Ten Thousand Miles

We're back with another episode of Ten Thousand Miles, and today I'm incredibly lucky to sit down with Anna Stallmann, founder of Ascent Strategic Communications.

Whether you're a CEO trying to build influence, a founder considering a rebrand, or a professional wondering if you should start a podcast — this episode is for you.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Anna Stallmann

05:00 From the U.S. Senate to the Department of Defense

16:00 Launching Ascent Strategic Communications

19:00 The First 90 Days of Entrepreneurship

26:00 Strategy Over Noise

33:00 Should You Start a Podcast?

40:00 The Rebrand

44:00 People First Leadership

51:00 Personal Brand vs. Company Brand

58:00 Rapid Fire

KEY TAKEAWAYS

* The most underrated communication move: know your white space — the message only YOU can deliver

* Visibility is not influence. Influence is built through trust, discipline, and messengers

* "Plans are worthless, but planning is everything." — General Eisenhower

* Be famous internally first — with your family, your team, your community

* Hard work ethic still builds the best leaders. Fame that is earned lasts

* It doesn't matter what you say. It matters what people hear

GUEST RESOURCES

Ascent Strategic Communications:

https://ascentcomms.com/

Book Recommendation: Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

#StrategicCommunications #PersonalBranding #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #TenThousandMilesPodcast #PublicRelations #CEOBranding #WhiteSpace #CommunicationsStrategy #PodcastInterview

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Guest: Anna Stallmann

What does it actually look like when a CIO walks into a 20-year-old technology organization and turns it AI-first in under 12 months — without shutting anything down?

In Part 3 of the Sage Tech series on Ten Thousand Miles, Vic Pepe sits down with Corey Kirspel, a transformational CIO in the healthcare technology space. This is not theory. This is a boots-on-the-ground account of one of the most compelling enterprise modernization stories in the AI era.

Corey walked into a private equity portfolio company three years into a five-year hold — facing a 12-million-line legacy code base, a $2M cost reduction mandate, tribal knowledge locked inside a handful of people, and a board demanding an AI-first strategy. Here is what happened next.

What you'll learn:

* Why Claude, Copilot, and Cursor weren't enough alone — and what Corey layered on top

* How Sage Tech mapped 12 million lines of legacy code in 48 hours — architecture, vulnerabilities, and evergreen documentation included

* The one-engineer experiment that turned skeptics into believers — a five-month project done in six weeks

* How $1.2M in annual infrastructure savings was unlocked in three months without a ground-up rewrite

* The SDLC operating model shift that took a team from 100 lines of code per day to 10,000

* What the first 90 days of AI transformation actually looks like — and how to justify the ROI fast

Whether you are a CIO, CTO, PE operating partner, or business leader trying to move from talking about AI to executing it — this episode is required listening.

Chapters:

00:00 — Welcome and guest introduction

02:00 — The CIO's real job in the AI era

03:53 — Walking into a PE portco with a 20-year-old code base

05:25 — Why Claude, Cursor, and Copilot weren't enough alone

08:15 — Discovering Sage Tech and the virtual architect model

12:04 — Breaking free from tribal knowledge and key-man dependency

19:34 — The product leader who thought she knew her own system

22:04 — The one-engineer experiment that changed everything

33:49 — From one engineer to eight Scrum teams — the rollout strategy

42:01 — First 90 days and a message for anyone still waiting

Connect:

* Sage Tech AI: https://www.sage-tech.ai

* Subscribe for new episodes every week

Keywords: enterprise AI transformation, CIO strategy, legacy code modernization, AI-first enterprise, Sage Tech AI, software modernization, technical debt, private equity portco, healthcare technology, SDLC AI integration, CIO podcast, technology leadership, AI tools for developers, code base analysis, digital transformation ROI

Join us as we sit down with Bruce Henderson, CTO of Sage-Tech.ai, to get an in-depth look at their platform and the #technology driving it. This conversation provides valuable insights into the technical operations and #leadership involved in their enterprise #aistrategy. Stay updated with the latest AI news and gain a deeper understanding of how AI is explained in practical applications.

