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Exclusive with former Ravens Wide Receiver Mark Clayton

First, let me know what you’re up to these days?

I just started doing some part-time coaching for a high school here in Fort Worth, Texas. Before that I was just hanging out with the kids, really. A whole lot of nothing, really. I got involved with some businesses after a few years of taking it easy and resting – keeping the revenue stream going.

Any coaching influences form your playing days?

Brian Billick for sure. Steve Spurrier Jr. Danny Wyatt – my college receivers coach. Spurrier showed me how to have fun -just his approach to coaching. Wyatt was a technician – he showed me that every step mattered. And Brian Billick – he taught me how to be more responsible for my own development. He wasn’t a micro-manager. He expected you to do what you were supposed to do. He showed us what I meant to be responsible young men. That was huge for me.

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Exclusive with Dolphins Howard Twilley on the 1972 Undefeated Season

First, can you tell us what you’ve done with yourself after football?

I started a business in 1974- while I was still playing. My wife’s uncle had a sporting goods business and he talked to me about how good of an opportunity it was and thought it would be good for me. So I had an Athlete’s Foot franchise store – I did that for 20-to-25 years before I sold it.

I got my MBA at Miami too – I tried to be prepared for things in life before they came up – I knew I couldn’t play forever. And no one made big money then – I made an average of $40,000 over my 11-year career.

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Exclusive with Former Ravens Quarterback Trent Dilfer

First, can you talk about how you got into coaching and what you enjoy about it?

Oh wow – this can be the whole interview!

I turned down so many coaching opportunities when I retired. A lot of my former NFL coaches wanted me to fast-track to a coaching or GM position – they waned me to jump right into it. But I had three young girls at the time – it wasn’t a lifestyle I waned for me and my family.

I got college coaching job offers later too. They kept coming up but I never, ever even bit on those. My wife and I talked though. I was made to coach – I knew that. Heck, the back-half of my career I was coaching a lot – and I was around youth sports with my daughters who were on sports scholarships. High school coaching felt like a nice landing spot.

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Exclusive with Greg Jones, Linebacker, Jaguars

First, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your time n the NFL?

Now, I have a mouthguard company – Vane Mouthguards . The mouthguards have two sensors than can tell by the g-force of a hit whether a possible concussion occurred for kids playing contact sports. It’s a cool technology we’ve implemented to help kids and parents of kids who play contact sports get a sense of things and to give them some ease of mind when they are worried about concussions.

I also do drug and alcohol talks for kids. I try to reach kids in the Michigan area from all backgrounds. I try y give them some positive outlooks on life. It’s surprising how many kids don’t have positive views on their outlook on life.

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Exclusive with Former Jaguars Receiver/Return Specialist Reggie Barlow

First, can you let me know how you got into coaching?

Well it started as my career as a player was ending. It was something I knew I probably wanted to do – but I figured it would end up being at the middle school level or something. I volunteered coaching at my old high school for a year or so, then I was blessed to be offered a coaching position at Alabama State and have been here since.

Who are some of the coaches that you patterned your coaching style after, and why?

Three coaches really impacted my style. Coach Markum at Alabama State – he had a hard mindset and liked to have guys do a lot of running – a lot of conditioning. And big on discipline.

Then Tom Coughlin.

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Exclusive: James Johnson of the The Jaguars Wire

First, a close loss to Green Bay last week. Do you think they take a bit of a moral victory from the loss?

I think maybe from the fans perspective but not for the players and coaches. They are competitors and want to win. The guys are fighting for jobs now including maybe Doug Marrone, who could be on the hot seat now with a 1-8 record.

I think the fans are looking for a top two pick in this draft – they want one of those two top quarterbacks. They recognize the team needs a franchise quarterback. They just want to see the team be competitive and not get blown out.

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Exclusive, Former Steelers Defensive Lineman Al Woods, 2010, 2011-2103

You opted out this year after signing with Jacksonville. What brought on that decision for you?

The reason why is that my wife is pregnant – she’s due in March. My entire season I would have been worried about her – and my daughter too who has asthma. I didn’t feel comfortable – I couldn’t focus on football – I’d have been worried about them both all season.

So that was the reason for opting out. I got a lot going on in my life now still, with kids in school, a pregnant wife – and I have a couple of businesses I’m hands on with too.

Continue reading “Exclusive, Former Steelers Defensive Lineman Al Woods, 2010, 2011-2103”

Exclusive with Former Steelers Quarterback Bruce Gradkowski, 2013-2016

First – I feel funny asking you this since you have so much going on all the time, but what is top of mind you want to let folks know about now?

Well, presently I have my weekly radio show during the NFL season on NFL Radio – every Thursday and Friday. The main thing I’m doing though is my work with Pro Football Focus. I help oversee the quarterback grading – every week I grade ever NFL pass – some college players too. That takes up a lot of my time!

You also have some other ventures…

True yeah – I have a restaurant called Social in Toledo and Pilgrimage Hospice in Pittsburgh. I started the hospice while I was still playing. I wanted to give back to the area and the community – it made good sense to me. I wanted to give back to the city I love. My wife is a nurse.

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Exclusive with Former Steelers Running Back David Hughes, 1988

First, let me know what you’re doing with yourself now and how you got involved in that?

After the NFL, I was in a ministry in Seattle but I could sense my time was coming to an end there. I figured I’d just go back into the workforce. It was nothing bad – just sometimes God moves you on to other things. I let the pastor know – he didn’t understand, but I knew it was the right thing.

An idea came to me after that – one my wife and I thought of originally when we were in Idaho 15 years before. It was to work with student athletes. They had a higher level of expectations on them because they had to perform on the field and in the classroom.

My wife and I wrote down some notes on the idea and talked to the schools and pastors in the community to see what resources were available to these kids – many of who had difficult backgrounds. But after a few months we looked at each other and thought – there were so many resources available to them – what could we do?

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Exclusive: Hunter BIttinger of Stripe Hype on the Bengals

First, there has to be some optimism with this Bengals team with the play of Burrow and the win over the Titans last week?

It’s definitely an upward trend. The win over the Titans was Zac Taylor’s first against a quality team. The offensive line is improving – Burrow has gotten better in helping them too. He’s mastering the playbook like he did at LSU and not taking unnecessary hits now like he was early on. I think they’ve only had two punts in the last three games.

Starting with the defense – eight turnovers overall and a struggling pass rush. What’s going on there and any upside you can expect?

Yeah, the defense is a huge question. Some weeks it shows up and some weeks it doesn’t.

Continue reading “Exclusive: Hunter BIttinger of Stripe Hype on the Bengals”