From NFL Dreams To Life Coaching: Drew Jay Davis On Adversity, Identity & Reinvention (Inspirational)

What if the biggest game you’ll ever play… is the one where you have to reinvent yourself after your first dream ends?

In this powerful inspirational episode, Reginald D sits down with Drew Jay Davis—former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver turned certified life and performance coach. From navigating the highs of Pac-10 championships and the NFL to discovering his true calling beyond the game, Drew shares the raw truth about what it really takes to rebuild your identity, find purpose after the spotlight, and coach others to thrive under pressure.

Whether you're an athlete, entrepreneur, parent, or professional, this conversation dives deep into mental health in high performers, the danger of tying identity to performance, and how discipline, self-talk, and faith create the foundation for lasting success.

Key Takeaways :

• Learn the mindset shift every high performer must make to stop performing for others and start living for themselves.
• Discover how Drew turned injury, disappointment, and transition into a legacy of mentorship and impact.
• Get practical tools to rebuild from a stuck season, including goal-setting, positive self-talk, and crafting your personal mission statement.

Hit play now to hear Drew's powerful episode.

Drew's Contact Info:

Website: https://www.coachedbydrew.com 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drewjaydavis

Drew just launched a new podcast:  Too Good To Be Drew

Men's Mental Health Month, Men's mental Health Awareness Month, NFL, NFL mindset transformation, life after professional sports, athlete to coach journey, men's   mental Health, mental health for athletes, how to reinvent yourself, performance coach advice, overcoming failure, football player turned life coach, high performance mindset, motivational athlete story, personal growth podcast, NFL Player

Transcript

Reginald D: Welcome to Real Talk with Reginald D. I'm your host, Reginald D

On today's episode, I have Drew J. Davis. He's a former Atlanta Falcons NFL player and certified life and performance coach who works with athletes and high performing individuals. Welcome to the show, Drew.

Drew: Pleasure. Thank you for having me on. Like I said, I'm really looking forward to it.

Reginald D: Yes, sir. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. So, Jewel, tell us about where you grew up and what life was like as a child.

Drew: I grew up in Denver, Colorado, a two parent household, two brothers, two sisters. From an early age, my parents instilled a lot of education in me. I got into trouble when I brought home bees, so it could tell you how strict the household was, but it ended up being for the better.

I got involved with organized football and sports when I was 8 years old.

I was really, really good. I excelled early and since the age of eight when I used to watch college football and NFL football on the tv, I said, man, I want to be a professional football player when I grow up.

So I remember saying that as early as 8 years old.

And my parents and I just had a lot of great mentors and coaches that were put around me and built around me that poured into me. And then my family also supported me in a lot of my academic endeavors that I did.

And so I saw my mom and dad get up and go to work every day. I saw my mom work two, sometimes three jobs.

I saw my dad leaving early in the morning before not seeing, but I heard him leaving early in the morning before he woke up. And then I saw him return late at night and we're getting ready for bed or already in bed.

And so I got my work ethic from a lot that they did. They're very hardworked people. They don't complain very much. And I know that they want the best for their kids.

So I just grew up in a great family with a lot of love. And we loved watching movies, we loved watching comedy View and laughing. We didn't have everything. We're probably middle class or a little lower middle class,

but we had everything we needed and we didn't want for much.

Reginald D: Yeah, and I think that's a very important thing, man. When you have a strong foundation, it really helps you as a kid, young man, young woman,

to become the better you, you know, when it's all said and done.

So, Drew, you had 26 full ride scholarships and still manage a 4.0 GPA in high school.

What kept you grounded and focused as a young male? Navigating both athletic and academic excellence.

Drew: Like I said, my dad ain't let me bring home any bees. So that was one thing. But number two, like I said before, I knew I wanted to be a professional football player.

I knew I wanted to go to college and play football, and I knew that was a process.

The high school that I ended up going to, it was a public school. It was one of the best athletic public schools that you can go to with a lot of rich talent.

But there were a lot of people that got sidetracked, whether it was by games, whether if it was not having good grades, whether if it was other stuff, following and chasing women.

And I saw players that were better than me not end up not going to college or not going to big time schools. And so for me, I was like, I don't want that to be me.

So whether if it's hard work, whether if it's the grades, whether if it's, you know, keeping my nose out of trouble and staying clean,

just knowing those things, I really wanted to push forward to be great at football, and I didn't want anything to stop me.

The other thing was high school was easy, and easy in a way of like, if you did your work and you turned it in on time and you were where you were supposed to be, you're probably going to get a B or an A.

