Ride Home Rants
Ride Home Rants
From Slippery Rock To Sidelines: A Coach’s Journey And Work Ethic
Forget highlight reels—this conversation lives where the work actually happens. We sit down with coach and former arena pro AJ Saunders for a grounded ride through high school football, family balance, and a hospital IT career that runs on urgency and trust. AJ opens up about a 5–5 season with Plum High School, a wild blocked field goal turned touchdown, and a playoff exit that still taught the right lessons. He maps out the 5A grind—smarter schemes, bigger bodies, recruiting pressures—and the coaching habits that matter: early scouting, honest communication, and respecting the games you “should” win.
The story widens beyond the field. By day, AJ keeps doctors and devices moving inside Highmark/AHN, turning outages into solutions and tech into patient care. He draws straight lines from IT to football: fast teamwork, crisp escalation, systems that hold up under pressure. Then we go personal. Married 11 years, a dad and youth coach, he breaks down how he schedules film around family, uses PTO with intent, and treats “little wins” as the glue that holds everything together. It’s practical, real, and repeatable.
We rewind to Slippery Rock: the surprise switch from defensive back to running back, a humbling hit in camp, the return to DB under a top-tier coach, and how belief changes players. AJ also pulls back the curtain on arena football—tight walls, high motion, constant evaluations—and candidly shares CFL workouts and NFL looks that didn’t stick. The takeaway isn’t a near-miss; it’s a roadmap: adapt, serve, and invest in the next generation. If you care about coaching, culture, and doing hard things the right way, this one’s for you.
If the episode hit home, follow the show, share it with a friend, and drop a review with your favorite takeaway. Your support helps more listeners find real stories that actually help them win the week.
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Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home Rance Podcast. This is as always your host, Mike Bono. I got a great guest for us today. Uh, but first and foremost, we did just land a new sponsor for the show that I have not had time to pre-record, so we're gonna get them shouted out real quick, and that is Web Western. I am wearing one of the hats here today. Web Western is apparel made for somebody who is not afraid of hard work. Those who like to go out hunting, fishing, and working the land, it is built for you. I am wearing the arrow hat today, which reminds everyone to be a straight shooter and don't be afraid of hard work. Uh, go to webwestern.com, use the promo code MikeBono and save yourself 10% off of your purchase. Once again, Webwestern for those who are not afraid of hard work and no BS with this company either. As well, I'm a huge supporter of this. Again, webwestern.com, promo code Mike Bono. That being said, my guest today, uh, he is a coach and he is coming to us, I believe, up near the Cleveland area, and that is AJ Saunders joins the show. AJ, thank you for joining, brother.
SPEAKER_01:Hey man, I'm uh I'm happy to join you. I'm actually not in a Cleveland area.
SPEAKER_00:You're not in Pittsburgh area, even better than Pittsburgh area. I grew up around the Pittsburgh area, so that's absolutely great for that for sure. Um, yeah, man.
SPEAKER_01:It's all good. No yeah, I'm at I'm at wrestling practice right now. Um, you know, my son wrestles for Valley Youth Wrestling out here in New Kensington, not too far up 28 from Pittsburgh, but um yeah, yeah, I help coach youth, you know what I mean. I also help coach uh plum high school football.
SPEAKER_00:So okay always busy, man, sports man. I hear that. I uh you're you're preaching to the choir as someone who works a day job trying to make it as a stand-up comedian and running a podcast too as well. So I definitely understand a busy schedule for sure. Yeah. All right, so you can it's cringy, right? You're you're busy, you're busy all the time, all the time. There, there's no days off from me. Um, I'm either on the road uh with comedy gigs, recording a show here, uh working my day job. Um, and um I'm I'm a husband and a father too, as well. So, you know, no rest for the wicked. Uh, I wouldn't have it any other way, though. You mentioned you mentioned it there a little bit. I believe you just finished up uh your football season. Uh, where do you coach again? And how was the season?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, uh I coached at uh Plum High School. It's a it's in Pittsburgh, Plum PA, um not too far from where I live. Um, yeah, man, we had a late push in the season, played against Penn Hills, man. If you if you want to Google Mustang uh victory, um it was like it was a crazy, crazy game. Uh one of the things that happened, and you'll probably if you if you uh Google it, you'll see that one of our kickers, um, he had a blocked field goal and he picked it up and they tush-pushed him all the way to the end zone. Nice. So it was it was it was on the it was on the news, man. It was on USA Today for high school sports. It was it was uh it was a sight to see, man, be a part of that. But you know, we finished the season with five and five. We went to the playoffs, um, lost to Upper St. Clair. A lot of people in the Pittsburgh area know they are they're pretty good. Pretty good. Man, I I I felt like the game plan, man. We had a great game plan to go in and win. And you know, things didn't go our way, but it is what it is, man. It's football. Up and downs. Absolutely. Up and downs, man. Every every season, every every game, every minute. Just gotta battle through it, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I you know, I