Rippee Writes: Mike Wallace

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1:04But why let eczema take over when you can talk to your doctor about eczema? Eczema, a 250-mg per 2-mg leader injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older, who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kg with moderate to severe eczema. Also called a topic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. Ebglus can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you are allergic to ebglus. A allergic reaction can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have newer worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with ebglus. Before starting ebglus, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Paid partnership with Lilly. Respect your time. Ask your doctor about ebglus and visit ebglus.com or call 1-800-LilyRX or 1-800-545. 5-9-7-9. What is up, I'm Brian Scott.

2:09Rippy thanks for tuning in to another edition of the Rippy Rites podcast. Today we have on Ole Miss great Mike Wallace. He is the Mississippi sports medicine letterman's lounge athlete of the week as we continue the great partnership. I love the Javan Patterson, Denson Hollis, everybody at the Ole Miss Alumni Association. They are doing to help propel Ole Miss Ford and raise money in a variety of different ways. I've enjoyed talking to a lot of former athletes through this partnership over the years. Mike was no exception. He was very gracious with this time. He gave me more than I deserve. I really appreciate him coming on. We talked about his career. He was an orlean kid. There was a two-star recruit. There was originally an Oregon State Commit. Then decided to come to Ole Miss. He talked about three years playing under Ed Orgeron and what were some tough times. Before that final year, of course, most of y'all remember the 2008 team in Houston Uts first year that went nine and four. Probably could have beaten any team in the country toward the end of the season. His incredible pro career, playing with the Pittsburgh Seawars played in a super bowl, had

3:10a long NFL career, made a lot of money, and changed his life, which is really kind of the American dream, if you really think about it in a lot of different ways. Max Great, dude. I really enjoyed catching up about his career. I think you'll enjoy this podcast. Before we get to that, I want to take one quick break to remind you. This podcast is also brought to you by Watson Turnip Seed. Attorney-A-Law. Watson Turnip Seed, friend of the show, one of the smartest people I know. Have you been injured in a car accident work? Have the insurance companies denied your storm-related claim? Right now, IStorm are the insurance companies denying your IStorm-related claim. Get more than one call with North Mississippi's premier boutique law firm Watson Turnip Seed at law. Watson has offices in the Mississippi Delta and New Orleans and focuses on client-based relationships to ensure the best outcome. Over the last four years, Watson has assisted clients in recovering millions of dollars related to anyone, any personal injury or insurance claims. Get more than one call. Get Watson and beat them all. Visit WatsonTurnipSeed law.com for more details or call 504-636-8217.

4:12Given McCall today, he's already helped our list. Some of our listeners out of your doing with some IStorm-related claims, they are having trouble with the insurance companies. Watson Turnip Seed is your man. That is WatsonTurnipSeed at law.com or call him at 504-636-8217. This podcast is brought to you by the Cowboy Country Club. The Cowboy Country Club was founded by two Ole Miss Crads. It is a made-up country club with over 30,000 members. It is a lifestyle brand that celebrates the both rugged and refined sides of life. Cowboy Country Club challenges the nation that exclusivity requires extravagance. Their collections are designed for those who move seamlessly from the country to the club. Cowboy Country Club doesn't have customers. They have members. Unfortunately, they're still taking new members. Their only initiation fee is making a purchase from the online pro shop. Cowboycountryclub.com. These are the best hats and shirts in the world. I'm wearing a Cowboy Country Club hat right now. They're awesome. Go check them out today. All you have to become a member is, again, make a purchase on the online pro shop.

5:14Find them on social media at Cowboy Country Club or cowboycountryclub.com on the web. Go buy your hat. Go buy your shirt. Go check out all the awesome merch they have. It's an incredible golf and lifestyle brand. I love all of my Cowboy Country Club merch. Just releasing this podcast will give you a phrase that pays. Use the promo code HottieTotty20 for a nice little discount. Again, just releasing this show. I want you to have Cowboy Country Club onboard this podcast looking forward to the partnership. And I thank them greatly for the support of the podcast. Go boss and merch. You'll thank me later. It's awesome. Cowboycountryclub.com. Okay. Here's Mike Wallace. All right. We now welcome on Ole Miss Legend, former NFL receiver, Mike Wallace. I appreciate you joining the show, man. You're this week's athlete of the week. You'll be back in Oxford this weekend. I guess we'll kind of start there. Do you get back to Oxford much? Which is the last time you've been back. Oh, not really. Maybe two years. I went to the LSU Ole Miss game. So I did that one two years ago as well. What do you think it'll be like?

6:15I mean, you had a hell of a career Ole Miss. I mean, this honor is definitely, you know, if not overtake. What do you think it'll be like kind of stepping back on that field and having the crowd kind of cheer for you again this time in a different way? But what would that be like? I wasn't going to be fun, man. I'm excited about it. My family's excited about it. I have been being on the field in years, like literally. So I'm excited, man. It's going to be a good time. It's going to be a great crowd, I know, with all the stuff surrounding the game. Yeah. It's going to be a good one. Awesome. What kind of want to start back at the beginning? You're a new Orleans kid. How did you end up at Ole Miss? I know you were kind of a late bloomer, a little bit lightly recruited for what you became. I know Frank Wilson was your high school coach. You kind of followed him on this. But take me through your recruitment because it doesn't sound like you were too heavily recruited there until the end. Is that accurate? Yeah. I mean, it was because I didn't play football until you left me great. And then my junior, man, we had so many guys, like really good guys that were all Americans.

