Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling and no relationship is created between the show host or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective counties crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: Welcome back everybody. This is the Bama Balance. Real stories about college students, mental health. We've got a room full of guests today.
We've got two new guest co host for this episode. We've got Cameron Morgan, Adnai Ross, Adonai. Cameron, it's great to have you here. How's it feel?
[00:01:00] Speaker C: It feels really good.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:01:01] Speaker D: Absolutely.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: What's it, what's it? So I know Cameron, you were a guest here a few, maybe a season ago or last year. What does it feel like to be sitting in a co host seat?
[00:01:11] Speaker C: It feels really good. It's really, really good that you allowed me to come back, you know, from that transition period for me being undergraduate now grad graduate student here at ua. So it's very good be back.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: Is life different as a graduate student,
[00:01:25] Speaker C: give or take? It's. I'm still around, still helping out where I can. So it's good to be like in a different role, like not really that many responsibilities. But you're still like still around to help out.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I knew you so you were such a great guest that I knew you would enjoy this opportunity and looking forward to it.
[00:01:42] Speaker C: Oh yeah,
[00:01:43] Speaker B: I'm looking forward to, to have new year. How about you? AD and I.
[00:01:46] Speaker D: I'm excited to be here. This is my first time.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:48] Speaker D: Being on the show or on the podcast and so I'm very excited to experience it.
[00:01:53] Speaker B: Have you done anything before?
[00:01:54] Speaker D: Never.
[00:01:55] Speaker B: So it was interesting. I saw. So I asked AD and I about whether she would want to be a co host on the, on the podcast because I enjoy hearing you talk.
[00:02:08] Speaker D: I
[00:02:08] Speaker B: don't know.
I enjoy hearing you talk and you know, thinking that would be great.
[00:02:16] Speaker D: Well, I'm honored.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: Plus, you know, plus, you know, you're our first woman guest co host.
[00:02:21] Speaker D: Devil the Honor.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:22] Speaker D: That's amazing.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: Yeah. No, honestly, that's really kind of cool.
So it's nice, it's nice to have that addition to the podcast. Have you had a chance to listen to any of the previous episodes?
[00:02:33] Speaker D: I have Edward Fountain put me onto the Podcast. And so I've watched or listened to a couple.
[00:02:40] Speaker B: What are your thoughts?
[00:02:41] Speaker D: I think it's really cool.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:43] Speaker D: Especially coming from. I watched a couple a couple of years ago, and I thought it was really cool then and now to be able to be in the room while it's being made, like, is super exciting.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: We're in the room where it happens.
[00:02:59] Speaker C: Our rose leads back to Hamilton.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: That's right. That's right. Now, I'm glad you guys are here.
I know that.
So we've got, what, Halloween coming up?
Right? Do you have plans for that?
Any of you?
[00:03:14] Speaker C: I'm going out with my friends. I'm going to be Michael. Michael Jackson from the Grammys. It was, like, 19 in the 1980s. One, like, seven Grammys that whole night.
[00:03:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, epic Michael.
[00:03:25] Speaker C: Yeah. So I spent the whole entire week bedazzling, like, the whole entire outfit. So it's going to be interesting to see. Well,
[00:03:31] Speaker B: like it. So you got the glove. The secret glove and everything. That's awesome.
That's cool. How about for you? I don't know. What are you going to do?
[00:03:40] Speaker D: I think I'll just be hanging around Tuscaloosa. I might have, like, a time to hang out with some of my friends.
I have one, like, charcuterie board costume, and so I might bring a charcuterie board and be A charcuterie board. Yeah. And it has, like, removable keys and salami from Party City. Back when Party City was still here.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay. Well, I can't wait to maybe see that.
[00:04:03] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: I was just thinking, too, that we're right off of homecoming week, which is an amazing time. It's always a fun time here on campus with homecoming week.
[00:04:14] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: Did you. What? Did you do anything special for that week? I don't know.
[00:04:17] Speaker D: I didn't. But even just, like, walking around the quad and.
[00:04:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:21] Speaker D: Feeling the energy. I feel like homecoming week just brings such a fun energy and, like, everyone's excited.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:04:27] Speaker D: We were playing Texas A and M. I'm from Texas, so it was cool to see all the people in their Texas A and M gear. And, like, we, like. No, I don't like the Aggies. When I was raised, like, you know, Aggies, so. So it was a great week for me.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: So it wasn't even a question who you were gonna root for.
[00:04:41] Speaker D: Oh, absolutely.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: Roll Tide. Okay, that's good. Let's go. Did you have friends come down for the game?
[00:04:47] Speaker D: I didn't, but a couple of people planned to, but then plans kind of fell through.
[00:04:51] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:04:51] Speaker D: But I'm grateful for that because for their sake. Because we won. So they wouldn't have been able to
[00:04:56] Speaker B: live. That's right. Well, good, good. How about for you? I know I saw you.
[00:04:59] Speaker C: Yeah, I was busy that whole entire week just going around campus, you know, enjoying the festivities. Pumping. I really love going around Soro, looking at the pumping. And also went to the step show
[00:05:13] Speaker B: on
[00:05:13] Speaker C: Friday and then came back to the mansion on Saturday.
[00:05:17] Speaker B: Remarkable step show.
[00:05:18] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. Very enjoyed the creativity was like there.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: You know, I think I may have seen you earlier, but I think that was maybe my most. My most favorite step show, like theme and just performance that I've seen.
[00:05:30] Speaker C: Halloween is like, you really can't go wrong. That's right. Everybody, theme. Everyone knew what the theme was. Everybody creativity was there, so I really enjoyed it. Shout out.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: There you go. Yeah, no, for sure. It was fantastic. Such great spirits, such great. Such great energy.
[00:05:44] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:05:46] Speaker B: And looking forward to this episode, too. We've got some great energy and some good company in the room with our guest for this episode.
And so with that, we'll be right back. This is the Bama Balance.
[00:06:13] Speaker E: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling, and no relationship is created between the show hosts or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective counties crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
[00:06:57] Speaker C: All right, guys, we're back on the Bama Balance. We have a very special guest here, Brody McCutcheon. Great to have you here.
How about you just give us a little rundown about you and your journey, you know, here at Bama and just. Just let us know about yourself.
[00:07:10] Speaker F: Yeah, absolutely. You know, appreciate y' all having me. Appreciate you, Dr. Perez. You know, how I got here is I worked here this summer, and he, you know, he. He reached out, you know, would I be interested being a guest? And I said, absolutely. So, yeah, like I said, man. My name is Brody McCutcheon. I'm a sophomore athletically. I'm about to be a senior academically, so I'm kind of on a little fast pace there. But I'm from Gaddin, Alabama, actually south side, but a lot of people don't know where that is. But so our north of Birmingham. So you Know, homegrown. Always been a fan of the Tide, you know, grew up always wearing an Alabama jersey, running around with a football in my hand. So that's just kind of where I ended up here. I'm a sport management major. I really enjoy that. I hope to go in coaching, you know, after I'm done playing here.
