer the phone for two weeks.

Chris Spencer45:40

And I kept calling, kept calling. Mom, you got to come get me. You got to come get me. And about that, you know, that that second week started and all that and then everything kind of got a little bit easier. And then uh and then finally couple weeks later, she answered the phone and she was like, she said, "All right." And her words was, "My mom don't curse." She was like, "You got that [ __ ] out of your system?"

I said, "I didn't raise a quitter." I'm like, "You have my own good now." She's

Chris Spencer46:17

I think the biggest difference was the speed of the game. I mean, and because when you're in high school, not everybody is playing at your level.

Chris Spencer46:25

When you get to college, everybody's playing at your level.

Chris Spencer46:28

And so things were moving so fast. You had to re keys so fast. So, you had to get your foot in the ground, you know, really fast. And and then now comes the the strength part of it. It's like, wait a minute. Oh, he's just as strong as I am. You know, he used to block a guy named Jesse Mitchell, our nose guard. And this guy was a 500 I think he was a 595 pound bencher or something like that.

This guy can press you. He wasn't a big guy.

Chris Spencer46:52

He's about 295 pounds.

But man, when he strike you, his hands were heavy. And now you're like, "Oh, he's just as strong as I am. Now, okay, now I got to learn how to play with technique.

I didn't have technique. I was just bullying everybody.

So, you start to kind of go through go through these these moments where you're like,

"All right, I came in here being my chess

Thinking like I'm about to be the man." And I quickly realized I went from hero to zero really quickly because there were so many other nuances that I got to learn to be able to play at this level. And so, it was it was very humbling, you know, especially first practice.

Chris Spencer47:26

Uh my my I didn't start till my second year. So, a red shirt in my first year. Okay. My my red shirt year, I don't think a lot of people know this, but I was a prop 48. And a prop a prop 48 means that

Um you don't get ACT, you know, get high enough ACT score to get into a four-year college.

I had grades, but because of my dyslexia and test taken and things like that, I could never get over I could never get to that 18. Y

I've taken the ACT so many times,

But time, anything time, it just just screws me up. Okay.

Back then, they had it where you was a prop 48. you can go to summer school and if you make your grades in summer school then they allow you into school. So I went to summer school I can make my grades you know so I was able to get into school at the same time because of it you have to red shirt.

Chris Spencer48:10

So my second year by the time my second year rolled around then it was like but it was a heavy competition because Doug Buckles is a starting left guard. Marcus Johnson's is the um starting right guard and Marcus is 66 330 pounds. buckle 66, you know, um 310 pounds. And so now I'm in there competing with these guys that started. And so we were so good in our interior that we just rotated starts.

Chris Spencer48:37

We rotated starts. Um and cuz I played go I didn't play center until like my last two years. And so and so I was competing with these these two guards. And so we just started rotating starts and we did that pretty much most of the year.

Chris Spencer48:59

It was more of like I look at it the other way around. As offensive lineman, you want to be like you want to get in your rhythm,

Chris Spencer49:06

Stay in your flow, you know, and so doing it, but we were so good at it that it didn't affect neither one of our play.

Chris Spencer49:12

We just lined up and played.

Chris Spencer49:20

No, he was uh a sophomore. Richer sophomore when I came in.

Chris Spencer49:25

Yeah.

Chris Spencer49:28

Um Yes.

Chris Spencer49:29

I got three years with him.

Chris Spencer49:33

One year. I

Think I was a Yeah, just one year with him.

Chris Spencer49:37

Yeah.

Chris Spencer49:43

Yeah, he was second pick overall.

Chris Spencer49:49

Yeah. It was I've never snapped a ball a day in my life and I wasn't supposed to play center.

Chris Spencer49:54

Our starting center get hurts and he get hurt in training camp, high ankle sprain. And I remember even before like 6 months before that, Eli was like, "Hey, you you going to be my center." I'm like, [snorts] "Eli, I'm never I'm not I'm never going to be a center." He's like,

"So, I never snapped the ball day in my life."

Chris Spencer50:11

And he would say that to me like in these odd times we'd be out somewhere doing something. He's like, "You you going to be my center?" I'm like, "No, I'm not." And the center gets hurt and get hurt in training camp. And the day he get hurt, it's raining. And if you've never played center before and you got to snap a ball when it's wet.

Yep.

Like miserable.

And so all of a sudden, I see the O line coach and coach Cut talking and then I see them standing there looking at me talking and then they I turn like they waving me over. Hey, go get a ball. I'm like, no. He's like, "Go get a ball." And then Eli's standing there laughing. It's like, "I told you.

Chris Spencer50:52

And so we started getting snaps. And then now my first my first snaps at center is playing in the toughest drill that we have. And that's called nine on seven. That's like your your uh defensive line, your linebackers, and it's like run drill.

Chris Spencer51:06

Run fits.

And my first and we got all American nose guarding blocking, snapping the ball in the rain. And that's what people forget. Not only do you have to remember the snap count, the play, you got to snap the ball and execute what you're doing. And it's a very

Chris Spencer51:24

Right? [snorts] And I come off and I block Jesse and I'm like I run him down the down the line of scrimmage and and he's like, "Oh, wait a minute.

He comes now." He's like, "All right, I got to gear up."

Chris Spencer51:35

And me and him battle throughout the whole nine on seven and the rest of the practice. And I didn't fumble snap, thank God.

Chris Spencer52:30

Done it a couple times. Eli,

Chris Spencer53:09

Yeah.

Chris Spencer53:20

It became a reality when I was um coach Cut Cliffe got fired. Well, they fired the whole coaching staff after my res her junior year and my offensive line coach sent calls me and he's like, "Hey, I want to send off a letter to the NFL junior committee to see where they're projecting you." And I'm just like, "All right." So, I go to his office, sign a paper, he sends it off. I didn't think anything of it. I want I'm like, I'm a center for the, you know, really the first time like,

"No, I'm good."

And so, I go to Vancouver, Canada. This is at the time I'm dating Catherine.

We're in Canada visiting her family.

This first time you met them? First time I'm meeting her family, hanging out, I get a phone call from the NFL committee in Vancouver, which again I have still to this day don't know how they got that number. And they say, "Hey, we projecting you be a late first round, early second round draft pick." And the committee was uh assembled just to make sure that, you know, kids wasn't leaving school early and not get drafted because at the time once you say you're going, you forfeit the rest of your college career.