7:20We had two Americans at the Irish people. So I was the third and I really would have been the fourth one at the Irish people. But one of my other good friends, he was really good as well. He ended up getting hurt. So I didn't go out for football until like the summer of my 11th grade year. So I was behind like a lot of really good guys. So my junior year, I might have caught three passes. Like I was out there, but I just never would get the ball. So I probably caught three passes my junior year, but then my senior year, I took off. I went crazy. I have nice bit of offers. I still was on the two-star. A two-star, during that time versus a two-star today. Yeah. Two told him different thing when it comes to like scholarship offers and things like that. I know these days you could be a three-star. And I'm going to get as many as as because of like the things that happen in the college football. They're like with the portal and things like that. Yeah, absolutely. And you mentioned not playing football to your 11th grade year. I know speed was kind of the underlying trait that defined your career.

8:21You were a hell of a track athlete from what I read. Did somebody convince you to play football? Did somebody say like see that you were a fast like, hey, we got to get him in football. Filder was kind of your decision. My cousin really, he wants to take credit for getting me out. He would always tell me that. And then you know, Coach Franklin would always tell me like, come out, but it was kind of like a, and he don't want to. I tell him, I'm going to come out. He's like, man, you don't want to play them football. Come on. And then I would, but there was so strict that our school, high school, far as coach Franklin and the other coaches, like changing our program from what it was before because of the type of school it was. He was hard, man. He was a tough guy. He was very strict. And I was like, I don't know if I could deal with that yet. But I knew once I got to 11th grade, all right, it's a cross time now. You don't have, you can't hold back anymore now. If you're going to play this as a tie. And your recruitment, one of your best friends, Kenan Lewis, in and up at Oregon State. And from what I've read, I'm 31. This is a special treat for me because you're only my favorite players as a kid.

9:24But I was, I was middle school elementary school at the time when you were don't miss. And so I was going back and kind of reading about your recruitment. And Kenan Lewis, it ended up at Oregon State. And you had committed to Oregon State at the time. But then Frank joins, um, oh, staff at Ole Miss, you know, at Ole Miss, did you, what was, I mean, it's kind of interesting for New Orleans kid to commit somewhere that far away. What, what, what will it into you committing to Oregon State? It was three of us. Actually, it was me, Kenan, and we had one more friend, Dennis Christus. He also got a scholarship there. And that was one of the, all these schools that off of all three of us. So I was like, well, that's my friend. This is who I grew up with. All three of us can go to one of school. Let's do it. So that's what made me do it. Like, and then like schools like, I like she doing stuff like they offered me scholarships, but they were so loaded. It was so many five stars. So I honestly was just trying to go somewhere. Well, I felt like I can play early in my friends' way, but it goes so that was my decision to go there.

10:26But once Coach Frank came into the pitching and got the job, I didn't even, I never met Coach O. I never, like, been to Ole Miss anything. It was like a two weeks before I was supposed to start school. Coach Frank called me, just like, listen, I might get this. As he see, I don't want to jump to it. But so I'm not going to tell you exactly where I was at yet. But if I do go, I mean, if I do get it, I want to become with me. I was like, bad. Okay, I ain't even second-guess it. Like, it was kind of like, I didn't know what, like I said, I didn't know where I was going. I was like, okay, he got the job and coming. He was like, yeah, I got the job. I want to become, I'm going to go to Ole Miss. I said, say less. So I was there two weeks later. Was Oregon State at the time? Was that Mike Riley? Like, they were a pretty good program. I know in the early 2000s. That was, today kind of had it rolling. Did you have any reservations? I know you mentioned like, he had two friends. It was like, my as well, I'll go to the same school. But that's a long way away from New Orleans, Louisiana. Did you have any reservations about that? Not really.

11:27So everything happened. Like, it was kind of like a blur to me. Like, I had no experience about going to college campuses, doing like different, I would say just the whole recruiting phase. I was a lay bloomer. So everything kind of happened like this. I had zero scholarship offers going into my senior year. So then you go through football season and not an officer starting to roll in during the football season. Because, you know, I'm going so many touchdowns. I'm going like three touchdowns again. I'm going crazy at this point. But the scholarships are starting to come in during the season. And you go through the season. You have two months to pick a school. So I don't know anything about recruiting and stuff like that. So I just, and even though we had all those guys that were all Americans the year before, I wasn't really planning like that. So then I didn't really kind of tell me about like recruiting and scholarships and stuff like that. I'm just on the team at this point. So everything happened so fast. I didn't really have any reservations.

