I wasn't highly touted coming out of high school, so it wasn't like I was expecting to get a lot of minutes. For me, I didn't know how good a player I was, even though I think I did decent as a freshman.

Seattle was my favorite team growing up, so I know a little bit about Coach Karl and his history. He's one of the best coaches in the game, well-respected by much of his peers and much of his players.

When I was growing up, there wasn't too much technology. There weren't so many channels that we were glued to on TV. We had to go outside and create our games. Kids had the habit of being active and exercising, just enjoying the fresh air.

It's similar to basketball: when you go to different gyms and win or lose, you learn something new. So when kids get out of the classroom, go to a new environment and meet different people, it opens their eyes to new things, and they have fun learning.

He gave me a lot of confidence because he said he liked my way of playing football. He said I was a person he really wanted to have in his squad. Something like that is always good to hear. It made me happy, especially as it came from such a great trainer like Jurgen Klopp. He showed how good he is at Dortmund with all the success he had.

Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.

You never know what can happen in football and in life.

I love football. I played it into two years of college.