.jpg)
Hey, where'd you go?
In this podcast, Emmy Award-Winning Journalist Collin Kushner dives into the stories of how former collegiate and professional athletes navigated the various challenges and transitions in their lives. From finding new passions and identities — to overcoming obstacles and achieving new goals — these competitors share their experiences and lessons learned. Join Collin as he catches up with some of the most inspiring superstars, discovering what it takes to succeed in the game of life.
Hey, where'd you go?
Jared Zabransky, former Boise State QB || The Sanctuary Effect
Jared Zabransky is renowned for executing one of college football's most remarkable plays, Boise State's Statue of Liberty, in overtime against the Oklahoma Sooners. In this episode, the former Boise State quarterback shares his upbringing on a farm in Hermiston, Oregon, how his father's illness impacted his life, leading the Broncos to victory over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, and more. Currently, Jared works as the Senior Director of Sales for Oil and Gas at EQI in Houston, Texas.
Want to hear more? Check out previous episodes, subscribe & leave a review.
APPLE PODCASTS: https://apple.co/32M5E2T
SPOTIFY: https://spoti.fi/32AyXFq
Connect with Collin:
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/CollinKushner
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/collinkushner/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/CollnKushner
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/collin-ku...
PERSONAL WEBSITE: https://linktr.ee/collinkushner
EMAIL: ckushner1@gmail.com
For me, sports and competition has always been kind of a sanctuary, uh, where I'm able to really tune out the rest of the stuff going on in my life and compartmentalize and focus on the game. It's always been a place where I can kind of escape, uh, the rest of reality and get into kind of a zone and enjoy. I'm a big time competitor. Um, I want to win at everything so fully entrenched in that moment and the hard stuff that's going on. Uh, I'm able to move away from that for a few hours and grateful for that.
Speaker 2:[inaudible]
Speaker 3:Welcome to another episode of the Hayward. You got podcast on your host. Colin Cushner. Joining me now is former Boise state Broncos quarterback. Jared's a Bransky Jared. What's going on brother.
Speaker 1:Hey man. Just, uh, wait for this to happen. It's been a busy day to day with work, um, but, uh, it's a great way to cap it off.
Speaker 3:Well, Hey, I appreciate you taking the time I grew up watching you over at Boise state. So this is truly an honor to have you here on the podcast. And usually with my guests, I like to start from the very beginning and kind of weave to where we are now. Uh, you grew up on a farm in Hermiston, Oregon, which is near the Washington state border. What was it like growing up on a farm?
Speaker 1:Uh, your summer is word definitely. Uh, definitely busy. There was, uh, from about the age of six when it was the first summer that, uh, I got called to duty. Uh, it was a really early morning as I recall, uh, earlier than I was used to waking up specially. Um, the first few weeks of summer, our harvest season usually started end of July early August. I remember my mom going in the room saying, Hey, it's time to get up when the sun hadn't been up yet. And, uh, it was quite shocking. Um, you, you literally were working from sunup to sundown and it was, you know, when, when harvest starts on a farm, um, it doesn't stop. So you're harvesting that field or that crop all the way through, from the age of six to 17 or so I think that was my last summer. Um, we were primarily potatoes, there were some melons in there, but it was, it was primarily potatoes. So that's that late July to, to about mid August. We would usually be harvesting for two to three weeks at minimum. So it was 5:00 AM, wake up to a blast truck being loaded and sat off about 6:00 PM. So have 12, 13 hour days, which is, it's a shock for a little guy, but you get used to it. And that work ethic, uh, gets ingrained in you at a pretty early age, um, which I'm extremely grateful for.
Speaker 3:When did you get your start into football? You're growing up on the farm and you're working those crazy hours. How does football factor factor into, into your life growing up
Speaker 1:Kind of spring breaks and summer? So everything around those time, uh, I was living in homestead. She mentioned, uh, close to, to the Oregon Washington border. There's like along the Columbia river bed. Um, there wasn't a time to do it. Sports are a pretty big part of the community. Um, my family, uh, pretty big extended family. Um, we all played sports, um, out of my 34 first cousins, nine of us play division one athletics, uh, and there wasn't really a whole lot else going on in the area. So I found a lot of time to play sports. Um, I played football and basketball and baseball growing up and did that all the way through and, and, uh, uh, I was fortunate to have some success.
Speaker 3:At what point did you, did you decide to focus on football? Was there like a certain point, you remember where you were like, this is the sport that I want to continue to perfect. And, and potentially play at the next level?