I just really enjoy just the overall experience here as a student. You know, this is a podcast about student mental health, right. And I think that it's. It's a great place to be. You know, I've been other places before, and this is definitely. It's a great place to be. But I have a great family, so that really helps. Great support system.
An older sister, she's off and living on her own and, you know, got her big girl job. She lives in New Orleans.
Got a little brother, he's in fifth grade, so he's getting up there. He loves coming to the games. I got two great parents, Amber and Jacob, so that, you know, great family and got some great friends here, you know, teammates and stuff like that. I really enjoy this place. You know, playing sports and going to school can be a lot, but I think this is definitely the best place you can do it.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: That's fantastic.
[00:08:41] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: Brody, you were. We were talking earlier and. And your journey here to Alabama, I think, was pretty special. Can you say.
Can you describe that again? Yeah,
[00:08:50] Speaker F: absolutely. So coming out of high school, you know, I knew I wanted to play college football from a very young age.
And then once, you know, I got into middle school, you know, coaches like, hey, you know, if you take this seriously, you could probably definitely go play college football. So definitely, I kind of took that word and ran with it and started working out, started training with my trainer, Coachell, step by step in Birmingham. And, you know, he had a lot of connections, and that's. That's. That's the game of college football, especially now more than ever, is business. There's money being involved, and everybody's getting paid. So just like any other business, all about connections. Who do you know,
[00:09:21] Speaker B: right,
[00:09:21] Speaker F: you know, shake the right hand and take you anywhere. So, you know, trained with him for a long time. Started my freshman year, all the way, all the way through. And my senior year, I had an opportunity to go to a couple different schools that, you know, things fell through. Coaches left and, you know, different coaches came in and, you know, different players transferred in and, you know, commit one place, coach leave. So I kind of rattled out my senior year and my senior year I was going to a school that was an hour away from my home. So we moved as a family for my senior year to be eligible to play there.
And doing that, it was kind of like the best interest of my family. And, you know, having a brother that we only lived there for, you know, just a football season, a semester. So I just couldn't graduate high school early. So I did. I graduated in December, took a. Took a semester my senior year in the summer. And then, you know, that first semester of senior year was really my last.
[00:10:06] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:10:07] Speaker F: So then once I graduated, it's kind of looking around like, hey, you know, what do I do? You know, I prayed about it a lot. I mean, I'm really strong in my faith and believe that and, you know, trust the words, you know, going to take you where you need to be. And everything happened for a reason. So I ended up at Virginia Wise.
It was fully paid for. And, you know, I thought, okay, this is my. This is where I'm. You know, this is my shot. Here we go. And started there in January, and after that, you know, it just didn't really work out. Wasn't kind of what I thought it was going to be. It was all kind of rushed there. At the end of my senior year, we played in the state championship game on December 5.
I graduated December 12, and then on January 3, I was living in Virginia.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:10:43] Speaker F: So it was a really. A quick turnaround. And, you know, I'm up here in 8 inches of snow and,
[00:10:47] Speaker B: oh, my goodness,
[00:10:48] Speaker F: it don't snow around here. So I don't know what to do. Can't go anywhere. And. Yeah, but things didn't work out there. You know, I just kind of met with the program and the coach and said, you know, I think you have a program trend in the right direction, but for me, and, you know what I need, I just don't think it's where I need to be. And I had that conversation with him entering the portal.
I did not know what was going to happen there. Had no idea, you know, really.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: Right.
[00:11:07] Speaker F: Virginia was not. It wasn't a great place for me, honestly. Is a mental health podcast, and I had terrible mental health up there. And I've never really experienced mental health in my life before. You know, struggle with that at all. I got up there and it was just far from home. There wasn't much to do. I didn't know anybody. Weather wasn't great. Didn't really have a great program.
[00:11:24] Speaker B: And this is south, like in southwest Virginia. Exactly what you're talking about.
[00:11:28] Speaker F: In the mountains.
[00:11:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about Wise County, Virginia. Is not. Is not.
I mean, it's. It's Wise County, Virginia. That's right. Which is a different part of the state.
And. No, I know that area. I used to travel over there and visit. So it's. It's kind of rugged.
[00:11:44] Speaker F: Yeah, it definitely is.
If, you know, coming from gas in Birmingham, Tuscaloos area, and you go there, you're just kind of like, man, where am I at
[00:11:51] Speaker B: right now?
[00:11:52] Speaker F: I used to life like this.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: Right.
[00:11:54] Speaker F: So it was definitely a different place, for sure. I mean, in that town there, there's a McDonald's and a Walmart named Taco Bell. And that's. That's it. If you want to go see a movie or do anything, you got to drive. Closest place was Bristol.
[00:12:06] Speaker B: Yes, Bristol, Tennessee.
[00:12:07] Speaker F: That's the closest place. It's about an hour and 20 minutes. So if you wanted to do anything, that's where you had to go. So it was a tough time up there. And, you know, called my parents one day and was just like, I gotta make a change. You know, not. Not happy here. My grades aren't showing it. You know, my life isn't showing it. You know, it was just tough. Especially at the same time, you know, all my friends are still in their senior year. And that second semester, senior year, is where all the really. The activities are, prom and all that stuff are going on. You know, I'm just sitting in this dorm room and in. In Virginia, and it's snowing, and I'm just like, oh, my gosh.
So, yeah, we entered the portal and I came home. I've had to finish up school there. All right. So I was, you know, entered in March or April and had to stay through May 8th. I'll never forget that it was May 8th. Had a circle on that calendar. Oh,
[00:12:46] Speaker B: wow.
Yeah.
[00:12:48] Speaker F: So I came home and reached out with some coaches that recruited me out of high school and had a relationship with some of those guys and, you know, was reaching out with them and sending them some. Now I have some college film. Even though it's just practice, you know, it's still college.
[00:13:00] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:13:01] Speaker F: Competition. So I'm, you know, trying to see what's gonna happen there.
Coach Brown, his name was Alec Brown. He's from the Birmingham area, and I knew him. He'd watched me play in high school, and he was at Southern Miss now. He'd been all around.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: Got it.