Yeah. And so

Chris Spencer54:38

And and there's there's nothing there to like actually show what what is really happening. So, you just kind of have to believe it.

Chris Spencer54:45

Do you have the money? Do you not? You don't have it. Okay, I'm going to take this four, you know.

Chris Spencer54:51

So, he called me and then and so and I was just kind of like, yeah, right. Cuz again, my mind wasn't about that. My mind was I'm building relationships in Oxford. I'm building relationships so I can get a good job so then I can go back and take care, you know, help my mom and then, you know, at some point be in a position where I can take care of my own family.

Chris Spencer55:22

Yeah.

Chris Spencer55:26

My scar was still dyslexia. So, my brain could never kick into this reality of like I can do this and I can be here and I can be all that. Yeah,

My brain was still like fixated on like I can't let anybody find out that I have this

List. And so, so the next day Archie called me. Archie Manny called me the next day

And in Vancouver again. I'm like, how did you get this number? I don't worry about it. [clears throat] And he's like, hey, I hear they're projecting you to be a late first round, early second round draft pick. What are you thinking? I was just like, well, I just told the new head coach I'm coming back to back to Ole Miss. I'm like, you know, I feel like I was the mayor of Oxford, Mississippi. I'm having fun. I'm enjoying it. and he's like, "Well, before you make a decision, let me make some phone calls for you." So, he calls and Mason calls the GMs, calls me back the next day.

He's like, "Hey, talk to a bunch of people. It's a legit grade. If you decide to come out, you know, you will be I I know for a fact that you'll be a first round draft pick because they haven't seen you intangibles."

Chris Spencer56:32

Yeah, absolutely. And especially when I got drafted, you know, it was around the time when your first overall pick, I think it was Alex Smith, you know, he got like, you know, $60 million or something like that, you know, so you're just making real money.

I said, Archie, if I was your son, what would you tell me to do? And I He's like, much as I want you back here at Ole Miss, if you were my son, this a change is going to change your family's life. I tell you, I have to go.

Chris Spencer57:10

With kids.

Chris Spencer57:13

Right? Right.

Chris Spencer57:15

Right? I hang up a call with him. I said, "All right, well, I'm going." And I called my mom and leave her a voicemail say, "Hey, mom. I decide to go to the NFL."

Chris Spencer57:28

No. She just kind of like I when she finally called me back, she was like, "What was this voicemail you left me?" I said, "Well, they projected me to be a early first round late second round draft pick. And so, I'm I'm going to go ahead and take this opportunity." And she was just like, "Well, baby, if you think it's the right thing for you, go ahead and do it." And I was just like, "All right."

Chris Spencer57:50

Never never had a come. The only way my mom knew what what kind of money I was going to get was, you know, when you get drafted, you're you're slotted and then it's public as in the paper. That was the only time that ever but she even saw anything but she still we still never had a conversation about it.

Chris Spencer58:06

I think they around that time they were starting to allow juniors to come do the combine. Okay. Um, no senior bowl.

The senior I mean juniors couldn't go play in the senior bowl. Okay. But you can go do the combine. And so I left Ole Miss and then went down to IMG. Y

I signed with Tom Condan who was my agent.

Go down to IMG. I trained down there for three or four months. I think it was me, Alex Smith, Heath Miller, play tight end, um, David Pollock, guy named Rob Petiti. And so we, it was like six of us. We go down there and we train. Man, I go down and get and get I think I was 315 going [snorts] to the combine with like 13% body fat.

I was trained by Michael Johnson. Gold shoes.

Chris Spencer58:58

You know, I went down the first day. I ran a 40. I ran a 53.

Chris Spencer59:01

I went to the combine. By the time I finished training with him, I ran a 49.

Chris Spencer59:06

You know,

Chris Spencer59:16

Yeah. When I think about what linemen are running now, some of these guys are running like 47s.

It's crazy.

Chris Spencer59:25

Crazy.

And so then I go to um I'm working with a guy named Tom um Tom Lav who was retired offensive line coach for the Seattle Seahawks.

Chris Spencer59:34

I didn't put two and two together, but I'm training I'm working with him every day and he's teaching me

Chris Spencer59:38

At IMG.

Okay. He's teaching me Seattle's offense. That's what I'm doing every day.

Chris Spencer59:44

But I never had a call from Seattle. I never thought I was going to Seattle.

Chris Spencer59:47

I actually thought I was going to U Cincinnati. Um

That's where I thought I was going.

Chris Spencer59:56

I know. But that the O line coach they had there, man, he was phenomenal. And I was I was excited to go play for a guy like that.

Chris Spencer1:00:05

Yeah, uniforms are legit. So, fast forward to, you know, draft day, I, you know, they wanted me to come to the draft or have cameras and do all that. I was like, "No, I'm just going to sit at the house cuz it'll be very embarrassing, especially, you know, not knowing as a as a center if you're going to get drafted that to be off like

Chris Spencer1:00:25

Cameras at the house, just hanging out at the house with my mom and my uh just my media family."

Chris Spencer1:00:30

Catherine, my mom, and my dad.

Chris Spencer1:00:49

At the house and then, you know,

Chris Spencer1:00:55

Radio silence until a team's going to call you? And so,

Chris Spencer1:00:59

Phone lines clear. And I'm thinking like Cincinnati comes up and I'm like,

I what number were they? They were seven um 17 that year and I knew it was between me or David Pollock and so 16 come around David Pollock still on the board. So I was like okay I'm not going to Cincinnati and then Cincinnati draft David Pollock and then I'm like now I know I don't know where I'm going

And then all of a sudden it was like um Aaron Rodgers finally go to Green Bay I think at 24. Then Jason Campbell, another quarterback um from Auburn goes to uh who did he try? I think it was uh Washington that year and then Seattle trades back up into the first round.

Chris Spencer1:01:37

I'm sitting there [clears throat] thinking like now the only other place I can go is to go to New England because uh Bill Bich me and him hit it off. He was like if you sitting there when I when you get the 30 31st I think. Yeah, they had the 31st pick or 30 32nd pick 32nd pick. He's like we going to draft you. And so I just like

Chris Spencer1:01:54

I had I was kind of like I just I just hope I get drafted in this first round just so I you know

Chris Spencer1:02:08

No, I wasn't I wasn't thinking about anything. I was sitting there thinking like only the only reason why I knew where Seattle was is because I had just flew to Seattle just flew to Vancouver and I was just like oh I didn't realize Seattle was right next to Vancouver.

