The Walk-On Who Refused to Leave

Todd Anderson1:19

Yeah, it's wild. There's this cool like AI scraper. Yeah. New company. And they basically can go through and look at all your orders. and tell you like who you can rank it by even like following

Really. So it was cool to go back like you know we work with the Yankees now so like we Aaron Judge bought stuff like over a year ago and been using it. So we went to work with the Yankees and you know we're talking to their training staff and they handed a bunch of samples out to their best players and he was like oh yeah I've been using this for a year and so it's been cool. So then we went down for spring training and worked with the guys and so it's been awesome.

Todd Anderson1:53

Jackson, Michigan. small. Well, Napoleon, Michigan. So, I'm from like the smallest town. We have bring your tractor to school day. No McDonald's, no uh no fast food even.

Todd Anderson2:02

So, like we didn't even have a uh stoplight. We had

Todd Anderson2:07

Yeah. Except that was chubby. So, it didn't help.

But uh Yeah. Like we didn't even have a stoplight. Blinking red light. But but it was amazing. You know, like all I did was play outside and play sports and my parents were both teachers at the school I went to. And so, like as far as a childhood goes, it was awesome.

Todd Anderson2:31

Yeah. I mean, you had like, you know, my my best friend had a farm and then his dad was a police officer. The school had a lot. And then the prison. So Jackson Prison is the largest walled prison in the world.

Todd Anderson2:42

In Michigan. Yeah. So everyone worked the prison.

You know, it's kind of like one of those towns like um what was that movie with The Rock where it's like everyone works at the casino? It was like that with the prison. So that was a ton of stuff. And there's like steel mills and you know blue collar stuff. Yeah,

Todd Anderson3:01

Yeah, you would know all about that.

Todd Anderson3:03

Yeah.

Todd Anderson3:06

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So it was a you know a very simple upbringing but the best.

Todd Anderson3:15

Yeah, we did. We weren't very good. You know, we played, you know, my my graduating class had a hundred people. So, it was like the competition was not good. We never even had anyone go division two in football.

Todd Anderson3:27

No, we had a regular team cuz where I'm from, we didn't have soccer. So, it's like you played football. They didn't have a soccer team because that would take away from football team, right? So, it's like the numbers were for football.

Todd Anderson3:39

Uh, wrestling, baseball.

Todd Anderson3:42

Now, all state and everything except football.

Todd Anderson3:45

Yeah.

Todd Anderson3:49

Team Yeah. Cuz you know it's like voting as you go up and so if you don't win games, you don't go to the playoffs, no one's going to vote for you cuz all the coaches that are on the good teams, they get the votes.

Todd Anderson3:58

So yeah.

Todd Anderson4:01

Oh, okay. So you middle of the road.

Yeah.

Todd Anderson4:08

Uh so baseball was my best sport. You know, I was Yeah. all state in baseball and like I thought I wanted to play baseball but like there's something about football. So like after my senior football season it was just you know the physicality and the intensity of football is hard to walk away from.

Todd Anderson4:23

And so I was between the two. I thought about trying to walk on to Eastern Michigan and play both. Like they were super interested in baseball.

Um but honestly I thought I was going to go to a division three school

Because that's kind of like all that was interested. I had no no division one offers. No division two offers even which is kind of wild. I thought I was going to get offered by Saginaw Valley and Hillsdale College and nothing. So, I was going to go to Adrian College and play football until literally, you know, May of my senior year. So, I'm going I'm going to college in August.

Todd Anderson4:52

And in May, I'm going to go to division 3 school. And all of a sudden, Michigan State's defensive co or offensive coordinator walked into my high school. So, I get called on to the office. It happened all the time. Like division 3 schools every week would come down. You go down and you know they're just trying to get you to go to school there. They can't offer you money.

Yeah. And I walked down and I see the Michigan State logo on his shirt and I was like,

Todd Anderson5:14

My dad went My dad was like the biggest fan. He worked in the recruiting office for football when he went there.

Grew up going to the games and like,

You know, people were always like, "Oh, it was a dream come true to go to Michigan State." I'm like, "No, because it wasn't even the realm of possibilities. It'd be like me being like, I want to be the CEO of SpaceX." like that's not like you know so it was so far gone and I never even got interest from

A small division one school and so he came down and uh basically he was like we have some walk-on spots available and the reason I got it is I happened to show up at a seven on seven in in the summer just to be a good teammate. I wasn't even doing seven on seven cuz I played O line.

Todd Anderson5:54

And over the offseason

You played offensive line in high school. Well, linebacker was my best position, but we had to play both ways.

Todd Anderson6:01

And I was always chubby and overweight up until my junior year. And so, I played line my whole life.

Well, I got in super good shape. I mean, I was,

You know, 6'2, 220. I was benching 3:15 in high school

Cuz I just crushed myself. I would get up before school and go to the weight room cuz my dad had the code to the school because he a teacher. Yeah.

So, I'd let myself in before baseball practice in the morning, no one's there, and lift every single day. And I was like a different person. So, I went seven on seven. Our tight end didn't show up and I was so much more athletic than I had been in the past.

Todd Anderson6:32

I made a bunch of catches and we're at Jackson High, which had the biggest uh this the biggest high school in Michigan. They also had the best player in the United States. It was a quarterback, Antonio Bass. He went to Michigan, fivestar recruit. Yeah.

So, all the coaches were there, made these catches, and they asked if he and the guys that would be good for a walk-on spot at their school. Yeah. He's like, "No, but if you want to talk to anybody, it's Todd Anderson, Napoleon, just from that one 797 I happen to show up to." So, like, you never know when the opportunity is going to arise. You just got to say yes to as many things as you can.

Todd Anderson8:12

There's so many guys that like don't get the right opportunity that are all pro guys. It's like because football is so subjective. Like there's not like a metric to say, "Oh, you're faster than this guy." It's so opinion based. I just feel like there's a lot of all pros that never got a shot.

Todd Anderson8:59

That's kind of like life, though. You never know like what that moment's going to be.

