33 Life in the Coliseum: USC’s Jadyn Walker on D1 Grinds & God

"When you're old, it's going to be too late. Grind while you're young."

Coach Rodo sits down with his nephew, Jadyn Walker (#31), linebacker for the USC Trojans. Jadyn takes us behind the scenes of what it's really like to play in the Los Angeles Coliseum and the reality of being a student-athlete at one of the biggest programs in the country.

In this deep-dive interview, Jadyn opens up about his "spiritual awakening" before leaving for Cali, the necessity of time management (even when you're struggling with it), and why college football is now a year-to-year business. From the beaches of SoCal to the nitty-gritty of the linebacker room, Jadyn shares the advice he’d give his younger self: protect your energy, keep God first, and be happy for your teammates' success even when you're waiting for your turn.

Fight on! ✌️

#USCFootball #JadynWalker #CoachRodo #WinningRegardless #Trojans #D1Football #CollegeFootball #FightOn #StudentAthlete #Linebacker #USC #KalamazooToLA

(00:45) - Introducing Jadyn Walker: From Portland to the USC Coliseum.
(02:30) - Why USC? Choosing the best opportunity over local options.
(04:15) - The "Uncomfortable" Grind: Why there's no sugarcoating the hard work.
(06:00) - Spiritual Awakening: Finding faith and blocking out the noise.
(08:30) - The D1 Reality Check: Managing grades, "fuck-ups" on campus, and dance class.
(11:00) - LA Vibes: Adjusting from Kalamazoo County to the beaches of SoCal.
(13:15) - Don't Take it Personal: Dealing with "yelling" coaches and the business of football.
(15:45) - Sideline Energy: Why Jadyn is the first to celebrate his teammates' sacks.
(18:30) - Time Management 101: Why sleep is a "vital key" to surviving college.
(21:00) - The Year-to-Year Contract: Re-signing scholarships and competing for your spot.
(23:15) - Protect Your Energy: Final advice for the next generation.