12:28I think it happened so fast that I didn't have time for that. That was my first time, my first visit I went to San Diego State. And that was my first time ever being on a plane. So I was like, wow, really like a new Orleans guy. Like a round track as a kid. But when we did go, we went to like Ohio somewhere in Florida and stuff. But when we did, we would just get on like a charter bus. So I had never like flown on the plane before. So everything was just happening like fast. So I didn't even really have time to have reservations about the honestly. I was just like, through my two friends get to come with me. I don't have to be by myself. Let's do it. You mentioned everything happening fast. You get to a miss which you mentioned was one of your goals as playing quickly. And you did. You had a role in that 2005 team. I'm curious, was there ever a moment, whether it was your first game first SEC game, where you're kind of looking around and you're like, damn, I started playing football basically three years ago. And now I'm playing a significant role in the SEC West. Was that, did you ever have that kind of moment, your freshman year? No, I kind of look around a crowd like this is crazy.

13:29One thing about me, man, I really believe in like, I wasn't even playing football, but I always told my mom and myself like, I'm gonna go to the NFL. I wasn't even playing, but I always believe that manifesting it. And so for me, no, like it wasn't, it was more like, this is where I belong. Like everything I think that happens in my life, I'm not really surprised because I have the confidence in the manifestation and the real true belief that anything I want, I can get or do. So when it happens, it's kind of like, here we go. So I never really get too high on it. Even though I see, I like, I appreciate it when I go back and think about the, like the whole career that I had just from high school to college, from college to NFL. I mean, man, we really did it. That was crazy. Like it was, but I believed in it so much that when things do happen, I don't get too high or too low about it. I've had a couple guys on doing this segment with last couple of years that were, we're in the O era. I remember I had Travis Johnson on a couple of years ago. I think it was gone.

14:29His senior years 04 right before he got there. But I asked him about the transition. He put his car on the back right? Yeah, yeah. He caught the the pick six against LSU and a three, but he, he transitioned from cut clip to Orger on. It's a pretty funny story. It's about the differences. What was it like your first time meeting Orger on a, he's kind of a maniac back then. What was that like? What were those practices like? What, what was it like playing for O? First time in my life. But I like coach. Oh, but I want you to say the worst time in my life. Like some of the hardest times in my life. Yeah, those practices were hell. Like it's what I've got. It was the whole experience of everything. Like coach always real life crazing. Like I've never seen a guy like this guy in my life. Because coach Frank was very strict. Like I said, but our families grew up like two or three streets of over. So I've been knowing coach Frank since I was a kid. So it's a different type of like coach Frank would really get that fired. I'm really good. I was motivated. Curse is not do whatever he had to do to get us that.

15:30But it was different. Coach O. The very first me and I told you I never met coach O. I never got I never I didn't know anything. I get to meet him. And then the first team being coach O takes a shirt off. And it was like accident guy like accident. I think it was me go make Spain that was right. And he asked me go like, you want to fight me? Yeah, I heard his story. I was like, what the hell is going on here? So I'm looking around like coach Frank. What the hell have you got me into man? So it was it was a I'm not going to lie. Me Kendrick. Me Kendrick Lewis. Jeremy McGee like we like brothers. I talk to these guys every day pretty much. Like we work out together and we still go back on stories of the times. It was like so crazy like. But we always say this molded us to feel like we could get through anything. I don't care what it is. So I look at it like it gives at the end of the day. Like it was tough. But the mental touch was you had to do

16:32with coach O was like man, I can get through anything. It prepared literally prepared us for life. So I appreciate it. Like I hated that. But I hated it in the moment. But I greatly appreciate it. It's stuff that like you couldn't even really get away with now. Like I remember I can't remember Travis Johnson or one of the other guys telling me that like during the preseason camp practices that was back when you could practice I think twice a day. And like he he mentioned they would have like a basically a truck or a couple of cars that would just kind of go back and forth to the hospital as dude. As dude's kind of got heat exhausted and stuff like that. Which is crazy to think about. I was like that was not flawed nowadays. But it was I was just talking to my family about this. You know I've talked to my daughter. The mind like we were just in her talking. I'm telling them like listen y'all don't understand what we went through. Like I know for sure I called for body cramps. I definitely just asked for it. Emergency room like full body cramps like so scared like I don't I'm like I'm probably going to die. But it's happening to you.

17:33Cramping so you in pain. And at the same time you're scared so you don't even know what the thing. But that was the different time. I remember practicing like my police were melting at the bottom because they're out of different police technology all that stuff. But that's when that turf was first coming out. Like so we would practice on the turf outside there in training camp. Oh yeah. And in your and your police are like rubber so they're melting the plastic and melting. I would just really be out there with a hose pipe like squirting. They got a hose pipe out of like the water that they give us like squirting your police just trying to cool your feet off. Like it was crazy. That was in the same time. 2006 Wake Fortist I remember I was in the stands. I was like 11 years old. There's a rain delay. But there's a story from that that it actually held basically like a full on practice while you're in the locker room. And the locker room. You started how true is that? That's very true. Is that what happened? Like can you all you're hitting in pads and whatnot while you're waiting for a game to start how is that possible? It was so long ago that some of us learned that.