Todd Anderson9:08

Oh, I was pumped.

Todd Anderson9:17

I honestly thought, you know, because the Spartan logo is like other schools use it. So, I'm like, "Oh, this must be like a D3 school that I don't know about."

Todd Anderson9:25

And he was like, "We have some walk-on spots available." And what what got me in is coach Mark Dantonio, who's now like the Hall of Fame,

He loved wrestlers. I took second in the state in wrestling because wrestlers are gritty. Usually like

Heavyweight. Yeah. Heavyweight.

Todd Anderson9:39

Yeah. And so, you know, that's what kind of like got me the spot. They called me a month later and like, you know, we have a walk-on spot. If you want to come and and walk on and camp in August, we have a spot for you.

Todd Anderson9:56

It was so surreal, you know, like because that was like my dream, you know, and my my whole going there, I was like,

If I even just like get on the field in special teams my junior year, dream come true, right? But it was still like a a scary everyone in my hometown was like thought I was crazy and there's no way I could do this. And I made like a ven diagram with my mom and dad. I still have it. So we put like Adrian College, Michigan State, pros and cons. It was honestly pretty even except the the one thing it came down to was am I going to regret this?

And like that's pretty much what I make every decision with is like when you're 75 years old, are you going to regret not trying? And

It being such a dream. And it's like if I didn't give it a shot, like thinking what if the rest of your life would be horrible. So I got there and then the first day I pretty much realized like why I wasn't recruited. Like I was not overlooked. I was nowhere near the caliber of player that needed to be a Michigan.

Todd Anderson10:51

I mean the first I I got out of the car. We drove up to East Lansing.

Todd Anderson11:15

I mean I the car ride up there it's like an hour dead silent cuz like I'm only child. My parents are also nervous. They're like you know this is a different league. Uh I'm nervous. No we're we're all kind of shut down when we're nervous. So

We get up there. I get out of the car. The first guy I see is Pete Clifford. He had he played like 5 years in the league. He was like 67 330 long hair.

Todd Anderson11:39

He was a grown man and I was like okay this is different.

And honestly like of all the stuff obviously the size and speed were like crazy. But the complexity of the game like I did not know football like I our schemes and stuff were so easy in high school. And so when you're already slower and weaker, you know, it's exponentially exaggerated when you you don't know the game. Yep.

And so my first season was literally just me survive like survival mode.

But luckily, I came in and I was in like, you know, from a strength and history perspective, I

Like could not have worked harder, been more prepared. So we had our conditioning test, crushed even the best players. Like I So from a physicality perspective, like I looked apart, they could tell I was a hard worker. And I think that's the reason I didn't kicked off the team is just cuz like I'm the type of guy that's like going to put in the effort. I'll do whatever. I'll be a great teammate.

But as far as on the field that first, you know, that first season, I it was I was nowhere close to where I need to be.

Todd Anderson13:46

I was a linebacker originally

And then I quickly moved to DN in the offseason, but I pretty much like the fourth day I was I called my mom. I'm like, I I can't do this. Like I'm I need to transfer. Like she was getting my transcripts together for the division 3 school. Like I thought it was over.

It was the hardest thing I've ever done. Football. It was horrible.

Todd Anderson14:24

And it's you know camp was three weeks long back then

Todd Anderson14:28

Yeah. Oh yeah. All this crazy stuff. Two you have two a days every other day.

Sundays aren't you know off days. Yeah. And so just mentally like every day is 6 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. It just it doesn't seem that bad when it's kind of glamorized when you look at it on TV but it's horrible. It's way worse in NFL training camp, too.

But get through the season and basically I was like, "Okay, after a few weeks, I'm just going to dedicate myself to the weight room." And that was always like my pillar of of confidence. And I got way stronger, you know, got kind of used to it, got my feet under me. And then by the time the spring came around, I moved to DN and I got to second string by the end of spring ball. So

Todd Anderson15:04

This is still my freshman year. First year.

Todd Anderson15:10

Yeah. at the end

Todd Anderson15:12

Yeah. Because I was like 240. So we kind of played like a 4-3 pretty aggressive like rush defense.

And so it went from like quitting to like because I I just put so much time in the offseason doing the extra stuff. Okay, I might be able to do this.

Todd Anderson15:26

Season comes around, tear my quad in camp, you know, had a chance to potentially start my you've seen my quad. It's like a giant ball. Next season comes around, you know, I'm running with second string again. Going to play a lot. Probably go to scholarship in camp. go to make a cut, tear like a big chunk of cartilage off my knee. So I'm out. It's like three seasons in, I still haven't played it down. Everyone in my hometown's talking [ __ ] like thinking I never had a chance.

And in my head, I'm like, "No, I'm like good. I can do this, you know, like I'm actually like capable."

Todd Anderson16:04

Yeah. And it was like I I was there physically, you know? It wasn't like I wasn't good enough at this point. And so my knee never got better. I distinctly remember going into my junior year walking down the hall with Kirk Cousins cuz he was my college quarterback and I'm like I think I'm done. Like my knee like I I could not run, couldn't cut and there was a bunch of like scar tissue built up and they didn't know what was going on and so I almost just called it quits.

Like I couldn't do anything. Yeah.

And I'm like well I'm going to just like try in spring ball one more time. I got two years left. First practice back I'm at the end still. I rush off the edge. I hit our tackle and like my leg was locked out and it just was like crack like a huge crack and I'm like that's it. Like this is it. That's done. And I was like okay. It didn't feel too bad and I woke up the next day completely painfree. Like whatever happened completely alleviated like all the pain from my knee and it was the craziest sensation I've ever felt.

Todd Anderson17:23

Well it turned out I had a 2cm chunk of bone that was in there from when I heard it before and uh it got dislodged because I had to go get it taken out like 3 years ago. Remember when I had an Easter before? Yeah. So

Todd Anderson17:38

Then I do super well summer, end up starting on our third down package at the end. Play the whole season like in and out at the end. And then I got called into, you know, the coach's office at the end of the season. They're like, "You're one of our best 11 players.