Transcript

0:00

When you're old, it's going to be too late. It's going be too late. I just went on a spiritual awakening. I was just heavy, heavy on God and just trying to seek seek the truth It's a business so just know everybody's trying to get paid so you guys do your role, play your part. if you're playing a team sport, that's how you should be. You shouldn't be mad if people are, you know what saying, doing better than you. Everything happens for a reason. Thank you everybody. I would like to thank you for uh tuning in to another edition of Coach Rado's podcast, Winning Regardless. And today I am very excited and extremely happy because I have, you know, like. you here play while I was telling y'all about play for USC football you know big strapping young man uh You know, I'm so excited for him, for his future. And it's good to have him here. What's up, Jadyn? How you doing? Name Jadyn Walker, number 31, in case y'all want to watch the Trojans play. So every time you watch the Trojans, Jadyn Walker, number 31, is who I want y'all rooting for. All right, my bad. All right, Jay, go ahead and introduce yourself. What's up, y'all? I'm Jadyn Walker, like he said. I'm from Portis, and I'm number 31 for the USF. I'm a sophomore this year. So nephew, tell me about uh what's it like being out there in Southern Cal. Look at me. Look at me. Tell me what's it like being out there in Southern Cal playing football on that big stage. You walk into that Coliseum and, you know, I mean, shoot the echoes of Reggie Bush and Matt Liner walking through there. What is it like? For sure, I would say it's most, it's surreal. But once you get that confidence, it just goes back to just playing football, how I was when I was a kid. But at that big stage, it gets loud and it's crazy. But shoot, I just go back to my training and it's just like kind of normal. Once you get that confidence, I would say. So what made you choose USC? I mean, I knew a few of the other schools that was looking at you and, you know, I know. I'm so glad you didn't choose Michigan State. I'm so glad. Yeah, I know a lot of my boys is watching this, state fans, and they're gonna talk to AC Mack, fight on. So, yeah, what made you choose USC? I chose USC just because it was my best offer, but... Honestly, it was like just the best option for me. I'm saying inside of school. I know it can take me far. Football, like all the opportunities is just like unmatched. So I know that I can go far if I put the work in for sure. So what are some of the things that you believe that it takes like like for some of these young because it's going to be some young kids listening that's going to see, you know, that that's going do this. Go ahead and grab your phone. they gonna see you, they gonna be interested in what you have to say. I always talk about coaching and working hard and what it pays off. And I remember when you was in the ninth freaking grade playing basketball one on one. at the Amos's house and right then that's when I knew because I'm banging you and banging you and like I said I wanted to battle but I lost the work because my shoulder hurt for seven months and you didn't do nothing but just stand there and all I would do is bang it into your chest and that's when I knew. So talk about the growth and the hard work that you put in so these kids understand that it's not an easy road. You know, because there's a lot of kids that's going to want to be where you are and they just they just wake up and think that it happened. Let them know the work that it takes to put in the effort. Oh, for sure. Like say it's just like not sugarcoated. It just goes back to just putting hard work in. That's kind of just all it is. Like it's just the hard work. Nothing flashy. Just like getting nitty gritty and just doing what you don't want to do. Being uncomfortable, comfortable, being uncomfortable, I would say would just be I'm saying a huge factor and just keep growing every day. I feel like it's every it's everyday process and I feel like you're young, you got to grind. When you're old, it's going to be too late. It's going be too late. You're going to be old and not have the same energy. just got to, when you're young, just put that work in now so you can set your future up the right way. But hard work, There's no other answer. Just work hard. Keep God first. See, because I remember, you know, when, you know, watching you play rocket and, you know, watching you come up through the ranks and playing. And then all of a sudden you get to high school and all of a sudden it's like, man. J is this, J is that. So, and then I started coming to watch some of the games and just to see you grow, man, it was just, you know, it's just incredible. But, you know, I remember as a young kid, I remember when you were a young kid that, you know, you were so misunderstood because you were so much bigger and stronger than all of the other kids. And they didn't understand that you were a kid too. And you were the same age, man. Talk about how you didn't let. what other people thought. Because again, man, people who don't know you, let me tell y'all something about this guy, man, why I love this kid also. One of the most humble kids you'll ever meet. He walked in my office, shook hands with every one of my employees, and gave them a hug. Even the ones that he hadn't even met before. Same, so that's the type of kid this is that you're listening to me talk to. You know, so go back to again, how did you like basically say fuck y'all? I guess just I stopped caring about what people think and just doing stuff for myself and just knowing that like I'm my own narrator. I'm writing my own story. So I'm not letting anybody like take away from that and just I'm saying have their opinion. Mess up what I got going on. So I just kind of just blocked out the extra distractions and just low key right. Right. I went to high school, right. Before I left, I just went on a spiritual awakening. I was just heavy, heavy on God and just trying to seek seek the truth and That helped me out a lot, just getting strong in my faith. That's what's up, man. Because a lot of people, even Greg, was on strong in his faith and says that, that helps get him through a lot of things. And so I like to hear young people go through their own spiritual thing where nobody pushed them into doing it. You did it yourself and you feel that that's been helping you on the football field and, you know, in the classroom, because let's talk about your grades. Last year, I'm not going to lie. I had had a bad grade in dance class. just kind of was bull crapping around. We didn't have no class checkers, so I wasn't really going to class like that. But this year, like you're just growing up and mature and like, you know, I'm saying like this is not going to last forever. I might as well take advantage of it. You know