played high school ball myself, so I definitely understand uh the grind that a high school football season can be for both the players and the coaches and everything like that. Uh five and five, not anything to shake a stick at anymore. These, I mean, these these boys nowadays, they're they're built different, I would say. Um, especially down here uh where I'm at in Ohio, uh near the Columbus area, um, little town called Philo, Ohio. There's some corn fed boys down here, uh my son being one of them. Um I can't I can't say much. Uh 16-year-old, six foot one, 250 pounds. I mean, he's he's a tank for sure. Uh but does he play high school or uh he did. Uh he uh he did. He did he forewent his uh his junior season this year. Um couldn't fault him. Uh said he just wanted to get into the workforce and and and start working and and earning some money. So as a father, you know, I can't I can't fault him for that and having that work ethic as the 16-year-old, you know. Um was bummed not to go and watch him play on Friday nights. Uh obviously, uh as somebody who's played football and loves the the game of football, loved going out on Friday nights and watching him play. Uh, but you know, he he's got that work ethic in him like me. Like I said, I there's no days off for me. And he's kind of taking after the old man and and wanting to get to work. So um got to watch my nephew play. Uh who uh they played on the same team. They're literally six weeks apart in age. So uh still got to go to a couple games here, here and there when the the schedule allowed. So uh, but yeah, that you know the the grind of a high school season is just insane. Um I remember even my senior year.
SPEAKER_01:It it's almost like um can you hear me?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I got you. What's up?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, it it's almost like a mini college. Um we're in 5A, so like 5A, you know, almost like D1, D2 in uh in Ohio. Um it requires it requires a lot of attention. Attention to detail, man. Um, you gotta pay attention to, you know, they because they run the offenses in 5A a little bit more strategic than I would say, you know, 1A, 2A. Uh a lot more talented teams, a lot more bigger teams, right? Then you got a lot more kids getting recruited at that level, too. So it's kind of crazy, man, when you gotta you gotta, you know, big huge fights that you gotta climb out of almost every week. And then there's teams that you should beat. Sometimes you lose against those teams that you should beat because you know you never know what you're gonna get, you know. So like you said, man, coaching, man, it's a grind. Um, having did it at the college level, I've definitely been asked, but high school's where I'm at right now. I'm a D coordinator at Plum, by the way. I didn't get a chance to mention that, but um, it's pretty it's been fun the past two years doing it. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:I've always I've always said um wasn't uh a standout receiver when I played. Um, I've always said I'd make a better coach than I would uh or did as a player. Uh, but you know, I I just a steward of the game. I love the game of football. Uh always have. Um but besides coaching, um, I know you mentioned that you, you know, you're helping out coaching with uh uh wrestling there and the youth and everything like that. Uh, do you have anything else uh for like a day job that you do? Um, and if so, how long have you been doing that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, man. So um I went to school to be IT computer technology. So I got my degree in that after I was done playing uh arena football. Um, you know, I said, you know what, might as well use my degree, man. Use that paper, you know, use that knowledge somewhere. So I got a I got a job in IT in a different place. I I'm I'm currently working at a hospital. Um companies called HighMark, AHN, you probably heard of them. Yeah, yeah. Um they're they're they're they're they're it's blue cross blue shield is the insurance. Um, you probably heard of all that stuff. But um over in Western PA, there's about maybe six to seven, maybe eight hospitals. Um and what I do is I kind of help out the doctors with their phones and stuff like that. Just a bunch of IT stuff in the hospital, man. We're counted on to fix a lot of things and be the be the cohesiveness of in the middle and you know, client engagement with the patients and all that stuff, making sure everything's good. So that's that's what I do during the day, man. Um, you know, I've been doing it for the past, you know, eight years, maybe while I was coaching, you know what I mean. So it's kind of uh something that it's definitely the moneymaker. Uh IT's pretty decent. If you like the AI stuff and the video production, all that stuff's IT, all that's IT entity. So, you know, that's that's that's up my alley. You know what I'm saying? So I like doing it. It's not bad, you know. Plus, on top of that, man, there's a satisfaction to it where you're helping patients, right? Right. Doctors need computers, right? They need that stuff to help fix and look at different things on patients, and then we're there to glue in the middle, make sure it's working, and then making sure the doctors are happy, you know what I mean? So that's that's what I do.
SPEAKER_00:That's awesome. I've worked, you know, a customer service job, um, basically uh right out of college. And you know, there's just the the reward of being able to help somebody, and no, no matter what it is, I consider IT a customer service uh job because you know you're working on computers, but those computers help people, like you said, you're working for doctors and that, and that's helping them help patients.