And I was also a smart young man, but I didn't have any missing assignments. I wasn't turning in stuff late. You know, if anything, I was ahead of the class, doing extra credit, even though I didn't need it because I really wanted to go to college and I didn't want to have a college coach come up to me and say,

hey, son, we like you, we want you to come to our school, but your GPA is too low or your, your scores, your SAT and your ACT is too low.

And, and so just from that point when I first got in school, I just focused on it and made sure it was a priority. And that's how I ended up graduating high school early and enrolling in college in the spring.

Reginald D: Yeah, and that's the thing. You did everything you had to do to get to where you wanted to go. You know, a lot of people need to have that mindset when they go to work every day.

Make sure you go there and get the job done and do it right.

Maybe you can keep it.

Drew: Like I said, it comes with my parents with that work ethic too. Getting up and doing something every day, not complaining because you have a mission and you have something that you need to accomplish.

So I'm glad that rubbed off on me.

Reginald D: Yes, sir. Absolutely. Absolutely. And kudos to your parents, man. Kudos to your parents.

So what was it about the University of Oregon that made you say, this is where I need to be now? I'm gonna tell you something about Oregon.

Now. I grew up in South Carolina, right?

So we really didn't know who Oregon was. You know, I know it was PAT10 champions. Then they won the championship.

We didn't really get to see all that on tv because this is all sec,

you know, Alabama and all this stuff. And then one day I looked up, I'm like, man, this team's pretty good. They on TV here now, you know,

so what made you go to Oregon and say, hey, man, this is where I need to be?

Drew: Honestly, it ended up being a mistake. And I mean, a mistake in a good way is why I took my visit to go there. And you say South Carolina. My mom is from Orangeburg, South Carolina, so I got some ties there, some people there.

So I know about SEC country.

But when it was time to choose between schools, I remember my high school coach telling me,

he said, hey, man, you should go check out Oregon. The owner of Nike's from there, and they get a lot of cool stuff. I think it'll be a nice trip to take.

And I went there, and everything was horrible about the trip. It was raining the whole time I went there, like, mid. Earlier mid November, rained the whole time. They got beat on by Arizona.

That game. I think they lost by 20 or 30 points. The best thing that I can remember from there was I had some clam chowder at the game that was very good.

It was in this little bread bowl.

And so I was like, oh, I never had this before. Let me chat out on this.

And everything that could be wrong on a trip was wrong.

But the gut feeling that I got from a lot of the people and the coaches that they had working, the staff that was around them, there was a lot of great continuity.

I really felt that they were about to take off in a certain way. Like, it just seemed like the right fit and the right place to be.

And then, like I said, there was just a couple other things that popped up that were just kismet, fate. We're driving in a SUV on my official visit there, and all this music started playing that I listened to, and they might have curated it like that or something.

And I don't really know to this day,

but the person that was driving me around and the person that was chaperoning me. He actually listened to a lot of the same music I listened to.

And so for me, that was just a small inkling of, like, all right, this is where you need to be. These are the people that you need to be around.

And it was that next year that when actually when I came in as well, we hired Chip Kelly, who ended up being our officer coordinator for two and my head coach for two.

And that brought that breakneck and that new offense to the college level, which turned a lot of heads and which is why people are running a lot of that same stuff now.

And we just took off at the right time. So it was one of those things that was right place, right time,

and I just wanted to go play some college football. And it ended up being at a place that we got and became really successful.

Reginald D: Man, that's outstanding, man. Sometimes adversity takes you to your destiny, you know?

So from national championships in college to the NFL,

what lesson did the game teach you? I mean,

it shows up in your.

Drew: Life today,

honestly, dealing with adversity. Not gonna say I didn't face any in high school, but when I was in college, I didn't start right away. I was second and third string.

By the time I did get to start my sophomore year, my very first game, I tore my acl.

And so, you know, and then I have to, like I said, Eugene, and Oregon is super gloomy. You don't see the sun from about October till maybe about April, May, and that's being generous.

But there's a lot of days where the weather could bring you down and going through those things. I popped back from my ACL injury, and I came back and I said, well, I don't want this to be the end of my story.

Even if I don't go to the NFL, I want to make sure I had a very good college career and something I can hang my hat on.

And so I started working even harder. I've always been a person that's worked really hard and put my best foot forward.

But once I had football taken away from me, I saw what life was without football.

And I know I'm more than just a football player. Football is what I do is not who I am. But during that time, I was surrounded by a lot of those same mentors and coaches that I talked about from Denver.

A lot of the staff members at Oregon. One of the names is James Harris, who. I saw him. He was a younger black man. He was. Was the guy that everybody stopped into his office when they had a question or they just wanted to play or mess around with him.

And he was super professional, but he was also really cool. And he's the person that started to get me out in the community more, showing me what I could really do outside of football or even while I was a football player.

