Intangible Podcast
Welcome to the Intangible Podcast. We sit with professional athletes, coaches and experts to uncover the intangible qualities that drive peak performance. Through our conversations we discover the strategies, mindset shifts, and hidden strengths that elevate athletes to new heights.
Intangible Podcast
Maurice Hampton | LSU Champion Exposes What Agents Are Doing to College Athletes
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Maurice Hampton Jr. walked away from one of the greatest runs in Tennessee prep history — Mr. Football, Mr. Baseball, drafted by the San Diego Padres, and an LSU national championship ring — and still had to figure out who he was when it all stopped. In this episode, Chris Spencer sits down with J. Maurice Hampton, one of the rarest multi-sport athletes in SEC history, to pull back the curtain on what it really takes to compete at the highest level, what nobody tells you about the transfer portal, and why the intangibles nobody talks about are the ones that determine how far you go.
Maurice gets real about losing his identity after COVID and injuries derailed what was shaping up to be a legendary career, the moment he entered the portal with no safety net and no offers, and why he is now building Momentum Sports to protect young athletes from the predatory contracts and bad advice that almost nobody warned him about. He breaks down why the best baseball players in the world fail seven out of ten times and why that is the most important mental model any competitor can carry, what the 2019 LSU national championship team was really like in practice, and the one promise he made to his grandmother that he refused to break no matter what.
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All right, welcome back to the Intangent Podcast. I'm excited to sit down with my guy. We call him, he's known as Moja Maurice Hampton, man. Excited to have you on the Intangible Podcast, man. Welcome.
SPEAKER_00I'm excited to be here. Excited to join.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Well, before we get started, man, I, you know, I know a lot about you because your dad, you know, getting to know you guys over the last couple of years, but man, when you start really looking at all your accolades, man, pretty impressive, you know. And so I'm gonna go through that real quick before we can get started here. Um you start you're you're a standing out defensive player at uh at Van D. You were a member of the LSU 2019 National Championship. And you should have wore that wore that ring in here.
SPEAKER_00Should have brought the ring in here.
SPEAKER_01Should have brought the ring in here. Um you played in SEC, you know, two-sport athlete in SEC, baseball and football. Pretty hard to do. Um how rare is that? It's pretty rare.
SPEAKER_00It's pretty rare. Not too many people have done it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but I think the most rare thing in this whole thing is that you were the first, you were the only player in Tennessee to win Mr. Football and baseball and football. I mean, still to this day, the only person. I think that's the rarest thing there. Uh, four-star recruit, number one player in the state of Tennessee. Um got drafted by this um, got drafted by um San Diego Padres. I would have taken baseball to football, the contact and all that. I think I would have gone on ahead and took that. Debatable. Debatable. Uh again, still crazy stats here, man. Over 18, over 1,800 all-purpose yards, 15 touchdowns on your way to win the state championship. I mean, what an impressive resume, man. Welcome to the Intangent Podcast. I'm really excited to dive into your story.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01Unbelievable perspective that you'll be able to give from a two-sport athlete, but also as an athlete here in the state of Tennessee, knowing the work that you're doing now, a lot of advice there, a lot of uh wisdom to give to some of my younger athletes. So before we get started with all that, we're going to kind of go back to before you was Mr. Tennessee in football and baseball, you know, growing up in Memphis, take me back there. Take me, you know, how did Memphis shape you? How did your family shape who you are today?
SPEAKER_00So, yeah, growing up, um, most of my family was in Memphis from both my mom and dad's side up. I always had close relatives around me. And then just um as far as like growing up as a kid in Memphis, I honestly I had hoop dreams growing up.
SPEAKER_01Memphis is like Oh man, I'll give my third sport in there.
SPEAKER_00It was a basketball city growing up. I looked up the guys and I always go to high school basketball games and University of Memphis and the Grizzlies. So um, yeah, like I grew up around that on the culture. I mean it really shaped me to be who I am. So um I love I love the city. I always get back. I'm close to home now, so I get back when I can. But yeah, growing up home at home with family, the food and the sports, um, the atmosphere just grow up going back to where I'm from.
SPEAKER_01I mean, but real, real though, you're you're a Mississippi guy at heart, though. Your dad's from Mississippi. So we you know, we gotta give, we gotta give a big more a shout-out, being from the SIP.
SPEAKER_00You gotta give the sip a shout-out on South Mississippi, close to the build of where Louisiana is. It's kind of how I ended up down there, like in Louisiana. So it definitely got to give a shout-out to my my real roots um deep in the sip. Like, I'm a country boy at heart for real.
SPEAKER_01There you go. There you go. You know, the big city of Memphis, man. It's still he's still a country boy. We still raise the country boys up there.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's awesome, man. Well, you you you you're shaped by the culture of Memphis, you, you know, multi-sport athlete, as we're gonna call you now, versus a two-sport, multi-sport athlete. Um, you know, when did you start to really realize that that you know that's the track you want to be on? You know, what what was happening within your family that made you say, I want to go up, I'm gonna be a baseball player. I mean, you know, it's Memphis, you know, football, basketball, but to throw baseball in the mix, you know, what was that thing that was happening within your family that?
