Catching up with Texas A&M football great Malcome Kennedy

Key notes from Malcome Kennedy interview

• After I graduated from Texas A&M in 2014, I spent some time with the New Orleans Saints. I had an injury there, and I used my time to focus on a passion of mine: Helping people. I got on in the City of Pearland, and I’m currently working in the Parks & Rec department. I’ve been slowly moving up from there.
   
• I wanted to put my Recreation, Park and Tourism Science degree to use. I got on in the City of Pearland. What I do now is help the community by looking at drainage, the flood plain and stuff like that. We also provide emergency services for the City of Pearland.
   
• My coworkers hear me talk about Aggieland all the time, and we’re everywhere in Houston. They see me bleed Maroon all the time, and I use my football days when talking to my team now that I’m a supervisor. I like to show people how special it is here.
   
• I almost had to use my GPS around College Station. This place has blown up. Now working with a city, I can understand how excited the local government was when Texas A&M joined the SEC. Seeing how much this place has grown is mindblowing. I’ve only been back four or five times, but there is so much to do now. The students have to be loving it.
   
• It’s the culture of this place, and it’s not just College Station. That includes Bryan. The twin cities have so much to offer. All roads lead to Aggieland, and with this place being almost equidistant from almost every major city in Texas, this is the place to be.
   
• My time with the Saints was awesome. I got there and started training. We were working out and staying in a hotel right next to the airport. We knew we had to work hard as undrafted free agents. Getting to work with Drew Brees was awesome. I was able to put myself in a battle for a starting spot, but I injured my foot. I knew they had to make a business decision, and they released me. They told me if I was still available, they’d bring me back. They were true to their word, but unfortunately, I re-injured my foot. Then I had that epiphany to put what I had learned to real life.
   
• Brees was super legendary in that seeing him without his pads on is different. He looks like a regular dude, but he has the heart of a lion. He’s that type of leader you need. Sean Payton was the same. He is very fierce but very loyal to his players. He gave me a chance and then a second chance. I’m very thankful for that.
   
• Hats off the Jimbo Fisher. He’s doing great, and it’s hard. I’ve seen how hard it is to take the minds of young men and prepare them for life in our current environment. You have to be a player’s coach and understand what they’re going through outside of football. With what he has, he is doing a great job, and I’m excited to see what next year brings.
   
• We have the potential and the talent with Jimbo Fisher. The sky is the limit for the team. We just need to be more consistent. I was happy to see them beat Alabama so the guys know that they’re Texas A&M. Other teams should be worried about us.
   
• Time flew by. That’s what makes these visits and coming back to College Station so special. I often ask what I could’ve done to be a better teammate or player or put us in a position to win more games. I left it all out there during my career, and as time goes on, I get more appreciative. These ten years have flown by, and I’ve loved to see Texas A&M grow as a football program and as a school as a whole.
   
• This may sound funny, but I am happy that people can no longer say that 2012 was the last time Texas A&M beat Alabama. Big moments — and my moment included — are meant to be overshadowed by other big moments. Looking back at that game in Tuscaloosa, that was a big moment for me.
   
• Coach David Beaty was our receiver’s coach. Kevin Sumlin was the head coach. They gave the play call, and my route was called an “eight route.” Milner was standing about 10 yards back, and all I remember was wanting to get him off his spot. I ran at him. I looked, and I did not expect the ball to be there. If you look, I bobbled a little bit. I caught it and recaught it. I was looking for a penalty flag, and Uzoma “EZ” Nwachukwu came out of nowhere. It was surreal.
   
• EZ was my host when I was being recruited, and I’ve loved that dude since that day. He is a character.
   
• I knew Johnny Manziel was different in training camp. Jameill Showers was up. Ryan Tannehill had just left. It started as “What is Johnny doing?” Then it became something. We built an offense based on him, and we knew where our spots were supposed to be when he started scrambling. When he was named the starter, he never failed to amaze everybody.
   
• We would’ve made a playoff in 2012. With Johnny leading us, who knows what would have happened. We would have been there if they had the playoffs back then.
   
• Mike Evans and Johnny came in and redshirted. We gave them a little bit of time to fine-tune those football skills. Mike was a basketball player, and once he mastered route running, he was a bully. You knew to just throw the ball up to him. He had speed, hands and power. He also has that attitude. Mike was silent and didn’t talk a lot. We didn’t even know if he wanted to go to the NFL, but once he set his mind on that, there was no stopping Mike Evans.
   
• It’s surprising to see how the world has caught on to Mike Evans. Watching him grow up at A&M makes it even more interesting. He was always quiet and a hard worker. Once he started doing it in the NFL, it was even more exciting. Once Tom Brady went to the Bucs, I was even more excited for Mike.
   
• When I first got here, I was a redshirt freshman from a 1A school. Von Miller used to tell me he’d mess with me every time. I was always so nervous. I never realized how cold he was until we played LSU in the Cotton Bowl. He made a tackle dance like he was on Dancing With The Stars and still got a sack on that play.
   
• Coach Sumlin is an exciting guy, and he always has something up his sleeve. He was a player’s coach when he was here, and he always made us comfortable so we could win games. He brought that Ag Swag and helped put us on the map in 2012. I think he’ll do some good things with the Houston Gamblers.