[00:13:13] Speaker F: And so I was like, okay. You know, he. They offered me opportunity to come play there, and I said yes and was Picking out my dorm. And he called me and it was on a Tuesday morning, and he called me. He's like, you know, we're gonna send over the information. We see you sign it. And I was like, all right, sounds good. And my trainer, Coachell, calls me, literally probably 10 minutes later, driving down the road, going fishing, calls me and he says, there's going to be a guy from Tuscaloosa call. Answer it. And I said, I didn't know what he's talking about. I said, okay, coach out. To me, it's fun. So what's up? Phone number rings 205.
It was Bob Weldon. He offered me a PWO here.
[00:13:45] Speaker B: Okay. PWO is
[00:13:47] Speaker F: preferred. Walk on.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: So
[00:13:49] Speaker F: it's just opportunity to, you know, it's. You don't have to try out. You're already on the team, magazine, you know, all the same type stuff. But, you know, they're not going to give you any scholarship, athletic money at the time, which I had some academic money and other things, opportunities that came forward. So I said, you know, absolutely. And I told the coach from Southern Miss, I called him, he understood. He did the same thing. He was committed somewhere and took a PW to Auburn. So he was super nice. You know, they're great people and I have friends that play there, but, you know, that's my story. That's how I ended up here. It was a long journey and a lot of ups and downs, and he definitely didn't know what was coming next. But, you know, everything's happened for a reason. Just stay the process.
[00:14:22] Speaker B: Gosh, that's amazing. How has it been for you here since settling in?
[00:14:26] Speaker F: Oh, it's been awesome. Yeah. Yeah, it's been awesome. Would not change for the world.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: That's remarkable. That's. That's an incredible journey that.
That you've experienced from. From Gadsden to Wise county to here.
[00:14:37] Speaker F: Absolutely.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: So right now. And you play what position?
[00:14:41] Speaker F: I'm a
[00:14:41] Speaker B: safety. Safety? Yes, sir. Yeah. Did you. So had you in the high school, was that always your position or did you.
[00:14:46] Speaker F: So when I started out playing, playing football, started sixth grade was the first time I played.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:14:52] Speaker F: My dad. I would beg my dad to play. Gosh, I would beg. He wouldn't let me. He just didn't think. He was always too young, wasn't ready.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: Yeah, you
[00:14:58] Speaker F: know, it's. You know, it's kind. It's a dangerous sport. Yeah. And he just felt like, you know, there's no. There's not a point to be fine. So I started the rule with Seventh grade, middle school. But after a lot of begging, he finished me, let me play sixth grade. So I started out playing corner in sixth grade and I actually played and Zon Gibson, who's a corner here for us, he. His dad was our coach
[00:15:16] Speaker B: really.
[00:15:17] Speaker F: So that's how I know Z. Yeah. Small world. So me and Zion played on the same team and a bunch of other girls. I think we had like on our defense that year. I think we had seven of the. I know it's peewee football, but seven of us playing
[00:15:27] Speaker B: Division 1 football right now or something. Yeah,
[00:15:29] Speaker F: yeah. So seven of those guys are end up playing Division 1 football. So we were pretty good. So at least. And then got into middle school, started playing, you know, running back, started playing corner again.
When I got into high school, they put me outside linebacker.
I wanted to play safety and they felt like, you know, maybe not ready for that yet. We'll push you. Outside linebacker. So started my freshman season playing outside linebacker. Played my sophomore season outside linebacker, but not as a scene, as, you know, a college outside linebacker rhyme. You know, really a lot of scrimmage. Really just an off the ball true outside. Old school. Really like a nickel, to be honest with you.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:59] Speaker F: You know, they called it outside linebacker. I was really playing like star or nickel. So I played that. And then my junior year, I played safety. With my first full season playing safety, did pretty well. Senior year, played safety again.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:16:11] Speaker F: So that's how I ended up
[00:16:12] Speaker B: playing safety. That's, that's, that's an amazing journey. And, and do you, do you feel like that's your position?
[00:16:18] Speaker F: Absolutely, Yeah. I enjoy it. I always. My favorite player always was Eddie Jackson.
[00:16:22] Speaker B: All right.
[00:16:23] Speaker F: Growing up. And I actually met him this weekend in the locker room. We got a picture. So full circle moment. My mom sent me a picture.
She was like, you know, 10 or 11 years ago today was your first Alabama game. And I had on Eddie Jackson jersey at the game and met him the same day. So it was really cool.
[00:16:38] Speaker B: That is. That's very cool.
[00:16:39] Speaker F: Awesome.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: And that's amazing. Have you ever heard such a journey like that?
[00:16:43] Speaker C: Right? No, I
[00:16:44] Speaker B: don't know that.
[00:16:44] Speaker C: It's amazing.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:45] Speaker F: That's a blessing for sure.
[00:16:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. I don't know that anyone has a similar journey. I mean, maybe. Yeah, I mean, maybe some similarities, but I think just.
Just some of the challenges you mentioned too.
[00:16:59] Speaker F: Yeah, it was
[00:17:00] Speaker B: kind of interesting and, and I'm glad we've got a chance to, to have you here today. We'll, we'll be talking more about Kind of your experience and particularly around, you know, college mental health as it pertains to student athletes, too, and your experience with that.
[00:17:21] Speaker C: This will wrap up our section for the BAMA Balance, and we'll see you on the next session.
[00:17:42] Speaker E: Wvuafm, Tuscaloosa.
[00:17:44] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling, and no relationship is created between the show hosts or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective counties crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
[00:18:26] Speaker D: Thank you so much for sharing your story, Brody. Can you just tell us more about mental health and its role with athletes?
[00:18:33] Speaker F: Absolutely. So, you know, I think mental health wasn't probably not something that I grew up hearing about. I don't think really many girls are hearing about it, especially now. You know, now it's kind of everybody face it. Maybe my brother hears about it growing up. He's younger than him, but at the time I was growing up, you know, was there not. Social media wasn't as big, Cell phones wasn't as big. Such and such. Right. So I didn't grow up hearing about it. Not in, you know, at least in my house.
[00:18:54] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:18:55] Speaker F: But I did grow up going to church. And, you know, maybe it wasn't mental health called that, but there was always stories that you heard. Right. Of things. You know, they didn't call it mental health in the Bible, but I'm pretty sure David, you know, when he's sitting down there in the den, he probably does not have the greatest mental health.
[00:19:09] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:19:10] Speaker F: So, you know, I just grew up with that. I have a great church family. We've always went Ohachi Church of Christ. My mom's been going there for Lord knows how long. I guess 45 years, however old she is. Wow. I'm probably gonna get in trouble for saying. I was gonna
[00:19:22] Speaker B: say you probably need to know your mom's birthday,
[00:19:24] Speaker F: Brody. Yeah, you know, she's probably. She's 30, guys. She's always been 30. But.
