I've failed a lot, you know, in football, and I've gone on a lot of auditions, been told no, been told I'm not right, so I know what failure feels like. It's about the work.
As my father started ascending in the business, people around me started to treat me different. Our lives changed. So that anxiety, that sort of resentment, I just funneled it through football.
I've been reluctant in doing press stuff - even my Instagram isn't properly managed; I manage it myself. It's kind of by design. I knew that would be what people see first.
I had family in Carolina who were very hood and talked differently in this sort of Southern cadence.
If I can inspire one person to actually administer change, to want to inspire change, I will follow that person.
I had a father who was active, present. There are people out there that never knew their fathers, didn't have their father's support. If I were to complain, that would be real sad. How dare I?
My mom had an encounter with the KKK when she was, I think, 7 years old in North Carolina. She snuck into a cross burning. I'm so lucky she didn't get caught, because I wouldn't be here.
They were very supportive parents in all my endeavors. They have very different approaches on how they give advice.
The nature of a football team means you're relying on 10 other guys. Even then, that doesn't guarantee a win.
The injury that ended my time in football turned out to be serendipitous. I tore my Achilles while training for a pending tryout with the New York Giants, and when it snapped, so did my career, basically. That's what led me to gain the confidence to get into the acting world on my own terms.