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00:00SportsGrid out here on Radio Row in New Orleans, Capitol Walsh. Nate Boyer joins us now here on the set, and Nate, you played in the NFL, you played at Texas, I'm interested in that, but you also do a lot of very important stuff now, especially with the MVP, so let everybody kind of know what you guys have going on coming up throughout the year.
00:19Yeah, well we got something this week for MVP. So first of all, MVP stands for Emerging Vets and Players, and what we do is we bring together combat vets and former professional athletes, and we help them find purpose and identity when they lose a uniform.
00:31You know, obviously war and sports, battlefield, ball field, different places, but the camaraderie, the identity with the uniform, the structure, the purpose, so many similarities in those two locker rooms, and losing those at a young age, you know, in your 20s, maybe 30s if you're lucky, is a tough thing.
00:47So we want to be there, and we are there for that transition to kind of help harness all that energy, all those skills you learned, and transfer it into the next thing, and figuring out what that is.
00:56But this week in New Orleans on Friday night, you should come if you're around, we're at Molly's at the Market, 6pm to 11pm, it's an open invite for everybody, we're having a party there, we're going to have veterans and athletes behind the bar mixing drinks, and it's an iconic Irish pub down on Decatur, it's a great spot.
01:14That's awesome, that's awesome.
01:16But yeah, throughout the year, we've got chapters all over the country, and we basically, on a weekly basis, we meet in the gym, vets and athletes as a group, we'll train together for about 45 minutes, and then we huddle up, and it's just peer-to-peer, open forum, the good, the bad, the ugly.
01:32We're there to support each other, and we just kind of build that networking community and rebuild that locker room.
01:38Now am I right that you served and then played college football?
01:41That's right, yeah.
01:43It's the dream, man, it's the dream.
01:47I can't imagine people are like, yeah, no, I'd like to serve and then I'll go play at Texas.
01:51But that's interesting then, so how were you able to connect so well?
01:57Because you just said, I guess for you, the one-to-two was as good as it can get, but yet you still kind of knew that there were people who needed help most of their time.
02:06Well, so I went to college late.
02:08I went to college at 29.
02:10I'd never played football before.
02:12It was a dream of mine because I played baseball, basketball, soccer, other sports growing up, and football was my favorite, but I was kind of a late bloomer, and then it just didn't ever happen.
02:22The high school I ended up going to didn't have a team, so I never played, and I regretted it.
02:27But through my time in the Special Forces, beyond all the impactful stuff we were doing on the battlefield and doing the best we could out there, I developed, as much of us do, this confidence and belief in myself and a work ethic and an understanding of how to sacrifice for something that you want.
02:44So then I was like, you know what?
02:46There's no reason for me to die with this regret.
02:49I'm just going to try.
02:50If I get cut, I get cut.
02:52So I went to Texas.
02:53I tried out.
02:54I prepared for it.
02:55I spent a good year getting in shape for it and getting ready, and I made the team and then found my way on the field as a long snapper, which eventually got me to Seattle.
03:03But I'd gotten out of the military in early 2015 because when I was in college, I was still in the National Guard.
03:08I was going to Afghanistan in the summer.
03:10It was a very different college experience, not only being an older student, but with your internships being in war zones, it was different.
03:19Yeah, I got you.
03:22But then I get out of the military in February of 2015.
03:24In May, I signed with the Seahawks, and then I get cut in September.
03:29I get cut from Seattle.
03:31So now I had both these locker rooms that I spent time in and noticing those similarities, those parallels, and now I've got none of them.
03:40I have no uniform.
03:41I'm 34.
03:43I feel like I just don't have a team.
03:47I have a lot of passion and drive, and I still have all the stuff I want to do, but you kind of feel like I've got to start all over again.
03:53It's like getting dumped.
03:55You know what I mean?
03:56You're like, I've got to start all over again.
03:58Oh, my gosh, this is terrible.
03:59And it's like a scary thing, and vets and athletes kind of feel that.
04:02So through my own experiences and then connecting with Jay Glazer, who I co-founded MVP with, who has mentored so many players, coached them up in the MMA world and football, coaches as well, and has seen the meteoric rise and then the fall and what that can do to people.
04:22It's tough.
04:24You feel that such a connection to something and so that sense of purpose and who you are is wrapped up in that uniform, and then it's gone, and that's tough.
04:33Yeah.
04:35How did you link up with Jay to get this all kind of going?
04:39So I went out to Los Angeles after I finished playing at Texas.
04:44I played in a senior all-star game, and some of the scouts there were like, you should try for the NFL.
04:50You've got to put some weight on.
04:51And so I put 30 pounds on in like four months, and they're like, but you should give it a go.
04:56And I had to finish my master's degree.
04:59My master's degree from Texas, I did an internship at a film production company in L.A., and Jay's gym on Breakable Performance Center is also in L.A.
05:07So a buddy of mine who was a long snapper for the Colts was like, dude, go meet Jay and see if he'll scholarship you at the gym there, you know, and you can start training and preparing.
05:20And Jay not only prepared me, but helped me get my agent and all that stuff.
05:25So that's when that relationship developed.
05:27And then when it was all over, when I got cut, he was the one who was like, hey, we should do something for vets and athletes.
05:35Yeah, that's so awesome.
05:38You said that you trained for like a year before – as a long snapper or just like –?
05:42No, I walked on as a safety.
05:44Okay.
05:45Yeah, I thought because of my size, safety or wide receiver are probably the only positions that make sense.
05:48So I walked on as a safety.
05:50Wasn't getting on the field.
05:51I just didn't have the speed, man.
05:52I couldn't cover those guys.
05:55I like that you were like, I want to play football, Texas.
05:57Yeah.
05:58Like not like – I don't want to stay in another school and be like Texas.
06:02No, no.
06:03Well, I loved Austin.
06:04That's incredible.
06:05But also my buddy who unfortunately passed away in 2012, who's my hero, who I served with in the Special Forces, Brad said I was thinking of going to maybe a smaller school when I'd have a better chance at it.
06:18And Brad was like, bro, no.
06:20I know you.
06:21He's like, you're going to wonder what if.
06:24Yeah.
06:25You got to go big.
06:26You went big.
06:27My list was like Texas, Notre Dame, USC.
06:29That was it.
06:31That's so crazy.
06:33And I loved Austin.
06:35I'd never lived in Texas before, but I'd been to Austin before.
06:37And it's a great school and obviously an iconic football program.
06:41And I was just like, this is the place for me.
06:44I wouldn't have picked anything else if I could do it all over again.
06:47That's awesome.
06:48Again, we're with Nate Boyer.
06:50Make sure you check out everything with MVP he and Jay Glazer are doing.
06:53It's awesome stuff out here on Radio Row in New Orleans.
06:57Nate, really appreciate it.
06:58Thank you, brother.
06:59Thanks so much, man.
07:00Appreciate you.
07:01That was awesome.