Major Takeaways
Coach Riddley emphasizes the importance of mentorship and building character beyond the field.
Recruiting and NIL opportunities are reshaping the future of Jackson State football.
HBCUs play a crucial role in preserving culture while producing top-tier athletic talent.
Coach Otis Riddley Talks Jackson State Football, Recruiting, and HBCU Legacy on Breakfast at Girbeau’s
Urban City Fire Urban City Podcast. It’s Breakfast at Girbeau’s with Gerold Girbeau’s right here on the Urban City Podcast Network. And of course, today, man, we got Coach O, the assistant head coach for JSU, Jackson State University’s football team. Uh, how you feeling, man? Man, Gerald, I’m good, man. I’m good. blessed, brother. Man, I’m I’m I I’m I’m appreciative that you’ve come over to Urban City with us. Glad you’re having me. Yeah, man. Uh you y’all been busy a little bit, huh? Hey, it’s a good thing though when you’re busy and you’re winning. That’s a beautiful thing, man. Oh my gosh, man. Did we We got to we got to start from it all cuz people don’t know that you and I have like a you know, we got a little pass, you know. No doubt. And and you you started in uh high school. Absolutely. my my alma mater program. Yeah. My high school. And you got uh you you went over to Jackson State. Yep. How did that happen? Well, we well start from the beginning like like where you you know but how did you become the football coach over at Jack uh high school pro? Okay. Provine. Uh man. So um started my coaching career at Callaway actually man. And it’s kind of funny man. You know Coach Collins is a he’s a pioneer in this area. Yeah. So, I um when I graduated from college, uh I was working as a process serv server and a courier uh guy for a local law firm. And I knew I wanted to get into coaching, but it was going to take some, you know, some time. I was a student assistant before I left Mississippi State. And so, I went to Coach Collins said, “Look, man, I’m trying to get in the coaching profession. Uh you got anything available?” He said, “No, unfortunately, right now, I don’t have anything available.” And you know, I took that as a I took that as a shot. You know what I mean? like a coach, you I ain’t good enough. You know what I mean? But um you know, he was he had his guys already. So I went over to Callaway, man. Another Provine guy, uh Daryl Jones. Yeah, I know. Yeah, man. DJ, man, he was at at Callaway at the time. He had just gotten a job. And um not to be too long with this answer, man. Just show you how crazy the world is. Well, how small the world is, I should say. I was at Mississippi State. Um, you know, I guess this is around 2007 and DJ ends up getting a job at Columbus High School, which is about 30 minutes away from Starkville. And so, um, I was in a mall in Columbus one day and happened to bump into, uh, DJ uh, Coach Jones uh, just walking through the mall. Two Jackson boys from Provine, we up in the country, you know, just walking through the mall, bumping to each other. And he said, “Look, man, I’m the head coach over in Columbus now. you know, when you graduate, call me, man. If I got something open, I’d love to have you on my staff. Okay. And, uh, to kind of tie all that in together. DJ knew me from coaching at Jim Hill when I was playing in Jackson. So, um, man, speed it back up. Came back to Jackson. He ended up getting a job over at Callaway and we made a lot of noise, man. We made a lot of noise. Really good. Uh, had one of the best teams in, uh, JPS history over there. You know, sent a lot of kids to college, a lot of kids to power four, power five schools at the time. And so, uh, fast forward from there, go to, uh, I get a I get a call one day said, uh, you know, Provine had an opening. Coach Collins was ready to retire. Um, and I didn’t necessarily want the job, man. I didn’t I You were your feelings about it. No, I ain’t going to say. Well, yeah, a little bit. Little bit. Little bit. Still a little tainted, brother. Yeah. You know, but also, man, you know, I thought about uh Coach Young who was who who had been at Provine for years, and I wanted to make sure the people that wanted that job had a fair shot to get it, right? And so, uh, you know, once I finally got coach blessings on it, you know, we moved forward with it, uh, and I went over to Provine and I didn’t necessarily do a lot of big things at Provine. My job at Provine really was to kind of reestablish the order, reestablish the structure, uh, get it back to how Coach Collins would want it to be, right? You know what I mean? So, that that was my my call to duty over there. So, when I left