I Kicked In Front Of An NFL Coach.. (Project NFL Ep. 2)

Summary

The video follows former NFL kicker Donald De La Haye as he strives to return to the league after being ruled ineligible in 2017. It documents his intense training regiment under 'mad scientist' Ian, lessons with renowned kicking coach Gary Zauner, and his persistence through setbacks and doubt. De La Haye discusses his unwavering dream of playing in the NFL again and the work required to overcome obstacles and prove himself at an invite-only free agent combine. The summary captures De La Haye's motivations, support system, and the challenges on his journey back to the NFL.

Takeaways

• 😊 Donald believes he still has the dream and ability to play in the NFL despite being ruled ineligible.
• 😞 Donald feels there is something missing in his heart and that his NFL dream has not been as easy as expected.
• 🏈 Donald is grateful for the opportunity to be in a Super Bowl commercial.
• 😴 Donald finds early morning shoots for commercials difficult and tiring.
• 😡 Donald and his manager occasionally have heated disagreements.
• ☮️ Donald and his manager are able to resolve conflicts quickly.
• 😃 Donald sees improvements in his physique after 2-3 weeks of intense training.
• 😫 Donald struggles through grueling leg workouts with his trainer Ian.
• 🏉 Donald learns specialized kicking drills and techniques from renowned kicking coach Gary Zauner.
• 😤 Donald aims to prove himself at a kicking combine in March before NFL coaches.

Q & A

What is Donald's dream and biggest obstacle?

Donald's dream is to play in the NFL. His biggest obstacle has been being ruled ineligible by the NFL.

How has training been going for Donald?

Training has been hard, but Donald has been locked in and going hard with it. However, he still has work to do and bills to pay.

What commercial opportunity did Donald get?

Donald was blessed with the opportunity to be featured in a Super Bowl commercial.

Who is Ian and what is his role?

Ian is Donald's trainer. He pushes Donald hard in workouts to help him get stronger, faster, and more explosive.

Who is Gary Zoner and why is he important?

Gary Zoner is a legendary kicking coach who has worked with many top NFL kickers. Donald meets with him to improve his kicking technique.

What kicking issues does Zoner identify for Donald?

Zoner identifies that Donald is a 'cruncher' when kicking, meaning his body goes downward instead of lifting up through the ball. This is inefficient.

What is the kicking combine that Zoner hosts?

Zoner hosts invite-only combines for free agents and aspiring players to showcase their skills for NFL teams and coaches.

Why does Donald think the combine will be important?

Donald believes the combine will be where he can prove himself as a legitimate talent in front of NFL decision makers.

How has training been helping Donald mentally?

In addition to physical gains, the discipline of training every day has been helping Donald's mental state tremendously.

What is notable about Donald's relationship with Sway?

Donald and his manager Sway have a strong relationship where they hold each other accountable, talk through issues, and never stay mad long.

Outlines

00:00

😴 Early Morning Struggles on Set

Donald struggles with getting up early to drive 2 hours to a remote mountain location for a confidential Super Bowl commercial shoot. He complains about the difficulties but his manager reminds him that he signed up for this.

05:02

🤬 Tension and Disagreements on Set

Donald's constant complaining puts him in a bad mood and leads to tension and arguments with his manager. They have a heart to heart to resolve the tension by taking accountability and not staying mad.

10:03

😰 Intense Leg Day Back in the Gym

After returning from the shoot, Donald jumps right back into intense training with leg day workouts that he hates but knows will make him stronger mentally and physically.

15:05

🏈 Lessons from the Kicking Master

Donald meets with legendary kicking coach Gary Zauner to work on his technique. Gary breaks him down and compares him to NFL kickers, pushing Donald to kick more effortlessly by eliminating excess motion.

Keywords

💡Dream

The concept of 'dream' is central to the video's theme. It refers to Donald's lifelong ambition of playing in the NFL. This dream motivates him and gives him purpose, even though he faces obstacles and doubts. The video shows Donald working hard each day to achieve his dream, such as intense training sessions.

