Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Journey to the next level begins with the East-West Shrine Game

After the conclusion of my senior season, I took I guess about a week, a week-and-a-half off, and tried to finish strong with school.

I'm just figuring out exactly all the steps I need to take from here, as far as writing a list and making sure that you're taking care of business at this point, because things are going to change, and have changed so fast.

You go from seeing the coaches every day to pretty much just being on your own with school. I'm just trying to be proactive for myself. I'm just thankful to have a chance at furthering my football career and that's why I felt like I needed to work.

It took about a week to really hit me that I've got to do something. Just sitting around, I'm sure a lot of the guys in my position feel the same way. It's like something's missing. So, you've got to do something with your time. You've got to make sure you're putting your best foot forward right now.

It's hard to let go of the past, so I've been keeping up with a lot of my coaches, just seeing what they're doing, because they're pretty much in the same situation we are. They're doing the same as we are, with just networking and figuring out what the next step's gonna be.

Personally, I started working out, and I'm in the training room every day. I'm lifting and training. I'm actually training for the East-West Shrine Game, which I got invited to play in. It's in Orlando on Jan. 23 (on ESPN2 at noon).

I'm excited just to be among some of the top athletes in the country. To be playing with them, in the same playing field with them is a huge pat on the back.

I'm extremely hungry to get out there and just prove to myself to everyone working hard in the Mountain West and everyone in these larger conferences that the Mountain West is extremely improved and we can play with the best.

At the same time, it's a good pressure I feel. I feel like I need to represent UNLV and what has really happened here. Just all the experiences we've gone through, to take those and use them to my advantage, as far as work ethic and my hunger to learn. It's almost like a breathe of fresh air.

I haven't signed with an agent yet. I'm going to sit down with my family with a couple of different agents and decide that way. Family is huge to me, and I want to make the right decision, one I feel comfortable with. I'll run it by my parents before I decide.

No matter what, I want to be playing football next year.

To be honest with you, when I was a small child, I was never like 'Oh man, I'm gonna play football!' I never saw this happening, so it's kind of unbelievable to me, but I'm going to finish grad school up, get my master's degree.

For the time being, I'm going to work as hard as possible and give myself the best chance I can, but at the same time, football is never promised. Football is a privilege.

I'll talk to you again soon, as my journey toward the next level continues.

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