um let's talk about coaching right now who came to you with the idea and did you need did you were you were you flattered surprised like what was your emotion about being offered a coaching

Man, so how it came about was actually my first year when I retired after the 2022-23 season, I sat around for a whole year and didn't do nothing.

I took my kids to school, just enjoying the life because I feel like, you know, I deserve that.

But after that year, I was like, man, I've been sitting on this couch.

I got to get off my butt and go figure something out.

My brother at the time was a head coach in high school for 30 plus years.

Travis Clark was my assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Delaware State.

I'll throw a red challenge flag on that one, but keep going.

... how difficult is it to develop a relationship with these young men knowing that, you know, they're looking for NIL, and the transfer portal is a thing, and you may only have them for a year if you develop them into a great player?

Yeah.

I mean, it, it's definitely tough.

The new dynamics of college football, um, it, it's...

You don't, you don't have time to invest with the kid on the long term, right? Like, you may have a kid for a season, and you look up, and he gonna hit the portal, especially the, the kids that are, are the better kids.

So for me, I look at it as, like, you gotta get personal with them, but you gotta understand, too, you may not have them long term.

So you know, like Tre said, whatever you're pouring to that young man, regardless on the field, off the field, it's intangibles.

Mm-hmm

Can you kind of, what happened here? Deshawn, tell me what happened here.

It sounds like one of those soap operas, man, where you know, it's so much drama.

I mean, you know, you have a relationship with, you know, Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown, who, you know, they fluctuated, they did great.

Hisness together, I guess you can say, you know, they was number one duel for over four years.

We racked up like 4,800 or however many yards, I mean, close to 5,000 yards.

So, I mean, I just think over the period of time, I mean, it just shows like a relationship where at the end of it, you guys just see them going in a different direction.

You know, I can't really point my hand on exactly what happened, but I just know I've heard a lot.

What is his whole vibe right now?

Who was your favorite head coach during your career? You obviously played for a lot of great ones.

Mm.

I mean, honestly, I, I'd say, like, to be honest, like, Coach Andy Reid.

Um, and the reason why I say that, 'cause he was like a father figure, you know? Like, obviously, he wasn't my dad, but, like, he was understanding of, like...

He, he was born in California.

He knew how I was, the temptations, being young, you know, having, having, like, a lot of people relying on you and depending on you, um, for me, was hard.

Because, you know, being, growing up in LA, you know, growing up in the streets, poverty, you know what I'm saying? Like, there ain't really no hope, you know? So not, it's not a lot of people you can look up to that's, that's motivated, besides, like, you know, the homies in the hood, or homies, you know, just doing some positive things.

Did you, when you entered the league, did you expect to have that kind of longevity? I mean, it's insane.

So when you looked at that gig, what did you like about that gig? What did you see in the program?

I'm just seeing a, you know, a, it was a passion for winning.

Obviously with them not being winners, you can tell the, the passion and just the talent level that they had here, um, you know, they was hungry.

You could, you could, you could tell that, you know, they was, they was looking for an opportunity and, um, you know, and, and my vision of how, what I, what, what I wanted out of this was just to come and inspire and help change these young men's lives because at the end of the day, when you're in a situation where you, you're playing football, you're working so hard but it's not translating to winning, I mean, they was in six games that they lost in the fourth quarter.

They was up, you know, in those six games in the fourth quarter and they lost.

So, you know, for me to play at this level, the high level, you know, it was intangibles that I said, "Well what could make you lose? Either you're tired, you not in shape, you undisciplined." And, uh, my model kind of worked.

I, I addressed and identified what it was that I felt they needed to, to get better at, and, you know, we attacked it.

So how have you approached that part of the gig? The instructional part, the part where you develop players?

How has that been for you?

It, it's been a challenge, but you know, for me, I always had the feet- feet on land, feet- feet on- feet on the ground mentality.

Um, you know, there's a lot of obstacles that present yourself at HBCUs, right? You know, the resources and...

You know, but at- at the end of the day, I- I never got into how hard it may be because, you know, my career was hard.

Like, you know, I didn't come in with glimpse and glamorous careers, right? I was undersized, I was smaller, so they said I wouldn't make it.

So that's the same approach I take here, right? You know, when we- when we were challenged, right? We was projected to be the last and the mean, so be it.

(camera clicking) You know, we come in and we got a- a long schedule ahead of us, but you know, every day we want to go 1 and 0.

(laughs)

Mm-hmm.

So they had success from a guy that's been in the program for a couple of years and that learned to develop, where Auburn and Florida State, you're kind of taking a chance on film, but you don't know if the cohesion is going to be there.

You don't know if he's going to play up to the standard.

And even with Arnold, you knew he was bad at Oklahoma.

And I guess Bo Nix was bad at Auburn, but with Will Stein and what Dan Lenning was built and what they had built around him, the transition was easy.

But with Jackson Arnold, it just hasn't.

A- and that's where I think for Auburn, Auburn fans are kind of puzzled and they're confused and they're like, "Why is this happening again?" It's like, I could have told you that in, in the offseason when you signed Jackson Arnold.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I don't understand.

Why would you get rid of George Pickens if you had any hopes that you was gonna sign da- uh, uh, Aaron Rodgers? So, for me, I know you got DK Metcalf over there.

I just don't...

Honestly, I'ma be real with y'all.

I don't see them winning this division right now.

Not with my boy L Jack.

If you got a YouTube page, you got IG, you got Twitter, Facebook, let our fans know how they can find you.

What is your expectations for the Steelers?

Well, well, listen.

My, my expectations are for them to compete.

They're gonna compete, not only the division, but whatever their schedule may look like, because they do have Aaron Rodgers.

Aaron Rodgers is not the Aaron Rodgers of old, but Aaron Rodgers is better than what you had on your, on your team before he signed right before minicamp.

Uh, he gives them a chance to compete week in and week out.

As far as winning the division, uh, that's, that's not likely.

Let our fans know how they can find you.

Not at the, not at the top of the list.

(laughs) Hey, nah, I mean, I mean, honestly for me, uh, (clears throat) you know, the opportunity presented itself.

Obviously, you know, I, I retired in 2022.

Um, I, I played in Baltimore and after that year was over, I retired and I walked away feeling like I left everything out there on- in between them white lines.

So, for me, I sat around for a whole year, didn't contemplate on nothing.

I was like, "You know what I deserve? After all the fruits of these labors, all the hard work I put into it, I deserve to sit around for a whole year and not do nothing." I woke up at 2:00 if I wanted to, took the kids to school, I partied, I hung out, I did just regular things that I wanted to do after all these hard years of working out.

So, after that year, um, I was like, "You know, I gotta get my butt off this couch and go get, go get some income." You know, me and sh- Lashawn McCoy, we had our podcast trying to figure out if I was gonna do the, the, the media side of it or...

Yeah.

Not at... not at the top of the list.

(laughs) Hey.

Nah, I mean...

I mean, honestly for me, uh, (clears throat) you know, the opportunity presented itself.

Obviously, you know, I...

I retired in 2022.

Um, I...

What was that like knowing that, you know what, I never wanted to leave Philly but I'm gonna have to leave Philly?