Bruce built his career maintaining, upgrading, and retiring the massive legacy systems that sit at the heart of the global economy. In this conversation, he pulls back the curtain on how Sage Tech actually works — from the queryable context graph and cognitive model to the AI inference layer, ephemeral environments, and why vector RAG failed them before they built something better.

This is one of the most technically honest conversations about enterprise AI you will hear anywhere. No hype. No sales pitch. Just a veteran engineer telling you exactly what works, what does not, and what every CTO needs to understand before 2030.

Learn more about Sage Tech: https://sage-tech.ai

Miss Part 1? Watch the business track with Deepak Sharma here: [link]

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction — Why Bruce Built Sage Tech

04:01 From Code to Knowledge — The Pivot That Changed Everything

08:07 The Queryable Context Graph Explained

10:15 Why Vector RAG Failed and What Replaced It

14:03 How the Graph Gets Built From a Real Code Base

17:14 Outputs, Documentation, and Self-Service Intelligence

24:04 Scaling From 500K to 15 Million Lines of Code

28:44 Ephemeral Environments and the Future of AI Coding

LIGHTNING ROUND

38:33 Most Overrated Thing in Enterprise AI

39:16 The Underrated Risk Nobody Is Talking About (De-skilling)

40:09 Bruce's Favorite Tool Most People Have Never Heard Of

41:12 What He Would Do Differently Building Sage From Scratch

42:42 The One Thing Most CTOs Still Do Not Believe About AI in 2026

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We sit down with Bruce Henderson, CTO of Sage-Tech.ai, for an in-depth discussion on their platform and its core technology . This episode offers key insights into technical operations and the enterprise ai strategy driving their work. Discover how their innovation is shaping the future of AI.

In this insightful podcast discussion, we dive deep into artificial intelligence technologies, exploring how ai works and its significant impact. Vic and Depak offer a comprehensive AI explanation for beginners, highlighting the future of AI. This episode provides valuable perspectives on the evolving landscape of technology.

What happens when enterprises try to modernize decades of legacy code — and fail? In Part 1 of this conversation, Vic Pepe sits down with Deepak Sharma, a veteran transformation advisor who has guided some of the world's largest financial institutions and insurance organizations through their most complex technology challenges. Together they explore why legacy modernization almost always goes over budget, over schedule, and under-delivers — and how a new AI-powered tool called Sage Tech (sage-tech.ai) is changing the equation entirely.

Deepak walks through how Sage ingests entire code bases in hours (not years), builds a living data model of how systems actually work, and gives business leaders, engineers, and compliance teams a visual map of technical debt, security risks, and organizational dependencies — across every application in the enterprise.

Whether you're a CIO navigating a legacy estate, a CTO trying to separate commodity code from differentiated IP, or a transformation leader tired of projects that never finish — this episode will reshape how you think about what's possible.

Learn more about Sage Tech: https://sage-tech.ai

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction — Why Legacy Modernization Fails

03:02 Meet Deepak Sharma — Transformation at Scale

04:17 What Is Sage Tech and How Was It Discovered

07:30 How Sage Ingests and Maps a Code Base

09:28 Hours vs. Years — The Speed Advantage of AI

11:13 Connecting All Your Systems — The Enterprise View

15:04 The New Engineer — System Thinkers Over Coders

17:14 CFOs, COOs, and the Business Case for Modernization

Ten Thousand Miles is hosted by Vic Pepe — Managing Partner of D&M Enterprise Group, co-author of The RFP Is Dead, and a veteran technology executive with stops at Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and JPMorgan Chase. Every episode goes deep with founders, executives, operators, and innovators who are building, leading, and transforming at the highest levels.

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#LegacyModernization #AITransformation #EnterpriseTechnology #TechLeadership #SoftwareModernization #CIO #CTO #DigitalTransformation #ArtificialIntelligence #TechnicalDebt #LargeLanguageModels #AIStrategy #EnterpriseAI #TenThousandMiles #VicPepe #DeepakSharma #SageTech #FinancialServices #CloudMigration #ApplicationModernization

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In this insightful clip, the speaker discusses his book "The RFP is Dead" and explains what truly led to the demise of the traditional request for proposal process. He sheds light on the new landscape of business proposal and procurement, emphasizing what has replaced the old methods. This discussion offers a valuable perspective for anyone interested in business education and the evolution of contract management.