💡Training

Donald engages in rigorous physical and mental 'training' to build his skills as a kicker and become NFL-ready. The video depicts his weight lifting, running, and kicking practice under coaches. His training requires discipline and hard work every single day.

💡Kicker

As a 'kicker', Donald's position in football involves specialized skills like placekicking field goals. The video focuses on him developing technical kicking skills like swing, contact, and aim through repetitive drills.

💡Journey

Donald views his path to the NFL as a long 'journey' of small steps. The video shows parts of this journey - early morning drives, commercial shoots, injuries, conflicts with his team, and gradual improvements over time.

💡Coach

Experienced kicking 'coaches' like Ian and Gary guide Donald's training. They observe him closely, point out flaws, break down techniques, and develop customized drilling programs to improve his kicking.

💡Combine

Donald plans to showcase his talents at an NFL kicking 'combine' - an invitation-only event where free agents demonstrate skills for NFL teams. Donald sees it as a pivotal opportunity to prove himself.

💡Consistency

'Consistency' in training and performance is emphasized throughout the video. Donald focuses on building consistent technique and mindset day after day, not just occasional big kicks.

💡Patience

Coaches like Gary preach 'patience' in the repetitive training process. Rather than kicking full force every time, Donald is learning to kick at lower effort and focus on technique.

💡Accountability

Donald's trainer Ian holds him 'accountable' by monitoring his progress, pushing him during workouts, and not letting him make excuses. Donald also takes accountability for his goals.

💡Adversity

Donald faces 'adversity' and obstacles, like early morning call times, injuries, self-doubts, and conflicts with his manager. But he perseveres through the difficult times.

Highlights

Donald discusses his journey and obstacles in achieving his dream of playing in the NFL.

Donald reflects on the challenges of balancing his training regimen and finances.

Donald and his manager have a tense exchange about staying positive.

Donald credits his manager for teaching him to control his attitude.

Donald and his manager reconcile after their disagreement.

Donald sees physical improvements after 2-3 weeks of intense training.

The workouts are grueling but Donald stays mentally tough.

Donald works with legendary kicking coach Gary Zauner to improve his technique.

Zauner points out issues with Donald's kicking form and helps correct them.

Zauner hosts combines for free agents to showcase their skills for NFL teams.

Donald sees the combine as his opportunity to prove he belongs in the NFL.

Donald reflects on his long journey pursuing his NFL dream.

Donald stays motivated by visualizing his goals.

Donald emphasizes controlling what he can despite challenges.

Donald and his manager quickly resolve conflicts by communicating.

Transcripts

[Music]