SPEAKER_01:And not only that, man, sometimes you got to do phones, iPads, yeah, all that stuff, man. They use all different types of stuff just to get their patients back on track, man. And we handle with a lot of stuff like that. And then there's in in the hospital, there's a lot of different IT teams that we work with. So it's not just us, man. There's other teams we deal with that help us fix issues. So I, you know, we're not always the go-to, but we're always the cohesiveness with other teams to glue this thing together. How do we how do we get it back to normal to make sure people are you know back on track with themselves and then you know, with the doctors, man, we're right there helping them, you know, and we even give out our numbers sometimes just so they can call us when they're on call. You never know.
SPEAKER_00:My hell, my mom was a nurse for 46 years, so um, I definitely understand that.
SPEAKER_01:I hope I make it, man. I hope I hope I make it that long, man. That's crazy, man.
SPEAKER_00:You know, it is nuts. It it blows my mind to you know to even think about that. My mom started uh basically in nursing school and you know, being an aide at 18 years old, you know, and so for her to make it uh 46 years in one industry, I mean it it's it's a sight to see, and then to be able to retire from it, uh and now get to enjoy the rest of her life and everything like that. And uh it's great to see for sure.
SPEAKER_01:Um so yeah, but yeah, you know, I know she I know she worked long nights, man.
SPEAKER_00:Uh you know those long nights, those nerds, yeah. Yeah, and just the on-call. I still remember, you know, Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas dinners, everything like that. And sometimes that you know, that pager, that beeper goes off, and you know, she's making a call and then she's having to run to the hospital. You know, it there's through it's kind of like you know, with what I do, there's there was really no days off. Um yeah, I get it with that grind. You got you gotta be ready to go with it at a moment's notice. Um, that being said, you know, you are a proud dad and husbands. You know, walk us through your balance of you know the family life, work, and coaching and everything like that, because it's a very busy schedule. How do you balance all that together?
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know, I wouldn't be able to do it without my wife, man. I've been married for about 11 years. Um, I've been coaching for that long, too. So I know. Uh, you know, my wife's been been there ever since I started coaching. Um, she's actually one of the ones that is like, yo, you should go get into coaching after you're done playing. Kind of like on a teeter of it, but you know, the balance of it, man, I just trying to find that happy medium of spending that time with my family. Um, you know, hold on, I just got out of this. Okay, here we go. Um what was I saying? Okay, yeah. So balancing the, you know, spending time with my kids in the offseason, I that's what I net normally do. Um, I try to put my phone down, man. Once football's done with, I try to like ease my brain into something else. Right. My son likes to wrestle, he likes to play baseball. I take my mind there. I don't really get involved with baseball much. Um, my daughter did gymnastics. I just sat on the side and cheered her on. Right. So trying to be an involved dad, man, as much as I can. And then uh spending time with my wife, man, as much as I can, man. Those little dates matter. Little wins. We call them little wins. Um, you know, you know, because you gotta make her happy.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:You gotta make her happy, man, especially at home when she's dealing with the little ones, man. Um, so I try to like check in and make sure she's alright. Anything she needs, man, I try to be there because without her, man, it'd be tough to balance family and coaching with nobody at the crib, man. It's tough. Yeah, you know. So I balance that, man. I I try to divide my time up. Um and even during the season, I just want to say this with me, and um, I'm a family first type of guy, but during the season, even though when we watch film, um, I still make time and in practice, I still make time for my family too. Like if I have to take a PTO day, you know, just so I'm with them throughout the day and go to practice, that's what I'll do. You know, um, I my job, I'm fortunate enough where my job allows me to be flexible. Um, working in IT sometimes. I I I I'm normally at the hospitals, but sometimes I'm done at where I can go home before I go to practice. So they see me. They hear me, they see me before I go. You know what I mean? That's a special thing. Um, sometimes there's long days, man. Sometimes there's long days where I'm up at six, five in the morning and they don't see me till the that evening, which is seven o'clock, you know, when you're coming home from those late meetings with the guys, the fellas up there, the kids that need extra work, or you're look watching film of the next opponent. Um but those I usually plan those days out ahead of time. Um, you know, I have a great head coach, Matt Morgan, um, who sets the schedule. So we're allowed to send that schedule to our families. Hey, I'm gonna be late on Wednesday. That's my late day, right? We're there until 6:37 watching film any other day. I'm home at 5, 5.15, you know, and that's a decent amount of time to spend time with my family, right? Because I usually try to see them in the morning before they get on the bus. But, you know, that's just how it is, man. Even in the summertime, too, when we do 707s, man, um, you know, we don't try to take up too much of our family time in the summer. And I always dedicate time for them out that way. So, you know, it's tough. It's definitely tough, but that's how I balance it, man. I I I pick my days, um, I schedule it as close as I can, man, to spend time with my family, you know. And, you know, I know Saturday mornings, Saturday mornings, we usually meet with the guys and they lift. But there's a certain times where I'm done, man. I go with my family and I'm uh I put my phone down, man. Let them have my ears and my ears and my mind. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, that that's me. Sundays are typically a day where you know I don't have anything going on. Uh that's that's typically the the family day for sure for me. Uh you know, just busy schedule. Uh typically, even if I have a uh you know a show over the weekend, I'm typically home on you know on Sundays. So we try to try to make that that family day and everything like that. So I definitely understand that because like I said, I'm always I'm always on the go. Um there's times when you know you're you're traveling as a comedian. And I I mean I still remember one time, you know, I was driving from at the time living in West Virginia, had a show in Illinois, um, had a work a day job in the morning, uh got off uh put in a PTO day for the half the day so I can make the drive there, and then turn around and drive and back. And by the time I got back, it was time for me to already head to work. You know, so you know, there there's days like that that you have, and you know, Sundays when we can actually all just sit down, relax, and you know, just be together. Um, in the the summer times, the the son and I, we haven't got to do it in a little while, but we try to have you know just a father sundae. We'll go out fishing, uh doing something just together, just to get out of the house with each other. So you gotta make those times and those little moments, like you said, little wins. You you gotta have those. Uh uh, you mentioned making you got you mentioned making making the wife happy. I you know, I live by the happy wife, happy life uh mindset for sure. Um when we get to have a date night, it's it's always just a special night, even with her work schedule too. So it's um it's tough, especially around the holidays. It's it's busy season for our day, both of our day jobs too, as well. Uh, so we we don't get a lot of time, but when we find those little moments, even if it's DoorDash and something, and you know, just to be uh with each other in the house and everything like that, that that's a little win for us.
SPEAKER_01:Um yeah, because you got you and it all comes down to the respect factor of your job, her job, like even with my wife's job, because she works from home and um I know she has she deals with the blunt of everything before I get home. Um, but she understands I work in a hospital field where it's it's constant. Sometimes I'm I come home from football and then I get called in to go back into work at 1 a.m. You know what I mean? And then I gotta, you know, I got a game that week that I'm trying to prepare for, and then I gotta work another shift where you know IT is needed overnight. So she knows like sometimes I don't get much rest, but um, you know, those are the days where you you make it work, you find that happy medium. Yeah. Um and it comes down to respecting each other, man, and knowing that there's there's always light at the end of the tunnel, you know. Yeah, always always something to hold on to, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. You gotta find find that for sure. Uh, do want to get back to to your playing days here. You know, you were a standout college football player at Slippery Rock University, uh, where you played both running back and defensive back. Uh, walk us through your time at SRU uh as a player and you know, some of the highlights in that experience.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, man. So um I started off at Youngstown, man. I that's where I met Johnny. Um we were staying in the same dorm. I was oh man, my car. Here we go. You're good. Um we were staying in the same dorm. I I actually red shirted up at Youngstown, but I transferred, um, I transferred that spring 06 to Slippery Rock, and that's whenever they changed me from DB to running back. Um my head coach at the time was uh Coach George Mahalik, and he sat me down in a room and he said, Hey man, um I know you want to play DB, but we need a running back. As one of our running backs, he was an all-star guy, all conference guy, all P sack guy. He is injured. And I'm like, Whoa, I'm not a running back. I didn't even train or run all summer to be a running back. You know what I mean? So I ended up, you know, he talked to me, told me, hey man, this is what I want you to do. I actually did it, man. I said, you know what, I'll do it for the team. And he says, That's the best thing you could do, man. That's uh I'm happy for you doing that. You'll make a great running back. And that's it was all downhill from there, man. I um even my mom was like, Oh, you get the ball more, and I get to see you run. She was like so happy for me to be a running back. I'm like, I'd rather play defensive back. Like, I'd rather tackle somebody, hit somebody, because that's that's what I wanted to do. But yeah, man, that that's the story. That's how it came about. And um, you know, I was a retro freshman playing running back. I was starting, I might have started like six or seven games. I was sharing time with another freshman, and then it was a sophomore, uh, another running back that was there, and he was kind of a guy that I can lean on. His name was Travis Sarver, he's from uh Slippery Rock, actually. And we and I I really didn't know much, man. I haven't played running back since freaking high school, maybe my freshman year. So I'm like, I know how to run, I know how to juke, I know the holes, like I know plays and concepts, but like how a college is and how they prepare, it was different, definitely different. Like, I'm like, oh my gosh, this is kind of crazy. And I remember, I remember my first run in camp. I ran against a guy, his name was Corey Lac. He was an all-conference, all P sack, DN, and he hit me so freaking hard, literally. And I got up and I'm looking at him, and I looked at all my linemen, and they were huge. Um, the one left tackle, his name is Mike Butterworth. He went to the Falcons, and I looked at all of them. I was like, hey man, uh y'all do not let that guy in no more. Um and I told my head coach at the time, I'm like, I'm juking everybody, I'm not running nobody over. I'm probably 190 pounds. These dudes is 215, 220. I was like, I'm a scat back, I'm gonna just juke them like Barry Sanders. That's what I told him, and I'm like, that's what I'm gonna do. And I told my mom the same thing. I'm a freshman at the time. I'm not getting ran over, I'm not, I'm not doing none of that. Nope. I'm gonna juke him. I'm just gonna try to score as many points as I can. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00:You gotta know your strikes, man.