Procurement is broken. The Request for Proposal — a process that dates back to the 1800s — is costing buyers and sellers millions of dollars in wasted time, bloated documents, and theater. In this episode, Vic Pepe breaks down exactly why the RFP died, what's replacing it, and what you should do right now, whether you're buying or selling enterprise technology.If you work in procurement, sales, or enterprise technology leadership, this one will hit close to home.

Get the book: The RFP Is Dead — available on Amazon for under $7

D&M Enterprise Group: www.dmenterprise.net

Contact Vic: [email protected]

This Episode:

• Why the RFP became a compliance exercise and a cover-your-ass tool

• The 4 forces that killed the RFP

• How AI is now writing — and scoring — RFPs on both sides of the table

• Why "if you didn't shape it, you've already lost" is the new rule

• What trusted advisors do that RFPs never could

• The history of the RFP (yes, it started in the 1800s)

• What buyers and sellers should actually be doing right now

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction — Vic's book and why he's passionate about this

01:45 Procurement Is Broken — the 4 reasons the RFP died0

3:30 The RFP as a CYA exercise — real stories from the C-suite

04:45 What replaced the RFP — trusted advisors, POCs, peer networks

06:30 The "already won" model — why cold RFPs are a waste of time

08:00 AI vs. AI — how automation is killing the RFP even faster

10:15 The new currency: authority, trust, and relationships

12:00 D&M's authority gap event and the AI leadership divide

13:00 If you're selling — stop chasing RFPs you didn't shape

15:00 Be the advisor, not the vendor

15:45 If you're buying — the RFP protects procurement, not the business

17:00 History of the RFP — from 1800s newspapers to today

19:30 Public sector, the veil of equality, and backdoor channeling

21:00 Failure, fear, and corporate paralysis

22:30 Internal sabotage — what happens when people don't want change

24:00 The 3 things you actually need to know before selecting technology

26:30 What trusted advisors expose that RFPs never can

27:30 Closing — get the book, get a trusted advisor, go execute

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Ever felt that rush? I remember that first time, the pure dopamine hit of climbing, a powerful form of motivation that felt like a true addiction. This experience wasn't about drugs, but about the sheer happiness found in pushing limits. It's a great life lesson in self improvement.

Everyone wants to climb the ladder. But do you know why you're climbing and what it's going to cost you?

In this raw, honest solo episode, Vic breaks down one of the most important questions in leadership, business, and life: What is the ladder of success, and is it worth the climb? Drawing on a career that spans the music business (Alice Cooper), Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, JP Morgan Chase, five CIO roles, and executive advisory work, Vic shares the neuroscience behind status-seeking, the psychology of ambition, and the very real sacrifices high achievers make on the way to the top.

This isn't motivational fluff. This is the truth about what success actually demands.

In this episode:

* Why your brain is hardwired to chase status (dopamine, serotonin, and survival hierarchies)

* The difference between ambition as identity vs. ambition as expression

* How to know if you're climbing the wrong wall

* The trades every high achiever makes: relationships, health, faith, and presence

* Why climbing fast and climbing right are two very different things

* The identity collapse that happens when the badge is gone

* How to raise yourself by raising others

* Why are the most successful leaders the ones who bring people with them

Key Concepts Discussed: Victor Frankl on purpose | Maslow's hierarchy of needs | Jordan Peterson on competence hierarchies | Leon Festinger's social comparison theory | Eudaimonic well-being (Aristotle) | The EKG climb: why success is never a straight line

Chapters:

00:00 The First Hit of the Ladder

03:45 Why Your Brain Is Wired for Status

07:20 The Ladder as Meaning Making Structure

10:10 The Trap Baked Into the Structure

13:30 The Boardroom Moment That Changed Everything

18:00 The Climb Is Not a Straight Line

22:15 Your Reputation Leads Before You Do

26:40 The Trades You Make on the Way Up

33:10 Identity Collapse at the Top

37:00 How to Climb and Stay Whole

40:20 Self Examination: Was It Worth It?