what saying? Just attack it head on full full speed. So I just this year, my work is way better. You have everything above the sea. then, yeah, everything above the sea. Yeah, and especially with that full load because what a lot of these people don't understand is playing D1, any sport in Division I is a job in itself along with going to school. So it's kind of tough. It's a big deal. And plus, you have to maintain a certain, not only a GPA, but you also have to, can't be a fuck up on campus. You know, they can't be out there saying, you know, Jadyn Walker is this on campus and that on campus. So you also have to, you know, maintain a level of maturity and excuse me, good name for yourself. you know, so talk about some of your teammates, you know, tell us about, you know, like who, who's your, who's your hangout buddy over there at SC, you know? I would say for sure like a lot of people my class, Desmond Stevens, he's from Michigan. He's from Clarkston, He's a backer too. Number 23. He's really good. That's my dog. That's my best friend. Number 30, Marquis Gallegos. That's my roommate. He's from Cali. That's my dog. Number 26, Eli Newby. He's from Connecticut. That's one of my best friends. Cameron Crawford, number one. He's a dog from Georgia. That's like my, that's like, like, my close dogs. Man, I love to hear the relationships that you making out there, man, because, you know. You come in Portland is a small place and you know, like I told you I used to live out there in California so I knew that's you know, like I put you in touch with a few of my people if and I knew nothing was gonna happen But I always wanted you to have that security, know that if something happened man, how was the adjustment from going from? You know Kalamazoo County to shit LA County I Love it out there if I could I was honestly stay there for the rest of my That's how much I like Kelly like I actually like Kelly a lot the vibes are cool You got the city on one side and you got the beach on the other side I mess with the beach a lot I go to the beach at night time and just like kind of clear my mind Listen to the waves, but I would say that weather out there is just like a match It's the same thing. It's consistent the same same weather. I thought you just feel happy you feel better. Yeah Your body feels a lot better too and you know, don't you don't stay in the house as much like when you came back home, like you said, you really didn't wanna do nothing, you just wanna rest and can stay at home and this is the weather to do that. Out in California, you know, it's like, well, I don't wanna burn this daylight and this nice outside. I don't care, I'll sleep at, I'll fall asleep at about 11 o'clock tonight. Then we go to sleep at 11 tonight. Like I said, I remember those days, man, living out there in Cali and just enjoying it. Even when we came out to visit you, know, me and the. and joy being out there seeing you and hanging out in the weather and all of that stuff. Now, as far as some of your coaches, uh what are they teaching you? For these kids that's listening, what do they need to watch out for when you have to deal with coaches? What kind of mentality should they bring into the situation? oh I would for sure say um don't take everything personal. Know that your coaches are there to help you. But I know there's definitely some bad coaches out there that don't always want the best for you. I would say most coaches do want the best for you at same time. So uh I would say listen to your coaches, be coachable. And don't take anything personal. So I had a coach, I coached white in high school. that was like a coach that was like on your head and was saying, yelling at you. But it all came out of love. It wasn't nothing serious. So I kind of prepped me. for like high school, I mean college coaches. It was crazy, my college coaches, a lot of our coaches be yelling like they already know what it is. They all went to the league so they kind of keep everything professional. So I would just say look out just for like people just yelling and just getting mad. But it's not out of love, you know what I'm saying? It's a business so just know everybody's trying to get paid so you guys do your role, play your part. Now if you have one piece of advice that you live by yourself. and you take the football with you, you take the classes with you, you know, all of that if you had that one piece of advice for, let's just say that kid out there who, because here's the thing that you don't realize, like, like y'all, I'm taking him tomorrow. with me to see my chiropractor because my chiropractor's son is 10 years old and knows every freaking college football team and name of the players on the team and wants to meet him. This is a kid who is so humble who didn't know that he had people that wants to meet him. So I want him to understand that his words mean something, but also understand that his... thoughts and how he prepares and the things that he tells himself can also be used by some of these kids that are gonna see this podcast and look up to you. So what is the one piece of advice that you would wanna give that you would tell your younger self if you were struggling in football? I would say everything happens for a reason. That's something I just go by. I just got that's I go by. I'm for a reason. But I also know that you have to play your you have to play your part too. Nothing is going to happen out of the ordinary. You got to play your part. Everything will happen for a reason. Do you have any like like see one of my one of my favorite stans is to send the elevator back down. Do you have a like a quote or anything that you you know have in your head that you live by or just. you know, when shit ain't going well, because man, I'm gonna tell you, watching you out there, and the thing that I love about you is me and you would text even before and after games, you know, I would tell you your energy, man, even when you ain't in the game, your energy, and I don't think that kids understand that. They don't understand that. You're not, even though you're a superstar where you're from, and you're a superstar where you are, but you haven't got the... turn your light on yet, but you still have to, your energy nephew was incredible. Me and the wife are sitting there just like, look at this dude just still over there jumping on the sideline. The first one to greet the defense, even though you should be out there, the first one greeting the defense when they come off of the field, coachable, like you said, and the energy that you bring, man, just, Just talk about that a little bit, man. It's just so, I'm telling you, nephew, it is so infectious. I found myself just videotaping you when you standing there on kickoff, Greg, you can go kickoff watching you just jump up and down and getting up. I'm watching you on the