Speaker 1:Yes. And all of them. Um, I was an Allstate point guard and an all-state shortstop. I didn't get any state recognition and football. Um, and I had three coaches and we're really, really good high school coaches. And all three of them really were cared about their student athletes. They, they, uh, um, cared about me. I I've stayed in touch with all of them. They're just great men. And they all brought me in and said, Jared, what do you want to do? Um, cause I think they believed that I could pursue, uh, any of the sports, but they asked me truly what I wanted to do in athletics. So I told them I want to be a professional athlete. And to me, I didn't care which four, I, I loved all three of them. Um, basketball was probably my favorite. Um, they said, well, if you really, really want to be professional athletes, that the probability is best suited for you to follow football. Um, probably the easiest sport to make for a 600 to six foot, 385 pounds. I think it was at the time white kid from Oregon. Um, so I got, uh, that was my junior year and we went to some football camps. Um, my junior summer, I went to the Boise state camp and, uh, got some recognition there and then the coaches getting intended to follow me and, um, had a really good senior year. We won our first conference championship in history, school, Boise, state, and Idaho, and the university of Purdue. Um, Northwestern, a couple of Ivy league schools, uh, Pennsylvania university, uh, in Harvard, uh, showed some interest. I talked to all of those coaches, whether it was either phone call or letters. Um, and I had a ton of interest, just a general interest say, give, fill this sheet out. So I was getting a bunch of different letters from every school, which was pretty neat. Um, but I think I landed in the right place
Speaker 3:When you're a small town, a small town guy. And you have, you know, tons of interests from division one programs all over the country. Was it overwhelming for you? Was it fun and exciting? Was it kind of a little bit of everything? How did you navigate that? Because I think now with the way social media is it's my head explodes, just listening to these stories. And so I'm curious what that was like for you?
Speaker 1:Well, it was very, it was very different back then and it was, it was no for my parents. It was first for our family. Um, the recruiting process was fairly simple, uh, you know, formal invites to go to campus and meet with the coaches. And, uh, so that was kind of a neat process for my parents and I to experience, uh, really my mom and I, my dad was still kind of recovering from illness that he had dealt with. Uh, so, um, it was, it, it was a fun experience. Um, it was, it was actually fairly simple for us to decide, uh, it had interests, uh, from several schools, but all of them outside of the university of Idaho in Boise state were either asking me to retake my SATs, whether that was Penn or Harvard, or, uh, tell me that I had preferred walk-ons. So the only two schools that offered me a full ride scholarship were Boise state and university of Idaho. And, uh, the programs were, were kind of shifting in and you could, you could feel that and see that, um, Boise had been at that time in 2001, 2002, uh, a division one, a school for about a decade. And, uh, Idaho was really on the back end of their success and the coaches, uh, just were great and they, they did a good job of recruiting me, felt like they were honest. Um, and, and you really could tip it a little bit deeper, look into the program and you can see the shift in the direction.
Speaker 3:I kind of want to take a few back. I remember you had mentioned to me that your dad came down with west Nile virus, I think while you were in high school, like how did, how did that impact you and, and how did you navigate that time at, at such a young age?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a weird deal. It was, it was a really weird deal cause we didn't know what it was, uh, for several weeks. And I just remember him being at home and having an extreme headache and my mom would get him a cold towel. And, uh, that was before internet was super prevalent, but you could still get on there the worldwide web and do some searching. So I remember my mom and sister just kinda doing the web MD thing and trying to diagnose and find out what was going on. And we thought for a while, maybe it was a bird flu or some sort of meningitis. So he was really sick for about two weeks at the house. And then you got admitted to the hospital, um, in Hermiston and we found out real quickly that, uh, they couldn't go from the way that you needed. So they moved them to sacred heart and, uh, in Spokane. And that was where, uh, some of our families, his sisters and my aunts, uh, families, and so close to family. Um, he was in the hospital for about six months, lost about a hundred pounds. Uh, he was in intensive care for about six weeks and he was in a medically induced coma for several days. And I remember there was a specific time I remember going and visiting that, uh, chances of surviving were really, really slim. Um, thank God, uh, that, uh, he was able to pull out of that. But the process thereafter has been, uh, really a 20 year, um, kind of remnant struggle with the effects of west Nile, uh, throughout that process of not understanding, uh, what he had. I remember, um, him being given and administered a bunch of different medications and we, uh, we assumed that that administration of all those different medications, um, and along with, uh, west knowledge led to, uh, diabetes that he's dealt with for about 20 years now, uh, which at his age and his health condition has been really hard on him. So it was tough, man. Uh, 17 years old, I was at home, uh, you know, finish in my spring semester and foot and, uh, baseball at the time. Um, the first part of summer I was at home. Uh, so you can imagine a 17 year old kid not making the best decisions when he has a big farm house for the summer. I remember my brother coming home a couple of times and being like, what are you doing, man? Oh, and my, all my siblings are much older than I am 10 years older. Um, but, uh, you live and you learn and thank God that he was able to pull through that illness. Um, I'm just very grateful that we still got him today.