And so I would say handling adversity and the competition piece of it. We're in this world where football and sports, you don't get anything handed to you. You have to work for everything you get.

At the end of the game, there's a winner and there's a loser. You. And you always have coaches that say, yo, you did this good, you didn't do this good.

And you go back to practice the next week and you start working on these same things. Like my special teams coach in the NFL said, the hay is never in the barn, so you always have something you can work on.

So that tremendous work ethic that I have, that I got from my parents, carried over into sports, carried into college in the NFL, and then also just being able to look at a situation that's built with adversity and saying, all right, well, how am I going to overcome this?

How am I going to come out better on the other side? Those are the mindset and the things that stay with me till this day.

Reginald D: Well, you know your purpose. And that's the thing about. I tell a lot of people, if you know your purpose,

whatever comes your way, you have to look at the end goal. What I got to do to get here, you know,

I vision it going this way,

but I got derailed this way, but I still got to get there. So what I got to do.

So how was it? Now you go to the NFL, you go to atl. I know that's probably different.

That's probably different from coming from Denver because I live about two hours from there. That was our spot.

But how was that? We went to Atlanta,

played for the.

Drew: Atlanta was.

Atlanta was very great. Atlanta was the first time I landed in a place where you can look up and you can see black police officers, black firemen, black business owners.

You could see people driving in very nice cars and they get out and it might be a lawyer or a banker or a doctor, and they're black and they look like you.

Outside of that, it was just a great place to go. They have great ownership. And I was actually an undrafted free agent, so they pretty much chose me to come there.

And I accepted to go there because me and my agent thought the team that will call first was the most interested or the best place that I can catch on.

And so being in Atlanta is hot,

it's humid.

Bugs are about the size of my hand, if not bigger.

But it's a very central place. They have all these sports teams. There's never a dull moment in the city. If you want to party every night, you can party, which I wasn't doing at first.

And if you want to sit here and get culturally filled, there's a lot of stuff that you could do culturally around the city to get your fix as well. So I have people I know that went to teams like Buffalo, and not to say anything bad about Buffalo, but went to other teams where there's.

Or Green Bay where there's not that much to do, where it's a small town feel.

So being in Atlanta was truly a blessing. And I got to learn from some really great receivers and some really great coaches that helped me become a better player.

Reginald D: Yeah, you can have that Buffalo in Green Bay. Man, it's cold. It's cold, man.

Drew: You gotta tell me twice. We played in Green Bay, and it was. It was 1:1. It was, I think, 10 degrees. And the other one, I think it was close to zero or below zero.

So I know all about it.

Reginald D: Wow. Wow. Yeah, you do. You do. So, Drew, man, you worn a lot of hats. Athlete, actor, coach, mentor, entrepreneur. Which version of yourself surprised you the most?

Drew: That's a great question, man. And I would say the actor surprises me the most. There was this quote I read in my early 20s while I was playing for Atlanta, and it said, the people that regret not doing something will usually get enough to do it.

And when. When I was in college, my dad talked me out of majoring in theater arts. Cause he said, you couldn't do anything with that. He's an African dad. He's Ghanaian.

So, you know, they're serious about their education, their careers, and what they want for you. And so I put it on the back burner. Or I forgot about it. Not that I put it on the back burner.

I forgot about it. And once I wrapped up my NFL career and when I was working at UCLA as their director of player development during COVID that quote kept popping back up in my head.

And the thing that I said is, man, I don't want to be 50 years old and say, man, I could have been the next Denzel. I just didn't go out there and put my best foot forward.

And so I had to make the decision to leave my job at UCLA and go to acting school to learn the craft of acting.

And it was one of the most hardest things I've done. People there were really talented. I was really raw.

And it takes a whole different box of skills in the acting world.

In sports, you put all those emotions and you can put em to the side, you can go out there and play a game and pick em back up when you leave.

But acting, you gotta take that stuff in with you to see how it molds your acting, to see what does it do to you that day. A lot of vulnerability.

And I had some great teachers there as well. I had some great classmates who I learned from. And me taking that sports mindset into acting is what really helped me because I sat there and I took notes on what other people did well,

what they said, how they did this, their mannerisms, like things that they were doing into their character. So it was definitely a space that I felt like a fish out of water because I was like, you know, you have some people here who've been acting since they were six or eight years old.

And you got me who. I think I know what acting is, but I had no idea.

But you know, taking an athlete into that space and I challenge a lot of my clients and a lot of my players that I have as clients to do something in acting, like take an improv class or learn a monologue and perform it.

Doing those things that'll help you get better at public speaking and just to help you be more vulnerable and to not really care what people think. And so the actor Drew Davis is probably what surprised me the most.

