Punishment for doing your job well is an unparalleled professional pressure.

My breadth of football experience, my injury history, and my all-or-nothing goal to become one of the best linebackers in the NFL, combined with all I'd been learning about the game's neurological effects on the brain, convinced me I'd be wise in choosing another career.

If I was a marginal guy or a practice squad player or a career-long special teamer, you take a hell of a lot less hits in those roles.

I couldn't really justify playing for money, and I think what I wanted to achieve put me at too great a risk, so I just decided on another profession.

Football is a really simple game, and the most important thing, in any formation, is that the players do their jobs, not the formation which they play in.

When I was younger, I was very athletic and I always loved sports and physical things.

My mother passed away when I was 14, so there were certain things I missed in terms of upbringing. Maybe my mother would have said, 'You have to get a real job.' I don't know because I didn't have that experience. My fortes in school were Spanish, sports, reading and theater. That's what they encouraged.

I didn't know how to socialise with other people. I went to Harefield and it was strange at first but then I realised I was only here for one thing and that was the football. That was one of the many things that kept me grounded and kept me going.