Speaker 3:How did your perspective shift? Because when you're seven, when you're 17 years old, like you talked about, you know, we make, we have decisions, we throw parties or, you know, we're, we're doing what we're supposed to do at that age, but when a loved one gets really ill, like how does that your, how did that change your perspective at such a young age about life
Speaker 1:We've just force it, you're forced to do more things then, uh, more or a responsibility set. Uh, even though I wasn't acting completely responsible at times, uh, you, you really do. There's more things for me to take care of. Um, there's more things to be aware of. I think looking back on it today, I'm very, very grateful to have my father. Um, um, but, uh, the people that, uh, you know, the rest of my family and the people that surrounded that situation, um, illness or a family, uh, you're just grateful for family and friends. And it gives you, it gives you a new perspective, uh, uh, a Newfoundland gratitude for, for your loved ones and for life, um, a new appreciation for, um, for how fragile this thing we call life is on earth. Um, so, uh, I think, I, I think I look back on it now, um, uh, with a different lens, uh, but as you're in it, you just kind of, uh, you just kind of, you know, trying to put one foot in front of the other and not get too lost. And, and, uh, the different things that are thrown at you
Speaker 3:Putting one foot in front of the other is, is key. I mean, there's, you know, it's the most cliche thing. Uh, it's like coach speak in a way, but it's the most true thing that you could possibly say because you don't want to get too far ahead and you don't want to go too far back behind. Um, and so I, I, I think that's fantastic if that was your approach. And of course having family and friends around you, because no one can go through something alone. I think a lot of it does come down on you and the choices and the decisions that you make, but it's also being surrounded by good people that, that maybe will keep you on the straight and narrow. At least that's how it's been for me throughout my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Certainly it support your support group and the close people that truly care about you in life during those difficult times. Uh, you feel when you can look back on after you've moved through them, uh, you, you definitely can understand how important it is to have that type of people or those types of people around you that truly care about you and want the best for you. Um, and how important, uh, a support group like that, whether it's family or chosen family, um, to have this
Speaker 3:During that time, did everything with your dad, did that elevate your game on the football field? Or how did, how did that impact, you know, you going through that process ultimately committing to play at Boise state?
Speaker 1:No. So he, he was able to get a lot of my senior season. Um, no for me, sports and competition has always been kind of a sanctuary, uh, where I'm able to really tune out the rest of the stuff going on in my life and compartmentalize and focus on the game, um, and share probably a little bit later in the podcast. Uh, I was able to kind of hone that in to a deeper level, um, after some struggles, but, uh, it it's always been a place where I can kind of escape, uh, the rest of the rest of reality and get into kind of a zone and enjoy, uh, um, I'm a big time competitor. Um, I, I, I want to win at everything. So, uh, I get fully entrenched in that moment and the hard stuff that's going on. Uh, I'm able to move away from that for a few hours and then grateful for that.
Speaker 3:I like how you called it a sanctuary. I, I think that's the best way to put it. I grew up playing ice hockey, and I think for those of my friends that didn't play sports, they didn't understand my obsession. And I was a goalie, which was a terrible decision. Um, but it was one of those things where anytime I would step on the ice, um, you know, it was like everything else around me was just black and dark. And it was like, all you could see in front of you or what were the other guys on the ice and the play, the play in front. And so I always enjoy that because whether it's struggling in school or whatever was going on, it just, it went away. And I don't think there's anything else that I've had in my life. It was the could emulate that feeling. So I totally hear you when you call it a sanctuary because it's, I think it's the special part about sports and committing yourself, uh, to the craft.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly. That's, there's so many layers to, to spore that, uh, there's so many different intrinsic values that come with it, um, that at the, the really baseline level people that don't play score, um, or just fans of might not get to see or understand the depth it, um, but it's sports is such a great thing. Um, I really truly believe that it did. It teaches, I don't worry about my children playing volleyball and football right now from what just got over. But, um, it just teaches them so many different things from teamwork to discipline, to self-disciplined, um, relies on others and accountability. And then it provides that depth of the sanctuary effect, you know,
Speaker 3:Right on campus at Boise state. Uh, and you saw the Smurf turf for the first time. What was the first thing that went through?
Speaker 1:Well, so I shared that I went to that camp, my junior summer, it had, they had the bold turf and we got to play a couple, uh, like many scrimmages on the old, it was like the old AstroTurf include blue, like not the new field turf that they have now, but the Astro turf, like, do you wear basketball shoes? So I remember wearing like some patent leather Jordans that thought I was cooler than cool and get my elbows all skinned up man, and thinking, man, this sucks and that, so, and it was super, it was like, it was blue, but it was like almost like a, it was like a faded blue because the sun had like bleached it. And then when I showed up, uh, that summer, that following summer, cause I reported for like a few weeks came in and trained with the team. Um, they were putting in a new turf, so like stuff was starting to go down, but there was no, there was no blue down yet. And then when we showed up for fall camp, like the week of it was down and it was so bright, like bright and your eyes, like your eyes have to adjust to it, but after a few weeks of practice and on it, you don't even really notice it. Um, but the opposing team sure. As hell notices, cause they come in and it's just, you know, one day at a time for a few hours. So they're just seeing all this blue and you know, we've got a ton of blue in the stands and then, you know, for a decade and a half, it was blue on blue, on blue. So we're running around, out there, a bunch of Smurfs on blue, a blue back. Um, it's, it's tough, man. It was tough on opposing teams, I guess, give me a tough on opposing quarterbacks for sure. Um, it was easy for me to spot out defenders and I looked for my reasons where to safety hours flat and fender where's my under Sceptre see them for using most of the time, unless I was looking in the wrong area. Um, but you see some apologetic quarterbacks men in there, they're getting ready to throw it. And they're like, oh, like that balls from another hand and their eyes with this thing, like, oh, I just, I just saw that guy way too late. And then you're taking it off of our guy's chest getting interceptions. So yeah, it was a, it was a good place to play and it really was, and it was, uh, it took, it was a, it was a flat two weeks. And after two weeks, your eyes adjusted,
Speaker 3:I want to talk about the 2006 season. Uh, that was Chris Peterson's first year as head coach. Uh, you guys go 13 and oh, and then, uh, we're going to fast forward to the 2007 Fiesta bowl over time against Oklahoma. Um, what do you remember the most about, uh, a particular play in OT?