No, but, yeah. So great place out there in, oh, Hatchie that we, you know, every Sunday, you know, we were there and my parents taught class. I was involved, so. But once you get older, it's kind of not, you know, what is your faith, not what is your family's Faith, Right. And so, you know, I think there was definitely times where I went through those times of being a teenager and, you know, feeling like, well, I go to church on Sunday, you know, or, you know, and, you know, maybe fake is. Maybe you're not a Christian, right. And you still have your student athlete. And so for me, it's staying prayed up.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: Right.
[00:19:57] Speaker F: That helps. That's. That's just my personal opinion. Right. I think that's what's important to me. And, you know, there's a lot of times that are hard, especially on my journey, that, you know, I saw my parents make a lot of sacrifice, which helped me understand from a young age what things are supposed to look like. And, you know, sacrifices have to be made. Right. But I think that they got that from having a great relationship with the Lord and, you know, they have a great marriage that's, you know, intertwined with. With the Word and that. That's what's preached in my house and that's how we were taught growing up. So I think I. I really had no choice but to succeed. So when I do think that, you know, there's been a lot of difficult moments in my journey, ups and downs and things that you don't understand. And those are hard times. You know, I call them. I call them, you know, staring moments. You just kind of sit at that edge, your bed, and you're just staring there.
You're not. You're a lot of thoughts. You're just sitting there, man, like, well, you're thinking. Your head's everywhere. For me, when I catch myself in those moments, it's, you know, where's my Bible at? You know, I. I find that Bible.
And there's been plenty of times where I'm not some perfect Christian or I'm not some Billy Graham, you know, where I'm not reading my Bible for long periods of time. And I'm not saying prayed up, but, you know, I'm just so thankful to have so many people in my life praying for me when I'm not even praying, praying for myself. That helps me tremendously. My mother texts me every day a message in the morning that she's prayed for me and something encouraging. It might be a virse, you know, our parents, they pray together every morning for. My dad leaves for work. So I know that in my grandparents, I had so many people praying for me when there was difficult moments in my life when I was in, you know, in these dark times in the Valley, as my, as my dad always says that I wasn't, you Know, probably praying as much as I should have or reading my Bible. But, you know, for me, when you get into those staring moments, like I said, you got to go back to that. So, you know, really answer your question more as a student athlete. What's that like? You know, students go through a lot as it is, and I don't want to take away anybody. Obviously, not everybody has a opportunity to play athletics in college, even if they'd like to. And I understand. They. Everybody. They have challenges that I don't understand, and we have challenges they wouldn't understand.
As an athlete, though, you're. You're challenged more of, you know, every. Every day of everything you're doing is analyzed. You know, we have a saying, you're only as good as your last rep.
You know, well, in life, if I. If I see you on the street, you probably don't know what my last rep was like, what last decision I made. You might not know. It was a poor decision. But in football and athletics, they know what your last rep was. You're only as good as what you put on tape.
[00:22:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:17] Speaker F: So, you know, if I go out there and have a bad day, that's what I am that day. I'm a bad football player now. I got the opportunity the next time to become a better football
[00:22:23] Speaker B: player.
[00:22:24] Speaker F: Right. But that's definitely something weighs on you mentally. You know, you have that and learning plays and, you know, just struggling, being far from home. A lot of athletes are far from home. I was far from home in Virginia, so that's hard. You're usually people you don't know, and, you know, you're still at a young age and people are asking a lot out of you. And there's a lot of, you know, you got to think these coaches, their jobs are on the line of your. How you perform. Sure. At any. I don't care what sport you're playing. Football, basketball, lacrosse.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:48] Speaker F: You know, that coach is trying to put food on his family based on your performance.
[00:22:52] Speaker B: That's a lot that rests on a student athlete's shoulders. And I, and I.
And I really value the point you made in terms of how here at the University of Alabama, as students, we're students, and then there are certainly experiences that different student groups have related to their mental health that may not necessarily be known to everyone or to all groups. And I think, particularly with our student athletes, it can be a very closed or insular group where we don't necessarily get a chance to. To. To know student athletes as students, where we see them on the field, we see them on the hardwood and, you know, we see them on the courts, and we just don't know them as students. And, And I, And. And I appreciate you sharing that. That.
That journey or that journey with us in terms of. And then also the, The. The sense of resilience that you've had to develop for yourself as a part of that. How faith really plays into that is so important. You mentioned some challenges. Is there any one challenge that comes to mind where you've. Where you felt challenged in your mental health and in your faith and what did you do to come out of that?
[00:24:11] Speaker F: Yeah, I would probably say for me, it was definitely when I got to. Through Virginia out of high school, you know, here I am thinking, okay, you know, take it. Exhale. You know, like I said, we had played in the state championship game, so I'm about 30 days removed from losing my state championship game on a field goal, which is tough. Put it all in line. Your senior year, you want to win state, you don't, that's fine.
But like I said, we had live in a different city there at the time. So, you know, here we are moving back to Gadsden, where I'm from, and I think I was home maybe four or five days total. You know, we had Christmas and all that.
Probably four or five days, maybe a week, just laying in my own bed in my house for my friends and my neighborhood that I've always grew up in before I, you know, in Virginia, you get up there and you think, okay, like, it's all going to be good. This is going to be, like I said in the movies, is college. You know, it's college athletics. Like, here we go. It's going to be a good time. There's going to be stuff to do, and you get up there and it's just like, here, you're dumping me in the second semester here, which is,
[00:25:08] Speaker B: yeah,
[00:25:09] Speaker F: probably the worst semester to get dumped into. So when you. Some of you don't think about them. So I'm up there and it's tough. And after first few weeks, you know, everything's good at the beginning. I'm happy inside of it. Once we started to get into it, I just noticed, like, man, I don't know if we're doing enough here. You know, I came from a really good program in high school. Moody was my program. But I had a great coach before that, Coach Holcomb, who, you know, really taught me a lot. And Coach Gaines was my head coach, and he played it. He played at UAB and played at Georgia. It was all SEC in 2016. And he was a great player. So we had a great program. I knew what it looked like to win.
[00:25:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:41] Speaker F: You know, and winning's really only done one way. I don't care what level you're at. So I kind of get up there, I'm looking around. I'm thinking, I know. I'm just a high school kid. What do I know? You know? So let me. Let me give this some time. You know, I call my dad. I was just like. He's like, how's it going? I'm thinking, you know, I don't really feel like we're doing enough. But, you know, this is college, so it's different. And so we started going through that, and we get into spring ball, and nothing's really changed. I'm just like, man, I'm not liking this place. Snowing all the time. When I say snowing all the time, I got there January 5th. The first day there was not snow on the ground. Was February, like, 27th, like, around Valentine's Day.
[00:26:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:17] Speaker F: And then that would only lasted, like a day. Then it was snowing again.
