Gunnar Raborn | Pressure Is A Privilege

What does it take to thrive in the most pressure-packed position in football?

On this episode of the Intangible Podcast, former Alabama placekicker Gunnar Raborn joins Chris Spencer to break down the mindset required to succeed when the entire game comes down to one kick.

Growing up in Louisiana as a multi-sport athlete, Gunnar didn’t even start kicking until his junior year of high school. But that late start turned into a journey that took him to Alabama football, where a moment with Coach Nick Saban would permanently reshape how he viewed pressure and performance.

When Saban told him five simple words — “Pressure is a privilege.” — it changed everything.

In this conversation, Gunnar shares the lessons he learned competing in the SEC, transferring to McNeese State to chase playing time, and developing a mental approach that helped him achieve a 92% field goal percentage during his career.

But the conversation goes deeper than football.

We talk about how elite athletes manage pressure, why the best kickers often come from multi-sport backgrounds, and how the discipline learned in sports translates to success after the game — whether that’s coaching young athletes or building a career in business.

👉 Follow the Intangible Podcast for more stories of grit, resilience, and peak performance:

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Well, I'm back here with a um another former Alabama player, um Gunner Rayborne. I'm excited to dive into your story, man. This is uh it's gonna be fun, it's gonna be light. So, you know, before I kind of jump into it, I'd kind of like to give a little highlight of you before before we get going. So Gunner was a place kicker for Alabama, transferred from Alabama to Manice State. Um he's from Louisiana, so grew up a big LSU fan. So we were just talking a little bit, trying to figure out how did that, you know, how did he transition over to Alabama after wearing that purple and gold for so long? Um a 92% field goal percentage.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

It's pretty strong, man. Pretty strong. Um then you went on, you kicked a 52-yard field goal, became an all-American, a second team All-American. Um, and then you went on and you earned all Southern Conference at Louisiana in All-American honors. Welcome to the Intangible Podcast, my friend.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Thank you, thank you. It's it's honestly an opportunity to be uh to be invited.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Yeah, absolutely, man. Well, well, we're gonna jump in here, man. I uh, you know, where I like to start is kind of like when we talking about intangibles, truly believe that our intangibles are developed in our environment, how we grew up. Um, we've as a as a former guy, you can kind of look back hindsight and you can really see where it comes from. But now we're in an era where these intangibles are way more important than they than they were back then. Because back then you can you can you bring a kid in, if it didn't fit your culture, you can move on from and bring another kid in and replace them. But now that NIL, Transfer Portal, all that money has gotten so big that a lot of schools and a lot of colleges now are really diving deeper into the character aspect of it. Do you fit the culture? You know, so if I'm paying a guy a certain kind of money, you know, I need to make sure my culture is right to handle it. So where I like to start is go, we're gonna go back to your upbringing, man. I want you to take me back to growing up in Louisiana. Um, you know, what was that like, your home life, and also just kind of that thing that set you on this trajectory to be a be a place kicker.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

It's just crazy the NIL deal now. Like, just to bring back that topic. Like, for example, when I was a freshman at Alabama, Marlon Humphrey was a was a my class. He didn't start till his sophomore junior year. You know, he was only on special teams. Now those backups are gone.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

You know, well, that's what that's what's happened now is that the depth, you know, the Alabamas, the Georgias can create a lot of depth because your goal as a as an athlete was I want to get to the next level. And so I'm gonna put myself in a place where I can do that.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

And playing with under Nick Saban, Kirby Smart guys like that, you got a chance if you come in and you just put your head down to work. And so now for the NIL, it's broken up all of that that depth. So as an SEC guy who get into these arguments all the time about SEC is never gonna be an SEC again. You know, it's it's three years running now that we haven't I know it's hard to hear.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

It really is, it really is. So anyway, I take it, take us back.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

So, born in Lafayette, Louisiana, 1995. You know, I played all three sports football, baseball, soccer. Um, I remember I was huge into pitching growing up. I thought I was gonna be an MLB pitcher. Pitching to my dad in the backyard. He would sit on a white bucket for hours.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

You just sit there and kiss.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Yeah. Um great memories, though. Great memories, great memories. Playing soccer my whole life. Um, started playing football seventh grade.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Um, and I played, I played all positions. I was a quarterback, a receiver. Um, I really love Mike linebacker. Really love Mike linebacker. Um, you don't you don't get that from kickers, man?