18:37It just came back to me when you said that they're like that happened. I can't really remember the specifics of it. But that did happen. Like while I'd done a rain delay. I either we were in a locker room or like in a hallway right inside of the IPO. One of the two but probably more like the locker room. That's that's crazy. And for you your your first three years you're a good receiver. Don't miss but you know you'll go through some tough times as a team. There's not a whole lot of winning there at that point. And but you but the I think the talent you're seeing you're finally showed like they finally brought somebody in that could utilize it. What was that like trying to stay positive? You were a productive receiver. I mean you had a bunch of catches but you didn't get in the end zone of time because the offense was so dysfunctional. What was that like to this first three years kind of try to stay positive? And it was tough honestly because I'm looking at it like my freshman year I feel like I can I wasted it honestly because I I never played that receiver. I probably played like three plays. Yeah like split in wasn't it? Yeah but I was only playing kick return. I never really would never really get in the game on offense.

19:38So I wanted to raise her but Coach Otoe me know I needed to play but I'm like I'm only playing kick return like literally like I'm not even a partner in turn I'm just the kick return. So that year all right we gonna talk that one up because I had five seen I think we had four five scenes we had a lot of scenes we had Taybiddle, Mario Hill, Mike, SB, Kendrick, what's your say? I forgot. My god uh name but he used to play at YRC as well. I think Matt Pissmire was a junior I'm not sure but I know we had at least four seniors so I was like all right next up is Carlos Sucks me and maybe Matt Piss was still there. I think it ain't Matt Pissmire but it's been so long I haven't seen you guys in 20 years. Like so uh yeah so though um I was positive of like all right next year's me and Carlos Sucks is gonna start but then shit Hodge came in and he went kind of Dex came in

20:40Marcia Green came in and we kind of uh you know Dex ended up starting in Dex with his daughters in Marcia I think uh he never really got the ball all we did was run the ball with Ben I had five I think maybe five quarterbacks in college like three my freshman year he had Ethan flat Robber Lane and Spurlock. That's right I forgot about that that was that three quarterback rotation which didn't get we had bad then my next year we had Brent Schaefer came in you know he was supposed to be the like the the next big thing and but I like Brent you know uh I was like dang dang work out for him but then we had set Adams so set was there so Brent was there half of year then we had set Adams then so the next year my junior set was the quarterback I'm pretty sure than my senior we had Jettin so anyway long story short we never would run the ball I mean never would throw the ball really I probably let the team with catches my sophomore year was like 22 catches 28 catches like it was crazy we just always ran the ball

21:46and then my junior like you see I didn't get any ends on the turn but when I still with actually like 20 yards of catch 21 yards of catch or something crazy I think you led the SEC that year in yards per reception pretty sure I did yeah it's just crazy but it was it was frustrating because I know I could do more but it was kind of like what do I do this was in these days where you could hot just hop in the portal and leave you got a really gritted like gutted out I'm like I'm not sitting out of school right if you transfer you have to stay and sit out of here I'm like I'm not doing that so I just had to gut it out it was real frustrating because I knew I'm like man I can be one of the best players in the nation I knew it my whole time like I will always tell the coaches like different things doing it was just wasn't listening to me I'm like all right and then my senior like we coach nut we had a great team we had first of all we had a great roster the whole time I was there that's what was so crazy about the area that talent you all had was nuts it just wasn't

22:48being utilized yeah the quarterbacks were a little yeah you know if he put the talent around it was crazy like we had a really good team if we would have been like utilized the way we were I will see halfway through the season of my senior we would probably put a one attack insurance isn't a one-size-fits-all and shopping for it shouldn't feel like squeezing into something that just doesn't fit that's why drivers have enjoyed progressives name your price tool for years with the name your price tool you tell them what you want to pay and they show you options that enough hunting for discounts trying to calculate rates and tinkering with coverages maybe you're picking out your very first policy or maybe you're just looking for something that works better for you and your family either way they make it simple for you to see your options no guesswork no surprises ready to see how easy and fun shopping for car insurance can be visit

23:50progressive dot com and give the name your price tool a try take this stress out of shopping and find coverage that fits your life on your terms progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law hey it's Kelly Rowland you may not know this but I have eczema so I get how it can steal your time but why let eczema take over when you can talk to your doctor about ebglus ebglus lubricism ab lbkz a 250 milligram per two milliliter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe axima also called a topic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies ebglus can be used with or without topical corticosteroids don't use if you are allergic to ebglus allergic reactions can occur that can be severe eye problems can occur tell your doctor if you have newer worsting eye problems you should not receive a live vaccine when treated with ebglus before starting ebglus tell your

24:52doctor if you have a parasitic infection paid partnership with lily respect your time ask your doctor about ebglus and visit ebglus.com or call 1-800-LiliRx or 1-800-545-5979 how do we agree with that so the the I want to get to 18 a second but the end of 07 you have that crazy egg bowl where he decides to go for it and then the the whole game kind of turns and you have the put the piggies pun return it ends up getting go fired that game y'all controlled up like 14 nothing from us the game he ends up getting fired what was that time period like for you because again this is a different time the portal doesn't exist you can't really go anywhere you're about to be a senior what was the transition from Ode to nut like where you when she met nut in the staff are you pretty positive about it what was that transition like yeah cause I was not knowing it were really cool like like especially coming from coach oh like the way the high was ran it was like when I first got there oh miss I think the year