Provine, man, it was uh I was going into my fourth year at Provine. Had the best team I had since I’ve been there. We have been doing some things in the community with you, Gerald. U we did the the the men’s talk, right? I still got those pictures. I still got all the photos. Like we were doing some good things at the school with the young men and uh and so uh I got a call that summer, man. I was not expecting it. I wasn’t fishing. Uh Kapa Lincoln Community College gave me a call and said they wanted me to be their offensive line coach. Uh I’ve always had a dream of coaching on the collegiate level. Uh it was a means to an end for me, you know what I mean? So, I knew it was a part of my journey. So, I took the job. Man, left a lot of disappointed brothers over there at Provine, but I knew I had to do this. And I told him it was a life lesson. Uh, as much as we might get comfortable and like our surroundings, we have to make sure we understand that upper mobility is what this life is about. We’re always trying to win and this is an opportunity for me to win for my family and to grow. And so, once we left, I think they understood that. I was at Coen for two years, man. Had a great time at CON. Had uh two of the best offensive lines in their history. uh was the O line um uh had two O line MVPs in the league uh both years I was there um was an assistant coach of the year and so um man the Jackson State job ends up coming over and I know I’m longwinded with this answer man but you asked me to start no it’s okay so so um man I get I get over there to u you know I get that call from Jackson State uh coach John Hendrick at the time 2019 uh and crazy small world again my my coach that hired me at Kapal link was the running back coach at Mississippi State when I was there. Relation, relationships, right? All right. So, fast forward, Coach John Hendrick, who was the head coach at the time at Jackson State. He was the defensive line coach at uh Mississippi State when I came through there. So, I’ve been knowing these two dudes for years. They recruited me out of high school. I played for him, so they knew my character. And so, Coach Hendendrick called me and said, “Man, listen. I need a O line coach, man. Uh, everybody around here thinks highly of you. I know your character. What do you think about taking this job?” It was a no-brainer for me. I came home and so the rest is history, man. So you fast forward six years, we still here rock and roll. There you go. There you go. All right. So you got to the fast forward part. Dion came 2020. Yeah. Right. Yeah. You were there then, right? No doubt. Okay. What was what was that experience like for you working with uh Dion Sanders? I mean, coming, you know, from from beginning to the end, what was what was what was that experience like for you? Yeah, man. Uh it was a great experience. Uh it was a great experience. Don’t don’t get me wrong. It had it had its valleys, you know what I mean? But uh as a man, uh it helped shape me to what I am today. Uh man, the dude is uh he he’s a he’s a wise brother. You know what I’m saying? What you what you see is what you get. Uh he’s um he’s I mean, I don’t even know have the right adjectives to describe him from that standpoint. He’s just a good dude when it comes to knowing how to put people in the right places to succeed. Uh but uh man, he opened doors for me that man I can’t I can’t say would have gotten open if it wasn’t for him. I end up going to work uh do some consulting work with the uh Minnesota Vikings uh because of Prime. Okay. Um you know, he he opened a door for me that I walked through, but uh I end up doing some more work for the uh San Francisco 49ers. Um, we invited we invited the GM to practice uh when when um I want to say we were playing uh maybe Grahamlin or somebody that weekend. Um the 4 and Niners were doing a East Coast trip and they had uh I think Charlotte, the Panthers to play that Sunday. And in between they had Charlotte one week and then I think they had to play the the Saints the next week. So in between games they didn’t go back west, they stayed um in West Virginia. And so man, John Lynch and uh Adam Peters come to practice and uh they got the chance to meet me, sit down and talk with me, but they came, you know, to visit with Prime. But in that process, they of meeting me, they invited me up to San Francisco uh for a few weeks to do some consulting works with them uh through Bill the Bill Wash and um Nun Wooten Scouting Fellowship. So boom, another door that Prime opened for me, man. So I can’t I can’t sit here and lie to you and act like man the man ain’t blessed me