didn't like it either everyone wants to

tell you what you can and can't

do what's possible what's

impossible I hear the

noise and just when it seems like it's

too

loud there's only one voice I

hear hi Joe this is Mom I know you are

working very hard hard to reach to what

you want your

dream a lot of people they don't believe

you would make it they don't have trust

in you to reach that goal you want to

reach to do it for your family papy do

it for yourself just work for

it love you take care

remember all and

tight life may seem perfect from the

outside on the inside I feel empty a

kicker Donald de la has been ruled in

eligible I had a dream of playing in the

NFL I still have a dream of playing in

the NFL and I think that's been the

biggest obstacle in my life there's a

spot missing inside my heart yeah I know

I think look it it's not as easy as we

once thought it was going to be

right training has been hard bro but

I've been locked in but even though I've

been going hard with the training and

preparing to play football again I still

got work to do I still got bills to pay

I've been blessed with the opportunity

to be featured in a Super Bowl

commercial which is crazy we came a long

way boys we came from holding up the

camera filming vloging myself to being

in a Super Bowl commercial bro so we

heading out to LA U Quick Trip still

going to get some working out there but

we got to handle business pay some

bills your trade table should be up and

locked and carry on items to rocking my

Bo uping on this wave of just

consistency in my biggest challenge is

always when I'm away from home away from

my routine away from the gym it's

amazing to be here but I just feel like

I got to be on my stuff so I brought my

kicking stuff with me I brought my bag

with me my training bag and I headed

down to the beach

man

you know they say the destination is not

as sweet as a journey so as I'm out here

on the beach working out and running I

see the sunset the colors are beautiful

people are out here taking pictures and

it's a whole whole world going on around

me but I'm in my own world chasing my

own dreams I've had this dream since I

was a little kid and as I'm sitting here

on this beach I'm thinking about and

manifesting the running's hard I'm tired

I don't want to be here but that's not

going to get me to the places I want to

get to so I'm just seeing myself already

in the league I'm seeing myself being a

pro I'm doing what has to be done I'm

just putting in the work man control

what I can

control [ __ ] I ain't never been up this

early I looked at the she and I think

I'm done after like 1:30 that's crazy I

looked at that [ __ ] I didn't understand

nothing that they were saying did you

see like look at the times I was looking

at the times but I saw like pictures the

birds ain't even up chirping yet and we

up cuz we have a 2hour drive to this

remote location in the middle of nowhere

in the middle of the mountains to the

set of this Super Bowl

commercial you just dropping off yeah

just pull over to the side right there

you can drop him up right here I'm so

tired bro bro what my eyes don't even

want to open right now so obviously this

is an amazing opportunity but just like

everybody else I get cranky in the

moment it's so cold breakfast and then

the V are picking everybody up right

there God

the I don't know where the I'm at it's

dark as hell it's 4 in the morning we

got to sit around and wait for a minute

huh yeah I don't think the uh I think

it's still like eight so one thing about

de man he is one of the most solid

people I've ever met he cares about

people the way he treats his friends

family employees everything but there's

one thing about that man I cannot stand

he is a complainer these shoots is

always so weird cuz it make you sit

around and wait and Stu I think I just

want to make sure you're here and

prepared everything and the pearon girl

not even here so why we why we had to

get up that's what we do we get here

early you know what I'm saying all

we ain't trying to compare ourselves to

nobody else I'm listening to this man

and he just keeps complaining over and

over and over about just complaining man

you know swi that's my dog forever

that's my best friend that's like my

brother my manager he wears a lot of

hats but as close as we are sometimes

not often but sometimes we get into it

bro I feel like you you putting a lot of

like negative stuff into your head bro

like it's the reality it ain't no

negative stuff no but you like this how

it be sometimes bro like you start

putting that [ __ ] into your head and

that's how you going to be you're going

to just be moping around the head before

he used to just complain and complain

and put himself in a bad mood and I used

to have to sit there and say look bro

you're the only person that can control

your emotions you can't control a lot of