SPEAKER_00Um, I wouldn't even say it's my family, honestly. Um when I was, I think, eight years old, my one of my classmates at school, his dad was a baseball coach, and he was like, I think we were playing um like coach pitch at P one day, and I was hitting and I was like hitting home runs in gym class, and he was like, bro, you need to come and join our baseball team. So um I signed up for Rick League and the rest was history.
SPEAKER_01So so you got you got a coach to think that was the guy that was like, all right, hey, come on, we're gonna play baseball. You you're here, you're here to win it. So when did you really start to realize that, like, hey, I have a path in both of these sports, you know, because again, to be uh, you know, to do this in SEC, you know, you had to, that's an equal time that you had to put into both of those sports to really do it at that level to even be considered to play it at, you know, at a D1 SEC school.
SPEAKER_00Right. Um, I would say I started to believe it could actually be something I could take to the next level, probably around like the age of 12 or 13. Um, I actually got my first um scholarship offer when I was 13. The University of Miami offered me for baseball. And um, they invited me to a camp that summer and watch my freshman year film. And I had offers in both sports by the time I was 14 years old. So um as early as my early teenage years, I was like, man, I could actually like go be Deion Sanders or Bo Jackson. So I started to really dream of that and look forward to that.
SPEAKER_01But man, I know you're young. Did you you remember those guys, Dion and Bo? You you had those guys up on the wall? Yes, sir. That's kind of like my era of like, you know, guys to look up to.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, specifically Dion. Like, I kind of our characteristics like as an athlete were kind of similar, I thought. Um, not comparing myself to him, but um, just as far as like me trying to be the best I could, I always looked up to guys like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So when when did you really realize that you were you were just different? It matters what you were doing.
SPEAKER_00Honestly, um, probably around the age of like 16, 17. I started to like play against the top players in the country, um, like traveling around the travel baseball circuit, um, playing an undarmored baseball game, the undarmored football game. And it didn't seem any different than like me playing little league football or like rate league baseball. It's kind of what I was like. These guys not ready. I mean, it was it was still gonna be a challenge. I know I had a lot of work to do, but at the same time, I was like, I fit in out here. Um, I can do this. So um it kind of was just like a realization that I had potential to be good at it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And when did when did the rubber meet the role when it came to, you know, all right, I'm I'm highly recruited in baseball, highly recruited in football. When did you have to make a real decision on or or when did you start to think about schools of the who's gonna allow you to do both? Because again, you know, a lot of schools they they say they're they're gonna give you the opportunity to play both, but once you get there, they're like, nah, you're a football player.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01Or no, you're a baseball player. Right. You know, when did you start having those kind of discussions with schools?
SPEAKER_00So times have changed a lot now. I don't even think this is legal nowadays, but um I committed when I was 14. Like I said, um, most of the schools that I was like, my dream schools that I was interested in had already offered me by the time I was a freshman or sophomore. So um, yeah, I committed early. Um, I talked to Les Miles, I talked to Paul Paneri, they had a meeting with me together. And uh LSU was my dream school. I had they had guys like Chad Jones and Jerry Mitchell um play both sports and win national championships in both sports. So I was like, Yeah, that's right. By the time I was at 14 years old, I was like, LSU is where I wanted to go, and I stuck with that throughout my whole recruitment, um, even through a head coaching change with Orgeron taking over. So I that decision was over by the before I even had like my driver's license.
SPEAKER_01That's crazy, man. And it was committable, committable. Yeah, I was it was back then, you know, now that was, you know, it's not real committable offers until you're, you know, uh a junior in high school.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. It was a done deal when I was before I even man, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_01I forgot. I didn't realize that that was actual, you can actually do that. Well, I mean, I I don't think I wasn't good enough to be offered at 14, so it's you know, different story. Now, now again, all these different accolades that you have, and you're thinking about, you know, uh being a number one recruit in state of in the state of Tennessee, you know, being Mr. Mr. Football and baseball, you know, how did you keep who who was the person that kept you humble? You know, who who kept you focused on the work and keeping the main thing, as they say now, the main thing, the main thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, my parents, honestly. And then, of course, the support system around that, like my closest family, but immediately my parents. Um, I would say mostly like on the sports side, my dad kept me humble. Um always letting me know there was more to be accomplished. And and like in life in general, um, I would credit my mom and then both of my parents. Like my mom kept me humble when it was coming to school or my social life or the way I carry myself. So um definitely my parents helped mold and shape me into who I am.
SPEAKER_01That was there at any point that you you got to make it at?
SPEAKER_00Did you did you get did you start feeling yourself at some point? Um, I wouldn't say I started feeling myself, but I think a major turning point in my life was going from public school to private school in seventh grade. Um so I went from going to public school my whole life at a diverse school with my friends that I grew up with to going to all boys private school in East Memphis. So um I think there was like a turning, humbling point. I had to focus more on school, less distractions, more like turn me into a man, but I wouldn't say I ever got the big head, no sir.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I mean, I don't know how you you you have those kind of accolades and not start feeling yourself a little bit, you know?
SPEAKER_00I think like I said, I think my high school, my high school kept me humble being at school with all boys having a focus of focus on work all the time. I never really had like time to just realize what was going on around me, honestly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, so was there any any point of that time where you felt the pressure? And how did you handle the pressure?