25:55before I got that they had their names on the back of eight jerseys but then when we got there coach oh kind of did the USC thing where you had the way the white shoe strings and no names on the back of the jerseys and all of those things so when coach nut got there like the first thing you told I was like I'll give you back your your your name when you're the founders don't be there see we so we just getting excited over like things like that because we like coming out of high school we didn't have our name on our jersey in high school that was a big thing for like I'm pretty sure most kids going into college like they ain't gonna have a name on the back of my jersey and soon as I get that no name so once that happened after three years of that uh and he comes in and give us that like now you getting guys like you don't even understand what type of players we you know some really good players but the thing you are giving us a simple but it's making us happy because we had we didn't have it before so now we getting excited like no yeah kind of want to play for this guy and then you know we get the shoe strain we get the well whatever color shoes I'm like dang we get it's like petty stuff that you get and that's making you happy and making you want to play for

26:58them and but when they're like the seniors every Friday we had like a senior committee to where we would get we would get it go uh maybe like six seven at night before the team meeting and he would give us like food the scenes would get food there was just like I'm telling you little stuff that made us like the transition was like this is gonna be great then we get through the year it was cool we'll get back to Mike Wallace in just one second but before we do I'll take one more quick break to remind you this podcast is brought to you by Astock what is Astock Astock bulk buys products from a variety of retailers and then takes them and sells them in one of two ways either on their online bidding platformer at one of their many stores across Mississippi Tennessee and Kentucky Astock's mission is to enable you the customer to name your price here's how it works the items that Astock buys from these major retailers are often overstocked returned or closed out products from there they list them either on their online bidding platform or sell them at one of their store

27:59a bin store locations you can purchase discounted items from Astock in two different ways on the online platform Astock.com or the Astock bidding app all items started just one dollar each sale has a specific in date and time so you know exactly when the bidding closes you can go online and place your bids on the items you want there's no shipping or transfers available all items must be picked up at the specified location then their in store sales they get fresh inventory weekly everything in a bin starts at seven dollars on Saturdays with increasing price reductions culminating in 50 cents per item on Wednesdays or a filibag option for $10 on Wednesdays how about that this is such a great idea and a great concept the owners are all misaloms I'm looking at their website right now they have everything from sports apparel jewelry kitchen appliances luggage mobile electronics just every item you can think of under the sun and you get on there and get to bid and name your price go to a stock dot com or use the bidding at or visit one of their many locations in two

29:02below Memphis Nashville East Tennessee and Kentucky check them out a stock dot com this podcast is brought to you by C-Spire want the perfect gift for Mother's Day right now at C-Spire you can get her the latest 5G phone and watch for free with C-Spire's new family plans let mom choose from the best new phones including iPhone 17 or Samsung Galaxy S26 plus both on us packed with features she'll love like smarter cameras better battery life and easier controls there's more to see visit cspire.com or stop by your local cspire store today cspire customer inspired this podcast is also brought to you by lb universe the avenue there an Oxford if you're rippy right subscriber you listen to this podcast you get discounted meets right now it is right now if you tell them you're a rippy right subscriber or listener you get three six ounce bacon rat fillets for just $25 about a $35 valuation there you're getting for just $25 just shop stop by show proof of subscription or tell me listen he'll get you set up then go find your own favorites is the best butcher shop in the world all kinds of delicious cuts of meat sausages go find your own favorites at elbies university avenue there in Oxford all right here's Mike

30:07that team you'll had in 2008 I think is one of the most fun Ole Miss teams of all time and to your point that you said earlier by the end of this that season y'all could have beaten anybody in the country anybody I mean y'all destroyed that Texas tech team in the cotton bowl that only had one loss I think it was to Oklahoma like you might have had Texas tech playing for national title had they not lost that game they beat Texas that year with Crabtree y'all could have beat anyone the the playoff thing what obviously it was it was the BC aspect and so you know with four losses it was different but y'all are probably the most dangerous team in the country back then and it was so crazy all that offensive talent you shehodge marcha green dextra McCluster was finally getting utilized like was that had to be the most fun year year for career because it's like this is what fun offense is like right like what was that like experiencing finally so funny story like we we go maybe the six games so now it's starting to get through to you but I'm still not getting about early in the year right so I'm getting kind of frustrated because now I'm like all right this

31:09is now a never like this is my senior year you know I don't really have that many yards I'm trying to go to the NFL so I'm getting frustrated we get halfway through the year we're out like it was cool at first I wasn't now we get to maybe like we play Auburn we beat Auburn but coach nut after the game his his daughters are there and they'll always be around and then they will always be around they were really cool as far as like just helping out with the team and stuff like that so after the game we were always they were really cool with everybody so after the game they said you speak to me I didn't really say much and then we had a team meeting we had a team meeting coach coach nut kind of goes all for me calls me out the guys have my uh but we had me jamarca by go to a parade Jerry uh Kendrick Lewis Jeremy McGee or Shay we were so tough on each other like really like we would be really tough on each other but not even just in a