the situations but you can control how

you feel about them you signed up for

this [ __ ] they put this [ __ ] in front of

you you you said oh yeah I'll do this

[ __ ] so we here bro they told me it was

going to be like this you know sign bro

it don't M you signed up for it bro at

the end of the day so we worked so hard

on that but today it felt like he did a

180 and and we were back to a year and a

half ago you always do this [ __ ] bro

next bro next time don't sign up for

this [ __ ] if this how you going to act

bro tripping about what is he

really it's too early for this [ __ ] Bro

me and swi we just have to Hash the beef

man cuz we can't keep tension around us

one thing that we work on always is we

may have a disagreement we may butt

heads but at the end of the day we got

to squash it solve it talk it out and

you know just move on my favorite thing

about me and D's relationship is we

never stay mad at each other for more

than like an hour or so we got this

relationship where we say hey bro you

know this is my fault we take

accountability and we talk about the

issues and and the problems and what

actually caused us to be mad this time

it was just felt like I just had PTSD so

it was my bad and I mean later on we

even look at it and make fun of the

moments we was argu stupid

ass so obviously this is a very

confidential shoot we have the cameras

with us but we weren't allowed to shoot

anything that was going on so it was a

quick trip Super Bowl shoot went crazy

super excited for it very blessed to be

in a position but it's time to get back

to work flying back to Arizona back to

the lab back to see Ian and boy we had a

tough workout the first day back yeah I

better myself yeah I better myself I

going need you I do it myself M yeah I

better so I'm about 2 to 3 weeks in at

this point and I see crazy improvements

in my body I finally see my abs again

yall was on my Instagram telling me I

got a dad B and now it's huge motivation

my abs are back there some definition in

my arms my chest I feel stronger I feel

faster I feel more explosive not only is

that improving but my mental as well the

fact that I'm getting up every single

day 7:00 a.m. getting in the gym I can't

even describe it man it's it's helping

me so much like it's a great day to be

great

today great day to be

great that's about four to six steps of

just attacking down to the ground taking

your time on the ground strong not fast

going to be fast strong water equal

[Music]

fast what I got to

fix

think it feel fast again feel fat and

slow for a lot of months it's only been

2 and a half weeks imagine 2 and 1/2

months you say

B and although the workouts are

extremely intense and I hate every

single moment of these yall know the mad

scientist Ian he was very quiet when

things first started now we growing to

get to know each other a little bit more

I'm getting to know all the characters

in the gym everyone's getting loose

Ian's cracking jokes now which is crazy

I didn't even know he knew how to joke

he's so quiet I I'll just keep ding I go

inside piss on the

car was that you dropped it out at first

I did didn't

I I just got to get on base and even

though you know we joke around we have

fun and this and that Ian's always there

to keep me accountable and crash me out

with this workout cuz boy I'm telling

you this leg workout was

[Music]

tough

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

blazing the same night I'm in

that I got sign to talk [ __ ]

get up off me big

[ __ ] what we got next single leg back

we

got I know I'm up right now I thought

that [ __ ] said single leg basket

weed like what what leg days my least

favorite days but again you get stronger

by doing things you don't want to do

it's very much right here it's in the

mind if you go in there with a mindset

like this I'm about to make this work

out my [ __ ] can't nothing defeat me I'm

overcome this you know I feel like you

could get through a lot of things most

things cuz this leg workout right here

this leg

press just have a moment of silence for

me real

[Music]

[Music]

quick my

baby keep holding holding

good I think that's my least favorite

out of

everything LIF this mother Ain nothing

yeah had a whole 45 but guess what about

to make that 45 my

[ __ ] four range

now down 4

in here we

go here we

go just

wait uh big leg day today he had a lot

of front squats he had some uh ball of

foot leg presses some lateral work with

the slideboard and some a little bit of

work on dorsy flexion and some hamstring

work in there so now I'm just getting

ready making him his post-workout Shake

getting them uh fueled up and recovered

and that's uh that's another Monday down

and how y'all know I'm committed is the

same day where I almost died killing my

legs we went to meet the guru the master

of kicking Gary's honor and got a

kicking workout in his

[Music]

