BURG Sports Network

Shawn Springs Interview 

 

1.     Who was the biggest role model in your life?

Both of my parents my mom and my dad. my dad being a professional athlete but my mother going into the army and serving for our country, was a big thing for me. I was fortunate to have both parents who were great role models.  My mom in the army and my dad in the NFL

2.     What was it like to play football at Springbrook High School?

I had a legendary High School Coach Bob Malloy, at that time Montgomery County Football Springbrook would have a winning program, it was strong, considered one of the best programs in the state of Maryland. It was awesome playing with some great players

3.     What was it like when you got an offer to play college football from Ohio State and what was the first game you played in like?

I thought I was gonna pass out when I ran out of the tunnel, to go from high school where there are a couple of hundred maybe couple of thousand people to Ohio State, the first time you walk out that tunnel it's just breathtaking, hundred thousand people, it's just great

4.     What was it like to be part of the Ohio State and Michigan Rivalry and what was it like to play in The Horseshoe/Ohio State Stadium?

The Horseshoe, that place is like a National Landmark, Gladiators arena, it's one of those places where you see it for the first time, you just say I would love to be a part of that and play in that program. The Ohio State Michigan Rivalry, you think you know about it and hear about it on TV but it's nothing, nothing, nothing you can do that has more meaning to you...the relationship between the two is a hate relationship but a lot of respect, from both programs, both are winning programs. It's one of those things that's hard to describe but it's amazing to be part of that rivalry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.     How did you feel when you were drafted third overall by the Seattle Seahawks?

It was amazing. Something I dreamed about what it would be like to cross that stage. Hold up that Jersey from the team you were selected by, for me it was the Seattle Seahawks and then taking a picture with Paul Tagliabue being in the greenroom with my family it was an amazing experience and then when I went out to Seattle I teared up a little bit because I'm from Washington DC not the state of Washington, it's far but Seattle was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

6.     What was your favorite game while playing for the Seattle Seahawks?

It would have to be the first time the Seahawks (when Coach Holmgren was the head coach) and we went back and played Greenbay on Monday night. It was probably one of my best games ever and probably one of the best feelings ever because we had a legendary coach who game back and essentially built Greenbay back into the organization it is today after years of  losing, he came and brought it back. It was awesome

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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7.     How did it feel playing for the Washington Redskins and for coach Joe Gibbs?

Coach Gibbs is a legend like playing for one of the best men you would ever want to be a part of, leadership, learning and everything was awesome

8.     What was it like to play with the late Sean Taylor during your time in Washington?

Awww, an unfortunate situation but one of the best football players I've ever played with, Sean was the most talented kid, great spirit, worked his butt off, passionate about football, loved the game and if God built  a football player, it was Sean Taylor

9. What was your favorite game playing as a Redskin?

Probably when we were down 14-4 most people know that Santana Moss caught those 2 bombs coming back like that, we were down by 14, Santana and Mark Brunell threw those bombs that was an unbelievable win for that team that was so fun, that was against Dallas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.     What was it like during your time with the New England Patriots and playing for coach Bill Belichick and with teammates Randy Moss and Tom Brady?

You talk about an example organization where  people should build their business model the way the Patriots model their organization. Bill Belicheck Hall of Fame Coach amazing coach, brilliant, smart guy, real personable, not like what you see on TV, tv doesn't give you much but at practice he was real personable, he was great.  Tom Brady and Randy moss, great players, legends, playing with those types of players, they are the best at what they do, Randy is easily considered one of the top receivers of all time, maybe already one of the best, obviously Jerry Rice being at the top and Tom Brady could potentially be the greatest quarterback to play the game if not the best player NFL player of all time to play the game 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.  Now that you are in your post career and The CEO of Windpact what would you like to tell the people reading your interview about it?

We are a young start up, we are a technology and applied science company that focuses on impact protection. The cool thing about Windpact is we are working on real life problems solving real life issues like making better sporting equipment to offset some of the forces of impact that you see. Everyone knows about traumatic brain injury and stuff like that, so we try to do our part to make the game safer. It's always cool when you get to work with host brands or brands that we all grew up with like Riddell, baseball brands, under armour all these different company's that we can either work with sometime or will work with sometime one day in the future.  For me, it's cool doing something that benefits society and build a business around it

11.  Since you have designed football helmets to protect athletes from head trauma what makes Windpact so unique and different from other Football Helmets? What makes us unique is they way we go about softening the impact, I have a network of some of the world's best scientists who understand force mitigation, impacts and what it does to the body and our process of our models  how we can rapidly analyze and optimize padding solutions in helmets or protective gear. It really is what makes us different 

12. Having two sons who play college football I can understand how important this is to you for youth football programs, in high schools, colleges and even the pros. How can they learn more about making football safer and hopefully prevent more concussions?

I would tell parents concussions and traumatic brain injury is something serious so make sure you investigate all the equipment and know it's not just an equipment thing, it's the coaches, whether you coaching the youth league, or high school or NFL that recognizes when a player is injured that they can quickly take that player out and understand that it goes beyond equipment to tackling techniques and things like that

13. As for yourself how important is it for former and current players to bring more awareness about head trauma to the public? Are you hoping to bring Windpact to other sports as well? my hope is just what we are doing for football, to make all products safer, whether it's hockey, girls lacrosse, bicycle helmets, you want protection no matter what you are doing because not everybody is  playing sports some people are just active  from rock climbing to riding bikes and stuff like that

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14.  What is the biggest thing that Windpact has taught you?

Not to give my coaches a hard time, you know you are dealing with people one of the things with Windpact you just have to be resilient, you're gonna have some ups and downs just like in sports you are gonna have some wins and losses you just gotta be prepared to deal with the highs are gonna take care of themselves. you gotta be prepared to take care of the valley's the lows right?

15.  You won an award from the NFL for being a safe product, how does that make you feel?

That would be fantastic, it's all about how you give back from what you do provide a service to others and that's my mission in life is to be able to dedicate my life to my family and friends, the Lord first of all, God has blessed me with tremendous opportunities in sports and athleticism so to be able to give back is my deal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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