SPEAKER_00Um, I would say my faith in God. Um I pray every day. I have verses that I refer to to make sure that I can stay grounded and always have somewhere to come back to. And then um, like I said, my support system around me. Like just growing up, the whole every time I made a new decision or made a transition in life, my parents were always there, my family was always there, and I always had God there for me to lean on and have to support me. So I never really felt like I was by myself at any point.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So I mean, you you've had to go through these different transitions of, you know, you know, with seasons of football and and baseball. You know, what's what is that process for the latent fan out there that don't understand like the work that goes into it at the SEC level? You know, what kind of work did you have to put in to manage, you know, football and baseball at the same time?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so um, it wasn't easy, definitely wasn't easy. Um, specifically in college, like my freshman year of college, I played the whole football season, but during football season, I was constantly going to the banned cages at least once or twice a week, making sure that my swing stayed on point. So when baseball season came around, I would be able to be be able to compete to get in the lineup and start and have a job. So um that's kind of what it was. It was more of like staying acclimated with baseball when it was football season and staying acclimated when it was football with baseball season. So just making sure I put like put my baseball glove on during football, pick up my bat during football and during baseball put my football cleats on every once in a while. But that's kind of how it went. It worked out.
SPEAKER_01That's a mental, that's a mental drain right now. Now, you know, again, with the resources and the tools and things that you had around you, was there any point where you were being able to, you know, had the opportunity to work with psychologists to kind of keep that mental, to keep your mental edge when it came to sports in in general? Like did you did you have that kind of those type of tools in your toolbox?
SPEAKER_00Now there's something I wish I would have had when I was um, especially when I was younger. I kind of developed it probably my last couple of years, especially when I was at Van D. I definitely was tapped into that. But my my younger years, like my freshman, sophomore year of college, definitely not, especially pre-COVID. It was just, like I said, I used my support system. I had faith in God, but it definitely was some things that I should have taken care of mentally that I probably just brushed it aside or put aside with just going to work harder or do something to distract myself. So um, that's something definitely I wish I would have tapped into earlier.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Do you think now with all the distraction that these young athletes have now, do you think it's important for young athletes to tap into that resource and tap into it and take it serious?
SPEAKER_00I definitely think it's think it you should take it serious that it no matter what the situation is, because like I've seen people that are are happy and have everything going well for themselves and catastrophic things happen or things that happen out of the ordinary. So just being prepared before something like something happens is always proactive. So I think they should take advantage of regardless of their situation.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, man. It's just I I can't imagine being in this in this space now where it's it's so easy for people to get to you. And there's again a lot of lot of things coming at you all at once. How do you as a 17, 18, 19 year old kid, manage all of that mental gymnastics? Because I know how hard it was at the professional level when I'm, you know, I'm a grown man, and now you know, now you're asking young kids to be grown men and have all these things in place, accountants and you know, financial advisors, and you know, so it's just a lot. And so um, so I I I truly believe that this is the other component, that mental performance aspect of how do we really handle all this pressure, um, that the things that are coming at us, we gotta have those tools in our toolbox. So you you get to LSU, you walk into a roster that's that's star-studded, man. I mean, NFL guys crossed the board there. You know, what was what was so special about that team as you walked in as a as a young guy looking up saying?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I definitely walked into something. Um but I would think the most special part about it, other than the talent, obviously, was a camaraderie. Like, I don't think I've been on a team that was closer than that team. And that was from like the top to the bottom. Like you may like see the names on TV now and know their names, but if you were uh the spectator, a random person not knowing who we were and you came and hung out with the 2019 LSU football team, you wouldn't have known who the superstars were. It was just like a super tight team. And like those guys are my brothers. We don't talk still today all the time. But like if we linked up, it would just be a it would be a blast because like we're really tight.
SPEAKER_01People have to understand, like, it doesn't matter how talented a team is, it's the camaraderie, it's the chemistry of each, you know, brothers that are locked armed and gonna go to battle. You know, what was you know, what was the thing about that team that um that the outside person don't know outside of just like being close knit that you know we really I think we really bought the brought the best out of each other.
SPEAKER_00Um like we had guys that weren't starting at the beginning of the year become first round draft picks. We had guys like Which is crazy, which is crazy. Patrick, shout out Patrick Queen. Um guys like me that I didn't even play the first couple of games. I ended up having a road at the end of the year starting games and helping win, helping win. So I just think it's like nobody let anybody slack off. I was a fourth-string safety going into fall camp and I'm starting at the end of the season. That's because like the guys in the safety room were staying on me about being in the playbook and getting in shape and doing what I need to do. The same thing with Joe and his receivers, like Jamar and Joe, and Jamar and Justin, those guys, they don't they don't become who they are if they're not holding each other accountable that year. Like the numbers we put together were crazy. So I think everybody in the building just from top to bottom from Coach O to the janitor that's cleaning the fourth floors at midnight. Like everybody was was locked in for real.
SPEAKER_01Speaking of Coach O, man, what's your favorite story on Coach O? Favorite one that you can tell.
