Loading...
Loading...

From electrifying NFL fields to rewriting his own narrative with resilience, wisdom, and unapologetic truth, Adam "Pacman" Jones is more than an athlete—he's a force of nature. A dynamic leader who inspires redemption, responsibility, and real talk, Pacman brings his signature "go get it" mentality to every aspect of his life, proving that with unwavering dedication and a commitment to authenticity, you can redefine your legacy and empower those around you. Get ready to be inspired by a man who lives by the mantra: "work hard, play hard" and whose impact extends far beyond the gridiron.
Takeaways:
Sound Bytes:
"What separates good and great is work ethic. Period point one."
"That's my calling, man. That's my calling. Like, I was one of those kids who lost his dad early, stayed with my grandma."
"I truly believe in you are what you hang around."
Connect & Discover “Pacman”:
Instagram: @realpacman24
TikTok: @adamjonespacman
🔥 Ready to Unleash Your Inner Game-Changer? 🔥
Mick Hunt’s BEST SELLING book, How to Be a Good Leader When You’ve Never Had One: The Blueprint for Modern Leadership, is here to light a fire under your ambition and arm you with the real-talk strategies that only Mick delivers.
👉 Grab your copy now and level up your life → Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million
FOLLOW MICK ON:
Spotify: MickUnplugged
Instagram: @mickunplugged
Facebook: @mickunplugged
YouTube: @MickUnpluggedPodcast
LinkedIn: @mickhunt
Website: MickHuntOfficial.com
Website: howtobeagoodleader.com
Website: Leadloudseries.com
Apple: MickUnplugged
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
If the climate headlines ever feel overwhelming, I want to share something different.
It's called Planet Visionaries, hosted by Alex Honnell. You probably know him from free solo,
where he climbed El Capitan without ropes. Now, he's focused on the biggest challenge of all,
protecting the only planet we've got. What makes this show stand out is its perspective.
It's not about fear, it's about solutions. Every episode is rooted in hope,
progress, and real people doing meaningful work around the world.
Alex talks with scientists, explorers, activists, and storytellers like Mark Ruffalo.
Wildlife photographer Bertie Gregory and conservation leaders who prove optimism isn't naive,
it's a strategy. Upcoming episodes span the globe from protecting our oceans,
to re-imagining food systems and climate justice, all told through deeply human stories that
inspire action. In partnership with the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, this is Planet Visionaries.
Listen or watch on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you're listening to this podcast.
All right, this episode, my guy, Adam Patman Jones, like we covered the whole spectrum of a
lot of things on this episode. Talk about his journey growing up in Atlanta. If you don't know,
like that is one of the greatest athletes to ever come out of the city of Atlanta. He's on my
Mount Rushmore, we talk about that. You're going to find out why and how he actually left the
Tennessee Titan. Like most people don't know why or how. When we talk about his mentorship and what
he's done, in the top five, we talk about who his goat of NFL all time is. It's a tarot hill,
by the way. Great episode. I'm just going to let you go. This is Adam Patman Jones.
You're listening to Mick Unplugged hosted by the one and only Mick Hunt. This is where Purpose
meets power and stories spark transformation. Mick takes you beyond the motivation and intermeaning,
helping you discover your because and becoming unstoppable. I'm Rudy Rush and trust me. You're
in the right place. Let's get unplugged. Pat, how you doing today, brother?
Man, I'm doing good, man. I'm happy to be a part of this, man. I appreciate you for having me on.
We're a long lost friends. Definitely Instagram friends, but it's far better to get on here and
sit down and share some words with you. Hey, I'm going to go straight to it, man. I've been telling
everybody for the last 20 years. You know, I'm from Greenville, South Carolina. I'm from the South.
We know what Atlanta is in the South. Yeah. I tell everybody that that we'll listen. My Mount
Rushmore of athletes from Atlanta. I'm not talking about that played in Atlanta that went through
it. I'm talking about from Atlanta. My Mount Rushmore is this in no order. Calvin Johnson.
Love it. Cam Newton. Love it. Dwight Howard. Love it. Pac-Man Jones. Let's go.
Like what you did growing up in the city of Atlanta, and I'm talking about before high school,
bro. Like like people that don't know, Pac was playing with growing men when he was like
seven years old. Like like I'm talking about football, basketball, track, like you were the guy
that honestly set that that new generation of athletes from Atlanta, man. Like talk to us about
just that growing up being being the guy in Atlanta, which is a lot. Like people talk about New
York and basketball, but like they don't know, man. Atlanta has athletes, all sports. And I think
it's a sports capital United States. Talk about us. Talk to us about that growing up in Atlanta.