Chris Spencer1:02:22

All right. So So what happens? So then all of a sudden I get a phone call um Seattle trade up to the 25th pick and I get a phone call. Phone rings and I'm just like Seattle numbers calling me and it's uh Mike Homer. He's like hey

You know what do you think about playing for the Seahawks? And I'm like

Chris Spencer1:02:40

Let's go. He said well we're drafting you with 26 pick overall. And and then that's when it was just like [sighs] all right.

Chris Spencer1:03:00

No and it it went from that like release to flying to Seattle standing there doing you know the next day you they fly you out you're standing there doing your press conference holding your jersey and I got Mike Hunger on one side Tim Roskll on the other side and we're just smiling laughing I'm on cloud9 and both of them lean in he's like and Mike says, "Hey, enjoy this." Then Tim leans back in say, "I start looking for your replacement tomorrow." I was just like, that's when I was like,

"Oh [ __ ] this is a business."

Chris Spencer1:03:28

Oh, man. And that's when I got That's when I went back to being nervous like I was.

So, when back in, you know, sixth grade,

Chris Spencer1:03:39

That year, I actually sat out of training camp for like five or six days.

Oh. Because

Chris Spencer1:03:49

Yeah. I was like, "Tom,

Chris Spencer1:03:52

Well, they did because I had what they were trying to do is and when it's slotted, they were trying to they were trying to change my slot because I got [snorts] uh in the two guys in front of me was Aaron Rogers and Jason Campbell, two quarterbacks. Yeah.

And so [snorts] they're getting more incentives and things like that in a contract. Uh, and so they was like, "Well, we're not going to change our incentive structure for you because of

Chris Spencer1:04:15

Two quarterbacks." And so they were trying to even decrease it because it's like, you know, these are two quarterbacks. You're a center. And my agent's like, "No, that's not going to happen."

Chris Spencer1:04:24

And so I set out, I think it was like five or six days,

Chris Spencer1:05:01

Exactly. Especially knowing when I first got there, uh, Robbie Tobe was a center at the time and like, you know, Robbie wasn't happy that they drafted me. Um, and Rob, Robbie's a great dude, man. But he was like, soon as I walked through the door, he was like, I don't know. I don't care. You're here to take my job, so don't even ask me any questions as I won't tell you.

And he meant it.

Chris Spencer1:05:25

But I was like, all right, man. I get it. I respect it. And I walked off.

Yeah. And again, because I I get to sit in the film studies and listen to him. I get to sit in and watch film, watch him how he do things. And so I was kind of like, I'm a learning anyway because I get to see you every day whether you talk to me or not. But

Sit out for, you know, 5 days or whatever it was. And then I'm sitting here telling my agent every day like, "Every day go by tongue. We got to get this done, man. Get it done." He's like, "Just be patient. That's why you hired me to do my job." I'm like, "I I get it, but I need to get into camp because we also have training camp four hours away."

Yeah. the moment the deal is done now I got to hustle and you know my car was packed and everything

And the moment that the deal was done I'm in the car driving over to Cheni Washington the training camp and then all of a sudden it's like all eyes on you the the the first rounder walking in late everybody else has been working out hard working hard and then I here you come walking in

And everybody's like oh big shots

Oh finally he gets here like give him the royal treatment like they've been doing he's already missed five days you're like oh my gosh you got to now to deal with all this and so but it was good. Was there any part of you that was like, "F these guys. I don't care what anyone does. I'm killing everyone." Or was it more overwhelming like, "Oh, like

It was I took the advice of when you walked through the front door, it's like be seen, not heard." And so I just was just standing there soaking up everything, trying to be in every room, every conversation, every meeting, just listening, you know, even again, I I didn't even ask a whole lot of questions. I was just like just being quiet, taking my notes, being quiet, taking my notes. And then you know they that nervousness when you go out for your first padded practice in the NFL and you're like not only are these guys are you know now the level of the speed of the game it goes up to a whole another level.

Yeah. And people don't even realize this. From the preseason to the season, the speed of the game changes. From regular season to the playoff, the speed of the game changes. And like, and it just blows your mind how how those things shift in those different stages that you just can't believe like

How is this so fast?

But I went to had a good training camp and, you know, I set my my rookie year. Um, you know, I played some, but

You know, Mike Homer was like, I don't believe in starting rookie centers. And I was just like, cool. Well, at the time I was mad because I know I had played well enough. I should have been the starting center at the time.

Chris Spencer1:07:47

And when he called me in offense and he told me like, "Hey, we going to sit you cuz I don't believe in starting rookie centers. There's a lot on your plate." And the first game that I I'm standing on the sideline, we're playing Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and I think it was like um Marcus Stra and and Henderson, big defensive tackle, 67, 300, whatever pounds. when they came off that rock, we had a left tackle, Walter Jones, Hall of Famer, Steve Hutcherson, you know, left left guard, Hall of Fame.

Like, and these guys got in there and I see Hutch moving back and I'm like, I'm going enjoy it. I'm I'm I'm good. I'm not ready yet.

Chris Spencer1:08:29

I can't remember what game it was, but

Chris Spencer1:08:37

More Oh no it was actually Jacksonville because Robbie something happened to his helmet and now it's you're in the middle of the game so you're not actually getting snaps or anything like I haven't been getting snap snaps with house back

Something happened with Robbie Hailman and I was just like they were like sp you in I was just like

Chris Spencer1:08:57

And I remember running it running in like don't f the snap don't f the snap don't f the snap don't snap don't for him to snap and snap the ball. Okay, we're here and then I, you know, and Henderson comes in and they running a stunt, something like this. I pass it off. Everything went went well. And then I and it was kind of like that, like, oh, okay, I can do this. All right, I can do this. Uh, but man, it was like, holy [ __ ] I'm in this game in NFL.

Like, what? Don't [ __ ] it up.

Chris Spencer1:09:40

I can do this.

Chris Spencer1:09:41

Yeah. It is just like that.