I remember it was April on it. It was like a week before my birthday. Snow's eight inches.
[00:26:26] Speaker B: Gosh.
[00:26:27] Speaker F: I'm just like, man. Which is not good for me. I hate to snow. Yeah. You think you like it from Alabama because it never snows here. I don't know. You can go live, Right? It's
[00:26:34] Speaker B: right. It's a different feeling.
[00:26:36] Speaker F: So, you know, all of that is weighing on me. I'm sitting up here. I don't have any friends up here that I know, and I'm trying to make friends, but it's hard because it's second semester. There's no freshman, everybody. You might be a freshman, but you're really not a freshman anymore.
[00:26:48] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:26:49] Speaker F: everybody's got their friend groups. They know what's going on. And I have no idea for me, what I do back home a lot when I'm trying to get my mind off stuff or just be with. Be with the Lord is I go fish. I love fish. I do it all the time. And there's nobody out there. Being on the water is just awesome. I have a boat. I fix boats all the time.
[00:27:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:04] Speaker F: So being on the water is awesome. Well, I can't do that because it's snowing all the time and the lakes are frozen.
[00:27:09] Speaker B: Frozen.
[00:27:09] Speaker F: So I can't fish. And I'm like, okay, well, I can't go to a movie. I can't escape there's no escape. And I had this terrible roommate.
It's just not a good experience.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Oh, man.
[00:27:20] Speaker F: Terrible roommate. Terrible
[00:27:21] Speaker B: roommate.
[00:27:22] Speaker F: They moved me rooms because I just. I told my coach like this. Was
[00:27:25] Speaker B: he a student athlete? He's
[00:27:26] Speaker F: not an athlete. Okay. Which didn't mesh well. I'm getting up early in the morning to go lift. He's coming in about the time I'm going to bed.
[00:27:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:32] Speaker F: Or getting up. So they moved me, and I'm by myself for about three weeks. So they move somebody else in. And he was an athlete, so that helped.
[00:27:40] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:27:41] Speaker F: But that was a tough time. And I'm. And I'm in this dark place. And so we get to spring ball. That's what I'm doing. Really riding out hope on is once we get to spring ball, I can start playing real football. I can see how it's coaching, you know, that'll give me my mind. And we get to spring ball, and it's terrible. It's just terrible. You know, the coaching's not good. I know. And I know. I just know immediately from. From day one. And I call my dad and I called my high school position coach, and I was like, this is bad. I don't know what we're gonna do, but this is bad. And they're just like, you know, hey, just trust the process. Stay with it. Keep stacking days. You know, my dad is. I just saying that I. That he's always told me since I can remember. And it's. It's always been. It'll happen all of a sudden over a long period of time. And that can be confusing when you hear it. Yeah. Doesn't really make contradict. It's very contradicting statement. You know, this can happen all of a sudden, but it's true. Happens all of a sudden over a long period of time. There's a thousand ways of saying that, but I truly believe that.
And so, you know, we're. We're up there and it's not going well, and I'm really in a bad spot. And my best friend, Mason Stevens is. We're inseparable. You know, I talk to her on the way over here. He asked me what I was doing, but he would cut. He knew I was in a bad place. He would call me every single day, and we'd be in. I'd be in class with AirPod in on the phone. That joker would call me every single day for hours. And that really helped me a lot. He knew I was in a bad place, and that helped me a Lot. You get
[00:28:55] Speaker B: their support,
[00:28:56] Speaker F: right? Yeah. And, you know, my family was praying for me a lot. My parents, they really put a lot of prayer into it. And, you know, I was. I was struggling in my faith just being there. I didn't understand why I had went through everything that I had went through to get to that moment. Moment. And. And then it just become more. I didn't know. This is a hard part of my life. I was understanding, you know, why is this happening? I don't understand.
[00:29:16] Speaker B: Right.
[00:29:16] Speaker F: You know, if. You know, if you live a. A good life, you know, quote unquote. And I'm trying to stay. I don't. I try to live a good Christian life. Right. And then I just can't catch a break. It feels like.
[00:29:27] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:29:28] Speaker F: And I was dealing with that kind of, you know, thoughts, you know, that really aren't real thoughts. It's just stuff from the enemy that, you know, you get in your head and. Sure, I'm dealing with that and
[00:29:36] Speaker B: feel discouraged. You feel, like, really down and there's no help in sight.
[00:29:41] Speaker F: Everything's against you. Yeah. Right. And that's. That's where the devil wants to keep you. If you can get you there. It's the worst place to be, which is really to go back to the thing about mental health. That's the worst place you could find yourself. You find yourself in that. In that corner down there. It's bad. But my dad always says if you can look up, you can get up. And that's just so true. So I remember, I.
It gets later in spring ball fall, and it's warming up. It's in April, and it's warm enough where I can go fishing at a pond Now. It's still cold.
[00:30:07] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. It doesn't warm up all of a sudden. You're right.
[00:30:10] Speaker F: It's still pretty cold. So I'm out there in a. In a hoodie and sweatpants, but I can go. And I'm sitting and I'm walking to this. There's a pond not far from campus out there, and there's like a trail and there's bears and everything.
[00:30:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:22] Speaker F: And I'm walking out there and I just sit down on this little, like, bridge thing over this ditch where water runs off this mountain because it's all mountains.
And I'm just sitting there and I don't even remember while I was there. I'm just sitting there and I call my dad. And I was like, I don't know what I'm doing here. I. He had my.
They do this they always add each other to the call, help me add your mom. So they're almost three way call my parents and they're just talking everything out and I'm telling them like, man, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. You know, I.
Why, why is this happening to me? Nothing goes right for me. Everything's wrong with my dad. He's has a great way of kind of being stern but giving you the right thing, you know, and he's like, get. Kind of get on you a little bit about pouting on yourself. He does. He kind of gets into me a little bit and kind of wakes me up, you know, all right, you know, go up. Don't stop feeling sorry for yourself. I ain't gonna help nothing. They talked through it with me and you know, I started getting more into my Bible. You know, I started try to visit some churches around. There was. Which is. Honestly there was like none.
[00:31:23] Speaker B: I was going to say not like Wise County, Virginia. It's pretty sparse.
[00:31:26] Speaker F: There's really not many churches and I think there might have been one. I was watching my. My online church, they do it. They started doing an online service. I started watching that and that helped me. And then I just started, you know, stacking days, just getting up every day and just
[00:31:41] Speaker B: one day at a time.
[00:31:41] Speaker F: One day at a time. One foot and four day. And it's those like elementary statements that you hear that seem so stupid. But when you're in the lowest points, you know, all the way up to the top of the mountain, when you're at the bottom, is, is.