Speaker 1:We had this play, you know, mid year we use it against the university of Idaho and we knew we had something great. And we had statue. Um, we, we ran it from my freshman year. You know, Ryan didn't when he ran it, but it was always, you know, taking a little drop. You got the ball in both hands and you're almost like it's almost like a pump fake, like to a double mover ball fake and then hand it off. It was never the ball handling that we, we had worked on and that we ran during that play, um, about halfway through the year, third through the year. Um, Nick Lowe, max two. Remember that name it a football name? No Lomax was who's actually with the Arizona Cardinals as their quarterback for several years. Nicole max was his son, big six foot, eight kid from Portland, Oregon hands. Like his hands were like this big and he got the ball one day. He's like, Hey guys, what if we did this? And he did the ball handling, like you just keep it in the left-hand and fake with an empty ride. And I remember Harson who was a little coordinator. Um, who's now the head coach with university of Auburn. He was like, wow, that's, that's pretty good. And close to the same end. He was like, whoa, I like that. And they looked at me and said, Z, can you do that? I was like, I'll make him do it. I can do it. So, uh, we worked on it and we ran that play calling on. I'm not lying. We ran Netflix 50 times throughout the year in practice. If glee, you run a play twice and you'd get the sculpting two times a third time, they'd see a set, they'd see a motion. And you know, you're running a play that's preparing for that week and they'd be like, they'd be on it. Pretty smart scout team. Those one of the advantages that we had overachievers, pretty intellectual guys. So they'd see it. They'd be like, come over here. You know, these guys never figured that play out. We'd get an a, so we knew we had something great. We ran it against the university of Idaho. I think it was six or seven. We'd schemed, a formation in a particular, uh, personnel formation up that we thought Idaho would do with receivers for undecided backside. And they busted their coverage. They didn't send a coroner over. They had a guy got fall into it. Well, when we ran into the game, there was a couple of different things that we wanted to do. We were going to run it early in the game and thank God we didn't call it, but brands and what we call it quick screens, um, or wide screens. And the white screen was where you'd have a three receiver set. And then the receiver's account goes from outside of here. So the outside receivers one, two, and then three, well, three you're inside received in a little bubble screen. So you'd run a wide and you throw it to them. Well, when we would break the huddle with the receivers coming out of the huddle, quick, we call them on. Hurry up when they'd break the huddle, everybody's eyes on the defense would go. There's something coming out here to these receivers. Cause typically we would, we break them out, give the lines together. So a screen or, you know, do something quick. So we didn't have that in that play call. But on the sideline, when we were calling him, we said, Hey, let's break the huddle quick with hurry up. I said, you know, I've coached up and said, Hey, you know, we've seen this earlier in the game. So we schemed it and said, let's get as much attention out there as we can. Uh, so sure enough, we get the play call. We knew from previous possession, Adrian Peterson going one play 25 yards touchdown that RD. So like they were zapped, they were tired that fought for four plus quarters, but that was a little telling and it took us about six plays and seven plays to get in the end zone. And we had to get an ends on a fourth, down on a halfback pass if you remember that. So we were like, Hey, we're maxed out. Let's fill out all the stops. Um, so we get up to the line of scrimmage or get the play called the Hollywood break early. And my job at that point, uh, my job at that point was just like it had been all year was really, and this wasn't allowed me personally to have the success that I had as a senior, uh, was really focused on the details, not think about the big picture and really, you know, that one foot in front of the other, you know, breaking that down from a simplification perspective and, you know, thinking about the way that I call the play in the huddle, thinking about, uh, how my guys were in the huddle and getting their attention, brought to the play, getting the guys on the line of scrimmage and making sure everybody's lined up correctly, uh, thinking about the way that my cadence sounded and the cadence within my cadence. And then thinking about my drops, as simple as that, I think about my pre-snap on the PostNet breeds, my foot work and how many steps it takes to throw this route on this side and the same play call concept on the opposite side. Like that's how simplified I kept it all year long. I worked on those and details were extremely important as they, as they always should be in sport. But that's, that was that play too. That was break the huddle, make sure that make sure the place called correctly, you know, you call it play correctly. Typically if you have a guy that's like, huh, you know, so you make sure everybody understands what's going on, which we typically did. I mean, we were a bunch of pretty sad. Like I shared with you, our, our offensive line and core receivers and running backs, or just smart dudes break the huddle and get those guys out there quick. And then they run out there and they're like on the line of scrimmage, we got two guys on the line of scrimmage. So, and my offensive line is like rare and ready to go. Right. I've got two guys that are kind of fiddling around a line of scrimmage and, uh, rags on and lady was supposed to get back. So I got to wait for him. I'm almost up on her side and I'm like, you know, get off the line and we get set, set, uh, take my steps and make sure, you know, my ball handling is clean. And for me on that call, it was, you know, the ball getting handed off behind my back. So, um, on my back, like this guy,
Speaker 3:We do, that's awesome,
Speaker 1:Making sure that I'm holding onto the ball until I feel he grabbed it. So, um, you know, and, and his job, he did a great job of selling it, like watching the receivers and then come back and having the ball. Definitely it's quarterback seating, the ball, putting it in the pocket of the running back and he's up know with his eyes up. So then if you watch that play, I, I get the ball thing in front of me and I continue on my job and I'm like, yes, we got it. But my foot misses his foot by about this much as we're dropping. It makes me from every time I see it, like, oh, am I going to trip them this time? Like, you know, that's like a nightmare, but, uh, fortunately it was, you know, I think it's the best play in sports history, but, uh, it was pretty cool. Yeah. That's what I remember.