And and that's always kind of been my MO is like you once you get the first one, the first hit, the first whatever, then it's kind of like you kind of settle in. You're like, "All right, I can do this."

Chris Spencer1:10:02

Yeah it was 10 mill

Chris Spencer1:10:05

Five.

Chris Spencer1:10:11

Five.

Chris Spencer1:10:35

Well, that's why I mean that's why I didn't do it. I was I looked into it. I was doing the homework around it.

Chris Spencer1:10:42

Yeah, it was expensive, man. It's expensive. I'm just like, is it really going to be worth it to do this? And it was really for a year.

Chris Spencer1:10:48

You know, it's like is it

Chris Spencer1:10:54

I'm good.

Chris Spencer1:10:59

Yeah, I'm good. So, [snorts] so, uh, yeah.

Chris Spencer1:11:02

I mean, it was I remember the first check come in. I remember I got it framed and it was like the first check was like I think it was like a million some dollars or whatever. I got it framed and I was just like, "Holy smokes, man." I was a kid.

Chris Spencer1:11:16

Scrapping for pennies and now here I am making this kind of money.

Chris Spencer1:11:21

Nothing. The first thing I bought was my mom house. That was the first thing I bought.

Chris Spencer1:11:26

Well, it at first it was um I was excited about it and then you know how now all of a sudden everything hits the papers and everybody started getting in the ears and like my mom the first house she goes to show me back in Miss in Mississippi was like this 10,000t house. It was like, you know, um I think it was like a million, $2 million or something like that. I'm like, "Mom, come on. We're not doing that.

Chris Spencer1:11:48

And so we finally drove around, found her, you know, the perfect place for her cuz my brother and sisters were still living in the house. And

And it just felt good that I was able to do it. Furnishing for her. And my brother and sister, we were driving 40 minutes to school every day back and forth.

Um you know, 40 minutes one way. And so um the house that I ended up buying was right next to the school, the high school that my brother and sister was at. So, it was it was a good feeling to be able to do that. And then I, you know, I end up getting myself a house and but I didn't buy I didn't I drove my same Suburban for like three years before I got a new car that I had in college. I wasn't a big I didn't stuff.

Chris Spencer1:12:23

No. So, I didn't care about stuff.

Chris Spencer1:13:04

Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Spencer1:13:09

I played I played a good bit and u but you know the first year for me was just it was really good just to learn and grow and

Chris Spencer1:13:16

Uh because the the West Coast offense there is a lot on the center. Yeah.

You have to know a lot and that's not just everybody's jobs up front but you know you have to see what safeties are doing, linebackers are doing. help the quarterback when there's plays that he may be looking down the field and seeing like, okay, it's safe to rotate. And then you realize that, oh, someone's at the edge at the line of scrimmage. Hey, we got to get out of this play. You know, let's And so, so there was a lot. And so the first year was

First year was good. I mean, it was a a blast of a first year because we end up going to the Super Bowl.

Chris Spencer1:13:46

Yeah. Yeah. First year.

Chris Spencer1:13:48

No, we were Sean Alexander.

Oh, okay. you know, Sean Alexander, Hasselbach, you know, Bobby Ingram, Walter Jones, Steve Hutcherson,

You know, u we had a we had a good roster and so we end up going to Super Bowl that year and we

Chris Spencer1:14:02

Oh, man. I'm like me.

Chris Spencer1:14:11

No, only winners. Got NFC Championship ring. So, we won NFC Championship. So, I have an NFC Championship ring.

Chris Spencer1:14:16

But then you go on, you go to Super Bowl. We lost to Pittsburgh that year in Detroit and so and they tell you, "Hey man, like soak all this up. Soak all this up." You know, so hard to get there.

And you're not you thinking like, man, I'm just getting here. So yeah, I'm going to get back.

And to never get back to that, man, that was like, but it was it was a fun year. A fun year.

Chris Spencer1:14:41

Just, you know, just all of the all of the stuff you have to do leading up to the Super Bowl. the week of

The week of all of the the commitments the media the you know you still have to practice but you now you're so distracted because you got this event over here you have to be at practice then you come back you have family in town normally like you know the family's in the house but now family is partaking in some of these these uh events and stuff that you're at so it's just a lot of distractions and

And then you get to the game and it's just like the drilling and all the other stuff that's happening you're you know it's hard to kind of really take all of it in especially as a as a rookie you older guys who've been there and done it and all that. Yeah. But as a young rookie, you're trying to like your head's on the swivel iris this got to be here for that, you know. But it was a great experience throughout the whole process though.

Chris Spencer1:15:32

That was my last year in Seattle. So I'm out to that was my um uh year six for me.

Chris Spencer1:15:52

Oh yeah, it you know the Pro Bowl is you know that's one of those hard things because there's way way out in Seattle,

You know, that has to do with a lot of things like people seeing you fans and you know your peers and all those different things. And you know I've had you know several years where I was playing at that level.

Chris Spencer1:16:26

Right. Right. Right. And we had, you know, Sean Alexander left. We had um I think we had Justin Force. We had some we still had some good talented backs. And then, you know, then all of a sudden Maron get Marawn get there and then it's like, you know, we're back at that level.

Chris Spencer1:16:42

Man? This guy, he's he's so unique. He's so hard to describe because he's unapologet.

He's unapologetic himself.

Chris Spencer1:16:56

And he does not change for anybody. And that's what I love about him. Like one of the best teammates you ever be around.

Yeah. that [snorts] the wisdom that this guy have like just sitting there talking to him like you're just like man this dude is like he got his stuff together you know he's smarter than he comes across right

100% 100% and everyone thinks that he is no this guy he has his [ __ ] together getting him and watching his running style how he ran the ball was kind of like wow wow I mean I want to block for him the rest of my career you know that's the kind of guy you want to block for one of the best teammates I've been around

Chris Spencer1:18:14

Spoken like a true Boston person.

Chris Spencer1:18:35

No, I didn't I didn't get traded as a free agent because it was um we had a lockout. So I would have probably signed a long-term deal with Seattle, but we had a lockout.

Chris Spencer1:18:46

And so that went from like four I think four or five centers on the board to probably like 12 to 13 centers after the lockout because you have to play the way the rules were set up. If you sign a 5-year contract, then you have to play a sixy year under your old contract with only a 10% bump.