Just because if you would have told me this when I was 18 or 20, I'd be like, nah, man, we're not doing that. But considering that I've done that, I have a new appreciation for movies, for film, for actors and aircraft, which is a lot similar to athletes and the preparation that it takes.

And that's probably what I'm most surprised about.

Reginald D: Yeah. Cause I heard that, I think I heard Denzel say that one time about going to active school and all of that stuff and how really competitive it is for all these people who is good at what they do, you know, versus football, it's warrior against warrior,

you know, so.

So I know that's kind of like, man, you know. But you said it takes a lot of. Mentally,

you have to really know how to recreate yourself actually when you get an acting feel and things like that.

Drew: Yeah. And I would also say what Denzel's saying, that it's also a lot of people going after not so many positions, you Know what I mean? And just like with the team atmosphere, you might not be the guy starring or the guy that's headlined in the movie, but everybody in the production is important.

Everybody that's on the cast is important.

Even if you only have one or two lines, those are the most important one or two lines for you in that movie. So you have to approach it as such.

So it's that. It's that business aspect of approaching everything as a professional that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle with some people. But the people that do that at a high level really well in the acting world, that's why they stick around so long, because they have this certain thing about them that they go in there,

they get the job done, and they go home.

Reginald D: Right? Exactly, exactly. And like you say, at the end of the day, everybody's pulling from the same road, man.

You know, no matter what position you in or what you're doing, pulling for the same rope for one purpose.

So, Drew,

you work with high performance individuals.

What's one mistake most people make when trying to perform instead of live?

Drew: I think when we're performing, we're trying to do it for other people.

When you're living, you're doing it for yourself.

And so I categorize a high performing individual.

Everybody thinks it's athletes and entertainers and CEOs and things like that.

But I say a high performing individual is somebody where the challenge has to meet your level of talent that you have, or challenge meets difficulty, meets your talent level.

And so a mom that has four kids and a husband and has to get all the kids ready and fed breakfast and out the door on time to get to school, that's a high performing individual to me.

And so I think the people that put the pressure on themselves that I have to meet this big level of performance,

I think that's the biggest mistake they make. The best high performers have a set schedule in how they do stuff, a set regimen on how they go about stuff to the point that it's just what I do.

If I told you what my life was like as a professional athletes and the thing I did, from waking up at 4:30 or 5am to going to sleep at 9:30 or 10am you'd be like, dang, you guys do all that?

And I'm like, yeah, it's what comes with the job,

it's what's required.

And I've done that for over having these years of hard work. And so I would say just getting a regimen together for a high performing individual and Being comfortable to not have to say, oh, this is where I have to perform really well, to the point that it's just that you glide into it and that you done the preparation work,

that you can be outstanding and knock things out the park, whether it's that presentation in class or at work, whether if it's, you know, responding to emails on time, whether it's knocking out all the things you need to do in the course of the day, that you have a set regimen and schedule,

that you can do these things, and when you do it and you pop out on the other side, you can unlock or unwind and. And kind of take yourself out of those moments as well, that you're not always in this mode of, I got some stuff to do, I have work to do,

I got perform,

that you take these things as they come and you can handle them. I ain't gonna say without sweating, but sweating. Very, very, very, very few beads of sweat.

Reginald D: All right? And I was reading something one day that said most or all successful people have a structure that they do every day. You know, they don't deviate.

They don't do something might deviate them, but they'll get back to it the way they do things every single day. And that's called discipline to me. You know, at the end of the day, it's called discipline.

So what was the moment you realized you were called to more than just catching touchdowns?

Drew: I would point back to when I was in college. I would always have people that asked me things for advice, for a little bit of guidance. It was teammates, it was classmates.

And I would always do more listening than I would talking.

And essentially I would get them to tell me what they wanted to do or what they felt the best thing was to do. And then I kind of just reaffirmed that fact of.

By reaffirm that fact. Listening to them and how they said stuff, how they responded, what they said was most important to them. And that's when I really saw that I have a special way of talking to people.

People gravitate towards me. I don't say that as far as that I'm boasting or bragging, but when I'm out getting coffee or sitting down doing work, there's always some people that approach me with a conversation or a problem or, you know, just.

Just this. I have this old soul feel about me too. When I'm out places, like, I guess I am approachable, but I've just had people that seemed like I'm a safe space or I'm A person that they can confide in.

And so when I was doing that in college, in the NFL, and then when I started working in college football,

I would see that I always was able to have these special bonds with these young men.

And it wasn't even about football. The majority of the time. It might have been about movies or the latest TV show.

They might have had, you know, a family situation that was going on that I asked them about. It might be a girlfriend that I saw them with walking on campus that they didn't introduce me to.