Speaker 3:I got to tell you, man, you're making mine, like my heart rate. My anxiety is like, I, I feel like I'm back in that moment with you guys in overtime against Oklahoma. Um, you know, my, like my heart's beating a million miles an hour. It's like, and I like what you said though, about the one foot in front of the other approach in terms of breaking it down, as opposed to thinking ahead, like, is this going to go in just, okay, we just broke the huddle. I need to call the play correctly, make sure everyone's set. Um, I kinda love that, uh, that meticulous, uh, methodical approach that you took. Did you, did you ever question coach like, Hey, I don't know if we should do this or it's like, no, I, I I'm with it
Speaker 1:On the fourth and sixth, uh, half pass he's we're on the sideline. He's like half the house. I'm like, are you crazy? I mean, like I'm a fifth year senior, we're going to throw the ball, let me throw the ball like ton of ton of confidence if any, to throw it. But, you know, thank goodness. I think Vinnie was, uh, just an experienced enough and had enough like do brass man, like had enough just, oh, I'm going to do this. You know,[inaudible] like that. He didn't see the big, like it's forced and six final play. The game could be. Um, and he just spins a perfect ball to the back of the end zone, puts it out there. We sell it just enough. And so on that play when I'm silent, I'm like, what are we doing? And then I told him after that, like, I'll never question you again, but on the, on the two point conversion on statute, absolutely not. Like we all knew what we had. We had, we had gold, man. I mean, it was that play was, uh, we knew it was gonna work.
Speaker 3:What was that moment like for you after Ian Johnson runs it in? You guys win the ballgame. Do you remember that exact moment?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Pandemonium man. It was, it was, it was chaos on the field. There are team run, rush in the field. Um, I remember, you know, Taylor sorrow coming in off the sideline. He and I are like just excited jumping up and down, uh, rest of the team, like, you know, Dogpile is here and there everybody's just going crazy running around the field. And it was, it was chaos. It was, it was, uh, uh, total lation. Like I asked the pies that, uh, that you could fill in sport.
Speaker 3:I think that's probably the greatest play in college football history. I remember watching that game as a kid and I got faked out, you know, and I was like, wait, what? And then I saw, you know, in the, I think it was the bottom left corner, you see Ian Johnson running. I'm like, oh my God. And obviously they slowed it down for you a couple of times. And I'm like, that is that's fricking rad.
Speaker 1:It was pretty cool. And in the moment that the size of that moment, you know, we're, we were considered, you know, th this, this storyline theme was the David versus Goliath theme and they, you know, that would've been the placation almost all week long and no one really gave us a shot. I mean, outside of, uh, outside of our locker room, no one truly believed that we could win that football game. But that was, that was the really unique thing about that team is, uh, we got to a place where we didn't care what anybody else thought. And the only thing that was important and was most important as what that locker room truly believed. And we had a hundred guys that believed, uh, believed in each other and themselves, and that's a pretty powerful thing. So yeah, it was, it was, it was, uh, so, so many great memories
Speaker 3:After that moment in the dust kind of settled a little bit, uh, you are actually did grace, the cover of VA's a NCAA football 2008, when, when you got the call about back, was that just the icing on the cake for you?