Chris Spencer1:19:02

And so, so I had to sit through that, man. I was thinking I'm like, "Okay, all right. I'm about to get paid now." And then then here we go. The lockout happens. Now I'm back in Seattle under one-year deal under on a basically a one-year deal. And then here comes Pete Carol. Pete Carol's coming in. And when you you know, at the time I wasn't thinking about it, but when you look back over what Pete was doing, he was trying to get that team young as he can get it.

Yep.

You know, because we had a lot of older guys, six, seven, eight year guys. I mean,

Chris Spencer1:19:33

And so, you know, now guy coming out of college, he knows his coaching style is, you know, it suits, you know, early on suits a lot of the young young players. You know, um, one of the at the time I didn't I didn't realize it. You know, me and Pete would have these like, you know, I was always in first. We had these clashes a little bit early on because he'll put a sign up when you go out to the field and it was like, you know, I'm all in and then there'll be a coach standing on the other side, you know, checking you off if you tap the sign.

And I refuse to tap these signs because I'm like

Chris Spencer1:20:08

This is my job.

Chris Spencer1:20:10

You know, I' I get out of bed and I'm the first one in here

And that tells you I'm all in.

Yeah. And now me tapping a sign is a disrespect or not me if I don't tap it is a disrespect. And so he'll call me in the office say, "Hey man, I need you to tap a sign. It's not for you. It's for all the other young guys that are trying to get to buy in and all this." And I'm like,

I get it, people.

Chris Spencer1:20:35

Right? you know, and so we we kind of have this like, you know, back and forth thing about how, you know, what I was used to as like a veteran learning from other veterans of here's how we do things. Here's how you be a pro being taught by young guys and come in talking. Well, when he got there, young guys basically ran the team and they talking, you know, you're just like,

Whoa, this is like,

Chris Spencer1:20:57

You know, complete flip for me.

Yeah. So, I started to realize toward the end of my my time there that, you know, I probably wasn't coming back to Seattle because, you know, that team was going to get it was getting younger. Okay. He was getting younger.

Um, so I end up going to uh they had drafted Maxer who played right guard next to me u from Oregon. He also plays center and so I was just like, "Okay, Cassita, they probably going to move him, draft another young guy and all that." So, I was just focused on now, you know, what does a free agency look like? And so, uh, had a bunch of offers came in and then I end up choosing to go to Chicago

Chris Spencer1:21:29

The Giants, the New England. I think it was about seven to eight teams.

Chris Spencer1:21:36

They paid me [snorts] the most money.

Chris Spencer1:21:44

It was interesting because it was a lockout year. I get there and and

Chris Spencer1:21:53

Yeah, it was the So, we played but it was the um NFL the union and and and NFL owners where we were in trying to negotiate a new contract. Okay.

And new contracts for all players.

Chris Spencer1:22:14

Right.

Chris Spencer1:22:25

Uh I think it was almost five a year

Chris Spencer1:22:28

For two years.

Two years. Okay. How much guarant 49 or something like that? Um I think it was 33 I think it was three of that was guaranteed.

Chris Spencer1:22:37

10% bump, I think. And the 10% bump was just on your your

Chris Spencer1:22:52

Yeah, I think it was like two I think it was like 21 or something like that.

Chris Spencer1:22:57

Yeah.

Chris Spencer1:23:00

Well, I you know, I was mad though. I was mad because when free agency started, I got an offer from the Giants that was 5 million a year for 5 years.

Chris Spencer1:23:10

And then my agent was like, "All right, we're about to get this deal done." He's like, "I got to make some other phone calls. I'm waiting on them to send me over everything." And then I mean, we had an offer sheet and everything.

Chris Spencer1:23:21

And then two hours later, they signed a kid out of the 49ers who was a backup to be their starting center with the same deal. [clears throat]

Chris Spencer1:23:34

And I was just like, "What just happened?"

Chris Spencer1:23:36

So anyway, I end up going to Chicago and Mike Ty was the O line coach. He had permanenced some guys starting positions when he got there and then when I got there and I cuz again lockout when all that stuff was over I couldn't practice for the first four days and so I'm sitting there I'm like all right I'm ready to get into practice they sign me to be the starting center get there you're not one of our starters

Chris Spencer1:24:19

Apparently not because I didn't start the first all training camp. I didn't I was um

Chris Spencer1:24:26

I was the backup center. I was just kind of like, "All right." And so me and Mike Ty, we buted heads. We buted heads because he would say, "Hey, you going to be out of six guys, so get some guard reps." And I'm like, "Nope. I came here to be the starting center. I'm playing center.

Chris Spencer1:24:40

Oh, yeah. We just

Chris Spencer1:24:42

Oh, he just walk away. He walk away. It's like all training camp. All training camp. I think I maybe got one rep at guard. One. And that was like a quick quick something.

Chris Spencer1:24:51

And we get to the season, the starting right guard gets hurt. First I think in the first quarter, first two minutes of the game, he gets rolled up with a high ankle sprain. And now I'm going in the game thinking I'm going to center.

Yeah. and Roberto Garza who was a uh he had played guard for 10 years in the league. They moved him into center and I'm going in thinking like Roberto you going over the guard. I haven't taken any guard reps.

Chris Spencer1:25:16

We are on the field. I think we was playing the Falcons. We are on the field.

Chris Spencer1:25:21

Well, you play center. You know, you know everything. Yeah. So, I know I knew everything.

Chris Spencer1:25:27

It was just you know

Chris Spencer1:25:29

Yeah. It's like

I need to do this and then you tell me and and my and I think it was me digging my heels in because he tells me I can't even compete for the position.

Chris Spencer1:25:40

It's one thing to say, you know, hey, you going to have some competition. I welcome that.

Chris Spencer1:25:45

But to say no, you don't even have a chance to compete for it.

Chris Spencer1:25:58

Right. [snorts] Me and Roberto, we are sitting there literally like, "Hey, you go to guard." "No, I'm not going to guard." I'm like, "No, dude, you play guard for 10 years." Right guard, too. Yeah.

I play center. He's like, "I haven't taken any reps." Me neither.

And so, he's in the huddle.

This is in the huddle. Like, and Jay Cutler is the quarterback. He's like, "Guys, come on. Somebody come on. Come on, guys." Yeah. And we look to the sideline at Mike Ty and he turns and walks away.