So I asked some questions like, hey, you like her? What's she like? What's she like about you? What you like about her? Is she the one?

Just those things like that help me get a deeper level with these young men that I come in contact with. So it's. It's all those instances like that that added up into that.

And like I said, I've had great mentors around me and education in sports, and they've always showed me what's possible. Even when I'm done playing. They've always gave me that sense that the sky is the limit and there's a lot of money out here to be had, if that's what you want to do.

But more so that there's a lot of people out here that need the help. And that's what I really want to do is help the people that need it help and give them a space so they can achieve and accomplish the things they want to set out and go get.

Reginald D: Yeah. And that's a gift you have and a power that's within you. I'm going to tell you that, because I get the same thing where people just gravitate to me. You know, I can walk in the room and I can just start talking about something with somebody else, and then this person,

I don't really know who they are, and they just start this conversation. Here we go. You know, so, yeah, there's a gift and a power within you that you were destined to have.

You were destined to have. You was born with it.

You are a strong advocate for mental health. Drew,

what stigma do you see most in male athletes, and how are you helping shift that conversation?

Drew: I think it's getting better. Mental health and mental wellness is something that is on the front cutting board now with athletes to discuss and to talk about. I would say something that's really big in the mental health landscape right now, that I see a lot of athletes going through just a lot of anxiety from the pressure that they have to go out There and perform form with,

I guess you could say. And then also social media adds to that, you know, dropping a pass at the end of the game and you know, everybody, you and everybody in that whole stadium knew you dropped this pass and it doesn't feel great.

And then you have to live with that for, you know, hours after the game or days and you have people that can shoot you a DM or make memes about you and a whole lot of stuff like that.

So I would say it's the anxiety and the pressure to perform and that one mistake can define you or define your whole career and the things that you're doing. And so I feel like it's very healthy to have that healthy relationship with social media.

Whether you're, you have times that you're on it versus you're not on it or whether if after a game you don't get on for X amount of hours or you block what you're seeing.

That's one of the biggest things I see mental health wise is athletes is feeling that their identity is attached to a mistake or you know, one play or one game that they were a part of.

And so I just feel like there just needs to be a little more discussion around it, more discussion around coping with it and how to deal with it when it does happen or if it happens.

But if you play sports long enough and you're a good player or you just played around players, you're going to make mistakes and they might be at the end of the game when it seems like, you know, there's a two point game or it seems like it's up to you to make this shot or score this goal or make this basket.

But in all actuality, we've all been there where we probably had a letdown at the end of the game or had a play that kind of affected us. So that's one big thing that I see is just the anxiety from, I guess we could say the fear of failure rather than the desire to succeed.

Reginald D: Yeah, because when you think about it, you know, I'm glad you talked about that because I can only picture in my mind some young athletes, some kid come from nothing, come from the projects and make it up into the NFL.

He's like, man, this is all I got. If I can't get this done,

you know, my family, man, we're going to be right back. I mean, it's pressure, you know, and then if you don't make it or whatever the case may be or whatever happens to you, I can see that pressure and also I remember and I don't know if you remember or not.

I can't think of the team, but it was college, I think it was in the championship or whatever. The kicker missed the field goal at the end of the game to win it, and they like winning his dm.

And people was talking about killing them and saying all this crazy stuff about this kid. I'm like, man, this is too much.

So I see what you're saying. I see what you're saying, and that's cold. But that comes with it, though.

Drew: Yeah, I was gonna say that's the toughest situation, guys that, especially guys like a kicker, where, you know, I mean, you might have had one kick that game, or everybody's watching you line up for this game winning kick or this game tying kick, and people place all the blame on you.

But it's interesting because in locker rooms, like, you know, we see each other work every day. You know, we see the work we're putting in on the field in the meeting rooms.

And so there are times we know the result isn't what we wanted or you missed the kick or that pass.

But we also know, like, yo, if. If I would have caught this ball in the third quarter, we wouldn't have been in this situation or if we would have got this goal line stand or score this goal line touchdown, that we'd be up now instead of down.

So we kind of, as athletes, we do a good job of picking each other up. Sometimes it's those fans who are die hard about their team and, you know, I mean, they hang their hat on it hard.

Those are the people sometimes that come out and say some very hurtful and very harsh things to people. So I just tell athletes to stick together, man, and just continue to do what you do and put in the work you put in to get the outcomes that you want.

Reginald D: Yeah, absolutely. And that's good that, you know, the guys do that because like I say, poor kicker, man, is, hey, man,

quarterback, you didn't throw this peak six, man, I wouldn't be in this situation,

you know,

so,

you know, think about it. And then the fans, man, I think some of these fans need counseling, man. They need to not go to these games.