32:11football way just like in life where we we were found we would play mad in every day and kind of pointing each other face if you lose and tell you you said all those different things so we were just like it was just all fun and games we go to the locker room these guys put all of my stuff in a like in a trash can in bed like you know how to hear because coach coach nut called me out in a meeting saying I was selfish and things like that like I wasn't celebrating that sparked the fire me so now we go to pray I'm just killing that practice now I'm just like fired up so now from that moment on the next game I get the bar bomb I told him like man put me at kicker turn you put me at kicker turn against I don't know where I probably was already playing kicker turn but the next game I like I go off and then the next game I go off it's all day my last stress like the second half was like the fun is out there but had easy at Ole Miss. Yeah I made Tiba cry that Florida game was probably kind of the moment that I think

33:13fans realized okay this team's like really good I know they had a tough loss like Wake Forest early in the year on a pretty good Wake Forest team last second kick but that went in the swamp I mean I think what was crazy about that is like that was no fluke that wasn't just like everything going together on the right day that was you could tell that team scored 31 points down there in the swamp they were that good do you remember that when I know it sounded like a confident the whole time but was that a big confidence builder for y'all for the rest of the year yeah I would say for the team but yeah I'm gonna bust we always knew we were good like we always knew we had a talent always just had to click because I think going into that year we were so like like South shot yeah we were like okay we get there we're getting there and then we just take off I'm like man we could be anybody we knew it we all knew it like the players like you say we're confident for sure that it wasn't even I'm gonna even say confidence I'm gonna say more like confirmation yeah like we yeah like we really like that like they came I think we come back

34:19and then we can have a bad loss I don't know maybe we play Vanderbilt yeah I think it well I think you're right I believe it was a loss to Vanderbilt the next week before y'all kind of went on a street there but that team was so good and you were actually that team's actually the last team that is beaten LSU in Death Valley and there's a famous clip from that game yeah Ole Miss had one down there since 08 when y'all won down there but there's a famous clip clip from that that game the driver sneaked just four for four that I think ends up with a touchdown to you down the right side of the field but the four throws he made on that drive three of them were as ridiculous as you you'll ever see I mean just right contested down the sod on he's God rest his soul but just how talented was he when he was on that's like that clip shows how elite he was listen he had a arm man and I was so happy because like my quarterbacks before no disrespect to them these days and it was kind of more like the play call and stuff like that to it it was just kind of like letting them air out but he could go with the best of them man at that point he could go with the

35:26best he was he was javvin was nice he had he had like strong on a nice spiral it was it was a time man now I remember it was day I remember that day vivid and it was it was fun how much easier does that make your life as a receiver like finally playing with a confident quarterback a lot easier it makes it a lot easier but on the flip side how much you know that it makes his life easier having yeah no yes the two way straight to share I think this one now but we had so much talent I think that year it was all because like we had the quarterback now who's going to throw with confidence he can run if he needs to and we had I will I receive like the the things we bought to the table was so different that it made us like really good yes she was one of the best contested past catches you going fire in the nation and dex you know dex was so shifting and quick and

36:27motor and me I'm taking the top off like my mother so if we would have found like that earlier in a year we would have beat everybody like bad honestly like I feel like we could have went underfeated we definitely could have won the championship because our our defense was crazy too like they were out the last talking and man that's what the last talk was beginning that year that was Tony Fon they had some dudes on that team Greg Hardy Kendrick Lewis there was a lot of man a lot of it yes we had some caches was out there playing well yeah I'm replayed well more say play well we had we had we had obviously parade was out there we had we had yeah so many guys we had control after it was playing well it was uh that was a hell of a team for you after that point you transition to kind of get ready for the NFL draft your third round pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers you end up having a hell of a career you played for one of the greatest quarterbacks of all times what was that transition to the NFL like like what I don't remember back then like where you were supposed to go draft wise what was the draft process like and take me through how you

37:30ended up in Pittsburgh uh the draft process I was a late invite to the senior but I think Lewis Murphy maybe didn't play I want to say Lewis didn't play and I got you know I was like a replacement guy but I get to the senior boy I'm killing him I'm on every day I practice I'm I'm doing my thing then the whole process was like I think I want to go first round obviously and it's time to go to the combine we do the combine uh they well there um after that it was draft time I thought initially after the season I thought I'd maybe go like foot round after the combine I thought I maybe go second round and I fell in the middle and when you ended up in Pittsburgh I have to imagine given what they were at the time that's kind of the the beginning of Rothschildsburgers prime what you had to be pretty excited to land where you landed it's a great organization what were your