He's like, "Y'all figure that [ __ ] out."

Chris Spencer1:26:36

Oh, I was pissed. And so now I got to go play guard. And so I I get in I play guard. The first series go down and like I mean I do grade I I grade out great at guard. Play really good really well. And so the next day we're sitting and watching film

And Mike was like we going through a bunch of plays and he's like Spence I thought you said you couldn't play guard. I said, "Coach, I never said I couldn't play guard. I'm an athlete. I can play wherever." He's like, "Why you've been giving me so much [ __ ] all all training camp about this?"

And I'm just like, "Because y'all brought me in here to be a center and you didn't even give me an opportunity to compete for it."

He's like,

Chris Spencer1:27:08

In front of the O line. We're in the O line room watching." He's like,

He said, "Well,

You had one of the highest grades. Guess what? You playing you're playing right guard the rest of the year. You you're starting right guard the rest of the year." He's like, "You can [ __ ] play football." And I'm just like, did you not watch any film or in my career? He was just like, who did you piss off in Seattle?

Chris Spencer1:27:29

And then that's when all this stuff started coming up. And I think that's what derailed my contract with the Giants. And it's like, oh, you said you were injuryprone. They said you were soft. All these different things. I'm like,

Chris Spencer1:27:44

I don't know. All I know is is that the word out of Seattle from you know that I was soft and I was injuryprone and so um and yeah I had injuries in my career but very I mean I broke my broke my thumb in a on a on a Wednesday in practice.

Broke my thumb on my snap hand.

Jesus. Went to Arizona playing against Darnell Dockett at noseguard and snap with my left hand. never snapping a day in my life with my left hand until that that that that night I started practicing snap with my left hand and played a full NFL game

Chris Spencer1:28:19

With a Wednesday a a Thursday practice a Friday practice and then we traveled.

The next time I touched the ball was a Sunday taking snaps with Hasselbach.

Chris Spencer1:28:28

At warm-ups and I played a full NFL game that way. The funny story about that is [gasps] we go out for for um warm-ups, me and Hasselbach standing there and I see Tim Russell and Mike Hunger walking down because they want to like all right they nervous as [ __ ] Like

Chris Spencer1:28:44

We're going to trust this guy. We need him. We're going to trust this guy to snap with his left hand. He's never done this before. Like this could be disastrous.

And so they come over and I say, "Hey Matt, just just fumble the snap. Let's see what happens." We get down, snap the ball. Matt, let the ball hit the ground. both of them just like throw their notepads down, throw everything down and walk away. They were like, "Oh my gosh, what are we doing here?" We get through one month and go back in the locker room and Mike Homer comes over and Mike Hung is a big man. He's 6'5. Got his glasses on. He comes over.

He's sitting in my locker. He puts his hands on my shoulder, pulls his glasses down. He's like, "You know I love you, right?" I said, "Yeah, coach." He's like,

He's like, "If you [ __ ] this up, you're not getting on the plane. You're going home. I'm firing you right here. I'm leaving you here in Arizona.

Chris Spencer1:29:34

It's it was nervous. He was nervous. The fact that like, you know,

We going to let this guy do this.

Chris Spencer1:29:40

And not just play our backup. We just going to let this guy do this and he's never done this before. He got a cast on one hand.

And so I end up and and and I remember after the game, we didn't we didn't end up winning that game, but you know, finish the game and Mike Harman say, "Hey, we would have won this game in front of the team. Spence, you would have got the game ball. you played your ass off with making a move to snapping your ball with your left hand

And you might I I snapped seven, eight games after that left-handed and it wasn't until the last game of the season before a defensive lineman realized that I was snapping with my left hand.

Chris Spencer1:30:10

Yeah. And I remember we was playing Houston and I get down and and that defensive tackle looked he's like,

"Wait a minute. I thought you was right-handed." I was like, "I was."

I am. You see this hand's in a giant cast. I'm assuming they had it like like a club, right?

It was like um cuz I like to grab

Chris Spencer1:30:30

So I had my thumb kind of wrapped up and then I had these fingers out and I was able to like

Chris Spencer1:30:35

I was still able to like punch and like lock on. So

Chris Spencer1:30:46

Yeah, cuz I they you know they put these I got

So what happened to your toe? First of all, I um had a slight like mild um turf toe.

Chris Spencer1:30:55

And so they put this foam stuff over the cleat and to try to make it where somebody step on it was going to make it worse. And then we they saw it.

Yeah. It was bulked up and they saw it and they were their like you can't wear that.

And so we went back into the locker room and then we put this like foam stuff inside the cleat and kind of shaped it. It still has some hardness to it and protected it that way. But yeah, a lot of stuff you go through as a offensive lineman. Like,

You know, broken hand. I broke this hand in Chicago,

Didn't miss a snap, went in the locker room. Um, I was playing right guard.

Chris Spencer1:31:28

Broke the hand, went into the locker room, got numbed up, put a cast on, and then I came right back out. I didn't miss one play, had surgery the next day. You go through a lot as office a lotment in the NFL.

Chris Spencer1:31:50

Free agent again. Um was going to sign a three-year extension in Chicago but Love Smith had just got fired. My wife was kind of like I'm over this cold weather and so you know and I my kids were getting to a age where I just wanted to kind of get to a place and settle down. Nashville was on the on the radar and then every other team was cold and so I decided to take the deal here in Tennessee and get me close get me back in the South close to home.

I was at the tail end of my career was kind of like at a place where my body was so beat up. I just wanted to be like this player coach. Uh, and so I came here to be a player coach that you know that six guy

And I wanted to be around a guy like Mike Munchek who was a who was a head coach at the time and he was just a phenomenal like coach cuz I I was also thinking about coaching when I got done.

Chris Spencer1:32:34

And so to come in and learn from him, learn his system and how he he does things, it was a really good situation for me. And so and then to have my family to be in a place where we can kind of start to settle down and fell in love with Nashville and decide to stay. So,

Chris Spencer1:32:57

Bought my house. It was during co and they didn't, you know, it was so it was so wild with all this co stuff. It was like, you know, my we decided we was going to move and then my wife was like, "All right, we got to, you know, how do we sell this house during CO?" And next thing you know, she's on FaceTime with with people zooming around. I remember the first time she's on with Shelby and like

FaceTiming like around the house and all these different things.