SPEAKER_01:I'm telling you, you know, man, but that's that's just how that's how it happened, man. And then, you know, it went and the rest was history, man. I um I led the led the team in uh average, Russian average. I gotta look up my stats, but I forget. But it's just a blur now, man. But I remember those key moments. Yeah, those key moments, man. Like first day at camp getting hit. We had to go through bag drills, man, and they wanted me to run my 40. Man, we had freshman initiation. It was crazy.
SPEAKER_00:Now, see, I I get it. Like I said, I I I played a little bit of high school ball, but I was mainly a swimmer. Um, I I swam through high school, uh, earned a scholarship at Bethany College to swim there. Um, yeah, if it wasn't for an unfortunate injury, um, my senior year of high school in uh playing football, didn't even realize it. Uh, we put the pads on the first day. I hit a sled and you know, felt a burning sensation down my arm and into my pinky. And at the time, you know, I was like, oh, it's a stinger. First time putting pads on, first time hitting, you get those. Didn't realize I separated my shoulder and I played the whole season on it. Uh yeah, caused me my senior year of swimming. Uh, once I realized that it was it was injured, and it wasn't until I got the swim practice after the season and couldn't do my stroke because they had me at freestyle and butterfly. I mean, I'm 6'5, I was 155 pounds because I was a swimmer uh too as well. So the long lanky butterfly stroke, kind of like a Michael Phelps type thing. So that's what they wanted before, and I couldn't do it.
SPEAKER_01:You probably had records, man. You probably had records, man, with that frame. Oh dude, touching the wall and coming back was easy.
SPEAKER_00:I uh uh at high school, I I missed the school's uh hundred butterfly record by like 0.01 seconds. It was just a matter of I didn't stretch at the right time to touch the wall, uh, like I knew I could have. Uh otherwise I would have been holding a record there. Uh but turnaround going to college and you know, swimming at a D3 school, um, you don't you think you know D3 is is gonna be easier than D1, D2, anything like that. It's not. I'm telling, I'm telling everybody here, like I was not prepared for the type of practices and you know my coach asked me, he was just like, so butterfly's probably out because we see your medical records and we see you have a bad, you have a bummed shoulder. I was like, I can't do the stroke like like I used to. So that's I don't know what you what we want to do here. Um he goes, how about backstroke? And I was like, I have never done backstroke a day in my life. I was like, I've been swimming since I was eight years old. I I I've never done the backstroke. Um he goes, he goes, how do you he goes, I was like, I don't know if I can do it. I'm a sprinter as it is, I don't know if I can do the backstroke. I was kind of like you with running back. I I haven't trained doing you know backstroke. It was always uh butterfly and uh and freestyle. He goes, you might be the best backstroker in the PAC and you have no idea. And I was just like, let's do it, coach. Whatever, whatever gets me in the water and gets me swimming more events, you know. I mean, just to to get that uh experience was it was great in sophomore year. Um turned out uh you know, re-injured the shoulder in the middle of a hunter backstroke, and had I not injured the shoulder again, uh, I would have broken the school's backstroke record by a full second. Um and it was it was that, you know what I mean? That that key moment. The rest of the season is pretty much a blur, rehabbed it, still was able to go to the conference championships, but the times just weren't there anymore because of the because of the shoulder injury and and ultimately ended the career of of swimming. You know, a shoulder injury is kind of a kiss of death for for a swimmer, uh, for sure. But you know, moving kind of like I I equate that to moving positions, like you moving from defensive back to running back, you know, going from being doing the butterfly to where I can look ahead at where the wall is, then now I'm looking at the ceiling doing the backstroke, you know, it it's it was a whole different game. And you know, it it's it's it's a challenge, but you know, you don't know how good you can be at something if you don't try, is what I took from that experience. Is yeah, coach talked me into the to turning me into a backstroker instead of just being a freestyler and only swimming a couple of vents a a meat, and you know, turned out I was really good at it, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01:And you know what? Um, you know, after I my freshman year playing running back, I went back to DB. We got a new DB coach from West Virginia. Um he's at Ohio State right now, he's a special teams coordinator, but or a special teams quality guy, but he was a head coach at the University of Finlay.