Tags / Keywords: success mindset leadership lessons climbing the corporate ladder executive leadership career advice ambition and success work life balance CIO career what does success cost purpose driven leadership Vic Pepe Ten Thousand Miles podcast leadership podcast business podcast career growth dopamine and success status hierarchy Jordan Peterson hierarchy Maslow hierarchy of needs Victor Frankl purpose

#LeadershipPodcast #SuccessMindset #CareerGrowth #TenThousandMiles #ExecutiveLeadership #Ambition #CIOLeadership #BusinessPodcast #VicPepe #climbingtheladder

Join us as we dive into the creative process of a musician who believes every performance is unique. He shares his approach to live music, emphasizing following intuition rather than a rigid song list. Discover how this artist crafts his music live, making each night a fresh experience.

Guitar legend  ⁨@EricGalesBand⁩  - Gales joins Vic on Ten Thousand Miles for a conversation 35+ years in the making.

From picking up his first #guitar at four in a music-filled #memphis household, to signing his first record deal at 16, to his recent Oscars performance and induction into the Blues Hall of Fame — Eric shares the highs, the heartbreaks, and the inspiration that have fueled nearly five decades in music.

Eric opens up about the emotional making of "Stand Up" from Crown, the gut-punch of having an early record rejected by his label, the brothers who guarded him through the industry, and the gift he believes was given to him from above.

https://youtu.be/DJHLkLOFEVA?si=CcKyarH3VfZzdvCM

He also gets candid about gear — Magneto, Kiesel, PRS, Dunlop, Seymour Duncan, and his Mark Bass Raw Dog signature amp — and shares hard-won wisdom about letting life be life and using music as the most powerful outlet there is.

Learn more about Eric: ericgales.com

Chapters

* 0:00 Intro

* 1:18 The Gift

* 3:19 Interview Begins

* 5:47 Picking Up the Guitar at Four

* 18:06 The First Big Disappointment

* 24:15 Crown, "Stand Up," and a Vocal for the Ages

* 33:00 Life Be Life: Controlling What You Can

* 51:36 Advice to His 16-Year-Old Self

Keywords: Eric Gales, Eric Gales interview, Eric Gales guitar, Crown album, Stand Up Eric Gales, Blues Hall of Fame, blues guitar, rock guitar, Memphis blues, guitar legends, Ten Thousand Miles podcast, Vic Pepe, Rick Beato, Joe Bonamassa, Magneto guitars, Kiesel guitars, PRS guitars, Raw Dog amp, guitar players podcast, music industry stories.

Hashtags: #EricGales #TenThousandMiles #BluesGuitar #GuitarLegends #CrownAlbum #BluesHallOfFame #RockGuitar #GuitarPodcast #MemphisBlues #StandUp #GuitarPlayers #MusicPodcast #VicPepe #GuitarInterview #BluesRock

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#shorts #shortsfeed #podcast #leaders #stories #podcast #courage #business #Success #Leadership #Motivation #Inspiration #SelfImprovement #PersonalDevelopment #GoalSetting #Mindset #Entrepreneurship

#BusinessSuccess #LifeGoals #PositiveThinking #AchieveYourGoals #SuccessMindset #LeadershipSkills #MotivationalQuotes #SuccessTips #LeadershipDevelopment #InspirationalVideos #SuccessStories #money #life #rockandroll #music #CEO #COO #CFO #CAO #nextjob #goodtimes #success

In this insightful podcast, we explore the cutting-edge world of artificial intelligence with an expert in symbolic reasoning. Learn about the future of AI as we discuss various aspects of machine learning, neural networks, and the logic behind advanced systems. This conversation touches on innovation in AI, offering a glimpse into how these technologies are shaping our world.

Vic Pepe sits down with #entrepreneur and innovator Dain Ehring for a powerful conversation about the future of #artificialintelligence financial services, compliance, risk, and the massive shift from the Information Age to the Intelligence Age.