Man, you know, a lot of credit goes to my grandma, bro. Like she kept me out of the projects.
Man, be going to play football at center with the privileged kids instead of playing. Like we
had a we had a team in the projects for his basketball, not football. And um,
a dude named Coach Knight really changed my whole perspective and look at a lot of things,
because he was coaching like 18, you see, you know, he wasn't coaching my age at the time.
And I was like 12 years old playing with 18 years. Like so that really changed my mindset as far
the physical quality of playing basketball with these older guys, the training, the the dialect
of you got to work to get there, man. And I think that transferred into me when I did go and play
with kids. That was my age. But man, Atlanta has always been on all the guys you name. I actually
went to school with um, Kevin Johnson sister. Um, Cam went to West Lake. Yeah. The way Howard
dad coached me in track. I ran track with the way Howard. And who was the other name you had for me?
Um, you? Well, oh, yeah, myself. So it was a, it was a great group of athletes. And I had like
AJ, Moya had Sean Jones carrying Fox. Yeah. David Jacobs. Um, David Jacobs was my idol growing up
because he was in the same projects that I was in. And um, he was the first person that I seen
that was trying to get out the projects and had every coach pretty much in the world. You
know, I mean, stopping at the top of the hill because they were scared to come down to the bottom,
you know, man. So he had to go up and get them. But like, that was kind of my idol looking
when I, when I grew up, you know, I mean, I was telling this to somebody else. Like I wasn't allowed
to be up there on the corner. Like, yeah, selling dope, selling weed and all that. No, I did gamble.
You know, we gambled a lot about my dice basketball football, softball, anything you can name track.
If you compete, anything you can compete in, but like, I wasn't allowed to compete up there to
corner. Yeah, man. And this prolific high school career, yeah, man. Like running back DB,
all state, Mr. Everything. I got this question because this is before NIL, bro.
How in the hell did you get out of the state of Georgia and go to West Virginia?
I don't want to know the bag number. But how did you get to West Virginia?
It was a bag number. I'll tell you that. Like, that's my time now. So I can talk about it. But
I was committed to Georgia Tech. Yep. And um,
um, Kier and Fox was at Georgia Tech at the time. Georgia offered me, but I didn't like the way
they treated Dave Jacob, I'd be at the stroke. You know what I mean? He's like, oh, well, you know,
he's a good player. And that's the reason why I, uh, he needed me to type down the Georgia
offer. Um, I had pretty much anywhere I could go, but I was committed to Georgia Tech. And it was like
a week before signing day, bro. Fox come to me, which shot out the Kier and Fox and his family.
They did a lot for me, changing my life and making me see different things besides the project.
Um, he's like, bro, this shit is school up here. I know you, you want to come in play football,
but this work up here is pretty hard. I think you're going to school to play football, right?
I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like, bro, these classes and stuff is super. I'm like, all right,
but I'm pretty smart. I'm a 12 15 on SAT. I think I can do this, Fox. It's like, uh, do you
want to go to the NFL or you want to go to school to play football? I was like, I want to go to
school and play football and it kind of changed my whole outlook. And West Virginia with coach
Rob Gibby and Coach Bird at the time. I knew they was first year coaches. This is, and I was
their first recruiting class. So I just put two and two together on my heart. I can go up here
and the visit was unbelievable, right? Unbelievable. And um, so when I went up there, I got to meet
coach Rob, got to go around Morgantown. Got to go to a couple of fret parties. I'm like, um,
this is a little different. All right. You know, I mean, besides the football players at that time.
Yeah. But the love and everything else was there. Like, I was probably only four or five
started. They had at that time. So I'm like, fuck it. I'm out of here. You know what I mean?
And my grandma was sick at that time too. And she was like, look, I want you to stand in line.
So I'm like, I don't want me standing in line. I don't know. I'm reading. Mom was going to
join the tech because you're going through long cancer and you can come see me play. And um,
when she told me that it kind of kicked in like, she really wanted to get away from all the
all of the energy around here. And um, that was it, bro. Like, I ended up going to West Virginia
and wrote a story. You know what I mean? You sure did. Yeah. You sure did. So I went to UNC.
I'm a tar help. So you're saying that if UNC could have got enough bag, we could have got to look.
As I'm saying, UNC could have definitely got to look. Actually, they offered me
because I was all into the sky blue, the joins, and all of that. And it just football wise.
It wasn't that when I went to the visit, the whole campus was quiet. It's held.
Like, I don't know which one was more quiet or UNC or Duke. Like, I took a visit to Duke too.
Bro, you didn't need that one. Yeah. I wasn't going there. Yes. But I did need you to be a tar help.