SPEAKER_00Oh, favorite Coach O story. Yeah, one I can tell. I gotta think about no. I shouldn't even know if I should be telling this. Um so I know y'all y'all might have you may have seen the scandal where um Coach O and he had a selfie float around on the internet. It was during COVID, um, before Fab Kemp, you probably can like cameo the picture of him on this, but um it was it was going viral and everybody was talking about it. Probably when like a week went by, Coach O hadn't said anything. And we knew that him and Miss Kelly had just got a divorce, so we weren't really pressing him about him and his girlfriend going viral. But um we come into the meeting room before OTA's one day, and like we got a big screen. It's probably like a 300-inch uh whiteboard that he puts, he puts the like daily plan on there. We come in today, the day we come in, he put he drops a selfie on the screen. He looked at it, he was like, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. It's like I embarrassed y'all, it won't happen again. But that's probably the funniest one. We laughed, we laughed at that picture for probably like 30 minutes. So that's probably my favorite moment with him. But I could then I could tell. I got some better ones, but I couldn't tell.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm sure you do. I'm sure you do. I mean, I've I've watched some of his clips of him, you know, doing different podcasts, man, and and I and I figured that there was a lot of funny stories in there on him. Well, like I said, I mean you you you walk into a team that that has all that, you know. What did you um, you know, how did you make a decision to make that transition from LSU, being that you guys are so tight-knit, you know, to make your way through Vandy? I know there was a, you know, there was injuries and different things that was happening within your life. Yeah, you know, but how did that, how did that that decision come about for you to make that transition out of LSU?
SPEAKER_00So I think um post the national championship in 2019, the probably like the 18 months that followed it was probably like the craziest 18 months of my life, um, just with decisions and transitions. But after the national championship, um, I went to baseball season where I ended up getting injured. I broke my back during baseball season, which it was a fracture in my L4, which kind of caused some issues with me balancing both sports because it was due to me being overused, me doing too much. Um so the next year followed, and I ended up getting injured again during football season, um, which sent me back for baseball season. I had a compound fracture in my pinky, my pinky was turned sideways, so I had to get that fixed after football season. Sent me back for baseball. And then um my safeties coach left for football, my defensive coordinator left, and it was it was getting challenging for me to handle both sports after my second year of college, even though I had started in both of them to that point. And for my draft year, which was my third year of school, I really wanted to just focus on one sport, and I thought my future was in baseball. And um I kind of took a gamble on myself. Um, I got eligible for the MLB draft in 2021. Um, ended up getting some offers, but I thought if I went back to school that I could um make some more money. So I ended up transferring and going through that process. But leaving LSU was more of a I wanted to focus on one sport, and I knew I wouldn't be able to do that with football paying my bills in Batroot. So um that was part of me getting eligible for the draft and then going to a new school, but that's kind of where they came from. Um, just injuries and people leaving that were in place. You know, the coaches really had to be on the same page for me to play both sports, and most of the guys that are on the same page were were hitting the door, so yeah, that's what it was.
SPEAKER_01No, that makes sense. Um you said something interesting about you know the overuse injuries and things like that when you're playing multiple sports. Do you do you think about Travis Hunter and when he's, you know, now he's at the league level trying to play multiple positions, not multiple sports, but being in two positions. Do you think that that's gonna come up and that's gonna catch up with him when it comes to you know overuse injuries?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, hopefully not. I don't think so. Um, I think everything could be prevented or um I know everything can be prevented, but you can definitely move for precaution and do extra things knowing he has to do more. Like I even I even think my back injury could have been prevented just with doing the right exercise in the weight room, um, doing extra things on my own to be proactive, knowing I was about to start twisting and turning. And I just went into it blindly, um, knowing I was on a higher level. So I think the knowledge, if you have the right proper knowledge and the proper precautions taken, I think it won't be too much. But if he just goes into it like a corner, then goes and plays corner receiver, then yeah, you might run into some issues. That's basically what I did. I just I was playing two sports, but walk around like I was a normal, a normal human, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, man. That's I, you know, just even thinking about I mean, I don't even think about it anymore. Trying to put my body through anything right now. It's a stretch. I can't imagine doing it at, you know, at that level of two sports. So, but uh, you know, also think about the you know, from an identity standpoint, you know, you start getting injured, and then all of a sudden, like you you gotta make these decisions. You know, how does your identity not get wrapped up into you know, into your sport?
SPEAKER_00It's the thing that you do. The so like the 18 months before that happened was probably like the best 18 months of my life. Mr. Football, Mr. Mr. Baseball, Under My American at football and baseball, got drafted, signed the LSU, won a national championship, freshman of the week, started started in both sports.
SPEAKER_01Man, great start.
SPEAKER_00Great start, great start boom, covet hit, boom, injuries hit, boom, coaches leave. So I think I I probably lost my identity for a little bit. I didn't know who I was, like trying to just search to find that same happiness I got from the accomplishments I had. So um it was definitely something I struggle with, but I think I really got back on my feet when I got to Nashville, when I got to Vanderbilt. I was probably lost for a little minute, um just trying to get back to where I was. But I feel like I probably found myself getting back here when I came back to Vanderbilt.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what do you think that thing was that you lost?
SPEAKER_00The reason I was doing it, you know. Um I turned out a lot of money out of high school. Um I got a lot of success early. And that was money was never the reason I was playing. Um getting a trophy was never the reason I was playing. I I never won a championship until I won a national championship at LSU. So I had to get back to the reasons I was doing it just because I I love to play the sport. Um I like making my family proud. I like to glorify God while I was doing it. So I had to get back to what really made me enjoy doing what I was doing instead of chasing something that was temporary, like a championship or my name getting drafted, you know.