We need to find a spot." So we needed a fullback. And

I fully embraced that like the fullback mentality. Like I was like I was trying to like take Guy souls. Like I was a psychopath. I'm, you know, for people who don't know me, I'm like the nicest guy for sure.

Yeah. Like I I'm very even, but like when I was playing fullback, like I was trying to kill people and it just felt like I had to be that person like for the team and Michigan State meant so much and the team meant so much and so I brought a level of physicality that had not been seen like on our team in a while and it was awesome. And so when I transitioned that my senior year,

I felt like I was unstoppable. Like I never went to a game doubting the abilities to just like dominate every player and that's kind of what happened my senior year.

Todd Anderson18:36

Uh we went to the Big 10 Championship. We Yeah. I mean we had some of the craziest wins. We went on Hail Mary against Wisconsin. Beat Russell Wilson and we end up losing in the Big 10 Championship on the last play of the game.

Todd Anderson18:49

Wisconsin again.

Todd Anderson18:50

Yeah. We literally we were down four 15 seconds left. They were punting out of their end zone. We returned the punt all the way back to the three. So going to win we ran into the punter and back then it was a 15 yard penalty no matter what. Game ended. So

Todd Anderson19:08

Yeah. So we it was it was rough, you know. That was to go to the Rose Bowl. And back then

Todd Anderson19:14

That was pretty much the playoff, you know. Now it's playoff, but the Rose Bowl is as big as it gets.

Todd Anderson19:22

Yeah. So it's crazy cuz then, you know, we had Le'Veon, we had

Which bowl did you go to? We went to the uh Capital One Bowl and we beat Georgia in triple overtime.

Todd Anderson19:33

A good one.

They had a great team. They were a team that probably should have won national championship and lost a couple dumb games.

Todd Anderson19:40

And they were a great group of guys. Like we hung out with them quite a bit. They were they were great. But

Yeah, and then all of a sudden, like, you know, Le'Veon's on our team, Kirk's on our team. You know, we have some big draft, you know, first round guys. And all of a sudden, Le'Veon's like, "Yeah, all these NFL scouts are asking about you." And I'm like like that again was not even in the cards. I'm like similar to being going to Michigan State.

The coolest part about my senior at Michigan State is like my whole life I went to Michigan State games.

At Michigan State they have a tradition they announce the starters offensive starters you know your home in your hometown. Like they always do the hometown. I don't know why they do it.

Todd Anderson20:15

And they always

Todd Anderson20:18

They always put Jackson Michigan as my hometown. And so when I was starting the first game my senior year, I made it a point to go switch to Napoleon, Michigan cuz that's that's the small town I'm from. Jackson's like the big county.

Todd Anderson20:30

It' be like Nashville, but you're from Franklin, let's say.

Todd Anderson20:33

But nothing like Franklin. But so I had them switch to Napoleon, Michigan. And we went back to the tunnel and like we're having our team meetings and all this stuff. And I I stayed in the tunnel. like I'm getting yelled at by our coaches and like everybody, but I was like, I have to hear my name cuz I've heard I've heard these hometowns announced my entire life for everybody else. And to like hear that in the tunnel like for the first time was super cool.

Todd Anderson21:00

Yeah, everyone went nuts. Like everyone was so supportive. Of course, they're supportive at that point. Up until then, everyone's saying I couldn't do it, but yeah, it was amazing. Just to get to that point was a dream come true. Had an insane season. You know, we won basically won the Big 10. and we won the Big 10 regular season and it was almost like a fairy tale. The Rose Bowl would have been

Todd Anderson21:18

Best case. But yeah, then afterwards it's like all these NFL scouts are asking about you. And so it went from just trying to play to all of a sudden, okay, agents are calling me every week, you know, having taking agent meetings trying to figure out who I want to sign with.

Ended up going signing with a guy training in Naples for, you know, proday and having a really good proday. You know, pretty much only cared about bench. And then uh yeah, I could I got called so I didn't get drafted.

Todd Anderson21:46

225.

Todd Anderson21:48

35.

Todd Anderson21:50

Yeah, my goal was honestly like 42 like Muscle Milk.

Todd Anderson21:55

That was like the that would have tied it from a position and so Muscle Milk was like going to do a deal with me if I broke it. But they were so strict, man. like the 225. It's like I was first cuz they go alphabetical and so I was going so fast like they were yelling at me to like lock out but it just took them off guard because most people do 10 15 and so because I was moving the bar so fast I think they the scouts reacting were like you need to lock it all the way out and once your timing is like thrown off in that many reps it just like kills you.

Todd Anderson22:24

Yeah.

Todd Anderson22:26

But the week before proab I mean I've just had so many things like just

Todd Anderson22:34

I think like 100 maybe. I actually don't know. But they only invited one fullback.

Todd Anderson22:39

Yeah. So, but the two weeks before proday, I go to do a back squat herniated disc.

So I could not move. I convinced the doctor the day before proday to get me a epidural.

Todd Anderson22:50

And so I got this cortisone epidural and just laid on my back for a day.

Todd Anderson22:57

He got better up. And so we did like vertical jump, bench press, go out to do broad jump, do one, second one, land. As soon as I landed, it felt like electricity down my legs. So go to run the 40.

Didn't even warm up because I could bar I couldn't really run.

Todd Anderson23:12

But I could I didn't want to them to see.

Todd Anderson23:15

So ended up doing pretty good. And I was able to like get through enough. And then I went and told Kirk I was when we started throwing routs, I'm like, "Dude, I you got to someone else has to take like half my routes because I can't run." And ended up getting through it. Back got better. got calls from like the Rams, Ravens, Chargers, what other team to sign,

Todd Anderson23:35

The film, like people overhyped the combine and stuff way too much. The film is what really matters as long as like you don't put up some crazy bad numbers.

