Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young has done all sorts of charity work, and one of his most notable is with the Children’s Miracle Network. Earlier this week, he was at an event in Florida for the group, and conducted an interview on Facebook Live (h/t to user jrobulls for posting this as a FanShot).
I put together a rundown of time-stamps from the interview, which is listed below, followed by the video. He did have one particularly interesting answer that is pertinent with the 2017 NFL Draft approaching. He was asked why some players that are great in college do not turn into great pros. They mentioned Vince Young, but obviously it can apply to a whole host of great college players. Here’s Young’s answer, in which he focused on college quarterbacks, followed by the time stamps.
There’s one personal quality that gets tested. If I said, “in college every receiver is open, and in the pros no one is open,” that would be an understatement of how difficult that transition is — from a lot of good athletes to every elite athlete. And you can’t imagine how difficult it is to be good as a pro quarterback. And so, quarterbacks get tested in ways that college never even comes close. You can’t [duplicate it].
I always get asked about quarterbacks, do you think he’ll be good or do you think he’ll be good. No one knows, and even the guy doesn’t know, until like anything, you get in it and go, “oh my gosh, this is way overwhelming,” and a lot of guys get overwhelmed in the pros because it’s that difficult. And also, you get tested not just in your ability to find open receivers, but you get challenged, you get punched in the mouth every day by the press, by your teammates, by expectations, by who was there before. And it’s relentless. It’s like you get punched in the mouth 14 weeks in a row, it never ends.
Peyton Manning and I talked, and 14 years in, and he goes, it’s amazing, I was always trying to overcome, and I was the same way — someone says you can’t do something, and you go, oh, well I’ll prove you wrong. They never stop. It never ends. So that’s why, if you do it, you have to have grit, a heavy dose of grit. And it tests you in a way that as a pro — a lot of guys, will play three or four years and then they kinda disappear — it’s because it’s not their passion, number one, because you have to have a passion for the game. And then there’s a level of grit that’s necessary to just put up with everything and keep grinding through it relentlessly, and that’s not everybody’s ball of wax.
1:30 - How long he has been with CMN
2:45 - The dream vs. the plan for during and after his NFL career
4:55 - Second thoughts about football after USFL days
5:55 - Creating his own legacy
6:55 - How human behavior is revealed on the football field
8:25 - Staying out of trouble and trying not to do stupid things
9:40 - Being held to a higher standard
10:26 - Why some great college players don’t work out in the pros
12:45 - On giving players second chances
13:36 - Endzone celebrations
14:40 - On Barry Sanders being guy he watched
15:35 - What’s kept him with Children’s Miracle Network
17:10 - Favorite football movie
CMN and Steve Young at Momentum 2017
Posted by The Official People's Morning Show on Wednesday, March 22, 2017