But, but at, at UVA, man, or at West Virginia, you again broke records. Like, I say this,
one of the best competitors I know is you, right? Again, if you can compete, if there's a way
to win, I'm putting my money on pack every time because that's who you are. Again,
Mr. Go get it. You're going to go get it every time. What was that like going from dominating
a high school in Atlanta to then saying, all right, now I'm almost with with some grown man
up here at West Virginia and just dominating there from literally day one, bro.
My mind said was I'm three and out of here. I told him that time I got there and everybody was
looking at me crazy because nothing was happening like that in West Virginia. And you got
realized I played with grown man. Like, I always played up a age group. Like, I really never played
with my age group except in high school, I guess I'll say. But like, I've always played with
guys that older me, like grown up in the projects. When we playing basketball, like, I was probably the
only kid that was fucking 10 years old. That was out playing with guys that's 17, 18 years old and
still giving them buckets, still making moves. Like, so my mind said was like, shit, if I can do this
here, this can't be that hard because all of them are way better than the guys I'm going to play
against. I'm the reason why they are not there because they don't have the grades to go or they
didn't pass SAT. So like, my mind said, I've always been like, kill and be killed here at point blank.
Like, put in the word, pair yourself, watch your fam and everything else to take care of yourself.
Like, I need to live weights in high school, bro. Never touched the weight. When I went to
West Virginia, I had Mike bars as my strength coach, which is one of the best strength coaches
in the world. If it was up to me, I would put him at number one. He would make you think you
could run through a fucking brick wall. I mean, it wasn't no limit to how we beat it up our body
to make sure that we perform. Like, in high school, I was fast around like 10, 7, man.
After my first year of college, they started calling me like that. And I would come back home
and like, the kids, like, trapped in the wrong years is a good example. He was just fast as
it. A little older than me, same grade, but just didn't have the grades. He got killed back once or
twice. But he run the 10 files. I would make it my interest. Like, when I get back on, I'm calling
him, like, hey, yo, what you up, bro? Like, what's up? I'm going to race. And the reason why I was
doing that mindset was I wanted to show them, like, look at this, we're looking at all this work
I don't put in in one year. And I'm talking about, I'm not just beating them. I beat them with
some room. You get what I'm saying. You know, you come back from that, you're like,
damn, this shit really is working. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's always, that's always been,
been my mindset, bro. Like, never let nobody out work. You no matter what you're doing. Like,
you're going to have up to down through the situation. But like, the work ethic, like, you can't judge
that you can't, you can't, you can't, two things you can judge. Work ethic and speed. Like,
some guys got a motor, some guys don't. But if you work, you eventually have a motor. Yeah.
Some guys got speed naturally, or you have to put in the work to get faster. But that's always been
my motto is like, if I'm not working, they can't be me. And that's again,
why I say I separate you from almost everybody that I know because of that mantra right there.
Like, your draft year, right? Again, I've always been a huge pack fan like from day one.
I told people, the best player in this draft is going to be packed. The person that's going to make
impact day one is going to be packing everybody's like, why? And I said, you're looking at a skill set
which is great. But what I can tell you is he will be the most prepared person moment one to make
an impact in the NFL. And they're like, how can you say that? I'm like, you're not looking at his
journey. You're not looking at the work he's put in because the results just don't happen
because you're the fastest. There's always going to be somebody tomorrow that's going to be faster.
But the way he prepares the way he studies, you're not seeing that and that's going to separate.
And it proved with your career, right? Like, you know how many people did you see as teammates,
as rivals or whatever, they don't willing to put in that work. They're like, oh,
they'll be out into it three years because there's a certain thing like talk about that with you,
like how preparation became a skill set for you too. Well, preparation was never one that was
between like, it was like, you're going to be prepared because it gave you like, you're going to
watch him, right? We're going to go with our head and run these heads. You're going to go to
this weight room and spend half of the day in the weight room and like, but like me coming from
the inner city and always having to prove myself, because you know, I'm five nine, bro. Like
180 pounds at the most 185, I say, right? So I had to be first of all physically prepared,
second of all mentally. And I came from being the number one running back in the state of
Georgia to get in the West Virginia. But like, hey, look, we really want you to go play defense
because we got a kid named Avon Coburn. That was Biggest player of the year. And there's no way
we can start you up in which I can share cares. I'm like, uh-huh. Look, that's sharing care.
It's like, yeah, I ain't with it. I'm trying to be three and done. But that was my whole mindset.
Like three years in West Virginia. And I'm out of here. And I asked because we're all like,
yo, can you let me, um, your planetary kick me turn. It's like, yeah, I'll let you do that.
