Cardinals safety Tyrann Mathieu has undergone a remarkable turnaround in the past few years. Still only 23, Mathieu has gone from losing his spot on the LSU football team to becoming one of the best young defensive backs in the NFL.
He appeared on Monday’s edition of PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio to discuss his recent efforts to promote awareness regarding the dangers of hot cars, an effort that generated a surprising amount of publicity, from sports media to mainstream news to entertainment outlets.
I asked him how he’s gotten from where he was in 2012 to where he is now. And his answer demonstrates why his story has become such a compelling one for anyone interested in the NFL.
“I don’t think I’m just doing this for me,” Mathieu said. “I think I’m doing this for a lot of people. My fans, my family, my children, everybody that I inspire. So this is much bigger than me, and I think that’s my mindset now. I don’t think I had the same mindset back in college. I think it was all about me, and so right now I’m just really living off of everybody else’s positive feedback and their positive encouragement and all those people who really care about me and love me, I’m really doing this for them.”
Whatever he’s doing, it’s working well. For more from Mathieu regarding his own journey and regarding the team’s prospects for 2015, click the thing in the thing below.