SPEAKER_01 3:45

You don't. Who like to hit people?

SPEAKER_00 3:48

You don't. I trained one in Indiana now. He's a UFC fighter and he's a linebacker. It's gonna be a dog. Wow. He's gonna be a dog. He's a kicker. He's a kicker and punter now.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Wow. Yeah, okay. All right.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

So drew up, pretty cool story. I didn't start kicking until my junior year.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

So we're in the back of the end zone, just watching the freshman game, and we're just throwing the football around, right? So we're just playing around. So I'm just kicking the ball, just kicking it back to the people that are just playing um jackpot if you remember that game. Um, so Coach Tidwell, defensive coordinator, walks up to me. He says, I'm gonna put you in on punt this game. I was like, Okay, cool. So, first punt ever was a 55-yarder. And then uh Jimmy Hightower, Coach Jim Hightower walks up, he says, Son, do you just want to kick and punt? I'm like, sure, let's do it. And that's how I started kicking and punting.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Just and playing jackpot.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

And you get through thrown in the fire. Yeah, but would you would you say that, you know, you say you play soccer, like, because I've I feel like a lot of guys who play soccer are really good at it. Yeah. You know, if they have the passion for it, if they have the mental mindset for it. Like um, Steven Gazowski, he was my high school kicker, played in New England Super Bowls, and all that. Okay, he was a phenomenal soccer player and a phenomenal baseball player. And and just happened to, you know, coach said, Hey, I need a we need a kicker, and brought him in, and he started kicking, kicking off. And I mean, every kick, every kick was in them in the back of the end zone. You're like, hmm.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Athlete.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Unbelievable athlete.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Athlete. Yeah. I feel like the best kickers are the ones that played multiple sports, you know. Um, so that's why I try to get, I try to get these kids. I'm trying to train as young as fourth graders because I'm trying to get them to play, play as many sports as you can, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Yeah, which is becoming very hard.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Yeah. Because of the specialization of I was about to say, there's people trying to kick in fourth grade. I didn't try to kick until junior high school.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Like, do you think that serve you kicking later in life versus kicking early? Tell me why.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

I think it helped. Me waiting. For example, like me playing Mike linebacker. Like, I would have never done that if I started kicking in fourth grade. I wouldn't only have the mindset of kicking.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

I mean, build a different mentality. Exactly. That's when I'm doing that kind of pressure.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

So what just build the dog mentality, like the winning, you want the whole point of a sport is to win that game, you know.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

The whole you want to win. Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

You know, you know, what mentality did you take to that position once you decide that this is what I'm gonna do with punt and kick?

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Most kickers, and that's what I'm really big into, is training the mindset. Because, you know, kicking, you know, there's only so much of a level that you're good at, but it all it's 95% middle in kicking.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

You know, when I go to Alabama, I'm a preferred walk-on. I don't go until May, and I work out with the team, I don't get invited to fall camp. So my first practice is week one. So week one goes by, and first few practices, and I'm like, we're just sitting on the field. I'm like, what are we doing? Like, I'm trying to get better. So I go on my own, kicking on my own, working on getting better. Week three, week four comes, week four comes, they uh put me in. Take the back, week three comes, they put me in like a short field goal, just in practice, one field goal as like the backup. And week four comes, they put me in another field goal. Week five comes, they put me in two short field goals. And then week seven comes, first dress, I dress out uh against Tennessee. So go and so I started dressing out for the home games. Well, the last home game is the Iron Bowl. And the year before I went, I was at prom, senior prom in high school. I'm watching at the prom the Iron Bowl when the kick sticks happened. I'm literally at prom watching that. Next year, here comes me dressing out. We're at the Iron Bowl. I'm the backup kicker, so I'm kicking on sticks, right? You know, like hold them so I don't get the live snap and hold. So I'm doing that pregame. We run into the tunnel right before we run out to play the game. Still remember it to this day. Five minutes and 38 seconds left. Coach Saban walks up to me. He says, Son, you're starting. I said, Yes, sir. He turns around, he walks, takes like three or four steps, walks back, comes back to me, and he says five words, which changed my whole mindset. He said, Son, pressure is a privilege. And that made me think a lot. Because being a kicker, you know, like that's what I was bringing up back in high school. I was huge and it just I thought it was awesome being having the most points on the team. In high school, I was nervous though, like being that called on.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