SPEAKER_01I think about that quite often about you know the identity, especially when you make that transition out of sports and you start, you know, trying to figure out who am I, what am I about, and how do we do that for you know for our younger athletes? How do we we instill in that kind of conversation in their heads now about making sure that their identity is is more than just what they do on the field or on the court.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, most definitely. And that's that's kind of what I do through my momentum sports to be able to get back and give the kids knowledge on things that I wasn't knowledgeable about when I was their age. But most definitely, um, I would say probably the biggest thing is having something outside of sports that you lean on. And for me for a long time, like it was football and baseball. I could like be done with football and then distract myself with baseball and be done with baseball and distract myself with football. But like once that's gone, like what do you do outside of sports? Like, who are you? What can you do to entertain yourself or make yourself happy? Like, who do you surround yourself with? So I think it's finding something outside of sports that you can kind of lean on. And it's gotta be something bigger than yourself. You can't just say, I go fishing or you gotta do something that that actually still is.
SPEAKER_01I can sit out there on the pond for hours now. You know, for sure.
SPEAKER_00The hobby hobbies are good, but like something that you can actually actually depend on and lean on to bring you back to reality, I guess. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Well, we're gonna take a quick, we're gonna take a quick breeze here uh and get into a little two-minute segment that I like to do. Uh, and this two-minute is just some rapid fire questions that I have for you. Um, you know, don't think too long on it. But if you need to call a timeout, I give you a timeout. We got one time. We got one timeout.
SPEAKER_02A 15-second break.
SPEAKER_01Heart of transition, being number the number one recruit or uh starting over with a different team.
SPEAKER_00Starting over with a different team. Why? New system, new coaches, new everything. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay. All right. Um, something about the LSU national championship team um people didn't see.
SPEAKER_00The fights. Practice, they practice, they practice with the pads on. Competitive, competitive fights. Competitive fights.
SPEAKER_01Um, which sport uh which sports tests you more mentally, football or baseball? Baseball. No question. Interesting.
SPEAKER_00No question.
SPEAKER_01I mean, with all the moving parts on the offense and trying to get lined up and all that, baseball still challenges you more than most definitely.
SPEAKER_00You can the best ones fail seven out of ten times.
SPEAKER_01Fair enough. Fair enough. Enough sad.
SPEAKER_00Um what did injuries teach you that success couldn't? What did injuries teach me that success couldn't? That no matter how hard you work, that something could be taken taken away from you instantly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you can you blink and it's over. It's over with. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um one moment that you truly had to bet on yourself. I bet on myself a couple of times. I done rolled the dice a couple of times. All right. But I think the prior the first one was leaving LSU. That's the best prior, best one of the best schools in the country, and getting eligible for the draft, not knowing if I would get drafted.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, but being surrounded by a lot of talent.
SPEAKER_00Surrounded by it. But honestly, I don't know. Um people a lot of people don't know. I was a walk-on at the University of Memphis. I took two years off from football. I had a couple of offers. I decided to go back home close to home, and I was walking on there. And I decided to leave there as a walk-on and go to the SEC, not knowing what would happen. So I'm maybe entering the transport porter the second time. I could have been at home with with no offers.
SPEAKER_01So you had to roll the dice. Yeah, I've rolled it a couple times. Yeah. Um what are what are some things that four and five stars are not prepared for in this day and age?
SPEAKER_00Being, I think, with social media and the way they're hyped up getting getting to college campus and being surrounded by other four and five stars that are hungry, just as hungry as they are.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Them real them dogs out there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for real.
SPEAKER_01Uh give me one Memphis lesson that still showed up in in and it shows up into you today.
SPEAKER_00You just gotta stay ready. Like, you gotta always be on your P's and Q's. You can't never just be, can't be lacking like in life. Well man, that's a Georgia song. We real what? I don't know. That's a that's a Memphis. You go back 36 my feet, eight body MJ, they say the same thing. No, there you go. There you go. Eight-body MJG. Dom still saying it to the you know what I'm saying? So I don't know. Just stay ready.
SPEAKER_01All right, one last one for you. Um what are you the most proud of?
SPEAKER_00For me personally, through everything I've been through um athletically, um, just for one, keeping keeping a relationship with God. And second, second, I promised my grandma before I went to school to college that I would that I would graduate. And then when I graduated college, I promised her, I don't know why I promised her this, because I always keep my promises with my grandma, but I I promised my grandma I would get my master's degree. So um I think I'm really proud of myself for getting both of those accomplished. I never, when you when I was getting drafted out of high school, I didn't think I would have a master's in five years. So I'm proud of myself for that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's awesome, man. What you got your master's in?
