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#95 Anthony Adams defensive tackle for the Chicago Bears sat with ENTmoney and gave an in-depth interview about his career from grade school, college, and onto the NFL. Known as Spice (a name given to him by his high school teammates), and Double A (a name given to him by former 49ers teammate Bryant Young for his suspicion that Adams’ extra energy came from batteries) is known as a funny man around the locker room; but here he gives great insight on handling the attention, pressures, and wealth that come with being a sports star. Check out Part 1. of the interview below. Part 2 will be posted May 8th so stay logged on.
ENT: At what age did you first strap on the pads?
Adams: At the age of 14. It was my freshmen year in MLK high school I had never played before because I was too big for little league.
ENT: How Big Were You?
Adams: I was weighing 290lb at the age of 12.
ENT: Wait a min you were 290 at the age of 12 loll that’s crazy. What other sports did you play coming up?
Adams: I practiced with the basketball team in high school, but I didn’t play varsity.
ENT: Why did you only practice?
Adams: I had to toughen up the big men on our squad a little bit, they were a little bit soft coach needed my help so I said why not loll.
ENT: At what point did you know that football would be that sport for you, and that you were pretty exceptional at it.
Adams: I knew from the first day that I love the sport, the biggest part of it for me was the team togetherness and the physicalness of it. It’s crazy because I had zero experience when my mom took me out there. I didn’t know how it would be, I honestly didn’t want to play football she made me play I wanted to hoop that what I loved to do at the time.
ENT: So your mother got you started playing?
Adams: Yeah it was her idea. She took me up to the practice field, I was in regular street cloths I had my K Swiss on the brand new white joints.
ENT: Loll the Swisher Sweets loll…
Adams: Loll… Yeah the all white boys I was fresh to death…
ENT: Loll I remember those…
Adams: Yeah I was mad at her that day the whole ride to the field. We got out the car she introduced me to coach and he made me get to running that day in my street cloths, while everybody else had their practice gear on. Yo, I was steamed loll but it all worked out for the best good looking out moms.
ENT: Loll thank God for Moms, so at what point did you know you were good?
Adams: Honestly with in the first couple of weeks I knew I was good. I had raw talent, I was a big guy but I was very agile and fast for my size. All my coaches would tell me I got a lot of talent and to keep working hard. I would just listen to them, take their advice and by my sophomore year I was starting on varsity.
ENT: Coming out of High school you were all city, all state, and honorable mention all-American you received a lot of attention on the local and national level how did you handle all the attention that comes along with the accolades? Also, how did you handle choosing your college because there are a lot of young people that are now in the position that you were in and could use some good advice?
Adams: I just had good people around me to keep me level headed. I never really let it get to my head I stayed humble throughout the whole process. Also Detroit isn’t really a big football city people there aren’t really into it like I’ve seen in the south. In the south when it’s a game the whole town shuts down all the games are televised it’s a whole other level.
As far as me deciding to attend Penn State… most people thought because I was from Michigan I would either go to MSU or UM but I want to leave the nest and show my mom’s I could be responsible. Also, I had attended Penn State football camp several times with one of my team mates they were recruiting. When I got there I performed well and they offered me an $85,000 scholarship and asked me did I want to be a part of the family, I was like no doubt. It was a no brainer for me, and plus they had an 85% graduation rate for black student athletes. Another thing that sold me was when I talked to Joe Pa (the head coach for Penn State) he talked a lot about being a man, school, and life very little about football and I thought that was important.
ENT: So over all how was your college experience?
Adams: It was great I did pretty well in school, some semester better than others but I did well. I learned how to manage my time, being a student athlete isn’t an easy task. I learned how to be responsible, I made a lot of great friends that I still have to this day. I learned a lot from my coaches. That was one thing about me; I always took well to coaching. We had a lot of great coaches on staff, like Coach Larry Johnson who took me under his wing. He is still instrumental in my life to this day, he is somewhat of a father figure in my life. I would trade that decision in for the world.
ENT: So college was a great experience for you… each year you show steady improvement and your senior year you have a break out year which leads you to be the fourth pick taking in the second round of the draft, tell me about that experience. Log on Friday May 8th for part 2. of Adams interview as he discuss accomplishing his dream, coming into a multimillion dollar contract, and the life lessons that comes along with gaining such wealth.