When Saban told me that though, that changed my whole mindset. Because why am I nervous to be called on? I want to make a name for myself, right? Of course. So I should be itching at the bit to be getting that kick, right? You know, right. So that changed my whole mindset.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Man, that's that's that's cool, man. Because it is also that that belief, too. Oh, he believes in me. It's true, you know, and so, but I I always think like the games, you talk about these points, the game always comes down. Most of these games come down to the kicker.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

You gotta want that pressure. It's like when you go up a roller coaster, Ruin, you're right at the top. Yeah. Right when you go down that heart drop, yeah, that's that feeling. I I love that feeling. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Never heard it described that way. That's yeah, that's how I think about it. How does that not when you when you get to that and that heart drop, how do you how do you balance it? How do you balance the nerves to be able to do your job without confidence? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Confidence. So I tell my kickers right before you kick, game day, I want you thinking two things only. Two things. Eyes back, and I'm about to make this kick.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Make blank kick.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

So let's go back. So back in high school, you say you were nervous. How do you, how did you, how did you start to develop that that toughness mindset to handle that pressure? Because like I said, a lot of these kicks come down to the to the to the kicker. And players encouraging me. You know, and when you if you miss one, you know, how do you handle it versus making it?

SPEAKER_00 10:35

I think a team is such a huge part. Because, you know, I've been on a team where you miss a kick, they kind of get on to you. Coach screams at you. Where I've been on a team where they're encouraging, they think you're the best kicker they've ever had, confidence in the world. I mean, that helps tremendously, I think.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

You become the number one kicker in the state of Louisiana. You get now you're you're in this recruiting process, and you know, how do you narrow down, you know, what's the right fit for you? Because as a as a lineman, as a receiver, you're trying to figure out, oh, what kind of offense do I fit into? What kind of uh if you're a defensive guy, what kind of defense do I fit into the best? Um, you know, from a kicking standpoint, how does that is it doesn't really matter?

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Or is that's what I'm getting at. Like for your kickers and punters, like you competing against yourself at the end of the day. Yeah, so it doesn't matter where you go to school. Yeah, you know, yeah. You just need an opportunity to compete. You just need a foot in the door. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, it's pretty yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

I just started to think about that. It's like, man, I knew if I go to I knew what kind of offense Ole Miss ran. I knew it like what my skill set was. This is okay, this plugs in, you know. So I'm paying attention to all these different things because you know, you don't know, especially when you're in high school, you only run three or four plays. Like you get in the college or now you got a playbook like this. This is a business. Yeah, so I mean, but I would assume the holder, you know, if you you're a snapper, like making sure you got a good snapper.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

You gotta maybe that's a thing that you you gotta work with them every day. Yeah, every day. You know, back in high school, you know, usually the holder was the holder's a quarterback, right? You know, so after every practice, I had to drag his butt just to get 10 kicks a day. That's all I did, just 10 kicks. But hey, that led, you know, to us kicking game winning field goals, you know? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

So you you make this um you make this transition from Alabama to Monique State. Like what was it? What went in that process of transferring from Alabama to back then?

SPEAKER_00 12:43

You couldn't um transfer to any future opponent, right? For Alabama, you couldn't go to any SEC score or any future opponent for the next three years. That was the rule for Coach Saban.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Um that was his rule.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Okay, because I was I didn't realize that was a rule. That was his rule, yeah. Um, so went back home to McNeese State. Uh Coach Lance Gidgery was the head coach. He really loved me. Uh Matt Vietar was a head coach before him, who was the head coach at ULM at the time. Um, I was thinking about going to ULM. I decided to go to McNeese State instead. Coach Ed Augeron's sons were going in at the same time as me. So I grew up um best friends with the Augeron boys. So they played football when Coach Ed was the head coach at LSU.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

So you are you were around him. Yeah. So what what you're telling me is that you can give me a good Coach O impersonation.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Uh you gotta give me one. Show me the dope. Go tigers.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

That's how he really talked. I know. I know. He because he when I was leaving.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

He's a best recruiter.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Unbelievable. Best recruiter. Unbelievable recruiting.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

He's a best recruiter.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Yeah. I remember he was there. Uh he became the head coach at Ole Miss when I was leaving. Um, and I was supposed to be back, I was supposed to be back a uh another year. And I remember he called me, he's like, Listen here, son. Check this out. I know all these guys, you're not gonna be a first-round center. You're probably gonna you'd be lucky to go to fifth round. And so he said that. Yeah, I was like, I was all right, coach, I appreciate it. And uh went on and became a first round. 26, went on to be a first round, and I went back and he was like, he's like, hey, you know I gotta do what I gotta do. I'm trying to keep you. You're a good player. So that's so funny. Yeah, yeah. So you go on to Mini State. When you I I guess my my question in this is what I wanted the opportunity to play. Okay, that's what I was saying. Why why leave Alabama?