38:32initial thoughts best ever so I mean honestly I'm gonna tell you the truth growing up I wasn't like the Pittsburgh Steelers fan but my brother was diehard my uncle was diehard but I'm like I didn't like them so much and then I was a 49ers fan growing up in the Saints fan I was a little to them from New Orleans yeah so we get there and I'm like I would watch Big Ben but you'd have to understand too that we were in college and at those times our practices in the schedule were so like brutal that we would watch some NFL games but we didn't really watch that many till where we were probably kind of see sports center and stuff like that and yeah you don't have time you really really just really just didn't have time so we're thinking about like the draft we get to I didn't know Big Ben was that good honestly I was talking about I remember fusing with a guy and training camp he played with Big Ben in college and I'm like and he's saying like you know

39:34seven is one of the best in the world but they had even though they had just one of the Super Bowl yeah they crazy throw I'm still looking at Big Ben like because they wouldn't just airing a ball out at that time like that so I'm thinking like he just has like a crazy defense and a lot of guys around him I'm not looking at him like a super league quarterback honestly so we get there we have in this fussy like crazy like something is one of the best in the world but I'm like in this point I'm like super New Orleans at this point yeah because the 49ers maybe they were good maybe they weren't I'm like super saints at this point I'm like man Drew praises the best and you know they had pain in their head time so I'm like man it's not like that you get to training camp and I'm like oh my god this is about to be so fun and then like you see all of the fans like there still has one of the biggest fan bases first of all so train camp that just everywhere they go it's an unbelievable crazy I went to and you know I came in and you they just want a Super Bowl when I get there so when I get there I'm like this is going on yeah this is crazy we coming from

40:38even though we won that Ole Miss like three years of terrible football like we were I don't know we probably won what four games it's like three three and four yeah like you're like so but then last year we have a good year and I'm like that's a little high but it's still not like we we we had a great cotton bowl we all of that was great but all like I said all of those happen so fast it's kind of like surreal then I get to the stillers and this train camp and this all these folks and Ben is just out there when I tell you willing and he's the man he doesn't want like two Super Bowers are already but he's only like 26 27 man best time in my life that was crazy he he was kind of just starting the promise career at that time like you mentioned that was only like his third or fourth year in the league or maybe even less than that when you got there what was that transition like to to the NFL I mean to massive fan base like you mentioned it's a great organization you're a third-ground pick when did you figure out hey I'm gonna play on this team like like I'm gonna have a role and

41:38this is gonna work out good so one thing about me I've always kind of been the underdog when it came to that stuff starting off like because like I said high school I played so late then college I'm barely was getting the ball so going in I was like okay I have to play my I'm not just here to be here but I was like high as war legend can't be here we can't can't get in front of him Santoni will had just called the catch I said can't get in front of him yeah so so then we had Lyman's suite Lyman's was like you know a second-round pick before highly tired of guys from Texas a lot of Lyman's but I was like that's gonna be my competition right there right because we didn't have a full bag in Pittsburgh so I was starting like we started three-wire receivers so I'm like I already training camp I'm like I got it I got to get him so we we're playing like we practice I'm having a good off-season but now it's training camp and uh something happened in practice but then

42:41I caught I don't know if Lyman's got hurt or whatever it was we're doing a two-minute drill I'm a third-wire receiver I run a corner route like 60-dollar touchdown in a two-minute drill all the fans going crazy you know it's uh the teammates like so I come back to the huddle and that's when it goes time I was like listen Mike if you can do that consistently you're gonna always have a head on game day and you're gonna be on the field and that's when I knew I was gonna have a role that at that moment and because the next drill we went to uh it was time to go three-wire receivers close to like Mike you in I was like oh now never came out ever you're a rookie year you have like 39 catches you start you play in all 16 games you start four as a rookie and then I was reading when I was researching for this and I kind of remember this play didn't you you had a catch against the Packers that kind of made you like a fan favorite and kind of a legend pretty quickly what what happened there for fresh my memory what was that play do you remember what I'm talking

43:41about yeah it was the last play of the game uh season pretty much on the line we didn't end up going to playoffs but if we were to lost that game we were out of the playoffs so it was the last play zero zero seconds left on the clock and I kind of run the fade I'm not thinking I'm going to get the ball honest I'm like I'm a rookie we have high we have a tone we have heat mill we have so many more options I'm like I'm just kind of running I'm open it bent throws I'm talking about a dot sideline keep my toes in zero seconds on the clock and we tied a game up and all we had to do was kick the uh field though we kicked the extra point one again ball golf I've never been through none like that in my life I bet that was incredible and so you spend four seasons in Pittsburgh and then I believe you hit free agency in 2012 and you get your first I we you on a rookie deal all four those years it's it sounds like that Miami contract was your first major contract I know that's probably a lot of times for guys when you're as I this is like a business this is not like

44:46college is much different what was that time like for you I know you probably enjoyed your time in Pittsburgh but what would that like going through free agency and in order to get your first big payday having to go somewhere else what was that like well it was amazing just because I could get to change my family's life yeah like you know like I love to Pittsburgh like football wise couldn't find a better organization I would say like just end up fast like just everything it was it was amazing and the team I had like it was a tough decision because it's like man this is amazing team but I'm like I have to change this business you have to change I have to change my my family's like life so uh I was the no one player pretty much on and free agency I think I was flackled uh me and her with high but flackle was already like they had just won the Super Bowl it took him off to this quick so now it's just like now I'm like thank I'm about to get what because it's like so real like like I don't I never had that kind of like I can't from much and nothing we growing and then I was like like a two star so I was never like the guy until I was in Pittsburgh and then like we have a