But you got to go over and play on the other side of the ball. If you want to have a chance to be
a day one starter. And like, I did it. Um, and it really, it wasn't that big of a change,
because all of this hips and tournaments, you know what I mean? So me being a running back,
I had good feet, me playing basketball. I knew how to backfill. Do you know what I mean?
I knew I know how to cut people off to whatever side they're going to. So I kind of just use that.
I was like, fuck it. I'm just out here playing, I'm playing basketball. We see how long it's
going to take him to get off the line. If I can hold him on the line or shadow him for four or
five seconds to play over with, to play over the last eight seconds in the NFL. I mean, in college,
NFL or whatever it is, the average play is eight seconds. So like even that little two, like me,
using that right there for a whole different sport, I shall say, was can tell you like,
how mentally I was preparing myself and like, we talk a lot about trends on this show. And for
the past year, AI has been everywhere. But here's the truth. Talking about AI does not make you
more productive using it does. For me, AI has become a part of how I lead, build, and create
between the podcast, my team, and multiple businesses speed matters. Zapier has helped us connect
the tools we already use and automate the things that used to eat up hours, lead routing, follow-ups,
internal workflows, even connecting AI models like chat GPT directly into our process. No tech
headaches, no bottlenecks, just results. Zapier is how you break the hype cycle and actually put
AI to work, whether it's enriching leads, coaching your sales team, resolving tickets,
or streamlining marketing, Zapier makes it simple. Join the 3.4 million companies already
automating with Zapier and transform how you work with Zapier and AI. Get started for free
by visiting zapier.com slash mick. That's z-a-p-i-e-r.com slash mick.
I would, I would, I would watch fan bro like, and I would go out like, I like the party,
but like, in my house, I've never watched. I wasn't a movie guy. I never played Madden,
Call of Duty, even growing up. I stayed outside to, I had to go in the house with one of the
street light came on. Besides that, I'm doing two things. I'm going to here running,
catching around running against somebody playing basketball or shooting dice. That was it.
Like, I wasn't one of those kids that I was, I was, I did like fashion and all that, but that
wasn't my main mental when I was growing up. And like, I had a kid named Smitty on my team.
When we was playing AU Basketball, we had a, Rashad Karouff was the best player that I ever seen
in person at that time. So I played up with Coach Knight, team Georgia. We won three national
championships. And when he went to Kentucky, I'm like, damn, it's got to be something like,
he should've been one and out. Like, how good he was. He was going to have to get a
Puma commercial in high school. This was like, he heard of back then, bro. Yeah. And like,
this kid can shoot the ball from anywhere. And like, why is he, why is he not running out?
Come back on that summer. And I'm asking him, but I'm watching everything too. I'm watching him,
like, what are you doing? How are you doing it? Is he taking his tears? He's smoking, like,
and I kind of took, I took a little bit from everybody that I was around, the change, the
shit that I didn't want to be. Like, I already knew I wanted to be turned down. You know what I mean?
So like, I took a little bit from everything. His work ethic won there, but he was an unbelievable
player. And I was like, this is just what it is. He can't let the work ethic catch up. Because
everybody's good. Everybody's good, bro. What's separate good and great is work ethic.
Oh, okay. Peer Blumblum. You can be the best kid right now in high school. You go to college.
It's 10 a.m. Yep. Some of them don't like the work. Some of them soft as a motherfucker. Some
don't put in the work. And you can tell which ones put in the work because it shines. It shows,
you know what I mean? It definitely shows in the long run. And I think your assessment to that
off the field post career, right? You have that same mentality with what you're doing.
Now the NFL is done. Like, I actually think you get to be more of the real Pac-Man, right? But
you're doing it your way. And I think that that's critically important. You're not trying to be
someone else. You're not trying to be what other people may want you to be. I think this is my
perception. You're like, Hey, y'all don't really know Pac or what you think you know about Pac.
I'm about to give you the real me. And that's what I love because you're putting in the work
ethic to understand different things in media, to understand social more, to look at branding
and brand partnerships. Like, I've been so proud of you, bro. Like, when I see the things you're doing
during college football season, during NFL season, what the things you're doing when sports
aren't even the topic. Like, you really getting to be you. I'm just so damn proud of you, bro.
I mean, I appreciate it. I appreciate it. And I'm a big soker. Like, I watch everything. Like,
I watch. Like, people just think I'm just a guy that smoke weed and drink, which is a great
perception. If y'all want to think that hot shame on you, you didn't read the whole fucking book,
you just read the cover. But like, I watch trends. I watch stuff that's going on in IEL with kids.