SPEAKER_00Um legal studies. It was a law program at Vanderbilt. I finished what I was playing.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome, man. Awesome. Congratulations. I appreciate that. All right, we're gonna jump back in here, man. You you've had to reinvent yourself multiple times now, and you know, and you just shared something that, you know, I didn't know that you were, you were, you transferred from Memphis, you were at Memphis, transferred again. You know, what what was the what are some of the hardest days that you had to go through and making those decisions and then not knowing how they're gonna turn out?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I think the first time or the first few times I made decisions, it was me and my parents sitting down, making a decision together, talking to God, um, using my advisors or agents and trying to calculate what the best thing would be financially and for me as an athlete. Um, but then I think my last time, it was just me. It was like me sitting in my locker at the University of Memphis. Like, this is not how I want my football career to be ended college. Like, I don't want to just like I had to sit there and make that decision on my own and go enter my name in the portal and help somebody call. Like, I didn't have anything. A lot of guys get in the portal with something set up. I ain't have nothing set up. I just knew that's not where I wanted to be, and I prayed about it, and God told me, like, do what you gotta do. I'm gonna make sure you're taken care of. Um, so I did it, went on on a limb, and I'm just blessed, I'm grateful, I'm happy that I had a connection at Vanny V Van Vanderbilt from LSU. Um, Jimmy Thompson, he was a GA. That's why I always tell people you gotta make sure you treat everyone with respect, and you never know who will help you out one day. Because I didn't know he was maybe like 21 years old when he was at LSU, GA for my safeties coach. Uh huh. And he still vouched for me four years later when it was time to enter the transport portal. So um I appreciate him. He was he's a nickels coach for the Chargers now. Shout out to him. Relationships, but relationships matter.
SPEAKER_01Relationships matter. Yeah, yeah. You know, how what's what do you think the percentage of kids now make that decision without knowing where they're gonna end up? And how many of those kids are still sitting there in the portal, you think, um, without a home to go to?
SPEAKER_00I think probably 80% of kids who go in the portal get stuck in the portal or end up end up going lower than what they initially thought they would. Um, just with me, I've been advising guys and helping guys out in the transport portal with collectives and just finding a better opportunity sometimes. But um, you see it a lot, especially guys get lied to, guys get manipulated and enter the portal, and schools get guys they thought they couldn't get or end up going a different direction and they're stuck with nothing. So um it happens way more often than than people see.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. What do you think the reasons are for going in the transport portal the or the top two to three reasons why guys go in the transport portal?
SPEAKER_00Um I think top three reasons would probably be first of all, money. Um the top guys. The portal is for really for the top guys to be a free agent. But um, so the top thing reason I would say would be money. Um second would probably be coaches. Um, guys leave because they don't like their coach. Um it's just that's just is what it is. They can put it how they want to put it, but just being in the locker room, I know a lot of guys leave because they don't like their coach. And then I'll probably say the third reason would be distance from home or a reason they would want to get back closer to where they're from. But I think the most important would be money to go get a better financial situation or coaches. Like you don't like your coach or your coach left?
SPEAKER_01Man, outside of the money one, that what are the, you know, I don't I still don't see a good reason to leave a place that not knowing where I'm gonna end up at. And then 80%.
SPEAKER_00What I forgot to mention is that free agency is also guys are getting dropped. There's come conversations at the end of the season where they come in and their head coaches like or their position coach tells them, Hey, you're not gonna play here. Um, we don't see you ever getting on the field. We'll give you till May, or you should probably leave. And well, now that there's only one portal, one portal window, you have to leave in January. So they're telling the guys you hey we you don't see a future here. So coach is sending you on your way now. It's like when Dion came to Colorado, he said, I'm bringing Louie Luggage.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough, fair enough. Well, getting back to you, when you start, when you start thinking about um, you know, being at Van D, you know, having an opportunity to go out and compete, you show up, you're on the field, you're competing at a high level. Now are you starting to think about the NFL draft?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so initially, like coming to Van D, I saw the schedule that Vanderbilt. Uh, knew Clark Lee from him recruiting me when he was in Notre Dame. And I was like, if I have a chance, a shot at going to the league after taking three seasons off of football, like this is my shot. Um, and everything was going well. Like I had a role. I was about to be incorporated into defense and be able to play at Van Dy and I pulled my hamstring maybe like five days before Fall Camp was over. So I missed the first first five games. My first game back was um the game we beat Alabama at home.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um I got a I got a drive on one drive on defense, like seven or eight snaps on defense that game. But I think going into it, that was like definitely my goal. Like I'm about to go to Van Dy playing the SEC. Maybe I'll get a shot at the league if I play well. And then once I pulled my hamstring, like I knew it would be very tough for me to get an opportunity to go, but I um still gave my best shot. I finished the season well, um, made a start or two, um, played well. So that was a goal, and it was set there for me, but another last minute injury kind of set it differently.
SPEAKER_01So, how do you how do you keep you know coming back and you know, you know, reinventing yourself after these these heart these hardships with injuries, you know, just you see your goal out there in front of you, you can reach out and touch it almost, you know. You know, how do you keep mentally getting yourself back on the horse?
SPEAKER_00I feel like I'm like, not that I'm unbreakable, but like when I pulled my hamstring, my the doctor told me like my hamstring was torn. Like it was I had to get an MRI and see where exactly it was torn to get a PRP shot to get the white blood cells flowing in there, they try to get it. But he he told me I'd be looking to come back by like game seven or eight. I think I think the target game he gave me was like Texas. And I told him, I was like, I want to play in the LSU game. Like as long as I can be able to be foreign at full speed by LSU. I think that was like November 22nd. But um I ended up coming back for I got to actually run down on kickoff against Missouri. My first game back in the college, I made a tackle my first playback. Um, I was limited though. I actually went in on kickoff because a guy, a guy's helmet had come off or something. I think something like that. And the special scene's corner. I was like, hey, I need a five on kickoff. So I just ran on the field and when he got a tackle. But um, I would say I think I'm like unbreak unbreakable at that point because you can keep telling me no, keep telling me no, but I'm gonna find a way. Like I was in ice bath for like two hours a day trying to like nurse myself back before I could get it.