Like you have great film. And so ended up signing with the Rams um cuz I felt like that was the best situation they brought in. You know, Jeff Fisher was a coach, Brian Schottenheimer was the O coordinator who's at Dallas now. Uh Bradford was our quarterback and then I mean just things you know I pulled my hamstring in camp which didn't help but what ended up ending everything is so I had a month off. Not many people even know the story but I had a month off in the summer was going out to my buddy's lake house and we had been to the Arnold Classic a couple weeks prior just the expo and we went out to the bar the night before and I woke up and we were just all super tired.

We had to drive 3 hours and I had this like energy sample from the Arnold Classic and I'm like I don't not sure what's in here but whatever. Took it. Go to drive to my buddy's house. 30 minutes later call from the NFL. You have a drug test today. And they're like we'll meet you. Where are you?

Todd Anderson24:36

No. Well I was like in my head I'm like I don't you know cuz the the band substance list is insane. And I'm like okay. And I know I took that like energy thing. But what do you think was in it

Back then? They had like the Oxy Elites and like there was definitely more sketchy stuff back then like stuff like that.

Todd Anderson24:55

I did because they like pounded into you like Yeah. And so I pulled over tried to throw up couldn't. What's crazy is

Todd Anderson25:10

But at that point it's the exact same.

Todd Anderson25:14

So I went So right after the I signed, right after the draft, you go we have rookie training camp.

Todd Anderson25:22

Six weeks maybe. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then you have a month off or 3 weeks off.

Todd Anderson25:26

And then you go back for regular.

Todd Anderson25:36

It's probably the most out of character thing.

Todd Anderson25:39

Yeah. And that's

Todd Anderson25:44

And that's what's crazy. But I was like there I have a month off. Like even if there was a stimulant in it, they resistant for like 24 hours. I'm like, "Who cares?"

They're like, "Where are you going? Give them the address. We'll meet you there."

Todd Anderson25:56

So, this is what's crazy is they had the wrong number on file. So, my number ends in 45504.

Todd Anderson26:02

They had 4550. And so, that was actually their mistake. That person, that random number, happened to know my parents who then call my parents.

Todd Anderson26:13

And then they connect because my parents didn't know that phone call. They're going to give my number.

Todd Anderson26:18

And so the guy comes to my buddy's house, pee and whatever. So then

Todd Anderson26:27

That's what that would have been best case scenario.

But I didn't

Todd Anderson26:32

Yeah, I would have been fine. Especially because it was their mistake. It wasn't like I misled them. They just had literally the wrong number. So, I would have never even got the call.

Todd Anderson26:43

Yeah. So, they do. I drank so much water trying to like get out of me that the pee was diluted. So, they had to come back the next day and

Todd Anderson26:54

But then a month later, so it takes a while to get results.

Month later, I get a call tested positive for this random stimulant. And I was like, okay. So, they have two samples. like test A, test B, that was test A. So now they have to do the same testing to make sure.

So during camp I know that happened and the whole time like no one else knows that cuz they can't tell them. So I'm playing pretty well, doing well. End of camp comes down, they're like I have my final meeting and they're like we're going to release you but sign you back to practice squad because pretty standard and I played I played well and like once I would have probably got an opportunity and to actually play because we only had one fullback. It was a great situation.

Todd Anderson27:43

And once they sign you, you have to be on the roster." Yeah. Also, people think like practice squad guys don't make money. Every practice squad contracts negotiable. So there's guys making more than league minimum practice squad because like if a team wants to keep you, like they can pay you whatever they want.

That's right. And so the day that that happened, test B came out and that was the end. Like all the results came back and then I never

Todd Anderson28:09

So back then, so now I would have got three like I would have got a slap on the wrist. Nothing would have happened back then. Stimulants were in the same bucket as performance enhancers. So four game suspension. It was the same as taking steroids. Now it's completely changed where it makes sense where like real performance enhancers are treated as like a big suspension something like that is like a more of like a slap on the wrist a couple pops

And yeah so it basically was suspended four games that never happened and at that point I had met Katie and I moved in at Naples. I was doing like strength conditioning internship stuff during the time and my body was so beat up it just was like I wanted to be with her. I didn't want to bounce around from teams and so I I got a bunch of calls and I end up just being like I think I'm done

Because I also, you know, I was hanging on by a thread like I was getting hurt

All the time and just me getting there at that point was like a dream come true and I it was just I just felt like I I didn't have much left physically.

Todd Anderson29:30

No.

Todd Anderson29:36

No, if I went back, I wouldn't change anything. Were there thoughts five years after like you think about that stuff? But, you know, I think everything played out exactly how it was supposed to. And also like I wasn't that good, you know, like I'm holding on, right? So, it wasn't like

Todd Anderson29:59

But I'm saying like in the scheme of making a career out of it,

Todd Anderson30:36

It also felt like just, you know, every step of the way had been such an awesome experience. Like it wasn't like I was walking away from football with this like negative experience. It was

Amazing. Yeah.

Todd Anderson31:09

For a while you felt like pressure to keep Yeah.

Todd Anderson31:12

And I kind of started to feel that too. Like it was kind of like you know is it worth doing this? Like do I feel like like I said like do I feel prepared to like jump into that life of just you know scraping by or trying to like find a spot?

Yeah. And especially like meeting Katie, she was starting to train for 2016, potentially come back. And so being there supporting her, she was going through things on a way bigger scale than me. Like she's, you know, she's going from being a world record holder and going through all this adversity. And me being there from for her was just as important, you know, as my own stuff.

Todd Anderson32:22

I feel like you're past that.

Todd Anderson32:29

Yeah.

Todd Anderson33:51

And I felt like I proved to myself, too, I could be there, you know, and like like you said, like I did feel like I could

Todd Anderson33:57

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Todd Anderson33:59

No. No touchdowns.

Todd Anderson34:02

I didn't have any. They didn't give me the ball. I was like a sledgehammer. I was 265.

Todd Anderson34:08

Yeah. Catch. Yeah. They weren't handing it off. I talked my coach into running uh fullback dive opening play my senior year and then first time in practice Kirk fumbled the snap. Second time practice Kirk opened up the wrong way and he fumbled and then we threw the play out. So I still I still blame Kirk for that.