And like, at this day and time, that same NIL that we were talking about that, the kids
are getting right now. Guess who else didn't? The grownups too, if you know how to use them. So
marketing yourself, believing in yourself. And like, yeah, if I could change anything, bro,
it's a couple of things I could change. And I talk about that when you ask me. But as a person,
me, I know who I am. Like, I'm loving and caring. Like, do I got a temper? Yeah. But that
comes with being a little bit competitive. Can I turn it down sometime? Yeah, I can't. It's my
worst always right. The way I want to say when I'm hot, maybe not sometimes. But passion that
comes with the territory of what I've been doing my whole life. I've been hitting, hitting fucking
people my whole life since five years old. So like, my Miltu is a whole lot different. It's
then they're like a person going to war. Like, your Miltu is going to be different. Like, period point
blank. Like, but y'all is of what anybody say. Like, because you only have a flight or flight
or a fight mode. You get what I'm saying? And now it's like, all right, I can go fight a flight.
But I just need to know, all right, sometimes I got to turn it right on. And you might say,
you've got a temper. But I think what you really have is a discernment of people. And pack
is never going to let somebody take advantage of you, right? And I don't give a damn if it's
the police, the mayor, the governor, right. But I'm standing on business right around. If I think
I'm right, I'm standing on business. And that's what I think it is. I don't think it's a temper.
I think what you're really good at, blessing or curse is you know the true intent. And you're
just cutting the intent off early, right? Like, you're not going to let somebody mess with you
for an extended period of time. It's like, no, if I see that this is what this person wants
or this entity wants, like, I'm just going to cut it off right now. I actually think it's a great
skill set. Well, you know, I do too. But sometimes it bites me in my ass. But for the most part,
um, it's been, it's been pretty good to me. Yep. Yep. So now let's talk about it though. If you
could change something, and I'm not going to call it a regret, I'm going to say change. Like,
what something you would have changed or done differently, knowing what you know now.
Once I got to the lead, you know, I didn't know how much of a business it was. Like, yeah,
you're the first, you're the first defense to play a pick. But this is business. And my buddy
Keith Bullock was trying to tell me that, like early on, he's like, Pat, you know, he ain't going to
be young this whole time. I'm like, yeah, I'm shit. I'm going to play them 40. You know what I mean?
Like, and what I could probably have, I fucking retired at 30, 435. And that was on my own.
It wasn't like teams wasn't calling me. But like, I wish that like, if I could change anything,
I would have had a better, like, circle around me as far as making sure that I knew that it was
a business. I don't know if I'm saying it right. But like, you know, you sound 42 million
dollar deal, 28 million up front. The next day you wake up, you got $12 million in your bank account.
Which I did have some good financial people around me. I put five of that up to where you can't
to 35. So like, I had some good advice. But when they come to like, all right,
promise, I shouldn't have never left Tennessee. I should have stayed there. That was my decision.
Like, I wouldn't have told Fisher, like, I wouldn't be trading. And because all of the,
I was just too, at that time, Nashville was, it wasn't a honky tongue time. It wasn't a party time.
It was all whites. Period point blank. And I ain't gonna sugarcut it in the net. If he was white
round and Lamborghini, he was cool. And then I'm here round. Lamborghini's in Billings.
It was a problem. And at that time, you know, I just didn't understand that, you know, coming from
Atlanta, coming from West Virginia, shit, right, whatever the fuck you want. I was the first person
in West Virginia with a Louis Vuitton top at 18 years old. And the 70s says Monte Carlo with a
full 50, full in there. So like, I this knew to me, right? This knew to me. Now that I got a bag,
I can't do like, move out one of the moves, which would ludicrous. Like a lot of that shit that
happened in Tennessee, man, was just because I was a young black flamboyant and politely wrong,
I would say person. Yeah. I'm the one. Hey, bro, you got a book in your nose. Like, oh,
you can't wait to talk. No, bro, I'm telling you right now. So you have to walk around the
fucking late. Everybody see the book in your nose. Yeah. And like, I just think I was a little bit
too fast for the culture in Nashville, like when I was there, but going back to what you said,
change, if I could change anything, I would just, I would change that little circle when it comes
to the business part because I was, you know, it's hard to look up to somebody when you send
your dad to get killed in front of you. And when you're going through the hardest time,
you ain't got nobody. Now when I get out of my money, everybody want to come around.
And like, that was the part that I didn't understand. I'm like, why would I fucking listen
to these people? What have these people been? Like my first 20 years of my life. Yeah.
Like, and now that I look back, like maybe one or two of them, I could have listened to the rest
of them was full of shit. But that circle is, is very pivotal. I'm saying, like, I truly believe
that you are what you hang around. Period point blank. Like, yeah, you can have your homeboy,
you can have your friends. It's a time and place for that. But like surround yourself with either
what you want or someone that's got what you got. Yeah.