SPEAKER_01Two hours a day in the ice bath? You can ask my team.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god, he was like, because Diego Pavy, people think he's crazy. Like he'll go to ice bath and like dip all the way in there like 45 minutes, and he came in there one day and he was like, Hey bro, like you have you been in this ice bath a while. I'm like, I'm trying to get back, bro.
SPEAKER_01Two hours straight. No, so I would Okay, contrasting.
SPEAKER_00Contrast I'll go 30 minutes in the ice, yeah, and I'll go 30 minutes in the hot tub, okay, and I'll go get some food, chill. This before our meetings, because like Vanderbrother Way was set up, I was in a master's program. I never had class like in person.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So after practice, I would just be free until meetings in the afternoon.
SPEAKER_01So okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00I'm like, no, I'm in straight from the ice to the hot tub, back to the ice to the hot tub. That's yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_01Um, I I don't think, I mean, I don't think I had enough insulation to this even at my my uh 320 pounds, I didn't have enough insulation to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, uh, you know, I want to transition to, you know, the work that you're doing now. You know, you you you go to Vandy, you know, you get a master's, you know, you build great relationships, and then you now, you know, have this passion for pouring back into young athletes. You know, what's your what's your what's your goal around it? And you know, and why do you, you know, why is that your passion to pour back into these young athletes?
SPEAKER_00Um, I think I it's very passion for me just because it's something I wish I had. Like I had my parents there for me. Um, like I said, I trusted in God. And I had some mentors, but I never had someone be like, hey, I've been here and I know exactly how this is. And if you just do this and do this, I promise like this will, this is what comes from it. And then at the same time, I see a lot of people, especially from the area that I'm from, are just misinformed and misled on how to get somewhere, how to do it. And sometimes they get um kind of manipulated financially or even manipulated with their time. And I think time is money as well. So um I think just making sure that everybody knows exactly how to do things and how to go about them because like I've I've been through it, I've seen it, I've been around top five picks, and I've been around like the best coaches, I've been around the best systems. So I'm just informing them and making sure they know everything they need to know moving into the process because I wish I would have had it. I wish I would have had that around me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what are the what are the what are the the you know two to three things that is is so important for this generation of athlete who's dealing with all of these different distractions, you know, what are the two or three things that they really need to make sure that they have dialed in as they're looking at whether it's going to school, getting the transfer portal, um, staying at a school, you know, what do you think those top three things are?
SPEAKER_00Right. So I think a lot of people that like kind of have the same passion for me and the same um energy that I have to make sure they succeed, they kind of focus on like, hey, let's go take a visit to this school and see how much money they're talking about and see how pretty the campus is and see this and that, or um, let's see how we can monetize you right now by doing this or doing that. I think it's more, I know for a fact that it's in the work. Like, you have to put the work in, you have to make sure you're in the right mental mental space to take on whatever life throws at you. Um so I really focus on like the intangibles that make you a better athlete and a better person at the same time instead of focusing on how we can just make you look good or make your social media page pop because the real money in football is in your second NFL contract. You can't you can't really carry your generations to come until you get to your second NFL contract, no matter how deep this NIL stuff gets. Um, and the same thing with baseball, with arbitration and minor leagues, the real money is getting to their contract. So I tell them like right now it's it's focused because I mean you'll you'll just you know you won't get to where you're going just focusing on those things. Right now you gotta get to the work because the real money is in the back end.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so it's it's really keeping the focus on the main thing, and that's uh putting the work into the game. Right, and you're honing any of your crowd and then the rest of it take care of yourself.
SPEAKER_00The rest of it take care of yourself, you know.
SPEAKER_01But having uh having the insight to to get to a place and see is if this is the right fit for me, is there the right scheme for me? Is the right, you know, the right people that I can surround myself with that's gonna give me a different perspective is is some of the key things of what I'm hearing you say. Exactly. As you start to really look at how do you really, you know, how do you make yourself well rounded as an athlete versus I'm just here to chase it, let me make sure my social media is right, you know, because at the end of the day, when that veil comes off of the social media and and they put you on the field, I think it's more embarrassing you know than to find out that you can't. Exactly. You know, so you'd rather find out that you can't before you get to a place where like college football players, like you're building up your Instagram, building up your Twitter, building up your TikTok.
SPEAKER_00That's a waste of time. Your your Instagram, your Twitter, your TikTok is built up on Saturday nights. I've seen, I've seen guys on a Wednesday afternoon have 7,000 followers and have a good game about Sunday morning, all that posting and creating and influencing you doing. If you just go on the field and take care of your business, I promise the rest of it will always follow.
SPEAKER_01Right, right. Yeah. It's an interesting time, man. It's an interesting time. So, so as you, you know, you know, utilizing your relationships and utilizing, you know, your degrees and things like that, you know, um, you know, what what are you doing? What are you doing with your brand? What are you trying to accomplish with your brand uh as working with and pouring back into young athletes?