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Uh yeah, coach, coach Keys, Coach Rob Keyes, yeah. Head coach at Finley, man. He one of my best DB coaches ever. Um, I went back over to play DB, man, and it was it was up from there, man. He showed me a lot. So Coach Mahalik, head coach at the time, talked me into playing running back, and it was it was great. And then I went back over to play DB, and it was even better. Um without without having that, though, like people having that confidence in you, man, that plays a big deal, too. Yeah, you know what I mean? Because they see the hard work you're putting in, and then they'll go, like, man, he's kind of agile, or he's kind of this, or he's kind of that. Let's put him here because I know he's gonna make plays there, or I know he's gonna get the job done. You know what I'm saying? So it kind of was like one of those guys, man. And I loved it, man. College football, I like college football better than high school. Some people were different, some people like high school because it's different, like you're you're you're playing for your high school, you're playing for your town, playing for your team. You know what I mean? But to me, college was like man, man. I mean, it was it it it to me, it felt different. It's it felt like home, you know what I'm saying? Right, like people believe in your ability, you know. So it could be it could be different for a lot of other people. They probably had different experiences, but for me, I wouldn't take nothing for granted, man. College, man, set it straight. They said it straight.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, I've only ever experienced high school ball, um, wasn't ever gonna be good enough to to go to college uh and play there. So uh, but you know, did have a a position switch, uh, because you know, in high school, you knew you you have to play offense and defense in West Virginia. Yeah, we had to have uh position on both. And you know, I started out as a as a free safety, like I said, 6'5, it's like 155 pounds. You know, it wasn't really much, you know. So I played defensive back, and then they realized that hey, um, we're gonna move you from free safety. And I was at first, I was like, why? Why where where where you move me to? We want a corner, like, where where am I still gonna be a defensive back? They go, No, we're gonna move you to defensive end. I said, I'm sorry, I'm I'm there's no way I'm gonna be able to make it on the on the defensive line. They go, We're not playing you there the entire time. We're gonna make you a speed rusher on third downs, but we know it's a passing situation, and we need somebody to come off the line quick and and put some pressure on the quarterback, that's gonna be you. You know, they they saw that that I had that quick twitch off the line to be able to beat these 350-pound uh offensive linemen and these uh guards and tackles and being able to get around them and put pressure on the quarterback in passing situations, and I would have never have guessed that would have been the case for me. Yeah, you know, at 155 pounds, and then you put me on the defensive line. I that that you'd sound crazy, coach. I don't know what you're talking about. So I get that.
SPEAKER_01:6'5, man. It's it's it's it's it's it might have been worth it, man. You never know, man.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it I mean it worked out. I mean, I ended the I I I don't know how I still remember. I remember so silly things, and my wife just can't believe it. But I remember I finished the season with five and a half sacks and like 15 tackles for losses, and you know, and that it's just like I would have never have guessed that would have been you know the case moving there. But you know, as we're recording the show, we are in the middle of the college football season. You said you uh uh you're a big college football fan and everything like that. Uh, who are some of the teams that you know kind of surprising you, you know, as we look into the to the rest of the season and getting near the bowl season in the playoffs for the uh for the college football playoffs? You know, you got any surprise picks for us?
SPEAKER_01:You know what? I hate to say this, um, but you know, what uh Indiana surprised me the most. Yeah, like like like and um Signetti, he coached against me at IUP. But he's a PA guy uh uh through and through, man. Western PA guy. I mean, he already he always recruited over over here, Western PA. But um Indiana, man, they're winning. And it it's it's different, man. He changed the culture. Absolutely. He changed the culture up there, man. It's and I'm I'm rooting for them, but at the same time, man, I got guys that coached me. Like I got a Al Washington, he's at Notre Dame. They're going against Pitt this week. I don't know who to root for. Then I got Ohio State, which my DB coach coaches for Ohio State, and then you got Indiana, which I know Kurt Signetti, man. I he he uh recruited a week recruited, but he also coached against me at IUP. So I'm like, man, this is this is crazy. That that is tough when you get it. Indiana, Indiana, Indiana might win, man.