Todd Anderson34:27

Oh it was insane. It was on my birthday.

Todd Anderson34:30

Oh it was also like needed. We were we were playing we were playing Decker actually against Minnesota. Oh, really? Yeah. And uh we should have been like beating them up like they weren't great and uh

You know it was like tied up at half and right before halftime and scored a touchdown and it was uh

I mean it was the best like hearing your name. It's one thing to score a touchdown

In a big in a big stadium like that. It's another thing when you grow up your whole life going to that stadium.

Todd Anderson34:56

No. I mean he was on Cloud9.

Todd Anderson35:34

Yeah. He was happy to be in the recruiting office.

Todd Anderson35:50

You're on the right path.

Todd Anderson36:44

That's what I mean. I think every kid or every I mean adults too, like they hit that moment at different times in their life. Some kids early. So, it's like you never know. Yeah.

Todd Anderson36:59

Yeah. I think it's only through experiences.

Like you there's nothing that can be said.

Todd Anderson37:04

You just have to like feel it.

Todd Anderson37:22

When you're young and aggressive in wrestling, you dominate.

Todd Anderson37:27

Oh gosh, I can't imagine. My mom hated it. My dad was wrestling coach.

Todd Anderson37:31

Yeah. So, I grew up wrestling and then I I hated it

And I played basketball until my junior year of high school and then I just knew wrestling is so good for like football and other sports and I went back to it. But I still hated it.

Todd Anderson37:45

Like it's like not fun.

Todd Anderson38:00

It's a grind. I mean college wrestlers I couldn't have talk about having respect for a sport.

I mean that's a different beast.

Todd Anderson38:06

they could look like the most normal little guys.

Yeah. And

Todd Anderson38:21

Yeah,

Todd Anderson38:23

Oh, no, no, no. He was like an okay athlete in high school.

Todd Anderson38:28

No, he has like a uh It's crazy. He couldn't play a lot of sports because he um he sweats when it's cold. So, he has this disorder where gets like reversed and so he couldn't really play football because

The heat, you know, you can't sweat. You get crazy hot. And then like some of those like muscles like uh didn't you know they don't develop like it like the same strength or whatever. It can't extend as much. And so yeah, it's crazy cuz like I my abil I can get super strong like you know I was the strongest guy even in the NFL I was the strongest guy on the team. And so it's like it's funny that that's like my strength when that was a thing that he couldn't do.

Todd Anderson39:06

Oh he had a bypass surgery.

Todd Anderson39:11

No, I kind of forgot. But he got lucky, too, cuz like he

They caught it by like a EKG and didn't have, you know, he would have had a heart attack any day.

Todd Anderson39:19

So super lucky with that.

Todd Anderson39:26

Yep. They just moved. They can't wait to be grandparents.

Todd Anderson39:54

Yeah.

Todd Anderson40:01

Moved to Miami and then I mean it it still sucks to this day, but you know, she was going best times. you know, she was world record holder, best swim for in the world 2008. Didn't get a gold medal, just, you know, was expected to win five. Y

Uh but came back, kind of took some time off of the sport, kind of revamped their mental side. I was training her on the strength conditioning side. She was training at University of Miami with their coach, but moved over to Miami and

She was going like best times. Yeah.

In these like small meets, no one really knew. Yeah. and she was going to go out to nationals and I was so excited for her because one she was having fun and she hadn't had fun in the sport in probably I don't know

Todd Anderson40:39

Yeah. It was going to be like a coming out party like she was probably going to go to nationals and win it and people were going to be like wow she's back and then all of a sudden you know the week before she gets a pain in her ribs get out there and it just became like debilitating. Had to scratch all the races end up having a pulmonary ambolism. Like she literally in our hotel room passed out face first on the ground

Todd Anderson40:58

Collapsed. Yeah. Oh my god. Panic, but then it was like, do we call an ambulance, but then if you know, this might sound crazy to people, but if they took an ambulance and get an IV, like she's done with the competition, you have to get a TU, all this stuff. And like in that competitive moment,

Like that stuff matters.

Todd Anderson41:15

And so she was going to try, wait a week, had to scratch the whole thing, but she had a pulmonary ambolism. One in three chance she could have died on the spot.

Todd Anderson41:23

You know what's crazy is they should have done this blood test, a dimer test. It's like she'll go to Congress now in Capitol Hill and try to get funding because it's so misdiagnosed. But there's a blood test that can tell you if like the clotting levels are elevated dimer test. They didn't do it. It got misdiagnosed for 6 weeks. They thought it was pneumonia, all this stuff. And eventually they did

Uh uh it was a like a CT scan of her of her heart and lungs and they immediately admitted her to the hospital

6 weeks later and they were like, "Oh my gosh." So you die.

Todd Anderson41:56

She never really could come back from that cuz it's a you know it

For a while she couldn't even take big deep breaths and then you know when your endurance has dropped by 5% as an Olympic swimmer even that's an

Todd Anderson42:14

Yeah a percent's a massive difference. Yeah.

Yeah. So that was tough to be around.

Todd Anderson42:23

And it would have been one thing if it was like she tried to come back and just didn't do that well but knowing she was doing so well and like seeing how happy she was about it that was really tough.

Todd Anderson42:35

How'd she handle it?

Todd Anderson42:37

Not well.

What you think? Yeah. You know I think at that stage do you ever fully get over stuff like that? I think you move on but I think it's always there.

Todd Anderson42:50

I think anytime you put that much into anything and it doesn't go the way you planned or something traumatic happens like

You know it scares over but it's never it's never gone.

Todd Anderson43:08

Yeah. Rookie like rookie OTAAS. Yeah.

Todd Anderson43:11

I mean I I played well you know I felt Oh, absolutely. Physical it's the worst. Like your, you know, your

Todd Anderson43:21

College? Yeah. I mean, NFL is a business, you know, and honestly, too.

Todd Anderson43:26

Yeah. I felt I was like our biggest fullback, you know. I I was still like super physical as far as playing. So, I wasn't fearful in that sense. It was more schematically super overwhelming.