You know what I mean? Because if you don't, it's always, it's always going to be a little
hate. Yeah. And if somebody don't have the, I ain't going to say the means because like,
if you, if you got the hustle and you got the work at the, you can't get to where we are,
where we are right now. But like, if you just hanging around anybody and not really paying
attention to the details, I think it's not your growth. For sure. You know, and again,
another testament to Pac-Man is this. I also know the business of football. And if you didn't
become that circle for other people, you personally would not have had as long a career as you did,
right? Like, you became a locker room glue person. And you became the person that teams were like,
you talked about it. You chose to retire, but you had people still calling you. Talked us about
that evolution, the pack of going from the person needing the circle to the person that now was
a part of the circle for others. Well, I always been a part of the circle for others. Like,
I took kids that didn't even have a scholarship to West Virginia to stay with me, that stayed in my
projects. Like, one of my two of my closest friends, you know what I mean? Because I was trying to
show them something different. Like, and then the locker room, like, I really believe,
by example, once you leave, by example, then you own the circle. If I go out and I take a
fucking limo all the way back from Magic City on Monday to be at the stadium at 6.30 and we
ain't got to be there at 8 o'clock. Like, you did all that. It's my fucking sleep in the park
but I'm the first one in the weight room. Two feet down the squares, three hundred, four hundred,
four fifty. So, like, I think the reason why I got a chance in every locker room I've been in,
I've been pretty much the guy. You know, we might be some guys getting paid more than me in certain
position, but when we talking about relationships, talking, sitting there, bonding, like, I've always
been the guy, what's your thinking about that? What's your thinking about that? What's your thinking
about that? What you doing in this situation? How is this right there? How is that right there?
And you'll be surprised, man. Like, how many guys? Women is probably the biggest questions in the
locker room. To a lot of guys, you know, having really had no girls until they got some money.
That's the craziest thing about it. Like, and it's some of the biggest names. And how to
sit down, go bar, you didn't care about that. Like, and I grew up, I, and everybody know, like,
Madison is like the real club, like a club to us in Atlanta. Like, all the shit they have right
now with girls knowing why I had brought the election in college, like, literally. We had six
girls standing in my house. Like, bro, we had mud parties every Friday, beer cakes, everything,
like, I'm done all that shit. Like, so you can't, you don't know until you know, like, and I ain't
trying to say everything, but like, I grew up in an era where it was, it was popping. Like, I grew
up in that, that era, that big niche, you know, young Jesus, when, when it was okay to go to the club
and spend 20,000. Like, that was my era. Like, I understood, like, all right, no, it's not going to
last for long. But let's go ahead and enjoy what we can, you know what I mean? And like, I had a lot
of teammates, like, bro, how in the hell do you just cut it on and cut it off? Like, I'm like, bro,
same way, we get paid to perform. You got to turn it like switch on. Sometimes you got to turn it
off. Like, I've always, always been like that, bro. Like, that's just been my mentality of work
hard, play hard. Sometimes you got to turn it off. Absolutely, absolutely. Man, I could talk with
you forever. I know you got stories that are going crazy. We might have to do a part two where we
just do story time with Uncle Pack. Oh, I got your stories, a lot of stories. But I would be
remiss if I didn't give you props and give you your flowers for this. Again, people that know
the real pack, man, that know pack that you allow to know you all will say this. One of the greatest
fathers, one of the greatest mentors, like, Pack does so much in the community that he does not talk
about because you genuinely care about kids, man. And like, I want to give you just the floor to
talk about the things that you do in the community or the things that you do for kids, man, because
that's my college. That's my college. Like, I was one of those kids. He lost his dad early,
stayed in, stayed with my grandma. We wasn't hurting them. I'll say that like, my grandma,
we was the bootlegger. So like, everything went through 146, which was all apartment.
But I seen her work so hard, bro, like, and try to do everything to provide for us. But like,
I've seen other kids in boat work or bank care that didn't have that who dad was going away,
who dad was incarcerated, who mama was a crackhead. Like, I've seen a lot of shit
doing my younger age that was just so crazy that I'd be like, damn, if I could, if I was back
as an adult, I would have, I would have grabbed it, you know what I mean? I didn't have the
meanings to grab. But now, like, I truly think that my, my calling are the kids. Like, if I can help,
if I, and you know, you can't have everybody, but my relationship, like, here, I take care
down to 40 kids, we travel all the way around the country, play football, my best friend passed away.