Dain shares his work with QGI, Quantum General Intelligence, a deterministic AI platform built for highly regulated industries like financial services, lending, compliance, underwriting, and risk management. Unlike traditional large language models, deterministic AI is designed to provide traceability, auditability, consistency, and defensible decision-making.Vic and Dain dive deep into:

AI in financial servicesDeterministic

AI vs generative

AI Compliance risk and regulatory pressure

AI hallucinations and why they matter

The future of underwriting and lending

How AI will impact jobs and productivity

Autonomous agents and personal AI assistants

The rise of user sovereignty

Why AI will expose the bell curve

How entrepreneurs and small businesses can use AI today

00:00 Show Teaser

00:54 Introduction to Dain Ehring & AI Background

03:24 The Problem with AI in Financial Services (Probabilistic vs Deterministic)

07:14 Real-World AI Efficiency Gains and Limitations

11:39 AI Risk, Lawsuits, and Compliance Challenges

17:04 What is Deterministic AI and Why It Matters

22:24 Use Cases: Compliance, Underwriting, and Risk Management

29:39 The Future of AI, Autonomous Agents, and Human Impact

Subscribe to Ten Thousand Miles for more conversations with leaders, founders, innovators, and people shaping the future.

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From Bootstrapped to Brand: How Andrew Redvanly Built a Luxury Athletic Wear Empire from Scratch | Ten Thousand Miles Podcast

What does it take to build a premium athletic apparel brand with zero fashion industry experience, no investors, and a launch line that only came in white because you ran out of fabric budget? Everything. Andrew Redvanly, founder of Redvanly, sits down with Vic Pepe on the Ten Thousand Miles Podcast to share the unfiltered story of how he turned a passion for sports and an obsession with quality into one of the most talked-about luxury athletic wear brands in golf and performance fashion today.

Andrew breaks down how he invented the elastic waistband trousers out of pure survival instinct, not genius, and how that accidental innovation became the cornerstone of a brand now worn by Rick Shiels and generating serious international momentum. From three white polos launched on Shopify in 2013 to 75 employees and a global footprint, this is a masterclass in entrepreneurship, product development, and what it actually takes to compete against giants like Peter Millar and Lululemon without a single outside investor.

In this episode, you will learn:

* Why Andrew launched with no business plan, and why that was the right move

* How Redvanly's signature elastic waistband was born out of an inventory problem, not a brainstorm

* The real impact of the ambassador deals with Rick Shields and PGA player Johnny Vegas

* Why the first 4 years of online sales were basically zero, and what finally changed

* How to scale hiring decisions without killing your business

* What athletic luxury actually means and how Redvanly executes it at every price point

* What is coming next, including the Desmond trousers and a potential blazer line

If you are a golf enthusiast, a men's fashion buyer, an entrepreneur building a consumer brand, or someone who refuses to sacrifice either performance or style, this conversation is for you.

CHAPTERS

00:27 Welcome and Introduction

01:15 What Makes Redvanly Different

02:28 Andrew's Background and the Origin Story

04:49 The Risk of Starting Young and Going All In

07:04 How Andrew Learned to Make Clothes with Zero Experience

08:54 The White Line Launch and Early Inventory Realities

09:54 Going to Market on Shopify and Selling Wholesale to Country Clubs

12:27 Progress Over Perfection and the Entrepreneur's Seizure

15:18 Why Online Sales Were Flat for Years and What Changed

16:40 Expanding into Sweaters, Merino Wool, and Cashmere

19:20 The Performance Meets Luxury Philosophy

21:25 The Waistband Origin Story and the Inventory Problem That Changed Everything

26:11 Why Starting First Is What Gets You to the Breakthrough

27:10 Filling Knowledge Gaps and Learning from Everyone

29:19 Hiring, Delegating, and Building a Team You Trust

31:34 Knowing When to Pull the Lever and Invest in People

36:11 Business Discipline, KPIs, and the Monthly Business Review

38:14 Business Acumen from Day One vs. What Andrew Had to Learn

41:22 The Evolution of Golf Fashion and the Tiger Effect

43:53 Competing Against the Big Brands and Staying Consistent on Quality

48:31 Defining Athletic Luxury from the Inside Out

50:34 What a Redvanly Blazer Would Mean and What Is Coming Next

53:30 International Growth, Japan, South Korea, and Staying Focused

57:19 Brand Ambassadors as Growth Engines vs. Distribution Tools

01:01:42 Closing Thoughts, Vision for the Next Two Years, and Where to Find Redvanly

Redvanly website: https://redvanly.com

Topics covered: luxury athletic wear, performance apparel, golf fashion, men's athletic clothing, entrepreneurship, bootstrapped brand building, apparel startup, golf clothing brands, athletic luxury, Redvanly review, Redvanly pants waistband, Rick Shields ambassador, PGA fashion, men's golf outfits, golf lifestyle brand

Subscribe for new episodes every week.