Todd Anderson43:38

No, but the schemes in the NFL are wild because every guy is super athletic on the defense and so you can just there's so many more movements, people are smarter, there's more adjustments like so it's just really complex

And because I only play the position for like a year.

Yeah. your running routes and just like some of the like choice routes, just things I wasn't used to. Like we didn't use me in the passing game as much in uh at Michigan State. And so like I was basically tight end fullback and that was tough. Like me run around against a safety an NFL safety.

Like that's not going to go well. You know, I can block him, but yeah, I'm not going to get open.

Todd Anderson44:16

But it's just so much different. I mean, I love college football. Like, you know, there's such connection like guys are choosing to go there, right? That that's a whole different thing. There's connection to the school. the students have connection to the school, the alumni where

Todd Anderson44:36

Yeah, and it's and I'm probably more than the most alumni, but it's just because I grew up an hour from there and just like I said, my my whole life, you know, it just started so many things for me. Um the coolest logo.

Yeah, they I mean Spartans is tough to beat. So my senior year was pretty crazy. So, my senior year, we're playing Wisconsin with against Russell Wilson, big night game.

We're watching 300 and coach Antonio walks out and pauses the movie. Yeah. He's like, I thought you guys might want to meet the real King of Leonitis. Gerard Butler comes out. He does the like Spartans, what is your profession? And we all do like the And then he ended up coming with us to the stadium for the game and did it in the middle of stadium. It was like the sickest thing ever.

Todd Anderson45:17

No, he just got 300. You know, we used some 300 clips for like all the hype stuff and it was sweet. It was super cool,

Todd Anderson45:24

And we end up winning on a Hail Mary, Last Play of the Game. So,

Todd Anderson46:08

I mean, they're up there though.

Todd Anderson46:23

When they like cuz now a lot of people do uniforms, but when they first started doing that, it was the coolest revolutionary. I mean, it was like everyone wanted to be that.

Todd Anderson46:42

There was no game helmets either.

Todd Anderson46:44

My senior year, we were one of 10 schools to have pro combat uniforms, which was like Nike's like cool ones. And so we had

Like chrome or we had bronze helmets against Michigan that were painted. It was supposed to look like a real Spartan helmet.

So cool. So we were like when they

Todd Anderson47:01

Yeah. Yeah. I have in my office.

Todd Anderson47:03

Those ones are sick cuz they're like hand painted and they were like one of one and people still like talk about those uniforms.

Todd Anderson47:15

When I got to Michigan State getting the gear was by far the best part. Like for the first year anytime we'd get something new and everyone's like that. It's like when the team gives you something it's like the coolest thing.

Todd Anderson47:33

So the first day it's like so we had like turf shoes like kind of like training shoes, you had workout shoes,

Cleats, uh socks.

Todd Anderson47:44

Yeah. As a walk on you kind of just

They just give guess.

Todd Anderson47:48

But normally yes. Um, but you know, you have gloves, you'd have like a bunch of workout short shirts and shorts and then

Todd Anderson47:58

It was a It was definitely tighter back then.

Todd Anderson48:02

Completely different. You There was a direct correlation in how much stuff you could get and how good.

Todd Anderson48:09

You get new gloves every couple days. You wouldn't you couldn't get a bunch of shoes, but you could get like replacement. So, they would never just like hand them out, but if you needed new ones, it was like all the time. Now it's insane. Then now they can get whatever they want because it's like you almost have to recruit your own guys to stay while they're there. Back then it was like

Todd Anderson48:31

If you leave because of it that's a huge mistake.

Todd Anderson48:40

North Carolina's gear I their football team can't get it together but their uniforms football uniforms are sick.

Todd Anderson48:56

I mean, that one is like, you know, they'll give you what you want. You know, you're trying everything on. What, you know, what style of socks do you want? Do you want a a hand towel? Like everything is exact like basically personalized. Best part is there. You could get new socks every day if you wanted to. So, that was pretty much unlimited.

Oh, I had my brothers. I'd only wear new socks. Yeah, I I definitely wore a lot of socks. It was also crazy because when I got there, we switched from Reebok to Nike, the whole league. NFL used to be a Rebok. I don't if you remember that.

Todd Anderson49:26

So, they had to give away everything. And so, we went into the indoor facility and they had all the gear laid out so people could take it

Todd Anderson49:33

Like people. I mean, it was like the most insane amount of stuff. An entire hundred yards full like leather jackets, like the most insane stuff. You could take whatever. But then they're like, if you wear Nike or if you wear Reebok at a press conference, it's a $5,000 fine the first day and a $30,000 fine the second one. Yeah. Nike wear at a press conference.

It definitely made you think twice. I didn't wear much of it until later.

Todd Anderson50:13

Hardox makes camp look way more fun than it is. Like camp is not fun. Camp is like NFL camp.

Todd Anderson50:21

They're really limited by they can't make you do too much like physically. There's a lot of NFL PA rules. So they can't, you know, have a bunch of practices or have you doing all this physical stuff, but the film, like the amount of film and just, you know, the attention that it takes like just to stay focused because every hour of the day that's not on the field, like you're watching film. Yeah.

And so that was that's a mental grind for sure.

Todd Anderson50:52

Yeah. No, it it it's also like it's just unlimited. There's so much stuff. I don't think people from other sports have any idea like the complexity of the schemes of football because a lot of sports are like flowy. Soccer, basketball, like they have plays but you know, football it's like

Every single step is exact. And so it's like you can go back and watch something a thousand times. Yeah. And so it's just unlimited amounts of film.

Todd Anderson51:17

Playing NFL quarterback is the most mentally insane thing

I've ever seen. Like just standing back cuz people also don't realize like when you're watching on TV,

You can see stuff.

When you're standing behind the line, you stand back there, you would be like, I have no idea what's going

Todd Anderson52:16

Yeah.