uh in more ways than one brother. Right. So some of them rough days cuz it seemed to you know the outside looking in it was a non-stop winning streak when when he was there you know the first year I think we lost what two or three games. Then that last year he was in it was like nonstop. It was just incredible unstoppable. like everybody was recognizing Jackson State. It was like I felt good cuz you know that’s my alma mada that’s where I’m I’m from. We was on the map you know it was like I felt like we had been we never we finally got the recognition that we deserve on a national level cuz Mississippi knows what Jackson State is and here we are on the national level now. Right. Um those days when it was rough, like was it like a teachable moment or was it like uh my chest bigger than yours, you know? Or did you What was that like? It was everything was teachable. You know what I’m saying? I never allowed my ego to not allow a moment to be teachable. When you’re around greatness, you got to soak it up. Good or bad. You know what I mean? Cuz even the bad, I learned how to handle situations that looked bad. I learned how to in the future I’m going to handle that a little bit differently than what coach did at that point. So even the bad moments, man, I’m telling you, he uh and Prime was very aware of what was going on around the program. That’s one thing I liked about him. He had his hand on everything. So it wasn’t that u I don’t care if he’s the equipment person, you know what I mean? Or it was the person that cut the grass. Everybody was getting held to a standard. And that’s one of the biggest things I I I gleaned from him, you know what I mean? We talk about a standard and that’s that’s what’s kind of kept us relevant even now with Jackson State football. We got a standard that we play and live by. And uh I give Prime a lot of credit every day we came into the facility that we knew it was a standard we had to kind of uphold. No doubt. No doubt. You uh with all of that um do you still talk to private? Uh yeah, we’ve had um you know, Instagram, text messages, you know, you know, things of that nature. I don’t really call them. Um I mean, I ain’t got no need to call nobody in Colorado, you know what I mean? He got business up there. He tended to. Uh when that time come, we need to have a conversation. We left on good terms. So we good stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I think that’ll be easy for me to pick up the phone and call him. He and he told me that, you know, if I ever needed him to give him a call. Now him and TC on the other hand, I think they talk a little bit more cuz they they do a lot of more off the- field stuff. I’m not a fisherman. I’m not an outdoorsman. I don’t care nothing about that, J. I’m a city boy, you know what I mean? So they hit it they hit it off the field more than I did. I’m more I was in the office working, you know what I mean? But no, we uh definitely if we need to reach out to them, we can get them. What’s the team looking like for this 2025 football season? Cuz you know, look, I I’m hearing the team’s going back to Vegas for Gramling. Let’s talk about that a little bit. What we looking like? Oh, man. Uh it’s it’s going to be fun, man. Uh Jackson State is entering and I really feel this in the from the bottom of my heart, we’re entering a space of dominance. Uh we enter into a a stretch where we have a chance to really be dominant and create a dynasty. Um, now granted we have to do some gatekeeping. Uh, we got to make sure we we still uphold the standard that we were just talking about, but man, as far as the team, man, we got some dudes. We got some flatout dudes. And, uh, we just released the schedule. Um, and and to be honest with you, um, that schedule looks good to me. Uh, you know, you got you got Southern Miss on the schedule uh this year. Oh, yeah. I’m looking forward to going to Hattisburg. We do number doubles when we go to Hattisburg. You know what I mean? Everybody’s coming. Everybody’s coming. Right. And uh later on the year, like you just mentioned, we go to Vegas. Uh I love taking this show on the road, man. The West Coast needs to see what Jackson State University is about. It’s very capable of Yeah. Yeah, man. Like they they hear about us all the time and I think the West Coast is really excited about welcome welcoming us out there. No doubt. No doubt. Now, who are some of the standout players and uh give us some insight on the uh leadership within the team? Yeah, man. So, uh, man, two of our our top guys we talk about Jeremiah Williams, uh, defensive tackle from, uh, Lexon, Holmes County. I