Drew: Like I was saying, they can hide behind their keyboard or their phone and things like that. You, you got somebody talking stuff to you that ain't never played a sport in your life, but they can tell you how to catch it, how to kick it, how to score or whatnot.

So I love them because, you know, when it's good. It's good. But sometimes they cross the line when they don't get the result that they want.

Reginald D: Absolutely, Absolutely.

So, Drew,

what's one mindset shift every athlete, or honestly, every human needs to make if they're serious about leveling up and going to the next level in their life?

Drew: I would honestly say one of the things I do with a lot of my clients is we practice a lot of self talk.

And what self talk is is to me, you're the best person that knows how to motivate you. And me being around sports for most of my life, you have coaches that know the right things to say to you, that know how to coach you or to motivate you.

But in essence, deep down inside, we know what's going to help us do one extra rep in the weight room or run another lap after we've already run a mile.

I would say practice self talk to yourself and not. And not let it be negative self talk. You know, let it be the positive things are going to help get to where you want to get to.

I have the habit of, you know, cussing at myself when I'm on a treadmill to keep myself running, but I know that's what works for me. But sometimes when I'm struggling to, you know, respond to a lot of emails or I'm lagging for the day, I might say something that I usually don't say to myself,

like, come on, Drew, we got this. Come on, man. You know, you're not here for no reason. You're here for a purpose.

So practicing positive self talk. I talk to myself all the time. I hope a lot of people talk to themselves in a world where you don't get a lot of that recognition or that praise for every little thing that you do.

But you can be the one to give yourself that praise and recognition. You could be the one to give yourself that reward and that pat on the back. And I would say do a lot more self talk.

And then also just write down your goals and your aspirations. Write down what your mission and vision statement is. Make sure that you have a mission and a vision statement for your life and read that every day.

Know what that is by heart, and that'll keep you going towards the goals and the things that you want to accomplish. But if you don't write it down, it's hard to really accomplish it because it'll change.

You'll be like, okay, well, you know, in this season of my life, I'm going to change it to this. Write it down, make it Concrete. Put it on the wall or in a notebook or somewhere where you see it every day, and make sure you know that that is what you're destined for and work hard to get there.

Reginald D: That's it. That's great advice. Now, one thing I want to talk about is you have,

man, you rebuilt, you reinvented yourself here and there. Now, that's the thing right there. When somebody tries to do that,

you know, they just get all flustered. You know, they can't figure out they all over the place. They're bouncing all over the place and things like that. And they get frustrated.

They never end up doing,

you know, anything.

So as someone who's rebuilt and reinvented himself,

what advice would you give someone feeling stuck in their last chapter?

Drew: Oh, first of all, I would say, you gotta meet Pete. You gotta meet that last chapter with some peace. You gotta make peace with it. Whether if it was, you know, like I said, if I didn't go to the NFL, I don't want to sit here at age 36 and talk about,

man, what could have been, why I'm not where I'm at, or I wish I was here. You're at where you're at, and you come to grips with that. And whether that's through counseling, whether that's through, you know what I mean, a therapist or whatever it might be.

And once you've become comfortable and making peace at where you were, and if you're stuck right now, go get the resources to help you get out of that. Whether that's a.

Like I said, a therapist, whether that's a coach,

whether that's, you know, somebody in education that, you know is going to teach you or get you that degree that you want.

And once you start doing that, like I said, write down these goals. Write down one or two goals. A lot of people that are stuck, they don't make goals or they don't make that next thing.

What is my next step? I'm stuck.

What is my next step? One of one. One funny thing that my college coach said, and that sticks with me till this day. And in football, you know, sometimes you.

You turn the ball over, you throw an interception, you fumble, miss the tackle, whatever it is, and they call it digging yourself a hole.

And my coach would say,

the first rule when you dug yourself a hole is to stop digging.

Stop digging.

Throw that shovel out of there, stop digging, and start figuring out a way to climb out of there.

And so that's one of the things I tell my clients. You know, you've dug Yourself a hole or you're not where you want to be. Stop digging, assess where you're at, look around,

look for those resources or those people that can help you get to where you want to get to, whether those are the friends, the mentors, Tell people your dreams, tell people what you're working towards, and have people that check in with you on those things.

Hey, man, you said you was going to lose five pounds last week. How's that journey going, how many times you've been to the gym?

But ultimately, it's you that's responsible for you, and you are the leader of your life. So if you say you want to do these things, you have to put proper measurements in place for you to be able to get to them.

So if you're stuck, don't feel bad for yourself,

don't feel sorry for yourself, don't think there's no way to get out of it. Slow down,

look around,

make one or two goals that you want to help get you to where you're going,

and then slowly start to go after those things. It might not happen tomorrow,

might not happen next week, might not happen at the end of this month, but as long as you have a goal or something that you're working towards, you'll slowly see your life shift and start to turn around.