SPEAKER_00 14:42

I wanted the opportunity to play. Um, I was like, I got I got a ring. I'm good. I got some playing time in Alabama. Yeah, it's time to actually make a name for myself. So I took the risk on myself.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Yeah. So so what was the transition like going from huge difference?

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Going from NEC to McNeese State, like huge difference.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

You know, like Alabama, you know, you're like Coach Cochrane, uh Scott Cochrane would say, he was our strength coach at Alabama. He would say, Y'all are Corvettes, going, y'all are Ferraris. I'm just putting spinners on y'all. I mean, we had fillets, breakfast, lunch, and dinner at Alabama. So McNeese State, our pregame was at Ryan's. Ryan's buffet, if you know what I'm talking about. Absolutely. So culture shock a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Um, close to family though.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Yeah. You know, did that require you to do more of your own self?

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Yes. That um required me way more discipline and work ethic. Um, being in Alabama has taught me so much. We would work out at like 5:30 in the morning, you know, do our cold top hot tub, go to class, eat breakfast, blah, blah, blah, and then come back for lunch for meetings and practice. So after practice, it's late, everybody's tired, right? Well, after practice, there's about a few 12 people around that go work out after practice. Well, those 12, including Derrick Henry, were about first round draft picks. So it taught me work ethic. Yeah. Um, realizing you have to put in the work. Right. You know, nothing's given to you. Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

You you can't just do, you just can't do the bare minimum. You can't do the bare bare minimum. What your straight code's laid out for you. You gotta do more, you know. Gotta do more. Because there's a lot of guys training hard right now to take that spot.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

A thousand percent.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

What do people miss, misunderstand about being a kicker?

SPEAKER_00 16:35

The mental aspect. Fans, they don't see the kicker on the sideline pacing back and forth, waiting for his time, because you only get that one chance.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

The best kickers that I've been around was guys who were able to really, you could tell that they were they were talking to themselves and then um, but was also had the ability to really connect with players, and those players would continue to like encourage them, yeah. You know, because you need to make sure your kicker is mentally tough. And so that encouragement is really is really helpful for I mean, just all players, but especially for the kickers and kickers is a huge um necessity in building a team together, you know.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

Right. Kickers always a little interesting, you know. You gotta have that piece, you know.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

We're gonna take a quick pause and we're gonna do a quick two minutes, some rapid fire questions for you. Come on. All right, you ready for this? Mm-hmm. Um longest kick you ever hit in practice? 65. 65. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Longest kick you ever hit in a game. 52 at Lamar. 52, 53. It depends who counting, because it was at the 52 and a half.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Give it all. I'm gonna count it all. Two seconds left before halftime. That was one of the coolest moments. I got so excited, I threw up, fist pumped. I got so excited after the kick, getting on the sideline, I threw up.

unknown 17:58

I'm not kidding.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

It was freezing cold outside. So you know, when you get really, really excited, overheat.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

That's awesome. Um, what's harder mentally? PAT or field goals?

SPEAKER_00 18:12

I like the PATs because it was like a warm-up to me.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Yeah.

unknown 18:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

You know, warming up to get into that good rhythm when I get in a field goal.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

I'd much rather get a PAT first then than a field goal. Yeah. But you can't have that mindset, man. Yeah. Can have that mindset going in.

unknown 18:30

All right.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

Favorite stadium you ever kicked in?

SPEAKER_00 18:33

Oh Alabama. I can't say LSU, but uh it's a toss-up, man. Yeah, it really is a toss-up.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

I mean because I grew up at LSU.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Yeah. Death Valley is still one of my favorite places to play. So it's different, man.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

The Louisiana Saturday night is different.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yeah, it is. It is. Night game. We always play night games there too. So all right, one song that calms you down before game starts. Oh, wild and loose. Wild and loose.

unknown 19:02

What time is that?