say Lexington, but really Holmes County. He’s from that countryside of Holmes County. Uh, went to Holmes County Central. Uh, he’s been at Jackson State, uh, since 2021. So, he came with Prime and he stuck around, man. He’s a he’s a bonafide baller. He was the MVP of the Celebration Bowl uh, defensively. And then you got Jacobian Morgan. He was the MVP of the Celebration Bowl on offense uh, from Canton, Mississippi. uh another local product, man. Just he went off to play quarterback at Syracuse and then ended up coming back to play quarterback for us and led us to a national championship, man. So, those two dudes right there, they lead the locker room. Uh good, wholesome brothers. Um they want the best for this school, for this city. They love Mississippi. And so, uh when other dudes come in our program and they see that type of that type of character at the front of the program, they don’t mind falling in line and doing what the right things. No doubt. What are some of the biggest challenges you feel? I mean, cuz pretty much we undefeated, right? What are some of the biggest challenges do you think uh JSU faces this season? And uh how y’all think y’all going to overcome that? Yeah, man. Hey, when you win, complacency starts to set in. Comfortable. Comfortable. And we’re not going to allow that to happen. Uh want everybody to understand that this is a this is a program built on uh toughness, bluecollar grit, and it’s going to continue to be that way. and uh the players in the in the fieldhouse. there certain stuff that we have uh you know even from tucking your shirts in uh making sure you’re wearing the right length socks uh making sure uh you got the right stuff on in general just all those things man just um attention to details don’t allow small things to fester and become bigger things you know bigger problems right so um you know that and our team is becoming playerled when you have a team that becomes playerled you have a team that is have opportunity for success so man we we’re looking forward to it man we think we think We uh the sky’s is the limit with this group. Bet. Now, I know you said y’all going to gatekeep a little bit, you know, but uh can you break down a key strategy and form information that JSU is known for? Oh, man. Known for. Uh I tell you what, man. Um I wish I had the play to show you, but we we um during the season we put in an unbalanced set. And if you don’t really know football, you going like, what is coach talking about? But on offense, uh, normally typically you had a center in the middle of the offense and he has a guard on each side, he has a tackle on each side, right? So an unbalanced set, you can have that center and you may put the whole offensive line to the right or the left, creating an unbalanced look for the defense and you’re trying to create numbers, right? Right. And so, uh, we did this originally against Texas Southern. Cool thing about this J, the reason I brought this play up, uh, Manny Ramirez as our offensive line coach came from Texas Southern. Well, while he was at Texas Southern, he tried to implement this play and the coaches kept shooting it down. So, we implemented the week we go play Texas Southern, end up getting like a 60 yard run off of it. And we ran it maybe four or five different times this season and each time was successful. Yeah. What? What? Now I know this is everybody like and it’s it’s gaining national attention. Homecoming. Oh yeah. Homecoming 2025. Yeah. What’s that? What what are you expecting that energy to be like? Because we had we had the parade. Uh you know, we had the we we took on the championship, all of that stuff. What do you expect from home gum in 2025? Unbelievable, man. Uh October 11th, 2025. uh Alabama State University. We’ll be in Jackson, Mississippi to take on the Jackson State Tigers for homecoming. It’s going to be a beautiful experience. It’s going to be crazy. It’s going to be dope. J, how uh how does JSU approach recruiting and uh what qualities and quantities do you look for uh in a player beyond talent? Oh man, great question. Uh so our approach to recruiting right now, man, we we are getting back to more of a high school uh type recruiting class. We want to develop guys. We fill them we fill our holes in our roster with with portal with the transfer portal but we think uh for us to continue to be successful uh developing young high school players is key. So that’s kind of the big uh I guess philosophy behind our recruit rec recruiting success right now. Now on the flip side of that um you talk about going forward when we when we go and play teams there we want to