Reginald D: Yeah, absolutely. Because I feel like I always tell people that,

you know,

you have to deal with your moments.

Whatever moment you in right now, you worrying about all the stuff that you trying to accomplish here and there,

you're going to have moments. The moment you're in. How can I get out of this moment? Or how can I make the best out of this moment so I can get to the next moment, the next moment, the next moment to get where I desire to be in life.

So, Drew, let me ask you this. What do you want your legacy to be? Not just sports, but in life.

Drew: I want my life legacy. I want when people,

when they say my name, that people that know me or people that are around when I'm no longer here, if they say the name Drew Davis, I just hope they smile.

I know that legacy is hard to have because we gonna all start leaving this earth at the same time. If you're around the same age as me.

But I think that's one of the biggest compliments you can have is if somebody says, hey, tell me about Drew Davis, and you have somebody smile and say what you want to know.

You know, not to say they have some prepared stuff to say about you, but where should we start?

I would love the legacy to be that I helped everybody that was in need and help them get to another level or another chapter in their life moving progressively. But I would also just say, I would love to say I helped change their outlook on life.

How they get up every day, how they interact with people,

how they handle going into work, what they say to customers, what they say to people that they interact with. I want to change the whole being and I want them to know that this life we give, this life we get isn't promised.

And there are people that are leaving this earth every day. So each day and each breath that we get, be thankful for that.

No matter how much money you have in your bank account, no matter what kind of car you're driving, no matter what you're eating for dinner that night, be appreciative of everything that you get,

Give God praise and everything that you do and continue to just order your steps in that way to be the best person that you could possibly be walking this earth.

Reginald D: That's all we can do, man. That's all we can do. When it's all said and done. Now I'll take you back a little bit.

You've been coached and now you coach,

but what would you say to a 18 year old Drew if you could speak to him today?

Drew: If I could speak to 18 year old Drew, I would tell him, continue the hard work and work a little bit harder.

Like I said, the hay is never in the barn. And so when I was in the NFL, I kind of got relaxed a little bit. I was like, okay, I'm here, I've proven myself, I've done what I should do.

But there was more work that I could have done to extend my career, make it a little bit longer. Whether that was going with the quarterbacks and watching extra film, whether that was a couple extra sessions of lifting when I didn't have to lift,

just to keep that same hunger that I had that got me there. I'm appreciative of the four years that I have, but I think I could have stretched that out more if I would have did a few smaller things, took care of my body so I wasn't injured and been able to look at those injuries.

But I would tell them, you're doing great, stay on the same path.

And once you think you've gotten to where you wanted to, get to,

work a little bit harder so that you can stay there.

Reginald D: That's good. You're a wise man. So what's one thing you believe now that you didn't understand in your 20s?

Drew: In my 20s. Oh man.

I would honestly,

of course a lot, you know, but I would honestly say just my relationship with God, I wish I would have started it a lot sooner. I wish I would have had a church family more.

I wish I would have been going to church on a regular basis.

In the NFL we play on Sundays mostly, so, you know, we don't get that day to go to church.

But I wish I would have just formed a relationship of going to a church service during the week, having a church home, having a church family, and really just continuing to dig in the word while I was playing.

I first got introduced to God not on a regular when we did FCA Fellowship of Christian Athletes in college and we would meet on a Thursday or Friday before the game for an hour.

And so that's where you got to meet some people that had their walk with God. And we'd come there and we talk and we eat.

But after outside of that, I would go to church here and there, but not a lot. And so I would tell myself in my twenties, find a church home,

find a church family, continue to be in the Word and continue to spread the gospel about God and Jesus and just continue to move and shape and mold your life that way and that he's going to take care of everything that's coming up.

Reginald D: Yes sir. I'm a firm believer of that.

Yes sir. Yes, sir. So I don't want to leave without asking you this. Can you talk about your business? Tell us a little bit about your business.

Drew: So my business is quality over quantity elite performance coaching. I'm a life and performance coach, certified life and performance coach. I work mostly with athletes, high performing individuals and men.

But outside of that, I help you in your life where you want to be helped. So like I said, if you're a person that's stuck, like we talked about earlier, and you're trying to set some goals and you're trying to meet with somebody that can a little bit keep you accountable,

but somebody that can unlock what you're passionate about, what you want to do in life that can help you stop digging in the hole that you've dug yourself. I do a lot of that, of helping people and like I said, I mentor.

So I have a lot of young men that I mentor and check in on. But outside of that, my business I'm working on working with more universities and more teams.

