Well, when I was in high school, I had one prayer and one prayer only and that was to be graded football

My father had been graded football. He had a binder of newspaper clippings of his exploits on the field

My older brother had been graded football. He had a similar binder with similar newspaper clippings about his success on the field

So I felt like when I entered high school

I have got to be fantastic at football to earn the family name, right?

So I went out for the team and my freshman year at 120 pounds. They made me the center of the offensive line

Which was a great indignity

And a good indicator of how great we were at football that someone weighing around a hundred pounds was on the offensive line

Not a great year, but I worked out hard the next summer

Came back and they made me cornerback on defense my job was if the ball came out to the side

I had to tackle that guy and so I remember the second game of my sophomore year

They brought me up to JV and I was pretty excited. I was like it begins

Ben's marched to greatness and I remember getting out there and I was scared and I was praying beforehand

God give me the strength to do this God all glory to you. Let me crush some fools that kind of stuff and I got out there

And I remember first defensive series

They tried to throw a pass in my area

But the quarterback kind of threw it high so the guy had to stretch out to get it right in front of me

And I was like on not son so I ran up and tackled him and I remember the whole defense ran around and they hugged me like you did it

I was telling like I did didn't I guys did I do it? I think I did do it right and it was kind of a confidence builder

Next play I remember they ran the ball my side and they ran a sweep

That's where the fullback was coming out to tackle me so the tailback could run around me

And I remember my coach told me when that happens you have to run and you have to knock the fullback out of the way and then tackle the tailback

...