45:53crew and we were just like we were the old guy we were all those guys but I never never imagined it like even though I'm making some money I'm like all right you want a rookie deal you making but I don't know $400,000 but you can't have ticking taxes so no I'm kind of living you have to live kind of modest you have to be smart like you can't just throw your money but then now you get to free agency and they're like you the number one player in the market like my agent called and he told me with the with the dolphins were off I was like oh my god this is crazy I mean your life changes as soon as you sound the dotted long as you mentioned like that's good money but you're not like rich to where you change your life overnight when you sound something like that that's what I was going to ask you next is some guys like you see this in baseball sometimes the guy gets the big contract and then they're maybe not as motivated and just kind of fall off but for but there's also probably got to be a freeing element of like hey man I've made it like let's just go play football now what was that like for you were you as motivated as ever did you just free you up

46:54what was it like playing as a 60 million dollar contract guy I think it was a mix of both like man we hear now like and like I said I always manifest things so I didn't really it was like a surprise to me but it was still like once an accident happened like this is great but I'm always motivated though the money didn't really motivate me like that it was just the one to win and like kill his guy in front of me whenever you line up against me it was the competition of it like that me like so it didn't it didn't change anything like how I thought my team just changed my quarterback saying my coaches saying and that was the difference but for me I was always the same guy the whole way through toughest DB you ever went up against the NFL man I don't know where he yet there wasn't a tough one man oh jello man yeah that's a really good guy but I mean

47:58I don't feel like nobody could stop me man so the one that came to mind I know he was a safety but what's it like playing on the same field is like Ed Reed I know he's kind of an all-time legend he's the division out where he went really like what how like how can you put into words like how good that guy was okay real words is described on this is the same way it's Troy like there's no way you can even describe like how good these guys were but I'm gonna tell you you know who I think I had I had that cornerback he was on my team though so it was practice grand-grimes is one of the most underrated like at least you know the fine man who was real legit he was really legit but I had I mean I played with some really good cornerback because like I'm not saying it there like he was better than them but the way he played was like a little challenging football comes to an end for everybody at some point and toward the end of

49:03your career I think you you had a short stint with Phil Adolfia what was that like I know that can be a top transition but you had one hell of an NFL career when you walk away from football were you at peace with everything it was me I was because I felt like I did a great job for the situations I was putting I mean though I put myself in a situation when I left Pittsburgh then things change when you're not able to team you get drafted too I promise you that and then you start making a lot of money and different factors go into it I think I did well for low situations and I had them myself well but it was bittersweet because I cracked my favorite so I only played in Philly one year and I didn't battle it play because I cracked my favorite like maybe the second drive of the second game so that point if I wanted to just been able to like all right she's walk away it would have been cool but it's kind of like I did still walk away because they

50:03called a few times like the next year but it wasn't the same I ain't going to feel the same so that was a bittersweet part about I love I love playing football it was great it was great time in my life but you know the transition had to be made at some point and I'm at peace with like I'm higher than played I mean for a two star kid from New Orleans you you had a career that 0.001 percent of of players have a NFL it's so far beyond the average shelf life of an NFL player it was it was an awesome career last thing for I'll let you get out of here just when you reflect back on your football career what not what do you think I know actually it's beginning but what do you think it'll be like Saturday do you think it'll bring back some memories of being on the field and kind of where your football career took off for sure for sure it's gonna be fun I'm gonna excited about it just like let my family see the thing is like they're not gonna get the same Oxford that I got right it was waiting back then yeah it's gonna be much better now not saying I was in good it's just like time and development and stuff like that just the the way our program

51:04has ascended since I've left and the way like they've been able to hold this this status now I know it's gonna be even crazy it was crazy when we were and went in two and three games and it was always sold out so I could imagine like now when I went back like two years ago it was great but even since two years we've gotten even better and you know training that is going he's got to sit in my fire right now so it's gonna be a good one what what have you done since football like where are you based out of now what he what have you kind of had going on since I'm in Texas and Houston this kind of you know do a lot of investing and just trying to be the best man best dad I could be this is like like that was my main thing like just trying to come home I miss so much time with my kids that I just want to come home and just be the best dad be the most available dad that I could be and just you know to be the best person I would be honest what do you think's gonna happen Saturday we got a beat on 50 you know you went 15 nothing I love that that's a great prediction

52:07Mike Wallace Ole Miss legend this was a special treat for me man thank you for carving some time out of your day I really enjoyed it thank you for joining the chef anytime brother that's going to do it for our share today I'll have an LSU preview out tomorrow with Glenn West of the LSU on three sites plus five things I'll be looking for in this game as I do every Friday so be on the lookout for that thanks for listening as always we'll talk to you again here real soon