make sure we the biggest team and the most physical team. So even looking at um our roster right now, we’ve kind of set a standard to what we want each position to look like, right? So going forward, I I just don’t see where we’re going to get away from just how we operate. I think we’re going it’s successful and so if it’s not broke, don’t fix it, man. Don’t fix it. Don’t fix it. So there’s no changes or none of you consistency, right? Um, I think this year, you know, where we beat teams maybe by one touchdown, 10 points last year, this year we got a chance to start beating them by two, three touchdowns. But that’s because the program has become consistent. These guys have been here. Uh, we had three guys getting the portal that played last year. Uh, two of them left, one came back. So, the consistency in the roster is there to be successful. So, man, we looking forward to it, brother. Has the NIL had any effect on the recruiting at JSU? Uh absolutely absolutely man positive and negatives to it. You know what I mean? Uh because I was gonna say what’s what’s the retention rate? Yeah. Uh the retention rate is high you know and we are just in introducing some NIL things to our roster. Now uh we’ve had players with um you know we had a $10,000 deal with a Cheeit uh with Cheeit brand. You know what I mean? One of our players was on a $10,000 deal. So we’ve had some things in place in the past. uh but across the board where you talking about 20 to 30 players uh being able to secure deals that those are new things to Jackson State but we have that we got one of the best NIL collective setups in the conference in the in the conference by far and really uh really all of FCS um and that’s you know we talk about it KC uh 1400 collective is a really big part of our success and how we are able to recruit and retain right you know our guys don’t they don’t expect to be rich but they want to be able to you get a few dollars in your pocket while you date your girlfriend, you know what I mean? Be able to go home to eat and all that stuff. Yeah, that’s it, man. Do you do you give uh Coach Prime uh credit for that? Uh I I it depends. You know what I mean? So, I don’t want to say I don’t give him credit because a lot of the doors he he did open by just his presence, right? Uh but the actual uh foundational piece of it and really setting it up, it kind of started after he left. A lot of the deals that were put in place when Prime was here was kind of done between his people kind of on that side of it, his business team. Right now it’s it’s kind of more me and TC going to secure a lot of these deals. a building relationships uh even with the collective, the KC1400 collective didn’t start until after Prime left, but opening our ideas and our minds to the potential of those things. Yeah, he definitely deserves credit. No doubt. No doubt. No doubt. Now, uh what role do you think uh JSU football plays uh in the HBCU um sports landscape? Uh we the creme desert crim. We the mecca of HB.CU football. That’s all I wanted to say. the creme de la creme. I tell people that all the time, J. Like, it don’t get no better than J JSU football, bro. Man, I mean, yeah, cuz right now it’s it’s it’s up. It’s up, man. It’s all the way up, man. And you guys are doing amazing with it. Um, what’s the mis the biggest misconception about H.B.CU football and um like how do you think JSU is changing that narrative? Uh I think the biggest misconception about JSU football is that uh we couldn’t be successful postprime. Uh I think that was a big misconception. Yeah. I think I think people were like it’s it’s going to go down and you guys you and uh uh Coach TC I mean man, y’all been working y’all ass off. No, we appreciate that. This thing, man. Proud of y’all. No, I appreciate you, Gerald, man. I I tell you this uh uh we we were both built for this moment. He’s from South Pike. uh from down there and I’m from Jackson, Mississippi, right in President Hills, right? And I think our love for the university allows us to really sell and and for the city of Jackson allows us to sell this area to people who may have doubts, you know what I mean? Uh it allows us to show the beauty in this city, the beauty of these people, and uh and when recruits and their families come to town and they get a feel and a vibe for Jackson uh and a feel and a vibe for our fans, they’re blown away. Uh because we we are about excellence. Everything when you come into our facility, when you come on to our campus, you come to a JSU football game, it’s about excellence and that’s our standard. And so families come in, they start realizing