SPEAKER_00 19:05

My dad was a huge funk fan. So I'm a I'm a 70s. I'm a big 70s. I was born in the wrong time. What did you hate the most? Wind or distance? Wind. Wind. Ah. I didn't realize it until I played in the SEC. Man, those stadiums, the when the wind goes into SEC Stadium, it it's not, there's no north, south, east, worth. It wraps in like a whirlwind.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Yeah, swirls.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

So man, it it took a lot of time to get used to, to be completely honest.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Yeah. How do you adjust to when? Like that's not coming straight at you or behind you. How do you adjust to that?

SPEAKER_00 19:46

No, the ball goes in. Don't watch and hope. So I tell my kickers all the time.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

There's no like you know, no trust. Adjustment to your none of that. You're still still keyed in on the exact same steps, all that, no matter what. Every kick's the same kick. All right. Uh one habit that one habit that made you consistent.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Mindset. Mindset. Wanting that kick. Confidence. Confidence. Confidence. Confidence.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Miss or make? What sticks longer? I'll miss.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

I'll miss. I remember, see, I remember those block kicks, but some of those fields, I made a lot of field goals. I don't remember all those field goals I made.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Yeah. You remember those misses though. You went to Mini State and you became you had 92% accurate had 92% accuracy in the field goal. You know, what was that? What was your mentor approach each year to stay that consistent?

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Usually before a game, you're excited, you're here. Well, I learned the lower I got, the more calmer I was, the more smoother, fluid, more in in tune. Right. If that makes sense. So I learned to basically have fun. Like this is a game. Like, you know.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Is there a moment before kick that you where you're the commas?

SPEAKER_00 21:23

Right before I kick it. So I tell my kickers, you pick a target, right? Pick a target right before you take your steps. And I only want you looking up two times. Only looking up twice. When you take your back step, when you take those that third step back, you look up at your target, you take your two sidesteps. You get ready, you look up one more time, and then you I'm about to make this kick. And then you nod to your holder. That's like the most calmest I think I am. Is right then and there.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

With all these people yelling and screaming and I th I that

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Pitching, that we get into, you know, playing everything, I think, helped me tremendously. Waiting to kick till junior year, because I was big into pitching, like I brought up in the past. You know, my dad was huge into tunnel vision. Tunnel vision. I blacked the only thing I saw was that mitt. That's the only thing I ever saw.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

So you didn't hear the crowd, or you didn't hear it.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

Nothing. I black out everything. Everything. Because, you know, what's what's the kicker's job? To make the kick, right? You gotta get it through. So the kicker shouldn't be worried about if the holder is gonna hold it right or the snapper's gonna snap it right, or is the lineman gonna block that edge rusher? Yeah, that's not your job. Right. Your job's to make the kick. Right. So I black out everything. Yeah. I don't even listen to the holder. I just look at his fingers. I don't even hear what the holder's saying.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

So I mean unless we do a fake, of course.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

Yeah. As a kicker, because it's such a high-pressure position, you know, how do you handle the failures? Like, what is that self-taught? What is that mindset? What do you how do you get back to work when you do, you know, have some failures? Because it will happen.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

It does happen. Yeah. I was 12 for 12 going in, and then I get a blocked kick. You know, I always think I'm gonna go perfect this whole season, and then that happens. And then it's so hard, but you gotta just really, there's nothing you can do about it, you know, and that's so hard to wrap your head around. But once you get that stuck in your head, that yesterday was history.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

Yeah. Well, we always talk about on this show, guys who've played and the guys who've made these transitions, you know, transition out. How has the transition for you been? Our identity does look get wrapped up in into sports and who we are and things like that. How do you how did you transition out and how did you break that that break that hole that football and sports had on you to go do other things in life?