SPEAKER_00Um, so a lot of people don't even know, but um I really Momentum Sports is become it has become a full-service sports agency. Um I'm representing some guys right now. Um I've kind of kept it low key. I haven't been like just publicizing everything, but I keep my cameraman with me right here. Um we've been we've been like basically shooting a movie. So when I do finally um decide to publicize it and use my resources to make it grow further, um I will. But um it started off and initially began with just a small youth football camp and um grew into the um camp I had with that your son was able to come to with um elite high school guys and it grew into a baseball baseball, got incorporated, and I always knew I wanted to be a sports agent. And guys came to me for representation, and I just kind of was like, I might as well, even when you were with me this summer, we were at the I helped throw the party, and it was plenty of administration and executives from the different of the best schools in the country. So I'm like, I'm using my connections and I know I want what I want to do, I might as well just go full steam ahead. So um, yeah, right now I'm focusing on continuing to give back through it. That's the main goal, that's the biggest part of it, is to give back to the community and inform the youth. But um at the same time, um representing guys that are already monetizing their brands um to make sure that they're not getting misinformed or misused when it comes to finances, taxes, or even just like their everyday life. So everything that I mentioned that I wish I needed, I'm like doing for my clients.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's awesome, man. Have you run across someone who's, you know, have you run across these different contracts or seen contracts where, you know, guys have been taken advantage of?
SPEAKER_00Most definitely.
SPEAKER_01Um give me an example of one that, you know, you don't have to say a name or anything. Like, what kind of, what kind of what kind of contracts that are out there that guys are like, you you're like, no, no, no, please don't sign that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, I think the biggest ones are those with the negative stipulations to where if you do this, then you get this, or if you are a starter, then you'll make this amount of money. But if you are not, this is your base salary. And a lot of guys fall into that trap to where they're looking at the contract and saying, oh, I can do that, so I'm gonna go here to get that money. Like I saw one contract was a guy got a $150,000 bonus if he started eight, um, eight or more games, which is reasonable. But if your team's not bowl eligible and y'all are three and five going into game eight, and they know they got to give you 150 to start, you're probably gonna rotate that game. So it's just looking at those type of things and making sure you're not signing up for something that could be bad. Because if they're willing to give you 150 to be a starter, then they should think highly enough for you to just be that guy, come be the starter, and give you the 150 and incorporate it in your contract. So you like look out for those type of little things.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Wow. Well, isn't it um, you know, are these contracts now starting to reflect the NFL type contracts in college?
SPEAKER_00Uh yes and no, but mainly no because the college guys aren't considered employees yet. So it's a lot of things they can't technically put in those contracts, and it's a lot of things that the college guys can't get away with because they're not employees yet and they're not on a regular tax form as an employee would be. So um, it's kind of up in the air right now, and it's kind of a lot of unwritten rules that people are working their ways around. But I think um NCAA is gonna be like hit with a tough task of labeling athletes as employees or continuing to allow people just to move around unwritten rules. Like the you've got your alumni, your school just got a court, you got a quarterback back, and there's not really too many rules about how they can get them back. And I don't think that's fair to to many people.
SPEAKER_01So I mean, I think we both we both sit in that same boat because Vandy got one back too. They created a whole rule for Diego's rule. Yeah, so it's because of Diego's rules. So I mean, no, I I know it is Wild Wild West out there, man. And I just, you know, I I I'm I'm excited for some things to kind of be put in place when it comes to you know these kids being taken advantage of because you know, some of the numbers of the percentages that I hear the people are taking from these kids and then also doing in doing it in perpetuity, I it's you know, it's makes me ah just some guys are charging guys 20% to negotiate NIL collective contracts.
SPEAKER_00And the standard negotiating fee for NFL agent is 3%. 3% as an NIO, as a when I represent my guys to negotiate an NIL contract, I charge them 3%. I'm banking on you going to the NFL and getting to your second contract. I'm not making money off of you in the transfer protocycle. And I think that's what's gonna be like the most attractive to for guys moving forward is like I'm not trying to get over on you, I'm trying to make sure that you have the information you need to get to your second contract. And the price I'm charging you is reflective of me helping you get to the second contract and hoping that you get to it so we can both make some money because this 3% of the $100,000 you just made is gonna pay my rent in Nashville this month, and that's it.
SPEAKER_01So but 20%, man, it is crazy.
SPEAKER_00That's wild.
SPEAKER_01Unbelievable, man. Unbelievable. Well, man, um, Mo Jay, man, I'm really appreciate you jumping in and sharing your story. And I think there's I'm I'm I'm happy and proud for what you do. I watch you, you're relatable to kids. You know, these young athletes are attracted to you because you're you're dropping wisdom on them. You're not, there's nothing you want from them, but just to make sure that they're in a position to be successful, not make mistakes. And so the work that you're doing with Momentum Sports, the work that you're doing, you know, even staying connected with your university, um, I think it's tremendous. And, you know, all these kids are gonna, they're gonna win by being associated with you. And so look forward to keep tracking of that. But also, man, I, you know, just being a, you know, being that that voice here in Tennessee, uh being a two-sport athlete and being able to to have the right people in your corner and the right mix of the right mix of people to help these kids is is also important. So keep keep doing what you do, man. I think um, you know, we we got a long haul. There's a long haul here before NCAA and you know, government or whoever is gonna put rules around this thing to make sure kids are not taken advantage of, man, because that's the only thing that, you know, I think we all should have been making money, but at the same time, you know, what are the guardrails to make sure that yeah, that people are protected, man? So I appreciate you jumping on sharing your story.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. I appreciate you.