But right now it's more individual based.

But I'm a life coach by trade with a psychology background. I'm not a licensed professional I don't want you to think that, but I like helping people get to and achieve some of the same milestones that I went to achieve with what I set out to do.

And I know how important a coach can be to do that for people. And one of the things that I noticed is that once we get done playing high school or playing college, we've had all these years where we've had a coach to tell us what we need to do,

what we need to work on, to yell at us when we're not doing the right things. And then we go from that and go cold turkey with not having a coach at all.

And you know, unless we have mentors in place, we miss out on that aspect of.

So I try to be that aspect of a coach that wants to push you to do some great things and that wants to challenge you to do difficult things to make you better.

But outside of that, I want people to reach their goals and what they're passionate about,

of their lofty goals, of that they think that they can't be reached. And so that's what I do with a lot of my business is helping athletes,

high performing individuals and men to better their life and their career and everything that surrounds it.

Reginald D: Absolutely.

So let me ask you this. There's a probably 8 or 9 year old Drew out there somewhere,

young kid, got a vision that want to be a football player, a doctor, lawyer, entrepreneur, whatever they want to be.

And how do you, or what would you say to them how to accomplish and the steps they should take and achieving that lifelong goal. Because you talk about eight or nine years old, this thing is going to probably happen when you twenties and all that stuff, college or whatever the case may be.

So how does that journey look?

Drew: The journey's hard, but the good thing I can tell you is the journey's hard for any,

for any profession that you want to pursue. A doctor, a lawyer, you know what I mean, an optometrist, coach. Whatever you want to pursue is hard. The only career that's not hard is if you just want to sit at home on your mama's couch and eat Cinnamon Toast crunch and wash Thundercats.

But outside of that, what you want to do is going to be hard. It's going to be difficult. There's going to be times you would doubt yourself or your ability.

But when you put in the work, good things happen. And at the age of eight or nine, that's, I told you that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a football player.

If I wasn't playing football, I was watching football. If I wasn't watching football, I was talking about football. If I wasn't talking about football, I was sleep.

It was those three things in that order.

And so whatever you decide to do, whatever you're passionate about is possible for you to get there. But don't think it's going to come easy. Don't think that you're just going to be able to say I want to do this and things are going to materialize right in front of your eyes.

You got to put in the work, you got to reach out, you got to network, you got to resource. So for that eight or nine year old kid, I would say, and it's tough because eight or nine years old you think you know what you want to do and then you go through middle school or more elementary school,

middle school, high school and you're like, oh, I've changed to this thing.

Whenever you notice that your interests changed on what you want to do, do everything you can to get knowledge and education on that, tap into people that can help get you there and just know it's going to take a lot of hard work.

Some long night studying, some workouts in the weight room where you don't think your body's going to make it, some running and conditioning on the field and 100 degree weather and you feel like you're about to pass out.

But all that stuff is going to pour into the person or in the career that you want to have.

So continue to attack it with some ferocity,

continue to enjoy it. Like I'll tell eight or nine year old kid, enjoy being a kid because once you grow up, you got these phone bills to pay and this car note and this insurance and all this other stuff.

So I know you want to get there fast.

But enjoy being a kid, enjoy your relationships and your friendships that you have. Enjoy playing video games and being on social media and stuff like that. But when it's time to clock in, know that you got to clock in and you gotta outwork some people.

So that's what I would tell my eight or nine year old self.

Reginald D: I'm gonna leave that right there.

That was it, right there. That was it.

So lastly, Drew,

how can the listeners follow you on social media? Or for those athletes interested in signing up for your coaching, how can they sign up?

Drew: If you wanna sign up for my coaching, you can go to my website. It is my name drewjdavis.com you can click on the about page and fill out a contact sheet and I'll reach out to you once you fill that in.

Outside of that, you can catch me on Instagram, same name, Drew J. Davis, certified coach. So it'll pop up as that.

And outside of that, even parents, parents, if you want some consulting or if you want to talk about your son and what's best for their journey, if they're a student athlete and they're going to high school or college or even after that, I do consulting as well in that area.

So anybody that's going through any pain points in their life, you can reach out mostly through the website. That's how I'll get back to you.

But mostly you can follow me or see me on anything that says Drew J. A Y Davis. And I look forward to speaking to you.

Reginald D: There you have it. There you have it. Drew Davis, thank you so much, man, for taking time out of your busy schedule to hang out with me. I really appreciate it.

Drew: It was my pleasure, Reginald, at any time.

Reginald D: All right. Thank you.

Thank you for tuning in to Real Talk with Reginald D. If you enjoy listening to Real Talk With Reginald D, please rate and review on Apple Podcasts. See you next  time.