Now, as much as I'd love to keep this
job forever, great storytelling depends
on the next generation of journalists
rising up and asking great questions, I
got a chance to meet some of them, and
they put me to the hot seat for some
mock interviews. And let me just tell
you, these students came prepared.
>> Are you a pineapple and pizza type of
guy or just keep it plain?
>> This interview's over.
>> A couple of weeks ago, I spoke with
students as part of CNN Academy, a
program to help nurture the next
generation of journalists. A total of 80
students. This group of college age and
new graduates come from across the
country from Penn State to where this
panel was held, Georgia Tech.
>> So what as a reporter helped you develop
skills from playing in the NFL?
>> Teamwork.
>> And as as that teamwork aspect, you have
to be able to go and work with a team
with producers, work with directors and
shoots. So what have you able to take
away from the teamwork aspect?
>> See how she did a follow right there?
But sometimes your good people like
teamwork and like they didn't really
want to talk about it. What a better way
to learn about reporting than to get
right into the hot seat and let them
interview me.
>> What advantages does being a good team
player, being able to operate as a
member of a team have when it comes to
being a a journalist? Like where does
that give you an edge as a journalist as
compared to people who maybe aren't so
good at working on a team?
>> I played nine years in the NFL and the
average career is three. Were there more
talented players than me physically?
Yep. But no one's going to outwork me.
No one's going to be more coachable and
no one's going to be a better teammate.
And so, same thing in TV, very cutthroat
industry, radio, whatever it is. I mean,
there are people who would love to take
your job. So, how can I make myself
indispensable?
>> What would you say is like a challenge
that you think um this new like upcoming
generation of of sports journalists will
face and what would be your advice to
like overcome that? I would say one of
the biggest challenges is to not get
replaced by AI. And I say that part
jokingly, but like quite serious. Um, so
what do we have that computers don't?
It's those interpersonal connections and
relationships to just be human, interact
with people, have conversations with
people because now you have an
experience with an athlete or a coach
that you put on air or that you put in
an article or that helps get you another
uh interview with that person that that
AI or no one else can do. Only you can
do it because there's one of you in the
world, right? I saw that you did
wrestling and football when you were
younger and that you set these records
that were super high and I hear you
talking about like you want to outwork
everyone. It seems like that's been a
principle that's been in your life from
the beginning. Can you talk more about
kind of like what's instilled that?
>> I was always chasing a dream, right? I
always knew from the time I grew up that
I wanted to play in the NFL. I had a
support team around me, my parents. Uh
my mom cut seat belts out in the back of
the car, made a harness for me so I
could drag tires. Moved to a bigger
school district so I would get noticed
by colleges. And so what I'm getting to
here is just having a yes coach
mentality all along the way. Like having
my dream, having my goal, but sometimes
that's not what God has made us built to
do or is not our ultimate path. And you
may not know that yet, but if you have
that yes coach mentality, so I go to
defense, lead the team in tackles. All
of a sudden, I'm the only player in
Stanford football history leading one
year, tackles in another. But if I had
said, "No, no, I'm a running back. I'm
going to be a running back AFL." I
wouldn't have had that. and then I get
drafted to the NFL. All these things in
my life like happened because uh I had
that mentality of like I know what I
want to do, what I think I'm going to
do. This is what I'm aiming for every
day. I'm going to pursue it with a
relentless passion. But like if I sense
a roadblock or my team needs me here,
then yes, coach, let's do it. I'm here
for the team.