I had all his kids here. I got my own kids who I love dearly. But like, my true calling is, I think,
with the kids, the reason why I'm saying this is because I'm vulnerable. I'm not scared to admit
when I make a mistake. Or that, some of you on the news yesterday, yeah, I had, I shouldn't have
been drinking. I had a little bit too much to drink. That's why you don't need to drink. And yeah,
I just told him to fuck off and he got mad. So he locked me up. And some parents are not willing
to admit their mistakes because they don't want to be shamed on, I guess. But I live in the glass house.
Like, everything I do, if I go outside right now and take a piss, it's going to be on channel 5,
2, 12, 11, and 19. So I've used kind of switch day narrative to like, all right,
I can touch every kid because everybody's going to make a mistake. Do on your journey of life,
you're going to make some mistakes. But if you can capitalize off the mistakes and flip some of
those into a positive, and even if you don't, and you have to go through something, but you come back
out fighting, that's the definition of a man. That's the definition of a winner. You're giving
them sand. It's just like playing a game. You ain't going to win every football game. You are going to
get a flag sometimes for whatever their cause may be. But like at the end of the day, you got to have
a quick, I got to forget about the last play. And I ain't saying that in everything. Like,
some things, I'm like, damn, why you just can't shut the fuck up? Well, most of the things,
you're like, all right, I know what this is. I know how they try to make this beat.
For instance, I use the example in Dallas, you know. I'm on my own business. I get approached
by a Mexican guy. He was pretty drunk. Call me up in the name, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
This is that. So I said, hey, bro, you got two more times to do this. Are we going to step
outside and beat your mother fucking ass? Here comes the police. I'm like, yo, you need to get him.
Stop fucking talking to me. He calling me dah dah dah dah dah. And so even to do this, I smack
this hand down. Here I go straight to jail. Yeah. Now do this from the officer in Dallas. Oh,
now you're solving the officer. Then two weeks later, everything gets dismissed. But
I'm the news to make a headline. Oh, here you go again, dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah.
You just punch somebody in the club. We're just fucking the toilet. False fucking the
accusation. Yep. So I'm, I'm more vulnerable because I don't want my son and all these
kids that that's I'm taking care of to not know how to play the game. Because the game is to be
played regardless of what anybody say. Like now I have to keep security with me everywhere.
Like I have to have a second opinion with me. Right. Like I don't drive nowhere by myself.
Like in this sad, but like I ain't going to say I put myself in this situation. But
for what it may be, I did have, I mean to the shit that I've done too. But like you got to
learn how to play the game. I got to have somebody with me at all times. So I have second eye.
If not, I don't know what this person intentioned of doing. Well, what he's, what is narrative
of doing about any situation. So like that's my main thing, man. And I love, I love kids, bro. Like
I want, I want all these kids to be better than me. Like all of them. Like I sponsor three, four,
football teams, soccer teams. I had a gym over here while, man. But they didn't really understand
the sports because we had like a whitey, whitey, whitey area. So I'm opening up another gym.
Not too far from like the middle of the city. So I can get back. It's going to be called D1
too. I'm doing it with D1. But yeah, man, my job is to be a sponge for the kids so they can
soak up everything I went through the good and the bad. And if you do it right, it'll help you.
Like you can take these little pieces that I was taking from everybody and trying to build
what I'm, what I was trying to build. Yeah. And it'll have been a lot. Bro, it'd be sad. Like some of
these kids, like don't even have a bed to sleep in. Like up here, whatever you have. Like you go
over to the house, just to deliver a Christmas gift and surprise them. All right, and bring
you a PlayStation. Don't even know I'm coming. And don't even want me to walk in. That's how bad
you know what I mean? Yeah. I do a thing called check in like, well, with my players, I just pop
up. You don't never know when I'm pop up. But I want to see what's in the fridge. You will be
surprised, bro. When you see some of these kids and the way they're living, like, damn. Like
and the parents won't ask for help because they don't want all of them. Nobody to know they
should. But I'm like, I'm a private person. Like I'm not doing this to first of all, I don't
even like half of the shit that I do. I don't even tell them. Yeah. Because then they look like,
oh, Patrick, do this to no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. But you
motherfuckers don't even know 90% of what I don't gave or giving to the to the family. Now,
I'm talking about Cincinnati wise now because I do my stuff in Cincinnati. Yeah. And I still do a
lot of stuff in Atlanta too. But like, yeah, y'all know about the bike drives and all that. I'll
get 100 bikes away every Christmas. But y'all don't see everything else that I do
on the daily when it comes to our community and helping these kids out. But I do that because I
am nobody to do it for me. And I ain't saying that it ain't other people that is doing this. But like,
what I'm trying to do for the community and you hear kids talk about it like a lot of kids now,
you know, with social media, NIL deal. I've had a man, do you mind me talking about what you did
for me? Just certain extent, yeah, but to a certain extent, no, because I didn't do it for that.