Todd Anderson52:17

A lot of times it goes the other way when they actually learn how to not stay in the pocket because they get hit a couple times, you know,

Todd Anderson52:50

Well, so that you know, I wanted to go into strength and conditioning and uh because my strength conditioning coach has had such an impact.

Todd Anderson52:58

Uh like exercise science, like health studies. Okay.

So, got my CSCS, got like a million certifications in that. Uh, and I started training people. But then in like 20 probably 16, I got to spend a weekend learning from this sleep doctor out in UCLA, Dr. uh, Jennifer Martin. She's a sleep psychologist, which is cool because there's a lot of sleep docs like MDs, but they're dealing with like clinical your apneas, insomnia, like treating with medications. And where sleep psychologist like 95% of people with sleep issues is like the mindset,

The routine, the stress management. And that's like what her focus was. And

You I'm sitting there like being like, okay,

I love helping people. I think my parents kind of instilled that from being teachers.

I love helping people perform at the highest level just because of my life experience. How are we talking about performance and not talking about sleep? Like you look at all this data that was super early on. No one was talking about it.

It was eye opening. So I ended up doing an internship with her. Then while I was training people, you know, I started speaking on sleep, going back taking classes on sleep. And so simultaneously like that grew more and more a piece of like the training and what I would talk about.

Todd Anderson54:06

And so then I I moved to New York and I got the opportunity I would go talk to JP Morgan and the bar association and I was working for Equinox. Yeah. But I was like focused mostly on sleep. I would still be doing training and stuff, but

Todd Anderson54:17

That became a bigger chunk of what I was doing. And gradually that just kind of took over um over the years

And uh you know to the point where I would get asked all the time what people should use and that's kind of how Dream came about is just there wasn't really a brand that appealed to a high performer. You know, it was like

Todd Anderson56:36

Yeah, it's kind of like a I think the idea is everything kind of comes from an athletic mindset, but our normal customer most people are just day-to-day athletes, but

It's like how can we replicate the perfect environment anywhere we go and that's why the stuff I think the small step is actually the most impactful cuz definitely

As an athlete it's like you go to a hotel room and a road game, you need to replicate that environment. So like even a sleep mask, as much as they've been around, it's like I think one of the most impactful tools. And so we're trying to have basically this sleep, you know, portfolio of stuff where anything you need to replicate that environment from breathing to light, you know, as an athlete, we have. And so it's crazy. We've been, you know, spring training. I just went down and talked to we did Yankees, Giants, uh Mariners, like all these teams are like heavily investing in sleep because they're realizing the impact on performance.

Todd Anderson58:27

It's insane teeth.

The case studies on the kids with those like there's a company called toothpill that makes the same thing.

When you see even like a 3 months difference the way the kid is breathing and just like their jaw structure is unbelievable. It's also crazy some of the studies coming out with mouth breathing and learning development of the brain.

Todd Anderson59:19

I think like over the next 5 years, like the airways, the the microbiome of your mouth, like that's going to be a huge shift. People are realizing so much inflammation stems from there. And when you're breathing out of your mouth, like the pH balance gets thrown off the bacteria. And so, you know, I think the gut got a lot of attention, but everything starts with the mouth. And I think over the next 5 years, you're going to see like a massive shift in focus in in the wellness space.

Todd Anderson1:00:12

Sleep horrible.

Horrible. Yeah.

Todd Anderson1:00:17

Like a lot of people can't breathe out of their nose.

Todd Anderson1:00:20

I will only use Afrin if it's like code red. Like

Yes.

Because it almost like hurts.

Todd Anderson1:00:32

And and then I I know a lot of people that have gotten addicted to afron.

Oh, it's crazy.

Todd Anderson1:01:14

You also can't get off it. Like it's one of the hardest things to get off of.

Todd Anderson1:01:22

Yeah. It's bad.

Todd Anderson1:01:47

Yeah. Yeah. Usually people want it super heavy.

Todd Anderson1:01:56

Yeah. Yeah. Well, we do.

Todd Anderson1:02:02

Pillow case is underrated. It's like one of those things that I think is like awesome. Like I think people throw around like cooling a lot. But really what it comes down to is, you know, you're natural oils and sweat really cool you down. And so the more of that you keep on your face, the cooler you are. Y

The only way to do that has like a natural dense material. Yep.

Silk's natural.

Mhm. And we have like the most dense silk in the world. Like 30 m or whatever. But most pillowcases are like six. It's a it's a scale from 0 to 30. 30 is the highest. Like 24 karat gold. And ours is 30. So it's like all that natural oil, natural moisturizers or like your natural sweat stays on your skin, so it's way cooler than like a normal pillowcase.

Todd Anderson1:02:51

A bad pillowcase, too, is the worst.

Todd Anderson1:02:53

Like when you go to a hotel or something, it's bad. It's like you can't even I don't know. It's just brutal.

Todd Anderson1:03:02

They're living a different life than us.

Todd Anderson1:03:10

Yeah.

Todd Anderson1:03:12

So, I was So, I started mouth taping like seven years ago,

And it was like life-changing. It turned out I actually had mild sleep apnea. I had no idea and it completely resolved it um when I did like the testing later on. But I was going to start that on my own and then I met Jake and Cole, my partners, and they had just they're the best. And they had just developed like a sleep mask and sent me some like prototypes to try out

Todd Anderson1:03:37

Yeah. Yeah. And so after talking to them, you know, they're both both D1 athletes, great guys.

Todd Anderson1:03:44

Yeah, lacrosse.

Where? Uh, Richmond and Sienna.

Todd Anderson1:03:47

And so, you know, we ended up meeting and I was like,

We should like let's do this together. You know, like one, I know you guys are good at things I'm not good at. I'm good at some things that you guys aren't good at.

And it's definitely allowed us to run at a much faster pace because,

You know, I think distributing some of the things on the back end and just, you know, operation stuff that I know I would be brutal at,

Uh, has allowed us to just grow.

Todd Anderson1:04:29

The mask was first. Yeah.