Speaker 1:Awesome. So I was actually in, uh, I was in Honolulu play and the, um, Hulu bowl. It was the first year that they had had that come back. It was a senior all-star game. Um, and it was like day two out there. And I got a call from him, got new Sandy Sandoval. And he said, Hey, we're selecting you to be on the cover. So I had like six more days in Honolulu, um, with this news. I mean, it was, it was awesome. And then the whirlwind behind that, um, you know, the Southern California trip and the Orlando trip, and then the launch, uh, during the draft and New York and the people that were at the party and, and the draft didn't quite go as we thought it would, but, but I got an opportunity to come to Houston and, uh, an opportunity to make the Texans practice roster. Um, but while I'm, uh, you know, going through OTAs, uh, we go to Southern California and went to SBS. And so that was kind of like that, that whirlwind from January one, um, basically through, um, you know, my dream and, and being on an NFL football team, those kind of eight months were, uh, just quite amazing. Some of the coolest times meeting some of the most interesting people, um, giving a speech at the ESPYs and having Peyton men come up and say, you know, that was a really good speech. And is that a great game, you know, in the green room, uh, Derek Patrick, same thing. And it was, it was pretty cool, man, and then hung out with Chris Berman for after the party, him and Justin Verlander hung out with them for about chopped it up with some interesting people, man, it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3:Was there any disappointment that you didn't get drafted in the 2007 draft and, or did it not matter because you ended up signing with Houston?
Speaker 1:No, there was, I was so, you know, kind of having these draft boards go and there's a lot of speculation, a lot of fun. And to say, you know, we think this guy's going to go kind of from this range to this range. And for me, it was, I had heard as early as third ground, um, you know, as late as fifth or sixth, but it kind of in that those mid rounds, um, and then day one ends third round ends. And they're talking about the best players that are still available. And Chris Berman actually mentions my name and says, Hey, look for this guy to come off the board really early tomorrow. Um, I had an expectation of probably being in that fourth, fifth round range. And so did my agents, but there was always this underlying, Hey, you never know. Um, but I definitely wasn't a first round guy. Um, but those mid rounds were definitely plausible. And to see my name continue to stay at the top as the, the guys are getting selected kind of around me. Um, I had a lot of questions as to why, um, we, you take dad as kind of a motivator. Um, and then there's also a kind of a positive spin on that. Like you're a six or seventh round guy that doesn't guarantee that you're gonna make a squat either. It's like you still got to go out and perform and Volcamp, and, uh, you still need to be a dude that the team likes and all that stuff. And, um, you know, all the physical and political stuff that go into the NFL game, you still need to be aware of those things and still perform, um, regardless of draft status outside of, you know, really first through third. Um, so I did have an opportunity and on the positive side, like I mentioned, you get to choose the place that you go as a free agent. So I had, I think the number was like 11 or 12 teams call me and say, Hey, we'd like you to, uh, come to camp with us. And Houston had brought me down, um, prior to the draft. So I got to know their coaches quite a bit better. Um, Mike Sherman and Gary Kubiak and col Shanahan all, uh, felt, I felt very positive about all three of them. And, um, uh, we, we started off on the right foot. I felt like we started off with a relationship and, and the offense that they were running was west coast offense. Um, kind of an open system west coast is what we ran, uh, with Boise stay one safety, two safety reeds. And then it bit, you know, who I was as a, as a quarterback as well with some play action stuff, some half pu some rollouts straight out and stuff. So it was a good, it was a good choice. I wish, uh, throughout the process that I made a few different decisions, I got released, um, week three, when Andre Johnson got hurt, then to make a practice roster space and shut some guys around. And then we six, I got, gotta call him to come back and I'd, I'd felt like things didn't kind of go the way that they should have. And so I decided not to come back and pursue workouts with other teams. And then I ended up in Pittsburgh in 2008. Um, but I think the best fit for me, uh, would have been to stay with the Texans and with those coaches, but hindsight's always 2020. Um, I thank God every day that I don't have, uh, those ringings or those names going on in my head. I know there were plenty of opportunity to, to have that happen, but, um, my health, my health is there. Um, I'm very fortunate to be in a place that I am today and they will pay forward my learnings and experiences to my son and daughter. Um, all is good. God is great, man.
Speaker 3:How do you stay positive though? When you're in your early twenties, you know, when, when you are hungry to, to make it to the next level, how do you, how do you navigate the not getting drafted? Then you get signed, then you get released, then you get signed again. Like how do you balance all that? But well, taking the time to be disappointed, but then shutting that door and then being positive and getting back to work.
Speaker 1:So something for me come along the way. And this was similar for a lot of the guys that ended up in Boise say, and you hear a lot with kind of underdog schools, all of that, those guys overachievers, you got a chip on their shoulder. We, or you hear that same scenario paraphrased or rephrase. When you're talking about the grades, you're talking about how this special that Netflix has now on Michael Jordan that you know, ran about the bulls teams. Well, Jordan would make stories up in his head to give them a little extra motivator to come out just as a competitor. You just find a way for something else to create that propulsion, that, that extra motivator or that internal drive, that fire. Those are all things that you hear, people talk about that you find a way to ignite it. And that was another, uh, let me show you the rest of the league. Didn't draft me, Texas. Didn't even draft me and we'll come out. I'm going to show you why you showed up. So I, I use that kind of as a, as a starter.
Speaker 3:I liked that a lot. And it here's the thing when, I mean, this is just my personal belief and, and you, can you tell me what you think it's, if you leave everything out on the table and you do everything that you can, whether it's in the business world, playing sport in any facet of life, then, you know, I believe I can walk away with no questions, asked if you dump everything out there because you gave it everything you got. And I think a hockey coach of mine used to say like, sometimes the cards like don't fall in your favor that used to tick me off, you know, because I've looked at it through that lens. And of course, as I got older, I'm like, you know, what if I just work hard every single day and maybe it doesn't work out, I gave it everything I got. And what more can you ask for?