I did it for you to be what you were. Now you got a full ride at the University of Kentucky.
Now you can pay $250,000. Nothing. Now you can pay it a million dollars. Now you got to
indeed just deal. Like, that's why those, you know, I mean, those are stories people don't know about
you, man. And again, I'm not, I'm not going to go into the details of it. But so I fucking love you,
bro. Like, like to see what you do with intention. I think that's what people miss, right? Because
you know, it's the truth. There's a lot of people that do it for the attention. Yeah. And they only
do it when the cameras are around or the phones are out, right? Like you see it. I see it. You do it
with intention, man. And in most of it goes unseen. And that's why I freaking love it because
you don't care. You care about the person on the other end. And that's what matters. Yeah, I do,
man. I just did a thing for Christmas. And my group shot the bell. We was talking about all right,
we're going to go down to get a homeless, some coats and feeding food. I'm like, damn, no fucking
coats and food. They want some money, right? That's going to get $10,000 out of the bank and get
very last one on $10. There you go. And maybe a blanket, the food, they don't really care about
the food. They're going to find the food. Now, what they do with the money, that's some of them.
Like I can't control what they do because I ain't that's not why I'm doing it. Yeah, I'm doing it
because this is out of the kindness of my heart. Hey, maybe one of y'all might take advantage of
this. Maybe one of y'all won't. But like that's the reason. Like what I do certain things the way
I do it. And like my team be on my ass like, bro, once you just tell people what you're doing,
I'm like, no, like, no, no, I'm not about like that. Like, no, certain shit I will tell them,
you know, maybe when it comes to organizations and stuff like that. But me personally, my intent
for doing it is because I come from this. I come from the scrubber. I come from
not having shit. I've come from a people around me not having shit, you know what I mean? And like
you never know, bro, like I got this one family that was pretty bad. And the mom was just like,
I just need to get over the hump. I was going to take you to get over the hump. You go,
well, my rent is $400 and then $200. I said, all right. So what are you saying is going to take
for you to get over the hump? It's like, just maybe help me out for a month. And I want to say
the people name. And I pay the rent for the whole year. I'm like, so you can keep everyone
of your checks. I pay the rent for the whole year. And now she is working for Fortune 500 company.
They'll move from the house that she's in. Got her own little side cleaning business. And like
that's what we're doing it for, bro. And no, you don't owe me shit. This is what somebody,
this is what I got to see from some of the kids that I had a chance to play with. That was pretty
wealthy because I was playing sports that was doing for me. The key here in Fox Day, like taking
me like a pack. Let's help you get over the hump. So that's why I do it, bro. Because without
the families that I've had that's been in my life, I wouldn't be in the same situation.
I agree. I agree. Now, I know you're busy. I know you got to run. I'm going to get you out here
with my rapid fire, quick five rapid fire. You ready? Yeah. All right. Favorite NFL city to play in.
Miami. All right. Your favorite flavor of wings from Magic City. Hot spring will let me build.
There you go. The best team that you ever had.
Montez Barfield. Greatest NFL player of all time.
Lars Taylor. Love it. Most overrated NFL player according to Pac-Man.
Most overrated. All time. All time. How are you going to give it to me? I'll care right now. All time.
Maddie. All time. Most Steve Smith.
We'll let you tell why on episode two, how about that? I would.
Pat, bro. Love you like a brother. You are my brother. You already know this, but if there's
ever anything I can do, I'm here. This has been an honor to spend time with you, bro.
And I appreciate you for having me, man. I hope this can get to somebody, you know,
a man that might need this, you know, man. And mental health is real. I want to say that for
we get off here, bro. Make sure y'all checking on your mental. It's okay to talk to somebody.
We all go through something to get to something. I'm a big mental health guy. My family is big
in bipolar disorder. So like, check on yourself and it's okay to go get checked in to check on
yourself. It's okay to talk to somebody and express how you feel. So don't put no shangil.
And don't be scared to be vulnerable when you're going and talking to these people. And tell
the truth. There's only way you're going to get some help. I love it. I love it. Ladies and
gentlemen, this has been Pac-Man Jones. And always remember, your because is your superpower.
Go unleash it. That's another powerful conversation on Mick Unplugged.
If this episode moved you, and I'm sure it did, follow the show wherever you listen,
share it with someone who needs that spark and leave a review so more people can find
there because I'm really rush. And until next time, stay driven, stay focused and stay Unplugged.
Mick Unplugged