Todd Anderson1:04:31

The tape really is like what allowed us to do all the stuff that like funded everything else because it was trendy. you know, we now we're like the biggest mount tape company in the US, but you know, we were the first US made and so that kind of allowed us to have the freedom of not just like writing checks every month. Yeah. You know, it gave us some some cash to actually start doing some stuff. And then

The nasal strips we were going to come out with like generic ones and I was like I remember Jerry Rice and Breits 35 years ago like there has to be a better way. And so it took us almost, you know, 18 months and we ended up patent them and getting like a custom design and they're a lot smaller, you know, and they work a lot better than Breathe Right. And so, you know, we delayed the the launch of those quite a bit just to get them right.

And that's kind of like exploded and been our hero product. And

Todd Anderson1:05:15

Oh, yeah.

Todd Anderson1:05:17

Yeah.

Todd Anderson1:05:18

It's wild. It's like, you know, they're everywhere now.

Todd Anderson1:05:28

The other thing is like nasal strips, people know what it's about, you know, like they get the idea of it. It's also not scary. You know, with the mouth tape, it's like people are nervous and you have to kind of educate a lot of the stuff you have to educate. But the nasal strips, it's like, I get this. And the other thing is, like you saw at the the expo,

You immediately feel a difference. And so, it's like an easy sell once people experience it. You're like, "Okay, this clearly works. This isn't BS." Yeah.

And so that's why events are huge for us because like we're doing the Chicago Expo Marathon and yeah New York people like what is this how much is it you know in matter of like 5 seconds. So it's been cool.

Todd Anderson1:06:16

Quite the look like me and Katie with all that stuff on. But we do. We're living it.

Todd Anderson1:06:26

Yeah, we're going to have like some pod.

Todd Anderson1:06:35

Oh, hyperbaric

Todd Anderson1:06:41

I might be getting one.

Todd Anderson1:06:45

I have one.

Todd Anderson1:06:48

In the or your bed.

Todd Anderson1:06:54

It was so hot.

Todd Anderson1:06:56

You have a glass of wine and go on that to sleep, you're in a bad spot.

Todd Anderson1:07:05

It's the worst. Especially as you get older.

Yeah. I I even feel a difference from five years ago.

Todd Anderson1:07:20

It's wild how resilient uh younger people are though. Like you know, we work with a lot of like uh Olympic swimmers and looking at their whoop scores. You know, some of them HRB they'll be 200. Oh my god. 220. I'm so jealous.

And then like they'll have some drinks like a, you know, they'll have some drinks and then it goes down to like 150, you know, where mine's going down to like 10. I'm I'm dying basically.

Todd Anderson1:07:47

Have you ever gotten the 1%.

Todd Anderson1:07:58

Like what's happening?

Todd Anderson1:08:02

I got 1%. Two uh two bachelor parties. I got 1% each time. So

Todd Anderson1:08:13

Yeah. Yeah, that's what you're thinking.

Todd Anderson1:08:21

August 13th.

Todd Anderson1:08:23

I know. I'm excited that I feel like it's been such a long time coming and people like, "Are you nervous?" Like I'm nervous for like the process of it, but

As far as like the journey and we're just excited at this point. My parents moved down. I feel like we have such a good situation and everything seems to be

In a good spot. So I'm just like ready ready for it to be here. But I am you know just like the health of the baby and just like you know that whole process makes me nervous.

Todd Anderson1:08:48

Girl. Yeah.

Todd Anderson1:08:52

Yeah. How'd you know?

Katie told me.

Todd Anderson1:09:02

We'll we'll definitely take her up on that.

Todd Anderson1:09:05

That's insane.

Todd Anderson1:09:09

This does she know that?

Todd Anderson1:09:15

Sweet. The Teslas are sweet.

Todd Anderson1:09:20

They're awesome though.

Todd Anderson1:09:26

I know

Todd Anderson1:09:30

Every time I drive like somewhere relatively far, I'm like, I wish I had a Tesla. I wish they had a like an SUV, like a normal SUV.

Todd Anderson1:09:42

I just want like a like a three row regular SUV, you know? I'd be sweet.

Todd Anderson1:10:02

And also, like all the safety things on it are so good,

Todd Anderson1:10:22

I want a Whimo. Like I want a personal whim.

Todd Anderson1:10:29

But I want my own.

Todd Anderson1:10:35

Well, I need to get that cuz I I don't want to like I want to sit in the back and like just hang out.

Yeah,

Todd Anderson1:10:43

So they're basically the same as a Whimo except you own it.

Todd Anderson1:10:46

And then you can

Todd Anderson1:11:12

And just think about how much stuff people could get done on like in New York a commute to New York.

Todd Anderson1:11:33

Definitely safer than Katie driving them. I tell you,

Todd Anderson1:12:16

She hates driving. Like hates it.

Todd Anderson1:12:22

But you're like a car guy.

Todd Anderson1:12:26

Do you have like a dream car?

Todd Anderson1:12:50

Did you see that new electric Ferrari?

Todd Anderson1:12:52

What is that?

Todd Anderson1:12:58

At least make it look good.

Todd Anderson1:13:00

Yeah. Nobody wants that.

Todd Anderson1:13:06

Things are good. I'm going to run Chicago marathon.

Oh [ __ ] Big boy running fast. Yeah. I feel like at one time I I've run too slow.

Todd Anderson1:13:17

I feel like at one time like I need to try to run a decent time. You know,

Todd Anderson1:13:25

This going to be the one. It's also good cuz I'm the type that, you know, the baby's coming in August.

Todd Anderson1:13:30

Which is everyone's like, "Oh, it's going to be so hard." And I know that. But I'm also the type like if I have the plan like that, I will it'll hold me accountable. I'm not the type that's like convenient training. So, so I think having that and like having people run it with me, yeah, that'll keep me going.

Todd Anderson1:14:21

Yeah.

Todd Anderson1:14:35

I feel like you in the morning you kind of like, you know, you're like ah like like you're like keep drinking your coffee waiting

Todd Anderson1:14:42

You can feel like the the energy kind of

Todd Anderson1:15:16

Perfect. Appreciate it.