SPEAKER_00 24:04

I'm glad you asked that. Coach Saban was huge into helping us think of it's not there's something after football. You know, it's not just football. You're gonna have so he prepared us a lot for that. He he would have a lot of speakers come talk to us. Um, he even had Michael Phelps come talk to us. Yeah, he had Jamie Foxx come talk to us one time. Um but he made you he made he would make you think about you know, no matter what you're in life, you're still just like what what helps kids play, I think playing sports helps tremendously in any kind of um after for future, you know, because you gotta think of, for example, me in real estate, and what helped me grow in real estate was acting like me being on the Alabama football team, going to workout every morning, putting in the work. You know, you it's just the same mindset as playing a game, getting ready, getting better. Take that into the next opportunity you have in life, you know? Yeah, creating a routine, a process, creating a routine, a process. And that's what I learned so much with Coach Shaven is you gotta have a process. Yeah, you're only as strong as your weakest link.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

Yeah. How did you start that process and lean into real estate and then also coaching and mentoring kids?

SPEAKER_00 25:37

So my passion is coaching kids, kicking and coaching kids. So when I was at Alabama, I I started kicking, training with one-on-one kicking. And and then so being in Alabama, um, I got to help train young kids. And man, I I just fell in love with it. You know, I love helping kids out, and that's my passion. My end goal is to only do that, right? And um it helped me still be involved, you know, because I love sports. Yeah, I love sports, I want to die with a football in my casket.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

It's already given up, man. It's already giving it up. I'm not giving it up.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

And so I did that, I've been doing it for seven years. Did it right after I graduated. I started one-on-one kick in Louisiana. Um, been doing that for seven years, moved to Nashville three years ago. So I've been doing the camps here in Nashville. So we do camp every Sunday uh for you kids. First camps free. If you want to be the best, come train with the best. Um, and you know, I love the feeling you get when you achieve a kid's dreams, you know, and the the feeling a parent comes up to you and they start crying, and that's the best feeling. Sunday, I am the most happiest person in the world after camp.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

Yeah. You know, get a lot of energy, man. Kids are brings it out of you.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

And you know, like kicking has gotten so competitive. Like, you know, because there's fourth graders I'm training now, kicking.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

I didn't start kicking until junior of high school. And you know, Tom Dempsey had the longest field goal, 63-yarder for what, 40 years. Yeah, you know, there's no 60-yard kicks, it's just kicking's gotten so competitive. So, just like I said, how you get noticed going to these kicking competitions, right? Like Cole's kicking or Chris Saylor kicking, but you still need a coach to get you better, right? You know, and that's what I'm here for. I'm here to help the kid get better. Get my goal is to achieve his dream, their dream.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Yeah. So how do you how do you train, especially this day and age where everyone can look on social media and you know, compare themselves, and you know, I'm better than this person, better than that person. How do you train kids the the the right mix of confidence and ego, you know, where that ego doesn't take over and then you you you're not connected with your teammates, and then now it's easy to get into that slump. So, how do you train that mindset with young young kickers?

SPEAKER_00 28:16

You know, a lot of kickers sometimes they're always some of them, you know, are just by themselves, you know. Yeah. So I really try to push. So all the kickers I train, I try to go to their high school practices and I try to encourage them, get with their coach, try to encourage them to get more involved with the team. Right. You know, you got to build a relationship with the team, you know.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Right. Yeah. Well, as we start to wrap up here, man, I I always like to kind of go back on on one question that I believe that it's, you know, makes us think. Um, and when you think about your career playing at Alabama, mini state, and and transition out of sports, you know, what do you think those intangibles that you have that's made you who you are that you continue to utilize today?

SPEAKER_00 29:03

Work ethic. You know, it nothing's given to you. You wake up to wanting to be a better person than you were yesterday. Yeah. 1% better. Yeah. If you just focus on getting 1% better, that's all you need. Well, Gunner, man, this has been an awesome podcast.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

It's been awesome. Been really, I really appreciate you coming in, share your story. Um, hopefully, someone can take something out of there, especially the mindset of a kicker and someone who wants to do it, do it well, take some of your lessons and apply to their life, man. Really appreciate you joining me.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

Of course. Thank you for giving me the opportunity, man. And for you kickers and punters, if y'all need help with your mindset or just helping or wanting to learn to get better, you know, follow me. And where do they follow you at? Gunnar Rayborn or one-on-one kicking Nashville. And I just want to give a thank you to you, Chris. 26 overall pick, first round of the 2005 NFL draft. I received it.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

Man, I just feel honored to be even sitting in this chair. I appreciate it. You know, this means everything to me. So I really appreciate it. I appreciate it. Well, yes, sir. Gotta do it again for everything.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

You're dang right. Appreciate you, brother. Yes, sir.