Speaker 1:I think the more experienced someone has, the more wisdom that they accumulate through life, the better understanding of self that's, that's easier, uh, more easily accepted. Like I gave everything good. Boy, I feel good with the results because I know I gave it everything, you know, for me, uh, at an early age, like screw it. I know I could have still won. That should have found a way, even though I know I gave it everything, but that did win it or didn't come out with that. The result that I wanted, I still it's still like pulled at me. Um, but later in life, for sure. And, uh, and I think that has to do a lot with, you know, how you prepare for things. Um, our, our kind of motto, uh, at Boise state was perfect preparation, perfect practice prepares you for perfect performance. So for the five PS, right, we'd have perfect practice for Thursdays where we wouldn't go forward, unless that play was executed to a hundred percent. So that's some Thursdays column where we only repeated like one blade, like that's how state, and we're throwing the ball 50 yards down the field in air, we're running like really crazy, uh, gadget plays, you know, intricate designs where the opposite line has to pick up different blitzes. And we repeat like one play on a Thursday. Like we were dialed man, that team. So many levels, that team was so good. Um, but I think it has to do, you know, with that preparation, that's a big part of it. Cause you can, you can go out and like battle and a game and your off. But if you didn't, if you didn't prepare the way that you should have, it doesn't matter how hard you competed, you still lift something, you know, that, that, uh, you could have done better there. So I think with wisdom and understanding, and or the right coaching helps you to, to pull all of it in and then having enough experience and enough, um, defeats and learning experiences, uh, you in knowing yourself, uh, you know, as, as we all, you know, really start to do later in life, accepting those things becomes a little easier,
Speaker 3:Knowing yourself as key, which is why I was talking to a friend the other day. And I said, I wish I could. I'm 30 now. And I was like, I wish I could take 30 year old Collin jumped back to when I was 19 years old and just then have all that, all that wisdom and life experience, because it, I wouldn't have made all the stupid decisions that I made. Um, but of course, you know, that's not how life works, but, but you're right over, over time, you accumulate experiences and it gives you a new lens to look back on previous ones with
Speaker 1:What, uh, but would you have that same mindset now, if you didn't experience those things, when you were 19 or 20, that's that that's that kind of catch 22 you're who are you are today because you went to those. So I think there's some gratitude in there that I know that I've experienced. Uh, as I've gone, I've made 10 times as many stupid decisions as doing my friend
Speaker 3:And man, you want to know it all comes down to gratitude and the gratitude is so important. Uh, there's a little in Santa Monica when I'm driving to the beach, there's actually a wall painted and it's every single day that I happened to be down or feeling a little low, as soon as I look up, it's like, boom, it's like, right. It's it's right in front of me and just says gratitude and giant letters. I'm like, that's, that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1:Reminder.
Speaker 3:Fantastic reminder. Well, listen, I don't want to take up too much of your time, dude. Um, obviously the Texans, the Steelers, you went up to Canada, spent some time in Canada and the CFLA. Um, I gotta ask you, like, at what point Jared, did you decide to pivot away from football? Was it something that happened or was it just something internally where you were ready to move on?
Speaker 1:Well, the politics is a professional sports. Got, got to me a little bit and uh, my children were coming. My daughter was going to be born. I had gotten released very late from Edmonton. My final season there, I played in like 16 of 18 games, excuse me, and started two of them. One bowl starts, and that was a week 16 and 17 one. Both those starts, we had to win the last three to make the playoffs and Ricky Ray, who was a highly considered, the number one quarterback in the league, you know, number one or number two, a high stage guy in the league was who I was behind. And back, we get 18 places. Katchewan one as Saskatchewan, why be week 16 at all? And we had a pretty, you know, we handle them pretty well. Uh, and I played pretty well and we gave teen, we go there, have a rough time lose. And I remember talking to some of, uh, actually Ryan did when he was Saskatchewan's back backup quarterback who was in front of me for three years at points. You say, who's now the head coach from the trauma organized. I remember Ryan saying, Hey man, we were pretty happy that Ricky ended up starting because we didn't know how to defend you and hearing that. And the stuff that I had experienced previously, like not always the best guys playing and our locker room was split 50 50 with half of the guys really want me to be the guy and half, you know, we're still gonna, you know, Ricky advocates rightfully so Greg quarterback, he's gonna go down in history as a, no, either one, two or three, all of their passing records in the Canadian football league. And I got released like two days before camp in 2011 and my daughter was going to be born in October. I could've chased it and landed with another team, but I was at a place where I was like, Hey, you know, chase my dream. Uh, ultimately I wanted to go to Canada to get back to the NFL and that road's even longer now. So I just made the, you know, everybody's got to hang them up. And at one point, um, took the next steps and very fortunate to have made a decision when I did, I believe the pieces of the puzzle or that were sitting there that were waiting for me to find, you know, finally, you know, came together, um, which has really, uh, led to the rest of my life.