well I like the way you warmed up with

the soccer ball but when you were doing

that what were you working on definitely

just contact with the ball whipping the

leg a little bit you want to have a

purpose to whatever you're going to do

like when Aubrey came out he warmed up

with the socc ball the same thing and I

said what are you working on but this

guy told him about keeping his head down

I said well I'm never going to tell you

that remember the eyes Drew but see you

weren't doing that there you were just

kicking hard so Gary Zer is just a

legendary figure in the kicking

community and to be honest he's done so

much that I would be doing a disservice

if I don't pull up his Wikipedia right

now and read it for y'all bro so he was

a coach starting in 1979 for BYU San

Diego State New Mexico State Long Beach

State Minnesota Vikings Baltimore Ravens

Arizona Cardinals and California

redwoods special teams coordinator he's

also a kicking consultant starting in

the 1980s for the Eagles the Browns the

Chargers the Niners the Bears the Chiefs

the Seahawks New York Giants and some of

the notable figures he's work with

Brandon Aubrey right now he's money in

the league kicking for the Dallas

Cowboys Matt gay literally any kicker in

the league you name him Gary has worked

for

them that was a little punch here was it

yeah yeah I think about everything else

you don't think about anything else it's

a soccer ball Donald's definitely Got

Talent so now it's a matter of putting

in the hard work and getting the same

swing and uh being as proficient as a a

Brandon Aubrey a a matad gay one thing I

tried to get him to do Donald I tried to

get him to kick this like this Brandon

Aubrey was a soccer player so is Matt

gay they kicked this without thinking so

I'm trying to get him to kick this

without thinking one steps Left Right

Start tow out step tow out hit it say

eyes and how easy is it to walk down now

see you're pretty much wearing out this

spot with your kicking leg so balls are

going to go

straight nice skip now you only pushed

one ball so far that's good nice right

now you kick that one harder that's

that's the next drill and I've worked

with Coach zoner in the past like years

and years ago and he has not changed one

bit he has all these little eccentric

old school ways of coaching and teaching

that he does he has his old school VHS

camera that he sets up he sets up cones

in certain ways like he really really

dumbs down the drills and takes you back

to the very beginning so that you can

build it back up the right way so all

you're doing is repetition repetition

for what we're talking about the perfect

swing cuz now when you started with the

soccer ball you had a real Punchy mhm

and you're swinging hard now in kicking

you only have to swing hard enough to

make them all that's a bar you just

drove and typically like I'm very eager

about when I work out so I'm always

trying to kick a thousand footballs and

keep kicking and booting and booting and

booting and booting but coder is

different bro so how hard do you think

you kick that that one uh 7 you went

after it right 70 75 why would you have

to kick 75% on a 45 yard vehicle I

shouldn't no it's a ego thing you want

to blast it the that's your ego my ego

would be I I I try to not miss we kick

probably like 10 to 12 balls and right

when I want to kick the one extra ball

he's like all right shut it down let's

go in the shed let's go watch film let's

go see what you're doing to the say man

this is kind of a a crunch forward you

see this if you look at yourself

compared to him see his hip can come up

it's going through the ball now even

though his left arm is a little you know

across his body but just look at his

torso if you look at his head see his

head's going up your head is kind of

going forward so you're you're kicking

more in a driving phase and he's lifting

them up I would like to say I'm a great

kicker obviously there's things to

improve on but coach Zer is breaking me

down all the way like he's telling me

I'm a cruncher I should eliminate my

crunch basically my body is going down

like this when I kick he likes to

compare me to a pecking chicken okay so

give me your leg okay there you go now

come here okay now lift your leg there

you go so a't going nowhere well you

can't get you can't finish basically

saying I have to get rid of that I have

to eliminate that I have to stand tall I

have to be able to get my hips through

the ball watching the video he's he's

what I call a quick study he saw it he

went out and performed it and he saw the

changes that occurred from the beginning

of the lesson to the end of the lesson

all go get it eyes up eyes up and there

you go cuz he's used to being what I

call a cruncher and I'm trying to make

him a more natural style of kicker so

like I said Gary joner has the pulse he

has his finger on everything kicking and

he hosts these kicking combines which he

invites free agents and guys who want to

make it pro guys like myself who have

dreams and aspirations to playing and

their invite only he needs to you know

come in and compete um and that's the

best way to do it by the time March 9th

comes around for the free agent combine

he's ready to go in front of the NFL

coaches and I think that's where I'm

going to make my money and I'm going

prove myself and I'm going to show the

world that I'm not just no YouTuber I'm

not just no guy that's been capping on

the internet saying I could kick or

editing my videos like guess it's going

to be when I put all my talent and

everything I work for on the line so I

would think that if he's kicking like

this and he kicks off better then it

comes down to if if teams are going to

take a chance on how old are you 27 on a

27y old um

[Music]

Superstar

oh