Jason Kelce on Jeff Stoutland
Jason Kelce on Jeff Stoutland
Transcript
00:00 Talent.
00:00 No one has been most influential--
00:09 no one has been more influential or meaningful
00:12 to my success on the field in my career than Stout.
00:16 I think one of the greatest things a human being can
00:18 give another is belief.
00:21 This world, life, they can be hard.
00:24 They can challenge yourself to points of self-doubt,
00:27 and that is a dangerous place to be.
00:30 Well, I am lucky.
00:31 My whole life, I have been surrounded by people
00:33 that have believed in me--
00:35 my father, my mother, my brother, Paul Longo, Howard
00:40 Mudd, and in my darkest hours of Philadelphia,
00:45 Stout was the one who believed in me.
00:48 He was adamant my problems could be
00:50 fixed with proper technique, fundamentals, and work.
00:55 And work we did.
00:57 That off-season and training camp,
00:59 I focused on using my hands better, playing with leverage,
01:02 proper footwork, and prepared with an edge
01:06 to prove to myself that I was good enough.
01:10 The following season in 2017, I enjoyed the finest season
01:14 of my 13-year career, not only as a player, but as a team.
01:20 And it meant more because of the struggles and work
01:24 we had been through.
01:26 Without him, I doubt any of this would have been possible,
01:30 or that I'd still be here.
01:33 Since that off-season, I have amassed six All-Pros,
01:36 five Pro Bowls, and I'm recognized by some
01:40 as one of the best centers to ever play the game.
01:43 I am very proud knowing where I once was,
01:47 and the legacy I have left behind,
01:49 and the man we can all thank is Jeff Stout.
01:53 Second Stout quote of the evening, "No man is an idol.
01:56 We must draw our strengths from others."
01:58 I'd like to thank my teammates.