that, man, like, man, I can see uh I can see my my son playing here. And real quick before you go to your next question, man, man, we had a parent on campus just yesterday, um, a white male, uh, him and his son, and he pulled the dad pulled me to the side and said, “Coach, I could honestly see my son coming here after coming to see you guys today. I didn’t know prior to coming to this campus, but after watching you guys practice, after watching your operation, coming into your staff meeting and meeting you guys, this is by far one of the best facilities and programs we’ve been to. So, when you hear things like that, even from, you know, uh, from, you know, white white families, you know what I mean? That’s important to us. But what we’re trying to do is create a just a bonafide blue collar, uh, blue blood program. There you go. And that’s what we Yeah. What’s uh one of the most memorable moments from 2020 until now that you’ve had as an assistant head coach? Man, I’mma tell you because it’s new. Uh man, it’s a viral photo going around uh where after the celebration bowl this year, I went and it was even it was maybe 10 seconds left on the clock, man. Maybe maybe a little bit more than that. I went and sat on the bench, Gerald. Um man, it was a heavy moment for me, you know, a lot of reflection. And I went and sat on the bench. My emotion kind of came over me. I just put my head in my hands and uh a couple of players come and patting on me, patting me on my back and next thing I know I got dumped with the water. Dump the Gatorade. That could have That’s That’s great. That’s a good feeling. I bet it is. That’s a good I never I never uh were you like was it was it surreal to you? Like I’ve come I’ve come this far. That moment right there. Man, it was Yeah, you’re exactly right. Surreal. That’s the exact word to use. And uh it was um it was surreal and I told somebody went to it was unreal at the same time. right? Like you know you I’m from Jackson, Mississippi. I’m living the dream. You know what I mean? And to lead, you know, I’m not the necessarily the head coach, but I’m one of the leaders of this program. But to lead this program to a national title as a boy that grew up in in Jackson, went to John Hopkins, went to Northwest Middle School, went to Provine High School. There you go. You know what I mean? Man, it was freaking surreal. brother, what would you tell a high school student that’s a junior in high school looking to go to an H.B.CU to play football and preferably looking at JSU. Yeah. June 1st, 2025, we have a camp. Um, yeah, cuz this is going all over the the internet. I know you big time. I already know what time I’m not that big. No, man. You’ve been doing this for a long time. I know you. But listen, man. I um June 1st we do have a mega camp and it’s the largest mega camp in the HB.CU landscape. It’s going to be at the event. Uh and you can visit go JSU Tigers uh football I mean go JSU Tigers football Instagram or what’s that Facebook page or Twitter page. I guess they call it X now. But uh you can visit those for more information. But if if a junior wants to get on the radar of a lot of HB.CU, that’s a great opportunity. But also man, make sure you go to camps. Um, you know, you got the rivals camps, you got the scout camp, you got the, uh, underclassman camp, the UC report camp. So, you got those type of deals going on. Even the Under Armour, uh, the Nike camp. It’s a lot of stuff going on that you can get in where you can get seen and where we get the data, right? So, you just need to put data out there and we going to get it and we going to find you. Right. when you what what would you want the uh TC coach O legacy to be from your point of view? Uh championships, brother. Championships. Them dudes uh loved us. I want this is why I want JSU folks to say they loved us. They they uh they served us. They made us proud and we won a lot of championships. And I think that’s exactly what’s going to happen. M what what’s your grand finale in all of this? That’s a good question, man. Uh you know, not to you know, I have aspirations of being a head coach, you know what I mean? But uh I’m also a person that allows God to move me, brother. There you go. Uh so I’m I’m in my moment right now. I’m enjoying what we’re doing. And so I don’t want to rush this moment. I think so often coaches and not just coaches, professionals, we rush moments not and thinking that the next moment is going to be just as good and we find out when we go into that next moment is a lot harder and you’re not as happy. So why rush the moment that you’re in? So that’s kind of the space I’m in