Drop a comment below and tell us your favorite performance apparel brand and whether you have ever tried Redvanly.

#Redvanly #LuxuryAthleticWear #GolfFashion #MensGolfStyle #Entrepreneurship #PerformanceApparel #TenThousandMilesPodcast #VicPepe #AndrewRedvanly #GolfLifestyle #AthleticLuxury #BootstrappedBusiness #GolfClothing #MensActivewear #StartupStory

From Undrafted to the NFL: Evan Brown's Road to the Houston Texans | Ten Thousand Miles Podcast

What does it really take to make it to the NFL when everyone tells you you're too small? Houston Texans offensive lineman Evan Brown sits down with Vic Pepe to tell the unfiltered story of his journey — from go-kart racing as a kid to winning a state championship at Southlake Carroll, playing college football at SMU, going undrafted, and clawing his way through six NFL franchises to earn a starting role.

In this episode:

* Growing up in Southlake, TX and playing alongside future NFL players Kenny Hill and L.J. Collins

* What it's REALLY like to play in one of the most elite high school football programs in America

* The truth about balancing 60+ hours of football with a full college course load at SMU

* Going undrafted — and why that wasn't the end of the story

* Career stops with the NY Giants, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, and now the Houston Texans

* The mindset that keeps elite athletes mentally locked in, play after play

* What separates guys who make it from those who don't — and it's not always talent

* The rarely-discussed reality of being an NFL offensive lineman: zero rotation, 100% of snaps, and your opportunity comes only when someone gets hurt

* Center vs. Guard: the mental and physical differences broken down

* How Jeet Kune Do and martial arts principles show up in the NFL trenches (feat. a Randy White story you won't hear anywhere else)

* Goal-setting, resilience, and Evan's simple but powerful philosophy: "Don't let one turn to two"

Whether you're an aspiring football player, a sports fan, or someone who just loves a great underdog story, this episode is for you.

Chapters:

* 0:00 - Intro

* 0:34 - Meet Evan Brown | Houston Texans Offensive Lineman

* 1:46 - From Go-Karts to Football: Evan's Unexpected Origin Story

* 3:38 - High School Football at Southlake Carroll & the State Championship Run

* 6:32 - Choosing SMU: Being Told He Was "Too Small"

* 11:42 - The Reality of College Athletics: 60+ Hour Weeks & Time Management

* 19:33 - Going Undrafted: Draft Day & the UDFA Process

* 22:55 - Signing with the NY Giants & His First NFL Snaps

* 26:03 - Fighting for a Roster Spot: Soaking In Every Rep

* 34:10 - NFL Career Journey: Browns, Lions, Seahawks, Cardinals & Now the Texans

* 38:25 - The NFL Mindset: Goal-Setting Through Setbacks & Roster Cuts

* 41:37 - Center vs. Guard: Breaking Down the Most Overlooked Position in Football

* 46:56 - Emotional Control & Playing Even-Keel Under Pressure

* 51:48 - Advice for Aspiring Football Players: What Actually Gets You There

Ten Thousand Miles is the podcast that goes deep on the journeys of athletes, entrepreneurs, and leaders — mile by mile.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Like this video if Evan's story fired you up. Drop a comment — who should Vic talk to next?

#NFL #HoustonTexans #EvanBrown #OffensiveLine #NFLStories #UndraftedToNFL #FootballPodcast #TenThousandMiles #SMUFootball #SouthlakeCarroll #NFLMindset #SportsMotivation #TexansFootball #CollegeFootball #NFLJourney #FootballLife #SportsLeadership #NFLPlayer #GoalSetting #GritAndDetermination

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