And I'm sitting there thinking like, man, okay,

Is I guess we can get this house sold during this this time. And so you guys end up buying a house and then

Chris Spencer1:33:32

It sounds like my house that we in now. We had it for a month and I've never even walked into the house. I didn't even know what we were buying.

And so you come in and you like, "Hey, do you know this person?" I can't remember who it was. And I was just like, "Oh, Jeff uh buyers at um Momentous, the CEO of Momentous."

And and I was like, "Yeah, man. Me and Jeff played together in Seattle." And he's like, "Oh, that's my guy." And we started talking, hit it off. And I'm just like,

"Man, look, I can't be friends with somebody who's buying my house cuz if something goes wrong with this house, he's going to he's going to [ __ ] hate me." So, uh, and then it turned out, man, it was like, it's always great for me to be around guys who are authentic themselves. And so, you reminded me so much of Marshon Lynch

Chris Spencer1:34:14

No, just like you going to be yourself and you and you didn't give a [ __ ] who was listening, who was around. You just like, I'm going to be who I am. And and that's who you've been and been and been a tremendous friend to me. So, it's been it's been fun to get to know you and and I'm just thankful that you didn't some [ __ ] didn't fall apart in the house that you were like, "These [ __ ] guys sold us a piece of shit."

Chris Spencer1:35:15

You already done something that's on my list that you know I've been hunting for years and and that's on my list. elk and all these different things and you already done it, man.

Chris Spencer1:36:00

I know. I made you send me a picture, man. Send me Send me a picture, man. I got to see this. I got to see this.

Chris Spencer1:36:20

It's called TeamQ.

Chris Spencer1:36:23

TeamQ. We we've built a um technology platform that takes um these different attributes and we transition those things into performance. And so we call them performance intelligence skills. And so my, you know, because of, you know, my transition out of the league, trying to figure out who am I, what can I do, how does my skills transition to real life, I still had that wound, that scar of being, you know, having dyslexia and not wanting anybody to really find out. And so until, you know, we all faced with decisions and like and I'm sitting here like,

All right, I can't let my family down. So what do I do about this like this insecurity that I have? And so I finally went and started working on like you know working on my dyslexia. And so as I'm in this process and I started to realize that my my skill set was so tremendous. I mean especially when you can take what I did at center making quick fast decisions and being really adaptable and you know having composure because you if if you're don't not composed the rest of your guys are not going to be composed.

And so I started learning about myself and I put a lot of work in learning about myself and and creating a self-awareness about you know what what are my strengths and what's not my strengths and then how do I surround myself and put myself with the right people that support the things that I I don't do well. And in that moment, it was kind of like this aha for me. It's just like I can't be the only guy who or gal that is not knowing what to do when they leave the league and not knowing,

You know, cuz we get so wrapped up in our identity of being an athlete that we forget that man, the skill sets that we've developed for years is transferable. M and so in that I started thinking about how are teams working with athletes and helping them detach themselves from being just an athlete and and started thinking about the different assessments that we were taking when I was coming in. You know, you got all assessment Hogan MyersBriggs predictive index. Yeah.

You know, uh cultural uh index, all these different things. And I realized that when I started kind of thinking back when I was doing those, I'm like half of the [ __ ] on there I I didn't even know what they was talking about. you know, a Mississippi kid coming from the South, you know, this stuff was real academic and corporate.

Chris Spencer1:38:33

And so, and then so as I start to dig into it and start thinking about the bias and start thinking about how I answer some of these questions, I'm going to answer it the way I think you want me to answer so I can get this job.

And now I introduce my own bias. There's a testing bias and then there's social bias to it. Because if you are if I'm looking up to you, then I'm like, well, I came from here, so I'm definitely not going to be a like this guy, so I'm going to rate myself lower.

Chris Spencer1:38:57

And so in that, and you know, long story short, I, you know, I wanted to create a process where we can remove the bias out of those type of assessments. And so I've dug in with a team of scientists and sports ecologists and um data scientists around how can we take language and and build a platform where we can use your own words where you're speaking in a comfortable place and being yourself so we can truly understand who you are so we can help you develop the areas that you may be lacking or um the areas that you're you're good help you highlight them understand how those things work within your performance.

So like composure, if you score in our in our assessment, if you score low in a po composure, it doesn't mean that it's a bad thing. There's no right or wrong when it comes to personality. It just means that how can I put learn behavior so when when the pressure mounts up? How do I keep my composure? You're always going to be who you are. Is are you able to get enough reps to put learn behavior so that when the moment when you meet these moments, you can handle them.

And so that's what our platform does is it takes it takes personality, it takes some cognitive pieces into it and then we take that and we help coaches understand how to develop athletes. Uh we've built out a reporting mechanism where the player gets to see a report because I never got a chance to see my reports. Yeah. I just remember doing it and then it went away.

Chris Spencer1:40:36

Yeah. So, we that's how we started. We started with social media data.

Chris Spencer1:40:40

But because of what's happening in the college space with the transfer portal, NIL, you know, all of those those aspects where now athletes are making money. Yeah.

Then now the social media language and data has changed. Now it's more corporate language.

There's either a parent now because they don't want their young kid making a mistake because they realize what's at stake.

Chris Spencer1:41:01

It's all guarded and now or you know you're a college player and you got someone posting for you now, you know. Uh, and so because of that, we've had to adapt and go into more of a um like these podcasts or press conference interviews and like actually capture you standing on stage speaking and talking or we've created an AI interviewer called Coach Q and Coach Q will take you through an open-ended interview and once we capture 500 to a,000 words then our system builds a report right there on the spot.

Chris Spencer1:41:30

And so so we've had to change uh you know and and adapt. Again, being a center, you have to adapt quickly. Um we've we've taken those methods and being able to collect the language in some unique ways where we can then still get those reports. And so what our system is doing is looking at your uh not it's not looking at tone and how you're talking to people. It's looking at function words. And so when you can look at function words, function words, 60% of our language come from our subconscious.

Chris Spencer1:41:57

So you cannot change like if you can tell someone, hey, I need you to be more of a we a we person I person.

Chris Spencer1:42:06

Well, it would take you a very long time to truly become a we person.

Chris Spencer1:42:11

You can do it for a month,

But there's not enough time for you to to change that because it's been so ingrained in you for so long to be this.