SPEAKER_00:Dude, Indiana's tough this year. I didn't I did not expect that at all. That was definitely like I keep looking at him, I was like, How did they come from? But like you said, that they changed the culture there, and you can see what that does to a program.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, man, gives them confidence, man. He he builds up his players, man, inside and all probably good coordinators, right? You can't win without good coordinators, then you gotta have a strength coach, right? Make sure guys are healthy, good, man, strong, man, and then like this NIO. This you get in the top players, man, and I guess that cohesiveness there, man, those guys are gelling, right? Guys that work together, right? You got about 80 guys, man. They might different different guys, different teams that they probably were before coming over there working together, man. It's crazy. Indiana, ohio state third, they're just a high state, you know. Yeah, I don't think they're losing. Uh me personally, I don't think they're gonna lose a game, but Indiana might they might do it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'm I'm hoping they do. I'd like to see them, you know, make a big run in the playoffs. Uh, I'm not a big Indiana fan, but you know, I I like seeing teams like this that you know, once you change the culture and you see them start winning, I I want to root for those teams, you know what I mean? Uh that's just yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's almost like the underdog, they're the underdog right now.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I love rooting for the underdogs. That that's just my that's that's my favorite thing, is rooting for somebody. Uh that people are like, there's no way they're gonna do it, and then they do it and just shock everybody. That's my favorite stories of all time in sports for sure, is rooting for the underdog.
SPEAKER_01:Now, pit in Notre Dame, we have you know, college football, we have you know college game day coming to Pittsburgh for the Pitt Notre Dame game, yeah, and pitch the underdog because Notre Dame, I mean they're they've been up and down, but I think both teams are six and two, or Notre Dame might be seven and two. I'm not sure, but it's supposed to be a good game, it's at noon, and you know, you know, my my head coach Matt Morgan went to Pitt, so if he hears this, he might get mad at me, but I don't know. They you know, I'm I'm I'm torn between two thumbs right now. It's kind of crazy.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely, especially being around the Pittsburgh area for sure. You you kind of have to root for pit. I don't, I grew up in West Virginia, I'm a Mountaineer fan through and through, so I can't I I can't just root for pit.
SPEAKER_01:So oh man, yeah, Mountaineers. Oh man, yeah, yeah. You guys beat Pitt this year, so you guys got the one up on them this year.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, yeah, that that that's a win for the season for us. You know, we're we're struggling through throughout the rest of the season, but you know what? We always have that pit win uh to fall back on, you know. That's that's always when you beat your rival uh in the backyard brawl, that's always bragging rights for a year at least.
SPEAKER_01:So it is it is man. We probably gonna be talking about it for a whole year until they meet again.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. I I absolutely will, knowing me and my personality, I absolutely will. I got a lot of a lot of buddies in that area and that that were diehard pit fans that you know we we were talking crap, being text throughout the game and everything like that. And uh it was funny once that overtime finally found uh finished and Mountaineers got the W, the responses kind of slowed down on the on the pit side. So, you know, it was a good game, but all in good uh in good fun and good spirits and everything like that, too, as well. Um you mentioned it a little bit there, and I I wanted to touch on this. I kind of wanted this to be one of the last topics that we talked about here. Uh, but you played a little bit of professional indoor football uh after you finished at uh Slippery Rock. Uh, how was that experience getting to play professional football and how long did you play for?
SPEAKER_01:So uh before I jump off, yeah, we'll we'll end this here, but um, I um so I had long story short, I had a pro day um at Duquesne University May 2010. Actually, it might have been in March. Um, I went out to eastern side of PA. I train I uh trained out there, um, and then you know the NFL thing didn't, you know, it didn't it fell through and it didn't work out. I signed a two-day waiver, whatever, two-day workout with um a CFL team, bounced around, and then my first sign was with uh Reading Express out in Reading PA. They were um IFL at that time. Um it was a good experience, and it was a wake-up call because like a lot of guys had experience of playing arena, and I'm new to Arena, so I had to adjust. And it's almost a business, it's a business of a sub-business. Like it's like if you're not good, you're done. Like, yeah, if you're if you can't guard this guy and he's running full speed at you in a motion, you're never gonna be able to do it. You know what I'm saying? And I'm like, I had to do I had to work on that in the offseason. Like, how am I gonna guard this? So like when I was I was bouncing around from CFL uh workouts, and I had a multiple of them. Um, even I was with um Edmonton Eskimos uh for uh minicamp before I got released from them, but that's where I learned the high motion from. And then once I caught on with it a little bit, you know, it kind of made it easier whenever I went to Redding, because I'm like, okay, now I can I understand it a little bit. Right. But the experience, the experience of it was great because I used to watch Arena growing up. I'm like, well, what the heck? Like, I'm maybe I might be playing in this, but at that time, arena football was they were, you know, Kurt Warner and you know, all those other people that were playing Arena at the time. I'm watching and I'm like, I can't believe I'm doing this right now. Like I would rather rather be in a CFL or playing outside than playing arena. And it's crazy. You're playing in a freaking hockey arena, fans are on top of you, you you're