Sean Payton reveals the late night text exchange he had with Alvin Kamara after watching him coast through a practice, and explains how he challenged him to raise his standards if he really wanted to make the Hall of Fame “I text Alvin one night, Kamara, and he’s one of my favorite players, right? And it was a Wednesday. He had a tendency, he was so gifted, he could get bored. And then if he got bored, he might drop an easy pass.” “And he had one of those Wednesdays. In season, Wednesday is the first day of practice. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And it was just a nonchalant day, and yet for someone who was so elite.” “I text him that night and I said, ‘Hey, I want to ask you a question. Can I coach you hard?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, why are you tripping?’ And I said, ‘Well, look, we’ll talk about it tomorrow.’” “And then, you know, it bothered him a little because he had to go to sleep. And then the next day he sees me in pre-practice, and I said, ‘Just let me explain this. Do you see yourself being in the Hall of Fame someday?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’” “And I said, ‘All right. Well, I don’t think your trajectory right now is steep enough to make that goal happen. I think your trajectory is five Pro Bowls, a couple All-Pro teams, phenomenal career, all-time leading rusher, but I think your trajectory, and I think your practices have to be.. And then he starts complaining to me, and I said, ‘I thought you told me I could coach you hard.’ And then, you know, it hit him.”

Von Miller reveals after Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman suspended him, he packed everything he owned into his truck and started driving to Florida to transfer, when he called his he dad told him not to quit, so he turned around and led the nation with 17.5 sacks the next season “I had everything I owned in this blanket, and I went to my car. I threw it in the back and I’m driving home. I called my daddy. I’m like, ‘Daddy, man, I’m leaving. Coach Sherman kicked me off the team. I ain’t coming back until I do this and that.’” “I’m thinking my dad is going, ‘All right, we’re going to find something else.’ He said, ‘Pull that truck over, turn around, and go back to school. You’re not quitting.’” “I was like, ‘That was not the answer I was looking for.’ He was like, ‘You’re not just about to quit when it gets hard. You’re going to turn that truck back around. You’re going to go back to school and you’re going to fix it.’” “I had tears going down my face. I was like, ‘Man, this is going to be so hard to fix all of this.’ I turned around. We had a meeting. Coach Sherman told my dad the exact same thing that he told me, and my dad agreed with Coach Sherman.” “There was nowhere I could go. I just had to face the music. I had to face the truth. That spring was a hard one, but I got my grades up. I made it to all my classes. I went through the checklist of everything Coach Sherman wanted me to do.” “That following year, my junior year, was the best year that I had up until that day. I led the nation in sacks. I had 17 and a half sacks. My life had totally changed. That was all a testament to running straight through the storm. The shortest way through the storm is straight. I put my head down and I worked, and my life totally changed that offseason.”