right now. But I do have aspirations to be a head coach at some point and uh and it’s got to be the right school and I can’t wait to come back if it’s not Jackson State, you know, when TC retires. Uh, I can’t wait to come back to Jackson and beat Jackson State if that has to happen. I’ll just play. But we gota talk about that. That’s another episode. Yeah, that’s another episode. Do you have any aspirations to be in the pro? Yeah. Uh, you know, it’s one of those things where if it happens, it happens. Um, I’m I’m blessed, man. I feel like that’s a political answer on the real, but I’m just I’m just serious, man. I uh you know, I I love N I love the NFL, right? But man, college football is a it’s just the pageantry of it and I love developing you. You like to play as a hungrier. Exactly. Right. And then you know, you kind you’ve been knowing me for a while, Jerry. U man, raising young men to, you know, young boys to be young men. That’s that’s a calling for me. And uh I think I have, you know, my my stepfather was a pastor. Um and I know, you know, my godfather, Pastor Jesse Sutton, a lot of folks know him from over Blackburn. And then over in the sub, too. Uh but these men um you know they’re pastors but they showed me how to lead right and so you know people say you know oh you get to talk and you sound like a preacher yada yada I was raised around preachers but I tell people quickly my church is that football field house and that’s the foundation for you. Yeah man. Yeah. So that’s how I handle my players man. That’s my that’s my sanctuary. That’s my football that’s my family. Who are some of your inspirational uh heroes in in in football whether it be college high school pros? Yeah, I I guess uh and that’s a good another good question, brother. Uh I guess inspirational. Oh boy, that’s a good one. I never even really thought about that, man. I like man, like in my in my older days now, uh I say older days, man. Getting a chance to sit down and talk to Robert Brazil, okay, as a NFL Hall of Famer, that gold jacket. Getting a chance to sit down and talk to him. Uh and you know, I was no fanboy prime. Uh but like being able to glean from him like oh this is like them heroes them them you grew up like I wore this man shoes and now and now I can pick up the phone and call him and say coach I need or coach can I or coach do you need and uh man that was pretty cool. So I would say prime and and Dr. Doom man uh Robert Brazil just being able to have conversations pick up the phone and call either one of them and get fatherly type advice if I needed it. That’s That’s I mean that’s amazing to just be able to Yeah, man. I’m telling you it’s cool, man. Like them Listen, people don’t realize them dudes with those gold jackets are a rare breed. Like if you are NFL Hall of Famer, it’s only so many of them. And even for the rest of our days, it would only be a select small cohort of the amount of players that actually play in the NFL. So to be able to have those type of guys in your phone on speed dial and they actually pick up the phone, uh, that’s pretty freaking cool for me, man. Oh, man. With, uh, Coach Prime’s track record, do you think he’ll go to the Dallas Cowboys or go to a professional team? I can’t I listen, I I with Coach Prime’s track record, as you said, I I predict he’s going to go where the money resides. knowing what he is and knowing how he moves, you’re absolutely right. Um, you got any shout outs or anybody you want to thank uh before you get out of here, bro? Yeah, man. Uh, man, first of all, man, thank you. Uh, you’ve been a supporter of my career for a long time, man. So, I I really appreciate you, man. But also, man, the citizens of Jackson, Mississippi, man, the fans of Jackson State, uh, man, it’s it’s been a beautiful year in 2024. Uh, this year is going to be even better. It’s going to be even more special, more life, more wins, man. And I uh I look forward to going to all these cities and taking over their stadiums and coming out of there to victor. That’s that’s our main goal this year, man. So, as long as we can keep making those people happy, uh keep making Mississippians and Jacksonians proud. Uh me and TC know that uh we’re doing the right thing and we stepping in the right space. Absolutely, man. Well, we definitely appreciate you coming to Breakfast at Girbeau’s right here on the Urban City Podcasting Network, man. And of course, you invited to come back. You going to come back if we call you, right? Man, I got you, man. Man. All right, man. It’s your man Joe Jabau with Breakfast at Girbeau’s right here on the Urban City Podcasting Network.