sideline, yeah, hyping and all that. I'm like, this fuck ain't even in the game, and he know he should be, but he ain't even look at him. You would think he just sack made a sack. You know? I mean, so, you know, talk about that. I would say that's me. just have a good, I would say my personality is just like super spontaneous, but just like love for football. Love for football for me is just like it runs deep. I I wouldn't be where I would, I don't know. know I be where I was at without football. So I just, my love for the game is just, it's high and I love football. I'm passionate about it. Passionate about the sports. I'm passionate for all my guys. Like I mess with everybody on my team. So I just love seeing everybody win. If I'm not winning, I'm going be more happy for them. success to my own success. That's why I feel like everybody, if you're playing a team sport, that's how you should be. You shouldn't be mad if people are, you know what saying, doing better than you. Everything happens for a reason. Preach, preach. You know what I mean? And man, that's funny because I talk about that a lot on the podcast. If you only happy for yourself, then you're doing the wrong thing. You know, that man, that's... And you could see it. You could see, like I said, it was just watching you over there on the sideline, you know? And man, it was just incredible just to see the energy that you brought, you know, even over on the sideline to your teammates. and that, let's get to the educational part of it. How tough, because I know when you first went, me and you talked, and I told you, you're number one. thing is gonna be time management. And it took you a year, wouldn't you say about a year or so to figure that out? I would I'm still like struggling, I'm still trying to figure it out still just as I grow up, but I'm still trying to figure it out still to this day. Talk about how the classes go to where, cause these kids think they can just sit at home and you know, be on, do it online and you know, never have to go to class for four years and. for sure. Yeah, school matters. School for sure matters. You got to get that degree. But I would say, will you repeat that question one more time? that. About, you know, how the classes, like you were just saying, how the classes matter, about how showing up to classes matter. Because, you know, these kids think they're going to, you know, go to school for four years and they're going to have uh just do classes online and things of that sort. Just, you know, talk about that in the time management aspect of it. Yeah, the time management aspect of it is quite vital. You need time management because there's going be so much stuff going on. So when you have that good time management, it would definitely help everything out because then you're not all over the place scrambling and just being late to stuff. You gotta show five minutes early to your class. Show your professor that you care. Talk to your professors. And I was like, when you're younger, they're for sure going to put you in in-person classes. They're not going to just put you in online classes off-ramp. You know what saying? You gotta go to class. You know what saying? Get used to class. Get used to doing a test. You'll get it activated to college lifestyle. But. I would say time management is definitely a key because you don't got to time management. You will just see how everything is just like all over the place. It just up on you. It's more stress that you don't need. So yeah, before you know it, just, you know, you you under the pile instead of being on top of it because you didn't manage the time right. uh so with them making you do an in-person classes, I think it probably has a lot to do with. that you stay dedicated and they see that you're committed because it is a year-to-year contract, correct? I would say sleep. Sleep is a vital key. You need to get your sleep because that next day you're going to be tired. You're not going to want to go to class, but when you get your sleep, you're going to feel better. Now talk about the aspect of the contract part of it because they need to understand that this is year-to-year. This is not, when Jadyn Walker signed his scholarship, it wasn't guaranteed. for years. Explain to that you just resigned. Congratulations. I'm so happy for you, man. I'm so freaking proud of you, you know, so I get to wear my FC gear another year. yeah, talk about, you know, having to re-sign every year and it being a year to year contract. I would say it's crazy. Like, yeah, you can really tell like college football is changing. Like people are re-signing and stuff. more looking like more like the NFL and stuff. Guys are getting paid and stuff. So, I would just say like, you know what saying? Like he said, it's a year and a year old thing. So you got to stay in your A game. Keep putting that. You got to just stay grinding because if you don't, they're going to bring somebody in. You know what saying? Your spot's going to be replaced. So everything, you can place it. I know I did my job this year, but I know it's not over. I know I got to still going. And we just signed another backer. So I'm saying that's going to be good for practice because we're all going to be competing. It's going to be fun for sure. So now, like you said, with them signing another backer, You that dude that I used to tell you, now you that, he's coming up, he's that dude that you were, like you coming from man's spot, now he coming from your spot. But of course we know we, you know, that's not, we not getting Yeah, we're not, we're not, we're not, that you would like the listeners to know or hear or, you know, I mean, other than pay attention to USC number 31, Jadyn Walker. I would say protect your energy. Don't let people bring you down. I would say keep God first. Yeah, that's all I got. That's all I got. Thank you. That's I got. Well, thank you for participating and coming in here. We're going to have more conversations. I'm going to talk to you when you're in school. We're going to do some long distance podcasting, too, because I think that you will have a lot to offer to all of these kids who think they're going to wake up and go D1. I think your perspective would be great for them to understand, because they're going to actually hear from somebody who's actually in it and in the thick of it and who has the contract and who you know is on the field and knows what it takes you know to be on the field the court or whatever it is so and I appreciate you taking the time to come visit and come talk to me man and you know I love you so you know that goes without saying yeah so oh thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of Coach Rattles winning Regardless podcast here with my nephew Jadyn Walker oh great kid again remember number 31 you TROJANS. Fight on. Fight on baby, fight on. uh