close, there's no glass. Like hockey, you have a glass, you don't have nothing. You get hit into the boards, you can fly over the boards, man. It was it was nuts, man. I played for uh three different teams, man. I played for um Reading Express, then I went up to Erie, PA Erie, Erie Express, or Erie, not Erie Express, but um, I forget what the name is now. I can't even think. But I was up in Erie, I played up in Erie, and then I I signed a contract to play in Cleveland, played for the Cleveland Gladiators, and I got let go after camp, and then I signed on with the Pittsburgh Power. You probably remember hearing the Pittsburgh Powers. Yes, I played with them. I was then I was with them um for a season, and then that 2013 season, I was done playing football after that. Um you know, I had a couple workouts here and there with other CFL, and I had a workout with the Colts NFL team. I actually had a workout with the Bills too, but it's just you know, it wasn't my time, man. I guess God had other plans for me. You know, they um I'm a true professional Joe. There's pros and there's Joes. I was a true Joe, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, every team needs that guy, though. You know what I mean? That that guy that's gonna come in and work, uh, no matter what. Uh I I love those stories too, as well. Uh, you know, and you know, good for you. I mean, not a lot of people would take their shot, you know, after the workouts and the pro days didn't go their way. Um, they would have been like, all right, well, football isn't for me. You know, you found other avenues, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So that that's I I applaud that uh a thousand percent here. Uh AJ, we are running down here near the end of the episode. I have one quick segment here. We do have to get in here, and that is the fast fitty five. It is five random questions from the wonderful manager of the podcast, Johnny Fitty Falcone. Uh, these are kind of rapid fire for the new listeners out there, uh, but you can elaborate if you need to. Uh, if you are ready, AJ, we'll get started with the fast 55. All right, let's do it. All right. First question. Uh, if you are flipping a coin to choose something, are you picking heads or tails? And why?
SPEAKER_01:Tails never fails, man. That's the motto.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. That's that's an easy one. Toss up for the first one. I feel like he gave you the hair. But question number two uh, what's the worst number between one and ten? Oh, six. I'll never wear six. Ever. Never wear six. All right. Uh, question number three are standing desks overrated or underrated?
SPEAKER_01:They are overrated, but in other news they're underrated because you can have you can stand up and do and move around. You don't want to sit in one area. You know what I mean? I like standing desk. I have I have one at my job, so I got you.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Uh, question number four What's the better flavor of milkshake? Banana or strawberry? I'm a strawberry guy. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I'm a strawberry guy. Bananas, man, are good in in like fruit bowls, but when you go with a milkshake or shake, you gotta go strawberry.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. Out of those two for sure. Strawberry. Uh, last question here. Are log burning fireplaces in a house overrated or underrated?
SPEAKER_01:That's a good question. I'm gonna have to talk to Tony about that. That's a good question. I'm gonna go overrated. If you have a big enough house and you can put logs on a fire, like in a cabin house, something like that, then yeah, but in a regular house, I probably wouldn't uh just go buy a heater.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'm I'm a big fireplace guy, though. Uh, you know, I mean, I I love a good fireplace, you can't go wrong with it. Uh but um that was the fast fit. You know, I feel like he took it easy. Like he's been taking it easy on people that he knows, like with these questions. Typically, I get weird ones with this segment here.
SPEAKER_01:Uh now the the fire one, like if I'm in a log cabin, like and I'm out, like you know, woods or wooded areas, stuff like that. It it it it has its place, but like a normal house, man. I don't know, there's too much smoke. You gotta have the fireplace for a lot of houses. Don't have the fireplace for right, they just have the the the fake ones, the electric.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I can't I can't say much. I I have an electric fire fireplace, you know what I mean? Like I have the the electric one here, if so in my in my house. So I get it uh with that. But uh AJ, like I said, we are running down near the end of the episode. I do give every guest this opportunity at the end of every show. Uh, if there's anything you want to get out there, anything you want to uh promote, anything like that, whether it's for your coaching, anything like that, um, or even if it's just a good message, I'm gonna give you about a minute and the floor is yours.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, man, just uh, you know, I appreciate you guys having me on, man. This is probably like my second time doing a podcast, but um just want to say, man, if you're if you're being a coach, man, stay positive, man. These kids need it nowadays more than ever. Um, a lot of this world is a lot of negativity. Um, but we want to stay positive for our youth, man. That's why I'm a big part of the youth program and wrestling program, man. Uh and my son plays youth football, and I'm always for the youth, man, pushing them forward. So uh that's that that's that's about me, man. You know, we got to push that positivity to everybody.
SPEAKER_00:So absolutely, man. I I I love the attitude, I love the energy that you give off and everything like that. It's great to talk to you here, but that is going to do it for this week's episode of the Ride Home Rants podcast. I want to thank my guest, AJ Saunders, for joining the show here. A lot of fun to get to talk to you here. I really appreciate you coming on. And as always, if you enjoyed the show, be a friend, tell a friend. If you didn't, tell them anyways, they might like it just because you didn't. That's gonna do it for me, and I will see y'all next week.
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