[00:31:51] Speaker B: And
[00:31:52] Speaker F: it's so true. And so that's literally what I was doing is I would get up every day and you know, what do I have to do today? And I literally wouldn't. I wouldn't even look at it. I got to get the end of this day. It would be, I gotta brush my teeth.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: Yeah. And
[00:32:02] Speaker F: I would get up and I would brush my teeth and then I would say, okay, I need to get dressed and now get dressed. I got that done. And it was just literally creating this checklist of these so smart tasks. This seems so meaningless, but when you're in a. When you're in a dark place like that, it's. You got. You will literally find yourself sitting in the bed all day long.
[00:32:18] Speaker B: Yeah. And any little bit of success is a win. Like we have, we have a saying here. Make your bed right. If you make your bet, that's one thing you can do
[00:32:25] Speaker F: absolutely
[00:32:26] Speaker B: right. And it just builds on that.
[00:32:28] Speaker F: And so when I was in the transfer portal, I'm not working out with a team. I'm not going to practice anymore, which is tough because at least that was keeping me. I've always been a person that when you're doing something physical, it makes you feel better about your day. Sure. Feels. You feel accomplished.
[00:32:41] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:32:42] Speaker F: So I went to this week where I'm just laying in the bed. I got no food there. I'm just playing Xbox with my friends. But, like, I'm not even happy doing that, you know, I can't. I can't do anything. I'm literally. I look like Some have a commercial, honestly. You know, a little commercial where they got the smiley. The frowny face and they're holding the smiley face over their face. Antidepressant commercial.
[00:32:59] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:32:59] Speaker F: that was me.
[00:33:00] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay. And
[00:33:01] Speaker F: so I started doing that little checklist. I would get up, brush my teeth. Now I'm getting dressed. Now I'm going to my classes, which I wasn't for a while there. I was not going to my classes. And my grades are looking. You know, they weren't terrible, but they're not what I am, you know,
[00:33:15] Speaker B: or. You wanted. Yeah,
[00:33:16] Speaker F: yeah. I've been like 4.0 since I got here, but not there. Not there at all. I think I had like a 205, 250, something like that somewhere. It was not good for me. Sure. Personally any standards that I have for myself. And so now I'm going to my classes now I'm paying attention in class when I'm there, you know, just little things. Hey, I'm gonna write notes today. You know, I'm writing notes today. Okay. Yeah. You know, I'm study for 20 minutes today. Yeah, Maybe that's not a lot, but just do a little thing like that. I'm gonna go on a run.
You know, I just kept stacking those days. I'm gonna call my mom, you know. You know, that was a checklist. I think I called mom some days. Talk to her.
Let's call Mason, see what he's doing it. And. And then next thing you know, you're not having to make a checklist.
And you're okay, you know, and. And things are getting a little bit better. And you're. And you're still ready to go home. You still want it to be over. And you're still looking for that light at the end of the tunnel, but you understand that this is where you are. You can't control that.
So, you know.
[00:34:07] Speaker B: Right.
[00:34:08] Speaker F: What's important now? What can I do now.
[00:34:10] Speaker B: Yeah. That's such an important key, I think, to be able to get a hold of a situation in which you're feeling like you're sliding down, but to grab a hold of a situation and.
And say, what can I do now? I mean, I don't know if the two of you have been in those situations yourselves where you felt yourself kind of on a. Not a downward spiral, but sliding downwards and, you know, like a loss of control.
[00:34:33] Speaker D: Yeah. One thing that you kind of reminded me of when you said it, my mom always says, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
[00:34:39] Speaker B: Oh. And,
[00:34:40] Speaker D: like, breaking down it into. Breaking things down into, like, the smallest pieces has been super helpful for me.
[00:34:47] Speaker C: Especially for me. Like, on the last segment, you said basically, like, focus on the things that you can't control, and everything will, like, work itself out. This is one of the biggest thing, you know, like, growing up, you know, in the south, you know, faith is one of, you know, biggest thing that you're taught, like, as a child. And so I think leaning on that and, you know, like, you know, even though those bad times and like, we talked about when I was on the podcast, like, those hard times, you know, they're building for so much better, and it's teaching you. Not teaching you about. About who you are as a person, but also, you know, when you talk about faith, you know, like, God is making this happen for a reason, and he knows the outcome, which is going to be better for you. So it's a great thing. Not. Not a great thing, but it's one of those stepping stones that makes you a better person. You
[00:35:30] Speaker F: appreciate it when you're on the other side of it. Right. And look back,
[00:35:33] Speaker B: how is it that you. That. That you develop that sense of. Of resilience and faith. Faith or resilience in your faith for like.
Like going through school or going through training or going through all these changes. How was it for you, you know, Brody and Cam and AD and I.
[00:35:52] Speaker F: Yeah, for me, personally, I have always been. Sports has been my thing.
[00:35:58] Speaker B: Right.
[00:35:59] Speaker F: Since I was young. And I will always. I grew up in church, right. So my faith. But I would try to take a sports approach to my faith.
Whatever works for you, right?
[00:36:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:13] Speaker F: So for me, it was like, you know, I was always been. I've always been the guy that I could do one more like, okay, you did 99, I did 100. You do 101. I'm gonna do 105. Or you did. We're out of buddy that I used to Work out with. And we'd be doing like three sets. Eight. He'd always do nine. Okay, so I get there and do 10. Then the next day you do 11. I'll be like, I'll do 17.
Then he wouldn't match that. You know, I always wanted to be. I did. Let me just do more than you.
And now with your faith is tough because, you know, I don't know how it is for. For everyone, but for me, I've always noticed that girls, in my opinion, at least where I'm from, are always more comfortable sharing their face with their friends. And they have Bible studies and highlighting all their colors to where guys. They don't. They don't. I don't know what it is for our culture, but we don't talk about it as much. We go hang out with our buddies. We watch football and stuff. But. But we're not always talking about stuff like that. Hard times, especially mental health.
So, you know, especially when you're in high school, figure stuff out. You're not gonna. You're not gonna tell anybody something like that. It's a developing time.
So, you know, like you said, you're sliding backwards earlier.
[00:37:15] Speaker B: Right.
[00:37:17] Speaker F: For me, you know, Mason helped me.
[00:37:20] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:37:20] Speaker F: Which was a great friend. That's good. God put in my life. I believe that because I had known him my whole life, basically, but we were never friends. He grew up in my best friend's neighborhood at the time. Time.
[00:37:29] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:37:29] Speaker F: So I knew who he was, but we were never, like, best buds. Call. Play Xbox. We didn't know each other really, other than who he was. If I saw him in Walmart. And then, you know, I moved when I moved schools, he was at that school. Now I end up having to leave for my senior year, which is where, you know, C. Chimich and all that.
