The ball hikes and then you know he saw me flash that slant so he took that away and then he came down to the

check down with Travis Henry and I was also anticipating that because I was quick enough to come off the slant to go and intercept that ball or at least have a big collision. We ended up having a collision and on this particular play,

I end up on my back.

And typically, after a big collision,

you get up, celebrate.

On this particular play, I'm like, Keith, get up,

I'm talking to myself, I'm laying on my back, and like, Keith, get up. I'm like, Keith, get up. And my body's not moving.

I'm like, wow, this has never happened. And I'm like, you know, it's a very interesting

feeling I felt I'll never forget that I could feel no pain I couldn't move and I knew I was in trouble it's like and I didn't understand that I didn have any pain, but in my mind I'm like, Keith, you're in trouble.

Hey folks, welcome back to the at the end of the tunnel podcast where I share stories

about people who've gone through a transformation of some sort that resulted in

them finding their purpose hence the title at the end of the tunnel.

This is your host Light Watkins and my guest this week is a former NFL player named Keith Mitchell.

Keith grew up in Texas and like many kids in Texas

Keith dreamt of playing professional football. His parents weren't so hot on the idea because they didn't want him to get hurt.

But he persisted.

He put all of his focus on training and developing the skills to play linebacker at the highest level.

And cut to 10 years later Keith is playing for the New

Orleans Saints. In other words his dream came true but in his eighth season in the

league his parents' worst fear also came true as Keith found himself

lying on the field after a play completely unable to move. And later it was confirmed that he suffered a career-ending spinal contusion while making

a tackle that he made a million times.

...