Speaker 3:It's a really great perspective to, to have. And today you're the senior director of sales, oil and gas at EQI in Houston, Texas. How did you, how'd you get involved in that particular field once you left football? Was it a long and winding road, or did you kind of have an idea of what you wanted to get into post
Speaker 1:Oh, football football got me in to that, into the oil and gas industry. So artists, um, the week or two, after I got released, I started a business, uh, called, uh, Jared's Bransky quarterback development. And so I was doing quarterback development, youth athletes, your quarterbacks, and then speed equipment is training. And I accumulated about a dozen clients, uh, pretty quickly. Um, the paper here in the Woodlands, uh, did a up on me and former Houston, Texas quarterback is running quarterbacks, equipment scams and blah, blah, blah. And I get reached out to, by a guy named Bobby Bryan who says, Hey, gives me this Schiele, um, uh, youth football coach and Cyprus, my son's on the team and I wasn't supposed to coach, but we had too many players in the league. So they asked me to coach, would you come out and help us? I know you're, you know, training football players. So I get out there and he's got like six coaches helping them. And I'm helping him with this quarterback hold. It was his offensive. I mean, this is, this is the bad news bears have little, uh, nine and tens. And they couldn't, they couldn't take a snap calling that they, uh, so we got them taken snap and we got them hand the ball off right over the span of four or five practices. And he starts asking me about, uh, yeah, Hey, do you want to pitch the parents? And I was like, you know what? My client base is really good right now. Um, really like doing a group pitch. Um, but he asked me a couple of times and I'm like, no, it's the same answer. Right. And what do you get now? And he said, well, I've got a physician. He said, I'm the vice president of national Oilwell Varco. We're looking, we're bringing people in. And this was 2011, um, huge manufacturer, large manufacturer of Whirlpool equipment in the world, um, to Texas, this is their corporate headquarters. And he asked me if I'd be interested in taking a position. I said, Bobby, I don't even know what the weight of the oil is hard, let alone, like, what did I, oh, you know, you'll learn. So I took a job, uh, approached it, like I was learning a playbook and got into know all of the product files, uh, learned as much as I could about the industry and the nuances and the jargon and had some really early successes. And, um, couple of companies later and a decade later, actually a decade, two days ago, being in the industry, um, decade later, uh, with a great company that's corporately headquartered out of spring lake Michigan. But, uh, I run our teaching group here and, um, the oil and gas division.
Speaker 3:Here's the thing, Jared, if you can execute a play like the statue of Liberty play the way that you did to win that game, as well as remembered entire playbook over the course of, you know, playing high school college. And in the pros you can, I'm a firm believer you could do anything.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It, uh, it definitely translated the, the, the way that I remember stuff and the way that I trained my brain to remember like scenarios that we had, you know, play calls in college were different than the NFL, but they're very similar offensive systems. So I would correlate, Hey, this is like this, but it's called desk. And how do I remember what those different words is? I would tie it to another fragment of words that I remembered. And, uh, I was able to pick up on our playbook here was close offense, pretty quick, here you send. And I took the, I just kind of take that into that was something Chris Peterson instilled in me and in our quarterbacks, uh, the importance of taking notes, the importance of really getting in grinding and honing your, your mental capacity. And, and he was, uh, he had a masters in psychology, so he knew once it knew what levers and strengths to pull with my craziness. So, um, yeah, yeah, it's, it was an interesting, uh, interesting five years with him, uh, learned a lot, looking back at it like, oh, that's why he did that at stake and guy, but, uh, it's, it's definitely helped down the road. So, um, yeah, it was kind of initially a to get to here, um, uh, different businesses in my own. And, um, it's, uh, I feel very fortunate, uh, as I'm approaching 38 year to have these spaces that I've had, um, got two wonderful kids, Savannah, and Rowan's, Bransky Savannah just turned 10 and Romans eight and they go to school here in the Woodlands. Um, my fiance, Vanessa Ferguson, uh, we're coming up on a year of being together and, um, working towards plans for the future. And it's a feel pretty blessed now,
Speaker 3:Hey, congrats on obviously the two kids and of course the engagement and you're also soccer coach. We can't forget that we were talking about, remember that we, this is how we learn, how to, how to be a good soccer coach. You just play FIFA, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah. That, that was the initial, uh, the initial rules that I, uh, remember learning was playing FIFA in college. I learned what off sides was and on a couple of different things, but yeah, I coached my, uh, my daughter's soccer team. So for a few years, and then, uh, moved on from that quickly, when I figured out that they deserved a better coach to learn from
Speaker 3:Then you brought in Chris Peterson.
Speaker 1:That's right. That's right.
Speaker 3:Jared, listen, I appreciate you taking the time and sharing your story again. This is just, it's always great to chat with former athletes and get the perspective and the knowledge and, and just hearing your story from, you know, the small town of Hermiston to now and in Houston, Texas. And, uh, I know that, uh, a lot of your story and, and a lot of the knowledge that you dropped will resonate. So thank you for taking the time
Speaker 2:[inaudible][inaudible].