[00:37:46] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:37:46] Speaker F: But he stayed with me, and that was one of the greatest friendships that I'm so grateful for, my parents are so grateful for.
Man, that really helped me a lot. But I'll say this, you. A lot of times you can get a situation where you. You're sliding down and you don't have a Mason to help grab you.
That's where you need the Lord.
[00:38:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:04] Speaker F: Because, you know, Lord put him in my life. And Mason has great faith as well, so it's a person we can talk about and, you know, and call each other out on our stuff. But, you know, in my opinion, you know, God will help you pull. Pull you out of that.
[00:38:14] Speaker B: You strengthens each other's faith by being iron, sharp. Sharpens iron. Exactly. How about for you? Cameron did at a moment where you've had an iron sharpens iron moment.
[00:38:24] Speaker C: I think when I got into my wreck, when I talked about it on the podcast, I called Kevin Hushington. And so he's one of my. My mentees. And it's crazy that you would think that you can help. You always help your mentees, but this is the moment where your mentees are helping you. And so I remember I was going through. I had to step down from a position on campus. So that whole entire week was crazy.
And I called him. I'm boohoo. Crying. This is my first time he ever hears me, you know, in that state of vulnerability.
He never judged me about that day. He's always telling me, like, Cameron, you made me feel comfortable to where I can come to you for anything because you made sure that at that time of moment where you needed something, you called me. And I think that during that moment and just having the opportunity as men, having somebody like there with you that can be there and make sure that you're okay in your darkest moment, it makes you appreciate that your vulnerability to one of your friends, your mentees, or, you know, as another man is like, appreciated and like, you can be very vulnerable, especially talking about, like, religion and certain circumstances that you don't phenomenons that you don't even know the answer to. But y' all sharing that information together, it's powerful within itself.
[00:39:40] Speaker B: It's a very powerful moment and remarkable one. How about for you, Adonai?
[00:39:44] Speaker D: I think similarly, I think the importance of Christian community. I came in on campus and got involved with small groups and getting to know girls who loved Jesus just as much as I did, if not a lot more. And those are the people who I turned to when things got hard for, like, someone to pray over me or someone to send me a Bible verse or just sit in the discomfort of it all.
So, yeah, Christian community was a really big, big part. Thank y' all so much for taking the time to listen. We'll see you in the next segment.
[00:40:28] Speaker E: Wvuafm, Tuscaloosa.
[00:40:31] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling and no relationship is created between the show host or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective counties crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency.
[00:41:05] Speaker B: Foreign.
Welcome back, everybody. This is the last segment of the Baba Balance and Brody, it's been such a great time to have you here. Appreciate
[00:41:19] Speaker F: that
[00:41:20] Speaker B: on the podcast. It's been great. How's it been for you?
[00:41:22] Speaker F: I enjoyed it thoroughly, you know, awesome time. Yeah, really honestly
[00:41:27] Speaker B: is, was it, was it more difficult or easier than you expected it or what?
[00:41:33] Speaker F: Yeah, I don't really have a problem speaking, you know, I've spoke a lot of things before, so
[00:41:37] Speaker B: yeah,
[00:41:38] Speaker F: you know, I just enjoyed, you know. Share Share story Hopefully I help somebody out.
[00:41:41] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I, I tell you, we really appreciate you taking the time out and particularly from a perspective that we don't get a lot to hear about our student athlete perspective. And I think that's so important to include and to be knowledgeable about.
[00:41:58] Speaker D: Absolutely.
[00:42:00] Speaker B: Cameron Adonai, how was it for you as co hosts on the show?
[00:42:04] Speaker C: I mean, it was, it's good to be back.
Excited, you know, just, you know, make sure that we, I'm very glad that we have these shared conversations because, you know, a lot of people don't really have these shared experiences or shared conversations, you know, on a daily, sometimes not even a day to day basis, but in like certain, like important topics. So I think it was really good that we can, you know, continue that, you know, initiative. Sure. To talk about.
[00:42:29] Speaker B: Sure. Different for you being in the co host seat than a guest
[00:42:32] Speaker C: is? It's a little bit different. A little bit different. A little bit more pressure. Okay. More. A little bit. But other than that same feeling, just making sure that we have those conversations really good. Just hearing everybody's, you know, experiences.
[00:42:47] Speaker B: Right. Well, we'll have you back in that guest seat in a couple week, sometime in November, I think, latter part of November. So that'll be maybe more comfortable for you and it'll be, it'll be a lot of fun to have you back as a guest.
[00:42:59] Speaker C: Oh yeah. I'm very excited.
[00:43:00] Speaker B: How did I have it for you?
[00:43:01] Speaker D: This was amazing. I think this is one of the most fun things I've done.
[00:43:04] Speaker B: Oh, wow. Okay.
[00:43:06] Speaker D: I was really nervous, but it worked out.
[00:43:09] Speaker B: What were you most nervous about?
[00:43:11] Speaker D: Hearing my voice?
[00:43:13] Speaker B: Yes. What do you think?
[00:43:15] Speaker D: Honestly, the feedback isn't bad. It's
[00:43:17] Speaker B: not too bad.
[00:43:18] Speaker D: Yeah,
[00:43:19] Speaker B: that's awesome. No, you did great. You did great. Prudy, I don't think we can wrap up this segment unless we ask you kind of your thoughts about our season this year. How are you feeling about the team?
[00:43:29] Speaker F: Hey, I love this team really love this team. Great group of guys. Super connected, super close.
You know, it's all this stuff, and, you know, we've got all these new faces. New faces. A
[00:43:40] Speaker B: young team.
[00:43:41] Speaker F: Young team. Yeah. But, God, are they a good group of guys, honestly.
[00:43:44] Speaker B: Yeah. That's remarkable.
[00:43:46] Speaker F: My guys, you know, we've had a good season so far. We're, you know, you want to win every game, but it's not the reality of College football in 2026.
[00:43:53] Speaker B: Oh, such a different reality, isn't it?
[00:43:54] Speaker F: You know, and you look around cost show ball week to week, and you just never. You. I would hate to be a bed man. Oh,
[00:44:00] Speaker B: it's tough. It's tough. You know when.
So back in the day, back in my day, we had divisions.
East west division.
Remember that? Right. And then. But before that, even there were no divisions. So it wasn't until, I think 92,
[00:44:16] Speaker F: when
[00:44:16] Speaker B: SEC, right, went to east west divisions. And then just a few years ago, we did away with divisions and stuff like that.
But I got to say, I think among the conferences, and even my brother, who's a Tennessee alum, will agree with this. Sorry, throw him under the bus on this podcast. Even my brother, Tennessee alum, will agree, the SEC has got to be one of the most elite football conferences in the country. I mean, it is elite.
