My transition from Grove Hill to Memphis was kind of quick. Like it is a big city, but it's still small in a sense, but I'm from a small town. So, I'm so used to everything being right here. And then being that I had to move right there beside campus, everything was right where I needed to be. So, it was kind of a cool transition.
Just the year of 2019, just coming in freshman year that year was everything a freshman would have wanted it to be. You come you win the championship, you go to the cotton bowl, and you got to make a lot of memories. I played with a lot of people that are in the league right now. Like Antonio Gibson, Kenny Gainwell, Clay Brooks, Brice Huff and still many names to go.
There’s really two, I’d say Coach Simon and Demonte Coxie, really coming in behind Demonte, just seeing how he had the edge to just go hard every play, never try to have somebody out do him. And then behind Coach Simon, being the receiver coach that year, he always trained us to teach us the little, small details. We always trained and would just be out there doing important stuff and never had certain stuff on your own time just to be doing it instead of just actually training yourself for the gameday. So, I’d say them two really had a big impact.
I’m still dibbling and dabbling different parts of Memphis but I’d say Wing Guru, shout out C4, shout out Cal for that, you know, I like Wing Guru, but I'd say the spot that I really go to a lot is JJ’s Catfish and Wings right there on Poplar. So, I’d say I go out there a lot.
I just make sure I get like an hour nap in at least, I got to get my nap in and then got to get the drip, right. Got to everything right before the game then basically what we got for warm-up. I'm always trying to work on just a little bit of release work. Try to make sure my ankles, knees, everything's on point, everything feeling good. Then I get me and Eddie, me and E LU will just throw the ball work on certain type of catches, hard catches that we might get in the game.
I'm going to have Lil Baby in there for sure. Just it just the rappers now, going through a whole bunch a songs. I'm going to listen to Lil Baby. I'm going to just listen YoungBoy. I'm going to listen to EST Gee for sure. Gotta to Meek Mill. That's a classic.
I'd say my favorite player is just me watching was Derrick Rose, who played here and I did not know that at the time I was just liking him when he first came in in 2008, he was with the bulls. So, I’d say, Derrick Rose because he's athletic.
I have been watching movies with my brother Dreke. I’ve been watching movies with him, so just from us watching movies. Number one right now, Judas and the Black Messiah. I'd say number two, Queen and Slim. Then I gotta put Friday in there, Friday gotta go in there that's just the top.
I was a game fanatic when I was little, I played games all day. That's all my brother used to tell me just to go on there and play the game I'm in there all day. Or then I'll either go outside, play all day. I'd say my favorite game is like Madden 2K just the norm that everybody plays. Then I'll play Call of Duty. You don't want to see me in that.
I watch Devonte Adams a lot. He's been going crazy in the league lately, you know, just the way he made the game look easy just from start to finish. So I just want try to make my game sort of similar in a sense.
Off day for me is really just, I'm sitting in the crib and watching film enjoying the day. I'll be probably laying down, get up, watch a little bit more film and then shut it down for a little bit more. Probably go eat, grab something to eat, watch TV, lay down some more, play a game, probably chill with the guys and then go back, and we watch more film.
I listen to music trying to make a song or something like that just was just playing around, but just playing with my thoughts a little bit. That's about it.
It taught me a whole lot that I can use right now, in a sense, basically like just to feed onto the young guys that we got right. It just taught us to really grind, really, to work. Like we came out every day with a mindset of we got something to do, we got something to accomplish something we gotta get done and if we don't, we’re going to fail in the end or something is going to shoot us in the foot or knock the whole building down in the sense. I'd say that year really taught me about how to really make the little things, a big, a big focus. If you miss this one step, you might be this couple inches off of scoring that touchdown that we need, or that first down that we need. I'd say it really just was a good year for us to just have that and then try to build off it, which we had a good year, the following year after that. It was not, I wouldn't say it wasn't the same. It didn't feel the exact same as it was that year in 2019. But yeah, I'd say that it was just big in a lot of ways, because we had a lot of leaders, a lot of people that actually just stood for and everybody bought into what they had going for us to get that championship, which we are building up right now, which I feel like we have a championship team right now.
Bouncing off of that, you can't just come out there and just be half-stepping with everything that you’re doing. Cause if you half step, then somebody else gonna be having to take a full step ahead of you. If the y'all walked in, everybody on the same page and then you got to be just sitting out there in your own world, so if you sitting there, it is not going to workout for us and our favor. Right. So, yeah, we gotta be able to come out there, have a focus, be able to have mindset today, I gotta get this job done so we can be better tomorrow. When we come out here tomorrow, we gotta be better than we were yesterday. So it is just the mindset you gotta have just to keep going. And that's how that's how 2019 talk.
I mean, when I came in as a freshman, I already knew like the history of UCF and Memphis, and then just watching them play back-to-back that year and seeing how both games played out and both of them were real close and everything. So I'm like, okay, there's gotta be a rivalry or something. So it is like ever since just being in high school, like if it's like a big game, I just be ready to get the ball or play, make big plays at all times. So it's like I've already got my nerves and stuff out the way. Like, I really don't even be nervous in those games. The more pressure, the better it's just like this year, Mississippi state, the more pressure the better.
My reason behind it, I was really fixing to try to change my number to number to zero at first, really. And then it was just like earlier this year I had a recent passing of my grandmother and she had, her birthday is basically right beside mine hers is on May 4th. So like, basically got number four, cause she was born on the 4th. So like she's still with me and her birthday is right beside when mine which is May 7th. We always like to celebrate with each other. If mine was on the weekend, we celebrated ours on the weekend. We celebrate hers with mine. So when that had happened, I decided I'm gonna just go ahead and keep her with me, keep her around me, keep her covering me. So that's why I said I'm going ahead and wear the 4 for her.
A lot of excitement, a lot of plays will be made. I will make sure that every time you see me, I will be screaming my lungs out on the field. I will be making sure the energy is there at all times, you will see a smile on my face. I will make all the guys on the field are on point all the time. We are going to get these dubs this year.