Now, you can change some behaviors, but for the most part, at some point, those things still going to come out. And so, we we look at it through that lens. And so being able to look through that lens gives us a stable model where we can really help you as the athlete excel in these areas. You know, even from your communication style, from your thinking style, when you are aware of them and you know what they are, now we know how to help you transition you into performance in a way that most of assessments don't because it's okay, I got it.

What do I do with this?

Chris Spencer1:42:50

Because it's so academic. That's right. and being that I played, being that I've had the struggles that I've had and you know from an academic standpoint and hiding all these things now I've built a system that is so simple where we don't need a lot we don't need psychologist going through it and it's built by psychologist in my experience of playing

But a coach doesn't need a psychologist to understand these reports a scout doesn't need a a psychologist to understand his report nor does does a player and nor does the parent so so we've built a system now where we can we've we're scaling going into the the university space as well as you know going B TOC where now we want young athletes to be prepared going into college. So we partner with rivals on three um so we can start showing more than just your high life films.

So now, you know, as we start integrating into their system, a coach will be able to see the areas that you excel in and see the maturity and things that you are growing as a high school athlete versus just seeing your highlight tape and then and then only interacting with you, you know, 10 to 15 minutes on a visit.

You don't really get to know a person. And so

What I learned in all of this is because I had dyslexia is that I hurt myself.

Yeah. unknowingly because I didn't want anybody to know. So, I didn't use the resources that was available for me because I didn't want anybody to know. So, then there was things that the coach could have been doing for me that I took hours and hours and hours behind the scenes just trying to get in and learn it.

Yeah. And so we have trying to remove that barrier for people and say, "Here's how we make it a win-win for everybody." So that

This person who coaching you knows how to coach you the right way and not look at you as like,

"Oh, this guy's a he's very he's very standoffish. Oh, I'm done with him." No.

He's a he's just a slow to warm guy. He's a slow to learn guy. And so you have to be intentional about how you connect with this player.

Chris Spencer1:46:08

You know it's back to the your your original statement when you first when we first started this podcast you said trauma I didn't have any trauma and then you start thinking about your kid like they couldn't have done anything and then the therapist is like okay

That's what I had to realize is that you know we all go through stuff

And there are things called micro micro traumas and like I didn't realize that I had these micro traumas like my mom had me when she was young 7 years old I'm working to make money to help her pay bills you know those are like I I had to grow up really fast

And then going through all the things that I had to go through, you know, dyslexia is trauma because there was no support, no tools, no resources, you know, not

Chris Spencer1:46:44

not having a dad around and like, you know, all those things like stacks up and causes these little micro traumas that we push off because we've been hardened so much

And that we're not able to tap into those those intimate feelings that we have because it's we've also been taught,

Hey, don't let ever let anybody see you emotional.

Chris Spencer1:47:11

You know, and so it wasn't until going to onsite, you know, again,

You know, everything is like clockwork when you're playing in the NFL.

Mhm. you know, here's your job, where you need to be, how you need to be, all these different things that goes along with it, but at the same time, you know, your wife knows what everything is supposed to be. So, there's no, you know, and everything is like clockwork. And then all of a sudden, you retire and then now there's a transition. It's like, what do I do? Who am I? Now, you're trying to figure out all these things while still have a family, while still having these things.

And so I had some struggles, you know, early on in in the relationships and and and with with with my wife and and now I'm have this product I want to build.

Chris Spencer1:47:50

In my head. And now I'm always I'm like

I'm not going to go be a a referee, you know, and be, you know, 600 lb to be a referee. That's not a good thing to look up to. Same thing for me is how do I go and learn and be aware of myself and keep learning and growing myself to then, you know, if I'm going to be talking about this and the work that I'm doing now with technology and psychology, then I better know myself well. I better know what people are doing and how they're doing things so that I can actually speak on these topics and become a leader in the space.

And so if I'm unwilling to go learn and lean into my own feelings and understand that where my composure and my, you know, my emotional control and all that and how to do those things, then who who who am I to even talk about this platform, you know? So I had to go and not just have experience of playing, but I also had to go and learn the psychology of myself. So when I step on the stage, I've lived through all of it, you know, and so the on-site piece, you know, again, best best money spent because it started my journey of, you know, and I've done a lot now.

Chris Spencer1:48:54

It started my journey of growing and learning about myself, understanding what those scars are that I was hiding

And and learning that those scars that I was hiding was things that was actually building me

And and nothing to be ashamed of. And so now I can sit back and say I can develop and build something that's going to help a generation versus you know

Go coach or nothing against that. But

You know my my goal in life is to leave an impact and help people. And so the fact that you actually went and done on site and you came out because I was nervous.

I knew what my I knew what my goals and my mission were going into it,

But I was nervous to get when to get that phone call when you came out to say, "Man, it was [ __ ] [ __ ]

Chris Spencer1:49:41

But just to hear the tone and excitement in your voice of like, "Thank you for, you know, saying do it because man, it has changed my life." Oh, definitely.

And I and one that's some of the most meaningful thing to me is when people actually get something out of what I knew, what I got out of it and and to see someone else get this, you know, some of the same things out of it is just Yeah.

Chris Spencer1:50:08

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Chris Spencer1:50:22

Uh they can go to TeamQ. Um team Q.io. [clears throat] That's our website. You know, we've you know, our platform is set up now where you know, you want to start your kid early at 13, they can get a report. And then I, you know, here at the end of the month, our development app is coming out where we are helping them developing these skills that's going to continue to help them. And so, um go check out team Q.io. You can find me at the intangible podcast.

Um we bring on guests like Ken and we talk about the importance of intangibles, coaches, GMs, former players.

Um so that that you really understand that we're in an age right now where AI is doing all it general workforce and it's forcing us to go back and you know what we call soft skills.

We have to go back and learn those things. And so our system is designed around those aspects and that's why we call call it the uh performance intelligence because you have to be able to transition who you are into performance and it doesn't matter what you do in life. It has to be transitioned into these into a performance metric so you can succeed. And so so we're in an age right now where we have to really focus on that because our kids didn't get the same experience.

You said your kid couldn't handle what you handle, you know, and and it's because of this information that we have now. And so, how do we meet them where they are so they can learn how to be self-sufficient? And this is the platform that you can you can do that with.