And.
And to some degree, it. It's hurting us because we're beating up on each other.
[00:44:51] Speaker F: Yeah, that's right. That's for sure. I mean, everybody in SEC's got, you know, two conference losses or more teams got one. But if you look at it, it's just about impossible for everybody to end up with.
[00:45:00] Speaker B: It's
[00:45:01] Speaker F: just one. But, you know, we. We. We've still got ourselves in a great position where we. We control what happens rest of the way. Right. So, you know, playoffs start now, get a huge game. Not this Saturday, but next.
[00:45:12] Speaker B: That's right
[00:45:12] Speaker F: down in Baton Rouge.
[00:45:13] Speaker B: Baton Rouge.
[00:45:14] Speaker F: But, you know, everybody. Every game's a big game with t.
[00:45:16] Speaker B: Absolutely. Absolutely. It's so. I got to tell you, I. So before coming here, I worked at Georgia Tech, University of Florida and Georgia, Some great football school. Georgia Tech is actually emerging as a pretty good football program these days.
But Florida, Georgia, huge, huge football schools.
[00:45:38] Speaker F: Big game this Saturday.
[00:45:39] Speaker B: Big game Saturday. And in Atlanta, not Jacksonville.
But I'll have to say, and. And so most of my time was in the SEC east, and I always used to joke with people when I told them I was coming here that I'm not exactly sure what the SEC west is like. I've never, never been any other school other than SEC east and ACC School, but I got to tell you, honestly, this is the best school I've been at.
[00:46:05] Speaker F: Absolutely.
[00:46:05] Speaker B: It is tremendous. And I think if there's anything that. That proves that it was Homecoming week. I mean, I don't. I don't know that I've seen as much spirit, as much celebration and. And, like, fan excitement as there is during Homecoming week. I mean, it's fantastic. How would you. Brody, how would you say the. The team is down terms of their mood and. And looking forward to these next couple games?
[00:46:31] Speaker F: I mean, everything about just laser focus. Right. Control. We control attitude and effort every day, you know, and, you know, when you do those things, you control what you can control. There falls in a line. You know, the game honors those who honor the game. Right. So you put in the work, the time. It'll honor you back.
[00:46:45] Speaker B: Yeah. No, so true. So true. Brody, it's been. It's been great having you here as. As a guest on the podcast. And again, I don't know. I don't know if you're aware that we do have a Bama Balance playlist, which I did not know. We ask every guest and AD&I on Camel. I'll ask you too, in terms of what.
What songs you'd like to add to it. Cam, I know you've added a couple.
[00:47:09] Speaker C: Yeah,
[00:47:11] Speaker B: but, Brody. What. So if you had a hype song or a couple hype songs you wanted to add to the playlist, what would they be?
[00:47:19] Speaker F: Thunderstruck is just a great song. Obviously we use that. But that's. You know, that just means more to you when you're playing here, but probably something like by Stain. I don't know if you know who they are.
[00:47:28] Speaker B: No,
[00:47:30] Speaker F: probably something by them.
[00:47:32] Speaker B: Okay. Anything in particular?
[00:47:34] Speaker F: Yeah, I could tell you.
[00:47:36] Speaker B: I mean, that's such a great.
Sounds like a great band name. I don't. I've never heard before. Have you heard of him? Yeah.
The Stain. Is that what it is?
[00:47:49] Speaker C: I think so. One of my. I think one of My best friend Carson, he loves. Okay.
[00:47:54] Speaker F: They're pretty popular. Yeah.
[00:47:56] Speaker B: See, this is helpful for me. So it gets me. I. I like learning about new music and stuff.
[00:48:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:48:00] Speaker B: And stuff like that. Have you got something there for us?
[00:48:03] Speaker F: Yeah, probably.
I like on. It's called Outside.
[00:48:07] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:48:09] Speaker F: And also like, like warm, safe place. Something like that. That's. It's kind of like that 90s 2000s era, like, rock stuff.
[00:48:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:17] Speaker F: I mean, I'll listen to some rap music. It's Kind of unavoidable. Unavoidable in our locker room, but. And which is my headphones on. That's probably what I'll be listening to.
[00:48:24] Speaker B: Stain. I'll look it up. Adnai. How about for you?
[00:48:28] Speaker D: Right now I've been listening to stop the wedding on rev Repeat, an amazing song. And so y' all should add it to the playlist by Ash.
[00:48:37] Speaker B: Okay, gotcha.
Cam,
[00:48:40] Speaker C: for me, I have, like, this playlist. Like, this just gets me pumped up. It's called. It's called cocky. I know it's like, basically, like, where I can.
[00:48:48] Speaker B: That's not your playlist
[00:48:49] Speaker C: name. Like, it just gets me, like, pumped up and gets me, like, in the, like, better mood. But a song that I like, really listen to right now is power. Kanye West. Like, I listen to it. I've been listening to it.
[00:49:01] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:49:02] Speaker C: I've been listening to it for the past couple, like, mornings. And every time I listen to it just gets me pumped up for the day.
[00:49:07] Speaker B: Love it.
We'll be sure to add those to our playlist. So next time you listen to.
To that playlist, which can be found on Spotify actually is where it resides, then those tunes will be there. I love it. I love it. It's most eclectic playlist list I think we have. This has been fantastic.
[00:49:25] Speaker F: Absolutely.
[00:49:26] Speaker B: It's been great. Cam, AD and I thank you for being our guest co hosts for this episode. Brody, thank you for being our guest. Thank you
[00:49:33] Speaker F: for having me.
[00:49:34] Speaker B: No, it's been fantastic and hope to have you back soon.
[00:49:37] Speaker F: Yes, sir.
[00:49:38] Speaker B: Right. I think it was fantastic.
And Brooks and Edward, wherever you are, we're thinking about you and look forward to having you back. But until then, this is the BAMA balance. Real stories about college men's or college students mental health. I'm Dr. Tony Perez.
[00:49:53] Speaker C: I'm Cameron Morgan.
[00:49:54] Speaker D: I'm Adonai Ross.
[00:49:55] Speaker F: Brody McCutcheon.
[00:49:56] Speaker B: And we'll see you later. Take care, everybody.
[00:50:14] Speaker E: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa
[00:50:16] Speaker A: this show was not intended as a substitute for professional counseling. Further, the views, opinions and conclusions expressed by the show hosts or their guests are their own and not necessarily those of the University of Alabama, its officers or trustees. Any views, opinions, or conclusions shared on the show do not create a relationship between the host or any guest and any listener, and such a relationship should never be inferred. If you feel you're in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, please contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective county's crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
